“Yes, let’s make a start for it,” came the reply. “In the first place we’ll have to leave the road and cross this field, because we’ve got to advance straight into the wind.”
“That’s easy,” said Amos, copying the example set by his comrade.
“To begin with we’ve got to put a button on our lips, Amos.”
“I suppose by that you mean we mustn’t talk any more, eh, Jack?”
“Not unless it’s absolutely necessary, and then in the lowest of whispers.”
Amos, being a sensible boy, could understand why there was need of silence, and so he kept along at the heels of his cousin, using both his eyes and his ears, but putting a seal on his tongue.
It was not very difficult to cross the field. The ground proved to be hard enough to keep their feet from being mired in the mud, and no unsurmountable obstacles confronted the two boys.
Now and then Jack would pause to take an observation. At such times he first of all noted the position of the red lights, still in plain evidence aloft. After that he would make it his business to closely observe how the wind stood, and in this way get his bearings afresh.
Amos watched his actions with great interest. He had picked up a certain amount of woodcraft knowledge in his association with the scouts, but Jack, on the other hand, had acquired his through practical experience. A year or two spent on a Western cattle ranch is bound to be an education in itself, and lucky indeed is the boy who can profit by it.
Presently it became evident to Amos that Jack was proceeding more carefully. This convinced him that Jack must believe they were now drawing close to where the end of the cord that held the signal kite would be found.