The Banner Boy Scouts Part 15

All remained in an att.i.tude of expectancy, and could hear strange sounds that seemed to come from under the boards forming the floor of the barn; which building had not always been used for drying tobacco alone.

"Now what d'ye suppose the sillies are poking poles under there, for?"

e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed William; "and just when I was going to propose that we pull up a board, and crawl through the hole."

"Whew! what's this mean? Say, fellows, if that don't make me think of a blessed old skunk I don't know the odor when I meet it!" and Wallace drew back as he was about to get down on his hands and knees to investigate the meaning of the odd sounds under the barn flooring.

Others got it quickly, and various cries arose, as the boys began to hold their noses, and look around at each other.

"It'll smother us, fellows, that's what!" gasped William, quite pale by now; for the odor which a skunk leaves in its wake affects some persons powerfully, though others hardly mind it at all.

"I know!" Bluff managed to gasp, with a great effort; "there's a f-f-family of s-s-skunks have their h-h-home under here. I've seen 'em, b-b-but I never b-b-bothered the b-b-beauties. Oh! ain't it j-j-just awful, f-f-fellows?"

It certainly was.

Stirred up by the poles wielded by Ted Slavin and his cronies, who must have discovered the presence of the polecats when visiting the barn that morning, and laid their plans accordingly, the little animals were using the only means of defence against an enemy granted them by Nature.

William actually keeled over, and his brother had to drag him to the further end of the barn so that he might not get the full benefit of the overpowering scent.

"Something's just _got_ to be done!" cried Jack, himself not feeling any too well under the infliction.

"Here, help me lift this old beam, boys. We can make a battering ram out of it, and burst a board off somehow. Never mind the damages; they can be repaired easy enough. Two more get hold. Now, swing around this way. I think the weakest place is in the rear. Keep back, the rest of you. Here goes!"

Five others had been only too willing to lend a hand when Paul called for volunteers. The beam that had been lying against the further wall was good and heavy; but that made it all the better as an engine for ramming a hole through the boarded side of the barn.

Amid the cheers of the scouts the novel battering ram was carried forward with a will, and on the run. Some of the boys held up lanterns so that those who were in the line of attack could see just where to strike. Even poor overcome William managed to raise his head, and feebly wave a hand of encouragement.

The beam struck with tremendous force, and nothing in the way of a plain ordinary boarding could withstand the impetus with which it was driven forward.

"Whoop!" yelled the scouts, as a big aperture appeared in the side of the barn, and the route to liberty lay before them.

They were not slow to avail themselves of the privilege either, but hastened to scramble through the gap, carrying the lanterns with them.

William managed to get up enough steam to crawl outside, where he could breath air that was not fetid, and filled with overpowering odors.

Only Bluff looked back half regretfully at the haven of refuge they had just quitted. For he was wondering how his father could ever manage to efface that scent so that the tobacco, soon to be harvested, might be hung up in that barn without detracting from its marketable value.

And once out of the trap the Boy Scouts began to chase around, with vengeance in their eyes; but as on previous occasions the wary enemy, after accomplishing their mischief, had been wise enough to slink away.

CHAPTER XII

THE RIVAL TROOPS

"How far do we have to go in this new plan of forgiving the enemy, Paul?"

asked William, who had by now fully recovered from his recent weakness, and was burning with zeal to avenge himself upon their persecutors.

"Yes, this thing has got to have a limit!" declared Jud Elderkin, as he glared around at the moonlit scene, and no doubt imagined their rivals hiding near by, where they could laugh at the disturbed group.

Paul knew boy nature too well to stretch their patience beyond the breaking point. He was astonished that such fire-eaters as Bluff, William, and several more, could restrain themselves even as well as they had.

To keep them in hand the reins must be loosened a little; but only to enable him to get a better hold later on.

"Well, there's no positive rule, fellows; and so far as I can see I believe the limit has already been pa.s.sed, with us," he said, pleasantly.

"Hurrah! that's the kind of talk!" cried the inflammable Twin.

"Then you give us permission to pitch in, and whale the whole bunch the next time they play one of their measly old tricks on us? Is that so, Paul?" demanded Jud.

"Oh! I only h-h-hope so!" came from Bluff.

"Wait till the time comes, and perhaps I'll help you give them a much-needed lesson. We don't want to play the worm part, always,"

remarked Paul; "and now, boys, let's head for home."

"Ta-ta, sweet little meeting-house on the edge of the woods; I'll carry fond memories of you as long as this suit of clothes lasts, I guess,"

said William, waving his hand mockingly backward toward the deserted barn.

"Watch out for some of those Slavin fellows on the road. They may bombard us from the woods with rocks!" warned Joe Clausin.

"Just let 'em try, that's all. We'll chase the stone thrower to a standstill, and then he'll be sorry he wandered away from his happy home this night!" Bobolink declared, ferociously.

So they walked along in detached groups, many eyes were on the alert, and listening ears bent to catch some sign of a lurking foe.

Once or twice they heard signals being exchanged deep in the woods, evidently by the scattered cohorts of Ted; but while valiant, the members of the Fox Patrols were wise and prudent as well, copying the cautious attributes of the wary animal after which their new organization had been named.

They declined to explore the dense forest, seeking a foe that might only be bent on luring them along, until ready to pounce on them in a body, to make them prisoners of war.

And so finally the march came to an end, with all hands satisfied that the last meeting of the little host of new scouts had been attended by several of the most exciting circ.u.mstances that ever befell the boys of Stanhope.

Paul and his chum walked on together, until reaching the first home they said good night. But neither again brought up that subject which had been worrying Jack Stormways for so long a time.

If Paul had conceived any sort of an idea in connection with the strange disappearance of the old coins, he kept it to himself.

Once, however, on the way home after leaving Jack, he stopped to clap his hand down vigorously on his knee, and whispered to himself:

"Now, I wonder if that could possibly be so?"

But no matter what idea had struck him, further words didn't come to tell whether his thoughts were connected with Jack's personal trouble; or on the other hand if the annoying enmity of Ted Slavin, Ward Kenwood, and their would-be scout troop, was still on his mind.

Nevertheless, as Paul pa.s.sed up to the front door of his home, and stopped a minute to look up at the bright moon sailing across the eastern heavens, he considered that he had good reason to feel more than satisfied with the magnificent results already attending the new methods of the Boy Scouts.

On the following day he sent off the letter containing a check which his father gave him in place of the money, so that it might not be lost.

Then followed a period of anxious waiting, during which many of the members of the Stanhope Troop No. 1 felt touches of envy at sight of their rivals parading the streets, decked out in the full regalia of Scouts, and carrying themselves with the proudest of airs.

They knew that Ted and Ward were busily engaged in drilling their followers in many of the devices prominently mentioned in the manual book. For that matter, though, it did not require regulation suits of khaki to excel in those same things; and so the Foxes also studied and experimented, and burned candles at night in the endeavor to learn all that was possible of those various accomplishments.