“Not while George is out in the cold!” Sandy cut in.

“Just as you please,” smiled Antoine.  “And now,” he went on, “if you’ve all had plenty to eat, I’ll bring on the tea.  Tea always tastes better to me when there is no food in my mouth to interfere with the flavor of it.  I have a very fine brand here.”

“We’ve been waiting for that tea!” laughed Tommy.

“You can’t lose Tommy when it comes to anything good to eat or drink!” laughed Sandy.  “He’s always on watch.”

Antoine seemed a long time pouring the tea into the tin cups, which he had placed on the rough board which served as a table.  As he bent over the teapot, a familiar sound caught Will’s ears and he turned his head aside to listen.

“Slap, slap, slap!”

The boy nudged Tommy who sat next to him with his elbow and called his attention to the sound.  Tommy almost sprang to his feet as he listened, but Will forced him back with his hand.

“Slap, slap, slap!” came the signal again.

Sandy and Thede were now sitting with knives and forks suspended in the air, listening wide-eyed to the sound.

“That’s the Beaver call!” declared Will in a whisper.

“That means George!” Tommy whispered back.

“Sure!” was the reply.  “There’s no one else to give the Beaver call here.  I wonder why the boy doesn’t show up.”

In the meantime, Antoine had been busy over the teapot and had not noticed what was going on at the table.

“I’m fixing this tea up particularly strong,” he said, facing the boys with a smile on his lips, “so you mustn’t wonder if it tastes just a little bit bitter.  There’s nothing on earth will do a man who’s been exposed to the weather more good than a strong cup of tea!”

The man poured the decoction into the tin cups and brought out a couple of cans of condensed milk and plenty of sugar.

“You see,” he laughed, “that I have all the luxuries of an effete civilization!  Put in all the sugar you like, if you find the tea too strong.  I have plenty of it!”

The boys used the sugar and milk liberally, and Will was about to lift his cup to his lips when the Beaver call came again: 

“Slap, slap, slap!”

Although the sounds were faint ones, they caught the attention of Antoine, who, scowling, turned his face in the direction from which they had proceeded.  In a minute, he arose.

“What was that noise?” he asked.

“Did you hear a noise?” questioned Will.

“I thought I did!” replied the man.  “Perhaps I’d better take a look about the place.  There may be intruders here!”

As Antoine moved about, his footsteps in a measure muffling the sounds which followed, the boys heard a low whisper.

“Don’t drink!  It’s drugged!”

Wondering why the boy did not show himself, and able to understand his strange conduct only on the theory that he had been gagged and bound, Will overturned his cup of tea by an awkward movement and sprang to his feet as the burning fluid came in contact with his clothing.