see if we
can find any sign of where these unknown men sleep, for there isn't any
trace of their staying in cottage or mill at night time."

"We understand what you mean, Elmer. How shall we divide up?" asked
Mark.

"You keep your detachment as it was, intact, Mark," came the reply; "and
Matty, you have your six to back you. Lil Artha, Toby, and Ty will fall
in with me, and make the third party."

"All right, suh, we understand," called out Chatz.

But he, as well as many others of the boys, showed in their faces that
they envied the good luck of the three fellows who had been picked out
to form Elmer's smaller group.

"What are our duties to be?" asked Mark, who, having only recently
arrived, and being staggered by the sudden nature of the intelligence,
had as yet not fully grasped the situation.

"First of all, let every scout who has not already done so, pick up a
stout club in the woods, as he passes along," said Elmer.

"Like this, for instance," remarked Jack Armitage, flourishing a husky
specimen that would pass muster for an Irishman's shillalah.

"Or this!" cried Red, whose cudgel was as long as a walking stick, and
almost as thick through as his wrist.

"Suit yourselves about that, boys," continued the scout master, "only
don't be in a hurry to use them as weapons until you have the order.
Now, each detachment must keep close enough together so that the
members may communicate by means of patrol calls--the cry of the wolf,
the slap of a beaver's tail as he beats the water to call his mate, or
the scream of the eagle."

"We know, Elmer; what else?" asked Matty.

"All the while you will keep on the lookout for some sign of the enemy.
The scout who discovers anything that he thinks would have a bearing on
the solving of the puzzle must immediately summon his leader. This he
can do by the whistle which all of you know, as it has been used
before."

"Is that all, Elmer?" asked Mark.

"If the matter seems very important to the mind of the leader, let him
give the assembly call very loud on his whistle. Upon hearing that,
every scout is expected to give up hunting on his own account, and head
in toward the place the signal comes from. Is that plain to every
fellow?"

A chorus of assent answered him.

"That's all, then, fellows," Elmer went on. "Do your duty, every scout.
We've got to find our comrade, and we've got to get him out of the hands
of these men, whoever they may turn out to be."

"If