CHAPTER III.
MORE RUMBLINGS OF COMING TROUBLE
"Whew! you don't say!" exclaimed Larry, frowning.
"Takes my breath away, that's what!" gasped Jasper.
"Seems to me that both of you look on the event in the light of what my chum, Mark Cummings, would term a catastrophe!" chuckled Elmer.
"Well, I know that Matt pretty well," grumbled Larry. "To tell the truth, him and me have had more'n a few battles inside the last five years. And I owe more'n one black eye to his way of carrying his fists. If Matt Tubbs has gone and organized a gang of scouts it spells trouble with a big, big T for our fellows. Huh!"
"See here, why do you call the new troop a 'gang'? Is that respectful, and the way to treat fellow scouts?" laughed Elmer.
"You know just as well as I do, Elmer," went on the indignant Larry, "that with such a bully as Matt Tubbs at the head of it, no collection of scouts could ever get a charter from Headquarters. Why, the tough crowd he trains with couldn't begin to subscribe to the twelve cardinal laws of the organization."
"Well, it makes me smile," said Jasper, though in reality he looked disgusted. "Think of Matt Tubbs, the bully who uses more hard words than any fellow I ever ran across, promising these things: To be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient to authority, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and last of all but hardest for Matt, reverent! Oh! my, the world will come to an end before Tough Matt can hold up his hand in a scout salute, and solemnly say that he believes in that list."
"It does seem next to impossible," remarked Elmer; "and yet sometimes miracles happen even in these days, fellows. Who knows but what we Hickory Ridge scouts may be given the chance, and the privilege as well, to open the eyes of Matt Tubbs?"
"That would sure be a miracle!" scoffed Larry, who believed that he ought to know the subject of their talk better than Elmer, since the latter had not been living in the neighborhood more than a year or so, having come with his father from Canada, where Mr. Chenowith had had charge of a great ranch and farm.
"All right, we'll wait and see," Elmer went on, evenly. "Anyhow, I've had the news straight that they have two patrols enlisted, of eight fellows each. That is doing better than the Hickory Ridge scouts; because up to now our patrols are not completed, there being but six in each."
"Say, that's always been a puzzle to me, why Jack Armitage and Nat Scott were left out to start a new patrol to be called the Eagle," remarked Jasper.
"I thought you knew about it," replied Elmer. "But you must have been absent at the time it was talked over. You see, it's hardest to find fellows qualified to be scout leaders, and assistant leaders. Plenty of raw recruits can be enlisted on the other hand. Myself and Mark happened to be selected for the first patrol, and Matty Eggleston, with Red Huggins, came along and qualified for the second. That gave us just six members for each patrol, you see."
"Yes, I'm following you, Elmer; please go on," said Jasper, eagerly.
"It just happened that the next two boys to enlist were Jack and Nat, both of whom knew considerable about woodcraft, and were ambitious to learn more. When Mr. Garrabrant and myself talked it over – for I was a duly appointed assistant scout-master by that time, you know – we concluded that it would be wise to start a third patrol, with those two fellows at the head, and after that fill up our three patrols to the limit of eight each."
"Thank you, Elmer; I get on to it now," Jasper remarked.
"And I understand that several good fellows have applied for membership in our troop?" observed Larry.
"Yes, their names will be proposed at the next meeting, which by the way comes this very night. Hope neither of you will be so leg tired that you stay away. Before Fall comes around the church improvements will be finished, and then we'll have a meeting room worth while. Just now that old wheelwright's shop at the crossroads must serve our purpose."
"Oh! there, that's too bad!" suddenly ejaculated Jasper, coming to a halt.
"What ails him now?" Larry remarked, surveying his companion queerly.
"I went and forgot something; how silly of me," Jasper went on.
"Oh! we'll agree with you, all right," grinned Larry; "but suppose you tell us what it was? If you left anything back there where we hung our clothes on a hickory limb, until it looked like a regular Irish washday, why, the chances are you're out that much, because I for one decline to cover all that ground again."
"And I wanted to know so much!" grumbled Jasper, as he raised one of his feet and rubbed his shoe regretfully.
Elmer watched his actions and smiled. Evidently he had guessed what was on the other's mind.
"Perhaps I might tell you what it was, Jasper," he said, quietly.
"I wish you would, Elmer," cried the other. "Did you peek in, and see him? And was it a great big black bear, or a savage bobcat?"
"Neither, I think," came the answer. "You would be pretty safe to call it a 'coon, and let it go at that."
"What, only a pesky little raccoon, and to pitch in for me like that?" cried the other. "Why, I thought he was going to chew me all to pieces, and I was sure it must be a wildcat at least."
