The mysterious tramp — Text and Context

” said Bill, “is war declared?” “Yes,” came the determined reply.

[_To face page 14._ ]

Presently the girl sighed. “How jolly hard it was saying good-bye to the Cubs!” she thought to herself. “But I mustn’t ‘give in to myself’ and feel unhappy. After all, I am going to some more boys. Dear little chaps, they sound awfully jolly and a good handful to manage. I should feel rather homesick if it was not for the thought of them. But they are sure to give me a good welcome, and we will soon make friends.”

She smiled to herself, and the train thundered on between the green fields.

THE COMING OF MISS PRINCE

“Listen!” whispered David, “I hear the wheels of the carriage at the front door. Three groans for Miss Prince!”

The front door was opened, and Miss Prince came into the hall. She was just a little disappointed not to see the three boys waiting to welcome her, as she had expected.

“She’s _not_ like the Ugly Sisters!” said Nipper in a voice full of disappointment. He was peeping through the balusters, the twins peering over his shoulders.

“I expect that way of smiling and pretending to look nice is just camouflage. She’s sure to be a perfect beast inside,” said David.

The booby trap unfortunately came down on the housekeeper’s head as she showed Miss Prince to her room. The boys distinctly heard Miss Prince laugh, and then pretend she had only coughed and try and comfort Mrs. Biggs. Then they heard her discover the mice in her chest of drawers.

“Mice!” she said. “Dear little things! I love mice. But oh, how cruel! Someone has tied them by their tails!” They heard her freeing the mice. “How untidy my bed looks!” came Miss Prince’s voice presently. They heard her open it, then she laughed.

“No go,” said Bill dejectedly. “It’s going to be harder work giving Miss Prince frightfulness than I thought. But we’ll stick to it, won’t we, boys?”

“We will!” said the other two.

And they did. Not one civil or friendly word could Miss Prince get from them, try as she would. They were rude to her; they disobeyed her every order; they pretended they could not read at all when she started lessons with them, and added up every sum wrong on purpose. They told her lies, and hid when she wanted them.

Perhaps their hard little hearts would have softened a little if they could have known how their rudeness hurt and disappointed Miss Prince, and how lonely she felt without her own friendly Cubs. But she didn’t let them see; she was always cheerful and patient.

A week passed like this, and Miss Prince, who had been determined not to give in, began to despair. Being kind to them was no use; punishing them was no use. Their grandfather was furious, and told Miss Prince that he saw she could not manage them. A friend of his had told him Miss Prince could manage forty fierce Wolf Cubs, and he had said she would easily be able to tame three little boys, however wild. But she had failed; it was not much use to go on trying. Then Miss Prince got a brilliant idea.

“Mr. Ogden,” she said, “I think I know a way in which those boys could be altogether changed and made into really good little chaps.”

Mr. Ogden grunted like a cross bear. “Do you?” he said. “I don’t.”

“Will you give a trial to my plan?” said Miss Prince.

“I’ll try anything under the sun,” said Mr. Ogden. “What’s your plan?”

“It is to let me write and engage a boy I know, named Danny Moore, to come and act as companion to the boys, and their own groom. Jones, tells me he needs help with their ponies, and is too old to go out riding with them much longer. This boy is a Patrol-leader in the Scouts. I have known him ever since he was quite a little chap. He is a splendid leader, and can manage the most difficult boys and turn them into good Scouts. He has a good knowledge of horses too. I know he would come at once if I wrote to him, and if it’s possible to do anything with your grandsons, Danny will do it.”

“Do as you like,” said Mr. Ogden sourly. “I wash my hands of the whole business.”

That night Miss Prince posted a letter to Danny. In it she told him of the almost hopeless job she had got--of taming three perfect little terrors. She asked him to come and turn them into Wolf Cubs for her. She told him to bring his uniform, and that she would tell him the plan she had made for the way he was first to see them when he arrived.

Danny answered that he would be there in three days, and Miss Prince’s hopes began to rise.

