Core Concepts Of Accounting Information Systems 12th Edition Simkin Solutions Manual

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SM 8.1
Chapter 8
Accounting Information Systems and Business Processes:
Part II
Discussion Questions
8-1. Four data items that both payroll and personnel functions would use are: employee
number (or SSN), employee name, department, and title. Personnel data would also include data
such as date hired, date of birth, and contact and family data. Payroll data would include pay rate,
job code, and information about deductions.
8-2. Accounting transactions for payroll processing involve essentially the same steps for
each employee. Gross pay, deductions, and net pay must all be calculated. These calculations
involve a lot of basic math (e.g., footing and cross-footing). Outside service bureaus may be less
expensive for payroll processing. They may also offer some advantages in terms of confidentiality.
8-3. Data items likely to be added when inputting a new raw materials inventory item
include: merchandise number, description, quantity measure (e.g., yard, pound, pair, etc.), vendor,
and cost. When a worker records time spent on a production line, data to be input include: worker
identification number, time started and stopped, department to be charged, and rate. In both these
examples, there are other data items that an AIS may capture, depending on the nature of the
reports to be output.
8-4. Nonfinancial information that an AIS might capture about a manufacturing firm’s
production process would primarily consist of information that would help in evaluating productivity
and performance. For example, information needed for control would be the amount of wasted
materials and machine downtime. Productivity information would relate to the amount of time
needed to produce a product or each product component. AISs tend to focus on dollar
measurements, but in many cases, measurements of quantities are equally important to a
business organization.
8-5. The basic concepts are a commitment to eliminate waste, simplify procedures and
speed up production. There are five areas that drive lean manufacturing, and they are cost, quality,
delivery, safety, and morale. Non-value added activities (waste) are eliminated through continuous
improvement efforts (http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/lean_production_main.html).
The concepts that are at the heart of lean production/manufacturing are total quality management
and continuous improvement.
8-6. AIM Industries, a metal stamping company, located in Grand Haven, MI has been in
business for over 40 years. Jeanne Duthler had 10 employees when she bought the plant in 1984.
Now there are 37, and last year’s sales were $5 million. The company is doing the same numbers
dollar wise as they did last year, but showing more profit as a result of lean manufacturing. For
2007, the company expected to increase profitability by 10%.
Lean practices at AIM include:
• Consolidating production steps
• Having raw materials set up at hand to save time and increase productivity
• Moving presses to make production flow smoother
• Finishing a product in one space rather than walking to another room for finishing

SM 8.2
For more examples, see Karen Kroll, “The Lowdown on Lean Accounting,” The Journal of
Accountancy (July 2004), pp. 69-76.
8-7. For examples, see Karen Kroll, “The Lowdown on Lean Accounting,” The Journal of
Accountancy (July 2004), pp. 69-76.
8-8. Both homebuilders and cement companies have information needs related to their
manufacturing processes. The primary difference between these two companies concerns the
need to maintain a job order versus a process costing system. The homebuilder is likely to track
many costs for each individual house built. The cement company will use an AIS that uses input
and output data to calculate costs for specific quantities. This distinction is likely to impact the type
of accounting software a company chooses. Some software packages are specially designed for
either job order or process costing manufacturing environments.
8-9. This chapter discussed AISs for the professional services, health care, and not-for-profit
industries. Some students feel that “the absence of merchandise inventory” is the unique
characteristic of service organizations that causes the greatest problem in their AISs (i.e., budget
forecasting of “returns-on-assets employed” can be difficult). However, the greatest problem may
be the difficulty in measuring the quantity and quality of output, which gives rise to difficulties in
budgetary planning activities, as well as developing preestablished operational quality goals for its
intangible products. These difficulties can cause various negligence suits against service
organizations.
Other vertical market industries include insurance, banking, construction, manufacturing, retail,
hospitality, and government organizations. Each is somewhat unique in its AIS needs. Insurance
has many special issues including co-insurance. The insurance industry is quite diverse and
various kinds of insurers need a variety of accounting information. An important issue for the
insurance industry is fraud. The banking industry must deal with check clearing, credit ratings and
credit histories, as well as information about financial markets. The construction industry is
concerned with projects and has a need for job cost accounting systems and bidding capabilities.
Retailers use POS (point-of-sale) systems to collect a variety of data helpful in analyzing sales.
Manufacturing systems need inventory control systems that allow them to efficiently manage a
variety of inventories. These systems may be quite sophisticated and can include MRP II and/or
ERP capabilities (input technologies might also be used, such as RFIDs and bar codes). The
hospitality industry includes restaurants and hotels and so its information systems vary.
Restaurants are concerned with monitoring costs and perishable inventories. Hotels need
sophisticated reservation systems that can handle various billing rates. AISs for government
entities are built around fund accounting and must comply with governmental accounting
standards. These are just a few of the issues you might discuss relative to these industries.
8-10. To ensure that a business reengineering effort is successful, managers will want to
“champion” the effort. This means obtaining a buy in from employees and showing unwavering
commitment and enthusiasm for the project. Honesty is important because many workers equate
reengineering with downsizing. Managers should be realistic about jobs that may be lost and
should prepare to retrain workers or provide career counseling to affected employees.
Management should be conservative in estimating the benefits to accrue from reengineering
efforts, as well as the costs that may be incurred. The cost of reengineering can be high. Several
good reference articles on this topic are:
“Change Champions,” J. Berk, The Internal Auditor, April 2006, pp.64-68.

SM 8.3
“Get Ready: The Rules are Changing,” K. Melymuka, Computerworld, June 13, 2005, p. 38.
“Are Companies Really Ready for Stretch Targets?” C. Chen and K. Jones, Management
Accounting Quarterly, Summer 2005, pp.10-18.
Problems
8-11. This question requires students to do some outside research. It is useful for students
since it helps them to understand how industries vary in their accounting information needs.
Students might be randomly assigned to investigate health care, insurance, banking, construction,
manufacturing, retail, professional service, hospitality, not-for-profit, or government organizations.
Each of these organizations has very specialized AIS needs. Students may find that accounting
systems for these organizations consist of generic accounting software, supplemented by
spreadsheets and databases. They may also learn that many of the organizations use very
specific programs. For instance, a student who looks at catering firms might learn about catering
software and its special complexities. Students can be sent to doctor's offices, retail stores,
restaurants, and so on to interview employees about the accounting software used. There are
many sources of information about vertical market software programs, including personal
interviews and accounting magazines/journals.
Students might also use an Internet search engine, such as Yahoo or Google, to find sites for
many accounting software programs. Using the terms “construction software,” “health software,”
and “retail software,” students will find many specialized software vendors. You may want to ask
students to print web pages for specific vendors, or to do some analysis of the special features
associated with software for each industry. For example, the following web sites offer information
on software for dentists to manage their practice:
http://www.dentrix.com
http://gbsystems.com/os96i.htm
http://www.dentalexec.com/dental-exec
8-12. As you might imagine there are a wide variety of choices that students might identify for
this problem. The important point to make with the students is that the solution should match the
company size, needs, and other factors that the supervisor “should” identify before the search is
conducted. However, the following are a representative sampling of the choices available:
• ADP Payroll Software for Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting
(http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/products/office/accounting/payroll-software.mspx)
• ZPay Payroll Systems offers technical support, tutorials, and a free 30-day trial
(http://www.zpay.com/)
• PenSoft Payroll Solutions is designed for small to mid-sized businesses, and can process
virtually any payroll and related tax requirements. (http://www.pensoft.com/aboutus.asp)
8-13. Again, there are a wide variety of choices that students might identify to help CEOs and
CFOs deal with the compliance requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, specifically the Section
302 and Section 404 reviews. Many business process management solutions are already
available to managers. The following web sites offer information on this type of BPM software:
http://www.longview.com
http://www.approva.net/products