"That may have been because you were excited," the scout leader pursued; "and I've no doubt but what the rascal clawed at you, and used his sharp teeth pretty freely, because he was badly frightened and concerned. Even a rat will fight when at bay. And he thought you were coming in to get him."
"But how do you know it was a raccoon?" demanded Jasper.
"I saw his tracks near the log, in a spot where the rain hadn't washed them out," Elmer went on.
"Oh!" Jasper laughed, "I forgot that you showed us how different the tracks of wildcats, raccoons, mink, possums, and muskrats were. I saw it at the time, but just now they're all alike 'coons to me. But Elmer, I'm going to study up on that subject. It seems to grip me more'n anything else about the scout business, except p'raps that Injun picture writing. I liked that; and me to be an artist. I can draw, if I can't excel in other things."
"But when you get to drawing remember that every picture has got to tell a story, so plain and simple that a child can read it. That's the beauty of Indian picture writing. But look, fellows, what's ahead!"
Elmer pointed as he spoke, and the other scouts gave a hearty cheer.
"The road!" cried Larry.
"Now things look promising," Jasper observed; "and the walking will be easier. But speaking of shoes, I suppose those scratches on mine will prove my little yarn about the hollow log, when I tell it to the bunch. If they try to make out I'm stretching things, you fellows have just got to back me up."
"So long as you stick to facts we will," remarked Larry; "but take care you don't go to calling it a bobcat, or a tiger. I'll throw up my hands at that."
"A scout is truthful, even if it doesn't say anything about that in the twelve articles we subscribe to," remarked Jasper, solemnly.
"Yes," Elmer broke in, "and now that Jasper knows it was only a 'coon that had its den in that hollow log, he will never try to say it was a wildcat; though if he wants he can declare he thought at the time he was being attacked by a panther."
"I somehow can't help thinking of that Matt Tubbs," Larry observed, after they had been tramping along the road for half an hour or more, and had covered nearly two miles of the five separating them from Hickory Ridge.
"Yes," Elmer admitted, "I suppose there'll be more or less talk about him to-night at the meeting. Now, if his crowd only went into this thing the right way, what great times we could have competing with the Fairfield troop! But as it is, as they find themselves debarred from becoming affiliated with the regular Boy Scout organization, I'm afraid Matt and his cronies will try to take it out on us, by giving us all the trouble they can."
"Why, I wouldn't put anything past that mean chap," declared Jasper.
"It does seem as though Matt didn't have any redeeming qualities about him," remarked Elmer, thoughtfully; "and yet, fellows, do you remember that just one year ago when a house burned over at Fairfield, who was it dashed recklessly into the building, when even the regular fire laddies held back, and pulled an old woman out alive? Seems to me that was Matt Tubbs, queer though it sounds."
"Right you are, Elmer," admitted Larry. "We all wondered about it at the time, and were beginning to think Matt might be turning over a new leaf, but the next time we met him he was just the same nasty scrapper as ever."
"And you know," went on Jasper, "it turned out that the old woman was his grandmother, and not a stranger."
"All the better," said Elmer, stoutly. "It proves that Matt must have had some human feeling in that tough heart of his, to risk his life for an old and infirm woman. But listen, fellows, I thought I heard somebody shouting!"
The three scouts stood still, and strained their ears.
"Oh! help! help! won't somebody come to help us?" came a wailing cry, in what seemed to be a woman's voice.
"Goodness gracious!" exclaimed Jasper, "somebody's in a peck of trouble right around that bend in the road there!"
"Yes, and I remember there was a house along here somewhere," Larry cried, as the three of them started on a sprint along the road.
When presently they turned the bend they came upon a scene that gave them a severe shock. And even Jasper forgot all his recent thrilling experiences in the warm impulse of his boyish heart to prove of some assistance to those who seemed in such dire need of aid.
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST AID TO THE INJURED
Apparently the storm that had so lately passed over this section had played particular havoc with the farm buildings. Perhaps, with the queer, jumping movements known to cyclones, it had dipped down in this one quarter much more severely than anywhere else near by.
At any rate, it had succeeded in partly demolishing a barn, scattered several tons of fine hay – that year's crop – and upset things generally.
The first thing the scouts noticed after that one glance around at the damage done by the gale, was that a little group of persons seemed to be hovering over a certain spot.
"Somebody hurt by the storm!" Elmer called over his shoulder, for, being a good runner, he had easily taken the lead – Jasper was not so very strong, while Larry happened to be built much too stockily for a sprinter.
Then the boys received another shock. One of those bending over had straightened up, and proved to be a stout-looking boy, with a bold, resolute face.
Perhaps Jasper may have been reminded of the old saying he had heard quoted in his home many times: "Speak of an angel, and you'll feel his wings;" only no one who knew Matt Tubbs would ever dream of comparing that quarrelsome youth with a celestial visitor; in fact, their thoughts would be more apt to go out in the other direction.
