Somehow his energy seemed to affect the other boys. They exchanged hurried glances, and their faces even lighted up a little with expectancy.
“What might you mean by that, Comrade Hardin?” asked Tip Lange ponderously.
“Wake the town up!” said Hugh. “Show them what scouts can do when they have half a chance. They lost faith in you, I take it, because there may have been jealousy in the ranks, and quarreling. Get together and astonish your people here. Make them sit up and take notice of what you can accomplish. That’s what we had to do over our way, to get to the top. And now we have our fifth patrol forming, and Oakvale isn’t nearly as big a place as your town.”
Tip Lange drew a long breath, and sighed dismally as he shook his head.
“It’s nice of you to tell us that, Hardin, and goodness knows we’d like to carry out the idea, but you don’t understand how dead a place Lawrence is these days. Every effort we made to hold an exhibition turned out a failure. It begins to look as if this was no scout town. The boys have lost all heart. I’m nearly ready to throw up the sponge myself.”
“Yep, that’s what ails us fellows; we haven’t got the opportunity to distinguish ourselves that you Wolf Patrol boys ran across,” grumbled Wash Bradford.
“No opportunity!” cried Billy Worth. “Oh! my stars. Take the scales off your eyes, fellows!”
“No opportunity!” echoed Hugh, amazed at the explanation that had been given to account for the lack of an organization in Lawrence. “Why, I never ran across such a splendid opening for scouts to make themselves useful as there is right at this very minute. With your town threatened by the most terrible flood ever known, don’t you see that you can do dozens of things to help people in trouble? No opportunity, when foolish crowds line a quivering bridge that is likely to go down if a floating tree crashes against it like that barn did. Oh! if only you’d let us join in with you, we’d find things to do that would make your folks sit up and take notice.”
“And from this day on they would cheer a scout every time they saw one on the street in his khaki suit,” added Billy, with enthusiasm.
The three local boys had stood there and stared as Hugh poured out his words. His manner was so vehement that they must have been thrilled through and through. First of all they turned and looked at each other; then the expression of amazement on their faces began to give way to growing interest that quickly ripened into what began to approach enthusiasm.