“Let’s head over that way,” Step Hen went on to say.
“And surprise him, eh? That’s the ticket, boys,” Giraffe continued.
“That fire is a good long ways off,” warned Allan.
“Don’t care if it is.”
“It looked like a star at first, and must be on rising ground, where the trees are more open,” the discoverer continued.
“Lead us to it. We want to surprise Bumpus,” both the others declared.
“How about it, Thad?” Allan asked.
“It’s the only thing we can do,” replied the scoutmaster. “If it proves to be Bumpus, we hadn’t ought to take any chances of losing him again in the morning. If you’re all of the same mind, let’s be off.”
So the fire was carefully extinguished, and Allan led his comrades to the top of the little rise. Here he pointed out the object he said was a campfire, although Giraffe and Step Hen believed they would have taken it for a star low down near the horizon, had they noticed it at all.
After their bearings had been carefully taken, in order that they might head in a direct line for the fire, they started forth.