' replied Chippy; and, in response to the other's request, he
gave clear directions for finding the spot.

'I'll 'ave a look at it,' said the lodger. 'I like a good long walk.
The doctor told me as that was the best thing for me. So I got a good
strong pair o' trotter-cases, an' I tramp out wet an' dry.'

He raised one of his heavy boots for a moment, and let it fall.

'Got it,' said the pleased scout to himself, but gave no sign of his
discovery. The heavy iron tips on Albert's heels were screwed on
instead of nailed on, and the groove in the head of each screw had left
a small but distinct ridge in the earth at each point where the screws
came in the heel.

It was only practice, but Chippy was as keen in practice as he was when
chasing the thievish tramp for the lost basket. He had mastered the
idea that it will not do to be keen by fits and starts: you must be on
the spot all the time. So he took away from Locking that afternoon one
fact which he had discovered about his grandmother's lodger--the boots
from a London hotel--that the tips on his heels were screwed on,
whereas the common method is nailing.

CHAPTER XII

DICK AND CHIPPY MEET A SERGEANT--THE QUEER TRAIL--A STRANGE DISCOVERY

The Monday week after Chippy's visit to Locking was Easter Monday and a
general holiday. The Wolves and the Ravens made it a grand field-day,
and they were on the heath by nine o'clock, each with a day's food in
pocket or haversack, and a grand scouting-run ahead--a run which had
been planned from point to point by Mr. Elliott, who accompanied them.
The patrols had by now worked together several times, and had become
brothers in arms.

The old foolish feuds between them were completely forgotten, and when
Dick and his friends crossed Quay Flat the wharf-rats would now swarm
out, not with sticks for a 'slug,' but with salutes and eager inquiries
as to progress in this or that game dear to the hearts of Boy Scouts.

But it is not with this Easter-Monday scouting-run of the combined
patrols that we are about to deal. We shall go straight away to the
hour of three o'clock on that afternoon, when a very memorable and
exciting experience for the two patrol-leaders began to unfold itself.

Mr. Elliott had set his band of scouts the hardest task of the day. He
himself had put on the irons, and was laying the track. He had warned
them that it would be a tough test--something to really try them--and
so it proved. If t