Two women were wringing their hands, and crying. A man lay upon the ground, and his groans told that he was suffering considerable bodily pain.
"Don't I wish Ted Burgoyne was along!" exclaimed Elmer involuntarily, as he hurried toward the group.
The boy mentioned belonged to the Wolf Patrol. He seemed to possess a natural fancy for surgery, and had long ago been dubbed Dr. Ted by his mates. And in numerous instances had he proved that their confidence in him was not misplaced.
That was why Elmer now felt keen regret because of a lost opportunity for the young Boy Scout medicine man to show his skill at setting broken bones, or binding up other injuries almost as well as any experienced physician could have done.
Elmer himself had made it a point to know something about such things. He had in the past lived a wild life out in the great Canada wilderness, where men, and boys, too, find it necessary to depend upon themselves in great emergencies.
Although he feared he might be somewhat clumsy, and certainly lacked the natural talent Ted Burgoyne had always shown, the scout leader was only too willing to do whatever lay in his power to alleviate suffering.
In another moment he was leaning over the stricken man, whom he now recognized as a middle-aged farmer, Simon Kent by name. The women, wife and daughter of the farmer, had looked up eagerly as Matt seemed to speak of the coming of others on the scene. Then their faces grew blank again with despair. For what could a trio of mere boys do, when a doctor was needed so badly?
"Oh! Matt, find the horse if you can, and hurry to town for Dr. Cooper! He couldn't have run very far away!" the older woman was saying, doubtless referring to the horse, and not the well-known Hickory Ridge physician.
"Please wait just a minute or so, and let me take a look at Mr. Kent," said Elmer, modestly. "I happen to know a little about these things, you see, ma'am; and I've set more than one broken limb."
The women stopped wailing for a time, and watched the confident boy as he carefully examined the groaning farmer.
"How did it happen?" asked Larry of Matt Tubbs, who apparently must be some relative of the Kents, as the woman seemed to know him very well.
"Storm blew the roof off'n the barn, and he got caught. Any feller with peepers in his head ought tuh see that," replied young Tubbs, between whom and Larry there had always been bad blood.
Elmer looked up and smiled in the faces of the two frightened women. He knew they needed encouragement, and that he could not do them a greater benefit than to allay their fears.
"He has a broken arm," he said, reassuringly, "and I think a couple of his ribs are fractured, Mrs. Kent; but besides that there are only a few bruises, and they do not amount to much. Nothing very serious, understand. Mr. Kent isn't going to die. But I guess he'd better have the doctor here as soon as Matt can ride to town. I'll do what I can in the meantime, ma'am."
Matt Tubbs had been watching what he did with apparently the greatest curiosity. He was utterly ignorant himself about everything that pertained to first aid to the injured, and perhaps never before had felt so utterly insignificant as when he saw Elmer Chenowith go about the duties of a doctor with such calm assurance.
Jasper had run off in obedience to a request from the scout leader, and now returned with some cold water. When Elmer had dashed a little of this in the face of the farmer, the injured man came to his senses. His groans ceased, though they could see from the expression on his rugged face that he was suffering severely.
"It's all right, Mr. Kent," Elmer hastened to say in that convincing way of his, as the farmer looked at him inquiringly. "You've got a broken arm, and perhaps a couple of your ribs are out of the running for a while, but you'll pull through all to the good. I'm going to do what I can while Matt rides off for Dr. Cooper."
"Oh! it's you, Elmer, is it?" said the man, faintly. "But how d'ye know I ain't got my death in that wreck of my barn? I feel like I'd been through a threshing machine; on'y my left arm is numb."
"I've had some experience with these things, Mr. Kent, up in Canada. Besides, sir, we belong to the Boy Scouts movement, and one of the things taught there is what we call 'first aid to the injured.' I could set your arm all right, but since the doctor can get here soon, I'd better leave it for him. He mightn't like my meddling too much with his practice. Will you ask Matt to please find the horse, and start for town?"
"Oh! I'm agoin', all right," said that worthy, arousing himself; for he had been staring at Elmer all this while, and listening to what he said about the obligations of the scouts in time of need, as though he might be hearing something that astonished him.
He glanced back several times as he walked away to look for the horse, that was doubtless in some corner of the lot beyond the demolished barns.
"Got something to think over, I reckon," grunted Larry, who had closed up like a clam when Matt answered his civil question so roughly.
Shortly afterward they heard a shout. Then Matt dashed past, riding bareback on the horse, and using the halter to guide him along the road. He went flying toward town, and they knew he would send the doctor before a great while.
"Here, fellows, Mr. Kent ought to be carried into the house," said Elmer, turning to his chums. "We've got to make a litter to lay him on. Come over here with me, and we'll knock one together in a jiffy."
