"All the more need, then, for moving on fast. See here, Dave, I'll follow just the way this footprint points. You get out a hundred feet or so to the right. And we'll move as fast as we can, now."
The wisdom of this plan was soon apparent, for it was Dave Darrin who discovered the next footprint. He summoned Dick Prescott with a sharp hiss.
"Yes; all right," nodded Dick, joining his comrade and gazing down at one of the narrow bootmarks. "But don't send a long signal again, Dave. We might be close, and warn some one out of our way."
"What shall we do, then?"
"We'll look frequently at each other, and the fellow who discovers anything will make signs to the other."
Three minutes later Dick Prescott crouched low behind a line of bushes, his eyes glistening as he peered and listened. Then he began to make wildly energetic signals to Dave Darrin.
The head partner of Dick & Co. had fallen upon something that interested him—-tremendously!
CHAPTER IV
THE "SOREHEADS" IN CONCLAVE
Dave Darrin came stealing over, as soft-footed as any panther.