  “To-morrow is the day set for starting to Boston to go aboard the Government vessel handed over to the Naval Reserve for their late summer cruise and practice, isn’t it, Hugh?” remarked Billy Worth sadly on the Monday following their adventure up on the side of Cedar Hill and Stormberg Mountain. He and Arthur happened to meet at Hugh’s house that afternoon to help the scout master finish his packing, though that was probably only an excuse to be in his society, for Hugh was not the one to neglect the slightest thing, or leave it to annoy him in the rush toward the last moment. “Yes, we leave on the ten-five morning train, and will be aboard before sunset, if all goes well,” replied Hugh. “I wish both of you were going along; but as only two could be selected from each patrol, and Billy just missed being the second Wolf chosen, it can’t be helped.” “Worst streak of luck I ever ran up against!” declared that individual with a look of supreme disgust on his face. “Just a measly five points stood between me and that dandy cruise. Oh! I’ll never get over it, I tell you. Slowly but surely I’m crumbling away, losing flesh every single day, until when you come back none of you’ll recognize me.” Hugh only chuckled at hearing this, but Arthur jeered the speaker. “Well, my word for it you can keep on ‘crumbling’ like you say you are, for the next sixteen years and then beat me in weight two to one. Crumbling agrees with some people, it seems. But besides you and Andy Scott, who’s on the lucky list, Hugh? I’ve been feeling so bad about it, and so busy working on my wireless, that I haven’t paid much attention to these other things lately.” “From the Hawks there are Walter Osborne and Blake Merton; from the Fox Patrol Don Miller and that new member who took the place of the one moving away from our town; and they do say that ‘Monkey’ Stallings has belonged to a New York troop—he is entitled to wear the badge of a first class scout—and certainly gave Don a close race for first honors in the examination. Then from the Otters of course there will be Alec Sands and with him Sam Winter. That makes the full eight boys.” “But how about the Owl Patrol; don’t they send representatives along too?” asked Arthur, surprised. “No,” Hugh replied, “because it was stipulated that only first-class scouts could go on this great voyage up the coast with the Naval Reserve; and you know that nearly all of our new members belonging to the Owl Patrol are tenderfeet, fellows who have a lot to learn before they can call themselves real scouts.” “I am glad that you think I have done a pretty decent job with my affair up at the Cedar Hill Station of the wireless circuit, Hugh,” remarked Arthur. “It was only what I expected to find. I happened to know what a clever hand you were at all such contraptions, Arthur,” the scout master told him. “And to think how fortunate it was that we were all there just when my aerials were working in sympathy with that Government station over on the coast near Cape Cod,” continued the other with a happy light dancing in his eyes. “Say, let me tell you it was the proudest time of my whole life when I stood there and actually read a part of that Marconigram sent from the beach station to some other point, telling about a wreck that had happened on the coast. What was better, each of you had the pleasure of listening to some of that message too, sent a hundred miles away from here.” “Yes,” said Hugh, “and that was further than I had ever heard a message before by wireless. One thing seems sure, Arthur, if they let us get in touch with you, we can have great times while we’re away from home. And that code you gave me will enable us to simplify matters just fine. A letter stands for a sentence to the home folks, and every one of us has a particular sign. By the way, who’s heard the latest news about our friend, the Russian bear man, and his pet?” “Somebody was saying at our house they heard he meant to be around on crutches soon,” remarked Billy, “but we happen to know the reason he won’t leave town till he can pay another visit up there to the rocky side of old Stormberg. He wants to gather in that snug little nest egg he’s got hidden away there. He sold his bear to the park people, who are thinking of starting a sort of zoo, you must know, to interest the children and teach them more about wild animals than they can ever get from traveling shows.” “I’m glad of that,” Hugh observed. “Whenever any of us happens to be in the park we can give the old chap some peanuts, and remember the great times we had up there when we found him hitched to that tree, and as hungry as they make them.” “Wonder if he’ll always look at me the same way he did then,” mused Billy as he rubbed his chin reflectively. “Honest, fellows, I believe only for that loaf of Mrs. Benton’s home-made bread that I tossed him as a coaxer, he’d have taken a nab at one of my legs. But we did our duty as scouts, didn’t we?” “Why, we found a hungry and thirsty bear tied up, and not only fetched him water in our hats but fed him with the best there was,” Arthur went on to say in a tone that was full of boyish satisfaction. “Then not only that but we tracked his master, and rescued him from that bad hole, fixed his broken leg, toted him all the way to the hospital on a stretcher that only scouts would know how to make, and then brought the bear down in the bargain. I’m glad I took my camera that last time because I got a dandy picture of him standing on his hind legs and dancing, holding that long pole all the while. I have to laugh every time I look at that picture, boys. It enlarges fine, and some day I’ll print each of you one six inches square, because all three of us are in the picture, along with Dancing Jumbo.” “That’s good of you to make such an offer, Arthur,” avowed Billy, “and I’ve got just the right place to put it over the desk in my den. It’s fine to have something to show for your work, and a picture is the best every time. When you look at it you seem to be living the whole thing over again. That album of yours is something I never get tired of hanging over whenever I’m at your house. What great times it covers, and how some of those adventures stand out, eh?” “How about that new member of the Foxes, Monkey Stallings, though I believe he is called Eben at home? 