“Could you count upon hearing the reports?”
“Yes,—as a rule; there is nothing to obstruct the sound on the water, unless it might be a strong wind, and as to that we shall have to take chances. My signal may vary.”
“Your signal,” repeated the astonished nephew; “what need can you have for anything of the kind?”
“Probably not any, and yet there’s no certainty that I shall not. I brought some fireworks for the amusement of Stubby. Among them are a dozen sky rockets. If we should find ourselves in need of help at night, three rockets sent up in the sky will notify the Boy Scouts, who I know will make all haste hither, and a score of such young fellows form a force that even a half dozen men dare not despise. If I need them after they have retired I can use my rifle or revolver the same as they would use their weapon.”
“Suppose the emergency should happen in the daytime?”
“We have our firearms to appeal to; with them we can duplicate the call of the Boy Scouts.”
“I suppose the system is the best that can be devised,” said Burton, “and yet it strikes me it is as likely to fail as to succeed.”
“Why?”
“For your rockets to serve, some of the boys must see them,—and what certainty is there that they will do so?”
“Of course there’s the possibility that they may not,—but until Scout Master Hall and his charges retire for the night, all or a majority of them are on the piazza and some of them would be certain to observe the rockets as they streamed upward, leaving a trail of fire behind them.”