Boy Scouts in Northern Wilds; Or, The Signal from the Hills
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CHAPTER XIX
THE SIGNAL FROM THE HILLS
"That's a funny proposition, too!" whispered Sandy.
"That's the gink who tried to feed us poisoned tea," Thedewhispered back. "I wonder what he's running for."
The Indian drew at the boys' sleeves to enforce silence, and allthree sat perfectly still for some moments. Then Antoine liftedhimself to his feet and looked cautiously about.
They saw him examine the bear tracks and heard him muttering tohimself as he followed with trained eyes the trail leading into thethicket where the boys and the Indian were hiding.
He drew quite close to the bushes where the three lay; so close,indeed, that they could hear him muttering as he lost the trailbecause of the darkness. Presently, he turned back.
"I think I understand," he said hoarsely. "Two of the boys weretreed by bears and Oje rescued them. I presume they are half wayto the cabin before this."
He started along the trail by which the boys had reached the treebut presently turned back. He stood in the light of the fire for amoment and then set off in the direction of the hills.
"Safer there than here!" they heard him growl as he passed them by.
Oje waited until the sound of the fellow's footsteps were heard nomore, and then arose to his feet, Without speaking a word, he, too,faced toward the hills, passing through the snow at a swinging gait.
"What's he going to do now?" queried Sandy.
"I wish I knew!" replied Thede. "Say, look here!" the boycontinued, "hadn't we better make a break for the cabin? I don'tsee any sustenance in wandering around in the snow all night!"
"Oje has something on his mind!" Sandy declared. "And I think we'dbetter find out where he's going."
"All right!" answered Thede. "I'm game, only I'm wondering whatGeorge is thinking about all this time."
It was cold and dark in the forest, and the snow was deep, but theboys trudged bravely on in the direction of the hills. At leastthey supposed that they were going in the direction of the hills.They could scarcely see a yard in advance of their noses under thethick foliage and so trusted entirely to the Indian, who led themalong at a pace which was exhausting to say the least.
There would be a moon shortly after eight, but soon after that timethey hoped to be snugly tucked in their blankets in the cottage.For a time they could see the dry tree which they had fired blazingin the distance, but at length it dropped out of sight.
"How long do you think that blooming savage will keep this up?"asked Sandy of Thede, as the two boys struggled along through snownearly up to their knees. "I'm about all in!"
"He's capable of keeping it up all night!" Thede answered in adejected tone, "but I hope he'll stop when we come to the hills."
"He does seem to be heading for the hills," Sandy replied. "Ifhe'll only stop when he gets there, I may be able to catch mybreath again!"
"Cheer up!" laughed Thede. "The worst is yet to come!"
"Doesn't that look like the moon coming up?" asked Sandy an hourlater as they came to a slope which gradually led up to the hills.
"That's the moon, all right!" replied Thede. "But it won't do muchgood if we keep on walking under the trees. We ought to be homenow."
"Does the moon rise in the south?" asked Sandy,
"There's no knowing what will take place in this part of thecountry," answered Thede. "Me for little old Chicago right soon!"
"I think it's about time we headed for Chicago," Sandy agreed."When a couple of Boy Scouts who are supposed to be in their rightminds climb a tree to get away from bears who are so busy eatingstolen fish that they don't know there is a boy within a hundredmiles, I think it is about time they headed for civilization."
"What did you mean about the moon rising in the south?" asked Thede.
"Well," Sandy answered, "it looks to me as if there were two moonsrising, one in the east and one in the south!"
There certainly was a light growing far up on the hills. In amoment the Indian came back to the boys and pointed out the strangeillumination.
"Fire there!" he said.
"What do you think it means?" asked Thede.
"Heap campfire!" was the reply.
