CHAPTER V
A CAMPFIRE ON BOB'S HILL
"JEE-RUSALEM, fellers," said Skinny a few days later, "we're going tohave a campfire to-night on Bob's Hill. Mr. Norton, the Scoutmaster, isgoing to be there, and he says for us not to eat too much supper becausethere will be something doing along about eight o'clock. It will beatthe Fourth of July."
We hardly could wait for evening to come. The folks thought that I mustbe sick because I didn't want much supper, until I told them about thecampfire.
"You'd better eat a bowl of bread and milk, anyhow," said Ma. "If I knowanything about boys, and I have seen a few in my day, you will be readyfor another meal by eight o'clock."
I don't know how it is, but things always seem to happen just as Ma saysthey will. Long before eight o'clock came we were waiting for Mr.Norton at our house, as hungry as bears.
After a while he came along, lugging a big basket and wearing a smilethat would have made us warm to him if we never had before.
"Captain," said he to Skinny, "if you will detail two of your men tobring some water, we'll get started. Of course, if we were going to makea regular camp we should see that there was water near. We'll have tocarry it this time, but it isn't far to the top of the hill. One of youmight help me with this basket; there seems to be something in it."
Fifteen minutes later we were all at the top of the hill and had broughtsome sticks from Plunkett's woods for a fire and a curl of birch bark tokindle it with.
"I understand that you boys came near burning up the woods and villageonce with a fire up here," said Mr. Norton. "We must be careful aboutthat. Fire is a good servant but a very hard master. We do not need abig blaze for a campfire, so hot that we cannot sit around it. All weneed is just enough to look cheerful, to heat our coffee, and furnishenough hot coals for cooking this beefsteak."
He was unpacking the basket while he talked, and Skinny was lighting thefire.
"I don't know that I can tell you anything about making fires andcooking. You boys just about live out of doors in summer, so far as Ihave observed. You are in great luck to have your homes in a smallvillage. If you should play some of your pranks in a city, I am afraidthat you might become unpopular and the police might get after you. Boysin great cities, like Chicago or New York, know little of the freedomand sweetness of country life."
He went over to a little clump of trees and came back with a smallbranch, from which he stripped the leaves and twigs. When he hadfinished he had what he called a "pot hanger" of green wood, about fourfeet long and with a kind of crotch at the smaller end. He put the bigend under a stone, the right distance from the fire, and drove a short,crotched stick into the ground to hold the pot hanger over the blaze atthe right angle. When that was done all we had to do was to hang a pailof water on the end of the pot hanger and wait for the water to boil.
"I thought that we wouldn't bother with potatoes this time," said he,"although they make good eating when baked in hot ashes, as you boysprobably know. Mrs. Norton put in a whole stack of bread and buttersandwiches and some other things, which we must get rid of somehow, andMrs. Smith gave me this bag as we were leaving the house. I don't knowwhat is in it, and she told me not to open it until the feast wasready."
We all kept our eyes on the bag and wondered what was in it. I thoughtthat I could make a good guess, being better acquainted with Ma than theother boys were, but I couldn't be sure.
By the time the water was boiling the fire had burned down to red-hotcoals. Mr. Norton poured the water over the coffee and set the pot in ahot place. Then he began to get busy with the meat, using a broilerwhich he had brought in the basket. The delicious smell of the beefsteakand the coffee almost drove us crazy, and we began to be afraid that itwould bring the whole village up the hill to us.
It seems as if every meal that we eat out of doors that way is betterthan any which we ever have had before. It grew dark before we hadfinished Ma's doughnuts, which we found on opening the bag. As we satthere we could see lights begin to glow all up and down the valley andback of us from an occasional farmhouse, up toward Greylock. Stars cameout overhead, and after a little we saw a light in the sky above theEast mountain and knew that in a few minutes the moon would come up.
After we had eaten all that we wanted, we threw some wood on the coalsto make a little blaze, and then lay around and talked.
Finally Benny said, "I wish you would tell us a story, Mr. Norton, likeMr. Baxter did out in Illinois last summer."
