Merritt told them.
It turned out just as they figured. The run-aways had indeed gone straight for the little streamlet that gurgled through the underbrush; and Rob showed by means of his light just where they had both knelt down alongside the creek to drink.
Just as the other three scouts came up, they heard Rob give a little exclamation that seemed to have in it something like pity.
"What have you found now, son?" asked the big Chief, understanding from the manner in which the clever scout had given this cry that he must have made a new discovery.
"I reckon that poor wretch got a worse broken leg than any one has thought up to now, Chief," Rob remarked with a long breath, as he riveted the light of his little torch upon one certain spot of ground.
"How d'ye make that out, Rob?" asked Tubby before any one else could speak; for slow in his movements though the fat youth might often seem no one was more ready to interject a word than Tubby.
"Here is where both of them knelt down so they could bend forward and drink," replied the obliging patrol leader, always ready to post his comrades on these little points that would add to their scout education.
"Yep, we can see the marks easy," Andy assured the other.
"Here is where the shorter one got down, because you can see the distance between the marks of his knees and the toes of his shoes doesn't measure nearly as much as this other does. And looking closer you'll see that the tall man wasn't able to double up his left leg as he wanted to."
"That was the one they said he had hurt," remarked the Chief, undoubtedly deeply interested in all that the boy was saying.
"Now, if you look here at the place where his left foot dug into the soil when he lay down to drink, you'll find a stain that tells a story of its own!" Rob went on to say, as he held the torch still lower, so that all could see.
"Jiminy crickets!" exclaimed Tubby, in an awed tone. "Why, it's a blood mark, fellers; sure it is!"
"Yes," added the Chief, "that's right, son. He hurt his leg worse than anybody could have known about. That Con has got plenty of nerve to keep going all this time with such a bad wound! He certainly wanted to escape a term at the pen, all right."
"I think he couldn't drag himself much further, Chief; and we'll be apt to run across him soon, even if the other man gets away," Rob observed; and so much confidence had the big officer learned to put in what the patrol leader of the Eagles said, that he nodded his head and simply remarked:
"That's good news, Rob; let's get a move on again, and close in on our birds!"
"Are they armed, do you know, Chief?" asked Merritt; for he had been wondering what sort of reception they would receive when they finally closed in on the fugitives, who were reckoned desperate men.
"Not so far as is known," replied the other. "I was particular to ask that, for I knew I'd have to shape my plans accordingly. It seems that they raided an old scare-crow that had been left in a field, and managed to change clothes with the dummy after a fashion, for they wanted to pose as tramps, you see. But armed or not, we are ready to settle accounts with the rascals. We're close at your heels, Rob; make all the time you want."
Rob was not having any difficulty whatever in following the trail after the two fugitives had left the little streamlet. He seemed to be as keen on the scent as a rabbit hound, only he went about his work noiselessly, and not with the idea of giving tongue, such as a beagle usually shows.
"We're getting on a warm track, Chief," the boy with the torch suddenly remarked, "because just then I saw a little twig right itself under my very eyes, showing it must have been stepped on only a few minutes before. Hello! here's only one set of tracks! The man with the broken leg has drawn out!"
"But where could he have gone?" asked Tubby. "He didn't have wings, did he? And no aeroplane could dodge down in all this brush to carry him off. If he isn't on the ground, where d'ye reckon he can be, Rob?"
For answer the patrol leader gave one good look at the place where the trail of the man who dragged his left leg after him seemed to stop.
Then he quickly focused the white glow of his electric torch up into the tree directly over-head.
"Oh! looky there, would you, in the fork of the tree!" exclaimed Tubby, always bent on expressing his opinion.
And as the others cast their eyes upward, they saw the huddled figure of a man where Tubby had indicated. Rob had undoubtedly run one of the fugitives down; and hearing them coming through the brush, he must have climbed the tree as a last resort, evidently hoping they might pass him by.
But he had not taken into consideration the fact that a scout was leading the pursuing party, and that the sudden ending of his tracks was bound to cause the trailer to survey the vicinity in the expectation of locating his game.
CHAPTER VI.
THE EAGLES LEAD THE WAY TO SUCCESS
"Don't shoot, gents! I reckon I'm pretty near all in!" called out the man who was in the crotch of the oak tree.
At the same time he elevated both hands as a sign that he was unarmed and did not intend to offer any hostile demonstration. Undoubtedly the sight of the three big officers in blue, not to speak of four stalwart lads dressed in scout uniforms, must have convinced him that he had really run to the end of his rope; and that after being checked so positively in his break for liberty, the next best thing for him to do would be to give in and have his wounded leg attended to.
"Hello! got you, have we, Con?" remarked the Chief pleasantly.
"Looks like it, Chief," grunted the man, who must have been in considerable pain, Rob determined, as he saw the drawn look on his face. "Just gimme half a chance, and I'll drop down out of this. It ain't the easiest thing agoin' for a man with a leg swollen up like mine to move, once he sets still five minutes."
"That's so, Con," the head of the Hampton police force said, as he stepped forward; "and I'll help you down all I can."
If Rob had had a good opinion of the burly Chief before, that added to it; because his consideration for a suffering wretch, even if he were a hard character, proved that the policeman had a heart.
The fugitive was helped to the ground, and he sank down with a half stifled groan. They could see that his face had a peaked look, and that he was compelled to grit his teeth savagely together, as though trying his best not to show signs of weakness. Yes, Con was a man of more than ordinary nerve and grit, Rob knew, as he noticed all this; but then he had made up his mind on that score before now, so he was not at all surprised.
"Corporal Merritt," he said, turning to his second in command; "suppose you take a look at this poor fellow's leg, and see if you can't do something in an emergency to ease the pain. Like as not we'll have to make a stretcher and carry him to where the wagon was left."
"All right, Rob!" was the ready answer Merritt gave; while his eyes fairly sparkled with satisfaction at having the patrol leader show such confidence in him as to turn over this duty to his charge. As a rule Rob generally took it upon himself to play the part of doctor when an occasion arose that required such work.
And imagine the astonishment of those three policemen as they saw the corporal immediately set to work to tackle his job with the assurance of an experienced physician or surgeon. As for the injured man, he stared as though hardly knowing what to believe, to see a mere boy undertake a task like that.
Tubby gave one look as Merritt unwound the rough bandage that the wounded man had wrapped tightly around his injured leg, and gasped as he turned his head away. Andy kept on staring as though fascinated; but at the same time had any one observed the boy closely he would have found that Andy's usual healthy color had given place to a ghastly hue.
If Merritt experienced anything of the same feeling as he proceeded to manipulate the limb of the man, he certainly did not let the weakness interfere with his work.
"I may hurt you some, but stand it as well as you can," he told the other. "Because I have an idea the leg may not be broken after all, but only badly wrenched and torn by striking some hard object. Steady, now!"
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