it will
ever be noticed," remarked Phil, as he carefully nailed the boards back
in place with the back of the hatchet, being careful that his axe did
not slip and leave a mark to show that the boards had been pried off.

"When it comes time to watch for the occupants, I have an idea of the
proper place to keep an eye on them," said Dick, "and that is the
spring. Whoever is living here must have water, and if I'm not mistaken,
that's the spring over there."

Following Dick's lead, they went in the indicated direction, and sure
enough, there was the spring.

"You can see fairly fresh footprints there. I wish now that we had Sandy
with us," said Garry.

"Sandy" was Garry's big Airedale dog, which they had left with Nate
Webster when they went off to Augusta. They had not taken him on the
trip, for all those with whom they had had trouble, knew the dog, and he
would call too obviously attention to the presence of the trio of
Rangers.

"Let's take a look at the big bunkhouse and see if that is being used
also," suggested Phil.

They returned to the long low shack, and were in search of a window from
which the boards might be removed, when suddenly Garry said:

"Listen, do you hear the sound of rifle shots?"

Faintly borne on the breeze, came the sound of a distant shot.

"Probably only some youngster from town out after rabbits," said Dick.
They waited for a few minutes, and then again was heard a shot, closely
followed by two more.

"The forest distress signal. Some one's in trouble boys!" cried Garry
excitedly.

CHAPTER XI.

THE RESCUE.

To explain to our readers why the three shots are known as a distress
signal is simple. One shot would ordinarily be that of a hunter. Two
could be the same thing, provided the man was using a double barrelled
shotgun, such as is used in hunting birds. The chances that a hunter
would fire three shots in regular succession is very small, hence this
is the signal that is the S. O. S. of the woods. It is reported at
intervals, and after being heard two or three times, the woods voyager
may be sure that someone is in some great difficulty, fallen and broken
a leg, or lost in the dense timber.

"It's to the south of us," said Garry, as he wet a finger and held it up
to test the direction of the wind. "You see the breeze comes from that
direction, and the sound comes with it. Let's take it on the trot,
boys."

So saying, he led the way at an easy lope to the southwa