“Well,” said the man after a moment’s thought, “I’ll probably call on your friends to-night. I never fail to have a good time in the company of flying machine boys. By the way,” he added as he turned away, “have you seen anything of a third machine in this vicinity?”
As the man spoke he lifted his left hand to brush a twig out of his path and Kit saw that the little finger was missing at the first joint.
“No,” the boy replied in a moment, making a mental note of the crippled hand. “I don’t think there’s any other machine here.”
For the first time during that interview the boy realized that he had been talking too much. Therefore, he denied any knowledge of the aeroplane which had crossed the mountains during the night.
The ranger departed, and Kit hastened to the camp to find the boys awake and anxious concerning his absence. Of course he was all excitement over the encounter with the bear, but he told of his conversation with the ranger hesitatingly, for he disliked to admit that he had been too talkative with an entire stranger. He explained the good turn the ranger had served him and added that they might have company that night.
“Forest ranger, is he?” asked Ben as the boy concluded his story.
“He wore a ranger’s uniform, anyway!” replied Kit.
“And he asked you all about us, didn’t he?” Jimmie quizzed.
“Why, he asked a few questions, yes.”
“And you told him all about our coming from New York, and the names of our machines, and everything else you could think of, didn’t you?” questioned Carl. “You were so glad he saved your life that you told him all you knew?”