The motion was carried unanimously. If there were any “doubting Thomases” there who feared that the attempt might end in failure, they were carried off their feet by the wild enthusiasm that seemed to pervade the meeting, for every scout registered his willingness to embark in the scheme, no matter what it called for.
A little discussion was next in order. Hugh believed in taking the bull by the horns, and hence he told the others what he feared might be their most difficult task: keeping the Corbley crowd from undoing all their work spitefully, just to show that Boy Scouts could not run that town.
“We’ll not cross a bridge until we come to it, though,” said Hugh in conclusion, “and now, what’s to hinder our getting in some fine work for a starter to-night?”
“Hurrah!” cried a number of the interested scouts in a volley.
“It happens that the moon is almost full for the occasion,” said Bud Morgan, one of the Wolves and a boy who could always be depended upon to do his share in everything that came along; Bud had seen considerable practical experience in the field, as he had once been on a Western ranch and had also worked through a vacation season with a surveying party.
“But what can we do in such a rushing hurry, Mr. Scout Master?” asked Arthur Cameron, another of the same patrol, whose particular hobby was in the lines of photography and weather bureau work.
“For a starter, I thought we might take a turn around the little park and get it in apple-pie shape. People throw away greasy paper from luncheons there, and newspapers they’ve been reading. It’s a shame the way that pretty little square looks. My mother says she avoids passing across it whenever she can, because it seems so much like a pig-pen. Now, boys, what do you say, shall we set to work with a vim and make that a fit spot for any lady to sit or walk?”
“We can do it!” cried Blake Merton of the Hawks, a fellow who had a melodious voice and was called on many times by his chums when in camp to start up the songs they loved.
“Lead the way, Hugh,” proposed Walter Osborn. “We’ve taken to your scheme like ducks to water, and the sooner we get busy the better it’ll please a lot of us. I’m really getting rusty for want of something to do besides study, now school has begun. Fall in, everybody, and don’t forget your bags.”
“Now we know why Billy told us to fetch these bags along,” remarked Sam Winter. “We are to stuff the waste paper in them, so we can carry it to some central place. Is that the idea, Hugh?”
“Yes. We’ll put several of the collecting cans in a bunch near the middle of the little park, and in the morning the dump man can take the trash away,” the scout master informed him.
“Too bad we couldn’t make a big bonfire and burn it all up,” grumbled Billy. “I’d feel better if that ended the affair, because—Oh, well, if the rest of you think it will be all right to leave it there, I’m not going to kick. How many of you fetched a broom along?”
It was found that, all told, there were seven brooms in the party, eight hoes, half a dozen shovels, and two rakes. When this curious assortment of implements had been shouldered by the enthusiastic boys, they looked like a corps of gardeners about to begin work on some public ground.
Two by two the scouts marched out of their meeting-room and headed for the open plaza not far away, where the grass was green and many bushes and flowers grew. The spot had really lost much of its beauty through the habit most people had formed of throwing aside all sorts of rubbish. In certain quarters of town it was not an unusual sight to see, perhaps, an old coal scuttle, cast-off shoes, or even a rusty hot-water boiler reposing in the gutter as though that were the ordinary place for such derelicts.
As the scouts crossed the main street in order to reach the little park, some people stood and stared. A few gave them a faint cheer, though unable to understand what the parade could be for. Doubtless they imagined that it might only be a prank on the part of the boys, since they carried garden tools and brooms in place of guns.
When they reached the small park, Hugh began to give his orders. He knew every foot of that ground and had already planned the attack in his mind.
Dividing it into four equal parts, he assigned one to each of the three patrols besides his own. After that, it was up to the leaders to see that their workers did their part in the undertaking.
First of all, several of the tall waste paper cans, which nobody ever thought of using any more, were deposited near the center of the open space. There was one for each patrol, and immediately the scouts busied themselves in collecting the worst of the accumulated trash, depositing it in the receptacles where it should have lodged long since.
Presently the hoes, rakes and brooms began to get busy. Such a bustling spectacle had certainly not been seen in that vicinity for many a year as the industrious band presented when they started to cover every foot of ground in the little city park.
