ts and turns so much it might get around that way easy enough."

"Of course it might, Elmer."

"All we can do is to keep going along as we are, and some of us watch
for signs of Hen and the man over yonder," added the scout-master.

"Then you don't think it'd pay to strike out to the left?" questioned
the other, who seemed to be hesitating between two opinions.

"We would be silly to quit a sure thing for an uncertainty," said
Elmer, decidedly. "After all our ears may have deceived us, and it
might have only been some queer grunt of a frog, a heron fishing for
minnows, or even a muskrat choking over his dinner. No, we must keep
on as we're going, that's sure."

Lil Artha looked relieved. After all, it pleased the tall scout to
have someone decide a puzzling question like this for him.
Responsibility weighs heavy on the shoulders of many even capable boys,
and they are only too glad to be able to shift it on occasion.

"Just as you say, Elmer, and I reckon you're quite right, too," always
in a low, sibilant tone that would not carry further than a dozen yards
at the most.

They again turned to take up the trail, which just at that point
happened to run through some bushes coming up to their hips. It was
easy to see where those ahead of them had brushed through, for they had
trampled down the lush grass, and brushed aside the tender branches of
the bushes.

Elmer had even bent over to take a good look down at the ground before
setting forth when he heard Toby Jones give a sudden, violent hiss.

Now, that was a well-known sign among the boys of the Wolf Patrol, and
which had served them in good stead many a time in the past. Heard
under such thrilling conditions, it could mean only one thing; Toby had
discovered some sort of danger, and was warning his comrades in order
that they might drop down out of sight.

Every fellow seemed to understand this instantly, for as though they
were all moved by the same controlling influence, they allowed
themselves to sink on their knees amidst the friendly bushes that
afforded such splendid shelter. Even as Elmer dropped thus he had shot
a quick glance toward the left, from which that seeming cough had come,
and saw something that electrified him.

CHAPTER XIV

BOUND TO SUCCEED

No wonder the young scout-master was surprised and thrilled by what he
saw as he crouched there amidst the bushes, and stared over their tops.

Not more than sixty or seventy yards a