“Some of your Hawks are over there, Walt,” observed Alec. “The real bird is making no noise that I can hear. There he goes now! Watch him swoop down into that open glade! Wonder what he saw? A rabbit, most likely. Well, it must be nearly time for Division B to go into hiding, and I——”
“Attention, boys!” Lieutenant Denmead’s voice sounded close beside them, and he blew one long blast on his whistle, meaning “Silence,” or “On guard! Look out for my next signal.”
“Attention!” he repeated. “Get your flags ready. Watch for signs of the enemy. What is that over in that patch of scrub-oak yonder? Hello! Three of them! And running for cover, like mad! Signal it! Signal it, Alec! There! Now Division C has started from camp. They’re advancing to the attack.”
CHAPTER III.
A PERILOUS ENCOUNTER.
The three scouts of Division “B” who had been sighted by the Lieutenant as they made a dash for cover were Cooper Fennimore, Buck Winter, and his brother Sam, who, mistaking a sound signal of three blasts of Hugh’s whistle, had been creeping forward quite openly across a clearing made by lumbermen during the previous summer, thereby coming in full view of the signalers perched on the ribs of old Stormberg.
Alec and Walter, acting under Lieutenant Denmead’s rapid-fire commands, lost no time in signaling this information to the advance guard of Division “C,” as soon as the latter made their sortie from camp.
Instantly Rawson led his attackers in the direction of the clearing, instead of taking the backwoods trail, as Hugh and his followers had done.
From a coign of vantage on one of the upper forks of a young oak tree, which he had climbed with the agility of a monkey, Hugh perceived the trio’s mistake. He had intended to warn them by those three shrill blasts, but they had evidently counted only two, which would have meant “Safe—Go ahead.” Now, to leave no room for doubt, he sounded a succession of long, slow blasts meaning “Scatter. Get further away,” and accompanied them with the Wolf’s peculiar, long-drawn-out, “How-oo-ooo.”
Whether these sounds could reach the ears of the signalers he could not tell, but he had the satisfaction of seeing Cooper and Sam dart across the clearing and plunge into the surrounding underbrush, where they could easily find some place to hide in.
Of course, any one of the attacking party could not fail to hear the whistle signals; but that did not matter, as it would be difficult, at best, to locate the scouts exactly, since all of Division “B” were doubtless in hiding by this time.