The excitement on the part of the two dogs grew more intense.
"We must be crawling upon him, I should think," Max remarked.
"Just what we're doing," the trapper replied, "and, unless I miss my guess, we'll find him caught fast in this thicket just ahead. Slow up, boys. There's no need of hurrying any more, for I think he's waiting up for us right here."
With their hearts beating like trip hammers the boys now approached the thicket into which the plain trail of the heavy clog seemed to plunge.
CHAPTER XI
"STEADY, STEVE, STEADY!"
"Listen!" said Trapper Jim.
All of them became silent. Even the dogs, as if recognizing some vein of authority in that one word spoken by their master, ceased barking, though still straining hard in the leash, as though fairly wild to break away.
There was a crackling of the bushes, and this grew louder.