"We had a fine meeting, eh, Mark?" said Elmer, as the two stood for a few minutes on a corner ere separating.
"A dandy meeting," was the reply, given enthusiastically, and with boyish vim.
"The addition of the four new recruits," Elmer went on, "fills out our two patrols to their limit, and now we can begin to drum up new names for the Eagle. By Fall we ought to have six more good fellows come around, and finish that patrol."
"Mr. Garrabrant will be pleased when he comes back and learns what we've done," Mark chuckled, as if he himself were greatly overjoyed.
"That's so, because he's got the good of the troop at heart," said the leader of the Wolf Patrol, earnestly. "We're lucky to have such a wide-awake scout-master as Mr. Garrabrant. A whole lot depends on what kind of a man is in charge of the troop. They say, you know, Mark, 'as the twig's inclined the tree is bent'; and in most cases you can judge the kind of troop by the caliber of the scout-master. If he's weak there can be no order kept up. If he's too severe the boys will rebel. I reckon it takes a mighty smart man to handle twenty or thirty lively boys, and get out the best they have in them."
"I've often thought of that, Elmer. I like to study people, you remember. And I think all of our boys like Mr. Garrabrant the best kind. Going to bed now? Well, good night. See you to-morrow, if we get together, a dozen of us, for that little hike."
And separating, the two chums headed for their several homes.
On the following day Elmer, upon arriving at a place of meeting in the morning, somewhere in the neighborhood of nine o'clock, found a group of his fellow scouts anxiously awaiting his coming. Most of them had come direct from home, and each carried the staff that was supposed to be of more or less help to the owner while on the road. This was just six feet in length, stout, and in some instances made of bamboo, and in others of clear ash; marked off in feet and inches so that it could be used also for measuring distances, being two meters in length, and with a grip for the hand midway between the ends.
"Just ten here," remarked Elmer, after he had counted the khaki-clad boys. "All who volunteered for the hike but one, and he, Red Huggins, usually as prompt a fellow as there is in the troop, but behind time for once."
"Going to wait for him?" demanded one of the others, impatient to be off.