THE BOY SCOUTS AND THE PRIZE PENNANT

BY SCOUT MASTER ROBERT SHALER

AUTHOR OF “THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE SIGNAL CORPS,” “THE BOY SCOUTS OF PIONEER CAMP,” “THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,” “THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE LIFE SAVING CREW,” ETC., ETC.

NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1914, BY HURST & COMPANY

CHAPTER I. THE VALUE OF WOODCRAFT.

“Wasn’t that the far-away hoot of an owl just then, Mr. Scout Master?”

“I wonder if it could be one of those tenderfoot recruits that expect to make up the new Owl patrol of our troop? How about that, Hugh?”

“As you’ve put it up to me straight, Billy, I’ll tell you what I think. It’s out of the question for one of those greenhorns to be away up here in the woods; and it was too deep and heavy to be the call of even a big Virginia horned owl. If you fellows will take the trouble to look up through the treetops you’ll notice that there’s a lot of queer flying clouds racing overhead right now.”

“Whew! do you mean it’s going to storm, Hugh?” demanded the boy who had answered to the name of Billy. He seemed to be a good-natured, easy-going lad, though just now his face bore an expression of sudden concern.

“I’m sure that was the distant growl of thunder we heard,” came the answer from Hugh Hardin, an athletic fellow who had long been the leader of the Wolf patrol. Very lately, on the resignation of the assistant scout master of the troop, Hugh had been elected to that office, receiving a certificate from Boy Scout Headquarters in New York City that fully qualified him to serve in place of the real chief should the latter be unable to accompany the troop.

There were just four of the lads up in the woods, where they had come to spy out the chances for gathering a bountiful nut crop later on in the fall. Incidentally they practiced certain maneuvers that had to do with scout lore and knowledge of woodcraft.

Besides Hugh and Billy Worth, there were Bud Morgan and Arthur Cameron, the latter of whom had made rapid progress to the grade of a second-class scout, with aspirations for even better things.

All of these boys belonged to the Wolf patrol, the doings of which have been told in the various stories preceding this volume. And though they were by this time pretty well versed in a knowledge of the great outdoors, the fact that a storm was sweeping toward them, with not a single house within a radius of several miles, was enough to create considerable consternation among them.

“We ought to do something right away, hadn’t we, Hugh?” demanded Arthur, possibly a trifle more inclined to be timid than any of his mates.

“If we only had plenty of time,” spoke up confident Billy, “we might make a lean-to out of branches that would shed rain. I’ve helped do it before, and we didn’t get wet, so you could notice. But listen to that growl, will you? No time for us to cut brush and branches, because before we got her half done the old rain would be howling down on top of us. Let’s cut and run for it, fellows!”

“That’s all right, but run where?” demanded Hugh. “It would be silly for us to think we could make as fast time as the storm.”

“Whoop! I’ve guessed a way out of the trouble!” ejaculated Arthur, beginning to show signs of sudden excitement.

“Then, for goodness sake, tell us what it is,” urged Bud, as a third peal of thunder broke in upon their hearing, considerably louder than either that had gone before.

“There, look at that whopping big oak tree, fellows! Don’t you see that it’s hollow to the core?” declared Arthur, pointing as he spoke. “Why, chances are the whole kitting lot of us could squeeze inside; and if the storm comes from the direction of that thunder, not a drop of rain would beat in on us. Well, why don’t somebody say what you think of my bully scheme?”

“How about that, Hugh?” asked Billy, as if in doubt. “Seems to me I’ve been given to understand that a big tree isn’t the best place to get under when a thunder and lightning storm is buzzing around. Hope I’m mistaken, though, because that idea seems to be our best hold just now.”

“Well, Hugh doesn’t think so, you notice,” suggested Bud, who had been watching the face of the acting scout master all the while, as well as the gathering gloom that preceded the passage of the heavy black clouds would permit.

“It would be the very last thing we ought to do, boys,” remarked Hugh, with resolution marking his whole manner. “Of course, that tree might never be struck, for it’s stood through heaps and heaps of other storms; but all the same the risk is there. Many a foolish man has been killed just by doing something like that. No, we’ve either got to take our ducking and stand for it, or else find some other place under shelter.”

