CHAPTER X
THE BOY FROM ARIZONA
"Say, fellows, I have the idea we--"
"Jiminy!" interrupted Jiminy Gordon. "Romper's got an idea--first he everhad in his life. Come, spit it out, and if it isn't any better than therest we've been listening to, we'll maul you--won't we, fellows?"
"Bet we will," said Bud Weir.
"We'll duck him in the creek," threatened Nipper Knapp.
"Come on there, young man, let us know what's in your cranium. None ofthe rest of us has been able to get even the glimmer of an intelligentsuggestion," said Bruce Clifford.
"Well, here it is," said Romper, getting to his feet. "We'll furnish aclimax to our part of the Fourth of July celebration by presentingWoodbridge with a city flag--we'll make the suggestion, get it approved bythe village council, have old Granny Mastin make it and pres--"
"Hi, hi, not so fast--you're rushing along like a train of cars--trying tododge that ducking, aren't you? Now, slower--what's this idea? What doyou mean by a city flag? Never heard of such a thing before," said RayMartin.
"Huh, you haven't? Well, you're a fine scout. Don't you ever read thepapers?" said Romper with disgust.
"I've heard of it," interrupted Bruce, "and it's a bully suggestion. Anumber of American cities have flags--a distinctive ensign, just likepatrol flags that we scouts have. New York has just adopted one, and Ican't see why Woodbridge shouldn't have a flag of her own. Romper's ideais a corker. We can suggest a flag and get the approval of theWoodbridge council. Then on the Fourth we can present it to the city andhave grand old celebration. Romper deserves a vote of thanks instead ofa ducking."
In truth, Romper had piloted Quarry Troop out of a most trying dilemma.Here is how matters stood before he suddenly became inspired: Woodbridgehad been planning a safe and sane Fourth of July celebration, with apageant, municipal night fireworks and various other forms of a goodtime. All of which was to take place at the Firemen's Tournament Fieldon the outskirts of the town. Quarry Troop had been invited to give anexhibition.
So far as that was concerned, the boys were ready and willing to giveexhibitions in almost any of the many branches of scouting at a moment'snotice, for they were all well trained. But the fact that the occasionwas Independence Day and that there would be hundreds of strangerswatching them made the lads eager to give an extra good performance andend with a grand flourish--something spectacular.
Now, just what this climax was to be required deep thought, and half adozen of the older scouts of the troop had gathered under the big maplein front of their machine-shop headquarters on Otter Creek hill to ponderthe situation. They had been sprawled in various attitudes in the shadeof the old tree for more than half an hour, each one doing his utmost tothink of something original. All kinds of suggestions were advanced, butnone was worth considering until Romper finally stirred up his flag idea.
It did not take the wide-awake youngsters long to comprehend thespectacular element in this proposition, however, and presently they weretalking away at a furious rate, planning the details.
"Look here, why not make the order of events like this," said Bruce."First we'll pitch a real scout camp and then put up our wireless outfit,just as we had decided. Beforehand we'll erect a big pole and a littlepole to hold the aerial. 'Old Nanc' can carry the outfit we have on theheadquarters roof to Firemen's Field and we can borrow one of thebatteries from Dad's electric truck and take that along to furnish ourcurrent.
"Then, after the wireless is up and working, we can wind up theperformance by presenting the town with a flag. That should make a realhit, eh, fellows? We'll get Mr. Ford to make a speech from the reviewingstand and then, after the Mayor has answered, we'll raise the flag on thebig aerial pole and salute it. How do you like that for a programme?"
"Great," exclaimed several of the scouts.
"Bully," said Bud.
"Best ever," asserted Nipper Knapp. "But say, here we've been talkingabout giving the town a flag, now what's it to look like?"
"Jove, that's right," said Ray Martin. "What sort of a flag is it to be?Let's make it green and purple, green to signify--ah--"
"Yes, let's add pink, canary and sky blue," interrupted sarcastic BabeWilson, "what do you think this is going to be, a rainbow?"
"Well, I think we should talk the plan over with Mr. Ford and let himgive our suggestion to the City Councilmen. They may have some ideas asto what the Woodbridge flag should look like," said Bruce.
"Sure," said Ray.
"All right, I'll--"
"Say, fellows," interrupted Romper in a whisper, while he watched asolitary figure coming up the road, "here comes that chap we had atheadquarters yesterday, Dick what's-his-name?"
"Sure enough," said Bud Weir. "Say, come on fellows, let's go inside; wedon't want a 'fraid raid cat like him hanging around with us."
"Aw, say, that isn't right," replied Bruce in an undertone. "Don't snuba fellow like that. I think it was sort of childish for him to beafraid, but he looks like a pretty good chap, at that."
But the lad in question evidently did not intend to "hang around."Instead he made his way up Otter Creek hill, passed the group in front ofheadquarters with a nod and a cheerful "howdy" and continued on his way.He was a short, thickset youngster of about sixteen and he walked with apeculiar stride, for his legs were slightly bowed.
Dick Austin was his name and he had come from his home in Arizona tospend his Summer vacation with an aunt in Woodbridge.
Several of the scouts had met him at various places in the village sincehe had been in town, and had tried to make his acquaintance, but heseemed to keep to himself a great deal. The day before the Fourth ofJuly conference under the maple, however, two of the lads had encounteredhim on the street, and out of pure kindness of heart had invited him toaccompany them to headquarters.
But much to their surprise Dick did not like the machine shop at all. Heobjected to the hum of motors and he jumped every time he saw the flashesfrom the wireless spark gap. He refused to try a ride on the tandem seatof one of the troop's motorcycles, and when he received a slight shockafter several of the boys had persuaded him to take hold of the handles ofa static electric machine, he became thoroughly frightened.
