CHAPTER XIV.

STOPPED ON THE ROAD—CONCLUSION.

All the same that was not the last some of the boys saw of the exposed fakir, as it turned out.

Doc Merritt must have easily guessed who was chiefly to blame for his latest troubles. When the scouts were taking his wretched dupe in hand, and leading him away from the controlling influence of the hypnotist, the man understood just whom he had to thank.

He was of a morose, revengeful disposition, and after brooding over the situation through that night determined that before he quitted the lucrative stand he had at the Fair he would attempt to have some sort of revenge.

Hugh, it will be remembered, had not fancied his looks from the start. He sized the man up as not only a humbug but the possessor of a mean disposition as well. Still he hardly imagined the bogus doctor would go to the end he did in order to even the score, and leave town feeling that he had paid the scouts back for having taken his valuable assistant away from him.

A pleasant surprise awaited Hugh that same Thursday evening after supper. He was called up on the ’phone by the head of the School Board, who informed him that at a late meeting of the said committee it had been resolved to give all the members of the Oakvale Troop of Boy Scouts the entire day off on Friday.

This was done as a small measure of appreciation for the splendid work the lads were accomplishing during Fair week.

He desired that Hugh Hardin should get in communication with all the members of the troop that evening, and notify them that they would be at liberty from school duties for the balance of the week.

Of course this gave the scout master considerable pleasure. It was not only the fact that he and his mates were to have a holiday, but it showed how their work was being appreciated by the community at large, as represented by the efficient School Board.

So Hugh had kept the wire busy for some little time, with the result that every fellow who wore the honored khaki in Oakvale went to bed that night weary enough after a strenuous day, but with a generous glow around the region of his boyish heart.

Appreciation is a big thing, and spurs even a boy on to do his level best. That School Board knew what it was doing in commending the scouts for their work. Praise judiciously bestowed seldom does any harm, but on the contrary rekindles the fire of determination to excel.

The gates of the Fair would not open until ten o’clock, but before that time many of the hard-working scouts were abroad, skirmishing for strangers in town, or in sundry other ways trying to earn the right to turn in their badges early in the day.

Hugh himself had something to do at home, and did not get started for the grounds until near the time for the opening of the gates to the general public.

In fact, Ralph Kenyon and Jack Durham looked in at the Hardin place on their way, and were just in time to join the young scout master.

Chattering like magpies, at first they struck out along a side road that would make a shortcut to the grounds, situated some little distance outside the town limits.

This particular road was not much used by the general public. It ran through a stretch of woods that at certain times in the year were apt to be exceedingly damp. Still, as the scouts well knew, it would cut down the tramp, and this meant considerable to fellows who expected to be on their feet the balance of that summery day.

Somehow about the time they struck this patch of timber the conversation seemed to flag, and no one said anything for several minutes, though they kept pushing ahead all the same.

In the distance they could hear the Oakvale Brass Band practicing at their stand in the Fair grounds. There was to be some sort of unusual review on this day, and extra music would be required.

“There’s one thing sure,” remarked Jack Durham, with a twinkle in his eye, “our band isn’t in the same class with one I read about the other day.”

“How’s that, Jack?” questioned Ralph; “tell us about it, won’t you?”

“Why, it seems that the advance agent of a show had struck a certain town, and when trying to make arrangements for a parade that would attract attention he chanced to say to the leading citizen:

“‘I understand, sir, that your town boasts a fine brass band?’

“‘Well, stranger,’ said the citizen, shaking his head solemnly; ‘we got a brass band all right, but we don’t boast none of the same—we just _endures_ it!’”

Ralph was about to burst into a hearty laugh when the scout master uttered a warning hiss.

“Listen, there’s some one talking ahead there around that bend, and I thought I caught a familiar voice that sounded like our Billy Worth.”

At that the other two strained their ears to listen, not that the first thought of anything out of the way had up to that moment given them the first sensation of a thrill.

But no sooner did they hear what Billy was saying than they turned to exchange surprised glances. Plainly Billy was giving some one a straight-out defiance. The first suspicion the trio of scouts had was that some of their old enemies of the town, the good-for-nothing type of boys, had crossed Billy’s path, and considered the meeting in the lonely stretch of woods a splendid chance to pay back old scores.

They quickly realized their mistake, however, when they heard what Billy was saying so boldly.

“I didn’t mean to go around boasting about having a share in that little game, but since you ask me if I had a hand in getting Cale away from your clutches I’m free to say _I did_! So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mister Doc Merritt.”

“Whew! that’s the racket, is it?” muttered Jack Durham, beginning to roll back his coat cuffs as though he scented trouble, and might not be averse to taking a hand in the same, for in times past Jack had been something of a fighter.

“Come on, let’s hurry around there before he tries to hurt our Billy,” suggested Ralph; and as this suited Hugh to a fraction, they immediately quickened their pace to a run, and hurried to the bend in the road.

Loud and angry voices could now be heard and that of the baffled fakir rang out above the tantalizing words Billy was hurling at him.

“I’ve got a good notion to take it out of your hide, no matter what the consequences are. You boys were the cause of all my trouble. Before you got your finger in the pie things were going as smoothly as I could wish, but you had to get up a pack of lies, and coax my assistant away from me.”

“Well, you were exerting an evil influence over Cale,” snapped Billy. “He just happened to be a good subject for your silly old hypnotism. I’d like to see you try to make _me_ do your will. You’d have a sweet time of it, Mister Fakir, and that’s right. Now, I’m going ahead to the Fair, and I’d trouble you to get out of my way.”

“Just hold on till I’m through with you, boy,” the man was heard to say. “You need taking down off your high horse. For three cents I’d give you the licking you need.”

