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<h1>THE BOY SCOUTS
<br /><span class="smallest">FOR</span>
<br />CITY IMPROVEMENT</h1>
<p class="center"><span class="small">BY</span>
<br />SCOUT MASTER ROBERT SHALER</p>
<p class="center smaller">AUTHOR OF &ldquo;BOY SCOUTS OF THE SIGNAL CORPS,&rdquo; &ldquo;BOY SCOUTS
OF PIONEER CAMP,&rdquo; &ldquo;BOY SCOUTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,&rdquo;
&ldquo;BOY SCOUTS OF THE LIFE SAVING CREW,&rdquo; &ldquo;BOY
SCOUTS ON PICKET DUTY,&rdquo; &ldquo;BOY SCOUTS OF THE FLYING
SQUADRON,&rdquo; &ldquo;BOY SCOUTS AND THE PRIZE
PENNANT,&rdquo; &ldquo;BOY SCOUTS OF THE NAVAL
RESERVE,&rdquo; &ldquo;BOY SCOUTS IN THE
SADDLE,&rdquo; ETC., ETC.</p>
<p class="center"><span class="smaller">NEW YORK</span>
<br />HURST &amp; COMPANY
<br /><span class="smaller">PUBLISHERS</span></p>
<p class="center smaller">Copyright, 1914,
<br />BY
<br />HURST &amp; COMPANY</p>
</div>
<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
<dl class="toc">
<dt class="jr"><span class="jl"><span class="small">CHAPTER.</span></span> <span class="small">PAGE.</span></dt>
<dt><span class="cn">I. </span><a href="#c1">Under the Spreading Oak</a> 5</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">II. </span><a href="#c2">A Friend in Need</a> 17</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">III. </span><a href="#c3">The Fire Call</a> 30</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">IV. </span><a href="#c4">Willing Workers</a> 43</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">V. </span><a href="#c5">Repairing Damages</a> 56</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">VI. </span><a href="#c6">On Duty</a> 69</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">VII. </span><a href="#c7">The Alarm</a> 82</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">VIII. </span><a href="#c8">Mocking the Mayor</a> 95</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">IX. </span><a href="#c9">What Scouts Know</a> 108</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">X. </span><a href="#c10">The Accusation</a> 121</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">XI. </span><a href="#c11">The Turning Point</a> 133</dt>
<dt><span class="cn">XII. </span><a href="#c12">Thanks to the Scouts</a> 151</dt>
</dl>
<div class="pb" id="Page_5">5</div>
<h1 title="">The Boy Scouts for City Improvement.</h1>
<h2 id="c1">CHAPTER I.
<br /><span class="small">UNDER THE SPREADING OAK.</span></h2>
<p>&ldquo;I guess old summer must have forgotten
something and has come back to find it again,
eh, Billy?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It feels more like the August dog-days than
the tail end of September, that&rsquo;s a fact, Hugh.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;But right here, Billy, sitting on the stone
curbing in the shade of the big General Putnam
oak, we can cool off. Let&rsquo;s rest up a bit and
talk, while we watch the people go by.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That suits me all right, Hugh. I love to
sit and watch others work on a hot afternoon.
Suppose we chin a little about skating, tobogganing
and all those nice pleasant things?
They help to cool you off and make you feel
that life is worth living, after all.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_6">6</div>
<p>The two lads were dressed in khaki uniforms,
sufficient evidence that they were members
of the local Boy Scout troop, of which
their home town was rather proud. In fact,
the young fellow who had been called Hugh
and whose last name was Hardin, had lately
succeeded in attaining the position of Assistant
Scout Master, when the former incumbent resigned,
owing to removal from the place.</p>
<p>His chum, Billy Worth, also a member of
the Wolf Patrol, was a first-class scout, as his
badge denoted. He was inclined to be rather
stout in build, and his face expressed genial
good nature. Billy and Hugh had been doing
some shopping on the main street of their town
and were sauntering along, when the heat of
the September day caused them to make a halt
under the grateful shade of the tremendous
oak, which for some reason or other had been
called after that staunch New England patriot
of Revolutionary days, Israel Putnam.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_7">7</div>
<p>While these two energetic lads will be readily
recognized by any reader who has perused former
books in this series, for the benefit of
those who may be meeting them for the first
time it might be advisable to say something
concerning them and the local organization.</p>
<p>The troop now consisted of four full patrols
of eight members each, and another was forming.
These were, first of all, the Wolf, to
which both boys belonged, Hugh being the
leader; the Hawks, with Walter Osborne at
their head; the Otters, once again having Alec
Sands, Hugh&rsquo;s old-time rival, as their leader;
and last of all, the Fox Patrol, in which Don
Miller occupied the place of honor.</p>
<p>For several seasons now these scouts had
been having the time of their lives under the
charge of a retired army officer named Lieutenant
Denmead, who, having more or less
spare time on his hands and being deeply interested
in the upbuilding of boy character,
had long ago accepted the office of Scout Master
to the troop.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_8">8</div>
<p>They had camped many times, usually up at
Pioneer Lake among the rugged hills close to
old Stormberg Mountain. Besides this experience,
they had had chances to see considerable
of life in other places, as will be found detailed
in previous volumes of this series.</p>
<p>On one occasion they had been given an opportunity
to accompany the State Militia on
their annual training trip, when a mock battle
was fought. Some of the scouts, serving as a
signal corps, proved themselves of considerable
value to the armies engaged in the sham fight.</p>
<p>Then again, a favored few had been given
a chance to see how the life savers of the
Florida coast conduct their work during the
stormy season of the year, and had even assisted
in the work of rescue.</p>
<p>On another occasion they had accompanied
the Naval Reserve Corps aboard a war vessel
that had been placed at their disposal by the
authorities at Washington, and in this manner
had learned many valuable lessons that
were bound to be profitable to them in the future.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_9">9</div>
<p>The summer vacation of the present year
had come to an end some little time before, and
these lads were once more in school harness.
Some of them may have been really glad to get
back to work again, as the long weeks of idleness
began to pall upon them; but these were
few in number.</p>
<p>Times were different these days, since the
scout movement had captured the town. So
many delightful excursions were being planned
for those who had the good fortune to belong
to the troop that they could hardly find time
to attend to all of their engagements. You
never found these scouts lounging around
through the August days with an aimless look
on their faces. They were planning and executing
right along, always full of business.</p>
<p>While Hugh and his chum lay there under
the big oak and cooled off, a sudden gust of
wind came sweeping along the street, causing
the dust to rise.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_10">10</div>
<p>&ldquo;Whee! Look at the old scraps of paper and
stuff flying through the air!&rdquo; exclaimed Billy,
laughing at the flurry the puff of wind had
created. &ldquo;Honest Injun, I do believe what
some of the visitors at the hotel say: that we
have the dirtiest little city of its size in the
whole state! It doesn&rsquo;t seem as though anybody
cared a rap what goes on here. In nearly
every street you&rsquo;ll find paper blowing into fence
corners, and all sorts of rubbish lying around.
I sometimes blush for my town when anybody
visits at our house from other places where the
mayor is wide-awake and does things.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;You know that the women tried to take
it in hand a year ago. They&rsquo;ve got a club called
the Town Improvement Association, and for a
little while they really did make a dent in
things. Those tall cans with the letters &lsquo;T. I.
A.&rsquo; on them were bought and placed everywhere
about. But does anybody bother putting
papers and trash in them? Well, hardly ever.
Watch that farmer coming along, and you&rsquo;ll
see just the sort of spirit that seems to have
gripped the whole place by the throat. Everybody&rsquo;s
doing it, they say, and so they follow
suit.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_11">11</div>
<p>Evidently the man in the farm wagon had
brought a lot of tomatoes to market for which
he had been unable to find a purchaser at any
price. Perhaps they were not fresh, and as he
was now going home and had no desire to
burden his horses with an unnecessary load,
he began deliberately to turn the crates over
and allow the contents to trail in the road after
him, doubtless expecting that the Italian children
would immediately get busy and pick them
up.</p>
<p>There was something like a rush and scramble
for the spoils, but when the dust had settled
again it could be seen that quite a number
of the tomatoes had been crushed underfoot or
refused as unworthy. At any rate, there they
lay by dozens, only adding to the untidy condition
of this, one of the streets leading into the
main thoroughfare of the town.</p>
<p>The two scouts exchanged looks.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_12">12</div>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way it keeps on going,&rdquo; remarked
Hugh with a shrug of his shoulders.
&ldquo;You see, we have quite an Italian population
now, and somehow those people never seem to
know the first thing about keeping things tidy.
Perhaps they&rsquo;ve had no one to show them. I
sometimes think that the scouts will have to
get busy and see what they can do about it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Say, that&rsquo;s a great scheme, Hugh!&rdquo; exclaimed
Billy, sitting up suddenly as if he had
received a shock from a battery. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done
a good many things that called for praise from
the citizens of our home city; perhaps we might
be able to set this thing working. Take the
matter up, seriously, won&rsquo;t you, Hugh? Propose
something along that line to the boys at
the meeting to-night. As sure as you live,
I believe they&rsquo;d jump at it like wildfire. And
say, maybe the women folks would back us up
if we started in to clean the town. Do you
really think it could be done, Hugh?&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_13">13</div>
<p>&ldquo;If we had a fair show, I believe we could
manage it,&rdquo; replied the other thoughtfully;
&ldquo;but it&rsquo;s sure to set people talking. I know a
gang of boys who&rsquo;d make all manner of fun
to see the scouts acting as scavengers, picking
up paper, asking people not to throw things
around, and trying to start a &lsquo;clean-up week&rsquo;
here like they have in lots of places.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hugh, when you speak of boys acting that
way, I guess you don&rsquo;t mean any scouts, do
you,&mdash;Alec Sands, for instance, who used to
oppose nearly everything you started?&rdquo; Billy
questioned.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Oh! Alec is a good friend of mine these
days,&rdquo; replied the other; &ldquo;and I hardly believe
we&rsquo;ll ever go back to the old conditions again.
I was thinking of the one boy in town who
seems to scorn the scouts and say all sorts of
mean things about us,&mdash;Lige Corbley, you
know.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_14">14</div>
<p>&ldquo;Oh! you&rsquo;re right about him! He is the
worst boy in town this summer,&rdquo; said Billy,
shaking his head. &ldquo;I never can understand
that fellow. He&rsquo;s as smart as they make &rsquo;em,
only he has a bitter tongue in his head, as if
he was born with a grouch against everybody
that tries to be decent. Yet I&rsquo;ve seen him
carrying that little crippled brother of his
across the muddy street, and say, it couldn&rsquo;t
have been done more tenderly if it had been
you! Yet he&rsquo;d as soon fight as eat his supper.
And so you kind of think Lige would give us a
heap of trouble, do you, if ever we started to
clean up the town?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Hugh replied, &ldquo;he has a few boys
about as bad as himself trailing after him in a
sort of gang, and I expect they&rsquo;d try all they
could to upset our work for us. But if we have
the women of the place and public sentiment
back of us, we might be able to make a decent
showing. I&rsquo;d want to consider our chances well
before making a start. Scouts don&rsquo;t like to
be looked down on as failures. Once they put
their shoulders to the wheel, they want to see
things move.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_15">15</div>
<p>&ldquo;If only we had a mayor with any sort of
backbone, things could never be done like that
clodhopper of a farmer dumping his waste tomatoes
out of the tail of his wagon along the
road! Well, I should say not! I sometimes
wonder if it would make any sort of change
if the women did get a vote here and we had
a woman for mayor!&rdquo;</p>
<p>At that mental picture, Hugh laughed loud
and long.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Honest, I&rsquo;d like to see the day that happens,&rdquo;
he remarked seriously. &ldquo;Things
couldn&rsquo;t be any worse, and chances are they&rsquo;d
improve a thousand per cent. Men get so
shiftless. Any old thing does for them, rather
than have a lot of trouble. They think they get
enough of that during spring cleaning or moving
time.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;But you&rsquo;ll bring the matter up before the
boys to-night, won&rsquo;t you, Hugh?&rdquo; Billy insisted.
&ldquo;Because Lieutenant Denmead is down
to Boston, won&rsquo;t make any difference. We can
undertake the work by ourselves without consulting
anybody. And once we concluded to
make the dust fly, you could partition the whole
town off between the different patrols, and offer
a prize to the one that showed the cleanest
streets and yards two weeks later. How&rsquo;s that
for an idea, Hugh?&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_16">16</div>
<p>&ldquo;It sounds good to me, Billy, and to tell you
the truth, I&rsquo;m thinking more and more about
going into the scheme, as we get to talking
about it. I know my folks would be glad to
see the place look halfway decent. If public
sentiment can only be waked up, the thing is as
good as done in spite of Lige and his gang.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Billy was all animation now. The heat of
the afternoon seemed to have passed entirely
out of his mind. As was always the case when
he went into any scheme, Billy was ready to
throw himself heart and soul into the fray.</p>
<p>He was just about to say something further
along the line of their interesting conversation,
when a sudden wild racket arose, in which the
yelping of a dog vied with loud laughter and
hoots from around the corner.</p>
<p>Hugh and his fellow scout scrambled to their
feet, wondering what was coming, possibly
with half formed visions of a mad dog scare
in their minds.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_17">17</div>
<h2 id="c2">CHAPTER II.
<br /><span class="small">A FRIEND IN NEED.</span></h2>
<p>They were not long in discovering the cause
of all that commotion. A yellow dog of no particular
breed but of the kind generally denominated
&ldquo;cur,&rdquo; came tearing around the corner of
the street. He had an old rusty tin pan tied to
his tail, and as this struck him at every jump,
he was yelping like mad and trying every way
possible to outrun the strange thing that rattled
and banged at his heels.</p>
<p>People thrust their heads out of windows
and doors. Most of them smiled or laughed
outright at the spectacle. It was a time-honored
custom, and naturally all stray curs must
expect to be treated this way on occasion, to
make a holiday for thoughtless boys.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_18">18</div>
<p>Around the corner several half-grown lads
came into view, evidently those who had been
the cause of the wretched dog&rsquo;s dilemma.
They were apparently enjoying the sight of
the poor creature&rsquo;s fright and antics about as
much as was possible. Several of them nearly
doubled up with the excess of their hilarity.</p>
<p>There is an old fable about what great fun
boys have stoning frogs, but as a moral it is
hinted that what is &ldquo;sport to them is death to
the frogs.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In this instance, the wretched cur, thinking
that his escape was cut off by the appearance
of the two boys just in front of him, ran into a
fence corner and began to lick his wounds.</p>
<p>Billy Worth had a big heart. He was always
ready to take the part of the oppressed, whether
it chanced to be a weak boy being set upon by
a bully or a miserable dog abused by its tormentors.
So he immediately advanced toward
the fence corner, followed by Hugh, who was
anxious to see what his tender-hearted chum
meant to do.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_19">19</div>
<p>Billy snapped his fingers and spoke gently as
he advanced. The boys near the corner hooted
derisively, and then watched, half expecting
that Billy might be only intending to get within
striking distance and then to throw off the
mask and give the wretched dog a sudden kick
in order to start him running afresh.</p>
<p>The dog himself possibly doubted the sincerity
of the approaching lad. He had received
little save kicks from human kind in times past,
and must have come to look with more or less
suspicion on such apparently friendly overtures
that might only hide further ill-treatment.</p>
<p>The poor little beast raised a pair of brown
eyes beseechingly toward Billy. He even vainly
tried to wag his tail, though this proved to be a
physical impossibility so long as a piece of cord
kept the tin pan hitched in place.</p>
<p>Billy had his hand extended. The yellow
cur winced as he felt a touch on his head, and
then proceeded to lick Billy&rsquo;s hand. This act
quite completed the conquest of the boy&rsquo;s heart.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_20">20</div>
<p>&ldquo;You poor little runt,&rdquo; said Billy tenderly,
as he continued to stroke the badgered beast&rsquo;s
quivering head, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a shame the way they&rsquo;ve
chased you just because you&rsquo;re nobody&rsquo;s dog.
I&rsquo;ve got a good mind to adopt you right now.
Look at his face, Hugh, and tell me if you ever
saw a more intelligent one? And his eyes are
soft and brim full of friendliness. Yes, I&rsquo;ll do
it! We lost our dog last month, and an empty
kennel is something I don&rsquo;t like to see around.&rdquo;</p>
<p>As he spoke Billy took out his knife. The
dog possibly feared that some new torture was
in store for him, because he continued to lick
Billy&rsquo;s hand, as though hoping in that mute
fashion to plead with the boy not to hurt him.</p>
<p>One slash of the sharp blade severed the torturing
rope and the tin pan fell away. Immediately
the dog started to jump about joyfully,
evidently trying to prove how grateful
he felt. He did not attempt to run away, and
when Billy held out his hand and spoke to him,
he acted as though fairly wild with delight.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_21">21</div>
<p>&ldquo;Say, do you really believe the little critter
ever had a kind word said to him before,&rdquo;
Billy asked, as he kept on patting the head of
the yellow cur. &ldquo;Just remember that you&rsquo;re
<i>my</i> doggie now. You want to trail along close
to my heels till we get home, when I&rsquo;ll find a
good bone for you, all right. And I&rsquo;d like to
see anybody try to abuse you after this, that&rsquo;s
what.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He even took the little beast up in his arms,
and the next thing he knew it was trying to lick
his face to show its gratitude.</p>
<p>From the boys around the corner a series of
loud jeers broke forth. They even began to
throw stones and such things toward the two
scouts, as though resenting this interference
with their &ldquo;fun.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Billy, although a scout, could get angry at
times, and he was apt to forget some of the
rules to which he had agreed to conform at the
time he joined the patrol.</p>
<p>&ldquo;For two cents,&rdquo; he said angrily, when a
stone bounded up and struck him on the shin,
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d be willing to go back there and offer to lick
the coward who threw that rock.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_22">22</div>
<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe that would mend matters
any,&rdquo; Hugh remarked, as he picked up the rusty
old tin pan and tossed it carefully into one of
the scrap cans that happened to stand close by.
