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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e68fc43 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61089 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61089) diff --git a/old/61089-0.txt b/old/61089-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c1f4a1d..0000000 --- a/old/61089-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5265 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Roy Blakeley's Tangled Trail, by Percy Keese -Fitzhugh, Illustrated by H. S. Barbour - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Roy Blakeley's Tangled Trail - - -Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh - - - -Release Date: January 3, 2020 [eBook #61089] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S TANGLED TRAIL*** - - -E-text prepared by Roger Frank and Sue Clark - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 61089-h.htm or 61089-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61089/61089-h/61089-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/61089/61089-h.zip) - - - - - -ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL - - -[Illustration: PEE-WEE WENT DANCING AROUND WAVING THE BURNING PAPER.] - - -ROY BLAKELEY’S -TANGLED TRAIL - -by - -PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH - -Author of -the Tom Slade Books, the Roy Blakeley -Books, the Pee-Wee Harris Books, -Westy Martin, etc. - -Illustrated by H. S. Barbour - -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 - - - - - CONTENTS - - I Greetings - II On the Shelf - III Hervey and the Camp - IV Tracks - V Plans - VI We Start - VII The Fall of Scout Harris - VIII Foiled Again - IX The Sound of Merry Laughter - X The Plot Grows Thicker—the Mud Too - XI An Intermission - XII Girls and Wasps - XIII “The Shiveller” - XIV Hands Off - XV Stung - XVI Jelly Cones - XVII Ancient History - XVIII A Story of the Past - XIX We Meet a Stranger - XX A Rare Species - XXI Thirty-four Cents - XXII Our Favorite Outdoor Sport - XXIII Hunting for Trouble - XXIV The Flapper and the Flopper - XXV Resources and Things - XXVI Flop Number Two - XXVII The Black Sheep - XXVIII Through the Mist - XXIX Eyes to See and Ears to Hear - XXX The Three of Us - XXXI The Voice in the Night - XXXII Hervey All Over - XXXIII Hervey’s Serenade - XXXIV Tom Fixes It - XXXV To the Point - - - - - ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL - - - - - CHAPTER I - - GREETINGS - - -Hello, everybody, this is the first story I wrote in a long time, only I -haven’t written it yet. I mean when it’s all written it will be the -first one I wrote in a long time. - -That’s because my fountain pen got broken on account of stirring coffee -with it in camp. Pee-wee Harris said that needn’t make any difference -because a scout is supposed to be able to write with a charred stick -whittled to a point. - -He says that’s the way pioneers wrote. He thinks the word pioneer comes -from the word pie. He says that’s the way he writes. No wonder his -stories are such black mysteries, that’s what my sister says. He says -scouts are supposed to write on birch bark. But believe me, paper is -good enough, I tried birch bark. But anyway I like birch beer. I’m crazy -about root beer too, only it reminds me of cube root and that reminds me -of arithmetic. - -Maybe you don’t know what cube root is; you’re lucky. Cube root is the -number which taken three times as a factor produces a given number -called its cube. I should worry. Because anyway this story isn’t about -cubes, it’s about rubes and boobs and a lot of things and some roots but -no cubes. You get those in school and school is closed up or I wouldn’t -be writing this story. - -Anyway I began this story twice. Gee whiz, I thought I was going to -strike out. The first time I started with a long description of Temple -Camp, and my father said it made him sleepy. Then after I went camping -over Sunday I started again, and coffee came out of my fountain pen, and -my sister said that a story like that would keep everybody awake, and I -told her that’s more than some stories do. - -So then I cleaned my fountain pen out and started again, and this is my -third start, and my pen’s working fine. Only I’ve got to go downstairs -to supper now so I have to end this chapter. - -My sister says the place to end chapters is just when something very -exciting is happening. But my mother says the place to end them is just -when the dinner gong sounds. Anyway to-night we’re going to have -chocolate pudding and that’s exciting so you’ll be in suspense while I’m -eating chocolate pudding and after that I bet you don’t know who you’re -going to meet. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - ON THE SHELF - - -Mm, _mmm_, that was good! I remind myself of Pee-wee Harris, eating -three helpings. Now I’m going to start. - -When I went up to Temple Camp this summer about the first scout I saw -was Hervey Willetts. I guess you know that fellow all right. He comes -from Massachusetts—as often as he can. That’s the place he goes away -from. - -I’ll tell you just where he was sitting. You know how the cooking shack -is—it’s right at the edge of the lake. Chocolate Drop, he’s cook. He’s a -kind of a whitish black. He’s the color of the middle of the night. -There’s a big window facing the lake and it’s got a kind of a big board -shutter with hinges on top. The first thing in the morning, Chocolate -Drop opens that and props it open with a stick so it sticks out like a -kind of a shelf. - -Hervey Willetts was sitting on that board shelf. If Chocolate Drop had -taken the prop away Hervey Willetts would have gone into the lake. But -that was just what he wanted. He was just sitting there waiting for -Chocolate Drop to let down that shutter. Then he could say that he -didn’t go into the lake after five o’clock because that’s against the -rule. He could say he was sitting on shore and Chocolate Drop dumped him -into the lake. That way he could get a swim in the evening. He didn’t -say so, but I know that fellow. He would get a swim accidentally on -purpose. - -He was sitting there with nothing on but an old pair of khaki trousers -and a khaki shirt and that crazy hat he always wears with the brim all -gone and the crown all full of holes and campaign buttons and things. -Gee whiz, you can always tell him by that hat. I could see him sitting -there as we rowed across the lake from the trail side—that’s the way we -always go. - -I shouted, “Look who’s here.” - -He called back, “I’m looking; it’s just as unpleasant for me as it is -for you.” - -“The pleasure is mine,” I told him. “I suppose you think you’re going to -get a swim after hours without getting called for it.” - -“That shows your evil mind,” he said. “I was watching the sun go down.” - -“Yes, and waiting to go down yourself,” I told him. “I’m waiting to see -the scout go down. I always hated geography but there’s one thing I like -about Massachusetts and that is that you’re away from there. I suppose -you’ve got some new stunts this summer.” - -“Hurry up and land,” he said, “and get through with your suppers. Supper -was over an hour ago.” - -He said that because he knew that Chocolate Drop wouldn’t let down that -shutter till the last supper was over and everything was cleared up in -Cooking Shack. Then he would be dumped into the lake accidentally. -_Christopher_, but the trustees never seemed to get wise to Hervey -Willetts. He looked awful funny sitting up there on that kind of a shelf -all ready to be, you know, preciprocated or precipitated or whatever you -call it, I should worry. - -All of a sudden there was a voice from the Mammoth Cave in the other -rowboat. “Let’s foil him,” said Pee-wee. “Just for fun let’s keep on -eating for a couple of hours till he’s called to camp-fire. That’ll keep -Chocolate Drop in the shack.” - -“Listen to the famine talking,” I said. - -“He can even hold a heavy shutter up an hour or so with a half a dozen -pieces of pie,” said Warde Hollister. - -“You should worry about our suppers,” I told him. “We always take our -time eating. We expect to spend a couple of hours at the board and you -can spend a couple of hours on _that_ board.” - -“Maybe even we’ll eat four desserts,” Pee-wee shouted. - -“We’ve got to unpack our baggage first,” I called, “and then wash up and -go and say hello to Uncle Jeb and in about half an hour we’ll get around -to eating.” - -“After that we don’t know how long we’ll take,” Pee-wee yelled. - -“Sure, a scout is thorough,” shouted Westy from my boat. - -“What’s that got to do with me?” Hervey asked. - -“Oh, positively, absolutely nothing,” I said. “Far be it from me to say -you have any——” - -“Exterior motives,” shouted Pee-wee. - -“Ulterior motives,” I said. “Only I’m just telling you that maybe it -will be a large collection of hours before the window of the cooking -shack is closed up for the night. So don’t worry about falling into the -water—yet. We’ll tell you in time.” - -“What do you mean, you’ll tell me in time?” said Hervey, very innocent -like. - -Jiminy, he looked awful funny sitting up there on that window board with -his knees drawn up, staring at us just as if he was puzzled to know what -we were driving at. Insulted, kind of. That was him all over. Sort of -careless like. You’d never think he had any plans at all. He never broke -any rules on purpose—oh, far be it from it! - -“Got any new songs this summer?” Warde Hollister shouted at him. Because -he always had a lot of crazy stuff that he was always singing and that’s -why everybody called him the wandering minstrel. None of us ever knew -where he got all the stuff he sang. - -He’d come wandering into camp late for supper twirling that funny cap of -his on the end of a stick and singing, and the trustees or Uncle Jeb or -maybe his scoutmaster who would be all ready with a good calling-down -would just kind of smile and say nothing. The stormy petrel, they called -him that too. Gee whiz, nobody could help liking that fellow. He was an -odd number, I’ll say that. - -“All right, Hervey,” Westy called kind of good-natured like. Westy never -breaks any camp rules, but just the same he likes Hervey. “Go on, give -us a song.” - -So then Hervey started singing that crazy song that got us into so much -trouble that summer. We couldn’t hear the end of it, because pretty soon -we were at the landing and everybody was crowding there to meet us. -Anyhow this is the way it started: - - “When you go on a hike just you mind what I say, - The right way to go is the opposite way. - - If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake, - Choose a road and the _other’s_ the one you should take. - - Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song, - If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong. - - You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike, - But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.” - - - - - CHAPTER III - - HERVEY AND THE CAMP - - -I don’t know, it seemed kind of natural, sort of, for us to see Hervey -Willetts like that, away from all the other scouts at camp. I said to -Westy I was kind of glad we saw him first just the way we did and that -he wasn’t in the crowd at the landing. - -Westy said the same thing. I don’t know why he said that, but it seemed -as if Hervey was different from everybody else; I guess that’s what we -were thinking. Most always he was alone. - -He had lots and lots of friends, but they weren’t scouts at camp. He -knew all the farmers around the country, and sometimes he stayed at -their homes all night. He got acquainted with peddlers and tramps and -stayed away and, gee whiz, you couldn’t blame the trustees for getting -mad. He was funny in some ways. - -He could do most anything, but yet he never bothered his head about -merit badges. Mr. Ellsworth (he’s our scoutmaster) said Hervey was an -adventurer, not a scout. He said he could do stunts, but he could never -do tests. Mr. Ellsworth said scouting is a kind of a harness, and Hervey -couldn’t wear a harness. Anyway, just the same he liked Hervey because -he just couldn’t help it. - -I had to laugh to myself when I thought how he was sitting on that -shutter just waiting for it to be let down so he could have a swim after -hours. He could say he fell in and had to swim to the landing. If -anybody would be to blame it would be Chocolate Drop, who always let the -shutter down from the inside. - -I was wondering how Hervey got out there on that shutter. He must have -climbed over the roof of the cooking shack and let himself down on the -side over the lake. I had to laugh when I thought how funny it would -look when the shutter was let down to see him go sprawling accidentally -on purpose into the lake, which would be just what he wanted. I knew he -intended to beat the rule, but gee, I couldn’t help seeing the funny -side of it. - -But anyway, soon we forgot all about it on account of the scouts all -being at the landing to meet us. I guess every scout I ever saw at -Temple Camp was there. Bert Winton was there and Brent Gaylong. He was -just as lanky as ever, and his spectacles were half-way down his nose -like a schoolmaster, and he had that same slow, drawly, funny way about -him. - -There’s always a big fuss when our troop gets to camp, because Mr. -Temple, who started the camp, lives in our town. Pee-wee says Mr. Temple -donated the camp, and he thinks that means he supplied it with -doughnuts. The reason why Mr. Temple doughnutted the camp is because he -was interested in Tom Slade when Tom was a hoodlum in our town. - -Tom Slade used to be in our troop, but now he stays at Temple Camp all -the time, and he’s assistant manager under Uncle Jeb Rushmore, and Uncle -Jeb used to be a trapper, and he fought with General Custer, and Pee-wee -thinks that General Custer was named after cup custards, and General -Custer fought the Indians, and if it wasn’t for the Indians we wouldn’t -have any Indian pudding, and that’s my favorite dessert. - -So that brings me to the part where we were all eating dessert that -first night we got to Temple Camp. Everybody was through supper and we -had the eats pavilion all to ourselves on account of it being too dark -to eat at the big mess-board out under the trees. - -I guess you know all about the troop I’m in. It’s the first Bridgeboro -troop of Bridgeboro, New Jersey. If you want to know where New Jersey -is, it’s on page twenty-seven of the geography. - -These are the three patrols in our troop, and about twice a minute -Pee-wee starts another one. But don’t pay any attention to the patrols -he starts, because they don’t amount to anything. The only warranted, -genuine patrols in our troop are the raving Ravens (he’s one of them, I -mean he’s about six of them) and the Elks and the Silver Foxes. I’m -patrol leader of the Silver Foxes. - -The best thing about the Ravens is that they’re not Elks. And the best -thing about the Elks is that they’re not Ravens. And the worst thing -about the Silver Foxes is that they’re in the same troop with the Elks -and the Ravens—they’re more to be pitied than blamed. Temple Camp is at -Black Lake and Black Lake is in the Catskills, and the Catskills are -somewhere or other, I should worry, you reach them in the second grade, -that’s all I know. - -So now you know about Hervey Willetts and my troop and Temple Camp, and -if you want to know all the rest about them you’ll find it in a lot of -stories I wrote that have my picture on the cover of them. All those -stories are crazier than each other. But if you want to read the -craziest one of all you want to read this one. Even the laughing brook -at Temple Camp died laughing. - -It’s such a lot of nonsense that it’s dedicated to a crazy quilt. Every -bit of it is taken from life, and my sister says life ought to be -thankful to get rid of it. Many thanks, I told her. Anyway, I don’t care -what you say, this story is all about real happenings—real adventures -and real estate. _Oh, boy_, wait till you see the real estate that’s in -it. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - TRACKS - - -While we were finishing our supper Chocolate Drop came in and talked to -us and told us all the news. We kept him there talking just to make -Hervey wait. Pee-wee kept on eating. - -“I’m doing it just for the fun of it,” he said with his mouth full of -pie. - -“You mean you’re doing it just for the taste of it,” I told him. - -“I’m prvntngscoutfrombrules,” he said. - -“Your carburetor’s flooded,” I told him. - -“I’m preventing a scout from breaking the rules,” he said. - -“That’s better,” Westy told him. - -I knew Hervey wouldn’t slide off the shutter while it was up, and I knew -that Chocolate Drop wouldn’t let it down as long as we were eating, and -I knew Pee-wee wouldn’t stop eating as long as there was anything left -to eat. I knew Pee-wee would win if his ammunition held out. - -After a while he began eating apple sauce, and then I knew there was no -hope for Hervey. Because Pee-wee eats apple sauce better than anything -else; you’d think he was a presti—a presti—diget—I should worry, you -know what I mean, the way he makes it disappear—I mean a man that does -tricks, a magician, or whatever you call him. - -We were all sitting around watching him eat apple sauce, Chocolate Drop -and all. I mean Chocolate Drop was sitting around watching with the rest -of us. He wasn’t eating Chocolate Drop, far be it from it absolutely -nevertheless. We were all laughing, thinking about Hervey sitting out -there on that window shutter waiting for a chance to break the rule by -an unavoidable cat—you know what I mean—a catas—something like an -accident. Hervey was waiting for the apple sauce to stop going down so -_he_ could go down. - -All of a sudden who should come strolling into the room but Brent -Gaylong. He’s kind of long and lanky, and he wears spectacles, and he’s -awful funny on account of being so sober. He takes everything as it -comes, the same as Pee-wee does when he’s eating. He just kind of -strolled over to the table and lifted the hanging lamp off its rack and -marched out with it. - -He said, “You fellows don’t need this.” - -So there we sat in total darkness—I just happened to think of that word -_total_, but anyway I don’t like it because it reminds me of arithmetic. - -“We need this lamp to investigate some heavy tracks,” Brent said. - -Gee whiz, you should have seen us all jump up, even Pee-wee. Because -tracks are our middle name. We all started following Brent out and it -looked awful funny, that parade with him at the head of it, carrying the -lamp. He’s awful funny, that fellow is, on account of being so sober. He -looks just as if school was opening or something like that. - -Now I told you we’re all crazy and I’m going to prove it because we just -followed him around just like when you play follow your leader. - -“Where are the tracks?” Pee-wee wanted to know. I guess he was beginning -to be sorry that he had left the apple sauce. - -“Right down by the shore,” Brent said. - -“Did you say they’re heavy tracks?” the kid wanted to know, all excited. -“I bet they’re from a bull moose.” - -“They’re the heaviest tracks I ever saw,” Brent said. He looked awful -funny carrying that big lamp. He said, “I thought you fellows would be -willing to cut short your suppers to see them. They’re down by the -shore.” - -“It’s a moose,” Pee-wee shouted. “He went there to drink.” - -“If we can pick them up——” Brent started to say. - -“I’ll pick them up,” Pee-wee shouted. - -“And hold them——” Brent started again. - -“I can pick up any tracks and hold them even on hard land,” Pee-wee -said. “Don’t you know I’ve got the pathfinder’s badge?” - -“He’s got so many badges he’s got the badger beat,” I said. - -“Well, here they are,” Brent said. - -By that time we had come to the shore and there in front of us were a -couple of pieces of railroad track about a foot long each. They were the -same two pieces that had always been there; they used to be used for -anchors in the rowboats. - -Every scout in camp knew about those two rusty old pieces of railroad -track. - -Brent said, very sober like, “What do you think of them? Is it a bull -moose?” - -“They look more like the tracks of a pig,” I said; “they’re pig iron.” - -“You said you could pick up any tracks and hold them,” Westy said to -Pee-wee. “Let’s see you do it.” - -“You make me tired!” the kid yelled. “I stopped eating apple sauce on -account of you.” - -“You would have had to stop some time,” Brent said. - -“No, I wouldn’t,” the kid shouted. - -I said, “You should have known what he meant when he said ‘heavy -tracks.’” - -“You make me tired,” he said; “you didn’t know either.” - -“Sure we knew,” I said. “You’re so dumb you think a railroad track is -made by a bull moose. You desert your dessert and you’ve got your just -deserts, and if there’s anything we’re sorry for we’re glad of it.” - -“You’re all crazy!” Pee-wee yelled. - -Just then, _bang_, down went the window shutter of the cooking shack and -then _kerplash_ we heard Hervey go tumbling into the water. _Some_ -accident! - -“Any one hurt?” Brent called out very surprised like. - -“No, I just fell into the water,” Hervey spluttered. - -“Too bad,” said Brent. - -I just looked at Brent and laughed. All the while he looked very sober -and innocent. - -I said, “You didn’t do a thing but help Hervey out.” - -“You mean he helped Hervey in,” Warde Hollister said. - -“I? What do you mean?” Brent asked us. - -“You had a conspiracy to circumvent my apple sauce,” the kid screamed; -“_I_ know. You can’t fool me. You just deliberately on purpose stopped -me from eating so Hervey Willetts could fall in the water, and you want -us to think that you’re very innocent with your heavy tracks, but anyway -I bet my appetite is just as heavy, and I could have prevented him from -falling in the lake only you stopped me.” - -“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brent said, very surprised and -innocent. Gee whiz, he and Hervey Willetts are some pair. They’ve got -Bartlett pears beaten twenty ways. - -“You don’t mean to tell me I’d aid and abet anybody in breaking a rule, -do you?” Brent said. - -“Oh, positively, absolutely not,” I said. “Say not so. It just happened -thusly as it were by an unforeseen accident that was planned out. You’re -one good fellow, Brent, you’re always helping somebody.” - -“I don’t know what you mean,” Brent said. - -“You don’t mean he helped _me_, do you?” our young Mammoth Cave wanted -to know. - -“Didn’t you have helpings enough to-night?” I asked him. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - PLANS - - -So that was about all that happened that night, only that crazy song -that Hervey sang when we first saw him, and Brent Gaylong marching ahead -of us out of the eats pavilion is what put it into our heads to have a -crazy hike like the Bee-line hike, only crazier. - -My sister said it ought to be called light fiction on account of Brent -carrying the lamp, and my father said it ought to be a serial story on -account of there being a lot of oatmeal in it, but anyway, the right -name of it is _The Lunatic Hike or Boy Scouts on the Other Road_. Only -you’re not supposed to use the right name because everything in this -story is wrong and you’re supposed to use the wrong name and that is -_The Left-handed Hike or Where Are We At?_ Because the wrong name is the -right name and it’s affectionately dedicated to five cents’ worth of -peanuts on account of all the characters in it being nuts. - -When Hervey came out of the water he went up to dry himself at -camp-fire. Everybody said it was too bad he fell into the water, and Mr. -Alton (he’s one of the trustees) said that the window shutter of the -cooking shack wasn’t a very good place to be sitting watching the -sunset. Gee whiz, you never know just what that man means when he says -something. - -Brent said, “Accidents will happen.” - -“Anyway the rest of the apple sauce was saved from a horrible death,” I -said. - -Now kind of on account of what happened that night, Hervey and Brent and -Pee-wee and Warde Hollister and I sat together at camp-fire. We kind of -made a little group by ourselves back from the crowd. It was darker back -there, and we liked it better. That’s the way with Hervey, he always -sprawls around away from the crowd. - -I said, “I tell you a good kind of a hike—a spook hike; with Brent going -ahead carrying the lamp. A hike in the pitch dark.” - -“This isn’t Hallowe’en,” Warde said. “What was that stuff you were -singing, Hervey, when we came across the lake to-night a little while -before your——” - -“Your mishap,” Brent said. - -“That’s the word—_mishap_,” I said. “You took the word out of my mouth.” - -“He didn’t take it out of your mouth at all,” Pee-wee said. “You just -think it’s smart to say that.” - -“No one could ever take anything out of _your_ mouth, that’s one sure -thing,” I told him. “What was that you were singing?” I asked Hervey. - -“It goes with a hike,” Hervey said. - -“Let it go,” Warde said. “You won’t catch _me_ going.” - -“Or me either,” our young hero piped up. “Not with Hervey Willetts. Not -if it’s one of those follow-your-leader hikes.” - -“This is different,” Hervey said. “The song explains it. It’s simple, -all you have to do is turn to the left. Don’t pay any attention to the -roads on the right, but turn into every road that goes to the left. And -you’re sure to get there.” - -“Where?” the kid hollered. - -“Anywhere,” I said. “Can’t you understand plain English?” - -“Anywhere isn’t a place,” the kid shouted. - -“That shows how much you know about geography,” I told him. “It’s the -best place in the world. You’re so dumb you think that a plot in a story -is where the grass grows. You don’t even know where a place is. Proceed -with the singing,” I said to Hervey. - -“And get it over with,” Warde said. - -So then Hervey sang that crazy song again, lying on his back and kicking -that crazy hat of his from one foot to the other. Here it is because, -gee whiz, I’ll never forget it: - - “When you go on a hike just you mind what I say, - The right way to go is the opposite way. - - If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake, - Choose a road, and the _other’s_ the one you should take. - - Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song, - If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong. - - You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike, - But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.” - -Brent said in that funny, drawly way he has, “I rather like that song. -It hasn’t any object.” - -“It hasn’t any subject or predicate either,” I said. “All the -injunctions are qualified by the propositions.” - -“You mean _con_junctions and _pre_positions,” Pee-wee yelled. “That -shows how much you know about grammar.” - -“It’s the geography of the song that I like,” Brent said. “I’d like to -go there.” - -“Where?” the kid asked. - -“To the left,” Brent said. “I’ve heard there’s a lot of fun there.” He -was lying on his back looking right up into the sky, and his hands were -clasped behind his head. He seemed awful funny—sober like. - -“Well, you can bet I’m not going there,” Pee-wee said. - -“Well, that’s one good thing about the place anyway,” I told him. “If -what you say is true there ought to be a lot of fun there.” - -“If what did I say is true?” the kid shouted. - -“That you’re not going there,” I said. - -“How can I not go to a place when I don’t know where it is?” he yelled. - -“That’s the right question to the answer,” I said. “I say, we five start -to-morrow morning. It won’t take us long because if we don’t know where -we’re going we ought to be back by some time or other.” - -“Oh, long before that,” said Brent. - -“You’re all crazy!” Pee-wee yelled. - -“Now you’re talking sense,” I said. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - WE START - - -So the next morning the five of us started out. We were a kind of a -rainbow patrol because we belonged to different troops. But anyway we -were all scouts—especially Hervey Willetts, because he’s an out-and-out -scout on account of being out all the time. - -The only one of us that was normal was Warde; he’s so normal that he’s -going to the State Normal School, only when he’s with us he’s crazy -because it’s catching. - -The first trouble we had just before we started was really just after we -started, because when we passed Commissary Shack we were going to stop -and have them put us up a lunch, but Hervey said we were on the path to -the main road and Commissary Shack was on our right, and we had no right -to stop there. - -“We haven’t started yet,” Pee-wee shouted. “We don’t start till we get -to the road; we’re still in camp!” - -“Who’s still?” I asked him. “It’s the first time I ever knew you to be -still. We’re on the path leading to the main road. If you leave the path -you’re out of the hike. On this hike we have no right to pay any -attention to anything that’s right. We can only turn into roads to the -left and we can’t pay any attention to things on the right-hand side of -those roads—only the left. There isn’t any right at all on this hike. -We’re only supposed to see out of our left eyes.” - -“Do you mean to tell me I have to keep my right eye shut?” Pee-wee -shouted. - -“And your mouth too,” I told him. - -“Now I _know_ you’re all crazy!” he yelled. - -“Right,” I said. - -“You mean left,” Hervey put in. - -Brent said, “Before we go any farther let’s settle about the rules.” - -Hervey said, “The idea is to turn into every road we come to that goes -to the left; that’s the only rule.” - -“And we mustn’t pay any attention to anything that’s on the right-hand -side of the left-hand road,” I said. - -“Absolutely, positively,” Warde said. - -“How are we going to get back?” the kid wanted to know. “Do you think I -want to spend the rest of my life turning to the left?” - -“If you’re going to spend the rest of your life turning, the left is -just as good as the right,” I told him. “Those are the two best -directions except the one you usually go in, and that’s up in the air.” - -“You’ll be sorry we didn’t take lunch with us,” he said. - -“I’m sorry already,” I told him, “but duty is duty; we can’t start off -by turning to the right, lunch or no lunch. Better starvation than -dishonor. Anyway here comes Sandwich, let’s take him along.” - -Now I’ll tell you about Sandwich. He’s the dog at Temple Camp, and we -call him Sandwich because he’s half-bred. Nobody knows how he got to -Temple Camp, but a lot of scouts say he followed Hervey Willetts from -Catskill. If he did he must have had some job. He’s a sort of blackish -white. It’s good his tail is at the other end of him, because it would -make him nervous to see it. Anyway he should worry. So as long as he was -going to go anyway we invited him. - -All of a sudden, just as we were turning into the West Trail around the -lake (because that turns out of Cabin Lane to the left) a scout called -after Hervey Willetts and said, “Hey, Hervey, you’re wanted within.” - -“Can you beat that?” Hervey wanted to know, all disgruntled. - -“You better go back,” I said, because I know he doesn’t think much about -not paying any attention to trustees and people like that. - -“Within where?” he called out. - -“Within the next six or seven hours,” the scout shouted. - -“No sooner said than stung,” I told Hervey. - -That fellow’s always afraid he’ll be called down as many times as I get -called up, because I know a girl in Catskill—that’s about ten miles from -camp—and she’s all the time calling me up to go and play basket-ball. -Pee-wee has no use for basket-ball, but he’s crazy about basket lunches. - -So long, I’ve got to go to scout meeting now. When I get home I’m going -to start chapter seven. And when you start reading it you want to look -out not to get too near the edge, because there’s all water in that -chapter. It’s kind of like a lake surrounded by a chapter—you’ll see. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - THE FALL OF SCOUT HARRIS - - -Now this is the way we started. We went through Cabin Lane (that’s part -of Temple Camp) and passed Commissary Shack and turned into the first -path to the left and that’s West Trail, and it goes around the lake -through the woods. - -Pee-wee said, “Now it shows how crazy you all are because this trail -will bring us right back to where we started, and if we start again -we’ll only do the same thing over again, and we might just as well try -to get somewhere on a merry-go-round.” - -“That’s a very good idea,” I told him; “a merry-go-round hike, I never -thought of that.” - -“What’s the use just going around and around the lake all the time?” he -shouted. “Do you call that a hike?” - -“When we get back we can say we’ve been around a lot,” Brent said. - -“And what are we going to do when we get back?” the kid yelled. - -“Oh, we’re just going to keep on going till we find a path to the left,” -Warde said. - -“If there isn’t a path to the left the first time there won’t be one the -second time, will there?” our young hero screamed. - -“If you don’t succeed at first try, try again,” Hervey said. He looked -awful funny marching ahead through the woods with the rest of us after -him. He looked very serious like, just as if we were really going -somewhere. Brent followed along right after him, very sober, with his -spectacles half-way down his nose, the way he always wears them. He’s -long and lanky and always very sober, that fellow is. I mean he acts -sober. He said: - -“This is just as good as a trip around the world only it’s shorter. When -you start around the world you don’t get anywhere; you just come back to -the place where you started. That’s because the world is round. If a -thing’s round and you start around it you can’t have any destination. -That’s logic.” - -“Absolutely, positively,” Warde said. “The equator is all right but it -doesn’t get you anywhere. This is a round trip, we’re encircling the -lake.” - -“How many times are we going to encircle it?” the kid fairly screeched. -“You call that logic? Do you think I’m going to keep hiking round and -round and round and round the lake all day with nothing to eat? And -anyway if there was a path to the left it would run into the lake only -there isn’t any.” - -“Well, probably it doesn’t run into the lake then,” Brent said. - -“What are you worrying about? We can’t get lost,” Warde said to him. - -“How is it going to end, that’s what _I_ want to know?” the kid shouted. - -“It isn’t going to end,” I said; “it’s perpetual motion.” - -Gee whiz, I had to laugh at him. He was trudging along with a scowl on -his face, and he looked kind of disgusted with all of us. The funny part -of him is that he always goes with us, and yet he keeps kicking all the -time. - -“I suppose you’re going to write this up like the other crazy hikes we -took,” he said. “Everything you do you write a story about it.” - -I said, “Sure, I remind myself of the Woolworth Building, I have so many -stories. Keep to the left.” He was just going to turn into a path to the -right, but I hauled him back. - -We just kept on going along the path around the lake; it was awful funny -because we knew it wouldn’t get us anywhere. The kid was wild. Pretty -soon we came to the outlet of the lake (you can see it on the map), and -Hervey jumped across it, then Brent took one of those long steps of his, -very solemn, and Warde and I followed. - -I don’t know how Sandwich got across, but he was waiting for us on the -other side. He acted as if he knew we were all crazy and liked it. Our -young hero tried to take a long step across and, kerflop, down he went -into the water. One good thing, it wasn’t very deep. - -“Going down,” Warde said. - -“If we’re going to keep going around and around this lake till we’re -all—till we’re all walking skeletons,” Pee-wee shouted, “I’m going to -put a board across that outlet.” - -“Come on, keep moving,” Hervey said; “make it snappy.” - -“What do you mean, snappy?” the kid screamed. “Do you think I’m going to -keep on getting wet every time just because the rest of you are -lunatics?” He looked awful funny coming along after us sputtering and -shouting, with his scout suit all wet. - -“United we stand, divided we sprawl,” I told him. “Hervey’s leading; if -he doesn’t use a board the rest of us can’t.” - -“Sprawl is the word,” said Brent. - -“We’re not responsible for the length of your legs,” I told the kid. “If -you want to be a quitter and drop out when we get around to camp, all -right. We’re on a left-handed hike and our hike flower is the daffodil -and our slogan is _Keep going to the left_ and if we don’t get anywhere -we’re not to blame; geography is to blame, and I never had any use for -geography anyway.” - -“We’ll get dizzy and go staggering into the lake, that’s what we’ll do,” -the kid yelled. - -“All right,” I said, “drop in or drop out, we don’t care which you do, -only keep still. Can’t you see we’re busy hiking?” - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - FOILED AGAIN - - -You’ll see how it was if you look at the map. After a little while we -came around to the camp again and into Cabin Lane. A lot of scouts were -sitting on the porch of Main Pavilion laughing at us. But what cared we, -quoth I. - -“Didn’t you find any path to the left?” one of them shouted. - -“No, but maybe there’ll be one next time,” I said. “You never can tell. -We’ve only been around once. It’s a beautiful afternoon this morning for -an evening hike. So long, we’ll see you later. We’re busy doing our -daily good turn.” - -Everybody was laughing as we went through Cabin Lane, Pee-wee coming -along behind trying to keep up with us. He was sore but he wouldn’t drop -out because he’s not a quitter, I’ll say that much for him. - -When we came the second time to the outlet, Hervey made a good jump over -it. The rest of us followed, and Pee-wee went kerflop into the water -again. He climbed out shouting, “_This is the last time I’m going -around!_ Do you think I’m going to keep walking around this lake all -day?” - -[Illustration: PEE-WEE CLIMBED OUT, SHOUTING, “THIS IS THE LAST TIME!”] - -“Think of Columbus,” Brent said. “He didn’t turn back, he kept on going, -he sailed on and on and on——” - -“That’s all right because he didn’t know where he was going,” Pee-wee -panted. - -“All right then, we’re smarter than he was because we know where we’re -going,” Warde said. - -“He kept going around,” Brent said. “That’s why they named Columbus -Circle after him.” - -“Pee-wee is so dumb he thinks Columbus’ last name is Ohio,” I said. - -Hervey didn’t say anything, just kept marching along; gee whiz, it was -funny. I don’t know how long we would have kept it up because that -fellow is crazy enough to do anything. - -Pee-wee started screaming, “How long are we going to keep this up? I -said I’d go on a left-handed hike, and I meant I’d follow a trail that -goes to some different place. What’s the use of doing this? _Where is it -going to get us?_” - -Brent said, “This isn’t the kind of a trail that takes you to one place -one time and another place another time. It’s a trail you can depend -on.” - -“Sure, it can be trusted,” I said. - -Gee whiz, I guess we’d be marching around Black Lake yet if it wasn’t -for Sandwich. He discovered a trail to the left. It was right across the -lake from the camp. We were about half-way along the opposite side of -the lake when Sandwich started sniffing the ground, and then he began -dancing around as if school had just closed. All of a sudden he started -sniffing along slantingways down toward the lake; you’ll see just how if -you look at the dotted line on the map. - -“It’s a path!” Pee-wee shouted. “It goes to the left and we have to -follow it.” - -“I bet it goes into the lake,” Warde said. - -“Then what will we do?” I asked him. - -“We’ll have to walk into the lake and swim to the left,” Brent said. -“Pee-wee couldn’t be any wetter than he is already.” - -“I’m not going to walk into the lake!” the kid shouted. “That’s one -thing I won’t do. I’m good and wet, and I’m good and hungry. I got wet -twice and I haven’t eaten once and it’s near noontime and it’s all on -account of you and your crazy hike. If I have to be a lunatic I’m going -to be a dry one!” - -“That’s a very good idea,” I told him. - -“I’m half starved, I know that,” he shouted. - -“I never knew you to be anything else,” Warde said. - -As long as there wasn’t any path to the left along the trail around the -lake we decided that we would follow Sandwich and call that a trail. -Because if we hadn’t done that we would have just kept on going round -and round the lake forever—even longer maybe. We would have gone on to -eternity, that’s what Brent said. - -“I’d rather go there than no place,” I told him. - -“If we don’t strike eternity the first time around how do you expect to -find it the second time around?” Hervey asked. - -“We should worry,” I said; “we’re on the right road now, we’re going to -bunk right into the lake.” - -Well, the next thing we knew there we were right at the edge of the -lake. Across the water we could see Temple Camp and we could see the -smoke curling up from the cooking shack and we knew they were cooking -dinner over there. - -“Now you see,” said Pee-wee, very sore like, “they’re cooking dinner; -they’re going to have sausages.” - -“If the wind would only blow this way we could inhale our dinners,” -Warde said. - -“Oh, here’s a boat,” one of us shouted. - -“We’ll row across, that’s what we’ll do,” the kid said. “I’ve had enough -of left-handed hiking. We’re in luck. We don’t even have to walk the -rest of the way around.” - -“It’s chained,” said Hervey, “and it’s got a big heavy padlock on it.” - -“Foiled again,” I said. - -We were all standing on the shore looking at the boat. I said, “It’s a -very nice boat with a bottom in it and sides to it and everything, only -it’s chained. What are we going to do next?” - -Brent began sniffing and saying, “I think I can smell the sausages. The -fragrance is borne upon the gentle breeze. I think I can smell brown -gravy too. And apple dumplings. Can you sniff the apple dumplings?” I -had to laugh at him, he was so sober about it. He said, “Is that the -scent of apple dumplings, kid, or am I mistaken?” - -“It smells to me like two helpings,” Warde said. - -“You all make me tired!” Pee-wee shouted. “What’s the use of standing -here and sniffing like a lot of idiots? If the boat is chained we have -to go on walking around. We can get there in time for dinner if we -hurry.” - -Brent said, “Alas, that can never be done. Thou knowest not what thou -sayest, Scout Harris.” - -“Why don’t I knowest what I sayest?” the kid screamed. - -“Because you just made a fatal move,” Brent said. “In walking around -examining the boat you passed to the _north_ of the indistinct trail -that Sandwich followed. And we, like fools, followed you. We are now -facing south as we stand here. Our honor prevents us from turning -around. Behold, Scout Harris, the little trail which brought us to the -shore is now on our _right_ instead of on our _left_. We cannot follow -it back to the main trail. - -“You, and you alone, have been our undoing! We cannot move from this -spot except by entering the lake which is on our _left_, and the boat is -chained. We are marooned in fetters. We can neither hike nor row. All we -can do is sniff. And this is _your_ work!” - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE SOUND OF MERRY LAUGHTER - - - (_My Sister Wrote That Heading_) - -“Now I _know_ you’re crazy!” Pee-wee yelled. “The path back to the main -trail is on our _right_,” Brent said. “We must shun it. Our honor is at -stake.” - -“Don’t talk about steaks,” Warde said. - -“You’re a lot of nuts, that’s what you are!” Pee-wee yelled. - -“Don’t remind me of nuts,” I said. “Our Cook’s Tour has come to an end -within sniffing distance of food. And _you_ are to _blame_!” - -“Please don’t use the word cook,” Warde said. - -“It shows where one false step may lead,” Brent said, very solemn-like. - -“If we turn around that trail is on our left,” the kid shouted. “I never -said I wouldn’t turn around, did I?” - -“We are facing the south,” Brent said. - -“I’m not!” Pee-wee screamed. - -“Go your way, Scout Harris,” he said, “but remember that you deserted -the left-handed hikers by turning to the right. You are taking your -first false step. We follow the path of honor.” - -“Me for the _seat_ of honor,” I said. “Let’s sit down in the boat.” - -“How long are we going to stay here?” the kid asked. I noticed that he -sat down in the boat with us. He isn’t a quitter, that’s one sure thing. - -So then we were all sitting in the boat laughing. We all faced the same -way, south, and it made us look awful funny. If we could have rocked the -boat around so it headed the other way then the trail might have been on -our left, but the boat was fastened at both ends so there we were with -the lake to the left of us and the trail (if you call it a trail) to the -right of us and how could we get away, that was the question. - -I guess you see how it was; if we hadn’t moved north of the trail and -stood facing south, we could have gone back to the main trail and kept -going round. But you see Brent caught us when the little trail was on -our right and if you don’t see I should worry because I have troubles of -my own. Anyway, there we were sitting in the boat all facing the same -way like an audience at a show. - -“My honor comes first,” Brent said. - -“My appetite comes next,” Pee-wee said. “How long are we going to sit -here?” - -“Till doomsday,” I said. - -“Till we find some way to turn to the left,” said Brent. - -“One place is just as good as another, if not better,” I said; “anyway -we’re sitting down.” - -“There goes the dinner horn,” Hervey said. - -“Let it go,” I said, “that’s more than we can do.” - -“They’re going to have clam chowder too, to-day,” Pee-wee said. - -“I hear you calling me,” Brent began singing. - -“We’re a lot of fools,” Pee-wee said. “All we have to do is get up and -hike around to dinner. This left-handed hike is nothing but a lot of -nonsense anyway. It’s gone far enough.” - -“Sure it has,” I said. “I don’t see it going any farther.” - -So then Hervey began rocking the boat and singing that crazy stuff: - - “When you go on a hike just you mind what I say, - The right way to go is the opposite way. - - If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake, - Choose a road, and the _other’s_ the one you should take. - - Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song, - If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong. - - You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike, - But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.” - -Gee whiz, I guess we sat there about half an hour. Most of the time we -were jollying Pee-wee; that’s our favorite outdoor sport. And all the -time we were all sitting facing the same way just like an audience. We -were kind of lazy like. We felt kind of lazy and silly, I guess. - -Warde said, “This is a very nice boat, I like the inside of it better -than the outside.” - -“The outside of it isn’t a boat at all,” the kid grumbled. - -I said, “Well, if it hasn’t got an outside how can it have an inside? -That shows how much you know about geometry.” - -“Outside this boat, is that a boat?” he yelled. - -“Absolutely, positively,” I said. “For goodness’ sake pick up that rag -under your feet and wash your face with it. You brought all the mud from -the bottom of the outlet along with you. You look like a mud-pie.” - -“Will you keep still about pie!” he hollered. “How long are we going to -sit here like a lot of fools? Just because we made a crazy resolution——” - -“Our honor is at stake,” Brent said. - -“Look at Sandwich, he went home,” the kid grumbled. - -“How can I look at him then?” I said. “Anyway he didn’t vow any vow.” - -Then Hervey started singing: - - “We vowed a vow, - We vowed a vow, - And now we’re marooned on a padlocked scow.” - -Pretty soon all of us were singing: - - “We’re here because we’re here, - We cannot get away; - The path to the left has turned to the right. - And here we’re going to stay, - And here we’re going to stay; - For that’s the only way.” - -All of a sudden Hervey shouted, “I’ve got an idea!” Then he pulled up -the stake that was stuck in the water near the stern of the boat. A -chain went from the boat to that stake, and there was a padlock, but it -wasn’t much good when he pulled the stake up. He said, “Ha, ha, we are -shaved, I mean saved. This alters the whole face of nature. Just a -minute and the trail will be on our left, and the hike can continue -along the same lines as before.” - -“Not for me!” Pee-wee shouted. “I’m sitting here, and I’m going to stay -sitting here, I don’t care what happens!” - -“Well, anyway, take that rag that’s under your feet and wash your face -with it,” I told him. - -“I won’t do that either,” he said; “I’m tired of this whole business. -I’m going to stay here till I get good and rested.” - -All the while we were rocking the boat so it would move around. The bow -of it was chained so the stern swung around until the boat bobbed -against the shore and was facing north instead of south, just like the -boat I made with dotted lines on the map. So you see then the little -trail was on our left. Hervey pushed the stake down into the bottom of -the lake so the boat would stay that way. - -Brent said, “Thanks to Hervey Willetts now we can proceed upon our hike. -We haven’t been around much lately. Shall we hit the trail?” - -“If I hit that trail as I’d like to hit it,” Pee-wee shouted. -“I’d—I’d—I’d—give it—I’d give it two black eyes——” - -“It would be a blind trail,” Brent said. - -“You can turn to the left and go wherever you want to,” the kid shouted. -“I’m going to sit right here in this boat, I don’t care anything about -faces of nature——” - -“The least you could do would be to wash your own face,” Warde told him. - -“I’ll wash my hands of you and my face too,” the kid hollered. “I’m -going to sit right here in this boat till I get good and rested, and -then I’m going around to dinner. I resign from this crazy hike and -you’re all lunatics.” - -Warde said, “Those are harsh words, Scout Harris.” - -The kid looked awful funny sitting there in the boat after the rest of -us got out. He just sat there with a terrible scowl on his face, and his -face was all grimy on account of falling in at the outlet. He was good -and mad. - -The rest of us were standing on the shore watching him and we were just -going to start up the daffodil trail (that’s what Warde called it) and -turn to the left when all of a sudden we heard the sound of merry -laughter echoing through the woods. My sister wrote that sentence about -merry laughter echoing through the woods. I was going to write that we -heard a couple of girls giggling somewhere around, I should worry, and -that’s the end of this chapter. