Great Hike Part 21

"Yes, sir," came the reply. "You see, from all accounts, in the old days this same Felix Wagner was one of the right bowers of Matt Tubbs. And somehow I seemed to be making up my mind that if _he_ had a hand in this ugly deal, there was a screw loose somewhere in this reformation business over there."

"But now?" asked Mr. Garrabrant, smiling.

"It looks good to me, as Lil Artha would say," replied Elmer. "If ever a fellow seemed in earnest, Felix was when he said those words just now.

And I feel positive that when he hears the story of how some of his friends tried to make Lil Artha ride, so as to knock him out of the race, Felix will be furious."

Which prediction proved to be the case a little later; but we cannot afford either the time or s.p.a.ce to go into particulars with regard to this.

"Now we have another job before us," remarked Mr. Garrabrant, when ten o'clock had arrived.

"You mean looking up the cripples--those who are ready to admit that their hope of reaching Little Falls within the required time has died out; and who will be only too willing to get a lift back home?" Elmer suggested.

"Why, yes, some of them must be in a pretty bad way; and as it still threatens rain we must look them all up. I have three cars here that can be used for the job. Would you care to run ahead, and try to hunt them up, Elmer?"

"Yes, on one condition," came the reply.

"Oh, you can consider that it is granted before you ask; but what is its nature?" Mr. Garrabrant inquired, laughingly.

"That I ride alone," answered the boy.

"Oh, I see," the scout master went on, nodding his head wisely; "you dread having Toby and Nat along with their decrepit wheels to add to your troubles."

"Yes," said Elmer, seriously; "because I can make much better time alone, rain or not. Besides, I think the boys ought to have a rest; and it would really be better if they put up here in Little Falls with some Boy Scout friends until to-morrow, when they can come home."

"All right; I shall so advise them; though if they choose to leave their motorcycles here until some future day, they can just as well ride back in a car."

Both Toby and Nat, however, had friends in the town, and concluded to stay over. Their machines had taken on a new life apparently, since their a.s.sociation with Elmer and they were much encouraged.

Accordingly, the leader of the Wolf Patrol started out. Fifty miles or so does not amount to a great deal when mounted on a good motorcycle; and if that threatened storm would only hold off a few hours, Elmer felt that he would have little cause for complaint.

As he rode along the thoroughfare he frequently sounded his horn in such a way that any stragglers would know it was meant for a signal to show themselves. It was to be Elmer's duty to warn them that the cars would soon be along, and that they could get back to Hickory Ridge in that way if they preferred.

About five miles out he heard a shout, and some one who was standing alongside the road waved his hat. It was Matty, the leader of the Beaver Patrol.

Elmer immediately jumped off his machine and put the question up to his fellow scout. But he really knew what the answer would be before the other opened his mouth.

"What, me give up, when I'm within smelling distance of my goal?"

declared the determined Matty. "Not for Joseph! I'm going on and report to the headquarters of the Little Falls troop; and get back home to-morrow someway or other. But I'm glad Lil Artha got the prize. He's a dandy on a hike, I tell you; and Hickory Ridge is proud of him, sure as you're born! So long, Elmer; get word to my folks, if you can; though I warned 'em not to look for me to-night."

Then Matty strode off bravely, though Elmer detected a slight limp which even his game qualities could not entirely conceal.

A little later on he picked up Red Huggins and Phil Dale, the latter having given up, as he was utterly worn out. They had started a fire alongside the road and were preparing to pa.s.s the remainder of the night after the fas.h.i.+on of true scouts. In view of the possibility of rain the boys were even then starting to make some sort of shelter from branches and such stuff as they could find.

Of course they received the good news with tremendous satisfaction; and declared that they would be only too delighted to get a chance of a lift back home.

"Hope they'll let me fasten my old wheel behind, somehow?" remarked Phil; and Elmer a.s.sured him that that had all been arranged for.

So leaving them, with an exchange of cheers, Elmer rode on.

One by one he came across Jack, Ty, George, and the Fairfield fellow, Angus McDowd, the latter still in company with young Robbins. And every one of them expressed the greatest satisfaction when they heard how Mr.

Garrabrant did not mean that they should spend the night away from home but would speedily be along with a number of cars calculated to carry them back to Hickory Ridge.

