Boy Scouts Under Fire in Mexico Read online

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  "Don't shoot gents!" called out the man who was in thecrotch of an oak tree.--_Page 59._]

  THE BOY SCOUTS UNDER FIRE IN MEXICO

  BY LIEUT. HOWARD PAYSON

  AUTHOR OF "The Boy Scouts of the Eagle Patrol," "The Boy Scouts on the Range," "The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp," "The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam," "The Boy Scouts at the Panama Canal," "The Boy Scouts with the Allies in France," "The Boy Scouts on Belgian Battlefields," "The Boy Scouts at the Panama-Pacific Exposition," etc.

  A. L. BURT COMPANY

  Publishers New York

  Printed in U. S. A.

  Copyright, 1914,

  BY HURST & COMPANY

  MADE IN U. S.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE

  I. SCOUTS AFLOAT 5

  II. THE STRANGE LEAK 15

  III. WHAT HAPPENED ON THE ROAD 26

  IV. WHEN SCOUTCRAFT WAS IN DEMAND 37

  V. ON THE TRAIL 48

  VI. THE EAGLES LEAD THE WAY TO SUCCESS 59

  VII. TUBBY REFUSES TO FORGET 70

  VIII. A DAZZLING PLAN 81

  IX. FIGURING IT ALL OUT 92

  X. HOW THE LAND LAY 103

  XI. "THEY'RE OFF!" 114

  XII. ALONG THE RIO GRANDE 125

  XIII. CROSSING THE FORD 136

  XIV. A GALLOP ON MEXICAN SOIL 146

  XV. ANDY SCATTERS THE SERENADERS 157

  XVI. IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY 168

  XVII. THE WHISTLE OF PASSING BULLETS 179

  XVIII. AT THE BURNING BRIDGE 190

  XIX. THE WIGWAG TALK 201

  XX. "TRUST ROB!" 212

  XXI. THE RETURN OF THE SCOUT MASTER 223

  XXII. THE FIELD HOSPITAL IN OPERATION 234

  XXIII. WHEN VILLA CAME 245

  XXIV. A MAN OF HIS WORD 256

  XXV. AGAIN UNDER THE FOLDS OF "OLD GLORY" 267

  XXVI. ON TO WASHINGTON! 278

  XXVII. TUBBY SOLVES THE MYSTERY 298

  THE BOY SCOUTS UNDER FIRE IN MEXICO.

  CHAPTER I.

  FOUR SCOUTS AFLOAT.

  "Luff a little, Merritt!"

  "Luff it is, Rob. And let me tell you right now that if this head windkeeps on growing stronger, we're going to have it nip and tuck to gethome before dark sets in. These November, days have a quick end, youknow. Steady now, everybody; we'll have to come about."

  "On the next leg, Merritt, run in as close to the shore as you can,"continued the boy who was handling the sheet of the sailboat, and whoseemed to be in command, though he had given up his place at the helm toa comrade.

  "Just what I'll do, Skipper Rob. Here, Andy, and you, Tubby, swing overto the la'board in a hurry, now, and help hold her down. You're the bestballast we've got aboard, Tubby."

  The stout boy who seemed so well named, for he was built on the order ofa tub of butter, hastened to change his position as the boom of thesailboat swung over, and the little craft with a jump started on a newtack, this time heading for the mainland.

  "Say, you want to make sure and clear that point over there!" he sangout as he sprawled along the upper port side of the craft like a greatcrab, owing to a sudden lurch of the boat.

  "Going to do it as easy as to turn your hand over," replied the boy atthe rudder; "but what makes you say that, Tubby?"

  "Oh! I reckon now there might be some fellers got a duck blind on thatpoint, which is said to be the best along the bay," replied the other."Leastways I noticed a whole raft of stools dancing up and down on thewaves the last time we ran in close to the shore."

  "Good for you, Tubby," remarked the boy called Rob, who was clingingsteadily to the sheet, with the strain mostly relieved by the fact thatit passed through a hole in the stout cleat; "it's plain that you've gotyour eyes with you this trip, and don't mean to be caught napping. Thereare two fellows in a blind over on the point; I saw them watching usthe last time we ran in; and they acted as though they were afraid we'danchor and spoil all their evening shoot when the ducks are movingagain. But never fear, we're going to clear the point by a wide marginthis time."

  "It was a good thing school let out so early to-day, boys," remarked thelad who up to now had not spoken, and who seemed to answer to the nameof Andy; "and that Rob invited the rest of us to go with him after thathalf bushel of big oysters his folks want for dinner to-morrow."

  "What makes you talk that way, Andy?" asked Rob, wondering if the otherhad also been keeping his eyes about him and noticing things. "This isFriday afternoon, and if we hadn't gone to-day what do you think wouldhinder our taking a little spin up the bay in the morning?"

  "Oh! you never can count on the wind around Hampton," replied the other;"chances are, when you want it most of all, it gives you the go-by. Andbesides, Rob, I've been watching that sky up there. Look how it'smottled, will you? I've always heard that that sort of clouds meant astorm."

  Rob laughed as though rather pleased.

  "Well, that's just one good reason why I hurried off this afternooninstead of waiting for morning," he observed; "but then, I had a betterwarning than the looks of the sky to give me notice. You see, I chancedto drop around by the post office on the way to school after lunch, andstepped in to read what the weather report man in Washington had sentalong. There's a whopper of a storm coming up the coast from the WestIndies, and headed right this way; a sort of left-over hurricane, itsays; and storm warnings are ordered up from Jacksonville to Nantucket!"

