FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>  
mbered those words, spoken in Tom's stolid way on the night of their quarrel. "_It's kind of like a trail in your mind and I got to hit the right trail._" He _had_ hit the right trail then and brought Roy to his senses, and now again when that rude, selfish note cropped up to work mischief it was Tom who knelt down there on the railroad tracks, seeking again for the right trail. "Here it is," he said at last, when he had closely examined and smelt of a dark spot on one of the ties. "Lucky you let him clean the engine; he must have been standing in the oil trough." "Good he had his sneaks on, too," said Roy, stooping. "It's like a stamp on a pound of butter." It was not quite as clear as that, but if Pee-wee had prepared his sneaks especially for making prints on wooden ties he could scarcely have done better. In order to get at the main bearings of the engine he had, with characteristic disregard, stood plunk in the copper drain basin under the crank-case. The oil had undoubtedly softened the rubber sole of his sneakers so that it held the clinging substance, and in some cases it was possible to distinguish on the ties the half-obliterated crisscross design of the rubber sole. "Come on," said Tom, "this thing is a cinch." "It's a shame to call it tracking," said Roy, regaining some measure of his wonted spirits as they hurried along. "It's a blazed trail." And so, indeed, it was while it lasted, but suddenly it ceased and the boys paused, puzzled. "Listen for trains," warned Tom. "There won't be any along yet a while," said Roy. "There's one stopped up there a ways now." They could hear the shunting up the track, interspersed with faint voices calling. "Here's where he's put one over on us," said Roy. "Poor kid." "Here's where he's been reading Sir Baden-Powell, you mean. Wait till I see if he worked the boomerang trick. See that tree up there?" It was amazing how readily Tom assumed that Pee-wee would do just what he had done to elude pursuit. "Tree's always a suspicious thing," said he; "this is a Boer wrinkle--comes from South Africa." He did not bother hunting for the tracks in the hubbly ground, but made straight for the tree. "Poor kid," was all he could say as he picked up a few freshly fallen leaves and a twig or two. "He's good at climbing anyway." He examined one of the leaves carefully with his flashlight. "Squint around," he said to Roy, "and see if you can find where he st
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>  



Top keywords:

examined

 

rubber

 

sneaks

 

engine

 

leaves

 

tracks

 

shunting

 
carefully
 

climbing

 

flashlight


voices
 

calling

 

interspersed

 

stopped

 
ceased
 
paused
 

puzzled

 

suddenly

 

lasted

 

blazed


Listen

 

Squint

 

reading

 

trains

 
warned
 

straight

 

suspicious

 
pursuit
 

picked

 

hunting


Africa

 

bother

 

ground

 

hubbly

 

wrinkle

 

worked

 

boomerang

 

Powell

 
assumed
 

readily


fallen

 

freshly

 

amazing

 

undoubtedly

 

closely

 

railroad

 

seeking

 

butter

 
stooping
 

standing