A JOB FOR THE BOY SCOUTS TO DO.
"WHAT makes you so sure about that, Elmer?" asked Ty Collins, after the
scouts had expressed their wonder that the leader should be able to
speak so positively when as yet he had not even looked at the tell-tale
cap.
"Listen, fellows," began Elmer; "all of you older scouts know that one
of the things impressed upon a new beginner is the power of observation.
Members of the organization are given tests at memorizing things they
see in a store window, after looking in for just three minutes, and then
writing out a list afterward. In that way they find it second nature to
note everything they see, so that if asked about it afterward they are
able to give a pretty good description even of little details. I'm
saying this more for the benefit of the new members than anything else,
you understand?"
"Sure we do, Elmer; go right along, please," remarked Ty.
"All right," continued the leader, impressively; "but it seems that
every one of the scouts doesn't happen to apply those principles of
observation and memory as much as he might. Now, to make my point plain,
there were two of you with me to-day when we came on the Kent house,
where we found things upset by the storm. And I suppose both of those
scouts had just as many chances to look Matt Tubbs over as I did; yet it
seems that neither Larry nor Jasper noticed that he wore a pair of worn
tan shoes, had on brown trousers that had been patched in the seat;
sported a new flannel shirt made of some rather flashy material that
carried a good deal of red in it; wore a sporty tie of the same color;
and had a gray cap on his head, with a little red button just over the
peak!"
Exclamations of surprise broke out all around the speaker.
"Say, do you mean to tell us you noticed all those details, and right
while we were all excited over the injuries of the farmer?" gasped
Larry.
"I always said there was only one Elmer Chenowith," murmured Jasper,
throwing up both hands, as though convinced.
"Why, there was nothing queer about that," laughed the acting
scout-master. "As I told you just now, it grows to be second nature,
after you've practiced the thing for a while. But did I prove my point,
fellows?"
"You certainly did!" declared Jack Armitage.
"And do any of you still have any doubt about who it was hiding away on
that rotten old shelf up there, and listening to all we did?" continued
Elmer.
"I don't think you'd find any scout here willing to say a contrary word,
after the way you clinched things," remarked Matty Eggleston.
"And you believe that was our old enemy, Matt Tubbs?" Elmer went on.
"No other fellow could have made so quick a get-away," remarked Red
Huggins, as he shook his fiery head in a convincing way. "Mebbe I
haven't seen him spin down from first base many a time, and get there at
second long ahead of the ball. He can run some, that Matt Tubbs can.
Even Lil Artha will admit that."
"But whatever made him hide here?" queried Chatz Maxfield.
"Why, that's as plain as the nose on your face, Chatz," broke out Larry.
"I'd thank you, suh, to make no personal allusions to my features," the
hot-tempered Southern lad broke in.
"Oh! I didn't mean anything by that," laughed Larry. "But what else
would tempt Matt Tubbs to hide in here, except that he was aching to
watch our meeting, and find out how we did things. He reckoned we
wouldn't be so obliging as to ask him to be present, and as he's
starting a troop over in Fairfield, he wants to know how to run things,
so he can have the track greased."
"Well, he heard some straight-out talk, then, that ought to do him a
heap of good," remarked Matty.
"Aw! nothing would ever do that chump good; he's a bad egg all over.
Like as not he was just itching to do something to give us a big scare.
Say, perhaps he smashed that loft down on purpose to frighten us!"
It was Tom Cropsey who offered this rather startling suggestion; but the
balance of the scouts were disposed to make light of his idea.
"I don't think," jeered Red. "Matt Tubbs is tricky and bold, but no one
ever called him a fool, and that's what he would be if he broke that
loft down on purpose, and took that tumble. Why, he might have broken
his neck!"
"Never!" exclaimed Toby. "When a feller is born to be hung he could drop
from the top of the highest tree, and never feaze his neck."
"Toby knows, fellows," sang out Red. "Believe him, he's a living example
of the truth of that old saying. You remember, some of you, how he fell
off the roof of the church that night, a year ago, when we were trying
to get in the belfry to ring the bell? Some fellows would have had half
a dozen of their slats caved in, even if they saved their neck. What
happened to Toby? Why, he dropped into that big bunch of cedars and
only had a few scratches to show for it. Yes, stake your faith on Toby;
he knows what he's talking about."
Of course shouts told that the boys appreciated getting this one on
Toby, who contented himself with shaking his fist at Red, and grinning.
