THE TWO WOLF PATROL BOYS

“I want to own up that I’m pretty nearly all in and done for!”

“Same here, Bud.  The going was tough over that frozen side of old Stormberg mountain.  Then we are carrying such loads into the bargain.”

“For one, I’m glad we are nearly there, Hugh.”

“Yes, another steady pull and we ought to strike the shanty.  We aimed to get to it by nightfall, you remember, Bud.”

“Yes, and after eating such a big Thanksgiving dinner, we’ve been pretty spry to accomplish all we have.  Why, I haven’t had a pull anything like this since we broke camp last summer up at Pioneer Lake!”

“And we never could have done it only for the lift we got from Farmer Badgely, going home from market.  That put us some miles on the way.  If you’ve rested enough, Bud, perhaps we would better be on the move again.  The sun is getting close to the diving line, you notice.”

“Here goes, then!”

With these words Bud Morgan, first-class scout and one of the leading boys in the Wolf Patrol, inserted his arms in the loops of the pack he was handling, and managed to heave it on to his sturdy back.

His companion did likewise, for each of them was “toting” much more than the customary amount of luggage that a scout on the hike would carry with him.

This comrade was an agile chap, about the same weight as Bud, but with a wide-awake expression on his face that let everybody know in the start that he was one of those born leaders who forge to the front through circumstances often beyond their control.

Hugh Hardin was not only leader of the Wolf Patrol.  Sometimes he had been deputized to act in place of the regular scout master of the troop, when Lieutenant Denmead and Assistant Rawson chanced to be called away and could not serve.  So well had Hugh carried out his task on such occasions, it was generally accepted as a foregone conclusion that in case the latter officer resigned, as he had lately given hints of doing, Hugh would be elected in his stead.  There might be a few boys in the troop, now consisting of four patrols, who would prefer to see Alec Sands, leader of the Otters, placed in that elevated position, but his popularity was confined to his particular chums, while that of Hugh embraced members of every patrol.

On this day, Hugh and Bud had started from home immediately after partaking of a glorious Thanksgiving feast.  As all preparations had been made for this trip up into the wilderness many miles above the home town, it was evident that they had a particular object in view; which, in fact, was the case.

Bud Morgan was rather given to conjuring up new and sometimes startling inventions.  These he usually tried upon some of his mates and not always in a fashion to add to their peace of mind, either.  On more than one occasion in the past they had been suddenly confronted by some innovation that for the moment rather demoralized the valiant wearers of the scout khaki.