With strained eyes he watched the location, and presently saw two slouch hats moving behind the top of some brushwood. Then for a brief instant he caught sight of the forms of two men as they disappeared in the distance.
“I wonder if those were the two men who were making all that noise?” he mused.
At such a distance it had been impossible for him to note anything of the features of the men. Both wore dark clothing and dark slouch hats, but beyond that he made out nothing concerning them.
When the corporal of the guard came along to change the detail, Randy said nothing about the attempt of Gabe Werner to deprive him of his raincoat, but he did mention the sounds he had heard in the woods, and also the appearance of the two men.
“Oh, I guess they were a couple of lumbermen,” remarked the corporal, in an offhand way. “They occasionally come here, I suppose, to get a stick of timber.” And not thinking it of any importance, he dismissed the matter from his mind.
It was not until after the morning drill that Randy got a chance to speak to his brother and his cousins, telling them of the encounter with Werner.
“I supposed he would try to get square!” cried Jack. “I’m mighty glad he didn’t get away with it.”
Then Randy told of hearing the strange clanking noises and also the sounds of chains rattling and of some big blower in motion.
“That’s certainly curious,” remarked Jack. “From what Captain Dale said, I thought these woods had no one in them. In fact, I supposed they belonged to the government and were a part of the Camp Huxwell reservation, and that all outsiders were to be kept out.”
“I thought the blowing sound might be an aeroplane’s propellers,” went on Randy. “I was thinking a machine might have been disabled and come down, and the fellows on board might be trying to make repairs.”