"Why couldn't you both come back?" Chet asked.
"We thought if one of us went back he might be caught too, and that would still leave somebody to go for help."
"Good idea. They were only tramps. Gave us a bit of a scare," said Chet airily. He had been almost frightened out of his wits. "We just talked right up to them and they let us go."
"I wonder who is this hook-nosed man they were talking about," said Frank. "They seemed to be worrying more about him than about us."
"A hook-nosed man?" exclaimed Jack Dodd. "What about him?"
"You remember when they were talking by the fire, they mentioned meeting somebody on their way into the wood. They asked us about him, and seemed to think he may have sent us in to spy on them."
"Thin, hard-looking chap," Chet remarked, remembering the description the tramp had given.
"Why, that must be—but it couldn't be him!" exclaimed Jack.
"Who?"
"Gus Montrose. The hired man that Dad discharged a little while ago. I was telling you about him. The description fits him exactly."