SM 8.4
8-14. An automated time and billing system could help this firm in several ways. First, by
investing in an in-house time and billing software, it may be possible to significantly reduce the
expense associated with the outside accountant. Since this type of software may be integrated with
a complete AIS, the outside accountant would not need to compile financial statements. The
system would do this automatically.
Another way the automated time and billing system would help is by capturing more detail. A
manual system cannot keep track of so many items without becoming unwieldy. The automated
system can keep track of specific charges by customer and therefore reduce overhead to be
allocated. With an automated system, many indirect costs may become direct costs. For
instance, secretarial work, phone expenses, and copying may all be directly related to a
particular client.
An automated system will be able to analyze data in many different ways. Each lawyer's
billable hours can be computed and compared for various periods, for example. Productivity
reports and reports highlighting budget overruns can be produced easily with an automated
system. What an automated system cannot do is to force lawyers to record their activities on a
timely basis. This is frequently a problem in professional service firms. Some organizations
resolve the problem by holding up paychecks until time sheets are filled out completely and
accurately. Other solutions lie in technology that makes it easier for professionals to record
their time or automatically records the time for individuals.
Lawyers who use computers may record time spent on a client's work in the following way. Every
time the lawyer logs into a particular file, software can keep track of the time the file is in use.
Alternatively, a professional might keep track of time in an on-line organizer. As the individual
begins work on a particular client's file, he or she might enter the time in the organizer and then
enter the time when finished. Online time sheets work the same way.
By assigning a special code to a customer that is used when copying, the amount spent for
copying can be captured directly. Special codes entered into the telephone can help record
phone charges, particularly long distance charges. Use of customer codes when special mail
services are necessary, such as Federal Express, also allows for tracking expenses directly.
Software: A number of companies offer this type of software, such as QuickBooks
(http://quickbooks.intuit.com) and Imagine Time (http://www.imaginetime.com).
Features include: Time & billing (tracks billable time; some programs create reports for individual
billing; stopwatch feature accurately times tasks; billable time can be recorded on an hourly,
contingent, transactional, or user defined fee rate individually or firm-wide); due date monitor;
calendar/contacts; integrated scheduling; client relations manager; credit card processing; and
others.

SM 8.5
Case Analyses
8-15 Public Accounting Firm (Modeling Human Resource Management)
8-16. Hammaker Manufacturing I (AIS for New Manufacturing Firm)
1. Many companies are turning to an AIS or ERP to help them better manage inventory.
Automated systems are able to react faster than manual ones. An AIS may place automatic
orders when inventories fall below specified levels. Use of e-business or EDI can also help as
electronic orders are faster than the ones that rely on phone or mail systems. Data analysis
and logistics tools can help to manage inventories by considering variables such as lead times,
delivery schedules, routing, safety stocks, and others.
2. There are many data elements that the system may include about inventory items. Vendor,
delivery time, safety stock, lead times, and average order size are a few of them. As an
example of the complexity of configuring a system to manage inventories, consider McDonalds’
distributors. McDonald’s has nine distributors and hundreds of suppliers. They need frozen
foods and other perishable food items, in addition to restaurant supplies. They must estimate
inventory needs with very tight windows. Further, they need to take into account items such as
promotions (remember when McDonald’s ran out of beanie babies?). Delivery times can be
very tight. For example, a store may want frozen goods delivered each Tuesday between noon
and 12:30 p.m. – leaving only a ½ hour window. As it happens, McDonald’s distributors use JD
Edwards software. The software had to be customized to allow for different fields when
suppliers used EDI versus manual orders, among other data items needed to accommodate
the special needs of this particular business.

SM 8.6
8-17. Hammaker Manufacturing II (Business Process Reengineering or Outsource)
1. Students might select any of the documentation tools identified in Chapter 3 (flowcharts,
process maps, or one of the graphical tools such as CASE tools). Most likely, HMC would work
on the manufacturing processes – or they might limit their efforts to the inventory process first.
By restructuring the manufacturing process or by looking into just-in-time inventory purchasing,
the company might be able to save money and jobs.
2. Students might locate a variety of sources that list reasons for outsourcing. The Introduction
section of Part Two of the textbook, identifies several reasons: global pressures to cut costs, to
reduce capital expenditures, and to become as efficient as possible at core competencies.
Additional reasons that different companies might use are:
• access resources that are not available within the company (people, capacity, technology)
a. To access innovative ideas, solutions, expertise of individuals
b. To provide flexibility to meet changing volume requirements – to increase or decrease
capacity as needed
c. To access plant and equipment without the time and cost of building
d. To gain quick access to new process, production, or information systems technology
(perhaps too costly or unproven so company is not ready to buy it yet – if at all)
• To improve speed-to-market of products
• To accelerate reengineering benefits
• To share risks
• To take advantage of offshore capabilities (human capital, lower cost)
• To better manage difficult or non-core processes and functions
• To enjoy economies of scale (vendor can accomplish process on much larger scale)
Some believe that investors want companies to expense context work (anything that is not
considered a core process of the firm) rather than invest in it. That is, investors would rather
see it on the income statement than the balance sheet, which in effect would free up resources
(employees) to focus on the processes that generate revenue, and increase share value. For
example, if we outsource the accounting function, then we might be able to better use the
talents of the staff accountants in analyzing other business opportunities, analyzing and
improving business processes, etc. So we could use our human capital in endeavors more
directly related to our core processes.
Hammaker might consider a number of these reasons to decide to outsource. Of course, the
first question is: What process (or processes) might Dick want to outsource? Denise does
not know the answer to this question, so the company should study the various processes
discussed in Chapters 4 and 5 to make this determination. Since frequently outsourced
processes are human resources, finance and accounting, customer services, learning services
and training, janitorial services, and information technology, these should probably be
examined first. Once one or several of these processes have been identified as possible
candidates for outsourcing, we would then ask: Which of these processes are core to our
business?
Of course, in the effort to examine each of these processes, Dick might want his employees to
determine where efficiencies may be realized through Business Process Reengineering.
3. We would probably all agree that producing automotive parts is a core business process for
Hammaker. It’s the primary thing the company does. It’s what the company does to generate

SM 8.7
revenue. It’s also whatever you do to differentiate your company’s products from your
competitors’ products.
4. The answer is yes, businesses do sometimes outsource what we would call core processes. A
number of examples may be cited here. Probably the best known example is Nike. This
sneaker company doesn’t manufacture any sneakers. The entire production process has been
outsourced. Insurance companies are another example. Several of their core business
processes are risk management, information services, underwriting, claims administration, and
customer service. Both customer service and underwriting are processes that are now
outsourced by some insurance companies.
Why would companies outsource a core process? There is no one answer for every situation,
but most likely firms would do this for the same reasons cited above in the answer to
requirement #2. Sometimes this becomes a strategic alliance with another company (or
companies) so that the company that does the outsourcing can focus on other products or on
other services to generate revenue.
5. Most likely any business decision that displaces employees will have social and legal
implications. Socially responsible organizations are typically admired by the community and
the marketplace, so developing options for the displaced workers is always an important
consideration. If the employee’s job is deleted, what other jobs might the person do for
Hammaker? Is training required? What if there are no employment choices? Should
Hammaker offer transition-assistance packages to those employees to help them find jobs at
other firms? At what cost? These are all important questions that should be asked.
Regarding legal implications, we need to know if the company employees are represented by a
union. We might have restrictions that are in contracts with the union that would limit what
options we can and cannot exercise. In this case, we know that Hammaker Manufacturing is
not limited by any union contracts. The company might have other contractual obligations that
it needs to honor. For example, is there a mortgage on the manufacturing complex or is there
a long-term lease? The lease contract might have certain penalties for breaking the contract if
the facilities are no longer needed.
6. This is certainly a case that has many facets and interesting possibilities. Unfortunately, we
don’t really have enough information at this point to make an informed recommendation, but
many intriguing clues may be found in the case to suggest that some sort of outsourcing would
be advantageous to Hammaker.
8-18. Hammaker Manufacturing III (Lean Production/Lean Accounting)
1. To adopt lean production, HMC would probably want to focus on the five principles of lean
thinking that are identified in an article in Strategic Finance, May 2007 (How do your
measurements stack up to lean? By Kennedy et al.). These include:
• Customer Value: Lean enterprises continually redefine value from a customer’s standpoint.
This means that HMC would need to get feedback from their customers.
• Value Stream: The lean enterprise is organized in value streams. This means that HMC
would need to rethink how they collect data for decision making.
• Flow and Pull: In a lean enterprise the customer order triggers or pulls production. This
might represent the biggest change in philosophy for HMC – which would be a change from
stockpiling inventory to more of a JIT philosophy.
• Empowerment: Lean enterprises’ employees are empowered with the authority to interpret

