“Different?” Mr. Hatfield echoed. “A chair has been upset and another one shoved against the wall. Come to think of it, both those chairs were in place when Fred and I carried out the trash!”
“Maybe someone came here while you were away and forced Jacques to leave!” Dan exclaimed.
“The boy seemed well enough satisfied this morning,” Mr. Hatfield said, folding and buttoning the note into his jacket pocket. “That’s what makes it seem strange that he’d leave without explaining. Suppose we look around down on the beach.”
Eager to search for clues, the boys clattered down the stairway ahead of the Cub leader.
At the foot of the steps they noticed several freshly made footsteps in the sand. Scattered among the imprints left by a small shoe were those of a man’s heavy-soled footgear.
“Dan, your theory about someone forcing Jacques to leave may be correct!” Mr. Hatfield exclaimed. “The boy may have gone willingly enough. But that upset chair makes me wonder.”
Now rather excited by their discoveries, the Cubs followed the footprint trail for twenty yards along the beach.
Now and then, a small circular mark appeared near the shoe prints. To the observing Cubs this indicated that a stick or similar round object had been carried by Jacques’ companion.
“And see here!” Midge exclaimed, staring at a confusion of prints in the sand. “Doesn’t this look as if a scuffle took place, Mr. Hatfield?”
“It does,” agreed the Cub leader, praising Midge for his observation. “Either Jacques stumbled or was given a hard shove. One can see plainly where he fell down.”