“There isn’t a single one among them, from what I hear and know, who could comply with the requirements every scout is expected to have as an asset when he makes application,” was the way he put it. “Those boys couldn’t subscribe to any of the rules which govern scouts in their daily life. They’d have to turn over a new leaf for a fact before they could don the khaki.”
“And,” said Josh Kingsley, “when such tough fellows as Tony Pollock, Asa Green, Wedge McGuffey and Dock Phillips start to turning leaves you can begin to see angel wings sprouting back of their shoulder blades.”
There were already five boys who had given in their names to make up a second patrol. When it was filled they meant to join the troop, and qualify for a better standing than greenhorns or tenderfeet.
Larry Henderson had long since gone back to his wilderness home beyond Bear Mountain. Twice had Tom received a letter from the old naturalist, in which he asked a great many questions, all concerning the boys of Lenox, in whom he had not lost interest, and what progress the new troop was making.
He also expressed a hearty wish that should they ever take a trip through the section of country where he lived they would not neglect to look him up in his cabin.
One thing Tom and Carl had noticed of late, and this was that Dock Phillips had taken to going with that tough crowd again. For a while his work in the grocery store had tired him so much each day that when evening came he had been content to go to his home, eat his supper, and then crawl in between the sheets.
Once more Dock was to be seen hanging around the street corners late at night with that group of rowdies that gave the uniformed force so much trouble. Some of them only escaped arrest on numerous occasions because their fathers happened to be local politicians whom the police did not wish to offend.
Tom and Carl talked this fact over and arrived at a conclusion, which may, and again may not, have been the true explanation.
“Dock’s getting tired of holding down his job,” Tom had said, “He’s been out of school so long now that he can’t be sent back; and he doesn’t like hard work either. Since his father signed the pledge he’s been working steadily enough, and perhaps Dock gets into trouble at home because of his temper.”
“I happen to know he does for a fact,” assented Carl. “He’s been acting hateful, staying out up to midnight every night, and his father has threatened to pitch him out. I rather think he’s lazy, and wants to loaf.”