SM 8.8
information and to take necessary actions.
• Perfection: Lean enterprises seek perfection, defined as 100% quality flowing in an
unbroken flow at the pull of the customer. HMC is already committed to quality products so
this does not represent a change from current thinking.
2. Firms that implement lean production concepts typically benefit in the following ways:
• Waste reduction
• Production cost reduction
• Labor reduction
• Inventory reduction
• Production capacity increase
• Employee involvement and empowerment (multi-skilled workforce)
• Higher quality products
• More information: http://www.1000ventures.com/presentations/production_systems.html
3. Denise and her financial analysts might gain the following benefits from attending a Lean
Accounting Summit:
• Perhaps the most important benefit is the ability to network with professionals at other
organizations who have already implemented lean production concepts to gain insights
from their efforts – i.e., lessons learned from those who have already worked with these
concepts
• Learn cutting-edge thoughts and ideas
• Discover helpful software packages and accounting methods that support lean production
• Identify some best practices from companies currently using lean production concepts
• Identify companies to benchmark these concepts

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content

CHAPTER XVI
SWALLOWED UP BY THE DARKNESS
At first the full measure of the calamity did not come home to the
boys. It was irritating, of course, to find themselves in the dark with
no possible way of making a light. The blackness was so intense that
they could not even see a hand before the face.
Herb turned, stumbled over something and almost lost his
balance.
“Confound this dark,” he grumbled. “I could have sworn I had
those matches.”
“Feel in your pockets, fellows,” commanded Bob sharply. Perhaps
more than any of the other boys he realized the seriousness of their
predicament. “Without a light we’re going to have a hard time
getting out of here.”
But, feel as they would in every pocket they possessed, the boys
were at last obliged to confess that they had not a match among
them.
“Oh, we can remember the way back, all right,” said Herb,
assuming a confidence he was very far from feeling. “All we have to
do is follow this wall till we come to the end of it.”
“Yes,” said Bob with a touch of irony in his voice. “Then what?”
“Then we turn to the right—or was it the left?” faltered Herb, and
Bob laughed.
“That’s just what I’d like to know,” he said, then went on, with
sudden resolution in his tone: “There’s no use dodging the fact,
fellows, that we’re in a pretty tight fix. If we get out of this black
hole all right it will be more luck than anything else. However, the
sooner we start trying the better.”
“If we go slowly and try to remember the way we came in, we’ll
be all right,” said Joe. “I think I know the direction. Come on, follow

me, fellows, and we all may be happy yet.”
They turned and slowly felt their way back along the damp earthy
walls of the tunnel. They came to the end of it and then, following
Joe’s advice, turned to the left.
Along this passageway they carefully felt their way, and, once
more coming to the end of it, this time turned to the right. This was
the way, Joe was confident, that they had come. All they needed to
do was to follow their noses and they could not fail but be all right.
Poor Joe! His confidence was short-lived. For, when they came to
the end of this passageway, instead of seeing before them daylight
from the mouth of the cave, there was still that maddening pitch
blackness.
They stood irresolute, without the slightest idea which way to turn
next.
“This is what I call rotten luck!” groaned Jimmy. “Here I am
starving to death and we may not be able to get out of this place for
another hour.”
“Humph,” put in Bob grimly. “We’ll be mighty lucky if we get out
at all. It would be hard enough to find our way around with a light,
but now——”
“Say, wouldn’t you think we’d have had more sense?” growled
Herb. “I’ve got a good ball of cord in my pocket and we could easily
have attached that to something outside the cave. Then finding our
way out would have been a cinch.”
“No use crying over spilled milk,” observed Joe. “It won’t help us
get out. How about it, Bob? Got any ideas?”
“Not one,” admitted Bob. “As far as I can see we’re lost good and
plenty.”
Jimmy groaned again.
“That’s cheerful,” he said. “When all a fellow can think of is a plate
of pork and beans with——”
“Say, cut it out, can’t you?” interrupted Herb. “Isn’t it enough to
know we’re going to starve to death without your making it worse
with your pork and beans?”

“Starve, nothing!” Bob broke in. “Where do you get that stuff,
anyway? We’re going to get out of this place if it takes all night to do
it. Come on, let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“Nobody knows,” retorted Bob. “But anything’s better than
standing still groaning about our luck.”
They started on again, groping their way along, the dank smell of
earth and decaying wood in their nostrils and the black curtain of
darkness before their eyes. It was no use. Every way they turned
they were met with defeat.
“Might as well sit down and accept our awful fate,” said Herb
dolefully. “I’ve barked more shins than I knew I had, and all for
nothing——”
“Hey, you back there, come and see what I’ve found!”
It was Bob’s voice coming to them from a considerable distance
up the tunnel. There was a ring of joyful elation in it that sent them
stumbling frantically toward him.
“For the love of Pete, Bob!” yelled Joe, “what have you got?”
“A way out,” returned Bob, and, coming closer, the others could
see before them the faint gray of twilight where Bob had pushed
aside some intervening branches.
The boys pushed forward, stumbling over one another in their
excitement.
“It’s a hole, all right,” said Herb. “But do you think it’s big enough
for us to get through?”
“We’ll get through it all right,” said Bob, grimly. “Do you suppose
we’re going to get this near to the good old out-of-doors without
going the rest of the way? Watch me!”
He began digging with his hands at the earth about the hole and
the boys eagerly followed suit. But it did not take them long to
realize that any attempt to enlarge the hole was hopeless. Beneath
the loose earth was a solid foundation of rock.
They sat back on their heels, gazing at one another helplessly.
Suddenly Bob spoke excitedly.

“Do you know what I think?” he said. “I’ll bet just about anything
I own that this hole is the entrance to the cave that we’ve been
wondering about so much.”
“I bet you’re right!” agreed Joe. “It’s just about the size and
everything——”
“Well, all I have to say is,” interrupted Herb, “that if that’s the
case, our prospects of getting out of here aren’t very hopeful. We’ve
been trying for a long while to get in this hole and couldn’t. So I
must say, I don’t see how we’re going to get out.”
“Sounds reasonable enough,” admitted Bob. “Only I have a pretty
good idea we’re going to get out some way. You never know what
you can do till you’re desperate.”
“Go to it,” remarked Herb pessimistically. “As for me, I think I’ll go
back and see if I can’t find some other way out.”
“Better stay where you are,” advised Bob, as he took off his coat
and thrust it through the hole. “Now I’ll make myself as small as
possible and see what happens.”
He lay down on his side and, with his arms pushed as close to his
sides as possible, stuck his head through the hole and then pushed
gently with his feet.
You would have said it was impossible for Bob to get through that
narrow opening. The boys still thought it was. Yet, in another
moment they had to change their minds. As Bob had said, “you
never know what you can do till you’re desperate.”
Once it seemed, so tight was he wedged, that Bob would be
doomed to spend the rest of his life there, but by a tremendous
effort he finally managed to push himself the rest of the way. Then,
panting and triumphant, he stood up on the other side of that hole,
free.
“Well, what Bob can do, I can too,” said Joe. “Let’s go.”
He managed the feat and Herb after him, each one loosening
some dirt and small stones as he wriggled his way through. It was
harder for Jimmy, but by strenuous pulling they finally managed to
rescue him also.

“Say,” cried Bob, drawing in deep breaths of the cool evening air,
“make believe it doesn’t smell good out here!”