“But just where could we go, Hugh?” Arthur questioned uneasily, as all of them saw a vivid flash of lightning shoot across the heavens where a small clearing permitted a view. It was soon followed by a detonating crash that seemed to make the very ground tremble underfoot.

“A barn would be just as bad as a tree, wouldn’t it, Hugh?” asked Bud, who, it appeared, knew something about such things.

“Every whit as bad,” the other told him; “but hurry and come along after me, fellows. I’ve got a little scheme that it may pay to try and work. All depends on how long that rain pleases to hold off. Given five minutes, and I reckon we might make shelter. This way, everybody, and take care you don’t get your feet caught in some root or vine that will throw you!”

Somehow all of the other scouts seemed to have the utmost confidence in their young leader. Hugh had been tested many a time, and seldom failed his chums when a sudden necessity like the present arose.

They went stumbling along through the woods, with Arthur bringing up the rear, as he did not seem to be quite as expert at this sort of thing as the balance of the scouts. Evidently Hugh was taking them on the back trail, because presently Billy recognized a fine white birch that he had marked down when passing, meaning to come back one of these days and strip that splendid mottled bark from its trunk, for some purpose he had in mind.

This fact told him that Hugh must have noticed some feature of the landscape, as he was always keeping his eyes about him, that offered a bare chance of safety from the storm that was chasing after them so swiftly.

“It’ll have to bob up mighty quick, then,” Billy was saying to himself, as he felt the first drop of rain splash against his neck, “for we are going to get it like cats and dogs right away. Hello! where’s Arthur?”

The thunder had been rolling just before, but ceased in time for Hugh to hear this last startled exclamation from Billy. He instantly stopped short in his tracks, and the three scouts came together in a bunch.

“Arthur! Whooee!” shouted Billy.

A rather faint voice answered him from back on the trail.

“Here I am; got caught by the ankle, and had all the breath knocked out of me! Go along, and leave me to look out for myself, fellows!”

“Not much we will,” said Hugh, as he immediately started back again on the run. “We Wolves stick together, come what will. Sink or swim, we never desert a comrade, do we, boys?”

“I guess not,” added Billy, and then quailed as a fierce flash dazzled his eyes; “but this settles it for our dry suits. We’re up against it, all right, boys!”

They quickly reached the place where their unlucky chum was sitting up, trying to work his foot loose from the grip of the vine that had caught him fast. Perhaps Arthur would have succeeded in doing this in due time; but he was out of breath now, and trembling so with excitement that he did not seem able to go at the job the right way.

After taking one look, Hugh gave the imprisoned foot a backward wrench and it came free.

“Hurrah for you, Hugh!” gasped the relieved scout, as he scrambled to his feet; “but you oughtn’t to have come back. I was to blame, and stood ready to take my medicine.”

“Scouts always stand by each other,” said Billy, who now proceeded to occupy a place in the rear, so as to keep an eye on the one who seemed prone to do what he had been warned against.

Either the way was freer of obstacles from that point on, or else Arthur had had his lesson and watched his steps more carefully; at any rate, he managed to keep up with those ahead of him, and did not again come to grief.

Two minutes later, and Hugh turned abruptly to the right.

“Here she comes, fellows!” cried Billy, as he heard an ominous rushing sound some little distance in the rear, which he knew must be made by the descending rain.

“And here’s where we score a mark in our favor in the contest for the prize banner!” Hugh added. “Don’t you see where the rocks crop up on this little rise? I noticed several ledges standing out that ought to shelter us from most of the rain, unless the storm shifts and comes back again. Now, each fellow find a place to crawl under the rock!”

Encouraged by these words, the other three scouts hurried forward. Hugh generously pointed out the first refuge, and told Arthur and Bud to get under shelter as fast as they could manage it.

“How about you and Billy?” cried Arthur, unwilling to profit in this way from the scout master’s discovery.

“Move along in here; a scout’s first duty is to obey orders!” Hugh called back over his shoulder as he hurried on.

It was beginning to rain in earnest, and that rushing sound told that within half a minute they might expect to be fairly overwhelmed by the deluge that was coming with that mighty wind and terrific bombardment of thunder.

