cutting feeder line. Posters were printed and sent to all
truck lines for display to the truck drivers. The roadside diners were
covered thoroughly. And knowing the boy's ability to talk convincingly,
the authorities even went so far as to try the awesome project of making
contact with passengers bound out-of-town with young male children in
tow.

Had James given them no previous experience to think about, he would have
been merely considered a missing child and not a deliberate runaway.
Then, instead of dragging down all of the known avenues of standard
escape, the townspeople would have organized a tree-by-tree search of the
fields and woods with hundreds of men walking hand in hand to inspect
every square foot of the ground for either tracks or the child himself.
But the _modus operandi_ of young James Holden had been to apply sly
touches such as writing letters and forging signatures of adults to
cause the unquestioned sale of railroad tickets, or the unauthorized ride
in the side-door Pullman.

Therefore, while the authorities were extending their circle of search
based upon the velocity of modern transportation, James Holden was making
his slow way across field and stream, guided by a Boy Scout compass and a
U.S. Geodetic Survey map to keep him well out of the reach of roadway or
town. With difficulty, but with dogged determination, he carried a light
cot-blanket into which he had rolled four cans of pork and beans. He had
a Boy Scout knife and a small pair of pliers to open it with. He had
matches. He had the Boy Scout Handbook which was doubly useful; the pages
devoted to woodsman's lore he kept for reference, the pages wasted on the
qualifications for merit badges he used to start fires. He enjoyed
sleeping in the open because it was spring and pleasantly warm, and
because the Boy Scout Manual said that camping out was fun.

A grown man with an objective can cover thirty or forty miles per day
without tiring. James made it ten to fifteen. Thus, by the time the
organized search petered out for lack of evidence and manpower--try
asking one question of everybody within a hundred-mile radius--James was
quietly making his way, free of care, like a hardy pioneer looking for a
homestead site.

The hint of kidnap went out early. The Federal Bureau of Investigation,
of course, could not move until the waiting period was ended, but they
did collect information and set up their organization ready to move
into high spe