"But there are some other marks; can you make them out at all?" asked Landy.
"This is certainly a fire. Before separating, the three enemies built a fire and pretended to feed. Here they are sitting around the blaze and eating; and if you look over yonder right now, you'll see the ashes where the fire has been."
All of them hurried across to where Matty pointed.
"By all that's wonderful, there has been a camp fire here," said Landy.
"You're a little off there, Landy," corrected the leader of the Beaver Patrol; "this was only a little cooking blaze, not a camp fire."
"But what's the difference?" demanded the new recruit; "I thought a fire must be a fire."
"Well," said Matty, "when hunters are in a hostile country and want to prepare a meal they dig a hole and make a small blaze in it that will be hot enough for their purpose, but which might not be seen fifty feet away."
"And a camp fire?" continued the novice.
"Quite a different matter. That is generally a rousing blaze made for comfort, and at a time when no danger is feared. This was only a cooking fire," Matty went on to explain, as he again thrust the "message" into the jaws of the cloven stick.
"Do you know how long ago this fire was made?" asked George.