tment any
one with spirit feels at being imposed upon.

"We haven't lifted a finger to interfere with anything that crowd
wanted to do," said Walter Douglass, aggressively; "and they have no
business to upset our plans."

"Huh! just let them try it, that's all!" grunted Josh, shaking his
head.

"We had an experience something like this over in Winchester, where I
belonged to the scouts before moving to Lenox," remarked Rob Shaefer,
one of the two new boys.

"Do you mean some rowdies tried to make trouble for you?" asked Carl.

"In every way they could," the new boy replied. "We stood it as long as
we could, and then acted."

"What did you do to them?" asked Mr. Witherspoon, with an amused smile,
for he liked to see these wide-awake lads figure out their own plans,
and was greatly interested in listening to their discussions as they
worked them out.

"When it became unbearable," said Rob, gravely, though his eyes
twinkled, "we ducked the whole five in a frog pond, and after that they
let us alone."

"Cooled 'em off, eh?" chuckled Josh, whom the account seemed to amuse
very much. "Well, that isn't a bad idea, fellows. Frog ponds have their
uses besides supplying messes of delicious frog-legs for eating.
Anybody know of a pond that's got a nice green coating of scum on the
top? That's the kind I'd like to see Tony and his bunch scrambling
around it."

"Oh! the pond will crop up all right when the time comes," asserted
Felix Robbins, confidently; "they always do, you know."

"But what are we going to do about this thing?" asked Tom, as the
chairman of the meeting. "Motions are in order. Somebody make a
suggestion, so we can get the sense of the troop."

"One thing certain," observed George, "we've got to give up the plan
we've mapped out, and change our programme--or else count on running
foul of Tony and his crowd. Which is it going to be?"

A chorus of indignant remonstrances immediately arose.

"Why should we take water when we laid our plans first?" one demanded.

"There are only four of them, all told, while we expect to number ten,
perhaps a full dozen!" another scout announced.

"I don't believe in knuckling down to any ugly lot of fellows that
chooses to knock up against us," and Josh must have expressed the
feelings of most of those present when he said this, for there was a
chorus of "my sentiments exactly," as soon as he finished.

Then, somehow, all eyes began to turn toward the scout master