Following the direction whence the movement and rustle came, Jack slipped under the hedge. As he did so a figure glided out, darted across the path, and ran toward the roadway.
As quickly as he could disengage himself from the tangled brush, Jack, too, ran down the path after the fast-disappearing shadow.
Again the figure made for the hedge.
Jack hesitated. If he followed in, the unknown one could slip out on the other side, and get away without the possibility of being overtaken.
Jack waited.
There was not a sound, or a movement.
Evidently the substance of the shadow was waiting for him to cross the hedge.
At this juncture he wished he had called the boys to aid him in the search. But it was too late to regret that omission now.
It seemed fully five minutes before either he, outside the hedge, or the figure within the green, moved. It was a silent challenge. Jack was determined now not to take the initiative.
“I can stand here until morning,” he told himself. “But I will not get out of range of that person by any false move.”