THE DAY OF THE BOY SCOUT.
"Now, wouldn't that jar you!" muttered Tubby, sprawled on the back of
his horse very much after the manner of a great toad. "Here we hardly
get started on our wonderful trip over the battlefields of Belgium
before we're held up, and told to fade away. Huh! talk to me about luck,
we seem to have lost our grip."
"Show him what you've got, Merritt," suggested Rob, who did not give up
quite so easily, because of a sudden snag in the stream.
"Oh! why, yes, how about that passport the burgomaster wrote out for us
himself? It ought to do the trick!" exclaimed Tubby, his sad look
disappearing like a flash, and an expectant one appearing in its stead.
The officer scanned the paper which Merritt handed him.
"At a time like this the burgomaster himself is under military orders,"
he told the waiting boys, "and if it happened to be a matter of much
importance I could not honor his request. It chances, however, that in
this case there is nothing involved except your safety. And you seem to
be willing to take the risk?"
"Yes, because we have a very important piece of business to carry out,"
Rob hastened to tell him, seeing which way the wind was blowing, and
wishing to take advantage of the flood-tide. "It means a great deal to
one of my friends if we can find a certain man. You will allow us to go
on, then, I hope?"
The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders in real French style as he handed
the burgomaster's passport back.
"Yes, if you are that rash, young messieurs," he said. "We, of the
Belgian army, can admire pluck. You certainly have my best wishes."
"Oh! thank you, lieutenant!" gushed Tubby, who was relieved to know
that the enterprise was not fated to be condemned at the start.
Perhaps the time might come ere long when the same Tubby would be
secretly lamenting over the fact that it had been given a free swing.
But coming events do not always cast their shadows before; and just at
that moment none of the venturesome scouts could so much as guess what
awaited them in the disturbed country beyond.
They gave the obliging lieutenant a regular scout salute, which he
returned in kind. The paper had informed him that Rob and his chums were
members of the Boy Scout organization in America, so that the fact of
their wearing khaki uniforms was easily understood.
"I hope we have as good luck in skipping past every obstacle we run up
against," Merritt was saying, as they moved along the road leading from
Antwerp in the direction of the Belgian capital.
"Oh! we mustn't expect to be always as fortunate as that," said Rob. "I
believe in hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst. It's good
policy all around."
"Something like we read the Pilgrim Fathers used to do in the good old
days when they used to ride to church with the wife back of them," Tubby
explained, "and every man carrying his gun along. Their motto was 'trust
in the Lord; but keep your powder dry!'"
"That's the idea," agreed Rob. "And so far, in all our tramps and
wanderings, we've managed to do our part fairly well."
"Let's hope this venture turns out as good," Tubby added, with a side
glance toward Merritt, for, of course, it concerned him more than either
of the others whether success or failure resulted from their trip
abroad.
That was only a beginning, for they were soon held up again. This time
it came about that the soldier in charge of the detachment could not
speak a word of English, so the guide had to exercise his ability in the
line of a translator.
So well did he plead, and explain that they were all good friends of the
burgomaster of Antwerp, that once again they were allowed to proceed.
Rob could easily see, however, that considerable doubt had arisen in
the mind of the officer as to whether he should permit three boys to
head into such a disturbed country as that lying beyond.
Like the lieutenant, he shrugged his shoulders, and dismissed the matter
of responsibility from his mind. Indeed, there were too many other
serious affairs to be considered just then to bother about a party of
tourists fairly wild to say they had gazed upon actual battlefields;
for, doubtless, he concluded this was the real reason why these
venturesome boys elected to take chances in the war zone.
So long as they were not spies in the service of the enemy it was all
right; only he wanted to warn them that they were apt to meet with some
roving detachment of Germans at almost any time, since they were
overrunning most of the country, appearing suddenly at villages, and
demanding food and wine, or surprising isolated stations poorly guarded,
so as to hold some important bridge for the coming of a column.
"Look what's coming whizzing along ahead there!" Tubby called out a
short time after this encounter.
There was a little cloud of dust, and they could see that it was caused
by someone mounted on a bicycle, who was bending down over the
handlebars and working his feet very rapidly.
"Give him the road, fellows; he seems to be in a big hurry!" ordered
Rob.
A minute later and the bicyclist shot by them. As he did so he
straightened up in the saddle, and to their surprise gave them a
regulation scout salute. Then he went tearing down the road in that
cloud of dust.
"Did you see that?" cried Tubby. "Why, he was a Boy Scout as sure as
anything! Now, what in the wide world was he in such a terrible hurry
for? He acted like he might be late for his breakfast."
"Just now the Boy Scouts in Belgium have a good many other things to
bother them besides missing an occasional meal," explained Rob. "They
have been taken over by the military authorities and are doing splendid
work in heaps of ways."
"Yes," added Merritt, as they rode on again, "I noticed a number of them
while we were in Antwerp, and they seemed to be on the jump constantly.
Every fellow had a badge on his left arm with the letters 'S. M.' on it.
You remember, Rob, when you asked what they stood for, you were told the
letters meant 'Service Militaire,' and showed that the boys were working
for the Government."