&ldquo;There are three of them there besides Lige,
and we&rsquo;d only get into a fuss that might reflect
on the scouts. We&rsquo;re in uniform, remember.
Let it pass; you can afford to. The dog thanks
you anyhow; just see him frisk about as
though he might be trying to jump out of his
skin with gratitude for a kind act and a pleasant
word. It would be hard to chase him away
from you now, Billy. What&rsquo;ll you call him&mdash;Bruno,
as your other dog was named?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, that would hardly do for such a
shrimp. Frisk sounds better to me. Hey,
how do you like that for a name, eh, Frisk?&rdquo;
And he snapped his fingers at the little animal
that was leaping at his side and barking joyously,
something perhaps that he had seldom
dared to do for fear of attracting attention and
having a brick shied at him for his temerity.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_23">23</div>
<p>&ldquo;Looks to me as if any name would answer
with him, if only there was a square meal
tagged on at the end of it,&rdquo; laughed Hugh.
&ldquo;His sides seem to be caving in. I guess he
hasn&rsquo;t found very fat pickings lately in skirmishing
around town, though you&rsquo;d think differently
from the trash that&rsquo;s lying everywhere.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s our butcher&rsquo;s place, so wait for me
a minute while I beg some scraps of meat for
my new dog. I&rsquo;d like to let him know he&rsquo;s met
a real friend at last. Look at his eyes, will
you, Hugh? Did you ever see such an appealing
pair in any common dog? I&rsquo;m glad I ran
across Frisk, for I&rsquo;m going to like him first
rate.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The affection is mutual, then,&rdquo; said Hugh,
as Billy darted past the screen door of the
butcher shop, and the cur, as though divining
what was in the wind, sniffed at the barrier,
whimpered, and wagged his tail expectantly
while waiting for his new master to appear
again.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_24">24</div>
<p>When Billy came forth he had a paper in his
hand, from which he took some scraps of meat
and held them for the dog to jump after. It
was comical to see the antics of the little animal.
He tried to wag his tail so furiously
between leaps that it almost seemed as though
he must shake it off.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Did you notice how most of the men who
watched the circus when that tin pan was rattling
and the dog yelping like a crazy thing,
only laughed as if they thought it a good
joke?&rdquo; Hugh asked, as they walked along the
street heading for the home of Billy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, and I guess that&rsquo;s about the way it
used to be when they were boys,&rdquo; replied the
other reflectively. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t have the scouts
in those days to show boys how to have oceans
of good times without being mean and cruel.
Times have changed some, I reckon, Hugh,
since our fathers were young. That&rsquo;s what
my dad declares when he hears of something
we&rsquo;ve been and done. And say, I rather think
he believes boys have got a better chance to do
things to-day than they used to.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_25">25</div>
<p>&ldquo;But did you see a single woman or girl
laughing?&rdquo; continued Hugh. &ldquo;Every one I
noticed seemed to be shocked and pained, and
I heard several crying &lsquo;Shame,&rsquo;&mdash;just as
though that would make any difference with
such boys as Lige Corbley and his gang!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, now that you mention it, I did notice
Susie Collins and Mazie Tucker talking to that
bunch of sneaks near the corner, and I guess
they must have been telling &rsquo;em what a low
opinion they had of boys that could treat a poor
dog as they were doing. Girls aren&rsquo;t ever up
to the same tricks as boys, and they don&rsquo;t like
the same things. They don&rsquo;t see any fun in
going fishing or hunting. And I reckon it&rsquo;s as
it should be, because we don&rsquo;t like lots of things
they dote on. The men thought it was a good
joke. Not a single one but the minister called
out, &lsquo;Shame,&rsquo; did they, Hugh?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Not that you could notice,&rdquo; Hugh answered.
&ldquo;And if you stop to think about it, Billy, perhaps
we would have laughed, too, if this had
happened before we joined the scouts. Things
look different to a boy after he has had his eyes
opened, in a good many ways.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_26">26</div>
<p>&ldquo;Now that&rsquo;s where you hit me hard, Hugh,&rdquo;
admitted the other, reddening. &ldquo;I can look
back to more than one time when I helped tie a
tin can to a dog&rsquo;s tail and then started him
scooting through the streets like a comet by
shying stones after him. But never again, and
you hear me say it! After looking into the
eyes of little Frisk here, I feel ashamed to remember
some things I&rsquo;ve been guilty of doing
in the past. I only hope that bunch of boys
will come to their senses some fine day, too.
They don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re missing, that&rsquo;s
all.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hugh looked thoughtful.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_27">27</div>
<p>&ldquo;I only wish we could think up some way to
get Lige interested in scout business, but he
makes all manner of fun of us now and never
lets a chance slip past to shout after a boy he
sees dressed in khaki. There have been three
fights already on that account, and I&rsquo;ve had to
warn all the fellows to keep on their guard so
as to give him as little cause for blustering as
possible. Of course when they&rsquo;re actually set
on and attacked, they&rsquo;ve got to defend themselves.
If this thing keeps up much longer,
Lieutenant Denmead promised to see the
mayor himself and enter a formal complaint,
telling him that it has to be stopped if it takes
all the police force in town to tame the Corbley
gang.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;When you get that fellow to change his
ways, the sky will tumble on us,&rdquo; declared the
doubting Billy. &ldquo;If there ever was a bad egg,
it&rsquo;s Lige. Hardly ten minutes have gone since
they started this poor stray dog with that can
at his heels, and, Hugh, chances are they&rsquo;re up
to some other slick game already. Oh! say,
wouldn&rsquo;t it be a cracking good thing for the
town if ever Lige <i>did</i> reform and join the
scouts! But that&rsquo;s a dream, Hugh. Don&rsquo;t
ever believe it&rsquo;s going to happen. I wouldn&rsquo;t
like to say that it&rsquo;s impossible, but there&rsquo;s a
dozen chances to one against you and me ever
seeing Lige in a khaki uniform, swearing to
obey the rules and regulations that a scout has
got to subscribe to when he enlists in the
troop.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_28">28</div>
<p>They were now at Billy&rsquo;s home.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Wonder if I ought to tie Frisk to the kennel?&rdquo;
the yellow dog&rsquo;s new master was saying
as Hugh started away.</p>
<p>&ldquo;No use,&rdquo; laughed the other. &ldquo;Why, you
couldn&rsquo;t drive that dog away from here after
you&rsquo;ve put the rest of that meat by his kennel.
He&rsquo;ll make himself at home and stay around
for keeps. Look at him jumping, Billy! I
really believe he knows what we&rsquo;re talking
about. See him go into the kennel, sniffing
around as if he just understood it was going to
belong to him, big as it is! He&rsquo;s a fixture
here from now on, let me tell you. So-long,
Billy. See you at the meeting to-night, sure?&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_29">29</div>
<p>&ldquo;I should say yes, Hugh,&rdquo; came the quick
reply. &ldquo;I just seem to feel that there are going
to be big things happening in this little city of
ours before many days, and that the scouts are
going to have a hand in the pie. I&rsquo;ll call up a
lot of the boys on the &rsquo;phone and tell them to
be on deck, because you&rsquo;ve got a scheme to
offer that&rsquo;s bound to make the old town sit up
and take notice. That&rsquo;ll get them wild to hear
what it is, and we&rsquo;ll have a full house.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;And I&rsquo;m going to think it all over and then
see what some of the ladies have to say about
our taking the job on our hands; but I&rsquo;ll be
able to tell you more about it to-night, so good-bye
till then.&rdquo; And Hugh went off with his
customary snappy stride.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_30">30</div>
<h2 id="c3">CHAPTER III.
<br /><span class="small">THE FIRE CALL.</span></h2>
<p>&ldquo;Hello, there, Hugh! Where away in such
a rush?&rdquo;</p>
<p>It was some two hours later, when the assistant
scout master, mounted on his bicycle and
spinning along the road, heard a voice hail him
after this manner. As he slowed up, another
boy, a bright-faced, wide-awake fellow of
about his own age, came speeding out of a side
road and drew alongside.</p>
<p>This was no other than Alec Sands, who had
for a long time past been Hugh&rsquo;s most zealous
rival and the cause of many tempestuous
scenes in the troop. All this was changed now,
and the boys seemed to have become very good
friends. As to how this came about, certain
incidents recorded in previous stories of the
series would doubtless explain to the reader.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_31">31</div>
<p>&ldquo;Why, I&rsquo;m bound on an errand out to Farmer
Doolittle&rsquo;s place,&rdquo; said Hugh; &ldquo;and if you
haven&rsquo;t anything better to take up your time,
I&rsquo;ll invite you to go along, Alec. I&rsquo;ve hit on a
scheme that I&rsquo;m expecting to propose to the
boys at the meeting to-night, and I&rsquo;d like to
have your opinion about it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be only too glad to give you that, if it&rsquo;s
worth anything,&rdquo; replied Alec; &ldquo;but before you
say a single word, I want to tell you that I&rsquo;m in
favor of anything you hatch up. I never knew
a fellow who could plan like you do, Hugh. If
I have to play second fiddle to anybody, I&rsquo;m
glad it&rsquo;s you. Now hit up the pace and tell me
what you&rsquo;ve got on deck.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Accordingly, Hugh explained in as few
words as possible. As we are already well acquainted
with the whole proposition, it will be
quite unnecessary for us to go into details
again. Hugh started with the talk that he and
Billy had had while resting in the welcome
shade of the big oak, and then described the
wild commotion that accompanied the appearance
of the wretched cur with that unwieldy
tin pan fastened to its poor tail.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_32">32</div>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad Billy adopted the little kiyi,&rdquo; declared
Alec, as the story was concluded; &ldquo;but
about this scheme for cleaning up the town, I&rsquo;m
wondering whether it can be done.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; demanded Hugh, anxious to ascertain
whether the same difficulties would occur
to Alec that he had mentioned to the other
comrade.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Oh! well, lots of things would bother us like
as not,&rdquo; answered Alec. &ldquo;First place, perhaps
the mayor and the city council mightn&rsquo;t exactly
like to see it done. It would sort of put them
to shame, you know, because their consciences
must convince them that they haven&rsquo;t been
faithful to their duties.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_33">33</div>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve thought of that,&rdquo; Hugh remarked,
&ldquo;but if the women backed us up, ditto the
fathers of the scouts and some more business
men, the mayor and council wouldn&rsquo;t say anything.
They couldn&rsquo;t stop us doing it, anyhow,
because there&rsquo;s no law against a boy picking
up waste paper and chucking it into one of
those tall cans on the corners. First of all,
we&rsquo;d paint the cans a bright red so as to attract
attention. Then we might put the letters &lsquo;T.
I. A.&rsquo; on again, and underneath something to
read like &lsquo;I Eat Trash!&rsquo; That would take with
a lot of people, I think.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sounds good to me the more you tell about
it, Hugh; and no matter what sort of trouble
we meet, you can count on my standing back of
you to the end. If the scouts can&rsquo;t clean up the
town and help make it look like a place people
will be proud to claim as home, then it&rsquo;s a
hopeless case, that&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;ve got to say about it.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_34">34</div>
<p>&ldquo;When nearly two score lively scouts get
busy, there&rsquo;s going to be something doing, believe
me,&rdquo; commented Hugh, who had seen the
troop in action many times in the past and
hence knew what the various patrols were capable
of accomplishing. &ldquo;And I&rsquo;m glad to
know that you take so kindly to my scheme in
the start. It&rsquo;s going to pull stronger the more
you think it over. Billy&rsquo;s telling all the boys
over the &rsquo;phone to bring bags along with them
to-night. You see he believes in rushing
things. And so I&rsquo;m figuring on commencing
operations right away, if a majority are in favor
of tackling the big job.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll fetch a broom and you can bring a
shovel; whatever we start to do, we may need
something like that, Hugh,&rdquo; observed the practical
Alec, becoming, just as the other had expected,
more interested in the scheme the further
he went.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Listen! Wasn&rsquo;t that a shout just then?&rdquo;
exclaimed Hugh, turning his head as he slackened
his pace by means of the pedal brake.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Seemed to come from over in that clump of
trees, too,&rdquo; observed Alec, almost immediately
adding: &ldquo;Look at all that smoke rising up,
Hugh! I honestly believe a house or barn must
be on fire.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_35">35</div>
<p>&ldquo;Come on, let&rsquo;s head that way,&rdquo; said Hugh
quickly. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s a road to get in, and it must
lead straight there.&rdquo; While saying this, he
threw himself off his wheel to open a gate that
stood in their way.</p>
<p>Together the two scouts pedaled along the
wagon road that led from the main highway
toward the clump of trees, back of which
doubtless lay the house and barn connected
with the farm.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the Ketchem place,&rdquo; said Alec. &ldquo;You
know the family is related to that good-for-nothing
Lige Corbley you were just talking
about. Queer how things happen, isn&rsquo;t it?
You never speak of an angel but you hear the
quiver of wings; though I reckon Lige is far
from being that kind of a fellow. Hugh, it is
a house afire! Hurry, and let&rsquo;s help put the
blaze out. There are only a widow and her
three children living here. She runs the farm
since her husband died last year.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_36">36</div>
<p>Both boys strained themselves to the utmost
to reach the scene of the excitement as speedily
as possible. They could see a woman carrying
two buckets of water, and several children running
back and forth, while the smoke continued
to ooze from the doors and windows of the
farmhouse.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But that was a man who shouted for us to
come,&rdquo; declared Alec. &ldquo;Do you see him anywhere
around, Hugh?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Somebody&rsquo;s up on the roof with a bucket of
water,&rdquo; replied the other scout. &ldquo;He has a
ladder placed against the side of the house.
Well, would you believe it, Alec, it must be the
very boy we were talking about? I saw him
look this way when he waved his hand just
then, and it was surely Lige Corbley.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, for once, then, we&rsquo;ll have to give him
a helping hand. This isn&rsquo;t a time to stand back
for fear of getting contaminated. Come on,
Hugh, let&rsquo;s find some buckets. We&rsquo;ve just got
to get this fire under control!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_37">37</div>
<p>Letting their wheels lie where they had
dropped, the boys hurried forward to the place
where the almost distracted widow was standing.
Hugh took the empty buckets from her
hand, and Alec, spying several tin milk pails
sunning on a picket fence near by, hastened to
help himself to a couple.</p>
<p>&ldquo;To the well, and fill up!&rdquo; he shouted, at the
same time dashing off at full speed.</p>
<p>The boy on the roof came down hastily, as
though he realized that this additional force
might mean another method of attacking the
fire.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s in the kitchen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I poured
three buckets down around the chimney because
I reckoned it must have caught from a
defective flue. But a lot of rags and things are
blazing inside and making all this smoke now.
Bring on the water, boys, and we&rsquo;ll knock the
stuffing out of the old fire. Whoop!&rdquo;</p>
<p>All of them were kept very busy for some
ten minutes. The fire had managed to get such
a good start that it was only with difficulty subdued;
but as bucket after bucket of water from
the well was poured around the kitchen, by degrees
it lost its grip; and in the end there was
not a live spark to be found.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_38">38</div>
<p>&ldquo;That settles it!&rdquo; exclaimed Alec, almost out
of breath with his recent exertions.</p>
<p>The widow was shaking Hugh&rsquo;s hand and
thanking him with tears in her eyes for the
part he had taken in the saving of her home.
Then she came over to Alec and repeated her
words of gratitude. The children only laughed,
as though they thought it more or less of a
show gotten up for their especial benefit, for
they were too young to realize the horrors of
fire.</p>
<p>Hugh glanced out of the tail of his eye
toward the stout boy who had enjoyed of late
the unenviable reputation of being the terror of
the town. He wondered what Lige Corbley
thought of scouts now, after seeing that they
could meet an emergency like this without
hesitation.</p>
<p>He could see that the other was hesitating, as
though urged on to say something, and yet
finding it difficult to express his feelings. Finally,
however, Lige walked forward and looked
at Hugh in a peculiar way.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_39">39</div>
<p>&ldquo;Huh!&rdquo; he grunted. &ldquo;I never thought I&rsquo;d
see the day when I had to thank one o&rsquo; you
scouts for lendin&rsquo; a helpin&rsquo; hand! But you&rsquo;ve
saved my aunt&rsquo;s place, and you did pretty well,
if I do say it. P&rsquo;raps after all there may be
two halfway decent fellers in your crowd.
&rsquo;Pears like you mightn&rsquo;t <i>all</i> be a set of sissies
and cowards!&rdquo;</p>
<p>That was a strange sort of compliment, Alec
thought, and he immediately turned his back
on the sneering speaker, as though wishing to
let him understand that he meant to have nothing
to do with a fellow of his stamp.</p>
<p>As for Hugh, he was better able to understand
what the real feelings of the rough boy
might be. He believed that Lige was secretly
forced to respect them after what he had seen,
and in saying what he did, he had intended to
compliment them. It was pretty hard for him
to utter anything that might sound like praise
for the scouts, whom he had long derided as
milk-and-water boys, following a leader as a
flock of sheep follow the bellwether.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_40">40</div>
<p>Hugh must have thought that Lige had a
strange idea of what constituted a coward.
