men in Florida, gathered
from all quarters of the globe, and, Walter," lowering his voice to a
whisper, "I saw signs that there was more than one man near our camp
last night."

"What kind of signs?" his chum demanded.

"Broken bushes, the marks of horses' hoofs, and a dozen other little
things of no importance when considered separately."

"A fig for your signs, you old croaker," laughed Walter, "you'll be
seeing ghosts next. I didn't see any of the signs you talk about.
Besides, if anyone had wished to do us harm they could have done so
without hindrance last night."

"I know it," Charley admitted, "and that's what puzzles me. As for the
signs, your not noticing them proves nothing. It's the little things
that make up the science of woodcraft. The little things that one does
not usually notice."

"My eyes are pretty good, and I don't go around with them shut all the
time," began Walter hotly, but Charley only smiled.

"Look around and tell me what you see, Walt," he requested.

"A flat, level country, covered with saw palmetto, dotted with pretty
little lakes, what looks like a couple of acres of prairie ahead, and,
oh yes, a lot of gopher holes all around us like the one you robbed
this morning."

"We'll begin with the gopher holes," Charley said with a smile. "Tell
me what is in each hole as we pass it."

"Why, gophers, I suppose."

Charley reined in his horse before four large holes and pointed at them
with his riding-whip. "Gopher in that one," he declared without
hesitation. "Mr. Gopher is away from the next one, out getting his
dinner likely; a coon lives in the next, but he is away from home.
Rattlesnake, and a big one, lives in the fourth, but he is also away
from home, I am glad to say."

Chris and the captain had ridden up to the boys, and they with Walter,
stood staring at Charley in silent wonder.

"It's easy to see," explained the young woodsman. "When a gopher goes
down his hole, he simply draws in his flippers and slides, but when he
wants to get out he has to claw his way up. You'll see the first hole
has the sand pressed smooth at the entrance, while the sand in the
other hole shows the mark of the flippers. That third hole is easy,
too; you can see the coon tracks if you look close, and you will notice
that the claws point outward. The last hole is equally simple, you can
see the trail of the snake's body in the soft sand and those little
spots here and there made by his r