Robert Shaler

“ Unless he’s done something terrible, which the man is holding over his head, there’s no reason why he should keep on being a slave in this free country of ours.”
“That’s right, Hugh,” vowed Billy. “I’ll trot along and see if I can give him the wink to let him know I’ve just got to have a little chin with him. Depend on me to fix it, if only he shows he’s got the nerve to meet me half way.”
“Wish you luck, Billy!” the scout leader told him, as the stout boy hastened away, bent upon his errand of kindness; for good-hearted Billy Worth was never so happy as when doing something for others. ”

“ If boys can show such smartness, it’s a burning shame that a man is content to keep camp, with his duffle littered about so that nothing is in place.”
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Those sort of things made Hugh feel as though it paid every time to be thorough in all he did, without appearing to be what boys call a “crank.” One can keep his possessions in decent order without making it such a hobby that he becomes a bore to all his comrades.
The assistant scout master laughed when Billy Worth made that remark about the anxiety of Arthur Cameron to have his first patient. ”

“ Billy agreed. “To think what glorious times we can have, and how we’ll be able to scatter seeds of information about scout activities among the rubes who attend the great Fair. Some of them really believe scouts are banded together just to play pranks and have fun. We’ll have the biggest opportunity to take the scales off their eyes.” ”

“ Anybody sick, a runaway happened, a child lost in the woods and the scouts needed to find it? Speak up, can’t you? and relieve this fierce strain.”
“Why, it’s this way, fellows,” said Billy, between gulps, “the Fair management has asked the Oakvale Scouts to pitch a tent on the grounds, show people how they live in camp, act as guides to strangers in town, meet trains at the station, set up an emergency cot in another tent where first aid to the injured can be found, and—and, pretty much run the whole business this year! What d’ye think of that now for a big honor to Oakvale Troop?” ”

“ It was quite exciting while it lasted, and Hugh felt glad that Big Lige had been the one to stop the runaway. The latter shrugged his shoulders when Hugh tried to compliment him, and said it “didn’t amount to a row of beans, in fact was almost too easy!”
“There’s a crowd coming this way, and as sure as you live they’re carrying the man who made that fool jump out of the vehicle!” exclaimed Dale Evans, who had arrived at the camp just in time to see this thrilling runaway.
“Unless I’m mistaken, Arthur,” said Hugh, turning on the other with a smile, “there comes your first patient!” ”

“ We’re bound to believe him innocent until he’s absolutely proved guilty.”
Andy’s hand closed convulsively on Hugh’s arm when he heard him say that. No matter what might come to him in after life he would never forget how the scout master stood back of him in this, his hour of peril.
“Here comes the Chief,” said a man; “and he’s the boy’s uncle, too!”
“All the same he’s got to take him in if I prefer a charge against him, I want you to know!” cried the robbed poultry dealer, angrily. “He won’t get off easy because his uncle happens to be at the head of the Oakvale police force.” ”

“ He ought to be proud of what you’ve done, and I mean to let him understand that every fellow in Oakvale Troop is pulling for you, Andy. I know just as well as I’m standing here that nothing can ever make you go back to the old life again, now that you’ve had a taste of what it means to have people respect you. ”

“ As the afternoon wore on there were several cases requiring first aid. They happened to all be of a minor character, though Arthur gave them his best attention, for he believed in doing everything well. One boy was taken with a bad case of cramps, and howled dismally until “Old Doc Cameron,” as Billy had nicknamed Arthur, succeeded in relieving the griping pain by the use of some remedy he always carried in the medicine chest. Boys, when out in camp, are apt to be reckless in their manner of eating, and devour green apples or any other fruit calculated to double them up with cholera morbus. ”

“ See if you can discover a single one of those marked ten-dollar bills on the boy!”
Again did Andy allow his person to be gone over, though he was so weak from fear that he would have fallen had not Hugh put an arm about his shoulders. It was the contact with the scout master that held Andy up in that minute of anguish. In such a time the personal touch of a friend’s hand is worth more than can be reckoned in money; for it gives confidence, and announces that not quite all the world has turned against the unfortunate one. ”

“ Hugh spoke up. “It makes us feel proud to know that what little we’ve done pleases you. If you will excuse me for being so bold, I’d like to say that there’s only one thing wrong with the whole Fair, as we see it.”
“What might that be, my boy?” asked the gentleman, raising his eyebrows as if rather taken aback at hearing Hugh speak so fearlessly.
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“It’s about those fakirs, and some of the side-show humbugs, sir,” continued the scout master, while his chums held their breath in mingled admiration. “They are a disgrace to Oakvale. ”

“ He only wants to know that everything is all right; just as your mother would go over the house again and again when expecting company. While we’re ready to take care of any emergency case that comes along, I’m sure all of us would be just as well satisfied if there didn’t happen a solitary accident while the Fair lasted.”
“That never occurred yet, as far as I know,” declared Billy; “and there have been some years when as many as a dozen people got hurt. One man last season had a nasty fall with a race horse on top of him, and they took him to the hospital with both legs broken. ”

“ Hugh told them, “will be to brush up our knowledge of what the Fair stands for, and the location of every exhibit. For to be a guide means that people expect you are a walking encyclopedia, and you’re apt to have all sorts of queer questions fired at you.”
“Yes, I guess that’s right, Hugh,” said Walter Osborne, “because there will be lots of people here who are utter strangers to Oakvale. I know that my Uncle Reuben and Aunt Ruth are coming on to stop over with us, and while I visited at their place as a kid years ago, they’ve never been here before. ”