According to some people, it would mean any
boy mean enough to torment a helpless animal
or to pick upon a lad smaller than himself.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s nothing, Lige,&rdquo; Hugh remarked
lightly, as he turned away. &ldquo;We were glad to
be on hand to help out, though I guess you&rsquo;d
have smothered the fire yourself, even if we
hadn&rsquo;t happened along.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know &rsquo;bout that,&rdquo; muttered Lige,
frowning. &ldquo;When I tackled her one place, she
got boomin&rsquo; again in another; and I didn&rsquo;t
know how on earth I was goin&rsquo; to manage.
Anyhow, my aunt, she&rsquo;s obliged to both of you
fellers. So-long!&rdquo;</p>
<p>As he and Alec rode along the road again,
after washing the smut from their faces at the
well, Hugh found himself wondering whether
this little incident might have any bearing on a
change of heart on the part of Lige Corbley.
He knew what a consistent hater the other
could be, and how deep-rooted, though unreasonable,
his detestation of the Boy Scouts was.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_41">41</div>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid it will take a lot more than that
to make him alter his mind about scouts,&rdquo; he
said. And Alec, quick to understand what
must be passing through his mind, was not at
all slow to remark:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s what I think, too, Hugh. He&rsquo;s
been nursing this feeling for the lot of us so
long that he actually believes he is right, and
that we&rsquo;re a silly bunch. What he said was
forced out of him unwillingly, I could see. He
kept watching you out of the corner of his eye,
as though he couldn&rsquo;t just make you out. Nothing
will come of the little affair. We&rsquo;ve had
an adventure, and there&rsquo;s some satisfaction in
knowing we had a chance to do a good deed.
Somehow I haven&rsquo;t turned my badge to-day,
and now I think I&rsquo;ve got a good right to do it.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_42">42</div>
<p>&ldquo;I should say you had,&rdquo; laughed Hugh. &ldquo;I
make it a regular practice to find something to
do for somebody right early in the morning, so
as to get it off my mind. Though for that matter,
there&rsquo;s no reason we shouldn&rsquo;t perform
twenty kind acts during each day, and we will,
too, if the thing has become real to us, and not
just a meaningless service to carry out a set
rule. But it&rsquo;s good to start right. It gets to
be a sort of clock-work performance with you,
once you fall into the rut. But let&rsquo;s talk now
about what we mean to do to-night if the majority
is in favor of it. I never felt more
stirred up than I do right now; for this town
needs purging if any city ever did, in more
ways than one. Mark what I say, Alec, once
we get started there will crop up all sorts of
openings through which the place can be
improved. If my plan takes with the boys of
the troop to-night, the good people around will
have something to talk about at breakfast time
to-morrow morning.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_43">43</div>
<h2 id="c4">CHAPTER IV.
<br /><span class="small">WILLING WORKERS.</span></h2>
<p>Long before eight o&rsquo;clock that night the boys
had gathered at their meeting-place, which was
now in the basement of one of the churches,
where they were promised a new gymnasium
for the coming winter season.</p>
<p>When the roll was called, just twenty-nine
responded to their names, showing that whatever
Billy had told them over the wire, it must
have excited their curiosity considerably.
There was a buzz of excitement all over the
room when, the regular business finished, Hugh
started to explain the plan of campaign that
had appealed to Billy and himself that very
afternoon.</p>
<p>He led up to it by telling about the terrible
condition of the streets almost everywhere
about town.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_44">44</div>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s become a chronic habit with everybody
to sweep their waste into the street, so that
everywhere you go you&rsquo;ll find stray papers
blowing about and lying in all fence corners.
Why, sometimes you&rsquo;d think a city dump was
close by, from the way old stuff flies in the
wind. All that could be changed if we just
made up our minds to take hold and assist the
women of the town. The job they tackled
twice has always been too much for them.
Let&rsquo;s see what the scouts can do to help out.
And as the majority rules in our meetings, I
hope somebody will call for a rising vote.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At that, Alec was before Billy in jumping to
his feet and making the proposition that the
troop take hold in earnest to put themselves in
the running when it came to having a clean city,
worth living in.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_45">45</div>
<p>The motion was carried unanimously. If
there were any &ldquo;doubting Thomases&rdquo; there
who feared that the attempt might end in failure,
they were carried off their feet by the wild
enthusiasm that seemed to pervade the meeting,
for every scout registered his willingness
to embark in the scheme, no matter what it
called for.</p>
<p>A little discussion was next in order. Hugh
believed in taking the bull by the horns, and
hence he told the others what he feared might
be their most difficult task: keeping the Corbley
crowd from undoing all their work spitefully,
just to show that Boy Scouts could not run that
town.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll not cross a bridge until we come to it,
though,&rdquo; said Hugh in conclusion, &ldquo;and now,
what&rsquo;s to hinder our getting in some fine work
for a starter to-night?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hurrah!&rdquo; cried a number of the interested
scouts in a volley.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It happens that the moon is almost full for
the occasion,&rdquo; said Bud Morgan, one of the
Wolves and a boy who could always be depended
upon to do his share in everything that
came along; Bud had seen considerable practical
experience in the field, as he had once been
on a Western ranch and had also worked
through a vacation season with a surveying
party.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_46">46</div>
<p>&ldquo;But what can we do in such a rushing
hurry, Mr. Scout Master?&rdquo; asked Arthur Cameron,
another of the same patrol, whose particular
hobby was in the lines of photography
and weather bureau work.</p>
<p>&ldquo;For a starter, I thought we might take a
turn around the little park and get it in apple-pie
shape. People throw away greasy paper
from luncheons there, and newspapers they&rsquo;ve
been reading. It&rsquo;s a shame the way that pretty
little square looks. My mother says she avoids
passing across it whenever she can, because it
seems so much like a pig-pen. Now, boys,
what do you say, shall we set to work with a
vim and make that a fit spot for any lady to
sit or walk?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We can do it!&rdquo; cried Blake Merton of the
Hawks, a fellow who had a melodious voice
and was called on many times by his chums
when in camp to start up the songs they loved.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_47">47</div>
<p>&ldquo;Lead the way, Hugh,&rdquo; proposed Walter
Osborn. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve taken to your scheme like
ducks to water, and the sooner we get busy
the better it&rsquo;ll please a lot of us. I&rsquo;m really
getting rusty for want of something to do besides
study, now school has begun. Fall in,
everybody, and don&rsquo;t forget your bags.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now we know why Billy told us to fetch
these bags along,&rdquo; remarked Sam Winter.
&ldquo;We are to stuff the waste paper in them, so
we can carry it to some central place. Is that
the idea, Hugh?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes. We&rsquo;ll put several of the collecting
cans in a bunch near the middle of the little
park, and in the morning the dump man can
take the trash away,&rdquo; the scout master informed
him.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Too bad we couldn&rsquo;t make a big bonfire
and burn it all up,&rdquo; grumbled Billy. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d feel
better if that ended the affair, because&mdash;Oh,
well, if the rest of you think it will be all right
to leave it there, I&rsquo;m not going to kick. How
many of you fetched a broom along?&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_48">48</div>
<p>It was found that, all told, there were seven
brooms in the party, eight hoes, half a dozen
shovels, and two rakes. When this curious
assortment of implements had been shouldered
by the enthusiastic boys, they looked like a
corps of gardeners about to begin work on
some public ground.</p>
<p>Two by two the scouts marched out of their
meeting-room and headed for the open plaza
not far away, where the grass was green and
many bushes and flowers grew. The spot had
really lost much of its beauty through the
habit most people had formed of throwing
aside all sorts of rubbish. In certain quarters
of town it was not an unusual sight to see, perhaps,
an old coal scuttle, cast-off shoes, or even
a rusty hot-water boiler reposing in the gutter
as though that were the ordinary place for
such derelicts.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_49">49</div>
<p>As the scouts crossed the main street in order
to reach the little park, some people stood
and stared. A few gave them a faint cheer,
though unable to understand what the parade
could be for. Doubtless they imagined that it
might only be a prank on the part of the boys,
since they carried garden tools and brooms in
place of guns.</p>
<p>When they reached the small park, Hugh
began to give his orders. He knew every foot
of that ground and had already planned the
attack in his mind.</p>
<p>Dividing it into four equal parts, he assigned
one to each of the three patrols besides
his own. After that, it was up to the leaders
to see that their workers did their part in the
undertaking.</p>
<p>First of all, several of the tall waste paper
cans, which nobody ever thought of using any
more, were deposited near the center of the
open space. There was one for each patrol,
and immediately the scouts busied themselves
in collecting the worst of the accumulated
trash, depositing it in the receptacles where it
should have lodged long since.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_50">50</div>
<p>Presently the hoes, rakes and brooms began
to get busy. Such a bustling spectacle had
certainly not been seen in that vicinity for
many a year as the industrious band presented
when they started to cover every foot of
ground in the little city park.</p>
<p>Of course all this could not go on without a
certain number of people becoming wise to the
fact that an innovation had begun. Small
boys and girls who really should have been at
home and in bed, but from lack of a curfew
bell still played upon the streets shouting and
chasing each other, watched what the scouts
were doing, and upon discovering that they
were actually <i>working</i>, ran to tell others that
a wave of reform had struck the town at last.</p>
<p>It was not long before fully fifty people
stood around and watched the progress of the
scouts&rsquo; work, commenting on the novelty.
Some made great fun of the idea that mere
boys could cause the city to take on a different
look. They declared that it was bred in the
bone with the Italians and other foreigners to
be careless, and it could not be beaten out of
the flesh.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_51">51</div>
<p>Others were more sanguine. These scouts
had succeeded in a number of things where
others had made failures, and besides, in this
case they surely were animated by the right
principles. So a few observers said good
words and cheered the boys on. Several of
the women were loud in their expressions of
gratification, and promised that they would
see to it that the almost defunct society for
town improvement took on new life and
backed up the boy element in their work.</p>
<p>It was more or less fun for Hugh and his
comrades, too. Boys can put in a lot of hard
work and call it a frolic. They laughed and
joked as they swept and raked and gathered
up armfuls of rubbish to fill the tall cans. In
the end there had to be a detachment sent out
skirmishing for several more receptacles, such
was the vast amount of trash collected on that
first night of the fray against dirt.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_52">52</div>
<p>When ten o&rsquo;clock sounded from the church
tower where the clock stood, the round moon
looked down on as neat a little park as one
could well imagine. Every foot of it had been
carefully scraped and cleaned by that enterprising
band of workers, until it was what
might be called immaculate.</p>
<p>By that time it was a pretty tired lot of
scouts who began to gather around the one in
command. The fun of the thing had vanished,
and they were almost as eager to be
given the word to start toward home and clean
themselves up, as a while before they had
seemed to begin operations.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all done, anyhow,&rdquo; Alec Sands said, as
he came up to report that his squad had completed
their share of the work. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to
come down here the first thing in the morning,
just to listen and hear what folks say when
they find out what&rsquo;s happened. Chances are
they&rsquo;ll rub their eyes and wonder if the little
darky twins we see advertised as willing workers
haven&rsquo;t been on the job while people slept.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hugh laughed as he glanced around at the
perspiring scouts.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_53">53</div>
<p>&ldquo;And if they could see some of the faces
here on this festive occasion,&rdquo; he remarked humorously,
&ldquo;they&rsquo;d feel dead certain of it, because
we are the nearest approach to coons
seen around here for many a day. I warrant
it&rsquo;s going to keep a few of us busy cleaning up
our uniforms against the next parade. They
don&rsquo;t look as spic and span as when we were in
the procession on Labor Day.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;But that ends it for to-night, doesn&rsquo;t it,
Hugh?&rdquo; asked Alec anxiously, for he was very
tired, having worked with his customary zeal,&mdash;and
Alec had once been the spoiled son of a
very wealthy man, too, until he joined the
scouts and learned the many benefits that labor
brings in its train.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, let&rsquo;s all make for home now. I hope
that when we drift down this way in the morning,
we&rsquo;ll be satisfied with our job,&rdquo; Hugh
replied.</p>
<p>The signal being given, the boys drew up in
line with military precision, and at the command
started away, still flourishing their
brooms, hoes, rakes and shovels as though
proud of their strange weapons for warfare.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_54">54</div>
<p>Some of the men gave them a parting cheer.
Even if they did not have a great deal of faith
in the success of this new undertaking of the
scouts, at least it did not prevent their admiring
the unflinching spirit with which the boys
had taken up arms against the tide of uncleanliness
that was engulfing the town.</p>
<p>There were a few &ldquo;boos&rdquo; also, coming
doubtless from certain elements that viewed
any movement looking to reform with disfavor,
because it was likely to cause them to
change their careless, easy-going ways. They
might actually be compelled to take three steps
to deposit a newspaper wrapper in a receptacle,
instead of throwing it on the ground as at
present to blow where it listed.</p>
<p>When Hugh reached his home, he, too, felt
the effects of his recent work, for he had not
spared himself a particle in setting a good
example to his fellows of the Wolf Patrol.
And he believed that their section of the little
park was just as destitute of rubbish as any
other quarter.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_55">55</div>
<p>Hugh was asleep soon after his head touched
the pillow, and really he knew next to nothing
until long after the sun had arisen. Having
dressed, he was proceeding down to the dining
room for breakfast, it being Saturday
morning, when he heard the telephone bell
ring.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hello! Hello! Who is it?&rdquo; he asked,
reaching the instrument. When he caught
the well-known voice of Alec over the wire,
Hugh had a sense of coming misfortune.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s all up the flue, Hugh!&rdquo; said the
other scout disconsolately.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; demanded the assistant
scout master.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Only this,&rdquo; the other continued sadly, and
angrily as well. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m down-town now,&mdash;came
early to gloat over our work,&mdash;but would you
believe it, everything has been turned out of
the trash cans and scattered all over the park
again!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_56">56</div>
<h2 id="c5">CHAPTER V.
<br /><span class="small">REPAIRING DAMAGES.</span></h2>
<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; Hugh demanded hastily as
though considerably aroused. &ldquo;Say it over
again, Alec, please.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;All our hard work went for nothing,
Hugh, because after we left, some miserable
skunks,&mdash;and we can guess who they must
have been,&mdash;kicked over the trash cans we&rsquo;d
filled and scattered the stuff all about the
park.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s pretty rough on our boys,&rdquo; said the
assistant scout master, trying evidently to restrain
his righteous anger and thinking more
of his comrades than of himself.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_57">57</div>
<p>&ldquo;I should say it was a hard knock on you,
most of all, and that&rsquo;s what it was intended
for,&rdquo; Alec continued over the wire. &ldquo;Some of
that Corbley gang hate you just about as they
say Old Satan hates holy water. They must
have been watching us as we worked, and I
bet you we weren&rsquo;t halfway home before they
started in to do the wrecking business! Say,
what are we going to do about it, Hugh?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Do?&rdquo; echoed the other instantly. &ldquo;Why,
there&rsquo;s only one thing we can do, and that&rsquo;s
start in and clean the park up again! Scouts
are made of stuff that doesn&rsquo;t let little accidents
like this upset them. Every time they&rsquo;re
knocked down, it&rsquo;s only to get up again and
sail in harder than ever. Scouts never say die
as long as they can put one foot in front of
another!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Bully for you, Hugh!&rdquo; said Alec joyously.
&ldquo;Those are my sentiments to a dot; and I
ought to have known that you&rsquo;d talk that way.
Tell me what to do to start the ball rolling,
and you&rsquo;ll find me Johnny-on-the-spot.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_58">58</div>
<p>&ldquo;Get Billy on the wire, and tell him to pass
the word along to the next one. We&rsquo;ll gather
at the church, and every fellow fetch along
whatever he had with him last night, broom,
hoe, rake or shovel. This thing is going to be
fought out to a finish, if it takes all winter!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Bully! I&rsquo;m on. Shall I ring up Billy
now?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, go ahead full steam, while I get busy
in another direction.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hugh swallowed a cup of coffee and took a
few bites, but breakfast somehow did not seem
to appeal very strongly to him on that morning.
He certainly did not have his camp appetite
along, nor was it to be wondered at, for
the news that had come over the wire had been
most discouraging.</p>
<p>The first thing he did after starting out was
to call upon Mrs. Marsh, a lady who was at
the head of the women connected with the
Town Improvement Association.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_59">59</div>
<p>Hugh knew her very well, and was also
aware of the fact that she professed to be
deeply interested in all that the scouts had been
doing in the past. As briefly as possible he
narrated all that had happened, and also
stated that the scouts were determined to complete
the job they had undertaken.</p>
<p>Now the president of the league for bettering
the conditions of the town and its inhabitants
had begun to despair of ever arousing
public sentiment. Several times in the past
she had labored to the utmost, only to see
things go back again into the old wretched rut,
as though the vast majority of the people did
not care to be bothered and would rather go on
as they had been living, letting shiftlessness
have full control in a happy-go-lucky manner.</p>
<p>When this bright-faced scout told her in his
manly way how he and his comrades had undertaken
to carry on the work, and above all
things wanted the co-operation of the good
women of the league, the president awoke to
the fact that at last the long-hoped-for opportunity
had arrived, and in a most unexpected
fashion.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_60">60</div>
<p>&ldquo;Most certainly you will have the backing
of the league, financially as well as morally,&rdquo;
she hastened to tell Hugh. &ldquo;I have dreamed
of this day, but had begun to despair of ever
seeing it. And to think that after all it should
come through the young blood of the city! I
will call a meeting of the association this very
morning, Saturday or not. Let the men eat
baker&rsquo;s stuff for one Sunday, if by the sacrifice
so much can be done for our town. I promise
you that a committee will call at once on
the mayor, and get him to issue a proclamation
warning everybody that from now on any one
caught throwing waste upon the public streets
will be immediately arrested and heavily fined.
If we can get that issued, I will have copies
printed in several languages and see that it is
placed in the hands of all foreigners, as well
as posted on the fences and bill boards. If we
can co-operate with you in any other way,
Hugh, come and see me without hesitation.
