THE BOY SCOUTS
FOR
HOME PROTECTION
BY
SCOUT MASTER ROBERT SHALER
AUTHOR OF “BOY SCOUTS OF THE SIGNAL CORPS,” “BOY SCOUTS OF
PIONEER CAMP,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,” “BOY
SCOUTS OF THE LIFE SAVING CREW,” “BOY SCOUTS ON PICKET
DUTY,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE FLYING SQUADRON,” “BOY
SCOUTS AND THE PRIZE PENNANT,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE
NAVAL RESERVE,” “BOY SCOUTS IN THE SADDLE,” “BOY
SCOUTS FOR CITY IMPROVEMENT,” “BOY SCOUTS IN
THE GREAT FLOOD,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE FIELD
HOSPITAL,” “BOY SCOUTS WITH THE RED
CROSS,” “BOY SCOUTS AS COUNTY FAIR
GUIDES,” “BOY SCOUTS AS FOREST FIRE
FIGHTERS,” “BOY SCOUTS WITH THE
MOTION PICTURE PLAYERS,” “BOY
SCOUTS ON THE ROLL OF HONOR,”
ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Sterling Boy Scout Books
_Bound in cloth_ _Fifteen titles_
1 Boy Scouts of the Signal Corps.
2 Boy Scouts of Pioneer Camp.
3 Boy Scouts of the Geological Survey.
4 Boy Scouts of the Life Saving Crew.
5 Boy Scouts on Picket Duty.
6 Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron.
7 Boy Scouts and the Prize Pennant.
8 Boy Scouts of the Naval Reserve.
9 Boy Scouts in the Saddle.
10 Boy Scouts for City Improvement.
11 Boy Scouts in the Great Flood.
12 Boy Scouts of the Field Hospital.
13 Boy Scouts with the Red Cross.
14 Boy Scouts as County Fair Guides.
15 Boy Scouts as Forest Fire Fighters.
_You can purchase any of the above books at the price you paid for this
one, or the publishers will send any book, postpaid, upon receipt of
25c._
HURST & CO., Publishers
432 Fourth Avenue, New York
Copyright, 1915, by Hurst & Company
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Time Things Began to Mend 5
II. Help Wanted 15
III. “Strike While the Iron Is Hot!” 29
IV. Waiting for the Good News 39
V. Oakvale’s Great Clean-up Day 49
VI. The Promise of a Scout 58
VII. How the “Uplift” Worked 69
VIII. One Use for Woodcraft Knowledge 80
IX. The Goal in Sight 92
X. Benjy’s Suspicious Actions 106
XI. The Revelation 115
XII. Clear Sailing Ahead 124
XIII. Putting the Clamps On 133
XIV. For Home Protection 147
The Boy Scouts For Home Protection.
CHAPTER I.
TIME THINGS BEGAN TO MEND.
“Here it is springtime again, boys!”
“Yes, and I’m beginning to catch the spring fever. I just feel—well,
_torpid_ would describe it. I hate to study, or do any work that
requires the least exertion.”
“Hey, Billy, there’s one great exception you’ll have to make when you
say that—you’ve never let that torpor interfere with your rapid
locomotion when you heard the welcome sound of the dinner bell.”
The fat boy in the new khaki suit allowed a broad, good-natured smile to
spread over his freckled face.
“Oh, that’s different!” he exclaimed quickly. “I said _work_, please
remember, Alec, and as for feeding, why, I always class that under the
head of undiluted, unadulterated pleasure.”
“Well, winter has come and gone, with a whole lot of talk about town
improvement in the air, and nothing done, just as you were saying,
Hugh.”
The manly looking young fellow who answered to the name of Hugh Hardin
was patrol leader and assistant scout master. This could easily be
learned by any one at all familiar with the various devices used by Boy
Scouts to designate rank. On the left sleeve of his coat, just below the
shoulder, he had first of all two white stripes, and underneath that a
_red_ first-class scout badge.
Hugh, as well as a number of other members of the Oakvale Troop, had for
some time been authorized to wear certain medals signifying that at some
previous date they had been instrumental in saving human life at the
risk of their own.
If the reader does not know under what stirring conditions these medals,
typifying the Boy Scout Roll of Honor, were earned, he can have the
pleasure of reading all the particulars in previous books of this
series, as lack of time and space prevents our mentioning them here.
Besides the leader of the Wolf Patrol there were present on this
occasion Billy Worth—the stout member—Alec Sands—who had once been
Hugh’s most bitter rival for honors, but since heading the Otter Patrol
he had grown to be very chummy with him—and Buck Winter.
They attended Oakvale High School and were dismissed about half-past one
in the afternoon. They thus had considerable advantage over the boys and
girls in the lower grades.
Indeed, at the late hour in the spring afternoon mentioned, numerous
little folks were heading homeward in knots, having just been given
their freedom. Hugh and his three companions had stopped to chat, having
met by accident at that point where traffic was congested—the wagons
from the mills crossing in one direction and many big and little cars
swinging around various corners.
Somehow or other that particular spot always had a peculiar sort of
fascination for Hugh. It had tragic memories, too, for on several
occasions serious accidents had occurred here, owing to the speed which
some drivers persisted in making while approaching the dangerous
crossing.
When Buck Winter, the boy who surpassed most of his chums in animal
photography, spoke to Hugh about the dim prospect of anything being done
in the matter of improving certain glaring defects in the government of
the town, the scout master frowned and shook his head.
“I never saw anything hang fire like this,” he remarked, at the same
time watching what was going on close by with keen interest. “There’s
that crossing over yonder, and some other bad places where children pass
over several times a day—it ought to be protected but it isn’t. An
officer should be stationed there morning, noon and night, to see that
traffic slows up when the children are going and coming from school.”
