“I don’t think they’d dare to take the cannon to Cedarville,” said Andy. “Somebody would be sure to see them and tell Captain Putnam.”
“I believe Andy is right,” put in Dale. “They must have gone to the right or the left with the piece.”
“The road to the right runs down to the lake front, and it is soft and muddy. They’d not be likely to go that way.”
“Not unless they dumped the cannon into the lake,” answered Jack.
“I don’t believe they’d dare do that,” said Dale. “They’d be afraid of arrest if found out.”
“Then they must have gone up into the woods,” said Jack. “Let us hunt in that direction first anyway.”
The cadets were now joined by others, until a crowd of at least twenty were following the road leading through the woods to Benson Pond. For a distance the road was rocky and hard, then it grew soft, and they beheld the tracks made by the cannon quite plainly.
“Hurrah! we are on the right road!” cried the young major.
So anxious was the crowd to locate the cannon that nearly all started on a run. They had to pass directly under some heavy, overhanging trees, and then came to where there was a stony cliff and something of a shale road.
“I don’t see the tracks of the cannon any more!” cried one cadet, and soon the others said the same.