Jack led the way until they came to the
garage, which was at the end of the village, in the direction of London.
Their course also took them nearer to Bray Park, but at the time they did
not think of this.

"There's where the wire starts from the garage, d'ye see?" said Jack,
pointing. "You see how easily we can follow it--it runs along those poles,
right beside the road."

"It seems to be all right here," said Dick.

"Oh, yes. They wouldn't have cut it so near the village," said Jack. "We'll
have to follow it along for a bit, I fancy--a mile or so, perhaps. Better
not talk much, either. And, I say, hadn't we better stay in the shadow?
They must have been watching us before--better not give them another
chance, if we can help it," was Jack's very wise suggestion.

They had traveled nearly a mile when Dick suddenly noticed that the
telephone wire sagged between two posts.

"I think it has been cut--and that we're near the place, too," he said
then. "Look, Jack! There's probably a break not far from here."

"Right, oh!" said Jack. "Now we must be careful. I've just thought, Dick,
that they might have left someone to watch at the place where they cut the
wire."

"Why, Jack?"

"Well, they might have thought we, or someone else, might come along to
find out about it, just as we're doing. I'm beginning to think those
beggars are mighty clever, and that if we think of doing anything, they're
likely to think that we'll think of it. They've outwitted us at every point
so far."

So now, instead of staying under the hedge, but still in the road, they
crept through a gap in the hedge, tearing their clothes as they did so,
since it was a blackberry row, and went along still in sight of the poles
and the wire, but protected by the hedge so that no one in the road could
see them.

"There!" said Jack, at last. "See? You were right, Dick. There's the
place--and the wire was cut, too! It wasn't an accident. But I was sure of
that as soon as I found the line wasn't working."

Sure enough, the wires were dangling. And there was something else. Just as
they stopped they heard the voices of two men.

"There's the break, Bill," said the first voice. "Bli'me, if she ain't cut,
too! Now who did that? Bringing us out of our beds at this hour to look for
trouble!"

"I'd like to lay my hands on them, that's all!" said the second voice. "A
good job they didn't carry the wire away--'twon't take us long to repair,
and that's one prec