diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:36:38 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:36:38 -0700 |
| commit | fadc142d93e5e99aec7581337661d705921c3ff2 (patch) | |
| tree | 47d00a5089cc53ea9cef77949cf09fef99379921 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44172-0.txt | 4665 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44172-h/44172-h.htm | 5901 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44172-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 96067 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg | bin | 0 -> 50519 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg | bin | 0 -> 45740 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47898 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg | bin | 0 -> 48929 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-0.txt | 5044 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 80471 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 341116 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-h/44172-h.htm | 6309 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 96067 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg | bin | 0 -> 50519 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg | bin | 0 -> 45740 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47898 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg | bin | 0 -> 48929 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172.txt | 5045 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/44172.zip | bin | 0 -> 79638 bytes |
21 files changed, 26980 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/44172-0.txt b/44172-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a658f9a --- /dev/null +++ b/44172-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4665 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44172 *** + +[Illustration: THE MOTOR CARAVAN ON THE WAY.] + + + + + ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN + + BY + + PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of + + TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM + SLADE AT BLACK LAKE, + ROY BLAKELEY, ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED + + PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF + THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS—NEW YORK + + Made in the United States of America + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + + + + Table of Contents + + I—Some Expedition! + II—Who We All Are + III—Who Is Pee-Wee Harris, and If So, Why? + IV—Pee-Wee’s Watch + V—The Caravan + VI—Stranded + VII—A Good Turn + VIII—Grumpy + IX—Military Plans + X—The Signal Corps at Work + XI—A Mysterious Footprint + XII—A Discovery + XIII—Tom Slade, Scout + XIV—Pee-Wee’s Goat + XV—The Message + XVI—Brent’s Ambition + XVII—A Side Show + XVIII—A Shower Bath + XIX—Brent Gets His Wish + XX—We Consider Our Predicament + XXI—Getting Started + XXII—Silence! + XXIII—Fixing It + XXIV—Snoozer Settles It + XXV—Big Excitement at Barrow’s Homestead + XXVI—To the Rescue + XXVII—Another Discovery + XXVIII—A Mysterious Paper + XXIX—The Mystery Deepens + XXX—We Make a Promise + XXXI—We Reach Our Destination + XXXII—Surrender and Indemnity + XXXIII—Mobilizing + XXXIV—Tr-r-aitors! + XXXV—Peace With Indemnity + XXXVI—Scouts on the Job + XXXVII—That Mysterious Paper Again + XXXVIII—The Only Way + + + + + ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN + + + + + CHAPTER I—SOME EXPEDITION! + + +Gee whiz, whenever I see that fellow Harry Domicile, I know there’s +going to be a lot of fun. Just the same as I can always tell if we’re +going to have mince turnovers for dessert. That’s one thing I’m crazy +about—mince turnovers. I can tell when I go through the kitchen if +we’re going to have them, because our cook has a kind of a look on her +face. I can eat five of those things at a sitting, but that isn’t saying +how many I can eat standing up. Pee-wee Harris can eat seven, even while +he’s talking at the same time. Anyway, that hasn’t got anything to do +with Harry Donnelle. + +Maybe you’re wondering why I named this chapter “Some Expedition.” If it +was about Pee-wee Harris, I’d name it “Some _Exhibition_,” because that +kid is a regular circus. So now I guess I’ll tell you. + +One afternoon I was sitting on the railing of our porch taking a rest +after mowing the lawn. I was thinking how it would be a good idea if +they had lawn mowers that run by gas engines. We’ve got a great big lawn +at our house. At Doc Carson’s house they have a little bit of a +lawn—he’s lucky. Gee whiz, you could cut that lawn with a safety razor. + +All of a sudden I saw Harry Donnelle coming up the street. I guess maybe +you know who he is, because we had some adventures with him in other +stories. He’s a big fellow, I guess he’s about twenty-five. He was a +lieutenant in the war. My sister likes him a lot only she said I mustn’t +say so in a story. I should worry about her. He comes up to our house a +lot. Believe me, that fellow’s middle name is adventure. He says all his +ancestors were crazy about adventures. He says he wouldn’t have any +ancestors unless they were. He says that’s why he picked them out. Gee +williger, you ought to hear him jollying Pee-wee. He told Pee-wee that +once he lived in obscurity and Pee-wee wanted to know where that was. +Can you beat that? Harry told him it was in Oregon. Good night! + +So as soon as I saw that fellow coming up across the lawn, I kind of +knew there was going to be something doing. Because only a few days +before that he had told me that maybe he would want my patrol to help +him in a daring exploit. Oh, boy, those are my favorite outdoor +sports—daring exploits. I eat them alive. + +He said, “Hello, kid, I went fishing with Jake Holden last night and we +got into a school of perch.” + +I said, “Don’t talk about school; this is vacation.” + +He had a bundle with some perch in it and he said they were for supper. +So I took them into the kitchen and while I was in there I ate some +icing off a cake. If I had my way cakes would be all icing, but our cook +says you have to have a foundation to put the icing on. Me for the roof. + +When I went back Harry said, “I suppose you kids will be starting for +that old dump up in the Catskills pretty soon.” He meant Temple Camp. I +said, “We take our departure in two weeks.” + +He said, “Take your which?” + +I said, “Our departure; don’t you know what that is?” + +“Well,” he said, kind of puzzled like, “I guess I’ll have to pike around +and get some assistance somewhere else. I’ve got a little job on hand +that I thought might interest you and your patrol. Ever hear of the +Junkum Corporation, automobile dealers? They have the agency for the +Kluck car. They’re down in New York. It wasn’t anything much; just a +little hop, skip, and a jump out west, and back again.” + +“In junk cars—I mean Kluck cars?” I blurted out. + +“Mostly junk,” he said; “but of course, as long as your plans are +made——” + +“Never you mind about our plans,” I told him; “tell me all about it.” +Because, gee, I was all excited. + +He said, “Well, there isn’t much to it; just a little gypsy and caravan +stuff, as you might say. My sister’s husband’s brother, Mr. Junkum, is +tearing his hair out and lying awake nights, because he can’t get cars +here from the west. He says the customers are standing on line and all +that sort of thing and that everything is clogged up at the other end, +the railroads are all tied up in a knot, the freight is piled up as high +as the Woolworth building and nothing short of a good dose of dynamite +will loosen up the freight congestion out west. If it was a matter of +Ford cars he could get them through by parcel post, but with these big +six cylinder Klucks it’s a different proposition. He’s got three touring +cars and a big motor van waiting for shipment out in Klucksville, +Missouri, and if he can’t make deliveries in a couple of weeks or so his +customers are going to cancel. Poor guy, I’m sorry for him.” + +That’s just the way Harry talks. He said, “One of those cars, the big +enclosed van, is for Jolly and Kidder’s big store in New York.” + +“That’s where I bought my last scout suit, at Jolly and Kidder’s,” I +told him. + +Then he said, “Junkum wanted me to see if I couldn’t round up two or +three fellows and bang out to Klucksville and bring the cars home under +their own power. I told him the roads were punk and he said it’s punk to +have your business canceled, so there you are.” + +“Oh, bibbie,” I said, “we’d love to do that only we can’t run cars on +account of not being old enough.” + +Then he said, “I rounded up Tom Slade and he agreed to die for the +cause—said his vacation was at my disposal. He drove a motor truck in +France and he’s a bug on good turns. Rossie Bent has promised to run one +of the touring cars, I’m going to run the van myself and that leaves one +touring car. I tried to get Brent Gaylong on the long distance ’phone up +at Newburgh to-day, but he wasn’t home—out grouching around, I suppose. +His mother said she’d have him call me up or wire me. All I want now is +a commissary department and I got a kind of a hunch that maybe you kids +could camp in the van and cook for the crowd and make yourselves +generally useful. The way I figure it out by the road map there’ll be +long stretches of road where we won’t bunk into any towns. I figured on +taking Pee-wee along as a kind of a mascot; you know those little fancy +jim-cracks they put on radiator caps in autos? I thought he could be one +of those, as you might say, and bring us good luck. He’d be a whole +commissary department in himself, I suppose, considering the way he +eats. But if you can’t you can’t, and that’s all there is about it.” + +“What do you mean, _we can’t_?” I shouted at him. “You make me tired! Do +you suppose Temple Camp is going to run away just because my patrol is a +couple of weeks late getting there? You bet your life we’ll go. If you +try to sneak off without us, we’ll come after you. We’re coming back in +that motor van, so that’s settled. I should worry about Temple Camp.” + +He just sat there on the railing alongside of me, laughing. + +He said, “I thought it would hit you.” + +“Hit me!” I told him. “Believe me, it gave me a knockout blow.” + +He said he’d stay to supper so as to talk my mother and father into it, +because they don’t care anything about making long trips in motor vans +and things like that, and maybe they’d say I’d better not go. + +But, believe me, Harry Domicile knows how to handle mothers and fathers +all right, especially mothers. So don’t you worry, just leave it to him. + +The worst is yet to come. + + + + + II—WHO WE ALL ARE + + +What do you think my father said? He said he wished he was young enough +to go along. Oh, but he’s a peach of a father! So is my mother. My +sister Marjorie said she’d like to go too. Harry said that no girls were +allowed. He said that girls were supposed to stay home and receive +picture post-cards. Gee whiz, I’m sorry for them. I’m glad I’m not a +girl. But if I wasn’t a boy I’d like to be a girl. + +That night we had our regular troop meeting. Cracky, you can’t get that +bunch quiet enough to tell them anything. You know how it sounds in a +graveyard? And you know how it sounds in a saw mill? Well, a graveyard +sounds like a saw mill compared with the noise at one of our meetings. +So I told our scoutmaster, Mr. Ellsworth, that I had something to say +and he said they should let me have the chair. Then they began throwing +chairs at me. It’s good he didn’t tell them to let me have the floor, or +they’d have ripped that up, I suppose. + +“I’d like to get your ear,” I shouted. + +“You’ll get our goat if you don’t say what you’ve got to say,” Doc +Carson yelled. + +“I’m trying to say it if I can get your ear,” I said. + +“You can have anything except my mouth,” Pee-wee piped up. Good night, +he needs that. + +Then Mr. Ellsworth got them all quieted down and I told them how Harry +Domicile wanted the Silver Fox Patrol (that’s my patrol) to go out west +and how he wanted Pee-wee to go too, even though he was one of the +raving Ravens. I said the reason he wanted Pee-wee to go was so he could +blow up the tires and we wouldn’t have to have any pump. Pee-wee likes +auto tires, because they’re the same shape as doughnuts—that’s what I +told him. + +There’s one good thing about our troop and that is that one patrol never +gets jealous of another. If my patrol gets a chance to go somewhere the +other fellows don’t get mad, because they get more to eat. Absence makes +the dessert last longer. In our troop each patrol does as it +pleases—united we stand, divided we sprawl. Each patrol always has more +fun than the other patrols. So if everybody has more fun than anybody +else, they ought to be satisfied, I should hope. Pee-wee is in the +Ravens, because he got wished onto them when the troop started, but he +belongs to all three patrols, kind of. That’s because one patrol isn’t +big enough for him. He spreads out over three. + +So this is the last you’ll see of the Ravens and the Elks in this story. +Maybe you’ll say thank goodness for that. They went up to Temple Camp. +There were fifty-three troops up there and everybody had more dessert +because Pee-wee wasn’t there. So that shows you how my patrol did a good +turn for Temple Camp. Gee whiz, you have to remember to do good turns If +you’re a scout. + +Now this story is all about that trip that we made to bring back those +four machines, and believe me, we had some adventures. If you were to +see Jolly and Kidder’s big delivery van now, all filled up with bundles +and things C. O. D., you’d never suppose it had a dark past. But, +believe me, that past was darker than the Dark Ages. You learn about the +Dark Ages in the fifth grade—that’s Miss Norton’s class. She’s my +favorite teacher because she has to go to a meeting every afternoon and +she can’t keep us in. + +So now I guess I’ll start. The next morning who should show up but Brent +Gaylong. He didn’t even bother to wire. He said he didn’t believe in +telegrams and things like that when it came to adventures. He’s awful +funny, that fellow is—kind of sober like. He’s head of a troop up in +Newburgh and we met him when we were on a hike once. He can drive a Ford +so easy that you don’t know it’s moving. He says most of the time it’s +_not_ moving. He’s crazy about adventures. Good night, when he and Harry +Domicile start talking, we have to laugh. He said he’d do anything +provided we got into trouble. Harry told him there ought to be plenty of +trouble between Missouri and New York. That fellow tries awful hard to +get arrested but he never can. + +Now I’ll tell you about the other fellows. Harry was the captain—he had +charge of the whole outfit. I bet Mr. Junkum trusted him a lot. But one +thing, Harry never does anything for money. He says money is no good +except when it’s buried in the ground and you go and try to find it. +That’s the kind of a fellow he is. He didn’t get killed three times in +France. But he came mighty near it. He’s got the distinguished service +cross. He lives in Little Valley near Bridgeboro. Bridgeboro is my town. +I don’t mean I own it. Harry’s got a dandy Cadillac car of his own. He +takes my sister Marjorie out in it. + +There was one other big fellow that went on that trip and that was +Rossie Bent who works in the bank. He got his vacation especially so he +could go. He’s got light hair. Often when he sees me he treats me to a +soda. + +Tom Slade went so as to drive the fourth car, and he’s a big fellow too, +only you bet your life I’ll never call him a big fellow, because before +he went to the war he was in our troop. And even now he’s just like one +of us scouts. I guess maybe you know all about him. Believe me, the war +changed him more than it changed the map of Europe. + +That leaves Pee-wee and the rest of the fellows in my patrol. So now +I’ll tell you about them. First comes Roy Blakeley (that’s me), and I’m +patrol leader. That’s what makes me look so sober and worried like. I +have to take strawberry sundaes to build me up, on account of the strain +of managing that bunch. Next comes Westy Martin; he’s my special chum. +He’s got eleven merit badges. He’s awful careful. He does his homework +as soon as he gets home every day, so in case he gets killed it will be +done. I should worry about my homework if I got killed. Next comes Dorry +Benton, only he was in Europe with his mother so he didn’t go with us. +If he had gone with us he would have been there. Hunt Manners couldn’t +go because his brother was going to be married. The rest of the fellows +were Charlie Seabury and Will Dawson and the Warner twins, Brick and +Slick. They’re just the same, only each one of them is smarter than the +other. You can’t tell which is which, only one of them likes potatoes +and the other doesn’t. That’s the way I tell them apart. If I see one of +them eating potatoes I know it’s Slick. That leaves only one fellow, and +gee whiz, I’m going to give him a chapter all to himself and I hope +he’ll be satisfied. Some day he’ll have a whole book to himself, I +suppose. _Good night!_ + + + + + III—WHO IS PEE-WEE HARRIS, AND IF SO, WHY? + + +Anyway Pee-wee Harris _is_, that’s one sure thing. His mother calls him +Walter and my sisters call him Walter, but Pee-wee is his regular name. +He’s our young hero and some of the fellows call him Peerless Pee-wee, +and some of them call him Speck. + +If all of us fellows were automobiles, Pee-wee would be a Ford. That’s +because he’s the smallest and he makes the most noise. He eats all his +food running on high. He never has to shift his gears to eat dessert. +Even if it’s a tough steak he takes it on high. He’s a human cave. He’s +about three feet six inches in diameter and his tongue is about six feet +three inches long. He has beautiful brown curly hair and he’s just too +cute—that’s what everybody says. His nose has got three freckles on it. +He starts on compression. When he gets excited Webster’s Dictionary +turns green with envy. + +Now the way it was fixed was that we were all to meet at the Bridgeboro +Station at three o’clock the next day so as to get the three-eighteen +train for New York. Then we were going to go on the Lake Shore Limited +to Klucksville—that’s near St. Louis. + +When Pee-wee showed up at the station he looked like the leader of a +brass band. His scout suit was all pressed, his compass was dangling +around his neck, in case the Lake Shore Limited should lose its way, I +suppose, and his scout knife was hanging to his belt. He had his belt-ax +on too. I guess that was so he could chop his way through the forests if +the train got stalled. He had his camera and his air rifle and his swamp +boots and his scout whistle, and he had his duffel bag on the end of his +scout staff. And, oh, boy, he had a new watch. + +I said, “_Good night_, you must have been robbing the church steeple. +Where did you get that young clock? If it only had an electric bulb in +it we could use it for a headlight. Is it supposed to keep time?” + +“It ought to be able to keep a whole lot of time, it’s big enough,” +Harry said. “Are you going to take it with you or send it by express?” + +I said, “Oh, sure, a big watch like that can keep a lot of time; it +holds about a quart.” + +“You make me tired!” Pee-wee shouted. “It’s warranted for a year.” + +“I bet it takes a year to wind it up,” Westy said. + +“Anyway we can drink out of it if we get thirsty,” Will Dawson told him. +“It’s got a nice spring in it.” + +“It doesn’t vary a second,” Pee-wee shouted. “Look at the clock in the +station; that’s Western Union time.” + +Gee whiz, but that kid was proud of his new watch. He looked at it about +every ten seconds while we were waiting for the train, and every once in +a while he looked up at the sun. I guess maybe he thought the sun was a +little late, hey? When we got to the city he checked up all the clocks +he saw on the way over to the Grand Central Station, to see if they were +right, and when we were whizzing up along the Hudson on the Lake Shore +Limited he kept a time table in one hand and his watch in the other so +as to find out if we reached Poughkeepsie and Albany on time. + +Just before we all turned in for the night, Harry and Brent Gaylong went +over and sat by him and began jollying him about the watch. The rest of +us sprawled around on the Pullman seats, listening and laughing. Gee +whiz, when Harry and Brent Gaylong get together, _good night_! + +Harry said, “The trouble with those heavy duty watches is they’re not +intended for night work. They work all right in the daytime, but you see +at night when they haven’t got the sun to go by, they get to +sprinting——” + +“Do you know what kind of a watch this is?” Pee-wee shouted at him. +“It’s a scout watch——” + +Brent said in that sober way of his, “That’s just the trouble. Those +scout watches go scout-pace. A scout is always ahead of time; so is a +scout watch. If a scout watch is supposed to arrive at three o’clock, it +arrives at two—an hour beforehand. A scout is prompt.” + +“Positively,” Harry said; “by to-morrow morning that watch will be an +hour ahead of time. It’ll beat every other watch by an hour.” + +“I bet it’s right on the minute to-morrow morning,” Pee-wee shouted. +“That’s a scout watch; it’s advertised in _Boys’ Life_. The ad. said it +keeps perfect time.” + +“How long have you had it?” Rossie Bent wanted to know. + +“My father gave it to me for a present on account of this trip,” the kid +said; “he gave it to me just before I started off.” + +“So you haven’t had it overnight yet?” Brent asked him. “You don’t know +whether it’s good at night work or not.” + +“They always race in the dark,” Harry said; “that’s the trouble with +those boy scout watches.” + +By this time the colored porter and about half a dozen passengers were +standing around listening and laughing. + +Harry said, “Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Kid. I happen to know +something about those watches and they’re not to be trusted. The boy +scout watch is a pile of junk. If that watch isn’t at least an hour +ahead of time when we sit down to breakfast to-morrow morning, I’ll buy +you the biggest pie they’ve got in the city of Cleveland. If your watch +is wrong by as much as an hour you’ll have to do a good turn between +every two stations we stop at till we get to Chicago. What do you say?” + +“I won’t have to worry about any good turns,” Pee-wee shot back at him. + +Harry said, “All right, is it a go?” + +“Sure it’s a go,” the kid shouted. “Mm! Mm! I’ll be eating pie all day +to-morrow.” + + + + + CHAPTER IV—PEE-WEE’S WATCH + + +I guess Pee-wee dreamed of pie that night. Anyway he didn’t wake up very +early in the morning. When the train stopped at Cleveland for eats, he +was dead to the world. The rest of us all went into the railroad station +for breakfast and Harry took a couple of sandwiches and a hard boiled +egg and a bottle of milk back to the train for our young hero when he +should wake up. + +When we were eating breakfast in the station, Harry said, “Well, I see +that none of you kids has ever been out west before. Hadn’t we better +set our watches?” + +I looked up at the clock in the station and, _good night_, then I knew +why he and Brent had been jollying Pee-wee the night before. The dock in +the station was an hour behind my watch. + +“Western time, boys,” Harry said; “set _your_ watches back.” + +“And keep still about it when you go back on the train,” Rossie said, +“if you want to see some fun.” + +“We’ve lost an hour,” Westy said. + +“Don’t you care,” Brent said; “don’t bother looking for it; we’ll find +it coming back.” + +Gee whiz, I had to laugh when I thought of Pee-wee lying sound asleep in +his upper berth with his trusty boy scout watch under his pillow. When +we went back on the train all the berths except Pee-wee’s were made into +seats. There were only about a half a dozen passengers besides ourselves +in that car, and Harry went around asking them all not to mention to +Pee-wee about western time. + +I guess it was about a half an hour later the kid woke up. He was so +sleepy that he never thought about the time till after he had got washed +and dressed, then he came staggering through the car wanting to know +where we were. The rest of us were all sprawling in the seats and the +passengers were smiling, because I guess they knew what was coming. + +Harry said, “Sit down here and have some breakfast, Kid. We thought we +wouldn’t bother you to get up when we stopped in Cleveland. What time +have you got?” + +Pee-wee hauled out his old boy scout turnip and said, “It’s half past +nine.” + +Harry said, “Oh, not quite as bad as that; boy scouts don’t sleep till +half past nine. It’s just—let’s see—it’s just about half past eight.” +Then he showed his watch to Pee-wee, kind of careless like. + +By that time we were all crowding around waiting to see the fun and the +passengers were all looking around and kind of smiling. + +Harry said, “Sit down and eat your breakfast, Kid, and don’t let that +old piece of junk fool you. What time have you got, Roy?” + +I could hardly keep a straight face, but I said, “About half past +eight.” + +“You see, it’s just as I told you, Kid,” Harry said. “As soon as you go +to sleep those boy scout watches take advantage of you. I wouldn’t trust +one of them any more than I’d trust a pickpocket. How about that, +Brent?” + +“Oh, I’ve met some pretty honest pickpockets,” Brent said. “Of course, +some of them are dishonest. But it’s the same as it is in every other +business; some are honest and some are not. I’ve seen some good, honest, +hard working pickpockets. What time is it, Tom Slade?” + +Gee whiz, I was afraid when Tom took out his watch, because he usually +stands up for Pee-wee, and I was afraid he’d let him know. But he just +looked at his watch, very sober, and said, “Pretty nearly twenty minutes +of nine.” + +“You all make me sick!” Pee-wee yelled. “You think you’re smart, don’t +you? You all got together and changed your watches.” + +“This is the same watch I always carried,” Brent said. + +“I mean you all changed the time,” Pee-wee shouted; “you think you can +put one over on me, don’t you?” + +“That watch would be all right for a paperweight, Kid,” Rossie said, “or +for an anchor when you go fishing.” + +“It’s all right to keep time, too,” the kid shouted. + +“It doesn’t _keep_ it, it lets it out,” Harry said; “did you have the +cover closed? A whole hour has sneaked away on you.” + +“Maybe it leaks a little,” Brent said. + +“There may be a short circuit in the minute hand,” Harry said. + +“That watch is right!” the kid shouted. “That’s a boy scout watch and +it’s guaranteed for a year.” + +“Well, it’s an hour ahead of the game,” Harry said. “You ask any one of +these gentlemen the correct time.” + +Oh, boy, I had to laugh. Pee-wee went through the aisle holding his +precious old boy scout watch in his hand, asking the different +passengers what time it was. Every single one of them took out his watch +and showed the kid how he was an hour wrong. All of a sudden, in came +the conductor and Harry winked at him and said, “What’s the correct +time, Cap?” + +“Eight thirty-eight,” the conductor said. + +Harry said, “There you are, Kiddo; what have you got to say now?” + +Gee whiz, the kid didn’t have _anything_ to say. He just stood there +gaping at his watch and then staring around and the passengers could +hardly keep straight faces. + +The conductor caught on to the joke and he winked at Harry and said, +“Those toy watches aren’t expected to keep time.” + +Harry said, “Oh, no, but he’ll have a real watch when he grows up. He’s +young yet. He can take this one apart and have a lot of fun with the +works.” + +“Somebody set this watch ahead—some of you fellows did!” Pee-wee +shouted. “It was right last night. It keeps good time. Somebody played a +trick on me! This is a what-do-you-call-it—a conspiracy. You’re all in +it.” + +Just then we passed a station and there was a clock in a steeple. Harry +said, “You don’t claim that clock in the church steeple is in the +conspiracy, do you? Look at it. _Now_ what have you got to say?” + +Then the conductor put his arm over Pee-wee’s shoulder and he said, +“Didn’t you ever hear of western time, son? The next time you’re +traveling west you just drop an hour at Cleveland station and you’ll +find it waiting there for you when you come back.” + +“Sure,” I told him; “did you notice that big box on the platform? That’s +where they keep them. It’s all full of hours.” + +The kid just stood there, staring. I guess he didn’t know _what_ to +believe. + +“Set your watch back an hour and don’t let them fool you,” the conductor +said, and then he began laughing. + +“And remember that western time is different from eastern time,” Rossie +said. + +“Oh, sure, everything is different out west,” Harry put in. “I like the +western time better.” + +“Eastern time is good enough for me,” Brent said; “I always preferred +it.” + +“And if you should ever happen to be crossing the Pacific Ocean on any +of your wild adventures, Kid,” Harry said, “don’t forget to set your +watch back one day when you cross the equator.” + +“If it’s one day I wouldn’t have to set it back at all,” Pee-wee said. +“Three o’clock to-day is the same as three o’clock yesterday.” + +“It would be better to set it back and be sure,” Harry said. + +“Oh, yes, safety first,” Brent said; “there might be a slight +difference. One three o’clock might look like another, but there’s a +difference.” + +“How do you know when you cross the equator?” I asked Harry. + +He said, “You can tell by the bump. Sometimes the ship just glides over +it easily and you can’t tell at all unless you look.” + +“It’s best to shift gears going over the equator,” Brent said; “go into +second and stay in second till you get up the hill.” + +“What hill?” Pee-wee wanted to know. “You make me sick; there aren’t any +hills on the ocean.” + +“That’s where you’re wrong,” Rossie Brent said. “If you go to Coney +Island and watch a ship coming toward you from way out on the ocean, you +see the top of the masts first, don’t you? Then after a while you see +the whole ship. That’s because it’s coming up hill. See?” + +“You should worry about hills, Kid,” I said; “go ahead and eat your +breakfast.” + + + + + V—THE CARAVAN + + +I guess by now you must think we’re all crazy; I should worry. I just +thought I’d tell you that about Pee-wee’s watch because, gee, it had us +all laughing. So already you’ve lost an hour reading this story; don’t +you care. + +Now we didn’t have any more adventures on that trip. We didn’t do much +except eat and, gee whiz, you wouldn’t call that having adventures. Late +that night we got to Klucksville and we stayed at the hotel till +morning. They have dandy wheat cakes at that hotel. And syrup, _mm_, +_mm_! Then we went to the auto works and the four cars were all ready +for us, because Mr. Junkum had sent a telegram to say we were coming. + +Oh, boy, you should have seen that big van, a regular gypsy wagon. On +the outside was painted, + + JOLLY & KIDDER + THE MAMMOTH STORE + EVERYTHING FOR THE HOME + +It was all enclosed and there was an electric light inside and steps to +go up to it and everything. There were kind of lockers inside too; I +guess they were for small bundles, hey? The kind that mothers buy and +then send back again, because they don’t fit. + +Gee whiz, there wasn’t much to see in Klucksville. We could have brought +the whole town home with us in the van if we had wanted to,—all except +the auto works. We didn’t waste much time there because Harry wanted to +get an early start and go as far as we could the first day. But anyway, +we stopped long enough in the village to have a man print a big sign on +canvas that we tacked on the van. It said, + + MISSOURI TO NEW YORK + SHOULD WORRY ABOUT RAILROADS + BOY SCOUTS ON THE JOB! + WE WORK WHILE OTHERS LOAF + BE PREPARED + +Besides that we bought three straw mattresses and an oil stove and some +canned stuff. We didn’t need to buy much except food, because we had a +lot of camping stuff along. We got cans of beans and soup and tuna fish +and some egg powder and Indian meal, because I can make lots of things +with that. Gee whiz, I can’t tell you all the stuff we bought, but if +you watch us you’ll see us eating it. Believe me, we ate everything +except the straw mattresses. Harry said the Kluck was a pretty good car +for eating up the miles, but believe me, it hasn’t got anything on us +when it comes to eating. + +Now this is the way we started. First was a touring car with Tom Slade +driving it. He’s awful sober, kind of. But you can have a lot of fun +with him. He has no use for candy, but he’s got a lot of sense about +other things. I can always make him laugh—leave it to me. Next came +another touring car with Rossie Bent driving it. He had a pasteboard +sign on his and it said, + + WE’RE FROM MISSOURI, + WE’LL SHOW YOU + +Next came Brent Gaylong in the other touring car and he had a pasteboard +sign that said, + + YOU’RE IN LUCK + IF YOU GET A KLUCK + ----- + FROM THE WOOLLY WEST + ----- + BOUND FOR LITTLE OLD NEW YORK; + +After that came the big van with Harry driving it. + +Now we fellows were supposed to live in the van, but we didn’t do much +except sleep in it. Most of the time we were riding in the different +cars. A lot of the time I sat with Tom Slade. Mostly the Warner twins +rode in the car with Rossie Bent. Charlie Seabury and Westy were in +Brent Gaylong’s car a lot of the time. Will Dawson got sleepy a lot so +he was in the van mostly. Pee-wee rode in all the different cars at +once, but most of the time in the van, on account of that being the +commissary department. Wherever you see a commissary department, look +for Pee-wee. Commissary is his middle name. Sometimes he was up on top +of the van dancing around. He’s awful light on his feet. He came near +lighting on his head a couple of times. + +So now I’m going to tell you about that trip. + + + + + VI—STRANDED + + +I guess you’ll say this story is a lot of nonsense, but anyway, those +big fellows were worse than the rest of us. Harry said it didn’t make +any difference if we were foolish, because even a dollar hasn’t as much +cents as it used to have—that’s a joke. Anyway Harry had plenty of +dollars that Mr. Junkum gave him for expenses. He told us the people who +were buying the cars paid part of the money. And anyway, my patrol saved +them some money on account of knowing all about camping and cooking and +all that. Harry said it was more fun than if we stayed at hotels all the +time. Gee whiz, I hate hotels—hotels and spinach. But once I went to a +peach of a fire when a hotel burned down. That’s one good thing about +hotels, anyway. + +Now about noontime that day the road crossed the railroad station at a +place called Squash Centre. It crosses it there every day, I guess, +Sundays and holidays and all. Anyway, it crossed it there that day. +Pee-wee was sitting on the seat beside Harry and he shouted, “Squash +Centre; I