THE BOY SCOUTS FOR HOME PROTECTION

BY SCOUT MASTER ROBERT SHALER

AUTHOR OF “BOY SCOUTS OF THE SIGNAL CORPS,” “BOY SCOUTS OF PIONEER CAMP,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE LIFE SAVING CREW,” “BOY SCOUTS ON PICKET DUTY,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE FLYING SQUADRON,” “BOY SCOUTS AND THE PRIZE PENNANT,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE NAVAL RESERVE,” “BOY SCOUTS IN THE SADDLE,” “BOY SCOUTS FOR CITY IMPROVEMENT,” “BOY SCOUTS IN THE GREAT FLOOD,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE FIELD HOSPITAL,” “BOY SCOUTS WITH THE RED CROSS,” “BOY SCOUTS AS COUNTY FAIR GUIDES,” “BOY SCOUTS AS FOREST FIRE FIGHTERS,” “BOY SCOUTS WITH THE MOTION PICTURE PLAYERS,” “BOY SCOUTS ON THE ROLL OF HONOR,” ETC., ETC.

NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Sterling Boy Scout Books

Bound in cloth Fifteen titles

You can purchase any of the above books at the price you paid for this one, or the publishers will send any book, postpaid, upon receipt of 25c.

HURST & CO., Publishers 432 Fourth Avenue, New York

Copyright, 1915, by Hurst & Company

CHAPTER I. TIME THINGS BEGAN TO MEND.

“Here it is springtime again, boys!”

“Yes, and I’m beginning to catch the spring fever. I just feel—well, torpid would describe it. I hate to study, or do any work that requires the least exertion.”

“Hey, Billy, there’s one great exception you’ll have to make when you say that—you’ve never let that torpor interfere with your rapid locomotion when you heard the welcome sound of the dinner bell.”

The fat boy in the new khaki suit allowed a broad, good-natured smile to spread over his freckled face.

“Oh, that’s different!” he exclaimed quickly. “I said work, please remember, Alec, and as for feeding, why, I always class that under the head of undiluted, unadulterated pleasure.”

“Well, winter has come and gone, with a whole lot of talk about town improvement in the air, and nothing done, just as you were saying, Hugh.”

The manly looking young fellow who answered to the name of Hugh Hardin was patrol leader and assistant scout master. This could easily be learned by any one at all familiar with the various devices used by Boy Scouts to designate rank. On the left sleeve of his coat, just below the shoulder, he had first of all two white stripes, and underneath that a red first-class scout badge.

Hugh, as well as a number of other members of the Oakvale Troop, had for some time been authorized to wear certain medals signifying that at some previous date they had been instrumental in saving human life at the risk of their own.

If the reader does not know under what stirring conditions these medals, typifying the Boy Scout Roll of Honor, were earned, he can have the pleasure of reading all the particulars in previous books of this series, as lack of time and space prevents our mentioning them here.

Besides the leader of the Wolf Patrol there were present on this occasion Billy Worth—the stout member—Alec Sands—who had once been Hugh’s most bitter rival for honors, but since heading the Otter Patrol he had grown to be very chummy with him—and Buck Winter.

They attended Oakvale High School and were dismissed about half-past one in the afternoon. They thus had considerable advantage over the boys and girls in the lower grades.

Indeed, at the late hour in the spring afternoon mentioned, numerous little folks were heading homeward in knots, having just been given their freedom. Hugh and his three companions had stopped to chat, having met by accident at that point where traffic was congested—the wagons from the mills crossing in one direction and many big and little cars swinging around various corners.

Somehow or other that particular spot always had a peculiar sort of fascination for Hugh. It had tragic memories, too, for on several occasions serious accidents had occurred here, owing to the speed which some drivers persisted in making while approaching the dangerous crossing.

When Buck Winter, the boy who surpassed most of his chums in animal photography, spoke to Hugh about the dim prospect of anything being done in the matter of improving certain glaring defects in the government of the town, the scout master frowned and shook his head.