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. In fact, he’s a bundle of nerves, and can hardly keep quiet.” “Perhaps you’ll be apt to know him better by the time you get back from this gay cruise,” 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. “You see, I made out this little list, taking along only what I must have. We got pointers about that from Lieutenant Denmead, who was afraid some of the boys would load themselves down with all sorts of truck from camping stuff to banjoes. I checked things off as I put them in my knapsack, and it’s all there with my blanket. When the time comes to say good-by, I’ll be ready to shoulder this and be off.” Billy drew a tremendous sigh that seemed to come straight from his big heart. If he had ever been grievously disappointed in his life, it was right when Hugh and those seven other lucky fellows were about starting off on what promised to be a most glorious cruise on salt water, and he had to stay home all through those two long dreary weeks, just going along in the same old rut day after day with nothing exciting happening. “There’s somebody ringing your ’phone bell like fun, Hugh!” remarked Arthur. “That’s so, and I forgot that about everybody happens to be out now; so I’d better go and attend to it myself. Excuse me, boys, I’ll be back in a jiffy.” And with these words Hugh hurried into the hall where the telephone hung. They heard him talking with some one, but paid little or no attention to what was going on. Arthur was examining some pictures he had run across on Hugh’s table taken by a cousin out West, which depicted cowboy scenes that stirred the blood of the boy, who loved life in the open. Billy on his part was studying the list mentioned by Hugh, which had a blue pencil check against every item; and he seemed so intent on this labor that one might even think he contemplated packing his own knapsack, waylaying the column somewhere, and forcibly taking the place of some other scout. When Hugh came back, his face was shining and his eyes dancing so that both of the other boys guessed he must have been hearing some very pleasant news over the wire. “Who was it, and what did they want?” asked Arthur with a chum’s familiarity. “It was Lieutenant Denmead,” replied Hugh, still smiling broadly as he looked straight at Billy. “What did he want with you, Hugh, tell us?” appealed Arthur. “It had something to do with that trip to-morrow, didn’t it?” “You are a good guesser, Arthur—it certainly did,” Hugh told him. “Look here, I hope there hasn’t been any fluke, or that something’s happened to block the game?” Billy exclaimed, though he ought to have known that such a dreadful disaster would never have made Hugh grin as he was doing. “It has been blocked for one scout, it appears, because his folks have decided at the last minute they don’t want him to go,” Hugh explained. “You see his brother was drowned only last summer, and they tremble at the thought of their only boy spending two long weeks aboard a boat at sea and in the coast harbors.” Billy became almost white as he clutched the arm of the other. “A boy drowned, did you say, Hugh? Why, that must be Benjy Scott you’re referring to! Am I right, Hugh? Oh! please hurry and tell me, for I’m nearly choking with suspense. Because you see it was his brother, Andy Scott, that just nosed me out of going on this bully trip. Is Andy the one that’s had to back down? Is that what our scout master said, Hugh? Tell me!” “That was what happened, Billy,” replied the other as he held out his hand to the excited boy, “and when he tried to get you at your home, they said you were probably over here. Anyway, the lieutenant told me that as you were a close third on the list, and as Andy couldn’t go along with the rest, I was commissioned to say that the place was open to you, if you cared to accept!” “What, me accept?” gasped Billy, beginning to recover his usual rosy color as the delightful prospect arose before him. “Why, I’d stay up half the night getting my pack ready so I wouldn’t miss that train! Whoop! think of it, will you! I’m to go along after all? The same old lucky jinx is playing his tricks on me. Hugh, loan me this list of yours; it will save me lots of trouble. And where’s my hat? I ought to slide over home in three shakes of a wolf’s tail and get busy packing up. No sleep for me to-night, I’m afraid, with my nerves all singing little songs of joy like they are right now. If I don’t see you again, Arthur, till at the train, here’s the best of luck to you with your wireless! Be sure to stay up around that tree station every day you can! We’ll try our level best to talk with you. Just to think how things change around! One minute I was eating my heart out with envy, and now I know I’m going along. Whoop! don’t stop me—I’m off!” |
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