like pumpkin better.” As soon as he saw the word squash right +away he thought about pie. + +There were only about six houses there and the railroad station. On the +platform were a lot of funny looking people and they had a couple of big +dogs tied by ropes. They had a lot of boxes and bags and things standing +around them on the platform. Most of the squashes of Squash Centre were +standing around a little way off laughing at them. The man that was +holding the dogs had on a long black coat and a high hat and he needed +to be shaved. His coat didn’t have any cloth on the buttons. He had long +hair sticking out from under his hat. + +Harry said, “Well, well, we sure are out west. Here’s poor old Uncle +Tom’s Cabin, bag and baggage.” Then he called down to the man with the +black coat and said, “How about you, old top? Stranded?” + +Then all the squashes of Squash Centre set up a howl. + +The man said, very dignified like, “Thank you, for your inquiry, young +sir, and might I ask if you came through Jones’ Junction? Are there any +trains running?” + +By that time our whole caravan had stopped and all the squashes got +around and began staring at us. + +Harry said, “I don’t believe there are any trains except eastern trains. +I don’t believe there’s anything that stops this side of Indianapolis. +How far are you going? What’s the matter, didn’t you hit it right among +the squashes?” + +The man said, “The squashes are without art or patriotism. I thank you +for your information, sir. We are both stalled and stranded. We have +neither a train to travel on nor money to travel on it if we had. Our +friends have not welcomed us as we hoped they would. We have a promising +engagement at Grumpy’s Cross-roads some hundred miles distant, where we +are under contract with Major Hezekiah Grumpy to give six performances +at the Grand Army reunion there. Major Grumpy, sir, fought bravely to +stamp out the evil which our play depicts with such pathos.” That was +just the way he talked. + +Harry said, “So they are having a reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads, are +they?” + +“A very magnificent affair, sir,” that’s just what the man said, “and +the major has contracted with us for the presentation of our heart +stirring drama with the view of having the dramatic part of the +celebration appropriate.” + +Geewhiz, it was awful funny to hear him talk. + + + + + VII—A GOOD TURN + + +That man’s name was Archibald Abbington, and he talked dandy, just as if +he had learned it out of a book. One of those other people told us that +his right name was Henry Flynn. I felt sorry for them, that’s one sure +thing. And, oh, boy, but those were two peachy dogs they had. The thing +those dogs did mostly was to chase Eliza. Miss Le Farge, she was the one +that played Eliza. They never let anybody feed the dogs except her, so +they’d be sure to chase her. + +Harry said, “Why don’t you let them chase some of these squashes away? +They stand around gaping just as if they never saw a human being before. +How far is Grumpy’s Cross-roads anyway?” + +Mr. Abbington said, “It’s a matter of a hundred miles or thereabout.” +Gee, he was crazy about that word _thereabout_. Then he said that they +had a contract with Major Grumpy to give their first performance the +next afternoon at the Grand Army reunion, but he didn’t know what they +would do because they were stranded. + +Harry was awful nice to him. He said, “Well, it looks as if you were in +a kind of a tight place, Archy, and I wish we could help you out. We’re +reproducing the good old times, too, as you might say, with our overland +caravan. These are boy scouts who are taking care of our commissary +department and this is their gallant leader, Roy Blakeley. How about it, +Roy? Do you think we could squeeze in a good turn, just to vary the +monotony? You’re the boss of that end of the outfit. It would mean +driving all night instead of stopping to camp as we meant to do. Let’s +look on the map and see where Grumpy’s Cross-roads is, anyway.” + +I said, “The more the merrier; I don’t care where it is or how long it +takes us to get there. We’ll take you. That’s our middle name, doing +good turns.” + +“We give shows ourselves sometimes,” Pee-wee said. “We have a movie +apparatus and we give movie shows. But one thing, we’ve never been +stranded.” + +Brent said in that funny way of his, “But we hope to be, sometime; we +can’t expect to have everything at once.” + +Mr. Abbington said, awful dignified like, “We have been stranded many +times, sir. I can assure you it is not pleasant, especially when one of +our company is ill.” + +Gee whiz, I could see plain enough that one of them wasn’t feeling good; +that was the one they called Miss De Voil—she played Topsy. Maybe the +squashes disagreed with her, hey? + +Harry said, “Well, it’s up to you kids, Roy. Grumpy’s Cross-roads is +east, so it isn’t exactly out of our way, only we’ll have to hit into a +pretty punk road and there’ll be no sleeping around the camp-fire +to-night. What do you say?” + +Mr. Abbington and all the rest of those people looked at us kids awful +anxious, sort of. Gee, it made me feel sorry for them. All of a sudden +Pee-wee piped up. He said, “Camp-fires aren’t the principal things in +scouting; good turns come first. Anyway, once I heard that actors always +help each other and maybe, kind of, you might say we’re actors, because +sometimes we give shows.” + +Mr. Abbington said, “I am delighted to hear that, my young friend. Let +me ask you what you have played.” + +“He plays the harmonica when nobody stops him,” Westy said. + +I said, “Oh, sure, he’s a peachy actor; he plays dominoes and tennis and +tiddle-de-winks. The most stirring part he ever plays is when he stirs +his coffee.” + +Miss Le Farge said to another one of those ladies, “Oh, isn’t he just +too cute?” + +So then we helped them get all their stuff into the van. They had a tent +and a lot of other things. Harry whispered to me that he guessed they +hadn’t had any supper and he said he was afraid if we didn’t give them +something to eat the man that played the slave driver wouldn’t have +strength enough to whip Uncle Tom the next afternoon. Brent said maybe +even Uncle Tom wouldn’t have strength enough to stand up and be whipped. +He said, “We’d better feed them up.” + +So we made a fire in the grove right alongside the road so as not to +interfere with Miss De Voil, who was lying on one of the mattresses in +the van. We told the ladies that they could have the van all to +themselves that night so they could get good and rested. I fried some +bacon for them and heated some beans and we got water out of the +railroad station. + +Gee whiz, the water was the only thing about that railroad that was +running. + + + + + VIII—GRUMPY + + +We ran the cars all that night so as to get those people to Grumpy’s +Cross-roads in the morning. The ladies slept in the van, all except one; +she was the one that played Aunt Ophelia. In the play she had to be +strict, like a school teacher kind of, with Topsy. But when she wasn’t +in the play she was awful nice. She sat up all night in Rossie Bent’s +car, because she said she liked the fresh air. Mr. Abbington and Harry +sat together outside the van. I didn’t get sleepy much. The rest of the +fellows sprawled in Tom Slade’s car and Brent Gaylong’s car, and were +dead to the world. It was nice traveling in the night only we had to go +slow. We went across a kind of a prairie and every once in a while we +came to farms. It was dandy to see the sun come up in the morning. + +About five o’clock we came to a village and we asked a man how far it +was to Grumpy’s Crossroads. He must have got up before breakfast, that +man. He said it was about thirty-five miles, but that we’d have to go +very slow on account of the road being all stones. We had to drive those +cars easy, because they were supposed to be delivered new. + +The man said, “If you’re bound east why didn’t you hit the south road +and cut out Grumpy’s Crossroads altogether?” + +Harry said, “Because these people have to appear at the Grand Army +reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads this afternoon and we’ve got to get them +there.” + +The man said, “If that’s all you’re going to the Cross-roads for, you +might as well take the south road. Bill Thorpe, he was t’the Cross-roads +yesterday en’ he said th’ Uncle Tom’s Cabin show was called off on +’count of thar bein’ no trains runnin’. He said ole Major Grumpy was +tearin’ ’is hair like a wild Injun at th’ railroad unions.” + +Harry said, “Is that so? Well, I hope he won’t have his hair all pulled +out by 2 P. M. Do you suppose old Grump ever heard of the Boy Scouts of +America?” + +“I’ll tell him all about them!” Pee-wee shouted. “You just leave it to +me.” + +The man was smoking a pipe and it kind of smelled like a forest fire. It +smelled like a forest fire and a gas engine put together, kind of. He +laid his pipe down on the step of the van so we’d know that what he was +going to say was very serious. + +He said, “You take my advice en’ daon’t mention no scaout boys t’the +major; it’s like wavin’ a red flag before a bull as yer might say.” + +“Doesn’t like ’em, hey?” Harry said. + +“Hates ’em,” the man said. + +“Eats ’em alive, I suppose,” Brent said. + +“He’d eat ’em raw, only he ain’t got teeth enough,” the man said. + +Brent said in that funny way he has, “Well, I guess that settles it, +we’ll hit the trail for the Cross-roads; I kind of like old Grump +already. I have a kind of a hunch he’ll put some pep into this +Lewis & Clarke expedition. All we needed to make our joy complete was +somebody to try to foil us.” + +“Cracky, I hope he tries to foil us,” Pee-wee piped up. + +“Is he a villain?” Brent wanted to know. + +“Wall, he ain’t just exactly what you might call a villain,” the man +said, very serious. + +Brent said, “Oh, that’s too bad. We haven’t got a villain for our story +yet. I suppose we’ll have to advertise when we hit into Indianapolis. +‘Wanted, willing and industrious villain; one with some experience +preferred; good chance for advancement; duties, being foiled by the Boy +Scouts of America.’” + +The man said, “Guess you’re a kind of a comic, hey?” + +“What’s the trouble between old Grump and the kids, anyway?” Harry asked +him. + +The man said, “Wall, naow, I’ll tell you. Th’ major’s an old Civil War +man en’ he’s a great stickler on military training for boys; ain’t got +no use for studyin’ natur’ en’ all that kind o’ thing. He’s daft abaout +the Civil War, en’ he’s jest abaout th’ biggest old grouch this side o’ +th’ Missippi River. This here reunion o’ his, every three years, is the +pet uv his heart, as th’ feller says. He has th’ poor ole veterans +limpin’ in from miles araound fillin’ ’em up with rations en’ givin’ ’em +shows. He’s got money enough so’s ter make the United States Treasury +look like a poor relation; and _stingy_!” + +“That sounds fine,” Brent said; “we’ll have him eating out of our hands; +we’ll have him so he comes when we call him. First I was in hopes we +might fall in with some train robbers——” + +“Gee, it isn’t too late yet!” Pee-wee shouted. + +“But a ferocious old major is good enough,” Brent said; “we can’t expect +to have everything. You’re positive about his hating the Boy Scouts, are +you?” he asked the man. “Because we shouldn’t want to count on that and +then be disappointed. It’s pretty hard when you think you’ve found a +regular scoundrel and then find that you’re deceived. Are you willing to +guarantee him?” + +“Wall, I wouldn’ say exactly as he’s a _villain_,” the man said; “but +he’s a ole wild beast, so everybuddy says, en’ I’m tellin’ yer not to +wave no red flag in front uv him with a lot uv this scaout boy nonsense. +’Cause he ain’t in the humor, see?” + +Harry said, “Do you know, Brent, I think the old codger will do first +rate.” + +“Oh, he’ll do,” Brent said; “of course, it isn’t like finding a pirate, +or a counterfeiter, or an outlaw——” + +“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “If Roy’s going to write all this +stuff up, we have to have an old grouch, so as we can convert him sort +of, don’t we, and then he’ll—then he’ll—what-d’ye-call-it—he’ll +donate a lot of money and say the boy scouts are all right. I’ll manage +him, you leave him to me.” + +Brent said, “You don’t happen to know if he has a gold-haired daughter, +do you?” + +Gee whiz, I guess that man thought we were crazy—I should worry. Even +the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people were laughing. + +Brent said, “Because if our young hero could only rescue old Grump’s +gold-haired daughter from kidnappers, perhaps old Grump would come +across with a real watch that keeps time as a reward for our young +hero’s bravery. I think we’ll have to try our hand with old Grump.” + +“Are you—are you _sure_ he’s mad at the scouts?” Pee-wee wanted to +know. + +“Tell us the worst,” Harry said. + +[Illustration: THE BLOODHOUND BEGAN SNIFFING THE FOOTPRINT.] + + + + + CHAPTER IX—MILITARY PLANS + + +The man put one foot up on the step of the van and said, “Wall, yer see +he owns the Fair Grounds. Thar was a crew uv these here scout kids +camping over in the grove to one side of it, and not doin’ no manner of +harm, I reckon.” + +“That’s one good thing about us, we never do any harm,” Pee-wee piped +up. + +“Wherever they camp the violets spring up,” Rossie said. + +“Sure, and dandelions and four-leaf clovers, too,” the kid shouted. + +The man said, “Wall, naow, them kids wasn’ doin’ no manner uv harm, just +cookin’ and eatin’——” + +“Gee whiz, they have to do that!” Pee-wee told him. “That’s one thing +about scouts, they always eat.” + +“Most always,” Harry said. + +“En’ nothin’ would do but he must chase ’em off,” the man said. “Some uv +them men who wuz interested in the kids made a rumpus about it, but it +weren’t no good; old Grump said off they must go, and off they went. I +wuz sorry ter see it too, hanged if I weren’t, because they’re a bright, +clever lot, them youngsters. Oft times when I’d go inter th’ Cross-roads +with my old mare marketin’, there they’d be in th’ grove right alongside +th’ road, sprawlin’ about and onct, when I come away abaout five o’clock +in the mornin’, thar they were en’ give my old mare a drink out uv th’ +spring.” + +“Up early, hey?” Harry said. + +“Naow, haow is them kids goin’ ter hinder th’ reunion? That’s what I +say. Poked away off in th’ grove right on ter th’ end of the grounds. +But the ole major, he says they was nuthin’ but a lot uv loafers; wanted +to know what good they ever done. Why, Lor’ bless me, if he’d a made +friends with ’em they might uv helped in the reunion, mightn’t they?... +Wall, I guess he wuz all piffed abaout the show not bein’ able to get +there. Trams east of th’ Cross-roads is runnin’ all right, but out this +way thar ain’t been a wheel movin’ in a week, ’cept express trains from +the east. If I was you fellers I wouldn’ go a couple of dozen miles out +of my way over a pile of rocks what they call by the name of a road, I +wouldn’, jus ter do a favor for an old grizzly bear, I wouldn’. Not me.” + +Gee whiz, Mr. Abbington looked kind of anxious, because Harry just sat +there on the seat whistling to himself as if he were thinking. The rest +of us were all standing around. + +Brent said, “Well, as long as old Grump is a stickler on military +training, what do you say we take Grumpy’s Cross-roads right under his +very nose? We’ll make our approach from the west, with our dry-goods +delivery van and three five-passenger touring cars. General Harris will +have charge of the Commissary. First, the signal corps will communicate +with the boy scouts of Grumpy’s Cross-roads and advise them that +reenforcements are on the way—in a dry-goods van and three touring +cars. The grove on the edge of the parade grounds will be in our hands +before night. We’ll have the Civil War veterans down on their knees +begging for an armistice.” + +“Yes, and maybe—maybe—old Major Grumpy will have to go and live in a +castle in Holland, hey?” Pee-wee yelled. + +Honest, isn’t that kid a scream? + + + + + X—THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WORK + + +First, Harry asked if the telegraph office was open, but it wasn’t open. +The reason was, because there wasn’t any there. If that place had been a +little smaller we might have run over it without seeing it and punctured +one of our tires. + +Then Brent said, “Well then, you don’t happen to have a nice hill handy, +do you? We’ll return it in good condition when we get through with it.” + +They didn’t happen to have any hills in that village—they were out of +most everything. Brent said he guessed hills were hard to get. So we +started off again and hit into the road that went to Grumpy’s +Cross-roads. Gee whiz, if Major Grumpy’s temper was anything like that +road, _good night_! That was what we all said. But we should worry about +the road as long as we had all our plans made. Harry said the Kluck car +could eat up the miles all right, but, oh, Sister Anne, if one of them +tried eating the miles on that road it would have indigestion, all +right. Even Pee-wee couldn’t have eaten those. + +After we had gone maybe about nine or ten miles we came to a dandy; it +was a kind of a young mountain. Now, on the way along, we had been +making up a message that we would send by smudge signal, because we +thought that if those other scouts got it, it would be a feather in +their cap and we were thinking about them more than we were about +ourselves. Because a scout is brother to every other scout, see? + +So this is the smudge signal that we decided to send, and, _good night_, +little we knew what it would lead to. Pretty soon you’ll see the plot +beginning to get thicker. + + Uncle Tom show will be given as announced. + Deny rumors to contrary. + + Boy Scouts of America. + +Brent said, “If those kids are up as early as old what’s-his-name said +they were, they ought to see a smudge signal up on the top of a hill +like this, and they can notify old Grump. Then later we’ll give him the +knockout blow. He’ll look like a pancake when we get through with him.” + +That started Pee-wee off—the word pancake. “We’ll go riding into the +village, and we’ll kind of have our clothes torn, and we’ll look all +what-d’ye-call-it—weary and footsore—and we’ll have all the Uncle +Tom’s Cabin company sitting in the touring cars,” he said, “and we’ll +have a big sign that says _Boy Scouts on the Job_, hey? And maybe we’ll +give a parade.” + +Harry said, “Well, the best thing for us to do now is to parade up this +hill and send the message. You see, although assaults are usually made +unknown to the enemy, in this case we’ll make a big hit if we start some +propaganda along ahead of us. It pays to advertise, as Jolly & Kidder +would say.” + +Now it was a pretty steep climb up to the top of that hill, all woods +and jungle. We left the cars down on the road and most of the actor +people stayed in them, because they were tired and sleepy. Westy stayed +down there so as to cook them some breakfast. + +For quite a long distance up that hill we went through thick woods, then +we came out into an open place where we could look down and see the +road. The autos looked small down there. We could see a little thin line +of smoke going up where Westy was starting a fire. The sun was getting +brighter and it made Jolly & Kidder’s van look all shiny on account of +the bright paint on it. It seemed funny to see a department store car +away out there in that lonesome country. + +Pretty soon we got into more woods and Harry said he guessed there must +be a trail. But we couldn’t find any. + +He said, “This is a forsaken wilderness up here.” + +“I bet the foot of white man never trod it,” Pee-wee said; “I bet it’s +unknown to civilization up here.” + +“Well, I guess we’re not likely to bunk into any movie shows,” Brent +said. + +Jiminetty, but it was some wild place, all right. We had to go single +file and tear away the brush so that we could get through. Tom Slade +went ahead, because he can find a trail if there is one, and even if +there isn’t he always knows how to go. The farther up we went, the worse +it got. We couldn’t see the road at all on account of the thick woods +below us. Gee, it was so still up there that it was sort of spooky. + +“I guess no white man ever trod this solemn wilderness before, as our +young friend Scout Harris observed,” Harry said; “it gets worser and +worser.” + +Just then Tom Slade stopped and we all stopped in his path. In about a +jiffy he was down on the ground. Gee whiz, I knew what that meant, for I +knew Tom Slade. + +“It’s a footprint,” he said. + +Just then we heard a sound right near us, just like branches crackling, +and in a couple of seconds one of those bloodhounds from the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin show came dashing up through the bushes. He pushed Tom Slade right +out of the way and began sniffing that footprint. He was so excited that +he didn’t notice us. + + + + + XI—A MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINT + + +First it seemed kind of as if that bloodhound was just scooping; that +means using something that another scout has found. If I should find a +robin’s nest and then another scout should stalk there, that would be +scooping. Gee whiz, that’s a mean thing to do. Up at Temple Camp a scout +will get himself disliked for doing that. But it’s all right to stalk +the cooking-shack. Pee-wee thinks he’s the only one who has a right to +hang out there—I should worry. + +Anyway that has nothing to do with the bloodhound. Tom got out of his +way, and we all stood about while the dog sniffed around the footprint, +awful excited like. There wasn’t another footprint anywhere in sight. + +Brent said in that funny way of his, “Well, I guess we’re up against the +real thing at last. I guess old Snoozer here is on the track of Eliza. +Listen and maybe we’ll hear her baby crying. She always carries a baby +with her when she puts one over on the bloodhounds, doesn’t she?” + +“You’re crazy!” Pee-wee shouted; “she always crosses the ice. Didn’t you +see that big roll of canvas they’ve got? That’s got ice painted on it. +They spread that on the stage and she runs across it with +har—what-d’ye-call-it—her infant child.” + +“Her which?” Harry said. + +“I think she takes a thermos bottle, too, and an aluminum cooking set,” +Brent said. + +Harry said, “Well, anyway, she has given old Snoozer the slip this +time.” + +“That’s a man’s footprint,” Pee-wee said; “there’s a mystery up here.” + +“Let’s see it,” Rossie Bent said; “where is it?” + +“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “How can you _see_ a mystery?” + +“You smell it, according to Snoozer,” Harry said; “this dog will have a +fit in a minute.” + +By that time the dog was pushing every which way in among the bushes and +every few seconds coming back to the footprint. + +“He seems to be kind of rattled.” That’s what Harry said. + +Pretty soon the dog went running through the bushes out into a big open +space that was just about on the top of the mountain. We found out +afterward that that was why the mountain was named Bald Head. Gee whiz, +he seemed rattled. He’d stop for a couple of seconds and look all +around, then start off all of a sudden, then stop again. + +Brent said, “Eliza’s got his goat this time. Look at old Tomasso there; +he’s mad because Snoozer took his job.” + +I looked at Tom Slade (because that’s whom he meant) and I saw that he +was kind of picking among the bushes over to one side of the big open +space. So I went over to where he was and I said, “Tom, what do you +think about it? I always thought a bloodhound could follow any trail. +That’s a fresh footprint too, isn’t it? But maybe that dog isn’t a real +bloodhound, hey?” + +Tom said, “He’s a real bloodhound, all right, but I don’t think he’ll +find anything.” + +I said, “Well, how about that footprint then? It was a fresh one. He +ought to be able to follow that scent. Gee whiz, I never saw a dog act +so funny. He’s all rattled and he doesn’t know which way to go.” + +Tom didn’t say anything, only he looked over to the open space where the +rest of the fellows were watching the dog. By that time the dog was +running around and barking, half crazy. + +“Eliza fell through the ice,” Brent called over to us. + +Harry shouted, “She was very poor, she didn’t even have a scent. +Snoozer’s going to have a nervous collapse in a minute; he’ll require +first aid.” + +I said to Tom, “Well, somebody was up here, that’s sure. That’s a new +footprint we found. It’s plaguey funny that a bloodhound can’t follow +that trail; I always thought a bloodhound——” + +“A bloodhound isn’t a scout,” Tom said, kind of sober like, in that way +he has; “he followed the trail as far as he could, I suppose. Look +around here; don’t you see anything?” + +That’s the way it has always been with Tom Slade ever since he got back +from the war. In scouting, he would never do anything himself, but just +give us fellows a hint that would start us off. “If you make as good use +of your eyes as he makes of his nose, you ought to be able to discover +something.” That’s what he said. + +So then I looked all around, and sure enough I could see that the bushes +were broken up toward the top and, _good night_, on one of them was +hanging a little piece of rag. + +“Some one has been through here,” I said, all excited; “why doesn’t the +dog come over here? The trail leads over this way.” + +Then I began whistling for the dog and calling to the fellows that we +had the trail, and they all started over except the dog. He wouldn’t +follow them or pay any attention to their whistling and calling, only +stayed right where he was running around as if he had a fit. + +Before the fellows reached the place where we were Tom said kind of low, +“Don’t fly off the handle, kid; there are some bushes broken here and a +rag. Now what does that mean?” + +“It means the trail runs through here,” I said; “and that crazy fool of +an Uncle Tom’s Cabin dog can’t follow the scent across that bare place. +He’s just an actor, that’s all that bloodhound is. All he’s good for is +chasing Eliza.” + +Tom just took the rag from me and looked at it. “Well then, if the trail +runs through here, where are the footprints?” he asked me. + +“And the dog doesn’t seem to think it’s worth bothering about,” he said. + +“You admit somebody went through here?” I shouted at him. + +“Oh, somebody went through here, all right,” he said. + +“And didn’t leave any footprints and didn’t leave any scent,” I came +back at him. + +“Only a rag,” he said. + +By that time the fellows had reached the place where we were. “What’s +the big idea?” Harry said. “What have you got there?” + +Brent said, “As I _live_, it’s a piece of Eliza’s dress. The plot grows +thicker.” + +“There isn’t a footprint here,” I told them. + +“She must have slid on the ice,” Brent said. + +“I’m going to drag that dog over here by the collar,” Rossie spoke up. + +“It’s a mystery,” Pee-wee shouted; “it’s a deep, dark mystery. We’ve got +to solve it—I mean penetrate it.” + +Gee whiz, that kid was more excited than the dog. + + + + + XII—A DISCOVERY + + +We all just stood there not knowing what to think. I could tell that Tom +Slade had some kind of an idea, but you never catch that fellow shouting +out about anything till he’s sure. Even when he was a tenderfoot in the +troop he was that way. + +It seemed mighty funny that we should find just one footprint in those +bushes, but maybe there weren’t any more across that open space because +it was hard and rocky. Anyway, the scent led out into that open space, +that was sure. Then on the opposite side of the open space the bushes +were broken and there was a rag hanging to one of them. Yet we couldn’t +get that dog to go all the way across and take up the scent where we +found the rag. That was the funny thing. It was funny that there weren’t +any footprints under those bushes where the rag was hanging, too. +Believe _me_, Pee-wee was right, it was a mystery. + +Pretty soon the dog began following the scent back and Will Dawson went +after him. In about ten minutes he came up again and said that the dog +had followed it as far as a brook where there was a willow tree. He said +the dog got rattled there just the same as he did on the summit. So he +studied the place carefully and saw that there was a branch of the tree +that stuck out over the water and he swung himself across and then back +again by that. So he decided that was probably what the man had done on +his way up the mountain. So you see that trail was cut in two places. + +Will said that he left the dog poking around at the edge of the stream. +And that was the last we saw of the dog till we got back to our caravan. +Then we saw that he was under the van asleep. He was resting up so he +could chase Eliza in the afternoon, that’s what Brent said. He chased +Eliza twice every day, that bloodhound did. + +Harry said, “Well, as Scout Harris says, it’s a mystery. Somebody was up +here before us, that’s sure. There’s no use trying to dope it out, I +suppose. Let’s send the signal. Our friends down below will think we’re +lost.” + +All the while Tom Slade was sort of wandering around that rocky open +space on the top of the mountain. A couple of times he looked over to +where we were as if he was kind of thinking. Most of the time he looked +at the ground and the flat rocks. I knew he had some idea in his head, +all right. + +Pretty soon he came strolling over and said sort of offhand like, “Let’s +follow these broken bushes in a ways.” + +“Nobody went through here, Tom,” Rossie said; “if they had there’d be +footprints. Let’s get busy with the smudge signal.” + +“It’ll only take a minute,” Tom said. + +“Every minute is precious, Tommy boy,” Harry told him. + +“Sure, let’s go in,” Brent said; “I’m for adventure every time. You +never can tell; come ahead.” + +So we all followed Tom in. The brush was awful thick and I kept tearing +it apart down near the ground, hunting for footprints, but I couldn’t +find a single one. The brush wasn’t even broken above, either, after we +had gone a few feet and Tom just pushed around without any signs to go +by, all the while squinting his eyes into the bushes and poking the +underbrush with his feet. + +Pretty soon, _good night_, Pee-wee gave a shout. “_I see it! I see it!_” +he yelled. “The mystery is solved! I know why there isn’t any man’s +footprint here. It was an _animal_ that came through! There he is +now—it’s a _zebra_!” + +“A which?” Harry said. + +“It’s got stripes—wide stripes,” the kid shouted. “Look there! See it? +It’s a zebra! Don’t you know a zebra?” + +Brent said, “I wouldn’t know one if I met him in the street.” + +By that time Tom had gone ahead of us and hauled something out of the +bushes. It wasn’t a zebra, but it had stripes all right—it was light +colored and it had wide, dark stripes. I bet you can’t guess what it +was, either. + +It was a suit of convicts’ clothes. