CHAPTER XVI.
"THE FINEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO FAIRFIELD!"
AFTER the second in the race, Felix Wagner, had come in, one of thefirst things the boy from Fairfield did was to hunt out Lil Artha, shakehands with him heartily, and congratulate him.
"I'd like to have beat you, all right," he said with a whimsicalgrimace; "but I take it no fellow had need of feeling ashamed aboutplaying second fiddle to such a giant on a hike as you, Lil Artha. Andthat goes."
Elmer had watched this meeting with eagerness; and he immediately turnedto Mr. Garrabrant.
"That settles one thing I've been worrying about," he declared,emphatically.
"Meaning that this Fairfield lad has had no knowledge of the miserablegame that some of his misguided friends were engineering in his behalf;is that it, Elmer?" remarked the gentleman, understanding what he had inmind.
"Yes, sir," came the reply. "You see, from all accounts, in the old daysthis same Felix Wagner was one of the right bowers of Matt Tubbs. Andsomehow I seemed to be making up my mind that if _he_ had a hand in thisugly deal, there was a screw loose somewhere in this reformationbusiness over there."
"But now?" asked Mr. Garrabrant, smiling.
"It looks good to me, as Lil Artha would say," replied Elmer. "If ever afellow 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 hisfriends tried to make Lil Artha ride, so as to knock him out of therace, Felix will be furious."
Which prediction proved to be the case a little later; but we cannotafford either the time or space to go into particulars with regard tothis.
"Now we have another job before us," remarked Mr. Garrabrant, when teno'clock had arrived.
"You mean looking up the cripples--those who are ready to admit thattheir hope of reaching Little Falls within the required time has diedout; and who will be only too willing to get a lift back home?" Elmersuggested.
"Why, yes, some of them must be in a pretty bad way; and as it stillthreatens rain we must look them all up. I have three cars here that canbe used for the job. Would you care to run ahead, and try to hunt themup, Elmer?"
"Yes, on one condition," came the reply.
"Oh, you can consider that it is granted before you ask; but what is itsnature?" Mr. Garrabrant inquired, laughingly.
"That I ride alone," answered the boy.
"Oh, I see," the scout master went on, nodding his head wisely; "youdread having Toby and Nat along with their decrepit wheels to add toyour troubles."
"Yes," said Elmer, seriously; "because I can make much better timealone, rain or not. Besides, I think the boys ought to have a rest; andit would really be better if they put up here in Little Falls with someBoy Scout friends until to-morrow, when they can come home."
"All right; I shall so advise them; though if they choose to leave theirmotorcycles here until some future day, they can just as well ride backin a car."
Both Toby and Nat, however, had friends in the town, and concluded tostay over. Their machines had taken on a new life apparently, sincetheir association with Elmer and they were much encouraged.
Accordingly, the leader of the Wolf Patrol started out. Fifty miles orso 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 feltthat he would have little cause for complaint.
As he rode along the thoroughfare he frequently sounded his horn in sucha way that any stragglers would know it was meant for a signal to showthemselves. It was to be Elmer's duty to warn them that the cars wouldsoon be along, and that they could get back to Hickory Ridge in that wayif they preferred.
About five miles out he heard a shout, and some one who was standingalongside the road waved his hat. It was Matty, the leader of the BeaverPatrol.
Elmer immediately jumped off his machine and put the question up to hisfellow scout. But he really knew what the answer would be before theother 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 reportto the headquarters of the Little Falls troop; and get back hometo-morrow someway or other. But I'm glad Lil Artha got the prize. He'sa dandy on a hike, I tell you; and Hickory Ridge is proud of him, sureas you're born! So long, Elmer; get word to my folks, if you can; thoughI warned 'em not to look for me to-night."
Then Matty strode off bravely, though Elmer detected a slight limp whicheven his game qualities could not entirely conceal.
A little later on he picked up Red Huggins and Phil Dale, the latterhaving given up, as he was utterly worn out. They had started a firealongside the road and were preparing to pass the remainder of the nightafter the fashion of true scouts. In view of the possibility of rain theboys were even then starting to make some sort of shelter from branchesand such stuff as they could find.
Of course they received the good news with tremendous satisfaction; anddeclared that they would be only too delighted to get a chance of a liftback home.
