me for
that."

"I have an _idea_---" began Hugh slowly.

"And so have I!" interrupted Alec, glancing at Mark.

At that moment, Roy Norton began to ring the fog bell under the
captain's directions.

"Ding! Ding! Ding, ding, ding!" resounded the heavy iron tongue.

There was a pause, and then the signal was repeated. A longer
silence followed and again the slow, clear signal was twice repeated.

By this time, the captain had guided his dauntless little vessel
into slightly quieter waters, although she still pitched and tossed
in a way that would have alarmed a "landlubber."

Then came a new sound, louder than the noise of the pounding waves,
deeper than the clang of the iron bell.

"Boom! Boom! Boom, boom, boom!" An answering signal had broken the
silence where the steady light shone.

Mark started, as though recognizing the sound.

"Why, that-----" he began bewilderedly, "that is the signal gun at
Red Key! Captain, are you signaling to my father?"

"Jest so," Captain Vinton replied. "Keeper Anderson knows my knock
on his door!"

"How shall we land?" asked Chester excitedly, as he saw Dave making
ready to drop anchor.

At that moment a rocket went streaking up toward heaven and a second
later a slender rope fell writhing across the deck, where Roy stood
swinging a torch.

"Hurray!" called Hugh, seizing the rope just as Norton, at the
captain's orders, also grasped it. "Hurray! It's the breeches
buoy!"

It will be recalled by those who followed the adventures of "_The
Boy Scouts of the Life Saving Crew_," that Hugh and Billy, Chester
and Alec had been at the Red Key Station on the night of a thrilling
rescue. They had accompanied and in a slight way assisted the
life-savers on their patrols, at the launching of the life boat,
and in the final use of the breeches buoy.

It was most exciting to return to the scene of their memorable
experience in this unexpected fashion.

The boys hauled willingly on the rope and soon it was taut, the odd
conveyance swinging by the deck railing.

"You go first, Mark. While yer father knows my knock and realizes
that I didn't give my danger signal, still he may be a mite anxious
to see you, knowin' you was comin' home with me on the _Arrow_."

Obeying the captain's directions and grasping his waterproof bundle
of clothes, Mark thrust his legs into the breeches buoy, the signal
was given, and the trip through the waves began.

Soon the strange vehicle was ba