ften crossed the creek and browsed through the woods and
undergrowth on the other side.

The boys were inclined to think that the brindle had taken that course
during the afternoon and had actually gone astray,--something which a
quadruped is less likely to do than a biped, though the former will
sometimes make the blunder. There was nothing unreasonable in the theory
that the bell had fallen from her neck and that the owner therefore
might be not far away.

At intervals, Terry shouted "_Bos! bos! bos!_" the Latin call which the
cow sometimes recognized, though she generally paid no attention to it.
It was the same now, possibly due to the fact that she did not hear the
call.

Reaching the edge of the stream, the boys began walking along the bank
toward the left and scrutinizing the spongy earth close to the water.
If the missing animal had crossed the creek she could not have failed to
leave distinct footprints.

CHAPTER II.

THE TINKLE OF A BELL.

The examination of the shore of the creek had lasted but a few minutes,
when Terry Clark, pointing to the moist earth at their feet, called out
in some excitement:

"Do ye mind that now?"

There, sure enough, were the footprints of a cow that had entered the
stream from the same side on which the boys stood. The impressions could
be seen for some distance in the clear water, which in the middle of the
stream was no more than a yard deep, and they were plainly observed
where the animal had emerged on the other side.

"I don't suppose there is any difference in the tracks of cows, but I
guess, Terry, that we are safe in making up our minds we are on the
trail of Brindle."

"I'm thinking the same," replied the other, who was not only looking
across the creek, but into the woods beyond, as though he expected to
catch sight of the cow herself; "though it may be the one that crossed
there isn't the one that we're after."

Fred Linden was asking himself whether there was not some way in which
they could reach the other side without going to the trouble of removing
their shoes and leggins, and hunting a shallow portion, or allowing
their garments to become saturated. He exclaimed: "Why didn't I think of
it? There's our canoe!"

A number of these frail craft were owned in Greville, and Fred had a
fine one himself, which was only a short distance off. Three minutes
later the two reached it.

The barken structure was moored by means of a long rope to a tree a