“I wish I knew more about your Boy Scout business, Dick. Can’t you tell me something about it?” he asked.
“Well, now,” answered Dick, “to pass for apprentice we have to know more knots than the Land Scouts do to pass for tenderfoot, and to swim twenty-five yards farther.”
“That isn’t exactly what I’m after,” replied George. “I understand that the Land Scouts learn more woodcraft and such things than the Sea Scouts, and that the Sea Scouts are supposed to be more at home in the water. What I would like to know is what the Boy Scouts are? I met some one the other day who explained to me that there were two branches of the service—corresponding to the Army and the Navy—but he did not tell me exactly what the service itself was. Now, in the Navy, it’s our duty to defend the country by sea, and all our education is intended to make us efficient in seamanship and the art of war. The object of the whole thing is just the same in the Navy as in the Army, except that the one fights by sea and the other by land. It’s the protection and service of our country in either case, and both branches take the oath of allegiance.”
“That’s it!” said Dick eagerly. “We have an oath, too, and it’s the same oath for the Sea Scouts as it is for the Land Scouts. I guess it’s the same for Boy Scouts all over the world; although, of course, they use different words and speak in different languages.”
George asked his brother to repeat the oath, and then he remarked:
“I’m glad to know that oath, Dick. It has helped me to understand more about the whole thing.”
“I’ll get you the manual,” said Dick, “and you can look that over and see for yourself what the law is.”
“The law? Oh, I suppose that’s a sort of Regulations. Run and get me the book and I’ll come down and spin you a yarn before supper time. When do you expect the other boys?”
“At four o’clock.”
Dick ran off delighted, and hastened over to the island to put everything straight for the meeting in the afternoon. Then he came back to the house and telephoned to Tom Sheffield in the town, for fear he might possibly make a mistake in the time or forget to come, and asked him not to forget to bring Chippie with him either.