Tom Slade had not the moral courage to crown his splendid triumph bygoing straightway and giving the pin to Mary Temple. He could notovercome his fear of John Temple and the awe of the palatial residence.You see, he had not the legacy of refined breeding to draw upon. TheScout movement had taken a big contract in the making of Tom Slade, butMr. Ellsworth (good sport that he was) was never daunted. Tom did notknow how to go alone up to the luxurious veranda at Five Oaks, ring thebell, face that stoical Japanese, ask to see the pretty, beautifullydressedgirl, and restore her pin to her. He could have done it withoutrevealing the identity of the fugitive, but he did not know how to doit; he would not ask Roy to come to his assistance, and he missed thebest fruits of his triumph.
So he went back to camp (scout pace, for it was getting late), hisempty membership booklet flapping against his chest as he ran.
It was fortunate for his disturbed and rather sullen state of mind thatan unusual diversion was on the boards at camp. The Ravens' tent wasquite deserted; Mr. Ellsworth was in his own tent, busily writing, andhe called out cordially, "Hello, Tommy," as Tom passed on to the SilverFoxes' tent.
Within Roy was standing on a box holding forth to the entire patrol,and he was in that mood which never failed to fascinate Tom.
"Sit down; you get two slaps on the wrist for being late," said he.This was the only reference he or any of them made to Tom'sdisappearance at Five Oaks. A scout is tactful. "I don't see anyseat," Tom said.
"Get up and give Tom a seat," ordered Roy.
"_I_ wouldn't get up and give President Wilson a seat," announcedEddie Ingram.
"Not me," laughed Dorry Benton, "I stalked for six miles to-day."
"Get up and give Mr. Thomas Slade a seat, somebody," shouted Roy.
"Keep still, you'll wake the baby," said Westy.
"You wouldn't catch me getting up to give George Washington a seat,"said Bert Collins, "not after that hike."
"I'll make them get up," said Roy, fumbling in his pocket.
"Yes, you will--_not_," said Westy.
"Look at Eddie, he's half asleep," said Dorry.
"Wake up, Ed," shouted Roy. "It's time to take your sleeping powder.
"I wouldn't get up if you set a firecracker off under me, that's howtired I am," mumbled Eddie.
"I'll make them get up," Roy whispered, winking at Tom.
He pulled out his trusty harmonica and began to play the national air.Tom could not help laughing to see how they all rose.
"Now's your chance, sit down, Tom," said Roy. "The Pied Piper ofWhat's-his-name hasn't got anything on me! The object of the puzzle,ladies and gentlemen," he continued.
"Hear! Hear!"
"Go to it. You're doing fine!"
"The object of the puzzle," said Roy, rolling up his sleeves as if heintended to do the puzzle then and there, "the object of the puzzle isto get inside the Ravens' tent without entering it. Will some gentlemanin the audience kindly loan me a high hat and a ten-dollar gold piece?No? Evidently no gentleman in the audience."
"Cut it out," said Westy. "They'll be back in an hour. What are wegoing to do?"
"We are not going to do anything until the silent hour of midnight,"said Roy. "Then we are going to make reprisals."
"How do you make those?" called Westy.
"That's some word, all right," said Ed.
"I tracked that all the way through the Standard Dictionary," said Roy.
"How about Mr. Ellsworth?"
"He has announced his policy of strict neutrality," said Roy. "Thefield is ours! The obnoxious post-card will be ours if you, bravescouts, will do your part! For one month now has that obnoxious post-cardhung in the Ravens' tent. For one month has Pee-wee Harris smiledhis smile and gone unshaved--I mean unscathed. Shall this go on?"
"No! No!"
"Shall it be said that the Silver Foxes are not Sterling silver butonly German silver?"
"Never!"
"Shall the silver of the Silver Foxes be tarnished by that slanderouscard?"
"Never!"
"They have called us the 'Follow Afters'--they have said that we arenothing but 'Silver _Polish_'"!
"We'll rub it into them," shouted Westy.
"They have taken cowardly refuge in the troop rule that no Silver Foxshall enter their tent except on invitation, and this insertion--"
"You mean aspersion."
"Glares forth from the upright of their sordid lair--"
"'Sordid lair' is good!"
"No extra charge," said Roy; "until now the worm has turned. If wecannot enter their tent then we must take down their tent, remove thecard, and put the tent up again."
"Oh, joy!" said Ed.
"And it must not be done sneakingly in their absence, but to the softmusic of their snoring. The enterprise is beset with many dangers.Those who are not willing to venture (as What-do-you-call-him said whenhe stormed Fort Something-or-other) may stay behind!"
Before camp-fire yarns, an elaborate card was prepared in the privacyof the Silver Foxes' tent in Roy's characteristically glaring style, onwhich appeared the single word, STUNG!
The night for this bold deed had been well chosen. The Ravens had beenstalking all day and at camp fire Tom listened wistfully to the accountof the day's most notable stunt which was Pee-wee's tracking of amuskrat more than half a mile within the required twenty-five minutesof the Second Class provision.
"Pee-wee'll be the first to jump out of the Tenderfoot Class thissummer," said Mr. Ellsworth, as he poked the crackling fire. "YouSilver Foxes will have to get busy." He looked pleasantly at Tom. "Hey,Tommy?"
"I was wondering," said Roy, as he stretched himself on the groundclose to the cheerful blaze, "if we couldn't work in something specialfor next Wednesday--it's troop birthday. We'll be two years old."
"That's right, so it is," said Artie Van Arlen, Raven. "I'm a chartermember; the Silver Foxes weren't even heard of or thought of at thattime."
