From then on climbing was a simple matter. He reached the top of the tree, going as high as he dared before it would bend with his weight. He had shown wisdom in picking the particular tree he had, for it towered above its fellows for several feet.
Garry found he had a good view of the country around him. He was surprised to note that he had made a considerable climb without noticing how great it was, for although he was conscious while walking that he was on rising ground, he had no idea that the gradient was so steep. To one side he could see a little depression, and then a sharp rise that led to a series of ever mounting hills.
At another point there was a depression as though some ravine existed there. He watched this spot fixedly for some minutes, for the sun was just dropping over the horizon, and the vicinity was not perfectly visible. Then he gave a sharp exclamation. Rising from the ravine, or depression, or whatever it was, was a thin spiral of smoke, that grew a little thicker after he had watched it for some moments.
He fished in his pocket and drew out his compass, noted the exact point from which the smoke seemed to come, and then made haste to descend the tree, scratching his hands in his hurry to get to the bottom.
He got to the ground by “bending” one of the limbs. This is a simple matter, as nearly every boy knows. It consists of crawling out on one of the branches until the weight of the body begins to pull it toward the earth. The farther one goes the nearer the earth comes to the limb, until one can drop off and let the limb fly back to its original position.
Calculating the direction by referring to the compass, he set off in the direction of the place from which he had seen the smoke emanating.
While in the treetop he had estimated that it must lay almost a mile away, and the going was hard. The brush was tangled and thick, and the ground rocky. Where there were scattered rocks, the roots of the trees projected as though coming in search of nourishment that was denied them in the rocky soil.
Here and there he noted places where the brush had evidently been torn away to allow some one to pass through.
After almost an hour of tiresome toil, he approached a little clearing, and then became exceedingly cautious and wary. He could see that there was a slight ravine there, with an entrance between two great rocks.
Creeping to this entrance he peered in, and saw that a crude shack had been erected at one end. He must approach the shack without knowing who was in it, or how many might be there. He divested himself of his knapsack, sticking it in back of a pile of brush, so that should anyone approach, they would not be warned of the presence of a stranger.