Until this time they had not flashed a light. Why did the girl flash Red’s light now? Who can say? She did throw it on for a second. Instantly a low cry escaped her lips.
“Look! Footprints!” Dismay was registered in her tone. “They—they have gone before us!”
It was true that the narrow circle of light revealed the prints of a very large boot in the snow. To the right of the dock a boat was tied.
The girl snapped off the light. For a moment they stood there in silence side by side, a moment only, then the girl gripped Red’s arm until it hurt.
“Look! Look! Light on the water! They are behind us and before!”
Some distance away, on the black surface of the water a pale light shone.
“Come!” she whispered. “I know a hundred hiding places! We can best escape them here!” She led him to the foot of the hill, then began to climb, leaving him to follow in the dark as best he could.
CHAPTER XIV
DREW LANE STEPS INTO SOMETHING
That same night Drew Lane “stepped into something,” something that was quite unexpected and—well, you’ll see.
During the day he had conducted his raids on the city’s two “kidnaping centers.” They had turned out as he had prophesied they might—quite tame affairs. Most of the gentlemen, expecting a call, had stepped out. The raids yielded three guns, sixteen pocket knives and no information of importance regarding the mysterious disappearance of the Red Rover. Indeed the protestations of innocence, the ready offer of assistance which he received on every hand led him to believe that this was a job pulled off by some one quite outside the well-ordered circle of kidnaping gentlemen.