CHAPTER XII
THE RIVAL TROOPS
"How far do we have to go in this new plan of forgiving the enemy, Paul?"asked William, who had by now fully recovered from his recent weakness,and was burning with zeal to avenge himself upon their persecutors.
"Yes, this thing has got to have a limit!" declared Jud Elderkin, as heglared around at the moonlit scene, and no doubt imagined their rivalshiding near by, where they could laugh at the disturbed group.
Paul knew boy nature too well to stretch their patience beyond thebreaking point. He was astonished that such fire-eaters as Bluff,William, and several more, could restrain themselves even as well as theyhad.
To keep them in hand the reins must be loosened a little; but only toenable him to get a better hold later on.
"Well, there's no positive rule, fellows; and so far as I can see Ibelieve the limit has already been passed, with us," he said, pleasantly.
"Hurrah! that's the kind of talk!" cried the inflammable Twin.
"Then you give us permission to pitch in, and whale the whole bunch thenext time they play one of their measly old tricks on us? Is that so,Paul?" demanded Jud.
"Oh! I only h-h-hope so!" came from Bluff.
"Wait till the time comes, and perhaps I'll help you give them amuch-needed lesson. We don't want to play the worm part, always,"remarked Paul; "and now, boys, let's head for home."
"Ta-ta, sweet little meeting-house on the edge of the woods; I'll carryfond memories of you as long as this suit of clothes lasts, I guess,"said William, waving his hand mockingly backward toward the desertedbarn.
"Watch out for some of those Slavin fellows on the road. They may bombardus from the woods with rocks!" warned Joe Clausin.
"Just let 'em try, that's all. We'll chase the stone thrower to astandstill, and then he'll be sorry he wandered away from his happy homethis night!" Bobolink declared, ferociously.
So they walked along in detached groups, many eyes were on the alert, andlistening ears bent to catch some sign of a lurking foe.
Once or twice they heard signals being exchanged deep in the woods,evidently by the scattered cohorts of Ted; but while valiant, the membersof the Fox Patrols were wise and prudent as well, copying the cautiousattributes of the wary animal after which their new organization had beennamed.
They declined to explore the dense forest, seeking a foe that might onlybe bent on luring them along, until ready to pounce on them in a body, tomake them prisoners of war.
And so finally the march came to an end, with all hands satisfied thatthe last meeting of the little host of new scouts had been attended byseveral of the most exciting circumstances that ever befell the boys ofStanhope.
Paul and his chum walked on together, until reaching the first home theysaid good night. But neither again brought up that subject which had beenworrying Jack Stormways for so long a time.
If Paul had conceived any sort of an idea in connection with the strangedisappearance of the old coins, he kept it to himself.
Once, however, on the way home after leaving Jack, he stopped to clap hishand down vigorously on his knee, and whispered to himself:
"Now, I wonder if that could possibly be so?"
But no matter what idea had struck him, further words didn't come to tellwhether his thoughts were connected with Jack's personal trouble; or onthe other hand if the annoying enmity of Ted Slavin, Ward Kenwood, andtheir would-be scout troop, was still on his mind.
Nevertheless, as Paul passed up to the front door of his home, andstopped a minute to look up at the bright moon sailing across the easternheavens, he considered that he had good reason to feel more thansatisfied with the magnificent results already attending the new methodsof the Boy Scouts.
On the following day he sent off the letter containing a check which hisfather gave him in place of the money, so that it might not be lost.
Then followed a period of anxious waiting, during which many of themembers of the Stanhope Troop No. 1 felt touches of envy at sight oftheir rivals parading the streets, decked out in the full regalia ofScouts, and carrying themselves with the proudest of airs.
They knew that Ted and Ward were busily engaged in drilling theirfollowers in many of the devices prominently mentioned in the manualbook. For that matter, though, it did not require regulation suits ofkhaki to excel in those same things; and so the Foxes also studied andexperimented, and burned candles at night in the endeavor to learn allthat was possible of those various accomplishments.
There was a great difference in the boys of the town.
Few who were of the proper age but who belonged to one or the other ofthe troops; and people were beginning to notice how much more manly theycarried themselves, and how anxious they seemed now to get credit marksat home.
Parents upon meeting never failed to talk about this wonderful change,and express hopes that it would last.
"The best thing that ever happened, barring none, I think," was what theold minister declared, at a meeting of the Women's Club; "and it deservesto be encouraged. Why, you ladies should take advantage of this wave ofreform, to get these lads interested in keeping the streets of the townclean. Give me fifty willing workers among the boys, and I warrant youthere will never be a stray piece of paper blowing around. They'llprovide receptacles for trash, and see that everybody uses them."
And so it went around, and everybody seemed delighted at the innovation.Only a few skeptical old fogies shook their heads, and declared that itwas too good to last, and that they about expected to see the boys ofStanhope transplanted to the heavens in a body presently, since theirwings must be sprouting.
About this time it came to the ears of Paul that the banner which thepeace-loving Quaker, Mr. Westervelt, had offered for the most proficienttroop of scouts along the Bushkill, had been placed on exhibition in thewindow of a jewelry store over in the manufacturing town of Manchester.
He and Jack wheeled over that very day to inspect the coveted trophy.When they saw what a beauty it was, their hearts thrilled with newaspirations.
"Worth fighting hard for, eh, Paul?" observed Jack.
