“Dinner-time!” replied Jimmie.
“That’s the idea!” Kit responded.
“And we may as well go over into the valley we left this morning,” Jimmie went on, “because the boys will be wondering what has become of us.”
“It was a bad thing to do, running off like that!” exclaimed Kit.
“Well,” Jimmie retorted, “we had to keep that other fellow amused, didn’t we? That was one of the outlaws we’re after who was walking around in a forest ranger’s uniform, within a mile or two of where the fellow lay, and there was the possibility that he would blunder on the machine and spoil our game. We just had to get the aeroplane away.”
“Of course the outlaw saw the chase,” suggested Kit.
“I don’t doubt it,” answered Jimmie.
Flying low so as not to be seen unless the pursuer should rise at a great altitude, Jimmie made his way to the little green bowl of a valley which had been deserted by Ben and Carl only a short time before.
Scarcely believing his senses, the boy brought the Louise to the ground and anxiously looked for some message, for it seemed highly improbable to him that the boys would have gone away without indicating their destination. Of course he found nothing of the kind.
The only thing discovered about the little camp which in any way accounted for the absence of the Bertha was quite a large heap of table scraps. Jimmie pointed to the pile with a grin.