Uncle Jack yawned and stretched himself.
"Can you spare these twins of ours for the day, Colonel? I"ve a frolic of my own I want to borrow them for, if I may."
"Sure pop! Go ahead, sir."
Uncle Jack stepped across the street to a telephone, and the first thing Bob and Betty knew, a big red automobile drew up beside them. "Jump in, folks--look out for my arm, please. Now--we"re off! Goodby, Colonel."
"My, but isn"t this glorious!" Betty nestled closer to her uncle as they sped along toward the shopping district. "Is this your car, Uncle Jack?"
"For today it is," laughed her uncle. "Today we"ll just make believe I own the mint. Careful there, driver!"
Forgetful of his lame arm, he jumped to his feet and waved his hand in warning. They had been running smoothly along the car tracks, and another automobile had cut in ahead of them from around the corner. A tow-headed lad of about Bob"s age, who was stealing a ride on it, holding himself on by main strength as the automobile jounced along over the crossing, had just made up his mind he would ride no farther and was getting ready to jump. Down he came, kerflop, in the street, stubbing his toe as he tried to catch his balance.
Uncle Jack"s chauffeur, warned by his shout, gave the steering wheel a quick turn--and cleared the boy by a hand"s breadth! Uncle Jack sank back on the cushions, his eyes flashing.
"Reckless young rascal! Trying to make murderers of us, is he? What are you Safety Scouts going to do about the boys" hitching on like that, Bob?"
Bob pulled a notebook out of his pocket. "Here"s how Sure Pop has summed up our patrol reports on street accidents. He calls it--
SIX TIMELY TIPS ON STREET SAFETY
Tip 1: Make the street car stop before you step on or off--the car can wait. But step lively!
Tip 2: Face forward in getting off. Hold the grip iron with your left hand--it"s a friend in need.
Left foot to the step, right foot to the ground, eyes front!
Tip 3: Before leaving the car, look both ways for automobiles, wagons, and motor cycles.
Tip 4: In pa.s.sing behind a car, first peek around to see what"s coming. When carrying an umbrella, peek around that, too.
Tip 5: Before you hitch on or steal rides on street cars, automobiles, or wagons, better make your will.
Tip 6: Keep wide awake in getting on and off cars and in crossing streets. Walk fast, _but don"t run_. Use all the sense you have; you"re likely to need it and to need it quick!
"Those six tips are not guess work either, Uncle Jack. They"re boiled down from weeks of street scouting by every boy and girl in our patrol."
"Those are good, sensible tips," said his uncle. "What use are you going to make of them?"
"Well, by the time vacation"s over, we will have a special School Safety Patrol drilled and ready to get down to business on this particular work among the youngsters--to get them out of the habit of hitching on, and that sort of thing. Our idea is to begin with the smaller school children; there have been a good many bad accidents to them, you see, going to and from school. Most of them have to cross the tracks; it"s altogether too easy for them to get confused and run down by a street car or engine or auto."
"That"s right, Bob. How are you going to stop it?"
"Why, each Scout in the School Patrol takes charge of the school children in his block for one month. It"s his job to get them together at a convenient corner in the morning, then herd them across the tracks and through the crowded streets to school; to do the same thing on their way home; and to keep an eye on their games during recess, reporting any risky condition to their teachers. We"ve planned it so this team work will not only keep the youngsters from being run over and all that, but will also be training them to take care of themselves and keep out of danger just like any Safety Scout. How does the idea strike you?"
"Fine! It"s a good, practical plan! Makes me wish I were a boy again myself. h.e.l.lo, here we are--out we go!"
"Why, where are we?"
"I"ll soon show you." Uncle Jack led the way to the elevator and they shot up, up, clear to the roof.
"Hungry?" he asked, as a white-clad waiter showed them to a table. He enjoyed the surprise of Bob and Betty; they had never had luncheon downtown before. Mr. Dalton"s hard-earned wages left no room for such celebrations as this. And a roof garden--! No wonder it seemed very strange and very grand to the Dalton twins.
They must have spent a good half-hour ordering that meal: it was fun to study the big bill of fare and pick out delicious things which they "never had at home." Uncle Jack seemed to find it just as much fun as they did, and he understood pretty well how they felt as they ate and ate, while they gazed out on the roofs of the city spread out below them. It wasn"t so _very_ many years, you see, since he had been a youngster himself!
_Plant the Safety First idea and watch it grow._ --SURE POP
[Ill.u.s.tration]
ADVENTURE NUMBER FIFTEEN
TWIN UNIFORMS
"How nice and cool it is up here!"
Betty, looking very grown-up and quite as if she were used to taking luncheon in a roof garden every day, smiled contentedly at Uncle Jack over her gla.s.s of lemonade.
"Cool as a cuc.u.mber," said her uncle. "Hard to realize how sweltering hot it is down there in the street, isn"t it? Betty, what"s _your_ Safety work going to be when school begins?"
Betty glanced at Bob; she had not yet told even him about her plan.
"First, I suppose, I"ll serve my month on the School Safety Patrol; and then--then, I"m going to talk to my teacher about starting Safety Games in the lower grades."
"Safety Games!" Bob"s tone showed his surprise.
"Yes, Bob. Funny sounding idea, isn"t it? But I"ve thought out a lot of games that the kindergarten children can play, games that will be brand new to them, and lots of fun, and at the same time will get them into the habit of thinking Safety and looking out for themselves on the street."
"Tell us one," demanded Bob.
"Well," said Betty, "one of them I call "Little Safety Scout." We can begin by asking the little folks in one grade what things they ought to keep in mind when crossing a busy street. The one that gives the best answer is made "Little Safety Scout." One of the biggest boys plays he"s the crossing policeman, other children play street cars, others make believe they"re automobiles, and so on. The rest are just people trying to get across the street, and they have trouble trying to understand what the policeman"s whistle signals mean, and some get run over, and some are saved by the "Little Safety Scout," and others show the right way to get on and off a car, and all that."
"Well, Betty Dalton," cried Uncle Jack, "you"re a regular little witch!
Why, that"s a dandy plan. The first thing you know, you"ll have the little folks able to take care of themselves on the streets better than the grown-ups do!"
"Fine!" chimed in Bob. "And we can give them Sure Pop b.u.t.tons, too!"
"That"s right, we can," said Betty. "We can give b.u.t.tons to the children who pa.s.s an easy little Safety First examination after we"ve played the Safety Games a few weeks. And perhaps we might make some Safety posters to hang on the schoolroom walls; just big posters in colored crayons, with a picture of Sure Pop and one of his Safety mottoes below it in big letters,--like, "Folks that have no wings must use their wits,"--something that would make the children remember the point of the story longer. Don"t you think that would help along?"
Thus the three friends went on planning, till the jolly head waiter asked them for the ninth time if they wouldn"t have something more, and Uncle Jack looked at his watch with a start of surprise.
"Four o"clock! Whew! We must get out of this. We have lots to do yet before we go home, and I told the chauffeur to be back here at five.
Let"s stop in the cold-storage room below."
"Is that what makes the roof so cool?" asked Betty, as they looked around on the floor below.