our boys stood for
some moments watching the column of smoke which seemed to grow more
dense every moment. While they looked, a second column appeared beside
the first.

"If we were in a Boy Scout country," Tommy exclaimed, "I should say that
was an Indian signal for help."

"In a Boy Scout country!" repeated Sandy. "If this isn't a Boy Scout
country, what is it? Every inhabitant, so far as we know, belongs to the
order!"

"Well, there's a Boy Scout call for assistance," urged Tommy, excitedly,
"and I think we'd better get a move on and see what it means!"

CHAPTER III

A MESSAGE IN CODE

"We mustn't all go," Will said, as his companions started on a run in
the direction of the smoke signals.

"I should say not!" exclaimed Sandy. "If we should all go away at one
time we might find another wounded boy in the cabin on our return!"

"Suppose you keep watch, then," Tommy suggested.

"All right," Sandy agreed. "I'll stay if you'll stay with me."

Tommy grumbled a little at the idea of missing a little possible
excitement, but the two lads entered the cabin and closed the door while
Will and George started away toward the signals.

The moraine over which they passed was something like a floor of loose
rocks of different sizes, with mats of mosses, lichens, sedges, and
dwarf shrubs scattered here and there, so the traveling was by no means
easy. Now and then the boys came to a place where the rocks were
entirely bare, and here their progress was more rapid.

The columns of smoke grew more distinct as they advanced, and, after
traveling a mile or more, they came to a position from which a figure
could be seen moving back and forth between the two fires.

"That's a kid all right!" Will decided, watching the figure closely
through a field glass. "And he's wearing a Boy Scout uniform, too!"

"I have an idea," George declared, with a sly wink at his chum, "that if
we should ascend to the Mountains of the Moon and drop into a gorge a
thousand feet deep, we'd find a Boy Scout in a khaki uniform at the
bottom."

"I'm not kicking at the discovery of a Boy Scout," laughed Will. "The
more Boy Scouts we come across in this desolate land the happier we
shall be."

"I'm not kicking, either," replied George. "I was only commenting on the
queer fact that we find Boy Scouts in every region we chance to visit."

"You'll find the little fellows scattered all over the world!" declared
Will. "And they're always doing