H. L. Sayler

“ Master Bonner’s aeroplane carries enough gasoline for a two hours’ flight. With his tanks charged to their full capacity this world-famous young aviator will at five o’clock head his aeroplane cloudward. He will soar heavenward until his fuel is exhausted; then he will shut down his engine and execute a daring volplane to the earth. Remembah, at five o’clock! Master Bonner will now give you an exhibition of rising, banking, fast flying, spirals and lighting; being careful to keep at all times within full view so that all may have an opportunity to observe these death-defying feats. ”

“ Prearrangement was hardly necessary, but it was well understood Friday night among Art’s friends that all would be on hand in the morning “to see ’em put up the tents.” When Art awoke it was not dawn. As he lingered, half dozing, a sudden sound fell upon his ear.
Through the silent night came a noise that no town boy ever fails to recognize—the low, heavy, guttural rumble of a circus van. It is [94] like the sound of no other vehicle in the world. City boys do not know it. To the town boy it is like a galvanic shock. ”

“ In the history of every boy present there had never come a happier moment. In five minutes the Conyers’ yard was ablaze with newly caparisoned youngsters; Connie, superior in his patrol leader hat, badge and cuffed shirt, and Sammy Addington, by gracious consent, as the Wolf standard bearer. ”

“ These, clean and free from dead timber, were favorite picnic grounds for all of Scottsville. Midway between the bridge and where the road reached the top of the bluff was Cloverdale Farm, whose dairy and fat cattle were the pride of that part of the country.
To this place, after nine o’clock one evening, when a mist of rain had driven most of Scottsville indoors, a farm wagon carried the remnants of the wrecked aeroplane. ”

“ Colly Craighead, reaching the end of his beat, where a willow thicket deepened the gloom, paused for a few minutes’ rest. As he turned, he caught sight of the shadowy forms before the camp. He saw them only dimly in the dark, for the half moon scarcely pierced the night shadows beneath the trees. But what he saw resembled moving bronzes. While he hesitated, a chance moonbeam shot through the black trees, giving the indistinct group the silvery outlines of human figures. ”

“ Then Alex Conyers said:
“It sounds like a health resort in Germany. Were you there?”
“It isn’t a health resort,” laughed Mr. Trevor. “It’s a man’s name. But, in a way he might be called a health reviser, for it is this man who is making so many strong vigorous gentlemen out of thousands—hundreds of thousands—of English boys. And it is this [75] man who has set all young England camping out and learning the country and the ways of outdoor-things and playing games that injure no one. He has even made it unpopular and even unnecessary for boys to fight each other to find fun.” ”

“ As their spirits revived, some one discovered that he must have food. Others became suddenly as hungry. It was after twelve o’clock but despite the cooler atmosphere the cheery camp fire seemed to turn the crowd into Indians. With yells and posturing the scouts marched and danced about the crackling flames. Connie joined in and when the old sycamore grove began to resound with war whoops of defiance and vengeance the leader lost his sense of discipline and ordered out the big pot of beans baking overnight in a hole beneath the camp fire. ”

“ Before he could add more Art had slapped the poster, quid and all, against Carrots’ face. The next instant Carrots was in Hank Milleson’s arms and Alex Conyers had a close grip on Art.
“Let ’em go, let ’em loose!” shouted a dozen voices.
The struggling four were at once lost in a jam of all the others, each eager to get close to the would-be combatants. In the first clash, while the Goosetowners and Elm Streeters resembled a mass of football players after a tackle, a cry sounded that each boy recognized. ”

“ Master Willie Bonner seemed to be the real superintendent.
“They ain’t no golden, silken wings there to flash in the sun. It’s all dirty and greasy,” commented Art. “An’ the engine don’t look any too good neither.”
“The kid looks all right, though,” put in Connie. “He’s the only decent looking fellow I’ve seen in the whole outfit.”
The engine had been started and the propellers tested. The boys were so close that the wind from these beat on their faces, whirling dead grass and dust about them in a choking cloud.
“Chase yourselves, you kids,” called the young aviator in a not unpleasant voice. ”

“ Connie heard his father remark to Mr. Trevor. “We ought to do something. He’s turning an innocent sport into a bitter struggle.”
“You’re right,” answered Mr. Trevor soberly. “He probably thinks it will help him with his discontented workmen if he stirs up feeling; trying to make it a fight between what he calls labor and the leisure class.”
“Do you think we ought to call the event off?” asked Mr. Conyers.
“By no means,” responded the father of the Boy Scout idea. “I believe Chase is putting bad ideas into the Coyotes’ heads. But for our boys to retreat before them will not mend matters. ”

