By degrees there had come other patrols, known as the Hawks, the Otters, the Fox, and the Owls, and the members of all of these were now in camp on the Hurricane River. The first mentioned patrol had for leader Walter Osborne; Alec Sands had charge of the lively Otters; while Don Miller was looked up to as the head of the Fox adjunct.

A retired army officer had taken charge of the troop, and devoted much of his time to building up the organization, having the development of boy character as his impetus. On this particular occasion, as we have learned from the conversation between Hugh and Billy, Lieutenant Denmead had been called away, which he had undoubtedly regretted very much, just after their camp was started.

Bud Morgan and Alec Sands were even then splashing through the shallow water close to the shore, and evidently trying to make their way below the spot where the boy was struggling with the current.

For the full particulars of these happenings, the reader will have to be referred to those books, every one of which will be found teeming with adventure, useful information, accounts of scout activities, and all such things as boys with red blood in their veins love to read about.

Some of them had seen service with the genuine army signal corps; on another occasion they had been enabled to work in conjunction with the maneuvers of the State Militia on their annual training trip, when a mock battle was fought in which the scouts took a prominent part.