"I don't see anything but a little smoke. It may not be anything but a cloud," said Fred.
"Well, you see the same thing that I do and you're as free as I am to explain what it means. I'm very free to say that I don't like it."
"Here I am," exclaimed John, who had closely been following the compass.
"Where is that?" laughed George.
"Right here where I am is the end of that quarter-mile that we were to follow to the southeast."
"Stay where you are then," said Grant quickly. "We've got to measure from that spot to find anything like the stake we're looking for. We're now going a quarter-mile north northeast from here."
Again at the second halt John was standing on another small elevation, although it too was so slight that it would not have called attention to itself from any chance passer-by.
"We're on our last lap, now," said Fred gleefully. "In a few minutes we'll know whether we've struck oil or gold. Come on, fellows!" he shouted in his excitement.
The little band at once renewed their journey and their excitement steadily increased as John's pace led them, as they believed, in the direction which had been indicated in the diary of Simon Moultrie.