CHAPTER XVII
AN OLD ENEMY
They were starting back along the familiar path to the lodge when
they were surprised by the sound of angry voices coming from the
direction of the road just beyond.
One of the voices seemed familiar to them and by common
consent they turned and retraced their steps. For the voice,
improbable as it seemed, had sounded like Buck Looker’s!
As they came out into the open they saw through the gathering
dusk the indistinct outlines of a motor car. At first they could not
distinguish the owners of the voices raised in altercation, but in a
moment more they saw the reason for this.
As they watched they saw someone crawl from underneath the
car while another came around from the further side of the machine.
Even in the indistinct light the boys recognized the two distinctly.
They were Buck Looker and Carl Lutz!
The latter were so busy quarreling that they did not at once
notice the boys. Buck was blaming Carl in no uncertain tones with
something that had happened to the car.
“Thought you said you knew how to drive!” Buck snarled. “Do you
think I’d have risked my neck with a fool like you, if you hadn’t said
——”
“Oh, cut it out, can’t you?” Lutz interrupted sullenly. “I can’t help
it if the car’s a piece of old junk. The best chauffeur going couldn’t
run her two miles without trouble.”
“I suppose you think that lets you out,” sneered Buck. “Make
excuses and blame it all on the car——” He paused, mouth open,
eyes staring. He had seen the Radio Boys.
“Well, look who’s here!” he said, his mouth stretching in a
sneering grin. “Hello, fellows. Can’t we give you a lift wherever

you’re going? You look,” with a glance that took in their earth-grimed
clothes, “as if you’d been in a fight.”
“No,” said Bob, with a misleading gentleness. “We haven’t been—
yet.”
“Well, we’re not looking for any, if that’s what you mean,” sneered
Buck, but the boys noticed with a grin that he climbed quickly into
the automobile. “We’d hate to wipe up the ground with fellows like
you.”
The boys started forward, fists clenched, but Carl Lutz had
jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. As the boys
sprang forward, the car moved up the road—at first slowly, but
gathering speed quickly.
Buck waved a hand to them.
“So long,” he called. “See you again maybe before long.”
“If you do,” said Bob, under his breath, “it won’t be lucky for you.”
“Well, what do you think of that?” breathed Herb, as the Radio
Boys once more started for the lodge. “Who would ever have
thought we’d have the bad luck to see Buck up here?”
“That fellow,” remarked Jimmy, puffing as he tried to keep up with
the longer strides of the other boys, “is a bad penny. He’s always
turning up just when you least expect him.”
“I wonder,” said Bob reflectively, “if he can be spending his
vacation up here too.”
“Looks like it,” admitted Joe, with a scowl. “Tough luck for us, I’ll
tell the world.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Bob, cheerfully. “I have a notion Buck and
Carl, too, will keep pretty well out of our way. They aren’t anxious to
mix it up with us any.”
“No. But they’re sure to try to make it unpleasant for us some
way or other,” insisted Herb. “You know how they are. They’ll do any
sort of mean trick as long as there isn’t too much danger of their
getting a black eye out of it.”
“We’ll have to take our chance on that,” said Bob, with a grin,
adding: “But, somehow, after being lost in that cave, Buck doesn’t

bother me a bit. Let him do his worst. He’ll get a good deal better
than he gives!”
Nevertheless, in the days that followed the boys thought a great
deal about their meeting with the two cronies, and they made all
sorts of inquiries in order to find out where the boys were staying.
Finally they found someone, a friend of Mr. Bentley’s, who knew
them, though, as he admitted with a frown, he knew no good of
them. This gentleman, Mr. Watson by name, said that Buck and Carl
Lutz were staying at a fashionable bungalow three or four miles from
the ranger station.
“If you’ll take my advice,” he said to the Radio Boys, the frown
still lingering, “you’ll give those lads a wide berth. They’re no good.
I’d hate to see a boy of mine having anything to do with them.”
“You needn’t worry about our giving them a wide berth, Mr.
Watson,” said Bob, adding with a grin: “That’s the best thing we do!”
In the days that followed the boys saw nothing of Buck and his
friend and gradually forgot all about them. As long as they kept out
of sight, that was all that could be asked of them.
After their adventure in the mysterious mountain cave, the boys
found it hard to keep away from the spot. They went there every
day or so and soon came to know the various tunnels and passages
in the cavern so well that they could almost have found their way
about in the dark.
Of course at first they were extremely cautious, for they were not
particularly anxious to repeat their first experience. They made use
of Herb’s ball of cord, attaching one end of the cord to a tree trunk
outside the cave and holding the ball, unwinding it as they felt their
way along.
It was a fascinating place with its passages, its strange, suddenly-
widened chambers where they might stand upright and rest their
cramped backs.
And the more they saw of the place, the more convinced did they
become that at some time or other the cave had really been the
refuge of outlaws, who brought their booty there—desperate
criminals perhaps.

Then, one day, they came upon something that Herb declared
was positive proof of this belief.
At the end of one of the tunnels which they had not explored
before they came upon an apartment where were several evidences
of former habitation. There were bits of broken crockery, a rusted
hammer, the remains of a rudely constructed chair and a worm-
eaten table. And in the far corner, so encrusted with dirt and mold
that it seemed like part of the earth itself, Herb triumphantly
discovered an old burlap bag.
“I bet,” he said, his eyes shining, “that this thing has held gold
and silver, jewels maybe!”
“Huh!” said Joe skeptically, “you’ll be finding the treasure next.
You can’t tell anything by an empty bag.”
“No,” retorted Herb indignantly, “and you can’t tell anything by the
rest of the stuff we’ve found here, the hammer, for instance, and the
broken dishes, but you can imagine things just the same.”
“Someone used this place to hide in, that one thing’s sure,” said
Bob. “But there hasn’t been anyone here recently. Whoever our
friends were, they probably died a couple of hundred years ago.”
But in spite of the chaffing it remained a fact that from that day of
this last discovery the boys found the lure of the cave irresistible.
They spent hours there, imagining all sorts of romantic happenings
in the past and bemoaning the fact that nothing exciting ever
happened to them.
“Here it is getting near time for us to go home again, and never a
real fire yet,” complained Herb. “That’s what I call a mean trick.”
For, although they visited the rangers every day, the latter
reported everything quiet without ever a spark on the horizon and
the boys began to think that the fire they had helped to quell at the
railroad tracks was the only one they were destined to take part in
that summer.
They had had excellent weather all along, warm, sunshiny days
when the out-of-doors called to them and the only time they wanted
to stay indoors at all was when the spirit moved them to work on
their radio set.

But now the weather changed suddenly. One morning the boys
woke to find the sky leaden and overcast. There was the feel of rain
in the air and a chill breeze was blowing.
“Won’t be very cheerful around the cave to-day,” said Bob, as he
stood in the doorway of the lodge, looking up at the lowering sky.
“Guess we’d better stick around this cabin. I want to experiment a
bit with the transmitter, anyway.”
“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you,” said Jimmy, coming to
join Bob in the doorway. “But I’m going down to the crossroads. A
bit of rain won’t hurt!”
“Of course not,” said Joe, adding with a wicked grin: “Rose says
there’s nothing better than rain for the complexion.”
“Say!” retorted Jimmy, aggrieved, “who said I was worrying about
my complexion, I’d like to know. You fellows make me sick!”
“It’s doughnuts he’s after,” volunteered Herb. “I looked in the
doughnut jar last night and there wasn’t one left.”
“Good-by, I’m going!” said Jimmy, and without another word
started off in the direction of the general store at the crossroads,
followed by the good-natured hoots of his comrades.
“Doughnuts will die of indigestion yet,” prophesied Herb, with a
doleful shake of his head, “Come on, fellows, let’s listen in on
something. We haven’t heard a good concert for days.”
For the time Jimmy and his doughnuts were forgotten. The three
boys, absorbed in their beloved radio, forgot time and place.
But finally, finding that static was interfering annoyingly, they
stopped to make some unflattering comments on it and Bob,
happening to look at his watch, suddenly made the discovery that
Jimmy had been gone for almost three hours. At almost the same
minute he became conscious of the furious wind that whistled and
moaned about the lodge. There was no rain—only that terrific wind.
“Whew,” said Joe, going over to the window, “no wonder the old
set isn’t working well. This looks like a regular storm, fellows.”
“And Doughnuts has been gone nearly three hours,” said Bob
anxiously. “I wonder what can be keeping him?”

