'Hold hard, sonny,' Readyman exclaimed. 'No need for alarm before you're sure that the danger does exist. Examine the marks closer, lad. Do you see anything at all resembling a human footprint?'
Jack stooped lower and examined the trail.
'No,' he said. 'There certainly is no appearance of such marks. Who made the track, Readyman?'
'That's exactly what I want you to find out for yourself. Suppose you had been cast ashore without shipmates, and had to discover everything for future guidance? Use your eyes, lad.'
Here and there Jack discovered that, on looking still closer at the trail, it seemed to be recently disturbed. Many little pieces of compressed and decaying leaves looked as if they had been just cut asunder, and the disturbed earth seemed freshly trodden. Then he perceived among the leaves what looked like a long coarse hair. A few yards farther along the track he reached a circular clearance of the short scrub, while numerous marks showed the recent presence of many four-footed and cloven-hoofed animals.
'Did you ever see anything like them before?' the quarter-master inquired.
'Cows' feet,' Jack said; 'but these are much smaller.'
'What's that hair you picked up?'
A swift gleam of intelligence was followed by a hearty laugh.
'I know, I know!' Jack cried. 'This hair is a bristle, and the marks have been made by wild pigs.