“How long do you think that blooming savage will keep this up?” asked Sandy of Thede, as the two boys struggled along through snow nearly up to their knees.  “I’m about all in!”

“He’s capable of keeping it up all night!” Thede answered in a dejected tone, “but I hope he’ll stop when we come to the hills.”

“He does seem to be heading for the hills,” Sandy replied.  “If he’ll only stop when he gets there, I may be able to catch my breath again!”

“Cheer up!” laughed Thede.  “The worst is yet to come!”

“Doesn’t that look like the moon coming up?” asked Sandy an hour later 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 much good if we keep on walking under the trees.  We ought to be home now.”

“Does the moon rise in the south?” asked Sandy,

“There’s no knowing what will take place in this part of the country,” 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 right minds climb a tree to get away from bears who are so busy eating stolen fish that they don’t know there is a boy within a hundred miles, 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 moons rising, one in the east and one in the south!”

There certainly was a light growing far up on the hills.  In a moment the Indian came back to the boys and pointed out the strange illumination.

“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.  His eyes were sharper than those of the boys, who at first saw only a blur of light.  Before 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!”