THE GREATER MYSTERY Since there was no solution of this singular puzzle, Tom did not let it continue to trouble him.

He was too busy with his duties incidental to the closing season to concern himself with mysteries which were not likely to reveal anything of value.

The kidnapping was a serious affair, and the curious discovery which he had made in the woods was soon relegated to the back of his mind by this, which was now the talk of the camp, and by his increasingly pressing labors.
[Illustration: "DID EITHER OF YOU FELLOWS DO THAT ?" TOM ASKED.
_Tom Slade on Mystery Trail.

Page_ 151] Moreover he believed that some scout or other had visited this now memorable spot and marked his initials on the mud, squatting on the log the while.

To be sure, the absence of footprints close by, save those easily recognizable as Skinny's, was perplexing, but since there was no other explanation, Tom accepted the one which seemed not wholly unlikely.