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - THE PLOT GROWS THICKER—THE MUD TOO - - -Now there’s one thing about Pee-wee, he always dresses up when there are -going to be girls. He wears all his merit badges and his belt-axe so -they’ll know he’s a real hero. He’s the only original boy scout -heart-breaker. Girls always smile at him. Sometimes they even laugh out -loud. - -So as soon as he heard the merry sound of girlish laughter in the -neighboring woodland (my sister wrote that) he began to listen and then -he grabbed the rag in the bottom of the boat so as to wash the dirt from -his face. - -I guess he was going to dip it in the water when all of a sudden, _good -night_, there were a couple of girls coming out through the bushes. They -were laughing kind of just as if they had been spying on us, but all of -a sudden they set up a howl and the next thing I saw there was Pee-wee -jumping around in the boat and the boat was rocking about half full of -water. One of his legs was outside, and he didn’t seem to know whether -to stay in the boat or get out of it. Gee whiz, it wouldn’t have made -much difference because there was just about as much water inside as -there was outside. - -“Oh, he pulled the plug out—_the rag_!” one of the girls said. “Isn’t -that too _funny_!” - -“It shows you don’t know what funny means,” Pee-wee spluttered. - -By that time the boat was more than half full and he was flopping around -in the water outside it. One good thing, the water was shallow but the -bottom was all mud and he was floundering around in it and lifting one -leg after the other high up trying to walk up on shore. The water was -too shallow to swim in and too deep to walk in especially on account of -the muddy bottom. Pretty soon he was on shore all covered with mud, and -the rest of us were all standing around screaming. - -“He pulled the plug out, he _pulled the plug out_!” one of the girls -kept screaming—you know how they do. She said, “I never saw _anything_ -so excruciating in all my _born days_!” The other girl was laughing so -hard she couldn’t say a word. - -Brent said, “Fair maids, does this boat belong to you?” - -One of the girls said, “Yes, does this little boy belong to you? Oh, -he’s just too funny for anything! We had a rag stuffed into a hole in -the bottom of the boat to keep the water from coming in. We’re camping -just above here. Oh, he’s simply covered with mud. You’re simply -_covered_ with mud,” she said to Pee-wee. - -“Do you think I don’t know that?” he spluttered. “I—I found it out as -soon as you did.” - -Brent said very sober like to the girls, “You should have had two holes -in the boat, one for the water to come in through and one for it to go -out through; then a rag would not be necessary.” - -“It shows how much you know about scouting,” the kid shouted, all the -while wiping the mud from his clothes and then transferring it to his -face with his hand. “That’s just like girls, stopping a hole up with a -rag. That might have happened in the middle of the lake only it didn’t, -and I might have been drowned on account of that rag, only I wouldn’t -because I know how to swim anyway.” - -“Oh, isn’t he just too cute!” one of the girls said. - -“And he knows how to swim,” the other said. - -I said, “Oh, he’s very smart; he knows more than his teacher, that’s why -she asks him so many questions. Even the head of the Board of Education -asked him, ‘How are things?’ He didn’t know, he had to ask Pee-wee. His -name is Pee-wee for short.” - -“He’s certainly short enough,” one of the girls said. - -I said, “He only looks short on account of it being such a short -acquaintance. He’ll look shorter when you’ve known him longer.” - -Brent said, “You say you’re camping around here?” - -“Are you doing your own cooking and everything?” Pee-wee blurted out. - -“And your own eating?” I asked them. - -“Yes, but we’d just _love_ to have you come and help us do it,” one of -them said. - -“Which? The cooking or the eating?” Pee-wee wanted to know. - -One of them said, “Dinner is all ready, we were just going to eat it -when we heard voices and we came here to see who it was. And we want you -all to come and help us eat dinner. You know scouts have to be helpful.” - -“I’m helpful,” Pee-wee shouted. “I know all about it.” - -“He learned about it in the third grade,” I said. “It’s derived from the -Latin word _full_ and the Greek word _help_; _helpful_ meaning full of -helpings. Anything else you’d like to ask him?” - -“I’d like to ask you all if you like fish-balls?” she said. - -“How many fish-balls?” Pee-wee shouted. - -“Can we eat them with our left hands?” Brent wanted to know. - -“They’re all crazy,” Pee-wee said, all excited. - -“Not the fish-balls _we_ make,” the girl said. - -“He means us,” Brent said. “We are on a left-handed hike, and we can’t -turn to the right. If the fish-balls are cooked right we can’t eat -them.” - -“Don’t you pay any attention to them,” Pee-wee said, “because over in -camp everybody says they’re crazy, and they even admit it themselves.” - -“Suppose some of the fish-balls are left,” one of the girls laughed. - -“None of them will be,” I told her. “A scout’s word is to be trusted. -Dinner is over at Temple Camp by now so we might accept an invitation if -we were properly approached—in a left-handed manner.” - -“It’ll be accepted anyway by me,” Pee-wee said; “and I’d like to know -what to call you by.” - -“My name is Marjorie Eaton,” one of the girls said. - -“He’ll be crazy about you,” I said; “he’s so fond of eatin’.” - -“And my name’s Stella Wingate,” the other girl said. - -So then Brent introduced all of us to the girls in that funny, sober way -he has and told them about our patented left-handed hike. Those girls -said they belonged down at Brookside and were just camping for the day. -If you want to go to Brookside you just row down the outlet and pretty -soon you come to it. - -I said, “How far is your camp from here. And can we get to it without -turning to the right?” - -Marjorie Eaton said, “I don’t see how you ever expect to get away from -the lake if you keep turning to the left; you’ll just go around and -around and around. I think you’re all too silly. You’ll just go hiking -around forever.” - -Brent said, “You never can tell, they may cut a road to the left some -day while we’re going around.” - -“Didn’t I tell you they’re all crazy?” Pee-wee shouted. - -The other girl said, “If you _must_ go on with such a _perfectly -ridiculous_ thing, why don’t you give a broad interpretation to your -rule?” - -“I’d like to give something worse than that to it,” the kid shouted. - -“A broad interpretation is bad enough,” I said. “About how broad should -it be?” I asked her. - -“Silly,” she said. “If you want to get away from the lake——” - -“How about the fish-balls?” Pee-wee piped up. - -“If you want to get away from the lake,” she said, “all you have to do -is to pull the boat up on shore and get the water out of it. As you -stand looking out on the lake the outlet is up there to the north. _It’s -to your left._ All you have to do is to row along the shore to your left -till you reach the outlet and then row through the outlet till you see a -path that leads out of it to your left. That goes to Shade Valley. How -many times have you been marching around this lake for goodness’ sake?” - -Warde said, “We wouldn’t even have reached the shore if it hadn’t been -for our dog who deserted us and went home to dinner.” - -“Well, he’s the only one of the party who has any sense,” Marjorie Eaton -said. Then they both began laughing. - -“It’s good you came down to the shore,” the other girl said, “because -now you see you can use the boat and get somewhere without actually -breaking your rule.” - -“We just have to kind of bend it a little,” I said. - -“I never knew anything so stupid in my life as boys,” Stella Wingate -said. - -“Especially boys who have been around so much,” Brent said. - -I said, “Girls, you have saved us from being a merry-go-round; you have -shown us a way out. The outlet lets us out the same as it let Pee-wee -in. He was in that very outlet, and he never knew its possibilities. - -“Possibilities!” Marjorie Eaton began laughing. “Oh, I think he’s just -_im_possible.” - -They were awful nice, those girls were. They said they thought it would -be all right for us to go up to their camp and have dinner with them and -then start for the outlet in the boat. They said they thought that would -be turning to the left and that it was the only way for us to get out of -our rut. They said our resolution was all right but that sometimes a -rule has to be construed freely. - -They reminded me of school when they talked. They said our only hope of -escape was by the lake. Marjorie Eaton said that otherwise we would be -the victims of an eternal circle. Gee whiz, they were smart. - -“You mean an infernal circle,” I said. - -Pee-wee said, “Don’t ever talk to me again about anything round; if it’s -round I have no use for it.” - -“Oh, we’re so sorry,” Stella Wingate said. “Then you won’t eat any -fish-balls.” - -“Eats don’t count,” the kid said. - -“That’s the first time I ever heard you say that,” I told him. - -So then we all went up to their camp which was about a couple of hundred -feet from the shore. - -And, oh, boy, those were some fish-balls. They counted with Pee-wee all -right, but I lost count of them. Those girls said they had just decided -to take a trip into the woods for a lark. - -“You can’t catch any larks around here,” our young hero said, “but there -are wild pigeons. I can tell you all about birds, I know all about -stalking.” - -I said, “Don’t mind him, he’s so dumb he thinks that stalking is named -after a stork. He thinks that all the news of the birds is published in -the fly-paper.” - -“Oh, he’s just stuck on the fly-paper,” Brent said. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - AN INTERMISSION - - -It was nice sitting there under a big tree kind of all jollying each -other and eating fish-balls. We decided that as long as we were so -comfortable we would forget about our left-handed resolution for a -little while and then go back down to the lake and row to the outlet and -take the first road to the left. - -“That’s the only sensible thing to do,” Marjorie said. - -“That’s what makes me think we shouldn’t do it,” I told her; “we made a -resolution to do everything wrong.” - -Stella Wingate said. “Well, then, as long as you’re not supposed to be -sitting here eating fish-balls you might as well do it.” - -“Sure, that’s logic,” Pee-wee said. “We can give the fish-balls a broad -interpretation, can’t we? We can construe—what d’you call it—treat them -freely.” - -“Oh, most conclusively,” I said. - -“Treat them as freely as you like,” Marjorie laughed. - -Those girls had a lot of eats in a basket. They had crinkly paper -napkins and everything. They had some sewing with them, kind of khaki -colored stuff, I don’t know what it was. They had a couple of books, -too, that they were going to read in the afternoon. Gee whiz, they were -awful nice, those girls. Stella Wingate kept making fish-balls in a nice -little frying-pan with a wooden handle. - -The basket was packed all nice like a trunk. Everything in it had -crinkly paper wrapped around it, bottles and everything. Even there were -little pinches of salt twisted in crinkly paper. There were hard-boiled -eggs in crinkly paper too. Gee whiz, everything was wrapped up just like -things around a Christmas tree. Girls are awful funny the way they do -things. - -Warde said, “Left-handed hikes are all right.” - -“And we’re going to have dessert,” Marjorie said. “Stella knows how to -make fish-balls, but jelly rolls are _my_ masterpiece.” - -I said, “I think we’d like several pieces of masterpieces.” - -She said, “Oh, they don’t come in pieces, they come in rolls. I’ll show -you how I make them.” - -“We’ll show you how to eat them,” Pee-wee said. - -I said, “You must excuse our young hero, he was born during a famine. He -likes thunder because it reminds him of rolls. He likes ice because it -comes in cakes. He wants to live in Greenpoint because he thinks it’s -the end of a pickle.” - -“How do you make these jelly rolls?” Warde asked her. - -She said, “Oh, you’ll see. They’re made of pie crust; they look like ice -cream cones only they’re filled with jam instead.” - -“Yum, yum,” I said. - -“How many are you going to make?” Pee-wee wanted to know. - -She said, “As many as you can eat.” - -I said, “Thou knowest not what thou sayest, girl.” - -She said, “We’ve got a whole big bag of flour and two cans of jam, and -we’re going to make _oceans_ of them.” - -“Atlantic or Pacific oceans?” Pee-wee piped up. - -She said, “After lunch we always make a big boxful of them, just heaping -over, and then we just lie back and rest and read aloud and _gorge_ -ourselves. We do that every Saturday. We come out in the woods and have -a perfectly _scrumptious_ time. And we don’t go home till the jelly -cones are all gone.” - -Brent said, “We’d even be willing to listen to you read if you’ll let us -in on that.” - -Stella Wingate said, “You’re perfectly horrid.” - -Brent asked them, “Are you reading the Dolly Dimple Series?” - -Marjorie said, “No, we’re not reading the Dolly Dimple Series, Mr. -Freshy. We’re reading _Treasure Island_, _so there_.” - -“Jelly cones don’t go with _Treasure Island_,” I said. - -“Oh, yes, they do, you’ll see them go,” Stella said. - -“She’s right,” Pee-wee shouted; “because the more excited you get the -faster you eat. _Treasure Island_ is better than Dolly Dimple for eating -those things—jelly cones. And anyway scouts have to be loyal and we’ll -stick to you till they’re all gone and besides that I’ve read _Treasure -Island_ so I don’t have to listen if I don’t want to, I can just eat. -Gee, I want to see you start making them because if they’re kind of -disguised as ice cream cones I bet they’re good.” - -“Listen to starving Russia,” I said. “He’s so dumb he thinks Cook’s -Tours are named after a chef.” - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - GIRLS AND WASPS - - -All the while Hervey Willetts was lying on his back looking up in the -air and not saying anything. When he can’t be moving he’s as still as a -ghost. He was kind of kicking his hat from one foot to the other. All of -a sudden he started something—that was just like him. That fellow can -start something lying on his back. He said, “Oh, look at the wasps’ nest -up there in the tree.” - -Gee whiz, you should have seen those girls jump. Right then we all -noticed that there were wasps flying around above us and in and out of -the big nest. It was a great big nest, as big as a watermelon and the -entrance to it was underneath; it was a hole about as big round as a -quarter. - -Hervey said, “Give me a stick and I’ll knock it down and we’ll have a -game of football with it while we’re waiting for the jelly cones, or -whatever you call them.” - -“In quest of adventure,” Brent said, “we’ve all been stung once to-day -following you and that’s enough. If you want to take it down lift it -down carefully and pour the wasps out first. Then we can take a few -kicks at it.” - -Warde said, “It has kick enough in it, let it alone. It has too much of -a kick in it for me.” - -Then up jumped our young hero. “You don’t catch me doing any kicking,” -he shouted. - -“I’m glad to hear that; you’ve been kicking ever since we started,” I -told him. - -“Shall I knock it down and see what happens?” Hervey said. It was awful -funny to see him lying there on his back and making believe to try and -reach it with his foot. All the while the wasps were flying in and out -of it and kind of hanging around the doorway. - -By that time the girls were crazy, picking things up all excited and -getting ready to move away. “Come away, don’t _touch_ it; oh, don’t -_touch_ it whatever you do!” they were crying. - -Marjorie Eaton knocked the lunch basket over and spilled everything out -of it, she was in such a hurry. They both started picking things up and -kept kind of edging away from the tree all the time. I had to laugh to -see how they’d sneak up on tiptoe and pick up something and then go -scooting away with it and sneak back for something else. The stuff was -all over the ground, and they crept around groping for it all the while -looking very scared-like at the tree. - -Hervey didn’t pay any attention to them, just lay there on his back -looking up at the big nest. He said, “I tell you what let’s do; let’s -take it down and see how far we can roll it.” - -“A game of one o’ cat would be better,” Brent said, very sober. “The -first one to knock a home run will get six jelly rolls to begin with. -Only we’ll have to bat at it left-handed.” - -“Oh, absolutely, most conclusively,” I said. - -“And when we run we’ll turn to the left,” Warde piped up. - -“That’s understood,” Hervey said. - -“I think it would be better to toss it gently,” Brent said. “I’ll lift -it down and throw it to Miss Eaton, she’ll throw it to Warde, he’ll -throw it to Miss Wingate, she’ll throw it to Pee-wee——” - -“Not gently,” I said. - -“By that time,” Brent said, “the wasps will be dizzy; they’ll be so -seasick that they’ll tumble right out through the hole, and we can hold -a plate of jam to catch them in. They’ll stick in the jam while they’re -in a state of como, or coma, or whatever you call it, and we’ll capture -them all by one master-stroke.” - -Warde said, “You got that idea from the best way to kill flies by -hanging a slippery cord above a plate of ice cream. The fly alights on -the cord, slides off into the ice cream and freezes to death.” Brent -said, “I’ve heard of that but it’s cruel and scouts don’t use it. In the -seasick method the wasp is rendered unconscious first and he never knows -he’s dead till afterwards. He dies in the jam, an ideal death. Even -Pee-wee will admit that.” - -Warde said, “I should think the wasps would be stuck on that—or in it.” - -“That’s just it, they are,” Brent said. “Now, all form a circle while I -lift it down.” He made believe to reach for it and, oh, boy, I wish you -could have seen those girls run. When they got about fifty feet away -they stood hugging each other and screaming. - -“By doing that you’ll only wake the wasps up,” Warde said to them. “This -is just the time they take their afternoon nap.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - “THE SHIVELLER” - - -Just then our brave young hero went up in the air. “You think you’re -smart frightening girls, don’t you!” he shouted. “Don’t you know a scout -has to be a shiveller——” - -“What’s that?” I asked him. - -“He has to have chivalry,” he said. “Maybe you think it’s funny -frightening girls about pouring wasps——” - -I said, “It doesn’t hurt them a bit, it’s absolutely painless—endorsed -by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.” - -“You mean the Society for the Prevention of Lunatics!” he yelled. “It -shows how much you know about scouting and resource and things like -that——” - -Brent said, “Resource? Is that any relation to apple sauce?” - -“It’s a relation to scouting,” the kid yelled. - -“It’s something like cranberry sauce,” I said. - -“Don’t you be afraid,” Pee-wee called to the girls; “I told you they -were crazy.” - -“Oh, make them stop! Don’t let them do it!” the girls shouted. They -stood away off about fifty feet from the tree looking at it kind of -terrified. All the while wasps were buzzing around the nest and Hervey -was making believe to kick it. - -“Don’t you be scared,” Pee-wee called to them, “because I know a way, -I’ve got resources, that’s more than they have; they’re only trying to -scare you.” - -“Oh, don’t let them _touch_ it!” Marjorie cried. “Don’t go near it, -please, _please_ don’t! Bring the things away, and we’ll go somewhere -else—please.” - -Hervey said, “If we turn that nest upside down the wasps won’t know -where they are when they come out; they’ll be lost and they’ll lose -their morale.” - -Marjorie called, “Oh, no, no, _no, no_, they won’t lose it. Don’t go -near it—_please_!” - -“Don’t you mind them,” Pee-wee shouted. “I know a regular scout way to -do.” - -“Don’t go near it,” the girls shouted. “They’re buzzing all around!” - -“You leave them to me,” Pee-wee said, very brave. “I’ll fix it.” - -I didn’t know what kind of an idea he had in his head, but I thought it -must be something he had read in the Handbook or somewhere or other. He -gets his stunts direct from the factories—manufacturer to consumer. He -took three or four crinkly napkins that had blown all over the ground -and lighted them with a match. Then he began waving them around. “See -them all go in?” he shouted. “The flame scares them into their nest.” -Gee whiz, it was true, I’ll say that. All the wasps that were out beat -it for their nest as fast as they could fly. Pee-wee went dancing around -waving the paper till it began burning his hands. - -“Oh, isn’t that just _wonderful_!” one of the girls called. - -“That’s nothing,” said Pee-wee, all the while reaching around on the -ground; “the next thing I have to do quick; then everything will be all -safe.” - -I didn’t know what he was hunting for, all I knew was he was groping -around for something. - -I guess he didn’t know himself what he was groping for. He knew the -girls were watching him, and he liked himself a lot on account of being -such a hero with his resources. That’s his favorite outdoor sport, being -a hero in front of girls. - -“What are you going to do now?” I asked him. - -But he didn’t pay any attention only kept groping until his hand hit on -something he thought might do. I couldn’t see exactly what it was, it -looked kind of shiny. Anyway he marched boldly up to the nest and stood -on tiptoes and pushed the thing into the hole so it stuck there. “Now -they’re all in and none of them can get out,” he said; “they’re sealed -in. You can come back now, you needn’t be scared because I fixed it.” - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - HANDS OFF - - -“Come on back, you don’t have to be scared any more,” the kid shouted. - -“Some hero,” I said. - -“He’s a regular _women and children first_ scout,” Hervey said. - -“Oh, they come before that with him,” said Warde. - -“He charmed them with fire,” Brent said. - -“They’re afraid of flame,” the kid said, very proud. “That’s something -scouts are supposed to know about. They’re supposed to know how to do -more than just talk.” - -“The pleasure is ours,” I said. “You lose and we win as you usually do -if not oftener. Actions are better than words.” - -By that time the two girls were coming back, very slow and careful-like. - -“Are you _sure_ it’s all right?” Marjorie asked us. - -“Positively guaranteed,” I said. “Sir Harris drove them before him. He’s -the only original boy scout shiveller. He shivelled them in with a -shovel of fire. He’s the pied piper of Temple Camp, named after a mince -pie. Behold the land is freed from wasps!” - -The girls came back ever so careful. “Are you sure there are none -around?” they asked us. I guess they thought they could protect each -other from wasps by hanging onto each other. - -Brent said, “We can now pick things up and proceed with the jelly -cones.” - -“Are you sure they can’t get out?” Stella Wingate wanted to know. They -were getting a little easier in their minds, I could see that. “You are -all too silly for anything,” she said. “Pee-wee _acted_ while you -_talked_. And I believe that _you_, Mr. Hervey, or whatever they call -you, would have been just headstrong enough to knock it down. I suppose -_that’s_ what you would have called one of your _feats_.” - -I said, “Sure, he’s very headstrong with his feet. How about the eats -that you were going to cook when we were rudely interrupted by the -flying corps?” - -“I am going to make as many jelly cones as Pee-wee can eat, so there,” -said Marjorie. “Because he’s the hero of the day.” - -“He’s the hero of every day,” Brent said, “and the nights as well. Wait -till you see him annihilate the jelly cones.” - -Marjorie said, “Well, he’s going to have the chance because he deserves -it. But are you sure the wasps can’t get out?” she asked us. - -“Not as long as that plug stays in,” Pee-wee said. “But if anybody took -it out——” - -“Good gracious!” Marjorie said. - -“We wouldn’t _touch_ it,” Stella put in, just shuddering. - -“Then they’d come out good and mad,” Pee-wee said. “They’d be mad -because I circumvented them. See? But as long as it stays in there -they’re foiled.” - -“Just the same as if it were sealed with tinfoil,” I told her. - -“Do you all promise not to touch it?” Stella asked us. - -“Because I won’t be responsible for what they do, they’re all crazy,” -Pee-wee said. - -“They’ve got to _promise_,” Marjorie said. “Do _you_ promise, Mr. Hervey -Headstrong?” she asked. - -“Why pick on _me_?” Hervey asked her, all the while lying on his back -with his hands behind his head, kind of careless like. - -She said, “Because you have a look in your eye. I just feel you’re going -to do something _tragic_. I can just _feel_ it in my _bones_. Girls are -good at reading characters. I know your type.” - -“Make Roy Blakeley promise,” Pee-wee said, all the while strutting -around very important, sort of, “because he’s the worst of the lot.” - -Marjorie Eaton said, “Mr. Tall Boy with the spectacles, will you give -your solemn word of honor——” - -“As a scout,” Pee-wee shouted. - -“As a scout,” Marjorie said, “will you give your solemn word of honor -and cross your heart and hope to die that _none_ of these boys will -_touch_ that wasps’ nest—will you?” - -“Why pick on me?” Brent said. - -“Because you have spectacles and I _feel_ that you’re honorable—I just -_feel_ it,” she said. “Will you promise for all of them including -Willis, or whatever that crazy boy’s name is who lies on his back, will -you promise that not _a single, solitary one of you_ will touch that -wasps’ nest? Because I won’t make a single jelly cone till you do.” - -“Make him raise up his hand in the scout salute and promise,” said -Pee-wee. “Because I know that bunch; I’ve been out with them before.” - -Brent said, “Will you girls promise to make as many jelly rolls as we -can eat in half an hour?” - -She said, “Why, _of course_ we will, we’ve got oceans of flour.” - -“Then we agree,” he said. “On behalf of the Boy Scouts of Temple Camp we -pledge ourselves one and all separately and collectively——” - -“And unanimously,” Pee-wee shouted. “Make ’em do it unanimously.” - -“And conclusively and finally,” Brent said, “and thoroughly and -left-handedly.” - -“No, not left-handedly,” Pee-wee shouted. “I had enough of that.” - -“We promise,” Brent said. “No scout hand shall touch that wasps’ nest. -It shall remain as it is, a monument to the resourcefulness and heroism -of P. Harris.” - -“Now will you start to cook the jelly cones?” Pee-wee wanted to know. -“Because, gee whiz, I’ve heard so much about them, and anyway I’m good -and hungry, so will you start making them—pretty soon?” - -Brent said, very calm like, “I have no intention of touching yonder -nest. I would not tamper with the handiwork of Scout Harris. I have but -one thought now and that is to see him circumvent jelly cones as he -circumvented wasps. But just for information I would like to -inquire—perhaps you girls would be willing to step a little closer—I was -wondering what that tin thing is that our hero used to plug up the -hole.” - -“_Oh, it’s the thing we make the cones with!_” cried Stella Wingate. -“Look, Marjorie, _see what he did_! He put the cone maker into the -wasps’ nest! How in the world are we ever going to make jelly cones -now?” - -“Ask P. Harris,” Hervey said; “a scout is resourceful.” - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - STUNG - - -I said, “Excuse me while I fall in a faint.” I just fell on the ground -and buried my face in my hands. The next thing I knew Warde was lying -beside me suffering from shock. I said, “The fixer has fixed it.” - -Pee-wee just stood staring. “You make me tired,” he shouted. “Do you -mean to say I can’t take that out——” - -“Oh, absolutely, positively not,” I said; “a scout’s honor——” - -“It’s just a what d’you call it—a teckinality,” he shouted. “If they -have to have that thing——” - -“Oh, we _don’t_, we _don’t_!” the girls began crying. “Don’t touch it -whatever you do! Remember your promise! Don’t go near it!” - -I jumped up and I said, “Girls, a scout’s honor is to be trusted. The -deed is did. The jelly cone maker stays in the wasps’ nest. Who cares -for jelly cones? Our honor is the only thing that counts. You can depend -on us, girls. We are boy scouts. The fixer has fixed it, and it will -stay fixed.” - -“Is the little tin cone very necessary?” Brent asked them. - -Marjorie said, “Oh, yes; you see we wrap the pie crust around it, that -makes it into a cone shape, you know. Then we push it off carefully and -stand it in a pan, a hot pan——” - -“Mmm, yum, yum,” I said. - -“And leave it in the oven till it’s nice and hard and crisp,” Marjorie -said. “Then we fill them with jam; they’re perfectly delicious. Of -course, we make a lot of them and stand them up in the pan and let them -crisp all at once. They really ought to be left in till they’re brown. -Oh, I’m so sorry you can’t try them. Isn’t it exasperating? When you see -them crisping in the pan they look like a lot of little tents—like an -encampment. A friend of ours, Sophronia Simpe, invented them. We just -come out here in the woods and _gorge_ ourselves with them every -Saturday.” - -Warde said, “Well, I guess this will be an off Saturday. We’re sorry, -but we made a promise and, as Pee-wee very truthfully remarked, the -wasps are good and mad by now and if we pulled that little tin wedge -out——” - -“Oh, we wouldn’t have you to do it for _worlds_.” Stella said. “Do you -think we want to be overwhelmed with wasps?” - -“Oh, positively not; say not so,” I said. “Not after our brave young -hero sealed them up so nicely. They must be pretty mad by now.” - -“Oh, I wouldn’t take any chances with them,” Brent said. - -“Safety first,” Hervey said. “Let them rage; we’re safe.” - -Then, all of a sudden, Pee-wee went up in the air. “Now I know you’re -all crazy,” he said. “Do you mean to tell me that tin wedge or whatever -you call that thing, can’t be pulled out very quietly——” - -“And break a solemn vow?” Brent asked him. “How about a scout’s honor?” - -“You make me tired!” he yelled. “It shows how much you know about -physics, I mean ethics, I mean about how a thing can be all right if -when you first said it, it wasn’t why you didn’t know how it was going -to turn out.” - -“It’s as clear as shoe-blacking,” I said. “Why didn’t you explain all -that before?” - -“Because you’re a lot of crazy lunatics!” he shouted. “I’m going to take -that thing out——” - -“Have a care, Scout Harris,” I said. “Stand back; our honor is more -important than a thousand jelly cones. You shall not pass.” - -All the while the girls were jumping around telling us not to let him -and crying and starting to run away—you know how they are. - -I don’t know whether we would have had any jelly cones that afternoon if -it hadn’t been for Hervey Willetts. All the while he was lying there on -his back not paying much attention to us. All of a sudden he grabbed -some leaves that were on a low branch. I guess he didn’t mean to break -his promise. But anyway down came the wasps’ nest kerplunk right on him -and out flew the little tin wedge. Gee whiz, that fellow was quick. In -about half a second he had his leather wristlet against the hole. - -By that time the girls were hiding behind a tree about twenty feet away -and screaming. Pee-wee was making a grand scramble for the cone form or -whatever you call it, and the rest of us were laughing. There was Hervey -hugging the big nest and holding his leather wristlet tight against the -opening. He tried to get up with the nest in his arms and it was awful -funny to see him because he didn’t have the use of one arm. - -“What’ll I do with it?” he asked us. - -“We should worry what you do with it,” I said. “Carry it around with you -all afternoon, only for goodness’ sake don’t take your wrist away from -the opening. I bet they’re all just crowding inside the entrance to see -which one of them can be the first out.” - -Hervey said, “I wouldn’t mind so much being stung by one wasp, but I -don’t like the idea of hugging this thing for the rest of my life. My -arm’s beginning to ache, too. I can hear a buzzing inside.” - -I said, “Hang on to it, the plot grows thicker.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - JELLY CONES - - -The way we fixed it was to cut a piece of birch bark off a tree and slip -it between Hervey’s wristlet and the nest. Then we fastened it down -tight and bound it all around every which way with fishline. - -One wasp got out, but he didn’t do any harm. He seemed to be in a hurry, -so we didn’t bother him. Then we threw the nest out into the lake. We -thought that by the time it got out into the middle of the lake the -water would melt it, and the wasps would escape. Anyway, I should worry -about them. - -The girls didn’t calm down till we told them that the nest had started -on a voyage. Then we kindled up the fire for them and they started -making jelly cones. There are lots of things you eat, but jelly cones -are the kind of things you keep on eating. You just keep on making them -and eating them. Oh, boy, they were good. - -It was so nice sitting around under that tree that we stayed pretty near -all afternoon. Those girls were starting a Camp-fire Girls troop. They -said a girl in Brookside had started it. Her name was Sophronia Simpe. -They told us a lot about her. They said she had lived on a ranch out -west and had ridden wild broncos and everything. She could even throw a -lasso. They said once she fell off a wild horse. - -Warde said, “Are you sure it wasn’t a clothes-horse?” - -She said, “No, it wasn’t a clothes-horse, Freshy.” - -I said, “Once our young hero fell off a merry-go-round horse; that’s why -he doesn’t care to go around much any more. Ever since then he’s been on -the square. He thinks when he goes around he’s doing a good turn.” - -Stella Wingate said to Pee-wee, “Don’t you mind them, they’re only -making fun of you.” - -“I could handle them all,” Pee-wee said, “if I wasn’t busy eating.” - -So, then they began asking us about the scouts and about the kind of -good turns we do and all that. It was nice sprawling around and eating -jelly cones and just talking. You can have a lot of fun doing nothing. - -Marjorie Eaton said, “What kind of good turns do you do?” - -I said, “Well, to give you an instance——” - -“You got that out of a book,” Pee-wee shouted. “_Just to give you an -instance._ You don’t know what it means.” - -I said, “As I was about to say when I was rudely interrupted, once I -knew a poor family that were starving because they didn’t have any -coal——” - -“You don’t eat coal!” Pee-wee shouted. - -Marjorie said, “Yes, what kind of a good turn did you do?” - -I said, “I stuck out my tongue and made faces.” - -“That shows——” Pee-wee started. - -I said, “I went over to the coal-yard where the men were unloading coal -from the Drearie Railroad. I took a pail with me. It was enamel, all -nice and white. That’s why it was called pale—shut up everybody——” - -“Did I say anything?” Pee-wee hollered. - -“No, but you were going to,” I said. “I took the pail over to the -coal-yard and started calling names at the men and sticking out my -tongue at them and making faces. Then the men began throwing coal at me -and pretty soon I had a pailful. So, then, I took it to the poor family. -And that shows how a few hard names and ugly faces can bring much -happiness. But the trouble with Pee-wee is that he can never stick out -his tongue because it’s too busy.” - -Stella Wingate said, “Really?” - -“Absolutely, positively,” I said. “I can tell you lots of good turns -that we did.” - -“Don’t you believe a word he’s telling you!” Pee-wee shouted. - -“Don’t believe _him_,” I said. “He’s so dumb he’s named after a -dumb-waiter. He thinks that a somersault is a good turn.” - -By that time everybody was laughing because they like to see Pee-wee and -me in a mortal come-back—I mean combat. - -“Wait till I finish this jelly cone and I’ll tell you something,” the -kid shouted, all excited. “When I was trying to win the stromeny—wait a -minute—badge——” - -“He means the astronomy badge,” Warde said. - -“Sure,” I said. “He’s so dumb he thinks Warde is named after Ward’s -cake. When he was trying for the astronomy badge he thought William S. -Hart was a shooting star because he’s always aiming a couple of -pistols.” - -_“That shows——_” Pee-wee started. - -“He’s always thinking about shows,” Warde said. - -I said, “To show you how dumb he is, when he didn’t win the first aid -badge he said he was going to try for the second aid badge. When he was -trying for the life saving medal he thought a daring feat couldn’t be -performed with his arms. He thought only colored scouts could try for -the blacksmith badge. And to show you——” - -“Hurry, before he finishes the jelly cone he’s eating,” Brent said. “I -can feel the earth shaking under me.” - -“You’ve only got about five seconds,” Hervey said to me. - -Gee whiz, it was a race with Pee-wee’s mouth. He was getting the jelly -cone out of the way to start a converted attack, or a concerted attack, -or whatever you call it. - -“Give him another one—quick,” I said. Marjorie handed him a couple of -cones to keep him busy; she was laughing so hard she couldn’t speak. - -I said, “Just to show you how dumb he is, he thinks that a Star Scout is -one who has won the astronomy badge. He thinks that the Raven Patrol -that he’s in is named after him, because he’s always raving; I’ll leave -it to Brent.” - -Brent said, “Alas, it’s true. All joking aside, an Eagle Scout came from -Brooklyn last summer——” - -“I don’t blame him,” Hervey said. - -“That’s neither here nor there,” Brent said. - -“_Where is it then?_” Pee-wee yelled. - -Brent said, “The point is, our young hero thought that the youth in -question won the Eagle award by reading the _Brooklyn Daily Eagle_—and -that isn’t all.” - -“I never knew that,” Warde said. - -“It was common talk in camp,” Brent said. “But the worst is yet to -come.” - -“You’d better hurry up,” I said. - -“There isn’t another cone left,” Stella sang out. - -Brent said, “But all joking aside——” - -“Which side?” Hervey asked him. - -“To the left,” I said. - -“The left side, of course,” Brent said. “All joking to the left——” - -But that was as far as he got. Just then our young hero took the floor, -I mean the ground. Already he had taken most of the jelly cones. - -I said, “Stand aside, everybody.” - -“That shows you that they’re all crazy!” Pee-wee screamed. “Not only -they walk left-handed but they talk left-handed. They’d be tramping -around the lake yet if it wasn’t for a couple of girls. And Roy Blakeley -he writes all this crazy stuff up and has his picture on the cover of a -lot of books and you girls will be in the stories, too—you see. But over -in camp everybody says his whole patrol ought to be named the laughing -hyenas; they’re so crazy that they jolly themselves when they haven’t -got anybody else to jolly and they think it’s fun to tell a new -tenderfoot to go out in the woods and see if he can hear the birch bark -and invite a new troop up to their cabin and tell them there’s going to -be a racket up there and then show them a tennis racket and they told a -little fellow that wanted to play tennis where he could find a racket -and they told him to come where I was if he wanted a racket, because I -made rackets, and even Mr. Allison says that sometimes; they go too -far——” - -“That’s why we just kept going round and round the lake this time,” I -said. “Sometimes we go entirely too near; you as much as admitted it -yourself.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - ANCIENT HISTORY - - -Marjorie Eaton said, “Can you be serious for five minutes?” - -“How long?” Warde asked her. - -She said, “Long enough to tell us something about the scouts.” - -“You want a serial story about them?” Brent asked her. - -“We want a serious story about them,” she said. - -“That’s different,” I said. “Do you like pirate stories about them? -Because there is buried treasure hidden in Black Lake. That’s no joke, -it’s true—absolutely, posilutely. There’s a tin box at the bottom of -Black Lake containing about three hundred dollars. The people that -started Temple Camp sank a lot of money in the enterprise. We have -buried treasure and everything else at Temple Camp.” - -“You’re fooling,” Stella Wingate said. - -I said, “A scout’s honor is to be toasted; it’s positively true. There’s -a diagram in Administration Shack telling where it is—or isn’t, I don’t -know which.” - -Just then Brent Gaylong kind of touched me on the shoulder and I could -see that he winked at Pee-wee and Warde. He kind of put his arm over my -shoulder and led me away and said, “For goodness’ sake, don’t start that -buried treasure stuff, Roy. You’ll have Hervey diving in the middle of -the lake for it. You know how he is.” - -“He must know about it,” I said. - -“I don’t think he does,” Brent said. “Anyway, you know Tom Slade and -Uncle Jeb and the trustees want the fellows to forget about it. Whatever -you do don’t get Hervey started on that, whether he knows about it or -not. You know he can’t obey instructions, he just can’t, he’s built that -way. - -“The first thing you know he’ll be drowning himself or getting himself -dismissed from camp and we’ll be to blame. It’s like waving a red flag -in front of him. Nix on the buried treasure stuff; there’s plenty of fun -without that. I’m sorry you mentioned the diagram.” - -“All right,” I said, “let it go at that. I was just trying to get the -girls interested.” - -He said, “Well, let’s get them started on something else.” - -“Suits me,” I said; “one subject is as good as another if not better. -I’m sorry I put my foot in it.” - -“No harm done,” he said, “only let’s not follow it up. The buried -treasure is buried; let’s not follow it up.” - -“You mean follow it down,” I said. “It’s not troubling my innocent young -life, I know that.” - -That’s the way it is with Brent, he’s always thinking about what’s best -for other fellows. And, gee whiz, he knows Hervey Willetts like a book. -He was always a good friend to Hervey. Lots of times Hervey would have -gotten into trouble with his recklessness if it hadn’t been for Brent. -Tom Slade and the trustees liked Hervey well enough and they admitted he -was brave and reckless. But they were kind of sore at him because they -couldn’t manage him, and, gee whiz, you couldn’t blame them. Hervey was -kind of on the outs at camp except with just us few fellows and that’s -why he stuck with us. - -Now I’ll tell you about the buried treasure—that’s what we always called -it. It was a kind of a joke till little Skinny McCord nearly got drowned -trying to fish it up. Then the trustees said we should all forget it. -They put a notice on the bulletin board that there should be no more -fishing for it. - -That was two summers ago. It was before Hervey ever came to Temple Camp. -It was only just kind of like ancient history when he got there. I had -forgotten all about it because I have no use for ancient history -anyway—that and civil government. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - A STORY OF THE PAST - - -Now this is the story about the buried treasure. After the big fire at -Temple Camp three years ago (that’s when I was a tenderfoot, but I -wasn’t so awful tender) a lot of carpenters were working putting up new -buildings at camp. - -They built the cooking shack (that’s Pee-wee’s favorite building) and -the diving board (that’s my favorite building) and the observation tower -(that’s Hervey’s favorite building because he’s always on the top of it -taking chances and observations). - -They built the new Administration Shack too. That’s where the library -and the mail office are and it’s where the managers stay and it’s where -all the office business is. There are lots of pictures in there and -portfolios with maps in them and everything. One thing I don’t like -about it, it’s got a rug on the floor. - -One day—it was on a Saturday—Mr. Carson (he’s a trustee) and another man -who was a scoutmaster, went to Catskill to get the money out of the bank -to pay the workmen. They always brought it in a tin box. So now you -better look at the map. - -Instead of coming around to camp by the trail they rowed across the -lake. They started from a willow tree up near the outlet. That was where -they had left the boat on the way down to Catskill. You’ll see that -tree. The reason why they didn’t go around by the trail was because on -account of the mud. It had been raining all the time for about a week -and the trail was bad, especially in the woods. There were great big -puddles in the woods like young lakes. - -That afternoon when they came back it was very dark and while they were -coming across the lake toward camp all of a sudden a thunder-storm -started. Gee whiz, I can remember it because we were helping to pile up -lumber at the new landing, and the wind blew over a pile of boards. We -were just scooting for the pavilion when all of a sudden Worry Aiken (he -was in a troop from Vermont), he shouted, “_Look at the boat! Look at -the boat! Look at the boat!_” - -Oh, boy, I’ll never forget what we saw. The boat was about maybe two or -three hundred feet from the shore where the willow tree is. It was so -dark and the water was so all churned up like that we couldn’t see very -plain. But anyway it seemed to me the boat was upside down. - -I know one thing, I had a funny kind of a feeling, gee, I can’t tell you -about it, but I felt as if maybe I would see something later that I -didn’t want to see. It felt all kind of, you know, sort of like when -you’re in an elevator and it stops suddenly. - -The next thing I saw, a figure crawled up on the shore away over on the -other side. A scout said, “_Look!_” That was when I first saw it. It -looked black and low down like an animal. Then it seemed to stay still. - -I said, kind of whispered, I was so scared, “I don’t see the boat any -more.” - -Garry Everson (he comes from down the Hudson), he said, “It’s there, -look where the light is—just this side of the light.” - -Then I could see it. It was upside down. You could hardly tell it from -the water. There wasn’t anybody near it that I could see. Besides, I -couldn’t see the person on the shore any more. I felt as if pretty soon -I would hear of something terrible. - -Once in my class room a pupil had a kind of an attack on account of his -heart, and they carried him out. And they said we should go on with our -lessons, but anyway it seemed kind of funny and afterwards we found out -he was dead. So kind of that’s the same way I felt that afternoon. - -In about half a minute all the camp was down at the lake and everybody -was excited. Most all the kids were told to go in the pavilion. Tom -Slade had a big oilcloth hat, rubber boots and a lantern. He looked kind -of like a picture of a fisherman or a captain on a boat or something. It -kind of gave me thrills to see him because, gee whiz, that fellow always -knows what he’s about. - -I guess everybody knew what it meant. Mr. Whittaker (he’s a trustee) -called through the big megaphone, but there wasn’t any answer from -across the lake. - -Then several men started around by the trail—Tom Slade and Mr. Whittaker -and Uncle Jeb Rushmore, he’s manager. Some scouts started after them, -but they were chased back. We stood on the porch of the commissary shack -(you can see where that is) watching. Every now and then we could see -the light from Tom Slade’s lantern as they picked their way along the -trail through the woods. - -I guess it was about two hours before they came back. We just stood -around waiting for them. When they came, Uncle Jeb and another man were -carrying something on a canvas stretcher. That was Mr. Carson, and he -was unconscious. Mr. Kennekott, the man who had gone with him, was -drowned. He had got underneath the boat when it turned over and one of -his legs had been caught underneath the seat. Even when Mr. Carson was -better he didn’t know how he’d got to shore. - -After what happened the boat was blown out into the middle of the lake, -and some of them went out in another boat and towed it to the landing. -They found Mr. Kennekott caught underneath it. His leg was between the -middle seat and the floor. That seat was very low. The tin box with the -money must have gone down where the boat upset. - -There wasn’t much fun at Temple Camp after that. It was a kind of an off -summer anyway on account of the camp being sort of rebuilt. Mr. -Kennekott’s troop went away, and they have never come back to Temple -Camp. Jiminies, you can’t blame them. They were a nice troop, those -fellows. One of them had the bronze medal—he sat next to me at eats. - -The camp officials dragged the lake over on the other side, but they -never found the box. Mr. Temple, who founded the camp, he said they -shouldn’t worry. So that was the end of it except after a while scouts -began fishing for the box. Lots of them did that. They kidded themselves -that they were treasure hunters, I guess. I never did because it always -reminded me of what happened. - -Of course, it was too deep to dive over there, and there was a strict -rule against that. Because I’ll tell you why. There used to be houses -where Black Lake is and in some places old chimneys and things like that -stood on the bottom. And there’s a rule that we can only dive near the -landing. After a while the trustees made a rule that we shouldn’t even -go over there and grapple for the box. That was after little Skinny -McCord nearly got drowned. So that was the end of the whole thing. - -Most of the scouts that were at camp that year don’t come now and, gee -whiz, you hardly hear anybody speak about it any more. It just happened -to pop out of my head when we were talking with those girls. - -Now there’s one thing more I’ll tell you. You remember how one of the -scouts said the boat was near a light? When he was pointing it out to -me? That was only the reflection of a light away up on the mountain. - -There were two grown-up fellows who had a camp up in the mountain across -the lake from Temple Camp. Often we saw their camp-fire at night. They -had it burning that afternoon way, way up there. And it made a spot of -light down on the lake. It was right close to that spot of light that -the boat upset. That was what the fellow meant. It wasn’t really a -light, it was only a reflection. That summer those big fellows up in the -mountain went away, and they never came back again. Gee whiz, you can’t -exactly say that the reflection of a light is a scout sign. Because when -the light goes away the reflection goes away, too. - -So, after a while nobody seemed to know just where the boat upset. The -scouts who were there that summer knew. But after that it was a kind of -a—you know—a legend, sort of. I guess the trustees were glad of that -because scouts couldn’t go grappling any more. - -It was all nice and forgotten, sort of, when all of a sudden last -summer, Harry Donnelle came to see us at Temple Camp. He’s a big fellow -and he lives near me and he’s especial friends with my sister, only she -says I have to cross this part out, but I won’t do it. That fellow was -in the war, and he just didn’t get killed as many as four times. He’s -been in South Africa, too. His middle name is adventure. Gee whiz, I -hope he marries my sister. - -Anyway he heard about that accident because birds come and whisper -things to him, that’s what he says. Believe me, I think they shout at -him. Anyway he found out. So one dark, gloomy afternoon he took three of -us up to that old camp, and he made a couple of other fellows row around -in a boat down on the lake. - -They built a big fire up at the old camp in the mountain and then the -fellows in the boat noticed just where the reflection hit the water. -Then they made a kind of a diagram on a map of the lake that showed just -exactly where the boat upset. First they tried to drive a pole in, but -the lake was too deep. So then they made notes on the map and dotted -lines and everything that showed that the spot was in a line exactly -southeast of the willow tree, I don’t know how far. - -Gee whiz, there were going to be big doings next day—but that was the -end of it. And I guess the trustees were glad of it. That very same -night away went Harry Donnelle to Hudson Bay—he got a telegram, that’s -all I know. He forgot all about the buried treasure. Mr. Temple said -that was just like him. All he wanted was the fun of the thing. I bet -the trustees were glad when he went away. He sent me a post card from a -trading station in Hudson Bay. It had a picture of trappers on it and -everything and he didn’t say anything about this fine diagram. When he -came back he brought my father a bull moose’s head. - -I never saw that diagram, and I should worry about it, that’s what I -said. Because anyway the money didn’t belong to me. I always heard it -was in a big portfolio with a lot of other maps and things in -Administration Shack. I guess they kept it as a kind of a curiosity. - -Anyway nobody ever said anything about it. The buried treasure was dead -and buried and we should worry about it because, believe me, there’s -plenty to do at Temple Camp these days without going fishing with -grappling irons. I’d rather be jollying Pee-wee than doing that. