r the stony ground, until, after half an hour of careful
trailing, they led us to the dusty road some distance below camp, where
they were plainly visible.

"Our ponies have followed Yetmore's horse," said Joe, after a brief
inspection. "Do you see, Phil, they tread in his tracks all the time?"

For the tracks left by our own ponies were easily distinguishable from
those of Yetmore's big horse, our animals being unshod.

"What puzzles me though, Joe," said I, "is that there are no marks of
the halter-ropes trailing in the dust; and yet they went off with their
halters."

"That's true. I don't understand it. And there's another thing, Phil:
Yetmore hasn't got on their trail yet, apparently; see, the marks of his
boots don't show anywhere. He must be wandering in the woods still."

"I suppose so. Well, let us go on and see if they haven't stopped to
feed somewhere."

We went on for half a mile when we came to a spot where the tracks
puzzled us still more. For the first time a man's footmarks appeared.
That they were Yetmore's I knew, for I had noticed the pattern of the
nails in the soles of his boots as he had sat with his feet resting on a
chair the night before. But where had he dropped from so suddenly? We
could find no tracks on either side of the road--though certainly the
ground was stony and would not take an impression easily--yet here they
were all at once right on top of the horses' hoof-prints.

Moreover, his appearance seemed to have been the signal for a new
arrangement in the position of the horses, for our ponies had here taken
the lead, while Yetmore's horse came treading in their tracks.
Moreover, again, twenty yards farther on, the horses had all broken into
a gallop. What did it mean?

"Well, this is a puzzler!" exclaimed Joe, taking off his hat and
rumpling his hair, as his habit was in such circumstances. "How do you
figure it out, Phil?"

"Why," said I. "I'll tell you what I think. Yetmore has caught sight of
the horses strolling down the road and has followed them, keeping away
from the road himself for fear they should see him and take alarm.
Dodging through the scrub-oak and cutting across corners, he has come
near enough to them to speak to his own horse; the horse has stopped and
Yetmore has caught him. That was where his tracks first showed in the
road. Then he has jumped upon his horse and galloped after our ponies,
which appear to have bolted."

"That sounds reasonable," Joe asse