



Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Rod Crawford, Rick Morris
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net









                             THE BOY SCOUTS
                                   AS
                           COUNTY FAIR GUIDES


                                   BY
                       SCOUT MASTER ROBERT SHALER

       AUTHOR OF “BOY SCOUTS OF THE SIGNAL CORPS,” “BOY SCOUTS OF
       PIONEER CAMP,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,” “BOY
         SCOUTS OF THE LIFE SAVING CREW,” “BOY SCOUTS ON PICKET
            DUTY,” “BOY SCOUTS OF THE FLYING SQUADRON,” “BOY
             SCOUTS AND THE PRIZE PENNANT,” “BOY SCOUTS OF
            THE NAVAL RESERVE,” “BOY SCOUTS IN THE SADDLE,”
                “BOY SCOUTS FOR CITY IMPROVEMENT,” “BOY
                SCOUTS IN THE GREAT FLOOD,” “BOY SCOUTS
                  OF THE FIELD HOSPITAL,” “BOY SCOUTS
                       WITH THE RED CROSS,” ETC.


                                NEW YORK
                            HURST & COMPANY
                               PUBLISHERS




                        Sterling Boy Scout Books


                                   BY
                       Scout Master Robert Shaler

                  _Bound in cloth_    _Fifteen titles_

  1 Boy Scouts of the Signal Corps.
  2 Boy Scouts of Pioneer Camp.
  3 Boy Scouts of the Geological Survey.
  4 Boy Scouts of the Life Saving Crew.
  5 Boy Scouts on Picket Duty.
  6 Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron.
  7 Boy Scouts and the Prize Pennant.
  8 Boy Scouts of the Naval Reserve.
  9 Boy Scouts in the Saddle.
  10 Boy Scouts for City Improvement.
  11 Boy Scouts in the Great Flood.
  12 Boy Scouts of the Field Hospital.
  13 Boy Scouts with the Red Cross.
  14 Boy Scouts as County Fair Guides.
  15 Boy Scouts as Forest Fire Fighters.

_You can purchase any of the above books at the price you paid for this
one, or the publishers will send any book, postpaid, upon receipt of
25c._

                        HURST & CO., Publishers
                      432 Fourth Avenue, New York


                  Copyright, 1915, by Hurst & Company




                                CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
  I. Back From the Fishing Hole                                        5
  II. The Great Undertaking                                           16
  III. On Duty at the Fair                                            28
  IV. The Fakir and His Dupe                                          40
  V. A Credit to the Uniform                                          52
  VI. “Strike While the Iron Is Hot!”                                 63
  VII. Sowing the Seed                                                74
  VIII. A Scout in Trouble                                            85
  IX. The Rift in the Cloud                                           96
  X. One Boy’s Influence                                             108
  XI. Backed by the Scouts                                           120
  XII. At the Station                                                131
  XIII. How It Turned Out                                            142
  XIV. Stopped on the Road—Conclusion                                148




                 The Boy Scouts as County Fair Guides.




                               CHAPTER I.
                      BACK FROM THE FISHING HOLE.


“You know, boys, a whole lot depends on what kind of weather we have
during Fair week!”

“How about that, Arthur? You’re the weather-wise scout of Oakvale
Troop.”

“Yes, give us your forecast, Arthur; has the rain let up for keeps?”

“So far as that goes, Alec, I notice in the morning paper it’s turned
clear all the way from the Rockies east, and that ought to mean a good
spell of several days for us.”

“Unless one of those howlers comes twisting up the Atlantic coast from
the West Indies; you want to remember that the hurricane season isn’t
quite over yet.”

“Nothing of the kind in sight, and I always look up every scrap of
weather news in the papers.”

“You make me happy when you say that, Arthur, old weather sharp. We get
our afternoons off from school while the County Fair is on, because it’s
such a big thing for Oakvale and vicinity. I’m trying to figure out what
I can do to have a cracking good time of it.”

“So are we all, Tom, but there’s no use trying to hike off somewhere
with the whole troop. You can’t do much on an afternoon. Why couldn’t
they have fixed it so we would get free the last half of the week,
including Saturday?”

“Tell that to the school directors, Alec. Perhaps they’ll take pity on
you and change the programme. I doubt it, though. I reckon they want the
boys to be around while the Fair is going on.”

“I’ve figured out that my scheme is to hang around the Exhibition and
see the aëroplane man do his stunts every afternoon; but I’d rather be
in