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diff --git a/old/20060214-17767-8.txt b/old/20060214-17767-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..097c92c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20060214-17767-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5204 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Pee-Wee Harris Adrift, by Percy Keese +Fitzhugh, Illustrated by H. S. Barbour + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + + + + + +Title: Pee-Wee Harris Adrift + + +Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh + + + +Release Date: February 14, 2006 [eBook #17767] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 17767-h.htm or 17767-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/7/6/17767/17767-h/17767-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/7/6/17767/17767-h.zip) + + + + + +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT + +by + +PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + +Author of + + The Tom Slade Books + The Roy Blakeley Books + The Pee-Wee Harris Books + +Illustrated by H. S. Barbour + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Pee-wee rowed his customers to Alligator Island.] + + + + +Published with the approval of +The Boy Scouts of America +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers : : New York +Made in the United States of America +Copyright, 1922, by +Grosset & Dunlap + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I ALONE + II SATURDAY MORNING + III CASTLES IN THE AIR + IV KEEKIE JOE + V A QUESTION OF DUTY + VI THE MISSIONARY + VII APPLE BLOSSOM TIME + VIII PEE-WEE EXPLORES THE ISLAND + IX THE LOOKOUT SEES A SAIL + X THE OTHERS ARRIVE + XI PLANS + XII THE DISCOVERER RETURNS + XIII "STOP" + XIV "GO" + XV LIFE ON THE UNKNOWN SHORE + XVI BEFORE THE PARTY + XVII THE SCENE IS SET + XVIII EVERY WHICH WAY + XIX THE EARTHLY PARADISE + XX GONE + XXI FOILED + XXII IN THE GLARE OF THE SEARCH-LIGHT + XXIII THE DREAM OF KEEKIE JOE + XXIV THE MISSIONARY LANDS ON FOREIGN SHORES + XXV RETURN OF THE HERO + XXVI SHORT AND TO THE POINT + XXVII SETTLED AT LAST + XXVIII IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE + XXIX THE RACE + XXX ABSENCE MAKES THE ISLAND QUIET + XXXI A PROMISE + XXXII VENGEANCE + XXXIII KEEKIE JOE, SCOUT + XXXIV THE STORY CLOSES AND SCHOOL OPENS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Pee-wee rowed his customers to Alligator Island. + + Keekie Joe interview Pee-wee. + + The boys hold the island in spite of old Trimmer's protest. + + Pee-wee becomes a sandwich man. + + + + +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT + + +CHAPTER I + +ALONE + +When Pee-wee Harris returned from Temple Camp in the fall, he found +himself a scout without a patrol. He had indulged in a colossal +speculation and lost out. + +Forsaking the Raving Ravens, he had set forth to mobilize all the +small, unattached boys at camp into the Pollywog Patrol, but the +Pollywog Patrol had proved about as substantial as the shifting sand. + +Like the beloved Black Lake it had both an inlet and an outlet. As +fast as one boy entered it another had to go home, so that conducting +the Pollywog Patrol was like pouring water into a leaky pail. Pee-wee, +with all his flaunted efficiency, could not be at both ends of this +patrol at the same time. + +As soon as some miniature scout from New York had been duly initiated, +some previously initiated scout from Chicago found that his time was +up, and Pee-wee's time was chiefly occupied in rushing frantically +about trying to keep pace with this epidemic of resignations. + +At last the epidemic reached an acute stage and the Pollywog Patrol, +after a glorious career of nine days, was struck a mortal blow, never +to be heard of again except in the pages of history. Its three +remaining members were summoned to their several homes simultaneously; +one new scout was hastily secured but on learning that he could not be +patrol leader he tendered his resignation and was soon called home to +attend his sister's wedding. Scout Harris faced a cruel world alone. + +Meanwhile, Billy Simpson had been called to Temple Camp from Bridgeboro +to fill (if anyone could fill) the enormous space left vacant in the +Raven Patrol by the withdrawal of its enterprising genius. + +"Never mind," said Mr. Ellsworth, the troop's scoutmaster, "there are +plenty of fish in the sea--to say nothing of Pollywogs. Bridgeboro is +full of permanent material. You have all this winter to round up a new +patrol." + +"Only don't round up any snow men because they melt," said Roy +Blakeley, leader of the Silver Foxes; "and don't bother with shadows +because you can't depend on them. And when you get a scout put a paper +weight on him so he won't blow away." + +"If you'll give me some of the biscuits you make, I'll use them for +weights," Pee-wee shouted. + +"You mean you'll eat them," Roy said. "What are you going to name the +new patrol? Why don't you name it the Canned Salmon? Then they can't +get away from you." + +"Sure, you can have a can-opener for your emblem," said Dorry Benton. + +"Maybe we'll call ourselves the Airedales because scouts like fresh +air," Pee-wee said. "I got a lot of ideas." + +"He thinks Airedales are named after the air," said Doc Carson. + +"Sure, just the same as Pennsylvania is named after the Pennsylvania +Railroad," Roy said. + +"You make me tired!" Pee-wee shouted disgustedly. "You leave it to me, +I'll think up a name. I know four fellers already that'll join. Maybe +I'll decide to start a whole new troop and not bother with this one." + +"Why don't you start a whole new scout movement?" Roy asked. "Call it +the Boy Scouts of Pee-wee Harris. Discharge the Boy Scouts of America +altogether." + +"I'll start something all right, you leave it to me," Pee-wee announced +darkly. "You think you're smart just because you write stories about +your adventures and you always make out that you're the hero. You +always make out that I get the worst of it. Gee whiz, if I ever write +any stories, I'll get my just deserts." + +"Did I ever say you didn't get plenty of desserts?" Roy shot back at +him. "I gave you three helpings in every story and that's all the +thanks I get. You think so much about desserts that you're going to +desert the troop. We should worry." + +"If I write any stories I'll write them good and loud," Pee-wee shouted. + +"Open the cut-out of your fountain pen," Roy said, "and be sure to turn +to the right whenever you come to the end of a page and look out you +don't skid." + +"Maybe I'll write my remittances," Pee-wee said darkly. + +"He means his reminiscences," said Arrie Van Arlen. + +"I think," said Mr. Ellsworth, "that Scout Harris will be quite busy +enough forming the new patrol, and when it is formed I hope he will +present it to the First Bridgeboro Troop, B. S. A." + +"That's us," said Westy Martin. + +"I don't see how Pee-wee can get out of the troop," Mr. Ellsworth +laughed, "because strictly speaking, he has never been in the troop; on +the contrary the troop has been in him, as one might say." + +"_Good night_, did he swallow that too?" said Roy. And he rolled +backward off the troop-room table on which he had been sitting. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SATURDAY MORNING + +Though Pee-wee was without a patrol he was by no means without a troop. +He still held his position of troop mascot and official target for the +mirthful Silver Foxes. He was a whole patrol in himself and held his +own against raillery and banter, his stock of retaliatory ammunition +seeming never to be exhausted. + +"I can handle them with both hands tied behind my back," he boasted, +which is readily enough believed since it was mainly his tongue that he +used. + +But recruits did not flock to Pee-wee's standard. Perhaps this was +partly because of the fall and winter season when the lure of camping +and roughing it was in abeyance. Perhaps it was because he was so +small that boys were fain to think that scouting was a thing for +children and beneath their dignity. + +Once or twice during the winter, Pee-wee piloted some half-convinced +and bashful subject to the troop-room, which was an old railroad car +(of fond memory) down by the river. Here, in the cosy warmth of the +old cylinder stove, the troop played checkers and read and jollied +Pee-wee, which was about all there was to do on winter nights. The +visitors, unimpressed with these makeshift diversions of the off +season, did not return, and so the good old springtime found Pee-wee +still a scout indeed (with something left over) but a scout without a +patrol. + +And now the sturdy little missionary began to feel this keenly. Patrol +spirit is usually not much in evidence during the winter; the several +divisions of a troop intermingle and form a sort of club in which an +odd member is quite at home. But with the coming of spring the patrol +spirit becomes aroused. It is a case of "united we stand, divided we +sprawl," as Roy Blakeley was fond of saying. Each patrol goes +separately about its preparations for camping and hiking, does its +shopping, repairs its tents, denounces and ridicules its associate +patrols, and troop unity gives way somewhat to patrol unity. This is +well and as it should be. + +It was very much so with the well organized Bridgeboro troop. With the +first breath of spring the Ravens became Ravens, the Elks foregathered +and were Elks and nothing else, and the Silver Foxes began a series of +exclusive meetings at Camp Solitaire under a big shady elm on Roy's +lawn. + +The Silver Foxes, imbibing the mirthful spirit of their leader, were +all pretty much alike, and the Ravens were thankful that they were not +like them, and the Elks congratulated themselves that they had more pep +than the Ravens. "The Elks say the Ravens are no good and the Ravens +say the Elks are no good and they're both right; we should worry," said +Roy. "There's one good thing about the Elks and that is that they're +not Ravens, and there's one good thing about the Ravens and that is +that they're not Elks. They both have everything to be thankful for if +not more so. They're in luck." + +"Do you call that logic?" Pee-wee demanded in the tones of an +earthquake. "If one thing is better than another thing how can that +other thing be better than the other thing? You're crazy!" + +"Goodness gracious, look who's here?" said Hunt Manners, who was +sorting out some fish-hooks. "The whole Canned Salmon Patrol." + +Pee-wee stood outside the tent, breathing hard after his long tramp up +the hill to the Blakeley place. + +"Don't you know this is private land?" Warde Hollister said, rather +heedless of the possible effect of his remark. + +"I didn't come in the tent, did I?" Pee-wee retorted wistfully. + +"Come ahead in, Kid," said Roy. "Are you hungry? Here's some +fish-hooks." + +"No, I'm not hungry," Pee-wee said. He had been so touched by Warde's +thoughtless remark that he held himself aloof from Roy's hospitality. +"I only came up to tell you that the thunderstorm up the river did a +lot of damage; a house was struck by lightning in North Bridgeboro and +a lot of trees were blown down." This was not what he had come up for, +though indeed the news was true, but his pride was touched by that +remark of Warde's and he would not now admit that he had tramped up +there just to visit them. + +"Gee whiz, do you think I don't know that eight's a company, nine's a +crowd with patrols?" he said. "Do you think I don't know that? +Anyway, if I wanted to go and hang out with any patrol I'd go with the +Ravens, wouldn't I? I only came up to tell you that, because I thought +you'd like to know. Do you think I'm trying to find out your secrets? +Gee whiz!" + +"Come ahead in, Kid," said Roy; "Warde didn't mean that." + +"I will not." + +"What's the matter with you anyway?" Will Dawson asked. + +"I'm not in your patrol," Pee-wee said. + +"What's the big idea?" Westy Martin asked. "You weren't in it when you +went on the bee-line hike with us either, were you?" + +"That's different," Pee-wee said. "Anyway I was a scout then, because +I was in the Ravens and anyway I've got to go to the store." + +Before they realized it he was gone. + +"What the dickens did you want to say that for?" Roy asked Warde. + +"Oh, it just jumped out of my mouth," Warde said; "I didn't think he'd +be so touchy. Wait, I'll call him back." + +But the sturdy little figure trudging down the hill paid no attention +to Warde's call. And the Silver Foxes, friendly and sympathetic as +they were, were too preoccupied to think much about this trifling +affair. Perhaps they had just a little disinclination to having +visitors, even the little mascot, participating in their private +councils just then. + +The point of the whole matter was that Pee-wee had been unintentionally +eliminated; it was a sort of automatic process attributable to the +springtime. And he found himself alone. He was not out of the troop, +but he was not in any of the patrols, and in spite of all his +spectacular missionary work he had not been able to form a patrol. + +Pee-wee's pride was as great as his voice and his appetite, and he +would not sponge on the patrols which had a full membership and were +busy with their own concerns. The rock on which he had stood all +winter had split in three and there was no place for him on any of the +pieces. + +On Saturday morning the Silver Foxes went into the city to buy some +camping things and to see a movie show in the afternoon. The Ravens +went off for a hike. A Saturday spent alone was more than the soul of +Pee-wee could endure, so he conquered his foolish pride and went up to +Connie Bennett's house to find out what the Elks were going to do. He +would not join in with the Elks, he told himself, but he would pal with +any single Elk, or even with two or three. That would be all right as +long as he did not foist himself upon a whole patrol. "Eight's a +company, nine's a crowd, gee whiz, I have to admit that," he said to +himself. "It's all right for me to go with one feller even if he's a +scout but a patrol's different." + +It was a wistful and rather pathetic little figure that Mrs. Bennett +discovered upon the porch. + +"Connie? Oh gracious, he's been gone an hour, dear," she said. "They +all went away with Mr. Collins in his auto. I told him he must be back +for supper. How is it you're not with them, Walter?" + +"I--I ain't in that patrol," said Pee-wee; "it goes by patrols. Anyway +I'm sorry I troubled you." + +He turned and went down the steps and picking up a stick drew it across +the slats of a fence as he went up the street. The outlandish noise +seemed to act as a balm to his disappointment and to keep him company. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CASTLES IN THE AIR + +The lonesomeness of Robinson Crusoe on his desert island was nothing +compared to the lonesomeness of Pee-wee on that Saturday morning. He +might have attached himself to any of the three patrols and had a day's +pleasure, but his pride had stood in the way. + +He had always been something of a free lance in the troop and been +regarded as a troop institution. But there had always been his +official place among the Ravens waiting for him whenever it suited his +wanton fancy to return like a prodigal to the fold. Now, in the +pleasant springtime with the troop divided for the summer rivalries, he +found himself quite isolated. + +No one was to blame for this; a scout must be in one patrol or another, +and if all patrols are full then he must make himself the nucleus of a +new one. That is what Mr. Ellsworth had told Pee-wee. + +"Gee whiz, nucleuses aren't so easy to be, that's one thing," Pee-wee +muttered to himself as he bent his aimless way in the direction of +Barrel Alley. "Maybe he thinks it's easy to be a nucleus. Nucleuses +are hard to be, I'll tell the world. Anyway I can be a pioneer scout, +that's one thing. You don't have to be a nucleus or anything to be one +of those. They don't have to bother with patrols, they don't, they're +lucky." + +He ambled along kicking a stone before him in a disconsolate, +disgruntled way. He followed it wherever it went, ever and again +kicking it back onto the sidewalk; the simple pastime seemed to afford +him infinite relief. And meanwhile, glowing visions arose in his mind, +such visions as no one but a poet or a lonely boy on a Saturday morning +in the springtime could possibly have. + +No one had injured him in the least, he was liked by all, he was simply +the unhappy victim of circumstances. But in a mood of heroic +retaliation against the troop he pictured himself as a pioneer scout +residing aloof in a grim tower, surrounded by wireless apparatus and +covered with merit badges. Scouts from all over the world would make +pilgrimages to his obscure retreat for a timid glimpse of the +mysterious hero. + +The glowing vision was somewhat marred by his conception of himself +eating a huge sandwich as he looked down from his parapet upon the +worshipping throng below. Roy Blakeley would be down there among the +others, his jollying propensity subdued by a feeling of awe as he gazed +at the great scout hermit, the famous pioneer scout who sent messages +to lesser scouts the world over. They would whisper, "he looks just +like his pictures in _Boys' Life_," and he would smile down on them +and . . . + +_Plunk_! The pioneer scout had collided with a man on the sidewalk and +he returned to Bridgeboro with a suddenness that surprised even himself. + +"Excuse me," he said. + +"Certainly," said the man. + +Pee-wee recovered his rock, and began kicking it along the sidewalk +again. "I'll show them," he said moodily. + +He was about to ascend his scout throne again and engage in the +gracious pastime of receiving delegations of common, ordinary scouts in +his dim, wooded domain when he found himself at the edge of a region +which was not in the least like the romantic wilderness of his vision. +This was Barrel Alley, the habitat of Jimmy Mattenburg and Sweet +Caporal and the McNulty twins. + +Barrel Alley was the slum neighborhood of Bridgeboro and it was not +very large. But it was large enough. Pee-wee explored the crooked, +muddy, sordid street, gazing wistfully here and there for possible +recruits. But no human material was to be seen. The older boys were +playing craps in Dennahan's lot and the smaller boys were watching +them. One lonely sentinel was perched on the fence scanning the +horizon for cops. For this he received the regular union pay of a +stale apple-core. + +He was an unkempt urchin with an aggressive and challenging +countenance, but he had solved several problems in economy. One of +these was the entire elimination of stockings and garters. This was +accomplished by the use of a pair of trousers with legs of such ample +diameter and of such length as to render stockings altogether +superfluous. This released both garters for more important duties, +they being tied end to end, thus constituting a sort of single strand +suspender which at its junction with his trousers in front was securely +held by a large nail. His hair presented an appearance not unlike the +negligent architecture of an eagle's nest, which is of the bungalow +type in its loose irregularity. He had not the slightest reason for +supposing that Pee-wee was equipped with commissary stores, but on +general principles he said, + +"Give us a hunk of candy, will yer?" + +As luck would have it, this random shot, fired at every strange boy +from the upper world, hit the mark, to his unspeakable astonishment. +Pulling out of his pocket a licorice jaw-breaker of vast dimensions, +Pee-wee sent it shooting in a bee-line at the face of the stranger. + +Never before in all his checkered history had Keekie Joe ever received +any edible of any character whatever in response to his menacing +demands. He had always assumed that boys who were well dressed had +fruit or candy in their pockets. He had sometimes required them to +verify their denials by an exhibition of the interior of these +receptacles. His invariable demand had become a habit with him. +Therefore the little sugared black brick which now hit him in the eye +came as an unprecedented surprise. For a moment he did not know +whether to construe it as a propitiatory gift or a warlike missile. + +"What's the matter with you, can't you catch?" Pee-wee demanded. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +KEEKIE JOE + +It required but a few seconds for Keekie Joe to decide to run true to +form. The situation was an unusual one, the missile was a delicious +morsel, and was nothing more nor less than what he had demanded. But +still it had been thrown at him and Keekie Joe elected to consider it +as a shot fired by the enemy. + +"Whatcher chuckin' things at me fer?" he demanded, descending from the +fence and approaching Pee-wee with a terrible look of menace. He had +been careful, however, to pick the jawbreaker up and put it in his +mouth. + +"Didn't you say you wanted one?" Pee-wee asked. "Didn't you just put +it in your mouth?" + +"Never you mind wot I done," said Keekie Joe. "D'yer think yer cin +sass me?" + +"I'll show you how to catch if you'll say you'll be a scout," Pee-wee +answered. There could be no better illustration of his desperation as +a scout missionary than this artless proposition to the sentinel of +Barrel Alley. + +"Who can't catch?" Keekie Joe demanded. + +"You can't." + +"Me?" + +"Yes, you." + +"Yer dasn' say it again." + +"You can't catch, you can't catch, you can't catch," said Pee-wee. + +There seemed nothing left now but to break off diplomatic relations +altogether. The issue was clear. But Keekie Joe did not plunge his +outlandish person into war. + +"If I didn' have ter lay keekie I'd slam yer one," he announced. + +"What's the use of giving you candy if we can't be friends?" Pee-wee +said. "Gee whiz, I wouldn't care how much candy fellers threw at me; +the more the merrier. They can throw mince pies at me for all I care," +he added. "If you want to be a scout I'll show you how and we can +start a patrol maybe." + +[Illustration: Keekie Joe interviews Pee-wee] + +The word patrol seemed to suggest something ominous to Keekie Joe, for +he glanced furtively up and down the alley, and then waved his hand +reassuringly to the group in the middle of the field. + +Pee-wee perceived now that the scene of the crap game had been selected +with keen military wisdom, affording a safe avenue of precipitate +retreat in any direction. Disaster could have resulted only from a +surrounding host. Officer McMahon, the tyrant on this squalid beat, +was large. But he was not large enough to surround the camp. + +The crap-shooters of Barrel Alley had been surprised in every nook and +corner of their neighborhood until they had hit upon the bold expedient +of playing in an open lot, reposing their trust in a sentinel. It +would not have been well for the sentinel to relax his vigilance. + +"What I want ter join them scout kids fer?" Keekie Joe inquired. "Der +yer call me a sissy?" + +"Do you call the scouts sissies?" Pee-wee inquired angrily. "They have +more fun than you do, that's one sure thing. If you don't want to join +you don't have to but you don't have to get mad about it. Gee whiz, +you're always mad, kind of. I guess you got up out of the wrong side +of the bed, that's what _I_ think." + +This was not true, for indeed Keekie Joe did not sleep in a bed at all; +he slept on a heap of old inner tubes in Ike Levine's tire repair shop. +He was about to resent this slander from Pee-wee with a glowering look +and a threat, when suddenly something happened, which precipitately +terminated his performance of his official functions. His father +called him from a tenement across the street, accompanying his summons +with such dismal predictions of what would happen if he did not obey +that the official sentinel had no choice but to desert his post. + +"If I have ter come over there'n git yer," the father said, "I'll----" + +Poor Joe glanced at his father in the window, then at the gamesters in +the field. It was evident that chastisement of the severest character +awaited him in any case. For a moment he had a wild notion of making a +spectacular retreat along the street, crawling through a broken part of +the fence beyond the range of parental vision, and resuming his duties +of sentinel at another vantage point. Such a maneuver would at least +postpone a reckoning with his father and enable him to be faithful to +his trust. A very unworthy trust it may have been but his one thought +was to be faithful to it. And there you have Keekie Joe in a +nutshell . . . + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A QUESTION OF DUTY + +Pee-wee's advice to Joe in this predicament was rather singular, and the +scout law on which he based it covered a rather larger field of +obligation than was necessary in the circumstances. + +"Go ahead over," he whispered; "you have to obey your parents and all +other duly constituted authorities. I'll lay keekie for you while you're +gone; go ahead over, I'll keep watch." + +"Yes, you will!" said Joe incredulously. "I know youz guys, y'll put one +over, that's what y'll do. Wat'd'yer mean, constute--con--authorities? +Yes yer will, _not_!" + +"That shows how much you know about scouts," Pee-wee said, always ready +to explain the ins and outs of scouting. "Do you think I'd cheat? Gee +whiz, I've got to be faithful to a trust, haven't I? If I say I'll do a +thing I'll do it. You go ahead over and I'll keep watch and if I don't +do it you can punch me in the eye the next time you see me." + +It was not so much this proffer of indemnity as a supplementary threat +from the window across the way which decided Keekie Joe. He did not +believe in Pee-wee for he did not believe in anybody. But he was a bit +puzzled at this self-possessed little stranger from another world. There +was a straightforward, clear look in the little scout's eyes which +bespoke both friendliness and sincerity and Keekie Joe did not understand +this. The emergency decided him to repose faith in the strange boy but +it was not in him to do this graciously. + +"You keep yer eyes peeled till I git back, and giv'm the high sign, d'yer +hear?" he said with insolent skepticism, "or the first time I see yer on +Main Street I'll black up both yer eyes fer yer, d'yer see?" + +"That's one thing I like about you," said Pee-wee; "gee whiz, you obey +scout laws without even knowing them. That shows you're a kind of a +scout and you don't know it." + +Keekie Joe did not look much like a scout, as he shuffled across the +street; he did not even look like the rawest of raw scout material. But +statues are carved out of hard rock. And Keekie Joe was a very hard rock +indeed. + +Pee-wee vaulted up onto the ramshackle fence, placed one of those granite +bricks known as a licorice jaw-breaker in his mouth, and prepared for his +indefinite vigil. He was not thinking of the "constituted authorities," +he was not thinking of the crap-shooters either; his back was turned to +them and his all seeing eye was fixed on the distant street corner. He +was thinking of Keekie Joe and of how Keekie Joe had tried to obey one of +the good scout laws by being faithful to a trust. And there you have +Pee-wee Harris in a nut-shell . . . + +The game in the middle of the large field must have become exciting, for +its votaries were gathered into a close group. None of the players +seemed able now to spare so much as a cautious glance toward the street. +Once, during his intense preoccupation, Slats Corbett gave a quick, +furtive glance afar, but it was only in a sort of sub-consciousness that +he glimpsed a figure sitting on the fence, its back toward him. That was +enough. + +The group gathered closer, voices were heard in excited altercation, +there were long intervals of silence. The group had shrunken and become +compact. All were stooping. Their preoccupation seemed intense. They +had forgotten all about the lookout. Occasionally some civilian passed +along the distant alley and guilty instinct caused one or another of the +group to glance thither to give a hasty appraisal of his mission and +character. And so the wicked game went on. And the sports of Barrel +Alley never knew that their stronghold had been invaded by the boy scouts. + +Then around the distant corner appeared two figures in civilian clothes, +strangers in Barrel Alley. They were County Detectives Slippett and +Spotson. They strolled down the alley innocently. Keekie Joe, whose +activities were chiefly local, knew them not. But Pee-wee Harris, Scout, +knew them. On one of his long hikes he had seen them arrest a motorist +in Northvale. He had seen them loitering in the post office at Little +Valley. + +They did duty in the various municipalities of the county where the +familiar faces of the local officials were a stumbling block to the +apprehension of wrongdoers. They were going to break up this ring of +gambling rowdies, and so forth and so forth and so forth . . . + +Pee-wee's first impulse was to shout, but on second thought it occurred +to him that the army of invasion consisting of two, one of them might +make a flank move on hearing his warning voice, and that one detective +could thus drive the criminals into the very arms of the other, as they +passed through the back yard of Chin Foo's laundry. Chin Foo's back yard +was a sort of trap. + +So instead of shouting he descended from the fence with lightning agility +and ran across the field as fast as his legs would carry him, and +pell-mell into the group. + +"Two detectives are coming down the alley," he panted. "Beat it over +that way and then you'll _sure_ not run into one of them because they've +got--got--a lot of strat--strat--strat--strat--egy--they have--you'd +better hurry up." + +The time it required for the group to disperse can not be indicated by +any word in the English language. They were there and then they were not +there. As Pee-wee stood amid scattered coins and dice he was conscious +of distant forms scaling fences, wriggling through holes, and of one pair +of legs disappearing majestically over a dilapidated roof. As a +disorderly retreat it was a masterpiece. + +It was not in Pee-wee's nature to run from anything or anybody. So there +he stood amid the telltale mementoes of the dreadful game while +Detectives Slippett and Spotson strolled into the field. They were just +in time to behold a fleeting vision of forms wriggling through fences, +gliding around buildings, and scrambling over roof tops. + +County Detective Spotson was quick to sense the situation. Taking +Pee-wee roughly by the shoulder he demanded in that sophisticated voice +and manner which all detectives acquire and which sometimes passes for +shrewdness, "What's the big idea, huh? Tipped them on, did you? Well, +you're a very clever kid, ain't you?" He removed his big hand from +Pee-wee's shoulder and injected his fingers down the back of the boy's +neck, grabbing him by the collar and gathering it so that it almost +choked him. + +This terrifying grip, which is always intended to be considered as the +preliminary of arrest, did not frighten Pee-wee as it would have +frightened Keekie Joe, but it touched his pride and enraged him, and he +wriggled frantically. There is no indignity which can be put upon a boy +like this bullying, official grip of his collar. + +"You let me go," he said excitedly; "I wasn't playing here and you didn't +see me do anything wrong; you let me go, do you hear!" His utter +helplessness, despite every contortion, to free himself from this +degrading kind of grasp, drove him distracted and he kicked with all his +might and main. "_You let me go, do you hear!_" he shouted. + +"Well, what were you doing here then, huh?" the officer asked gruffly. +"Yer gave'm the tip, didn't yer?" + +"You let go, I'm not going to run away," Pee-wee said. "Do you think I'm +scared of you? You let me go!" + +"Do yer know what an accessory is?" Detective Spotson demanded, loosening +his grip somewhat. + +"It's something you buy to put on an automobile," Pee-wee said. "You let +go, I'm not going to run." + +Detective Spotson, like Keekie Joe, trusted nobody. But since he had no +intention of arresting Pee-wee and since the diminutive captive seemed +rather angered than frightened, he released his hold. By a series of +wriggles and contortions, Pee-wee adjusted his clothing and settled his +neck in his stretched neckband. "Why don't--why--why don't you take +a--a--a feller your size?" he half cried and half panted. + +The officers now began to have some glimmerings of the fact that here was +a boy who did not belong in Barrel Alley. They were a little taken aback +by the exhibition of so much pride and spirit. The customary, ominous +grip of the collar had not worked. + +"What were you doing down here, Sonny?" Detective Slippett asked. + +"I came down to hunt for fellers to start a scout patrol," Pee-wee said, +"and one feller was laying keekie for cops and he had to go home so I +took his place, because he had to keep his word with those fellers, +didn't he? Maybe you wouldn't promise fellers to do that but, gee whiz, +if you did promise them you'd have to keep your word, wouldn't you? If +he sees I help him maybe he'll get to be a scout, won't he? Do you mean +to tell me it isn't more important to be a scout than it is to let +fellers get to be arrested? Even--even Roosevelt said the scouts were +important, but he didn't say it was important you should catch fellers, +did he?" + +"That's some argument," Detective Slippett said, half smiling. + +"I know even better arguments than that," Pee-wee boasted. + +"Well," said Detective Spotson rather more gruffly, "you'd better look +out how you try to interfere with the law, young feller, 'cause first +thing you know you'll find yourself in jail. And you'd better keep away +from this outfit down here, too. Now you chase yourself back to where +you belong--see?" + +"You thought you were going to scare me, didn't you?" Pee-wee said. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MISSIONARY + +Pee-wee retraced his steps back across the field feeling righteous and +triumphant. To him the interests of the Boy Scouts of America +superseded every other interest and like the true missionary he did not +scruple overmuch as to means employed. + +As he emerged Into the alley, Keekie Joe, looking frightened and +apprehensive, appeared out of the surrounding squalor. It was a +characteristic of Keekie Joe that he always appeared without warning. +A long habit of sneaking had given him this uncanny quality. Suddenly +Pee-wee, in the full blush of his heroic triumph, was aware of the poor +wretch shuffling along beside him. + +"Wot'd they say ter yer? Wot'd yer tell 'em?" he asked fearfully. + +"I didn't tell them anything," Pee-wee said. "As long as the fellers +got away they won't blame you. Anyway, if you'd have been there they'd +have been caught, because you didn't know those detectives because +they're strangers around here." + +"How'd _you_ know them?" Keekie Joe inquired. + +"Gee, scouts are supposed to know everything," Pee-wee informed him. + +Keekie Joe gave a side glance at Pee-wee as he shuffled along at his +side. He was rather interested in a class of boys who knew all +officials on sight; here indeed was something worth knowing. "Yer +spotted 'em?" he asked incredulously. + +"_Sure_ I did," said Pee-wee with great alacrity; "because scouts are +supposed to be observant, see? I saw them in Northvale once. But, +believe me, I didn't holla. _Oh, no_! I ran over and told the fellers +and they all got away, so as long as you didn't leave them in the lurch +it was all right. So now will you join the scouts? They always carry +licorice jaw-breakers in their pockets," he added as a supplementary +inducement; "anyway _I_ do--lemon ones too, and strawberry ones." + +"How many is in your gang?" Joe asked. + +"Nobody yet," said Pee-wee, "because I haven't got it started. But if +you'll join in with me we'll start one. You're supposed to hike and +run a lot but if you want to run after fire engines and ambulances it's +all right." He said this because of the favorite outdoor sport of +Barrel Alley of trailing fire engines and ambulances. "So will you +join?" he added. + +They paused on the frontier of Joe's domain in the rear of the big bank +building which fronted on Main Street. Here was the makeshift sidewalk +of barrel staves whence the alley derived its name. "You have to be, +kind of, you have to be a sort of a--kind of wild and reckless to join +the scouts," Pee-wee pleaded. "Maybe you're kind of scared on account +of thinking that you have to be civilized, but you don't; you don't +even eat off plates," he added with sudden inspiration. "We cook +potatoes just like tramps do, right out in the woods; we hold them on +sticks over the fire. So now will you join? If you will you'll be +elected patrol leader because there's only one to vote for you and I'm +the one and I'm a majority. See? So if you come in right now you'll +be sure to have a majority and I'll buy some Eskimo pies, too." + +"Der yez swipe de pertaters?" Joe asked. + +"We don't exactly kind of what you would call swipe them," Pee-wee was +forced to confess. "But we get them in ways that are just as good. +They taste just as good as if they were swiped, honest they do," he +hastened to add. "So will you come down by the river with me? That +old railroad car down there is our meeting place and it's got a stove +in it and everything and there won't be any one there to-day except +just you and me and we'll have an election and I'll vote for you and +you can vote for yourself and so you'll be sure to be elected patrol +leader. And after that I'll show you what you have to do and most of +it is eating and things like that. So will you say yes?" + +Keekie Joe was not to be lured by promises of "eats," though he was +curious about the old railroad car. His answer to Pee-wee was +characteristic of him. "I woudn' join 'em, because they're a lot of +sissies," he said, "but yer needn' be ascared ter come down here +because I woudn' leave no guy hurt yer; I woudn' leave 'em guy yer +because yer a Boy Scout. If any of 'em starts guyen yer he'll get an +upper cut, see?" + +Pee-wee went on his way thoroughly disappointed and disheartened. His +thought was not that he had made a friend, but that he had lost a +possible recruit. He had cherished no thought of reforming the wicked +and uplifting the lowly in his effort to enlist this outlandish denizen +of the slums. He was not the goody-goody little scout propagandist +that we sometimes read about. He had simply been desperate and had +lost all sense of discrimination. Anything would do if he could only +start a patrol. What this sturdy little scout failed to understand was +that in this particular enterprise the Boy Scouts had lost out but that +Pee-wee Harris had won. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +APPLE BLOSSOM TIME + +Pee-wee stopped in Bennett's Fresh Confectionery and regaled his +drooping spirit with a chocolate soda. Then he continued his stroll up +Main Street. He had always advertised his conviction that things +invariably came his way but nothing came his way on this lonely +Saturday morning. + +He paused here and there gazing idly into shop windows, he stood gaping +at a man who was having trouble with his auto, and at last he wandered +into the public library. The place seemed like a tomb on that Saturday +morning in the springtime. Not a boy was there to be seen. "Gee whiz, +they've got something better to do than read books," he thought to +himself. + +There at the desk sat the librarian, silent, preoccupied. In the +reading room were a few scattered readers intent on newspapers and +magazines. The place, familiar and pleasant enough to Pee-wee at other +times, seemed alien and uninviting at a time of day when he was usually +too busy to call upon its quiet resources of treasure. + +On this balmy holiday it seemed almost like school; it had a booky, +studious atmosphere which turned him against it. And to complete this +impression and make the place abhorrent to him there sat Miss Bunting, +the history teacher, in a corner of the reference room with several +books spread about her. To Pee-wee on Saturday morning this seemed +nothing less than an insult. + +He approached a shelf near the librarian's desk above which was a sign +that read BOOKS ESPECIALLY RECOMMENDED. Here were always a few old +time favorites, worth while books made readily available. From these +Pee-wee half-heartedly drew out a copy of Treasure Island and took it +to a table. He knew his Treasure Island. In a disgruntled mood he +sank far down in his chair and opened the book at random. He was too +familiar with the enthralling pages of the famous story to seek solace +in it now, but there was nothing else to do and he was too out of sorts +to search further. Presently he was idly skimming over the page before +him. + + +The appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning was +altogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly failed, we had +made a great deal of way during the night, and were now lying becalmed +about half a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast. +Gray-colored woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tint +was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sandbreak in the lower lands, +and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-topping the others--some +singly, some in clumps; but the general coloring was uniform and sad. +The hills ran up . . . + + +Pee-wee blinked his eyes, yawned, then suddenly drew himself up into an +erect sitting posture and pushed the book from him. "Gee whiz," he +mused, "that's what I'd like, to go off to a desert island. They don't +have any desert islands now; that's one thing I don't like about this +century. Hikes and camping and all that make me tired; I'd like to be +on a desert island, that's what _I'd_ like to do. I'd like to be +marooned. Gee whiz, we only kid ourselves trying to make ourselves +think we're doing things that are wild. I guess all the desert islands +are discovered by now; oh boy, there were lots and lots of them in the +seventeenth century; that's my favorite century, the seventeenth, on +account of buried treasure and desert islands." + +Indulging these disconsolate spring musings, Pee-wee sank down in his +chair again, a frowning, dreamy figure, and floated out of the library +and away from all the sordid environments of Bridgeboro toward a desert +island situated in the south-eastern part of the seventeenth century. +It was a long, long way off and he had to cross the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries to get to it. He was no longer a pioneer scout +now, nor a scout at all, but a doughty explorer about to set foot for +the first time on soil that white man had never trod before. + +He sank farther down in his chair as he voyaged afar. He was soon out +of sight of land and almost out of sight of the few readers in that +drowsy old library. He continued to sink lower and lower in his chair +as if he had sprung a leak. Only his round, curly head was above the +table. The island which he reached was a delectable spot, an earthly +Paradise, with trees laden with fruit which came down like summer +showers when he shook the trees. He wandered about on the enchanted +shores, and ate so much fruit that oddly he felt that he was himself a +tree and that some one was trying to shake fruit out of him. . . . He +sat up with a start and found himself confronting the smiling +countenance of Miss Warden, the librarian, who had been shaking him not +unkindly. + +"Where have you been?" she asked, laughing. + +"To a desert island," said Pee-wee. + +He roused himself and wandered out into the balmy air and down toward +the river, a lonesome little figure. A broad field bordered the stream +and crossing this he approached the old car which was the troops' +headquarters. But before he reached it he was aware of something which +caused him to rub his eyes and stare. As sure as he lived, there in +front of him was the seventeenth century, F. O. B. Bridgeboro, with all +appurtenances and accessories. He stood gaping at a little island out +in the middle of the stream, which had no more business there than +Pee-wee had had to be dozing in the library. + +Pee-wee stood stark still in the middle of the field and rubbed his +eyes to make sure that he was awake. There was not the slightest doubt +that what he saw was very real. The river at that point was quite wide +and its opposite shore was bordered with sparse woodland. + +Pee-wee had bathed and fished and canoed in this neighborhood almost as +long as he could remember and he was perfectly certain that there had +never been an island there. He knew an island when he saw one and +nothing was more certain than that this one was a stranger in the +neighborhood. + +Yet it seemed to be perfectly at home out there in the middle of the +stream, just as if it had been born there and had grown up there. +There was nothing fugitive looking about it at all. In the true spirit +of the twentieth century, which is all for time saving and convenience, +it had voyaged to Pee-wee, thereby saving him the time and perils of an +extended cruise. It had, as one might say, been delivered at his door. + +This was certainly an improvement over the old, out-of-date method of +desert island exploration. Such patent, adjustable islands would bring +the joys of adventurous pioneering "within the reach of all" as +advertisement writers are so fond of declaring, just as the phonograph, +has brought music into every home. + +"That's funny," said Pee-wee, pausing in amazement. "That wasn't here +yesterday, because I was down here yesterday. Anyway as long as no +one's here I'm going to be the one to go and discover it. Findings is +keepings; it's just the same with islands as it is with everything +else." + +To increase his astonishment and cause his brimming cup of joy to +overflow a tree stood upon the little speck of green land laden with +white blossoms, which wafted a faint but fragrant promise to the +enchanted scout upon the distant shore. + +"That's an apple tree," said Pee-wee, his mouth watering. "I'm going +over there to discover it and then it's mine, the whole island's mine +because findings is keepings, that's international law." + +No doubt he felt that the League of Nations would stand in back of him +in the matter of this epoch-making discovery. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PEE-WEE EXPLORES THE ISLAND + +There was no doubt at all of the reality of this extraordinary +apparition. Pee-wee, who was always sure of everything, was doubly +sure of this. Squint and rub his eyes as he would, there was the +desert island in the middle of the river with the tree surmounting it. +By all the precedents in history this island was his. He had as much +right to it as the king of Spain had to San Salvador, more in fact, for +the king of Spain had never seen the island of San Salvador. + +If there was any good in history at all (and Pee-wee had his doubts +about that) why then this mysterious island belonged to him. Miss +Bunting, if she had any sense of fairness at all, would concede this. +If the good old rule of findings is keepings applied to monarchs it +certainly applied to Boy Scouts. So Pee-wee prepared to set sail and +formally take possession of his discovery. He would sail around it as +Columbus had sailed around the coast of Cuba. . . . + +Entering the troops' deserted old car he got the oars of the old flat +bottom boat belonging to the troop. He also procured a black marking +stick used for marking scout signs on rocks, and a pasteboard target on +the back of which he printed in ostentatious lettering. + + + THIS DESERT ISLAND IS DISCOVERED + BY WALTER HARRIS AND ALL PRETAINING + TO IT INCLUDING APPLES AND + EVERYTHING AND OTHER KINDS OF + FOOD AND WILD ANIMALS IF THERE + ARE ANY ALSO PRESIOUS METTLES AND + ALL NATIVES MUST SWEAR TO WALTER + HARRIS I MEAN THEY MUST SWEAR + ALLEAGANCE AND SAID WALTER + HARRIS SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT OF + SETTLEMENT. + + P. S. ESPECIALLY APPLES. + + +Having thus established his rights according to the most historical +rule for the acquisition of new territory, Pee-wee set sail in his +gallant bark and after an uneventful voyage of seven minutes drew his +boat half-way up the rugged shore. + +Though his back was toward the island during the entire cruise, he knew +that land was near fully a minute and a half before reaching it by the +presence of several grasshoppers kicking vainly in the surf. But what +particularly attracted his attention as indicating the presence of +human life upon the island was part of a cruller bobbing near the +shore. This startled and impressed him as the footprint in the sand +startled and impressed Robinson Crusoe. + +Pee-wee could hardly believe that on the very day which had begun so +inauspiciously he had actually set foot upon a strange island, but +there it was under his very feet and it could not get away for he was +standing on it. + +Having fastened his sign to the tree trunk he proceeded to explore the +island. This was done mainly with his eyes since the island was too +small for the usual form of exploration. + +It consisted of a little spot of land about fifteen feet in diameter, +held together by the roots of the tree. It was hubbly and +grass-covered and one side of it had a kind of ragged edge. It seemed +to be subject to earthquakes for as Pee-wee stood upon it he felt a +slight jarring beneath him. Undoubtedly the island depended on the +tree more than the tree depended on the island; one might have fancied +that the island carried too much soil. + +But Pee-wee's surprise at the instability of his Conquest was nothing +to his astonishment at the voice which he presently heard above him. + +"Hello, what are you doing down there?" + +Pee-wee looked up and beheld a boy seated comfortably in the branches +of the tree. He was looking down through the profusion of blossoms +with an exceedingly merry face, and had apparently been witnessing the +arrival of the discoverer with silent amusement. + +"Some desert island, hey?" he laughed. + +"Are you a native?" Pee-wee shouted. + +"Sure, I'm part of the wild life of the island, I'm a scout," the boy +called down. "Come on up, there's room for two on this branch. If the +island should lurch you might get your feet wet." + +"What is this island anyway?" Pee-wee asked, somewhat taken aback by +the discovery that he was not the discoverer. "Where does it belong? +Anyway I'm the boss of it because I discovered it. I just put my sign +up and you can come down and see it if you want to and swear +allegiance." + +"What are you talking about?" the boy called down. "I was on it before +it was born." + +"Do you mean to tell me I didn't discover you?" Pee-wee shouted up. + +"No, _I_ discovered _you_," said the other boy. + +"What do you mean, _you knew it before it was born_?" Pee-wee demanded +skeptically. "How could it have been before it was? If a thing isn't, +how can you know it? You're crazy. I was the first one to discover it +since it was here and you're a part of it. But anyway I'd like to know +how it got here, that's one thing _I'd_ like to know." + +"Come on up here and I'll tell you," said the wild native. + +Pee-wee climbed up and sat on the limb beside his new friend. He was a +boy somewhat older than Pee-wee with a face so round that the face of +the man in the moon would have seemed narrow by comparison. And there +was a redness in his cheeks which made his head seem almost like an +apple grown prematurely ripe upon that blossom laden tree. He wore the +negligee scout attire and his happy-go-lucky nature was made the more +piquant by the easy, humorous fashion in which he sat upon the limb, +swinging his legs. + +Pee-wee could not have found it in his heart to quarrel with any boy +whose face looked so much like an apple, and, moreover, it was apparent +that here was a boy whom it would be utterly impossible to quarrel with +on any ground whatever--or in any tree whatever. + +"Gee whiz, this is a funny thing," Pee-wee said; "I was kind of making +believe that I was an explorer, but anyway I'm glad you're here." + +"I'm here because I'm here," said the other boy. + +"Gee, I can't deny that," said Pee-wee. + +"It doesn't make any difference to me," said the boy; "I'd just as soon +be in one place as another." + +"As long as it's not school," said Pee-wee. + +"Oh, that's understood," said the other boy; "let's talk of something +pleasant." + +"I bet there'll be a lot of apples here later," said Pee-wee; "when +it's vacation, hey?" + +"I don't know whether they'll be here," said the other boy, "because +you can't trust this blamed island over night, but they'll be on the +tree, wherever it is, and the way to find them will be to look for the +tree." + +"_You said it_," said Pee-wee. "What's your name?" + +"Roland Poland," said the boy; "Roly Poly for short." + +"Mine's Walter Harris, but they call me Pee-wee. How did this island +get here anyway?" + +"It started being an island under my very feet," said Roly Poly. +"There are five scouts in my patrol besides myself; we're just getting +started----" + +"I'm the only one in my patrol," Pee-wee interrupted. "Where do you +come from?" + +"From North Bridgeboro," said Roly Poly, swinging his legs. "The six +of us went to camp for the day just above old Trimmer's land up the +river." + +"I know him," Pee-wee said; "he's a grouch." + +"Very muchly," said Roly; "he's worse than algebra." + +"He's worse than algebra and civil government put together," said +Pee-wee. + +"Did you say _civil_?" said Roly Poly; "don't mention civil in the same +sentence with him; he's the man that put the crab in crab-apple." + +"He's got a dandy orchard, though," said Pee-wee. + +"Sure, this is a part of it," said Roly Poly. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE LOOKOUT SEES A SAIL + +"_Good night_," said Pee-wee; "I don't blame it for going away from +him. Can he take it back? It's an island now and it's part of +Bridgeboro. He can't take it on account of international law; that's +what _I_ think. How did it happen?" + +"It's a very short story," said his new friend; "it's only about a mile +and a half long--from North Bridgeboro down to here. We were camping +in Wallace's grove and a little way down the river we saw a kind of a +little spot of land with a tree on it. There were lots of apple trees +all around there near the shore. We didn't know that orchard belonged +to old Trimmer." + +"He thinks he owns the whole river," said Pee-wee. + +"That little spot of land stuck out sort of like a balcony on account +of it being near the bend of the river; the river coming around the +bend sort of scooped a place out underneath it; it was all +under-mined----" + +"I know what happened! I know what happened!" Pee-wee shouted. "I +know the place, it was nice and shady underneath it and you could go +under it in a canoe; lots of times I did." + +"Well, you never will any more," said Roly Poly. + +"Go on, tell me! Go on, tell me!" Pee-wee encouraged excitedly. + +"There was a pole sticking out of the water right near there," +Pee-wee's new friend continued, "and we thought it meant there was good +fishing there. So I said I'd go and see if I could catch a couple of +eels and sunfish or something. While I was out at the edge of that +little knob of land or whatever you want to call it, all of a sudden I +could feel something giving way under me and the first thing I knew the +whole business was in the water. + +"Oh, you should have heard those fellows laugh as I went sailing down +the river. That was about ten o'clock this morning and the tide was +running down strong. This little old island flopped around and went +every which way but it stayed right side up anyway and do you think I'd +desert the ship? By the time we flopped downstream this far the tide +was so low that our little old roots dragged the bottom and we stopped +for keeps. So here we are till the tide comes in anyway. I don't know +whether we'll float in deep water or not, or whether we'll capsize in +deep water or not and I don't know anything about international law, +but a life on the ocean wave for _me_." + +"I know all about international law," Pee-wee shouted. "Real estate is +in a certain place, isn't it? If a man owns real estate it's bounded +by something, isn't it? Well, then, if it isn't bounded by those +things any more how can it belong to that same man? If a man owns land +in a certain place and it stops being in that place, whose is it?" + +"Search me," said Roly Poly. + +"Besides I've got an inspiration; do you know what those are?" Pee-wee +vociferated. + +"Have you got it with you?" + +"_Sure_ I've got it with me! Don't I always have them with me?" + +Roly Poly seemed amused. + +"There are two kinds of scouts, aren't there?" Pee-wee asked +vociferously. "Regular scouts and sea scouts. Sea scouts are supposed +to live on the water and regular scouts are supposed to live under the +trees, like. So we can do both and we'll be combination scouts. We'll +be the Combination Scouts of America, hey? Will you?" + +"I'll be anything as long as it's Saturday; I'm not particular," said +Roly Poly. + +"Because my father knows a man that's a lawyer and he'll stick up for +us," Pee-wee continued excitedly. "Because old Trimmer hasn't got any +deed that says he owns an island, has he? All right, this is an island +in Bridgeboro. You can't deny that, can you? Let's hear you deny +that. All right, then, if he comes and tries to get this island, he'll +be trespassing, won't he? And so we'll start the Combination Scouts of +America and we'll call ourselves the--the--the----" + +"The Sardine Patrol," suggested Roly. + +"We'll call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol," said Pee-wee, "because +apples are on land and crabs are in the water. Will you?" + +"I see a sail on the horizon," said Roly. + +"If it's old Trimmer let me handle him," said Pee-wee. + +"It's the rest of the patrol," said Roly. "Do you see those two canoes +coming around the bend? We'll have a meeting of the general staff and +decide what to do." + +"Whatever we do, we'll do something, hey?" said Pee-wee. + +"More than that," said Roly. + +"Anyway, we'll start a patrol or something, hey?" + +"Oh, we'll start something, leave it to us," said Roly Poly. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE OTHERS ARRIVE + +The arrival of the five North Bridgeboro scouts was the occasion of +much merriment and banter. These boys from the small village up the +river had formed themselves into a patrol but they were two members +short of the required number and they had no scoutmaster. + +Whether they took scouting seriously it would be hard to say; if so it +must have been a great comfort to them to have wished upon their +budding organization such an instructor and propagandist as the +diminutive genius whom they were now about to meet. Whatever material +they had among them for progress in the scouting field, they gave every +indication of possessing that quality of unholy mirth which +distinguished the notorious Silver Foxes. Perhaps their silver was not +quite so bright, but they gave promise. + +"Hey, where are you going with the apple tree?" one of them called from +the nearest canoe. "What are you trying to do? Swipe a chunk of +property? That's a part of North Bridgeboro you've got there." + +"Why didn't you take the whole village?" another called. + +"Hey, Roly, where are you going with the real estate?" another called. + +"I knew you were too heavy for that neck of land," shouted another. + +"Why didn't you take the whole orchard with you?" a third wanted to +know. + +"_For the love of----_," another ejaculated. "Look at the sign, will +you! The place is discovered already!" + +Pee-wee did not wait for formal introductions. "We're going to start +the Combination Scouts of Bridgeboro!" he shouted. "We're going to be +sea scouts and land scouts all rolled into one! We took possession and +it's all right! Old Trimmer can't say that he owned an island, can he? +We're going to have our pictures in _Boys' Life_ and everything and +we're going to have all the apples when they're ripe and maybe we're +going to call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol! Maybe there's treasure +buried here, how do we know? And we're going to get one of those +things--a saxophone or whatever you call it--to take our latitude and +longitude with! We're going to be better than the Ravens and the Elks +and the Silver Foxes and I know how to make apple-sauce! We're going +to be a new kind of a patrol!" + +"In the name of goodness, what's that, a phonograph?" one of the +approaching canoeists called. + +"That's the discoverer," Roly called back. "He took possession of the +island in the name of the King of Bridgeboro." + +"I thought it was an earthquake," laughed a tall boy who was stepping +ashore. + +"Oh, we have those too," laughed Roly; "all the latest improvements. +That's Pee-wee; he's perfectly harmless, step right ashore, you're all +welcome." + +"You're stepping into the seventeenth century," Pee-wee shouted, +descending precipitately out of the tree. + +"The seventeenth century must have been very wet," said the tall boy as +he lifted one foot out of the water only to plunge the other into the +ragged, muddy edge of the island, in his efforts to get on shore. It +was very funny to see him wallow In the water, seeking foothold on the +submerged tentacles of root, ever slipping, and always with the +soberest look on his face. "This must be the back entrance," he said. +"Where are we supposed to park?" + +This tall boy, who turned out to be a sort of patrol leader and +scoutmaster in one, had a kind of whimsical look of inquiry on his face +which was his permanent expression, and which was made the more +humorous by red hair which he wore decidedly pompadour. There was that +in his look which indicated his taking everything as he found it, his +attitude being always quietly humorous and never surprised. + +His demeanor, in whatever adventure befell, seemed always that of an +amiable victim placing himself at the mercy of his enterprising +comrades and going through every kind of outlandish escapade and +adventure with a ludicrously sober look on his funny face. To him +everything that happened seemed part of the game of life and he +appeared never in the least astonished at anything. + +To see him soberly going through with some adventure which the +sprightly genius of his associates had conceived was as good as a +circus. Naturally such a fellow was called "old" and they called him +Old Rip and Good Old Rip and Doctor Rip and Professor Rip. His name +was Townsend Ripley. + +Townsend began at the very beginning to take the irrepressible ex-Raven +very soberly indeed, and the more preposterous Pee-wee's schemes the +more in favor of them Townsend seemed to be. No doubt he got a great +deal of amusement out of Pee-wee. But Pee-wee never knew it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PLANS + +It was quite characteristic of Townsend Ripley that he did not ask Roly +Poly anything about his extraordinary adventure. Amid the chorus of +exclamations and inquiries he preserved a quiet, whimsical demeanor, +glancing about as if rather interested in this desert island. There it +was, and that was enough for him. + +"If this island is going to keep moving you'll have to put a license +plate on it, Roly," he drawled. "First thing you know you'll have the +inland waterway inspectors after you. You're blocking up the channel +too. Why didn't you drift down as far as Southbridge where the taxes +aren't so high?" + +"I was--I was thinking about it," Pee-wee suddenly burst forth like a +cyclone, "and there are a lot of things we can do--I've got a lot of +ideas--there are seven things and we can do any one of them!" + +"Why not do them all?" Ripley asked. + +"That's just what _I_ say," Pee-wee shouted. + +"Or we can each do a different thing," Ripley suggested. "There are +just seven of us. Anything suits me." + +"Do you want to know how I discovered it?" Pee-wee said excitedly. + +"No, as long as we know it's discovered, that's enough," said Ripley. + +"I discovered it, then he discovered me," said Pee-wee, "but I'm the +discoverer because it wasn't an island when he got on it, see. Anyway, +that man can't take it, can he? So will you start a patent combination +patrol? And I vote for you to be the leader!" + +"Let's see if we can't start the island," suggested Ripley. + +"We don't want to start a Bridgeboro patrol and then find that we're in +Southbridge!" said one of the boys whom the others called Nuts. + +"Oh, I don't see why not," drawled Townsend; "trouble is," he added, +glancing casually about, "we can't go on any hikes. If we start +skirting the coast we'll get dizzy." + +"I know what we can do," said Pee-wee, "because, gee whiz, we've got to +have exercise, that's one sure thing. If we can make the island go +round why then we can keep walking like a--like a--you know--like a +horse on a treadmill--hey? And we won't get dizzy at all, because +it'll be the island that goes round, see?" + +"That's a very good suggestion," said Townsend, "but suppose on one of +our long hikes we want to stop and camp. As soon as we stop hiking +we'll start going round backward with the island." + +"We should worry," said Pee-wee. + +"Oh, we're not going to worry," said Townsend. + +"You said it," vociferated Pee-wee. "Do you know why I like you? +Because you're--you know--you're kind of--sort of----" + +"Absolutely," said Townsend. "You read me like a book." + +"This is better than books," said Pee-wee, "because this is a kind of a +desert island and a ship, isn't it? So will you all stay here till I +get back, because I'm going to get my tent and some eats and a lot of +stuff for camping and then we'll start our patrol." + +"I can't say that we'll stay here," said Townsend, "but we'll stick to +the island. I have a hunch that this island is going to put one over +on us. If we're not here when you get back you'd better advertise in +the 'Lost and Found' column of the Bridgeboro paper, 'Lost, one desert +island. Finder will be suitably rewarded upon returning same to the +patent adjustable scouts----'" + +"Not adjustable--_combination_," Pee-wee corrected. "Do you like +roasted potatoes? I know how to roast them. And I'll get some bacon, +too; shall I?" + +"Suppose you should be captured by your parents while you're on the +mainland," Townsend inquired. + +"Then I'll send you a smoke signal," Pee-wee said, "and you can come +and talk to my mother, because she'll be sure to listen to you because, +anyway, you've got a lot of sense." + +"And several of us will canoe up to North Bridgeboro and get some stuff +and tell our folks and we'll be back in an hour because the tide's +starting to run up," said a boy they called Billy. + +"If you have any trouble with the folks just give me a smoke signal and +I'll canoe up," drawled Townsend. + +"Good old Rip," chorused half a dozen voices. + +The boy they called Billy turned to Pee-wee and whispered, "Don't worry +about your folks. Old Rip makes a specialty of parents; they all eat +out of his hands, fathers especially. As soon as they see him they +surrender." + +"I make a specialty of cooks," Pee-wee said. "Our cook gives me +everything I want. And anyway we couldn't starve because scouts can't +starve; they can eat roots and herbs and things; I'll show you. Do you +like chocolate marshmallows? Even scouts can eat moss to keep from +starving. And they can't get lost either--I'll show you how." + +Pee-wee decided to take one of the boys with him to prove to his mother +that the island was inhabited, and two other boys started back up the +river in the other canoe. This left Townsend with two companions on +the island. He sat against the trunk of the tree, knees drawn up, +philosophically scanning the shore and occasionally giving an expectant +glance up the river for smoke signals. He seemed resigned to a quiet +expectancy that he would be summoned to intercede in one quarter or +another. He looked very whimsical and funny. + +"I wonder if you have to crank this island or whether it has a +self-starter," he drawled in his amusing way. "If they don't get back +by one or so, we'll have to make some root sandwiches. What do you +say, Charlie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DISCOVERER RETURNS + +In about an hour and a half the two boys from up the river returned +with provisions. + +"Any news from the discoverer?" they asked. + +"I think he's being held as a hostage by the cook," said Townsend. +"Shall we land and lay waste to his home?" + +"Oh, I think we can safely leave everything to him," said Billy. "What +do you think of the discoverer, anyway?" + +"I'm for the discoverer first, last and always," said Townsend. "He +has only to lead and I'll follow. Now that we've met him I feel that +life without the discoverer would not be worth living. I'm glad that +next week is Easter vacation, because we couldn't think of school and +the discoverer at the same time. He's more than a scout, he's an +institution. + +"Do you know, Charlie, I think we're moving? We were almost opposite +that old railroad car a few minutes ago. Either Bridgeboro is going +down or we're going up. Do you feel the climate changing? You don't +suppose this island is going to go up the river again and join old +Trimmer's orchard, do you?" + +"Maybe it's homesick," said a boy they called Brownie. + +"I hope the discoverer will discover it," said Billy. + +"We'd better scatter something in our trail," said Townsend soberly, +"so that he can follow. I think that's the regulation thing for scouts +to do, isn't it?" + +He had been whittling a stick and now with a sober look he began +throwing the chips into the water as if to indicate the path of the +departing island. "That's what you call blazing a trail," he said; "if +he's a scout he can follow." + +The little island was now moving slowly upstream by the incoming tide. +It caught on the flats, performed a slow pirouette like some drowsy +toe-dancer or exhausted merry-go-round, then extricated itself and +floated majestically in the channel till the little apple tree became +involved with the foliage along shore. + +"Do you know this seems like a very funny kind of an island to me?" +Townsend Ripley drawled. "I wonder what makes it hold together? It +ought to disintegrate." + +"Dis what?" asked Billy. + +"Disintegrate--that's Latin for falling to pieces." + +"Maybe the roots hold it together," said Roland. + +"It ought to dissolve," said Townsend. "This land doesn't seem to be +soluble in water. The coast all around ought to wash away. There is +something mysterious here. This island is as solid as a pancake; I +don't understand it. By all the rules of the game there shouldn't be +anything left here but the tree by this evening. There doesn't seem to +be any process of erosion." + +"What will we do If the island washes away from under us?" asked the +boy they called Brownie. "The tree'll fall over sideways, won't it? I +don't want to camp on an island that keeps getting smaller all the +time. It's bad enough to have a tent shrink after a rain, but _an +island_!" + +"I think this island is warranted not to shrink," said Townsend. + +"Warranted nothing," said Billy; "look how muddy the water is all +around it. It'll be about as big as a fifty cent piece by midnight. +The river is eating it all away." + +"Speaking of eating," said Townsend, "here comes the discoverer." + +The discoverer and his companion were indeed approaching and apparently +they had sacked the town of Bridgeboro. Their gallant barque labored +under a veritable mountain of miscellaneous paraphernalia and out of +the pile projected a long bar with a device on the end of it which +glinted red and green in the sunshine. + +"It looks like a weather-vane," said Billy. + +"There's something printed on it," said Roly. + +"It says _STOP_," said the boy they called Nuts. + +"It says _GO_" said the boy they called Brownie. + +"I think," said Townsend, scrutinizing the approaching transport in his +funny way, "I think, I _think_, it's a traffic sign. You don't see any +automobiles in the canoe, do you?" + +"There's something sticking out on the left side," said Billy; "I think +it's a Ford. I hope the island isn't going to be overrun by motorists." + +"It's not a Ford, it's a dishpan," said Brownie. + +"They're the same thing," said Townsend. "What is that on the duffel +bag--a license plate?" + +Suddenly the voice of the discoverer floated across the expanse of +sun-flickered water. "We're going to have hunter's stew for supper and +I'm going to make it and my mother says I can stay all through Easter +vacation and I got a lot of things out of our attic. Do you like +bananas? I've got a whole bunch and I've got a lot of new ideas--dandy +ones! I know how to fry them! I know how to slice them and fry them!" + +"I'd like to try some fried ideas," said Townsend. "I don't think I +ever ate them sliced before." + +It may be said that Pee-wee's ideas, whether fried or baked or boiled +or roasted, were usually underdone and required to be put back into the +oven. + +Be that as it may, he soon proceeded to unload these, as well as the +interesting junk which he had gathered, the most surprising object of +which was the dilapidated revolving traffic sign lately discarded by +the Bridgeboro police department in favor of a lighthouse or silent +cop, so called. + +This acquisition was the pride of Pee-wee's life; its heavy metal stand +had long since gone the way of all junk and it could not stand +unsupported. As Pee-wee plunged it heroically in the earth and stood +holding it with one hand he looked not unlike Columbus planting the +flaunting emblem of Ferdinand and Isabella on the shore of San +Salvador, except that this tableau of the well known historical episode +was somewhat marred by the fact of his holding a half eaten banana in +his other hand. But his new friends stared with all the amazement +shown by the natives upon the landing of that other great discoverer. +Only a specific inventory can do justice to the provisions and +furniture which Pee-wee brought. + + One revolving police traffic sign + One large phonograph horn + One dishpan full of crullers (taken in a masterly + assault upon the Harris pantry) + One tent + One duffel bag with cooking set + Part of a vacuum cleaner + One scout belt axe + One Thanksgiving horn + One automobile siren horn. + One lantern + Two long clothesline supporters + A towel-rack that opened like a fan + A skein of clothesline + A small kitchen-range shovel + Two boxes filled with canned goods + One box filled with loose edibles + One ice cream freezer + +"Didn't you bring a cow?" Townsend asked. "We can never make ice cream +without cream." + +"We're in reach of the mainland, aren't we?" Pee-wee retorted +thunderously. "It isn't as if we were going out of sight of land; gee +whiz, then I'd have brought quite a lot of stuff." + +"Oh, I see," said Townsend. + +"I just picked up a few odds and ends," Pee-wee explained. "I'm going +to make a couple of more trips to-morrow." + +"If you happen to think of it bring a lawnmower," said Townsend; "they +come in handy. And a few life preservers if you happen to have any, in +case the island goes to pieces." + +"How can it go to pieces?" Pee-wee demanded. "Islands don't go to +pieces, do they? Australia is an island, isn't it? It's just where it +always was, isn't it? You're crazy! All we need is one more scout and +I know one by the name of Keekie Joe, and I'm going to try to get him +and then we'll be a full patrol and I decided to name it the +Alligators, because they belong on land and water both and we're sea +scouts on the land kind of, so maybe I'll decide to name it the +Turtles, maybe." + +"Discoverer," said Townsend, "we're with you whatever you do, but there +is a mystery about this island which I would like to fathom before we +organize----" + +"I fathomed lots of mysteries," shouted Pee-wee. + +"I don't know whether you know what erosion means----" + +"Sure I know what it means," said Pee-wee; "it means getting rusty, +kind of." + +"It means land being washed away by water. If you put a piece of land +in the water, the water will dissolve it and it won't take long either. +It isn't like an island that has always been where it is--a kind of +hill sticking up out of the water. This is just a piece of land and +the roots of this little tree won't hold it together long. + +"The question is, should we go hunting for new members under those +conditions? Pretty soon we'll have a full patrol and no island under +us; we'll be in the water. That's perfectly agreeable to me and all +the rest of us. But does Keekie Joe know how to swim? We really have +no _grounds_ for forming a patrol. See?" + +"Do you call that an argument?" Pee-wee thundered. "It shows how much +you know about geography because look at an ice cream soda! Does that +corrode? Let's hear you answer that? Or erode or whatever you call +it. A chunk of ice cream floats in the soda, doesn't it? Maybe after +a while it melts, but this land isn't ice cream, is it? + +"That shows how much you know about logic. This island has been here +ever since early this morning, hasn't it? And it's just as big as it +was, isn't it? An island is an island and the water won't melt it +unless it's hot--like a lump of sugar in a cup of coffee. You've got +to stir it up to melt it. Is North America corroding? Or Coney +Island? Is this island any smaller than it was?" + +"No, it isn't, and that's the funny part," said Townsend. "We've +explored the coast but we haven't explored the depths. Let's have that +little shovel a minute, will you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"STOP" + +The ice cream soda argument was not a good one at all, for no lump of +ice cream ever remained long intact where Pee-wee was. Whether it +melted or not, it disappeared. And why this freakish little island did +not rapidly dissolve was a mystery. + +By all the laws it should have melted away, leaving the deserted tree +to topple over and form a new obstruction to boating. But there it was +floating more easily as the tide rose, with apparently no intention of +allowing itself to be absorbed by the surrounding waters. It is true +that a belt of muddy water bordered its wild and forbidding coast and +that its shore line was of a consistency suitable for the making of mud +pies, but its body seemed as solid and resistant as a rock. + +Pee-wee always claimed that it was he and he alone who discovered the +mysterious secret of Merry-go-round Island; he and he alone who +penetrated its unknown depths. In this bold exploration a courageous +sardine sandwich played an important part and out of sheer gratitude +Pee-wee, from that time forward, was ever partial to sardine +sandwiches, regarding them with tender and grateful affection. + +He was standing near the apple tree holding the traffic sign like a +pilgrim's banner beside him and, as has been told, eating a banana with +the other hand. That fact is well established. Little he thought that +when Roly Poly, delving into a paper bag that was in a grocery box, +handed him a sardine sandwich, it would mark an epoch in scout history. + +In order to accept the proffered refreshment, Pee-wee was compelled +either to relinquish the traffic sign or the banana. One moment of +frantic consideration held him, then in a burst of inspiration he +plunged the metal standard deep into the ground, and took the sardine +sandwich in his free hand. The printed cross-piece on the traffic sign +joggled around so that just as he plunged his mouth into the sandwich +the word GO made an appropriate announcement to his comrades. It is +hard to say what might have happened if Townsend Ripley had not turned +the sign so that it said STOP just as Pee-wee consumed the last +mouthful. + +"Isstrucsmlikewood," ejaculated Pee-wee, consuming the last mouthful. +"Issoundlkbo--boards!" + +Billy was quick to raise the bar of the traffic sign and plunge it down +again. It was certainly no tentacle of root that the probing bar +struck, but something hard, yet ever so slightly yielding, something +which gave forth a hollow sound. + +It was easy to explore America after Columbus had shown the way and it +was a simple matter now for Townsend, with the little shovel, to dig a +hole three or four feet deep about the traffic sign. The boys all +kneeled about, peering in as if buried treasure were there, until an +area of muddy wood was revealed. Roly Poly knocked it with a rock and +the noise convinced them that the wood was of considerable area and +that probably _nothing was beneath it_. + +"Well--what--do--you--know--about--that?" Billy asked incredulously. + +"Jab it down somewhere else," said Brownie. + +Pee-wee moved the metal rod a yard or so distant and plunged it in the +ground again. There was the same hollow sound. For a moment they all +sat spellbound, mystified. Then, as if seized by a sudden thought, +Brownie hurried to the edge of the little island, exploring with his +hands. He lifted up some grassy soil that drooped and hung in the +water, and tore it away. As he did so there was revealed a ridge of +heavy wood over which it had hung. By the same process he exposed a +yard or two of this black mud-covered edge. + +"Well--I'll--be--_jiggered_!" said Billy. + +"It's a scow or something!" said Brownie, almost too astonished to +speak. + +"The island seems to overlap it sort of like a pie-crust," drawled +Townsend. + +"The scow is the undercrust!" shouted Pee-wee, delighted with this +comparison to his favorite edible. "We'll call it Apple-pie Island and +it can't corrode or erode or whatever you call it, either, because it's +boxed in!" + +That indeed seemed to be the way of it. Apparently the island reposed +comfortably in and over the edges of a huge, shallow box of heavy +timbers which had received it with kindly hospitality when it broke +away and toppled over into the water. As we know, the river had eaten +away the land under the little balcony peninsula, and the scow, or +whatever it was, must have drifted or been moored underneath the earthy +projection. + +"Maybe it belonged to that big dredge that was working up here," said +Pee-wee, "Anyway it's lucky for us, hey? Because now our island has a +good foundation and it can't dis--what d'you call it." + +"Only it complicates the question of ownership," said Townsend, +apparently not in the least astonished or excited. "Here is a piece of +land belonging to old Trimmer on a scow or something or other belonging +to a dredging company or somebody or other and claimed by the boy +scouts by right of discovery." + +"Old Trimmer owned the land," Pee-wee fairly yelled, "but now the land +isn't there any more and now it's an island so he doesn't own it +because he's got a deed and it doesn't say _island_ on the deed! _Gee +whiz_, anybody knows that." + +"But suppose the owner of the scow wants his property," Townsend said. + +"Let him come and get it," Pee-wee shouted. "If we get a deed for this +island the scow is covered by the deed!" + +"You mean it's covered by the island," Brownie said. + +"Well, we seem to be standing still now, anyway," said Townsend; "it's +a relief to know that when we wake up to-morrow morning we won't be +floating in the water. Who's got a match? Let's start a fire and +begin moving toward the hunter's stew." + +"We don't need matches," Pee-wee said with a condescending sneer. "Do +you think scouts use matches? They light fires by rubbing sticks. +Matches are civilized." + +Whereupon Pee-wee gave a demonstration of not getting a light by the +approved old Indian fashion of rubbing sticks and striking sparks from +stones and so on. + +"Here comes a man down the river in a motorboat," said Nuts; "turn the +stop sign that way and we'll ask him for a match." + +Pee-wee, somewhat subdued by his failure, confronted the approaching +boat with the red panel which said STOP, and held his hand up like a +traffic officer. + +But there was no need of requiring the approaching voyager to pause. +For he had every intention of pausing. Neither would there have been +any use of asking him for a match. For he never gave away matches. + +Old Trimmer never gave away anything. He would not even give away a +secret, he was so stingy. To get a match from old Trimmer you would +have had to give him chloroform. It was said that he would not look at +his watch to see what time it was for fear of wearing it out, and that +he looked over the top of his spectacles to save the lenses. At all +events he was so economical that he seldom wasted any words, and the +words that he did waste were not worth saving; they were not very nice +words. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"GO" + +Old Trimmer chugged up to the edge of the island in the shabbiest, +leakiest little motor dory on the river, and grasped a little tuft of +greensward to keep his boat from drifting. + +"Well, now, what's all this?" he began. "What you youngsters been +doin' up the river, eh?" + +"This used to be your land before it was an island," said Pee-wee +diplomatically. "I bet you'll say it's funny how it used to be your +apple tree and everything. But it broke away and kind of fell down and +now it's an island and we discovered it. It can't--one thing--it can't +ever be a peninsula again, that's sure. Islands, they're discovered +and then you own them, that's the way it is. Findings is keepings with +islands." + +"Is that so?" said old Trimmer, half-interested and examining what +might be called the underpinning of the island with keen preoccupation. + +[Illustration: The boys hold the island in spite of old Trimmer's +protest.] + +"Well, you'll just clear off'n this here property double quick. Pile +in here and I'll set you ashore." + +"Don't you go," urged Pee-wee; "we've got a right here; we're going to +camp on this island." + +"Sure we are," said Roly Poly. + +"And you can't make us get off, either, because it isn't on your land." + +Old Trimmer wasted no words. "Pile in here, all of you," he said, +indicating the boat, "or I'll have yer all up fer trespassin'." + +"Do you own this old scow or whatever it is underneath us?" Townsend +asked quietly. + +"Look a'here, young feller, no talkin' back," said old Trimmer testily; +"come along, step lively. I'm going to tow this whole business back up +to where it belongs. Now d'ye want me ter set yer ashore or not?" + +"Not," said Roly Poly. + +"I don't think we have anything to say about it, Mr. Trimmer," said +Townsend. "The land that used to be part of your field seems to be on +a scow or something or other and we're on the land that's on the scow. +We're here because we're here----" + +"Let's hear you answer that argument!" shouted Pee-wee in a voice of +thunder. "This is a river, isn't it? Do you deny that? It's an +inward waterway--I mean inland--and it belongs to the government and +this scow or whatever it is, is on it and something that used to be a +peninsula but isn't any more is on the scow and we're on the thing that +used to be a peninsula----" + +"In the shade of the young apple tree," said Townsend. + +"That's just what I was going to say," said Pee-wee, "and you can't put +us off this land because if that's trespassing then the land is +trespassing too--it's trespassing on the scow--so we won't get off the +land till you take the land off the scow and put it back where it +belongs and then we'll get off it because, gee whiz, scouts have no +right to trespass." He paused, not for lack of arguments but for lack +of breath. + +"So that's the way it is, is it?" said old Trimmer darkly. "Well, +we'll see." + +"Sure we'll see," said Pee-wee. "That shows how much you know about +geography and international law and all those things. Suppose Cape Cod +should break off and float away. Would it belong to New Hampshire any +more--I mean Connecticut--I mean Massachusetts? Gee whiz, we're going +to stay right here because we're on a public waterway and anyway you +don't own the scow that this land is on, do you?" + +There was, of course, no answer to this fine analysis of the legal +points involved. + +"That there scow was under my land," said old Trimmer. + +"It was in the river and it wasn't on anybody's land as I understand +it," said Townsend in his funny way. "Your land trespassed on the +scow----" + +"Sure it did!" interrupted Pee-wee. "It really had no right to do +that, Mr. Trimmer, unless you can show that you own the scow. As I +understand it this is a kind of a legal sandwich. The land that used +to be a part of your field is between the scow and us----" + +"Sure it is!" vociferated Pee-wee, caught by the idea of a sandwich so +huge and picturesque. "We're kind of like one of the slices of breads +and the scow is the other slice. It's thick and dark like rye bread," +he added to make the picture more graphic. + +"It's a kind of a legal sandwich," said Townsend, sitting back against +the tree with his knees drawn up and talking with a calmness and +seriousness which aroused the wrath of old Trimmer. "It's a kind of an +interesting situation. We have as much right on the scow as the land +has, as I see it----" + +"Sure, you learn that in the third grade!" shouted Pee-wee. "That's +logic." + +"Really, the best thing to do," drawled Townsend, "would be to remove +the land, which would let us down onto the scow and that would let you +out of the difficulty. We'd be answerable to the owner of the scow." + +"It belonged to the big dredge," Pee-wee said excitedly. "I knew all +the men on that dredge; I used to hang out on that dredge; those men +were all friends of mine. We wouldn't be trespassing except your land +is in the way." + +"If you want us to shovel the land out of here we'll do it," suggested +Roly Poly. + +"Then the tree'll fall over," said Brownie. + +"Gee whiz," shouted Pee-wee, "it'll serve the tree right because all +the time fellers are being accused of trespassing in apple trees and +now you can see for yourself that apple trees are just as bad. They +trespass on scows." + +"We could have this tree fined ten dollars," said Billy, "if we wanted +to report it to the dredging company in New York." + +"Or it would have to go to jail for thirty days," yelled Pee-wee. + +"I don't see what we're going to do, Mr. Trimmer," said Townsend. + +"I know what we're going to do," said Pee-wee; "we're going to do a lot +of things. We're natives of this island." + +"We don't recognize this land," said Townsend; "we consider it beneath +us." + +"Sure it's beneath us!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"It simply happens to trespass on the scow first," said Townsend. "I +think we'll stand on our rights." + +"Well, yer ain't goin' ter stand on my property, yer ain't!" old +Trimmer bellowed, his wrath rising. Townsend's calmness seemed to goad +him to a perfect frenzy. + +"Well, then," said Townsend, "the only thing for us to do is to shovel +out a space and camp on that. Then our feet will be on the scow----" + +"We'll be on friendly territory," shouted Pee-wee. "Your land can camp +here with us if it wants to." + +"Or you can take it away, just as you please," said Townsend. "Only we +warn you not to take any liberties with this scow. We're personally +acquainted with Mr. Steam of the Steam Dredging Company and we're going +to charter this scow, now that we're on it. We can get another desert +island to put on it if necessary." + +"Do you see this traffic sign?" Pee-wee yelled at the top of his voice. +He stood like some conquering hero, holding the martial stop sign with +one hand. "The bottom of this bar is planted on the scow. Do you hear +the noise it makes when I bump it up and down? It goes right through +this land. We take possession of this scow in the name of the new +Alligator Patrol or maybe it'll be the Turtles, we don't know yet. We +plant our banner on the--the----" + +"The rye bread," said Billy. + +"And if this land," Pee-wee continued, "that used to be a peninsula and +stuck out over the river from your field and trespassed on the scow +when it didn't have any right to because it wasn't friends with the +dredge men--if this land wants to stay here it can." + +"What do you say, Mr. Trimmer?" Townsend laughed. "If you want to tow +this whole business back up to your place we'll help you shovel the +land off the scow. We don't want to camp on an island that violates +the law. But you haven't got anything to do with this scow. I'm not +asking you how it got alongside your field or why the dredging people +didn't take it away when they took the dredge away; that's your +business," he added rather significantly. "We'll admit the land is +yours----" + +"No, we won't!" said Pee-wee. + +"Yes, we will," said Townsend quietly. "Now what do you want to do +about this property? Shall we wrap it up for you or shall we send it? +Our dealings are with the steam dredge people. Now what do you say? +By the way, will you have a cruller?" + +It was perfectly evident that Townsend Ripley, with rather more quiet +shrewdness than any of them had given him credit for, had gently +stabbed Mr. Trimmer in a weak spot. It was the scow that old Trimmer +wanted. How he had come by it had been only faintly suggested by +Townsend. How it had chanced to be moored in that secluded spot under +the projecting land after the big dredge had gone away, was not +discussed and is not a part of this story. It seemed evident that old +Trimmer was rather disturbed at the thought of the boys getting in +touch with the dredge people. + +"Go ahead n' camp on it then," he said in sulky surrender; "and don't +make a nuisance of yourselves writin' letters to the dredging company. +Them men has got something else ter do besides bothering with a crew of +crazy youngsters." + +"But you know what you said about trespassing, Mr. Trimmer," said +Townsend. "You have taught us that we shouldn't trespass and we thank +you for the lesson. We'll have to drop Mr. Steam a line. How about a +cruller, Mr. Trimmer? They were just stolen from our small friend's +kitchen. Don't care for stolen fruit, hey? You're too particular, Mr. +Trimmer." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LIFE ON THE UNKNOWN SHORE + +Seldom has there been a surrender so complete and unconditional. There +were no banners to celebrate the triumph (for which Pee-wee took all +the credit) but as old Trimmer started up the river Pee-wee turned the +sign so that the word GO faced the departing voyager like a commanding +finger to order the vanquished from his victorious presence. + +"Do you think he had some treasure in the scow?" Pee-wee asked. "Maybe +if we dig we'll find some gold nuggets." + +"Let's try some of those cocoanut nuggets," said Townsend. + +"Didn't I know how to handle him?" said Pee-wee. "Now the island is +ours, isn't it?" + +"I think before we have supper," said Townsend, "we'll write a line to +the dredging people. What do you say?" + +"We'll write it on bark from the tree on account of our being wild and +uncivilized," said Pee-wee. "I can make ink out of prune juice and we +can write with a stick like hunters do when they get lost." + +"Do they carry prune juice with them?" Billy asked. + +"Sometimes they use blood," said Pee-wee. "I can make ink from onions +too--invisible ink. Shall I make some?" + +"I thought you were going to make a hunter's stew," said Brownie. + +"Go ahead," said Roly Poly, "you make the hunter's stew--it won't be +invisible, will it?" + +"It will when we get through with it," said Billy. + +"And while you're making the stew, Rip will write the letter and the +first one of us that goes ashore will mail it." + +The letter which Townsend Ripley wrote to the dredging company asking +permission to use the old scow surmounted by a luxurious desert island +was very funny, but it was not nearly as funny as the hunter's stew +which Pee-wee made. + +Their minds now free as to their rights (at least, for the time being) +they sprawled about under the little tree as the afternoon sunlight +waned and partook of the weird concoction which Pee-wee cooked in the +dishpan over the rough fireplace which they had constructed. And if +Pee-wee was not the equal of his friend Roy Blakeley in the matter of +cooking, he was at least vastly superior to him in the matter of +eating, and as he himself observed, "Gee whiz, eating is more important +than cooking anyway." + +It was pleasant sitting about on this new and original desert island +which combined all the attractions of wild life with substantial +safety. Only its overlapping edges could wash away and as these melted +and disappeared the island gradually assumed a square and orderly +conformation; its bleak and lonely coast formed a tidy square and +looked like some truant back yard off on a holiday. What it lost in +rugged grandeur it made up in modern neatness and seemed indeed a +desert Island with all improvements. + +Nestling within its stalwart and water-tight timbers it presented a +scene of varied beauty. Grasshoppers disported gayly upon its rugged +surface, occasionally leaping inadvertently into the surrounding surf +and kicking their ungainly legs in the sparkling water. + +A pair of adventurous robins that had refused to desert the fugitive +peninsula were chirping in the little blossom-laden tree and one of +them came down and perched upon the traffic sign to prune his feathers +before retiring. Savage beetles roamed wild over the isle, and wild +angleworms, disturbed by the late upheaval, squirmed about in quest of +new homes. + +The vegetation on the island appeared in gay profusion, reminding one +of the Utopian scenes of fragrant beauty which delighted the eyes of +the bold explorers who first landed on the shores of Florida. + +Yellow dandelions dotted the greensward, purple violets peeped up +through the overgrown grass, and a rusty tin can, memento of some +prehistoric fisherman perhaps, lay near the shore. Not even the +geometrical perfection of the island detracted from its primitive and +rugged beauty. + +True, it had no bays or wooded coves where pirates might have lurked, +and it was fickle to any one spot. But wheresoever its wanton fancy +took it the dying sunlight flickered down through the little tree and +glazed the spotless blossoms so full of promise that clustered above +the little band of hardy adventurers. + +Before they had finished their repast--a repast as strange and +surprising as the island itself--they had drifted half a mile upstream +with the incoming tide. Here the sturdy underpinning of the desert +isle caught upon a tiny reef and the island swung slowly around like a +sleepy carrousel and rested from its travels. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +BEFORE THE PARTY + +Meanwhile we must return to the mother country, to take note of important +happenings there. While our doughty explorers were eating their hunter's +stew in this strange land and sprawling beneath their tree in the +gathering twilight surrounded by unknown perils, the gay Silver Fox +Patrol returned from New York after a day spent in shopping and +sightseeing. + +They proceeded at once to their railroad car down by the river where they +found the Ravens, who had just returned from a hike. Soon the Elks, +returning from an auto ride, joined their comrades and a lively +discussion occurred. It pertained to the lawn party to be given that +evening at the home of Miss Minerva Skybrow of the Camp-fire Girls. + +"What time do you have supper at your house?" Doc Carson asked Roy +Blakeley. + +"We have it about eight o'clock on Saturdays," said Roy. "My father's +playing golf." + +"Same here," said Artie Van Arlen; "my father has to stay late so as to +beat your father." + +"If he stays at the links long enough to do that you'll never see him +again," said Roy. "What time is this racket supposed to be, anyway?" + +"Eight sharp," said Grove Bronson. + +"Are we going to go all separated together or all separated at once?" Roy +asked. + +"Positively," said Warde Hollister. + +"Positively what?" asked Connie Bennett. + +"It's all the same to me, only different," said Roy. "Only this is what +I was thinking. We all have supper at different times except Pee-wee and +he has supper all the time. As Abraham Lincoln said at the battle of +Marne, 'Some people are half hungry all the time, some people are all +hungry half the time, but Pee-wee is _all_ hungry _all_ the time.' I +wonder where he is anyway?" + +"Down in Bennett's having a soda, I guess," said Westy Martin. + +"Is he going to the party?" Tom Warner asked. + +"Search me," said Westy. "I guess not, he doesn't dance. I heard +somebody say he was with some fellows up the river." + +"Starting a new bunch of patrols, I suppose," said Roy. + +"Bentley's gardener saw him somewhere," said Wig Weigand. + +"It's just possible he was somewhere," said Roy. "I've often known him +to go there. Let's talk of something pleasant. What do you say we get a +light supper down here. Anybody that wants to go home and dress can do +it only he has to hustle. She wants us to wear our scout suits anyway, +she said so. I say let's get a few eats down here and then wash up and +all hike it up there together. United we stand----" + +"What are we going to eat?" Grove Bronson asked. "I don't see anything +here but some fishhooks and a package of tacks." + +"Listen to the voice from Pee-wee's old patrol!" said Roy. "_Eats_! +I'll fry some killies. Haven't we got some milk chocolate and Ulika +biscuits? I bet there's a large crowd of peanuts and other junk in +Pee-wee's locker. Can't you wait till you get to Minerva's? She'll have +chicken salad and ice cream and sandwiches and cake and lemonade and +paper napkins and souvenirs and everything. We'll feel more like eating +a little later. What do you all say? If each of us goes home we'll +never get together again; we'll all straggle in there one by two." + +"Suppose she doesn't have anything but a couple of fancy boxes of +bonbons; you know how girls are," said Doc Carson. "Safety first, that's +what I say." + +"I haven't had anything to eat since lunch time," said Ralph Warner. + +"Minerva wouldn't wish anything like that on us," said Connie. + +"You said it," said Roy; "they're not passing around famines up at her +house. Where do you think we're going? To Russia? Minerva's got the +Sandwich Islands green with envy. What's the use of spoiling +refreshments by eating now? You fellows are worse than the children of +Armenia! I say, let's have a swim; the tide is nice and high, and then +rest up and eat some crackers and hike up to the party. They'll be +throwing chocolate cake at us up there. + +"My patrol all have their good suits on; most of the rest of you have +some Christmas tree regalia in your lockers, and the others can beat it +home and hurry up back. What do you say? Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, +aye, aye!" Roy shouted. "Carried by a large majority! Come on, let's go +in for a swim while the tide's up. That will help to give us an +appetite." + +"What do you mean, 'help to give us one?" asked Artie Van Arlen. +"Haven't I got four already?" + +"Well, when you come out of the water you'll have five," said Roy. + +"Suppose--suppose," said Dorry Benton, who was ever cautious, "suppose, +just _suppose_ they should only have lady fingers and grape juice, or +something like that." He stood uncertain, dangling his bathing suit. +"Suppose they should have afternoon tea crackers. Did you ever eat +those?" + +"They're more likely to have roast turkey," said Roy. "Don't I go up +there every couple of days and play tennis? I can't play the game even +because they're always pushing a chunk of cake into my left hand." + +"I know, Roy," said Warde Hollister. He also was a far-sighted and +thoughtful boy who did his homework in the afternoon and started on New +Year's saving up for next Christmas. "But this is a lawn-party--Japanese +napkins and lettuce and things like that. We're taking an awful chance, +Roy. We may get salted almonds----" + +"You should worry," said Roy; "here's your bathing suit. Come on, we've +only got about an hour. Think of the poor children of Europe. Minerva +Skybrow is positively guaranteed. I never saw such a bunch, you're +always worrying about something." + +And with that, by way of starting things, he pushed Connie Bennett into +the water . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE SCENE IS SET + +In history we read that while the hardy pioneers toiled and suffered in +the New England forest the gay votaries of fashion danced and made +merry in the royal courts of Europe. And history repeats itself, for +while Minerva Skybrow and her girl companions decked the Skybrow lawn +with lanterns of many colors, and frilled their hair, and festooned the +rustic summer-house with streamers, the sturdy adventurers who swore +allegiance to the martial traffic sign of Pee-wee Harris were suffering +as no hardy pioneer had ever suffered before as they loyally partook of +the hunter's stew which their leader had prepared in the dishpan. If, +indeed, this novel concoction was the favorite fare of hunters, it is +no wonder that the race of hunters is becoming extinct. But our +business is not with the explorers. + +The spacious lawn of the Skybrow home was bathed in the soft light of +many paper lanterns depending from cords strung from tree to tree. +Other lanterns nestled in the spreading trees like jewels in a setting +of foliage. + +On that night the genial moon smiled down upon the Camp-fire Girls and +sent his myriad of rays like a serenading party to enliven the festive +scene. The place looked like some enchanted grove. A platform had +been built for the dancing, several little khaki-colored tents that had +done service in the North Woods (north of Bridgeboro) dotted the lawn, +the emblem of the Camp-fire Girls waved above the summer-house, bathed +in the glow of a small search-light, and, glory of glories, a small +tent nestling under a spreading elm near the moonlit river contained a +table which looked like a snowy monument reared in tribute to the god +of food. + +Yes, Roy was right; the Skybrows did not do these things by halves. +Here indeed was a haven for the famished; here rescue awaited the +starving scout. In the center stood a pyramid of triangular +sandwiches, rivalling in magnitude the pyramids of Egypt. This was +flanked by two gorgeous icing cakes, one white and one brown. A bowl +of chicken salad overflowed its cut glass confines, the same as +Pee-wee's island had overflowed its trusty scow. + +It is true that the much feared salted almonds were there but they +crouched in shame under the spreading sides of a wooden hash-bowl +camouflaged with crepe paper and piled with jellied doughnuts. If +there were any lady fingers they did not show their faces (if lady +fingers have faces) but the jovial raspberry tart was there in all its +glory a hundred strong. + +"Oh, I think everything is perfectly _scrumptious_," said Minerva +Skybrow, completing a tour of inspection at this culinary paradise and +allowing herself an olive or two. + +"Goodness gracious, let them alone or there won't be any left," said +Miss Dora Dane Daring. + +"Silly!" said Minerva. "There are _oceans_ of them. Doesn't the river +look perfectly lovely in the moonlight?" + +"Oh, I think everything is _perfectly adorable_," said another friend; +"and the weather is just _heavenly_. For goodness' sakes, let the +candy alone; that's the fourth piece you took." + +"Listen," said Minerva. "I'm not going to let a _single one_ of them +come out here till they have all arrived. We're going to have the +concert in the house first and they've _just got_ to listen to Mrs. +Wild speak about the Camp-fire movement, because she's just _perfectly +wonderful_. Do you know, I wish I had put the refreshments in the +summer house. No, I don't either--yes, I do. It would have been more +romantic--_rustic_." + +"Oh, I think this tent is _perfect_," said another girl, slyly helping +herself to a salted almond. + +"I know," said Minerva, her hand stealing unconsciously toward a box of +marsh mallows, "I know, but what I wanted was something +unusual--symbolic. A rustic platform in one of the big trees would +have been nice; it would have been sort of--sort of _scoutish_. I want +to have things _different_. That's why boys always make fun of the +Camp-fire Girls, they think we're _tame_. Think how Roy Blakeley and +his friends actually camped in that adorable old railroad car while it +was traveling, goodness knows where. When I went to the Aero Club +reception with Harold Fall they had the refreshments in a great +balloon; we had to go up to it on a ladder--_shh_, listen! Did you +hear a noise?" + +A chorus of excited whisperings followed her startled query. + +"No, where?" + +"What was it?" + +"Was it a voice?" + +"You mean on the river?" + +"_Shh_, listen," said Minerva; "_look_, do you see a light--right there +among the bushes? _Shh_. Don't run." + +There was indeed a light shining through the dark foliage alongshore +and presently a voice was to be heard, a voice speaking words to strike +terror to the stoutest Camp-fire Girl heart. + +"I watched for the cops," it said, "and as soon as I saw them I beat it +across the field and told the gang and every one got away but it was a +narrow escape. One detective had me by the collar. _This is going to +be easy though_." + +"Bandits!" whispered Minerva. + +"They're going to rob the house while we're on the lawn," breathed +Margaret Timerson. + +"They're crouching on the shore just behind those bushes," said another +girl. + +"Leave it to me," said the mysterious voice. "I'll handle them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +EVERY WHICH WAY + +We left Merry-go-round Island revolving gracefully upon a tiny reef +whence it was borne by the rising tide. We are now to take up our +narrative at the point where the island ceased spinning and was carried +slowly on upstream by the incoming waters. When the tide reached +flood, the island hesitated upon the still water, then like some +obedient and clumsy ox, moved slowly downstream again upon the ebb. +And meanwhile, the day departed and darkness fell upon the winding +river and the hardy adventurers lit their lanterns. + +"I was hoping we might stick in some pleasant spot," said Townsend, +"where the fishing is good. I forgot how a floating island might act +in a tidal river. I wish this island would make up its mind to +something. Just when I want to explore the western coast I find it's +the eastern coast. I don't know where I'm at----" + +"You don't have to know where you're at to have fun," said Pee-wee. + +"I know it," said Townsend; "but when I hike fifteen or twenty feet to +the north coast of the island and then the island swings around and I +find I'm on the south coast, I've got to hike all the way across the +island again to get to the north coast and when I get there I find I'm +on the west coast. Then I cross to the east coast and in about a +minute I find I'm on the southern shore. + +"No matter where I go I'm somewhere else; it's discouraging. I've +walked forty-eleven miles since supper trying to keep on the western +coast and here I am on the north--wait a minute--the eastern coast. If +this Island won't stay still I can't explore it." + +"I tell you what we can do," said Pee-wee; "we can penetrate the +interior, then we'll always be in the same place." + +So they penetrated the interior and sprawled on the ground and chatted. + +"When we find another member," said Pee-wee, "we'll have a full patrol +and then we'll have to start a scout record and write down a +description of the island and everything we see, because scouts have to +do that because they have to be observant and they have to be accurate +when they describe things." + +"Would you say that this little tree is near the west coast of the +island?" Townsend asked. "I've followed it around for the last half +hour and I don't know where it is except it's here." + +"Here isn't a place," said Roly Poly. + +"Sure it is," shouted Pee-wee; "here is just as much a place as there." + +"More," said Townsend. "There are three places--here, there, and +everywhere; I've often heard them spoken of." + +"That's just where this island is," said Brownie. + +"Absolutely," said Townsend, "only it won't stay there. Is there +anything more we can eat? Anything more that you don't have to _make_? +My long tramp in search of the west coast has made me hungry again." + +"I can make flapjacks," said Pee-wee; "I've got eight pounds of Indian +meal." + +"How far would I have to hike to digest them?" Townsend asked. + +"You'd need a bigger island than this," said Brownie. "You couldn't +digest a flapjack on anything smaller than South America." + +"Give me a piece of chocolate," said Townsend, "and a couple of prunes." + +"It looks nice up the river in the moonlight, doesn't it?" Brownie +asked. + +"You mean down the river," said Townsend. + +"I'm facing----" + +"Don't try to find out where you're facing," said Townsend. "Here, eat +a prune." + +"I'm going to turn in pretty soon," said Nuts. + +"That's a new place to turn," said Townsend. "We've turned everywhere +but _in_. In the morning we'll turn out; then we will have turned +everywhere." + +"We're flopping downstream pretty fast," said Brownie; "that's one sure +thing." + +"I'm glad there's something sure," said Townsend. It was as good as a +circus to see him sitting against the tree with his knees drawn up, +glancing this way and that with a funny look of patient resignation on +his face. + +"What do you say we put the tent up in the heart of the interior? Then +we'll be able to find it in the morning. The unknown heart of the +interior seems to be the only place we can be sure of. At least it +always stays inside. Hand me that grocery box from the extreme +southern shore, will you? And another prune? The heart of my interior +demands another prune. Do you know, Discoverer, what I think? I think +I see a settlement. I don't know where it is because I don't know +which way I'm facing, but I'm certainly facing a settlement--or at +least I was a second ago. There it is again. I think we're nearing +the coast of Japan; I see a Japanese lantern. That's funny. Did we +pass the Philippines?" + +"I don't know," said Brownie. "We passed Corbett's Lumber Yard." + +"The Philippines are farther along," said Townsend; "they're the second +turn to our left. If this island hits Japan they'll grab it; I have a +feeling that they'll grab it like the island of Yap." + +"_I've got an inspiration! I've got an inspiration!_" shouted Pee-wee +in a voice of thunder. "I know where we're at. That's Mr. Skybrow's +place down there. He owns a lot of railroads and things! They're +having a lawn party there to-night!" + +"Are they having anything to eat?" Townsend asked quietly. + +"Yum, yum--m-m-m!" said Pee-wee. "They have everything. Once I went +to Minerva's birthday party and I couldn't go to school all next week, +that's how much they have to eat there. Get the clothes-sticks. Get +the clothes-sticks! Let's pole the island to shore. I bet she'll like +you because you're big--I'll introduce you to her--all my old troop is +going to be there--hurry up--push--keep pushing!" + +"Reach over to the west coast and hand me that pole from the north +coast before it goes over to the east coast," said Townsend quietly. + +"Get up! _Get up_!" shouted Pee-wee, all excitement. "Aren't you +going to get up?" + +"Positively," said Townsend, dragging himself to his feet. + +"Shh!" said Pee-wee, "let's surprise them." + +"You're the only one that's making any noise," said Townsend. + +"I mean myself, too," said Pee-wee. "Shhhh." + +"He's telling himself to keep still," Brownie, unable to control his +laughter. + +"I mean all of us--me too," said Pee-wee. "Shh." + +It was during the long and rather difficult process of poling the +island to shore that Pee-wee, unable to impose more than comparative +quiet upon himself, edified his companions with an account of his +recent adventure in Barrel Alley. + +And it was his seemingly ominous mention of "cops" and fugitives which +Minerva Skybrow and her friends, lingering at the little refreshment +tent near the river, overheard. At that moment the desert island was +bobbing against the thick rhododendron bushes at the edge of the lawn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE EARTHLY PARADISE + +"I don't care who it is or what it is," said Dora Dane Daring; "I'm not +afraid of the biggest bandit that ever lived. I'm going to find out +what those men are doing lurking about here." + +Without another word she strode forward, parted the rhododendron +bushes, and confronted the marauders. + +"Well, I--_never_--in--_all_ my _life_," she cried. "It's little +Walter Harris! What on _earth_ are you doing here?" + +"I discovered this island," said Pee-wee; "we're exploring it. One of +these fellers is a native because he was on it before it was an island." + +"Look out you don't get your feet wet on the stern and rock-bound +coast," said Townsend. "Hold the lantern, Brownie." + +"Did you ever _see_ such a thing!" said Minerva Skybrow, emerging +through the bushes, accompanied by her official staff. "Walter Harris, +what in goodness' name are you doing here? I thought you were robbers. +What in _all creation_ are you up to? And how did you happen to get +here?" + +"We've been going around quite a little lately," said Townsend quietly. + +"This is Townsend Ripley," said Pee-wee; "he's a friend of mine; these +fellers are all friends of mine. We're exploring." + +"We're very glad to meet you, Mr. Ripley," said Minerva, while Miss +Daring whispered in the ear of Miss Timerson, "Isn't he nice? So tall." + +"We thought we'd come to the party," said Pee-wee. + +"Have you any parking space for islands?" Townsend asked. + +"Oh, _indeed_ we have," said Minerva, "and you're going to be the star +guests. May we step on the island?" + +"Yes, indeed, it's very steady," said Townsend, helping them one after +another onto the frowning coast while Brownie held the lantern. +"Wherever we go we take our island with us; it's like ivory soap, it +floats. Will you have a piece of wild chocolate, out of the heart of +the interior?" + +"Isn't he just _lovely_," whispered Miss Daring. + +"So can we stay?" asked Pee-wee. + +"Stay? I wouldn't let you go for anything," said Minerva. "Listen, +girls, I've got an _inspiration_----" + +"I have lots of those," said Pee-wee. + +"They grow wild here," said Townsend. + +"Listen," said Minerva, "I have a perfectly _marvellous_ idea." + +She sat down on the grocery box and in her joy and excitement fairly +drowned out Pee-wee who was struggling with a vehement running +narrative of the day's adventures. + +"Oh, it will be simply _divine_," said Minerva. "Listen--don't +interrupt me--I'm going to have the refreshments served on this island. +I'm going to have the old painter's scaffold for a _gang-plank_ leading +to it----" + +"There are refreshments then?" Townsend asked quietly. + +"Refreshments? Aren't you perfectly _terrible_! Of course there +are--_oceans_ of them." + +"No more oceans for me," said Townsend. "Hereafter I'm going to live +on shore. My sailing--flopping--days are over." + +"You're too funny for anything," said Minerva. "Listen, do you see +that little tent? The refreshments are all in there. There's just +time before the guests all come to move everything over here. I want +you boys to help me. We're going to call it the _dessert island_ +instead of the _desert island_. Isn't that adorable? Isn't it odd? +Everyone will go into raptures over it, you see if they don't. You'll +let us use your island, won't you?" + +"We'll make you a present of it," said Townsend. + +"My idea," said Miss Timerson, "would be to tie it to these bushes that +stick out over the water. It ought to be far enough away from the--the +mainland--to be romantic. How far away do you think it should be, Mr. +Ripley?" + +"The way I feel about it I think it should be at least two thousand +miles off." + +"Silly!" said Miss Daring. "Please be serious. Do you think about +three yards would be romantic?" + +"I never measured romance by the yard," said Townsend, "but I should +think about three yards and a half of romance would be enough. If we +have any left over we can give it to the discoverer. He eats it alive." + +"And I'll tell you what I'll do," shouted Pee-wee; "it's an +inspiration." + +"Another?" Townsend asked. + +"I'll--I'll--I'll stay on the island----" + +"I thought so," said Townsend. + +"And--and--I'll stand right here by the traffic sign and after somebody +that's eating has had enough, I'll turn the sign so it says STOP; I'll +turn it so it's facing him." + +"Did you ever hear anything so absurd?" said Minerva. + +"I think it would be picturesque," said Dora. + +"And sensible, too," said Margaret, "because some of those scouts will +just stay here and gorge themselves and won't dance at all." + +"I think it's a very good idea," said Townsend; "it will relieve +congestion here. A food traffic cop." + +"I'll be it," shouted Pee-wee. + +"Where is this romantic scaffold?" Townsend asked. + +"The painters left it in the cellar," said Minerva. "Let's hurry, I'll +show you where it is." + +There was, indeed, just time enough to arrange this novel life-saving +station with its picturesque gang-plank before the guests began to +arrive. + +"And this is the end of our wild adventures on a foreign shore," said +Townsend, as he carried one end of the old scaffold across the +dim-lighted lawn accompanied by the group of excited maidens; "we wind +up at a lawn party. This is what the discoverer has brought us to." + +"Don't you think he's just _killing_?" Minerva asked. + +"More than that," said Townsend; "his hunter's stew is more than +killing. Did you ever try any of it?" + +"Never mind, you're going to have some delicious chicken salad," said +Minerva. + +The boys, under Minerva's enthusiastic supervision, tied the island +about six feet from shore. The romantic gang-plank kept it from +drifting closer in while two clothes-poles driven into the bottom of +the river just below it prevented it from drifting with the ebbing +tide. Pee-wee's trusty clothesline was stretched between the little +apple tree and the overhanging rhododendron bushes as an auxiliary +mooring and to hold the island steady. + +Thus secured and free from the prosaic shore, the romantic isle +presented an inviting scene, with the little tent upon it and Japanese +lanterns shedding a mellow light from the bushes and the securing +clothesline. The rippling water flickered with a gentle and undulating +glow and inverted paper lanterns could be seen reflected beneath the +surface, as if indeed the beholder could look down and see romantic and +picturesque Japan on the opposite side of the earth. + +The scaffold, forgetting its prosy usage, was resplendent in a winding +robe of bunting and on its railing where cans of white lead and linseed +oil had disported hung lanterns of every color in the rainbow. To this +enchanted isle would stroll dance-weary couples and famishing scouts to +regale themselves in this dim, detached, earthly paradise. + +"Wait a minute, oh, just wait a minute!" cried Minerva in the spell of +such an inspiration as comes only once in a lifetime. "Oh, just wait +_one minute_." + +She hurried across the lawn, returning presently with a huge, spotless +apron with strings of goodly dimension which, in a very glow of +inspired joy, she tied around the waist of Pee-wee Harris. It was +necessary to shorten it by a series of pokes and pushes by which it was +tucked up under its own strings and lifted clear of the adventurous +feet of the scout. Nor was that all, for somewhere out of the +mysterious depths of the house, Minerva had brought a starched and +snowy chef's cap with which she crowned our hero. + +"You be right here when they begin coming down," Minerva said, "and +stand close to the traffic sign and if any boy stays here too long turn +the STOP sign on him." + +"And turn it on yourself if necessary," said Townsend. + +"I won't let anybody eat more than about--about--five helpings. +That'll be enough for them, hey?" said Pee-wee. + +"Goodness gracious, yes," said Dora Dane Daring. + +"You're the steward, remember," said Minerva. "Do you know what a +steward is?" + +"He's--he's named after a stew," said Pee-wee, hitching up his +spreading apron. "You leave the people to me, I'll handle them." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +GONE + +The steward (or the stew, as Townsend thenceforth called him) did not +attend the party. A preliminary tour of the grounds convinced him that +adventures of his particular kind were not to be found there. Dancing +was not in his line. Music (except the clamorous music of his own +voice) he did not care for. And he did not care to hear what Mrs. Wild +had to say about the Camp-fire movement. + +To him the crucial part of the whole party was the eats and he lingered +near them like a faithful sentinel. The artistic quality of these +saved them from devastation. Those pyramids of luscious beauty could +not be denied by human hands without showing the indubitable signs of +vandalism. Their very splendor saved them. + +It is true that he skilfully extracted an olive from the symmetrical +mound of chicken salad and took an almond and a macaroon and other +detached dainties that were not made sacred and secure by their own +architecture. But for the most part Pee-wee was faithful to his trust. +He knew his time would come. And then, oh, then, that proud tower of +interlaced sandwiches would look like Rheims Cathedral. + +Thus an hour passed and the merry throng emerged upon the lawn and made +a direct assault upon the dancing platform, lured by strains of +irresistible music. Some strolled about but none out of the radius of +that melodious magnetism, and Pee-wee remained undisturbed on the +romantic isle of eats. + +He sat upon the edge of the island, the extreme western coast, fishing +for eels, with a string, a bent pin and a salted almond. It seemed +that the eels did not care for salted almonds, so Pee-wee endeavored to +tempt them with a chocolate bonbon but the bonbon dissolved on the pin, +forming a sort of subterranean chocolate sundae, and the eels ignored +it. + +"I bet I know what's the matter," said Pee-wee; "they're afraid to come +near the island on account of the lights." At all events the eels +appeared to shun the neighborhood of the party; they were not in +society. + +Just then Pee-wee had an inspiration. In the light of its consequences +it was probably the most momentous inspiration that he ever had. "I +know what I'll do," he said. "I'll use a long, long stick that'll +reach way, way, way out." And he glanced about him in quest of a +"long, long stick" with which to beguile the bashful eels. His +inquiring eye lit upon one of the long clothes-line supporters which +Townsend had driven into the river bottom to help hold the island in +position. + +It is necessary to understand the strategical position of this +prospective fishing rod. These two poles had been forced down into the +muddy bottom just south of the island and the southern edge of the +island lay against them and was thus prevented from drifting down with +the ebbing tide. The makeshift gang-plank, gay with bunting, held the +island off shore and the ropes between the island and the bushes +steadied it. This crude engineering was quite sufficient. BUT---- + +There is a church somewhere in Europe of which it is said that if a +certain brick were removed the whole edifice would fall in ruins. +Pee-wee was not even an amateur engineer. That world-stirring +consequences could flow from an act so casual and trivial as securing a +fishing rod never entered his innocent and pre-occupied mind. He did +not know that in the hasty calculations of Townsend all the component +parts of this system of props and fetters were necessary one to +another. He removed the brick and the cathedral fell and there +followed a catastrophe compared to which the World War is a mere +incident. If he had pulled the north pole out of the earth the sequel +could hardly have been more momentous. + +Sublimely innocent of the fact that he was unhinging the universe, +Pee-wee arose, advanced to the outer pole and began tugging on it. It +did not come up easily for the force of the rapidly ebbing tide caused +the island to press against it like a brake. But he succeeded at last +and as he dragged the muddy pole across the grass, the island turned +slowly cornerwise to the shore. + +In his preoccupation, Pee-wee did not notice this. He tied his +fishline to the end of the pole, bent another pin and provisioned it +with a stuffed olive, requisitioned from a cutglass dish nearby. How +he intended to support this lengthy pole so that its end might reach +the neighborhood of the coy eels is not a part of this narrative for +Pee-wee's angling enterprise never reached that point. + +He was presently startled by a splash and looking around he saw that +the end of the scaffold had slipped off the island. He was now aroused +to the imminent peril of the Isle of Desserts and to the terrible +responsibility which fell to the clothesline and the bushes. + +As the island turned slowly outward the clothes-line strained but held +fast. But the rhododendron bushes had not the same heroic quality. +For a few moments they resisted, but the island, now at the mercy of +the ebb, tugged and tugged, and presently a mass of bush gave up the +struggle and came away, rope and all. The earthly paradise with its +luscious store of cake and chicken salad, its commanding pyramid of +sandwiches flanked by icing cakes, its plates of dates and olives and +candy of every variety, its mound of jellied doughnuts, and a mammoth +freezer full of ice cream, floated majestically down the moonlit river, +trailing a huge clump of rhododendron bush after it like the tail of a +comet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +FOILED + +And now out of the still and moonlit night arose peal after peal of +thunder imparting a note of terror to this world catastrophe. Never +before had the thunderous voice of our hero rent the heavens as it did +now. + +"Help! Help! I'm floating away with the eats." + +It is no wonder that the man in the moon smiled at what he saw on the +river that night. Seeing the laden board, the pyramid of sandwiches +rearing its luscious pinnacle toward heaven, he seemed to wink at +Pee-wee--with what purport who shall say? Sufficient that our hero saw +him not. + +"_He-e-e-elp_! I'm drifting downstream with the refreshments," he +called. "_He-e-elp_!" + +They heard him amid their revels. Townsend Ripley who had suffered the +assaults of the hunter's stew heard him. The scouts who had eaten a +"light supper" heard him. Warde Hollister who had pled with Roy for a +safety first policy heard him. Minerva Skybrow heard him and paused +aghast in the midst of a two-step. For what was a two-step now +compared to the one-step which Pee-wee had taken? Roly Poly and +Brownie, also victims of the hunter's stew, heard him as they waited +patiently, and were struck dumb with terror. Only the man in the moon +smiled, and winked at Pee-wee. + +"_He-e-e-e-e-e-el-l-l-p! I'm floating away with the eats!_" + +But did he really need any help? + + +They rushed to the shore pell-mell and some hurried to the barn for the +only means of rescue--an old disused skiff and a leaky, discarded +canoe. Others gazed in wistful silence out upon the glinting water. + +"_Hurry! Hurry!_" cried Minerva. "I can see it! Don't you see the +lanterns down there?" + +"He's on the flats, I think," said Warde. + +"He's on the table," shouted Roy. + +"He's in the channel!" + +"He's in the ice cream!" + +"Listen, he's calling!" + +"His mouth is full, I can't hear him." + +"_Hurry! Hurry! Oh, hurry!_" cried Minerva. + +"I'll tell you what let's do," Roy said. + +"You told us once," said Warde; "that's enough." + +"I saved the ice cream freezer from rolling off," shouted Pee-wee. + +"A lot of good that does us," shouted Doc Carson. + +"Put it where it will be safe," shouted Townsend. + +"All right, I will," shouted Pee-wee. + +"Gracious goodness, he isn't going to eat it, is he?" Margaret Timerson +asked. + +"He'll have to finish whatever else he's eating first," said Doc +Carson. "Push that boat off, we have only a minute to act in." + +"How long does it usually take him to finish a sandwich?" Minerva asked. + +"Three-tenths of a second," said Roy. + +"He'll be too frightened to eat," said Dora Daring. + +"He's never too frightened to eat," said Connie Bennett. + +"He consumes pie while he's consumed with fear," Roy said. + +"He consumes everything," said Warde. + +"Oh, what will we ever _do_?" Minerva walled, wringing her arms in +desperation. + +"The thing to do is to reach him before he gets really started," said +Doc Carson, who was ever thoughtful and far-sighted. "When he starts +he works fast. I don't think he's really begun yet. He believes in +fair play and he wouldn't start before ten o'clock--that's refreshment +time, isn't it?" + +"It was to be," said Minerva. + +"That's the time we were waiting for," said Brownie. + +"Has he a watch?" Margaret asked. + +"Yes, it's usually about twenty minutes fast," said Roy. + +"Oh, isn't that perfectly _terrible_!" said Dora. + +"He'll make terrible inroads on it," said Connie Bennett. + +"_Inroads_!" said Roy. "You mean turnpikes and highways." + +"Well, then, why don't you boys hurry?" Minerva asked excitedly. "It +isn't too late. _Oh, do hurry_!" + +"We can never tow that island back against the tide," said Dorry Benton. + +"We can remove the stuff to the boat though," said Artie Van Arlen. + +"I'm going to 'phone to Mr. Speeder to get his motor-boat and go after +him; he can tow it back." + +"Listen--_shh_--he's calling," said Townsend. + +"Shh--_shhhh_!" + +"Listen." + +From down the river, a little farther than before, came a voice spent +by the distance. "_I'm on the flats, I'm stuck._" + +"Thank goodness!" said Minerva. "Now we can reach him." + +"Are you going around?" Townsend shouted. + +"The sandwiches are all falling down," called the voice. "The +doughnuts are rolling out." + +"Save them," shouted Roy. + +"All right, I will," screamed Pee-wee. + +"_Oh, such a relief_," said Minerva. "Do you think he's stuck fast?" + +"We can only hope," said Townsend. "Come on, let's hustle." + +Words cannot describe the haste and excitement with which the skiff was +launched and manned by a little band of doughty pioneers. Roy, Warde +Hollister and Townsend Ripley were the crew, two rowing while the other +steered. + +"Can we help ourselves?" Warde asked, as they glided out on the river. + +"Yes, yes, yes, help yourselves to _anything_," called Minerva, "only +bring them back--pile them in the boat--it doesn't make any difference +how--only hurry, he may drift off again." + +"Now you see," said Roy, addressing Warde, "the harder you work and the +longer you wait the hungrier you'll be. Everything is working out +fine, thanks to me." + +"Oh, sure," said Warde, already breathless from his strenuous rowing, +"they give you roast turkey up at Skybrows; they give you chicken salad +and sandwiches and--only try to get it. I'm so hungry I could eat the +island, thanks to you. I could eat a whisk-broom. Follow you and I'll +starve." + +"Did you ever eat any of that kid's hunter's stew?" Townsend asked as +he rowed. + +"Did we?" said Roy. "It's the best thing I know of if you want to stay +home from school." + +"It's kind of queer," said Townsend. + +"Oh, yes, mysterious," said Warde. + +"Let's talk of something pleasant," said Roy. + +"Well, I'm pretty hungry, too," said Townsend. + +"We'll soon be there," said Warde. "We had something of a scare, +didn't we?" + +"All's well that ends well," said Townsend. + +"Oh, sure," said Roy, "only you don't end so _well_ after eating +hunter's stew. We should worry, we'll have all the stuff pretty soon +now. Narrow escape, hey? _Oh, boy_, it would have been terrible to +lose all that stuff. It looked like an altar, didn't it?" + +"It'll look like a vacuum when we get through with it," said Warde. + +"Do you think we can get it all in the boat?" + +"If we can't, we'll tow the icing cakes behind," said Roy. "What _I'm_ +thinking fond thoughts about is the ice cream." + +"Same here," said Townsend. + +"Same here," said Warde. + +And meanwhile the man in the moon winked down at Pee-wee. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IN THE GLARE OF THE SEARCH-LIGHT + +Now the tide is a funny thing, especially in a small suburban river. +The banks of a river being for the most part sloping, the river bed is +narrower at the bottom than at the top. You don't have to wear glasses +to see that. That is why the tide, as it recedes, runs faster and +faster; because during the last hour or two of its recession it flows +in narrower confines. This has been the settled policy of nature for +many centuries, and it was so ordered for the benefit of Pee-wee Harris. + +When the Merry-go-round Island floated leisurely against the Skybrow +lawn the tide had been flowing out for about an hour. When this same +rechristened island broke loose disguised as an earthly paradise, the +tide was in a great hurry. And when the earthly paradise caught upon +the flats the little remaining water was running as if it were going to +catch a train. + +Rapidly, ever so rapidly, the water slid down off the flats to join the +hurrying water in the channel. And, presto, all of a sudden there was +the Isle of Desserts high and dry surrounded by an ocean of oozy mud +while the river, narrowed to a mere brook, rushed in its channel some +fifty feet distant. And there you are. + +That is why the man in the moon (who knows all about the tides) winked +at Pee-wee. At least, I suppose that is why he winked. + +You could not have reached the Isle of Desserts with a boat or with +snow-shoes or with stilts or with anything except an airplane. +Swimming to it was out of the question. Shouting and screaming to it +was feasible, of course. Radio operations were conceivable. But reach +it no one could. The adventurer would have been swallowed in mud. +This safe isolation would continue for a couple of hours and then the +playful water would come rippling in again spreading a glinting +coverlet over the flats once more and lifting the island upon its +swelling bosom. + +Down the narrowing river rowed our rescuing crew, and as they rowed the +river narrowed. Soon the lantern light on the island was abreast of +them, some forty or fifty feet distant. + +"Hello, over there," called Warde. + +"I'm pretty well," called Pee-wee. + +"What are we going to do?" asked Townsend. "The tide has beat us to +it. He's safe enough." + +"Oh, he couldn't be safer," said Warde. "Our name is mud. All our +rowing for nothing." + +"How about the eats over there, Kid?" Warde called. + +"They're all right," called Pee-wee, "only the ice cream is starting to +melt. I stuck my finger in through the ice and the cream is kind of +oozing out. Maybe I better eat it, hey? It won't hold out till the +tide comes in. I ate a sandwich and that made me thirsty and I didn't +want to be drinking the lemonade so I ate a piece of ice out of the +freezer and that made me more thirsty so I drank some lemonade anyway +and that made me hungry again and I'm going to eat a sardine sandwich +only I'm afraid that'll make me thirsty and----" + +"This is horrible," said Townsend; "it's like an endless chain. Where +will the end be?" + +"Do you think it would be all right for me to eat some chicken salad?" +Pee-wee shouted. "The tide won't be high enough to float this island +for two hours." + +"Don't!" called Warde, stopping up his ears. "Have a heart." + +"Have a what?" called Pee-wee. + +"Have a doughnut," shouted Roy. + +"All right," called Pee-wee. "There's some dandy cheese here in a kind +of a little jar--_yum--yum_!" + +"Don't!" shrieked Warde. + +"Doughnut?" called Pee-wee. + +"No, I said '_don't_'," called Warde. "You'll have me eating one of +the oarlocks in a minute." + +Soon a faint chugging could be heard; it ceased, presumably at the +Skybrow lawn, then started again. Nearer and nearer it came until +presently the racing boat of Dashway Speeder came to a stop alongside +them. Half a dozen girls and as many hungry male guests of the party +were in it clamoring for news. + +"This is terrible!" said Minerva. "I never _dreamed_ of such a thing +as this. Why, he's _marooned_!" + +"I'm all safe," shouted Pee-wee, "don't you worry." + +"_Safe_! I should think he is," said Dora. "If he had the British +navy all around him he couldn't be safer." + +"The world is at his feet," said Townsend. + +"You mean at his mouth," said Roy. + +"I never heard of such a thing in all my born days," said Margaret. + +"He's cornered the food market," said another hungry guest. + +"For goodness' sake turn your search-light on him, Dashway," said +Minerva, "and let's see what he looks like. This is simply _tragic_." + +Dashway Speeder turned the search-light of his launch across the fiats +and there amid the surrounding mud, still bubbling from the effects of +the departing tide, was presented a scene like unto a picture on a +movie screen. There, bathed in light amid the surrounding gloom, like +a film star in a disk of brightness, sat Scout Harris upon a grocery +box surrounded by fallen sandwiches and with a goodly bowl securely +held between his diminutive knees. It was a superb and mouth-watering +close-up, to use the film phrase. + +"I--I might as well eat some things, hey?" me lone voyager called. +"Because it's past time for refreshments anyway and the tide won't +carry me off for more than two hours and everybody'll be going home +then and the ice cream is starting to melt, the lemon ice is getting +all soft, so will it be all right to start eating the chicken salad and +the sandwiches and things? I only kind of sort of tested them so far." + +Warde Hollister stopped up his ears in an agony of torture while a +dozen famishing boys flopped this way and that in attitudes of +suffering despair. + +"Yes, it will be all right," called poor Minerva in a kind of +desperation. "It's the only thing, you might as well." She seemed +resigned if not reconciled. "You might as well eat the ice cream +anyway, it will only melt." + +"And the chicken salad?" called the merciless hero, "and the +sandwiches, too?" + +"_Oh, this is too much_," moaned Connie Bennett. + +"It isn't so much as you might think," shouted Pee-wee. + +"He must be hollow from head to foot," said Margaret. + +"Yes, eat everything," wailed Minerva in the final spirit of utter +resignation. + +"Yum--yum," called Pee-wee. "Oh, boy, it's good." + +And still the man in the moon winked down, and smiled his merry scout +smile upon Scout Harris. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DREAM OF KEEKIE JOE + +On that night, in the back yard of Billy Gilson's tire repair shop, +Keekie Joe, the sentinel of Barrel Alley, sat upon a pile of old Ford +radiators, untangling a complicated mass of fishing-line. He was +trying to follow a selected strand through the various fastnesses of +the labyrinth. + +The involved mass was really not a fishing-line but, in its untangled +state, an apparatus for confounding and enraging pedestrians. +Stretched across the sidewalk between two tin cans its function was to +catch in the feet of passersby, thus pulling the clamorous cans about +the ankles of the victim. Keekie Joe had always found this game +diverting and he was wont to vary its surprises by filling the cans +with muddy water. + +But on this eventful night he was driven to dismantle the apparatus and +consecrate it to a new use. For Keekie Joe was hungry and he dared not +go home; so he was going fishing. + +The hours following the crap game had not been golden hours for the +sentinel of Barrel Alley. When he emerged from the tenement and +rejoined Pee-wee after the episode of the crap game, he had ten cents +that his father had given him with which to buy a package of cigarettes. + +Keekie Joe was never able to consider consequences at a distance of +more than ten minutes into the future. When he played hooky from +school on Thursday it never occurred to him that he would be answerable +to the powers that be on Friday. Notwithstanding that he was a +sentinel he could never look ahead. And when Keekie Joe smoked several +of his father's cigarettes on the way home, it never occurred to him +that he would have to remain away from home through supper time, and +until his father had retired for the night. + +Thus it was that at nine o'clock or thereabouts, Keekie Joe realized +that he was hungry and that four cigarettes stood between him and home, +effectually barring the way. He measured the licking that he would get +against the supper that he would get, and he decided to go fishing. No +doubt his choice was well considered for the supper that he would get +might not be a good one whereas the licking that he would get would be +nothing short of magnificent. + +Keekie Joe had not the slightest idea how to cook a fish and he could +not think so far ahead as that. But food he must have. So he had dug +some worms and put them in one of his trick cans and then proceeded to +untangle the line. Having secured an unknotted length of five or six +feet he equipped this with a fish-hook of his own manufacture and +sallied forth toward the river. He was not only hungry, but sleepy, +and it never occurred to him that this was the exorbitant price of four +cigarettes. + +Hunger and sleep vied with each other in the shuffling body of Keekie +Joe as he crossed Main Street and cut across the fields toward the +marshes. + +Down by the river was a little shanty in which was a mass of fishing +seine. It stood hospitably open, for the hinges of the door were all +rusted away and the dried and shrunken boards lay on the marshy ground +before the entrance. Keekie Joe had intended to make sure that there +was nothing to eat in the shanty before casting his line in the +neighboring water. For there was the barest chance that a petrified +crust of bread, ancient remnant of some fisherman's lunch, might be in +the place. + +Once Keekie Joe had found such a crust there. But the place was bare +now of everything except deserted spider-webs, black and heavy with +dust. These and the mass of net upon the ground were all that Keekie +Joe could see in the light of the genial moonbeams which shone through +the open doorway and wriggled in through the cracks in the +weather-beaten boards. + +And now again Keekie Joe had to make a choice. He was hungry, oh, so +hungry. But he was sleepy, too, to the point of blinking +half-consciousness. The eyes which had so often watched for "cops," +and which had won for Keekie Joe his nickname, were half closed and he +could hardly stand. Such a price for four cigarettes! + +The eyes which had been so faithful to a doubtful trust and won the pay +of an apple core, could not be trusted now to stay open while he sat, a +ragged, lonely figure, on the shore dangling his line in quest of a +morsel to eat. It was funny how these eyes, which had served others so +well, seemed about to go back on their owner now. But so it was. And +then, in a moment, a very strange thing happened. + +As Keekie Joe leaned against the doorway blinking his eyes, he happened +to look up at the moon and it seemed (probably because his eyes were +blinking), it _seemed_ as if the man in the moon winked at him, in a +way shrewdly significant as if he might have something up his sleeve. +Anyway, he could not keep his eyes open; sleep, for a little while at +least, had triumphed over hunger and the faithful little sentinel of +Barrel Alley stumbled over to the pile of net and sank down, exhausted, +upon it. + +And Keekie Joe dreamed a dream. A most outlandish dream. He dreamed +that the licorice jaw-breaker which that strange boy had thrown at him +was the size of a brick, and that as it fell upon the ground it broke +into a thousand luscious fragments like the pane of plate-glass through +which Keekie Joe had lately thrown a rock. He picked up the fragments +and ate them, and there before him stood the strange, small boy, who +threw a sponge cake directly at his head and hit him with it _plunk_. +"Wotcher chuckin' dem at me fer?" Keekie Joe demanded menacingly. + +But the small, strange boy (apparently without either fear or manners) +scaled a pumpkin pie at him and said, "Do you think I'm scared of you?" +He then squirted powdered sugar at him like poison gas and Keekie Joe +toppled backward off the fence and could not watch for cops, because +his eyes were full of powdered sugar. "Quit dat, d'yer hear!" he +screamed. But the small, strange boy threw a ham straight at him and +it fell on the ground with a thunderous crash and broke into a million +thin slices with mustard on them. + +The noise of this falling meteor awoke Keekie Joe and he sat up, +holding the two sides of his head, startled and dizzy from hunger. And +shining through the doorway of the shack he saw a light. It was not +the moonlight, but another light, and he crept, light-headed and +fearful, toward the opening, ready to run in case it was a cop . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MISSIONARY LANDS ON FOREIGN SHORES + +What Keekie Joe beheld caused him to rub his eyes and concentrate his +gaze with more intensity than ever he had shown while at his official +post. There, bumping against the shore, was somebody or other's +grass-plot with a tree on it and a little tent. The frightened natives +who had witnessed the arrival of Columbus could not have been more +astonished than Keekie Joe. + +He glanced out upon the river to see if any lawns or groves or back +yards were floating around. Then his gaze returned to the miraculous +scene before him. There was the small boy he had known in the morning, +"the rich kid" who had been willing to sit as sentinel on the fence. + +He was now sitting on an inverted ice cream freezer and all about him +on the grass were sandwiches, hundreds of them. The tower had fallen +and its ruins lay about Pee-wee's feet. A lantern hung in the tent and +through the opening Keekie Joe caught a glimpse of a board covered with +spotless white cloth and piled with such things as he had seen in the +windows of bakeries. The laden board looked as if a cyclone had struck +it but in the tumbled chaos his quick and startled glance could +distinguish proud and lofty cakes rolled over on their brown or icy +superstructures, and doughnuts looking indeed like the cannon-balls +which might have laid low these beauteous edifices. + +Keekie Joe gazed upon this scene of mouth-watering ruin with eyes +spellbound. Before him lay a miniature Pompeii buried under a kind of +lava of whipped cream and custard and chicken salad, amid which toppled +cakes and a frowning fortress of gingerbread lay sideways and upside +down. Bananas and oranges and nuts and raisins and olives littered the +scene of toothsome devastation. An empty square ice cream can, +disinterred from its quiet grave of ice, lay upon the ground. Another +was in Pee-wee's lap and our hero was armed with a deadly spoon. + +"I know who you are," he said, as he annihilated a cocoanut macaroon. +"You're the feller I saw this morning. Didn't I tell you if you got to +be a scout you'd have all you want to eat? Now you see!" + +Keekie Joe did see but he was too astounded to speak. He knew from +experience that this strange race of scouts carried jaw-breakers in +their pockets, and that they had a deadly aim. But he had not supposed +that they travelled in fairy barques which rivalled the windows of +bakery shops in their sumptuous appointments. He had not pictured them +as travelling on their private islands surrounded by mammoth icing +cakes five stories high, and towers of chocolate. He had not fancied +them sitting on ice cream freezers and tossing the emptied receptacles +from them. + +Pee-wee had told his friend of the morning that they would both vote +for Keekie Joe and that Keekie Joe should be the patrol leader. If +this was the way an ordinary scout travelled, what would be the proper +equipment of a patrol leader? It staggered poor Keekie Joe just to +think of this. And a scoutmaster! + +"Didn't I tell you how it was with scouts?" Pee-wee demanded. "Now you +see!" + +Keekie Joe rubbed his eyes to make sure he was awake and scrutinized +Pee-wee shrewdly. For our hero was somewhat disguised by a villainous +moustache of chocolate which reached almost to his ear on one side and +made him look like a pirate. + +"Do you like sardine sandwiches?" our hero asked at random, for he +hardly knew what to use for bait amid such crowding variety. "I was +stuck on the flats for over an hour and then the tide took me off. +It's coming in now. I'm going to stay on here all night and to-morrow +and all next week. So do you want to join? Only you have to be a +scout if you want to come on here. There are six other fellers but +they're at the party. They said I wouldn't have any fun at the party +because I can't dance, but I'm having more fun than any of them. I +foiled them. They're all dancing but they're good and hungry. Maybe +they look happy but they're not." + +"Do dey all go round in dem things?" Keekie Joe ventured to inquire. + +"No, but I'm lucky," said Pee-wee. + +It seemed to Keekie Joe that Pee-wee was very lucky. + +"I've got the best part of the party here," said Pee-wee, holding onto +a tree alongshore to keep the island from drifting. "You better hurry +up because I can't hold it here; I can only hold it here +about--about--seven seconds. Only you can't come on unless you join +because we need one more feller. So will you join? If you will you +can have all the ice cream you want, because I got a right to all these +things. And there's cake goes with it too, and everything. It +includes chicken salad and sandwiches and everything. So will you +join? I'm the boss of all these things, I am, you can ask Minerva +Skybrow. I'm the boss of the olives and--and--everything." + +"Did yer swipe 'em?" Keekie Joe asked, looking furtively around as if +he thought that Pee-wee might be shadowed while in possession of such +boundless wealth. + +"I got them on account of being lucky," Pee-wee said. "I pulled a +stick out of the ground and it was a dandy mistake so that shows you'd +better stick to me, because I make lots of dandy mistakes. I make them +every day; sometimes I make two in one day and I've got nine ideas for +next week and all these eats besides. You needn't be afraid to get +on," he added, "because it'll drift up the river now and it won't go +past Bridgeboro on account of Waring's reef. There's where I want it +to stick because if it sticks there it'll stay there, you can bet. +Come on, don't you be scared." + +Then, with sudden inspiration, he added, "This is a peachy place to lay +keekie for cops, because you can see all around you away, _way_ off. +And when all this food is gone there'll be apples getting ripe on this +tree and you won't have to speak for cores either, because you can have +whole apples, all you want of them. That's what scouts do, they eat +and they stay out all night and they're wild, kind of. And they don't +care what happens, and anyway the ice cream is melting all the time, so +will you join?" + +Keekie Joe, still hesitating in profound astonishment, and a little +fearful of this strange apparition with its presiding genius saw that +if he were going to act he must act quickly for though Pee-wee was king +of the island he seemed not able to govern its capricious fancy. +Clutch the tree as he would, the gap between scout and hoodlum +persistently widened, and the island seemed bent on hurrying upon its +wanton career. + +Keekie Joe, not altogether easy in his mind, still found it impossible +to resist these enumerated benefits of scouting. Being wild and +staying out all night and eating and eating and eating forever and +forever under a profusion of blossoms which gave new promise, was too +much for the sentinel of Barrel Alley to ignore. + +So he ran away to sea as so many other boys had done before him and +sailed out upon the briny deep in the good barque Merry-go-round. And +he ate such a supper that night as he had never eaten in his life +before. Pee-wee had already eaten his fill but he wished to be +companionable and make his guest feel at home so he ate another supper +with his new friend in accordance with the requirements of good manners. + +A scout is polite. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RETURN OF THE HERO + +The lawn party was over, two score or more of famished guests had gone +to their homes, the lights in the Skybrow house were out, the +sputtering candles in the Japanese lanterns were dying one by one, the +grounds were still and dark except for the merry moon which smiled down +upon the scene of revelry and tragedy. + +At the edge of the lawn where the Isle of Desserts had been, six +figures sat in the darkness. They sat in a row, their legs drawn up +and held by their clasped hands. They sat waiting and watching in the +silent night. + +"The river is going to eat the edge of this lawn all away if they don't +face it with stone," said Roly Poly. + +"Will you please stop talking about eating?" said Brownie. + +"I know, but you'd think a rich man like Mr. Skybrow would make +provision for a thing like that," said a boy they called Shorty. + +"Will you please stop talking about provisions?" said Townsend. + +"I know, but Nuts was saying----" + +"Will you please stop talking about nuts?" said Townsend. + +"Well, what shall I talk about then?" Brownie asked. + +"Talk about the rhododendron bushes," said Billy. "Look where a big +clump was pulled away. Look at that one--all broken. These bushes +will have to be all pruned." + +"Will you please stop talking about prunes?" said Townsend. + +"I know, but seven or eight----" + +"Will you please not mention the word ate?" said Townsend. "They ought +to be thankful he left the lawn." + +"What did his father say over the 'phone?" one asked. + +"Oh, he didn't seem to worry," said Townsend. "He knows that the +island is on a scow and that the river is small and that his son always +lands right side up; that's what he said. I told him the island would +come up with the tide and that we'd wait here and row out when he came +in sight. He said there was no danger, that the discoverer is always +lucky." + +"Oh, he's lucky," said Brownie. + +"Nothing short of an earthquake can capsize the island," Townsend said. + +"He's a whole earthquake in himself," said Billy. + +"More than that," said Shorty. "If I owned a restaurant I wouldn't +leave it around, not unless there were buildings on both sides of it." + +"And a weight on the top," said Brownie. + +"Oh, that goes without saying," said Shorty. + +"The blamed thing can't sink, can it?" Billy asked. + +"I don't know how heavy his nine ideas are," said Townsend. "They +would be the only thing that could sink it." + +"We'll reach him easy as pie----" + +"Please don't say that word," Townsend pled. + +"I think I see the lantern now," said Billy. + +"I was afraid he might have eaten that----" + +"I could eat it myself," said Roly Poly. + +"It's probably all you get," said Townsend. + +Pee-wee's surprising coup had not indeed caused any real anxiety in any +quarter. It is true that his mother, answering Townsend's thoughtful +'phone call from the Skybrow home, had expressed concern at his being +cast up with no companion but a banquet, but no one, not even his +parents, feared for his safety. + +The river was too tame and narrow, and the island altogether too secure +upon its vast scow to introduce the smallest element of peril into his +exploit. The tide would have to come up and upon its expanding bosom +the gorged hero would return to his native land. Roy and his friends, +knowing that Pee-wee's new victims were to rejoin him, went to their +several homes to rifle kitchens and turn pantries inside out. + +"Yes, that's his light, all right," said Billy. + +"That you, Discoverer?" Townsend called, as the light bobbed gayly +nearer and nearer. It was coming up the channel. + +"Sure," called Pee-wee. "I've got something new! I've got a big +surprise for you!" + +"Another?" said Townsend. + +"It's alive," Pee-wee shouted. "Is the party all over?" + +"Oh, absolutely," Townsend called; "you closed it up. Have you got two +or three salted almonds over there?" + +"Sure," Pee-wee shouted reassuringly, "six or seven." + +It was funny with what an air of humorous resignation Townsend Ripley +stepped into the skiff and the mock air of ebbing vitality which the +others showed was as good as a circus. + +"You don't suppose it's some new kind of hunter's stew, do you?" said +Townsend resignedly as he languidly took a pair of oars. + +"You needn't think I'm coming ashore," called Pee-wee, "because I'm +not. Now we've got a full patrol and we're going to live here. +There's going to be a boat race next Saturday and I've got two new +ideas besides the ones I told you about and I bet I had more fun than +you did dancing and somebody's got to go ashore to-morrow and see this +feller's mother and father and tell them he's joined the scouts, +because he can't go home on account of not having four cigarettes." + +Then the boys in the approaching boat could hear Pee-wee saying in a +lowered voice to Keekie Joe, "Don't you be scared of them because they +won't hurt you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SHORT AND TO THE POINT + +Thus began the famous Alligator Patrol, so named because its home was +on the water as well as on the land, and also on the mud. Under its +flaunting traffic sign many adventures occurred that summer, but the +present narrative must be confined to the surprising events which +befell during Easter vacation. Later, in the good old summer time, we +shall visit the island again if we can find it. + +It was a fortunate thing for Keekie Joe that Townsend Ripley was chosen +leader of the new patrol. And it was a fortunate thing for everybody +that Pee-wee was defeated by a large majority in the election of a camp +cook. It is true that every voice was raised for Pee-wee in this +stirring campaign when suddenly Townsend turned the traffic sign so it +said STOP and that was the end of Pee-wee's chances. "Safety first," +said Townsend. + +Keekie Joe liked Townsend and felt at home with him. He admired and +trusted him because in the beginning Townsend made a point of calling +the fellows blokes and guys and talking about "dem t'ings." + +"If yez want a guy ter lay keekie, I'll do it fer yez," Keekie Joe said. + +"If we see any cops coming," said Townsend, "we'll turn the traffic +sign on them and make them stop." + +On Sunday morning, Townsend rowed ashore with Keekie Joe and invaded +the tenement in Barrel Alley. He took a brand new package of +cigarettes to Mr. Keekie Joe, Senior, and Keekie Joe, Junior, was +struck dumb with awe at the familiar and persuasive way in which +Townsend talked to his parent. The result of the interview was that +Keekie Joe returned to the island on a week's furlough from his squalid +home. The Barrel Alley gang, which was mobilized in front of Billy +Gilson's tire repair shop, made catcalls at the stranger as the pair +passed along and when they were some yards distant, several of them +summoned Keekie Joe to their loitering conference. + +"Hey, Keekie, come 'ere, I want ter tell yer sup'm," one called. + +Keekie Joe hesitated and turned. It was a crucial moment in the +history of the new patrol. + +"Come on back, Keekie," another shouted. + +Then it was that Slats Corbett, imperial head of the gang, did a good +turn for the scouting movement. He picked up a half dry sponge which +was lying in an auto wash pail and hurled it at Townsend Ripley. +Without even turning, Townsend raised his hand, caught it, dipped it in +the mud at his feet, and walking briskly back, smeared the face and +head of the big ungainly bully, leaving him furious and dripping. +Keekie Joe trembled at this rash exploit of his new friend and waited +in fearful suspense for the sequel. It was not long in coming. With a +roar of obscene invectives, Slats Corbett rushed upon the smiling, +slim, quiet stranger, and then in the space of two seconds, there was +Slats Corbett lying flat in the mud. In a kind of trance Keekie Joe +heard a brisk, pleasant voice. + +"Any of the rest of you want any? All right, come along, Joe." + +And that really was the ceremony that made Keekie Joe a scout. It is +true that they had a kind of formal initiation under the apple tree on +Merry-go-round Island and gave him a badge and had him take the oath +and so on and so on. And had him hold up his hand--you know how. But +it was not when his hand went up that he became a scout. It was when +Slats Corbett went down. That was the clincher. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SETTLED AT LAST + +And now the wandering career of Merry-go-round Island seemed at last to +have ended and it roamed no more over the face of the waters. On the +contrary, it settled down to a life of respectable retirement on +Waring's reef. + +Waring's reef was dry land at low tide, and even at high tide was close +enough to the surface to support the trusty foundation of the fugitive +isle. It stood exactly in the middle of the river at a spot where the +stream was straight and comparatively wide, and commanded a fine view +of the boat-house a mile or so downstream. There was more or less life +down there during the ensuing week for the high school pupils made the +place their own in the brief Easter vacation. + +It was on Wednesday that a couple of high school boys chugged up in a +little launch and were about to land when Pee-wee forbade them by +turning the traffic sign upon them just as they were about to set foot +on the island. The island had been on its good behavior now for four +days and had not so much as turned an inch. It seemed to have found a +satisfactory home at last. + +"What do you call this thing, anyway?" one of the visitors asked. + +"It's a desert island," said Pee-wee. "Can't you see what it is? +Don't you know a desert island when you see one? Gee whiz, you're in +high school, you ought to know a desert island when you see one. I +know you," he added, addressing one of the visitors; "you're on the +basket-ball team, your name is Chase, your first name is Wingate and +you're all the time going around with Grove Bronson's sister and he's +in the troop that I'm not in any more." + +In the face of these unquestionable facts Wingate Chase was helpless; +he could not do otherwise than admit his identity. + +"We're going to have some events on Saturday," he said. "This fellow +with me is from the Edgemere High School and----" + +"He's going to get beaten," shouted Pee-wee; "because Bridgeboro High +School can lick all the high schools around here, in athletics and +debates and everything." + +"That's all right, Kiddo," said the fellow from Edgemere High School. + +"You bet it's all right," said Pee-wee. + +"We were thinking we'd like to use your island," said Wingate Chase. + +"You don't want to take it to Edgemere, do you?" Townsend Ripley asked. +"We don't allow it to be taken from the premises. You may use it here +if you care to." + +"Find out what they want to use it for," shouted Pee-wee. + +"What do you want to use it for?" Townsend asked. + +"Tell them they'll have to pay for any damage they do to it," Pee-wee +said. + +"We just want to put a flag on it," Wingate Chase said. + +"You mean you want to take possession of it?" Pee-wee demanded. "You +mean you want to discover it? _I'm_ the discoverer of this desert +island." + +The fellow from Edgemere seemed rather amused at Pee-wee. "All we want +to do," he said, "is to use it to beat the Bridgeboro High School in +the rowing match. We just want to row around it. The two crews will +start from the boat-house and race upstream and around this island and +back. Now that won't hurt the island any, will it? In a few minutes +it will be all over except the shouting." + +"Shall we let them do it?" Pee-wee whispered to Townsend. + +"Of course we'll want one of our referees to stay on the island during +the races," said Wingate, "but he won't hurt anything. There'll be +several races, a rowing race, a canoe race, a swimming race and so on; +we haven't made up the program yet." + +"Are you going to have any refreshments?" Pee-wee demanded. + +"We don't allow refreshments on the island," said Townsend. + +"Shall we let them do it?" Pee-wee asked. + +"Positively," said Townsend; "I don't see how we can stop them, as long +as they keep outside of the three mile limit. The referee won't do any +harm. All he does is to see that the racing is fair as they round the +limit." + +"We're the limit, hey?" vociferated Pee-wee. + +"You said it," laughed the fellow from Edgemere. + +"All right," said Pee-wee, "you can do it." + +It was not until the Alligator Patrol sat around their camp-fire that +night that the possibilities of this participation in the athletic +events began to unfold in the seething mind of our hero. He had stood +somewhat upon his dignity with the committee because he did not want to +hold the island too cheap in their eyes. + +Moreover, though he was for Bridgeboro, once, last and always, his +attitude was uniformly combative toward older boys, high school boys in +particular, and toward high schools generally. He would be chary of +the privileges he granted to these "big fellers" whom he knew so well +how to "handle." But in the light of the camp-fire he saw visions of +huge war profits in these impending combats. While Edgemere and +Bridgeboro fought he would become a war millionaire. The little +island, retired from its wild career at last and with a secure and +fixed abode would still play an important part in world affairs. + +"I tell you what we'll do," said Pee-wee; "we'll sell seats for people +to see the races from the island. We'll build a couple of benches out +of this old refreshment board--we'll drive stakes in the ground--and +one of us will go to town--I mean the mainland--with a big sign telling +people they can buy seats for ten cents--because in the boat races when +Sir Thomas Lipton's yacht got beaten lots of people paid to go out on +excursion steamers and this island is better than an excursion steamer, +because they'll go right around the edge of it--right around the coast +and everybody'll get a dandy view." + +Thus it was that on Thursday and Friday there; appeared in the +_Bridgeboro Evening Record_ an advertisement which read: + + +See the High School events on the river from Alligator Island, seats +ten cents. Fine view of the races. Free transportation both ways. +Alligator Island belongs to the boy scouts and is in the middle of the +river, commanding a fine view because the boats go around it. Boat +goes back and forth from Gilroy's field. Absolutely safe. Take the +beautiful ride to Alligator Island and see the races for only ten +cents. Children in arms if not accompanied by parents have to pay five +cents. + + +It will be observed from the advertisement that Merry-go-round Island, +alias the Isle of Desserts, was now masquerading under a new name, +which had been given it in the hope of obliterating all memories of its +wandering past. + +Being now a respectable stay-at-home island, stuck fast with each part +of its coast true to its proper compass point, what more natural than +that its roving youth should be treated as a closed book by its owners? +There it sat in the middle of the glinting river, its sturdy +understructure reposing upon Waring's reef. + +Even at low ride the shallow water rippled about it. At high tide the +coy reef withdrew entirely within the briny deep, so that the +unromantic and unsightly scow was not visible and the island stood in +all its wild and floral beauty, a vision of picturesque delight for +three or four hours each day at full tide. From the mainland (some +thirty feet distant according to a piece of string) the yellow +dandelions could be seen dotting its geometric coast and occasionally +some drowsy turtle, with neck extended, was visible, sleeping in the +sun. + +The only historic memento of Minerva Skybrow's lawn party to be found +upon the island now was the refreshment board, quite empty. It is true +that an explorer, delving among the rocks and crevices, might have +found some fugitive stuffed olive or perchance a lost nut or raisin +here and there. But the feast of Dessert Isle was now a part of +history. Minerva's little tent had been delivered to her (for Pee-wee +could not eat that) and only the makeshift table which had supported +the absconding repast remained. + +This was now made into two long benches, supported by sticks driven +into the ground. It was intended that the overflow from this +grandstand should sit on the grass. These preparations completed, our +hero, accompanied by Brownie and Billy, went ashore on Friday afternoon +and edified the people on Main Street with an imposing display. + +[Illustration: Pee-wee becomes a sandwich man.] + +They paraded up and down the sidewalk wearing large placards, the most +striking of which was the one that almost completely obscured the +diminutive form of our hero. It was appropriately in the form of a +sandwich of which he himself was the center, his head and legs +protruding from it like the head and legs of a turtle. Its glaring +announcement seemed to suggest the literary style of Townsend Ripley. + + +CUT RATE CRUISES TO ALLIGATOR ISLE + +SEE THE WILD SCOUTS AND THE BOAT RACES + +ENJOY A SEA VOYAGE IN THE PALATIAL ROWBOAT ALLIGATOR + +ROUND AND SQUARE TRIP TEN CENTS. + +SAILINGS FROM GILROY'S FIELD. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE + +On Friday night it rained and the Alligators were driven into their +tent. It rained all night and was still raining when the momentous +Saturday dawned. They were compelled to eat breakfast in their tent, +the top of which was plastered with apple blossoms so that the +khaki-colored fabric looked not unlike a brown wall paper with a floral +design. + +The tide being out, the rain pattered down on the surrounding mud and +shallow places, and the members of the patrol sat in the open doorway +of their cozy little shelter wistfully gazing at the downpour, and +watching the little holes that the raindrops made in the mud. + +Each drop, like a bullet, drove a little hole in the oozy bottom, which +slowly closed up again. Schools of darting killies hurried this way +and that frantically seeking an avenue into the deeper places where +puddles would afford them a haven during the lowest ebb. Rain, rain, +rain. + +On the porch of the boat-house a mile or so down-stream was gathered a +group of young fellows, also watching wistfully. Through the +intervening space of rain they seemed like pictures of spectres, misty +and unsubstantial. + +"The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide," said Townsend cheerily. "I +think when it comes in it's going to stop raining, that's what I think. +It's going to clear up and be warm this afternoon, you see. Rain +before seven, clear before eleven. What do you say we catch some of +those killies and fry them?" + +"That's what you call an inspiration," said Roly Poly. + +They caught some killies with a bent pin and fried them and they were +not half bad. + +Along about eleven o'clock the tide began running up, the killies which +had not been lured to their undoing, disappeared in the swelling water, +and soon the ripples danced up over the mud, submerging it entirely. +The river began to be attractive again. And then the sun came out. + +"This is going to be some peach of a tide for races," said Townsend; +"it will be good and full after such an all night rain." + +At two o'clock, when the river was about half full, a launch came +chugging up from the boat club bringing a flag and the young fellow who +was to be posted at the turning point. He planted the flag on its tall +standard near the shore and settled down to mind his own business. +Pee-wee received him as if he were a foreign ambassador. + +Our hero was now so intent upon his commercial enterprise that he +forgot all about the races except in their commercial aspect. The +island was but the turning point for the contestants and seemed +detached from the excitement and preparations which prevailed down at +the club house. + +Soon, along the shore, there began to be visible little groups of boys +sprawling on the grass, waiting. The boat-house porch and the adjacent +float were filled with high school pupils. They made a great racket, +and from all the noise and bustle thereabouts the little island seemed +removed, as if a part of the events and yet not a part. + +Presently a little group of girls appeared at the edge of Gilroy's +Field, which was the nearest point on the mainland to Alligator Island. +They seemed to be looking about in a bewildered, inquiring sort of way. +Evidently the advertising was bringing results. It seemed as if they +might have banded together (as girls will) for the cut rate cruise +which they had seen advertised. At all events they seemed to be +strangers. Whoever they were, it spoke well for their adventurous +spirit that they should wish to book passage to an unknown shore, when +there were no others in sight who seemed the least interested in the +voyage. + +"Is that Alligator Island?" one of them called. + +"It certainly is," Townsend answered. "I'll come over and get you; the +boat is leaving right away." + +"Have your fares ready," Pee-wee called in a voice of thunder. + +As Townsend approached the mainland there was much whispering and +giggling among the girls. "We came from Edgemere," said one of them; +"we're in the Edgemere High School and we came over on the trolley to +see the Bridgeboro High School beaten. We saw a small boy in the +street with a sign----" + +"That was me," shouted Pee-wee; "I saw you on Main Street. Have your +fares ready and he'll bring you over. All aboard! All aboard to +Alligator Island with its tropic vegetarians and boat races!" And, in +his excitement and enthusiasm he added, "Step this way! Step right +this way!" + +"Did you ever hear of such a thing," laughed one girl. + +"He means after you step out of the boat," said Townsend. + +You would have thought that Pee-wee was selling desert islands out of a +basket. He stood on the extreme edge nearest to the field, shouting, +"Here you are, this way for your desert isle! See the tropic +variations----" + +"He means vegetation," said Townsend. + +"He means fresh vegetables," called Brownie. + +"Here you are for your fresh vegetables," Pee-wee shouted, hardly +knowing what he said at this actual prospect of business which he saw +before his very eyes. "The races encircle this island. Here you are +for your best seats! Come early and avoid the rush!" + +"That's the wild man of the island," Townsend said; "he's perfectly +harmless: step right in the boat." + +They were rowed over and escorted to seats, where they did not have to +wait long, for scarcely were they settled on one long bench when a +chorus of shouts arose down at the boat-house, as out into the river +shot two canoes. + +"Oh, they're coming! They're _coming_!" the girls carolled in great +excitement and anticipation. + +"Oh, look! Do _look_!" one of them said, clutching the shoulder of her +neighbor. "He's in the red canoe! It's Willie Dawdle, and he's ahead! +_Hurrah for Edgemere_! Oh, he's _coming_, he's _coming_! I knew we'd +_annihilate_ them, I just _knew_ it! Oh, it's simply _glorious_!" + +"Hurrah for Bridgeboro!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"Hurrah for Edgemere!" shouted the girls. + +The two canoes, with Edgemere a little ahead as well as they could see, +came gliding up the river, two streaks, red and green, in the +sunshine . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE RACE + +The canoe race, which was the first of the events, was also the +best--as well as the last. Never was there wilder excitement on +Pee-wee's island than when the green and red canoes glided northward, +approaching the turning point. + +The red canoe skilfully paddled by the Edgemere champion, Willie +Dawdle, was some ahead and gaining rapidly and the girls from Edgemere +High School could not contain themselves for joy. Among the Alligator +Patrol, too, the excitement ran high and shout upon shout for +Bridgeboro arose as Wingate Chase spurted to get the inner turn about +the island. He gained fast now and as the distance between the two +canoes shortened the air was rent with deafening yells for Bridgeboro. + +The two contestants were abreast when suddenly amid the uproar could be +heard a voice, a voice singularly matter-of-fact and sensible, uttering +words which if not of excitement seemed at least pertinent to the +occasion, "How are they going to go around that blamed thing when it's +sailing up the river?" + +Alas, it was too true. The most unusual development which could +possibly complicate an athletic event had occurred; the turning point +had deserted the race and was sailing majestically up the river. It +had already sailed a hundred feet or so before the watchers on the +mainland discovered the fact. + +As for the striving contestants they were too intent upon the race to +perceive the strange turn of affairs until the wild mirth upon the +"mainland" apprised them of it. They must have looked funny enough +from the shore frantically pursuing the fugitive turning post, and the +unhallowed joy of the spectators was only increased by Pee-wee's heroic +efforts in the emergency as with a long pole he strove to stay the +progress of the recreant island. Failing in these herculean efforts, +he still tried to save the day by shouting to the racers. + +"_Keep up_! _Keep up_!" he yelled. "You can go around it. You're +going faster than the island is. _Don't give up_! It makes it all the +more exciting. It's like--like--like--kind of--like running up an +escalator! Don't stop! Keep it up, it's an escalator race!" + +It certainly made it "all the more exciting." As for the inhabitants +of the island, they were carried away in more than one sense. Townsend +lay flat upon the ground in a spasm of silent laughter. Several others +of the new Alligator Patrol sat on the edge of the stern and rock-bound +coast, their legs dangling in the water, and seemed in danger of +falling in, so gymnastic was their merriment. As for the occupants or +the grandstand, they probably thought (if they were able to think at +all) that ten cents was a small price to pay for such an exciting race. + +Only one occupant of the fleeing island was up and about and fully +conscious. With his companions lying flat or doubled up and screaming +so that the woods along shore echoed with their insane mirth, our hero +stood amid the chaos, shouting to the racers at the top of his voice. +They were almost abreast of him now, and laughing themselves, for the +race had become a farce. + +"Come on! Keep it up!" he shouted. "You can go around it while it's +sailing just as good as if it were standing still! The race kind of +stretches out like an elastic--it's an extensible race. Keep it up! +Keep it up!" + +"Don't," moaned Townsend from his place on the ground. "This is too +much----" + +"It isn't enough!" Pee-wee shouted. "The race is better because it's +longer--it stretches out--it's an extensible race--I invented it----" + +"What on earth is the cause of it?" laughed one of the girls. + +"Extra--extra--ex--ex--ex--extra high tide caused by the r--r--rain," +shrieked Townsend, hardly able to get the words out. "This is the +cli--cli--climax of Eas--Eas--Easter vac--c--c--c--c--_cation_!" + +Amid screams and catcalls from the shore an official launch came +chugging up the course. By that time the two canoeists had given +themselves up to laughter and sat shaking as their canoes drifted. +Only the island continued merrily upon the flood tide. + +"Called off?" somebody called from the shore. + +"Certainly it's called off," said the official in the launch. "This +was supposed to be a race, not a game of tag." + +"_Come on_! _Come on_!" screamed Pee-wee from the departing isle. +"Hurrah for Bridgeboro High! Come on, you can go around us! If a man +can--listen, I've got a dandy argument--if a man can shoot a bird on +the wing a race like that is just as good--you can encircle an island +on the wing too! _Come on_! _Come on_! It's a new kind of a race! A +lot of girls paid ten cents to see it! Come on, go around us!" + +"Oh, _gracious, goodness_, we've had our money's worth," moaned one of +the girls; "we're not complaining." + +"It's like a movie play," screamed another. + +"It's a very move--m--moving drama," stammered Townsend. + +"And all for ten cents," said one of the girls. + +"They're not coming!" Pee-wee shouted. "We won the race! We weren't +in it but we won it anyway. That feller in the launch is crazy! It +was a chase and a race all in one--it was a chase race--I invented it +and he went and spoiled it all." + +Time and tide wait for no man. Up the swelling river, out of the voice +range of the hooting throng, farther and still farther from the madding +crowd, sailed Turning Post Island, alias Merry-go-round Island, alias +Isle of Desserts, alias Alligator Isle, alias The Earthly Paradise. + +Other motor-boats, manned by astonished officials and bearing +committees, chugged up to where the island had been and a flotilla of +rowboats and canoes hovered thereabouts while their occupants inspected +curiously the place where the official turning point with its crowded +grandstand had been. But the official turning point had vanished, +though the voice of our hero could still be beard up beyond Collison's +bend. + +And still Townsend Ripley lay prone and laughed and laughed and laughed. + +"Your money will be refunded, of course," he managed to say to the +several occupants of the grandstand. "You see we had a heavy rain all +night and----" + +"Oh, don't _speak_ of returning our money," one of the girls laughed. +"We really ought to pay you _more_." + +"We can't take any more," Pee-wee shouted. "You--you get the ride for +nothing--it's thrown in--because I said free transportation and a scout +has to keep his word. Even if we float miles and miles we can't take +another cent----" + +"We may be rovers but we're not profiteers," moaned Townsend. + +"If--if we don't drift to shore by supper time," said Pee-wee, "you get +your dinner too just like when an ocean steamer is delayed in a fog; +they give you your dinner, so don't you worry because you're with +scouts and when it gets to be six o'clock I'll make a hunter's stew." + +At this there was a sudden noise as of horror and anguish and before +our voyagers realized what was happening, Townsend Ripley had rolled +off the island into the water. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ABSENCE MAKES THE ISLAND QUIET + +"It's all right," Townsend sputtered as he crawled ashore. "I was just +thinking of something sad; I feel better now. It was one of the finest +races that I never saw." + +"It would have been a good race," said Pee-wee with a frown indicative +of withering scorn, "only they had to go and break it up. _Just +because we moved_--do you call that an argument? _We_ ought to get the +silver cup, that's what _I_ think. They could have--have--headed us +off, couldn't they? The rule said they had to go around this flag, it +didn't say anything about where the flag would be. That's a +teckinality. Anyway, I'm glad we're rid of them." + +"We seem to be making port," said Townsend. "I don't know just where +we are. I think if we were to cut up through these woods--You girls +want to get to the Edgemere trolley, I suppose?" + +"That's the idea," said one of them. + +"Well, then, let's see," Townsend ruminated. + +"I'll take you to the trolley," Pee-wee shouted, as the island gave +evidence of an intention to bunk into the east bank of the river. +"Because I know how to find my way in the woods--scouts have to know +all those things--I can tell by moss and hop-toads and things, which is +east and west. I'll take you to the trolley. If we should get lost in +the woods I know how to cook bark so you can eat it, only scouts don't +get lost. So do you want me to take you to the trolley?" + +Brownie was about to whisper his disapproval of this to Townsend but +Townsend cut him short. "Let him do it," he said; "if he stays here +he'll make a hunter's stew. We can put one over on him by cooking +supper while he's gone. Safety first. If he goes ashore they may get +lost, if he stays here we're _all_ lost." + +"True," said Billy. + +"Absolutely correct," said Brownie. + +"That's what you call an argument," said Roly Poly. + +"It's a teckinality," said Nuts. + +"Discoverer," said Townsend, "the patrol thinks that you are the proper +one to escort our guests to the Edgemere trolley." + +"Isn't that perfectly _lovely_!" said one of the girls. + +"If the woods should wander away while you're in them," said Townsend, +"send up a smoke signal and we'll come and rescue you. Don't hurry +back, Discoverer; remember, these girls come first of all. We'll tie +the island to a tree and have a game of mumbly peg. You'll find us +here when you get back." + +"Well," said Townsend, after he had securely fastened the island to +shore by a piece of rope, "let's make hay while the sun shines and get +supper. In an hour or so it may be too late. After all our adventures +I feel that another hunter's stew----" + +"If the island saw another hunter's stew it would run away," said +Brownie. + +"We've had quite a week of it, hey?" said Billy. + +"Yes, I don't think I've ever been around so much in a week before," +said Townsend; "I feel like a pinwheel." + +"Or a top," said Brownie. + +"Something like that," said Townsend. "Well, Joe, what do you think +of us?" he added, sprawling on the ground as was his wont. The others +began preparations for supper. + +"How about some spaghetti?" Roly Poly asked. "Could you eat some +spaghetti?" + +"I might if I were coaxed," said Townsend. "How about you, Joe?" + +Townsend had made it his religious duty all through that week to +consult Keekie Joe about every meal, and indeed about everything that +was to be done. He jealously saw to it that Joe had a voice in +everything. Not that any of them denied Joe these rights, but Joe felt +out of place among these strange boys and the boys sometimes forgot +about him. + +It was exactly like Pee-wee to drag poor Joe head over heels into +scouting, and then forget all about him. It was exactly like Townsend +Ripley to take the poor little hoodlum quietly in hand and be his +friend and sponsor. He treated him always as an equal and as a +comrade. What the others forgot, he remembered. + +He agreed with Joe, or disagreed with him, as pals will agree and +disagree. He always took him seriously. He allowed Joe to teach him +to play craps and then said he didn't see much fun in it, and such was +his magnetic power over poor Joe that Joe said he didn't see any fun in +it either. And there was an end of it. + +So it was with all the wretched hoodlum games and tricks that poor Joe +had known; one by one they failed in the test, and he became ashamed of +them. It is no wonder that Keekie Joe worshipped this keen, easy-going +patrol leader, who seemed to be no leader at all. Even Pee-wee was +sacrificed in the good cause and Townsend made fun of Pee-wee for +Keekie Joe's amusement. + +As they sprawled about the fire that Saturday night, the last night but +one of their outlandish vacation, and ate spaghetti from tin platters, +the trend of the talk showed somewhat the effects of the week's outing +upon the poor little derelict of Barrel Alley. + +"Seems good sitting here and not eating hunter's stew, doesn't it?" +said Townsend in his funny way. "I never realized how much I enjoyed +not eating hunter's stew. I shall always love hunter's stew for the +pleasure it has given me when I didn't eat it. I suppose the +Discoverer ought to be getting back pretty soon." + +"Unless those girls took him to Edgemere," said Brownie. + +"I don't think they'd do that, they spoke well of Edgemere," said +Townsend. + +"There's no telling where he'll drift to," said Nuts. + +"Please don't talk about drifting," said Townsend. "The way I feel +about drifting I don't ever want to look at a snow-drift. I can't even +listen to the drift of a person's conversation. How about _you_, Joe?" + +"De Discov'r's all right," said Joe, loyally. + +"I wouldn't say he's all right," said Townsend; "but when he's wrong +he's at his best. That's what _I_ think, Joe." + +"He's always at his best," said Brownie. + +"Except when he's at his worst," said Townsend, "and then he's best of +all. That's logic, as he would say. I wonder what he'll bring back +with him. Let's each guess; I guess a carpet sweeper. How about +_you_, Joe?" + +Joe only smiled, but did not venture a guess. + +"I guess an alarm clock and a headlight from an automobile," said +Brownie. + +"I guess part of a floor lamp--the shade part," said Billy. + +"I guess--I guess," said Nuts; "let's see--I guess some chicken wire, +part of a typewriter machine and a megaphone." + +"You're all wrong and I'm right as you usually are," said Townsend; "he +will bring back----" + +"Let's go in swimming," said Brownie. + +"Good idea," said Townsend. "Joe, I'm going to teach you to swim." + +Now it was right then that Keekie Joe said something which surprised +them all. And it was just that little remark which showed the effects +of the week's outing upon his simple mind. He had certainly not +received any particular training or instruction; he had been in some +measure a participant but mostly a bashful and amused witness of his +companions' adventures and a silent listener to their talk. + +He had heard them all speak of their parents and of how this or that +plan might be approved or disapproved at home. He had heard them +discuss whether their parents would probably expect them home on Sunday +night or early Monday morning. Perhaps it was not a sense of dutiful +obedience, but rather a certain budding pride in the bosom of Keekie +Joe, which caused him to make the remark which surprised them. + +He would let them know that he too had a parent, though no one had +thought to speak of his parents. If he could not have clothes like +them at least he could have obligations like them. Perhaps the true +spirit of obedience was not in him. But the point is that the poor +little wretch had discovered a certain pride within himself and wished +to boast of a restraint which a week previously he would have ignored. +He too had someone who was interested in his goings and comings. So he +said, + +"Me mudder sez I dasn' go swimmin' widout she leaves me." + +It was strange how Keekie Joe, who had disregarded his poor mother's +wishes on so many occasions, should present her now to his new friends. +He did not have any of the things which they had, bicycles, tents, +cooking sets, radio sets; but one thing he had as well as they, a +mother. And so he used her as they used theirs. He played her as his +only card. + +"Me mudder sez I dasn' go swimmin' widout she leaves me." + +"Good for you, Joe," said Townsend, "I'll see your mother next week and +fix it. _And you do just what she told you to do till then_. You've +got the right idea, Joe." And he hit Joe a good rap on the shoulder in +his friendly way . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A PROMISE + +When he had put the racing fans on the Edgemere trolley, Pee-wee, like +Jack ashore, betook himself into Bridgeboro to have his fling before +returning to the ship. The habit of sailors home from long voyages is +well known, and we need not be surprised to find him bending his steps +toward Bennett's Fresh Confectionery, where he climbed onto one of the +stools before the soda fountain. + +He had just consumed a raspberry ice cream soda and was considering the +question of whether he should have another when he noticed somebody +which reminded him of the doom which awaited him on Monday morning. +This was Miss Carlton who taught in the Bridgeboro Public School. She +had just consummated the purchase of a box of candy and such were the +cordial relations between herself and Pee-wee (out of school) that she +proffered him the box for a choice of its contents. + +"I don't know whether to take a chocolate one or a white one," Pee-wee +said. + +"Why not take both?" she suggested. + +"I guess maybe that would be safest, hey?" he said. + +"And what have you been doing all week?" Miss Carlton asked. + +"I've been at sea," Pee-wee said; "I've been floating around on a +desert island that's on a scow and this is the first day I came ashore. +I started a new patrol and Keekie Joe is in it. He's in your class, +isn't he?" + +"He is--sometimes," said Miss Carlton ruefully. + +"He goes on the hook a lot, doesn't he?" said Pee-wee. + +"Oh, lots and lots," said Miss Carlton; dubiously. + +"But anyway, don't you care," said Pee-wee, "because now he's a scout +and he'll go to school every day, because a scout's honor has to be +trusted. Do you know what was in that white one? Kind of lemon like." + +"Won't you have another?" + +"Brown and white are our patrol colors," said Pee-wee. "We just +started our new patrol." + +"Take a brown one and a white one," said Miss Carlton. + +"I bet you don't know the name of our new patrol. It's the Alligators." + +"I think that's a good name for Joe McKinny," said Miss Carlton; "he's +so slow coming to school." + +"I can prove you're wrong about him," said Pee-wee, "because alligators +don't go to school and----" + +"Won't you have another, Walter?" + +"One for good measure, hey?" said Pee-wee. "Anyway, how much do you +want to bet he won't go to school now? Because he will, because scouts +have to do what they're supposed to do and I bet you he'll----" + +"Another, Walter?" + +"I'll take a pink one this time. I bet you he'll go to school and be +all right on account of starting to be a scout. I got some money for +grandstand seats on our island to see the boat races and I'll treat you +to a soda." + +"Thank you," laughed Miss Carlton, "but I think not now." + +Miss Carlton knew Pee-wee well enough (for he had been in her class) +not to inquire particularly about his multifarious adventures. She +knew that they were too numerous and complicated for casual recital. +Nor had she any faith in the influence of scouting on Keekie Joe. She +did not believe that any power in the world could tempt Keekie Joe to +school on a Monday, because Keekie Joe's partiality to liberal week +ends was well known to her. + +"Well, I only hope it will do him some good,"; said Miss Carlton +dubiously. + +"You mean scouting? _Sure_ it will. You just wait and see. So long, +maybe I'll see you on Monday." + +"Won't you have one more?" the tempter urged. + +Pee-wee hesitated. "I'll take a cocoanut one," he said, "because +they're small. So long, I'll see you later." + +Thus it was that when Pee-wee went back to the island, he did take +something with him which was not named in the guessing of his friends. +It was the heavy responsibility which he bore to make scouting good in +the eyes of Miss Carlton. His promise, made at the altar of Bennett's +candy counter and solemnized by a dozen assorted dainties, must be +fulfilled. + +He found his friends sprawling around their dying campfire on the +island. Townsend was lying on his back as usual, his hands clasped +behind his head, his eyes fixed on the quiet stars. Crowds thronged +the main street of Bridgeboro on that Saturday night but the island lay +peacefully against the shore of the wood skirting the river and the +town might have been a hundred miles on for all the campers could tell. + +"Well, we've had quite a week," said Townsend; "and now that we're +started I hope we'll stick together and make a real, honest-to-goodness +patrol. Joe is with us to the last ditch--out for the second rate +badge----" + +"You mean the second _class_ badge," Pee-wee thundered. + +"Brownie is going to be steward or whatever you----" + +"Don't talk about stew," said Billy. + +"Pardon me, my fault," said Townsend, "only I'd like to rise to remark +while I'm lying here that I think we're going to make a pretty nifty +patrol. Joe wouldn't go in swimming on account of his mother; couldn't +force him to it, so there you are." + +"And he's going to school Monday," said Pee-wee; "because I met his +teacher in the--the--eh--the store." + +"Candy store?" + +"How did you know?" Pee-wee gasped. + +"Just an inspiration," said Townsend. + +"And I told her he's going to school every single day after this," said +Pee-wee. "So are you?" he demanded of Keekie Joe. + +"Posilutely he is, if not more so," said Townsend. "Every day except +Saturday. He's even willing to eat hunter's stew and a fellow that +will do that doesn't mind school; he can stand anything. How about +that, Joe?" + +"I gotta do what you sez," said Joe. + +"There you are," said Townsend. "What more do you want? We're _all_ +going to school because the school won't come to us. So now let's tell +riddles till we get tired of hearing each other talk and then we'll +turn in. And we'll camp here all day to-morrow and to-morrow night, +and the next day-school." + +"I know a riddle," shouted Pee-wee. "Why is a stu----" + +"Stop!" shouted Townsend. + +"I was going to ask a riddle about a stu----" + +A chorus of protest drowned his voice. + +"A stu--" he roared, "debaker. It's a riddle about a Studebaker car!" + +"Let's tell Ford stories!" shouted Brownie. + +"I know a lot of them!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"Why is this island like a Ford car?" Townsend asked. + +"Why?" + +"What's the answer?" + +"Because there are a lot of nuts on it," said Townsend. "Why is Scout +Harris like a Ford? Because he's small but makes a lot of noise. +Horrible! Here's a better one. Why is----" + +"I know one! I know one!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"Let's see if we can catch some eels," said Townsend. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +VENGEANCE + +On Sunday night they turned in for their last sleep on the island. +That the island had proved a quitter on two momentous occasions had not +prejudiced them against it. With all its faults they loved it still. +The only thing they had against it was that it would not remain still. + +Though it was small and of an unromantic squareness, it seemed the +center of a vast empire during the week which was now ending and they +were sorry at the thought of leaving it. But at least the Alligator +Patrol was started and, like the island itself, nothing could stop it. + +The night was chilly so they slept in the tent. So profound was their +sleep that they did not hear the dipping oars of an approaching boat +which came down the river after midnight. This boat was dilapidated +and leaky but it was a vision of beauty compared to its occupants. +These were none other than Slats Corbett, imperial head of Barrel +Alley, and his official staff, consisting of Skinny Mattenburg and +Spider McCurren. Such nocturnal excursions were not uncommon with them. + +Nor were they surprised to see the new habitat of their official +sentinel bobbing against the wooded shore. Indeed, some tidings of +Joe's adventurous career (since he had run away to sea) had penetrated +to Barrel Alley and the only thing which had prevented the alleyites +from making an assault upon the island was the presence there of +Townsend Ripley. Him they had come to regard with a kind of +superstitious awe because he was so precipitate and decisive. + +The fact that he had allowed no time for preliminary threats and +profanity, rather baffled these hoodlums. He had a quaint way of +cutting out all the customary boasts and menaces preceding an +encounter, and going straight to the heart of the matter. + +Therefore, Slats Corbett did not undertake anything in the way of a +belligerent and retaliatory enterprise now. But he could not pass the +sleeping campers without in some way registering his mortal enmity, so +he did something which was altogether characteristic of him. He rowed +very quietly along shore and untied the rope with which the little +island was moored. Even this unheroic thing he did in fear and +trembling, for the spirit of Townsend Ripley seemed to pervade the +quiet spot. Then the trio proceeded quietly down the river in the +darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +KEEKIE JOE, SCOUT + +The first one to awake in the morning was Keekie Joe. Going to school +on Monday was such an unusual thing with him that he had awakened at +five o'clock, and had not been able to go to sleep again. He had a +strange, nervous feeling as if he might be going to his own wedding. + +The school would look strange on a Monday. Ordinarily after a week's +vacation he would have taken both Monday and Tuesday. But now, strange +to say, he wanted to go to school. He wanted to do what the rest of +them did. Oh, no, he was not a new boy all made over, he was just poor +little Keekie Joe, but he was going to do what the rest of them did +that day . . . + +He now discovered, to his surprise, that the island was in the middle +of the river. It had, in fact, started drifting downstream on the +ebbing tide, and had caught again on Waring's reef, the scene of its +recent exploit. It would stick there for some hours now, at least, for +the tide was running out. + +Keekie Joe looked all about him, then stole cautiously to the tent and +looked within. His friends were sleeping soundly. He withdrew from +the tent and looked about again. The island was about a mile farther +downstream than where it had been moored. + +Looking down the river, Keekie Joe could see the boat-house, and the +gilt ball on top of the flagpole shone dazzling in the early sunlight. +The shores and river seemed fresh and new and clean, bathed in the +growing light of the new day. + +For a minute it seemed to Keekie Joe as if he were a sentinel again, +"layin' keekie" while his friends slept. In the trees along shore the +birds were already chirping, a merry fish (that did not have to go to +school) flopped out of the water and went splashing into the dim +coolness again, from very excess of joy, as it seemed. Perhaps he had +just looked out to see what kind of a day it was going to be. In the +field on the farther shore from town stood several cows, like statues +of contentment. + +Suddenly, Keekie Joe remembered that Pee-wee's palatial cruising boat +_Alligator_ had been drawn, not up on the shore of the island but up on +the shore nearby. Therefore, it was not at the island now. It was a +mile upstream, drawn up under a willow tree at the edge of the woods. +Keekie Joe scanned the shore as far as he could see, but he could not +discover any sign of it. However, he knew where it was. + +He wondered how his friends and he would get to shore to go to school. +He knew they could swim, but they would get their clothes soaked and +could not go to school in such condition. Poor Keekie Joe! It never +occurred to him that some boys have two suits of clothes, and that his +dripping friends might go home and change their clothes before going to +school. + +Keekie Joe knew (or at least thought) that this situation would become +serious when school time neared. He was anxious to know what time it +was. You see, Joe was not a regular full-fledged scout and he could +not tell time by the sun nor by forty-eleven other ingenious means +known to Scout Harris. + +His whole standing capital now was a knowledge of how to swim, and a +dawning consciousness that scouting meant helping people and all that +sort of thing. Thanks to a long course of disobedience to his poor +mother, he had learned to swim like a water rat. He had had somewhat +the advantage of other boys in this respect for he had gone swimming +Mondays when they were in school. + +But he could not determine even approximately what time it was and he +had no watch. He knew that it was early, but he also knew that a mile +was a long distance, especially against the tide. + +Then it occurred to him that he might steal ever so cautiously into the +tent and carefully, _ever so carefully_, pull Townsend's watch out from +under his rough pillow and find out just what time it was. Keekie Joe +had heard some wonderful stories about stalking; from all accounts +rendered by Pee-wee that scout of scouts had hoodwinked every creature +in the animal kingdom, stealing up behind them unawares, and subjecting +every variety of bird to nervous prostration. + +But Keekie Joe decided not to try his skill at this kind of stalking. +For one thing, he had never touched a gold watch before and the thought +of it awed him. And for another thing, if Townsend should awake and +catch him in the act he would think that his protégé was trying to +steal his watch . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE STORY CLOSES AND SCHOOL OPENS + +Keekie Joe could not trust himself in any such stalking exploit and he +had no standing capital of good reputation with which to verify his +honorable intention in case his bungling hand should slip. He had as +good as promised Townsend that he would not go swimming. But also +these boys all had to go to school. + +I am not saying what I think he should have done; I am simply telling +you what he did. He slid silently into the water with his rags +clinging to him and started swimming up the river against the ebbing +tide. He had a simple, short-sighted, one-track mind. It never +occurred to him that by undressing he might return and don his dry +clothes again, such as they were. He had always gone in swimming with +his rags on and he was his own clothesline; they dried upon his back. + +In the water, Keekie Joe was at his best. He swam to shore like a +little devil. Then, with all his might and main, he ran northward +through the woods keeping close to the shore. This necessitated his +swimming through mud and marshy places. But he hurried on, soaked, +weary, panting. He was a horrible sight when he reached the boat, +dripping with mud, his flesh torn by brambles, his ragged clothing +plastered to his poor little form like wall-paper. + +He was not good at rowing but fortunately all he had to do was to guide +the old punt while the tide carried it down. And so he brought the old +boat to the island and pulled it well up on the shore, and tied it with +a rope. Then panting, dripping, he groped his way to the tent and +looked within. They were all still sleeping peacefully. + +Keekie Joe had no change of clothing either on the island or anywhere +else. Going to school was out of the question now; he was too +saturated and filthy. Why should he remain on the island? He felt +that he could not face Townsend Ripley after breaking the promise he +had made him not to go in swimming. Poor Keekie Joe, his eyes were so +full of mud that he could not see the glory of that broken promise! + +"Yez cin all go ter school," he said. Then, with as much fear and +stealth as if he were running away from the police he crept into the +water again and started for shore. He bent his course as nearly as he +could for the end of Barrel Alley which abutted on the river. Soon he +would be back in the yard of Billy Gilson's tire repair shop and could +rest. His little sojourn in Fairyland had been a wonderful thing . . . + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT*** + + +******* This file should be named 17767-8.txt or 17767-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/7/6/17767 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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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S. Barbour</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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></pre> +<p>Title: Pee-Wee Harris Adrift</p> +<p>Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh</p> +<p>Release Date: February 14, 2006 [eBook #17767]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Pee-wee rowed his customers to Alligator Island." BORDER="2" WIDTH="388" HEIGHT="632"> +<H4> +[Frontispiece: Pee-wee rowed his customers to Alligator Island.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT +</H1> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H4> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of +<BR><BR> +THE TOM SLADE BOOKS<BR> +THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS<BR> +THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATED BY +<BR><BR> +H. S. BARBOUR +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Published with the approval of +<BR><BR> +THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GROSSET & DUNLAP +<BR><BR> +PUBLISHERS : : NEW YORK +</H4> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Made in the United States of America +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY +<BR><BR> +GROSSET & DUNLAP +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">ALONE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">SATURDAY MORNING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CASTLES IN THE AIR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">KEEKIE JOE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">A QUESTION OF DUTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE MISSIONARY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">APPLE BLOSSOM TIME</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">PEE-WEE EXPLORES THE ISLAND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE LOOKOUT SEES A SAIL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE OTHERS ARRIVE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">PLANS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE DISCOVERER RETURNS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">"STOP"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">"GO"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">LIFE ON THE UNKNOWN SHORE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">BEFORE THE PARTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">THE SCENE IS SET</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">EVERY WHICH WAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">THE EARTHLY PARADISE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">GONE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">FOILED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">IN THE GLARE OF THE SEARCH-LIGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE DREAM OF KEEKIE JOE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">THE MISSIONARY LANDS ON FOREIGN SHORES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">RETURN OF THE HERO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">SHORT AND TO THE POINT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">SETTLED AT LAST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap28">IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap29">THE RACE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap30">ABSENCE MAKES THE ISLAND QUIET</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap31">A PROMISE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap32">VENGEANCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap33">KEEKIE JOE, SCOUT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap34">THE STORY CLOSES AND SCHOOL OPENS</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +Pee-wee rowed his customers to Alligator Island. +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-018"> +Keekie Joe interview Pee-wee. +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-088"> +The boys hold the island in spite of old Trimmer's protest. +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-178"> +Pee-wee becomes a sandwich man. +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ALONE +</H3> + +<P> +When Pee-wee Harris returned from Temple Camp in the fall, he found +himself a scout without a patrol. He had indulged in a colossal +speculation and lost out. +</P> + +<P> +Forsaking the Raving Ravens, he had set forth to mobilize all the +small, unattached boys at camp into the Pollywog Patrol, but the +Pollywog Patrol had proved about as substantial as the shifting sand. +</P> + +<P> +Like the beloved Black Lake it had both an inlet and an outlet. As +fast as one boy entered it another had to go home, so that conducting +the Pollywog Patrol was like pouring water into a leaky pail. Pee-wee, +with all his flaunted efficiency, could not be at both ends of this +patrol at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as some miniature scout from New York had been duly initiated, +some previously initiated scout from Chicago found that his time was +up, and Pee-wee's time was chiefly occupied in rushing frantically +about trying to keep pace with this epidemic of resignations. +</P> + +<P> +At last the epidemic reached an acute stage and the Pollywog Patrol, +after a glorious career of nine days, was struck a mortal blow, never +to be heard of again except in the pages of history. Its three +remaining members were summoned to their several homes simultaneously; +one new scout was hastily secured but on learning that he could not be +patrol leader he tendered his resignation and was soon called home to +attend his sister's wedding. Scout Harris faced a cruel world alone. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, Billy Simpson had been called to Temple Camp from Bridgeboro +to fill (if anyone could fill) the enormous space left vacant in the +Raven Patrol by the withdrawal of its enterprising genius. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," said Mr. Ellsworth, the troop's scoutmaster, "there are +plenty of fish in the sea—to say nothing of Pollywogs. Bridgeboro is +full of permanent material. You have all this winter to round up a new +patrol." +</P> + +<P> +"Only don't round up any snow men because they melt," said Roy +Blakeley, leader of the Silver Foxes; "and don't bother with shadows +because you can't depend on them. And when you get a scout put a paper +weight on him so he won't blow away." +</P> + +<P> +"If you'll give me some of the biscuits you make, I'll use them for +weights," Pee-wee shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you'll eat them," Roy said. "What are you going to name the +new patrol? Why don't you name it the Canned Salmon? Then they can't +get away from you." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, you can have a can-opener for your emblem," said Dorry Benton. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe we'll call ourselves the Airedales because scouts like fresh +air," Pee-wee said. "I got a lot of ideas." +</P> + +<P> +"He thinks Airedales are named after the air," said Doc Carson. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, just the same as Pennsylvania is named after the Pennsylvania +Railroad," Roy said. +</P> + +<P> +"You make me tired!" Pee-wee shouted disgustedly. "You leave it to me, +I'll think up a name. I know four fellers already that'll join. Maybe +I'll decide to start a whole new troop and not bother with this one." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you start a whole new scout movement?" Roy asked. "Call it +the Boy Scouts of Pee-wee Harris. Discharge the Boy Scouts of America +altogether." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll start something all right, you leave it to me," Pee-wee announced +darkly. "You think you're smart just because you write stories about +your adventures and you always make out that you're the hero. You +always make out that I get the worst of it. Gee whiz, if I ever write +any stories, I'll get my just deserts." +</P> + +<P> +"Did I ever say you didn't get plenty of desserts?" Roy shot back at +him. "I gave you three helpings in every story and that's all the +thanks I get. You think so much about desserts that you're going to +desert the troop. We should worry." +</P> + +<P> +"If I write any stories I'll write them good and loud," Pee-wee shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"Open the cut-out of your fountain pen," Roy said, "and be sure to turn +to the right whenever you come to the end of a page and look out you +don't skid." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I'll write my remittances," Pee-wee said darkly. +</P> + +<P> +"He means his reminiscences," said Arrie Van Arlen. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," said Mr. Ellsworth, "that Scout Harris will be quite busy +enough forming the new patrol, and when it is formed I hope he will +present it to the First Bridgeboro Troop, B. S. A." +</P> + +<P> +"That's us," said Westy Martin. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how Pee-wee can get out of the troop," Mr. Ellsworth +laughed, "because strictly speaking, he has never been in the troop; on +the contrary the troop has been in him, as one might say." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Good night</I>, did he swallow that too?" said Roy. And he rolled +backward off the troop-room table on which he had been sitting. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SATURDAY MORNING +</H3> + + +<P> +Though Pee-wee was without a patrol he was by no means without a troop. +He still held his position of troop mascot and official target for the +mirthful Silver Foxes. He was a whole patrol in himself and held his +own against raillery and banter, his stock of retaliatory ammunition +seeming never to be exhausted. +</P> + +<P> +"I can handle them with both hands tied behind my back," he boasted, +which is readily enough believed since it was mainly his tongue that he +used. +</P> + +<P> +But recruits did not flock to Pee-wee's standard. Perhaps this was +partly because of the fall and winter season when the lure of camping +and roughing it was in abeyance. Perhaps it was because he was so +small that boys were fain to think that scouting was a thing for +children and beneath their dignity. +</P> + +<P> +Once or twice during the winter, Pee-wee piloted some half-convinced +and bashful subject to the troop-room, which was an old railroad car +(of fond memory) down by the river. Here, in the cosy warmth of the +old cylinder stove, the troop played checkers and read and jollied +Pee-wee, which was about all there was to do on winter nights. The +visitors, unimpressed with these makeshift diversions of the off +season, did not return, and so the good old springtime found Pee-wee +still a scout indeed (with something left over) but a scout without a +patrol. +</P> + +<P> +And now the sturdy little missionary began to feel this keenly. Patrol +spirit is usually not much in evidence during the winter; the several +divisions of a troop intermingle and form a sort of club in which an +odd member is quite at home. But with the coming of spring the patrol +spirit becomes aroused. It is a case of "united we stand, divided we +sprawl," as Roy Blakeley was fond of saying. Each patrol goes +separately about its preparations for camping and hiking, does its +shopping, repairs its tents, denounces and ridicules its associate +patrols, and troop unity gives way somewhat to patrol unity. This is +well and as it should be. +</P> + +<P> +It was very much so with the well organized Bridgeboro troop. With the +first breath of spring the Ravens became Ravens, the Elks foregathered +and were Elks and nothing else, and the Silver Foxes began a series of +exclusive meetings at Camp Solitaire under a big shady elm on Roy's +lawn. +</P> + +<P> +The Silver Foxes, imbibing the mirthful spirit of their leader, were +all pretty much alike, and the Ravens were thankful that they were not +like them, and the Elks congratulated themselves that they had more pep +than the Ravens. "The Elks say the Ravens are no good and the Ravens +say the Elks are no good and they're both right; we should worry," said +Roy. "There's one good thing about the Elks and that is that they're +not Ravens, and there's one good thing about the Ravens and that is +that they're not Elks. They both have everything to be thankful for if +not more so. They're in luck." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you call that logic?" Pee-wee demanded in the tones of an +earthquake. "If one thing is better than another thing how can that +other thing be better than the other thing? You're crazy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness gracious, look who's here?" said Hunt Manners, who was +sorting out some fish-hooks. "The whole Canned Salmon Patrol." +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee stood outside the tent, breathing hard after his long tramp up +the hill to the Blakeley place. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you know this is private land?" Warde Hollister said, rather +heedless of the possible effect of his remark. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't come in the tent, did I?" Pee-wee retorted wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Come ahead in, Kid," said Roy. "Are you hungry? Here's some +fish-hooks." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not hungry," Pee-wee said. He had been so touched by Warde's +thoughtless remark that he held himself aloof from Roy's hospitality. +"I only came up to tell you that the thunderstorm up the river did a +lot of damage; a house was struck by lightning in North Bridgeboro and +a lot of trees were blown down." This was not what he had come up for, +though indeed the news was true, but his pride was touched by that +remark of Warde's and he would not now admit that he had tramped up +there just to visit them. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee whiz, do you think I don't know that eight's a company, nine's a +crowd with patrols?" he said. "Do you think I don't know that? +Anyway, if I wanted to go and hang out with any patrol I'd go with the +Ravens, wouldn't I? I only came up to tell you that, because I thought +you'd like to know. Do you think I'm trying to find out your secrets? +Gee whiz!" +</P> + +<P> +"Come ahead in, Kid," said Roy; "Warde didn't mean that." +</P> + +<P> +"I will not." +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with you anyway?" Will Dawson asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not in your patrol," Pee-wee said. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the big idea?" Westy Martin asked. "You weren't in it when you +went on the bee-line hike with us either, were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's different," Pee-wee said. "Anyway I was a scout then, because +I was in the Ravens and anyway I've got to go to the store." +</P> + +<P> +Before they realized it he was gone. +</P> + +<P> +"What the dickens did you want to say that for?" Roy asked Warde. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it just jumped out of my mouth," Warde said; "I didn't think he'd +be so touchy. Wait, I'll call him back." +</P> + +<P> +But the sturdy little figure trudging down the hill paid no attention +to Warde's call. And the Silver Foxes, friendly and sympathetic as +they were, were too preoccupied to think much about this trifling +affair. Perhaps they had just a little disinclination to having +visitors, even the little mascot, participating in their private +councils just then. +</P> + +<P> +The point of the whole matter was that Pee-wee had been unintentionally +eliminated; it was a sort of automatic process attributable to the +springtime. And he found himself alone. He was not out of the troop, +but he was not in any of the patrols, and in spite of all his +spectacular missionary work he had not been able to form a patrol. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee's pride was as great as his voice and his appetite, and he +would not sponge on the patrols which had a full membership and were +busy with their own concerns. The rock on which he had stood all +winter had split in three and there was no place for him on any of the +pieces. +</P> + +<P> +On Saturday morning the Silver Foxes went into the city to buy some +camping things and to see a movie show in the afternoon. The Ravens +went off for a hike. A Saturday spent alone was more than the soul of +Pee-wee could endure, so he conquered his foolish pride and went up to +Connie Bennett's house to find out what the Elks were going to do. He +would not join in with the Elks, he told himself, but he would pal with +any single Elk, or even with two or three. That would be all right as +long as he did not foist himself upon a whole patrol. "Eight's a +company, nine's a crowd, gee whiz, I have to admit that," he said to +himself. "It's all right for me to go with one feller even if he's a +scout but a patrol's different." +</P> + +<P> +It was a wistful and rather pathetic little figure that Mrs. Bennett +discovered upon the porch. +</P> + +<P> +"Connie? Oh gracious, he's been gone an hour, dear," she said. "They +all went away with Mr. Collins in his auto. I told him he must be back +for supper. How is it you're not with them, Walter?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I ain't in that patrol," said Pee-wee; "it goes by patrols. Anyway +I'm sorry I troubled you." +</P> + +<P> +He turned and went down the steps and picking up a stick drew it across +the slats of a fence as he went up the street. The outlandish noise +seemed to act as a balm to his disappointment and to keep him company. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CASTLES IN THE AIR +</H3> + + +<P> +The lonesomeness of Robinson Crusoe on his desert island was nothing +compared to the lonesomeness of Pee-wee on that Saturday morning. He +might have attached himself to any of the three patrols and had a day's +pleasure, but his pride had stood in the way. +</P> + +<P> +He had always been something of a free lance in the troop and been +regarded as a troop institution. But there had always been his +official place among the Ravens waiting for him whenever it suited his +wanton fancy to return like a prodigal to the fold. Now, in the +pleasant springtime with the troop divided for the summer rivalries, he +found himself quite isolated. +</P> + +<P> +No one was to blame for this; a scout must be in one patrol or another, +and if all patrols are full then he must make himself the nucleus of a +new one. That is what Mr. Ellsworth had told Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee whiz, nucleuses aren't so easy to be, that's one thing," Pee-wee +muttered to himself as he bent his aimless way in the direction of +Barrel Alley. "Maybe he thinks it's easy to be a nucleus. Nucleuses +are hard to be, I'll tell the world. Anyway I can be a pioneer scout, +that's one thing. You don't have to be a nucleus or anything to be one +of those. They don't have to bother with patrols, they don't, they're +lucky." +</P> + +<P> +He ambled along kicking a stone before him in a disconsolate, +disgruntled way. He followed it wherever it went, ever and again +kicking it back onto the sidewalk; the simple pastime seemed to afford +him infinite relief. And meanwhile, glowing visions arose in his mind, +such visions as no one but a poet or a lonely boy on a Saturday morning +in the springtime could possibly have. +</P> + +<P> +No one had injured him in the least, he was liked by all, he was simply +the unhappy victim of circumstances. But in a mood of heroic +retaliation against the troop he pictured himself as a pioneer scout +residing aloof in a grim tower, surrounded by wireless apparatus and +covered with merit badges. Scouts from all over the world would make +pilgrimages to his obscure retreat for a timid glimpse of the +mysterious hero. +</P> + +<P> +The glowing vision was somewhat marred by his conception of himself +eating a huge sandwich as he looked down from his parapet upon the +worshipping throng below. Roy Blakeley would be down there among the +others, his jollying propensity subdued by a feeling of awe as he gazed +at the great scout hermit, the famous pioneer scout who sent messages +to lesser scouts the world over. They would whisper, "he looks just +like his pictures in <I>Boys' Life</I>," and he would smile down on them +and … +</P> + +<P> +<I>Plunk</I>! The pioneer scout had collided with a man on the sidewalk and +he returned to Bridgeboro with a suddenness that surprised even himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Excuse me," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," said the man. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee recovered his rock, and began kicking it along the sidewalk +again. "I'll show them," he said moodily. +</P> + +<P> +He was about to ascend his scout throne again and engage in the +gracious pastime of receiving delegations of common, ordinary scouts in +his dim, wooded domain when he found himself at the edge of a region +which was not in the least like the romantic wilderness of his vision. +This was Barrel Alley, the habitat of Jimmy Mattenburg and Sweet +Caporal and the McNulty twins. +</P> + +<P> +Barrel Alley was the slum neighborhood of Bridgeboro and it was not +very large. But it was large enough. Pee-wee explored the crooked, +muddy, sordid street, gazing wistfully here and there for possible +recruits. But no human material was to be seen. The older boys were +playing craps in Dennahan's lot and the smaller boys were watching +them. One lonely sentinel was perched on the fence scanning the +horizon for cops. For this he received the regular union pay of a +stale apple-core. +</P> + +<P> +He was an unkempt urchin with an aggressive and challenging +countenance, but he had solved several problems in economy. One of +these was the entire elimination of stockings and garters. This was +accomplished by the use of a pair of trousers with legs of such ample +diameter and of such length as to render stockings altogether +superfluous. This released both garters for more important duties, +they being tied end to end, thus constituting a sort of single strand +suspender which at its junction with his trousers in front was securely +held by a large nail. His hair presented an appearance not unlike the +negligent architecture of an eagle's nest, which is of the bungalow +type in its loose irregularity. He had not the slightest reason for +supposing that Pee-wee was equipped with commissary stores, but on +general principles he said, +</P> + +<P> +"Give us a hunk of candy, will yer?" +</P> + +<P> +As luck would have it, this random shot, fired at every strange boy +from the upper world, hit the mark, to his unspeakable astonishment. +Pulling out of his pocket a licorice jaw-breaker of vast dimensions, +Pee-wee sent it shooting in a bee-line at the face of the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +Never before in all his checkered history had Keekie Joe ever received +any edible of any character whatever in response to his menacing +demands. He had always assumed that boys who were well dressed had +fruit or candy in their pockets. He had sometimes required them to +verify their denials by an exhibition of the interior of these +receptacles. His invariable demand had become a habit with him. +Therefore the little sugared black brick which now hit him in the eye +came as an unprecedented surprise. For a moment he did not know +whether to construe it as a propitiatory gift or a warlike missile. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with you, can't you catch?" Pee-wee demanded. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +KEEKIE JOE +</H3> + + +<P> +It required but a few seconds for Keekie Joe to decide to run true to +form. The situation was an unusual one, the missile was a delicious +morsel, and was nothing more nor less than what he had demanded. But +still it had been thrown at him and Keekie Joe elected to consider it +as a shot fired by the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatcher chuckin' things at me fer?" he demanded, descending from the +fence and approaching Pee-wee with a terrible look of menace. He had +been careful, however, to pick the jawbreaker up and put it in his +mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you say you wanted one?" Pee-wee asked. "Didn't you just put +it in your mouth?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never you mind wot I done," said Keekie Joe. "D'yer think yer cin +sass me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll show you how to catch if you'll say you'll be a scout," Pee-wee +answered. There could be no better illustration of his desperation as +a scout missionary than this artless proposition to the sentinel of +Barrel Alley. +</P> + +<P> +"Who can't catch?" Keekie Joe demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't." +</P> + +<P> +"Me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you." +</P> + +<P> +"Yer dasn' say it again." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't catch, you can't catch, you can't catch," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +There seemed nothing left now but to break off diplomatic relations +altogether. The issue was clear. But Keekie Joe did not plunge his +outlandish person into war. +</P> + +<P> +"If I didn' have ter lay keekie I'd slam yer one," he announced. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the use of giving you candy if we can't be friends?" Pee-wee +said. "Gee whiz, I wouldn't care how much candy fellers threw at me; +the more the merrier. They can throw mince pies at me for all I care," +he added. "If you want to be a scout I'll show you how and we can +start a patrol maybe." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-018"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-018.jpg" ALT="Keekie Joe interviews Pee-wee" BORDER="2" WIDTH="388" HEIGHT="622"> +<H4> +[Illustration: Keekie Joe interviews Pee-wee] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The word patrol seemed to suggest something ominous to Keekie Joe, for +he glanced furtively up and down the alley, and then waved his hand +reassuringly to the group in the middle of the field. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee perceived now that the scene of the crap game had been selected +with keen military wisdom, affording a safe avenue of precipitate +retreat in any direction. Disaster could have resulted only from a +surrounding host. Officer McMahon, the tyrant on this squalid beat, +was large. But he was not large enough to surround the camp. +</P> + +<P> +The crap-shooters of Barrel Alley had been surprised in every nook and +corner of their neighborhood until they had hit upon the bold expedient +of playing in an open lot, reposing their trust in a sentinel. It +would not have been well for the sentinel to relax his vigilance. +</P> + +<P> +"What I want ter join them scout kids fer?" Keekie Joe inquired. "Der +yer call me a sissy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you call the scouts sissies?" Pee-wee inquired angrily. "They have +more fun than you do, that's one sure thing. If you don't want to join +you don't have to but you don't have to get mad about it. Gee whiz, +you're always mad, kind of. I guess you got up out of the wrong side +of the bed, that's what <I>I</I> think." +</P> + +<P> +This was not true, for indeed Keekie Joe did not sleep in a bed at all; +he slept on a heap of old inner tubes in Ike Levine's tire repair shop. +He was about to resent this slander from Pee-wee with a glowering look +and a threat, when suddenly something happened, which precipitately +terminated his performance of his official functions. His father +called him from a tenement across the street, accompanying his summons +with such dismal predictions of what would happen if he did not obey +that the official sentinel had no choice but to desert his post. +</P> + +<P> +"If I have ter come over there'n git yer," the father said, "I'll——" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Joe glanced at his father in the window, then at the gamesters in +the field. It was evident that chastisement of the severest character +awaited him in any case. For a moment he had a wild notion of making a +spectacular retreat along the street, crawling through a broken part of +the fence beyond the range of parental vision, and resuming his duties +of sentinel at another vantage point. Such a maneuver would at least +postpone a reckoning with his father and enable him to be faithful to +his trust. A very unworthy trust it may have been but his one thought +was to be faithful to it. And there you have Keekie Joe in a +nutshell … +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A QUESTION OF DUTY +</H3> + + +<P> +Pee-wee's advice to Joe in this predicament was rather singular, and the +scout law on which he based it covered a rather larger field of +obligation than was necessary in the circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead over," he whispered; "you have to obey your parents and all +other duly constituted authorities. I'll lay keekie for you while you're +gone; go ahead over, I'll keep watch." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you will!" said Joe incredulously. "I know youz guys, y'll put one +over, that's what y'll do. Wat'd'yer mean, constute—con—authorities? +Yes yer will, <I>not</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"That shows how much you know about scouts," Pee-wee said, always ready +to explain the ins and outs of scouting. "Do you think I'd cheat? Gee +whiz, I've got to be faithful to a trust, haven't I? If I say I'll do a +thing I'll do it. You go ahead over and I'll keep watch and if I don't +do it you can punch me in the eye the next time you see me." +</P> + +<P> +It was not so much this proffer of indemnity as a supplementary threat +from the window across the way which decided Keekie Joe. He did not +believe in Pee-wee for he did not believe in anybody. But he was a bit +puzzled at this self-possessed little stranger from another world. There +was a straightforward, clear look in the little scout's eyes which +bespoke both friendliness and sincerity and Keekie Joe did not understand +this. The emergency decided him to repose faith in the strange boy but +it was not in him to do this graciously. +</P> + +<P> +"You keep yer eyes peeled till I git back, and giv'm the high sign, d'yer +hear?" he said with insolent skepticism, "or the first time I see yer on +Main Street I'll black up both yer eyes fer yer, d'yer see?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's one thing I like about you," said Pee-wee; "gee whiz, you obey +scout laws without even knowing them. That shows you're a kind of a +scout and you don't know it." +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe did not look much like a scout, as he shuffled across the +street; he did not even look like the rawest of raw scout material. But +statues are carved out of hard rock. And Keekie Joe was a very hard rock +indeed. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee vaulted up onto the ramshackle fence, placed one of those granite +bricks known as a licorice jaw-breaker in his mouth, and prepared for his +indefinite vigil. He was not thinking of the "constituted authorities," +he was not thinking of the crap-shooters either; his back was turned to +them and his all seeing eye was fixed on the distant street corner. He +was thinking of Keekie Joe and of how Keekie Joe had tried to obey one of +the good scout laws by being faithful to a trust. And there you have +Pee-wee Harris in a nut-shell … +</P> + +<P> +The game in the middle of the large field must have become exciting, for +its votaries were gathered into a close group. None of the players +seemed able now to spare so much as a cautious glance toward the street. +Once, during his intense preoccupation, Slats Corbett gave a quick, +furtive glance afar, but it was only in a sort of sub-consciousness that +he glimpsed a figure sitting on the fence, its back toward him. That was +enough. +</P> + +<P> +The group gathered closer, voices were heard in excited altercation, +there were long intervals of silence. The group had shrunken and become +compact. All were stooping. Their preoccupation seemed intense. They +had forgotten all about the lookout. Occasionally some civilian passed +along the distant alley and guilty instinct caused one or another of the +group to glance thither to give a hasty appraisal of his mission and +character. And so the wicked game went on. And the sports of Barrel +Alley never knew that their stronghold had been invaded by the boy scouts. +</P> + +<P> +Then around the distant corner appeared two figures in civilian clothes, +strangers in Barrel Alley. They were County Detectives Slippett and +Spotson. They strolled down the alley innocently. Keekie Joe, whose +activities were chiefly local, knew them not. But Pee-wee Harris, Scout, +knew them. On one of his long hikes he had seen them arrest a motorist +in Northvale. He had seen them loitering in the post office at Little +Valley. +</P> + +<P> +They did duty in the various municipalities of the county where the +familiar faces of the local officials were a stumbling block to the +apprehension of wrongdoers. They were going to break up this ring of +gambling rowdies, and so forth and so forth and so forth … +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee's first impulse was to shout, but on second thought it occurred +to him that the army of invasion consisting of two, one of them might +make a flank move on hearing his warning voice, and that one detective +could thus drive the criminals into the very arms of the other, as they +passed through the back yard of Chin Foo's laundry. Chin Foo's back yard +was a sort of trap. +</P> + +<P> +So instead of shouting he descended from the fence with lightning agility +and ran across the field as fast as his legs would carry him, and +pell-mell into the group. +</P> + +<P> +"Two detectives are coming down the alley," he panted. "Beat it over +that way and then you'll <I>sure</I> not run into one of them because they've +got—got—a lot of strat—strat—strat—strat—egy—they have—you'd +better hurry up." +</P> + +<P> +The time it required for the group to disperse can not be indicated by +any word in the English language. They were there and then they were not +there. As Pee-wee stood amid scattered coins and dice he was conscious +of distant forms scaling fences, wriggling through holes, and of one pair +of legs disappearing majestically over a dilapidated roof. As a +disorderly retreat it was a masterpiece. +</P> + +<P> +It was not in Pee-wee's nature to run from anything or anybody. So there +he stood amid the telltale mementoes of the dreadful game while +Detectives Slippett and Spotson strolled into the field. They were just +in time to behold a fleeting vision of forms wriggling through fences, +gliding around buildings, and scrambling over roof tops. +</P> + +<P> +County Detective Spotson was quick to sense the situation. Taking +Pee-wee roughly by the shoulder he demanded in that sophisticated voice +and manner which all detectives acquire and which sometimes passes for +shrewdness, "What's the big idea, huh? Tipped them on, did you? Well, +you're a very clever kid, ain't you?" He removed his big hand from +Pee-wee's shoulder and injected his fingers down the back of the boy's +neck, grabbing him by the collar and gathering it so that it almost +choked him. +</P> + +<P> +This terrifying grip, which is always intended to be considered as the +preliminary of arrest, did not frighten Pee-wee as it would have +frightened Keekie Joe, but it touched his pride and enraged him, and he +wriggled frantically. There is no indignity which can be put upon a boy +like this bullying, official grip of his collar. +</P> + +<P> +"You let me go," he said excitedly; "I wasn't playing here and you didn't +see me do anything wrong; you let me go, do you hear!" His utter +helplessness, despite every contortion, to free himself from this +degrading kind of grasp, drove him distracted and he kicked with all his +might and main. "<I>You let me go, do you hear!</I>" he shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what were you doing here then, huh?" the officer asked gruffly. +"Yer gave'm the tip, didn't yer?" +</P> + +<P> +"You let go, I'm not going to run away," Pee-wee said. "Do you think I'm +scared of you? You let me go!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do yer know what an accessory is?" Detective Spotson demanded, loosening +his grip somewhat. +</P> + +<P> +"It's something you buy to put on an automobile," Pee-wee said. "You let +go, I'm not going to run." +</P> + +<P> +Detective Spotson, like Keekie Joe, trusted nobody. But since he had no +intention of arresting Pee-wee and since the diminutive captive seemed +rather angered than frightened, he released his hold. By a series of +wriggles and contortions, Pee-wee adjusted his clothing and settled his +neck in his stretched neckband. "Why don't—why—why don't you take +a—a—a feller your size?" he half cried and half panted. +</P> + +<P> +The officers now began to have some glimmerings of the fact that here was +a boy who did not belong in Barrel Alley. They were a little taken aback +by the exhibition of so much pride and spirit. The customary, ominous +grip of the collar had not worked. +</P> + +<P> +"What were you doing down here, Sonny?" Detective Slippett asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I came down to hunt for fellers to start a scout patrol," Pee-wee said, +"and one feller was laying keekie for cops and he had to go home so I +took his place, because he had to keep his word with those fellers, +didn't he? Maybe you wouldn't promise fellers to do that but, gee whiz, +if you did promise them you'd have to keep your word, wouldn't you? If +he sees I help him maybe he'll get to be a scout, won't he? Do you mean +to tell me it isn't more important to be a scout than it is to let +fellers get to be arrested? Even—even Roosevelt said the scouts were +important, but he didn't say it was important you should catch fellers, +did he?