You will have the best wishes of every mother
in this town; and I really believe that this
time something is going to come out of the
venture.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_61">61</div>
<p>After this encouraging talk, Hugh felt a
thousand per cent better. His spirits rose
again, and it was with a smile on his face that
he hurried over to where the meeting-place of
the scouts was located.</p>
<p>He found that the boys were already gathering.
They looked as angry as could be, and
there was considerable muttering about retaliation,
which, however, Hugh stopped at
once.</p>
<p>&ldquo;No use saying anything like that, fellows,&rdquo;
he told the hotheads. &ldquo;What we&rsquo;ve got to do
is to repair damages at once, and then try to
see if things can be kept as we put them. I&rsquo;ve
been to see Mrs. Marsh, who is at the head of
the Improvement League, you know, and she&rsquo;s
promised to back us up all through. They
will have an emergency meeting this morning
and send a committee to the mayor.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_62">62</div>
<p>As the scouts were anxious to hear all the
news, Hugh went on to tell what else the energetic
lady had promised; and somehow this
gave the boys such cheer that the angry looks
vanished and presently they were laughing
over the situation.</p>
<p>When the entire troop, so far as they could
be reached, was on hand, Hugh made a little
speech, and aroused their enthusiasm by his
eloquence. After that they were ready to follow
him in anything he chose to undertake.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Fall in!&rdquo; called the scout master, and the
sound of the bugle caused every member of
the troop to step lively.</p>
<p>Shortly afterward, the townspeople saw a
strange procession marching through the main
streets. They had often watched the Boy
Scouts go forth to camp and march in parades,
but never had most of them witnessed such a
novel sight as when Hugh and his khaki-clad
followers passed the stores, carrying such odd
weapons as brooms, rakes, hoes and shovels.</p>
<p>The news passed around like wild-fire.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The scouts are going to clean up the town!
They&rsquo;re heading straight for the park! Watch
the dirt fly when they take hold! They always
get there when they start in!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_63">63</div>
<p>Presently the whole town was astir. Men,
women and children gathered to see the novel
sight of boy soldiers playing the part of street
cleaners. The police awoke to the fact that it
was their duty to protect the scouts from interference.
This happened after the Chief had
received several urgent messages from influential
citizens, apprising him that they would
hold him responsible for it if the boys were
not allowed to carry on their self-imposed task
unmolested. Since the city had so long
shirked its plain duty, it could at least stand
back of those brave lads who by their devotion
meant to teach citizens a wholesome lesson.</p>
<p>Hugh was not at all dismayed now as he
saw how their work of the previous night had
been undone and the refuse scattered over the
grass and walks of the pretty little park.</p>
<p>Once again he set his four patrols to work,
each being given a section to take care of as on
the previous occasion. The boys labored with
vigor, while the police kept the crowds back
as well as they could.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_64">64</div>
<p>There were a lot of loud comments, quite
naturally, but the main sentiment of the spectators
seemed to be in favor of allowing the
energetic scouts a chance to make good.</p>
<p>&ldquo;If they can do it, they&rsquo;ll shame the whole
rotten town management!&rdquo; one man loudly declared;
and while it was recognized that he
chanced to be the defeated candidate for
mayor at the last election, his sentiments were
heartily applauded.</p>
<p>Business men going to their offices took a
turn out of their way to ascertain what was
going on. Some of them seemed to be amused
at the idea of a parcel of half-grown school-boys
venturing to tackle what had apparently
been too heavy a task for the good women of
the town.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_65">65</div>
<p>Some of these women also made their appearance
and seemed to be visibly aroused over
the newly-awakened hope of bettering conditions.
They cheered the boys on by pleasant
words, and then hurried away to attend the
call for a meeting at the residence of their
president.</p>
<p>The city was on tiptoe with excitement.
Boys even forgot for the time being that this
was Saturday and that they had a ball game
in prospect with a team from a nearby town.
They hung around the park all the time the
scouts were working, and a few even declared
their intention of sending in their names as
candidates for admission to the troop.</p>
<p>In the daytime it was possible to do even
better work than under the conditions that prevailed
when their first clean-up was undertaken.
Consequently when all of the refuse
had been gathered in the cans once more,
Hugh, looking around, felt that no lady need
blush to be seen walking or sitting in that little
park, for it was spic and span clean.</p>
<p>Once caught napping was enough for Hugh,
and he did not mean it should happen again if
he could help it.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_66">66</div>
<p>Leaving the rest of the scouts there, he went
in search of the contractor whose business it
was to collect the ashes and garbage of the
town. This man happened to be a sensible
sort of a fellow, who, upon hearing what had
been done, promised to dispatch a couple of
carts at once to the square in order to carry
away the contents of the various receptacles.
And when this had finally been attended to,
Hugh breathed a sigh of relief. At least, the
active Corbley crowd would not be able to
scatter that trash about again, which was a
comfort.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s next on the program, Hugh?&rdquo; the
boys were asking.</p>
<p>It had always been a maxim with the assistant
scout master to &ldquo;strike while the iron is
hot.&rdquo; He knew that much could be accomplished
while this new enthusiasm of his followers
ran riot in their veins. Later on, the
story would grow stale and they might need
urging in order to carry on the work; but now
every fellow seemed brim full of energy and
a desire to pitch in.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_67">67</div>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve laid off the center of the town in quarters,&rdquo;
he told them, &ldquo;and each patrol will have
one of these to look after this morning. Gather
all the waste paper you can find and put it in
the receptacles. Barney Heath has promised
to work double to-day, collecting and carrying
off. By noon we&rsquo;ll call it a day, and let&rsquo;s see
what a big change we can make in the looks of
things by then. That&rsquo;s all I&rsquo;ve got to say to
you, boys. Now get busy!&rdquo;</p>
<p>They gave him a cheer that was taken up by
the listening crowd. After that the scouts
scattered, and it was a hustling, lively lot of
boys who invaded the business section of the
town. They gathered up the floating paper
and crammed it into the big cans until the latter
were overflowing. Then the wagons came
along and took away what had been collected,
so that the boys could keep up the fine work.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_68">68</div>
<p>That was only a beginning. Already the
spirit of &ldquo;clean-up week&rdquo; seemed to be in the
air. Business men warned their clerks not to
throw anything on the street on penalty of
trouble; others actually went out of their way
to drop envelopes from letters into a can, or
else crumpled them up and thrust them into
their pockets.</p>
<p>Great things spring from small beginnings;
oaks have their start in the little acorns; and
so from this determination on the part of the
scouts to set the ball rolling looking to a
cleaner town, much was to be expected.</p>
<p>When noon came and they stopped work for
that day, a transformation seemed to have
come already to the city. A stranger who had
not seen the place for a month or two, upon
dropping off the train was discovered rubbing
his eyes and asking whether he had not made
a mistake, because somehow things did not
seem familiar!</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_69">69</div>
<h2 id="c6">CHAPTER VI.
<br /><span class="small">ON DUTY.</span></h2>
<p>Hugh was perfectly satisfied with the progress
made. He knew very well that the whole
business could not be accomplished in a day.
They must advance slowly but surely. What
the scouts did was going to be only for the
sake of arousing public sentiment, and after
the community had taken hold in earnest, the
thing so long waited for would be accomplished.
The city would never consent to go
back to the old, dirty conditions, after once
experiencing the pleasure of seeing her streets
and front yards clean. The wave of reform
once started would roll on irresistibly, so that
no citizen, however humble, would dare resist
its influence.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_70">70</div>
<p>Thinking that the boys had done enough for
that one day, Hugh told them to spend the afternoon
as they pleased, but to come to another
meeting after supper that night.</p>
<p>He did this because he knew only too well
that a certain element in the place would never
rest satisfied to allow these uplifting practices
to continue unmolested. And Hugh believed
that they must &ldquo;fight fire with fire,&rdquo; just as
plainsmen do when caught by the burning
prairie grass.</p>
<p>Although most of the boys were free to attend
the ball game or go where they felt inclined,
Hugh and several others had work laid
out for themselves during that September
afternoon.</p>
<p>Paint and brushes were secured, and they
started in to color all the waste paper cans a
brilliant red. That would catch the eye from
afar, and thus call attention to the fact that
receptacles were provided for all trash, so that
there need no longer be any excuse for throwing
things around promiscuously.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_71">71</div>
<p>Later on, as the occasion offered, they meant
to place the lettering on the cans in white, and
also the effective notice running: &ldquo;I Eat
Trash,&rdquo; which Hugh had mentioned previously
as an appropriate design.</p>
<p>While thus engaged, Hugh was approached
by the Chief of Police, who had been more or
less uneasy since this moral wave had developed
in town. He hardly knew just where he
stood in the matter, for the mayor had been
known to be not in favor of &ldquo;stirring things
up,&rdquo; so long as on the surface they did not look
so very bad.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s got into all of you boys?&rdquo; he asked
as he stood alongside Hugh and watched him
putting a bright coat on the dingy waste paper
can. &ldquo;First there was last night when a bunch
of you got busy here and made things fly, and
then again this morning. I never saw the
place worked up so much as it is now. My
telephone bell has been ringing like mad all
day, and I&rsquo;ve heard from half the people in
town. What they haven&rsquo;t said to me about
backing you scouts up in your new job you
could put in a thimble. But strikes me I take
my orders from the mayor, and up to now I
haven&rsquo;t heard a word from headquarters.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_72">72</div>
<p>&ldquo;Perhaps you may right away, Chief,&rdquo; said
Hugh, who had glimpsed Mrs. Marsh approaching,
her arms full of printed papers and
her face bright with a beaming smile, as
though the looks of things about town gave her
great pleasure.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I saw Mayor Strunk, Hugh, and he issued
a proclamation which I&rsquo;ve had rushed into
print in English and Italian. Three men are
busy pasting it around town, and a dozen
women are seeing that it goes into every home.
Perhaps you would like to have a copy, Chief,
as it concerns your department, I imagine.&rdquo;</p>
<p>When the head of the local police force had
read the message of the mayor, calling upon
all citizens to avoid littering the streets or their
dooryards with anything in the shape of waste,
and promising to let the heavy hand of the
police drop on all offenders, his eyes opened
very wide.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_73">73</div>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take this over to the office and study it,
if you don&rsquo;t mind, Mrs. Marsh,&rdquo; he remarked
soberly. &ldquo;But of course you understand that
the police will be found ready to do whatever
they are told by the mayor and the city council.
If the <i>people</i> want a clean town, they can have
it. That&rsquo;s up to them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;But these fine boys have one favor to ask
of you, Chief,&rdquo; said the lady. &ldquo;There is a certain
element in the city that is bent on spoiling
whatever work the scouts accomplish. Last
night these unruly young ruffians came here
after the scouts had worked hard to clean up
the park, and scattered all the refuse around
again, and with police headquarters only a
block away. I hope such a thing will not be
permitted again. You must know that these
bad boys are the ones that have become a menace
to the good name of our town. They are
called the Corbley crowd, because their recognized
leader is Lige Corbley.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_74">74</div>
<p>The big Chief turned red in the face, and
Hugh could give a pretty good guess why,
since Andy Wallis, the right bower of Lige
Corbley, happened to be a nephew of the
policeman.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll all try to do our sworn duty, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo;
was all the big man said, as he turned and
strode away, the manifesto clutched rigidly in
his hand. It was evident that the Chief already
saw the handwriting on the wall which
was destined to bring more or less trouble his
way.</p>
<p>Throughout pretty much that livelong afternoon,
Hugh, Alec, Billy, and a few others went
on with their self-imposed task. The red paint
was so primed that it would dry quickly, so
that there was little likelihood of their labor
going for naught because of mischievous boys
smearing it with sticks or dirt while still wet.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_75">75</div>
<p>All over town those cans stood out prominently
to remind the shiftless of their duties.
That blazing color had been adopted because
red is the recognised danger signal with all
railroads and places where peril is apt to
abound. It is also the color that angers the
charging bull in the arena; and possibly those
bright-hued receptacles would taunt Lige Corbley
and his followers, so as to keep alive their
spirit of destruction longer than might otherwise
be the case.</p>
<p>Feeling as though they had had a pretty hard
day, the painting squad finally completed their
task and went home to clean up. They had
reason to feel satisfied with what had been
accomplished since early morning; and yet
Hugh knew the end was not yet in sight. In
fact, the fight had hardly more than begun.</p>
<p>They had a difficult task ahead of them to
keep what they had won. If Lige Corbley and
his crowd started to turn things upside down
again, they must be taught a lesson not soon
forgotten.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_76">76</div>
<p>This was what worried Hugh most of all.
He could not forget that blood ran thicker
than water, and hence the Chief must naturally
be influenced by the fact that a near relative
of his was among the offenders. While he
might appear to be very vigilant, there were
lots of ways in which his force could shut their
eyes to what was going on. Hugh had talked
this matter over with Mrs. Marsh after the
Chief had left them, and she had assured him
that the mayor was very much in earnest,
promising that if the police did not perform
their duties in a satisfactory manner he would
see to it that there was an immediate change
in their head.</p>
<p>It seemed as though the telephone were
fated to play a very prominent part in all the
doings of that day. It had carried scores
upon scores of messages back and forth connected
with the new movement for the cleaning
up of the town, since Hugh himself first
learned of the upheaval in the park over the
wire. It came to pass that Hugh had just
completed taking his bath, and, dressed in his
newer suit of khaki, was taking it easy in the
sitting-room while waiting for supper to be
announced, when he was told that some one
wanted to speak with him on the &rsquo;phone.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_77">77</div>
<p>Thinking, of course, that it must be Billy
or one of the other scouts, wishing information,
perhaps, connected with their intention
for that night&rsquo;s meeting, Hugh was somewhat
surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice address
him.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Is this Hugh Hardin?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is,&rdquo; he at once replied.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, never mind asking who&rsquo;s talking to
you, because I don&rsquo;t mean to give my name,&rdquo;
continued the other hastily. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a boy, and
one you know. I&rsquo;m not a member of the
scouts, though I hope to be one of these days.
Now, I wanted to warn you that I&rsquo;m afraid
you&rsquo;re in for a heap of trouble, perhaps to-night,
about this thing of cleaning up the town.
How do I know? Well, I&rsquo;m only giving a
guess, but chances are it&rsquo;s a good one. I saw
Lige Corbley talking like everything to a
bunch of his kind. There were several fellows
on deck that don&rsquo;t generally train with him;
but they acted like they&rsquo;d joined forces. All
I heard was something to the effect that they&rsquo;d
&lsquo;show him what they thought of his silly old
proclamation.&rsquo; I reckoned that might mean
the mayor, so p&rsquo;raps they&rsquo;ve got it in for him
good and hard. That&rsquo;s all I know, and I don&rsquo;t
want to hold the wire any longer. You
needn&rsquo;t try to find out who I am, because I
don&rsquo;t want to be thanked, and by the same
token I don&rsquo;t mean to take any chances of
those fellows learning who gave their game
away. So-long, Hugh!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_78">78</div>
<p>Hugh looked thoughtful after receiving this
friendly warning. He was not very much
surprised, truth to tell, and had rather expected
that conditions would bring the Corbley
crowd to the front again.</p>
<p>It did not matter much who the boy might
be from whom the warning had come. Evidently
he had considered it his duty to put the
assistant scout master of the troop on his
guard, and at the same time, knowing Lige
Corbley well, to keep his own name out of the
matter for fear of unpleasant consequences.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_79">79</div>
<p>Not feeling full confidence in the police to
patrol the town and prevent vandalism, Hugh
realized that the scouts were going to have
their hands full in trying to keep that which
they had won through hard labor.</p>
<p>Of course the home folks were full of the
subject at the supper table, and so Hugh had
to relate all that had happened.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been receiving ever so many messages
from the women connected with the Improvement
League all of to-day,&rdquo; Mrs. Hardin remarked
with a glance full of motherly pride
toward Hugh, &ldquo;and they agree that the time is
ripe to settle this important question once and
for all. We will have a better and cleaner
city after the scouts have done their work. It
will be a far healthier place in which to live
and rear a family. And whatever you and
your comrades do, my son, be sure that you
have the backing of those to whom you are
dear. We feel every confidence in the ability
of the troop to master this problem, as you
have others in the past.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_80">80</div>
<p>Of course Hugh understood that he would
have the sympathy of those at home when he
first started into this thing, but all the same it
made his pulses thrill to hear such encouraging
words.</p>
<p>As soon as supper was over, he started for
the place of meeting. There was much to be
discussed before they settled on their plan for
the night; and every scout on duty must know
just how far he would be allowed to go in trying
to keep the unruly elements in check.</p>
<p>The mayor had given them permission to
serve as aids to the police in the effort to keep
the peace, but this only meant that they could
patrol as much as they pleased. They must
call upon the guardians of the town in case
they made any important discovery.</p>
<p>Hugh did not altogether fancy such an arrangement,
and he meant to put it up to his
followers to decide whether they should carry
it out or settle on some plan of their own, looking
to teach the Corbley crowd a much needed
lesson should any of them be taken in the act.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_81">81</div>
<p>There was not a single fellow missing when
the meeting was called that night except two
who were known to be sick, another whose
mother did not wish him to be out nights, and
a fourth scout who happened to be out of town
with his folks.</p>
<p>Tired though the boys might be after such
a strenuous day, their faces were full of eager
enthusiasm. The spirit that animated each
fellow made him forget his aches and pains.
Fond of camping out, the idea of being allowed
to patrol the town with the full permission
of the mayor appealed very strongly to
every scout, and they were impatient for Hugh
to announce his plans.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_82">82</div>
<h2 id="c7">CHAPTER VII.
