CHAPTER V
A CAMPFIRE ON BOB'S HILL
"JEE-RUSALEM, fellers," said Skinny a few days later, "we're going to have a campfire to-night on Bob's Hill. Mr. Norton, the Scoutmaster, is going to be there, and he says for us not to eat too much supper because there will be something doing along about eight o'clock. It will beat the Fourth of July."
We hardly could wait for evening to come. The folks thought that I must be sick because I didn't want much supper, until I told them about the campfire.
"You'd better eat a bowl of bread and milk, anyhow," said Ma. "If I know anything about boys, and I have seen a few in my day, you will be ready for another meal by eight o'clock."
I don't know how it is, but things always seem to happen just as Ma says they will. Long before eight o'clock came we were waiting for Mr. Norton at our house, as hungry as bears.
After a while he came along, lugging a big basket and wearing a smile that would have made us warm to him if we never had before.
"Captain," said he to Skinny, "if you will detail two of your men to bring some water, we'll get started. Of course, if we were going to make a regular camp we should see that there was water near. We'll have to carry it this time, but it isn't far to the top of the hill. One of you might help me with this basket; there seems to be something in it."
Fifteen minutes later we were all at the top of the hill and had brought some sticks from Plunkett's woods for a fire and a curl of birch bark to kindle it with.
"I understand that you boys came near burning up the woods and village once with a fire up here," said Mr. Norton. "We must be careful about that. Fire is a good servant but a very hard master. We do not need a big blaze for a campfire, so hot that we cannot sit around it. All we need is just enough to look cheerful, to heat our coffee, and furnish enough hot coals for cooking this beefsteak."
He was unpacking the basket while he talked, and Skinny was lighting the fire.
"I don't know that I can tell you anything about making fires and cooking. You boys just about live out of doors in summer, so far as I have observed. You are in great luck to have your homes in a small village. If you should play some of your pranks in a city, I am afraid that you might become unpopular and the police might get after you. Boys in great cities, like Chicago or New York, know little of the freedom and sweetness of country life."
He went over to a little clump of trees and came back with a small branch, from which he stripped the leaves and twigs. When he had finished he had what he called a "pot hanger" of green wood, about four feet long and with a kind of crotch at the smaller end. He put the big end under a stone, the right distance from the fire, and drove a short, crotched stick into the ground to hold the pot hanger over the blaze at the right angle. When that was done all we had to do was to hang a pail of water on the end of the pot hanger and wait for the water to boil.
"I thought that we wouldn't bother with potatoes this time," said he, "although they make good eating when baked in hot ashes, as you boys probably know. Mrs. Norton put in a whole stack of bread and butter sandwiches and some other things, which we must get rid of somehow, and Mrs. Smith gave me this bag as we were leaving the house. I don't know what is in it, and she told me not to open it until the feast was ready."
We all kept our eyes on the bag and wondered what was in it. I thought that I could make a good guess, being better acquainted with Ma than the other boys were, but I couldn't be sure.
By the time the water was boiling the fire had burned down to red-hot coals. Mr. Norton poured the water over the coffee and set the pot in a hot place. Then he began to get busy with the meat, using a broiler which he had brought in the basket. The delicious smell of the beefsteak and the coffee almost drove us crazy, and we began to be afraid that it would bring the whole village up the hill to us.
It seems as if every meal that we eat out of doors that way is better than any which we ever have had before. It grew dark before we had finished Ma's doughnuts, which we found on opening the bag. As we sat there we could see lights begin to glow all up and down the valley and back of us from an occasional farmhouse, up toward Greylock. Stars came out overhead, and after a little we saw a light in the sky above the East mountain and knew that in a few minutes the moon would come up.
After we had eaten all that we wanted, we threw some wood on the coals to make a little blaze, and then lay around and talked.
Finally Benny said, "I wish you would tell us a story, Mr. Norton, like Mr. Baxter did out in Illinois last summer."
