Boy Scout Automobilists; Or, Jack Danby in the Woods

by Richard Harding Davis

  Produced by Curtis Weyant, Mary Meehan and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  _Boy Scout Series Volume 7_

  The Boy Scout Automobilists

  OR

  Jack Danby in the Woods

  By Major Robert Maitland

  THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANYCHICAGO, AKRON, OHIO, NEW YORK

  _Copyright, 1918__By The Saalfield Publishing Co._

  CHAPTER I

  CALLED TO ACTIVE SERVICE

  "What's this call for a special meeting of the Boy Scouts, Jack?" askedPete Stubbs, a First Class Boy Scout, of his chum Jack Danby, who hadjust been appointed Assistant Patrol Leader of the Crow Patrol of theThirty-ninth Troop.

  "Well, I guess it isn't a secret any more," said Jack.

  He and Pete Stubbs worked in the same place, and they were great chums,especially since Jack had enlisted his chum in the Boy Scouts.

  "The fact is," he continued, "that Scout-Master Durland has been tryingfor several days to arrange the biggest treat the Troop, or any otherTroop, has ever had. You know the State militia begins maneuvers prettysoon, Pete?"

  "Say, Jack," cried red-haired Pete, dancing up and down in hisexcitement, "you don't mean to say that there's a chance that we are togo out with the militia?"

  "I think this call means that there's more than a chance, Pete, and thatthe whole business is settled. You see, some of the fellows work inplaces where they might find it hard to get off. In the militia it'sdifferent. The law makes an employer give a man time off for the militiawhen it's necessary, but there's no reason why it should be that way forus. But Mr. Durland has been trying to get permission for all of us."

  "I'll bet he didn't have any trouble here when he came to see Mr.Simms," said Pete, enthusiastically. "If all the bosses were like him,we'd be all right."

  "They're not, Pete, though I guess most of them try to do what's fair,when they understand just how things are. But, anyhow, Mr. Simms thoughtit was a fine idea, and he went around and helped Mr. Durland with theother people, who weren't so ready to let off the Boy Scouts whohappened to be working for them. And I guess that this call means thatit's all fixed up, for if it hadn't been nothing would have been saidabout it."

  Pete and Jack, with the other members of the Troop, reported at Scoutheadquarters that night, and gave Scout-Master Durland a noisy welcomewhen he rose to address them.

  "Now," he said, "I want you to be quiet and listen to me. A great honorhas been paid to the Troop. We have been invited to take part, asScouts, in the coming maneuvers of the National Guard. There is to be asham war, you know, and the militia of this State and the neighboringState, with some help from the regular army, are to take part in it. Atroop of Boy Scouts has been selected from the other State, and afterthe militia officers had inspected all the Troops in this State theychose the Thirty-ninth."

  He had to stop then for a minute to give the great cheer that greetedhis announcement time to die away.

  "Gee, Jack, I guess we're all right, what?" asked Pete, happily.

  "Be still a minute, Pete. Mr. Durland isn't through yet."

  "Now, I have gone around and got permission for all of you to go on thistrip," the Scout-Master went on. "It's going to be different fromanything we've ever done before. It's a great big experiment, and we'regoing to be watched by Boy Scouts and army and National Guard officersall over the country. It means that the Boy Scouts are going to berecognized, if we make good, as a sort of reserve supply for themilitia. But we are going, if we go, without thinking about that at all.Forget the militia, and remember only that you will have a chance to doreal scouting, and to make real reports of a real enemy."

  "Look here," cried Dick Crawford, the Assistant Scout-Master, suddenly,"I want everyone to join in and give three cheers for Scout-MasterDurland. I know how hard he's worked to give every one of us a chance tomake this trip and get the experience of real scouting. And it's up toevery one of us to see that he doesn't have any reason to feel sorrythat he did it. He trusts us to make good, and we've certainly got tosee to it that we do. Come now--three times three for the Scout-Master!"

  Then came the formal giving of the instructions that were required forpreparation for the trip. Each Scout got word of the equipment that hehimself must bring.

  "And mind, now, no extras," said Durland, warningly. "If the weather isat all hot, it's going to be hard work carrying all we must carry, andwe don't want any Scouts to have to drop out on the march because theirknapsacks are too heavy. We will camp by ourselves, and we will keep toourselves, except when we're on duty. Remember that I, as commander ofthe Troop, take rank only as a National Guard captain, and that I amsubject to the orders of every major and other field officer who may bepresent.

  "Some of the militiamen and their officers may be inclined to playtricks, and to tease us, but the best way to stop them is to pay noattention to them at all. Now, I want every boy to go home and spend thetime he can spare before the start studying all the Scout rules, andbrushing up his memory on scoutcraft and campcraft. Polish up your drillmanual, too. That may be useful. We want to present a good appearancewhen we get out there with the soldiers."

  The start for the camp of the State militia, who were to gather underthe command of Brigadier-General Harkness at a small village near theState line, called Guernsey, was to be made on Sunday. The Scouts wouldbe in camp Sunday night, ready at the first notes of the generalreveille on Monday morning to turn out and do their part in the work ofdefending their State against the invasion of the Blue Army, underGeneral Bliss, of the rival State.

  "You see," said Jack, explaining matters to Pete Stubbs and Tom Binns asthey went home together after the meeting, "we are classed as the RedArmy, and we are supposed to be on the defensive. The Blue Army will tryto capture the State capital, and it is our business to defeat them ifpossible."

  "How can they tell whether we beat them or not, if we don't do anyfighting?" asked Tom Binns.

