“Hugh is studying astronomy, fellows,” Blake Merton declared.
“No, I’m not,” said Hugh. “I was just thinking that ’way off in Pioneer Camp ‘taps’ is sounding now, and Billy the Wolf is wishing he were here with us. Good old Billy! Hope he wasn’t very much disappointed about not making the corps.”
It was characteristic of Hugh Hardin to wish that his chum might share adventures and good-fortune with him.
Suddenly, across Alec’s drowsy consciousness stole a slight jealousy of Billy Worth. Never had he felt this before; never had he wished that he and Hugh might be friends with no indifference on Hugh’s part toward him, and no hostility on his own. Surely if Billy Worth, whom Alec really liked, found Hugh worthy of respect and regard, Hugh must be a friend worth claiming. Yet what had he done to make of Hugh a friend? Nothing. On the contrary, he had been guilty of a mean and selfish act which, if Hugh suspected it, could not easily be forgiven.
“A scout is friendly. He is a friend to all and a brother to every other scout.”
So ran the fourth law which Alec had promised to obey when he took the scout oath. And how had he kept that law? By treachery to another!
“Guess I must be tireder than I thought,” he told himself, trying to account for these disturbing reflections. “If I want to, I can return Hugh’s notes to him when we go back to camp; they’re hidden in my locker now. I suppose Joe meant that it was up to me to return them. Why didn’t he do it himself? It would be more like him, the sly dog! I wish he had! I don’t want to return them; they’re so much better than mine. Oh, well, perhaps——“
But here his brain and body seemed to yield all at once to the overpowering spell of tired youth, and he sank into dreamless slumber.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SHAM BATTLE.
Such half-formed resolutions, good or bad, as those which had troubled Alec that night were naturally lost sight of in the stirring events of the next three days. Like the others in the signal corps, he was absorbed in the work assigned to them: surveying the countryside, working with the linemen who were sent on ahead to lay wires, sending and receiving telegraphic and signal messages concerning the movements of “the enemy.” It was a wonderful experience for the eight young scouts, and they entered into it with a will and with credit to themselves for their part in the general scheme.