“Why—why should he do that?” wondered the bewildered Hooker.
“Because, in all probability, he has discovered a posse of searchers over yonder. He has been compelled to double back on his tracks. We may be able to cut him off if we hustle.”
Without waiting to see if Roy followed, Piper ran down across the clearing, dodging hither and thither to avoid the stumps, and plunged once more into the woods, setting a course calculated to intercept the fleeing man. Once more he had drawn his revolver, which he carried in his hand as he ran.
Roy followed instinctively, although it must be confessed that he had little relish for an encounter with a desperate criminal fleeing from man-hunters. Sleuth was buoyed by excitement and a sort of fictitious courage, which, possibly, might desert him in a twinkling when the decisive moment came. On through the woods he darted, turning hither and thither to avoid the denser thickets. His ears told him that Roy was coming, and that was sufficient. Dead branches snapped beneath their flying feet; in places fallen leaves were scattered with a swish and a rustle; once or twice both lads felt their heart-strings tug as they glimpsed black tree trunks, any one of which for a moment might have been mistaken for a man.
Suddenly they burst out into a rocky bit of pasture land, through which ran a deep gully. And there, not thirty rods away, was the man!
Evidently warned by the sounds they had made while running through the woods, he was looking toward them when they appeared, and in every respect his bearing was that of a creature hunted and nearly cornered.
“Stop!” cried Sleuth, lifting the revolver and halting so suddenly that Hooker nearly bumped against him. “Throw up your hands!”
Instead of obeying, the man turned toward the gully and made a desperate attempt to leap across it. Beneath his feet the ground gave way, and the boys saw him disappear with one arm outflung, as if he had fruitlessly clutched at the empty air.
“Jerusalem!” burst from Roy’s lips. “He’s gone!”
“And if that tumble doesn’t bump him some, I’m mistaken,” said Sleuth. “We can get him before he recovers.”