Of course all this could not go on without a certain number of people becoming wise to the fact that an innovation had begun. Small boys and girls who really should have been at home and in bed, but from lack of a curfew bell still played upon the streets shouting and chasing each other, watched what the scouts were doing, and upon discovering that they were actuallyworking, ran to tell others that a wave of reform had struck the town at last.
It was not long before fully fifty people stood around and watched the progress of the scouts’ work, commenting on the novelty. Some made great fun of the idea that mere boys could cause the city to take on a different look. They declared that it was bred in the bone with the Italians and other foreigners to be careless, and it could not be beaten out of the flesh.
Others were more sanguine. These scouts had succeeded in a number of things where others had made failures, and besides, in this case they surely were animated by the right principles. So a few observers said good words and cheered the boys on. Several of the women were loud in their expressions of gratification, and promised that they would see to it that the almost defunct society for town improvement took on new life and backed up the boy element in their work.
It was more or less fun for Hugh and his comrades, too. Boys can put in a lot of hard work and call it a frolic. They laughed and joked as they swept and raked and gathered up armfuls of rubbish to fill the tall cans. In the end there had to be a detachment sent out skirmishing for several more receptacles, such was the vast amount of trash collected on that first night of the fray against dirt.
When ten o’clock sounded from the church tower where the clock stood, the round moon looked down on as neat a little park as one could well imagine. Every foot of it had been carefully scraped and cleaned by that enterprising band of workers, until it was what might be called immaculate.
By that time it was a pretty tired lot of scouts who began to gather around the one in command. The fun of the thing had vanished, and they were almost as eager to be given the word to start toward home and clean themselves up, as a while before they had seemed to begin operations.
“It’s all done, anyhow,” Alec Sands said, as he came up to report that his squad had completed their share of the work. “I’m going to come down here the first thing in the morning, just to listen and hear what folks say when they find out what’s happened. Chances are they’ll rub their eyes and wonder if the little darky twins we see advertised as willing workers haven’t been on the job while people slept.”
Hugh laughed as he glanced around at the perspiring scouts.
“And if they could see some of the faces here on this festive occasion,” he remarked humorously, “they’d feel dead certain of it, because we are the nearest approach to coons seen around here for many a day. I warrant it’s going to keep a few of us busy cleaning up our uniforms against the next parade. They don’t look as spic and span as when we were in the procession on Labor Day.”
“But that ends it for to-night, doesn’t it, Hugh?” asked Alec anxiously, for he was very tired, having worked with his customary zeal,—and Alec had once been the spoiled son of a very wealthy man, too, until he joined the scouts and learned the many benefits that labor brings in its train.
“Yes, let’s all make for home now. I hope that when we drift down this way in the morning, we’ll be satisfied with our job,” Hugh replied.
The signal being given, the boys drew up in line with military precision, and at the command started away, still flourishing their brooms, hoes, rakes and shovels as though proud of their strange weapons for warfare.
Some of the men gave them a parting cheer. Even if they did not have a great deal of faith in the success of this new undertaking of the scouts, at least it did not prevent their admiring the unflinching spirit with which the boys had taken up arms against the tide of uncleanliness that was engulfing the town.
There were a few “boos” also, coming doubtless from certain elements that viewed any movement looking to reform with disfavor, because it was likely to cause them to change their careless, easy-going ways. They might actually be compelled to take three steps to deposit a newspaper wrapper in a receptacle, instead of throwing it on the ground as at present to blow where it listed.
When Hugh reached his home, he, too, felt the effects of his recent work, for he had not spared himself a particle in setting a good example to his fellows of the Wolf Patrol. And he believed that their section of the little park was just as destitute of rubbish as any other quarter.
Hugh was asleep soon after his head touched the pillow, and really he knew next to nothing until long after the sun had arisen. Having dressed, he was proceeding down to the dining room for breakfast, it being Saturday morning, when he heard the telephone bell ring.
“Hello! Hello! Who is it?” he asked, reaching the instrument. When he caught the well-known voice of Alec over the wire, Hugh had a sense of coming misfortune.
