The Boy Scouts Patrol Part 17

"Who would he get to join it?" asked Gerald, scornfully.

"Oh, he can find plenty to do that," replied Jack. "You know he always has plenty of money to spend."

"There's Monkey Rae and Looney Burns," said Pepper, "they would be in it."

"And Kid Murphy," added d.i.c.k.

"I wonder--" began Jack, and stopped, seemingly lost in thought.

"What is it now, Jack?" asked Rand, "trying to put two and two together?"

"I was," replied Jack, "but it don't seem to come out four."

"What is it this time, addition or multiplication?" asked Donald.

"Must be division, I think," laughed Jack. "I was wondering if Sam had anything to do with the robbery of Judge Taylor's office."

"Of course not," a.s.serted Pepper. "What would he want to do that for?"

"I don't know," answered Jack, "or what any one else would, for that matter. But it would be just like him."

"I don't think he was guilty of that," remarked the colonel, "that was the work of men."

"But there was a boy in it," a.s.serted Jack.

"It wouldn't be Sam," declared Pepper. "He might put others up to it, but you wouldn't find him climbing in any windows!"

"See anything of Monkey lately?" interjected Rand.

"Not since the day he stole the fish," returned Pepper.

"Haven't seen him in three or four days," said d.i.c.k. "It's queer, too, for he used to come in the shop almost every day. Nor Sam either; they must be camping out somewhere."

"Hope it isn't around here!" cried Pepper. "Say, fellows, we had better take a scout through the woods and make sure."

"Come along, then," said Rand, "and we will rout him out if he is anywhere about."

Starting out under the leaders.h.i.+p of Rand the boys explored the woods in every direction for some distance from the camp without seeing any signs of any one being in the neighborhood.

"Going back to the flag," said the colonel, when the boys had returned, "while we are waiting for the dinner to be done, can any of you tell the history of the flag? Of its origin and how it came into being?"

"The first American flag was made in Philadelphia by Betsy Ross, in 1775, was it not?"

"According to tradition," replied the colonel, "but history doesn't bear it out. The earliest flag to be used by the colonies was the Liberty Flag, which was presented to the Council of Safety of Charleston, by Colonel Moultrie, in September, 1775."

"What was it like?" asked Rand.

"It was adapted from the Boston Liberty Tree, and was a blue flag with crescent in the dexter corner and the word 'Liberty' running lengthwise."

"There were other flags, too, weren't there?" asked Jack.

"Yes, there was the Rattlesnake Flag."

"The Rattlesnake Flag!" cried Pepper. "What was that like?"

"The Rattlesnake Flag was of the same date, 1775. It was a yellow flag with the representation of a rattlesnake coiled, ready to strike, in green, and the motto below it: 'Don't tread on me.'"

"Gee!" said Pepper, "it must have been a beauty."

"Were there any more?" asked Gerald.

"There was the Pine Tree Flag, with the motto 'An Appeal to Heaven.'

This motto was adopted April, 1776, by the Provincial Congress of Ma.s.sachusetts as the one to be borne as the Flag of the Cruisers of that colony. The first armed vessel commissioned under Was.h.i.+ngton sailed under this flag. It is thought that this flag was used at the battle of Bunker Hill."

"I didn't know," said Rand, "that the American flag had such a history. Can you tell us when the first Union flag was made?"

"The first Union flag was raised by Was.h.i.+ngton at Cambridge, January 2, 1776. This flag represented the union of the colonies--not then an established nation--and while this flag, by its stripes, represented the thirteen colonies, the canton was the king's colors."

"Then, when did the stars and stripes become the national flag?"

asked Jack.

"On the 14th of June, 1777, Congress adopted the resolution that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternating red and white, and that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. But I think the dinner must be ready by this time, and I have no doubt you are. You know the Scout motto is, 'Be prepared.'"

"We will do our best," responded Pepper.

"Well," said the colonel when, a little later, the dinner had been eaten to the last sc.r.a.p, "how do you like Scout fare?"

"It's ail right," conceded Pepper, "as far as it goes," looking longingly about him.

"You think there wasn't enough of it," laughed the colonel. "You have a real Scout appet.i.te."

"To change the subject, what about uniforms?" inquired Jack.

"We will have to have them, I suppose," replied Gerald.

"Sure," returned Pepper; "that's all right, they won't cost much."

"I have an idea," broke in Rand.

"Clutch it, Randolph, ere it flies!" cried Pepper; "what is it?"

"I think," went on Rand, "that it would be a good idea if we, each one of us, earned the money ourselves to buy our uniforms."

"'Tis no a bad idea," a.s.sented Donald.

"I think it is a very good one," commended the colonel. "You have caught the spirit of the organization."

"How shall we do it?" asked Jack.