etimes a painter's heavy paintpot falls--and woe to him who
walks under the ladder then, be he the wisest man in the kingdom. Now
go, and one moon from tonight bring me a full regiment of Safety
Scouts.'

"So out through the Borderland I went, saying over and over to myself,
'It is bad luck to go under a ladder,' and waiting for the King's
meaning to be made plain.

"First I went to the home of a great wizard, the wisest man in the
Borderland. As I neared the house, the door opened and the wizard came
out, a heavy book of wisdom under his arm.

"He had a long black pipe in his mouth. Pulling out a match, he lighted
his pipe, threw the burning match over his shoulder, and hurried on
toward the city.

"I started to run after him, when a flicker of light caught my eye.
There in the straw that littered the roots of the ivy vines by the
steps, a little tongue of flame was lapping up the tangle of leaves!"

Bob jumped to his feet as if he had heard the clang of a fire bell.
"Good enough for him, the old fossil! Did it burn his house down?"

"Came mighty near it," said Sure Pop, looking at the scars on his hands.
"He had a sick wife in there all alone, and if I hadn't happened along
just then--

"Well, anyway," he went on cheerfully, "I got the fire out at last. And
the King's meaning was made plain--it is one thing to have wisdom and
another thing to use it. So I didn't ask the wizard to join the Safety
Scouts, after all."

"I should say NOT!" cried Bob and Betty with one voice. "But where _did_
you find your Scouts?" added Bob.

"Well, the next idea I had was to ask mothers, for mothers give up much
of their time, anyhow, to keeping children out of harm's way. I found
one whose house looked so trim and neat, and her children so clean and
happy, that I had almost made up my mind to invite her to join--when my
eye fell on a shining butcher knife hanging beside the kitchen table,
where even the baby could reach it without half trying.

"And that wasn't all I saw. There was a saucer of fly poison on the
window sill! Then I saw the mother starting to carry out a pail of water
to scrub the steps, when the brass knocker on the door gave a thump, and
she left that hot water right there in the middle of the floor while she
talked to a peddler!

"Just then the baby came toddling across the room. He got safely past
the scalding water and the fly poison, but the next moment I saw him
climb up on a chair, open the medicine