"No," admitted Forrester, "I haven’t had time to look at the paper." "Don’t miss it!" cried Humphrey. "I’ll bet I’ve killed any idea those fellows might have had that you would put up a fight." "What did you say?" queried Forrester. "Why, I described how I called on you last night, and stated that I found you in a blue funk. Without actually saying so, I intimated that the cold sweat was standing out in beads on your forehead and thrills of fear running up and down your spine." "I’m afraid," laughed Forrester, "that you have given my friends an idea that I hid in a dugout all through the war." "Not on your life!" protested Humphrey. "You just read that article. You’ll find that I’m an artist when it comes to descriptive writing." "All right," agreed Forrester, "I’ll read it tonight. I’m starting out now to have a look at that oak tree." "Good luck!" said Humphrey. "Let me know if you spot anything. I’ve got to break away now. The Chief’s shouting. Good-bye!" The most direct route to follow in starting out for the North Shore would have been to go straight up the Lake Shore Drive and Sheridan Road. Forrester, however, had become cautious since his experience of the night before. He turned his car west and followed less used thoroughfares as far as Devon Avenue, glancing back from time to time. The few cars which he saw at these times all turned off at various streets before he reached Devon Avenue. Forrester, confident that he was not followed, swung east on Devon Avenue and soon turned into the north bound traffic on Sheridan Road. Twice before reaching Jasper lane he stopped his car at the side of the road and pretended to adjust his engine. What he really did, however, was to carefully inspect the cars which passed him so that if he met any of them again they would be easily recognized. But when he turned into Jasper lane it was quite evident that no one had followed or paid any attention to him. The surrounding country appeared lonely and deserted at the point where Jasper lane branched off from Sheridan Road. In this locality there were only large estates and vacant tracts of land, all heavily wooded. Jasper lane, which sloped slightly upward as it left Sheridan Road, was an unfrequented byway sometimes used as a short cut to a few large estates that lay along a prominent road farther to the west.