“I never saw anything hang fire like this,” he remarked, at the same time watching what was going on close by with keen interest. “There’s that crossing over yonder, and some other bad places where children pass over several times a day—it ought to be protected but it isn’t. An officer should be stationed there morning, noon and night, to see that traffic slows up when the children are going and coming from school.”

“That’s right, Hugh,” burst out the impulsive Billy, whose heart was just as big as his waist was expansive, “and some of these fine days there’s going to be something awful happening here! It’ll wake this sleepy old town up! For one, I don’t believe in waiting till your horse is stolen before you think to lock the stable door. ‘A stitch in time saves nine,’ they say.”

“Just see how the driver of that big touring car swings down with a rush, will you!” exclaimed Alec, indignantly. “He sounds his siren to beat the band, just as if he expected everybody to scatter like chickens crossing a road, and run for their lives. It’s a beastly shame!”

“Something’s got to be done, that’s all!” said Hugh, with compressed lips, and a flash in his eye that spoke volumes, as he looked after the reckless chauffeur of the car, now speeding away, with a nasty grin of conscious superiority on his face.

“If I was the mayor of this burgh in place of spineless old Strunk,” the impetuous Alec went on to exclaim, “you’d soon hear something pop. I would call the Council in session, and have ordinances passed that would keep these speeders under control. After a few of them had been locked up for a spell, as well as heavily fined, you’d notice a big difference.”

“That isn’t all, by any means,” Hugh chimed in, watching the approach of a bevy of small school girls with apprehension, for the traffic seemed to be at its heaviest. “There are a number of other bad spots in town that need attention. The railroad crossing is utterly unprotected, and last summer one man was killed there, you remember, while twice vehicles have been wrecked.”

“There were some other things you mentioned the last time we talked this over, Hugh, I remember,” said Buck Winter.

“Lots of them,” came the ready reply. “The whole town has grown careless again. True, people don’t litter the streets with waste paper now that they know about the cans placed for such trash—the scouts cured that evil—but there are other defects that ought to be attended to. For instance, some people persist in keeping garbage standing open for the flies to breed in. Others have nuisances about which their neighbors hate to complain of. I know six or seven places where this sort of thing is going on, and I reckon the scouts could trace dozens, if once they had the authority to start in on the job.”

“Oh, I guess I know what you’ve got in mind, Hugh!” exclaimed Billy, with sudden animation. “I was reading the other day how that very thing is being carried out with great success right down in New York City. Boys are given badges to wear, and are called the Auxiliary Police, or something like that. They have their precincts to watch, and report every sort of nuisance or infraction of the law to their friend, the police captain, who sees that it is abated. They say you would be surprised to see how well the boys do their duty. Things have taken on a new look since the scheme was started.”

“It could be done here a whole lot easier than in such a big city,” affirmed Hugh, eagerly. “We haven’t got such a raft of ignorant foreigners to handle, you see. A good many people up here have just fallen into careless ways, and all they need is to be waked up.”

“We did that other job first class,” said Billy, proudly, “and we’d win out again if only we had half a chance. But I don’t know what keeps on interfering. They must be asleep, and only some terrible accident will startle them to action.”

“Some of the boys have told me in secret about a blind tiger that is being operated since the saloons were shut out of Oakvale,” declared Hugh. “Then I’ve also learned that some of the mill hands get together and gamble, which is against the law. The police, thinking of the votes those fellows can control, seem to wink at such things. There’s no use talking, the women of Oakvale have got to be roused, and join hands with every church in town to clean up the place again, this time for good. The scouts stand ready to do their part.”

“Every time!” added Billy, sonorously, as he whacked Buck Winter on his back, as if to emphasize his remark.

“There are heaps of things that ought to be bettered,” asserted Alec. “They never will be until the scouts and the women join hands with all the good people of Oakvale for a genuine old clean-up time. All they seem to want is a leader. Everybody is waiting for some one else to make the start. Hugh, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s going to be up to you.”

“I was talking with Professor Marvin, the school principal, only yesterday,” said the scout master, “and he agreed with me that there was great need of all the moral forces in the community uniting for a big fight before things got too bad. He said he would see Mayor Strunk last night, and asked me, as acting in place of Lieutenant Denmead, who is away, to drop around to his house this evening, for he had invited the mayor, Mrs. Marsh and several of the leading ladies of the T. I. A., to take supper with him.”

“Good for that!” cried Billy. “Make sure you rub it in like everything, Hugh, once you get the chance. I hope to hear great news tomorrow morning, and I’ll be ready, for one, to take off my coat and get busy with a broom—of course, figuratively speaking, I mean.”

Alec nodded his head as if pleased.

“Something in the air tells me there are going to be warm doings in this town before a great while,” he asserted positively. “It’s always darkest before dawn, they say, and things have about reached their limit here. Once the new broom gets agoing it’ll sweep out a lot of nuisances that have been an eyesore to all decent people for a long while back. My folks get quite worked up every time they begin to talk about certain things that are objectionable.”

“I’m going to begin and make a list of nuisances right off,” said Buck Winter.

“Well, I don’t like the way you look at me when you say that, Buck,” complained Billy, in affected uneasiness. “I’m going to reform, sure I am. Gimme half a chance, and I’ll even try to reduce my weight, if that bothers you, though I’d hate to cut my rations down to half.”

“Now look at all those vehicles and cars coming along from four directions at once!” exclaimed Alec. “That bunch of kids on the curb has been waiting all of five minutes for a half-decent chance to cross, but do you see any driver holding up to let them go over? They’re a lot of selfish and reckless—— Say, hold on, kids, don’t you dare to try it! Oh! Hugh, look there, one of them has run out! Hi! hi! Hold your horses—stop that car!”

CHAPTER II. HELP WANTED.

Hugh Hardin was known to be a boy of action. When other fellows were stupefied by some sudden peril, Hugh was doing things.

So in the present instance. He saw the peril of the child even before Alec did, but without uttering a single word, Hugh darted forward as an arrow from the bow, or a hawk pouncing upon some bird.

It was all over in a flash. Alec and the others had started to jump forward, but they would have been too late to be of any real service. Hugh, however, darted in among the congested wagons and moving cars, and, snatching the frightened little child from under the very hoofs of a team, carried her across to the other side of the street.

There was considerable confusion, for drivers were shouting at each other and chauffeurs were trying to push their way past the congested crossing. Apparently they were more concerned with the fact that there had been a mix-up than because a precious human life had just been in jeopardy.

Alec, backed by the other two scouts, pushed out on the street and held up their hands to stop the traffic until the cluster of school children could cross. Some of the drivers seemed to think it a joke, being held up in this fashion by boys in khaki, and laughed good-naturedly at it; but others swore, and made threatening gestures with their whips.

Then, the children having crossed in safety, thanks to their protectors, Alec gave the signal for the wagons and cars to proceed with as much show of authority as any member of the traffic squad in a great city could assume.

The boys were “boiling over” with indignation, as Billy aptly expressed it, as they walked down the street toward the heart of Oakvale. More than ever, Hugh was now determined not to rest until something had been done toward an eradication of the numerous nuisances that infested the town.

“I’m going to attend that little, informal meeting to-night, boys,” he told his chums, “and unless I miss my guess something will be done. If only the women folks can stir up Mayor Strunk! I understand that several of the pastors will drop in during the evening, and it begins to look as though the last straw has been put on the camel’s back.”

“I only wish,” ventured Billy, wheezing still from his recent violent exertions, “that some of them had seen what happened just now, and how that poor little Anita Burns would most likely have been run over but for Hugh here. It was an object lesson that might have moved even such an old mossback as Mayor Strunk, or Chief Wallis, of the police force.”

“Wait!” was what Hugh told him, and a short time later the group separated.

Hugh performed the errand that had taken him to the business section of town, and then, inspired by a desire to do a little preliminary work along the lines he had had in mind, he dropped over and greeted the head of the local police.

Chief Waller liked Hugh, for he knew what a manly young fellow the other had always proven himself to be. Besides, Hugh was something of a favorite with the better element of Oakvale’s population. He had led a number of movements that, by their success, had brought more or less fame to Oakvale, particulars of which may be found in the earlier books of this series.

