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[Illustration: "Don't shoot gents!" called out the man who was in the
crotch of an oak tree.--_Page 59._]
THE BOY SCOUTS UNDER FIRE IN MEXICO
BY LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON
AUTHOR OF
"The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol," "The Boy Scouts
on the Range," "The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp,"
"The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam," "The Boy
Scouts at the Panama Canal," "The Boy
Scouts with the Allies in France," "The
Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields,"
"The Boy Scouts at the
Panama-Pacific Exposition,"
etc.
[Illustration]
A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers New York
Printed in U. S. A.
Copyright, 1914,
BY HURST & COMPANY
MADE IN U. S.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. SCOUTS AFLOAT 5
II. THE STRANGE LEAK 15
III. WHAT HAPPENED ON THE ROAD 26
IV. WHEN SCOUTCRAFT WAS IN DEMAND 37
V. ON THE TRAIL 48
VI. THE EAGLES LEAD THE WAY TO SUCCESS 59
VII. TUBBY REFUSES TO FORGET 70
VIII. A DAZZLING PLAN 81
IX. FIGURING IT ALL OUT 92
X. HOW THE LAND LAY 103
XI. "THEY'RE OFF!" 114
XII. ALONG THE RIO GRANDE 125
XIII. CROSSING THE FORD 136
XIV. A GALLOP ON MEXICAN SOIL 146
XV. ANDY SCATTERS THE SERENADERS 157
XVI. IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY 168
XVII. THE WHISTLE OF PASSING BULLETS 179
XVIII. AT THE BURNING BRIDGE 190
XIX. THE WIGWAG TALK 201
XX. "TRUST ROB!" 212
XXI. THE RETURN OF THE SCOUT MASTER 223
XXII. THE FIELD HOSPITAL IN OPERATION 234
XXIII. WHEN VILLA CAME 245
XXIV. A MAN OF HIS WORD 256
XXV. AGAIN UNDER THE FOLDS OF "OLD GLORY" 267
XXVI. ON TO WASHINGTON! 278
XXVII. TUBBY SOLVES THE MYSTERY 298
THE BOY SCOUTS UNDER FIRE IN MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
FOUR SCOUTS AFLOAT.
"Luff a little, Merritt!"
"Luff it is, Rob. And let me tell you right now that if this head wind
keeps on growing stronger, we're going to have it nip and tuck to get
home before dark sets in. These November, days have a quick end, you
know. Steady now, everybody; we'll have to come about."
"On the next leg, Merritt, run in as close to the shore as you can,"
continued the boy who was handling the sheet of the sailboat, and who
seemed to be in command, though he had given up his place at the helm to
a comrade.
"Just what I'll do, Skipper Rob. Here, Andy, and you, Tubby, swing over
to the la'board in a hurry, now, and help hold her down. You're the best
ballast we've got aboard, Tubby."
The stout boy who seemed so well named, for he was built on the order of
a tub of butter, hastened to change his position as the boom of the
sailboat swung over, and the little craft with a jump started on a new
tack, this time heading for the mainland.
"Say, you want to make sure and clear that point over there!" he sang
out as he sprawled along the upper port side of the craft like a great
crab, owing to a sudden lurch of the boat.
"Going to do it as easy as to turn your hand over," replied the boy at
the rudder; "but what makes you say that, Tubby?"
"Oh! I reckon now there might be some fellers got a duck blind on that
point, which is said to be the best along the bay," replied the other.
"Leastways I noticed a whole raft of stools dancing up and down on the
waves the last time we ran in close to the shore."
"Good for you, Tubby," remarked the boy called Rob, who was clinging
steadily to the sheet, with the strain mostly relieved by the fact that
it passed through a hole in the stout cleat; "it's plain that you've got
your eyes with you this trip, and don't mean to be caught napping. There
are two fellows in a blind over on the point; I saw them watching us
the last time we ran in; and they acted as though they were afraid we'd
anchor and spoil all their evening shoot when the ducks are moving
again. But never fear, we're going to clear the point by a wide margin
this time."
"It was a good thing school let out so early to-day, boys," remarked the
lad who up to now had not spoken, and who seemed to answer to the name
of Andy; "and that Rob invited the rest of us to go with him after that
half bushel of big oysters his folks want for dinner to-morrow."
"What makes you talk that way, Andy?" asked Rob, wondering if the other
had also been keeping his eyes about him and noticing things. "This is
Friday afternoon, and if we hadn't gone to-day what do you think would
hinder our taking a little spin up the bay in the morning?"
"Oh! you never can count on the wind around Hampton," replied the other;
"chances are, when you want it most of all, it gives you the go-by. And
besides, Rob, I've been watching that sky up there. Look how it's
mottled, will you? I've always heard that that sort of clouds meant a
storm."
Rob laughed as though rather pleased.
"Well, that's just one good reason why I hurried off this afternoon
instead of waiting for morning," he observed; "but then, I had a better
warning than the looks of the sky to give me notice. You see, I chanced
to drop around by the post office on the way to school after lunch, and
stepped in to read what the weather report man in Washington had sent
along. There's a whopper of a storm coming up the coast from the West
Indies, and headed right this way; a sort of left-over hurricane, it
says; and storm warnings are ordered up from Jacksonville to Nantucket!"
"Whee!" exclaimed Tubby, "that means winter will like as not set in
right after that storm passes along, and we'll get no more sails on the
bay. I hate winter for all the fun with skates and bobsleds. Don't I
wish now my Uncle Mark would make up his mind to send me down there to a
warm country like Mexico to look after his tangled business affairs?
