Robert Shaler

“ Monkey remarked over his shoulder, for he was sprawled like a big toad in the bow, so that he might keep a lookout for any snags in their course, Hugh having delegated him for that duty.
There was very little movement to the water in the flooded valley, except as the wind happened to blow, and just then it was almost calm. So the launch went cheerily on its way, as though with every rat-tat-tat explosion it rejoiced over the fact of having been instrumental in saving so many persons from all sorts of suffering, both mental and physical. ”

“ When the padrone came hurrying back with the six boys, they were immediately surrounded by an excited mass of jabbering foreigners. Many dark faces glowered at Hugh and his chums. It was as though all the fury in these excitable natures had been aroused when the indiscreet guards, back of the stockade surrounding the cement works, had fired those cruel volleys at the men and women who were pressing forward, not to try and destroy property but to expostulate with the manager because he would not give them work when their children were near the point of starvation. ”

“ Suddenly the distant tchug-tchug of a gasoline motor boat came to his ears. Raising himself on his elbows, he peered over the stump, out across the glittering blue water, and saw a good-sized dory, manned by a solitary individual who wore light oilskins, coming swiftly toward the hut on the beach.
"That must be the motor boat that passed our camp last night," thought Hugh. "I feel sure now, surer than ever, that I heard it go by in the darkness. But it's coming over from the mainland now. Wonder who's that man at the tiller?" ”

“ Billy was close beside him, having found carrying that wash boiler, even half filled with water, no child’s play. He, too, had discovered an old stable broom, with which he was belaboring the fire with savage fury, pounding it as though he might have a special grievance against its further encroachment.
When all of the squad became busy, they began to make a noticeable impression on the flames. Baffled, the fiery tongues darted out a few times at the fighters, and then seemed to give up the unequal combat.
It was just as Hugh knew would be the case. ”

“ It was a wonderful scene, and the five scouts could hardly be blamed for thinking they must be dreaming, everything was so unreal, so like a page torn from history in the times of the Crusaders.
Perhaps one or more of them began to believe that a host of spirits belonging to ancient worthies, long since dead, while passing by had recognized in the make-believe castle such a wonderful copy of something they had known in life that they were tempted to stop and play their parts again with all this gusto and confusion. ”

“ Major Anson was a veteran of the Civil War. He delighted to wear his beloved blue uniform, and his slouch hat with its gold-threaded cord. Everybody knew him, and had the greatest respect for his honesty. He now stepped forward, for like most men the old fellow liked to find himself in the limelight once in a while.
Andy raised both arms as though wishing to make the searching operation as easy for the veteran as he could. Hugh noticed that in place of the frightened expression on his face there was now a little smile of utmost confidence. ”

“ By the time you fellows come back, Hugh, I’ll be fit to enter a freak museum under the name of a Living Skeleton.”
“Like fun you will,” jeered Arthur, who knew Billy like a book. “I notice that you’re just as fond of eating and sleeping as ever. No fellow who can do the stunts along those lines that you’re capable of is going to lose flesh. Don’t ever worry about Billy, Hugh. He may feel bad about not going, but all the same, mark my words, he’ll have a good time at home. He always carries the sunshine with him.” ”

“ Meanwhile Baley, with Alec and Chester, had walked the opposite beat. From the first, however, they felt sure that the distant object against the murky horizon was a vessel. With lighted Coston signal in hand, Baley pursued his difficult way along the shore, buffeted by the wind and drenched with flying spray. He explained to the boys how the outer line of sandbars, which in summer breaks the blue ocean into sunny ripples and flashing white caps, has power to churn the spring tides into fury and to grip with a mighty hold the keel of any vessel that is unlucky enough to be driven on it. ”

“ Poor Blake in particular looked woe-begone as he turned a beseeching eye on Hugh, fully conscious that the last lingering hope of finding his missing cousin rested with the scout leader’s dogged pertinacity. Belonging to the Wolf Patrol meant a good deal to Hugh Hardin; for in a case of this kind he knew that it would be necessary to emulate the example of the wolf that follows the track of a deer over hill and through valley, hour after hour, day and night, until by sheer persistence he has run the tired quarry to earth, and so secures the meal he sought. ”

“ When Gusty Merrivale chanced to look toward the porch, one of the three loungers waved a hand at him after the customary free-masonry of youth. The driver of the runabout made a careless motion as though meaning to acknowledge the friendly salute, yet not wishing to allow any undue familiarity. As the trio of scouts seemed to be very well satisfied with each other’s company, it was hardly likely that any one of them would go out of his way to scrape a closer acquaintance with so frigid and reserved a person. ”

“ Not only had the scouts won the admiration and backing of the ladies of the town, but the men had come to feel a confidence in them that manifested itself in various ways. During that winter, things fairly hummed among juvenile circles. All the better class of sports took on new life, and no longer were wearers of the khaki jeered at as they passed through the streets. Hugh and his comrades had proved their worth to the citizens of their home town, and to be a scout nowadays stamped a boy as deserving both respect and confidence. ”

“ The two weary scouts staggered more or less as they started to push through the last barrier of trees and brush. They knew that they would speedily discover the long deserted shack there among the second growth thicket of young trees. Indeed, it was hardly half a minute later when Bud came to a sudden halt, at the same time saying in a hoarse whisper:
"Hugh, look there, will you? There's a light in the shanty! What do you think of the meanness of that? After we've come all the way up here just to keep to ourselves, then to find somebody camping on the ground! ”

