initial commit of ebook 27272HEAD main

author: Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> 2025-10-15 02:34:24 -0700
committer: Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> 2025-10-15 02:34:24 -0700
commit: 3808e72024f99d154345cb63b5ab502d253a01c2 (patch)
tree: 4d1d1d1ff459ee49a02b1a73a1df2868a583cccb
237 files changed, 11959 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/27272-h.zip b/27272-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..18b5024
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-h.zip
diff --git a/27272-h/27272-h.htm b/27272-h/27272-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..894949d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-h/27272-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,6201 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+body {
+    margin-left: 10%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+p {
+    margin-top: .75em;
+    text-align: justify;
+    margin-bottom: .75em;
+}
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+.fm1 {font-size: 150%;
+     text-align: center;
+     font-weight: bold;
+}
+
+.fm2 {font-size: 125%;
+      text-align: center;
+      font-weight: bold;
+}
+
+.fm3 {font-size: 100%;
+      text-align: center;
+      font-weight: bold;
+}
+
+.fm4 {font-size: 90%;
+      text-align: center;
+      font-weight: bold;
+}
+
+.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+    /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+    position: absolute;
+    left: 92%;
+    font-size: smaller;
+    text-align: right;
+} /* page numbers */
+
+.blockquot {
+    margin-left: 5%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+.bb       {border-bottom: solid 2px;}
+
+.bl       {border-left: solid 2px;}
+
+.bt       {border-top: solid 2px;}
+
+.br       {border-right: solid 2px;}
+
+.bbox     {border: solid 2px;
+           margin-left: 20%;
+           margin-right: 20%;
+}
+
+.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+.caption  {font-weight: bold;
+           font-size: 78%;
+           text-align: center;
+}
+
+table {margin: auto; text-align: center; width: 26em;}
+td.tdl {text-align: left; padding-right: .5em;}
+td.tdr {text-align: right; padding-left: .5em;}
+td.tdc {text-align: center}
+td.page {font-size: 90%;}
+
+.author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%;}
+
+
+/* Images */
+.figcenter   {
+    margin: auto;
+    text-align: center;
+}
+
+/* Footnotes */
+.footnotes        {border: dashed 1px;}
+
+.footnote         {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+
+.footnote .label  {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;}
+
+.fnanchor {
+    vertical-align: super;
+    font-size: .8em;
+    text-decoration:
+    none;
+}
+
+.transnote { background-color: #ADD8E6; color: inherit; margin: 2em 10% 1em 10%; font-size: 80%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em;}
+.transnote p { text-align: left;}
+a.correction {text-decoration: none; border-bottom: thin dotted red; color: inherit; background-color: inherit;}
+a.correction:hover {text-decoration: none;}
+
+/* Poetry */
+.poem {
+    margin-left:10%;
+    margin-right:10%;
+    text-align: left;
+}
+
+.poem br {display: none;}
+
+.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+
+.poem span.i0 {
+    display: block;
+    margin-left: 0em;
+    padding-left: 3em;
+    text-indent: -3em;
+}
+
+.poem span.i2 {
+    display: block;
+    margin-left: 2em;
+    padding-left: 3em;
+    text-indent: -3em;
+}
+// -->
+/* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh
+
+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: Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels
+
+Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh
+
+Illustrator: Howard L. Hastings
+
+Release Date: November 15, 2008 [EBook #27272]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Carla Foust and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<h3>Transcriber's note</h3>
+<p> Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without notice. A few
+printer errors have been corrected, and they are indicated with
+a <a class="correction" title="like this" href="#tnotes">mouse-hover</a>
+and listed at the
+<a href="#tnotes">end of this book</a>. All
+other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
+has been maintained.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/frontis.png" width="285" height="450" alt="frontis" title=""></img>
+</div>
+<p class="caption">A LITTLE DOG SCOOTED BETWEEN PEE-WEE'S LEGS.<br />
+<i>Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels.</i> <i>Page <a href="#Page_53">53</a></i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="bbox">
+<h1>ROY BLAKELEY'S<br />
+CAMP ON WHEELS</h1>
+<p><br /></p>
+
+<p class="fm4">BY</p>
+<p class="fm2">PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH<br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="fm3"><i>Author of</i></p>
+
+<p class="fm4">TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS,<br />
+TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS,<br />
+ROY BLAKELEY, ETC.<br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<p class="fm4">Illustrated by</p>
+<p class="fm3">HOWARD L. HASTINGS<br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<p class="fm4">Published with the approval of</p>
+<p class="fm3">THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA<br />
+<br /></p>
+<p class="fm2">GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</p>
+
+<table summary="TITLEPAGE">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr"><b>PUBLISHERS</b></td>
+<td class="tdc"><b>:</b></td>
+<td class="tdl"><b>NEW YORK</b></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<br />
+</div>
+
+<p class="fm4">Made in the United States of America</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p class="fm4"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1920, by</span></p>
+<p class="fm3">GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">CHAPTER</td>
+<td class="tdr page" colspan="2">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">I</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Brewster's Center</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">II</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Housing Problem</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">III</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Wide-awake Lot</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IV</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Wild Night</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">V</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Somewhere in America</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VI</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Big B</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">On To Skiddyunk</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VIII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Labor Troubles</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IX</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Sandwiches</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">X</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Scout Harris</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XI</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">We Meet the Cheerful Idiot</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">On the Screen</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">An Invitation</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIV</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Pee-wee on Scouting</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XV</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">To the Rescue</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVI</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Unconditional Surrender</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Wild-Cat Ride</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVIII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Middle of the Road</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIX</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Westy</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XX</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Taking It Easy</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXI</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Sheriff Arrives</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Railroading</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXIII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Crazy Stuff</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXIV</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Up in the Air</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXV</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">In the Dark</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXVI</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Walter Harris, Scout</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXVII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Pots</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXVIII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Seen in the Movies</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXIX</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Foiled</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXX</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Our Patrol "Sing</span>"</td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXI</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Flimdunk Siding</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Exploring</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXIII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Our Young Hero</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXIV</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Train</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXV</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Profiteers</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXVI</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Friend in Need</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXVII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Tenderflops and Other Flops</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXVIII</td>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">All Aboard</span></td>
+<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ROY_BLAKELEYS" id="ROY_BLAKELEYS"></a>ROY BLAKELEY'S<br />
+CAMP ON WHEELS</h2>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>BREWSTER'S CENTRE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Maybe you think just because scouts go camping in the summer time, and
+take hikes and all that, that there's nothing to do in the winter. But
+I'm always going to stick up for winter, that's one sure thing.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, this story isn't exactly a winter story, it's a kind of a fall
+story&mdash;lightweight. Maybe after this I'll write a heavyweight winter
+story. Dorry Benton (he's in my patrol) says that if this story should
+run into the winter, I can use heavier paper for the last part of it.
+That fellow's crazy.</p>
+
+<p>Believe <i>me</i>, there's plenty happening in the fall and in the winter;
+look at nutting and skating and ice-boating. Only last winter there were
+two big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> fires here in Bridgeboro and one of them was the High School.
+Gee whiz, what more could you want?</p>
+
+<p>But the best fire I ever went to was when the Brewster's Centre railroad
+station burned down. That was three or four years ago, and the railroad
+decided that as long as there was going to be a big war in Europe, they
+wouldn't build a new station.</p>
+
+<p>It won't do you any good to look on the map for Brewster's Centre,
+because you won't find it. Even with a microscope you couldn't find it.
+The reason you can't find it is, because it isn't there. I guess the men
+who made the map couldn't make a small enough dot. That's one thing I'm
+crazy about&mdash;maps. But I hate geography&mdash;geography and cough mixture.
+But I'm crazy about apple dumplings.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, you'll have to take my word for it that Brewster's Centre is
+four or five stations above Bridgeboro. There isn't any man named
+Brewster. He went out West about fifty years ago. I guess he forgot to
+take his centre with him. Anyway, it's up there. I guess nobody wants
+it.</p>
+
+<p>There are about a dozen people up in Brews<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>ter's Centre who go to the
+city; gee, you can't blame them. So the railroad put an old passenger
+car on a side track up there and boarded up the under part so you
+couldn't see the wheels, just the same as on a lunch wagon. They
+partitioned off part of the inside of it for a ticket office and made a
+window in the boards, and the rest of the car was a waiting-room. There
+was a stove in the corner. It was like the Pennsylvania Station in New
+York, only different. They used the same old sign that used to be on the
+regular station and it looked funny sprawling all over the side of that
+car. It said:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Buffalo 398 Mls.&mdash;BREWSTER'S CENTER&mdash;N. Y. 30 Mls.</p></div>
+
+<p>You'd think that Brewster's Centre was the centre of the whole earth.
+Anyhow it showed two different ways of getting away from there. It's a
+wonder it didn't tell how far it is from Brewster's Centre to Paris. I
+guess the moon is about 'steen billion miles from Brewster's Centre. But
+one thing, there's a place where you get dandy ice-cream cones up there.</p>
+
+<p>That's all there is to this chapter. It isn't much of a chapter, hey?
+But it's big enough for Brews<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>ter's Centre. It's a kind of a prologue
+chapter. It's like Brewster's Centre, because nothing happens in it. The
+only thing that ever happened up there was the fire, and that happened
+three or four years ago. You can't even smell the smoke in this chapter.
+But just you wait and see what happens.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE HOUSING PROBLEM</h3>
+
+
+<p>Now comes a <i>lapse of three years</i>&mdash;I got that out of the movies. Maybe
+if you've read all about our adventures you'll remember how my patrol,
+the Silver Foxes, hiked home from Temple Camp last summer. Believe me,
+that was some hike. The other two patrols came home later by boat. They
+said they had more fun without us. I should worry about <i>them</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The second night after we were all home I started around to the church
+to troop meeting and I met Pee-wee Harris coming scout pace down through
+Terrace Street. He's one of the raving Ravens. He was all dolled up like
+a Christmas tree, with his belt axe hanging to his belt and his scout
+knife dangling around his neck and his compass on his wrist like a wrist
+watch.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "You look like a hardware store. Where are you going? To chop
+down the North Pole?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He said, "There's bad news waiting for us at troop meeting."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it'll have to wait till we get there," I told him; "I wouldn't go
+scout pace hunting for bad news." Cracky, if that kid was on his way to
+the electric chair he'd go scout pace.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got to give up the troop room," he said; "Doctor Warren told my
+mother to-day. The men are going to use it for a club."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night!" I told him; "why should they use a club? We'll get out
+without any trouble; peace at any price."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a sociable club," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," I told him, "I wouldn't want to get hit with a club no matter
+how sociable it is."</p>
+
+<p>"It's going to be called the forearm club," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Gee, I had to laugh. "You mean forum," I said. "What are you trying to
+do? Scare the life out of me with clubs and forearms?"</p>
+
+<p>When we got to the troop room all the fellows were standing around, and
+Mr. Ellsworth, our scoutmaster, was there to tell us the worst.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Scouts, you'll all remember that this pleasant meeting place
+was put at our disposal by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> Doctor Warren to be used by us until it
+should be needed for other purposes." (This is just what he said,
+because I asked him to write it out in my troop book afterwards.)
+"Doctor Warren now informs me that the plans for building a new church
+being postponed on account of the cost of labor and materials, the use
+of this room practically every night in the week is imperative. Since we
+are not actually a part of the church, I think we should insist on
+relinquishing it in favor of the many church activities for which this
+old building is all too small. We shall presently find another home. I
+am sure that every scout in this troop will join me in expressing our
+gratitude to Doctor Warren and his good people for their interest in us
+and their hospitality. I am in hopes that the room in the Public Library
+where the Red Cross ladies worked may be available to us. Meanwhile, we
+have the great scout roof over our heads&mdash;the blue heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me," I said, "that great scout roof is all right, only it leaks
+like the dickens. Anyway, we should worry; we'll find a place."</p>
+
+<p>So that night we spent taking down our pictures and all our birch bark
+ornaments, and packing our books and getting ready to move. We were up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+against the housing problem, that's what Westy Martin said.</p>
+
+<p>The next day was Saturday. That's the thing I like best about
+school&mdash;Saturday. So I went into the city to get a new scout suit on
+account of my other one being all torn from our long hike from camp. I
+came home on the Woolworth Special, that's the 5.10 train. On the train
+I met Mr. John Temple. He's the man that started Temple Camp. He lives
+in Bridgeboro and he owns a lot of railroads and things. Anyway, he did,
+only the government took them. He should worry, he's going to get them
+back. He's head of the bank, too. Gee, I hope nobody takes that away
+from him. I've got fifty-seven dollars in that bank. He used to be mad
+at the scouts, but then he found out that he was mistaken and he went
+off and built Temple Camp just out of spite to himself, kind of.
+Whenever he sees me he's awful nice.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Well, Roy, how are the scouts getting on?"</p>
+
+<p>I said: "Believe <i>me</i>, they're not getting on, they're getting <i>out</i>. We
+can't use the lecture room in the church any more. If we don't get the
+room where the Cross Red Nurses were, I don't know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> where we'll meet
+We'll meet in the sweet by and by, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>He just began to laugh and he said: "Property and real estate are hard
+to get just now. Rentals are pretty high."</p>
+
+<p>"Gee whiz," I told him, "I wouldn't care if it was real estate or
+imitation estate or any other kind if there was only a room on it."</p>
+
+<p>He said, laughing all the while, "Well now, I have an idea. How would
+this strike you? They're finishing the new station up at the Centre.
+What do you think of that old car for a meeting place? Just for a while,
+you know, till you can find a regular place somewhere. It has a stove
+and seats and.... How would that strike you?"</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy!</p>
+
+<p>"It strikes me so hard it makes a black and blue spot," I said; "and
+that wouldn't be so far to go for meetings."</p>
+
+<p>He said: "Oh, you wouldn't have to go up there for meetings. If I can
+arrange to get it for you, I'll have it brought down to Bridgeboro. I
+don't know where you could put it or just how you would move it away
+from the tracks, but it could be done."</p>
+
+<p><i>Oh, bibbie</i>, wasn't I excited! "We could put<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> it in the field down by
+the river," I said; "oh, it would be simply great!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Temple just laughed, and he said, "Well, don't count too much upon
+it. Uncle Sam has a say in all these things nowadays. But I think
+perhaps I can arrange matters. The car is no use up there; it isn't of
+much use <i>anywhere</i>. I'm afraid the difficult part would be in moving it
+away from the tracks when we got it to Bridgeboro. However, we'll see."</p>
+
+<p>I was so excited that when we got to Bridgeboro I stayed on the train
+and went on up to Brewster's Centre just to take a look at the car. As
+long as I was up there I thought I might as well get an ice-cream cone
+at that place I told you about. Then I hiked it home.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>"A WIDE-AWAKE LOT"</h3>
+
+
+<p>In a couple of days I got a letter from Mr. Temple. It came from his
+office in New York. This is what it said:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Dear Roy</span>:</p>
+
+<p>I have arranged with the railroad people to let you boys have the
+Brewster's Centre Station car. You will please accept it as a gift
+to your troop from myself.</p>
+
+<p>The freight which passes through Brewster's Centre somewhere around
+10 P.M. will take it on Friday night and leave it on the siding at
+Bridgeboro. I am going to talk with Mr. Ellsworth about the means
+of moving it from there to a suitable location.</p>
+
+<p>I am informed that the new station will be opened Friday morning,
+so if you and your companions wish to take possession Friday
+afternoon, you may do so. But do not make <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>any alterations or
+bother the local agent until he gives you permission to go ahead.</p>
+
+<p>I hope the troop will find this makeshift meeting place suitable
+till conditions are more favorable for finding a permanent
+headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>
+Best wishes to you.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">John Temple.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Oh, boy, isn't he a peach of a man? I bet we hiked up to Brewster's
+Centre a dozen times before Friday. I guess Pee-wee thought the station
+would run away. He couldn't even wait till it got down to Bridgeboro,
+but asked the girl ticket agent if it would be all right for him to
+bring some things up, and good night! he showed up Thursday afternoon
+with his moving picture outfit and a lot of other stuff.</p>
+
+<p>On Friday morning the new station was opened. It had a nice little
+ticket office for the girl to read novels in. So on Friday afternoon we
+all went up and took the boarding away from under the car and piled it
+inside, because we thought we might use it again. The part that was
+boarded off for a ticket office was at one end, and in the other part
+the seats were left just the same as in a regular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> car. It was nice in
+there, especially for meetings where somebody had to talk to us, only in
+our troop most always everybody is talking at once, especially Pee-wee.
+He talks so fast that he interrupts himself.</p>
+
+<p>After we got the windows washed and the boards from underneath piled
+inside and the little ticket office all cleaned out, it was about six
+o'clock. Westy Martin (he's in my patrol) said it would be a lot of fun
+for some of us to stay and come down in the car.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll stay!" Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"How about <i>you</i>?" Westy asked me.</p>
+
+<p>I said: "We're going to have apple turnovers for dessert to-night, but I
+should worry, I'll stay."</p>
+
+<p>Most of the fellows had to go home on account of their lessons, but I
+didn't have any lessons, because my teacher had to go to a lecture.
+That's the only thing I like about lectures. Westy always does his
+lessons right after school, before he goes out. Then in case he gets
+killed his lessons are done. He's a careful kid. Anyway, all of us hate
+to do lessons on Saturday, because that's scouting day.</p>
+
+<p>The fellows that said they'd stay were Pee-wee<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> Harris and Wig-Wag
+Weigand (they're both raving Ravens), and Connie Bennett of the Elks (he
+wears glasses), and Westy Martin, and dear little Roy Blakeley, that's
+me. I use glasses, too&mdash;when I drink ice-cream sodas. The rest of the
+troop went home and they said they'd all be down at the siding near the
+Bridgeboro Station early in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Westy had his camp outfit along and we had a lot of fun that night
+cooking supper in that old car. Westy and Pee-wee went up to the store
+and got some eggs and stuff, and I made a dandy omelet. I flopped it
+over all right and Connie Bennett said it would do for a good turn,
+because I hadn't done any good turn that day. Pee-wee just turned around
+a couple of times and said that was his&mdash;he should worry.</p>
+
+<p>After supper we took a little hike in the woods but we didn't stay very
+long, because we were afraid that freight might come along ahead of
+time. Safety first. When we got back we sat around on the plush seats
+waiting for the freight and jollying Pee-wee.</p>
+
+<p>It got to be about half-past ten, but still the freight didn't come.
+Every little while one of us would go out and hold an ear down to the
+track<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> and listen. You can hear a train about ten miles off that way.</p>
+
+<p>"If it's coming at all it must be coming on tiptoe," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Or else it's wearing rubbers," Wig answered back.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe it's stalking a cow that's on the track," I said, "and has to
+sneak along quietly. We should worry."</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon we began getting sleepy. Pee-wee said he wasn't exactly
+sleepy, but he guessed he'd lie down a little while. That was the end of
+<i>him</i>. If there had been an earthquake it wouldn't have stirred him. The
+only thing that could have awakened him would have been his own voice,
+only he doesn't talk in his sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon Wig said it was funny how Pee-Wee could fall asleep so easy
+and he guessed he'd just sprawl on one of the seats and <i>think</i>. Good
+night! but didn't he snore while he was <i>thinking</i>. All of a sudden
+Westy went sliding down to the floor and I dragged him up on the seat
+again. He was dead to the world.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe <i>me</i>," I said to Connie; "what do you know about that? I'll
+laugh if that freight comes along and gives us a good bunk. Look at
+that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> trio, will you?" He just didn't answer me at all.</p>
+
+<p>"G-o-o-d night!" I said to myself; "wake me early, mother dear."</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden I happened to think of something that Mr. Temple said in
+a speech about the scouts being such a wide-awake lot. Gee whiz, I
+laughed so much that I just lay down on the seat and held my sides.</p>
+
+<p>That's the last that <i>I</i> remember. I guess I fainted from laughing so
+hard.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>A WILD NIGHT</h3>
+
+
+<p>Now I'll tell you just exactly what happened while I was lying on that
+seat. Charlie Chaplin came to me and he said, "General Pershing says for
+you to get off of that barrel." I said, "I won't get off of the barrel
+till I finish eating this apple." Then he said, "If you don't get off
+the barrel, we'll shoot the barrel out from under you."</p>
+
+<p>So then General Pershing and Charlie Chaplin began wheeling a whole lot
+of cannons so as to make a big circle around me. And all the while
+Douglas Fairbanks was standing there laughing. Then they began shooting
+at the barrel, and every time a cannon ball hit the barrel it would
+joggle and almost shake me off. Sometimes the barrel stood up on edge
+and then a cannon ball would knock it back again and it would go dancing
+every which way with me on it. I had to hang on for dear life. Pretty
+soon I got mad (gee whiz, you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> couldn't blame me) and I threw the core
+of the apple at General Pershing, and he began to laugh. He said, "Never
+hit me!"</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon the barrel got knocked over sideways and I was sprawling all
+over it trying to keep on top while it rolled down a hill. All the while
+Charlie Chaplin was running after me and trying to hook me with his cane
+and somebody shouted, "What does it say on the waybill? Look on the
+waybill!" And I could hear a sound like whistling. Then, good night! all
+of a sudden I went kerflop off the barrel. Just then a man shouted, "All
+on!" I guess he meant all <i>off</i>. Anyway, I didn't care, because I was
+lying in an automobile and jogging along awful nice and easy.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning I was lying on the floor of the car with my arm around
+Connie Bennett's leg. Every one of those four fellows was dead to the
+world. I pushed up the shutter that had slipped down, like they always
+do, and looked out of the window. Right outside was a barrel. But I
+didn't see General Pershing. There was a big field right near, and over
+farther was a lake. It was a dandy lake, with woods on the opposite
+shore. There were big high mountains, too, all bright on top, because
+the sun was coming up over them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I went out on the platform and looked up the track. I could see way far
+off till the tracks went to a point. The car was on a siding. Not very
+far off I could see smoke curling up and I knew there must be a house
+there somewhere. On the other side from the lake was a store with a
+platform in front of it. It wasn't open yet.</p>
+
+<p>I went in and washed my hands and face at the water cooler, then went
+out and looked again. But there wasn't anything to see, only the lake
+and the woods and the smoke curling up among the trees, and the store
+right near. I got out and looked at the side of the car. There was the
+big sign sprawling all over it.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Buffalo 398 Mls.&mdash;BREWSTER'S CENTER&mdash;N. Y. 30 Mls.</p></div>
+
+<p>That place wasn't Bridgeboro, that was one sure thing. Because, gee
+whiz, I know Bridgeboro when I see it. And it wasn't Brewster's Centre,
+either.</p>
+
+<p>I went in and began shaking Pee-wee, but it wasn't any use. Then I gave
+Westy a good shove and I shouted at him, "Wake up, the plot grows
+thicker. We're somewhere, but I don't know where. We're lost, strayed or
+stolen. Wake up, your country needs you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He sat up in the seat, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Then he said, kind
+of half asleep, "I&mdash;s&mdash;s&mdash;s&mdash;a&mdash;t&mdash;day? Wha'&mdash;we&mdash;doin'&mdash;a&mdash;a&mdash;a&mdash;here?"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "It's Saturday, and we're here because we're here. But I don't
+know where. There's a lake and a lot of woods and some mountains."</p>
+
+<p>"Le's see 'em," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out of the window," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>He just yawned, "Where are they? Outside?"</p>
+
+<p>"They're on the landscape," I told him; "come on, we'll go and stalk
+them before they sneak away. Get up, you lazy ..."</p>
+
+<p>Just then Connie Bennett rolled over and sat up and tried to keep his
+eyes open while he looked out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Wass become Bridgeboro?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"It just went out to get some rolls for breakfast," I said; "it'll be
+right back."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we at?" he wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"Search <i>me</i>," I told him; "all I know is I was rolling down a hill on a
+barrel and Charlie Chaplin was running after me. There's the barrel out
+there now."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA</h3>
+
+
+<p>As soon as I mentioned Charlie Chaplin's name, Pee-wee woke up. Charlie
+Chaplin is one of his favorite heroes; George Washington, Napoleon, and
+Charlie Chaplin&mdash;and Tyler's milk chocolate.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we?" he began shouting. "There's a lake! Look at the lake!
+What's that lake doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"That lake has got as much right here as you have," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, as soon as Pee-wee began shouting Wig Weigand woke up, and
+after the whole four of them were through stretching and gaping, we had
+a meeting of the General Staff.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Something happened in the night. The first thing for us to do
+is to find out where we are. We can't go home till we know where we have
+to go from."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care where we are," Pee-wee shouted; "the first thing is to
+have breakfast." Cracky,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> he's like all the Ravens; always thinking
+about eats.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't eat breakfast till we know where we're eating it," I told him;
+"we've got to find out where we're at."</p>
+
+<p>"You make me tired," he shouted; "will you answer me one question?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, ask me an answer and I'll question you," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we in the Brewster's Centre Railroad Station or not?" he yelled.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure we are," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we know where we are, don't we?" Pee-wee came back. "A location is
+a place, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but where's the station?" Connie piped up.</p>
+
+<p>"Pee-wee's right," I said; "we should worry about where the Brewster's
+Centre Station is. We're on the earth, aren't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure we are," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," I told him; "we don't know where the earth is, do we?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's right here," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but where is <i>here</i>?" I shot back at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Search me," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"Just the same as if you say a place is <i>up</i>," I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> told him; "how high is
+up? Suppose the lights go out, where do they go? How do <i>we</i> know? But
+anyway, we know they go out."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, that's rhetoric," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean logic," I told him. "Nobody really knows where he's at. Even
+the smartest man in the world doesn't know where he's at. What do <i>we</i>
+care? Just because the earth is in the Solar System, that doesn't say we
+have to tell where the Solar System is, does it? We're in the Brewster's
+Centre Railroad Station and the Brewster's Centre Railroad Station is
+somewhere in France&mdash;I mean somewhere in the Solar System. Secretary
+Hines has charge of the railroads&mdash;he should worry. Come on, let's get
+breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>We only had enough stuff to last for about one meal, so we put all our
+money together and counted it up. We had forty-two cents, and an eraser,
+and a subway ticket, and a little hunk of icing from a piece of cake,
+and a trolley zone ticket, and two animal crackers. I dumped the money
+and the hunk of icing and the two animal crackers into Connie's hand
+(because he's our troop treasurer anyway). "Here," I told him; "food
+will win the war, don't waste it."</p>
+
+<p>I made some coffee and then we fixed two of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> the seats facing each other
+and two of the fellows sat on one seat and two on the other with a piece
+of board between them.</p>
+
+<p>There was a red flag on that car and I used it for an apron. Some chef,
+hey? The heating stove was in the little ticket office and I just passed
+the tin cups out through the window, and each time I called "one coffee"
+and slapped it down on the counter. I guess I'll be a waiter in Child's
+after I'm not a child any more&mdash;that's a joke. Anyway, it was lucky we
+had some Uneeda crackers; we needed them enough, believe <i>me</i>.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast, Westy said, "There ought to be a town somewhere around
+here."</p>
+
+<p>"Look around and see if you can see it," I told him; "maybe it ran away
+when it saw us coming."</p>
+
+<p>He and Connie were just going to start out looking for the town, when a
+man came along and went up the steps of the platform in front of the
+store. I guess he kept the store. He had a big straw hat on and one
+suspender over his left shoulder. He had a little beard like a billy
+goat. When he got up on the platform he stood there staring at us.
+Pretty soon a couple more men came and they all stood there in front of
+the store, staring.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think we're pinched," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder how much we can buy for forty-two cents in that store,"
+Pee-wee wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"About forty-two cents' worth," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"That won't keep us alive for one day," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you thinking about lunch already?" I asked him. "You should worry
+about lunch. All we have to do is to send a telegram to Bridgeboro and
+Mr. Temple will have another freight pick us up. We can be back there by
+to-night. I don't know where we are, but if we got here in one night, we
+can get back in one day, can't we? Anybody that knows anything about
+geometry can tell that. You should worry, we won't starve."</p>
+
+<p>"What'll you say in the telegram?" he wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Lost, strayed or stolen. Tag, you're it. Come and find us.</i> How would
+that do?" I asked him. "We'll send it in your handwriting, then they'll
+know who it's from."</p>
+
+<p><i>Good night</i>, you should have seen that kid. He jumped up on one of the
+seats and began shouting, "Do you think I'm a <i>quitter</i>? Do you think
+I'm going to send and ask anybody to take me home?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You're a raving Raven," Westy began, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think a raving Raven&mdash;I'm <i>not</i> a raving Raven," Pee-wee just
+yelled, he was so excited; "you think you're funny, don't you? Do you
+think I'm a big baby?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so very big," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee just stood there, yelling at us, "If <i>you</i> want to send word
+home, go ahead. You admit yourself you're somewhere&mdash;don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shout a little louder and they'll hear you in Bridgeboro," Wig said;
+"and then we won't have to wire them."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't up to us, is it?" Pee-wee yelled. "Some train or other brought
+us here. When they find out they made a mistake, let them take us away
+again. What do we care? It's none of our business. It's up to the
+colonel, I mean the general or whatever you call him, of railroads. We
+can get along all right; we're scouts, aren't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"How about school?" Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"How are they going to get the school here, all the way from
+Bridgeboro?" Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"That settles it," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure it settles it," Pee-wee shouted; "and be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>sides, Monday is Columbus
+Day&mdash;and Monday night, too. That's a holiday."</p>
+
+<p>"There are a lot of Knights of Columbus, but there's only one Columbus
+Day," Westy shouted at him.</p>
+
+<p>"They'll find out where we are in three days, won't they?" Pee-wee
+screamed. "<i>I</i> say let's stay here. <i>I</i> say let's be too proud to send
+for help."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, we should worry," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what <i>I</i> say," Connie shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Scouts don't ask for help, do they?" Pee-wee yelled at the top of his
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "No, but believe me, scouts like to eat. I know one scout that
+does, anyway. What are we going to eat between now and next Monday or
+Tuesday or Wednesday?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll find a way," Pee-wee shouted. "Maybe they'll pick us up to-night,
+you can't tell. Anyway, I'm not going to be a quitter. Whenever I have
+to do anything I can always find a way. We can have a movie show, can't
+we? We can charge ten cents. We can have it to-night. You needn't sign
+<i>my</i> name to any telegrams."</p>
+
+<p>"How can we have a movie show when there isn't any town here?" Westy
+wanted to know.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We'll find the town," Pee-wee shouted; "it must be somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>Connie said, "Oh, it's probably somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure it is," Pee-wee hollered; "and I've got that Temple Camp film in
+the machine. Remember about those scouts that were lost for a week in
+the Maine woods? We're not as bad off as they were, are we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure we're not," I said; "this is only the main line. Maybe it's only a
+branch line."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to tell me that scouts can't get along when they're lost on
+a branch line?" he wanted to know. "Scouts can do anything, can't they?
+If I have to do something, I just do it. If I can't do it, I do it
+anyway. I can find a way, all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Bully for you! Hurrah for P. Harris!" we began shouting.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I'm going to starve?" he screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"Gee whiz, it never looked that way to me," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should we go home while we're waiting?" he yelled at us.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, you'll fall off the seat," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"We're here because we're here, you can't deny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> that!" the kid fairly
+screeched, all the while hanging onto one of those cage things they put
+bundles in, so he wouldn't fall off. "And I say we just stay here until
+they take us back in what-do-you-call-it&mdash;triumph&mdash;and put us where we
+belong. This is our station. No matter where it is, it's our station.
+We're good at tracking. If there's a town we'll trail it."</p>
+
+<p>"If it's hiding we'll find it," I shouted; "hip, hip and a couple of
+hurrahs for P. Harris, scout!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BIG B</h3>
+
+
+<p>So we decided that we wouldn't send any telegrams or anything, and that
+we'd stay right there in Brewster's Centre Station till the railroad
+took us away and put us where we belonged. We said it was up to them.
+Westy's mother knew he had his "eats" outfit along, and I guess all our
+families knew about there being a stove and coal in the car. Anyway, you
+can bet that scouts' mothers don't worry about them when they're away.
+Gee whiz, my mother worries more about me when I'm home, because I
+always eat a lot of pie and cake when I'm home. And I'm always using the
+'phone.</p>
+
+<p>We all said it would be a lot of fun to camp out in that car and to just
+not pay any attention to what had happened. When we got home, we'd be
+home. We decided on some poetry that we'd send to the Bridgeboro <i>News</i>
+when we got back. It isn't much good, but anyway, this is it:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">We started out to wander,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We didn't mean to roam.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We're here because we're here,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And when we're home we're home.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">We hope they'll come and get us,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But we're not in a hurry.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We've got forty-two cents and a movie outfit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We should worry.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>That isn't much good, is it? Anyway, we decided that the next thing to
+do was to find out if there was a town anywhere around. There wasn't any
+railroad station, that was sure. Now all the time that we were having
+that rumpus in the car, those men stood over there on the platform in
+front of that store, staring and staring and staring.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon they all came over and the man with one suspender said,
+"Thar be'nt no growed-up man along o' you youngsters, be there?"</p>
+
+<p>Westy told him no.</p>
+
+<p>Then he looked us all over, very easy like, and he said, "Yer chorin' on
+the railroad?"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "We're boy sprouts and this is Brewster's Centre."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He said, "Brewster's Centre? Whar?"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Right here in this car."</p>
+
+<p>He just looked all around and then he said, "They haint cal'latin' on
+changin' the name of this here taown ter Brewster's Centre, be they?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cause that won't go here," another one of the men said. "We wuz
+promised a station, but we haint goin' ter have no changin' of names.
+The railroad folks tried that down ter Skunk Hollow, settin' up a
+jim-crack station, all red shingles and fancy roof, and callin' it Ozone
+Valley. But they can't come any of that business up here."</p>
+
+<p>"After Eb Brewster, too," the other man said; "and him crazier'n a
+loon."</p>
+
+<p>"Hadn't ought ter be thirty mile nuther," the man with one suspender
+said; "that three oughter be an eight. Noow York is eighty mile on the
+rail."</p>
+
+<p>They all stood there squinting up at the <i>Brewster's Centre</i> sign, and
+all of a sudden I had a thought and I whispered to the fellows, "Don't
+spoil the plot, it's growing thicker. Let me do the talking."</p>
+
+<p>One of the men said to the others, "I alluz allowed Eb was jest talkin'
+crazy when he said haow he had friends amongst them big railroad
+maga<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>nates. But the taown haint never goin' to stand fer this, it
+haint."</p>
+
+<p>Then I spoke up and said very sober-like, "What <i>used</i> to be the name of
+this town?"</p>
+
+<p>The man said, "'Taint youster; <i>'tis</i>. This here taown is Ridgeboro,
+Noow York, and so it'll stay, by thunder!"</p>
+
+<p>"Good night!" I said, and all the fellows started to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Because then I knew how it was. We must have been picked up by the wrong
+train&mdash;a train going the other way. And the conductor must have had
+<i>Ridgeboro</i> instead of <i>Bridgeboro</i> on his paper. Oh, boy, that was some
+bull. And just as luck would have it, the people of that place were
+expecting the railroad to give them a new station. I didn't know where
+the old station was; I guessed there wasn't any.</p>
+
+<p>Connie whispered to me, "Who do you suppose Eb Brewster is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Search <i>me</i>," I told him; "but I bet he'll be tickled to death to find
+that the town is named after him."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>ON TO SKIDDYUNK</h3>
+
+
+<p>I didn't want him to ask us any more questions, so I said I guessed we'd
+go and look for the town if he would tell us where we could find it. He
+got kind of mad at that, because that was the town right there, and all
+the while we didn't know it. Gee whiz, how could <i>we</i> tell? He said some
+day that town would be as big as Skiddyunk and that once upon a time New
+York had only one store, too.</p>
+
+<p>"It has one store three or four now," I said.</p>
+
+<p>Then he told us that Skiddyunk was about one mile along the track and
+that we'd see it as soon as we got around the bend. I guess Ridgeboro
+was just kind of on the edge of Skiddyunk. Gee whiz, if the railroad was
+going to give it a station, that station ought not to be a car. A
+wheelbarrow would be good enough.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish we had some money, I know that," Con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>nie said, as we were
+walking along the ties. "That's the only thing that's worrying <i>me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Same here," I told him, "but we're going to have a lot of fun here,
+believe me; I can see it coming."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep your eyes peeled and see if you see a train coming," Westy said.
+Can you beat that fellow? Oh, but he's a reckless boy&mdash;not.</p>
+
+<p>"Careful Carl," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you do with all the money you spend?" Connie wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I save it," I told him; "ask me another one."</p>
+
+<p>"Who do you think Eb Brewster is?" Pee-wee piped up.</p>
+
+<p>"He's the man the town is named after," I said; "good night, there's
+going to be some fun around this way. I'm glad I'm not the railroad."</p>
+
+<p>"I bet those men will take that sign down," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"I bet they'll put it up again, then," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to tell them the station is for them?" Pee-wee asked me.</p>
+
+<p>"A scout is truthful," I said; "why should I tell them that? I'm just
+going to keep still and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> see what happens. I may decide to name the car
+after Eb Brewster. I should worry. We can name it after anybody we want
+to name it after, can't we? Jiminetty, I'm glad we're here; we dropped
+in at the right place."</p>
+
+<p>"One thing, I'm glad Monday's Columbus Day," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe <i>me</i>" I told him, "Columbus never discovered anything like
+this. I could kind of read in that man's face, the one with the
+suspender&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't have the suspender on his face," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Take a demerit for that, and stay after school," I told him. "I could
+kind of read in that man's face, that there is going to be some fun in
+Ridgeboro."</p>
+
+<p>"A tempest in a teapot, hey?" Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to apologize to the next teapot you meet," I shot back at
+him. "Teapots aren't so small."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Pretty soon we got around the bend and then we could see the Skiddyunk
+Station. It was a regular station with a platform and everything, all
+fancy kind of.</p>
+
+<p>"It makes the poor little Brewster's Centre Sta<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>tion look like a dollar
+and a quarter," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "I haven't seen a dollar and a quarter for so long that I can't
+tell, but the Brewster's Centre Station has traveled; that's what
+counts."</p>
+
+<p>Before we got to the station we saw where tracks branched off from the
+tracks we were following, so we knew that all the trains that passed
+Skiddyunk didn't pass Ridgeboro. I guess they didn't bother with that
+place much. At the Skiddyunk Station we got a time table and found that
+only one train a day passed Ridgeboro. It didn't go much further than
+Ridgeboro. I guess it got sick, hey? It only went as far as Slopson.
+Then we asked the express agent about freight trains and he said that a
+freight train went along that branch line every three days. He said
+there wouldn't be another one going east till Tuesday morning.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy, weren't we glad!</p>
+
+<p>"I'll miss French and civil government," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>Connie said he'd only miss history.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll lose English and geography," I said; "but I won't miss them. Come
+on up the main street and let's see if we can find an ice-cream store."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>LABOR TROUBLES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Skiddyunk was a nice town only, one thing, there were industrial
+disturbances there. Maybe you know what those are, hey? The boy that
+delivered the newspapers was on a strike. He was on a sympathy strike,
+that's what the man in the candy store told us. He was on a sympathy
+strike on account of the steel strikers. He read in a book that car
+wheels are made out of compressed paper sometimes, and as long as some
+of them were made out of steel, too, he decided he wouldn't deliver the
+papers that Saturday, on account of the newspaper being printed on
+paper. Gee whiz, I don't see how a paper could be printed on anything
+else except paper. That paper only came out twice a week, because there
+wasn't much news in Skiddyunk.</p>
+
+<p>As long as we only had forty-two cents we decided it was best to buy
+five ice-cream cones, because then we'd have only seventeen cents left
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> we couldn't send a telegram. Pee-wee said it was best not to have
+any temptation to send a telegram.</p>
+
+<p>We asked the man in the candy store if he thought the people who lived
+in Skiddyunk would come to a movie show in Ridgeboro that night. He said
+they would if they knew about it, only he didn't see where we could have
+it there. So then we told him about our car.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Is it a movie theatre?"</p>
+
+<p>"You said it," I told him; "it moves all over. Even the Strand Theatre
+in New York doesn't move so much. And anyway," I said, "are there any
+fish in that lake?"</p>
+
+<p>He said if there were only as many people up there in Ridgeboro as there
+were fish in the lake that Ridgeboro would be as big as New York.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night!" I said.</p>
+
+<p>He said they just stood in a row up there waiting to be caught. He said
+nobody had to starve around that way, if he had a fish-hook.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "I wouldn't eat a fish-hook no matter how hungry I was."</p>
+
+<p>He was a nice man, that fellow in the candy store. He started to laugh
+and he said he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> guessed we wouldn't starve, because he could see we were
+a wide-awake lot.</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to have seen us last night," Wig said; "we reminded ourselves
+of Rip Van Winkle."</p>
+
+<p>So then he told us it would be good for us to see Mr. Tarkin who printed
+the Skiddyunk <i>News</i>. First we got some fish-hooks and a ball of cord
+and then we had five cents left&mdash;a cent each. Never laugh at poverty.
+Then we went to the place where the Skiddyunk <i>News</i> was printed and
+asked for Mr. Tarkin. He was in a little bit of an office with papers
+all over the floor.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "We're boy scouts and our railroad car that we're going to use
+for a troop room is on a side track up at Ridgeboro, because it was
+brought there by mistake and we want to have a movie show in it
+to-night." I told him all about the whole thing, just how it happened,
+and I asked him if he thought the people would come.</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee piped up and said, "We have pictures of Temple Camp where we go
+in the summer, and they show scouts doing all kinds of things&mdash;rowing
+and cooking and hiking and climbing trees and eating."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tarkin said, "And eating, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, and snoring," Pee-wee said. Cracky, I could hardly keep a
+straight face.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a picture showing me peeling potatoes and another one where I'm
+stirring soup," the kid told him, "and a lot of other peachy
+adventures."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tarkin said, "I should call the soup picture a <i>stirring</i> adventure.
+I'm afraid that potato peeling scene would be too thrilling for our
+simple people."</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway," I said, "if we could help you on account of the strike maybe
+you'd be willing to help us let the people know&mdash;maybe."</p>
+
+<p>"If they don't know they can't come, can they?" Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tarkin just sat back and laughed and laughed and laughed. Jiminies,
+you wouldn't think he had labor troubles, the way he laughed. Then he
+began asking us a lot of questions about the scouts and he asked us if
+most of them were like Pee-wee. He said they didn't have any scouts in
+Skiddyunk.</p>
+
+<p>After a while he kind of sobered up and he said, "I wonder if the boy
+scouts would make good strike-breakers?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sure we would," Pee-wee shouted; "breaking things is our middle name."</p>
+
+<p>"He even breaks the rules," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"When there isn't anything to break, he <i>makes</i> breaks," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Tarkin told us how the boy that delivered the papers was on a
+strike. He said it wasn't much of a sympathy strike, because nobody had
+any sympathy for him. He said that boy wanted a one-hour day and an hour
+and a half for lunch. I couldn't tell whether that man was jollying us
+or not. Anyway, the papers weren't delivered, that was one sure thing,
+and he told us that if we would deliver them for him, he'd boom our
+movie show, so that people would be standing up in that car.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe <i>me</i>," I told him; "they <i>usually</i> stand up in the cars down
+our way."</p>
+
+<p>Then he told us that the boy that was on a strike could deliver all the
+papers himself because he had a flivver, but that he'd let all five of
+us do it because we had to walk and because we didn't know the streets
+in that town.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "You leave it to us."</p>
+
+<p>So then he gave us a list of all the people that had papers delivered at
+their houses and we made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> five routes. I took all the papers for Main
+Street and Westy took all the papers for three other streets and Connie
+and Wig took the rest, all except a few scattered around in different
+parts of town, and Pee-wee took those, because he makes a specialty of
+scout pace. I thought that maybe we'd have trouble about finding some
+places, but what did <i>we</i> care? It was early.</p>
+
+<p>While we were planning all about how we'd do, Mr. Tarkin called me into
+the room where they did the printing and showed me a handbill he had
+made up. He said, "As long as you're a scout I guess you'd better write
+the copy for this yourself, and I'll have it set up and run off while
+you're getting ready to start out. Then you can slip one into every
+paper you deliver. How does that strike you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it'll be great!" I said.</p>
+
+<p>Then he said I mustn't write too much, because there wasn't much time to
+set it up. This is what I made up and I could have made a better one
+only I was in such a hurry. First I was going to take it out into the
+office and ask the fellows about it, but I decided I wouldn't because
+they were busy mapping out their routes. Anyway, I didn't want Pee-wee
+to know what I said about him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="fm2"><i>ATTENTION!</i></p>
+
+<p class="fm3">Big Movie Show in Boy Scout Traveling</p>
+
+<p class="fm3">Theatre Opposite Store in Ridgeboro.</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">TO-NIGHT.</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">ADMISSION TEN CENTS.</p>
+
+<p class="fm3">See the Boy Scouts in Their Native Haunts.</p>
+
+<p class="fm3">Swimming, Tracking, Racing, Eating,</p>
+<p class="fm3">Diving, Stalking, Snoring!</p>
+
+<p class="fm3">See Scout Harris in His Stirring Soup-Stirring Feat!</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">ONLY TEN CENTS!</p>
+
+<p class="fm3">TO-NIGHT.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>SANDWICHES</h3>
+
+
+<p>When we got back from delivering the papers, Mr. Tarkin said he had a
+good idea but that he was afraid that maybe we wouldn't like it. He
+said, "Do boy scouts believe in advertising? What is your opinion of
+sandwiches?"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "We eat 'em alive. Do you want us to advertise some new kind of
+ham?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," he said; "I'm going to suggest a plan for advertising your
+movie show. Something <i>striking</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Then he began laughing and he brought out a couple of big placards about
+as big as window-panes. They had fresh printing on them, all in great,
+big letters, and this is what they said:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="fm2"><i>TO-NIGHT!</i></p>
+
+<p class="fm3">Boy Scout Movie Show in Railroad</p>
+<p class="fm3">Traveling Movie Palace. One Night Only.</p>
+
+<p class="fm2"><i>RIDGEBORO RIDGEBORO</i></p>
+
+<p class="fm2">TEN CENTS.</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">DON'T MISS IT!</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He said, "Now this is a sandwich."</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee just stood there gaping at it and I said to him, "What's the
+matter? Do you want to eat it?"</p>
+
+<p>The two big placards were tied together at the top with a rope and Mr.
+Tarkin slipped them over Pee-wee so that one covered the front of him
+and the other covered his back. You couldn't see anything but his head
+and his feet. Mr. Tarkin began laughing and the fellows all screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you're a sandwich man," Mr. Tarkin said; "you're the inside part."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a hunk of cheese," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a sardine," Connie shouted.</p>
+
+<p><i>Oh, boy</i>, you should have seen Pee-wee! He just stood there looking all
+around him, his head sticking up from between those two big placards,
+while the rest of us danced around him, just hooting. Crinkums! It was
+the funniest thing I ever saw. Even Mr. Tarkin was laughing so hard he
+could hardly speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Walk over to the window and back again," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Honest, I can't tell you about it. I just sat on the counter and
+screamed. Westy had his arms folded and he was just doubled up,
+laughing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> Pee-wee strutted around and you couldn't see any part of him,
+except just his head. It was as good as a circus.</p>
+
+<p>"Smile and look pretty," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Our young hero," Connie giggled.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see you go scout pace," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"Advancing stealthily," I said; "our young hero charged upon the hooting
+multitude and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Look at him turn around," Wig laughed; "look at him try to read it. Oh,
+save me!"</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee was swinging around like a sailing ship in the wind and craning
+his neck and trying to read the printing. All of a sudden he lifted the
+whole thing off.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I'd wear that thing?" he yelled. "What do you think I am?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you'd just stroll up and down Main Street with that," Mr. Tarkin
+said; "it would attract attention&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"G&mdash;o&mdash;o&mdash;d <i>night</i>! You <i>said</i> it!" I just blurted out.</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't do it!" Pee-wee shouted "Do you think I'm a dunce? Do you
+think I'm going to march up and down Main Street with that thing on,
+like a&mdash;like a scarecrow&mdash;with all you fellows laughing at me?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You look too sweet for anything," Westy told him.</p>
+
+<p>"You think you're so smart," Pee-wee shot back; "why don't <i>you</i> do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm too big," Westy said; "Connie's the best looking; let <i>him</i> do it."</p>
+
+<p>Connie said, "After you; sandwiches always disagreed with <i>me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"You make me tired," Pee-wee yelled; "I've seen you eat a dozen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let Roy do it," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd be tickled to death," I told him, "only I'm patrol leader and I
+have to be dignified."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you won't catch <i>me</i> doing it," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Same here," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"You all make me tired," I told them; "afraid of being laughed at!"</p>
+
+<p>Just then Mr. Tarkin asked me to carry a bundle of paper into the
+printing shop in the back of the office, and as soon as I got in there I
+saw about a dozen or so of those placards in a big waste paper box. I
+asked the printing man why he had printed so many, and he said they were
+only proofs or kind of samples that he made while he was trying to print
+a good one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, boy," I said to myself; "I'll fix that bunch."</p>
+
+<p>So I went out into the office and I said, "I suppose all you crazy
+Indians claim to be good sports. Maybe some of you know how to be good
+losers. Suppose we draw lots and see who goes up and down Main Street as
+a sandwich man. I'll make five slips of paper and the one who draws the
+one with number three on it will have to go out. What do you say?"</p>
+
+<p>First nobody was willing, because each fellow said that if he went out,
+all the other fellows would laugh at him.</p>
+
+<p>"You should worry," I said; "I'll fix it so nobody laughs at anybody
+else&mdash;positively guaranteed."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you be sure?" Pee-wee wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"You leave it to me," I told him; "nobody will have anything on anybody
+else. Absolutely, positively guaranteed. If not satisfied bring your
+sandwich in and get it exchanged for a hunk of pie."</p>
+
+<p>So then I tore five slips of paper and I put a <i>three</i> on every one of
+them. I knew how to handle that bunch.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll draw first," Pee-wee shouted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Good night, you should have seen that kid when he drew number three! All
+the fellows began kidding him and saying he was unlucky. Then came
+Connie, and <i>he</i> drew three, and then Wig and, oh, boy, I just can't
+tell you about it. Each fellow stood there staring at his little slip
+and I drew the last one.</p>
+
+<p>"There you are," I said; "we're all stung and everybody's got the laugh
+on everybody else. So what's the use of laughing at all? That's logic."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure it is," Pee-wee yelled; "how can anybody laugh at anybody when
+everybody is laughing at everybody else?"</p>
+
+<p>"It can't be did," Connie said. "We're all stung, Roy too."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't laugh at anybody," Pee-wee piped up, all the while hoisting
+those big placards up over his head, "unless the person you laugh at has
+got something about him that you can laugh at that nobody else has about
+him that anybody else can laugh at&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You're talking in chunks," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"If everybody gets a prize then it isn't a prize, is it?" Pee-wee
+screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, you can do that by long division," I told him. "Come on and let's
+start the parade."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>SCOUT HARRIS</h3>
+
+
+<p>That was some parade! The whole five of us marched up and down Main
+Street looking as sober as we could, Pee-wee strutting along at the head
+of the line and every now and then getting his feet tangled up with the
+edge of the big frames, and stumbling all over himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't laugh," I said; "every one of us is as bad as another, if not
+worse; keep a straight face and march in step; the public is with us."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy, you ought to have seen the people laugh. I guess mostly they
+laughed because we kept such straight faces, except when Pee-wee
+stumbled all over himself; then we had to howl. Everybody stopped and
+stared at us and read the signs and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon we passed an automobile full of girls that was standing in
+front of a store. They were camp-fire girls, because they had on khaki
+middies or whatever you call them with kind of,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> you know, braid things
+like snakes around their necks. One of them had a banner that said <i>Camp
+Smile Awhile</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee turned around and whispered, "Did you see that girl smile when
+she looked at me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Smile!" I said, "that's nothing; the first time I ever saw you I
+laughed out loud. Keep your eyes straight ahead and look pretty&mdash;as if
+you were posing for animal crackers."</p>
+
+<p>When we got to the corner, Pee-wee turned around and marched back, just
+because he wanted to pass those girls again. He made himself as tall as
+he could, so as he wouldn't trip over the placards. Honest, he looked
+just like a turtle standing up on its hind legs and waddling along and
+poking its head around this way and that.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't laugh," he said, just as we passed the girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>isn't</i> he just too <i>cute</i> for <i>anything</i>!" one of them said.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't he just a little dear!" another one said.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, me, oh, my," I whispered to Westy who was just in front of me.