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - WE MEET A STRANGER - - -I just thought I’d tell you about it so you’ll know. But I wasn’t -strolling around with Brent as long as it took to tell it. In a couple -of minutes we were back. - -He said, “Whatever you do don’t start that stuff with Hervey around. -First thing you know he’ll be getting himself in trouble. He’s just -about due for a new mix-up with the management.” - -I said, “You’re a nice one to be talking that way; you were with Harry -Donnelle all the time he was up here.” - -He said, “Yes, but now I have to mind the baby.” - -“All right,” I told him; “what you say goes.” - -From the looks of things it seemed as if none of the others had talked -about it, not even Pee-wee. He’s a wise little dumb-bell, I’ll say that -for him. So it was all right—for the time being. - -After a little while we said good-bye to the girls and started off again -on our left-handed hike. They went down to the shore with us and waited -while we fixed the boat up and put another plug in the bottom. It was a -wooden one. We don’t mind poverty, but rags we can’t stand—not in the -flooring of boats. - -Warde said, “We want to know where the lake is, inside the boat or -outside. We want it to be one place or the other.” - -Stella Wingate said, “If you were sea scouts you’d know that some kind -of a rag is necessary on _every_ boat in case you want to fly a signal -of distress.” - -“Sure,” I said; “every time you wave your signal the boat sinks. You -might as well take the rag without the boat when you’re sailing; that’s -logic.” Brent said, “That’s a very good suggestion.” The girls said they -were sorry to see us go. I told them to look the other way, and they -wouldn’t see it. They said we seemed to have a lot of fun. Brent was -awful funny. He shook hands with them very sober like and he said, -“There was a sameness in our lives till we met you. Life was just one -thing over and over again.” - -“And under,” I said. “Don’t forget our young hero.” - -“You girls changed the whole course of our lives,” Warde said. “You have -helped us to get somewhere in life. But we don’t know where.” - -They said, “Well, you’d better be starting or you’ll _never_ get back to -your camp. If you turn to the left at Brookside it will take you -straight to Greenvale. There you’ll find the first road to your left and -if you take that it will take you into Fox Trail that goes to the left -and that will bring you around this lake into the trail you’ve been -trying to get away from. So you can keep your resolution and get back to -your camp all right.” - -Brent said, “That’s just what we want, to get back into the trail we -want to get away from.” - -Marjorie Eaton said, “There’s a carnival at Greenvale, too.” - -“Can we get sodas there?” Pee-wee wanted to know. - -Marjorie laughed and said, “Yes, but I _think_ the soda booth is on the -right-hand side of the road.” - -“Foiled again,” I said. - -So then we started. We rowed along the shore toward the outlet. When we -came near to the outlet there was the willow tree I told you about. -Right near it stood a young fellow close to the shore. He was looking at -us and kind of waiting. - -The thing I noticed most about him was his eyes, because I couldn’t see -them. That was on account of his hat. One good thing, he had a nose -because that prevented his hat from falling down over his face. The -front of his hat rested right on his nose. He was a kind of a grown-up -fellow. His trousers were funny, they were tight at his knees, and then -they changed their mind and got wider down near the ground. He had on -low shoes—to match his brow, that’s what Brent said. Warde said, “Oh, -look at the sharpy.” - -“Is that what you call a cookie nibbler?” Brent wanted to know. - -I said, “Sure it is, it’s a regular one. They’re so stingy they wear -their hats down in front to save their eyesight.” - -“I didn’t know there were any of them running wild around here,” Brent -said. “Is it against the law to shoot them?” - -Jiminy, that cake-eater looked awful funny. He was a rare specimen, kind -of. His jacket was long, and it had slanting pockets in it. I don’t know -why they have pockets at all, those fellows. They carry crumbs instead -of dough, that’s what I heard. He had a kind of a shoe-lace disguised as -a necktie. - -Brent said, “I wonder where he spends his time.” - -“It’s about the only thing he does spend,” I said. “I’ve seen that -fellow before, I think he’s staying in Brookside. He goes to the dances -in Leeds and Catskills and Athens; I’ve seen him all over. He stands in -front of Bartlett’s store down in Catskill. He’s a he-hopper. Those -fellows let girls pay their own carfare.” - -Brent said, “They allow them on street cars then?” - -“Let’s row in and speak to him,” Warde said; “they’re tame, most of -them; they’re harmless except when you feed them cake.” - -“Sure,” I said; “let’s row in. He’ll talk to us. Why shouldn’t he? Talk -is cheap.” - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - A RARE SPECIES - - -We rowed close in shore near the outlet and the sharpy spoke to us -first. We rested on our oars a minute to talk with him. He had a funny -kind of a lisp in the way he talked. Not exactly a lisp, but sort of -like it. - -He said, “Are there any eels around here?” I suppose he wanted to be -introduced to them. - -Warde said, “I guess there are, but I don’t know whether they dance or -not.” - -He didn’t seem to mind that. He just said, “I heard there were eels in -here. It’s deep farther out from shore, isn’t it?” - -I said, “Sure it is, it’s what they call the perch-hole right out there. -I guess there are eels, too, but we never bother with them.” - -He kind of waited a minute, then he said, “That’s about where the -accident was, isn’t it? When the man got drowned?” - -“Good night,” I said to myself, “the cat is out of the bag.” - -Hervey said, “There have been four or five accidents.” By that I knew he -wasn’t thinking especially about any particular one. - -Brent said, “Yes, out there somewhere. There have been several drownings -in the lake.” - -We were just going to start to row away when the fellow said, “They ever -find the tin box?” - -“Not as I know of,” Brent said. - -“A chap in Brookside was telling me about it,” the sharpy said. “’Bout -three hundred bucks, I hear. They ever take any steps to get it?” - -“Can you beat that?” I whispered to Brent. “Right away he’s thinking of -new steps to take.” - -I said out loud, “Why don’t you go to the dance in Leeds to-night? They -take lots of steps there.” - -He didn’t get mad. He just said, “I should think you chaps would have -found it.” - -I said, “We should fret our young lives about it. I guess the eels have -spent it all by now.” - -He said, “You chaps must be a pretty slow crowd. I hear there’s a map -telling just where it is and everything. Why don’t you try your luck -some time or other? It wouldn’t cost you anything.” - -I whispered to Brent, “That’s why it appeals to him. Those fellows are -so cheap they won’t live anywhere except in a free country.” - -Brent gave me a look to say I should keep still. Then he said, “Who’s -been telling you fairy tales?” - -“What do you mean, fairy tales?” the strange fellow asked. - -“Oh, about maps and all that,” Brent said. - -It seemed to me as if the fellow was sorry he had said that about maps. -He just said, “Oh, I don’t know, you hear a lot about Temple Camp all -over. It’s the big show around here.” - -“Even in Europe they heard of us,” Pee-wee shouted. “It’s been in the -movies how we have pow-wows and war dances and things.” - -“Do you have them every week?” the sharpy asked us. - -“You mean the dances?” Brent said. “Sure, drop over some time.” - -I said, “We have them every Friday and a week from Wednesday. We always -wind up with an Indian dance named after the Indian motorcycle. We -always have a St. Vitus’ dance to close the season.” - -He just looked at us, I guess he didn’t know what to make of us. He -looked kind of as if he was trying to make out if we really had dances -over there. He said, “How do you get over there? Follow the trail -around?” - -“Sure,” Warde said. “Either way it takes you right there.” - -He just stared at us vacant like and fixed his collar all nice with his -left hand. “Any Janes?” he asked us. - -[Illustration: “ANY JANES?” HE ASKED US.] - -“You said it,” Warde told him. - -“You got a dance floor?” he wanted to know. I said, “No, we dance right -on the grass. It’s the latest craze; we’re known as grass-hoppers. -Didn’t you ever hear of the rubber band? They furnish the music.” - -Gee whiz, he didn’t seem to be mad at all. And he didn’t laugh either. I -guess he was really sorry thinking that maybe there were some dances -that he missed. Maybe he was sorry that he could only go to one at a -time. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - THIRTY-FOUR CENTS - - -We left him standing near the tree and started rowing through the -outlet. The right name of the outlet is Dawson’s Creek, but we always -call it the outlet. By that time it was late in the afternoon, and Warde -said if we were going to hike around the way the girls had said we ought -to telephone to camp. - -I said, “We can telephone when we get to Brookside.” - -“Well, let’s not forget to do it,” Brent said. - -“What about that tin box at the bottom of the lake?” Hervey asked. - -“I thought so,” Brent said, kind of laughing. “Forget it. Nobody knows -where it is. Maybe it isn’t. - -“The fellow said it had money in it,” Hervey said. “It’s not drawing any -interest down there.” - -Brent said, “Well, it’s not supposed to be attracting any interest up -here either, so forget it. There are nuts all over the country hunting -for Captain Kidd’s treasure.” - -“I’d like to dive for that,” Hervey said. - -“Oh, I suppose you would,” Warde told him. “You know there’s no diving -allowed away from the springboard. I’ll tell you where the tin box is if -you want to know; it’s in your head.” - -“It’s in the sharpy’s head too,” I said. - -Brent said, “Well, there’s plenty of room there for it. Let it stay -there.” - -“He said something about a map,” Hervey went on. - -“It’s going to be a nice moonlight night,” Brent said. - -“How do you suppose he knows about that?” Hervey asked. - -“How do we know?” I said. “I suppose he heard some talk somewhere.” - -“Maybe he knows more than he said,” piped up Pee-wee; “it’s kind of -mysterious. Maybe he’s a confederate of somebody, maybe. Maybe he had a -partner hiding. I bet he knows a lot.” - -“Sure,” I said, “partners is his middle name.” - -“Knows a lot is good,” said Brent laughing. - -“I’d like to make a try for that,” Hervey said. “It would be some -stunt.” - -“Are we going to take the first road to the left?” Brent asked. “Or are -we going to call it off and go back to camp?” - -“Answered in the affirmative,” I shouted. After that nothing more was -said about the accident and the tin box. I guess we all saw that Brent -wanted us to drop the subject. - -Hervey was busy trying to swing up into the branches of trees as we -passed through the outlet, so I guess he wasn’t thinking much about that -business either. It’s nice and dim in the outlet because the trees reach -all the way across it and in some places you can’t even see the sky. Two -or three times we had to backwater so as to take Hervey in again where -he was hanging from some tree or other. Once he hung upside down by his -feet. One place we saw a muskrat swimming across. - -Now when you row through the outlet after a while you come to a road -that branches away from the outlet to the left. That goes through -Brookside. So we drew the boat up there (that’s where the girls told us -to leave it) and started following that road. If it hadn’t been for our -trying to have some fun with Pee-wee when we got to Brookside, I guess -maybe this story would be nothing but nonsense from beginning to end. -But it turned out to be something else beside nonsense—you’ll see. - -In Brookside Warde said, “We’ll ’phone to camp here and get it off our -minds.” - -I said, “Sure, tell them not to expect us till they see us; maybe not -even then.” - -“And I’ll get a soda at the same time,” Pee-wee said. “I’ll treat one -fellow to soda because I’ve only got a quarter and a nickel and four -pennies.” - -I said, “After paying for two sodas you’ll look like a sharpy.” - -“Do you mean to tell me I don’t treat girls?” he shouted. “Lots of times -I treat girls! Sharpies never treat girls, that’s how you know them.” - -I said, “Oh, you’re a reckless little spender. The slot machines will -land you in the poorhouse some day.” - -“High-step Harris,” Brent said. - -“That’s better than the one-step,” I said. - -Hervey said, “We can’t ’phone here anyway, the ’phone is on the -right-hand side of the road. There are only two stores, and one’s a feed -store——” - -“What kind of feed?” Pee-wee shouted. - -“Oats,” Brent said. “Wild oats, the kind you sow, running wild with -thirty-four cents in your pocket. I suppose you’ll squander it on the -first flapper you meet.” - -“I’ll squander it right here in the drug store,” the kid shouted. “And -you needn’t go around telling people I don’t treat girls either.” - -“Oh, far be it from it,” I said; “only last week a girl told me you were -a treat.” - -We were just heading over to the drug store where the soda fountain and -the ’phone booth were when Hervey said, “Keep to the left.” So just for -the fun of it, to keep Pee-wee from getting a soda we followed along -after Hervey. - -Brent said, “Honest, fellows, I think we ought to ’phone to camp.” - -“Duty is duty,” Hervey said, awful funny; “keep to the left; - - “When you go on a hike just you mind what I say, - The right way to go is the opposite way. - - Don’t bother with drug stores but follow this song, - If you turn to the right, then you’re sure to go wrong.” - -Brent just kind of laughed and followed along after Hervey. I had to -laugh, too, to hear him shouting about duty. I guess we all knew that we -ought to ’phone to camp. And I guess we all knew Hervey didn’t want us -to ’phone to camp. I guess he thought they’d only tell us to come home -if we ’phoned. He wasn’t hunting for trouble, that fellow. - -But anyway it was so funny to see Pee-wee following along after us with -a terrible scowl on his face, and looking over at the drug store, that -we just couldn’t help hiking right along. - -“A scout’s honor,” Hervey said. - -Gee whiz, I had to laugh at him. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - OUR FAVORITE OUTDOOR SPORT - - -“_Absolutely, positively_, I’m going to get a soda the next place we -come to,” Pee-wee shouted. - -“I don’t blame you,” Warde said. - -“The next place is Greenvale,” Brent said, “and absolutely, positively, -we’re going to ’phone from there.” - -“They’ll only tell us to come in, come in wherever we are,” Hervey said. - -“No, they won’t either,” Brent told him. “You’d like to get yourself and -this whole party in wrong with the management. What’s the good of doing -that? All they want to know is where we are. I’ll ’phone; you leave it -to me, it’ll be all right. Then we can take in the carnival at -Greenvale. We can eat at the carnival.” - -“Hunting for trouble,” Hervey said. - -“You’re the one that’s always hunting for trouble,” Warde told him. - -“_I’m_ hunting for eats, I know that,” Pee-wee piped up. - -“Is it possible?” I said. - -“Suppose there are no eats at the carnival,” the kid said, “what are we -going to do? Then we can’t get anything till morning, because there are -no more towns after that and Chocolate Drop will be asleep when we get -to camp.” - -I said, “Didn’t you tell us once a scout never has to starve? That he -can cook moss and make stew out of sassafras and birch bark and maple -gum and cobble-stones and things. All we have to do is to squeeze the -juice out of a couple of hunks of granite and stew up some willow twigs -and sprinkle dirt over them like Daniel Boone used to do, _I don’t -think_, in Wilderness Lore page two hundred fifty-’leven for the -information of maniacs that get lost in the woods of Maine.” - -“That shows how much you know about—about—nature—nature’s resources!” -the kid screamed. - -All the while we were hiking along the road and all the fellows were -laughing like they always do when Pee-wee and I are engaged in mortal -come-back. He knows how to make nature yield—you know, all that kind of -stuff. He can’t starve when he’s crossing a vacant lot, he can make -table d’hote dinners out of roots like hunters lost in darkest Africa. -If it gets chilly he can make Chile sauce out of the weather. _Some -scout._ He’s so hungry he swallows everything he reads. He can find his -way in the back yard by noticing the angle of an angleworm. - -I said, “If they don’t have any pop-corn at the carnival, we should -worry. We can just take some holes and tie them together and make a fish -net and catch some fish in the forest.” - -“You think you’re very smart,” he shouted. “You think the Catskills are -a trackless wilderness. Those things are for when you’re in trackless -wildernesses. I suppose you don’t know what unfathomable depths are,” he -hollered at me. - -“I wouldn’t know one if I met it in the street,” I said. “But I never -said that a large school of fish is a college.” - -“_Did I say that?_” he fairly yelled. - -“Sure, you told Mary Temple,” I said. “You told her a blazed trail is -one that’s on fire.” - -“_You’re crazy!_” he screamed. - -“Don’t you suppose I know that?” I said. - -“_You know you’re crazy!_” he screeched triumphantly. - -“Absolutely,” I said. “That shows you’re wrong as usual when you say I -don’t know anything.” - -“Knowing you’re crazy isn’t knowing anything,” he screamed. “Do you call -that logic?” - -“Let up,” Brent started laughing. “Here’s a sign—School Go Slow.” - -“A school?” I said. “Believe me, I’ll not only go slow, I’ll stop -altogether. I’ll even go the other way.” - -“Keep to the left,” Hervey said. - -I guess by this time you’re beginning to see how crazy we are. No wonder -the squirrels eat out of our hands. They think we’re nuts. I guess we -ought to be called the Cuckoo Patrol. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - HUNTING FOR TROUBLE - - -But anyway this story isn’t all nonsense, and you’ll see it isn’t. And -you’ll see that a tangled trail can be something else than just a crazy -left-handed hike, too. - -On the road to Greenvale we passed a summer boarding-house named Shady -Villa. There was a big sign across the private roadway to it. Hervey -reached up with a muddy stick (that fellow always carries a stick) and -marked an N after Villa. “Shady Villan,” he said. - -“Rub that out,” Brent said. “If you don’t know how to spell villain I -wouldn’t advertise it to the whole world. That’s the trouble with you, -you’re always having bad spells.” - -We sat on the railing there and watched some people playing tennis. Gee -whiz, it made me wish for a game. It was just kind of before twilight, -and the sun was a great big red ball. - -For a little while I sort of wished we were on our way to camp instead -of on our way away from it. It seemed funny not to be going home at that -time. Suppers are dandy at Temple Camp. I don’t know, I felt a little -funny because it seemed as if we had no right to keep going like that as -long as the day was over. I kind of wished we had ’phoned at Brookside. -I could see Brent was a little worried too. He said, “Come on, let’s -beat it for Greenvale and find a ’phone.” - -The only one that didn’t care was Hervey. Because he never cares. He -just thinks about what’s happening and not about what’s going to happen. -No one can change him, that’s what Uncle Jeb says. A lot of times he has -been in trouble on account of that. Even then he was on probation, but -he should worry, because he was having plenty of fun. “One place is as -good as another, if not better,” that’s what he says. - -Once he stayed all night at a gypsy camp, and once he rode up to Albany -with a peddler. Outside of us his best friend was Sandwich, because -Sandwich didn’t have any rules. He’d leave any of us to follow Hervey. - -So we started off again, and it was about half-past six when we got to -Greenvale. - -Hervey said, “Foiled again, the ’phone is on the right, it’s in the -station.” - -“I’m going to get a chocolate sundae,” Pee-wee called out. - -“You can’t,” Warde told him. “There are no Sunday trains. Stung again. -This is a good place to eat supper, we can just sit down around the -time-table.” - -“No stops,” Hervey said, hiking right along. “Carnival next stop.” - -“Just a minute,” Brent said; “we’re going to ’phone from that station.” - -“And be ordered home,” Hervey said. “Nix on that.” - -“We’re going to ’phone,” Brent said, “so that settles it.” - -“It settles us, all right,” Hervey said. He didn’t seem mad or -disgruntled, he seemed just happy-go-lucky, the way he always is. Anyway -I couldn’t see that he was sore about it. The kid was sore because he -couldn’t get a soda, but Hervey wasn’t. When I thought about it -afterward—after what happened—I remembered that he wasn’t mad. I guess I -never saw him really mad anyway. He just said, “We’re making the mistake -of our lives, Gaylong. Safety first.” - -“That’s just what I say,” Brent laughed. - -“If it’s got to be did, I’ll did it,” said Hervey. And he just kept on -marching right around and over toward the station. - -Warde said, “You ought to be the one to talk, Brent.” - -“What’s the difference?” Brent said. Then he called, “Hey, Hervey, do -you know what number to ask for?” - -“I’ll ask her what number she’s got,” he called back. “I’ll pick out a -nice one.” - -“Tell them we’re going to the carnival in Greenvale if it’s all right,” -Brent called to him. “Tell them we’ll be home at about eleven.” - -“Better make it twelve, hey?” Hervey called. “I’ll make it one, that’s -easier to remember.” - -“Eleven, I said,” Brent called. “Ask for Leeds two-seven.” - -“All right, old Doctor Gaylong,” Hervey called back. - -“That’s just like him,” Warde said. “He doesn’t even know the camp’s -’phone number.” We all sat on the fence across the road from the station -and waited. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - THE FLAPPER AND THE FLOPPER - - -In a minute or so Hervey came sailing out of the station with a funny -kind of a hop, skip and jump that he has. He’s always doing that. He -reached up and gave the telephone sign a good swing as he passed it. He -had queer kind of bright eyes, Hervey had; all the scouts said so. I -don’t know what it was about them. They were gray color and awful -bright. I noticed them as he came over toward us that night. He was -laughing and he said, “All right-o.” - -“What’d they say?” Brent asked him. - -“All right-o,” Hervey said again. - -“Who’d you talk with?” Brent asked him. - -“Who’d I talk with?” - -“Yere.” - -“Oh, I talked with a fellow, a scout,” Hervey said, sort of careless -like. - -For a couple of seconds it seemed to me that Brent would go over to the -station himself. But I guess he didn’t want to hurt Hervey’s feelings. -He just said, “What was his name?” - -Hervey said in that happy-go-lucky way he has, “His name? Let’s see, his -name was Wilkins. He said he’d tell the keepers.” Hervey always called -the officials of Temple Camp keepers. The more he knew we didn’t like it -the more he did it. - -Brent said kind of serious-like, “You talked to a scout by the name of -Wilkins and told him we were going to the carnival and would get back -about eleven?” - -“Precisely, exactly.” - -“And he said he’d tell the management?” - -“Precisely, exactly.” - -“Just what did he say?” - -“He said ‘All right.’ I bet I can kick that telephone sign down if I -take a good running jump.” - -“All right, let’s beat it for the carnival,” Brent said. “Let’s leave -the sign where it is.” - -“Just as you say, Doc,” Hervey said. - -All the way to the carnival, Brent was kind of quiet. But Hervey, he -should worry. He was doing a new kind of scout pace, it was awful funny. -The thing that stopped Brent from being kind of sober and worried -happened at the carnival. After that everything seemed all right again. -It was all on account of Pee-wee. - -The carnival was on the left-hand side of the road but I guess we would -have gone to it anyway because we were hungry. Any port in a storm, -that’s what Brent said. We had some frankfurters and, yum, they went -good. Brent treated to them. - -There were lots of city people at that carnival, because Greenvale is a -kind of a young city. It has a high school up on the hill. I suppose -that’s why they call it high. It has movie shows and everything. - -In the field where the carnival was, was an old sign that said Earth -For Sale. That shows how important Greenvale is. They thought they -owned the earth. The field was all dolled up and there were a lot of -booths and a merry-go-round and ten cent shows and everything. There -were lots of people there wandering around. - -At the edge of the field, near where the road was, were two or three -houses. There were men selling things on the back porches of those -houses. There was a sign on one of them and it said Hot Waffles and -Honey, 15 Cents. There were three or four tables on the porch and a -kind of a counter inside. There was a fat man who I guess owned the -place. He had a big white apron on. There was an Italian boy who was -waiting on people too. All along the railing of the porch and even -inside of the room were more signs. They said De-licious. They Melt in -Your Mouth. Real Southern Waffles. The Kind That Mammy Used to Make. -Here They Are, as Sweet as Sugar, as Soft as Snowflakes. - -Pee-wee said, “I’m going to get some of those.” - -I guess we would all have bought some because, yum, yum, they smelled -good, but all of a sudden, Pee-wee started ahead of us, pell-mell, for -the building. “I’m going to get two helpings,” he shouted; “I’ve got -thirty-four cents.” Just then, kerplunk, down he went sprawling on the -ground. - -“Going down,” Warde said. - -“Did you know you fell?” I called to him, just as he was scrambling up -again. “Do you need any first aid or would you prefer orangeade?” - -“It’s a rope from that tent,” he shouted. “I tripped over it.” - -Before we could reach him a girl went running up to him calling, “_Oh, -did you hurt yourself?_” She began brushing him off and asking him if he -hit his head and kept on brushing him off all the time, straightening -his scarf and everything like that. “Oh, you tore your stocking,” she -said. “Isn’t that a perfect shame!” She was a regular little finale -hopper, that girl. She had on one of those hats, whatever you call it, -and everything. She had on sandals, she had bobbed hair too. - -When we reached the scene, Pee-wee was just standing there letting her -brush him off. - -Warde said, “That’s the way with him, he falls for everything. He fell -for waffles and then he fell for a rope.” - -I said, “Look at the hole in your stocking. Where’s the part where the -hole is? Look around on the ground.” - -“Don’t you mind them, they’re crazy,” Pee-wee said. - -Brent said to the rest of us, “You shouldn’t laugh at a fellow because -he’s down.” - -“Most always he’s up in the air,” I said. - -“Don’t you mind them,” the girl said. - -“Do you think I’d mind them?” Pee-wee shouted. “They think they’re -having adventures, but they’re crazy.” - -“I wouldn’t lower myself as you do,” Warde said. - -“He thinks that’s a joke,” the kid said. “They start on a trip——” - -“Don’t talk about trips,” I said. “Yours was the best one I ever saw.” - -“Did you hurt yourself, kid?” Brent asked him. - -I said, “Your stocking looks like a corkscrew.” - -“Don’t pay any attention to them,” the girl said. - -Pee-wee said, “I wouldn’t bother my head about them; come on and I’ll -treat you to waffles.” - -“Are we in on this?” I asked him. - -“No, you’re not,” he said. “Come on and I’ll treat you to waffles,” he -said to the girl. “They make me tired.” - -“Why do you eat them, then?” I said. - -“I think it’s awfully nice of you,” the girl said. - -I said, “Oh, that’s nothing, he’s a rising young scout. Didn’t you just -see him rise? If you want to see him at his best go and have some -waffles with him.” - -“Will they mind?” she said to Pee-wee. - -“What do you care if they mind or not?” Pee-wee said. “Will you come?” - -She said, “If—I don’t know—if you think they won’t mind—if you really -want me to.” - -“Absolutely, positively,” I said. “Take him away from us a little while. -The pleasure is ours.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - RESOURCES AND THINGS - - -“What—do—you—know—about—that?” Warde said. - -“We’re too slow for _him_,” said Hervey. “Let’s climb up on the roof -while we’re waiting.” - -“Let’s not,” Brent said. - -“Isn’t he the gallant little scout?” Warde said, laughing all the while. - -“What do you suppose came over him?” said Brent. - -“I guess he wants to show that he’s not a sharpy, that’s all I can make -of it,” I said. “He didn’t lose much time. He’ll have four cents when he -comes out.” - -We all laughed, it seemed so funny. Then we all tiptoed up onto the -porch and looked in through a window that was open. I could hardly keep -a straight face to see him in there sitting at a table opposite that -flapper. His feet were up on a cross-piece under the chair and he was -studying the menu card with a terrible scowl on his face. One stocking -was all screwed around from his grand flop. - -The girl wasn’t any bigger than he was. Brent said she was a flapper in -the chrysalis stage. He gave one look and turned away with his hand over -his mouth. - -Hervey said, “Shall I plug him with a pop-corn ball?” - -“You keep the pop-corn in your pocket,” Brent whispered. - -“Don’t spoil the show,” I said. - -By that time the Italian boy was standing by the table waiting. Pee-wee -looked as if _he_ should worry about the Italian boy. I think there -wasn’t anything on that card but maybe about two things, but Pee-wee -kept studying it. Pretty soon the waiter went away and came back with -two waffles on two plates and a little jar of honey. Then they started -eating. - -“What do you think of it?” Warde asked. - -“It’s a scene that none but an artist could paint,” Brent said. - -“Keep still, don’t laugh,” Warde said to me. - -Pretty soon we could hear Pee-wee telling the girl about the scouts. He -told her they have to be shivellers. - -“Do you suppose she knows he means chivalry?” Warde asked us. - -“Hsh, keep still,” Brent whispered. “Listen.” He caught Hervey by the -arm; I guess he was afraid Hervey was going to throw something. - -“They have to be thrifty,” we could hear Pee-wee saying; “so that’s why -they always have money. They don’t need it because they can depend on -nature, but they have it because they’re thrifty. In the forest you need -a lot of lore and things like that. A sharpy, he’d starve in the forest, -but I wouldn’t.” - -“Can you picture him starving,” I whispered to Brent. - -“Cake-eaters, they never have any money,” Pee-wee said. - -“They never treat,” the girl said. - -“Sometimes they even make girls treat,” Pee-wee said. “Do you call that -being a shiveller?” - -The girl said, “I should say not. I know a boy and when he took me to -have refreshments, he dropped a penny in a slot and got a piece of -chocolate and broke it in half. He called that refreshments.” - -“A scout can make a light in the dark even if he hasn’t got any -matches,” Pee-wee said. “Do you know what phosphates are?” - -“You mean orange phosphates and lemon phosphates?” the girl asked him. - -“N-o-o-o,” Pee-wee said, very lofty like. “It’s something you can make -light with in the pitch dark. If you’re going to be a scout you have to -have a lot of resources. Nature, you have to be able to kind of boss -it.” - -The girl looked as if she didn’t see how any one could do that. She -said, “If you’re bossy I don’t like you.” - -“I don’t mean I’d boss you,” Pee-wee said. “I’d only boss nature. The -woods—you know—and the stars and things like that.” - -“Mr. Silly, you couldn’t boss the stars,” the girl said. - -“That shows how much you know about the stars being guides,” he said. -“Maybe on another planet there are scouts. Maybe there are Boy Scouts of -Mars. And maybe to-night they’re taking a hike on Mars and maybe they’re -following this earth, maybe it’s guiding them. See? Right while we’re -sitting here eating waffles maybe some scouts are following this earth. - -“Maybe this earth doesn’t look bright to us while we’re sitting here -eating waffles, but just the same that’s the color of it when you get -billions and billions of miles away. Maybe it’s in their handbooks, how -do we know? Right now this minute while I’m sitting on it taking this -mouthful, maybe it’s leading them out of the woods to safety. See?” - -“I think you’re just too silly,” she said. - -Gee whiz, when I thought of Pee-wee sitting on the earth eating a waffle -and a lot of scouts on Mars following him around I couldn’t keep a -straight face. I whispered to Brent, “If they’re anything like him up -there they’d be following the waffle, not the earth.” - -“Shh, keep still,” Brent said. - -“Shiveller guided to safety by a waffle,” Warde whispered. - -Just then the fat man who ran the place came sailing out through the -door with a great big trayful of waffles. I guess he was going around -the grounds selling them. “Out from under,” he said to us. He was a nice -kind of a man. - -Now the way I remember it, it was right away after that Warde said, “The -earth seems to be having an eclipse.” - -“What do you know?” I whispered. Because inside the light seemed to be -getting dim all of a sudden. “I hope he has some phosphates in his -pocket,” I said. It was awful funny, the light seemed to be just getting -dimmer and dimmer. “Pity the poor scouts on Mars,” I said. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - FLOP NUMBER TWO - - -Warde said, “The plot seems to be getting thicker. What’s the matter?” - -“The lights are slowly and peacefully going out,” I whispered. “I don’t -know where they’re going.” - -“They ought not to be allowed out after nine o’clock,” Hervey said. - -“I don’t know what kind of parents they can have,” Brent whispered. - -“Will they come back, I wonder?” Hervey said. - -“Not if they’re anything like you,” I said. “They’ll probably stay out -all night.” - -“Oh, the lights are going out,” we could hear the girl say. “Where’s Mr. -Sorronto?” I guess she lived around there; anyway she seemed to know the -man. - -“He—he’s gone out too,” Pee-wee said. “You mean the fat man?” - -She said, “The meter needs a quarter in it. We have one like that in my -house.” - -“I’ll put a quarter in,” Pee-wee said, “and he can give it to me when he -gets back. Where’s the meter?” - -“Some little hero?” Brent whispered. - -All the while the light was getting dimmer and dimmer, and the kid kept -fumbling around in his pocket. “I got a quarter,” he said. - -He could just about see the passageway that led down to the cellar, it -was so dim by that time, but he started for it very proud and -swagger-like. We could hear him tramping down the stairs as if he were -going to kill a couple of dragons like the “shivellers” of old. - -“He thinks he’s a knight of the square table or something or other,” -Warde said. “Sir Writing-pad or whatever his name was.” - -Pretty soon, zip, up went the lights again and we knew our young hero -had tracked the quarter meter to its lair. He came swaggering back again -and sat down at the table. - -“He can even make lights out of quarters,” I said. - -In about five minutes the two of them got up and the waiter gave Pee-wee -a check. I guess that was what reminded him that he only had nine cents -in his pocket. All of a sudden he looked funny—kind of blank. - -“I’ll give you five cents,” he said to the boy, “and you can get the -quarter from the boss when he comes back. I put a quarter in the meter.” - -“You payer de mun,” the boy said, very suspicious. - -“I paid it already to the meter,” Pee-wee said. - -“You payer de mun now; no go meet ’er,” the boy said. - -Pee-wee kept fumbling in his pockets; he looked awful funny. Then he sat -down again and the girl sat down too and they just sat there looking at -each other. - -“I have to wait till the man comes back so he can give me the quarter I -dropped in the meter,” Pee-wee said. “Anyway, we’re not in a hurry, are -we? Because anyway, he’ll be back very soon. And anyway I ought to wait -and tell him what I did, hey? That’s only right. If I paid that boy now -and went away the man might wonder who was tampering with his property -and going into his cellar and everything. Scouts, they have to be -careful about those things—I have to tell him what I did—See? You see -how it is?” - -“I think it’s poky sitting here,” the girl said. “We can hear the music -here all right,” Pee-wee said. “You can always hear music better at a -distance—you ask anybody.” - -The waiter boy walked away, all the while keeping his eye on Pee-wee. He -didn’t seem to understand but anyway he wasn’t going to let those two -get away. I had to laugh to see how he went over and sat behind the -counter and kept his eye on them. - -“Gee whiz, one thing,” Pee-wee said; “I’m good and sore from falling -down; my leg is stiff; maybe I ought to rest anyway, hey?” - -The girl said, “They’re dancing over in the pavilion. Why can’t we go -over there? It’s so poky sitting here. I want to have a dance. I know -all the boys over there.” - -“Do you mean to tell me you’d dance right after eating waffles?” the kid -said. “Gee, that shows you don’t know what’s good for you. A scout isn’t -supposed to hike right away after eating—gee whiz, you ask anybody.” - -“I don’t want to ask anybody,” the girl said. - -“Mr. Sorronto is selling things over at the pavilion and he won’t come -back till the dancing is all over. He’s got a whole big pile of things -on his tray. He won’t come back till the intermission. I’m just -_longing_ to have a dance,” she said. “I don’t see why you don’t come -back later and tell Mr. Sorronto. He’ll be only too glad to give you -back your twenty-five cents.” - -“There might be a lot of reasons,” Pee-wee said. “Maybe the place might -be closed when I come back. Now I see I had—maybe I didn’t have any -right to do that. Do you mean to say I ought to sneak off?” - -All the while the waiter kept his eye on them, and the girl was kind of -sulky. She wasn’t mad, but just a little sulky. She wanted to go away, I -could see that. She just pouted and said, “It’s poky sitting here after -we’re all finished.” - -Pee-wee said, “You’ll feel more like dancing if you have a good rest.” - -“They’re playing a fox-trot,” the girl said. - -“I know all about foxes,” Pee-wee said. “Do you want me to tell you -about them?” - -_Oh, boy_, I nearly died laughing. Brent had to put his hand over my -mouth and Warde had to put his hand over Hervey’s mouth. There sat the -kid with a terrible, heroic scowl on his face, and his feet kind of -locked in the legs of the chair, and only nine cents in his pocket, and -the girl looking at him and waiting, and the Italian keeping his eye on -him, and the dancing going on over at the pavilion, and Mr. Sorronto -lost in the shuffle. I don’t know where he was, he just forgot to come -back, I guess. Poor kid, but just the same I couldn’t help laughing. It -wouldn’t have bothered a sharpy much. He’d have made her pay the -quarter, _he_ should worry. I know sharpies, all right. - -All of a sudden, Hervey Willetts broke loose. He went sailing into the -room with that funny hop, skip and jump he has, and went winding in and -out among the tables, and just as he was passing Pee-wee he grabbed him -by the hand and began shaking it and saying, “H’lo, Scout Harris, I -haven’t seen you in quite a while.” All the while he kept on going and -went winding in and out among the tables and out through the door again. -But I noticed Pee-wee had something in his hand under the table and I -knew it was money. - -“All right, if you don’t want to wait, I’ll pay him now,” Pee-wee said. -“Gee whiz, it doesn’t make any difference to me.” Then I could see from -the change he got that Hervey must have passed him a five dollar bill. -That was the day he got his allowance from home; he got it every two -weeks. I know he must have got it that very day or he wouldn’t have had -it all still in his pocket. That was Hervey all over, reckless and -careless. - -Gee, I thought about that a lot later, especially after what happened -pretty soon. Because while the four of us were standing outside -laughing, he was the one to break loose and go to Pee-wee’s rescue. And -he did it in a way so the girl would never know. I heard her say to -Pee-wee, “That boy’s just a silly.” - -But, jiminies, I can see him now the way he went in and out among those -tables. He can’t do things like other people, he just _can’t_. -Afterwards he told us that was called the Tangled Trail. Gee whiz, -little we thought that pretty soon he’d be on a real tangled trail. -Little we thought when we were all the time saying, “the plot grows -thicker,” how pretty soon it would really grow thicker—for Hervey -anyway.... - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - - THE BLACK SHEEP - - -We all went over and watched the dancing a little while and then we -started home. Pee-wee’s vamp (that’s what we called her) disappeared -forever in the wild and woolly dancing pavilion. Pee-wee never saw her -more—that’s what Brent said. - -“I wonder how the sharpy happened to miss the carnival,” Warde said. -“He’ll die of shock when he hears there was dancing there.” - -“Come on,” Brent said, “we’ve got to hustle.” - -“It’s early yet,” Hervey said. - -“Yes, it’ll be early in the morning pretty soon,” Brent said. - -Hervey just started singing: - - “Early to bed and early to rise, - And you’ll never meet any regular guys.” - -He should worry. - -We followed the Greenvale road to where Fox Trail branches out from it -to the left. But anyway I guess the left-handed hike was off for that -night. We dropped it, and if you pick it up you can have it—we don’t -want it. - -It was pretty dark and spooky along Fox Trail; it runs through the -woods. It isn’t a regular road at all. That took us into the trail -around the lake again; you’ll see where if you look at the map. And that -trail took us into Cabin Lane right near the Main Pavilion. And there we -were back at camp again. If it hadn’t been for Sandwich we might have -been hiking around the lake yet and we might have starved just going -round in a circle and that’s why I have so much respect for sandwiches, -because they remind me of the little dog that saved our lives, -especially tongue sandwiches. - -There was only one light in camp and that was in Administration Shack. I -thought it was funny because mostly there isn’t any light at all late at -night. The lake looked awful black and the reflection of the light in -Administration Shack showed away off on the water. It seemed like two -lights. We went hiking up the porch of Administration Shack as bold as -could be, with Hervey singing that crazy song: - - “When you go on a hike just you mind what I say, - The right way to go is the opposite way. - - If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake, - Choose a road, and the _other’s_ the one you should take. - - Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song, - If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong. - - You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike, - But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.” - -Around he marched to the door singing a lot of other crazy stuff he knew -that goes like this: - - For up to twelve o’clock it’s late, - Yes, up to twelve o’clock it’s late; - It’s very late, - It’s very late; - Observed his father, surly. - - So I’ll stay out till after one, - Oh, I’ll stay out till after one, - Replied his very wise young son; - For after one it’s early. - -In we went, pell-mell, and there was Mr. Arnoldson (he’s a resident -trustee) sitting at the table reading a magazine. He just laid it down -and looked at us and said very sober, “Well, what’s the big idea?” - -I could see something was wrong; I knew he had been sitting up waiting -for us. - -“We’ve been to the carnival in Greenvale,” Brent said. “Some crazy day -we’ve had.” - -Mr. Arnoldson just said, “Hmph. Your idea, Willetts?” - -“Why pick on me,” Hervey said. - -“I guess we were all equally crazy,” Brent laughed. - -Mr. Arnoldson said, “Well, I suppose you’re all equally reprehensible -then. You scouts know the rules of this camp, don’t you? You know you’re -supposed to be here at supper and afterward unless you have special -permission to be away. Who gave you permission?” - -Brent just said, kind of surprised, “Why, I thought it would be all -right if we ’phoned. You said so yourself once.” - -“You needn’t tell me what I said,” Mr. Arnoldson shot back at him. “Do -you want me to understand that you ’phoned to camp?” - -Brent was sort of a little mad. He said, “I don’t care what you -understand, Mr. Arnoldson, and I think it’s all right to remind you that -you said if scouts were going to stay out they must ’phone. We did -’phone. And we thought that would be all right.” - -“At what time did you ’phone?” he asked us. - -“At about half-past six,” Brent said. - -“From where?” - -“From the railroad station at Greenvale.” - -That seemed to be a poser to him; he just drummed on the table and -looked at all of us. - -“Which one of you ’phoned?” he asked. - -“Hervey ’phoned,” Brent said. - -“Eh huh, I thought so,” Mr. Arnoldson said, with a kind of a funny -smile. “Who did you talk to, Willetts?” - -“A scout named Wilkins,” Hervey said. - -“Ask him his name?” - -“How do you suppose I found out?” Hervey said. “I didn’t want to ’phone, -I’ll tell you that much. I didn’t care so much.” - -“Don’t, Hervey,” Brent said in a low tone. - -“I should bother,” Hervey said. - -“Bother about whether you tell the truth or not? That what you mean?” -Mr. Arnoldson asked him. Then he said, “Any of you fellows see him -’phone?” - -“No, we waited outside,” Brent said. - -“Ah, yes,” Mr. Arnoldson said with a kind of a smile. “Well now,” he -said, and he clapped his hand down on the table, “there was no ’phone -message received at this camp from any of you boys this evening.” - -“You sure of that?” Brent asked. - -“_Absolutely_,” Mr. Arnoldson said. “And there is no scout or anybody -else at this camp by the name of Wilkins. I’m sorry for you four boys, -Harris and Blakeley and Hollister and Gaylong, you were duped. It’s all -right, go to bed and forget it. Willetts, you’re a liar and we don’t -want any liars at this camp. You not only try to fool the management and -disobey rules, but you fool your comrades. You thought we’d call you in -if you ’phoned. And you knew these boys wouldn’t stay out without -’phoning. So you put one over on them; you lied to them. I was going to -give you all a good calling down and then turn in because I’m sleepy. A -good calling down wouldn’t have killed you.” - -“Gee whiz, it wouldn’t kill me,” Pee-wee said. - -“Now you four turn in and forget it,” Mr. Arnoldson said. “And you, -Willetts, had better go up where your troop bunks, if you know where -that is, and pack up your stuff and get out of here in the morning. And -don’t ever show your face in Temple Camp again. Don’t talk back, and cut -out the bravado; there’s the door, get out of my sight.” - -Hervey just stood there gulping. I was glad he wasn’t able to speak -because he would only have started swearing. He doesn’t care much what -he says, sometimes. Anyway before he got a chance I kind of got hold of -him and led him out through the door onto the porch. The others came -out, too, but none of them spoke to him except Pee-wee. He said, “Good -night, Hervey, and anyway I like you.” Hervey didn’t say anything, -didn’t even answer him. Brent and Warde started down Cabin Lane, but -neither of them spoke to him. Brent made out not to see him at all. - -Gee, I hated to leave him that way. I waited and said, “Hervey, don’t -you care, maybe a camp like this isn’t the best place for you. I know -most of the things you do you don’t stop to think. You wanted us to keep -going and I’m not holding it against you. I know you’re reckless and you -don’t think. Don’t you care because you’d never get along here anyway. I -know the good side of you.” - -“Do you think I’m a liar?” he asked me. - -“No, I don’t,” I said. “Just that once——” - -“Do you think I lied just that once?” he said. “Why should I lie? I’m -not afraid of Arnoldson and that bunch. I’ve stayed away a dozen times, -haven’t I? I never lied about it.” - -I had to smile a little because it seemed as if he was even proud of it. -I said, “No, I know you don’t care about the management. If you did—sort -of fool Brent—it was for our sakes—so we could keep on having fun.” - -“Well, I either lied or I didn’t,” Hervey said. - -“I know that,” I said, “but I’m thinking of a lot of things the others -don’t think of——” - -“_So am I_,” said Hervey. - -“Never you mind,” I said. - -Just then the light inside went out and I started away, because I guess -I didn’t want Mr. Arnoldson to come out and see me talking with Hervey. -I’m ashamed to admit it, but that’s the way I felt. - -As I walked along Cabin Lane to where our troops bunk I noticed that the -reflection out on the water was still there even after the light in -Administration Shack was out. But I was too sleepy and I was feeling too -bad to think about that. - -[Illustration: map - -I made this map and it isn’t much good and it doesn’t show all the -buildings and things at Temple Camp. But anyway it shows how Cabin -Lane is and how West Trail turns out of it to the left and goes around -the lake and comes into it again near Main Pavilion. So you can see how -it is we kept going round and round the lake all the time till something -happened. Follow the arrows if you don’t want to get anywhere. Only if -you keep following them you’ll never get through the story. - -Lucky for you Sandwich was with us, because if it wasn’t for him there -wouldn’t be any story, so that shows how a mutt can be a good author. - - Roy Blakeley] - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII - - THROUGH THE MIST - - -In my patrol cabin all the fellows were asleep—they’re a sleepy bunch -except when they’re awake. Even Warde seemed to be asleep, but that’s -nothing because I’ve known scouts in my patrol to fall asleep on their -way to our cabin and to undress in their sleep. They go to sleep -beforehand so they won’t have to bother doing it when they get to bed. -That way they save time. Pee-wee is a Raven, and so he didn’t sleep in -our cabin. - -I started getting ready to turn in, but I didn’t get very far. I don’t -know, I felt sort of like you do just before exams in school. Kind of, I -don’t know, shaky. Just because Hervey didn’t say anything to Mr. -Arnoldson, that made me think that maybe he would do something crazy. If -he had answered back more I guess I would have felt different. - -[Illustration: I SAW SOMEONE SITTING AT THE END OF THE SPRINGBOARD.] - -As long as I knew I couldn’t sleep I put my jacket on again because I -hate to be lying down when I can’t sleep, just the same as I don’t like -to be walking around when I’m sleepy. I was wondering what the scouts in -my patrol had been thinking about Warde and me. Because now that I knew -no ’phone message had been received they must have thought it was funny -for us to stay away. I’m patrol leader and I’m supposed to be a shining -example. I guess I’m not so very shiny, but Warde is a good example; -he’s a whole arithmetic. - -So I put my jacket on again and went outside. It was pretty dark. Most -always I’m dead to the world at that time of night, and it seemed spooky -to be out when the whole camp was sleeping. _Christopher_, but it was -still. There was a kind of a mist and it seemed to change everything; it -got me all mixed up. I couldn’t tell where the shore of the lake was; it -made the land and the lake sort of the same. - -Until then I never knew that there were a lot of things in camp that -make a noise, I mean the boats knocking against the landing and the -weather-vane creaking, and things like that. Because you don’t hear them -in the daytime, or any time when there are other sounds. But believe me, -they gave me the creeps that night. Where I stood I could hardly see the -cabins, the mist was getting so thick. I couldn’t see the tents at all. -I just about knew where