s
first thought must have been of the chum whose eyes he knew were glued
upon him; for he made a reassuring wave of his arm, and resumed his
downward progress, a trifle more carefully now.

Presently he vanished among the trees that grew about two-thirds of the
way up, and Thad saw only occasional glimpses of him from that moment
onward; as the flying figure flashed across some little gap in the
verdure-clad hillside; never failing to wave his arms reassuringly to
the watcher.

"He must be nearly down at the base now," Thad said to himself, after
some time had elapsed since he saw any sign of the hurrying scout.

Knowing what was apt to follow, he kept his ears on the alert for
welcome sounds which would tell that Allan had given the recall to the
two scouts sent to the distant station, with their relay of flags, in
order to receive and send messages.

A minute, two, three of them glided away. Thad was beginning to feel a
trifle uneasy, not knowing but that some further accident might have
happened to Allan, in his eagerness to reach the foot of the hill.

But his fears proved groundless. Presently there floated distinctly to
his ears, for water carries sounds wonderfully well, the sweet notes of
the bugle which Bumpus Hawtree knew so well how to manipulate. It was
the "assembly" that was sounded, and those distant scouts, upon hearing
the well-known signal, would surely understand its tenor; and that for
some reason the plans of the day had undergone a decided change, so that
they were to return forthwith to the camp.

Sweeter sounds Thad believed he had never heard than those that came
stealing over the troubled surface of Lake Omega that morning, when
affairs were beginning to have such a serious look for the Silver Fox
Patrol.

He gave a sigh of relief. Some of the strain seemed to have departed,
now that his signaling task had apparently been successfully carried
out.

"In a short time, Giraffe will be starting across for the road leading
to Rockford," Thad was saying to himself, as he sat there in his lofty
eyrie, and surveying the whole island that lay bathed in the sunlight
beneath him. "With a fair amount of good luck he ought to get there by
half-past one, perhaps much earlier; for Giraffe is a fast runner, and
has staying powers."

The prospect was of a character to give Thad infinite pleasure. And
somehow he seemed also greatly delighted because he had been able to
hurry matters along in a wonder