<br /><span class="small">THE ALARM.</span></h2>
<p>&ldquo;How are we going to do this patrol work,
Hugh?&rdquo; asked Billy Worth as he and Jack
Durham pushed their way to the front of the
group surrounding the assistant scout master.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll appoint squads, and they are to be divided
into couples,&rdquo; replied the leader of the
troop. &ldquo;No scout is to go alone because he
may be set upon, and with two, it&rsquo;s always possible
to give the alarm. Then we&rsquo;ll have signs
and passwords. If help is wanted, you must
call out with the sign of your patrol&mdash;the
Hawks giving their &lsquo;Kree-kree-eee,&rsquo; the
Wolves a loud &lsquo;How-ooo-ooo,&rsquo; the Foxes
&lsquo;Skee-eee-eee,&rsquo; and the Otters &lsquo;Yap-yap-yap&rsquo;!
You all understand that only in case help is
needed are you to utter these patrol calls.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_83">83</div>
<p>&ldquo;And if we catch any fellow trying to litter
up the town, what&rsquo;s going to happen to him?&rdquo;
asked Alec Sands grimly.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I want to get the sentiment of the troop on
that subject,&rdquo; said Hugh. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t all talk at
once, but tell me what you think we ought to
do. You know the mayor hasn&rsquo;t exactly ordered
us to do it, but probably he expects that
if we catch any of that crowd doing what the
proclamation forbids, we ought to hand the
fellow over to one of the police force, to be
taken to the lock-up.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The scouts did not seem to favor this idea
very much. All sorts of dissenting notes
arose.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Huh! and if we did that how many of you
expect he&rsquo;d reach the cooler?&rdquo; demanded Dick
Bellamy, who was of a skeptical turn when it
came to believing any good of the police.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Chances are they&rsquo;d let the fellow slip
through their fingers and then say it was an
accident that couldn&rsquo;t be helped,&rdquo; added Monkey
Stallings, the boy who was so agile that he
could perform all manner of circus tricks as
though born to the spangles and the sawdust
arena.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_84">84</div>
<p>&ldquo;Hugh, don&rsquo;t make us take that bitter medicine,&rdquo;
urged Spike Welling. &ldquo;Make up some
other scheme of your own. Seems to me we
ought to take the case into our hands if we
manage to make a capture. Somebody might
carry a whip along, and we&rsquo;d give him a taste
of strap oil that&rsquo;d cure him from prowling
around nights, spoiling the looks of things.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hugh shook his head at this ferocious suggestion.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that would do at all,&rdquo; he said
at once. &ldquo;It might get us into trouble. We&rsquo;re
not in the White Cap business, you see. But
it might do to give the prisoner his choice between
being handed over to the police or taking
a ducking.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_85">85</div>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the ticket!&rdquo; cried Cooper Fennimore
with enthusiasm. &ldquo;Cool him off by dipping
him in the river a few times, clothes and all.
My stars! After he found the scouts meant
business from the word go and wouldn&rsquo;t stand
for any foolishness, I guess he&rsquo;d quit his funny
work and behave. Talking won&rsquo;t go with that
crowd; you&rsquo;ve just got to do things. That&rsquo;s
the only kind of lesson they&rsquo;ll learn.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Others made suggestions along various lines.
Some of these were comical, and others seemed
too barbarous to think of entertaining for a
minute. After all was said and done, it appeared
to be the consensus of opinion that in
case they did make a capture the plan outlined
by Hugh had better be put into execution. If
the fellow was stubborn and would not make a
choice between two evils, then the scouts could
do it for him, and every one knew what would
happen then, for the police must find their own
prisoners.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_86">86</div>
<p>All preliminaries were soon arranged. Each
scout knew just what his duties and privileges
were to be. They went forth full of a desire
to acquit themselves with credit to the whole
troop. And no doubt every fellow was secretly
hoping deep down in his heart that the
offending Corbley crowd would not change
their minds and lie low on this particular night.
Although they belonged to a peace organization,
the scouts loved action. Nothing pleased
them more than to have things happening thick
and fast, giving them delicious little thrills all
the while.</p>
<p>Once again the night favored them.</p>
<p>The moon was already &ldquo;doing business at
the old stand,&rdquo; as Billy described it, and this
promised to be of considerable importance to
the boys who meant to roam the streets for
hours in couples, keeping a bright lookout for
offenders desirous of defying the mayor&rsquo;s
proclamation.</p>
<p>It being Saturday night, there were an unusually
large number of people abroad, as was
always the case at week-ends. On this particular
occasion it seemed to be in the air that
something out of the ordinary might be expected.
No one knew what, and consequently
men, women, boys and girls thronged the principal
streets up to nine o&rsquo;clock.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_87">87</div>
<p>That time came and went with everything
appearing as usual and no outbreak occurring.
Hugh had taken it for granted that the young
vandals would not venture to bother the park
again, knowing that the police had it under
their eye; and besides, there were far too many
persons abroad in that section of the city for
them to venture to show themselves there.</p>
<p>If they did break loose at all, the attack
would likely enough come in another quarter
entirely. Feeling confident of this, Hugh disposed
of his scouts in such a manner that they
could guard the parts where the police did not
patrol: the residence sections.</p>
<p>He and Billy walked around and followed
the beat which they had taken it upon themselves
to cover. Everything was being conducted
with military exactness. They had not
forgotten the methods of the two rival armies
in the mock battle, when they had served as
signal corps operators, nor the example of the
Naval Reserves, nor the work of the Life
Savers.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_88">88</div>
<p>When the two reached one end of their beat,
they waited until another pair of khaki-clad
figures approached, and then the secret countersign
was passed between them in whispers.
After that Hugh and Billy walked to the other
end of their beat, and there rubbed up against
another couple of scouts.</p>
<p>Ten o&rsquo;clock came, and as yet all was well.
Some of the boys began to weary of this unusual
exertion. They had had a warm day
and a most strenuous one as well. It did not
seem surprising, then, that they should find
themselves yawning at a terrific rate, and beginning
to wish that something would happen,
or else that Hugh would order them home.</p>
<p>This sort of thing was going on all over the
section where Hugh had figured it was most
likely the prank-loving vandals would start
their work, if they ventured to do anything at
all. The score and a half of scouts had been
placed in such manner as to cover quite a large
space. If Lige and his followers managed to
slip inside the lines and cut up any tricks, they
would have to be mighty crafty about it, for
every scout was supposed to be constantly on
the alert, watching right and left for suspicious
conditions.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_89">89</div>
<p>&ldquo;Looks as if it might have been a case of
bluff, doesn&rsquo;t it, Hugh?&rdquo; Billy said, when another
half hour had crept past. Sounds from
downtown were dying out as people went
home, believing that there would not be any
excitement, after all.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little too early to settle that question,
I&rsquo;m afraid, Billy,&rdquo; replied the assistant
scout master. &ldquo;If they meant to do anything,
you wouldn&rsquo;t expect them to start in until as
late as this, anyway. We&rsquo;ll try to hold out till
midnight, and then if nothing starts, why I
suppose we&rsquo;ll have to go home and take
chances.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Whee, an hour and a half yet, that means!&rdquo;
said Billy with a big sigh, as the church clock
rang the half hour. He was hardly able to
drag one fat leg after the other such was his
utter weariness, but being the possessor of a
stubborn spirit, Billy would not confess that he
felt anything but &ldquo;chipper.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_90">90</div>
<p>&ldquo;Something may happen before then to
change our plans,&rdquo; Hugh told him. &ldquo;If we
managed to make a capture, I think you&rsquo;d
brighten up.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Just try me,&rdquo; replied Billy, endeavoring to
look as though he were not half dead for sleep;
for Billy&rsquo;s two great weaknesses were a love
for lying in bed mornings, and a dislike to
leaving the dinner table so long as anything to
eat remained in sight.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When the Chief came around just a little
while back to see how we were getting on, he
said he did not expect to have any trouble to-night,&rdquo;
Hugh continued. &ldquo;That fierce proclamation
from the mayor seems to have convinced
him that the evildoers will all take to
hiding. But we know different. Fellows like
Lige Corbley and their crowd think very little
of the mayor&rsquo;s backbone. You see, about
every one of them has a father or uncle who
can exercise his &lsquo;pull&rsquo; with the authorities, and
they rely on that to get them off in case of
trouble.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_91">91</div>
<p>&ldquo;That sounds true to me, Hugh,&rdquo; Billy observed;
&ldquo;but then, the city was never so much
worked up as now, and the people won&rsquo;t stand
for any of that funny business. If the mayor
is back of us, then the Chief had better look
out or he&rsquo;ll lose the number of his mess. Seems
to me he&rsquo;s on to that fact, too, which accounts
for the way he acts toward us scouts. We
represent thirty-eight families, and some of
the most influential in town. Guess he begins
to think he&rsquo;s fooling with a buzz-saw when he
tries to go against the sentiment of the best
citizens.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Watch that fellow over there, Billy,&rdquo; said
Hugh, putting out his hand and holding his
companion still under the shadow of a willow
tree.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a boy, isn&rsquo;t it? He seems to be looking
around as if he wanted to find out whether this
section was being patrolled and where the
guards hold out, eh, Hugh?&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_92">92</div>
<p>&ldquo;Do you notice that he&rsquo;s got his cap drawn
away down over his face? But it seems to me
that his walk is familiar,&rdquo; Hugh responded.
&ldquo;If you asked me who he is, I&rsquo;d give a guess
and say Andy Wallis!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Chief&rsquo;s own nephew!&rdquo; ejaculated Billy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, and as he doesn&rsquo;t live in this part of
town at all, the question is: what brings him
here?&rdquo; remarked Hugh in a whisper, all the
while watching the actions of the shadowy
figure across the street.</p>
<p>The boy may have suspected that he was
seen, for suddenly starting to whistle, as
though he did not have a care in the wide
world, he walked off at a more rapid pace and
vanished around the near-by corner, where he
would enter upon the next patrol&rsquo;s post.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Do you think he was spying out the land,
Hugh?&rdquo; Billy inquired eagerly.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_93">93</div>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s hard to say,&rdquo; came the answer; &ldquo;but
one thing is sure, he wouldn&rsquo;t be in this neighborhood
unless he had some scheme in his
head. I&rsquo;m inclined to think he is acting as a
sort of decoy to draw some of us away while
others get in their work.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Gee! that sounds interesting,&rdquo; remarked
&ldquo;Billy the Wolf,&rdquo; as his chums often called
him, no doubt because he was so often heard
practicing the long-drawn howl of the Wolf
Patrol.</p>
<p>The two scouts continued to pace their beat
industriously. Billy had managed to overcome
that dreadful feeling of drowsiness, for
a time at least. Of course it was bound to
come back again later on with increased energy;
but the growing possibility of something
stirring happening was keeping him on edge
now.</p>
<p>Perhaps ten minutes later, or it may have
been no more than eight, around the corner
came a flying figure that quickly resolved itself
into a boy wearing the well-known khaki suit
of a scout.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_94">94</div>
<p>It was no other than Arthur Cameron,
whose beat adjoined that of Hugh and Billy
and with whom they had exchanged passwords
many times since going on duty.</p>
<p>Arthur was plainly wild with fresh excitement,
and Billy&rsquo;s heart began to beat fast with
anticipations of coming news.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What ails you, Arthur?&rdquo; demanded the assistant
scout master, as the other came close
up, panting for breath.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re there, and doing it for keeps!&rdquo;
gasped Arthur.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Where do you mean, and what are they
doing?&rdquo; asked Hugh quickly; while doubtless
Billy was saying to himself something like,
&ldquo;Oh, joy! joy! now we&rsquo;ll get it!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Over in the mayor&rsquo;s front yard, playing
hob with everything!&rdquo; Arthur burst out.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_95">95</div>
<h2 id="c8">CHAPTER VIII.
<br /><span class="small">MOCKING THE MAYOR.</span></h2>
<p>This thrilling news awakened Hugh to the
fact that after all the bold Corbley crowd
meant to defy the mayor. They had &ldquo;taken
the bull by the horns,&rdquo; and to make the lesson
all the more impressive, had selected the front
yard of His Honor as the scene of their
vandalism.</p>
<p>Now Hugh had dimly suspected that something
along these lines might happen, and for
that reason had chosen to be close to the scene.
He knew the place of the mayor very well, as
he had seen it year in and out while passing
to school and back.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_96">96</div>
<p>The owner took considerable pride in the
well-kept lawn and the shrubs he had planted,
some of them coming from foreign lands. In
fact, it was one of the show places in town, and
strangers were usually piloted around that
way to see how lovely one of the local homes
could appear.</p>
<p>Reckless of consequences, indeed, must the
young rascals have been, thus to bring matters
straight home to the head of the community.
Hugh was satisfied that they were really playing
into the hands of the good women who had
long endeavored to arouse the sluggish mayor,
but in vain. If the wanton destruction wrought
by these vicious boys was brought home to
him, His Honor would have no other course to
pursue than to push the war until he had
broken up the unruly gang and made people
understand that he was going to stand back of
the Town Improvement League.</p>
<p>So Hugh was in no particular hurry to get
around there and bring the operations of the
vandals to a stop. It would be a pity to burst
in upon them too soon, when they were doing
the finest thing possible to end this reign of
lawlessness that had gripped the pretty city in
its throes.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_97">97</div>
<p>Besides, it was necessary that they summon
others of the scouts to help them in the round-up.
Half a dozen, at least, should be on hand
in order to make a sure thing of it.</p>
<p>Hugh had all this sort of thing already figured
out in his mind, so that when the emergency
came along he did not have to do any
thinking. The motto of the scouts, &ldquo;Be Prepared,&rdquo;
he had taken to heart long ago and
never let an opportunity pass for laying his
plans in case certain things came to pass.</p>
<p>Just on the other side of the beat that he and
Billy the Wolf were covering, he knew could
be found Alec and Bud Morgan, two of the
most dependable of the troop. Counting the
side partner of Arthur, who was no other than
Monkey Stallings, there would thus be six of
them in all, which Hugh determined ought to
be enough to carry out his plans.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_98">98</div>
<p>Advancing part way toward the next meeting
point, Hugh gave the Wolf cry in a subdued
fashion. If Bud should hear this he
would know that he and his partner were
needed in the quarter from whence the cry
sprang.</p>
<p>Twice more did Hugh sound the call to action.
Then he heard the swiftly moving patter
of feet and the two scouts came hurrying
into view, looking eager and fit for business.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; asked Alec, as he and Bud
Morgan joined the others.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The gang is at work, doing all the damage
they can to the mayor&rsquo;s front lawn. We want
to try and round them up in a hurry,&rdquo; Hugh
explained.</p>
<p>&ldquo;How many are there of them?&rdquo; asked Bud,
not that he cared what the answer might be for
fear of consequences, but only for general information
and interest.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I forgot to ask Arthur about that,&rdquo; declared
Hugh, turning to the scout in question
and adding, &ldquo;How about it?&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_99">99</div>
<p>&ldquo;We saw three of them at work,&rdquo; replied
the other, just as Monkey joined him, &ldquo;and
there may have been yet another keeping watch
on the street so as to let them know if the cops
were coming.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Did they see you running away?&rdquo; asked the
scout leader.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We tried to keep from showing ourselves,
but even if they did, chances are they think we
were heading for downtown to tell the police,&rdquo;
Arthur replied.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, what we want to do is to get into the
Simmons place, next door to the mayor&rsquo;s, and
climb through the hedge. Then we&rsquo;ll try to
lay our plans so as to close in around one particular
chap and gobble him,&rdquo; Hugh explained
in a low voice.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But what if he shows fight? Do we lick
him into subjection?&rdquo; asked Bud, acting as
though ready to roll up his sleeves and pitch in.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t hit him any more than you can help,&rdquo;
warned Hugh. &ldquo;It might reflect on us as
scouts if we gave him a black eye. People
would say we were only the same old brand of
fighters under a new name. But hold on
tight, and if you can only get him down, sit on
him. That ought to be enough to tell you
what to do.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_100">100</div>
<p>&ldquo;Leave it to us, Hugh,&rdquo; said Bud Morgan
with a chuckle. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll do our level best to
convince the chap he ought to stop over awhile
with us, and find out if the water is still as
warm as it was last month.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Then come right along, and keep low
down,&rdquo; directed Hugh, starting toward the
gate of the place adjoining that of the mayor.</p>
<p>The other five boys trailed after him like
Indians, every fellow bending down and walking
as silently as the conditions permitted.
Hugh opened the gate and they passed
through. Across the lawn they started, heading
for the fine big hedge that stood on the
line between the properties.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_101">101</div>
<p>You would have thought that Hugh had
been there before, spying out the land, or that
some sense of intuition led him to find the one
place in all that hedge where it was thin and
the barrier weak, for he struck it almost the
first thing. Well, possibly he <i>had</i> noticed this
fact that afternoon when walking past the
home of the mayor. It often pays to take note
as you go, and scouts find that out in their
everyday experiences.</p>
<p>Reaching the hedge, Hugh looked through
one of the small openings where the foliage
was unusually thin. He could see the fine
lawn of the adjoining place, with its choice
shrubs and bordering trees.</p>
<p>Immediately he discovered moving forms.
