n, when competing with the other troops of the
county.

Then came Bluff with his busy drum, and Bobolink holding his bugle ready
to give the signal for the start.

After that the scouts came, two and two, each in his appointed place,
and the leaders of the second and third patrols heading their commands.

Paul was of course compelled to act in the place of Mr. Gordon, so that
temporarily Jack served in Paul's stead with the Red Fox Patrol.

Amid great cheering and waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the troop
finally put their best foot forward as one man, and headed away up the
road that would, after many miles of weary marching, take them to their
distant goal.

At the rear came the wagon, upon which were piled the tents, blankets,
and provisions for the two weeks' stay in camp. When the worried parents
of the boys saw the large amount of eatables they began to lose their
fears about hunger attacking the little troop. But then, a score of
healthy lads can make way with an astonishing amount of food in that
time; yet Paul had also counted on securing a supply from some
neighboring farmers to help out the regular rations.

To the inspiring music of drum and bugle they marched away from
Stanhope. A bend in the road hid their homes from view, and only the
steeple of the church could be seen.

Perhaps more than one boy felt a queer sensation in his throat as he
realized now what it meant to leave home, tramp out into the wilderness.
But if this were so they made no sign. The wistful look several cast
behind changed into one of manly determination, as they kept pace with
their comrades, and faced the future with new hopes.

Paul soon moderated the pace. He was wise enough to know that at this
rate some of the boys would early complain of being tired or footsore,
since they were hardly yet in condition to "do stunts" in the way of
travel.

Two miles out of town they came to a cold spring up among the rocks at
which many wishful eyes were turned, so the acting scoutmaster gave the
order to halt, and break ranks.

"We'll stop here for half an hour, and get refreshed," he said, as they
clustered around him; "because, now that we've left our base of supplies
and cut loose from all our homes we must go carefully. The chain is only
as strong as the weakest link, you know, fellows. And several of our
number are not used to long tramps."

After drinking their fill of the cool and refreshing water the scouts
lounged aroun