and his patrol might not
find a chance to assist the officers of justice in rounding up a couple
of rogues who had apparently broken the laws of the land.

Then other things came up to draw his attention elsewhere.

He ran across boys on the street, who asked dozens of questions about the
many interesting features of the new organization.

These were often lads who had begun to think of uniting with one of the
rival troops; and Paul was only too glad to give them all the information
in his power.

They wanted more recruits, provided the applicants were of the right
sort. Those their committee rejected might find solace in joining forces
with Ted's crowd, who, not being at all particular, would receive them
with open arms.

That afternoon there was another meeting in the woods, at which every
member of Stanhope Troop No 1, as they now determined to call their
organization, did his best to be present.

Paul had given several of the boys duties to perform, that were part and
parcel of the grand scheme to whip his company into first-class shape in
a shorter time than it had taken any other troop.

Reports were received and filed of numerous things done which would count
in the final summing up. These were to be accompanied by vouchers from
the persons interested, which could be filed away for inspection when the
committee appointed by the giver of the fine banner looked through the
records of the several patrols competing for the prize.

Andy Flinn and Philip Towns reported that they had cleaned up the
beautiful green in front of the town high school, and which was generally
known as the campus. It was kept mowed by the town authorities; but
numerous scraps of paper and trash, blowing hither and thither in the
wind, gave it an unsightly appearance.

"Never forget that you have taken our campus under your protecting care,
Numbers Three and Four of the Gray Fox patrol," said the head scout,
after reading the report; "of course it is always your privilege to
enlist smaller boys in the job, if you can do so without actually hiring
them. That is expressly forbidden."

Then came Wallace Carberry and Tom Betts, telling how they had started
a crusade to cover the entire town with receptacles to contain stray
rubbish. Half a dozen cans had already been ordered, each one of which
was to have in startling red letters the significant picture of a staring
eye, and followed by the words, "Eat Trash!"

"We've got a contributi