Robert Shaler

“ The spirit was spreading fast, just as a trace of yeast placed in a lump of dough soon impregnates the entire batch. Those boys who helped Hugh and Billy clear the bridge realized how sweet it was to be possessed of a little authority. Somehow, people had seemed to respect them, possibly for the first time. And then that brave act of Hugh Hardin had won such golden opinions from the citizens that it was hoped they would cover the whole scout movement as with a blanket. ”

“ What better proof could they have of his gratitude than that?
“There are those horses swimming after us,” said Billy. “If we keep on, we’ll be like a traveling circus coming to town, with all the queer things we rescue. I suppose now the next job is to gather in all those fowls there, eh, Hugh?”
“Well, we’ll have to forego that pleasure just now, Billy. There may be human beings in need of our coming. I’m afraid the chickens and turkeys will have to take their chances.” ”

“ Hugh found that a great change had taken place in the scouts of Lawrence. They were now wide-awake and enthusiastic. Those shouts of acclaim had acted like magic to arouse them. All that was necessary now was for someone to tell them what to do; they needed a leader, and every boy would be found willing and eager to do his level best for the good of the stricken people of the flooded town and vicinity. ”

“ So Billy took the hatchet and began to climb the tree. Miss Maria did not at first comprehend what his intentions were, and even started scolding the boy for meaning to force her to put her faith in that slender clothes line.
When he deliberately began to hack away at the limb upon which she placed her faith, she realized the impending catastrophe, and shrilly chided him for what she called his treachery. ”

“ Billy held his breath. He was never so frightened in all his life. At first he was tempted to chase after Hugh, but the realization that he could give his chum no assistance whatever, chained him to the spot.
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Now the cheering had ceased. Everyone seemed to be stricken with the same realization that it was ill-timed, and might serve to distract the attention of the intended rescuer. So it happens that in a desperately fought game on the diamond, or the football field, the mass of spectators will swing from loud acclaim to utter silence as if by magic. ”

“ Take the scales off your eyes, fellows!”
“No opportunity!” echoed Hugh, amazed at the explanation that had been given to account for the lack of an organization in Lawrence. “Why, I never ran across such a splendid opening for scouts to make themselves useful as there is right at this very minute. With your town threatened by the most terrible flood ever known, don’t you see that you can do dozens of things to help people in trouble? No opportunity, when foolish crowds line a quivering bridge that is likely to go down if a floating tree crashes against it like that barn did. ”

“ Hugh continued impressively, “there’s going to be a plenty to do for all of us—perhaps much more than we can manage—before this flood goes down again. You’ve got a glorious chance to make good. There never was such a splendid one for any scouts that I ever heard about. It’s up to you to take advantage of it; and if you seize the opportunity you can depend on it, after it’s all over, scout reputation will have soared to top notch in Lawrence.” ”

“ Hugh informed him. “But it seems that it’s taken to losing its grip on the boys. They lost the scout master who had done most of the work of building the troop up, and ever since things have grown from bad to worse. Just now they seldom meet, and seem to lack all the enthusiasm that is necessary to success in any organization.”
“Well, there are boys who still wear the khaki,” declared Billy, “and if it happens that we do find ourselves kept here, we might try and get them together, so as to organize a relief corps of scouts.” ”

“ Long he lingered—indeed, it seemed hard work for the worthy gentleman to tear himself away from the company of those four gallant boys.
“Have no fear, Tipton,” he said, as he shook the hand of each after bidding them “good-night” for the third time, “there are bright days ahead for you and your comrades of Lawrence Troop. When such a scout hater as Neighbor Jasper has had the scales lifted from his eyes, all opposition is bound to cease. A reaction is going to set in, and you’ll have more recruits applying for admission to your ranks than you can well take care of.” ”

“ Apparently whatever Tip Lange told him in that minute of time must have aroused Wallie considerably; for he turned on the two Oakvale scouts and held out his hand to them without the formality of an introduction.
“Count on me to back you up, fellows,” was what Wallie Cramer said. “I was just thinking myself that we were silly to take chances on this tottering old bridge. People can be such fools. Shall we start yelling that it’s going to go out, and scare the bunch half to death? Any old thing ought to pass, so long as we accomplish our object. The end and not the means is what counts.” ”

“ That was Billy whooping it up, as Hugh discovered when he rolled out of his blanket.
Monkey Stallings was already on his feet, being a wonderfully agile chap. He had looked around in his quick fashion, and not discovering any terrible tiger or other beast of prey in sight, naturally turned on the disturber of his peace.
“You’ve gone and got the nightmare, that’s what’s the matter, Billy Worth!” he told the other. “It’s a nice state of affairs when a fellow can’t get his sleep out. I knew you’d pay for eating so much supper. You just dreamed it all. ”

“ Then while Tip and Hugh and Monkey began to carry the bundles with them, Billy cast around for a suitable place in which to build the fire he contemplated starting. Undoubtedly those hapless people would have good cause to remember the khaki of a scout with feelings of gratitude; and in the future it was going to be reckoned a badge of honor indeed for any fellow around Lawrence to be wearing such a suit. ”

“ Billy replied. “That habit of noticing things, which scouts are drilled in, can be made use of by a fellow everywhere. Nowadays I’m always looking to the right and to the left, and let me tell you it’s mighty few things that escape my eye. But tell me what the postoffice has to do with our going back home. You don’t think of sending that paper by mail after all, I hope, Hugh?” ”

