In fact, at the time of his leaving camp, he had not fully decided what course to pursue, and for this reason he had not informed the boys of his intention to set a signal for the benefit of the mysterious Boy Scout. Even at the time of making the signal, he had no idea that it would actually draw his three chums away from the camp.
He might have known what the effect would be, but, though he did stop to consider for a moment, he did not take in the whole situation. Jimmie usually acted on impulse, and so the signal lifted to the sky without any explanation having been made to the Boy Scouts who were certain to see it.
It will be remembered that when Jimmie descended from the elevation where the fires had been built he did so in order to hasten in the direction of a smoke signal which he saw to the north. The result of this was that he was out of the vicinity of the fires long before the boys reached that point.
When the three lads came to the finger of granite upon the top of which the two fires showed, they first made a careful examination of the thickets close by and then ascended to the top.
“These fires were made to constitute a signal, all right!” Jack declared, poking at the now dying embers.
“Sure!” answered Frank. “You see, no cooking was done here, and there is no camp in sight.”
“Besides, the position of the blazes on this high rock shows that the fires were built so that the columns of smoke might be seen,” suggested Harry. “It was Indian talk, all right!”
“Well, there’s no one here in need of help so far as I can see!” laughed Jack, “and so we may as well go back to the camp.”
“That’s the thing to do,” Frank urged. “To tell the truth, I don’t feel exactly right about leaving Gilroy there alone.”
“Aw, we’ll hear him sleeping before we get within a rod of the cave,” laughed Jack. “Gilroy is a good old chap, and father thinks a lot of him, but he doesn’t know much about this kind of a life. I’ll bet that right now he’s dreaming about grizzly bears, and lions, and crocodiles, and panthers.”
From their position in the forest, after their departure from the rock, they could see nothing of the signal from the north which had attracted Jimmie’s attention, so there seemed nothing for them to do but to return to camp. Therefore they set out at good speed.