“ Trevor, leaning forward in his enthusiasm, “have I so much wanted to be a boy again. Boys, it was great. The encampment was in a valley near a heavy forest. There was a stream with rushes and swimming pools and a tall white staff with the Scout flag fluttering—a flag that went up at sunrise with salute and came down at sundown with the Scouts at ‘present arms.’ There were tents in the valley and among the trees; company cook-houses and dining tents and shelters for [76] Scouts by twos and fours. Not even in the army are things neater or more in order.” ”

“ Why don’t you boys become Boy Scouts?”
Wider opened eyes and then a babble of voices indicated that the question had made a deep impression.
“You bet!” were the first intelligible words, and these were from Art.
[81]
“What’d you have to do?” added Connie. “Can anyone be a Boy Scout?”
“Do they have regular guns?” chimed in Sammy.
“Any boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen,” Mr. Trevor explained. “And all you have to do is to organize yourselves, select a leader and learn and obey the Scout laws. But,” he went on, turning to Sammy, “they don’t have guns. ”

“ Colly Craighead was the first to peer within. Then he caught his nose between his fingers and fled to Connie’s side without a word. As Art raised the broken head of the cask Sammy Addington thrust his short arm into the keg and drew out the dead body of “Wolf,” the fat little yellow pup that the Goosetowners had led in insulting parade before the Elm Streeters.
Art gave one quick sweeping glance about the place. If he expected to find Nick Apthorp and his friends in spying ambush he was disappointed. ”

“ They have no precise standards of right and wrong. These poor boys have never had the advantage of the training you have had. Instead of trying to help them you have only dropped to their level. Like stray dogs, kicked about by misfortune, they snarl at every passer-by. Is it kindness to throw yourself in their path to be snarled at?”
It was an elaborate figure of speech and Art did not, perhaps, get its full meaning. ”

“ By this time scores of circus employees had reached the edge of the woods. The principal owner had also arrived. He seemed to take charge of everything. With orders to those holding the rope binding the helpless tiger he hurried to the wrecked aeroplane. While Mr. Trevor and the boys followed on a run, a dozen men lifted the twisted sections. Face down, with the lower plane section on his back and his face buried in the marshy ground, lay the unconscious young aviator.
While some lifted the wrecked machine, others drew the boy from the wreckage and laid him on the grass. ”

“ THE “COYOTES” INVADE ELM STREET
One evening with his Boy Scout manual transformed Connie into a most exacting military commander. And in two days the Wolf Patrol was performing drill evolutions that inflated its members with pride. Formal drill in full uniform took place each afternoon between four and five o’clock. Then came semaphore signaling until six o’clock. Even after supper there were “fireless” camp fires in Conyers’ yard where, beneath the maple, Connie read aloud the history and aims of the Boy Scout organization. ”

“ At a respectful distance the boys of the town trot forward with the fast-paced monsters. A sinuous trunk leaps in the air. The foremost elephant emits a piercing cry, sharp and shrill like the car wheels of the heavy evening express when the air brakes lock them fast with a shower of sparks. The elephant keeper has sunk his prod into the big animal. Why? No boy ever knew.
“It’s to show ’em he ain’t afraid,” suggested one lad under his breath as he clasps a companion’s hand.
“Mebbe the elfunt was goin’ to do somepin’,” says another. “You got to watch ’em awful close.” ”

“ While those who had neglected to purchase tickets were crowding through the sawdust strewn passageway between the “big top” or circus and the long odorous menagerie tent, there was a sudden commotion. The crowd jammed forward and back at the same time. For a moment no sound indicated the cause of the excitement and then a roar of “Look out! Look out!” swept through the tents. At the same time a white-faced canvasman with a pitchfork in his hand sprang under the side of the circus tent and yelled to the “concert people”:
“Come on! Old Growls is out again! ”

“ The adventure of the stolen horse and wagon had apparently aroused new feelings of enmity in every one of the Wolves. The old dray driver went on ahead to town and when the Wolves reached Scottsville at five o’clock, without a protest from Connie, with the lost and recovered pennant flying from the tall sapling, the patrol marched defiantly through the heart of Goosetown. ”

