CHAPTER XXVI.
A SIGNAL STATION IN A TREE-TOP.
"Oh! that's the finest thing that ever could happen, Thad;" was the way the delighted Smithy put his feelings into words. "And just to think that right here you can make use of scout knowledge to tell Allan what's happened. Why, without the wigwag telegraph we'd never be able to let him know one single thing."
"Just what I was thinking myself, Smithy," returned the scout-master. "And as you get deeper into the splendid things a Boy Scout is supposed to learn, while he climbs the ladder, you'll find that never a day passes but what he can help himself, or some other fellow, by what he knows."
"I'm quite certain about that, Thad," Smithy went on, brimming over with satisfaction, and wonder at the cleverness of his chum. "Why, I was just thinking it all over this morning, and what great chances a scout has to do things that an ordinary boy would never be able to even try, because he had not learned. Right now I'm positive I know how to best stop a runaway horse without endangering my life more than is absolutely necessary."
"That's the kind of talk I like to hear, Smithy; it shows that you understand what the scout movement stands for; and mean to make the most of the opportunities."
"Then suppose a chum of mine got in the water, and was taken with a cramp," Smithy went on hurriedly, his blue eyes sparking with delight; "why, after what you showed me this morning, I believe that as soon as I know a little more about swimming, I could get him ashore."
"And when you had done that?" questioned Thad, who was meanwhile keeping his eyes around him for the purpose of discovering the best tree which he could use as a signal tower, in the carrying out of his bold plan for communicating with the balance of the Silver Fox Patrol.
"Why, I wrote down every little thing you did when showing us how to revive a partly drowned person; and Thad, I practiced on a dummy when nobody was around to laugh. I'm positive I have it down pat, and could do the business."
"Laugh!" repeated the pleased scout-master; "I'd just like to see any scout under my control make fun of a fellow who was so much in earnest that he devoted some of his spare minutes to practicing the art of saving a human life. I hope you may never have to put that knowledge to practical use, Smithy; but if the occasion ever does come along, I firmly believe you'll be equal to it. I'm more than pleased at the earnest way you've taken hold of these things."