“I don’t think it’s much over an hour from here,” Bob told the captain when they stopped for lunch the following day.
Although they had kept a sharp watch they had neither heard or seen a soul since entering the forest.
But it was a little farther than Bob thought and it was nearly two o’clock when he stopped and announced that the big field was just ahead.
“Suppose we wait here while you go on and see if there’s anyone in sight,” the Captain said.
Bob crept silently forward and in a few minutes was once more between the two big rocks. Eagerly he parted the bushes and peeped out. Not a soul in sight and he noticed that no smoke came from the chimney.
“Guess there’s no one at home,” he thought as he drew back his head.
He hurried back to where he had left the rest of the party and made his report to the Captain.
“Then the thing for us to do is to find a good place to camp where they won’t be likely to find us and wait.”
They searched through the woods for some time before finding a place which suited their needs but at last they decided on a spot about an eighth of a mile from the edge of the field. It was in a thick clump of pines and all agreed that there would be little likelihood of discovery unless someone should stumble upon them by accident.
“Suppose you go back and stand the first watch,” the Captain proposed to Bob, “while we are getting things shipshape. I’ll send a man to relieve you in a couple of hours.”