“Leave it to me, Carl; sooner or later we’ll find a way to beat him at his own game. If he’s got that paper hidden away somewhere we may discover his secret by following him. There are other ways too. It’s going to come out all right in the end, you take my word for it!”
CHAPTER V
THE BLACK BEAR PATROL
It was a lively scene in the room under the church when the meeting was called to order by Mr. Witherspoon, the civil engineer and surveyor. A dozen boys were on hand, several having come from curiosity, and meaning to join the scouts later on if they saw reason to believe it would amount to anything.
Besides the boys there were present Judge Stone, his friend the hermit-naturalist, Larry Henderson, and two fathers, who had dropped around to learn whether this new-fangled movement for the rising generation meant that the boys were to be secretly trained for soldiers, as so many people believed.
Robert Witherspoon having once been a scout master knew how to manage a meeting of this sort. After he had called it to order he made a neat little speech, and explained what a wonderful influence for good the organization had been in every community where it had been tested.
He read various extracts from the scout manual to show the lofty aims of those who had originated this idea which was taking the world by storm.
“The boys have been neglected far too long,” he told them; “and it has been decided that if we want a better class of men in the world we must begin work with the boy. It is the province of this scout movement to make duty so pleasant for the average lad that he will be wild to undertake it.”