tions seemed almost unnecessary. But after their desperate
experience with the dynamiters, the members of the wireless patrol were
taking no chances. They knew full well that discretion is the better
part of valor. And they knew, in addition, that the success of their
search might depend upon the caution with which they proceeded. So
they went forward, when the captain's signal rang out, like so many
Indians on the war-path, stalking a hated enemy.

Indeed they were almost as invisible as Indians. Each had circled
skilfully to his post. And now each crept forward silently, slipping
from rock to bush, taking advantage of the slightest cover, and
advancing so stealthily through the tall grass that even the two men on
watch outside the grove could hardly tell where the scouts were moving.
And any one inside the grove could not have detected them at all.

The four scouts reached the four sides of the grove almost
simultaneously. Each of the four crept round the trunk of a big tree
and squatted down with the trunk at his back, to look and to listen.
From side to side their eyes roved, examining every tree and stump in
sight. But they saw nothing on the ground or in the branches overhead
to alarm them. There was no indication of human presence other than
their own; and Willie was certain that the wood was deserted, for
several small flocks of birds flew up in alarm as he penetrated the
grove. Had other men been within the wood, he knew the birds would
long ago have been frightened away.

Slowly the four scouts worked their way toward the centre of the grove,
gliding round the trunks of trees and stopping every few feet to look
and listen. But they heard nothing, saw nothing, to indicate that any
man was within the grove. Each one, as he advanced, scouted to right
and left of his line of march, so that when the four met in the centre
of the wood, they had covered every rod of ground within the grove.
And they had found nobody.

What was more, they had seen no signs of a wireless outfit. But, in
view of their experience in searching for the dynamiters' hidden
wireless, this was not surprising. None of the scouts had expected to
find the secret plant without a thorough search. As soon as Captain
Hardy and the secret service man joined them, a systematic search of
the wood was begun.

There could not have been more than two hundred trees in the little
grove. Satisfied that the place contained no enemy agents,