the lake began. - -All of a sudden I saw something terrible. I saw a thing walking. It was -the same color as the mist, I could only just see it. I couldn’t see -that it had any legs, it just kind of moved, it was the same all the way -down to the ground. I couldn’t stir I was so frightened. - -I just stood where I was and, gee, I admit that my heart was thumping. I -heard the chains on the boats clanking and that made me shiver. Lots of -times I’d heard them before, but they sounded spooky that night. - -The thing kept going and got to the lake and kept right on walking over -the lake—walked right out over the lake. A little way out it kind of -faded away in the mist. Then I didn’t see it any more. I just stood -there, I couldn’t move.... - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - - EYES TO SEE AND EARS TO HEAR - - -Then all of a sudden I made up my mind I wouldn’t be scared. I walked -right toward where I had seen the thing, because I wanted to prove to -myself that I hadn’t seen anything at all. - -Then, in a minute, I had to laugh to myself. I came to the end of the -narrow board-walk that is built out to deep water where the diving board -is. Out at the end of the springboard I could hear a voice, very low. I -walked right out along the boards, making a lot of noise so as to prove -that there wasn’t anything spooky at all. - -Away out at the end of the springboard I saw some one sitting with his -feet dangling over. When I got away out to the end I saw it was Hervey. -Sitting right close beside him was Sandwich. Hervey had his bathrobe on -but it was thrown off from his shoulders and I could see he only had his -trousers on. He was kind of shivering. - -I said, “You gave me a good scare, Herve. I saw you come out here, but I -couldn’t see the platform under you, the mist is so thick. I thought you -were a ghost or something. What are you doing out here anyway?” - -“Oh, just sitting here,” he said. “You’d better go to bed; you know the -rule.” - -I said, “How about you?” - -“I’m not a part of this outfit any more,” he said. “I’m through—almost -through.” - -I said, “You’re just as much of a scout as I am to-night. It’s a wonder -you couldn’t keep one rule before you go away. What are you going to do? -Go in swimming? And besides when you tell me I’d better go to bed that’s -as much as saying I’m not as good as a dog. Do you say that—that I’m not -as good as a dog?” - -“Sandwich didn’t call me a liar,” he said. - -“Did I call you a liar?” I shot back at him. - -“You’re a scout,” he said, “and they’re all the same. They’re as much -the same as a lot of clothes-pins.” - -I said, “I know you’re different, Hervey. But I didn’t call you a liar -and none of us fellows did. I admit they think you lied and——” - -“You think so too, don’t you?” he said. - -“I don’t know what I think,” I said. “But I know I like you, and I’m -going to stay right here as long as you do. A scout has to—no matter -what, a scout has to——” - -He just laughed kind of sneering like. He said, “You call yourself a -scout. G-o-o-d night! You’re a peachy bunch, you fellows. You ought to -all be slapped on the wrists—Arnoldson and the whole crowd.” - -I said, “Yes, and how aren’t we scouts?” - -“You’re all the time shouting about deduction, and observation and all -that bunk,” he said. “I don’t _claim_ to be a scout. But if I did I -wouldn’t wear a pair of blinders. I wouldn’t hear a friend called a -liar, I wouldn’t. Hey, Sandwich?” - -“What did we do?” I asked him. - -“Well, one thing,” he said, “did you notice the ’phone in Administration -Shack to-night? Did you notice the receiver was hung upside down? Did -you notice how somebody must have been rattled and hung it up in a -hurry? Did you notice the map portfolio lying open? Did you stop to -think that it was while everybody was at supper that I ’phoned? And one -thing more I’ll tell you too; the voice that answered me lisped. Now you -better run to bed. Hey, Sandwich?” - -“What do you mean—lisped?” I asked him. “What of it?” - -“Don’t make me laugh,” he said. “You don’t even remember that the sharpy -we met on the other side of the lake to-day, lisped. You don’t remember -how he was asking about the trail here? He was the fellow that gave me -the name of Wilkins, because he was all rattled when the ’phone rang. -Stick around a little if you’d like to see him dance. He’s going to do a -dance to-night that he never did before. And it isn’t going to cost him -a cent. Is it Sandwich?” - - - - - CHAPTER XXX - - THE THREE OF US - - -I said, “I don’t understand. What do you mean? What are you going to do? -I didn’t call you a liar, Herve. You admit I didn’t, and I’m blamed glad -I didn’t. You did ’phone then—did you? Just say you did—just say it so I -can say I believe you. Tell me more—I—I believe every blamed word that -you say. I admit I’m a punk scout—now are you satisfied?” - -He said, sort of more pleasant, “You’re not so bad, it’s Arnoldson and -that crowd—the keepers.” - -I said, “Go on and tell me.” - -“Didn’t you notice a light away across the lake when you came out of -Administration Shack?” he asked me. - -I said, “I thought it was the reflection of the light.” - -“Somebody is out there,” he said. “You can’t see the light now on -account of the mist. But somebody is out there. I can see a little -glimmer now and then.” - -“I can’t see anything now,” I said. - -“That’s because nobody called you a liar,” he told me. “It means more to -me than it does to you.” - -I just gulped, I could hardly speak. I put my hand on his bare arm, it -was all tattooed by some old sailor that he met once, and I said, -“You’re—you’re not going to get away with that, Hervey—not with me. It -means just as much to me—it does—as—as it does to you. It’s just like as -if he called me a liar. That’s the way I feel now. I can’t see any light -out there, but whatever you’re going to do I’m with you. If that crazy -fool came to camp and sneaked into Administration Shack hunting for the -chart he had heard about, he’s a bigger fool than I thought he was. Do -you suppose his name is Wilkins?” I asked Hervey. - -“No, he just gave that name,” Hervey said. “If he’d had any sense he’d -have stood the receiver off when the ’phone rang. I suppose he got -rattled. It’s just a crazy fool enterprise all through. He’s out there -now, fishing around, I suppose.” - -“I’m glad you admit it’s a fool enterprise,” I said. “Brent was afraid -you’d want to go fishing for it yourself.” - -“All I’m interested in is fixing Arnoldson,” Hervey said. “I’ll make him -look like two cents before I go. Come on, Sandwich, if you’re going.” - -I said, “What are you going to do, Herve?” - -“I’m going to swim over there,” he said. “If it’s that dancing monkey -out there, he’s coming back here to admit he answered the ’phone. I -don’t care anything about his sneaking into Administration Shack or -anything else, that’s his business. But he’s coming back here to say he -answered that ’phone call. Or else he’s going to the bottom of the lake. -That’s me.” - -He started sliding off the board, but I held him back. I said, “Hervey, -you’re crazy, you’re not going to swim over there.” - -“The boats are locked,” he said. - -“Well,” I said, “I’ve got the key for them.” Gee, I never felt more -sorry for Hervey than I did then. Because all the scouts at camp had -keys for the boats. They were only kept locked at night on account of -strange fellows coming there and using them for eel bobbing. It seemed -that Hervey was the only fellow that didn’t have a key. - -I said, “Hervey, I can’t swim that far, even if you and Sandwich can. -But I’m going with you, so you’ll have to use a boat; remember you’ve -got a punk scout with you, Herve. You have to make allowance for me. -Will you wait just a minute?” - -I groped my way back to my patrol cabin and got a padlock key out of my -duffel bag. Hervey was still waiting, swinging his legs from the board. -Sandwich was right close beside him. - -“Come on,” I said, “we’ll row over. If he’s there we’ll find him and if -he’s the one why then he’ll sit out the next dance and have a free ride -back to camp; that ought to appeal to him.” - -“You’re breaking the rule to use a boat after nine o’clock,” Hervey -said. - -“You’re doing well,” I laughed. “Where did _you_ ever learn the rule? I -always thought that you wouldn’t even know a foot rule unless you were -introduced to it.” - -“I don’t want to get you in Dutch,” he said. - -I said, “I’m not thinking about rules at all. I’m thinking about you. -Come ahead.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI - - THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT - - -Maybe I wouldn’t have thought the same as Hervey did about it, only for -his telling me that the person who answered the ’phone lisped. I hadn’t -noticed anything in Administration Shack at all, I have to admit that. -But if some one answered the ’phone some one must have been there. And -if there were signs that some one had been there, we ought to have -noticed them. - -When I thought about it as we rowed out on the lake, gee whiz, I could -see plain enough that that young freak we had met would be just likely -to hike around to camp and walk into Administration Shack if no one was -there. Anyway all the camp was at supper when we were waiting for Hervey -to ’phone, I knew that much. - -Probably he didn’t find anything in the map-case to help him, but that -wouldn’t stop him from grappling around in the lake late at night. Mr. -Ellsworth says that people who hunt for treasure are always fools. A lot -of fools had hunted for that tin box before the sharpy, I know that. And -a lot of fellows had talked about it all around the neighborhood. Look -at Harry Donnelle; he was starting to hunt for it. - -Anyway, one thing, I knew that the only way Hervey could square himself -was for him to get hold of the fellow who answered his call. You needn’t -think I was going out on a treasure hunt, because I wasn’t. But Hervey -only had that one chance, and I was going to help him. - -We rowed around the edge of the lake close enough in so that we could -make out the shore, because that night we couldn’t have seen where we -were going if we hadn’t. Sandwich sat on the little three-cornered seat -in the bow; he looked funny sitting there. The mist was so thick the -handles of the oars were wet and it was all beady with little bits of -drops of water all over inside the boat. - -I said, “What are you going to do, Herve? Suppose it’s him, what are you -going to do?” - -“I’m going to make him admit what he did, I’m going to make him admit it -to Arnoldson,” Hervey said. “That’s all I care about.” - -“And then you’ll stay—at camp?” - -“_What? Me?_” he said. “Not so you’d notice it. I’m through with this -crowd—a lot of medal chasers.” - -I was rowing and he was sitting sideways up on the stern seat with his -knees drawn up and his hands clasped around them. The little hat without -any brim that he always wore looked funny. It always looked funny but, I -don’t know, that night it looked especially funny. It was all cut full -of holes. Somehow it kind of seemed to me that nobody understood him. -Maybe Sandwich did. Anyway I hoped that things would work out like he -thought they would. - -I said, “Herve, if the fellow that answered you lisped, why didn’t you -say so right then? Didn’t it make you suspicious?” - -He said, “I never thought about it till we got back, and I saw how -things looked in the office—and Arnoldson called me a liar. Then I -remembered. I remembered that the fellow we met lisped and that the -voice over the ’phone lisped. I’ll nail him all right,” he said. “You -leave it to me. He’s got more resourcefulness, or whatever you call it, -than most of you chaps have, I’ll say that much for him.” - -“Thanks for the compliment,” I said. It seemed funny to me that he -wasn’t mad at the fellow for what he did, only at Mr. Arnoldson. He -seemed to think the fellow had done a pretty good stunt. If anybody can -understand Hervey—_g-o-o-d night_! - -He just sat there, perched up on the stern seat, very calm and quiet. I -couldn’t make out if he really wanted to square himself or just have an -adventure. I rowed around past the outlet and then he beckoned for me to -stop. I rested on my oars, and we both listened. It was very still. Once -a fish jumped, and that startled me. I could hear an owl way far off. - -We drifted out from shore a little till we couldn’t see the shore at -all. It seemed as if we were in the middle of the ocean; we couldn’t see -anything only just a little water around us. It was so strange it had me -nervous. There wasn’t any light anywhere that we could see. - -“Listen,” Hervey whispered. - -“I don’t hear anything,” I said under my breath. - -“Shh,” he said. - -“Do you mean that little clanking sound?” I asked him. - -For just a minute or so he looked down into the water. I couldn’t see -anything there except that the water was rippling a little. I didn’t -think that was anything worth noticing. - -“What’s the matter?” I whispered. - -He didn’t say anything, just reached and took one of the oars from me. - -“What’s the matter?” I whispered. - -Still he didn’t say anything but felt around a little in the water with -the oar. - -I whispered, “I don’t think it’s worth while fooling around after the -money if that’s what you’re after. That’s not going to square you at -camp.” - -“Got a fish-line?” he whispered. - -I just couldn’t help saying, “Yes, I have; scouts carry fish-lines, -that’s one good thing about them.” - -There was a hook on my line. He tied an oarlock to the cord for a sinker -and let it down into the water. Pretty soon he began pulling it up again -and all of a sudden, there right outside the boat was a long, thick, -gray thing. Right away I saw it was a fishing seine that he had lifted -up. He reached over and grabbed it and then, somewhere near us I heard a -terrible scream, and then a splash. I couldn’t see anything, only the -thick mist all around.... - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII - - HERVEY ALL OVER - - -I was so excited that I let one of the oars go sliding into the water. - -“Where are you?” Hervey called. “Can’t you hang onto the boat?” - -“It’s sinking,” a voice called. - -“It won’t sink,” Hervey shouted. “It’ll swamp. Hang onto the stern of -it. Where are you anyway?” - -While he was calling he was feeling for the oars and I had to tell him -that one slid into the water. I wouldn’t tell you what he said, but -anyway he was excited. We could hear screaming and splashing and cries -of “_Help, help!_” - -“Hang onto the boat,” Hervey cried. Then he said to me, “Keep calling so -I’ll know where you are. Don’t try to move, you don’t know which way -you’re going. Just let her stand as long as we can’t row. She won’t go -far, only keep calling. All right, I’m with you,” he shouted. Then, -before I could say anything he had jumped into the water and was -swimming off. The mist just swallowed him up and in a few seconds I -couldn’t see him at all, only hear the sound as he swam and that voice -somewhere. - -“Here I am,” I kept calling. And sometimes I gave the Silver Fox call -(that’s the call of my patrol) so he would know where I was. But -somewhere another voice kept giving the same calls and I knew it was an -echo and maybe he wouldn’t know what way to go when he started back. -Every time I called the echo called too, from somewhere far off. - -Pretty soon I could hear voices and I heard Hervey say, “Let go your -arm, leave it to me.” - -“I’m here,” I called. “Here—here—here—here I am. That other voice is an -echo—here I am—right here—right here——” - -Pretty soon I could see him coming out of the mist. It seemed just as if -it broke open to let him through. He was holding some one up and I could -see a head sort of hanging back and looking up at the sky. - -“All right?” I asked. - -“Sure thing,” Hervey said. “Get hold of him, will you?” - -“At the stern,” I said. I was glad to show him I knew that much anyway, -never to lift a person over the side of a small boat. - -It was some job getting the rescued fellow aboard, and then I saw it was -our friend, the sharpy. His coat with the slanting pockets looked awful -funny all wet and clinging to him. He was all right, that was one good -thing, but his sharpy suit—_good night_! The worst that had happened to -him was a good scare. - -“He was doing a new dance when I grabbed him,” Hervey said. - -The fellow just lay in the bottom of the boat breathing hard, but I -could see he was all right. He reached up with his left hand and fixed -his funny little necktie, and then I knew he was all right. I guess he -would do that in his sleep. - -“He’s going to sit out the next dance,” Hervey said. - -“What happened?” I asked him. - -Then he told me just how it was. The fellow was dragging the lake with a -seine. He had fastened one end of it on shore and was rowing with the -other end. When Hervey lifted the seine and grabbed it the fellow -happened to be standing in his boat and it pulled him over into the -water. He grabbed the boat along the side and, of course, that swamped -it. - -I’ll say one thing, if the old tin box is ever found that will be the -way to find it—dragging with a seine. And that cake-eater would have -stood a pretty good chance of finding it too if he had been free to work -in the daytime. But he was trying to do it all alone in the night, that -was the trouble. Anyway it gave him a good scare and took all the nerve -out of him. - -Hervey said to him, “Well, you had a wild night. If you had only told me -what you were going to do when we were talking over the ’phone I’d have -joined in with you. And we’d have found it. It serves you right for -staying away from dances. You have to come back with us to tell one of -the keepers that I’m not a liar and then I’ll hike as far as Catskill -with you if you’re going that way.” - -“I’m staying at Brookside,” the sharpy said. - -“Well, come over to Temple Camp anyway and see the fun,” Hervey said. -“It’ll do you good.” - -I saw that Hervey was just in one of those happy-go-lucky, reckless -moods, and that now after all he didn’t care so much about -anything—unless there was an adventure in it. - -So I said, “Mr. Wilkins, or whatever your name is, only I guess that -isn’t your name, when you had your first scare to-night, that was when -you heard the ’phone ring over at camp, you got this fellow in Dutch. -You got him called a liar because he said he ’phoned to camp and they -never heard of any message. We know all about what you did to-night and -nobody’s going to make any trouble for you, because anyway, one thing, -you’ve had trouble enough. There’s a man, he’s trustee——” - -“All you have to do is tell him he’s a liar,” Hervey said. “Then I’ll -hike as far as Brookside with you.” - -“You don’t have to tell him any such thing,” I said - -“You stick to me and you’ll be O. K.,” Hervey told him. “Didn’t I just -save your life?” - -The poor sharpy didn’t know what to make of it all. He was grateful to -Hervey, that’s sure. I guess he saw it wasn’t any use denying anything. -I guess he wasn’t scared any more, because Hervey seemed to be making -friends with him, sort of. I had to laugh because after all Hervey’s -fine plan to bring this fellow back like a prisoner, there he was sort -of pals with him. Christopher, but he’s a sketch. - -The fellow said, “They’ll make a lot of trouble for me over there.” - -“They make it for me too,” Hervey said; “don’t you care.” - -“The place was open; I just walked in,” the sharpy said. “There was a -sign that said Visitors Welcome. You fellows invited me to drop over.” - -“You sure dropped over,” I began laughing. “The water is unusually wet -to-night. You didn’t take anything over there. They’ll give you a good -calling down, that’s all.” - -“I get one of those every day,” Hervey said. - -“You mean every minute,” I told him. - -Then I said, “All you have to do is come over with us, and anyway you -can’t help it, because I’m sculling the boat around now, and then all -you have to do is admit just what you did so as to prove this friend of -mine didn’t lie. You can do that much, can’t you? He saved your life. -You can put him right with the crowd over there, can’t you? That’s all -you have to do. It’s just a question of whether you’ve got a yellow -streak or not.” - -“And we’ll have a lot of fun doing it too,” said Hervey. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII - - HERVEY’S SERENADE - - -Honest, I’d rather run the whole Silver Fox Patrol than try to run -Hervey Willetts. But as we sculled around I could see that even that -other fellow was kind of getting to like him. - -Hervey sat perched up on the little three-cornered seat in the bow with -his legs dangling out into the water on either side and Sandwich lying -on the bottom near him. He looked, I don’t know,—I just had to laugh -when I looked at him. - -I said, “Herve, after all this you’re not going to spoil everything, are -you? We had a good time to-day and we’re going to have a whole lot more. -You’ve got a medal coming to you for what you did to-night. You were -called a liar and now a couple of hours after that you can have the -whole camp eating out of your hand, Mr. Arnoldson and all. This fellow, -you’ve captured him too, and he’ll go the limit to help you. Won’t you?” -I said. - -“Nobody can say I have a streak of yellow and get away with it,” the -fellow said. - -“For goodness’ sake don’t mix things up now when everything’s coming -your way,” I said to Hervey. “They’ll wrap Temple Camp up for you and -send it home prepaid. Will you let _me_ see Mr. Arnoldson and tell him?” - -He said, “Blakeley, I’m through with this outfit for good. I beat it -to-night.” - -“While everybody’s shouting for you?” I asked him. - -“Precisely, exactly,” he said. “I might have joined a circus this -summer——” - -“Goodnight!” I laughed. - -“Instead of hanging around here and being insulted,” he said. - -“You should worry about being insulted,” I told him. “If you care as -little about being insulted as you care about most things, especially -risking your life, it won’t take you long to forget it. Besides when you -threw an old tomato at the bulletin board so you wouldn’t be able to -read one of the rules on it, wasn’t that insulting the camp? If you’d -only forget insults as easy as you forget rules, gee, I’d be satisfied,” -I told him. - -He just said, “Insults I can never forget, Blakeley.” All the while he -was trying to balance the boat hook on his nose. - -“You make me tired,” I told him. - -When we got to the landing he said, “Come on if you want to see the -grand finale; come on, Wilkins.” - -The sharpy kind of hung back. He said, “My name is Tripler.” - -“I knew it would be something about tripping,” Hervey said. - -“Believe me, you’re the one that’s going to trip,” I told him. - -He just said, “Come on, finalehopper, if you want to see the grand -finale. Absolutely nothing can happen to you. Come ahead, Blakeley, if -you want to see me wind up in a blaze of glory.” - -I knew he was going to do some crazy fool thing, how could I stop him? I -could see that Tripler, or whatever his name was, was kind of nervous, -but Hervey had him following like a little dog. That’s Hervey. He went -sauntering up through Cabin Lane, swinging his stick and shouting: - - “Early to bed and early to rise, - And you’ll never meet any regular guys.” - -I could hear sounds of scouts moving in the cabins, but a lot he cared. -By the time he got to Official Bungalow there were about a dozen sleepy -looking scouts with us, with their clothes all endways and their hair -all rumpled—they were a wide-awake looking lot, I think not. - -“What’s he up to now?” one of them gaped. - -_Gee williger_, Hervey looked like a what-do-you-call-it, one of those -knights of old standing in front of a castle. - -“Search me,” I said to one of the fellows. “He reminds me of Sir -Building Lot, or whatever they call him, in the tales of King Arthur.” - -“_Mr. Arnoldson_!” Hervey shouted. “Oh, you Mr. Arnoldson, come out here -and apologize to me before I start home! Wake up, you old boob!” - -“Cut it out,” I said to Hervey; “you mind what I tell you now.” - -He just kept shouting, “Come on out if you’re not ashamed to face me! -Come on out till I put it all over you! Oh, you Arnoldson; come on out -and take back what you called me! Come on out if you want me to accept -your apology! Come on out if you want me to apologize your acceptance! -Don’t be afraid of the dark! Come ahead out! Oh, you-u-u-u, Mr. -Arnoldson, come on out; it’s nice and foggy!” - -I said, “Will you keep still, Hervey.” - -All of a sudden somebody wearing a bath robe came out on the porch. Then -a couple of heads appeared at windows. - -“All the fish in Official Bungalow wake up,” Hervey shouted. “Is that -you, Mr. Arnoldson?” - -“Careful what you say now,” I whispered to Hervey. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV - - TOM FIXES IT - - -Now this is next to the last chapter in this book, but you should worry -because I’m going to write a lot more books. - -Mr. Arnoldson said very stern, “Well, sir, what are you doing here at -this hour of the night? What is all this?” - -Hervey said, “These fellows came of their own accord except this one and -he’s the one who was in Administration Shack at six o’clock to-night and -answered the ’phone when I called and gave me the name of Wilkins. - -“He was there hunting in the case for a chart of the lake, and he’s here -to tell you I’m not a liar. He wanted to hunt for the treasure so you -see there are others as crazy as I am, but I wouldn’t go to the trouble -of telling a lie and I don’t intend to stay here anyway, only I want you -to know that I’m not a liar. He answered the ’phone and said he’d tell -the keepers. He did it because he got rattled, and he’s just as good as -I am——” - -“Good night,” I whispered to a fellow near me. - -“And he didn’t commit any crime because it says on the shack _visitors -welcome_,” Hervey went on. “So now if you want to ask him any questions -you can do it, and if you care to apologize for calling me a liar you -can do it, only hurry up because I’m through with this place—I’m washing -my hands of it.” - -“He knows one scout law—cleanliness,” a fellow whispered. - -Mr. Arnoldson was awful nice, I’ll say that. He came down and said, -“Willetts, I’m always ready to apologize when I’m wrong. Who is this -young man?” - -“Willetts ought to apologize for waking everybody up,” a scoutmaster -said. - -“Not at all,” Mr. Arnoldson said; “I couldn’t sleep with the stigma of -lying upon me.” - -“He never sleeps anyway,” somebody said about Hervey. - -Cracky, I have no use for sharpies, but I have to admit that this one -was all right. And he could use dandy words too. He told Mr. Arnoldson -just how it was, the whole thing. Hervey just stood there trying to -balance that crazy stick on his nose—he didn’t look very much insulted. - -Mr. Arnoldson said, “Well, scouts, I’m glad you arose so you can all -hear my apology.” - -“Stop balancing that stick and listen, will you!” I whispered to Hervey. -Honest, he had me nervous. - -Mr. Arnoldson said, “Willetts, I never denied you were brave and -venturesome—too venturesome.” That’s just the way he said it. “I never -concealed the fact that you are unruly and disobedient and reckless. You -would rather do a stunt and be spectacular than be a good scout. Your -doubtful reputation caused me to misjudge you. You can’t be any happier -than I am at this public apology. - -“I apologize to you, Willetts, and whatever else you are, you are not a -liar. I advise you to go to your quarters and turn in now and get some -sleep. I’m glad you aroused me. In the morning you are going to make a -fresh start, Willetts, and show what kind of a scout you can be.” - -It was mighty nice, the way Mr. Arnoldson said it. Gee whiz, he couldn’t -have been nicer. He wasn’t mad at all on account of the things Hervey -had shouted. He just kind of admitted that Hervey was in the right the -way he came and everything. And all the scouts were saying that was some -stunt how he had saved Tripler’s life. _Jiminetty_, Hervey had -everything going his way. That was just when he got me good and mad with -his crazy, reckless ways. Why didn’t he shake hands with Mr. Arnoldson? -Oh, no, he must start off without even saying a word to him. I felt -awful sorry for Mr. Arnoldson. He didn’t even get mad at Hervey calling -him a boob. - -Hervey just said very grand like, “I just wanted this whole kindergarten -to know that I’m no liar. Come ahead, Trip, let’s get out of here, I’m -through with this outfit. They’re dead, and they haven’t got sense -enough to lie down. I’m through with this camp for good and all. I was -going to leave last week.” - -“I understood you to say you would accept my apology, Willetts,” Mr. -Arnoldson said to him, awful nice and patient, sort of. - -Hervey said, “I do, but I’m through with this place. I was told to go -and I’m going—that’s absolutely positive. I’ve had enough. I don’t -belong here, I——” - -_Plunk!_ Just as he was starting off who should he bunk right into but -Tom Slade. - -“H’lo, Hervey,” said Tom. “What’s the matter now? Breaking up -housekeeping?” - -“Slady, I always liked you,” Hervey said; “but this bunch—I’m leaving -to-night, Slady. So long.” - -I guess Tom must have been there all the time. He just said, “Too bad, -Hervey, I was just going to ask you to do a little favor for me—a good -turn.” - -“Nix on those,” Hervey said. “Come on, Trip.” - -“You see,” Tom said in that easy way he has, “there’s a carnival going -on at Greenvale——” - -“We were there,” Hervey said; “come ahead, Trip.” - -Tom said, “Well, you see, they had a fellow engaged to do a high dive -there on Saturday, and he’s flunked. They sent here and asked if we -happened to have a good diver who could do the stunt—dive from a high -platform or something like that—carrying a flag—I forgot just what. I -told them _nothing doing_——” - -“What do you mean, nothing doing?” Hervey blurted out. - -“I told them there wasn’t a scout here could do it,” Tom said. - -“What do you mean, couldn’t do it?” Hervey shot back at him. “I saw that -platform, it’s a cinch——” - -“Yes, for a professional,” Tom said. - -“What do you mean a professional?” Hervey came right back at him. -“There’s a pond there and a ladder—we saw the whole business—it’s—Slady -it’s—there’s nothing to it—it’s a kid’s trick.” - -“Well, er—as long as you’re starting away to-night,” Tom said. “If you -were staying over Saturday——” - -“I’ll stay over Saturday, Slady,” said Hervey. “I’ll do that just to -show you I can. Nobody can call me a— But not a day after Saturday, -Slady. You tell ’em I’ll do that dive and throw in a double -somersault—I’ll show you. You told them there’s nobody here could do -that? _You told them that?_ You make me laugh, Slady!” - -“You think you could do it?” Tom asked him, kind of doubtful and -serious. - -“Slady, don’t make me laugh,” Hervey said. - -“It would be some stunt,” said Tom. - -“What do you mean, stunt?” Hervey shot back. “Slady, I’ll show you—you -just leave it to me.” - -“You’ll try it then?” - -“_Try it!_ Don’t make me smile, Slady. You tell ’em I’ll do it. Here’s -my hand on it.” - -“I don’t want your hand,” said Tom; “give it to Mr. Arnoldson. If you -really mean business, if you really think you could do it, if you really -want to give your hand on it, as a pledge——” - -“Posilutely,” Hervey said. - -“Well, then, give your hand to Mr. Arnoldson,” Tom said; “he’s a -trustee. Go ahead, if you mean business and are not just bluffing, give -your hand to Mr. Arnoldson. Are you game? Talk is cheap. Now see if -you’re game.” - -Gee whiz, I had to laugh to see Hervey walk up as bold and friendly as -could be and shake hands with Mr. Arnoldson. Honest, that fellow’s a -scream. Mr. Arnoldson was laughing all over. Before they got through -shaking hands who should go running up but Sandwich, jumping up at Mr. -Arnoldson and at Hervey and barking like mad. - -I guess he wanted to give his hand on it too. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV - - TO THE POINT - - -The next morning after breakfast Hervey said to me—he just came -sauntering up kind of, and he said to me, “Did you ever notice when you -look away up a railroad track how the two rails come together away far -off?” - -“Is it a hike?” I asked him. - -“No, but didn’t you ever notice?” he said. “You stand between the two -tracks and look _away_ off as far as you can see and the two rails get -nearer and nearer together till they make a point?” - -“I see the point,” I told him. - -“That’s where I often wanted to take a hike to,” he said. “There must be -a lot of railroad accidents at that place. Wouldn’t you like to hike -there and look around?” - -“Oh, absolutely,” I told him; “I’m just as crazy as you are. If we get -to the place we ought to name it some point or other.” - -Hervey said, “That’s what I was thinking of. Don’t you suppose all the -places that have names ending with _point_ happened to get their names -that way? West Point and Greenpoint——” - -“Sure, and pencil point and pen-point and all those places,” I told him. - -“Shall we get Pee-wee?” he said. - -“_Good night!_” I shouted. “If we spring that on Pee-wee he’ll drop -dead; he’ll drop so dead that he’ll even be dead and buried.” - -“It’s a good kind of a hike,” said Hervey, “because it takes you a long -way.” - -“Oh, positively,” I told him; “it takes you even further than that. How -did you ever think of it?” - -He said, “Well, after the big fuss last night I went to bed.” - -“You expect me to believe that?” I asked him. - -“And I thought of it while I was lying in bed,” he said. “If we could -follow the West Shore tracks till we get to the point where they come -together we would probably find a lot of wrecks and skeletons and things -piled up, and maybe a lot of gold. Let’s start along the West Shore -tracks this afternoon and make a solemn vow that we won’t turn back till -we reach the point.” - -“That ought to be quite a stroll,” I said. “We’ll stop in Albany for -supper, hey?” - -Hervey said, “I had an inspiration.” - -“You’d better look out,” I told him; “Pee-wee has all those -copyrighted.” - -“This is what I mean,” he said. “Last night while I was lying in bed, I -was wondering what kind of a hike we could take that the management -wouldn’t object to. See? They’re going to be very particular now. So I -thought if we went and told one of the trustees that we’re going to take -a little—you know, just a little stroll.” - -“A ramble,” I said. - -“Just to the place where the West Shore tracks come together up the -line, why there won’t be any objection because they can see themselves -just where that is. It doesn’t look to me to be more than a mile away. -We’ll promise to turn back as soon as we get there. Hey?” - -“Oh, the very minute we get there,” I said. Then he said, “All right, -come on, let’s get Brent and Pee-wee.” - -When we found Brent he said very solemn-like that he thought it was a -good idea because when you hike it’s always good to have a destination -even if you don’t use it. - -“Sure, they come in handy,” I told him. “And patent, adjustable -destinations are the best kind. Look at Columbus how he started for Asia -and bunked into the West Indies—he should worry. We’re like him only -different.” - -So then we waited for Pee-wee. He always takes longer at breakfast than -anybody else, because he has three helpings of oatmeal. By the time he -finishes they have the boards all cleared. Pretty soon he came out. -Brent and Hervey and I were sitting on the lowest step of the pavilion -porch waiting for him. Brent looked at him very solemn over his -spectacles and said: - -“Sir Harris, we’re organizing an enterprise to go on a dangerous -exploring expedition. Warde is going stalking so he can’t join us. Would -you care to join your comrades of yesterday in a most interesting quest? -We’re going straight to the point.” - -“What point?” Pee-wee wanted to know. - -“Ah, that’s the question,” Brent said. - -“What d’you mean, the question?” the kid shouted. - -“The point in the railroad tracks,” Brent said. “We think it’s about a -mile or two off, but we can’t say. You’ve noticed how the West Shore -tracks come together away up the line—to a point? Do you realize what -that means? The terrible danger to trains at that spot? When a train -reaches a place where the two rails come together, what happens to the -train? It’s terrible even to think of. We’re going to follow the West -Shore tracks north till we come to that spot and then write a report -about it. We’re going to see if we can’t have it remedied. It’s our duty -as boy scouts to save life. Will you join us?” - -“Now I know you’re all crazy!” Pee-wee shouted. - -“We knew that yesterday,” I told him. - -“No wonder Warde won’t go,” he said; “anyway, he’s got a _little_ sense -since yesterday. Gee whiz, any one that doesn’t know there’s no end to a -circle——” - -“Now we know,” I said, “but we had to find out. Now we know it’s not -safe to go around much. So we’ve decided to go straight after this, -haven’t we, Brent?” - -“Always,” Brent said; “we’ve learned our lesson.” - -Pee-wee shouted, “Yes, and I’ve learned mine too, and I’m not going to -go.” - -“Can we depend on that?” Brent said. “I heard a cow was run over at that -spot the other day and the neighborhood is filled with chipped beef. -Would that interest you?” - -“Are we going to be back for supper?” Pee-wee wanted to know. - -“Yes and no,” Brent said. - -“Do you call that an answer?” the kid shouted. - -“It’s two answers,” Brent said. “What more do you want?” - -“If you weren’t such crazy, insane lunatics,” Pee-wee shouted, “you’d -know that the reason the tracks kind of go together is because on -account of perspective.” - -I said, “Tell us all about that. Is it the climate?” - -“No, it isn’t the climate,” he shouted. “They don’t really do it and -that’s the cause of it. The nearer you get to it the further away it is -because it isn’t anyway, only it seems so—gee whiz.” - -Brent said, “There may be some truth in that. We’ll go and see. I never -heard that explanation before. If the thing moves away as we approach, -We’ll just have to head it off and catch it. Maybe it would be better if -we take a roundabout, circuitous course and approach it from beyond.” - -“It wouldn’t even be there then,” Pee-wee said, all excited; “you -wouldn’t see it.” - -Brent said, “This makes our expedition all the more interesting. Sir -Harris has thrown a new light on the subject. If a thing goes away it -must go somewhere. It can’t go nowhere—that’s logic. Nowhere is not a -place.” - -“Why isn’t it?” I said. “It’s got a name, hasn’t it?” - -“If it wasn’t it couldn’t have a name,” Hervey said. “If _Somewhere_ is -a place, _Nowhere_ is a place. All I know is the West Shore tracks come -to a point away up the line and they ought to be separated. I’m going to -hike up there this afternoon. Those who are afraid to go can go anyway -for all I care.” - -“I’ll go,” Pee-wee said, “because I like to go hiking, but I don’t -subscribe to it kind of.” - -“He thinks it’s a magazine,” I said. - -“I mean that crazy nonsense,” he shouted. - -“Oh, that?” I said. “That isn’t such crazy nonsense; it’s very sensible -nonsense. We’re going now to ask Mr. Apthorpe for permission to go on -our tour of investigation.” - -“The first thing you know you’ll get in trouble,” Pee-wee said, “making -fools out of the trustees like that. The first thing you know we’ll all -get sent home on account of Hervey Willetts—getting fresh with trustees -like that.” - -“Was Christopher Columbus afraid to ask Queen Isabella if he could go -and discover Columbus, Ohio?” Brent asked him. “We fear not trustees. -Look at the horizon! Somebody discovered it or we wouldn’t know it’s -there. Yet it moves away. That’s because nobody has ever been smart -enough to stalk it. How do you suppose the milkman would ever have -discovered the Milky Way or the iceman discovered Iceland if they’d been -afraid of trustees?” - -“You’d better look out,” Pee-wee said, kind of very dark and mysterious. -“The first thing you know we’ll get sent home on account of all this -crazy stuff.” - -All the while he was following us toward Administration Shack—that’s -where Mr. Apthorpe is in the mornings because he opens the mail. The kid -wanted to go but he was kind of scared like. Especially he was scared -because Mr. Apthorpe is very cross-looking and dignified. We were all -laughing the way Pee-wee came along after us, kind of hesitating. - -But anyway, I guess Mr. Apthorpe knew about us being crazy—the whole -camp knows that by this time. It’s getting so up there that if you just -mention the word hike everybody starts laughing. Anyway nobody ever gets -mad at Brent, not even the trustees. And they only get mad at Hervey to -his face—behind his back they have to laugh at him, scoutmasters and -all. We should worry about being scared of trustees—they’re not as bad -as principals anyway. And mathematic teachers. - -So then we—_g-o-o-d night_, there goes the dinner gong, I’ve got to go -downstairs to supper. First I have to wash my hands—so long, I’ll see -you later. Anyway, that’s the end of this story—thank goodness, I bet -that’s what you’ll say. Anyway, I should worry because the next story is -worse than this—you’ll see. It tells all about that crazy hike to West -Shore Point, that’s what we called it. - -So if you thought this was the last hike story that’s where you got -left. 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Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - diff --git a/old/61089-0.zip b/old/61089-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5300153..0000000 --- a/old/61089-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61089-h.zip b/old/61089-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index fc68325..0000000 --- a/old/61089-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61089-h/61089-h.htm b/old/61089-h/61089-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 49fe3f4..0000000 --- a/old/61089-h/61089-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3965 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Roy Blakeley's Tangled Trail, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh</title> -<link rel='coverpage' href='images/cover.jpg' /> -<style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left:8%;margin-right:8%; } - p { text-indent:1.15em; margin-top:0.1em; margin-bottom:0.1em; text-align:justify; } - /* headings */ - h2 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.2em; margin:2em auto 1em auto; } - .sub-head { font-size:80%; } - /* illustrations */ - .caption { text-indent:0; font-size: smaller; padding:0.5em 0; text-align:center; } - .figcenter { margin:1em auto; } - /* tables */ - table { page-break-inside: avoid; } - table.tcenter { margin:0.5em auto; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; } - .tdc1 { padding-right:1em; text-align:right; vertical-align:top; } - .tdc2 { text-align:left; vertical-align:top; } - /* text divisions */ - div.chapter { page-break-before:always; margin-bottom:2em; } - div.page { page-break-before:always; margin-bottom:2em; } - /* line groups */ - div.cbline { margin-left:1.4em; text-indent:-1.4em; } - div.blankline { width:100%; height:0.7em; } - - h2.pg { font-weight: bold; - page-break-before: avoid; - font-size: 135%; } - h1.pg { text-align: center; - clear: both; } - h3 { text-align: center; - clear: both; } - hr.full { width: 100%; - margin-top: 3em; - margin-bottom: 0em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - height: 4px; - border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ - border-style: solid; - border-color: #000000; - clear: both; } -</style> -</head> -<body> -<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Roy Blakeley's Tangled Trail, by Percy Keese -Fitzhugh, Illustrated by H. S. Barbour</h1> -<p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States -and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no -restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: Roy Blakeley's Tangled Trail</p> -<p>Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh</p> -<p>Release Date: January 3, 2020 [eBook #61089]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S TANGLED TRAIL***</p> -<p> </p> -<h3>E-text prepared by Roger Frank and Sue Clark</h3> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class='page'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<h1 style='font-size:1.4em;'>ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL</h1> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:436px;'> -<img src='images/ifpc.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>PEE-WEE WENT DANCING AROUND WAVING THE BURNING PAPER.</p> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;'>ROY BLAKELEY’S</div> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;'>TANGLED TRAIL</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>BY</div> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>Author of</div> -<div>THE TOM SLADE BOOKS, THE ROY BLAKELEY</div> -<div>BOOKS, THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS,</div> -<div>WESTY MARTIN, ETC.</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>ILLUSTRATED BY</div> -<div>H. S. BARBOUR</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF</div> -<div>THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> -<div>PUBLISHERS : : NEW YORK</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>Made in the United States of America</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div>Copyright, 1924, by</div> -<div>GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<table summary='TOC' class='tcenter' style='margin-bottom:3em'> - <thead> - <tr> - <th colspan='2' style='font-weight:normal;padding-bottom:1em;'>CONTENTS</th> - </tr> - </thead> - <tbody> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>I</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chI'>Greetings</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>II</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chII'>On the Shelf</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>III</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chIII'>Hervey and the Camp</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>IV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chIV'>Tracks</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>V</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chV'>Plans</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>VI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chVI'>We Start</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>VII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chVII'>The Fall of Scout Harris</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>VIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chVIII'>Foiled Again</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>IX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chIX'>The Sound of Merry Laughter</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>X</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chX'>The Plot Grows Thicker—the Mud Too</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXI'>An Intermission</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXII'>Girls and Wasps</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXIII'>“The Shiveller”</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XIV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXIV'>Hands Off</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXV'>Stung</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XVI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXVI'>Jelly Cones</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XVII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXVII'>Ancient History</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XVIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXVIII'>A Story of the Past</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XIX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXIX'>We Meet a Stranger</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXX'>A Rare Species</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXI'>Thirty-four Cents</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXII'>Our Favorite Outdoor Sport</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXIII'>Hunting for Trouble</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXIV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXIV'>The Flapper and the Flopper</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXV'>Resources and Things</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXVI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXVI'>Flop Number Two</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXVII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXVII'>The Black Sheep</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXVIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXVIII'>Through the Mist</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXIX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXIX'>Eyes to See and Ears to Hear</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXX'>The Three of Us</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXI'>The Voice in the Night</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXII'>Hervey All Over</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXIII'>Hervey’s Serenade</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXIV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXIV'>Tom Fixes It</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXV'>To the Point</a></td></tr> - </tbody> -</table> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='chapter'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;'>ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL</div> -</div> -<h2 id='chI'>CHAPTER I<br /> <span class='sub-head'>GREETINGS</span></h2> -<p>Hello, everybody, this is the first story I wrote in a long time, only I -haven’t written it yet. I mean when it’s all written it will be the -first one I wrote in a long time.</p> -<p>That’s because my fountain pen got broken on account of stirring coffee -with it in camp. Pee-wee Harris said that needn’t make any difference -because a scout is supposed to be able to write with a charred stick -whittled to a point.</p> -<p>He says that’s the way pioneers wrote. He thinks the word pioneer comes -from the word pie. He says that’s the way he writes. No wonder his -stories are such black mysteries, that’s what my sister says. He says -scouts are supposed to write on birch bark. But believe me, paper is -good enough, I tried birch bark. But anyway I like birch beer. I’m crazy -about root beer too, only it reminds me of cube root and that reminds me -of arithmetic.</p> -<p>Maybe you don’t know what cube root is; you’re lucky. Cube root is the -number which taken three times as a factor produces a given number -called its cube. I should worry. Because anyway this story isn’t about -cubes, it’s about rubes and boobs and a lot of things and some roots but -no cubes. You get those in school and school is closed up or I wouldn’t -be writing this story.</p> -<p>Anyway I began this story twice. Gee whiz, I thought I was going to -strike out. The first time I started with a long description of Temple -Camp, and my father said it made him sleepy. Then after I went camping -over Sunday I started again, and coffee came out of my fountain pen, and -my sister said that a story like that would keep everybody awake, and I -told her that’s more than some stories do.</p> -<p>So then I cleaned my fountain pen out and started again, and this is my -third start, and my pen’s working fine. Only I’ve got to go downstairs -to supper now so I have to end this chapter.</p> -<p>My sister says the place to end chapters is just when something very -exciting is happening. But my mother says the place to end them is just -when the dinner gong sounds. Anyway to-night we’re going to have -chocolate pudding and that’s exciting so you’ll be in suspense while I’m -eating chocolate pudding and after that I bet you don’t know who you’re -going to meet.