It was a fragment of the description of the wood-lot which had been found in the carriage when the thieves left it.
"Those men have done this," cried Bob, as he clenched his hands in impotent rage—"the ones whom George would not help catch after they had stolen his team. They knew he had this paper, and when they saw him, they either tried simply to get possession of it, George resisting, or at the first attempted to kill him."
"They can't be very far from here," said Ralph, as if wondering what other crime they would attempt to commit before they left.
"No, and they shan't get very far, either. I'll send Dick over to Sawyer for the officers, and if it is possible, we'll have those fellows where they can't do any more mischief."
Dick was only too willing to go when he heard what Bob had to tell him, and in the team he had driven over in he started at nearly as rapid a pace as Jim had.
Very shortly after he had gone, Jim returned. The first physician was from Bradford, and he had met him on the road, while the second he had found in Sawyer, having gone there to visit a patient. Both were said to be very skillful, and Jim had sensibly concluded that there was no necessity of getting any more.
To him the boys told of the discovery they had made regarding the scrap of paper, and had they followed his advice, they would have started in search of the villains then and there, without waiting the tardy movements of the officers.
But both Ralph and Bob thought their place just then was with their friend, rather than searching for those who had assaulted him, and they persuaded Dick to forego his idea of making a personal search for the men.
It was not long that the boys were in suspense as to the report of the physicians, for hardly had they finished discussing the discovery they had made as to who had done the cruel deed, when one of the medical gentlemen came from George's room.
Unless, he said, there were internal injuries, of which they were then unable to learn, George's condition was not one of imminent danger. That he had been severely injured there could be no doubt; but there was every reason to believe that he would recover, unless some more serious wound than those already found had been given.