+"Pee-wee's got them started. Isn't he the little heart-breaker?"</p>
+
+<p>He marched back again when we got to the other corner, standing up as
+high as he could, so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> as to lift the placards and looking straight ahead
+of him with a sober face.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Oh</i>, I think he's just as <i>cute</i> as he can <i>be</i>," one of the girls in
+the auto said.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a little dog came running out of one of the stores and scooted
+between Pee-wee's legs and <i>good night</i>, down he went, sprawling on the
+ground with one leg kicking through one of the big placards and his arms
+all mixed up in the rope.</p>
+
+<p>"Watch your step," I said. I just couldn't help it.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's that dog?" Pee-wee yelled, all the while trying to straighten
+things out and get up. "I'll&mdash;I'll&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A scout is always kind to animals," Wig said; "the poor little dog was
+in a hurry, that was all."</p>
+
+<p>"That dog was going scout pace," I said; "you should worry."</p>
+
+<p>By now, Pee-wee was all tangled up with the two big placards and the
+rope that had held them together, and the whole business, Pee-wee,
+placards, rope and all, looked like a double sailor's knot having an
+epileptic fit. Laugh! We simply screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up, you're blocking the traffic," I said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It's got around my leg," he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what you get for trying to show off," Westy told him. "Talk
+about your soup-stirring scene! It can't be mentioned alongside of
+this."</p>
+
+<p>By now, Pee-wee had managed to scramble to his feet, and he stood there
+staring around as if he didn't know what had struck him. One of the
+placards was all torn and muddy and hanging by one rope and the other
+piece of rope was wound around his leg. Honest, I never knew that one
+little dog could make such a wreck.</p>
+
+<p>"You look as if you'd been torpedoed," Wig said; "stand still till we
+brush you off. Turn around and smile and look pretty."</p>
+
+<p>By that time all the girls had gotten out of the auto and were crowding
+around Pee-wee, brushing him off and asking him if he was hurt.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's <i>just</i> too <i>bad</i>," one of them said; "his nice khaki jacket is
+torn. I'm going to fix it. We've got needles and thread and everything
+right in the machine, because we're on our way to camp."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't need to have it fixed," Pee-wee said; "I can fix it myself.
+Scouts can do everything like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but they can't sew," the girl said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sure, they can do everything," Pee-wee told her. "Maybe you think," he
+said, all the while pounding the dust out of his clothes, "maybe you
+think that just because I fell down&mdash;gee, that could happen to the
+smartest man&mdash;even&mdash;even&mdash;<i>Edison</i>&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I said, "lots of times Edison fell down."</p>
+
+<p>"Scouts can do anything," Pee-wee said. I guess after what had happened
+he wanted to let those girls know that just because a scout fell down,
+it didn't prove he wasn't smart.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah for P. Harris," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, is <i>he</i> P. Harris?" one of the girls said; "Oh, isn't that
+<i>glorious</i>! Is he the one that stirs soup?"</p>
+
+<p>By that I knew they must have seen one of the handbills.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we're <i>all</i> coming to-night to see him stir it," she said; "our
+camp is just across the lake from Ridgeboro. Don't you think Ridgeboro
+is a <i>poky</i> old place? We'll canoe over. We're camping over the holiday
+and we call our camp, <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i>. Isn't that just a <i>peachy</i>
+name?"</p>
+
+<p>Connie said, "I should think a girls' camp ought to be named <i>Camp
+Giggle a Lot</i>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, aren't you <i>perfectly terrible</i>!" one of them said; "the <i>idea!</i> Is
+it ten cents to get in? Have you really got a railroad car of your <i>very
+own</i>? Oh, I think that's just simply <i>scrumptious</i>. I wish I were a
+boy."</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing," Pee-wee said; "we hike hundreds of miles. Once we got
+lost on a mountain&mdash;we didn't care. We were lost two days. We could have
+been lost three if we'd wanted to."</p>
+
+<p>"Only what's the use of being extravagant?" I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Once I fell down a cliff forty feet high," Pee-Wee said; "that's
+nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, and didn't you <i>kill</i> yourself?" one of the girls wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure he did," Westy said; "but he's all right now."</p>
+
+<p>"It's fine being a boy," Pee-wee said; "gee, I feel sorry for girls."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, and you can sew, too?" one of them asked him. "And cook?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cook!" I said. "He used to be the chef in the Waldorf Castoria."</p>
+
+<p>"Scouts have to know how to do everything," Pee-wee told her; "because
+suppose a scout is alone in the woods; he has to cook his dinner,
+doesn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> he? He has to know how to do everything for himself, see?
+That's why I'll sew this jacket myself. That's what you call
+resourcefulness. A scout has to be full of that, see?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think it's just <i>wonderful</i>!" the girl said.</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing," Pee-wee told her; "you can even cook moss and eat it
+if you're lost and hungry. Once I went two days without food."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean two hours," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway, it was <i>two</i> something or other," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Most likely it was two minutes," I told the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"And you came all the way out here <i>alone</i>? Oh, isn't that perfectly
+<i>adorable</i>! And you're going to give a show to earn money&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"So we won't perish," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>"Which?" Westy asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Perish," he said; "don't you know what perish means?"</p>
+
+<p>"And will the pictures show you doing all those things?" one of the
+girls wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," Pee-wee said; "maybe you'll get some good ideas from them, only
+you mustn't scream when you see one of the fellows fall out of a tree<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+into the water, because that's nothing. That's one thing scouts don't
+do&mdash;scream."</p>
+
+<p>But believe me, that was one thing scouts did do the very next day. I
+did, anyway; I screamed till I had a headache.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>WE MEET THE CHEERFUL IDIOT</h3>
+
+
+<p>They said they would surely canoe across that night and take in the show
+and so we told them we'd see them later. Westy gave Pee-wee one of his
+sign placards and we marched up and down Main Street for about an hour,
+till we got hungry. Then we decided that as long as everybody in
+Skiddyunk knew about our show, we'd go back to Ridgeboro and catch some
+fish. Mr. Tarkin told us that as long as everybody had laughed so much
+and had seemed to take so much interest, he guessed our show was a safe
+investment and that if we needed a couple of dollars or so to carry us
+through, he'd let us have it. But we didn't take it, because scouts like
+to rely on themselves, and we knew there were lots of fish in that lake.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to Ridgeboro, the man that owned the store came and
+gave us a telegram. He said a boy on horseback had brought it from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+office in Skiddyunk. This is what it said:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Just learned of unfortunate error of freight conductor. Don't be
+afraid or worried. Have wired money to Skiddyunk. You can get
+eastern train there at three. Parents informed. Keep cool.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+"<span class="smcap">John Temple.</span>"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>"Just our luck," Westy said; "we've got to go home."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Keep cool</i>," I said; "that means <i>you</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to answer it?" he wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"Absolutely, positively," I told him; "and I'm going to send it
+collect."</p>
+
+<p>"If you think I'm going home," Pee-wee yelled, "you've got another
+think. A scout is not a quitter. We've got things coming our way now&mdash;do
+you think I'm going to admit&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Come on in the car and we'll make up an answer," I said, "and I'll sign
+it, because I'm patrol leader."</p>
+
+<p>So this was the answer we made up and Westy and Connie went back to
+Skiddyunk with it, while the rest of us were fishing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Cannot make afternoon train. Are giving big movie show in car
+to-night. Great excitement. Expect to clear thirty dollars. Will
+not desert car. Expect us when you see us. Good fishing. Love to
+all. We should worry.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+"<span class="smcap">Roy</span> (S. F.)"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>When Westy and Connie got back, they had fifty dollars that Mr. Temple
+had sent, but we decided we wouldn't use a single cent of it, just so as
+to show him that we could look after ourselves. Anyway, we should bother
+about fifty dollars, because we had a big string of perch and some
+catfish.</p>
+
+<p>It was about the middle of the afternoon when we got the fish cooked
+and, believe me, we were good and hungry. After the meal was over, we
+were sprawling around in the car before starting to get ready for the
+show, when all of a sudden we heard somebody speaking outside, and then
+in came a little man with an awful funny face and a funny little cap on.
+He wore spectacles way down near the end of his nose and he was smiling
+and seemed awful happy, but there was something funny about his eyes. I
+guess he wasn't more than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> about thirty years old, but he looked awful
+funny and his eyes were bright and queer like.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "How <i>do</i> you do." And then he started to shake hands with all
+of us. He said, "I called twice this morning, but you weren't here. And
+now I have found you and I'm delighted, and I suppose you wonder who I
+am, eh?" Then he looked all around and put his finger to his lips and
+said, very secret like, "My name is Ebenezer Brewster and I'm a poet. I
+have written a little poem to thank you boys for the great honor you
+have done me, in naming the village after me. Shh! There is opposition.
+The public is scandalized. There is likely to be a riot. I am not
+appreciated&mdash;shh."</p>
+
+<p>"Six or seven people wouldn't make much of a riot," I told him. "If they
+start any riot here, we'll put the village in the car and take it away
+with us."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a very good idea," he said, "a <i>very</i> good idea. Did you
+graduate from a public school?"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "No, I have my ideas made to order; they last longer."</p>
+
+<p>He said, "<i>Much</i> longer, that's my idea exactly. And they fit better.
+Would you like to hear the poem?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, shoot," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>So then he took a paper out of his pocket and read what was on it, and
+this was it:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There are eleven people here,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nine chickens and a rooster;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The village it is named for me,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I'm Ebenezer Brewster."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Connie came over and whispered to me, "Where are we, anyway? I feel like
+Alice in Wonderland. He's a cheerful idiot. He thinks we named this town
+after him. This is <i>some</i> comedy."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>ON THE SCREEN</h3>
+
+
+<p>That fellow didn't stay long and he went away very sudden like, just the
+same as the way he came. We told him to come to the movie show and he
+said he would. We decided that he was kind of crazy, but anyway, he was
+awful nice about it, and gee whiz, if you're happy, what's the
+difference whether you're crazy or not? He was happy all right, and he
+seemed to be mighty proud, because he thought the town was named after
+him. So we let him think so.</p>
+
+<p>By six o'clock we had everything ready for the big show. We fixed the
+apparatus so that the lens cylinder stuck through the ticket window, and
+that way the operator (that was Pee-wee, because the machine belonged to
+him) could be all by himself in the ticket agent's room. We hung the
+screen at the other end of the car, and turned all the seats facing that
+way.</p>
+
+<p>The man over in the store came and watched us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> and got friendly. I guess
+he knew how it was by that time, and he wasn't afraid that the name of
+the village was really changed. He gave us some cakes and we had cakes
+and fried perch for supper. They were dandy cakes, with jam in them.
+There were seven of them and only five fellows, but anyway, Pee-wee
+hadn't done any good turn that day, so he ate three. That was so none of
+the rest of us would get a stomachache. That's the way with Pee-wee,
+he's always thinking about some one else.</p>
+
+<p>All the while we were eating supper, we could see smoke curling up out
+of the woods across the lake, and we guessed that was where the girls
+had their camp.</p>
+
+<p>"I bet they're getting supper now," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee said, "Maybe some of us ought to borrow that store man's boat
+and row over after them, because girls can't row or paddle very well. It
+would be a good turn."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Good night</i>," I said; "didn't you just eat three peach cakes and call
+that a good turn? You should worry about the girls. Probably they know
+how to row and paddle better than you do."</p>
+
+<p>"You make me tired," he yelled; "scouts are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> supposed to do things for
+them, and show them how to do things."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they'll see you doing enough things on the screen," I told him;
+"girls aren't as helpless as you think they are. Come on, help get
+ready."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>At about half-past seven, people began coming and I could see that we
+were going to have a big house, I mean a big car. First an automobile
+full of people arrived and then a lot more who had walked from
+Skiddyunk. Then a couple more automobiles came and pretty soon there
+were a half a dozen of them parked around the car, and the seats inside
+the car were full. Westy stood on the platform collecting ten cents from
+each one and letting them through, past the screen. Oh, boy, there was
+some crowd.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon the store man came over and said that as long as the weather
+was so warm, it would be a good idea to open the car windows and have
+standing room outside. So he gave us some boxes and barrels and things
+to put outside the windows for people to stand on. All the people out
+there paid their ten cents just the same and they laughed and said it
+was a lot of fun. Some of them were summer people, I guess; holdovers.
+The girls<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> from <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i> came over in two canoes and a
+rowboat.</p>
+
+<p>When there wasn't space for another head to stick through a window, I
+got up in front of the screen and made a speech. This is what I said:</p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for coming to see our show, and
+we hope you'll like it. I guess maybe I ought to tell you about
+Temple Camp, then you'll understand the pictures better.</p>
+
+<p>"Temple Camp is where lots of scouts go in the summer. It's near
+the Hudson. Maybe you've heard about all the different things that
+scouts learn how to do. So these pictures will show you some of
+those things.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of the things are hard, but some of them are easy, like
+eating and things like that. Especially desserts. So now the show
+will begin."</p></div>
+
+
+<p>First we flashed the sentence that is in the handbook:</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">A SCOUT IS HANDY AND USEFUL</p>
+
+<p>and then came the picture of Pee-wee with a big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> white apron on,
+standing in front of the stove in the cooking shack, stirring a big
+boiler full of soup. I heard one of the girls say, "Oh, <i>isn't</i> he
+simply too cute for <i>anything</i>!" Then we flashed another sentence that
+said:</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">A SCOUT IS SKILFUL</p>
+
+<p>and then came the picture of Pee-wee standing at the kitchen table,
+rolling dough. Everybody applauded and the girls said it was wonderful,
+but that anyway, the Boy Scouts was started before the Camp-Fire Girls
+was, and so they had had more time to learn things. I heard one lady say
+it was <i>splendid</i> how scouts got to be self-reliant, on account of
+learning the domestic arts.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, bibbie, I just had to laugh, because that was the one thing that
+Pee-wee didn't know anything about at all&mdash;cooking. The only thing that
+kid knew about domestic arts, was eating. He was a good ice-box
+inspector and pantry-shelf sleuth. He could track a jar of jam to its
+dim retreat, but when it came to cooking&mdash;<i>good night</i>! The only reason
+we had him in those pictures was because he was so small and looked so
+funny.</p>
+
+<p>The next sentence we flashed said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="fm2">A SCOUT IS QUICK</p>
+
+<p>and the picture showed Pee-wee flopping a wheat cake and catching it in
+the frying pan again. Honest, when we were trying to get that picture up
+at Temple Camp, the whole floor was covered with wheat cakes and there
+was one on Pee-wee's head like a Happy Hooligan cap. But the audience
+didn't know that. There are lots of things you don't see in the movies.
+It takes about twenty wheat cakes to get a good picture of Scout Harris
+flopping one.</p>
+
+<p>The regular cook wasn't there the day we got that picture.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>AN INVITATION</h3>
+
+
+<p>That was the comedy sketch and Pee-wee was so puffed up over his screen
+success that he could hardly work the machine. I guess he felt as if he
+were a regular Douglas Fairbanks.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear what those girls were saying?" he whispered to me behind
+the screen. "Did you hear what the one with the red sweater was saying?
+About a scout being so resourceful? Did you hear her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you've got the town eating out of your hand," I told him; "you're a
+regular Mary Picklefoot. You're such a swell cook you ought to cook for
+Cook's Tours."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear what one of them said about how I rolled the rolling pin?"
+he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"She said you were the finest roller she ever saw," I said, in an
+undertone; "shh, you've got them going. There's no use trying to stand
+up against the Boy Scouts of America."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Didn't I tell them scouts have to be resourceful?" he whispered "Did
+they notice how I flopped it?"</p>
+
+<p>"They said you were the floppiest flopper they ever saw," I told him.
+"Go ahead and give them some deep stuff."</p>
+
+<p>So then we reeled off some pictures of good stunts at Temple Camp. One
+showed scouts doing fancy diving from the springboard, and there were a
+couple showing the races on the lake. The people seemed to like them a
+lot. Some of the pictures had Pee-wee in them and then there was a lot
+of applause. There was one showing the forest fire near camp; it was the
+best of all and everybody said so.</p>
+
+<p>After the show, when the people were going, they all said it was fine
+and asked us a lot of questions about Temple Camp and scouting. Pee-wee
+got down off the car and stood around with his sleeves still rolled up
+and his jacket off, and everybody talked to him. Believe me, he was a
+walking advertisement for the scouts. I heard him telling one man that
+scouts had to have plenty of initials.</p>
+
+<p>The man said, "What?"</p>
+
+<p>"Initials," Pee-wee told him; "it means<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> starting to do things of your
+own accord, see?"</p>
+
+<p>The man laughed and he said, "Oh, you mean <i>initiative</i>." He said
+Pee-wee was worth ten cents not counting the movie show.</p>
+
+<p>After most everyone else had gone, the girls all crowded around Pee-wee
+before they went back to their canoes. Oh, you should have seen that
+kid! The girl in the red sweater said, "My name is Grace Bentley and my
+friends want me to tell you what a perfectly <i>lovely</i> time we've had.
+And we think it's just <i>wonderful</i> how boy scouts are so, you know, what
+you may call it&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," Pee-wee said; "resourceful, that's what you mean."</p>
+
+<p>She said, "But you must remember that the Camp-fire Girls are new and
+we'll catch up to you yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sure," Pee-wee said; "you'll catch up with us. All you have to do
+is try. First I couldn't learn scout pace. Gee, don't get discouraged.
+If you want to do a thing just make up your mind that you'll do it. And
+if you can't do it, do it anyway."</p>
+
+<p>Gee, the rest of us just stood there trying to keep from screaming,
+while Pee-wee stood in the center of that crowd of girls, looking about
+as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> big as a toadstool, and giving them a scout lecture.</p>
+
+<p>"All you have to do is try," he said; "did you notice where I was diving
+from the springboard?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I thought it was just <i>dandy</i>," a girl said.</p>
+
+<p>"That was nothing," Pee-wee told her; "it looks hard, but that's
+nothing. There's no such word as fail; that's a what d'ye call it, a
+maxwell."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean a Ford," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"He means a Pierce-Arrow," Westy shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"He means a maxim, don't you?" the girl named Grace said. "And I think
+it's a perfectly <i>splendid</i> maxim."</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing," Pee-wee piped up; "I know a lot of maxims. I've got a
+collection of them."</p>
+
+<p>"He catches them in the woods," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you get discouraged," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"No, we won't," Grace said; "and don't you mind them, either. They're
+just teasing you. And we want to ask you if you'll do us a favor&mdash;a good
+turn. Will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Sure</i> I will," he said, very manly; "what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"We want you to <i>promise</i> to come over to <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i> to-morrow
+and cook dinner for us. And we want to ask all the rest of you boys to
+come, too. We're just a lot of <i>greenhorns</i> about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> cooking; isn't it
+<i>shameful</i> to have to admit it? But we've got everything over there,
+food and utensils, and you can make us up a <i>feast</i> and we'll spend the
+afternoon visiting. Say you will. Will you?"</p>
+
+<p><i>G&mdash;o&mdash;o&mdash;d night!</i> I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my feet. <i>Oh,
+boy</i>, you should have seen Pee-wee's face. You just ought to have seen
+it.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>PEE-WEE ON SCOUTING</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Absolutely, positively," I said; "he'll be there at ten-thirty. Do you
+want him to bring references?"</p>
+
+<p>"We should say <i>not</i>," Grace Bentley said; "the <i>idea</i>! What we saw in
+the pictures was reference enough."</p>
+
+<p><i>Good night</i>, you should have seen Pee-wee's face. He just stood there,
+gazing about as if he were in a trance.</p>
+
+<p>One of the girls said, "Won't it be <i>adorable</i>! We're going to have
+chicken."</p>
+
+<p>"Cooking chicken is his favorite indoor sport," Westy said. "How do you
+like your roast chicken; fried or stewed? It's all the same to him."</p>
+
+<p>I took out my scout note-book and made believe to write things down.
+"We'll just make up the menu," I said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden Pee-wee came out of his trance and shouted, "You mean
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Menu," I said; "yes, they mean you." Then I said, "Would you like to
+have the fried potatoes stewed, or would you prefer to have them mashed
+with the skins on?"</p>
+
+<p>One of the girls said to Pee-wee, "Don't you mind him, he's just <i>too</i>
+silly."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you prefer your fried eggs in the shells, or would you like them
+roasted in ice-water? It doesn't make any difference to him," Connie
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you pay any attention to them," Grace Bentley said to Pee-wee;
+"some of us will come over in the boat for you to-morrow morning, and
+when the dinner is ready, we want all of you to come, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, we'll hike around the shore," I said, "and get up good appetites.
+We'll be there at about twelve-sixty. We'll come around the longest way,
+so we'll get good and hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that will be just <i>lovely</i>," they said, "and we'll have a perfectly
+scrumptious time. Do you like pie? We've got a whole big jar full of
+mince meat."</p>
+
+<p>"You have to be careful about mince pie," Pee-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>wee said; "it's better,
+maybe, not to eat mince pie."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's a coward?" Westy piped up. "Do you think a scout is afraid of a
+piece of mince pie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it will be just <i>dear</i>," another one of the girls said, and then
+they all crowded around Pee-wee and began saying, "You'll <i>surely</i> be
+ready, won't you? We'll come over for you at ten o'clock. And we'll have
+everything ready for you. We've got lots of flour and seasoning&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "What kind of seasoning; summer or winter?"</p>
+
+<p>They told Pee-wee not to mind us, and that we probably wouldn't stop
+talking till our mouths were busy doing something else.</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;what&mdash;time did you say you'd come?" he began stammering.</p>
+
+<p>"At ten o'clock, and you'll be ready, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;ye&mdash;yes," he stammered out.</p>
+
+<p>"Positively?" Grace Bentley said.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;you can&mdash;you know, you never&mdash;kind of&mdash;maybe&mdash;you never can be
+sure of anything," he blurted out.</p>
+
+<p>"But say you'll <i>surely</i> come," she hammered at him. "Will you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He said, "I guess&mdash;sure&mdash;yop." And he looked all around as if he was
+going to start to run.</p>
+
+<p>"Absolutely, positively guaranteed," I told them; "a scout can be
+<i>trusted</i>."</p>
+
+<p>So then we helped them off with their boat and their canoes, and they
+started across the lake in the dark. We said we'd paddle them over and
+then hike back through the woods, but they wouldn't let us, because
+there wasn't room enough and anyway, they said they wanted to show us
+that there were some things girls could do. They rowed and paddled
+pretty good, too; I have to admit it.</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee didn't go down to the shore with the rest of us, but just stood
+where he was, like a statue. He was in a kind of a trance, I guess.</p>
+
+<p>As we came near him, Westy said, "Of course, they don't row very well,
+or paddle either, but they're <i>trying</i>. All they have to do is to
+<i>try</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sure," I said; "if you can't do a thing, just go ahead and do it
+anyway. You have to be resourceful. You have to have plenty of
+<i>initials</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you take making dressing for roast chicken, for instance," Connie
+said; "all you have to do is to know how. It's a cinch."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And if you don't know how," I said; "do it anyway. It's as easy as
+pie."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, pie's a cinch," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"Those girls will learn," I said; "they shouldn't get discouraged."</p>
+
+<p>"They should be pitied, not blamed," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden Pee-wee exploded. He sounded like a munition factory
+going up. "You think you're smart, all of you, don't you!" he hollered.</p>
+
+<p>"A scout is smart," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"A scout can do anything," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"He is resourceful&mdash;it's in the handbook," Wig said, very sober like.</p>
+
+<p>"It's in the handbook&mdash;it's in the handbook&mdash;it's in the handbook,"
+Pee-wee fairly yelled, "that a scout has to be&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Helpful," I said; "he has to be helpful to women."</p>
+
+<p>"You make me sick!" he fairly shrieked.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll be the one to make <i>us</i> sick," Westy put in.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I'm going to do that?" he fairly screamed; "do you
+think&mdash;do you think&mdash;do you think&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Three strikes out," Connie shouted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Do you think I'm a <i>fool</i>?" Pee-wee finished.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>A scout's honor is to be trusted</i>," I said; (that's scout law number
+one) "<i>if he were to violate his honor&mdash;&mdash;</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"You make me tired," Pee-wee yelled; "a scout has got to be
+<i>cautious</i>&mdash;it says so&mdash;he's got to leap&mdash;I mean look&mdash;he's, he's got to
+consider others&mdash;just because somebody that ought to know how to do a
+thing that he doesn't know how to do asks somebody to do something that
+the other person won't learn to do if the other person does it for him,
+because that isn't being resourceful, if somebody else does that thing
+for you, and so the other person doesn't learn how to do it himself&mdash;do
+you mean&mdash;do you mean to tell me&mdash;that that's being a good scout?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure it is," I told him; "it's just the same as if a person that wants
+to do something, doesn't do it because if he does, he won't. Why then,
+how could the other person do something that somebody else wanted
+another person not to do&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You'd have to have a crowbar," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"Pee-wee's right and we're wrong, as he usually is," Connie shouted.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>TO THE RESCUE</h3>
+
+
+<p>We made the plush seats up into beds that night and, oh, didn't we
+sleep, with the breeze blowing in through the windows! It was dandy.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning none of us said anything about dinner. That was funny,
+because most always that's the principal thing we talk about on Sunday
+mornings, especially at Temple Camp. Once Wig said that he guessed the
+hike around the lake through the woods would make us good and hungry,
+and I noticed Pee-wee didn't say anything. He was so still you could
+hear the silence.</p>
+
+<p>Along about ten o'clock we saw the boat coming over. Two of the girls
+were in it, and each of them was rowing with one oar. The boat went
+swirling around in circles.</p>
+
+<p>"That's what they call the waltz stroke, I guess," Connie said; "they'd
+get along better if they had some dreamy music."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Westy gave me a sly wink and said, "If you can't do a thing, do it
+anyway."</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee stood on the shore with a scowl on his face watching them. The
+girls were Grace Bentley and another one they called Pug Peters. They
+have awful funny nicknames for each other, girls do. They flopped
+against shore about fifty feet from where they intended to land, and
+they giggled as if they thought it was a lot of fun.</p>
+
+<p>"This boat reminds me of a balky horse," Pug Peters said.</p>
+
+<p>"It reminds me of a pin wheel," I told her.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you needn't talk," she said; "you started to go about five miles
+south and you landed eighty miles west&mdash;in your old car."</p>
+
+<p>"Scouts aren't afraid of long distances," I told her; "they don't bother
+with little five-mile runs."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he ready?" Grace Bentley asked.</p>
+
+<p>"A scout is always ready," Westy told her; "that's his middle name."</p>
+
+<p>"And we're not going to let him row, either," Pug Peters said.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you afraid he'll get dizzy?" I said. "Remember his little head
+is full of recipes; two heaping teaspoonfuls to a half cup of milk&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Never you mind, Walter," she called to Pee-wee (because that's his real
+name), "you just get right in."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy! Laugh! I just sat down on the bank and began to roar. Pee-wee
+didn't care anything about rowing. He didn't care about anything, I
+guess. He was in a state of cromo, or whatever you call it. He just got
+in and sat down in the stern seat as if he was going to be executed.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you going to show them how to row?" Connie called out, as the
+girls stood up in the boat, each with an oar, trying to push off.</p>
+
+<p>But Pee-wee wasn't going to show them anything.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll show <i>him</i> we can do something," they said.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon they got off and the last we saw of Pee-wee he was sitting
+like a nice little boy scout in the stern of the boat. Every time the
+boat swerved around in a circle, we could see his face, all sober and
+scowling. The boat went every which way, one girl giving a long pull and
+the other breaking her stroke and almost losing her oar. But what cared
+they, yo, ho? Sometimes the boat seemed to be coming back to us, and
+then we could see Scout Harris sitting there with his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> knees together,
+looking fierce and terrible, like Billikins with a grouch. The rowing
+wasn't much of a joke to him.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>We allowed about an hour and a half for hiking around through the woods.
+We didn't think it would take that long, but we knew the land was low
+and we guessed that the lake might run into marshes. Safety first. But
+we found a trail in the woods and it was easy going. So the way it
+happened, we got to <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i> a little before twelve instead
+of at one. It was lucky for <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i> that reinforcements
+reached the bloody scene in time to save the day&mdash;I mean the dinner.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing we saw was a good-sized tent and the next&mdash;oh,
+<i>Christopher Columbus</i>, what a sight! Talk about the West Front!</p>
+
+<p>There were girls sitting all around on the ground, simply screaming.
+Close to the fireplace, that was made out of stones, stood Pee-wee with
+a great big white apron on that went right down to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"It&mdash;it&mdash;would have been all right if I hadn't tripped," we heard him
+say; "that could happen&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Look at him," I said to the fellows; "only look at him. He looks like
+the end of a perfect day."</p>
+
+<p>All over his hair was yellow stuff, and there was flour on his face and
+all over his stockings and shoes. There were big black smootches on his
+face, too. He had a can in one hand and a girls' curling iron in the
+other and a big greasy frying pan under one arm.</p>
+
+<p>We were about a hundred feet off, among the trees, and we just stood
+there staring and trying not to scream.</p>
+
+<p>"This is terrible," Westy said; "what do you suppose happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"What's he doing with the curling iron?" Wig whispered.</p>
+
+<p>I just leaned against a tree and shook and shook till my head ached.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "I don't know what he's doing with the curling iron, but I
+think&mdash;wait a minute till I can speak&mdash;oh, oh, oh&mdash;I <i>think</i> he tripped
+over the apron while he was trying to flop an omelet and the omelet came
+down on his head. Don't speak to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"He's suffering from shell shock or something," Connie said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Not shell shock, <i>omelet</i> shock," I told him; "this is&mdash;gh&mdash;gh&mdash;astly.
+I wonder what became of the ch&mdash;ch&mdash;ch&mdash;icken!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER</h3>
+
+
+<p>Then we all marched in, just as if nothing had happened&mdash;you know, kind
+of careless like.</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "Good morning, it's a beautiful afternoon this evening. Is
+dinner ready?"</p>
+
+<p>The girls just couldn't speak, they were laughing so hard. Two of them
+were trying to pluck the feathers out of a couple of chickens, and by
+that I knew the worst hadn't happened. But they weren't paying much
+attention to their work; they were just bending backward and forward and
+screaming.</p>
+
+<p>"L&mdash;l&mdash;look at him!" Grace Bentley just blurted out; "it's too
+<i>excruciating</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Pee-wee, don't ever quote the handbook to me again. '<i>A scout
+is kind.</i>' You have deliberately murdered that poor omelet. Don't ever
+say you don't believe in frightfulness."</p>
+
+<p>"You make me tired!" he yelled. "Didn't you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> tell me the way
+to flip&mdash;flop&mdash;didn't you say to catch&mdash;didn't you say to
+toss&mdash;graceful&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I said to toss it up gracefully," I told him, "and to let it turn over
+in the air and then to catch it <i>inside</i> the pan. But tell me this,
+<i>please</i>, so I can die in peace; what are you doing with the curling
+iron?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was going to open&mdash;he was going to open&mdash;a&mdash;a&mdash;can," the girl they
+called Billie said, all the while trying not to laugh; "oh, dear me!"</p>
+
+<p>"He wanted us to cut the chicken up to fr&mdash;fr&mdash;fr&mdash;fr&mdash;<i>fry</i>!" Grace
+Bentley screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he's a regular cut-up," Connie told her.</p>
+
+<p>"He sm&mdash;sm&mdash;<i>ashed</i> the potatoes so they&mdash;oh, just look at them!" one of
+the others managed to blurt out.</p>
+
+<p>The kettle full of mashed potatoes looked as if a bomb had fallen into
+it; there were gobs of mashed potatoes all around on the trees and
+ground for about ten feet. It looked like a snowstorm.</p>
+
+<p>"He flavored the onions with mosquito dope&mdash;cit&mdash;citronella," Pug Peters
+shrieked.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," Wig said; "a scout is resourceful."</p>
+
+<p>"You all make me tired!" Pee-wee yelled; "how can you flip when you
+trip&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Walter," I said, very gentle and kind like, "take off your apron and
+ask for an armistice. It's your only hope; unconditional surrender.
+Here, give me the frying pan; look at the grease all down your leg,
+you're a sight."</p>
+
+<p>I began gathering up the gobs of omelet from his head and his shoulders,
+while the girls sat on the ground all around and just laughed and
+laughed. Honest, I thought Pug Peters would have a fit, she laughed so
+hard. Grace Bentley nearly had hysterics.</p>
+
+<p>"How can you&mdash;tell me this&mdash;&mdash;?" Pee-wee yelled; "how can you
+trip&mdash;flip&mdash;if you flop&mdash;I mean trip&mdash;you make me sick. That could
+happen&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, it could happen to Edison," I said; "you should worry. Get your
+apron off and your face washed before some of us die."</p>
+
+<p>Poor kid, he was a wreck. We washed him up and brushed and cleaned his
+suit the best we could and collected all the odds and ends of omelet.
+Westy wanted to try to fit them together like a picture puzzle. That
+omelet looked like the map of Europe after the war. But one thing, the
+chickens were saved. In another ten minutes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> I suppose, odds and ends
+of chicken would have been flying in the air.</p>
+
+<p>Pug Peters said she was sorry, because she had been wanting to eat some
+of that omelet to see how it tasted. She said it had maple syrup in it.
+<i>Good night!</i> Grace Bentley told us there was peppermint extract in it,
+too. Anyway, it had an awful death.</p>
+
+<p>From all we heard, about the only thing Pee-wee didn't use for flavoring
+was fountain pen ink. There was a bottle of glue there and I don't know
+how he happened to miss that. The mashed potatoes were flavored with
+strawberry, but they weren't so bad. The onions had a funny taste, too;
+kind of like pineapple. He had made some fried muffins, the same way
+that I usually did, and Westy and Connie and I had a good game of one
+o'cat with one of them. Westy knocked a home run and even that didn't
+break it.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the girls could manage to talk straight, they got busy
+plucking the chickens and we cut them up and fried them. Pee-wee retired
+from his strenuous career of cook and just sat by and watched us. He
+didn't say much. A scout knows when to keep still.</p>
+
+<p>Maybe you think we didn't have a good dinner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> but mm-<i>mmm</i>, that
+chicken was good. We boiled some more onions and added them to the
+others, so the pineapple flavoring wasn't so strong, and I flopped some
+flapjacks. I can make a flapjack do three summersaults and catch it. We
+ate the muffins, too, even though they were hard, because scouts are
+supposed not to be scared of things that are hard. They tasted sweet
+kind of, like marshmallows, and we decided that Scout Harris had used
+powdered sugar by mistake, instead of flour. Anyway, he said powdered
+sugar and flour looked alike. Especially we thought that was what he had
+done, because the sugar can had flour in it, and we put flour in our
+coffee. But anyway, it wasn't coffee. It was Indian meal. We should
+worry.</p>
+
+<p>The girls were awful nice and I guess they were glad of everything that
+happened, because it made so much fun. Pee-wee didn't lose his pull with
+them, anyway, that was sure. They said he was <i>just simply
+excruciating</i>. Pug Peters said that anyway, the principal thing was for
+a scout to know how to eat, and Pee-wee didn't fall down there, you can
+bet.</p>
+
+<p>A scout is hungry.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>A WILD-CAT RIDE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Now you'd think that after what happened, our young hero, P. Harris,
+wouldn't go hunting for any more glory for a couple of days. But late
+that very afternoon, he performed one of his most famous feats. It was
+an accident, but anyway, he scooped up all the credit. That's always the
+way it is with Pee-wee; things go his way, and then all of a sudden, zip
+goes the fillum, he's a boy hero.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner that afternoon, we took a walk through the woods with the
+girls and helped them get some birch-bark, because they wanted to make
+birch-bark ornaments. It's dandy taking walks on Sundays. We got some
+hickory nuts, too. I said we'd climb the trees, because girls couldn't
+do things like that and scouts could climb. I said, "A scout is a
+monkey."</p>
+
+<p>"Girls can do lots of things, too," Pee-wee<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> piped up, oh, so nice and
+gallant; "do you mean to tell me girls aren't monkeys&mdash;too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't, you'll start my head aching again," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you said we were monkeys," Pug Peters said; "you're perfectly
+<i>horrid</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, because on account of climbing," he said; "because they know
+how to climb. I mean, <i>you</i> know, the ones that know how to climb&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Baboons," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," Pee-wee piped up; "<i>No</i>, not baboons, you make me sick!"</p>
+
+<p>"We accept your apology," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Every time Pee-wee opens his mouth he puts his foot in it&mdash;and then
+blames somebody else.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon we left the girls at their camp. We said we'd come
+over to see them next day&mdash;that was Columbus Day. But the way it
+happened, we didn't see them again until a long time afterwards, and
+that's going to be in another story. So if you like girls, you'd better
+be sure to get the next story. Gee whiz, I used to make fun of girls,
+but anyway, I like them a lot. Pee-wee says they're so kind of hospital;
+he means hospitable. And I'll always remember <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> you
+can bet. Because we had more than a good smile there; we had a good
+laugh. Girls are all right.</p>
+
+<p>Then we hiked along the woods' path that led around the lake, back to
+Ridgeboro. Our car looked mighty nice and cosy, you can bet, as we came
+along.</p>
+
+<p>"We're having a mighty good time here," Connie said; "I'll be sorry when
+we have to drag ourselves away."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't have to drag ourselves away," I told him; "all we have to do
+is to sit still and be dragged away."</p>
+
+<p>"This is the life," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>Connie said, "Sure, life on the rails; it's got life on the ocean wave
+beaten a hundred ways. When do you suppose they'll pick us up?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tuesday morning is the first freight," I told him. "There's a passenger
+train to-morrow night, but it doesn't stop here, see?" And I showed him
+the time table.</p>
+
+<p>"We should worry," I said; "we've got nearly twenty dollars from the
+movie show. I've got Mr. Temple's fifty sealed up in an envelope; we're
+supposed to forget that. Guess I might as well keep the time table,
+hey?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I bet it's fun living on the railroad," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to be a brakeman," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"That would be a good job for you," I told him; "you make so many
+breaks. I think you ought to be cook on a dining car."</p>
+
+<p>"It's dangerous working on a railroad," Connie said; "lots of men lose
+their lives; sometimes they lose their hands or their fingers, too."</p>
+
+<p>"If you lose your life, what's the use of keeping your fingers?" Westy
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I said; "they would only be a nuisance."</p>
+
+<p>"But I mean it," Connie said; "I heard that. If a man works on a
+railroad long enough he gets killed."</p>
+
+<p>"If he lives long enough he dies," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a large percentage of mortality," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"A large which of whatness?" I asked him; "stand up and speak clearly so
+all the class can hear."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," he said; "it's true."</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right if you have your private car," Wig said. "All you have
+to do is to sit back and take it easy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sure, if you're in your private car it's all right," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>By that time we had come to the car and Pee-wee was the first one to go
+up the steps. Now I don't know whether maybe it was because we had been
+talking about railroading that Pee-wee thought he'd play brakeman, but
+anyway, like the crazy kid he was, as soon as he was on the platform he
+grabbed the wheel that's connected with the brake and turned it out of
+its ratchet and twirled it around, shouting, "All aboard! All aboard!"</p>
+
+<p>"Let that thing alone," I said, as the rest of us passed into the car.</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't any spark in it," he shouted. Crinkums, that kid is crazy.</p>
+
+<p>He followed us into the car and we all sprawled down into seats, because
+we were good and tired.</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "Oh, boy, it's good to sit down. I wonder if our friend Eb
+Brewster was here. Next stop is the Land of Nod. I don't want any
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>G&mdash;o&mdash;o&mdash;d night!</i>" Connie said; "I'll be hanged if we're not moving."</p>
+
+<p>Just then, I looked out and saw the closed up store sneaking slowly
+away.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/facing-096.png" width="294" height="465" alt="facing096" title=""></img>
+<p class="caption">WIG AND I GRABBED THE WHEEL AND TURNED IT AS FAST AS WE
+COULD.<br />
+<i>Ray Blakeley's Camp on Wheels.</i> <i>Page <a href="#Page_97">97</a></i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Bye-bye, Ridgeboro," Wig shouted; "see you later."</p>
+
+<p>By now the car was moving along at a pretty good clip. The store was
+'way behind us and we were rolling sweetly down a grade into a kind of
+jungle of bushes and tree stumps.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night!" I said; "The plot grows thicker. Where are we at?"</p>
+
+<p>We fell all over each other getting out to the platform, and Wig and I
+grabbed the wheel and turned it as fast as we could, tightening up the
+chain.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you said it didn't have any spark in it," I said to Pee-wee.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I <i>thought</i> it didn't," he blurted out; "where are we going?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ask me something easy," I said; "get out of the way. Grab hold of this,
+Westy, and pull for all you're worth."</p>
+
+<p>We had the chain tight now and it was only a case of pulling the brakes
+tight against the wheels, but, oh, boy, that takes some strength. We
+were rolling along an old pair of rails that were buried under grass and
+bushes and sometimes we couldn't even see them. It was a regular jungle.
+I guess maybe they used to back freight cars down there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> after lumber.
+But it must have been a long time ago, because the stumps were old and
+the place was all overgrown. Anyway, that track that we had been left on
+was more than just a switch siding, that was sure.</p>
+
+<p>First I didn't mind so much, because things like that are all in the
+game, and I thought it would be easy to stop the car. There was hardly
+any grade at all where the train had left us, that was sure, but it
+doesn't take much of a grade to start things moving on tracks. I guess
+that's why they always tighten the brakes when they leave a car. And if
+there's one person that knows how to start things, it's Pee-wee. That's
+his favorite recreation.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, now we saw that we were in a pretty bad fix. The grade was good
+and steep now and we were moving pretty fast, and no matter how hard we
+pulled on the wheel, it didn't seem to make the car slow down. I have to
+admit I was getting a little scared. I guess the other fellows were,
+too.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe the thick brush will slow us down," Westy said; "it's awful
+thick, ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"Not when we've got a start like this," I told him; "we're just cutting
+it all to pieces."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Maybe one of us could jump off and put a log on the track," Pee-wee
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and what would happen to the car, and us maybe?" Connie asked him.
+"You've done mischief enough for one day. <i>Look ahead there!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Jumping Christopher! There, about a hundred feet in front of us was a
+road crossing the tracks and a little further, beyond the road, was some
+water. I guess it was an arm of the lake. Anyway, the tracks ran right
+downhill to the very edge of it. The car was going too fast for us to
+jump off now.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD</h3>
+
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer we rolled, all the while yanking for dear life on the
+wheel. All of a sudden I had a thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Run through to the back platform and if the wheel there is loose,
+tighten up that one, too. Quick!" I said.</p>
+
+<p>Connie and Westy ran pell-mell through the car and I heard the jangling
+of the chain there and I could hear Connie say, "Quick! Pull
+hard&mdash;<i>harder</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, after a few seconds the car began slowing down.</p>
+
+<p>"Pull with all your might," I said to the fellows with me; "you fellows,
+too," I called out; "she's letting up; pull&mdash;<i>hard</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>The car kept slowing down.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Yank! Hard!</i>" Connie called through to us, "and hold on. Brace your
+feet."</p>
+
+<p>The car moved slower, slower; then stopped.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Kick the ratchet-pin in&mdash;hurry up!" somebody said, and I pushed it into
+place with my foot.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, let go."</p>
+
+<p>The car was standing right square across the road, but anyway, that was
+better than being in the water. Any port in a storm, hey?</p>
+
+<p>I guess our nerves were all pretty much unstrung, anyway, I know my
+hands were good and sore.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought we were goners," Westy said; "this is a nice place to stop.
+It's good they don't have any traffic cops here."</p>
+
+<p>"I should worry where we stop," I said; "it's better than the lake. We
+stopped here because we stopped here. I never knew that Brewster's
+Centre had so much pep in it. This old station will go up in the air
+next. What do you say we get an anchor?"</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we?" Pee-wee piped up.</p>
+
+<p>"We're <i>here</i>, that's all I can tell you," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"If you want to know where <i>here</i> is, look in the geography."</p>
+
+<p>"We're neither here nor there," Westy said; "look at my hands, they're
+all blisters."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do we go from here?" Connie wanted to know.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I guess we take a southwesterly course and flow into the sink," I told
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Brewster's Centre ran away from home," Wig said. "Lost, strayed or
+stolen. We don't know where we are; we're in the middle of the road.
+Just like we said before, we're here, because we're here."</p>
+
+<p>We all sat down on the steps of the platform and Wig started singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oh, there was the Duke of Yorkshire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He had ten thousand men;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He marched them up the hill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And he marched them down again.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when they're up, they're up,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And when they're down, they're down;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when they're only half way up,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They're neither up nor down."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Pretty soon, while we were sitting there, we all started to make up
+words to the same tune, and after a while this is what we got to
+singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Oh, there was young Pee-wee Harris (Cook),<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That ran a movie show.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He loosed the brake of a station-car,<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span><span class="i0">To see where he would go.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And when he'd roll, he'd roll,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when he'd stop, he'd stop.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And he stopped right in the middle of the road,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where there wasn't any traffic cop."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Suppose an automobile should come along," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a very good idea," I told him; "suppose one should."</p>
+
+<p>Westy was sitting up on the top step and he said, "Oh, Sister Anne,
+Sister Anne, I think I can see one scooting along through the woods, the
+other side of the lake."</p>
+
+<p>"Let it scoot," I said; "the only way it can get past here is to do a
+couple of double flops like Pee-wee's omelet."</p>
+
+<p>"It can't get around on account of the woods," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>"Right the first time, as usual," I told him. "<i>Over the top</i> is the
+only way. I hope it's a high-grade car, because a low-grade car could
+never get over such a high place."</p>
+
+<p>"We had a narrow escape," Wig said</p>
+
+<p>"If the machine doesn't stop, we'll stop it," Connie put in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I said, "we have a good argument."</p>
+
+<p>"Brewster's Centre is getting to be a famous name," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>Connie said, "Sure, we're getting to be known in all the highways and
+byways&mdash;especially the highways. What do you say we give a movie show
+right here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Vetoed," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>We sat on the platform steps talking and jollying each other; what did
+we care? Be it ever so much in the wrong place, there's no place like
+home. Maybe you've read stories about boys running away from home for
+adventures, but our home was a good sport, it went with us. It had a
+good name, too, Brewster's Centre. Because it was right plunk in the
+center of the road.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon Westy shouted, "Here comes the car. See it? You can see it
+right through the trees. It's green and red."</p>
+
+<p>"It'll be black and blue if it tries to get past here," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>It was a great big touring car and its bright brass lights and trimmings
+were all shiny on account of the sun setting and shining right on them.
+It came rolling along, about fifty miles an hour, out from the woods,
+and then even faster as it hit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> it up along the straight road. Oh, boy,
+didn't it just eat up the miles!</p>
+
+<p>I guess it must have been getting over the ground at about sixty per,
+when it began slowing down and stopped about a dozen yards from our car.
+Oh, bibbie, that was some peachy machine.</p>
+
+<p>There were two young fellows in it, and I could see that they were
+pretty tough looking. Both of them wore sweaters and one had on one of
+those peaked caps like tough fellows in the movies always wear. They
+waited just a minute and spoke to each other very excited like. Then
+they both looked around, back along the road.</p>
+
+<p>Next, the fellow with the cap jumped down in a big hurry and looked back
+along the road, better than he could do in the car. He seemed awful kind
+of scared and excited. He came over toward us, walking kind of sideways,
+you know, tough.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "What's the matter here? Why don't they move this car? Yez are
+blockin' up the road, yez are. Where's the en-jine?"</p>
+
+<p>I wasn't scared of him. I said, "The en-jine is having a nap. Don't talk
+so loud or you'll wake it up."</p>
+
+<p>"Yez are a pretty fresh lot, ain't yez?" he said. "Where's the men
+belongin' ter this she-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>bang, anyway? Yez is blockin' traffic." Then he
+looked up the road again and said to the other fellow: "Don't see
+nuthin' of 'em, do yer? Keep your eyes peeled." He seemed awful nervous
+and in a hurry.</p>
+
+<p>Just then I noticed Westy get up and step down off the car. "Get them
+inside if you can," Westy whispered as he passed me.</p>
+
+<p>I didn't know for the life of me what he meant. But there's something
+about Westy, he's awful kind of thoughtful. Maybe you've read how a
+scout is supposed to be observant. Well, that's Westy all over.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>WESTY</h3>
+
+
+<p>I said to the fellow, "The railroad hasn't got anything to do with this
+car; it belongs to us. And you can bet we weren't thinking about where
+it stopped, either. It's better to be here than in the lake."</p>
+
+<p>He just shouted to the other fellow, "Come here, hurry up!" Then he
+craned his neck and looked back along the road. The other fellow got
+down from the auto in a hurry and came to the car, looking behind him
+all the while.</p>
+
+<p>One thing, I could see that those fellows were scared and in a terrible
+hurry, and I decided that probably they had stolen the machine. I
+thought that, not only because they were always looking back, because
+they might have expected to be chased just for speeding, but because
+they were so tough looking. Anyway, they were pretty low-grade fellows
+to be in such a high-grade car, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> was one sure thing. Besides, I
+knew that the fellow that was running that car wasn't the regular
+chauffeur, because the regular chauffeur of a car always kind of slides
+out very easy without rubbing against the steering gear. One thing sure,
+you can always tell if a man is used to running a car, especially some
+particular car.</p>
+
+<p>Both fellows were on the platform now, and the one that came first said,
+"What yez doin' here; blockin' the road?"</p>
+
+<p>I guess I shouldn't have told them anything, but I said, "We rolled down
+from near the store up there and it was lucky we managed to stop right
+here, or we'd have been in the lake. It's no easy job managing those
+brakes."</p>
+
+<p>"No?" he said, kind of funny, and then looked at the other fellow.</p>
+
+<p>Then they both went inside and I could see one of them looked out of the
+window up the road, while the other threw his cap on the floor and put
+on Connie's scout hat that was hanging in the car. He whispered to the
+other fellow and then the other fellow turned around and grabbed Wig's
+hat off his head and put it on his own head.</p>
+
+<p>"Run her down, that's the only thing," one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> them said; "and blamed
+quick about it, too. You kids git off'er this car if you don't want to
+be drowned."</p>
+
+<p>I saw what they were going to do. They went out on the other platform
+and kicked the ratchet out and let the wheel spin. But the car didn't
+move. Then they came through to do the same thing to the other one. They
+were going to start the car and jump off. I knew it would start right
+away, because the grade was so steep. I stood right there in the aisle,
+blocking their way and I said:</p>
+
+<p>"This car belongs to us and you're not going to run it into the lake.
