"Keep still! Thad's going to talk some more!" grumbled b.u.mpus.

Again did the fire signaling go on; and the new torch selected by the expert Giraffe proved even better that the one that had burned out.

Letter by letter did Thad send a long message, and Allan spelled it out as it progressed; so that by the time it was completed every one knew just what had been flashed upward toward the unseen receiving party above.

"Can we get up to where you are?"

Now the fiery finger in the darkness began to write an answer; every letter was plainly carried out, so that not in a signal instance did Thad "trip up" as he read it aloud.

"Yes, but come quick--bring rope--might fall any minute!"

"I bet you he's hanging on to a little narrow shelf of rock!" declared b.u.mpus.

"But if he is, how in the d.i.c.kens could he get the fire to signal with; that's what bothers me?" muttered Giraffe.

"Where are you?" signaled the scoutmaster, promptly, thinking to get all the information possible while the chance remained.

"On a ledge part way down the cliff," answered the one who had said his was Aleck Rawson.

"How did you get there?" went on Thad.

"Lowered here, and left to die like a dog," came the stunning answer.

"Did you ever hear the equal of that?" cried out b.u.mpus. "Now what sort of people could ever be guilty of such a horrible thing as that, I'd like to know?"

"Oh!" remarked the guide, "they's a heap of bad men around these parts, I tell ye; but I got a notion I kin see through a board that's got a knot-hole in it. Ask him who put him there, Mr. Scout Master, please?"

Thad would have done this, even though Toby had not spoken; indeed, he was even then about to start putting the question.

"Who put you there?"

"Colonel Knocker did--will you come and get me?"

"The old villain!" gasped b.u.mpus. "He ought to be tarred and feathered for such a wicked piece of work. What d'ye suppose he did it for? I wonder now, if this same Aleck Rawson could know anything about the secret of that hidden mine; and Cracker-jack John just wants to torture him till he tells?"

"That sounds like it, b.u.mpus; you're good at guessing things, after all," remarked Step Hen.

"Keep still, back there; Thad's sending another message!" warned Giraffe.

And in his steady way, the scoutmaster went on to flash back the rea.s.suring words:

"Yes, we will come to you. Hold on! It may take us some time. Start right away!"

"Thank you!" came from above, and then the light that had moved backward and forward, up and down, and around in eccentric circles, vanished, as though with that last word the torch, if that was what it was, had been exhausted.

But at least it had served long enough to bear a startling message to the boys of the Silver Fox Patrol, camping there in the valley of the great Rockies.

"Now what?" exclaimed the impatient Giraffe.

Somehow, not one of them gave the waiting supper a single thought just then; for this new and exciting diversion had made them utterly forget such a thing as being hungry.

"I want several of you to go along with me," said Thad; "Toby for one, because of his strong arms, in case we have to do any lifting; also Giraffe; and Allan, perhap you'd like to be in the party also?"

"I certainly would," declared the Maine boy instantly; "if you think I can be spared from the camp."

"Oh!" said Thad, "they'll get on all right here, because every fellow will be put on his honor not to stray away from the fire while we're gone. b.u.mpus, please let me have that rope you carry with you. It's proved valuable several times already, and may come in all right again."

b.u.mpus had a very queer idea, in that he persisted in carrying a thin, braided rope wrapped around his body. It was of the sash cord species, slender, but extra strong. b.u.mpus had seen the great need of a rope once or twice, and made up his mind that he would never be without one, when abroad in the woods or wilderness. And it had proven useful to him too; in fact, but for its possession b.u.mpus might not have been there, so blithe and happy, at that very moment. Having unfortunately become mired in a slimy mudhole when lost in the big timber, he was slowly sinking on account of his desperate efforts to get out, when he happened to notice the convenient limb of a tree just a couple of feet over his head; and remembering his rope, he had thrown it, doubled, over the same; and by making a tremendous spurt, managed to drag his feet out of the sucking mud, climbing to safety.

And of course after that nothing could ever induce the fat scout to think of abandoning that precious rope.

So he started to unwind it now; and as if this might be a signal for some of the boys to a.s.sist, they seized hold of b.u.mpus, pulling at the rope, until they had him whirling around in a dizzy fashion, protesting all the while, but without any avail. Finally the rope was wholly unwound, and b.u.mpus found himself sitting there on the ground, with the stars waving in all sorts of queer circles over his head, for he felt as "rocky" as though he had been indulging in strong drink.

"But be _aw_ful careful of that rope, won't you, Thad?" he managed to call out, as the scoutmaster started to coil it up for carrying.

"I certainly will, b.u.mpus," replied the other; "and thank you for the loan of it. Come on, those who are going with me; take your guns along, even if we don't find any use for them. And say, you fellows in camp, save our share of supper for us, remember!"

CHAPTER V.

TAKING FATHER'S PLACE.

"Must be nearly up at the top now, Thad."

It was Giraffe who said this. The little party of four, Thad; Toby, the guide; Giraffe, and Allan, had been climbing upwards steadily for more than an hour now; and even the long-legged scout was beginning to pant more or less from the exertion.

Having been through the valley more than once before, Toby Smathers had been able to take them along the trail that led up the other side.

Often they would have been at a loss just how to proceed only for his superior knowledge. And then the moon had risen too, which meant considerable in the way of light; for topping the other range, it shed its brilliant illumination on the side of the elevation the scouts were now mounting so bravely.

"How about it, Toby?" asked the patrol leader, wishing to satisfy his own curiosity, as well as please Giraffe.

"Right thar, now, and arter this we ain't goin' to have much climbin'.

But you-all want to be keerful 'bout goin' too clost to the edge. That drop is all of three hundred feet, I reckons," the guide made answer.

"And think of those sharks aleavin' that boy part way down the face of that awful precipice!" said Giraffe, gritting his teeth in a way he had of doing when he wished to let everybody know just how mad he was.

"It's taken a whole hour for us to climb up here," remarked Thad; "and we can hardly count on getting back to the camp in less than another, even if things go right with us."

"Well, wasn't I wise, then, in sayin' we had ought to s.n.a.t.c.h up some grub, to bite at on the way?" declared Giraffe, triumphantly. "I reckon, now, I'd never a been able to a dumb up this far, if I hadn't kept nibblin' away at the stuff they handed us when we was startin'

out. And there's more awaitin' for us after we get back, which I take it is a lucky thing; because my appet.i.te keeps on growin' all the while, what with this tough climb."

On the way of course the three scouts had indulged in all sorts of speculations concerning the cause of Colonel Kracker treating the son of Jerry Rawson in such a scurvy way.

And after the subject had been thoroughly discussed, it seemed to be the consensus of opinion that the boy must possess some map, or at least some knowledge concerning the location of the hidden mine, which the money-mad prospector, whose one idea in life nowadays seemed to be the discovery of this rich silver lode, was trying to force him to give up.

"Anyhow," Giraffe had declared, with conviction in his voice, "I give you my word now, that Aleck's been a Boy Scout, some time or other; because he wouldn't a known how to wigwag that clever way if he hadn't."