Even Tom Cropsey was located, he having taken refuge in the branches of a tree, because of a farmer's vicious dog that kept barking savagely not far away; and Tom happened to be particularly timid about strange dogs. His wheel being useless, and himself too cramped for walking, he had "camped" after his own fas.h.i.+on.

Thus all were restored to their homes that night save the other Fairfield boy who had sprained his ankle and was in bed at the tavern; Matty, who declined to be brought back until he had finished his task; and Elmer's two companions, Toby and Nat, with their unreliable motorcycles.

Of course it was well along into the morning before the last automobile reached Hickory Ridge with the balance of the contestants; and as nearly everybody had long before gone to bed, the victor was not received with any great acclaim; at least the factory whistles were not blown, nor the church bells rung. But a few of the faithful scouts, who were bound to make a night of it, had waited up at headquarters; and these fellows gave three hearty cheers when they saw the long-legged Lil Artha step stiffly from the leading car.

When, on the following night, a regular meeting of the troop was held, every fellow made sure to be in attendance; for it had been announced that the several contestants in the great hike, as well as the five who had gone forth on bicycles and motorcycles, intended giving a detailed report of what adventures had happened on the way; and it was expected that there would be some stories worth listening to.

The indignation of the boys was intense when they heard how those Fairfield four had tried to block Lil Artha's game and, by forcing him to ride, render his claim to be a contestant under the rules null and void.

"But listen, fellows," said Elmer, who presided in place of the scout master, called out of town on sudden business; "don't be too quick to blame the Boy Scouts of Fairfield for that rascally piece of business.

Matt Tubbs called me up on the phone this afternoon and wanted me to express the indignation of himself and his comrades over the matter. He declared that they had not the faintest indication of the affair; and that it was engineered entirely by some 'outcasts,' who, having declined to subscribe to the twelve cardinal principles of the new movement, were doing everything in their power to wreck the troop over there."

"Well, they won't succeed, that's all," declared Lil Artha, confidently; "because my father says he knows that the best people of both Fairfield and Cramertown are just daft over the change that has taken place among the boys there ever since the scouts were organized, and that they mean to stand back of the movement through thick and thin. They say the organization of the scouts was the finest thing that ever happened to Fairfield."

"And, fellows," continued Elmer, "I think that on the strength of this, not to speak of Felix saying he would have refused to accept a tainted t.i.tle if he had won after Lil Artha was kidnaped, we ought to give our fellow scouts over there a cheer. Yes, and send them a letter congratulating them on the new spirit of fairness that has sprung up among them."

It was put in the form of a motion, and carried unanimously. So three cheers and a tiger were given with a will; and later on the letter was written, which Elmer himself promised to deliver to Matt Tubbs, the loan of that fine motorcycle still holding good.

And this, then, was the way the great hike went through. Lil Artha, of course, was the pride of the troop for his fine work; but the other fellows who had done the best they knew how were not forgotten in the chronicles of the event, as written in the log book of the secretary.

The only serious accident of the affair was the sprain which Henry Cobb had been unfortunate enough to receive, and which was likely to make him limp for many weeks. But it had afforded a tremendous amount of fun, and at the same time proved that the fact of a boy belonging to the scouts need not detract in the least from his manly qualities.

Vacation was now nearly at an end, and presently the scouts would be taking up their school duties for the new year. The summer that had pa.s.sed had really been the most delightful one in all their experience; and they looked forward hopefully to other good times ahead, when, as scouts, they might be given the privilege of learning many of the secrets of Nature and of building up st.u.r.dy and manly characters under the influence of the splendid rules governing the organization.

But there was one grumbler out of the number starting out for Little Falls, and this was Nat. He never could get entirely over the cruel fate that had allowed those trapped plotters to get off "so easy" and was often heard to mutter that if Elmer had not happened to be along there might have been a different story to tell. But like a lot of fellows, Nat's "bark was more savage than his bite," and perhaps, after all, had he been allowed his own sweet way, he might have remembered how he had faithfully promised not to harbor the spirit of revenge when he signed the roster of the Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts' troop.

_THE END._

_The next story of this Series (Number Six), which can be found on sale everywhere, is called "The Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts' Endurance Test; or, How Clear Grit Won the Day."_

ADDENDA

BOY SCOUT NATURE LORE

BOY SCOUT NATURE LORE TO BE FOUND IN THE HICKORY RIDGE BOY SCOUT SERIES.

Wild Animals of the United States } Tracking } in Number I.