I sighed, for I was weary of waiting for opportunities.
“Fast asleep, poor fellow!” he whispered, coming back so silently that he startled me. “Where’s the black?”
I turned sharply to where Jimmy had been curled up, but he was gone.
I crept a little way in two or three directions, but he was not with us, and I said so.
“How dare he go!” the doctor said angrily. “He will ruin our plans! What’s that?”
“Gyp!” I said, as the dog crept up to us and thrust his head against my hand. “Jack Penny is getting anxious. It is a signal for us to come back.”
“How do you know?”
“We agreed upon it,” I said. “He was to send the dog in search of us if we did not join him in two hours; and if we were in trouble I was either to tie something to his collar or take it off.”
“Do neither!” said the doctor quietly. “Look! they are lighting a fire. The others must have come back.”
I turned and saw a faint glow away over the right corner of the hut; and then there was a shout, and the shrill cries of some women and children.