some such place,
and quite as useless to complain, because they did not attempt to
discover the cause of the noise when they first heard it. Had they done
either one of these things, which it seemed the most inexperienced in
this kind of work would have done, they would have discovered the team
and had it then in their possession.

As it was, however, they could only try to atone for their carelessness
by being more cautious in the future, which each mentally resolved to be
as he clambered into the carriage as soon as the horses were harnessed.
This time George sat on the front seat with Bob, where he could more
readily leap from the wagon if necessary.

Bob started his horses at full speed, and George was satisfied that
there would be no necessity of urging him to drive faster, for he held
his steeds well in hand, requiring of them the best possible gait.

"They have got quite a start of us," Bob said, after they had been on
the road a few moments, and while Ralph was regretting the absence of a
comb, which would enable him to feel so much more comfortable, "but I do
not think your horses have had any grain since they stole them, and if
that is so, I don't think we shall have any trouble in overtaking them
within an hour."

Perhaps, if Bob had spoken exactly as he thought, he would have insisted
that his horses were so much faster, that the twenty minutes' advantage
which the thieves had could be more than compensated for in speed; but
just then he refrained from saying anything which might make his
troubled friend feel uncomfortable or disagreeable.

"Did you see the place where they slept last night?" Ralph asked of
George, for as yet he had not told them of what he had seen when he ran
through the woods.

"Yes; I came right upon it when I first left you. They had made a sort
of hut of boughs near a clearing, in which I should judge the horses had
been feeding. The instant I saw the camp, and so near ours that a stone
could have been thrown from one to the other, I thought it had been made
by the thieves, and I ran at full speed for the road, following a trail
that looked as if a carriage had but just passed that way. I got out of
the woods just as they turned the bend in the road, and simply had the
satisfaction of seeing my team driven away at a gallop, when, if I had
done what almost any child would have thought of doing, it would have
been in my possession."

"Could you see the men?"

"No; the top of t