"If I was in your place, I should make sure of the men as well as the team," the farmer called out, as they started, "for there's a good many more horse-thieves in the country than are needed, an' it's doin' a good turn to honest people to put 'em where they can't run off other people's property."
George made no reply, but at the same time he did not propose to make an amateur detective of himself, unless the men should attempt to prevent him from taking his own, and then he would have no hesitation about causing their arrest.
There was no difficulty in following the track of the carriage, for there had been so little travel on the road that the impress of the wheels was distinctly seen, and there could be no question but that it would be an easy matter to see where it was taken into the woods in case the men should attempt to hide.
"I guess we had our labor for nothing in blocking up the road," said Bob, as they walked along, "for there is no chance of our passing the team so long as we can see the tracks as plain as this."
"We certainly didn't hurt ourselves piling up the carts, and the time was well spent, if only for the sake of the precaution," said George; and then, stopping suddenly, after they had walked nearly a mile, he pointed to a second track, which led directly into the woods a few yards ahead of them. "They have been to the end of the road, and come back," he whispered. "Perhaps they have just turned in here after hearing us."
For a moment the three boys stood looking at the trail made by those they had been so anxious to meet, and then George said, in a low tone:
"We mustn't lose any time here, and when we do start it must be quickly. We will follow this track in, and keep right on in it; for we shall either find the team now in the bushes, or else the men will have done as I feared—passed us while we were on the road."
There was still a chance that the men might get away with the team if they had succeeded in reaching the road in the rear of the boys, for it might be possible for them to clear away the obstructions near the main road before the boys could run a mile, unless the farmer could prevent them.
George dashed into the bushes, followed closely by Ralph and Bob, and before they had gone very far, it was evident to all that the men were trying to do just as George had suggested.
The track made by the carriage could be followed very readily, and there was no longer any question, after the boys had run a hundred yards, but that they were traveling in a half circle, the end of which would be at the road.