The grins had faded from the faces of the other two Scouts. By this time, Mr. Livingston, and Willie also had joined the group.
“What’s that about a signal, War?” the Scout leader asked soberly.
“I’ve been trying to tell these two know-it-alls! It was as if someone were flashing a mirror. The signals came like dots and dashes. Only I don’t think it was in Morse code.”
“Sure you didn’t imagine it, War? We’ve had a pretty exhausting day—”
“I saw those signals, Mr. Livingston,” War insisted. “They came from the trail below us. Come and I’ll show you.”
He led them along the trail to an open space through which they could obtain a view of the valley and the deep gorges below.
“I was standing right here when a flash of light hit me squarely in the face. It was as if someone had done it deliberately!”
Ken carefully adjusted his powerful field glass to study the terrain below.
“See anything?” Mr. Livingston asked him.
For a moment, Ken did not answer. Then he nodded.
“Someone has made camp down there. I can see two or three men—one of them doesn’t look like a native either. He looks a lot like—”
Breaking off, Ken offered the glass to Jack, who quickly raised it to his eyes.
“It’s Captain Carter!” Jack exclaimed, stunned by his observation. “We all know what that means!”
“That bird must be trailing us deliberately!” burst out War. “He’s put out because we wouldn’t include him in the expedition. Now he’s following us just to be ornery!”
It was bitterly cold when Jack, still drugged by sleep, forced himself to roll out of his eiderdown sleeping bag.
The fire, kept up during the night, had dwindled to glowing embers.
He quickly fed the coals fresh wood, noticing that the pile of fuel was low.
Once the fire was going well, he stretched his stiff legs by taking a brisk hike down trail to where the burros had been left for the night.
Mabel, Jude, Babe and the others were there, looking fresh and willing. But High Hat was nowhere to be seen.
The reason was readily apparent. During the night, the animal had slipped her ropes and wandered off.
A second look convinced Jack that High Hat had not accomplished her escape without help. Someone deliberately had stolen or set the animal free.
“It must have been done for sheer meanness!” he told himself. “Who would pull such a trick?”