Produced by Jim Ludwig
The Boy Scout Fire Fighters
Irving Crump
Copyright 1917
Barse and Company
CONTENTS
CHAPTERS I. The Motorcycle Fire Brigade II. The Firemen's Tournament III. Boy Scouts to the Rescue IV. When the Circus Came to Town V. A Scout is Resourceful VI. Helping to Make the Movies VII. Ethan Allen Comes To Life Again VIII. The Prize Contest IX. Working to Win X. The Boy from Arizona XI. The Courage of a Coward XII. The Scout Life Guards' Beach Patrol XIII. The Day of the Big Race XIV. When the Unexpected Happened XV. A Narrow Escape XVI. Quarry Troop's Christmas
CHAPTER I
THE MOTORCYCLE FIRE BRIGADE
"By Jiminy, that was some fire for an old hay barn, wasn't it, fellows?"exclaimed Jiminy Gordon, as he entered the meeting room at headquarters.His eyes were flashing excitement and he was thoroughly out of breathfrom running up the long Otter Creek Hill. "I stayed until the lastspark was out," he said, as he dropped into a chair beside BruceClifford, leader of the Owl Patrol of Quarry Troop No. 1.
"Some fire, is perfectly correct," said Bruce bitterly, "though itneedn't have been anything more than an ordinary blaze. I tell you theWoodbridge Fire Department needs a little pep, fellows." This last was addressed to the four other occupants of the room, Bud Weir, Romper Ryan,Babe Wilson and Nipper Knapp.
"Right," said Romper.
"The way they went about it was a farce," said Bud.
"Yes, they all had to have their red flannel shirts on," remarked Babe,the fat boy, sarcastically.
"Say, did you see 'em scrapping over who should carry the fire trumpet?"laughed Romper.
"Sure, and about six men were giving orders," put in Jiminy, who hadcaught the spirit of the remarks.
"And no one obeyed any of 'em," supplemented Babe, sarcastic as usual.
"But the finest exhibition of firemanship was when one of the nozzlemenlet go of the only hose they got on the fire while he hunted through hispockets for a paper of tobacco or something else just as important," saidBruce. "Of course the other nozzleman couldn't hold onto the hose aloneand it twisted out of his hands. The thing acted like a big black snake,fellows, and hit Chief Blaney a whack in the chest that knocked himsprawling. Then it proceeded to wet down the whole fire departmentbefore some one captured it. It was a scream. Didn't any of you seeit?"
"I reached there in time to see Tom Hogan try to stop it and get aducking for his trouble," laughed Nipper Knapp.
"Oh, it is a shame," continued Bruce; "I know it isn't exactly proper tocriticise, but then if they'd had a little system about it old EliOsborne's barn would still be standing. Now it's a heap of cinders. Itell you any ordinary troop of Boy Scouts has more snap than theWoodbridge Fire Department. I believe-- By Jove, fellows. I've an idea!Let's organize a fire department of our own. A motorcycle firedepartment. I was reading in a magazine only the other day how theystarted one over in England somewhere. How about it?"
"Bully--how's it done?" demanded Bud Weir, leader of the Blue Heron Patrol.
"Corking idea; let's get busy," exclaimed Jiminy Gordon.
"Great! Give us the details," shouted Romper.
Bruce wrinkled his brow in deep thought for several moments, then hisface lighted up with a smile.
"Look here, fellows," he said enthusiastically, "three of us havemotorcycles we got for Christmas, and Romper here and Ray Martin of theFlying Eagles have the machines they built themselves. Then there's 'OldNanc,' the automobile we built last Winter. She's good enough to carryhose and hatchets and a couple of fellows besides. We've the equipment.What do you say? I'm dead sure my dad will let us borrow some fireextinguishers from the mill, and he has any amount of hose and otherthings to fit up a first-class brigade. We'll get our equipment togetherand then drill like the dickens. How about it?"
"And we'll keep it a secret. Won't tell a soul until we get a chance tospring a surprise on the whole town, eh, fellows?" suggested Bud.
"Let's spring it at the tournament and convention next month. TheChamplain Valley Firemen's Association meets here this year, you know.Perhaps we can get first prize in the tournament, added Romper Ryan.
"Whoo-o-o-pe! Great! Let's get busy," shouted Nipper Knapp.
"Right-o," said Bruce. "But first of all let's tell our plan toAssistant Scoutmaster Ford."
