Afloat on the Flood | Page 2

and the Eagle as
well as the Fox seemed destined to finish their quota of eight members
in the early Fall.
The three boys whom we have met on the road chanced to be among
the original charter members of the troop. All of them belonged to the
Wolf Patrol; for it often happens that fellows wearing the same totem
are brought closer together than others.
Since it chances that the exciting incidents which we have started out to
chronicle in the present story fell almost exclusively to the portion of
the boys belonging to the original Wolf Patrol, it might be well to give
a brief description of who and what they were, before going any
further.
Elmer Chenowith, being the patrol leader, comes first in line. He was a
manly lad, with many winning qualities that made him a prime favorite
among his fellows. At one time his father had had charge of a vast farm
and cattle ranch up in the Canadian Northwest, and while there the boy
had learned a thousand things calculated to be useful to him in his
capacity of a scout.
He had long ago received official authority from Boy Scout
Headquarters to act as a deputy or assistant scout master, whenever the
regular overseer, young Mr. Roderic Garrabrant, could not be present.
Elmer filled the position in such a clever fashion that no one ever
questioned his ability to play the part of guide.

Then there was Mark Anthony Cummings, who was looked upon as
Elmer's chum. He was the grandson of a famous artist, and there were
those who prophesied that some day Mark would follow in the
footsteps of his illustrious ancestor; for he would draw off-hand
charcoal sketches of his chums, mostly in a humorous vein, that excited
roars of laughter. Mark was also something of a musician, and had in
the beginning been elected to fill the position of bugler to the troop.
Ted Burgoyne was afflicted with a dreadful lisp, on account of a
hare-lip, so that as the boys used to say if offered a fortune he could get
no closer to the real thing when dared than to say "thoft thoap." But
then Ted was a marvel in his way, for he had more knowledge of
medicine than all the other boys of the troop combined; and on this
account they often called him "Doctor Ted," or "Old Sawbones."
In cases of snake-bite, fainting, cramps, near-drowning, cuts from the
camp axe or hatchet, gun-shot wounds, broken bones, or, in fact,
anything likely to happen to campers, Ted was what Lil Artha always
called "Johnny-on-the-spot," though Toby could never pin him down to
saying "which spot."
Toby Jones was really the "funny" boy of the patrol. His grandfather
being one of those Zouave veterans, who had accompanied Colonel
Ellsworth to Washington when the war between the States broke out,
and saw the latter shot in Alexandria, Virginia, while taking down a
Confederate flag, nothing would do but that the boy must bear that
venerated name and so he was christened Tobias Ellsworth Jones.
Toby was ambitious. His leaning lay in the line of aeronautics, and he
was always trying to invent some sort of aeroplane that would discount
all the efforts of such men as the Wright brothers. The dreadful fate of
Darius Green and his famous flying machine had no terrors for Toby,
though his chums were always warning him to beware.
He had, on several occasions in the past, attempted to show off with
one of these ambitious contraptions. Those who have read some of the
preceding volumes of this Series know what ludicrous results came
about because of this over-vaulting ambition on the part of Toby. But

he was not one whit discouraged, and often declared that unless his life
were cut short he meant to see that the name of the Joneses went
"ringing down the ages" as one of the most illustrious since the days of
Paul Jones, the American who fought sea battles in the Revolutionary
War.
Lil Artha, in reality Arthur Stansbury, was reckoned a good scout, and
a loyal companion who could both play a joke and take one when it
was aimed at him; he was rather fond of photography, and addicted
somewhat to harmless slang.
The sixth member of the original Wolf Patrol was a Southern boy,
Charlie Maxfield by name, though known simply as "Chatz." He
possessed all the traits to be found in boys who have been born and
raised south of Mason and Dixon's line, was inclined to be touchy
whenever he thought anyone doubted his honor, talked with a quaint
little twang that was really delightfully musical, and taken in all had
grown to be a prime favorite with his fellows.
Chatz had one