“Yes sir, I do.”
Then Worry read the next one, “A Scout is loyal. He is loyal to all to whom loyalty is due; his scout leader, his home and parents and country.”
“You find this law good?”
There was a slight pause.
“Do I have to obey that one?” said he. “Do I have ter be loyal ter him?”
Mr. Ellsworth stepped forward amid a tense silence and laid his hand on Tom’s shoulder. “I think you have been loyal to your mother already, Tom,” he said in a low tone, “as for your father,” he hesitated; “yes, I think you must be loyal to him too. There weren’t any Boy Scouts when he was a boy, Tom. We must remember that.”
“All right,” said Tom.
“You find this law good?” asked the scoutmaster, resuming the ceremonial form.
“Yes—I do. I’ll be—loyal.”
The reading of the law completed, he stepped back with Roy to the Silver Fox emblem.