work would consist of, and where they must draw the line. Certain duties they could proceed to carry out, but the regular officers would be used to make most arrests, especially where there was any danger involved.

“You understand,” he told them, “it is not intended that the boys operating with this movement are going to become spies, to find out what their neighbors may be doing, but we expect you to keep your eyes open to discover any glaring infraction of the laws, as mentioned in that poster, and your leader will thereupon report any such discovery at headquarters, from where it will be attended to.”

He then earnestly besought them to be on their dignity, and guard against any unnecessary show of being conceited, or too proud of their new positions.

“Go about your work without any display of authority. People will begin by sneering at you, but if you do your duty faithfully they will soon come to respect your badge. Never forget that the best people of the community are behind you in all you may attempt. Hugh, we look to you to be a safe guide for your followers, and the mayor told me to inform you that he expects every scout to do his part manfully. That’s about all I have to say to you to-day, though from time to time I expect to confer with your leader, and lay out new plans. I salute you all again as members in full standing of the Police Force of Oakvale.”

Hugh had his plans pretty well laid out, though everything could not be accomplished at once. He had selected certain members of the troop for duty at the dangerous crossings, beginning on the very next morning. In doing this, Hugh had used much discretion, for he expected that there would be more or less trouble, since drivers and chauffeurs had become so accustomed to having their own way that they would object strenuously to any interference.

It turned out, however, that Chief Wallis foresaw this very source of trouble, and had delegated several officers to stand near by in readiness to arrest the first driver who failed to pull up when a scout raised his white-gloved hand as an order for him to do so.

That was a pretty warm day in sections at police headquarters. Arrests came in quick succession, as though a regular scheme had been arranged to make the new order a laughing-stock. But the mayor had a magistrate ready, and those who were brought in charged with breaking the traffic rules, as well as in some cases resisting an officer had heavy fines imposed upon them, with the alternative of several days in the lockup if they refused to settle.

It was astonishing how quickly the news went around that the mayor actually meant to stand by the ladies and the scouts in the crusade. For the first time that evening in many moons, every questionable and shady resort about Oakvale was closed as tight as a drum, as Billy Worth explained it, after a walk about town.

“Why,” he told Hugh, with glistening eyes, “you can see the fellows who used to spend most of their time in those places standing on the street corners watching to see what next is going to happen. They look dazed and glum, I tell you; yes, and ugly, too, because their business is going to be all busted up. They’re telling each other that the way things are starting in it looks like more than just a joke.”

“‘A new broom sweeps clean!’” quoted Hugh. “I never doubted but what once the people of this town woke up it could be done, and in a hurry. The only question is how long will it last? A whole lot of persons will soon get tired of the novelty, and public sentiment may swing around to indifference again. That is what we have to fear more than anything else. Those bad men will just wait for things to take a change, and as scouts we’ve got to see to it that the enthusiasm never dies out.”

After an exciting day, Hugh felt pretty tired that Monday evening. He had received special reports from all the scouts who had been on duty. These covered a multitude of things from difficulties at the crossings when traffic was held up at such times as the smaller children were going to and from school, to infractions of the laws of cleanliness and health persisted in by certain citizens who ought to have known better.

Hugh carefully read every one of these reports, and they were numerous, for the boys had been extremely vigilant, as if to prove their right to be called Auxiliary Police. Hugh used his own discretion about keeping some of these reports. A few he smiled at, and made a mental note to warn the writer that it was not intended to enter into private property in order to spy around, but that the complaints must be of such things as offended the public eye or ear or nose; after which he tore these up.

The others he carefully filed with a good deal of satisfaction, to be later on submitted to Chief Wallis, after copies had been taken for the scout records. On the whole, Hugh believed the boys had made good that day, despite all the novelty of the thing, and the troubles they had met with. As time passed on and people came more and more to recognize them as a part of the regular system for carrying out the laws that were upon the books, much of this friction would die away, and the wheels of machinery could be expected to move more smoothly.

Hugh, feeling that he must not neglect his studies on account of this outside occupation, had just taken out his books, and was about to settle down to an hour or so of “grind,” when he heard the doorbell ring.

Then he caught a familiar voice asking if he were at home. It was Tom Sherwood, stationed that day at the most dangerous crossing in all Oakvale, and who Hugh understood, from all accounts, had acquitted himself splendidly.

The sound of Tom’s voice suddenly recalled to Hugh’s mind the fact that he had promised to help the other. It had been utterly impossible for Hugh to attempt anything along the lines he had suggested, concerning an interview with Benjy Sherwood, for his day had been crammed full of duties, great and small.

But when Tom burst into his room impetuously Hugh could see from his face that the other had more bad news to communicate.