"oh," returned pepper, "that's easy. first class in scout lore, stand up!"

"is it?" asked rand, "then tell us the composition of the american flag."

"red, white and blue," said pepper confidently.

"good--as far as it goes," returned rand, "but that applies just as well to the french tricolor. what do you say, jack?"

"stars and stripes," replied jack.

"good," said rand, "but not good enough. what do you say, gerald?"

"forty-six stars representing the forty-six states of the union, in a blue field in the upper right-hand corner," replied gerald, "with thirteen alternate stripes of red and white, representing the thirteen original states."

"correct," commended rand. "now, how many red and how many white stripes?"

"blessed if i know," admitted pepper.

"i thought you said it was easy," said rand. "there are seven red and six white, beginning and ending with red."

"gee!" cried pepper, "there's a lot more to it than i thought, but i guess we have got it now, all right."

"now about the knots," went on rand, whereupon they fell to tying the different knots until they had mastered them all before it was time to go home.

"well, young gentlemen," began the colonel, a few days later, when the six boys met at his house in the woods to be sworn in as tenderfeet, "i suppose you know the requirements and that you are ail ready?"

"all ready!" responded pepper.

"know the scout law and are willing to obey it."

"yes, sir."

"the composition of the american flag."

"i think we do," responded pepper, repeating what he had learned the other night.

"and know how to fly it?"

"union up," replied jack.

"what does it mean with the union down?"

"signal of distress."

"very good," commended the colonel, "and now about the knots?" producing some pieces of rope. "can you tie them?"

"like an old salt," replied pepper.

the boys set to work on the knots and in a few minutes had them all tied, to the colonel's satisfaction, whereupon he proceeded to administer the scout's oath.

"raise your right hands, with the thumb resting on the nail of the little finger, the other three fingers pointing upward. this represents the three promises of the oath. now, repeat after me: on my honor i promise that i will do my best:

"1. to do my duty to god and my country.

"2. to help other people at all times.

"3. to obey the scout law.

"you all promise this--"

"we do," responded the boys.

"then," concluded the colonel, "you are now members of the boy scouts, and i know you will be an honor to it."

"we will do our best," responded rand.

"and now," continued the colonel, "in celebration of the organization of--by the way, you haven't chosen a name yet, have you? what kind of a name do you want?"

"oh, i s-s-say," stammered pepper.

"sing it, pepper," suggested donald.

"l-let's have an indian name."

"want to indulge your savage instincts and live in a wigwam?" asked rand.

"it's a tepee, not a wigwam," corrected pepper. "but we can go hunting and have a good time in the woods."

"all right, pepper," agreed gerald, "an indian name is good enough for me."

"have you any name in mind?" asked the colonel.

"the oneidas used to roam about here, didn't they?" asked jack.

"no," replied the colonel, "they were farther north."

"what indians were in this section?" asked rand.

"the haverstraws held all the land about here," replied the colonel.

"we want something more original than that," said jack.

"something aboriginal," put in gerald.

"i guess that's it," laughed jack. "how about mohicans?"

"i have it!" cried pepper. "what's the matter with uncas?"

"who were they?" asked dick.

"it wasn't they," replied pepper, "it was him. don't you remember he was the last of the mohicans."

"that's a very good name," commended the colonel.

"then uncas it is," agreed the boys.

"now that you have agreed upon a name," continued the colonel, "what do you say to having a real scout dinner in the woods?"

"that s-strikes me favorably," exclaimed pepper.

"then if you will make a fire i will go on a hunting expedition and see what game i can secure," said the colonel. "better get to work, boys, for i won't be long. you will find some meal and salt in the shack, rand, to make some bread."

"all right," responded the boys, "we will have everything ready when you get back."

the boys fell to work at once, jack and don gathering the wood for the fire, while rand and pepper mixed the dough for the bread, dick and gerald agreeing to do the cleaning up afterwards. by the time the colonel came back the fire was blazing and the bread baking on some stones, which were set up in front of the fire.

"how did you make out?" asked pepper of the colonel when he returned.

"pretty well," replied the colonel; "i got a saddle of venison and a couple of prairie chickens."

"really?" asked pepper, his eyes snapping.

"well, we'll call them that," replied the colonel.

under the colonel's direction the chickens and the saddle of mutton were suspended over the fire and kept slowly turning until they were thoroughly roasted.

