"Then, perhaps, we may be able to solve a portion of the mystery as soon as we get into conversation with the lad," Will continued.
"I wonder why he didn't come to the cabin during the night?" asked George. "He surely must have seen the lights shining from the windows."
Will turned and looked back over the route they had followed.
"We can't see the cabin from here," he said.
"That's a fact," George agreed, "and if the smoke hadn't been going up good and plenty we would never have seen that!"
The next moment the lad at the fires saw Will and George approaching and ran forward to meet them, uttering as he ran the sharp, quick bark of the fox. The boys responded with the challenge of the Beaver Patrol.
The lad met the two with anything but a serious or anxious expression on his face. He grasped them heartily by the hand and pointed toward the columns of smoke, still rising into the sky.
"No matter where you start a signal fire," he said with a smile, "you're sure to find some Boy Scout who will understand and answer."
"Even in Alaska!" George grinned. "A thousand miles from nowhere you can dig up a nest of Boy Scouts by sending up an Indian sign for help."
"Are you Will Smith?" the boy asked after a few more words of greeting had been exchanged. "If you are, I've come along way to find you!"