Walter Osborne said to Blake after "school" was over for the morning, "I have always felt as though the trees of the forest were alive, but now it seems to me that every rock is a breathing, changing, growing thing, too."
That afternoon Mr. Thayer led his troop afield and showed them other volumes of rock history,—-how this proved that in ages past water had forced a channel through the hills; how that gave evidences of internal disturbances, of molten masses, of slowly cooling and hardening structure.
Many of the boys had had courses in textbook geology and had gathered "specimens," but this man made all these things new and wonderful and fascinatingly interesting.
Day after day passed and still the enthusiasm grew. "Dry facts" wore absorbed unconsciously; angular diagrams of mathematical relations appeared on the big blackboard so clearly and concisely that even Shorty Mcneil ceased to dread the problems; hours were cheerfully spent at the big mess table in making out tabulated reports and drawing neat maps; and many more hours were spent with compasses and levels, telescopes and heliotropes measuring and judging distances and noting results on the hills and by the lake near camp.
"The man is a born leader and a born teacher," said Lieutenant Denmead, commenting on Mr Thayer one day "We shall hear from him yet."
All too soon the two weeks of study were over and the squad competitions were on. Then they, too, were completed and notice of the results was eagerly awaited by the four patrols.
At length the evening came when the announcements were to be made public. Mr. Thayer had accepted an invitation to be present and to make the final report.
Breathlessly the boys waited, the four leaders scarcely able to control their anxious interest, while the Scout Master, his assistant, and Mr. Thayer took their places within the circle near the council fire.
At last!
"To every one, congratulations! To the Fox patrol, points for excellence in botanical knowledge. To the Wolf patrol, points for excellence in mathematical accuracy. To the Hawk patrol, points for superior general field work. To the Otter patrol and its leader, Tom Sherwood, the title and honor, 'Official Geological Surveyors to the Troop'!"