So Hugh, using considerable diplomacy, began talking about other things, and after he managed to get the chief in good humor, he introduced the subject that was nearest his heart.

“The women are bound to have the town cleaned up, Chief,” he went on to say, “and you know that when they once set their minds on anything it’s got to happen. They expect to have all sorts of help from you and your men; and the scouts mean to offer their services as they did once before. It’s a great thing to be on the winning side, Chief, so I heard Doctor Kane say to the minister the other day when they were talking over this very matter.”

Now, the Chief was a shrewd man. He knew on which side his bread was buttered. It was true that the politicians and their votes had put him in his present comfortable berth, but the Chief was a married man, and he realized from experience that the home “influence” could be counted on to sway elections when once the people were thoroughly aroused.

“There’s just this about it, Hugh,” he said, impressively. “If the women want a clean town, they’re going to have it, and nothing can stop them. If they get this movement started they can count on the police backing ’em up. All we want is to know just where we stand.”

Thus encouraged, Hugh went on to tell what he had read about the boys of the big metropolis being made Auxiliary Police, and wearing badges that were meant to be respected by the populace.

Chief Wallis apparently had never read about the movement. He seemed to be interested, however, for it was plain to be seen that if things had to be done that offended the politicians, there would be a scapegoat handy on whose shoulders the blame could be cast.

“Well, now, to tell you the truth, Hugh, that isn’t such a bad idea,” he went on to say. “Boys can find out heaps of things that are beyond my men; and once we learned about these nuisances we’d soon abate ’em. All we want is to be shown.”

Hugh understood well enough that the police knew about most of those infractions of the law, but that for various reasons they had pretended not to see them. If only the moral elements of the town were aroused, and firmly demanded a cessation of the law breaking, no doubt the scales would fall from the eyes of the police like magic. It always happens that way, Hugh understood.

Still, Hugh felt that he had gained a point in arousing the interest of the head of the police. It was better to have a combined force working against the evils than a divided one. If the officer realized that his retention in office depended on his active co-operation with the ladies’ league, and the various associations connected with the town churches, he would work like a beaver to do his duty.

After leaving Police Headquarters, Hugh started for his home. His mind, very naturally, was filled with the matters that just then took precedence above all others. Since the preceding fall, Hugh had been trying to figure out how things could be brought to a focus, for they seemed to gradually get worse.

He was in sight of the white picket fence enclosing the Hardin grounds when he heard his name called in a boy’s voice. Turning around, he discovered that it was Tom Sherwood, one of the members of the Otter Patrol, who came hurrying along in his wake.

Tom had long been known as an exponent of water athletics and surveying. He meant to become a civil engineer when he left school, and anything connected with this work always interested the boy greatly.

More than a few times, when others of the scouts would go off on a junketing trip such as a school picnic, Tom might have been seen tramping across lots, with a theodolite over his shoulder, accompanied by some boy he had influenced to assist him as chain bearer—bound to some field where he could practice his pet hobby to his heart’s content.

Hugh noticed that Tom had a long face when he drew near. This surprised him because as a rule the other was a cheery fellow, and wont to give back smile for smile. It also told Hugh that Tom must have followed him with some purpose in view, for somehow a number of the members of the troop seemed to consider Hugh in the light of a mentor, and often came to him for advice, strange as it might seem, considering the fact that they were all boys.

“Why, hello, Tom! What’s the hurry?” he called out, as the other scout drew near.

“Let me get my breath a bit, Hugh, and I’ll tell you,” panted Tom, which fact seemed to prove that he must have run quite some distance in order to overtake the scout master.

Possibly his mind being so filled with the idea of town improvement and the contemplated uplift movement, Hugh immediately began to wonder if the agitation of his boy friend could spring from anything he had learned bearing on this subject.

At any rate, he would soon know, for Tom was getting his breath back again. He looked confused, almost ashamed, Hugh thought. There was an expression amounting to positive pain on his face, and it also showed in the way he eyed Hugh, as if he hardly knew where to begin.

They leaned against the nearby fence, as boys are wont to do when talking. Presently Tom broke the silence.