“That’s right, Hugh,” burst out the impulsive Billy, whose heart was
just as big as his waist was expansive, “and some of these fine days
there’s going to be something awful happening here! It’ll wake this
sleepy old town up! For one, I don’t believe in waiting till your horse
is stolen before you think to lock the stable door. ‘A stitch in time
saves nine,’ they say.”
“Just see how the driver of that big touring car swings down with a
rush, will you!” exclaimed Alec, indignantly. “He sounds his siren to
beat the band, just as if he expected everybody to scatter like chickens
crossing a road, and run for their lives. It’s a beastly shame!”
“Something’s got to be done, that’s all!” said Hugh, with compressed
lips, and a flash in his eye that spoke volumes, as he looked after the
reckless chauffeur of the car, now speeding away, with a nasty grin of
conscious superiority on his face.
“If I was the mayor of this burgh in place of spineless old Strunk,” the
impetuous Alec went on to exclaim, “you’d soon hear something pop. I
would call the Council in session, and have ordinances passed that would
keep these speeders under control. After a few of them had been locked
up for a spell, as well as heavily fined, you’d notice a big
difference.”
“That isn’t all, by any means,” Hugh chimed in, watching the approach of
a bevy of small school girls with apprehension, for the traffic seemed
to be at its heaviest. “There are a number of other bad spots in town
that need attention. The railroad crossing is utterly unprotected, and
last summer one man was killed there, you remember, while twice vehicles
have been wrecked.”
“There were some other things you mentioned the last time we talked this
over, Hugh, I remember,” said Buck Winter.
“Lots of them,” came the ready reply. “The whole town has grown careless
again. True, people don’t litter the streets with waste paper now that
they know about the cans placed for such trash—the scouts cured that
evil—but there are other defects that ought to be attended to. For
instance, some people persist in keeping garbage standing open for the
flies to breed in. Others have nuisances about which their neighbors
hate to complain of. I know six or seven places where this sort of thing
is going on, and I reckon the scouts could trace dozens, if once they
had the authority to start in on the job.”
“Oh, I guess I know what you’ve got in mind, Hugh!” exclaimed Billy,
with sudden animation. “I was reading the other day how that very thing
is being carried out with great success right down in New York City.
Boys are given badges to wear, and are called the Auxiliary Police, or
something like that. They have their precincts to watch, and report
every sort of nuisance or infraction of the law to their friend, the
police captain, who sees that it is abated. They say you would be
surprised to see how well the boys do their duty. Things have taken on a
new look since the scheme was started.”
“It could be done here a whole lot easier than in such a big city,”
affirmed Hugh, eagerly. “We haven’t got such a raft of ignorant
foreigners to handle, you see. A good many people up here have just
fallen into careless ways, and all they need is to be waked up.”
“We did that other job first class,” said Billy, proudly, “and we’d win
out again if only we had half a chance. But I don’t know what keeps on
interfering. They must be asleep, and only some terrible accident will
startle them to action.”
“Some of the boys have told me in secret about a blind tiger that is
being operated since the saloons were shut out of Oakvale,” declared
Hugh. “Then I’ve also learned that some of the mill hands get together
and gamble, which is against the law. The police, thinking of the votes
those fellows can control, seem to wink at such things. There’s no use
talking, the women of Oakvale have got to be roused, and join hands with
every church in town to clean up the place again, this time for good.
The scouts stand ready to do their part.”
“Every time!” added Billy, sonorously, as he whacked Buck Winter on his
back, as if to emphasize his remark.
“There are heaps of things that ought to be bettered,” asserted Alec.
“They never will be until the scouts and the women join hands with all
the good people of Oakvale for a genuine old clean-up time. All they
seem to want is a leader. Everybody is waiting for some one else to make
the start. Hugh, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s going to be up to you.”
“I was talking with Professor Marvin, the school principal, only
yesterday,” said the scout master, “and he agreed with me that there was
great need of all the moral forces in the community uniting for a big
fight before things got too bad. He said he would see Mayor Strunk last
night, and asked me, as acting in place of Lieutenant Denmead, who is
away, to drop around to his house this evening, for he had invited the
mayor, Mrs. Marsh and several of the leading ladies of the T. I. A., to
take supper with him.”
“Good for that!” cried Billy. “Make sure you rub it in like everything,
Hugh, once you get the chance. I hope to hear great news tomorrow
morning, and I’ll be ready, for one, to take off my coat and get busy
with a broom—of course, figuratively speaking, I mean.”
Alec nodded his head as if pleased.
“Something in the air tells me there are going to be warm doings in this
town before a great while,” he asserted positively. “It’s always darkest
before dawn, they say, and things have about reached their limit here.
Once the new broom gets agoing it’ll sweep out a lot of nuisances that
have been an eyesore to all decent people for a long while back. My
folks get quite worked up every time they begin to talk about certain
things that are objectionable.”
“I’m going to begin and make a list of nuisances right off,” said Buck
Winter.
“Well, I don’t like the way you look at me when you say that, Buck,”
complained Billy, in affected uneasiness. “I’m going to reform, sure I
am. Gimme half a chance, and I’ll even try to reduce my weight, if that
bothers you, though I’d hate to cut my rations down to half.”
“Now look at all those vehicles and cars coming along from four
directions at once!” exclaimed Alec. “That bunch of kids on the curb has
been waiting all of five minutes for a half-decent chance to cross, but
do you see any driver holding up to let them go over? They’re a lot of
selfish and reckless—— Say, hold on, kids, don’t you dare to try it! Oh!
Hugh, look there, one of them has run out! Hi! hi! Hold your horses—stop
that car!”