"I sure have had a lesson I'll never forget," added Lil Artha; "and when you get right down to facts that Zack Arnold isn't such a bad fellow either. What he don't know about the woods you could put in a thimble; and I can see that after Uncle Caleb has had him with him six months he's going to turn out something more than half-way decent."
Fortunately they did not meet with another snow storm while on the homeward road but on arriving at the little station they had only to await the train. The same little urchin from whom they had received the false information grinned at them. Lil Artha was for giving him the drubbing he richly deserved; but Elmer counselled differently.
"After all it was a lucky thing he gave us the wrong directions," he told the other scouts. "We have had a whole lot of experiences that would never have come to us otherwise. And then you shot that fine young buck, remember, Lil Artha. So, taking pattern from Uncle Caleb, suppose we wash the incident from the slate."
And what did Lil Artha do but approach the grinning urchin, and actually thank him for the trouble he had taken to direct them, stating that they had had the "time of their lives," and tossing him a silver quarter as a reward for his being so solicitous about their welfare. The last thing they saw as the train carried them away was that country boy standing there, staring at the coin he held in one hand while he scratched his head in perplexity and evidently wondered what it all meant. So Lil Artha had taken a page from the diary of Uncle Caleb, and applied the kind-hearted old scientist's methods to his own case.
The four scouts reached home in safety, and with plenty to interest those of their comrades of the troop who had not been along. It is to be hoped that at some not far distant day in the future we may be permitted to chronicle still further of the happenings that came the way of Elmer, Toby, Lil Artha, George, and others belonging to the Hickory Ridge Troop of Boy Scouts.
THE END
The Mountain Boys Series
| 1. Phil Bradley's Mountain Boys |
| 2. Phil Bradley at the Wheel |
| 3. Phil Bradley's Shooting Box |
| 4. Phil Bradley's Snow-Shoe Trail |