THE WIGWAG TELEGRAPH.
Thad now devoted himself to the task of communicating all he had to say
to his second in command, and as briefly as possible. Time was a factor
in the affair; and it would not pay to waste more minutes than were
absolutely necessary. The full particulars must be kept, to thrill the
patrol as they sat around the next blazing camp-fire, each one telling
his individual part of the story.
Fortunately Thad and Allan had long been practicing this exchange of
flag signals together; and in this way had become fairly expert in the
use of the little telegraphic code that takes the place of the
dot-and-dash of the wire process. With but his handkerchief to use in
place of the flag, Thad knew he would be hampered more or less; but he
had faith in the ability of his chum to grasp the truth, once he caught
an inkling of the peril that threatened.
And now Allan was signaling that he understood the chief wished to send
an important message, which he was ready to receive.
So Thad commenced by asking:
"Who have you close by to send with a message to Rockford?"
Allan asked him to repeat; and no wonder, for he could not exactly grasp
such an astonishing query; but on its being waved again he replied
promptly:
"Giraffe, Bumpus; other two gone signal station beyond."
"O. K. Send Giraffe at once. Tell him to make it as fast as he can. At
Rockford get Chief Police at Faversham on 'phone; name Malcolm
Hotchkiss. Tell him all that happened to us, about bear men, and that
one of them asked Davy to let chief know if he saw footprint of marked
shoe around. Believe that man on island, and that he is thief wanted by
authorities. How?"
This last was the query they understood between them. It meant that the
sender wished to know if the burden of his message was being fully
sensed by the one at the receiving end.
"O. K. Tremendous! Go on!" came the immediate reply.
Such long messages took more or less time, and would have been
impossible only that in their enthusiasm the two scouts had abbreviated
the code, so that they were able to really exchange sentences in a
short-hand way.
Thad went on to give the other more knowledge, believing that Giraffe
ought to be posted up to a certain point, so that he could urge the
Chief of the Faversham police to hasten his movements; for if night
fell, without the hidden men being captured, they could get away under
cover of darkness.
"Davy gone ashore behind floating log. Just landed at end of lake.
Thought of this scheme after he left. Man with owner of bear we believe
to be officer of law, looking for these rascals. Let Giraffe have your
compass. Give him map I left in tent. Our boat taken, and we can't get
ashore, for Smithy not able to swim. Let all practice for day drop, and
keep in camp, ready to take another message."
Then Thad made the winding-up movement that told Allan he did not wish
to consume more time by further talk. Enough had been sent in this
tedious way to let the other know the main facts of the matter; and they
were surely startling enough in themselves, without the particulars that
would follow later on, when peace had settled over the camp.
He saw that Allan understood the need of haste; for as soon as he had
made that peremptory signal, the second in command commenced going down
the slope of the hill with the bald top, taking great leaps as he went.
Eagerly did Thad watch his progress. Once, in his haste, Allan tripped
and fell headlong; and Thad's heart seemed to be in his mouth with the
suspense; but immediately the other scrambled to his feet again. His
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 wonderful manner, thanks to the knowledge he
and Allan possessed of this Signal Corps work.
"Why, it's already paid us ten times over for all the trouble we took
to learn the code," he was saying to himself, between chuckles. "And
besides, it was only fun, learning. Smithy was right when he said this
Boy Scout business was the best thing ever started in this or any other
country to benefit fellows. And I'm glad I had that idea of starting a
troop in sleepy old Cranford, so far behind the times."
Just then he happened to remember that he was not alone on the island.
Smithy would be getting quite anxious about him by now; and Thad
concluded that he ought to hunt the other scout up, so as to relieve his
mind.
He had read enough of the character of the new tenderfoot scout to feel
certain that Smithy would obey orders to the letter. Told to wait on the
little pebbly beach until his superior officer joined him, he would stay
there indefinitely; just as another lad, known to history and fame,
Casibianca, "stood on the burning deck, whence all but him had fled,"
simply because his father had told him to remain there.
So Thad commenced to descend from his lofty perch, meaning to hunt
Smithy up, and not only relieve his natural suspense, but reward him for
his long vigil by relating the result of the exchange of signals.
That the new recruit would be deeply interested, he felt sure; for
everything connected with the scouting business had a fascination for
Smithy; now living an existence he may have dreamed about in former
days, but really never hoped to personally experience.
Just then the loon, floating and diving out on the bosom of the water
somewhere, had to give vent to his idiotic laugh. Possibly he had been
observing the watcher in the dead tree-top, and was announcing his
opinion of such silly antics when he noticed Thad begin to descend.
The sound struck a cold chill to the heart of the boy, though he laughed
at himself immediately afterward for allowing such a feeling to come
over him.
"It's only the loon," he said, as he again slipped from limb to limb,
constantly nearing the base of the tree. "I suppose the thing's been
watching me all the time, and wondering what under the sun a fellow
could be doing, waving his old handkerchief around as though he were
daffy. He looks on me as a lunatic, and I know him to be a loon."
Chuckling at his little joke, Thad presently reached a point where he
could hang from the lower limb by his hands, and then drop lightly to
the ground.
He waited only a minute to recover his breath, for after all the coming
down had been more of a task than the mounting upward. Then he started
for the shore of the lake, and the little beach that had witnessed both
landings of the invading parties of scouts.
Twice now had that same beach afforded a surprise as unwelcome as it was
unexpected, when the boat had vanished so strangely. Thad hoped history
would not feel bound to repeat itself. True, they no longer had a boat
to lose, since it had already disappeared; but then, there was Smithy!
As he drew near the beach, he tried to discover the form of his comrade
somewhere in the open, but without success. Still, Thad knew that the
tenderfoot would doubtless consider it the part of wisdom to hide, while
waiting for his comrade to finish his work aloft, and join him.
Thinking thus, and yet with an uneasiness that he could hardly
understand, Thad kept on, until presently he had broken through the last
line of bushes, and stepped out on the little sandy stretch of beach.
Certainly Smithy was not in sight. He turned in both directions, and
swept the half circle of brush with an anxious gaze.
Then he called in a low tone, but which might easily have been heard by
any one chancing to be hiding behind that fringe of bushes:
"Smithy, hello!"
There was no answer to his summons. The loon laughed again out on the
lake, as though mocking his anxiety; a squirrel ran down a tree, and
frisked about its base; but the tenderfoot scout seemed to have vanished
as utterly as though the earth had opened and swallowed him up.