“That’s so,” chimed in Bob. “But let’s do something instead of standing here talking. The professor is in trouble.”
“That’s true enough,” conceded Jerry. “Come on. We’ll get a light and make a search. But first build up the fire.”
They threw on a quantity of light wood, and the blaze that flared up was doubly welcome, giving both warmth and cheer, for things were getting on the nerves of the boys, sturdy chaps though they were.
“Let’s yell again,” suggested Jerry, and once more their voices were raised in a loud cry. They hoped with that and the sight of the fire to get some response, but none came.
“Well, we’ve got to search for him,” decided Jerry, with a sigh.
“We’ll have some hot coffee before we start out,” Bob said. “It won’t take but a few minutes to make over that hot fire, and we’ll all feel better for a drink.”
There was a rude stone fireplace at one side of the main blaze, and raking some glowing embers into this Bob set the coffee pot over the coals. In a little while he served out the hot and cheering beverage. It did put heart into the boys, and they were soon ready to set out on their search.
“Now we’ve got to have some sort of system to this,” said Jerry. “It won’t do to get separated too far, or—well, something might happen to us. Now I suggest that we make the fire the central point. We can start from that—the three of us, as though from three equally separated points on a circle. We’ll each walk until we can just see the fire and start to call from there.”
“Why not fire our guns?” suggested Ned.
“Yes, we can do that. But, as we haven’t any blanks, fire in the air.”