THE RIVAL TROOPS
"How far do we have to go in this new plan of forgiving the enemy, Paul?"
asked William, who had by now fully recovered from his recent weakness,
and was burning with zeal to avenge himself upon their persecutors.
"Yes, this thing has got to have a limit!" declared Jud Elderkin, as he
glared around at the moonlit scene, and no doubt imagined their rivals
hiding near by, where they could laugh at the disturbed group.
Paul knew boy nature too well to stretch their patience beyond the
breaking point. He was astonished that such fire-eaters as Bluff,
William, and several more, could restrain themselves even as well as they
had.
To keep them in hand the reins must be loosened a little; but only to
enable him to get a better hold later on.
"Well, there's no positive rule, fellows; and so far as I can see I
believe the limit has already been passed, with us," he said, pleasantly.
"Hurrah! that's the kind of talk!" cried the inflammable Twin.
"Then you give us permission to pitch in, and whale the whole bunch the
next time they play one of their measly old tricks on us? Is that so,
Paul?" demanded Jud.
"Oh! I only h-h-hope so!" came from Bluff.
"Wait till the time comes, and perhaps I'll help you give them a
much-needed lesson. We don't want to play the worm part, always,"
remarked Paul; "and now, boys, let's head for home."
"Ta-ta, sweet little meeting-house on the edge of the woods; I'll carry
fond memories of you as long as this suit of clothes lasts, I guess,"
said William, waving his hand mockingly backward toward the deserted
barn.
"Watch out for some of those Slavin fellows on the road. They may bombard
us from the woods with rocks!" warned Joe Clausin.
"Just let 'em try, that's all. We'll chase the stone thrower to a
standstill, and then he'll be sorry he wandered away from his happy home
this night!" Bobolink declared, ferociously.
So they walked along in detached groups, many eyes were on the alert, and
listening ears bent to catch some sign of a lurking foe.
Once or twice they heard signals being exchanged deep in the woods,
evidently by the scattered cohorts of Ted; but while valiant, the members
of the Fox Patrols were wise and prudent as well, copying the cautious
attributes of the wary animal after which their new organization had been
named.
They declined to explore the dense forest, seeking a foe that might only
be bent on luring them along, until ready to pounce on them in a body, to
make them prisoners of war.
And so finally the march came to an end, with all hands satisfied that
the last meeting of the little host of new scouts had been attended by
several of the most exciting circumstances that ever befell the boys of
Stanhope.
Paul and his chum walked on together, until reaching the first home they
said good night. But neither again brought up that subject which had been
worrying Jack Stormways for so long a time.
If Paul had conceived any sort of an idea in connection with the strange
disappearance of the old coins, he kept it to himself.
Once, however, on the way home after leaving Jack, he stopped to clap his
hand down vigorously on his knee, and whispered to himself:
"Now, I wonder if that could possibly be so?"
But no matter what idea had struck him, further words didn't come to tell
whether his thoughts were connected with Jack's personal trouble; or on
the other hand if the annoying enmity of Ted Slavin, Ward Kenwood, and
their would-be scout troop, was still on his mind.
Nevertheless, as Paul passed up to the front door of his home, and
stopped a minute to look up at the bright moon sailing across the eastern
heavens, he considered that he had good reason to feel more than
satisfied with the magnificent results already attending the new methods
of the Boy Scouts.
On the following day he sent off the letter containing a check which his
father gave him in place of the money, so that it might not be lost.
Then followed a period of anxious waiting, during which many of the
members of the Stanhope Troop No. 1 felt touches of envy at sight of
their rivals parading the streets, decked out in the full regalia of
Scouts, and carrying themselves with the proudest of airs.
They knew that Ted and Ward were busily engaged in drilling their
followers in many of the devices prominently mentioned in the manual
book. For that matter, though, it did not require regulation suits of
khaki to excel in those same things; and so the Foxes also studied and
experimented, and burned candles at night in the endeavor to learn all
that was possible of those various accomplishments.
There was a great difference in the boys of the town.
Few who were of the proper age but who belonged to one or the other of
the troops; and people were beginning to notice how much more manly they
carried themselves, and how anxious they seemed now to get credit marks
at home.
Parents upon meeting never failed to talk about this wonderful change,
and express hopes that it would last.
"The best thing that ever happened, barring none, I think," was what the
old minister declared, at a meeting of the Women's Club; "and it deserves
to be encouraged. Why, you ladies should take advantage of this wave of
reform, to get these lads interested in keeping the streets of the town
clean. Give me fifty willing workers among the boys, and I warrant you
there will never be a stray piece of paper blowing around. They'll
provide receptacles for trash, and see that everybody uses them."
And so it went around, and everybody seemed delighted at the innovation.
Only a few skeptical old fogies shook their heads, and declared that it
was too good to last, and that they about expected to see the boys of
Stanhope transplanted to the heavens in a body presently, since their
wings must be sprouting.
About this time it came to the ears of Paul that the banner which the
peace-loving Quaker, Mr. Westervelt, had offered for the most proficient
troop of scouts along the Bushkill, had been placed on exhibition in the
window of a jewelry store over in the manufacturing town of Manchester.
He and Jack wheeled over that very day to inspect the coveted trophy.
When they saw what a beauty it was, their hearts thrilled with new
aspirations.
"Worth fighting hard for, eh, Paul?" observed Jack.