"done to a turn," as gerald expressed it.

"better put out a sentinel, hadn't you?" suggested the colonel when they had all gathered about the fire to watch the cooking of the dinner.

"a sentinel!" exclaimed rand. "what for?"

"well, we don't want our dinner carried off before our eyes," replied the colonel. "are you sure that your agile enemy isn't watching us from somewhere and just waiting for it to be done to his taste before making a raid on us?"

"monkey rae!" cried pepper, starting up. "you haven't seen anything of him, have you?"

"no," replied the colonel; "but, still it's well to be on the lookout for him. he's rather a tricky sort of a chap, i believe."

"he certainly is," admitted rand, "but it's mostly fun with him; but sam tompkins, he's quite a different sort."

"what is the matter with him?" asked the colonel.

"i don't know," drawled rand, "except he was just born that way. i think he is bad just from love of it."

"isn't that rather a sweeping condemnation, randolph?" asked the colonel.

"oh, he's the worst of the bunch," put in pepper decidedly.

"that's all true," added jack. "there hasn't been any mischief perpetrated in town for the last four or five years that he hasn't been at the bottom of it."

"he puts the other boys up to do all kinds of things and keeps in the dark himself," continued pepper.

"he would have been put away long ago," went on jack, "if it wasn't for his father's political pull."

"where did you learn all these things, jack?" asked the colonel.

"oh, we find out a good many things in the newspaper business, you know."

"so it seems," admitted the colonel. "what has master tompkins been doing lately?"

"that's hard to tell," replied jack laughingly, "he does so many things. i hear he is going to get up an opposition patrol."

"who would he get to join it?" asked gerald, scornfully.

"oh, he can find plenty to do that," replied jack. "you know he always has plenty of money to spend."

"there's monkey rae and looney burns," said pepper, "they would be in it."

"and kid murphy," added dick.

"i wonder--" began jack, and stopped, seemingly lost in thought.

"what is it now, jack?" asked rand, "trying to put two and two together?"

"i was," replied jack, "but it don't seem to come out four."

"what is it this time, addition or multiplication?" asked donald.

"must be division, i think," laughed jack. "i was wondering if sam had anything to do with the robbery of judge taylor's office."

"of course not," asserted pepper. "what would he want to do that for?"

"i don't know," answered jack, "or what any one else would, for that matter. but it would be just like him."

"i don't think he was guilty of that," remarked the colonel, "that was the work of men."

"but there was a boy in it," asserted jack.

"it wouldn't be sam," declared pepper. "he might put others up to it, but you wouldn't find him climbing in any windows!"

"see anything of monkey lately?" interjected rand.

"not since the day he stole the fish," returned pepper.

"haven't seen him in three or four days," said dick. "it's queer, too, for he used to come in the shop almost every day. nor sam either; they must be camping out somewhere."

"hope it isn't around here!" cried pepper. "say, fellows, we had better take a scout through the woods and make sure."

"come along, then," said rand, "and we will rout him out if he is anywhere about."

starting out under the leadership of rand the boys explored the woods in every direction for some distance from the camp without seeing any signs of any one being in the neighborhood.

"going back to the flag," said the colonel, when the boys had returned, "while we are waiting for the dinner to be done, can any of you tell the history of the flag? of its origin and how it came into being?"

"the first american flag was made in philadelphia by betsy ross, in 1775, was it not?"

"according to tradition," replied the colonel, "but history doesn't bear it out. the earliest flag to be used by the colonies was the liberty flag, which was presented to the council of safety of charleston, by colonel moultrie, in september, 1775."

"what was it like?" asked rand.

"it was adapted from the boston liberty tree, and was a blue flag with crescent in the dexter corner and the word 'liberty' running lengthwise."

"there were other flags, too, weren't there?" asked jack.

"yes, there was the rattlesnake flag."

"the rattlesnake flag!" cried pepper. "what was that like?"

"the rattlesnake flag was of the same date, 1775. it was a yellow flag with the representation of a rattlesnake coiled, ready to strike, in green, and the motto below it: 'don't tread on me.'"

"gee!" said pepper, "it must have been a beauty."

"were there any more?" asked gerald.

