"It looks—looks—"

"Like what?" almost roared Jack. "Is it a bird, beast, or portable bush?"

"Fellows, it looks exactly as our packhorse ought to in this light and that far off."

There was an instant of silence, then:

"It can't be possible."

"Oh, shucks! You're jokin'!"

"Get out, Bob!"

"A near-member o' the United Order o' Funny Men."

"But it does, I tell you!" shouted Bob. He almost pitched the field-glass into eager Jack Conroy's hands, seized his gun, and, with "Come on, fellows!" flung over his shoulder, started off at a loping trot.

Like a charge of infantry, with weapons shining in the moonlight, they swept through the high grass, jumped over and around obstructions, gradually increasing their pace until it became a wild, headlong spurt.