"If I'm going to be pilot, I'll make you all captains on the spot," laughed Charley, as he spurred forward again into the lead.
"Do those wonderful eyes see anything more?" mocked Walter, as he once more ranged alongside.
"Don't make fun of me, Walt," said his chum, seriously. "What I have done is nothing. It's just noting little things and putting two and two together. You can easily do the same if you will train yourself to observe things closely."
"Do you really think I could?" asked Walter, eagerly.
"Certainly you can, and now for the first lesson. Look closely at all the bushes as we pass them and see if you notice anything out of the way."
They rode on in silence for a few minutes, Walter scanning the scrub in passing with a puzzled expression growing upon his face.
"Well, what do you make of it?" Charley asked.
"I don't know what to make of it," Walter confessed. "Every few hundred feet there are branches partly broken off and left hanging. Queer, isn't it?"
"Look closer and see if you can notice anything peculiar about those branches."
"They haven't been broken off very long, for they are not very much withered. I should say it was done about ten days ago."