+Maybe you heard of Mr. John Temple; he gave it to us. If you start it,
+you won't be able to stop it. Maybe it's worth more than that auto for
+all you know. Anyway, it is to us, and you're not going to run it into
+the lake&mdash;you're not."</p>
+
+<p>He just swore and hit me in the face and I went staggering against one
+of the seats. Everything went all whizzing around and for a couple of
+seconds my head buzzed so that I couldn't stand up straight. But even
+still I wasn't scared of him and I followed them and the other fellows
+out onto the other platform.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Git off the car, all of yez," I heard one of them say.</p>
+
+<p>My head was buzzing and I felt awful cold and queer like, but I had
+sense enough to notice Westy sitting there on the railing of the
+platform, dangling his legs. I guess he must have been waiting there. As
+long as I live, I'll never forget how calm and quiet he was, and not
+scared of them at all. I was so dizzy from the crack on the head that
+fellow gave me, that I had to hold on to the railing and Westy looked as
+if he were shaking as he sat on it. But it was only because I was dizzy.
+I saw the two fellows grab the wheel and Connie and Pee-wee and Wig jump
+off the car. But Westy didn't move, only sat there swinging his legs and
+kind of smiling at those two.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a couple of big cowards, that's what you are," he said; "to hit
+a fellow his size. And you're a couple of crazy fools, too. That's what
+you are; a couple of low down fools and cowards&mdash;and thieves."</p>
+
+<p>For just a second they let go the wheel and stared at him, but he didn't
+move; just sat there watching them and swinging his legs.</p>
+
+<p>"And what's the use of going to all that trouble?" Westy said. "You'll
+only make it worse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> for yourselves. Do you think that boy scouts are
+fools, just because you can hit one of them on the head and knock him
+out of your way? I've got two good snapshots of both of you and I hid
+the camera, and if you choked me, I wouldn't tell you where it is. See?
+That old Pierce-Arrow is here because it's here. See? And it's going to
+stay here, too. I just threw your spark plugs into the lake. If you
+hadn't been a couple of big fools you wouldn't have stepped inside this
+car. <i>Steal a Pierce-Arrow!</i> You make me laugh. You couldn't even get
+away with a Ford."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<h3>TAKING IT EASY</h3>
+
+
+<p>And he just sat there, swinging his legs and laughing. It was as good as
+a circus to see him.</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, run," he said; "it won't do you any good. Sink this car in
+the lake if you want to. That'll just mean a longer time in jail. We
+should worry. You thought a boy scout didn't know how to hit back,
+didn't you? Let's see you start the machine. You're a couple of circus
+clowns, that's what you are. You ought to be a pair of villains in the
+movies. Head hurt much, Roy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so bad now," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Gee whiz, those fellows didn't wait long. Before Westy was finished
+speaking they were off the car and headed into the woods. That was the
+last we saw of them, then.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever hear of a thief stopping to have his picture taken?" Westy
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"If they'd have only stayed a little longer, we could have got them in
+the movie camera and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> we could have a play called <i>The Robbers'
+Regret</i>," Pee-wee piped up, "or, <i>The Missing Spark Plugs</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they're not missing," Westy said; "they're just hiding, disguised
+as an oil can. Waste not, want not, hey?"</p>
+
+<p>Do you know what that fellow had done&mdash;all while we were in the car? Talk
+about a scout being quick! He had got the snapshots while those two
+fellows were on the platform. Then he had hid the camera in the bushes.
+But he wanted to make sure that they wouldn't find the plugs, so he put
+them into an oil can that he had found under the hood of the machine and
+tied a piece of wire to the can. He tied the other end of the wire to
+the root of a bush on the shore. And all that he did while the fellows
+were in the car. What do you know about that?</p>
+
+<p>So now he just fished them up and cleaned them out and put them back
+where they belonged. Then we all sat in the Pierce-Arrow waiting to see
+what would happen next. Right in front of us was that old car with the
+sign all along its side.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Buffalo 398 Mls.&mdash;BREWSTER'S CENTER&mdash;N. Y. 30 Mls.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon we got to singing, and for a little while everybody was
+singing something different from everybody else, but after a few minutes
+we got settled down to this:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There was the Brewster's Centre car,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That traveled here and there;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It had a lot of adventures, too,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And we don't have to pay any fare.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when it's here, it's here,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And when it's there, it's there;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when it isn't any place,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Why then it's everywhere.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And if it isn't on the ground,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">You'll find it up in the air;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And if it goes to the moon or Mars,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A plaguey lot we care!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"You can talk about tents and log cabins and house-boats and things,"
+Connie said; "but I'm for that old car. It's stood by <i>us</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Stood!" I said. "Good night, it hasn't stood very long anywhere; not
+since we had it."</p>
+
+<p>"It's full of pep," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"Always on the go," I told him; "it's different from other cars. It
+reminds me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> of Pee-wee. I wonder where we'll go next."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, I wonder what's the next step in our itinerary," Connie said.
+Boy, but that fellow is some high brow.</p>
+
+<p>"Our whaterary?" I asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway, it's nice sitting here," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder who it belongs to?" Pee-wee said. "I bet it belongs to a rich
+millionaire."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, or a poor one," Connie said. "There's only one thing I don't like
+about this Pierce-Arrow, and that's that I don't own it. Otherwise, it's
+all right."</p>
+
+<p>"There's one thing <i>I</i> don't like about it," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy!" Pee-wee shouted. "What don't you like about a
+Pierce-Arrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"One great objection," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be crazy," he yelled. "You can bet I haven't got any
+objections to a Pierce-Arrow."</p>
+
+<p>"That's because you're not as honest as I am," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Who? Me?" he hollered.</p>
+
+<p>"The only thing I have against this machine is that it's stolen," I
+said. "I'm funny that way."</p>
+
+<p>"You make me sick," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd feel the same way about a flivver," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"If you took a flivver, that wouldn't be steal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>ing," Connie said; "it
+would be shoplifting."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, or pickpocketing," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know the only way to tell if a man has a Ford?" I asked Pee-wee.
+"Search him. Look how the sun is going down."</p>
+
+<p>The Brewster's Centre sign was all bright on account of the sun setting.
+It was getting dark and kind of cold and it made me homesick, sort of.
+It seemed funny to see that car standing there across that strange road,
+with the lake on one side and the thick woods on the other. The woods
+were beginning to look dark and gloomy, and the arm of the lake was all
+steel color. I was glad on account of that sign, because it seemed
+friendly, like. That's one thing about an automobile, it doesn't seem
+friendly, like. But boats do. And the old car did, that was one sure
+thing.</p>
+
+<p>Mostly scouts don't care much about railroads, because they like the
+water and they like to hike. But anyway, that old car was friendly.
+Especially it seemed friendly on account of the sun going down and the
+day beginning to die and it getting cold. You can talk about boats and
+motorcycles and tents and leaf shelters and all those things, but
+anyway, none of them were as good as that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> old car. And don't you
+forget, either, that it was Westy that saved it for us. If it hadn't
+been for him, it would have been in the lake.</p>
+
+<p>He's one real scout, Westy is.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SHERIFF ARRIVES</h3>
+
+
+<p>We were singing that crazy stuff that we had made up, when all of a
+sudden, along came an automobile with four men in it, and stopped right
+behind us. We heard one of them say, "Why, that's the car, now."</p>
+
+<p>They all jumped down and came around the big Pierce-Arrow and stood
+staring up at us. They stared at the Brewster's Centre car, too; I guess
+they didn't know what to make of it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the men said, "What's all this? What are you boys doing with that
+machine?"</p>
+
+<p>As long as none of the other fellows said anything, I spoke up and said,
+"We're boy scouts and we're sitting here."</p>
+
+<p>"Boy scouts!" he said, all flabbergasted.</p>
+
+<p>"Right the first time," I told him; "we rescued this car from two
+fellows that were trying to get away with it. You see that railroad car?
+That belongs to us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We're going to have a deed to it," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I said; "a dark and bloody deed. We just happened to be there,
+because we rolled down the grade from Ridgeboro. Believe me, I've been
+through eight different grades in school, but this one was the worst I
+ever saw. We came near taking a header into the lake, but we got the
+brakes on just in time. You get a fine view of the car from here, don't
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm the sheriff of this county," the man said. "You say you stopped
+this machine?"</p>
+
+<p>"We can stop any machine, even a Rolls-Royce," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd better ask this fellow how it was," I said, pointing to Westy.</p>
+
+<p>"We stopped them, that's all," Westy said. That was just like him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, <i>I'll</i> tell you," I said. "When they said they couldn't get
+by, they wanted to run our car down into the lake. What did they care?"</p>
+
+<p>"But we <i>foiled</i> them," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Foiled them, hey?" the sheriff said. Gee, he couldn't help smiling.</p>
+
+<p>Then I just grabbed Westy's head and pulled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> it where the men could see.
+"When they were on the railroad car," I said, "this fellow took the
+spark plugs out of the machine and hid them in the lake."</p>
+
+<p>One of the men blurted out, "What!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing," Pee-wee started; "once&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He got a couple of snapshots of them, too," I said; "maybe they'll be
+of some use to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Hey, Mister, can this machine do eighty miles an hour?" Wig piped up.</p>
+
+<p>"Seventy," the man said.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Y&mdash;a&mdash;a&mdash;h!</i> What did I tell you?" Connie said, giving him a rap on
+the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you'll be able to catch them, hey?" Connie said. "Anyway, I hope
+so, because one of them hit this fellow a good whack on the head."</p>
+
+<p>"So?" said the man. "Well, we'll take care of that pair. It won't be
+hard, with their pictures. They're a couple of the most desperate auto
+thieves and highwaymen in this state. You boys did a fine thing. You
+deserve great credit."</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing," Pee-wee said; "once when&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Which way did they go?" the men asked.</p>
+
+<p>So then we told them all there was to tell, and about our car, and about
+how we were brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> out to Ridgeboro by mistake. They were in so much
+of a hurry that I thought they'd just let our car roll down into the
+water, so that they could get by. But anyway, they didn't do that. I
+guess they liked us, because we did them a good turn.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Westy gave them the film out of his pocket camera, they
+lifted a big heavy log across the tracks near the water. They said they
+thought they could let the car roll easily against that, without any
+danger of its going on down into the water. You bet we were nervous till
+we saw them do it, and then we realized that probably those thieves
+could have done the same thing, except that they didn't care anything
+about other people's property.</p>
+
+<p>The men thought that the two fellows would cut through the woods and
+come out at a town named Skunk Hollow. Ozone Valley, that was the new
+name of it. So we all went in the two cars to that place, because a
+train stopped there at about half-past eight, and they thought that
+maybe those fellows would take the train.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know which went faster, the automobiles or Pee-wee's tongue.
+Anyway, Pee-wee's tongue was running on high. He sat behind me in the
+big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> machine, wedged in between two big deputy sheriffs, and he told
+every heroic act that scouts have done since the movement started.
+Blamed if I know how he finds those things out, but he does. He gave
+them Westy's whole history and told how Tom Slade won the gold cross and
+how burglars and highwaymen weren't safe any more, on account of the Boy
+Scouts. Every time they told him it was wonderful, he would say, "That's
+nothing," and come right back with a five reeler. Oh, boy, I thought I'd
+die, but I guess the sheriffs liked it. Anyway, they laughed a lot.</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee told them about a scout in the dismal north (that's what he
+called it) that rescued a maiden. He told them a maiden was something
+like a girl, "only more kind of pale and weak and helpless, like." I
+nearly doubled up.</p>
+
+<p>But anyway, he didn't mention cooking.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<h3>RAILROADING</h3>
+
+
+<p>When we got to the Ozone Valley station, there wasn't anything there,
+but the ozone and a couple of milk cans. The men searched all around in
+the woods and under the freight platform, but they couldn't find the two
+fellows.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you get discouraged," Pee-wee told them; "often I couldn't find
+things and then later they'd turn up."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they'll turn up," the sheriff said; "and they'll <i>go</i> up, too. Just
+give us a chance to get those films developed."</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon the train came along, going toward Skiddyunk. It was a way
+train and I guess it stopped every now and then to change its mind. It
+had a couple of baggage cars and a couple of freight cars and a
+refrigerator car and one passenger car at the end. There were only a few
+people in the car.</p>
+
+<p>The sheriffs searched the whole train, but they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> couldn't find the two
+fellows anywhere. They even searched the refrigerator car, but I didn't
+think they'd be there, because they were fresh enough without going on
+ice.</p>
+
+<p>The conductor was a big fat man; he was awful nice. When the sheriffs
+told him about us, he laughed and said, "That's funny; I have a bill for
+that car; I'm going to pick it up to-night."</p>
+
+<p>I said, "We heard there wasn't a freight on the Slopson Branch till
+Tuesday morning. We don't exactly want to go back yet."</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Well now, Sonny, you see I haven't got any say about it. I get
+a bill and that's all there is to it. There might be a freight out of
+Slopson to-morrow or the next day, and then again, there might not. You
+could come near sending the whole of Slopson by Parcels Post. I've heard
+about you kids and I've got word to look after you. You're mighty lucky
+you didn't all go kerflop into the lake."</p>
+
+<p>"How soon is there another train through here?" the sheriff asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Twelve-fifteen, if she's on time," the conductor said; "she's a through
+from Buffalo."</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me," I said; "that's one town I know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> something about&mdash;Buffalo.
+I'll never forget Buffalo, 398 Mls." They all laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"She doesn't stop here, does she?" the sheriff asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Stops at Skiddyunk for water," the conductor said. "She passes us down
+at Red Hill siding."</p>
+
+<p>The sheriff said, "I guess two of us had better watch the station here
+and be on the safe side in case she slows down, and the other two will
+go down in one of the machines and keep an eye out at Skiddyunk. They
+might get on there. We'll probably beat you to Skiddyunk, but if we
+don't, nab 'em if they get on. They're going to try to get away from
+these parts, I know that."</p>
+
+<p>I was just thinking we'd have to hike back along the road to our little
+Home Sweet Home, when the conductor said, "Hop on, you boys."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>When we got to Skiddyunk, the sheriff and one of his men were already
+there. But there wasn't any sign of the two fellows. Then the train
+started backing up along the Slopson Branch and the two sheriffs stayed
+on it. Pretty soon we were back almost to where we had started from.
+There wasn't any station at Ridgeboro, but the sheriffs looked all
+around the closed-up store, in the wood-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>shed and under the platform.
+Then the train backed down the siding and very gently bunked into the
+Brewster's Centre car. There were men swinging lights and shouting to
+each other, while one coupled our car to the train. Then there was a lot
+more shouting and swinging lights and then we started.</p>
+
+<p>We stood on the back platform of our own car and I could see the moon
+just beginning to shine on the part of the lake that we were moving away
+from. The wheels rattled, rattled; and it seemed kind of as if the car
+was saying <i>so long, so long, so long</i>&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon, away across the lake, we could see a light and we knew it
+was the fire at <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i>. Then we passed the store that was
+all closed up tight and I said, "so long, store. So long, <i>Camp Smile
+Awhile</i>." And while we stood out there on the back platform, the wheels
+kept saying, "S'long, s'long, s'long, s'long, s'long...."</p>
+
+<p>Gee whiz, I was sorry.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>CRAZY STUFF</h3>
+
+
+<p>One thing sure, those auto thieves weren't on our train; they didn't get
+on at any of those three places, Ozone Valley or Ridgeboro or Skiddyunk.
+The two sheriffs got off at Skiddyunk again, to keep a watch when the
+late train came through. The Skiddyunk Station was all dark. As we left
+it the wheels kept saying, "s'long, s'long," and pretty soon we couldn't
+see it at all, and I knew that the country where we had had so much fun
+was way back there in the dark and that probably we'd never see it any
+more.</p>
+
+<p>That was a single-track railroad and as we stood on the back platform,
+we could see the two shiny rails going away back into the dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go and sit down," I said; "I'm tired."</p>
+
+<p>We had a shoe box full of eats that the girls at <i>Camp Smile Awhile</i> had
+given us and, yum, yum, those sandwiches were good.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon a brakeman came staggering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> through, holding onto the seats.
+He had a red lantern and he hung it on the back platform. "So's the
+flyer won't bunk her nose into us," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Reg'lar private car, you kids got," he said.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "When do you think we'll get to Bridgeboro, New Jersey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Depends on the out trains from New York," he said; "we get in about
+three. No telling how long you'll stand in the yards. If you're picked
+up pretty quick, you ought to be home in time for breakfast. But there's
+no telling with a dead special."</p>
+
+<p>I said, "You don't call this car a dead one, do you? You ought to have
+seen the adventures it had."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed and said, "A dead special is a pickup. It ain't carried
+straight through. It's picked up and laid down and picked up. See?"</p>
+
+<p>"We should worry when we get home," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll get there," he said, nice and pleasant; "don't you worry."</p>
+
+<p>"Worry?" Connie said. "That must be a Greek word; I never heard it."</p>
+
+<p>He was an awful nice fellow, that brakeman.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon we were all sprawling on the seats, started on our favorite
+indoor sport, jollying Pee-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>wee. The train went through a pretty wild
+country and sometimes we could look way down into deep valleys, and
+sometimes mountains went right up straight from the tracks and seemed
+like walls outside the windows.</p>
+
+<p>Wig said, "To-morrow is Columbus Day."</p>
+
+<p>"Right the first time," I told him; "I wish we weren't going to get home
+'till Tuesday."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the difference between Tuesday?" Connie wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it a conundrum?" I said.</p>
+
+<p>"No, it's an adverb, I mean a proverb," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Tuesday and <i>what</i>?" Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Tuesday and nothing," Connie said; "just Tuesday. Ask me the answer to
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy," Pee-wee shouted; "what's the answer to it?"</p>
+
+<p>Connie said, "There isn't any answer. Want to hear another? How many
+onions are there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Where?" Pee-wee yelled.</p>
+
+<p>"Anywhere," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"That shows how much sense you have," the kid screamed.</p>
+
+<p>I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the seat.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the cause of tears?" Connie said right back at him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What?" Pee-wee asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Crying," Connie said. "Why is the sky blue?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why is it?" the kid shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't," Connie said; "look out of the window, it's black."</p>
+
+<p>"That isn't a riddle," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a fact," Connie said; "what's the answer to a question?"</p>
+
+<p>"You make me tired," the kid screamed; "what kind of a question?"</p>
+
+<p>"Any kind," Connie said; "how fast is a mile?"</p>
+
+<p>"A mile isn't fast, you crazy Indian!" Pee-wee screamed at him. "That
+shows&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All right, how slow is it then?" Connie asked him. "Suppose I have my
+picture taken."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what?" the kid blurted out.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"You said, suppose you had your picture taken," Pee-wee screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, suppose I did; what of it?" Connie laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"He's got a right to have his picture taken, hasn't he?" I said. "You
+can take mine if you'll bring it back."</p>
+
+<p>"You're all crazy," Pee-wee shouted; "you don't know a riddle when you
+see one. Do you call those riddles? A riddle is something where you ask
+a question and the answer, kind of, means something else."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/map-1.png" width="600" height="366" alt="map" title=""></img>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Precisely," Westy said; "the same as somewhere is a place you get to,
+by going to it. Deny it if you can."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there's one place I'm going to," Connie said; "and that's
+asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't mind, I'll go with you," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know how it is, but just before we turn in, we always have a lot
+of nonsense like that. I bet you think we're crazy. Pretty soon Westy
+and I were the only ones awake. He's so careful he never goes anywhere
+without thinking it over beforehand&mdash;not even to sleep. If he were going
+to go crazy, he'd have to think it all over beforehand and count ten
+first. Talk about watching your step; he has his chained. And he always
+remembers where he puts things, too. He never even loses his temper. I
+don't lose mine much, but gee whiz, I mislay it sometimes.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>UP IN THE AIR</h3>
+
+
+<p>"This is a pretty wild country," Westy said; "it's all mountains. Do you
+hear the echo of the engine?"</p>
+
+<p>Just as clear as could be, I could hear the sound of the engine echoing
+back from the mountains; the chugging and rattling sounded double, like.
+Then, pretty soon, it kind of died away.</p>
+
+<p>After about half a minute, Westy and I just sat staring at each other,
+listening.</p>
+
+<p>"That's funny," he said; "it seems to be going farther away."</p>
+
+<p>"It sounds like the trains when you hear them at Temple Camp," I said.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "That isn't our train, it's another train; it's over that way.
+We didn't hear it before, on account of ours."</p>
+
+<p>I guess neither of us said anything for about half a minute, and all the
+while we could hear the rattling of the train, away off somewhere.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I said, "Westy, we're slowing down; it feels kind of funny; do you
+notice?"</p>
+
+<p>"How?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"We're slowing down and there isn't any knocking of the cars against
+each other."</p>
+
+<p>We both listened and all the while we could hear the rattling of a train
+far away.</p>
+
+<p>"It feels just the same as it felt when we rolled down the siding," I
+said; "I don't know, kind of funny&mdash;easy like."</p>
+
+<p>He opened the window and then shouted, "<i>Look, look!</i> This car's all
+alone. Look off there."</p>
+
+<p>Away ahead of us, but a little over to one side, we could see a bright
+spot moving along and little bright dots in back of it. I knew it was
+the brightness thrown by a headlight and the lights showing through car
+windows. It was <i>our</i> train scooting along around the mountains. Our car
+kept slowing down very easy sort of, as if there was nothing pulling it
+or holding it back either. I knew the feeling, because I had been on
+that car when it was like that before. It went slower and slower and
+slower and then the wheels sounded different&mdash;sort of hollow, kind of.
+Then the car just crawled along and at last it stopped.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Look down," Westy said; "I can't see the ground. Do you hear water
+rushing?"</p>
+
+<p>I looked out of the window and down, down, down, till I couldn't see
+anything but just the dark. But I could hear water way down there.</p>
+
+<p>"We're on a high bridge," I said.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the wind blew strong and it brought the noise of that train
+near again. And it shook the bridge, too, ever so little.</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "Roy, we're a couple of hundred feet up. You know just how
+the water in Black Gully sounds up near Temple Camp. That's over two
+hundred feet."</p>
+
+<p>"What happened, do you suppose?" I asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"Coupling broke, I guess," he said. "Let's have one of those lifters
+from the stove."</p>
+
+<p>We dropped one of the iron lifters and listened to hear it fall. But all
+we could hear was a little splash, away far down.</p>
+
+<p>"This bridge must be terribly high," Westy said; "feel how it shakes in
+the wind."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a dickens of a spooky place to be," I told him; "especially in
+a strong wind."</p>
+
+<p>"You said it," Westy answered.</p>
+
+<p>Gee whiz, I've often felt kind of shaky going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> over a high bridge in a
+train, but to be left standing in the middle of one; <i>oh, boy</i>!</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go and see what happened," he said.</p>
+
+<p>We got the red lantern from the back platform of the car and went
+through to the other platform and held it down. There was nothing at all
+beneath us, except ties very far apart, and the rails and the heavy
+steel runners outside the rails. The coupling was broken, all right. I
+guess that coupling must have been an old timer.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang the lantern on the rail," Westy said, "while I get down and see
+what happened."</p>
+
+<p>"Look out what you're doing," I said; "there's two or three hundred feet
+of space below you. Watch your step."</p>
+
+<p>He lay on the platform so as to be able to reach down and look down
+where the coupling was, and find out just what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold the light down," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Gee, I can't tell you just how it happened. Westy says he was to blame
+and I say I was to blame. He said he knocked the lantern out of my hand,
+but, gee whiz, I should have kept it out of his way. Anyway, it went
+tumbling down and it went so far that it looked like just a little red
+speck. It stayed lighted till it crashed away down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> in the bottom of
+that place. And the light turned yellow and spread a little bit, then
+went out. I guess the oil spilled on a rock down there. Anyway, it
+looked like miles.</p>
+
+<p>Westy was breathing hard and I guess I was, too. He said, "Have you got
+that time table? What time did our conductor say that train from Buffalo
+comes through?"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "About midnight. We're in a pretty bad fix. I guess I'd better
+wake the fellows up, hey?"</p>
+
+<p>We were both pretty serious.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE DARK</h3>
+
+
+<p>I guess you know that was an old out-of-date car, because anyone would
+know that the railroad people wouldn't use a good car to stand on a side
+track for a makeshift station. Gee whiz, we didn't care about that, we
+even liked it, because it was old-fashioned and kind of ramshackle; it
+made it seem like a good place for camping. And if it hadn't been for
+that old stove in the corner of it, we could never have bunked in it and
+cooked our meals. Crinkums, I like old things, but not old worn-out
+couplings. Nay, nay!</p>
+
+<p>Another thing, the only lights in that car were three lamps along the
+top, but they weren't exactly lights, because the lamps were broken.
+Just the brass things were there. There was just one good lamp in a side
+bracket in the ticket agent's place, and when we started away from
+Brewster's Centre that was full of oil. But we used it all up on
+Saturday night in Ridgeboro and we couldn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> get any at the store the
+next day, on account of it being Sunday. We were going to get some on
+Monday morning, but you see we were picked up Sunday night. So now the
+only light we had was a little flashlight belonging to Connie Bennett.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Westy, this is the worst fix we were ever in. I never thought
+about anything like this when I said it was a lot of fun being pulled
+all over the country in this car. Feel how the bridge shakes in the
+wind; it's kind of spooky like, hey? If it only wasn't so dark. That
+makes it worse, not being able to see where you are at all. Listen, do
+you hear a train?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nope," he said, all the while listening; "I guess it's just because
+you're scared."</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway, there's no use wasting time," I told him; "let's wake up the
+fellows."</p>
+
+<p>That was some job. We had to roll Pee-wee off the seat onto the floor
+and then roll him out into the aisle. I guess they didn't know what we
+were talking about first, but when they knew about it, they sat up all
+right. We just sat there talking in the pitch dark.</p>
+
+<p>"What good is the flashlight?" Connie asked us. "It won't show far
+enough and the battery<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> won't hold out for more than about a half an
+hour. I hear a train now."</p>
+
+<p>No one said a word; just listened. "I heard that," Westy said; "it isn't
+a train."</p>
+
+<p>"One is likely to crash into us any minute," Wig said; "I'd rather jump
+and be done with it&mdash;the suspense."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you call that using your brains?" Pee-wee shouted. Gee whiz, when
+you come right down to it, I have to admit that kid is a bully little
+scout.</p>
+
+<p>"You couldn't walk the ties even if we could," Wig said; "you can't take
+a long enough step."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, <i>you</i> walk them and I'll stay here," the kid said.</p>
+
+<p>I reached across in the dark and hit him a good rap on the shoulder.
+"That shows there's one thing about scouting you don't know, Kiddo," I
+told him. "A scout troop is just as strong as its weakest member, just
+the same as a chain is as strong as its weakest link. We <i>will</i> use our
+brains, right up to the last minute. Don't get scared."</p>
+
+<p>We all listened to a sound we heard far off.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not scared," Pee-wee said. And even in the dark I could see his
+eyes looking straight at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> me and they looked awful brave and clear, kind
+of.</p>
+
+<p>"No use getting excited," Wig said. "Why couldn't we break up some wood
+and start a fire a few feet away from the car?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen!" Connie said; "shh&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe it would stop a train, but it would surely burn the bridge down,"
+Westy said. "The ties are wooden. There's enough wood to curl the steel
+all up into a mess of wreckage. And all that might happen before the
+train came along."</p>
+
+<p>"Could we walk the ties?" Wig asked. "Even if they're far apart we might
+help Pee-wee&mdash;&mdash;Listen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be all the time scaring me," I said, kind of mad, like. Because I
+was getting good and scared, and rattled. "Let's see your light,
+Connie."</p>
+
+<p>I held the light to the time table. "There's no station anywhere around
+here, I guess," I said; "but that flyer ought to come along pretty
+soon&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I hear it now," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you don't," I told him; "what's the use of getting us all excited?
+Sit still. If it comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> along, all we can do is to go out and lie flat
+on the ties and trust to luck. Any fellow that wants to hang by his
+hands, can do it. It would be pretty hard lifting ourselves up again
+though. But the flyer isn't coming yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I hear a whistle," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you don't hear a whistle," I told him; "that's an owl down there in
+the woods. Don't you know the call of an owl?"</p>
+
+<p>"How about freight trains?" Connie asked.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "I don't know anything about freight trains; they're not on the
+time table. Of course, we're up against it, but what's the use of going
+all to pieces? If any fellow wants to try walking the ties, he can do
+it. It would be hard enough in the daytime. On a dark night like this,
+he'd just go crashing down into all those rocks and water, that's all.
+Maybe the chances are against us, but I say, let's stick together."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I say," Pee-wee shouted; "we've always stuck together. I
+say <i>stick together</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Bully for you, Kid," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a lot of fun anyway," he said; "and I always voted for you for
+patrol leader. I'm not scared."</p>
+
+<p>I got up, because I just couldn't sit there any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> more. Every time the
+wind blew and the car rattled, it gave me a start. I put my arm over
+Pee-wee's shoulder and I said, "I've jollied you a lot, Walt."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind that," he said; "and besides, a scout is brave."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a better scout than any of us, I guess," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Then I went out onto the platform, because I just couldn't keep still. I
+remembered what Connie had said about all the men that lose their lives
+working on railroads. Anyway, Pee-wee was right, we had had a lot of
+fun. I guess we never thought about the other side of it. I looked away
+down into the dark and I could just hear the water splashing on the
+rocks. I had to grab hold of the railing when the wind blew. I looked
+away off along the tracks, but I couldn't even see where the bridge
+ended; only I could see a kind of a big patch of dark that was blacker
+than the regular dark, and I thought it was a mountain. I guessed maybe
+a headlight would show suddenly around that. Connie came out, but didn't
+say anything, and then went back through to the other platform. I could
+hear frogs croaking, away down.</p>
+
+<p>"Going to watch?" I called after him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He said, "We're going to hang from the ties when we hear it."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," I told him; "it's awful dark. I can't see a thing."</p>
+
+<p>I heard one of the fellows inside say that maybe the wind would start
+the car, but I knew that was crazy talk, because a bridge is always
+level. I made up my mind that I'd hang from one of the ties and clasp my
+hands around it. I knew that it would be hard pulling myself up and
+scrambling onto the bridge again; <i>all</i> of us wouldn't manage it, that
+was sure. It seemed kind of funny that probably we wouldn't have a full
+patrol any more. I wasn't exactly scared but, kind of, I didn't like to
+hear those frogs croaking way down there. It sounded so spooky.</p>
+
+<p>I heard Westy say, "So long, Roy, if I don't see you again."</p>
+
+<p>I called in for him to keep the kid near him. He was always my special
+chum, Westy was....</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2>
+
+<h3>WALTER HARRIS, SCOUT</h3>
+
+
+<p>All of a sudden, somebody was standing near me on the platform and
+clutching my arm. It was Pee-wee.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out you don't fall, Kid," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't tell any of them," he whispered. "Listen, I've got an idea. I
+was&mdash;all the while I was trying to use my brains. But anyhow, I don't
+know just how we can do it, but you can find a way, so then really it'll
+be <i>your</i> idea. Shh&mdash;I want the fellows to think it's your idea; see?
+Shh! Why can't we use the movie apparatus, some way; why can't we? And
+flash it to them."</p>
+
+<p>"You said it!" I fairly yelled.</p>
+
+<p>"Shh&mdash;h," he whispered; "I always voted for you; listen, it's <i>your</i>
+idea, see? Because I don't know just how&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy, I just grabbed that kid around the neck, till I could feel his
+curly head right tight close to me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What should I '<i>shh</i>' about?" I shouted. "You little brick! What are
+you whispering about? <i>Pee-wee's hit it!</i>" I just fairly shouted. "We're
+all right. Get in the car," I yelled at him, and I gave him a push.
+"Telling your patrol leader to shut up, are you?"</p>
+
+<p>Then I called him back again, I just couldn't help it, and I grabbed him
+around the neck and I just held him that way.</p>
+
+<p>"You <i>bully</i>, <i>tip-top</i> little scout," I said; "you&mdash;you little Silver
+Fox! You&mdash;you've saved all of us."</p>
+
+<p>"And we can <i>always</i> stick together, hey?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure,&mdash;oh, sure," I told him; "you bet!"</p>
+
+<p>Gee whiz, all we needed was the idea. All the rest of the ideas came to
+us quick enough.</p>
+
+<p>"There's oil in the movie lamp," Wig yelled.</p>
+
+<p>"Break one of the windows," I said; "<i>quick</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"What for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind what for. Get a piece of glass," I hollered. "Pick out two
+long sticks&mdash;hurry up."</p>
+
+<p>It didn't take us long to decide just how we'd do.</p>
+
+<p>"Two <i>long</i> ones," I said; "don't be listening for trains."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Crash went a window. "I've got a good piece," Pee-wee yelled.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, blacken it with the movie lamp," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy, we were some busy crew. The wood that had been nailed up under
+the car in Brewster's Centre was in long strips, and we hauled a couple
+of the longest ones out double quick. It wasn't exactly my idea, what we
+did; it was all of our ideas, I guess. We planned it out while we were
+hustling.</p>
+
+<p>One of those long strips we stuck out of the window and then held it up
+outside. One end of it was inside the car, resting on the seat, and the
+other end pointed up as straight as we could hold it outside. It reached
+up past the roof. Two of us held it that way, while two others did the
+same thing with another one through the window just opposite. So you see
+those two long strips stuck up, one on either side of the roof. They
+didn't stand up straight on account of sticking down through the
+windows, but they slanted away from each other up above. It took four of
+us to hold them that way.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/facing-150.png" width="272" height="425" alt="facing150" title=""></img>
+<p class="caption">SPRAWLING RIGHT ACROSS THAT SHEET WAS THE WORD <i>STOP</i>.<br />
+<i>Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels.</i> <i>Page <a href="#Page_150">150</a></i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p>
+<p>While we were doing that, Pee-wee had the little movie lamp turned up so
+it smoked and he held the piece of glass over it until it was all black
+with soot. Pee-wee was all black with soot, too. A scout is thorough. In
+two minutes more, I guess, he would have been disguised as a negro.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn it down," I said; "that's enough. Are you game to climb up on the
+car? Get the sheet and the rope, quick."</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee was game for anything. You never saw him back down, did you? Not
+even&mdash;but never mind. That's a thing of the past. In five seconds that
+little monkey was up on top of the car with the screen cloth and the
+rope that we always used to hang it from. I called up out of the window
+for him to look out.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see any trains," he shouted down.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean look out for yourself," I said. "Tie the rope across from one
+stick to the other as high as you can reach," Wig shouted; "and be
+careful when you stand up."</p>
+
+<p>"That's nothing," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>In less than half a minute the sticks stood up all right without being
+held, and we knew that they were tied together and bent enough toward
+each other so that they would stand up good and solid. Then we told him
+to sit down, because we didn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> want him standing and reaching up to fix
+the sheet.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go up," I said.</p>
+
+<p>When I got up on the roof, Pee-wee and I hooked the sheet to the rope
+all the way across and tied it to the sticks at the bottom, so it
+wouldn't blow. Then we dangled the end of rope down past the window just
+below, and the fellows tied the movie apparatus to it, and we hauled it
+up. There was a kind of a tank lying flat on the roof and fastened
+tight, and we stood the apparatus close against that, and kept close to
+it ourselves to keep from slipping and falling off. Jiminies, I've heard
+of tramps riding on the tops of cars like that, but believe me, I
+wouldn't want to be on the top of one while it was going.</p>
+
+<p>With my little finger I printed the word STOP in good big black letters
+on the smoked glass.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," Pee-wee said; "shh; do you hear a train?"</p>
+
+<p>I listened. "I guess it's just the fellows down in the car," I said.
+"Have you got matches?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've got four pockets full of them," he said. Even then I had to laugh.
+A scout is thorough.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," he said; "I think it's a train."</p>
+
+<p>Away off I could hear a rattling sound, very low and quick&mdash;<i>tkd</i>,
+<i>tkd</i>, <i>tkd</i>, <i>tkd</i>, <i>tkd</i>, <i>tkd</i>, <i>tkd</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> <i>tkd</i>; then all of a sudden a
+long, shrill whistle. And I could hear it again, very low, echoing from
+the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>She's coming!</i>" Connie shouted up.</p>
+
+<p>"We should worry," I hollered down.</p>
+
+<p>But just the same my hand trembled as I put the piece of glass into the
+apparatus, and held it there in place.</p>
+
+<p>There wasn't any sign of light anywhere, the cloth stayed as dark as
+pitch.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter?" Pee-wee asked, all breathless.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't work," I said. I could hardly speak, and cold shudders were
+going all through me.</p>
+
+<p>Away far off, there came a big patch of light on one of the mountains,
+so that we could even see the trees off there. It was from the headlight
+of a locomotive that we couldn't see yet. I guess it was coming around
+the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>"All right?" Westy called up out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't work, Westy," I said.</p>
+
+<p>I could hardly speak, my throat felt so queer, sort of.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2>
+
+<h3>"POTS"</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Did you take the cap off?" Westy called up. Thoughtful little Westy!</p>
+
+<p>"G&mdash;o&mdash;o&mdash;d night," I said; "I never took the cap off the lens
+cylinder."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe that was the reason," Pee-wee said, in that innocent way of his.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just possible," I said.</p>
+
+<p>I took off the cap and, oh, <i>Christopher Columbus</i>, wasn't I happy!
+Sprawling right across that sheet was the word STOP in good big letters.
+Believe me, that was my favorite word. STOP. It showed far enough in
+both directions for an engineer to see it in time to come to a full
+stop.</p>
+
+<p>"Will they see it?" Pee-wee asked me, all excited.</p>
+
+<p>"If the engineer isn't dead, he'll see it," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe we ought to have said <i>please</i>, hey? A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> scout is supposed to be
+polite," he said. I just had to sit back and laugh, right there on the
+roof of that car. Cracky, but that kid is a scream.</p>
+
+<p>One funny thing was that from the train the word would show wrong side
+around. It would show the right way from one direction and the wrong way
+from the other direction.</p>
+
+<p>"It will read POTS," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe he won't stop, hey?" the kid asked me.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure he will," I said; "how does he know how big the pots are? It will
+knock him silly when he sees that."</p>
+
+<p>Even beyond the screen, away over against a hill, we could see the word
+POTS printed very dim and small. Only the P was wrong side around.</p>
+
+<p>But anyway, safety first; so I kept moving the glass so the word danced
+around. An engineer who couldn't have seen that must have been blind.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon, along she came, and we could see the headlight now, good
+and clear, and hear her thundering along as if she should worry about
+anything. <i>Rattle</i>, <i>bang</i>, she went, and roaring and clanking as if
+she'd be glad to trample the whole world down and never even stop to
+take notice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> <i>Slam</i>, <i>bang</i>, she came along, and we could see the
+mountains as plain as day, brightened up by her headlight.</p>
+
+<p>I just held the glass, moving it around, and I have to admit I was a
+little kind of nervous, sort of.</p>
+
+<p><i>Slam bang, slam bang!</i> She came along and we could hear the rattling
+and clanking echoing from the mountains, and the racket was all mixed
+up. Sparks of light were flying up out of the smokestack and we could
+hear the rails clanking, clanking....</p>
+
+<p>Then the sound of the clanking changed. Then it died down, and there was
+only the steady rattle, rattle....</p>
+
+<p>She was slowing down.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got her, Kid," I said; "sit still, you'll only fall off. We've
+got her eating out of our hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Clank, clank, clank&mdash;clank&mdash;clank," she went; then "s-s-s-s-s-s...."</p>
+
+<p>She had stopped.</p>
+
+<p>There she stood, puffing and puffing, part on the bridge, and part back
+in the dark. The locomotive seemed like a big lion that had just been
+going to spring at us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" we heard the fellows down in the car calling.</p>
+
+<p>"P-f-f-f-f-f-f," the locomotive went.</p>
+
+<p>"Let <i>me</i> do it! Let <i>me</i> do it!" Pee-wee yelled.</p>
+
+<p>I took the piece of glass out and leaned back against the tank. All of a
+sudden I saw something else sprawled all over the sheet. It was the
+right way around, too, for the engineer. I guess Pee-wee had been
+carrying it in his pocket. Anyway, there were spots on it where the soot
+had been wiped off. But it was easy to read it, and this is what it
+said:</p>
+
+<p class="fm2">MUCH OBLIGED, MISTER</p>
+
+<p>Honest, can you beat that kid?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>"SEEN IN THE MOVIES"</h3>
+
+
+<p>I guess the fellows down in the car must have seen the notice where it
+was printed kind of faint like, against a hill, because they couldn't
+have seen it on the screen. Anyway, they set up a howl and began
+shouting up out of the windows. They're a crazy bunch.</p>
+
+<p>"Show them Pee-wee peeling potatoes! Show them Pee-wee flopping
+flip-flops!" they began yelling.</p>
+
+<p>"Show them the one of me stirring soup," the kid said, grabbing me by
+the arm; "that's the best one!"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "You crazy Indian, do you think those people in the flyer are
+there to see a movie show? Keep still, here come a couple of men with
+lanterns."</p>
+
+<p>"They're going to penetrate the mystery," Pee-wee said. I guess he got
+that out of some book, hey? <i>Penetrate the mystery.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I said, "As long as they didn't penetrate this car, I'm satisfied."</p>
+
+<p>We could see two lights bobbing along toward us from the train. Even
+with lanterns it must have been a pretty risky job, walking those ties.
+All the while Pee-wee and I were taking down the sheet, and as soon as
+we loosened it from the sticks, the fellows down in the car pulled them
+in.</p>
+
+<p>"Look how clear it shows against the hill, now the sheet isn't up," I
+said to Pee-wee.</p>
+
+<p>I guess you know what I meant, all right. Even through the sheet the
+printing had shown kind of dim against a hill in back of the train, but
+with the sheet taken down it showed pretty clear and it seemed awful
+funny. And besides, now that the sheet was down we had a good look at
+the train; the light from the movie apparatus seemed to shine right
+along the tops of the cars.</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden, Pee-wee grabbed me by the arm and said, "Look! <i>Look!</i>
+On the top of the second car. Look! Do you see? Right beside that long
+sort of a boiler thing."</p>
+
+<p>I looked, and then, for once, I had sense enough to do the right thing
+in a hurry. I closed the shutter in the apparatus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Did you see them?" Pee-wee whispered, all excited.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I said; "two men."</p>
+
+<p>They were lying on the top of the car, right close against a big, long
+thing like a boiler. It was much bigger than the thing on our car. One
+was lying on one side of it, and the other one on the opposite side. The
+reason I shut the light off in such a hurry was because I didn't want
+them to know they were seen.</p>
+
+<p>"Are they train robbers?" Pee-wee whispered to me. "Are they
+highwaymen?"</p>
+
+<p>"They're high enough to be highwaymen," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe they're bandits, hey?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, for your sake," I told him. "I hope they're a couple of
+pirates, but I guess they're only tramps. Come on, let's go down."</p>
+
+<p>We dangled the movie apparatus down and the fellows took it in through
+the window. Then they came out on the platform and helped the kid and me
+down. That was a pretty hard job, believe <i>me</i>. Just as we
+<a name="corr1" id="corr1"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn1" title="changed from 'go'">got</a>
+our feet
+on terra what d'ye call it.&mdash;I mean terra cotta<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a>&mdash;that Latin for
+platform&mdash;anyway, you know what I mean&mdash;as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>soon as we got our two feet
+(I mean four feet) on the platform, the two men with lanterns had just
+reached it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the men said, "What's all this? What are you doing here, anyway?
+Who are you?" Gee whiz, it sounded like an examination paper.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever we get mixed up with grown-up people it's usually me&mdash;I mean
+<i>I</i>&mdash;that has to do the talking. Pee-wee usually helps though. So I gave
+the men our regular motto.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "We're here because we're here. Ask me something easy. This is
+the Comedy of Errors." I said that because we have the Comedy of Errors
+in school and I just happened to think of it.</p>
+
+<p>I guess the man was the fireman; anyway, he had on a jumper. He walked
+into the car and looked all around with his lantern and the other man
+looked all around, too, trying to size us up, I guess.</p>
+
+<p>The fireman said, "Comedy of Errors, huh?"</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee said, "Sure, that's in Shakespeare."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's mighty gol darn lucky you had a movie machine along," the
+fireman said. "You youngsters have had a <i>mighty narrow</i> escape."</p>
+
+<p>"Why shouldn't it be a narrow escape?" Con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>nie said. "It's a narrow
+bridge. Anyway, where do we go from here?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's a couple of men lying on the top of one of your cars, too,"
+Pee-wee said; "we could see them by the light."</p>
+
+<p>"Tramps, I guess," the brakeman said. He didn't seem to be surprised.</p>
+
+<p>So then we told them all about how it was with us&mdash;our adventures with
+the car and all that. They said we had a bad coupling and that it was no
+wonder it had parted.</p>
+
+<p>"We should worry," I told him; "scouts stick together, even if couplings
+part. But anyway, we'd like to get off this bridge."</p>
+
+<p>The fireman said it wouldn't be a bad idea.</p>
+
+<p>FOOTNOTE:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> He probably meant terra firma.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2>
+
+<h3>"FOILED"</h3>
+
+
+<p>Pretty soon they went back to the train and then, after about ten
+minutes, the engine began puffing and coming toward us ever so slow. It
+seemed as if it hardly moved.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we're going to get a good bunk in the nose," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night," I told him; "I hope it doesn't pick up speed."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd rather see it pick up anything than that," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose it had hit us at full speed," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>"It would have been a home run all right," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Even with that locomotive just creeping along toward us, it scared me.
+It seemed as if it couldn't touch our car without banging it into
+splinters. But that engineer knew what he was doing all right. The train
+came along so slowly you could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> hardly tell it was moving, and sometimes
+it stopped and started again. Pee-wee said it was going scout pace. But
+it was more like a snail's pace, I guess.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon it stopped just about ten feet from us and the headlight
+brightened up the whole car. I could feel the bridge tremble a little,
+sort of keeping time with that great big locomotive, as it stood there
+puffing and just kind of throbbing. And I thought how all that engineer
+would have to do was pull a handle and&mdash;<i>g&mdash;o&mdash;o&mdash;d</i> night! He was
+sitting, looking out of the window, sort of calm and easy, smoking a
+pipe. Connie called up to him and said, "Hey, Mister, have a heart and
+don't start anything." The engine just went, "<i>pff</i>, <i>pff</i>, <i>pff</i>," very
+slow. We could even feel the heat of it.</p>
+
+<p>Somebody called out for us to get inside the car and stay there. A man
+went through our car with a red lantern and kept swinging it on the
+other platform. I could see men swinging red lights way in the back of
+the train, too. Some people on the train tried to get out, but the
+railroad men made them get on again. I could hear a lady crying that
+there was going to be a bad collision. Cracky, I never heard of a good
+one, did you?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The men between the front of the engine and our car had a long iron bar,
+sort of, and they had one end of it fixed in a sort of coupling just
+above the cow-catcher. It was pretty hard keeping us off the platform,
+so we saw everything they did. The other end of that bar they held up so
+it stuck out like a shaft, and then the engine moved about an inch, then
+stopped, then moved about another inch, then stopped. Gee whiz, I was
+glad I wasn't down there with those men. <i>Yum</i>, <i>yum</i>, I like
+sandwiches, but I don't like being the middle part of one. Then all of a
+sudden, <i>bunk</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The men climbed up on our car and in a minute, chu chu, along we went
+ever so slow, the engine pushing us.</p>
+
+<p>When we were off the bridge, the train stopped and the men on the other
+end of our car went away along the tracks, swinging their lanterns. Gee,
+it's all right to say a bridge is strong, and I guess that one was, all
+right, but me for the good solid earth. It feels good underneath you.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon the conductor and a lot of passengers came along to take a
+look at us. What did <i>we</i> care? Everybody said we were <i>wonders</i> to
+think about using the movie apparatus and they were laughing. I guess it
+was at the word <i>pots</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> hey? One man said we were prenominal,<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> or
+something or other like that&mdash;I should worry.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon we noticed a little crowd of people outside the second car,
+so we went up that way to see what was the matter. A couple of men were
+just coming down off the platform and each of them was holding a man by
+the collar. The men they were holding had on scout hats. I took one look
+and <i>g&mdash;o&mdash;o&mdash;d</i> night! Those two fellows were the automobile thieves.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What&mdash;do&mdash;you&mdash;know&mdash;about&mdash;that?</i>" Connie whispered to me.</p>
+
+<p>"And the train people never knew they were up there until we told them,"
+Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>I guess the two men were detectives. Anyway, just as they stepped off,
+they let go the one man and one of them said, "Now you two hoboes beat
+it, and the next time either of you is caught riding on this road,
+you'll do time for it There's the road&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p><i>Jiminetty!</i> I didn't wait for him to say any more. I just went right up
+to that detective and I said, "Mister, those men are worse than tramps;
+they're not tramps at all; they're thieves; they stole an automobile;
+hurry up, you'd better catch him."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p><p>Oh, boy, didn't he grab hold of that fellow again! The fellow must have
+seen some of us, because he was just starting to run when, zippo, that
+detective had him by the collar again. The other one hadn't been let go
+even, so he was safe.</p>
+
+<p>By that time passengers from the train were crowding around and Pee-wee
+was right in the center, shouting, same as he always does.
+"They're&mdash;they're desperate&mdash;culprits&mdash;&mdash;" he said; "we <i>foiled</i> them
+once before&mdash;we did&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>All the passengers were laughing. Even the conductor and the detectives
+were laughing. I was laughing so hard, I couldn't speak.</p>
+
+<p>He just shouted on, "You can say what you want about robbers and bandits
+and&mdash;and all things like that being bad&mdash;in the movies&mdash;but anyway, I
+don't care how many censors there are&mdash;you've got to admit that the
+movies are all right&mdash;they can&mdash;what d'ye call it&mdash;they can reveal
+identities, they can&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then Westy spoke up. He said, "This is our little mascot; he's
+harmless." Then he told all about how our car was stalled on the road
+and how the thieves got away. Westy always has his wits about him when
+he talks, that's one thing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One of the detectives said, "Can you boys positively identify this
+pair?"</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't they got our hats?" I said. "Sure we can identify them."</p>
+
+<p>The two thieves looked at us as if to try to scare us, but what did <i>we</i>
+care? They made a big fuss and said they were only tramps, but it didn't
+do them any good, and nobody believed them. Because all those people
+could see we knew what we were talking about, especially Westy, because
+he's always so sober, like. And besides, they knew that we were the ones
+who had first discovered them on top of the car, and I guess they saw
+that we had some sense, because on account of our flashing the signal in
+that way.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, you can bet those two fellows didn't get away. The men took them
+into the baggage car and that was the last we saw of them, because after
+the train started we had to stay in our own car, on account of the
+engine being between us and the train. That was the only thing that kept
+Pee-wee from giving a movie show.</p>
+
+<p>But the fireman came in to see us, because he knew how to climb all over
+the engine. He told us that those fellows had handcuffs on, and he got
+all our names and addresses, because he said we'd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> have to come back and
+be witnesses. But we never did, because the fellows confessed. Gee whiz,
+I would have liked to go back again. Maybe it wouldn't have been so much
+fun though, hey? I guess maybe I wouldn't have liked to. It's no fun
+seeing people sent to jail. But anyway, one sure thing, they had no
+right to steal a Pierce-Arrow. Even they wouldn't have had any right to
+steal a Ford.</p>
+
+<p>But anyway, who'd want to steal a Ford?</p>
+
+<p>FOOTNOTE:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Phenomenal is probably what the man said.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2>
+
+<h3>OUR PATROL "SING"</h3>
+
+
+<p>So you have to admit that there were two thieves that really got caught
+in the movies. Mr. Ellsworth says that movies with thieves and robbers
+and pistols and things are no good. But if it hadn't been for that movie
+outfit, good night, where would we have been, I'd like to know? And
+where would those thieves have been?</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, pretty soon the excitement was all over, except that Pee-wee
+kept things going. Nothing but an earthquake would stop <i>him</i>. It was
+pretty bright in our car on account of the headlight from the engine. We
+moved along so slowly that I guess I could walk just as fast. The
+fireman paid us a good visit. He was an awful nice fellow. He could bend
+his left thumb way back. He said he would be an engineer pretty soon.
