THE BOY SCOUTS
AND
THE PRIZE PENNANT
BY
SCOUT MASTER ROBERT SHALER
AUTHOR OF “THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE SIGNAL CORPS,” “THE BOY
SCOUTS OF PIONEER CAMP,” “THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,” “THE BOY SCOUTS OF
THE LIFE SAVING CREW,” ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1914,
BY
HURST & COMPANY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Value of Woodcraft 5
II. The Lesson of the Riven Oak 18
III. Scout Law 32
IV. Getting Convincing Proof 46
V. The Wrecked Balloon 59
VI. Engineering in a Treetop 72
VII. “First Aid to the Injured” 84
VIII. The Value of Strategy 95
IX. Out for a Record 107
X. A Big Count for the Wolf Patrol 121
XI. The Field Tests 134
XII. Victory Well Won 148
Boy Scouts and the Prize Pennant.
CHAPTER I.
THE VALUE OF WOODCRAFT.
“Wasn’t that the far-away hoot of an owl just then, Mr. Scout Master?”
“I wonder if it could be one of those tenderfoot recruits that expect to
make up the new Owl patrol of our troop? How about that, Hugh?”
“As you’ve put it up to me straight, Billy, I’ll tell you what I think.
It’s out of the question for one of those greenhorns to be away up here
in the woods; and it was too deep and heavy to be the call of even a big
Virginia horned owl. If you fellows will take the trouble to look up
through the treetops you’ll notice that there’s a lot of queer flying
clouds racing overhead right now.”
“Whew! do you mean it’s going to _storm_, Hugh?” demanded the boy who
had answered to the name of Billy. He seemed to be a good-natured,
easy-going lad, though just now his face bore an expression of sudden
concern.
“I’m sure that was the distant growl of thunder we heard,” came the
answer from Hugh Hardin, an athletic fellow who had long been the leader
of the Wolf patrol. Very lately, on the resignation of the assistant
scout master of the troop, Hugh had been elected to that office,
receiving a certificate from Boy Scout Headquarters in New York City
that fully qualified him to serve in place of the real chief should the
latter be unable to accompany the troop.
There were just four of the lads up in the woods, where they had come to
spy out the chances for gathering a bountiful nut crop later on in the
fall. Incidentally they practiced certain maneuvers that had to do with
scout lore and knowledge of woodcraft.
Besides Hugh and Billy Worth, there were Bud Morgan and Arthur Cameron,
the latter of whom had made rapid progress to the grade of a
second-class scout, with aspirations for even better things.
All of these boys belonged to the Wolf patrol, the doings of which have
been told in the various stories preceding this volume. And though they
were by this time pretty well versed in a knowledge of the great
outdoors, the fact that a storm was sweeping toward them, with not a
single house within a radius of several miles, was enough to create
considerable consternation among them.
“We ought to do something right away, hadn’t we, Hugh?” demanded Arthur,
possibly a trifle more inclined to be timid than any of his mates.
“If we only had plenty of time,” spoke up confident Billy, “we might
make a lean-to out of branches that would shed rain. I’ve helped do it
before, and we didn’t get wet, so you could notice. But listen to that
growl, will you? No time for us to cut brush and branches, because
before we got her half done the old rain would be howling down on top of
us. Let’s cut and run for it, fellows!”
“That’s all right, but run where?” demanded Hugh. “It would be silly for
us to think we could make as fast time as the storm.”
“Whoop! I’ve guessed a way out of the trouble!” ejaculated Arthur,
beginning to show signs of sudden excitement.
“Then, for goodness sake, tell us what it is,” urged Bud, as a third
peal of thunder broke in upon their hearing, considerably louder than
either that had gone before.
“There, look at that whopping big oak tree, fellows! Don’t you see that
it’s hollow to the core?” declared Arthur, pointing as he spoke. “Why,
chances are the whole kitting lot of us could squeeze inside; and if the
storm comes from the direction of that thunder, not a drop of rain would
beat in on us. Well, why don’t somebody say what you think of my bully
scheme?”
“How about that, Hugh?” asked Billy, as if in doubt. “Seems to me I’ve
been given to understand that a big tree isn’t the best place to get
under when a thunder and lightning storm is buzzing around. Hope I’m
mistaken, though, because that idea seems to be our best hold just now.”
“Well, Hugh doesn’t think so, you notice,” suggested Bud, who had been
watching the face of the acting scout master all the while, as well as
the gathering gloom that preceded the passage of the heavy black clouds
would permit.
“It would be the very last thing we ought to do, boys,” remarked Hugh,
with resolution marking his whole manner. “Of course, that tree might
never be struck, for it’s stood through heaps and heaps of other storms;
but all the same the risk is there. Many a foolish man has been killed
just by doing something like that. No, we’ve either got to take our
ducking and stand for it, or else find some other place under shelter.”
“But just where could we go, Hugh?” Arthur questioned uneasily, as all
of them saw a vivid flash of lightning shoot across the heavens where a
small clearing permitted a view. It was soon followed by a detonating
crash that seemed to make the very ground tremble underfoot.