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII—TOM SLADE, SCOUT + + +“Didn’t I tell you it had stripes?” Pee-wee shouted. “Wasn’t I right? +Now you see! A scout is observant.” + +“If he sees a suit of clothes he thinks it’s a zebra,” Charlie Seabury +said. + +Harry said, “Well, you weren’t so far wrong, Kiddo. The stripes weren’t +on an animal; they were on a jail bird. I’d like to know where he flew +away to. This is getting interesting. I knew that clothing was very +high, but I didn’t think we’d find a suit as far up as this.” + +“Maybe he was a murderer, hey?” Pee-wee whispered. + +“We can only hope,” Brent said in that funny way. Then he said, “I’ve +always felt that I’d like to be a murderer. I thought I was a real +convict when I was held in jail three hours after speeding in my +flivver. But when I look at this striped suit, I realize that after all +I didn’t amount to much as a criminal. Let’s take a squint at those +clothes, will you? It’s always been the dream of my young life to escape +from jail by using a hair-pin or a manicure file or some kind of acid. I +wonder how this fellow escaped.” + +“I bet he escaped in the dead of night,” Pee-wee said. + +“The question is, where is he?” Harry said. + +“He went away in an airplane,” Tom Slade said, awful sober like, just as +if Brent hadn’t been joking at all. + +_Good night_, we all just stood there stark still, looking at him. + +“What makes you think that?” Rossie wanted to know. + +“No one laid that suit of clothes here,” Tom said; “it was _dropped_ +here. There aren’t any footprints. Out there in the flat part there are +wheel marks from an airplane. I saw enough of those marks in France to +know what they mean.” + +“Tomasso Nobody Holmes, the boy detective!” I shouted. + +“The airplane grazed the bushes when it went up,” he said; “that’s why +some twigs are broken off. And part of one of the wings of the machine +was torn, too. That’s because the airman didn’t have space enough to get +away in. He took a big chance when he landed up here, that fellow.” + +Harry just stood there drumming his fingers on one of the bushes and +looking all around him and kind of thinking. Then he said, “What’s your +idea, Tommy boy? Do you think a convict escaped and made his way up to +the top of this jungle and that the airman alighted here for him by +appointment?” + +“The dog followed the scent out into the open, to the place where the +wheel tracks are,” Tom said. “That’s where the man—that convict—got +in. They didn’t have open space enough to start from there and they +grazed the bushes. I guess it was pretty risky, the whole business. +Anyway, they chucked the convict clothes out. This piece of silk is +waxed; it’s part of the wing of a machine, all right.” + +“Tomasso, you’re a wonder,” Rossie said; “no dog could follow a trail in +the air.” + +“There’s often a scent in the breeze,” Brent said. + +“Didn’t I tell you it was a mystery?” Pee-wee shouted. “Didn’t I tell +you it was a dark plot? As soon as I saw those clothes——” + +“You thought they were a zebra,” Ralph Warner said; “a scout knows all +the different kinds of animals.” + +“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “A convict is better than a zebra, +isn’t he?” + +“That’s a fine argument,” I told him. + +“It’s logic,” the kid shouted. + +“Well, let’s not complain,” Brent said; “a zebra would be a novelty, but +a convict is not to be despised. We should be thankful for the convict, +even though he isn’t here.” + +“That’s the best part of it,” the kid shouted; “that makes the mystery. +We’ve got to find him.” + +We didn’t bother any more about the mystery then, because we wanted to +send the signal and get started again, but you’ll see how that mystery +popped up again and confounded us; I guess you know what _confounded_ +means, all right. It means the same as _baffled_, only I didn’t know +whether _baffled_ has two f’s in it or not. But, gee whiz, I used it +anyway—I should worry. + +So now while our friends are waiting for us down on the road (I got this +sentence from Pee-wee), I’ll tell you about sending that signal. Signals +are my middle name—signals and geography. But the thing I like best +about school is lunch hour. I’m crazy about boating, too. + + + + + XIV—PEE-WEE’S GOAT + + +That fellow, Harry Domicile, he’s crazy. He said, “If you like signals +so much I don’t see why you send them. Why don’t you keep them?” + +Will Dawson said, “It isn’t the signal we send, it’s a message; we send +a message by a signal. See?” + +Harry said, “But if it’s a good message why should you want to send it +away? Why don’t you keep it? If it’s worth anything what’s the use of +getting rid of it? A scout should not be wasteful.” Then he winked at +Brent Gaylong. + +Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee. He shouted, “You’re crazy! +Suppose I keep some-thing—suppose I keep——” + +Rossie said, “Suppose you keep silence.” + +“That shows how much you know about logic!” the kid yelled. “How can I +keep silence——” + +By that time we were all laughing, except Harry. He had the paper with +the message written on it and he said, very sober like, “Well, if this +message is any good at all I don’t see why we don’t keep it; it might +come in useful.” + +Pee-wee shouted, “A message is no good at all—even the most important +message in the world is no good to the fellow that makes it——” + +Brent said, “Then he’s just wasting his time making it. Before we send +this message we’d better talk it over. If it’s any good we’ll keep it.” + +Gee whiz, you should have seen our young hero; I thought he’d jump off +the mountain. He yelled, “Do you know what logic is? You get that in the +third grade. My uncle knows a man that’s a lawyer and he +says—besides—anyway, do you mean to tell me——” + +Harry said, “Go on.” + +Brent said, “Proceed; we follow you.” + +“Suppose I had a piece of pie,” the kid yelled. “If it was good I’d eat +it, wouldn’t I?” + +Brent said, “That isn’t logic.” + +“Sure it’s logic!” Pee-wee shouted. “The better it is the more I’d get +rid of, wouldn’t I?” + +“Thou never spakest a truer word,” I told him. + +“And it’s the same with messages,” he said. + +I said, “_Good night_, you don’t want to eat it, do you?” + +Harry said, “Well, if he doesn’t want to eat it, what’s the use of +chewing it over? Let’s send it.” + +I bet you think we’re all crazy, hey? I should worry. + +So then we gathered a lot of twigs and started a fire about in the +middle of that open space. While we were doing that, Charlie Seabury and +Ralph Warner got some dead grass and brush and took it down to the brook +and got it good and wet. Then they squeezed the water all out of it so +it was kind of damp and muggy like. It has to be just like that if you +want to send a smudge message. Maybe you don’t know exactly what a +smudge signal is because maybe you think that a smudge is just a dirt +streak on your face—I don’t mean on yours but on Pee-wee’s. That’s +Pee-wee’s trade mark—a smudge on his face. Usually it’s the shape of a +comet and it makes you think of a comet, because he’s got six freckles +on his cheek that are like the big dipper. And his face is round like +the moon, too, but, gee williger, I hate astronomy. But I’d like to go +to Mars just the same. + +Anyway this is the way you send a smudge signal. When you get the fire +started good and strong you kind of shovel it into a tin can, but if you +haven’t got any tin can, you don’t. Scouts are supposed to be able to do +without things. We should worry about tin cans. Brent Gaylong has a tin +can on wheels—that’s a Ford. My father says it’s better to own a Ford +than a can’t afford. Anyway my sister says I ought to stick to my +subject. Gee whiz, she must think I’m a piece of fly paper. + + + + + CHAPTER XV—THE MESSAGE + + +The reason that I ended that chapter was because I had to go to supper. +So now I’ll tell you about the signal. If we had only had a tin can with +some kind of a cover to lay over it, it would have been easy. But we +hadn’t any so this is the way we did. After the fire was burning up we +piled some of the damp grass and stuff on top of it and that made a +smudge that went way up in the air. I guess any one could see that +smudge maybe fifty miles, especially on account of it being up on the +top of a mountain. + +I said, “All we need now is a cloth or something to spread over it so we +can divide the letters.” Because you know we use the Morse code. + +So Brent said we could have his mackinaw jacket and he sent Pee-wee down +to the brook to soak it in the water so that it wouldn’t catch fire. +That was the beginning of Brent Gaylong’s bad luck. Crinkums, that +fellow must have been born on a Friday—anyway, he was born on a Friday +that day, I guess. But one good thing about Friday, it’s the day before +Saturday. That’s why there are fifty-two Good Fridays. + +So then we sent the message. The first word was _Uncle_, so to spell +that we let the smudge rise for just a second, then laid Brent’s jacket +over it for about three seconds, then let it rise for another second, +then waited about three seconds more and then let it rise for, oh, I +guess about ten seconds, maybe. That made two dots and a dash in the +Morse code and it made the letter U good and big, cracky, bigger than +you could make it on any blackboard, as big as the whole sky. Maybe it +wouldn’t mean anything to you, but that’s because you’re not a scout. +But anyway it meant U. I don’t mean it meant you, but I mean it meant U. + +After that we made the other letters in the word Uncle—N-K-L-E—I don’t +mean K, I mean C. + +Then after we’d waited about a minute so as to separate the words we +spelled T-O-M, and after that there was a big blot on our writing +(that’s what Rossie said), because Brent’s mackinaw jacket burned up. He +said he was sorry, because there were some peanuts in one of the +pockets. + +Anyway he said he was willing to die for the cause, so he took off his +khaki shirt and after Pee-wee went down and soaked it in the brook, we +used that to separate the words and letters. Maybe you’ll say that kind +of writing isn’t very neat but we knew that it could be seen for miles +and miles and that if the boy scouts in Grumpy’s Cross-roads saw it and +read it, they’d tell Major Grumpy and he’d say the scouts were all +right. Because that was our idea, we wanted those other scouts to get +the credit. + +I guess maybe it took a half an hour to send that message and it didn’t +look much like a message to us. You’ve got to get away off if you want +to read a smudge signal. A smudge signal is no good for a fellow that’s +near-sighted. When we were all finished, this is what we had printed in +the sky: + + Uncle Tom show will be given as announced. + Deny rumors. + + Boy Scouts of America. + +Pee-wee wanted to put in something about foiling the railroad strikers, +but Brent said if we made the message any longer he wouldn’t have any +clothes left. Harry said that if the scouts at Grumpy’s Cross-roads got +that message and delivered it to old Grump, that old Grump would +surrender unconditionally. So maybe we had done a good turn for all we +knew. Even if the telegraph operator at Grumpy’s Cross-roads should see +that smudge he’d read the message, all right. But we said that more +likely he’d he asleep and that scouts are always up early because up at +Temple Camp Uncle Jeb Rushmore (he’s camp manager) is always telling us +that the early bird catches the first worm. But, gee whiz, if I were the +first worm I’d stay in bed and then the early bird wouldn’t catch me. + +That’s what Pee-wee calls logic. That’s one thing he’s crazy +about,—logic. Logic and Charlie Chaplin. He likes girls, too. He says +they always smile at him. Gee whiz, can you blame them? It’s a wonder +they don’t laugh out loud. + + + + + XVI—BRENT’S AMBITION + + +It was some job picking our way down that mountain. We could see the +road and the machines away down below us and the machines looked like +toy autos. Brent and Harry and Pee-wee and I were together and Brent +talked a lot of that nonsense like he always does. Pee-wee had the +convict’s suit rolled up tight and tied with a couple of thin willow +twigs. If you wet them they’re just as good as cord; you can even tie +them in a knot. He carried the bundle on the end of his scout staff and +he had his scout staff over his shoulder. He looked so important you’d +think he had just captured the convict, too. + +Brent said, “That’s what I call real adventure; escaping from a prison +and beating it off to some lonesome mountain and being taken away in an +airplane. That fellow has old Monte Cristo beaten twenty ways. Some +convicts are lucky. I’d like to be that chap.” That’s just the way he +talked. + +Harry said, “You might forge a couple of checks if you happen to think +of it sometime.” + +Brent said in that funny way of his, “If I could only be sure of +escaping and being carried off by an airplane. But it would be just my +luck to—to——” + +“Languish,” Pee-wee shouted; “that’s what they do in jails—languish.” + +“And just serve out my term studying logic,” Brent said. “But if I +thought there’d be a chance to escape, I think I’d—let’s see, I think +I’d—what do you think of counterfeiting, Harry?” + +“Burglary’s better,” Harry said. + +“It’s the dream of my life to be a convict,” Brent kept up. “These +little crimes don’t amount to anything; what I’d like to do is to hit +the high spots, get sent up for life, and then escape in a boat or an +airplane. Somebody could send me a file or a saw in a bunch of flowers. +What do you say? This convict is having the time of his life. That’s the +life—being a fugitive.” + +Harry said, “Well, I hope you get your wish.” + +Pee-wee said, “You’re crazy, that’s what I say.” + +I said, “Gee whiz, there’s fun enough making a cross country trip in +four autos and running into a stranded Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company with +bloodhounds and everything, without being sent to jail.” + +Brent said, “Well, I can’t help it; that’s the way I feel. I envy that +convict. I long to languish in a dungeon cell and file away the bars in +the dead of night and kill three keepers and escape in an airplane. +That’s living.” + +“Good night,” I said, “not for the three keepers.” + +Harry said, “Well, all things come round to him that waits. My ambition +is to be wrecked at sea. How about you, Roy?” + +I said, “My ambition is to foil old Major Grumpy and make him fall for +the scouts.” + +“No pep to it,” Brent said; “a dark and dismal dungeon with rats poking +around on the stone floor, that’s _my_ speed.” + +Cracky, that fellow’s awful funny. + +“You’d never get any dessert,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, “Who wants dessert when he can get a crust of bread and a +mug of water?” + +“I do,” the kid shouted. “I want two helpings.” + +That was _his_ ambition. + + + + + XVII—A SIDE SHOW + + +Pretty soon you’ll see why I named this chapter “A Side Show.” When we +got down to the road all those show people were sitting around on the +rocks talking and laughing and telling Westy lots of funny adventures +that they had had. Oh, boy, if I wasn’t a boy scout I’d like to be in an +Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company, that’s one sure thing. That’s _my_ ambition. +Jails and dungeons may be all right, I’m not saying, but anyway, I’d +like to be in a show—especially one that gets stranded. They said that +they could see the signal away up on the mountain, and the man that had +to beat Uncle Tom, he was an awful nice man, he said he could read most +all of it because he used to be a telegraph operator. But he said he +liked beating Uncle Tom better. Uncle Tom said he didn’t mind being +beaten once a day but he didn’t like matinees. + +Now I’m going to tell you about how we all got separated +together—that’s what Pee-wee said. When we were all ready to go, Harry +couldn’t start the engine of the van. He said, “Brent, I wish you’d take +a squint at this motor; it heats up and the water boils over.” + +Brent said, “I think the timer must have been set by Pee-wee’s watch.” +Pretty soon he said he guessed it was just a short circuit. + +“Anyway, that’s better than a long one,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Pretty soon Brent said he thought the coil was running the battery down. +Harry said he didn’t blame the coil. + +Then Brent said there was a leak of current somewhere, but that he +couldn’t trace it. I said, “Let one of Eliza’s bloodhounds try; maybe he +can trace it.” He said anyway the battery was discharging; believe me, +if I’d had my way I’d have discharged the whole engine. + +After a while Brent got it started but he said it wasn’t running right +and he guessed he’d have to get two new plugs. So then we looked at our +map to find out if there was a village anywhere near along that road +where there might be a garage. Because Brent said there ought to be more +grease in the differential, too. But mostly, he said, one of the plugs +wouldn’t fire the charge. + +Westy said, “If the plug won’t fire it, why don’t you get the battery to +discharge it?” + +Now when we looked at our map we found that about half a mile east of +that mountain a road branched off from the road we were on and went +through a place named Barrow’s Homestead. It didn’t bother to stop at +Barrow’s Homestead, that road didn’t, but it went on and formed a, you +know, a what-do-you-call-it, a _junction_, with the other road three or +four miles farther along. It was just a kind of a loop, that road was, +so as to take in Barrow’s Homestead. Only that road was pretty rough. + +Brent said, “I dare say we can find a young garage at that place; there +are bandits everywhere in the west. If you say so, I’ll drive along that +road and meet you where the roads join.” + +Harry said, “I guess that’s the best thing to do—for the rest of us to +keep to the smooth, short road with the touring cars. When we get to the +junction of the two roads we’ll wait for you there as long as we think +it’s safe to wait. If you don’t show up by ten o’clock, say, we’ll jog +along and meet you at the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads. We +don’t want to run any chance of not getting these people there on time. +Uncle Tom has got to be thrashed this afternoon at any cost.” Then he +asked Uncle Tom if he wanted a cigarette. That man was awful nice—the +man that played Uncle Tom. He said he had been thrashed twice a day for +three years, except on Sundays. Harry said it would be a good thing if +that happened to a lot of us fellows, especially me. Anyway I’d rather +be Eliza and be chased by ferocious bloodhounds. That’s what Mr. +Abbington called them—ferocious. + +Now as soon as it was decided that Brent Gaylong should drive the van +along that other road, up jumped our young hero and shouted, “I’ll go +with you; maybe they sell ice cream sodas at that place.” + +As soon as he mentioned ice cream sodas all the other fellows said +they’d go—except I didn’t. Because I’m not crazy about an ice cream +soda. I like three or four of them though. + +Harry said, “Well, it looks like a mutiny and I guess we’ll have to lock +every one of you in the van.” + +By that time, Pee-wee was up on the seat of the van and he shouted, “I +wouldn’t mute; I’m already here and I’m going to stay here!” + +Harry said, “Nobody would ever think of the word mute in connection with +you; stay where you are and we’ll be glad to get rid of you, and Roy +too, if he wants to go.” + +I said, “The pleasure is mine, I go where duty calls.” + +“You mean you go where ice cream sodas call,” the kid shouted at me. + +I said, “Well, for goodness’ sake, chuck that bundle inside the van and +give me a chance to sit down, will you?” Because even still he had that +convict’s suit close by him on the seat as if he was afraid somebody +would get it away from him. “What are you going to do with it?” I said. +“Hang it up in the parlor when you get home?” + +So then I climbed up and chucked the bundle into the van through the +little window right behind the seat. Brent sat down between Pee-wee and +me, and thus we started off. That’s a peach of a word—_thus_. For a +little way we could look across to the other road and see the three +touring cars filled with the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people and the other +fellows of my patrol. Mr. Abbington was sitting with Harry and he looked +awful funny with his high hat on. + +All of a sudden, _good night_, that bloodhound that had been up on the +mountain with us came tearing across from the other road. I guess he +wanted to go with us. He clambered almost up to the seat and began +sniffing around Brent. I bet he liked him on account of Brent’s being so +crazy about adventures, hey? + +Brent said, “You go back where you belong, old Snoozer. Who do you think +I am? Eliza?” + +Then Mr. Abbington began calling him and the dog didn’t seem to be able +to decide what to do. + +“I hear you calling me,” Brent said; “go on back, Snoozer; we’ll see you +later.” + +So then the dog went back but I guess he didn’t want to. Gee whiz, you +couldn’t blame him. Because one thing sure, if you stick to Brent +Gaylong you’re pretty sure to see some fun. Believe _me_, that fellow’s +middle name is adventure. Just you wait and see. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII—A SHOWER BATH + + +Brent said, “I bet Brother Abbington will be pretty hot to-day with that +frock coat of his and that high hat.” + +I said, “It’s going to be a scorcher, all right.” + +“Lucky for me,” he said, “as long as my mackinaw and my khaki shirt have +gone in the good cause.” + +“You should worry,” I told him. + +“Only I don’t look very presentable,” he said. + +“Don’t you care,” I said; “we won’t meet anybody along this road.” + +“It’s the least of my troubles,” he said; “what I’m thinking about is +this pesky engine. It jumps like a bull-frog; I think it’s got the pip.” + +Pee-wee said, “Some engines have the sleeping sickness and they won’t go +at all.” + +Then we all got to saying how we hoped that Harry and Rossie and Tom +would get the three cars to Grumpy’s Cross-roads in time so those actor +people could give their show. + +“Even if we’re not with them,” I said. + +“I guess we’ll be able to make connections before they get there,” Brent +said. + +“Oh, boy, that’ll be some good turn,” Pee-wee said. “I bet old Grump +won’t be mad at the scouts any more; he’ll see that they’re dauntless +and—something or other.” + +“Oh, he’ll see that they’re something or other,” Brent said. “I never +knew a scout that wasn’t something or other.” + +“He’ll see that they do good turns,” the kid shouted. Gee whiz, good +turns are his favorite fruit—good turns and doughnuts. Even if he had a +turning lathe he couldn’t turn out any more good turns. + +Now maybe you know what a tornado is. Anyway, there wasn’t any that day. +So you don’t need to worry. But all of a sudden dark clouds came and +pretty soon the sky was all black and the wind was blowing like +anything. I guess it was a cyclone, all right, only it decided not to +come that way on account of the road being so bad. + +Anyway the wind kept up and blew right in our faces and after a while +Brent said, “Did you bring those old togs along, kid?” + +Pee-wee said, “You mean the convict suit? It’s in the van.” + +“Well, get me the coat and I’ll slip it on,” Brent told him. “We may not +be able to catch the convict, but I’m blamed sure I’ll catch cold.” + +So Pee-wee went around and into the van by the doors in back and got the +convict’s jacket. I guess none of us thought there was anything funny +about Brent wearing it for a little while. Only I said to him, just +joking like, “You wanted to be a convict, now you’ve got your wish.” + +“If my mother could only see me now,” he said. “Do I look like a zebra, +Pee-wee?” + +We had to laugh, he looked so funny in that striped jacket; but anyway +it was a pretty lonely road and we weren’t likely to meet anybody. + +Pretty soon we began passing houses, and Brent took the jacket off and +threw it back into the van through the little window in front. In about +five minutes we came to a village. I said, “Go slow or you’ll run over +it.” The village was almose right underneath the van. The main street of +that village was all black and sticky from tar and oil that they had +been sprinkling on it and pretty soon we came to the sprinkler, standing +still right in the middle of the road, with a couple of men near it. + +We had to stop because we couldn’t get past, so we just sat there on the +seat, watching them. The sprinkler wouldn’t work and they were trying to +fix it. One man was sticking a piece of wire into all the little holes +along the pipe that ran crossways at the back of the big tank. + +Brent said, “They’ll never fix it that way. Maybe some of those holes +are clogged up, but not all of them.” Then he called down to the man and +said, “What seems to be the trouble? Won’t she sprinkle?” + +“Mixture’s too gol darned thick, I reckon,” one of the men called back. + +“Well, it wouldn’t clog up all the holes,” Brent said; “probably the +feed pipe is clogged up.” + +The man said, “Well, I don’t know how we’re ever going to get at that +unless we take the whole bloomin’ thing apart.” + +Then I heard Brent say, under his breath kind of, “I could fix that in +five minutes.” + +“Then you have to do it,” the kid shouted; “you have to do a good turn.” + +“Look and see if there isn’t a turn cock on the feed pipe,” Brent called +down; “maybe it joggled shut. That sometimes happens on an auto.” + +The two men got down under the sprinkler and began looking and feeling +around, but they couldn’t seem to find anything. After a couple of +minutes Brent climbed down and said, “Let’s take a look at this.” I +guess they could see that he was a pretty good mechanic, all right. +Anyhow they stepped out of the way and Brent crawled down under the +sprinkler. He lay on his back part way underneath it and we all watched +him. + +“He’ll find the trouble,” Pee-wee said to the man; “he’s head of a scout +troop, he is, and he’s resourceful. A scout has got to be resourceful. +Don’t you worry, we’ll do you a good turn, all right.” + +The men kind of smiled, and one of them said, “All right, sonny. So yer +fer doin’ good turns, hey?” + +“Sure,” Pee-wee said; “that’s one of our rules. If anybody’s in trouble +we’ve got to help them out—no matter how much trouble it is. You see a +scout can always help you out, because he’s resourceful.” + +One of those men said, “Oh, that’s it, is it?” + +“Sure,” the kid shouted; “all you have to do is come to us. Even Uncle +Sam came to us when he wanted to sell Liberty Bonds; we helped him out.” + +The man said, “I bet he was tickled to death.” + +I said to Pee-wee, “Shut up; don’t be shouting so much about good turns. +Actions speak louder than words.” + +“Words speak loud enough,” the kid yelled. + +“_Good night_, you said it,” I told him. + +“Even now we’re doing a good turn,” the kid shouted; “we’ve got three +more autos over on the other road and we’re taking some Uncle Tom’s +Cabin actors to the Veteran’s Reunion. We should worry if the railroad +trains don’t run.” + +Jimmies, I don’t know how much more he might have told them, he’s a +human billboard for the Boy Scouts of America, that kid is; but all of a +sudden, _zip goes the fillum_, that black tarry stuff came shooting out +from all the holes in the sprinkler and Brent came crawling out from +underneath it with his trousers and his shirt all black and sticky and +his hair all mucked up with the stuff and with a big streaky smudge all +over his face. + +“_Good night!”_ I shouted. “What happened?” + +“I found it,” he said; “it had joggled shut, just as I thought. If you +happen to have a few feathers handy, you can tar and feather me. I did a +good turn, only I didn’t turn over and get out quick enough.” + +Oh, boy, that fellow was a sight! + + + + + XIX—BRENT GETS HIS WISH + + +One thing about those men, they weren’t very good scouts, I’ll say that +much. The only good turn they did was to turn around and drive away. +Maybe the Union wouldn’t let them do good turns; Unions have got no use +for good turns. + +First we decided that we’d stop at the nearest house, but one thing +about scouts, they don’t like to ask for help unless they have to. But +if you offer them something to eat it’s all right for them to take it. + +I said to Brent, “Well, you were crazy for an adventure, now you’ve got +one.” + +He said, “I don’t care about such a sticky one. I’m not exactly what you +would call crazy about tar shower baths.” + +“You’ll have to cut your hair off, that’s one sure thing,” I told him; +“you’ll never be able to get that stuff out of your hair.” + +“I’d like to sit down, too,” he said; “but if I did, I could never get +up again. I think the sooner I’m fixed up the better. Let’s run the van +alongside the road and get inside and see what we can do. Our friend’s +suit of clothes is still in there. After boasting about my dreams of +adventure it seems rather tame to go into somebody’s back kitchen for +repairs. I’m afraid Harry would indulge in a gentle smile.” + +“He’d indulge in a gentle fit if he saw you now,” I told him. + +“I say let’s not go to anybody for assistance,” Pee-wee spoke up. “We +can get gasoline out of the tank, so you can wash the tar off your face, +and I’ve got a folding scissors in my scout knife. I’ll cut your hair +for you.” + +“How would you like to have it cut?” I asked him, just kidding him. + +“I think I’d like it cut dark,” he said. + +I said, “Well, we’ll cut it short and then if you don’t like it we’ll +cut it longer.” + +So we decided that we wouldn’t depend on anybody but would act just the +same as if we were on a desert island where there weren’t any barbers +and bathtubs and things, because Columbus and Daniel Boone didn’t have +barbers and bathtubs and things. + +“They depended upon their own initials,” Pee-wee said. + +“You mean initiative,” I told him. + +He said, “What’s the difference?” + +So then I ran the machine over to the side of the road right close to a +kind of a grove and we got some gas out of the tank and Brent and I went +inside the van. We told Pee-wee to stay outside so as to keep people +from opening the doors or fooling with the car, because we were in the +village and we thought maybe people would be hanging around. + +There was only one thing to do with Brent’s hair, and that was to cut it +off, because the tar was so thick there that the gasoline wouldn’t melt +it. I made a pretty good job of it with the little folding scissors in +Pee-wee’s scout knife. We managed to get most of the tar off his face +with the gasoline, but it left his face kind of all black and sooty +looking. + +He couldn’t sit down or lean against anything on account of the tar all +over his clothes, so he took them off and I handed them out to Pee-wee +and told him to throw them in the grove. Then Brent put on the convict’s +suit, and he looked awful funny in it with his dirty face and his hair +all cut short. + +He said, “At last the dream of my young life has come true; I am a +criminal. The only thing is I haven’t committed my crime yet.” + +I said, “Oh, you needn’t be in any hurry about that.” + +He said, “But it seems sort of _false_ for me to be wearing a convict’s +suit when I haven’t committed any crime. It seems like deceiving people. +It troubles my conscience. And I haven’t really escaped either. What +would you do if you were me? I don’t want to disgrace the uniform I +wear. I wish I could think of some nice easy crime. I feel nice and +clean in these things, anyway. But my conscience is black. Do you +suppose there’s a bank in this burg, and a jail? I was thinking if I +could just let myself down by a rope. Only it would be just my luck to +have a cell on the ground floor.” + +I said, “The best cell for you is right in this little old van, at least +till we get out of town. You leave the rope business to Douglas +Fairbanks. If anybody in this place should see you, _good night_, Sister +Anne! And it isn’t any joke, either. Now you’ve got your wish, you’ll +see it isn’t going to be as much fun as you thought it was.” + +Brent sat down on an old grocery box that we had inside the van, and, +jiminetty, I had to laugh, he had such a funny way about him. He looked +awful tough, sort of, without his hair. He said, “Well, I appoint you my +keeper. I hope I’m not such a cheap sort of a criminal as to try to +escape from a delivery van. A stone dungeon or nothing for me.” Gee +whiz, that fellow’s particular. + +Just then the plot grew thicker—oh, _boy_! One of the doors of the van +opened and Pee-wee squeezed in. He had a big piece of paper in his hand. +He said, “I went up the road a little way—shh!” + +I said, “I thought it was kind of quiet outside.” + +He said, “Shh, look at this; it was tacked to a tree. We’re in desperate +peril——” + +Brent said, “In which?” + +“Read this,” the kid whispered. “I didn’t see it till after I threw the +clothes away and they floated down the brook. Dangers thicken—look at +this.” He got those words out of the movies, _dangers thicken_. + +Brent and I read the printing on the paper and this is what it said: + + ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD + + Offered for information leading to the recapture of Mike + Donovan, alias Rinky, escaped from Indiana State Prison. Was + serving term of fifteen years for burglary and child murder. + Slender of stature. Five feet nine inches in height. Is supposed + to have relations in the east. Age about nineteen. Is known to + be a desperate character, having served terms in New York and + Pennsylvania for burglary and highway robbery. + +There was some more, about who to notify and all that, but I can’t +remember the rest. Brent took the paper from me and sat there on the +grocery box in the dim light with the doors closed, reading it. It +seemed awfully dark and secret, kind of, in there. + +He said, “Larceny, child murder, burglary, and highway robbery. That +isn’t so bad, is it? That’s really more than I expected. I haven’t lived +in vain.” + +“You’ll live in a jail, that’s where you’ll live,” Pee-wee whispered. +“What are we going to do?” + +“You ought to know,” I told him, “a scout is resourceful.” + + + + + CHAPTER XX—WE CONSIDER OUR PREDICAMENT + + + (THAT’S PEE-WEE’S HEADING) + +I said to Brent, “Now you’ve killed a child and highway-robbed people +and broken into houses, I hope you’re satisfied.” + +“And larcenied,” the kid shouted. + +“Shut up,” I told him; “do you want the whole town to hear you? It’s bad +enough as it is; suppose somebody should come walking into this van.” + +Brent said, in that crazy way of his, “Boys, this is the end of an evil +career. This is what comes of getting mixed up with the boy scouts. See +where it has brought me. Never again will I do a good turn.” + +“You’re crazy,” Pee-wee shouted. + +“Shh,” I told him; “have a heart. Do you want to get us all pinched?” + +“It was about the best turn I ever did,” Brent said; “I turned the +stop-cock all the way open. And here I am a prisoner in a dry goods +delivery van with boy scouts for keepers. I’d be ashamed to look an +honest burglar in the face.” Honest, that’s just the crazy way he +talked. He said, “Now the question is to escape. I want to escape in a +way that’s full of pep.” + +Pee-wee said, “You make me tired. Do you mean to say that good +turns——” + +“Will you shut up about good turns, and listen?” I said. + +“I mean to say that a good turn is the cause of my downfall,” Brent +said; “and I wish I had a cigarette. Boys, take a lesson from my +terrible example and don’t ever do a good turn.” + +“What are you talking about?” the kid shouted. + +“Shh,” I told him; “keep still, will you? The first merry-go-round you +see you can get on it and do all the good turns you want, only keep +still and give us a chance to see where we’re at, will you?” + +“It’s printed on the National Headquarters’ letterheads,” he said, “to +do a good turn——” + +“It’s bad advice to give a young boy,” Brent said. + +I said, “Keep still, you’re worse than he is. Give me a chance to think, +will you?” + +“Roosevelt’s name and Taft’s name are on that letterhead,” the kid +began, “so that shows——” + +“I’m surprised that they should give such advice to young boys,” Brent +said. “I wonder if I could escape from this van with a file and let +myself down with a rope?” Then he picked up a can opener and said, “Ha, +ha, just the thing.” + +I said, “Will you please keep still a minute, both of you? Maybe you’ve +heard the scout motto, ‘Be Prepared.’ That’s just as important as good +turns. How are we going to get away from this town? That’s the question. +You and your crimes, and Pee-wee and his good turns, make me tired. +We’ve got to look facts in the face.” + +Brent said, “I’m ashamed to look even a fact in the face.” + +“Well,” I told him, “you’ll be looking a sheriff in the face if you +don’t talk in a whisper, and maybe you’ll find it isn’t so pleasant +being arrested.” + +Brent said, “I’m not thinking about being arrested, I’m thinking about +escaping.” + +“Well, you can’t escape from a dry goods van,” I told him. + +He said, awful sad, kind of, “I know it. Oh, if I were only Eliza and +could be pursued by ferocious bloodhounds.” + +I said, “Well, you can’t have everything. You’ve done pretty well so +far.” + +“Sure you have,” Pee-wee whispered; “there’s one of those notices tacked +up in the Post Office, and everybody is talking about that fellow +escaping. I told them that often boy scouts find missing people. I was +telling them about good turns, and I said we’d be on the lookout.” + +“I hope they won’t look _in_” Brent said. + +“What else did you tell them?” I asked him, good and scared. Because I +knew that if our young hero had been able to round up an audience in the +Post Office, most likely he had given them the whole history of the Boy +Scouts of America and a lot of other stuff besides. + +“I was telling them about good turns,” he said. “There was an old lady +there and I carried a big bundle out to her carriage for her.” + +“And that’s all you told them?” I asked him. + +“I told them we were going to the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s +Cross-roads,” he said. + +I said, “Did anybody ask you any questions?” + +“Sure,” he said; “a man asked me if I liked gumdrops. He gave me a bag +of them. Want one?” + +“Well,” I said, “the best thing for us to do is to get out of this place +as quick as we can. When we once strike open country, we’ll be all right +and when we meet the rest of the crowd we can scrape up some civilized +duds.” + +“I wonder how I’d look in Brother Abbington’s plug hat just now,” Brent +said. + +“You should worry,” I told him; “you look bad enough already.” + +“Speaking of plug hats,” he said, “don’t forget we have to get a couple +of plugs for the motor. What place is this, anyway?” + +“It’s the place we were looking for,” Pee-wee said; “it’s Barrow’s +Homestead. There aren’t any scouts here, but I told the people all about +them. They’re going to start a troop.” + +I said, “Well, it’s time to start this troop if we don’t want to get +into trouble. This is a pretty risky business.” + + + + + XXI—GETTING STARTED + + +As soon as I heard that Pee-wee had been in the Post Office talking, I +decided that we had better get away from that place just as soon as we +possibly could, if not sooner. Even Brent said he guessed the best way +to escape was inside the van; he said it was more comfortable and +convenient. He said the good old times when people used to escape from +towers and be pursued by ferocious bloodhounds weren’t any more except +in the movies. He said he was discouraged. + +Gee whiz, when I looked at him sitting there on that grocery box with +his face all grimy and his hair cropped and that striped suit on him, I +just had to laugh. I have to admit he’s awful funny, that fellow is. + +I said, “Well, one thing, it’s mighty lucky I know how to drive a car +and I can get us out of this village. And another thing, it’s mighty +lucky we’re still just where the village begins; if we weren’t we’d be +surrounded. If we can get past the Post Office, we’re safe.” + +So then Pee-wee and I tore down the signs we had outside the van about +going all the way from Klucksville to New York, because people would +wonder at fellows our age doing that when there was no big fellow with +us. Safety first, that’s what I said. + +“If they think we’re only going as far as Grumpy’s Cross-roads,” I said, +“I guess nobody’ll be suspicious.” + +Pee-wee said, “Yes, but how about Jolly & Kidder’s name, and New York +printed all over the sides of the van?” + +“A scout is resourceful,” I told him; “let’s tear down the canvas from +inside and be quick about it.” + +Now inside that van was lined with canvas to keep things from getting +scratched, I guess. Brent said it was a padded cell. So we took that +down and tacked it up outside on both sides so that all the printing was +covered. After we did that we closed the doors of the van and locked the +padlock and Pee-wee took the key. Brent called out to us that we should +take a lesson by his terrible example. Then we could hear him kind of +muttering, “I will escape; I will foil you all yet.” Honest, he’s crazy, +that fellow is. + +Pee-wee and I sat down on the back step for about half a minute to make +up our minds what we should say if any one stopped us and asked us +questions. “Anyway,” he said, “that canvas on the sides will make people +suspicious with no printing on it.” + +I said, “Well, we’re not going to print any lies on it, anyway.” + +He said, “We don’t have to print lies. Truth is stranger than +fiction—that’s what it said in a movie play I saw.” + +Then, all of a sudden he out with a piece of chalk that he always +carries so as he can make scout signs and he sprawled all over one side +of the van, + + BOY SCOUTS + EN ROOT TO SOLDIERS’ REUNION + + Our Mottoes: + + BE PREPARED + DO A GOOD TURN DAILY + +I said, “That isn’t the way to spell en route. What’s the matter with +you?” + +I guess he was thinking about root beer, hey? + + + + + XXII—SILENCE! + + +I said to Pee-wee, “Now all we have to do is to go straight about our +business and keep our mouths shut and we’ll get out of this burg all +right. Just keep silence. Nobody’s going to stop us as long as people +don’t get suspicious. I can drive the car till we get out of town and I +don’t think any one will stop me. All _you_ have to do is to keep +silence.” + +“How long do I have to keep it?” he wanted to know. + +I said, “Oh, keep it till it’s all used up, and then I’ll give you some +more. Believe me, you can’t have too much of it just now.” + +“We’ll have to use up a lot of it, hey?” he said. + +“More than _you_ ever used before,” I told him. + +“Anyway,” he said, “an innocent man has nothing to fear.” + +“You got that out of the movies,” I told him. “An innocent man with his +hair cropped and a convict suit on has a whole lot to fear.” + +“Innocence is a shield,” he said; “it’s in my copy book.” + +“Yes?” I said. “Well, an enclosed van is a better shield.” + +“Our lips will be sealed, hey?” he said. I guess he got that out of the +_Dan Dauntless Series_; he eats those books alive. + +I felt kind of shaky driving that van, but I knew I had to do it, and if +a scout has to do a thing he does it. Gee whiz, I like things that are +hard—except licorice jaw breakers. You get three of those for a cent. +Even I can eat those if I have to, but I like marshmallows better. I +like peanut brittle too. But anyway that hasn’t got anything to do with +driving a car. + +For maybe an eighth of a mile there weren’t any houses, because where we +stopped was really on the edge of the village. Anyway that village +didn’t have much of an edge to it. Pretty soon the houses began to get +near together. I guess they were always just as near together but +they—you know what I mean. + +Pee-wee didn’t say a word; he just sat straight up beside me like a +little tin soldier. It was a shame to see him wasting so much silence. + +Pretty soon we came to the Post Office. There were a lot of people +standing around the Post Office and they were talking about the railroad +strike. I knew that if we once got past the Post Office we’d be all +right. Because post offices in the country are where sheriffs and +constables and other people that haven’t got anything to do hang out. It +wasn’t much of a post office. I guess they called it a post office +because there was a post out in front of it. There was one of those +signs tacked to that post. + +I said to Pee-wee, “This is a young reviewing stand. Look straight +ahead, keep your mouth shut, and look kind of careless—you +know—carefree.” + +_Good night_, you should have seen the look he put on! + +“Is that what you call care free?” I whispered to him. “You look like an +advertisement for tooth powder.” + +“That’s the scout smile,” he whispered. + +Honest, you’d have laughed to see him; he was looking straight ahead and +grinning all over his face. + +“Look natural,” I whispered to him. “Look as if there wasn’t a convict +in the van. Look as if you never saw a convict.” + +“How can any fellow look as if he never saw a convict?” he whispered. +“Most everybody has never seen a convict.” + +“Well, look like them, then,” I told him. “Look the same as a person +would look if he wasn’t helping a convict to escape.” + +He put on another kind of a smile and then he whispered to me, “I bet +now those people will say I’m not helping a convict to escape, hey?” + +“Sure,” I told him; “you look as if you were on the track of an ice +cream soda. Keep still and the worst will soon be over.” + + + + + XXIII—FIXING IT + + +As we went past the Post Office I felt pretty shaky, because there were +a whole lot of people there and some of them were women, and there were +a lot of children, too. The women said, “Isn’t he cute?” They meant +Pee-wee. + +Everybody stared at us as we went by, and read the printing on the van +and said how the boy scouts were all right. It didn’t seem as if anybody +was suspicious at all. Some of them waved to us and we waved back and I +heard a man say that we were lively youngsters. Gee whiz, nobody ever +accused us of being dead, that’s one sure thing. + +One lady said how she had seen Pee-wee in the store and how he had told +her all about good turns. She said it must be great to be a boy. Gee +whiz, she said something that time. + +“Now you see,” Pee-wee whispered; “it’s good I was in that store. It’s +good I told them all about the scouts, because now they’re not +suspicious. They think it’s all right for kids to be doing this, because +I told them scouts are resourceful.” + +“Did you tell them how we have plenty of initials?” I asked him. + +“Do you know what safe conduct is?” he asked me. + +“I know that yours isn’t always safe,” I told him. + +“It means when a general promises not to interfere with anybody, even an +enemy. He gives them safe conduct; that means that they can go ahead and +not worry about being pinched, see? These people gave us safe conduct +and they’re not bothering us, because they know the scouts are all +right. It’s on account of the way I talked to them. I came along first +like a kind of a—you know—a what-d’ye-call-it——” + +“I don’t know _what_ to call it,” I said. + +“A herald,” he blurted out. + +“Well,” I said, “you look more like the funny page in the Journal to me. +Don’t talk too loud, the danger isn’t passed.” + +By that time we had got about fifty yards past the Post Office and I was +feeling kind of nervous, but just the same I knew the danger was over. + +Pee-wee said, “Do you mean to tell me that those people would let a +couple of kids like us go by driving a big van, and never ask them any +questions, if they didn’t know that we were all right? I fixed it all +right, while you and Brent were worrying your lives out in the van. Now +we’re safe.” + +I said, “Oh, you’re the little fixer, all right.” + +Just then, _good night_, one of those men came running after us calling, +“Hi thar, wait a minute, you youngsters!” + +Oh, boy, a cold shudder ran down my back. I said, “We’re pinched. I knew +it was too good to be true.” + +I stopped the car and when the man caught up with us he said, all out of +breath, “What’s this here talk one of you youngsters were givin’ us +’baout good turns? Allus ready ter do a favor, as I understand?” + +Oh, bibbie, wasn’t I relieved. + +“That’s our middle name,” Pee-wee said. + +“Wall then, haow abaout doin’ one naow?” the man said. + +By that time there were about a dozen people standing around in the road +and I gave Pee-wee a nudge and said, “Watch your step; let me do the +talking.” + +But he didn’t pay any attention to me. Off he went with a lot of stuff +out of the handbook and wound up by saying how scouts were supposed to +help strangers. “Sure, we’ll do anything you want,” he said; “all you +have to do is to ask us.” + +“Wall then,” the man said, “here’s a lot of folks wantin’ to go to the +reunion at the Crossroads and we was thinkin’ as haow you might pack ’em +inter this here van of yourn as long as the trains ain’t runnin’.” + +_Jumping jiminies!_ I nearly fell through the seat. + + + + + XXIV—SNOOZER SETTLES IT + + +That was a home-run all right I said, all flabbergasted. “You see, the +only trouble is I’m not an experienced driver and these are—they’re +pretty rough roads—and—eh—” + +“That’s one thing about us,” Pee-wee piped up; “we’re not as smart as we +look. Maybe it seems as if we could do most anything, but we can’t. +That’s one thing about a scout, he has to admit it if he doesn’t know +everything. He has to—he has to—eh—he has to safeguard the lives of +others. See? Suppose we ran into a ditch and upset the car and everybody +got killed. They wouldn’t thank us, would they?” + +One of the ladies said, “Oh, isn’t he just too funny for anything!” + +The man said, kind of slow and drawly like, he said, “Wall, yer could +drive slow en’ thar ain’t no ditches.” + +“Even one ditch would be enough,” the kid said. “Isn’t there just one?” + +Jiminetty, I could hardly keep a straight face. There were all those +people crowding around the van and saying how nice it would be if we +would take a group to the reunion and how we had plenty of room. I +thought of Brent sitting on the grocery box inside, and I bet he was +laughing. + +I said under my breath to Pee-wee, “All right, you got us into this with +your good turns; now you can get us out.” + +Then a man said, “A couple of boys who are going to have an eye out to +recapture a convict, like this here little feller says, they ought to be +smart enough and kind enough, I reckon, to give some of these here +disappointed souls a lift. Jest you boys open these here doors and let +the youngsters pile in, so they can go see Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” + +“That—that show isn’t going to be much good,” Pee-wee said; “and I can +tell you one thing, it’s pretty stuffy in that van. That’s one thing +scouts believe in—fresh air.” + +By that time he was fidgeting around on the seat and some of the people +were laughing and some of them looked surprised. + +“That’s just it,” Pee-wee said; “if you were boy scouts and you were +going to try to capture a criminal, you wouldn’t want a lot of children +along, would you? And ladies? Ladies are a-scared of criminals; gee, I +don’t blame them.” + +Somebody said, “Oh, I guess the hounds they got on the trail will find +the convict, all right, so you boys can jest consider if you’re goin’ to +live up to your words or not ’baout doin’ good turns.” + +Oh, boy, that was a terrible moment in Pee-wee’s life. I guess _Dan +Dauntless_ never had so much to worry about. But that kid has some +sense, anyway, and that’s more than that story fellow has. In a couple +of seconds I noticed that he was wiping his face with his handkerchief +and I saw that he was getting the key sort of rolled up in the cloth at +the same time. Then he made believe to put the handkerchief in his back +pocket, but really he dropped it through the little window into the van. +You couldn’t even hear it drop inside. + +Then he said, “The trouble is that this van is locked and we haven’t got +the key.” That kid would never have said that while he had the key, +because it would have been a lie. And scouts don’t lie, that’s sure. + +Jiminy, I don’t know what those people thought; anyway I felt pretty +mean. The ladies said anyway they were just as much obliged to us. The +men looked kind of as if they didn’t have much use for us, but they +didn’t say anything and I had to admit that Pee-wee had got away with it +all right. + +Then, _good night, Sister Anne_, what should I see but our old college +chum Snoozer from the Uncle Tom’s Cabin show. There he was, right among +all those people, pushing them out of the way and sniffing around as if +he was half crazy. Pee-wee and I jumped down and pushed past the people +who were all crowding around the back of the van, and, _good night_, +there was that pesky actor dog with his feet on the step, sniffing and +sniffing at the doors and barking and yelping for all he was worth. + +“Chop down them doors!” I heard a man say. “That’s somethin’ wrong here. +This here dog is an official bloodhound, and, _by gum_, he’s tracked +that thar convict. That chap paid these youngsters to help him escape, +that’s what he has—by thunder! Somebody get an axe out of the Post +Office and chop down these here doors. Don’t either one of you +youngsters try to run or, by thunder, you’ll drop in your tracks. Good +turns, eh? So them’s the kind of good turns you do, hey? Get an axe +somebody—quick!” + + + + + XXV—BIG EXCITEMENT AT BARROW’S HOMESTEAD + + +I was kind of excited, but I said to Pee-wee, “Don’t get scared; all +they’ll do is arrest him; he’ll get off.” + +Then one of the men came up and said to us awful loud and gruff, “Naow, +you kids, aout with that key, hand it over!” + +I said, “Didn’t you hear my chum say that we haven’t got the key? It +shows you don’t know much about scouts if you think they lie. If you +want to know where the key is, it’s inside.” + +“Wall then, yer better crawl through that little winder up thar in front +and git it,” he said. + +“I don’t have to get it,” I told him; “go and get it yourself if you +want it. You must have been reading dime novels if you think that boys +like us help convicts to escape. If you tear down those doors you’ll put +them up again, I’ll tell you that.” + +Just then along came a man with a brass badge on about as big as a +saucer. I said to Pee-wee, “Look what he’s hiding.” He had an axe, too. +There were a lot of people crowding all about him. One of them said, +“It’s a pretty desperate attempt, Constabule.” The man said, “I’ll have +him behind the bars in about a jiffy. These boys is accessories, that’s +what they are.” + +“Accessories are things that come with motor-boats,” the kid whispered +to me. + +I said, “Well, we’re the kind of accessories that come with motor vans. +This is some circus; Brent will get his wish and go to jail, all right. +There’s no use getting scared.” + +By that time everything was excitement. People came running out of +houses and crowded around the van and stared at Pee-wee and me. Gee +whiz, I don’t know where all the people came from. All the while the dog +kept clawing at the doors of the van and barking and yelping. I wondered +how Brent felt inside the van. In about five minutes the whole town was +out, gaping and talking, all excited. + +The constable said to us, “Naow then, you youngsters, you been +compoundin’ a felony, that’s what you been doin’. Now who’s inside that +van? Who yer hidin’? Somebody, hey?” + +“I’m not denying anything,” I told him. “All I say is we didn’t break +any law.” + +“Wall, yer admit yer concealin’ somebody in thar, ain’t yer—huh?” he +shouted. + +I said, “I’m not denying it, but I’m not scared of you.” + +He said, “Yaas? Wall, we’ll soon see. We’ll have him under lock and key +for sartin, if that’s what he likes.” + +“That’s his favorite pastime,” I said; “you don’t know him.” + +“Surraound this here wagon, you people,” the constable said, “and keep a +watch on these kids; they’re pretty slippery.” + +So then the constable and another man began chopping down the doors. +“It’s up to them,” I said to Pee-wee; “we should worry.” + +“What do you suppose Brent will do?” he said. + +“They’ll lock him up till the whole thing is explained,” I said; “they +won’t take our word for anything. He’s got troubles of his own at last; +I hope he’s satisfied. He wanted bread and water, now he’ll get it.” + +“They’ll lock us up, too, won’t they?” the kid said, good and scared. +“That man is keeping his eye on us.” + +All the while the dog kept yelping and clawing at the doors and the +people crowded closer around so as to see better. Gee, I felt kind of +sorry for Brent, because I saw he was up against it. + +All of a sudden down came one of the doors and the bloodhound sprang +inside and came out again. The constable poked his head in and said, +“_Well, I’ll be jiggered!_” Pee-wee and I looked inside and, good night, +that van was as empty as an ice cream soda glass when Pee-wee is through +with it. + +“Well—what—do—you—know—about—that?” I stammered under my breath to +Pee-wee. + +“His dream came true,” Pee-wee whispered to me; “he kept his vow, he +foiled everybody, he _escaped_. He—he—he what-d’ye-call-it—he hasn’t +lived in vain—hey?” + +“He hasn’t lived in the van very long, that’s sure,” I whispered. “He +has put it all over these people and us too. Can you beat that fellow?” + +“He defied locks and bolts and dungeons like Houdini,” the kid said. I +guess he saw Houdini in the movies. + +“Sure, he’s a real hero at last,” I said; “but he’s got _me_ guessing.” + +The constable and a couple of other men were stamping around inside the +van and he called out, “Thar ain’t no clew here, nothin’ but this here +can opener.” And then he came out with the can opener in his hand. + +Gee whiz, I just couldn’t help shouting right out in front of everybody. +I said, “That clew explains the whole mystery. There was a can of baked +beans in that van, and he must have opened it and emptied them out and +secreted himself in the empty can. When we threw the can away, he +escaped.” + +The constable said, “What’s all this talk? I want to know who you kids +is, anyway. And I want ter know what you’re doin’ here, runnin’ this big +van all by yourselves.” + +I said, “I’m Sherlock Nobody Holmes, the boy detective. This is my +trusty pal, Scout Harris. We’re on our way to kidnap Major Grumpy in +this van and hold him until he gives up one thousand dollars to the Boy +Scouts of America. Can you tell us where we can buy a couple of spark +plugs?” + + + + + XXVI—TO THE RESCUE + + +All of a sudden the plot grew thicker. I thought we’d have to thin it +with gasoline, it grew so thick. For a few minutes Pee-wee and I just +stood there wondering what had become of Brent and laughing at the +constable who was holding his axe in one hand and our can opener in the +other, and all the people stood around staring at us as if they didn’t +know what to make of us. + +The constable said, “I daon’t like the looks uv this here, I don’t. You +allowed there was somebody in that van. Now whar is he?” + +I said, “I didn’t allow anything, I just didn’t _deny_ anything. What’s +the use of blaming us because you half chopped the van to pieces? All +you’ve got is a can opener—we should worry. You seem to trust the dog; +if you want to ask any questions you’d better ask _him_. The only person +he knows how to track is Eliza, because that’s his business.“ + +“He’s on the stage,” Pee-wee piped up. + +“You mean he’s in the van,” I said. + +The constable said, “Wall, I reckon you youngsters’d better tell yer +story ter Justice Cummins. It’s mighty funny two young boys travelin’ by +theirselves in a big van.” + +“I’ll recount our adventures to him,” Pee-wee piped up. “Where is he?” + +For about half a minute the constable just stood there staring at us. I +guess he didn’t know what he’d better do. All the rest of the people +stood around, staring. I guess it was the biggest thing that ever +happened in Barrow’s Homestead. Inside the van a couple of men were +holding the bloodhound by the collar. Some excitement. + +All of a sudden, zip goes the fillum, along the road came an auto, +pell-mell! It came through the village from the direction we were going +in. + +“Look!” Pee-wee said. “Look who’s in it; it’s Harry; who’s that with +him?” + +Before I had a chance to say anything, the car was close up to us and +Harry and another person were stepping out. Harry was laughing all over +his face, but he was in a terrible hurry, I could see that. I gave one +look at the person who was with him and began to roar. + +“It’s—it’s Brent—Gaylong,” Pee-wee whispered. + +I said, “Don’t make me laugh any harder or I’ll die of shock.” + +Honest, even now when I think of it I have to laugh. He looked like +Charlie Chaplin only more so. And he had such a funny way about him +too—kind of dignified. He had on a great big straw hat like a farmer +and a black coat like a minister, only it was all in shreds. It was his +trousers that made him look like Charlie Chaplin. Laugh! They were about +a hundred times too big and a mile too long, and every time he took a +step he stumbled all over himself and had to hoist them up. His big hat +was pulled way down over his ears and—oh, I just can’t tell you about +it. He was a scream. And all the while he had a very dignified, severe +look on his face, even when he tripped all over himself. + +Honest, I just howled. I didn’t hear Pee-wee laugh; I guess he must have +fainted. Harry came along behind Brent, trying not to laugh but every +time Brent’s feet caught in his trousers I could see Harry’s face all +twisted up just as if he was trying as hard as he could not to scream. +Every step Brent took I thought he’d go kerflop on the ground. The +people were all giggling, but he didn’t notice them at all, only kept on +looking very sober and stern—oh, boy, it was a scream. + +He said, “What is all this?” And then he fell all over himself and gave +his trousers a hitch. “Who is interfering with these boys in the +performance of their duty? Stand back, everybody!” And he went +staggering against a tree and gave his trousers a good hitch up. “Who is +the leader of this motley throng?” That’s what he said, and, gee whiz, I +thought he’d skid and land on his head. You couldn’t see his hands, his +sleeves were so long. “Who dares to stand—” he said, and, good night, +he went kerflop on the ground and got right up again. I had a headache +from laughing. + +Harry Donnelle just sat down on the step of the van and shook and shook. + +Brent pointed at the sheriff with the floppy end of his sleeve and said, +“You and your minions are charged with trespassing upon the property of +Jolly & Kidder, Inc., New York. Wait till I roll up my sleeves so I can +point better. Who _dares_ to stand in the way of the Boy Scouts of +America?” + +“Thar’s a convict missin’ from araound these parts,” the constable said; +“who are you, anyway, and your friend thar?” + +Brent said, “We represent the Archibald Abbington Uncle Tom’s Cabin +Company who are touring the country, drawing laughter and tears with +their excruciating and heart-rending drama, and I am in search of one of +our ferocious bloodhounds. We are in partnership with the Boy Scouts of +America and any one attempting to interfere with our noble effort to put +an end to slavery will be punished to the full extent of the law. When +we have an opportunity we will endeavor to find your convict for you. +Please stand aside, everybody, and allow the procession to pass.” + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII—ANOTHER DISCOVERY + + +Brent stumbled up the step and stood in back of the van, holding his +trousers up with one hand and waving the other hand in the air. + +“Free ride to the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads!” he began +shouting. “Children and veterans free! We take you but do not bring you +back. No connection with criminals and convicts! Free ride to the +carnival. Veterans welcome! All aboard for the carnival! Hail to the +Grand Army of the Republic and the Boy Scouts of America. Hurrah for +Jolly & Kidder, New York’s great cash store! Step inside, veterans!” + +Pretty soon an old man with an old blue army cap came hobbling out of +the crowd, and Harry helped him up into the van. That was a starter. Men +began bringing boxes from the Post Office and putting them in the van +for seats. Most of the mothers wouldn’t let their children go because +there wasn’t any way for them to get back, but the veterans didn’t seem +to mind that. We got three veterans in Barrow’s Homestead and then +started out. I don’t know what the constable thought, but we should +worry about that. All the people cheered us and gave us a fine send-off. +Pee-wee said they were stricken with remorse—I guess he got that out of +a movie play. + +We stopped for a couple of spark plugs and to get the timer of the van +adjusted, and a lot of the kids followed us as far as the end of the +town. + +Harry drove the van and Brent drove the touring car, and Pee-wee and I +sat with Brent. + +I said, “I wish you’d tell us about your adventures, you crazy Indian. I +thought we were in for a lot of trouble in that village. You’ve got me +guessing. Anyway you escaped like you said you were going to do. But I’d +like to know where you came from and where you got that bunch of rags.” + +He said, “You should never laugh at honest rags. Beneath these rags +beats a noble heart. Boys, I am sick of crime and I am going to reform.” +That’s just the way he talked, the crazy Indian. He said, “I have had my +fondest wish, I have been a convict—a villyan. I have languished in a +dark moving van, I have foiled the shrewdest people in the world, the +boy scouts—not. Would you like to hear the story of my evil career? I +began life as an honest boy. I never stole but once in my life and that +was when I stole second base in a ball game.” + +I said, “Will you stop your jollying and tell us what happened?” + +He said, “Posilutely I will. There were two boy scouts sitting on the +step outside the Jolly & Kidder state prison. I was inside in my +convicts’ stripes.” + +“Were you languishing?” Pee-wee piped up. + +Brent said, “No, I was eating a banana. I said two scouts, but really it +was only about one and a half. They were supposed to be alert, +observant, resourceful.” + +I said, “That’s right, rub it into us.” + +He said, “While they were arguing on the back step I stood upon a +grocery box and crawled through the little window in back of the front +seat. I was _free_, like Monte Carlo—I mean Monte Cristo—” + +“You mean Monticello,” I told him. + +“You mean Montenegro,” Pee-wee put in. + +“The world seemed bright and new,” Brent said. + +“You’re crazy,” I told him; “go on, where did you get those clothes?” + +He said, “Shh. Can I count on you never to breathe a word? The man I got +these clothes from lies dead in yonder swamp.” + +“Who put him there?” Pee-wee wanted to know. + +Brent said, “Shh, I did. The man was innocent. He was standing in a +field beyond the swamp. He was doing no harm. I approached him, crawling +through the grass.” + +“What was he doing there?” Pee-wee wanted to know. + +“He was scaring away crows,” Brent said. + +“_He was a scarecrow_!” I blurted out. + +“A harmless, innocent, hard working scarecrow,” Brent said. “As I think +of it now——” + +[Illustration: BRENT CAPTURED A SCARECROW.] + +“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “Why didn’t you say so?” + +Brent said, “His trustful, happy, carefree face haunts me now. He was +only scaring away the crows——” + +“You give me a pain!” the kid shouted. “You’re crazy.” + +Brent said, “But I thought of my dungeon in the Jolly & Kidder van and +of my brutal keepers, those two boy scouts—asleep on the back step. I +said to myself, ‘I will never return whither——’” + +“You mean thither,” Pee-wee said. + +“I said to myself, ‘They will have to kill me to take me alive,’” Brent +said. + +“Anyway, you killed him?” I asked him. + +He said, “I killed him in cold blood—anyway it wasn’t more than +lukewarm. I tore him to pieces and took his clothes and concealed my +telltale convict stripes under a weeping willow. It was weeping its eyes +out.” + +“It’s a wonder it wasn’t laughing,” I told him. + +He said, “The poor fellow was as thin as a stick; his arms were made of +a cross stick, I think it was a broom stick. He lies under the marsh +grass in yonder swamp. And I am free!” + +“You’re crazy too,” the kid shouted. + +“I said I would escape and I did,” Brent began to laugh. “I decided that +I would escape from the very people who claim to be the most alert and +wide-awake—the boy scouts. You say I’m crazy. Very well, even a crazy +person can foil the boy scouts. I suppose that’s what you call logic.” + +“That’s what you call nonsense,” Pee-wee yelled. + +“I hope you boys had a good nap while I was escaping,” Brent said. “It +was a shame to do it, it was so easy. I tried to leave good plain +footprints, I did all that an honest convict could to help you, but in +vain. I doubt if the boy scouts could trail a steam roller. As for the +authorities of Barrow’s Homestead ... but I’ve seen enough of crime and +its evil results.” That’s just the way he talked. “Henceforth I mean to +be honest.” + +“You’re a nut, that’s what you are!” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, awful kind of heroic like, he said, “Ha! Sayest thou so? +Then glance at this paper.” + +I said, “What is it? Where did you get it?” + +“I got it out of the inside pocket of this old coat,” he said; “and it +means mischief. _Shh_, no one has seen it but Harry Domicile; he agrees +with me that it has to do with a dark plot.” + +“You mean you found it in the scarecrow’s pocket?” Pee-wee asked him, +all excited. + +“I found it in the scarecrow’s inside pocket,” Brent said. “I don’t +think the scarecrow knew it was there. It is very mysterious. I think we +are on the track of a new mystery. That anybody who wore a black frock +coat should have had such a paper in his possession is very strange. It +is no wonder the crows shunned him.” + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII—A MYSTERIOUS PAPER + + +Brent handed me the paper and Pee-wee nearly pushed me off the seat +sticking his head way over and trying to read it. I have to admit it was +mighty interesting what was on that paper. The more Pee-wee stared at it +the bigger his eyes got, and it had _me_ guessing, too. + +All the while, Brent just sat there driving the machine as if he wasn’t +interested in the paper at all. He said, “You seem to like it. I pick up +papers like that every day. If you don’t care for that one, just say so +and I’ll dig you up another; I’ll find you German spy maps, lost patent +papers of wonderful inventions, mortgage papers stolen by villyans, +anything you say; just say the word.” + +“If you don’t care for this one, don’t be afraid to say so. I know where +there are some documents about a dark anarchist plot. Do you care about +anarchist plots? Some people like them and others don’t; it’s just a +matter of taste.