To be thoroughly familiar with Quarry Troop No. 1 you must know that itwas composed of three patrols in Woodbridge, Vt., and that its membershad created a reputation for themselves through their ability asmechanics and electricians. Woodbridge has long been noted for itselectrically operated marble quarries and its many machine shops andtextile mills, and the boys of the town, as a result of theirsurroundings, were by nature of a mechanical turn. Added to this, theWoodbridge Academy was one of the first institutions of the country toadopt a manual training course as part of its curriculum, and all thelads received an early drilling at the lathes and forges.
Bruce Clifford, always the most self-reliant lad in town, first suggestedthat he and his fellows establish "a troop of Engineers," and of coursehis proposal was received with enthusiasm by the Academy boys. Brucetook the plan to his father, Samuel Clifford, and to his father's friend,Hamilton Townsend, a well-known consulting engineer in Woodbridge. Mr.Townsend was delighted with the idea, and quickly consented to become theScoutmaster, while Mr. Clifford, to foster the interest of the lads alongmechanical lines, offered them the abandoned machine shop on the top ofOtter Creek Hill for their headquarters.
This was a real find for Bruce and his friends, for the old place hadnever been dismantled.
Mr. Clifford was a builder of electrical stone cutting and polishingmachines and for a long time he had maintained his business in the littletwo-story structure. But four years previous he had erected a fine newconcrete building just across the way, and abandoned the machine shop,intending to tear down the building and sell the old equipment for junk.
This made ideal headquarters for a troop that desired to specialize inengineering. On the first floor were the old hand-forges, bellows,lathes, work benches, planing machines, and various other appliances.They were all out of date, to be sure, and some slightly rusty, but stillquite usable after they had been cleaned up.
On the second floor of the building were two rooms, one of which was usedfor meetings, while the other was converted into a wire room for the looptelegraph line that the lads had built through the town. This loop wasconnected with an instrument in the bedrooms of every member of the troopand the boys could be routed out of bed at midnight, if need be, by someone calling on any of the keys. A wireless system had also been erectedon the roof of the building by the wireless enthusiasts of the troop andthe helix, spark-gap and various coils and keys were also set up in thewire room.
Headquarters immediately became popular with every member of the troopand always some one was to be found pottering about in the machine shop,building something that he was particularly interested in. Two of theboys, during the long Winter evenings, had made more or less serviceablemotorcycles for themselves, and a half dozen of the young engineers hadeven essayed the construction of an automobile from old parts they wereable to get for "a song" at various junk shops; indeed, some serviceablematerial was found in scrap heaps about town.
How well they succeeded, a wheezing two-cylinder motor car attested.This turn-out was dubbed "Old Nanc" by the troop, and though it went farbetter down grade than it did on the level, the boys managed to get agreat deal of fun out of it. And it was not a bad looking machine eitherwhen it finally received several generous coats of red paint and enamel.
Luckily, Austin Ford, the engineer in charge of
the hydro-electric plantof the Woodbridge Quarry Company, became interested in the "ScoutEngineers," and through him the officials of the quarry company werepersuaded to allow the lads to use as much electric current as theyrequired without cost. The youngsters quickly built a transmission lineto the electric station, which was located a few miles north of the townon a branch of Otter Creek.
Mr. Ford's interest in the lads increased to admiration when he saw thebusiness-like way in which they went about building the line, and he evenoffered them some practical engineering advice when they found themselvesup against knotty problems. This led to a more intimate relation withthe young Cornell graduate, and in the end the boys suggested that hebecome the Assistant Scoutmaster. This office rather pleased him, for inreality Austin Ford was little more than a big boy in the matter ofpleasure.
He quickly became a master of scout lore and at every opportunity he wasafield with the lads or else in the shop at headquarters working out newengineering "stunts" (as he characterized them) for the Scouts toundertake. The boys never failed to talk over each new undertaking withhim, as, for instance, the troop's latest scheme, the organization of amotorcycle fire department.
Indeed, on the very evening of the day Eli Osborn's barn was reduced toashes, Bruce, Bud, Romper and several others visited Mr. Ford andoutlined their plans. Of course the Assistant Scoutmaster approved ofsuch a very laudable Idea, but he did admonish the boys againstcriticising the present fire fighting force of Wood bridge, stating thatthough the men had their peculiarities the lads should remember that theywere volunteers, doing their work without receiving a cent of pay becausethey recognized their duty to others.
As to the equipment of the brigade, he left that all up to the boys,telling them, however, that whenever they had any difficulty they wouldfind him ready to help them. He also suggested that they visit thehydro-electric plant and take a few tools and some old sand buckets whichthey could paint over and use as bucket brigade equipment.