“Well, it’s all up the flue, Hugh!” said the other scout disconsolately.
“What do you mean?” demanded the assistant scout master.
“Only this,” the other continued sadly, and angrily as well. “I’m down-town now,—came early to gloat over our work,—but would you believe it, everything has been turned out of the trash cans and scattered all over the park again!”
“What’s that?” Hugh demanded hastily as though considerably aroused. “Say it over again, Alec, please.”
“All our hard work went for nothing, Hugh, because after we left, some miserable skunks,—and we can guess who they must have been,—kicked over the trash cans we’d filled and scattered the stuff all about the park.”
“That’s pretty rough on our boys,” said the assistant scout master, trying evidently to restrain his righteous anger and thinking more of his comrades than of himself.
“I should say it was a hard knock on you, most of all, and that’s what it was intended for,” Alec continued over the wire. “Some of that Corbley gang hate you just about as they say Old Satan hates holy water. They must have been watching us as we worked, and I bet you we weren’t halfway home before they started in to do the wrecking business! Say, what are we going to do about it, Hugh?”
“Do?” echoed the other instantly. “Why, there’s only one thing we can do, and that’s start in and clean the park up again! Scouts are made of stuff that doesn’t let little accidents like this upset them. Every time they’re knocked down, it’s only to get up again and sail in harder than ever. Scouts never say die as long as they can put one foot in front of another!”
“Bully for you, Hugh!” said Alec joyously. “Those are my sentiments to a dot; and I ought to have known that you’d talk that way. Tell me what to do to start the ball rolling, and you’ll find me Johnny-on-the-spot.”
“Get Billy on the wire, and tell him to pass the word along to the next one. We’ll gather at the church, and every fellow fetch along whatever he had with him last night, broom, hoe, rake or shovel. This thing is going to be fought out to a finish, if it takes all winter!”
“Bully! I’m on. Shall I ring up Billy now?”
“Yes, go ahead full steam, while I get busy in another direction.”
Hugh swallowed a cup of coffee and took a few bites, but breakfast somehow did not seem to appeal very strongly to him on that morning. He certainly did not have his camp appetite along, nor was it to be wondered at, for the news that had come over the wire had been most discouraging.
The first thing he did after starting out was to call upon Mrs. Marsh, a lady who was at the head of the women connected with the Town Improvement Association.
Hugh knew her very well, and was also aware of the fact that she professed to be deeply interested in all that the scouts had been doing in the past. As briefly as possible he narrated all that had happened, and also stated that the scouts were determined to complete the job they had undertaken.
Now the president of the league for bettering the conditions of the town and its inhabitants had begun to despair of ever arousing public sentiment. Several times in the past she had labored to the utmost, only to see things go back again into the old wretched rut, as though the vast majority of the people did not care to be bothered and would rather go on as they had been living, letting shiftlessness have full control in a happy-go-lucky manner.
When this bright-faced scout told her in his manly way how he and his comrades had undertaken to carry on the work, and above all things wanted the co-operation of the good women of the league, the president awoke to the fact that at last the long-hoped-for opportunity had arrived, and in a most unexpected fashion.
“Most certainly you will have the backing of the league, financially as well as morally,” she hastened to tell Hugh. “I have dreamed of this day, but had begun to despair of ever seeing it. And to think that after all it should come through the young blood of the city! I will call a meeting of the association this very morning, Saturday or not. Let the men eat baker’s stuff for one Sunday, if by the sacrifice so much can be done for our town. I promise you that a committee will call at once on the mayor, and get him to issue a proclamation warning everybody that from now on any one caught throwing waste upon the public streets will be immediately arrested and heavily fined. If we can get that issued, I will have copies printed in several languages and see that it is placed in the hands of all foreigners, as well as posted on the fences and bill boards. If we can co-operate with you in any other way, Hugh, come and see me without hesitation. You will have the best wishes of every mother in this town; and I really believe that this time something is going to come out of the venture.”
After this encouraging talk, Hugh felt a thousand per cent better. His spirits rose again, and it was with a smile on his face that he hurried over to where the meeting-place of the scouts was located.
