ed Halford. "There's a strip of thick salt grass
there, over two yards wide, and I found the shoe right in the middle of
it. It was lying on its side when I found it, not caught in the grass."

"Then they were carrying him, sure," said Dirck, decisively. "Now then,
the question is, which way."

[Illustration]

The two men went over to the abandoned roadway, a mere trail of ruts,
where, in years before, ox-teams had hauled salt hay. Up and down the
long strip of narrow grass that bordered it, they went backward and
forward, hunting for traces of men's feet, for they knew by this time,
almost beyond doubt, that the child was in the hands of tramps. The
"tramp-hole" is an institution in all suburban regions which are
bordered by stretches of wild and unfrequented country. These
tramp-holes or camps are the headquarters of bands of wanderers who come
year after year to dwell sometimes for a week, sometimes for months. The
same spot is always occupied, and there seems to be an understanding
among all the bands that the original territory shall not be exceeded.
The tramps who establish these "holes" are invariably professionals,
and never casual vagabonds; and apparently they make it a point of honor
to conduct themselves with a certain propriety while they are in camp.
Curiously enough, too, they seem to come to the tramp-hole, mainly for
the purpose of doing what it is supposed that a tramp never does,
namely: washing themselves and their clothes. I have seen on a chill
November day, in one of these places, half a dozen men, naked to the
waist, scrubbing themselves, or drying their wet shirts before the
fire. I have always found them perfectly peaceable, and I have never
known them to accost lonely passers-by, or women or children. If a
shooting or fishing party comes along, however, large enough to put any
accusation of terrorism out of the question, it is not uncommon for the
"hoboes" to make a polite suggestion that the poor man would be the
better for his beer; and so well is the reputation of these queer camps
established that the applicant generally receives such a collection of
five-cent pieces as will enable him to get a few quarts for himself and
his companions.

Still, in spite of the mysterious system of government that sways these
banded wanderers on the face of the earth, it happens occasionally that
the tramp of uncontrollable instincts finds his way into the tramp-hole,
and there, if his companions are no