They went over to the door, which had long since blown shut, and
Herb turned the knob. The door flung inward with such violence that
it nearly knocked him from his feet. It took the combined force of
the three boys to push it to again.
“A regular hurricane,” gasped Joe. “Takes your breath away. Say,
fellows, I wish Doughnuts were back.”
And when another twenty minutes had passed and still no sign of
Jimmy, the boys put on their coats, pulled their caps down over their
eyes and started out to search for him. They knew the path he
would take and they started down it, the wind behind them fairly
lifting them along.
“Coming back, we’ll have to face this wind,” shouted Herb.
A ripping, rending noise! A sound as though the earth itself were
being torn asunder! With a terrific crash a giant monarch of the
forest fell across their path!

CHAPTER XVIII
PINNED DOWN
So directly in their path was the felled giant of the forest that the
boys stumbled among its outstretched branches before they could
stop their onward rush.
Then they pulled their caps still closer over their eyes, circled
around the tree and found the path again. They knew just how close
they had been to death, and yet their thoughts at that moment were
not of themselves. They were thinking of Jimmy, wondering if,
perhaps, some such accident as had happened to them had
overtaken their chum. Was that what had delayed him? They
shuddered and ran faster.
The wind, fierce as it had been before, seemed momentarily to
increase in violence. Trees moaned beneath the force of it, sweeping
their tortured branches earthward. Again and again came that
tearing, rending sound that meant the downfall of another forest
giant.
Urged on now by a horrible fear for Jimmy’s safety, the boys
climbed over jagged stumps, fought their way through clinging
branches, keeping the while a sharp lookout to right and left of
them. Several times they stopped and shouted, but the wind
viciously whipped the sound from their lips and they had the
nightmare feeling that they were making no noise at all.
Then, in a sudden deep lull in the storm, they heard it. Faintly it
came to them—a cry for help—smothered the next minute by the
fury of the wind.
But it was enough for the boys. That had been Jimmy’s voice, and
with a wild shout they turned in the direction from which it had
come.
They found him, lying on his side, the branches of a great tree
pinning him to the earth. There was perspiration on his face, either

from pain or his desperate struggles to get free. His chums did not
know which, and they spent little time trying to find out.
Down on their knees they went, shouting encouragement to
Jimmy while they tried to lift the heavy branches from him. It was all
they could do with their combined strength to lift the limb which
pinned their comrade to the ground, but they managed it at last.
The heavier weight removed, it took them but a few minutes to cut
off the rest of the branches.
Then Jimmy was free! But he made no effort to rise. Bob knelt
beside him anxiously.
“Are you much hurt, old man?” he asked, putting an arm gently
beneath the lad’s shoulders. “Do you think you can get up?”
“I guess so,” said Jimmy, struggling to a sitting position. He
grimaced with pain and rubbed an ankle gingerly. “I feel kind of
numb and queer.”
“Humph, I should think you would, after all that,” returned Herb,
adding with, for him, unusual gentleness: “How about it,
Doughnuts? Think there are any bones broken?”
Jimmy shook his head, and, with Bob’s assistance, struggled
gamely to his feet. There was the exquisite torture of returning
circulation in his feet. He felt as though he were standing on a bed
of needles with all the sharp points turned upward. He bit his lips to
keep back a groan.
The boys regarded him anxiously while Bob felt him carefully all
over to make sure there were no broken bones.
“I’m all right, I guess,” said Jimmy, his round face becoming more
cheerful as the pain in his feet subsided. “Got plenty of bruises I
guess, but I don’t mind them.”
With intense relief the boys realized that what he said was true. It
had been a miracle that he should have escaped with only a few
scratches and bruises to tell the story. As it was, if the falling tree
had caught him just a little bit sooner—but resolutely they turned
away from that thought.
As soon as Jimmy found that he could hobble along, they turned
and began the stiff fight back to the lodge. And it was a fight, every

inch of the way.
The wind seemed like a human enemy against whom they had to
exert every ounce of their strength. It wrestled them, buffeted them,
snatched at their breath, at times sent them reeling against the
trunk of a tree.
The journey was made still harder for them because of the
weakened condition of Jimmy. Although he had not been seriously
hurt, the shock of his experience had been terrific. Toward the end
the boys fairly had to carry him along.
When they finally came within sight of the lodge they saw a sight
that made their hearts jump wildly. Half a dozen rangers were
running through the woods, armed with shovels and wet sacks.
As the boys stared, two of them turned and started for the door
of the lodge. Bob rushed forward, shouting to them. It was then he
saw that one of the men was Mr. Bentley.
“Let’s get inside,” he snapped at Bob. “We can’t talk in this wind.”
Swiftly Bob drew the key from his pocket and fitted it in the lock.
The door flew open and the wind fairly swept them inside. With an
effort Bob got the door shut, turned and faced the men.
“A fire over on the ridge,” said Mr. Bentley, curtly. His face was
drawn and there were grim lines about his mouth. “Can you boys
send out some radio messages for us?”
“Watch us!” cried Bob, turning to the instrument. “Where to?”
“Villages in the district,” replied Mr. Bentley. He had already turned
toward the door. “Ashley and Dawnville are in the path of the fire.
Our wireless will be busy directing the fight. After warning the
villages, send out calls for help in all directions. We’ll need men, men
and more men!”
“Is it so bad, then?” asked Herb, his eyes gleaming.
Mr. Bentley did not answer except by a nod of the head. But the
lines about his mouth had deepened.
Then the door slammed to after the men, and the boys turned
feverishly to the instrument. Static put up a fight, but they finally
managed to get Ashley, then Dawnville.

“Perry is just a little way further on,” suggested Joe. “Better get
them too, Bob.”
Bob got Perry and then started broadcasting the call for men, men
and more men. And when they were satisfied they had done all they
could do with the radio, the boys pulled on jackets and hats and
hurried to swell the numbers of the defenders.
Jimmy who, in his excitement, had forgotten what had happened
to him, went with them. To Bob’s suggestion that he stay at the
lodge for a while and join them later, he stubbornly refused to listen.
“Think you’re going to do me out of this, do you?” he cried. “Well,
I guess not! If anybody stays at home, it isn’t going to be me.”
The boys had no time to argue with him, if they had wanted to.
They knew that in a terrific wind such as this a forest fire can
become a hideous thing, burning up whole tracts of valuable lumber,
sweeping down upon villages and leaving terror and destruction in
its wake.
Mr. Bentley had said that they needed men, men and more men.
And they knew that what he had said was nothing to what he had
left unsaid. Hardened veteran as he was of many forest fires, a blaze
such as this promised to be would try even his tested courage. Well,
they’d show him what Radio Boys could do!
They paused for a moment outside the lodge to get their
bearings. No need to ask in which direction the blaze was now. No
longer need to hunt for evidences of the terror. For plainly visible
now was the curtain of red, broken and torn by darting tongues of
flame that shot heavenward, painting a dull reflection on the sky.
They could hear the hoarse shouts of the men who risked their
lives in battle with the terrible enemy, the crackling of burning trees,
could smell the pungent acrid smell of burning wood.
“Come on, fellows!” cried Herb excitedly. “We don’t have to ask
the way, do we?”
“Couldn’t miss it,” shouted Joe, giving the gasping Jimmy a lift
over the tangled branches of a fallen tree.
“Look out for that hole, fellows,” warned Bob, for, with their eyes
upon that wavering, changing curtain of red, the boys had come

very near pitching headlong into a hole made by the torn-up roots of
a tree. “Wouldn’t do to break a leg just now.”
It was deceitful—that fire line. It had seemed just ahead of them,
but, although they ran as fast as they could, it seemed always to be
just as far ahead of them.
“Maybe it’s going the other way,” panted Jimmy, his lungs feeling
as though they would burst.
“Couldn’t,” Bob shouted back. “The wind’s blowing right toward
us. I think it’s just the other side of the hill.”
For a long time they had been climbing steadily, and as they
neared the top of the hill they seemed at last to be approaching the
fire. Or was it approaching them? With that wind——
The shouts of the fire fighters were growing plainer now. Groups
of men, gesticulating excitedly and carrying shovels and sodden
sacks, brushed past them.
The boys ran with them, beside themselves with feverish
excitement. They reached the top of the hill. Down below them,
writhed and twisted and fought the grinning demon of fire!