"Hope they'll let me fasten my old wheel behind, somehow?" remarkedPhil; and Elmer assured 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 everyone of them expressed the greatest satisfaction when they heard how Mr.Garrabrant did not mean that they should spend the night away from homebut would speedily be along with a number of cars calculated to carrythem back to Hickory Ridge.
Even Tom Cropsey was located, he having taken refuge in the branches ofa tree, because of a farmer's vicious dog that kept barking savagelynot far away; and Tom happened to be particularly timid about strangedogs. His wheel being useless, and himself too cramped for walking, hehad "camped" after his own fashion.
Thus all were restored to their homes that night save the otherFairfield 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 unreliablemotorcycles.
Of course it was well along into the morning before the last automobilereached Hickory Ridge with the balance of the contestants; and as nearlyeverybody had long before gone to bed, the victor was not received withany great acclaim; at least the factory whistles were not blown, nor thechurch bells rung. But a few of the faithful scouts, who were bound tomake a night of it, had waited up at headquarters; and these fellowsgave three hearty cheers when they saw the long-legged Lil Artha stepstiffly 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 announcedthat the several contestants in the great hike, as well as the five whohad gone forth on bicycles and motorcycles, intended giving a detailedreport of what adventures had happened on the way; and it was expectedthat there would be some stories worth listening to.
The indignation of the boys was intense when they heard how thoseFairfield four had tried to block Lil Artha's game and, by forcing himto ride, render his claim to be a contestant under the rules null andvoid.
"But listen, fellows," said Elmer, who presided in place of the scoutmaster, called out of town on sudden business; "don't be too quick toblame the Boy Scouts of Fairfield for that rascally piece of business.Matt Tubbs called me up on the phone this afternoon and wanted me toexpress the indignation of himself and his comrades over the matter. Hedeclared that they had not the faintest indication of the affair; andthat it was engineered entirely by some 'outcasts,' who, having declinedto subscribe to the twelve cardinal principles of the new movement, weredoing 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 Fairfieldand Cramertown are just daft over the change that has taken
place amongthe boys there ever since the scouts were organized, and that they meanto stand back of the movement through thick and thin. They say theorganization of the scouts was the finest thing that ever happened toFairfield."
"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 taintedtitle if he had won after Lil Artha was kidnaped, we ought to give ourfellow scouts over there a cheer. Yes, and send them a lettercongratulating them on the new spirit of fairness that has sprung upamong them."
It was put in the form of a motion, and carried unanimously. So threecheers and a tiger were given with a will; and later on the letter waswritten, which Elmer himself promised to deliver to Matt Tubbs, the loanof that fine motorcycle still holding good.
And this, then, was the way the great hike went through. Lil Artha, ofcourse, was the pride of the troop for his fine work; but the otherfellows who had done the best they knew how were not forgotten in thechronicles of the event, as written in the log book of the secretary.
The only serious accident of the affair was the sprain which Henry Cobbhad been unfortunate enough to receive, and which was likely to make himlimp for many weeks. But it had afforded a tremendous amount of fun, andat the same time proved that the fact of a boy belonging to the scoutsneed not detract in the least from his manly qualities.
Vacation was now nearly at an end, and presently the scouts would betaking up their school duties for the new year. The summer that hadpassed had really been the most delightful one in all their experience;and they looked forward hopefully to other good times ahead, when, asscouts, they might be given the privilege of learning many of thesecrets of Nature and of building up sturdy and manly characters underthe influence of the splendid rules governing the organization.
But there was one grumbler out of the number starting out for LittleFalls, and this was Nat. He never could get entirely over the cruel fatethat had allowed those trapped plotters to get off "so easy" and wasoften heard to mutter that if Elmer had not happened to be along theremight 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, hadhe been allowed his own sweet way, he might have remembered how he hadfaithfully promised not to harbor the spirit of revenge when he signedthe roster of the Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts' troop.
_THE END._
_The next story of this Series (Number Six), which can be found on saleeverywhere, is called "The Hickory Ridge Boy Scouts' Endurance Test; or,How Clear Grit Won the Day."_
ADDENDA
BOY SCOUT NATURE LORE