“ A twist of the neck would see their finish,” said Billy.
“I don’t like the way those horses keep swimming after us, Hugh,” protested Tip.
“Oh! they want to be sociable,” laughed Billy, “but we’re leaving them in the lurch faster now, and soon they’ll give it up. When that happens they’ll most likely swim to the nearest shore, eh, Hugh?”
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“No question about it,” the pilot assured him. “Horses and cows have some sense about them. Even on a black night they’d know where the shore lay. It must be what we call intuition, and which takes the place of reasoning powers with animals and birds.” ”

“ Both Wash and Teddy followed the example set by Tip Lange in squeezing the hands of the boys from Oakvale.
“Good for you!” said Hugh. “We’ll see what we can do to help you out. And first of all we ought to find some way to clear that crowd off the bridge. Some of them are reckless, and others don’t seem to realize the danger they’re in. Let’s start in by acting as though we’ve had orders from your Chief of Police, who ought to be here on the spot, but isn’t. Don’t let a solitary one stay; and tell them all there’s danger of the bridge going out at any minute.” ”

“ Hugh was entirely satisfied. All preliminaries having now been arranged, he felt that they could “get down to brass tacks,” as Billy called it, without further delay.
“I’ve noticed, to begin with,” he remarked to the eager scouts who clustered around him, “that the lower part of the town is already being submerged. There are poor people there who will lose everything unless some one helps them ferry their bedding and clothes and such things as the water would ruin to higher ground. Now, I’m going to lay you all off in batches so you can work better in company.” ”

“ Billy was saying, as though trying to get his wits centered on the critical situation, so that he might be quick to act in case such a dreadful emergency arose.
“Don’t mention it!” cried Tip Lange, who was looking rather peaked and white himself, if the truth must be told, though he tried very hard to force a smile smacking of confidence on his face.
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“Can we make it, do you think, Hugh?” Billy continued. “Is the engine powerful enough to knock up against the old current here? It’s just like the sluiceway of a mill. It comes down through the street so fierce and wild.” ”

“ Billy was always ready for fun.
He saw that Hugh was following the example of a famous man, Alexander the Great, who, when offered the Gordian knot to unravel, simply cut it with his sword. Since so much remained to be done for others, they could not afford to waste time with a captious old woman who, having been hoisted to that limb, was afraid to let go of it for fear lest she should be dropped into that terrible waste of water below. ”

“ Jasper the difference between sheer recklessness and true bravery as exhibited by the actions of Tug Wilson and Hugh Hardin.
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Mr. Jasper insisted on shaking the patrol leader’s hand after Tip had finished.
“If that is what it does for boys,” he said heartily, “then my sons shall join a troop at the first opportunity. I don’t want them to grow up with the idea of being soldiers and fighting just for the love of war; but like every father I do hope they will always be brave and self-reliant. ”

“ I feel sorry for the people living further away from Lawrence. It is bad enough here; but we are a community, and no one need suffer while others are able to lend a helping hand. But the isolated farmers and the little hamlets will be in desperate straits.”
It did the old veteran’s heart credit, this concern for others. Hugh, too, was thinking of those who had no one to lean upon. He wished some means could be found whereby he could start out on the flood that ran for many miles back up the valley, so as to rescue those helpless ones caught in the sea of raging waters. ”

“ The patrol leader seemed to be just as deeply affected as Billy.
“We are scouts, we must remember, Billy; and it’s our duty to save life every time the chance comes to us,” he said, very soberly. “We’re strangers here in Lawrence, but right now I can see a number of fellows wearing khaki. Suppose we take a notion to round them up and tell them it’s their solemn duty to get busy?”
“Hugh, count on me to back you up in anything. By hook or crook, we ought to clear that shaky bridge before some big tree comes floating along to knock it so hard that it’ll go down.” ”

“ It’s only right and fair that if Hugh stands by us and does all he can to land the Lawrence Troop back in the place it once occupied that we ought to carry out his orders as unhesitatingly as if he were at the head of our troop. ”

“ It was a matter of no consequence whatever to Hugh and Billy where they ate, so long as the food was fairly decent, and their money held out. Accustomed to camp fare, they knew how to take things as they found them, and seldom made any complaint; which philosophy, after all, is one of the finest traits any lad can have, and one that scouts are apt to have ingrained into their dispositions after a few camping tests. ”

“ We owe you more than mere words can tell, and in leaving us we want you to know that you will never be forgotten. Your noble work here in the time of our tribulation will always stand as a living example of what Boy Scouts can accomplish when their hearts are in the cause.”
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Fortunately the coming of the train allowed Hugh to escape without making a reply to this flood of praise that came straight from the heart of the speaker. And the last they saw of the Lawrence scouts they were lined up and giving their comrades from Oakvale the grand salute, with Tip Lange at their head. ”

“ Hugh, if this was happening over at our town, I warrant you the scouts would have something to say before now about that same thing. Chances are you’d have a bunch of them at work keeping every living soul off the bridge, and guarding the approaches, so if it did go down, no one would be lost. It gives me a cold shiver just to look at all those sillies out there. Not only boys, but girls, and men as well. ”

“ Others were to be seen running toward the postoffice, and often stopping to make inquiries of those they knew. Since the two members of the Wolf Patrol were absolute strangers in town, they did not depend on getting their information at second hand, but pushed their way through the gathering crowd, until they found themselves inside the building given over to the service of the postoffice department.
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“Here you are, over this way!” said Hugh, as he elbowed through the thick mass of humanity, and on all sides they began to hear gloomy expressions and forebodings. ”