They looked shadowy in the deceptive moonlight,
but Hugh felt sure they were just boys,
going about trying to do all manner of things
that would tell the owner that they snapped
their fingers with contempt at the order he had
taken the trouble to issue, which was staring
down at passing citizens from every fence and
blank wall in town.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_102">102</div>
<p>Yes, there were three of them in sight. Just
what they were doing, Hugh could not say; but
he plainly heard the sound of cutting, and
thought that they might be damaging some of
those highly prized foreign shrubs for which
the mayor had paid fancy prices.</p>
<p>Like a general surveying the field of battle,
Hugh took in the details, and in a few seconds
he had planned his campaign. Napoleon could
not have done it better, so the other scouts
thought, after they had heard what he whispered
to them.</p>
<p>At a certain moment, when the backs of the
intruders happened to be turned, they were one
and all to crawl through the hedge. Every
scout was expected to keep his eyes fixed upon
the moving figures beyond, and should one of
them seem to act as though suspicious of the
presence of the newcomers, Hugh would give
the shrill call of the katydid. Upon hearing
this each was to remain perfectly motionless
until the tiny cry of the cricket announced that
it was safe to be advancing again.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_103">103</div>
<p>Twice did this occur while they were making
the passage of the hedge; but owing to the
extreme care taken by the scouts, those they
were trying to surprise did not appear to have
taken alarm, as would certainly have been the
case had they suspected that enemies were
near.</p>
<p>From that time on, Hugh figured upon
creeping along in the dense shadow of the
hedge until he could lead his followers to a
certain spot where he had hastily calculated
that one of the three vandals was heading.</p>
<p>It was evident that the scouts had profited
by what experience they had had in creeping
up on an imaginary enemy, for they conducted
the operation splendidly. The fellow who was
slashing away at the foliage of the bushes,
chuckling while he worked as though vastly
enjoying himself, had not the slightest suspicion
of hovering danger until Hugh gave the
Wolf call and six figures quickly surrounded
him.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_104">104</div>
<p>There were cries of alarm from the other
two roughs, who melted into the shrubbery,
doubtless under the impression that the whole
scout troop was on the field, ready to encompass
their capture. So the unlucky one was
left to the tender mercies of the half-dozen
scouts.</p>
<p>He saw that his case was desperate and immediately
tried to dash through the encircling
line. This action had been anticipated, however,
and instantly two of the most active
scouts pounced upon him, Monkey Stallings
actually fastening upon his back as though he
were the Old Man of the Sea whom Sindbad
could not get rid of when once he had him on
his shoulders.</p>
<p>For a brief time there was something of a
mix-up, and even the quick percussion of blows
could be heard. No one ever admitted who
was responsible for them, although Bud Morgan
carried not only a blackened eye for a
week, but skinned knuckles into the bargain.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_105">105</div>
<p>It soon ended in the trespasser being made
a prisoner, and his hands tied behind his back
with a thong that had been carried along for
this very purpose. When they came to look
at him, now that his cap was knocked off, it
was found that their captive was a fellow by
the name of Betts Smith, known among the
boys of the town as &ldquo;Whistling Smith.&rdquo; The
reason for giving him that name was rather a
queer one. It seems that he stuttered dreadfully
at times, and in order to be able to stop
when once started, he was in the habit of taking
in a quick breath and then uttering a sharp
whistle or two, after which, singular to say, he
could go on speaking as rationally as any one.</p>
<p>The scouts took him out on the street and
then offered him a choice between being
ducked or handed over to the police to be
locked up. Perhaps he hardly believed that
they meant to carry out either threat, or his
infirmity may have taken such a grip on him
that he could not utter a word in reply. Whatever
the cause, he was silent.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_106">106</div>
<p>Accordingly, the boys took it upon themselves
to pronounce sentence. Then while
Hugh went to leave word for the rest of the
troop to close up and protect the mayor&rsquo;s place
against a return of the raiders, his followers
decided not to wait for him but to hustle the
prisoner at once toward the river bank.</p>
<p>Hugh was surprised to find them gone on
his return. He had expected that nothing
would be done toward punishing the captured
boy until they had all gathered for the purpose.
Of course he could give a good guess as to
which direction the others had taken, and with
more or less apprehension he hurried after
them.</p>
<p>As he drew near the river, he could hear the
boys talking. They seemed to be trying to impress
the wretched victim with a sense of the
punishment that was about to be dealt out to
him. Whistling Smith tried in vain to say
something. He grew thicker and thicker in
his utterance, owing to excitement and alarm;
but it could be fairly well understood that he
was pleading with them not to throw him into
the river, which was deep at that point, with a
rapid current.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_107">107</div>
<p>&ldquo;He says he doesn&rsquo;t know how to swim, fellows,&rdquo;
Bud Morgan was heard to call out; &ldquo;but
that&rsquo;s all a cooked-up story. Of course, every
boy knows how to swim. Overboard with him,
clothes and all. He&rsquo;s got to learn that this
town&rsquo;s going to be a clean town after this.
We&rsquo;ll begin by giving him a bath. Souse
him in!&rdquo;</p>
<p>There followed a tremendous splash, and
Hugh sprinted for all he was worth lest he
arrive too late. Even as he came up, he heard
Arthur Cameron cry out:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Look at him go under, will you? Say, perhaps
he spoke the truth when he said he
couldn&rsquo;t swim a stroke! Do you think he can
be drowning out there? Bud, why don&rsquo;t you
jump in and grab hold of him? There, he&rsquo;s
gone down again!&rdquo;</p>
<p>Some one sprang past, shedding shoes and
coat as he ran. Then there was another splash,
as Hugh Hardin leaped headlong into the
moonlit river and struck wildly out for the
struggling figure of the late prisoner, already
fighting for his life.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_108">108</div>
<h2 id="c9">CHAPTER IX.
<br /><span class="small">WHAT SCOUTS KNOW.</span></h2>
<p>Bud Morgan had started for the water, overcome
with remorse and fear, but Hugh far
outstripped him in the race, reaching the imperiled
lad before Bud left the bank.</p>
<p>Just before the scout master arrived, and
ere he could place his eager hand on Whistling
Smith, the latter went down again. This was
the third disappearance, and he was so terrified
that there was great danger lest it be the
last. He had kept his mouth open most of the
time, and must have swallowed great quantities
of water during his frantic struggles.</p>
<p>Hugh had anticipated just such a happening.
He had kept a close watch upon the other
as he approached, and in this the light of the
full moon proved of great value, enabling him
to see what was going on.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_109">109</div>
<p>Quickly gauging the conditions, he dove and
stretched out both hands, seeking to clutch the
garments of the helpless boy. Had he misjudged
distances even by the fraction of a foot,
he might have missed connection, and in that
case the consequences would have been very
serious.</p>
<p>Fortunately, however, Hugh had kept his
head and did not make a failure of his effort to
locate the object of his search. As soon as he
came in contact with the boy, he seized him
and arose to the surface, battling with all his
energies to overcome the dreadful suction of
the current of the river.</p>
<p>Just then Hugh had but one thought, and
this was to get Smith&rsquo;s head above the water
as quickly as he could. Every second that the
other remained under added to the possibilities
of his drowning, for he might be so far gone
when they got him ashore that all their skill
would fail to restore him.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_110">110</div>
<p>The boy had ceased to struggle. While this
may have seemed a serious thing, at least it
aided Hugh in his effort to save the other. He
did not have to contend with a frantic creature,
ready to clutch him about the neck and
drag him down in an effort to climb out of the
depths.</p>
<p>Scouts fortunately are early in their career
instructed in such important things as saving
a comrade who may be in peril of drowning.
One of the chief benefits of the annual
camping-out experience is that it enables every
member of the troop not only to learn how to
swim and dive and take care of himself in the
water, but also to know how to rescue a comrade
who has been seized with a cramp, and
even resuscitate him after he has been brought
safely to the shore.</p>
<p>Had Whistling Smith tried to clutch Hugh,
the scout master would have kept him at arm&rsquo;s
length, even though rough measures were required
in order to bring this about. Sometimes
it even becomes necessary to stun the
drowning one so that he can be handled safely,
for once he throws his arms around the neck
of the would-be rescuer, the chances are that
both will perish.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_111">111</div>
<p>When Hugh came to the surface with his
helpless burden, he found Bud swimming aimlessly
around, calling his name piteously. The
scout seemed to be dreadfully broken up by the
sudden terrible catastrophe that had stared
them all in the face. Not finding Hugh there
when he arrived at the spot, he had jumped to
the conclusion that the other must have been
seized by the drowning boy and dragged under.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Oh, Hugh! I thought you were gone!&rdquo; he
managed to gasp, as he suddenly discovered
his chum right alongside. &ldquo;Did he pull you
down with him?&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;No, but I had to go down after him,&rdquo; said
the other tersely. &ldquo;Give me a hand here, Bud,
so as to keep his head above water. He&rsquo;s
pretty near gone, I tell you.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_112">112</div>
<p>&ldquo;You better believe I will,&rdquo; cried the other,
his teeth chattering as he spoke. It was not
the chill of the water that caused this, but a
dreadful fear lest Whistling Smith might
never recover, and that blame would be attached
to him for having thrown the other into
the river for a ducking.</p>
<p>Bud was as eager as any one could be to
do all in his power. Indeed, he shouldered
more than his share in towing the helpless boy
to the shore; and the two scouts were soon
wading in the now shallow water toward the
spot where their comrades eagerly awaited
their coming, ready to lend what aid they
could.</p>
<p>In solemn fashion then was Whistling
Smith lifted to the bank and laid on the green
grass. The cold moon looked down, and
showed them that his face was ghastly white.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_113">113</div>
<p>&ldquo;Oh, Hugh, you don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s dead, do
you?&rdquo; asked Arthur Cameron in an awed tone;
while poor repentant Bud could not muster up
enough courage to utter a single sound. He
simply stood there, with his knees secretly
knocking together, and prayed ever so fervently
deep down in his heart that nothing so
terrible should come of this attempt to cure the
vandal of his evil ways.</p>
<p>Hugh forgot that he was soaked to the skin.
He realized that something must be done immediately
to bring back the breath of life to
the almost drowned boy, who, if left there to
himself, would doubtless never come to his
senses again.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Turn him over on his face, boys,&rdquo; he said
first of all, as he prepared for the task that was
before him.</p>
<p>The other scouts, knowing the whole process,
extended Smith&rsquo;s arms as far above his
head as possible. Meanwhile Hugh immediately
knelt astride the body, a knee on either
side, in such a position that he could easily
press downward on the short ribs.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_114">114</div>
<p>Smith had been under the water such a brief
time that Hugh did not have any great fear of
the result. Still, until there were signs of restored
breathing he did not intend to take any
chances, and he went about his task as though
the other had been at the bottom of the river
for several minutes.</p>
<p>Pressing heavily downward upon the boy&rsquo;s
back between the short ribs, Hugh thus forced
the breath from his lungs. Then by relieving
the pressure, there was more or less of an intake
of air. This movement he repeated again
and again, taking care not to work too fast,
about once every four seconds being the proper
thing.</p>
<p>All this while, what water Smith had drawn
into his lungs was oozing from his mouth, on
account of the position in which he had been
placed in the beginning.</p>
<p>Bud Morgan sat there rubbing one of the
boy&rsquo;s legs furiously, as though under the impression
that he could thus induce a certain
amount of animal heat by friction, and in a
small way help things along. Alec was working
on the other leg, while the balance of the
scouts hung around, ready to carry out with
alacrity any order given by Hugh.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_115">115</div>
<p>After all, it did not prove to be a bad case,
thanks to the promptness of the rescuers. In
a short time Arthur declared that he had heard
what sounded like a sigh coming from Smith.
Hugh himself noticed a slight muscular movement,
though he did not in the slightest degree
relax his labors; if anything, he increased the
force with which he kept that artificial respiration
going.</p>
<p>In ten minutes more the boy began to wriggle,
and presently they were able to turn him
over on his back. As he stared up at them,
Bud found himself trembling like a leaf to find
that after all a tragedy had been averted.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Are you feeling better, Smith?&rdquo; asked
Hugh.</p>
<p>&ldquo;W&mdash;w&mdash;where am I? W&mdash;w&mdash;what happened?&rdquo;
gasped the other, as the first touch of
color began to creep into his white cheeks.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_116">116</div>
<p>&ldquo;You were in the river,&rdquo; said Bud quickly,
as though ready to shoulder all the blame.
&ldquo;We thought you were only fooling when you
said you couldn&rsquo;t swim a stroke. It was your
brother that used to be a regular fish in the
water. We got you mixed, you see, and
thought you were just trying to pull the wool
over our eyes. But I guess you&rsquo;d have drowned
if it hadn&rsquo;t been for Hugh here. He dragged
you out after you went under the third time.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;With your help, Bud,&rdquo; interposed Hugh
modestly.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t deserve a bit of credit,&rdquo; said the
other scout moodily. &ldquo;I was a fool to do what
I did. Smith, I hope you can forgive me.
We wanted to punish you for littering up the
mayor&rsquo;s lawn the way you helped to do. That
was a shame, but two wrongs don&rsquo;t make a
right. Perhaps you were led into it by that
scheming Lige Corbley. There&rsquo;s some excuse
for you, Smith, but none for me. I&rsquo;m a scout,
and I ought to have known better. Will you
shake hands and forgive me for throwing you
into the river?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Whistling Smith was more or less dazed.
He looked hard at Bud, as though trying to
connect matters in his mind. Then he slowly
raised his hand, for he was still very weak.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_117">117</div>
<p>&ldquo;I reckon it&rsquo;s all right, Bud,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I
was a fool myself to be led into that silly game.
Perhaps I only got what I deserved. In the
future, I mean to cut loose from that crowd.
They&rsquo;re too swift for me. This is going to be
a big lesson, let me tell you. I don&rsquo;t know
what my mother&rsquo;d have said if I was arrested
and locked up. If you fellows are willing to
call it an even thing, I am.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Every one of the scouts quickly declared
that they stood ready to wipe all scores off the
slate. Others besides Bud felt a sensation as
of remorse; and they were glad beyond words
that things had come out as favorably as they
had. If Whistling Smith had never been resuscitated,
what misery would have been their
portion through the remainder of their lives.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_118">118</div>
<p>&ldquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t have happened if we&rsquo;d only
waited for Hugh to get here,&rdquo; admitted Arthur
frankly. &ldquo;Chances are he&rsquo;d have believed
what you said and only soused you in shallow
water. We took big risks in doing what we
did. You&rsquo;ve had a lesson, Smith, you say, but
think of us scouts not knowing better!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; added Alec, also repentant now, &ldquo;and
come to think of it, I ought to be kicked for not
remembering that it wasn&rsquo;t Whistling Smith
but his brother Bob who could swim like a
duck. Slipped my mind in all the excitement.
Never again for me will such a thing as this
happen.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I think we all have good reason to be
thankful it was no worse,&rdquo; declared Hugh;
&ldquo;but get up and exercise some, Smith. We
want you to warm up before you start on a
run for home. Get to bed as soon as you can,
and be sure to have a blanket on. The weather
is so warm I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll be apt to suffer
from your ducking.&rdquo;</p>
<p>They rubbed him vigorously until he declared
that he felt as warm as toast, after
which he was started for home on the trot.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Any use of our going back on duty again,
Hugh?&rdquo; asked Billy, stifling a yawn.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_119">119</div>
<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; was the reply. &ldquo;Lige
and his crowd have done all the damage they
wanted to probably, and there&rsquo;ll be nothing to
bother us for the rest of the night. We&rsquo;re all
tired and two of us wet through, so we&rsquo;ll
strike the home trail now.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;How about the rest of the fellows who are
still on duty? Going to leave them to stand
guard the whole night through?&rdquo; asked Billy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, that would be a hard joke on them,&rdquo;
Alec declared. &ldquo;Send me with any message,
Hugh. You and Bud had better make a break
for home, and get out of your wet clothes in a
hurry.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;All right then, Alec,&rdquo; the other told him.
&ldquo;Take the order that they&rsquo;re to give up work
for to-night and get away home. And perhaps
you&rsquo;d better not say anything about what
happened here in too big a hurry. We&rsquo;ll speak
of it at the next meeting. I think there&rsquo;s a
lesson in it for every scout. I know I feel that
I&rsquo;ve had one myself.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_120">120</div>
<p>&ldquo;Huh! think of me, will you?&rdquo; declared Bud
with a sigh. &ldquo;Even when Arthur yelled out
that Smith was drowning, I was so scared that
for just five seconds I couldn&rsquo;t move hand or
foot. That might have been long enough for
him to disappear the last time. But you shot
past me and into the river like a flash. You
haven&rsquo;t a single thing to be sorry for, Hugh.
And let me tell you, for one, I&rsquo;ll never stop
thanking my lucky stars that you got here just
when you did. I&rsquo;d be feeling some different
from what I am right now if you&rsquo;d delayed a
minute longer.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Alec ran off to carry the scout master&rsquo;s order
to the rest of the troop that would relieve
them from vidette duty, while the balance of
the boys started for their various homes,
satisfied with the outcome of the series of
adventures.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_121">121</div>
<h2 id="c10">CHAPTER X.
<br /><span class="small">THE ACCUSATION.</span></h2>
<p>&ldquo;Well, things seem to be moving right
along, Hugh,&rdquo; Billy Worth remarked several
days later, as he and the assistant scout master
stood on the main street in front of the window
where there was a fine display of sporting
goods that always attracted the attention of
every passing boy.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_122">122</div>
<p>&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s wonderful what a change has
come over the whole town,&rdquo; the other scout remarked.