Talking was no longer possible. One could not have heard distinctly even if a speaker’s lips were pressed against one’s ear. Hugh understood this, and so he clutched Billy’s arm, dragging him toward a spot where he had discovered another shelf of rock, when that last brilliant flash lighted up their surroundings.

They were not a second too soon; for even as the two boys scrambled hastily under the friendly shelter, down came the rain with such a rush that it seemed as if a cloud must have burst.

Crouching there in the semi-gloom, the two boys looked out on such a spectacle as doubtless neither of them had ever seen before.

It did not seem to be a mere summer storm, but very much after the type of a cyclone, such as sweeps irresistibly over sections of the country at times, tearing up great trees by the roots, and carrying off everything that happens to be in its narrow path.

Right before their eyes they saw several trees crash down. All around them the forest bent far over before the howling wind. By pressing back as far as they were able, the boys managed to keep beyond the reach of the downpour. Had it caught them napping, it would have soaked them to the skin “in three shakes of a wolf’s tail,” as Billy confidently remarked in his chum’s ear, during a brief interval when the awful clamor eased up a little.

CHAPTER II. THE LESSON OF THE RIVEN OAK.

The minutes dragged slowly along. For some time it seemed as though there was going to be no let-up to the sudden storm; and already Billy was worrying over how they would get home without a soaking. But Hugh had noticed that it was less dark and gloomy than before, and he drew his own conclusions from this fact. Besides, the crashes of thunder certainly came from further away now, and that was convincing as well as encouraging to the young leader of the Wolf patrol.

“Do we have to stay here all night, or take our dose walking home, Hugh?” asked Billy, who apparently had failed to notice all these favorable signs.

“Oh! hardly as bad as that,” came the confident answer. “You can see that the worst is past by the way the clouds lighten; and that last thunder clap was surely a mile away, for I counted half a dozen seconds between the flash and the beginning of the crash. Let’s be satisfied with the way we’ve managed to cheat the rain and kept our jackets fairly dry. I believe in letting well enough alone.”

Billy began to notice the various indications, since his attention had been called to them by his more observing companion; and he quickly found reason to agree with Hugh that they would soon see the last of the rain.

“Jiminy! if it came down as heavy as this near home,” he said humorously, for Billy could joke, no matter what the conditions were, “we’ll need a boat to paddle along the pike. And say, think of little Pioneer Lake, will you? Won’t it be over the dam and rushing down like a mill race, though?”

The boys could now exchange remarks, because the thunder had rolled further away, although occasionally a terrific crash near at hand startled Billy, who liked to thrust his head out from under his shelter, just as a tortoise might from his shell, only to jerk it back again when a dazzling flash was instantly succeeded by a stunning bang.

“Whew! that was the worst knock of all we’ve had!” he ejaculated the next moment, shivering so that Hugh could feel his form tremble.

“You have to watch out in a bad storm for those same after-claps,” the other informed him. “They nearly always come, and do a heap of damage. There’s something in the air that draws the lightning back again to repeat. And chances are that bolt shattered a tree into splinters, because I’m sure I heard the sound of falling limbs and branches.”

“Oh! Hugh, don’t you think it came right from the quarter where that big hollow oak stood which Arthur wanted all of us to use as a shelter from the storm?” Billy asked, considerable awe in his voice.

“I was thinking that myself,” replied the other soberly; “and when we go on, we’ll find out. If it should happen that way, the sight of it would be the greatest object lesson ever to Arthur; yes, to all of us.”

“I should say yes,” muttered Billy, as in imagination he pictured that lofty oak lying in ruins; “and I guess you did us all a great favor, Hugh, when you refused to let any scout find shelter under its branches, even if they did look mighty tempting.”

That one grand crash seemed to mark the winding up of the furious storm; for the rain stopped altogether, and gradually the surrounding woods became lighter. Still, no scout ventured to crawl forth, such was the spirit of obedience which had been fostered in the Wolf patrol in times past, when all manner of strange adventures had been the portion of the eight boys constituting it. Until the leader gave the signal, they must remain where they were; although one and all of them secretly confessed to being heartily tired of crouching in that strained attitude.

When Arthur and Bud heard the peculiar howl of the wolf—“How-oo-ooo”—softly repeated three times, they knew that this was the signal for release; and accordingly both boys came crawling out from their place of concealment, stretching their cramped limbs with more or less animation and gratitude.