“A barn would be just as bad as a tree, wouldn’t it, Hugh?” asked Bud,
who, it appeared, knew something about such things.
“Every whit as bad,” the other told him; “but hurry and come along after
me, fellows. I’ve got a little scheme that it may pay to try and work.
All depends on how long that rain pleases to hold off. Given five
minutes, and I reckon we might make shelter. This way, everybody, and
take care you don’t get your feet caught in some root or vine that will
throw you!”
Somehow all of the other scouts seemed to have the utmost confidence in
their young leader. Hugh had been tested many a time, and seldom failed
his chums when a sudden necessity like the present arose.
They went stumbling along through the woods, with Arthur bringing up the
rear, as he did not seem to be quite as expert at this sort of thing as
the balance of the scouts. Evidently Hugh was taking them on the back
trail, because presently Billy recognized a fine white birch that he had
marked down when passing, meaning to come back one of these days and
strip that splendid mottled bark from its trunk, for some purpose he had
in mind.
This fact told him that Hugh must have noticed some feature of the
landscape, as he was always keeping his eyes about him, that offered a
bare chance of safety from the storm that was chasing after them so
swiftly.
“It’ll have to bob up mighty quick, then,” Billy was saying to himself,
as he felt the first drop of rain splash against his neck, “for we are
going to get it like cats and dogs right away. Hello! where’s Arthur?”
The thunder had been rolling just before, but ceased in time for Hugh to
hear this last startled exclamation from Billy. He instantly stopped
short in his tracks, and the three scouts came together in a bunch.
“Arthur! Whooee!” shouted Billy.
A rather faint voice answered him from back on the trail.
“Here I am; got caught by the ankle, and had all the breath knocked out
of me! Go along, and leave me to look out for myself, fellows!”
“Not much we will,” said Hugh, as he immediately started back again on
the run. “We Wolves stick together, come what will. Sink or swim, we
never desert a comrade, do we, boys?”
“I guess not,” added Billy, and then quailed as a fierce flash dazzled
his eyes; “but this settles it for our dry suits. We’re up against it,
all right, boys!”
They quickly reached the place where their unlucky chum was sitting up,
trying to work his foot loose from the grip of the vine that had caught
him fast. Perhaps Arthur would have succeeded in doing this in due time;
but he was out of breath now, and trembling so with excitement that he
did not seem able to go at the job the right way.
After taking one look, Hugh gave the imprisoned foot a backward wrench
and it came free.
“Hurrah for you, Hugh!” gasped the relieved scout, as he scrambled to
his feet; “but you oughtn’t to have come back. I was to blame, and stood
ready to take my medicine.”
“Scouts always stand by each other,” said Billy, who now proceeded to
occupy a place in the rear, so as to keep an eye on the one who seemed
prone to do what he had been warned against.
Either the way was freer of obstacles from that point on, or else Arthur
had had his lesson and watched his steps more carefully; at any rate, he
managed to keep up with those ahead of him, and did not again come to
grief.
Two minutes later, and Hugh turned abruptly to the right.
“Here she comes, fellows!” cried Billy, as he heard an ominous rushing
sound some little distance in the rear, which he knew must be made by
the descending rain.
“And here’s where we score a mark in our favor in the contest for the
prize banner!” Hugh added. “Don’t you see where the rocks crop up on
this little rise? I noticed several ledges standing out that ought to
shelter us from most of the rain, unless the storm shifts and comes back
again. Now, each fellow find a place to crawl under the rock!”
Encouraged by these words, the other three scouts hurried forward. Hugh
generously pointed out the first refuge, and told Arthur and Bud to get
under shelter as fast as they could manage it.
“How about you and Billy?” cried Arthur, unwilling to profit in this way
from the scout master’s discovery.
“Move along in here; a scout’s first duty is to obey orders!” Hugh
called back over his shoulder as he hurried on.
It was beginning to rain in earnest, and that rushing sound told that
within half a minute they might expect to be fairly overwhelmed by the
deluge that was coming with that mighty wind and terrific bombardment of
thunder.
Talking was no longer possible. One could not have heard distinctly even
if a speaker’s lips were pressed against one’s ear. Hugh understood
this, and so he clutched Billy’s arm, dragging him toward a spot where
he had discovered another shelf of rock, when that last brilliant flash
lighted up their surroundings.
They were not a second too soon; for even as the two boys scrambled
hastily under the friendly shelter, down came the rain with such a rush
that it seemed as if a cloud must have burst.
Crouching there in the semi-gloom, the two boys looked out on such a
spectacle as doubtless neither of them had ever seen before.
It did not seem to be a mere summer storm, but very much after the type
of a cyclone, such as sweeps irresistibly over sections of the country
at times, tearing up great trees by the roots, and carrying off
everything that happens to be in its narrow path.
Right before their eyes they saw several trees crash down. All around
them the forest bent far over before the howling wind. By pressing back
as far as they were able, the boys managed to keep beyond the reach of
the downpour. Had it caught them napping, it would have soaked them to
the skin “in three shakes of a wolf’s tail,” as Billy confidently
remarked in his chum’s ear, during a brief interval when the awful
clamor eased up a little.