Oje held up three fingers to indicate that he saw three fires. Hiseyes were sharper than those of the boys, who at first saw only ablur of light. Before long, however, they caught sight of threepoints of flame lifting above the hills. As the boys looked theblazes seemed to die down, or to be obscured by additional materialbeing thrown upon them. As the moon rose, sending a wintry lightover the great slope, three gigantic columns of smoke stood wherethe 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 Scoutsignal. 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?" askedSandy. "If they are, George will think we've all deserted him."
"Of course they're still in the hills!" declared Thede. "No onebut 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 theboys wouldn't be taking the pains to build three big fires in orderto tell us about it."
The Indian appeared to be suspicious of the campfires ahead untilthe boys explained to him, with much difficulty, that the fires hadundoubtedly been built by their friends, and that they conveyed theinformation that agreeable developments awaited them.
The slope of the hills was now bathed in moonlight, and the Indianhesitated about advancing over the many clear places from which thetimber fell away. Urged on by the boys, however, he finallyproceeded cautiously in the direction of the fires, keeping out ofthe moonlight as far as possible.
"Oje's afraid we'll bunt into something," Thede said, as theyclambered up the slope. "I wonder what he'd think if he should becalled out of his bed by a blooming magician from the East Indies."
The signal coming from the hills was farther to the east than theboys had ventured before. The fires seemed to have been built highup on a shelf of rock facing the north.
When the boys came closer they saw two figures moving about infront of the flames. Directly they bad no difficulty whatever inrecognizing Will and Tommy, as they heaped great piles of greenboughs on the coals in order to create dense smoke.
"The kids are in the center of the stage all right!" laughed Sandy.
"I don't see how they dare build fires out in that exposed place,"Thede suggested. "There's no knowing who may be prowling around."
"Perhaps they know where the few enemies we have found in thissection are keeping themselves!"
"Perhaps they've got 'em shut up in some of their own caverns!"Thede suggested. "Anyway," he went on, "there's something doing,or they wouldn't be talking Boy Scout to us at this time of night."
As the boys drew still closer they heard the labored breathing ofsome one running, apparently only a short distance away.
Oje darted away in the direction of the sounds, but soon returnedto where the boys waited and headed once more for the Boy Scoutsignal.
"What did you see, Oje?" Thede asked.
The Indian turned and pointed back over the snowy trail they hadfollowed from the burning tree.
"Man from there!" he said.
"Antoine?" asked Sandy.
The Indian nodded and continued up the slope as if the matter wereunworthy of further attention.
"Now, what do you suppose Antoine came here for?" asked Thede.
"Attracted by the fire, probably,"
"I don't understand what he's roaming about so much for," Thedecontinued.
"What was he doing out at the burning tree?"
"From the appearance of things," Sandy answered, "I should say thathe hot-footed it out there in order to get away from some one whowas chasing him, though I can't understand why anyone should bechasing him."
"Anyway, he seems to be back here now," Thede said. "It's dollarsto buttons, though, that he doesn't go up to the fire where theboys are."
"Look here," Sandy said in a moment, '"I just believe that Antoinehas the Little Brass God in his possession, and that the two menwho came to the cabin that night are after it!"
"I hope they don't get it!"
"Of course they won't get it," Sandy answered. "Didn't we comeaway up here into this desolate land to get it ourselves?"
When a few yards from the blazing fires, Sandy paused long enoughto give the Beaver call and hear the answer given. Then the ladstrooped up to the circle of light and warmth.
"What's the idea?" Sandy asked after greetings had been exchanged."Did you build these fires so we could cook supper?"
"You're not hungry, I hope!" grinned Tommy.
"Starved to death!" answered Sandy. "We've been treed by bears,and dumped down on the back of a great beast about nine feet long,and had our fish devoured, and there's been nothing doing in theeating line since noon!"
"Never you mind the hardships of life!" grinned Will. "We've gotgreat news for you, so get ready to shout!"
"What's the great news?" demanded Sandy.
"We've got the Little Brass God penned up in the cavern just underthis rock! We've got a cinch on him this time!"