ON DUTY.
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.
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.
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 “fight fire with
fire,” just as plainsmen do when caught by the burning prairie grass.
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.
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.
Later on, as the occasion offered, they meant to place the lettering on
the cans in white, and also the effective notice running: “I Eat Trash,”
which Hugh had mentioned previously as an appropriate design.
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 “stirring things up,” so long as on the
surface they did not look so very bad.
“What’s got into all of you boys?” he asked as he stood alongside Hugh
and watched him putting a bright coat on the dingy waste paper can.
“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’ve heard from half the people in town. What they haven’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’t heard a word from headquarters.”
“Perhaps you may right away, Chief,” 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.
“I saw Mayor Strunk, Hugh, and he issued a proclamation which I’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.”
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.
“I’ll take this over to the office and study it, if you don’t mind, Mrs.
Marsh,” he remarked soberly. “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 _people_ want a clean town, they can have it.
That’s up to them.”
“But these fine boys have one favor to ask of you, Chief,” said the
lady. “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.”
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.
“We’ll all try to do our sworn duty, ma’am,” 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ’phone.
Thinking, of course, that it must be Billy or one of the other scouts,
wishing information, perhaps, connected with their intention for that
night’s meeting, Hugh was somewhat surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice
address him.
“Is this Hugh Hardin?”
“It is,” he at once replied.
“Well, never mind asking who’s talking to you, because I don’t mean to
give my name,” continued the other hastily. “I’m a boy, and one you
know. I’m not a member of the scouts, though I hope to be one of these
days. Now, I wanted to warn you that I’m afraid you’re in for a heap of
trouble, perhaps to-night, about this thing of cleaning up the town. How
do I know? Well, I’m only giving a guess, but chances are it’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’t generally train with him;
but they acted like they’d joined forces. All I heard was something to
the effect that they’d ‘show him what they thought of his silly old
proclamation.’ I reckoned that might mean the mayor, so p’raps they’ve
got it in for him good and hard. That’s all I know, and I don’t want to
hold the wire any longer. You needn’t try to find out who I am, because
I don’t want to be thanked, and by the same token I don’t mean to take
any chances of those fellows learning who gave their game away. So-long,
Hugh!”
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.
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.
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.
Of course the home folks were full of the subject at the supper table,
and so Hugh had to relate all that had happened.
“I’ve been receiving ever so many messages from the women connected with
the Improvement League all of to-day,” Mrs. Hardin remarked with a
glance full of motherly pride toward Hugh, “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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.