&ldquo;It seems as though the scouts must
have given everybody the fever, because it&rsquo;s
going on all around. Even the Italian district
has been stirred, for the mayor has offered a
splendid prize to the family that has the neatest
dooryard on the first of the month. Such
a scrubbing and raking and gathering of rubbish
never was seen before. Poor old Barney
Heath says he&rsquo;s earned his salary three times
over, and that if this thing gets to be a settled
habit he must be paid by the load and not by
the month under contract. He&rsquo;ll soon be going
to the poorhouse, he vows. But it looks
glorious to me, Billy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;My folks say we deserve a heap of credit
for taking the bull by the horns,&rdquo; Billy observed,
with a grin of pride on his freckled
face. &ldquo;But the women all think it was the
way that gang carried on in the mayor&rsquo;s front
yard that gave him all the backbone he&rsquo;s
shown since. Nothing like bringing things
home to a man if you want to stir him up.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Touch his pocket and you&rsquo;ll get a response,
my father says,&rdquo; Hugh replied. &ldquo;I wish I&rsquo;d
been there when he came out of his house that
fine Sunday morning and discovered what a
mess they&rsquo;d made of his place! But somehow
nobody seems to have been able to get any
trace of those who did it. They made sure to
leave nothing behind to tell who they were, and
have been lying low ever since. I&rsquo;m rather
thinking they&rsquo;re a bit frightened themselves at
their boldness.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_123">123</div>
<p>&ldquo;Huh! I don&rsquo;t believe anything could scare
that Lige Corbley,&rdquo; grunted Billy; &ldquo;and speaking
of him, there he comes along the street
right now with his little lame brother, Benjy.
Say, what a queer mixture that boy is, Hugh!
Watch him helping Benjy along just as carefully
as you would do it yourself! I never
could make out what that Lige was made of.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s the very reason I told you once
that I didn&rsquo;t think he could be all bad,&rdquo; said
the other in a low tone, for the object of their
conversation was now approaching them.
&ldquo;Any fellow who could act like that toward a
poor little chap with a twisted leg must have a
decent streak in him. And if ever Lige is going
to change his ways, you mark my words
it&rsquo;s bound to come about through that same
brotherly affection he feels for Benjy. It may
never happen, and then again how do we
know? Stranger things than that have come
to pass.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_124">124</div>
<p>A crowd of boys coming along the street
stopped to gape in at the window of the sporting
goods store, making comments about the
football and hockey paraphernalia displayed
there in tempting fashion.</p>
<p>Several men and women were also looking
in at the gorgeous window of the adjoining
jewelry establishment, so that for the time being
there was quite a gathering at that one
spot.</p>
<p>Lige Corbley, leaving his crippled brother to
feast his eyes with the sights in both windows,
which he did not often have a chance to survey,
passed into the store that displayed fishing
tackle and all manner of men&rsquo;s goods evidently
bent on making some small purchase.</p>
<p>In doing this he came in contact with the
two scouts, and their eyes met. Lige stared
Hugh straight in the face, and what seemed to
be a smile of defiance came across his dark
countenance. It was as though he had heard
what had happened to Whistling Smith, and
had been assured that his identity was known
to the scouts who had appeared on the scene
while he and his pals were defying the mayor
by wrecking his well-kept lawn and shrubbery.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_125">125</div>
<p>Billy turned and looked at his chum after
Lige had gone into the store.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What do you think of that now, Hugh?&rdquo; he
asked. &ldquo;Did you ever see a fellow throw
down the gauntlet like he did? Dares us to
accuse him, and wants to know how we could
prove it! For three cents I&rsquo;d like to ask you to
take the challenge up. We could give him a
heap of trouble, I reckon. And everybody believes
that it was his gang that made the ruin
at the mayor&rsquo;s place, even if nothing&rsquo;s been
done about it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hugh, however, shook his head in the negative.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_126">126</div>
<p>&ldquo;Things are going along too well right now,
Billy, to change them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We might
be able to prove what we claimed, and then
again, how do we know? All we&rsquo;ve got to go
on is the word of Whistling Smith, and he
would have to turn informer. Better let it
drop and wait to see how things turn out.
Lige and his crowd builded better than they
knew when they paid that visit to the mayor&rsquo;s
place. It was the beginning of the end.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Billy did not seem to be wholly convinced,
for he shook his head and frowned as he stood
there on the outskirts of the crowd.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Well, if you knew Lige as well as I do,
Hugh, you&rsquo;d understand that such a little
thing as that isn&rsquo;t going to faze him any. I
wouldn&rsquo;t be a bit surprised if he&rsquo;s getting up
some other prank right now and means to
spring it on the town some dark night. The
snake is scotched, not killed. The more you
stir up a fellow like him the worse you make
things.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_127">127</div>
<p>&ldquo;Wait and see, Billy; don&rsquo;t be in so much of
a hurry,&rdquo; the other scout replied. &ldquo;When I
worked side by side with Lige putting out that
fire in his aunt&rsquo;s house, I saw him at his best.
And when he shook hands with me and as
much as admitted that scouts <i>could</i> be halfway
decent, I saw something in his eyes that&rsquo;s been
haunting me ever since. And I say once more,
lots of queer things have happened in this
world and will again. One of them may be
seeing that same Lige Corbley in the khaki
uniform of a scout some fine day.&rdquo;</p>
<p>At that, Billy snorted his disbelief. He
lacked the faith in human nature that Hugh
seemed to possess. Perhaps this came from
his not being able to read beneath the surface,
while his chum made it a practice to look
deeper than the outward appearance of things.</p>
<p>Whatever Billy may have been about to remark
was lost, because just at that minute
there was a sudden commotion inside the jewelry
establishment. Loud cries arose and
through the door a man came springing as
though in a great hurry to get away.</p>
<p>He pushed through the crowd, jostling several
people as he went. At the same moment
Mr. Garrison, the clerk in the store, was seen
in the doorway, white of face and evidently so
excited that he almost strangled.</p>
<p>All he could say, in a weak sort of voice,
was the one word:</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_128">128</div>
<p>&ldquo;Thief!&rdquo;</p>
<p>The stranger pushed his way through those
gathered in front of the window, not being at
all gentle in his manner of handling any who
interfered with his progress. It happened
that the cripple Benjy was directly in his path,
so that he came near knocking the little fellow
down; and then, as though discovering how
helpless the boy was, he threw his arms around
him, apparently to keep him from falling.</p>
<p>Before any one could interfere, the thief,
who must have had all his plans arranged beforehand,
jumped into a buggy that was standing
in front of the store, plucked the whip
from its socket, and laying it on the back of the
astonished animal between the shafts went
whirling down the road in a cloud of dust.</p>
<p>Several people hurried around to police
headquarters to inform the force that their
services were needed and that neighboring
towns should be notified of the daring robbery,
that the man might be apprehended should he
appear.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_129">129</div>
<p>Others gathered about the door of the jewelry
store, all tremendously interested and asking
many questions as to what had happened.</p>
<p>The proprietor came hurrying out, for he
had been in a rear room at the time of the raid.
The dazed clerk was getting his senses back by
degrees, though there were evidences that he
did not as yet grasp the full meaning of the
matter. He appeared to be laboring under the
impression that there were a number implicated
in the robbery, and that the man who
fled had perhaps managed to pass some of his
plunder to others standing near by. This was
the habit with such clever rascals, he had read.</p>
<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that boy got in his hand?&rdquo; the clerk
cried suddenly, pointing straight toward little
Benjy Corbley, who was holding something
and staring at it with a look of wonder on his
thin face. &ldquo;Why, don&rsquo;t you see, sir, what I
said is the truth? That&rsquo;s one of the gold
watches that were taken. The thief must have
confederates in this crowd. If you search
every one here you may find other things!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_130">130</div>
<p>It was a most ridiculous accusation. The
man would possibly never have dreamed of
making it, only that he had just experienced a
terrible shock and was hardly yet in his right
senses.</p>
<p>He jumped down from the stoop and
snatched the article out of the hand of Benjy,
who of course made no resistance.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Where did you get this gold watch, you
young imp?&rdquo; demanded the clerk harshly, as
he took hold of the cripple&rsquo;s jacket and tried to
frighten him with a savage look.</p>
<p>Benjy tried to answer but apparently his
tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, for he
could not make any intelligent sound.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I saw him pull it out of his pocket!&rdquo; announced
another boy standing near.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Turn your pockets inside out at once,&rdquo;
commanded the clerk, who, it can very easily
be seen, was a small-minded man, only anxious
just then to turn the attention of his employer
from his own lack of due caution to some other
cause of blame.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_131">131</div>
<p>Mechanically, the crippled boy started to do
as he was told, but nothing developed through
the process. He disclosed a top, several marbles,
a broken-bladed knife, some string, a few
buttons and a five cent piece, but no more precious
watches or jewelry of any kind seemed
forthcoming, greatly to the disappointment of
the hopeful clerk.</p>
<p>Just then Lige Corbley, who had been the
first one to run for the police, strange to say,
came hurrying back, followed by the Chief
himself, while a couple more officers were seen
hastily buckling on their belts as they ran
toward the spot.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hello! what&rsquo;s the matter with you, Benjy?&rdquo;
they heard Lige say, as he pushed his way
through the gathering crowd, using his elbows
without any regard for other people&rsquo;s ribs.</p>
<p>The appearance of his older brother seemed
to make a change in the stunned condition of
the cripple. He immediately began to cry,
which caused Lige to glare around like an
aroused lion, evidently searching for the guilty
culprit who had hurt the smaller lad while he
was away.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_132">132</div>
<p>&ldquo;Who hit you, Benjy? Just point him out
to me, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; he asked, as he threw a
protecting hand across the shoulders of his
brother. And at that moment even the presence
of the big Chief would possibly not have
prevented Lige from trying to visit summary
vengeance on the wretch who could stoop to
strike a cripple, had Benjy but raised a hand
and pointed an accusing finger.</p>
<p>The clerk faced Lige just then. He still
held the gold watch in his hand and was in a
humor to accuse any one of being an accomplice
who dared put in a good word for Benjy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Here&rsquo;s what he had in his pocket, if you
want to know,&rdquo; he snarled, as he dangled the
glittering object before Lige&rsquo;s eyes. &ldquo;That
thief handed it to him as he made off, to keep
for him. It&rsquo;s an old trick, and might have
been successful if I hadn&rsquo;t happened to know
all about it. Your brother, small as he is,
must be an accomplice in this robbery. And
who knows but what you&rsquo;re in the game, too,
Lige Corbley? Your reputation isn&rsquo;t any too
good in this town, let me tell you!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_133">133</div>
<h2 id="c11">CHAPTER XI.
<br /><span class="small">THE TURNING POINT.</span></h2>
<p>Lige could hardly believe his ears when the
clerk of the jewelry establishment made this
astonishing charge, eager to cover up his own
carelessness at the time the robbery was committed
and to shift the blame.</p>
<p>He stood there and stared, first at the
flushed face of the man and then at the tear-stained
countenance of Benjy. The crowd
jostled and pushed to see and hear, but for a
wonder it remained voiceless. Perhaps surprise
held the spectators spellbound; or it
might be they recognized the fact that Lige
Corbley as a rule could fight his own battles.</p>
<p>The boy finally found his tongue, and turning
toward his younger brother he exclaimed
almost tenderly:</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_134">134</div>
<p>&ldquo;What does he mean by saying that, Benjy?
How could you have that watch in your pocket,
when I just left you here a few minutes ago?
It can&rsquo;t be so. He&rsquo;s lying, to get us into
trouble. It must be a set-up job! Tell me,
did you ever see that watch before he held it
up right now?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Benjy seemed to have regained his power of
speech, also, for he immediately replied to this
question by saying:</p>
<p>&ldquo;I felt somethin&rsquo; heavy in my jacket pocket,
Lige,&mdash;this one it was,&mdash;and when I put my
hand in, I pulled that watch out. But I don&rsquo;t
know however it came there, cross my heart if
I do, Lige!&rdquo;</p>
<p>The older boy whirled on the clerk, his eyes
snapping with anger.</p>
<p>&ldquo;There, do you hear what Benjy says, Mr.
Garrison? He found your old watch in a
pocket of his jacket, but if you say he knew
anything about its being stolen or had anything
to do with the thief, why, it isn&rsquo;t so and you&rsquo;re
telling what&rsquo;s a bare-faced lie. Benjy wouldn&rsquo;t
take a pin that wasn&rsquo;t his own!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_135">135</div>
<p>He again threw a protecting arm across the
shoulder of the smaller lad, who looked up at
him with a smile of confidence on his thin face
that told of hope renewed. Many times had
Lige stood between the weak little chap and
trouble; and in the eyes of Benjy he was a
tower of strength. With Lige at hand, the
cripple could banish fear and feel sure of
protection.</p>
<p>The clerk, however, was not yet ready to
give up. For some reason or other he seemed
anxious to keep attention riveted in another
quarter, so as to delay the investigation as long
as possible. Perhaps he found his own conscience
accusing him of lack of discretion in
giving a stranger a chance to seize upon the
most valuable contents of the establishment.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Whether the boy is guilty as a confederate
or not,&rdquo; he said, grimly, with compressed lips
and a baleful gleam in his pale eyes, &ldquo;the stolen
goods having been found in his possession
makes him a partner in the crime, after the act.
Until this thing can be looked into more closely
he ought to be held, and I call on the police to
take him in charge on suspicion!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_136">136</div>
<p>He beckoned to the big Chief as he said this.
Lige turned white, and then a red spot glowed
in either cheek. There were low murmurs of
protest from a part of the crowd, as though
this high-handed proceeding on the part of the
indiscreet clerk struck them as going much too
far. But not a hand was raised to bar the officer
of the law from doing what was demanded
of him.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Do you mean that you&rsquo;re going to lock my
brother up at police headquarters just because
that runaway thief chose to drop a watch in
his pocket as he was getting out of the
crowd?&rdquo; demanded Lige, staring angrily at the
clerk.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what ought to be done,&rdquo; persisted
the other stubbornly, looking defiantly around
at those gathered there. &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s able to prove
his innocence, no harm will be done.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_137">137</div>
<p>&ldquo;No harm!&rdquo; echoed Lige. &ldquo;Mebbe you&rsquo;d
like to have <i>your</i> boy arrested for somethin&rsquo;
he never done and locked up for hours in the
cooler, while they were chasin&rsquo; after the real
thief? How do you think you&rsquo;d feel to have
everybody pointin&rsquo; at him and saying he&rsquo;d been
accused of stealing and the police had arrested
him on suspicion? It&rsquo;s a shame, that&rsquo;s what.
Why, Benjy never stole a cent in all his life!
Have me taken up if you want to. I&rsquo;ve done
heaps of tough things, and everybody knows
it. But don&rsquo;t you dare put it on my brother,
or&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
<p>Lige was growing more and more furious.
There is no telling what sort of dire threat he
might have made toward Mr. Garrison, only
that just then he felt some one pluck him by
the sleeve and heard Hugh Hardin saying:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hold on, Lige. Don&rsquo;t finish that sentence,
will you? There&rsquo;s no need of having Benjy
arrested. It&rsquo;s an outrage, and every one here
will stand back of me when I say that, no matter
what Mr. Garrison thinks. He&rsquo;s excited
now, and hardly knows what he&rsquo;s doing. Besides,
I want the Chief to understand that I
saw just how that watch got in Benjy&rsquo;s
pocket!&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_138">138</div>
<p>A faint cheer broke from the triple circle of
spectators. It could be plainly seen that all
their sympathies lay with the white-faced little
cripple. In Lige they had small confidence,
but Benjy Corbley had long been an object of
more or less consideration, for it was understood
that his chances of ever living to grow
up to manhood were comparatively zero.</p>
<p>The clerk turned on Hugh. His manner
changed more or less, because he realized that
he had a different customer to handle in the
young assistant scout master. Lige Corbley
and Hugh Hardin were quite opposite in reputation.
The one was as much respected as the
other was looked upon with suspicion. Lige
had been the cause of considerable excitement
in the town, and was even then considered as
responsible for the outrage at the mayor&rsquo;s
place of residence.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_139">139</div>
<p>&ldquo;How could you see what was done, Hugh
Hardin?&rdquo; Mr. Garrison asked a little weakly,
for he began to feel the ground slipping out
from under his feet.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In this way,&rdquo; returned Hugh promptly,
with a quick look full of confidence toward
Lige and Benjy. &ldquo;I saw the man come leaping
out of the store and push his way through
the crowd. Nobody had the sense to lay a
hand on him, but perhaps that was because all
of us were so surprised that we didn&rsquo;t understand
what it was about until you came to the
door and called &lsquo;Thief!&rsquo; Benjy happened to
be right in his way and the man ran full tilt
against him; then, as if he chanced to see it
was a little, almost helpless cripple, he threw
out both hands to keep the boy from being
knocked over. He was holding a lot of
watches in one hand and a bag in the other;
and I saw with my own eyes one of the watches
drop into Benjy&rsquo;s pocket,&mdash;that is, I saw it fall
out of the thief&rsquo;s hand, and it must have lodged
there.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_140">140</div>
<p>&ldquo;So you see, Chief, Benjy didn&rsquo;t know anything
about it until, as he says, he felt something
heavy in his pocket, and when he pulled
that gold watch out he just stood and stared at
it till Mr. Garrison saw him. And of course
you wouldn&rsquo;t want to arrest a boy who was
helping to recover the lost goods, would you,
sir?&rdquo;</p>
<p>A general laugh went up at that. The baffled
clerk saw that it would be only foolishness
for him to persist in his charge after this manful
defense of Benjy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Oh, if that&rsquo;s the case and you saw all that
happened, Hugh, of course I withdraw my
charge. But as you said, I&rsquo;m so flustrated by
this terrible event that I hardly know what I&rsquo;m
doing. So let it drop, Chief, and please get
started after the thief. He is in a buggy, and
surely you ought to overtake him with your
swift auto. If the neighboring towns are notified,
he would be apprehended should he try
to pass through any of them. It is a serious
business with my employer, because the best
goods in the store were taken.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_141">141</div>
<p>Lige gave the clerk a long, savage look, as
though the incident had made such an indelible
impression on his mind that it must haunt him
for many a day.</p>
<p>Some of those present followed the Chief as
he hurried back to police headquarters. Others
remained to listen to what was said by the
clerk in answer to the numerous sharp questions
put by the shocked owner of the establishment,
who was engaged in shaking his head
and walking nervously up and down, now and
then wringing his hands and declaring that he
would be ruined unless the thief were apprehended
and the goods reclaimed.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_142">142</div>
<p>Hugh and Billy were about to walk away
when Lige strode sullenly up to them. He
looked straight into the eyes of the scout
leader, and there was an expression on his
dark face that probably no one had ever seen
there before. Hugh understood. He realized
that his simple little defense of Benjy had done
more to reach the depths of this wild boy&rsquo;s
heart than anything that could possibly have
happened. Had it been a favor done toward
himself, Lige would doubtless have striven to
pay it back and then wiped the remembrance
of the whole occurrence from the tablets of his
mind. But he had received such a cruel shock
at hearing his little brother accused of being a
thief and threatened with arrest, that the act
of Hugh in clearing him assumed a magnitude
in his opinion far beyond its real value.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I want to say what I think of you for doing
what you did, Hugh Hardin,&rdquo; he declared
resolutely, his jaws set as though in grim determination.
