Then again, a favored few had been given a chance to see how the life savers of the Florida coast conduct their work during the stormy season of the year, and had even assisted in the work of rescue.
On another occasion they had accompanied the Naval Reserve Corps aboard a war vessel that had been placed at their disposal by the authorities at Washington, and in this manner had learned many valuable lessons that were bound to be profitable to them in the future.
The summer vacation of the present year had come to an end some little time before, and these lads were once more in school harness. Some of them may have been really glad to get back to work again, as the long weeks of idleness began to pall upon them; but these were few in number.
Times were different these days, since the scout movement had captured the town. So many delightful excursions were being planned for those who had the good fortune to belong to the troop that they could hardly find time to attend to all of their engagements. You never found these scouts lounging around through the August days with an aimless look on their faces. They were planning and executing right along, always full of business.
While Hugh and his chum lay there under the big oak and cooled off, a sudden gust of wind came sweeping along the street, causing the dust to rise.
“Whee! Look at the old scraps of paper and stuff flying through the air!” exclaimed Billy, laughing at the flurry the puff of wind had created. “Honest Injun, I do believe what some of the visitors at the hotel say: that we have the dirtiest little city of its size in the whole state! It doesn’t seem as though anybody cared a rap what goes on here. In nearly every street you’ll find paper blowing into fence corners, and all sorts of rubbish lying around. I sometimes blush for my town when anybody visits at our house from other places where the mayor is wide-awake and does things.”
“You know that the women tried to take it in hand a year ago. They’ve got a club called the Town Improvement Association, and for a little while they really did make a dent in things. Those tall cans with the letters ‘T. I. A.’ on them were bought and placed everywhere about. But does anybody bother putting papers and trash in them? Well, hardly ever. Watch that farmer coming along, and you’ll see just the sort of spirit that seems to have gripped the whole place by the throat. Everybody’s doing it, they say, and so they follow suit.”
Evidently the man in the farm wagon had brought a lot of tomatoes to market for which he had been unable to find a purchaser at any price. Perhaps they were not fresh, and as he was now going home and had no desire to burden his horses with an unnecessary load, he began deliberately to turn the crates over and allow the contents to trail in the road after him, doubtless expecting that the Italian children would immediately get busy and pick them up.
There was something like a rush and scramble for the spoils, but when the dust had settled again it could be seen that quite a number of the tomatoes had been crushed underfoot or refused as unworthy. At any rate, there they lay by dozens, only adding to the untidy condition of this, one of the streets leading into the main thoroughfare of the town.
The two scouts exchanged looks.