Robert Shaler

“ He felt that there must be some sort of leader among these strikers who would be above the average in intelligence. All the while he stood there in front of the others, and in waving his emblem of peace, Hugh was endeavoring to pick out this man from among those who were rushing around wildly, gesticulating, shaking their fists in the direction of the scouts, and shrieking in their native language. ”

“ Hugh said to the old padrone, as he held up this iron bomb.
The other showed all the signs of being both astonished and angry. Billy wondered if such an enterprise could have been going on all this time in the settlement and one so wise as the padrone not know it.
“It is bad biz!” the padrone said in a husky voice, as he, too, picked up one of the metal tubes and examined it; “some of my men they be near crazy with mad. When they see the children cry for be hungry they no care what they do to get what you call even. It is the strike-breaker they hate, you understan’.” ”

“ Their wonder grew as they saw how Hugh and Arthur seemed to know just what best to do, and how deftly their fingers worked. The dark frowns began to disappear, and confidence replaced suspicion. It would no longer be dangerous for any boy wearing that khaki uniform to move among those strikers, after they had seen with their own eyes that the mission bringing these boys to the camp had been one of peace and not of war.
Meanwhile Alec and Bud were doing their best to carry out the suggestion made by the scout master, though they found it no easy job. ”

“ His idea was that a flag of truce, being understood by people of every nation, is as a rule respected. If the strikers seemed disposed to be ugly toward the scouts and threatened an attack, perhaps the waving of this flag might hold them in check.
All Hugh wanted was a fair chance to explain the motive that was bringing himself and comrades into the fighting zone. Surely after the men and women learned that they only came with the intention of caring for those poor unfortunates who may have been shot down by the guards at the works, they could not continue to bear the boys any animosity. ”

“ In the midst of it all, Billy discovered a woman carrying a sick child straight to where Hugh and Arthur were engaged.
“There’s a compliment for you fellows, and a feather in your caps,” he told the others. “At first they were afraid you didn’t know the first principles of surgery, and they’ve been watching you like hawks. Now the women are running to fetch any sick kids they may happen to have at home, for the wonderful doctors to examine and prescribe for. Look solemn now when you make your diagnosis, fellows; you’re making reputations that are bound to go ringing down the ages. ”

“ What are you saying in it?” demanded the now eager Ralph.
“I’ve addressed it to the Red Cross at Farmingdale, and it’s sure to get to the right parties,” explained the scout master, as he handed the piece of paper over to the messenger. “What I said was simply this: ‘Terrible riot at cement works; many strikers shot down. Caring for them the best we can. Need help. Send surgeon, nurses and an ambulance. Hurry. Boy Scouts of Oakvale.’ Now get on the move, Ralph, and see how quick you can deliver the goods!” ”

“ Hugh realized that there was indeed need of caution. These ignorant and explosive foreigners could not be reasoned with by one who was unacquainted with their language. There may be times when signs will not answer to cool the heated blood of men driven to extremes by what they feel to be a gross injustice.
“Billy, you’re right, and we must first of all get the old padrone to accompany us. If, as you seem to fear, those things turn out to be real bombs, then his are the hands that must put them in water so as to forever destroy their destructive properties. ”

“ I don’t think that would happen,” said Hugh, immediately. “These men are ignorant and foreigners but we mustn’t believe them to be a nest of thieves. Only when they see their women and children suffering from lack of proper food they might be tempted to resort to violence. In one way you could hardly blame the men for taking what don’t belong to them in order to save the lives so precious to them.” ”

“ Hugh looked decidedly interested.
“That’s a suggestion, Arthur, that does your heart credit,” he hastened to say with enthusiasm. “Certainly there could be no objection to our playing the part of the Good Samaritan to any of the strikers who happened to get wounded. That’s always in the province of scouts; the main part of our manual is taken up with the idea that it’s noble to stretch out a helping hand to those who are down.” ”