“ + +I said, “_Good night_, this will do for me.” + +Pee-wee said, all excited, “Maybe it means millions of dollars; maybe it +means bars of gold. We’ll solve the mystery, hey?” + +“Oh, just as you say,” Brent said; “you know my stand on mysteries and +adventures; I eat them raw.” + +That paper was all old and yellow and when we opened it I had to hold it +on my knee, because it tore where the creases were. I guess maybe it was +as old as ten years. It looked as if it had been torn out of a +memorandum book and the writing was made with a lead pencil and it was +kind of blurred, but anyway, this is what it said: + + Snake Creek. North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton Cove, Top of S + Cove. Follow line due north from willow. Cons to west. Stake. + Measure ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line due + NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW limit, indicated at AN + Stake. Follow S line south to pie. + +Pee-wee said, very mysterious like, “What da you think it is? It tells +where there’s buried treasure, doesn’t it?” + +“Sure it does,” I said. “It sounds just like the directions in the _Gold +Bug_ by Edgar Allan Poe.” + +“It sounds just like _Treasure Island_,” Pee-wee put in. + +Brent said, “Well, I don’t know. I was thinking about it and I decided +that it’s a bill of fare.” + +“A what?” Pee-wee shouted. + +“You see it’s got stake and pie on it,” Brent said. + +“You make me tired!” the kid fairly yelled. “That paper shows where +buried treasure is hidden.” + +Brent said, “Well then, that scarecrow must have been a pirate in his +younger days. He had an evil past and I’m glad I killed him.” + +“You seem to think it’s a joke,” I said; “but it tells where there’s +buried treasure, that’s one sure thing. You can’t make anything else out +of it—can you?” + +Brent said, “Buried treasure’s good enough for _me_—gold or stakes or +pies, I don’t care. I’d like to dig up a few buckwheat cakes just now.” + +“Do you know what you are? Do you know what you are?” the kid began +shouting. “You’re a Philippine—that’s what you are!” + +I said, “You mean a philistine—that’s a person that makes fun of things +and doesn’t believe anything.” + +Brent said, “The only time I ever went after buried treasure I was +_foiled_ by the boy scouts. Never again. They wouldn’t chop down a tree +under which the treasure was buried because they loved trees.” + +“This isn’t under a tree,” Pee-wee said; “it’s in a cove—on the end of +a line due north. That’s different. That’s always the kind of a place +wkere treasure is—in a cove. You can tell by the names that there’s +treasure there—Snake Creek and Skeleton Cove and lines due north and +willows and everything. It says _treasure_, doesn’t it? What more do you +want?” + +“Only where’s the place?” Brent said. + +“We’ll find it,” Pee-wee said; “we’ll find it if we, if we—drop in our +tracks.” + +Brent said, “That’s something I’ve always longed to do—drop in my +tracks. I’d like to be rescued by a St. Bernard dog.” + +I said, “_Good night_, have a heart. There are dogs enough in this +series of thrilling adventures.” + +Brent said, “Well anyway, this is the only story of adventure that has a +scarecrow for a villain. What d’ye say?” + + + + + XXIX—THE MYSTERY DEEPENS + + +Brent said, “Well, as long as you like my little mystery, we might as +well take a peep into it. We may have a couple of hairbreadth escapes, +you never can tell. By rights, we ought to quarrel over the treasure +after we have found it, and all kill each other. That’s the way they +usually do.” + +“They don’t do that way any more,” Pee-wee said; “they divide it up.” + +Brent said, “No, I insist on quarreling over it.” + +He folded the paper and put it back in his pocket. It seemed funny for a +paper like that to be in an old black frock coat like ministers wear. I +had to laugh at Brent on account of the sober way he tucked it back into +the pocket. + +I said, “It’s got _me_ interested, that’s one sure thing. But how are we +going to find out where that place is?” + +He said, “Well, the proper way would be for us just to fit out an +expedition and go in search of it like old what’s-his-name who hunted +for the soda fountain down in Florida.” + +Pee-wee said, “Ponce de Leon, he hunted for the Fountain of Youth.” + +“But the best way,” Brent said, “if you’re really interested, is for us +to get hold of a map of the Ohio River when we hit Indianapolis. We +cross the Ohio at Wheeling and if that old creek is anywhere in our +neighborhood we’ll see if we can hoe up a few nuggets. That’s the proper +thing, isn’t it—nuggets?” + +“Nuggets and pieces of eight,” Pee-wee said, very serious. + +Brent said that we had enough on our minds then, with the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people and the Veterans’ Reunion, and that we’d better get along, +especially as Harry with the van had almost caught up to us. + +But one more thing happened before we got very far from Barrow’s +Homestead, and it threw some light on the mystery—that’s what Pee-wee +said. A man in a pair of overalls came along the road and Brent stopped +to ask him a couple of questions. While the machine was standing there, +the van passed us. Gee, there were a lot of people in it and on it and +all over. + +Harry said, “Do you want us to tow you? Come on, hurry up, you’ll be +late for the show. We’ve got Sherman’s march through Georgia beat a +hundred ways.” + +Brent said, “Don’t bother us, we’re chasing after nuggets.” Then he said +to the man, “You don’t happen to know who owns that land beyond the +marsh down at the other end of town, do you? Before you get to the Post +Office? There’s a big cornfield there.” + +I whispered to Pee-wee, “Keep your mouth shut, now, and don’t tell him +about good turns.” + +The man said, “Yer mean swamp acres? That’s part o’ th’ old Deacon +Snookbeck place.” + +Brent said, “Yes. Who’s he?” + +“Wa’l, he ain’t,” the man said, “but he was. Th’ best thing I can say +abaout that ole codger is, he’s dead.” + +Brent rested his arms on the steering wheel and talked kind of careless, +sort of. He said, “I was just wondering if the place was for sale. So he +was a queer ole codger, the deacon, hey?” + +The man said, “Yes, en’ more’n that as I’ve heared tell. I guess young +Snookbeck ain’t calc’latin’ on sellln’ th’ place. I reckon nobody raound +these parts is wantin’ ter buy it, neither. Yer see thar was a kind of a +mystery ’baout ole Ebenezer. Some folks even say his haouse is haunted +by a chap he murdered. But I reckon he wasn’ as bad as all that.” + +Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee! He just sat there staring, his +eyes as big as dinner plates. He didn’t say a word, only just stared. + +Brent said, “House of mystery, hey? The Frock-coated Villyan! That would +be a good name for a photoplay, huh?” + +That man leaned his elbow on the side of the car and said, kind of +friendly like, as if we were special friends of his, he said, “Wa’l, +’baout, let’s see, nigh onter ten year ago, thar was a couple of young +chaps wearin’ khaki like you chaps, come out this way en they wuz +rootin’ raound on th’ deacon’s farm. They weren’t plantin’, that was +sure; and they weren’t no farm hands. Nobody seemed jest able ter find +out ezactly what they were, ’cause they never talked ter nobody. Aunt +Josie Anne, daown th’ road a piece, asked one uv ’em who he thought he +was. He said he thought he was Santa Claus, but he wasn’ sure. They wuz +kind o’ comics, both uv ’em. Wa’l, I ain’t ashamed ter tell no man who I +am.” + +Brent said, “You’re right,” just sort of to encourage him to talk. + +The man said, “Wa’l, they stayed at th’ deacon’s house ’n’ one night +they wuz out with a lantern in the middle of the night, under the big +tree near th’ deacon’s haouse. Steub Berry, he ’laowed they wuz buryin’ +treasure thar. Some folks had it them two strangers wuz Mexican spies +’n’ others reckoned they wuz army deserters. Th’ ole deacon, he jes’ +laughed and said we couldn’ guess. He wouldn’ deny nuthin’. All of a +sudden, _ker-bang_, they disappeared jes’ like that ’n’ some folks said +th’ deacon murdered both uv ’em ter git th’ treasure. My wife, she allus +had it, they come off some ranch or other with a lot uv stealin’s. Wa’l, +’twas a nine days’ wonder ’n arter that folks kinder fought shy of th’ +deacon.” + +Brent said, “And he’s dead now?” + +“Oh, deader’n a mummy,” the man said. “When the world war come some +folks said as haow that pair might a been German spies all th’ while, +kind uv studying ’raound. But young Snookbeck he says if old Ebenezer +had anything hid it would be in his Bible, en’ ’s long ’s ’tain’t thar, +’tain’t nowhere. But that’s treasure hid somewhere, I say, ’cause them +wuz mighty funny doin’s of them strangers. Yer goin’ ter th’ reunion +over t’ ’he Cross-roads?” + + + + + CHAPTER XXX—WE MAKE A PROMISE + + +As soon as we had started, Brent said, “Well, it doesn’t look half bad, +does it?” + +“Do you know who those fellows were? Do you know who those fellows +were?” our young hero fairly screamed. + +“I think they came from Mars,” Brent said; “that’s the way it looks to +me.” + +I said, “You can joke but it’s pretty serious.” + +“They were _smugglers_ that’s what they were,” Pee-wee shouted. + +“They were either smugglers or book-agents,” Brent said. “In either case +they deserved to be murdered. Maybe they were introducing a new kind of +soap——” + +“You make me sick,” Pee-wee yelled; “there’s treasure somewhere and +we’re going to find it! It’s at HW limit, it said so, HW means something +about _hollow well_, I bet you.” + +Brent said, “Maybe it means hot waffles; there’s a whole table d’hote +dinner in that paper. Maybe it means Hamburger wheat cakes. Anyway, the +Ohio River is a long way from Barrow’s Homestead.” + +Then Brent got kind of serious, not _very_ serious, but kind of +serious—as serious as he could. And he said we should promise him that +we wouldn’t think any more about that dark, mysterious paper, or talk +about it to the other fellows until we got all through at Grumpy’s +Crossroads and reached Indianapolis so he could get hold of a map. +Because if we couldn’t find any stream named Snake Creek running into +the Ohio River, he didn’t want the fellows to be disappointed. He said +there was no use of our going on a wild goose chase. + +You can bet we kept our promise to Brent, but I guess Pee-wee didn’t +have any more sleep till we reached Indianapolis. But anyway, he had a +pretty good appetite. He buried some treasure every night—ice cream +sodas at the reunion. + +That’s one thing I like about slavery. Because if there hadn’t been any +slavery there wouldn’t have been any Civil War, and if there hadn’t been +any Civil War there wouldn’t have been any Veterans’ Reunion, and if +there hadn’t been any Veterans’ Reunion, there wouldn’t have been any +ice cream sodas there. See? + +Gee whiz, I never was in the Civil War, or the uncivilized war or any +other kind, but I got a black eye once. Anyway, I killed four sodas when +I got to that reunion. + +I did it for my country’s sake. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI—WE REACH OUR DESTINATION + + +Now maybe you’ll say it was a long time since we left those other cars +and the rest of the fellows, but it was only about an hour. Only a lot +happened in that hour—it was condensed, like. That’s the way I like +things. Only I don’t like condensed milk. But I wish they had condensed +ice cream. Pee-wee’s a condensed scout. I’d like to have condensed +lessons, too. Anyway my sister likes pickles—gee, I hate them. She says +even a postage stamp can stick to its subject better than I can. I +should worry. I told her you could send an animal by mail, because once +I saw a letter with a seal on it. She’s all the time sending notes to +Harry Donnelle, she is. She gets awful mad when I jolly her. She plays +the mandolin. + +Let’s see, where was I? Oh, yes, now I know. Pretty soon (she likes +bonbons too), pretty soon the van and our car came to the place where +the two roads what-d’ye-call-it—converge—that means come together. +And, gee whiz, we had a young reunion right there. Mr. Abbington was +awful nice, but, oh boy, he could hardly keep that other bloodhound from +chewing Brent all to pieces. I guess he thought he was a tramp. + +Harry said, “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Scarecrow +of Barrow’s Homestead. The only one in captivity. We intend to exhibit +him at the reunion for the small sum of a dime, ten cents—three cents’ +war tax. He used to be an escaped convict, but now he’s reformed and +he’s a respectable scarecrow, the only real scarecrow ever exhibited. +The crows drop dead when they see him.” + +Gee whiz, you ought to have heard Miss Ophelia and Topsy laugh. Even +little Eva, _she_ laughed. I guess she forgot that she was going to die +and go to Heaven. Anyway, she was awful happy. Gee, Brent made them all +laugh. + +I bet you think it was a crazy procession that started off for Grumpy’s +Cross-roads, but what cared we? Gee whiz, if you don’t like it you know +what you can do. + +There was Harry driving the van that was chock full of veterans, because +they had picked up some along the road, and those veterans couldn’t even +have gone if the railroads had been running, because they lived too far +away from stations and they had never been to things like that before. + +Harry made all the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people wear their costumes and when +we got near to Grumpy’s Cross-roads he had the cruel villyan stand on +top of the van cracking his whip. But anyway Uncle Tom sat beside me, +eating peanuts, and he should worry. Brent looked awful funny, driving +one of the touring cars, but that only made it funnier. + +After about two hours more we came to Grumpy’s Cross-roads. They were +pretty cross, all right, because there was a sign that said: + + AUTOMOBILE LAWS STRICTLY ENFORCED + +Oh, boy, you just ought to have seen us. The big van went first, with +the man with the whip up on top, holding the ferocious bloodhounds. Next +came Rossie’s car full of veterans and then the other two cars full of +those actor people all dressed up for their play. + +We rolled into the Main Street and a band that was there, just getting +ready to go to the parade ground, I guess, marched in front of us and +played “Peggy.” Inside of ten seconds there were people crowding all +around us, but Harry told them to get out of the way, he didn’t care who +they were—constables, sheriffs, judges, or anything. + +“Where’s the parade ground?” he shouted. + +A man called, “Who are you, anyway? Whar do you come from?” + +Gee whiz, it gave me a good thrill when I heard Harry shout back, “We’re +the Boy Scouts of America, that’s who _we_ are! Friends and comrades to +the boys who were chased off the parade ground. And the show opens at 3 +P. M. sharp, so get your tickets and buy your peanuts! We’re here! And +not all the railroads in the country can stop us. _On the job_, that’s +our motto! Get from under if you don’t want to be run down. There’s only +one man in this whole country we’ll take any orders from and that’s +Major Grumpy!” + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII—SURRENDER AND INDEMNITY + + +Gee whiz, we reminded ourselves of General Pershing coming home. Just +before we drove into the parade ground, a little fellow about as big as +Pee-wee came running up and called to us. He was all excited. He +shouted, “We read your signal; we saw it way up on the mountain. People +said it was just the woods on fire but we knew what it meant; we read +it. We’ve got a signaler in our patrol. But Major Grumpy said it was +just the woods on fire.” + +Harry shouted down to him, “Climb up on the band wagon and be quick +about it if you want to be in at the finish. Where’s the rest of your +bunch?” + +Pee-wee said, “_Troop, not bunch_; don’t you know anything about the +scouts?” + +Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean gang.” + +That kid said that most of them were peeking through the fence of the +parade grounds, because they had been chased out. He said one of them +went in to tell Major Grumpy about the smudge message and that he had +been chased out again. He said they had dandy ice cream cones in there; +he said the ice cream went way down into the point. Oh, boy, that’s the +kind I like. He said that one of them had enough ice cream in it for two +fellows; gee, I’ve never seen any like that. But I’ve seen fellows that +have room enough for two cones. + +Poor little kid, he didn’t have any scout suit or anything—only just a +scout hat. + +Harry said, awful nice and friendly sort of, he said, “Well, you just +climb up here. So you read that message, hey? Well, you and your outfit +are all right, Kiddo.” + +“Not outfit!” Pee-wee yelled. + +Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean sewing circle.” + +I guess that kid thought Harry was crazy; anyway we don’t need anybody +to tell us we’re crazy, because we admit it. + +That kid said, “Have you got tickets to get into the grounds?” + +“Tickets?” Harry said. “What do we want tickets for when we’re going to +roll up the parade ground and take it home with us. Who are you for? The +Grand Army or the Boy Scouts? We don’t want any hyphens here.” + +Poor little kid, he looked more like a period than a hyphen. He was kind +of scared of Harry, I guess. + +Harry said, “We’ve got six scouts, about a dozen veterans, two +bloodhounds, nine actors and one scarecrow. Do you think we’re afraid?” + +“Surrender! That’s what we’re here for,” Rossie said. + +“Surrender with indemnity,” Harry said. + +Poor little kid, he looked all around from one of us to another and then +kept staring at Brent. I guess he didn’t know what to make of him. Maybe +he thought Brent was a camouflaged cannon, hey? + +When we got to the parade ground there were autos and wagons standing +around and lots of people going in. There was a sign up that said there +wouldn’t be any show on account of the railroad strike. And there were +about a half a dozen poor little codgers peeking in through cracks in +the fence; honest it made me feel sorry just to see them. Two or three +of them had on scout hats, but most of them only had scout badges. + +Gee whiz, Harry Domicile didn’t care about anybody; all the people, even +the doorkeepers, began staring at us but he should worry. He shouted to +those kids, “Fall in line, you; reenforcements are here! Two companies +of war-worn veterans, one Uncle Tom’s Cabin troupe, two bloodhounds, six +boy scouts, and a scarecrow! Climb aboard. On to victory!” + +“And a popcorn bar!” Pee-wee shouted. Jiminies, already he had bought +one of those sticky things and he was all gummed up like a piece of +fly-paper. He had to hold one of his hands out flat with the fingers all +apart, it was so sticky. “We’ll take all the lemonade booths and candy +counters and everything!” he shouted. “We’ll show no mercy, hey?” + +I said, “Shut up, you Hun! Already that popcorn bar looks like Rheims +Cathedral.” + +He shouted, “I’ve got a chocolate stick, too, and I’m going to devastate +that!” + +Talk about frightfulness! + +I guess those poor little kids thought we were crazy. Brent stood up on +the seat of his car and made gestures so as his long sleeves flopped +every which way. He shouted, “Every new recruit report to the commissary +general and receive six rounds of peanuts and three rounds of licorice +jaw-breakers. Step up!” + +Oh, boy, you should have seen those veterans laugh; they just +chuckled—you know the way old men do. One of them said he had fought at +Gettysburg but that he had never seen anything like this before; oh, +boy, didn’t he chuckle! + +I don’t know when Brent got them, but anyway, he had the pockets of that +crazy old coat full of bags of peanuts, and he handed them around to all +those little fellows. He made those kids stay in his car, too. They all +started eating peanuts, but just the same they looked sort of scared, as +if they didn’t know what was going to happen. + +Harry climbed up on top of the van and began shouting to all of us who +were in the touring cars; gee, but those cars were crowded. About a +hundred people were crowding around us too, just staring and laughing; +you couldn’t blame them. But what made me laugh most of all was to see +those veterans—_good night!_ Even when they were getting wounded in the +Civil War, I bet they didn’t have nearly as much fun. + + + + + XXXIII—MOBILIZING + + +This is the speech that Harry made to his troops, because my sister made +him write it out for me, because she said it would go down in history. +Brent Gaylong said he hoped if it went down it would never come up +again. Last term I passed seventy-two in history, but, gee, I hate +dates—I don’t mean the kind you eat. + +This is the speech that Harry made. He said: + + My brave soldiers: + + Lieutenant Harris will please take the candy out of his mouth + and listen. + +“I don’t listen with my mouth,” Pee-wee shouted. + +“Well then, close it,” I told him, “and listen to your superior +officer.” + +Harry said: + + We are outside the Parade Ground of Grumpy’s Cross-roads. We are + here to demand an unconditional surrender. A courier will go + within under the protection of a white flag. + +“I’ll go, I’ve got some popcorn; that’s white,” Pee-wee yelled. + + If Major Grumpy refuses our terms, then we will storm his + stronghold with every peanut that we hold. We shall demand + indemnity. + +“Demand the territory where the lemonade counter is,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Then everybody began hooting and yelling, and Brent stood up in those +crazy old rags and began flapping his sleeves to keep us quiet and the +old veterans shook—kind of like a Ford car. + +Then Harry read us a note that he said should be delivered to Major +Grumpy in person. + +“I’ll deliver it,” Pee-wee shouted; “I want to get a frankfurter, +anyway.” + +This was the note: + + Major Grumpy, Commanding Officer, + Veterans’ Reunion: + + You are hereby informed that the allied forces, consisting of + Boy Scouts, Civil War Veterans, scarecrows, and scout + reinforcements from your own town, offer you the choice of + unconditional surrender or complete extinction. As hostages we + hold Uncle Tom’s Cabin troupe scheduled to appear at your + reunion. Ten minutes will be given for an answer. We shall + advance against your stronghold immediately. + +One of the veterans said it would be better to say, “I purpose to move +immediately against your works,” because those were the very same words +that General Grant used. So Harry put it that way. + +Then he said, “Let us have peace,” because that was what General Grant +said, too. Pee-wee thought he said, “Let’s have a piece,” so he chucked +a licorice jaw-breaker up and it struck Harry, kerplunk, on the face. + +That was the beginning of hostilities. + +Pee-wee fired the first shot. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV—TR-R-AITORS! + + +That was the only shot in the whole war. It was a punk war. Harry said, +“Let the bloodshed cease; who’ll volunteer to go in as a courier?” + +Pee-wee shouted, “I will.” + +So Harry gave him the note and told him to stick a white popcorn bar on +a stick for a flag of truce. Honest, if you could have seen that kid +start off with the note in one hand and that popcorn flag of truce in +the other and his mouth all stuck up with licorice candy, you’d have +laughed till you cried. + +We waited for about ten minutes but still he didn’t come out, so Harry +called for another volunteer and Westy went in, because he said he could +remember just what was in the note. _Good night_, he didn’t come out +again, either. + +[Illustration: “WE’RE MAKING A DESPERATE CALVARY CHARGE,” SHOUTED +PEE-WEE.] + +Harry said, “This is very strange; they’ve either deserted or they’re +being held as prisoners.” + +Then Charlie Seabury said he’d go in, so he pinned a marshmallow onto +his buttonhole and went through the admission gate. But he didn’t come +back, either. + +Pretty soon five of the fellows had gone in—all the fellows in my +patrol except myself. And none of them came back. We decided that they +were all being held as prisoners. + +Harry said, “This is not civilized warfare at all—not to respect a flag +of truce.” + +I said, “Gee whiz, I never heard of a fellow that wouldn’t respect a +marshmallow or a popcorn bar. Even I respect gum drops.” + +Brent said, “Well, the only thing to do is to enter the grounds and +seize the rifles in the shooting gallery. If we can surround the dining +pavilion and seize all the sandwiches, we can cut off their base of +supplies and force a surrender. What say, comrades?” + +Harry said that was the only thing to do so he paid fifteen cents +admission for all of us on account of that being civilized warfare. Then +we drove in, and I bet that gatekeeper thought that we were from an +insane asylum, especially when he took a good look at Brent. + +And, _good night, Sister Anne_, excuse me while I laugh! What do you +think we saw when we got inside that place? About a couple of hundred +feet away was a merry-go-round, and riding around on it were our young +hero and those other four fellows, and they were all holding on to the +brass rods with one hand and eating frankfurters with the other. + +“I got the brass ring! I got the brass ring!” Pee-wee shouted. “I get an +extra ridel I’m promoted from the Infantry, I’m in the Cavalry! We’re +making a desperate cavalry charge!” + +Can you beat that kid? + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV—PEACE WITH INDEMNITY + + +I said, “We should worry about the cavalry; the only thing that this +cavalry can surround is the organ on the merry-go-round.” + +“I can surround a frankfurter,” Pee-wee shouted. Believe me, he could. + +Harry said, “The cavalry will dismount; you’re all court-martialed and +ordered to be shot at sunrise in the shooting gallery. Fall in line.” + +Jiminies, I had to laugh to see that bunch trotting along after the +autos, all the while munching frankfurters. I guess we were the craziest +looking parade that ever was; but you can have a lot of fun being crazy, +that’s one thing sure. All the people stopped what they were doing and +followed after us. Most of the things that they were doing were eating. +I wouldn’t stop doing that for anybody, I wouldn’t. + +All around were veterans in old blue coats and they were sitting in +groups talking; they were talking about Gettysburg and Richmond, and +General Grant, and things like that. One of them was talking about Sugar +Loaf Mountain and Pee-wee kind of slowed up so as he could listen. I +guess he thought it was some kind of candy, hey? Harry looked around and +shouted, “Attention!” And the kid jumped about a foot in the air. + +Pretty soon we came to a little tent and there was a sign on it that +said, “_Administration Tent_.” + +Pee-wee shouted, “Go on, till we come to the commissary tent.” + +I shouted back to him, “You’re a whole commissary in yourself. You’re a +nice looking sight to demand a surrender. The first thing you want to +seize is a wash basin!” + +Sitting in front of that tent were several veterans and one of them was +kind of cross and severe looking and he had a bald head. His head was so +bald that I guess he didn’t know where to stop washing his face. You +couldn’t even tell where his face was unless he put his hat on. He +looked as if he was used to bossing people around. Anyway, I knew he was +a Union soldier, because he had a telegram in his hand and it said +_Western Union_ on it. + +We all stopped right in front of the tent and Harry got down and made a +salute; it was awful funny. He said, “Major Grumpy, I believe?” + +“That is my name, sir,” the old man said, very stern, kind of like a +school principal. + +Harry said, “I am Lieutenant Donnelle and these are my allied forces. We +come here under the protection of a white—eh, a white popcorn bar. Hold +up the popcorn bar, Private Harris.” + +“It’s all gone,” Private Harris piped up. + +Harry said, “I’m very sorry that our flag of truce has been eaten by one +of our starving troopers. We are here to demand the surrender——” + +“Scouts are supposed to say _please_” Will Dawson piped up. + +Harry said, “Right. Scouts are polite even amid bloodshed and the roar +of cannon.” + +Major Grumpy said, “You look as if you had just taken the city of +Frankfort, judging from your rear guard.” + +Harry said, “Major Grumpy, your official report that Uncle Tom’s Cabin +will not be given here to-day is not true; it is a garbled report. Allow +me to tell you that, thanks to the boy scouts whom you sneer at and +evict from your property, Eliza will be chased as per schedule, Uncle +Tom will be thoroughly beaten, and little Eva will die and go to heaven +as announced.” + +Major Grumpy was kind of surprised. First he looked us all over, and +Brent took off his hat and flapped his long sleeves at him, awful funny. +Then the major said, “Who put you off this property?” + +Then Harry said, “What you do to a boy scout, you do to every boy scout +in the United States, including Mars and Grumpy’s Cross-roads and all +outlying sections. When you put these little townsmen of yours out of +that shady grove over there, you put _us_ out. Do you know that? Even +Uncle Tom, who gets whipped six times a week, not including Wednesday +and Saturday matinees, says he never heard of such treatment. You call +the Grand Army a kind of brotherhood, but let me tell you, Major, that +we’ve got that name _brotherhood_ copyrighted, all rights reserved. When +you put these little fellows off your land, you put half a million +scouts off your land, and that’s a bigger army than the Grand Army ever +was. + +“We sent up a signal to say that we were coming and that message was +delivered to you and you thought it was a lot of nonsense.” + +The major said, “So you were responsible for that column of smoke, hey?” + +Harry said, “You’re kind of old fashioned, Major, on signal corps work. +That was us, all right, and these little neighbors of yours gave you the +message and you laughed at them. Well, here we are with the goods, +Little Eva weeping her eyes out, Topsy ready to cut up, and Simon Legree +with his whip; here we are just as we said we’d be—Johnny on the spot. +We’ve brought with us every veteran between here and Barrow’s Homestead +and they’re with us to the last ditch. Field Marshal Gaylong here is +feared by every crow in the west. Now what are you going to do about it? + +“We purpose, Major, to cut off your base of supplies; it’s either that +or surrender. We want that shady little grove over there as indemnity. +If we don’t get it we’re going to seize all the ice cream, all the soda +water, all the lemonade, all the candy, all the popcorn on this bloody +battlefield and starve you out. The Grand Army will look like Grand +Street, New York, when we get through with it.” + +“And frankfurters too!” Pee-wee shouted. + +“There won’t be a frankfurter left to tell the tale,” Harry said; “this +peaceful land will run red with red lemonade. Now what do you say?” + +Gee whiz, I wouldn’t accuse Harry of being a traitor, but just the same +I saw him wink at Major Grumpy, and Major Grumpy began to smile, and +then he offered Harry a cigarette. + +That was giving aid and comfort to the enemy, all right. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI—SCOUTS ON THE JOB + + +So that shows you how this story has a happy ending, only that isn’t the +end of it. Oh, boy, the worst is yet to come. A lot of terrible things +happen after a war. Now we come to the reconstruction period. And, +believe me, Major Grumpy reconstructed his opinion about the scouts. He +said that poor little patrol that was just starting could have the grove +to build a headquarters in and he gave them some money to build it, too, +He said that before we got there he thought that smoke away off on the +mountain was just a forest fire, but when he found out that we could +make smoke talk, good night, he was for us, all right. + +But anyway, he said he liked to hear Pee-wee talk better. I said, “Yes, +but it would be nice if he’d go off on a lonely mountain and talk, like +the smudge fire.” + +We spent the rest of that day at the Veterans’ Reunion, and we saw the +Uncle Tom’s Cabin show, too. Only one of the bloodhounds wouldn’t chase +Eliza, and Rossie Bent had to give her a frankfurter, so he’d chase her. + +Most of the time that we weren’t at the ice cream counter, we were over +in the grove with those Grumpy’s Cross-roads scouts. They said they were +going to name their patrol the Crows, after Brent Gaylong. Harry said it +would be better to name it the Hot Dogs, after Pee-wee. + +Once Major Grumpy came over and sat down on a stump and talked with us +and asked us a lot of questions about the scouts. He told those little +fellows how they ought to build their shack and he said he’d find a +scoutmaster for them. Most all the veterans came over and visited us, +and we did lots of good turns for them, carrying their luggage and all +like that. One of them was overcome by the heat but we fixed him up, all +right, with first aid. + +Uncle Tom came over, too, and talked to us between the shows. He asked +us if we could dress the marks that the ferocious bloodhounds made on +Eliza’s arm. Those marks were painted. He was awful funny, Uncle Tom +was. + +That reunion lasted three days, but we only stayed one day, because we +had to get started for home. Anyway, I’m glad all the soldiers in the +Civil War didn’t get killed, because you can have a lot of fun at +reunions. One thing I’m sorry for and that is that I won’t be a kid when +the soldiers who were in the World War are old veterans, I bet there’ll +be a lot of lemonade and things then, hey? But anyway there’ll be scouts +then, and it will be lucky for them there was a world war. Anyway, +reunions are my favorite outdoor sports—reunions and hikes. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII—THAT MYSTERIOUS PAPER AGAIN + + +We started away from that reunion at about five o’clock at night and +everybody was sorry to see us go. Those scouts, and the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people, and a lot of old veterans, all crowded around us to say +good-by. They said we were a wide-awake bunch, but if they could have +seen us about four hours later they wouldn’t have said so. + +We made a camp alongside the road, and I cooked supper, and then most of +us slept in the van. While we were sitting around our camp-fire, Brent +took out that mysterious paper that he had found in the scarecrow’s +pocket, and he kind of winked at Harry as if he was going to spring a +great surprise on us. He looked awful funny in the light of the fire; +just like a real live scarecrow—I mean a dead one. + +He said, “Scouts of the victorious legion, while we are resting after +the bloody battle of Grumpy’s Cross-roads, I have a dark communication +to make to you. Excuse me while I get in a better light.” + +“I thought you said it was a _dark_ communication,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, “Well, it’s a kind of a dim communication. Only two scouts +and our trusty leader know about it. They have kept their lips sealed. I +wish now, by the light of this camp-fire, to ask you one and all, if you +are ready to undertake an enterprise that is fraught with mortal peril?” + +“Is it fraught with anything to eat?” Will Dawson wanted to know. + +“Isn’t mortal peril good enough for you?” Pee-wee shouted. + +Gee whiz, some fellows are never satisfied. + +Brent said, “Comrades, when I put an end to the career of that miserable +scarecrow and, with a single stroke, made millions of crows happy, I +found in the pocket of his frock-coat a mysterious paper. More than +that, I know who that frock-coat belonged to before he had it. It +belonged to Deacon Snookbeck of Barrow’s Homestead! _Ha, ha_,—and a +couple of _he, he’s_!” + +“Read the paper!” they all began shouting, + +He said, “Silence. While traveling with Scout Harris, and patrol leader +Blakeley, I met a stranger who told us that several years ago Deacon +Snookbeck had two mysterious visitors in his house. Whether this paper +that I am about to read to you has any connection with those strangers, +I cannot say. I am not skilled in high grade mysteries, being only a +plain, ordinary burglar and thug——” + +“You larcenied!” