“Well,” said Jack as he reined in beside Mr. Ryder at the gate in the barbed-wire barricade, “I thought you said the woods were full of rebels. We haven’t seen a sign of one all day long. What do you make of it?”
“It is more than likely that they are off in some other section of the hills, burning and pillaging. But don’t think that they haven’t an eye on us, for they have and you’ll see signs of them again before long, I’ll warrant.”
The soldier on guard at the gate had unfastened the intricate lock by this time and the cavalcade entered. The rurales hurried off at top speed to their long low barracks hall where they hoped to find the remains of the noonday mess. And as for Jack and the engineer, they were not slow in reaching the cottage, for they knew that faithful old Tom Why had something tempting waiting for them.
A mozo met them as they reined in before the door and when they had dismounted he took charge of the horses. The few hours in the saddle had been rather tiresome to the lad, for he was not accustomed to that form of exercise. Indeed, the shaking up he had received on horseback and the lack of sleep the night before had made him so thoroughly fatigued that even the cartridge belt and holster weighed heavily on his hips and as he walked toward the cottage he started to unbuckle the leather girdle. Just as he was mounting the steps the buckle opened suddenly and the belt swung free, upsetting the holster and toppling the revolver to the ground.
Hastily Jack stooped to pick it up. But as he reached down he caught sight of a naked footprint in the dust! He bent closer, hardly able to believe what he saw! The footprint bore the mark of a deep scar diagonally across the heel!
“Hi! Mr. Ryder! Look! Our man with the scar paid a visit here as well!” he shouted to the engineer, who had already entered the cottage.
Mr. Ryder hurried out and examined the footprint with Jack.
“By George, you’re right! What could he have wanted up here!” exclaimed the engineer.
Jack did not wait to answer the question. He bolted into the house and rushed to the flat-topped desk, for he had suddenly thought of the precious blueprints. Eagerly he drew open the top drawer into which he had seen Mr. Ryder drop the yellow envelope the evening before. But the compartment was empty! The drawings were gone!