XXIII. CONCLUSION




THE BOY SCOUTS PATROL



CHAPTER I

A MONKEY TRICK


"I think--" began a tall, slenderly-built lad of sixteen, speaking
in a somewhat indolent way; then suddenly he paused to look down
through the trees to where the river gleamed below.

"What's on your mind now, Rand?" his companion queried, a boy of
about the same age, nearly as tall, but more stoutly built, and as
light in complexion as the other was dark. The two were standing at
the top of the road that wound down the side of the mountain from
the town of Creston, which was perched, like the nest of some great
bird, in a hollow of the Palisades.

"I think--" repeated the first speaker, pausing again.

"That's right, Randolph," approved his companion briskly, "always
think twice before you speak once."