The Boy Scout Aviators | Page 2

be
obedient. We learn discipline. And we get to understand camp life, and
the open air, and all the things a soldier has to know about, sooner or
later. Suppose you were organizing a regiment. Which would you
rather have -- a thousand men who were brave and willing, but had
never camped out, or a thousand who had been Boy Scouts and knew
about half the things soldiers have to learn? Which thousand men
would be ready to go to the front first?"
"I never thought of that!" said Dick, mightily impressed. "But you're
right, Harry. The Boy Scouts wouldn't go to war themselves, but the
fellows who were grown up and in business and had been Boy Scouts
would be a lot readier than the others, wouldn't they? I suppose that's
why so many of our chaps join the Territorials when they are through
school and start in business?"
"Of course it is! You've got the idea I'm driving at, Dick. And you can
depend on it that General Baden-Powell had that in his mind's eye all
the time, too. He doesn't want us to be military and aggressive, but he
does want the Empire to have a lot of fellows on call who are hard and
fit, so that they can defend themselves and the country. You see, in
America, and here in Enland, too, we're not like the countries on the
Continent. We don't make soldiers of every man in the country."
"No -- by Jove, they do that, don't they, Harry? I've got a, cousin who's
French. And he expects to serve his term in the army. He's in the class
of 1918. You see, he knows already when he will have to go, and just
where he will report - almost the regiment he'll join. But he's hoping
they'll let him be in the cavalry, instead of the infantry or the artillery."
"There you are! Here and in America, we don't have to have such

tremendous armies, because we haven't got countries that we may have
to fight across the street - you know what I mean. England has to have
a tremendous navy, but that makes it unnecessary for her to have such a
big army."
"I see you've got the idea exactly, Fleming," said a new voice, breaking
into the conversation. The two scouts looked up to see the smiling face
of their scoutmaster, John Grenfel. He was a big, bronzed Englishman,
sturdy and typical of the fine class to which he belonged -- public
school and university man, first- class cricketer and a football
international who had helped to win many a hard fought game for
England from Wales or Scotland or Ireland. The scouts were returning
from a picnic on Wimbledon Common, in the suburbs of London, and
Grenfel was following his usual custom of dropping into step now with
one group, now with another. He favored the idea of splitting up into
groups of two or three on the homeward way, because it was his idea
that one of the great functions of the Scout movement was to foster
enduring friendships among the boys. He liked to know, without
listening or trying to overhear, what the boys talked about; often he
would give a directing word or two, that, without his purpose becoming
apparent, shaped the ideas of the boys.
"Yes," he repeated. "You understand what we're trying to do in this
country, Fleming. We don't want to fight -- we pray to God that we
shall never have to. But, if we are attacked, or if the necessity arises,
we'll be ready, as we have been ready before. We want peace -- we
want it so much and so earnestly that we'll fight for it if we must."
Neither of the boys laughed at what sounded like a paradox. His voice
was too earnest.
"Do you think England is likely to have to go to war soon -- within a
year or so, sir?" asked Harry.
"I pray not," said Grenfel. "But we don't know, Fleming. For the last
few years -- ever since the trouble in the Balkans finally flamed up --
Europe has been on the brink of a volcano. We don't know what the
next day may bring forth. I've been afraid - " He stopped, suddenly, and

seemed to consider.
"There is danger now," he said, gravely. "Since the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, Austria has been in an ugly
mood. She has tried to blame Servia. I don't think Russia will let her
crush Servia -- not a second time. And if Russia and Austria fight there
is no telling how it may spread."
"You'd want us to win, wouldn't you, Harry, if we fought?" asked Dick,
when Mr. Grenfel had passed on