He found that the boys were already gathering. They looked as angry as could be, and there was considerable muttering about retaliation, which, however, Hugh stopped at once.
“No use saying anything like that, fellows,” he told the hotheads. “What we’ve got to do is to repair damages at once, and then try to see if things can be kept as we put them. I’ve been to see Mrs. Marsh, who is at the head of the Improvement League, you know, and she’s promised to back us up all through. They will have an emergency meeting this morning and send a committee to the mayor.”
As the scouts were anxious to hear all the news, Hugh went on to tell what else the energetic lady had promised; and somehow this gave the boys such cheer that the angry looks vanished and presently they were laughing over the situation.
When the entire troop, so far as they could be reached, was on hand, Hugh made a little speech, and aroused their enthusiasm by his eloquence. After that they were ready to follow him in anything he chose to undertake.
“Fall in!” called the scout master, and the sound of the bugle caused every member of the troop to step lively.
Shortly afterward, the townspeople saw a strange procession marching through the main streets. They had often watched the Boy Scouts go forth to camp and march in parades, but never had most of them witnessed such a novel sight as when Hugh and his khaki-clad followers passed the stores, carrying such odd weapons as brooms, rakes, hoes and shovels.
The news passed around like wild-fire.
“The scouts are going to clean up the town! They’re heading straight for the park! Watch the dirt fly when they take hold! They always get there when they start in!”
Presently the whole town was astir. Men, women and children gathered to see the novel sight of boy soldiers playing the part of street cleaners. The police awoke to the fact that it was their duty to protect the scouts from interference. This happened after the Chief had received several urgent messages from influential citizens, apprising him that they would hold him responsible for it if the boys were not allowed to carry on their self-imposed task unmolested. Since the city had so long shirked its plain duty, it could at least stand back of those brave lads who by their devotion meant to teach citizens a wholesome lesson.
Hugh was not at all dismayed now as he saw how their work of the previous night had been undone and the refuse scattered over the grass and walks of the pretty little park.
Once again he set his four patrols to work, each being given a section to take care of as on the previous occasion. The boys labored with vigor, while the police kept the crowds back as well as they could.
There were a lot of loud comments, quite naturally, but the main sentiment of the spectators seemed to be in favor of allowing the energetic scouts a chance to make good.
“If they can do it, they’ll shame the whole rotten town management!” one man loudly declared; and while it was recognized that he chanced to be the defeated candidate for mayor at the last election, his sentiments were heartily applauded.
Business men going to their offices took a turn out of their way to ascertain what was going on. Some of them seemed to be amused at the idea of a parcel of half-grown school-boys venturing to tackle what had apparently been too heavy a task for the good women of the town.
Some of these women also made their appearance and seemed to be visibly aroused over the newly-awakened hope of bettering conditions. They cheered the boys on by pleasant words, and then hurried away to attend the call for a meeting at the residence of their president.
The city was on tiptoe with excitement. Boys even forgot for the time being that this was Saturday and that they had a ball game in prospect with a team from a nearby town. They hung around the park all the time the scouts were working, and a few even declared their intention of sending in their names as candidates for admission to the troop.
In the daytime it was possible to do even better work than under the conditions that prevailed when their first clean-up was undertaken. Consequently when all of the refuse had been gathered in the cans once more, Hugh, looking around, felt that no lady need blush to be seen walking or sitting in that little park, for it was spic and span clean.
Once caught napping was enough for Hugh, and he did not mean it should happen again if he could help it.
Leaving the rest of the scouts there, he went in search of the contractor whose business it was to collect the ashes and garbage of the town. This man happened to be a sensible sort of a fellow, who, upon hearing what had been done, promised to dispatch a couple of carts at once to the square in order to carry away the contents of the various receptacles. And when this had finally been attended to, Hugh breathed a sigh of relief. At least, the active Corbley crowd would not be able to scatter that trash about again, which was a comfort.
“What’s next on the program, Hugh?” the boys were asking.
