Page:Moving Picture Boys on the Coast.djvu/171

Rh "Sure."

"Well, do you happen to notice that on the left there are footprints coming back as well as going."

"Yes, I see that. But what does it mean?"

"And on the right side, counting from this dividing point, there are only footprints in one direction."

"That's so, Blake. But"

"Now what's the answer? Why the men got here, and, thinking they might be followed, tried a simple trick. They doubled their trail."

"What's that?"

"Why, some of them went off to the left, walked on a little way, doubled, or turned, and came back, joining the others, who had turned to the right and kept on."

"Why was that?"

"Because they wanted to fool us. Naturally a person, not looking carefully, would see both lines of footprints, and would reason that the men might have divided, or that there might have been two separate parties. He wouldn't know which trail to take. He might pick out the right one, and, again, he might select the wrong one."

"And you say the right one is"

"To the right. We'll follow that. If they think to fool us, or make us divide our forces,