So Paul led them on.
Again they tried to conceal themselves as best they might in devious ways. Here the wide and generous trunk of a friendly tree afforded them a certain amount of shelter; a little further on a small pile of rocks answered the same benevolent purpose; but always the main idea was to hide from any curious eyes that might be on the lookout in the vicinity of that queer looking shed—newly made, if the fresh boards signified anything.
"Looky here! there's a man!" suddenly exclaimed Bobolink.
The others had discovered the man at about the same time. They all lay flat and hardly dared breathe, lest in some manner they attract the attention of the stranger, who seemed to be not only a big man, but rather a fierce-looking fellow in the bargain.
He was glancing all around at the heavens, as though wondering whether the aeroplane was not coming back, whatever its mission in flying away south could have been. Standing there, he shaded his eyes with his hands and continued to look toward the south for several minutes. Then he made a gesture as of disappointment, and vanished around the corner of the shed.
"Never looked down this way once!" Bobolink said triumphantly, as though their escape had caused his spirits to rise a little.
"That leaves the coast clear again, anyhow," said Tom Betts, as if he now had a rather disagreeable duty to perform, which, since it had to be done, had better be gotten through with as speedily as possible.
When leaving camp these brave scouts had never dreamed but that spying upon the enemy would prove the most delightful task imaginable. Even later on, when they had voted to keep moving forward, with so much assurance, the picture had not begun to fade; but now it did not seem the same.
As the shelter grew less and less, however, it became evident that presently, if they continued to advance in this fashion, they must reach a point where, in order to make progress, they must expose themselves to hostile eyes, should any be on the watch.
Would even this cause one of the four scouts to "take water," as Bobolink called it, and make the sign that he had had enough?