“ By this time Art was almost in a state of collapse.
[71]
“I’m goin’ to try,” he managed to sob.
“Boys are boys,” his father resumed after a time. “Perhaps you are no better and no worse than your chums. Perhaps it is our fault—their fathers and mothers. I feel that I have been wrong. We have all allowed you boys to drift. You’ve got to do something, you’ve got to be busy in a good direction, or you’ll go in a bad direction. I’m going to do more for you if I can.” ”

“ And there was little wonder, for among the alluring “wonders” promised was this feature: “Master Willie Bonner, positively the youngest aviator in the world, will make two death-defying, cloud-piercing aeroplane flights each day. At one o’clock and six o’clock he will give free exhibitions, ascending heavenward until lost to the eye and then returning earthward in a series of spirals and glides never before attempted by man.”
When a circus comes to town (that is, to a town that has no pretensions to being a city) every boy under sixteen becomes indifferent to the ordinary duties of life. ”

“ Eight widely scattered Wolf Scouts threshed the air with white pennants, and at twenty minutes after three o’clock, like the closing sticks of a fan, the Wolf searchers—led by the fluttering [247] flag on the aeroplane above—were converging on the distant camp.
There was no quibble about the victory. When the Coyote Scouts reached camp, Hank Milleson was quick to shake the winners by the hand. “We got our trimmin’s,” he exclaimed with a laugh. “But we got ’em fair an’ square. I reckon a few brains are as good as a bunch o’ muscle.” ”

“ The beginning of everything and the clash between the “Goosetown gang” and the “Elm Street boys” was in this wise:
Arthur Trevor’s father was a lawyer. Like [10] the parents of most of Art’s companions, he lived in the best part of Scottsville. Here, on Elm Street, the trees were large; the residences were of brick, with wide porches; gardeners saw to the lawns, and nearly every home had a new automobile garage. Therefore, the boys living here—although they thought themselves neither better nor worse than other boys—were usually known as the “Swells” or the “Elm Street boys.” ”

“ Flitting over the fields, forests and roads beneath, the “Scouts of the Air” were soon signalled by Colly Craighead who confirmed his discovery of the Coyote in the hill furrow by eight movements of his flag. Then, in turn, came a Wolf who they saw was Davy Cooke, who announced he had seen number two; Paul Corbett reported number four sighted and then while Art was busy checking this information, Bonner caught an extra message of one flash.
“I wonder if he means he saw number five, or number four and number one!” exclaimed Art, in doubt what to put down. “We already have number four.” ”

“ Trevor sweeping a glance over the other five.
“It’s your only chance,” explained the mayor sternly.
“Yes, sir,” came from five hopeful but yet alarmed boys.
“So far, so good,” went on Mr. Trevor. “Your trouble isn’t wholly because you haven’t been working or in school. It’s because you haven’t had better ways of amusing yourselves when you’re not busy. I’ll see that everybody here has a chance to begin work. I’m also going to see that you are given a chance at decent, helpful play. Hank,” he said, turning to the Goosetown gang leader, “what do you think of the Boy Scout idea?” ”

“ Art fixed his eyes on his plate. “The plans for all boy clubs should be laid [91] down by older people. That’s where parents often fail in their duty. Statistics show that uneducated, idle boys nearly always drift into evil ways and even into crime when they begin to ‘gang’ together.”
“Then,” exclaimed Art, “I’d be a bad selection for patrol leader of our Boy Scouts!”
Mr. Trevor hesitated. He did not like to hurt Art’s feelings. At last he said, “Let’s put it another way. What boy would you select for leader?”
“Oh, Connie, of course,” answered Art. ”

“ You’re goin’ to stay long as you like. The folks say you ain’t got no folks where you [193] lived. So what’s the difference? This is a bully town even if it ain’t no city. You’ll be well an’ out in a few days, an’ then you’re a-goin’ right to work for us an’ I reckon that’ll mean forty or fifty dollars a month an’ board an’ keep. An’ when you ain’t busy with the automobile we’ll all turn in and help fix your aeroplane. An’ while that’s goin’ on,” concluded Art with a new and happy idea, “you’ll join the Wolf Patrol an’ be a Boy Scout with all of us. ”

“ Trevor with a smile. “It’s like a lot of other boy organizations. Unless there is a specific plan for doing good in them, like the Boy Scouts, they frequently work the other way. There may be a leader but there is rarely any law. And the leader is as apt to guide the members wrong as right.” ”