“And that is?”
“That those two rascals have been here. May be close to us now.”
Tom glanced about somewhat apprehensively. He recollected that, not so very long before—when they had left the machine on the wood road—the two rascals had been closer to them than they thought for. This might be the case now.
“I wish we had some sort of a posse at hand to make a thorough search of the woods,” he said.
“So do I,” was the rejoinder, “but you can depend upon it that those fellows are not lingering here since we arrived on the scene.”
It was at this moment that Tom made another discovery—a cap that lay in some bushes almost at his feet! He picked it up with a cry, having recognized it as the one that Mr. Peregrine had given to poor Ralph.
“They—they’ve had Ralph here with them, Mr. Bowler,” he exclaimed excitedly; “just look here. This is his cap—or rather one that was given him till he could get an outfit to replace his circus clothes. I wonder if it is possible that he——
“Hello! What’s that?”
“Sounds like a groan,” decided the lawyer, as, from the bushes that clustered against the bridge supports, the moaning sound came once more.
“That’s somebody in pain,” exclaimed Tom, shoving his way through the undergrowth that clothed the steep bank thickly.