"there was the pine tree flag, with the motto 'an appeal to heaven.' this motto was adopted april, 1776, by the provincial congress of massachusetts as the one to be borne as the flag of the cruisers of that colony. the first armed vessel commissioned under washington sailed under this flag. it is thought that this flag was used at the battle of bunker hill."

"i didn't know," said rand, "that the american flag had such a history. can you tell us when the first union flag was made?"

"the first union flag was raised by washington at cambridge, january 2, 1776. this flag represented the union of the colonies--not then an established nation--and while this flag, by its stripes, represented the thirteen colonies, the canton was the king's colors."

"then, when did the stars and stripes become the national flag?" asked jack.

"on the 14th of june, 1777, congress adopted the resolution that the flag of the thirteen united states be thirteen stripes alternating red and white, and that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. but i think the dinner must be ready by this time, and i have no doubt you are. you know the scout motto is, 'be prepared.'"

"we will do our best," responded pepper.

"well," said the colonel when, a little later, the dinner had been eaten to the last scrap, "how do you like scout fare?"

"it's ail right," conceded pepper, "as far as it goes," looking longingly about him.

"you think there wasn't enough of it," laughed the colonel. "you have a real scout appetite."

"to change the subject, what about uniforms?" inquired jack.

"we will have to have them, i suppose," replied gerald.

"sure," returned pepper; "that's all right, they won't cost much."

"i have an idea," broke in rand.

"clutch it, randolph, ere it flies!" cried pepper; "what is it?"

"i think," went on rand, "that it would be a good idea if we, each one of us, earned the money ourselves to buy our uniforms."

"'tis no a bad idea," assented donald.

"i think it is a very good one," commended the colonel. "you have caught the spirit of the organization."

"how shall we do it?" asked jack.

"any way you like," replied rand. "we will have to work it out, each one for himself."

"all right," responded pepper, "i am going to get busy right away."

"right now, pepper?" asked dick.

"now, that don't remind you of anything," warned pepper. "not just this minute, but as soon as i get back to town."

"what's your scheme, pepper?" asked donald.

"can't give it away," replied pepper, "or you would all want to do it."

"i think," broke in the colonel, "it is time we were starting back. if you like, we will have a game on the way."

"a game?" asked jack.

"yes; a chase."

"hare and hounds?" asked pepper.

"in a way," replied the colonel. "gerald, you and pepper will be the hares and the rest of us the hounds."

"do you mean to scatter papers?" asked rand.

"hardly," replied the colonel. "nothing as plain as that. remember, we are scouts, and we are going to try and follow the trail they leave. now, then, hares, off with you. go any way you choose, and in ten minutes we will take up the trail and see if we can follow it."

with a whoop gerald and pepper were off, racing down the road.

"now, boys," went on the colonel, when the hares had gone, "study their foot-prints so that you will know them again."

"they all look alike to me," replied rand.

"study them a little," suggested the colonel; "isn't there any difference between them?"

"i think," began jack hesitatingly, "that one is broader than the other."

"that's one thing; anything else?"

"this one shows the whole of the sole," said donald.

"and this one only part," added rand.

"this one is pressed in deeper on one side than the other," put in jack.

"you are getting the idea," said the colonel. "think you would know them again?"

"i think i would," responded jack.

"then follow them."

starting off, the boys followed the trail, each one alert to notice any little peculiarity in the foot-prints that would enable them to recognize it again. the trail was readily followed along the road until it turned off into the woods, when they lost it.

"keep on," directed the colonel, "perhaps you can pick it up again."

scattering through the woods the boys diligently sought for the foot-prints, but were unable to discover them.

"we have lost them," announced rand, after they had searched for some time. "can you help us to find it?"

"it is a little difficult," the colonel answered, "but there is a trace here and there," pointing out slight indentations on the ground. "it is quite hard here and they didn't leave much impression."

"here it is again!" cried rand a little later, when they came to a spot of soft earth. "here is pepper's track. i think i would know it anywhere now."

"good!" commended the colonel; "you are learning fast. you will be able soon to follow any trail."

going under the colonel's guidance the boys followed the trail through the woods until it came out again on the road, where gerald and pepper were waiting for them.

"not at all bad for a first attempt," said the colonel. "we will try it again some day soon."

which happened sooner and in a more unexpected way than any of them anticipated.