The boys did not question John’s motives in giving George those injunctions.
“Would there by any objection if I should go up the tree and stay with George?” asked Ralph.
“Not in the least,” answered the Professor, and John gave a smiling assent to the question.
“While I am about it, I might as well take a rope along, so we can have a more easy way to get up.”
“Splendid idea,” responded John, “and before you go let me make a sailor’s ladder, which you can loop over the first limb, and thus make an easy route for our scouts.” So saying, he neatly tied and knotted the rope, and Ralph leaped over the fort, and had no trouble in making his way to the first limb, and after he had secured the rope ladder, ascended to the limb which George and Angel occupied.
The arrival of Ralph was another occasion for the peculiar chuckle on the part of Angel, and before Ralph arrived, Angel was off his seat, and began the weaving act for an additional seat, and he worked so rapidly that by the time Ralph came up the seat was ready.
George heartily welcomed Ralph. They were chums, just as Harry and Tom had grown to be particularly fond of each other.
It was now an easy matter to gain access to the tree; but John still facilitated this, when he suggested that the wagon be drawn over to the tree, and as the low top of the wagon was over eight feet high, there was no more trouble to ascend the tree than to get over the fort.
As the day passed the watchers in the top kept a sharp lookout for signs of communication between the tribes on the opposite sides of the river.
One of the savages first wounded began to show alarming symptoms and, as the Professor stated, there was every indication of blood poisoning, which was indicated by the high fever. Before evening the symptoms became more pronounced.