"Sure we will!" declared Larry, who had a warm heart, even though a bit inclined to quarrel at times, being quick-tempered.
There was plenty of material lying around; the storm had seen to that when it tore things loose on the Kent farm. And presently the scouts came back with some boards forming a very fair litter. Elmer had covered it with several horse blankets he discovered in the partly demolished barn.
But the farmer was getting back his strength again. He shook his head at sight of the litter, and a slight smile appeared on his face, much to the joy of his sadly frightened wife and daughter.
"I reckon I ain't so bad off as to need that, Elmer," he remarked. "Now, if so be ye boys draw around, and take care not to handle that left arm too rough, p'raps I could manage to get up. Arter that, with some help, I'll hobble to the house. Don't ye look so peaked, wife; I'm better'n ten dead men yet."
They helped him to rise, and then, leaning on Elmer, with the others following close behind, eager to assist, they made their way slowly to the farm building.
"Oh! what would we have done only for the coming of you boys?" exclaimed Mrs. Kent, after they had managed to get the wounded farmer seated fairly comfortably in a big sleepy hollow chair.
Elmer was making a sling in which the broken arm could be held, to ease the pain and the strain until Dr. Cooper's arrival.
"Does this scouting teach you boys how to do that sort of thing?" asked the grown daughter, who had been watching these actions of the boys curiously.
"It is one of the things we have to learn before we can hope to become first-class scouts," the boy replied. "You see, no one can ever tell when a scout may be called on to help bring back a person to life who has been nearly drowned, or to keep another from bleeding to death after being cut with an ax in camp; then besides, sometimes boys have to be rescued when they get a cramp while in swimming. And when a fellow knows how to go about these things, he may be able to help save a human life. We think it worth while."
"I should say it was!" exclaimed Miss Kent, enthusiastically. "After this I'm going to take more interest in boys than I have. I always thought they were as much alike as peas in a pod; and perhaps I oughtn't to say it, because he's in our family, but you see, I somehow judged all boys by my Cousin Matt."
Elmer smiled.
"Well," he said, nodding, "I hope that when you come to look into this a little closer, Miss Julia, you'll understand that it stands for big things. My father says it's the greatest movement for the uplifting of American boys that ever happened, barring none. And I'm going to send you some printed matter that will tell you just what the Boy Scouts aim to do. When you know that, I just guess you'll find reason to change your opinion of boys."
Even the injured farmer had listened to what was said with a show of interest.
"Sho! Elmer," he remarked, "I've heard a heap of this thing, and didn't take much stock in it. Thought it meant the boys was goin' to be made into soldiers, and as I'm a man of peace I couldn't stand for that. On'y yesterday the dominie was tellin' me it ain't got a blessed thing to do with military tactics. And arter the able way you handled yourself to-day, blessed if I ain't agoin' to read the stuff you send Julie. If I had a boy I'd like him to jine the scouts. And that's as far as I've got. But if it makes the lads clean, manly, and ekal to emergencies, like you seem to be, it's a boss thing."
And Elmer felt his heart glow with satisfaction, for his whole interest was by now bound up in the success of the Hickory Ridge troop of scouts; and anything that went to make them new friends appealed to him strongly.
When half an hour had gone the sound of an automobile horn was heard out on the road.
"There comes Dr. Cooper!" called Jasper, who had been on the lookout.
When the physician came bustling in he looked questioningly at the three boys. Possibly Matt may have told him the scouts were meddling with things, and his professional instincts were shocked. But when he saw what Elmer had done, and made an examination himself, he declared that the extent of Mr. Kent's injuries were just as the boy had stated.
"And I want to say, Elmer," he added, as the boys were about to hurry away, "I believe in the first-aid-to-the-injured principle which you boys try to live up to. If more people only kept their senses about them in cases of accident, it would make easier work for the doctors, and save lots of lives. Good luck to you, boys!"
"And we shall never be able to tell you how thankful we all are for your coming, Elmer. The first time I meet your mother, I'm going to let her know what a fine son she has," declared Miss Julia, as she and her relieved mother shook hands with the three scouts at the door.
"I had two comrades, please remember, Miss Julia," said Elmer, significantly; and taking the hint she repeated the words while bidding Jasper and Larry good-by.
"Well," remarked Elmer, as he and his chums once more tramped along the road, "I notice that you two fellows have your badges turned upside down still, to remind you that so far to-day you've found no opportunity to do anybody a good turn. As your scout master, I want to say that you can't get them changed any too soon; for you've just been of the greatest help to the Kent family!"
And both Larry and Jasper, making the usual scout salute, with the thumb holding back the little finger of the right hand, proceeded to unfasten their badges, and replace them right side up.
They had earned the privilege to wear them so for the balance of that eventful day!