imself at once, testing the harness and wheels and even patting
the thin old nag.

Then he climbed upon his seat and gathered up the reins. Hugh
picked up the fallen whip and handed it to him. The dark foreigner
smiled suddenly and, reaching over, put the whip into its socket.
Then, clucking to his horse, he moved slowly down the road.

"Well, what do you think of that?" cried Billy, puzzled at the
sudden capitulation.

"That?" returned Norton. "That is a bit of southern Europe---tempest
and sunshine, rage and child-like faith combined."

"Like a small boy, he needed to be managed," said Hugh, "and you
knew how to do it."

With a new respect for Roy Norton, the two scouts joined him again
on their inland hike. But they did not forget the incident, nor did
they fail to relate it that evening to the other three boys, whom
they found already established at camp around a blazing fire.

The next morning the returning parties exchanged routes for the
homeward trip, but nothing more exciting was encountered than
glimpses of orange groves, of pine barrens, of cypress swamps,
and of numberless birds.

But their "hiking muscles" had been well exercised and they felt
nearer to the heart of Florida because of their long tramp.

There were a number of letters waiting for the boys, some from their
home people and others from the scouts who were enjoying the
"Geological Survey" at Pioneer Camp. These the boys shared, eagerly
discussing the news and wondering what plans would be made for the
fall and winter.

Some of the things that actually did happen the following fall are
related in "The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron."

THE END

End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy Scouts on Picket Duty, by Robert Shaler

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