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chII'>CHAPTER II<br /> <span class='sub-head'>ON THE SHELF</span></h2> -<p>Mm, <i>mmm</i>, that was good! I remind myself of Pee-wee Harris, eating -three helpings. Now I’m going to start.</p> -<p>When I went up to Temple Camp this summer about the first scout I saw -was Hervey Willetts. I guess you know that fellow all right. He comes -from Massachusetts—as often as he can. That’s the place he goes away -from.</p> -<p>I’ll tell you just where he was sitting. You know how the cooking shack -is—it’s right at the edge of the lake. Chocolate Drop, he’s cook. He’s a -kind of a whitish black. He’s the color of the middle of the night. -There’s a big window facing the lake and it’s got a kind of a big board -shutter with hinges on top. The first thing in the morning, Chocolate -Drop opens that and props it open with a stick so it sticks out like a -kind of a shelf.</p> -<p>Hervey Willetts was sitting on that board shelf. If Chocolate Drop had -taken the prop away Hervey Willetts would have gone into the lake. But -that was just what he wanted. He was just sitting there waiting for -Chocolate Drop to let down that shutter. Then he could say that he -didn’t go into the lake after five o’clock because that’s against the -rule. He could say he was sitting on shore and Chocolate Drop dumped him -into the lake. That way he could get a swim in the evening. He didn’t -say so, but I know that fellow. He would get a swim accidentally on -purpose.</p> -<p>He was sitting there with nothing on but an old pair of khaki trousers -and a khaki shirt and that crazy hat he always wears with the brim all -gone and the crown all full of holes and campaign buttons and things. -Gee whiz, you can always tell him by that hat. I could see him sitting -there as we rowed across the lake from the trail side—that’s the way we -always go.</p> -<p>I shouted, “Look who’s here.”</p> -<p>He called back, “I’m looking; it’s just as unpleasant for me as it is -for you.”</p> -<p>“The pleasure is mine,” I told him. “I suppose you think you’re going to -get a swim after hours without getting called for it.”</p> -<p>“That shows your evil mind,” he said. “I was watching the sun go down.”</p> -<p>“Yes, and waiting to go down yourself,” I told him. “I’m waiting to see -the scout go down. I always hated geography but there’s one thing I like -about Massachusetts and that is that you’re away from there. I suppose -you’ve got some new stunts this summer.”</p> -<p>“Hurry up and land,” he said, “and get through with your suppers. Supper -was over an hour ago.”</p> -<p>He said that because he knew that Chocolate Drop wouldn’t let down that -shutter till the last supper was over and everything was cleared up in -Cooking Shack. Then he would be dumped into the lake accidentally. -<i>Christopher</i>, but the trustees never seemed to get wise to Hervey -Willetts. He looked awful funny sitting up there on that kind of a shelf -all ready to be, you know, preciprocated or precipitated or whatever you -call it, I should worry.</p> -<p>All of a sudden there was a voice from the Mammoth Cave in the other -rowboat. “Let’s foil him,” said Pee-wee. “Just for fun let’s keep on -eating for a couple of hours till he’s called to camp-fire. That’ll keep -Chocolate Drop in the shack.”</p> -<p>“Listen to the famine talking,” I said.</p> -<p>“He can even hold a heavy shutter up an hour or so with a half a dozen -pieces of pie,” said Warde Hollister.</p> -<p>“You should worry about our suppers,” I told him. “We always take our -time eating. We expect to spend a couple of hours at the board and you -can spend a couple of hours on <i>that</i> board.”</p> -<p>“Maybe even we’ll eat four desserts,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“We’ve got to unpack our baggage first,” I called, “and then wash up and -go and say hello to Uncle Jeb and in about half an hour we’ll get around -to eating.”</p> -<p>“After that we don’t know how long we’ll take,” Pee-wee yelled.</p> -<p>“Sure, a scout is thorough,” shouted Westy from my boat.</p> -<p>“What’s that got to do with me?” Hervey asked.</p> -<p>“Oh, positively, absolutely nothing,” I said. “Far be it from me to say -you have any——”</p> -<p>“Exterior motives,” shouted Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Ulterior motives,” I said. “Only I’m just telling you that maybe it -will be a large collection of hours before the window of the cooking -shack is closed up for the night. So don’t worry about falling into the -water—yet. We’ll tell you in time.”</p> -<p>“What do you mean, you’ll tell me in time?” said Hervey, very innocent -like.</p> -<p>Jiminy, he looked awful funny sitting up there on that window board with -his knees drawn up, staring at us just as if he was puzzled to know what -we were driving at. Insulted, kind of. That was him all over. Sort of -careless like. You’d never think he had any plans at all. He never broke -any rules on purpose—oh, far be it from it!</p> -<p>“Got any new songs this summer?” Warde Hollister shouted at him. Because -he always had a lot of crazy stuff that he was always singing and that’s -why everybody called him the wandering minstrel. None of us ever knew -where he got all the stuff he sang.</p> -<p>He’d come wandering into camp late for supper twirling that funny cap of -his on the end of a stick and singing, and the trustees or Uncle Jeb or -maybe his scoutmaster who would be all ready with a good calling-down -would just kind of smile and say nothing. The stormy petrel, they called -him that too. Gee whiz, nobody could help liking that fellow. He was an -odd number, I’ll say that.</p> -<p>“All right, Hervey,” Westy called kind of good-natured like. Westy never -breaks any camp rules, but just the same he likes Hervey. “Go on, give -us a song.”</p> -<p>So then Hervey started singing that crazy song that got us into so much -trouble that summer. We couldn’t hear the end of it, because pretty soon -we were at the landing and everybody was crowding there to meet us. -Anyhow this is the way it started:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>“When you go on a hike just you mind what I say,</div> -<div class='cbline'>The right way to go is the opposite way.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake,</div> -<div class='cbline'>Choose a road and the <i>other’s</i> the one you should take.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song,</div> -<div class='cbline'>If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike,</div> -<div class='cbline'>But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIII'>CHAPTER III<br /> <span class='sub-head'>HERVEY AND THE CAMP</span></h2> -<p>I don’t know, it seemed kind of natural, sort of, for us to see Hervey -Willetts like that, away from all the other scouts at camp. I said to -Westy I was kind of glad we saw him first just the way we did and that -he wasn’t in the crowd at the landing.</p> -<p>Westy said the same thing. I don’t know why he said that, but it seemed -as if Hervey was different from everybody else; I guess that’s what we -were thinking. Most always he was alone.</p> -<p>He had lots and lots of friends, but they weren’t scouts at camp. He -knew all the farmers around the country, and sometimes he stayed at -their homes all night. He got acquainted with peddlers and tramps and -stayed away and, gee whiz, you couldn’t blame the trustees for getting -mad. He was funny in some ways.</p> -<p>He could do most anything, but yet he never bothered his head about -merit badges. Mr. Ellsworth (he’s our scoutmaster) said Hervey was an -adventurer, not a scout. He said he could do stunts, but he could never -do tests. Mr. Ellsworth said scouting is a kind of a harness, and Hervey -couldn’t wear a harness. Anyway, just the same he liked Hervey because -he just couldn’t help it.</p> -<p>I had to laugh to myself when I thought how he was sitting on that -shutter just waiting for it to be let down so he could have a swim after -hours. He could say he fell in and had to swim to the landing. If -anybody would be to blame it would be Chocolate Drop, who always let the -shutter down from the inside.</p> -<p>I was wondering how Hervey got out there on that shutter. He must have -climbed over the roof of the cooking shack and let himself down on the -side over the lake. I had to laugh when I thought how funny it would -look when the shutter was let down to see him go sprawling accidentally -on purpose into the lake, which would be just what he wanted. I knew he -intended to beat the rule, but gee, I couldn’t help seeing the funny -side of it.</p> -<p>But anyway, soon we forgot all about it on account of the scouts all -being at the landing to meet us. I guess every scout I ever saw at -Temple Camp was there. Bert Winton was there and Brent Gaylong. He was -just as lanky as ever, and his spectacles were half-way down his nose -like a schoolmaster, and he had that same slow, drawly, funny way about -him.</p> -<p>There’s always a big fuss when our troop gets to camp, because Mr. -Temple, who started the camp, lives in our town. Pee-wee says Mr. Temple -donated the camp, and he thinks that means he supplied it with -doughnuts. The reason why Mr. Temple doughnutted the camp is because he -was interested in Tom Slade when Tom was a hoodlum in our town.</p> -<p>Tom Slade used to be in our troop, but now he stays at Temple Camp all -the time, and he’s assistant manager under Uncle Jeb Rushmore, and Uncle -Jeb used to be a trapper, and he fought with General Custer, and Pee-wee -thinks that General Custer was named after cup custards, and General -Custer fought the Indians, and if it wasn’t for the Indians we wouldn’t -have any Indian pudding, and that’s my favorite dessert.</p> -<p>So that brings me to the part where we were all eating dessert that -first night we got to Temple Camp. Everybody was through supper and we -had the eats pavilion all to ourselves on account of it being too dark -to eat at the big mess-board out under the trees.</p> -<p>I guess you know all about the troop I’m in. It’s the first Bridgeboro -troop of Bridgeboro, New Jersey. If you want to know where New Jersey -is, it’s on page twenty-seven of the geography.</p> -<p>These are the three patrols in our troop, and about twice a minute -Pee-wee starts another one. But don’t pay any attention to the patrols -he starts, because they don’t amount to anything. The only warranted, -genuine patrols in our troop are the raving Ravens (he’s one of them, I -mean he’s about six of them) and the Elks and the Silver Foxes. I’m -patrol leader of the Silver Foxes.</p> -<p>The best thing about the Ravens is that they’re not Elks. And the best -thing about the Elks is that they’re not Ravens. And the worst thing -about the Silver Foxes is that they’re in the same troop with the Elks -and the Ravens—they’re more to be pitied than blamed. Temple Camp is at -Black Lake and Black Lake is in the Catskills, and the Catskills are -somewhere or other, I should worry, you reach them in the second grade, -that’s all I know.</p> -<p>So now you know about Hervey Willetts and my troop and Temple Camp, and -if you want to know all the rest about them you’ll find it in a lot of -stories I wrote that have my picture on the cover of them. All those -stories are crazier than each other. But if you want to read the -craziest one of all you want to read this one. Even the laughing brook -at Temple Camp died laughing.</p> -<p>It’s such a lot of nonsense that it’s dedicated to a crazy quilt. Every -bit of it is taken from life, and my sister says life ought to be -thankful to get rid of it. Many thanks, I told her. Anyway, I don’t care -what you say, this story is all about real happenings—real adventures -and real estate. <i>Oh, boy</i>, wait till you see the real estate that’s in -it.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIV'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>TRACKS</span></h2> -<p>While we were finishing our supper Chocolate Drop came in and talked to -us and told us all the news. We kept him there talking just to make -Hervey wait. Pee-wee kept on eating.</p> -<p>“I’m doing it just for the fun of it,” he said with his mouth full of -pie.</p> -<p>“You mean you’re doing it just for the taste of it,” I told him.</p> -<p>“I’m prvntngscoutfrombrules,” he said.</p> -<p>“Your carburetor’s flooded,” I told him.</p> -<p>“I’m preventing a scout from breaking the rules,” he said.</p> -<p>“That’s better,” Westy told him.</p> -<p>I knew Hervey wouldn’t slide off the shutter while it was up, and I knew -that Chocolate Drop wouldn’t let it down as long as we were eating, and -I knew Pee-wee wouldn’t stop eating as long as there was anything left -to eat. I knew Pee-wee would win if his ammunition held out.</p> -<p>After a while he began eating apple sauce, and then I knew there was no -hope for Hervey. Because Pee-wee eats apple sauce better than anything -else; you’d think he was a presti—a presti—diget—I should worry, you -know what I mean, the way he makes it disappear—I mean a man that does -tricks, a magician, or whatever you call him.</p> -<p>We were all sitting around watching him eat apple sauce, Chocolate Drop -and all. I mean Chocolate Drop was sitting around watching with the rest -of us. He wasn’t eating Chocolate Drop, far be it from it absolutely -nevertheless. We were all laughing, thinking about Hervey sitting out -there on that window shutter waiting for a chance to break the rule by -an unavoidable cat—you know what I mean—a catas—something like an -accident. Hervey was waiting for the apple sauce to stop going down so -<i>he</i> could go down.</p> -<p>All of a sudden who should come strolling into the room but Brent -Gaylong. He’s kind of long and lanky, and he wears spectacles, and he’s -awful funny on account of being so sober. He takes everything as it -comes, the same as Pee-wee does when he’s eating. He just kind of -strolled over to the table and lifted the hanging lamp off its rack and -marched out with it.</p> -<p>He said, “You fellows don’t need this.”</p> -<p>So there we sat in total darkness—I just happened to think of that word -<i>total</i>, but anyway I don’t like it because it reminds me of arithmetic.</p> -<p>“We need this lamp to investigate some heavy tracks,” Brent said.</p> -<p>Gee whiz, you should have seen us all jump up, even Pee-wee. Because -tracks are our middle name. We all started following Brent out and it -looked awful funny, that parade with him at the head of it, carrying the -lamp. He’s awful funny, that fellow is, on account of being so sober. He -looks just as if school was opening or something like that.</p> -<p>Now I told you we’re all crazy and I’m going to prove it because we just -followed him around just like when you play follow your leader.</p> -<p>“Where are the tracks?” Pee-wee wanted to know. I guess he was beginning -to be sorry that he had left the apple sauce.</p> -<p>“Right down by the shore,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Did you say they’re heavy tracks?” the kid wanted to know, all excited. -“I bet they’re from a bull moose.”</p> -<p>“They’re the heaviest tracks I ever saw,” Brent said. He looked awful -funny carrying that big lamp. He said, “I thought you fellows would be -willing to cut short your suppers to see them. They’re down by the -shore.”</p> -<p>“It’s a moose,” Pee-wee shouted. “He went there to drink.”</p> -<p>“If we can pick them up——” Brent started to say.</p> -<p>“I’ll pick them up,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“And hold them——” Brent started again.</p> -<p>“I can pick up any tracks and hold them even on hard land,” Pee-wee -said. “Don’t you know I’ve got the pathfinder’s badge?”</p> -<p>“He’s got so many badges he’s got the badger beat,” I said.</p> -<p>“Well, here they are,” Brent said.</p> -<p>By that time we had come to the shore and there in front of us were a -couple of pieces of railroad track about a foot long each. They were the -same two pieces that had always been there; they used to be used for -anchors in the rowboats.</p> -<p>Every scout in camp knew about those two rusty old pieces of railroad -track.</p> -<p>Brent said, very sober like, “What do you think of them? Is it a bull -moose?”</p> -<p>“They look more like the tracks of a pig,” I said; “they’re pig iron.”</p> -<p>“You said you could pick up any tracks and hold them,” Westy said to -Pee-wee. “Let’s see you do it.”</p> -<p>“You make me tired!” the kid yelled. “I stopped eating apple sauce on -account of you.”</p> -<p>“You would have had to stop some time,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“No, I wouldn’t,” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>I said, “You should have known what he meant when he said ‘heavy -tracks.’”</p> -<p>“You make me tired,” he said; “you didn’t know either.”</p> -<p>“Sure we knew,” I said. “You’re so dumb you think a railroad track is -made by a bull moose. You desert your dessert and you’ve got your just -deserts, and if there’s anything we’re sorry for we’re glad of it.”</p> -<p>“You’re all crazy!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> -<p>Just then, <i>bang</i>, down went the window shutter of the cooking shack and -then <i>kerplash</i> we heard Hervey go tumbling into the water. <i>Some</i> -accident!</p> -<p>“Any one hurt?” Brent called out very surprised like.</p> -<p>“No, I just fell into the water,” Hervey spluttered.</p> -<p>“Too bad,” said Brent.</p> -<p>I just looked at Brent and laughed. All the while he looked very sober -and innocent.</p> -<p>I said, “You didn’t do a thing but help Hervey out.”</p> -<p>“You mean he helped Hervey in,” Warde Hollister said.</p> -<p>“I? What do you mean?” Brent asked us.</p> -<p>“You had a conspiracy to circumvent my apple sauce,” the kid screamed; -“<i>I</i> know. You can’t fool me. You just deliberately on purpose stopped -me from eating so Hervey Willetts could fall in the water, and you want -us to think that you’re very innocent with your heavy tracks, but anyway -I bet my appetite is just as heavy, and I could have prevented him from -falling in the lake only you stopped me.”</p> -<p>“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brent said, very surprised and -innocent. Gee whiz, he and Hervey Willetts are some pair. They’ve got -Bartlett pears beaten twenty ways.</p> -<p>“You don’t mean to tell me I’d aid and abet anybody in breaking a rule, -do you?” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Oh, positively, absolutely not,” I said. “Say not so. It just happened -thusly as it were by an unforeseen accident that was planned out. You’re -one good fellow, Brent, you’re always helping somebody.”</p> -<p>“I don’t know what you mean,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“You don’t mean he helped <i>me</i>, do you?” our young Mammoth Cave wanted -to know.</p> -<p>“Didn’t you have helpings enough to-night?” I asked him.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chV'>CHAPTER V<br /> <span class='sub-head'>PLANS</span></h2> -<p>So that was about all that happened that night, only that crazy song -that Hervey sang when we first saw him, and Brent Gaylong marching ahead -of us out of the eats pavilion is what put it into our heads to have a -crazy hike like the Bee-line hike, only crazier.</p> -<p>My sister said it ought to be called light fiction on account of Brent -carrying the lamp, and my father said it ought to be a serial story on -account of there being a lot of oatmeal in it, but anyway, the right -name of it is <i>The Lunatic Hike or Boy Scouts on the Other Road</i>. Only -you’re not supposed to use the right name because everything in this -story is wrong and you’re supposed to use the wrong name and that is -<i>The Left-handed Hike or Where Are We At?</i> Because the wrong name is the -right name and it’s affectionately dedicated to five cents’ worth of -peanuts on account of all the characters in it being nuts.</p> -<p>When Hervey came out of the water he went up to dry himself at -camp-fire. Everybody said it was too bad he fell into the water, and Mr. -Alton (he’s one of the trustees) said that the window shutter of the -cooking shack wasn’t a very good place to be sitting watching the -sunset. Gee whiz, you never know just what that man means when he says -something.</p> -<p>Brent said, “Accidents will happen.”</p> -<p>“Anyway the rest of the apple sauce was saved from a horrible death,” I -said.</p> -<p>Now kind of on account of what happened that night, Hervey and Brent and -Pee-wee and Warde Hollister and I sat together at camp-fire. We kind of -made a little group by ourselves back from the crowd. It was darker back -there, and we liked it better. That’s the way with Hervey, he always -sprawls around away from the crowd.</p> -<p>I said, “I tell you a good kind of a hike—a spook hike; with Brent going -ahead carrying the lamp. A hike in the pitch dark.”</p> -<p>“This isn’t Hallowe’en,” Warde said. “What was that stuff you were -singing, Hervey, when we came across the lake to-night a little while -before your——”</p> -<p>“Your mishap,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“That’s the word—<i>mishap</i>,” I said. “You took the word out of my mouth.”</p> -<p>“He didn’t take it out of your mouth at all,” Pee-wee said. “You just -think it’s smart to say that.”</p> -<p>“No one could ever take anything out of <i>your</i> mouth, that’s one sure -thing,” I told him. “What was that you were singing?” I asked Hervey.</p> -<p>“It goes with a hike,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Let it go,” Warde said. “You won’t catch <i>me</i> going.”</p> -<p>“Or me either,” our young hero piped up. “Not with Hervey Willetts. Not -if it’s one of those follow-your-leader hikes.”</p> -<p>“This is different,” Hervey said. “The song explains it. It’s simple, -all you have to do is turn to the left. Don’t pay any attention to the -roads on the right, but turn into every road that goes to the left. And -you’re sure to get there.”</p> -<p>“Where?” the kid hollered.</p> -<p>“Anywhere,” I said. “Can’t you understand plain English?”</p> -<p>“Anywhere isn’t a place,” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>“That shows how much you know about geography,” I told him. “It’s the -best place in the world. You’re so dumb you think that a plot in a story -is where the grass grows. You don’t even know where a place is. Proceed -with the singing,” I said to Hervey.</p> -<p>“And get it over with,” Warde said.</p> -<p>So then Hervey sang that crazy song again, lying on his back and kicking -that crazy hat of his from one foot to the other. Here it is because, -gee whiz, I’ll never forget it:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>“When you go on a hike just you mind what I say,</div> -<div class='cbline'>The right way to go is the opposite way.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake,</div> -<div class='cbline'>Choose a road, and the <i>other’s</i> the one you should take.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song,</div> -<div class='cbline'>If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike,</div> -<div class='cbline'>But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.”</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> - </div> -</div> -<p>Brent said in that funny, drawly way he has, “I rather like that song. -It hasn’t any object.”</p> -<p>“It hasn’t any subject or predicate either,” I said. “All the -injunctions are qualified by the propositions.”</p> -<p>“You mean <i>con</i>junctions and <i>pre</i>positions,” Pee-wee yelled. “That -shows how much you know about grammar.”</p> -<p>“It’s the geography of the song that I like,” Brent said. “I’d like to -go there.”</p> -<p>“Where?” the kid asked.</p> -<p>“To the left,” Brent said. “I’ve heard there’s a lot of fun there.” He -was lying on his back looking right up into the sky, and his hands were -clasped behind his head. He seemed awful funny—sober like.</p> -<p>“Well, you can bet I’m not going there,” Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>“Well, that’s one good thing about the place anyway,” I told him. “If -what you say is true there ought to be a lot of fun there.”</p> -<p>“If what did I say is true?” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>“That you’re not going there,” I said.</p> -<p>“How can I not go to a place when I don’t know where it is?” he yelled.</p> -<p>“That’s the right question to the answer,” I said. “I say, we five start -to-morrow morning. It won’t take us long because if we don’t know where -we’re going we ought to be back by some time or other.”</p> -<p>“Oh, long before that,” said Brent.</p> -<p>“You’re all crazy!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> -<p>“Now you’re talking sense,” I said.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVI'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>WE START</span></h2> -<p>So the next morning the five of us started out. We were a kind of a -rainbow patrol because we belonged to different troops. But anyway we -were all scouts—especially Hervey Willetts, because he’s an out-and-out -scout on account of being out all the time.</p> -<p>The only one of us that was normal was Warde; he’s so normal that he’s -going to the State Normal School, only when he’s with us he’s crazy -because it’s catching.</p> -<p>The first trouble we had just before we started was really just after we -started, because when we passed Commissary Shack we were going to stop -and have them put us up a lunch, but Hervey said we were on the path to -the main road and Commissary Shack was on our right, and we had no right -to stop there.</p> -<p>“We haven’t started yet,” Pee-wee shouted. “We don’t start till we get -to the road; we’re still in camp!”</p> -<p>“Who’s still?” I asked him. “It’s the first time I ever knew you to be -still. We’re on the path leading to the main road. If you leave the path -you’re out of the hike. On this hike we have no right to pay any -attention to anything that’s right. We can only turn into roads to the -left and we can’t pay any attention to things on the right-hand side of -those roads—only the left. There isn’t any right at all on this hike. -We’re only supposed to see out of our left eyes.”</p> -<p>“Do you mean to tell me I have to keep my right eye shut?” Pee-wee -shouted.</p> -<p>“And your mouth too,” I told him.</p> -<p>“Now I <i>know</i> you’re all crazy!” he yelled.</p> -<p>“Right,” I said.</p> -<p>“You mean left,” Hervey put in.</p> -<p>Brent said, “Before we go any farther let’s settle about the rules.”</p> -<p>Hervey said, “The idea is to turn into every road we come to that goes -to the left; that’s the only rule.”</p> -<p>“And we mustn’t pay any attention to anything that’s on the right-hand -side of the left-hand road,” I said.</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“How are we going to get back?” the kid wanted to know. “Do you think I -want to spend the rest of my life turning to the left?”</p> -<p>“If you’re going to spend the rest of your life turning, the left is -just as good as the right,” I told him. “Those are the two best -directions except the one you usually go in, and that’s up in the air.”</p> -<p>“You’ll be sorry we didn’t take lunch with us,” he said.</p> -<p>“I’m sorry already,” I told him, “but duty is duty; we can’t start off -by turning to the right, lunch or no lunch. Better starvation than -dishonor. Anyway here comes Sandwich, let’s take him along.”</p> -<p>Now I’ll tell you about Sandwich. He’s the dog at Temple Camp, and we -call him Sandwich because he’s half-bred. Nobody knows how he got to -Temple Camp, but a lot of scouts say he followed Hervey Willetts from -Catskill. If he did he must have had some job. He’s a sort of blackish -white. It’s good his tail is at the other end of him, because it would -make him nervous to see it. Anyway he should worry. So as long as he was -going to go anyway we invited him.</p> -<p>All of a sudden, just as we were turning into the West Trail around the -lake (because that turns out of Cabin Lane to the left) a scout called -after Hervey Willetts and said, “Hey, Hervey, you’re wanted within.”</p> -<p>“Can you beat that?” Hervey wanted to know, all disgruntled.</p> -<p>“You better go back,” I said, because I know he doesn’t think much about -not paying any attention to trustees and people like that.</p> -<p>“Within where?” he called out.</p> -<p>“Within the next six or seven hours,” the scout shouted.</p> -<p>“No sooner said than stung,” I told Hervey.</p> -<p>That fellow’s always afraid he’ll be called down as many times as I get -called up, because I know a girl in Catskill—that’s about ten miles from -camp—and she’s all the time calling me up to go and play basket-ball. -Pee-wee has no use for basket-ball, but he’s crazy about basket lunches.</p> -<p>So long, I’ve got to go to scout meeting now. When I get home I’m going -to start chapter seven. And when you start reading it you want to look -out not to get too near the edge, because there’s all water in that -chapter. It’s kind of like a lake surrounded by a chapter—you’ll see.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVII'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE FALL OF SCOUT HARRIS</span></h2> -<p>Now this is the way we started. We went through Cabin Lane (that’s part -of Temple Camp) and passed Commissary Shack and turned into the first -path to the left and that’s West Trail, and it goes around the lake -through the woods.</p> -<p>Pee-wee said, “Now it shows how crazy you all are because this trail -will bring us right back to where we started, and if we start again -we’ll only do the same thing over again, and we might just as well try -to get somewhere on a merry-go-round.”</p> -<p>“That’s a very good idea,” I told him; “a merry-go-round hike, I never -thought of that.”</p> -<p>“What’s the use just going around and around the lake all the time?” he -shouted. “Do you call that a hike?”</p> -<p>“When we get back we can say we’ve been around a lot,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“And what are we going to do when we get back?” the kid yelled.</p> -<p>“Oh, we’re just going to keep on going till we find a path to the left,” -Warde said.</p> -<p>“If there isn’t a path to the left the first time there won’t be one the -second time, will there?” our young hero screamed.</p> -<p>“If you don’t succeed at first try, try again,” Hervey said. He looked -awful funny marching ahead through the woods with the rest of us after -him. He looked very serious like, just as if we were really going -somewhere. Brent followed along right after him, very sober, with his -spectacles half-way down his nose, the way he always wears them. He’s -long and lanky and always very sober, that fellow is. I mean he acts -sober. He said:</p> -<p>“This is just as good as a trip around the world only it’s shorter. When -you start around the world you don’t get anywhere; you just come back to -the place where you started. That’s because the world is round. If a -thing’s round and you start around it you can’t have any destination. -That’s logic.”</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively,” Warde said. “The equator is all right but it -doesn’t get you anywhere. This is a round trip, we’re encircling the -lake.”</p> -<p>“How many times are we going to encircle it?” the kid fairly screeched. -“You call that logic? Do you think I’m going to keep hiking round and -round and round and round the lake all day with nothing to eat? And -anyway if there was a path to the left it would run into the lake only -there isn’t any.”</p> -<p>“Well, probably it doesn’t run into the lake then,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“What are you worrying about? We can’t get lost,” Warde said to him.</p> -<p>“How is it going to end, that’s what <i>I</i> want to know?” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>“It isn’t going to end,” I said; “it’s perpetual motion.”</p> -<p>Gee whiz, I had to laugh at him. He was trudging along with a scowl on -his face, and he looked kind of disgusted with all of us. The funny part -of him is that he always goes with us, and yet he keeps kicking all the -time.</p> -<p>“I suppose you’re going to write this up like the other crazy hikes we -took,” he said. “Everything you do you write a story about it.”</p> -<p>I said, “Sure, I remind myself of the Woolworth Building, I have so many -stories. Keep to the left.” He was just going to turn into a path to the -right, but I hauled him back.</p> -<p>We just kept on going along the path around the lake; it was awful funny -because we knew it wouldn’t get us anywhere. The kid was wild. Pretty -soon we came to the outlet of the lake (you can see it on the map), and -Hervey jumped across it, then Brent took one of those long steps of his, -very solemn, and Warde and I followed.</p> -<p>I don’t know how Sandwich got across, but he was waiting for us on the -other side. He acted as if he knew we were all crazy and liked it. Our -young hero tried to take a long step across and, kerflop, down he went -into the water. One good thing, it wasn’t very deep.</p> -<p>“Going down,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“If we’re going to keep going around and around this lake till we’re -all—till we’re all walking skeletons,” Pee-wee shouted, “I’m going to -put a board across that outlet.”</p> -<p>“Come on, keep moving,” Hervey said; “make it snappy.”</p> -<p>“What do you mean, snappy?” the kid screamed. “Do you think I’m going to -keep on getting wet every time just because the rest of you are -lunatics?” He looked awful funny coming along after us sputtering and -shouting, with his scout suit all wet.</p> -<p>“United we stand, divided we sprawl,” I told him. “Hervey’s leading; if -he doesn’t use a board the rest of us can’t.”</p> -<p>“Sprawl is the word,” said Brent.</p> -<p>“We’re not responsible for the length of your legs,” I told the kid. “If -you want to be a quitter and drop out when we get around to camp, all -right. We’re on a left-handed hike and our hike flower is the daffodil -and our slogan is <i>Keep going to the left</i> and if we don’t get anywhere -we’re not to blame; geography is to blame, and I never had any use for -geography anyway.”</p> -<p>“We’ll get dizzy and go staggering into the lake, that’s what we’ll do,” -the kid yelled.</p> -<p>“All right,” I said, “drop in or drop out, we don’t care which you do, -only keep still. Can’t you see we’re busy hiking?”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVIII'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>FOILED AGAIN</span></h2> -<p>You’ll see how it was if you look at the map. After a little while we -came around to the camp again and into Cabin Lane. A lot of scouts were -sitting on the porch of Main Pavilion laughing at us. But what cared we, -quoth I.</p> -<p>“Didn’t you find any path to the left?” one of them shouted.</p> -<p>“No, but maybe there’ll be one next time,” I said. “You never can tell. -We’ve only been around once. It’s a beautiful afternoon this morning for -an evening hike. So long, we’ll see you later. We’re busy doing our -daily good turn.”</p> -<p>Everybody was laughing as we went through Cabin Lane, Pee-wee coming -along behind trying to keep up with us. He was sore but he wouldn’t drop -out because he’s not a quitter, I’ll say that much for him.</p> -<p>When we came the second time to the outlet, Hervey made a good jump over -it. The rest of us followed, and Pee-wee went kerflop into the water -again. He climbed out shouting, “<i>This is the last time I’m going -around!</i> Do you think I’m going to keep walking around this lake all -day?”</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:423px;'> -<img src='images/i034.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>PEE-WEE CLIMBED OUT, SHOUTING, “THIS IS THE LAST TIME!”</p> -</div> -<p>“Think of Columbus,” Brent said. “He didn’t turn back, he kept on going, -he sailed on and on and on——”</p> -<p>“That’s all right because he didn’t know where he was going,” Pee-wee -panted.</p> -<p>“All right then, we’re smarter than he was because we know where we’re -going,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“He kept going around,” Brent said. “That’s why they named Columbus -Circle after him.”</p> -<p>“Pee-wee is so dumb he thinks Columbus’ last name is Ohio,” I said.</p> -<p>Hervey didn’t say anything, just kept marching along; gee whiz, it was -funny. I don’t know how long we would have kept it up because that -fellow is crazy enough to do anything.</p> -<p>Pee-wee started screaming, “How long are we going to keep this up? I -said I’d go on a left-handed hike, and I meant I’d follow a trail that -goes to some different place. What’s the use of doing this? <i>Where is it -going to get us?</i>”</p> -<p>Brent said, “This isn’t the kind of a trail that takes you to one place -one time and another place another time. It’s a trail you can depend -on.”</p> -<p>“Sure, it can be trusted,” I said.</p> -<p>Gee whiz, I guess we’d be marching around Black Lake yet if it wasn’t -for Sandwich. He discovered a trail to the left. It was right across the -lake from the camp. We were about half-way along the opposite side of -the lake when Sandwich started sniffing the ground, and then he began -dancing around as if school had just closed. All of a sudden he started -sniffing along slantingways down toward the lake; you’ll see just how if -you look at the dotted line on the map.</p> -<p>“It’s a path!” Pee-wee shouted. “It goes to the left and we have to -follow it.”</p> -<p>“I bet it goes into the lake,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“Then what will we do?” I asked him.</p> -<p>“We’ll have to walk into the lake and swim to the left,” Brent said. -“Pee-wee couldn’t be any wetter than he is already.”</p> -<p>“I’m not going to walk into the lake!” the kid shouted. “That’s one -thing I won’t do. I’m good and wet, and I’m good and hungry. I got wet -twice and I haven’t eaten once and it’s near noontime and it’s all on -account of you and your crazy hike. If I have to be a lunatic I’m going -to be a dry one!”</p> -<p>“That’s a very good idea,” I told him.</p> -<p>“I’m half starved, I know that,” he shouted.</p> -<p>“I never knew you to be anything else,” Warde said.</p> -<p>As long as there wasn’t any path to the left along the trail around the -lake we decided that we would follow Sandwich and call that a trail. -Because if we hadn’t done that we would have just kept on going round -and round the lake forever—even longer maybe. We would have gone on to -eternity, that’s what Brent said.</p> -<p>“I’d rather go there than no place,” I told him.</p> -<p>“If we don’t strike eternity the first time around how do you expect to -find it the second time around?” Hervey asked.</p> -<p>“We should worry,” I said; “we’re on the right road now, we’re going to -bunk right into the lake.”</p> -<p>Well, the next thing we knew there we were right at the edge of the -lake. Across the water we could see Temple Camp and we could see the -smoke curling up from the cooking shack and we knew they were cooking -dinner over there.</p> -<p>“Now you see,” said Pee-wee, very sore like, “they’re cooking dinner; -they’re going to have sausages.”</p> -<p>“If the wind would only blow this way we could inhale our dinners,” -Warde said.</p> -<p>“Oh, here’s a boat,” one of us shouted.</p> -<p>“We’ll row across, that’s what we’ll do,” the kid said. “I’ve had enough -of left-handed hiking. We’re in luck. We don’t even have to walk the -rest of the way around.”</p> -<p>“It’s chained,” said Hervey, “and it’s got a big heavy padlock on it.”</p> -<p>“Foiled again,” I said.</p> -<p>We were all standing on the shore looking at the boat. I said, “It’s a -very nice boat with a bottom in it and sides to it and everything, only -it’s chained. What are we going to do next?”</p> -<p>Brent began sniffing and saying, “I think I can smell the sausages. The -fragrance is borne upon the gentle breeze. I think I can smell brown -gravy too. And apple dumplings. Can you sniff the apple dumplings?” I -had to laugh at him, he was so sober about it. He said, “Is that the -scent of apple dumplings, kid, or am I mistaken?”</p> -<p>“It smells to me like two helpings,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“You all make me tired!” Pee-wee shouted. “What’s the use of standing -here and sniffing like a lot of idiots? If the boat is chained we have -to go on walking around. We can get there in time for dinner if we -hurry.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “Alas, that can never be done. Thou knowest not what thou -sayest, Scout Harris.”</p> -<p>“Why don’t I knowest what I sayest?” the kid screamed.</p> -<p>“Because you just made a fatal move,” Brent said. “In walking around -examining the boat you passed to the <i>north</i> of the indistinct trail -that Sandwich followed. And we, like fools, followed you. We are now -facing south as we stand here. Our honor prevents us from turning -around. Behold, Scout Harris, the little trail which brought us to the -shore is now on our <i>right</i> instead of on our <i>left</i>. We cannot follow -it back to the main trail.</p> -<p>“You, and you alone, have been our undoing! We cannot move from this -spot except by entering the lake which is on our <i>left</i>, and the boat is -chained. We are marooned in fetters. We can neither hike nor row. All we -can do is sniff. And this is <i>your</i> work!”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIX'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE SOUND OF MERRY LAUGHTER</span></h2> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div>(<i>My Sister Wrote That Heading</i>)</div> -</div> -<p>“Now I <i>know</i> you’re crazy!” Pee-wee yelled. “The path back to the main -trail is on our <i>right</i>,” Brent said. “We must shun it. Our honor is at -stake.”</p> -<p>“Don’t talk about steaks,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“You’re a lot of nuts, that’s what you are!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> -<p>“Don’t remind me of nuts,” I said. “Our Cook’s Tour has come to an end -within sniffing distance of food. And <i>you</i> are to <i>blame</i>!”</p> -<p>“Please don’t use the word cook,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“It shows where one false step may lead,” Brent said, very solemn-like.</p> -<p>“If we turn around that trail is on our left,” the kid shouted. “I never -said I wouldn’t turn around, did I?”</p> -<p>“We are facing the south,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“I’m not!” Pee-wee screamed.</p> -<p>“Go your way, Scout Harris,” he said, “but remember that you deserted -the left-handed hikers by turning to the right. You are taking your -first false step. We follow the path of honor.”</p> -<p>“Me for the <i>seat</i> of honor,” I said. “Let’s sit down in the boat.”</p> -<p>“How long are we going to stay here?” the kid asked. I noticed that he -sat down in the boat with us. He isn’t a quitter, that’s one sure thing.</p> -<p>So then we were all sitting in the boat laughing. We all faced the same -way, south, and it made us look awful funny. If we could have rocked the -boat around so it headed the other way then the trail might have been on -our left, but the boat was fastened at both ends so there we were with -the lake to the left of us and the trail (if you call it a trail) to the -right of us and how could we get away, that was the question.</p> -<p>I guess you see how it was; if we hadn’t moved north of the trail and -stood facing south, we could have gone back to the main trail and kept -going round. But you see Brent caught us when the little trail was on -our right and if you don’t see I should worry because I have troubles of -my own. Anyway, there we were sitting in the boat all facing the same -way like an audience at a show.</p> -<p>“My honor comes first,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“My appetite comes next,” Pee-wee said. “How long are we going to sit -here?”</p> -<p>“Till doomsday,” I said.</p> -<p>“Till we find some way to turn to the left,” said Brent.</p> -<p>“One place is just as good as another, if not better,” I said; “anyway -we’re sitting down.”</p> -<p>“There goes the dinner horn,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Let it go,” I said, “that’s more than we can do.”</p> -<p>“They’re going to have clam chowder too, to-day,” Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>“I hear you calling me,” Brent began singing.</p> -<p>“We’re a lot of fools,” Pee-wee said. “All we have to do is get up and -hike around to dinner. This left-handed hike is nothing but a lot of -nonsense anyway. It’s gone far enough.”</p> -<p>“Sure it has,” I said. “I don’t see it going any farther.”</p> -<p>So then Hervey began rocking the boat and singing that crazy stuff:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>“When you go on a hike just you mind what I say,</div> -<div class='cbline'>The right way to go is the opposite way.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake,</div> -<div class='cbline'>Choose a road, and the <i>other’s</i> the one you should take.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song,</div> -<div class='cbline'>If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike,</div> -<div class='cbline'>But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.”</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> - </div> -</div> -<p>Gee whiz, I guess we sat there about half an hour. Most of the time we -were jollying Pee-wee; that’s our favorite outdoor sport. And all the -time we were all sitting facing the same way just like an audience. We -were kind of lazy like. We felt kind of lazy and silly, I guess.</p> -<p>Warde said, “This is a very nice boat, I like the inside of it better -than the outside.”</p> -<p>“The outside of it isn’t a boat at all,” the kid grumbled.</p> -<p>I said, “Well, if it hasn’t got an outside how can it have an inside? -That shows how much you know about geometry.”</p> -<p>“Outside this boat, is that a boat?” he yelled.</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively,” I said. “For goodness’ sake pick up that rag -under your feet and wash your face with it. You brought all the mud from -the bottom of the outlet along with you. You look like a mud-pie.”</p> -<p>“Will you keep still about pie!” he hollered. “How long are we going to -sit here like a lot of fools? Just because we made a crazy resolution——”</p> -<p>“Our honor is at stake,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Look at Sandwich, he went home,” the kid grumbled.</p> -<p>“How can I look at him then?” I said. “Anyway he didn’t vow any vow.”</p> -<p>Then Hervey started singing:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> “We vowed a vow,</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> We vowed a vow,</div> -<div class='cbline'>And now we’re marooned on a padlocked scow.”</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> - </div> -</div> -<p>Pretty soon all of us were singing:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> “We’re here because we’re here,</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> We cannot get away;</div> -<div class='cbline'>The path to the left has turned to the right.</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> And here we’re going to stay,</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> And here we’re going to stay;</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> For that’s the only way.”</div> - </div> -</div> -<p>All of a sudden Hervey shouted, “I’ve got an idea!” Then he pulled up -the stake that was stuck in the water near the stern of the boat. A -chain went from the boat to that stake, and there was a padlock, but it -wasn’t much good when he pulled the stake up. He said, “Ha, ha, we are -shaved, I mean saved. This alters the whole face of nature. Just a -minute and the trail will be on our left, and the hike can continue -along the same lines as before.”</p> -<p>“Not for me!” Pee-wee shouted. “I’m sitting here, and I’m going to stay -sitting here, I don’t care what happens!”</p> -<p>“Well, anyway, take that rag that’s under your feet and wash your face -with it,” I told him.</p> -<p>“I won’t do that either,” he said; “I’m tired of this whole business. -I’m going to stay here till I get good and rested.”</p> -<p>All the while we were rocking the boat so it would move around. The bow -of it was chained so the stern swung around until the boat bobbed -against the shore and was facing north instead of south, just like the -boat I made with dotted lines on the map. So you see then the little -trail was on our left. Hervey pushed the stake down into the bottom of -the lake so the boat would stay that way.</p> -<p>Brent said, “Thanks to Hervey Willetts now we can proceed upon our hike. -We haven’t been around much lately. Shall we hit the trail?”</p> -<p>“If I hit that trail as I’d like to hit it,” Pee-wee shouted. -“I’d—I’d—I’d—give it—I’d give it two black eyes——”</p> -<p>“It would be a blind trail,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“You can turn to the left and go wherever you want to,” the kid shouted. -“I’m going to sit right here in this boat, I don’t care anything about -faces of nature——”</p> -<p>“The least you could do would be to wash your own face,” Warde told him.</p> -<p>“I’ll wash my hands of you and my face too,” the kid hollered. “I’m -going to sit right here in this boat till I get good and rested, and -then I’m going around to dinner. I resign from this crazy hike and -you’re all lunatics.”</p> -<p>Warde said, “Those are harsh words, Scout Harris.”</p> -<p>The kid looked awful funny sitting there in the boat after the rest of -us got out. He just sat there with a terrible scowl on his face, and his -face was all grimy on account of falling in at the outlet. He was good -and mad.</p> -<p>The rest of us were standing on the shore watching him and we were just -going to start up the daffodil trail (that’s what Warde called it) and -turn to the left when all of a sudden we heard the sound of merry -laughter echoing through the woods. My sister wrote that sentence about -merry laughter echoing through the woods. I was going to write that we -heard a couple of girls giggling somewhere around, I should worry, and -that’s the end of this chapter.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chX'>CHAPTER X<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE PLOT GROWS THICKER—THE MUD TOO</span></h2> -<p>Now there’s one thing about Pee-wee, he always dresses up when there are -going to be girls. He wears all his merit badges and his belt-axe so -they’ll know he’s a real hero. He’s the only original boy scout -heart-breaker. Girls always smile at him. Sometimes they even laugh out -loud.</p> -<p>So as soon as he heard the merry sound of girlish laughter in the -neighboring woodland (my sister wrote that) he began to listen and then -he grabbed the rag in the bottom of the boat so as to wash the dirt from -his face.</p> -<p>I guess he was going to dip it in the water when all of a sudden, <i>good -night</i>, there were a couple of girls coming out through the bushes. They -were laughing kind of just as if they had been spying on us, but all of -a sudden they set up a howl and the next thing I saw there was Pee-wee -jumping around in the boat and the boat was rocking about half full of -water. One of his legs was outside, and he didn’t seem to know whether -to stay in the boat or get out of it. Gee whiz, it wouldn’t have made -much difference because there was just about as much water inside as -there was outside.</p> -<p>“Oh, he pulled the plug out—<i>the rag</i>!” one of the girls said. “Isn’t -that too <i>funny</i>!”</p> -<p>“It shows you don’t know what funny means,” Pee-wee spluttered.</p> -<p>By that time the boat was more than half full and he was flopping around -in the water outside it. One good thing, the water was shallow but the -bottom was all mud and he was floundering around in it and lifting one -leg after the other high up trying to walk up on shore. The water was -too shallow to swim in and too deep to walk in especially on account of -the muddy bottom. Pretty soon he was on shore all covered with mud, and -the rest of us were all standing around screaming.