&ldquo;It was white of you, that&rsquo;s
right, and I&rsquo;ll never forget it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Oh! that&rsquo;s all right, Lige,&rdquo; answered Hugh
pleasantly, as he thrust out his hand toward
the other impulsively. &ldquo;It was a shame that
Mr. Garrison said what he did, and of course
we all knew the charge was silly; but he&rsquo;s so
rattled he hardly knew what he was doing.
I&rsquo;m glad I happened to see that man grab hold
of your brother and the watch slip out of his
fingers. I think Billy, here, must have noticed
it all, too, but things happened so fast that his
breath was taken away, just as mine was for a
minute or so. Better forget all about it, Lige.
No harm has been done, you know.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_143">143</div>
<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s easy for you to say, Hugh,&rdquo; replied
the other boy with a sigh, as he eagerly accepted
the offered hand, &ldquo;but it makes me
ashamed to think of all I&rsquo;ve done to break up
that scout troop of yours, and here you keep
Benjy from being arrested just as if I&rsquo;d been
one of your best friends. I don&rsquo;t understand
it, I tell you! Why should you so much as lift
a finger to help a feller that has been so ugly
all along, and pestered you and your crowd as
I&rsquo;ve done? Tell me that, Hugh!&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Why, Lige,&rdquo; the assistant scout master replied,
his kindly smile holding the attention of
the other boy, &ldquo;I suppose it must be because
we are scouts, and we believe in doing the right
thing, even when it&rsquo;s an enemy that&rsquo;s in
trouble. If you had ever looked up the habits
of scouts, you wouldn&rsquo;t have to ask me that
question. It&rsquo;s given me more pleasure to be
able to lend you a helping hand than ever you
could get out of it, and that&rsquo;s a fact, Lige.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_144">144</div>
<p>Lige shook his head, but his eyes did not fall
before that steady look.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I never knew that was what scouts believed
in,&rdquo; he said slowly, as an eager, wistful glow
came into his eyes. &ldquo;I always thought they
were only a bunch of sissies that liked being
dressed up in khaki suits and parading around
in a silly way. Then there was that time you
helped put out the fire up at my aunt&rsquo;s; I
seemed to begin to get my eyes opened then,
and I&rsquo;ve been doing a heap of thinking ever
since. Hugh, do you think that you&rsquo;d care to
tell me a lot more about this scout racket if I
came around to your house some time you set?
Honest, I&rsquo;d like to hear what it stands for.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Can you drop around at my house to-night,
Lige?&rdquo; asked Hugh as quick as a flash,
remembering his maxim of &ldquo;striking while the
iron is hot.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Sure I can, if you say the word. Only set
the time,&rdquo; Lige answered, looking as though
his mind were made up.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_145">145</div>
<p>&ldquo;Say eight o&rsquo;clock then; and, Lige, I&rsquo;ll have
nobody there,&rdquo; the scout leader went on.</p>
<p>&ldquo;You can look for me. Benjy, shake hands
with Hugh. He was a mighty good friend to
us to-day, let me tell you, kid.&rdquo;</p>
<p>As the Corbleys went away, Lige with that
brotherly arm over Benjy&rsquo;s shoulder, Hugh
turned and looked at Billy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It came a heap sooner than you thought it
would, didn&rsquo;t it, Hugh?&rdquo; demanded the stout
scout, with a grin and a knowing nod. &ldquo;And I
guess that settles the activities of Lige Corbley
as the worst boy in town.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Strange as it may seem, Hugh and Billy
were given a chance to take part in the chase
of the man in the buggy, who had made such
a clean sweep of the jewelry establishment.</p>
<p>They were walking home when the big police
automobile hove in sight. Several policemen
were aboard and the car was moving at a
pace that accorded with their haste.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_146">146</div>
<p>The two scouts stepped aside to let it pass,
meaning to give the men a rousing cheer, when
the chief said something to the chauffeur, and
suddenly the machine stopped alongside the
chums.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hop in, Hugh, if you care to go along
with us,&rdquo; the police head called out. &ldquo;Yes,
there&rsquo;s room enough for you to squeeze in, too,
Billy, though you take more than your share
of space. I thought that, since your information
proved valuable to us, it was only right
you boys went along. You&rsquo;ll enjoy seeing how
we get our man.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;How about it, Hugh? Let&rsquo;s go,&rdquo; urged
Billy eagerly.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Pile in!&rdquo; said Hugh without ceremony;
and in another second they had found places
among the officers who occupied the tonneau
of the car.</p>
<p>Aside from the exciting purpose of the trip,
the boys knew that they would enjoy speeding
along over the country roads in the fast machine.
That would be something of a picnic
in itself.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_147">147</div>
<p>Perhaps the Chief was only showing his
gratitude by offering the boys this chance for
a run, but he may have looked further. Doubtless
he remembered that these scouts had
proven themselves well able to follow a trail
on an earlier occasion, and he may have foreseen
a similar emergency. The fugitive thief
might abandon the buggy and take to the
depths of the woods afoot, on finding himself
hotly pursued, and in that case the boys&rsquo; services
would be most welcome.</p>
<p>That was exactly what happened. The buggy
was found, abandoned, and the occupants
of the big car, leaving one man to guard it,
proceeded to follow the thief&rsquo;s trail.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_148">148</div>
<p>From that time on, it would have been difficult
to coax either one of the two boys to turn
back, so intensely interested did they become
in everything that pertained to this actual application
of their tracking game. Hugh quickly
realized that the police knew next to nothing
about following a woods&rsquo; trail. Had they
been alone, they would surely have been all
at sea at the point where the wily rascal had
taken to running the length of fallen tree-trunks,
jumping off at the ends into thickets
of brush, or on flat rocks where there would
be no trail left to betray his course.</p>
<p>But all this was what Billy called &ldquo;just pie&rdquo;
for boys who had been drilled in the secrets
of scout-craft. When they ventured to suggest
to the officers how easy it was to &ldquo;blind&rdquo;
the trail by this sort of clever tactics the Chief
ordered them to lead off, promising to follow
closely with his men.</p>
<p>It was a proud day for Hugh and Billy
when the police head thus showed his confidence
in their ability. They felt that they
were being amply rewarded for all the time
spent in the past in gaining this knowledge of
woodcraft.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_149">149</div>
<p>Through the woods they led the party, every
now and then stopping to make sure they were
on the right track. In the end they came to an
isolated house that was said to belong to a
queer old farmer, who never had anything to
do with his neighbors. A couple of savage
dogs greeted their arrival, which the police
would have shot in their tracks, only that the
old man came on the scene, and chased the
ugly brutes away.</p>
<p>When he heard what his visitors had to say,
the farmer was positive that no one could have
come to his place that day; nor had any one
been near him for more than a week. But
Hugh had heard the clamor, he claimed, of
the dogs a quarter of an hour before his party
reached the lonely farm; and he felt sure that
the fugitive was concealed about the place
right then.</p>
<p>So with Billy at his side, he conducted a
careful search of the ground, and sure enough
they discovered the tracks they sought, issuing
from the woods and making straight for
the little tumble-down old barn.</p>
<p>When they made this report to the Chief,
he had his men quickly surround the place.
Then he compelled the farmer to enter and
make good use of his pitchfork in tossing the
hay from one side to another.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_150">150</div>
<p>Presently a man&rsquo;s boot was uncovered, seeing
which, the Chief seized it and dragged the
fugitive into view. The thief struggled and
tried to break away, but was soon cowed by
the sight of the significant bright brass buttons
on the Chief&rsquo;s coat; though perhaps the
heavy pistol that was kept pointed at his head
had something to do with his docility.</p>
<p>Looking further, they found the bag into
which he had thrust all the stuff taken from
the store. And so, after all, the jeweler came
out of the affair luckily, although that was not
the most fortunate result of the incident.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_151">151</div>
<h2 id="c12">CHAPTER XII.
<br /><span class="small">THANKS TO THE SCOUTS.</span></h2>
<p>That was the beginning of the end of the
destructive pranks to be laid at Lige Corbley&rsquo;s
door. Hugh managed to arouse such a keen
interest concerning scout activities in the inquiring
mind of his caller that evening and
gave Lige so many things to excite his ambition
to join the new Owl Patrol, that he knew
the other boy was well on the road to a complete
change-about-face.</p>
<p>It came about better than Hugh had hoped,
even in his most ardent moments; for Lige not
only came as a candidate himself, but managed
to bring several other fellows along with
him. Evidently the seed had fallen on good
ground and was already bearing fruit.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_152">152</div>
<p>Some of the scouts grumbled a little at the
idea of allowing boys to join who had had such
a bad reputation. Hugh, however, privately
talked with these objectors, and opened their
eyes as to what the mission of true scouts must
always be. If they meant to be true to their
colors and observe the twelve rules to which
they had so willingly subscribed at the time
they became members of the troop, they must
ever be ready to forgive and forget an injury,
when asked. They should also be quick to
hold out a helping hand so as to lift others, not
so fortunately situated as themselves, out of
the mire.</p>
<p>It turned out all right in the end. Lige had
it in him to be a first-class scout when once he
was started along the right lines. He was a
natural born leader, even if possessed of a hot
temper and owning to several more faults that
were calculated to give him more or less
trouble all his life.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_153">153</div>
<p>The town sat up and rubbed its eyes when
one fine day during the march of the whole
troop through the streets,&mdash;it was a crisp
Thanksgiving morning, and they were going
to attend the football game in order to root for
the High School eleven,&mdash;it discovered among
those khaki-clad boys, Lige Corbley, &ldquo;Whistling&rdquo;
Smith, Andy Wallis and Pete Craig,
who, only a short time before, had been looked
upon as the worst set in all that region.</p>
<p>If they had really and truly turned over a
new leaf and meant to live up to the high ideals
that governed the scouts, it was evident that
the city would enjoy a long period of peace.</p>
<p>Hugh Hardin knew very well that his duty
did not end when those boys donned the honored
khaki of the troop. They were bound to
have an abundance of setbacks, and would no
doubt come near falling into their old ways
more than a few times. And so Hugh, at the
suggestion of the Scout Master, Lieutenant
Denmead, kept as close to them as possible,
and offered such good advice from time to
time that they were enabled to weather the
gales that arose.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_154">154</div>
<p>All this time the scouts had not neglected
the great work they had taken upon their
shoulders. But since all opposition had practically
died out when Lige Corbley reformed,
things went along smoothly for them.</p>
<p>&ldquo;You see,&rdquo; Hugh explained to some of the
boys one day, when they were resting after
having cleaned up a spot that had long been
an eyesore to the ladies composing the Town
Improvement Association, &ldquo;this thing moves
along about as you&rsquo;d roll a snowball when the
snow&rsquo;s some sticky. It keeps on getting bigger
and bigger all the while. First the storekeepers
decided to stand back of us and not
allow any trash to be swept out on the streets,
but to have it gathered up every morning and
placed in the right receptacles. Then the
house-owners began to take a hand and make
their places look spic and span, until now it&rsquo;s
nothing less than a crime to have your front
or back yard harbor litter of any kind. And
the town council at the last meeting passed a
lot of ordinances that the ladies put up to them,
so that next summer this is going to be as
pretty and neat a city to live in as there is in
all New England.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_155">155</div>
<p>&ldquo;Thanks to the scouts!&rdquo; remarked &ldquo;Shorty&rdquo;
McNeil, who, although a very quiet member of
the troop, was deeply interested in his hobby
of photographing wild flowers and plant life
in the woods and could appreciate anything
that went with landscape gardening.</p>
<p>&ldquo;If you asked me,&rdquo; spoke up Alec Sands,
with a look toward the assistant scout master
that spoke volumes for the new and hearty
feelings of friendliness he entertained these
days for that worthy, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d amend that and put
it, &lsquo;Thanks to Hugh Hardin!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;So say we all of us!&rdquo; echoed Billy Worth
with a vim. &ldquo;It was Hugh that thought out
the idea first of all, and everybody knows he&rsquo;s
been the mainstay in carrying it through to a
finish.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_156">156</div>
<p>&ldquo;None of that sort of talk now, fellows!&rdquo; declared
Hugh instantly. &ldquo;This was everybody&rsquo;s
fight as well as mine, and there isn&rsquo;t a single
scout but who&rsquo;s done his full duty just as much
as I have. If there is any credit going around,
you&rsquo;ve got to share in it. But after that&rsquo;s said
and done, I think the finest thing of all is the
change that&rsquo;s come over Lige Corbley and
those other three boys who are now members
of the Owl Patrol, which Lige is serving as
leader.&rdquo;</p>
<p>A silence fell upon the group at that. Some
of the older members of the troop had hardly
as yet become reconciled to having that quartette
of unsavory characters among them, and
Hugh, understanding this fact, took occasion
to take them to task.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now, I know that you&rsquo;ve only partly
agreed with me when we have talked it over in
the past,&rdquo; he said impressively, &ldquo;but stop and
try to put yourselves in the places of Lige and
the rest. They were almost outcasts because
of their wild ways. Everybody&rsquo;s hand was
against them, and no one would believe a word
they said.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_157">157</div>
<p>&ldquo;Then this change of heart came, and they
cast in their lot with us. I know they&rsquo;re making
a hard fight to hold their own, and we&rsquo;ve
all got to help them, boys. I want you to try
and forget what they&rsquo;ve been in the past, and
just consider them fellow scouts, bound by the
same high ideals that we are. They&rsquo;re human,
and I give you my word you&rsquo;ll be astonished at
the way those chaps have progressed.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to give some others the surprise
of their lives soon, when they apply for
badges of second-class scouts, because they&rsquo;re
in dead earnest. So wake up and don&rsquo;t let
them feel that you resent their presence. Lige
Corbley comes over to my house one night a
week right along, and my folks all say they
never dreamed he had it in him to turn out to
be such a strong character.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;But <i>you</i> knew, Hugh!&rdquo; declared Billy. &ldquo;I
can remember you saying that ever so long ago,
when I was calling Lige all sorts of names on
account of his mean ways. I guess you saw
deeper than any of the rest of us. And for
one, I give you my promise that after this I&rsquo;m
going to cut out all remembrance of what they
were in the past, and treat them as I would the
best fellows on earth.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_158">158</div>
<p>Among boys an example is as contagious as
the measles, and when Billy thus gave utterance
to his intentions, the balance of the group
hastened to chime in. After that, the scouts
belonging to the new Owl Patrol had no reason
to feel that they were treated as an alien
camp; indeed, warm-hearted Billy Worth,
Alec, Dale Evans and a lot more of the others
often went far out of their way to extend the
hand of good fellowship. So they made Lige
and his friends feel that they had really been
accepted on an equal footing when taken into
the troop.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_159">159</div>
<p>Things were prospering splendidly these
days. Not only had the scouts won the admiration
and backing of the ladies of the town,
but the men had come to feel a confidence in
them that manifested itself in various ways.
During that winter, things fairly hummed
among juvenile circles. All the better class of
sports took on new life, and no longer were
wearers of the khaki jeered at as they passed
through the streets. Hugh and his comrades
had proved their worth to the citizens of their
home town, and to be a scout nowadays
stamped a boy as deserving both respect and
confidence.</p>
<p>While they were of course debarred from
any extended trips during the cold weather
season and school sessions, they naturally laid
out many glorious hikes for the coming summer.
It might be the last winter some of these
tall boys would spend in the home town, for
they anticipated graduating at the June commencement
and already had selected the favorite
colleges which they hoped to attend in the
fall.</p>
<p>On this account, Hugh meant that the coming
summer should be a memorable one,
crowded with enjoyment and productive of
many educational results.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_160">160</div>
<p>He had every fellow interested in plans
along the particular line in which his fancy
seemed to run. The season promised to be a
notable one in Boy Scout annals, so far as the
local troop was concerned.</p>
<p>Although it is not possible for us to follow
Hugh and his friends further and to share
their anticipated experiences, we can at least
prophesy that they will continue to meet the
thousand and one emergencies of summer
camping life in the same spirit that has distinguished
them in all tests since they first
learned the value of their motto: &ldquo;Be Prepared!&rdquo;
And we can add to that prophecy an
assurance, the truth of which these boys have
often demonstrated. It, too, is expressed by
an old motto, the one adopted by Hugh&rsquo;s classmates,
in fact. In Latin it reads: <i>Dies diem
docet</i>,&mdash;which, being interpreted, means: <i>Day
teaches day</i>!</p>
<p class="tbcenter"><span class="small">THE END.</span></p></html>