+Jiminy, I hope he's one by now.</p>
+
+<p>He told us that the engineer was going to push us as far as Flimdunk
+Siding and leave us there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> and that another train would pick us up the
+next day. He said both our couplings were rusted out and no good and one
+of them would have to be fixed before we could be taken on.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "We can't push you far like this; 'tisn't safe and we have to
+just crawl."</p>
+
+<p>"Flimdunk suits <i>us</i> all right," I told him; "we're not particular.
+Columbus didn't know where he was going anyway, and to-morrow's Columbus
+Day. We should worry."</p>
+
+<p>He said he guessed Number 23 would pick us up.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Good night!</i>" I told him, "that means more adventures. I suppose
+that's the skiddo special. Probably we'll be dumped off a cliff. All in
+the game."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed and said that probably we wouldn't have any more trouble,
+because Number 23 made a quick run straight to Jersey City.</p>
+
+<p>"What does it want to go to Jersey City for?" Wig asked him.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Well, it doesn't stay there long."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't blame it," Connie piped up.</p>
+
+<p>He told us that when we got to Jersey City a Northern local would pick
+us up and drop us at Bridgeboro.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All right, just as you say," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, we weren't going to worry about it. When we got home we'd get
+home, that was all. And when we didn't, we wouldn't.</p>
+
+<p>After the fireman went away, we fixed two seats facing each other and
+sprawled all over them. I guess we were getting pretty sleepy.</p>
+
+<p>"Shout to the engineer to turn off that headlight and we'll go to
+sleep," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's make some turnovers first," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, <i>you</i> make them," I said.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a big chunk of silence.</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden Connie started singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We stood on the bridge at midnight."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Keep your feet off me," I said; "what do you think I am? A door-mat?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let's make up another verse," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's put Flimdunk in it!" Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon all of us were singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We stood on the bridge at midnight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We stood on the bridge at midnight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We stood on the bridge at midnight."<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>Then somebody sang:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We came near getting a bunk,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We came near getting a bunk."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then we all sang:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We stood on the bridge at midnight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We came near getting a bunk;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We came near getting a bunk;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We came&mdash;&mdash;"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"We flashed them POTS!" Pee-wee yelled.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we're on our way to Flimdunk," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>So pretty soon this is what we were all singing:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We stood on the bridge at midnight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We came near getting a bunk;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We flashed them POTS for an S&mdash;O&mdash;S,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Now we're on our way to Flimdunk."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Gee whiz, I have to admit we're a crazy bunch in our patrol.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2>
+
+<h3>FLIMDUNK SIDING</h3>
+
+
+<p>After a little while, Pee-wee fell asleep, but the rest of us stayed
+awake, because we wanted to see what kind of a place we were going to
+stop at.</p>
+
+<p>For about fifteen or twenty minutes the engine pushed us awfully slow,
+then we stopped, and a couple of men went between our car and the engine
+and did something to that long iron bar. We watched them from the
+platform. Then one of the men went through our car to the other platform
+and the other one stayed on the platform near the engine. Another man
+started along the track with a lantern.</p>
+
+<p>"The plot grows thicker," I said; "what's going to happen now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Search me," Connie said; "look around and see if you see Flimdunk
+anywhere&mdash;not inside the car, you crazy Indian."</p>
+
+<p>I was looking inside the car for it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How could we tell it if we saw it?" Connie asked us.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you tell a village when you see one? It'll look like a young
+town," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"The fireman didn't say anything about a town anyway," I told them; "he
+just said Flimdunk Siding."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe that man is swinging the lantern so the town can get off the
+track," Wig said; "anyhow, I bet something is going to happen."</p>
+
+<p>It was pitch dark all around, except that the headlight of the
+locomotive made a long shaft like a searchlight 'way far ahead, and we
+could see the man walking along the track in that shaft, swinging his
+lantern. Our car was all bright, too. It seemed awful lonesome where he
+was going, far ahead in the dark. The locomotive kept going <i>pfff, pfff,
+pfff</i>, just like a horse stamping his foot, because he's in a hurry to
+start. It seemed kind of as if it didn't want to wait.</p>
+
+<p>"Have we come to the siding?" I asked the man on the platform.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to take the switch," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"We wouldn't take anything that didn't belong to us," Connie said;
+"you'll have to give it to us if you want us to take it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't care so much about having one, anyway," I said. I guess that
+man thought we were crazy.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll give you the run," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I wouldn't blame you for doing that if we took the switch," Wig told
+him. Gee, he had to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon the man who was far ahead began swinging his lantern around
+in a circle. Then the engine gave a kind of a quick, shrill whistle, and
+we started again. We went a little faster than before and then, all of a
+sudden, we saw the engine standing quite a way off, and already the men
+on our car were turning the hand brakes. Our car was rattling along all
+by itself. In about half a minute, <i>kerlick, kerlick</i>, it went on a
+switch and then the men began yanking on the brake handles for all they
+were worth.</p>
+
+<p>But I knew that old car all right, and its brakes were pretty near as
+bad as its couplings.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, merrily, merrily on we roll," Connie began singing.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with this plaguey old boat?" one of the men said, all
+the while bracing his feet and pulling and pulling on the wheel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It likes to go off on a hike by itself," I said; "you should worry.
+When it stops, it stops."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it better stop pretty soon," he said, "or else&mdash;&mdash;Here, get hold
+of this wheel, you kids, and pull."</p>
+
+<p>"Them brakes got about as much bite in 'em as a ki-oodle," the man said;
+"how old is this old scow? 'Bout a hundred, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>"This old car is all right," I told him; "a scout must have respect for
+age&mdash;page something-or-other-scout handbook. We may be old ourselves
+some day. What do we care, yo ho?"</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Well, I hope the brakes on your tongue will work better than
+they do now."</p>
+
+<p>"The pleasure is mine," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Two of us were pulling away as hard as we could, helping one of the
+trainmen, two were helping the man on the other platform, and Pee-wee
+was sleeping peacefully inside with his head on the floor and one of his
+legs sprawled up over the seat.</p>
+
+<p>As well as I could see, we were rolling merrily along a track that
+branched away from the main track. I thought that, because I couldn't
+see the full blaze of the engine's headlight any more, and I knew we
+were verging away from the railroad.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Talk about prodigal sons," Westy said; "when this old car gets back
+home, they ought to kill the fatted calf for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night," I told him; "if the fatted calf gets on the track, he'll
+be killed all right."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, boys, where do we go from here?" Wig began singing.</p>
+
+<p>But those trainmen didn't seem to think it was much of a joke. All of a
+sudden, we went rattling through an opening in a fence and I saw a
+couple of big white things near us.</p>
+
+<p>"They're tents," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>By now the car was slowing down and pretty soon it stopped right in
+front of a big dark thing&mdash;a kind of a building. If we'd have gone fifty
+feet more, we'd have bunked our nose right into it.</p>
+
+<p>The trainman said, "That's the craziest old set of brakes I ever saw.
+You'll have to be contented to stay right here, that's all;
+twenty-three'll back in after you."</p>
+
+<p>"Contented is our favorite nickname," I told him; "is this Flimdunk,
+with the fence around it? It's a good idea&mdash;the place can't run away. I
+hope they'll like us."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think we're intruding?" Westy said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I guess those trainmen set us down for a lot of idiots. Anyway, they
+didn't have to tell us so, because we admit it. They said that the
+brakes were worn off so much that they didn't press hard against the
+wheels, only sort of gentle, like. They were nice polite brakes.</p>
+
+<p>One of the trainmen said he'd leave us a lantern so we could see to
+talk; then they went back out through the fence and I could see their
+lanterns making circles in the dark. Pretty soon we could hear the
+engine puffing and all of a sudden, it gave a loud, shrill whistle. It
+sounded as if the train was coming very slowly up toward the switch, but
+in about a couple of minutes we could hear it rattling along, farther
+and farther away, and going faster and faster.</p>
+
+<p>"So long, old flyer," Westy called.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Listen! Listen to the sound it makes&mdash;<i>tk-ed, tk-ed, tk</i>&mdash;&mdash;It
+seems as if it's saying, 'twenty-three for yours,' doesn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Skiddo, flyer!" Connie shouted; "anyhow, you were foiled by the Boy
+Scouts."</p>
+
+<p>That word <i>foiled</i> reminded us of Pee-wee, so we went inside and looked
+at him. I guess the stopping of the car had shaken him up some. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+head was way underneath the seat, one of his arms was halfway up on the
+seat and one of his legs was on the movie outfit in the aisle.</p>
+
+<p>It was a sight for a painter. I mean a sign painter.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2>
+
+<h3>EXPLORING</h3>
+
+
+<p>"What do you say we explore the neighborhood?" Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say we put a block in front of the wheels?" I said. "Safety
+first."</p>
+
+<p>"This seems to be a kind of a walled city, like China," Connie said. "I
+can see a kind of a shadow. Do you suppose that's the fence going all
+the way around?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure it is," I told him; "all we have to do is shut those big gates and
+the car will never get away. Only China isn't a city, if anybody should
+ask you."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the difference?" he said. "Nobody's likely to ask me."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a very mysterious place," Westy said; "I, for one, would like
+to know where we're at." That's just the nice way he talks. It's caused
+by his bringing up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I said, "Oh, dear me, <i>I for two</i>, would be delighted to ascertain."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you think we are?" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"That's easy," I told them; "I know where we are."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we?" Wig wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>"We're here," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but what is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a place, that's all I know," Connie piped up.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, let's wake up the kid," Wig said; "and take a stroll around.
+It looks to me like a ball field or something like that. Anyway, those
+are tents over there."</p>
+
+<p>We didn't dare to start out without Pee-wee, so we shook him up and
+dragged him up and down the aisle and played football with him, and at
+last he let out a long groan and we knew we had him started.</p>
+
+<p>"Wh-a-a-t&mdash;where&mdash;am I?" he yawned.</p>
+
+<p>"We were just going to have a game of one o'cat with you," I told him;
+"wake up, it's twenty years later; the peace treaty has just been
+signed."</p>
+
+<p>"Who signed it?" he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"I did," I said; "come on, get up."</p>
+
+<p>If you can once get him on his feet, he usually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> stays up. I said,
+"We're in a land of mystery; we've got Alice in Wonderland tearing her
+hair from jealousy. I think we're in somebody's back yard."</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the train?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It went down the street to get a soda," I said.</p>
+
+<p>That opened his eyes all right. "Can you get sodas around here?" he
+shouted.</p>
+
+<p>We got hold of a chunk of wood and blocked one of the car wheels and
+then started out. We couldn't see very well in the dark, but we made out
+that the high fence went all the way around a great big flat field.
+There was a kind of a wide road around near the fence. The tracks ran
+right up under that building that we had seen ahead of us, into a kind
+of a tunnel. We saw it was an ice-house, and I guess ice was loaded onto
+cars there.</p>
+
+<p>The two white things that we had seen were tents and there was a light
+in one of them, but we didn't go in. There were little buildings around,
+but they were closed up. There was a kind of a big platform with a
+railing around it. In another place there was a long shed full of cows.
+There were kind of things like mess boards all around, only some of them
+were too high for mess boards.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I give it up," I said</p>
+
+<p>"It's a cross between a barn-yard and a picnic ground," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "I think it's an aviation field."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I told him; "how stupid of me. And the cows are aviators."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say we follow the fence around?" Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you say we don't?" I said. "Come on, let's go back and I'll
+cook some fritters and then we'll get our suits off and have a good
+sleep, and to-morrow we'll see what we see."</p>
+
+<p>We were all pretty sleepy, so we decided to do that. If we had taken a
+little hike all the way around near the fence, the terrible thing that I
+am going to tell you about now, would never have happened. You had
+better get ready for it, because it's one of the most terrible things
+that I ever told. When you hear about it, you'll turn cold and your hair
+will stand up. Even now whenever I think about it, I just shake. That's
+the word&mdash;<i>shake</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Yah, hah! You thought I was going to tell it in this chapter, didn't
+you?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>OUR YOUNG HERO</h3>
+
+
+<p>Now it was so dark that we had some trouble finding our car, and before
+we got to it, we passed a funny kind of a little shack with a high porch
+in front. It didn't look exactly like a place to live in&mdash;gee, I
+couldn't tell you exactly what it did look like. But anyway, it was all
+closed up. As we passed it, we heard voices inside, but we were too
+sleepy and hungry to pay any attention.</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden our young hero paused and, <i>you</i> know, stood riveted to
+the spot where he stood. Anyway, if he wasn't riveted he was nailed
+down.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Listen! Hark!</i>" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"We're harking," I said; "what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Shh-h," he whispered and held his hand to his ear.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter; have you got an earache?" Connie asked him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Break it to us gently," I said; "let us hear the worst."</p>
+
+<p>"Shhh, listen!" he said. "Somebody's being killed."</p>
+
+<p>"How tragic!" Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't tragic at all," Pee-wee said; "listen&mdash;&mdash;it's true."</p>
+
+<p>"Have it your own way," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>"In that little house," he whispered, all the while going back on
+tiptoe; "hark&mdash;shh."</p>
+
+<p>We all followed him back, giggling, because we had been through things
+like this before with our boy hero. Believe me, Dauntless Dan of the
+Dauntless Dan Series has nothing on Scout Harris. In front of the little
+shack we all stood stark still, listening.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you hear it?" Pee-wee whispered. "It's a bitter struggle."</p>
+
+<p>The first sound that <i>I</i> noticed was a sound as if a chair was falling
+over. Then I heard a man's voice say, "I'll choke you till you tell me.
+Are you ready to speak?" Then another voice said, "Never!"</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee said, "Shh, what did I tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>We were all pretty interested by that time. Pretty soon a kind of a
+high, squeaky voice said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> "Do you think I'm afraid of you&mdash;you
+big&mdash;&mdash;" Then it seemed as if the voice was just kind of choked off,
+because there were stifled cries, sort of, and all the while a gruff
+voice saying, "Are you ready to take that back? This is your last
+chance&mdash;I'll teach you&mdash;&mdash;" And all the while that other voice kept
+crying and yelling, and it seemed just as if the person must be
+struggling.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a child," Westy said, all excited.</p>
+
+<p>"He's strangling it to death," Pee-wee whispered, so scared and excited,
+that his voice was hoarse. And just then we could hear a long kind of a
+gurgle and a man's voice saying, "I'll teach you! I'll teach you!" And
+then the two voices seemed to be mixed up together.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait here," Pee-wee said, and off he started, pell-mell for the tent
+where there was a light inside.</p>
+
+<p>In ten seconds he was back with a couple of men, and shouting, "<i>In that
+shack! In that shack! A man is murdering somebody in that shack! Hurry
+up!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>By that time we were all pretty scared, I guess. The two men vaulted up
+on to the platform and pushed the door open and we stood outside looking
+up over the edge of the platform. All<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> of a sudden Westy said,
+"<i>What&mdash;do&mdash;you&mdash;know&mdash;&mdash;</i>"</p>
+
+<p>That was all he could say. He just vaulted up himself with the rest of
+us after him. And there we all stood in the doorway, only Pee-wee pushed
+his way inside.</p>
+
+<p><i>Jiminetty!</i> I almost fell in a fit, I laughed so hard. "Save me," I
+said to Westy, "before I fall off the platform."</p>
+
+<p>But Westy was laughing too hard to save anybody.</p>
+
+<p>Right there in front of us in a little room, there was a man in his
+shirt sleeves sitting on the side of a kind of a sleeping bunk. Sitting
+on one of his knees was one of those big funny-looking dolls with a
+black face and a big, square mouth that works by a hinge. The doll was
+straddling the man's knee and one of its legs was dangling down on
+either side.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the big idea?" the man said.</p>
+
+<p>Both of the other men were laughing so hard, they couldn't speak, but
+one of them pointed at Pee-wee. Our young hero just stood there,
+panting, all out of breath, and gaping like an idiot.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I&mdash;eh&mdash;I didn't know you were a ven&mdash;a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> ven&mdash;&mdash;-" he blurted out. "I
+thought you were murdering somebody&mdash;I&mdash;I did."</p>
+
+<p>The man just looked at him and smiled; then he began to laugh. He said,
+"I consider that a compliment, my young friend; you're welcome. Sam,
+tell the young gentleman he is welcome."</p>
+
+<p>The big fancy doll said, "You're welcome." And, gee whiz, it sounded
+just as if it came out of his own throat. Pee-wee just stood there
+staring at Sam, and Sam sat there on the ventriloquist's lap, staring
+very bold at Pee-wee.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell the young gentleman we were having a rehearsal," the man said; and
+Sam said, "We were having a rehearsal."</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee just stood there not saying a word, and gaping at Sam and at the
+man. All of a sudden we heard a cat meowing right near.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, you're stepping on the cat," the man said to Pee-wee. Pee-wee
+moved his feet as if he were in a trance and looked down.</p>
+
+<p>But there wasn't any cat at all.</p>
+
+<p>Gee, that man was a wonder.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TRAIN</h3>
+
+
+<p>That man's name was Pedro De Vail, and he was French, only he was born
+in Hoboken. He was the greatest ventriloquist in the whole world. He
+said so, and gee whiz, he ought to know. Westy said that when he said
+anything, it counted for a whole lot, because he could say it in half a
+dozen different voices. But, oh, boy, Pee-wee lost his voice entirely.
+Anyway, Mr. Pedro said it didn't make any difference, because he had a
+lot of voices to spare. I guess he kind of liked Pee-wee.</p>
+
+<p>As long as we were there we made him a call, and I guess he'd be pretty
+good at stalking, because he could imitate all the animals and birds,
+and he could make you think he was sawing wood. He said that the place
+where we were was the Fair Grounds, and that the next day the Firemen's
+Carnival was going to start there. He said it was going to last three
+days. He said he always went to County Fairs and Carnivals and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> things
+like that. He told us that Flimdunk was about a couple of miles away.</p>
+
+<p>We told him all about our adventures and about the Brewster's Centre
+car. I said, "As long as we're here, I'm glad of it, because we can take
+in the Carnival. I hope that train twenty-three doesn't come until late
+to-morrow; I hope it doesn't come until to-morrow night. Better late
+than sooner."</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Well, there are going to be big doings to-morrow&mdash;races,
+balloon ascension, murders and everything like that. But I'm afraid you
+boys are going to be disappointed. There's a train comes through here
+about four or five in the morning, going east. I think that'll be the
+one to pick you up."</p>
+
+<p>We went back to our car feeling pretty glum about it. Jiminies, you
+couldn't blame us. What was the good of being left at a carnival in the
+middle of the night and taken away again before daylight? That's one
+thing I don't like about railroads; they do just as they please. They
+push you and pull you around and take you away again before you want to
+go.</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't they let us spend Columbus Day here?" Westy wanted to know.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"When did the brakeman say it would come?" Connie asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Hanged if <i>I</i> remember," I said; "but I knew how it would be when I
+heard that the train would be Number Twenty-three. I'll never trust that
+number."</p>
+
+<p>"And races and everything, too," Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, and a balloon ascension," Connie began grouching.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe he's mistaken," I said; "we've had pretty good fun, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"You call it fun, starting away just when the fun is going to begin?"
+Pee-wee piped up.</p>
+
+<p>I guess we didn't know what to think or what to expect. Anyway, I knew
+that the train that had left us there would telegraph to some place or
+other about us, that was all I knew. When another train stopped for us,
+we'd just have to go.</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway, let's have something to eat and turn in," I said; "we'll just
+have to trust to luck."</p>
+
+<p>One sure thing, we all felt pretty bad, because the next day was a
+holiday and there'd be lots of fun at that Carnival. I made some rice
+cakes and then we fixed the seats and turned in.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know how long I had been asleep, but what made me wake up was
+the whistle of a loco<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>motive. Westy woke up, too, and we both listened.</p>
+
+<p>"It's coming," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"The game is up," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon we were all awake, listening. The train was backing down
+along the branch track and coming nearer and nearer to us. We could hear
+the engine puffing, and the sound of wheels going <i>ker-lick</i>, <i>ker-lick</i>,
+as the train backed in very slowly. Gee whiz, I was feeling sore.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on out on the platform," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"This railroad makes me sick," Connie grouched.</p>
+
+<p>"Why couldn't they wait until to-morrow night?" Wig wanted to know. "I
+thought we were going to have a good day's fun."</p>
+
+<p>Out on the platform all we saw was a man sitting on the railing in the
+dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the pesky old train, anyway?" I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Train?" the man said; "what train?"</p>
+
+<p>Then he just reached forward and ruffled up our young hero's hair.</p>
+
+<p>I was all flabbergasted. "Mr. <i>Pedro</i>!" I just blurted out.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I'd pay you back, that's all," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy, couldn't that man imitate a train!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PROFITEERS</h3>
+
+
+<p>When we went out in the morning the surprise was mutual. Gee, it was
+<i>especially</i> mutual. There was a crowd outside the car, staring up at
+it. It must have looked funny standing there with BREWSTER'S CENTRE
+sprawled all over it. There were all kinds of people in that crowd. One
+of them was a woman who was a fortune teller. She had on a dress with
+all spangles on it. Her name was Princess Mysteria. I wanted to ask her
+when the train would come for us and if we'd have any more adventures,
+but Westy wouldn't let me, because it cost twenty-five cents. He said
+he'd rather spend the twenty-five cents for licorice jaw-breakers and
+then we'd <i>know</i> what was happening to us. Gee whiz, you don't need any
+fortune teller after eating licorice jaw-breakers.</p>
+
+<p>All around in that place men were opening booths and putting up tents
+and getting counters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> ready, so they could sell peanuts and lemonade and
+ice-cream cones and canes and fancy glass jars and other things to eat
+and drink&mdash;not canes and glass jars. There was a merry-go-round, too,
+and it had an organ that played <i>We're on our way</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Jiminies," Westy said; "I don't know where anyone would expect to get
+to, riding on a merry-go-round."</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon a man came up to us and asked us how we got there. I guess
+he was one of the head men of the Carnival.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Isn't this Flimdunk Siding? We're supposed to stay here until a
+train picks us up."</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Yes, but this car has no business inside the fence; this is
+the old ice-house freight siding. They should have left you standing out
+near the main line."</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Yes, but this car has something to say about it, too, and it
+wouldn't stop, so here we are. Don't blame us, blame the car. That's the
+way it is with railroads, they don't care about anybody's rights."</p>
+
+<p>"That ain't the main entrance you came through," he said; "that gate was
+open so stuff could be brought in on the freight cars."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It's all the same to us," I told him; "we're here, because we're here."</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Well, you'll have to pay your admission or be put out."</p>
+
+<p>Connie said, "How are you going to put this car out? If you once get it
+started it may roll all the way back onto the main track and we'll die a
+horrible death."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and then you'll be sorry," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>The man said, "Well, this car hasn't got any right on the grounds,
+that's all."</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Mister, I don't know what we can do, unless we get a couple of
+those elephants from the merry-go-round to drag it away."</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon two other men came along and they all stood there talking
+about what they had better do, and we sat on the steps of the platform,
+listening to them.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to be live wires, leastways," one of them said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I told him; "we were struck by lightning when we were kids."</p>
+
+<p>Then they whispered together for about a minute and after that the man
+who seemed to be a head man said, "Well, as long as the car's here,
+we'll let it stay here and you youngsters can scam<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>per about and enjoy
+yourselves. 'Long as the car's standing idle, we'll use it for a
+concession booth."</p>
+
+<p>They went away talking about it and we started asking each other what
+they meant, because we were beginning to get a little scared, sort of.
+We didn't want to give up our car. Pretty soon Mr. Pedro came along and
+we told him all about it.</p>
+
+<p>He said he was on our side. This is just what he said; he said, "These
+people are a crew of bandits. Do you know how much I'm paying for that
+little shanty? Fifty dollars for the three days. Do you know how much
+the Princess is handing over for the space where she has her little
+tent? Seventy dollars, cold cash. She says if she'd known it would be
+anything like that, she'd never have come."</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "I should think she would have known it, on account of being
+a fortune teller."</p>
+
+<p>"What they're going to do," he said, "is to turn this car over to that
+Punch and Judy man and he'll run an indoor show and whack up with them
+on a fifty per cent basis. Look at <i>me</i>? I have to give an outside show
+and pass the hat. You're in a robbers' den here, boys; they're all
+profiteers. You take a tip from me and stand on your rights."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I said, "and we'll stand on our car platform, too."</p>
+
+<p>He said, "These fellows know your couplings are in bad shape and will
+have to be fixed before you're taken away. They know you'll be here all
+day at the shortest. Why, they're getting twenty cents for a glass of
+milk down yonder&mdash;it's awful. These people will corner the United States
+currency before the day's over."</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "But anyway, this car has no right here, we have to admit
+that."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pedro said, "Well, that's a fine legal question and I don't know
+what the Supreme Court would say about it. As you said, you're here,
+because you're here. I think that's a pretty strong argument."</p>
+
+<p>"I invented it," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pedro said, "The car has no right here, but you have a right in the
+car; you're part of the car, see? They can put the car off the grounds
+(if they know how), but they can't put you out of the car. You can stay
+in your car and do anything you please in your car, and nobody can stop
+you. If they start the car they'll have to take the consequences."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what you call technology," Pee-wee shouted; "it's a
+teckinality.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> What do you say we give a movie show?"</p>
+
+<p>"Me for some breakfast," I said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We wrote a couple of notices on pages out of my field book and fixed
+them on the doors of the car. They said:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"This car is the property of the First Bridgeboro, N. J., Troop B.
+S. A.</p>
+
+<p>"Trespassing forbidden."</p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Pedro came over and told us that if anybody went in that car while
+we were gone, he'd call up a lawyer in Flimdunk.</p>
+
+<p>As long as we didn't have much left to eat we went over to a shack and
+got some coffee and doughnuts. <i>Good night!</i> The coffee was twenty cents
+a cup, and the doughnuts were ten cents each. Then we had a ride on the
+merry-go-round, and after that we had some ice-cream cones. Those cones
+were fifteen cents each and even the ice cream didn't go down into the
+cone, like in Bennett's at home.</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "The biggest part of those doughnuts were the holes in
+them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sure," I told him; "the price of holes has gone up; it's simply
+terrible the high price of emptiness."</p>
+
+<p>Wig said, "I was always crazy to see a robbers' cave and now I see one."</p>
+
+<p>We went out through the main entrance, because we wanted to go to
+Flimdunk and send telegrams to our homes, so our mothers and fathers
+wouldn't worry.</p>
+
+<p>"It's only a couple of miles," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"There's one funny thing about riding on a merry-go-round," Connie
+started in; "no matter how long a ride you take, you never have to come
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"That's because you're already back," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Yes, but you <i>go</i>, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure you do," Pee-wee said.</p>
+
+<p>"Then how do you get back without coming back?" Connie shot at him.</p>
+
+<p>"That's technology," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"You make me tired," Pee-wee screamed; "suppose all the time you're
+going you're coming back, too? Let's see you answer that."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's different," Wig said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Just the same as when our young hero flies up in the air," I told them.</p>
+
+<p>"And foils a murderer," Connie said; "tell him he's a cute little boy
+scout, Sam."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what I'd do if I had my way?" Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"How many guesses do we have?" I asked him.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd foil those profiteers, that's what I'd do," he said. "Fifteen cents
+for a cone! I can get three cones for that."</p>
+
+<p>"And still you wouldn't be satisfied," Westy told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if I had your way with me, I'd give it to you," I told him; "but
+I left it home on the piano."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hear what that doughnut-man was saying about overhead
+expenses?" the kid shouted. "I looked up, but I didn't see any. There
+wasn't even a roof."</p>
+
+<p>Laugh! I thought I'd fall in a fit.</p>
+
+<p>"You can bet I know an overhead expense when I see one," he said, all
+the while trudging along the road, "and there wasn't any there."</p>
+
+<p>"Overhead expenses are inside," Westy said; "they're the expenses of
+running a business. It might be the price of a carpet for the floor,
+see?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"All you need is a pair of white duck trousers and your diploma with a
+pink ribbon around it," I told him. "Who in the world taught you all
+that? You must be studying accountancy."</p>
+
+<p>"A whatancy?" Connie asked.</p>
+
+<p>"That shows how crazy you are," Pee-wee yelled; "how can a carpet that
+you walk on be overhead? Tell me that!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's easy," I told him; "isn't the roof underfoot? You stand on the
+roof and it's underfoot. Your overhead expenses may be down in the
+cellar. Just the same as a scout can do a good turn while he's walking
+straight ahead. Deny it if you dare?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy," Pee-wee fairly screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"I admit it," I told him.</p>
+
+<p>After we had walked a little way, Westy said, "Just the same, Pee-wee's
+right, the same as he usually isn't. It would be a good stunt for us to
+foil those profiteers."</p>
+
+<p>"Only we haven't got any tinfoil," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up, you're the worst of the lot!" Pee-wee yelled at me. "We've got
+eighteen dollars left from the movie show, haven't we? I say let's buy
+some flour and sugar and eggs and cinnamon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> and ink and glue and make
+tenderflops and <i>foil</i> the profiteers; that's what <i>I</i> say!"</p>
+
+<p>I said, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like to know how you're
+going to use ink and glue making tenderflops. They'd be kind of sticky,
+wouldn't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," Westy said, "and they'd be a kind of a blackish white, using
+ink."</p>
+
+<p>"He means fountain-pen ink," Connie said, "that's more digestible, it's
+thinner."</p>
+
+<p>"You're crazy!" the kid yelled. "Wouldn't we have to make signs and glue
+them up? You can't print with cinnamon or flour, can you? I say let's
+get all the stuff we need and have Roy make tenderflops and I'll stand
+on top of the car and shout that they're all smoking hot, and for
+everybody to be sure to get them for they're only the small sum of two
+for a cent. I just happened to think of it," he said, "it's an
+insulation."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean inspiration," Westy said.</p>
+
+<p>"You know what I mean," Pee-wee hollered.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose you should flop off the top of the car?" I asked him, because
+there's no telling what may happen when Pee-wee gets to shouting.</p>
+
+<p>"We'd charge extra for that," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>FOOTNOTE:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Technicality is probably what was meant.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2>
+
+<h3>A FRIEND IN NEED</h3>
+
+
+<p>Now I'll tell you about tenderflops, because I'm the only one that goes
+to Temple Camp who knows how to make them. I guess you know what a
+tenderfoot is; it's a new scout. He's supposed to be tender, see? So a
+tenderflop is a flip-flop that's named after a tenderfoot, because it's
+supposed to be tender. There are no such things as tough scouts, so of
+course, there can't be any such things as tough tenderflops. That's what
+you call logic.</p>
+
+<p>Now the way that you make tenderflops is with flour and salt and water
+and cinnamon. You can use eggs if you want to, but you don't have to.
+Once I tried peanut butter in them, but they weren't much good. If you
+put a little maple syrup in, that makes them sweet. Once I made some at
+home when Charlie Danforth was there and I put wintergreen in, and my
+sister Marjorie said that was the reason he never came any more.
+Cinnamon is better; safety first.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now the way I usually do is, just when they're frying and beginning to
+get kind of nice and toasted, sort of, I press my scout badge down on
+them and that makes a kind of a trade mark on them. It says BE PREPARED.
+That's our motto. It doesn't mean anything about the tenderflops.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>In about an hour, back we came along the road with a big bag of flour
+and a bag of salt and a couple of big jugs of maple syrup and some
+cinnamon. We had on scout smiles, too.</p>
+
+<p>"Down with profiteering," Connie shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"Pee-wee forever!" I said. "Hurrah, for Hoover, Junior! Food will kill
+the profiteers, don't taste it&mdash;I mean waste it."</p>
+
+<p>We had to pay admission fees to get in, but what did <i>we</i> care? We knew
+the government was on our side, because wasn't the government arresting
+profiteers?</p>
+
+<p>Believe me, we had some triumphal march across the grounds to our car. I
+had a bag of flour over my shoulder and my jacket was all white and my
+face, too. I guess I looked like a clown. I should worry. The cinnamon
+made the smallest bundle, but we had Westy carry it, be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>cause Pee-wee
+likes cinnamon. Safety first. We had Pee-wee carry the glue, because if
+he ate that, it would only stick his mouth shut. Believe <i>me</i>, we were
+some parade.</p>
+
+<p>There were a lot of automobiles parked outside the grounds by that time,
+and the place was filled with people. The animals on the merry-go-round
+were running away as fast as they could, and girls were screaming for
+fear they'd fall off&mdash;you know how they always do. There were men
+shouting for people to come and see their shows for a dime, ten cents,
+and there were shooting galleries and everything. Sandwiches were thirty
+cents and the bread on them was stale, because Wig bought one. There was
+a brass band playing, too.</p>
+
+<p>A lot of people were looking up at our car; I guess they were wondering
+about it; and just as we were pushing through the crowd, a couple of the
+head men came down off the platform and one of them said:</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do with all that stuff, you boys?"</p>
+
+<p>Westy said, "We're going to make cakes and sell them. We're going to do
+it inside the car."</p>
+
+<p>We all just laid down our bundles and stood around, kind of scared and
+disappointed. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> anyway, the people who were standing around saw that
+we were scouts, and most all of them were smiling at us.</p>
+
+<p>The man said, "Well, I guess you've got another guess. You just pack
+that stuff in there, and go about your business if you don't want to get
+into a heap of trouble. We'll look after this car."</p>
+
+<p>I guess Westy was kind of flabbergasted, so I spoke up and said, "We've
+got a right inside of our own car. We've got a right to cook in there if
+we want to. What harm does that do? Haven't we got a right to try to
+reduce the cost of living? If you want to start this car going, go ahead
+and do it, but I tell you beforehand that the brakes don't work. And you
+can keep off of our car, too."</p>
+
+<p>The man said I was an impudent little some-thing-or-other, and he was
+just starting to pick up the bag of flour when, good night, all of a
+sudden a little man stepped out from the crowd. All I noticed about him
+was that he had a cigar in his mouth and his hat was kind of on the
+side. But, oh, boy, I heard his voice good and plain.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Look here, <i>you</i>. What's all this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> trouble about? You mustn't
+think you can browbeat these boys, because you <i>can't</i>. See? I'm telling
+you the law and you can take it or leave it just as you like. If you've
+got any kick, go to the railroad. If you're not satisfied to wait until
+this car goes away, start it going. You stand between those two tracks
+or on the platform of that car, and you're on the property of the United
+States Railroad Administration. I'm a lawyer and I'm telling you that.
+It's you that happens to be here, not these boys. Here's a crowd of
+people being fleeced&mdash;eating sandwiches that aren't fit to throw to a
+dog and drinking red lemonade that would die of shock if it saw a lemon.
+Twenty cents for a cup of coffee that they ought to pay me a dollar for
+drinking! Now you boys just climb aboard and let's see what you can do.
+You've got the American people in back of you. I've heard about you
+scouts; now let's see what you can do. Get aboard and get busy. You're
+here, because you're here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what we said," Pee-wee shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," the man said; "climb up and I'll take care of the legal end
+of it. I'm for the Boy Scouts to the last ditch. I once tried a case
+just like this. Let 'em talk to the car. Climb up and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> see what you can.
+I don't believe you know how to boil water!"</p>
+
+<p>He just sat down on the lowest step of the platform and stuck his hat on
+the side of his head awfully funny, and lighted his cigar. Everybody
+began laughing. The people were all on our side, that's one sure thing,
+anyway.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII</h2>
+
+<h3>TENDERFLOPS AND OTHER FLOPS</h3>
+
+
+<p>"He's right," Pee-wee whispered to me; "that's a good argument. Because
+if a thing is somewhere where it shouldn't be, if it isn't there on
+purpose, why then if somebody gets into it that doesn't belong on that
+place, but belongs in it, he's trespassing just as much, because anyway,
+if he took it away it wouldn't be there. See?"</p>
+
+<p>"Absolutely, positively," I told him.
+"<a name="corr2" id="corr2"></a><a class="correction" href="#cn2" title="changed from 'it's'">It's</a>
+as clear as mud."</p>
+
+<p>"Reduce it to a common denominator," Westy said. That fellow is always
+thinking about school.</p>
+
+<p>"We should bother our heads," I said. "Here we are; even the Supreme
+Court couldn't deny that."</p>
+
+<p>"They don't have to deny it, we admit it," Connie said.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll stand on our rights!" Pee-wee shouted. "We'll stand on our
+he&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/facing-206.png" width="286" height="450" alt="facing206" title=""></img>
+<p class="caption">PEE-WEE WAS SHOUTING ON THE ROOF OF THE CAR&mdash;"THEY'RE ALL
+RED HOT!"<br />
+<i>Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels. Page <a href="#Page_207">207</a></i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p>
+<p>
+"Sure, we'll stand on our heads," Wig said.
+"Anything to please you."</p>
+
+<p>"Our hereditary rights!" the kid yelled.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, get up and stand on the top
+of the car," I told him, "and shout. We'll
+do the rest."</p>
+
+<p>We made a paper hat for the kid and tied a
+towel around his waist for an apron, because we
+wanted him to look like a chef. I gave him a
+saucepan from Westy's kit and told him to wave
+it around while he was talking, because I thought,
+kind of, it might make the people hungry.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty soon we could hear him marching back
+and forth on the roof of the car, and shouting at
+the top of his lungs. Even before I got the stove
+hot there was a big crowd standing all around
+outside, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>He kept shouting, "<i>Here they are! They're
+all smoking hot! The celebrated Boy Scout tenderflops!
+Flopped by the only original Boy Scout
+flopper! They're one cent each! Eat one and
+you'll never eat another&mdash;I mean you'll never eat
+anything else! O-o-o-o-oh! They're all red hot!
+The kind we eat around the camp-fire! Only one
+cent! None genuine unless stamped BE PREPARED!</i>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span><i>The famous scout tenderflops! They
+melt in your mouth! They MELT in your
+MOUTH!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Good night!" I said to the fellows; "listen to
+him."</p>
+
+<p>By that time I was frying them six at a clip,
+while Connie and Wig and Westy were passing
+them around on pieces of board and scooping in
+the money. All of a sudden I heard Pee-wee's
+voice; it seemed to be in the stove. I opened the
+lid and heard him calling down the stovepipe,
+"Send me some up here so I can be eating them;
+it'll make the people hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good idea," Wig said; "let's all be
+eating them, and let's look kind of happy every
+time we take a bite. It pays to advertise."</p>
+
+<p>We passed a saucepan full of them up to Pee-wee
+and charged them up to advertising. Westy
+said, "That's what you call overhead expense."</p>
+
+<p>Believe me, that kid was some overhead expense,
+all right.</p>
+
+<p>"You have to demonstrate," he shouted down.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a pretty good demonstrator," a man
+called up to him.</p>
+
+<p>I was laughing so hard I could hardly fry the
+cakes fast enough. There was a big crowd outside,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>just scrambling for them, and we had Westy's
+aluminum coffee-pot about half full of pennies.
+Up on the car, Pee-wee was strutting up and down,
+waving the saucepan with one arm and holding a
+cake in his other hand and shouting, "<i>O&mdash;oh, to
+taste one! Just to TASTE one! Watch me eat
+one! Mm-mmm! They're one cent each! None
+genuine unless stamped BE PREPARED!</i> Send
+up some more, you fellows!"</p>
+
+<p>After a little while we stopped to rest, and we asked Mr. Pedro to come
+in and have lunch with us. In the afternoon we went around the grounds
+and had some rides on the merry-go-round and tried our luck throwing
+baseballs at a negro man. I won a Japanese doll. We found out that the
+price of sandwiches had gone down to ten cents. Waffles were selling two
+for a cent and going begging&mdash;that's what a man told us. He said
+crullers were off the market. The coffee-man wanted to buy tenderflops
+wholesale from us, but we wouldn't sell him any. Believe me, we had all
+the visitors at that place eating out of our hands&mdash;that's no joke
+either; it's true.</p>
+
+<p>About four o'clock I mixed up all the stuff we
+had left. Already we had eight dollars and we
+had only spent about four. So we had over four
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>dollars' profit. It would have been bigger, except
+for the overhead expense. It costs a lot to advertise.</p>
+
+<p>On toward evening the crowd was even bigger.
+That was because everybody was telling everybody
+else to see the Boy Scouts selling stamped
+cakes from their private car. We were a what-do-you-call-it&mdash;an
+institution.</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden came the grand climax. I was
+just laying the last tenderflops on the boards and
+trying to scrape enough stuff out of the pan to
+make just two or three more, when I saw a wagon
+stop right alongside the car. Oh, please excuse
+me a minute while I laugh!</p>
+
+<p>Now we had seen that wagon most all afternoon,
+because a man was using it to cart sawdust
+from the ice-house and sprinkle it on the race-track.
+I suppose he did that on account of the races which
+were going to be at five o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, he got down from his wagon and came
+over to the platform and said, "Let's try a couple
+of them floperetts I'm hearin' so much about."</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Is this your last load?"</p>
+
+<p>He said yes, it was, and that after he got it
+sprinkled on the track, he was coming back
+for more floperetts&mdash;that was what he called
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>them.</p>
+
+<p>That man ate a whole board full and I called
+up to Pee-wee, "There isn't any more batter, so
+we're on the home stretch. Shout good and loud
+and tell them it's their last chance."</p>
+
+<p>Just at that very minute I heard a locomotive
+whistle.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night," I said; "I bet it's twenty-three
+for us."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the difference?" Westy said; "there's
+no more batter, anyway, and I'm tired out."</p>
+
+<p>"We have a coffee-pot full of money," I told
+him.</p>
+
+<p>After I had fried the last tenderflop, I went outside
+to take a good rest. It was hot working over
+that stove. Up on the car, Pee-wee was stamping
+back and forth, waving the pan and screaming
+for all he was worth.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" I said to the fellows; "just take one
+look at him. Get your kodak, Westy."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Only a few more left!</i>" Pee-wee was yelling.
+"<i>One cent while they last! None genuine</i>&mdash;&mdash;and
+so on, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>By that time I could see a freight train backing
+in toward us. It was coming very slow and a
+couple of men from it were running ahead to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>open the gates. It just crept along&mdash;hardly
+moved. There were men on top and one turning
+the brake handle.</p>
+
+<p>One of them called out, "Watch your step there,
+you kid!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>They're all smoking hot!</i>" Pee-wee yelled, and
+never paid any attention to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Brace your feet, Sonny," the man shouted.</p>
+
+<p>Pee-wee didn't pay any attention, just kept
+marching up and down, waving the pan and yelling,
+"<i>There are no more tenderflops to be flopped!
+Your last chance! Get a flop</i>&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>And then, good morning sister Jane, there was
+just a little bunk and there was Pee-wee swinging
+the saucepan and trying to balance himself on one
+leg.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Get&mdash;get a flop&mdash;&mdash;</i>" he was shouting.</p>
+
+<p>And then, all of a sudden, around he went, and
+off the roof, <i>kerflop</i> into the load of sawdust.</p>
+
+<p>It was the end of a perfect day.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>ALL ABOARD</h3>
+
+
+<p>The sawdust was all wet on account of there
+being ice in that ice-house, and it stuck all over
+our young hero's clothes and face, so he looked as
+if he were covered with very coarse sandpaper.</p>
+
+<p>We hauled him out and stood him up, saucepan
+and all. Even he had a tenderflop with a big
+bite out of it in one hand, and it was all covered
+with wet sawdust like some new kind of frosting.
+The crowd went crazy. I thought one of those
+trainmen would have a fit, he laughed so hard.</p>
+
+<p>I said, "Never mind, Kid, you died for a good
+cause; only don't open your mouth, or you'll swallow
+about a quart of sawdust."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, boy, it makes me laugh whenever I think of
+it. Westy had a headache from laughing. His
+mother said it was from eating tenderflops, but <i>I</i>
+was the one that heard him laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, that was the end of our adventures.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>We cleaned our young hero up and brushed him
+off, but every time he spoke that night, he said
+he tasted sawdust.</p>
+
+<p>The train people fixed our coupling and in about
+an hour we were rolling merrily out through the
+gates on the end of that long freight train. I
+guess it couldn't have been Number Twenty-three,
+because nothing happened. Anyway, I bet the
+profiteers were glad to get rid of us. Pee-wee said
+we "dealt them a mortal blow." Westy said
+we "felled them to the ground with a frying
+pan."</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, we had twenty-seven dollars, counting
+what we made out of the movie show, and not
+counting the fifty that Mr. Temple had sent us.
+That wasn't so bad when you remember that we
+had only forty-two cents when we started.</p>
+
+<p>Sometime that night we were left in the freight
+yards at Jersey City, but we were all too sleepy
+to notice anything. Anyway, what's the use of
+being awake when you're in Jersey City. Early
+in the morning, a Northern local picked us up, and
+pretty soon we were rattling along the shore of
+our own river. You can bet it looked good to us.
+At about half-past seven, we were left on the sidetrack
+near the Bridgeboro Station.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>"All the commuters will be coming down for
+the seven fifty-two," Wig said "Let's get up on
+the roof and give them a Scout Sing."</p>
+
+<p>It looked good, after that crazy trip, to see all
+the things that we knew so well. There was Bennett's
+candy store, and there was the Royal Movie
+Theatre just around the corner. Pretty soon people
+began straggling along for the seven fifty-two,
+and a lot of them stood about, gaping at our car
+with its sign.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Buffalo 398 Mls.&mdash;BREWSTER'S CENTER&mdash;N. Y. 30 Mls.</p></div>
+
+<p>So we all got up on the roof and sat there in a
+row, singing. People down below waved to us
+and Connie's father shouted hello to us, but we
+got to singing so loud, we couldn't hear all the
+things that people said. Everybody down there
+knew us, and we knew they knew we were crazy,
+so we didn't care.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>All together!</i>" Wig said.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Go!</i>" Connie shouted.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"We started out to wander,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We never meant to roam;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">We went, because we went,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And now we're home, we're home.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span><span class="i0">We're going to go to school, oh, joy!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But we're not in a hurry;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We've got twenty-seven dollars and a railroad car;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">WE SHOULD WORRY!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p class="fm4">THE END</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<h3>Transcriber's note<a name="tnotes" id="tnotes"></a></h3>
+
+<p>
+The following changes have been made to the text:</p>
+
+<p>Page 156: "Just as we go our feet" changed to "Just as we
+<a name="cn1" id="cn1"></a><a href="#corr1">got</a> our feet".</p>
+
+<p>Page 206: "him. "it's as clear" changed to "him.