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's some argument," Detective Slippett said, half smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"I know even better arguments than that," Pee-wee boasted. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Detective Spotson rather more gruffly, "you'd better look +out how you try to interfere with the law, young feller, 'cause first +thing you know you'll find yourself in jail. And you'd better keep away +from this outfit down here, too. Now you chase yourself back to where +you belong—see?" +</P> + +<P> +"You thought you were going to scare me, didn't you?" Pee-wee said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MISSIONARY +</H3> + + +<P> +Pee-wee retraced his steps back across the field feeling righteous and +triumphant. To him the interests of the Boy Scouts of America +superseded every other interest and like the true missionary he did not +scruple overmuch as to means employed. +</P> + +<P> +As he emerged Into the alley, Keekie Joe, looking frightened and +apprehensive, appeared out of the surrounding squalor. It was a +characteristic of Keekie Joe that he always appeared without warning. +A long habit of sneaking had given him this uncanny quality. Suddenly +Pee-wee, in the full blush of his heroic triumph, was aware of the poor +wretch shuffling along beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Wot'd they say ter yer? Wot'd yer tell 'em?" he asked fearfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't tell them anything," Pee-wee said. "As long as the fellers +got away they won't blame you. Anyway, if you'd have been there they'd +have been caught, because you didn't know those detectives because +they're strangers around here." +</P> + +<P> +"How'd <I>you</I> know them?" Keekie Joe inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee, scouts are supposed to know everything," Pee-wee informed him. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe gave a side glance at Pee-wee as he shuffled along at his +side. He was rather interested in a class of boys who knew all +officials on sight; here indeed was something worth knowing. "Yer +spotted 'em?" he asked incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Sure</I> I did," said Pee-wee with great alacrity; "because scouts are +supposed to be observant, see? I saw them in Northvale once. But, +believe me, I didn't holla. <I>Oh, no</I>! I ran over and told the fellers +and they all got away, so as long as you didn't leave them in the lurch +it was all right. So now will you join the scouts? They always carry +licorice jaw-breakers in their pockets," he added as a supplementary +inducement; "anyway <I>I</I> do—lemon ones too, and strawberry ones." +</P> + +<P> +"How many is in your gang?" Joe asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody yet," said Pee-wee, "because I haven't got it started. But if +you'll join in with me we'll start one. You're supposed to hike and +run a lot but if you want to run after fire engines and ambulances it's +all right." He said this because of the favorite outdoor sport of +Barrel Alley of trailing fire engines and ambulances. "So will you +join?" he added. +</P> + +<P> +They paused on the frontier of Joe's domain in the rear of the big bank +building which fronted on Main Street. Here was the makeshift sidewalk +of barrel staves whence the alley derived its name. "You have to be, +kind of, you have to be a sort of a—kind of wild and reckless to join +the scouts," Pee-wee pleaded. "Maybe you're kind of scared on account +of thinking that you have to be civilized, but you don't; you don't +even eat off plates," he added with sudden inspiration. "We cook +potatoes just like tramps do, right out in the woods; we hold them on +sticks over the fire. So now will you join? If you will you'll be +elected patrol leader because there's only one to vote for you and I'm +the one and I'm a majority. See? So if you come in right now you'll +be sure to have a majority and I'll buy some Eskimo pies, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Der yez swipe de pertaters?" Joe asked. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't exactly kind of what you would call swipe them," Pee-wee was +forced to confess. "But we get them in ways that are just as good. +They taste just as good as if they were swiped, honest they do," he +hastened to add. "So will you come down by the river with me? That +old railroad car down there is our meeting place and it's got a stove +in it and everything and there won't be any one there to-day except +just you and me and we'll have an election and I'll vote for you and +you can vote for yourself and so you'll be sure to be elected patrol +leader. And after that I'll show you what you have to do and most of +it is eating and things like that. So will you say yes?" +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe was not to be lured by promises of "eats," though he was +curious about the old railroad car. His answer to Pee-wee was +characteristic of him. "I woudn' join 'em, because they're a lot of +sissies," he said, "but yer needn' be ascared ter come down here +because I woudn' leave no guy hurt yer; I woudn' leave 'em guy yer +because yer a Boy Scout. If any of 'em starts guyen yer he'll get an +upper cut, see?" +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee went on his way thoroughly disappointed and disheartened. His +thought was not that he had made a friend, but that he had lost a +possible recruit. He had cherished no thought of reforming the wicked +and uplifting the lowly in his effort to enlist this outlandish denizen +of the slums. He was not the goody-goody little scout propagandist +that we sometimes read about. He had simply been desperate and had +lost all sense of discrimination. Anything would do if he could only +start a patrol. What this sturdy little scout failed to understand was +that in this particular enterprise the Boy Scouts had lost out but that +Pee-wee Harris had won. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APPLE BLOSSOM TIME +</H3> + + +<P> +Pee-wee stopped in Bennett's Fresh Confectionery and regaled his +drooping spirit with a chocolate soda. Then he continued his stroll up +Main Street. He had always advertised his conviction that things +invariably came his way but nothing came his way on this lonely +Saturday morning. +</P> + +<P> +He paused here and there gazing idly into shop windows, he stood gaping +at a man who was having trouble with his auto, and at last he wandered +into the public library. The place seemed like a tomb on that Saturday +morning in the springtime. Not a boy was there to be seen. "Gee whiz, +they've got something better to do than read books," he thought to +himself. +</P> + +<P> +There at the desk sat the librarian, silent, preoccupied. In the +reading room were a few scattered readers intent on newspapers and +magazines. The place, familiar and pleasant enough to Pee-wee at other +times, seemed alien and uninviting at a time of day when he was usually +too busy to call upon its quiet resources of treasure. +</P> + +<P> +On this balmy holiday it seemed almost like school; it had a booky, +studious atmosphere which turned him against it. And to complete this +impression and make the place abhorrent to him there sat Miss Bunting, +the history teacher, in a corner of the reference room with several +books spread about her. To Pee-wee on Saturday morning this seemed +nothing less than an insult. +</P> + +<P> +He approached a shelf near the librarian's desk above which was a sign +that read BOOKS ESPECIALLY RECOMMENDED. Here were always a few old +time favorites, worth while books made readily available. From these +Pee-wee half-heartedly drew out a copy of Treasure Island and took it +to a table. He knew his Treasure Island. In a disgruntled mood he +sank far down in his chair and opened the book at random. He was too +familiar with the enthralling pages of the famous story to seek solace +in it now, but there was nothing else to do and he was too out of sorts +to search further. Presently he was idly skimming over the page before +him. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +The appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning was +altogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly failed, we had +made a great deal of way during the night, and were now lying becalmed +about half a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast. +Gray-colored woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tint +was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sandbreak in the lower lands, +and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-topping the others—some +singly, some in clumps; but the general coloring was uniform and sad. +The hills ran up … +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Pee-wee blinked his eyes, yawned, then suddenly drew himself up into an +erect sitting posture and pushed the book from him. "Gee whiz," he +mused, "that's what I'd like, to go off to a desert island. They don't +have any desert islands now; that's one thing I don't like about this +century. Hikes and camping and all that make me tired; I'd like to be +on a desert island, that's what <I>I'd</I> like to do. I'd like to be +marooned. Gee whiz, we only kid ourselves trying to make ourselves +think we're doing things that are wild. I guess all the desert islands +are discovered by now; oh boy, there were lots and lots of them in the +seventeenth century; that's my favorite century, the seventeenth, on +account of buried treasure and desert islands." +</P> + +<P> +Indulging these disconsolate spring musings, Pee-wee sank down in his +chair again, a frowning, dreamy figure, and floated out of the library +and away from all the sordid environments of Bridgeboro toward a desert +island situated in the south-eastern part of the seventeenth century. +It was a long, long way off and he had to cross the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries to get to it. He was no longer a pioneer scout +now, nor a scout at all, but a doughty explorer about to set foot for +the first time on soil that white man had never trod before. +</P> + +<P> +He sank farther down in his chair as he voyaged afar. He was soon out +of sight of land and almost out of sight of the few readers in that +drowsy old library. He continued to sink lower and lower in his chair +as if he had sprung a leak. Only his round, curly head was above the +table. The island which he reached was a delectable spot, an earthly +Paradise, with trees laden with fruit which came down like summer +showers when he shook the trees. He wandered about on the enchanted +shores, and ate so much fruit that oddly he felt that he was himself a +tree and that some one was trying to shake fruit out of him.… He +sat up with a start and found himself confronting the smiling +countenance of Miss Warden, the librarian, who had been shaking him not +unkindly. +</P> + +<P> +"Where have you been?" she asked, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"To a desert island," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +He roused himself and wandered out into the balmy air and down toward +the river, a lonesome little figure. A broad field bordered the stream +and crossing this he approached the old car which was the troops' +headquarters. But before he reached it he was aware of something which +caused him to rub his eyes and stare. As sure as he lived, there in +front of him was the seventeenth century, F. O. B. Bridgeboro, with all +appurtenances and accessories. He stood gaping at a little island out +in the middle of the stream, which had no more business there than +Pee-wee had had to be dozing in the library. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee stood stark still in the middle of the field and rubbed his +eyes to make sure that he was awake. There was not the slightest doubt +that what he saw was very real. The river at that point was quite wide +and its opposite shore was bordered with sparse woodland. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee had bathed and fished and canoed in this neighborhood almost as +long as he could remember and he was perfectly certain that there had +never been an island there. He knew an island when he saw one and +nothing was more certain than that this one was a stranger in the +neighborhood. +</P> + +<P> +Yet it seemed to be perfectly at home out there in the middle of the +stream, just as if it had been born there and had grown up there. +There was nothing fugitive looking about it at all. In the true spirit +of the twentieth century, which is all for time saving and convenience, +it had voyaged to Pee-wee, thereby saving him the time and perils of an +extended cruise. It had, as one might say, been delivered at his door. +</P> + +<P> +This was certainly an improvement over the old, out-of-date method of +desert island exploration. Such patent, adjustable islands would bring +the joys of adventurous pioneering "within the reach of all" as +advertisement writers are so fond of declaring, just as the phonograph, +has brought music into every home. +</P> + +<P> +"That's funny," said Pee-wee, pausing in amazement. "That wasn't here +yesterday, because I was down here yesterday. Anyway as long as no +one's here I'm going to be the one to go and discover it. Findings is +keepings; it's just the same with islands as it is with everything +else." +</P> + +<P> +To increase his astonishment and cause his brimming cup of joy to +overflow a tree stood upon the little speck of green land laden with +white blossoms, which wafted a faint but fragrant promise to the +enchanted scout upon the distant shore. +</P> + +<P> +"That's an apple tree," said Pee-wee, his mouth watering. "I'm going +over there to discover it and then it's mine, the whole island's mine +because findings is keepings, that's international law." +</P> + +<P> +No doubt he felt that the League of Nations would stand in back of him +in the matter of this epoch-making discovery. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PEE-WEE EXPLORES THE ISLAND +</H3> + + +<P> +There was no doubt at all of the reality of this extraordinary +apparition. Pee-wee, who was always sure of everything, was doubly +sure of this. Squint and rub his eyes as he would, there was the +desert island in the middle of the river with the tree surmounting it. +By all the precedents in history this island was his. He had as much +right to it as the king of Spain had to San Salvador, more in fact, for +the king of Spain had never seen the island of San Salvador. +</P> + +<P> +If there was any good in history at all (and Pee-wee had his doubts +about that) why then this mysterious island belonged to him. Miss +Bunting, if she had any sense of fairness at all, would concede this. +If the good old rule of findings is keepings applied to monarchs it +certainly applied to Boy Scouts. So Pee-wee prepared to set sail and +formally take possession of his discovery. He would sail around it as +Columbus had sailed around the coast of Cuba.… +</P> + +<P> +Entering the troops' deserted old car he got the oars of the old flat +bottom boat belonging to the troop. He also procured a black marking +stick used for marking scout signs on rocks, and a pasteboard target on +the back of which he printed in ostentatious lettering. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +THIS DESERT ISLAND IS DISCOVERED<BR> +BY WALTER HARRIS AND ALL PRETAINING<BR> +TO IT INCLUDING APPLES AND<BR> +EVERYTHING AND OTHER KINDS OF<BR> +FOOD AND WILD ANIMALS IF THERE<BR> +ARE ANY ALSO PRESIOUS METTLES AND<BR> +ALL NATIVES MUST SWEAR TO WALTER<BR> +HARRIS I MEAN THEY MUST SWEAR<BR> +ALLEAGANCE AND SAID WALTER<BR> +HARRIS SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT OF<BR> +SETTLEMENT.<BR> +<BR> +P. S. ESPECIALLY APPLES. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Having thus established his rights according to the most historical +rule for the acquisition of new territory, Pee-wee set sail in his +gallant bark and after an uneventful voyage of seven minutes drew his +boat half-way up the rugged shore. +</P> + +<P> +Though his back was toward the island during the entire cruise, he knew +that land was near fully a minute and a half before reaching it by the +presence of several grasshoppers kicking vainly in the surf. But what +particularly attracted his attention as indicating the presence of +human life upon the island was part of a cruller bobbing near the +shore. This startled and impressed him as the footprint in the sand +startled and impressed Robinson Crusoe. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee could hardly believe that on the very day which had begun so +inauspiciously he had actually set foot upon a strange island, but +there it was under his very feet and it could not get away for he was +standing on it. +</P> + +<P> +Having fastened his sign to the tree trunk he proceeded to explore the +island. This was done mainly with his eyes since the island was too +small for the usual form of exploration. +</P> + +<P> +It consisted of a little spot of land about fifteen feet in diameter, +held together by the roots of the tree. It was hubbly and +grass-covered and one side of it had a kind of ragged edge. It seemed +to be subject to earthquakes for as Pee-wee stood upon it he felt a +slight jarring beneath him. Undoubtedly the island depended on the +tree more than the tree depended on the island; one might have fancied +that the island carried too much soil. +</P> + +<P> +But Pee-wee's surprise at the instability of his Conquest was nothing +to his astonishment at the voice which he presently heard above him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, what are you doing down there?" +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee looked up and beheld a boy seated comfortably in the branches +of the tree. He was looking down through the profusion of blossoms +with an exceedingly merry face, and had apparently been witnessing the +arrival of the discoverer with silent amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"Some desert island, hey?" he laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you a native?" Pee-wee shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, I'm part of the wild life of the island, I'm a scout," the boy +called down. "Come on up, there's room for two on this branch. If the +island should lurch you might get your feet wet." +</P> + +<P> +"What is this island anyway?" Pee-wee asked, somewhat taken aback by +the discovery that he was not the discoverer. "Where does it belong? +Anyway I'm the boss of it because I discovered it. I just put my sign +up and you can come down and see it if you want to and swear +allegiance." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you talking about?" the boy called down. "I was on it before +it was born." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to tell me I didn't discover you?" Pee-wee shouted up. +</P> + +<P> +"No, <I>I</I> discovered <I>you</I>," said the other boy. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, <I>you knew it before it was born</I>?" Pee-wee demanded +skeptically. "How could it have been before it was? If a thing isn't, +how can you know it? You're crazy. I was the first one to discover it +since it was here and you're a part of it. But anyway I'd like to know +how it got here, that's one thing <I>I'd</I> like to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on up here and I'll tell you," said the wild native. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee climbed up and sat on the limb beside his new friend. He was a +boy somewhat older than Pee-wee with a face so round that the face of +the man in the moon would have seemed narrow by comparison. And there +was a redness in his cheeks which made his head seem almost like an +apple grown prematurely ripe upon that blossom laden tree. He wore the +negligee scout attire and his happy-go-lucky nature was made the more +piquant by the easy, humorous fashion in which he sat upon the limb, +swinging his legs. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee could not have found it in his heart to quarrel with any boy +whose face looked so much like an apple, and, moreover, it was apparent +that here was a boy whom it would be utterly impossible to quarrel with +on any ground whatever—or in any tree whatever. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee whiz, this is a funny thing," Pee-wee said; "I was kind of making +believe that I was an explorer, but anyway I'm glad you're here." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm here because I'm here," said the other boy. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee, I can't deny that," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't make any difference to me," said the boy; "I'd just as soon +be in one place as another." +</P> + +<P> +"As long as it's not school," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's understood," said the other boy; "let's talk of something +pleasant." +</P> + +<P> +"I bet there'll be a lot of apples here later," said Pee-wee; "when +it's vacation, hey?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether they'll be here," said the other boy, "because +you can't trust this blamed island over night, but they'll be on the +tree, wherever it is, and the way to find them will be to look for the +tree." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>You said it</I>," said Pee-wee. "What's your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Roland Poland," said the boy; "Roly Poly for short." +</P> + +<P> +"Mine's Walter Harris, but they call me Pee-wee. How did this island +get here anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"It started being an island under my very feet," said Roly Poly. +"There are five scouts in my patrol besides myself; we're just getting +started——" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm the only one in my patrol," Pee-wee interrupted. "Where do you +come from?" +</P> + +<P> +"From North Bridgeboro," said Roly Poly, swinging his legs. "The six +of us went to camp for the day just above old Trimmer's land up the +river." +</P> + +<P> +"I know him," Pee-wee said; "he's a grouch." +</P> + +<P> +"Very muchly," said Roly; "he's worse than algebra." +</P> + +<P> +"He's worse than algebra and civil government put together," said +Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you say <I>civil</I>?" said Roly Poly; "don't mention civil in the same +sentence with him; he's the man that put the crab in crab-apple." +</P> + +<P> +"He's got a dandy orchard, though," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, this is a part of it," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LOOKOUT SEES A SAIL +</H3> + + +<P> +"<I>Good night</I>," said Pee-wee; "I don't blame it for going away from +him. Can he take it back? It's an island now and it's part of +Bridgeboro. He can't take it on account of international law; that's +what <I>I</I> think. How did it happen?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a very short story," said his new friend; "it's only about a mile +and a half long—from North Bridgeboro down to here. We were camping +in Wallace's grove and a little way down the river we saw a kind of a +little spot of land with a tree on it. There were lots of apple trees +all around there near the shore. We didn't know that orchard belonged +to old Trimmer." +</P> + +<P> +"He thinks he owns the whole river," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"That little spot of land stuck out sort of like a balcony on account +of it being near the bend of the river; the river coming around the +bend sort of scooped a place out underneath it; it was all +under-mined——" +</P> + +<P> +"I know what happened! I know what happened!" Pee-wee shouted. "I +know the place, it was nice and shady underneath it and you could go +under it in a canoe; lots of times I did." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you never will any more," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on, tell me! Go on, tell me!" Pee-wee encouraged excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a pole sticking out of the water right near there," +Pee-wee's new friend continued, "and we thought it meant there was good +fishing there. So I said I'd go and see if I could catch a couple of +eels and sunfish or something. While I was out at the edge of that +little knob of land or whatever you want to call it, all of a sudden I +could feel something giving way under me and the first thing I knew the +whole business was in the water. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you should have heard those fellows laugh as I went sailing down +the river. That was about ten o'clock this morning and the tide was +running down strong. This little old island flopped around and went +every which way but it stayed right side up anyway and do you think I'd +desert the ship? By the time we flopped downstream this far the tide +was so low that our little old roots dragged the bottom and we stopped +for keeps. So here we are till the tide comes in anyway. I don't know +whether we'll float in deep water or not, or whether we'll capsize in +deep water or not and I don't know anything about international law, +but a life on the ocean wave for <I>me</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"I know all about international law," Pee-wee shouted. "Real estate is +in a certain place, isn't it? If a man owns real estate it's bounded +by something, isn't it? Well, then, if it isn't bounded by those +things any more how can it belong to that same man? If a man owns land +in a certain place and it stops being in that place, whose is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Search me," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides I've got an inspiration; do you know what those are?" Pee-wee +vociferated. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you got it with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Sure</I> I've got it with me! Don't I always have them with me?" +</P> + +<P> +Roly Poly seemed amused. +</P> + +<P> +"There are two kinds of scouts, aren't there?" Pee-wee asked +vociferously. "Regular scouts and sea scouts. Sea scouts are supposed +to live on the water and regular scouts are supposed to live under the +trees, like. So we can do both and we'll be combination scouts. We'll +be the Combination Scouts of America, hey? Will you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be anything as long as it's Saturday; I'm not particular," said +Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"Because my father knows a man that's a lawyer and he'll stick up for +us," Pee-wee continued excitedly. "Because old Trimmer hasn't got any +deed that says he owns an island, has he? All right, this is an island +in Bridgeboro. You can't deny that, can you? Let's hear you deny +that. All right, then, if he comes and tries to get this island, he'll +be trespassing, won't he? And so we'll start the Combination Scouts of +America and we'll call ourselves the—the—the——" +</P> + +<P> +"The Sardine Patrol," suggested Roly. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol," said Pee-wee, "because +apples are on land and crabs are in the water. Will you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I see a sail on the horizon," said Roly. +</P> + +<P> +"If it's old Trimmer let me handle him," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the rest of the patrol," said Roly. "Do you see those two canoes +coming around the bend? We'll have a meeting of the general staff and +decide what to do." +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever we do, we'll do something, hey?" said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"More than that," said Roly. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, we'll start a patrol or something, hey?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll start something, leave it to us," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE OTHERS ARRIVE +</H3> + + +<P> +The arrival of the five North Bridgeboro scouts was the occasion of +much merriment and banter. These boys from the small village up the +river had formed themselves into a patrol but they were two members +short of the required number and they had no scoutmaster. +</P> + +<P> +Whether they took scouting seriously it would be hard to say; if so it +must have been a great comfort to them to have wished upon their +budding organization such an instructor and propagandist as the +diminutive genius whom they were now about to meet. Whatever material +they had among them for progress in the scouting field, they gave every +indication of possessing that quality of unholy mirth which +distinguished the notorious Silver Foxes. Perhaps their silver was not +quite so bright, but they gave promise. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, where are you going with the apple tree?" one of them called from +the nearest canoe. "What are you trying to do? Swipe a chunk of +property? That's a part of North Bridgeboro you've got there." +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you take the whole village?" another called. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Roly, where are you going with the real estate?" another called. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you were too heavy for that neck of land," shouted another. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you take the whole orchard with you?" a third wanted to +know. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>For the love of——</I>," another ejaculated. "Look at the sign, will +you! The place is discovered already!" +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee did not wait for formal introductions. "We're going to start +the Combination Scouts of Bridgeboro!" he shouted. "We're going to be +sea scouts and land scouts all rolled into one! We took possession and +it's all right! Old Trimmer can't say that he owned an island, can he? +We're going to have our pictures in <I>Boys' Life</I> and everything and +we're going to have all the apples when they're ripe and maybe we're +going to call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol! Maybe there's treasure +buried here, how do we know? And we're going to get one of those +things—a saxophone or whatever you call it—to take our latitude and +longitude with! We're going to be better than the Ravens and the Elks +and the Silver Foxes and I know how to make apple-sauce! We're going +to be a new kind of a patrol!" +</P> + +<P> +"In the name of goodness, what's that, a phonograph?" one of the +approaching canoeists called. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the discoverer," Roly called back. "He took possession of the +island in the name of the King of Bridgeboro." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought it was an earthquake," laughed a tall boy who was stepping +ashore. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we have those too," laughed Roly; "all the latest improvements. +That's Pee-wee; he's perfectly harmless, step right ashore, you're all +welcome." +</P> + +<P> +"You're stepping into the seventeenth century," Pee-wee shouted, +descending precipitately out of the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"The seventeenth century must have been very wet," said the tall boy as +he lifted one foot out of the water only to plunge the other into the +ragged, muddy edge of the island, in his efforts to get on shore. It +was very funny to see him wallow In the water, seeking foothold on the +submerged tentacles of root, ever slipping, and always with the +soberest look on his face. "This must be the back entrance," he said. +"Where are we supposed to park?" +</P> + +<P> +This tall boy, who turned out to be a sort of patrol leader and +scoutmaster in one, had a kind of whimsical look of inquiry on his face +which was his permanent expression, and which was made the more +humorous by red hair which he wore decidedly pompadour. There was that +in his look which indicated his taking everything as he found it, his +attitude being always quietly humorous and never surprised. +</P> + +<P> +His demeanor, in whatever adventure befell, seemed always that of an +amiable victim placing himself at the mercy of his enterprising +comrades and going through every kind of outlandish escapade and +adventure with a ludicrously sober look on his funny face. To him +everything that happened seemed part of the game of life and he +appeared never in the least astonished at anything. +</P> + +<P> +To see him soberly going through with some adventure which the +sprightly genius of his associates had conceived was as good as a +circus. Naturally such a fellow was called "old" and they called him +Old Rip and Good Old Rip and Doctor Rip and Professor Rip. His name +was Townsend Ripley. +</P> + +<P> +Townsend began at the very beginning to take the irrepressible ex-Raven +very soberly indeed, and the more preposterous Pee-wee's schemes the +more in favor of them Townsend seemed to be. No doubt he got a great +deal of amusement out of Pee-wee. But Pee-wee never knew it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PLANS +</H3> + + +<P> +It was quite characteristic of Townsend Ripley that he did not ask Roly +Poly anything about his extraordinary adventure. Amid the chorus of +exclamations and inquiries he preserved a quiet, whimsical demeanor, +glancing about as if rather interested in this desert island. There it +was, and that was enough for him. +</P> + +<P> +"If this island is going to keep moving you'll have to put a license +plate on it, Roly," he drawled. "First thing you know you'll have the +inland waterway inspectors after you. You're blocking up the channel +too. Why didn't you drift down as far as Southbridge where the taxes +aren't so high?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was—I was thinking about it," Pee-wee suddenly burst forth like a +cyclone, "and there are a lot of things we can do—I've got a lot of +ideas—there are seven things and we can do any one of them!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not do them all?" Ripley asked. +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what <I>I</I> say," Pee-wee shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"Or we can each do a different thing," Ripley suggested. "There are +just seven of us. Anything suits me." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want to know how I discovered it?" Pee-wee said excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, as long as we know it's discovered, that's enough," said Ripley. +</P> + +<P> +"I discovered it, then he discovered me," said Pee-wee, "but I'm the +discoverer because it wasn't an island when he got on it, see. Anyway, +that man can't take it, can he? So will you start a patent combination +patrol? And I vote for you to be the leader!" +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see if we can't start the island," suggested Ripley. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't want to start a Bridgeboro patrol and then find that we're in +Southbridge!" said one of the boys whom the others called Nuts. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't see why not," drawled Townsend; "trouble is," he added, +glancing casually about, "we can't go on any hikes. If we start +skirting the coast we'll get dizzy." +</P> + +<P> +"I know what we can do," said Pee-wee, "because, gee whiz, we've got to +have exercise, that's one sure thing. If we can make the island go +round why then we can keep walking like a—like a—you know—like a +horse on a treadmill—hey? And we won't get dizzy at all, because +it'll be the island that goes round, see?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's a very good suggestion," said Townsend, "but suppose on one of +our long hikes we want to stop and camp. As soon as we stop hiking +we'll start going round backward with the island." +</P> + +<P> +"We should worry," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we're not going to worry," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"You said it," vociferated Pee-wee. "Do you know why I like you? +Because you're—you know—you're kind of—sort of——" +</P> + +<P> +"Absolutely," said Townsend. "You read me like a book." +</P> + +<P> +"This is better than books," said Pee-wee, "because this is a kind of a +desert island and a ship, isn't it? So will you all stay here till I +get back, because I'm going to get my tent and some eats and a lot of +stuff for camping and then we'll start our patrol." +</P> + +<P> +"I can't say that we'll stay here," said Townsend, "but we'll stick to +the island. I have a hunch that this island is going to put one over +on us. If we're not here when you get back you'd better advertise in +the 'Lost and Found' column of the Bridgeboro paper, 'Lost, one desert +island. Finder will be suitably rewarded upon returning same to the +patent adjustable scouts——'" +</P> + +<P> +"Not adjustable—<I>combination</I>," Pee-wee corrected. "Do you like +roasted potatoes? I know how to roast them. And I'll get some bacon, +too; shall I?" +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you should be captured by your parents while you're on the +mainland," Townsend inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll send you a smoke signal," Pee-wee said, "and you can come +and talk to my mother, because she'll be sure to listen to you because, +anyway, you've got a lot of sense." +</P> + +<P> +"And several of us will canoe up to North Bridgeboro and get some stuff +and tell our folks and we'll be back in an hour because the tide's +starting to run up," said a boy they called Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"If you have any trouble with the folks just give me a smoke signal and +I'll canoe up," drawled Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Good old Rip," chorused half a dozen voices. +</P> + +<P> +The boy they called Billy turned to Pee-wee and whispered, "Don't worry +about your folks. Old Rip makes a specialty of parents; they all eat +out of his hands, fathers especially. As soon as they see him they +surrender." +</P> + +<P> +"I make a specialty of cooks," Pee-wee said. "Our cook gives me +everything I want. And anyway we couldn't starve because scouts can't +starve; they can eat roots and herbs and things; I'll show you. Do you +like chocolate marshmallows? Even scouts can eat moss to keep from +starving. And they can't get lost either—I'll show you how." +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee decided to take one of the boys with him to prove to his mother +that the island was inhabited, and two other boys started back up the +river in the other canoe. This left Townsend with two companions on +the island. He sat against the trunk of the tree, knees drawn up, +philosophically scanning the shore and occasionally giving an expectant +glance up the river for smoke signals. He seemed resigned to a quiet +expectancy that he would be summoned to intercede in one quarter or +another. He looked very whimsical and funny. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if you have to crank this island or whether it has a +self-starter," he drawled in his amusing way. "If they don't get back +by one or so, we'll have to make some root sandwiches. What do you +say, Charlie!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DISCOVERER RETURNS +</H3> + + +<P> +In about an hour and a half the two boys from up the river returned +with provisions. +</P> + +<P> +"Any news from the discoverer?" they asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I think he's being held as a hostage by the cook," said Townsend. +"Shall we land and lay waste to his home?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think we can safely leave everything to him," said Billy. "What +do you think of the discoverer, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm for the discoverer first, last and always," said Townsend. "He +has only to lead and I'll follow. Now that we've met him I feel that +life without the discoverer would not be worth living. I'm glad that +next week is Easter vacation, because we couldn't think of school and +the discoverer at the same time. He's more than a scout, he's an +institution. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Charlie, I think we're moving? We were almost opposite +that old railroad car a few minutes ago. Either Bridgeboro is going +down or we're going up. Do you feel the climate changing? You don't +suppose this island is going to go up the river again and join old +Trimmer's orchard, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it's homesick," said a boy they called Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope the discoverer will discover it," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"We'd better scatter something in our trail," said Townsend soberly, +"so that he can follow. I think that's the regulation thing for scouts +to do, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +He had been whittling a stick and now with a sober look he began +throwing the chips into the water as if to indicate the path of the +departing island. "That's what you call blazing a trail," he said; "if +he's a scout he can follow." +</P> + +<P> +The little island was now moving slowly upstream by the incoming tide. +It caught on the flats, performed a slow pirouette like some drowsy +toe-dancer or exhausted merry-go-round, then extricated itself and +floated majestically in the channel till the little apple tree became +involved with the foliage along shore. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know this seems like a very funny kind of an island to me?" +Townsend Ripley drawled. "I wonder what makes it hold together? It +ought to disintegrate." +</P> + +<P> +"Dis what?" asked Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"Disintegrate—that's Latin for falling to pieces." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe the roots hold it together," said Roland. +</P> + +<P> +"It ought to dissolve," said Townsend. "This land doesn't seem to be +soluble in water. The coast all around ought to wash away. There is +something mysterious here. This island is as solid as a pancake; I +don't understand it. By all the rules of the game there shouldn't be +anything left here but the tree by this evening. There doesn't seem to +be any process of erosion." +</P> + +<P> +"What will we do If the island washes away from under us?" asked the +boy they called Brownie. "The tree'll fall over sideways, won't it? I +don't want to camp on an island that keeps getting smaller all the +time. It's bad enough to have a tent shrink after a rain, but <I>an +island</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"I think this island is warranted not to shrink," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Warranted nothing," said Billy; "look how muddy the water is all +around it. It'll be about as big as a fifty cent piece by midnight. +The river is eating it all away." +</P> + +<P> +"Speaking of eating," said Townsend, "here comes the discoverer." +</P> + +<P> +The discoverer and his companion were indeed approaching and apparently +they had sacked the town of Bridgeboro. Their gallant barque labored +under a veritable mountain of miscellaneous paraphernalia and out of +the pile projected a long bar with a device on the end of it which +glinted red and green in the sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like a weather-vane," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"There's something printed on it," said Roly. +</P> + +<P> +"It says <I>STOP</I>," said the boy they called Nuts. +</P> + +<P> +"It says <I>GO</I>" said the boy they called Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"I think," said Townsend, scrutinizing the approaching transport in his +funny way, "I think, I <I>think</I>, it's a traffic sign. You don't see any +automobiles in the canoe, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's something sticking out on the left side," said Billy; "I think +it's a Ford. I hope the island isn't going to be overrun by motorists." +</P> + +<P> +"It's not a Ford, it's a dishpan," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"They're the same thing," said Townsend. "What is that on the duffel +bag—a license plate?" +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the voice of the discoverer floated across the expanse of +sun-flickered water. "We're going to have hunter's stew for supper and +I'm going to make it and my mother says I can stay all through Easter +vacation and I got a lot of things out of our attic. Do you like +bananas? I've got a whole bunch and I've got a lot of new ideas—dandy +ones! I know how to fry them! I know how to slice them and fry them!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to try some fried ideas," said Townsend. "I don't think I +ever ate them sliced before." +</P> + +<P> +It may be said that Pee-wee's ideas, whether fried or baked or boiled +or roasted, were usually underdone and required to be put back into the +oven. +</P> + +<P> +Be that as it may, he soon proceeded to unload these, as well as the +interesting junk which he had gathered, the most surprising object of +which was the dilapidated revolving traffic sign lately discarded by +the Bridgeboro police department in favor of a lighthouse or silent +cop, so called. +</P> + +<P> +This acquisition was the pride of Pee-wee's life; its heavy metal stand +had long since gone the way of all junk and it could not stand +unsupported. As Pee-wee plunged it heroically in the earth and stood +holding it with one hand he looked not unlike Columbus planting the +flaunting emblem of Ferdinand and Isabella on the shore of San +Salvador, except that this tableau of the well known historical episode +was somewhat marred by the fact of his holding a half eaten banana in +his other hand. But his new friends stared with all the amazement +shown by the natives upon the landing of that other great discoverer. +Only a specific inventory can do justice to the provisions and +furniture which Pee-wee brought. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +One revolving police traffic sign<BR> +One large phonograph horn<BR> +One dishpan full of crullers (taken in a masterly<BR> + assault upon the Harris pantry)<BR> +One tent<BR> +One duffel bag with cooking set<BR> +Part of a vacuum cleaner<BR> +One scout belt axe<BR> +One Thanksgiving horn<BR> +One automobile siren horn.<BR> +One lantern<BR> +Two long clothesline supporters<BR> +A towel-rack that opened like a fan<BR> +A skein of clothesline<BR> +A small kitchen-range shovel<BR> +Two boxes filled with canned goods<BR> +One box filled with loose edibles<BR> +One ice cream freezer<BR> +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you bring a cow?" Townsend asked. "We can never make ice cream +without cream." +</P> + +<P> +"We're in reach of the mainland, aren't we?" Pee-wee retorted +thunderously. "It isn't as if we were going out of sight of land; gee +whiz, then I'd have brought quite a lot of stuff." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I see," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I just picked up a few odds and ends," Pee-wee explained. "I'm going +to make a couple of more trips to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"If you happen to think of it bring a lawnmower," said Townsend; "they +come in handy. And a few life preservers if you happen to have any, in +case the island goes to pieces." +</P> + +<P> +"How can it go to pieces?" Pee-wee demanded. "Islands don't go to +pieces, do they? Australia is an island, isn't it? It's just where it +always was, isn't it? You're crazy! All we need is one more scout and +I know one by the name of Keekie Joe, and I'm going to try to get him +and then we'll be a full patrol and I decided to name it the +Alligators, because they belong on land and water both and we're sea +scouts on the land kind of, so maybe I'll decide to name it the +Turtles, maybe." +</P> + +<P> +"Discoverer," said Townsend, "we're with you whatever you do, but there +is a mystery about this island which I would like to fathom before we +organize——" +</P> + +<P> +"I fathomed lots of mysteries," shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether you know what erosion means——" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure I know what it means," said Pee-wee; "it means getting rusty, +kind of." +</P> + +<P> +"It means land being washed away by water. If you put a piece of land +in the water, the water will dissolve it and it won't take long either. +It isn't like an island that has always been where it is—a kind of +hill sticking up out of the water. This is just a piece of land and +the roots of this little tree won't hold it together long. +</P> + +<P> +"The question is, should we go hunting for new members under those +conditions? Pretty soon we'll have a full patrol and no island under +us; we'll be in the water. That's perfectly agreeable to me and all +the rest of us. But does Keekie Joe know how to swim? We really have +no <I>grounds</I> for forming a patrol. See?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you call that an argument?" Pee-wee thundered. "It shows how much +you know about geography because look at an ice cream soda! Does that +corrode? Let's hear you answer that? Or erode or whatever you call +it. A chunk of ice cream floats in the soda, doesn't it? Maybe after +a while it melts, but this land isn't ice cream, is it? +</P> + +<P> +"That shows how much you know about logic. This island has been here +ever since early this morning, hasn't it? And it's just as big as it +was, isn't it? An island is an island and the water won't melt it +unless it's hot—like a lump of sugar in a cup of coffee. You've got +to stir it up to melt it. Is North America corroding? Or Coney +Island? Is this island any smaller than it was?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, it isn't, and that's the funny part," said Townsend. "We've +explored the coast but we haven't explored the depths. Let's have that +little shovel a minute, will you?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"STOP" +</H3> + + +<P> +The ice cream soda argument was not a good one at all, for no lump of +ice cream ever remained long intact where Pee-wee was. Whether it +melted or not, it disappeared. And why this freakish little island did +not rapidly dissolve was a mystery. +</P> + +<P> +By all the laws it should have melted away, leaving the deserted tree +to topple over and form a new obstruction to boating. But there it was +floating more easily as the tide rose, with apparently no intention of +allowing itself to be absorbed by the surrounding waters. It is true +that a belt of muddy water bordered its wild and forbidding coast and +that its shore line was of a consistency suitable for the making of mud +pies, but its body seemed as solid and resistant as a rock. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee always claimed that it was he and he alone who discovered the +mysterious secret of Merry-go-round Island; he and he alone who +penetrated its unknown depths. In this bold exploration a courageous +sardine sandwich played an important part and out of sheer gratitude +Pee-wee, from that time forward, was ever partial to sardine +sandwiches, regarding them with tender and grateful affection. +</P> + +<P> +He was standing near the apple tree holding the traffic sign like a +pilgrim's banner beside him and, as has been told, eating a banana with +the other hand. That fact is well established. Little he thought that +when Roly Poly, delving into a paper bag that was in a grocery box, +handed him a sardine sandwich, it would mark an epoch in scout history. +</P> + +<P> +In order to accept the proffered refreshment, Pee-wee was compelled +either to relinquish the traffic sign or the banana. One moment of +frantic consideration held him, then in a burst of inspiration he +plunged the metal standard deep into the ground, and took the sardine +sandwich in his free hand. The printed cross-piece on the traffic sign +joggled around so that just as he plunged his mouth into the sandwich +the word GO made an appropriate announcement to his comrades. It is +hard to say what might have happened if Townsend Ripley had not turned +the sign so that it said STOP just as Pee-wee consumed the last +mouthful. +</P> + +<P> +"Isstrucsmlikewood," ejaculated Pee-wee, consuming the last mouthful. +"Issoundlkbo—boards!" +</P> + +<P> +Billy was quick to raise the bar of the traffic sign and plunge it down +again. It was certainly no tentacle of root that the probing bar +struck, but something hard, yet ever so slightly yielding, something +which gave forth a hollow sound. +</P> + +<P> +It was easy to explore America after Columbus had shown the way and it +was a simple matter now for Townsend, with the little shovel, to dig a +hole three or four feet deep about the traffic sign. The boys all +kneeled about, peering in as if buried treasure were there, until an +area of muddy wood was revealed. Roly Poly knocked it with a rock and +the noise convinced them that the wood was of considerable area and +that probably <I>nothing was beneath it</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—what—do—you—know—about—that?" Billy asked incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +"Jab it down somewhere else," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee moved the metal rod a yard or so distant and plunged it in the +ground again. There was the same hollow sound. For a moment they all +sat spellbound, mystified. Then, as if seized by a sudden thought, +Brownie hurried to the edge of the little island, exploring with his +hands. He lifted up some grassy soil that drooped and hung in the +water, and tore it away. As he did so there was revealed a ridge of +heavy wood over which it had hung. By the same process he exposed a +yard or two of this black mud-covered edge. +</P> + +<P> +"Well—I'll—be—<I>jiggered</I>!" said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a scow or something!" said Brownie, almost too astonished to +speak. +</P> + +<P> +"The island seems to overlap it sort of like a pie-crust," drawled +Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"The scow is the undercrust!" shouted Pee-wee, delighted with this +comparison to his favorite edible. "We'll call it Apple-pie Island and +it can't corrode or erode or whatever you call it, either, because it's +boxed in!" +</P> + +<P> +That indeed seemed to be the way of it. Apparently the island reposed +comfortably in and over the edges of a huge, shallow box of heavy +timbers which had received it with kindly hospitality when it broke +away and toppled over into the water. As we know, the river had eaten +away the land under the little balcony peninsula, and the scow, or +whatever it was, must have drifted or been moored underneath the earthy +projection. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it belonged to that big dredge that was working up here," said +Pee-wee, "Anyway it's lucky for us, hey? Because now our island has a +good foundation and it can't dis—what d'you call it." +</P> + +<P> +"Only it complicates the question of ownership," said Townsend, +apparently not in the least astonished or excited. "Here is a piece of +land belonging to old Trimmer on a scow or something or other belonging +to a dredging company or somebody or other and claimed by the boy +scouts by right of discovery." +</P> + +<P> +"Old Trimmer owned the land," Pee-wee fairly yelled, "but now the land +isn't there any more and now it's an island so he doesn't own it +because he's got a deed and it doesn't say <I>island</I> on the deed! <I>Gee +whiz</I>, anybody knows that." +</P> + +<P> +"But suppose the owner of the scow wants his property," Townsend said. +</P> + +<P> +"Let him come and get it," Pee-wee shouted. "If we get a deed for this +island the scow is covered by the deed!" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean it's covered by the island," Brownie said. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we seem to be standing still now, anyway," said Townsend; "it's +a relief to know that when we wake up to-morrow morning we won't be +floating in the water. Who's got a match? Let's start a fire and +begin moving toward the hunter's stew." +</P> + +<P> +"We don't need matches," Pee-wee said with a condescending sneer. "Do +you think scouts use matches? They light fires by rubbing sticks. +Matches are civilized." +</P> + +<P> +Whereupon Pee-wee gave a demonstration of not getting a light by the +approved old Indian fashion of rubbing sticks and striking sparks from +stones and so on. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes a man down the river in a motorboat," said Nuts; "turn the +stop sign that way and we'll ask him for a match." +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee, somewhat subdued by his failure, confronted the approaching +boat with the red panel which said STOP, and held his hand up like a +traffic officer. +</P> + +<P> +But there was no need of requiring the approaching voyager to pause. +For he had every intention of pausing. Neither would there have been +any use of asking him for a match. For he never gave away matches. +</P> + +<P> +Old Trimmer never gave away anything. He would not even give away a +secret, he was so stingy. To get a match from old Trimmer you would +have had to give him chloroform. It was said that he would not look at +his watch to see what time it was for fear of wearing it out, and that +he looked over the top of his spectacles to save the lenses. At all +events he was so economical that he seldom wasted any words, and the +words that he did waste were not worth saving; they were not very nice +words. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +"GO" +</H3> + + +<P> +Old Trimmer chugged up to the edge of the island in the shabbiest, +leakiest little motor dory on the river, and grasped a little tuft of +greensward to keep his boat from drifting. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, what's all this?" he began. "What you youngsters been +doin' up the river, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"This used to be your land before it was an island," said Pee-wee +diplomatically. "I bet you'll say it's funny how it used to be your +apple tree and everything. But it broke away and kind of fell down and +now it's an island and we discovered it. It can't—one thing—it can't +ever be a peninsula again, that's sure. Islands, they're discovered +and then you own them, that's the way it is. Findings is keepings with +islands." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that so?" said old Trimmer, half-interested and examining what +might be called the underpinning of the island with keen preoccupation. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-088"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-088.jpg" ALT="The boys hold the island in spite of old Trimmer's protest." BORDER="2" WIDTH="381" HEIGHT="622"> +<H4> +[Illustration: The boys hold the island in spite of old Trimmer's protest.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Well, you'll just clear off'n this here property double quick. Pile +in here and I'll set you ashore." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you go," urged Pee-wee; "we've got a right here; we're going to +camp on this island." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure we are," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"And you can't make us get off, either, because it isn't on your land." +</P> + +<P> +Old Trimmer wasted no words. "Pile in here, all of you," he said, +indicating the boat, "or I'll have yer all up fer trespassin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you own this old scow or whatever it is underneath us?" Townsend +asked quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Look a'here, young feller, no talkin' back," said old Trimmer testily; +"come along, step lively. I'm going to tow this whole business back up +to where it belongs. Now d'ye want me ter set yer ashore or not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think we have anything to say about it, Mr. Trimmer," said +Townsend. "The land that used to be part of your field seems to be on +a scow or something or other and we're on the land that's on the scow. +We're here because we're here——" +</P> + +<P> +"Let's hear you answer that argument!" shouted Pee-wee in a voice of +thunder. "This is a river, isn't it? Do you deny that? It's an +inward waterway—I mean inland—and it belongs to the government and +this scow or whatever it is, is on it and something that used to be a +peninsula but isn't any more is on the scow and we're on the thing that +used to be a peninsula——" +</P> + +<P> +"In the shade of the young apple tree," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what I was going to say," said Pee-wee, "and you can't put +us off this land because if that's trespassing then the land is +trespassing too—it's trespassing on the scow—so we won't get off the +land till you take the land off the scow and put it back where it +belongs and then we'll get off it because, gee whiz, scouts have no +right to trespass." He paused, not for lack of arguments but for lack +of breath. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's the way it is, is it?" said old Trimmer darkly. "Well, +we'll see." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure we'll see," said Pee-wee. "That shows how much you know about +geography and international law and all those things. Suppose Cape Cod +should break off and float away. Would it belong to New Hampshire any +more—I mean Connecticut—I mean Massachusetts? Gee whiz, we're going +to stay right here because we're on a public waterway and anyway you +don't own the scow that this land is on, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +There was, of course, no answer to this fine analysis of the legal +points involved. +</P> + +<P> +"That there scow was under my land," said old Trimmer. +</P> + +<P> +"It was in the river and it wasn't on anybody's land as I understand +it," said Townsend in his funny way. "Your land trespassed on the +scow——" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it did!" interrupted Pee-wee. "It really had no right to do +that, Mr. Trimmer, unless you can show that you own the scow. As I +understand it this is a kind of a legal sandwich. The land that used +to be a part of your field is between the scow and us——" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it is!" vociferated Pee-wee, caught by the idea of a sandwich so +huge and picturesque. "We're kind of like one of the slices of breads +and the scow is the other slice. It's thick and dark like rye bread," +he added to make the picture more graphic. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a kind of a legal sandwich," said Townsend, sitting back against +the tree with his knees drawn up and talking with a calmness and +seriousness which aroused the wrath of old Trimmer. "It's a kind of an +interesting situation. We have as much right on the scow as the land +has, as I see it——" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, you learn that in the third grade!" shouted Pee-wee. "That's +logic." +</P> + +<P> +"Really, the best thing to do," drawled Townsend, "would be to remove +the land, which would let us down onto the scow and that would let you +out of the difficulty. We'd be answerable to the owner of the scow." +</P> + +<P> +"It belonged to the big dredge," Pee-wee said excitedly. "I knew all +the men on that dredge; I used to hang out on that dredge; those men +were all friends of mine. We wouldn't be trespassing except your land +is in the way." +</P> + +<P> +"If you want us to shovel the land out of here we'll do it," suggested +Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then the tree'll fall over," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee whiz," shouted Pee-wee, "it'll serve the tree right because all +the time fellers are being accused of trespassing in apple trees and +now you can see for yourself that apple trees are just as bad. They +trespass on scows." +</P> + +<P> +"We could have this tree fined ten dollars," said Billy, "if we wanted +to report it to the dredging company in New York." +</P> + +<P> +"Or it would have to go to jail for thirty days," yelled Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see what we're going to do, Mr. Trimmer," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I know what we're going to do," said Pee-wee; "we're going to do a lot +of things. We're natives of this island." +</P> + +<P> +"We don't recognize this land," said Townsend; "we consider it beneath +us." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it's beneath us!" shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"It simply happens to trespass on the scow first," said Townsend. "I +think we'll stand on our rights." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yer ain't goin' ter stand on my property, yer ain't!" old +Trimmer bellowed, his wrath rising. Townsend's calmness seemed to goad +him to a perfect frenzy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then," said Townsend, "the only thing for us to do is to shovel +out a space and camp on that. Then our feet will be on the scow——" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be on friendly territory," shouted Pee-wee. "Your land can camp +here with us if it wants to." +</P> + +<P> +"Or you can take it away, just as you please," said Townsend. "Only we +warn you not to take any liberties with this scow. We're personally +acquainted with Mr. Steam of the Steam Dredging Company and we're going +to charter this scow, now that we're on it. We can get another desert +island to put on it if necessary." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see this traffic sign?" Pee-wee yelled at the top of his voice. +He stood like some conquering hero, holding the martial stop sign with +one hand. "The bottom of this bar is planted on the scow. Do you hear +the noise it makes when I bump it up and down? It goes right through +this land. We take possession of this scow in the name of the new +Alligator Patrol or maybe it'll be the Turtles, we don't know yet. We +plant our banner on the—the——" +</P> + +<P> +"The rye bread," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"And if this land," Pee-wee continued, "that used to be a peninsula and +stuck out over the river from your field and trespassed on the scow +when it didn't have any right to because it wasn't friends with the +dredge men—if this land wants to stay here it can." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you say, Mr. Trimmer?" Townsend laughed. "If you want to tow +this whole business back up to your place we'll help you shovel the +land off the scow. We don't want to camp on an island that violates +the law. But you haven't got anything to do with this scow. I'm not +asking you how it got alongside your field or why the dredging people +didn't take it away when they took the dredge away; that's your +business," he added rather significantly. "We'll admit the land is +yours——" +</P> + +<P> +"No, we won't!" said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, we will," said Townsend quietly. "Now what do you want to do +about this property? Shall we wrap it up for you or shall we send it? +Our dealings are with the steam dredge people. Now what do you say? +By the way, will you have a cruller?" +</P> + +<P> +It was perfectly evident that Townsend Ripley, with rather more quiet +shrewdness than any of them had given him credit for, had gently +stabbed Mr. Trimmer in a weak spot. It was the scow that old Trimmer +wanted. How he had come by it had been only faintly suggested by +Townsend. How it had chanced to be moored in that secluded spot under +the projecting land after the big dredge had gone away, was not +discussed and is not a part of this story. It seemed evident that old +Trimmer was rather disturbed at the thought of the boys getting in +touch with the dredge people. +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead n' camp on it then," he said in sulky surrender; "and don't +make a nuisance of yourselves writin' letters to the dredging company. +Them men has got something else ter do besides bothering with a crew of +crazy youngsters." +</P> + +<P> +"But you know what you said about trespassing, Mr. Trimmer," said +Townsend. "You have taught us that we shouldn't trespass and we thank +you for the lesson. We'll have to drop Mr. Steam a line. How about a +cruller, Mr. Trimmer? They were just stolen from our small friend's +kitchen. Don't care for stolen fruit, hey? You're too particular, Mr. +Trimmer." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LIFE ON THE UNKNOWN SHORE +</H3> + + +<P> +Seldom has there been a surrender so complete and unconditional. There +were no banners to celebrate the triumph (for which Pee-wee took all +the credit) but as old Trimmer started up the river Pee-wee turned the +sign so that the word GO faced the departing voyager like a commanding +finger to order the vanquished from his victorious presence. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think he had some treasure in the scow?" Pee-wee asked. "Maybe +if we dig we'll find some gold nuggets." +</P> + +<P> +"Let's try some of those cocoanut nuggets," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I know how to handle him?" said Pee-wee. "Now the island is +ours, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think before we have supper," said Townsend, "we'll write a line to +the dredging people. What do you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll write it on bark from the tree on account of our being wild and +uncivilized," said Pee-wee. "I can make ink out of prune juice and we +can write with a stick like hunters do when they get lost." +</P> + +<P> +"Do they carry prune juice with them?" Billy asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes they use blood," said Pee-wee. "I can make ink from onions +too—invisible ink. Shall I make some?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you were going to make a hunter's stew," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead," said Roly Poly, "you make the hunter's stew—it won't be +invisible, will it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It will when we get through with it," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"And while you're making the stew, Rip will write the letter and the +first one of us that goes ashore will mail it." +</P> + +<P> +The letter which Townsend Ripley wrote to the dredging company asking +permission to use the old scow surmounted by a luxurious desert island +was very funny, but it was not nearly as funny as the hunter's stew +which Pee-wee made. +</P> + +<P> +Their minds now free as to their rights (at least, for the time being) +they sprawled about under the little tree as the afternoon sunlight +waned and partook of the weird concoction which Pee-wee cooked in the +dishpan over the rough fireplace which they had constructed. And if +Pee-wee was not the equal of his friend Roy Blakeley in the matter of +cooking, he was at least vastly superior to him in the matter of +eating, and as he himself observed, "Gee whiz, eating is more important +than cooking anyway." +</P> + +<P> +It was pleasant sitting about on this new and original desert island +which combined all the attractions of wild life with substantial +safety. Only its overlapping edges could wash away and as these melted +and disappeared the island gradually assumed a square and orderly +conformation; its bleak and lonely coast formed a tidy square and +looked like some truant back yard off on a holiday. What it lost in +rugged grandeur it made up in modern neatness and seemed indeed a +desert Island with all improvements. +</P> + +<P> +Nestling within its stalwart and water-tight timbers it presented a +scene of varied beauty. Grasshoppers disported gayly upon its rugged +surface, occasionally leaping inadvertently into the surrounding surf +and kicking their ungainly legs in the sparkling water. +</P> + +<P> +A pair of adventurous robins that had refused to desert the fugitive +peninsula were chirping in the little blossom-laden tree and one of +them came down and perched upon the traffic sign to prune his feathers +before retiring. Savage beetles roamed wild over the isle, and wild +angleworms, disturbed by the late upheaval, squirmed about in quest of +new homes. +</P> + +<P> +The vegetation on the island appeared in gay profusion, reminding one +of the Utopian scenes of fragrant beauty which delighted the eyes of +the bold explorers who first landed on the shores of Florida. +</P> + +<P> +Yellow dandelions dotted the greensward, purple violets peeped up +through the overgrown grass, and a rusty tin can, memento of some +prehistoric fisherman perhaps, lay near the shore. Not even the +geometrical perfection of the island detracted from its primitive and +rugged beauty. +</P> + +<P> +True, it had no bays or wooded coves where pirates might have lurked, +and it was fickle to any one spot. But wheresoever its wanton fancy +took it the dying sunlight flickered down through the little tree and +glazed the spotless blossoms so full of promise that clustered above +the little band of hardy adventurers. +</P> + +<P> +Before they had finished their repast—a repast as strange and +surprising as the island itself—they had drifted half a mile upstream +with the incoming tide. Here the sturdy underpinning of the desert +isle caught upon a tiny reef and the island swung slowly around like a +sleepy carrousel and rested from its travels. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BEFORE THE PARTY +</H3> + + +<P> +Meanwhile we must return to the mother country, to take note of important +happenings there. While our doughty explorers were eating their hunter's +stew in this strange land and sprawling beneath their tree in the +gathering twilight surrounded by unknown perils, the gay Silver Fox +Patrol returned from New York after a day spent in shopping and +sightseeing. +</P> + +<P> +They proceeded at once to their railroad car down by the river where they +found the Ravens, who had just returned from a hike. Soon the Elks, +returning from an auto ride, joined their comrades and a lively +discussion occurred. It pertained to the lawn party to be given that +evening at the home of Miss Minerva Skybrow of the Camp-fire Girls. +</P> + +<P> +"What time do you have supper at your house?" Doc Carson asked Roy +Blakeley. +</P> + +<P> +"We have it about eight o'clock on Saturdays," said Roy. "My father's +playing golf." +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," said Artie Van Arlen; "my father has to stay late so as to +beat your father." +</P> + +<P> +"If he stays at the links long enough to do that you'll never see him +again," said Roy. "What time is this racket supposed to be, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"Eight sharp," said Grove Bronson. +</P> + +<P> +"Are we going to go all separated together or all separated at once?" Roy +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Positively," said Warde Hollister. +</P> + +<P> +"Positively what?" asked Connie Bennett. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all the same to me, only different," said Roy. "Only this is what +I was thinking. We all have supper at different times except Pee-wee and +he has supper all the time. As Abraham Lincoln said at the battle of +Marne, 'Some people are half hungry all the time, some people are all +hungry half the time, but Pee-wee is <I>all</I> hungry <I>all</I> the time.' I +wonder where he is anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"Down in Bennett's having a soda, I guess," said Westy Martin. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he going to the party?" Tom Warner asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Search me," said Westy. "I guess not, he doesn't dance. I heard +somebody say he was with some fellows up the river." +</P> + +<P> +"Starting a new bunch of patrols, I suppose," said Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"Bentley's gardener saw him somewhere," said Wig Weigand. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just possible he was somewhere," said Roy. "I've often known him +to go there. Let's talk of something pleasant. What do you say we get a +light supper down here. Anybody that wants to go home and dress can do +it only he has to hustle. She wants us to wear our scout suits anyway, +she said so. I say let's get a few eats down here and then wash up and +all hike it up there together. United we stand——" +</P> + +<P> +"What are we going to eat?" Grove Bronson asked. "I don't see anything +here but some fishhooks and a package of tacks." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to the voice from Pee-wee's old patrol!" said Roy. "<I>Eats</I>! +I'll fry some killies. Haven't we got some milk chocolate and Ulika +biscuits? I bet there's a large crowd of peanuts and other junk in +Pee-wee's locker. Can't you wait till you get to Minerva's? She'll have +chicken salad and ice cream and sandwiches and cake and lemonade and +paper napkins and souvenirs and everything. We'll feel more like eating +a little later. What do you all say? If each of us goes home we'll +never get together again; we'll all straggle in there one by two." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose she doesn't have anything but a couple of fancy boxes of +bonbons; you know how girls are," said Doc Carson. "Safety first, that's +what I say." +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't had anything to eat since lunch time," said Ralph Warner. +</P> + +<P> +"Minerva wouldn't wish anything like that on us," said Connie. +</P> + +<P> +"You said it," said Roy; "they're not passing around famines up at her +house. Where do you think we're going? To Russia? Minerva's got the +Sandwich Islands green with envy. What's the use of spoiling +refreshments by eating now? You fellows are worse than the children of +Armenia! I say, let's have a swim; the tide is nice and high, and then +rest up and eat some crackers and hike up to the party. They'll be +throwing chocolate cake at us up there. +</P> + +<P> +"My patrol all have their good suits on; most of the rest of you have +some Christmas tree regalia in your lockers, and the others can beat it +home and hurry up back. What do you say? Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, +aye, aye!" Roy shouted. "Carried by a large majority! Come on, let's go +in for a swim while the tide's up. That will help to give us an +appetite." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean, 'help to give us one?" asked Artie Van Arlen. +"Haven't I got four already?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, when you come out of the water you'll have five," said Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose—suppose," said Dorry Benton, who was ever cautious, "suppose, +just <I>suppose</I> they should only have lady fingers and grape juice, or +something like that." He stood uncertain, dangling his bathing suit. +"Suppose they should have afternoon tea crackers. Did you ever eat +those?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're more likely to have roast turkey," said Roy. "Don't I go up +there every couple of days and play tennis? I can't play the game even +because they're always pushing a chunk of cake into my left hand." +</P> + +<P> +"I know, Roy," said Warde Hollister. He also was a far-sighted and +thoughtful boy who did his homework in the afternoon and started on New +Year's saving up for next Christmas. "But this is a lawn-party—Japanese +napkins and lettuce and things like that. We're taking an awful chance, +Roy. We may get salted almonds——" +</P> + +<P> +"You should worry," said Roy; "here's your bathing suit. Come on, we've +only got about an hour. Think of the poor children of Europe. Minerva +Skybrow is positively guaranteed. I never saw such a bunch, you're +always worrying about something." +</P> + +<P> +And with that, by way of starting things, he pushed Connie Bennett into +the water … +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SCENE IS SET +</H3> + + +<P> +In history we read that while the hardy pioneers toiled and suffered in +the New England forest the gay votaries of fashion danced and made +merry in the royal courts of Europe. And history repeats itself, for +while Minerva Skybrow and her girl companions decked the Skybrow lawn +with lanterns of many colors, and frilled their hair, and festooned the +rustic summer-house with streamers, the sturdy adventurers who swore +allegiance to the martial traffic sign of Pee-wee Harris were suffering +as no hardy pioneer had ever suffered before as they loyally partook of +the hunter's stew which their leader had prepared in the dishpan. If, +indeed, this novel concoction was the favorite fare of hunters, it is +no wonder that the race of hunters is becoming extinct. But our +business is not with the explorers. +</P> + +<P> +The spacious lawn of the Skybrow home was bathed in the soft light of +many paper lanterns depending from cords strung from tree to tree. +Other lanterns nestled in the spreading trees like jewels in a setting +of foliage. +</P> + +<P> +On that night the genial moon smiled down upon the Camp-fire Girls and +sent his myriad of rays like a serenading party to enliven the festive +scene. The place looked like some enchanted grove. A platform had +been built for the dancing, several little khaki-colored tents that had +done service in the North Woods (north of Bridgeboro) dotted the lawn, +the emblem of the Camp-fire Girls waved above the summer-house, bathed +in the glow of a small search-light, and, glory of glories, a small +tent nestling under a spreading elm near the moonlit river contained a +table which looked like a snowy monument reared in tribute to the god +of food. