."

"A good idea, Sam."

Skirting the swamp with only the rays from the lantern to aid them was
no easy task, and once Tom slipped from a clump of rushes and went down
over his ankles in soft mud.

"Hi! hi! help me out!" he yelled. "Quick, before I get in any deeper!"

"Stand still!" called back Dick, and placed the lantern in another clump
of rushes. Then he caught hold of a tree that was handy and took a grip
on Sam's hand. "Now catch hold of Tom," he went on, and the youngest
Rover did so. Then came a long and strong pull, and with a sucking
sound, poor Tom came out of the sticky mud and landed beside his
brothers.

"Wow! that's a mess!" said the fun-loving Rover, as he surveyed his
feet, plastered thick with the mud.

"Stick to the dry ground after this," advised Dick. "Come on, the dead
leaves will soon brush that mud off." And forward he went once more,
holding the lantern as before. In a little while after this the swamp
was left behind, and then progress through the woods was more agreeable.

"Dick, don't you think we ought to be getting to the _Dartaway_ pretty
soon?" asked Tom, after a quarter of an hour more had passed and they
were still moving forward.

"Yes."

"It didn't seem so far away as this," put in Sam. "Are you sure you are
following the trail?"

"You can see for yourselves," answered Dick, and held the lantern close
to the ground.

"Footsteps, sure enough," murmured Tom. Then of a sudden he bent
closer. "But look!" he cried. "They are not ours!"

"What?" exclaimed his two brothers, in surprise.

"These footprints are not ours--they are altogether too big. We have
picked up and are following the wrong trail!"

CHAPTER XXV

THE TRAIL OF THE TOURING CAR

All started in astonishment at the footprints before them. What Tom had
said was true--the prints were altogether too large to have been made by
their own feet in walking through the woods.

"How could I have made such a mistake!" murmured Dick.

"I wonder where you got mixed up?" said Sam. "I looked at the prints
down by the swamp. They seemed to be O. K. there."

"Then that is where I must have gotten mixed up--maybe after we pulled
Tom from the mud."

"We'll have to go back," came from Tom. "Too bad! But it can't be
helped. I don't blame you, Dick," he added, hastily.

"Neither do I," put in Sam. "Anybody might make such a mistake, with
nothing but that smoky lantern to guide him."

They turned back, and after