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent put his hand on his forehead and said, awful funny, “Don’t remind +me of my crimes.” + +“Read the paper,” Rossie Bent said. + +So then Brent read the paper, and I have to admit that it sounded pretty +mysterious and I guess, after all his fooling, that he thought so +himself. + + Snake Creek, North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton Cove. Top of S + Cove. Follow line due north from willow. Cons to west. Stake. + Measure ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line due + NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW limit, indicated at AN + Stake. Follow S line south to pie. + +_Good night_, you should have heard the fellows when he finished +reading. I mean you couldn’t have heard them, because nobody said +anything; they all just sat there gaping. + +Then Brent said, awful funny, he said, “It seems, scouts, that by +following S line south we shall come to a pie. Whether it is a pumpkin +pie or a mince pie I cannot say——” + +Harry kind of cut him off short and said, “Brent, putting all fooling +aside, now that you read that paper over, it sounds pretty good to me.” + +“I was always fond of pie,” Brent said. + +Harry said, “Well, I was always fond of buried treasure and that paper +has the true ring to me, hanged if it hasn’t. Skeleton Cove sounds as if +it meant business. So does ‘_treasure at HW limit_’ I like the sound of +that. I never gave two thoughts to that paper until just now when you +read it, but I’m hanged if I don’t think it means something. What do you +say, Tom Slade?” + +Tom said in that slow way of his, “It’s got the word _treasure_ in, +that’s sure.” + +Then Brent said with a sober face, “As an expert, Pee-wee, what would +_you_ say? Is a pie a treasure?” + +“Good night,” I said, “he’s buried enough pies, he ought to know.” + +“It means buried treasure, that’s what it means!” Pee-wee shouted. “And +I’m with Harry; I say let’s go and find it.” + +“Where?” Brent said. + +“You said we could get a map,” the kid shouted. + +All the fellows were with Harry; they were just crazy to go after that +treasure. Tom Slade didn’t say much, but he never does. I went around to +the side of the fire where he was sitting and I said, “You were always +so crazy about adventures; what do you think it means if it doesn’t mean +buried treasure?” + +“I haven’t got anything to say,” he said; “it’s got the word treasure in +it, and that settles it. I say let’s go, if we can find the place.” + +I shouted, “Tom Slade is with us, he believes in it. I say let’s go +after it.” + +Harry was sitting on the back end of the van, swinging his legs and +looking in the fire. I knew his thoughts were kind of serious, all +right. He’s crazy about adventures, that fellow is. Brent took my scout +knife and held it between his teeth and glared into the fire, very +fierce and savage, just like a pirate. He did it to make Harry mad. But +all the fellows were with Harry, anyway, and they were all crazy about +the thing—even I was crazy. + +Harry said, all the while looking into the fire kind of dreamy like, he +said, “Brent, why may not this be true?” + +Brent said, “You mean the Pirates’ Secret or the Mystery of the Hidden +Pie?” + +“Don’t you mind him,” Pee-wee shouted to Harry; “he’s a Philippine!” + +“That’s just what you are, Brent,” Harry said; “you’re a Philistine. You +have no romance. Just because you live in the twentieth century you +think nothing can happen. But the world war happened, didn’t it? You +have it from a man you met that two mysterious strangers visited the old +gent who once owned that coat. You found this paper; in that +coat—didn’t you?” + +Brent said, “Alas, yes.” + +Harry said, “Well, you can laugh——” + +Brent said, “I’m not laughing, I’m weeping and gnashing my teeth; that’s +true sixteenth century stuff, isn’t it?” + +“Well, how do you explain the writing on that paper, then?” Harry wanted +to know. + +“Sure, how do you explain it, then?” Westy piped up. + +“He _can’t_ explain it,” Tom Warner shouted. + +“Sure he can’t!” Pee-wee yelled. + +Brent said, “I seem to have an overwhelming minority.” + +Harry said, “You’re always shouting about real adventures, but when we +stumble on the real thing, when we’re told on black and white to follow +a line due north from willow—what does that say?” + +“It says _follow a line due north from willow_,” Brent said, all the +while reading the paper. “It says _cons to the west_. It says _stake_; I +don’t know whether it’s a porterhouse or a sirloin. It may be a +Hamburger. It says by following the S line south we’ll come to the pie.” + +Harry jumped down and looked over Brent’s shoulder and he said, “What +does it say about the treasure? We’ll find it at HW limit—there it is +on black and white. Boys, we’ll get a map in Indianapolis and find out +where Snake Creek is if we have to study that map all night. We’re on +the track of pirates’ gold, by thunder! Here’s a _real adventure_ handed +to us by fate! If old Grouch Gaylong isn’t with us, we’ll send him home +in a baby carriage, that’s what!” + +Brent said—gee whiz, I had to laugh the way he said it; he said, +“Comrades, I will follow where you lead. Take me to the treasure and I +will dig it up. But if that scarecrow has deceived me, I will never +trust man again. As a criminal I have been a failure. I wanted to escape +from cruel jailers, I escaped from two boy scouts. I wanted to plunge +from the window of a dry goods van. I wanted to kill a fellow being; I +murdered a scarecrow. My life has been a failure.” + +Gee whiz; honest I almost felt sorry for him. + +He said, “But I have not lost hope. Boys, I will go with you. I will +follow the line north from the willow. I will measure ninety-two feet +along something-or-other. I will follow the S line south to the pie, be +it pumpkin, apple or mince. I will eat the stake. But if I am deceived, +if my hopes are again dashed——” + +“We’ll send you to the insane asylum,” Harry said; “that’s where you +belong.” + +Brent said, “I have always longed to be thrown into a mad-house.” + +Gee whiz, you can’t help laughing at that fellow. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII—THE ONLY WAY + + +The next afternoon we got to Indianapolis and Harry treated us all to +sodas. Then we bought a map that showed the Ohio River. We made a camp +about ten miles east of Indianapolis and had a dandy camp-fire. While we +were there we studied the map and, good night, there was Snake Creek as +plain as day running into it from the north. It ran into it about +fifteen miles north of Wheeling. + +Harry said, “That’s enough for us; the treasure is ours.” + +Pee-wee said, “I’m sorry now we didn’t get some more sodas as long as +we’re going to be rich.” + +Harry said, “Never mind, we’ll have sodas and ice cream and things in +every town between here and Wheeling; I’ll advance the money. What are a +few dollars against maybe several millions?” + +Pee-wee said, “Sure, and we can afford some jaw-breakers, too.” + +“All you want,” Harry said. + +“Won’t it spoil our appetites for the pie?” Brent wanted to know. But +just the same he was interested. + +Now there’s no use telling you about our journey from Indianapolis to +Wheeling—that’s about eight or nine hundred miles, roughly speaking; +only scouts don’t speak roughly. They have to be polite. On that journey +we passed through Springfield and Columbus and a lot of other big +places, and all the people stared at us. Every night we camped in the +country, because we didn’t like staying in cities. + +Gee, I thought we’d never get to Wheeling but after a few days we got +there, and then we put our machines up to get all greased and have some +repairs made. I don’t mean _us_, I mean the machines. + +Then we hired a big launch and started up the Ohio River. About ten +miles up, Snake Creek flows into it. It flows in through the north +shore. Up Snake Creek about ten miles is Skeleton Cove, I bet you’re +getting awful anxious, hey? + +Harry said, “Boys, the fun isn’t in getting money; the fun is in finding +treasure. Why wouldn’t it be a good idea to send a couple of thousand, +say, to those little fellows back at Grumpy’s Cross-roads?” + +“Let’s give five thousand to the Boy Scout drive,” I said. + +Brent said, “All I want for myself is the pie; I’m hungry.” + +Now when we got to Skeleton Cove we saw it was all shady and spooky, +like. The water was black and the place was dark just like a cave. It +was awful still in there. I bet you’re crazy to know what comes next, +hey? + +Over against the shore was the wreck of an old motor-boat; I guess it +got smashed by the rocks there. We chugged over to where it was and Tom +Slade climbed out and stepped across it. + +Harry said, “What do you think it means, Tommy boy?” + +Tom was kneeling on the old deck and looking over the edge. All of a +sudden he said, “Now I know; I was a fool not to think of it before. The +name of this boat is the _Treasure_.” + +Harry said, “What?” + +I said, “What?” + +Will Dawson shouted, “On the level?” + +“On the bow,” Tom said. + +Pee-wee piped up, “What do you mean?” + +Brent said, “Dear me; foiled again.” + +Tom said, “Now I know what it means. The boys from the Geological Survey +were here. All that had me guessing was the word _treasure_. A pie is a +topographic mark; it shows where government land ends. Cons means +contours. They staked their measurings. They were just measuring this +cove and the creek so as to make government maps. T.W. means tide +water.” + +Harry said, awful funny like, “If it wouldn’t be asking too much, will +you please tell me what it means where it says, ‘Treasure at HW limit +indicated at AN stake.’ Can you answer that?” + +Tom said in that sober way of his, “I think it means something about +this boat, the _Treasure_ being at high water limit as indicated at +anchorage stake. I can’t tell just exactly what that memorandum means, +because I never worked in the survey, but I guess the survey boys +weren’t doing any harm out at Deacon Snookbeck’s. They were probably +lining up the contours on his farm. Anyway, all they were doing here was +taking the contours and the water lines for the government maps. The +only thing that puzzled me was the word treasure.” + +“And there is no pie here?” Brent said. + +“A pie is a government mark,” Tom said; “it means the government owns +the land to that point—where the pie is. See?” + +Oh, boy, Harry didn’t say a word. None of the rest of us said a +word—only Brent. + +He said, “Then I have been deceived by a scarecrow! This ends my quest +of adventure; I am through. I am going home and to the only refuge where +real adventure can be found—the movies. I am through with the boy +scouts. Perhaps with William S. Hart or Douglas Fairbanks I can find the +life I crave. There I can find cliffs to jump off, roofs to leap from, +people to kill who are worthy of being killed—not scarecrows——” + +“And floods to get caught in!” Pee-wee yelled. + +Brent said, “Yes, and jails to escape from——” + +“And ships to get wrecked in!” the kid shouted. + +“I know all about the movies I’ll go with you! I’ll go with you——” + +Gee whiz, but that kid is a scream. + + THE END + + + + + This Isn’t All! + + Would you like to know what became of the good friends you have + made in this book? + + Would you like to read other stories continuing their adventures + and experiences, or other books quite as entertaining by the + same author? + + On the _reverse side_ of the wrapper which comes with this book, + you will find a wonderful list of stones which you can buy at + the same store where you got this book. + + Don’t throw away the Wrapper + + Use it as a handy analog of the books you want some day to have. + But in case you do mislay it, write to the Publishers for a + complete catalog. + + + + + THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of “Tom Slade,” “Pee-wee Harris,” + “Westy Martin,” Etc. + + Illustrated. Picture Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +In the character and adventures of Roy Blakeley are typified the very +essence of Boy life. He is a real boy, as real as Huck Finn and Tom +Sawyer. He is the moving spirit of the troop of Scouts of which he is a +member, and the average boy has to go only a little way in the first +book before Roy is the best friend he ever had, and he is willing to +part with his best treasure to get the next book in the series. + + ROY BLAKELEY + ROY BLAKELEY’S ADVENTURES IN CAMP + ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER + ROY BLAKELEY’S CAMP ON WHEELS + ROY BLAKELEY’S SILVER FOX PATROL + ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN + ROY BLAKELEY, LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN + ROY BLAKELEY’S BEE-LINE HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY AT THE HAUNTED CAMP + ROY BLAKELEY’S FUNNY BONE HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL + ROY BLAKELEY ON THE MOHAWK TRAIL + ROY BLAKELEY’S ELASTIC HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY’S ROUNDABOUT HIKE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of “Tom Slade,” “Roy Blakeley,” + “Westy Martin,” Etc. + + Illustrated. Individual Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +All readers of the Tom Slade and the Roy Blakeley books are acquainted +with Pee-wee Harris. These stories record the true facts concerning his +size (what there is of it) and his heroism (such as it is), his voice, +his clothes, his appetite, his friends, his enemies, his victims. +Together with the thrilling narrative of how he foiled, baffled, +circumvented and triumphed over everything and everybody (except where +he failed) and how even when he failed he succeeded. The whole recorded +in a series of screams and told with neither muffler nor cut-out. + + PEE-WEE HARRIS + PEE-WEE HARRIS ON THE TRAIL. + PEE-WEE HARRIS IN CAMP + PEE-WEE HARRIS IN LUCK + PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT + PEE-WEE HARRIS F. O. B. BRIDGEBORO + PEE-WEE HARRIS FIXER + PEE-WEE HARRIS: AS GOOD AS HIS WORD + PEE-WEE HARRIS: MAYOR FOR A DAY + PEE-WEE HARRIS AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + GARRY GRAYSON FOOTBALL STORIES + + By ELMER A. DAWSON + + Individual Colored Wrapper and Illustration by + + WALTER S. ROGERS + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +Football followers all over the country will hail with delight this new +and thoroughly up-to-date line of gridiron tales. + +Garry Grayson is a football fan, first, last, and all the time. But more +than that, he is a wideawake American boy with a “gang” of chums almost +as wideawake as himself. + +How Garry organized the first football eleven his grammar school had, +how he later played on the High School team, and what he did on the Prep +School gridiron and elsewhere, is told in a manner to please all readers +and especially those interested in watching a rapid forward pass, a +plucky tackle, or a hot run for a touchdown. + +Good, clean football at its best—and in addition, rattling stories of +mystery and schoolboy rivalries. + + GARRY GRAYSON’S HILL STREET ELEVEN; + or, The Football Boys of Lenox. + + GARRY GRAYSON AT LENOX HIGH; + or, The Champions of the Football League. + + GARRY GRAYSON’S FOOTBALL RIVALS; + or, The Secret of the Stolen Signals. + + GARRY GRAYSON SHOWING HIS SPEED; + or, A Daring Run on the Gridiron. + + GARRY GRAYSON AT STANLEY PREP; + or, The Football Rivals of Riverview. + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE TOM SLADE BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of “Roy Blakeley,” “Pee-wee Harris,” + “Westy Martin,” Etc. + + Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +“Let your boy grow up with Tom Slade,” is a suggestion which thousands +of parents have followed during the past, with the result that the TOM +SLADE BOOKS are the most popular boys’ books published today. They take +Tom Slade through a series of typical boy adventures through his +tenderfoot days as a scout, through his gallant days as an American +doughboy in France, back to his old patrol and the old camp ground at +Black Lake, and so on. + + TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT + TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP + TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER + TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS + TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT + TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE + TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER + TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS + TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE + TOM SLADE ON MYSTERY TRAIL + TOM BLADE’S DOUBLE DARE + TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN + TOM SLADE PICKS A WINNER + TOM SLADE AT BEAR MOUNTAIN + TOM SLADE: FOREST RANGER + TOM SLADE IN THE NORTH WOODS + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + Jerry Todd and Poppy Ott Series + + BY LEO EDWARDS + + Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +Hundreds of thousands of boys who laughed until their sides ached over +the weird and wonderful adventures of Jerry Todd and his gang demanded +that Leo Edwards, the author, give them more books like the Jerry Todd +stories with their belt-bursting laughs and creepy shivers. So he took +Poppy Ott, Jerry Todd’s bosom chum and created the Poppy Ott Series, and +if such a thing could be possible—they arc even more full of fun and +excitement than the Jerry Todds. + + THE POPPY OTT SERIES + + POPPY OTT AND THE STUTTERING PARROT + POPPY OTT AND THE SEVEN LEAGUE STILTS + POPPY OTT AND THE GALLOPING SNAIL + POPPY OTT’S PEDIGREED PICKLES + + THE JERRY TODD BOOKS + + JERRY TODD AND THE WHISPERING MUMMY + JERRY TODD AND THE ROSE-COLORED CAT + JERRY TODD AND THE OAK ISLAND TREASURE + JERRY TODD AND THE WALTZING HEN + JERRY TODD AND THE TALKING FROG + JERRY TODD AND THE PURRING EGG + JERRY TODD IN THE WHISPERING CAVE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + Football and Baseball Stories + + Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +THE RALPH HENRY BARBOUR BOOKS FOR BOYS + +In these up-to-the-minute, spirited genuine stories of boy life there is +something which will appeal to every boy with love of manliness, +cleanness and sportsmanship in his heart. + + LEFT END EDWARDS + LEFT TACKER THAYER + LEFT GUARD GILBERT + CENTER RUSH ROWLAND + FULLBACK FOSTER + LEFT HALF HARMON + RIGHT END EMERSON + RIGHT GUARD GRANT + QUARTERBACK BATES + RIGHT TACKLE TODD + RIGHT HALF ROLLINS + +THE CHRISTY MATHEWSON BOOKS FOR BOYS + +Every boy wants to know how to play ball in the fairest and squarest +way. These books about boys and baseball are full of wholesome and manly +interest and information. + + PITCHER POLLOCK + CATCHER CRAIG + FIRST BASE FAULKNER + SECOND BASE SLOAN + PITCHING IN A PINCH + + THIRD BASE THATCHER, By Everett Scott + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE FLYAWAYS STORIES + + By ALICE DALE HARDY + + Author of The Riddle Club Books + + Individual Colored Jackets and Colored Illustrations by + WALTER S. ROGERS + +A splendid new line of interesting tales for the little ones, +introducing many of the well known characters of fairyland in a series +of novel adventures. The Flyaways are a happy family and every little +girl and boy will want to know all about them. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND CINDERELLA + + How the Flyaways went to visit Cinderella only to find that + Cinderella’s Prince had been carried off by the Three Robbers, + Rumbo, Hibo and Jobo. “I’ll rescue him!” cried Pa Flyaway and + then set out for the stronghold of the robbers. A splendid + continuation of the original story of Cinderella. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD + + On their way to visit Lillte Red Riding Hood the Flyaways fell + in with Tommy Tucker and The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. They + told Tommy about the Magic Button on Red Riding Hood’s cloak. + How the wicked Wolf stole the Magic Button and how the wolves + plotted to eat up Little Red Riding Hood and all her family, and + how the Flyaways and King Cole lent the wolves flying, makes a + story no children will want to miss. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND GOLDILOCKS + + The Flyaways wanted to see not only Goldilocks but also the + Three Bears and then took a remarkable journey through the air + to do so. Tommy even rode on a Rocket and met the monstrous Blue + Frog. When they arrived at Goldilock’s house they found that the + Three Bears had been there before them and mussed everything up, + mich to Goldilock’s despair. “We must drive those bears out of + the country!” said Pa Flyaway. Then they journeyed underground + to the Yellow Palace, and oh! so many things happened after + that! + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE TOM SWIFT SERIES + + By VICTOR APPLETON + + Uniform Style of Binding. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +Every boy possesses some form of inventive genius. Tom Swift is a +bright, ingenious boy and his inventions and adventures make the most +interesting kind of reading. + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE + TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS + TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE + TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER + TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON + TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP + TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL + TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH + TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER + TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE DON STURDY SERIES + + By VICTOR APPLETON + + Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations by + + WALTER S. ROGERS + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +In company with his uncles, one a mighty hunter and the other a noted +scientist, Don Sturdy travels far and wide, gaining much useful +knowledge and meeting many thrilling adventures. + +DON STURDY ON THE DESERT OF MYSTERY + + An engrossing tale of the Sahara Desert, of encounters with wild + animals and crafty Arabs. + +DON STURDY WITH THE BIG SNAKE HUNTERS + + Don’s uncle, the hunter, took an order for some of the biggest + snakes to be found in South America—to be delivered alive! + +DON STURDY IN THE TOMBS OF GOLD + + A fascinating tale of exploration and adventure in the Valley of + Kings in Egypt. + +DON STURDY ACROSS THE NORTH POLE + + A great polar blizzard nearly wrecks the airship of the + explorers. + +DON STURDY IN THE LAND OF VOLCANOES + + An absorbing tale of adventures among the volcanoes of Alaska. + +DON STURDY IN THE PORT OF LOST SHIPS + + This story is just full of exciting and fearful experiences on + the sea. + +DON STURDY AMONG THE GORILLAS + + A thrilling story of adventure in darkest Africa. Don is carried + over a mighty waterfall into the heart of gorilla land. + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE RADIO BOYS SERIES + + By ALLEN CHAPMAN + + Author of the “Railroad Series,” Etc. + + Individual Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +A new series for boys giving full details of radio work, both in sending +and receiving—telling how small and large amateur sets can be made and +operated, and how some boys got a lot of fun and adventure out of what +they did. Each volume from first to last is so thoroughly fascinating, +so strictly up-to-date and accurate, we feel sure all lads will peruse +them with great delight. + +Each volume has a Foreword by Jack Binns, the well-known radio expert. + + THE RADIO BOYS’ FIRST WIRELESS + THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT + THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION + THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS + THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FOREST RANGERS + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FLOOD FIGHTERS + THE RADIO BOYS ON SIGNAL ISLAND + THE RADIO BOYS IN GOLD VALLEY + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, by +Percy Keese Fitzhugh + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44172 *** diff --git a/44172-h/44172-h.htm b/44172-h/44172-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c349ac8 --- /dev/null +++ b/44172-h/44172-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5901 @@ +<!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=UTF-8" /> + <title>Roy Blakeley’s Motor Caravan</title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg"/> + <meta name="DC.Title" content="Roy Blakeley’s Motor Caravan"/> + <meta name="DC.Creator" content="Percy Keese Fitzhugh"/> + <meta name="DC.Language" content="en"/> + <meta name="DC.Created" content="1921"/> + <style type="text/css"> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + .it { font-style:italic; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + p { text-indent:0; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; + text-align: justify; } + div.lgc { } + div.lgc p { text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } + h1 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; + font-size:1.2em; margin: 2em auto 1em auto} + .imgcenter { text-align:center; margin:1em auto; } + p.caption { text-align:center; margin: 0 auto; width:100%; } + hr.pb { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; + width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em; } + div.blockquote { margin:1em 2em; text-align:justify; } + p.line { text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } + .literal-container { text-align:center; margin: 0 0; } + .literal-container { text-align:center; margin: 1em auto; } + .literal { display:inline-block; text-align:left; } + p.toc { text-align:left; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } + p.toch { text-align:center; text-indent: 0; font-size:1.2em; margin: 1em auto; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44172 ***</div> + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>THE MOTOR CARAVAN ON THE WAY.</p> +</div> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.4em;'>ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;'>BY</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;font-size:1.2em;'>PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;'>Author of</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>SLADE AT BLACK LAKE,</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>ROY BLAKELEY, ETC.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;font-style:italic;'>ILLUSTRATED</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;font-size:0.8em;'>PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>PUBLISHERS—NEW YORK</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;'>Made in the United States of America</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='literal-container'> +<p class='toch'>Table of Contents</p> +<div class='literal'> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chI'>I—Some Expedition!</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chII'>II—Who We All Are</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chIII'>III—Who Is Pee-Wee Harris, and If So, Why?</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chIV'>IV—Pee-Wee’s Watch</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chV'>V—The Caravan</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chVI'>VI—Stranded</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chVII'>VII—A Good Turn</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chVIII'>VIII—Grumpy</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chIX'>IX—Military Plans</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chX'>X—The Signal Corps at Work</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXI'>XI—A Mysterious Footprint</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXII'>XII—A Discovery</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXIII'>XIII—Tom Slade, Scout</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXIV'>XIV—Pee-Wee’s Goat</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXV'>XV—The Message</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXVI'>XVI—Brent’s Ambition</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXVII'>XVII—A Side Show</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXVIII'>XVIII—A Shower Bath</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXIX'>XIX—Brent Gets His Wish</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXX'>XX—We Consider Our Predicament</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXI'>XXI—Getting Started</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXII'>XXII—Silence!</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXIII'>XXIII—Fixing It</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXIV'>XXIV—Snoozer Settles It</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXV'>XXV—Big Excitement at Barrow’s Homestead</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXVI'>XXVI—To the Rescue</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXVII'>XXVII—Another Discovery</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXVIII'>XXVIII—A Mysterious Paper</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXIX'>XXIX—The Mystery Deepens</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXX'>XXX—We Make a Promise</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXI'>XXXI—We Reach Our Destination</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXII'>XXXII—Surrender and Indemnity</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXIII'>XXXIII—Mobilizing</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXIV'>XXXIV—Tr-r-aitors!</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXV'>XXXV—Peace With Indemnity</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXVI'>XXXVI—Scouts on the Job</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXVII'>XXXVII—That Mysterious Paper Again</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXVIII'>XXXVIII—The Only Way</a></p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.4em;'>ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN</p> + +<h1 id='chI'>CHAPTER I—SOME EXPEDITION!</h1> + +<p>Gee whiz, whenever I see that fellow Harry +Domicile, I know there’s going to be a lot of fun. +Just the same as I can always tell if we’re going +to have mince turnovers for dessert. That’s one +thing I’m crazy about—mince turnovers. I can +tell when I go through the kitchen if we’re going +to have them, because our cook has a kind of a +look on her face. I can eat five of those things +at a sitting, but that isn’t saying how many I can +eat standing up. Pee-wee Harris can eat seven, +even while he’s talking at the same time. Anyway, +that hasn’t got anything to do with Harry +Donnelle.</p> + +<p>Maybe you’re wondering why I named this +chapter “Some Expedition.” If it was about Pee-wee +Harris, I’d name it “Some <span class='it'>Exhibition</span>,” because +that kid is a regular circus. So now I guess +I’ll tell you.</p> + +<p>One afternoon I was sitting on the railing of +our porch taking a rest after mowing the lawn. I +was thinking how it would be a good idea if they +had lawn mowers that run by gas engines. We’ve +got a great big lawn at our house. At Doc Carson’s +house they have a little bit of a lawn—he’s +lucky. Gee whiz, you could cut that lawn with a +safety razor.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden I saw Harry Donnelle coming +up the street. I guess maybe you know who he +is, because we had some adventures with him in +other stories. He’s a big fellow, I guess he’s +about twenty-five. He was a lieutenant in the war. +My sister likes him a lot only she said I mustn’t +say so in a story. I should worry about her. He +comes up to our house a lot. Believe me, that +fellow’s middle name is adventure. He says all +his ancestors were crazy about adventures. He +says he wouldn’t have any ancestors unless they +were. He says that’s why he picked them out. +Gee williger, you ought to hear him jollying +Pee-wee. He told Pee-wee that once he lived in obscurity +and Pee-wee wanted to know where that +was. Can you beat that? Harry told him it was +in Oregon. Good night!</p> + +<p>So as soon as I saw that fellow coming up across +the lawn, I kind of knew there was going to be +something doing. Because only a few days before +that he had told me that maybe he would +want my patrol to help him in a daring exploit. +Oh, boy, those are my favorite outdoor sports—daring +exploits. I eat them alive.</p> + +<p>He said, “Hello, kid, I went fishing with Jake +Holden last night and we got into a school of +perch.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Don’t talk about school; this is vacation.”</p> + +<p>He had a bundle with some perch in it and he +said they were for supper. So I took them into +the kitchen and while I was in there I ate some +icing off a cake. If I had my way cakes would be +all icing, but our cook says you have to have a +foundation to put the icing on. Me for the roof.</p> + +<p>When I went back Harry said, “I suppose you +kids will be starting for that old dump up in the +Catskills pretty soon.” He meant Temple Camp. +I said, “We take our departure in two weeks.”</p> + +<p>He said, “Take your which?”</p> + +<p>I said, “Our departure; don’t you know what +that is?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” he said, kind of puzzled like, “I guess +I’ll have to pike around and get some assistance +somewhere else. I’ve got a little job on hand that +I thought might interest you and your patrol. +Ever hear of the Junkum Corporation, automobile +dealers? They have the agency for the Kluck +car. They’re down in New York. It wasn’t anything +much; just a little hop, skip, and a jump out +west, and back again.”</p> + +<p>“In junk cars—I mean Kluck cars?” I blurted +out.</p> + +<p>“Mostly junk,” he said; “but of course, as long +as your plans are made——”</p> + +<p>“Never you mind about our plans,” I told him; +“tell me all about it.” Because, gee, I was all +excited.</p> + +<p>He said, “Well, there isn’t much to it; just a +little gypsy and caravan stuff, as you might say. +My sister’s husband’s brother, Mr. Junkum, is +tearing his hair out and lying awake nights, because +he can’t get cars here from the west. He +says the customers are standing on line and all +that sort of thing and that everything is clogged +up at the other end, the railroads are all tied up in +a knot, the freight is piled up as high as the Woolworth +building and nothing short of a good dose +of dynamite will loosen up the freight congestion +out west. If it was a matter of Ford cars he could +get them through by parcel post, but with these big +six cylinder Klucks it’s a different proposition. +He’s got three touring cars and a big motor van +waiting for shipment out in Klucksville, Missouri, +and if he can’t make deliveries in a couple of weeks +or so his customers are going to cancel. Poor guy, +I’m sorry for him.”</p> + +<p>That’s just the way Harry talks. He said, “One +of those cars, the big enclosed van, is for Jolly +and Kidder’s big store in New York.”</p> + +<p>“That’s where I bought my last scout suit, at +Jolly and Kidder’s,” I told him.</p> + +<p>Then he said, “Junkum wanted me to see if I +couldn’t round up two or three fellows and bang +out to Klucksville and bring the cars home under +their own power. I told him the roads were punk +and he said it’s punk to have your business canceled, +so there you are.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, bibbie,” I said, “we’d love to do that only +we can’t run cars on account of not being old +enough.”</p> + +<p>Then he said, “I rounded up Tom Slade and +he agreed to die for the cause—said his vacation +was at my disposal. He drove a motor truck in +France and he’s a bug on good turns. Rossie +Bent has promised to run one of the touring cars, +I’m going to run the van myself and that leaves +one touring car. I tried to get Brent Gaylong on +the long distance ’phone up at Newburgh to-day, +but he wasn’t home—out grouching around, I +suppose. His mother said she’d have him call me +up or wire me. All I want now is a commissary +department and I got a kind of a hunch that maybe +you kids could camp in the van and cook for the +crowd and make yourselves generally useful. The +way I figure it out by the road map there’ll be +long stretches of road where we won’t bunk into +any towns. I figured on taking Pee-wee along as +a kind of a mascot; you know those little fancy +jim-cracks they put on radiator caps in autos? I +thought he could be one of those, as you might say, +and bring us good luck. He’d be a whole commissary +department in himself, I suppose, +considering the way he eats. But if you can’t you can’t, +and that’s all there is about it.