Captain Sam: The Boy Scouts of 1814

est of the boys. Before he went to sleep, however, his brother Tom, a lad about twelve years of age, bu

quick with Jake Elliott, S

ant to have a fight with him and so I thought it best to take the fir

oned with him, as you ge

ldn't," r

t?" Tom

person who needs a master to say 'do' and 'do

t you, for stopping here instead

ive miles ahead, and if we'd gone on w

what of

ld have pilfered

Tom in some surprise at h

all of you within strict limits. I don't mean to have people say we're a set of thieves. Besides, Jake Elliott has meant to give trouble from the first, and I hav

cried Tom in alarm for his brother.

first place General Jackson need

what

it would be saying that I can't manage him, and that would be a sorr

l do you some

he can, but that is

sleep here by you,

y. "You must go over by the fire where

y,

ve no right to shirk any trial of skill that he may choose to make. Besides you're my brother, and it will make the

m-" beg

at he can put me in, haven't you?" asked Sam. "There's the root f

hall forget it soon; but I don't like to let my 'Big

t go to the boys and go to sle

n a pile, as he had done every night since the march began, partly because he knew that it is always better to sleep with the limbs as free as possible from pressure of any kind, and partly because h

cowardice, however, and men too for that matter, confounding it with timidity and nervousness, and imagining that the ability to face unknown danger boldly is courage. There could be no greater mistake than this, and it is worth while to correct it. The bravest man I ever knew was so timid that he shrunk from a shower bath and jumped like a girl if any one clapped hands suddenly behind him. Cowardice is a matter of character. Brave men are they who face danger coolly when it is their duty to do so, not because they do not fear danger but because they will not run away from a duty. Cowards often go into danger boastfully and without seeming to care a fig for it, merely because they are conscious of their own fault and afraid that somebody will find it out. Cowards are men or women or boys, who lack character, and a genuine coward is very sure to show his lack of moral character in other ways than by shunning danger. They lie, because they fear to tell the truth, which is a thing that requires a good deal of moral courage sometimes. They are apt to be revengeful, too, because they resent other people's superiority to themselves, and are not strong enough in manliness to be generous. They seek revenge for petty wrongs, real or imaginary, in sly, snea

soundly sleeping. His first impulse was to jump upon the sleeper and fight him with an unfair advantage, but

so great an advantage. He must injure

Sam's boots, and finding them at last, was just a

g in great drops on his forehead. Sam did not move again, however, but seemed stil

bank he stood by the river's e

m.' By the time he marches a day or two barefoot with that game foot

m. The sand-filled boots would make a good deal of noise in striking the water, and Sam on the bank above would be sure to hear. Jake was ready enough to injure Sam, but he was not by any means re

rtled him out of sleep, and he had silently observed that worthy's man?uvres through the bushes. Jake crept along the edge of the drift pile to its further end, intending to toss the boots into the river as soon as he should be sufficiently far from Sam for safety. As he went, however, his awakened caution grew upon him. He reflected that Sam would suspect him when he should miss his boots the next morning, and might see fit to call him to account for their absence. He intended, in that case, stoutly to deny all knowledge of the affair, but he could not tell in advance precisely how persistent Sam's suspicion might be, and it seemed to him better to leave himself a "hole to crawl through," as he phrased it, if the necessity should come. He resolved, therefore, that instead of throwing the boots away, he w

refore, that I have seen many such trees with roots exposed in the manner described, in the west and south, and my favorite playing place as a boy was under precisely such a tree. Of course no tree could stand the sudden removal of ten or fifteen feet o

EVEN IN

What he really did do, however, was to drive them through a net work of small roots, between two great ones, into the outer air, at the very spot from which he had taken them. When he qu

gs that were certainly useful to know, but things also which might be useful. When Jake entered the drift pile, Sam remembered that during his own stay there a year before, he had carefully examined the great log which formed the ar