</p> -<p>“He pulled the plug out, he <i>pulled the plug out</i>!” one of the girls -kept screaming—you know how they do. She said, “I never saw <i>anything</i> -so excruciating in all my <i>born days</i>!” The other girl was laughing so -hard she couldn’t say a word.</p> -<p>Brent said, “Fair maids, does this boat belong to you?”</p> -<p>One of the girls said, “Yes, does this little boy belong to you? Oh, -he’s just too funny for anything! We had a rag stuffed into a hole in -the bottom of the boat to keep the water from coming in. We’re camping -just above here. Oh, he’s simply covered with mud. You’re simply -<i>covered</i> with mud,” she said to Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Do you think I don’t know that?” he spluttered. “I—I found it out as -soon as you did.”</p> -<p>Brent said very sober like to the girls, “You should have had two holes -in the boat, one for the water to come in through and one for it to go -out through; then a rag would not be necessary.”</p> -<p>“It shows how much you know about scouting,” the kid shouted, all the -while wiping the mud from his clothes and then transferring it to his -face with his hand. “That’s just like girls, stopping a hole up with a -rag. That might have happened in the middle of the lake only it didn’t, -and I might have been drowned on account of that rag, only I wouldn’t -because I know how to swim anyway.”</p> -<p>“Oh, isn’t he just too cute!” one of the girls said.</p> -<p>“And he knows how to swim,” the other said.</p> -<p>I said, “Oh, he’s very smart; he knows more than his teacher, that’s why -she asks him so many questions. Even the head of the Board of Education -asked him, ‘How are things?’ He didn’t know, he had to ask Pee-wee. His -name is Pee-wee for short.”</p> -<p>“He’s certainly short enough,” one of the girls said.</p> -<p>I said, “He only looks short on account of it being such a short -acquaintance. He’ll look shorter when you’ve known him longer.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “You say you’re camping around here?”</p> -<p>“Are you doing your own cooking and everything?” Pee-wee blurted out.</p> -<p>“And your own eating?” I asked them.</p> -<p>“Yes, but we’d just <i>love</i> to have you come and help us do it,” one of -them said.</p> -<p>“Which? The cooking or the eating?” Pee-wee wanted to know.</p> -<p>One of them said, “Dinner is all ready, we were just going to eat it -when we heard voices and we came here to see who it was. And we want you -all to come and help us eat dinner. You know scouts have to be helpful.”</p> -<p>“I’m helpful,” Pee-wee shouted. “I know all about it.”</p> -<p>“He learned about it in the third grade,” I said. “It’s derived from the -Latin word <i>full</i> and the Greek word <i>help</i>; <i>helpful</i> meaning full of -helpings. Anything else you’d like to ask him?”</p> -<p>“I’d like to ask you all if you like fish-balls?” she said.</p> -<p>“How many fish-balls?” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“Can we eat them with our left hands?” Brent wanted to know.</p> -<p>“They’re all crazy,” Pee-wee said, all excited.</p> -<p>“Not the fish-balls <i>we</i> make,” the girl said.</p> -<p>“He means us,” Brent said. “We are on a left-handed hike, and we can’t -turn to the right. If the fish-balls are cooked right we can’t eat -them.”</p> -<p>“Don’t you pay any attention to them,” Pee-wee said, “because over in -camp everybody says they’re crazy, and they even admit it themselves.”</p> -<p>“Suppose some of the fish-balls are left,” one of the girls laughed.</p> -<p>“None of them will be,” I told her. “A scout’s word is to be trusted. -Dinner is over at Temple Camp by now so we might accept an invitation if -we were properly approached—in a left-handed manner.”</p> -<p>“It’ll be accepted anyway by me,” Pee-wee said; “and I’d like to know -what to call you by.”</p> -<p>“My name is Marjorie Eaton,” one of the girls said.</p> -<p>“He’ll be crazy about you,” I said; “he’s so fond of eatin’.”</p> -<p>“And my name’s Stella Wingate,” the other girl said.</p> -<p>So then Brent introduced all of us to the girls in that funny, sober way -he has and told them about our patented left-handed hike. Those girls -said they belonged down at Brookside and were just camping for the day. -If you want to go to Brookside you just row down the outlet and pretty -soon you come to it.</p> -<p>I said, “How far is your camp from here. And can we get to it without -turning to the right?”</p> -<p>Marjorie Eaton said, “I don’t see how you ever expect to get away from -the lake if you keep turning to the left; you’ll just go around and -around and around. I think you’re all too silly. You’ll just go hiking -around forever.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “You never can tell, they may cut a road to the left some -day while we’re going around.”</p> -<p>“Didn’t I tell you they’re all crazy?” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>The other girl said, “If you <i>must</i> go on with such a <i>perfectly -ridiculous</i> thing, why don’t you give a broad interpretation to your -rule?”</p> -<p>“I’d like to give something worse than that to it,” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>“A broad interpretation is bad enough,” I said. “About how broad should -it be?” I asked her.</p> -<p>“Silly,” she said. “If you want to get away from the lake——”</p> -<p>“How about the fish-balls?” Pee-wee piped up.</p> -<p>“If you want to get away from the lake,” she said, “all you have to do -is to pull the boat up on shore and get the water out of it. As you -stand looking out on the lake the outlet is up there to the north. <i>It’s -to your left.</i> All you have to do is to row along the shore to your left -till you reach the outlet and then row through the outlet till you see a -path that leads out of it to your left. That goes to Shade Valley. How -many times have you been marching around this lake for goodness’ sake?”</p> -<p>Warde said, “We wouldn’t even have reached the shore if it hadn’t been -for our dog who deserted us and went home to dinner.”</p> -<p>“Well, he’s the only one of the party who has any sense,” Marjorie Eaton -said. Then they both began laughing.</p> -<p>“It’s good you came down to the shore,” the other girl said, “because -now you see you can use the boat and get somewhere without actually -breaking your rule.”</p> -<p>“We just have to kind of bend it a little,” I said.</p> -<p>“I never knew anything so stupid in my life as boys,” Stella Wingate -said.</p> -<p>“Especially boys who have been around so much,” Brent said.</p> -<p>I said, “Girls, you have saved us from being a merry-go-round; you have -shown us a way out. The outlet lets us out the same as it let Pee-wee -in. He was in that very outlet, and he never knew its possibilities.</p> -<p>“Possibilities!” Marjorie Eaton began laughing. “Oh, I think he’s just -<i>im</i>possible.”</p> -<p>They were awful nice, those girls were. They said they thought it would -be all right for us to go up to their camp and have dinner with them and -then start for the outlet in the boat. They said they thought that would -be turning to the left and that it was the only way for us to get out of -our rut. They said our resolution was all right but that sometimes a -rule has to be construed freely.</p> -<p>They reminded me of school when they talked. They said our only hope of -escape was by the lake. Marjorie Eaton said that otherwise we would be -the victims of an eternal circle. Gee whiz, they were smart.</p> -<p>“You mean an infernal circle,” I said.</p> -<p>Pee-wee said, “Don’t ever talk to me again about anything round; if it’s -round I have no use for it.”</p> -<p>“Oh, we’re so sorry,” Stella Wingate said. “Then you won’t eat any -fish-balls.”</p> -<p>“Eats don’t count,” the kid said.</p> -<p>“That’s the first time I ever heard you say that,” I told him.</p> -<p>So then we all went up to their camp which was about a couple of hundred -feet from the shore.</p> -<p>And, oh, boy, those were some fish-balls. They counted with Pee-wee all -right, but I lost count of them. Those girls said they had just decided -to take a trip into the woods for a lark.</p> -<p>“You can’t catch any larks around here,” our young hero said, “but there -are wild pigeons. I can tell you all about birds, I know all about -stalking.”</p> -<p>I said, “Don’t mind him, he’s so dumb he thinks that stalking is named -after a stork. He thinks that all the news of the birds is published in -the fly-paper.”</p> -<p>“Oh, he’s just stuck on the fly-paper,” Brent said.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXI'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>AN INTERMISSION</span></h2> -<p>It was nice sitting there under a big tree kind of all jollying each -other and eating fish-balls. We decided that as long as we were so -comfortable we would forget about our left-handed resolution for a -little while and then go back down to the lake and row to the outlet and -take the first road to the left.</p> -<p>“That’s the only sensible thing to do,” Marjorie said.</p> -<p>“That’s what makes me think we shouldn’t do it,” I told her; “we made a -resolution to do everything wrong.”</p> -<p>Stella Wingate said. “Well, then, as long as you’re not supposed to be -sitting here eating fish-balls you might as well do it.”</p> -<p>“Sure, that’s logic,” Pee-wee said. “We can give the fish-balls a broad -interpretation, can’t we? We can construe—what d’you call it—treat them -freely.”</p> -<p>“Oh, most conclusively,” I said.</p> -<p>“Treat them as freely as you like,” Marjorie laughed.</p> -<p>Those girls had a lot of eats in a basket. They had crinkly paper -napkins and everything. They had some sewing with them, kind of khaki -colored stuff, I don’t know what it was. They had a couple of books, -too, that they were going to read in the afternoon. Gee whiz, they were -awful nice, those girls. Stella Wingate kept making fish-balls in a nice -little frying-pan with a wooden handle.</p> -<p>The basket was packed all nice like a trunk. Everything in it had -crinkly paper wrapped around it, bottles and everything. Even there were -little pinches of salt twisted in crinkly paper. There were hard-boiled -eggs in crinkly paper too. Gee whiz, everything was wrapped up just like -things around a Christmas tree. Girls are awful funny the way they do -things.</p> -<p>Warde said, “Left-handed hikes are all right.”</p> -<p>“And we’re going to have dessert,” Marjorie said. “Stella knows how to -make fish-balls, but jelly rolls are <i>my</i> masterpiece.”</p> -<p>I said, “I think we’d like several pieces of masterpieces.”</p> -<p>She said, “Oh, they don’t come in pieces, they come in rolls. I’ll show -you how I make them.”</p> -<p>“We’ll show you how to eat them,” Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>I said, “You must excuse our young hero, he was born during a famine. He -likes thunder because it reminds him of rolls. He likes ice because it -comes in cakes. He wants to live in Greenpoint because he thinks it’s -the end of a pickle.”</p> -<p>“How do you make these jelly rolls?” Warde asked her.</p> -<p>She said, “Oh, you’ll see. They’re made of pie crust; they look like ice -cream cones only they’re filled with jam instead.”</p> -<p>“Yum, yum,” I said.</p> -<p>“How many are you going to make?” Pee-wee wanted to know.</p> -<p>She said, “As many as you can eat.”</p> -<p>I said, “Thou knowest not what thou sayest, girl.”</p> -<p>She said, “We’ve got a whole big bag of flour and two cans of jam, and -we’re going to make <i>oceans</i> of them.”</p> -<p>“Atlantic or Pacific oceans?” Pee-wee piped up.</p> -<p>She said, “After lunch we always make a big boxful of them, just heaping -over, and then we just lie back and rest and read aloud and <i>gorge</i> -ourselves. We do that every Saturday. We come out in the woods and have -a perfectly <i>scrumptious</i> time. And we don’t go home till the jelly -cones are all gone.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “We’d even be willing to listen to you read if you’ll let us -in on that.”</p> -<p>Stella Wingate said, “You’re perfectly horrid.”</p> -<p>Brent asked them, “Are you reading the Dolly Dimple Series?”</p> -<p>Marjorie said, “No, we’re not reading the Dolly Dimple Series, Mr. -Freshy. We’re reading <i>Treasure Island</i>, <i>so there</i>.”</p> -<p>“Jelly cones don’t go with <i>Treasure Island</i>,” I said.</p> -<p>“Oh, yes, they do, you’ll see them go,” Stella said.</p> -<p>“She’s right,” Pee-wee shouted; “because the more excited you get the -faster you eat. <i>Treasure Island</i> is better than Dolly Dimple for eating -those things—jelly cones. And anyway scouts have to be loyal and we’ll -stick to you till they’re all gone and besides that I’ve read <i>Treasure -Island</i> so I don’t have to listen if I don’t want to, I can just eat. -Gee, I want to see you start making them because if they’re kind of -disguised as ice cream cones I bet they’re good.”</p> -<p>“Listen to starving Russia,” I said. “He’s so dumb he thinks Cook’s -Tours are named after a chef.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXII'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>GIRLS AND WASPS</span></h2> -<p>All the while Hervey Willetts was lying on his back looking up in the -air and not saying anything. When he can’t be moving he’s as still as a -ghost. He was kind of kicking his hat from one foot to the other. All of -a sudden he started something—that was just like him. That fellow can -start something lying on his back. He said, “Oh, look at the wasps’ nest -up there in the tree.”</p> -<p>Gee whiz, you should have seen those girls jump. Right then we all -noticed that there were wasps flying around above us and in and out of -the big nest. It was a great big nest, as big as a watermelon and the -entrance to it was underneath; it was a hole about as big round as a -quarter.</p> -<p>Hervey said, “Give me a stick and I’ll knock it down and we’ll have a -game of football with it while we’re waiting for the jelly cones, or -whatever you call them.”</p> -<p>“In quest of adventure,” Brent said, “we’ve all been stung once to-day -following you and that’s enough. If you want to take it down lift it -down carefully and pour the wasps out first. Then we can take a few -kicks at it.”</p> -<p>Warde said, “It has kick enough in it, let it alone. It has too much of -a kick in it for me.”</p> -<p>Then up jumped our young hero. “You don’t catch me doing any kicking,” -he shouted.</p> -<p>“I’m glad to hear that; you’ve been kicking ever since we started,” I -told him.</p> -<p>“Shall I knock it down and see what happens?” Hervey said. It was awful -funny to see him lying there on his back and making believe to try and -reach it with his foot. All the while the wasps were flying in and out -of it and kind of hanging around the doorway.</p> -<p>By that time the girls were crazy, picking things up all excited and -getting ready to move away. “Come away, don’t <i>touch</i> it; oh, don’t -<i>touch</i> it whatever you do!” they were crying.</p> -<p>Marjorie Eaton knocked the lunch basket over and spilled everything out -of it, she was in such a hurry. They both started picking things up and -kept kind of edging away from the tree all the time. I had to laugh to -see how they’d sneak up on tiptoe and pick up something and then go -scooting away with it and sneak back for something else. The stuff was -all over the ground, and they crept around groping for it all the while -looking very scared-like at the tree.</p> -<p>Hervey didn’t pay any attention to them, just lay there on his back -looking up at the big nest. He said, “I tell you what let’s do; let’s -take it down and see how far we can roll it.”</p> -<p>“A game of one o’ cat would be better,” Brent said, very sober. “The -first one to knock a home run will get six jelly rolls to begin with. -Only we’ll have to bat at it left-handed.”</p> -<p>“Oh, absolutely, most conclusively,” I said.</p> -<p>“And when we run we’ll turn to the left,” Warde piped up.</p> -<p>“That’s understood,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“I think it would be better to toss it gently,” Brent said. “I’ll lift -it down and throw it to Miss Eaton, she’ll throw it to Warde, he’ll -throw it to Miss Wingate, she’ll throw it to Pee-wee——”</p> -<p>“Not gently,” I said.</p> -<p>“By that time,” Brent said, “the wasps will be dizzy; they’ll be so -seasick that they’ll tumble right out through the hole, and we can hold -a plate of jam to catch them in. They’ll stick in the jam while they’re -in a state of como, or coma, or whatever you call it, and we’ll capture -them all by one master-stroke.”</p> -<p>Warde said, “You got that idea from the best way to kill flies by -hanging a slippery cord above a plate of ice cream. The fly alights on -the cord, slides off into the ice cream and freezes to death.” Brent -said, “I’ve heard of that but it’s cruel and scouts don’t use it. In the -seasick method the wasp is rendered unconscious first and he never knows -he’s dead till afterwards. He dies in the jam, an ideal death. Even -Pee-wee will admit that.”</p> -<p>Warde said, “I should think the wasps would be stuck on that—or in it.”</p> -<p>“That’s just it, they are,” Brent said. “Now, all form a circle while I -lift it down.” He made believe to reach for it and, oh, boy, I wish you -could have seen those girls run. When they got about fifty feet away -they stood hugging each other and screaming.</p> -<p>“By doing that you’ll only wake the wasps up,” Warde said to them. “This -is just the time they take their afternoon nap.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIII'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>“THE SHIVELLER”</span></h2> -<p>Just then our brave young hero went up in the air. “You think you’re -smart frightening girls, don’t you!” he shouted. “Don’t you know a scout -has to be a shiveller——”</p> -<p>“What’s that?” I asked him.</p> -<p>“He has to have chivalry,” he said. “Maybe you think it’s funny -frightening girls about pouring wasps——”</p> -<p>I said, “It doesn’t hurt them a bit, it’s absolutely painless—endorsed -by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.”</p> -<p>“You mean the Society for the Prevention of Lunatics!” he yelled. “It -shows how much you know about scouting and resource and things like -that——”</p> -<p>Brent said, “Resource? Is that any relation to apple sauce?”</p> -<p>“It’s a relation to scouting,” the kid yelled.</p> -<p>“It’s something like cranberry sauce,” I said.</p> -<p>“Don’t you be afraid,” Pee-wee called to the girls; “I told you they -were crazy.”</p> -<p>“Oh, make them stop! Don’t let them do it!” the girls shouted. They -stood away off about fifty feet from the tree looking at it kind of -terrified. All the while wasps were buzzing around the nest and Hervey -was making believe to kick it.</p> -<p>“Don’t you be scared,” Pee-wee called to them, “because I know a way, -I’ve got resources, that’s more than they have; they’re only trying to -scare you.”</p> -<p>“Oh, don’t let them <i>touch</i> it!” Marjorie cried. “Don’t go near it, -please, <i>please</i> don’t! Bring the things away, and we’ll go somewhere -else—please.”</p> -<p>Hervey said, “If we turn that nest upside down the wasps won’t know -where they are when they come out; they’ll be lost and they’ll lose -their morale.”</p> -<p>Marjorie called, “Oh, no, no, <i>no, no</i>, they won’t lose it. Don’t go -near it—<i>please</i>!”</p> -<p>“Don’t you mind them,” Pee-wee shouted. “I know a regular scout way to -do.”</p> -<p>“Don’t go near it,” the girls shouted. “They’re buzzing all around!”</p> -<p>“You leave them to me,” Pee-wee said, very brave. “I’ll fix it.”</p> -<p>I didn’t know what kind of an idea he had in his head, but I thought it -must be something he had read in the Handbook or somewhere or other. He -gets his stunts direct from the factories—manufacturer to consumer. He -took three or four crinkly napkins that had blown all over the ground -and lighted them with a match. Then he began waving them around. “See -them all go in?” he shouted. “The flame scares them into their nest.” -Gee whiz, it was true, I’ll say that. All the wasps that were out beat -it for their nest as fast as they could fly. Pee-wee went dancing around -waving the paper till it began burning his hands.</p> -<p>“Oh, isn’t that just <i>wonderful</i>!” one of the girls called.</p> -<p>“That’s nothing,” said Pee-wee, all the while reaching around on the -ground; “the next thing I have to do quick; then everything will be all -safe.”</p> -<p>I didn’t know what he was hunting for, all I knew was he was groping -around for something.</p> -<p>I guess he didn’t know himself what he was groping for. He knew the -girls were watching him, and he liked himself a lot on account of being -such a hero with his resources. That’s his favorite outdoor sport, being -a hero in front of girls.</p> -<p>“What are you going to do now?” I asked him.</p> -<p>But he didn’t pay any attention only kept groping until his hand hit on -something he thought might do. I couldn’t see exactly what it was, it -looked kind of shiny. Anyway he marched boldly up to the nest and stood -on tiptoes and pushed the thing into the hole so it stuck there. “Now -they’re all in and none of them can get out,” he said; “they’re sealed -in. You can come back now, you needn’t be scared because I fixed it.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIV'>CHAPTER XIV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>HANDS OFF</span></h2> -<p>“Come on back, you don’t have to be scared any more,” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>“Some hero,” I said.</p> -<p>“He’s a regular <i>women and children first</i> scout,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Oh, they come before that with him,” said Warde.</p> -<p>“He charmed them with fire,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“They’re afraid of flame,” the kid said, very proud. “That’s something -scouts are supposed to know about. They’re supposed to know how to do -more than just talk.”</p> -<p>“The pleasure is ours,” I said. “You lose and we win as you usually do -if not oftener. Actions are better than words.”</p> -<p>By that time the two girls were coming back, very slow and careful-like.</p> -<p>“Are you <i>sure</i> it’s all right?” Marjorie asked us.</p> -<p>“Positively guaranteed,” I said. “Sir Harris drove them before him. He’s -the only original boy scout shiveller. He shivelled them in with a -shovel of fire. He’s the pied piper of Temple Camp, named after a mince -pie. Behold the land is freed from wasps!”</p> -<p>The girls came back ever so careful. “Are you sure there are none -around?” they asked us. I guess they thought they could protect each -other from wasps by hanging onto each other.</p> -<p>Brent said, “We can now pick things up and proceed with the jelly -cones.”</p> -<p>“Are you sure they can’t get out?” Stella Wingate wanted to know. They -were getting a little easier in their minds, I could see that. “You are -all too silly for anything,” she said. “Pee-wee <i>acted</i> while you -<i>talked</i>. And I believe that <i>you</i>, Mr. Hervey, or whatever they call -you, would have been just headstrong enough to knock it down. I suppose -<i>that’s</i> what you would have called one of your <i>feats</i>.”</p> -<p>I said, “Sure, he’s very headstrong with his feet. How about the eats -that you were going to cook when we were rudely interrupted by the -flying corps?”</p> -<p>“I am going to make as many jelly cones as Pee-wee can eat, so there,” -said Marjorie. “Because he’s the hero of the day.”</p> -<p>“He’s the hero of every day,” Brent said, “and the nights as well. Wait -till you see him annihilate the jelly cones.”</p> -<p>Marjorie said, “Well, he’s going to have the chance because he deserves -it. But are you sure the wasps can’t get out?” she asked us.</p> -<p>“Not as long as that plug stays in,” Pee-wee said. “But if anybody took -it out——”</p> -<p>“Good gracious!” Marjorie said.</p> -<p>“We wouldn’t <i>touch</i> it,” Stella put in, just shuddering.</p> -<p>“Then they’d come out good and mad,” Pee-wee said. “They’d be mad -because I circumvented them. See? But as long as it stays in there -they’re foiled.”</p> -<p>“Just the same as if it were sealed with tinfoil,” I told her.</p> -<p>“Do you all promise not to touch it?” Stella asked us.</p> -<p>“Because I won’t be responsible for what they do, they’re all crazy,” -Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>“They’ve got to <i>promise</i>,” Marjorie said. “Do <i>you</i> promise, Mr. Hervey -Headstrong?” she asked.</p> -<p>“Why pick on <i>me</i>?” Hervey asked her, all the while lying on his back -with his hands behind his head, kind of careless like.</p> -<p>She said, “Because you have a look in your eye. I just feel you’re going -to do something <i>tragic</i>. I can just <i>feel</i> it in my <i>bones</i>. Girls are -good at reading characters. I know your type.”</p> -<p>“Make Roy Blakeley promise,” Pee-wee said, all the while strutting -around very important, sort of, “because he’s the worst of the lot.”</p> -<p>Marjorie Eaton said, “Mr. Tall Boy with the spectacles, will you give -your solemn word of honor——”</p> -<p>“As a scout,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“As a scout,” Marjorie said, “will you give your solemn word of honor -and cross your heart and hope to die that <i>none</i> of these boys will -<i>touch</i> that wasps’ nest—will you?”</p> -<p>“Why pick on me?” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Because you have spectacles and I <i>feel</i> that you’re honorable—I just -<i>feel</i> it,” she said. “Will you promise for all of them including -Willis, or whatever that crazy boy’s name is who lies on his back, will -you promise that not <i>a single, solitary one of you</i> will touch that -wasps’ nest? Because I won’t make a single jelly cone till you do.”</p> -<p>“Make him raise up his hand in the scout salute and promise,” said -Pee-wee. “Because I know that bunch; I’ve been out with them before.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “Will you girls promise to make as many jelly rolls as we -can eat in half an hour?”</p> -<p>She said, “Why, <i>of course</i> we will, we’ve got oceans of flour.”</p> -<p>“Then we agree,” he said. “On behalf of the Boy Scouts of Temple Camp we -pledge ourselves one and all separately and collectively——”</p> -<p>“And unanimously,” Pee-wee shouted. “Make ’em do it unanimously.”</p> -<p>“And conclusively and finally,” Brent said, “and thoroughly and -left-handedly.”</p> -<p>“No, not left-handedly,” Pee-wee shouted. “I had enough of that.”</p> -<p>“We promise,” Brent said. “No scout hand shall touch that wasps’ nest. -It shall remain as it is, a monument to the resourcefulness and heroism -of P. Harris.”</p> -<p>“Now will you start to cook the jelly cones?” Pee-wee wanted to know. -“Because, gee whiz, I’ve heard so much about them, and anyway I’m good -and hungry, so will you start making them—pretty soon?”</p> -<p>Brent said, very calm like, “I have no intention of touching yonder -nest. I would not tamper with the handiwork of Scout Harris. I have but -one thought now and that is to see him circumvent jelly cones as he -circumvented wasps. But just for information I would like to -inquire—perhaps you girls would be willing to step a little closer—I was -wondering what that tin thing is that our hero used to plug up the -hole.”</p> -<p>“<i>Oh, it’s the thing we make the cones with!</i>” cried Stella Wingate. -“Look, Marjorie, <i>see what he did</i>! He put the cone maker into the -wasps’ nest! How in the world are we ever going to make jelly cones -now?”</p> -<p>“Ask P. Harris,” Hervey said; “a scout is resourceful.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXV'>CHAPTER XV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>STUNG</span></h2> -<p>I said, “Excuse me while I fall in a faint.” I just fell on the ground -and buried my face in my hands. The next thing I knew Warde was lying -beside me suffering from shock. I said, “The fixer has fixed it.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee just stood staring. “You make me tired,” he shouted. “Do you -mean to say I can’t take that out——”</p> -<p>“Oh, absolutely, positively not,” I said; “a scout’s honor——”</p> -<p>“It’s just a what d’you call it—a teckinality,” he shouted. “If they -have to have that thing——”</p> -<p>“Oh, we <i>don’t</i>, we <i>don’t</i>!” the girls began crying. “Don’t touch it -whatever you do! Remember your promise! Don’t go near it!”</p> -<p>I jumped up and I said, “Girls, a scout’s honor is to be trusted. The -deed is did. The jelly cone maker stays in the wasps’ nest. Who cares -for jelly cones? Our honor is the only thing that counts. You can depend -on us, girls. We are boy scouts. The fixer has fixed it, and it will -stay fixed.”</p> -<p>“Is the little tin cone very necessary?” Brent asked them.</p> -<p>Marjorie said, “Oh, yes; you see we wrap the pie crust around it, that -makes it into a cone shape, you know. Then we push it off carefully and -stand it in a pan, a hot pan——”</p> -<p>“Mmm, yum, yum,” I said.</p> -<p>“And leave it in the oven till it’s nice and hard and crisp,” Marjorie -said. “Then we fill them with jam; they’re perfectly delicious. Of -course, we make a lot of them and stand them up in the pan and let them -crisp all at once. They really ought to be left in till they’re brown. -Oh, I’m so sorry you can’t try them. Isn’t it exasperating? When you see -them crisping in the pan they look like a lot of little tents—like an -encampment. A friend of ours, Sophronia Simpe, invented them. We just -come out here in the woods and <i>gorge</i> ourselves with them every -Saturday.”</p> -<p>Warde said, “Well, I guess this will be an off Saturday. We’re sorry, -but we made a promise and, as Pee-wee very truthfully remarked, the -wasps are good and mad by now and if we pulled that little tin wedge -out——”</p> -<p>“Oh, we wouldn’t have you to do it for <i>worlds</i>.” Stella said. “Do you -think we want to be overwhelmed with wasps?”</p> -<p>“Oh, positively not; say not so,” I said. “Not after our brave young -hero sealed them up so nicely. They must be pretty mad by now.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I wouldn’t take any chances with them,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Safety first,” Hervey said. “Let them rage; we’re safe.”</p> -<p>Then, all of a sudden, Pee-wee went up in the air. “Now I know you’re -all crazy,” he said. “Do you mean to tell me that tin wedge or whatever -you call that thing, can’t be pulled out very quietly——”</p> -<p>“And break a solemn vow?” Brent asked him. “How about a scout’s honor?”</p> -<p>“You make me tired!” he yelled. “It shows how much you know about -physics, I mean ethics, I mean about how a thing can be all right if -when you first said it, it wasn’t why you didn’t know how it was going -to turn out.”</p> -<p>“It’s as clear as shoe-blacking,” I said. “Why didn’t you explain all -that before?”</p> -<p>“Because you’re a lot of crazy lunatics!” he shouted. “I’m going to take -that thing out——”</p> -<p>“Have a care, Scout Harris,” I said. “Stand back; our honor is more -important than a thousand jelly cones. You shall not pass.”</p> -<p>All the while the girls were jumping around telling us not to let him -and crying and starting to run away—you know how they are.</p> -<p>I don’t know whether we would have had any jelly cones that afternoon if -it hadn’t been for Hervey Willetts. All the while he was lying there on -his back not paying much attention to us. All of a sudden he grabbed -some leaves that were on a low branch. I guess he didn’t mean to break -his promise. But anyway down came the wasps’ nest kerplunk right on him -and out flew the little tin wedge. Gee whiz, that fellow was quick. In -about half a second he had his leather wristlet against the hole.</p> -<p>By that time the girls were hiding behind a tree about twenty feet away -and screaming. Pee-wee was making a grand scramble for the cone form or -whatever you call it, and the rest of us were laughing. There was Hervey -hugging the big nest and holding his leather wristlet tight against the -opening. He tried to get up with the nest in his arms and it was awful -funny to see him because he didn’t have the use of one arm.</p> -<p>“What’ll I do with it?” he asked us.</p> -<p>“We should worry what you do with it,” I said. “Carry it around with you -all afternoon, only for goodness’ sake don’t take your wrist away from -the opening. I bet they’re all just crowding inside the entrance to see -which one of them can be the first out.”</p> -<p>Hervey said, “I wouldn’t mind so much being stung by one wasp, but I -don’t like the idea of hugging this thing for the rest of my life. My -arm’s beginning to ache, too. I can hear a buzzing inside.”</p> -<p>I said, “Hang on to it, the plot grows thicker.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVI'>CHAPTER XVI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>JELLY CONES</span></h2> -<p>The way we fixed it was to cut a piece of birch bark off a tree and slip -it between Hervey’s wristlet and the nest. Then we fastened it down -tight and bound it all around every which way with fishline.</p> -<p>One wasp got out, but he didn’t do any harm. He seemed to be in a hurry, -so we didn’t bother him. Then we threw the nest out into the lake. We -thought that by the time it got out into the middle of the lake the -water would melt it, and the wasps would escape. Anyway, I should worry -about them.</p> -<p>The girls didn’t calm down till we told them that the nest had started -on a voyage. Then we kindled up the fire for them and they started -making jelly cones. There are lots of things you eat, but jelly cones -are the kind of things you keep on eating. You just keep on making them -and eating them. Oh, boy, they were good.</p> -<p>It was so nice sitting around under that tree that we stayed pretty near -all afternoon. Those girls were starting a Camp-fire Girls troop. They -said a girl in Brookside had started it. Her name was Sophronia Simpe. -They told us a lot about her. They said she had lived on a ranch out -west and had ridden wild broncos and everything. She could even throw a -lasso. They said once she fell off a wild horse.</p> -<p>Warde said, “Are you sure it wasn’t a clothes-horse?”</p> -<p>She said, “No, it wasn’t a clothes-horse, Freshy.”</p> -<p>I said, “Once our young hero fell off a merry-go-round horse; that’s why -he doesn’t care to go around much any more. Ever since then he’s been on -the square. He thinks when he goes around he’s doing a good turn.”</p> -<p>Stella Wingate said to Pee-wee, “Don’t you mind them, they’re only -making fun of you.”</p> -<p>“I could handle them all,” Pee-wee said, “if I wasn’t busy eating.”</p> -<p>So, then they began asking us about the scouts and about the kind of -good turns we do and all that. It was nice sprawling around and eating -jelly cones and just talking. You can have a lot of fun doing nothing.</p> -<p>Marjorie Eaton said, “What kind of good turns do you do?”</p> -<p>I said, “Well, to give you an instance——”</p> -<p>“You got that out of a book,” Pee-wee shouted. “<i>Just to give you an -instance.</i> You don’t know what it means.”</p> -<p>I said, “As I was about to say when I was rudely interrupted, once I -knew a poor family that were starving because they didn’t have any -coal——”</p> -<p>“You don’t eat coal!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>Marjorie said, “Yes, what kind of a good turn did you do?”</p> -<p>I said, “I stuck out my tongue and made faces.”</p> -<p>“That shows——” Pee-wee started.</p> -<p>I said, “I went over to the coal-yard where the men were unloading coal -from the Drearie Railroad. I took a pail with me. It was enamel, all -nice and white. That’s why it was called pale—shut up everybody——”</p> -<p>“Did I say anything?” Pee-wee hollered.</p> -<p>“No, but you were going to,” I said. “I took the pail over to the -coal-yard and started calling names at the men and sticking out my -tongue at them and making faces. Then the men began throwing coal at me -and pretty soon I had a pailful. So, then, I took it to the poor family. -And that shows how a few hard names and ugly faces can bring much -happiness. But the trouble with Pee-wee is that he can never stick out -his tongue because it’s too busy.”</p> -<p>Stella Wingate said, “Really?”</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively,” I said. “I can tell you lots of good turns -that we did.”</p> -<p>“Don’t you believe a word he’s telling you!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“Don’t believe <i>him</i>,” I said. “He’s so dumb he’s named after a -dumb-waiter. He thinks that a somersault is a good turn.”</p> -<p>By that time everybody was laughing because they like to see Pee-wee and -me in a mortal come-back—I mean combat.</p> -<p>“Wait till I finish this jelly cone and I’ll tell you something,” the -kid shouted, all excited. “When I was trying to win the stromeny—wait a -minute—badge——”</p> -<p>“He means the astronomy badge,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“Sure,” I said. “He’s so dumb he thinks Warde is named after Ward’s -cake. When he was trying for the astronomy badge he thought William S. -Hart was a shooting star because he’s always aiming a couple of -pistols.”</p> -<p><i>“That shows——</i>” Pee-wee started.</p> -<p>“He’s always thinking about shows,” Warde said.</p> -<p>I said, “To show you how dumb he is, when he didn’t win the first aid -badge he said he was going to try for the second aid badge. When he was -trying for the life saving medal he thought a daring feat couldn’t be -performed with his arms. He thought only colored scouts could try for -the blacksmith badge. And to show you——”</p> -<p>“Hurry, before he finishes the jelly cone he’s eating,” Brent said. “I -can feel the earth shaking under me.”</p> -<p>“You’ve only got about five seconds,” Hervey said to me.</p> -<p>Gee whiz, it was a race with Pee-wee’s mouth. He was getting the jelly -cone out of the way to start a converted attack, or a concerted attack, -or whatever you call it.</p> -<p>“Give him another one—quick,” I said. Marjorie handed him a couple of -cones to keep him busy; she was laughing so hard she couldn’t speak.</p> -<p>I said, “Just to show you how dumb he is, he thinks that a Star Scout is -one who has won the astronomy badge. He thinks that the Raven Patrol -that he’s in is named after him, because he’s always raving; I’ll leave -it to Brent.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “Alas, it’s true. All joking aside, an Eagle Scout came from -Brooklyn last summer——”</p> -<p>“I don’t blame him,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“That’s neither here nor there,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“<i>Where is it then?</i>” Pee-wee yelled.</p> -<p>Brent said, “The point is, our young hero thought that the youth in -question won the Eagle award by reading the <i>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</i>—and -that isn’t all.”</p> -<p>“I never knew that,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“It was common talk in camp,” Brent said. “But the worst is yet to -come.”</p> -<p>“You’d better hurry up,” I said.</p> -<p>“There isn’t another cone left,” Stella sang out.</p> -<p>Brent said, “But all joking aside——”</p> -<p>“Which side?” Hervey asked him.</p> -<p>“To the left,” I said.</p> -<p>“The left side, of course,” Brent said. “All joking to the left——”</p> -<p>But that was as far as he got. Just then our young hero took the floor, -I mean the ground. Already he had taken most of the jelly cones.</p> -<p>I said, “Stand aside, everybody.”</p> -<p>“That shows you that they’re all crazy!” Pee-wee screamed. “Not only -they walk left-handed but they talk left-handed. They’d be tramping -around the lake yet if it wasn’t for a couple of girls. And Roy Blakeley -he writes all this crazy stuff up and has his picture on the cover of a -lot of books and you girls will be in the stories, too—you see. But over -in camp everybody says his whole patrol ought to be named the laughing -hyenas; they’re so crazy that they jolly themselves when they haven’t -got anybody else to jolly and they think it’s fun to tell a new -tenderfoot to go out in the woods and see if he can hear the birch bark -and invite a new troop up to their cabin and tell them there’s going to -be a racket up there and then show them a tennis racket and they told a -little fellow that wanted to play tennis where he could find a racket -and they told him to come where I was if he wanted a racket, because I -made rackets, and even Mr. Allison says that sometimes; they go too -far——”</p> -<p>“That’s why we just kept going round and round the lake this time,” I -said. “Sometimes we go entirely too near; you as much as admitted it -yourself.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVII'>CHAPTER XVII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>ANCIENT HISTORY</span></h2> -<p>Marjorie Eaton said, “Can you be serious for five minutes?”</p> -<p>“How long?” Warde asked her.</p> -<p>She said, “Long enough to tell us something about the scouts.”</p> -<p>“You want a serial story about them?” Brent asked her.</p> -<p>“We want a serious story about them,” she said.</p> -<p>“That’s different,” I said. “Do you like pirate stories about them? -Because there is buried treasure hidden in Black Lake. That’s no joke, -it’s true—absolutely, posilutely. There’s a tin box at the bottom of -Black Lake containing about three hundred dollars. The people that -started Temple Camp sank a lot of money in the enterprise. We have -buried treasure and everything else at Temple Camp.”</p> -<p>“You’re fooling,” Stella Wingate said.</p> -<p>I said, “A scout’s honor is to be toasted; it’s positively true. There’s -a diagram in Administration Shack telling where it is—or isn’t, I don’t -know which.”</p> -<p>Just then Brent Gaylong kind of touched me on the shoulder and I could -see that he winked at Pee-wee and Warde. He kind of put his arm over my -shoulder and led me away and said, “For goodness’ sake, don’t start that -buried treasure stuff, Roy. You’ll have Hervey diving in the middle of -the lake for it. You know how he is.”</p> -<p>“He must know about it,” I said.</p> -<p>“I don’t think he does,” Brent said. “Anyway, you know Tom Slade and -Uncle Jeb and the trustees want the fellows to forget about it. Whatever -you do don’t get Hervey started on that, whether he knows about it or -not. You know he can’t obey instructions, he just can’t, he’s built that -way.</p> -<p>“The first thing you know he’ll be drowning himself or getting himself -dismissed from camp and we’ll be to blame. It’s like waving a red flag -in front of him. Nix on the buried treasure stuff; there’s plenty of fun -without that. I’m sorry you mentioned the diagram.”</p> -<p>“All right,” I said, “let it go at that. I was just trying to get the -girls interested.”</p> -<p>He said, “Well, let’s get them started on something else.”</p> -<p>“Suits me,” I said; “one subject is as good as another if not better. -I’m sorry I put my foot in it.”</p> -<p>“No harm done,” he said, “only let’s not follow it up. The buried -treasure is buried; let’s not follow it up.”</p> -<p>“You mean follow it down,” I said. “It’s not troubling my innocent young -life, I know that.”</p> -<p>That’s the way it is with Brent, he’s always thinking about what’s best -for other fellows. And, gee whiz, he knows Hervey Willetts like a book. -He was always a good friend to Hervey. Lots of times Hervey would have -gotten into trouble with his recklessness if it hadn’t been for Brent. -Tom Slade and the trustees liked Hervey well enough and they admitted he -was brave and reckless. But they were kind of sore at him because they -couldn’t manage him, and, gee whiz, you couldn’t blame them. Hervey was -kind of on the outs at camp except with just us few fellows and that’s -why he stuck with us.</p> -<p>Now I’ll tell you about the buried treasure—that’s what we always called -it. It was a kind of a joke till little Skinny McCord nearly got drowned -trying to fish it up. Then the trustees said we should all forget it. -They put a notice on the bulletin board that there should be no more -fishing for it.</p> -<p>That was two summers ago. It was before Hervey ever came to Temple Camp. -It was only just kind of like ancient history when he got there. I had -forgotten all about it because I have no use for ancient history -anyway—that and civil government.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVIII'>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>A STORY OF THE PAST</span></h2> -<p>Now this is the story about the buried treasure. After the big fire at -Temple Camp three years ago (that’s when I was a tenderfoot, but I -wasn’t so awful tender) a lot of carpenters were working putting up new -buildings at camp.</p> -<p>They built the cooking shack (that’s Pee-wee’s favorite building) and -the diving board (that’s my favorite building) and the observation tower -(that’s Hervey’s favorite building because he’s always on the top of it -taking chances and observations).</p> -<p>They built the new Administration Shack too. That’s where the library -and the mail office are and it’s where the managers stay and it’s where -all the office business is. There are lots of pictures in there and -portfolios with maps in them and everything. One thing I don’t like -about it, it’s got a rug on the floor.</p> -<p>One day—it was on a Saturday—Mr. Carson (he’s a trustee) and another man -who was a scoutmaster, went to Catskill to get the money out of the bank -to pay the workmen. They always brought it in a tin box. So now you -better look at the map.</p> -<p>Instead of coming around to camp by the trail they rowed across the -lake. They started from a willow tree up near the outlet. That was where -they had left the boat on the way down to Catskill. You’ll see that -tree. The reason why they didn’t go around by the trail was because on -account of the mud. It had been raining all the time for about a week -and the trail was bad, especially in the woods. There were great big -puddles in the woods like young lakes.</p> -<p>That afternoon when they came back it was very dark and while they were -coming across the lake toward camp all of a sudden a thunder-storm -started. Gee whiz, I can remember it because we were helping to pile up -lumber at the new landing, and the wind blew over a pile of boards. We -were just scooting for the pavilion when all of a sudden Worry Aiken (he -was in a troop from Vermont), he shouted, “<i>Look at the boat! Look at -the boat! Look at the boat!</i>”</p> -<p>Oh, boy, I’ll never forget what we saw. The boat was about maybe two or -three hundred feet from the shore where the willow tree is. It was so -dark and the water was so all churned up like that we couldn’t see very -plain. But anyway it seemed to me the boat was upside down.</p> -<p>I know one thing, I had a funny kind of a feeling, gee, I can’t tell you -about it, but I felt as if maybe I would see something later that I -didn’t want to see. It felt all kind of, you know, sort of like when -you’re in an elevator and it stops suddenly.</p> -<p>The next thing I saw, a figure crawled up on the shore away over on the -other side. A scout said, “<i>Look!</i>” That was when I first saw it. It -looked black and low down like an animal. Then it seemed to stay still.</p> -<p>I said, kind of whispered, I was so scared, “I don’t see the boat any -more.”</p> -<p>Garry Everson (he comes from down the Hudson), he said, “It’s there, -look where the light is—just this side of the light.”</p> -<p>Then I could see it. It was upside down. You could hardly tell it from -the water. There wasn’t anybody near it that I could see. Besides, I -couldn’t see the person on the shore any more. I felt as if pretty soon -I would hear of something terrible.</p> -<p>Once in my class room a pupil had a kind of an attack on account of his -heart, and they carried him out. And they said we should go on with our -lessons, but anyway it seemed kind of funny and afterwards we found out -he was dead. So kind of that’s the same way I felt that afternoon.</p> -<p>In about half a minute all the camp was down at the lake and everybody -was excited. Most all the kids were told to go in the pavilion. Tom -Slade had a big oilcloth hat, rubber boots and a lantern. He looked kind -of like a picture of a fisherman or a captain on a boat or something. It -kind of gave me thrills to see him because, gee whiz, that fellow always -knows what he’s about.</p> -<p>I guess everybody knew what it meant. Mr. Whittaker (he’s a trustee) -called through the big megaphone, but there wasn’t any answer from -across the lake.</p> -<p>Then several men started around by the trail—Tom Slade and Mr. Whittaker -and Uncle Jeb Rushmore, he’s manager. Some scouts started after them, -but they were chased back. We stood on the porch of the commissary shack -(you can see where that is) watching. Every now and then we could see -the light from Tom Slade’s lantern as they picked their way along the -trail through the woods.</p> -<p>I guess it was about two hours before they came back. We just stood -around waiting for them. When they came, Uncle Jeb and another man were -carrying something on a canvas stretcher. That was Mr. Carson, and he -was unconscious. Mr. Kennekott, the man who had gone with him, was -drowned. He had got underneath the boat when it turned over and one of -his legs had been caught underneath the seat. Even when Mr. Carson was -better he didn’t know how he’d got to shore.</p> -<p>After what happened the boat was blown out into the middle of the lake, -and some of them went out in another boat and towed it to the landing. -They found Mr. Kennekott caught underneath it. His leg was between the -middle seat and the floor. That seat was very low. The tin box with the -money must have gone down where the boat upset.</p> -<p>There wasn’t much fun at Temple Camp after that. It was a kind of an off -summer anyway on account of the camp being sort of rebuilt. Mr. -Kennekott’s troop went away, and they have never come back to Temple -Camp. Jiminies, you can’t blame them. They were a nice troop, those -fellows. One of them had the bronze medal—he sat next to me at eats.</p> -<p>The camp officials dragged the lake over on the other side, but they -never found the box. Mr. Temple, who founded the camp, he said they -shouldn’t worry. So that was the end of it except after a while scouts -began fishing for the box. Lots of them did that. They kidded themselves -that they were treasure hunters, I guess. I never did because it always -reminded me of what happened.</p> -<p>Of course, it was too deep to dive over there, and there was a strict -rule against that. Because I’ll tell you why. There used to be houses -where Black Lake is and in some places old chimneys and things like that -stood on the bottom. And there’s a rule that we can only dive near the -landing. After a while the trustees made a rule that we shouldn’t even -go over there and grapple for the box. That was after little Skinny -McCord nearly got drowned. So that was the end of the whole thing.</p> -<p>Most of the scouts that were at camp that year don’t come now and, gee -whiz, you hardly hear anybody speak about it any more. It just happened -to pop out of my head when we were talking with those girls.</p> -<p>Now there’s one thing more I’ll tell you. You remember how one of the -scouts said the boat was near a light? When he was pointing it out to -me? That was only the reflection of a light away up on the mountain.</p> -<p>There were two grown-up fellows who had a camp up in the mountain across -the lake from Temple Camp. Often we saw their camp-fire at night. They -had it burning that afternoon way, way up there. And it made a spot of -light down on the lake. It was right close to that spot of light that -the boat upset. That was what the fellow meant. It wasn’t really a -light, it was only a reflection. That summer those big fellows up in the -mountain went away, and they never came back again. Gee whiz, you can’t -exactly say that the reflection of a light is a scout sign. Because when -the light goes away the reflection goes away, too.</p> -<p>So, after a while nobody seemed to know just where the boat upset. The -scouts who were there that summer knew. But after that it was a kind of -a—you know—a legend, sort of. I guess the trustees were glad of that -because scouts couldn’t go grappling any more.