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean, <span class='it'>we can’t</span>?” I shouted at +him. “You make me tired! Do you suppose +Temple Camp is going to run away just because +my patrol is a couple of weeks late getting there? +You bet your life we’ll go. If you try to sneak off +without us, we’ll come after you. We’re coming +back in that motor van, so that’s settled. I should +worry about Temple Camp.”</p> + +<p>He just sat there on the railing alongside of +me, laughing.</p> + +<p>He said, “I thought it would hit you.”</p> + +<p>“Hit me!” I told him. “Believe me, it gave me +a knockout blow.”</p> + +<p>He said he’d stay to supper so as to talk my +mother and father into it, because they don’t care +anything about making long trips in motor vans +and things like that, and maybe they’d say I’d +better not go.</p> + +<p>But, believe me, Harry Domicile knows how to +handle mothers and fathers all right, especially +mothers. So don’t you worry, just leave it to him.</p> + +<p>The worst is yet to come.</p> + +<h1 id='chII'>II—WHO WE ALL ARE</h1> + +<p>What do you think my father said? He said +he wished he was young enough to go along. Oh, +but he’s a peach of a father! So is my mother. +My sister Marjorie said she’d like to go too. +Harry said that no girls were allowed. He said +that girls were supposed to stay home and receive +picture post-cards. Gee whiz, I’m sorry for them. +I’m glad I’m not a girl. But if I wasn’t a boy +I’d like to be a girl.</p> + +<p>That night we had our regular troop meeting. +Cracky, you can’t get that bunch quiet enough to +tell them anything. You know how it sounds in a +graveyard? And you know how it sounds in a +saw mill? Well, a graveyard sounds like a saw +mill compared with the noise at one of our +meetings. So I told our scoutmaster, Mr. Ellsworth, +that I had something to say and he said they +should let me have the chair. Then they began +throwing chairs at me. It’s good he didn’t tell +them to let me have the floor, or they’d have +ripped that up, I suppose.</p> + +<p>“I’d like to get your ear,” I shouted.</p> + +<p>“You’ll get our goat if you don’t say what +you’ve got to say,” Doc Carson yelled.</p> + +<p>“I’m trying to say it if I can get your ear,” I +said.</p> + +<p>“You can have anything except my mouth,” +Pee-wee piped up. Good night, he needs that.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Ellsworth got them all quieted down +and I told them how Harry Domicile wanted the +Silver Fox Patrol (that’s my patrol) to go out +west and how he wanted Pee-wee to go too, even +though he was one of the raving Ravens. I said +the reason he wanted Pee-wee to go was so he +could blow up the tires and we wouldn’t have to +have any pump. Pee-wee likes auto tires, because +they’re the same shape as doughnuts—that’s what +I told him.</p> + +<p>There’s one good thing about our troop and +that is that one patrol never gets jealous of +another. If my patrol gets a chance to go somewhere +the other fellows don’t get mad, because +they get more to eat. Absence makes the dessert +last longer. In our troop each patrol does as it +pleases—united we stand, divided we sprawl. +Each patrol always has more fun than the other +patrols. So if everybody has more fun than anybody +else, they ought to be satisfied, I should hope. +Pee-wee is in the Ravens, because he got wished +onto them when the troop started, but he belongs +to all three patrols, kind of. That’s because one +patrol isn’t big enough for him. He spreads out +over three.</p> + +<p>So this is the last you’ll see of the Ravens and +the Elks in this story. Maybe you’ll say thank +goodness for that. They went up to Temple +Camp. There were fifty-three troops up there and +everybody had more dessert because Pee-wee +wasn’t there. So that shows you how my patrol +did a good turn for Temple Camp. Gee whiz, +you have to remember to do good turns If you’re +a scout.</p> + +<p>Now this story is all about that trip that we +made to bring back those four machines, and believe +me, we had some adventures. If you were +to see Jolly and Kidder’s big delivery van now, +all filled up with bundles and things C. O. D., +you’d never suppose it had a dark past. But, believe +me, that past was darker than the Dark Ages. +You learn about the Dark Ages in the fifth grade—that’s +Miss Norton’s class. She’s my favorite +teacher because she has to go to a meeting every +afternoon and she can’t keep us in.</p> + +<p>So now I guess I’ll start. The next morning +who should show up but Brent Gaylong. He didn’t +even bother to wire. He said he didn’t believe +in telegrams and things like that when it came to +adventures. He’s awful funny, that fellow is—kind +of sober like. He’s head of a troop up in +Newburgh and we met him when we were on a +hike once. He can drive a Ford so easy that you +don’t know it’s moving. He says most of the time +it’s <span class='it'>not</span> moving. He’s crazy about adventures. +Good night, when he and Harry Domicile start +talking, we have to laugh. He said he’d do anything +provided we got into trouble. Harry told +him there ought to be plenty of trouble between +Missouri and New York. That fellow tries awful +hard to get arrested but he never can.</p> + +<p>Now I’ll tell you about the other fellows. +Harry was the captain—he had charge of the +whole outfit. I bet Mr. Junkum trusted him a lot. +But one thing, Harry never does anything for +money. He says money is no good except when +it’s buried in the ground and you go and try to +find it. That’s the kind of a fellow he is. He +didn’t get killed three times in France. But he +came mighty near it. He’s got the distinguished +service cross. He lives in Little Valley near +Bridgeboro. Bridgeboro is my town. I don’t +mean I own it. Harry’s got a dandy Cadillac car +of his own. He takes my sister Marjorie out in +it.</p> + +<p>There was one other big fellow that went on +that trip and that was Rossie Bent who works in +the bank. He got his vacation especially so he +could go. He’s got light hair. Often when he +sees me he treats me to a soda.</p> + +<p>Tom Slade went so as to drive the fourth car, +and he’s a big fellow too, only you bet your life +I’ll never call him a big fellow, because before he +went to the war he was in our troop. And even +now he’s just like one of us scouts. I guess maybe +you know all about him. Believe me, the war +changed him more than it changed the map of +Europe.</p> + +<p>That leaves Pee-wee and the rest of the fellows +in my patrol. So now I’ll tell you about them. +First comes Roy Blakeley (that’s me), and I’m +patrol leader. That’s what makes me look so +sober and worried like. I have to take strawberry +sundaes to build me up, on account of the +strain of managing that bunch. Next comes Westy +Martin; he’s my special chum. He’s got eleven +merit badges. He’s awful careful. He does his +homework as soon as he gets home every day, so +in case he gets killed it will be done. I should +worry about my homework if I got killed. Next +comes Dorry Benton, only he was in Europe with +his mother so he didn’t go with us. If he had gone +with us he would have been there. Hunt Manners +couldn’t go because his brother was going to +be married. The rest of the fellows were Charlie +Seabury and Will Dawson and the Warner twins, +Brick and Slick. They’re just the same, only each +one of them is smarter than the other. You can’t +tell which is which, only one of them likes potatoes +and the other doesn’t. That’s the way I tell them +apart. If I see one of them eating potatoes I +know it’s Slick. That leaves only one fellow, and +gee whiz, I’m going to give him a chapter all to +himself and I hope he’ll be satisfied. Some day +he’ll have a whole book to himself, I suppose. +<span class='it'>Good night!</span></p> + +<h1 id='chIII'>III—WHO IS PEE-WEE HARRIS, AND IF SO, WHY?</h1> + +<p>Anyway Pee-wee Harris <span class='it'>is</span>, that’s one sure +thing. His mother calls him Walter and my sisters +call him Walter, but Pee-wee is his regular +name. He’s our young hero and some of the fellows +call him Peerless Pee-wee, and some of them +call him Speck.</p> + +<p>If all of us fellows were automobiles, Pee-wee +would be a Ford. That’s because he’s the smallest +and he makes the most noise. He eats all his +food running on high. He never has to shift his +gears to eat dessert. Even if it’s a tough steak +he takes it on high. He’s a human cave. He’s +about three feet six inches in diameter and his +tongue is about six feet three inches long. He +has beautiful brown curly hair and he’s just too +cute—that’s what everybody says. His nose has +got three freckles on it. He starts on compression. +When he gets excited Webster’s Dictionary +turns green with envy.</p> + +<p>Now the way it was fixed was that we were all +to meet at the Bridgeboro Station at three o’clock +the next day so as to get the three-eighteen train +for New York. Then we were going to go on the +Lake Shore Limited to Klucksville—that’s near +St. Louis.</p> + +<p>When Pee-wee showed up at the station he +looked like the leader of a brass band. His scout +suit was all pressed, his compass was dangling +around his neck, in case the Lake Shore Limited +should lose its way, I suppose, and his scout knife +was hanging to his belt. He had his belt-ax on +too. I guess that was so he could chop his way +through the forests if the train got stalled. He +had his camera and his air rifle and his swamp +boots and his scout whistle, and he had his duffel +bag on the end of his scout staff. And, oh, boy, he +had a new watch.</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, you must have been robbing +the church steeple. Where did you get that +young clock? If it only had an electric bulb in +it we could use it for a headlight. Is it supposed +to keep time?”</p> + +<p>“It ought to be able to keep a whole lot of +time, it’s big enough,” Harry said. “Are you +going to take it with you or send it by express?”</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, sure, a big watch like that can keep +a lot of time; it holds about a quart.”</p> + +<p>“You make me tired!” Pee-wee shouted. “It’s +warranted for a year.”</p> + +<p>“I bet it takes a year to wind it up,” Westy +said.</p> + +<p>“Anyway we can drink out of it if we get +thirsty,” Will Dawson told him. “It’s got a nice +spring in it.”</p> + +<p>“It doesn’t vary a second,” Pee-wee shouted. +“Look at the clock in the station; that’s Western +Union time.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, but that kid was proud of his new +watch. He looked at it about every ten seconds +while we were waiting for the train, and every +once in a while he looked up at the sun. I guess +maybe he thought the sun was a little late, hey? +When we got to the city he checked up all the +clocks he saw on the way over to the Grand Central +Station, to see if they were right, and when +we were whizzing up along the Hudson on the +Lake Shore Limited he kept a time table in one +hand and his watch in the other so as to find out if +we reached Poughkeepsie and Albany on time.</p> + +<p>Just before we all turned in for the night, Harry +and Brent Gaylong went over and sat by him and +began jollying him about the watch. The rest of +us sprawled around on the Pullman seats, listening +and laughing. Gee whiz, when Harry and +Brent Gaylong get together, <span class='it'>good night</span>!</p> + +<p>Harry said, “The trouble with those heavy duty +watches is they’re not intended for night work. +They work all right in the daytime, but you see +at night when they haven’t got the sun to go by, +they get to sprinting——”</p> + +<p>“Do you know what kind of a watch this is?” +Pee-wee shouted at him. “It’s a scout watch——”</p> + +<p>Brent said in that sober way of his, “That’s +just the trouble. Those scout watches go scout-pace. +A scout is always ahead of time; so is a +scout watch. If a scout watch is supposed to arrive +at three o’clock, it arrives at two—an hour +beforehand. A scout is prompt.”</p> + +<p>“Positively,” Harry said; “by to-morrow +morning that watch will be an hour ahead of time. It’ll +beat every other watch by an hour.”</p> + +<p>“I bet it’s right on the minute to-morrow morning,” +Pee-wee shouted. “That’s a scout watch; +it’s advertised in <span class='it'>Boys’ Life</span>. The ad. said it keeps +perfect time.”</p> + +<p>“How long have you had it?” Rossie Bent +wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“My father gave it to me for a present on account +of this trip,” the kid said; “he gave it to me +just before I started off.”</p> + +<p>“So you haven’t had it overnight yet?” Brent +asked him. “You don’t know whether it’s good +at night work or not.”</p> + +<p>“They always race in the dark,” Harry said; +“that’s the trouble with those boy scout watches.”</p> + +<p>By this time the colored porter and about half +a dozen passengers were standing around listening +and laughing.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, +Kid. I happen to know something about those +watches and they’re not to be trusted. The boy +scout watch is a pile of junk. If that watch isn’t +at least an hour ahead of time when we sit down +to breakfast to-morrow morning, I’ll buy you the +biggest pie they’ve got in the city of Cleveland. +If your watch is wrong by as much as an hour +you’ll have to do a good turn between every two +stations we stop at till we get to Chicago. What +do you say?”</p> + +<p>“I won’t have to worry about any good turns,” +Pee-wee shot back at him.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “All right, is it a go?”</p> + +<p>“Sure it’s a go,” the kid shouted. “Mm! Mm! I’ll +be eating pie all day to-morrow.”</p> + +<h1 id='chIV'>CHAPTER IV—PEE-WEE’S WATCH</h1> + +<p>I guess Pee-wee dreamed of pie that night. +Anyway he didn’t wake up very early in the morning. +When the train stopped at Cleveland for +eats, he was dead to the world. The rest of us +all went into the railroad station for breakfast and +Harry took a couple of sandwiches and a hard +boiled egg and a bottle of milk back to the train +for our young hero when he should wake up.</p> + +<p>When we were eating breakfast in the station, +Harry said, “Well, I see that none of you kids +has ever been out west before. Hadn’t we better +set our watches?”</p> + +<p>I looked up at the clock in the station and, <span class='it'>good +night</span>, then I knew why he and Brent had been +jollying Pee-wee the night before. The dock in +the station was an hour behind my watch.</p> + +<p>“Western time, boys,” Harry said; “set <span class='it'>your</span> +watches back.”</p> + +<p>“And keep still about it when you go back on +the train,” Rossie said, “if you want to see some +fun.”</p> + +<p>“We’ve lost an hour,” Westy said.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you care,” Brent said; “don’t bother +looking for it; we’ll find it coming back.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I had to laugh when I thought of +Pee-wee lying sound asleep in his upper berth with +his trusty boy scout watch under his pillow. When +we went back on the train all the berths except +Pee-wee’s were made into seats. There were only +about a half a dozen passengers besides ourselves +in that car, and Harry went around asking them +all not to mention to Pee-wee about western time.</p> + +<p>I guess it was about a half an hour later the kid +woke up. He was so sleepy that he never thought +about the time till after he had got washed and +dressed, then he came staggering through the car +wanting to know where we were. The rest of +us were all sprawling in the seats and the passengers +were smiling, because I guess they knew +what was coming.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Sit down here and have some +breakfast, Kid. We thought we wouldn’t bother +you to get up when we stopped in Cleveland. +What time have you got?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee hauled out his old boy scout turnip +and said, “It’s half past nine.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Oh, not quite as bad as that; boy +scouts don’t sleep till half past nine. It’s just—let’s +see—it’s just about half past eight.” Then +he showed his watch to Pee-wee, kind of careless +like.</p> + +<p>By that time we were all crowding around waiting +to see the fun and the passengers were all +looking around and kind of smiling.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Sit down and eat your breakfast, +Kid, and don’t let that old piece of junk fool you. +What time have you got, Roy?”</p> + +<p>I could hardly keep a straight face, but I said, +“About half past eight.”</p> + +<p>“You see, it’s just as I told you, Kid,” Harry +said. “As soon as you go to sleep those boy +scout watches take advantage of you. I wouldn’t +trust one of them any more than I’d trust a pickpocket. +How about that, Brent?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I’ve met some pretty honest pickpockets,” +Brent said. “Of course, some of them are +dishonest. But it’s the same as it is in every other +business; some are honest and some are not. I’ve +seen some good, honest, hard working pickpockets. +What time is it, Tom Slade?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I was afraid when Tom took out his +watch, because he usually stands up for Pee-wee, +and I was afraid he’d let him know. But he just +looked at his watch, very sober, and said, “Pretty +nearly twenty minutes of nine.”</p> + +<p>“You all make me sick!” Pee-wee yelled. “You +think you’re smart, don’t you? You all got together +and changed your watches.”</p> + +<p>“This is the same watch I always carried,” +Brent said.</p> + +<p>“I mean you all changed the time,” Pee-wee +shouted; “you think you can put one over on me, +don’t you?”</p> + +<p>“That watch would be all right for a paperweight, +Kid,” Rossie said, “or for an anchor when +you go fishing.”</p> + +<p>“It’s all right to keep time, too,” the kid +shouted.</p> + +<p>“It doesn’t <span class='it'>keep</span> it, it lets it out,” Harry said; +“did you have the cover closed? A whole hour +has sneaked away on you.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe it leaks a little,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“There may be a short circuit in the minute +hand,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“That watch is right!” the kid shouted. +“That’s a boy scout watch and it’s guaranteed +for a year.”</p> + +<p>“Well, it’s an hour ahead of the game,” Harry +said. “You ask any one of these gentlemen the +correct time.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, I had to laugh. Pee-wee went through +the aisle holding his precious old boy scout watch +in his hand, asking the different passengers what +time it was. Every single one of them took out +his watch and showed the kid how he was an hour +wrong. All of a sudden, in came the conductor +and Harry winked at him and said, “What’s the +correct time, Cap?”</p> + +<p>“Eight thirty-eight,” the conductor said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “There you are, Kiddo; what have +you got to say now?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, the kid didn’t have <span class='it'>anything</span> to say. +He just stood there gaping at his watch and then +staring around and the passengers could hardly +keep straight faces.</p> + +<p>The conductor caught on to the joke and he +winked at Harry and said, “Those toy watches +aren’t expected to keep time.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Oh, no, but he’ll have a real watch +when he grows up. He’s young yet. He can take +this one apart and have a lot of fun with the +works.”</p> + +<p>“Somebody set this watch ahead—some of you +fellows did!” Pee-wee shouted. “It was right +last night. It keeps good time. Somebody played +a trick on me! This is a what-do-you-call-it—a +conspiracy. You’re all in it.”</p> + +<p>Just then we passed a station and there was a +clock in a steeple. Harry said, “You don’t claim +that clock in the church steeple is in the conspiracy, +do you? Look at it. <span class='it'>Now</span> what have you got to +say?”</p> + +<p>Then the conductor put his arm over Pee-wee’s +shoulder and he said, “Didn’t you ever hear of +western time, son? The next time you’re traveling +west you just drop an hour at Cleveland station +and you’ll find it waiting there for you when +you come back.”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” I told him; “did you notice that big +box on the platform? That’s where they keep +them. It’s all full of hours.”</p> + +<p>The kid just stood there, staring. I guess he +didn’t know <span class='it'>what</span> to believe.</p> + +<p>“Set your watch back an hour and don’t let them +fool you,” the conductor said, and then he began +laughing.</p> + +<p>“And remember that western time is different +from eastern time,” Rossie said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, sure, everything is different out west,” +Harry put in. “I like the western time better.”</p> + +<p>“Eastern time is good enough for me,” Brent +said; “I always preferred it.”</p> + +<p>“And if you should ever happen to be crossing +the Pacific Ocean on any of your wild adventures, +Kid,” Harry said, “don’t forget to set your +watch back one day when you cross the equator.”</p> + +<p>“If it’s one day I wouldn’t have to set it back at +all,” Pee-wee said. “Three o’clock to-day is the +same as three o’clock yesterday.”</p> + +<p>“It would be better to set it back and be sure,” +Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes, safety first,” Brent said; “there might +be a slight difference. One three o’clock might +look like another, but there’s a difference.”</p> + +<p>“How do you know when you cross the equator?” +I asked Harry.</p> + +<p>He said, “You can tell by the bump. Sometimes +the ship just glides over it easily and you can’t tell +at all unless you look.”</p> + +<p>“It’s best to shift gears going over the equator,” +Brent said; “go into second and stay in second till +you get up the hill.”</p> + +<p>“What hill?” Pee-wee wanted to know. “You +make me sick; there aren’t any hills on the ocean.”</p> + +<p>“That’s where you’re wrong,” Rossie Brent +said. “If you go to Coney Island and watch a +ship coming toward you from way out on the +ocean, you see the top of the masts first, don’t +you? Then after a while you see the whole ship. +That’s because it’s coming up hill. See?”</p> + +<p>“You should worry about hills, Kid,” I said; +“go ahead and eat your breakfast.”</p> + +<h1 id='chV'>V—THE CARAVAN</h1> + +<p>I guess by now you must think we’re all crazy; +I should worry. I just thought I’d tell you that +about Pee-wee’s watch because, gee, it had us all +laughing. So already you’ve lost an hour reading +this story; don’t you care.</p> + +<p>Now we didn’t have any more adventures on +that trip. We didn’t do much except eat and, +gee whiz, you wouldn’t call that having adventures. +Late that night we got to Klucksville and +we stayed at the hotel till morning. They have +dandy wheat cakes at that hotel. And +syrup, <span class='it'>mm</span>, <span class='it'>mm</span>! Then we went to the +auto works and the +four cars were all ready for us, because Mr. +Junkum had sent a telegram to say we were +coming.</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen that big van, +a regular gypsy wagon. On the outside was +painted,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>JOLLY & KIDDER</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE MAMMOTH STORE</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>EVERYTHING FOR THE HOME</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>It was all enclosed and there was an electric +light inside and steps to go up to it and everything. +There were kind of lockers inside too; I +guess they were for small bundles, hey? The +kind that mothers buy and then send back again, +because they don’t fit.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, there wasn’t much to see in Klucksville. +We could have brought the whole +town home with us in the van if we had +wanted to,—all except the auto works. We +didn’t waste much time there because Harry +wanted to get an early start and go as far as +we could the first day. But anyway, we stopped +long enough in the village to have a man print +a big sign on canvas that we tacked on the van. +It said,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>MISSOURI TO NEW YORK</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>SHOULD WORRY ABOUT RAILROADS</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BOY SCOUTS ON THE JOB!</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WE WORK WHILE OTHERS LOAF</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BE PREPARED</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Besides that we bought three straw mattresses +and an oil stove and some canned stuff. We didn’t +need to buy much except food, because we had a +lot of camping stuff along. We got cans of beans +and soup and tuna fish and some egg powder and +Indian meal, because I can make lots of things +with that. Gee whiz, I can’t tell you all the stuff +we bought, but if you watch us you’ll see us eating +it. Believe me, we ate everything except the +straw mattresses. Harry said the Kluck was a +pretty good car for eating up the miles, but believe +me, it hasn’t got anything on us when it comes +to eating.</p> + +<p>Now this is the way we started. First was a +touring car with Tom Slade driving it. He’s +awful sober, kind of. But you can have a lot of +fun with him. He has no use for candy, but he’s +got a lot of sense about other things. I can always +make him laugh—leave it to me. Next came +another touring car with Rossie Bent driving it. +He had a pasteboard sign on his and it said,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WE’RE FROM MISSOURI,</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WE’LL SHOW YOU</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Next came Brent Gaylong in the other touring +car and he had a pasteboard sign that said,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line'>YOU’RE IN LUCK</p> +<p class='line'>IF YOU GET A KLUCK</p> +<hr style='border:none;border-bottom:1px solid black; width:4em'/> +<p class='line'>FROM THE WOOLLY WEST</p> +<hr style='border:none;border-bottom:1px solid black; width:4em'/> +<p class='line'>BOUND FOR LITTLE OLD NEW YORK;</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>After that came the big van with Harry driving +it.</p> + +<p>Now we fellows were supposed to live in the +van, but we didn’t do much except sleep in it. +Most of the time we were riding in the different +cars. A lot of the time I sat with Tom Slade. +Mostly the Warner twins rode in the car with +Rossie Bent. Charlie Seabury and Westy were in +Brent Gaylong’s car a lot of the time. Will Dawson +got sleepy a lot so he was in the van mostly. +Pee-wee rode in all the different cars at once, but +most of the time in the van, on account of that +being the commissary department. Wherever you +see a commissary department, look for Pee-wee. +Commissary is his middle name. Sometimes he +was up on top of the van dancing around. He’s +awful light on his feet. He came near lighting on +his head a couple of times.</p> + +<p>So now I’m going to tell you about that trip.</p> + +<h1 id='chVI'>VI—STRANDED</h1> + +<p>I guess you’ll say this story is a lot of nonsense, +but anyway, those big fellows were worse +than the rest of us. Harry said it didn’t make +any difference if we were foolish, because even a +dollar hasn’t as much cents as it used to have—that’s +a joke. Anyway Harry had plenty of dollars +that Mr. Junkum gave him for expenses. He +told us the people who were buying the cars paid +part of the money. And anyway, my patrol saved +them some money on account of knowing all about +camping and cooking and all that. Harry said it +was more fun than if we stayed at hotels all the +time. Gee whiz, I hate hotels—hotels and spinach. +But once I went to a peach of a fire when a +hotel burned down. That’s one good thing about +hotels, anyway.</p> + +<p>Now about noontime that day the road crossed +the railroad station at a place called Squash Centre. +It crosses it there every day, I guess, Sundays +and holidays and all. Anyway, it crossed it +there that day. Pee-wee was sitting on the seat beside +Harry and he shouted, “Squash Centre; I +like pumpkin better.” As soon as he saw the word +squash right away he thought about pie.</p> + +<p>There were only about six houses there and +the railroad station. On the platform were a lot +of funny looking people and they had a couple of +big dogs tied by ropes. They had a lot of boxes +and bags and things standing around them on the +platform. Most of the squashes of Squash Centre +were standing around a little way off laughing at +them. The man that was holding the dogs had on +a long black coat and a high hat and he needed to +be shaved. His coat didn’t have any cloth on the +buttons. He had long hair sticking out from under +his hat.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, well, we sure are out west. +Here’s poor old Uncle Tom’s Cabin, bag and +baggage.” Then he called down to the man with +the black coat and said, “How about you, old top? +Stranded?”</p> + +<p>Then all the squashes of Squash Centre set up +a howl.</p> + +<p>The man said, very dignified like, “Thank you, +for your inquiry, young sir, and might I ask if +you came through Jones’ Junction? Are there +any trains running?”</p> + +<p>By that time our whole caravan had stopped +and all the squashes got around and began staring +at us.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I don’t believe there are any trains +except eastern trains. I don’t believe there’s anything +that stops this side of Indianapolis. How +far are you going? What’s the matter, didn’t you +hit it right among the squashes?”</p> + +<p>The man said, “The squashes are without art +or patriotism. I thank you for your information, +sir. We are both stalled and stranded. We +have neither a train to travel on nor money to +travel on it if we had. Our friends have not welcomed +us as we hoped they would. We have a +promising engagement at Grumpy’s Cross-roads +some hundred miles distant, where we are under +contract with Major Hezekiah Grumpy to give six +performances at the Grand Army reunion there. +Major Grumpy, sir, fought bravely to stamp out +the evil which our play depicts with such pathos.” +That was just the way he talked.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “So they are having a reunion at +Grumpy’s Cross-roads, are they?”</p> + +<p>“A very magnificent affair, sir,” that’s just what +the man said, “and the major has contracted with +us for the presentation of our heart stirring drama +with the view of having the dramatic part of the +celebration appropriate.”</p> + +<p>Geewhiz, it was awful funny to hear him talk.</p> + +<h1 id='chVII'>VII—A GOOD TURN</h1> + +<p>That man’s name was Archibald Abbington, +and he talked dandy, just as if he had learned it +out of a book. One of those other people told us +that his right name was Henry Flynn. I felt +sorry for them, that’s one sure thing. And, oh, +boy, but those were two peachy dogs they had. +The thing those dogs did mostly was to chase +Eliza. Miss Le Farge, she was the one that played +Eliza. They never let anybody feed the dogs except +her, so they’d be sure to chase her.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Why don’t you let them chase +some of these squashes away? They stand +around gaping just as if they never saw a human +being before. How far is Grumpy’s Cross-roads +anyway?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington said, “It’s a matter of a +hundred miles or thereabout.” Gee, he was crazy +about that word <span class='it'>thereabout</span>. Then he said that +they had a contract with Major Grumpy to give +their first performance the next afternoon at the +Grand Army reunion, but he didn’t know what +they would do because they were stranded.</p> + +<p>Harry was awful nice to him. He said, “Well, +it looks as if you were in a kind of a tight place, +Archy, and I wish we could help you out. We’re +reproducing the good old times, too, as you might +say, with our overland caravan. These are boy +scouts who are taking care of our commissary department +and this is their gallant leader, Roy +Blakeley. How about it, Roy? Do you think we +could squeeze in a good turn, just to vary the monotony? +You’re the boss of that end of the outfit. +It would mean driving all night instead of +stopping to camp as we meant to do. Let’s look +on the map and see where Grumpy’s Cross-roads +is, anyway.”</p> + +<p>I said, “The more the merrier; I don’t care +where it is or how long it takes us to get there. +We’ll take you. That’s our middle name, doing +good turns.”</p> + +<p>“We give shows ourselves sometimes,” Pee-wee +said. “We have a movie apparatus and we give +movie shows. But one thing, we’ve never been +stranded.”</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way of his, “But we +hope to be, sometime; we can’t expect to have +everything at once.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington said, awful dignified like, “We +have been stranded many times, sir. I can assure +you it is not pleasant, especially when one of our +company is ill.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I could see plain enough that one of +them wasn’t feeling good; that was the one they +called Miss De Voil—she played Topsy. Maybe +the squashes disagreed with her, hey?</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, it’s up to you kids, Roy. +Grumpy’s Cross-roads is east, so it isn’t exactly out +of our way, only we’ll have to hit into a pretty +punk road and there’ll be no sleeping around the +camp-fire to-night. What do you say?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington and all the rest of those people +looked at us kids awful anxious, sort of. Gee, it +made me feel sorry for them. All of a sudden +Pee-wee piped up. He said, “Camp-fires aren’t +the principal things in scouting; good turns come +first. Anyway, once I heard that actors always +help each other and maybe, kind of, you might say +we’re actors, because sometimes we give shows.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington said, “I am delighted to hear +that, my young friend. Let me ask you what you +have played.”</p> + +<p>“He plays the harmonica when nobody stops +him,” Westy said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, sure, he’s a peachy actor; he plays +dominoes and tennis and tiddle-de-winks. The +most stirring part he ever plays is when he stirs +his coffee.”</p> + +<p>Miss Le Farge said to another one of those +ladies, “Oh, isn’t he just too cute?”