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!
CHAPTER V.
THE MEETING IN THE OLD WAGON SHOP.
"About time to begin business, don't you think, Mark?" asked Elmer Chenowith.
"Just about on the minute; and I've been counting noses, Mr. Scout-master; there are eighteen fellows present—not a single gap in the line," answered his chum.
"That's fine. We'll get our four new members through to-night, and have two complete patrols, with a third well started. Suppose you sound the assembly, Mark, and we'll close the doors. While the Hickory Ridge Troop of Boy Scouts doesn't pretend to be a secret society, there's no reason why we should have every Tom, Dick, and Harry gaping in at us, and listening to all we say."
Elmer and his closest chum, Mark Cummings, were standing inside the old abandoned wagon-maker's shop that for long years had been a landmark at the crossroads just outside the town of Hickory Ridge.