“That’s great news you’ve given us, Billy!” declared Alec. “I can see that the good people of our home town pin a lot of faith in Oakvale Troop of Boy Scouts.”
“Well, they ought to,” said Billy promptly. “We’ve certainly been a credit to the community,—excuse my blushes, boys. But our record speaks for itself, you know.”
“Yes,” added Tom Sherwood, “and only for the scouts, Oakvale to-day would be the same dirty little old town it used to be, with waste paper blowing all around, and nobody taking any pride in keeping things spic and span. The women all said they had tried to clean up and failed; but when our troop offered to lend a helping hand the improvement was effected.”
“It’s too near supper time to do much talking about the wonderful news you’ve brought us, Billy,” said Arthur. “I suppose it’ll be the main line of topic of discussion at the regular weekly meeting to-night.”
“Yes,” said Billy, “and Hugh means to ’phone every member he can reach, so there’ll be a heavy attendance. The Fair begins on Wednesday, you remember, and we ought to know just what we expect to do along a dozen lines.”
“It strikes me as an elegant thing,” asserted Alec.
“Finest that ever came down the pike,” Billy agreed. “To think what glorious times we can have, and how we’ll be able to scatter seeds of information about scout activities among the rubes who attend the great Fair. Some of them really believe scouts are banded together just to play pranks and have fun. We’ll have the biggest opportunity to take the scales off their eyes.”
“And to think, Billy,” Arthur commented, his eyes sparkling, “that while we walked along the road just now all of us were trying to figure out what possible use only afternoon vacations could be to boys, when it was impossible to go off on any hike. Now we can see a dozen ways where we’ll be able to have a good time.”
Billy laughed.
“Yes, we all know what you’d call a good time, Arthur,” he jeered. “Chances are you’ll stick by that emergency tent hospital like a leech, and almost hope some old farmer may drop a pitchfork on his foot and need attending to; or a dog bite a boy who’s been badgering him, so you’ll have to cauterize the wound.”