He stood erect and gazed about him in a puzzled way. All at once his eyes became fixed on one portion of the hedge. Stepping towards it, he stooped and peered among the stiff rime-encrusted leaves.
"Hoy!" he called.
"Hush!" said Dick, hastening towards him. "Speak low; there may be some one about. What have you found?"
"Look' ee see," replied Sam in a mysterious whisper.
Dick stooped; there was a patch of foliage less thick than the hedge around it; some of the leaves had apparently been shaken off, and here and there twigs were broken.
"Some man, fox, or other creeping thing hev squeezed hisself through theer," said Sam. "We'll do the same."
He thrust his body against the hedge, which yielded to his pressure, and without much effort he passed through to the other side.
"Dear life!" he whispered, "here be the line o' fortune. Come through, Maister."
Dick followed him. The softer earth on the seaward side of the hedge, more receptive than the highway, showed distinct traces of the passage of clumping boots. Some were recent; some appeared to be of slightly older date. Looking along the ground towards the sea, they saw that the grass was crushed over a width of two or three feet, though many more goings and comings were needed to make it a beaten path.
This was a discovery indeed.