Honest Injun, fellers, he did say he might think of something like that
if he didn't get some better soon. He's terribly bothered for fear he's
going to lose all his cattle and everything, with those rebels and
regulars cavorting all over that section. Hello! that was a gun spoke
then; and there goes another! Yes, and he got one duck, anyhow, because
I saw it drop like a stone. And we're already past the point, boys!"
While the little sailboat is beating up against a head wind and sea,
bent on making Hampton, several miles away along the Long Island shore
of the bay, it might be a good time for us to renew acquaintance with
the four lads on board, and glance back over their past career.
All of them were dressed in the well known khaki suits that, the world
over, have become a recognized sign manual of Boy Scouts. These lads
belonged to Hampton Troop, and were instrumental in starting the
organization in the shore town. For some time it had consisted of but a
single patrol, the Eagles; but as success followed their efforts, and
more boys became enthused and enlisted, other patrols known as the Owl,
the Black Fox, and the Badger were formed; so that at the time we meet
Rob and his chums in the sailboat there was a very strong troop in
Hampton, with even a rival organization under way.
Rob Blake was the leader of the Eagle Patrol, and Merritt Crawford held
the post of second in command, or corporal; while Andy Bowles filled
the position of bugler. Tubby as yet had not aspired to fill anything,
unless it was his stomach; and his chums were forever joking him with
regard to his fondness for eating.
In the first volume of this series, "The Boy Scouts of the Eagle
Patrol," the reader was made acquainted with Rob and his friends, and
followed their exciting fortunes after they had formed the patrol. Rob
was the son of the president of the local bank, while Merritt's father
had been known as the finest blacksmith and wheelwright in that section
of Long Island; Andy's folks ran the big livery stable; and Tubby's only
parent, his mother, was said to be fairly well off in property and
stocks.
A happy chance allowed some of the scouts to visit the far Southwest,
and in the second story many of the strange adventures that befell them
there were narrated. Though "The Boy Scouts on the Range" teems with
thrilling happenings, those who read it from cover to cover will admit
that the Eagles bore themselves man-fully under all conditions, and
always acted according to scout law.
Later on some of the boys became interested in the subject of aviation;
and about this time chance allowed them to be of considerable assistance
to certain parties in the employ of the Government, who were conducting
experiments not far from their home town; all of which was told in the
pages of "The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship."
A fourth volume was given up to what occurred while the Eagles were
encamped in the wilderness; where circumstances arose that called for
all their knowledge of woodcraft and scout lore; but those who have read
"The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp" will surely unite in saying that Rob and
his chums met the situation as became true scouts, and came out of the
affair with great credit.
In the succeeding story, "The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam," the boys found
themselves involved in a succession of thrilling events. An opportunity
arose whereby their services were in demand in order to save the design
of a wonderful submarine craft, intended for the use of the United
States Government, from being stolen by the clever agents of a foreign
power. It was largely through the efforts of the scout patrol that this
treacherous design was finally foiled.
A sixth volume, just preceding the present story, "The Boy Scouts at the
Panama Canal," contained the history of events that befell Rob and his
particular chums at a time when they were given a splendid chance to
visit the great ditch which Uncle Sam was then digging down on the
Isthmus. Once again they managed to bring into play the resourcefulness
which, as members of the Eagle Patrol, had been developed in them; and
it was principally through the agency of scoutcraft that the evil
designs which certain envious nations had upon the locks of the canal
were blocked.
Which short but necessary explanation once more brings us to the four
chums as they tacked back and forth while trying to make the home port
before dusk set in. Now that they were headed toward the mainland they
made rapid progress, for the wind was certainly increasing in force
right along. It came from a point that enabled them to make this the
long leg, gaining quite a considerable distance. Once again they tacked,
and the best they could expect to do was to hold their own in a beat
toward the sandy outer shore of the bay, which helped to make the inlet
all but landlocked.
"This is sure going some!" Tubby called out, as he began to get himself
into readiness for another quick slide across when they should come
about again; the spray was flying in their faces, more or less, and the
waves that raced past seemed tipped with white.
"Look out for your heads when we swing around!" called Merritt. "That
boom is heavy enough to sweep you overboard, I guess!"
"Excuse me from taking a bath right here and now!" exclaimed Tubby, who
was not much of a swimmer at the best. "But see here, what does all this
mean, fellers? Why, look at the water in the bottom of the boat, will
you? Tell you what, she's gone and sprung a leak as sure as anything!
Rob, you won't head out in the bay again, will you, with all this chance
of our foundering? Gingersnaps! it keeps on getting worse and worse, I
tell you! We'll sink inside of ten minutes!"
Rob, who owned the sailboat, took one look at the water that was already
washing about in the bottom of the uptilted craft. He must have realized
that something strange had happened to cause so staunch a boat to spring
a leak, and also that the situation was serious; for no sooner had he
taken in the suspicious way in which the water was rising in the
cockpit, than he shouted:
"Keep her headed straight for the shore, Merritt! We've got to beach her
one way or another. Tubby, help me with the halliards so we can drop the
sail. You pull up the centerboard, Andy! Hurry now, everybody!"
There was a scene of activity on board the little pleasure craft just
then, with three of those lively scouts springing about their duty. And
as the sail came rattling down on top of the cabin, with Tubby sprawled
under its folds, and as Andy fastened the heavy centerboard which he had
drawn full height in the well, the boat ran up on the sandy beach of a
little cove that had chanced to lie directly ahead at the time the
skipper gave his hurried orders!