“It looks to me as if our greatest mistake was in thinking the pup didn’t know more than ten times all of us together,” said Mike with a sniff.
“That, too, was natural in the circumstances, but when you changed your shoes with Alvin, then was the time you three should have parted company. Instead, you stayed together, and Zip kept to the trail, for it was the only one for him to follow. Had you separated, he probably would have followed Alvin for awhile, but not long. He would have detected the deception, run back to the point of separation and hit the right one.”
“But he virtually did that afterward,” remarked Scout Master Hall.
“A proof of the truth of what I said. No doubt Zip trailed Alvin for a little way or until he discovered that the scent had changed and he was on the wrong track. Then he turned back and hunted out the right one.”
“If that explanation is correct,” said the amazed Mr. Hall, “it proves that the bloodhound was able to detect the emanations, or whatever it was that exhaled from Alvin’s feet, and could be differentiated from Mike’s even though it must have passed through the leather worn for days by Mike.”
“Unbelievable as it sounds we have to admit it, but,” added Burton, “we mustn’t lose sight of what doubtless was a contributing factor. It was not Mike’s shoes alone that told the secret, but his clothes. He brushed the trees and limbs when carried on the backs of his friends, and while walking. It was that which was probably the surest clue to Zip, as it was with Isaac and Hoke, and made it impossible for any one of the three to mislead the dog.”
CHAPTER XX — Speed the Parting Guest
George Burton and his dog Zip had won golden opinions from the Boy Scouts, who urged their visitor to spend several days with them, but he declined, saying he would set out on his return to Mouse Island directly after dinner, which was eaten at one o’clock. Truth to tell his tastes differed from those of his new friends. He cared little or nothing for bird lore, or the study of trees, or roughing it in the woods. But he was an athlete, who could outrun any one of the Boy Scouts and last longer on a tramp. He was putting himself through a course of training, with a view of making the football team when he should enter Princeton University, for which he had already matriculated. His sole companion on his long runs or the hours devoted to hardening his muscles was Zip, between whom and himself, as had been shown, there was a strong affection.
Accordingly, while the afternoon was quite young, Burton shook hands with all his friends, promising soon to see them again, and stepped into one of the canoes moored in front of the bungalow. He sat on the bottom with Zip between his knees, while Alvin Landon and Chester Haynes manipulated the paddles. Mike Murphy sat in front of Burton and assumed the airs of a captain. Burton had intended to pass around the eastern end of the lake, and over the rough trace to the highway, and so on to Boothbay and Mouse Island, thus reversing this tramp of the day before. Considerable of this long course could be saved by using the boat.
“I don’t see how you can reach Mouse Island before night,” remarked Alvin as he slowly swung his paddle.