  "Whee!" exclaimed Tubby, "that means winter will like as not set inright after that storm passes along, and we'll get no more sails on thebay. I hate winter for all the fun with skates and bobsleds. Don't Iwish now my Uncle Mark would make up his mind to send me down there to awarm country like Mexico to look after his tangled business affairs?Honest Injun, fellers, he did say he might think of something like thatif he didn't get some better soon. He's terribly bothered for fear he'sgoing to lose all his cattle and everything, with those rebels andregulars cavorting all over that section. Hello! that was a gun spokethen; and there goes another! Yes, and he got one duck, anyhow, becauseI saw it drop like a stone. And we're already past the point, boys!"

  While the little sailboat is beating up against a head wind and sea,bent on making Hampton, several miles away along the Long Island shoreof the bay, it might be a good time for us to renew acquaintance withthe four lads on board, and glance back over their past career.

  All of them were dressed in the well known khaki suits that, the worldover, have become a recognized sign manual of Boy Scouts. These ladsbelonged to Hampton Troop, and were instrumental in starting theorganization in the shore town. For some time it had consisted of but asingle patrol, the Eagles; but as success followed their efforts, andmore boys became enthused an
d enlisted, other patrols known as the Owl,the Black Fox, and the Badger were formed; so that at the time we meetRob and his chums in the sailboat there was a very strong troop inHampton, with even a rival organization under way.

  Rob Blake was the leader of the Eagle Patrol, and Merritt Crawford heldthe post of second in command, or corporal; while Andy Bowles filledthe position of bugler. Tubby as yet had not aspired to fill anything,unless it was his stomach; and his chums were forever joking him withregard to his fondness for eating.

  In the first volume of this series, "The Boy Scouts of the EaglePatrol," the reader was made acquainted with Rob and his friends, andfollowed their exciting fortunes after they had formed the patrol. Robwas the son of the president of the local bank, while Merritt's fatherhad been known as the finest blacksmith and wheelwright in that sectionof Long Island; Andy's folks ran the big livery stable; and Tubby's onlyparent, his mother, was said to be fairly well off in property andstocks.

  A happy chance allowed some of the scouts to visit the far Southwest,and in the second story many of the strange adventures that befell themthere were narrated. Though "The Boy Scouts on the Range" teems withthrilling happenings, those who read it from cover to cover will admitthat the Eagles bore themselves man-fully under all conditions, andalways acted according to scout law.

  Later on some of the boys became interested in the subject of aviation;and about this time chance allowed them to be of considerable assistanceto certain parties in the employ of the Government, who were conductingexperiments not far from their home town; all of which was told in thepages of "The Boy Scouts and the Army Airship."

  A fourth volume was given up to what occurred while the Eagles wereencamped in the wilderness; where circumstances arose that called forall their knowledge of woodcraft and scout lore; but those who have read"The Boy Scouts' Mountain Camp" will surely unite in saying that Rob andhis chums met the situation as became true scouts, and came out of theaffair with great credit.

  In the succeeding story, "The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam," the boys foundthemselves involved in a succession of thrilling events. An opportunityarose whereby their services were in demand in order to save the designof a wonderful submarine craft, intended for the use of the UnitedStates Government, from being stolen by the clever agents of a foreignpower. It was largely through the efforts of the scout patrol that thistreacherous design was finally foiled.

  A sixth volume, just preceding the present story, "The Boy Scouts at thePanama Canal," contained the history of events that befell Rob and hisparticular chums at a time when they were given a splendid chance tovisit the great ditch which Uncle Sam was then digging down on theIsthmus. Once again they managed to bring into play the resourcefulnesswhich, as members of the Eagle Patrol, had been developed in them; andit was principally through the agency of scoutcraft that the evildesigns which certain envious nations had upon the locks of the canalwere blocked.

  Which short but necessary explanation once more brings us to the fourchums as they tacked back and forth while trying to make the home portbefore dusk set in. Now that they were headed toward the mainland theymade rapid progress, for the wind was certainly increasing in forceright along. It came from a point that enabled them to make this thelong leg, gaining quite a considerable distance. Once again they tacked,and the best they could expect to do was to hold their own in a beattoward the sandy outer shore of the bay, which helped to make the inletall but landlocked.

  "This is sure going some!" Tubby called out, as he began to get himselfinto readiness for another quick slide across when they should comeabout again; the spray was flying in their faces, more or less, and thewaves that raced past seemed tipped with white.

  "Look out for your heads when we swing around!" called Merritt. "Thatboom is heavy enough to sweep you overboard, I guess!"

  "Excuse me from taking a bath right here and now!" exclaimed Tubby, whowas not much of a swimmer at the best. "But see here, what does all thismean, fellers? Why, look at the water in the bottom of the boat, willyou? Tell you what, she's gone and sprung a leak as sure as anything!Rob, you won't head out in the bay again, will you, with all this chanceof our foundering? Gingersnaps! it keeps on getting worse and worse, Itell you! We'll sink inside of ten minutes!"

  Rob, who owned the sailboat, took one look at the water that was alreadywashing about in the bottom of the uptilted craft. He must have realizedthat something strange had happened to cause so staunch a boat to springa leak, and also that the situation was serious; for no sooner had hetaken in the suspicious way in which the water was rising in thecockpit, than he shouted:

  "Keep her headed straight for the shore, Merritt! We've got to beach herone way or another. Tubby, help me with the halliards so we can drop thesail. You pull up the centerboard, Andy! Hurry now, everybody!"

  There was a scene of activity on board the little pleasure craft justthen, with three of those lively scouts springing about their duty. Andas the sail came rattling down on top of the cabin, with Tubby sprawledunder its folds, and as Andy fastened the heavy centerboard which he haddrawn full height in the well, the boat ran up on the sandy beach of alittle cove that had chanced to lie directly ahead at the time theskipper gave his hurried orders!