Another shift of his glass and a careful study of known localities enabled the guide to find the person who was receiving the message, and soon the receiver began answering with his signal flag.
Ham White grinned as he read both messages.
“The forest eyes of Uncle Sam!” he murmured. The signalers were forest lookouts whose eyes were constantly on the alert watching over the vast forest within their range for suspicious smokes, and they were having a friendly Sunday morning conversation over a distance of nearly four miles.
Ham read and smiled.
“If they knew they would be more careful of what they said,” he chuckled, then a few moments later he climbed down, returned to camp and started the breakfast fire. He fried some strips of bacon, put on the coffee, and then he sounded the breakfast call.
“Come and get it!” was the call that rang out on the mountain air.
The Overlanders thought they wanted to sleep, in fact, they were hardly awake when they got lip grumbling, in most instances, and began hurriedly dressing. All were shivering, for the air was very chill. The odor of the breakfast, when they smelled it, added to the haste of their dressing.
“Stick your heads in the cold water and you will be all right,” advised the guide.
The girls returned from the spring, their faces rich with color, eyes sparkling, and ready for breakfast.
“How are the appetites? I don’t ask you, Mr. Brown. You have proved to my satisfaction that you can eat whether you are hungry or not,” laughed White.