They retired early and were up at sunrise. Tommy renewed the camp fire, and they had a meal of fish and wheatcakes, with coffee. Then the tent was taken down and packed along with the other things.
"Now put out the fire and we'll be off," said Shep, and he saw to it personally that every spark of the blaze was extinguished. As my old readers know, the boy hunters knew only too well what a forest fire meant, and they had no desire to start such a conflagration.
Their route now lay over some hills that were more or less strange to them. But they had received many instructions from Jed Sanborn, and thought they would have little trouble in gaining a trail back of the hills that led into the Windy Mountains.
"Are the mountains really windy?" asked Snap as they began the climb up the hills back of the lake, each with a good-sized load strapped to his back.
"They are only windy at certain times of the year," answered the doctor's son. "But when it blows, why, it blows, so Jed Sanborn said."
"Then we'll have to put our tent up good and strong," came from Whopper. "We don't want to wake up some night and find ourselves blown into the middle of next year!"
"And dying to know how we are going to get back," added Giant dryly.
"Giant, if you say dying again—-" began Whopper.
"Save your wind, boys!" interrupted Shep. "We've got a long and hard climb before us."
What the doctor's son said about the climb was true—-the way was a steady pull upward, and they had frequently to stop to get their breath. It was nearly eleven o'clock when they reached the top of the hill. They had been on the upgrade for three hours.