When the five trailers were ready Ted gave Plum some final instructions. “When we come back to the camp we’ll whistle before we enter, so you’ll know that we are the ones who are approaching. If anything goes wrong, blow the automobile horn, which is detached and in my tent. We’ll surely hear that and come hotfooting it back to you.”
“Nothing will go wrong while I’m here!” returned Plum, with careless ease.
“Glad to hear you so confident,” half-smiled Ted. “Come on along, fellows.”
With lighted lanterns the others joined him and they set off once more for the slopes of the mountain. Nothing more had been seen of the vagrant light above them and they realized that their chase might be a vain one. But none of them felt content to go to sleep that night until they knew that everything was safe so far as the camp was concerned.
The initial climb was a hard one and they were all panting when they reached a less abrupt slope of the mountain. Here they halted to breathe in the air that they felt the need of.
“We’ll soon be up to the spot where we saw him cross that open glade,” Ted said to Buck. “That is just where I saw the light on the night I came up here alone.”
They pressed on, gaining the open stretch of the mountain and crossed this space, looking down to where the campfires gleamed like small red dots. They could make out a few of the boys standing around the fires and they knew that their progress was being watched. As a signal, they waved their lanterns.
They had just entered the higher wooded slope above the cleared spot, when a sound reached their ears which stopped them in their tracks.
“What was that?” Bob gasped, looking around. But the others knew at once.
“Thunder!” Ted said to Buck, raising his eyebrows significantly.