rab, thousands of sturdy militiamen
were standing at ease, waiting for orders to move. Field guns, too, and
horses, for the mounted troops, were being unloaded, and the scene was
one of the greatest activity. Hoarse cries filled the air, but there was
only the appearance of confusion, since the citizen soldiers understood
their work thoroughly, and each man had his part to play in the
spectacle.

From one of the trains, too, three great structures with spreading wings
had been unloaded, and the eyes of the Boy Scouts turned constantly
toward the spot where mechanics were busily engaged in assembling the
aeroplanes which were to serve, to some extent, as the eyes of the army.

"Glad to see you, Captain," Colonel Henry said to Durland when the
Scout-Master reported the arrival of his Troop. "I'll send an orderly
with you to show you the location of your camp. Colonel Roberts directed
me to give you an isolated location, and I have done so. It's a little
way from drinking water, but I guess you won't mind that."

"Not a bit, sir," said Durland, smilingly.

"Very well, Captain. Report to General Harkness's tent at eight o'clock,
sir, for your instructions. I think you will find that the General has
enough work planned to keep your Troop pretty busy to-morrow. We shall
all watch your work with a great deal of interest. We've been hearing a
lot about Durland's Scouts."

Durland saluted then, and turned with the orderly to rejoin his Troop.

In two hours the camp was ready. The neat row of tents, making a short
but perfectly planned and arranged company street, were all up, bedding
was ready, and supper was being cooked from the rations supplied by the
commissary department. Durland, with active recollections of commissary
supplies, had been inclined to bring along extra supplies for his Troop,
but had decided against doing so, though he knew that many of the
militia companies had taken the opposite course to his own, and had
brought along enough supplies to set an excellent table.

"I want the boys to get a taste of real service," he told Dick, "and it
won't hurt them a bit to rough it for a week. They get enough to eat,
even if there isn't much variety, and the quality isn't of the best. The
stuff is wholesome, anyhow--that's what counts."

By the time he returned from headquarters, the Troop was sound asleep,
save for the sentries, Tom Binns and Harry French, who challenged him
briskly.

CHAPTER III

THE S