“Hello, here is something!” cried Jack presently. “Now, what in the world is it?” he went on, as he held up an object he had picked from between two of the rocks.
It was a curiously-shaped bar of steel, about a foot and a half long, round at one end and flattened at the other, with several square holes punched through the latter end.
“Looks like a piece of machinery of some kind,” said Spouter, after the thing had been passed around for examination. “You know, Randy, you may be right, after all, and that may be a piece from an aeroplane,” he added, looking the bar over critically.
Carrying the bar of steel, Jack continued along the footpath, followed by the others, and a few minutes later emerged on a much larger trail. Here were the marks of wagon tracks, and also horses’ hoofs.
“Hello, this proves that a wagon came this way!” cried Fred.
“Maybe it was the one those Germans were riding in,” added Andy.
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to say that,” returned Jack. “This may be a regular thoroughfare through this corner of the forest.”
They followed the wagon tracks, and soon found that the road, came to an end among some rocks overlooking Barlight Bay. Then they came back and walked in the other direction, and presently emerged on the highway along which they had marched on their way to the camp.
“That ends it, as far as following this trail is concerned,” said Jack. “Those men could go to almost anywhere from here.”
The cadets looked around for a while, and then went back to the spot where Randy had seen the men early in the morning. They looked for footprints, but were not successful in finding any they could follow for a distance.