"I am going to tell you a whole lot of stories before we get through with our meetings," he replied, "but let us discuss this Scout business a little more first. When you took the Scout's oath and were enrolled in the Tenderfoot class, you pledged your word of honor that you would do your duty to God and your country, that you would help other people at all times, and that you would obey the Scout law. That Scout law is important. Suppose we talk it over. Gabriel, you are leader, can you tell us what the first law is?"
Skinny stood up and folded his arms.
"A Scout is trustworthy," said he.
"It is a great thing to be trustworthy; to be dependable," said Mr. Norton. "In a few years, you boys and others like you will be running this country and the other countries which make up what we call the civilized world. To you doubtless that time seems far off. Let me tell you that it will be here almost before you know it. It seems only yesterday when I myself was a youngster like you."
"I'm going on twelve," Benny told him, "and I have begun to grow again."
"The Band is dependable all right," said Skinny, stabbing around in the air with his fork. "I mean the patrol is. Bet your life, when they monkey with the Band they run up against a buzz saw."
Bill didn't say a word, but he cawed three times; then flapped his arms and crowed, and ended by standing on his hands and kicking his feet in the air. Bill didn't have to talk. He could do things that made us know what he meant, without saying a word.
"To be dependable," went on Mr. Norton, "means more than to fight for your rights, or for your country's rights. It means that in all walks of life you must be ready to 'deliver the goods.' When a Scout gives his word of honor that settles it. That which he says is true, is true; you can depend upon it, and he will do exactly what he says he will do. That is a quality which we greatly need in men as well as in boys, who soon will be men."
"Corporal, what is the second law?"
Bill thought a minute and then said:
"A Scout is loyal."
"Right you are. You must be loyal to your country, to your parents, to your officers, to your employers, when you get to work. Loyalty is a great thing. It means to stick together. One boy, or one man, alone, cannot accomplish much. Several working loyally together for a single object, are a power. You and the Gingham Ground Gang used to have considerable trouble, didn't you?"
"We do now," we told him, "except with Jim Donavan. Jim is square and we'd like to have him join us, but he won't leave the Gang; says it wouldn't be right."
"That is the kind of boy we want for a Scout. He is loyal and his honor is to be trusted. You must help me to organize the Gang, as you call them, into another patrol. But what I was going to say is this: When you and the Gang were enemies, which I hope you never will be again, what would have happened if one of you had ventured alone down near the gingham mills?"
"They would have done him up."
"Exactly. Now suppose the eight of you had stood together, back to back, shoulder to shoulder, working against a common enemy?"
"We did once," said Benny, "and they licked us, anyhow, but there were more of them than there were of us."
"Bet your life they didn't lick us very bad," put in Skinny. "It was a snowball fight. They drove us from their hill, but afterward they asked us to come back and slide with them, and we did. We had a fine time."
"It seems to me that in that case both sides won a victory. The greatest victory a boy or man can win is one over himself, over his own passions, his selfishness and meanness. The greatest enemy that he or his country can have will be found right inside his own heart. There is where we all have a fight on hand continually. But, remember, you are Scouts and a Scout's honor is to be trusted."
"Benny, what is the next law?"
"A Scout is helpful."
"There you have it. The highest type of man is the useful one. There was once an old philosopher who said that he counted that day lost in which he did no good deed. A Scout ought to feel the same way. You must try to do something for somebody every day."
"They don't have giants and dragons, any more," said Skinny. "I wish they did; we'd paralyze 'em."
"Henry, what is the next one?"
"I am not quite sure whether it comes next or not, but I think it does. The law says, 'A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout.' Does that mean that we must be brothers to the Gingham Ground Gang when they get to be Scouts?"
"Surely it does. Why not? Your folks may have a little more money than their folks and not so much as some one else. What of it? There is something better than money, and that something is manhood. Don't be snobs, whatever you are."
"Now, Mr. Secretary, it is your turn."
