The other three made their way through the
darkness as best they could, and were soon at Freckles' room. He had
left the swamp on his wheel from the west trail. They counted on his
returning on the wheel and circling the east line before he came there.
A little below the west entrance to Freckles' room, Black Jack stepped
into the swale, and binding a wire tightly around a scrub oak, carried
it below the waving grasses, stretched it taut across the trail, and
fastened it to a tree in the swamp. Then he obliterated all signs of his
work, and arranged the grass over the wire until it was so completely
covered that only minute examination would reveal it. They entered
Freckles' room with coarse oaths and jests. In a few moments, his
specimen case with its precious contents was rolled into the swamp,
while the saw was eating into one of the finest trees of the Limberlost.
The first report from the man on watch was that Duncan had driven to the
South camp; the second, that Freckles was coming. The man watching was
sent to see on which side the boy turned into the path; as they had
expected, he took the east.
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