Boy Scouts on a Long Hike

Scouts on a Long Hike, by
Archibald Lee Fletcher

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Title: Boy Scouts on a Long Hike Or, To the Rescue in the Black
Water Swamps
Author: Archibald Lee Fletcher
Release Date: July 31, 2006 [EBook #18952]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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SCOUTS ON A LONG HIKE ***

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BOY SCOUTS ON A LONG HIKE or To the Rescue in the Black
Water Swamps

By Archibald Lee Fletcher
Chicago M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY
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Copyright 1913 M. A. DONOHUE & CO. CHICAGO
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CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I--THE BOYS OF THE BEAVER PATROL 7 II--HELPING
NOODLES 16 III--THE GENTLE COW 26 IV--IN ALABAMA
CAMP 35 V--A HELPING HAND 44 VI--THE HOME-COMING OF
JO DAVIES 53 VII--INNOCENT OR GUILTY? 62 VIII--"WELL, OF
ALL THINGS!" 71 IX--THE RUNAWAY BALLOON 81 X--DUTY
ABOVE ALL THINGS 90 XI--THE TRAIL IN THE SWAMP 99
XII--WHERE NO FOOT HAS EVER TROD 108 XIII--THE OASIS
IN THE SWAMP 117 XIV--JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME 126
XV--ON THE HOME-STRETCH 135 XVI--"WELL DONE,
BEAVER PATROL!" 146
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BOY SCOUTS ON A LONG HIKE Or, To the Rescue in the Black
Water Swamps
CHAPTER I
THE BOYS OF THE BEAVER PATROL
"They all think, fellows, that the Beaver Patrol can't do it!"
"We'll show 'em how we've climbed up out of the tenderfoot class; hey,
boys?"

"Just watch our smoke, that's all. Why, it's only a measly little
twenty-five miles per day, and what d'ye think?"
"Sure Seth, and what's that to a husky lot of Boy Scouts, who've been
through the mill, and wear merit badges all around? Huh! consider it as
good as done right now!"
Half a dozen boys who wore khaki uniforms, were chattering like so
many magpies as they stood in a little group on an elevation
overlooking the bustling Indiana town of Beverly.
Apparently they must have been practicing some of the many clever
things Boy Scouts delight to learn, for several of the number carried
signal flags; two had pieces of a broken looking-glass in their
possession; while the tall lad, Seth Carpenter, had a rather sadly stained
blanket coiled soldier fashion about his person, that gave off a scent of
smoke, proving that he must have used it in communicating with
distant comrades, by means of the smoke code of signals.
Besides Seth there were in the group Jotham Hale, Eben Newcomb,
Andy Mullane, Fritz Hendricks, and a merry, red-faced boy who,
because of his German extraction, went by the name of "Noodles
Krafft."
The reader who has not made the acquaintance of these wide-awake
scouts in previous volumes of this Series will naturally want to know
something about them, and hence it might be wise to introduce the
members of the Beaver Patrol right here.
Eben was the official bugler of Beverly Troop. He had been made to
take this office much against his will, and for a long time had the
greatest difficulty in getting the "hang" of his instrument, so that his
comrades guyed him most unmercifully over the strange medleys he
used to bring forth when meaning to sound the various "calls." But of
late Eben seemed to have mastered his silver-plated bugle, and was
really doing very well, with an occasional lapse excepted.
Andy was a Kentucky boy, but outside of a little extra touch of pride,

and a very keen sense of his own honor, you would never know it.
Seth was the champion signal sender, and delighted to study up
everything he could discover concerning this fascinating subject.
Fritz, on his part, chose to make an especial study of woodcraft, and
was forever hunting for "signs," and talking of the amazing things
which the old-time Indians used to accomplish along this line.
As for good-natured Noodles, if he had any specialty at all, it lay in the
art of cooking. When the boys were in camp they looked to him to
supply all sorts of meals that fairly made their mouths water with
eagerness to begin operations long before the bugle of Eben sounded
the "assembly."
Last of all the group, was Jotham Hale, a rather quiet boy, with an
engaging face, and clear eyes. Jotham's mother was a Quaker, or at
least she came from the peace-loving Friends stock; and the lad had
been early taught that he must never engage in fights except as a very
last