"A Scout is courteous," I told him.
"Politeness is a great thing. If he lives up to his pledge, a Scout will be courteous, especially in his treatment of women and children who are younger than he is, and of old people and those who are feeble or handicapped in some way by being crippled or sick. Don't forget that old men started as boys and that you boys, if you live, will become old men. Now for number six."
"A Scout is kind and a friend to animals," Harry said.
"And the next?"
"A Scout is obedient," said Chuck.
"Now we are getting down to business. The first duty of a soldier is to obey, and it is so important that he should obey in time of war that a soldier, or scout, who refused to obey orders would be shot. You are supposed to obey orders without question. Obey your parents especially. Obey me as Scoutmaster. Obey your patrol leader; that is your duty as Scouts. If the order does not suit you, do your kicking afterward, not before. First deliver the goods; then you will be in a position to criticise, if necessary."
"We haven't heard from you, Wallie. Let's have number eight."
"A Scout is cheerful."
"That's the idea. Don't grumble or whine. That will never get you anywhere, or the world anywhere.
"I want to say a few words about the next law, 'A Scout is thrifty.' Thrift is of the greatest importance. Save your money. Save your pennies. Put them in the bank. I think they ought to teach thrift and the importance of saving in the public schools. It does not mean that you should be stingy. When you boys worked hard one winter and gave a purse of money to an unfortunate stranger, you were living up to the highest ideals of a Scout. It doesn't mean that money is the most important thing in the world, for it is far from it. But remember this: a man's first duty to his country is to be self-supporting, and to be self-supporting in his old age he must be thrifty in his youth. He must make hay while the sun shines. He must learn to save his money. That is why a Tenderfoot must have one dollar in the bank before he can become a Second Class Scout, and a Second Class Scout must have two dollars before he becomes a First Class Scout. The habit of thrift is very important. When you grow older and go to work, no matter what you earn, I want you to save a part of it.
"There are three more laws," he went on, after a minute, "and they speak for themselves: 'A Scout is brave,' 'A Scout is clean,' 'A Scout is reverent.' I need not tell you to be brave in the presence of danger. Do you understand that sometimes it takes greater courage to stand up for the right? Keep yourselves clean; not only your bodies but your thought and speech. And be reverent, boys, toward God, who made old Greylock and these beautiful hills for you to enjoy."
When he had finished Skinny started to throw some wood on the fire, but Mr. Norton stopped him.
"Never go away," he said, "leaving a fire where it possibly can do any damage. We'll be going home in a few minutes, and before we go this fire must be put out. If the wind should come up in the night the flames might spread into Plunkett's woods."
We saw in a minute that he was right, and, taking sticks, beat out what little fire there was; then started down the hill.
"I'll tell you what I have been thinking," said Mr. Norton, when we were going through Blackinton's orchard. "We have had so much fun to-night that I should like to go camping with you boys for a week, some time this summer. These mountains and woods are just the places for scouting and we could have a campfire every night. What do you say?"
"We say yes," said Skinny, "if our folks will let us, and I know they will."
"Can we play Indian, Mr. Norton?" asked Benny.
"We certainly can. I think everybody likes to get out into the woods and be an Indian once a year. You boys have something to do first, however. I want every one of you to be able to show a First Class Scout badge."
"We can do most of the stunts now," I told him, "only we haven't been seven miles and back."
The book says that before becoming a First Class Scout a boy must go on foot to a point seven miles away and return again, and afterward to write a short account of the trip. It says, too, that it would be better to go one day and come back the next, and that means to camp out all night.
That last was a hard thing to do because our mothers did not want us to go off that way alone. Mothers always seem to think a boy is going to get hurt or something. Mr. Norton finally talked them into it, all except Benny's mother. She wouldn't stand for it. Benny cried, he felt so badly about it.
"Do it in one day, then," Mr. Norton told him. "Remember that the law says for you to obey your parents without question. That is more important than to do the stunt."