</p> -<p>It was all nice and forgotten, sort of, when all of a sudden last -summer, Harry Donnelle came to see us at Temple Camp. He’s a big fellow -and he lives near me and he’s especial friends with my sister, only she -says I have to cross this part out, but I won’t do it. That fellow was -in the war, and he just didn’t get killed as many as four times. He’s -been in South Africa, too. His middle name is adventure. Gee whiz, I -hope he marries my sister.</p> -<p>Anyway he heard about that accident because birds come and whisper -things to him, that’s what he says. Believe me, I think they shout at -him. Anyway he found out. So one dark, gloomy afternoon he took three of -us up to that old camp, and he made a couple of other fellows row around -in a boat down on the lake.</p> -<p>They built a big fire up at the old camp in the mountain and then the -fellows in the boat noticed just where the reflection hit the water. -Then they made a kind of a diagram on a map of the lake that showed just -exactly where the boat upset. First they tried to drive a pole in, but -the lake was too deep. So then they made notes on the map and dotted -lines and everything that showed that the spot was in a line exactly -southeast of the willow tree, I don’t know how far.</p> -<p>Gee whiz, there were going to be big doings next day—but that was the -end of it. And I guess the trustees were glad of it. That very same -night away went Harry Donnelle to Hudson Bay—he got a telegram, that’s -all I know. He forgot all about the buried treasure. Mr. Temple said -that was just like him. All he wanted was the fun of the thing. I bet -the trustees were glad when he went away. He sent me a post card from a -trading station in Hudson Bay. It had a picture of trappers on it and -everything and he didn’t say anything about this fine diagram. When he -came back he brought my father a bull moose’s head.</p> -<p>I never saw that diagram, and I should worry about it, that’s what I -said. Because anyway the money didn’t belong to me. I always heard it -was in a big portfolio with a lot of other maps and things in -Administration Shack. I guess they kept it as a kind of a curiosity.</p> -<p>Anyway nobody ever said anything about it. The buried treasure was dead -and buried and we should worry about it because, believe me, there’s -plenty to do at Temple Camp these days without going fishing with -grappling irons. I’d rather be jollying Pee-wee than doing that.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIX'>CHAPTER XIX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>WE MEET A STRANGER</span></h2> -<p>I just thought I’d tell you about it so you’ll know. But I wasn’t -strolling around with Brent as long as it took to tell it. In a couple -of minutes we were back.</p> -<p>He said, “Whatever you do don’t start that stuff with Hervey around. -First thing you know he’ll be getting himself in trouble. He’s just -about due for a new mix-up with the management.”</p> -<p>I said, “You’re a nice one to be talking that way; you were with Harry -Donnelle all the time he was up here.”</p> -<p>He said, “Yes, but now I have to mind the baby.”</p> -<p>“All right,” I told him; “what you say goes.”</p> -<p>From the looks of things it seemed as if none of the others had talked -about it, not even Pee-wee. He’s a wise little dumb-bell, I’ll say that -for him. So it was all right—for the time being.</p> -<p>After a little while we said good-bye to the girls and started off again -on our left-handed hike. They went down to the shore with us and waited -while we fixed the boat up and put another plug in the bottom. It was a -wooden one. We don’t mind poverty, but rags we can’t stand—not in the -flooring of boats.</p> -<p>Warde said, “We want to know where the lake is, inside the boat or -outside. We want it to be one place or the other.”</p> -<p>Stella Wingate said, “If you were sea scouts you’d know that some kind -of a rag is necessary on <i>every</i> boat in case you want to fly a signal -of distress.”</p> -<p>“Sure,” I said; “every time you wave your signal the boat sinks. You -might as well take the rag without the boat when you’re sailing; that’s -logic.” Brent said, “That’s a very good suggestion.” The girls said they -were sorry to see us go. I told them to look the other way, and they -wouldn’t see it. They said we seemed to have a lot of fun. Brent was -awful funny. He shook hands with them very sober like and he said, -“There was a sameness in our lives till we met you. Life was just one -thing over and over again.”</p> -<p>“And under,” I said. “Don’t forget our young hero.”</p> -<p>“You girls changed the whole course of our lives,” Warde said. “You have -helped us to get somewhere in life. But we don’t know where.”</p> -<p>They said, “Well, you’d better be starting or you’ll <i>never</i> get back to -your camp. If you turn to the left at Brookside it will take you -straight to Greenvale. There you’ll find the first road to your left and -if you take that it will take you into Fox Trail that goes to the left -and that will bring you around this lake into the trail you’ve been -trying to get away from. So you can keep your resolution and get back to -your camp all right.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “That’s just what we want, to get back into the trail we -want to get away from.”</p> -<p>Marjorie Eaton said, “There’s a carnival at Greenvale, too.”</p> -<p>“Can we get sodas there?” Pee-wee wanted to know.</p> -<p>Marjorie laughed and said, “Yes, but I <i>think</i> the soda booth is on the -right-hand side of the road.”</p> -<p>“Foiled again,” I said.</p> -<p>So then we started. We rowed along the shore toward the outlet. When we -came near to the outlet there was the willow tree I told you about. -Right near it stood a young fellow close to the shore. He was looking at -us and kind of waiting.</p> -<p>The thing I noticed most about him was his eyes, because I couldn’t see -them. That was on account of his hat. One good thing, he had a nose -because that prevented his hat from falling down over his face. The -front of his hat rested right on his nose. He was a kind of a grown-up -fellow. His trousers were funny, they were tight at his knees, and then -they changed their mind and got wider down near the ground. He had on -low shoes—to match his brow, that’s what Brent said. Warde said, “Oh, -look at the sharpy.”</p> -<p>“Is that what you call a cookie nibbler?” Brent wanted to know.</p> -<p>I said, “Sure it is, it’s a regular one. They’re so stingy they wear -their hats down in front to save their eyesight.”</p> -<p>“I didn’t know there were any of them running wild around here,” Brent -said. “Is it against the law to shoot them?”</p> -<p>Jiminy, that cake-eater looked awful funny. He was a rare specimen, kind -of. His jacket was long, and it had slanting pockets in it. I don’t know -why they have pockets at all, those fellows. They carry crumbs instead -of dough, that’s what I heard. He had a kind of a shoe-lace disguised as -a necktie.</p> -<p>Brent said, “I wonder where he spends his time.”</p> -<p>“It’s about the only thing he does spend,” I said. “I’ve seen that -fellow before, I think he’s staying in Brookside. He goes to the dances -in Leeds and Catskills and Athens; I’ve seen him all over. He stands in -front of Bartlett’s store down in Catskill. He’s a he-hopper. Those -fellows let girls pay their own carfare.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “They allow them on street cars then?”</p> -<p>“Let’s row in and speak to him,” Warde said; “they’re tame, most of -them; they’re harmless except when you feed them cake.”</p> -<p>“Sure,” I said; “let’s row in. He’ll talk to us. Why shouldn’t he? Talk -is cheap.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXX'>CHAPTER XX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>A RARE SPECIES</span></h2> -<p>We rowed close in shore near the outlet and the sharpy spoke to us -first. We rested on our oars a minute to talk with him. He had a funny -kind of a lisp in the way he talked. Not exactly a lisp, but sort of -like it.</p> -<p>He said, “Are there any eels around here?” I suppose he wanted to be -introduced to them.</p> -<p>Warde said, “I guess there are, but I don’t know whether they dance or -not.”</p> -<p>He didn’t seem to mind that. He just said, “I heard there were eels in -here. It’s deep farther out from shore, isn’t it?”</p> -<p>I said, “Sure it is, it’s what they call the perch-hole right out there. -I guess there are eels, too, but we never bother with them.”</p> -<p>He kind of waited a minute, then he said, “That’s about where the -accident was, isn’t it? When the man got drowned?”</p> -<p>“Good night,” I said to myself, “the cat is out of the bag.”</p> -<p>Hervey said, “There have been four or five accidents.” By that I knew he -wasn’t thinking especially about any particular one.</p> -<p>Brent said, “Yes, out there somewhere. There have been several drownings -in the lake.”</p> -<p>We were just going to start to row away when the fellow said, “They ever -find the tin box?”</p> -<p>“Not as I know of,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“A chap in Brookside was telling me about it,” the sharpy said. “’Bout -three hundred bucks, I hear. They ever take any steps to get it?”</p> -<p>“Can you beat that?” I whispered to Brent. “Right away he’s thinking of -new steps to take.”</p> -<p>I said out loud, “Why don’t you go to the dance in Leeds to-night? They -take lots of steps there.”</p> -<p>He didn’t get mad. He just said, “I should think you chaps would have -found it.”</p> -<p>I said, “We should fret our young lives about it. I guess the eels have -spent it all by now.”</p> -<p>He said, “You chaps must be a pretty slow crowd. I hear there’s a map -telling just where it is and everything. Why don’t you try your luck -some time or other? It wouldn’t cost you anything.”</p> -<p>I whispered to Brent, “That’s why it appeals to him. Those fellows are -so cheap they won’t live anywhere except in a free country.”</p> -<p>Brent gave me a look to say I should keep still. Then he said, “Who’s -been telling you fairy tales?”</p> -<p>“What do you mean, fairy tales?” the strange fellow asked.</p> -<p>“Oh, about maps and all that,” Brent said.</p> -<p>It seemed to me as if the fellow was sorry he had said that about maps. -He just said, “Oh, I don’t know, you hear a lot about Temple Camp all -over. It’s the big show around here.”</p> -<p>“Even in Europe they heard of us,” Pee-wee shouted. “It’s been in the -movies how we have pow-wows and war dances and things.”</p> -<p>“Do you have them every week?” the sharpy asked us.</p> -<p>“You mean the dances?” Brent said. “Sure, drop over some time.”</p> -<p>I said, “We have them every Friday and a week from Wednesday. We always -wind up with an Indian dance named after the Indian motorcycle. We -always have a St. Vitus’ dance to close the season.”</p> -<p>He just looked at us, I guess he didn’t know what to make of us. He -looked kind of as if he was trying to make out if we really had dances -over there. He said, “How do you get over there? Follow the trail -around?”</p> -<p>“Sure,” Warde said. “Either way it takes you right there.”</p> -<p>He just stared at us vacant like and fixed his collar all nice with his -left hand. “Any Janes?” he asked us.</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:438px;'> -<img src='images/i114.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>“ANY JANES?” HE ASKED US.</p> -</div> -<p>“You said it,” Warde told him.</p> -<p>“You got a dance floor?” he wanted to know. I said, “No, we dance right -on the grass. It’s the latest craze; we’re known as grass-hoppers. -Didn’t you ever hear of the rubber band? They furnish the music.”</p> -<p>Gee whiz, he didn’t seem to be mad at all. And he didn’t laugh either. I -guess he was really sorry thinking that maybe there were some dances -that he missed. Maybe he was sorry that he could only go to one at a -time.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXI'>CHAPTER XXI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THIRTY-FOUR CENTS</span></h2> -<p>We left him standing near the tree and started rowing through the -outlet. The right name of the outlet is Dawson’s Creek, but we always -call it the outlet. By that time it was late in the afternoon, and Warde -said if we were going to hike around the way the girls had said we ought -to telephone to camp.</p> -<p>I said, “We can telephone when we get to Brookside.”</p> -<p>“Well, let’s not forget to do it,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“What about that tin box at the bottom of the lake?” Hervey asked.</p> -<p>“I thought so,” Brent said, kind of laughing. “Forget it. Nobody knows -where it is. Maybe it isn’t.</p> -<p>“The fellow said it had money in it,” Hervey said. “It’s not drawing any -interest down there.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “Well, it’s not supposed to be attracting any interest up -here either, so forget it. There are nuts all over the country hunting -for Captain Kidd’s treasure.”</p> -<p>“I’d like to dive for that,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Oh, I suppose you would,” Warde told him. “You know there’s no diving -allowed away from the springboard. I’ll tell you where the tin box is if -you want to know; it’s in your head.”</p> -<p>“It’s in the sharpy’s head too,” I said.</p> -<p>Brent said, “Well, there’s plenty of room there for it. Let it stay -there.”</p> -<p>“He said something about a map,” Hervey went on.</p> -<p>“It’s going to be a nice moonlight night,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“How do you suppose he knows about that?” Hervey asked.</p> -<p>“How do we know?” I said. “I suppose he heard some talk somewhere.”</p> -<p>“Maybe he knows more than he said,” piped up Pee-wee; “it’s kind of -mysterious. Maybe he’s a confederate of somebody, maybe. Maybe he had a -partner hiding. I bet he knows a lot.”</p> -<p>“Sure,” I said, “partners is his middle name.”</p> -<p>“Knows a lot is good,” said Brent laughing.</p> -<p>“I’d like to make a try for that,” Hervey said. “It would be some -stunt.”</p> -<p>“Are we going to take the first road to the left?” Brent asked. “Or are -we going to call it off and go back to camp?”</p> -<p>“Answered in the affirmative,” I shouted. After that nothing more was -said about the accident and the tin box. I guess we all saw that Brent -wanted us to drop the subject.</p> -<p>Hervey was busy trying to swing up into the branches of trees as we -passed through the outlet, so I guess he wasn’t thinking much about that -business either. It’s nice and dim in the outlet because the trees reach -all the way across it and in some places you can’t even see the sky. Two -or three times we had to backwater so as to take Hervey in again where -he was hanging from some tree or other. Once he hung upside down by his -feet. One place we saw a muskrat swimming across.</p> -<p>Now when you row through the outlet after a while you come to a road -that branches away from the outlet to the left. That goes through -Brookside. So we drew the boat up there (that’s where the girls told us -to leave it) and started following that road. If it hadn’t been for our -trying to have some fun with Pee-wee when we got to Brookside, I guess -maybe this story would be nothing but nonsense from beginning to end. -But it turned out to be something else beside nonsense—you’ll see.</p> -<p>In Brookside Warde said, “We’ll ’phone to camp here and get it off our -minds.”</p> -<p>I said, “Sure, tell them not to expect us till they see us; maybe not -even then.”</p> -<p>“And I’ll get a soda at the same time,” Pee-wee said. “I’ll treat one -fellow to soda because I’ve only got a quarter and a nickel and four -pennies.”</p> -<p>I said, “After paying for two sodas you’ll look like a sharpy.”</p> -<p>“Do you mean to tell me I don’t treat girls?” he shouted. “Lots of times -I treat girls! Sharpies never treat girls, that’s how you know them.”</p> -<p>I said, “Oh, you’re a reckless little spender. The slot machines will -land you in the poorhouse some day.”</p> -<p>“High-step Harris,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“That’s better than the one-step,” I said.</p> -<p>Hervey said, “We can’t ’phone here anyway, the ’phone is on the -right-hand side of the road. There are only two stores, and one’s a feed -store——”</p> -<p>“What kind of feed?” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“Oats,” Brent said. “Wild oats, the kind you sow, running wild with -thirty-four cents in your pocket. I suppose you’ll squander it on the -first flapper you meet.”</p> -<p>“I’ll squander it right here in the drug store,” the kid shouted. “And -you needn’t go around telling people I don’t treat girls either.”</p> -<p>“Oh, far be it from it,” I said; “only last week a girl told me you were -a treat.”</p> -<p>We were just heading over to the drug store where the soda fountain and -the ’phone booth were when Hervey said, “Keep to the left.” So just for -the fun of it, to keep Pee-wee from getting a soda we followed along -after Hervey.</p> -<p>Brent said, “Honest, fellows, I think we ought to ’phone to camp.”</p> -<p>“Duty is duty,” Hervey said, awful funny; “keep to the left;</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>“When you go on a hike just you mind what I say,</div> -<div class='cbline'>The right way to go is the opposite way.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>Don’t bother with drug stores but follow this song,</div> -<div class='cbline'>If you turn to the right, then you’re sure to go wrong.”</div> - </div> -</div> -<p>Brent just kind of laughed and followed along after Hervey. I had to -laugh, too, to hear him shouting about duty. I guess we all knew that we -ought to ’phone to camp. And I guess we all knew Hervey didn’t want us -to ’phone to camp. I guess he thought they’d only tell us to come home -if we ’phoned. He wasn’t hunting for trouble, that fellow.</p> -<p>But anyway it was so funny to see Pee-wee following along after us with -a terrible scowl on his face, and looking over at the drug store, that -we just couldn’t help hiking right along.</p> -<p>“A scout’s honor,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>Gee whiz, I had to laugh at him.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXII'>CHAPTER XXII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>OUR FAVORITE OUTDOOR SPORT</span></h2> -<p>“<i>Absolutely, positively</i>, I’m going to get a soda the next place we -come to,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“I don’t blame you,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“The next place is Greenvale,” Brent said, “and absolutely, positively, -we’re going to ’phone from there.”</p> -<p>“They’ll only tell us to come in, come in wherever we are,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“No, they won’t either,” Brent told him. “You’d like to get yourself and -this whole party in wrong with the management. What’s the good of doing -that? All they want to know is where we are. I’ll ’phone; you leave it -to me, it’ll be all right. Then we can take in the carnival at -Greenvale. We can eat at the carnival.”</p> -<p>“Hunting for trouble,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“You’re the one that’s always hunting for trouble,” Warde told him.</p> -<p>“<i>I’m</i> hunting for eats, I know that,” Pee-wee piped up.</p> -<p>“Is it possible?” I said.</p> -<p>“Suppose there are no eats at the carnival,” the kid said, “what are we -going to do? Then we can’t get anything till morning, because there are -no more towns after that and Chocolate Drop will be asleep when we get -to camp.”</p> -<p>I said, “Didn’t you tell us once a scout never has to starve? That he -can cook moss and make stew out of sassafras and birch bark and maple -gum and cobble-stones and things. All we have to do is to squeeze the -juice out of a couple of hunks of granite and stew up some willow twigs -and sprinkle dirt over them like Daniel Boone used to do, <i>I don’t -think</i>, in Wilderness Lore page two hundred fifty-’leven for the -information of maniacs that get lost in the woods of Maine.”</p> -<p>“That shows how much you know about—about—nature—nature’s resources!” -the kid screamed.</p> -<p>All the while we were hiking along the road and all the fellows were -laughing like they always do when Pee-wee and I are engaged in mortal -come-back. He knows how to make nature yield—you know, all that kind of -stuff. He can’t starve when he’s crossing a vacant lot, he can make -table d’hote dinners out of roots like hunters lost in darkest Africa. -If it gets chilly he can make Chile sauce out of the weather. <i>Some -scout.</i> He’s so hungry he swallows everything he reads. He can find his -way in the back yard by noticing the angle of an angleworm.</p> -<p>I said, “If they don’t have any pop-corn at the carnival, we should -worry. We can just take some holes and tie them together and make a fish -net and catch some fish in the forest.”</p> -<p>“You think you’re very smart,” he shouted. “You think the Catskills are -a trackless wilderness. Those things are for when you’re in trackless -wildernesses. I suppose you don’t know what unfathomable depths are,” he -hollered at me.</p> -<p>“I wouldn’t know one if I met it in the street,” I said. “But I never -said that a large school of fish is a college.”</p> -<p>“<i>Did I say that?</i>” he fairly yelled.</p> -<p>“Sure, you told Mary Temple,” I said. “You told her a blazed trail is -one that’s on fire.”</p> -<p>“<i>You’re crazy!</i>” he screamed.</p> -<p>“Don’t you suppose I know that?” I said.</p> -<p>“<i>You know you’re crazy!</i>” he screeched triumphantly.</p> -<p>“Absolutely,” I said. “That shows you’re wrong as usual when you say I -don’t know anything.”</p> -<p>“Knowing you’re crazy isn’t knowing anything,” he screamed. “Do you call -that logic?”</p> -<p>“Let up,” Brent started laughing. “Here’s a sign—School Go Slow.”</p> -<p>“A school?” I said. “Believe me, I’ll not only go slow, I’ll stop -altogether. I’ll even go the other way.”</p> -<p>“Keep to the left,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>I guess by this time you’re beginning to see how crazy we are. No wonder -the squirrels eat out of our hands. They think we’re nuts. I guess we -ought to be called the Cuckoo Patrol.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIII'>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>HUNTING FOR TROUBLE</span></h2> -<p>But anyway this story isn’t all nonsense, and you’ll see it isn’t. And -you’ll see that a tangled trail can be something else than just a crazy -left-handed hike, too.</p> -<p>On the road to Greenvale we passed a summer boarding-house named Shady -Villa. There was a big sign across the private roadway to it. Hervey -reached up with a muddy stick (that fellow always carries a stick) and -marked an N after Villa. “Shady Villan,” he said.</p> -<p>“Rub that out,” Brent said. “If you don’t know how to spell villain I -wouldn’t advertise it to the whole world. That’s the trouble with you, -you’re always having bad spells.”</p> -<p>We sat on the railing there and watched some people playing tennis. Gee -whiz, it made me wish for a game. It was just kind of before twilight, -and the sun was a great big red ball.</p> -<p>For a little while I sort of wished we were on our way to camp instead -of on our way away from it. It seemed funny not to be going home at that -time. Suppers are dandy at Temple Camp. I don’t know, I felt a little -funny because it seemed as if we had no right to keep going like that as -long as the day was over. I kind of wished we had ’phoned at Brookside. -I could see Brent was a little worried too. He said, “Come on, let’s -beat it for Greenvale and find a ’phone.”</p> -<p>The only one that didn’t care was Hervey. Because he never cares. He -just thinks about what’s happening and not about what’s going to happen. -No one can change him, that’s what Uncle Jeb says. A lot of times he has -been in trouble on account of that. Even then he was on probation, but -he should worry, because he was having plenty of fun. “One place is as -good as another, if not better,” that’s what he says.</p> -<p>Once he stayed all night at a gypsy camp, and once he rode up to Albany -with a peddler. Outside of us his best friend was Sandwich, because -Sandwich didn’t have any rules. He’d leave any of us to follow Hervey.</p> -<p>So we started off again, and it was about half-past six when we got to -Greenvale.</p> -<p>Hervey said, “Foiled again, the ’phone is on the right, it’s in the -station.”</p> -<p>“I’m going to get a chocolate sundae,” Pee-wee called out.</p> -<p>“You can’t,” Warde told him. “There are no Sunday trains. Stung again. -This is a good place to eat supper, we can just sit down around the -time-table.”</p> -<p>“No stops,” Hervey said, hiking right along. “Carnival next stop.”</p> -<p>“Just a minute,” Brent said; “we’re going to ’phone from that station.”</p> -<p>“And be ordered home,” Hervey said. “Nix on that.”</p> -<p>“We’re going to ’phone,” Brent said, “so that settles it.”</p> -<p>“It settles us, all right,” Hervey said. He didn’t seem mad or -disgruntled, he seemed just happy-go-lucky, the way he always is. Anyway -I couldn’t see that he was sore about it. The kid was sore because he -couldn’t get a soda, but Hervey wasn’t. When I thought about it -afterward—after what happened—I remembered that he wasn’t mad. I guess I -never saw him really mad anyway. He just said, “We’re making the mistake -of our lives, Gaylong. Safety first.”</p> -<p>“That’s just what I say,” Brent laughed.</p> -<p>“If it’s got to be did, I’ll did it,” said Hervey. And he just kept on -marching right around and over toward the station.</p> -<p>Warde said, “You ought to be the one to talk, Brent.”</p> -<p>“What’s the difference?” Brent said. Then he called, “Hey, Hervey, do -you know what number to ask for?”</p> -<p>“I’ll ask her what number she’s got,” he called back. “I’ll pick out a -nice one.”</p> -<p>“Tell them we’re going to the carnival in Greenvale if it’s all right,” -Brent called to him. “Tell them we’ll be home at about eleven.”</p> -<p>“Better make it twelve, hey?” Hervey called. “I’ll make it one, that’s -easier to remember.”</p> -<p>“Eleven, I said,” Brent called. “Ask for Leeds two-seven.”</p> -<p>“All right, old Doctor Gaylong,” Hervey called back.</p> -<p>“That’s just like him,” Warde said. “He doesn’t even know the camp’s -’phone number.” We all sat on the fence across the road from the station -and waited.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIV'>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE FLAPPER AND THE FLOPPER</span></h2> -<p>In a minute or so Hervey came sailing out of the station with a funny -kind of a hop, skip and jump that he has. He’s always doing that. He -reached up and gave the telephone sign a good swing as he passed it. He -had queer kind of bright eyes, Hervey had; all the scouts said so. I -don’t know what it was about them. They were gray color and awful -bright. I noticed them as he came over toward us that night. He was -laughing and he said, “All right-o.”</p> -<p>“What’d they say?” Brent asked him.</p> -<p>“All right-o,” Hervey said again.</p> -<p>“Who’d you talk with?” Brent asked him.</p> -<p>“Who’d I talk with?”</p> -<p>“Yere.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I talked with a fellow, a scout,” Hervey said, sort of careless -like.</p> -<p>For a couple of seconds it seemed to me that Brent would go over to the -station himself. But I guess he didn’t want to hurt Hervey’s feelings. -He just said, “What was his name?”</p> -<p>Hervey said in that happy-go-lucky way he has, “His name? Let’s see, his -name was Wilkins. He said he’d tell the keepers.” Hervey always called -the officials of Temple Camp keepers. The more he knew we didn’t like it -the more he did it.</p> -<p>Brent said kind of serious-like, “You talked to a scout by the name of -Wilkins and told him we were going to the carnival and would get back -about eleven?”</p> -<p>“Precisely, exactly.”</p> -<p>“And he said he’d tell the management?”</p> -<p>“Precisely, exactly.”</p> -<p>“Just what did he say?”</p> -<p>“He said ‘All right.’ I bet I can kick that telephone sign down if I -take a good running jump.”</p> -<p>“All right, let’s beat it for the carnival,” Brent said. “Let’s leave -the sign where it is.”</p> -<p>“Just as you say, Doc,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>All the way to the carnival, Brent was kind of quiet. But Hervey, he -should worry. He was doing a new kind of scout pace, it was awful funny. -The thing that stopped Brent from being kind of sober and worried -happened at the carnival. After that everything seemed all right again. -It was all on account of Pee-wee.</p> -<p>The carnival was on the left-hand side of the road but I guess we would -have gone to it anyway because we were hungry. Any port in a storm, -that’s what Brent said. We had some frankfurters and, yum, they went -good. Brent treated to them.</p> -<p>There were lots of city people at that carnival, because Greenvale is a -kind of a young city. It has a high school up on the hill. I suppose -that’s why they call it high. It has movie shows and everything.</p> -<p>In the field where the carnival was, was an old sign that said <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Earth -For Sale</span>. That shows how important Greenvale is. They thought they -owned the earth. The field was all dolled up and there were a lot of -booths and a merry-go-round and ten cent shows and everything. There -were lots of people there wandering around.</p> -<p>At the edge of the field, near where the road was, were two or three -houses. There were men selling things on the back porches of those -houses. There was a sign on one of them and it said <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Hot Waffles and -Honey, 15 Cents</span>. There were three or four tables on the porch and a -kind of a counter inside. There was a fat man who I guess owned the -place. He had a big white apron on. There was an Italian boy who was -waiting on people too. All along the railing of the porch and even -inside of the room were more signs. They said <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>De-licious. They Melt in -Your Mouth. Real Southern Waffles. The Kind That Mammy Used to Make. -Here They Are, as Sweet as Sugar, as Soft as Snowflakes.</span></p> -<p>Pee-wee said, “I’m going to get some of those.”</p> -<p>I guess we would all have bought some because, yum, yum, they smelled -good, but all of a sudden, Pee-wee started ahead of us, pell-mell, for -the building. “I’m going to get two helpings,” he shouted; “I’ve got -thirty-four cents.” Just then, kerplunk, down he went sprawling on the -ground.</p> -<p>“Going down,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“Did you know you fell?” I called to him, just as he was scrambling up -again. “Do you need any first aid or would you prefer orangeade?”</p> -<p>“It’s a rope from that tent,” he shouted. “I tripped over it.”</p> -<p>Before we could reach him a girl went running up to him calling, “<i>Oh, -did you hurt yourself?</i>” She began brushing him off and asking him if he -hit his head and kept on brushing him off all the time, straightening -his scarf and everything like that. “Oh, you tore your stocking,” she -said. “Isn’t that a perfect shame!” She was a regular little finale -hopper, that girl. She had on one of those hats, whatever you call it, -and everything. She had on sandals, she had bobbed hair too.</p> -<p>When we reached the scene, Pee-wee was just standing there letting her -brush him off.</p> -<p>Warde said, “That’s the way with him, he falls for everything. He fell -for waffles and then he fell for a rope.”</p> -<p>I said, “Look at the hole in your stocking. Where’s the part where the -hole is? Look around on the ground.”</p> -<p>“Don’t you mind them, they’re crazy,” Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>Brent said to the rest of us, “You shouldn’t laugh at a fellow because -he’s down.”</p> -<p>“Most always he’s up in the air,” I said.</p> -<p>“Don’t you mind them,” the girl said.</p> -<p>“Do you think I’d mind them?” Pee-wee shouted. “They think they’re -having adventures, but they’re crazy.”</p> -<p>“I wouldn’t lower myself as you do,” Warde said.</p> -<p>“He thinks that’s a joke,” the kid said. “They start on a trip——”</p> -<p>“Don’t talk about trips,” I said. “Yours was the best one I ever saw.”</p> -<p>“Did you hurt yourself, kid?” Brent asked him.</p> -<p>I said, “Your stocking looks like a corkscrew.”</p> -<p>“Don’t pay any attention to them,” the girl said.</p> -<p>Pee-wee said, “I wouldn’t bother my head about them; come on and I’ll -treat you to waffles.”</p> -<p>“Are we in on this?” I asked him.</p> -<p>“No, you’re not,” he said. “Come on and I’ll treat you to waffles,” he -said to the girl. “They make me tired.”</p> -<p>“Why do you eat them, then?” I said.</p> -<p>“I think it’s awfully nice of you,” the girl said.</p> -<p>I said, “Oh, that’s nothing, he’s a rising young scout. Didn’t you just -see him rise? If you want to see him at his best go and have some -waffles with him.”</p> -<p>“Will they mind?” she said to Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“What do you care if they mind or not?” Pee-wee said. “Will you come?”</p> -<p>She said, “If—I don’t know—if you think they won’t mind—if you really -want me to.”</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively,” I said. “Take him away from us a little while. -The pleasure is ours.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXV'>CHAPTER XXV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>RESOURCES AND THINGS</span></h2> -<p>“What—do—you—know—about—that?” Warde said.</p> -<p>“We’re too slow for <i>him</i>,” said Hervey. “Let’s climb up on the roof -while we’re waiting.”</p> -<p>“Let’s not,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Isn’t he the gallant little scout?” Warde said, laughing all the while.</p> -<p>“What do you suppose came over him?” said Brent.</p> -<p>“I guess he wants to show that he’s not a sharpy, that’s all I can make -of it,” I said. “He didn’t lose much time. He’ll have four cents when he -comes out.”</p> -<p>We all laughed, it seemed so funny. Then we all tiptoed up onto the -porch and looked in through a window that was open. I could hardly keep -a straight face to see him in there sitting at a table opposite that -flapper. His feet were up on a cross-piece under the chair and he was -studying the menu card with a terrible scowl on his face. One stocking -was all screwed around from his grand flop.</p> -<p>The girl wasn’t any bigger than he was. Brent said she was a flapper in -the chrysalis stage. He gave one look and turned away with his hand over -his mouth.</p> -<p>Hervey said, “Shall I plug him with a pop-corn ball?”</p> -<p>“You keep the pop-corn in your pocket,” Brent whispered.</p> -<p>“Don’t spoil the show,” I said.</p> -<p>By that time the Italian boy was standing by the table waiting. Pee-wee -looked as if <i>he</i> should worry about the Italian boy. I think there -wasn’t anything on that card but maybe about two things, but Pee-wee -kept studying it. Pretty soon the waiter went away and came back with -two waffles on two plates and a little jar of honey. Then they started -eating.</p> -<p>“What do you think of it?” Warde asked.</p> -<p>“It’s a scene that none but an artist could paint,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Keep still, don’t laugh,” Warde said to me.</p> -<p>Pretty soon we could hear Pee-wee telling the girl about the scouts. He -told her they have to be shivellers.</p> -<p>“Do you suppose she knows he means chivalry?” Warde asked us.</p> -<p>“Hsh, keep still,” Brent whispered. “Listen.” He caught Hervey by the -arm; I guess he was afraid Hervey was going to throw something.</p> -<p>“They have to be thrifty,” we could hear Pee-wee saying; “so that’s why -they always have money. They don’t need it because they can depend on -nature, but they have it because they’re thrifty. In the forest you need -a lot of lore and things like that. A sharpy, he’d starve in the forest, -but I wouldn’t.”</p> -<p>“Can you picture him starving,” I whispered to Brent.</p> -<p>“Cake-eaters, they never have any money,” Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>“They never treat,” the girl said.</p> -<p>“Sometimes they even make girls treat,” Pee-wee said. “Do you call that -being a shiveller?”</p> -<p>The girl said, “I should say not. I know a boy and when he took me to -have refreshments, he dropped a penny in a slot and got a piece of -chocolate and broke it in half. He called that refreshments.”</p> -<p>“A scout can make a light in the dark even if he hasn’t got any -matches,” Pee-wee said. “Do you know what phosphates are?”</p> -<p>“You mean orange phosphates and lemon phosphates?” the girl asked him.</p> -<p>“N-o-o-o,” Pee-wee said, very lofty like. “It’s something you can make -light with in the pitch dark. If you’re going to be a scout you have to -have a lot of resources. Nature, you have to be able to kind of boss -it.”</p> -<p>The girl looked as if she didn’t see how any one could do that. She -said, “If you’re bossy I don’t like you.”</p> -<p>“I don’t mean I’d boss you,” Pee-wee said. “I’d only boss nature. The -woods—you know—and the stars and things like that.”</p> -<p>“Mr. Silly, you couldn’t boss the stars,” the girl said.</p> -<p>“That shows how much you know about the stars being guides,” he said. -“Maybe on another planet there are scouts. Maybe there are Boy Scouts of -Mars. And maybe to-night they’re taking a hike on Mars and maybe they’re -following this earth, maybe it’s guiding them. See? Right while we’re -sitting here eating waffles maybe some scouts are following this earth.</p> -<p>“Maybe this earth doesn’t look bright to us while we’re sitting here -eating waffles, but just the same that’s the color of it when you get -billions and billions of miles away. Maybe it’s in their handbooks, how -do we know? Right now this minute while I’m sitting on it taking this -mouthful, maybe it’s leading them out of the woods to safety. See?”</p> -<p>“I think you’re just too silly,” she said.</p> -<p>Gee whiz, when I thought of Pee-wee sitting on the earth eating a waffle -and a lot of scouts on Mars following him around I couldn’t keep a -straight face. I whispered to Brent, “If they’re anything like him up -there they’d be following the waffle, not the earth.”</p> -<p>“Shh, keep still,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Shiveller guided to safety by a waffle,” Warde whispered.</p> -<p>Just then the fat man who ran the place came sailing out through the -door with a great big trayful of waffles. I guess he was going around -the grounds selling them. “Out from under,” he said to us. He was a nice -kind of a man.</p> -<p>Now the way I remember it, it was right away after that Warde said, “The -earth seems to be having an eclipse.”</p> -<p>“What do you know?” I whispered. Because inside the light seemed to be -getting dim all of a sudden. “I hope he has some phosphates in his -pocket,” I said. It was awful funny, the light seemed to be just getting -dimmer and dimmer. “Pity the poor scouts on Mars,” I said.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVI'>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>FLOP NUMBER TWO</span></h2> -<p>Warde said, “The plot seems to be getting thicker. What’s the matter?”</p> -<p>“The lights are slowly and peacefully going out,” I whispered. “I don’t -know where they’re going.”</p> -<p>“They ought not to be allowed out after nine o’clock,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“I don’t know what kind of parents they can have,” Brent whispered.</p> -<p>“Will they come back, I wonder?” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Not if they’re anything like you,” I said. “They’ll probably stay out -all night.”</p> -<p>“Oh, the lights are going out,” we could hear the girl say. “Where’s Mr. -Sorronto?” I guess she lived around there; anyway she seemed to know the -man.</p> -<p>“He—he’s gone out too,” Pee-wee said. “You mean the fat man?”</p> -<p>She said, “The meter needs a quarter in it. We have one like that in my -house.”</p> -<p>“I’ll put a quarter in,” Pee-wee said, “and he can give it to me when he -gets back. Where’s the meter?”</p> -<p>“Some little hero?” Brent whispered.</p> -<p>All the while the light was getting dimmer and dimmer, and the kid kept -fumbling around in his pocket. “I got a quarter,” he said.</p> -<p>He could just about see the passageway that led down to the cellar, it -was so dim by that time, but he started for it very proud and -swagger-like. We could hear him tramping down the stairs as if he were -going to kill a couple of dragons like the “shivellers” of old.</p> -<p>“He thinks he’s a knight of the square table or something or other,” -Warde said. “Sir Writing-pad or whatever his name was.”</p> -<p>Pretty soon, zip, up went the lights again and we knew our young hero -had tracked the quarter meter to its lair. He came swaggering back again -and sat down at the table.</p> -<p>“He can even make lights out of quarters,” I said.</p> -<p>In about five minutes the two of them got up and the waiter gave Pee-wee -a check. I guess that was what reminded him that he only had nine cents -in his pocket. All of a sudden he looked funny—kind of blank.</p> -<p>“I’ll give you five cents,” he said to the boy, “and you can get the -quarter from the boss when he comes back. I put a quarter in the meter.”</p> -<p>“You payer de mun,” the boy said, very suspicious.</p> -<p>“I paid it already to the meter,” Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>“You payer de mun now; no go meet ’er,” the boy said.</p> -<p>Pee-wee kept fumbling in his pockets; he looked awful funny. Then he sat -down again and the girl sat down too and they just sat there looking at -each other.</p> -<p>“I have to wait till the man comes back so he can give me the quarter I -dropped in the meter,” Pee-wee said. “Anyway, we’re not in a hurry, are -we? Because anyway, he’ll be back very soon. And anyway I ought to wait -and tell him what I did, hey? That’s only right. If I paid that boy now -and went away the man might wonder who was tampering with his property -and going into his cellar and everything. Scouts, they have to be -careful about those things—I have to tell him what I did—See? You see -how it is?”</p> -<p>“I think it’s poky sitting here,” the girl said. “We can hear the music -here all right,” Pee-wee said. “You can always hear music better at a -distance—you ask anybody.”</p> -<p>The waiter boy walked away, all the while keeping his eye on Pee-wee. He -didn’t seem to understand but anyway he wasn’t going to let those two -get away. I had to laugh to see how he went over and sat behind the -counter and kept his eye on them.</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, one thing,” Pee-wee said; “I’m good and sore from falling -down; my leg is stiff; maybe I ought to rest anyway, hey?”</p> -<p>The girl said, “They’re dancing over in the pavilion. Why can’t we go -over there? It’s so poky sitting here. I want to have a dance. I know -all the boys over there.”</p> -<p>“Do you mean to tell me you’d dance right after eating waffles?” the kid -said. “Gee, that shows you don’t know what’s good for you. A scout isn’t -supposed to hike right away after eating—gee whiz, you ask anybody.”</p> -<p>“I don’t want to ask anybody,” the girl said.</p> -<p>“Mr. Sorronto is selling things over at the pavilion and he won’t come -back till the dancing is all over. He’s got a whole big pile of things -on his tray. He won’t come back till the intermission. I’m just -<i>longing</i> to have a dance,” she said. “I don’t see why you don’t come -back later and tell Mr. Sorronto. He’ll be only too glad to give you -back your twenty-five cents.”</p> -<p>“There might be a lot of reasons,” Pee-wee said. “Maybe the place might -be closed when I come back. Now I see I had—maybe I didn’t have any -right to do that. Do you mean to say I ought to sneak off?”</p> -<p>All the while the waiter kept his eye on them, and the girl was kind of -sulky. She wasn’t mad, but just a little sulky. She wanted to go away, I -could see that. She just pouted and said, “It’s poky sitting here after -we’re all finished.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee said, “You’ll feel more like dancing if you have a good rest.”</p> -<p>“They’re playing a fox-trot,” the girl said.</p> -<p>“I know all about foxes,” Pee-wee said. “Do you want me to tell you -about them?”</p> -<p><i>Oh, boy</i>, I nearly died laughing. Brent had to put his hand over my -mouth and Warde had to put his hand over Hervey’s mouth. There sat the -kid with a terrible, heroic scowl on his face, and his feet kind of -locked in the legs of the chair, and only nine cents in his pocket, and -the girl looking at him and waiting, and the Italian keeping his eye on -him, and the dancing going on over at the pavilion, and Mr. Sorronto -lost in the shuffle. I don’t know where he was, he just forgot to come -back, I guess. Poor kid, but just the same I couldn’t help laughing. It -wouldn’t have bothered a sharpy much. He’d have made her pay the -quarter, <i>he</i> should worry. I know sharpies, all right.</p> -<p>All of a sudden, Hervey Willetts broke loose. He went sailing into the -room with that funny hop, skip and jump he has, and went winding in and -out among the tables, and just as he was passing Pee-wee he grabbed him -by the hand and began shaking it and saying, “H’lo, Scout Harris, I -haven’t seen you in quite a while.” All the while he kept on going and -went winding in and out among the tables and out through the door again. -But I noticed Pee-wee had something in his hand under the table and I -knew it was money.</p> -<p>“All right, if you don’t want to wait, I’ll pay him now,” Pee-wee said. -“Gee whiz, it doesn’t make any difference to me.” Then I could see from -the change he got that Hervey must have passed him a five dollar bill. -That was the day he got his allowance from home; he got it every two -weeks. I know he must have got it that very day or he wouldn’t have had -it all still in his pocket. That was Hervey all over, reckless and -careless.</p> -<p>Gee, I thought about that a lot later, especially after what happened -pretty soon. Because while the four of us were standing outside -laughing, he was the one to break loose and go to Pee-wee’s rescue. And -he did it in a way so the girl would never know. I heard her say to -Pee-wee, “That boy’s just a silly.”</p> -<p>But, jiminies, I can see him now the way he went in and out among those -tables. He can’t do things like other people, he just <i>can’t</i>. -Afterwards he told us that was called the Tangled Trail. Gee whiz, -little we thought that pretty soon he’d be on a real tangled trail. -Little we thought when we were all the time saying, “the plot grows -thicker,” how pretty soon it would really grow thicker—for Hervey -anyway....</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVII'>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE BLACK SHEEP</span></h2> -<p>We all went over and watched the dancing a little while and then we -started home. Pee-wee’s vamp (that’s what we called her) disappeared -forever in the wild and woolly dancing pavilion. Pee-wee never saw her -more—that’s what Brent said.</p> -<p>“I wonder how the sharpy happened to miss the carnival,” Warde said. -“He’ll die of shock when he hears there was dancing there.”</p> -<p>“Come on,” Brent said, “we’ve got to hustle.”</p> -<p>“It’s early yet,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Yes, it’ll be early in the morning pretty soon,” Brent said.</p> -<p>Hervey just started singing:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>“Early to bed and early to rise,</div> -<div class='cbline'>And you’ll never meet any regular guys.”</div> - </div> -</div> -<p>He should worry.</p> -<p>We followed the Greenvale road to where Fox Trail branches out from it -to the left. But anyway I guess the left-handed hike was off for that -night. We dropped it, and if you pick it up you can have it—we don’t -want it.</p> -<p>It was pretty dark and spooky along Fox Trail; it runs through the -woods. It isn’t a regular road at all. That took us into the trail -around the lake again; you’ll see where if you look at the map. And that -trail took us into Cabin Lane right near the Main Pavilion. And there we -were back at camp again. If it hadn’t been for Sandwich we might have -been hiking around the lake yet and we might have starved just going -round in a circle and that’s why I have so much respect for sandwiches, -because they remind me of the little dog that saved our lives, -especially tongue sandwiches.</p> -<p>There was only one light in camp and that was in Administration Shack. I -thought it was funny because mostly there isn’t any light at all late at -night. The lake looked awful black and the reflection of the light in -Administration Shack showed away off on the water. It seemed like two -lights. We went hiking up the porch of Administration Shack as bold as -could be, with Hervey singing that crazy song:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>“When you go on a hike just you mind what I say,</div> -<div class='cbline'>The right way to go is the opposite way.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>If you come to a cross-road don’t make a mistake,</div> -<div class='cbline'>Choose a road, and the <i>other’s</i> the one you should take.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>Don’t bother with sign boards but follow this song,</div> -<div class='cbline'>If you start on the right road you’re sure to go wrong.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>You can go on your feet, you can go on a bike,</div> -<div class='cbline'>But the right way is wrong when you start on a hike.”</div> - </div> -</div> -<p>Around he marched to the door singing a lot of other crazy stuff he knew -that goes like this:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>For up to twelve o’clock it’s late,</div> -<div class='cbline'>Yes, up to twelve o’clock it’s late;</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:8.399999999999999em'> It’s very late,</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:8.399999999999999em'> It’s very late;</div> -<div class='cbline'>Observed his father, surly.</div> -<div class='blankline'></div> -<div class='cbline'>So I’ll stay out till after one,</div> -<div class='cbline'>Oh, I’ll stay out till after one,</div> -<div class='cbline'>Replied his very wise young son;</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:2.8em'> For after one it’s early.</div> - </div> -</div> -<p>In we went, pell-mell, and there was Mr. Arnoldson (he’s a resident -trustee) sitting at the table reading a magazine. He just laid it down -and looked at us and said very sober, “Well, what’s the big idea?”</p> -<p>I could see something was wrong; I knew he had been sitting up waiting -for us.</p> -<p>“We’ve been to the carnival in Greenvale,” Brent said. “Some crazy day -we’ve had.”</p> -<p>Mr. Arnoldson just said, “Hmph. Your idea, Willetts?”</p> -<p>“Why pick on me,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“I guess we were all equally crazy,” Brent laughed.</p> -<p>Mr. Arnoldson said, “Well, I suppose you’re all equally reprehensible -then. You scouts know the rules of this camp, don’t you? You know you’re -supposed to be here at supper and afterward unless you have special -permission to be away. Who gave you permission?”</p> -<p>Brent just said, kind of surprised, “Why, I thought it would be all -right if we ’phoned. You said so yourself once.”</p> -<p>“You needn’t tell me what I said,” Mr. Arnoldson shot back at him. “Do -you want me to understand that you ’phoned to camp?”</p> -<p>Brent was sort of a little mad. He said, “I don’t care what you -understand, Mr. Arnoldson, and I think it’s all right to remind you that -you said if scouts were going to stay out they must ’phone. We did -’phone. And we thought that would be all right.”</p> -<p>“At what time did you ’phone?” he asked us.