odd,
an' might give 'im the tip as somebody was arter 'im.'

'You're right,' said Dick; 'the wolf howl, at any rate, is no good
here.'

'Let's 'ave a call for ourselves this time,' suggested Chippy. 'One as
you might 'ear at any minute, an' never notice. How about the pewey?'

'First-rate!' said Dick. 'The pewey. There are plenty of them on the
heath!'

Bardon boys always called the 'peewit' the 'pewey,' and every one of
them could imitate its well-known call. Nothing more simple and
natural could have been adopted as a signal.

Dick was working most carefully round his half of the circle, when the
cry of the peewit rang out from the other side. Away shot Dick,
quickly and quietly, and, as he ran, the call was repeated, and this
guided him straight to the spot where Chippy was kneeling beside the
mouth of a rabbit burrow. The rabbits had been at work making the
burrow larger, and a trail of newly thrown out earth stretched three or
four feet from the hole.

'Have you got the track?' breathed Dick eagerly.

'I've got summat,' replied Chippy; 'it looks pretty rum, too!'

Dick dropped beside his companion, and saw that a foot had been set
fair and square in the trail of earth. But there was no sign of a nail
to be seen; the track of the foot was smooth and flat, and outlined all
the way from heel to toe.

'That's not a boot-mark,' said Dick.

'No, it ain't,' murmured Chippy. 'If you ask me, I should say it wor'
stockin' feet.'

'But what should he pull his boots off for?' said Dick, knitting his
brows. 'This is an awfully strange affair, Chippy.'

'Ain't it?' said the latter, his eyes glittering with all the
excitement of the chase, and the pleasure of having found this queer
mark. 'As far as I can mek' out, he wanted to step as soft as he could
tread.'

'But why--why, in the middle of the heath, here?' went on Dick.

'I dunno yet,' said Chippy; 'let's get on a bit, an' see if we pick up
summat else.'

Dick blew out a long breath. 'It's going to be jolly hard,' he
murmured, 'to track a fellow in his stockings. We've got to keep our
eyes open.'

Chippy nodded, and they went on slowly and warily. As it happened,
Dick scored the next move in the game. Thirty yards from the rabbit
burrow a heath track crossed the trail they were following. The
weather had been very dry lately, until about twelve o'clock of the
present day, when a heavy shower had fallen--a shower from which the
scouts ha