Gif was willing, and in a moment more the four lads had scrambled down from the boxsled and were making their way along the road leading to the spring. By this time Jack and Spouter had advanced through the brushwood and over the rocks close to the spot where they had last seen the gleaming eyes. As they went on Jack imagined once or twice he saw something moving through the snow, but of this he was not certain.
"Here is where we hit it, whatever it was," declared Spouter, when they reached the point directly behind the spring. "See how the snow is dug up?"
"Yes, and here are some drops of blood," said Jack, as he turned the flashlight on the snow. "But whatever it was, it got away," he added disappointedly.
"What have you got?" sang out Gif, for he and the others had come up on the opposite side of the spring.
"We haven't got anything," answered Spouter dolefully. "We hit something, but it got away from us."
"It wasn't a moose, was it?" queried Randy with great interest.
"No, I think it was a three-horned elephant," replied Jack, who was not then in the best of humor. He hated to have the first thing he shot at get away from him.
"Well, this seems to be the end of this road," remarked Gif, looking around.
"Yes, it only led down to this frozen-up spring," answered Spouter.
"I move we go on," said Fred. "I'm cold, and I'm sleepy too."