"Wait," said Skinny. "First let's give the danger signal. That'll fetch 'em."
"But there ain't any danger," I told him. "What's the use of lying, even with smoke?"
"You bet there's danger," said he. "There's danger of losing your mother's supper, ain't there?"
So I gave him one end of a wet blanket which I was carrying, and I grabbed hold of the other end. We covered the fire with it, stopping all of the smoke; then took it off and let a big puff go up; then covered it again and sent up a little puff, and kept doing that until I was sure the boys would be most crazy, for that sign means danger.
After we had done it a while, we spelled out the word "come." We did that by using the blanket to make a short puff of smoke for a dot and a long puff for a dash, like this:
... C .. O — M . E
We waited and spelled it out twice more to make sure, and then went down the hill to the house.
"Shall I set the table for the others?" Ma asked, when she saw us coming.
"They will be here in a few minutes," said Skinny, looking at his watch.
We were not sure of it, but we hoped they would and, as Skinny said, it wouldn't do any hurt to get the table ready.