</p> -<p>“At about half-past six,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“From where?”</p> -<p>“From the railroad station at Greenvale.”</p> -<p>That seemed to be a poser to him; he just drummed on the table and -looked at all of us.</p> -<p>“Which one of you ’phoned?” he asked.</p> -<p>“Hervey ’phoned,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Eh huh, I thought so,” Mr. Arnoldson said, with a kind of a funny -smile. “Who did you talk to, Willetts?”</p> -<p>“A scout named Wilkins,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Ask him his name?”</p> -<p>“How do you suppose I found out?” Hervey said. “I didn’t want to ’phone, -I’ll tell you that much. I didn’t care so much.”</p> -<p>“Don’t, Hervey,” Brent said in a low tone.</p> -<p>“I should bother,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Bother about whether you tell the truth or not? That what you mean?” -Mr. Arnoldson asked him. Then he said, “Any of you fellows see him -’phone?”</p> -<p>“No, we waited outside,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Ah, yes,” Mr. Arnoldson said with a kind of a smile. “Well now,” he -said, and he clapped his hand down on the table, “there was no ’phone -message received at this camp from any of you boys this evening.”</p> -<p>“You sure of that?” Brent asked.</p> -<p>“<i>Absolutely</i>,” Mr. Arnoldson said. “And there is no scout or anybody -else at this camp by the name of Wilkins. I’m sorry for you four boys, -Harris and Blakeley and Hollister and Gaylong, you were duped. It’s all -right, go to bed and forget it. Willetts, you’re a liar and we don’t -want any liars at this camp. You not only try to fool the management and -disobey rules, but you fool your comrades. You thought we’d call you in -if you ’phoned. And you knew these boys wouldn’t stay out without -’phoning. So you put one over on them; you lied to them. I was going to -give you all a good calling down and then turn in because I’m sleepy. A -good calling down wouldn’t have killed you.”</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, it wouldn’t kill me,” Pee-wee said.</p> -<p>“Now you four turn in and forget it,” Mr. Arnoldson said. “And you, -Willetts, had better go up where your troop bunks, if you know where -that is, and pack up your stuff and get out of here in the morning. And -don’t ever show your face in Temple Camp again. Don’t talk back, and cut -out the bravado; there’s the door, get out of my sight.”</p> -<p>Hervey just stood there gulping. I was glad he wasn’t able to speak -because he would only have started swearing. He doesn’t care much what -he says, sometimes. Anyway before he got a chance I kind of got hold of -him and led him out through the door onto the porch. The others came -out, too, but none of them spoke to him except Pee-wee. He said, “Good -night, Hervey, and anyway I like you.” Hervey didn’t say anything, -didn’t even answer him. Brent and Warde started down Cabin Lane, but -neither of them spoke to him. Brent made out not to see him at all.</p> -<p>Gee, I hated to leave him that way. I waited and said, “Hervey, don’t -you care, maybe a camp like this isn’t the best place for you. I know -most of the things you do you don’t stop to think. You wanted us to keep -going and I’m not holding it against you. I know you’re reckless and you -don’t think. Don’t you care because you’d never get along here anyway. I -know the good side of you.”</p> -<p>“Do you think I’m a liar?” he asked me.</p> -<p>“No, I don’t,” I said. “Just that once——”</p> -<p>“Do you think I lied just that once?” he said. “Why should I lie? I’m -not afraid of Arnoldson and that bunch. I’ve stayed away a dozen times, -haven’t I? I never lied about it.”</p> -<p>I had to smile a little because it seemed as if he was even proud of it. -I said, “No, I know you don’t care about the management. If you did—sort -of fool Brent—it was for our sakes—so we could keep on having fun.”</p> -<p>“Well, I either lied or I didn’t,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“I know that,” I said, “but I’m thinking of a lot of things the others -don’t think of——”</p> -<p>“<i>So am I</i>,” said Hervey.</p> -<p>“Never you mind,” I said.</p> -<p>Just then the light inside went out and I started away, because I guess -I didn’t want Mr. Arnoldson to come out and see me talking with Hervey. -I’m ashamed to admit it, but that’s the way I felt.</p> -<p>As I walked along Cabin Lane to where our troops bunk I noticed that the -reflection out on the water was still there even after the light in -Administration Shack was out. But I was too sleepy and I was feeling too -bad to think about that.</p> - -<div class='figcenter' style='width:95%; max-width:1252px;'> -<img src='images/imap.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'></p> -</div> - -<div style='font-size:0.9em; margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%'> - -<p>I made this map and it isn’t much good and it doesn’t show all the -buildings and things at Temple Camp. But anyway it shows how Cabin Lane -is and how West Trail turns out of it to the left and goes around the -lake and comes into it again near Main Pavilion. So you can see how it -is we kept going round and round the lake all the time till something -happened. Follow the arrows if you don’t want to get anywhere. Only if -you keep following them you’ll never get through the story.</p> - -<p>Lucky for you Sandwich was with us, because if it wasn’t for him -there wouldn’t be any story, so that shows how a mutt can be a good -author.</p> - -<div style='width:100%; text-align:right; font-variant:small-caps'>Roy Blakeley</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVIII'>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THROUGH THE MIST</span></h2> -<p>In my patrol cabin all the fellows were asleep—they’re a sleepy bunch -except when they’re awake. Even Warde seemed to be asleep, but that’s -nothing because I’ve known scouts in my patrol to fall asleep on their -way to our cabin and to undress in their sleep. They go to sleep -beforehand so they won’t have to bother doing it when they get to bed. -That way they save time. Pee-wee is a Raven, and so he didn’t sleep in -our cabin.</p> -<p>I started getting ready to turn in, but I didn’t get very far. I don’t -know, I felt sort of like you do just before exams in school. Kind of, I -don’t know, shaky. Just because Hervey didn’t say anything to Mr. -Arnoldson, that made me think that maybe he would do something crazy. If -he had answered back more I guess I would have felt different.</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:438px;'> -<img src='images/i162.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>I SAW SOMEONE SITTING AT THE END OF THE SPRINGBOARD.</p> -</div> -<p>As long as I knew I couldn’t sleep I put my jacket on again because I -hate to be lying down when I can’t sleep, just the same as I don’t like -to be walking around when I’m sleepy. I was wondering what the scouts in -my patrol had been thinking about Warde and me. Because now that I knew -no ’phone message had been received they must have thought it was funny -for us to stay away. I’m patrol leader and I’m supposed to be a shining -example. I guess I’m not so very shiny, but Warde is a good example; -he’s a whole arithmetic.</p> -<p>So I put my jacket on again and went outside. It was pretty dark. Most -always I’m dead to the world at that time of night, and it seemed spooky -to be out when the whole camp was sleeping. <i>Christopher</i>, but it was -still. There was a kind of a mist and it seemed to change everything; it -got me all mixed up. I couldn’t tell where the shore of the lake was; it -made the land and the lake sort of the same.</p> -<p>Until then I never knew that there were a lot of things in camp that -make a noise, I mean the boats knocking against the landing and the -weather-vane creaking, and things like that. Because you don’t hear them -in the daytime, or any time when there are other sounds. But believe me, -they gave me the creeps that night. Where I stood I could hardly see the -cabins, the mist was getting so thick. I couldn’t see the tents at all. -I just about knew where the lake began.</p> -<p>All of a sudden I saw something terrible. I saw a thing walking. It was -the same color as the mist, I could only just see it. I couldn’t see -that it had any legs, it just kind of moved, it was the same all the way -down to the ground. I couldn’t stir I was so frightened.</p> -<p>I just stood where I was and, gee, I admit that my heart was thumping. I -heard the chains on the boats clanking and that made me shiver. Lots of -times I’d heard them before, but they sounded spooky that night.</p> -<p>The thing kept going and got to the lake and kept right on walking over -the lake—walked right out over the lake. A little way out it kind of -faded away in the mist. Then I didn’t see it any more. I just stood -there, I couldn’t move....</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIX'>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>EYES TO SEE AND EARS TO HEAR</span></h2> -<p>Then all of a sudden I made up my mind I wouldn’t be scared. I walked -right toward where I had seen the thing, because I wanted to prove to -myself that I hadn’t seen anything at all.</p> -<p>Then, in a minute, I had to laugh to myself. I came to the end of the -narrow board-walk that is built out to deep water where the diving board -is. Out at the end of the springboard I could hear a voice, very low. I -walked right out along the boards, making a lot of noise so as to prove -that there wasn’t anything spooky at all.</p> -<p>Away out at the end of the springboard I saw some one sitting with his -feet dangling over. When I got away out to the end I saw it was Hervey. -Sitting right close beside him was Sandwich. Hervey had his bathrobe on -but it was thrown off from his shoulders and I could see he only had his -trousers on. He was kind of shivering.</p> -<p>I said, “You gave me a good scare, Herve. I saw you come out here, but I -couldn’t see the platform under you, the mist is so thick. I thought you -were a ghost or something. What are you doing out here anyway?”</p> -<p>“Oh, just sitting here,” he said. “You’d better go to bed; you know the -rule.”</p> -<p>I said, “How about you?”</p> -<p>“I’m not a part of this outfit any more,” he said. “I’m through—almost -through.”</p> -<p>I said, “You’re just as much of a scout as I am to-night. It’s a wonder -you couldn’t keep one rule before you go away. What are you going to do? -Go in swimming? And besides when you tell me I’d better go to bed that’s -as much as saying I’m not as good as a dog. Do you say that—that I’m not -as good as a dog?”</p> -<p>“Sandwich didn’t call me a liar,” he said.</p> -<p>“Did I call you a liar?” I shot back at him.</p> -<p>“You’re a scout,” he said, “and they’re all the same. They’re as much -the same as a lot of clothes-pins.”</p> -<p>I said, “I know you’re different, Hervey. But I didn’t call you a liar -and none of us fellows did. I admit they think you lied and——”</p> -<p>“You think so too, don’t you?” he said.</p> -<p>“I don’t know what I think,” I said. “But I know I like you, and I’m -going to stay right here as long as you do. A scout has to—no matter -what, a scout has to——”</p> -<p>He just laughed kind of sneering like. He said, “You call yourself a -scout. G-o-o-d night! You’re a peachy bunch, you fellows. You ought to -all be slapped on the wrists—Arnoldson and the whole crowd.”</p> -<p>I said, “Yes, and how aren’t we scouts?”</p> -<p>“You’re all the time shouting about deduction, and observation and all -that bunk,” he said. “I don’t <i>claim</i> to be a scout. But if I did I -wouldn’t wear a pair of blinders. I wouldn’t hear a friend called a -liar, I wouldn’t. Hey, Sandwich?”</p> -<p>“What did we do?” I asked him.</p> -<p>“Well, one thing,” he said, “did you notice the ’phone in Administration -Shack to-night? Did you notice the receiver was hung upside down? Did -you notice how somebody must have been rattled and hung it up in a -hurry? Did you notice the map portfolio lying open? Did you stop to -think that it was while everybody was at supper that I ’phoned? And one -thing more I’ll tell you too; the voice that answered me lisped. Now you -better run to bed. Hey, Sandwich?”</p> -<p>“What do you mean—lisped?” I asked him. “What of it?”</p> -<p>“Don’t make me laugh,” he said. “You don’t even remember that the sharpy -we met on the other side of the lake to-day, lisped. You don’t remember -how he was asking about the trail here? He was the fellow that gave me -the name of Wilkins, because he was all rattled when the ’phone rang. -Stick around a little if you’d like to see him dance. He’s going to do a -dance to-night that he never did before. And it isn’t going to cost him -a cent. Is it Sandwich?”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXX'>CHAPTER XXX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE THREE OF US</span></h2> -<p>I said, “I don’t understand. What do you mean? What are you going to do? -I didn’t call you a liar, Herve. You admit I didn’t, and I’m blamed glad -I didn’t. You did ’phone then—did you? Just say you did—just say it so I -can say I believe you. Tell me more—I—I believe every blamed word that -you say. I admit I’m a punk scout—now are you satisfied?”</p> -<p>He said, sort of more pleasant, “You’re not so bad, it’s Arnoldson and -that crowd—the keepers.”</p> -<p>I said, “Go on and tell me.”</p> -<p>“Didn’t you notice a light away across the lake when you came out of -Administration Shack?” he asked me.</p> -<p>I said, “I thought it was the reflection of the light.”</p> -<p>“Somebody is out there,” he said. “You can’t see the light now on -account of the mist. But somebody is out there. I can see a little -glimmer now and then.”</p> -<p>“I can’t see anything now,” I said.</p> -<p>“That’s because nobody called you a liar,” he told me. “It means more to -me than it does to you.”</p> -<p>I just gulped, I could hardly speak. I put my hand on his bare arm, it -was all tattooed by some old sailor that he met once, and I said, -“You’re—you’re not going to get away with that, Hervey—not with me. It -means just as much to me—it does—as—as it does to you. It’s just like as -if he called me a liar. That’s the way I feel now. I can’t see any light -out there, but whatever you’re going to do I’m with you. If that crazy -fool came to camp and sneaked into Administration Shack hunting for the -chart he had heard about, he’s a bigger fool than I thought he was. Do -you suppose his name is Wilkins?” I asked Hervey.</p> -<p>“No, he just gave that name,” Hervey said. “If he’d had any sense he’d -have stood the receiver off when the ’phone rang. I suppose he got -rattled. It’s just a crazy fool enterprise all through. He’s out there -now, fishing around, I suppose.”</p> -<p>“I’m glad you admit it’s a fool enterprise,” I said. “Brent was afraid -you’d want to go fishing for it yourself.”</p> -<p>“All I’m interested in is fixing Arnoldson,” Hervey said. “I’ll make him -look like two cents before I go. Come on, Sandwich, if you’re going.”</p> -<p>I said, “What are you going to do, Herve?”</p> -<p>“I’m going to swim over there,” he said. “If it’s that dancing monkey -out there, he’s coming back here to admit he answered the ’phone. I -don’t care anything about his sneaking into Administration Shack or -anything else, that’s his business. But he’s coming back here to say he -answered that ’phone call. Or else he’s going to the bottom of the lake. -That’s me.”</p> -<p>He started sliding off the board, but I held him back. I said, “Hervey, -you’re crazy, you’re not going to swim over there.”</p> -<p>“The boats are locked,” he said.</p> -<p>“Well,” I said, “I’ve got the key for them.” Gee, I never felt more -sorry for Hervey than I did then. Because all the scouts at camp had -keys for the boats. They were only kept locked at night on account of -strange fellows coming there and using them for eel bobbing. It seemed -that Hervey was the only fellow that didn’t have a key.</p> -<p>I said, “Hervey, I can’t swim that far, even if you and Sandwich can. -But I’m going with you, so you’ll have to use a boat; remember you’ve -got a punk scout with you, Herve. You have to make allowance for me. -Will you wait just a minute?”</p> -<p>I groped my way back to my patrol cabin and got a padlock key out of my -duffel bag. Hervey was still waiting, swinging his legs from the board. -Sandwich was right close beside him.</p> -<p>“Come on,” I said, “we’ll row over. If he’s there we’ll find him and if -he’s the one why then he’ll sit out the next dance and have a free ride -back to camp; that ought to appeal to him.”</p> -<p>“You’re breaking the rule to use a boat after nine o’clock,” Hervey -said.</p> -<p>“You’re doing well,” I laughed. “Where did <i>you</i> ever learn the rule? I -always thought that you wouldn’t even know a foot rule unless you were -introduced to it.”</p> -<p>“I don’t want to get you in Dutch,” he said.</p> -<p>I said, “I’m not thinking about rules at all. I’m thinking about you. -Come ahead.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXI'>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT</span></h2> -<p>Maybe I wouldn’t have thought the same as Hervey did about it, only for -his telling me that the person who answered the ’phone lisped. I hadn’t -noticed anything in Administration Shack at all, I have to admit that. -But if some one answered the ’phone some one must have been there. And -if there were signs that some one had been there, we ought to have -noticed them.</p> -<p>When I thought about it as we rowed out on the lake, gee whiz, I could -see plain enough that that young freak we had met would be just likely -to hike around to camp and walk into Administration Shack if no one was -there. Anyway all the camp was at supper when we were waiting for Hervey -to ’phone, I knew that much.</p> -<p>Probably he didn’t find anything in the map-case to help him, but that -wouldn’t stop him from grappling around in the lake late at night. Mr. -Ellsworth says that people who hunt for treasure are always fools. A lot -of fools had hunted for that tin box before the sharpy, I know that. And -a lot of fellows had talked about it all around the neighborhood. Look -at Harry Donnelle; he was starting to hunt for it.</p> -<p>Anyway, one thing, I knew that the only way Hervey could square himself -was for him to get hold of the fellow who answered his call. You needn’t -think I was going out on a treasure hunt, because I wasn’t. But Hervey -only had that one chance, and I was going to help him.</p> -<p>We rowed around the edge of the lake close enough in so that we could -make out the shore, because that night we couldn’t have seen where we -were going if we hadn’t. Sandwich sat on the little three-cornered seat -in the bow; he looked funny sitting there. The mist was so thick the -handles of the oars were wet and it was all beady with little bits of -drops of water all over inside the boat.</p> -<p>I said, “What are you going to do, Herve? Suppose it’s him, what are you -going to do?”</p> -<p>“I’m going to make him admit what he did, I’m going to make him admit it -to Arnoldson,” Hervey said. “That’s all I care about.”</p> -<p>“And then you’ll stay—at camp?”</p> -<p>“<i>What? Me?</i>” he said. “Not so you’d notice it. I’m through with this -crowd—a lot of medal chasers.”</p> -<p>I was rowing and he was sitting sideways up on the stern seat with his -knees drawn up and his hands clasped around them. The little hat without -any brim that he always wore looked funny. It always looked funny but, I -don’t know, that night it looked especially funny. It was all cut full -of holes. Somehow it kind of seemed to me that nobody understood him. -Maybe Sandwich did. Anyway I hoped that things would work out like he -thought they would.</p> -<p>I said, “Herve, if the fellow that answered you lisped, why didn’t you -say so right then? Didn’t it make you suspicious?”</p> -<p>He said, “I never thought about it till we got back, and I saw how -things looked in the office—and Arnoldson called me a liar. Then I -remembered. I remembered that the fellow we met lisped and that the -voice over the ’phone lisped. I’ll nail him all right,” he said. “You -leave it to me. He’s got more resourcefulness, or whatever you call it, -than most of you chaps have, I’ll say that much for him.”</p> -<p>“Thanks for the compliment,” I said. It seemed funny to me that he -wasn’t mad at the fellow for what he did, only at Mr. Arnoldson. He -seemed to think the fellow had done a pretty good stunt. If anybody can -understand Hervey—<i>g-o-o-d night</i>!</p> -<p>He just sat there, perched up on the stern seat, very calm and quiet. I -couldn’t make out if he really wanted to square himself or just have an -adventure. I rowed around past the outlet and then he beckoned for me to -stop. I rested on my oars, and we both listened. It was very still. Once -a fish jumped, and that startled me. I could hear an owl way far off.</p> -<p>We drifted out from shore a little till we couldn’t see the shore at -all. It seemed as if we were in the middle of the ocean; we couldn’t see -anything only just a little water around us. It was so strange it had me -nervous. There wasn’t any light anywhere that we could see.</p> -<p>“Listen,” Hervey whispered.</p> -<p>“I don’t hear anything,” I said under my breath.</p> -<p>“Shh,” he said.</p> -<p>“Do you mean that little clanking sound?” I asked him.</p> -<p>For just a minute or so he looked down into the water. I couldn’t see -anything there except that the water was rippling a little. I didn’t -think that was anything worth noticing.</p> -<p>“What’s the matter?” I whispered.</p> -<p>He didn’t say anything, just reached and took one of the oars from me.</p> -<p>“What’s the matter?” I whispered.</p> -<p>Still he didn’t say anything but felt around a little in the water with -the oar.</p> -<p>I whispered, “I don’t think it’s worth while fooling around after the -money if that’s what you’re after. That’s not going to square you at -camp.”</p> -<p>“Got a fish-line?” he whispered.</p> -<p>I just couldn’t help saying, “Yes, I have; scouts carry fish-lines, -that’s one good thing about them.”</p> -<p>There was a hook on my line. He tied an oarlock to the cord for a sinker -and let it down into the water. Pretty soon he began pulling it up again -and all of a sudden, there right outside the boat was a long, thick, -gray thing. Right away I saw it was a fishing seine that he had lifted -up. He reached over and grabbed it and then, somewhere near us I heard a -terrible scream, and then a splash. I couldn’t see anything, only the -thick mist all around....</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXII'>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>HERVEY ALL OVER</span></h2> -<p>I was so excited that I let one of the oars go sliding into the water.</p> -<p>“Where are you?” Hervey called. “Can’t you hang onto the boat?”</p> -<p>“It’s sinking,” a voice called.</p> -<p>“It won’t sink,” Hervey shouted. “It’ll swamp. Hang onto the stern of -it. Where are you anyway?”</p> -<p>While he was calling he was feeling for the oars and I had to tell him -that one slid into the water. I wouldn’t tell you what he said, but -anyway he was excited. We could hear screaming and splashing and cries -of “<i>Help, help!</i>”</p> -<p>“Hang onto the boat,” Hervey cried. Then he said to me, “Keep calling so -I’ll know where you are. Don’t try to move, you don’t know which way -you’re going. Just let her stand as long as we can’t row. She won’t go -far, only keep calling. All right, I’m with you,” he shouted. Then, -before I could say anything he had jumped into the water and was -swimming off. The mist just swallowed him up and in a few seconds I -couldn’t see him at all, only hear the sound as he swam and that voice -somewhere.</p> -<p>“Here I am,” I kept calling. And sometimes I gave the Silver Fox call -(that’s the call of my patrol) so he would know where I was. But -somewhere another voice kept giving the same calls and I knew it was an -echo and maybe he wouldn’t know what way to go when he started back. -Every time I called the echo called too, from somewhere far off.</p> -<p>Pretty soon I could hear voices and I heard Hervey say, “Let go your -arm, leave it to me.”</p> -<p>“I’m here,” I called. “Here—here—here—here I am. That other voice is an -echo—here I am—right here—right here——”</p> -<p>Pretty soon I could see him coming out of the mist. It seemed just as if -it broke open to let him through. He was holding some one up and I could -see a head sort of hanging back and looking up at the sky.</p> -<p>“All right?” I asked.</p> -<p>“Sure thing,” Hervey said. “Get hold of him, will you?”</p> -<p>“At the stern,” I said. I was glad to show him I knew that much anyway, -never to lift a person over the side of a small boat.</p> -<p>It was some job getting the rescued fellow aboard, and then I saw it was -our friend, the sharpy. His coat with the slanting pockets looked awful -funny all wet and clinging to him. He was all right, that was one good -thing, but his sharpy suit—<i>good night</i>! The worst that had happened to -him was a good scare.</p> -<p>“He was doing a new dance when I grabbed him,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>The fellow just lay in the bottom of the boat breathing hard, but I -could see he was all right. He reached up with his left hand and fixed -his funny little necktie, and then I knew he was all right. I guess he -would do that in his sleep.</p> -<p>“He’s going to sit out the next dance,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“What happened?” I asked him.</p> -<p>Then he told me just how it was. The fellow was dragging the lake with a -seine. He had fastened one end of it on shore and was rowing with the -other end. When Hervey lifted the seine and grabbed it the fellow -happened to be standing in his boat and it pulled him over into the -water. He grabbed the boat along the side and, of course, that swamped -it.</p> -<p>I’ll say one thing, if the old tin box is ever found that will be the -way to find it—dragging with a seine. And that cake-eater would have -stood a pretty good chance of finding it too if he had been free to work -in the daytime. But he was trying to do it all alone in the night, that -was the trouble. Anyway it gave him a good scare and took all the nerve -out of him.</p> -<p>Hervey said to him, “Well, you had a wild night. If you had only told me -what you were going to do when we were talking over the ’phone I’d have -joined in with you. And we’d have found it. It serves you right for -staying away from dances. You have to come back with us to tell one of -the keepers that I’m not a liar and then I’ll hike as far as Catskill -with you if you’re going that way.”</p> -<p>“I’m staying at Brookside,” the sharpy said.</p> -<p>“Well, come over to Temple Camp anyway and see the fun,” Hervey said. -“It’ll do you good.”</p> -<p>I saw that Hervey was just in one of those happy-go-lucky, reckless -moods, and that now after all he didn’t care so much about -anything—unless there was an adventure in it.</p> -<p>So I said, “Mr. Wilkins, or whatever your name is, only I guess that -isn’t your name, when you had your first scare to-night, that was when -you heard the ’phone ring over at camp, you got this fellow in Dutch. -You got him called a liar because he said he ’phoned to camp and they -never heard of any message. We know all about what you did to-night and -nobody’s going to make any trouble for you, because anyway, one thing, -you’ve had trouble enough. There’s a man, he’s trustee——”</p> -<p>“All you have to do is tell him he’s a liar,” Hervey said. “Then I’ll -hike as far as Brookside with you.”</p> -<p>“You don’t have to tell him any such thing,” I said</p> -<p>“You stick to me and you’ll be O. K.,” Hervey told him. “Didn’t I just -save your life?”</p> -<p>The poor sharpy didn’t know what to make of it all. He was grateful to -Hervey, that’s sure. I guess he saw it wasn’t any use denying anything. -I guess he wasn’t scared any more, because Hervey seemed to be making -friends with him, sort of. I had to laugh because after all Hervey’s -fine plan to bring this fellow back like a prisoner, there he was sort -of pals with him. Christopher, but he’s a sketch.</p> -<p>The fellow said, “They’ll make a lot of trouble for me over there.”</p> -<p>“They make it for me too,” Hervey said; “don’t you care.”</p> -<p>“The place was open; I just walked in,” the sharpy said. “There was a -sign that said Visitors Welcome. You fellows invited me to drop over.”</p> -<p>“You sure dropped over,” I began laughing. “The water is unusually wet -to-night. You didn’t take anything over there. They’ll give you a good -calling down, that’s all.”</p> -<p>“I get one of those every day,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“You mean every minute,” I told him.</p> -<p>Then I said, “All you have to do is come over with us, and anyway you -can’t help it, because I’m sculling the boat around now, and then all -you have to do is admit just what you did so as to prove this friend of -mine didn’t lie. You can do that much, can’t you? He saved your life. -You can put him right with the crowd over there, can’t you? That’s all -you have to do. It’s just a question of whether you’ve got a yellow -streak or not.”</p> -<p>“And we’ll have a lot of fun doing it too,” said Hervey.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXIII'>CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>HERVEY’S SERENADE</span></h2> -<p>Honest, I’d rather run the whole Silver Fox Patrol than try to run -Hervey Willetts. But as we sculled around I could see that even that -other fellow was kind of getting to like him.</p> -<p>Hervey sat perched up on the little three-cornered seat in the bow with -his legs dangling out into the water on either side and Sandwich lying -on the bottom near him. He looked, I don’t know,—I just had to laugh -when I looked at him.</p> -<p>I said, “Herve, after all this you’re not going to spoil everything, are -you? We had a good time to-day and we’re going to have a whole lot more. -You’ve got a medal coming to you for what you did to-night. You were -called a liar and now a couple of hours after that you can have the -whole camp eating out of your hand, Mr. Arnoldson and all. This fellow, -you’ve captured him too, and he’ll go the limit to help you. Won’t you?” -I said.</p> -<p>“Nobody can say I have a streak of yellow and get away with it,” the -fellow said.</p> -<p>“For goodness’ sake don’t mix things up now when everything’s coming -your way,” I said to Hervey. “They’ll wrap Temple Camp up for you and -send it home prepaid. Will you let <i>me</i> see Mr. Arnoldson and tell him?”</p> -<p>He said, “Blakeley, I’m through with this outfit for good. I beat it -to-night.”</p> -<p>“While everybody’s shouting for you?” I asked him.</p> -<p>“Precisely, exactly,” he said. “I might have joined a circus this -summer——”</p> -<p>“Goodnight!” I laughed.</p> -<p>“Instead of hanging around here and being insulted,” he said.</p> -<p>“You should worry about being insulted,” I told him. “If you care as -little about being insulted as you care about most things, especially -risking your life, it won’t take you long to forget it. Besides when you -threw an old tomato at the bulletin board so you wouldn’t be able to -read one of the rules on it, wasn’t that insulting the camp? If you’d -only forget insults as easy as you forget rules, gee, I’d be satisfied,” -I told him.</p> -<p>He just said, “Insults I can never forget, Blakeley.” All the while he -was trying to balance the boat hook on his nose.</p> -<p>“You make me tired,” I told him.</p> -<p>When we got to the landing he said, “Come on if you want to see the -grand finale; come on, Wilkins.”</p> -<p>The sharpy kind of hung back. He said, “My name is Tripler.”</p> -<p>“I knew it would be something about tripping,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Believe me, you’re the one that’s going to trip,” I told him.</p> -<p>He just said, “Come on, finalehopper, if you want to see the grand -finale. Absolutely nothing can happen to you. Come ahead, Blakeley, if -you want to see me wind up in a blaze of glory.”</p> -<p>I knew he was going to do some crazy fool thing, how could I stop him? I -could see that Tripler, or whatever his name was, was kind of nervous, -but Hervey had him following like a little dog. That’s Hervey. He went -sauntering up through Cabin Lane, swinging his stick and shouting:</p> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>“Early to bed and early to rise,</div> -<div class='cbline'>And you’ll never meet any regular guys.”</div> - </div> -</div> -<p>I could hear sounds of scouts moving in the cabins, but a lot he cared. -By the time he got to Official Bungalow there were about a dozen sleepy -looking scouts with us, with their clothes all endways and their hair -all rumpled—they were a wide-awake looking lot, I think not.</p> -<p>“What’s he up to now?” one of them gaped.</p> -<p><i>Gee williger</i>, Hervey looked like a what-do-you-call-it, one of those -knights of old standing in front of a castle.</p> -<p>“Search me,” I said to one of the fellows. “He reminds me of Sir -Building Lot, or whatever they call him, in the tales of King Arthur.”</p> -<p>“<i>Mr. Arnoldson</i>!” Hervey shouted. “Oh, you Mr. Arnoldson, come out here -and apologize to me before I start home! Wake up, you old boob!”</p> -<p>“Cut it out,” I said to Hervey; “you mind what I tell you now.”</p> -<p>He just kept shouting, “Come on out if you’re not ashamed to face me! -Come on out till I put it all over you! Oh, you Arnoldson; come on out -and take back what you called me! Come on out if you want me to accept -your apology! Come on out if you want me to apologize your acceptance! -Don’t be afraid of the dark! Come ahead out! Oh, you-u-u-u, Mr. -Arnoldson, come on out; it’s nice and foggy!”</p> -<p>I said, “Will you keep still, Hervey.”</p> -<p>All of a sudden somebody wearing a bath robe came out on the porch. Then -a couple of heads appeared at windows.</p> -<p>“All the fish in Official Bungalow wake up,” Hervey shouted. “Is that -you, Mr. Arnoldson?”</p> -<p>“Careful what you say now,” I whispered to Hervey.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXIV'>CHAPTER XXXIV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>TOM FIXES IT</span></h2> -<p>Now this is next to the last chapter in this book, but you should worry -because I’m going to write a lot more books.</p> -<p>Mr. Arnoldson said very stern, “Well, sir, what are you doing here at -this hour of the night? What is all this?”</p> -<p>Hervey said, “These fellows came of their own accord except this one and -he’s the one who was in Administration Shack at six o’clock to-night and -answered the ’phone when I called and gave me the name of Wilkins.</p> -<p>“He was there hunting in the case for a chart of the lake, and he’s here -to tell you I’m not a liar. He wanted to hunt for the treasure so you -see there are others as crazy as I am, but I wouldn’t go to the trouble -of telling a lie and I don’t intend to stay here anyway, only I want you -to know that I’m not a liar. He answered the ’phone and said he’d tell -the keepers. He did it because he got rattled, and he’s just as good as -I am——”</p> -<p>“Good night,” I whispered to a fellow near me.</p> -<p>“And he didn’t commit any crime because it says on the shack <i>visitors -welcome</i>,” Hervey went on. “So now if you want to ask him any questions -you can do it, and if you care to apologize for calling me a liar you -can do it, only hurry up because I’m through with this place—I’m washing -my hands of it.”</p> -<p>“He knows one scout law—cleanliness,” a fellow whispered.</p> -<p>Mr. Arnoldson was awful nice, I’ll say that. He came down and said, -“Willetts, I’m always ready to apologize when I’m wrong. Who is this -young man?”</p> -<p>“Willetts ought to apologize for waking everybody up,” a scoutmaster -said.</p> -<p>“Not at all,” Mr. Arnoldson said; “I couldn’t sleep with the stigma of -lying upon me.”</p> -<p>“He never sleeps anyway,” somebody said about Hervey.</p> -<p>Cracky, I have no use for sharpies, but I have to admit that this one -was all right. And he could use dandy words too. He told Mr. Arnoldson -just how it was, the whole thing. Hervey just stood there trying to -balance that crazy stick on his nose—he didn’t look very much insulted.</p> -<p>Mr. Arnoldson said, “Well, scouts, I’m glad you arose so you can all -hear my apology.”</p> -<p>“Stop balancing that stick and listen, will you!” I whispered to Hervey. -Honest, he had me nervous.</p> -<p>Mr. Arnoldson said, “Willetts, I never denied you were brave and -venturesome—too venturesome.” That’s just the way he said it. “I never -concealed the fact that you are unruly and disobedient and reckless. You -would rather do a stunt and be spectacular than be a good scout. Your -doubtful reputation caused me to misjudge you. You can’t be any happier -than I am at this public apology.</p> -<p>“I apologize to you, Willetts, and whatever else you are, you are not a -liar. I advise you to go to your quarters and turn in now and get some -sleep. I’m glad you aroused me. In the morning you are going to make a -fresh start, Willetts, and show what kind of a scout you can be.”</p> -<p>It was mighty nice, the way Mr. Arnoldson said it. Gee whiz, he couldn’t -have been nicer. He wasn’t mad at all on account of the things Hervey -had shouted. He just kind of admitted that Hervey was in the right the -way he came and everything. And all the scouts were saying that was some -stunt how he had saved Tripler’s life. <i>Jiminetty</i>, Hervey had -everything going his way. That was just when he got me good and mad with -his crazy, reckless ways. Why didn’t he shake hands with Mr. Arnoldson? -Oh, no, he must start off without even saying a word to him. I felt -awful sorry for Mr. Arnoldson. He didn’t even get mad at Hervey calling -him a boob.</p> -<p>Hervey just said very grand like, “I just wanted this whole kindergarten -to know that I’m no liar. Come ahead, Trip, let’s get out of here, I’m -through with this outfit. They’re dead, and they haven’t got sense -enough to lie down. I’m through with this camp for good and all. I was -going to leave last week.”</p> -<p>“I understood you to say you would accept my apology, Willetts,” Mr. -Arnoldson said to him, awful nice and patient, sort of.</p> -<p>Hervey said, “I do, but I’m through with this place. I was told to go -and I’m going—that’s absolutely positive. I’ve had enough. I don’t -belong here, I——”</p> -<p><i>Plunk!</i> Just as he was starting off who should he bunk right into but -Tom Slade.</p> -<p>“H’lo, Hervey,” said Tom. “What’s the matter now? Breaking up -housekeeping?”</p> -<p>“Slady, I always liked you,” Hervey said; “but this bunch—I’m leaving -to-night, Slady. So long.”</p> -<p>I guess Tom must have been there all the time. He just said, “Too bad, -Hervey, I was just going to ask you to do a little favor for me—a good -turn.”</p> -<p>“Nix on those,” Hervey said. “Come on, Trip.”</p> -<p>“You see,” Tom said in that easy way he has, “there’s a carnival going -on at Greenvale——”</p> -<p>“We were there,” Hervey said; “come ahead, Trip.”</p> -<p>Tom said, “Well, you see, they had a fellow engaged to do a high dive -there on Saturday, and he’s flunked. They sent here and asked if we -happened to have a good diver who could do the stunt—dive from a high -platform or something like that—carrying a flag—I forgot just what. I -told them <i>nothing doing</i>——”</p> -<p>“What do you mean, nothing doing?” Hervey blurted out.</p> -<p>“I told them there wasn’t a scout here could do it,” Tom said.</p> -<p>“What do you mean, couldn’t do it?” Hervey shot back at him. “I saw that -platform, it’s a cinch——”</p> -<p>“Yes, for a professional,” Tom said.</p> -<p>“What do you mean a professional?” Hervey came right back at him. -“There’s a pond there and a ladder—we saw the whole business—it’s—Slady -it’s—there’s nothing to it—it’s a kid’s trick.”</p> -<p>“Well, er—as long as you’re starting away to-night,” Tom said. “If you -were staying over Saturday——”</p> -<p>“I’ll stay over Saturday, Slady,” said Hervey. “I’ll do that just to -show you I can. Nobody can call me a— But not a day after Saturday, -Slady. You tell ’em I’ll do that dive and throw in a double -somersault—I’ll show you. You told them there’s nobody here could do -that? <i>You told them that?</i> You make me laugh, Slady!”</p> -<p>“You think you could do it?” Tom asked him, kind of doubtful and -serious.</p> -<p>“Slady, don’t make me laugh,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“It would be some stunt,” said Tom.</p> -<p>“What do you mean, stunt?” Hervey shot back. “Slady, I’ll show you—you -just leave it to me.”</p> -<p>“You’ll try it then?”</p> -<p>“<i>Try it!</i> Don’t make me smile, Slady. You tell ’em I’ll do it. Here’s -my hand on it.”</p> -<p>“I don’t want your hand,” said Tom; “give it to Mr. Arnoldson. If you -really mean business, if you really think you could do it, if you really -want to give your hand on it, as a pledge——”</p> -<p>“Posilutely,” Hervey said.</p> -<p>“Well, then, give your hand to Mr. Arnoldson,” Tom said; “he’s a -trustee. Go ahead, if you mean business and are not just bluffing, give -your hand to Mr. Arnoldson. Are you game? Talk is cheap. Now see if -you’re game.”</p> -<p>Gee whiz, I had to laugh to see Hervey walk up as bold and friendly as -could be and shake hands with Mr. Arnoldson. Honest, that fellow’s a -scream. Mr. Arnoldson was laughing all over. Before they got through -shaking hands who should go running up but Sandwich, jumping up at Mr. -Arnoldson and at Hervey and barking like mad.</p> -<p>I guess he wanted to give his hand on it too.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXV'>CHAPTER XXXV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>TO THE POINT</span></h2> -<p>The next morning after breakfast Hervey said to me—he just came -sauntering up kind of, and he said to me, “Did you ever notice when you -look away up a railroad track how the two rails come together away far -off?”</p> -<p>“Is it a hike?” I asked him.</p> -<p>“No, but didn’t you ever notice?” he said. “You stand between the two -tracks and look <i>away</i> off as far as you can see and the two rails get -nearer and nearer together till they make a point?”</p> -<p>“I see the point,” I told him.</p> -<p>“That’s where I often wanted to take a hike to,” he said. “There must be -a lot of railroad accidents at that place. Wouldn’t you like to hike -there and look around?”</p> -<p>“Oh, absolutely,” I told him; “I’m just as crazy as you are. If we get -to the place we ought to name it some point or other.”</p> -<p>Hervey said, “That’s what I was thinking of. Don’t you suppose all the -places that have names ending with <i>point</i> happened to get their names -that way? West Point and Greenpoint——”</p> -<p>“Sure, and pencil point and pen-point and all those places,” I told him.</p> -<p>“Shall we get Pee-wee?” he said.</p> -<p>“<i>Good night!</i>” I shouted. “If we spring that on Pee-wee he’ll drop -dead; he’ll drop so dead that he’ll even be dead and buried.”</p> -<p>“It’s a good kind of a hike,” said Hervey, “because it takes you a long -way.”</p> -<p>“Oh, positively,” I told him; “it takes you even further than that. How -did you ever think of it?”</p> -<p>He said, “Well, after the big fuss last night I went to bed.”</p> -<p>“You expect me to believe that?” I asked him.</p> -<p>“And I thought of it while I was lying in bed,” he said. “If we could -follow the West Shore tracks till we get to the point where they come -together we would probably find a lot of wrecks and skeletons and things -piled up, and maybe a lot of gold. Let’s start along the West Shore -tracks this afternoon and make a solemn vow that we won’t turn back till -we reach the point.”</p> -<p>“That ought to be quite a stroll,” I said. “We’ll stop in Albany for -supper, hey?”</p> -<p>Hervey said, “I had an inspiration.”</p> -<p>“You’d better look out,” I told him; “Pee-wee has all those -copyrighted.”</p> -<p>“This is what I mean,” he said. “Last night while I was lying in bed, I -was wondering what kind of a hike we could take that the management -wouldn’t object to. See? They’re going to be very particular now. So I -thought if we went and told one of the trustees that we’re going to take -a little—you know, just a little stroll.”</p> -<p>“A ramble,” I said.</p> -<p>“Just to the place where the West Shore tracks come together up the -line, why there won’t be any objection because they can see themselves -just where that is. It doesn’t look to me to be more than a mile away. -We’ll promise to turn back as soon as we get there. Hey?”</p> -<p>“Oh, the very minute we get there,” I said. Then he said, “All right, -come on, let’s get Brent and Pee-wee.”</p> -<p>When we found Brent he said very solemn-like that he thought it was a -good idea because when you hike it’s always good to have a destination -even if you don’t use it.</p> -<p>“Sure, they come in handy,” I told him. “And patent, adjustable -destinations are the best kind. Look at Columbus how he started for Asia -and bunked into the West Indies—he should worry. We’re like him only -different.”</p> -<p>So then we waited for Pee-wee. He always takes longer at breakfast than -anybody else, because he has three helpings of oatmeal. By the time he -finishes they have the boards all cleared. Pretty soon he came out. -Brent and Hervey and I were sitting on the lowest step of the pavilion -porch waiting for him. Brent looked at him very solemn over his -spectacles and said:</p> -<p>“Sir Harris, we’re organizing an enterprise to go on a dangerous -exploring expedition. Warde is going stalking so he can’t join us. Would -you care to join your comrades of yesterday in a most interesting quest? -We’re going straight to the point.”</p> -<p>“What point?” Pee-wee wanted to know.</p> -<p>“Ah, that’s the question,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“What d’you mean, the question?” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>“The point in the railroad tracks,” Brent said. “We think it’s about a -mile or two off, but we can’t say. You’ve noticed how the West Shore -tracks come together away up the line—to a point? Do you realize what -that means? The terrible danger to trains at that spot? When a train -reaches a place where the two rails come together, what happens to the -train? It’s terrible even to think of. We’re going to follow the West -Shore tracks north till we come to that spot and then write a report -about it. We’re going to see if we can’t have it remedied. It’s our duty -as boy scouts to save life. Will you join us?”</p> -<p>“Now I know you’re all crazy!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>“We knew that yesterday,” I told him.</p> -<p>“No wonder Warde won’t go,” he said; “anyway, he’s got a <i>little</i> sense -since yesterday. Gee whiz, any one that doesn’t know there’s no end to a -circle——”</p> -<p>“Now we know,” I said, “but we had to find out. Now we know it’s not -safe to go around much. So we’ve decided to go straight after this, -haven’t we, Brent?”</p> -<p>“Always,” Brent said; “we’ve learned our lesson.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee shouted, “Yes, and I’ve learned mine too, and I’m not going to -go.”</p> -<p>“Can we depend on that?” Brent said. “I heard a cow was run over at that -spot the other day and the neighborhood is filled with chipped beef. -Would that interest you?”</p> -<p>“Are we going to be back for supper?” Pee-wee wanted to know.</p> -<p>“Yes and no,” Brent said.</p> -<p>“Do you call that an answer?” the kid shouted.</p> -<p>“It’s two answers,” Brent said. “What more do you want?”</p> -<p>“If you weren’t such crazy, insane lunatics,” Pee-wee shouted, “you’d -know that the reason the tracks kind of go together is because on -account of perspective.”</p> -<p>I said, “Tell us all about that. Is it the climate?”</p> -<p>“No, it isn’t the climate,” he shouted. “They don’t really do it and -that’s the cause of it. The nearer you get to it the further away it is -because it isn’t anyway, only it seems so—gee whiz.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “There may be some truth in that. We’ll go and see. I never -heard that explanation before. If the thing moves away as we approach, -We’ll just have to head it off and catch it. Maybe it would be better if -we take a roundabout, circuitous course and approach it from beyond.”</p> -<p>“It wouldn’t even be there then,” Pee-wee said, all excited; “you -wouldn’t see it.”</p> -<p>Brent said, “This makes our expedition all the more interesting. Sir -Harris has thrown a new light on the subject. If a thing goes away it -must go somewhere. It can’t go nowhere—that’s logic. Nowhere is not a -place.”</p> -<p>“Why isn’t it?” I said. “It’s got a name, hasn’t it?”</p> -<p>“If it wasn’t it couldn’t have a name,” Hervey said. “If <i>Somewhere</i> is -a place, <i>Nowhere</i> is a place. All I know is the West Shore tracks come -to a point away up the line and they ought to be separated. I’m going to -hike up there this afternoon. Those who are afraid to go can go anyway -for all I care.”</p> -<p>“I’ll go,” Pee-wee said, “because I like to go hiking, but I don’t -subscribe to it kind of.”</p> -<p>“He thinks it’s a magazine,” I said.</p> -<p>“I mean that crazy nonsense,” he shouted.</p> -<p>“Oh, that?” I said. “That isn’t such crazy nonsense; it’s very sensible -nonsense. We’re going now to ask Mr. Apthorpe for permission to go on -our tour of investigation.”</p> -<p>“The first thing you know you’ll get in trouble,” Pee-wee said, “making -fools out of the trustees like that. The first thing you know we’ll all -get sent home on account of Hervey Willetts—getting fresh with trustees -like that.”</p> -<p>“Was Christopher Columbus afraid to ask Queen Isabella if he could go -and discover Columbus, Ohio?” Brent asked him. “We fear not trustees. -Look at the horizon! Somebody discovered it or we wouldn’t know it’s -there. Yet it moves away. That’s because nobody has ever been smart -enough to stalk it. How do you suppose the milkman would ever have -discovered the Milky Way or the iceman discovered Iceland if they’d been -afraid of trustees?”</p> -<p>“You’d better look out,” Pee-wee said, kind of very dark and mysterious. -“The first thing you know we’ll get sent home on account of all this -crazy stuff.”</p> -<p>All the while he was following us toward Administration Shack—that’s -where Mr. Apthorpe is in the mornings because he opens the mail. The kid -wanted to go but he was kind of scared like. Especially he was scared -because Mr. Apthorpe is very cross-looking and dignified. We were all -laughing the way Pee-wee came along after us, kind of hesitating.</p> -<p>But anyway, I guess Mr. Apthorpe knew about us being crazy—the whole -camp knows that by this time. It’s getting so up there that if you just -mention the word hike everybody starts laughing. Anyway nobody ever gets -mad at Brent, not even the trustees. And they only get mad at Hervey to -his face—behind his back they have to laugh at him, scoutmasters and -all. We should worry about being scared of trustees—they’re not as bad -as principals anyway. And mathematic teachers.</p> -<p>So then we—<i>g-o-o-d night</i>, there goes the dinner gong, I’ve got to go -downstairs to supper. First I have to wash my hands—so long, I’ll see -you later. Anyway, that’s the end of this story—thank goodness, I bet -that’s what you’ll say. Anyway, I should worry because the next story is -worse than this—you’ll see. It tells all about that crazy hike to West -Shore Point, that’s what we called it.</p> -<p>So if you thought this was the last hike story that’s where you got -left. You can’t lose us, boy!</p> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -</div> -</div> <!-- chapter --> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S TANGLED TRAIL***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 61089-h.htm or 61089-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/0/8/61089">http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/0/8/61089</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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