Before the fellows reached the place where we were Tom said kind of low, “Don’t fly off the handle, kid; there are some bushes broken here and a rag. Now what does that mean?”
“It means the trail runs through here,” I said; “and that crazy fool of an Uncle Tom’s Cabin dog can’t follow the scent across that bare place. He’s just an actor, that’s all that bloodhound is. All he’s good for is chasing Eliza.”
Tom just took the rag from me and looked at it. “Well then, if the trail runs through here, where are the footprints?” he asked me.
“And the dog doesn’t seem to think it’s worth bothering about,” he said.
“You admit somebody went through here?” I shouted at him.
“Oh, somebody went through here, all right,” he said.
“And didn’t leave any footprints and didn’t leave any scent,” I came back at him.
“Only a rag,” he said.
By that time the fellows had reached the place where we were. “What’s the big idea?” Harry said. “What have you got there?”
Brent said, “As I live, it’s a piece of Eliza’s dress. The plot grows thicker.”