et it
through the horn. I'm sure I got an SOS, very faint. I'm going to try to
get it again."

Bud and Hal did as directed and listened with quite as much eagerness as
that which was evident in Cub's manner. Several minutes elapsed before
the search was rewarded. Then at last, in fairly distinct, although
faint, vibrations came the distress signal again. All three heard it, and
this time Cub caught the wave "on the knob" and did not let it go.

The operator sending the distress signal was evidently pleading
desperately for attention, which nobody, it seemed, was willing to give
to him. Several times he repeated his SOS, following each repetition with
his own private call and wave length. Then he broadcast the following
message in explanation of his appeal for help:

"I am marooned on island in Lake of Thousand Isles. I landed here from a
motor boat with wireless outfit. Lake thieves stole my boat and left me
here with outfit and little food. Will starve in few days if I don't get
help. My call is V A X."

"Cracky!" exclaimed Bud excitedly. "Isn't that a thriller! He's an
amateur and in trouble. We're in honor bound to help him."

"How?" demanded Cub derisively. "What can we do here nearly two hundred
miles away from him?"

"We might get word to some police or lake patrol that'll go and take him
off," Hal suggested.

"He's a Canadian," objected Cub. "Didn't you get his Canadian call? We'd
have the time of our life getting a Government station to pay any
attention to us hams. But listen, somebody's calling him."

All three listened-in eagerly, expectantly, wonderingly. Apparently
this fellow also was a Canadian amateur, although he failed to
identify himself.

"Oh, come off, you can't get by with that Robinson Crusoe stuff in this
twentieth century," he "jeered" with all the pep he could put into his
spark. "Some joke you're trying to play. What kind of publicity stunt is
this, anyway?"

"No publicity," was "Crusoe's" reply. "I'll starve if I don't get
help. You're doing your best to kill me. Keep out, I won't talk to you
any more."

"I will not keep out," declared the other. "You're an imposter. I'm
protecting the public."

"Whew!" ejaculated Cub, wiping his brow and snapping over the aerial
switch. "I'm going to find out something about this."

A moment later his right hand was working the sending key with the speed
and skill of an expert, while blue flames leaped over the gap with
spiteful alphabetic