Robert Shaler

“ There never was greater excitement over the sailing of a vessel with a consignment of the Naval Reserve aboard, and all on account of one belated passenger who seemed bent on making a last desperate effort not to be left. The sympathies of every witness had been aroused, and encouraging cheers doubtless nerved the boy to even greater exertions.
As the crisis came, Hugh became rigid with anxiety, for it looked nip and tuck as to whether Monkey would land on the boat or drop with a splash in Boston harbor. ”

“ Then they entered the gentle surf, and presently the keel of the boat ran up on the sand.
“Steady now, and no hurrying!” warned Hugh softly. The six other scouts proceeded to clamber out of the boat as silently as they could, after which it put back to where the one light aboard the Vixen showed her anchorage.
“Now for a tramp along the beach of a couple of miles,” said Hugh, “and remember there’s to be no talking above a whisper. I understand that the defenders of the fort may have men out on the watch. Forward now, and move along like ghosts.” ”

“ Billy shrugged his broad shoulders. Though still looking a little anxious, he was no longer white in the face. This scepticism on the part of Arthur had the good effect of arousing what was combative in his jolly nature, and putting fresh courage in his boyish heart.
“Well,” he went on to say resolutely, “I can see that you’ll never be satisfied till you meet up with that bear for yourself, Arthur. So s’pose you hike out. We’ll follow after you. I dare you to, get that?”
No boy can easily stand being put on his mettle. ”

“ We belong on board a Government war vessel, and there’s one of those war games on right now, you see? The Coast Artillery are manning the fort, and they’ve defied the jackies to get close enough to demand their surrender. We expect to hang out here all day, and you’ll have to give us your promise that you’ll act with us. For letting your lobster pots go till to-morrow I’ll promise you a five-dollar bill. Swear to stand by us, and act just as though you belonged on board the scout cruiser Vixen. Understand all that, do you, Bige? ”

“ Arthur Cameron had been the last one to join the Wolf Patrol, completing its roster of eight members, and for some time he had been called the “tenderfoot.” Hugh, however, managed to arouse his interest in the wonderful secrets of Nature a scout who keeps his eyes and ears wide open may learn, especially when in the woods. From that day on Arthur had striven to perfect himself in the knowledge of those things which a boy must know in order to climb the ladder of scout preferment. ”

“ Besides it gives us scouts an opening to show what we can do. When the full plans are worked out I’ll be in a position to tell you more. By then, too, I’ll have decided just what part each scout is to have in the game. And now let’s go aft to see what’s the next thing on the program for to-day.”
“I’m a-hopin’ it’ll be that sweet bugle call,” sighed Billy as he rubbed a hand over his stomach. “Beats all how keen this salt air makes a fellow. Seems like I could begin one meal where the other left off. A little seasickness must be a sort of tonic calculated to build up poor appetites.” ”

“ What’s the use of being scouts if we aren’t able to tell what the marks of a bear’s paw and claws look like?”
Arthur did not reply in words. He did cast a quick glance over his shoulder, however, which may have been simply to make sure his chums were close at his heels, though Hugh rather suspected the leader to be desirous of making certain that there was a clear field for flight open to him in case of necessity. Caution as well as valor is a part of a scout’s education, and he who is wise will always know of a way for retreat though scorning to make use of the same. ”

“ If in taking such a hazard he were discovered and made a prisoner of war, of course all hope of taking the garrison by surprise must be abandoned, and the game would go against the Naval Reserve men.
Hugh had learned how scout law meant implicit compliance with orders, and that under such conditions nothing should be attempted beyond the bare reading of the duties as set forth by the commanding officer. He must crush down any temptation looking to self-elevation, and the desire to engage in an adventure for the sake of enjoying the thrill it might entail. ”

