"A patrol!" repeated Donald. "For what? Ain't there enough police?"

"This isn't a police patrol," laughed Jack, "this is a patrol in
the Boy Scouts. It's a company of from six to eight boys. Two or
more patrols form a troop under a scoutmaster who teaches them a
lot of things."

"What kind of things?" asked Pepper.

"All kinds of things about woodcraft and how to hunt and fish and
follow trails and camp out and--and--all the rest of it."

"That's a pretty comprehensive programme," said Rand. "We were
talking about that very thing this morning."

"Gee!" cried Pepper. "T-t-that would be fine. Let's do it--"

"There's quite a lot of things we have to do first," went on Jack.
"Maybe Rand can tell you more about that part than I can."

"For the first thing," said Rand, "we have to get at least six boys
to start with."

"That's two more than us," interjected Pepper; "that's easy."

"And form a tenderfoot patrol," went on Rand.

"Why tenderfoot?" put in Donald.

"Because we are all tenderfeet until we learn to be scouts," continued