  "In this sort of fighting it's all worked out by theory, just as if itwere a game of chess, Tom, and there are umpires to decide every pointthat comes up."

  "How do they decide things, Jack?"

  "Why, they ride over the whole scene of operations, either on horseback,or, if the field is very extensive, in automobiles. If troops aresurrounded, they are supposed to be captured, and they are sent to therear, and required to keep out of all the operations that follow. Thenthe umpires, who are high officers in the regular army, decide accordingto the positions that are taken which side has the best chance ofsuccess. That is, if two brigades, of different sides, line up foraction, and get into the best tactical positions possible, the umpiresdecide which of them would win if they were really engaged in a truewar, and the side that gets their decision is supposed to win. The otherbrigade is beaten, or destroyed, as the case may be."

  "Then how about the whole affair?"

  "Well, each commanding general works out his strategy, and does his bestto bring about a winning position, just as they would at chess, as Isaid. There is a time limit, you see, and when the time is up theumpires get together, inspect the whole theatre of war, and make theirdecision."

  "It's a regular game, isn't it, Jack?"

  "Yes. The Germans call it Krug-spiel--which means war-game, and thatterm has been adopted all over the world. It's played with maps andpins, too, in the war colleges, both for sea and land, and that's howofficers get training for war in time of peace. It isn't an easy game tolearn, either."

  "Where do we come
in, Jack? What is it we're supposed to do?"

  "Obey orders, in the first place, absolutely. And I don't know what theorders will be, and neither does anyone else, so I can't tell you justwhat we'll do. But, generally speaking, we'll just have to do regularscout duty. It will be up to us to detect the movements of the enemy,and report, through Scout-Master Durland, who'll be Captain Durland,during the maneuvers, to the staff."

  "General Harkness's staff, you mean, Jack? Just what is a staff,anyhow?"

  "The headquarters staff during a campaign is a sort of extra supply ofarms and legs and eyes for the commanding general. The staff officerscarry his orders, and represent him in different parts of the field.They carry orders, and receive reports, and they take just as muchroutine work as possible off the hands of the general, so that he'll befree to make his plans. You see the general never does any actualfighting. He's too valuable to risk his life that way. He's supposed tostay behind, and be ready to take advantage of any chance he sees."

  "Times have changed, haven't they, Jack? In the old histories we used toread about generals who led charges and did all sorts of things likethat."

  "Well, it would be pretty wasteful to put a general in danger that waynow, Pete. He's had plenty of chance to prove his bravery, as a rule,and, when he's a general, and has years of experience behind him, theidea is to use his brain. If he is in the rear, and by his eyes and thereports he gets in all sorts of ways, can get a general view of what isgoing on, he can tell just what is best to be done. Sometimes the onlyway to win a battle is to sacrifice a whole brigade or a division--tolet it be cut to pieces, without a chance to save itself, in order thatthe rest of the army may have time to change its position, so that thebattle can be won. That's the sort of thing the general has got todecide, and if he's in the thick of the fighting in the old-fashionedway, he can't possibly do that."

  "I think it's going to be great sport, don't you, Jack?" asked TomBinns. "Will there be any real firing?"

  "Yes--with smokeless powder, because they want to test some new kinds.But they'll use blank cartridges, of course. There'll be just as muchnoise as ever, but there won't be any danger, of course."

  "I don't like the sound of firing much," said Tom Binns, a littleshamefacedly. "Even when I know it's perfectly safe and that therearen't any bullets, it makes me awfully nervous."

  "This will be good practice for you, then, Tom, because it will help youto get used to it. I hope we'll never have another war, but we want tobe ready if we ever do. 'Be prepared'--that's our Scout motto, you know,and it means for the things that we might have to do in war, as well asthe regular peaceful things that come up every day."

  "Will there be any aeroplanes?" asked Pete Stubbs. "I'm crazy to see oneof those things flying sometime, Jack. I never saw one yet, except thattime when the fellow landed here and hurt himself. And I didn't see himin the air, but only after he made his landing. The machine was allbusted up then, too."

  "I think there'll be some aeroplane scouting by the signal corps.Several of the men in that are pretty well off, you know, and they havetheir own flying machines. I guess that's one of the things they'll tryto determine in these maneuvers, the actual, practical usefulness ofaeroplanes, and whether biplanes or monoplanes are the best."

  "Say, Jack, why couldn't we Boy Scouts build an aeroplane sometime? Ifwe learned something about them this next week, I should think we mightbe able to do something like that. I know a lot of fellows that havemade experiments with toy ones, that wind up with a spring that's madeout of rubber bands. They see how far they will fly."

  "I think that would be great sport, Pete. But we won't have any time forthat until after we've been through the maneuvers. But I'll tell youwhat some of us may get a chance to do next week, though it's a gooddeal of a secret yet."

  "What's that, Jack! We'll promise not to say a word about it, won't we,Tom?"

  "You bet we won't, Jack! Tell us--do!" pleaded Tom Binns.

  "I guess it's all right for me to tell you if you won't let it go anyfurther. Well, it's just this. They're going to do a lot ofexperimenting with a new sort of automobile for scout duty, and I thinksome of us will get a chance with them."

  "Gee, I wish I knew how to run a car the way you do, Jack. I'd love thatsort of thing."

  "I can soon teach you all I know, Pete. It isn't much. Come on down tothe factory garage after work to-morrow morning, and I'll explain theengines to you, instead of eating lunch. Are you on?"

  "You bet I am! Will they let us?"

  "Mr. Simms will, if I ask him, I'm sure."