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, Roy was right; the Skybrows did not do these things by halves. +Here indeed was a haven for the famished; here rescue awaited the +starving scout. In the center stood a pyramid of triangular +sandwiches, rivalling in magnitude the pyramids of Egypt. This was +flanked by two gorgeous icing cakes, one white and one brown. A bowl +of chicken salad overflowed its cut glass confines, the same as +Pee-wee's island had overflowed its trusty scow. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that the much feared salted almonds were there but they +crouched in shame under the spreading sides of a wooden hash-bowl +camouflaged with crepe paper and piled with jellied doughnuts. If +there were any lady fingers they did not show their faces (if lady +fingers have faces) but the jovial raspberry tart was there in all its +glory a hundred strong. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think everything is perfectly <I>scrumptious</I>," said Minerva +Skybrow, completing a tour of inspection at this culinary paradise and +allowing herself an olive or two. +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness gracious, let them alone or there won't be any left," said +Miss Dora Dane Daring. +</P> + +<P> +"Silly!" said Minerva. "There are <I>oceans</I> of them. Doesn't the river +look perfectly lovely in the moonlight?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think everything is <I>perfectly adorable</I>," said another friend; +"and the weather is just <I>heavenly</I>. For goodness' sakes, let the +candy alone; that's the fourth piece you took." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," said Minerva. "I'm not going to let a <I>single one</I> of them +come out here till they have all arrived. We're going to have the +concert in the house first and they've <I>just got</I> to listen to Mrs. +Wild speak about the Camp-fire movement, because she's just <I>perfectly +wonderful</I>. Do you know, I wish I had put the refreshments in the +summer house. No, I don't either—yes, I do. It would have been more +romantic—<I>rustic</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I think this tent is <I>perfect</I>," said another girl, slyly helping +herself to a salted almond. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," said Minerva, her hand stealing unconsciously toward a box of +marsh mallows, "I know, but what I wanted was something +unusual—symbolic. A rustic platform in one of the big trees would +have been nice; it would have been sort of—sort of <I>scoutish</I>. I want +to have things <I>different</I>. That's why boys always make fun of the +Camp-fire Girls, they think we're <I>tame</I>. Think how Roy Blakeley and +his friends actually camped in that adorable old railroad car while it +was traveling, goodness knows where. When I went to the Aero Club +reception with Harold Fall they had the refreshments in a great +balloon; we had to go up to it on a ladder—<I>shh</I>, listen! Did you +hear a noise?" +</P> + +<P> +A chorus of excited whisperings followed her startled query. +</P> + +<P> +"No, where?" +</P> + +<P> +"What was it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Was it a voice?" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean on the river?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Shh</I>, listen," said Minerva; "<I>look</I>, do you see a light—right there +among the bushes? <I>Shh</I>. Don't run." +</P> + +<P> +There was indeed a light shining through the dark foliage alongshore +and presently a voice was to be heard, a voice speaking words to strike +terror to the stoutest Camp-fire Girl heart. +</P> + +<P> +"I watched for the cops," it said, "and as soon as I saw them I beat it +across the field and told the gang and every one got away but it was a +narrow escape. One detective had me by the collar. <I>This is going to +be easy though</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Bandits!" whispered Minerva. +</P> + +<P> +"They're going to rob the house while we're on the lawn," breathed +Margaret Timerson. +</P> + +<P> +"They're crouching on the shore just behind those bushes," said another +girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Leave it to me," said the mysterious voice. "I'll handle them." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +EVERY WHICH WAY +</H3> + + +<P> +We left Merry-go-round Island revolving gracefully upon a tiny reef +whence it was borne by the rising tide. We are now to take up our +narrative at the point where the island ceased spinning and was carried +slowly on upstream by the incoming waters. When the tide reached +flood, the island hesitated upon the still water, then like some +obedient and clumsy ox, moved slowly downstream again upon the ebb. +And meanwhile, the day departed and darkness fell upon the winding +river and the hardy adventurers lit their lanterns. +</P> + +<P> +"I was hoping we might stick in some pleasant spot," said Townsend, +"where the fishing is good. I forgot how a floating island might act +in a tidal river. I wish this island would make up its mind to +something. Just when I want to explore the western coast I find it's +the eastern coast. I don't know where I'm at——" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't have to know where you're at to have fun," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," said Townsend; "but when I hike fifteen or twenty feet to +the north coast of the island and then the island swings around and I +find I'm on the south coast, I've got to hike all the way across the +island again to get to the north coast and when I get there I find I'm +on the west coast. Then I cross to the east coast and in about a +minute I find I'm on the southern shore. +</P> + +<P> +"No matter where I go I'm somewhere else; it's discouraging. I've +walked forty-eleven miles since supper trying to keep on the western +coast and here I am on the north—wait a minute—the eastern coast. If +this Island won't stay still I can't explore it." +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what we can do," said Pee-wee; "we can penetrate the +interior, then we'll always be in the same place." +</P> + +<P> +So they penetrated the interior and sprawled on the ground and chatted. +</P> + +<P> +"When we find another member," said Pee-wee, "we'll have a full patrol +and then we'll have to start a scout record and write down a +description of the island and everything we see, because scouts have to +do that because they have to be observant and they have to be accurate +when they describe things." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you say that this little tree is near the west coast of the +island?" Townsend asked. "I've followed it around for the last half +hour and I don't know where it is except it's here." +</P> + +<P> +"Here isn't a place," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it is," shouted Pee-wee; "here is just as much a place as there." +</P> + +<P> +"More," said Townsend. "There are three places—here, there, and +everywhere; I've often heard them spoken of." +</P> + +<P> +"That's just where this island is," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Absolutely," said Townsend, "only it won't stay there. Is there +anything more we can eat? Anything more that you don't have to <I>make</I>? +My long tramp in search of the west coast has made me hungry again." +</P> + +<P> +"I can make flapjacks," said Pee-wee; "I've got eight pounds of Indian +meal." +</P> + +<P> +"How far would I have to hike to digest them?" Townsend asked. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd need a bigger island than this," said Brownie. "You couldn't +digest a flapjack on anything smaller than South America." +</P> + +<P> +"Give me a piece of chocolate," said Townsend, "and a couple of prunes." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks nice up the river in the moonlight, doesn't it?" Brownie +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean down the river," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm facing——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't try to find out where you're facing," said Townsend. "Here, eat +a prune." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to turn in pretty soon," said Nuts. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a new place to turn," said Townsend. "We've turned everywhere +but <I>in</I>. In the morning we'll turn out; then we will have turned +everywhere." +</P> + +<P> +"We're flopping downstream pretty fast," said Brownie; "that's one sure +thing." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad there's something sure," said Townsend. It was as good as a +circus to see him sitting against the tree with his knees drawn up, +glancing this way and that with a funny look of patient resignation on +his face. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you say we put the tent up in the heart of the interior? Then +we'll be able to find it in the morning. The unknown heart of the +interior seems to be the only place we can be sure of. At least it +always stays inside. Hand me that grocery box from the extreme +southern shore, will you? And another prune? The heart of my interior +demands another prune. Do you know, Discoverer, what I think? I think +I see a settlement. I don't know where it is because I don't know +which way I'm facing, but I'm certainly facing a settlement—or at +least I was a second ago. There it is again. I think we're nearing +the coast of Japan; I see a Japanese lantern. That's funny. Did we +pass the Philippines?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," said Brownie. "We passed Corbett's Lumber Yard." +</P> + +<P> +"The Philippines are farther along," said Townsend; "they're the second +turn to our left. If this island hits Japan they'll grab it; I have a +feeling that they'll grab it like the island of Yap." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I've got an inspiration! I've got an inspiration!</I>" shouted Pee-wee +in a voice of thunder. "I know where we're at. That's Mr. Skybrow's +place down there. He owns a lot of railroads and things! They're +having a lawn party there to-night!" +</P> + +<P> +"Are they having anything to eat?" Townsend asked quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yum, yum—m-m-m!" said Pee-wee. "They have everything. Once I went +to Minerva's birthday party and I couldn't go to school all next week, +that's how much they have to eat there. Get the clothes-sticks. Get +the clothes-sticks! Let's pole the island to shore. I bet she'll like +you because you're big—I'll introduce you to her—all my old troop is +going to be there—hurry up—push—keep pushing!" +</P> + +<P> +"Reach over to the west coast and hand me that pole from the north +coast before it goes over to the east coast," said Townsend quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Get up! <I>Get up</I>!" shouted Pee-wee, all excitement. "Aren't you +going to get up?" +</P> + +<P> +"Positively," said Townsend, dragging himself to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Shh!" said Pee-wee, "let's surprise them." +</P> + +<P> +"You're the only one that's making any noise," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean myself, too," said Pee-wee. "Shhhh." +</P> + +<P> +"He's telling himself to keep still," Brownie, unable to control his +laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean all of us—me too," said Pee-wee. "Shh." +</P> + +<P> +It was during the long and rather difficult process of poling the +island to shore that Pee-wee, unable to impose more than comparative +quiet upon himself, edified his companions with an account of his +recent adventure in Barrel Alley. +</P> + +<P> +And it was his seemingly ominous mention of "cops" and fugitives which +Minerva Skybrow and her friends, lingering at the little refreshment +tent near the river, overheard. At that moment the desert island was +bobbing against the thick rhododendron bushes at the edge of the lawn. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EARTHLY PARADISE +</H3> + + +<P> +"I don't care who it is or what it is," said Dora Dane Daring; "I'm not +afraid of the biggest bandit that ever lived. I'm going to find out +what those men are doing lurking about here." +</P> + +<P> +Without another word she strode forward, parted the rhododendron +bushes, and confronted the marauders. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I—<I>never</I>—in—<I>all</I> my <I>life</I>," she cried. "It's little +Walter Harris! What on <I>earth</I> are you doing here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I discovered this island," said Pee-wee; "we're exploring it. One of +these fellers is a native because he was on it before it was an island." +</P> + +<P> +"Look out you don't get your feet wet on the stern and rock-bound +coast," said Townsend. "Hold the lantern, Brownie." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever <I>see</I> such a thing!" said Minerva Skybrow, emerging +through the bushes, accompanied by her official staff. "Walter Harris, +what in goodness' name are you doing here? I thought you were robbers. +What in <I>all creation</I> are you up to? And how did you happen to get +here?" +</P> + +<P> +"We've been going around quite a little lately," said Townsend quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Townsend Ripley," said Pee-wee; "he's a friend of mine; these +fellers are all friends of mine. We're exploring." +</P> + +<P> +"We're very glad to meet you, Mr. Ripley," said Minerva, while Miss +Daring whispered in the ear of Miss Timerson, "Isn't he nice? So tall." +</P> + +<P> +"We thought we'd come to the party," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any parking space for islands?" Townsend asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>indeed</I> we have," said Minerva, "and you're going to be the star +guests. May we step on the island?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, it's very steady," said Townsend, helping them one after +another onto the frowning coast while Brownie held the lantern. +"Wherever we go we take our island with us; it's like ivory soap, it +floats. Will you have a piece of wild chocolate, out of the heart of +the interior?" +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't he just <I>lovely</I>," whispered Miss Daring. +</P> + +<P> +"So can we stay?" asked Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Stay? I wouldn't let you go for anything," said Minerva. "Listen, +girls, I've got an <I>inspiration</I>——" +</P> + +<P> +"I have lots of those," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"They grow wild here," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen," said Minerva, "I have a perfectly <I>marvellous</I> idea." +</P> + +<P> +She sat down on the grocery box and in her joy and excitement fairly +drowned out Pee-wee who was struggling with a vehement running +narrative of the day's adventures. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it will be simply <I>divine</I>," said Minerva. "Listen—don't +interrupt me—I'm going to have the refreshments served on this island. +I'm going to have the old painter's scaffold for a <I>gang-plank</I> leading +to it——" +</P> + +<P> +"There are refreshments then?" Townsend asked quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Refreshments? Aren't you perfectly <I>terrible</I>! Of course there +are—<I>oceans</I> of them." +</P> + +<P> +"No more oceans for me," said Townsend. "Hereafter I'm going to live +on shore. My sailing—flopping—days are over." +</P> + +<P> +"You're too funny for anything," said Minerva. "Listen, do you see +that little tent? The refreshments are all in there. There's just +time before the guests all come to move everything over here. I want +you boys to help me. We're going to call it the <I>dessert island</I> +instead of the <I>desert island</I>. Isn't that adorable? Isn't it odd? +Everyone will go into raptures over it, you see if they don't. You'll +let us use your island, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll make you a present of it," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"My idea," said Miss Timerson, "would be to tie it to these bushes that +stick out over the water. It ought to be far enough away from the—the +mainland—to be romantic. How far away do you think it should be, Mr. +Ripley?" +</P> + +<P> +"The way I feel about it I think it should be at least two thousand +miles off." +</P> + +<P> +"Silly!" said Miss Daring. "Please be serious. Do you think about +three yards would be romantic?" +</P> + +<P> +"I never measured romance by the yard," said Townsend, "but I should +think about three yards and a half of romance would be enough. If we +have any left over we can give it to the discoverer. He eats it alive." +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll tell you what I'll do," shouted Pee-wee; "it's an +inspiration." +</P> + +<P> +"Another?" Townsend asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll—I'll—I'll stay on the island——" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"And—and—I'll stand right here by the traffic sign and after somebody +that's eating has had enough, I'll turn the sign so it says STOP; I'll +turn it so it's facing him." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever hear anything so absurd?" said Minerva. +</P> + +<P> +"I think it would be picturesque," said Dora. +</P> + +<P> +"And sensible, too," said Margaret, "because some of those scouts will +just stay here and gorge themselves and won't dance at all." +</P> + +<P> +"I think it's a very good idea," said Townsend; "it will relieve +congestion here. A food traffic cop." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be it," shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is this romantic scaffold?" Townsend asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The painters left it in the cellar," said Minerva. "Let's hurry, I'll +show you where it is." +</P> + +<P> +There was, indeed, just time enough to arrange this novel life-saving +station with its picturesque gang-plank before the guests began to +arrive. +</P> + +<P> +"And this is the end of our wild adventures on a foreign shore," said +Townsend, as he carried one end of the old scaffold across the +dim-lighted lawn accompanied by the group of excited maidens; "we wind +up at a lawn party. This is what the discoverer has brought us to." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think he's just <I>killing</I>?" Minerva asked. +</P> + +<P> +"More than that," said Townsend; "his hunter's stew is more than +killing. Did you ever try any of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, you're going to have some delicious chicken salad," said +Minerva. +</P> + +<P> +The boys, under Minerva's enthusiastic supervision, tied the island +about six feet from shore. The romantic gang-plank kept it from +drifting closer in while two clothes-poles driven into the bottom of +the river just below it prevented it from drifting with the ebbing +tide. Pee-wee's trusty clothesline was stretched between the little +apple tree and the overhanging rhododendron bushes as an auxiliary +mooring and to hold the island steady. +</P> + +<P> +Thus secured and free from the prosaic shore, the romantic isle +presented an inviting scene, with the little tent upon it and Japanese +lanterns shedding a mellow light from the bushes and the securing +clothesline. The rippling water flickered with a gentle and undulating +glow and inverted paper lanterns could be seen reflected beneath the +surface, as if indeed the beholder could look down and see romantic and +picturesque Japan on the opposite side of the earth. +</P> + +<P> +The scaffold, forgetting its prosy usage, was resplendent in a winding +robe of bunting and on its railing where cans of white lead and linseed +oil had disported hung lanterns of every color in the rainbow. To this +enchanted isle would stroll dance-weary couples and famishing scouts to +regale themselves in this dim, detached, earthly paradise. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a minute, oh, just wait a minute!" cried Minerva in the spell of +such an inspiration as comes only once in a lifetime. "Oh, just wait +<I>one minute</I>." +</P> + +<P> +She hurried across the lawn, returning presently with a huge, spotless +apron with strings of goodly dimension which, in a very glow of +inspired joy, she tied around the waist of Pee-wee Harris. It was +necessary to shorten it by a series of pokes and pushes by which it was +tucked up under its own strings and lifted clear of the adventurous +feet of the scout. Nor was that all, for somewhere out of the +mysterious depths of the house, Minerva had brought a starched and +snowy chef's cap with which she crowned our hero. +</P> + +<P> +"You be right here when they begin coming down," Minerva said, "and +stand close to the traffic sign and if any boy stays here too long turn +the STOP sign on him." +</P> + +<P> +"And turn it on yourself if necessary," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't let anybody eat more than about—about—five helpings. +That'll be enough for them, hey?" said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Goodness gracious, yes," said Dora Dane Daring. +</P> + +<P> +"You're the steward, remember," said Minerva. "Do you know what a +steward is?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's—he's named after a stew," said Pee-wee, hitching up his +spreading apron. "You leave the people to me, I'll handle them." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GONE +</H3> + + +<P> +The steward (or the stew, as Townsend thenceforth called him) did not +attend the party. A preliminary tour of the grounds convinced him that +adventures of his particular kind were not to be found there. Dancing +was not in his line. Music (except the clamorous music of his own +voice) he did not care for. And he did not care to hear what Mrs. Wild +had to say about the Camp-fire movement. +</P> + +<P> +To him the crucial part of the whole party was the eats and he lingered +near them like a faithful sentinel. The artistic quality of these +saved them from devastation. Those pyramids of luscious beauty could +not be denied by human hands without showing the indubitable signs of +vandalism. Their very splendor saved them. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that he skilfully extracted an olive from the symmetrical +mound of chicken salad and took an almond and a macaroon and other +detached dainties that were not made sacred and secure by their own +architecture. But for the most part Pee-wee was faithful to his trust. +He knew his time would come. And then, oh, then, that proud tower of +interlaced sandwiches would look like Rheims Cathedral. +</P> + +<P> +Thus an hour passed and the merry throng emerged upon the lawn and made +a direct assault upon the dancing platform, lured by strains of +irresistible music. Some strolled about but none out of the radius of +that melodious magnetism, and Pee-wee remained undisturbed on the +romantic isle of eats. +</P> + +<P> +He sat upon the edge of the island, the extreme western coast, fishing +for eels, with a string, a bent pin and a salted almond. It seemed +that the eels did not care for salted almonds, so Pee-wee endeavored to +tempt them with a chocolate bonbon but the bonbon dissolved on the pin, +forming a sort of subterranean chocolate sundae, and the eels ignored +it. +</P> + +<P> +"I bet I know what's the matter," said Pee-wee; "they're afraid to come +near the island on account of the lights." At all events the eels +appeared to shun the neighborhood of the party; they were not in +society. +</P> + +<P> +Just then Pee-wee had an inspiration. In the light of its consequences +it was probably the most momentous inspiration that he ever had. "I +know what I'll do," he said. "I'll use a long, long stick that'll +reach way, way, way out." And he glanced about him in quest of a +"long, long stick" with which to beguile the bashful eels. His +inquiring eye lit upon one of the long clothes-line supporters which +Townsend had driven into the river bottom to help hold the island in +position. +</P> + +<P> +It is necessary to understand the strategical position of this +prospective fishing rod. These two poles had been forced down into the +muddy bottom just south of the island and the southern edge of the +island lay against them and was thus prevented from drifting down with +the ebbing tide. The makeshift gang-plank, gay with bunting, held the +island off shore and the ropes between the island and the bushes +steadied it. This crude engineering was quite sufficient. BUT—— +</P> + +<P> +There is a church somewhere in Europe of which it is said that if a +certain brick were removed the whole edifice would fall in ruins. +Pee-wee was not even an amateur engineer. That world-stirring +consequences could flow from an act so casual and trivial as securing a +fishing rod never entered his innocent and pre-occupied mind. He did +not know that in the hasty calculations of Townsend all the component +parts of this system of props and fetters were necessary one to +another. He removed the brick and the cathedral fell and there +followed a catastrophe compared to which the World War is a mere +incident. If he had pulled the north pole out of the earth the sequel +could hardly have been more momentous. +</P> + +<P> +Sublimely innocent of the fact that he was unhinging the universe, +Pee-wee arose, advanced to the outer pole and began tugging on it. It +did not come up easily for the force of the rapidly ebbing tide caused +the island to press against it like a brake. But he succeeded at last +and as he dragged the muddy pole across the grass, the island turned +slowly cornerwise to the shore. +</P> + +<P> +In his preoccupation, Pee-wee did not notice this. He tied his +fishline to the end of the pole, bent another pin and provisioned it +with a stuffed olive, requisitioned from a cutglass dish nearby. How +he intended to support this lengthy pole so that its end might reach +the neighborhood of the coy eels is not a part of this narrative for +Pee-wee's angling enterprise never reached that point. +</P> + +<P> +He was presently startled by a splash and looking around he saw that +the end of the scaffold had slipped off the island. He was now aroused +to the imminent peril of the Isle of Desserts and to the terrible +responsibility which fell to the clothesline and the bushes. +</P> + +<P> +As the island turned slowly outward the clothes-line strained but held +fast. But the rhododendron bushes had not the same heroic quality. +For a few moments they resisted, but the island, now at the mercy of +the ebb, tugged and tugged, and presently a mass of bush gave up the +struggle and came away, rope and all. The earthly paradise with its +luscious store of cake and chicken salad, its commanding pyramid of +sandwiches flanked by icing cakes, its plates of dates and olives and +candy of every variety, its mound of jellied doughnuts, and a mammoth +freezer full of ice cream, floated majestically down the moonlit river, +trailing a huge clump of rhododendron bush after it like the tail of a +comet. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOILED +</H3> + + +<P> +And now out of the still and moonlit night arose peal after peal of +thunder imparting a note of terror to this world catastrophe. Never +before had the thunderous voice of our hero rent the heavens as it did +now. +</P> + +<P> +"Help! Help! I'm floating away with the eats." +</P> + +<P> +It is no wonder that the man in the moon smiled at what he saw on the +river that night. Seeing the laden board, the pyramid of sandwiches +rearing its luscious pinnacle toward heaven, he seemed to wink at +Pee-wee—with what purport who shall say? Sufficient that our hero saw +him not. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>He-e-e-elp</I>! I'm drifting downstream with the refreshments," he +called. "<I>He-e-elp</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +They heard him amid their revels. Townsend Ripley who had suffered the +assaults of the hunter's stew heard him. The scouts who had eaten a +"light supper" heard him. Warde Hollister who had pled with Roy for a +safety first policy heard him. Minerva Skybrow heard him and paused +aghast in the midst of a two-step. For what was a two-step now +compared to the one-step which Pee-wee had taken? Roly Poly and +Brownie, also victims of the hunter's stew, heard him as they waited +patiently, and were struck dumb with terror. Only the man in the moon +smiled, and winked at Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>He-e-e-e-e-e-el-l-l-p! I'm floating away with the eats!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +But did he really need any help? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +They rushed to the shore pell-mell and some hurried to the barn for the +only means of rescue—an old disused skiff and a leaky, discarded +canoe. Others gazed in wistful silence out upon the glinting water. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Hurry! Hurry!</I>" cried Minerva. "I can see it! Don't you see the +lanterns down there?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's on the flats, I think," said Warde. +</P> + +<P> +"He's on the table," shouted Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"He's in the channel!" +</P> + +<P> +"He's in the ice cream!" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, he's calling!" +</P> + +<P> +"His mouth is full, I can't hear him." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Hurry! Hurry! Oh, hurry!</I>" cried Minerva. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you what let's do," Roy said. +</P> + +<P> +"You told us once," said Warde; "that's enough." +</P> + +<P> +"I saved the ice cream freezer from rolling off," shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"A lot of good that does us," shouted Doc Carson. +</P> + +<P> +"Put it where it will be safe," shouted Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, I will," shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Gracious goodness, he isn't going to eat it, is he?" Margaret Timerson +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll have to finish whatever else he's eating first," said Doc +Carson. "Push that boat off, we have only a minute to act in." +</P> + +<P> +"How long does it usually take him to finish a sandwich?" Minerva asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Three-tenths of a second," said Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll be too frightened to eat," said Dora Daring. +</P> + +<P> +"He's never too frightened to eat," said Connie Bennett. +</P> + +<P> +"He consumes pie while he's consumed with fear," Roy said. +</P> + +<P> +"He consumes everything," said Warde. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what will we ever <I>do</I>?" Minerva walled, wringing her arms in +desperation. +</P> + +<P> +"The thing to do is to reach him before he gets really started," said +Doc Carson, who was ever thoughtful and far-sighted. "When he starts +he works fast. I don't think he's really begun yet. He believes in +fair play and he wouldn't start before ten o'clock—that's refreshment +time, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It was to be," said Minerva. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the time we were waiting for," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Has he a watch?" Margaret asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it's usually about twenty minutes fast," said Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, isn't that perfectly <I>terrible</I>!" said Dora. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll make terrible inroads on it," said Connie Bennett. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Inroads</I>!" said Roy. "You mean turnpikes and highways." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, why don't you boys hurry?" Minerva asked excitedly. "It +isn't too late. <I>Oh, do hurry</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"We can never tow that island back against the tide," said Dorry Benton. +</P> + +<P> +"We can remove the stuff to the boat though," said Artie Van Arlen. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to 'phone to Mr. Speeder to get his motor-boat and go after +him; he can tow it back." +</P> + +<P> +"Listen—<I>shh</I>—he's calling," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Shh—<I>shhhh</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen." +</P> + +<P> +From down the river, a little farther than before, came a voice spent +by the distance. "<I>I'm on the flats, I'm stuck.</I>" +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness!" said Minerva. "Now we can reach him." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going around?" Townsend shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"The sandwiches are all falling down," called the voice. "The +doughnuts are rolling out." +</P> + +<P> +"Save them," shouted Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, I will," screamed Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oh, such a relief</I>," said Minerva. "Do you think he's stuck fast?" +</P> + +<P> +"We can only hope," said Townsend. "Come on, let's hustle." +</P> + +<P> +Words cannot describe the haste and excitement with which the skiff was +launched and manned by a little band of doughty pioneers. Roy, Warde +Hollister and Townsend Ripley were the crew, two rowing while the other +steered. +</P> + +<P> +"Can we help ourselves?" Warde asked, as they glided out on the river. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, yes, help yourselves to <I>anything</I>," called Minerva, "only +bring them back—pile them in the boat—it doesn't make any difference +how—only hurry, he may drift off again." +</P> + +<P> +"Now you see," said Roy, addressing Warde, "the harder you work and the +longer you wait the hungrier you'll be. Everything is working out +fine, thanks to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, sure," said Warde, already breathless from his strenuous rowing, +"they give you roast turkey up at Skybrows; they give you chicken salad +and sandwiches and—only try to get it. I'm so hungry I could eat the +island, thanks to you. I could eat a whisk-broom. Follow you and I'll +starve." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever eat any of that kid's hunter's stew?" Townsend asked as +he rowed. +</P> + +<P> +"Did we?" said Roy. "It's the best thing I know of if you want to stay +home from school." +</P> + +<P> +"It's kind of queer," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, mysterious," said Warde. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's talk of something pleasant," said Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm pretty hungry, too," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll soon be there," said Warde. "We had something of a scare, +didn't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"All's well that ends well," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, sure," said Roy, "only you don't end so <I>well</I> after eating +hunter's stew. We should worry, we'll have all the stuff pretty soon +now. Narrow escape, hey? <I>Oh, boy</I>, it would have been terrible to +lose all that stuff. It looked like an altar, didn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It'll look like a vacuum when we get through with it," said Warde. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think we can get it all in the boat?" +</P> + +<P> +"If we can't, we'll tow the icing cakes behind," said Roy. "What <I>I'm</I> +thinking fond thoughts about is the ice cream." +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," said Warde. +</P> + +<P> +And meanwhile the man in the moon winked down at Pee-wee. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN THE GLARE OF THE SEARCH-LIGHT +</H3> + + +<P> +Now the tide is a funny thing, especially in a small suburban river. +The banks of a river being for the most part sloping, the river bed is +narrower at the bottom than at the top. You don't have to wear glasses +to see that. That is why the tide, as it recedes, runs faster and +faster; because during the last hour or two of its recession it flows +in narrower confines. This has been the settled policy of nature for +many centuries, and it was so ordered for the benefit of Pee-wee Harris. +</P> + +<P> +When the Merry-go-round Island floated leisurely against the Skybrow +lawn the tide had been flowing out for about an hour. When this same +rechristened island broke loose disguised as an earthly paradise, the +tide was in a great hurry. And when the earthly paradise caught upon +the flats the little remaining water was running as if it were going to +catch a train. +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly, ever so rapidly, the water slid down off the flats to join the +hurrying water in the channel. And, presto, all of a sudden there was +the Isle of Desserts high and dry surrounded by an ocean of oozy mud +while the river, narrowed to a mere brook, rushed in its channel some +fifty feet distant. And there you are. +</P> + +<P> +That is why the man in the moon (who knows all about the tides) winked +at Pee-wee. At least, I suppose that is why he winked. +</P> + +<P> +You could not have reached the Isle of Desserts with a boat or with +snow-shoes or with stilts or with anything except an airplane. +Swimming to it was out of the question. Shouting and screaming to it +was feasible, of course. Radio operations were conceivable. But reach +it no one could. The adventurer would have been swallowed in mud. +This safe isolation would continue for a couple of hours and then the +playful water would come rippling in again spreading a glinting +coverlet over the flats once more and lifting the island upon its +swelling bosom. +</P> + +<P> +Down the narrowing river rowed our rescuing crew, and as they rowed the +river narrowed. Soon the lantern light on the island was abreast of +them, some forty or fifty feet distant. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, over there," called Warde. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm pretty well," called Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"What are we going to do?" asked Townsend. "The tide has beat us to +it. He's safe enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he couldn't be safer," said Warde. "Our name is mud. All our +rowing for nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"How about the eats over there, Kid?" Warde called. +</P> + +<P> +"They're all right," called Pee-wee, "only the ice cream is starting to +melt. I stuck my finger in through the ice and the cream is kind of +oozing out. Maybe I better eat it, hey? It won't hold out till the +tide comes in. I ate a sandwich and that made me thirsty and I didn't +want to be drinking the lemonade so I ate a piece of ice out of the +freezer and that made me more thirsty so I drank some lemonade anyway +and that made me hungry again and I'm going to eat a sardine sandwich +only I'm afraid that'll make me thirsty and——" +</P> + +<P> +"This is horrible," said Townsend; "it's like an endless chain. Where +will the end be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think it would be all right for me to eat some chicken salad?" +Pee-wee shouted. "The tide won't be high enough to float this island +for two hours." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't!" called Warde, stopping up his ears. "Have a heart." +</P> + +<P> +"Have a what?" called Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Have a doughnut," shouted Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," called Pee-wee. "There's some dandy cheese here in a kind +of a little jar—<I>yum—yum</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't!" shrieked Warde. +</P> + +<P> +"Doughnut?" called Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I said '<I>don't</I>'," called Warde. "You'll have me eating one of +the oarlocks in a minute." +</P> + +<P> +Soon a faint chugging could be heard; it ceased, presumably at the +Skybrow lawn, then started again. Nearer and nearer it came until +presently the racing boat of Dashway Speeder came to a stop alongside +them. Half a dozen girls and as many hungry male guests of the party +were in it clamoring for news. +</P> + +<P> +"This is terrible!" said Minerva. "I never <I>dreamed</I> of such a thing +as this. Why, he's <I>marooned</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm all safe," shouted Pee-wee, "don't you worry." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Safe</I>! I should think he is," said Dora. "If he had the British +navy all around him he couldn't be safer." +</P> + +<P> +"The world is at his feet," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean at his mouth," said Roy. +</P> + +<P> +"I never heard of such a thing in all my born days," said Margaret. +</P> + +<P> +"He's cornered the food market," said another hungry guest. +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness' sake turn your search-light on him, Dashway," said +Minerva, "and let's see what he looks like. This is simply <I>tragic</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Dashway Speeder turned the search-light of his launch across the fiats +and there amid the surrounding mud, still bubbling from the effects of +the departing tide, was presented a scene like unto a picture on a +movie screen. There, bathed in light amid the surrounding gloom, like +a film star in a disk of brightness, sat Scout Harris upon a grocery +box surrounded by fallen sandwiches and with a goodly bowl securely +held between his diminutive knees. It was a superb and mouth-watering +close-up, to use the film phrase. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I might as well eat some things, hey?" me lone voyager called. +"Because it's past time for refreshments anyway and the tide won't +carry me off for more than two hours and everybody'll be going home +then and the ice cream is starting to melt, the lemon ice is getting +all soft, so will it be all right to start eating the chicken salad and +the sandwiches and things? I only kind of sort of tested them so far." +</P> + +<P> +Warde Hollister stopped up his ears in an agony of torture while a +dozen famishing boys flopped this way and that in attitudes of +suffering despair. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it will be all right," called poor Minerva in a kind of +desperation. "It's the only thing, you might as well." She seemed +resigned if not reconciled. "You might as well eat the ice cream +anyway, it will only melt." +</P> + +<P> +"And the chicken salad?" called the merciless hero, "and the +sandwiches, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Oh, this is too much</I>," moaned Connie Bennett. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't so much as you might think," shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"He must be hollow from head to foot," said Margaret. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, eat everything," wailed Minerva in the final spirit of utter +resignation. +</P> + +<P> +"Yum—yum," called Pee-wee. "Oh, boy, it's good." +</P> + +<P> +And still the man in the moon winked down, and smiled his merry scout +smile upon Scout Harris. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DREAM OF KEEKIE JOE +</H3> + + +<P> +On that night, in the back yard of Billy Gilson's tire repair shop, +Keekie Joe, the sentinel of Barrel Alley, sat upon a pile of old Ford +radiators, untangling a complicated mass of fishing-line. He was +trying to follow a selected strand through the various fastnesses of +the labyrinth. +</P> + +<P> +The involved mass was really not a fishing-line but, in its untangled +state, an apparatus for confounding and enraging pedestrians. +Stretched across the sidewalk between two tin cans its function was to +catch in the feet of passersby, thus pulling the clamorous cans about +the ankles of the victim. Keekie Joe had always found this game +diverting and he was wont to vary its surprises by filling the cans +with muddy water. +</P> + +<P> +But on this eventful night he was driven to dismantle the apparatus and +consecrate it to a new use. For Keekie Joe was hungry and he dared not +go home; so he was going fishing. +</P> + +<P> +The hours following the crap game had not been golden hours for the +sentinel of Barrel Alley. When he emerged from the tenement and +rejoined Pee-wee after the episode of the crap game, he had ten cents +that his father had given him with which to buy a package of cigarettes. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe was never able to consider consequences at a distance of +more than ten minutes into the future. When he played hooky from +school on Thursday it never occurred to him that he would be answerable +to the powers that be on Friday. Notwithstanding that he was a +sentinel he could never look ahead. And when Keekie Joe smoked several +of his father's cigarettes on the way home, it never occurred to him +that he would have to remain away from home through supper time, and +until his father had retired for the night. +</P> + +<P> +Thus it was that at nine o'clock or thereabouts, Keekie Joe realized +that he was hungry and that four cigarettes stood between him and home, +effectually barring the way. He measured the licking that he would get +against the supper that he would get, and he decided to go fishing. No +doubt his choice was well considered for the supper that he would get +might not be a good one whereas the licking that he would get would be +nothing short of magnificent. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe had not the slightest idea how to cook a fish and he could +not think so far ahead as that. But food he must have. So he had dug +some worms and put them in one of his trick cans and then proceeded to +untangle the line. Having secured an unknotted length of five or six +feet he equipped this with a fish-hook of his own manufacture and +sallied forth toward the river. He was not only hungry, but sleepy, +and it never occurred to him that this was the exorbitant price of four +cigarettes. +</P> + +<P> +Hunger and sleep vied with each other in the shuffling body of Keekie +Joe as he crossed Main Street and cut across the fields toward the +marshes. +</P> + +<P> +Down by the river was a little shanty in which was a mass of fishing +seine. It stood hospitably open, for the hinges of the door were all +rusted away and the dried and shrunken boards lay on the marshy ground +before the entrance. Keekie Joe had intended to make sure that there +was nothing to eat in the shanty before casting his line in the +neighboring water. For there was the barest chance that a petrified +crust of bread, ancient remnant of some fisherman's lunch, might be in +the place. +</P> + +<P> +Once Keekie Joe had found such a crust there. But the place was bare +now of everything except deserted spider-webs, black and heavy with +dust. These and the mass of net upon the ground were all that Keekie +Joe could see in the light of the genial moonbeams which shone through +the open doorway and wriggled in through the cracks in the +weather-beaten boards. +</P> + +<P> +And now again Keekie Joe had to make a choice. He was hungry, oh, so +hungry. But he was sleepy, too, to the point of blinking +half-consciousness. The eyes which had so often watched for "cops," +and which had won for Keekie Joe his nickname, were half closed and he +could hardly stand. Such a price for four cigarettes! +</P> + +<P> +The eyes which had been so faithful to a doubtful trust and won the pay +of an apple core, could not be trusted now to stay open while he sat, a +ragged, lonely figure, on the shore dangling his line in quest of a +morsel to eat. It was funny how these eyes, which had served others so +well, seemed about to go back on their owner now. But so it was. And +then, in a moment, a very strange thing happened. +</P> + +<P> +As Keekie Joe leaned against the doorway blinking his eyes, he happened +to look up at the moon and it seemed (probably because his eyes were +blinking), it <I>seemed</I> as if the man in the moon winked at him, in a +way shrewdly significant as if he might have something up his sleeve. +Anyway, he could not keep his eyes open; sleep, for a little while at +least, had triumphed over hunger and the faithful little sentinel of +Barrel Alley stumbled over to the pile of net and sank down, exhausted, +upon it. +</P> + +<P> +And Keekie Joe dreamed a dream. A most outlandish dream. He dreamed +that the licorice jaw-breaker which that strange boy had thrown at him +was the size of a brick, and that as it fell upon the ground it broke +into a thousand luscious fragments like the pane of plate-glass through +which Keekie Joe had lately thrown a rock. He picked up the fragments +and ate them, and there before him stood the strange, small boy, who +threw a sponge cake directly at his head and hit him with it <I>plunk</I>. +"Wotcher chuckin' dem at me fer?" Keekie Joe demanded menacingly. +</P> + +<P> +But the small, strange boy (apparently without either fear or manners) +scaled a pumpkin pie at him and said, "Do you think I'm scared of you?" +He then squirted powdered sugar at him like poison gas and Keekie Joe +toppled backward off the fence and could not watch for cops, because +his eyes were full of powdered sugar. "Quit dat, d'yer hear!" he +screamed. But the small, strange boy threw a ham straight at him and +it fell on the ground with a thunderous crash and broke into a million +thin slices with mustard on them. +</P> + +<P> +The noise of this falling meteor awoke Keekie Joe and he sat up, +holding the two sides of his head, startled and dizzy from hunger. And +shining through the doorway of the shack he saw a light. It was not +the moonlight, but another light, and he crept, light-headed and +fearful, toward the opening, ready to run in case it was a cop … +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MISSIONARY LANDS ON FOREIGN SHORES +</H3> + + +<P> +What Keekie Joe beheld caused him to rub his eyes and concentrate his +gaze with more intensity than ever he had shown while at his official +post. There, bumping against the shore, was somebody or other's +grass-plot with a tree on it and a little tent. The frightened natives +who had witnessed the arrival of Columbus could not have been more +astonished than Keekie Joe. +</P> + +<P> +He glanced out upon the river to see if any lawns or groves or back +yards were floating around. Then his gaze returned to the miraculous +scene before him. There was the small boy he had known in the morning, +"the rich kid" who had been willing to sit as sentinel on the fence. +</P> + +<P> +He was now sitting on an inverted ice cream freezer and all about him +on the grass were sandwiches, hundreds of them. The tower had fallen +and its ruins lay about Pee-wee's feet. A lantern hung in the tent and +through the opening Keekie Joe caught a glimpse of a board covered with +spotless white cloth and piled with such things as he had seen in the +windows of bakeries. The laden board looked as if a cyclone had struck +it but in the tumbled chaos his quick and startled glance could +distinguish proud and lofty cakes rolled over on their brown or icy +superstructures, and doughnuts looking indeed like the cannon-balls +which might have laid low these beauteous edifices. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe gazed upon this scene of mouth-watering ruin with eyes +spellbound. Before him lay a miniature Pompeii buried under a kind of +lava of whipped cream and custard and chicken salad, amid which toppled +cakes and a frowning fortress of gingerbread lay sideways and upside +down. Bananas and oranges and nuts and raisins and olives littered the +scene of toothsome devastation. An empty square ice cream can, +disinterred from its quiet grave of ice, lay upon the ground. Another +was in Pee-wee's lap and our hero was armed with a deadly spoon. +</P> + +<P> +"I know who you are," he said, as he annihilated a cocoanut macaroon. +"You're the feller I saw this morning. Didn't I tell you if you got to +be a scout you'd have all you want to eat? Now you see!" +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe did see but he was too astounded to speak. He knew from +experience that this strange race of scouts carried jaw-breakers in +their pockets, and that they had a deadly aim. But he had not supposed +that they travelled in fairy barques which rivalled the windows of +bakery shops in their sumptuous appointments. He had not pictured them +as travelling on their private islands surrounded by mammoth icing +cakes five stories high, and towers of chocolate. He had not fancied +them sitting on ice cream freezers and tossing the emptied receptacles +from them. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee had told his friend of the morning that they would both vote +for Keekie Joe and that Keekie Joe should be the patrol leader. If +this was the way an ordinary scout travelled, what would be the proper +equipment of a patrol leader? It staggered poor Keekie Joe just to +think of this. And a scoutmaster! +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I tell you how it was with scouts?" Pee-wee demanded. "Now you +see!" +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe rubbed his eyes to make sure he was awake and scrutinized +Pee-wee shrewdly. For our hero was somewhat disguised by a villainous +moustache of chocolate which reached almost to his ear on one side and +made him look like a pirate. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like sardine sandwiches?" our hero asked at random, for he +hardly knew what to use for bait amid such crowding variety. "I was +stuck on the flats for over an hour and then the tide took me off. +It's coming in now. I'm going to stay on here all night and to-morrow +and all next week. So do you want to join? Only you have to be a +scout if you want to come on here. There are six other fellers but +they're at the party. They said I wouldn't have any fun at the party +because I can't dance, but I'm having more fun than any of them. I +foiled them. They're all dancing but they're good and hungry. Maybe +they look happy but they're not." +</P> + +<P> +"Do dey all go round in dem things?" Keekie Joe ventured to inquire. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I'm lucky," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Keekie Joe that Pee-wee was very lucky. +</P> + +<P> +"I've got the best part of the party here," said Pee-wee, holding onto +a tree alongshore to keep the island from drifting. "You better hurry +up because I can't hold it here; I can only hold it here +about—about—seven seconds. Only you can't come on unless you join +because we need one more feller. So will you join? If you will you +can have all the ice cream you want, because I got a right to all these +things. And there's cake goes with it too, and everything. It +includes chicken salad and sandwiches and everything. So will you +join? I'm the boss of all these things, I am, you can ask Minerva +Skybrow. I'm the boss of the olives and—and—everything." +</P> + +<P> +"Did yer swipe 'em?" Keekie Joe asked, looking furtively around as if +he thought that Pee-wee might be shadowed while in possession of such +boundless wealth. +</P> + +<P> +"I got them on account of being lucky," Pee-wee said. "I pulled a +stick out of the ground and it was a dandy mistake so that shows you'd +better stick to me, because I make lots of dandy mistakes. I make them +every day; sometimes I make two in one day and I've got nine ideas for +next week and all these eats besides. You needn't be afraid to get +on," he added, "because it'll drift up the river now and it won't go +past Bridgeboro on account of Waring's reef. There's where I want it +to stick because if it sticks there it'll stay there, you can bet. +Come on, don't you be scared." +</P> + +<P> +Then, with sudden inspiration, he added, "This is a peachy place to lay +keekie for cops, because you can see all around you away, <I>way</I> off. +And when all this food is gone there'll be apples getting ripe on this +tree and you won't have to speak for cores either, because you can have +whole apples, all you want of them. That's what scouts do, they eat +and they stay out all night and they're wild, kind of. And they don't +care what happens, and anyway the ice cream is melting all the time, so +will you join?" +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe, still hesitating in profound astonishment, and a little +fearful of this strange apparition with its presiding genius saw that +if he were going to act he must act quickly for though Pee-wee was king +of the island he seemed not able to govern its capricious fancy. +Clutch the tree as he would, the gap between scout and hoodlum +persistently widened, and the island seemed bent on hurrying upon its +wanton career. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe, not altogether easy in his mind, still found it impossible +to resist these enumerated benefits of scouting. Being wild and +staying out all night and eating and eating and eating forever and +forever under a profusion of blossoms which gave new promise, was too +much for the sentinel of Barrel Alley to ignore. +</P> + +<P> +So he ran away to sea as so many other boys had done before him and +sailed out upon the briny deep in the good barque Merry-go-round. And +he ate such a supper that night as he had never eaten in his life +before. Pee-wee had already eaten his fill but he wished to be +companionable and make his guest feel at home so he ate another supper +with his new friend in accordance with the requirements of good manners. +</P> + +<P> +A scout is polite. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RETURN OF THE HERO +</H3> + + +<P> +The lawn party was over, two score or more of famished guests had gone +to their homes, the lights in the Skybrow house were out, the +sputtering candles in the Japanese lanterns were dying one by one, the +grounds were still and dark except for the merry moon which smiled down +upon the scene of revelry and tragedy. +</P> + +<P> +At the edge of the lawn where the Isle of Desserts had been, six +figures sat in the darkness. They sat in a row, their legs drawn up +and held by their clasped hands. They sat waiting and watching in the +silent night. +</P> + +<P> +"The river is going to eat the edge of this lawn all away if they don't +face it with stone," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please stop talking about eating?" said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, but you'd think a rich man like Mr. Skybrow would make +provision for a thing like that," said a boy they called Shorty. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please stop talking about provisions?" said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, but Nuts was saying——" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please stop talking about nuts?" said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what shall I talk about then?" Brownie asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Talk about the rhododendron bushes," said Billy. "Look where a big +clump was pulled away. Look at that one—all broken. These bushes +will have to be all pruned." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please stop talking about prunes?" said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, but seven or eight——" +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please not mention the word ate?" said Townsend. "They ought +to be thankful he left the lawn." +</P> + +<P> +"What did his father say over the 'phone?" one asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he didn't seem to worry," said Townsend. "He knows that the +island is on a scow and that the river is small and that his son always +lands right side up; that's what he said. I told him the island would +come up with the tide and that we'd wait here and row out when he came +in sight. He said there was no danger, that the discoverer is always +lucky." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's lucky," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing short of an earthquake can capsize the island," Townsend said. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a whole earthquake in himself," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"More than that," said Shorty. "If I owned a restaurant I wouldn't +leave it around, not unless there were buildings on both sides of it." +</P> + +<P> +"And a weight on the top," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that goes without saying," said Shorty. +</P> + +<P> +"The blamed thing can't sink, can it?" Billy asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know how heavy his nine ideas are," said Townsend. "They +would be the only thing that could sink it." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll reach him easy as pie——" +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't say that word," Townsend pled. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I see the lantern now," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"I was afraid he might have eaten that——" +</P> + +<P> +"I could eat it myself," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's probably all you get," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee's surprising coup had not indeed caused any real anxiety in any +quarter. It is true that his mother, answering Townsend's thoughtful +'phone call from the Skybrow home, had expressed concern at his being +cast up with no companion but a banquet, but no one, not even his +parents, feared for his safety. +</P> + +<P> +The river was too tame and narrow, and the island altogether too secure +upon its vast scow to introduce the smallest element of peril into his +exploit. The tide would have to come up and upon its expanding bosom +the gorged hero would return to his native land. Roy and his friends, +knowing that Pee-wee's new victims were to rejoin him, went to their +several homes to rifle kitchens and turn pantries inside out. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's his light, all right," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Discoverer?" Townsend called, as the light bobbed gayly +nearer and nearer. It was coming up the channel. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," called Pee-wee. "I've got something new! I've got a big +surprise for you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Another?" said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"It's alive," Pee-wee shouted. "Is the party all over?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, absolutely," Townsend called; "you closed it up. Have you got two +or three salted almonds over there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," Pee-wee shouted reassuringly, "six or seven." +</P> + +<P> +It was funny with what an air of humorous resignation Townsend Ripley +stepped into the skiff and the mock air of ebbing vitality which the +others showed was as good as a circus. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't suppose it's some new kind of hunter's stew, do you?" said +Townsend resignedly as he languidly took a pair of oars. +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't think I'm coming ashore," called Pee-wee, "because I'm +not. Now we've got a full patrol and we're going to live here. +There's going to be a boat race next Saturday and I've got two new +ideas besides the ones I told you about and I bet I had more fun than +you did dancing and somebody's got to go ashore to-morrow and see this +feller's mother and father and tell them he's joined the scouts, +because he can't go home on account of not having four cigarettes." +</P> + +<P> +Then the boys in the approaching boat could hear Pee-wee saying in a +lowered voice to Keekie Joe, "Don't you be scared of them because they +won't hurt you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SHORT AND TO THE POINT +</H3> + + +<P> +Thus began the famous Alligator Patrol, so named because its home was +on the water as well as on the land, and also on the mud. Under its +flaunting traffic sign many adventures occurred that summer, but the +present narrative must be confined to the surprising events which +befell during Easter vacation. Later, in the good old summer time, we +shall visit the island again if we can find it. +</P> + +<P> +It was a fortunate thing for Keekie Joe that Townsend Ripley was chosen +leader of the new patrol. And it was a fortunate thing for everybody +that Pee-wee was defeated by a large majority in the election of a camp +cook. It is true that every voice was raised for Pee-wee in this +stirring campaign when suddenly Townsend turned the traffic sign so it +said STOP and that was the end of Pee-wee's chances. "Safety first," +said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe liked Townsend and felt at home with him. He admired and +trusted him because in the beginning Townsend made a point of calling +the fellows blokes and guys and talking about "dem t'ings." +</P> + +<P> +"If yez want a guy ter lay keekie, I'll do it fer yez," Keekie Joe said. +</P> + +<P> +"If we see any cops coming," said Townsend, "we'll turn the traffic +sign on them and make them stop." +</P> + +<P> +On Sunday morning, Townsend rowed ashore with Keekie Joe and invaded +the tenement in Barrel Alley. He took a brand new package of +cigarettes to Mr. Keekie Joe, Senior, and Keekie Joe, Junior, was +struck dumb with awe at the familiar and persuasive way in which +Townsend talked to his parent. The result of the interview was that +Keekie Joe returned to the island on a week's furlough from his squalid +home. The Barrel Alley gang, which was mobilized in front of Billy +Gilson's tire repair shop, made catcalls at the stranger as the pair +passed along and when they were some yards distant, several of them +summoned Keekie Joe to their loitering conference. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, Keekie, come 'ere, I want ter tell yer sup'm," one called. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe hesitated and turned. It was a crucial moment in the +history of the new patrol. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on back, Keekie," another shouted. +</P> + +<P> +Then it was that Slats Corbett, imperial head of the gang, did a good +turn for the scouting movement. He picked up a half dry sponge which +was lying in an auto wash pail and hurled it at Townsend Ripley. +Without even turning, Townsend raised his hand, caught it, dipped it in +the mud at his feet, and walking briskly back, smeared the face and +head of the big ungainly bully, leaving him furious and dripping. +Keekie Joe trembled at this rash exploit of his new friend and waited +in fearful suspense for the sequel. It was not long in coming. With a +roar of obscene invectives, Slats Corbett rushed upon the smiling, +slim, quiet stranger, and then in the space of two seconds, there was +Slats Corbett lying flat in the mud. In a kind of trance Keekie Joe +heard a brisk, pleasant voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Any of the rest of you want any? All right, come along, Joe." +</P> + +<P> +And that really was the ceremony that made Keekie Joe a scout. It is +true that they had a kind of formal initiation under the apple tree on +Merry-go-round Island and gave him a badge and had him take the oath +and so on and so on. And had him hold up his hand—you know how. But +it was not when his hand went up that he became a scout. It was when +Slats Corbett went down. That was the clincher. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SETTLED AT LAST +</H3> + + +<P> +And now the wandering career of Merry-go-round Island seemed at last to +have ended and it roamed no more over the face of the waters. On the +contrary, it settled down to a life of respectable retirement on +Waring's reef. +</P> + +<P> +Waring's reef was dry land at low tide, and even at high tide was close +enough to the surface to support the trusty foundation of the fugitive +isle. It stood exactly in the middle of the river at a spot where the +stream was straight and comparatively wide, and commanded a fine view +of the boat-house a mile or so downstream. There was more or less life +down there during the ensuing week for the high school pupils made the +place their own in the brief Easter vacation. +</P> + +<P> +It was on Wednesday that a couple of high school boys chugged up in a +little launch and were about to land when Pee-wee forbade them by +turning the traffic sign upon them just as they were about to set foot +on the island. The island had been on its good behavior now for four +days and had not so much as turned an inch. It seemed to have found a +satisfactory home at last. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you call this thing, anyway?" one of the visitors asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a desert island," said Pee-wee. "Can't you see what it is? +Don't you know a desert island when you see one? Gee whiz, you're in +high school, you ought to know a desert island when you see one. I +know you," he added, addressing one of the visitors; "you're on the +basket-ball team, your name is Chase, your first name is Wingate and +you're all the time going around with Grove Bronson's sister and he's +in the troop that I'm not in any more." +</P> + +<P> +In the face of these unquestionable facts Wingate Chase was helpless; +he could not do otherwise than admit his identity. +</P> + +<P> +"We're going to have some events on Saturday," he said. "This fellow +with me is from the Edgemere High School and——" +</P> + +<P> +"He's going to get beaten," shouted Pee-wee; "because Bridgeboro High +School can lick all the high schools around here, in athletics and +debates and everything." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, Kiddo," said the fellow from Edgemere High School. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet it's all right," said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"We were thinking we'd like to use your island," said Wingate Chase. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't want to take it to Edgemere, do you?" Townsend Ripley asked. +"We don't allow it to be taken from the premises. You may use it here +if you care to." +</P> + +<P> +"Find out what they want to use it for," shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want to use it for?" Townsend asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell them they'll have to pay for any damage they do to it," Pee-wee +said. +</P> + +<P> +"We just want to put a flag on it," Wingate Chase said. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you want to take possession of it?" Pee-wee demanded. "You +mean you want to discover it? <I>I'm</I> the discoverer of this desert +island." +</P> + +<P> +The fellow from Edgemere seemed rather amused at Pee-wee. "All we want +to do," he said, "is to use it to beat the Bridgeboro High School in +the rowing match. We just want to row around it. The two crews will +start from the boat-house and race upstream and around this island and +back. Now that won't hurt the island any, will it? In a few minutes +it will be all over except the shouting." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we let them do it?" Pee-wee whispered to Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we'll want one of our referees to stay on the island during +the races," said Wingate, "but he won't hurt anything. There'll be +several races, a rowing race, a canoe race, a swimming race and so on; +we haven't made up the program yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you going to have any refreshments?" Pee-wee demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't allow refreshments on the island," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we let them do it?" Pee-wee asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Positively," said Townsend; "I don't see how we can stop them, as long +as they keep outside of the three mile limit. The referee won't do any +harm. All he does is to see that the racing is fair as they round the +limit." +</P> + +<P> +"We're the limit, hey?" vociferated Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"You said it," laughed the fellow from Edgemere. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Pee-wee, "you can do it." +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the Alligator Patrol sat around their camp-fire that +night that the possibilities of this participation in the athletic +events began to unfold in the seething mind of our hero. He had stood +somewhat upon his dignity with the committee because he did not want to +hold the island too cheap in their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, though he was for Bridgeboro, once, last and always, his +attitude was uniformly combative toward older boys, high school boys in +particular, and toward high schools generally. He would be chary of +the privileges he granted to these "big fellers" whom he knew so well +how to "handle." But in the light of the camp-fire he saw visions of +huge war profits in these impending combats. While Edgemere and +Bridgeboro fought he would become a war millionaire. The little +island, retired from its wild career at last and with a secure and +fixed abode would still play an important part in world affairs. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what we'll do," said Pee-wee; "we'll sell seats for people +to see the races from the island. We'll build a couple of benches out +of this old refreshment board—we'll drive stakes in the ground—and +one of us will go to town—I mean the mainland—with a big sign telling +people they can buy seats for ten cents—because in the boat races when +Sir Thomas Lipton's yacht got beaten lots of people paid to go out on +excursion steamers and this island is better than an excursion steamer, +because they'll go right around the edge of it—right around the coast +and everybody'll get a dandy view." +</P> + +<P> +Thus it was that on Thursday and Friday there; appeared in the +<I>Bridgeboro Evening Record</I> an advertisement which read: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +See the High School events on the river from Alligator Island, seats +ten cents. Fine view of the races. Free transportation both ways. +Alligator Island belongs to the boy scouts and is in the middle of the +river, commanding a fine view because the boats go around it. Boat +goes back and forth from Gilroy's field. Absolutely safe. Take the +beautiful ride to Alligator Island and see the races for only ten +cents. Children in arms if not accompanied by parents have to pay five +cents. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It will be observed from the advertisement that Merry-go-round Island, +alias the Isle of Desserts, was now masquerading under a new name, +which had been given it in the hope of obliterating all memories of its +wandering past. +</P> + +<P> +Being now a respectable stay-at-home island, stuck fast with each part +of its coast true to its proper compass point, what more natural than +that its roving youth should be treated as a closed book by its owners? +There it sat in the middle of the glinting river, its sturdy +understructure reposing upon Waring's reef. +</P> + +<P> +Even at low ride the shallow water rippled about it. At high tide the +coy reef withdrew entirely within the briny deep, so that the +unromantic and unsightly scow was not visible and the island stood in +all its wild and floral beauty, a vision of picturesque delight for +three or four hours each day at full tide. From the mainland (some +thirty feet distant according to a piece of string) the yellow +dandelions could be seen dotting its geometric coast and occasionally +some drowsy turtle, with neck extended, was visible, sleeping in the +sun. +</P> + +<P> +The only historic memento of Minerva Skybrow's lawn party to be found +upon the island now was the refreshment board, quite empty. It is true +that an explorer, delving among the rocks and crevices, might have +found some fugitive stuffed olive or perchance a lost nut or raisin +here and there. But the feast of Dessert Isle was now a part of +history. Minerva's little tent had been delivered to her (for Pee-wee +could not eat that) and only the makeshift table which had supported +the absconding repast remained. +</P> + +<P> +This was now made into two long benches, supported by sticks driven +into the ground. It was intended that the overflow from this +grandstand should sit on the grass. These preparations completed, our +hero, accompanied by Brownie and Billy, went ashore on Friday afternoon +and edified the people on Main Street with an imposing display. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-178"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-178.jpg" ALT="Pee-wee becomes a sandwich man." BORDER="2" WIDTH="388" HEIGHT="618"> +<H4> +[Illustration: Pee-wee becomes a sandwich man.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +They paraded up and down the sidewalk wearing large placards, the most +striking of which was the one that almost completely obscured the +diminutive form of our hero. It was appropriately in the form of a +sandwich of which he himself was the center, his head and legs +protruding from it like the head and legs of a turtle. Its glaring +announcement seemed to suggest the literary style of Townsend Ripley. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +CUT RATE CRUISES TO ALLIGATOR ISLE +<BR><BR> +SEE THE WILD SCOUTS AND THE BOAT RACES +<BR><BR> +ENJOY A SEA VOYAGE IN THE PALATIAL ROWBOAT ALLIGATOR +<BR><BR> +ROUND AND SQUARE TRIP TEN CENTS. +<BR><BR> +SAILINGS FROM GILROY'S FIELD. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap28"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE +</H3> + + +<P> +On Friday night it rained and the Alligators were driven into their +tent. It rained all night and was still raining when the momentous +Saturday dawned. They were compelled to eat breakfast in their tent, +the top of which was plastered with apple blossoms so that the +khaki-colored fabric looked not unlike a brown wall paper with a floral +design. +</P> + +<P> +The tide being out, the rain pattered down on the surrounding mud and +shallow places, and the members of the patrol sat in the open doorway +of their cozy little shelter wistfully gazing at the downpour, and +watching the little holes that the raindrops made in the mud. +</P> + +<P> +Each drop, like a bullet, drove a little hole in the oozy bottom, which +slowly closed up again. Schools of darting killies hurried this way +and that frantically seeking an avenue into the deeper places where +puddles would afford them a haven during the lowest ebb. Rain, rain, +rain. +</P> + +<P> +On the porch of the boat-house a mile or so down-stream was gathered a +group of young fellows, also watching wistfully. Through the +intervening space of rain they seemed like pictures of spectres, misty +and unsubstantial. +</P> + +<P> +"The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide," said Townsend cheerily. "I +think when it comes in it's going to stop raining, that's what I think. +It's going to clear up and be warm this afternoon, you see. Rain +before seven, clear before eleven. What do you say we catch some of +those killies and fry them?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what you call an inspiration," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +They caught some killies with a bent pin and fried them and they were +not half bad. +</P> + +<P> +Along about eleven o'clock the tide began running up, the killies which +had not been lured to their undoing, disappeared in the swelling water, +and soon the ripples danced up over the mud, submerging it entirely. +The river began to be attractive again. And then the sun came out. +</P> + +<P> +"This is going to be some peach of a tide for races," said Townsend; +"it will be good and full after such an all night rain." +</P> + +<P> +At two o'clock, when the river was about half full, a launch came +chugging up from the boat club bringing a flag and the young fellow who +was to be posted at the turning point. He planted the flag on its tall +standard near the shore and settled down to mind his own business. +Pee-wee received him as if he were a foreign ambassador. +</P> + +<P> +Our hero was now so intent upon his commercial enterprise that he +forgot all about the races except in their commercial aspect. The +island was but the turning point for the contestants and seemed +detached from the excitement and preparations which prevailed down at +the club house. +</P> + +<P> +Soon, along the shore, there began to be visible little groups of boys +sprawling on the grass, waiting. The boat-house porch and the adjacent +float were filled with high school pupils. They made a great racket, +and from all the noise and bustle thereabouts the little island seemed +removed, as if a part of the events and yet not a part. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a little group of girls appeared at the edge of Gilroy's +Field, which was the nearest point on the mainland to Alligator Island. +They seemed to be looking about in a bewildered, inquiring sort of way. +Evidently the advertising was bringing results. It seemed as if they +might have banded together (as girls will) for the cut rate cruise +which they had seen advertised. At all events they seemed to be +strangers. Whoever they were, it spoke well for their adventurous +spirit that they should wish to book passage to an unknown shore, when +there were no others in sight who seemed the least interested in the +voyage. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that Alligator Island?" one of them called. +</P> + +<P> +"It certainly is," Townsend answered. "I'll come over and get you; the +boat is leaving right away." +</P> + +<P> +"Have your fares ready," Pee-wee called in a voice of thunder. +</P> + +<P> +As Townsend approached the mainland there was much whispering and +giggling among the girls. "We came from Edgemere," said one of them; +"we're in the Edgemere High School and we came over on the trolley to +see the Bridgeboro High School beaten. We saw a small boy in the +street with a sign——" +</P> + +<P> +"That was me," shouted Pee-wee; "I saw you on Main Street. Have your +fares ready and he'll bring you over. All aboard! All aboard to +Alligator Island with its tropic vegetarians and boat races!" And, in +his excitement and enthusiasm he added, "Step this way! Step right +this way!" +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ever hear of such a thing," laughed one girl. +</P> + +<P> +"He means after you step out of the boat," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +You would have thought that Pee-wee was selling desert islands out of a +basket. He stood on the extreme edge nearest to the field, shouting, +"Here you are, this way for your desert isle! See the tropic +variations——" +</P> + +<P> +"He means vegetation," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"He means fresh vegetables," called Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Here you are for your fresh vegetables," Pee-wee shouted, hardly +knowing what he said at this actual prospect of business which he saw +before his very eyes. "The races encircle this island. Here you are +for your best seats! Come early and avoid the rush!