"I should say, yes," replied the other, delight written in big letters onhis face, pressed so close to the glass; "and I reckon it would do ourfellows lots of good just to run down here to look at that dandy banner.I must tell them all about it, and have them see it for themselves."
"A bully good idea. You know how to get a fellow to put his best licksinto any job he undertakes," declared his chum, admiringly.
"Humbug!" scornfully replied Paul; "why, it's as easy as falling off alog. Don't you feel more like straining every nerve in the effort to winthat prize, after seeing how handsome it is? Well, I just try to believeevery fellow is more or less like I am. That's the whole secret. Yes,Stanhope must work hard to catch up with the other fellows."
There were several boys standing around, also gaping at the fine snowybanner, upon which as the card under it, went on to state, was to beembroidered with colored silk the totem of the leading patrol of thesuccessful troop.
These fellows could not help knowing who the strangers in town were; andit was also easy for them to guess what had brought Paul and Jack downthere. More than a few times had they seen these Stanhope boys competingon the athletic field, either in baseball, or football. And of course itwas always good form for Manchester lads to "josh" any would-be rivals.
"Yes," said one of the natives, with a grin, "up in that corner is wherethe eagle is going to be painted. And every time we go on a hike we'llcarry that banner at the head of the procession."
"They say," remarked another, with pretended innocence, "that poor oldStanhope is getting up a troop, and even hopes to have a try for thisbeauty. Now, what do you think about the nerve of that, fellows?"
"Oh! well, the more the merrier," came from a third, whom Paul knew to bethe scout leader of the "Eagles" in person, "and after all, we don't mindshowing these tenderfeet scouts how to do stunts. None of us want to behogs, boys. There's room
enough for all, even if some do have to eatthe husks."
Paul had to laugh out loud at this.
"Say, you're on to us, all right, Manchester," he said, turning around."Yes, we've come down here just to take a peep at this great prize. Ofcourse we'd like mighty well to say we meant to win it; but we're toomodest for that. The most we admit is that we mean to make a try for it.Of course we haven't got much show against two such veteran troops asManchester and Aldine; but we want to get all the fun out of the game wecan. And you won't begrudge us that, Claypool?"
"Sure we won't, Morrison," returned the other, frankly, thrusting outhis hand; "as I said before, the more in it the better. It will make ourvictory look bigger."
"Glad to see you're so dead sure of winning out," laughed Paul; "wheneverthe Stanhope boys go into anything they always work harder if they havebig odds against them. But all the same that's a bully good banner, andno matter whether it has an eagle, the head of a beaver, or that of afox worked on it in colored silk, it's going to be something we'll allbe proud of as Boy Scouts."
"That's well put, Morrison; though you might just as well get it out ofyour head now as later that the Manchester fellows will ever let anycrowd come in here and take that dandy flag away. Why, our fellows knowten times as much about scout tactics as your greenhorns do now."
Claypole did not mean to be overbearing; when he said this he reallybelieved it to be an actual fact.
"That's very true," said Paul, quietly, as he and his chum prepared tomount their wheels for the return journey; "but Thanksgiving is stillmore than two months off; and Claypole, I give you my word, we've gotsome of the smartest tenderfeet in the Stanhope troop you ever heardof. Ta-ta, boys!"
Of course, when Paul and Jack told what they had seen, every fellowwanted to make the run over to Manchester to look for himself. And,just as Paul had expected, they came back home more than ever enthusedwith the hope and prospect of winning that royal banner for the Stanhopetroop.
At the next meeting the talk was all about the prize, and a vote was eventaken to ascertain to whom the honor of being the banner bearer mightfall, in case the victory was awarded to Stanhope. Wallace Carberryturned out to be the lucky standard bearer.
All of which was just what clever Paul wanted. He had infused a newstimulant into the veins of his comrades. And at their next outdoorrally, when various contests were undertaken to discover who showed themost skill, he found that the very atmosphere seemed to be surchargedwith electricity; for the boys labored to excel as they had never donebefore; but it was because each one believed that upon his shouldersalone devolved the duty of bringing that beautiful prize to Stanhope.
Four days later the expected suits arrived, much sooner than even themost sanguine had anticipated.
Then there _was_ a time.
The usually quiet and peaceful streets of the town were fairly filledwith khaki-clad warriors, strutting up and down, exchanging militarysalutes, and arousing the admiration of all the girls, who came forthto gaze and applaud.
It was a great day for Stanhope. A stranger visiting there for the firsttime might think some military academy must have taken up fall quartersnear by, and granted full liberty to its uniformed hosts.
If there were those who had been hesitating about joining either of thetroops, a decision must certainly follow the first glimpse of thosegallant uniforms.
That night many a lad ate supper as an honored guest at his father'stable; for surely the wearer of a uniform must be entitled to unusualprivileges.
Of course the word had gone around for a meeting of the Stanhope No. 1.But it was not to be held at the Shipley barn--oh! no, those boys hadhad "quite a sufficiency," as Bobolink said, of their former quarters;and Bluff admitted that his father would not dare use the building againthat year for his tobacco crop.
Jason Carberry, father of the twins, had asked as a favor that they makeuse of his big smithy; and since the night air was cool, Paul hadaccepted this generous proposition of the blacksmith on the spot.
So that was where they came together, a uniformed organization, at last.