It had always been a maxim with the assistant scout master to “strike while the iron is hot.” He knew that much could be accomplished while this new enthusiasm of his followers ran riot in their veins. Later on, the story would grow stale and they might need urging in order to carry on the work; but now every fellow seemed brim full of energy and a desire to pitch in.
“I’ve laid off the center of the town in quarters,” he told them, “and each patrol will have one of these to look after this morning. Gather all the waste paper you can find and put it in the receptacles. Barney Heath has promised to work double to-day, collecting and carrying off. By noon we’ll call it a day, and let’s see what a big change we can make in the looks of things by then. That’s all I’ve got to say to you, boys. Now get busy!”
They gave him a cheer that was taken up by the listening crowd. After that the scouts scattered, and it was a hustling, lively lot of boys who invaded the business section of the town. They gathered up the floating paper and crammed it into the big cans until the latter were overflowing. Then the wagons came along and took away what had been collected, so that the boys could keep up the fine work.
That was only a beginning. Already the spirit of “clean-up week” seemed to be in the air. Business men warned their clerks not to throw anything on the street on penalty of trouble; others actually went out of their way to drop envelopes from letters into a can, or else crumpled them up and thrust them into their pockets.
Great things spring from small beginnings; oaks have their start in the little acorns; and so from this determination on the part of the scouts to set the ball rolling looking to a cleaner town, much was to be expected.
When noon came and they stopped work for that day, a transformation seemed to have come already to the city. A stranger who had not seen the place for a month or two, upon dropping off the train was discovered rubbing his eyes and asking whether he had not made a mistake, because somehow things did not seem familiar!
Hugh was perfectly satisfied with the progress made. He knew very well that the whole business could not be accomplished in a day. They must advance slowly but surely. What the scouts did was going to be only for the sake of arousing public sentiment, and after the community had taken hold in earnest, the thing so long waited for would be accomplished. The city would never consent to go back to the old, dirty conditions, after once experiencing the pleasure of seeing her streets and front yards clean. The wave of reform once started would roll on irresistibly, so that no citizen, however humble, would dare resist its influence.
Thinking that the boys had done enough for that one day, Hugh told them to spend the afternoon as they pleased, but to come to another meeting after supper that night.
He did this because he knew only too well that a certain element in the place would never rest satisfied to allow these uplifting practices to continue unmolested. And Hugh believed that they must “fight fire with fire,” just as plainsmen do when caught by the burning prairie grass.
Although most of the boys were free to attend the ball game or go where they felt inclined, Hugh and several others had work laid out for themselves during that September afternoon.
Paint and brushes were secured, and they started in to color all the waste paper cans a brilliant red. That would catch the eye from afar, and thus call attention to the fact that receptacles were provided for all trash, so that there need no longer be any excuse for throwing things around promiscuously.
Later on, as the occasion offered, they meant to place the lettering on the cans in white, and also the effective notice running: “I Eat Trash,” which Hugh had mentioned previously as an appropriate design.
While thus engaged, Hugh was approached by the Chief of Police, who had been more or less uneasy since this moral wave had developed in town. He hardly knew just where he stood in the matter, for the mayor had been known to be not in favor of “stirring things up,” so long as on the surface they did not look so very bad.
“What’s got into all of you boys?” he asked as he stood alongside Hugh and watched him putting a bright coat on the dingy waste paper can. “First there was last night when a bunch of you got busy here and made things fly, and then again this morning. I never saw the place worked up so much as it is now. My telephone bell has been ringing like mad all day, and I’ve heard from half the people in town. What they haven’t said to me about backing you scouts up in your new job you could put in a thimble. But strikes me I take my orders from the mayor, and up to now I haven’t heard a word from headquarters.”
“Perhaps you may right away, Chief,” said Hugh, who had glimpsed Mrs. Marsh approaching, her arms full of printed papers and her face bright with a beaming smile, as though the looks of things about town gave her great pleasure.
“I saw Mayor Strunk, Hugh, and he issued a proclamation which I’ve had rushed into print in English and Italian. Three men are busy pasting it around town, and a dozen women are seeing that it goes into every home. Perhaps you would like to have a copy, Chief, as it concerns your department, I imagine.”