"Look year," he said with a decided southern accent, "I don't like thishear 'lectric business no how. Hit's dangerous stuff an' I'm afeard o'hit. Yo' see I ham 't been used t' hit down whar I lived an' I cain 'tfeel comfortable with a lot of machinery so close to me. No, sirree, I'drather leg it out o' here and git into t' open."
Whereupon he left headquarters without waiting to listen to the scouts,who tried to explain that it was only high-tension electricity that wasnot at all dangerous and that there was no current of that nature atheadquarters.
Dick's attitude had quite surprised the Quarry Scouts. How a normal boycould fail to be interested in machinery, know nothing about electricity,and actually refuse to ride on a motorcycle because the throbbing enginescared him, was more than they could understand. They quickly decidedthat he was a coward and had already lost respect for him, as was evidentfrom the caustic comments made by the group under the maple after he hadpassed.
"Huh," said Ray Martin, "just imagine a fellow getting fidgety over amotor; regular girl."
"It does seem queer," said Bruce. Then getting to his feet and brushingthe dust from his trousers he continued:
"Say, fellows, if we are going to try this flag stunt I think it's up tous to get a wiggle on. We've only two weeks to do the work in, you know.I'm going to see Mr. Ford now and talk it over with him. Who wants togo along?"
"I'll go," said Bud Weir.
"So'll I," added Romper.
"All right, come along," replied Bruce. And five minutes later threemotorcycles were scooting out toward the hydro-electric plant where Mr.Ford, the Quarry Troop's Assistant Scoutmaster, was superintendent.
Two days later three lads in scout uniforms were to be seen in theante-room of the Council
Chamber in the Woodbridge Town Hall. Theycomposed the Flag Committee of the Quarry Troop and as they sat there inthe straight-backed chairs they looked to be the most uncomfortable trioin all the State of Vermont.
And they were uncomfortable. You see, Bruce, Bud and Romper were waitingpatiently the decision of the Councilmen, who were convening behind theclosed doors of the room to their left. It was the occasion of theregular weekly meeting of the body, but the fact that the town fatherswere debating the adoption of a town flag made the session the mostimportant in the history of Woodbridge, so far as the three scouts wereconcerned.
"Huh, we've been sitting here just fifteen minutes; seems like fifteenhours," said Bruce in a husky whisper. His eyes were on the bigregulator clock that ticked away solemnly on the wall across the room.
As for Bud and Romper, they remained silent, gazing nervously out thewindow. A little later Romper said: "Maybe they're going to turn usdown and--" He was interrupted by the opening of the swinging doors thatled to the Council Chamber. Mr. Bennet, Mayor Worthington's secretary,appeared.
"Scouts," he said, saluting, "the Mayor would like the pleasure of yourpresence in the Council Room."
It required every ounce of self-control the scouts could summon to walkinto that sanctum. How they managed to travel the space from one room tothe other without stumbling over rugs or doorsills will ever be a mysteryto them.
Presently, however, they found themselves at the lower end of the longmahogany table at which the nine officials were seated. At the head wasthe dignified Mayor, while to the right and left were ranged thecouncilmen, all of whom the boys recognized when finally they became moreaccustomed to the surroundings.
"Scouts," said the Mayor, and at the sound of his voice each lad saluted,"we have considered your plan to present the town of Woodbridge with aflag, and we have unanimously voted it an excellent idea. Moreover, lads,we have adopted the design and colors of the proposed emblem."
This good news helped to dispel the scouts' nervousness. They were tooattentive now to think of being timid.
"We have decided," continued Mr. Worthington, "that the design shall be ablood red flag with a city seal in the center of it. It shall be redbecause that is the color that signifies strength, fire, virility, andall that is healthy and normal. And we shall follow the lead of othercities and have an official seal of the community; for the seal, we havedecided on the pine tree of Vermont in the upper portion and a quarryderrick, signifying the marble industry of Woodbridge, below. How do youlike that, boys?"
"Wonderful," exclaimed the three lads in unison.
"Glad to hear it. Now good luck to you and I hope our Fourth of Julycelebration is a big success," said the town's chief, dismissing themwith a bow.
The scouts were all smiles as they descended the broad steps of the townhall and started down the gravel path to the street, where they had lefttheir motorcycles.
"Jove, we'll have some celebration, eh, fellows?" said Romper.
"You bet we will," assured Bud.
"Yes, but we have a lot of work to do yet before everything will beready," stated Bruce. "We'll go over to Granny Mastin's right away andfind out if she'll make the flag for us. We'll get Nipper to drawn adesign for her. Then we'll have to come back and get the silk andwhatever else she wants to do the work with. And say, fellows, we'llhave to erect our poles at Firemen's Field, do you realize that? We'llbe mighty busy for a while--hello, look who's inspecting ourmotorcycles."
Bud and Romper looked up in time to see Dick Austin, the boy fromArizona, scrutinizing the three machines that were lined up at the curb.
"Howdy," he said as they came up. "I was just eyeing these herecritters. Look blamed ferocious, they do."
"Would you like to ride on the tandem behind me?" asked Bruce.
"Who, me?" exclaimed Dick. "No, sirree, yo' cain't git me to straddlethat there animal. Ef 'twas a hoss I'd be tickled to death, but youcain't git a snorting machine under me."
"Huh," said Bud, contemptuously, when Dick was out of earshot, "thatsounds like a bluff to me. Bet he's afraid of a horse, too."
"Oh, I don't know," said Bruce, as he started his engine, "he has thelegs of a horseman and he comes from Arizona, you know."
"Yes, but he's a scared cat," asserted Romper as the trip got under way.
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