Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 61118-h.htm or 61118-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61118/61118-h/61118-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61118/61118-h.zip) WESTY MARTIN [Illustration: HE MANAGED TO GET HOLD OF A BRANCH OF A SCRUB OAK.] WESTY MARTIN by PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH Author of the Tom Slade Books the Roy Blakeley Books the Pee-Wee Harris Books Illustrated Published with the Approval of The Boy Scouts of America Grosset & Dunlap Publishers :: New York Made in the United States of America Copyright, 1924, by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE ROTARY CLUB OF AMERICA WHOSE MEMBERS HAVE SHOWN THEIR VITAL INTEREST IN THE FUTURE CITIZENSHIP OF OUR COUNTRY BY THEIR SPLENDID WORK AMONG THE BOYS OE AMERICA CONTENTS I A Shot II A Promise III The Parting IV The Sufferer V A Plain Duty VI First Aid—Last Aid VII Little Drops of Water VIII Barrett’s IX On the Trail X Luke Meadows XI Westy Martin, Scout XII Guilty XIII The Penalty XIV For Better or Worse XV Return of the Prodigal XVI Aunt Mira and Ira XVII The Homecoming XVIII A Ray of Sunshine XIX Pee-Wee on the Job XX Some Noise XXI One Good Turn XXII Warde and Westy XXIII Ira Goes A-Hunting XXIV Clews XXV A Bargain XXVI The Marked Article XXVII Enter the Contemptible Scoundrel XXVIII Proofs XXIX The Rally XXX Open to the Public XXXI Shootin’ Up the Meetin’ XXXII The Boy Edwin Carlisle XXXIII Mrs. Temple’s Lucky Number XXXIV Westward Ho XXXV The Stranger XXXVI An Important Paper XXXVII Parlor Scouts XXXVIII Something “Real” WESTY MARTIN CHAPTER I A SHOT A quick, sharp report rent the air. Followed several seconds of deathlike silence. Then the lesser sound of a twig falling in the still forest. Again silence. A silence, tense, portentous. Then the sound of foliage being disturbed and of some one running.