“So say we all of us!” echoed Billy Worth with a vim. “It was Hugh that thought out the idea first of all, and everybody knows he’s been the mainstay in carrying it through to a finish.”
“None of that sort of talk now, fellows!” declared Hugh instantly. “This was everybody’s fight as well as mine, and there isn’t a single scout but who’s done his full duty just as much as I have. If there is any credit going around, you’ve got to share in it. But after that’s said and done, I think the finest thing of all is the change that’s come over Lige Corbley and those other three boys who are now members of the Owl Patrol, which Lige is serving as leader.”
A silence fell upon the group at that. Some of the older members of the troop had hardly as yet become reconciled to having that quartette of unsavory characters among them, and Hugh, understanding this fact, took occasion to take them to task.
“Now, I know that you’ve only partly agreed with me when we have talked it over in the past,” he said impressively, “but stop and try to put yourselves in the places of Lige and the rest. They were almost outcasts because of their wild ways. Everybody’s hand was against them, and no one would believe a word they said.
“Then this change of heart came, and they cast in their lot with us. I know they’re making a hard fight to hold their own, and we’ve all got to help them, boys. I want you to try and forget what they’ve been in the past, and just consider them fellow scouts, bound by the same high ideals that we are. They’re human, and I give you my word you’ll be astonished at the way those chaps have progressed.
“They’re going to give some others the surprise of their lives soon, when they apply for badges of second-class scouts, because they’re in dead earnest. So wake up and don’t let them feel that you resent their presence. Lige Corbley comes over to my house one night a week right along, and my folks all say they never dreamed he had it in him to turn out to be such a strong character.”
“But you knew, Hugh!” declared Billy. “I can remember you saying that ever so long ago, when I was calling Lige all sorts of names on account of his mean ways. I guess you saw deeper than any of the rest of us. And for one, I give you my promise that after this I’m going to cut out all remembrance of what they were in the past, and treat them as I would the best fellows on earth.”
Among boys an example is as contagious as the measles, and when Billy thus gave utterance to his intentions, the balance of the group hastened to chime in. After that, the scouts belonging to the new Owl Patrol had no reason to feel that they were treated as an alien camp; indeed, warm-hearted Billy Worth, Alec, Dale Evans and a lot more of the others often went far out of their way to extend the hand of good fellowship. So they made Lige and his friends feel that they had really been accepted on an equal footing when taken into the troop.
Things were prospering splendidly these days. Not only had the scouts won the admiration and backing of the ladies of the town, but the men had come to feel a confidence in them that manifested itself in various ways. During that winter, things fairly hummed among juvenile circles. All the better class of sports took on new life, and no longer were wearers of the khaki jeered at as they passed through the streets. Hugh and his comrades had proved their worth to the citizens of their home town, and to be a scout nowadays stamped a boy as deserving both respect and confidence.
While they were of course debarred from any extended trips during the cold weather season and school sessions, they naturally laid out many glorious hikes for the coming summer. It might be the last winter some of these tall boys would spend in the home town, for they anticipated graduating at the June commencement and already had selected the favorite colleges which they hoped to attend in the fall.