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the wild man of the island," Townsend said; "he's perfectly +harmless: step right in the boat." +</P> + +<P> +They were rowed over and escorted to seats, where they did not have to +wait long, for scarcely were they settled on one long bench when a +chorus of shouts arose down at the boat-house, as out into the river +shot two canoes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they're coming! They're <I>coming</I>!" the girls carolled in great +excitement and anticipation. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, look! Do <I>look</I>!" one of them said, clutching the shoulder of her +neighbor. "He's in the red canoe! It's Willie Dawdle, and he's ahead! +<I>Hurrah for Edgemere</I>! Oh, he's <I>coming</I>, he's <I>coming</I>! I knew we'd +<I>annihilate</I> them, I just <I>knew</I> it! Oh, it's simply <I>glorious</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah for Bridgeboro!" shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah for Edgemere!" shouted the girls. +</P> + +<P> +The two canoes, with Edgemere a little ahead as well as they could see, +came gliding up the river, two streaks, red and green, in the +sunshine … +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap29"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE RACE +</H3> + + +<P> +The canoe race, which was the first of the events, was also the +best—as well as the last. Never was there wilder excitement on +Pee-wee's island than when the green and red canoes glided northward, +approaching the turning point. +</P> + +<P> +The red canoe skilfully paddled by the Edgemere champion, Willie +Dawdle, was some ahead and gaining rapidly and the girls from Edgemere +High School could not contain themselves for joy. Among the Alligator +Patrol, too, the excitement ran high and shout upon shout for +Bridgeboro arose as Wingate Chase spurted to get the inner turn about +the island. He gained fast now and as the distance between the two +canoes shortened the air was rent with deafening yells for Bridgeboro. +</P> + +<P> +The two contestants were abreast when suddenly amid the uproar could be +heard a voice, a voice singularly matter-of-fact and sensible, uttering +words which if not of excitement seemed at least pertinent to the +occasion, "How are they going to go around that blamed thing when it's +sailing up the river?" +</P> + +<P> +Alas, it was too true. The most unusual development which could +possibly complicate an athletic event had occurred; the turning point +had deserted the race and was sailing majestically up the river. It +had already sailed a hundred feet or so before the watchers on the +mainland discovered the fact. +</P> + +<P> +As for the striving contestants they were too intent upon the race to +perceive the strange turn of affairs until the wild mirth upon the +"mainland" apprised them of it. They must have looked funny enough +from the shore frantically pursuing the fugitive turning post, and the +unhallowed joy of the spectators was only increased by Pee-wee's heroic +efforts in the emergency as with a long pole he strove to stay the +progress of the recreant island. Failing in these herculean efforts, +he still tried to save the day by shouting to the racers. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Keep up</I>! <I>Keep up</I>!" he yelled. "You can go around it. You're +going faster than the island is. <I>Don't give up</I>! It makes it all the +more exciting. It's like—like—like—kind of—like running up an +escalator! Don't stop! Keep it up, it's an escalator race!" +</P> + +<P> +It certainly made it "all the more exciting." As for the inhabitants +of the island, they were carried away in more than one sense. Townsend +lay flat upon the ground in a spasm of silent laughter. Several others +of the new Alligator Patrol sat on the edge of the stern and rock-bound +coast, their legs dangling in the water, and seemed in danger of +falling in, so gymnastic was their merriment. As for the occupants or +the grandstand, they probably thought (if they were able to think at +all) that ten cents was a small price to pay for such an exciting race. +</P> + +<P> +Only one occupant of the fleeing island was up and about and fully +conscious. With his companions lying flat or doubled up and screaming +so that the woods along shore echoed with their insane mirth, our hero +stood amid the chaos, shouting to the racers at the top of his voice. +They were almost abreast of him now, and laughing themselves, for the +race had become a farce. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on! Keep it up!" he shouted. "You can go around it while it's +sailing just as good as if it were standing still! The race kind of +stretches out like an elastic—it's an extensible race. Keep it up! +Keep it up!" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't," moaned Townsend from his place on the ground. "This is too +much——" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't enough!" Pee-wee shouted. "The race is better because it's +longer—it stretches out—it's an extensible race—I invented it——" +</P> + +<P> +"What on earth is the cause of it?" laughed one of the girls. +</P> + +<P> +"Extra—extra—ex—ex—ex—extra high tide caused by the r—r—rain," +shrieked Townsend, hardly able to get the words out. "This is the +cli—cli—climax of Eas—Eas—Easter vac—c—c—c—c—<I>cation</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +Amid screams and catcalls from the shore an official launch came +chugging up the course. By that time the two canoeists had given +themselves up to laughter and sat shaking as their canoes drifted. +Only the island continued merrily upon the flood tide. +</P> + +<P> +"Called off?" somebody called from the shore. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly it's called off," said the official in the launch. "This +was supposed to be a race, not a game of tag." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Come on</I>! <I>Come on</I>!" screamed Pee-wee from the departing isle. +"Hurrah for Bridgeboro High! Come on, you can go around us! If a man +can—listen, I've got a dandy argument—if a man can shoot a bird on +the wing a race like that is just as good—you can encircle an island +on the wing too! <I>Come on</I>! <I>Come on</I>! It's a new kind of a race! A +lot of girls paid ten cents to see it! Come on, go around us!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, <I>gracious, goodness</I>, we've had our money's worth," moaned one of +the girls; "we're not complaining." +</P> + +<P> +"It's like a movie play," screamed another. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a very move—m—moving drama," stammered Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"And all for ten cents," said one of the girls. +</P> + +<P> +"They're not coming!" Pee-wee shouted. "We won the race! We weren't +in it but we won it anyway. That feller in the launch is crazy! It +was a chase and a race all in one—it was a chase race—I invented it +and he went and spoiled it all." +</P> + +<P> +Time and tide wait for no man. Up the swelling river, out of the voice +range of the hooting throng, farther and still farther from the madding +crowd, sailed Turning Post Island, alias Merry-go-round Island, alias +Isle of Desserts, alias Alligator Isle, alias The Earthly Paradise. +</P> + +<P> +Other motor-boats, manned by astonished officials and bearing +committees, chugged up to where the island had been and a flotilla of +rowboats and canoes hovered thereabouts while their occupants inspected +curiously the place where the official turning point with its crowded +grandstand had been. But the official turning point had vanished, +though the voice of our hero could still be beard up beyond Collison's +bend. +</P> + +<P> +And still Townsend Ripley lay prone and laughed and laughed and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Your money will be refunded, of course," he managed to say to the +several occupants of the grandstand. "You see we had a heavy rain all +night and——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't <I>speak</I> of returning our money," one of the girls laughed. +"We really ought to pay you <I>more</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"We can't take any more," Pee-wee shouted. "You—you get the ride for +nothing—it's thrown in—because I said free transportation and a scout +has to keep his word. Even if we float miles and miles we can't take +another cent——" +</P> + +<P> +"We may be rovers but we're not profiteers," moaned Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"If—if we don't drift to shore by supper time," said Pee-wee, "you get +your dinner too just like when an ocean steamer is delayed in a fog; +they give you your dinner, so don't you worry because you're with +scouts and when it gets to be six o'clock I'll make a hunter's stew." +</P> + +<P> +At this there was a sudden noise as of horror and anguish and before +our voyagers realized what was happening, Townsend Ripley had rolled +off the island into the water. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap30"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ABSENCE MAKES THE ISLAND QUIET +</H3> + + +<P> +"It's all right," Townsend sputtered as he crawled ashore. "I was just +thinking of something sad; I feel better now. It was one of the finest +races that I never saw." +</P> + +<P> +"It would have been a good race," said Pee-wee with a frown indicative +of withering scorn, "only they had to go and break it up. <I>Just +because we moved</I>—do you call that an argument? <I>We</I> ought to get the +silver cup, that's what <I>I</I> think. They could have—have—headed us +off, couldn't they? The rule said they had to go around this flag, it +didn't say anything about where the flag would be. That's a +teckinality. Anyway, I'm glad we're rid of them." +</P> + +<P> +"We seem to be making port," said Townsend. "I don't know just where +we are. I think if we were to cut up through these woods—You girls +want to get to the Edgemere trolley, I suppose?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the idea," said one of them. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, let's see," Townsend ruminated. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take you to the trolley," Pee-wee shouted, as the island gave +evidence of an intention to bunk into the east bank of the river. +"Because I know how to find my way in the woods—scouts have to know +all those things—I can tell by moss and hop-toads and things, which is +east and west. I'll take you to the trolley. If we should get lost in +the woods I know how to cook bark so you can eat it, only scouts don't +get lost. So do you want me to take you to the trolley?" +</P> + +<P> +Brownie was about to whisper his disapproval of this to Townsend but +Townsend cut him short. "Let him do it," he said; "if he stays here +he'll make a hunter's stew. We can put one over on him by cooking +supper while he's gone. Safety first. If he goes ashore they may get +lost, if he stays here we're <I>all</I> lost." +</P> + +<P> +"True," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"Absolutely correct," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what you call an argument," said Roly Poly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a teckinality," said Nuts. +</P> + +<P> +"Discoverer," said Townsend, "the patrol thinks that you are the proper +one to escort our guests to the Edgemere trolley." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that perfectly <I>lovely</I>!" said one of the girls. +</P> + +<P> +"If the woods should wander away while you're in them," said Townsend, +"send up a smoke signal and we'll come and rescue you. Don't hurry +back, Discoverer; remember, these girls come first of all. We'll tie +the island to a tree and have a game of mumbly peg. You'll find us +here when you get back." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Townsend, after he had securely fastened the island to +shore by a piece of rope, "let's make hay while the sun shines and get +supper. In an hour or so it may be too late. After all our adventures +I feel that another hunter's stew——" +</P> + +<P> +"If the island saw another hunter's stew it would run away," said +Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"We've had quite a week of it, hey?" said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I don't think I've ever been around so much in a week before," +said Townsend; "I feel like a pinwheel." +</P> + +<P> +"Or a top," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Something like that," said Townsend. "Well, Joe, what do you think +of us?" he added, sprawling on the ground as was his wont. The others +began preparations for supper. +</P> + +<P> +"How about some spaghetti?" Roly Poly asked. "Could you eat some +spaghetti?" +</P> + +<P> +"I might if I were coaxed," said Townsend. "How about you, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +Townsend had made it his religious duty all through that week to +consult Keekie Joe about every meal, and indeed about everything that +was to be done. He jealously saw to it that Joe had a voice in +everything. Not that any of them denied Joe these rights, but Joe felt +out of place among these strange boys and the boys sometimes forgot +about him. +</P> + +<P> +It was exactly like Pee-wee to drag poor Joe head over heels into +scouting, and then forget all about him. It was exactly like Townsend +Ripley to take the poor little hoodlum quietly in hand and be his +friend and sponsor. He treated him always as an equal and as a +comrade. What the others forgot, he remembered. +</P> + +<P> +He agreed with Joe, or disagreed with him, as pals will agree and +disagree. He always took him seriously. He allowed Joe to teach him +to play craps and then said he didn't see much fun in it, and such was +his magnetic power over poor Joe that Joe said he didn't see any fun in +it either. And there was an end of it. +</P> + +<P> +So it was with all the wretched hoodlum games and tricks that poor Joe +had known; one by one they failed in the test, and he became ashamed of +them. It is no wonder that Keekie Joe worshipped this keen, easy-going +patrol leader, who seemed to be no leader at all. Even Pee-wee was +sacrificed in the good cause and Townsend made fun of Pee-wee for +Keekie Joe's amusement. +</P> + +<P> +As they sprawled about the fire that Saturday night, the last night but +one of their outlandish vacation, and ate spaghetti from tin platters, +the trend of the talk showed somewhat the effects of the week's outing +upon the poor little derelict of Barrel Alley. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems good sitting here and not eating hunter's stew, doesn't it?" +said Townsend in his funny way. "I never realized how much I enjoyed +not eating hunter's stew. I shall always love hunter's stew for the +pleasure it has given me when I didn't eat it. I suppose the +Discoverer ought to be getting back pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Unless those girls took him to Edgemere," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think they'd do that, they spoke well of Edgemere," said +Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no telling where he'll drift to," said Nuts. +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't talk about drifting," said Townsend. "The way I feel +about drifting I don't ever want to look at a snow-drift. I can't even +listen to the drift of a person's conversation. How about <I>you</I>, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +"De Discov'r's all right," said Joe, loyally. +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't say he's all right," said Townsend; "but when he's wrong +he's at his best. That's what <I>I</I> think, Joe." +</P> + +<P> +"He's always at his best," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Except when he's at his worst," said Townsend, "and then he's best of +all. That's logic, as he would say. I wonder what he'll bring back +with him. Let's each guess; I guess a carpet sweeper. How about +<I>you</I>, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe only smiled, but did not venture a guess. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess an alarm clock and a headlight from an automobile," said +Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess part of a floor lamp—the shade part," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess—I guess," said Nuts; "let's see—I guess some chicken wire, +part of a typewriter machine and a megaphone." +</P> + +<P> +"You're all wrong and I'm right as you usually are," said Townsend; "he +will bring back——" +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go in swimming," said Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"Good idea," said Townsend. "Joe, I'm going to teach you to swim." +</P> + +<P> +Now it was right then that Keekie Joe said something which surprised +them all. And it was just that little remark which showed the effects +of the week's outing upon his simple mind. He had certainly not +received any particular training or instruction; he had been in some +measure a participant but mostly a bashful and amused witness of his +companions' adventures and a silent listener to their talk. +</P> + +<P> +He had heard them all speak of their parents and of how this or that +plan might be approved or disapproved at home. He had heard them +discuss whether their parents would probably expect them home on Sunday +night or early Monday morning. Perhaps it was not a sense of dutiful +obedience, but rather a certain budding pride in the bosom of Keekie +Joe, which caused him to make the remark which surprised them. +</P> + +<P> +He would let them know that he too had a parent, though no one had +thought to speak of his parents. If he could not have clothes like +them at least he could have obligations like them. Perhaps the true +spirit of obedience was not in him. But the point is that the poor +little wretch had discovered a certain pride within himself and wished +to boast of a restraint which a week previously he would have ignored. +He too had someone who was interested in his goings and comings. So he +said, +</P> + +<P> +"Me mudder sez I dasn' go swimmin' widout she leaves me." +</P> + +<P> +It was strange how Keekie Joe, who had disregarded his poor mother's +wishes on so many occasions, should present her now to his new friends. +He did not have any of the things which they had, bicycles, tents, +cooking sets, radio sets; but one thing he had as well as they, a +mother. And so he used her as they used theirs. He played her as his +only card. +</P> + +<P> +"Me mudder sez I dasn' go swimmin' widout she leaves me." +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you, Joe," said Townsend, "I'll see your mother next week and +fix it. <I>And you do just what she told you to do till then</I>. You've +got the right idea, Joe." And he hit Joe a good rap on the shoulder in +his friendly way … +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap31"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A PROMISE +</H3> + + +<P> +When he had put the racing fans on the Edgemere trolley, Pee-wee, like +Jack ashore, betook himself into Bridgeboro to have his fling before +returning to the ship. The habit of sailors home from long voyages is +well known, and we need not be surprised to find him bending his steps +toward Bennett's Fresh Confectionery, where he climbed onto one of the +stools before the soda fountain. +</P> + +<P> +He had just consumed a raspberry ice cream soda and was considering the +question of whether he should have another when he noticed somebody +which reminded him of the doom which awaited him on Monday morning. +This was Miss Carlton who taught in the Bridgeboro Public School. She +had just consummated the purchase of a box of candy and such were the +cordial relations between herself and Pee-wee (out of school) that she +proffered him the box for a choice of its contents. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether to take a chocolate one or a white one," Pee-wee +said. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not take both?" she suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess maybe that would be safest, hey?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"And what have you been doing all week?" Miss Carlton asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been at sea," Pee-wee said; "I've been floating around on a +desert island that's on a scow and this is the first day I came ashore. +I started a new patrol and Keekie Joe is in it. He's in your class, +isn't he?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is—sometimes," said Miss Carlton ruefully. +</P> + +<P> +"He goes on the hook a lot, doesn't he?" said Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, lots and lots," said Miss Carlton; dubiously. +</P> + +<P> +"But anyway, don't you care," said Pee-wee, "because now he's a scout +and he'll go to school every day, because a scout's honor has to be +trusted. Do you know what was in that white one? Kind of lemon like." +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you have another?" +</P> + +<P> +"Brown and white are our patrol colors," said Pee-wee. "We just +started our new patrol." +</P> + +<P> +"Take a brown one and a white one," said Miss Carlton. +</P> + +<P> +"I bet you don't know the name of our new patrol. It's the Alligators." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that's a good name for Joe McKinny," said Miss Carlton; "he's +so slow coming to school." +</P> + +<P> +"I can prove you're wrong about him," said Pee-wee, "because alligators +don't go to school and——" +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you have another, Walter?" +</P> + +<P> +"One for good measure, hey?" said Pee-wee. "Anyway, how much do you +want to bet he won't go to school now? Because he will, because scouts +have to do what they're supposed to do and I bet you he'll——" +</P> + +<P> +"Another, Walter?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take a pink one this time. I bet you he'll go to school and be +all right on account of starting to be a scout. I got some money for +grandstand seats on our island to see the boat races and I'll treat you +to a soda." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," laughed Miss Carlton, "but I think not now." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carlton knew Pee-wee well enough (for he had been in her class) +not to inquire particularly about his multifarious adventures. She +knew that they were too numerous and complicated for casual recital. +Nor had she any faith in the influence of scouting on Keekie Joe. She +did not believe that any power in the world could tempt Keekie Joe to +school on a Monday, because Keekie Joe's partiality to liberal week +ends was well known to her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I only hope it will do him some good,"; said Miss Carlton +dubiously. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean scouting? <I>Sure</I> it will. You just wait and see. So long, +maybe I'll see you on Monday." +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you have one more?" the tempter urged. +</P> + +<P> +Pee-wee hesitated. "I'll take a cocoanut one," he said, "because +they're small. So long, I'll see you later." +</P> + +<P> +Thus it was that when Pee-wee went back to the island, he did take +something with him which was not named in the guessing of his friends. +It was the heavy responsibility which he bore to make scouting good in +the eyes of Miss Carlton. His promise, made at the altar of Bennett's +candy counter and solemnized by a dozen assorted dainties, must be +fulfilled. +</P> + +<P> +He found his friends sprawling around their dying campfire on the +island. Townsend was lying on his back as usual, his hands clasped +behind his head, his eyes fixed on the quiet stars. Crowds thronged +the main street of Bridgeboro on that Saturday night but the island lay +peacefully against the shore of the wood skirting the river and the +town might have been a hundred miles on for all the campers could tell. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we've had quite a week," said Townsend; "and now that we're +started I hope we'll stick together and make a real, honest-to-goodness +patrol. Joe is with us to the last ditch—out for the second rate +badge——" +</P> + +<P> +"You mean the second <I>class</I> badge," Pee-wee thundered. +</P> + +<P> +"Brownie is going to be steward or whatever you——" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't talk about stew," said Billy. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me, my fault," said Townsend, "only I'd like to rise to remark +while I'm lying here that I think we're going to make a pretty nifty +patrol. Joe wouldn't go in swimming on account of his mother; couldn't +force him to it, so there you are." +</P> + +<P> +"And he's going to school Monday," said Pee-wee; "because I met his +teacher in the—the—eh—the store." +</P> + +<P> +"Candy store?" +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know?" Pee-wee gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Just an inspiration," said Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"And I told her he's going to school every single day after this," said +Pee-wee. "So are you?" he demanded of Keekie Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Posilutely he is, if not more so," said Townsend. "Every day except +Saturday. He's even willing to eat hunter's stew and a fellow that +will do that doesn't mind school; he can stand anything. How about +that, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +"I gotta do what you sez," said Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"There you are," said Townsend. "What more do you want? We're <I>all</I> +going to school because the school won't come to us. So now let's tell +riddles till we get tired of hearing each other talk and then we'll +turn in. And we'll camp here all day to-morrow and to-morrow night, +and the next day-school." +</P> + +<P> +"I know a riddle," shouted Pee-wee. "Why is a stu——" +</P> + +<P> +"Stop!" shouted Townsend. +</P> + +<P> +"I was going to ask a riddle about a stu——" +</P> + +<P> +A chorus of protest drowned his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"A stu—" he roared, "debaker. It's a riddle about a Studebaker car!" +</P> + +<P> +"Let's tell Ford stories!" shouted Brownie. +</P> + +<P> +"I know a lot of them!" shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Why is this island like a Ford car?" Townsend asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's the answer?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because there are a lot of nuts on it," said Townsend. "Why is Scout +Harris like a Ford? Because he's small but makes a lot of noise. +Horrible! Here's a better one. Why is——" +</P> + +<P> +"I know one! I know one!" shouted Pee-wee. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see if we can catch some eels," said Townsend. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap32"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VENGEANCE +</H3> + + +<P> +On Sunday night they turned in for their last sleep on the island. +That the island had proved a quitter on two momentous occasions had not +prejudiced them against it. With all its faults they loved it still. +The only thing they had against it was that it would not remain still. +</P> + +<P> +Though it was small and of an unromantic squareness, it seemed the +center of a vast empire during the week which was now ending and they +were sorry at the thought of leaving it. But at least the Alligator +Patrol was started and, like the island itself, nothing could stop it. +</P> + +<P> +The night was chilly so they slept in the tent. So profound was their +sleep that they did not hear the dipping oars of an approaching boat +which came down the river after midnight. This boat was dilapidated +and leaky but it was a vision of beauty compared to its occupants. +These were none other than Slats Corbett, imperial head of Barrel +Alley, and his official staff, consisting of Skinny Mattenburg and +Spider McCurren. Such nocturnal excursions were not uncommon with them. +</P> + +<P> +Nor were they surprised to see the new habitat of their official +sentinel bobbing against the wooded shore. Indeed, some tidings of +Joe's adventurous career (since he had run away to sea) had penetrated +to Barrel Alley and the only thing which had prevented the alleyites +from making an assault upon the island was the presence there of +Townsend Ripley. Him they had come to regard with a kind of +superstitious awe because he was so precipitate and decisive. +</P> + +<P> +The fact that he had allowed no time for preliminary threats and +profanity, rather baffled these hoodlums. He had a quaint way of +cutting out all the customary boasts and menaces preceding an +encounter, and going straight to the heart of the matter. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore, Slats Corbett did not undertake anything in the way of a +belligerent and retaliatory enterprise now. But he could not pass the +sleeping campers without in some way registering his mortal enmity, so +he did something which was altogether characteristic of him. He rowed +very quietly along shore and untied the rope with which the little +island was moored. Even this unheroic thing he did in fear and +trembling, for the spirit of Townsend Ripley seemed to pervade the +quiet spot. Then the trio proceeded quietly down the river in the +darkness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap33"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +KEEKIE JOE, SCOUT +</H3> + + +<P> +The first one to awake in the morning was Keekie Joe. Going to school +on Monday was such an unusual thing with him that he had awakened at +five o'clock, and had not been able to go to sleep again. He had a +strange, nervous feeling as if he might be going to his own wedding. +</P> + +<P> +The school would look strange on a Monday. Ordinarily after a week's +vacation he would have taken both Monday and Tuesday. But now, strange +to say, he wanted to go to school. He wanted to do what the rest of +them did. Oh, no, he was not a new boy all made over, he was just poor +little Keekie Joe, but he was going to do what the rest of them did +that day … +</P> + +<P> +He now discovered, to his surprise, that the island was in the middle +of the river. It had, in fact, started drifting downstream on the +ebbing tide, and had caught again on Waring's reef, the scene of its +recent exploit. It would stick there for some hours now, at least, for +the tide was running out. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe looked all about him, then stole cautiously to the tent and +looked within. His friends were sleeping soundly. He withdrew from +the tent and looked about again. The island was about a mile farther +downstream than where it had been moored. +</P> + +<P> +Looking down the river, Keekie Joe could see the boat-house, and the +gilt ball on top of the flagpole shone dazzling in the early sunlight. +The shores and river seemed fresh and new and clean, bathed in the +growing light of the new day. +</P> + +<P> +For a minute it seemed to Keekie Joe as if he were a sentinel again, +"layin' keekie" while his friends slept. In the trees along shore the +birds were already chirping, a merry fish (that did not have to go to +school) flopped out of the water and went splashing into the dim +coolness again, from very excess of joy, as it seemed. Perhaps he had +just looked out to see what kind of a day it was going to be. In the +field on the farther shore from town stood several cows, like statues +of contentment. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly, Keekie Joe remembered that Pee-wee's palatial cruising boat +<I>Alligator</I> had been drawn, not up on the shore of the island but up on +the shore nearby. Therefore, it was not at the island now. It was a +mile upstream, drawn up under a willow tree at the edge of the woods. +Keekie Joe scanned the shore as far as he could see, but he could not +discover any sign of it. However, he knew where it was. +</P> + +<P> +He wondered how his friends and he would get to shore to go to school. +He knew they could swim, but they would get their clothes soaked and +could not go to school in such condition. Poor Keekie Joe! It never +occurred to him that some boys have two suits of clothes, and that his +dripping friends might go home and change their clothes before going to +school. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe knew (or at least thought) that this situation would become +serious when school time neared. He was anxious to know what time it +was. You see, Joe was not a regular full-fledged scout and he could +not tell time by the sun nor by forty-eleven other ingenious means +known to Scout Harris. +</P> + +<P> +His whole standing capital now was a knowledge of how to swim, and a +dawning consciousness that scouting meant helping people and all that +sort of thing. Thanks to a long course of disobedience to his poor +mother, he had learned to swim like a water rat. He had had somewhat +the advantage of other boys in this respect for he had gone swimming +Mondays when they were in school. +</P> + +<P> +But he could not determine even approximately what time it was and he +had no watch. He knew that it was early, but he also knew that a mile +was a long distance, especially against the tide. +</P> + +<P> +Then it occurred to him that he might steal ever so cautiously into the +tent and carefully, <I>ever so carefully</I>, pull Townsend's watch out from +under his rough pillow and find out just what time it was. Keekie Joe +had heard some wonderful stories about stalking; from all accounts +rendered by Pee-wee that scout of scouts had hoodwinked every creature +in the animal kingdom, stealing up behind them unawares, and subjecting +every variety of bird to nervous prostration. +</P> + +<P> +But Keekie Joe decided not to try his skill at this kind of stalking. +For one thing, he had never touched a gold watch before and the thought +of it awed him. And for another thing, if Townsend should awake and +catch him in the act he would think that his protégé was trying to +steal his watch … +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap34"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE STORY CLOSES AND SCHOOL OPENS +</H3> + + +<P> +Keekie Joe could not trust himself in any such stalking exploit and he +had no standing capital of good reputation with which to verify his +honorable intention in case his bungling hand should slip. He had as +good as promised Townsend that he would not go swimming. But also +these boys all had to go to school. +</P> + +<P> +I am not saying what I think he should have done; I am simply telling +you what he did. He slid silently into the water with his rags +clinging to him and started swimming up the river against the ebbing +tide. He had a simple, short-sighted, one-track mind. It never +occurred to him that by undressing he might return and don his dry +clothes again, such as they were. He had always gone in swimming with +his rags on and he was his own clothesline; they dried upon his back. +</P> + +<P> +In the water, Keekie Joe was at his best. He swam to shore like a +little devil. Then, with all his might and main, he ran northward +through the woods keeping close to the shore. This necessitated his +swimming through mud and marshy places. But he hurried on, soaked, +weary, panting. He was a horrible sight when he reached the boat, +dripping with mud, his flesh torn by brambles, his ragged clothing +plastered to his poor little form like wall-paper. +</P> + +<P> +He was not good at rowing but fortunately all he had to do was to guide +the old punt while the tide carried it down. And so he brought the old +boat to the island and pulled it well up on the shore, and tied it with +a rope. Then panting, dripping, he groped his way to the tent and +looked within. They were all still sleeping peacefully. +</P> + +<P> +Keekie Joe had no change of clothing either on the island or anywhere +else. Going to school was out of the question now; he was too +saturated and filthy. Why should he remain on the island? He felt +that he could not face Townsend Ripley after breaking the promise he +had made him not to go in swimming. Poor Keekie Joe, his eyes were so +full of mud that he could not see the glory of that broken promise! +</P> + +<P> +"Yez cin all go ter school," he said. Then, with as much fear and +stealth as if he were running away from the police he crept into the +water again and started for shore. He bent his course as nearly as he +could for the end of Barrel Alley which abutted on the river. Soon he +would be back in the yard of Billy Gilson's tire repair shop and could +rest. His little sojourn in Fairyland had been a wonderful thing … +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17767-h.txt or 17767-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/7/6/17767">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/7/6/17767</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions 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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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/20060214-17767.txt b/old/20060214-17767.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..acfd356 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20060214-17767.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5204 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Pee-Wee Harris Adrift, by Percy Keese +Fitzhugh, Illustrated by H. S. Barbour + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + + + + + +Title: Pee-Wee Harris Adrift + + +Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh + + + +Release Date: February 14, 2006 [eBook #17767] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 17767-h.htm or 17767-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/7/6/17767/17767-h/17767-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/7/6/17767/17767-h.zip) + + + + + +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT + +by + +PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + +Author of + + The Tom Slade Books + The Roy Blakeley Books + The Pee-Wee Harris Books + +Illustrated by H. S. Barbour + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Pee-wee rowed his customers to Alligator Island.] + + + + +Published with the approval of +The Boy Scouts of America +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers : : New York +Made in the United States of America +Copyright, 1922, by +Grosset & Dunlap + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I ALONE + II SATURDAY MORNING + III CASTLES IN THE AIR + IV KEEKIE JOE + V A QUESTION OF DUTY + VI THE MISSIONARY + VII APPLE BLOSSOM TIME + VIII PEE-WEE EXPLORES THE ISLAND + IX THE LOOKOUT SEES A SAIL + X THE OTHERS ARRIVE + XI PLANS + XII THE DISCOVERER RETURNS + XIII "STOP" + XIV "GO" + XV LIFE ON THE UNKNOWN SHORE + XVI BEFORE THE PARTY + XVII THE SCENE IS SET + XVIII EVERY WHICH WAY + XIX THE EARTHLY PARADISE + XX GONE + XXI FOILED + XXII IN THE GLARE OF THE SEARCH-LIGHT + XXIII THE DREAM OF KEEKIE JOE + XXIV THE MISSIONARY LANDS ON FOREIGN SHORES + XXV RETURN OF THE HERO + XXVI SHORT AND TO THE POINT + XXVII SETTLED AT LAST + XXVIII IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE + XXIX THE RACE + XXX ABSENCE MAKES THE ISLAND QUIET + XXXI A PROMISE + XXXII VENGEANCE + XXXIII KEEKIE JOE, SCOUT + XXXIV THE STORY CLOSES AND SCHOOL OPENS + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Pee-wee rowed his customers to Alligator Island. + + Keekie Joe interview Pee-wee. + + The boys hold the island in spite of old Trimmer's protest. + + Pee-wee becomes a sandwich man. + + + + +PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT + + +CHAPTER I + +ALONE + +When Pee-wee Harris returned from Temple Camp in the fall, he found +himself a scout without a patrol. He had indulged in a colossal +speculation and lost out. + +Forsaking the Raving Ravens, he had set forth to mobilize all the +small, unattached boys at camp into the Pollywog Patrol, but the +Pollywog Patrol had proved about as substantial as the shifting sand. + +Like the beloved Black Lake it had both an inlet and an outlet. As +fast as one boy entered it another had to go home, so that conducting +the Pollywog Patrol was like pouring water into a leaky pail. Pee-wee, +with all his flaunted efficiency, could not be at both ends of this +patrol at the same time. + +As soon as some miniature scout from New York had been duly initiated, +some previously initiated scout from Chicago found that his time was +up, and Pee-wee's time was chiefly occupied in rushing frantically +about trying to keep pace with this epidemic of resignations. + +At last the epidemic reached an acute stage and the Pollywog Patrol, +after a glorious career of nine days, was struck a mortal blow, never +to be heard of again except in the pages of history. Its three +remaining members were summoned to their several homes simultaneously; +one new scout was hastily secured but on learning that he could not be +patrol leader he tendered his resignation and was soon called home to +attend his sister's wedding. Scout Harris faced a cruel world alone. + +Meanwhile, Billy Simpson had been called to Temple Camp from Bridgeboro +to fill (if anyone could fill) the enormous space left vacant in the +Raven Patrol by the withdrawal of its enterprising genius. + +"Never mind," said Mr. Ellsworth, the troop's scoutmaster, "there are +plenty of fish in the sea--to say nothing of Pollywogs. Bridgeboro is +full of permanent material. You have all this winter to round up a new +patrol." + +"Only don't round up any snow men because they melt," said Roy +Blakeley, leader of the Silver Foxes; "and don't bother with shadows +because you can't depend on them. And when you get a scout put a paper +weight on him so he won't blow away." + +"If you'll give me some of the biscuits you make, I'll use them for +weights," Pee-wee shouted. + +"You mean you'll eat them," Roy said. "What are you going to name the +new patrol? Why don't you name it the Canned Salmon? Then they can't +get away from you." + +"Sure, you can have a can-opener for your emblem," said Dorry Benton. + +"Maybe we'll call ourselves the Airedales because scouts like fresh +air," Pee-wee said. "I got a lot of ideas." + +"He thinks Airedales are named after the air," said Doc Carson. + +"Sure, just the same as Pennsylvania is named after the Pennsylvania +Railroad," Roy said. + +"You make me tired!" Pee-wee shouted disgustedly. "You leave it to me, +I'll think up a name. I know four fellers already that'll join. Maybe +I'll decide to start a whole new troop and not bother with this one." + +"Why don't you start a whole new scout movement?" Roy asked. "Call it +the Boy Scouts of Pee-wee Harris. Discharge the Boy Scouts of America +altogether." + +"I'll start something all right, you leave it to me," Pee-wee announced +darkly. "You think you're smart just because you write stories about +your adventures and you always make out that you're the hero. You +always make out that I get the worst of it. Gee whiz, if I ever write +any stories, I'll get my just deserts." + +"Did I ever say you didn't get plenty of desserts?" Roy shot back at +him. "I gave you three helpings in every story and that's all the +thanks I get. You think so much about desserts that you're going to +desert the troop. We should worry." + +"If I write any stories I'll write them good and loud," Pee-wee shouted. + +"Open the cut-out of your fountain pen," Roy said, "and be sure to turn +to the right whenever you come to the end of a page and look out you +don't skid." + +"Maybe I'll write my remittances," Pee-wee said darkly. + +"He means his reminiscences," said Arrie Van Arlen. + +"I think," said Mr. Ellsworth, "that Scout Harris will be quite busy +enough forming the new patrol, and when it is formed I hope he will +present it to the First Bridgeboro Troop, B. S. A." + +"That's us," said Westy Martin. + +"I don't see how Pee-wee can get out of the troop," Mr. Ellsworth +laughed, "because strictly speaking, he has never been in the troop; on +the contrary the troop has been in him, as one might say." + +"_Good night_, did he swallow that too?" said Roy. And he rolled +backward off the troop-room table on which he had been sitting. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SATURDAY MORNING + +Though Pee-wee was without a patrol he was by no means without a troop. +He still held his position of troop mascot and official target for the +mirthful Silver Foxes. He was a whole patrol in himself and held his +own against raillery and banter, his stock of retaliatory ammunition +seeming never to be exhausted. + +"I can handle them with both hands tied behind my back," he boasted, +which is readily enough believed since it was mainly his tongue that he +used. + +But recruits did not flock to Pee-wee's standard. Perhaps this was +partly because of the fall and winter season when the lure of camping +and roughing it was in abeyance. Perhaps it was because he was so +small that boys were fain to think that scouting was a thing for +children and beneath their dignity. + +Once or twice during the winter, Pee-wee piloted some half-convinced +and bashful subject to the troop-room, which was an old railroad car +(of fond memory) down by the river. Here, in the cosy warmth of the +old cylinder stove, the troop played checkers and read and jollied +Pee-wee, which was about all there was to do on winter nights. The +visitors, unimpressed with these makeshift diversions of the off +season, did not return, and so the good old springtime found Pee-wee +still a scout indeed (with something left over) but a scout without a +patrol. + +And now the sturdy little missionary began to feel this keenly. Patrol +spirit is usually not much in evidence during the winter; the several +divisions of a troop intermingle and form a sort of club in which an +odd member is quite at home. But with the coming of spring the patrol +spirit becomes aroused. It is a case of "united we stand, divided we +sprawl," as Roy Blakeley was fond of saying. Each patrol goes +separately about its preparations for camping and hiking, does its +shopping, repairs its tents, denounces and ridicules its associate +patrols, and troop unity gives way somewhat to patrol unity. This is +well and as it should be. + +It was very much so with the well organized Bridgeboro troop. With the +first breath of spring the Ravens became Ravens, the Elks foregathered +and were Elks and nothing else, and the Silver Foxes began a series of +exclusive meetings at Camp Solitaire under a big shady elm on Roy's +lawn. + +The Silver Foxes, imbibing the mirthful spirit of their leader, were +all pretty much alike, and the Ravens were thankful that they were not +like them, and the Elks congratulated themselves that they had more pep +than the Ravens. "The Elks say the Ravens are no good and the Ravens +say the Elks are no good and they're both right; we should worry," said +Roy. "There's one good thing about the Elks and that is that they're +not Ravens, and there's one good thing about the Ravens and that is +that they're not Elks. They both have everything to be thankful for if +not more so. They're in luck." + +"Do you call that logic?" Pee-wee demanded in the tones of an +earthquake. "If one thing is better than another thing how can that +other thing be better than the other thing? You're crazy!" + +"Goodness gracious, look who's here?" said Hunt Manners, who was +sorting out some fish-hooks. "The whole Canned Salmon Patrol." + +Pee-wee stood outside the tent, breathing hard after his long tramp up +the hill to the Blakeley place. + +"Don't you know this is private land?" Warde Hollister said, rather +heedless of the possible effect of his remark. + +"I didn't come in the tent, did I?" Pee-wee retorted wistfully. + +"Come ahead in, Kid," said Roy. "Are you hungry? Here's some +fish-hooks." + +"No, I'm not hungry," Pee-wee said. He had been so touched by Warde's +thoughtless remark that he held himself aloof from Roy's hospitality. +"I only came up to tell you that the thunderstorm up the river did a +lot of damage; a house was struck by lightning in North Bridgeboro and +a lot of trees were blown down." This was not what he had come up for, +though indeed the news was true, but his pride was touched by that +remark of Warde's and he would not now admit that he had tramped up +there just to visit them. + +"Gee whiz, do you think I don't know that eight's a company, nine's a +crowd with patrols?" he said. "Do you think I don't know that? +Anyway, if I wanted to go and hang out with any patrol I'd go with the +Ravens, wouldn't I? I only came up to tell you that, because I thought +you'd like to know. Do you think I'm trying to find out your secrets? +Gee whiz!" + +"Come ahead in, Kid," said Roy; "Warde didn't mean that." + +"I will not." + +"What's the matter with you anyway?" Will Dawson asked. + +"I'm not in your patrol," Pee-wee said. + +"What's the big idea?" Westy Martin asked. "You weren't in it when you +went on the bee-line hike with us either, were you?" + +"That's different," Pee-wee said. "Anyway I was a scout then, because +I was in the Ravens and anyway I've got to go to the store." + +Before they realized it he was gone. + +"What the dickens did you want to say that for?" Roy asked Warde. + +"Oh, it just jumped out of my mouth," Warde said; "I didn't think he'd +be so touchy. Wait, I'll call him back." + +But the sturdy little figure trudging down the hill paid no attention +to Warde's call. And the Silver Foxes, friendly and sympathetic as +they were, were too preoccupied to think much about this trifling +affair. Perhaps they had just a little disinclination to having +visitors, even the little mascot, participating in their private +councils just then. + +The point of the whole matter was that Pee-wee had been unintentionally +eliminated; it was a sort of automatic process attributable to the +springtime. And he found himself alone. He was not out of the troop, +but he was not in any of the patrols, and in spite of all his +spectacular missionary work he had not been able to form a patrol. + +Pee-wee's pride was as great as his voice and his appetite, and he +would not sponge on the patrols which had a full membership and were +busy with their own concerns. The rock on which he had stood all +winter had split in three and there was no place for him on any of the +pieces. + +On Saturday morning the Silver Foxes went into the city to buy some +camping things and to see a movie show in the afternoon. The Ravens +went off for a hike. A Saturday spent alone was more than the soul of +Pee-wee could endure, so he conquered his foolish pride and went up to +Connie Bennett's house to find out what the Elks were going to do. He +would not join in with the Elks, he told himself, but he would pal with +any single Elk, or even with two or three. That would be all right as +long as he did not foist himself upon a whole patrol. "Eight's a +company, nine's a crowd, gee whiz, I have to admit that," he said to +himself. "It's all right for me to go with one feller even if he's a +scout but a patrol's different." + +It was a wistful and rather pathetic little figure that Mrs. Bennett +discovered upon the porch. + +"Connie? Oh gracious, he's been gone an hour, dear," she said. "They +all went away with Mr. Collins in his auto. I told him he must be back +for supper. How is it you're not with them, Walter?" + +"I--I ain't in that patrol," said Pee-wee; "it goes by patrols. Anyway +I'm sorry I troubled you." + +He turned and went down the steps and picking up a stick drew it across +the slats of a fence as he went up the street. The outlandish noise +seemed to act as a balm to his disappointment and to keep him company. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +CASTLES IN THE AIR + +The lonesomeness of Robinson Crusoe on his desert island was nothing +compared to the lonesomeness of Pee-wee on that Saturday morning. He +might have attached himself to any of the three patrols and had a day's +pleasure, but his pride had stood in the way. + +He had always been something of a free lance in the troop and been +regarded as a troop institution. But there had always been his +official place among the Ravens waiting for him whenever it suited his +wanton fancy to return like a prodigal to the fold. Now, in the +pleasant springtime with the troop divided for the summer rivalries, he +found himself quite isolated. + +No one was to blame for this; a scout must be in one patrol or another, +and if all patrols are full then he must make himself the nucleus of a +new one. That is what Mr. Ellsworth had told Pee-wee. + +"Gee whiz, nucleuses aren't so easy to be, that's one thing," Pee-wee +muttered to himself as he bent his aimless way in the direction of +Barrel Alley. "Maybe he thinks it's easy to be a nucleus. Nucleuses +are hard to be, I'll tell the world. Anyway I can be a pioneer scout, +that's one thing. You don't have to be a nucleus or anything to be one +of those. They don't have to bother with patrols, they don't, they're +lucky." + +He ambled along kicking a stone before him in a disconsolate, +disgruntled way. He followed it wherever it went, ever and again +kicking it back onto the sidewalk; the simple pastime seemed to afford +him infinite relief. And meanwhile, glowing visions arose in his mind, +such visions as no one but a poet or a lonely boy on a Saturday morning +in the springtime could possibly have. + +No one had injured him in the least, he was liked by all, he was simply +the unhappy victim of circumstances. But in a mood of heroic +retaliation against the troop he pictured himself as a pioneer scout +residing aloof in a grim tower, surrounded by wireless apparatus and +covered with merit badges. Scouts from all over the world would make +pilgrimages to his obscure retreat for a timid glimpse of the +mysterious hero. + +The glowing vision was somewhat marred by his conception of himself +eating a huge sandwich as he looked down from his parapet upon the +worshipping throng below. Roy Blakeley would be down there among the +others, his jollying propensity subdued by a feeling of awe as he gazed +at the great scout hermit, the famous pioneer scout who sent messages +to lesser scouts the world over. They would whisper, "he looks just +like his pictures in _Boys' Life_," and he would smile down on them +and . . . + +_Plunk_! The pioneer scout had collided with a man on the sidewalk and +he returned to Bridgeboro with a suddenness that surprised even himself. + +"Excuse me," he said. + +"Certainly," said the man. + +Pee-wee recovered his rock, and began kicking it along the sidewalk +again. "I'll show them," he said moodily. + +He was about to ascend his scout throne again and engage in the +gracious pastime of receiving delegations of common, ordinary scouts in +his dim, wooded domain when he found himself at the edge of a region +which was not in the least like the romantic wilderness of his vision. +This was Barrel Alley, the habitat of Jimmy Mattenburg and Sweet +Caporal and the McNulty twins. + +Barrel Alley was the slum neighborhood of Bridgeboro and it was not +very large. But it was large enough. Pee-wee explored the crooked, +muddy, sordid street, gazing wistfully here and there for possible +recruits. But no human material was to be seen. The older boys were +playing craps in Dennahan's lot and the smaller boys were watching +them. One lonely sentinel was perched on the fence scanning the +horizon for cops. For this he received the regular union pay of a +stale apple-core. + +He was an unkempt urchin with an aggressive and challenging +countenance, but he had solved several problems in economy. One of +these was the entire elimination of stockings and garters. This was +accomplished by the use of a pair of trousers with legs of such ample +diameter and of such length as to render stockings altogether +superfluous. This released both garters for more important duties, +they being tied end to end, thus constituting a sort of single strand +suspender which at its junction with his trousers in front was securely +held by a large nail. His hair presented an appearance not unlike the +negligent architecture of an eagle's nest, which is of the bungalow +type in its loose irregularity. He had not the slightest reason for +supposing that Pee-wee was equipped with commissary stores, but on +general principles he said, + +"Give us a hunk of candy, will yer?" + +As luck would have it, this random shot, fired at every strange boy +from the upper world, hit the mark, to his unspeakable astonishment. +Pulling out of his pocket a licorice jaw-breaker of vast dimensions, +Pee-wee sent it shooting in a bee-line at the face of the stranger. + +Never before in all his checkered history had Keekie Joe ever received +any edible of any character whatever in response to his menacing +demands. He had always assumed that boys who were well dressed had +fruit or candy in their pockets. He had sometimes required them to +verify their denials by an exhibition of the interior of these +receptacles. His invariable demand had become a habit with him. +Therefore the little sugared black brick which now hit him in the eye +came as an unprecedented surprise. For a moment he did not know +whether to construe it as a propitiatory gift or a warlike missile. + +"What's the matter with you, can't you catch?" Pee-wee demanded. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +KEEKIE JOE + +It required but a few seconds for Keekie Joe to decide to run true to +form. The situation was an unusual one, the missile was a delicious +morsel, and was nothing more nor less than what he had demanded. But +still it had been thrown at him and Keekie Joe elected to consider it +as a shot fired by the enemy. + +"Whatcher chuckin' things at me fer?" he demanded, descending from the +fence and approaching Pee-wee with a terrible look of menace. He had +been careful, however, to pick the jawbreaker up and put it in his +mouth. + +"Didn't you say you wanted one?" Pee-wee asked. "Didn't you just put +it in your mouth?" + +"Never you mind wot I done," said Keekie Joe. "D'yer think yer cin +sass me?" + +"I'll show you how to catch if you'll say you'll be a scout," Pee-wee +answered. There could be no better illustration of his desperation as +a scout missionary than this artless proposition to the sentinel of +Barrel Alley. + +"Who can't catch?" Keekie Joe demanded. + +"You can't." + +"Me?" + +"Yes, you." + +"Yer dasn' say it again." + +"You can't catch, you can't catch, you can't catch," said Pee-wee. + +There seemed nothing left now but to break off diplomatic relations +altogether. The issue was clear. But Keekie Joe did not plunge his +outlandish person into war. + +"If I didn' have ter lay keekie I'd slam yer one," he announced. + +"What's the use of giving you candy if we can't be friends?" Pee-wee +said. "Gee whiz, I wouldn't care how much candy fellers threw at me; +the more the merrier. They can throw mince pies at me for all I care," +he added. "If you want to be a scout I'll show you how and we can +start a patrol maybe." + +[Illustration: Keekie Joe interviews Pee-wee] + +The word patrol seemed to suggest something ominous to Keekie Joe, for +he glanced furtively up and down the alley, and then waved his hand +reassuringly to the group in the middle of the field. + +Pee-wee perceived now that the scene of the crap game had been selected +with keen military wisdom, affording a safe avenue of precipitate +retreat in any direction. Disaster could have resulted only from a +surrounding host. Officer McMahon, the tyrant on this squalid beat, +was large. But he was not large enough to surround the camp. + +The crap-shooters of Barrel Alley had been surprised in every nook and +corner of their neighborhood until they had hit upon the bold expedient +of playing in an open lot, reposing their trust in a sentinel. It +would not have been well for the sentinel to relax his vigilance. + +"What I want ter join them scout kids fer?" Keekie Joe inquired. "Der +yer call me a sissy?" + +"Do you call the scouts sissies?" Pee-wee inquired angrily. "They have +more fun than you do, that's one sure thing. If you don't want to join +you don't have to but you don't have to get mad about it. Gee whiz, +you're always mad, kind of. I guess you got up out of the wrong side +of the bed, that's what _I_ think." + +This was not true, for indeed Keekie Joe did not sleep in a bed at all; +he slept on a heap of old inner tubes in Ike Levine's tire repair shop. +He was about to resent this slander from Pee-wee with a glowering look +and a threat, when suddenly something happened, which precipitately +terminated his performance of his official functions. His father +called him from a tenement across the street, accompanying his summons +with such dismal predictions of what would happen if he did not obey +that the official sentinel had no choice but to desert his post. + +"If I have ter come over there'n git yer," the father said, "I'll----" + +Poor Joe glanced at his father in the window, then at the gamesters in +the field. It was evident that chastisement of the severest character +awaited him in any case. For a moment he had a wild notion of making a +spectacular retreat along the street, crawling through a broken part of +the fence beyond the range of parental vision, and resuming his duties +of sentinel at another vantage point. Such a maneuver would at least +postpone a reckoning with his father and enable him to be faithful to +his trust. A very unworthy trust it may have been but his one thought +was to be faithful to it. And there you have Keekie Joe in a +nutshell . . . + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A QUESTION OF DUTY + +Pee-wee's advice to Joe in this predicament was rather singular, and the +scout law on which he based it covered a rather larger field of +obligation than was necessary in the circumstances. + +"Go ahead over," he whispered; "you have to obey your parents and all +other duly constituted authorities. I'll lay keekie for you while you're +gone; go ahead over, I'll keep watch." + +"Yes, you will!" said Joe incredulously. "I know youz guys, y'll put one +over, that's what y'll do. Wat'd'yer mean, constute--con--authorities? +Yes yer will, _not_!" + +"That shows how much you know about scouts," Pee-wee said, always ready +to explain the ins and outs of scouting. "Do you think I'd cheat? Gee +whiz, I've got to be faithful to a trust, haven't I? If I say I'll do a +thing I'll do it. You go ahead over and I'll keep watch and if I don't +do it you can punch me in the eye the next time you see me." + +It was not so much this proffer of indemnity as a supplementary threat +from the window across the way which decided Keekie Joe. He did not +believe in Pee-wee for he did not believe in anybody. But he was a bit +puzzled at this self-possessed little stranger from another world. There +was a straightforward, clear look in the little scout's eyes which +bespoke both friendliness and sincerity and Keekie Joe did not understand +this. The emergency decided him to repose faith in the strange boy but +it was not in him to do this graciously. + +"You keep yer eyes peeled till I git back, and giv'm the high sign, d'yer +hear?" he said with insolent skepticism, "or the first time I see yer on +Main Street I'll black up both yer eyes fer yer, d'yer see?" + +"That's one thing I like about you," said Pee-wee; "gee whiz, you obey +scout laws without even knowing them. That shows you're a kind of a +scout and you don't know it." + +Keekie Joe did not look much like a scout, as he shuffled across the +street; he did not even look like the rawest of raw scout material. But +statues are carved out of hard rock. And Keekie Joe was a very hard rock +indeed. + +Pee-wee vaulted up onto the ramshackle fence, placed one of those granite +bricks known as a licorice jaw-breaker in his mouth, and prepared for his +indefinite vigil. He was not thinking of the "constituted authorities," +he was not thinking of the crap-shooters either; his back was turned to +them and his all seeing eye was fixed on the distant street corner. He +was thinking of Keekie Joe and of how Keekie Joe had tried to obey one of +the good scout laws by being faithful to a trust. And there you have +Pee-wee Harris in a nut-shell . . . + +The game in the middle of the large field must have become exciting, for +its votaries were gathered into a close group. None of the players +seemed able now to spare so much as a cautious glance toward the street. +Once, during his intense preoccupation, Slats Corbett gave a quick, +furtive glance afar, but it was only in a sort of sub-consciousness that +he glimpsed a figure sitting on the fence, its back toward him. That was +enough. + +The group gathered closer, voices were heard in excited altercation, +there were long intervals of silence. The group had shrunken and become +compact. All were stooping. Their preoccupation seemed intense. They +had forgotten all about the lookout. Occasionally some civilian passed +along the distant alley and guilty instinct caused one or another of the +group to glance thither to give a hasty appraisal of his mission and +character. And so the wicked game went on. And the sports of Barrel +Alley never knew that their stronghold had been invaded by the boy scouts. + +Then around the distant corner appeared two figures in civilian clothes, +strangers in Barrel Alley. They were County Detectives Slippett and +Spotson. They strolled down the alley innocently. Keekie Joe, whose +activities were chiefly local, knew them not. But Pee-wee Harris, Scout, +knew them. On one of his long hikes he had seen them arrest a motorist +in Northvale. He had seen them loitering in the post office at Little +Valley. + +They did duty in the various municipalities of the county where the +familiar faces of the local officials were a stumbling block to the +apprehension of wrongdoers. They were going to break up this ring of +gambling rowdies, and so forth and so forth and so forth . . . + +Pee-wee's first impulse was to shout, but on second thought it occurred +to him that the army of invasion consisting of two, one of them might +make a flank move on hearing his warning voice, and that one detective +could thus drive the criminals into the very arms of the other, as they +passed through the back yard of Chin Foo's laundry. Chin Foo's back yard +was a sort of trap. + +So instead of shouting he descended from the fence with lightning agility +and ran across the field as fast as his legs would carry him, and +pell-mell into the group. + +"Two detectives are coming down the alley," he panted. "Beat it over +that way and then you'll _sure_ not run into one of them because they've +got--got--a lot of strat--strat--strat--strat--egy--they have--you'd +better hurry up." + +The time it required for the group to disperse can not be indicated by +any word in the English language. They were there and then they were not +there. As Pee-wee stood amid scattered coins and dice he was conscious +of distant forms scaling fences, wriggling through holes, and of one pair +of legs disappearing majestically over a dilapidated roof. As a +disorderly retreat it was a masterpiece. + +It was not in Pee-wee's nature to run from anything or anybody. So there +he stood amid the telltale mementoes of the dreadful game while +Detectives Slippett and Spotson strolled into the field. They were just +in time to behold a fleeting vision of forms wriggling through fences, +gliding around buildings, and scrambling over roof tops. + +County Detective Spotson was quick to sense the situation. Taking +Pee-wee roughly by the shoulder he demanded in that sophisticated voice +and manner which all detectives acquire and which sometimes passes for +shrewdness, "What's the big idea, huh? Tipped them on, did you? Well, +you're a very clever kid, ain't you?" He removed his big hand from +Pee-wee's shoulder and injected his fingers down the back of the boy's +neck, grabbing him by the collar and gathering it so that it almost +choked him. + +This terrifying grip, which is always intended to be considered as the +preliminary of arrest, did not frighten Pee-wee as it would have +frightened Keekie Joe, but it touched his pride and enraged him, and he +wriggled frantically. There is no indignity which can be put upon a boy +like this bullying, official grip of his collar. + +"You let me go," he said excitedly; "I wasn't playing here and you didn't +see me do anything wrong; you let me go, do you hear!" His utter +helplessness, despite every contortion, to free himself from this +degrading kind of grasp, drove him distracted and he kicked with all his +might and main. "_You let me go, do you hear!_" he shouted. + +"Well, what were you doing here then, huh?" the officer asked gruffly. +"Yer gave'm the tip, didn't yer?" + +"You let go, I'm not going to run away," Pee-wee said. "Do you think I'm +scared of you? You let me go!" + +"Do yer know what an accessory is?" Detective Spotson demanded, loosening +his grip somewhat. + +"It's something you buy to put on an automobile," Pee-wee said. "You let +go, I'm not going to run." + +Detective Spotson, like Keekie Joe, trusted nobody. But since he had no +intention of arresting Pee-wee and since the diminutive captive seemed +rather angered than frightened, he released his hold. By a series of +wriggles and contortions, Pee-wee adjusted his clothing and settled his +neck in his stretched neckband. "Why don't--why--why don't you take +a--a--a feller your size?" he half cried and half panted. + +The officers now began to have some glimmerings of the fact that here was +a boy who did not belong in Barrel Alley. They were a little taken aback +by the exhibition of so much pride and spirit. The customary, ominous +grip of the collar had not worked. + +"What were you doing down here, Sonny?" Detective Slippett asked. + +"I came down to hunt for fellers to start a scout patrol," Pee-wee said, +"and one feller was laying keekie for cops and he had to go home so I +took his place, because he had to keep his word with those fellers, +didn't he? Maybe you wouldn't promise fellers to do that but, gee whiz, +if you did promise them you'd have to keep your word, wouldn't you? If +he sees I help him maybe he'll get to be a scout, won't he? Do you mean +to tell me it isn't more important to be a scout than it is to let +fellers get to be arrested? Even--even Roosevelt said the scouts were +important, but he didn't say it was important you should catch fellers, +did he?" + +"That's some argument," Detective Slippett said, half smiling. + +"I know even better arguments than that," Pee-wee boasted. + +"Well," said Detective Spotson rather more gruffly, "you'd better look +out how you try to interfere with the law, young feller, 'cause first +thing you know you'll find yourself in jail. And you'd better keep away +from this outfit down here, too. Now you chase yourself back to where +you belong--see?" + +"You thought you were going to scare me, didn't you?" Pee-wee said. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MISSIONARY + +Pee-wee retraced his steps back across the field feeling righteous and +triumphant. To him the interests of the Boy Scouts of America +superseded every other interest and like the true missionary he did not +scruple overmuch as to means employed. + +As he emerged Into the alley, Keekie Joe, looking frightened and +apprehensive, appeared out of the surrounding squalor. It was a +characteristic of Keekie Joe that he always appeared without warning. +A long habit of sneaking had given him this uncanny quality. Suddenly +Pee-wee, in the full blush of his heroic triumph, was aware of the poor +wretch shuffling along beside him. + +"Wot'd they say ter yer? Wot'd yer tell 'em?" he asked fearfully. + +"I didn't tell them anything," Pee-wee said. "As long as the fellers +got away they won't blame you. Anyway, if you'd have been there they'd +have been caught, because you didn't know those detectives because +they're strangers around here." + +"How'd _you_ know them?" Keekie Joe inquired. + +"Gee, scouts are supposed to know everything," Pee-wee informed him. + +Keekie Joe gave a side glance at Pee-wee as he shuffled along at his +side. He was rather interested in a class of boys who knew all +officials on sight; here indeed was something worth knowing. "Yer +spotted 'em?" he asked incredulously. + +"_Sure_ I did," said Pee-wee with great alacrity; "because scouts are +supposed to be observant, see? I saw them in Northvale once. But, +believe me, I didn't holla. _Oh, no_! I ran over and told the fellers +and they all got away, so as long as you didn't leave them in the lurch +it was all right. So now will you join the scouts? They always carry +licorice jaw-breakers in their pockets," he added as a supplementary +inducement; "anyway _I_ do--lemon ones too, and strawberry ones." + +"How many is in your gang?" Joe asked. + +"Nobody yet," said Pee-wee, "because I haven't got it started. But if +you'll join in with me we'll start one. You're supposed to hike and +run a lot but if you want to run after fire engines and ambulances it's +all right." He said this because of the favorite outdoor sport of +Barrel Alley of trailing fire engines and ambulances. "So will you +join?" he added. + +They paused on the frontier of Joe's domain in the rear of the big bank +building which fronted on Main Street. Here was the makeshift sidewalk +of barrel staves whence the alley derived its name. "You have to be, +kind of, you have to be a sort of a--kind of wild and reckless to join +the scouts," Pee-wee pleaded. "Maybe you're kind of scared on account +of thinking that you have to be civilized, but you don't; you don't +even eat off plates," he added with sudden inspiration. "We cook +potatoes just like tramps do, right out in the woods; we hold them on +sticks over the fire. So now will you join? If you will you'll be +elected patrol leader because there's only one to vote for you and I'm +the one and I'm a majority. See? So if you come in right now you'll +be sure to have a majority and I'll buy some Eskimo pies, too." + +"Der yez swipe de pertaters?" Joe asked. + +"We don't exactly kind of what you would call swipe them," Pee-wee was +forced to confess. "But we get them in ways that are just as good. +They taste just as good as if they were swiped, honest they do," he +hastened to add. "So will you come down by the river with me? That +old railroad car down there is our meeting place and it's got a stove +in it and everything and there won't be any one there to-day except +just you and me and we'll have an election and I'll vote for you and +you can vote for yourself and so you'll be sure to be elected patrol +leader. And after that I'll show you what you have to do and most of +it is eating and things like that. So will you say yes?" + +Keekie Joe was not to be lured by promises of "eats," though he was +curious about the old railroad car. His answer to Pee-wee was +characteristic of him. "I woudn' join 'em, because they're a lot of +sissies," he said, "but yer needn' be ascared ter come down here +because I woudn' leave no guy hurt yer; I woudn' leave 'em guy yer +because yer a Boy Scout. If any of 'em starts guyen yer he'll get an +upper cut, see?" + +Pee-wee went on his way thoroughly disappointed and disheartened. His +thought was not that he had made a friend, but that he had lost a +possible recruit. He had cherished no thought of reforming the wicked +and uplifting the lowly in his effort to enlist this outlandish denizen +of the slums. He was not the goody-goody little scout propagandist +that we sometimes read about. He had simply been desperate and had +lost all sense of discrimination. Anything would do if he could only +start a patrol. What this sturdy little scout failed to understand was +that in this particular enterprise the Boy Scouts had lost out but that +Pee-wee Harris had won. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +APPLE BLOSSOM TIME + +Pee-wee stopped in Bennett's Fresh Confectionery and regaled his +drooping spirit with a chocolate soda. Then he continued his stroll up +Main Street. He had always advertised his conviction that things +invariably came his way but nothing came his way on this lonely +Saturday morning. + +He paused here and there gazing idly into shop windows, he stood gaping +at a man who was having trouble with his auto, and at last he wandered +into the public library. The place seemed like a tomb on that Saturday +morning in the springtime. Not a boy was there to be seen. "Gee whiz, +they've got something better to do than read books," he thought to +himself. + +There at the desk sat the librarian, silent, preoccupied. In the +reading room were a few scattered readers intent on newspapers and +magazines. The place, familiar and pleasant enough to Pee-wee at other +times, seemed alien and uninviting at a time of day when he was usually +too busy to call upon its quiet resources of treasure. + +On this balmy holiday it seemed almost like school; it had a booky, +studious atmosphere which turned him against it. And to complete this +impression and make the place abhorrent to him there sat Miss Bunting, +the history teacher, in a corner of the reference room with several +books spread about her. To Pee-wee on Saturday morning this seemed +nothing less than an insult. + +He approached a shelf near the librarian's desk above which was a sign +that read BOOKS ESPECIALLY RECOMMENDED. Here were always a few old +time favorites, worth while books made readily available. From these +Pee-wee half-heartedly drew out a copy of Treasure Island and took it +to a table. He knew his Treasure Island. In a disgruntled mood he +sank far down in his chair and opened the book at random. He was too +familiar with the enthralling pages of the famous story to seek solace +in it now, but there was nothing else to do and he was too out of sorts +to search further. Presently he was idly skimming over the page before +him. + + +The appearance of the island when I came on deck next morning was +altogether changed. Although the breeze had now utterly failed, we had +made a great deal of way during the night, and were now lying becalmed +about half a mile to the southeast of the low eastern coast. +Gray-colored woods covered a large part of the surface. This even tint +was indeed broken up by streaks of yellow sandbreak in the lower lands, +and by many tall trees of the pine family, out-topping the others--some +singly, some in clumps; but the general coloring was uniform and sad. +The hills ran up . . . + + +Pee-wee blinked his eyes, yawned, then suddenly drew himself up into an +erect sitting posture and pushed the book from him. "Gee whiz," he +mused, "that's what I'd like, to go off to a desert island. They don't +have any desert islands now; that's one thing I don't like about this +century. Hikes and camping and all that make me tired; I'd like to be +on a desert island, that's what _I'd_ like to do. I'd like to be +marooned. Gee whiz, we only kid ourselves trying to make ourselves +think we're doing things that are wild. I guess all the desert islands +are discovered by now; oh boy, there were lots and lots of them in the +seventeenth century; that's my favorite century, the seventeenth, on +account of buried treasure and desert islands." + +Indulging these disconsolate spring musings, Pee-wee sank down in his +chair again, a frowning, dreamy figure, and floated out of the library +and away from all the sordid environments of Bridgeboro toward a desert +island situated in the south-eastern part of the seventeenth century. +It was a long, long way off and he had to cross the eighteenth and +nineteenth centuries to get to it. He was no longer a pioneer scout +now, nor a scout at all, but a doughty explorer about to set foot for +the first time on soil that white man had never trod before. + +He sank farther down in his chair as he voyaged afar. He was soon out +of sight of land and almost out of sight of the few readers in that +drowsy old library. He continued to sink lower and lower in his chair +as if he had sprung a leak. Only his round, curly head was above the +table. The island which he reached was a delectable spot, an earthly +Paradise, with trees laden with fruit which came down like summer +showers when he shook the trees. He wandered about on the enchanted +shores, and ate so much fruit that oddly he felt that he was himself a +tree and that some one was trying to shake fruit out of him. . . . He +sat up with a start and found himself confronting the smiling +countenance of Miss Warden, the librarian, who had been shaking him not +unkindly. + +"Where have you been?" she asked, laughing. + +"To a desert island," said Pee-wee. + +He roused himself and wandered out into the balmy air and down toward +the river, a lonesome little figure. A broad field bordered the stream +and crossing this he approached the old car which was the troops' +headquarters. But before he reached it he was aware of something which +caused him to rub his eyes and stare. As sure as he lived, there in +front of him was the seventeenth century, F. O. B. Bridgeboro, with all +appurtenances and accessories. He stood gaping at a little island out +in the middle of the stream, which had no more business there than +Pee-wee had had to be dozing in the library. + +Pee-wee stood stark still in the middle of the field and rubbed his +eyes to make sure that he was awake. There was not the slightest doubt +that what he saw was very real. The river at that point was quite wide +and its opposite shore was bordered with sparse woodland. + +Pee-wee had bathed and fished and canoed in this neighborhood almost as +long as he could remember and he was perfectly certain that there had +never been an island there. He knew an island when he saw one and +nothing was more certain than that this one was a stranger in the +neighborhood. + +Yet it seemed to be perfectly at home out there in the middle of the +stream, just as if it had been born there and had grown up there. +There was nothing fugitive looking about it at all. In the true spirit +of the twentieth century, which is all for time saving and convenience, +it had voyaged to Pee-wee, thereby saving him the time and perils of an +extended cruise. It had, as one might say, been delivered at his door. + +This was certainly an improvement over the old, out-of-date method of +desert island exploration. Such patent, adjustable islands would bring +the joys of adventurous pioneering "within the reach of all" as +advertisement writers are so fond of declaring, just as the phonograph, +has brought music into every home. + +"That's funny," said Pee-wee, pausing in amazement. "That wasn't here +yesterday, because I was down here yesterday. Anyway as long as no +one's here I'm going to be the one to go and discover it. Findings is +keepings; it's just the same with islands as it is with everything +else." + +To increase his astonishment and cause his brimming cup of joy to +overflow a tree stood upon the little speck of green land laden with +white blossoms, which wafted a faint but fragrant promise to the +enchanted scout upon the distant shore. + +"That's an apple tree," said Pee-wee, his mouth watering. "I'm going +over there to discover it and then it's mine, the whole island's mine +because findings is keepings, that's international law." + +No doubt he felt that the League of Nations would stand in back of him +in the matter of this epoch-making discovery. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PEE-WEE EXPLORES THE ISLAND + +There was no doubt at all of the reality of this extraordinary +apparition. Pee-wee, who was always sure of everything, was doubly +sure of this. Squint and rub his eyes as he would, there was the +desert island in the middle of the river with the tree surmounting it. +By all the precedents in history this island was his. He had as much +right to it as the king of Spain had to San Salvador, more in fact, for +the king of Spain had never seen the island of San Salvador. + +If there was any good in history at all (and Pee-wee had his doubts +about that) why then this mysterious island belonged to him. Miss +Bunting, if she had any sense of fairness at all, would concede this. +If the good old rule of findings is keepings applied to monarchs it +certainly applied to Boy Scouts. So Pee-wee prepared to set sail and +formally take possession of his discovery. He would sail around it as +Columbus had sailed around the coast of Cuba. . . . + +Entering the troops' deserted old car he got the oars of the old flat +bottom boat belonging to the troop. He also procured a black marking +stick used for marking scout signs on rocks, and a pasteboard target on +the back of which he printed in ostentatious lettering. + + + THIS DESERT ISLAND IS DISCOVERED + BY WALTER HARRIS AND ALL PRETAINING + TO IT INCLUDING APPLES AND + EVERYTHING AND OTHER KINDS OF + FOOD AND WILD ANIMALS IF THERE + ARE ANY ALSO PRESIOUS METTLES AND + ALL NATIVES MUST SWEAR TO WALTER + HARRIS I MEAN THEY MUST SWEAR + ALLEAGANCE AND SAID WALTER + HARRIS SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT OF + SETTLEMENT. + + P. S. ESPECIALLY APPLES. + + +Having thus established his rights according to the most historical +rule for the acquisition of new territory, Pee-wee set sail in his +gallant bark and after an uneventful voyage of seven minutes drew his +boat half-way up the rugged shore. + +Though his back was toward the island during the entire cruise, he knew +that land was near fully a minute and a half before reaching it by the +presence of several grasshoppers kicking vainly in the surf. But what +particularly attracted his attention as indicating the presence of +human life upon the island was part of a cruller bobbing near the +shore. This startled and impressed him as the footprint in the sand +startled and impressed Robinson Crusoe. + +Pee-wee could hardly believe that on the very day which had begun so +inauspiciously he had actually set foot upon a strange island, but +there it was under his very feet and it could not get away for he was +standing on it. + +Having fastened his sign to the tree trunk he proceeded to explore the +island. This was done mainly with his eyes since the island was too +small for the usual form of exploration. + +It consisted of a little spot of land about fifteen feet in diameter, +held together by the roots of the tree. It was hubbly and +grass-covered and one side of it had a kind of ragged edge. It seemed +to be subject to earthquakes for as Pee-wee stood upon it he felt a +slight jarring beneath him. Undoubtedly the island depended on the +tree more than the tree depended on the island; one might have fancied +that the island carried too much soil. + +But Pee-wee's surprise at the instability of his Conquest was nothing +to his astonishment at the voice which he presently heard above him. + +"Hello, what are you doing down there?" + +Pee-wee looked up and beheld a boy seated comfortably in the branches +of the tree. He was looking down through the profusion of blossoms +with an exceedingly merry face, and had apparently been witnessing the +arrival of the discoverer with silent amusement. + +"Some desert island, hey?" he laughed. + +"Are you a native?" Pee-wee shouted. + +"Sure, I'm part of the wild life of the island, I'm a scout," the boy +called down. "Come on up, there's room for two on this branch. If the +island should lurch you might get your feet wet." + +"What is this island anyway?" Pee-wee asked, somewhat taken aback by +the discovery that he was not the discoverer. "Where does it belong? +Anyway I'm the boss of it because I discovered it. I just put my sign +up and you can come down and see it if you want to and swear +allegiance." + +"What are you talking about?" the boy called down. "I was on it before +it was born." + +"Do you mean to tell me I didn't discover you?" Pee-wee shouted up. + +"No, _I_ discovered _you_," said the other boy. + +"What do you mean, _you knew it before it was born_?" Pee-wee demanded +skeptically. "How could it have been before it was? If a thing isn't, +how can you know it? You're crazy. I was the first one to discover it +since it was here and you're a part of it. But anyway I'd like to know +how it got here, that's one thing _I'd_ like to know." + +"Come on up here and I'll tell you," said the wild native. + +Pee-wee climbed up and sat on the limb beside his new friend. He was a +boy somewhat older than Pee-wee with a face so round that the face of +the man in the moon would have seemed narrow by comparison. And there +was a redness in his cheeks which made his head seem almost like an +apple grown prematurely ripe upon that blossom laden tree. He wore the +negligee scout attire and his happy-go-lucky nature was made the more +piquant by the easy, humorous fashion in which he sat upon the limb, +swinging his legs. + +Pee-wee could not have found it in his heart to quarrel with any boy +whose face looked so much like an apple, and, moreover, it was apparent +that here was a boy whom it would be utterly impossible to quarrel with +on any ground whatever--or in any tree whatever. + +"Gee whiz, this is a funny thing," Pee-wee said; "I was kind of making +believe that I was an explorer, but anyway I'm glad you're here." + +"I'm here because I'm here," said the other boy. + +"Gee, I can't deny that," said Pee-wee. + +"It doesn't make any difference to me," said the boy; "I'd just as soon +be in one place as another." + +"As long as it's not school," said Pee-wee. + +"Oh, that's understood," said the other boy; "let's talk of something +pleasant." + +"I bet there'll be a lot of apples here later," said Pee-wee; "when +it's vacation, hey?" + +"I don't know whether they'll be here," said the other boy, "because +you can't trust this blamed island over night, but they'll be on the +tree, wherever it is, and the way to find them will be to look for the +tree." + +"_You said it_," said Pee-wee. "What's your name?" + +"Roland Poland," said the boy; "Roly Poly for short." + +"Mine's Walter Harris, but they call me Pee-wee. How did this island +get here anyway?" + +"It started being an island under my very feet," said Roly Poly. +"There are five scouts in my patrol besides myself; we're just getting +started----" + +"I'm the only one in my patrol," Pee-wee interrupted. "Where do you +come from?" + +"From North Bridgeboro," said Roly Poly, swinging his legs. "The six +of us went to camp for the day just above old Trimmer's land up the +river." + +"I know him," Pee-wee said; "he's a grouch." + +"Very muchly," said Roly; "he's worse than algebra." + +"He's worse than algebra and civil government put together," said +Pee-wee. + +"Did you say _civil_?" said Roly Poly; "don't mention civil in the same +sentence with him; he's the man that put the crab in crab-apple." + +"He's got a dandy orchard, though," said Pee-wee. + +"Sure, this is a part of it," said Roly Poly. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE LOOKOUT SEES A SAIL + +"_Good night_," said Pee-wee; "I don't blame it for going away from +him. Can he take it back? It's an island now and it's part of +Bridgeboro. He can't take it on account of international law; that's +what _I_ think. How did it happen?" + +"It's a very short story," said his new friend; "it's only about a mile +and a half long--from North Bridgeboro down to here. We were camping +in Wallace's grove and a little way down the river we saw a kind of a +little spot of land with a tree on it. There were lots of apple trees +all around there near the shore. We didn't know that orchard belonged +to old Trimmer." + +"He thinks he owns the whole river," said Pee-wee. + +"That little spot of land stuck out sort of like a balcony on account +of it being near the bend of the river; the river coming around the +bend sort of scooped a place out underneath it; it was all +under-mined----" + +"I know what happened! I know what happened!" Pee-wee shouted. "I +know the place, it was nice and shady underneath it and you could go +under it in a canoe; lots of times I did." + +"Well, you never will any more," said Roly Poly. + +"Go on, tell me! Go on, tell me!" Pee-wee encouraged excitedly. + +"There was a pole sticking out of the water right near there," +Pee-wee's new friend continued, "and we thought it meant there was good +fishing there. So I said I'd go and see if I could catch a couple of +eels and sunfish or something. While I was out at the edge of that +little knob of land or whatever you want to call it, all of a sudden I +could feel something giving way under me and the first thing I knew the +whole business was in the water. + +"Oh, you should have heard those fellows laugh as I went sailing down +the river. That was about ten o'clock this morning and the tide was +running down strong. This little old island flopped around and went +every which way but it stayed right side up anyway and do you think I'd +desert the ship? By the time we flopped downstream this far the tide +was so low that our little old roots dragged the bottom and we stopped +for keeps. So here we are till the tide comes in anyway. I don't know +whether we'll float in deep water or not, or whether we'll capsize in +deep water or not and I don't know anything about international law, +but a life on the ocean wave for _me_." + +"I know all about international law," Pee-wee shouted. "Real estate is +in a certain place, isn't it? If a man owns real estate it's bounded +by something, isn't it? Well, then, if it isn't bounded by those +things any more how can it belong to that same man? If a man owns land +in a certain place and it stops being in that place, whose is it?" + +"Search me," said Roly Poly. + +"Besides I've got an inspiration; do you know what those are?" Pee-wee +vociferated. + +"Have you got it with you?" + +"_Sure_ I've got it with me! Don't I always have them with me?" + +Roly Poly seemed amused. + +"There are two kinds of scouts, aren't there?" Pee-wee asked +vociferously. "Regular scouts and sea scouts. Sea scouts are supposed +to live on the water and regular scouts are supposed to live under the +trees, like. So we can do both and we'll be combination scouts. We'll +be the Combination Scouts of America, hey? Will you?" + +"I'll be anything as long as it's Saturday; I'm not particular," said +Roly Poly. + +"Because my father knows a man that's a lawyer and he'll stick up for +us," Pee-wee continued excitedly. "Because old Trimmer hasn't got any +deed that says he owns an island, has he? All right, this is an island +in Bridgeboro. You can't deny that, can you? Let's hear you deny +that. All right, then, if he comes and tries to get this island, he'll +be trespassing, won't he? And so we'll start the Combination Scouts of +America and we'll call ourselves the--the--the----" + +"The Sardine Patrol," suggested Roly. + +"We'll call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol," said Pee-wee, "because +apples are on land and crabs are in the water. Will you?" + +"I see a sail on the horizon," said Roly. + +"If it's old Trimmer let me handle him," said Pee-wee. + +"It's the rest of the patrol," said Roly. "Do you see those two canoes +coming around the bend? We'll have a meeting of the general staff and +decide what to do." + +"Whatever we do, we'll do something, hey?" said Pee-wee. + +"More than that," said Roly. + +"Anyway, we'll start a patrol or something, hey?" + +"Oh, we'll start something, leave it to us," said Roly Poly. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE OTHERS ARRIVE + +The arrival of the five North Bridgeboro scouts was the occasion of +much merriment and banter. These boys from the small village up the +river had formed themselves into a patrol but they were two members +short of the required number and they had no scoutmaster. + +Whether they took scouting seriously it would be hard to say; if so it +must have been a great comfort to them to have wished upon their +budding organization such an instructor and propagandist as the +diminutive genius whom they were now about to meet. Whatever material +they had among them for progress in the scouting field, they gave every +indication of possessing that quality of unholy mirth which +distinguished the notorious Silver Foxes. Perhaps their silver was not +quite so bright, but they gave promise. + +"Hey, where are you going with the apple tree?" one of them called from +the nearest canoe. "What are you trying to do? Swipe a chunk of +property? That's a part of North Bridgeboro you've got there." + +"Why didn't you take the whole village?" another called. + +"Hey, Roly, where are you going with the real estate?" another called. + +"I knew you were too heavy for that neck of land," shouted another. + +"Why didn't you take the whole orchard with you?" a third wanted to +know. + +"_For the love of----_," another ejaculated. "Look at the sign, will +you! The place is discovered already!" + +Pee-wee did not wait for formal introductions. "We're going to start +the Combination Scouts of Bridgeboro!" he shouted. "We're going to be +sea scouts and land scouts all rolled into one! We took possession and +it's all right! Old Trimmer can't say that he owned an island, can he? +We're going to have our pictures in _Boys' Life_ and everything and +we're going to have all the apples when they're ripe and maybe we're +going to call ourselves the Crab-apple Patrol! Maybe there's treasure +buried here, how do we know? And we're going to get one of those +things--a saxophone or whatever you call it--to take our latitude and +longitude with! We're going to be better than the Ravens and the Elks +and the Silver Foxes and I know how to make apple-sauce! We're going +to be a new kind of a patrol!" + +"In the name of goodness, what's that, a phonograph?" one of the +approaching canoeists called. + +"That's the discoverer," Roly called back. "He took possession of the +island in the name of the King of Bridgeboro." + +"I thought it was an earthquake," laughed a tall boy who was stepping +ashore. + +"Oh, we have those too," laughed Roly; "all the latest improvements. +That's Pee-wee; he's perfectly harmless, step right ashore, you're all +welcome." + +"You're stepping into the seventeenth century," Pee-wee shouted, +descending precipitately out of the tree. + +"The seventeenth century must have been very wet," said the tall boy as +he lifted one foot out of the water only to plunge the other into the +ragged, muddy edge of the island, in his efforts to get on shore. It +was very funny to see him wallow In the water, seeking foothold on the +submerged tentacles of root, ever slipping, and always with the +soberest look on his face. "This must be the back entrance," he said. +"Where are we supposed to park?" + +This tall boy, who turned out to be a sort of patrol leader and +scoutmaster in one, had a kind of whimsical look of inquiry on his face +which was his permanent expression, and which was made the more +humorous by red hair which he wore decidedly pompadour. There was that +in his look which indicated his taking everything as he found it, his +attitude being always quietly humorous and never surprised. + +His demeanor, in whatever adventure befell, seemed always that of an +amiable victim placing himself at the mercy of his enterprising +comrades and going through every kind of outlandish escapade and +adventure with a ludicrously sober look on his funny face. To him +everything that happened seemed part of the game of life and he +appeared never in the least astonished at anything. + +To see him soberly going through with some adventure which the +sprightly genius of his associates had conceived was as good as a +circus. Naturally such a fellow was called "old" and they called him +Old Rip and Good Old Rip and Doctor Rip and Professor Rip. His name +was Townsend Ripley. + +Townsend began at the very beginning to take the irrepressible ex-Raven +very soberly indeed, and the more preposterous Pee-wee's schemes the +more in favor of them Townsend seemed to be. No doubt he got a great +deal of amusement out of Pee-wee. But Pee-wee never knew it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PLANS + +It was quite characteristic of Townsend Ripley that he did not ask Roly +Poly anything about his extraordinary adventure. Amid the chorus of +exclamations and inquiries he preserved a quiet, whimsical demeanor, +glancing about as if rather interested in this desert island. There it +was, and that was enough for him. + +"If this island is going to keep moving you'll have to put a license +plate on it, Roly," he drawled. "First thing you know you'll have the +inland waterway inspectors after you. You're blocking up the channel +too. Why didn't you drift down as far as Southbridge where the taxes +aren't so high?" + +"I was--I was thinking about it," Pee-wee suddenly burst forth like a +cyclone, "and there are a lot of things we can do--I've got a lot of +ideas--there are seven things and we can do any one of them!" + +"Why not do them all?" Ripley asked. + +"That's just what _I_ say," Pee-wee shouted. + +"Or we can each do a different thing," Ripley suggested. "There are +just seven of us. Anything suits me." + +"Do you want to know how I discovered it?" Pee-wee said excitedly. + +"No, as long as we know it's discovered, that's enough," said Ripley. + +"I discovered it, then he discovered me," said Pee-wee, "but I'm the +discoverer because it wasn't an island when he got on it, see. Anyway, +that man can't take it, can he? So will you start a patent combination +patrol? And I vote for you to be the leader!" + +"Let's see if we can't start the island," suggested Ripley. + +"We don't want to start a Bridgeboro patrol and then find that we're in +Southbridge!" said one of the boys whom the others called Nuts. + +"Oh, I don't see why not," drawled Townsend; "trouble is," he added, +glancing casually about, "we can't go on any hikes. If we start +skirting the coast we'll get dizzy." + +"I know what we can do," said Pee-wee, "because, gee whiz, we've got to +have exercise, that's one sure thing. If we can make the island go +round why then we can keep walking like a--like a--you know--like a +horse on a treadmill--hey? And we won't get dizzy at all, because +it'll be the island that goes round, see?" + +"That's a very good suggestion," said Townsend, "but suppose on one of +our long hikes we want to stop and camp. As soon as we stop hiking +we'll start going round backward with the island." + +"We should worry," said Pee-wee. + +"Oh, we're not going to worry," said Townsend. + +"You said it," vociferated Pee-wee. "Do you know why I like you? +Because you're--you know--you're kind of--sort of----" + +"Absolutely," said Townsend. "You read me like a book." + +"This is better than books," said Pee-wee, "because this is a kind of a +desert island and a ship, isn't it? So will you all stay here till I +get back, because I'm going to get my tent and some eats and a lot of +stuff for camping and then we'll start our patrol." + +"I can't say that we'll stay here," said Townsend, "but we'll stick to +the island. I have a hunch that this island is going to put one over +on us. If we're not here when you get back you'd better advertise in +the 'Lost and Found' column of the Bridgeboro paper, 'Lost, one desert +island. Finder will be suitably rewarded upon returning same to the +patent adjustable scouts----'" + +"Not adjustable--_combination_," Pee-wee corrected. "Do you like +roasted potatoes? I know how to roast them. And I'll get some bacon, +too; shall I?" + +"Suppose you should be captured by your parents while you're on the +mainland," Townsend inquired. + +"Then I'll send you a smoke signal," Pee-wee said, "and you can come +and talk to my mother, because she'll be sure to listen to you because, +anyway, you've got a lot of sense." + +"And several of us will canoe up to North Bridgeboro and get some stuff +and tell our folks and we'll be back in an hour because the tide's +starting to run up," said a boy they called Billy. + +"If you have any trouble with the folks just give me a smoke signal and +I'll canoe up," drawled Townsend. + +"Good old Rip," chorused half a dozen voices. + +The boy they called Billy turned to Pee-wee and whispered, "Don't worry +about your folks. Old Rip makes a specialty of parents; they all eat +out of his hands, fathers especially. As soon as they see him they +surrender." + +"I make a specialty of cooks," Pee-wee said. "Our cook gives me +everything I want. And anyway we couldn't starve because scouts can't +starve; they can eat roots and herbs and things; I'll show you. Do you +like chocolate marshmallows? Even scouts can eat moss to keep from +starving. And they can't get lost either--I'll show you how." + +Pee-wee decided to take one of the boys with him to prove to his mother +that the island was inhabited, and two other boys started back up the +river in the other canoe. This left Townsend with two companions on +the island. He sat against the trunk of the tree, knees drawn up, +philosophically scanning the shore and occasionally giving an expectant +glance up the river for smoke signals. He seemed resigned to a quiet +expectancy that he would be summoned to intercede in one quarter or +another. He looked very whimsical and funny. + +"I wonder if you have to crank this island or whether it has a +self-starter," he drawled in his amusing way. "If they don't get back +by one or so, we'll have to make some root sandwiches. What do you +say, Charlie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE DISCOVERER RETURNS + +In about an hour and a half the two boys from up the river returned +with provisions. + +"Any news from the discoverer?" they asked. + +"I think he's being held as a hostage by the cook," said Townsend. +"Shall we land and lay waste to his home?" + +"Oh, I think we can safely leave everything to him," said Billy. "What +do you think of the discoverer, anyway?" + +"I'm for the discoverer first, last and always," said Townsend. "He +has only to lead and I'll follow. Now that we've met him I feel that +life without the discoverer would not be worth living. I'm glad that +next week is Easter vacation, because we couldn't think of school and +the discoverer at the same time. He's more than a scout, he's an +institution. + +"Do you know, Charlie, I think we're moving? We were almost opposite +that old railroad car a few minutes ago. Either Bridgeboro is going +down or we're going up. Do you feel the climate changing? You don't +suppose this island is going to go up the river again and join old +Trimmer's orchard, do you?" + +"Maybe it's homesick," said a boy they called Brownie. + +"I hope the discoverer will discover it," said Billy. + +"We'd better scatter something in our trail," said Townsend soberly, +"so that he can follow. I think that's the regulation thing for scouts +to do, isn't it?" + +He had been whittling a stick and now with a sober look he began +throwing the chips into the water as if to indicate the path of the +departing island. "That's what you call blazing a trail," he said; "if +he's a scout he can follow." + +The little island was now moving slowly upstream by the incoming tide. +It caught on the flats, performed a slow pirouette like some drowsy +toe-dancer or exhausted merry-go-round, then extricated itself and +floated majestically in the channel till the little apple tree became +involved with the foliage along shore. + +"Do you know this seems like a very funny kind of an island to me?" +Townsend Ripley drawled. "I wonder what makes it hold together? It +ought to disintegrate." + +"Dis what?" asked Billy. + +"Disintegrate--that's Latin for falling to pieces." + +"Maybe the roots hold it together," said Roland. + +"It ought to dissolve," said Townsend. "This land doesn't seem to be +soluble in water. The coast all around ought to wash away. There is +something mysterious here. This island is as solid as a pancake; I +don't understand it. By all the rules of the game there shouldn't be +anything left here but the tree by this evening. There doesn't seem to +be any process of erosion." + +"What will we do If the island washes away from under us?" asked the +boy they called Brownie. "The tree'll fall over sideways, won't it? I +don't want to camp on an island that keeps getting smaller all the +time. It's bad enough to have a tent shrink after a rain, but _an +island_!" + +"I think this island is warranted not to shrink," said Townsend. + +"Warranted nothing," said Billy; "look how muddy the water is all +around it. It'll be about as big as a fifty cent piece by midnight. +The river is eating it all away." + +"Speaking of eating," said Townsend, "here comes the discoverer." + +The discoverer and his companion were indeed approaching and apparently +they had sacked the town of Bridgeboro. Their gallant barque labored +under a veritable mountain of miscellaneous paraphernalia and out of +the pile projected a long bar with a device on the end of it which +glinted red and green in the sunshine. + +"It looks like a weather-vane," said Billy. + +"There's something printed on it," said Roly. + +"It says _STOP_," said the boy they called Nuts. + +"It says _GO_" said the boy they called Brownie. + +"I think," said Townsend, scrutinizing the approaching transport in his +funny way, "I think, I _think_, it's a traffic sign. You don't see any +automobiles in the canoe, do you?" + +"There's something sticking out on the left side," said Billy; "I think +it's a Ford. I hope the island isn't going to be overrun by motorists." + +"It's not a Ford, it's a dishpan," said Brownie. + +"They're the same thing," said Townsend. "What is that on the duffel +bag--a license plate?" + +Suddenly the voice of the discoverer floated across the expanse of +sun-flickered water. "We're going to have hunter's stew for supper and +I'm going to make it and my mother says I can stay all through Easter +vacation and I got a lot of things out of our attic. Do you like +bananas? I've got a whole bunch and I've got a lot of new ideas--dandy +ones! I know how to fry them! I know how to slice them and fry them!" + +"I'd like to try some fried ideas," said Townsend. "I don't think I +ever ate them sliced before." + +It may be said that Pee-wee's ideas, whether fried or baked or boiled +or roasted, were usually underdone and required to be put back into the +oven. + +Be that as it may, he soon proceeded to unload these, as well as the +interesting junk which he had gathered, the most surprising object of +which was the dilapidated revolving traffic sign lately discarded by +the Bridgeboro police department in favor of a lighthouse or silent +cop, so called. + +This acquisition was the pride of Pee-wee's life; its heavy metal stand +had long since gone the way of all junk and it could not stand +unsupported. As Pee-wee plunged it heroically in the earth and stood +holding it with one hand he looked not unlike Columbus planting the +flaunting emblem of Ferdinand and Isabella on the shore of San +Salvador, except that this tableau of the well known historical episode +was somewhat marred by the fact of his holding a half eaten banana in +his other hand. But his new friends stared with all the amazement +shown by the natives upon the landing of that other great discoverer. +Only a specific inventory can do justice to the provisions and +furniture which Pee-wee brought. + + One revolving police traffic sign + One large phonograph horn + One dishpan full of crullers (taken in a masterly + assault upon the Harris pantry) + One tent + One duffel bag with cooking set + Part of a vacuum cleaner + One scout belt axe + One Thanksgiving horn + One automobile siren horn. + One lantern + Two long clothesline supporters + A towel-rack that opened like a fan + A skein of clothesline + A small kitchen-range shovel + Two boxes filled with canned goods + One box filled with loose edibles + One ice cream freezer + +"Didn't you bring a cow?" Townsend asked. "We can never make ice cream +without cream." + +"We're in reach of the mainland, aren't we?" Pee-wee retorted +thunderously. "It isn't as if we were going out of sight of land; gee +whiz, then I'd have brought quite a lot of stuff." + +"Oh, I see," said Townsend. + +"I just picked up a few odds and ends," Pee-wee explained. "I'm going +to make a couple of more trips to-morrow." + +"If you happen to think of it bring a lawnmower," said Townsend; "they +come in handy. And a few life preservers if you happen to have any, in +case the island goes to pieces." + +"How can it go to pieces?" Pee-wee demanded. "Islands don't go to +pieces, do they? Australia is an island, isn't it? It's just where it +always was, isn't it? You're crazy! All we need is one more scout and +I know one by the name of Keekie Joe, and I'm going to try to get him +and then we'll be a full patrol and I decided to name it the +Alligators, because they belong on land and water both and we're sea +scouts on the land kind of, so maybe I'll decide to name it the +Turtles, maybe." + +"Discoverer," said Townsend, "we're with you whatever you do, but there +is a mystery about this island which I would like to fathom before we +organize----" + +"I fathomed lots of mysteries," shouted Pee-wee. + +"I don't know whether you know what erosion means----" + +"Sure I know what it means," said Pee-wee; "it means getting rusty, +kind of." + +"It means land being washed away by water. If you put a piece of land +in the water, the water will dissolve it and it won't take long either. +It isn't like an island that has always been where it is--a kind of +hill sticking up out of the water. This is just a piece of land and +the roots of this little tree won't hold it together long. + +"The question is, should we go hunting for new members under those +conditions? Pretty soon we'll have a full patrol and no island under +us; we'll be in the water. That's perfectly agreeable to me and all +the rest of us. But does Keekie Joe know how to swim? We really have +no _grounds_ for forming a patrol. See?" + +"Do you call that an argument?" Pee-wee thundered. "It shows how much +you know about geography because look at an ice cream soda! Does that +corrode? Let's hear you answer that? Or erode or whatever you call +it. A chunk of ice cream floats in the soda, doesn't it? Maybe after +a while it melts, but this land isn't ice cream, is it? + +"That shows how much you know about logic. This island has been here +ever since early this morning, hasn't it? And it's just as big as it +was, isn't it? An island is an island and the water won't melt it +unless it's hot--like a lump of sugar in a cup of coffee. You've got +to stir it up to melt it. Is North America corroding? Or Coney +Island? Is this island any smaller than it was?" + +"No, it isn't, and that's the funny part," said Townsend. "We've +explored the coast but we haven't explored the depths. Let's have that +little shovel a minute, will you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"STOP" + +The ice cream soda argument was not a good one at all, for no lump of +ice cream ever remained long intact where Pee-wee was. Whether it +melted or not, it disappeared. And why this freakish little island did +not rapidly dissolve was a mystery. + +By all the laws it should have melted away, leaving the deserted tree +to topple over and form a new obstruction to boating. But there it was +floating more easily as the tide rose, with apparently no intention of +allowing itself to be absorbed by the surrounding waters. It is true +that a belt of muddy water bordered its wild and forbidding coast and +that its shore line was of a consistency suitable for the making of mud +pies, but its body seemed as solid and resistant as a rock. + +Pee-wee always claimed that it was he and he alone who discovered the +mysterious secret of Merry-go-round Island; he and he alone who +penetrated its unknown depths. In this bold exploration a courageous +sardine sandwich played an important part and out of sheer gratitude +Pee-wee, from that time forward, was ever partial to sardine +sandwiches, regarding them with tender and grateful affection. + +He was standing near the apple tree holding the traffic sign like a +pilgrim's banner beside him and, as has been told, eating a banana with +the other hand. That fact is well established. Little he thought that +when Roly Poly, delving into a paper bag that was in a grocery box, +handed him a sardine sandwich, it would mark an epoch in scout history. + +In order to accept the proffered refreshment, Pee-wee was compelled +either to relinquish the traffic sign or the banana. One moment of +frantic consideration held him, then in a burst of inspiration he +plunged the metal standard deep into the ground, and took the sardine +sandwich in his free hand. The printed cross-piece on the traffic sign +joggled around so that just as he plunged his mouth into the sandwich +the word GO made an appropriate announcement to his comrades. It is +hard to say what might have happened if Townsend Ripley had not turned +the sign so that it said STOP just as Pee-wee consumed the last +mouthful. + +"Isstrucsmlikewood," ejaculated Pee-wee, consuming the last mouthful. +"Issoundlkbo--boards!" + +Billy was quick to raise the bar of the traffic sign and plunge it down +again. It was certainly no tentacle of root that the probing bar +struck, but something hard, yet ever so slightly yielding, something +which gave forth a hollow sound. + +It was easy to explore America after Columbus had shown the way and it +was a simple matter now for Townsend, with the little shovel, to dig a +hole three or four feet deep about the traffic sign. The boys all +kneeled about, peering in as if buried treasure were there, until an +area of muddy wood was revealed. Roly Poly knocked it with a rock and +the noise convinced them that the wood was of considerable area and +that probably _nothing was beneath it_. + +"Well--what--do--you--know--about--that?" Billy asked incredulously. + +"Jab it down somewhere else," said Brownie. + +Pee-wee moved the metal rod a yard or so distant and plunged it in the +ground again. There was the same hollow sound. For a moment they all +sat spellbound, mystified. Then, as if seized by a sudden thought, +Brownie hurried to the edge of the little island, exploring with his +hands. He lifted up some grassy soil that drooped and hung in the +water, and tore it away. As he did so there was revealed a ridge of +heavy wood over which it had hung. By the same process he exposed a +yard or two of this black mud-covered edge. + +"Well--I'll--be--_jiggered_!" said Billy. + +"It's a scow or something!" said Brownie, almost too astonished to +speak. + +"The island seems to overlap it sort of like a pie-crust," drawled +Townsend. + +"The scow is the undercrust!" shouted Pee-wee, delighted with this +comparison to his favorite edible. "We'll call it Apple-pie Island and +it can't corrode or erode or whatever you call it, either, because it's +boxed in!" + +That indeed seemed to be the way of it. Apparently the island reposed +comfortably in and over the edges of a huge, shallow box of heavy +timbers which had received it with kindly hospitality when it broke +away and toppled over into the water. As we know, the river had eaten +away the land under the little balcony peninsula, and the scow, or +whatever it was, must have drifted or been moored underneath the earthy +projection. + +"Maybe it belonged to that big dredge that was working up here," said +Pee-wee, "Anyway it's lucky for us, hey? Because now our island has a +good foundation and it can't dis--what d'you call it." + +"Only it complicates the question of ownership," said Townsend, +apparently not in the least astonished or excited. "Here is a piece of +land belonging to old Trimmer on a scow or something or other belonging +to a dredging company or somebody or other and claimed by the boy +scouts by right of discovery." + +"Old Trimmer owned the land," Pee-wee fairly yelled, "but now the land +isn't there any more and now it's an island so he doesn't own it +because he's got a deed and it doesn't say _island_ on the deed! _Gee +whiz_, anybody knows that." + +"But suppose the owner of the scow wants his property," Townsend said. + +"Let him come and get it," Pee-wee shouted. "If we get a deed for this +island the scow is covered by the deed!" + +"You mean it's covered by the island," Brownie said. + +"Well, we seem to be standing still now, anyway," said Townsend; "it's +a relief to know that when we wake up to-morrow morning we won't be +floating in the water. Who's got a match? Let's start a fire and +begin moving toward the hunter's stew." + +"We don't need matches," Pee-wee said with a condescending sneer. "Do +you think scouts use matches? They light fires by rubbing sticks. +Matches are civilized." + +Whereupon Pee-wee gave a demonstration of not getting a light by the +approved old Indian fashion of rubbing sticks and striking sparks from +stones and so on. + +"Here comes a man down the river in a motorboat," said Nuts; "turn the +stop sign that way and we'll ask him for a match." + +Pee-wee, somewhat subdued by his failure, confronted the approaching +boat with the red panel which said STOP, and held his hand up like a +traffic officer. + +But there was no need of requiring the approaching voyager to pause. +For he had every intention of pausing. Neither would there have been +any use of asking him for a match. For he never gave away matches. + +Old Trimmer never gave away anything. He would not even give away a +secret, he was so stingy. To get a match from old Trimmer you would +have had to give him chloroform. It was said that he would not look at +his watch to see what time it was for fear of wearing it out, and that +he looked over the top of his spectacles to save the lenses. At all +events he was so economical that he seldom wasted any words, and the +words that he did waste were not worth saving; they were not very nice +words. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"GO" + +Old Trimmer chugged up to the edge of the island in the shabbiest, +leakiest little motor dory on the river, and grasped a little tuft of +greensward to keep his boat from drifting. + +"Well, now, what's all this?" he began. "What you youngsters been +doin' up the river, eh?" + +"This used to be your land before it was an island," said Pee-wee +diplomatically. "I bet you'll say it's funny how it used to be your +apple tree and everything. But it broke away and kind of fell down and +now it's an island and we discovered it. It can't--one thing--it can't +ever be a peninsula again, that's sure. Islands, they're discovered +and then you own them, that's the way it is. Findings is keepings with +islands." + +"Is that so?" said old Trimmer, half-interested and examining what +might be called the underpinning of the island with keen preoccupation. + +[Illustration: The boys hold the island in spite of old Trimmer's +protest.] + +"Well, you'll just clear off'n this here property double quick. Pile +in here and I'll set you ashore." + +"Don't you go," urged Pee-wee; "we've got a right here; we're going to +camp on this island." + +"Sure we are," said Roly Poly. + +"And you can't make us get off, either, because it isn't on your land." + +Old Trimmer wasted no words. "Pile in here, all of you," he said, +indicating the boat, "or I'll have yer all up fer trespassin'." + +"Do you own this old scow or whatever it is underneath us?" Townsend +asked quietly. + +"Look a'here, young feller, no talkin' back," said old Trimmer testily; +"come along, step lively. I'm going to tow this whole business back up +to where it belongs. Now d'ye want me ter set yer ashore or not?" + +"Not," said Roly Poly. + +"I don't think we have anything to say about it, Mr. Trimmer," said +Townsend. "The land that used to be part of your field seems to be on +a scow or something or other and we're on the land that's on the scow. +We're here because we're here----" + +"Let's hear you answer that argument!" shouted Pee-wee in a voice of +thunder. "This is a river, isn't it? Do you deny that? It's an +inward waterway--I mean inland--and it belongs to the government and +this scow or whatever it is, is on it and something that used to be a +peninsula but isn't any more is on the scow and we're on the thing that +used to be a peninsula----" + +"In the shade of the young apple tree," said Townsend. + +"That's just what I was going to say," said Pee-wee, "and you can't put +us off this land because if that's trespassing then the land is +trespassing too--it's trespassing on the scow--so we won't get off the +land till you take the land off the scow and put it back where it +belongs and then we'll get off it because, gee whiz, scouts have no +right to trespass." He paused, not for lack of arguments but for lack +of breath. + +"So that's the way it is, is it?" said old Trimmer darkly. "Well, +we'll see." + +"Sure we'll see," said Pee-wee. "That shows how much you know about +geography and international law and all those things. Suppose Cape Cod +should break off and float away. Would it belong to New Hampshire any +more--I mean Connecticut--I mean Massachusetts? Gee whiz, we're going +to stay right here because we're on a public waterway and anyway you +don't own the scow that this land is on, do you?" + +There was, of course, no answer to this fine analysis of the legal +points involved. + +"That there scow was under my land," said old Trimmer. + +"It was in the river and it wasn't on anybody's land as I understand +it," said Townsend in his funny way. "Your land trespassed on the +scow----" + +"Sure it did!" interrupted Pee-wee. "It really had no right to do +that, Mr. Trimmer, unless you can show that you own the scow. As I +understand it this is a kind of a legal sandwich. The land that used +to be a part of your field is between the scow and us----" + +"Sure it is!" vociferated Pee-wee, caught by the idea of a sandwich so +huge and picturesque. "We're kind of like one of the slices of breads +and the scow is the other slice. It's thick and dark like rye bread," +he added to make the picture more graphic. + +"It's a kind of a legal sandwich," said Townsend, sitting back against +the tree with his knees drawn up and talking with a calmness and +seriousness which aroused the wrath of old Trimmer. "It's a kind of an +interesting situation. We have as much right on the scow as the land +has, as I see it----" + +"Sure, you learn that in the third grade!" shouted Pee-wee. "That's +logic." + +"Really, the best thing to do," drawled Townsend, "would be to remove +the land, which would let us down onto the scow and that would let you +out of the difficulty. We'd be answerable to the owner of the scow." + +"It belonged to the big dredge," Pee-wee said excitedly. "I knew all +the men on that dredge; I used to hang out on that dredge; those men +were all friends of mine. We wouldn't be trespassing except your land +is in the way." + +"If you want us to shovel the land out of here we'll do it," suggested +Roly Poly. + +"Then the tree'll fall over," said Brownie. + +"Gee whiz," shouted Pee-wee, "it'll serve the tree right because all +the time fellers are being accused of trespassing in apple trees and +now you can see for yourself that apple trees are just as bad. They +trespass on scows." + +"We could have this tree fined ten dollars," said Billy, "if we wanted +to report it to the dredging company in New York." + +"Or it would have to go to jail for thirty days," yelled Pee-wee. + +"I don't see what we're going to do, Mr. Trimmer," said Townsend. + +"I know what we're going to do," said Pee-wee; "we're going to do a lot +of things. We're natives of this island." + +"We don't recognize this land," said Townsend; "we consider it beneath +us." + +"Sure it's beneath us!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"It simply happens to trespass on the scow first," said Townsend. "I +think we'll stand on our rights." + +"Well, yer ain't goin' ter stand on my property, yer ain't!" old +Trimmer bellowed, his wrath rising. Townsend's calmness seemed to goad +him to a perfect frenzy. + +"Well, then," said Townsend, "the only thing for us to do is to shovel +out a space and camp on that. Then our feet will be on the scow----" + +"We'll be on friendly territory," shouted Pee-wee. "Your land can camp +here with us if it wants to." + +"Or you can take it away, just as you please," said Townsend. "Only we +warn you not to take any liberties with this scow. We're personally +acquainted with Mr. Steam of the Steam Dredging Company and we're going +to charter this scow, now that we're on it. We can get another desert +island to put on it if necessary." + +"Do you see this traffic sign?" Pee-wee yelled at the top of his voice. +He stood like some conquering hero, holding the martial stop sign with +one hand. "The bottom of this bar is planted on the scow. Do you hear +the noise it makes when I bump it up and down? It goes right through +this land. We take possession of this scow in the name of the new +Alligator Patrol or maybe it'll be the Turtles, we don't know yet. We +plant our banner on the--the----" + +"The rye bread," said Billy. + +"And if this land," Pee-wee continued, "that used to be a peninsula and +stuck out over the river from your field and trespassed on the scow +when it didn't have any right to because it wasn't friends with the +dredge men--if this land wants to stay here it can." + +"What do you say, Mr. Trimmer?" Townsend laughed. "If you want to tow +this whole business back up to your place we'll help you shovel the +land off the scow. We don't want to camp on an island that violates +the law. But you haven't got anything to do with this scow. I'm not +asking you how it got alongside your field or why the dredging people +didn't take it away when they took the dredge away; that's your +business," he added rather significantly. "We'll admit the land is +yours----" + +"No, we won't!" said Pee-wee. + +"Yes, we will," said Townsend quietly. "Now what do you want to do +about this property? Shall we wrap it up for you or shall we send it? +Our dealings are with the steam dredge people. Now what do you say? +By the way, will you have a cruller?" + +It was perfectly evident that Townsend Ripley, with rather more quiet +shrewdness than any of them had given him credit for, had gently +stabbed Mr. Trimmer in a weak spot. It was the scow that old Trimmer +wanted. How he had come by it had been only faintly suggested by +Townsend. How it had chanced to be moored in that secluded spot under +the projecting land after the big dredge had gone away, was not +discussed and is not a part of this story. It seemed evident that old +Trimmer was rather disturbed at the thought of the boys getting in +touch with the dredge people. + +"Go ahead n' camp on it then," he said in sulky surrender; "and don't +make a nuisance of yourselves writin' letters to the dredging company. +Them men has got something else ter do besides bothering with a crew of +crazy youngsters." + +"But you know what you said about trespassing, Mr. Trimmer," said +Townsend. "You have taught us that we shouldn't trespass and we thank +you for the lesson. We'll have to drop Mr. Steam a line. How about a +cruller, Mr. Trimmer? They were just stolen from our small friend's +kitchen. Don't care for stolen fruit, hey? You're too particular, Mr. +Trimmer." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LIFE ON THE UNKNOWN SHORE + +Seldom has there been a surrender so complete and unconditional. There +were no banners to celebrate the triumph (for which Pee-wee took all +the credit) but as old Trimmer started up the river Pee-wee turned the +sign so that the word GO faced the departing voyager like a commanding +finger to order the vanquished from his victorious presence. + +"Do you think he had some treasure in the scow?" Pee-wee asked. "Maybe +if we dig we'll find some gold nuggets." + +"Let's try some of those cocoanut nuggets," said Townsend. + +"Didn't I know how to handle him?" said Pee-wee. "Now the island is +ours, isn't it?" + +"I think before we have supper," said Townsend, "we'll write a line to +the dredging people. What do you say?" + +"We'll write it on bark from the tree on account of our being wild and +uncivilized," said Pee-wee. "I can make ink out of prune juice and we +can write with a stick like hunters do when they get lost." + +"Do they carry prune juice with them?" Billy asked. + +"Sometimes they use blood," said Pee-wee. "I can make ink from onions +too--invisible ink. Shall I make some?" + +"I thought you were going to make a hunter's stew," said Brownie. + +"Go ahead," said Roly Poly, "you make the hunter's stew--it won't be +invisible, will it?" + +"It will when we get through with it," said Billy. + +"And while you're making the stew, Rip will write the letter and the +first one of us that goes ashore will mail it." + +The letter which Townsend Ripley wrote to the dredging company asking +permission to use the old scow surmounted by a luxurious desert island +was very funny, but it was not nearly as funny as the hunter's stew +which Pee-wee made. + +Their minds now free as to their rights (at least, for the time being) +they sprawled about under the little tree as the afternoon sunlight +waned and partook of the weird concoction which Pee-wee cooked in the +dishpan over the rough fireplace which they had constructed. And if +Pee-wee was not the equal of his friend Roy Blakeley in the matter of +cooking, he was at least vastly superior to him in the matter of +eating, and as he himself observed, "Gee whiz, eating is more important +than cooking anyway." + +It was pleasant sitting about on this new and original desert island +which combined all the attractions of wild life with substantial +safety. Only its overlapping edges could wash away and as these melted +and disappeared the island gradually assumed a square and orderly +conformation; its bleak and lonely coast formed a tidy square and +looked like some truant back yard off on a holiday. What it lost in +rugged grandeur it made up in modern neatness and seemed indeed a +desert Island with all improvements. + +Nestling within its stalwart and water-tight timbers it presented a +scene of varied beauty. Grasshoppers disported gayly upon its rugged +surface, occasionally leaping inadvertently into the surrounding surf +and kicking their ungainly legs in the sparkling water. + +A pair of adventurous robins that had refused to desert the fugitive +peninsula were chirping in the little blossom-laden tree and one of +them came down and perched upon the traffic sign to prune his feathers +before retiring. Savage beetles roamed wild over the isle, and wild +angleworms, disturbed by the late upheaval, squirmed about in quest of +new homes. + +The vegetation on the island appeared in gay profusion, reminding one +of the Utopian scenes of fragrant beauty which delighted the eyes of +the bold explorers who first landed on the shores of Florida. + +Yellow dandelions dotted the greensward, purple violets peeped up +through the overgrown grass, and a rusty tin can, memento of some +prehistoric fisherman perhaps, lay near the shore. Not even the +geometrical perfection of the island detracted from its primitive and +rugged beauty. + +True, it had no bays or wooded coves where pirates might have lurked, +and it was fickle to any one spot. But wheresoever its wanton fancy +took it the dying sunlight flickered down through the little tree and +glazed the spotless blossoms so full of promise that clustered above +the little band of hardy adventurers. + +Before they had finished their repast--a repast as strange and +surprising as the island itself--they had drifted half a mile upstream +with the incoming tide. Here the sturdy underpinning of the desert +isle caught upon a tiny reef and the island swung slowly around like a +sleepy carrousel and rested from its travels. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +BEFORE THE PARTY + +Meanwhile we must return to the mother country, to take note of important +happenings there. While our doughty explorers were eating their hunter's +stew in this strange land and sprawling beneath their tree in the +gathering twilight surrounded by unknown perils, the gay Silver Fox +Patrol returned from New York after a day spent in shopping and +sightseeing. + +They proceeded at once to their railroad car down by the river where they +found the Ravens, who had just returned from a hike. Soon the Elks, +returning from an auto ride, joined their comrades and a lively +discussion occurred. It pertained to the lawn party to be given that +evening at the home of Miss Minerva Skybrow of the Camp-fire Girls. + +"What time do you have supper at your house?" Doc Carson asked Roy +Blakeley. + +"We have it about eight o'clock on Saturdays," said Roy. "My father's +playing golf." + +"Same here," said Artie Van Arlen; "my father has to stay late so as to +beat your father." + +"If he stays at the links long enough to do that you'll never see him +again," said Roy. "What time is this racket supposed to be, anyway?" + +"Eight sharp," said Grove Bronson. + +"Are we going to go all separated together or all separated at once?" Roy +asked. + +"Positively," said Warde Hollister. + +"Positively what?" asked Connie Bennett. + +"It's all the same to me, only different," said Roy. "Only this is what +I was thinking. We all have supper at different times except Pee-wee and +he has supper all the time. As Abraham Lincoln said at the battle of +Marne, 'Some people are half hungry all the time, some people are all +hungry half the time, but Pee-wee is _all_ hungry _all_ the time.' I +wonder where he is anyway?" + +"Down in Bennett's having a soda, I guess," said Westy Martin. + +"Is he going to the party?" Tom Warner asked. + +"Search me," said Westy. "I guess not, he doesn't dance. I heard +somebody say he was with some fellows up the river." + +"Starting a new bunch of patrols, I suppose," said Roy. + +"Bentley's gardener saw him somewhere," said Wig Weigand. + +"It's just possible he was somewhere," said Roy. "I've often known him +to go there. Let's talk of something pleasant. What do you say we get a +light supper down here. Anybody that wants to go home and dress can do +it only he has to hustle. She wants us to wear our scout suits anyway, +she said so. I say let's get a few eats down here and then wash up and +all hike it up there together. United we stand----" + +"What are we going to eat?" Grove Bronson asked. "I don't see anything +here but some fishhooks and a package of tacks." + +"Listen to the voice from Pee-wee's old patrol!" said Roy. "_Eats_! +I'll fry some killies. Haven't we got some milk chocolate and Ulika +biscuits? I bet there's a large crowd of peanuts and other junk in +Pee-wee's locker. Can't you wait till you get to Minerva's? She'll have +chicken salad and ice cream and sandwiches and cake and lemonade and +paper napkins and souvenirs and everything. We'll feel more like eating +a little later. What do you all say? If each of us goes home we'll +never get together again; we'll all straggle in there one by two." + +"Suppose she doesn't have anything but a couple of fancy boxes of +bonbons; you know how girls are," said Doc Carson. "Safety first, that's +what I say." + +"I haven't had anything to eat since lunch time," said Ralph Warner. + +"Minerva wouldn't wish anything like that on us," said Connie. + +"You said it," said Roy; "they're not passing around famines up at her +house. Where do you think we're going? To Russia? Minerva's got the +Sandwich Islands green with envy. What's the use of spoiling +refreshments by eating now? You fellows are worse than the children of +Armenia! I say, let's have a swim; the tide is nice and high, and then +rest up and eat some crackers and hike up to the party. They'll be +throwing chocolate cake at us up there. + +"My patrol all have their good suits on; most of the rest of you have +some Christmas tree regalia in your lockers, and the others can beat it +home and hurry up back. What do you say? Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, +aye, aye!" Roy shouted. "Carried by a large majority! Come on, let's go +in for a swim while the tide's up. That will help to give us an +appetite." + +"What do you mean, 'help to give us one?" asked Artie Van Arlen. +"Haven't I got four already?" + +"Well, when you come out of the water you'll have five," said Roy. + +"Suppose--suppose," said Dorry Benton, who was ever cautious, "suppose, +just _suppose_ they should only have lady fingers and grape juice, or +something like that." He stood uncertain, dangling his bathing suit. +"Suppose they should have afternoon tea crackers. Did you ever eat +those?" + +"They're more likely to have roast turkey," said Roy. "Don't I go up +there every couple of days and play tennis? I can't play the game even +because they're always pushing a chunk of cake into my left hand." + +"I know, Roy," said Warde Hollister. He also was a far-sighted and +thoughtful boy who did his homework in the afternoon and started on New +Year's saving up for next Christmas. "But this is a lawn-party--Japanese +napkins and lettuce and things like that. We're taking an awful chance, +Roy. We may get salted almonds----" + +"You should worry," said Roy; "here's your bathing suit. Come on, we've +only got about an hour. Think of the poor children of Europe. Minerva +Skybrow is positively guaranteed. I never saw such a bunch, you're +always worrying about something." + +And with that, by way of starting things, he pushed Connie Bennett into +the water . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE SCENE IS SET + +In history we read that while the hardy pioneers toiled and suffered in +the New England forest the gay votaries of fashion danced and made +merry in the royal courts of Europe. And history repeats itself, for +while Minerva Skybrow and her girl companions decked the Skybrow lawn +with lanterns of many colors, and frilled their hair, and festooned the +rustic summer-house with streamers, the sturdy adventurers who swore +allegiance to the martial traffic sign of Pee-wee Harris were suffering +as no hardy pioneer had ever suffered before as they loyally partook of +the hunter's stew which their leader had prepared in the dishpan. If, +indeed, this novel concoction was the favorite fare of hunters, it is +no wonder that the race of hunters is becoming extinct. But our +business is not with the explorers. + +The spacious lawn of the Skybrow home was bathed in the soft light of +many paper lanterns depending from cords strung from tree to tree. +Other lanterns nestled in the spreading trees like jewels in a setting +of foliage. + +On that night the genial moon smiled down upon the Camp-fire Girls and +sent his myriad of rays like a serenading party to enliven the festive +scene. The place looked like some enchanted grove. A platform had +been built for the dancing, several little khaki-colored tents that had +done service in the North Woods (north of Bridgeboro) dotted the lawn, +the emblem of the Camp-fire Girls waved above the summer-house, bathed +in the glow of a small search-light, and, glory of glories, a small +tent nestling under a spreading elm near the moonlit river contained a +table which looked like a snowy monument reared in tribute to the god +of food. + +Yes, Roy was right; the Skybrows did not do these things by halves. +Here indeed was a haven for the famished; here rescue awaited the +starving scout. In the center stood a pyramid of triangular +sandwiches, rivalling in magnitude the pyramids of Egypt. This was +flanked by two gorgeous icing cakes, one white and one brown. A bowl +of chicken salad overflowed its cut glass confines, the same as +Pee-wee's island had overflowed its trusty scow. + +It is true that the much feared salted almonds were there but they +crouched in shame under the spreading sides of a wooden hash-bowl +camouflaged with crepe paper and piled with jellied doughnuts. If +there were any lady fingers they did not show their faces (if lady +fingers have faces) but the jovial raspberry tart was there in all its +glory a hundred strong. + +"Oh, I think everything is perfectly _scrumptious_," said Minerva +Skybrow, completing a tour of inspection at this culinary paradise and +allowing herself an olive or two. + +"Goodness gracious, let them alone or there won't be any left," said +Miss Dora Dane Daring. + +"Silly!" said Minerva. "There are _oceans_ of them. Doesn't the river +look perfectly lovely in the moonlight?" + +"Oh, I think everything is _perfectly adorable_," said another friend; +"and the weather is just _heavenly_. For goodness' sakes, let the +candy alone; that's the fourth piece you took." + +"Listen," said Minerva. "I'm not going to let a _single one_ of them +come out here till they have all arrived. We're going to have the +concert in the house first and they've _just got_ to listen to Mrs. +Wild speak about the Camp-fire movement, because she's just _perfectly +wonderful_. Do you know, I wish I had put the refreshments in the +summer house. No, I don't either--yes, I do. It would have been more +romantic--_rustic_." + +"Oh, I think this tent is _perfect_," said another girl, slyly helping +herself to a salted almond. + +"I know," said Minerva, her hand stealing unconsciously toward a box of +marsh mallows, "I know, but what I wanted was something +unusual--symbolic. A rustic platform in one of the big trees would +have been nice; it would have been sort of--sort of _scoutish_. I want +to have things _different_. That's why boys always make fun of the +Camp-fire Girls, they think we're _tame_. Think how Roy Blakeley and +his friends actually camped in that adorable old railroad car while it +was traveling, goodness knows where. When I went to the Aero Club +reception with Harold Fall they had the refreshments in a great +balloon; we had to go up to it on a ladder--_shh_, listen! Did you +hear a noise?" + +A chorus of excited whisperings followed her startled query. + +"No, where?" + +"What was it?" + +"Was it a voice?" + +"You mean on the river?" + +"_Shh_, listen," said Minerva; "_look_, do you see a light--right there +among the bushes? _Shh_. Don't run." + +There was indeed a light shining through the dark foliage alongshore +and presently a voice was to be heard, a voice speaking words to strike +terror to the stoutest Camp-fire Girl heart. + +"I watched for the cops," it said, "and as soon as I saw them I beat it +across the field and told the gang and every one got away but it was a +narrow escape. One detective had me by the collar. _This is going to +be easy though_." + +"Bandits!" whispered Minerva. + +"They're going to rob the house while we're on the lawn," breathed +Margaret Timerson. + +"They're crouching on the shore just behind those bushes," said another +girl. + +"Leave it to me," said the mysterious voice. "I'll handle them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +EVERY WHICH WAY + +We left Merry-go-round Island revolving gracefully upon a tiny reef +whence it was borne by the rising tide. We are now to take up our +narrative at the point where the island ceased spinning and was carried +slowly on upstream by the incoming waters. When the tide reached +flood, the island hesitated upon the still water, then like some +obedient and clumsy ox, moved slowly downstream again upon the ebb. +And meanwhile, the day departed and darkness fell upon the winding +river and the hardy adventurers lit their lanterns. + +"I was hoping we might stick in some pleasant spot," said Townsend, +"where the fishing is good. I forgot how a floating island might act +in a tidal river. I wish this island would make up its mind to +something. Just when I want to explore the western coast I find it's +the eastern coast. I don't know where I'm at----" + +"You don't have to know where you're at to have fun," said Pee-wee. + +"I know it," said Townsend; "but when I hike fifteen or twenty feet to +the north coast of the island and then the island swings around and I +find I'm on the south coast, I've got to hike all the way across the +island again to get to the north coast and when I get there I find I'm +on the west coast. Then I cross to the east coast and in about a +minute I find I'm on the southern shore. + +"No matter where I go I'm somewhere else; it's discouraging. I've +walked forty-eleven miles since supper trying to keep on the western +coast and here I am on the north--wait a minute--the eastern coast. If +this Island won't stay still I can't explore it." + +"I tell you what we can do," said Pee-wee; "we can penetrate the +interior, then we'll always be in the same place." + +So they penetrated the interior and sprawled on the ground and chatted. + +"When we find another member," said Pee-wee, "we'll have a full patrol +and then we'll have to start a scout record and write down a +description of the island and everything we see, because scouts have to +do that because they have to be observant and they have to be accurate +when they describe things." + +"Would you say that this little tree is near the west coast of the +island?" Townsend asked. "I've followed it around for the last half +hour and I don't know where it is except it's here." + +"Here isn't a place," said Roly Poly. + +"Sure it is," shouted Pee-wee; "here is just as much a place as there." + +"More," said Townsend. "There are three places--here, there, and +everywhere; I've often heard them spoken of." + +"That's just where this island is," said Brownie. + +"Absolutely," said Townsend, "only it won't stay there. Is there +anything more we can eat? Anything more that you don't have to _make_? +My long tramp in search of the west coast has made me hungry again." + +"I can make flapjacks," said Pee-wee; "I've got eight pounds of Indian +meal." + +"How far would I have to hike to digest them?" Townsend asked. + +"You'd need a bigger island than this," said Brownie. "You couldn't +digest a flapjack on anything smaller than South America." + +"Give me a piece of chocolate," said Townsend, "and a couple of prunes." + +"It looks nice up the river in the moonlight, doesn't it?" Brownie +asked. + +"You mean down the river," said Townsend. + +"I'm facing----" + +"Don't try to find out where you're facing," said Townsend. "Here, eat +a prune." + +"I'm going to turn in pretty soon," said Nuts. + +"That's a new place to turn," said Townsend. "We've turned everywhere +but _in_. In the morning we'll turn out; then we will have turned +everywhere." + +"We're flopping downstream pretty fast," said Brownie; "that's one sure +thing." + +"I'm glad there's something sure," said Townsend. It was as good as a +circus to see him sitting against the tree with his knees drawn up, +glancing this way and that with a funny look of patient resignation on +his face. + +"What do you say we put the tent up in the heart of the interior? Then +we'll be able to find it in the morning. The unknown heart of the +interior seems to be the only place we can be sure of. At least it +always stays inside. Hand me that grocery box from the extreme +southern shore, will you? And another prune? The heart of my interior +demands another prune. Do you know, Discoverer, what I think? I think +I see a settlement. I don't know where it is because I don't know +which way I'm facing, but I'm certainly facing a settlement--or at +least I was a second ago. There it is again. I think we're nearing +the coast of Japan; I see a Japanese lantern. That's funny. Did we +pass the Philippines?" + +"I don't know," said Brownie. "We passed Corbett's Lumber Yard." + +"The Philippines are farther along," said Townsend; "they're the second +turn to our left. If this island hits Japan they'll grab it; I have a +feeling that they'll grab it like the island of Yap." + +"_I've got an inspiration! I've got an inspiration!_" shouted Pee-wee +in a voice of thunder. "I know where we're at. That's Mr. Skybrow's +place down there. He owns a lot of railroads and things! They're +having a lawn party there to-night!" + +"Are they having anything to eat?" Townsend asked quietly. + +"Yum, yum--m-m-m!" said Pee-wee. "They have everything. Once I went +to Minerva's birthday party and I couldn't go to school all next week, +that's how much they have to eat there. Get the clothes-sticks. Get +the clothes-sticks! Let's pole the island to shore. I bet she'll like +you because you're big--I'll introduce you to her--all my old troop is +going to be there--hurry up--push--keep pushing!" + +"Reach over to the west coast and hand me that pole from the north +coast before it goes over to the east coast," said Townsend quietly. + +"Get up! _Get up_!" shouted Pee-wee, all excitement. "Aren't you +going to get up?" + +"Positively," said Townsend, dragging himself to his feet. + +"Shh!" said Pee-wee, "let's surprise them." + +"You're the only one that's making any noise," said Townsend. + +"I mean myself, too," said Pee-wee. "Shhhh." + +"He's telling himself to keep still," Brownie, unable to control his +laughter. + +"I mean all of us--me too," said Pee-wee. "Shh." + +It was during the long and rather difficult process of poling the +island to shore that Pee-wee, unable to impose more than comparative +quiet upon himself, edified his companions with an account of his +recent adventure in Barrel Alley. + +And it was his seemingly ominous mention of "cops" and fugitives which +Minerva Skybrow and her friends, lingering at the little refreshment +tent near the river, overheard. At that moment the desert island was +bobbing against the thick rhododendron bushes at the edge of the lawn. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE EARTHLY PARADISE + +"I don't care who it is or what it is," said Dora Dane Daring; "I'm not +afraid of the biggest bandit that ever lived. I'm going to find out +what those men are doing lurking about here." + +Without another word she strode forward, parted the rhododendron +bushes, and confronted the marauders. + +"Well, I--_never_--in--_all_ my _life_," she cried. "It's little +Walter Harris! What on _earth_ are you doing here?" + +"I discovered this island," said Pee-wee; "we're exploring it. One of +these fellers is a native because he was on it before it was an island." + +"Look out you don't get your feet wet on the stern and rock-bound +coast," said Townsend. "Hold the lantern, Brownie." + +"Did you ever _see_ such a thing!" said Minerva Skybrow, emerging +through the bushes, accompanied by her official staff. "Walter Harris, +what in goodness' name are you doing here? I thought you were robbers. +What in _all creation_ are you up to? And how did you happen to get +here?" + +"We've been going around quite a little lately," said Townsend quietly. + +"This is Townsend Ripley," said Pee-wee; "he's a friend of mine; these +fellers are all friends of mine. We're exploring." + +"We're very glad to meet you, Mr. Ripley," said Minerva, while Miss +Daring whispered in the ear of Miss Timerson, "Isn't he nice? So tall." + +"We thought we'd come to the party," said Pee-wee. + +"Have you any parking space for islands?" Townsend asked. + +"Oh, _indeed_ we have," said Minerva, "and you're going to be the star +guests. May we step on the island?" + +"Yes, indeed, it's very steady," said Townsend, helping them one after +another onto the frowning coast while Brownie held the lantern. +"Wherever we go we take our island with us; it's like ivory soap, it +floats. Will you have a piece of wild chocolate, out of the heart of +the interior?" + +"Isn't he just _lovely_," whispered Miss Daring. + +"So can we stay?" asked Pee-wee. + +"Stay? I wouldn't let you go for anything," said Minerva. "Listen, +girls, I've got an _inspiration_----" + +"I have lots of those," said Pee-wee. + +"They grow wild here," said Townsend. + +"Listen," said Minerva, "I have a perfectly _marvellous_ idea." + +She sat down on the grocery box and in her joy and excitement fairly +drowned out Pee-wee who was struggling with a vehement running +narrative of the day's adventures. + +"Oh, it will be simply _divine_," said Minerva. "Listen--don't +interrupt me--I'm going to have the refreshments served on this island. +I'm going to have the old painter's scaffold for a _gang-plank_ leading +to it----" + +"There are refreshments then?" Townsend asked quietly. + +"Refreshments? Aren't you perfectly _terrible_! Of course there +are--_oceans_ of them." + +"No more oceans for me," said Townsend. "Hereafter I'm going to live +on shore. My sailing--flopping--days are over." + +"You're too funny for anything," said Minerva. "Listen, do you see +that little tent? The refreshments are all in there. There's just +time before the guests all come to move everything over here. I want +you boys to help me. We're going to call it the _dessert island_ +instead of the _desert island_. Isn't that adorable? Isn't it odd? +Everyone will go into raptures over it, you see if they don't. You'll +let us use your island, won't you?" + +"We'll make you a present of it," said Townsend. + +"My idea," said Miss Timerson, "would be to tie it to these bushes that +stick out over the water. It ought to be far enough away from the--the +mainland--to be romantic. How far away do you think it should be, Mr. +Ripley?" + +"The way I feel about it I think it should be at least two thousand +miles off." + +"Silly!" said Miss Daring. "Please be serious. Do you think about +three yards would be romantic?" + +"I never measured romance by the yard," said Townsend, "but I should +think about three yards and a half of romance would be enough. If we +have any left over we can give it to the discoverer. He eats it alive." + +"And I'll tell you what I'll do," shouted Pee-wee; "it's an +inspiration." + +"Another?" Townsend asked. + +"I'll--I'll--I'll stay on the island----" + +"I thought so," said Townsend. + +"And--and--I'll stand right here by the traffic sign and after somebody +that's eating has had enough, I'll turn the sign so it says STOP; I'll +turn it so it's facing him." + +"Did you ever hear anything so absurd?" said Minerva. + +"I think it would be picturesque," said Dora. + +"And sensible, too," said Margaret, "because some of those scouts will +just stay here and gorge themselves and won't dance at all." + +"I think it's a very good idea," said Townsend; "it will relieve +congestion here. A food traffic cop." + +"I'll be it," shouted Pee-wee. + +"Where is this romantic scaffold?" Townsend asked. + +"The painters left it in the cellar," said Minerva. "Let's hurry, I'll +show you where it is." + +There was, indeed, just time enough to arrange this novel life-saving +station with its picturesque gang-plank before the guests began to +arrive. + +"And this is the end of our wild adventures on a foreign shore," said +Townsend, as he carried one end of the old scaffold across the +dim-lighted lawn accompanied by the group of excited maidens; "we wind +up at a lawn party. This is what the discoverer has brought us to." + +"Don't you think he's just _killing_?" Minerva asked. + +"More than that," said Townsend; "his hunter's stew is more than +killing. Did you ever try any of it?" + +"Never mind, you're going to have some delicious chicken salad," said +Minerva. + +The boys, under Minerva's enthusiastic supervision, tied the island +about six feet from shore. The romantic gang-plank kept it from +drifting closer in while two clothes-poles driven into the bottom of +the river just below it prevented it from drifting with the ebbing +tide. Pee-wee's trusty clothesline was stretched between the little +apple tree and the overhanging rhododendron bushes as an auxiliary +mooring and to hold the island steady. + +Thus secured and free from the prosaic shore, the romantic isle +presented an inviting scene, with the little tent upon it and Japanese +lanterns shedding a mellow light from the bushes and the securing +clothesline. The rippling water flickered with a gentle and undulating +glow and inverted paper lanterns could be seen reflected beneath the +surface, as if indeed the beholder could look down and see romantic and +picturesque Japan on the opposite side of the earth. + +The scaffold, forgetting its prosy usage, was resplendent in a winding +robe of bunting and on its railing where cans of white lead and linseed +oil had disported hung lanterns of every color in the rainbow. To this +enchanted isle would stroll dance-weary couples and famishing scouts to +regale themselves in this dim, detached, earthly paradise. + +"Wait a minute, oh, just wait a minute!" cried Minerva in the spell of +such an inspiration as comes only once in a lifetime. "Oh, just wait +_one minute_." + +She hurried across the lawn, returning presently with a huge, spotless +apron with strings of goodly dimension which, in a very glow of +inspired joy, she tied around the waist of Pee-wee Harris. It was +necessary to shorten it by a series of pokes and pushes by which it was +tucked up under its own strings and lifted clear of the adventurous +feet of the scout. Nor was that all, for somewhere out of the +mysterious depths of the house, Minerva had brought a starched and +snowy chef's cap with which she crowned our hero. + +"You be right here when they begin coming down," Minerva said, "and +stand close to the traffic sign and if any boy stays here too long turn +the STOP sign on him." + +"And turn it on yourself if necessary," said Townsend. + +"I won't let anybody eat more than about--about--five helpings. +That'll be enough for them, hey?" said Pee-wee. + +"Goodness gracious, yes," said Dora Dane Daring. + +"You're the steward, remember," said Minerva. "Do you know what a +steward is?" + +"He's--he's named after a stew," said Pee-wee, hitching up his +spreading apron. "You leave the people to me, I'll handle them." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +GONE + +The steward (or the stew, as Townsend thenceforth called him) did not +attend the party. A preliminary tour of the grounds convinced him that +adventures of his particular kind were not to be found there. Dancing +was not in his line. Music (except the clamorous music of his own +voice) he did not care for. And he did not care to hear what Mrs. Wild +had to say about the Camp-fire movement. + +To him the crucial part of the whole party was the eats and he lingered +near them like a faithful sentinel. The artistic quality of these +saved them from devastation. Those pyramids of luscious beauty could +not be denied by human hands without showing the indubitable signs of +vandalism. Their very splendor saved them. + +It is true that he skilfully extracted an olive from the symmetrical +mound of chicken salad and took an almond and a macaroon and other +detached dainties that were not made sacred and secure by their own +architecture. But for the most part Pee-wee was faithful to his trust. +He knew his time would come. And then, oh, then, that proud tower of +interlaced sandwiches would look like Rheims Cathedral. + +Thus an hour passed and the merry throng emerged upon the lawn and made +a direct assault upon the dancing platform, lured by strains of +irresistible music. Some strolled about but none out of the radius of +that melodious magnetism, and Pee-wee remained undisturbed on the +romantic isle of eats. + +He sat upon the edge of the island, the extreme western coast, fishing +for eels, with a string, a bent pin and a salted almond. It seemed +that the eels did not care for salted almonds, so Pee-wee endeavored to +tempt them with a chocolate bonbon but the bonbon dissolved on the pin, +forming a sort of subterranean chocolate sundae, and the eels ignored +it. + +"I bet I know what's the matter," said Pee-wee; "they're afraid to come +near the island on account of the lights." At all events the eels +appeared to shun the neighborhood of the party; they were not in +society. + +Just then Pee-wee had an inspiration. In the light of its consequences +it was probably the most momentous inspiration that he ever had. "I +know what I'll do," he said. "I'll use a long, long stick that'll +reach way, way, way out." And he glanced about him in quest of a +"long, long stick" with which to beguile the bashful eels. His +inquiring eye lit upon one of the long clothes-line supporters which +Townsend had driven into the river bottom to help hold the island in +position. + +It is necessary to understand the strategical position of this +prospective fishing rod. These two poles had been forced down into the +muddy bottom just south of the island and the southern edge of the +island lay against them and was thus prevented from drifting down with +the ebbing tide. The makeshift gang-plank, gay with bunting, held the +island off shore and the ropes between the island and the bushes +steadied it. This crude engineering was quite sufficient. BUT---- + +There is a church somewhere in Europe of which it is said that if a +certain brick were removed the whole edifice would fall in ruins. +Pee-wee was not even an amateur engineer. That world-stirring +consequences could flow from an act so casual and trivial as securing a +fishing rod never entered his innocent and pre-occupied mind. He did +not know that in the hasty calculations of Townsend all the component +parts of this system of props and fetters were necessary one to +another. He removed the brick and the cathedral fell and there +followed a catastrophe compared to which the World War is a mere +incident. If he had pulled the north pole out of the earth the sequel +could hardly have been more momentous. + +Sublimely innocent of the fact that he was unhinging the universe, +Pee-wee arose, advanced to the outer pole and began tugging on it. It +did not come up easily for the force of the rapidly ebbing tide caused +the island to press against it like a brake. But he succeeded at last +and as he dragged the muddy pole across the grass, the island turned +slowly cornerwise to the shore. + +In his preoccupation, Pee-wee did not notice this. He tied his +fishline to the end of the pole, bent another pin and provisioned it +with a stuffed olive, requisitioned from a cutglass dish nearby. How +he intended to support this lengthy pole so that its end might reach +the neighborhood of the coy eels is not a part of this narrative for +Pee-wee's angling enterprise never reached that point. + +He was presently startled by a splash and looking around he saw that +the end of the scaffold had slipped off the island. He was now aroused +to the imminent peril of the Isle of Desserts and to the terrible +responsibility which fell to the clothesline and the bushes. + +As the island turned slowly outward the clothes-line strained but held +fast. But the rhododendron bushes had not the same heroic quality. +For a few moments they resisted, but the island, now at the mercy of +the ebb, tugged and tugged, and presently a mass of bush gave up the +struggle and came away, rope and all. The earthly paradise with its +luscious store of cake and chicken salad, its commanding pyramid of +sandwiches flanked by icing cakes, its plates of dates and olives and +candy of every variety, its mound of jellied doughnuts, and a mammoth +freezer full of ice cream, floated majestically down the moonlit river, +trailing a huge clump of rhododendron bush after it like the tail of a +comet. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +FOILED + +And now out of the still and moonlit night arose peal after peal of +thunder imparting a note of terror to this world catastrophe. Never +before had the thunderous voice of our hero rent the heavens as it did +now. + +"Help! Help! I'm floating away with the eats." + +It is no wonder that the man in the moon smiled at what he saw on the +river that night. Seeing the laden board, the pyramid of sandwiches +rearing its luscious pinnacle toward heaven, he seemed to wink at +Pee-wee--with what purport who shall say? Sufficient that our hero saw +him not. + +"_He-e-e-elp_! I'm drifting downstream with the refreshments," he +called. "_He-e-elp_!" + +They heard him amid their revels. Townsend Ripley who had suffered the +assaults of the hunter's stew heard him. The scouts who had eaten a +"light supper" heard him. Warde Hollister who had pled with Roy for a +safety first policy heard him. Minerva Skybrow heard him and paused +aghast in the midst of a two-step. For what was a two-step now +compared to the one-step which Pee-wee had taken? Roly Poly and +Brownie, also victims of the hunter's stew, heard him as they waited +patiently, and were struck dumb with terror. Only the man in the moon +smiled, and winked at Pee-wee. + +"_He-e-e-e-e-e-el-l-l-p! I'm floating away with the eats!_" + +But did he really need any help? + + +They rushed to the shore pell-mell and some hurried to the barn for the +only means of rescue--an old disused skiff and a leaky, discarded +canoe. Others gazed in wistful silence out upon the glinting water. + +"_Hurry! Hurry!_" cried Minerva. "I can see it! Don't you see the +lanterns down there?" + +"He's on the flats, I think," said Warde. + +"He's on the table," shouted Roy. + +"He's in the channel!" + +"He's in the ice cream!" + +"Listen, he's calling!" + +"His mouth is full, I can't hear him." + +"_Hurry! Hurry! Oh, hurry!_" cried Minerva. + +"I'll tell you what let's do," Roy said. + +"You told us once," said Warde; "that's enough." + +"I saved the ice cream freezer from rolling off," shouted Pee-wee. + +"A lot of good that does us," shouted Doc Carson. + +"Put it where it will be safe," shouted Townsend. + +"All right, I will," shouted Pee-wee. + +"Gracious goodness, he isn't going to eat it, is he?" Margaret Timerson +asked. + +"He'll have to finish whatever else he's eating first," said Doc +Carson. "Push that boat off, we have only a minute to act in." + +"How long does it usually take him to finish a sandwich?" Minerva asked. + +"Three-tenths of a second," said Roy. + +"He'll be too frightened to eat," said Dora Daring. + +"He's never too frightened to eat," said Connie Bennett. + +"He consumes pie while he's consumed with fear," Roy said. + +"He consumes everything," said Warde. + +"Oh, what will we ever _do_?" Minerva walled, wringing her arms in +desperation. + +"The thing to do is to reach him before he gets really started," said +Doc Carson, who was ever thoughtful and far-sighted. "When he starts +he works fast. I don't think he's really begun yet. He believes in +fair play and he wouldn't start before ten o'clock--that's refreshment +time, isn't it?" + +"It was to be," said Minerva. + +"That's the time we were waiting for," said Brownie. + +"Has he a watch?" Margaret asked. + +"Yes, it's usually about twenty minutes fast," said Roy. + +"Oh, isn't that perfectly _terrible_!" said Dora. + +"He'll make terrible inroads on it," said Connie Bennett. + +"_Inroads_!" said Roy. "You mean turnpikes and highways." + +"Well, then, why don't you boys hurry?" Minerva asked excitedly. "It +isn't too late. _Oh, do hurry_!" + +"We can never tow that island back against the tide," said Dorry Benton. + +"We can remove the stuff to the boat though," said Artie Van Arlen. + +"I'm going to 'phone to Mr. Speeder to get his motor-boat and go after +him; he can tow it back." + +"Listen--_shh_--he's calling," said Townsend. + +"Shh--_shhhh_!" + +"Listen." + +From down the river, a little farther than before, came a voice spent +by the distance. "_I'm on the flats, I'm stuck._" + +"Thank goodness!" said Minerva. "Now we can reach him." + +"Are you going around?" Townsend shouted. + +"The sandwiches are all falling down," called the voice. "The +doughnuts are rolling out." + +"Save them," shouted Roy. + +"All right, I will," screamed Pee-wee. + +"_Oh, such a relief_," said Minerva. "Do you think he's stuck fast?" + +"We can only hope," said Townsend. "Come on, let's hustle." + +Words cannot describe the haste and excitement with which the skiff was +launched and manned by a little band of doughty pioneers. Roy, Warde +Hollister and Townsend Ripley were the crew, two rowing while the other +steered. + +"Can we help ourselves?" Warde asked, as they glided out on the river. + +"Yes, yes, yes, help yourselves to _anything_," called Minerva, "only +bring them back--pile them in the boat--it doesn't make any difference +how--only hurry, he may drift off again." + +"Now you see," said Roy, addressing Warde, "the harder you work and the +longer you wait the hungrier you'll be. Everything is working out +fine, thanks to me." + +"Oh, sure," said Warde, already breathless from his strenuous rowing, +"they give you roast turkey up at Skybrows; they give you chicken salad +and sandwiches and--only try to get it. I'm so hungry I could eat the +island, thanks to you. I could eat a whisk-broom. Follow you and I'll +starve." + +"Did you ever eat any of that kid's hunter's stew?" Townsend asked as +he rowed. + +"Did we?" said Roy. "It's the best thing I know of if you want to stay +home from school." + +"It's kind of queer," said Townsend. + +"Oh, yes, mysterious," said Warde. + +"Let's talk of something pleasant," said Roy. + +"Well, I'm pretty hungry, too," said Townsend. + +"We'll soon be there," said Warde. "We had something of a scare, +didn't we?" + +"All's well that ends well," said Townsend. + +"Oh, sure," said Roy, "only you don't end so _well_ after eating +hunter's stew. We should worry, we'll have all the stuff pretty soon +now. Narrow escape, hey? _Oh, boy_, it would have been terrible to +lose all that stuff. It looked like an altar, didn't it?" + +"It'll look like a vacuum when we get through with it," said Warde. + +"Do you think we can get it all in the boat?" + +"If we can't, we'll tow the icing cakes behind," said Roy. "What _I'm_ +thinking fond thoughts about is the ice cream." + +"Same here," said Townsend. + +"Same here," said Warde. + +And meanwhile the man in the moon winked down at Pee-wee. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IN THE GLARE OF THE SEARCH-LIGHT + +Now the tide is a funny thing, especially in a small suburban river. +The banks of a river being for the most part sloping, the river bed is +narrower at the bottom than at the top. You don't have to wear glasses +to see that. That is why the tide, as it recedes, runs faster and +faster; because during the last hour or two of its recession it flows +in narrower confines. This has been the settled policy of nature for +many centuries, and it was so ordered for the benefit of Pee-wee Harris. + +When the Merry-go-round Island floated leisurely against the Skybrow +lawn the tide had been flowing out for about an hour. When this same +rechristened island broke loose disguised as an earthly paradise, the +tide was in a great hurry. And when the earthly paradise caught upon +the flats the little remaining water was running as if it were going to +catch a train. + +Rapidly, ever so rapidly, the water slid down off the flats to join the +hurrying water in the channel. And, presto, all of a sudden there was +the Isle of Desserts high and dry surrounded by an ocean of oozy mud +while the river, narrowed to a mere brook, rushed in its channel some +fifty feet distant. And there you are. + +That is why the man in the moon (who knows all about the tides) winked +at Pee-wee. At least, I suppose that is why he winked. + +You could not have reached the Isle of Desserts with a boat or with +snow-shoes or with stilts or with anything except an airplane. +Swimming to it was out of the question. Shouting and screaming to it +was feasible, of course. Radio operations were conceivable. But reach +it no one could. The adventurer would have been swallowed in mud. +This safe isolation would continue for a couple of hours and then the +playful water would come rippling in again spreading a glinting +coverlet over the flats once more and lifting the island upon its +swelling bosom. + +Down the narrowing river rowed our rescuing crew, and as they rowed the +river narrowed. Soon the lantern light on the island was abreast of +them, some forty or fifty feet distant. + +"Hello, over there," called Warde. + +"I'm pretty well," called Pee-wee. + +"What are we going to do?" asked Townsend. "The tide has beat us to +it. He's safe enough." + +"Oh, he couldn't be safer," said Warde. "Our name is mud. All our +rowing for nothing." + +"How about the eats over there, Kid?" Warde called. + +"They're all right," called Pee-wee, "only the ice cream is starting to +melt. I stuck my finger in through the ice and the cream is kind of +oozing out. Maybe I better eat it, hey? It won't hold out till the +tide comes in. I ate a sandwich and that made me thirsty and I didn't +want to be drinking the lemonade so I ate a piece of ice out of the +freezer and that made me more thirsty so I drank some lemonade anyway +and that made me hungry again and I'm going to eat a sardine sandwich +only I'm afraid that'll make me thirsty and----" + +"This is horrible," said Townsend; "it's like an endless chain. Where +will the end be?" + +"Do you think it would be all right for me to eat some chicken salad?" +Pee-wee shouted. "The tide won't be high enough to float this island +for two hours." + +"Don't!" called Warde, stopping up his ears. "Have a heart." + +"Have a what?" called Pee-wee. + +"Have a doughnut," shouted Roy. + +"All right," called Pee-wee. "There's some dandy cheese here in a kind +of a little jar--_yum--yum_!" + +"Don't!" shrieked Warde. + +"Doughnut?" called Pee-wee. + +"No, I said '_don't_'," called Warde. "You'll have me eating one of +the oarlocks in a minute." + +Soon a faint chugging could be heard; it ceased, presumably at the +Skybrow lawn, then started again. Nearer and nearer it came until +presently the racing boat of Dashway Speeder came to a stop alongside +them. Half a dozen girls and as many hungry male guests of the party +were in it clamoring for news. + +"This is terrible!" said Minerva. "I never _dreamed_ of such a thing +as this. Why, he's _marooned_!" + +"I'm all safe," shouted Pee-wee, "don't you worry." + +"_Safe_! I should think he is," said Dora. "If he had the British +navy all around him he couldn't be safer." + +"The world is at his feet," said Townsend. + +"You mean at his mouth," said Roy. + +"I never heard of such a thing in all my born days," said Margaret. + +"He's cornered the food market," said another hungry guest. + +"For goodness' sake turn your search-light on him, Dashway," said +Minerva, "and let's see what he looks like. This is simply _tragic_." + +Dashway Speeder turned the search-light of his launch across the fiats +and there amid the surrounding mud, still bubbling from the effects of +the departing tide, was presented a scene like unto a picture on a +movie screen. There, bathed in light amid the surrounding gloom, like +a film star in a disk of brightness, sat Scout Harris upon a grocery +box surrounded by fallen sandwiches and with a goodly bowl securely +held between his diminutive knees. It was a superb and mouth-watering +close-up, to use the film phrase. + +"I--I might as well eat some things, hey?" me lone voyager called. +"Because it's past time for refreshments anyway and the tide won't +carry me off for more than two hours and everybody'll be going home +then and the ice cream is starting to melt, the lemon ice is getting +all soft, so will it be all right to start eating the chicken salad and +the sandwiches and things? I only kind of sort of tested them so far." + +Warde Hollister stopped up his ears in an agony of torture while a +dozen famishing boys flopped this way and that in attitudes of +suffering despair. + +"Yes, it will be all right," called poor Minerva in a kind of +desperation. "It's the only thing, you might as well." She seemed +resigned if not reconciled. "You might as well eat the ice cream +anyway, it will only melt." + +"And the chicken salad?" called the merciless hero, "and the +sandwiches, too?" + +"_Oh, this is too much_," moaned Connie Bennett. + +"It isn't so much as you might think," shouted Pee-wee. + +"He must be hollow from head to foot," said Margaret. + +"Yes, eat everything," wailed Minerva in the final spirit of utter +resignation. + +"Yum--yum," called Pee-wee. "Oh, boy, it's good." + +And still the man in the moon winked down, and smiled his merry scout +smile upon Scout Harris. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE DREAM OF KEEKIE JOE + +On that night, in the back yard of Billy Gilson's tire repair shop, +Keekie Joe, the sentinel of Barrel Alley, sat upon a pile of old Ford +radiators, untangling a complicated mass of fishing-line. He was +trying to follow a selected strand through the various fastnesses of +the labyrinth. + +The involved mass was really not a fishing-line but, in its untangled +state, an apparatus for confounding and enraging pedestrians. +Stretched across the sidewalk between two tin cans its function was to +catch in the feet of passersby, thus pulling the clamorous cans about +the ankles of the victim. Keekie Joe had always found this game +diverting and he was wont to vary its surprises by filling the cans +with muddy water. + +But on this eventful night he was driven to dismantle the apparatus and +consecrate it to a new use. For Keekie Joe was hungry and he dared not +go home; so he was going fishing. + +The hours following the crap game had not been golden hours for the +sentinel of Barrel Alley. When he emerged from the tenement and +rejoined Pee-wee after the episode of the crap game, he had ten cents +that his father had given him with which to buy a package of cigarettes. + +Keekie Joe was never able to consider consequences at a distance of +more than ten minutes into the future. When he played hooky from +school on Thursday it never occurred to him that he would be answerable +to the powers that be on Friday. Notwithstanding that he was a +sentinel he could never look ahead. And when Keekie Joe smoked several +of his father's cigarettes on the way home, it never occurred to him +that he would have to remain away from home through supper time, and +until his father had retired for the night. + +Thus it was that at nine o'clock or thereabouts, Keekie Joe realized +that he was hungry and that four cigarettes stood between him and home, +effectually barring the way. He measured the licking that he would get +against the supper that he would get, and he decided to go fishing. No +doubt his choice was well considered for the supper that he would get +might not be a good one whereas the licking that he would get would be +nothing short of magnificent. + +Keekie Joe had not the slightest idea how to cook a fish and he could +not think so far ahead as that. But food he must have. So he had dug +some worms and put them in one of his trick cans and then proceeded to +untangle the line. Having secured an unknotted length of five or six +feet he equipped this with a fish-hook of his own manufacture and +sallied forth toward the river. He was not only hungry, but sleepy, +and it never occurred to him that this was the exorbitant price of four +cigarettes. + +Hunger and sleep vied with each other in the shuffling body of Keekie +Joe as he crossed Main Street and cut across the fields toward the +marshes. + +Down by the river was a little shanty in which was a mass of fishing +seine. It stood hospitably open, for the hinges of the door were all +rusted away and the dried and shrunken boards lay on the marshy ground +before the entrance. Keekie Joe had intended to make sure that there +was nothing to eat in the shanty before casting his line in the +neighboring water. For there was the barest chance that a petrified +crust of bread, ancient remnant of some fisherman's lunch, might be in +the place. + +Once Keekie Joe had found such a crust there. But the place was bare +now of everything except deserted spider-webs, black and heavy with +dust. These and the mass of net upon the ground were all that Keekie +Joe could see in the light of the genial moonbeams which shone through +the open doorway and wriggled in through the cracks in the +weather-beaten boards. + +And now again Keekie Joe had to make a choice. He was hungry, oh, so +hungry. But he was sleepy, too, to the point of blinking +half-consciousness. The eyes which had so often watched for "cops," +and which had won for Keekie Joe his nickname, were half closed and he +could hardly stand. Such a price for four cigarettes! + +The eyes which had been so faithful to a doubtful trust and won the pay +of an apple core, could not be trusted now to stay open while he sat, a +ragged, lonely figure, on the shore dangling his line in quest of a +morsel to eat. It was funny how these eyes, which had served others so +well, seemed about to go back on their owner now. But so it was. And +then, in a moment, a very strange thing happened. + +As Keekie Joe leaned against the doorway blinking his eyes, he happened +to look up at the moon and it seemed (probably because his eyes were +blinking), it _seemed_ as if the man in the moon winked at him, in a +way shrewdly significant as if he might have something up his sleeve. +Anyway, he could not keep his eyes open; sleep, for a little while at +least, had triumphed over hunger and the faithful little sentinel of +Barrel Alley stumbled over to the pile of net and sank down, exhausted, +upon it. + +And Keekie Joe dreamed a dream. A most outlandish dream. He dreamed +that the licorice jaw-breaker which that strange boy had thrown at him +was the size of a brick, and that as it fell upon the ground it broke +into a thousand luscious fragments like the pane of plate-glass through +which Keekie Joe had lately thrown a rock. He picked up the fragments +and ate them, and there before him stood the strange, small boy, who +threw a sponge cake directly at his head and hit him with it _plunk_. +"Wotcher chuckin' dem at me fer?" Keekie Joe demanded menacingly. + +But the small, strange boy (apparently without either fear or manners) +scaled a pumpkin pie at him and said, "Do you think I'm scared of you?" +He then squirted powdered sugar at him like poison gas and Keekie Joe +toppled backward off the fence and could not watch for cops, because +his eyes were full of powdered sugar. "Quit dat, d'yer hear!" he +screamed. But the small, strange boy threw a ham straight at him and +it fell on the ground with a thunderous crash and broke into a million +thin slices with mustard on them. + +The noise of this falling meteor awoke Keekie Joe and he sat up, +holding the two sides of his head, startled and dizzy from hunger. And +shining through the doorway of the shack he saw a light. It was not +the moonlight, but another light, and he crept, light-headed and +fearful, toward the opening, ready to run in case it was a cop . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE MISSIONARY LANDS ON FOREIGN SHORES + +What Keekie Joe beheld caused him to rub his eyes and concentrate his +gaze with more intensity than ever he had shown while at his official +post. There, bumping against the shore, was somebody or other's +grass-plot with a tree on it and a little tent. The frightened natives +who had witnessed the arrival of Columbus could not have been more +astonished than Keekie Joe. + +He glanced out upon the river to see if any lawns or groves or back +yards were floating around. Then his gaze returned to the miraculous +scene before him. There was the small boy he had known in the morning, +"the rich kid" who had been willing to sit as sentinel on the fence. + +He was now sitting on an inverted ice cream freezer and all about him +on the grass were sandwiches, hundreds of them. The tower had fallen +and its ruins lay about Pee-wee's feet. A lantern hung in the tent and +through the opening Keekie Joe caught a glimpse of a board covered with +spotless white cloth and piled with such things as he had seen in the +windows of bakeries. The laden board looked as if a cyclone had struck +it but in the tumbled chaos his quick and startled glance could +distinguish proud and lofty cakes rolled over on their brown or icy +superstructures, and doughnuts looking indeed like the cannon-balls +which might have laid low these beauteous edifices. + +Keekie Joe gazed upon this scene of mouth-watering ruin with eyes +spellbound. Before him lay a miniature Pompeii buried under a kind of +lava of whipped cream and custard and chicken salad, amid which toppled +cakes and a frowning fortress of gingerbread lay sideways and upside +down. Bananas and oranges and nuts and raisins and olives littered the +scene of toothsome devastation. An empty square ice cream can, +disinterred from its quiet grave of ice, lay upon the ground. Another +was in Pee-wee's lap and our hero was armed with a deadly spoon. + +"I know who you are," he said, as he annihilated a cocoanut macaroon. +"You're the feller I saw this morning. Didn't I tell you if you got to +be a scout you'd have all you want to eat? Now you see!" + +Keekie Joe did see but he was too astounded to speak. He knew from +experience that this strange race of scouts carried jaw-breakers in +their pockets, and that they had a deadly aim. But he had not supposed +that they travelled in fairy barques which rivalled the windows of +bakery shops in their sumptuous appointments. He had not pictured them +as travelling on their private islands surrounded by mammoth icing +cakes five stories high, and towers of chocolate. He had not fancied +them sitting on ice cream freezers and tossing the emptied receptacles +from them. + +Pee-wee had told his friend of the morning that they would both vote +for Keekie Joe and that Keekie Joe should be the patrol leader. If +this was the way an ordinary scout travelled, what would be the proper +equipment of a patrol leader? It staggered poor Keekie Joe just to +think of this. And a scoutmaster! + +"Didn't I tell you how it was with scouts?" Pee-wee demanded. "Now you +see!" + +Keekie Joe rubbed his eyes to make sure he was awake and scrutinized +Pee-wee shrewdly. For our hero was somewhat disguised by a villainous +moustache of chocolate which reached almost to his ear on one side and +made him look like a pirate. + +"Do you like sardine sandwiches?" our hero asked at random, for he +hardly knew what to use for bait amid such crowding variety. "I was +stuck on the flats for over an hour and then the tide took me off. +It's coming in now. I'm going to stay on here all night and to-morrow +and all next week. So do you want to join? Only you have to be a +scout if you want to come on here. There are six other fellers but +they're at the party. They said I wouldn't have any fun at the party +because I can't dance, but I'm having more fun than any of them. I +foiled them. They're all dancing but they're good and hungry. Maybe +they look happy but they're not." + +"Do dey all go round in dem things?" Keekie Joe ventured to inquire. + +"No, but I'm lucky," said Pee-wee. + +It seemed to Keekie Joe that Pee-wee was very lucky. + +"I've got the best part of the party here," said Pee-wee, holding onto +a tree alongshore to keep the island from drifting. "You better hurry +up because I can't hold it here; I can only hold it here +about--about--seven seconds. Only you can't come on unless you join +because we need one more feller. So will you join? If you will you +can have all the ice cream you want, because I got a right to all these +things. And there's cake goes with it too, and everything. It +includes chicken salad and sandwiches and everything. So will you +join? I'm the boss of all these things, I am, you can ask Minerva +Skybrow. I'm the boss of the olives and--and--everything." + +"Did yer swipe 'em?" Keekie Joe asked, looking furtively around as if +he thought that Pee-wee might be shadowed while in possession of such +boundless wealth. + +"I got them on account of being lucky," Pee-wee said. "I pulled a +stick out of the ground and it was a dandy mistake so that shows you'd +better stick to me, because I make lots of dandy mistakes. I make them +every day; sometimes I make two in one day and I've got nine ideas for +next week and all these eats besides. You needn't be afraid to get +on," he added, "because it'll drift up the river now and it won't go +past Bridgeboro on account of Waring's reef. There's where I want it +to stick because if it sticks there it'll stay there, you can bet. +Come on, don't you be scared." + +Then, with sudden inspiration, he added, "This is a peachy place to lay +keekie for cops, because you can see all around you away, _way_ off. +And when all this food is gone there'll be apples getting ripe on this +tree and you won't have to speak for cores either, because you can have +whole apples, all you want of them. That's what scouts do, they eat +and they stay out all night and they're wild, kind of. And they don't +care what happens, and anyway the ice cream is melting all the time, so +will you join?" + +Keekie Joe, still hesitating in profound astonishment, and a little +fearful of this strange apparition with its presiding genius saw that +if he were going to act he must act quickly for though Pee-wee was king +of the island he seemed not able to govern its capricious fancy. +Clutch the tree as he would, the gap between scout and hoodlum +persistently widened, and the island seemed bent on hurrying upon its +wanton career. + +Keekie Joe, not altogether easy in his mind, still found it impossible +to resist these enumerated benefits of scouting. Being wild and +staying out all night and eating and eating and eating forever and +forever under a profusion of blossoms which gave new promise, was too +much for the sentinel of Barrel Alley to ignore. + +So he ran away to sea as so many other boys had done before him and +sailed out upon the briny deep in the good barque Merry-go-round. And +he ate such a supper that night as he had never eaten in his life +before. Pee-wee had already eaten his fill but he wished to be +companionable and make his guest feel at home so he ate another supper +with his new friend in accordance with the requirements of good manners. + +A scout is polite. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +RETURN OF THE HERO + +The lawn party was over, two score or more of famished guests had gone +to their homes, the lights in the Skybrow house were out, the +sputtering candles in the Japanese lanterns were dying one by one, the +grounds were still and dark except for the merry moon which smiled down +upon the scene of revelry and tragedy. + +At the edge of the lawn where the Isle of Desserts had been, six +figures sat in the darkness. They sat in a row, their legs drawn up +and held by their clasped hands. They sat waiting and watching in the +silent night. + +"The river is going to eat the edge of this lawn all away if they don't +face it with stone," said Roly Poly. + +"Will you please stop talking about eating?" said Brownie. + +"I know, but you'd think a rich man like Mr. Skybrow would make +provision for a thing like that," said a boy they called Shorty. + +"Will you please stop talking about provisions?" said Townsend. + +"I know, but Nuts was saying----" + +"Will you please stop talking about nuts?" said Townsend. + +"Well, what shall I talk about then?" Brownie asked. + +"Talk about the rhododendron bushes," said Billy. "Look where a big +clump was pulled away. Look at that one--all broken. These bushes +will have to be all pruned." + +"Will you please stop talking about prunes?" said Townsend. + +"I know, but seven or eight----" + +"Will you please not mention the word ate?" said Townsend. "They ought +to be thankful he left the lawn." + +"What did his father say over the 'phone?" one asked. + +"Oh, he didn't seem to worry," said Townsend. "He knows that the +island is on a scow and that the river is small and that his son always +lands right side up; that's what he said. I told him the island would +come up with the tide and that we'd wait here and row out when he came +in sight. He said there was no danger, that the discoverer is always +lucky." + +"Oh, he's lucky," said Brownie. + +"Nothing short of an earthquake can capsize the island," Townsend said. + +"He's a whole earthquake in himself," said Billy. + +"More than that," said Shorty. "If I owned a restaurant I wouldn't +leave it around, not unless there were buildings on both sides of it." + +"And a weight on the top," said Brownie. + +"Oh, that goes without saying," said Shorty. + +"The blamed thing can't sink, can it?" Billy asked. + +"I don't know how heavy his nine ideas are," said Townsend. "They +would be the only thing that could sink it." + +"We'll reach him easy as pie----" + +"Please don't say that word," Townsend pled. + +"I think I see the lantern now," said Billy. + +"I was afraid he might have eaten that----" + +"I could eat it myself," said Roly Poly. + +"It's probably all you get," said Townsend. + +Pee-wee's surprising coup had not indeed caused any real anxiety in any +quarter. It is true that his mother, answering Townsend's thoughtful +'phone call from the Skybrow home, had expressed concern at his being +cast up with no companion but a banquet, but no one, not even his +parents, feared for his safety. + +The river was too tame and narrow, and the island altogether too secure +upon its vast scow to introduce the smallest element of peril into his +exploit. The tide would have to come up and upon its expanding bosom +the gorged hero would return to his native land. Roy and his friends, +knowing that Pee-wee's new victims were to rejoin him, went to their +several homes to rifle kitchens and turn pantries inside out. + +"Yes, that's his light, all right," said Billy. + +"That you, Discoverer?" Townsend called, as the light bobbed gayly +nearer and nearer. It was coming up the channel. + +"Sure," called Pee-wee. "I've got something new! I've got a big +surprise for you!" + +"Another?" said Townsend. + +"It's alive," Pee-wee shouted. "Is the party all over?" + +"Oh, absolutely," Townsend called; "you closed it up. Have you got two +or three salted almonds over there?" + +"Sure," Pee-wee shouted reassuringly, "six or seven." + +It was funny with what an air of humorous resignation Townsend Ripley +stepped into the skiff and the mock air of ebbing vitality which the +others showed was as good as a circus. + +"You don't suppose it's some new kind of hunter's stew, do you?" said +Townsend resignedly as he languidly took a pair of oars. + +"You needn't think I'm coming ashore," called Pee-wee, "because I'm +not. Now we've got a full patrol and we're going to live here. +There's going to be a boat race next Saturday and I've got two new +ideas besides the ones I told you about and I bet I had more fun than +you did dancing and somebody's got to go ashore to-morrow and see this +feller's mother and father and tell them he's joined the scouts, +because he can't go home on account of not having four cigarettes." + +Then the boys in the approaching boat could hear Pee-wee saying in a +lowered voice to Keekie Joe, "Don't you be scared of them because they +won't hurt you." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SHORT AND TO THE POINT + +Thus began the famous Alligator Patrol, so named because its home was +on the water as well as on the land, and also on the mud. Under its +flaunting traffic sign many adventures occurred that summer, but the +present narrative must be confined to the surprising events which +befell during Easter vacation. Later, in the good old summer time, we +shall visit the island again if we can find it. + +It was a fortunate thing for Keekie Joe that Townsend Ripley was chosen +leader of the new patrol. And it was a fortunate thing for everybody +that Pee-wee was defeated by a large majority in the election of a camp +cook. It is true that every voice was raised for Pee-wee in this +stirring campaign when suddenly Townsend turned the traffic sign so it +said STOP and that was the end of Pee-wee's chances. "Safety first," +said Townsend. + +Keekie Joe liked Townsend and felt at home with him. He admired and +trusted him because in the beginning Townsend made a point of calling +the fellows blokes and guys and talking about "dem t'ings." + +"If yez want a guy ter lay keekie, I'll do it fer yez," Keekie Joe said. + +"If we see any cops coming," said Townsend, "we'll turn the traffic +sign on them and make them stop." + +On Sunday morning, Townsend rowed ashore with Keekie Joe and invaded +the tenement in Barrel Alley. He took a brand new package of +cigarettes to Mr. Keekie Joe, Senior, and Keekie Joe, Junior, was +struck dumb with awe at the familiar and persuasive way in which +Townsend talked to his parent. The result of the interview was that +Keekie Joe returned to the island on a week's furlough from his squalid +home. The Barrel Alley gang, which was mobilized in front of Billy +Gilson's tire repair shop, made catcalls at the stranger as the pair +passed along and when they were some yards distant, several of them +summoned Keekie Joe to their loitering conference. + +"Hey, Keekie, come 'ere, I want ter tell yer sup'm," one called. + +Keekie Joe hesitated and turned. It was a crucial moment in the +history of the new patrol. + +"Come on back, Keekie," another shouted. + +Then it was that Slats Corbett, imperial head of the gang, did a good +turn for the scouting movement. He picked up a half dry sponge which +was lying in an auto wash pail and hurled it at Townsend Ripley. +Without even turning, Townsend raised his hand, caught it, dipped it in +the mud at his feet, and walking briskly back, smeared the face and +head of the big ungainly bully, leaving him furious and dripping. +Keekie Joe trembled at this rash exploit of his new friend and waited +in fearful suspense for the sequel. It was not long in coming. With a +roar of obscene invectives, Slats Corbett rushed upon the smiling, +slim, quiet stranger, and then in the space of two seconds, there was +Slats Corbett lying flat in the mud. In a kind of trance Keekie Joe +heard a brisk, pleasant voice. + +"Any of the rest of you want any? All right, come along, Joe." + +And that really was the ceremony that made Keekie Joe a scout. It is +true that they had a kind of formal initiation under the apple tree on +Merry-go-round Island and gave him a badge and had him take the oath +and so on and so on. And had him hold up his hand--you know how. But +it was not when his hand went up that he became a scout. It was when +Slats Corbett went down. That was the clincher. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SETTLED AT LAST + +And now the wandering career of Merry-go-round Island seemed at last to +have ended and it roamed no more over the face of the waters. On the +contrary, it settled down to a life of respectable retirement on +Waring's reef. + +Waring's reef was dry land at low tide, and even at high tide was close +enough to the surface to support the trusty foundation of the fugitive +isle. It stood exactly in the middle of the river at a spot where the +stream was straight and comparatively wide, and commanded a fine view +of the boat-house a mile or so downstream. There was more or less life +down there during the ensuing week for the high school pupils made the +place their own in the brief Easter vacation. + +It was on Wednesday that a couple of high school boys chugged up in a +little launch and were about to land when Pee-wee forbade them by +turning the traffic sign upon them just as they were about to set foot +on the island. The island had been on its good behavior now for four +days and had not so much as turned an inch. It seemed to have found a +satisfactory home at last. + +"What do you call this thing, anyway?" one of the visitors asked. + +"It's a desert island," said Pee-wee. "Can't you see what it is? +Don't you know a desert island when you see one? Gee whiz, you're in +high school, you ought to know a desert island when you see one. I +know you," he added, addressing one of the visitors; "you're on the +basket-ball team, your name is Chase, your first name is Wingate and +you're all the time going around with Grove Bronson's sister and he's +in the troop that I'm not in any more." + +In the face of these unquestionable facts Wingate Chase was helpless; +he could not do otherwise than admit his identity. + +"We're going to have some events on Saturday," he said. "This fellow +with me is from the Edgemere High School and----" + +"He's going to get beaten," shouted Pee-wee; "because Bridgeboro High +School can lick all the high schools around here, in athletics and +debates and everything." + +"That's all right, Kiddo," said the fellow from Edgemere High School. + +"You bet it's all right," said Pee-wee. + +"We were thinking we'd like to use your island," said Wingate Chase. + +"You don't want to take it to Edgemere, do you?" Townsend Ripley asked. +"We don't allow it to be taken from the premises. You may use it here +if you care to." + +"Find out what they want to use it for," shouted Pee-wee. + +"What do you want to use it for?" Townsend asked. + +"Tell them they'll have to pay for any damage they do to it," Pee-wee +said. + +"We just want to put a flag on it," Wingate Chase said. + +"You mean you want to take possession of it?" Pee-wee demanded. "You +mean you want to discover it? _I'm_ the discoverer of this desert +island." + +The fellow from Edgemere seemed rather amused at Pee-wee. "All we want +to do," he said, "is to use it to beat the Bridgeboro High School in +the rowing match. We just want to row around it. The two crews will +start from the boat-house and race upstream and around this island and +back. Now that won't hurt the island any, will it? In a few minutes +it will be all over except the shouting." + +"Shall we let them do it?" Pee-wee whispered to Townsend. + +"Of course we'll want one of our referees to stay on the island during +the races," said Wingate, "but he won't hurt anything. There'll be +several races, a rowing race, a canoe race, a swimming race and so on; +we haven't made up the program yet." + +"Are you going to have any refreshments?" Pee-wee demanded. + +"We don't allow refreshments on the island," said Townsend. + +"Shall we let them do it?" Pee-wee asked. + +"Positively," said Townsend; "I don't see how we can stop them, as long +as they keep outside of the three mile limit. The referee won't do any +harm. All he does is to see that the racing is fair as they round the +limit." + +"We're the limit, hey?" vociferated Pee-wee. + +"You said it," laughed the fellow from Edgemere. + +"All right," said Pee-wee, "you can do it." + +It was not until the Alligator Patrol sat around their camp-fire that +night that the possibilities of this participation in the athletic +events began to unfold in the seething mind of our hero. He had stood +somewhat upon his dignity with the committee because he did not want to +hold the island too cheap in their eyes. + +Moreover, though he was for Bridgeboro, once, last and always, his +attitude was uniformly combative toward older boys, high school boys in +particular, and toward high schools generally. He would be chary of +the privileges he granted to these "big fellers" whom he knew so well +how to "handle." But in the light of the camp-fire he saw visions of +huge war profits in these impending combats. While Edgemere and +Bridgeboro fought he would become a war millionaire. The little +island, retired from its wild career at last and with a secure and +fixed abode would still play an important part in world affairs. + +"I tell you what we'll do," said Pee-wee; "we'll sell seats for people +to see the races from the island. We'll build a couple of benches out +of this old refreshment board--we'll drive stakes in the ground--and +one of us will go to town--I mean the mainland--with a big sign telling +people they can buy seats for ten cents--because in the boat races when +Sir Thomas Lipton's yacht got beaten lots of people paid to go out on +excursion steamers and this island is better than an excursion steamer, +because they'll go right around the edge of it--right around the coast +and everybody'll get a dandy view." + +Thus it was that on Thursday and Friday there; appeared in the +_Bridgeboro Evening Record_ an advertisement which read: + + +See the High School events on the river from Alligator Island, seats +ten cents. Fine view of the races. Free transportation both ways. +Alligator Island belongs to the boy scouts and is in the middle of the +river, commanding a fine view because the boats go around it. Boat +goes back and forth from Gilroy's field. Absolutely safe. Take the +beautiful ride to Alligator Island and see the races for only ten +cents. Children in arms if not accompanied by parents have to pay five +cents. + + +It will be observed from the advertisement that Merry-go-round Island, +alias the Isle of Desserts, was now masquerading under a new name, +which had been given it in the hope of obliterating all memories of its +wandering past. + +Being now a respectable stay-at-home island, stuck fast with each part +of its coast true to its proper compass point, what more natural than +that its roving youth should be treated as a closed book by its owners? +There it sat in the middle of the glinting river, its sturdy +understructure reposing upon Waring's reef. + +Even at low ride the shallow water rippled about it. At high tide the +coy reef withdrew entirely within the briny deep, so that the +unromantic and unsightly scow was not visible and the island stood in +all its wild and floral beauty, a vision of picturesque delight for +three or four hours each day at full tide. From the mainland (some +thirty feet distant according to a piece of string) the yellow +dandelions could be seen dotting its geometric coast and occasionally +some drowsy turtle, with neck extended, was visible, sleeping in the +sun. + +The only historic memento of Minerva Skybrow's lawn party to be found +upon the island now was the refreshment board, quite empty. It is true +that an explorer, delving among the rocks and crevices, might have +found some fugitive stuffed olive or perchance a lost nut or raisin +here and there. But the feast of Dessert Isle was now a part of +history. Minerva's little tent had been delivered to her (for Pee-wee +could not eat that) and only the makeshift table which had supported +the absconding repast remained. + +This was now made into two long benches, supported by sticks driven +into the ground. It was intended that the overflow from this +grandstand should sit on the grass. These preparations completed, our +hero, accompanied by Brownie and Billy, went ashore on Friday afternoon +and edified the people on Main Street with an imposing display. + +[Illustration: Pee-wee becomes a sandwich man.] + +They paraded up and down the sidewalk wearing large placards, the most +striking of which was the one that almost completely obscured the +diminutive form of our hero. It was appropriately in the form of a +sandwich of which he himself was the center, his head and legs +protruding from it like the head and legs of a turtle. Its glaring +announcement seemed to suggest the literary style of Townsend Ripley. + + +CUT RATE CRUISES TO ALLIGATOR ISLE + +SEE THE WILD SCOUTS AND THE BOAT RACES + +ENJOY A SEA VOYAGE IN THE PALATIAL ROWBOAT ALLIGATOR + +ROUND AND SQUARE TRIP TEN CENTS. + +SAILINGS FROM GILROY'S FIELD. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE + +On Friday night it rained and the Alligators were driven into their +tent. It rained all night and was still raining when the momentous +Saturday dawned. They were compelled to eat breakfast in their tent, +the top of which was plastered with apple blossoms so that the +khaki-colored fabric looked not unlike a brown wall paper with a floral +design. + +The tide being out, the rain pattered down on the surrounding mud and +shallow places, and the members of the patrol sat in the open doorway +of their cozy little shelter wistfully gazing at the downpour, and +watching the little holes that the raindrops made in the mud. + +Each drop, like a bullet, drove a little hole in the oozy bottom, which +slowly closed up again. Schools of darting killies hurried this way +and that frantically seeking an avenue into the deeper places where +puddles would afford them a haven during the lowest ebb. Rain, rain, +rain. + +On the porch of the boat-house a mile or so down-stream was gathered a +group of young fellows, also watching wistfully. Through the +intervening space of rain they seemed like pictures of spectres, misty +and unsubstantial. + +"The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide," said Townsend cheerily. "I +think when it comes in it's going to stop raining, that's what I think. +It's going to clear up and be warm this afternoon, you see. Rain +before seven, clear before eleven. What do you say we catch some of +those killies and fry them?" + +"That's what you call an inspiration," said Roly Poly. + +They caught some killies with a bent pin and fried them and they were +not half bad. + +Along about eleven o'clock the tide began running up, the killies which +had not been lured to their undoing, disappeared in the swelling water, +and soon the ripples danced up over the mud, submerging it entirely. +The river began to be attractive again. And then the sun came out. + +"This is going to be some peach of a tide for races," said Townsend; +"it will be good and full after such an all night rain." + +At two o'clock, when the river was about half full, a launch came +chugging up from the boat club bringing a flag and the young fellow who +was to be posted at the turning point. He planted the flag on its tall +standard near the shore and settled down to mind his own business. +Pee-wee received him as if he were a foreign ambassador. + +Our hero was now so intent upon his commercial enterprise that he +forgot all about the races except in their commercial aspect. The +island was but the turning point for the contestants and seemed +detached from the excitement and preparations which prevailed down at +the club house. + +Soon, along the shore, there began to be visible little groups of boys +sprawling on the grass, waiting. The boat-house porch and the adjacent +float were filled with high school pupils. They made a great racket, +and from all the noise and bustle thereabouts the little island seemed +removed, as if a part of the events and yet not a part. + +Presently a little group of girls appeared at the edge of Gilroy's +Field, which was the nearest point on the mainland to Alligator Island. +They seemed to be looking about in a bewildered, inquiring sort of way. +Evidently the advertising was bringing results. It seemed as if they +might have banded together (as girls will) for the cut rate cruise +which they had seen advertised. At all events they seemed to be +strangers. Whoever they were, it spoke well for their adventurous +spirit that they should wish to book passage to an unknown shore, when +there were no others in sight who seemed the least interested in the +voyage. + +"Is that Alligator Island?" one of them called. + +"It certainly is," Townsend answered. "I'll come over and get you; the +boat is leaving right away." + +"Have your fares ready," Pee-wee called in a voice of thunder. + +As Townsend approached the mainland there was much whispering and +giggling among the girls. "We came from Edgemere," said one of them; +"we're in the Edgemere High School and we came over on the trolley to +see the Bridgeboro High School beaten. We saw a small boy in the +street with a sign----" + +"That was me," shouted Pee-wee; "I saw you on Main Street. Have your +fares ready and he'll bring you over. All aboard! All aboard to +Alligator Island with its tropic vegetarians and boat races!" And, in +his excitement and enthusiasm he added, "Step this way! Step right +this way!" + +"Did you ever hear of such a thing," laughed one girl. + +"He means after you step out of the boat," said Townsend. + +You would have thought that Pee-wee was selling desert islands out of a +basket. He stood on the extreme edge nearest to the field, shouting, +"Here you are, this way for your desert isle! See the tropic +variations----" + +"He means vegetation," said Townsend. + +"He means fresh vegetables," called Brownie. + +"Here you are for your fresh vegetables," Pee-wee shouted, hardly +knowing what he said at this actual prospect of business which he saw +before his very eyes. "The races encircle this island. Here you are +for your best seats! Come early and avoid the rush!" + +"That's the wild man of the island," Townsend said; "he's perfectly +harmless: step right in the boat." + +They were rowed over and escorted to seats, where they did not have to +wait long, for scarcely were they settled on one long bench when a +chorus of shouts arose down at the boat-house, as out into the river +shot two canoes. + +"Oh, they're coming! They're _coming_!" the girls carolled in great +excitement and anticipation. + +"Oh, look! Do _look_!" one of them said, clutching the shoulder of her +neighbor. "He's in the red canoe! It's Willie Dawdle, and he's ahead! +_Hurrah for Edgemere_! Oh, he's _coming_, he's _coming_! I knew we'd +_annihilate_ them, I just _knew_ it! Oh, it's simply _glorious_!" + +"Hurrah for Bridgeboro!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"Hurrah for Edgemere!" shouted the girls. + +The two canoes, with Edgemere a little ahead as well as they could see, +came gliding up the river, two streaks, red and green, in the +sunshine . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE RACE + +The canoe race, which was the first of the events, was also the +best--as well as the last. Never was there wilder excitement on +Pee-wee's island than when the green and red canoes glided northward, +approaching the turning point. + +The red canoe skilfully paddled by the Edgemere champion, Willie +Dawdle, was some ahead and gaining rapidly and the girls from Edgemere +High School could not contain themselves for joy. Among the Alligator +Patrol, too, the excitement ran high and shout upon shout for +Bridgeboro arose as Wingate Chase spurted to get the inner turn about +the island. He gained fast now and as the distance between the two +canoes shortened the air was rent with deafening yells for Bridgeboro. + +The two contestants were abreast when suddenly amid the uproar could be +heard a voice, a voice singularly matter-of-fact and sensible, uttering +words which if not of excitement seemed at least pertinent to the +occasion, "How are they going to go around that blamed thing when it's +sailing up the river?" + +Alas, it was too true. The most unusual development which could +possibly complicate an athletic event had occurred; the turning point +had deserted the race and was sailing majestically up the river. It +had already sailed a hundred feet or so before the watchers on the +mainland discovered the fact. + +As for the striving contestants they were too intent upon the race to +perceive the strange turn of affairs until the wild mirth upon the +"mainland" apprised them of it. They must have looked funny enough +from the shore frantically pursuing the fugitive turning post, and the +unhallowed joy of the spectators was only increased by Pee-wee's heroic +efforts in the emergency as with a long pole he strove to stay the +progress of the recreant island. Failing in these herculean efforts, +he still tried to save the day by shouting to the racers. + +"_Keep up_! _Keep up_!" he yelled. "You can go around it. You're +going faster than the island is. _Don't give up_! It makes it all the +more exciting. It's like--like--like--kind of--like running up an +escalator! Don't stop! Keep it up, it's an escalator race!" + +It certainly made it "all the more exciting." As for the inhabitants +of the island, they were carried away in more than one sense. Townsend +lay flat upon the ground in a spasm of silent laughter. Several others +of the new Alligator Patrol sat on the edge of the stern and rock-bound +coast, their legs dangling in the water, and seemed in danger of +falling in, so gymnastic was their merriment. As for the occupants or +the grandstand, they probably thought (if they were able to think at +all) that ten cents was a small price to pay for such an exciting race. + +Only one occupant of the fleeing island was up and about and fully +conscious. With his companions lying flat or doubled up and screaming +so that the woods along shore echoed with their insane mirth, our hero +stood amid the chaos, shouting to the racers at the top of his voice. +They were almost abreast of him now, and laughing themselves, for the +race had become a farce. + +"Come on! Keep it up!" he shouted. "You can go around it while it's +sailing just as good as if it were standing still! The race kind of +stretches out like an elastic--it's an extensible race. Keep it up! +Keep it up!" + +"Don't," moaned Townsend from his place on the ground. "This is too +much----" + +"It isn't enough!" Pee-wee shouted. "The race is better because it's +longer--it stretches out--it's an extensible race--I invented it----" + +"What on earth is the cause of it?" laughed one of the girls. + +"Extra--extra--ex--ex--ex--extra high tide caused by the r--r--rain," +shrieked Townsend, hardly able to get the words out. "This is the +cli--cli--climax of Eas--Eas--Easter vac--c--c--c--c--_cation_!" + +Amid screams and catcalls from the shore an official launch came +chugging up the course. By that time the two canoeists had given +themselves up to laughter and sat shaking as their canoes drifted. +Only the island continued merrily upon the flood tide. + +"Called off?" somebody called from the shore. + +"Certainly it's called off," said the official in the launch. "This +was supposed to be a race, not a game of tag." + +"_Come on_! _Come on_!" screamed Pee-wee from the departing isle. +"Hurrah for Bridgeboro High! Come on, you can go around us! If a man +can--listen, I've got a dandy argument--if a man can shoot a bird on +the wing a race like that is just as good--you can encircle an island +on the wing too! _Come on_! _Come on_! It's a new kind of a race! A +lot of girls paid ten cents to see it! Come on, go around us!" + +"Oh, _gracious, goodness_, we've had our money's worth," moaned one of +the girls; "we're not complaining." + +"It's like a movie play," screamed another. + +"It's a very move--m--moving drama," stammered Townsend. + +"And all for ten cents," said one of the girls. + +"They're not coming!" Pee-wee shouted. "We won the race! We weren't +in it but we won it anyway. That feller in the launch is crazy! It +was a chase and a race all in one--it was a chase race--I invented it +and he went and spoiled it all." + +Time and tide wait for no man. Up the swelling river, out of the voice +range of the hooting throng, farther and still farther from the madding +crowd, sailed Turning Post Island, alias Merry-go-round Island, alias +Isle of Desserts, alias Alligator Isle, alias The Earthly Paradise. + +Other motor-boats, manned by astonished officials and bearing +committees, chugged up to where the island had been and a flotilla of +rowboats and canoes hovered thereabouts while their occupants inspected +curiously the place where the official turning point with its crowded +grandstand had been. But the official turning point had vanished, +though the voice of our hero could still be beard up beyond Collison's +bend. + +And still Townsend Ripley lay prone and laughed and laughed and laughed. + +"Your money will be refunded, of course," he managed to say to the +several occupants of the grandstand. "You see we had a heavy rain all +night and----" + +"Oh, don't _speak_ of returning our money," one of the girls laughed. +"We really ought to pay you _more_." + +"We can't take any more," Pee-wee shouted. "You--you get the ride for +nothing--it's thrown in--because I said free transportation and a scout +has to keep his word. Even if we float miles and miles we can't take +another cent----" + +"We may be rovers but we're not profiteers," moaned Townsend. + +"If--if we don't drift to shore by supper time," said Pee-wee, "you get +your dinner too just like when an ocean steamer is delayed in a fog; +they give you your dinner, so don't you worry because you're with +scouts and when it gets to be six o'clock I'll make a hunter's stew." + +At this there was a sudden noise as of horror and anguish and before +our voyagers realized what was happening, Townsend Ripley had rolled +off the island into the water. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +ABSENCE MAKES THE ISLAND QUIET + +"It's all right," Townsend sputtered as he crawled ashore. "I was just +thinking of something sad; I feel better now. It was one of the finest +races that I never saw." + +"It would have been a good race," said Pee-wee with a frown indicative +of withering scorn, "only they had to go and break it up. _Just +because we moved_--do you call that an argument? _We_ ought to get the +silver cup, that's what _I_ think. They could have--have--headed us +off, couldn't they? The rule said they had to go around this flag, it +didn't say anything about where the flag would be. That's a +teckinality. Anyway, I'm glad we're rid of them." + +"We seem to be making port," said Townsend. "I don't know just where +we are. I think if we were to cut up through these woods--You girls +want to get to the Edgemere trolley, I suppose?" + +"That's the idea," said one of them. + +"Well, then, let's see," Townsend ruminated. + +"I'll take you to the trolley," Pee-wee shouted, as the island gave +evidence of an intention to bunk into the east bank of the river. +"Because I know how to find my way in the woods--scouts have to know +all those things--I can tell by moss and hop-toads and things, which is +east and west. I'll take you to the trolley. If we should get lost in +the woods I know how to cook bark so you can eat it, only scouts don't +get lost. So do you want me to take you to the trolley?" + +Brownie was about to whisper his disapproval of this to Townsend but +Townsend cut him short. "Let him do it," he said; "if he stays here +he'll make a hunter's stew. We can put one over on him by cooking +supper while he's gone. Safety first. If he goes ashore they may get +lost, if he stays here we're _all_ lost." + +"True," said Billy. + +"Absolutely correct," said Brownie. + +"That's what you call an argument," said Roly Poly. + +"It's a teckinality," said Nuts. + +"Discoverer," said Townsend, "the patrol thinks that you are the proper +one to escort our guests to the Edgemere trolley." + +"Isn't that perfectly _lovely_!" said one of the girls. + +"If the woods should wander away while you're in them," said Townsend, +"send up a smoke signal and we'll come and rescue you. Don't hurry +back, Discoverer; remember, these girls come first of all. We'll tie +the island to a tree and have a game of mumbly peg. You'll find us +here when you get back." + +"Well," said Townsend, after he had securely fastened the island to +shore by a piece of rope, "let's make hay while the sun shines and get +supper. In an hour or so it may be too late. After all our adventures +I feel that another hunter's stew----" + +"If the island saw another hunter's stew it would run away," said +Brownie. + +"We've had quite a week of it, hey?" said Billy. + +"Yes, I don't think I've ever been around so much in a week before," +said Townsend; "I feel like a pinwheel." + +"Or a top," said Brownie. + +"Something like that," said Townsend. "Well, Joe, what do you think +of us?" he added, sprawling on the ground as was his wont. The others +began preparations for supper. + +"How about some spaghetti?" Roly Poly asked. "Could you eat some +spaghetti?" + +"I might if I were coaxed," said Townsend. "How about you, Joe?" + +Townsend had made it his religious duty all through that week to +consult Keekie Joe about every meal, and indeed about everything that +was to be done. He jealously saw to it that Joe had a voice in +everything. Not that any of them denied Joe these rights, but Joe felt +out of place among these strange boys and the boys sometimes forgot +about him. + +It was exactly like Pee-wee to drag poor Joe head over heels into +scouting, and then forget all about him. It was exactly like Townsend +Ripley to take the poor little hoodlum quietly in hand and be his +friend and sponsor. He treated him always as an equal and as a +comrade. What the others forgot, he remembered. + +He agreed with Joe, or disagreed with him, as pals will agree and +disagree. He always took him seriously. He allowed Joe to teach him +to play craps and then said he didn't see much fun in it, and such was +his magnetic power over poor Joe that Joe said he didn't see any fun in +it either. And there was an end of it. + +So it was with all the wretched hoodlum games and tricks that poor Joe +had known; one by one they failed in the test, and he became ashamed of +them. It is no wonder that Keekie Joe worshipped this keen, easy-going +patrol leader, who seemed to be no leader at all. Even Pee-wee was +sacrificed in the good cause and Townsend made fun of Pee-wee for +Keekie Joe's amusement. + +As they sprawled about the fire that Saturday night, the last night but +one of their outlandish vacation, and ate spaghetti from tin platters, +the trend of the talk showed somewhat the effects of the week's outing +upon the poor little derelict of Barrel Alley. + +"Seems good sitting here and not eating hunter's stew, doesn't it?" +said Townsend in his funny way. "I never realized how much I enjoyed +not eating hunter's stew. I shall always love hunter's stew for the +pleasure it has given me when I didn't eat it. I suppose the +Discoverer ought to be getting back pretty soon." + +"Unless those girls took him to Edgemere," said Brownie. + +"I don't think they'd do that, they spoke well of Edgemere," said +Townsend. + +"There's no telling where he'll drift to," said Nuts. + +"Please don't talk about drifting," said Townsend. "The way I feel +about drifting I don't ever want to look at a snow-drift. I can't even +listen to the drift of a person's conversation. How about _you_, Joe?" + +"De Discov'r's all right," said Joe, loyally. + +"I wouldn't say he's all right," said Townsend; "but when he's wrong +he's at his best. That's what _I_ think, Joe." + +"He's always at his best," said Brownie. + +"Except when he's at his worst," said Townsend, "and then he's best of +all. That's logic, as he would say. I wonder what he'll bring back +with him. Let's each guess; I guess a carpet sweeper. How about +_you_, Joe?" + +Joe only smiled, but did not venture a guess. + +"I guess an alarm clock and a headlight from an automobile," said +Brownie. + +"I guess part of a floor lamp--the shade part," said Billy. + +"I guess--I guess," said Nuts; "let's see--I guess some chicken wire, +part of a typewriter machine and a megaphone." + +"You're all wrong and I'm right as you usually are," said Townsend; "he +will bring back----" + +"Let's go in swimming," said Brownie. + +"Good idea," said Townsend. "Joe, I'm going to teach you to swim." + +Now it was right then that Keekie Joe said something which surprised +them all. And it was just that little remark which showed the effects +of the week's outing upon his simple mind. He had certainly not +received any particular training or instruction; he had been in some +measure a participant but mostly a bashful and amused witness of his +companions' adventures and a silent listener to their talk. + +He had heard them all speak of their parents and of how this or that +plan might be approved or disapproved at home. He had heard them +discuss whether their parents would probably expect them home on Sunday +night or early Monday morning. Perhaps it was not a sense of dutiful +obedience, but rather a certain budding pride in the bosom of Keekie +Joe, which caused him to make the remark which surprised them. + +He would let them know that he too had a parent, though no one had +thought to speak of his parents. If he could not have clothes like +them at least he could have obligations like them. Perhaps the true +spirit of obedience was not in him. But the point is that the poor +little wretch had discovered a certain pride within himself and wished +to boast of a restraint which a week previously he would have ignored. +He too had someone who was interested in his goings and comings. So he +said, + +"Me mudder sez I dasn' go swimmin' widout she leaves me." + +It was strange how Keekie Joe, who had disregarded his poor mother's +wishes on so many occasions, should present her now to his new friends. +He did not have any of the things which they had, bicycles, tents, +cooking sets, radio sets; but one thing he had as well as they, a +mother. And so he used her as they used theirs. He played her as his +only card. + +"Me mudder sez I dasn' go swimmin' widout she leaves me." + +"Good for you, Joe," said Townsend, "I'll see your mother next week and +fix it. _And you do just what she told you to do till then_. You've +got the right idea, Joe." And he hit Joe a good rap on the shoulder in +his friendly way . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +A PROMISE + +When he had put the racing fans on the Edgemere trolley, Pee-wee, like +Jack ashore, betook himself into Bridgeboro to have his fling before +returning to the ship. The habit of sailors home from long voyages is +well known, and we need not be surprised to find him bending his steps +toward Bennett's Fresh Confectionery, where he climbed onto one of the +stools before the soda fountain. + +He had just consumed a raspberry ice cream soda and was considering the +question of whether he should have another when he noticed somebody +which reminded him of the doom which awaited him on Monday morning. +This was Miss Carlton who taught in the Bridgeboro Public School. She +had just consummated the purchase of a box of candy and such were the +cordial relations between herself and Pee-wee (out of school) that she +proffered him the box for a choice of its contents. + +"I don't know whether to take a chocolate one or a white one," Pee-wee +said. + +"Why not take both?" she suggested. + +"I guess maybe that would be safest, hey?" he said. + +"And what have you been doing all week?" Miss Carlton asked. + +"I've been at sea," Pee-wee said; "I've been floating around on a +desert island that's on a scow and this is the first day I came ashore. +I started a new patrol and Keekie Joe is in it. He's in your class, +isn't he?" + +"He is--sometimes," said Miss Carlton ruefully. + +"He goes on the hook a lot, doesn't he?" said Pee-wee. + +"Oh, lots and lots," said Miss Carlton; dubiously. + +"But anyway, don't you care," said Pee-wee, "because now he's a scout +and he'll go to school every day, because a scout's honor has to be +trusted. Do you know what was in that white one? Kind of lemon like." + +"Won't you have another?" + +"Brown and white are our patrol colors," said Pee-wee. "We just +started our new patrol." + +"Take a brown one and a white one," said Miss Carlton. + +"I bet you don't know the name of our new patrol. It's the Alligators." + +"I think that's a good name for Joe McKinny," said Miss Carlton; "he's +so slow coming to school." + +"I can prove you're wrong about him," said Pee-wee, "because alligators +don't go to school and----" + +"Won't you have another, Walter?" + +"One for good measure, hey?" said Pee-wee. "Anyway, how much do you +want to bet he won't go to school now? Because he will, because scouts +have to do what they're supposed to do and I bet you he'll----" + +"Another, Walter?" + +"I'll take a pink one this time. I bet you he'll go to school and be +all right on account of starting to be a scout. I got some money for +grandstand seats on our island to see the boat races and I'll treat you +to a soda." + +"Thank you," laughed Miss Carlton, "but I think not now." + +Miss Carlton knew Pee-wee well enough (for he had been in her class) +not to inquire particularly about his multifarious adventures. She +knew that they were too numerous and complicated for casual recital. +Nor had she any faith in the influence of scouting on Keekie Joe. She +did not believe that any power in the world could tempt Keekie Joe to +school on a Monday, because Keekie Joe's partiality to liberal week +ends was well known to her. + +"Well, I only hope it will do him some good,"; said Miss Carlton +dubiously. + +"You mean scouting? _Sure_ it will. You just wait and see. So long, +maybe I'll see you on Monday." + +"Won't you have one more?" the tempter urged. + +Pee-wee hesitated. "I'll take a cocoanut one," he said, "because +they're small. So long, I'll see you later." + +Thus it was that when Pee-wee went back to the island, he did take +something with him which was not named in the guessing of his friends. +It was the heavy responsibility which he bore to make scouting good in +the eyes of Miss Carlton. His promise, made at the altar of Bennett's +candy counter and solemnized by a dozen assorted dainties, must be +fulfilled. + +He found his friends sprawling around their dying campfire on the +island. Townsend was lying on his back as usual, his hands clasped +behind his head, his eyes fixed on the quiet stars. Crowds thronged +the main street of Bridgeboro on that Saturday night but the island lay +peacefully against the shore of the wood skirting the river and the +town might have been a hundred miles on for all the campers could tell. + +"Well, we've had quite a week," said Townsend; "and now that we're +started I hope we'll stick together and make a real, honest-to-goodness +patrol. Joe is with us to the last ditch--out for the second rate +badge----" + +"You mean the second _class_ badge," Pee-wee thundered. + +"Brownie is going to be steward or whatever you----" + +"Don't talk about stew," said Billy. + +"Pardon me, my fault," said Townsend, "only I'd like to rise to remark +while I'm lying here that I think we're going to make a pretty nifty +patrol. Joe wouldn't go in swimming on account of his mother; couldn't +force him to it, so there you are." + +"And he's going to school Monday," said Pee-wee; "because I met his +teacher in the--the--eh--the store." + +"Candy store?" + +"How did you know?" Pee-wee gasped. + +"Just an inspiration," said Townsend. + +"And I told her he's going to school every single day after this," said +Pee-wee. "So are you?" he demanded of Keekie Joe. + +"Posilutely he is, if not more so," said Townsend. "Every day except +Saturday. He's even willing to eat hunter's stew and a fellow that +will do that doesn't mind school; he can stand anything. How about +that, Joe?" + +"I gotta do what you sez," said Joe. + +"There you are," said Townsend. "What more do you want? We're _all_ +going to school because the school won't come to us. So now let's tell +riddles till we get tired of hearing each other talk and then we'll +turn in. And we'll camp here all day to-morrow and to-morrow night, +and the next day-school." + +"I know a riddle," shouted Pee-wee. "Why is a stu----" + +"Stop!" shouted Townsend. + +"I was going to ask a riddle about a stu----" + +A chorus of protest drowned his voice. + +"A stu--" he roared, "debaker. It's a riddle about a Studebaker car!" + +"Let's tell Ford stories!" shouted Brownie. + +"I know a lot of them!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"Why is this island like a Ford car?" Townsend asked. + +"Why?" + +"What's the answer?" + +"Because there are a lot of nuts on it," said Townsend. "Why is Scout +Harris like a Ford? Because he's small but makes a lot of noise. +Horrible! Here's a better one. Why is----" + +"I know one! I know one!" shouted Pee-wee. + +"Let's see if we can catch some eels," said Townsend. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +VENGEANCE + +On Sunday night they turned in for their last sleep on the island. +That the island had proved a quitter on two momentous occasions had not +prejudiced them against it. With all its faults they loved it still. +The only thing they had against it was that it would not remain still. + +Though it was small and of an unromantic squareness, it seemed the +center of a vast empire during the week which was now ending and they +were sorry at the thought of leaving it. But at least the Alligator +Patrol was started and, like the island itself, nothing could stop it. + +The night was chilly so they slept in the tent. So profound was their +sleep that they did not hear the dipping oars of an approaching boat +which came down the river after midnight. This boat was dilapidated +and leaky but it was a vision of beauty compared to its occupants. +These were none other than Slats Corbett, imperial head of Barrel +Alley, and his official staff, consisting of Skinny Mattenburg and +Spider McCurren. Such nocturnal excursions were not uncommon with them. + +Nor were they surprised to see the new habitat of their official +sentinel bobbing against the wooded shore. Indeed, some tidings of +Joe's adventurous career (since he had run away to sea) had penetrated +to Barrel Alley and the only thing which had prevented the alleyites +from making an assault upon the island was the presence there of +Townsend Ripley. Him they had come to regard with a kind of +superstitious awe because he was so precipitate and decisive. + +The fact that he had allowed no time for preliminary threats and +profanity, rather baffled these hoodlums. He had a quaint way of +cutting out all the customary boasts and menaces preceding an +encounter, and going straight to the heart of the matter. + +Therefore, Slats Corbett did not undertake anything in the way of a +belligerent and retaliatory enterprise now. But he could not pass the +sleeping campers without in some way registering his mortal enmity, so +he did something which was altogether characteristic of him. He rowed +very quietly along shore and untied the rope with which the little +island was moored. Even this unheroic thing he did in fear and +trembling, for the spirit of Townsend Ripley seemed to pervade the +quiet spot. Then the trio proceeded quietly down the river in the +darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +KEEKIE JOE, SCOUT + +The first one to awake in the morning was Keekie Joe. Going to school +on Monday was such an unusual thing with him that he had awakened at +five o'clock, and had not been able to go to sleep again. He had a +strange, nervous feeling as if he might be going to his own wedding. + +The school would look strange on a Monday. Ordinarily after a week's +vacation he would have taken both Monday and Tuesday. But now, strange +to say, he wanted to go to school. He wanted to do what the rest of +them did. Oh, no, he was not a new boy all made over, he was just poor +little Keekie Joe, but he was going to do what the rest of them did +that day . . . + +He now discovered, to his surprise, that the island was in the middle +of the river. It had, in fact, started drifting downstream on the +ebbing tide, and had caught again on Waring's reef, the scene of its +recent exploit. It would stick there for some hours now, at least, for +the tide was running out. + +Keekie Joe looked all about him, then stole cautiously to the tent and +looked within. His friends were sleeping soundly. He withdrew from +the tent and looked about again. The island was about a mile farther +downstream than where it had been moored. + +Looking down the river, Keekie Joe could see the boat-house, and the +gilt ball on top of the flagpole shone dazzling in the early sunlight. +The shores and river seemed fresh and new and clean, bathed in the +growing light of the new day. + +For a minute it seemed to Keekie Joe as if he were a sentinel again, +"layin' keekie" while his friends slept. In the trees along shore the +birds were already chirping, a merry fish (that did not have to go to +school) flopped out of the water and went splashing into the dim +coolness again, from very excess of joy, as it seemed. Perhaps he had +just looked out to see what kind of a day it was going to be. In the +field on the farther shore from town stood several cows, like statues +of contentment. + +Suddenly, Keekie Joe remembered that Pee-wee's palatial cruising boat +_Alligator_ had been drawn, not up on the shore of the island but up on +the shore nearby. Therefore, it was not at the island now. It was a +mile upstream, drawn up under a willow tree at the edge of the woods. +Keekie Joe scanned the shore as far as he could see, but he could not +discover any sign of it. However, he knew where it was. + +He wondered how his friends and he would get to shore to go to school. +He knew they could swim, but they would get their clothes soaked and +could not go to school in such condition. Poor Keekie Joe! It never +occurred to him that some boys have two suits of clothes, and that his +dripping friends might go home and change their clothes before going to +school. + +Keekie Joe knew (or at least thought) that this situation would become +serious when school time neared. He was anxious to know what time it +was. You see, Joe was not a regular full-fledged scout and he could +not tell time by the sun nor by forty-eleven other ingenious means +known to Scout Harris. + +His whole standing capital now was a knowledge of how to swim, and a +dawning consciousness that scouting meant helping people and all that +sort of thing. Thanks to a long course of disobedience to his poor +mother, he had learned to swim like a water rat. He had had somewhat +the advantage of other boys in this respect for he had gone swimming +Mondays when they were in school. + +But he could not determine even approximately what time it was and he +had no watch. He knew that it was early, but he also knew that a mile +was a long distance, especially against the tide. + +Then it occurred to him that he might steal ever so cautiously into the +tent and carefully, _ever so carefully_, pull Townsend's watch out from +under his rough pillow and find out just what time it was. Keekie Joe +had heard some wonderful stories about stalking; from all accounts +rendered by Pee-wee that scout of scouts had hoodwinked every creature +in the animal kingdom, stealing up behind them unawares, and subjecting +every variety of bird to nervous prostration. + +But Keekie Joe decided not to try his skill at this kind of stalking. +For one thing, he had never touched a gold watch before and the thought +of it awed him. And for another thing, if Townsend should awake and +catch him in the act he would think that his protege was trying to +steal his watch . . . + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +THE STORY CLOSES AND SCHOOL OPENS + +Keekie Joe could not trust himself in any such stalking exploit and he +had no standing capital of good reputation with which to verify his +honorable intention in case his bungling hand should slip. He had as +good as promised Townsend that he would not go swimming. But also +these boys all had to go to school. + +I am not saying what I think he should have done; I am simply telling +you what he did. He slid silently into the water with his rags +clinging to him and started swimming up the river against the ebbing +tide. He had a simple, short-sighted, one-track mind. It never +occurred to him that by undressing he might return and don his dry +clothes again, such as they were. He had always gone in swimming with +his rags on and he was his own clothesline; they dried upon his back. + +In the water, Keekie Joe was at his best. He swam to shore like a +little devil. Then, with all his might and main, he ran northward +through the woods keeping close to the shore. This necessitated his +swimming through mud and marshy places. But he hurried on, soaked, +weary, panting. He was a horrible sight when he reached the boat, +dripping with mud, his flesh torn by brambles, his ragged clothing +plastered to his poor little form like wall-paper. + +He was not good at rowing but fortunately all he had to do was to guide +the old punt while the tide carried it down. And so he brought the old +boat to the island and pulled it well up on the shore, and tied it with +a rope. Then panting, dripping, he groped his way to the tent and +looked within. They were all still sleeping peacefully. + +Keekie Joe had no change of clothing either on the island or anywhere +else. Going to school was out of the question now; he was too +saturated and filthy. Why should he remain on the island? He felt +that he could not face Townsend Ripley after breaking the promise he +had made him not to go in swimming. Poor Keekie Joe, his eyes were so +full of mud that he could not see the glory of that broken promise! + +"Yez cin all go ter school," he said. Then, with as much fear and +stealth as if he were running away from the police he crept into the +water again and started for shore. He bent his course as nearly as he +could for the end of Barrel Alley which abutted on the river. Soon he +would be back in the yard of Billy Gilson's tire repair shop and could +rest. His little sojourn in Fairyland had been a wonderful thing . . . + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT*** + + +******* This file should be named 17767.txt or 17767.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/7/6/17767 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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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