"What d'ye reckon they find to do?" asked Tubby, deeply interested.
"They act as dispatch bearers," replied Rob, "ambulance orderlies, and
aids to the police. They told me that in Brussels, now held by the
Germans, some scouts daily herded the women who came for their regular
ration issued by the Government, and kept order, too. Everybody takes
them seriously. This is no time for play among the Boy Scouts of
Belgium, when war has gripped their native land."
"When we were over in England," Merritt related, "I made it a point to
find out how all the scouts there were being made use of. It gave me a
mighty proud feeling to know that I was authorized to wear the uniform
of the Eagle Patrol; for there never was a time in the history of the
world when boys were of as much use as now."
"But there have been no battles on English soil, up to now, Merritt;
tell me how the Boy Scouts of Great Britain could do things, then?"
asked Tubby, who it seems could not have been bothering himself very
much when his chums were making all these observations.
Merritt took a slip of paper from his pocket. They were riding slowly at
the time, indeed at all times, for the horses did not seem desirous of
making any particular speed.
"Here's an account I clipped from an English paper while we were in
London," he told Tubby. "It tells a lot of things the scouts have taken
to doing in order to assist; for, during the war, school duties have
been mostly dropped."
"Oh! what joy!" cried Tubby; "but go and read it out to us, Merritt."
"Here's what the account says, then," Merritt told them, as he managed
to read from the slip: "'Acting as guides to troops. Forwarding
dispatches dropped from air craft. Coastguard work, such as watching
estuaries, guiding vessels in unbuoyed channels, and showing lights to
friendly vessels!'"
"Whew!" remarked Tubby; "that sounds fine to me, Merritt. For once I
almost wish I happened to be a Johnny Bull boy instead of an Uncle Sam.
Is that all?"
"It's only the beginning," he was told. "Listen to some more work a
scout can do for his country over there. 'Collecting information as to
available supplies and transports. Helping the families of men at the
front. First aid; fitting up nursing stations, refuges, dispensaries,
and kitchens in their own club rooms. Carrying on organized relief of
the destitute. Guarding and patrolling bridges, culverts, telegraph
lines, and water supplies. Serving as dispatch bearers, telegraph and
mail delivery riders; and distributing millions of notices as to
billeting, commandeering, safety precautions, and the like,' How's that
strike you, Tubby?"
"It certainly gives me a thrill," the fat boy replied, "and I envy the
lucky Boy Scouts of Great Britain. I reckon they're doing things like
that down in France. Yes, and in Germany too. Now people will see what
it means to wear the khaki uniform. I'm prouder than ever because I have
that right."
"They say," remarked Rob, chiming in with what knowledge he had picked
up, "that for once the boys are appreciated in these times. They have at
last come into their own. A scout's uniform is regarded in England as a
sign of competence and responsibility. It is treated with the same
respect given to any other official garb."
"This account goes on to say that the boys have developed a wonderful
topographical knowledge," Merritt continued, full of the subject as any
Boy Scout might well be. "They pack ambulances systematically with
instruments and medical supplies, checking off their lists like
experienced quartermasters. Others take charge of the delivery of camp
outfits from the stores to the troops about to embark for the seat of
war. The bicycle corps and mounted squads can care for their machines
and horses, make high speed, and meet emergencies with decision and
intelligence. The signal corps can use the telegraph key, semaphore,
and flags almost as well as veterans, thanks to their training. They can
repair telegraph lines and instruments, and have considerable knowledge
of wireless."
"Hurrah!" exclaimed Tubby. "This is sure the day of the Boy Scout. I
never thought I'd ever live to see him climb to such a dazzling height.
Of course, over in America, scouts have never been trained with any idea
that they might be soldiers; for we don't have a chip on our shoulder
all the time, and feel that we're spoiling for a fight."
"All the same," said Rob, "the time may come when what we've learned
will be of great use to our country. Besides, every boy is ten times
better off for joining the organization."
They had been riding in this fashion for an hour and more, often meeting
parties of fugitives on the road, some of them bearing household
treasures, leading a mooing cow, or driving a spavined old horse that
was attached to a shaky wagon piled up with goods of value to the owners
only.
These sights at first struck the boys as pitiful. They would in time
become so accustomed to them that such spectacles must be taken as a
part of the war game; still, all of them were sure that in this case
"familiarity would not breed contempt."
Then at times it happened that houses were scarce, and a stretch of the
road, from some reason or other, ahead appeared deserted. Often, in the
distance, they heard strange sounds like far-away thunder. It thrilled
them to imagine that possibly this was the roar of big guns; perhaps
they were even drawing near to an actual battlefield!
About this time the boys noticed that their guide was acting as though
excited.
"What's the matter, Anthony?" asked Rob, bent on knowing the worst.
In his broken English the Belgian guide tried to tell them his fears.
"Look you--over thisaways--you see men, horses--they run thisaway, they
run thataway--some shake hands at us--I do not know, but it may be they
will turn out to be Uhlan cavalrymen--bad men who ride far in advance of
the army, to screen movements of troops. If they are Uhlans, we may not
go ahead further!"