home here in the evening. Half a dozen dry cells would give us one-sixth
of a kilowatt of current, and that ought to carry a message twenty-five or
thirty miles easily. At night we might be able to talk fifty miles. We can
carry six cells easily. The remainder of the outfit won't weigh much.
We'll have to go as light as we can, for it's a mighty tough hike over Old
Ironsides and on into that little valley."

"Shall we take our pistols?" asked Charley.

"We'd better have at least one. You never can tell when you're going to
need a pistol in the forest. Remember the time that bear treed me on the
first hike of the Wireless Patrol? I don't ever want to get into another
situation like that without something to shoot with."

Charley chuckled. "It wasn't a pistol that saved you then," he smiled,
"but Willie Brown and his spark-gap."

"Then we'll be doubly armed," replied Lew. "Since you have so much faith
in wireless, you can carry the outfit. I'll pack the gun. We're almost
certain to have some kind of adventure, for every time the Wireless Patrol
or any of its members venture into the woods, something exciting happens."




Chapter III

Off to the Mountains