+"<a name="cn2" id="cn2"></a><a href="#corr2">It's</a> as clear".</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels, by
+Percy Keese Fitzhugh
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27272-h.htm or 27272-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/7/27272/
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Carla Foust and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/27272-h/images/facing-096.png b/27272-h/images/facing-096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d1f8e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-h/images/facing-096.png
diff --git a/27272-h/images/facing-150.png b/27272-h/images/facing-150.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b2cce9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-h/images/facing-150.png
diff --git a/27272-h/images/facing-206.png b/27272-h/images/facing-206.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc502c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-h/images/facing-206.png
diff --git a/27272-h/images/frontis.png b/27272-h/images/frontis.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b015b75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-h/images/frontis.png
diff --git a/27272-h/images/map-1.png b/27272-h/images/map-1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e01fcef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-h/images/map-1.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/f0001-image1.png b/27272-page-images/f0001-image1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b1343f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/f0001-image1.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/f0003.png b/27272-page-images/f0003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..048f460
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/f0003.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/f0004.png b/27272-page-images/f0004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f6e6fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/f0004.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/f0005.png b/27272-page-images/f0005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95c53eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/f0005.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/f0006.png b/27272-page-images/f0006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55ba28e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/f0006.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0001.png b/27272-page-images/p0001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48efc01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0001.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0002.png b/27272-page-images/p0002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49d6e33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0002.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0003.png b/27272-page-images/p0003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..944a900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0003.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0004.png b/27272-page-images/p0004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfbaffd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0004.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0005.png b/27272-page-images/p0005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63befc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0005.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0006.png b/27272-page-images/p0006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88962aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0006.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0007.png b/27272-page-images/p0007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49716c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0007.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0008.png b/27272-page-images/p0008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbc6abd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0008.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0009.png b/27272-page-images/p0009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..18cc876
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0009.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0010.png b/27272-page-images/p0010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..807553c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0010.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0011.png b/27272-page-images/p0011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4301b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0011.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0012.png b/27272-page-images/p0012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6ad424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0012.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0013.png b/27272-page-images/p0013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4272921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0013.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0014.png b/27272-page-images/p0014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..660f5d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0014.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0015.png b/27272-page-images/p0015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a8053c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0015.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0016.png b/27272-page-images/p0016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..174a47e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0016.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0017.png b/27272-page-images/p0017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e27119
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0017.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0018.png b/27272-page-images/p0018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83e76b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0018.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0019.png b/27272-page-images/p0019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2325b2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0019.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0020.png b/27272-page-images/p0020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b54c3e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0020.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0021.png b/27272-page-images/p0021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b13eaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0021.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0022.png b/27272-page-images/p0022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2b3f47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0022.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0023.png b/27272-page-images/p0023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a3e2c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0023.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0024.png b/27272-page-images/p0024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ef0567
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0024.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0025.png b/27272-page-images/p0025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cf5925
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0025.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0026.png b/27272-page-images/p0026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a4f0a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0026.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0027.png b/27272-page-images/p0027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6351daa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0027.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0028.png b/27272-page-images/p0028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..304d94a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0028.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0029.png b/27272-page-images/p0029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a50b84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0029.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0030.png b/27272-page-images/p0030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d21c45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0030.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0031.png b/27272-page-images/p0031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f886ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0031.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0032.png b/27272-page-images/p0032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6a3ed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0032.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0033.png b/27272-page-images/p0033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06b9e74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0033.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0034.png b/27272-page-images/p0034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a66220a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0034.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0035.png b/27272-page-images/p0035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13164d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0035.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0036.png b/27272-page-images/p0036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e267fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0036.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0037.png b/27272-page-images/p0037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38f595f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0037.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0038.png b/27272-page-images/p0038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcf1aac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0038.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0039.png b/27272-page-images/p0039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..839cfeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0039.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0040.png b/27272-page-images/p0040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b959cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0040.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0041.png b/27272-page-images/p0041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d5c76d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0041.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0042.png b/27272-page-images/p0042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb0a70b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0042.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0043.png b/27272-page-images/p0043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91033b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0043.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0044.png b/27272-page-images/p0044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa10eae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0044.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0045.png b/27272-page-images/p0045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d09753d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0045.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0046.png b/27272-page-images/p0046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76447a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0046.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0047.png b/27272-page-images/p0047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..721bca2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0047.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0048.png b/27272-page-images/p0048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96bcb0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0048.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0049.png b/27272-page-images/p0049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c21b8eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0049.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0050.png b/27272-page-images/p0050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..726d47b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0050.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0051.png b/27272-page-images/p0051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3ec9fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0051.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0052.png b/27272-page-images/p0052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..397226f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0052.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0053.png b/27272-page-images/p0053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a4c540
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0053.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0054.png b/27272-page-images/p0054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..624df40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0054.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0055.png b/27272-page-images/p0055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a002107
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0055.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0056.png b/27272-page-images/p0056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0990b90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0056.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0057.png b/27272-page-images/p0057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b371978
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0057.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0058.png b/27272-page-images/p0058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06b1d26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0058.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0059.png b/27272-page-images/p0059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c91d5c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0059.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0060.png b/27272-page-images/p0060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35cdc16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0060.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0061.png b/27272-page-images/p0061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd37d4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0061.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0062.png b/27272-page-images/p0062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..873df08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0062.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0063.png b/27272-page-images/p0063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdd19a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0063.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0064.png b/27272-page-images/p0064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b08f9fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0064.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0065.png b/27272-page-images/p0065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d695aac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0065.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0066.png b/27272-page-images/p0066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b75fac0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0066.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0067.png b/27272-page-images/p0067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb69abf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0067.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0068.png b/27272-page-images/p0068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec20c44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0068.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0069.png b/27272-page-images/p0069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a144f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0069.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0070.png b/27272-page-images/p0070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b27355
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0070.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0071.png b/27272-page-images/p0071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3b1b8c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0071.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0072.png b/27272-page-images/p0072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39ee324
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0072.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0073.png b/27272-page-images/p0073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12b914f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0073.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0074.png b/27272-page-images/p0074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d54b68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0074.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0075.png b/27272-page-images/p0075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4697041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0075.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0076.png b/27272-page-images/p0076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c1a531
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0076.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0077.png b/27272-page-images/p0077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e602eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0077.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0078.png b/27272-page-images/p0078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5e4a1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0078.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0079.png b/27272-page-images/p0079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a830fd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0079.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0080.png b/27272-page-images/p0080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cad0f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0080.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0081.png b/27272-page-images/p0081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e44b283
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0081.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0082.png b/27272-page-images/p0082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..999a99b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0082.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0083.png b/27272-page-images/p0083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ad86ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0083.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0084.png b/27272-page-images/p0084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87bc991
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0084.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0085.png b/27272-page-images/p0085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ed2993
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0085.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0086.png b/27272-page-images/p0086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffb4066
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0086.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0087.png b/27272-page-images/p0087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c443316
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0087.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0088.png b/27272-page-images/p0088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe9bcd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0088.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0089.png b/27272-page-images/p0089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fe7d58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0089.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0090.png b/27272-page-images/p0090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cba59b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0090.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0091.png b/27272-page-images/p0091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0fc4fa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0091.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0092.png b/27272-page-images/p0092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e98fc13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0092.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0093.png b/27272-page-images/p0093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3cf35b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0093.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0094.png b/27272-page-images/p0094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b416b6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0094.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0095.png b/27272-page-images/p0095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bca88f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0095.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0096-insert1.png b/27272-page-images/p0096-insert1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca9d46f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0096-insert1.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0096.png b/27272-page-images/p0096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dcd8fdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0096.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0097.png b/27272-page-images/p0097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1352b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0097.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0098.png b/27272-page-images/p0098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..79e5a9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0098.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0099.png b/27272-page-images/p0099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe4e666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0099.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0100.png b/27272-page-images/p0100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9dc7064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0100.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0101.png b/27272-page-images/p0101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3aff2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0101.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0102.png b/27272-page-images/p0102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94cc875
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0102.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0103.png b/27272-page-images/p0103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e8e82c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0103.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0104.png b/27272-page-images/p0104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85a8482
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0104.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0105.png b/27272-page-images/p0105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a478fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0105.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0106.png b/27272-page-images/p0106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d36896e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0106.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0107.png b/27272-page-images/p0107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8015909
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0107.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0108.png b/27272-page-images/p0108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2655128
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0108.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0109.png b/27272-page-images/p0109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50d6518
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0109.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0110.png b/27272-page-images/p0110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8efeffe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0110.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0111.png b/27272-page-images/p0111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff9cea3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0111.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0112.png b/27272-page-images/p0112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4d2b7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0112.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0113.png b/27272-page-images/p0113.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd94f6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0113.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0114.png b/27272-page-images/p0114.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36e3fa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0114.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0115.png b/27272-page-images/p0115.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba116c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0115.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0116.png b/27272-page-images/p0116.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76b7636
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0116.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0117.png b/27272-page-images/p0117.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10b80a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0117.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0118.png b/27272-page-images/p0118.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95b5a5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0118.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0119.png b/27272-page-images/p0119.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b85be5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0119.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0120.png b/27272-page-images/p0120.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f52ae5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0120.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0121.png b/27272-page-images/p0121.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c4204a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0121.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0122.png b/27272-page-images/p0122.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d76a4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0122.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0123.png b/27272-page-images/p0123.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3dab92d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0123.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0124.png b/27272-page-images/p0124.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eaaf1c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0124.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0125.png b/27272-page-images/p0125.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b340900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0125.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0126.png b/27272-page-images/p0126.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3dd4abe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0126.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0127.png b/27272-page-images/p0127.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d6b098
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0127.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0128.png b/27272-page-images/p0128.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3fc780
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0128.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0129.png b/27272-page-images/p0129.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bea479f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0129.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0130-insert1.png b/27272-page-images/p0130-insert1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e97a328
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0130-insert1.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0130.png b/27272-page-images/p0130.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2facf79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0130.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0131.png b/27272-page-images/p0131.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ca030e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0131.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0132.png b/27272-page-images/p0132.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56e6ba6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0132.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0133.png b/27272-page-images/p0133.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c43cef4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0133.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0134.png b/27272-page-images/p0134.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0e524b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0134.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0135.png b/27272-page-images/p0135.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9922520
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0135.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0136.png b/27272-page-images/p0136.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bbeb346
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0136.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0137.png b/27272-page-images/p0137.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a979310
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0137.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0138.png b/27272-page-images/p0138.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d06293
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0138.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0139.png b/27272-page-images/p0139.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2aa2ca1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0139.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0140.png b/27272-page-images/p0140.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63b1bed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0140.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0141.png b/27272-page-images/p0141.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52904d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0141.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0142.png b/27272-page-images/p0142.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96476ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0142.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0143.png b/27272-page-images/p0143.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc4d0d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0143.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0144.png b/27272-page-images/p0144.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7dc478d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0144.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0145.png b/27272-page-images/p0145.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fbce903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0145.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0146-insert1.png b/27272-page-images/p0146-insert1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..add06cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0146-insert1.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0146.png b/27272-page-images/p0146.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c3a042
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0146.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0147.png b/27272-page-images/p0147.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31d1767
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0147.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0148.png b/27272-page-images/p0148.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..340ec7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0148.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0149.png b/27272-page-images/p0149.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..034fada
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0149.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0150.png b/27272-page-images/p0150.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c2fe83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0150.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0151.png b/27272-page-images/p0151.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c60dfaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0151.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0152.png b/27272-page-images/p0152.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f6095e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0152.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0153.png b/27272-page-images/p0153.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47df2e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0153.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0154.png b/27272-page-images/p0154.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..066857c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0154.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0155.png b/27272-page-images/p0155.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2360987
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0155.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0156.png b/27272-page-images/p0156.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d1efff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0156.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0157.png b/27272-page-images/p0157.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a9d737
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0157.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0158.png b/27272-page-images/p0158.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..edbbd45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0158.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0159.png b/27272-page-images/p0159.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b262029
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0159.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0160.png b/27272-page-images/p0160.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b26cabd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0160.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0161.png b/27272-page-images/p0161.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14b4fdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0161.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0162.png b/27272-page-images/p0162.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..75f1a81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0162.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0163.png b/27272-page-images/p0163.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..209db1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0163.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0164.png b/27272-page-images/p0164.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..805cac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0164.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0165.png b/27272-page-images/p0165.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5cafaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0165.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0166.png b/27272-page-images/p0166.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7355af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0166.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0167.png b/27272-page-images/p0167.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d056ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0167.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0168.png b/27272-page-images/p0168.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7f0de5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0168.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0169.png b/27272-page-images/p0169.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82a5805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0169.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0170.png b/27272-page-images/p0170.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7a119e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0170.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0171.png b/27272-page-images/p0171.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e98c4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0171.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0172.png b/27272-page-images/p0172.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..23f1569
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0172.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0173.png b/27272-page-images/p0173.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20f124c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0173.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0174.png b/27272-page-images/p0174.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb9ff0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0174.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0175.png b/27272-page-images/p0175.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71343f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0175.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0176.png b/27272-page-images/p0176.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54c8603
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0176.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0177.png b/27272-page-images/p0177.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca845e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0177.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0178.png b/27272-page-images/p0178.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fd60cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0178.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0179.png b/27272-page-images/p0179.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..458c9e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0179.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0180.png b/27272-page-images/p0180.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53a7e8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0180.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0181.png b/27272-page-images/p0181.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35bc55c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0181.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0182.png b/27272-page-images/p0182.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d375fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0182.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0183.png b/27272-page-images/p0183.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1534d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0183.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0184.png b/27272-page-images/p0184.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59fddf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0184.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0185.png b/27272-page-images/p0185.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff7dbe6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0185.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0186.png b/27272-page-images/p0186.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b92514c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0186.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0187.png b/27272-page-images/p0187.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ecf73c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0187.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0188.png b/27272-page-images/p0188.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89c57eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0188.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0189.png b/27272-page-images/p0189.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59a3f3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0189.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0190.png b/27272-page-images/p0190.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c16c832
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0190.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0191.png b/27272-page-images/p0191.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa0181e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0191.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0192.png b/27272-page-images/p0192.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..60c4471
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0192.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0193.png b/27272-page-images/p0193.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d852bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0193.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0194.png b/27272-page-images/p0194.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..276f8f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0194.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0195.png b/27272-page-images/p0195.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..248aead
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0195.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0196.png b/27272-page-images/p0196.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ad919e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0196.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0197.png b/27272-page-images/p0197.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8938611
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0197.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0198.png b/27272-page-images/p0198.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a09f4aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0198.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0199.png b/27272-page-images/p0199.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0fb582
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0199.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0200.png b/27272-page-images/p0200.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c350ccd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0200.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0201.png b/27272-page-images/p0201.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..921ffa4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0201.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0202.png b/27272-page-images/p0202.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af95cb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0202.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0203.png b/27272-page-images/p0203.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a8fe0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0203.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0204.png b/27272-page-images/p0204.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3723260
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0204.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0205.png b/27272-page-images/p0205.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e126a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0205.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0206-insert1.png b/27272-page-images/p0206-insert1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6ef7dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0206-insert1.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0206.png b/27272-page-images/p0206.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..880a2dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0206.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0207.png b/27272-page-images/p0207.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acd7148
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0207.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0208.png b/27272-page-images/p0208.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c7ccb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0208.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0209.png b/27272-page-images/p0209.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6cc0bd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0209.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0210.png b/27272-page-images/p0210.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7578ab2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0210.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0211.png b/27272-page-images/p0211.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90cb4d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0211.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0212.png b/27272-page-images/p0212.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5401b4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0212.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0213.png b/27272-page-images/p0213.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9871959
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0213.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0214.png b/27272-page-images/p0214.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89077e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0214.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0215.png b/27272-page-images/p0215.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfea6b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0215.png
diff --git a/27272-page-images/p0216.png b/27272-page-images/p0216.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d61786
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272-page-images/p0216.png
diff --git a/27272.txt b/27272.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10a65dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5742 @@
+Project Gutenberg's Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh
+
+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: Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels
+
+Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh
+
+Illustrator: Howard L. Hastings
+
+Release Date: November 15, 2008 [EBook #27272]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Carla Foust and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+Minor punctuation errors have been corrected without notice. A few
+printer errors have been corrected and are listed at the end of the
+book. All other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's
+spelling has been maintained.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A LITTLE DOG SCOOTED BETWEEN PEE-WEE'S LEGS.
+
+_Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels._                 _Page 53_]
+
+
+
+
+   ROY BLAKELEY'S
+   CAMP ON WHEELS
+
+   BY
+   PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH
+
+   _Author of_
+
+   TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS,
+   TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS,
+   ROY BLAKELEY, ETC.
+
+   Illustrated by
+   HOWARD L. HASTINGS
+
+   Published with the approval of
+   THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
+
+   GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+   PUBLISHERS :: NEW YORK
+
+   Made in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+   COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
+   GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+   CHAPTER                                 PAGE
+
+         I BREWSTER'S CENTER                  1
+
+        II THE HOUSING PROBLEM                5
+
+       III "A WIDE-AWAKE LOT"                11
+
+        IV A WILD NIGHT                      17
+
+         V SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA              21
+
+        VI THE BIG B                         30
+
+       VII ON TO SKIDDYUNK                   34
+
+      VIII LABOR TROUBLES                    38
+
+        IX SANDWICHES                        45
+
+         X SCOUT HARRIS                      51
+
+        XI WE MEET THE CHEERFUL IDIOT        59
+
+       XII ON THE SCREEN                     64
+
+      XIII AN INVITATION                     70
+
+       XIV PEE-WEE ON SCOUTING               75
+
+        XV TO THE RESCUE                     81
+
+       XVI UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER           87
+
+      XVII A WILD-CAT RIDE                   92
+
+     XVIII THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD           100
+
+       XIX WESTY                            107
+
+        XX TAKING IT EASY                   112
+
+       XXI THE SHERIFF ARRIVES              118
+
+      XXII RAILROADING                      123
+
+     XXIII CRAZY STUFF                      127
+
+      XXIV UP IN THE AIR                    132
+
+       XXV IN THE DARK                      137
+
+      XXVI WALTER HARRIS, SCOUT             144
+
+     XXVII "POTS"                           150
+
+    XXVIII "SEEN IN THE MOVIES"             154
+
+      XXIX "FOILED"                         159
+
+       XXX OUR PATROL "SING"                166
+
+      XXXI FLIMDUNK SIDING                  170
+
+     XXXII EXPLORING                        177
+
+    XXXIII OUR YOUNG HERO                   181
+
+     XXXIV THE TRAIN                        186
+
+      XXXV THE PROFITEERS                   190
+
+     XXXVI A FRIEND IN NEED                 200
+
+    XXXVII TENDERFLOPS AND OTHER FLOPS      206
+
+   XXXVIII ALL ABOARD                       213
+
+
+
+
+   ROY BLAKELEY'S
+
+   CAMP ON WHEELS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BREWSTER'S CENTRE
+
+
+Maybe you think just because scouts go camping in the summer time, and
+take hikes and all that, that there's nothing to do in the winter. But
+I'm always going to stick up for winter, that's one sure thing.
+
+Anyway, this story isn't exactly a winter story, it's a kind of a fall
+story--lightweight. Maybe after this I'll write a heavyweight winter
+story. Dorry Benton (he's in my patrol) says that if this story should
+run into the winter, I can use heavier paper for the last part of it.
+That fellow's crazy.
+
+Believe _me_, there's plenty happening in the fall and in the winter;
+look at nutting and skating and ice-boating. Only last winter there were
+two big fires here in Bridgeboro and one of them was the High School.
+Gee whiz, what more could you want?
+
+But the best fire I ever went to was when the Brewster's Centre railroad
+station burned down. That was three or four years ago, and the railroad
+decided that as long as there was going to be a big war in Europe, they
+wouldn't build a new station.
+
+It won't do you any good to look on the map for Brewster's Centre,
+because you won't find it. Even with a microscope you couldn't find it.
+The reason you can't find it is, because it isn't there. I guess the men
+who made the map couldn't make a small enough dot. That's one thing I'm
+crazy about--maps. But I hate geography--geography and cough mixture.
+But I'm crazy about apple dumplings.
+
+Anyway, you'll have to take my word for it that Brewster's Centre is
+four or five stations above Bridgeboro. There isn't any man named
+Brewster. He went out West about fifty years ago. I guess he forgot to
+take his centre with him. Anyway, it's up there. I guess nobody wants
+it.
+
+There are about a dozen people up in Brewster's Centre who go to the
+city; gee, you can't blame them. So the railroad put an old passenger
+car on a side track up there and boarded up the under part so you
+couldn't see the wheels, just the same as on a lunch wagon. They
+partitioned off part of the inside of it for a ticket office and made a
+window in the boards, and the rest of the car was a waiting-room. There
+was a stove in the corner. It was like the Pennsylvania Station in New
+York, only different. They used the same old sign that used to be on the
+regular station and it looked funny sprawling all over the side of that
+car. It said:
+
+     Buffalo 398 Mls.--BREWSTER'S CENTER--N. Y. 30 Mls.
+
+You'd think that Brewster's Centre was the centre of the whole earth.
+Anyhow it showed two different ways of getting away from there. It's a
+wonder it didn't tell how far it is from Brewster's Centre to Paris. I
+guess the moon is about 'steen billion miles from Brewster's Centre. But
+one thing, there's a place where you get dandy ice-cream cones up there.
+
+That's all there is to this chapter. It isn't much of a chapter, hey?
+But it's big enough for Brewster's Centre. It's a kind of a prologue
+chapter. It's like Brewster's Centre, because nothing happens in it. The
+only thing that ever happened up there was the fire, and that happened
+three or four years ago. You can't even smell the smoke in this chapter.
+But just you wait and see what happens.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE HOUSING PROBLEM
+
+
+Now comes a _lapse of three years_--I got that out of the movies. Maybe
+if you've read all about our adventures you'll remember how my patrol,
+the Silver Foxes, hiked home from Temple Camp last summer. Believe me,
+that was some hike. The other two patrols came home later by boat. They
+said they had more fun without us. I should worry about _them_.
+
+The second night after we were all home I started around to the church
+to troop meeting and I met Pee-wee Harris coming scout pace down through
+Terrace Street. He's one of the raving Ravens. He was all dolled up like
+a Christmas tree, with his belt axe hanging to his belt and his scout
+knife dangling around his neck and his compass on his wrist like a wrist
+watch.
+
+I said, "You look like a hardware store. Where are you going? To chop
+down the North Pole?"
+
+He said, "There's bad news waiting for us at troop meeting."
+
+"Well, it'll have to wait till we get there," I told him; "I wouldn't go
+scout pace hunting for bad news." Cracky, if that kid was on his way to
+the electric chair he'd go scout pace.
+
+"We've got to give up the troop room," he said; "Doctor Warren told my
+mother to-day. The men are going to use it for a club."
+
+"Good night!" I told him; "why should they use a club? We'll get out
+without any trouble; peace at any price."
+
+"It's a sociable club," he said.
+
+"Well," I told him, "I wouldn't want to get hit with a club no matter
+how sociable it is."
+
+"It's going to be called the forearm club," he said.
+
+Gee, I had to laugh. "You mean forum," I said. "What are you trying to
+do? Scare the life out of me with clubs and forearms?"
+
+When we got to the troop room all the fellows were standing around, and
+Mr. Ellsworth, our scoutmaster, was there to tell us the worst.
+
+He said, "Scouts, you'll all remember that this pleasant meeting place
+was put at our disposal by Doctor Warren to be used by us until it
+should be needed for other purposes." (This is just what he said,
+because I asked him to write it out in my troop book afterwards.)
+"Doctor Warren now informs me that the plans for building a new church
+being postponed on account of the cost of labor and materials, the use
+of this room practically every night in the week is imperative. Since we
+are not actually a part of the church, I think we should insist on
+relinquishing it in favor of the many church activities for which this
+old building is all too small. We shall presently find another home. I
+am sure that every scout in this troop will join me in expressing our
+gratitude to Doctor Warren and his good people for their interest in us
+and their hospitality. I am in hopes that the room in the Public Library
+where the Red Cross ladies worked may be available to us. Meanwhile, we
+have the great scout roof over our heads--the blue heaven."
+
+"Believe me," I said, "that great scout roof is all right, only it leaks
+like the dickens. Anyway, we should worry; we'll find a place."
+
+So that night we spent taking down our pictures and all our birch bark
+ornaments, and packing our books and getting ready to move. We were up
+against the housing problem, that's what Westy Martin said.
+
+The next day was Saturday. That's the thing I like best about
+school--Saturday. So I went into the city to get a new scout suit on
+account of my other one being all torn from our long hike from camp. I
+came home on the Woolworth Special, that's the 5.10 train. On the train
+I met Mr. John Temple. He's the man that started Temple Camp. He lives
+in Bridgeboro and he owns a lot of railroads and things. Anyway, he did,
+only the government took them. He should worry, he's going to get them
+back. He's head of the bank, too. Gee, I hope nobody takes that away
+from him. I've got fifty-seven dollars in that bank. He used to be mad
+at the scouts, but then he found out that he was mistaken and he went
+off and built Temple Camp just out of spite to himself, kind of.
+Whenever he sees me he's awful nice.
+
+He said, "Well, Roy, how are the scouts getting on?"
+
+I said: "Believe _me_, they're not getting on, they're getting _out_. We
+can't use the lecture room in the church any more. If we don't get the
+room where the Cross Red Nurses were, I don't know where we'll meet
+We'll meet in the sweet by and by, I guess."
+
+He just began to laugh and he said: "Property and real estate are hard
+to get just now. Rentals are pretty high."
+
+"Gee whiz," I told him, "I wouldn't care if it was real estate or
+imitation estate or any other kind if there was only a room on it."
+
+He said, laughing all the while, "Well now, I have an idea. How would
+this strike you? They're finishing the new station up at the Centre.
+What do you think of that old car for a meeting place? Just for a while,
+you know, till you can find a regular place somewhere. It has a stove
+and seats and.... How would that strike you?"
+
+Oh, boy!
+
+"It strikes me so hard it makes a black and blue spot," I said; "and
+that wouldn't be so far to go for meetings."
+
+He said: "Oh, you wouldn't have to go up there for meetings. If I can
+arrange to get it for you, I'll have it brought down to Bridgeboro. I
+don't know where you could put it or just how you would move it away
+from the tracks, but it could be done."
+
+_Oh, bibbie_, wasn't I excited! "We could put it in the field down by
+the river," I said; "oh, it would be simply great!"
+
+Mr. Temple just laughed, and he said, "Well, don't count too much upon
+it. Uncle Sam has a say in all these things nowadays. But I think
+perhaps I can arrange matters. The car is no use up there; it isn't of
+much use _anywhere_. I'm afraid the difficult part would be in moving it
+away from the tracks when we got it to Bridgeboro. However, we'll see."
+
+I was so excited that when we got to Bridgeboro I stayed on the train
+and went on up to Brewster's Centre just to take a look at the car. As
+long as I was up there I thought I might as well get an ice-cream cone
+at that place I told you about. Then I hiked it home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+"A WIDE-AWAKE LOT"
+
+
+In a couple of days I got a letter from Mr. Temple. It came from his
+office in New York. This is what it said:
+
+     DEAR ROY:
+
+     I have arranged with the railroad people to let you boys have the
+     Brewster's Centre Station car. You will please accept it as a gift
+     to your troop from myself.
+
+     The freight which passes through Brewster's Centre somewhere around
+     10 P.M. will take it on Friday night and leave it on the siding at
+     Bridgeboro. I am going to talk with Mr. Ellsworth about the means
+     of moving it from there to a suitable location.
+
+     I am informed that the new station will be opened Friday morning,
+     so if you and your companions wish to take possession Friday
+     afternoon, you may do so. But do not make any alterations or
+     bother the local agent until he gives you permission to go ahead.
+
+     I hope the troop will find this makeshift meeting place suitable
+     till conditions are more favorable for finding a permanent
+     headquarters.
+
+     Best wishes to you.
+
+                                            JOHN TEMPLE.
+
+Oh, boy, isn't he a peach of a man? I bet we hiked up to Brewster's
+Centre a dozen times before Friday. I guess Pee-wee thought the station
+would run away. He couldn't even wait till it got down to Bridgeboro,
+but asked the girl ticket agent if it would be all right for him to
+bring some things up, and good night! he showed up Thursday afternoon
+with his moving picture outfit and a lot of other stuff.
+
+On Friday morning the new station was opened. It had a nice little
+ticket office for the girl to read novels in. So on Friday afternoon we
+all went up and took the boarding away from under the car and piled it
+inside, because we thought we might use it again. The part that was
+boarded off for a ticket office was at one end, and in the other part
+the seats were left just the same as in a regular car. It was nice in
+there, especially for meetings where somebody had to talk to us, only in
+our troop most always everybody is talking at once, especially Pee-wee.
+He talks so fast that he interrupts himself.
+
+After we got the windows washed and the boards from underneath piled
+inside and the little ticket office all cleaned out, it was about six
+o'clock. Westy Martin (he's in my patrol) said it would be a lot of fun
+for some of us to stay and come down in the car.
+
+"I'll stay!" Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"How about _you_?" Westy asked me.
+
+I said: "We're going to have apple turnovers for dessert to-night, but I
+should worry, I'll stay."
+
+Most of the fellows had to go home on account of their lessons, but I
+didn't have any lessons, because my teacher had to go to a lecture.
+That's the only thing I like about lectures. Westy always does his
+lessons right after school, before he goes out. Then in case he gets
+killed his lessons are done. He's a careful kid. Anyway, all of us hate
+to do lessons on Saturday, because that's scouting day.
+
+The fellows that said they'd stay were Pee-wee Harris and Wig-Wag
+Weigand (they're both raving Ravens), and Connie Bennett of the Elks (he
+wears glasses), and Westy Martin, and dear little Roy Blakeley, that's
+me. I use glasses, too--when I drink ice-cream sodas. The rest of the
+troop went home and they said they'd all be down at the siding near the
+Bridgeboro Station early in the morning.
+
+Westy had his camp outfit along and we had a lot of fun that night
+cooking supper in that old car. Westy and Pee-wee went up to the store
+and got some eggs and stuff, and I made a dandy omelet. I flopped it
+over all right and Connie Bennett said it would do for a good turn,
+because I hadn't done any good turn that day. Pee-wee just turned around
+a couple of times and said that was his--he should worry.
+
+After supper we took a little hike in the woods but we didn't stay very
+long, because we were afraid that freight might come along ahead of
+time. Safety first. When we got back we sat around on the plush seats
+waiting for the freight and jollying Pee-wee.
+
+It got to be about half-past ten, but still the freight didn't come.
+Every little while one of us would go out and hold an ear down to the
+track and listen. You can hear a train about ten miles off that way.
+
+"If it's coming at all it must be coming on tiptoe," I said.
+
+"Or else it's wearing rubbers," Wig answered back.
+
+"Maybe it's stalking a cow that's on the track," I said, "and has to
+sneak along quietly. We should worry."
+
+Pretty soon we began getting sleepy. Pee-wee said he wasn't exactly
+sleepy, but he guessed he'd lie down a little while. That was the end of
+_him_. If there had been an earthquake it wouldn't have stirred him. The
+only thing that could have awakened him would have been his own voice,
+only he doesn't talk in his sleep.
+
+Pretty soon Wig said it was funny how Pee-Wee could fall asleep so easy
+and he guessed he'd just sprawl on one of the seats and _think_. Good
+night! but didn't he snore while he was _thinking_. All of a sudden
+Westy went sliding down to the floor and I dragged him up on the seat
+again. He was dead to the world.
+
+"Believe _me_," I said to Connie; "what do you know about that? I'll
+laugh if that freight comes along and gives us a good bunk. Look at
+that trio, will you?" He just didn't answer me at all.
+
+"G-o-o-d night!" I said to myself; "wake me early, mother dear."
+
+All of a sudden I happened to think of something that Mr. Temple said in
+a speech about the scouts being such a wide-awake lot. Gee whiz, I
+laughed so much that I just lay down on the seat and held my sides.
+
+That's the last that _I_ remember. I guess I fainted from laughing so
+hard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A WILD NIGHT
+
+
+Now I'll tell you just exactly what happened while I was lying on that
+seat. Charlie Chaplin came to me and he said, "General Pershing says for
+you to get off of that barrel." I said, "I won't get off of the barrel
+till I finish eating this apple." Then he said, "If you don't get off
+the barrel, we'll shoot the barrel out from under you."
+
+So then General Pershing and Charlie Chaplin began wheeling a whole lot
+of cannons so as to make a big circle around me. And all the while
+Douglas Fairbanks was standing there laughing. Then they began shooting
+at the barrel, and every time a cannon ball hit the barrel it would
+joggle and almost shake me off. Sometimes the barrel stood up on edge
+and then a cannon ball would knock it back again and it would go dancing
+every which way with me on it. I had to hang on for dear life. Pretty
+soon I got mad (gee whiz, you couldn't blame me) and I threw the core
+of the apple at General Pershing, and he began to laugh. He said, "Never
+hit me!"
+
+Pretty soon the barrel got knocked over sideways and I was sprawling all
+over it trying to keep on top while it rolled down a hill. All the while
+Charlie Chaplin was running after me and trying to hook me with his cane
+and somebody shouted, "What does it say on the waybill? Look on the
+waybill!" And I could hear a sound like whistling. Then, good night! all
+of a sudden I went kerflop off the barrel. Just then a man shouted, "All
+on!" I guess he meant all _off_. Anyway, I didn't care, because I was
+lying in an automobile and jogging along awful nice and easy.
+
+In the morning I was lying on the floor of the car with my arm around
+Connie Bennett's leg. Every one of those four fellows was dead to the
+world. I pushed up the shutter that had slipped down, like they always
+do, and looked out of the window. Right outside was a barrel. But I
+didn't see General Pershing. There was a big field right near, and over
+farther was a lake. It was a dandy lake, with woods on the opposite
+shore. There were big high mountains, too, all bright on top, because
+the sun was coming up over them.
+
+I went out on the platform and looked up the track. I could see way far
+off till the tracks went to a point. The car was on a siding. Not very
+far off I could see smoke curling up and I knew there must be a house
+there somewhere. On the other side from the lake was a store with a
+platform in front of it. It wasn't open yet.
+
+I went in and washed my hands and face at the water cooler, then went
+out and looked again. But there wasn't anything to see, only the lake
+and the woods and the smoke curling up among the trees, and the store
+right near. I got out and looked at the side of the car. There was the
+big sign sprawling all over it.
+
+     Buffalo 398 Mls.--BREWSTER'S CENTER--N. Y. 30 Mls.
+
+That place wasn't Bridgeboro, that was one sure thing. Because, gee
+whiz, I know Bridgeboro when I see it. And it wasn't Brewster's Centre,
+either.
+
+I went in and began shaking Pee-wee, but it wasn't any use. Then I gave
+Westy a good shove and I shouted at him, "Wake up, the plot grows
+thicker. We're somewhere, but I don't know where. We're lost, strayed or
+stolen. Wake up, your country needs you."
+
+He sat up in the seat, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Then he said, kind
+of half asleep, "I--s--s--s--a--t--day? Wha'--we--doin'--a--a--a--here?"
+
+I said, "It's Saturday, and we're here because we're here. But I don't
+know where. There's a lake and a lot of woods and some mountains."
+
+"Le's see 'em," he said.
+
+"Look out of the window," I told him.
+
+He just yawned, "Where are they? Outside?"
+
+"They're on the landscape," I told him; "come on, we'll go and stalk
+them before they sneak away. Get up, you lazy ..."
+
+Just then Connie Bennett rolled over and sat up and tried to keep his
+eyes open while he looked out of the window.
+
+"Wass become Bridgeboro?" he said.
+
+"It just went out to get some rolls for breakfast," I said; "it'll be
+right back."
+
+"Where are we at?" he wanted to know.
+
+"Search _me_," I told him; "all I know is I was rolling down a hill on a
+barrel and Charlie Chaplin was running after me. There's the barrel out
+there now."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA
+
+
+As soon as I mentioned Charlie Chaplin's name, Pee-wee woke up. Charlie
+Chaplin is one of his favorite heroes; George Washington, Napoleon, and
+Charlie Chaplin--and Tyler's milk chocolate.
+
+"Where are we?" he began shouting. "There's a lake! Look at the lake!
+What's that lake doing here?"
+
+"That lake has got as much right here as you have," I told him.
+
+Of course, as soon as Pee-wee began shouting Wig Weigand woke up, and
+after the whole four of them were through stretching and gaping, we had
+a meeting of the General Staff.
+
+I said, "Something happened in the night. The first thing for us to do
+is to find out where we are. We can't go home till we know where we have
+to go from."
+
+"I don't care where we are," Pee-wee shouted; "the first thing is to
+have breakfast." Cracky, he's like all the Ravens; always thinking
+about eats.
+
+"We can't eat breakfast till we know where we're eating it," I told him;
+"we've got to find out where we're at."
+
+"You make me tired," he shouted; "will you answer me one question?"
+
+"Sure, ask me an answer and I'll question you," I said.
+
+"Are we in the Brewster's Centre Railroad Station or not?" he yelled.
+
+"Sure we are," Westy said.
+
+"Then we know where we are, don't we?" Pee-wee came back. "A location is
+a place, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, but where's the station?" Connie piped up.
+
+"Pee-wee's right," I said; "we should worry about where the Brewster's
+Centre Station is. We're on the earth, aren't we?"
+
+"Sure we are," Wig said.
+
+"All right," I told him; "we don't know where the earth is, do we?"
+
+"It's right here," Westy said.
+
+"Yes, but where is _here_?" I shot back at him.
+
+"Search me," Westy said.
+
+"Just the same as if you say a place is _up_," I told him; "how high is
+up? Suppose the lights go out, where do they go? How do _we_ know? But
+anyway, we know they go out."
+
+"Sure, that's rhetoric," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"You mean logic," I told him. "Nobody really knows where he's at. Even
+the smartest man in the world doesn't know where he's at. What do _we_
+care? Just because the earth is in the Solar System, that doesn't say we
+have to tell where the Solar System is, does it? We're in the Brewster's
+Centre Railroad Station and the Brewster's Centre Railroad Station is
+somewhere in France--I mean somewhere in the Solar System. Secretary
+Hines has charge of the railroads--he should worry. Come on, let's get
+breakfast."
+
+We only had enough stuff to last for about one meal, so we put all our
+money together and counted it up. We had forty-two cents, and an eraser,
+and a subway ticket, and a little hunk of icing from a piece of cake,
+and a trolley zone ticket, and two animal crackers. I dumped the money
+and the hunk of icing and the two animal crackers into Connie's hand
+(because he's our troop treasurer anyway). "Here," I told him; "food
+will win the war, don't waste it."
+
+I made some coffee and then we fixed two of the seats facing each other
+and two of the fellows sat on one seat and two on the other with a piece
+of board between them.
+
+There was a red flag on that car and I used it for an apron. Some chef,
+hey? The heating stove was in the little ticket office and I just passed
+the tin cups out through the window, and each time I called "one coffee"
+and slapped it down on the counter. I guess I'll be a waiter in Child's
+after I'm not a child any more--that's a joke. Anyway, it was lucky we
+had some Uneeda crackers; we needed them enough, believe _me_.
+
+After breakfast, Westy said, "There ought to be a town somewhere around
+here."
+
+"Look around and see if you can see it," I told him; "maybe it ran away
+when it saw us coming."
+
+He and Connie were just going to start out looking for the town, when a
+man came along and went up the steps of the platform in front of the
+store. I guess he kept the store. He had a big straw hat on and one
+suspender over his left shoulder. He had a little beard like a billy
+goat. When he got up on the platform he stood there staring at us.
+Pretty soon a couple more men came and they all stood there in front of
+the store, staring.
+
+"I think we're pinched," Westy said.
+
+"I wonder how much we can buy for forty-two cents in that store,"
+Pee-wee wanted to know.
+
+"About forty-two cents' worth," I told him.
+
+"That won't keep us alive for one day," he said.
+
+"Are you thinking about lunch already?" I asked him. "You should worry
+about lunch. All we have to do is to send a telegram to Bridgeboro and
+Mr. Temple will have another freight pick us up. We can be back there by
+to-night. I don't know where we are, but if we got here in one night, we
+can get back in one day, can't we? Anybody that knows anything about
+geometry can tell that. You should worry, we won't starve."
+
+"What'll you say in the telegram?" he wanted to know.
+
+"_Lost, strayed or stolen. Tag, you're it. Come and find us._ How would
+that do?" I asked him. "We'll send it in your handwriting, then they'll
+know who it's from."
+
+_Good night_, you should have seen that kid. He jumped up on one of the
+seats and began shouting, "Do you think I'm a _quitter_? Do you think
+I'm going to send and ask anybody to take me home?"
+
+"You're a raving Raven," Westy began, laughing.
+
+"Do you think a raving Raven--I'm _not_ a raving Raven," Pee-wee just
+yelled, he was so excited; "you think you're funny, don't you? Do you
+think I'm a big baby?"
+
+"Not so very big," Connie said.
+
+Pee-wee just stood there, yelling at us, "If _you_ want to send word
+home, go ahead. You admit yourself you're somewhere--don't you?"
+
+"Shout a little louder and they'll hear you in Bridgeboro," Wig said;
+"and then we won't have to wire them."
+
+"It isn't up to us, is it?" Pee-wee yelled. "Some train or other brought
+us here. When they find out they made a mistake, let them take us away
+again. What do we care? It's none of our business. It's up to the
+colonel, I mean the general or whatever you call him, of railroads. We
+can get along all right; we're scouts, aren't we?"
+
+"How about school?" Westy said.
+
+"How are they going to get the school here, all the way from
+Bridgeboro?" Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"That settles it," Connie said.
+
+"Sure it settles it," Pee-wee shouted; "and besides, Monday is Columbus
+Day--and Monday night, too. That's a holiday."
+
+"There are a lot of Knights of Columbus, but there's only one Columbus
+Day," Westy shouted at him.
+
+"They'll find out where we are in three days, won't they?" Pee-wee
+screamed. "_I_ say let's stay here. _I_ say let's be too proud to send
+for help."
+
+"Sure, we should worry," I said.
+
+"That's what _I_ say," Connie shouted.
+
+"Scouts don't ask for help, do they?" Pee-wee yelled at the top of his
+voice.
+
+I said, "No, but believe me, scouts like to eat. I know one scout that
+does, anyway. What are we going to eat between now and next Monday or
+Tuesday or Wednesday?"
+
+"We'll find a way," Pee-wee shouted. "Maybe they'll pick us up to-night,
+you can't tell. Anyway, I'm not going to be a quitter. Whenever I have
+to do anything I can always find a way. We can have a movie show, can't
+we? We can charge ten cents. We can have it to-night. You needn't sign
+_my_ name to any telegrams."
+
+"How can we have a movie show when there isn't any town here?" Westy
+wanted to know.
+
+"We'll find the town," Pee-wee shouted; "it must be somewhere."
+
+Connie said, "Oh, it's probably somewhere."
+
+"Sure it is," Pee-wee hollered; "and I've got that Temple Camp film in
+the machine. Remember about those scouts that were lost for a week in
+the Maine woods? We're not as bad off as they were, are we?"
+
+"Sure we're not," I said; "this is only the main line. Maybe it's only a
+branch line."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that scouts can't get along when they're lost on
+a branch line?" he wanted to know. "Scouts can do anything, can't they?
+If I have to do something, I just do it. If I can't do it, I do it
+anyway. I can find a way, all right."
+
+"Bully for you! Hurrah for P. Harris!" we began shouting.
+
+"Do you think I'm going to starve?" he screamed.
+
+"Gee whiz, it never looked that way to me," I said.
+
+"Why should we go home while we're waiting?" he yelled at us.
+
+"Look out, you'll fall off the seat," Connie said.
+
+"We're here because we're here, you can't deny that!" the kid fairly
+screeched, all the while hanging onto one of those cage things they put
+bundles in, so he wouldn't fall off. "And I say we just stay here until
+they take us back in what-do-you-call-it--triumph--and put us where we
+belong. This is our station. No matter where it is, it's our station.
+We're good at tracking. If there's a town we'll trail it."
+
+"If it's hiding we'll find it," I shouted; "hip, hip and a couple of
+hurrahs for P. Harris, scout!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE BIG B
+
+
+So we decided that we wouldn't send any telegrams or anything, and that
+we'd stay right there in Brewster's Centre Station till the railroad
+took us away and put us where we belonged. We said it was up to them.
+Westy's mother knew he had his "eats" outfit along, and I guess all our
+families knew about there being a stove and coal in the car. Anyway, you
+can bet that scouts' mothers don't worry about them when they're away.
+Gee whiz, my mother worries more about me when I'm home, because I
+always eat a lot of pie and cake when I'm home. And I'm always using the
+'phone.
+
+We all said it would be a lot of fun to camp out in that car and to just
+not pay any attention to what had happened. When we got home, we'd be
+home. We decided on some poetry that we'd send to the Bridgeboro _News_
+when we got back. It isn't much good, but anyway, this is it:
+
+     We started out to wander,
+       We didn't mean to roam.
+     We're here because we're here,
+       And when we're home we're home.
+
+     We hope they'll come and get us,
+       But we're not in a hurry.
+     We've got forty-two cents and a movie outfit,
+       We should worry.
+
+That isn't much good, is it? Anyway, we decided that the next thing to
+do was to find out if there was a town anywhere around. There wasn't any
+railroad station, that was sure. Now all the time that we were having
+that rumpus in the car, those men stood over there on the platform in
+front of that store, staring and staring and staring.
+
+Pretty soon they all came over and the man with one suspender said,
+"Thar be'nt no growed-up man along o' you youngsters, be there?"
+
+Westy told him no.
+
+Then he looked us all over, very easy like, and he said, "Yer chorin' on
+the railroad?"
+
+I said, "We're boy sprouts and this is Brewster's Centre."
+
+He said, "Brewster's Centre? Whar?"
+
+I said, "Right here in this car."
+
+He just looked all around and then he said, "They haint cal'latin' on
+changin' the name of this here taown ter Brewster's Centre, be they?"
+
+"'Cause that won't go here," another one of the men said. "We wuz
+promised a station, but we haint goin' ter have no changin' of names.
+The railroad folks tried that down ter Skunk Hollow, settin' up a
+jim-crack station, all red shingles and fancy roof, and callin' it Ozone
+Valley. But they can't come any of that business up here."
+
+"After Eb Brewster, too," the other man said; "and him crazier'n a
+loon."
+
+"Hadn't ought ter be thirty mile nuther," the man with one suspender
+said; "that three oughter be an eight. Noow York is eighty mile on the
+rail."
+
+They all stood there squinting up at the _Brewster's Centre_ sign, and
+all of a sudden I had a thought and I whispered to the fellows, "Don't
+spoil the plot, it's growing thicker. Let me do the talking."
+
+One of the men said to the others, "I alluz allowed Eb was jest talkin'
+crazy when he said haow he had friends amongst them big railroad
+maganates. But the taown haint never goin' to stand fer this, it
+haint."
+
+Then I spoke up and said very sober-like, "What _used_ to be the name of
+this town?"
+
+The man said, "'Taint youster; _'tis_. This here taown is Ridgeboro,
+Noow York, and so it'll stay, by thunder!"
+
+"Good night!" I said, and all the fellows started to laugh.
+
+Because then I knew how it was. We must have been picked up by the wrong
+train--a train going the other way. And the conductor must have had
+_Ridgeboro_ instead of _Bridgeboro_ on his paper. Oh, boy, that was some
+bull. And just as luck would have it, the people of that place were
+expecting the railroad to give them a new station. I didn't know where
+the old station was; I guessed there wasn't any.
+
+Connie whispered to me, "Who do you suppose Eb Brewster is?"
+
+"Search _me_," I told him; "but I bet he'll be tickled to death to find
+that the town is named after him."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ON TO SKIDDYUNK
+
+
+I didn't want him to ask us any more questions, so I said I guessed we'd
+go and look for the town if he would tell us where we could find it. He
+got kind of mad at that, because that was the town right there, and all
+the while we didn't know it. Gee whiz, how could _we_ tell? He said some
+day that town would be as big as Skiddyunk and that once upon a time New
+York had only one store, too.
+
+"It has one store three or four now," I said.
+
+Then he told us that Skiddyunk was about one mile along the track and
+that we'd see it as soon as we got around the bend. I guess Ridgeboro
+was just kind of on the edge of Skiddyunk. Gee whiz, if the railroad was
+going to give it a station, that station ought not to be a car. A
+wheelbarrow would be good enough.
+
+"I wish we had some money, I know that," Connie said, as we were
+walking along the ties. "That's the only thing that's worrying _me_."
+
+"Same here," I told him, "but we're going to have a lot of fun here,
+believe me; I can see it coming."
+
+"Keep your eyes peeled and see if you see a train coming," Westy said.
+Can you beat that fellow? Oh, but he's a reckless boy--not.
+
+"Careful Carl," I said.
+
+"What do you do with all the money you spend?" Connie wanted to know.
+
+"Oh, I save it," I told him; "ask me another one."
+
+"Who do you think Eb Brewster is?" Pee-wee piped up.
+
+"He's the man the town is named after," I said; "good night, there's
+going to be some fun around this way. I'm glad I'm not the railroad."
+
+"I bet those men will take that sign down," Wig said.
+
+"I bet they'll put it up again, then," I told him.
+
+"Are you going to tell them the station is for them?" Pee-wee asked me.
+
+"A scout is truthful," I said; "why should I tell them that? I'm just
+going to keep still and see what happens. I may decide to name the car
+after Eb Brewster. I should worry. We can name it after anybody we want
+to name it after, can't we? Jiminetty, I'm glad we're here; we dropped
+in at the right place."
+
+"One thing, I'm glad Monday's Columbus Day," Pee-wee said.
+
+"Believe _me_" I told him, "Columbus never discovered anything like
+this. I could kind of read in that man's face, the one with the
+suspender----"
+
+"He didn't have the suspender on his face," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"Take a demerit for that, and stay after school," I told him. "I could
+kind of read in that man's face, that there is going to be some fun in
+Ridgeboro."
+
+"A tempest in a teapot, hey?" Westy said.
+
+"You ought to apologize to the next teapot you meet," I shot back at
+him. "Teapots aren't so small."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pretty soon we got around the bend and then we could see the Skiddyunk
+Station. It was a regular station with a platform and everything, all
+fancy kind of.
+
+"It makes the poor little Brewster's Centre Station look like a dollar
+and a quarter," Connie said.
+
+I said, "I haven't seen a dollar and a quarter for so long that I can't
+tell, but the Brewster's Centre Station has traveled; that's what
+counts."
+
+Before we got to the station we saw where tracks branched off from the
+tracks we were following, so we knew that all the trains that passed
+Skiddyunk didn't pass Ridgeboro. I guess they didn't bother with that
+place much. At the Skiddyunk Station we got a time table and found that
+only one train a day passed Ridgeboro. It didn't go much further than
+Ridgeboro. I guess it got sick, hey? It only went as far as Slopson.
+Then we asked the express agent about freight trains and he said that a
+freight train went along that branch line every three days. He said
+there wouldn't be another one going east till Tuesday morning.
+
+Oh, boy, weren't we glad!
+
+"I'll miss French and civil government," Westy said.
+
+Connie said he'd only miss history.
+
+"I'll lose English and geography," I said; "but I won't miss them. Come
+on up the main street and let's see if we can find an ice-cream store."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+LABOR TROUBLES
+
+
+Skiddyunk was a nice town only, one thing, there were industrial
+disturbances there. Maybe you know what those are, hey? The boy that
+delivered the newspapers was on a strike. He was on a sympathy strike,
+that's what the man in the candy store told us. He was on a sympathy
+strike on account of the steel strikers. He read in a book that car
+wheels are made out of compressed paper sometimes, and as long as some
+of them were made out of steel, too, he decided he wouldn't deliver the
+papers that Saturday, on account of the newspaper being printed on
+paper. Gee whiz, I don't see how a paper could be printed on anything
+else except paper. That paper only came out twice a week, because there
+wasn't much news in Skiddyunk.
+
+As long as we only had forty-two cents we decided it was best to buy
+five ice-cream cones, because then we'd have only seventeen cents left
+and we couldn't send a telegram. Pee-wee said it was best not to have
+any temptation to send a telegram.
+
+We asked the man in the candy store if he thought the people who lived
+in Skiddyunk would come to a movie show in Ridgeboro that night. He said
+they would if they knew about it, only he didn't see where we could have
+it there. So then we told him about our car.
+
+He said, "Is it a movie theatre?"
+
+"You said it," I told him; "it moves all over. Even the Strand Theatre
+in New York doesn't move so much. And anyway," I said, "are there any
+fish in that lake?"
+
+He said if there were only as many people up there in Ridgeboro as there
+were fish in the lake that Ridgeboro would be as big as New York.
+
+"Good night!" I said.
+
+He said they just stood in a row up there waiting to be caught. He said
+nobody had to starve around that way, if he had a fish-hook.
+
+I said, "I wouldn't eat a fish-hook no matter how hungry I was."
+
+He was a nice man, that fellow in the candy store. He started to laugh
+and he said he guessed we wouldn't starve, because he could see we were
+a wide-awake lot.
+
+"You ought to have seen us last night," Wig said; "we reminded ourselves
+of Rip Van Winkle."
+
+So then he told us it would be good for us to see Mr. Tarkin who printed
+the Skiddyunk _News_. First we got some fish-hooks and a ball of cord
+and then we had five cents left--a cent each. Never laugh at poverty.
+Then we went to the place where the Skiddyunk _News_ was printed and
+asked for Mr. Tarkin. He was in a little bit of an office with papers
+all over the floor.
+
+I said, "We're boy scouts and our railroad car that we're going to use
+for a troop room is on a side track up at Ridgeboro, because it was
+brought there by mistake and we want to have a movie show in it
+to-night." I told him all about the whole thing, just how it happened,
+and I asked him if he thought the people would come.
+
+Pee-wee piped up and said, "We have pictures of Temple Camp where we go
+in the summer, and they show scouts doing all kinds of things--rowing
+and cooking and hiking and climbing trees and eating."
+
+Mr. Tarkin said, "And eating, eh?"
+
+"Sure, and snoring," Pee-wee said. Cracky, I could hardly keep a
+straight face.
+
+"There's a picture showing me peeling potatoes and another one where I'm
+stirring soup," the kid told him, "and a lot of other peachy
+adventures."
+
+Mr. Tarkin said, "I should call the soup picture a _stirring_ adventure.
+I'm afraid that potato peeling scene would be too thrilling for our
+simple people."
+
+"Anyway," I said, "if we could help you on account of the strike maybe
+you'd be willing to help us let the people know--maybe."
+
+"If they don't know they can't come, can they?" Pee-wee said.
+
+Mr. Tarkin just sat back and laughed and laughed and laughed. Jiminies,
+you wouldn't think he had labor troubles, the way he laughed. Then he
+began asking us a lot of questions about the scouts and he asked us if
+most of them were like Pee-wee. He said they didn't have any scouts in
+Skiddyunk.
+
+After a while he kind of sobered up and he said, "I wonder if the boy
+scouts would make good strike-breakers?"
+
+"Sure we would," Pee-wee shouted; "breaking things is our middle name."
+
+"He even breaks the rules," I said.
+
+"When there isn't anything to break, he _makes_ breaks," Westy said.
+
+Then Mr. Tarkin told us how the boy that delivered the papers was on a
+strike. He said it wasn't much of a sympathy strike, because nobody had
+any sympathy for him. He said that boy wanted a one-hour day and an hour
+and a half for lunch. I couldn't tell whether that man was jollying us
+or not. Anyway, the papers weren't delivered, that was one sure thing,
+and he told us that if we would deliver them for him, he'd boom our
+movie show, so that people would be standing up in that car.
+
+"Believe _me_," I told him; "they _usually_ stand up in the cars down
+our way."
+
+Then he told us that the boy that was on a strike could deliver all the
+papers himself because he had a flivver, but that he'd let all five of
+us do it because we had to walk and because we didn't know the streets
+in that town.
+
+I said, "You leave it to us."
+
+So then he gave us a list of all the people that had papers delivered at
+their houses and we made five routes. I took all the papers for Main
+Street and Westy took all the papers for three other streets and Connie
+and Wig took the rest, all except a few scattered around in different
+parts of town, and Pee-wee took those, because he makes a specialty of
+scout pace. I thought that maybe we'd have trouble about finding some
+places, but what did _we_ care? It was early.
+
+While we were planning all about how we'd do, Mr. Tarkin called me into
+the room where they did the printing and showed me a handbill he had
+made up. He said, "As long as you're a scout I guess you'd better write
+the copy for this yourself, and I'll have it set up and run off while
+you're getting ready to start out. Then you can slip one into every
+paper you deliver. How does that strike you?"
+
+"Oh, it'll be great!" I said.
+
+Then he said I mustn't write too much, because there wasn't much time to
+set it up. This is what I made up and I could have made a better one
+only I was in such a hurry. First I was going to take it out into the
+office and ask the fellows about it, but I decided I wouldn't because
+they were busy mapping out their routes. Anyway, I didn't want Pee-wee
+to know what I said about him.
