Jack and His Seven Foes — page 162: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- ¢ é ‘a +e! ‘ J ‘ e a a, a e _ : sal ce i iy a ; ‘o “ *~S A + = A 4 age * - ~ Pit ell 1p, fond is long repose gave him < his strength. When he awoke, the colour of his fheeks was renewed, his limbs again slastic, and his spirit bold as ever. _ “Where are my men?” he asked F arold Deane, who, hearing him move about, entered the room where he had been sleeping. ms’ They are without, awaiting your orders,” was the reply. “ Your “break- fast is ready and waiting.’ He could hardly be persuaded to linger for a few minutes for a little needful food, so eager was he to be upon the trail, but Mrs. Deane put in a word, and he bowed to her wishes. _ Harold Deane made one of the party, so that there were five in all. The other four were, of course, Jack, Jacob _ Sturmby, old Ben, and Ralph. The two latter played the part of hounds, going a little in advance, their keen and experienced eyes looking for something to guide them. _ They started from Martin’s hut, and made their way first to the wood. This they skirted, going first to the mght, and then to the left. “What is this?” said Ralph, pulling _ up beside a thornbush. A small piece of rag, torn from some garment, was fluttering there. He took it off, and held it up. “Anybody here wear stuff of this sort?” he asked. Deane looked at it, and shook his head. “A piece of red shirt, isn’t it?” oY es.” _ “There isn’t such a thing in the settlement. We all go in for greys.” m the Swaggerer used to wear a red _ shirt,” said Jack. “ Which way was _he going, Ralph?’ 41 On “ahead,” replied Ralph; “ for you see the bit of flannel was on this ‘side of the spray, and a little under it. I should say that he was crawling.” A little farther on, old Ben suddenly pulled up. “ Footmarks here,” he said. tion in the stiff soul, but it was enough for experienced eyes. Ralph nodded assent. “ Boot worn,” he said; fast on the ball of the foot.” a ND HIS § It was a barely perceptible indenta- — “got a hole at é ‘ 4! ta i Sika Sg ASD) ! te se pias La “wT Teligns we have all sound boots, ey said Harold Deane. The footmark pointed out the road taken by the wearer of the boot as clearly as & signpost would have done, and other marks were soon found. he indentations varied a little, which led Ralph to assume that they were on the trail of two persons. “You see,” he said, “ the ground is soft in some places, and hard in others. These two walked side by side; some- times one walked on a soft place, some- times the other, so we get a variety of trail. ‘““That’s about it,’ assented Ben. It was wonderful how they kept on the track. The scent was here very strong to ordinary eyes, but sometimes was quite invisible; but Ben, or Ralph, or both, always had something clear to euide them. So they went round some broken eround, and up the mountain again, passing the settlement on the eastern side, and hidden from it by a screen of rock and bushes. They entered what had once been the course of a mountain torrent, and might, indeed, be so in the winter, or after a very heavy storm. Here the two trappers found all they required, and went on without a halt or speaking a word. One would point out a few displaced stones, or a slight pressure where sand lay, and the other would nod his head— that wasall. — Grim and silent they went on lke sleuth-hounds, and those behind were silent, too. Not a word was uttered, and they trod as quietly as they could, as their quarry might be near, and, taking alarm, get clear away. On, up the watercourse, until it suddenly widened into a basin, and they stood in comparatively open ground, _ with a view up and down for a consider- able distance. Only one solitary bush graced the | stony ground in the circle around them, a poor, dejected, stunted specimen of vegetation, melancholy in its loneliness. Ralph and Ben pulled up, and after a glance round, looked at each other. ‘No trail,” said one. “Not a bit,” said the other. ECORNIELDOO in «= + ' ' haa Py dal a .. a ’ ~ > } : | Lae a,” a) D "» : { i m aa A) , an ¥y } -. ret. RA Be vy Oh fay" hrm vi (EO) s)