“Old top, hey?” said Tom, smiling.

CHAPTER XXVI

MYSTERIOUS MARKS

Before reaching the log, Tom’s interest had been chiefly in his queer little companion.  The tracks puzzled him somewhat, but since they had already served their purpose and were in process of obliteration he paid little attention to them.  In his more ambitious rambles during late fall and winter, he had run across too many tracks of deer and bear and wildcat to become excited by these signs of some humbler creature of the woods.

But on reaching that scene of Skinny’s memorable meeting with Hervey Willetts, Tom’s keenest interest was aroused by something which he saw there, and which both of the others characteristically had failed to notice.  Skinny, enthralled by his vision of the coveted badge, had been in no state for minute exploration, and as for Hervey, these things were quite out of his line.  Besides, his sudden impulse of generosity toward Skinny would have been quite sufficient (as we know it was) to cause him to forget all else.

But Tom was as observant and methodical, as Hervey was erratic, and as he paused to rest upon the log, he noticed how it lay directly across the path of the tracks.  Thus the track line was broken for a couple of feet or so by this obstacle.

Supposing that the creature which had passed here had clambered over the log, Tom’s scouting instinct was aroused to examine the rough bark carefully for any little tuft of hair which the animal might have left.  And not finding any, he was puzzled.  For by its tracks the creature must have been very small, certainly too small to have stepped, and not at all likely to have jumped over the log.  If then it had clambered over the log it seemed remarkable that it had left no trace, not even a single hair, upon that rough surface.

Tom knew that this was unusual.  He knew that old Uncle Jeb would laugh at him if he went back and said that some small creature had crawled over that nutmeg grater and left no sign of its crossing.  He knew that no animal could graze a tree in its flight but old Uncle Jeb would find there some tell-tale souvenir of its passing.

Tom’s interest was keenly aroused now.  He was baffled and a little chagrined.  But no supplementary inspection revealed so much as a single hair.

Thus confounded, he examined the tracks more carefully.  He followed them up to where they emerged from the lower reaches of the mountain.  Then he followed them back, aided where they were dim by the deeper prints of Hervey’s shoes.  Skinny sat upon the log waiting for him.

On the side of the log nearest the mountain the tracks turned and went sideways along the log for perhaps a yard to a point where the log was low and somewhat broken.  Here, evidently, was where the animal had crossed.  It must have been a very small animal, Tom thought, to have sought an easy place for crossing.