ly a sound halted him abruptly--two low, short whistles--the signal
of danger.

Tim came back with concern on his face. "They're over there, Don. Quick!
this way."

They changed their course to the east again. After a while they halted.
For a moment they heard nothing. Then, to the left, came unmistakably the
faint sound of voice.

Again they changed their course. Each step now was made with caution. By
and by, when they thought they were safe, they stood still and strained
their ears.

This time the sound was even nearer.

"We can't go back deeper into the woods," Tim argued breathlessly.
"Your ankle won't stand it. We've got to get out. We can't go to our
right--there's the ravine and the underbrush. If we keep going ahead
they'll overtake us. If we try to get off to the left, we're sure to
cross them on an angle."

"Never mind me," Don urged. "Make a dash for it."

Tim shook his head stubbornly. "Wouldn't it be fine for a scout to leave
his patrol leader in the lurch? Maybe we'll think of something. Come on;
no use of standing here."

They wormed their way forward. They began to meet patches of thick brush.
All at once Tim gave a suppressed cry.

"Look at that brush, Don. If we can get them off on a false scent--Where
are they?"

The sound was still off to the left.

"Give me your haversack." Tim shed his own. "Now your canteen. Now over
there. Lie behind that brush. Quick."

Don hobbled over to the dense growth. Watching, he saw Tim go off a short
distance and drop a haversack; going on, he dropped a canteen and
disappeared.

Don expected him to come back the way he had gone. Instead, Tim made a
wide swing and approached the brush from the rear. He stretched off on
his stomach alongside the patrol leader.

"I laid the canteens and the haversacks in a row," he whispered, "about a
hundred feet apart toward the ravine. They'll think we went that way in a
hurry and dropped our things so as to travel light. It will take them
time to search that underbrush. As soon as they pass we'll go off to the
left. Every minute we'll be getting farther away from them."

"Why won't they think we dropped the haversacks while heading the other
way?" Don asked.

"What, toward them?" Tim grinned. "That would have walked us right into
their arms."

Don thought it out. Through a peephole in the brush he could see the
first haversack on the ground.

"Suppose they find it out there, Tim, and don't see the canteen?"