When the head of the local police force had read the message of the mayor, calling upon all citizens to avoid littering the streets or their dooryards with anything in the shape of waste, and promising to let the heavy hand of the police drop on all offenders, his eyes opened very wide.
“I’ll take this over to the office and study it, if you don’t mind, Mrs. Marsh,” he remarked soberly. “But of course you understand that the police will be found ready to do whatever they are told by the mayor and the city council. If thepeoplewant a clean town, they can have it. That’s up to them.”
“But these fine boys have one favor to ask of you, Chief,” said the lady. “There is a certain element in the city that is bent on spoiling whatever work the scouts accomplish. Last night these unruly young ruffians came here after the scouts had worked hard to clean up the park, and scattered all the refuse around again, and with police headquarters only a block away. I hope such a thing will not be permitted again. You must know that these bad boys are the ones that have become a menace to the good name of our town. They are called the Corbley crowd, because their recognized leader is Lige Corbley.”
The big Chief turned red in the face, and Hugh could give a pretty good guess why, since Andy Wallis, the right bower of Lige Corbley, happened to be a nephew of the policeman.
“We’ll all try to do our sworn duty, ma’am,” was all the big man said, as he turned and strode away, the manifesto clutched rigidly in his hand. It was evident that the Chief already saw the handwriting on the wall which was destined to bring more or less trouble his way.
Throughout pretty much that livelong afternoon, Hugh, Alec, Billy, and a few others went on with their self-imposed task. The red paint was so primed that it would dry quickly, so that there was little likelihood of their labor going for naught because of mischievous boys smearing it with sticks or dirt while still wet.
All over town those cans stood out prominently to remind the shiftless of their duties. That blazing color had been adopted because red is the recognised danger signal with all railroads and places where peril is apt to abound. It is also the color that angers the charging bull in the arena; and possibly those bright-hued receptacles would taunt Lige Corbley and his followers, so as to keep alive their spirit of destruction longer than might otherwise be the case.
Feeling as though they had had a pretty hard day, the painting squad finally completed their task and went home to clean up. They had reason to feel satisfied with what had been accomplished since early morning; and yet Hugh knew the end was not yet in sight. In fact, the fight had hardly more than begun.
They had a difficult task ahead of them to keep what they had won. If Lige Corbley and his crowd started to turn things upside down again, they must be taught a lesson not soon forgotten.
This was what worried Hugh most of all. He could not forget that blood ran thicker than water, and hence the Chief must naturally be influenced by the fact that a near relative of his was among the offenders. While he might appear to be very vigilant, there were lots of ways in which his force could shut their eyes to what was going on. Hugh had talked this matter over with Mrs. Marsh after the Chief had left them, and she had assured him that the mayor was very much in earnest, promising that if the police did not perform their duties in a satisfactory manner he would see to it that there was an immediate change in their head.
It seemed as though the telephone were fated to play a very prominent part in all the doings of that day. It had carried scores upon scores of messages back and forth connected with the new movement for the cleaning up of the town, since Hugh himself first learned of the upheaval in the park over the wire. It came to pass that Hugh had just completed taking his bath, and, dressed in his newer suit of khaki, was taking it easy in the sitting-room while waiting for supper to be announced, when he was told that some one wanted to speak with him on the ’phone.
Thinking, of course, that it must be Billy or one of the other scouts, wishing information, perhaps, connected with their intention for that night’s meeting, Hugh was somewhat surprised to hear an unfamiliar voice address him.
“Is this Hugh Hardin?”
“It is,” he at once replied.
“Well, never mind asking who’s talking to you, because I don’t mean to give my name,” continued the other hastily. “I’m a boy, and one you know. I’m not a member of the scouts, though I hope to be one of these days. Now, I wanted to warn you that I’m afraid you’re in for a heap of trouble, perhaps to-night, about this thing of cleaning up the town. How do I know? Well, I’m only giving a guess, but chances are it’s a good one. I saw Lige Corbley talking like everything to a bunch of his kind. There were several fellows on deck that don’t generally train with him; but they acted like they’d joined forces. All I heard was something to the effect that they’d ‘show him what they thought of his silly old proclamation.’ I reckoned that might mean the mayor, so p’raps they’ve got it in for him good and hard. That’s all I know, and I don’t want to hold the wire any longer. You needn’t try to find out who I am, because I don’t want to be thanked, and by the same token I don’t mean to take any chances of those fellows learning who gave their game away. So-long, Hugh!”
