“That must be the way of it,” Frank said, “but what does he want? And how does he expect us to answer?”
“If I was up there in the dark on a contraption like that,” Pat said, “I’d be asking how I was going to find a landing place.”
“Sure!” Frank cried. “Ned wants to know where we are, and whether it is safe for him to make a landing. Dunderheads! Why didn’t we think of that before? He is passing now, and may not come back again.”
The light flashed by at swift speed, whirled, ascended several hundred feet, and came over the plateau, repeating the signal. Then it settled down into a steady circling of the camp.
“He knows where we are, all right,” Pat said. “What he wants to know is if it is safe for him to make a landing. If I ever go up in one of those things I’ll drag a rope so I can climb down it.”
“I’ll tell him what he wants to know,” Frank said, “if you’ll get me a long stick on fire most of its length.”
“Wigwag?” asked Jack.
“Sure!” was the reply. “Now,” Frank continued, “build four fires, one on each edge of the plateau. That will show him how large the place is. Then I’ll take the flaming stick and wigwag o.k. Ned’ll understand that.”
Pat watched the wigwag signal with interest.
“I saw foolish signs like those in the Philippines,” he said, with a grin. “The natives use them to talk treason to each other. I’ve heard that the same method is used by the East Indians who talk from one mountain top to another faster than words on a wire. How does he make the o.k. signal?”