+
+                             _ATTENTION!_
+
+                   Big Movie Show in Boy Scout Traveling
+                    Theatre Opposite Store in Ridgeboro.
+
+                               TO-NIGHT.
+
+                          ADMISSION TEN CENTS.
+
+                 See the Boy Scouts in Their Native Haunts.
+
+                     Swimming, Tracking, Racing, Eating,
+                         Diving, Stalking, Snoring!
+
+              See Scout Harris in His Stirring Soup-Stirring Feat!
+
+                            ONLY TEN CENTS!
+                               TO-NIGHT.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SANDWICHES
+
+
+When we got back from delivering the papers, Mr. Tarkin said he had a
+good idea but that he was afraid that maybe we wouldn't like it. He
+said, "Do boy scouts believe in advertising? What is your opinion of
+sandwiches?"
+
+I said, "We eat 'em alive. Do you want us to advertise some new kind of
+ham?"
+
+"No, sir," he said; "I'm going to suggest a plan for advertising your
+movie show. Something _striking_."
+
+Then he began laughing and he brought out a couple of big placards about
+as big as window-panes. They had fresh printing on them, all in great,
+big letters, and this is what they said:
+
+                               _TO-NIGHT!_
+                Boy Scout Movie Show in Railroad Traveling
+                     Movie Palace. One Night Only.
+                _RIDGEBORO                      RIDGEBORO_
+                                TEN CENTS.
+                               DON'T MISS IT!
+
+He said, "Now this is a sandwich."
+
+Pee-wee just stood there gaping at it and I said to him, "What's the
+matter? Do you want to eat it?"
+
+The two big placards were tied together at the top with a rope and Mr.
+Tarkin slipped them over Pee-wee so that one covered the front of him
+and the other covered his back. You couldn't see anything but his head
+and his feet. Mr. Tarkin began laughing and the fellows all screamed.
+
+"Now you're a sandwich man," Mr. Tarkin said; "you're the inside part."
+
+"You're a hunk of cheese," I said.
+
+"You're a sardine," Connie shouted.
+
+_Oh, boy_, you should have seen Pee-wee! He just stood there looking all
+around him, his head sticking up from between those two big placards,
+while the rest of us danced around him, just hooting. Crinkums! It was
+the funniest thing I ever saw. Even Mr. Tarkin was laughing so hard he
+could hardly speak.
+
+"Walk over to the window and back again," he said.
+
+Honest, I can't tell you about it. I just sat on the counter and
+screamed. Westy had his arms folded and he was just doubled up,
+laughing. Pee-wee strutted around and you couldn't see any part of him,
+except just his head. It was as good as a circus.
+
+"Smile and look pretty," I said.
+
+"Our young hero," Connie giggled.
+
+"Let's see you go scout pace," Wig said.
+
+"Advancing stealthily," I said; "our young hero charged upon the hooting
+multitude and----"
+
+"Look at him turn around," Wig laughed; "look at him try to read it. Oh,
+save me!"
+
+Pee-wee was swinging around like a sailing ship in the wind and craning
+his neck and trying to read the printing. All of a sudden he lifted the
+whole thing off.
+
+"Do you think I'd wear that thing?" he yelled. "What do you think I am?"
+
+"If you'd just stroll up and down Main Street with that," Mr. Tarkin
+said; "it would attract attention----"
+
+"G--o--o--d _night_! You _said_ it!" I just blurted out.
+
+"I wouldn't do it!" Pee-wee shouted "Do you think I'm a dunce? Do you
+think I'm going to march up and down Main Street with that thing on,
+like a--like a scarecrow--with all you fellows laughing at me?"
+
+"You look too sweet for anything," Westy told him.
+
+"You think you're so smart," Pee-wee shot back; "why don't _you_ do it?"
+
+"I'm too big," Westy said; "Connie's the best looking; let _him_ do it."
+
+Connie said, "After you; sandwiches always disagreed with _me_."
+
+"You make me tired," Pee-wee yelled; "I've seen you eat a dozen!"
+
+"Let Roy do it," Connie said.
+
+"I'd be tickled to death," I told him, "only I'm patrol leader and I
+have to be dignified."
+
+"Well, you won't catch _me_ doing it," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"Same here," Connie said.
+
+"You all make me tired," I told them; "afraid of being laughed at!"
+
+Just then Mr. Tarkin asked me to carry a bundle of paper into the
+printing shop in the back of the office, and as soon as I got in there I
+saw about a dozen or so of those placards in a big waste paper box. I
+asked the printing man why he had printed so many, and he said they were
+only proofs or kind of samples that he made while he was trying to print
+a good one.
+
+"Oh, boy," I said to myself; "I'll fix that bunch."
+
+So I went out into the office and I said, "I suppose all you crazy
+Indians claim to be good sports. Maybe some of you know how to be good
+losers. Suppose we draw lots and see who goes up and down Main Street as
+a sandwich man. I'll make five slips of paper and the one who draws the
+one with number three on it will have to go out. What do you say?"
+
+First nobody was willing, because each fellow said that if he went out,
+all the other fellows would laugh at him.
+
+"You should worry," I said; "I'll fix it so nobody laughs at anybody
+else--positively guaranteed."
+
+"How can you be sure?" Pee-wee wanted to know.
+
+"You leave it to me," I told him; "nobody will have anything on anybody
+else. Absolutely, positively guaranteed. If not satisfied bring your
+sandwich in and get it exchanged for a hunk of pie."
+
+So then I tore five slips of paper and I put a _three_ on every one of
+them. I knew how to handle that bunch.
+
+"I'll draw first," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+Good night, you should have seen that kid when he drew number three! All
+the fellows began kidding him and saying he was unlucky. Then came
+Connie, and _he_ drew three, and then Wig and, oh, boy, I just can't
+tell you about it. Each fellow stood there staring at his little slip
+and I drew the last one.
+
+"There you are," I said; "we're all stung and everybody's got the laugh
+on everybody else. So what's the use of laughing at all? That's logic."
+
+"Sure it is," Pee-wee yelled; "how can anybody laugh at anybody when
+everybody is laughing at everybody else?"
+
+"It can't be did," Connie said. "We're all stung, Roy too."
+
+"You can't laugh at anybody," Pee-wee piped up, all the while hoisting
+those big placards up over his head, "unless the person you laugh at has
+got something about him that you can laugh at that nobody else has about
+him that anybody else can laugh at----"
+
+"You're talking in chunks," Westy said.
+
+"If everybody gets a prize then it isn't a prize, is it?" Pee-wee
+screamed.
+
+"Sure, you can do that by long division," I told him. "Come on and let's
+start the parade."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+SCOUT HARRIS
+
+
+That was some parade! The whole five of us marched up and down Main
+Street looking as sober as we could, Pee-wee strutting along at the head
+of the line and every now and then getting his feet tangled up with the
+edge of the big frames, and stumbling all over himself.
+
+"Don't laugh," I said; "every one of us is as bad as another, if not
+worse; keep a straight face and march in step; the public is with us."
+
+Oh, boy, you ought to have seen the people laugh. I guess mostly they
+laughed because we kept such straight faces, except when Pee-wee
+stumbled all over himself; then we had to howl. Everybody stopped and
+stared at us and read the signs and laughed.
+
+Pretty soon we passed an automobile full of girls that was standing in
+front of a store. They were camp-fire girls, because they had on khaki
+middies or whatever you call them with kind of, you know, braid things
+like snakes around their necks. One of them had a banner that said _Camp
+Smile Awhile_.
+
+Pee-wee turned around and whispered, "Did you see that girl smile when
+she looked at me?"
+
+"Smile!" I said, "that's nothing; the first time I ever saw you I
+laughed out loud. Keep your eyes straight ahead and look pretty--as if
+you were posing for animal crackers."
+
+When we got to the corner, Pee-wee turned around and marched back, just
+because he wanted to pass those girls again. He made himself as tall as
+he could, so as he wouldn't trip over the placards. Honest, he looked
+just like a turtle standing up on its hind legs and waddling along and
+poking its head around this way and that.
+
+"Don't laugh," he said, just as we passed the girls.
+
+"Oh, _isn't_ he just too _cute_ for _anything_!" one of them said.
+
+"Isn't he just a little dear!" another one said.
+
+"Oh, me, oh, my," I whispered to Westy who was just in front of me.
+"Pee-wee's got them started. Isn't he the little heart-breaker?"
+
+He marched back again when we got to the other corner, standing up as
+high as he could, so as to lift the placards and looking straight ahead
+of him with a sober face.
+
+"_Oh_, I think he's just as _cute_ as he can _be_," one of the girls in
+the auto said.
+
+Just then a little dog came running out of one of the stores and scooted
+between Pee-wee's legs and _good night_, down he went, sprawling on the
+ground with one leg kicking through one of the big placards and his arms
+all mixed up in the rope.
+
+"Watch your step," I said. I just couldn't help it.
+
+"Where's that dog?" Pee-wee yelled, all the while trying to straighten
+things out and get up. "I'll--I'll----"
+
+"A scout is always kind to animals," Wig said; "the poor little dog was
+in a hurry, that was all."
+
+"That dog was going scout pace," I said; "you should worry."
+
+By now, Pee-wee was all tangled up with the two big placards and the
+rope that had held them together, and the whole business, Pee-wee,
+placards, rope and all, looked like a double sailor's knot having an
+epileptic fit. Laugh! We simply screamed.
+
+"Get up, you're blocking the traffic," I said.
+
+"It's got around my leg," he shouted.
+
+"That's what you get for trying to show off," Westy told him. "Talk
+about your soup-stirring scene! It can't be mentioned alongside of
+this."
+
+By now, Pee-wee had managed to scramble to his feet, and he stood there
+staring around as if he didn't know what had struck him. One of the
+placards was all torn and muddy and hanging by one rope and the other
+piece of rope was wound around his leg. Honest, I never knew that one
+little dog could make such a wreck.
+
+"You look as if you'd been torpedoed," Wig said; "stand still till we
+brush you off. Turn around and smile and look pretty."
+
+By that time all the girls had gotten out of the auto and were crowding
+around Pee-wee, brushing him off and asking him if he was hurt.
+
+"Oh, it's _just_ too _bad_," one of them said; "his nice khaki jacket is
+torn. I'm going to fix it. We've got needles and thread and everything
+right in the machine, because we're on our way to camp."
+
+"I don't need to have it fixed," Pee-wee said; "I can fix it myself.
+Scouts can do everything like that."
+
+"Yes, but they can't sew," the girl said.
+
+"Sure, they can do everything," Pee-wee told her. "Maybe you think," he
+said, all the while pounding the dust out of his clothes, "maybe you
+think that just because I fell down--gee, that could happen to the
+smartest man--even--even--_Edison_----"
+
+"Sure," I said, "lots of times Edison fell down."
+
+"Scouts can do anything," Pee-wee said. I guess after what had happened
+he wanted to let those girls know that just because a scout fell down,
+it didn't prove he wasn't smart.
+
+"Hurrah for P. Harris," I said.
+
+"Oh, is _he_ P. Harris?" one of the girls said; "Oh, isn't that
+_glorious_! Is he the one that stirs soup?"
+
+By that I knew they must have seen one of the handbills.
+
+"Oh, we're _all_ coming to-night to see him stir it," she said; "our
+camp is just across the lake from Ridgeboro. Don't you think Ridgeboro
+is a _poky_ old place? We'll canoe over. We're camping over the holiday
+and we call our camp, _Camp Smile Awhile_. Isn't that just a _peachy_
+name?"
+
+Connie said, "I should think a girls' camp ought to be named _Camp
+Giggle a Lot_."
+
+"Oh, aren't you _perfectly terrible_!" one of them said; "the _idea! Is
+it ten cents to get in? Have you really got a railroad car of your _very
+own_? Oh, I think that's just simply _scrumptious_. I wish I were a
+boy."
+
+"That's nothing," Pee-wee said; "we hike hundreds of miles. Once we got
+lost on a mountain--we didn't care. We were lost two days. We could have
+been lost three if we'd wanted to."
+
+"Only what's the use of being extravagant?" I said.
+
+"Once I fell down a cliff forty feet high," Pee-Wee said; "that's
+nothing."
+
+"Oh, and didn't you _kill_ yourself?" one of the girls wanted to know.
+
+"Sure he did," Westy said; "but he's all right now."
+
+"It's fine being a boy," Pee-wee said; "gee, I feel sorry for girls."
+
+"Oh, and you can sew, too?" one of them asked him. "And cook?"
+
+"Cook!" I said. "He used to be the chef in the Waldorf Castoria."
+
+"Scouts have to know how to do everything," Pee-wee told her; "because
+suppose a scout is alone in the woods; he has to cook his dinner,
+doesn't he? He has to know how to do everything for himself, see?
+That's why I'll sew this jacket myself. That's what you call
+resourcefulness. A scout has to be full of that, see?"
+
+"Oh, I think it's just _wonderful_!" the girl said.
+
+"That's nothing," Pee-wee told her; "you can even cook moss and eat it
+if you're lost and hungry. Once I went two days without food."
+
+"You mean two hours," Connie said.
+
+"Anyway, it was _two_ something or other," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"Most likely it was two minutes," I told the girl.
+
+"And you came all the way out here _alone_? Oh, isn't that perfectly
+_adorable_! And you're going to give a show to earn money----"
+
+"So we won't perish," Pee-wee said.
+
+"Which?" Westy asked him.
+
+"Perish," he said; "don't you know what perish means?"
+
+"And will the pictures show you doing all those things?" one of the
+girls wanted to know.
+
+"Sure," Pee-wee said; "maybe you'll get some good ideas from them, only
+you mustn't scream when you see one of the fellows fall out of a tree
+into the water, because that's nothing. That's one thing scouts don't
+do--scream."
+
+But believe me, that was one thing scouts did do the very next day. I
+did, anyway; I screamed till I had a headache.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WE MEET THE CHEERFUL IDIOT
+
+
+They said they would surely canoe across that night and take in the show
+and so we told them we'd see them later. Westy gave Pee-wee one of his
+sign placards and we marched up and down Main Street for about an hour,
+till we got hungry. Then we decided that as long as everybody in
+Skiddyunk knew about our show, we'd go back to Ridgeboro and catch some
+fish. Mr. Tarkin told us that as long as everybody had laughed so much
+and had seemed to take so much interest, he guessed our show was a safe
+investment and that if we needed a couple of dollars or so to carry us
+through, he'd let us have it. But we didn't take it, because scouts like
+to rely on themselves, and we knew there were lots of fish in that lake.
+
+When we got back to Ridgeboro, the man that owned the store came and
+gave us a telegram. He said a boy on horseback had brought it from the
+office in Skiddyunk. This is what it said:
+
+     "Just learned of unfortunate error of freight conductor. Don't be
+     afraid or worried. Have wired money to Skiddyunk. You can get
+     eastern train there at three. Parents informed. Keep cool.
+
+                                            "JOHN TEMPLE."
+
+"Just our luck," Westy said; "we've got to go home."
+
+"What!" Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"_Keep cool_," I said; "that means _you_."
+
+"Are you going to answer it?" he wanted to know.
+
+"Absolutely, positively," I told him; "and I'm going to send it
+collect."
+
+"If you think I'm going home," Pee-wee yelled, "you've got another
+think. A scout is not a quitter. We've got things coming our way now--do
+you think I'm going to admit----"
+
+"Come on in the car and we'll make up an answer," I said, "and I'll sign
+it, because I'm patrol leader."
+
+So this was the answer we made up and Westy and Connie went back to
+Skiddyunk with it, while the rest of us were fishing.
+
+     "Cannot make afternoon train. Are giving big movie show in car
+     to-night. Great excitement. Expect to clear thirty dollars. Will
+     not desert car. Expect us when you see us. Good fishing. Love to
+     all. We should worry.
+
+                                            "ROY (S. F.)"
+
+When Westy and Connie got back, they had fifty dollars that Mr. Temple
+had sent, but we decided we wouldn't use a single cent of it, just so as
+to show him that we could look after ourselves. Anyway, we should bother
+about fifty dollars, because we had a big string of perch and some
+catfish.
+
+It was about the middle of the afternoon when we got the fish cooked
+and, believe me, we were good and hungry. After the meal was over, we
+were sprawling around in the car before starting to get ready for the
+show, when all of a sudden we heard somebody speaking outside, and then
+in came a little man with an awful funny face and a funny little cap on.
+He wore spectacles way down near the end of his nose and he was smiling
+and seemed awful happy, but there was something funny about his eyes. I
+guess he wasn't more than about thirty years old, but he looked awful
+funny and his eyes were bright and queer like.
+
+He said, "How _do_ you do." And then he started to shake hands with all
+of us. He said, "I called twice this morning, but you weren't here. And
+now I have found you and I'm delighted, and I suppose you wonder who I
+am, eh?" Then he looked all around and put his finger to his lips and
+said, very secret like, "My name is Ebenezer Brewster and I'm a poet. I
+have written a little poem to thank you boys for the great honor you
+have done me, in naming the village after me. Shh! There is opposition.
+The public is scandalized. There is likely to be a riot. I am not
+appreciated--shh."
+
+"Six or seven people wouldn't make much of a riot," I told him. "If they
+start any riot here, we'll put the village in the car and take it away
+with us."
+
+"That's a very good idea," he said, "a _very_ good idea. Did you
+graduate from a public school?"
+
+I said, "No, I have my ideas made to order; they last longer."
+
+He said, "_Much_ longer, that's my idea exactly. And they fit better.
+Would you like to hear the poem?"
+
+"Go ahead, shoot," Westy said.
+
+So then he took a paper out of his pocket and read what was on it, and
+this was it:
+
+     "There are eleven people here,
+        Nine chickens and a rooster;
+      The village it is named for me,
+        I'm Ebenezer Brewster."
+
+Connie came over and whispered to me, "Where are we, anyway? I feel like
+Alice in Wonderland. He's a cheerful idiot. He thinks we named this town
+after him. This is _some_ comedy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ON THE SCREEN
+
+
+That fellow didn't stay long and he went away very sudden like, just the
+same as the way he came. We told him to come to the movie show and he
+said he would. We decided that he was kind of crazy, but anyway, he was
+awful nice about it, and gee whiz, if you're happy, what's the
+difference whether you're crazy or not? He was happy all right, and he
+seemed to be mighty proud, because he thought the town was named after
+him. So we let him think so.
+
+By six o'clock we had everything ready for the big show. We fixed the
+apparatus so that the lens cylinder stuck through the ticket window, and
+that way the operator (that was Pee-wee, because the machine belonged to
+him) could be all by himself in the ticket agent's room. We hung the
+screen at the other end of the car, and turned all the seats facing that
+way.
+
+The man over in the store came and watched us and got friendly. I guess
+he knew how it was by that time, and he wasn't afraid that the name of
+the village was really changed. He gave us some cakes and we had cakes
+and fried perch for supper. They were dandy cakes, with jam in them.
+There were seven of them and only five fellows, but anyway, Pee-wee
+hadn't done any good turn that day, so he ate three. That was so none of
+the rest of us would get a stomachache. That's the way with Pee-wee,
+he's always thinking about some one else.
+
+All the while we were eating supper, we could see smoke curling up out
+of the woods across the lake, and we guessed that was where the girls
+had their camp.
+
+"I bet they're getting supper now," Connie said.
+
+Pee-wee said, "Maybe some of us ought to borrow that store man's boat
+and row over after them, because girls can't row or paddle very well. It
+would be a good turn."
+
+"_Good night_," I said; "didn't you just eat three peach cakes and call
+that a good turn? You should worry about the girls. Probably they know
+how to row and paddle better than you do."
+
+"You make me tired," he yelled; "scouts are supposed to do things for
+them, and show them how to do things."
+
+"Well, they'll see you doing enough things on the screen," I told him;
+"girls aren't as helpless as you think they are. Come on, help get
+ready."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At about half-past seven, people began coming and I could see that we
+were going to have a big house, I mean a big car. First an automobile
+full of people arrived and then a lot more who had walked from
+Skiddyunk. Then a couple more automobiles came and pretty soon there
+were a half a dozen of them parked around the car, and the seats inside
+the car were full. Westy stood on the platform collecting ten cents from
+each one and letting them through, past the screen. Oh, boy, there was
+some crowd.
+
+Pretty soon the store man came over and said that as long as the weather
+was so warm, it would be a good idea to open the car windows and have
+standing room outside. So he gave us some boxes and barrels and things
+to put outside the windows for people to stand on. All the people out
+there paid their ten cents just the same and they laughed and said it
+was a lot of fun. Some of them were summer people, I guess; holdovers.
+The girls from _Camp Smile Awhile_ came over in two canoes and a
+rowboat.
+
+When there wasn't space for another head to stick through a window, I
+got up in front of the screen and made a speech. This is what I said:
+
+     "Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for coming to see our show, and
+     we hope you'll like it. I guess maybe I ought to tell you about
+     Temple Camp, then you'll understand the pictures better.
+
+     "Temple Camp is where lots of scouts go in the summer. It's near
+     the Hudson. Maybe you've heard about all the different things that
+     scouts learn how to do. So these pictures will show you some of
+     those things.
+
+     "Some of the things are hard, but some of them are easy, like
+     eating and things like that. Especially desserts. So now the show
+     will begin."
+
+First we flashed the sentence that is in the handbook:
+
+                     A SCOUT IS HANDY AND USEFUL
+
+and then came the picture of Pee-wee with a big white apron on,
+standing in front of the stove in the cooking shack, stirring a big
+boiler full of soup. I heard one of the girls say, "Oh, _isn't_ he
+simply too cute for _anything_!" Then we flashed another sentence that
+said:
+
+                        A SCOUT IS SKILFUL
+
+and then came the picture of Pee-wee standing at the kitchen table,
+rolling dough. Everybody applauded and the girls said it was wonderful,
+but that anyway, the Boy Scouts was started before the Camp-Fire Girls
+was, and so they had had more time to learn things. I heard one lady say
+it was _splendid_ how scouts got to be self-reliant, on account of
+learning the domestic arts.
+
+Oh, bibbie, I just had to laugh, because that was the one thing that
+Pee-wee didn't know anything about at all--cooking. The only thing that
+kid knew about domestic arts, was eating. He was a good ice-box
+inspector and pantry-shelf sleuth. He could track a jar of jam to its
+dim retreat, but when it came to cooking--_good night_! The only reason
+we had him in those pictures was because he was so small and looked so
+funny.
+
+The next sentence we flashed said:
+
+                         A SCOUT IS QUICK
+
+and the picture showed Pee-wee flopping a wheat cake and catching it in
+the frying pan again. Honest, when we were trying to get that picture up
+at Temple Camp, the whole floor was covered with wheat cakes and there
+was one on Pee-wee's head like a Happy Hooligan cap. But the audience
+didn't know that. There are lots of things you don't see in the movies.
+It takes about twenty wheat cakes to get a good picture of Scout Harris
+flopping one.
+
+The regular cook wasn't there the day we got that picture.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+AN INVITATION
+
+
+That was the comedy sketch and Pee-wee was so puffed up over his screen
+success that he could hardly work the machine. I guess he felt as if he
+were a regular Douglas Fairbanks.
+
+"Did you hear what those girls were saying?" he whispered to me behind
+the screen. "Did you hear what the one with the red sweater was saying?
+About a scout being so resourceful? Did you hear her?"
+
+"Oh, you've got the town eating out of your hand," I told him; "you're a
+regular Mary Picklefoot. You're such a swell cook you ought to cook for
+Cook's Tours."
+
+"Did you hear what one of them said about how I rolled the rolling pin?"
+he whispered.
+
+"She said you were the finest roller she ever saw," I said, in an
+undertone; "shh, you've got them going. There's no use trying to stand
+up against the Boy Scouts of America."
+
+"Didn't I tell them scouts have to be resourceful?" he whispered "Did
+they notice how I flopped it?"
+
+"They said you were the floppiest flopper they ever saw," I told him.
+"Go ahead and give them some deep stuff."
+
+So then we reeled off some pictures of good stunts at Temple Camp. One
+showed scouts doing fancy diving from the springboard, and there were a
+couple showing the races on the lake. The people seemed to like them a
+lot. Some of the pictures had Pee-wee in them and then there was a lot
+of applause. There was one showing the forest fire near camp; it was the
+best of all and everybody said so.
+
+After the show, when the people were going, they all said it was fine
+and asked us a lot of questions about Temple Camp and scouting. Pee-wee
+got down off the car and stood around with his sleeves still rolled up
+and his jacket off, and everybody talked to him. Believe me, he was a
+walking advertisement for the scouts. I heard him telling one man that
+scouts had to have plenty of initials.
+
+The man said, "What?"
+
+"Initials," Pee-wee told him; "it means starting to do things of your
+own accord, see?"
+
+The man laughed and he said, "Oh, you mean _initiative_." He said
+Pee-wee was worth ten cents not counting the movie show.
+
+After most everyone else had gone, the girls all crowded around Pee-wee
+before they went back to their canoes. Oh, you should have seen that
+kid! The girl in the red sweater said, "My name is Grace Bentley and my
+friends want me to tell you what a perfectly _lovely_ time we've had.
+And we think it's just _wonderful_ how boy scouts are so, you know, what
+you may call it----"
+
+"Sure," Pee-wee said; "resourceful, that's what you mean."
+
+She said, "But you must remember that the Camp-fire Girls are new and
+we'll catch up to you yet."
+
+"Oh, sure," Pee-wee said; "you'll catch up with us. All you have to do
+is try. First I couldn't learn scout pace. Gee, don't get discouraged.
+If you want to do a thing just make up your mind that you'll do it. And
+if you can't do it, do it anyway."
+
+Gee, the rest of us just stood there trying to keep from screaming,
+while Pee-wee stood in the center of that crowd of girls, looking about
+as big as a toadstool, and giving them a scout lecture.
+
+"All you have to do is try," he said; "did you notice where I was diving
+from the springboard?"
+
+"Oh, I thought it was just _dandy_," a girl said.
+
+"That was nothing," Pee-wee told her; "it looks hard, but that's
+nothing. There's no such word as fail; that's a what d'ye call it, a
+maxwell."
+
+"You mean a Ford," Connie said.
+
+"He means a Pierce-Arrow," Westy shouted.
+
+"He means a maxim, don't you?" the girl named Grace said. "And I think
+it's a perfectly _splendid_ maxim."
+
+"That's nothing," Pee-wee piped up; "I know a lot of maxims. I've got a
+collection of them."
+
+"He catches them in the woods," I said.
+
+"Don't you get discouraged," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"No, we won't," Grace said; "and don't you mind them, either. They're
+just teasing you. And we want to ask you if you'll do us a favor--a good
+turn. Will you?"
+
+"_Sure_ I will," he said, very manly; "what is it?"
+
+"We want you to _promise_ to come over to _Camp Smile Awhile_ to-morrow
+and cook dinner for us. And we want to ask all the rest of you boys to
+come, too. We're just a lot of _greenhorns_ about cooking; isn't it
+_shameful_ to have to admit it? But we've got everything over there,
+food and utensils, and you can make us up a _feast_ and we'll spend the
+afternoon visiting. Say you will. Will you?"
+
+_G--o--o--d night!_ I laughed so hard I nearly fell off my feet. _Oh,
+boy_, you should have seen Pee-wee's face. You just ought to have seen
+it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+PEE-WEE ON SCOUTING
+
+
+"Absolutely, positively," I said; "he'll be there at ten-thirty. Do you
+want him to bring references?"
+
+"We should say _not_," Grace Bentley said; "the _idea_! What we saw in
+the pictures was reference enough."
+
+_Good night_, you should have seen Pee-wee's face. He just stood there,
+gazing about as if he were in a trance.
+
+One of the girls said, "Won't it be _adorable_! We're going to have
+chicken."
+
+"Cooking chicken is his favorite indoor sport," Westy said. "How do you
+like your roast chicken; fried or stewed? It's all the same to him."
+
+I took out my scout note-book and made believe to write things down.
+"We'll just make up the menu," I said.
+
+All of a sudden Pee-wee came out of his trance and shouted, "You mean
+me?"
+
+"Menu," I said; "yes, they mean you." Then I said, "Would you like to
+have the fried potatoes stewed, or would you prefer to have them mashed
+with the skins on?"
+
+One of the girls said to Pee-wee, "Don't you mind him, he's just _too_
+silly."
+
+"Do you prefer your fried eggs in the shells, or would you like them
+roasted in ice-water? It doesn't make any difference to him," Connie
+said.
+
+"Don't you pay any attention to them," Grace Bentley said to Pee-wee;
+"some of us will come over in the boat for you to-morrow morning, and
+when the dinner is ready, we want all of you to come, won't you?"
+
+"Sure, we'll hike around the shore," I said, "and get up good appetites.
+We'll be there at about twelve-sixty. We'll come around the longest way,
+so we'll get good and hungry."
+
+"Oh, that will be just _lovely_," they said, "and we'll have a perfectly
+scrumptious time. Do you like pie? We've got a whole big jar full of
+mince meat."
+
+"You have to be careful about mince pie," Pee-wee said; "it's better,
+maybe, not to eat mince pie."
+
+"Who's a coward?" Westy piped up. "Do you think a scout is afraid of a
+piece of mince pie?"
+
+"Oh, it will be just _dear_," another one of the girls said, and then
+they all crowded around Pee-wee and began saying, "You'll _surely_ be
+ready, won't you? We'll come over for you at ten o'clock. And we'll have
+everything ready for you. We've got lots of flour and seasoning----"
+
+I said, "What kind of seasoning; summer or winter?"
+
+They told Pee-wee not to mind us, and that we probably wouldn't stop
+talking till our mouths were busy doing something else.
+
+"What--what--time did you say you'd come?" he began stammering.
+
+"At ten o'clock, and you'll be ready, won't you?"
+
+"I--ye--yes," he stammered out.
+
+"Positively?" Grace Bentley said.
+
+"You--you can--you know, you never--kind of--maybe--you never can be
+sure of anything," he blurted out.
+
+"But say you'll _surely_ come," she hammered at him. "Will you?"
+
+He said, "I guess--sure--yop." And he looked all around as if he was
+going to start to run.
+
+"Absolutely, positively guaranteed," I told them; "a scout can be
+_trusted_."
+
+So then we helped them off with their boat and their canoes, and they
+started across the lake in the dark. We said we'd paddle them over and
+then hike back through the woods, but they wouldn't let us, because
+there wasn't room enough and anyway, they said they wanted to show us
+that there were some things girls could do. They rowed and paddled
+pretty good, too; I have to admit it.
+
+Pee-wee didn't go down to the shore with the rest of us, but just stood
+where he was, like a statue. He was in a kind of a trance, I guess.
+
+As we came near him, Westy said, "Of course, they don't row very well,
+or paddle either, but they're _trying_. All they have to do is to
+_try_."
+
+"Oh, sure," I said; "if you can't do a thing, just go ahead and do it
+anyway. You have to be resourceful. You have to have plenty of
+_initials_."
+
+"Now you take making dressing for roast chicken, for instance," Connie
+said; "all you have to do is to know how. It's a cinch."
+
+"And if you don't know how," I said; "do it anyway. It's as easy as
+pie."
+
+"Oh, pie's a cinch," Wig said.
+
+"Those girls will learn," I said; "they shouldn't get discouraged."
+
+"They should be pitied, not blamed," Westy said.
+
+All of a sudden Pee-wee exploded. He sounded like a munition factory
+going up. "You think you're smart, all of you, don't you!" he hollered.
+
+"A scout is smart," Westy said.
+
+"A scout can do anything," I said.
+
+"He is resourceful--it's in the handbook," Wig said, very sober like.
+
+"It's in the handbook--it's in the handbook--it's in the handbook,"
+Pee-wee fairly yelled, "that a scout has to be----"
+
+"Helpful," I said; "he has to be helpful to women."
+
+"You make me sick!" he fairly shrieked.
+
+"You'll be the one to make _us_ sick," Westy put in.
+
+"Do you think I'm going to do that?" he fairly screamed; "do you
+think--do you think--do you think----"
+
+"Three strikes out," Connie shouted.
+
+"Do you think I'm a _fool_?" Pee-wee finished.
+
+"_A scout's honor is to be trusted_," I said; (that's scout law number
+one) "_if he were to violate his honor----_"
+
+"You make me tired," Pee-wee yelled; "a scout has got to be
+_cautious_--it says so--he's got to leap--I mean look--he's, he's got to
+consider others--just because somebody that ought to know how to do a
+thing that he doesn't know how to do asks somebody to do something that
+the other person won't learn to do if the other person does it for him,
+because that isn't being resourceful, if somebody else does that thing
+for you, and so the other person doesn't learn how to do it himself--do
+you mean--do you mean to tell me--that that's being a good scout?"
+
+"Sure it is," I told him; "it's just the same as if a person that wants
+to do something, doesn't do it because if he does, he won't. Why then,
+how could the other person do something that somebody else wanted
+another person not to do----"
+
+"You'd have to have a crowbar," Westy said.
+
+"Pee-wee's right and we're wrong, as he usually is," Connie shouted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+TO THE RESCUE
+
+
+We made the plush seats up into beds that night and, oh, didn't we
+sleep, with the breeze blowing in through the windows! It was dandy.
+
+In the morning none of us said anything about dinner. That was funny,
+because most always that's the principal thing we talk about on Sunday
+mornings, especially at Temple Camp. Once Wig said that he guessed the
+hike around the lake through the woods would make us good and hungry,
+and I noticed Pee-wee didn't say anything. He was so still you could
+hear the silence.
+
+Along about ten o'clock we saw the boat coming over. Two of the girls
+were in it, and each of them was rowing with one oar. The boat went
+swirling around in circles.
+
+"That's what they call the waltz stroke, I guess," Connie said; "they'd
+get along better if they had some dreamy music."
+
+Westy gave me a sly wink and said, "If you can't do a thing, do it
+anyway."
+
+Pee-wee stood on the shore with a scowl on his face watching them. The
+girls were Grace Bentley and another one they called Pug Peters. They
+have awful funny nicknames for each other, girls do. They flopped
+against shore about fifty feet from where they intended to land, and
+they giggled as if they thought it was a lot of fun.
+
+"This boat reminds me of a balky horse," Pug Peters said.
+
+"It reminds me of a pin wheel," I told her.
+
+"Oh, you needn't talk," she said; "you started to go about five miles
+south and you landed eighty miles west--in your old car."
+
+"Scouts aren't afraid of long distances," I told her; "they don't bother
+with little five-mile runs."
+
+"Is he ready?" Grace Bentley asked.
+
+"A scout is always ready," Westy told her; "that's his middle name."
+
+"And we're not going to let him row, either," Pug Peters said.
+
+"Aren't you afraid he'll get dizzy?" I said. "Remember his little head
+is full of recipes; two heaping teaspoonfuls to a half cup of milk----"
+
+"Never you mind, Walter," she called to Pee-wee (because that's his real
+name), "you just get right in."
+
+Oh, boy! Laugh! I just sat down on the bank and began to roar. Pee-wee
+didn't care anything about rowing. He didn't care about anything, I
+guess. He was in a state of cromo, or whatever you call it. He just got
+in and sat down in the stern seat as if he was going to be executed.
+
+"Aren't you going to show them how to row?" Connie called out, as the
+girls stood up in the boat, each with an oar, trying to push off.
+
+But Pee-wee wasn't going to show them anything.
+
+"We'll show _him_ we can do something," they said.
+
+Pretty soon they got off and the last we saw of Pee-wee he was sitting
+like a nice little boy scout in the stern of the boat. Every time the
+boat swerved around in a circle, we could see his face, all sober and
+scowling. The boat went every which way, one girl giving a long pull and
+the other breaking her stroke and almost losing her oar. But what cared
+they, yo, ho? Sometimes the boat seemed to be coming back to us, and
+then we could see Scout Harris sitting there with his knees together,
+looking fierce and terrible, like Billikins with a grouch. The rowing
+wasn't much of a joke to him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We allowed about an hour and a half for hiking around through the woods.
+We didn't think it would take that long, but we knew the land was low
+and we guessed that the lake might run into marshes. Safety first. But
+we found a trail in the woods and it was easy going. So the way it
+happened, we got to _Camp Smile Awhile_ a little before twelve instead
+of at one. It was lucky for _Camp Smile Awhile_ that reinforcements
+reached the bloody scene in time to save the day--I mean the dinner.
+
+The first thing we saw was a good-sized tent and the next--oh,
+_Christopher Columbus_, what a sight! Talk about the West Front!
+
+There were girls sitting all around on the ground, simply screaming.
+Close to the fireplace, that was made out of stones, stood Pee-wee with
+a great big white apron on that went right down to his feet.
+
+"It--it--would have been all right if I hadn't tripped," we heard him
+say; "that could happen----"
+
+"Look at him," I said to the fellows; "only look at him. He looks like
+the end of a perfect day."
+
+All over his hair was yellow stuff, and there was flour on his face and
+all over his stockings and shoes. There were big black smootches on his
+face, too. He had a can in one hand and a girls' curling iron in the
+other and a big greasy frying pan under one arm.
+
+We were about a hundred feet off, among the trees, and we just stood
+there staring and trying not to scream.
+
+"This is terrible," Westy said; "what do you suppose happened?"
+
+"What's he doing with the curling iron?" Wig whispered.
+
+I just leaned against a tree and shook and shook till my head ached.
+
+I said, "I don't know what he's doing with the curling iron, but I
+think--wait a minute till I can speak--oh, oh, oh--I _think_ he tripped
+over the apron while he was trying to flop an omelet and the omelet came
+down on his head. Don't speak to me!"
+
+"He's suffering from shell shock or something," Connie said.
+
+"Not shell shock, _omelet_ shock," I told him; "this is--gh--gh--astly.
+I wonder what became of the ch--ch--ch--icken!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
+
+
+Then we all marched in, just as if nothing had happened--you know, kind
+of careless like.
+
+Westy said, "Good morning, it's a beautiful afternoon this evening. Is
+dinner ready?"
+
+The girls just couldn't speak, they were laughing so hard. Two of them
+were trying to pluck the feathers out of a couple of chickens, and by
+that I knew the worst hadn't happened. But they weren't paying much
+attention to their work; they were just bending backward and forward and
+screaming.
+
+"L--l--look at him!" Grace Bentley just blurted out; "it's too
+_excruciating_!"
+
+I said, "Pee-wee, don't ever quote the handbook to me again. '_A scout
+is kind._' You have deliberately murdered that poor omelet. Don't ever
+say you don't believe in frightfulness."
+
+"You make me tired!" he yelled. "Didn't you tell me the way
+to flip--flop--didn't you say to catch--didn't you say to
+toss--graceful----"
+
+"I said to toss it up gracefully," I told him, "and to let it turn over
+in the air and then to catch it _inside_ the pan. But tell me this,
+_please_, so I can die in peace; what are you doing with the curling
+iron?"
+
+"He was going to open--he was going to open--a--a--can," the girl they
+called Billie said, all the while trying not to laugh; "oh, dear me!"
+
+"He wanted us to cut the chicken up to fr--fr--fr--fr--_fry_!" Grace
+Bentley screamed.
+
+"Oh, he's a regular cut-up," Connie told her.
+
+"He sm--sm--_ashed_ the potatoes so they--oh, just look at them!" one of
+the others managed to blurt out.
+
+The kettle full of mashed potatoes looked as if a bomb had fallen into
+it; there were gobs of mashed potatoes all around on the trees and
+ground for about ten feet. It looked like a snowstorm.
+
+"He flavored the onions with mosquito dope--cit--citronella," Pug Peters
+shrieked.
+
+"Sure," Wig said; "a scout is resourceful."
+
+"You all make me tired!" Pee-wee yelled; "how can you flip when you
+trip----"
+
+"Walter," I said, very gentle and kind like, "take off your apron and
+ask for an armistice. It's your only hope; unconditional surrender.
+Here, give me the frying pan; look at the grease all down your leg,
+you're a sight."
+
+I began gathering up the gobs of omelet from his head and his shoulders,
+while the girls sat on the ground all around and just laughed and
+laughed. Honest, I thought Pug Peters would have a fit, she laughed so
+hard. Grace Bentley nearly had hysterics.
+
+"How can you--tell me this----?" Pee-wee yelled; "how can you
+trip--flip--if you flop--I mean trip--you make me sick. That could
+happen----"
+
+"Sure, it could happen to Edison," I said; "you should worry. Get your
+apron off and your face washed before some of us die."
+
+Poor kid, he was a wreck. We washed him up and brushed and cleaned his
+suit the best we could and collected all the odds and ends of omelet.
+Westy wanted to try to fit them together like a picture puzzle. That
+omelet looked like the map of Europe after the war. But one thing, the
+chickens were saved. In another ten minutes, I suppose, odds and ends
+of chicken would have been flying in the air.
+
+Pug Peters said she was sorry, because she had been wanting to eat some
+of that omelet to see how it tasted. She said it had maple syrup in it.
+_Good night!_ Grace Bentley told us there was peppermint extract in it,
+too. Anyway, it had an awful death.
+
+From all we heard, about the only thing Pee-wee didn't use for flavoring
+was fountain pen ink. There was a bottle of glue there and I don't know
+how he happened to miss that. The mashed potatoes were flavored with
+strawberry, but they weren't so bad. The onions had a funny taste, too;
+kind of like pineapple. He had made some fried muffins, the same way
+that I usually did, and Westy and Connie and I had a good game of one
+o'cat with one of them. Westy knocked a home run and even that didn't
+break it.
+
+As soon as the girls could manage to talk straight, they got busy
+plucking the chickens and we cut them up and fried them. Pee-wee retired
+from his strenuous career of cook and just sat by and watched us. He
+didn't say much. A scout knows when to keep still.
+
+Maybe you think we didn't have a good dinner, but mm-_mmm_, that
+chicken was good. We boiled some more onions and added them to the
+others, so the pineapple flavoring wasn't so strong, and I flopped some
+flapjacks. I can make a flapjack do three summersaults and catch it. We
+ate the muffins, too, even though they were hard, because scouts are
+supposed not to be scared of things that are hard. They tasted sweet
+kind of, like marshmallows, and we decided that Scout Harris had used
+powdered sugar by mistake, instead of flour. Anyway, he said powdered
+sugar and flour looked alike. Especially we thought that was what he had
+done, because the sugar can had flour in it, and we put flour in our
+coffee. But anyway, it wasn't coffee. It was Indian meal. We should
+worry.
+
+The girls were awful nice and I guess they were glad of everything that
+happened, because it made so much fun. Pee-wee didn't lose his pull with
+them, anyway, that was sure. They said he was _just simply
+excruciating_. Pug Peters said that anyway, the principal thing was for
+a scout to know how to eat, and Pee-wee didn't fall down there, you can
+bet.
+
+A scout is hungry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A WILD-CAT RIDE
+
+
+Now you'd think that after what happened, our young hero, P. Harris,
+wouldn't go hunting for any more glory for a couple of days. But late
+that very afternoon, he performed one of his most famous feats. It was
+an accident, but anyway, he scooped up all the credit. That's always the
+way it is with Pee-wee; things go his way, and then all of a sudden, zip
+goes the fillum, he's a boy hero.
+
+After dinner that afternoon, we took a walk through the woods with the
+girls and helped them get some birch-bark, because they wanted to make
+birch-bark ornaments. It's dandy taking walks on Sundays. We got some
+hickory nuts, too. I said we'd climb the trees, because girls couldn't
+do things like that and scouts could climb. I said, "A scout is a
+monkey."
+
+"Girls can do lots of things, too," Pee-wee piped up, oh, so nice and
+gallant; "do you mean to tell me girls aren't monkeys--too?"
+
+"Don't, you'll start my head aching again," I told him.
+
+"Oh, you said we were monkeys," Pug Peters said; "you're perfectly
+_horrid_."
+
+"I mean, because on account of climbing," he said; "because they know
+how to climb. I mean, _you_ know, the ones that know how to climb----"
+
+"Baboons," Westy said.
+
+"Sure," Pee-wee piped up; "_No_, not baboons, you make me sick!"
+
+"We accept your apology," I told him.
+
+Every time Pee-wee opens his mouth he puts his foot in it--and then
+blames somebody else.
+
+Late in the afternoon we left the girls at their camp. We said we'd come
+over to see them next day--that was Columbus Day. But the way it
+happened, we didn't see them again until a long time afterwards, and
+that's going to be in another story. So if you like girls, you'd better
+be sure to get the next story. Gee whiz, I used to make fun of girls,
+but anyway, I like them a lot. Pee-wee says they're so kind of hospital;
+he means hospitable. And I'll always remember _Camp Smile Awhile_, you
+can bet. Because we had more than a good smile there; we had a good
+laugh. Girls are all right.
+
+Then we hiked along the woods' path that led around the lake, back to
+Ridgeboro. Our car looked mighty nice and cosy, you can bet, as we came
+along.
+
+"We're having a mighty good time here," Connie said; "I'll be sorry when
+we have to drag ourselves away."
+
+"We don't have to drag ourselves away," I told him; "all we have to do
+is to sit still and be dragged away."
+
+"This is the life," Westy said.
+
+Connie said, "Sure, life on the rails; it's got life on the ocean wave
+beaten a hundred ways. When do you suppose they'll pick us up?"
+
+"Tuesday morning is the first freight," I told him. "There's a passenger
+train to-morrow night, but it doesn't stop here, see?" And I showed him
+the time table.
+
+"We should worry," I said; "we've got nearly twenty dollars from the
+movie show. I've got Mr. Temple's fifty sealed up in an envelope; we're
+supposed to forget that. Guess I might as well keep the time table,
+hey?"
+
+"I bet it's fun living on the railroad," Wig said.
+
+"I'd like to be a brakeman," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"That would be a good job for you," I told him; "you make so many
+breaks. I think you ought to be cook on a dining car."
+
+"It's dangerous working on a railroad," Connie said; "lots of men lose
+their lives; sometimes they lose their hands or their fingers, too."
+
+"If you lose your life, what's the use of keeping your fingers?" Westy
+said.
+
+"Sure," I said; "they would only be a nuisance."
+
+"But I mean it," Connie said; "I heard that. If a man works on a
+railroad long enough he gets killed."
+
+"If he lives long enough he dies," I said.
+
+"There's a large percentage of mortality," Connie said.
+
+"A large which of whatness?" I asked him; "stand up and speak clearly so
+all the class can hear."
+
+"All right," he said; "it's true."
+
+"It's all right if you have your private car," Wig said. "All you have
+to do is to sit back and take it easy."
+
+"Sure, if you're in your private car it's all right," Connie said.
+
+By that time we had come to the car and Pee-wee was the first one to go
+up the steps. Now I don't know whether maybe it was because we had been
+talking about railroading that Pee-wee thought he'd play brakeman, but
+anyway, like the crazy kid he was, as soon as he was on the platform he
+grabbed the wheel that's connected with the brake and turned it out of
+its ratchet and twirled it around, shouting, "All aboard! All aboard!"
+
+"Let that thing alone," I said, as the rest of us passed into the car.
+
+"There isn't any spark in it," he shouted. Crinkums, that kid is crazy.
+
+He followed us into the car and we all sprawled down into seats, because
+we were good and tired.
+
+Westy said, "Oh, boy, it's good to sit down. I wonder if our friend Eb
+Brewster was here. Next stop is the Land of Nod. I don't want any
+supper."
+
+"_G--o--o--d night!_" Connie said; "I'll be hanged if we're not moving."
+
+Just then, I looked out and saw the closed up store sneaking slowly
+away.
+
+[Illustration: WIG AND I GRABBED THE WHEEL AND TURNED IT AS FAST AS WE
+COULD.
+
+_Ray Blakeley's Camp on Wheels._ _Page 97_]
+
+"Bye-bye, Ridgeboro," Wig shouted; "see you later."
+
+By now the car was moving along at a pretty good clip. The store was
+'way behind us and we were rolling sweetly down a grade into a kind of
+jungle of bushes and tree stumps.
+
+"Good night!" I said; "The plot grows thicker. Where are we at?"
+
+We fell all over each other getting out to the platform, and Wig and I
+grabbed the wheel and turned it as fast as we could, tightening up the
+chain.
+
+"I thought you said it didn't have any spark in it," I said to Pee-wee.
+
+"I--I _thought_ it didn't," he blurted out; "where are we going?"
+
+"Ask me something easy," I said; "get out of the way. Grab hold of this,
+Westy, and pull for all you're worth."
+
+We had the chain tight now and it was only a case of pulling the brakes
+tight against the wheels, but, oh, boy, that takes some strength. We
+were rolling along an old pair of rails that were buried under grass and
+bushes and sometimes we couldn't even see them. It was a regular jungle.
+I guess maybe they used to back freight cars down there after lumber.
+But it must have been a long time ago, because the stumps were old and
+the place was all overgrown. Anyway, that track that we had been left on
+was more than just a switch siding, that was sure.
+
+First I didn't mind so much, because things like that are all in the
+game, and I thought it would be easy to stop the car. There was hardly
+any grade at all where the train had left us, that was sure, but it
+doesn't take much of a grade to start things moving on tracks. I guess
+that's why they always tighten the brakes when they leave a car. And if
+there's one person that knows how to start things, it's Pee-wee. That's
+his favorite recreation.
+
+Anyway, now we saw that we were in a pretty bad fix. The grade was good
+and steep now and we were moving pretty fast, and no matter how hard we
+pulled on the wheel, it didn't seem to make the car slow down. I have to
+admit I was getting a little scared. I guess the other fellows were,
+too.
+
+"Maybe the thick brush will slow us down," Westy said; "it's awful
+thick, ahead."
+
+"Not when we've got a start like this," I told him; "we're just cutting
+it all to pieces."
+
+"Maybe one of us could jump off and put a log on the track," Pee-wee
+said.
+
+"Yes, and what would happen to the car, and us maybe?" Connie asked him.
+"You've done mischief enough for one day. _Look ahead there!_"
+
+Jumping Christopher! There, about a hundred feet in front of us was a
+road crossing the tracks and a little further, beyond the road, was some
+water. I guess it was an arm of the lake. Anyway, the tracks ran right
+downhill to the very edge of it. The car was going too fast for us to
+jump off now.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
+
+
+Nearer and nearer we rolled, all the while yanking for dear life on the
+wheel. All of a sudden I had a thought.
+
+"Run through to the back platform and if the wheel there is loose,
+tighten up that one, too. Quick!" I said.
+
+Connie and Westy ran pell-mell through the car and I heard the jangling
+of the chain there and I could hear Connie say, "Quick! Pull
+hard--_harder_!"
+
+Then, after a few seconds the car began slowing down.
+
+"Pull with all your might," I said to the fellows with me; "you fellows,
+too," I called out; "she's letting up; pull--_hard_!"
+
+The car kept slowing down.
+
+"_Yank! Hard!_" Connie called through to us, "and hold on. Brace your
+feet."
+
+The car moved slower, slower; then stopped.
+
+"Kick the ratchet-pin in--hurry up!" somebody said, and I pushed it into
+place with my foot.
+
+"All right, let go."
+
+The car was standing right square across the road, but anyway, that was
+better than being in the water. Any port in a storm, hey?
+
+I guess our nerves were all pretty much unstrung, anyway, I know my
+hands were good and sore.
+
+"I thought we were goners," Westy said; "this is a nice place to stop.
+It's good they don't have any traffic cops here."
+
+"I should worry where we stop," I said; "it's better than the lake. We
+stopped here because we stopped here. I never knew that Brewster's
+Centre had so much pep in it. This old station will go up in the air
+next. What do you say we get an anchor?"
+
+"Where are we?" Pee-wee piped up.
+
+"We're _here_, that's all I can tell you," I said.
+
+"If you want to know where _here_ is, look in the geography."