"No, they're a lot of upstarts," said Doc. Carson, the first-aid boy."You'd think to hear them talk that they started before NationalHeadquarters did. I remember when this troop was a one-ring circus:just us Ravens, and we had some good times too. I had my first-aidbadge before those triple-plated Silver Foxes were born!"
"They have no traditions," said the Ravens' patrol leader.
"They're an up-to-date patrol, though," said Roy. "The Ravens arepasse--like the old Handbook. That kind of patrol was all right whenthe thing first started; the Silver Foxes are a last year's model."
"Well," laughed Mr. Ellsworth, raking up the fire and drawing hisgrocery-box seat closer, "maybe the Silver Foxes will be ancienthistory soon. I'm thinking of a new pack of upstarts for you foxes tomake fun of."
"You haven't made another flank move on Connie Bennett, have you?"laughed Roy. They were all familiar with Mr. Ellsworth's dream ofanother patrol.
"Connie rests his head on a pine cushion and imagines he's a BoyScout," said Artie.
"He blows the dust off a _Dan Dreadnought_ book and imagines it'sthe wind howling through the forest," said Westy.
"He runs the tennis-marker over the lawn and thinks he's tracking,"said Pee-wee.
"No, not as bad as that, boys," laughed the scoutmaster. "Between youand me and the camp fire, I suspect Connie's got the bug."
"Haven't given up hope yet?" said Roy.
"Never say die," answered Mr. Ellsworth, good-naturedly.
Once, twice, thrice had he made a daring assault on the Bennettstronghold and once, twice, thrice had he been gallantly repulsed bythe Bennett right wing, which was Mrs. Bennett. He had planted theBennett veranda with mines in the form of _Boys' Life_ and_Scouting,_ but all to no avail. Yet his hopeful spirit in regardto the visionary Elk Patrol was almost pathetic.
The tent of the venerable Raven patrol was pitched under a spreadingtree and they retired with their proud and ancient traditions,blissfully unaware of the startling liberty which was to be taken withtheir historic dignity by those upstart Silver Foxes. Mr. Ellsworth,wit
h a commendable application of his policy of strict neutrality,retired to his own tent to dream of the new patrol.
Never in the history of the troop had a Silver Fox trespassed unknowninto the ancient privacy of the Ravens, and never had a Ravencondescended to enter the Silver Fox stronghold save honorably and byinvitation. They knew the Silver Foxes for a sportive crew pervaded bythe inventive spirit of Roy Blakeley, but they had no fear of anyviolation of scout honor and the obnoxious card hung ostentatiously onthe central upright of their tent.
In the still hour of midnight the enterprising Silver Foxes emerged inspectral silence from their lair and the battle-cry (or rather,whisper) was "Revenge," pronounced by Roy as if it had a dozen rattlingR's at the beginning of it. Every boy was keyed to the highest pitch ofexcitement.
The Ravens' tent was a makeshift affair of their own manufacture andwhen its sides were not up it was more of a pavilion than a tent: theRavens believed in fresh air. There were two forked uprights and acrossthese was laid the ridgepole. The canvas was spread over this and drawndiagonally toward the ground on either side. There were front and backand sides for stormy weather but they were seldom in requisition.
The program, discussed and settled beforehand, was carried out in scoutsilence, which is about thirty-three and one-third per cent greaterthan the regular market silence. Tom and Eddie Ingram, being thetallest of the foxes, stationed themselves at either upright, the othermembers of the patrol lining up along the sides where they loosened theropes from the pegs. Then Tom and Ed lifted the ridgepole, the scoutsalong the sides held the canvas high, and the entire patrol moveduniformly and in absolute silence. The tent, intact, was moved fromover the sleeping Ravens as the magic carpet of the _ArabianNights_ was moved. It was a very neat little piece of work andshowed with what precision the patrol could act in concert. Thankspartly to their strenuous day of stalking, never a Raven stirred exceptDoc. Carson, who startled them by turning over.
In the centre of the Ravens' tent a sapling had been planted, itsbranches cut away to within several inches of its trunk, so that itmade a very passable clothes-tree. This still stood, like a ghostlysentinel, among the slumbering Ravens, laden with their clothes andparaphernalia. The sudden and radical transformation of the scene wasquite grotesque and the unsheltered household gods of the Ravens lookedludicrous enough as they lay about in homelike disposition with nothingabove them but the stars.
"Great!" whispered Roy, gleefully.
Eddie Ingram laid his end of the ridgepole on the ground and stealingcautiously over among the sleeping Ravens, removed the post card fromthe sapling and put the other card in its place. Then, stealing back towhere the others were waiting, he resumed his end of the pole. This wasrestored to its place in the forked uprights, the ropes were fastenedto the pegs along either side and the Silver Foxes bore EstherBlakeley's memento of their own disgrace triumphantly to theirstronghold.
"Can you beat it?" said Roy, releasing himself with a sense ofrefreshment from the imposition of silence.
"A scout is stealthy," remarked Westy.
In the morning Pee-wee sauntered over and paused outside the SilverFoxes' tent, not saying a word, though.
"Well," said Roy, "what can we do for you?"
"I see you've got the card," said Pee-wee.
"Yes," said Westy, pulling on his blouse. "We're going to frame it andsend it to National Headquarters, too, for an exhibition of scoutstealth and silence."
"I suppose you think we walked in and took it," said Roy, adjusting hisbelt. "We didn't. We never entered your tent. A scout is honorable."
"No," said Pee-wee, "you took the tent down and put it up wrong end to.A scout is observant. Are we going fishing to-day?"
CHAPTER XII
"UP AGAINST IT FOR FAIR"