road the old man had
indicated. It was an uneven wagon track, and they went bumping over
rocks and stumps of trees in a most alarming fashion.

"He couldn't have gone far in this direction," muttered the freight
agent ruefully. "Why, it is enough to break the springs of any wagon
ever made."

"My idea is that he had an object in coming down here," responded Andy
thoughtfully. "Is there any sort of bridge in the neighborhood?"

The agent shook his head.

"No."

"Or a place where the river might be forded?"

"Not now. The heavy rains have swollen the stream, as you can see. In
real dry weather he might find a place to ford."

"Well, it's certain that if he came this way to merely get out of our
reach he chose an awful way of doing it," remarked Matt, as a sudden
lurch of the wagon sent him bouncing up into the air. "This is the
worst riding I've struck yet."

"Worse than when Billy ran away?" questioned Andy, with a sudden gleam
of humor.

"Well, hardly that," admitted the young auctioneer. "But that wasn't
riding at all. That was a slap-bang, go-as-you-please trip, which
didn't--hullo! look there!"

He motioned to the freight agent to draw rein and pointed to a deep
track in a soft bit of ground ahead.

"It's the track of our wagon sure enough!" exclaimed Andy. "I could
tell it out of a hundred."

"So could I, Andy. Follow that, please," went on Matt, to the agent.

"It's queer you didn't see that track before," said the driver
slowly.

"The reason is because it comes from the rocks. Barberry thought it
best to keep on the rocks, I suppose. Maybe he thought he would get
stuck in the mud with the cases if he got on soft ground."

"That's the truth of it, you can depend on it," said Andy. "Hurry up
and follow that track to the end, and we'll soon have our wagon and
goods back."

On and on they went, over soft patches of ground, through low bushes,
and around rocks and fallen trees. Sometimes they were close to the
water's edge, and again they traveled almost out of sight of the
clear-flowing stream.

"We can't go much further in this direction," said the freight agent,
when all of a mile of ground had been covered.

"Why not?" asked Andy.

"There is a big wall of rock just ahead. We will have to pull away
from the river now."

"No, we won't!" shouted Matt. "Look there!"

And he pointed to where the wagon tracks led directly down into the
water.

"I'll bet all I am worth that he crossed the