"But perhaps we don't all believe the same way," Elmer remarked, after
the clamor had died away, and all eyes were turned again on him.
"Tell us what you think, Elmer?" asked several.
"Let us take it for granted then," said the scout-master, "that the spy
was Matt, and that he deliberately hid in the old shop for the purpose
of watching what we did; how do we know that he had any real mean object
in view? At the best it has been only guess work, founded on his bad
reputation."
"That counts for a heap, I've found, to my cost," declared Red, who for
years had been unusually fond of practical jokes and pranks, and several
times floundered in hot water because of this failing.
"Well, all I can say is this," Elmer continued; "if Matt Tubbs, or any
other of the Fairfield boys, took the trouble to walk all the way over
from his home this evening, four miles and more, just to get a chance to
hide here, and see what we did, he must be head over ears in earnest in
what he's got afoot. And, fellows, we happen to know that means the new
troop Fairfield is trying to organize."
Some nodded, as if he had carried them with him; a few shook their
heads, meaning to imply that their distrust of the bully of Fairfield
was so deep-seated that they would have to be given stronger evidence
than this if they were expected to come around to Elmer's way of
thinking.
"Well," the leader went on, "we may never know the facts, but this I
say, that if Matt Tubbs is trying to make a start along the right
lines, we ought to do anything in our power to help him. And if the
chance opens, I promise you I'm going to do that same thing, and not
throw sticks in his way."
"Hear! hear! that's the kind of talk that tells, Elmer!" cried Mark.
Elmer had managed to secure possession of the cap that had been found.
He showed no manifestation of giving it back again, and from the way he
presently thrust the thing in one of the pockets of his khaki coat, it
was evident that he had use for it.
None of the boys who noted this act thought it strange. Elmer frequently
did things that might not seem clear to them on the surface, but they
knew him well enough by this time to feel confident that there was a
motive worth while back of the act, and which in good time would be made
plain.
The meeting soon broke up, the scouts heading toward the town of Hickory
Ridge, in regular formation of twos, with Elmer and his closest chum,
Mark, heading the line.
By degrees their number lessened as a boy would drop out here, and
another there, when the nearest point to their several homes was
reached.
"We had a fine meeting, eh, Mark?" said Elmer, as the two stood for a
few minutes on a corner ere separating.
"A dandy meeting," was the reply, given enthusiastically, and with
boyish vim.
"The addition of the four new recruits," Elmer went on, "fills out our
two patrols to their limit, and now we can begin to drum up new names
for the Eagle. By Fall we ought to have six more good fellows come
around, and finish that patrol."
"Mr. Garrabrant will be pleased when he comes back and learns what
we've done," Mark chuckled, as if he himself were greatly overjoyed.
"That's so, because he's got the good of the troop at heart," said the
leader of the Wolf Patrol, earnestly. "We're lucky to have such a
wide-awake scout-master as Mr. Garrabrant. A whole lot depends on what
kind of a man is in charge of the troop. They say, you know, Mark, 'as
the twig's inclined the tree is bent'; and in most cases you can judge
the kind of troop by the caliber of the scout-master. If he's weak there
can be no order kept up. If he's too severe the boys will rebel. I
reckon it takes a mighty smart man to handle twenty or thirty lively
boys, and get out the best they have in them."
"I've often thought of that, Elmer. I like to study people, you
remember. And I think all of our boys like Mr. Garrabrant the best kind.
Going to bed now? Well, good night. See you to-morrow, if we get
together, a dozen of us, for that little hike."
And separating, the two chums headed for their several homes.
On the following day Elmer, upon arriving at a place of meeting in the
morning, somewhere in the neighborhood of nine o'clock, found a group of
his fellow scouts anxiously awaiting his coming. Most of them had come
direct from home, and each carried the staff that was supposed to be of
more or less help to the owner while on the road. This was just six feet
in length, stout, and in some instances made of bamboo, and in others of
clear ash; marked off in feet and inches so that it could be used also
for measuring distances, being two meters in length, and with a grip for
the hand midway between the ends.
"Just ten here," remarked Elmer, after he had counted the khaki-clad
boys. "All who volunteered for the hike but one, and he, Red Huggins,
usually as prompt a fellow as there is in the troop, but behind time for
once."
"Going to wait for him?" demanded one of the others, impatient to be
off.
"We'll give him the usual ten minutes allowance," replied Elmer. "If he
doesn't show up then, I suppose we'll have to go without him."
He had noted one thing, and this was that neither of his comrades of the
preceding day had shown up. But then Elmer had not expected they would.