CHAPTER XIX
FIRE
Everywhere men were working, driving themselves and others
mercilessly. A hundred yards back of the fire some were digging a
ditch while others hacked madly with hatchets at outstretching
branches of trees.
Close to the fire line men fought grimly, resolutely beating at
creeping tendrils of flame with the wet sacks, eyes bloodshot and
wild in blackened faces, burned hands returning again and again to
the attack.
Reinforcements were continually arriving, as well as fresh sacks
and shovels from the ranger station. The Radio Boys, arming
themselves with some of these, made their way as close as possible
to the fire line.
One man, whose hands had been very seriously burned and who
still refused to leave his post was carried off by two of his comrades,
shouting and protesting wildly. The boys filled in the gap.
The smoke stung their eyes torturingly, flying particles of burning
wood and leaves seared their flesh and the sweat poured from them.
They only worked the harder.
“It’s this danged wind!” groaned a man next to them, stopping for
a moment to wipe his tear-filled, smarting eyes on the sleeve of his
shirt. “If it’d stop we might have a chance——” He paused, sniffed
the air inquiringly while the expression of his face slowly changed.
“Well, I’ll be hanged!” he said softly. “If it ain’t!”
It was then the boys noticed what in the fever of the fight they
had overlooked, that the wind seemed indeed to have blown itself
out. At least there was a lull.
The flames which, driven by the gale, had bent and writhed and
twisted toward them, now darted straight upward.

“If we can keep it from reaching the gully,” the man beside them
continued, “there’s a chance we can beat it.”
“What gully?” asked Bob, dashing the sweat from his eyes so he
might see more plainly. “What do you mean?”
The man jerked a grimy thumb over his shoulder.
“Over there, son,” he said, as he fell to work with redoubled
energy, “there’s a narrow little gully between the two mountains. If
the fire reaches that there will be no stopping it. There’s a wind that
sweeps through that place that will carry the flames ahead faster
than we can beat ’em out. That means the blaze will have us
surrounded.”
Surrounded! The phrase repeated itself over and over in the
thoughts of the boys as they were gradually forced backward and
upward by the advance of the flames.
True, the wind had stopped, but the fire had gained such
tremendous headway that even now it would require all their energy
to defeat it. But could they defeat it? That was the question.
Surrounded! Why, that meant—but it was impossible! They must
concentrate all their force, all their men at the mouth of that gully.
The fire must be checked.
Bob, starting back for a fresh sack, looked upward, and there,
hovering directly over his head, was a sight that thrilled him.
Like two great birds with outstretched wings hovering over the
scene of terror were the airplanes, the “eyes” of the Government
rangers.
Bob well knew that the men up there were keeping the ether
humming with reports, messages, orders, between the station and
the ships themselves.
What was Payne Bentley thinking up there? Did he see victory or
did he fear defeat? Did he, like the ranger who had worked beside
him, see the danger in that narrow gully?
He did not have to wait long for an answer to that. As he took a
wet sack and threw his dry, scorched one upon the ground he saw
that men were being rushed to one point and that point the

outermost edge of the blaze where it reached hungry fingers toward
the gully. Bob gazed up, almost in awe, at the hovering planes.
“He’ll do it,” he exulted. “He’ll beat that blaze if anybody can.”
It did not take Bob very long to see that he had exulted too soon.
Despite the heroic efforts of the men who fought to stem the tide of
destruction, the fire crept steadily, relentlessly forward, forcing the
workers foot by foot, inch by inch back toward the gully.
Side by side with the men, never faltering, though their lungs felt
near to bursting and their smarting eyes tormented them, fought the
Radio Boys.
Only once did Jimmy, naturally feeling the strain of it more than
the other boys, fall back to get his breath. But not five minutes had
passed before he was with them again, gallantly taking up the task
where he had left it.
And all for nothing! The fire, feeding on the dry and crackling
timber made brittle by weeks of drought, rushed onward like a
destroying fiend, seeming to gather headway as it came.
Faster and faster the men retreated before it, back, back, back to
the last line of retreat—a deep trench dug at the very mouth of the
gully. If they were driven past that——
And they were driven past it, fighting for the last inch, gasping,
struggling, sweating—down in the trench—on the other side—
hacking frantically at branches, felling them to save them from the
worse destruction of the fire.
No use! What could men avail against a force like this, a force
mocking at their puny efforts, sweeping on, on——
It had leapt across the trench, caught the first draft from the
treacherous gully, with a roar like a roar of a maddened bull it
started up the mountainside, driving men before it, threatening to
wind its deadly robes about them even as they ran——
“Back, back!” was shouted hoarsely from parched throats. “More
trenches—more sacks—more—more——”
Choking, stumbling, gasping, the boys ran with the rest.
“Our radio!” cried Bob, in a rasping voice that he himself did not
know. “We’ll have to get the set out of danger! Then we can come

back!”
The boys nodded and turned their stumbling steps in the direction
of the lodge. Blindly they made their way through heavy underbrush
and over fallen trees, one thought uppermost in their minds—to get
their radio set to a place of safety while there was yet time.
They had gone a considerable distance before they were out of
reach of the flying embers of the fire, before they found relief from
the suffocating smoke of it.
Then they paused for a moment, exhausted, and sank down upon
the ground. They brushed the hair back from their hot faces, wiped
the perspiration from their eyes and stared at each other. So
begrimed were they, so soot-blackened and altogether disreputable,
that it would have been hard to recognize them as the same boys
that had left the lodge so short a time before.
Herb grinned with something of his old, unquenchable humor.
“I guess our own families wouldn’t be able to recognize us now,”
he said. “We sure are some mussed up.”
“And we’re liable to be more so before we get through,” said Bob,
getting stiffly to his feet. “Better keep going, fellows,” he said.
“There’s a lot of work to be done yet.”
They started on again, knowing by the sound of the fire behind
them that it was still gaining alarming headway.
“Lucky that wind quit just as it did,” panted Jimmy, his breath
coming in short, labored gasps. “If the gale had lasted much longer
it would have been all up with us, I guess.”
“If only we can check the fire before it has us surrounded we may
have a chance,” said Bob. “But if that fire line meets——”
He left the sentence unfinished, and as they came in sight of the
lodge he made a dash for it, flinging open the door. The boys
worked feverishly, striving to do an hour’s work in a few minutes.
The set must be dismantled and carried to a place of at least
comparative safety. The lodge was no place for it at all. It was
directly in the path of the flames and there was every probability
that the little house would have to go with all its contents.

It was characteristic of the boys that it never entered their heads
to try to save anything but their beloved outfit. Millions of dollars’
worth of timber was endangered, to say nothing of men’s lives, and
their one thought was to rescue the radio set and get back to the
fight.
It was a nightmare that they would never afterward forget, pulling
at bolts and wires with burned and trembling fingers. Everything
seemed unfamiliar, unreal, to them, the very apparatus itself seemed
to fight their frantic efforts to save it. They had moments of thinking
they must give up in despair.
But they worked doggedly on and finally accomplished what they
had set out to do. The radio was dismantled and ready for moving.
“But where shall we take it too?” asked Jimmy, helplessly. “There’s
no place——”
“Down by the lake,” Bob broke in quickly. “That’s the safest spot
just now. Later, if we have to, we can come back for it.”
So down to the shores of the lake they bore the apparatus, then
turned and, once more, ran in the direction of the fire.
“If this timber burns up,” panted Joe, as the thickened smoke in
the air told them they were getting close to the blaze, “it will be an
awful loss to Doctor Dale and the Old First Church.”
A few moments more, and they plunged again into the thick of
the fight.