“DANNY THE DETECTIVE”

Two days later, the boys having been even worse than usual, Miss Prince shut the door firmly and said: “Now, boys, I am going to give you a new punishment for this disgraceful behaviour. I am going to sit on the floor, and you three are to sit on the floor in a row in front of me, for twenty minutes, and keep perfectly silent.”

“Not much!” said Bill, with his cheekiest air.

Miss Prince sat down on the floor. “There was once a boy called Danny,” she began. “He was always known as Danny the Detective by his friends. One day a wonderful adventure happened to him.” The three boys stopped whistling and listened. Miss Prince went on, talking very quietly. They had to come nearer to hear. It got so thrilling, and they got so excited about Danny and the German spies, that before long they were sitting on the floor, as silent as mice, their eyes fixed on Miss Prince. More than half-an-hour had passed before the story was finished. Then they realized that for once they had done as they had been told, and they began to be as rude as ever.

“Of course, all that is a pack of lies!” said Bill.

David’s eyes were shining with excitement; he did so wish he was Danny himself. But he felt he ought to support his twin and keep up the frightfulness, so he made a rude remark, too.

“Danny is now a Scout,” said Miss Prince. “He is very fond of camping out in the wood and cooking his meals in a billy-can on a wood fire. Perhaps you will come across him one day when you are in Prior’s Wood. But I’m afraid he would not want you as his friends--you’re so awfully rude and selfish. I’m afraid he’d call you ‘little Huns’!”

“I don’t believe anything about Danny,” said Bill.

“Nor do I,” said the other two. But in their hearts they decided to visit Prior’s Wood.

It was the day after this strange new punishment had taken place. Bill, David and Nipper were having tea in the Play-room, when Miss Prince, who had looked anxiously out of the window many times during the last half-hour, heard the wheels of the dog-cart on the drive, and hurried downstairs. The cart had driven round to the stables, and there Miss Prince followed it.

As she came up, a boy had just jumped out, and was taking a kit bag from under the seat. He was a boy of fifteen, medium height, with a very sunburnt, cheery face, and eyes that looked straight at you when he talked, as if he had never had anything to hide or be ashamed of.

“Hullo, Miss Prince!” he cried, with a grin.

“Hullo, Danny!” she said. “How nice to see you again! You seem just like a bit of home!”

She led him into the house, through the great, oak-panelled hall, to her own little sitting-room. There they had a long talk. When they came out Danny was laughing.

“I think it’s a splendid plan,” he said. “I’ll do my best to make it come off successfully.”

It was a glorious autumn morning--one of those mornings when the wind seems to have swept the world very clean, the sky is very blue and clear of clouds, the sun shines on the red-and-gold leaves, and you feel happy just to be alive. The boys woke up feeling almost good, but, remembering the campaign of frightfulness against Miss Prince which they were determined to carry out, they asked each other what they should do to-day.

“I’ll tell you what,” said David. “She said she was going to start a new plan for lessons this morning. It would annoy her awfully if we ran away all the morning, and she couldn’t start her precious plan! It’s such a ripping day, why should we sit in a stuffy schoolroom?”

“Right you are!” said Bill. “I vote we go and play wild buffaloes with Farmer Tomkinson’s calves. He’s just bought a lot of new ones, and if we let them out on to the heath, we could have some jolly good sport--especially if we take the dogs and the long carriage whip.”

“I shan’t come with you,” said Nipper. “I have a plan of my own.”

“Out with it, kid!” said Bill, twisting his small brother’s arm till he started his siren-shriek.

“Let go!” he yelled, “and I’ll tell you. I’m going to explore Prior’s Wood. Don’t you remember that story she told us? And she said we might find the Scout if we went in Prior’s Wood.”

“I think,” said Bill, “we’ll leave the calves for to-day, and go to Prior’s Wood. It’s probably all a pack of lies, but we might as well go and see.”

And so, after breakfast, before Miss Prince had time to call them for lessons the three boys ran out across the fields to the wood. They had not gone far when David stopped short.

“Hush!” he said. “Squat down before he sees us--quick!”

The other two followed his example, and squatted down, peering cautiously over a clump of bracken.