“Oh! you would, eh? Well, begin and try it if you think it’d be so easy a job!” cried Billy, tauntingly, and as the other fellows came bustling around the bend just then they saw he was swinging a stick belligerently, as though meaning to make the best possible use of the same should the man actually assault him.

Of course when Hugh and his two companions put in an appearance the quack doctor instantly changed his mind. He might have whipped one scout, though Billy looked as though he intended to put up a game battle; but four meant a larger bite than he felt he could masticate.

So Doc Merritt shrugged his shoulders and with a sneer on his dark face slipped in among the trees, his act implying that he had changed his mind. Nor did any of them think it a duty to chase after him in order to let the tricky fellow know what they thought of his cowardly tactics.

Only Jack Durham did look so disappointed as he unwillingly unrolled the cuffs of his coat.

“Why didn’t we hold up just a little, till he got busy, and had actually hit Billy?” was the burden of his complaint; but the others only laughed at him, and said things were all right as they stood.

So the four of them continued on their way to the Fair grounds. Hugh was glad to have noticed that the fakir looked as though he might be heading out of Oakvale, perhaps meaning to intercept the stage running over the mountain road to another town, where there was some sort of Harvest Home about to start among the farmers of the community. His harvest would come from raking in the shekels when he had hypnotized the farmers, and made them believe his cure-all must be the greatest thing under the sun.

So the third day of the great Fair began, with the scouts on deck, and just as bent on earning the right to the title of “guides” as ever. Hugh was proud of all they had accomplished; and his ready words of commendation always brought a flush of pleasure to the cheeks of his chums.

The scouts continued to carry out their useful plan of campaign while the great Fair lasted. They won golden opinions from visitors and townspeople for the unfailing courtesy with which they performed their various labors.

Arthur Cameron had a rather difficult surgical undertaking which he managed with such astonishing skill as to win a mention of his work in the next issue of a certain well-known medical journal. This came about through the local Red Cross doctor having sent in a highly complimentary mention of the emergency hospital on the Fair grounds, and the clever manner in which the scouts carried out their work of “first aid to the injured.”

There was not a dissenting opinion in all Oakvale when a vote of thanks was sent in at the next meeting of the scouts and which covered their activities during Fair week. Indeed, many persons were ready to declare that the splendid way in which Hugh and his uniformed followers had carried out their difficult duties made them proud to say they lived in Oakvale.

All of this was very pleasant for the boys. They had had to fight down strong opposition when the troop was first started, and there had been numerous skeptics from time to time who would not see things in their true light; but as Billy Worth was fond of saying, “if you searched Oakvale with a fine-tooth comb nowadays, you’d find it hard to discover a single kicker, or one who didn’t believe the scout movement had been the greatest uplifting influence that had ever struck the town.”

[_See Transcriber’s Notes_]

[...] chanced to have had a part in the happening he invariably spoke of it as “we did this.” Then in the midst of his story came the appearance of Peter, the bound boy, with his thrilling tale concerning the little charges whom he had had to temporarily abandon while he went in search of assistance. After that there followed the finding of the youngsters, the triumphant return to the farm-house, the coming of Mr. Barger, and finally, most astonishing of all, the discovery that the black-faced man they had supposed was the hired help should prove to be Addison Prentice’s father.

As all the scouts knew about the decided opposition shown by the quarry-owner toward their organization, when they learned of his wonderful conversion a series of hearty cheers made the slumbering echoes in the woods awaken.

“That ought to make it unanimous for the scouts in and around Oakvale,” asserted Alec, boisterously. “I can’t seem to remember another person of consequence willing to say a single word against the troop. We’ll have every patrol filled to the limit before a month [rolls by.”]

[... Cale had feared] that it would be his fate to always follow Doc Merritt about from fair to fair, playing the ignoble part of assistant to a fakir.

Now, as though the magic wand of a magician had touched his case, all this was changed. Walter Osborne had a long letter from him a week or so later, in which he told how happy and contented he felt, and that he had already made application for enlistment in a local troop of Boy Scouts.

“It was through the manly principles of the scouts that my salvation came about, you know, Walter,” he wrote, “and I’m bent on practicing them, in hopes that I may be able to repay the heavy debt I owe Hugh Hardin and all the rest of your splendid chums by passing the favor along. Perhaps, who knows, I may run across a boy who needs a friend and adviser, just like I did; and when I do, it’ll make me happier than I can tell you to help him over the rocks.”

Hugh felt a mist come over his eyes when he read all that the boy put in that letter. He realized that, during the week of the County Fair, there had come, to a favored few of the scouts, an opportunity to perform a most charitable act.

When all the facts were made known at the next meeting of the troop, the story appealed strongly to those who had up to then been in complete ignorance of what had been going on in their midst. Hugh was also under the impression that it would do much good.

With the passing of the Fair week, the boys felt that they could hardly look forward to much more of consequence that fall. None of them suspected how circumstances would combine to bring several members of Oakvale Troop into the limelight once more ere the Thanksgiving holidays came around; but that is just what happened.

If you have enjoyed being in the company of Hugh and his comrades in these pages, and would like to learn what next engaged the attention of these wide-awake lads of Oakvale Troop, it will pay you to secure the volume that follows this, and which is published under the title of “The Boy Scouts as Forest Fire Fighters.”

THE END.

Transcriber’s Notes

--Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged.

--Twice changed one name (Andy Wallace) to “Wallis” to be consistent with other places in this book (and other books in the series).

--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)

--Included the printed page 158 as a blockquote: it actually comprises page 158 of another book in the series, “The Boy Scouts as Forest Fire Fighters”.

--Added (in brackets) a tentative reconstruction of the beginning of the sentence at the top of page 159.