at the base of a boulder nearby. A trapper in a canoe takes Totor up the river. Leaving the trapper, Totor goes back to the ranch to find it deserted. As he searches the place a hand reaches out and pulls him through a doorway where a fierce brawl ensues in the darkness. Totor is victorious, and throws his three captors out of the building. He discovers his uncle tied to a chair; Totor frees him, and Pad tells his nephew that the bandits kidnapped his aunt Save. Totor suddenly has an idea to use the treasure he found as a ransom for his aunt. The two of them set out to go fetch it, but along the way a criminal steals their map while they sleep. After discovering the loss of their jewels they follow the thief's unique footprints for a few miles. When they see another set of footprints join the first and then head up into some mountains, Totor continues on his own. Having eluded several Native sentries he spies the chest in the hands of the Chief. After recovering the box and outrunning the Natives back to his uncle, they hurriedly head home. There they find a ransom note from the leader of the bandits, Jim Blackcat, saying to meet them under a big fir tree that day or they would kill his aunt. Totor rushes to the rendezvous where he overwhelms the criminals and orders them to tell him where they are keeping his aunt hostage. After a heroic rescue and an emotional reunion between his aunt and uncle, he finds out that it is time for him to go back to Belgium. Once back, he tells everyone of his adventures and wistfully yearns for more. Publication Aged 12, Georges Remi—who later became best known under the pen name Hergé—joined the Boy Scout brigade attached to Saint-Boniface School in his native Brussels, becoming troop leader of the Squirrel Patrol and earning the name "Curious Fox" (Renard curieux). With the Scouts, he travelled for summer camps in Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Spain, and in the summer of 1923 his troop hiked 200 miles across the Pyrenees. His experiences with Scouting would have a significant influence on the rest of his life, sparking his love of camping and the natural world, and providing him with a moral compass that stressed personal loyalty and keeping one's promise. His