None of them could doubt after that his sincerity, or that he had the interests of his people deeply bedded in his heart when he tried to pilot them along paths of peace.
Of course after that the sheriff and his posse had nothing further to do. Before he left the scene, however, the peace officer made it a point to visit the camp of the scouts and tell them what a high opinion he had come to have of the movement with which they were affiliated. Up to that time he had rather opposed it, but from that day when he had had his eyes opened, it had appealed to him more and more strongly.
“I have some boys who will be only too glad to start a troop in their neighborhood,” he said at parting, “and so you see how far-reaching your influence for good can go. Keep up the work, lads, and the next generation of Americans will be the finest this glorious country of ours has ever produced.”
Nurse Jones came over, too, and had dinner with the scouts. She thanked them with tears in her pretty eyes for all they had done.
“We are just starting for the city, Grandfather Campertown, Reuben and I,” were her parting words, “and the future looks very bright for us all. My poor father, too, can now be able to enjoy something of life, since it is money he needs most of all in order to restore his health. And we will never, never forget you, Reuben and I.”
She even pinned her Red Cross badge on Hugh’s sleeve, for him to keep as a reminder of these strenuous times when he and his comrades assisted the hospital corps in their duties in caring for the wounded strikers.
During the rest of their stay in camp the boys saw more or less of Dr. Richter, and grew to like him very much. When, in time, they set their faces toward the far-distant home-town, they carried a new fund of experiences and memories along with them that would doubtless add to the general esteem in which Oakvale Troop was now held by the people among whom they dwelt.
That their activities in the way of usefulness had not yet reached a limit may be understood from the title of the volume that follows this; and if you care to continue the many pleasant friendships formed in these pages, you can do so by procuring “The Boy Scouts as County Fair Guides.”
THE END.