"I am going to tell you a whole lot of stories before we get throughwith our meetings," he replied, "but let us discuss this Scout businessa little more first. When you took the Scout's oath and were enrolledin the Tenderfoot class, you pledged your word of honor that you woulddo your duty to God and your country, that you would help other peopleat all times, and that you would obey the Scout law. That Scout law isimportant. Suppose we talk it over. Gabriel, you are leader, can youtell us what the first law is?"
Skinny stood up and folded his arms.
"A Scout is trustworthy," said he.
"It is a great thing to be trustworthy; to be dependable," said Mr.Norton. "In a few years, you boys and others like you will be runningthis country and the other countries which make up what we call thecivilized world. To you doubtless that time seems far off. Let me tellyou that it will be here almost before you know it. It seems onlyyesterday when I myself was a youngster like you."
"I'm going on twelve," Benny told him, "and I have begun to grow again."
"The Band is dependable all right," said Skinny, stabbing around in theair with his fork. "I mean the patrol is. Bet your life, when theymonkey with the Band they run up against a buzz saw."
Bill didn't say a word, but he cawed three times; then flapped his armsand crowed, and ended by standing on his hands and kicking his feet inthe air. Bill didn't have to talk. He could do things that made us knowwhat he meant, without saying a word.
"To be dependable," went on Mr. Norton, "means more than to fight foryour rights, or for your country's rights. It means that in all walks oflife you must be ready to 'deliver the goods.' When a Scout gives hisword of honor that settles it. That which he says is true, is true; youcan depend upon it, and he will do exactly what he says he will do. Thatis a quality which we greatly need in men as well as in boys, who soonwill be men."
"Corporal, what is the second law?"
Bill thought a minute and then said:
"A Scout is loyal."
"Right you are. You must be loyal to your country, to your parents, toyour officers, to your employers, when you get to work. Loyalty is agreat thing. It means to stick together. One boy, or one man, alone,cannot accomplish much. Several working loyally together for a singleobject, are a power. You and the Gingham Ground Gang used to haveconsiderable trouble, didn't you?"
"We do now," we told him, "except with Jim Donavan. Jim is square andwe'd like to have him join us, but he won't leave the Gang; says itwouldn't be right."
"That is the kind of boy we want for a Scout. He is loyal and his honoris to be trusted. You must help me to organize the Gang, as you callthem, into another patrol. But what I was going to say is this: When youand the Gang were enemies, which I hope you never will be again, whatwould have happened if one of you had ventured alone down near thegingham mills?"
"They would have done him up."
"Exactly. Now suppose the eight of you had stood together, back to back,shoulder to shoulder, working against a common enemy?"
"We did once," said Benny, "and they licked us, anyhow, but there weremore of them than there were of us."
"Bet your life they didn't lick us very bad," put in Skinny. "It was asnowball fight. They drove us from their hill, but afterward they askedus to come back and slide with them, and we did. We had a fine time."
"It seems to me that in that case both sides won a victory. The greatestvictory a boy or man can win is one over himself, over his own passions,his selfishness and meanness. The greatest enemy that he or his coun
trycan have will be found right inside his own heart. There is where we allhave a fight on hand continually. But, remember, you are Scouts and aScout's honor is to be trusted."
"Benny, what is the next law?"
"A Scout is helpful."
"There you have it. The highest type of man is the useful one. There wasonce an old philosopher who said that he counted that day lost in whichhe did no good deed. A Scout ought to feel the same way. You must try todo something for somebody every day."
"They don't have giants and dragons, any more," said Skinny. "I wishthey did; we'd paralyze 'em."
"Henry, what is the next one?"
"I am not quite sure whether it comes next or not, but I think it does.The law says, 'A Scout is a friend to all and a brother to every otherScout.' Does that mean that we must be brothers to the Gingham GroundGang when they get to be Scouts?"
"Surely it does. Why not? Your folks may have a little more money thantheir folks and not so much as some one else. What of it? There issomething better than money, and that something is manhood. Don't besnobs, whatever you are."
"Now, Mr. Secretary, it is your turn."
