arter of a
mile away. Alec had finished his work and had the well-developed
films hanging to dry, securely fastened to his stout cord with snap
clothes-pins, so there was no danger of any unfortunate catastrophe
happening to them before they were thoroughly dry.

"Listen, will you?" suddenly exclaimed Monkey Stallings, sitting bolt
upright, and raising one hand impressively.

"Oh, my stars! what do you call that?" gurgled Billy. From the
manner in which the color deserted his ruddy cheeks one might have
imagined he feared they were about to be attacked by a host of savage
pirates bent on plunder.

Alec and Arthur could also be seen to stare vacantly at the distance
while they strained their ears to listen. As for Hugh himself he
found it hard to believe his senses, for the absolute quiet and dead
calm brooding all day long over that retired spot in the wilderness
had been rudely shattered by a most astonishing noise as of many hoarse
voices, making a jumble and roar of sound unlike anything save the
confusion of battle.

It rose, it died away again, and then once more swelled to an amazing
extent, after which it finally stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

Five scouts stared at each other. Billy rubbed his eyes as though he
really began to believe he must be asleep, and passing through a vivid
dream bordering on the nightmare.

"Hugh! what can it be?" demanded Alec, a bit pale with sudden excitement,
for which in truth he could not be at all blamed under the circumstances.

For once the scout master seemed puzzled himself. He shook his head
in a way that brought new consternation to the heart of Billy Worth.

"You've got me up against a hard proposition when you ask me that, Alec!"
was what Hugh declared.

"Then you can't even give a guess, can you, Hugh?" Billy besought him.

"We all heard the racket, that's sure," muttered Stallings, as though
he had possibly begun to suspect he might be a victim of some delusion,
and wished to make certain the others were in the same boat as himself.

"And it sounded just like a dozen, yes, three dozen men shouting like
anything," Arthur assured him.

"I wonder-----" began Billy, starting up eagerly.

"If you've got an idea hurry and tell us what it is!" urged the impatient
Alec. "I'll be hanged if I can grapple anything, it's given me such
a bad shock."

"Go on, Billy!" added Arthur.

"Why," explained the fat scout, "you see, I was thinking that p'r'aps
th