has baffled us; and he will put
up somewhere for the night; and we won't! We shall circumvent Master
Radcliff!"

[Illustration: FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES.]

But soon the boys were again puzzled. Reaching another cross-road, and
bringing the lantern to bear upon the trail, they found that, instead of
continuing northward, toward Wisconsin, or turning to the right, in the
direction of Chicago, it turned at a sharp angle to the left, in the
direction of North Mills.

"This move is a perfect mystery to me!" Jack exclaimed. "It seems as if
he had thought the thing all over, and finally chosen the very last
place one would expect him to make for."

"Are you sure this road leads to North Mills?"

"Perfectly sure; I've been this way three or four times. But another
road branches from it, and passes a mile north of the Mills; he has
probably taken that."

But no; after a good deal of trouble--the road appearing once more dry
and much trodden--they discovered that the horse and buggy had not taken
the branch, but kept the direct route to the Mills!

"It doesn't seem possible! there must be some mistake here," said Jack.
And every rod of their progress seemed now to increase the boys' doubts.

The road, long before they reached the Mills, became a mere bed of brown
dust, in which it required a pretty vivid imagination to distinguish one
track from another. The boys' spirits sank accordingly. Lion still led
them boldly on; but his guidance could no longer be trusted.

"He's bound for home now," said Jack, "and he'll go straight there."

"If Rad _did_ come this way," said Rufe, "he was shrewd, after all. He
knew that by passing through a busy place like the Mills, he would hide
his tracks as he couldn't in any other way."

"To find 'em again," Jack replied, rather gloomily, "we shall have to
examine every road going out of this place."

It must have been near midnight when they entered the village. The
houses were all dark and still; not a ray at a window, not even the bark
of a dog, gave sign of life as they passed.

"This looks discouraging," said Jack.

"A needle in a haystack is no comparison," replied Rufe. "The lantern is
almost out."

"I can get another at our house," said Jack. "We may as well follow the
dog now. What did I tell you? He is going straight home!"

The dog trotted up to the gate before Mr. Lanman's cottage, and the
wagon turned up after him.

"What's that ahead of us?" said