They had reached a little clearance in the wood, where the ground was carpeted with soft green moss, and a small stream gurgled noisily along. On the banks of the stream was a little hut, built of branches and bracken, between the trunks of three trees.

A little distance from this a bright wood fire burned, sending a steady column of blue smoke up into the sunny air. A billy-can boiled away, standing on a thick piece of wood, whilst on a big, moss-covered log sat a boy. He had bare, brown knees and bare, brown arms and a khaki shirt, his red neckerchief making a bright splash of colour among the greens and browns of the wood. He had a knife in his hand, and he was carving wonderful patterns on a straight ash stick he had cut for himself. As he worked he whistled softly.

The three boys, squatting in the ferns, watched him. Presently he got up and added some wood to his fire, and peeped into the boiling pot. Then he fetched an apple out of his hut, and sat down again on the log. Suddenly a robin swooped down on to a twig quite close, and stared with big, bright eyes at this boy who had come to share his own particular corner of Prior’s Wood.

The boy, just as if he knew the language of robins, began to whistle, very softly, in little trills. The robin cocked his head on one side and answered with much the same kind of whistle. Then he swooped down on to the end of the very log Danny was sitting on, and they went on with their whistling conversation.

“I believe he can talk to the birds!” whispered Nipper, with round eyes.

Just then an enormous water rat appeared on the opposite bank of the stream, and began swimming across. Bill’s hand shot out instinctively for a stone.

“Shut up, you ass!” said David.

“But I could just hit him on the head beautifully,” said Bill.

“Sh--sh! The Scout will kill him, I expect, when he gets nearer. Let’s see how he does it,” whispered David.

But, strange to say, the Scout, after watching the big rat land, moved noiselessly across to his hut, and came out with a bit of cheese, a little piece of which he poked softly across to the bank with the end of his stick. The rat had vanished. But before long he came out, fetched the piece of cheese, and ran back to his hole. The Scout put another crumb, nearer this time. The rat came out and fetched that. Gradually he came nearer and nearer.

Presently he got so bold that he stayed and ate the crumbs of cheese quite close to Danny--and then sat up and cleaned his whiskers with his little pink hands, and seemed to be combing his fur and brushing his little round ears.

The three boys watched, fascinated. They had never before thought of making friends with a water rat and watching his habits. Their first thought had always been to kill the happy little creature, who was out enjoying the morning sunshine.

Suddenly Nipper could sit still no longer; he stretched his legs, which broke a rotten twig and made such a noise that Danny looked round and saw the three heads watching him through the bracken.

“Hullo!” he said. “Come and see my little camp.” He smiled and looked so friendly that the three boys got up and came half-shyly out into the open space.

THE LAW OF THE WOLF CUB PACK

The mysterious boy of the woods took them into his hut, and showed them how it was built. Then he let them put wood on his fire, and after that he gave them each an apple.

“You pinched those from old Crookedshank’s, I know!” said Bill.

Danny looked surprised. “No,” he said; “I bought them from Mr. Cruikshank.”

“You silly!” said David. “He’s as deaf as a post, and there’s a big hole in his fence just by the apple-tree. Fancy _buying_ apples!”

“Then _you_ would have _stolen_ them from a very poor and deaf old man? What a dirty trick! Besides, stealing is a sin, and no chap with a sense of honour would do it.” He looked very serious, and for the first time in their lives the boys felt really ashamed of themselves and had nothing to say.

But Danny had changed the subject. He showed them how to carve sticks. He told them all sorts of things about birds and squirrels and rats. But first of all he made them each a bow and some arrows, with pheasants’ and pigeons’ feathers, which they found in the woods, to make them go straight.

“I wish we could _always_ stay with you,” said Nipper suddenly, “and live out in the woods, and learn to talk to the birds, and shoot with our bows, and be always happy, with no more rows and jawings and punishments.”

“Yes!” said David and Bill together. “And could you make us Scouts? We’d win lots of badges.”

Danny laughed. “You’re too young to be Scouts,” he said, “but you might be Wolf Cubs. Who are you?”

