Part 13 (1/2)

One fact, and only one, did comfort them Blythe wore no double-breasted vest; he wore no vest at all But in the doard path of traainst this little glearay suit And that suit was very old and shabby; as old as the notice with the picture, surely For the rest, the printed description seemed all too accurate

It was a preoccupied and downcast trio that h the old reservation to the scene of their recent toil and pleasure How fa in pleasantadventure! Their coh for the day Doc Carson and Connie Bennett were shi+nnying down one of the corner uprights of a bare fra soet the ca chips and small bits of waste lu and looked up sht,” he said

”You said it,” called Roy

”A welcome home fire, hey?” said Blythe Roy felt almost sick

”You're just in ti to send a tracer after you What news?”

”We'll tell you later,” said Warde

As he spoke, the ”boss” walked toward Blythe's Bunk, as the scouts had nas near the fireplace Warde tried to determine whether he did actually walk a little sideways But he could not be sure It is so easy to i for it

There were no secrets within the First Bridgeboro Troop and what the three scouts had seen was soon known to all the others It co of Miss Bates and the disappoint the name and address of the unknown soldier They did not talk freely about these things, chiefly because of their appalling discovery, and partly also because there was a certain constraint around the caht

The talk and banter which before had been so free and merry could not be kept up; they could not do it, try as they would The conversation was not spontaneous, and the few pitiful atte were forced

Even Roy seemed to have lost his corklike buoyancy And for Pee-wee, he could only sit gazing across the fire at Blythe with a kind of fearful fascination Different, but equally intent, was the alaze of Warde Hollister Roy noticed this; others noticed it

Perhaps the only one as quite at ease was the ”boss” himself ”I'll tell you what Doctor Cawson did to-day,” he said

Edwin (Doc) Carson was in the Raven Patrol and was called Doc because he was the troop's official first aid scout He was the son of a physician, which fact had doubtless helped to raise hi It was one of Blythe's ot the names of the scouts confused in his mind Almost the only name which he consistently pronounced correctly was Will Dawson And he pronounced Carson the saht that Doc was a young physician it would be hard to say His simple admiration of the scouts aave them credit for professional excellence in the case of all their honors To hies meant that they were aviators, astronomers, chemists, and what not And he always spoke of Doc Carson as ”doctor”

”What?” asked Roy, half-heartedly

”I found a robin under the flooring of the last shack,” said Blythe in his usual si open I closed it up and carried hi a bird I held hi wasn't broken, only strained

He stood him on a branch and in a little while he fleay”

”Why didn't you kill hihed ”I guess you don't hto,” said Hunt Ward of the Elks

Followed then an interval of silence, broken only by theblaze

Everyone seemed to experience a little relaxation of the constraint For a minute it seemed as if the spirits of the coaze was fixed directly on Blythe, who see them He at least showed no constraint

”I dare say that robin will be in Canada by o as far north as Montreal before they turn south Hey, Roy?”

”Soo to--Montreal,” said Warde ”Ever been there Blythey?”