Could Hugh have heard these and many other remarks that passed from mouth to mouth among the people on the river bank, he would have blushed with embarrassment. But Hugh was not giving one thought to anything of the sort. He had managed to recover his breath, and was once more on the move. This incident of the stricken bridge was now a thing of the past, and should not engage their attention any further. The present and the future had to be looked after; in other words, the “mill will never grind again with the water that is past.”
Hugh found that a great change had taken place in the scouts of Lawrence. They were now wide-awake and enthusiastic. Those shouts of acclaim had acted like magic to arouse them. All that was necessary now was for someone to tell them what to do; they needed a leader, and every boy would be found willing and eager to do his level best for the good of the stricken people of the flooded town and vicinity.
“What next, Hugh?”
“Show us something you think we ought to tackle!”
“We’re ready for any old job, it doesn’t matter how hard. We’re going to show the Lawrence people that scouts amount to something, after all!”
“Hurrah! you just bet we are, fellows!”
Hugh allowed this enthusiasm to grow spontaneously for a bit. He knew it would assume additional strength, if not nipped too soon. When he considered that the right time had arrived to strike he gathered the little knot of boys about him.
“Then the first thing to be done,” was what Hugh said, “is to get as many scouts together as we can. Scatter around the town, and wherever you can lay hold of a fellow who belongs to your crowd, fetch him here. We’ll need all we can get to try out the many things there are waiting for us to tackle. Will you do this, fellows?”
They would have promised him anything just then, for Hugh had taken the entire lot by storm. They greatly admired the way in which he had dashed out to save the foolish Tug Wilson, who was accounted the worst boy in town; and Hugh had been aware of that fact at the time, which in itself impressed Tip and Wash and the other local scouts as all the more remarkable.
So there was an immediate scattering, and the only one left alongside Hugh was his faithful chum, Billy Worth. That worthy was surveying Hugh earnestly, and nodding his head again and again in approval, as he muttered to himself: