satisfied with the way things were going,” another hastened to say.

The young assistant scout master quickly joined them. He was besieged by numerous questions. Indeed, so thick and fast did these come that Hugh laughed and threw up his hands, as though to shield himself from a fall of hailstones.

“Hold up, fellows,” he told them; “what do you take me for? When you send them at me like that it makes me feel as the street urchin did who crawled into an empty sugar hogshead, and, seeing the riches around him, wished for a thousand tongues. Give me a fair chance and I’ll tell what little I’ve been able to pick up.”

Accordingly they quieted down, though still pressing around Hugh, and hanging on his every word. Confidence in their leader is one of the highest attributes of praise scouts can show; and the members of Oakvale Troop felt this to the limit in the boy who had been elected to serve them in that capacity. So often had Hugh Hardin proved his ability to fill his exalted position that no one ever dreamed nowadays of contesting the leadership with him.

“I managed to interview Zack Huffman,” explained Hugh, “who had been inside, but had to go home to his family because his wife is sick. He could stop only a minute or so to talk, but he told me the sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of carrying out the whole sweeping programme. The ladies have got in the saddle, so he said, and mean to ride at the head of the procession. You remember Zack is something of a scholar, and you ought to have heard him tell how they expect to beat the record of Hercules in cleaning the Augean stables.”

“Hurrah for Zack!” cried one enthusiastic scout, for the boys were by this time so roused up over matters that they felt in the mood to cheer anybody and anything that favored their cause.

“Every now and then,” continued Hugh, “I could hear applause from above there. I’ve got an idea Mrs. Beverly was talking. If she was, you can wager not a single member of the Council will dare vote against the mayor’s programme after it’s been announced. It’s going to be carried with a whirl.”

“If it is, we ought to burn a few barrels to celebrate to-night!” suggested Sam Winter, for such a programme always pleased him immensely.

“Hold on,” Hugh instantly told him. “We want none of that sort of thing to-night. For once let’s show that boys can be dignified. This is no Fourth of July affair. Some of the church people have even contemplated holding prayer meetings after the Council adjourns, if everything seems favorable, for their hearts are right in this uplift movement. It wouldn’t seem just the right thing for scouts to be seen running like wild Indians all over town, and shouting their lungs out. We’ll just go home in a quiet way, and get ready to commence business on Monday. Time enough for a jubilee when the ladies appoint a day for celebrating the victory. Just now we’ve got work, and plenty of it, ahead of us.”

“Hugh, you’re right!” asserted Arthur Cameron.

“Forget that I said it, Hugh!” begged the impulsive Sam, abashed by the argument advanced by the scout master, because his better sense told him that was the proper way of looking at it.

“Hey, there comes Chief Wallis out of the Council chamber!” called a voice, and immediately every fellow turned his eyes in that direction, anxious to decide for himself what the appearance of the head of the police force would indicate.

Chief Wallis walked straight toward them. His face was inscrutable, but as he reached the group of scouts, with Hugh at their head, he thrilled the boys by raising a hand in salute.

“Come in and see me on Monday, Hugh,” the Chief said, dramatically, “and we’ll fix it up about what sort of badge you and your fellow Assistant Police can wear. The women have carried the day, and Oakvale is going to be purged,” and as he strode on the boys broke into a series of stirring cheers.

CHAPTER V.
OAKVALE’S GREAT CLEAN-UP DAY.

According to the universal agreement, every pastor in Oakvale made some mention in his sermon on the following Sunday of the new movement that had been inaugurated by the better elements in the town. They urged every one of their flocks who wanted to see a cleaner Oakvale, morally and actually, to back up the committee.

It was the talk of the day wherever two or more persons came together, and there were places where the action of the town Council was either severely criticized or else condemned. No one need be told that as a rule these were the dens of vice that had been insulting the law and flaunting their brazen defiance in the teeth of the citizens.

Everybody seemed to be waiting with pent-up breath to see whether things would begin to move immediately Monday opened up.

By noon on Monday posters began to appear all over town, signed by the mayor, stating in concise, legal phrases how from that hour forward the law was going to be strictly enforced to the letter, and telling all about the plan to enlist the active co-operation of the Boy Scouts in helping to make a clean town.

After school that afternoon the fellows belonging to Oakvale Troop to the number of thirty marched to police headquarters. That three of the boys did not respond to roll call before marching through the streets, Hugh ascertained, was because in two instances they were sick at home with a mild attack of grippe, while the third boy was evidently kept away because he had an uncle who was believed to be the worst offender on the list, so that his folks were hardly in favor of appearing to go against their own flesh and blood.

But the boys, as they marched the full length of the main street, were cheered by shoppers and shopkeepers and clerks, as well as others who crowded to the doors and windows. For it was well known what part Hugh and his fellow scouts were going to take in the redemption of Oakvale. Their previous success in ridding the town of cluttering rubbish gave people confidence in their ability to do even greater things.

The Chief had his men lined up in front of the headquarters. He believed in doing things according to rule, and meant to receive the scouts as fellow workers in the good cause.

To hear the speech Chief Wallis made the new Assistant Police any one would have believed his heart had always been in the laudable enterprise of trying to clean up the dives, and protect the dangerous crossings. Perhaps it had, but the Chief being a politician dared not show his hand so long as he felt that public sentiment was against any change of policy. He knew better now. He had heard the ringing words that fell from Mrs. Beverly’s lips, which speech, according to all accounts, eclipsed any oration ever delivered in the town hall; the Chief was fully enlisted in the cause.

“We will have official badges made without delay for each and every member of the Assistant Police,” he told the listening boys, who interrupted his speech with frequent cheers. “In the meanwhile, as the posters issued by His Honor the Mayor state, your regular scout emblem will be badge enough, and must be respected everywhere within the limits of this town. Possibly some people will at first be inclined to treat your show of authority as a joke, and laugh at any orders you may issue. After a few of them have been arrested by my regular officers, and either fined or placed in jail for some days, they will have their eyes opened.”

Then the Chief went on to explain just what their line of