“ This sort of talk began to buoy up the spirits of Cale.
“I’ll try and hold out, fellows!” he told them. “You don’t know that man. He can make you do just what he wants. It’s simply fierce what a way he has of changing your mind for you!”
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“Huh! I’d like to see him get me to change mine, that’s all!” Billy chuckled.
“Well, here he comes, and now we’ll see some fun!” declared Jack Durham, as the rapid beating of horse’s hoofs reached their ears, accompanied by a man’s angry voice.
“Stop right where you are, I tell you, boy! I want you to go back with me in this buggy! ”

“ Billy explained. “You see, he’s useful to the fakir as a stool pigeon. When sales get slack it’s the business of the boy to hold up a dollar bill, and ask for a bottle of the wonderful remedy, and say it cured his grandmother of every ailment under the sun. Then he goes away, and gets rid of the bottle, to bob up again later on, watching for his cue to break in again with a purchase.”
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“That’s the game, is it, as old as the hills; and yet I suppose the rubes never catch on to it,” remarked Hugh. ”

“ Arthur said, looking rather amused, “I can see that they take little stock in the usefulness of scouts in case of accidents. They always look at each other when I’m modestly telling what we hope to do for anyone that needs help, and the way they nod shows that they accept it with a grain of salt.”
“Yes,” said Hugh, also smiling, as if to show that it did not worry him, “I noticed the same. Now, I might have told those unbelievers a few things we’ve done, particularly about that field hospital last summer, and when we helped the Red Cross surgeon and nurses among the injured strikers ”

“ The only thing that convinces some people is a practical demonstration.”
“Oh! well, our folks know we can do what we claim, so what’s the use bothering about what these other people think?” said Buck Winter, who had happened along in time to overhear this little talk.
In the very next lot of visitors Hugh saw a boy who was all eyes and ears for the different devices looking to giving the scouts comfort when in camp. Apparently the lad was wild to join a troop, but his father had a sour look on his face that would seem to indicate he did not approve of such a thing. ”

“ On account of having thus saved a human life at great risk to himself, Hugh Hardin had received from Headquarters a gold medal, the highest honor that any scout can ever hope to gain. Being a very modest fellow, however, Hugh did not often wear this token of appreciation, though he was proud of it all the same.
It may interest the new reader to know just how Alec, Tom and Arthur came by the bronze medals they wore. During the preceding summer the main part of the troop had gone camping, and it happened that at the time there was a strike of laborers in a large cement works not far distant. ”

“ In fact, it was as decent a camp as the ingenuity of the scouts could devise; a number of the fellows gave it some finishing touches that added much to its appearance. They knew that thousands of visitors would manifest a great deal of curiosity in their little model camp. Many of them had no idea how boys lived when on an outing and it was to disarm criticism that all this trouble was taken.
The second tent was to be used as a temporary hospital in case of accidents during the progress of the Exhibition. There had never been a season that someone did not get injured ”

“ The town of Oakvale lay in the East, and not a great many miles away from the Atlantic Ocean. Those who have read previous volumes in the series know just why scout affairs were booming in the town. The scout master, Lieutenant Denmead, a retired army officer, took the greatest delight in fostering a spirit of manliness among the boys in his charge. His assistant, Hugh Hardin, who was also the leader of the Wolf Patrol, chanced to be a wide-awake chap, and just the kind to push any enterprise along to success. ”

“ Hugh would often look back at that last hundred yards of the journey with amusement. Billy was really making himself ridiculous in his endeavor to drown the voice of Doc Merritt, so that it might not have its intended effect on the boy whom they had taken in charge.
There were a good many people waiting for the trains, because one would draw in from either direction presently. Hugh had already learned that Cale wanted to go west from Oakvale; and this meant there was no great hurry, since that train was not due to arrive for twenty minutes after the one for the east came along. ”

“ About this time Billy Worth made his appearance again at headquarters, for he had been scurrying around taking a look at the various attractions, from the building devoted to women’s home work, to the fat hogs and the fancy fowls.
Possibly Billy had also strayed into the amusement zone, where there were a few concessions allowed to showmen, with various tents in which freaks held forth; for Billy had a weakness in the way of such things. ”

“ Billy laughed.
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“Yes, we all know what you’d call a good time, Arthur,” he jeered. “Chances are you’ll stick by that emergency tent hospital like a leech, and almost hope some old farmer may drop a pitchfork on his foot and need attending to; or a dog bite a boy who’s been badgering him, so you’ll have to cauterize the wound.”
“That’s right,” added Alec. “Arthur is never so happy as when he’s making other people miserable—of course, you understand what I mean. In reality he’s trying to relieve their suffering and danger, even if it does hurt. But I must get along, boys ”

“ I tell you he is the culprit, and I want him arrested.”
“Take things a little more coolly, sir,” advised Hugh. “Nothing is to be gained by being excited. The boy isn’t going to run away. It’s a serious thing to make such an accusation without being sure of what you say. Did you have much money in your pocketbook?”
“All of three hundred dollars, in new bills I just got from the bank,” said the man. “I’m in the chicken business, and meant to buy some fancy blue-ribbon stock while at the Fair. But I was wise enough to mark every one of those ten-dollar bills with a couple of little red crosses. ”

“ The crowd that gathered around did not look any too friendly, for a thief is held in low esteem in a country town.
First of all, Hugh knew that it was his duty to stand up for a fellow scout as long as his guilt had not been proved. There were always chances for mistakes being made; and Andy was denying it so frantically that he could not believe the boy guilty of degrading his uniform by stealing.
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“He’s telling you a downright lie!” cried the little man shaking his finger threateningly at the boy. “He was right at my heels when I discovered that someone had taken my pocketbook. ”