and got in a couple of digs at the fellow's
hair and whiskers."

"The motion which removed the hair and whiskers," suggested George,
"might have been entirely involuntary."

"That's very true!" answered Will. "It doesn't seem to me that the boy
regained consciousness. If he had, he would have made such objections to
being taken away that George would have been awakened. At any rate the
hairs are here, and that is sufficient!"

"Now tell us how you know about the bulk of the fellow."

"The marks on the wall show that," replied Will.

"What do you know about his leather leggings, hunting shirt and gloves?"
asked Sandy. "I know about the moccasins, because I saw the tracks on
the floor myself. He must be an Indian if he wore moccasins."

"I never saw an Indian with long whiskers!" replied Will.

"Well, go on and tell us about the leather he wore," urged George.

"The hunting shirt," Will replied with a smile, as he pointed to a small
piece of leather lying on the table, "was patched and in the struggle at
the bunk the patch was torn away. A cloth garment, you know," he
continued, "wouldn't be apt to be patched with leather."

The boys looked at the leather patch, not much larger than a silver
dollar, and nodded their heads.

"The marks on the wall where the outlaw seems to have balanced his
burden, show that he wore leather gloves," Will continued. "You can see
the blunt mark where he threw up a hand to steady himself. The fingers
of a cloth glove would have shown narrower."

"I guess you've got the Sherlock Holmes part of it all right!" said
George, "so all we've got to do now is to find the boy!"

"But this will help!" Sandy argued. "At least we know what kind of a man
to look for. By the way, how did you know that he wore leather
leggings?"

"He lost a buckle!" replied Will. "I found it on the floor under Bert's
bunk. And so, you see," the boy went on, "when we find a man wearing
leather leggings from which a buckle has been lost, we'll be perfectly
justified in keeping close watch of him."

"It seems as if there must have been a struggle here!" George argued in
a moment. "The man lost hair, whiskers, a buckle, and a patch off his
hunting shirt! I don't see how I could have slept through it all!"

"Well, you did!" returned Sandy, "and that's all there is to it!"

"Are we going out tonight?" asked George.

"Of course, we are!" answered Sandy. "We're not going to crawl into bed
in comfort and leave Be