46
At lunchtime on the fourth day out of Highkington, Trevor trotted over to Reece to report that they should have a look at strange marks in a clearing before passing it. He led Jon and the sergeant over to a tree where confused footprints overlay each other. The tracker studied the bark of the trees closely and discovered signs of a rope having been tied around a young eucalyptus tree’s trunk. The signs were subtle, just small patches of bark rubbed away. Nearby was a patch of singed grass and close to that, an area where the grass had been flattened by something. Further away they found shallow indentations, almost skid marks, on the ground which spread out from the singed grass.
“Almost like marks from an explosion,” mused Reece.
They studied the singeing and the patch of flattened
