Elliott,' he said. Then he went on: 'Wolf Patrol, you will at once
return to the sand-pit and then home. March!'

The patrol fell in at once, for orders must be obeyed instantly, and
without question.

'Wot about my challenge now?' cried Chippy.

'The Wolf Patrol refuses to receive any challenge from you,' replied
Arthur shortly. 'We're not going to have anything to do with a set of
grubby bounders out of Skinner's Hole.'

He ordered his men forward, and was at once obeyed. Chippy had already
given up the tracking-irons, and away went the patrol for the sandpit
to fetch Dick's bicycle, which had been carefully hidden there.

Chippy watched them go with a sore heart. He had felt certain that he
would be recognised as a brother scout, after capturing the whole
patrol. But it seemed that he was not to be, and his bitterness found
vent in speech.

'Fine ol' patrol, yo' are!' he called after them. 'I'll lay a bit as
B.-P. wouldn't be any too proud of yer if he knowed about it. Ye've
got too much edge on yer. Smart togs ain't everythink.'

Chippy's speech, all things considered, was very natural, but in the
main it was undeserved, as we shall soon see.

CHAPTER VII

THE PATROL DECIDES

The Wolf Patrol were to meet Mr. Elliott the next Thursday afternoon.
If the day should be fine they were to practise tracking tests on the
heath; if wet, it was to be Kim's game in Mr. Elliott's study.

The day turned out one of pouring rain, and at three o'clock the Wolf
Patrol had gathered in Mr. Elliott's room, where a tray of small
articles, covered by a handkerchief, lay on a side-table.

'We'll begin with Kim's game,' said Mr. Elliott, 'and I'll be umpire.
On that tray I have put twenty-five small articles, all different--a
button, a pin, a stud, a ring, and so on. I shall give you each a
pencil and a card, and I shall allow every boy one minute to study the
tray. Then he will go away and write down every article that he can
remember. The card with the longest list, of course, wins.'

He was about to give out the cards and pencils, when Billy Seton spoke
up.

'Mr. Elliott,' he said, 'there's another matter that two or three of us
would like you to umpire upon before we begin this game.'

'What is it, Billy?' said the instructor.

Billy told the story of Chippy's challenge, of his capture of the
patrol, and told it fairly. 'We left him standing there,' concluded
Billy, 'and I didn't like it, and I f