ake good care of
yourselves."

So the matter was arranged, and in less than half an hour later the
four Rovers, accompanied by Spouter, Gif, and Walt Baxter, set off
into the forest.

CHAPTER XXII

AT THE RIFLE RANGES

It did not take the cadets long to reach the place where Randy said he
had noticed the two strangers. Here, to the surprise of the Rovers and
their chums, they discovered a faint trail leading north and south
through the forest.

"The men must have been following this footpath," remarked Fred. "Now
then, Randy, which way were they headed?"

"They were headed north," was the reply.

They found that following the footpath was by no means easy. It led in
and out among big trees and around various clumps of bushes, and more
than once they found themselves in a hollow where going was
exceedingly treacherous. Then in spots they had to climb over the
rough rocks.

"Hello, here is something!" cried Jack presently. "Now, what in the
world is it?" he went on, as he held up an object he had picked from
between two of the rocks.

It was a curiously-shaped bar of steel, about a foot and a half long,
round at one end and flattened at the other, with several square holes
punched through the latter end.

"Looks like a piece of machinery of some kind," said Spouter, after
the thing had been passed around for examination. "You know, Randy,
you may be right, after all, and that may be a piece from an
aeroplane," he added, looking the bar over critically.

Carrying the bar of steel, Jack continued along the footpath, followed
by the others, and a few minutes later emerged on a much larger trail.
Here were the marks of wagon tracks, and also horses' hoofs.

"Hello, this proves that a wagon came this way!" cried Fred.

"Maybe it was the one those Germans were riding in," added Andy.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to say that," returned Jack. "This may be a
regular thoroughfare through this corner of the forest."

They followed the wagon tracks, and soon found that the road, came to
an end among some rocks overlooking Barlight Bay. Then they came back
and walked in the other direction, and presently emerged on the
highway along which they had marched on their way to the camp.

"That ends it, as far as following this trail is concerned," said
Jack. "Those men could go to almost anywhere from here."

The cadets looked around for a while, and then went back to the spot
where Randy had seen the men early in th