Hugh looked thoughtful after receiving this friendly warning. He was not very much surprised, truth to tell, and had rather expected that conditions would bring the Corbley crowd to the front again.
It did not matter much who the boy might be from whom the warning had come. Evidently he had considered it his duty to put the assistant scout master of the troop on his guard, and at the same time, knowing Lige Corbley well, to keep his own name out of the matter for fear of unpleasant consequences.
Not feeling full confidence in the police to patrol the town and prevent vandalism, Hugh realized that the scouts were going to have their hands full in trying to keep that which they had won through hard labor.
Of course the home folks were full of the subject at the supper table, and so Hugh had to relate all that had happened.
“I’ve been receiving ever so many messages from the women connected with the Improvement League all of to-day,” Mrs. Hardin remarked with a glance full of motherly pride toward Hugh, “and they agree that the time is ripe to settle this important question once and for all. We will have a better and cleaner city after the scouts have done their work. It will be a far healthier place in which to live and rear a family. And whatever you and your comrades do, my son, be sure that you have the backing of those to whom you are dear. We feel every confidence in the ability of the troop to master this problem, as you have others in the past.”
Of course Hugh understood that he would have the sympathy of those at home when he first started into this thing, but all the same it made his pulses thrill to hear such encouraging words.
As soon as supper was over, he started for the place of meeting. There was much to be discussed before they settled on their plan for the night; and every scout on duty must know just how far he would be allowed to go in trying to keep the unruly elements in check.
The mayor had given them permission to serve as aids to the police in the effort to keep the peace, but this only meant that they could patrol as much as they pleased. They must call upon the guardians of the town in case they made any important discovery.
Hugh did not altogether fancy such an arrangement, and he meant to put it up to his followers to decide whether they should carry it out or settle on some plan of their own, looking to teach the Corbley crowd a much needed lesson should any of them be taken in the act.
There was not a single fellow missing when the meeting was called that night except two who were known to be sick, another whose mother did not wish him to be out nights, and a fourth scout who happened to be out of town with his folks.
Tired though the boys might be after such a strenuous day, their faces were full of eager enthusiasm. The spirit that animated each fellow made him forget his aches and pains. Fond of camping out, the idea of being allowed to patrol the town with the full permission of the mayor appealed very strongly to every scout, and they were impatient for Hugh to announce his plans.
“How are we going to do this patrol work, Hugh?” asked Billy Worth as he and Jack Durham pushed their way to the front of the group surrounding the assistant scout master.
“I’ll appoint squads, and they are to be divided into couples,” replied the leader of the troop. “No scout is to go alone because he may be set upon, and with two, it’s always possible to give the alarm. Then we’ll have signs and passwords. If help is wanted, you must call out with the sign of your patrol—the Hawks giving their ‘Kree-kree-eee,’ the Wolves a loud ‘How-ooo-ooo,’ the Foxes ‘Skee-eee-eee,’ and the Otters ‘Yap-yap-yap’! You all understand that only in case help is needed are you to utter these patrol calls.”
“And if we catch any fellow trying to litter up the town, what’s going to happen to him?” asked Alec Sands grimly.
“I want to get the sentiment of the troop on that subject,” said Hugh. “Don’t all talk at once, but tell me what you think we ought to do. You know the mayor hasn’t exactly ordered us to do it, but probably he expects that if we catch any of that crowd doing what the proclamation forbids, we ought to hand the fellow over to one of the police force, to be taken to the lock-up.”
The scouts did not seem to favor this idea very much. All sorts of dissenting notes arose.
“Huh! and if we did that how many of you expect he’d reach the cooler?” demanded Dick Bellamy, who was of a skeptical turn when it came to believing any good of the police.
