"Jolly hard lines, sir," exclaimed Jack Phillips, the Second of the "Otters." "Can't you write and explain that his ideas are wrong." "Hardly," replied the Scoutmaster, with a smile. "Sir Silas does not ask for my opinion. All the same it is up to us to show him that he is in error. All great organisations are misunderstood by some, especially during the initial stages. Time alone will wear down opposition, and in due course I sincerely hope that Sir Silas may have cause to change his opinions. Meanwhile, lads, we must not be downhearted. I must say you appear to take the bad news in a true Scout-like spirit. Perhaps, after all, we will have almost as jolly a camp at Southend, although I am sorry we are not going to sample the glorious Cornish climate. But now let's to work: its bridge building to-night, and there's quite a lot to be done in the time." Five minutes later the old gym., which the Rev. Septimus Kane had, as a token of appreciation, handed over to the sole use of the Scouts, was a scene of orderly bustle. For the time being the lads had put Seal Island from their minds. CHAPTER II DICK ATHERTON'S GOOD TURN ON the following Wednesday afternoon Leader Dick Atherton, of the "Otters," was invited to his chum Gregson's to tea. Gregson was a day boarder whose people lived at Brixton. He wished very much to join the Scouts, but his parents strongly objected. This was a source of keen disappointment both to Gregson and Atherton, for instinctively they realised that there was bound to be an ever-widening gap in their friendship. Dick Atherton was a good specimen of a British school-boy. He was sixteen years of age, fairly tall, and with long supple limbs and a frame that showed promise of filling out. At present he was, like a good many other lads of his age, growing rapidly. Plenty of outdoor exercise and an abundance of plain wholesome food had turned the scale, for instead of becoming a lank, over-studious youth he showed every promise of developing into a strong, muscular man. One of the first to avail themselves of Mr Trematon's offer to become Scouts, Dick Atherton was by the unanimous vote of the patrol appointed Leader of the "Otters." He took particular pains to prove himself worthy of the honour his comrades had paid him, with the result that he soon gained his Ambulance, Cycling, Pathfinder, Swimming and Signalling badges. Scoutmaster Trematon was strongly opposed to the idea of any lad hastily qualifying for badges merely for the sake of having the right sleeve decorated by a number of fanciful symbols; he preferred to find a Scout making himself thoroughly proficient, and keeping himself up to a state of efficiency in a comparatively few number of subjects, rather than a slipshod scramble for badges that could only be regarded in a similar light to the trophies of a "pothunter."