“ If Hugh heard these last words as he hurried away to hunt up the several parts of his clothes, they must have given him considerable satisfaction. Making a friend out of a bitter enemy was always a favorite diversion of the young scout master; and nothing he ever did gave him more deep-seated pleasure than the conversion of Alec Sands. ”

“ It was meet that Alec’s should be the hand to obtain a grip on Hugh and begin to tow the two swimmers ashore, bearing their limp burden between them.
“Oh, is he dead, Hugh, and is our summer outing going to be broken up right in the very start?” cried Tom Sherwood, who had run down from the camp by this time and was waiting for them on the shore.
“I hope it isn’t as bad as that,” replied Hugh. “Carry him up on the bank, so we can get busy. He wasn’t under the water long, and I expect he will soon be all to the good. ”

“ An immediate reply from nearby caused the three boys to quicken their steps; and half a minute afterward they burst past a screen of bushes to discover the object of their concern.
“Well, I declare if he hasn’t fooled us to beat the band!” cried Bud. “Hey, Billy, what d’ye mean shouting that way, and giving us such a big scare? Better come ashore and get down on your knees to beg—— Why, look at him tugging away like everything, and the water up above his knees, too! Hugh, is he caught in the quicksand, do you think?” ”

“ In the country it is not always a wise thing to judge a man’s standing by the appearance of his overalls and jumper.
“They tell me yeou be the feller in charge o’ this outfit, mister,” was the way he greeted Hugh as he arrived on the spot.
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“Well,” said the boy, “we have a gentleman by the name of Lieutenant Denmead who is the real scout master of the Oakvale Troop, but he was called home by the sickness of his mother, and I am serving in his place. What can I do for you, sir?” ”

“ Ralph and Bud turned to the scout master.
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“What’s the answer, Hugh?” asked the latter.
“That’s why I had you fetch the rope,” Hugh told him. “Somehow something seemed to give me an idea it might be either sucking mud or a quicksand. When a fellow is trapped in either one, and there’s no chance for help coming, he must set about saving himself by his quick wits.”
“Yes, that’s all right, Hugh,” explained Billy, making a grimace, “and I pounded my poor brains like everything trying to think of some way, for I hated the worst kind to play the baby act and call for help. ”

“ He bent over the man and tried to see if there was anything that could be done then and there to help him. Finding that none of his wounds looked very serious, and deciding that fright and the sight of blood combined to make him weak, Hugh felt that he could leave him and hurry on to the next victim. ”

“ RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL.
“He had better not try to use that nasty looking whip around here, that’s all I want to say,” remarked Bud Morgan, who had joined Hugh and Billy.
“Don’t talk quite so loud, Bud,” warned the leader of the Wolf Patrol, who saw no reason why they should add fuel to the fire that seemed to be raging in the heart of the countryman.
The farmer was a typical Yankee in looks, and in a city he would be termed a “hayseed” by the boys; but Hugh knew very well that such a man might be a well-to-do owner of much property, and respected in the community where he lived. ”

“ That was the problem Hugh was tossing about in his mind then and there.
He knew what chances there were for trouble unless they could in some way convince the ignorant foreigners that they were friends. Should the angry men discover them coming up from the rear, their first thought would naturally be that they had been caught in a trap, and that these fellows in khaki uniforms must be members of the State Militia seeking to surround them.
In that case the strikers would either fly madly, or believing themselves in a trap, they would start an attack, determined to break their way through. ”

“ Being kept from returning home by a break in the railroad embankment, Hugh and his chums proved themselves energetic workers, and by enthusing the local troop of scouts to work like beavers in rescuing imperiled persons, they not only did a vast amount of good but revived the flagging interest of the organization, so that from that day Lawrence Boy Scout stock boomed. ”

“ When the news gets to the city I suppose the authorities will send out hospital nurses and attendants; but they might take hours in getting on the ground. Ought we go or stay here; that’s what I want you to settle, and I’m not going to tell you what I want to do. Every fellow who believes it to be our duty as scouts to try and help those poor foreigners, hold up his hand.”
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He was thrilled to see that there was not a single dissenter; for every hand instantly went up, and when Hugh feebly added, “Contrary no, hold up a hand!” there was not one to be seen.
Hugh sighed with relief. ”

