When, on the following night, a regular meeting of the troop was held, every fellow made sure to be in attendance; for it had been announced that the several contestants in the great hike, as well as the five who had gone forth on bicycles and motorcycles, intended giving a detailed report of what adventures had happened on the way; and it was expected that there would be some stories worth listening to. The indignation of the boys was intense when they heard how those Fairfield four had tried to block Lil Artha's game and, by forcing him to ride, render his claim to be a contestant under the rules null and void. "But listen, fellows," said Elmer, who presided in place of the scout master, called out of town on sudden business; "don't be too quick to blame the Boy Scouts of Fairfield for that rascally piece of business. Matt Tubbs called me up on the phone this afternoon and wanted me to express the indignation of himself and his comrades over the matter. He declared that they had not the faintest indication of the affair; and that it was engineered entirely by some 'outcasts,' who, having declined to subscribe to the twelve cardinal principles of the new movement, were doing everything in their power to wreck the troop over there." "Well, they won't succeed, that's all," declared Lil Artha, confidently; "because my father says he knows that the best people of both Fairfield and Cramertown are just daft over the change that has taken place among the boys there ever since the scouts were organized, and that they mean to stand back of the movement through thick and thin. They say the organization of the scouts was the finest thing that ever happened to Fairfield." "And, fellows," continued Elmer, "I think that on the strength of this, not to speak of Felix saying he would have refused to accept a tainted title if he had won after Lil Artha was kidnaped, we ought to give our fellow scouts over there a cheer. Yes, and send them a letter congratulating them on the new spirit of fairness that has sprung up among them." It was put in the form of a motion, and carried unanimously. So three cheers and a tiger were given with a will; and later on the letter was written, which Elmer himself promised to deliver to Matt Tubbs, the loan of that fine motorcycle still holding good. And this, then, was the way the great hike went through. Lil Artha, of course, was the pride of the troop for his fine work; but the other fellows who had done the best they knew how were not forgotten in the chronicles of the event, as written in the log book of the secretary. The only serious accident of the affair was the sprain which Henry Cobb had been unfortunate enough to receive, and which was likely to make him limp for many weeks. But it had afforded a tremendous amount of fun, and at the same time proved that the fact of a boy belonging to the scouts need not detract in the least from his manly qualities.