“No, here’s where we stop, Arne. Let us make a big fire, you and I, and keep it going to give a signal to that ship. They can tell from the height that this is the cliff, and if I’m not mistaken, they’ll know the harbor is below here.”
“Oh, that’s the plan!” exclaimed Arne. It was such a good one, and yet so simple, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it himself. Neither of them said much; but they worked fast, and a fire was soon started near the edge of the cliff.
“Now, Arne,” said Herr Engstrand, “we will pile our boughs on this and make a big blaze right away while we collect more.”
“So that’s why you wanted me to take such a big load!” said Arne. “And you took a lot more than I did, even.”
“I wanted to get this thing going right away. There!” He threw his bundle on the fire. “Pitch yours on, Arne.”
Arne threw his pine boughs on and watched with satisfaction as they burst into a great blaze.
“Now we must collect plenty of fuel, Arne. I have my small hatchet, of course. And you have your hunting knife. We must keep this fire burning high and bright. Then we’ll watch to see what happens out there.”
Arne did a good deal of thinking as he dragged in branches and twigs. This wasn’t a bit like the Herr Professor who had been so stern and strict and had seemed interested only in lessons. This was really smart—like something Gustav himself might have thought of. He’d like to tell Herr Professor so, but even now he could not quite get up his courage to do that. But when they had collected a large pile of wood and were standing by the fire watching those lights out at sea, he did manage to ask, “Herr Professor, how did you happen to think of doing this?”
“Well, Arne, I was a commando in the war,” Herr Engstrand said quietly.