CHAPTER XX
A TERRIBLE BATTLE
The Radio Boys found it harder now to fight against the onrushing
flames. They had entered the battle full of fresh strength and
energy, but now that had been in a large measure spent, and it was
on sheer will power that they flung themselves once more into the
inferno of heat and smoke.
If it had been bad before, it was almost unendurable now. Terrible
blasts of heat smote down upon them, while billows of acrid smoke
threatened momentarily to overwhelm them. Gasping and choking,
with the hot fingers of fiery destruction clutching at them, they
threw themselves face downward on the ground, seeking
momentary relief from the searing torment. But even as they lay
striving for a breath of pure air, their clothing smoldered and
smoked, bursting into tiny flames here and there.
Bob leapt to his feet, beating out patches of flame from his
garments, and the others struggled up, looking to him for leadership
in their dire extremity. Obviously, the fire was now utterly beyond
control, and to attempt to stem its onward rush would be madness.
How to save themselves from that red destruction was all they need
consider now.
Look where they would, they could see red lines of fire. The
tremendous crackle and roar of the oncoming conflagration crashed
on their ears. Whatever they were to do must be done quickly, for
no man could live long in that scorching, searing heat. The thought
of the lake flashed into Bob’s mind, and with a shout to the others to
follow, he started off. But he did not go far. Between them and the
lake was a towering mass of flaming trees which effectually barred
progress in that direction. But it might still be possible to skirt
around the fire, and like a flash Bob thought of an old woods road
that ran in a rough semicircle through the woods and ended not far

from the lake. The smoke was so thick that it was agony to see or
breathe, while the heat became more intense every instant.
With a shock and a curious sense of surprise it came to Bob that
death was close upon him and his comrades, that they were marked
to die in that chaos of falling trees and leaping flame. With the
thought came a creeping, paralyzing sense of helplessness and panic
and a temptation to surrender to the inevitable. But only for a
second. Then he gathered himself together and shook off that
nightmare feeling. He was young and strong, and death was not for
him. With a gasping shout he started off in the direction where
instinct, more than anything else, told him that the old woods road
started, and the others staggered after, their failing spirits still
clinging to a trust in the leader who had never yet failed them.
Searching frantically back and forth, Bob at last located the
opening he sought, and dashed in. The others followed, and they all
staggered along, tripping, falling, staggering to their feet, but always
a little nearer their last hope of life—the lake!
They had covered perhaps half the distance when they were
stopped short by a shout from a thicket to one side of the road.
“Save me, or I’ll be burned up! Save me!”
Had the Radio Boys been of another breed, they would have
thought only of their own safety and paid no attention to the plea
for assistance. But they were incapable of refusing aid to another, no
matter how great their own peril, so they turned off from the road
and presently came to the source of the outcry.
Prone on the ground lay Buck Looker, yelling lustily but making no
other effort to save himself. Indeed, he was so unnerved by terror
that had the Radio Boys not come to his assistance it is probable
that he would have lain in the same place until the fire found him
and put an end to his career. It was all they could do to haul him to
his feet and drag him along with them, but they did their best,
although this greatly retarded their own progress. And they could ill
afford to lose time. The fire was rapidly closing in upon them.
Ahead they could see the opening through the trees which
marked the end of the road, and they knew that the lake was only

fifty yards or so past this. But even as they looked, some wandering
breeze threw a tuft of flame into one of the trees ahead, the leaves
and branches burst into flame, and the archway through which they
would have to pass was outlined in fire.
Buck gave a howl of terror, and even the Radio Boys hesitated,
appalled at the sight. They gazed desperately about them, but on
every side the red tongues of the fire demon were lapping greedily
at them. There could be no stopping and no retreat. To advance
seemed almost as hopeless, but there was no choice left them.
Their chances were further diminished by the fact that Buck,
overcome by terror, had fainted, and they were forced to carry his
inert form between them. How they ever covered the remaining
distance none of them could afterward tell. They had literally to run
through the fire for twenty feet at the end, and when they emerged
into the open space bordering the lake their clothing was afire in
several places. Summoning the last remnant of their strength, they
rushed toward the lake and threw themselves into the blessed
coolness of the quiet water.
Words cannot describe the relief and luxury of that plunge. They
splashed about, cooling their parched and blistered skins, reveling in
their deliverance from the furious heat that pervaded the air. Close
to the surface of the lake the atmosphere seemed cooler and less
smoky, and it was possible to breathe and live.
At the first touch of the cool water Buck Looker had regained
consciousness, but he was still overcome with terror and the fear of
death, and did nothing but mutter and moan to himself. The Radio
Boys took little further notice of him, however, but set about
salvaging their radio set, which they had left close to the bank of the
lake.
The fire was closing in on the lake from every side now, while the
heat steadily waxed greater and stronger. The boys were forced to
duck under the water continually, to get relief. Burning leaves and
sticks hissed down on the lake in a steady shower, while the crackle
and roar of the fire were deafening. In only one direction was there
a break in the ring of flame, and that was on the side where their

bungalow was situated. From that direction came a faint breeze,
which fanned the fire to even greater fury, but at the same time
drove it back on itself, so that its progress there was greatly
retarded.
“It’s getting too hot along the shore, fellows,” said Bob. “Out near
the center of the lake we’d be further from the fire and have a better
chance.”
“Yes, but we can’t swim forever,” objected Joe. “We’ll have to get
hold of something to keep us afloat.”
“Oh, that part is easy enough,” replied Bob. “There are plenty of
logs that we could shove out and hang onto. But if we’re going to
save the radio equipment, we’ll need something more substantial.
Maybe if we work fast we can sling some kind of raft together that
will do the trick.”
“That’s the idea!” exclaimed Joe. “Up and at it, fellows. We might
as well get cooked a little more while we’re about it.”
In spite of the scorching heat, the boys dashed up the bank and
ran to the place where they had left their radio equipment. They
were none too soon, for the fire was within a hundred yards of it.
The metal parts were too hot to be touched, but as yet nothing had
been damaged. To construct any kind of raft under such conditions
was extremely difficult, but the boys went at the task with a dogged
determination that refused to recognize the word “impossible.” Their
wet clothes steamed in the heat, and at short intervals they were
forced to dash into the water and wet them anew.
Nevertheless, by dint of tremendous exertions, they dragged
several logs together. Then the problem arose of fastening them
together, and this time it was Jimmy who had the inspiration.
“There’s a big roll of new antenna wire somewhere in that pile of
equipment,” he said. “If we can get hold of that it will be just the
thing to lash the logs together with.”
This idea seemed so good to the others that they acted on it
instantly.
A short but furious search brought the coil of wire to light, and
with it they lashed the logs securely together. This gave them a fairly

substantial raft, capable of floating them and their equipment. The
work was finished not a moment too soon. The breeze had
freshened, sending waves of terrible heat over them, and at the last
moment they were almost forced to leave their precious radio outfit
and take to the water without it. It required a high type of courage
to work in that inferno, but they stuck gamely to it, while the skin on
their hands and faces blistered and peeled, and their clothing
steamed and smoked and broke into patches of flame.
With the strength born of necessity they pushed and hauled the
raft into the water and loaded their radio outfit on it. Then they
plunged in themselves, and headed away from shore, swimming and
pushing the raft before them.

