Part 10 (1/2)

”And just to think,” said Bob, as the three sat on the home steps talking over their exciting trip on old No. 777, ”just to think of how many boys and girls are killed on the railroad tracks every day!”

”Every day,” echoed the little Safety Scout, ”and all over the world. Go into any village graveyard along any railroad, and you'll find the grave of some boy or girl who has been killed trespa.s.sing on the railroad tracks. No way to save them, I'm afraid, till folks wake up to the fact that it's not so much the tramps who are being killed this way--it's the children!”

”It's just awful,” said Betty, puckering up her brow in a thoughtful scowl. ”I think we ought to do something about it.”

”What, for instance?” Sure Pop was watching her sharply.

”Well, something to put a stop to it. Surely we could find _some_ way of teaching the boys and girls how to play safely; and then when they grew up they'd be in the habit of _thinking_ Safety. Then they'd teach _their_ boys and girls--and all this awful killing and crippling, or most of it, would be ended.”

”The trouble is,” said Bob, ”in going at the thing in too much of a hit-or-miss style. We could do some good by talking to the few boys and girls we could reach, but not enough. Why can't we organize?”

Sure Pop's eager face lighted up, overjoyed at the turn Bob's thoughts were taking. ”You can,” he said quietly.

”Why, sure!” went on Bob, getting more and more excited as the idea took hold. ”Let's get busy and organize an army of Safety Scouts right here.

We've already got the biggest thing in the Safety Scout Law at work--don't you see?--our 'One Boost for Safety' every day. We can get some more Safety Scout b.u.t.tons made, and as fast as a boy earns his--”

”--Or a girl earns hers!”--interrupted Betty, so seriously that Bob couldn't help smiling.

”Yes, of course--girls too--why, as fast as boys and girls earn the right to wear Safety Scout b.u.t.tons, we can form them into patrols. It wouldn't be long before we could have several troops hard at it. I tell you, Sure Pop, if we go at it that way we can do big things for Safety just as sure as you're a foot high!”

Sure Pop gave Betty a droll little wink. ”It's a go, then,” he said cheerfully. ”Well, where are you going to begin?”

Bob looked up at him with a sudden idea s.h.i.+ning in his eyes. ”Why not begin by organizing in patrols and then in troops, just about like the Boy Scouts? First, we can get a few of our friends interested, and let each one of them get eleven others interested--that will make a patrol of twelve, commanded by the one who got them together.”

”Spoken like a Scout and a gentleman!” cried the little Colonel, giving him a sounding thump on the shoulder. ”Go on, Bob--what next?”

”Well, just as fast as we get four new patrols, we can form them into a troop, with a Scout Master for their leader.”

”Good,” said Sure Pop. ”It will take some lively work to pick your Scout Masters and get them trained in time, but the difference in their efficiency will be worth your while.”

”I suppose,” said Betty, ”we'll have to choose only boys and girls who have good records for Safety?”

Bob looked doubtful. ”What do you think about that, Sure Pop?”

”I think it would be a mistake, Bob. You'll find too few who have even learned to think Safety. A better plan will be to take in those who seem most in earnest over the idea, especially those who have been taught a hard lesson through accidents which care would have avoided.”

”Go on, please. Tell us more--how would you work out the details?”

”Bob, I would--but I believe I've told you enough. You and Betty go ahead in your own way and work out the details yourselves. Let me see you get your Safety Scouts together, if you really do mean business, and I'll show you about the work that's already been done among the factory hands and mill-workers of America.

”Let me tell you this much, though: you'll find, when you get your Safety Scouts of America organized, that the good work will go ahead by leaps and bounds. All this talk about 'efficiency' is really part of the same movement, though very few realize it; it's nothing more or less than cutting out guess work and waste--and what else, after all, is our Safety work?”

”That's so. It really is all working in the same direction, isn't it?”

agreed Bob. ”Chance Carter's oldest brother is studying to be an efficiency engineer--perhaps he can give us some ideas.”

”Then--you really do mean to get busy and organize the Safety Scouts of America?”