We'll do it as soon as possible. If that doesn't take some
starch out of those tin soldiers nothing will."

Half an hour later the three cronies parted for the night. Sam
went to his home near the waterfront, for his father was a boat
builder, and Jack started to walk the three miles to his father's
farm in the moonlight. His way took him by the bank. As he
passed it he gazed up at the windows of the armory on which was
lettered in gilt: "Eagle Patrol of the Boy Scouts of America."

"That's a slick idea of Bill's," said the bully to himself, "I
can hardly wait till we get a chance to carry it out."




CHAPTER II

A CRUISE TO THE ISLAND


"Whatever are you doing, Rob?"

It was the morning after the consultation of Jack Curtiss and his
cronies, and Corporal Crawford was looking over the fence into
his leader's yard.

Rob was bending over a curious-looking apparatus, consisting of a
bent stick held in a bow-shape by a taut leather thong. The
appliance was twisted about an upright piece of wood sharpened at