Tom Slade with the Colors

Slade with the Colors, by Percy
K. Fitzhugh

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Title: Tom Slade with the Colors
Author: Percy K. Fitzhugh
Illustrator: Thomas Clarity
Release Date: April 5, 2007 [EBook #20986]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SLADE WITH THE COLORS ***

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[Illustration: MISS ELLISON GREETED TOM WITH A
MYSTERIOUS SMILE. Frontispiece--Page 27]

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TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS
BY PERCY K. FITZHUGH
Author of TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE
CAMP TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER
Illustrated by THOMAS CLARITY
Published With the Approval of THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK
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Copyright, 1918, by GROSSET & DUNLAP
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Tom Makes a Promise 1 II. "Bull Head" and "Butter Fingers" 13 III.
Roscoe Bent 21 IV. The Cup of Joy 27 V. The Main Trail 40 VI. Tom
and the Gold Cross 49 VII. The Trail Runs Through a Pestilent Place
56 VIII. An Accident 60 IX. Roscoe Joins the Colors 66 X. Tom and
Roscoe Come to Know Each Other 70 XI. Tom Meets a Stranger 79
XII. Tom Hears of the Blond Beast 85 XIII. As Others Saw Him 93
XIV. Tom Gets a Job 101 XV. The Excited Passenger 109 XVI. Tom
Makes a Discovery 116 XVII. One of the Blond Beast's Weapons 124
XVIII. Sherlock Nobody Holmes 129 XIX. The Time of Day 137 XX.
A New Job 145 XXI. Into the Danger Zone 152 XXII. S O S 160 XXIII.
Roy Blakeley Keeps Still--For a Wonder 172 XXIV. A Soldier's Honor
181 XXV. The Face 190 XXVI. Roscoe Bent Breaks His Promise 199
XXVII. The End of the Trail 215

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TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS
CHAPTER I
TOM MAKES A PROMISE
Tom Slade hoisted up his trousers, tightened his belt, and lounged
against the railing outside the troop room, listening dutifully but rather
sullenly to his scoutmaster.
"All I want you to do, Tom," said Mr. Ellsworth, "is to have a little
patience--just a little patience."
"A little tiny one--about as big as Pee-wee," added Roy.
"A little bigger than that, I'm afraid," laughed Mr. Ellsworth, glancing
at Pee-wee, who was adjusting his belt axe preparatory to beginning his
perilous journey homeward through the wilds of Main Street.
"Just a little patience," repeated the scoutmaster, rapping Tom
pleasantly on the shoulder.
"Don't be like the day nursery," put in Roy. "All their trouble is caused
by having very little patients."
"Very bright," said Mr. Ellsworth.
"Eighteen candle power," retorted Roy. "I ought to have ground glass
to dim the glare, hey?"
The special scout meeting, called to make final preparations for the
momentous morrow, had just closed; the other scouts had gone off to
their several homes, and these three--Tom Slade, Roy Blakeley and
Walter Harris (alias Pee-wee)--were lingering on the sidewalk outside
the troop room for a few parting words with "our beloved scoutmaster,"

as Roy facetiously called Mr. Ellsworth.
As they talked, the light in the windows disappeared, for "Dinky," the
church sexton, was in a hurry to get around to Matty's stationery store
to complete his humdrum but patriotic duty of throwing up a wooden
railing to keep the throng in line in the morning.
"The screw driver is mightier than the sword, hey, Dink?" called the
irrepressible Roy, as Dinky hurried away into the darkness.
"All I wanted to say, Tom," said Mr. Ellsworth soberly, "is just this: let
me do your thinking for you--even your patriotic thinking--for the time
being. Do you get me? Don't run off and do anything foolish."
"Is it foolish to fight for your country?" asked Tom doggedly.
"It might be," retorted the scoutmaster, nothing daunted.
"I'm not going to stay here and see people drowned by submarines,"
muttered Tom.
"You won't see them drowned by submarines as long as you stay here,
Tomasso," said Roy mischievously. He loved to make game of Tom's
clumsy speech.
"You know what I mean," said Tom; "I ain't going to be a slacker for
anybody."
"You might as well say that President Wilson is a slacker because he
doesn't go off and enlist in some regiment," said Mr. Ellsworth; "or that
Papa Joffre is a coward because he doesn't waste his time with a rifle in
the trenches."
"Gee whiz, you can't say he's a coward," exclaimed Pee-wee, "because
I