THE WANDERING MINSTREL
He was defying, single handed, half a dozen or more scouts who were
flopping about in rowboats under and about the springboard. They had
just rowed across after an inspection of the washed-out cove, and were
resting on their oars, jollying the little fellow whose legs dangled
above them.
"Where did that big feller go?" he asked.
"To the village."
"He found a dead man last night, didn't he?"
"That's what he did."
"I know his name, it's Slade."
"Right the first time. You're a smart fellow."
"I like that big feller. He says Gilbert Tyson is all right; I asked
him. I bet Gilbert Tyson can beat any of you fellers. He's in my troop,
he is. I bet you were never in a hospital."
"I bet you were never in prison," a scout ventured.
"I bet you never got hanged," Goliath piped up.
"I bet I did," another scout said.
"When?"
"To-morrow afternoon."
"To-morrow afternoon isn't here yet," Goliath said, triumphantly.
"Sure it is, _this_ is to-morrow afternoon. Somebody told me yesterday.
If it was to-morrow afternoon yesterday it must be to-day."
"Posolutely," said Roy Blakeley. "What was true yesterday is true
to-day, because the truth is always the same--only different."
"Sure," concurred another scout, "to-morrow, to-day will be yesterday.
It's as clear as mud."
Goliath thought for a few moments and then made a flank attack.
"Gilbert Tyson is a hero," he said; "he saved the lives of everybody in
that bus--he did."
"That's where he was wrong," said Roy Blakeley; "a scout is supposed to
be generous. He mustn't be all the time saving."
"Isn't it good to save lives?" Goliath demanded.
"Sure, but not too many. A scout that's all the time saving gets to be
stingy."
Goliath pondered a moment.
"Gilly is all right but he's not a first-class scout," said Roy.
"A first-class scout," said Westy Martin, "is not supposed to turn back.
Gilbert turned back. Then he shouted '_stop_.' Law three says that a
scout is courteous. He should have said '_please_ stop.' Law ten says
that a scout must face danger, but he turned his back to it. He wasn't
thinking about the danger, all he was thinking about was the bus. All he
was thinking about was being thrifty--saving lives. I've known fellows
like that before. It's just like striking an average; a scout that
strikes an average is a coward."
"You mean if the average is small?" said Roy.
"Oh, sure."
"Because it all depends," Roy continued; "a scout isn't supposed to
fight, is he? But he can strike an attitude. The same as he can hit a
trail. Suppose he hits a poor, little thin trail----"
"Then he's a coward," said Connie Bennett.
"Not necessarily," said Westy, "because----"
"_A scout has to be obedient! You can't deny that!_" Goliath nearly
fell off the springboard in his excitement. "That other feller is going
to get sent away because I heard a man say so!"
This was not exactly an answer to the well-reasoned arguments of Roy and
his friends, but it had the effect of making them serious. Moreover,
just at that juncture, Mr. Carroll, scoutmaster of the Hillsburgh troop,
appeared and very gently ordered Goliath from his throne upon the
springboard. The little fellow's mind had been somewhat unsettled by the
skillful reasoning of his new friends. He trotted off in obedience to
Mr. Carroll's injunction that he go in and take off his wet shoes.
"Boys," said the new scoutmaster, in a pleasant, confidential tone which
won all, "I want to say a word to you about the little brownie we have
with us. You'll find him an odd little duck. I'm hoping to make a scout
of him some time or other. Meanwhile, we have to be careful not to get
him excited. It's a rule of our troop to take with us camping each
summer, some little needy inmate of an orphan home or hospital or some
place of the sort, and give him the benefit of the country air. This
little fellow is our charge this year. You won't talk to him about his
past, because we want him to forget that. We want to take him home well
and strong and I look to you for help. Make friends with him and get him
interested in things about camp. His heart isn't strong; be careful."
Good scouts that they were, they needed no more than these few words.
Temple Camp usually took new boys as it found them, anyway, concerning
itself with their actions and not with the history of their lives. Half
the scouts in the big summer community didn't know where the other half
came from, and cared less. From every corner of the land they came and
all they knew or cared about each other was limited to their intercourse
at camp.
"You don't suppose that's true, do you?" one of them asked when Mr.
Carroll had gone.
"What? About Willetts?"
"Sure."
"Dare say. He's about due for the G. B., I guess. But if you want to
cook a fish you've got to catch him first."
"Where is he, anyway?" one asked. "I thought his foot was so bad."
"I saw him limping off this morning, that's all _I_ know," another said.
"It would take more than a lame ankle to keep _him_ at camp," said Dorry
Benton of Roy's patrol. "Did you see that crazy stick he was using for a
cane?"
"The wandering minstrel," another scout commented.
"He stands pat with Slady, all right."
"Gee, you can't help liking the fellow."
"I have to laugh at him," Westy said.
"You can't pal with him, that's one thing," another observed.
"That's because you can't keep up with him; even Mr. Denny has a sneaky
liking for him."
"Do you know what one of his troop told me? He told me he always wears
that crazy hat to school when he's home. Some nut!"
"Reckless, happy-go-lucky, that's what he is."
"Come on over and let's look on the bulletin board."
They all strolled, half idly, to the bulletin board which stood outside
the main pavilion. It was a rule of camp that every scout should read
the announcements there each afternoon. Then there would be no excuse
for ignorance of important matters pertaining to camp plans. Upon the
board were tacked several announcements, a hike for the morrow, letters
uncalled for, etc. Conspicuous among these was the following:
Hervey Willetts will report _immediately_ to his scoutmaster at
troop's cabin, upon his arrival at camp.
WM. C. DENNY.