d come. Something was moving in the distant gorse, and then
they saw the spy. He was hobbling along at a good speed, his eyes bent
on the ground.

'Here he comes again!' cried Dick, 'and, by Jingo, he's following our
trail. I say, Chippy, he can do a bit of scouting, too.'

'That's a fact,' said Chippy, and began to steal out of the covert on
the farther side. Before leaving it the two boys paused for a last
look at the spy. His wounded foot was bound up in his cap with a
handkerchief round it, and he was covering the ground at considerable
speed. He was a first-rate tracker, and he was coming along their
trail as easily as if he had been trotting on a plain road. For a few
seconds the boys were held fascinated by the sight of this savage
sleuth-hound at their heels. They were held as the rabbit is held,
when he pauses in his flight, yet knows that all the time the weasel is
following swiftly in quest of his life.

Suddenly the boys started, looked at each other, threw off the feeling,
and ran away at their best speed, for the halt had given them their
wind again.

'Good job we 'ad a place where we could see 'im a-comin',' remarked
Chippy. 'I ain't a-goin' to forget that tip.'

'He sees us now,' cried Dick. 'He's coming faster.'

The boys were no longer hidden by the covert in which they had halted.
They had come into the spy's field of view, and now he pursued by
sight, and leapt out at the best speed he could make.

Chippy looked round. 'Droppin' 'is foot down a bit tender,' commented
the Raven; 'we can choke 'im off any time we want on a rough patch.'

Dick now pulled out his patrol whistle, and began to blow it.

'I'll join yer,' said Chippy, and pulled out his. The two whistles
sent their shrill blasts far over the heath, as the boys ran on and on,
and the spy still pursued. The latter had faltered for a moment when
the whistles rang out but he had recovered his speed and hastened
forward. He thought that it was a trick, that the boys wished him to
fear that they had support near at hand. If only he could seize the
boy who carried his boot! That was his great hope.

CHAPTER XVI

THE SPY IS SEIZED

It was a happy thought of Dick to use his patrol whistle upon reaching
the strip of country where they had seen the sergeant. The latter
heard the very first shrill note. He was haunting that stretch of the
heath for a purpose, eyes and ears wide open. He ran towards the
sound, and