“That means you decline to be shoved off the path, does it, Hugh?”

“If I start in that race, as I expect to,” Hugh told him, “I intend to make use of that short-cut, no matter if a dozen Tip Slavins, and Pete Dudleys are lying in wait to trip me up.  But I’m much obliged to you all the same, Thad, for your warning.  I’ll be on my guard from this time on, and they’re not going to trap me with my eyes blinded, I tell you that.”

Thad seemed to be lost in thought himself for a minute or so.  Possibly he was trying to figure out how he could best serve his comrade in such an emergency.  The gloomy woods surrounding the old quarry did not possess any attraction in the eyes of Thad Stevens.  Though he had not shown the same degree of alarm as Horatio and Julius at the time they heard those remarkable sounds, so like human shrieks, nevertheless, Thad felt no hankering after another similar experience.

Still he would brave much in order to help the chum whose interests were so dear to his own heart.  He did not say what was in his mind, only looked a bit wise, as he once more turned to Hugh, as though his mind had been finally made up.

“Just as you think best, Hugh,” he went on to say quietly.  “It may be that one or more of the other fellows will be taking advantage of that same old road, and there’s safety in numbers, you know, they say.  Nick is likely to get his fingers burned if he attempts any of his silly tricks.  What do you suppose now he could plan to have those chaps do?  They wouldn’t want to really hurt you, because that might get them in bad with Captain Wambold, our police head.  Can you think of any fool play he’d be apt to conjure up, such as might make Tip say it was the best and slickest scheme he’d ever heard about?”

“Nick has so many wild ideas that he’s likely to attempt nearly anything,” said Hugh.  “If he could find a good place where a runner would have to keep to the road I even believe he’d try to dig a deep pit, and cover the same over, just as the wild-animal catchers do in Africa, when they go out after big game for the menageries and zoos.”

“Why, would that work, do you think, Hugh?” cried the startled Thad, mentally picturing his chum crashing through a false roadbed, and dropping down into a deep hole from which, alone and unaided, he could not hope to escape until much time had elapsed, and all hope of winning the big Marathon was lost.

“It might have done so if I hadn’t chanced to possess a wide-awake chum, who gave me due warning, and caused me to keep a sharp lookout.  As it is, if I glimpse a suspicious spot in my path I’ll fight mighty shy of the same; or by a big leap give it the go-by.  Of course, there might be other ways in which they could hope to detain me, such as dropping down on my shoulders from a tree, and with their faces covered so I couldn’t recognize them.”

Thad looked grave.