The Boy Scouts Under Fire in Mexico Part 25

"It is the very thing that a fellow likes,--red and black with a white design," rejoined Rob. "And there's a little one with the swastika on it; just right to throw over the foot of the couch."

"What is the 'swastika'?" inquired Andy.

"Oh, it is a good-luck sign. If you look, you will find it in a great many rugs and blankets, and it is often woven into the baskets, too."

"I wonder if this zig-zag pattern means anything?" asked Tubby, pointing a chubby finger at a large rug that lay on the floor.

"I've heard that that stands for lightning," Rob answered. "You know all savage people have a great respect for the mysteries of nature."

"What do I hear?" exclaimed Andy, halting suddenly.

"It is a baby whimpering!" cried Tubby. "Of all things! There must be a papoose somewhere around!"

"Over here, boys," called Merritt, motioning toward the farther corner of the room. The boys hastened to follow him and found a little alcove, shut off by draped blankets and enclosed by a slender wooden gateway.

Through the wide slats of this, they discovered an Indian woman kneeling on a fur rug and busily weaving a brilliant blanket on an upright loom.

Just beyond the mother, a little dark-skinned girl was peeping shyly at them, one finger lost between her lips. And in the background, propped against a roll of blankets, was the wailing papoose, securely wrapped and bound upon a board-cradle in typical and traditional Indian fashion.

As the boys looked in at this picturesque exhibition of family life, a tall, lank Indian man sauntered up and muttered a few authoritative words to the woman at the loom. She stopped her work and went over to the child, trying to hush its cries by shaking a string of bright beads before it.

"Huh!" grunted Tubby, looking after the departing man. "He only wanted us to see that he was 'big chief' here! Huh!"

When the east-bound train stopped at Albuquerque an hour later, each one of the boys had purchased a few small souvenirs. Rob had the tiny square rug of Navajo weaving that had caught his eye, a round, almost flat workbasket, and a little pair of bead-embroidered moccasins.

Merritt and Andy had selected a few inexpensive, gaudily decorated gourds and strings of beads for their boy friends. At the last moment, Tubby decided to burden himself with what he considered an artistic bit of pottery. Rob warned him that vases and jugs and urns were breakable, but Tubby persisted in bargaining for the piece that he had chosen.

"Two dolla'," the woman who held it said as he hesitated beside her.

"No, no. _One_ dolla'," Tubby offered.

"One dolla'," the woman agreed; and then as Tubby extended his hand for the vase and gave her the money, the woman drew back and said frowningly, "No, no! _Two_ dolla'!"

At this Tubby seized his purchase and rather inelegantly rejoined, "Not on your life!" as he made off for the car.

At St. Louis the boys were glad to break the long railway journey and to visit the places noted in the itinerary that Dr. Matthews had provided.

This included an automobile ride about the city, which gave them an excellent idea of its arrangement, its fine system of parks and its public buildings. At the end of the ride they felt quite ready to follow the next suggestion, which directed them to a popular restaurant. And after luncheon they still had time to walk across the great bridge that spans the Mississippi and to return by ferry, before their train was due to depart for Washington.

They reached the National City early in the morning, and here, too, they were advised by their typewritten directions to save time by taking a sight-seeing automobile and sitting near the "personal conductor" of the car in order to view quickly the important sections of Washington.

Having engaged their seats, the four boys sat in the big machine and studied diligently the map of the city and the guide books that they had bought at the station, until the usual hour for the daily morning trip arrived. Then, eagerly interested, they gave their whole attention to the vistas that opened momentarily before them and to the descriptions that interpreted the sights. They made many mental notes of places that they would like to see again: the Capitol, the Congressional Library, the Smithsonian Inst.i.tute, the Washington Monument, the White House and a dozen other interesting buildings. But when the ride was over, they decided to accept the advice on the touring agent's list and spend most of their remaining time in the Capitol and Congressional Library.

"We'll engage a guide here," said Rob as they ran up the broad flight of steps leading to the western entrance of the Capitol. "I know that it is the customary thing to do, and it will save a lot of time, too."

Scarcely had they entered the Rotunda before a blue-uniformed attendant approached them and offered his services, and no time was lost in making a start.

The historical paintings gave the guide the text for his opening speech, and from then to the end of the trip the boys followed him closely and listened to his explanations with keen interest.

Coming so recently from scenes of civil strife, the scouts had a new respect for the torn and soiled battle flags that they saw, and for the significant paintings that ill.u.s.trated scenes of martial victory.

"I'll bet Cornwallis hated to give up," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tubby thoughtfully, as he gazed at the picture of the surrender at Yorktown.

"We don't often think of his feelings when we remember our victory,"

responded Rob, "but it is just as well to know that there are two points of view for every crisis."

"This way, please," called the guide, and the boys hurried after him into the Statuary Hall.

While Tubby stood lost in contemplation before a statue of Daniel Webster, the guide led Andy quietly out of sight behind another marble figure.

"Now whisper a message to your friend," directed the guide softly.

"Hey, Tubby, how would you like to be the man on the pedestal?"

whispered Andy, seeing that there was some joke in store for his fat chum.

Tubby whirled around quickly at the question, and looked vastly surprised not to find Andy at his elbow.

"Where are you?" he asked, bewildered.

Andy chuckled softly and, at a nod from the smiling guide, whispered, "This side of the Rio Grande!"

"Where _is_ Andy, fellers?" questioned Tubby, looking at Rob and Merritt. "Honest, his voice sounded right in my ear!"

At that Andy stepped into view, and the guide explained that the hall had the properties of a "whispering gallery," and that half his fun in life came through playing this simple trick on unsuspecting visitors.

"It is a good trick, all right," admitted Tubby, grinning, "and I won't hold it against you, Mr. Guide!"

From this room,--in Daniel Webster's day the Hall of Representatives,--the boys were led to the doors of the present legislative chambers and permitted brief views of the imposing desks, arranged in semi-circular rows, at which the men sent from all over the nation sit in long sessions of serious deliberation. On the day of the scouts' visit, Congress was not in session and there was nothing to prevent the boys from peopling the empty seats with men of their own imagination.

"Some day maybe you and Merritt will sit there," said Tubby to Rob.

"Why not you, Tubby?" asked Merritt quickly.

"Oh, me?" questioned the fat boy in alarm. "This is no place for me.

Give me a good steady job that I can keep at till it's _finished_.

Perhaps _I'll_ join the Secret Service!" And Tubby patted the pocket where the odd shaving lay.

After lingering briefly in admiration before the paintings that adorned these rooms and the statues that punctuated the long corridors, the guide conducted the boys to the foot of the stairs that led to the lofty dome above the Rotunda.

"Better not hurry," he cautioned them, glancing at Tubby's bulk. "There are three hundred and nineteen steps between us and the top gallery."

"I'm game," said Tubby quickly. "Come on, fellers. It can't be so bad as horseback riding in Mexico!"

When about two-thirds of the way up, the guide halted the boys to demonstrate a second "whispering gallery," and there he placed Rob and Merritt sixty-five feet apart to enjoy a private conversation! Tubby refused to be convinced without a trial himself, so he and Andy tested the acoustic properties of the gallery until they were satisfied that the guide's claims were well founded.

When they reached the highest point available within the dome, Rob made a discovery.

"Boys, will you look at that mess of color over your heads? From 'way down below I thought that was a very beautiful painting!"

"And so it is," put in the guide.