“ Sometimes in the dim woods a stump can look mighty like a big black bear, I’m told.”
“P’raps that’s all true enough, Hugh,” persisted the other, “but when you see it rear up on its hind legs, and start at you—that looks different, don’t it?” demanded the other.
“Oh! then it moved, did it? actually got up on its hind legs and wanted to give you the high sign?” jeered Arthur still unconvinced. “Well, that’s what you get for belonging to the Wolf Patrol. This wonderful bear thought you might be his own cousin. He meant to shake hands with you, Billy.” ”

“ Billy admitted. “And please don’t pick me out to stay aboard while the rest of you have such a glorious time ashore, with chances of your being captured by the enemy and put in the darkest dungeon under the magazine of the fort.”
“You forget that the one who does have to stay will occupy a post of honor,” Hugh told him. “The receiving of the messages will depend on the able way he takes them, whether by heliograph or wigwag work. And besides, a scout always stands ready to do his duty, however disagreeable it may seem.” ”

“ You’re a bright one, I must say, Billy.”
“That’s all right and I am not ashamed to admit it, either,” asserted the other stoutly. “A scout should never be rash, the rules say. Why should I take unnecessary chances, when I knew that bear had his eye on me, and thought I’d make a good lunch? If he’d been tackling you, Arthur, I’d show you what I’d do if I had to grab him from the back, and wrestle with him like his master does; only he hasn’t his muzzle on right now, and that’d be bad. Does he drink, Hugh?” ”

“ Alec, Don and Monkey Stallings were more inclined to spy on the enemy than do anything else. Several times Alec gave a quick glance toward Hugh. He seemed to be struggling with something that was gripping him pretty hard, and apparently fighting an inward battle.
The truth of the matter was that Alec had made an important discovery, and at the same time a terrible temptation had come upon him. By the merest accident in the world he had sighted a couple of officers from the fort approaching the reef from an angle that was really beyond Hugh’s range of vision. ”

“ It was from this that Billy judged they had arrived at the spring, and were proceeding to fill their campaign hats. Although this idea of Hugh’s might seem a little strange on the face of it, there was really nothing uncommon about his desire to relieve the sufferings of the thirsty animal. Scouts are taught to do just these helpful things whenever the opportunity comes along; and many a fellow has found a chance to turn his reversed medal over for the day by an act of mercy toward dumb beasts,—horses, cows, or even dogs in pain or trouble of any sort. ”

“ When the next station gave the pleasing information that it had all been correctly received and sent along the line, Hugh felt that things were certainly progressing splendidly. And it may be mentioned that the rough lobster fisherman was watching all this wonderful work with open mouth and staring eyes; it had never occurred before to him that people could “talk” while many miles apart with only a piece of broken looking-glass and the sun’s bright rays to assist them. ”

“ Occasionally one of the boys would believe he had caught some slight motion in the bushes below. Imagination, however, must have magnified the movements of a rabbit or some other small animal into the cautious advance of a human being, for none of them really saw any one until there came creeping toward them from the nearby bushes a figure that they recognized as belonging to Sam Winter.
Behind him came a second scout in khaki, none other than Walter Osborne, and as Hugh saw still a third, who turned out to be Billy, he understood that the column from the cruiser must be at hand. ”

“ If the poor fellow was in any doubt as to their pacific and kindly intentions, the reassuring smiles on the faces of the scouts must have soon allayed his fears.
Hugh tried to tell him that they had found his bear, and followed his trail all the way along the side of old Stormberg Mountain to this place where he had met with his accident. He also gave the man to understand that they would stay by, and get him to a place of safety. ”

“ Have you seen enough of him to know whether he’s going to make a good addition to our troop, Hugh?” Arthur asked, changing the subject.
“I know that he’s seen more or less service as a scout, and that counts for considerable, you know,” the patrol leader answered. “Somehow I haven’t happened to see enough of him at close quarters to say I know him real well. He’s a regular gymnast and contortionist, they tell me, and can hang from the highest limb of a tree by his toes without a quiver, climb like a regular monkey, stand on his head as well as walk on his hands or his toes as it pleases him. ”