Practice had made him almost immune to fatigue, after a ten mile walk,
but the same could not be said of Larry, and especially in the case of
little Jasper Merriweather.
On the whole, considering what excitement the boys had endured on the
previous day, Elmer thought they had done very well. They must be
feeling more or less stiff this morning, and would need a lay-off.
Besides, they had not promised to get around to start on this walk.
Impatient Chatz took out a nickel watch, and began to keep tabs on the
passing of those ten minutes. The rest chattered like magpies, and
seemed to be pleased at the idea of having a few hours with Elmer
abroad. For the young leader knew so many of the secrets of the great
out-doors, and was so ready to impart information to his chums, that it
was really a treat to be with him.
"Five minutes gone, and no sign of him yet, suh!" announced the
timekeeper, after a short interval, during which all eyes were turned
down the road, to the corner around which it was expected the absent
member would come, should he show up at all.
"Oh! well, there are enough of us without Red; though he's always good
company on a hike," remarked Lil Artha, who had really given up an
anticipated trip in an automobile over fifty miles of territory, just to
accompany Elmer in his hike, so great a fascination did the new life
have for the tall boy.
"I thought I thaw him right then, fellows!" exclaimed Dr. Ted, pointing
to a place where there was a gap in the trees and fences.
Elmer nodded encouragingly.
"Good for you, Ted," he said. "I was wondering whether anybody would
notice that the road could be seen through that little opening, and
anyone coming discovered some time before he reached the corner. That
was Red, I do believe; for I had a glimpse of him as he passed."
Ted Burgoyne looked satisfied. In fact, the boys had reached a point by
now when words of praise from the assistant scout-master meant a whole
lot to them, for it always signified that something worth while had been
done.
Nothing more was said about it, but there was a heap of thinking done;
and no doubt every fellow present was making up his mind to be more
vigilant, so that he might be the next to deserve favorable notice from
the leader.
"You were right, Ted, for there he comes now," remarked Toby, as a
figure came around the corner.
It was Red Huggins, sure enough; and he seemed to be hurrying.
"Knows he's late, and expects to be hauled over the coals," chuckled Ty
Collins.
Elmer said nothing. But he was watching the coming of the late scout
with an expression of rising curiosity on his face. Truth to tell, he
noted something that none of the others had. Red Huggins looked more
than "peeved" because he was arriving late at the meeting-place, when a
scout is supposed to be always punctual to the minute. He was worried,
worked up over something or other!
"Hurry up here, old molasses in Winter!" called Lil Artha. "Why, we were
just going to leave you in the lurch. What sort of an excuse can you
give for holding eleven comrades nearly ten minutes each? That means
more'n an hour wasted. It's a crying shame, that's what!"
Red had by now reached them. He was panting a little, as though he might
have run some distance, in order to make up for lost time.
"Wasn't altogether my fault, fellows," he started to explain.
"Oh! come now, no excuses are going to pass here!" broke in Toby.
"Give him a chance to say what he wants to, boys," remarked Elmer; and
the late comer darted him a look of thanks.
"I was just going to start out," Red began, "when father came home. He
had been out trying a new horse he bought; and at first I thought he
might have had a runaway, he looked that excited. But one of our
neighbors came hurrying in, saying he had just heard the news over the
telephone, and asking father what it meant."
"News! What's that? Something happened since we left home?" and the
scouts began to look at each other, while several grew a little white.
"Yes," Red went on, rapidly; "it happened that my father was one of
those who brought the news to town. I got so stuck on what they were
saying that I clean forgot everything else; and that made me late. Then
father saw me in my scout uniform, and he said he wondered if Elmer
Chenowith, who was so smart about following a trail, could lend a
hand--that it seemed a job for the scouts, if ever there was one!"
"Oh! speak out, and tell us what's happened!" cried Toby, catching hold
of Red by his sleeve and shaking him a little.
"Well, you know Mrs. Gruber, the woman who lives in that little house
half a mile or so up the Jericho Road--she's got just one child, a
little girl, with the sunniest smile and the prettiest golden hair you
ever saw. Well, seems like she separated from her husband, Dolph Gruber,
because of his bad habits. Father says Dolph came home last night, made
no end of a row, struck his wife, and went away with little Ruth, saying
her mother would never see her again. And that's what he meant, fellows,
when he said it was a job for the scouts. Elmer, do you dare tackle it,
and try to get back that little girl again for her nearly crazy
mother?"