Half a dozen and more lighted lanterns hanging from beams or the low rafters dissipated the darkness of the cobwebby interior; for the once busy shop had been deserted some years now.
A bustling, laughing, chattering crowd of half-grown boys occupied the place; and all but four of them were clad in the customary olive drab khaki uniform of the scouts, met with in every part of this wide country, between the Pacific and the Atlantic, and from the Great Lakes of the north to the Mexican Gulf on the south.
Mark carried a bugle at his side, and was quite a genius as a musician. Indeed, there were few musical instruments he could not play; and when in camp the boys looked to him to enliven the evenings around their fire with bugle, banjo, or mandolin.
Another member of the troop was the official drummer; but as yet he had not secured an instrument on which to sound the long roll. But they lived in hopes of soon supplying this need, as there was good money in the treasury.
When the sweet, clear notes of the bugle sounded the assembly call, the chattering ceased. Obedience is one of the first principles inculcated in the breast of a scout; and Elmer, as the president of the association, had always insisted upon the meeting being conducted with a fair amount of decorum.
First came the roll call, when it was found that every member was present, showing that the meeting was deemed an especially important one.
True, several of the boys looked a bit tired, notably Jasper, who had hardly been able to get out of his chair after supper, and was obliged to exert more than the ordinary amount of will power before he could reach the place of meeting.
A little routine program was first of all gone through with, such as marked each meeting of the troop—a song that was patriotic in its character sung, with considerable vim, for there were some really good voices present; after which the commendable trait of patriotism was further carried along by a salute to the flag which stood at one end of the dingy old wheelwright's shop, where all eyes could fall upon its starry blue field and warm red stripes.
"I'm sorry to state," said Elmer, in opening the meeting, "that our capable scout-master was unable to be with us to-night, as a sudden business call took him to New York last night. So we'll have to conduct the exercises without him. And as the most important part of our meeting is the initiation of four new members who have lately expressed a desire to unite with the Hickory Ridge Troop of Boy Scouts, it would be in order for a motion that we proceed immediately to complete that function."
"I move, Mr. President, we go about that business," suggested "Lil Artha" Stansbury, who had curled his long legs under him, and managed to sit down on a low stool he had found somewhere; the balance of the boys being disposed of in all sorts of ways, some on worn wooden "horses," others on blocks of wood, makeshift benches, and even on the bare ground.