While Ted¹ was standing² on the edge of the clearing looking at the light gleaming from the lonely cabin and wondering whether or not he should go up to it and ask for shelter, the search for him was going on in another part of the woods.  
As it grew darker and darker and got later and later, even Mr. Martin began to give up hope of finding Ted that night. And some of the men in the party led by the foreman, Tod Everett, spoke³ out and said:
 
“There’s no use going on any farther. The boy’s probably asleep in some hollow tree or covered with leaves to keep himself warm in some ravine. We might as well give up until daylight.”
 
But the foreman would not give up unless Mr. Martin asked him to, and so he decided⁴ to circle around and meet the boy’s father.
 
[184]The two searching parties had separated, one going one way and one another, and at times they were quite far apart. But as the night grew darker the two bands of men drew near together until at last Tod was able to call to Mr. Martin, asking:
 
“What do you say? Shall we keep on?”
 
Ted’s father considered. He knew that the men were tired, and yet he did not want to go back to the bungalow⁵ and have his wife meet him to ask:
 
“Didn’t you find him?”
 
It would be better to keep on searching even all night.
 
But one of the lumbermen had an idea which in the end turned out to be a very good one.
 
“Why not go back to the bungalow and see if there is any news?” he suggested.
 
“What do you mean—news?” asked the foreman.
 
“I mean maybe the boy has wandered back there himself, or maybe some one has telephoned in that they have him at their farm. There’s lots of telephones around this part of the country. Nearly every farmer has one, and I know two trappers who have telephones and wireless⁷ sets, too. So[185] maybe some of them have picked up Ted, or he may have wandered to their shacks⁸. And there’s a telephone in the store. I guess Ted could tell who he was and where he was from.”
 
“Yes, he could do that!” exclaimed Mr. Martin. “That’s a good plan, Jake. We’ll go back and see if there is any news. As you say, Ted may be back there now, or some one may have telephoned in.”
 
Now we shall see what Ted himself did. For a few moments he stood staring at the lonely cabin from which gleamed a cheerful light. The boy listened.
 
No longer did the owl⁹ hoot¹⁰. No longer did he hear the weird¹¹ cry of the bobcat or the noise made as the creature crept along in the tree tops. And from the cabin came not a sound at first. There was only the cheerful light.
 
Then suddenly from a window of the cabin—a window that was open, as Ted could tell by the flapping curtain—there sounded a voice speaking. And to Ted’s amazement¹² the voice said in rather strange, loud tones:
 
“This is station Q Q Z. The next number on our radio program will be selections by[186] the Harmony Band. Just a moment please!”
 
Ted could scarcely believe his ears. One moment to be hooted¹³ at by an owl and chased by a bobcat in the midst of dark and lonesome woods. The next minute to come upon a lighted cabin and hear from it the loud speaker of a wireless outfit¹⁴!
 
For it was radio music that a moment later sounded on Ted’s ear—sweet melodious¹⁵ strains floating out into the darkness, brought to that lonely cabin by the mysterious electric waves and sent out by means of light bulbs and a loud speaker.
 
It was wonderful!
 
For a moment Ted stood there listening. He knew the Harmony Band. Many a time he had listened to it over his father’s wireless set at home when the musical organization played at the Q Q Z station.
 
“Hurray!” cried Ted aloud, as the music welled out on the night. “I’m safe now!”
 
Quickly he hurried across the clearing toward the lighted cabin. The music was louder and plainer as he drew near. It was even so loud that when he knocked on the door his tapping was not heard. Realizing this, and not wanting to wait until the music[187] stopped, Ted opened the door and walked in.
 
He found himself within a well-furnished bungalow, somewhat like the one at Mount Major, only not so large. In the main room was a man and his wife and a boy about Ted’s age. And this boy was leaning over the radio instrument set in one corner on a table, making some adjustments to it.
 
“Tune it down a little, so it isn’t so loud,” said the boy’s mother, as Ted entered.
 
As the boy turned the knob of the variable condenser¹⁶, softening¹⁷ the musical sounds from the black mouth of the loud-speaker horn, they all turned and looked at Ted.
 
He met their gaze smiling.
 
“Hello!” exclaimed the man, in some surprise, though his voice was friendly.
 
“How’d you get in?” asked the boy at the radio instrument. Then he turned the switch and cut off the battery power from one of the lights so that the music no longer sounded.
 
“I came—I came in the door,” said Ted. “I knocked, but I guess you didn’t hear me ’cause the music was going.” And then, like the “radio bug” he was fast becoming, Ted eagerly asked:
 
[188]“Do you get any other stations besides Q Q Z?”
 
“Sure I do!” answered the other boy, and in a moment, though hardly a dozen words had been spoken, the two lads were firm friends—just because of their interest in radio.
 
“We have a set at home,” went on Ted, “but we haven’t any loud speaker yet. I want dad to get one.”
 
“Do you live around here?” asked the woman.
 
“I don’t remember you,” said the man.
 
“I’m over at Mount Major. My father has charge of the store at the sawmill,” explained Ted.
 
“Oh, Tod Everett’s outfit!” exclaimed the man.
 
“Yes, he’s the foreman,” went on Ted. “I’m lost.”
 
“Lost!” cried the other boy.
 
“Yes. I started out this afternoon to bring back two of the men who were building a lumber⁶ chute. There was an accident at the mill and Mr. Everett needed all the hands to fix it. But I couldn’t find Jake and Sam and I got lost, and a bobcat chased[189] me, but I hit him on the nose with a club and——”
 
“You don’t mean to say you hit a bobcat with a club!” exclaimed the woman.
 
“Well, I did. But I guess it was sort of an accident,” admitted Ted.
 
“And you’ve been lost since early afternoon!” cried the boy. “You must be terribly hungry!”
 
“I am,” confessed Ted.
 
“Oh, you poor boy!” murmured the woman. “We’ve had supper, but I can get you something. Why, your folks must be worried to death about you.”
 
“I guess they are,” admitted Ted. “’Course, I’ve been lost before. But not like this. If I could send word to the bungalow ............