“Let me tell you it’s few scouts who would have noticed these rocky shelves in the formation of the hill,” Billy told the others impressively, “and then have remembered them just when a hiding-place from the storm was needed! When we report this adventure to the committee in charge of that banner, I hope they’ll agree that our patrol deserves a good big ten-point mark placed on record, for doing the right thing at the right time.”

“And let me tell you, the other patrol leaders’ll be warm under the collar when they hear about it, especially Alec Sands,” Bud went on to say reflectively. “Time was when he just hated Hugh here like everything. Then for a while Alec turned right around, so that he seemed to be as good a friend as Hugh had in the whole troop; but I’ve taken notice lately that Alec’s showing signs of his old trouble. You know he’s a spoiled darling at home and thinks everything ought to come his way. He’s straining every nerve to count points, and says he’s got that fine banner as good as won. Huh! like fun he has! Wait till the Wolf patrol is heard from!”

“That’s the way to talk, Bud,” commented Billy; “it gives us all a nice warm feeling. I only wish we could manage to get a photograph of these shelter caves that came in so handy. Nothing like being able to show the proof, when you’re going to make a report to the committee.”

“Well, you’ll have to come back here on a clear day, then,” said Hugh; “because there isn’t half enough light now to take them, and we haven’t any flashlight apparatus along. If all of you are ready, let’s be making tracks toward home.”

Billy noticed that the leader took great pains to walk along the same trail they had used in advancing, and he could give a pretty fair guess why this should be so.

That was characteristic of Billy; he often acted as though sleepy; but, once he was aroused, he could make as good use of his eyes and ears as the next fellow. Just then he fancied that Hugh expected to spring a considerable surprise on his chums before they had gone many rods.

“Looks as if we would be pretty wet, after all, the way the drops come down from the trees,” Arthur remarked, as he started to draw the collar of his coat up about his neck. “But then, none of us are made of salt, are we, boys?”

“Well, I should say not,” declared Bud, “after all we’ve been through since the Wolf patrol was first started, and Lieutenant Denmead consented to serve as our Scout Master. And he’s worked wonders for the lot of us, everybody says. Some of the boys in the troop have improved five hundred per cent. since they joined the scouts. They’ve learned that a fellow can get heaps and heaps of fun out of life without playing mean tricks or being cruel to birds and animals.”

“Hear! hear!” exclaimed Billy, softly clapping his hands in applause.

“If to-morrow is fine, I hope the whole bunch will come up here again,” urged Arthur at this point. “We surely must get photographs of those queer rocky shelters, to show the judges when we put in our claim for ten points. Hugh, will you come, for one?”

“I certainly will, Arthur, and hope both the other fellows will be along, for they ought to be in the pictures.”

“Oh! there’s only going to be one, you know, Hugh; unless we happen to strike a bevy of young partridges with their mother. I’ve got a quail sitting on her nest, but always wanted a group picture of the partridge family.”

“Well, we’ll have to order up one for you, then, Arthur,” chuckled Bud.

Just then Arthur, not looking very closely where he stepped, stumbled over something that lay in the trail.

“Look here, fellows, what does this mean?” he exclaimed, stooping to pick up the object. “A splinter of wood torn from a tree, and as fresh as anything! Why, I wonder if the lightning could have done that? Look around, fellows, and—oh! just see what happened to that tree! Why, the whole ground’s covered with the wreckage! What a terrible thing a bolt of lightning is, isn’t it, Hugh?”

“One of the most fearful things known,” Hugh replied; “but look again, Arthur, and tell me if you think you ever saw this same tree before!”

Billy fairly held his breath as he waited to hear what the other’s reply would be, for he had already seen that which told him the truth.

“Why, you don’t expect me to have a speaking acquaintance with every tree in the woods, do you, Hugh?” remarked Arthur. And then, seeing that the other was really in earnest, he looked again, and more closely, after which he continued: “Well, now that you mention it, seems to me there is something familiar about that riven stump. My stars! Hugh, it’s the big oak with the hollow trunk!”

There was a vein of awe in the boy’s voice when he said this, and his eyes were staring as hard as could be at the telltale evidence before him.