The Boy Scouts Patrol | Page 3

wish you hadn't."
"Aw, what would you do?" retorted Jim, tauntingly flourishing the lash
dangerously close to Pepper's face. "You ain't big enough to scare me
baby brother."
"You had better not try it, Jim Rae," asserted Pepper, "or I'll pull you
out of there so quick that you will think a cyclone struck you."
"You mean a wind bag, don't you?" sneered Jim, aiming a blow at
Pepper, who now loosened his hold upon the horse's bridle to jump
toward the wagon, whereupon Jim changed his purpose and struck the
horse with the whip. With a loud "giddap" they started with a bound,
missing Pepper by a hair's breadth, and driving on down the road at a
rattling pace.
"That's a regular m-monkey trick, Jim Rae, all right!" shouted Pepper.
"but I'll get even with you yet!"
The only answer of the boys in the wagon was a taunting laugh as they
drove away. Randolph and Donald had taken no part in the controversy,
not exactly approving of Pepper's disputing with the enemy, but they
had stood at hand ready for any emergency should one arise.

CHAPTER II
FINDING MONEY
The three boys stood for a moment looking after the rapidly
disappearing wagon, then, stooping down, Rand picked up something
from the road.
"It isn't worth trying, Rand," advised Donald. "You couldn't hit him if
you wanted to, and you wouldn't want to if you could. You can get
even with him some better way."
"Right as usual, Donald," laughed Rand, "but I wasn't looking for

anything to throw at him. I just happened to see this lying on the
ground and picked it up." Holding out a coin he had found, he added:
"What do you make of it?"
"W-w-what is it?" stammered Pepper, all excitement. "It l-looks like an
old-fashioned cent."
"You have got me," replied Donald. "I never saw any money like that."
"Let's have a close look at it," put in Pepper.
The boys studied over the coin, which was of the size of the early
copper cent, for some time without being much the wiser.
"See, there is a representation of a ship under full sail," remarked Rand,
"with the name Constitution on it. I wonder what it means?"
"And it has the words 'Webster Credit Current' around it," added
Pepper.
"And on the other side is shown the ship wrecked on some rocks.
Something about wrecking the Constitution, I suppose," added Rand.
"This side says, 'Van Buren Metallic Current,' with the date '1837'," put
in Donald.
"I have it!" suddenly ejaculated Rand.
"Of course you have," admitted Donald, "but do you know what it is?"
"I see I must speak by the book, as Hamlet says," laughed Rand. "I
mean I know what it is."
"What is it, then?" demanded Donald.
"It is some kind of a token, I think," replied Rand, "but I will ask Uncle
Floyd about it. He will sure know."
"I w-w-wonder if there are any more of them," stammered Pepper,
looking along the road. "Yes, here is another one."

"Is it like this?" asked Rand.
"It looks very similar," replied Pepper, still hunting about.
"Find any more?" called Donald.
"Not yet."
Nor were there any more found, although they looked long and
carefully up and down the road for some time.
"What is the difference between them?" questioned Pepper, when they
had finally given up the hunt and sat down by the side of the road to
compare the two coins.
"Why, instead of a ship this one shows, on the one side, a man in a
chest with a sword in one hand and a bag of money in the other, and
around the edge are the words, 'I take the responsibility.' The other side
has the wreck like the first one," concluded Rand after he had examined
them.
"It's a very curious thing," he continued, handing the one coin back to
Pepper.
"I don't see anything very curious about them," demurred Donald.
"I mean it is very curious how they got here," explained Rand.
"I don't see anything very curious about that, either," went on Donald.
"Why shouldn't they be here as well as anywhere?"
"I don't know, I am sure," laughed Rand, "only I don't see why they
should be here, or anywhere, for that matter."
"Oh, I don't know," replied Donald. "Somebody probably dropped them
as they were going along."
"Undoubtedly," agreed Rand. "I don't believe that they grew here. But
who dropped them and how did they happen along here?"

"Ask Jack," suggested Donald, "he'll make a whole story out of it."
"They certainly are not common," went on Rand, "and people don't
usually carry them in their pockets. I'd like to know the history of these
and how they came here, but I don't