Read Ebook: The Boy Scouts as County Fair Guides by Shaler Robert

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Ebook has 654 lines and 33384 words, and 14 pages

"It strikes me as an elegant thing," asserted Alec.

"Finest that ever came down the pike," Billy agreed. "To think what glorious times we can have, and how we'll be able to scatter seeds of information about scout activities among the rubes who attend the great Fair. Some of them really believe scouts are banded together just to play pranks and have fun. We'll have the biggest opportunity to take the scales off their eyes."

"And to think, Billy," Arthur commented, his eyes sparkling, "that while we walked along the road just now all of us were trying to figure out what possible use only afternoon vacations could be to boys, when it was impossible to go off on any hike. Now we can see a dozen ways where we'll be able to have a good time."

Billy laughed.

"That's right," added Alec. "Arthur is never so happy as when he's making other people miserable--of course, you understand what I mean. In reality he's trying to relieve their suffering and danger, even if it does hurt. But I must get along, boys; it's six o'clock, and we have supper promptly at half-past. I'm as hungry as a wolf, if any of you know what that means."

"Most of us think it means Billy the Wolf!" laughed Arthur, as he too started off, headed for home, dangling his hard-earned string of perch at his side.

The meeting that night was well attended, for if there had been any dubious ones who had fancied at one time they were really too tired after a holiday to come out, the urgent message from Hugh Hardin over the wire had changed their minds.

It happened that Lieutenant Denmead was out of town on some business connected with a deceased brother's estate, so that the burden of responsibility during the ensuing week was bound to fall upon the shoulders of the assistant scout master.

Not a single boy doubted the ability of Hugh Hardin to fulfill the demands of the occasion. They had seen him tested on many a field, and it was the almost universal opinion, in which Lieutenant Denmead himself joined, that Hugh could manage things even better than the regular scout master himself.

Considering that there was considerable sickness in town , the attendance at the meeting was creditable.

The old reliable Wolf Patrol carried off the honors of the occasion, for every member answered the roll-call; the Otter was next in line, showing six present.

As some of these boys will figure more or less in the pages of our story it may be wise to mention the list of those at the meeting:

Wolf Patrol--Hugh Hardin , Billy Worth, Bud Morgan, Arthur Cameron, Ned Twyford, Jack Durham, Harold Tremaine and Ralph Kenyon.

Otter Patrol--Alec Sands , Buck Winter, Chester Brownell, Dick Bellamy, Tom Sherwood and Dane Evans.

Fox Patrol--Don Miller , "Shorty" McNeil, Cooper Fennimore, Spike Welling, "Monkey" Stallings.

Owl Patrol--Lige Corbley , "Whistling" Smith, Andy Wallis and Pete Craig.

Hawk Patrol--Walter Osborne , Blake Merton, Gus Merrivale and Anthony Huggins.

After the regular business of the meeting had been hurriedly dispatched, twenty-seven scouts then started in to talk matters over. Of course most of them were perfectly willing that others should lay out the plans and offer suggestions. It is just as well that a few leading spirits should manage things, for with the whole twenty-seven trying to make themselves heard, Bedlam would have been a quiet retreat beside that meeting.

Hugh had evidently given the matter considerable thought since receiving word from the directors and managers of the County Fair that an invitation was extended to the troop to take charge of certain branches of industry and usefulness.

"The first thing every one of us must do," Hugh told them, "will be to brush up our knowledge of what the Fair stands for, and the location of every exhibit. For to be a guide means that people expect you are a walking encyclopedia, and you're apt to have all sorts of queer questions fired at you."

"Yes, I guess that's right, Hugh," said Walter Osborne, "because there will be lots of people here who are utter strangers to Oakvale. I know that my Uncle Reuben and Aunt Ruth are coming on to stop over with us, and while I visited at their place as a kid years ago, they've never been here before. There are others, too, I've heard, so each one of you wants to kiss the Blarney Stone, and be ready to talk like a Dutch uncle."

"On Tuesday afternoon after school, then, we'll go out to the grounds and get our two tents up, as well as do a good many other things," said Hugh. "I expect to see the school principal, and try to have a couple of us excused each morning, so that there will be some one at the headquarters up to noon. In fact, I mean to lay out a regular schedule, and let each scout know just what special duty he is to undertake."

"This is one of the finest things that ever came our way, I think," remarked Don Miller. "Let's hope that after the Fair is over the folks who have been thinking poorly of us scouts will have a different opinion."

"It's to be hoped that no one who wears the khaki will do the first thing calculated to bring it into disrepute," suggested Walter Osborne; and some of them saw him cast a quick and perhaps anxious glance toward the spot where the leader of the latest patrol to be organized, the Owl, was sitting.

It was in fact not so very long ago when Lige Corbley had been something of a thorn in the side of Hugh Hardin and the scouts. He had scoffed at their aspirations, made sport of their helpfulness to others, and seldom missed an opportunity to annoy them. How it came about that Big Lige saw the error of his ways, and made such a complete change in his habits that he actually joined the troop has been entertainingly told in a preceding volume, so it need not be recounted here.

Lige knew that several of the boys, including Walter, were not quite as sure of his loyalty to the laws he had promised to obey, as Hugh and the rest might be. He also understood that this little shaft of suspicion was meant for him; but Lige simply grinned, and apparently paid no attention to it. As long as Hugh had faith in his reformation he was willing to stand for anything. Deeds, and not promises, were what counted, and he believed he was daily proving that he had cut aloof from the old life forever.

