The Banner Boy Scouts Afloat | Page 6

things quiet while he did his little stunts. But that was a punk notion for me, all right; there ain't any smell of animals about those boxes, not a whiff."
"But what in the wide world gave you that queer notion?" asked Tom.
"Don't know," replied Bobolink, "'less it was what Jack said about the professor writing up from Coney Island near New York City; that's the place where all the freaks show every summer. I've been down there myself."
"Listen to him, would you, Jack, owning up that he's a sure enough freak? Well, some of us had a little idea that way, Bobolink, but we never thought you'd admit it so coolly," remarked Tom Betts, laughingly.
"And the wild animal show down there is just immense," the other went on, not heeding the slur cast upon his reputation; for like many boys, Bobolink had a pretty tough skin, and was not easily offended; "and I guess I've thought about what I saw done there heaps of times. So Coney stands for wild animal trainin' to me. But that guess was away wide of the mark. Forget it, fellows. Only whenever Jack here learns what was in those boxes, he must let his chums know. It's little enough to pay for draggin' a lame scout all the way out here tonight; think so, Jack?"
"I sure do, and you'll have it, if ever I find out," was the reply. "Perhaps, after they've been taken away by the professor, my father mightn't mind telling me what was in them. And we'll let it rest at that, now."
"But you mark me, if Bobolink gets any peace of mind till he learns," warned Tom.
Chatting on various matters connected more or less with the doings of the Boy Scout movement, and what a fine thing it was proving for the youth of the whole land, Jack and his chums presently brought up at the church which had the bell tower; and where a splendid meeting room had been given over for their occupancy in the basement, in which a gymnasium was fitted up for use in the fall and winter.
In that tower hung a big bell, whose brazen tongue had once upon a time alarmed the good people of Stanhope by ding-donging at a most unusual hour. It had come through a prank played upon the scouts by several tough boys of the town whose enmity Paul Morrison and his chums had been unfortunate enough to incur. But for the details of that exciting episode the reader will have to be referred back to the preceding volume.
Jack Stormways never glanced up at that tower but that he was forcibly reminded of that startling adventure; and a smile would creep over his face as he remembered some of the most striking features connected with the event.
In the big room the three scouts found quite a crowd awaiting their coming. Indeed, it seemed as though nearly every member of the troop had made it an especial point to attend this meeting just as though they knew there was something unusual about to come before them for consideration.
As many of these lads will be apt to figure in the pages of this story, it might be just as well to listen to the secretary, as he calls the roster of the Stanhope Troop. Once this duty had devolved upon one of the original Red Fox Patrol; but with the idea of sharing the responsibilities in a more general way, it had been transferred to the shoulders of Phil Towns, who belonged to the second patrol.
RED FOX PATROL
1--Paul Morrison, patrol leader, and also assistant scout master. 2--Jack Stormways. 3--Bobolink, the official bugler. 4--Bluff Shipley, the drummer. 5--Nuthin, whose real name was Albert Cypher. 6--William Carberry, one of the twins. 7--Wallace Carberry, the other. 8--Tom Betts.
GRAY FOX PATROL
1--Jud Elderkin, patrol leader. 2--Joe Clausin. 3--Andy Flinn. 4--Phil Towns. 5--Horace Poole. 6--Bob Tice. 7--Curly Baxter. 8--Cliff Jones, whose entire name was Clifford Ellsworth Fairfax Jones.
BLACK FOX PATROL
1--Frank Savage, patrol leader. 2--Billie Little, a very tall lad, and of course always called Little Billie. 3--Nat Smith. 4--Sandy Griggs. 5--Old Dan Tucker. 6--"Red" Conklin. 7--"Spider" Sexton. 8--"Gusty" Bellows.
Unattached, but to belong to a fourth patrol, later on:
George Hurst. "Lub" Ketcham.
Thus it will be seen that there were now twenty-six lads connected with the wide awake Stanhope Troop, and more coming.
After the roll call, they proceeded to the regular business, with Paul Morrison in the chair, he being the president of the association. It was surprising how well many of these boyish meetings were conducted; Paul and some of his comrades knew considerable about parliamentary law, and long ago the hilarious members of the troop had learned that when once the meeting was called to order they must put all joking aside.
Many a good debate had been heard