“ Seeing that he had no chance to break through the solid crowd that barred his passage, the recruit had leaped up to the top of a pile of freight on the dock, and was even then skipping along almost over the heads of the dense mass of cheering spectators, clinging to all sorts of friendly objects, and exhibiting a nimbleness that caused his seven comrades fairly to hold their breath. ”

“ As the excitement spread, people rushed out of stores and dwelling houses, and upon every tongue could be heard praises of the Boy Scouts.
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“What won’t they be doing next?” men asked each other as they noted how splendidly Hugh and his two chums had made that stretcher for the wounded man, and how cleverly they were utilizing their wheels in place of a wagon in order to convey him from a distance to the town hospital. “It certainly was the best thing that ever happened for the boys of this country when that scout movement started here, and it has spread like wildfire. ”

“ Everything seemed to work so nicely that while they met several farmers going home from market, the boys declined the offer when they proposed turning back so as to carry the wounded Russian to the hospital.
Perhaps there was a little vein of pride about it, and the scouts wanted to let scoffers see how well they were able to manage when a sudden emergency confronted them. They were only boys after all, and felt that they had a perfect right to be proud of the way they had managed. ”

“ Billy told him. “Don Miller seems to think he’s the best thing that’s struck the troop this season, and I reckon he ought to know. But isn’t there anything I could help you do in packing your outfit, Hugh? If I can’t go along myself, the next best thing is to have a hand in getting you ready.”
“Not a single thing left to do, Billy,” the scout master assured him. ”

“ Our time comes on the third day!”
“That sounds more like it, Chief!” exclaimed Billy gleefully. “Please let us know what the program calls for then.”
“You know,” said Hugh, “that the Coast Artillery have their summer maneuvers about this time, and it happens that some of the boys are occupying a certain fort not more than fifty miles away from here, practicing firing at a target away out on the water with some of the big coast defense disappearing guns of a modern make.”
“Oh! I begin to smell a rat!” Blake Merton exclaimed, his face lighting up with sudden enthusiasm and hope. ”

“ It was Billy here who asked why I didn’t finish that wireless I’d started up on the top of Cedar Hill. He said what was the harm in my trying to pick up messages you fellows would send out from time to time while aboard the scout cruiser, practicing all sorts of things, just as though there was a regular war on between the United States and some foreign power, Japan for instance. And now she’s ready for business. Let’s be off. If you say my outfit works fairly decent I’ll be feeling fifty per cent. better. It’s awful to see my chums going away on such a picnic, while I have to stay home. ”

“ What he told the commander of the scout cruiser was that if he landed a force of jackies they could come up the shore safely by keeping back of the scrub, and being careful not to show themselves even once. He knew only too well that the white suits of the Naval Reserve men would be instantly spotted by the glasses of those who were watching all through the livelong day for the first token of a hostile force in the vicinity.
Three different short messages did Hugh send. They took upwards of an hour to move along ”

“ Billy Worth had always been a great admirer and chum of Hugh. He believed the other to be the best all-round boy in that whole country. Consequently he had seemed more concerned than Hugh himself when Alec Sands, the son of the rich railroad magnate, and in many ways a spoiled boy, had on various occasions tried to get the better of Hugh. Alec was the leader of the wideawake Otter Patrol, a clever scout, and with a small following of his own ”

“ It surely pays better than anything I ever ran across before,” was the way Billy expressed his feelings in the matter.
“Lightning never strikes in the same place twice, Billy, they say,” Hugh told him, “but it’s just as well to keep your eyes open all the time, because you never know when you may happen to run across a good thing. Besides, a scout is supposed to be wideawake and on the alert. I was wondering whether Arthur has found time to print those copies of the dancing bear, Jumbo, that he promised us. Next time we get in touch with the Cedar Hill Wireless Station I mean to ask him.” ”