“They’re old ones,” Bill explained. “And I’d forgotten all about them till just that minute and even then I wasn’t sure they were there. I don’t know how much juice there is in them but I reckon there’s enough to last an hour or more. You know we’ve never used them till they’re dry.” “But what are we going to do?” Gordon demanded. “Why, go after that fellow of course. What did you think we were going to do, sit down and cry about it?” “But——” “He can’t be very far off unless he had a car and he didn’t have one, that’s sure.” “I guess you’re right about that,” Rogers agreed. “He couldn’t get very near here in a car unless it had a caterpillar tread.” “And if he had that he’d not be very far off yet,” Bill declared. “He can’t have more than a couple of hours start. But come on, we don’t want to give him any more.” “Maybe there’s more than one of them,” Rogers suggested as they took their seats. “Doesn’t make any difference if there’s an army,” Gordon told him. “We’ve got to get ’em back just the same. In the first place they don’t belong to us and in the second we need ’em.” “I’ll tell the world we do,” Bill added, as he started the elevator. “Now use your eyes as you never used them before.” “Or ever expect to again,” Gordon added. They had two field glasses and he handed one pair to Rogers as the plane left the ground. Almost as soon as they were in the air Bill started the forward propeller and the plane headed inland. They had decided to fly at an altitude of about 100 feet which would give them a fairly wide vision and at the same time permit them to make a thorough search. The one thing to be feared more than any other, Bill had explained, was that the fugitive would see them before they saw him and find a hiding place. “And, believe me, that wouldn’t be a hard thing to do most anywhere around here,” he declared. “Good thing the plane doesn’t make a noise,” Gordon said. “We’d be helpless if it did,” Rogers told him. Bill had headed the plane toward the north deeming it best to zig-zag across the island so as to cover the entire area. The character of the ground beneath them changed but little as they flew along. Very rocky and rough there was but little vegetation and but few trees except the fringe just back of the cliffs. “No wonder they picked this island for a leper’s colony,” Gordon said a few minutes after they started. “No man would live here if he could help it, that is if he had any sense.” They had flown across the island three times and were about half way across again before they sighted their quarry. “There he goes,” Gordon suddenly cried pointing off to the right of the direction they were going. “See him Steve?” “Not yet,” Rogers replied. “Where do you mean?” “Right over there by that big tree there. Don’t you see that fellow running as though the old boy himself was after him?” “Now I do.”