“I’m going to get up and take a look round,” he said. “Going to be an old dead tree; it’s a trick we Indians pull off to fool moose. You see I’ve got a little Indian blood in me. Fact. Proud of it.” And with that Duncan crawled up on the boulder and slowly stood up, his arms extended crookedly, one held higher than the other. Thus he remained for several minutes. Then he came down, even more slowly.
“Say, pard, you’ve got the dope. They’re up there all right, about two hundred yards, and they’re signaling. There’s a light going up and down, bull’s eye, turned away, but I could see the reflection on a rock.”
“Well, we’re here to stop that and get those fellows,” said Clem. “Shall we rush them?”
“No, no! We’d only give them a fine chance to bore us full of holes. They don’t want to be surprised, you can bet. But we can stalk them, as we do bear on high ground, and work the bird call so as to make them think nobody’s around in our direction. Are you on?”
“I am! Say, I guess you are Indian all right. You lead off—and I’ll follow and do just as you do, as near as I can.”
“Only be careful where you put your hands and knees. Don’t crack any sticks nor roll any stones. Ready?”
Clem wondered at first whether the method would prove successful. It loomed up like a large undertaking, considering the distance. Would it not be better to just march right up on the spies and trade gun-fire with them, if need be? But the farther the boys progressed the more Clem became convinced that this was the only means of surprising the enemy. The nature of the ground was such that any one walking boldly up could have been seen first by the spies, and held up or shot. Fortunate, indeed, was it that this fellow Duncan was on the hill. Truly a wonderful chap when it came to this sort of thing.
Slowly they went, on hands and knees, for another fifty feet or more, stopping every little while to listen, and Duncan made a soft twittering sound exactly like the little bird in the thicket below. Presently he rose cautiously to take a look and get the bearings, after which he turned and put his lips to Clem’s ear.