“ The man must have understood him for he hastened to scramble to his feet. There were a few loud jeering remarks from the stockade as the guards discovered that, after all, the one man considered dead had come to life in a wonderfully miraculous fashion, after the scout had done something or other. ”

“ One man seemed to be huddled up as though he might be actually dead. Hugh hardly dared look toward him, for up to that time the boy had never been brought face to face with the grim reality of death.
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There were two others, however, who were moving, and toward these he hurried. One was holding himself up with his arms, and seemed to be anticipating relief. Perhaps he may have seen that the poor woman had been carried away on a stretcher; and he hoped for the same treatment himself. ”

“ Hugh declared. “All the same, I’ll be glad to see that Red Cross ambulance turning up here.”
“You’re worrying about that poor fellow who’s been shot through the body, Hugh?” suggested Billy. “The padrone put a guard around him to keep his wife away. She wants to just throw herself on him, and shriek. My stars! but they’re a queer lot, ain’t they? But they’ve got feelings as much as any of the rest of us. Listen! wasn’t that a motor horn blowing then?”
“Sounded more to me like a cow mooing, Billy,” said Ralph. ”

“ When a mob of hundreds of wild men and women rush a little party of a dozen men, it ain’t no time for being over-particular where you send your lead. Go on, then, and do what you want. I’ve heard a heap about you scouts; let’s see if you do know anything about taking care of the wounded.”
Hugh waited for no more. With that permission he was satisfied none of them would be fired on by the guards in hiding behind the stockade. ”

“ Since they had no firearms in camp, Hugh made them arm themselves with staves or cudgels, so that in case of necessity they might have some means of defense should the camp be invaded.
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Some of the more timid doubtless looked around at the black woods and may have peopled those shadows with the lurking figures of many excitable strikers. These might be eager to see for themselves the “soldiers” that one of their number reported as having gone into camp not more than two miles from the threatened cement works upon which the strike had been declared. ”

“ It did, for when Hugh looked up again he saw that the suspicious frown had left the dark face of the other, and was succeeded by an eager expression.
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“You learn how so be doctor in this what you call Boy Scout biz?” the man asked huskily; “it is ver’ good thing you come here. I think one, two men die if that bleed not be stop soon. Nobody can do nothing, and it soon be too late.”
“Then will you let us try the best we know how; can we come into your camp, and will you tell your people we are friends?” asked Hugh, quickly. ”

“ The next step was to select those whom he knew could be of the greatest good in the work they laid out to attempt. Not every scout has the necessary nerve to hover over a wounded person, and play the part of nurse or doctor; some boys are afflicted with weak nerves, and feel sick at the sight of blood; others are clumsy by nature, and hardly capable of attempting the washing of ugly wounds, with the subsequent binding up of them.
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“I want five to go with me,” said Hugh, decisively. “Arthur for one, then Billy, Ralph, Alec, and let me see, you can make the fifth one, Bud. ”

“ Every eye was instantly turned in that direction, for all of the scouts realized that it meant a great deal, not only to them but for the future peace of the community that something occurred to make these ignorant foreigners understand they were not objects of indifference in the eyes of the authorities, who would permit them to be shot down like dogs and never interpose a hand to prevent the deed or punish the aggressors. ”

“ You don’t say!” cried Billy, with a whistle that marked his interest in the news. “But, Hugh, if we make it a point to keep away from that section of country in our hikes there’s no reason why we should get mixed up in any of this ugly business, that I can see.”
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“Perhaps not,” the scout master continued, “but if these ignorant foreigners begin to feel the pinch of hunger pretty soon, they may take to raiding orchards and fields of the farmers, and then there will be the mischief to pay. They don’t bother much about the rights of property when they can see no sign of officers around. ”