The boys ran for a mile or more, and then fell into a walk. The blackened strip of country was now out of sight, and they looked round for a place to halt for a few minutes to get their breath and examine the boot.
'We want a place,' said Dick, 'where there's good cover for ourselves, and a clear space all round so that no one can surprise us. I learned that from "Aids to Scouting."'
'I see,' said Chippy. 'Wot about that patch o' thick stuff right ahead?'
'That'll do,' said Dick; 'there's plenty of room all round it;' and the boys ran to the covert and crept into it.
'Now for the boot,' murmured Dick eagerly, as Chippy laid it down between them. 'Here you are, Chippy. Here's my pocket-knife, and there's a screw-driver in it.'
'Righto,' said the Raven. 'I was just a-thinkin' 'ow to open it.'
Chippy went to work with the screw-driver in Dick's knife, and in two minutes the heel-plate was off. The screws held the iron tip and a single thickness of leather in place as a cover on the rest of the heel. In the thickness of the heel was a small cavity out of which fell three closely folded scraps of paper. The boys opened the papers and looked at them. They could make nothing of the marks and signs with which the tiny sheets were covered.
'There don't seem no sense at all here,' remarked Chippy.
'Those are secret signs,' replied Dick, 'so that no one can understand the information except the people for whom it is meant. I expect they'd know fast enough, if once they got hold of it.'
'Well, they won't 'ave it this time,' said Chippy. 'Wot are we goin' to do wi' this?'