The Boy Scouts on the Trail | Page 9

"There is the old citadel. That still stands.
But the ancient battlements have been dismantled. I believe that in time
of war, if the enemy got past the troops in the field, they could come
peacefully into Amiens. It is not a fortress, like Lille or Maubeuge. Oh,
look, there are some of the scouts! I see Monsieur Marron. He is the
directeur of the troop--the scoutmaster. Let us speak to him."
They went over to a tall man in khaki, who was speaking to an officer
in the red and blue uniform of the French army. Henri saluted, and
when the officer went away, the scoutmaster turned to him with a
smile.
"Well--so you are here, Martin," he said. "Are you going to join? We
will waive formalities--we need all the scouts we can get."
"Yes, sir, and I have brought a recruit. He is half French--the rest of
him is American. But he wants to join, too. May he?"
"Certainly," said the scoutmaster. "Report to-night or in the morning.
Get your uniforms. Who is your recruit?"
Frank was introduced, and the tall Frenchman shook hands with him.
"You will be welcome," he said. "My boys are at work, you see. They
are serving as messengers. There has been plenty for us to do in these

days, too. Pray God there may not be more--and of a less pleasant sort."
Frank observed the French scouts with interest. They were in khaki
uniforms, with wool stockings, and short trousers that stopped just
above the knee, and the soft campaign hats made famous by the pioneer
scouts in England. Indeed, they looked like the English and American
scouts in many respects.
"One moment," said Marron, checked by a sudden thought. "You speak
French well?" He asked the question of Frank, who smiled.
"Yes, sir," he said, in French. "My mother was French, you see."
"That is very good," said the scoutmaster. "Never fear, I shall be able to
keep you busy as long as I am here. Soon, I hope, they will let me go to
the front, where I should be right now."
"I thought you would have gone, sir," said Henri.
"They wanted me to stay with my boys at the first," said Marron, with a
shrug of his shoulders. "But they can do their work alone now, and
there is no fear that they will not do it well."
Then Frank and Henri went off, on their way to Henri's house.
"So we have come to Amiens after all and we are to join the Boy
Scouts, just as we planned that day when I said there would be no war
this year!"
"Yes--but it's different, isn't it, Henri?"
"Yes, and we can be of some real use now."
"I am glad that we are here, aren't you? When we get our uniforms and
go to work, I shall feel that we are really being used in the war. I--I'm
an American, of course, but I've hated the idea that I was so close to
this war and wasn't having anything to do with it."
"And I--I have been wishing, Frank, that they might have waited until I

was old enough to fight for France!"
CHAPTER V
THE FIRST DUTY
Morning brought awakening to the two friends with the sounding of
reveille from bugles, seemingly just outside their window. Together
they sprang from bed, raced to the window, wide open as it had been all
night, and looked out. Not far away, in a small park, one of those for
which the city of Amiens is famous, they saw an array of white tents
that they had not seen the night before when they had gone to bed.
Already the camp was stirring; even as they watched the soldiers were
all about. And early as it was, they saw a scout ride up on a bicycle,
speak to the sentry who challenged him, and wait. In a moment an
officer came out, the scout saluted, and his salute was returned as stiffly
and gravely as it had been given. Then the scout handed the officer a
letter, saluted again and, receiving permission, turned away and vaulted
on his wheel.
Henri was vastly excited.
"Come on!" he cried eagerly. "Let's get dressed, Frank. I see that we
should be out already."
"Yes. It's time we were getting busy if the others are at work," said
Frank. "Where do you suppose those chaps came from?"
"I don't know--that's exactly what's puzzling me," said Henri, his brow
knitted. "They don't look like reserve troops. I don't know exactly why,
either, but we can soon find out."
They bathed and dressed hurriedly, and went down to find that Marie,
the cook who had been with the Martin family ever since Henri could
remember, was