[Gutenberg 18952] • Boy Scouts on a Long Hike; Or, To the Rescue in the Black Water Swamps

Big Rock Publishing presents the Centennial Edition of The Boy Scout Series, originally published in 1913, and written by Maj. Archibald Lee Fletcher. This edition features a foreword written by P. Todd Kelly, noted Scouting historian and Ronald J. Stacey, Editor. In the foreword, Kelly and Stacey point out some similarities and quite a few differences between America in 1913 and talk about the general state of affairs in the nation and the world at large. Readers also will learn a great deal about how Scouting differed in its early days from the movement it became over the past one hundred years.

The foreword itself provides a history lesson in its own right, but when paired with the beautiful prose of Fletcher (whom the reader will learn was really a pseudonym for St. George Rathborne) and the depth of characterizations presented, this work becomes a telling snapshot of life in the early part of the 20th century.

Boy Scouts on a Long Hike is the fourth title in this series, and brings back as protagonists the boys of the Beaver Patrol of Beverly, Indiana, a small Midwestern town. In this adventure, the scouts have entered a contest, sponsored by a local attorney. The challenge is to hike "a distance of just an even hundred miles, between sunrise of four days." By now, readers familiar with the exploits of the Beaver Patrol can surmise that the hike alone would pose no problem - but the adventures the boys meet along the trail might prove too much. The boys, who live shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, have formed their own fledgling Boy Scout – the first in their town.

Their arch-enemies, the gang of tough boys from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’, also are out to distract the patrol, as well as a jealous milk cow, and a burglar or two.

In this title, look for some of Fletcher’s most eloquent prose, “But no matter what each scout many have secretly thought when he sat down to a white tablecloth, with silver, and china, and polished glass around him, he stoutly avowed that nothing could equal the delight of a camp-fire, tin cups and platters, and simple camp fare, flanked by an appetite that was keener than anything ever known at home”