+
+"We're neither here nor there," Westy said; "look at my hands, they're
+all blisters."
+
+"Where do we go from here?" Connie wanted to know.
+
+"I guess we take a southwesterly course and flow into the sink," I told
+him.
+
+"Brewster's Centre ran away from home," Wig said. "Lost, strayed or
+stolen. We don't know where we are; we're in the middle of the road.
+Just like we said before, we're here, because we're here."
+
+We all sat down on the steps of the platform and Wig started singing:
+
+     "Oh, there was the Duke of Yorkshire,
+        He had ten thousand men;
+      He marched them up the hill,
+        And he marched them down again.
+      And when they're up, they're up,
+        And when they're down, they're down;
+      And when they're only half way up,
+        They're neither up nor down."
+
+Pretty soon, while we were sitting there, we all started to make up
+words to the same tune, and after a while this is what we got to
+singing:
+
+     "Oh, there was young Pee-wee Harris (Cook),
+        That ran a movie show.
+      He loosed the brake of a station-car,
+        To see where he would go.
+      And when he'd roll, he'd roll,
+        And when he'd stop, he'd stop.
+      And he stopped right in the middle of the road,
+        Where there wasn't any traffic cop."
+
+"Suppose an automobile should come along," Connie said.
+
+"That's a very good idea," I told him; "suppose one should."
+
+Westy was sitting up on the top step and he said, "Oh, Sister Anne,
+Sister Anne, I think I can see one scooting along through the woods, the
+other side of the lake."
+
+"Let it scoot," I said; "the only way it can get past here is to do a
+couple of double flops like Pee-wee's omelet."
+
+"It can't get around on account of the woods," Pee-wee said.
+
+"Right the first time, as usual," I told him. "_Over the top_ is the
+only way. I hope it's a high-grade car, because a low-grade car could
+never get over such a high place."
+
+"We had a narrow escape," Wig said
+
+"If the machine doesn't stop, we'll stop it," Connie put in.
+
+"Sure," I said, "we have a good argument."
+
+"Brewster's Centre is getting to be a famous name," Westy said.
+
+Connie said, "Sure, we're getting to be known in all the highways and
+byways--especially the highways. What do you say we give a movie show
+right here?"
+
+"Vetoed," I told him.
+
+We sat on the platform steps talking and jollying each other; what did
+we care? Be it ever so much in the wrong place, there's no place like
+home. Maybe you've read stories about boys running away from home for
+adventures, but our home was a good sport, it went with us. It had a
+good name, too, Brewster's Centre. Because it was right plunk in the
+center of the road.
+
+Pretty soon Westy shouted, "Here comes the car. See it? You can see it
+right through the trees. It's green and red."
+
+"It'll be black and blue if it tries to get past here," Wig said.
+
+It was a great big touring car and its bright brass lights and trimmings
+were all shiny on account of the sun setting and shining right on them.
+It came rolling along, about fifty miles an hour, out from the woods,
+and then even faster as it hit it up along the straight road. Oh, boy,
+didn't it just eat up the miles!
+
+I guess it must have been getting over the ground at about sixty per,
+when it began slowing down and stopped about a dozen yards from our car.
+Oh, bibbie, that was some peachy machine.
+
+There were two young fellows in it, and I could see that they were
+pretty tough looking. Both of them wore sweaters and one had on one of
+those peaked caps like tough fellows in the movies always wear. They
+waited just a minute and spoke to each other very excited like. Then
+they both looked around, back along the road.
+
+Next, the fellow with the cap jumped down in a big hurry and looked back
+along the road, better than he could do in the car. He seemed awful kind
+of scared and excited. He came over toward us, walking kind of sideways,
+you know, tough.
+
+He said, "What's the matter here? Why don't they move this car? Yez are
+blockin' up the road, yez are. Where's the en-jine?"
+
+I wasn't scared of him. I said, "The en-jine is having a nap. Don't talk
+so loud or you'll wake it up."
+
+"Yez are a pretty fresh lot, ain't yez?" he said. "Where's the men
+belongin' ter this she-bang, anyway? Yez is blockin' traffic." Then he
+looked up the road again and said to the other fellow: "Don't see
+nuthin' of 'em, do yer? Keep your eyes peeled." He seemed awful nervous
+and in a hurry.
+
+Just then I noticed Westy get up and step down off the car. "Get them
+inside if you can," Westy whispered as he passed me.
+
+I didn't know for the life of me what he meant. But there's something
+about Westy, he's awful kind of thoughtful. Maybe you've read how a
+scout is supposed to be observant. Well, that's Westy all over.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WESTY
+
+
+I said to the fellow, "The railroad hasn't got anything to do with this
+car; it belongs to us. And you can bet we weren't thinking about where
+it stopped, either. It's better to be here than in the lake."
+
+He just shouted to the other fellow, "Come here, hurry up!" Then he
+craned his neck and looked back along the road. The other fellow got
+down from the auto in a hurry and came to the car, looking behind him
+all the while.
+
+One thing, I could see that those fellows were scared and in a terrible
+hurry, and I decided that probably they had stolen the machine. I
+thought that, not only because they were always looking back, because
+they might have expected to be chased just for speeding, but because
+they were so tough looking. Anyway, they were pretty low-grade fellows
+to be in such a high-grade car, that was one sure thing. Besides, I
+knew that the fellow that was running that car wasn't the regular
+chauffeur, because the regular chauffeur of a car always kind of slides
+out very easy without rubbing against the steering gear. One thing sure,
+you can always tell if a man is used to running a car, especially some
+particular car.
+
+Both fellows were on the platform now, and the one that came first said,
+"What yez doin' here; blockin' the road?"
+
+I guess I shouldn't have told them anything, but I said, "We rolled down
+from near the store up there and it was lucky we managed to stop right
+here, or we'd have been in the lake. It's no easy job managing those
+brakes."
+
+"No?" he said, kind of funny, and then looked at the other fellow.
+
+Then they both went inside and I could see one of them looked out of the
+window up the road, while the other threw his cap on the floor and put
+on Connie's scout hat that was hanging in the car. He whispered to the
+other fellow and then the other fellow turned around and grabbed Wig's
+hat off his head and put it on his own head.
+
+"Run her down, that's the only thing," one of them said; "and blamed
+quick about it, too. You kids git off'er this car if you don't want to
+be drowned."
+
+I saw what they were going to do. They went out on the other platform
+and kicked the ratchet out and let the wheel spin. But the car didn't
+move. Then they came through to do the same thing to the other one. They
+were going to start the car and jump off. I knew it would start right
+away, because the grade was so steep. I stood right there in the aisle,
+blocking their way and I said:
+
+"This car belongs to us and you're not going to run it into the lake.
+Maybe you heard of Mr. John Temple; he gave it to us. If you start it,
+you won't be able to stop it. Maybe it's worth more than that auto for
+all you know. Anyway, it is to us, and you're not going to run it into
+the lake--you're not."
+
+He just swore and hit me in the face and I went staggering against one
+of the seats. Everything went all whizzing around and for a couple of
+seconds my head buzzed so that I couldn't stand up straight. But even
+still I wasn't scared of him and I followed them and the other fellows
+out onto the other platform.
+
+"Git off the car, all of yez," I heard one of them say.
+
+My head was buzzing and I felt awful cold and queer like, but I had
+sense enough to notice Westy sitting there on the railing of the
+platform, dangling his legs. I guess he must have been waiting there. As
+long as I live, I'll never forget how calm and quiet he was, and not
+scared of them at all. I was so dizzy from the crack on the head that
+fellow gave me, that I had to hold on to the railing and Westy looked as
+if he were shaking as he sat on it. But it was only because I was dizzy.
+I saw the two fellows grab the wheel and Connie and Pee-wee and Wig jump
+off the car. But Westy didn't move, only sat there swinging his legs and
+kind of smiling at those two.
+
+"You're a couple of big cowards, that's what you are," he said; "to hit
+a fellow his size. And you're a couple of crazy fools, too. That's what
+you are; a couple of low down fools and cowards--and thieves."
+
+For just a second they let go the wheel and stared at him, but he didn't
+move; just sat there watching them and swinging his legs.
+
+"And what's the use of going to all that trouble?" Westy said. "You'll
+only make it worse for yourselves. Do you think that boy scouts are
+fools, just because you can hit one of them on the head and knock him
+out of your way? I've got two good snapshots of both of you and I hid
+the camera, and if you choked me, I wouldn't tell you where it is. See?
+That old Pierce-Arrow is here because it's here. See? And it's going to
+stay here, too. I just threw your spark plugs into the lake. If you
+hadn't been a couple of big fools you wouldn't have stepped inside this
+car. _Steal a Pierce-Arrow!_ You make me laugh. You couldn't even get
+away with a Ford."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+TAKING IT EASY
+
+
+And he just sat there, swinging his legs and laughing. It was as good as
+a circus to see him.
+
+"Go ahead, run," he said; "it won't do you any good. Sink this car in
+the lake if you want to. That'll just mean a longer time in jail. We
+should worry. You thought a boy scout didn't know how to hit back,
+didn't you? Let's see you start the machine. You're a couple of circus
+clowns, that's what you are. You ought to be a pair of villains in the
+movies. Head hurt much, Roy?"
+
+"Not so bad now," I told him.
+
+Gee whiz, those fellows didn't wait long. Before Westy was finished
+speaking they were off the car and headed into the woods. That was the
+last we saw of them, then.
+
+"Did you ever hear of a thief stopping to have his picture taken?" Westy
+asked.
+
+"If they'd have only stayed a little longer, we could have got them in
+the movie camera and we could have a play called _The Robbers'
+Regret_," Pee-wee piped up, "or, _The Missing Spark Plugs_."
+
+"Oh, they're not missing," Westy said; "they're just hiding, disguised
+as an oil can. Waste not, want not, hey?"
+
+Do you know what that fellow had done--all while we were in the car? Talk
+about a scout being quick! He had got the snapshots while those two
+fellows were on the platform. Then he had hid the camera in the bushes.
+But he wanted to make sure that they wouldn't find the plugs, so he put
+them into an oil can that he had found under the hood of the machine and
+tied a piece of wire to the can. He tied the other end of the wire to
+the root of a bush on the shore. And all that he did while the fellows
+were in the car. What do you know about that?
+
+So now he just fished them up and cleaned them out and put them back
+where they belonged. Then we all sat in the Pierce-Arrow waiting to see
+what would happen next. Right in front of us was that old car with the
+sign all along its side.
+
+     Buffalo 398 Mls.--BREWSTER'S CENTER--N. Y. 30 Mls.
+
+Pretty soon we got to singing, and for a little while everybody was
+singing something different from everybody else, but after a few minutes
+we got settled down to this:
+
+     "There was the Brewster's Centre car,
+        That traveled here and there;
+      It had a lot of adventures, too,
+        And we don't have to pay any fare.
+      And when it's here, it's here,
+        And when it's there, it's there;
+      And when it isn't any place,
+        Why then it's everywhere.
+      And if it isn't on the ground,
+        You'll find it up in the air;
+      And if it goes to the moon or Mars,
+        A plaguey lot we care!"
+
+"You can talk about tents and log cabins and house-boats and things,"
+Connie said; "but I'm for that old car. It's stood by _us_."
+
+"Stood!" I said. "Good night, it hasn't stood very long anywhere; not
+since we had it."
+
+"It's full of pep," Connie said.
+
+"Always on the go," I told him; "it's different from other cars. It
+reminds me of Pee-wee. I wonder where we'll go next."
+
+"Sure, I wonder what's the next step in our itinerary," Connie said.
+Boy, but that fellow is some high brow.
+
+"Our whaterary?" I asked him.
+
+"Anyway, it's nice sitting here," Wig said.
+
+"I wonder who it belongs to?" Pee-wee said. "I bet it belongs to a rich
+millionaire."
+
+"Yes, or a poor one," Connie said. "There's only one thing I don't like
+about this Pierce-Arrow, and that's that I don't own it. Otherwise, it's
+all right."
+
+"There's one thing _I_ don't like about it," I said.
+
+"You're crazy!" Pee-wee shouted. "What don't you like about a
+Pierce-Arrow?"
+
+"One great objection," I said.
+
+"You must be crazy," he yelled. "You can bet I haven't got any
+objections to a Pierce-Arrow."
+
+"That's because you're not as honest as I am," I said.
+
+"Who? Me?" he hollered.
+
+"The only thing I have against this machine is that it's stolen," I
+said. "I'm funny that way."
+
+"You make me sick," Pee-wee said.
+
+"I'd feel the same way about a flivver," I said.
+
+"If you took a flivver, that wouldn't be stealing," Connie said; "it
+would be shoplifting."
+
+"Sure, or pickpocketing," Wig said.
+
+"Do you know the only way to tell if a man has a Ford?" I asked Pee-wee.
+"Search him. Look how the sun is going down."
+
+The Brewster's Centre sign was all bright on account of the sun setting.
+It was getting dark and kind of cold and it made me homesick, sort of.
+It seemed funny to see that car standing there across that strange road,
+with the lake on one side and the thick woods on the other. The woods
+were beginning to look dark and gloomy, and the arm of the lake was all
+steel color. I was glad on account of that sign, because it seemed
+friendly, like. That's one thing about an automobile, it doesn't seem
+friendly, like. But boats do. And the old car did, that was one sure
+thing.
+
+Mostly scouts don't care much about railroads, because they like the
+water and they like to hike. But anyway, that old car was friendly.
+Especially it seemed friendly on account of the sun going down and the
+day beginning to die and it getting cold. You can talk about boats and
+motorcycles and tents and leaf shelters and all those things, but
+anyway, none of them were as good as that old car. And don't you
+forget, either, that it was Westy that saved it for us. If it hadn't
+been for him, it would have been in the lake.
+
+He's one real scout, Westy is.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE SHERIFF ARRIVES
+
+
+We were singing that crazy stuff that we had made up, when all of a
+sudden, along came an automobile with four men in it, and stopped right
+behind us. We heard one of them say, "Why, that's the car, now."
+
+They all jumped down and came around the big Pierce-Arrow and stood
+staring up at us. They stared at the Brewster's Centre car, too; I guess
+they didn't know what to make of it.
+
+One of the men said, "What's all this? What are you boys doing with that
+machine?"
+
+As long as none of the other fellows said anything, I spoke up and said,
+"We're boy scouts and we're sitting here."
+
+"Boy scouts!" he said, all flabbergasted.
+
+"Right the first time," I told him; "we rescued this car from two
+fellows that were trying to get away with it. You see that railroad car?
+That belongs to us."
+
+"We're going to have a deed to it," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"Sure," I said; "a dark and bloody deed. We just happened to be there,
+because we rolled down the grade from Ridgeboro. Believe me, I've been
+through eight different grades in school, but this one was the worst I
+ever saw. We came near taking a header into the lake, but we got the
+brakes on just in time. You get a fine view of the car from here, don't
+you?"
+
+"I'm the sheriff of this county," the man said. "You say you stopped
+this machine?"
+
+"We can stop any machine, even a Rolls-Royce," I told him.
+
+"Yes?" he said.
+
+"You'd better ask this fellow how it was," I said, pointing to Westy.
+
+"We stopped them, that's all," Westy said. That was just like him.
+
+"Well then, _I'll_ tell you," I said. "When they said they couldn't get
+by, they wanted to run our car down into the lake. What did they care?"
+
+"But we _foiled_ them," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"Foiled them, hey?" the sheriff said. Gee, he couldn't help smiling.
+
+Then I just grabbed Westy's head and pulled it where the men could see.
+"When they were on the railroad car," I said, "this fellow took the
+spark plugs out of the machine and hid them in the lake."
+
+One of the men blurted out, "What!"
+
+"That's nothing," Pee-wee started; "once----"
+
+"He got a couple of snapshots of them, too," I said; "maybe they'll be
+of some use to you."
+
+"Hey, Mister, can this machine do eighty miles an hour?" Wig piped up.
+
+"Seventy," the man said.
+
+"_Y--a--a--h!_ What did I tell you?" Connie said, giving him a rap on
+the head.
+
+"Maybe you'll be able to catch them, hey?" Connie said. "Anyway, I hope
+so, because one of them hit this fellow a good whack on the head."
+
+"So?" said the man. "Well, we'll take care of that pair. It won't be
+hard, with their pictures. They're a couple of the most desperate auto
+thieves and highwaymen in this state. You boys did a fine thing. You
+deserve great credit."
+
+"That's nothing," Pee-wee said; "once when----"
+
+"Which way did they go?" the men asked.
+
+So then we told them all there was to tell, and about our car, and about
+how we were brought out to Ridgeboro by mistake. They were in so much
+of a hurry that I thought they'd just let our car roll down into the
+water, so that they could get by. But anyway, they didn't do that. I
+guess they liked us, because we did them a good turn.
+
+As soon as Westy gave them the film out of his pocket camera, they
+lifted a big heavy log across the tracks near the water. They said they
+thought they could let the car roll easily against that, without any
+danger of its going on down into the water. You bet we were nervous till
+we saw them do it, and then we realized that probably those thieves
+could have done the same thing, except that they didn't care anything
+about other people's property.
+
+The men thought that the two fellows would cut through the woods and
+come out at a town named Skunk Hollow. Ozone Valley, that was the new
+name of it. So we all went in the two cars to that place, because a
+train stopped there at about half-past eight, and they thought that
+maybe those fellows would take the train.
+
+I don't know which went faster, the automobiles or Pee-wee's tongue.
+Anyway, Pee-wee's tongue was running on high. He sat behind me in the
+big machine, wedged in between two big deputy sheriffs, and he told
+every heroic act that scouts have done since the movement started.
+Blamed if I know how he finds those things out, but he does. He gave
+them Westy's whole history and told how Tom Slade won the gold cross and
+how burglars and highwaymen weren't safe any more, on account of the Boy
+Scouts. Every time they told him it was wonderful, he would say, "That's
+nothing," and come right back with a five reeler. Oh, boy, I thought I'd
+die, but I guess the sheriffs liked it. Anyway, they laughed a lot.
+
+Pee-wee told them about a scout in the dismal north (that's what he
+called it) that rescued a maiden. He told them a maiden was something
+like a girl, "only more kind of pale and weak and helpless, like." I
+nearly doubled up.
+
+But anyway, he didn't mention cooking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+RAILROADING
+
+
+When we got to the Ozone Valley station, there wasn't anything there,
+but the ozone and a couple of milk cans. The men searched all around in
+the woods and under the freight platform, but they couldn't find the two
+fellows.
+
+"Don't you get discouraged," Pee-wee told them; "often I couldn't find
+things and then later they'd turn up."
+
+"Oh, they'll turn up," the sheriff said; "and they'll _go_ up, too. Just
+give us a chance to get those films developed."
+
+Pretty soon the train came along, going toward Skiddyunk. It was a way
+train and I guess it stopped every now and then to change its mind. It
+had a couple of baggage cars and a couple of freight cars and a
+refrigerator car and one passenger car at the end. There were only a few
+people in the car.
+
+The sheriffs searched the whole train, but they couldn't find the two
+fellows anywhere. They even searched the refrigerator car, but I didn't
+think they'd be there, because they were fresh enough without going on
+ice.
+
+The conductor was a big fat man; he was awful nice. When the sheriffs
+told him about us, he laughed and said, "That's funny; I have a bill for
+that car; I'm going to pick it up to-night."
+
+I said, "We heard there wasn't a freight on the Slopson Branch till
+Tuesday morning. We don't exactly want to go back yet."
+
+He said, "Well now, Sonny, you see I haven't got any say about it. I get
+a bill and that's all there is to it. There might be a freight out of
+Slopson to-morrow or the next day, and then again, there might not. You
+could come near sending the whole of Slopson by Parcels Post. I've heard
+about you kids and I've got word to look after you. You're mighty lucky
+you didn't all go kerflop into the lake."
+
+"How soon is there another train through here?" the sheriff asked him.
+
+"Twelve-fifteen, if she's on time," the conductor said; "she's a through
+from Buffalo."
+
+"Believe me," I said; "that's one town I know something about--Buffalo.
+I'll never forget Buffalo, 398 Mls." They all laughed.
+
+"She doesn't stop here, does she?" the sheriff asked.
+
+"Stops at Skiddyunk for water," the conductor said. "She passes us down
+at Red Hill siding."
+
+The sheriff said, "I guess two of us had better watch the station here
+and be on the safe side in case she slows down, and the other two will
+go down in one of the machines and keep an eye out at Skiddyunk. They
+might get on there. We'll probably beat you to Skiddyunk, but if we
+don't, nab 'em if they get on. They're going to try to get away from
+these parts, I know that."
+
+I was just thinking we'd have to hike back along the road to our little
+Home Sweet Home, when the conductor said, "Hop on, you boys."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When we got to Skiddyunk, the sheriff and one of his men were already
+there. But there wasn't any sign of the two fellows. Then the train
+started backing up along the Slopson Branch and the two sheriffs stayed
+on it. Pretty soon we were back almost to where we had started from.
+There wasn't any station at Ridgeboro, but the sheriffs looked all
+around the closed-up store, in the wood-shed and under the platform.
+Then the train backed down the siding and very gently bunked into the
+Brewster's Centre car. There were men swinging lights and shouting to
+each other, while one coupled our car to the train. Then there was a lot
+more shouting and swinging lights and then we started.
+
+We stood on the back platform of our own car and I could see the moon
+just beginning to shine on the part of the lake that we were moving away
+from. The wheels rattled, rattled; and it seemed kind of as if the car
+was saying _so long, so long, so long_----
+
+Pretty soon, away across the lake, we could see a light and we knew it
+was the fire at _Camp Smile Awhile_. Then we passed the store that was
+all closed up tight and I said, "so long, store. So long, _Camp Smile
+Awhile_." And while we stood out there on the back platform, the wheels
+kept saying, "S'long, s'long, s'long, s'long, s'long...."
+
+Gee whiz, I was sorry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+CRAZY STUFF
+
+
+One thing sure, those auto thieves weren't on our train; they didn't get
+on at any of those three places, Ozone Valley or Ridgeboro or Skiddyunk.
+The two sheriffs got off at Skiddyunk again, to keep a watch when the
+late train came through. The Skiddyunk Station was all dark. As we left
+it the wheels kept saying, "s'long, s'long," and pretty soon we couldn't
+see it at all, and I knew that the country where we had had so much fun
+was way back there in the dark and that probably we'd never see it any
+more.
+
+That was a single-track railroad and as we stood on the back platform,
+we could see the two shiny rails going away back into the dark.
+
+"Let's go and sit down," I said; "I'm tired."
+
+We had a shoe box full of eats that the girls at _Camp Smile Awhile_ had
+given us and, yum, yum, those sandwiches were good.
+
+Pretty soon a brakeman came staggering through, holding onto the seats.
+He had a red lantern and he hung it on the back platform. "So's the
+flyer won't bunk her nose into us," he said.
+
+"Reg'lar private car, you kids got," he said.
+
+I said, "When do you think we'll get to Bridgeboro, New Jersey?"
+
+"Depends on the out trains from New York," he said; "we get in about
+three. No telling how long you'll stand in the yards. If you're picked
+up pretty quick, you ought to be home in time for breakfast. But there's
+no telling with a dead special."
+
+I said, "You don't call this car a dead one, do you? You ought to have
+seen the adventures it had."
+
+He laughed and said, "A dead special is a pickup. It ain't carried
+straight through. It's picked up and laid down and picked up. See?"
+
+"We should worry when we get home," I said.
+
+"You'll get there," he said, nice and pleasant; "don't you worry."
+
+"Worry?" Connie said. "That must be a Greek word; I never heard it."
+
+He was an awful nice fellow, that brakeman.
+
+Pretty soon we were all sprawling on the seats, started on our favorite
+indoor sport, jollying Pee-wee. The train went through a pretty wild
+country and sometimes we could look way down into deep valleys, and
+sometimes mountains went right up straight from the tracks and seemed
+like walls outside the windows.
+
+Wig said, "To-morrow is Columbus Day."
+
+"Right the first time," I told him; "I wish we weren't going to get home
+'till Tuesday."
+
+"What's the difference between Tuesday?" Connie wanted to know.
+
+"Is it a conundrum?" I said.
+
+"No, it's an adverb, I mean a proverb," he said.
+
+"Tuesday and _what_?" Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"Tuesday and nothing," Connie said; "just Tuesday. Ask me the answer to
+it."
+
+"You're crazy," Pee-wee shouted; "what's the answer to it?"
+
+Connie said, "There isn't any answer. Want to hear another? How many
+onions are there?"
+
+"Where?" Pee-wee yelled.
+
+"Anywhere," Connie said.
+
+"That shows how much sense you have," the kid screamed.
+
+I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the seat.
+
+"What's the cause of tears?" Connie said right back at him.
+
+"What?" Pee-wee asked him.
+
+"Crying," Connie said. "Why is the sky blue?"
+
+"Why is it?" the kid shouted.
+
+"It isn't," Connie said; "look out of the window, it's black."
+
+"That isn't a riddle," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"It's a fact," Connie said; "what's the answer to a question?"
+
+"You make me tired," the kid screamed; "what kind of a question?"
+
+"Any kind," Connie said; "how fast is a mile?"
+
+"A mile isn't fast, you crazy Indian!" Pee-wee screamed at him. "That
+shows----"
+
+"All right, how slow is it then?" Connie asked him. "Suppose I have my
+picture taken."
+
+"Well, what?" the kid blurted out.
+
+"Nothing," Connie said.
+
+"You said, suppose you had your picture taken," Pee-wee screamed.
+
+"All right, suppose I did; what of it?" Connie laughed.
+
+"He's got a right to have his picture taken, hasn't he?" I said. "You
+can take mine if you'll bring it back."
+
+"You're all crazy," Pee-wee shouted; "you don't know a riddle when you
+see one. Do you call those riddles? A riddle is something where you ask
+a question and the answer, kind of, means something else."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Precisely," Westy said; "the same as somewhere is a place you get to,
+by going to it. Deny it if you can."
+
+"Well, there's one place I'm going to," Connie said; "and that's
+asleep."
+
+"If you don't mind, I'll go with you," Wig said.
+
+I don't know how it is, but just before we turn in, we always have a lot
+of nonsense like that. I bet you think we're crazy. Pretty soon Westy
+and I were the only ones awake. He's so careful he never goes anywhere
+without thinking it over beforehand--not even to sleep. If he were going
+to go crazy, he'd have to think it all over beforehand and count ten
+first. Talk about watching your step; he has his chained. And he always
+remembers where he puts things, too. He never even loses his temper. I
+don't lose mine much, but gee whiz, I mislay it sometimes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+UP IN THE AIR
+
+
+"This is a pretty wild country," Westy said; "it's all mountains. Do you
+hear the echo of the engine?"
+
+Just as clear as could be, I could hear the sound of the engine echoing
+back from the mountains; the chugging and rattling sounded double, like.
+Then, pretty soon, it kind of died away.
+
+After about half a minute, Westy and I just sat staring at each other,
+listening.
+
+"That's funny," he said; "it seems to be going farther away."
+
+"It sounds like the trains when you hear them at Temple Camp," I said.
+
+He said, "That isn't our train, it's another train; it's over that way.
+We didn't hear it before, on account of ours."
+
+I guess neither of us said anything for about half a minute, and all the
+while we could hear the rattling of the train, away off somewhere.
+
+I said, "Westy, we're slowing down; it feels kind of funny; do you
+notice?"
+
+"How?" he said.
+
+"We're slowing down and there isn't any knocking of the cars against
+each other."
+
+We both listened and all the while we could hear the rattling of a train
+far away.
+
+"It feels just the same as it felt when we rolled down the siding," I
+said; "I don't know, kind of funny--easy like."
+
+He opened the window and then shouted, "_Look, look!_ This car's all
+alone. Look off there."
+
+Away ahead of us, but a little over to one side, we could see a bright
+spot moving along and little bright dots in back of it. I knew it was
+the brightness thrown by a headlight and the lights showing through car
+windows. It was _our_ train scooting along around the mountains. Our car
+kept slowing down very easy sort of, as if there was nothing pulling it
+or holding it back either. I knew the feeling, because I had been on
+that car when it was like that before. It went slower and slower and
+slower and then the wheels sounded different--sort of hollow, kind of.
+Then the car just crawled along and at last it stopped.
+
+"Look down," Westy said; "I can't see the ground. Do you hear water
+rushing?"
+
+I looked out of the window and down, down, down, till I couldn't see
+anything but just the dark. But I could hear water way down there.
+
+"We're on a high bridge," I said.
+
+Just then the wind blew strong and it brought the noise of that train
+near again. And it shook the bridge, too, ever so little.
+
+Westy said, "Roy, we're a couple of hundred feet up. You know just how
+the water in Black Gully sounds up near Temple Camp. That's over two
+hundred feet."
+
+"What happened, do you suppose?" I asked him.
+
+"Coupling broke, I guess," he said. "Let's have one of those lifters
+from the stove."
+
+We dropped one of the iron lifters and listened to hear it fall. But all
+we could hear was a little splash, away far down.
+
+"This bridge must be terribly high," Westy said; "feel how it shakes in
+the wind."
+
+"This is a dickens of a spooky place to be," I told him; "especially in
+a strong wind."
+
+"You said it," Westy answered.
+
+Gee whiz, I've often felt kind of shaky going over a high bridge in a
+train, but to be left standing in the middle of one; _oh, boy_!
+
+"Let's go and see what happened," he said.
+
+We got the red lantern from the back platform of the car and went
+through to the other platform and held it down. There was nothing at all
+beneath us, except ties very far apart, and the rails and the heavy
+steel runners outside the rails. The coupling was broken, all right. I
+guess that coupling must have been an old timer.
+
+"Hang the lantern on the rail," Westy said, "while I get down and see
+what happened."
+
+"Look out what you're doing," I said; "there's two or three hundred feet
+of space below you. Watch your step."
+
+He lay on the platform so as to be able to reach down and look down
+where the coupling was, and find out just what had happened.
+
+"Hold the light down," he said.
+
+Gee, I can't tell you just how it happened. Westy says he was to blame
+and I say I was to blame. He said he knocked the lantern out of my hand,
+but, gee whiz, I should have kept it out of his way. Anyway, it went
+tumbling down and it went so far that it looked like just a little red
+speck. It stayed lighted till it crashed away down in the bottom of
+that place. And the light turned yellow and spread a little bit, then
+went out. I guess the oil spilled on a rock down there. Anyway, it
+looked like miles.
+
+Westy was breathing hard and I guess I was, too. He said, "Have you got
+that time table? What time did our conductor say that train from Buffalo
+comes through?"
+
+I said, "About midnight. We're in a pretty bad fix. I guess I'd better
+wake the fellows up, hey?"
+
+We were both pretty serious.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+IN THE DARK
+
+
+I guess you know that was an old out-of-date car, because anyone would
+know that the railroad people wouldn't use a good car to stand on a side
+track for a makeshift station. Gee whiz, we didn't care about that, we
+even liked it, because it was old-fashioned and kind of ramshackle; it
+made it seem like a good place for camping. And if it hadn't been for
+that old stove in the corner of it, we could never have bunked in it and
+cooked our meals. Crinkums, I like old things, but not old worn-out
+couplings. Nay, nay!
+
+Another thing, the only lights in that car were three lamps along the
+top, but they weren't exactly lights, because the lamps were broken.
+Just the brass things were there. There was just one good lamp in a side
+bracket in the ticket agent's place, and when we started away from
+Brewster's Centre that was full of oil. But we used it all up on
+Saturday night in Ridgeboro and we couldn't get any at the store the
+next day, on account of it being Sunday. We were going to get some on
+Monday morning, but you see we were picked up Sunday night. So now the
+only light we had was a little flashlight belonging to Connie Bennett.
+
+I said, "Westy, this is the worst fix we were ever in. I never thought
+about anything like this when I said it was a lot of fun being pulled
+all over the country in this car. Feel how the bridge shakes in the
+wind; it's kind of spooky like, hey? If it only wasn't so dark. That
+makes it worse, not being able to see where you are at all. Listen, do
+you hear a train?"
+
+"Nope," he said, all the while listening; "I guess it's just because
+you're scared."
+
+"Anyway, there's no use wasting time," I told him; "let's wake up the
+fellows."
+
+That was some job. We had to roll Pee-wee off the seat onto the floor
+and then roll him out into the aisle. I guess they didn't know what we
+were talking about first, but when they knew about it, they sat up all
+right. We just sat there talking in the pitch dark.
+
+"What good is the flashlight?" Connie asked us. "It won't show far
+enough and the battery won't hold out for more than about a half an
+hour. I hear a train now."
+
+No one said a word; just listened. "I heard that," Westy said; "it isn't
+a train."
+
+"One is likely to crash into us any minute," Wig said; "I'd rather jump
+and be done with it--the suspense."
+
+"Do you call that using your brains?" Pee-wee shouted. Gee whiz, when
+you come right down to it, I have to admit that kid is a bully little
+scout.
+
+"You couldn't walk the ties even if we could," Wig said; "you can't take
+a long enough step."
+
+"Well, then, _you_ walk them and I'll stay here," the kid said.
+
+I reached across in the dark and hit him a good rap on the shoulder.
+"That shows there's one thing about scouting you don't know, Kiddo," I
+told him. "A scout troop is just as strong as its weakest member, just
+the same as a chain is as strong as its weakest link. We _will_ use our
+brains, right up to the last minute. Don't get scared."
+
+We all listened to a sound we heard far off.
+
+"I'm not scared," Pee-wee said. And even in the dark I could see his
+eyes looking straight at me and they looked awful brave and clear, kind
+of.
+
+"No use getting excited," Wig said. "Why couldn't we break up some wood
+and start a fire a few feet away from the car?"
+
+"Listen!" Connie said; "shh----"
+
+"Maybe it would stop a train, but it would surely burn the bridge down,"
+Westy said. "The ties are wooden. There's enough wood to curl the steel
+all up into a mess of wreckage. And all that might happen before the
+train came along."
+
+"Could we walk the ties?" Wig asked. "Even if they're far apart we might
+help Pee-wee----Listen!"
+
+"Don't be all the time scaring me," I said, kind of mad, like. Because I
+was getting good and scared, and rattled. "Let's see your light,
+Connie."
+
+I held the light to the time table. "There's no station anywhere around
+here, I guess," I said; "but that flyer ought to come along pretty
+soon----"
+
+"I hear it now," Wig said.
+
+"No, you don't," I told him; "what's the use of getting us all excited?
+Sit still. If it comes along, all we can do is to go out and lie flat
+on the ties and trust to luck. Any fellow that wants to hang by his
+hands, can do it. It would be pretty hard lifting ourselves up again
+though. But the flyer isn't coming yet."
+
+"I hear a whistle," Wig said.
+
+"No, you don't hear a whistle," I told him; "that's an owl down there in
+the woods. Don't you know the call of an owl?"
+
+"How about freight trains?" Connie asked.
+
+I said, "I don't know anything about freight trains; they're not on the
+time table. Of course, we're up against it, but what's the use of going
+all to pieces? If any fellow wants to try walking the ties, he can do
+it. It would be hard enough in the daytime. On a dark night like this,
+he'd just go crashing down into all those rocks and water, that's all.
+Maybe the chances are against us, but I say, let's stick together."
+
+"That's what I say," Pee-wee shouted; "we've always stuck together. I
+say _stick together_."
+
+"Bully for you, Kid," I said.
+
+"We had a lot of fun anyway," he said; "and I always voted for you for
+patrol leader. I'm not scared."
+
+I got up, because I just couldn't sit there any more. Every time the
+wind blew and the car rattled, it gave me a start. I put my arm over
+Pee-wee's shoulder and I said, "I've jollied you a lot, Walt."
+
+"I don't mind that," he said; "and besides, a scout is brave."
+
+"You're a better scout than any of us, I guess," I told him.
+
+Then I went out onto the platform, because I just couldn't keep still. I
+remembered what Connie had said about all the men that lose their lives
+working on railroads. Anyway, Pee-wee was right, we had had a lot of
+fun. I guess we never thought about the other side of it. I looked away
+down into the dark and I could just hear the water splashing on the
+rocks. I had to grab hold of the railing when the wind blew. I looked
+away off along the tracks, but I couldn't even see where the bridge
+ended; only I could see a kind of a big patch of dark that was blacker
+than the regular dark, and I thought it was a mountain. I guessed maybe
+a headlight would show suddenly around that. Connie came out, but didn't
+say anything, and then went back through to the other platform. I could
+hear frogs croaking, away down.
+
+"Going to watch?" I called after him.
+
+He said, "We're going to hang from the ties when we hear it."
+
+"All right," I told him; "it's awful dark. I can't see a thing."
+
+I heard one of the fellows inside say that maybe the wind would start
+the car, but I knew that was crazy talk, because a bridge is always
+level. I made up my mind that I'd hang from one of the ties and clasp my
+hands around it. I knew that it would be hard pulling myself up and
+scrambling onto the bridge again; _all_ of us wouldn't manage it, that
+was sure. It seemed kind of funny that probably we wouldn't have a full
+patrol any more. I wasn't exactly scared but, kind of, I didn't like to
+hear those frogs croaking way down there. It sounded so spooky.
+
+I heard Westy say, "So long, Roy, if I don't see you again."
+
+I called in for him to keep the kid near him. He was always my special
+chum, Westy was....
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+WALTER HARRIS, SCOUT
+
+
+All of a sudden, somebody was standing near me on the platform and
+clutching my arm. It was Pee-wee.
+
+"Look out you don't fall, Kid," I told him.
+
+"I didn't tell any of them," he whispered. "Listen, I've got an idea. I
+was--all the while I was trying to use my brains. But anyhow, I don't
+know just how we can do it, but you can find a way, so then really it'll
+be _your_ idea. Shh--I want the fellows to think it's your idea; see?
+Shh! Why can't we use the movie apparatus, some way; why can't we? And
+flash it to them."
+
+"You said it!" I fairly yelled.
+
+"Shh--h," he whispered; "I always voted for you; listen, it's _your_
+idea, see? Because I don't know just how----"
+
+Oh, boy, I just grabbed that kid around the neck, till I could feel his
+curly head right tight close to me.
+
+"What should I '_shh_' about?" I shouted. "You little brick! What are
+you whispering about? _Pee-wee's hit it!_" I just fairly shouted. "We're
+all right. Get in the car," I yelled at him, and I gave him a push.
+"Telling your patrol leader to shut up, are you?"
+
+Then I called him back again, I just couldn't help it, and I grabbed him
+around the neck and I just held him that way.
+
+"You _bully_, _tip-top_ little scout," I said; "you--you little Silver
+Fox! You--you've saved all of us."
+
+"And we can _always_ stick together, hey?" he said.
+
+"Sure,--oh, sure," I told him; "you bet!"
+
+Gee whiz, all we needed was the idea. All the rest of the ideas came to
+us quick enough.
+
+"There's oil in the movie lamp," Wig yelled.
+
+"Break one of the windows," I said; "_quick_."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Never mind what for. Get a piece of glass," I hollered. "Pick out two
+long sticks--hurry up."
+
+It didn't take us long to decide just how we'd do.
+
+"Two _long_ ones," I said; "don't be listening for trains."
+
+Crash went a window. "I've got a good piece," Pee-wee yelled.
+
+"All right, blacken it with the movie lamp," I told him.
+
+Oh, boy, we were some busy crew. The wood that had been nailed up under
+the car in Brewster's Centre was in long strips, and we hauled a couple
+of the longest ones out double quick. It wasn't exactly my idea, what we
+did; it was all of our ideas, I guess. We planned it out while we were
+hustling.
+
+One of those long strips we stuck out of the window and then held it up
+outside. One end of it was inside the car, resting on the seat, and the
+other end pointed up as straight as we could hold it outside. It reached
+up past the roof. Two of us held it that way, while two others did the
+same thing with another one through the window just opposite. So you see
+those two long strips stuck up, one on either side of the roof. They
+didn't stand up straight on account of sticking down through the
+windows, but they slanted away from each other up above. It took four of
+us to hold them that way.
+
+[Illustration: SPRAWLING RIGHT ACROSS THAT SHEET WAS THE WORD _STOP_.
+
+_Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels._ _Page 150_]
+
+While we were doing that, Pee-wee had the little movie lamp turned up so
+it smoked and he held the piece of glass over it until it was all black
+with soot. Pee-wee was all black with soot, too. A scout is thorough. In
+two minutes more, I guess, he would have been disguised as a negro.
+
+"Turn it down," I said; "that's enough. Are you game to climb up on the
+car? Get the sheet and the rope, quick."
+
+Pee-wee was game for anything. You never saw him back down, did you? Not
+even--but never mind. That's a thing of the past. In five seconds that
+little monkey was up on top of the car with the screen cloth and the
+rope that we always used to hang it from. I called up out of the window
+for him to look out.
+
+"I don't see any trains," he shouted down.
+
+"I mean look out for yourself," I said. "Tie the rope across from one
+stick to the other as high as you can reach," Wig shouted; "and be
+careful when you stand up."
+
+"That's nothing," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+In less than half a minute the sticks stood up all right without being
+held, and we knew that they were tied together and bent enough toward
+each other so that they would stand up good and solid. Then we told him
+to sit down, because we didn't want him standing and reaching up to fix
+the sheet.
+
+"I'll go up," I said.
+
+When I got up on the roof, Pee-wee and I hooked the sheet to the rope
+all the way across and tied it to the sticks at the bottom, so it
+wouldn't blow. Then we dangled the end of rope down past the window just
+below, and the fellows tied the movie apparatus to it, and we hauled it
+up. There was a kind of a tank lying flat on the roof and fastened
+tight, and we stood the apparatus close against that, and kept close to
+it ourselves to keep from slipping and falling off. Jiminies, I've heard
+of tramps riding on the tops of cars like that, but believe me, I
+wouldn't want to be on the top of one while it was going.
+
+With my little finger I printed the word STOP in good big black letters
+on the smoked glass.
+
+"Listen," Pee-wee said; "shh; do you hear a train?"
+
+I listened. "I guess it's just the fellows down in the car," I said.
+"Have you got matches?"
+
+"I've got four pockets full of them," he said. Even then I had to laugh.
+A scout is thorough.
+
+"Listen," he said; "I think it's a train."
+
+Away off I could hear a rattling sound, very low and quick--_tkd_,
+_tkd_, _tkd_, _tkd_, _tkd_, _tkd_, _tkd_, _tkd_; then all of a sudden a
+long, shrill whistle. And I could hear it again, very low, echoing from
+the mountains.
+
+"_She's coming!_" Connie shouted up.
+
+"We should worry," I hollered down.
+
+But just the same my hand trembled as I put the piece of glass into the
+apparatus, and held it there in place.
+
+There wasn't any sign of light anywhere, the cloth stayed as dark as
+pitch.
+
+"What's the matter?" Pee-wee asked, all breathless.
+
+"It doesn't work," I said. I could hardly speak, and cold shudders were
+going all through me.
+
+Away far off, there came a big patch of light on one of the mountains,
+so that we could even see the trees off there. It was from the headlight
+of a locomotive that we couldn't see yet. I guess it was coming around
+the mountain.
+
+"All right?" Westy called up out of the window.
+
+"It doesn't work, Westy," I said.
+
+I could hardly speak, my throat felt so queer, sort of.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+"POTS"
+
+
+"Did you take the cap off?" Westy called up. Thoughtful little Westy!
+
+"G--o--o--d night," I said; "I never took the cap off the lens
+cylinder."
+
+"Maybe that was the reason," Pee-wee said, in that innocent way of his.
+
+"It's just possible," I said.
+
+I took off the cap and, oh, _Christopher Columbus_, wasn't I happy!
+Sprawling right across that sheet was the word STOP in good big letters.
+Believe me, that was my favorite word. STOP. It showed far enough in
+both directions for an engineer to see it in time to come to a full
+stop.
+
+"Will they see it?" Pee-wee asked me, all excited.
+
+"If the engineer isn't dead, he'll see it," I told him.
+
+"Maybe we ought to have said _please_, hey? A scout is supposed to be
+polite," he said. I just had to sit back and laugh, right there on the
+roof of that car. Cracky, but that kid is a scream.
+
+One funny thing was that from the train the word would show wrong side
+around. It would show the right way from one direction and the wrong way
+from the other direction.
+
+"It will read POTS," I said.
+
+"Maybe he won't stop, hey?" the kid asked me.
+
+"Sure he will," I said; "how does he know how big the pots are? It will
+knock him silly when he sees that."
+
+Even beyond the screen, away over against a hill, we could see the word
+POTS printed very dim and small. Only the P was wrong side around.
+
+But anyway, safety first; so I kept moving the glass so the word danced
+around. An engineer who couldn't have seen that must have been blind.
+
+Pretty soon, along she came, and we could see the headlight now, good
+and clear, and hear her thundering along as if she should worry about
+anything. _Rattle_, _bang_, she went, and roaring and clanking as if
+she'd be glad to trample the whole world down and never even stop to
+take notice. _Slam_, _bang_, she came along, and we could see the
+mountains as plain as day, brightened up by her headlight.
+
+I just held the glass, moving it around, and I have to admit I was a
+little kind of nervous, sort of.
+
+_Slam bang, slam bang!_ She came along and we could hear the rattling
+and clanking echoing from the mountains, and the racket was all mixed
+up. Sparks of light were flying up out of the smokestack and we could
+hear the rails clanking, clanking....
+
+Then the sound of the clanking changed. Then it died down, and there was
+only the steady rattle, rattle....
+
+She was slowing down.
+
+"We've got her, Kid," I said; "sit still, you'll only fall off. We've
+got her eating out of our hands."
+
+"Clank, clank, clank--clank--clank," she went; then "s-s-s-s-s-s...."
+
+She had stopped.
+
+There she stood, puffing and puffing, part on the bridge, and part back
+in the dark. The locomotive seemed like a big lion that had just been
+going to spring at us.
+
+"Hurrah!" we heard the fellows down in the car calling.
+
+"P-f-f-f-f-f-f," the locomotive went.
+
+"Let _me_ do it! Let _me_ do it!" Pee-wee yelled.
+
+I took the piece of glass out and leaned back against the tank. All of a
+sudden I saw something else sprawled all over the sheet. It was the
+right way around, too, for the engineer. I guess Pee-wee had been
+carrying it in his pocket. Anyway, there were spots on it where the soot
+had been wiped off. But it was easy to read it, and this is what it
+said:
+
+                       MUCH OBLIGED, MISTER
+
+Honest, can you beat that kid?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+"SEEN IN THE MOVIES"
+
+
+I guess the fellows down in the car must have seen the notice where it
+was printed kind of faint like, against a hill, because they couldn't
+have seen it on the screen. Anyway, they set up a howl and began
+shouting up out of the windows. They're a crazy bunch.
+
+"Show them Pee-wee peeling potatoes! Show them Pee-wee flopping
+flip-flops!" they began yelling.
+
+"Show them the one of me stirring soup," the kid said, grabbing me by
+the arm; "that's the best one!"
+
+I said, "You crazy Indian, do you think those people in the flyer are
+there to see a movie show? Keep still, here come a couple of men with
+lanterns."
+
+"They're going to penetrate the mystery," Pee-wee said. I guess he got
+that out of some book, hey? _Penetrate the mystery._
+
+I said, "As long as they didn't penetrate this car, I'm satisfied."
+
+We could see two lights bobbing along toward us from the train. Even
+with lanterns it must have been a pretty risky job, walking those ties.
+All the while Pee-wee and I were taking down the sheet, and as soon as
+we loosened it from the sticks, the fellows down in the car pulled them
+in.
+
+"Look how clear it shows against the hill, now the sheet isn't up," I
+said to Pee-wee.
+
+I guess you know what I meant, all right. Even through the sheet the
+printing had shown kind of dim against a hill in back of the train, but
+with the sheet taken down it showed pretty clear and it seemed awful
+funny. And besides, now that the sheet was down we had a good look at
+the train; the light from the movie apparatus seemed to shine right
+along the tops of the cars.
+
+All of a sudden, Pee-wee grabbed me by the arm and said, "Look! _Look!_
+On the top of the second car. Look! Do you see? Right beside that long
+sort of a boiler thing."
+
+I looked, and then, for once, I had sense enough to do the right thing
+in a hurry. I closed the shutter in the apparatus.
+
+"Did you see them?" Pee-wee whispered, all excited.
+
+"Sure," I said; "two men."
+
+They were lying on the top of the car, right close against a big, long
+thing like a boiler. It was much bigger than the thing on our car. One
+was lying on one side of it, and the other one on the opposite side. The
+reason I shut the light off in such a hurry was because I didn't want
+them to know they were seen.
+
+"Are they train robbers?" Pee-wee whispered to me. "Are they
+highwaymen?"
+
+"They're high enough to be highwaymen," I told him.
+
+"Maybe they're bandits, hey?" he said.
+
+"I hope so, for your sake," I told him. "I hope they're a couple of
+pirates, but I guess they're only tramps. Come on, let's go down."
+
+We dangled the movie apparatus down and the fellows took it in through
+the window. Then they came out on the platform and helped the kid and me
+down. That was a pretty hard job, believe _me_. Just as we got our feet
+on terra what d'ye call it.--I mean terra cotta[A]--that Latin for
+platform--anyway, you know what I mean--as soon as we got our two feet
+(I mean four feet) on the platform, the two men with lanterns had just
+reached it.
+
+One of the men said, "What's all this? What are you doing here, anyway?
+Who are you?" Gee whiz, it sounded like an examination paper.
+
+Whenever we get mixed up with grown-up people it's usually me--I mean
+_I_--that has to do the talking. Pee-wee usually helps though. So I gave
+the men our regular motto.
+
+I said, "We're here because we're here. Ask me something easy. This is
+the Comedy of Errors." I said that because we have the Comedy of Errors
+in school and I just happened to think of it.
+
+I guess the man was the fireman; anyway, he had on a jumper. He walked
+into the car and looked all around with his lantern and the other man
+looked all around, too, trying to size us up, I guess.
+
+The fireman said, "Comedy of Errors, huh?"
+
+Pee-wee said, "Sure, that's in Shakespeare."
+
+"Well, it's mighty gol darn lucky you had a movie machine along," the
+fireman said. "You youngsters have had a _mighty narrow_ escape."
+
+"Why shouldn't it be a narrow escape?" Connie said. "It's a narrow
+bridge. Anyway, where do we go from here?"
+
+"There's a couple of men lying on the top of one of your cars, too,"
+Pee-wee said; "we could see them by the light."
+
+"Tramps, I guess," the brakeman said. He didn't seem to be surprised.
+
+So then we told them all about how it was with us--our adventures with
+the car and all that. They said we had a bad coupling and that it was no
+wonder it had parted.
+
+"We should worry," I told him; "scouts stick together, even if couplings
+part. But anyway, we'd like to get off this bridge."
+
+The fireman said it wouldn't be a bad idea.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[Footnote A: He probably meant terra firma.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+"FOILED"
+
+
+Pretty soon they went back to the train and then, after about ten
+minutes, the engine began puffing and coming toward us ever so slow. It
+seemed as if it hardly moved.
+
+"I think we're going to get a good bunk in the nose," Wig said.
+
+"Good night," I told him; "I hope it doesn't pick up speed."
+
+"I'd rather see it pick up anything than that," Connie said.
+
+"Suppose it had hit us at full speed," Pee-wee said.
+
+"It would have been a home run all right," I told him.
+
+Even with that locomotive just creeping along toward us, it scared me.
+It seemed as if it couldn't touch our car without banging it into
+splinters. But that engineer knew what he was doing all right. The train
+came along so slowly you could hardly tell it was moving, and sometimes
+it stopped and started again. Pee-wee said it was going scout pace. But
+it was more like a snail's pace, I guess.
