ng the ground under the opening called
a window. Men can hardly stand on ordinary soil without leaving
some sort of impression there. And those boys who have spent many
a vacation in the woods, studying Indian tactics as applied to the
life of a scout, know how to read such signs almost as easily as
they might the printed page of a book.

Bending down therefore at the suspected spot, Hugh quickly pointed out
the imprint of feet to Ralph.

"That proves it!" exclaimed the other as he flung a hasty glance over
his shoulder, apparently half suspecting that the object of their
conversation might suddenly burst upon his vision.

"Yes, it's easy to see he was standing here after creeping on his
hands and knees," Hugh remarked, still studying the marks. "And
he's wearing a pretty fine pair of modern shoes into the bargain;
which shows that the men you saw were _not_ tramps. At the same
time, Ralph, I can't believe they were timber-cruisers, either,
looking for new belts of forest that could be bought up. Whenever
I've seen one of those men, he wore laced hunting shoes that came
half way to the knee, so as to protect his legs against snake-bites
and thorns while pushing through the scrub. No, this man has rather
a dainty foot, and it strikes me as mighty queer he should be
wandering around here."

"What are we going to do next?" asked Ralph, looking as though he
stood ready to carry out any suggestion Hugh might make, even to
chasing around and trying to follow the trail of the fleeing spy.

"Nothing, that I can see," answered Hugh; "and so let's go in again.
We can talk it over better there than out here, you know."

Two minutes later and they were once more indoors. Seated before
the fire, they canvassed the matter thoroughly. From every angle
they tried to penetrate the mystery, but it seemed to baffle them.

"I had an experience once that makes me sort of think they may be
keepers from some asylum looking for an escaped lunatic," Hugh
finally remarked; "though if that were the case, they'd be apt to
wear some sort of gray uniform, and you didn't say anything about
that, Ralph."

"Yes," added the other, quickly, "but if that's what they were, why
should they act so queer? Wouldn't two such men want to scrape an
acquaintance with us scouts, so as to get a few pointers? I don't
think that covers the bill, Hugh."

"And I didn't, either, when I spoke of it," the patrol leader said,
as he smiled and nodded hi