at once saw what Chippy meant. Hitherto they had been running
over clear open grass, and the spy, even with one boot off and one boot
on, had made tremendous headway, but the burnt furze was close at hand,
and here they would show him another dance altogether.

They were approaching a broad belt of land which had been swept by a
heath-fire. The furze-bushes had been very thick on the ground, and
had been burned away to the very foot of the stems. Now those
close-standing stems pushed short spikes above the soil like the teeth
of a huge harrow pointing upwards, each tooth blackened, hardened, and
pointed by fire.

The spy was not ten yards behind the boys when the latter burst into
the flame-swept belt of heath. Their boots kicked up clouds of black
ashes as they bounded forward, and their pursuer followed at once.
Twice he put his unprotected foot down in safety, missing by sheer luck
the thickly planted spikes, but the third time he set the very middle
of his sole on a short stout fang standing bolt upright, and pointed by
fire as if with a knife.

He let out a yell of agony as the spike, by the force of his weight and
speed, was driven home into his foot.

'Got 'im,' said Chippy, and the two scouts turned to see their enemy,
doubled up on the ground, utterly crippled for the time by that shrewd
thrust from below.

'I knowed that 'ud settle 'im, if we could on'y get on to it,' chuckled
Chippy, while the boys eased their speed, but still ran steadily on.
'I've 'ad my foot cut on a burnt root afore now.'

'Oh, Chippy,' said Dick, 'what a touch to bring his boot! That was
splendid.'

''Tworn't a bad notion,' agreed Chippy. 'We'll leg it a bit again, an'
then 'ave a look at it.'

The boys ran for a mile or more, and then fell into a walk. The
blackened strip of country was now out of sight, and they looked round
for a place to halt for a few minutes to get their breath and examine
the boot.

'We want a place,' said Dick, 'where there's good cover for ourselves,
and a clear space all round so that no one can surprise us. I learned
that from "Aids to Scouting."'

'I see,' said Chippy. 'Wot about that patch o' thick stuff right
ahead?'

'That'll do,' said Dick; 'there's plenty of room all round it;' and the
boys ran to the covert and crept into it.

'Now for the boot,' murmured Dick eagerly, as Chippy laid it down
between them. 'Here you are, Chippy. Here's my pocket-knife, and
there's a screw-dri