“We live up at the Hall,” said David. “Mr. Ogden is our grandfather.”

“_Oho!_” said Danny. “So _you’re_ the little terrors I’ve heard so much about!”

The boys hung their heads.

“My word! _you’re_ not the sort of chaps they have in the Cubs!” he continued. “From all I hear, you seem to be regular little Bolsheviks! Do you know, Cubs have to do a good turn for somebody every day, but _you_ seem to do a _bad_ turn to somebody every day--and more than one, too.”

The boys were silent.

“Squat down,” said Danny, “and I’ll tell you a bit about Cubs. It’s not all play, you know. Chaps who join the Cubs have to behave decently, whether they’re in uniform or not. Once you’ve taken the Cub Promise, you’re a Cub all the time, day and night. The Cubs have two laws they’ve got to keep. One is obedience--they promise to obey the grown-ups. Could you do that?”

“We never _have_,” said Bill, digging his fingers into the moss, “but we could if we tried.”

“Then the second law says you mustn’t give in to yourself--that means, you mustn’t do all you feel like doing, whether it’s right or wrong. You mustn’t steal Mr. Cruikshank’s apples, and say rude things to people, and tell lies, and fight each other.”

“It would be very hard to keep all that,” said Nipper, “but it would be worth it--to be Cubs.”

“And I think perhaps we should be happier,” said David thoughtfully. “I’m tired of doing frightfulness against Miss Prince.”

Then Danny told them about the Promise--first, loyalty to God. But they had to admit they never thought about God at all, never said morning or night prayers, never went to church, never did anything in order to please God.

Danny looked very serious. “Poor little chaps!” he said suddenly. “But you’ll learn to do better now, and God will forgive you for being so selfish and ungrateful.”

He told them a lot more about Cubs, and their eyes shone with excitement.

“If we come down here after dinner, will you make us into Cubs?” said David.

Danny laughed. “A Cub isn’t made as quickly as all that,” he said. “You will have to show you’re worthy of taking the Cub Promise and can keep the Cub Law. Oughtn’t you to be at lessons this afternoon?”

“Yes,” said the boys.

“Well,” said Danny, “if you go back and tell Miss Prince you’re very sorry you ran away this morning and beg her pardon, and then _do your best_ at lessons this afternoon, you can ask her if you may come down here and have tea with me. Will you do that?”

It seemed to them very hard, but they said they would. And so the three boys went back to dinner with very new thoughts in their minds.

“I think,” said David, as they neared the house, “that we’ve been beasts all our lives, and somehow I didn’t see it till that Scout was talking.”

And so they went and found Miss Prince, and had it all out with her; and she forgave them freely, and they all shook hands and vowed friendship and loyalty for the future. At lessons they tried their very hardest and did quite well. Then they rushed down and had a glorious tea in the woods by Danny’s camp-fire.

“I’ll come home with you,” said Danny, when the evening began to close in.

“Hooray!” shouted the boys.

“Because you see,” said Danny, “I’m living at the Hall, too. Mr. Ogden has engaged me to be your companion and groom.” The boys went nearly mad with delight.

And as they walked home together, while the sun set in a glory of red and gold, and purple shadows crept out of the woods, they talked of how the boys would become Cubs--real, true, and faithful Cubs; and how they would get a few more and make a little Pack, and ask Miss Prince to be the Cubmaster.

That evening, when it had got dark and they were all squatting round the fire on the floor, Nipper suddenly said, “Are you Danny the Detective?”

“Yes,” laughed Danny. Then the Cubs fell on him, and smacked him on the back, and nearly tore him to pieces.

“Tell us your adventures,” said David. And so Danny began to tell them of his Cub days and the German spies.

And Miss Prince, looking at the happy group, said, in her heart, “Thank God!”

A Council was in progress; and once again it was in the old pigsty. But this time it was not a Council of War; frightfulness and rebellion were not the questions under discussion. No, it was a Wolf Cub Council, and Danny was seated upon the Council Rock--a huge boulder the boys had managed to drag into the pigsty with the help of one of the under-gardeners.