Troop One of the Labrador | Page 6

about the oranges and apples."
"Yes," agreed Doctor Joe, "it's only when things are taken away from us that we really appreciate them. Jamie, no doubt, appreciates his eyes much more than he would have done had the mist never clouded them."
"Aye, 'tis so," said Thomas.
"I dare say," Doctor Joe suggested, "that you've never eaten potatoes or onions?"
"No," said Thomas, "I've heard of un, but I never eats un. I never had any to eat."
"Well," announced Doctor Joe, "I've had several sacks of potatoes and a sack of onions and two barrels of apples shipped to Fort Pelican with a quantity of other goods. We'll have to go with the big boat for them."
The boys and Margaret were quite beside themselves with the wonder of it all, and Thomas was little less excited.
"We'll go for un to-morrow or the next day whatever," said Thomas.
There was one box still unopened, and the three boys were eyeing it expectantly, when Doctor Joe exclaimed:
"Here we've left till the last the most important thing of all. Get an axe, David, and we'll knock the cover off this box."
David had the axe in a jiffy, and when Doctor Joe removed the cover the box was found to be filled with books.
"O-h-h!" breathed the boys in unison.
"'Tis fine! Oh, I've been wishin' and wishin' for books t' look at and read!" exclaimed Margaret.
Doctor Joe had taught them all to read and write in the years he had been with them, an accomplishment that not every boy and girl on The Labrador possessed, for there were no schools there.
"There are some books to study and some to read. There are story books and books about birds and flowers and animals. And here is something that I know will please the boys," said Doctor Joe, drawing from the box six paper-bound volumes. "There's an interesting story attached to these books that I must tell you before you look at them, and then we'll go through them together.
"One day I was walking in a park in New York.
"Suddenly I heard a crashing noise, and I hurried in the direction in which I heard the noise, and turning a corner saw a motor-car lying on its side. Some boys wearing khaki-coloured uniforms, very much like soldiers' uniforms, had already reached the wreck, and before I came up with them had rescued two injured men. I never saw more efficient or prompt service than those boys were giving the poor men, who were both badly hurt. They had the men stretched out upon the grass. One had a severed artery in his arm, where the arm had been cut upon the broken glass wind shield. The man's blood was pouring in great spurts through the wound, but the boys were already adjusting the tourniquet, for which they used a handkerchief, and in a minute they had the bleeding stopped, as well as I could have done it. I've no doubt they saved the man's life, for without prompt help he'd have bled to death in a short time.
"The other man was cut and bruised, and the boys were making him as comfortable as possible until an ambulance came to take him to a hospital. There was really nothing I could do that the boys had not already done promptly and remarkably well.
"The instant they had discovered the accident two boys had run away to summon an ambulance and to notify the police, and in a little while an ambulance with a surgeon and two policemen came and took the men away.
"The boys were only about Andy's age, and I wondered at their training and efficiency. When the ambulance had gone with the injured men I walked a little way with the boys, and learned that they belonged to a wonderful organization called 'Boy Scouts.' I had heard of Boy Scouts, but I supposed it was one of the ordinary clubs where boys got together just for play.
"I was so much interested that I looked up the head office of the Boy Scouts, and asked questions about them. Then I bought these copies of the Boy Scout's Handbook. They tell about the things the scouts do, and how a boy may become a scout. I knew you chaps would be so interested you would each want a book, so I bought a half-dozen copies. The extra books we can give to other boys up the Bay."
"Could we be scouts?" asked Andy breathlessly.
"Yes, to be sure!" Doctor Joe smiled.
"'Twould be rare fun, now!" exclaimed David.
"All of us scouts, just like the boys in New York?" Jamie asked, his face aglow.
"Yes," answered Doctor Joe. "I knew you chaps would like to be scouts. We'll organize a troop, and we'll call it Troop One of The Labrador. There are Boy Scouts of America, and Boy Scouts