fore long, however, they caught sight of three
points of flame lifting above the hills. As the boys looked the
blazes seemed to die down, or to be obscured by additional material
being thrown upon them. As the moon rose, sending a wintry light
over the great slope, three gigantic columns of smoke stood where
the flames had shown a minute before.

"What do you make of it?" asked Thede.

"Can you read the signal?" asked Sandy.

"Do you really think it is a signal?"

"Of course it's a signal!" cried Sandy. "That's the Boy Scout
signal. Do you know what it says?"

"Three smoke columns mean 'Good News!' answered Thede.

"Do you suppose those crazy boys are still in the hills?" asked
Sandy. "If they are, George will think we've all deserted him."

"Of course they're still in the hills!" declared Thede. "No one
but Boy Scouts would be sending up those signals!"

"Aw, what good news would they have to communicate?" asked Sandy.

"Perhaps they've found the Little Brass God!" suggested Thede.

"Found your Little Brass Uncle!" cried Sandy.

"Well, it's good news anyhow!" insisted Thede. "If it wasn't the
boys wouldn't be taking the pains to build three big fires in order
to tell us about it."

The Indian appeared to be suspicious of the campfires ahead until
the boys explained to him, with much difficulty, that the fires had
undoubtedly been built by their friends, and that they conveyed the
information that agreeable developments awaited them.

The slope of the hills was now bathed in moonlight, and the Indian
hesitated about advancing over the many clear places from which the
timber fell away. Urged on by the boys, however, he finally
proceeded cautiously in the direction of the fires, keeping out of
the moonlight as far as possible.

"Oje's afraid we'll bunt into something," Thede said, as they
clambered up the slope. "I wonder what he'd think if he should be
called out of his bed by a blooming magician from the East Indies."

The signal coming from the hills was farther to the east than the
boys had ventured before. The fires seemed to have been built high
up on a shelf of rock facing the north.

When the boys came closer they saw two figures moving about in
front of the flames. Directly they bad no difficulty whatever in
recognizing Will and Tommy, as they heaped great piles of green
boughs on the coals in order to create dense smoke.

"The kids are in the center of the stage all right!" laughe