“ Just as Hugh had anticipated, his mother, while surprised at seeing Sam (for she was one of the few who knew the real reason for his absence from home) , only too gladly agreed to do everything possible for the young fellow. Her heart went out to that other mother who had so long mourned for her boy, not knowing whether he might be living or dead.
“You shall stay with us until it is all settled, Sam,” she told him, looking straight into his eyes as though able to read his firm resolution there. “Anything we can do to help bring about a happy ending, you may be sure will be freely done. ”

“ Every boy started to circulate his club with as fierce an air as he could muster. Perhaps this was done as a method of alarming the convicts, and showing them what they must expect if rash enough to come too near, or if they neglected to fling away what they were carrying off. Then again it may have been that the scouts were getting their muscles into full play; just as a heavy home-run hitter likes to swing two bats around before stepping up to the rubber.
“Drop all that stuff, do you hear?” demanded Hugh as savagely as possible. ”

“ The whir of the motor drowned the twitterings of the awakening birds, but could not dull the fresh odor of the jasmine, nor the beauty of the flowering vines and dew-wet hedges.
Even Chester was stirred by the "newness" of the whole world.
"Cripes, Alec, as Captain Vinton would say, this morning air and the view are worth crawling out at an unearthly hour to enjoy!" he exclaimed. "That ocean looks about a million miles wide, too; you can't even tell where the sky begins." ”

“ Billy stood in his tracks as though frozen. He realized in that instant how once more his impetuous nature had come close to getting him into a peck of trouble, as had happened on numerous past occasions.
Yes, there was a huge tree floating in the midst of a mass of wreckage, the whole making a terrible ram that, if brought suddenly against the already weakened bridge, must complete its downfall. And, apparently unaware of his danger, Tug Wilson was sauntering carelessly across the span, conscious only of the fact that hundreds of eyes must be centered on him just then. ”

“ Every time Hugh saw Tom on the tennis court swinging that splendid new racquet, he told himself how unsafe it was for any one to judge wholly from appearances, and that he must consider the delightful outcome of that little affair as a never-to-be-forgotten lesson. Circumstantial evidence has hung many a man who was afterward found to be innocent. Hugh shivered to remember how Tom, yes, and he himself, had been condemning Benjy as they might a criminal when, in reality, the other was only working out a noble scheme to surprise his brother. ”

“ Campertown, and seated on a chair was the merry-faced little chap, whose smile had already captivated most of the boys who had seen him. Reuben Campertown, Hugh had learned, was the only child of the rich man’s dead son, and evidently the apple of his grandfather’s eye.
The millionaire greeted them with a smile. Hugh realized that at such a time Mr. Campertown looked vastly different from what he had believed him to be before, when that gloomy and even stern expression had marked his face. ”

“ BABES IN THE WOODS.
“One, two, three! All there!” whooped Jack Durham.
“We’re in great luck, fellows!” Hugh assured them, for truth to tell he had felt fear gripping his heart as with an ice-cold hand.
If they had failed to discover the children where Peter had left them after they could walk no further through the smoky forest, it would have been very much like looking for a needle in a haystack to have tried to find them. Following a trail by eyesight alone over that burned ground must have proved well-nigh impossible, even for practiced scouts. ”

“ People once more came flocking to the streets to watch the little procession pass by. They were telling each other that nowadays there hardly seemed to arise any sort of necessity but what somehow the Boy Scouts were being counted on to meet and overcome the difficulty,—from finding a lost child to rescuing a wrecked balloon pilot or saving the life of a poor foreigner who had fallen over a precipice and broken his leg.
All of which must have been so intensely gratifying to Hugh and his chums that the fatigue caused by their strenuous exertions was for the time being quite forgotten. ”

“ Hugh knew that the chances were many of them were armed. Those who did not have firearms of some sort would carry the favorite weapon of their type, the stiletto, and unable to properly make them understand that they came only as friends who wanted to assist their wounded, the bewildered and furious mob might turn upon them like so many mad wolves.
If ever the scout master found himself up against an occasion when he had need of deep thinking, that time was the present. ”

“ Rowing hard against the now outflowing tide, yet helped by the wind, the lifesavers approached the beach. With a rush their boat rolled in on a giant wave and, no sooner had the keel grated on the sand, than the crew, including the two scouts, were out knee-deep in the undertow dragging the boat up high and dry. ”

“ Never had he felt this before; never had he wished that he and Hugh might be friends with no indifference on Hugh’s part toward him, and no hostility on his own. Surely if Billy Worth, whom Alec really liked, found Hugh worthy of respect and regard, Hugh must be a friend worth claiming. Yet what had he done to make of Hugh a friend? Nothing. On the contrary, he had been guilty of a mean and selfish act which, if Hugh suspected it, could not easily be forgiven.
“A scout is friendly. He is a friend to all and a brother to every other scout.” ”

“ Thus a mechanical balancer had been arranged, so that the pilot need never bother himself as to whether a stiff gale were blowing or not, since practically nothing could upset his craft.
"It looks to me as if you had a good idea there, Bud," said Hugh; "and unless somebody's been ahead of you in the field, it ought to make you famous as an inventor. Perhaps when you try it again to-morrow, after mending your planes, you'll discover a few ways in which it can be improved. Never believe anything is perfect the first time. And now, shall we gather it up again and carry it to the cabin?" ”

“ I’ve got a new lease of life, Gus, since you told me what you did about father. I’m crazy to see mother, and little baby sister Amy, too.”
Gus laughed. He was feeling ever so much more light-hearted himself, now that things had turned out so well.
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“You forget that nearly five years have gone past since you were home, Sam,” he went on to say. “Amy isn’t a baby any longer, but the prettiest little girl the sun ever shone on. Wait till you see her, that’s all. She’s as sweet as she is pretty, which is the best part of it all. We worship her as if she might be a fairy queen in our house.” ”