As they came out from under the trees and into the road Dick discovered that the first signs of dawn were appearing. In a few minutes more it would be possible to see clearly over a stretch of road more than half a mile in length. Already objects were beginning to take shape. Dave was coming back, followed by Dan. Both were limping slightly, for neither boy was accustomed to traveling barefoot and both had picked up slight stone bruises in their progress.
"Did you sight anything or anyone?" called Dick.
"No," grumbled Darrin, in deep disgust. "The odds are all against us, anyway. The scoundrels know which way they are going; we can only guess at their course."
"One thing looks rather certain, at any rate," yawned Dick, covering his mouth with his hand. "Whoever the unknowns are, they were trying only to bother us. Or, if they were trying to injure us, they were rank amateurs at the destructive game.
"But what was it that blew up, anyway?" queried Dave.
"It sounded like a keg of gunpowder each time," Tom declared. "Yet to carry around five kegs of gunpowder would call for a lot of muscular work."
"I'm going back to camp to put on my shoes," Dave declared.
"So am I," Danny Grin added.
"We'll wait here for you," said Dick. "When you come back there may be light enough for us to look into matters a little."
Dave and Dan returned in a little more than five minutes afterwards.
The daylight was now becoming stronger.