"A Scout is courteous," I told him.
"Politeness is a great thing. If he lives up to his pledge, a Scout willbe courteous, especially in his treatment of women and children who areyounger than he is, and of old people and those who are feeble orhandicapped in some way by being crippled or sick. Don't forget that oldmen started as boys and that you boys, if you live, will become oldmen. Now for number six."
"A Scout is kind and a friend to animals," Harry said.
"And the next?"
"A Scout is obedient," said Chuck.
"Now we are getting down to business. The first duty of a soldier is toobey, and it is so important that he should obey in time of war that asoldier, or scout, who refused to obey orders would be shot. You aresupposed to obey orders without question. Obey your parents especially.Obey me as Scoutmaster. Obey your patrol leader; that is your duty asScouts. If the order does not suit you, do your kicking afterward, notbefore. First deliver the goods; then you will be in a position tocriticise, if necessary."
"We haven't heard from you, Wallie. Let's have number eight."
"A Scout is cheerful."
"That's the idea. Don't grumble or whine. That will never get youanywhere, or the world anywhere.
"I want to say a few words about the next law, 'A Scout is thrifty.'Thrift is of the greatest importance. Save your money. Save yourpennies. Put them in the bank. I think they ought to teach thrift andthe importance of saving in the public schools. It does not mean thatyou should be stingy. When you boys worked hard one winter and gave apurse of money to an unfortunate stranger, you were living up to thehighest ideals of a Scout. It doesn't mean that money is the mostimportant thing in the world, for it is far from it. But remember this:a man's first duty to his country is to be self-supporting, and to beself-supporting in his old age he must be thrifty in his youth. He mustmake hay while the sun shines. He must learn to save his money. That iswhy a Tenderfoot must have one dollar in the bank before he can become aSecond Class Scout, and a Second Class Scout must have two dollarsbefore he becomes a First Class Scout. The habit of thrift is veryimportant. When you grow older and go to work, no matter what you earn,I want you to save a part of it.
"There are three more laws," he went on, after a minute, "and they speakfor themselves: 'A Scout is brave,' 'A Scout is clean,' 'A Scout isreverent.' I need not tell you to be brave in the presence of danger. Doyou understand that sometimes it takes greater courage to stand up forthe right? Keep yourselves clean; not only your bodies but your thoughtand speech. And be reverent, boys, toward God, who made old Greylock andthese beautiful hills for you to enjoy."
When he had finished Skinny started to throw some wood on the fire, butMr. Norton stopped him.
"Never go away," he said, "leaving a fire where it possibly can do anydamage. We'll be going home in a few minutes, and before we go this firemust be put out. If the wind should come up in the night the flamesmight spread into Plunkett's woods."
We saw in a minute that he was right, and, taking sticks, beat out whatlittle fire there was; then started down the hill.
"I'll tell you what I have been thinking," said Mr. Norton, when wewere going through Blackinton's orchard. "We have had so much funto-night that I should like to go camping with you boys for a week, sometime this summer. These mountains and woods are just the places forscouting and we could have a campfire every night. What do you say?"
"We say yes," said Skinny, "if our folks will let us, and I know theywill."
"Can we play Indian, Mr. Norton?" asked Benny.
"We certainly can. I think everybody likes to get out into the woods andbe an Indian once a year. You boys have something to do first, however.I want every one of you to be able to show a First Class Scout badge."
"We can do most of the stunts now," I told him, "only we haven't beenseven miles and back."
The book says that before becoming a First Class Scout a boy must go onfoot to a point seven miles away and return again, and afterward towrite a short account of the trip. It says, too, that it would bebetter to go one day and come back the next, and that means to camp outall night.
That last was a hard thing to do because our mothers did not want us togo off that way alone. Mothers always seem to think a boy is going toget hurt or something. Mr. Norton finally talked them into it, allexcept Benny's mother. She wouldn't stand for it. Benny cried, he feltso badly about it.
"Do it in one day, then," Mr. Norton told him. "Remember that the lawsays for you to obey your parents without question. That is moreimportant than to do the stunt."