In less than a minute Piper found a place where the branches of the trimmed cedars were bent and broken. He pointed at it exultantly.
“There’s where one of them went through,” he declared.
“Perhaps it’s where some one, hurrying to the bank, came in from the other direction.”
“Use your eyes, Hook. The manner in which the cedars are twisted and bent shows that the person who passed through the hedge came from this direction, and he was in a hurry, too. Look here! What’s this, Roy? It’s blood—blood on the bushes!”
No wonder Roy’s eyes bulged as he beheld the slight bloodstain at which his companion pointed with a triumphant finger.
“Blood!” he muttered. “Why, then——”
“Old Quinn hit one of them, no question about it. There’s a wounded bank-breaker fleeing for his life somewhere.”
Both lads were now greatly excited, although Sleuth fought hard to maintain such an air of coolness as he fancied would well become a great detective.
“By this trail of blood we’ll track him, Hooker,” he said. “If we capture one of the rascals, perhaps he will squeal on his pals.”
“If we capture him!” spluttered Roy. “What are you talking about? Do you think we could do it alone? He’s a desperate man, and he’d fight——”