"I should say, yes," replied the other, delight written in big letters on
his face, pressed so close to the glass; "and I reckon it would do our
fellows lots of good just to run down here to look at that dandy banner.
I must tell them all about it, and have them see it for themselves."
"A bully good idea. You know how to get a fellow to put his best licks
into any job he undertakes," declared his chum, admiringly.
"Humbug!" scornfully replied Paul; "why, it's as easy as falling off a
log. Don't you feel more like straining every nerve in the effort to win
that prize, after seeing how handsome it is? Well, I just try to believe
every fellow is more or less like I am. That's the whole secret. Yes,
Stanhope must work hard to catch up with the other fellows."
There were several boys standing around, also gaping at the fine snowy
banner, upon which as the card under it, went on to state, was to be
embroidered with colored silk the totem of the leading patrol of the
successful troop.
These fellows could not help knowing who the strangers in town were; and
it was also easy for them to guess what had brought Paul and Jack down
there. More than a few times had they seen these Stanhope boys competing
on the athletic field, either in baseball, or football. And of course it
was always good form for Manchester lads to "josh" any would-be rivals.
"Yes," said one of the natives, with a grin, "up in that corner is where
the eagle is going to be painted. And every time we go on a hike we'll
carry that banner at the head of the procession."
"They say," remarked another, with pretended innocence, "that poor old
Stanhope is getting up a troop, and even hopes to have a try for this
beauty. Now, what do you think about the nerve of that, fellows?"
"Oh! well, the more the merrier," came from a third, whom Paul knew to be
the scout leader of the "Eagles" in person, "and after all, we don't mind
showing these tenderfeet scouts how to do stunts. None of us want to be
hogs, boys. There's room enough for all, even if some do have to eat
the husks."
Paul had to laugh out loud at this.
"Say, you're on to us, all right, Manchester," he said, turning around.
"Yes, we've come down here just to take a peep at this great prize. Of
course we'd like mighty well to say we meant to win it; but we're too
modest for that. The most we admit is that we mean to make a try for it.
Of course we haven't got much show against two such veteran troops as
Manchester and Aldine; but we want to get all the fun out of the game we
can. And you won't begrudge us that, Claypool?"
"Sure we won't, Morrison," returned the other, frankly, thrusting out
his hand; "as I said before, the more in it the better. It will make our
victory look bigger."
"Glad to see you're so dead sure of winning out," laughed Paul; "whenever
the Stanhope boys go into anything they always work harder if they have
big odds against them. But all the same that's a bully good banner, and
no matter whether it has an eagle, the head of a beaver, or that of a
fox worked on it in colored silk, it's going to be something we'll all
be proud of as Boy Scouts."
"That's well put, Morrison; though you might just as well get it out of
your head now as later that the Manchester fellows will ever let any
crowd come in here and take that dandy flag away. Why, our fellows know
ten times as much about scout tactics as your greenhorns do now."
Claypole did not mean to be overbearing; when he said this he really
believed it to be an actual fact.
"That's very true," said Paul, quietly, as he and his chum prepared to
mount their wheels for the return journey; "but Thanksgiving is still
more than two months off; and Claypole, I give you my word, we've got
some of the smartest tenderfeet in the Stanhope troop you ever heard
of. Ta-ta, boys!"
Of course, when Paul and Jack told what they had seen, every fellow
wanted to make the run over to Manchester to look for himself. And,
just as Paul had expected, they came back home more than ever enthused
with the hope and prospect of winning that royal banner for the Stanhope
troop.
At the next meeting the talk was all about the prize, and a vote was even
taken to ascertain to whom the honor of being the banner bearer might
fall, in case the victory was awarded to Stanhope. Wallace Carberry
turned out to be the lucky standard bearer.
All of which was just what clever Paul wanted. He had infused a new
stimulant into the veins of his comrades. And at their next outdoor
rally, when various contests were undertaken to discover who showed the
most skill, he found that the very atmosphere seemed to be surcharged
with electricity; for the boys labored to excel as they had never done
before; but it was because each one believed that upon his shoulders
alone devolved the duty of bringing that beautiful prize to Stanhope.
Four days later the expected suits arrived, much sooner than even the
most sanguine had anticipated.
Then there _was_ a time.
The usually quiet and peaceful streets of the town were fairly filled
with khaki-clad warriors, strutting up and down, exchanging military
salutes, and arousing the admiration of all the girls, who came forth
to gaze and applaud.
It was a great day for Stanhope. A stranger visiting there for the first
time might think some military academy must have taken up fall quarters
near by, and granted full liberty to its uniformed hosts.
If there were those who had been hesitating about joining either of the
troops, a decision must certainly follow the first glimpse of those
gallant uniforms.
That night many a lad ate supper as an honored guest at his father's
table; for surely the wearer of a uniform must be entitled to unusual
privileges.
Of course the word had gone around for a meeting of the Stanhope No. 1.
But it was not to be held at the Shipley barn--oh! no, those boys had
had "quite a sufficiency," as Bobolink said, of their former quarters;
and Bluff admitted that his father would not dare use the building again
that year for his tobacco crop.
Jason Carberry, father of the twins, had asked as a favor that they make
use of his big smithy; and since the night air was cool, Paul had
accepted this generous proposition of the blacksmith on the spot.
So that was where they came together, a uniformed organization, at last.