'Yes; a solid-looking fellow, too; not the kind of man to do anything so mad as Grinson suggests.'
'Ah, sir, 'tis them as are the worst when the feeling gets a hold,' said Grinson. 'There was once a messmate o' mine, Job Grindle by name----'
'Really we must lose no time,' Trentham interrupted. 'The sun will be down in two hours or less. He was on that side, Hoole? Then let us start from there, and all keep together.'
They examined the slight eminence where Hoole had last seen the Dutchman. The plants were beaten down over a space of a few yards, where the man had walked to and fro; but beyond this narrow area there was no sign of footsteps in any direction.
'Very odd,' said Trentham. 'He must have gone back the way we came.'
They retraced their steps towards the clearly marked track of their course through the forest.
''Tis my belief the cannibals come up and cotched him again,' said Meek.
'But they must have passed us before they reached him,' said Trentham. 'He would have sung out.'
'And even if they took him by surprise a big fellow like him wouldn't have been overpowered without a struggle,' added Hoole. 'There 's no sign of it. And they would hardly have been satisfied with one victim when they might have had five. I guess Grinson is right, after all. Now let us look at the proposition from that point of view. Say that Haan was seized with the roaming fever--that is, was more or less mad. There's a deal of cunning in madmen, and he 'd naturally try to cover up his tracks. He would expect us to go back over our course, so that's the very way he wouldn't go. What do you say?'
'It sounds reasonable, but where are his tracks? How could he cover them?'