Page:Hugh Pendexter--The young timber-cruisers.djvu/279

 Abner went on a solitary scouting expedition, but returned with no news.

“I’ll go up that rise and climb a tree,” offered Bub. “If there is a fire anywhere along the stream I’ll most likely see it.”

Abner nodded his consent and Bub dashed away. Stanley would have gone with him, but not being invited believed his friend would prefer to go alone.

In a short space of time Bub came running noiselessly back.

“Well?” asked Abner, not lifting his head from the task of unpacking the food.

“I saw their campfire fully half a mile upstream,” panted Bub.

“I expected as much,” calmly announced Abner. “And it relieves my mind. They don’t suspect we’re in this neighborhood, or they’d mask it. Git some dry stick and start a small blaze back of them hemlocks. Ye needn’t be afraid of a little smoke, as it’s gitting dark, but don’t make more’n necessary, as that Big Nick can see like a hungry hawk. After we’ve had our supper we’ll hide the canoe and sneak in back towards the end of the ridge. It may be we can do our work and git out without their knowing it.”