The Boy Scouts of Bob's Hill Part 9

"That is the kind of boy we want for a Scout. He is loyal and his honor is to be trusted. You must help me to organize the Gang, as you call them, into another patrol. But what I was going to say is this: When you and the Gang were enemies, which I hope you never will be again, what would have happened if one of you had ventured alone down near the gingham mills?"

"They would have done him up."

"Exactly. Now suppose the eight of you had stood together, back to back, shoulder to shoulder, working against a common enemy?"

"We did once," said Benny, "and they licked us, anyhow, but there were more of them than there were of us."

"Bet your life they didn't lick us very bad," put in Skinny. "It was a s...o...b..ll fight. They drove us from their hill, but afterward they asked us to come back and slide with them, and we did. We had a fine time."

"It seems to me that in that case both sides won a victory. The greatest victory a boy or man can win is one over himself, over his own pa.s.sions, his selfishness and meanness. The greatest enemy that he or his country can have will be found right inside his own heart. There is where we all have a fight on hand continually. But, remember, you are Scouts and a Scout's honor is to be trusted."

"Benny, what is the next law?"

"A Scout is helpful."

"There you have it. The highest type of man is the useful one. There was once an old philosopher who said that he counted that day lost in which he did no good deed. A Scout ought to feel the same way. You must try to do something for somebody every day."

"They don't have giants and dragons, any more," said Skinny. "I wish they did; we'd paralyze 'em."

"Henry, what is the next one?"

"I am not quite sure whether it comes next or not, but I think it does.

The law says, 'A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout.' Does that mean that we must be brothers to the Gingham Ground Gang when they get to be Scouts?"

"Surely it does. Why not? Your folks may have a little more money than their folks and not so much as some one else. What of it? There is something better than money, and that something is manhood. Don't be sn.o.bs, whatever you are."

"Now, Mr. Secretary, it is your turn."

"A Scout is courteous," I told him.

"Politeness is a great thing. If he lives up to his pledge, a Scout will be courteous, especially in his treatment of women and children who are younger than he is, and of old people and those who are feeble or handicapped in some way by being crippled or sick. Don't forget that old men started as boys and that you boys, if you live, will become old men. Now for number six."

"A Scout is kind and a friend to animals," Harry said.

"And the next?"

"A Scout is obedient," said Chuck.

"Now we are getting down to business. The first duty of a soldier is to obey, and it is so important that he should obey in time of war that a soldier, or scout, who refused to obey orders would be shot. You are supposed to obey orders without question. Obey your parents especially.

Obey me as Scoutmaster. Obey your patrol leader; that is your duty as Scouts. If the order does not suit you, do your kicking afterward, not before. First deliver the goods; then you will be in a position to criticise, if necessary."

"We haven't heard from you, Wallie. Let's have number eight."

"A Scout is cheerful."

"That's the idea. Don't grumble or whine. That will never get you anywhere, or the world anywhere.

"I want to say a few words about the next law, 'A Scout is thrifty.'

Thrift is of the greatest importance. Save your money. Save your pennies. Put them in the bank. I think they ought to teach thrift and the importance of saving in the public schools. It does not mean that you should be stingy. When you boys worked hard one winter and gave a purse of money to an unfortunate stranger, you were living up to the highest ideals of a Scout. It doesn't mean that money is the most important thing in the world, for it is far from it. But remember this: a man's first duty to his country is to be self-supporting, and to be self-supporting in his old age he must be thrifty in his youth. He must make hay while the sun s.h.i.+nes. He must learn to save his money. That is why a Tenderfoot must have one dollar in the bank before he can become a Second Cla.s.s Scout, and a Second Cla.s.s Scout must have two dollars before he becomes a First Cla.s.s Scout. The habit of thrift is very important. When you grow older and go to work, no matter what you earn, I want you to save a part of it.

"There are three more laws," he went on, after a minute, "and they speak for themselves: 'A Scout is brave,' 'A Scout is clean,' 'A Scout is reverent.' I need not tell you to be brave in the presence of danger. Do you understand that sometimes it takes greater courage to stand up for the right? Keep yourselves clean; not only your bodies but your thought and speech. And be reverent, boys, toward G.o.d, who made old Greylock and these beautiful hills for you to enjoy."

When he had finished Skinny started to throw some wood on the fire, but Mr. Norton stopped him.

"Never go away," he said, "leaving a fire where it possibly can do any damage. We'll be going home in a few minutes, and before we go this fire must be put out. If the wind should come up in the night the flames might spread into Plunkett's woods."

We saw in a minute that he was right, and, taking sticks, beat out what little fire there was; then started down the hill.

"I'll tell you what I have been thinking," said Mr. Norton, when we were going through Blackinton's orchard. "We have had so much fun to-night that I should like to go camping with you boys for a week, some time this summer. These mountains and woods are just the places for scouting and we could have a campfire every night. What do you say?"

"We say yes," said Skinny, "if our folks will let us, and I know they will."

"Can we play Indian, Mr. Norton?" asked Benny.

"We certainly can. I think everybody likes to get out into the woods and be an Indian once a year. You boys have something to do first, however.

I want every one of you to be able to show a First Cla.s.s Scout badge."

"We can do most of the stunts now," I told him, "only we haven't been seven miles and back."

The book says that before becoming a First Cla.s.s Scout a boy must go on foot to a point seven miles away and return again, and afterward to write a short account of the trip. It says, too, that it would be better to go one day and come back the next, and that means to camp out all night.

That last was a hard thing to do because our mothers did not want us to go off that way alone. Mothers always seem to think a boy is going to get hurt or something. Mr. Norton finally talked them into it, all except Benny's mother. She wouldn't stand for it. Benny cried, he felt so badly about it.

"Do it in one day, then," Mr. Norton told him. "Remember that the law says for you to obey your parents without question. That is more important than to do the stunt."

CHAPTER VI

A FOURTEEN-MILE HIKE

SCHOOL let out Thursday, June 22, and it had seemed to us as if the day never would come. Not that we don't like school because we do--sometimes; but when the sap drips from the maples and bees buzz around the p.u.s.s.ywillows on the river bank and all the trees take on a different look, as if there was going to be something doing right away, then the time has come for us to get out our marbles and tops and to fix up the cave for the summer.

Pretty soon the buds begin to throw off their overcoats, and Bob's Hill grows green again in the warm suns.h.i.+ne; the woods are bright with wild flowers, and the songs of birds and smell of spring fill the air.

Then the mountains and hills tease us away from our books, when we look out of the window. The river, all swelled up with joy and melting snows, shouts for us to come on, every time we cross the bridge. On Sat.u.r.days the brook at Peck's Falls, grown big and noisy, roars out a welcome and tries to say how glad it is to have us back at the cave again.

Say, how can a boy sit quiet in school when all those things are going on?

Last day finally came. It always does, no matter how slowly the time seems to pa.s.s. The very next morning the Ravens met to do the final stunts that would make us First Cla.s.s Scouts.

For more than a week we had thought of little except the fourteen-mile hike. It took several meetings before we could decide where to go. Our first idea was to tramp up into the mountains somewhere, but that scared our folks and we had to give it up.

"It isn't as if you were all going together," said Pa. "In that case, if one should get hurt the others could take care of him and go for help.

If one of you alone should break your leg on the mountain we might never be able to find you. I think you'd better stick to civilization and the beaten paths. You are not mollie-coddles and probably would come out all right, anyhow. At the same time, I should sleep better nights if I knew that my boy wasn't off on the mountain somewhere, alone."