Jack led the way back to the path which they had followed for some distance, and crossing it, plunged into the wood on the other side. They had gone only a short way when the ground grew rougher, and sloped upward like a ridge. They pushed on until they reached the top of an elevation of several hundred feet.
Beyond this the land sloped off again into a valley, fully a half mile in width, beyond which it rose almost to the same height as the surface on which they stood.
The spot where they halted was so open and free from undergrowth that they had a good view of the small valley spread out before them, and over which they gazed with keen interest.
"Hallo, there they are!" whispered Will.
Following the direction of his finger, his companions saw near the middle of the valley a column of smoke ascending from among the trees, and lazily mingling with the air above, where it rested almost stationary, as though it had been there for hours.
"Yes," said Jack, "a camp fire is there, but we don't know whether it belongs to Indians or white men."
"That's what we have come to find out."
"It seems to me," said George, "that instead of going down together we ought to separate. What do you think, Jack?"
"It strikes me as a good plan; if we keep together it will be hard work for us to find out what we want to know without letting the Indians--if they are Indians--find out more than we want them to learn about us."
"That is good enough," observed Will, to whom the others looked to hear his opinion, "and I guess we may as well try it; but if we separate we have got to be mighty careful that we don't run into danger before we know it. I will turn to the right, you, Jack, to the left, while George can push straight down into the valley; we must be on the watch all the time. As soon as one of us sees anything that tells what we want to know, he must turn back to this place and wait for the others."