“Chances are they’d let the fellow slip through their fingers and then say it was an accident that couldn’t be helped,” added Monkey Stallings, the boy who was so agile that he could perform all manner of circus tricks as though born to the spangles and the sawdust arena.
“Hugh, don’t make us take that bitter medicine,” urged Spike Welling. “Make up some other scheme of your own. Seems to me we ought to take the case into our hands if we manage to make a capture. Somebody might carry a whip along, and we’d give him a taste of strap oil that’d cure him from prowling around nights, spoiling the looks of things.”
Hugh shook his head at this ferocious suggestion.
“I don’t think that would do at all,” he said at once. “It might get us into trouble. We’re not in the White Cap business, you see. But it might do to give the prisoner his choice between being handed over to the police or taking a ducking.”
“That’s the ticket!” cried Cooper Fennimore with enthusiasm. “Cool him off by dipping him in the river a few times, clothes and all. My stars! After he found the scouts meant business from the word go and wouldn’t stand for any foolishness, I guess he’d quit his funny work and behave. Talking won’t go with that crowd; you’ve just got to do things. That’s the only kind of lesson they’ll learn.”
Others made suggestions along various lines. Some of these were comical, and others seemed too barbarous to think of entertaining for a minute. After all was said and done, it appeared to be the consensus of opinion that in case they did make a capture the plan outlined by Hugh had better be put into execution. If the fellow was stubborn and would not make a choice between two evils, then the scouts could do it for him, and every one knew what would happen then, for the police must find their own prisoners.
All preliminaries were soon arranged. Each scout knew just what his duties and privileges were to be. They went forth full of a desire to acquit themselves with credit to the whole troop. And no doubt every fellow was secretly hoping deep down in his heart that the offending Corbley crowd would not change their minds and lie low on this particular night. Although they belonged to a peace organization, the scouts loved action. Nothing pleased them more than to have things happening thick and fast, giving them delicious little thrills all the while.
Once again the night favored them.
The moon was already “doing business at the old stand,” as Billy described it, and this promised to be of considerable importance to the boys who meant to roam the streets for hours in couples, keeping a bright lookout for offenders desirous of defying the mayor’s proclamation.
It being Saturday night, there were an unusually large number of people abroad, as was always the case at week-ends. On this particular occasion it seemed to be in the air that something out of the ordinary might be expected. No one knew what, and consequently men, women, boys and girls thronged the principal streets up to nine o’clock.
That time came and went with everything appearing as usual and no outbreak occurring. Hugh had taken it for granted that the young vandals would not venture to bother the park again, knowing that the police had it under their eye; and besides, there were far too many persons abroad in that section of the city for them to venture to show themselves there.
If they did break loose at all, the attack would likely enough come in another quarter entirely. Feeling confident of this, Hugh disposed of his scouts in such a manner that they could guard the parts where the police did not patrol: the residence sections.
He and Billy walked around and followed the beat which they had taken it upon themselves to cover. Everything was being conducted with military exactness. They had not forgotten the methods of the two rival armies in the mock battle, when they had served as signal corps operators, nor the example of the Naval Reserves, nor the work of the Life Savers.
When the two reached one end of their beat, they waited until another pair of khaki-clad figures approached, and then the secret countersign was passed between them in whispers. After that Hugh and Billy walked to the other end of their beat, and there rubbed up against another couple of scouts.
Ten o’clock came, and as yet all was well. Some of the boys began to weary of this unusual exertion. They had had a warm day and a most strenuous one as well. It did not seem surprising, then, that they should find themselves yawning at a terrific rate, and beginning to wish that something would happen, or else that Hugh would order them home.
This sort of thing was going on all over the section where Hugh had figured it was most likely the prank-loving vandals would start their work, if they ventured to do anything at all. The score and a half of scouts had been placed in such manner as to cover quite a large space. If Lige and his followers managed to slip inside the lines and cut up any tricks, they would have to be mighty crafty about it, for every scout was supposed to be constantly on the alert, watching right and left for suspicious conditions.