The Banner Boy Scouts on a Tour; or, The Mystery of Rattlesnake Mountain

The assembled scouts, arrested by this unexpected peal just as they were in the act of rushing forth to try and capture those who had been spying on the meeting, stared at each...

"Hold 'em! hold 'em!" whooped William, as he found himself mixed up in the canvas of the tent which had fallen in a heap; for evidently he was of the opinion that all this racke...

"What damage was done last night?" asked Jack, as he and Paul walked around the camp, while the cooks of the several patrols were engaged in getting breakfast over fires built a...

Ward was of course startled. The whistle came to an abrupt termination. Perhaps he may even have recognized the voice that called out this one word in such a tone of authority;...

"What's that?" exclaimed Jack, more than a little surprised; for it had been decided, as the boys would be needing a good rest before starting off on their long and tiresome jou...

"Did you know who it was, Paul?" asked Jack, after making sure none of the others were noticing that he and the leader of the troop had engaged in such a serious conversation.

"And what's that coming along behind the same? Get on to his curves, would you, boys? We're the gay defenders of Lucknow, for as sure as you live the camels are coming, heigho,...

Presently, in answer to Paul's order, the clear, sweet notes of a bugle sounded through the big gymnasium under the church. More than a score of lads of all sizes began to pass...

"A light! Hold up till we get the glim goin'!" called Ted Slavin, who had after all managed to twist around at the end, so that when the door finally opened he could push others...

If Paul could have had his own way just then he would have been in favor of allowing Scissors a chance to make his escape. But he had a pair of impetuous comrades along; and aro...

Bobolink was breathing heavily on his blankets, and it seemed as though he must have been the first one to get to sleep, after all his complaining about the hardness of his bed.

These lads belonged to a troop of Boy Scouts that had been organized the preceding summer. They wore the regular khaki suits that always distinguish members of the far-reaching...

The scouts were sitting there with that fine panorama spread out before them, and eating a sort of pick-up lunch. At breakfast time enough food had been prepared to carry them a...

With the lantern to give them light, the boy scouts began an examination of the piles of material which the tramp called Pim, and his companion had accumulated in their snug ret...

"Yes, tell us about him, Joe," went on another of the scouts. "I never saw the man before, and I shouldn't like to meet him on a dark night either. Ugh!"

"He don't come up at all, sir; Andy's got us all beat to a frazzle staying under!" one of them declared, as if surprised that the Irish lad could hold his breath so long.

Paul stared, and well he might; as the match flamed up he found himself confronting a man who had evidently been sleeping on the floor of the cavern, for he had just thrown a bl...

"Whatever ought we to do?" demanded Jack. "Perhaps he may be one of the same crowd that robbed the feed store. And now he is following Joe's father home! Oh! Paul, do you think...

Supper had been eaten amid the best of feeling. The assembled scouts forgot for the time being all their troubles. Lame feet failed to ache, and tired knees had all the buoyancy...

It seemed to Paul that he had just managed to drop into his first real sleep of the night when he heard William say this. The unusual experience of hearing the loud strokes of t...

On the march the scouts had more than a few times amused themselves by practicing some of the many maneuvres they had learned. For instance, a detail was left with signal flags...

"And he's coming lickety-split, to beat the band, too. Oh! I hope it isn't a messenger from Stanhope to bring us any bad news!" cried Tom Betts; who had left a sick mother when...

The light from the fire was becoming fickle. Once in a while the flame would start up, and give quite some little illumination. Then dying down lower than ever, it allowed a con...

"Me for the cooking outfit!" sang out Bobolink, though his knowledge of affairs connected with the preparing of food was extremely limited, owing to lack of experience. But then...

It was Jack who made this remark. He had been skirmishing around later in the afternoon; and came upon the other as Paul was standing at the edge of the lake, looking out upon i...

He knew that he was facing trouble, and that in an instant as it were, the conditions had entirely changed. From being the pursuer he now found himself with the shoe on the othe...

The cry reached Paul's ears between blasts of the howling wind; but he never could have caught it had he not been so close to the wretched boy who gave utterance to the appeal.

"A man!" echoed Wallace, also looking grave; and even while speaking he turned his head to stare upward toward that grim cap of old Rattlesnake Mountain that hung so high above...

It was the following day. The night had passed without any alarm, and the squad of scouts posted on the side of the mountain with instructions to shower stones on Ted and his al...

Shrill cries arose in every quarter. Not a single scout now but who was wide-awake, and endeavoring to pull on his clothes in haste. That former experience had at least taught t...

"Oh! well, that isn't hard to guess," returned the scout leader. "Somebody was moving about with a lantern, as sure as you live. The question that bothers me is to say who the f...

Bobolink sometimes carried the light when the splinter of wood Paul had held burned to its finish. He was not as careful as he might be, and consequently twice already had they...

So, after all, it was Paul who sent forth the signal agreed on, announcing the welcome fact that a refuge had been discovered. The rest of the boys came crawling to the spot by...

"Oh! no, it isn't that bad a case," laughed Paul, amused. "We ought to be able to handle things without going to such extremes. Besides, you know, I carried a number of those st...

This sort of an explanation just fitted in with what Paul had conjectured. He had found it hard to believe that Nuthin would be so frightened as to cling deperately [desperately...

"Yes," roared the second man, shaking Paul vigorously, "pipe up and tell us that, 'less you want us to do somethin' you wouldn't like. What d'ye want with us? How'd you ever git...

Bud Jones was in the most terrible predicament of his whole life. Beset by innumerable fierce foes as he believed within, there was that big bully outside, only waiting for a ch...

"That," said Paul, "is one of our beliefs, sure enough. A scout must always be on the alert, or else he may miss many things that would give him valuable information. William, s...

"Oh! rats!" exposulated [expostulated] his fellow scout. "Come off your perch, Jack, and talk sense. You make me think of an old Polly, just able to repeat things over and over....

"Yes," interposed Bobolink, as he joined the group, and lowered his voice mysteriously; ["]I just heard Paul and Mr. Gordon talking about two more men that seem to be wandering...

Paul staggered after them. The wind was very strong, and it was impossible to walk in places without bending down almost to the earth. Besides, there seemed to be many braches [...

"Sure I would, Paul. Please dont [don't] think I'm not wantin' to trust you, because I hold back. I want to think it all over by myself to-night. Perhaps in the mornin' I might...