After the subject was threshed out thoroughly, so much had been said that some of the fellows declared they hardly knew whether they were standing on their heads or on their heels.

"I'm willing to leave it all to Hugh!" declared Ralph Kenyon. "Seems like he always does know just what is best to do. I've never known him to get far astray in anything he undertook."

Ralph had good reason to feel this confidence in the assistant scout master. He could look back to the time when he knew absolutely nothing of the finer motives that influence the true scout; when he delighted in spending his winters in trapping harmless little animals both for the fun it afforded him, and the small amount of money he received for their skins when sold to dealers in furs.

Then Ralph had become acquainted with Hugh, who had managed to convince him that there must be many other ways of earning money without giving pain to little creatures, most of them harmless, and even taking their lives away in the bargain. After his eyes had been opened, Ralph Kenyon had spent more time hunting wild ginseng roots, and found that it profited him three times as much as his former cruel occupation.

"Mr. Marsh is one of the managers, too, you remember, fellows," said Blake Merton. "His wife is president of the Town Improvement Association. She hasn't forgotten what we did that time to make Oakvale a better place to live in. These things all count. What our boys do is sure to come back to them, just as chickens come home to roost."

"That's right, and I know it every day," called out Lige Corbley. "The hardest thing any fellow ever tries to do is to live down a reputation. Lots of people think they can see the horns sticking out right along. They keep saying it's only a little veneer or polish, and will rub off. Some of 'em even try to help rub it off; but thank goodness there are others who stand by a fellow, and keep him from going back on the rocks."

That was the most Lige had ever said before the boys. Walter Osborne turned red in the face with confusion. He felt heartily ashamed of the sly little dig he had given Lige earlier in the evening. Being a frank, candid boy, Walter did not hesitate when he saw his duty clear before him, for he immediately walked straight up to Lige and thrust out his hand, and said:

"I'm sorry if I've said anything to hurt your feelings, Lige, and I don't care who hears me tell it. Honestly, I'm surprised that you've done as well as you have with such a handicap on your shoulders. I couldn't do half as good myself; and from this time on you'll never hear a whisper from me. I'm proud to shake hands with you and call you my friend."

And when the scouts separated it was in a far more brotherly frame of mind because of this manly action on the part of Walter Osborne.

"Everything seems to be in good working order now, Hugh. Even our emergency doctor, Arthur, goes into the hospital tent every ten minutes to mosey around; and I kind of suspect he's almost wishing that some sort of case would crop up just to let him show his hand at first aid."

It was Billy Worth doing this talking.

The days had crept by, and now the Fair was a thing of the present. It had really opened with the usual ceremonies that noon, and a throng of people kept pushing in through the several gates, many of them coming from a distance.

The scouts had been energetically at work on the preceding afternoon and evening, some of them getting up at dawn on Wednesday morning in order to complete their arrangements as far as possible.

Two khaki-colored tents, supposed to be waterproof in case of a drenching rain, had been erected on the site given over to their camp use. In one of these the boys had arranged a couple of blanket beds, such as they were in the habit of using when camping out in the woods. These were complete, even to fragrant hemlock browse under each blanket to take the place of the comfortable mattresses at home.

In fact, it was as decent a camp as the ingenuity of the scouts could devise; a number of the fellows gave it some finishing touches that added much to its appearance. They knew that thousands of visitors would manifest a great deal of curiosity in their little model camp. Many of them had no idea how boys lived when on an outing and it was to disarm criticism that all this trouble was taken.

The second tent was to be used as a temporary hospital in case of accidents during the progress of the Exhibition. There had never been a season that someone did not get injured; and in a crush women had often been known to faint.

A number of the scouts hovered about the camp, anxious to show the comfortable arrangements for sleeping and cooking to their folks, and strangers as well, for they felt a commendable pride in what they had accomplished.

Others were abroad doing some of the many things that had been handed over into their charge. A couple waited at the railroad station for the next incoming train, so as to meet strangers, and either direct them to some place where they could put up while staying in town, or escort them straight to the gates of the County Fair.

Still another lot of the scouts put in their time roaming about the grounds, not only taking in the sights with which they soon became familiar, but also being constantly on the watch for chances to make themselves useful.

This they could do in a thousand ways, if they felt so disposed. Children that had strayed away from their elders in the crowd; tired mothers who did not know where to warm the baby's milk, and were grateful for a little aid; bewildered country people who sought information concerning the best way to leave their rigs so that they would be perfectly safe while they did the sights--yes, there was really no limit to the ways a wide-awake scout, anxious to do his full duty, could extend that helping hand--a part of his profession.

Hugh was feeling pretty well satisfied with the way things had started out. He knew there might be a few little matters needing alteration, but as a whole the camp was in apple-pie order. They need not feel ashamed to have it examined by any fair-minded critic.

A number of gentlemen had already manifested a decided interest. They showered compliments on the tidy manner in which the boys had arranged things.

"I never saw a camp so well ordered," one man had remarked, "and all my life I've been going into the woods every summer and fall, fishing and shooting. After this I must take my guide to task and have things changed. If boys can show such smartness, it's a burning shame that a man is content to keep camp, with his duffle littered about so that nothing is in place."

Those sort of things made Hugh feel as though it paid every time to be thorough in all he did, without appearing to be what boys call a "crank." One can keep his possessions in decent order without making it such a hobby that he becomes a bore to all his comrades.

The assistant scout master laughed when Billy Worth made that remark about the anxiety of Arthur Cameron to have his first patient.

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