CHAPTER XXI
PLUNGED IN THE LAKE
All the time that the Radio Boys had been working to construct
the raft, Buck Looker had remained just where they had left him,
never even offering to help. But now, when he saw the raft actually
made and floating, he gave a yell and struck out for it.
“He’s not going to get on that raft,” muttered Bob, grimly. “He’s
better off in the water, anyway. We’ll let him hang on with the rest of
us, but if he gets on top he’s just crazy and mean enough to knock
some of the radio stuff overboard.”
“It would be a pretty mean stunt, after we saved his life, but I
know well enough that he’s capable of it,” said Joe. “We’ll have to
keep him off, that’s all.”
By this time Buck was close to the raft.
“Keep off, Buck!” shouted Bob. “Hang on to the raft, if you want
to, but don’t climb up on it.”
Either Buck did not hear him or he decided to ignore the warning.
In a few more strokes he had reached one corner of the raft and
started to climb aboard. His weight tilted the raft at a sharp angle,
and some of the equipment started to slide down toward that end.
Joe was nearest to Buck, and he saw that there was not an
instant to lose. He rapidly pulled himself along the side of the raft,
and when he got within reach dealt Buck a blow that made him
loose his grip on the raft. The clumsy structure returned to an even
keel, while Buck snarled at the Radio Boys in anger and resentment.
“What are you trying to do, Joe Atwood—drown me?” he
blustered. “If I was on dry land I’d make you feel sorry for hitting
me that way.”
“If you were on dry land you’d be burnt to a crisp right now,” said
Joe, scornfully. “We saved your worthless life at all sorts of risk to

ourselves, and then you repay us by trying to dump our radio
apparatus into the water.”
“I suppose you’d like to save that junk even if you let me drown,
wouldn’t you?” whined Buck.
“It seems to me that it’s worth a lot more than you are,” snapped
Herb. “If the choice were left to me, I’d say save the radio, every
time.” Of course, he did not mean this, but he spoke in anger.
Buck gave him a black look, but made no further reply, and when
he saw that the boys were determined not to allow him on the raft,
he contented himself by hanging to the side, as the others were
doing. Indeed, as Bob had said, this was the best way, after all, for it
was the only escape from the fierce heat of the atmosphere. The
Radio Boys took off their tattered coats and spread them over the
radio outfit in order to protect it from the blistering air.
The boys pushed the raft further and further from shore, as the
fire reached the water and burned fiercely. As they rounded a bend
in the shore, they became aware that they were not the only living
creatures who had sought refuge in the lake. Dotted about over the
surface were the antlered heads of several deer, together with a
number of smaller animals. But in addition to these harmless
creatures the boys could see several shaggy black heads that
undoubtedly belonged to members of the bear tribe.
“There’s a chance for you, Jimmy,” said Herb, unable to refrain
from his jokes even in the face of this new danger. “You were telling
us how you enjoyed killing bears for breakfast. As far as I can make
out, there are enough bears in this immediate neighborhood to
satisfy the most ambitious hunter. How will you take ’em—one at a
time, or all together?”
“Gee, willikins!” exclaimed Jimmy. “I’ll steal some of Buck’s
thunder, and tell you what I’d do to ’em if we were all on dry land.
Seeing we’re all in the lake, the only thing I can think of is to call
loudly for assistance.”
“Now you’re stealing Buck’s stuff again!” Herb pointed out, and, in
spite of their desperate situation, the boys could not help laughing at
the ludicrous expression on Buck’s face, half of anger and half of

shame. However, they had little time for laughter. Several of the
bears had sighted the raft and were coming over to investigate.
Now, in times of fire or flood, the wild creatures seem to forget
their savage instincts for the time being, and in the common peril
seem to pursue a policy of “live and let live.” The bears in the lake
were too terrified to have any desire to attack the boys, but they
were tired of swimming and wanted some place where they could
rest. The raft looked inviting, and as the boys were unarmed it was
hard to see what effective resistance they could make to the
powerful animals. Once let them start to climb aboard, and the raft
would inevitably be swamped and all the radio apparatus lost.
The boys were not slow to realize this, but that was of little avail
unless they could think of some way to drive the animals off. All this
flashed through their minds as they gazed blankly at each other,
while the bobbing black heads came steadily closer. Buck Looker did
not even try to think, and could only gaze terror-stricken at the
approaching brutes while his teeth chattered from fright and he
whimpered like a whipped puppy.
“Aw, cut out that blubbering, can’t you?” exclaimed Bob,
impatiently. “How can we think of anything when that noise is going
on?”
“B-but they’ll kill us all,” moaned Buck. “We’re as good as dead
already.”
“Say, you’d be a lot better dead than alive, seems to me!”
exclaimed Joe, contemptuously. “If you can’t do anything else, keep
quiet, as Bob says. If you give us a chance we may save your
worthless life once more to-day.”
“If we only had a gun or two!” said Herb. “I haven’t even a
jackknife to put up a fight with.”
“We’ve got about the most powerful force in the world to-day
right at our command, haven’t we?” demanded Bob, with a note of
suppressed triumph in his voice.
“What do you mean?” they demanded, all together.
“Why, electricity, of course,” said Bob. “That raft is loaded down
with it. We’ve got two fully charged storage batteries there, haven’t

we? And any number of induction coils? If we work fast, we may be
able to give the bear family the shock of their lives when they
arrive.”
The others caught his idea in a flash.
“You mean connect up the batteries with the primary coil and give
the bears high voltage juice from the secondary coil, is that it?”
questioned Joe.
“That’s just it,” replied Bob. “But we’ll have to step lively, or they’ll
be here before we can get ready for them. You and I can do the
hooking up, Joe, while the others keep the raft steady and try to
scare the bears off for a little while. I’ll climb aboard first, while you
fellows put your weight on the far side so that our ship won’t tip too
much.”
This maneuver was accomplished without a hitch, and Bob was
soon safely on the raft. Out that far on the lake the air was a little
cooler, so that it was possible to work without being scorched. Once
aboard, Bob helped Joe to clamber on, and then they fell to work
like madmen, stripping wires and making connections. The batteries
they connected in series, thus doubling their voltage, and then
connected them to the primary coil of their inductance unit.
Fortunately the latter was an unusually large and powerful one, and
the induced voltage in the secondary was very heavy. Owing to the
high resistance of the secondary the amperage was necessarily low,
but when the primary circuit was made and then suddenly broken
the induced voltage in the secondary was of such strength as to give
a paralyzing shock to any object with which it might come in
contact. One side of the secondary was grounded to the water, and
then their impromptu shock-giving apparatus was ready for use.
And not a minute too soon. The bears, five in number, had been
circling about the raft, somewhat doubtful about its nature, but
without doubt desperate enough to rush at it as soon as they
became familiar enough with it. Bob had hardly made the last
connection when Jimmy uttered a warning cry.
“They’re coming, Bob!” he yelled. “All five of them at once!”

CHAPTER XXII
FIGHTING OFF THE BEARS
Jimmy’s warning came not a moment too soon, for the words
were hardly out of his mouth before two of the bears came
splashing toward the raft. Buck Looker gave a yell of terror and
started swimming away as fast as he could. Jimmy and Herb had to
let go, too, and swim out of the reach of those big paws that were
propelling the bears forward at surprising speed. The largest one
was soon close to the raft, and Bob could see one big paw lifted in
preparation to climb aboard.
With one hand Bob depressed the key that completed the circuit
through the primary coil and held the end of the high tension lead,
which he had lashed to a long stick, close to the bear’s moist black
nose. Then he released the key.
With a hiss and a snap a long blue spark crackled between the
terminal and the bear’s nose. Bob worked the key rapidly up and
down, and at each break another high voltage spark jumped to the
animal’s sensitive snout. Each spark had the force and effect of a
heavy hammer blow, and the bear half roared and half squealed in
pain and fright. One big paw came up and tried to brush away that
agonizing, stunning thing, but this only transferred the sparks to his
paw. With a terrified squeal he turned about and swam off at top
speed. The other bear was puzzled at the behavior of his
companion, but he could see no reason why he should not get up on
the raft, even though the other, for some incomprehensible reason,
had failed. Accordingly he made a rush, but was even less fortunate
than his predecessor, for by now Joe had gotten his outfit to working
properly, and the animal had to face two streams of sparks instead
of one. They tore through him with paralyzing force, and he slipped
back into the water, hardly able even to swim.

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