+
+Pretty soon it stopped just about ten feet from us and the headlight
+brightened up the whole car. I could feel the bridge tremble a little,
+sort of keeping time with that great big locomotive, as it stood there
+puffing and just kind of throbbing. And I thought how all that engineer
+would have to do was pull a handle and--_g--o--o--d_ night! He was
+sitting, looking out of the window, sort of calm and easy, smoking a
+pipe. Connie called up to him and said, "Hey, Mister, have a heart and
+don't start anything." The engine just went, "_pff_, _pff_, _pff_," very
+slow. We could even feel the heat of it.
+
+Somebody called out for us to get inside the car and stay there. A man
+went through our car with a red lantern and kept swinging it on the
+other platform. I could see men swinging red lights way in the back of
+the train, too. Some people on the train tried to get out, but the
+railroad men made them get on again. I could hear a lady crying that
+there was going to be a bad collision. Cracky, I never heard of a good
+one, did you?
+
+The men between the front of the engine and our car had a long iron bar,
+sort of, and they had one end of it fixed in a sort of coupling just
+above the cow-catcher. It was pretty hard keeping us off the platform,
+so we saw everything they did. The other end of that bar they held up so
+it stuck out like a shaft, and then the engine moved about an inch, then
+stopped, then moved about another inch, then stopped. Gee whiz, I was
+glad I wasn't down there with those men. _Yum_, _yum_, I like
+sandwiches, but I don't like being the middle part of one. Then all of a
+sudden, _bunk_.
+
+The men climbed up on our car and in a minute, chu chu, along we went
+ever so slow, the engine pushing us.
+
+When we were off the bridge, the train stopped and the men on the other
+end of our car went away along the tracks, swinging their lanterns. Gee,
+it's all right to say a bridge is strong, and I guess that one was, all
+right, but me for the good solid earth. It feels good underneath you.
+
+Pretty soon the conductor and a lot of passengers came along to take a
+look at us. What did _we_ care? Everybody said we were _wonders_ to
+think about using the movie apparatus and they were laughing. I guess it
+was at the word _pots_, hey? One man said we were prenominal,[B] or
+something or other like that--I should worry.
+
+Pretty soon we noticed a little crowd of people outside the second car,
+so we went up that way to see what was the matter. A couple of men were
+just coming down off the platform and each of them was holding a man by
+the collar. The men they were holding had on scout hats. I took one look
+and _g--o--o--d_ night! Those two fellows were the automobile thieves.
+
+"_What--do--you--know--about--that?_" Connie whispered to me.
+
+"And the train people never knew they were up there until we told them,"
+Westy said.
+
+I guess the two men were detectives. Anyway, just as they stepped off,
+they let go the one man and one of them said, "Now you two hoboes beat
+it, and the next time either of you is caught riding on this road,
+you'll do time for it There's the road----"
+
+_Jiminetty!_ I didn't wait for him to say any more. I just went right up
+to that detective and I said, "Mister, those men are worse than tramps;
+they're not tramps at all; they're thieves; they stole an automobile;
+hurry up, you'd better catch him."
+
+Oh, boy, didn't he grab hold of that fellow again! The fellow must have
+seen some of us, because he was just starting to run when, zippo, that
+detective had him by the collar again. The other one hadn't been let go
+even, so he was safe.
+
+By that time passengers from the train were crowding around and Pee-wee
+was right in the center, shouting, same as he always does.
+"They're--they're desperate--culprits----" he said; "we _foiled_ them
+once before--we did----"
+
+All the passengers were laughing. Even the conductor and the detectives
+were laughing. I was laughing so hard, I couldn't speak.
+
+He just shouted on, "You can say what you want about robbers and bandits
+and--and all things like that being bad--in the movies--but anyway, I
+don't care how many censors there are--you've got to admit that the
+movies are all right--they can--what d'ye call it--they can reveal
+identities, they can----"
+
+Then Westy spoke up. He said, "This is our little mascot; he's
+harmless." Then he told all about how our car was stalled on the road
+and how the thieves got away. Westy always has his wits about him when
+he talks, that's one thing.
+
+One of the detectives said, "Can you boys positively identify this
+pair?"
+
+"Haven't they got our hats?" I said. "Sure we can identify them."
+
+The two thieves looked at us as if to try to scare us, but what did _we_
+care? They made a big fuss and said they were only tramps, but it didn't
+do them any good, and nobody believed them. Because all those people
+could see we knew what we were talking about, especially Westy, because
+he's always so sober, like. And besides, they knew that we were the ones
+who had first discovered them on top of the car, and I guess they saw
+that we had some sense, because on account of our flashing the signal in
+that way.
+
+Anyway, you can bet those two fellows didn't get away. The men took them
+into the baggage car and that was the last we saw of them, because after
+the train started we had to stay in our own car, on account of the
+engine being between us and the train. That was the only thing that kept
+Pee-wee from giving a movie show.
+
+But the fireman came in to see us, because he knew how to climb all over
+the engine. He told us that those fellows had handcuffs on, and he got
+all our names and addresses, because he said we'd have to come back and
+be witnesses. But we never did, because the fellows confessed. Gee whiz,
+I would have liked to go back again. Maybe it wouldn't have been so much
+fun though, hey? I guess maybe I wouldn't have liked to. It's no fun
+seeing people sent to jail. But anyway, one sure thing, they had no
+right to steal a Pierce-Arrow. Even they wouldn't have had any right to
+steal a Ford.
+
+But anyway, who'd want to steal a Ford?
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[Footnote B: Phenomenal is probably what the man said.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+OUR PATROL "SING"
+
+
+So you have to admit that there were two thieves that really got caught
+in the movies. Mr. Ellsworth says that movies with thieves and robbers
+and pistols and things are no good. But if it hadn't been for that movie
+outfit, good night, where would we have been, I'd like to know? And
+where would those thieves have been?
+
+Anyway, pretty soon the excitement was all over, except that Pee-wee
+kept things going. Nothing but an earthquake would stop _him_. It was
+pretty bright in our car on account of the headlight from the engine. We
+moved along so slowly that I guess I could walk just as fast. The
+fireman paid us a good visit. He was an awful nice fellow. He could bend
+his left thumb way back. He said he would be an engineer pretty soon.
+Jiminy, I hope he's one by now.
+
+He told us that the engineer was going to push us as far as Flimdunk
+Siding and leave us there and that another train would pick us up the
+next day. He said both our couplings were rusted out and no good and one
+of them would have to be fixed before we could be taken on.
+
+He said, "We can't push you far like this; 'tisn't safe and we have to
+just crawl."
+
+"Flimdunk suits _us_ all right," I told him; "we're not particular.
+Columbus didn't know where he was going anyway, and to-morrow's Columbus
+Day. We should worry."
+
+He said he guessed Number 23 would pick us up.
+
+"_Good night!_" I told him, "that means more adventures. I suppose
+that's the skiddo special. Probably we'll be dumped off a cliff. All in
+the game."
+
+He laughed and said that probably we wouldn't have any more trouble,
+because Number 23 made a quick run straight to Jersey City.
+
+"What does it want to go to Jersey City for?" Wig asked him.
+
+He said, "Well, it doesn't stay there long."
+
+"I don't blame it," Connie piped up.
+
+He told us that when we got to Jersey City a Northern local would pick
+us up and drop us at Bridgeboro.
+
+"All right, just as you say," I told him.
+
+Anyway, we weren't going to worry about it. When we got home we'd get
+home, that was all. And when we didn't, we wouldn't.
+
+After the fireman went away, we fixed two seats facing each other and
+sprawled all over them. I guess we were getting pretty sleepy.
+
+"Shout to the engineer to turn off that headlight and we'll go to
+sleep," Wig said.
+
+"Let's make some turnovers first," Pee-wee said.
+
+"All right, _you_ make them," I said.
+
+Then followed a big chunk of silence.
+
+All of a sudden Connie started singing:
+
+     "We stood on the bridge at midnight."
+
+"Keep your feet off me," I said; "what do you think I am? A door-mat?"
+
+"Let's make up another verse," Wig said.
+
+"Let's put Flimdunk in it!" Pee-wee shouted.
+
+Pretty soon all of us were singing:
+
+     "We stood on the bridge at midnight,
+      We stood on the bridge at midnight,
+      We stood on the bridge at midnight."
+
+Then somebody sang:
+
+     "We came near getting a bunk,
+      We came near getting a bunk."
+
+Then we all sang:
+
+     "We stood on the bridge at midnight,
+      We came near getting a bunk;
+      We came near getting a bunk;
+      We came----"
+
+"We flashed them POTS!" Pee-wee yelled.
+
+"Now we're on our way to Flimdunk," Westy said.
+
+So pretty soon this is what we were all singing:
+
+     "We stood on the bridge at midnight,
+        We came near getting a bunk;
+      We flashed them POTS for an S--O--S,
+        Now we're on our way to Flimdunk."
+
+Gee whiz, I have to admit we're a crazy bunch in our patrol.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+FLIMDUNK SIDING
+
+
+After a little while, Pee-wee fell asleep, but the rest of us stayed
+awake, because we wanted to see what kind of a place we were going to
+stop at.
+
+For about fifteen or twenty minutes the engine pushed us awfully slow,
+then we stopped, and a couple of men went between our car and the engine
+and did something to that long iron bar. We watched them from the
+platform. Then one of the men went through our car to the other platform
+and the other one stayed on the platform near the engine. Another man
+started along the track with a lantern.
+
+"The plot grows thicker," I said; "what's going to happen now?"
+
+"Search me," Connie said; "look around and see if you see Flimdunk
+anywhere--not inside the car, you crazy Indian."
+
+I was looking inside the car for it.
+
+"How could we tell it if we saw it?" Connie asked us.
+
+"Can't you tell a village when you see one? It'll look like a young
+town," Westy said.
+
+"The fireman didn't say anything about a town anyway," I told them; "he
+just said Flimdunk Siding."
+
+"Maybe that man is swinging the lantern so the town can get off the
+track," Wig said; "anyhow, I bet something is going to happen."
+
+It was pitch dark all around, except that the headlight of the
+locomotive made a long shaft like a searchlight 'way far ahead, and we
+could see the man walking along the track in that shaft, swinging his
+lantern. Our car was all bright, too. It seemed awful lonesome where he
+was going, far ahead in the dark. The locomotive kept going _pfff, pfff,
+pfff_, just like a horse stamping his foot, because he's in a hurry to
+start. It seemed kind of as if it didn't want to wait.
+
+"Have we come to the siding?" I asked the man on the platform.
+
+"You'll have to take the switch," he said.
+
+"We wouldn't take anything that didn't belong to us," Connie said;
+"you'll have to give it to us if you want us to take it."
+
+"I don't care so much about having one, anyway," I said. I guess that
+man thought we were crazy.
+
+"We'll give you the run," he said.
+
+"I wouldn't blame you for doing that if we took the switch," Wig told
+him. Gee, he had to laugh.
+
+Pretty soon the man who was far ahead began swinging his lantern around
+in a circle. Then the engine gave a kind of a quick, shrill whistle, and
+we started again. We went a little faster than before and then, all of a
+sudden, we saw the engine standing quite a way off, and already the men
+on our car were turning the hand brakes. Our car was rattling along all
+by itself. In about half a minute, _kerlick, kerlick_, it went on a
+switch and then the men began yanking on the brake handles for all they
+were worth.
+
+But I knew that old car all right, and its brakes were pretty near as
+bad as its couplings.
+
+"Oh, merrily, merrily on we roll," Connie began singing.
+
+"What's the matter with this plaguey old boat?" one of the men said, all
+the while bracing his feet and pulling and pulling on the wheel.
+
+"It likes to go off on a hike by itself," I said; "you should worry.
+When it stops, it stops."
+
+"Well, it better stop pretty soon," he said, "or else----Here, get hold
+of this wheel, you kids, and pull."
+
+"Them brakes got about as much bite in 'em as a ki-oodle," the man said;
+"how old is this old scow? 'Bout a hundred, I guess."
+
+"This old car is all right," I told him; "a scout must have respect for
+age--page something-or-other-scout handbook. We may be old ourselves
+some day. What do we care, yo ho?"
+
+He said, "Well, I hope the brakes on your tongue will work better than
+they do now."
+
+"The pleasure is mine," I told him.
+
+Two of us were pulling away as hard as we could, helping one of the
+trainmen, two were helping the man on the other platform, and Pee-wee
+was sleeping peacefully inside with his head on the floor and one of his
+legs sprawled up over the seat.
+
+As well as I could see, we were rolling merrily along a track that
+branched away from the main track. I thought that, because I couldn't
+see the full blaze of the engine's headlight any more, and I knew we
+were verging away from the railroad.
+
+"Talk about prodigal sons," Westy said; "when this old car gets back
+home, they ought to kill the fatted calf for it."
+
+"Good night," I told him; "if the fatted calf gets on the track, he'll
+be killed all right."
+
+"Oh, boys, where do we go from here?" Wig began singing.
+
+But those trainmen didn't seem to think it was much of a joke. All of a
+sudden, we went rattling through an opening in a fence and I saw a
+couple of big white things near us.
+
+"They're tents," Westy said.
+
+By now the car was slowing down and pretty soon it stopped right in
+front of a big dark thing--a kind of a building. If we'd have gone fifty
+feet more, we'd have bunked our nose right into it.
+
+The trainman said, "That's the craziest old set of brakes I ever saw.
+You'll have to be contented to stay right here, that's all;
+twenty-three'll back in after you."
+
+"Contented is our favorite nickname," I told him; "is this Flimdunk,
+with the fence around it? It's a good idea--the place can't run away. I
+hope they'll like us."
+
+"Do you think we're intruding?" Westy said.
+
+I guess those trainmen set us down for a lot of idiots. Anyway, they
+didn't have to tell us so, because we admit it. They said that the
+brakes were worn off so much that they didn't press hard against the
+wheels, only sort of gentle, like. They were nice polite brakes.
+
+One of the trainmen said he'd leave us a lantern so we could see to
+talk; then they went back out through the fence and I could see their
+lanterns making circles in the dark. Pretty soon we could hear the
+engine puffing and all of a sudden, it gave a loud, shrill whistle. It
+sounded as if the train was coming very slowly up toward the switch, but
+in about a couple of minutes we could hear it rattling along, farther
+and farther away, and going faster and faster.
+
+"So long, old flyer," Westy called.
+
+I said, "Listen! Listen to the sound it makes--_tk-ed, tk-ed, tk_----It
+seems as if it's saying, 'twenty-three for yours,' doesn't it?"
+
+"Skiddo, flyer!" Connie shouted; "anyhow, you were foiled by the Boy
+Scouts."
+
+That word _foiled_ reminded us of Pee-wee, so we went inside and looked
+at him. I guess the stopping of the car had shaken him up some. His
+head was way underneath the seat, one of his arms was halfway up on the
+seat and one of his legs was on the movie outfit in the aisle.
+
+It was a sight for a painter. I mean a sign painter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+EXPLORING
+
+
+"What do you say we explore the neighborhood?" Wig said.
+
+"What do you say we put a block in front of the wheels?" I said. "Safety
+first."
+
+"This seems to be a kind of a walled city, like China," Connie said. "I
+can see a kind of a shadow. Do you suppose that's the fence going all
+the way around?"
+
+"Sure it is," I told him; "all we have to do is shut those big gates and
+the car will never get away. Only China isn't a city, if anybody should
+ask you."
+
+"What's the difference?" he said. "Nobody's likely to ask me."
+
+"This is a very mysterious place," Westy said; "I, for one, would like
+to know where we're at." That's just the nice way he talks. It's caused
+by his bringing up.
+
+I said, "Oh, dear me, _I for two_, would be delighted to ascertain."
+
+"Where do you think we are?" he said.
+
+"That's easy," I told them; "I know where we are."
+
+"Where are we?" Wig wanted to know.
+
+"We're here," I told him.
+
+"Yes, but what is this?"
+
+"It's a place, that's all I know," Connie piped up.
+
+"Come on, let's wake up the kid," Wig said; "and take a stroll around.
+It looks to me like a ball field or something like that. Anyway, those
+are tents over there."
+
+We didn't dare to start out without Pee-wee, so we shook him up and
+dragged him up and down the aisle and played football with him, and at
+last he let out a long groan and we knew we had him started.
+
+"Wh-a-a-t--where--am I?" he yawned.
+
+"We were just going to have a game of one o'cat with you," I told him;
+"wake up, it's twenty years later; the peace treaty has just been
+signed."
+
+"Who signed it?" he gasped.
+
+"I did," I said; "come on, get up."
+
+If you can once get him on his feet, he usually stays up. I said,
+"We're in a land of mystery; we've got Alice in Wonderland tearing her
+hair from jealousy. I think we're in somebody's back yard."
+
+"Where's the train?" he asked.
+
+"It went down the street to get a soda," I said.
+
+That opened his eyes all right. "Can you get sodas around here?" he
+shouted.
+
+We got hold of a chunk of wood and blocked one of the car wheels and
+then started out. We couldn't see very well in the dark, but we made out
+that the high fence went all the way around a great big flat field.
+There was a kind of a wide road around near the fence. The tracks ran
+right up under that building that we had seen ahead of us, into a kind
+of a tunnel. We saw it was an ice-house, and I guess ice was loaded onto
+cars there.
+
+The two white things that we had seen were tents and there was a light
+in one of them, but we didn't go in. There were little buildings around,
+but they were closed up. There was a kind of a big platform with a
+railing around it. In another place there was a long shed full of cows.
+There were kind of things like mess boards all around, only some of them
+were too high for mess boards.
+
+"I give it up," I said
+
+"It's a cross between a barn-yard and a picnic ground," Connie said.
+
+Westy said, "I think it's an aviation field."
+
+"Sure," I told him; "how stupid of me. And the cows are aviators."
+
+"What do you say we follow the fence around?" Westy said.
+
+"What do you say we don't?" I said. "Come on, let's go back and I'll
+cook some fritters and then we'll get our suits off and have a good
+sleep, and to-morrow we'll see what we see."
+
+We were all pretty sleepy, so we decided to do that. If we had taken a
+little hike all the way around near the fence, the terrible thing that I
+am going to tell you about now, would never have happened. You had
+better get ready for it, because it's one of the most terrible things
+that I ever told. When you hear about it, you'll turn cold and your hair
+will stand up. Even now whenever I think about it, I just shake. That's
+the word--_shake_.
+
+Yah, hah! You thought I was going to tell it in this chapter, didn't
+you?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+OUR YOUNG HERO
+
+
+Now it was so dark that we had some trouble finding our car, and before
+we got to it, we passed a funny kind of a little shack with a high porch
+in front. It didn't look exactly like a place to live in--gee, I
+couldn't tell you exactly what it did look like. But anyway, it was all
+closed up. As we passed it, we heard voices inside, but we were too
+sleepy and hungry to pay any attention.
+
+All of a sudden our young hero paused and, _you_ know, stood riveted to
+the spot where he stood. Anyway, if he wasn't riveted he was nailed
+down.
+
+"_Listen! Hark!_" he said.
+
+"We're harking," I said; "what is it?"
+
+"Shh-h," he whispered and held his hand to his ear.
+
+"What's the matter; have you got an earache?" Connie asked him.
+
+"Break it to us gently," I said; "let us hear the worst."
+
+"Shhh, listen!" he said. "Somebody's being killed."
+
+"How tragic!" Wig said.
+
+"It isn't tragic at all," Pee-wee said; "listen----it's true."
+
+"Have it your own way," I told him.
+
+"In that little house," he whispered, all the while going back on
+tiptoe; "hark--shh."
+
+We all followed him back, giggling, because we had been through things
+like this before with our boy hero. Believe me, Dauntless Dan of the
+Dauntless Dan Series has nothing on Scout Harris. In front of the little
+shack we all stood stark still, listening.
+
+"Do you hear it?" Pee-wee whispered. "It's a bitter struggle."
+
+The first sound that _I_ noticed was a sound as if a chair was falling
+over. Then I heard a man's voice say, "I'll choke you till you tell me.
+Are you ready to speak?" Then another voice said, "Never!"
+
+Pee-wee said, "Shh, what did I tell you?"
+
+We were all pretty interested by that time. Pretty soon a kind of a
+high, squeaky voice said, "Do you think I'm afraid of you--you
+big----" Then it seemed as if the voice was just kind of choked off,
+because there were stifled cries, sort of, and all the while a gruff
+voice saying, "Are you ready to take that back? This is your last
+chance--I'll teach you----" And all the while that other voice kept
+crying and yelling, and it seemed just as if the person must be
+struggling.
+
+"It's a child," Westy said, all excited.
+
+"He's strangling it to death," Pee-wee whispered, so scared and excited,
+that his voice was hoarse. And just then we could hear a long kind of a
+gurgle and a man's voice saying, "I'll teach you! I'll teach you!" And
+then the two voices seemed to be mixed up together.
+
+"Wait here," Pee-wee said, and off he started, pell-mell for the tent
+where there was a light inside.
+
+In ten seconds he was back with a couple of men, and shouting, "_In that
+shack! In that shack! A man is murdering somebody in that shack! Hurry
+up!_"
+
+By that time we were all pretty scared, I guess. The two men vaulted up
+on to the platform and pushed the door open and we stood outside looking
+up over the edge of the platform. All of a sudden Westy said,
+"_What--do--you--know----_"
+
+That was all he could say. He just vaulted up himself with the rest of
+us after him. And there we all stood in the doorway, only Pee-wee pushed
+his way inside.
+
+_Jiminetty!_ I almost fell in a fit, I laughed so hard. "Save me," I
+said to Westy, "before I fall off the platform."
+
+But Westy was laughing too hard to save anybody.
+
+Right there in front of us in a little room, there was a man in his
+shirt sleeves sitting on the side of a kind of a sleeping bunk. Sitting
+on one of his knees was one of those big funny-looking dolls with a
+black face and a big, square mouth that works by a hinge. The doll was
+straddling the man's knee and one of its legs was dangling down on
+either side.
+
+"What's the big idea?" the man said.
+
+Both of the other men were laughing so hard, they couldn't speak, but
+one of them pointed at Pee-wee. Our young hero just stood there,
+panting, all out of breath, and gaping like an idiot.
+
+"I--I--eh--I didn't know you were a ven--a ven-----" he blurted out. "I
+thought you were murdering somebody--I--I did."
+
+The man just looked at him and smiled; then he began to laugh. He said,
+"I consider that a compliment, my young friend; you're welcome. Sam,
+tell the young gentleman he is welcome."
+
+The big fancy doll said, "You're welcome." And, gee whiz, it sounded
+just as if it came out of his own throat. Pee-wee just stood there
+staring at Sam, and Sam sat there on the ventriloquist's lap, staring
+very bold at Pee-wee.
+
+"Tell the young gentleman we were having a rehearsal," the man said; and
+Sam said, "We were having a rehearsal."
+
+Pee-wee just stood there not saying a word, and gaping at Sam and at the
+man. All of a sudden we heard a cat meowing right near.
+
+"Look out, you're stepping on the cat," the man said to Pee-wee. Pee-wee
+moved his feet as if he were in a trance and looked down.
+
+But there wasn't any cat at all.
+
+Gee, that man was a wonder.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE TRAIN
+
+
+That man's name was Pedro De Vail, and he was French, only he was born
+in Hoboken. He was the greatest ventriloquist in the whole world. He
+said so, and gee whiz, he ought to know. Westy said that when he said
+anything, it counted for a whole lot, because he could say it in half a
+dozen different voices. But, oh, boy, Pee-wee lost his voice entirely.
+Anyway, Mr. Pedro said it didn't make any difference, because he had a
+lot of voices to spare. I guess he kind of liked Pee-wee.
+
+As long as we were there we made him a call, and I guess he'd be pretty
+good at stalking, because he could imitate all the animals and birds,
+and he could make you think he was sawing wood. He said that the place
+where we were was the Fair Grounds, and that the next day the Firemen's
+Carnival was going to start there. He said it was going to last three
+days. He said he always went to County Fairs and Carnivals and things
+like that. He told us that Flimdunk was about a couple of miles away.
+
+We told him all about our adventures and about the Brewster's Centre
+car. I said, "As long as we're here, I'm glad of it, because we can take
+in the Carnival. I hope that train twenty-three doesn't come until late
+to-morrow; I hope it doesn't come until to-morrow night. Better late
+than sooner."
+
+He said, "Well, there are going to be big doings to-morrow--races,
+balloon ascension, murders and everything like that. But I'm afraid you
+boys are going to be disappointed. There's a train comes through here
+about four or five in the morning, going east. I think that'll be the
+one to pick you up."
+
+We went back to our car feeling pretty glum about it. Jiminies, you
+couldn't blame us. What was the good of being left at a carnival in the
+middle of the night and taken away again before daylight? That's one
+thing I don't like about railroads; they do just as they please. They
+push you and pull you around and take you away again before you want to
+go.
+
+"Why can't they let us spend Columbus Day here?" Westy wanted to know.
+
+"When did the brakeman say it would come?" Connie asked.
+
+"Hanged if _I_ remember," I said; "but I knew how it would be when I
+heard that the train would be Number Twenty-three. I'll never trust that
+number."
+
+"And races and everything, too," Wig said.
+
+"Sure, and a balloon ascension," Connie began grouching.
+
+"Maybe he's mistaken," I said; "we've had pretty good fun, anyway."
+
+"You call it fun, starting away just when the fun is going to begin?"
+Pee-wee piped up.
+
+I guess we didn't know what to think or what to expect. Anyway, I knew
+that the train that had left us there would telegraph to some place or
+other about us, that was all I knew. When another train stopped for us,
+we'd just have to go.
+
+"Anyway, let's have something to eat and turn in," I said; "we'll just
+have to trust to luck."
+
+One sure thing, we all felt pretty bad, because the next day was a
+holiday and there'd be lots of fun at that Carnival. I made some rice
+cakes and then we fixed the seats and turned in.
+
+I don't know how long I had been asleep, but what made me wake up was
+the whistle of a locomotive. Westy woke up, too, and we both listened.
+
+"It's coming," he said.
+
+"The game is up," I told him.
+
+Pretty soon we were all awake, listening. The train was backing down
+along the branch track and coming nearer and nearer to us. We could
+hear the engine puffing, and the sound of wheels going _ker-lick_,
+_ker-lick_, as the train backed in very slowly. Gee whiz, I was
+feeling sore.
+
+"Come on out on the platform," Westy said.
+
+"This railroad makes me sick," Connie grouched.
+
+"Why couldn't they wait until to-morrow night?" Wig wanted to know. "I
+thought we were going to have a good day's fun."
+
+Out on the platform all we saw was a man sitting on the railing in the
+dark.
+
+"Where's the pesky old train, anyway?" I said.
+
+"Train?" the man said; "what train?"
+
+Then he just reached forward and ruffled up our young hero's hair.
+
+I was all flabbergasted. "Mr. _Pedro_!" I just blurted out.
+
+"I thought I'd pay you back, that's all," he said.
+
+Oh, boy, couldn't that man imitate a train!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE PROFITEERS
+
+
+When we went out in the morning the surprise was mutual. Gee, it was
+_especially_ mutual. There was a crowd outside the car, staring up at
+it. It must have looked funny standing there with BREWSTER'S CENTRE
+sprawled all over it. There were all kinds of people in that crowd. One
+of them was a woman who was a fortune teller. She had on a dress with
+all spangles on it. Her name was Princess Mysteria. I wanted to ask her
+when the train would come for us and if we'd have any more adventures,
+but Westy wouldn't let me, because it cost twenty-five cents. He said
+he'd rather spend the twenty-five cents for licorice jaw-breakers and
+then we'd _know_ what was happening to us. Gee whiz, you don't need any
+fortune teller after eating licorice jaw-breakers.
+
+All around in that place men were opening booths and putting up tents
+and getting counters ready, so they could sell peanuts and lemonade and
+ice-cream cones and canes and fancy glass jars and other things to eat
+and drink--not canes and glass jars. There was a merry-go-round, too,
+and it had an organ that played _We're on our way_.
+
+"Jiminies," Westy said; "I don't know where anyone would expect to get
+to, riding on a merry-go-round."
+
+Pretty soon a man came up to us and asked us how we got there. I guess
+he was one of the head men of the Carnival.
+
+I said, "Isn't this Flimdunk Siding? We're supposed to stay here until a
+train picks us up."
+
+He said, "Yes, but this car has no business inside the fence; this is
+the old ice-house freight siding. They should have left you standing out
+near the main line."
+
+I said, "Yes, but this car has something to say about it, too, and it
+wouldn't stop, so here we are. Don't blame us, blame the car. That's the
+way it is with railroads, they don't care about anybody's rights."
+
+"That ain't the main entrance you came through," he said; "that gate was
+open so stuff could be brought in on the freight cars."
+
+"It's all the same to us," I told him; "we're here, because we're here."
+
+He said, "Well, you'll have to pay your admission or be put out."
+
+Connie said, "How are you going to put this car out? If you once get it
+started it may roll all the way back onto the main track and we'll die a
+horrible death."
+
+"Yes, and then you'll be sorry," Pee-wee said.
+
+The man said, "Well, this car hasn't got any right on the grounds,
+that's all."
+
+I said, "Mister, I don't know what we can do, unless we get a couple of
+those elephants from the merry-go-round to drag it away."
+
+Pretty soon two other men came along and they all stood there talking
+about what they had better do, and we sat on the steps of the platform,
+listening to them.
+
+"You seem to be live wires, leastways," one of them said.
+
+"Sure," I told him; "we were struck by lightning when we were kids."
+
+Then they whispered together for about a minute and after that the man
+who seemed to be a head man said, "Well, as long as the car's here,
+we'll let it stay here and you youngsters can scamper about and enjoy
+yourselves. 'Long as the car's standing idle, we'll use it for a
+concession booth."
+
+They went away talking about it and we started asking each other what
+they meant, because we were beginning to get a little scared, sort of.
+We didn't want to give up our car. Pretty soon Mr. Pedro came along and
+we told him all about it.
+
+He said he was on our side. This is just what he said; he said, "These
+people are a crew of bandits. Do you know how much I'm paying for that
+little shanty? Fifty dollars for the three days. Do you know how much
+the Princess is handing over for the space where she has her little
+tent? Seventy dollars, cold cash. She says if she'd known it would be
+anything like that, she'd never have come."
+
+Westy said, "I should think she would have known it, on account of being
+a fortune teller."
+
+"What they're going to do," he said, "is to turn this car over to that
+Punch and Judy man and he'll run an indoor show and whack up with them
+on a fifty per cent basis. Look at _me_? I have to give an outside show
+and pass the hat. You're in a robbers' den here, boys; they're all
+profiteers. You take a tip from me and stand on your rights."
+
+"Sure," I said, "and we'll stand on our car platform, too."
+
+He said, "These fellows know your couplings are in bad shape and will
+have to be fixed before you're taken away. They know you'll be here all
+day at the shortest. Why, they're getting twenty cents for a glass of
+milk down yonder--it's awful. These people will corner the United States
+currency before the day's over."
+
+Westy said, "But anyway, this car has no right here, we have to admit
+that."
+
+Mr. Pedro said, "Well, that's a fine legal question and I don't know
+what the Supreme Court would say about it. As you said, you're here,
+because you're here. I think that's a pretty strong argument."
+
+"I invented it," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+Mr. Pedro said, "The car has no right here, but you have a right in the
+car; you're part of the car, see? They can put the car off the grounds
+(if they know how), but they can't put you out of the car. You can stay
+in your car and do anything you please in your car, and nobody can stop
+you. If they start the car they'll have to take the consequences."
+
+"That's what you call technology," Pee-wee shouted; "it's a
+teckinality.[C] What do you say we give a movie show?"
+
+"Me for some breakfast," I said.
+
+We wrote a couple of notices on pages out of my field book and fixed
+them on the doors of the car. They said:
+
+     "This car is the property of the First Bridgeboro, N. J., Troop
+     B. S. A.
+
+     "Trespassing forbidden."
+
+Mr. Pedro came over and told us that if anybody went in that car while
+we were gone, he'd call up a lawyer in Flimdunk.
+
+As long as we didn't have much left to eat we went over to a shack and
+got some coffee and doughnuts. _Good night!_ The coffee was twenty cents
+a cup, and the doughnuts were ten cents each. Then we had a ride on the
+merry-go-round, and after that we had some ice-cream cones. Those cones
+were fifteen cents each and even the ice cream didn't go down into the
+cone, like in Bennett's at home.
+
+Westy said, "The biggest part of those doughnuts were the holes in
+them."
+
+"Sure," I told him; "the price of holes has gone up; it's simply
+terrible the high price of emptiness."
+
+Wig said, "I was always crazy to see a robbers' cave and now I see one."
+
+We went out through the main entrance, because we wanted to go to
+Flimdunk and send telegrams to our homes, so our mothers and fathers
+wouldn't worry.
+
+"It's only a couple of miles," Westy said.
+
+"There's one funny thing about riding on a merry-go-round," Connie
+started in; "no matter how long a ride you take, you never have to come
+back."
+
+"That's because you're already back," I told him.
+
+He said, "Yes, but you _go_, don't you?"
+
+"Sure you do," Pee-wee said.
+
+"Then how do you get back without coming back?" Connie shot at him.
+
+"That's technology," I said.
+
+"You make me tired," Pee-wee screamed; "suppose all the time you're
+going you're coming back, too? Let's see you answer that."
+
+"Oh, that's different," Wig said.
+
+"Just the same as when our young hero flies up in the air," I told them.
+
+"And foils a murderer," Connie said; "tell him he's a cute little boy
+scout, Sam."
+
+"Do you know what I'd do if I had my way?" Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"How many guesses do we have?" I asked him.
+
+"I'd foil those profiteers, that's what I'd do," he said. "Fifteen cents
+for a cone! I can get three cones for that."
+
+"And still you wouldn't be satisfied," Westy told him.
+
+"Well, if I had your way with me, I'd give it to you," I told him; "but
+I left it home on the piano."
+
+"Did you hear what that doughnut-man was saying about overhead
+expenses?" the kid shouted. "I looked up, but I didn't see any. There
+wasn't even a roof."
+
+Laugh! I thought I'd fall in a fit.
+
+"You can bet I know an overhead expense when I see one," he said, all
+the while trudging along the road, "and there wasn't any there."
+
+"Overhead expenses are inside," Westy said; "they're the expenses of
+running a business. It might be the price of a carpet for the floor,
+see?"
+
+"All you need is a pair of white duck trousers and your diploma with a
+pink ribbon around it," I told him. "Who in the world taught you all
+that? You must be studying accountancy."
+
+"A whatancy?" Connie asked.
+
+"That shows how crazy you are," Pee-wee yelled; "how can a carpet that
+you walk on be overhead? Tell me that!"
+
+"That's easy," I told him; "isn't the roof underfoot? You stand on the
+roof and it's underfoot. Your overhead expenses may be down in the
+cellar. Just the same as a scout can do a good turn while he's walking
+straight ahead. Deny it if you dare?"
+
+"You're crazy," Pee-wee fairly screamed.
+
+"I admit it," I told him.
+
+After we had walked a little way, Westy said, "Just the same, Pee-wee's
+right, the same as he usually isn't. It would be a good stunt for us to
+foil those profiteers."
+
+"Only we haven't got any tinfoil," I said.
+
+"Shut up, you're the worst of the lot!" Pee-wee yelled at me. "We've got
+eighteen dollars left from the movie show, haven't we? I say let's buy
+some flour and sugar and eggs and cinnamon and ink and glue and make
+tenderflops and _foil_ the profiteers; that's what _I_ say!"
+
+I said, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like to know how you're
+going to use ink and glue making tenderflops. They'd be kind of sticky,
+wouldn't they?"
+
+"Sure," Westy said, "and they'd be a kind of a blackish white, using
+ink."
+
+"He means fountain-pen ink," Connie said, "that's more digestible, it's
+thinner."
+
+"You're crazy!" the kid yelled. "Wouldn't we have to make signs and glue
+them up? You can't print with cinnamon or flour, can you? I say let's
+get all the stuff we need and have Roy make tenderflops and I'll stand
+on top of the car and shout that they're all smoking hot, and for
+everybody to be sure to get them for they're only the small sum of two
+for a cent. I just happened to think of it," he said, "it's an
+insulation."
+
+"You mean inspiration," Westy said.
+
+"You know what I mean," Pee-wee hollered.
+
+"Suppose you should flop off the top of the car?" I asked him, because
+there's no telling what may happen when Pee-wee gets to shouting.
+
+"We'd charge extra for that," Connie said.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[Footnote C: Technicality is probably what was meant.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+A FRIEND IN NEED
+
+
+Now I'll tell you about tenderflops, because I'm the only one that goes
+to Temple Camp who knows how to make them. I guess you know what a
+tenderfoot is; it's a new scout. He's supposed to be tender, see? So a
+tenderflop is a flip-flop that's named after a tenderfoot, because it's
+supposed to be tender. There are no such things as tough scouts, so of
+course, there can't be any such things as tough tenderflops. That's what
+you call logic.
+
+Now the way that you make tenderflops is with flour and salt and water
+and cinnamon. You can use eggs if you want to, but you don't have to.
+Once I tried peanut butter in them, but they weren't much good. If you
+put a little maple syrup in, that makes them sweet. Once I made some at
+home when Charlie Danforth was there and I put wintergreen in, and my
+sister Marjorie said that was the reason he never came any more.
+Cinnamon is better; safety first.
+
+Now the way I usually do is, just when they're frying and beginning to
+get kind of nice and toasted, sort of, I press my scout badge down on
+them and that makes a kind of a trade mark on them. It says BE PREPARED.
+That's our motto. It doesn't mean anything about the tenderflops.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In about an hour, back we came along the road with a big bag of flour
+and a bag of salt and a couple of big jugs of maple syrup and some
+cinnamon. We had on scout smiles, too.
+
+"Down with profiteering," Connie shouted.
+
+"Pee-wee forever!" I said. "Hurrah, for Hoover, Junior! Food will kill
+the profiteers, don't taste it--I mean waste it."
+
+We had to pay admission fees to get in, but what did _we_ care? We knew
+the government was on our side, because wasn't the government arresting
+profiteers?
+
+Believe me, we had some triumphal march across the grounds to our car. I
+had a bag of flour over my shoulder and my jacket was all white and my
+face, too. I guess I looked like a clown. I should worry. The cinnamon
+made the smallest bundle, but we had Westy carry it, because Pee-wee
+likes cinnamon. Safety first. We had Pee-wee carry the glue, because if
+he ate that, it would only stick his mouth shut. Believe _me_, we were
+some parade.
+
+There were a lot of automobiles parked outside the grounds by that time,
+and the place was filled with people. The animals on the merry-go-round
+were running away as fast as they could, and girls were screaming for
+fear they'd fall off--you know how they always do. There were men
+shouting for people to come and see their shows for a dime, ten cents,
+and there were shooting galleries and everything. Sandwiches were thirty
+cents and the bread on them was stale, because Wig bought one. There was
+a brass band playing, too.
+
+A lot of people were looking up at our car; I guess they were wondering
+about it; and just as we were pushing through the crowd, a couple of the
+head men came down off the platform and one of them said:
+
+"What are you going to do with all that stuff, you boys?"
+
+Westy said, "We're going to make cakes and sell them. We're going to do
+it inside the car."
+
+We all just laid down our bundles and stood around, kind of scared and
+disappointed. But anyway, the people who were standing around saw that
+we were scouts, and most all of them were smiling at us.
+
+The man said, "Well, I guess you've got another guess. You just pack
+that stuff in there, and go about your business if you don't want to get
+into a heap of trouble. We'll look after this car."
+
+I guess Westy was kind of flabbergasted, so I spoke up and said, "We've
+got a right inside of our own car. We've got a right to cook in there if
+we want to. What harm does that do? Haven't we got a right to try to
+reduce the cost of living? If you want to start this car going, go ahead
+and do it, but I tell you beforehand that the brakes don't work. And you
+can keep off of our car, too."
+
+The man said I was an impudent little some-thing-or-other, and he was
+just starting to pick up the bag of flour when, good night, all of a
+sudden a little man stepped out from the crowd. All I noticed about him
+was that he had a cigar in his mouth and his hat was kind of on the
+side. But, oh, boy, I heard his voice good and plain.
+
+He said, "Look here, _you_. What's all this trouble about? You mustn't
+think you can browbeat these boys, because you _can't_. See? I'm telling
+you the law and you can take it or leave it just as you like. If you've
+got any kick, go to the railroad. If you're not satisfied to wait until
+this car goes away, start it going. You stand between those two tracks
+or on the platform of that car, and you're on the property of the United
+States Railroad Administration. I'm a lawyer and I'm telling you that.
+It's you that happens to be here, not these boys. Here's a crowd of
+people being fleeced--eating sandwiches that aren't fit to throw to a
+dog and drinking red lemonade that would die of shock if it saw a lemon.
+Twenty cents for a cup of coffee that they ought to pay me a dollar for
+drinking! Now you boys just climb aboard and let's see what you can do.
+You've got the American people in back of you. I've heard about you
+scouts; now let's see what you can do. Get aboard and get busy. You're
+here, because you're here----"
+
+"That's just what we said," Pee-wee shouted.
+
+"All right," the man said; "climb up and I'll take care of the legal end
+of it. I'm for the Boy Scouts to the last ditch. I once tried a case
+just like this. Let 'em talk to the car. Climb up and see what you can.
+I don't believe you know how to boil water!"
+
+He just sat down on the lowest step of the platform and stuck his hat on
+the side of his head awfully funny, and lighted his cigar. Everybody
+began laughing. The people were all on our side, that's one sure thing,
+anyway.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+TENDERFLOPS AND OTHER FLOPS
+
+
+"He's right," Pee-wee whispered to me; "that's a good argument. Because
+if a thing is somewhere where it shouldn't be, if it isn't there on
+purpose, why then if somebody gets into it that doesn't belong on that
+place, but belongs in it, he's trespassing just as much, because anyway,
+if he took it away it wouldn't be there. See?"
+
+"Absolutely, positively," I told him. "It's as clear as mud."
+
+"Reduce it to a common denominator," Westy said. That fellow is always
+thinking about school.
+
+"We should bother our heads," I said. "Here we are; even the Supreme
+Court couldn't deny that."
+
+"They don't have to deny it, we admit it," Connie said.
+
+"We'll stand on our rights!" Pee-wee shouted. "We'll stand on our
+he----"
+
+[Illustration: PEE-WEE WAS SHOUTING ON THE ROOF OF THE CAR--"THEY'RE ALL
+RED HOT!"
+
+_Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels._ _Page 207_]
+
+"Sure, we'll stand on our heads," Wig said. "Anything to please you."
+
+"Our hereditary rights!" the kid yelled.
+
+"All right, get up and stand on the top of the car," I told him, "and
+shout. We'll do the rest."
+
+We made a paper hat for the kid and tied a towel around his waist for an
+apron, because we wanted him to look like a chef. I gave him a saucepan
+from Westy's kit and told him to wave it around while he was talking,
+because I thought, kind of, it might make the people hungry.
+
+Pretty soon we could hear him marching back and forth on the roof of the
+car, and shouting at the top of his lungs. Even before I got the stove
+hot there was a big crowd standing all around outside, laughing.
+
+He kept shouting, "_Here they are! They're all smoking hot! The
+celebrated Boy Scout tenderflops! Flopped by the only original Boy Scout
+flopper! They're one cent each! Eat one and you'll never eat another--I
+mean you'll never eat anything else! O-o-o-o-oh! They're all red hot!
+The kind we eat around the camp-fire! Only one cent! None genuine unless
+stamped BE PREPARED! The famous scout tenderflops! They melt in your
+mouth! They MELT in your MOUTH!_"
+
+"Good night!" I said to the fellows; "listen to him."
+
+By that time I was frying them six at a clip, while Connie and Wig and
+Westy were passing them around on pieces of board and scooping in the
+money. All of a sudden I heard Pee-wee's voice; it seemed to be in the
+stove. I opened the lid and heard him calling down the stovepipe, "Send
+me some up here so I can be eating them; it'll make the people hungry."
+
+"That's a good idea," Wig said; "let's all be eating them, and let's
+look kind of happy every time we take a bite. It pays to advertise."
+
+We passed a saucepan full of them up to Pee-wee and charged them up to
+advertising. Westy said, "That's what you call overhead expense."
+
+Believe me, that kid was some overhead expense, all right.
+
+"You have to demonstrate," he shouted down.
+
+"You're a pretty good demonstrator," a man called up to him.
+
+I was laughing so hard I could hardly fry the cakes fast enough. There
+was a big crowd outside, just scrambling for them, and we had Westy's
+aluminum coffee-pot about half full of pennies. Up on the car, Pee-wee
+was strutting up and down, waving the saucepan with one arm and holding
+a cake in his other hand and shouting, "_O--oh, to taste one! Just to
+TASTE one! Watch me eat one! Mm-mmm! They're one cent each! None genuine
+unless stamped BE PREPARED!_ Send up some more, you fellows!"
+
+After a little while we stopped to rest, and we asked Mr. Pedro to come
+in and have lunch with us. In the afternoon we went around the grounds
+and had some rides on the merry-go-round and tried our luck throwing
+baseballs at a negro man. I won a Japanese doll. We found out that the
+price of sandwiches had gone down to ten cents. Waffles were selling two
+for a cent and going begging--that's what a man told us. He said
+crullers were off the market. The coffee-man wanted to buy tenderflops
+wholesale from us, but we wouldn't sell him any. Believe me, we had all
+the visitors at that place eating out of our hands--that's no joke
+either; it's true.
+
+About four o'clock I mixed up all the stuff we had left. Already we had
+eight dollars and we had only spent about four. So we had over four
+dollars' profit. It would have been bigger, except for the overhead
+expense. It costs a lot to advertise.
+
+On toward evening the crowd was even bigger. That was because everybody
+was telling everybody else to see the Boy Scouts selling stamped cakes
+from their private car. We were a what-do-you-call-it--an institution.
+
+All of a sudden came the grand climax. I was just laying the last
+tenderflops on the boards and trying to scrape enough stuff out of the
+pan to make just two or three more, when I saw a wagon stop right
+alongside the car. Oh, please excuse me a minute while I laugh!
+
+Now we had seen that wagon most all afternoon, because a man was using
+it to cart sawdust from the ice-house and sprinkle it on the race-track.
+I suppose he did that on account of the races which were going to be at
+five o'clock.
+
+Anyway, he got down from his wagon and came over to the platform and
+said, "Let's try a couple of them floperetts I'm hearin' so much about."
+
+I said, "Is this your last load?"
+
+He said yes, it was, and that after he got it sprinkled on the track, he
+was coming back for more floperetts--that was what he called them.
+
+That man ate a whole board full and I called up to Pee-wee, "There isn't
+any more batter, so we're on the home stretch. Shout good and loud and
+tell them it's their last chance."
+
+Just at that very minute I heard a locomotive whistle.
+
+"Good night," I said; "I bet it's twenty-three for us."
+
+"What's the difference?" Westy said; "there's no more batter, anyway,
+and I'm tired out."
+
+"We have a coffee-pot full of money," I told him.
+
+After I had fried the last tenderflop, I went outside to take a good
+rest. It was hot working over that stove. Up on the car, Pee-wee was
+stamping back and forth, waving the pan and screaming for all he was
+worth.
+
+"Look!" I said to the fellows; "just take one look at him. Get your
+kodak, Westy."
+
+"_Only a few more left!_" Pee-wee was yelling. "_One cent while they
+last! None genuine_----" and so on, and so on.
+
+By that time I could see a freight train backing in toward us. It was
+coming very slow and a couple of men from it were running ahead to open
+the gates. It just crept along--hardly moved. There were men on top and
+one turning the brake handle.
+
+One of them called out, "Watch your step there, you kid!"
+
+"_They're all smoking hot!_" Pee-wee yelled, and never paid any
+attention to him.
+
+"Brace your feet, Sonny," the man shouted.
+
+Pee-wee didn't pay any attention, just kept marching up and down, waving
+the pan and yelling, "_There are no more tenderflops to be flopped! Your
+last chance! Get a flop_----"
+
+And then, good morning sister Jane, there was just a little bunk and
+there was Pee-wee swinging the saucepan and trying to balance himself on
+one leg.
+
+"_Get--get a flop----_" he was shouting.
+
+And then, all of a sudden, around he went, and off the roof, _kerflop_
+into the load of sawdust.
+
+It was the end of a perfect day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+ALL ABOARD
+
+
+The sawdust was all wet on account of there being ice in that ice-house,
+and it stuck all over our young hero's clothes and face, so he looked as
+if he were covered with very coarse sandpaper.
+
+We hauled him out and stood him up, saucepan and all. Even he had a
+tenderflop with a big bite out of it in one hand, and it was all covered
+with wet sawdust like some new kind of frosting. The crowd went crazy. I
+thought one of those trainmen would have a fit, he laughed so hard.
+
+I said, "Never mind, Kid, you died for a good cause; only don't open
+your mouth, or you'll swallow about a quart of sawdust."
+
+Oh, boy, it makes me laugh whenever I think of it. Westy had a headache
+from laughing. His mother said it was from eating tenderflops, but _I_
+was the one that heard him laugh.
+
+Anyway, that was the end of our adventures.
+
+We cleaned our young hero up and brushed him off, but every time he
+spoke that night, he said he tasted sawdust.
+
+The train people fixed our coupling and in about an hour we were rolling
+merrily out through the gates on the end of that long freight train. I
+guess it couldn't have been Number Twenty-three, because nothing
+happened. Anyway, I bet the profiteers were glad to get rid of us.
+Pee-wee said we "dealt them a mortal blow." Westy said we "felled them
+to the ground with a frying pan."
+
+Anyway, we had twenty-seven dollars, counting what we made out of the
+movie show, and not counting the fifty that Mr. Temple had sent us. That
+wasn't so bad when you remember that we had only forty-two cents when we
+started.
+
+Sometime that night we were left in the freight yards at Jersey City,
+but we were all too sleepy to notice anything. Anyway, what's the use of
+being awake when you're in Jersey City. Early in the morning, a Northern
+local picked us up, and pretty soon we were rattling along the shore of
+our own river. You can bet it looked good to us. At about half-past
+seven, we were left on the sidetrack near the Bridgeboro Station.
+
+"All the commuters will be coming down for the seven fifty-two," Wig
+said "Let's get up on the roof and give them a Scout Sing."
+
+It looked good, after that crazy trip, to see all the things that we
+knew so well. There was Bennett's candy store, and there was the Royal
+Movie Theatre just around the corner. Pretty soon people began
+straggling along for the seven fifty-two, and a lot of them stood about,
+gaping at our car with its sign.
+
+Buffalo 398 Mls.--BREWSTER'S CENTER--N. Y. 30 Mls.
+
+So we all got up on the roof and sat there in a row, singing. People
+down below waved to us and Connie's father shouted hello to us, but we
+got to singing so loud, we couldn't hear all the things that people
+said. Everybody down there knew us, and we knew they knew we were crazy,
+so we didn't care.
+
+"_All together!_" Wig said.
+
+"_Go!_" Connie shouted.
+
+     "We started out to wander,
+        We never meant to roam;
+      We went, because we went,
+        And now we're home, we're home.
+      We're going to go to school, oh, joy!
+        But we're not in a hurry;
+      We've got twenty-seven dollars and a railroad car;
+        WE SHOULD WORRY!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+                     THE END
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+The following changes have been made to the text:
+
+Page 156: "Just as we go our feet" changed to "Just as we got our feet".
+
+Page 206: "him. "it's as clear" changed to "him. "It's as clear".
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roy Blakeley's Camp on Wheels, by
+Percy Keese Fitzhugh
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27272.txt or 27272.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/7/27272/
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Carla Foust and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/27272.zip b/27272.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c49213
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27272.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e784b7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #27272 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27272)
author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:34:24 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:34:24 -0700
commit	3808e72024f99d154345cb63b5ab502d253a01c2 (patch)
tree	4d1d1d1ff459ee49a02b1a73a1df2868a583cccb