Part 19 (1/2)
”Gee, there are lots of things _I_ don't know too,” said Pee-wee generously. ”But anyway I fixed it so a scout could stay at Temple Camp an extra week.”
”Bully for you. A good turn?”
”You said it. I gave him a whole pail of berries I picked and he got sick and couldn't go home.”
”Some fixer.”
”I've fixed lots of things.”
”Maybe you can give us all berries the day before our temporary school opens,” said Fido Norton.
”Don't you worry,” said Pee-wee rea.s.suringly; ”maybe the men who are getting it ready will go on a strike; maybe there'll be measles or whooping cough or something. I've had those.”
”You're not missing much, hey?”
”You said it. I've been lost in the woods too. Roy Blakeley says I get lost at C when I sing. He's crazy, that feller is. He started the Silver Foxes. There's a feller in that patrol can move his ears without touching them. I should worry as long as I can move my mouth. I'll show you how to flop a fried egg in the pan only you have to look it doesn't come down on your head. You can scramble eggs but you can't unscramble them. Once one came down on my head. I took a bee-line hike, too.”
”With a fried egg on your head?”
”No-o-o. I'll show you how to make a thing to get olives out of the bottom of a bottle too; it's better than a hatpin, but a hatpin is good to catch pollywogs with. There's a Pollywog Patrol that comes to Temple Camp. Gee, I never knew that silver cup was in the car with me all the time.”
”Well, we expect you to walk away with that,” said Scoutmaster Ned. ”You rode away with it once. So now we expect you to walk away with it.”
”It's won already,” said Charlie Norris. ”Nick's the one.”
”Gee whiz, I wish I had seen that signal,” said Pee-wee, ”but anyway I have to admit it was a stunt sending it. Gee, I guess you'll get the cup all right.”
It was characteristic of Pee-wee that his thoughts did not recur to his lonely adversary at Piper's Crossroads. His thoughts were always of the moment and aroused by the present company. He was just as ready to shout for others as he was to shout for himself, and that is saying a great deal. It was immaterial to him who he shouted for so long as he could shout.
Nick Vernon was the nearest and likeliest, so he was all for Nick's stunt. And he was not in the least curious about the things said by that lonely boy with wide eyes who had stopped the car. He was thinking of other things now.
CHAPTER x.x.xV
SCOUTMASTER NED DOESN'T SEE
But Scoutmaster Ned was curious and when they reached the little cottage he jumped out and, taking the can of gasoline he had brought, he bade the others go on their way, saying that he would follow when he got his car started.
”Well sir, you haven't been sitting here all this time, I hope?” he said to Peter. ”Nice brisk morning, hey? The kind of weather to give you an appet.i.te.”
”Wouldn't they wait for you?” Peter asked.
”I'm glad to get rid of them,” said Scoutmaster Ned in a way of friendly confidence; ”they make a noise like an earthquake; that little fellow's the worst of the lot; he ought to have a m.u.f.fler.”
”Is he a real scout?” Peter ventured.
”Oh, he's two or three scouts. What d'you think of them? Crazy bunch, hey?”
”They're all real scouts--are they?” Peter asked hesitatingly.