The Banner Boy Scouts Afloat | Page 6

ought to know about it.
"Oh! I took care of that part," chuckled Tom Betts. "I saw you were
talking with Jack and old Hans, so I just stepped up, and walked around
the boxes. There isn't a thing on 'em but the name of the professor, and
Jack's dad's address in Stanhope."
"And they didn't look much like animal cages to me," muttered
Bobolink; upon which both of the others emitted exclamations of
surprise, whereupon the speaker seemed to think he ought to make

some sort of explanation, so he went on hastily: "You see, Jack, I
somehow got a silly idea in my mind that p'raps this little professor was
some sort of an animal trainer, and meant to come up here, just to have
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