</p> + +<p>So then we helped them get all their stuff into +the van. They had a tent and a lot of other +things. Harry whispered to me that he guessed +they hadn’t had any supper and he said he was +afraid if we didn’t give them something to eat the +man that played the slave driver wouldn’t have +strength enough to whip Uncle Tom the next afternoon. +Brent said maybe even Uncle Tom wouldn’t +have strength enough to stand up and be whipped. +He said, “We’d better feed them up.”</p> + +<p>So we made a fire in the grove right alongside +the road so as not to interfere with Miss De Voil, +who was lying on one of the mattresses in the van. +We told the ladies that they could have the van +all to themselves that night so they could get good +and rested. I fried some bacon for them and +heated some beans and we got water out of the +railroad station.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, the water was the only thing about +that railroad that was running.</p> + +<h1 id='chVIII'>VIII—GRUMPY</h1> + +<p>We ran the cars all that night so as to get those +people to Grumpy’s Cross-roads in the morning. +The ladies slept in the van, all except one; she was +the one that played Aunt Ophelia. In the play +she had to be strict, like a school teacher kind of, +with Topsy. But when she wasn’t in the play she +was awful nice. She sat up all night in Rossie +Bent’s car, because she said she liked the fresh +air. Mr. Abbington and Harry sat together outside +the van. I didn’t get sleepy much. The rest +of the fellows sprawled in Tom Slade’s car and +Brent Gaylong’s car, and were dead to the world. +It was nice traveling in the night only we had to +go slow. We went across a kind of a prairie and +every once in a while we came to farms. It was +dandy to see the sun come up in the morning.</p> + +<p>About five o’clock we came to a village and we +asked a man how far it was to Grumpy’s Crossroads. +He must have got up before breakfast, +that man. He said it was about thirty-five miles, +but that we’d have to go very slow on account of +the road being all stones. We had to drive those +cars easy, because they were supposed to be delivered +new.</p> + +<p>The man said, “If you’re bound east why didn’t +you hit the south road and cut out Grumpy’s Crossroads +altogether?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Because these people have to appear +at the Grand Army reunion at Grumpy’s +Cross-roads this afternoon and we’ve got to get +them there.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “If that’s all you’re going to the +Cross-roads for, you might as well take the south +road. Bill Thorpe, he was t’the Cross-roads yesterday +en’ he said th’ Uncle Tom’s Cabin show +was called off on ’count of thar bein’ no trains +runnin’. He said ole Major Grumpy was tearin’ +’is hair like a wild Injun at th’ railroad +unions.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Is that so? Well, I hope he won’t +have his hair all pulled out by 2 P. M. Do you +suppose old Grump ever heard of the Boy Scouts +of America?”</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell him all about them!” Pee-wee shouted. +“You just leave it to me.”</p> + +<p>The man was smoking a pipe and it kind of +smelled like a forest fire. It smelled like a forest +fire and a gas engine put together, kind of. He +laid his pipe down on the step of the van so we’d +know that what he was going to say was very +serious.</p> + +<p>He said, “You take my advice en’ daon’t mention +no scaout boys t’the major; it’s like wavin’ a +red flag before a bull as yer might say.”</p> + +<p>“Doesn’t like ’em, hey?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Hates ’em,” the man said.</p> + +<p>“Eats ’em alive, I suppose,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“He’d eat ’em raw, only he ain’t got teeth +enough,” the man said.</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way he has, “Well, I +guess that settles it, we’ll hit the trail for the +Cross-roads; I kind of like old Grump already. I +have a kind of a hunch he’ll put some pep into +this Lewis & Clarke expedition. All we needed to +make our joy complete was somebody to try to +foil us.”</p> + +<p>“Cracky, I hope he tries to foil us,” Pee-wee +piped up.</p> + +<p>“Is he a villain?” Brent wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Wall, he ain’t just exactly what you might call +a villain,” the man said, very serious.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Oh, that’s too bad. We haven’t +got a villain for our story yet. I suppose we’ll +have to advertise when we hit into Indianapolis. +‘Wanted, willing and industrious villain; one with +some experience preferred; good chance for advancement; +duties, being foiled by the Boy Scouts +of America.’”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Guess you’re a kind of a comic, +hey?”</p> + +<p>“What’s the trouble between old Grump and +the kids, anyway?” Harry asked him.</p> + +<p>The man said, “Wall, naow, I’ll tell you. Th’ +major’s an old Civil War man en’ he’s a great +stickler on military training for boys; ain’t got no +use for studyin’ natur’ en’ all that kind o’ thing. +He’s daft abaout the Civil War, en’ he’s jest +abaout th’ biggest old grouch this side o’ th’ Missippi +River. This here reunion o’ his, every +three years, is the pet uv his heart, as th’ feller +says. He has th’ poor ole veterans limpin’ in +from miles araound fillin’ ’em up with rations en’ +givin’ ’em shows. He’s got money enough so’s +ter make the United States Treasury look like a +poor relation; and <span class='it'>stingy</span>!”</p> + +<p>“That sounds fine,” Brent said; “we’ll have +him eating out of our hands; we’ll have him so he +comes when we call him. First I was in hopes +we might fall in with some train robbers——”</p> + +<p>“Gee, it isn’t too late yet!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“But a ferocious old major is good enough,” +Brent said; “we can’t expect to have everything. +You’re positive about his hating the Boy Scouts, +are you?” he asked the man. “Because we +shouldn’t want to count on that and then be disappointed. +It’s pretty hard when you think you’ve +found a regular scoundrel and then find that you’re +deceived. Are you willing to guarantee him?”</p> + +<p>“Wall, I wouldn’ say exactly as he’s a <span class='it'>villain</span>,” +the man said; “but he’s a ole wild beast, so +everybuddy says, en’ I’m tellin’ yer not to wave no +red flag in front uv him with a lot uv this scaout +boy nonsense. ’Cause he ain’t in the humor, see?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Do you know, Brent, I think the +old codger will do first rate.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he’ll do,” Brent said; “of course, it isn’t +like finding a pirate, or a counterfeiter, or an outlaw——”</p> + +<p>“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “If +Roy’s going to write all this stuff up, we have to +have an old grouch, so as we can convert him sort +of, don’t we, and then +he’ll—then he’ll—what-d’ye-call-it—he’ll +donate a lot of money and say +the boy scouts are all right. I’ll manage him, you +leave him to me.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You don’t happen to know if he +has a gold-haired daughter, do you?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I guess that man thought we were +crazy—I should worry. Even the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people were laughing.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Because if our young hero could +only rescue old Grump’s gold-haired daughter +from kidnappers, perhaps old Grump would come +across with a real watch that keeps time as a reward +for our young hero’s bravery. I think we’ll +have to try our hand with old Grump.”</p> + +<p>“Are you—are you <span class='it'>sure</span> he’s mad at the +scouts?” Pee-wee wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Tell us the worst,” Harry said.</p> + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-f058.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>THE BLOODHOUND BEGAN SNIFFING THE FOOTPRINT.</p> +</div> + +<h1 id='chIX'>CHAPTER IX—MILITARY PLANS</h1> + +<p>The man put one foot up on the step of the van +and said, “Wall, yer see he owns the Fair +Grounds. Thar was a crew uv these here scout +kids camping over in the grove to one side of it, +and not doin’ no manner of harm, I reckon.”</p> + +<p>“That’s one good thing about us, we never do +any harm,” Pee-wee piped up.</p> + +<p>“Wherever they camp the violets spring up,” +Rossie said.</p> + +<p>“Sure, and dandelions and four-leaf clovers, +too,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>The man said, “Wall, naow, them kids wasn’ +doin’ no manner uv harm, just cookin’ and +eatin’——”</p> + +<p>“Gee whiz, they have to do that!” Pee-wee told +him. “That’s one thing about scouts, they always +eat.”</p> + +<p>“Most always,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“En’ nothin’ would do but he must chase ’em +off,” the man said. “Some uv them men who wuz +interested in the kids made a rumpus about it, but +it weren’t no good; old Grump said off they must +go, and off they went. I wuz sorry ter see it too, +hanged if I weren’t, because they’re a bright, +clever lot, them youngsters. Oft times when I’d +go inter th’ Cross-roads with my old mare marketin’, +there they’d be in th’ grove right alongside +th’ road, sprawlin’ about and onct, when I come +away abaout five o’clock in the mornin’, thar they +were en’ give my old mare a drink out uv th’ +spring.”</p> + +<p>“Up early, hey?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Naow, haow is them kids goin’ ter hinder th’ +reunion? That’s what I say. Poked away off in +th’ grove right on ter th’ end of the grounds. But +the ole major, he says they was nuthin’ but a lot +uv loafers; wanted to know what good they ever +done. Why, Lor’ bless me, if he’d a made friends +with ’em they might uv helped in the reunion, +mightn’t they?... Wall, I guess he wuz all +piffed abaout the show not bein’ able to get there. +Trams east of th’ Cross-roads is runnin’ all right, +but out this way thar ain’t been a wheel movin’ in +a week, ’cept express trains from the east. If I +was you fellers I wouldn’ go a couple of dozen +miles out of my way over a pile of rocks what they +call by the name of a road, I wouldn’, jus ter do a +favor for an old grizzly bear, I wouldn’. Not +me.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, Mr. Abbington looked kind of anxious, +because Harry just sat there on the seat +whistling to himself as if he were thinking. The +rest of us were all standing around.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, as long as old Grump is a +stickler on military training, what do you say we +take Grumpy’s Cross-roads right under his very +nose? We’ll make our approach from the west, +with our dry-goods delivery van and three five-passenger +touring cars. General Harris will have +charge of the Commissary. First, the signal corps +will communicate with the boy scouts of Grumpy’s +Cross-roads and advise them that reenforcements +are on the way—in a dry-goods van and three +touring cars. The grove on the edge of the +parade grounds will be in our hands before night. +We’ll have the Civil War veterans down on their +knees begging for an armistice.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, and maybe—maybe—old Major Grumpy +will have to go and live in a castle in Holland, +hey?” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Honest, isn’t that kid a scream?</p> + +<h1 id='chX'>X—THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WORK</h1> + +<p>First, Harry asked if the telegraph office was +open, but it wasn’t open. The reason was, because +there wasn’t any there. If that place had +been a little smaller we might have run over it +without seeing it and punctured one of our tires.</p> + +<p>Then Brent said, “Well then, you don’t happen +to have a nice hill handy, do you? We’ll return +it in good condition when we get through with +it.”</p> + +<p>They didn’t happen to have any hills in that +village—they were out of most everything. Brent +said he guessed hills were hard to get. So we +started off again and hit into the road that went +to Grumpy’s Cross-roads. Gee whiz, if Major +Grumpy’s temper was anything like that road, +<span class='it'>good night</span>! That was what we all said. But +we should worry about the road as long as we +had all our plans made. Harry said the Kluck +car could eat up the miles all right, but, oh, Sister +Anne, if one of them tried eating the miles on that +road it would have indigestion, all right. Even +Pee-wee couldn’t have eaten those.</p> + +<p>After we had gone maybe about nine or ten +miles we came to a dandy; it was a kind of a young +mountain. Now, on the way along, we had been +making up a message that we would send by +smudge signal, because we thought that if those +other scouts got it, it would be a feather in their +cap and we were thinking about them more than +we were about ourselves. Because a scout is +brother to every other scout, see?</p> + +<p>So this is the smudge signal that we decided to +send, and, <span class='it'>good night</span>, little we knew what it would +lead to. Pretty soon you’ll see the plot beginning +to get thicker.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>Uncle Tom show will be given as announced.</p> +<p class='line'>Deny rumors to contrary.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;'>Boy Scouts of America.</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Brent said, “If those kids are up as early as old +what’s-his-name said they were, they ought to see +a smudge signal up on the top of a hill like this, +and they can notify old Grump. Then later we’ll +give him the knockout blow. He’ll look like a +pancake when we get through with him.”</p> + +<p>That started Pee-wee off—the word pancake. +“We’ll go riding into the village, and we’ll kind +of have our clothes torn, and we’ll look all what-d’ye-call-it—weary +and footsore—and we’ll have +all the Uncle Tom’s Cabin company sitting in the +touring cars,” he said, “and we’ll have a big sign +that says <span class='it'>Boy Scouts on the Job</span>, hey? And +maybe we’ll give a parade.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, the best thing for us to do +now is to parade up this hill and send the message. +You see, although assaults are usually made unknown +to the enemy, in this case we’ll make a big +hit if we start some propaganda along ahead of +us. It pays to advertise, as Jolly & Kidder would +say.”</p> + +<p>Now it was a pretty steep climb up to the top +of that hill, all woods and jungle. We left the +cars down on the road and most of the actor people +stayed in them, because they were tired and +sleepy. Westy stayed down there so as to cook +them some breakfast.</p> + +<p>For quite a long distance up that hill we went +through thick woods, then we came out into an +open place where we could look down and see the +road. The autos looked small down there. We +could see a little thin line of smoke going up where +Westy was starting a fire. The sun was getting +brighter and it made Jolly & Kidder’s van look +all shiny on account of the bright paint on it. It +seemed funny to see a department store car away +out there in that lonesome country.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we got into more woods and Harry +said he guessed there must be a trail. But we +couldn’t find any.</p> + +<p>He said, “This is a forsaken wilderness up +here.”</p> + +<p>“I bet the foot of white man never trod it,” +Pee-wee said; “I bet it’s unknown to civilization +up here.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I guess we’re not likely to bunk into any +movie shows,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>Jiminetty, but it was some wild place, all right. +We had to go single file and tear away the brush +so that we could get through. Tom Slade went +ahead, because he can find a trail if there is one, +and even if there isn’t he always knows how to +go. The farther up we went, the worse it got. +We couldn’t see the road at all on account of the +thick woods below us. Gee, it was so still up there +that it was sort of spooky.</p> + +<p>“I guess no white man ever trod this solemn +wilderness before, as our young friend Scout Harris +observed,” Harry said; “it gets worser and +worser.”</p> + +<p>Just then Tom Slade stopped and we all stopped +in his path. In about a jiffy he was down on the +ground. Gee whiz, I knew what that meant, for +I knew Tom Slade.</p> + +<p>“It’s a footprint,” he said.</p> + +<p>Just then we heard a sound right near us, just +like branches crackling, and in a couple of seconds +one of those bloodhounds from the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin show came dashing up through the bushes. +He pushed Tom Slade right out of the way and +began sniffing that footprint. He was so excited +that he didn’t notice us.</p> + +<h1 id='chXI'>XI—A MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINT</h1> + +<p>First it seemed kind of as if that bloodhound +was just scooping; that means using something +that another scout has found. If I should find a +robin’s nest and then another scout should stalk +there, that would be scooping. Gee whiz, that’s +a mean thing to do. Up at Temple Camp a scout +will get himself disliked for doing that. But it’s +all right to stalk the cooking-shack. Pee-wee +thinks he’s the only one who has a right to hang +out there—I should worry.</p> + +<p>Anyway that has nothing to do with the bloodhound. +Tom got out of his way, and we all stood +about while the dog sniffed around the footprint, +awful excited like. There wasn’t another footprint +anywhere in sight.</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way of his, “Well, I +guess we’re up against the real thing at last. I +guess old Snoozer here is on the track of Eliza. +Listen and maybe we’ll hear her baby crying. She +always carries a baby with her when she puts one +over on the bloodhounds, doesn’t she?”</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy!” Pee-wee shouted; “she always +crosses the ice. Didn’t you see that big roll of +canvas they’ve got? That’s got ice painted on +it. They spread that on the stage and she runs +across it with har—what-d’ye-call-it—her infant +child.”</p> + +<p>“Her which?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“I think she takes a thermos bottle, too, and +an aluminum cooking set,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, anyway, she has given old +Snoozer the slip this time.”</p> + +<p>“That’s a man’s footprint,” Pee-wee said; +“there’s a mystery up here.”</p> + +<p>“Let’s see it,” Rossie Bent said; “where is it?”</p> + +<p>“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “How +can you <span class='it'>see</span> a mystery?”</p> + +<p>“You smell it, according to Snoozer,” Harry +said; “this dog will have a fit in a minute.”</p> + +<p>By that time the dog was pushing every which +way in among the bushes and every few seconds +coming back to the footprint.</p> + +<p>“He seems to be kind of rattled.” That’s what +Harry said.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon the dog went running through the +bushes out into a big open space that was just +about on the top of the mountain. We found out +afterward that that was why the mountain was +named Bald Head. Gee whiz, he seemed rattled. +He’d stop for a couple of seconds and look all +around, then start off all of a sudden, then stop +again.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Eliza’s got his goat this time. +Look at old Tomasso there; he’s mad because +Snoozer took his job.”</p> + +<p>I looked at Tom Slade (because that’s whom +he meant) and I saw that he was kind of picking +among the bushes over to one side of the big open +space. So I went over to where he was and I +said, “Tom, what do you think about it? I always +thought a bloodhound could follow any trail. +That’s a fresh footprint too, isn’t it? But maybe +that dog isn’t a real bloodhound, hey?”</p> + +<p>Tom said, “He’s a real bloodhound, all right, +but I don’t think he’ll find anything.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, how about that footprint then? +It was a fresh one. He ought to be able to follow +that scent. Gee whiz, I never saw a dog act so +funny. He’s all rattled and he doesn’t know which +way to go.”</p> + +<p>Tom didn’t say anything, only he looked over +to the open space where the rest of the fellows +were watching the dog. By that time the dog was +running around and barking, half crazy.</p> + +<p>“Eliza fell through the ice,” Brent called over +to us.</p> + +<p>Harry shouted, “She was very poor, she didn’t +even have a scent. Snoozer’s going to have a +nervous collapse in a minute; he’ll require first +aid.”</p> + +<p>I said to Tom, “Well, somebody was up here, +that’s sure. That’s a new footprint we found. +It’s plaguey funny that a bloodhound can’t follow +that trail; I always thought a bloodhound——”</p> + +<p>“A bloodhound isn’t a scout,” Tom said, kind +of sober like, in that way he has; “he followed the +trail as far as he could, I suppose. Look around +here; don’t you see anything?”</p> + +<p>That’s the way it has always been with Tom +Slade ever since he got back from the war. In +scouting, he would never do anything himself, but +just give us fellows a hint that would start us off. +“If you make as good use of your eyes as he makes +of his nose, you ought to be able to discover +something.” That’s what he said.</p> + +<p>So then I looked all around, and sure enough +I could see that the bushes were broken up toward +the top and, <span class='it'>good night</span>, on one of them +was hanging a little piece of rag.</p> + +<p>“Some one has been through here,” I said, all +excited; “why doesn’t the dog come over here? +The trail leads over this way.”</p> + +<p>Then I began whistling for the dog and calling +to the fellows that we had the trail, and they all +started over except the dog. He wouldn’t follow +them or pay any attention to their whistling +and calling, only stayed right where he was running +around as if he had a fit.</p> + +<p>Before the fellows reached the place where we +were Tom said kind of low, “Don’t fly off the +handle, kid; there are some bushes broken here +and a rag. Now what does that mean?”</p> + +<p>“It means the trail runs through here,” I said; +“and that crazy fool of an Uncle Tom’s Cabin +dog can’t follow the scent across that bare place. +He’s just an actor, that’s all that bloodhound is. +All he’s good for is chasing Eliza.”</p> + +<p>Tom just took the rag from me and looked at +it. “Well then, if the trail runs through here, +where are the footprints?” he asked me.</p> + +<p>“And the dog doesn’t seem to think it’s worth +bothering about,” he said.</p> + +<p>“You admit somebody went through here?” I +shouted at him.</p> + +<p>“Oh, somebody went through here, all right,” +he said.</p> + +<p>“And didn’t leave any footprints and didn’t +leave any scent,” I came back at him.</p> + +<p>“Only a rag,” he said.</p> + +<p>By that time the fellows had reached the place +where we were. “What’s the big idea?” Harry +said. “What have you got there?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “As I <span class='it'>live</span>, it’s a piece of Eliza’s +dress. The plot grows thicker.”</p> + +<p>“There isn’t a footprint here,” I told them.</p> + +<p>“She must have slid on the ice,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“I’m going to drag that dog over here by the +collar,” Rossie spoke up.</p> + +<p>“It’s a mystery,” Pee-wee shouted; “it’s a deep, +dark mystery. We’ve got to solve it—I mean +penetrate it.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, that kid was more excited than the +dog.</p> + +<h1 id='chXII'>XII—A DISCOVERY</h1> + +<p>We all just stood there not knowing what to +think. I could tell that Tom Slade had some kind +of an idea, but you never catch that fellow shouting +out about anything till he’s sure. Even when +he was a tenderfoot in the troop he was that way.</p> + +<p>It seemed mighty funny that we should find +just one footprint in those bushes, but maybe +there weren’t any more across that open space +because it was hard and rocky. Anyway, the +scent led out into that open space, that was sure. +Then on the opposite side of the open space the +bushes were broken and there was a rag hanging +to one of them. Yet we couldn’t get that dog +to go all the way across and take up the scent +where we found the rag. That was the funny +thing. It was funny that there weren’t any footprints +under those bushes where the rag was hanging, +too. Believe <span class='it'>me</span>, Pee-wee was right, it was +a mystery.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon the dog began following the scent +back and Will Dawson went after him. In about +ten minutes he came up again and said that the +dog had followed it as far as a brook where there +was a willow tree. He said the dog got rattled +there just the same as he did on the summit. So +he studied the place carefully and saw that there +was a branch of the tree that stuck out over the +water and he swung himself across and then back +again by that. So he decided that was probably +what the man had done on his way up the mountain. +So you see that trail was cut in two places.</p> + +<p>Will said that he left the dog poking around at +the edge of the stream. And that was the last we +saw of the dog till we got back to our caravan. +Then we saw that he was under the van asleep. +He was resting up so he could chase Eliza in the +afternoon, that’s what Brent said. He chased +Eliza twice every day, that bloodhound did.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, as Scout Harris says, it’s a +mystery. Somebody was up here before us, that’s +sure. There’s no use trying to dope it out, I suppose. +Let’s send the signal. Our friends down +below will think we’re lost.”</p> + +<p>All the while Tom Slade was sort of wandering +around that rocky open space on the top of +the mountain. A couple of times he looked over +to where we were as if he was kind of thinking. +Most of the time he looked at the ground and +the flat rocks. I knew he had some idea in his +head, all right.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon he came strolling over and said +sort of offhand like, “Let’s follow these broken +bushes in a ways.”</p> + +<p>“Nobody went through here, Tom,” Rossie +said; “if they had there’d be footprints. Let’s +get busy with the smudge signal.”</p> + +<p>“It’ll only take a minute,” Tom said.</p> + +<p>“Every minute is precious, Tommy boy,” Harry +told him.</p> + +<p>“Sure, let’s go in,” Brent said; “I’m for adventure +every time. You never can tell; come +ahead.”</p> + +<p>So we all followed Tom in. The brush was +awful thick and I kept tearing it apart down near +the ground, hunting for footprints, but I couldn’t +find a single one. The brush wasn’t even broken +above, either, after we had gone a few feet and +Tom just pushed around without any signs to go +by, all the while squinting his eyes into the bushes +and poking the underbrush with his feet.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon, <span class='it'>good night</span>, Pee-wee gave a shout. +“<span class='it'>I see it! I see it!</span>” he yelled. “The mystery is +solved! I know why there isn’t any man’s footprint +here. It was an <span class='it'>animal</span> that came through! +There he is now—it’s a <span class='it'>zebra</span>!”</p> + +<p>“A which?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“It’s got stripes—wide stripes,” the kid +shouted. “Look there! See it? It’s a zebra! +Don’t you know a zebra?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I wouldn’t know one if I met him +in the street.”</p> + +<p>By that time Tom had gone ahead of us and +hauled something out of the bushes. It wasn’t +a zebra, but it had stripes all right—it was light +colored and it had wide, dark stripes. I bet you +can’t guess what it was, either.</p> + +<p>It was a suit of convicts’ clothes.</p> + +<h1 id='chXIII'>CHAPTER XIII—TOM SLADE, SCOUT</h1> + +<p>“Didn’t I tell you it had stripes?” Pee-wee +shouted. “Wasn’t I right? Now you see! A +scout is observant.”</p> + +<p>“If he sees a suit of clothes he thinks it’s a +zebra,” Charlie Seabury said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, you weren’t so far wrong, +Kiddo. The stripes weren’t on an animal; they +were on a jail bird. I’d like to know where he +flew away to. This is getting interesting. I knew +that clothing was very high, but I didn’t think we’d +find a suit as far up as this.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe he was a murderer, hey?” Pee-wee +whispered.</p> + +<p>“We can only hope,” Brent said in that funny +way. Then he said, “I’ve always felt that I’d +like to be a murderer. I thought I was a real +convict when I was held in jail three hours after +speeding in my flivver. But when I look at this +striped suit, I realize that after all I didn’t amount +to much as a criminal. Let’s take a squint at +those clothes, will you? It’s always been the dream +of my young life to escape from jail by using a +hair-pin or a manicure file or some kind of acid. +I wonder how this fellow escaped.”</p> + +<p>“I bet he escaped in the dead of night,” Pee-wee +said.</p> + +<p>“The question is, where is he?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“He went away in an airplane,” Tom Slade +said, awful sober like, just as if Brent hadn’t +been joking at all.</p> + +<p><span class='it'>Good night</span>, we all just stood there stark still, +looking at him.</p> + +<p>“What makes you think that?” Rossie wanted +to know.</p> + +<p>“No one laid that suit of clothes here,” Tom +said; “it was <span class='it'>dropped</span> here. There aren’t any +footprints. Out there in the flat part there are +wheel marks from an airplane. I saw enough of +those marks in France to know what they mean.”</p> + +<p>“Tomasso Nobody Holmes, the boy detective!” +I shouted.</p> + +<p>“The airplane grazed the bushes when it went +up,” he said; “that’s why some twigs are broken +off. And part of one of the wings of the machine +was torn, too. That’s because the airman +didn’t have space enough to get away in. He +took a big chance when he landed up here, that +fellow.”</p> + +<p>Harry just stood there drumming his fingers +on one of the bushes and looking all around him +and kind of thinking. Then he said, “What’s +your idea, Tommy boy? Do you think a convict +escaped and made his way up to the top of this +jungle and that the airman alighted here for him +by appointment?”</p> + +<p>“The dog followed the scent out into the open, +to the place where the wheel tracks are,” Tom +said. “That’s where the man—that convict—got +in. They didn’t have open space enough to start +from there and they grazed the bushes. I guess +it was pretty risky, the whole business. Anyway, +they chucked the convict clothes out. This piece +of silk is waxed; it’s part of the wing of a machine, +all right.”</p> + +<p>“Tomasso, you’re a wonder,” Rossie said; “no +dog could follow a trail in the air.”</p> + +<p>“There’s often a scent in the breeze,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>“Didn’t I tell you it was a mystery?” Pee-wee +shouted. “Didn’t I tell you it was a dark plot? +As soon as I saw those clothes——”</p> + +<p>“You thought they were a zebra,” Ralph Warner +said; “a scout knows all the different kinds +of animals.”</p> + +<p>“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “A +convict is better than a zebra, isn’t he?”</p> + +<p>“That’s a fine argument,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“It’s logic,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“Well, let’s not complain,” Brent said; “a zebra +would be a novelty, but a convict is not to be +despised. We should be thankful for the convict, +even though he isn’t here.”</p> + +<p>“That’s the best part of it,” the kid shouted; +“that makes the mystery. We’ve got to find him.”</p> + +<p>We didn’t bother any more about the mystery +then, because we wanted to send the signal and +get started again, but you’ll see how that mystery +popped up again and confounded us; I guess +you know what <span class='it'>confounded</span> means, all right. It +means the same as <span class='it'>baffled</span>, only I didn’t know +whether <span class='it'>baffled</span> has two f’s in it or not. But, gee +whiz, I used it anyway—I should worry.</p> + +<p>So now while our friends are waiting for us +down on the road (I got this sentence from Pee-wee), +I’ll tell you about sending that signal. +Signals are my middle name—signals and geography. +But the thing I like best about school is +lunch hour. I’m crazy about boating, too.</p> + +<h1 id='chXIV'>XIV—PEE-WEE’S GOAT</h1> + +<p>That fellow, Harry Domicile, he’s crazy. He +said, “If you like signals so much I don’t see why +you send them. Why don’t you keep them?”</p> + +<p>Will Dawson said, “It isn’t the signal we send, +it’s a message; we send a message by a signal. +See?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “But if it’s a good message why +should you want to send it away? Why don’t +you keep it? If it’s worth anything what’s the +use of getting rid of it? A scout should not be +wasteful.” Then he winked at Brent Gaylong.</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee. He +shouted, “You’re crazy! Suppose I keep some-thing—suppose +I keep——”</p> + +<p>Rossie said, “Suppose you keep silence.”</p> + +<p>“That shows how much you know about logic!” +the kid yelled. “How can I keep silence——”</p> + +<p>By that time we were all laughing, except +Harry. He had the paper with the message written +on it and he said, very sober like, “Well, if +this message is any good at all I don’t see why +we don’t keep it; it might come in useful.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee shouted, “A message is no good at +all—even the most important message in the world +is no good to the fellow that makes it——”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Then he’s just wasting his time +making it. Before we send this message we’d +better talk it over. If it’s any good we’ll keep +it.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, you should have seen our young hero; +I thought he’d jump off the mountain. He yelled, +“Do you know what logic is? You get that in +the third grade. My uncle knows a man that’s +a lawyer and he says—besides—anyway, do you +mean to tell me——”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Go on.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Proceed; we follow you.”</p> + +<p>“Suppose I had a piece of pie,” the kid yelled. +“If it was good I’d eat it, wouldn’t I?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “That isn’t logic.”</p> + +<p>“Sure it’s logic!” Pee-wee shouted. “The better +it is the more I’d get rid of, wouldn’t I?”</p> + +<p>“Thou never spakest a truer word,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“And it’s the same with messages,” he said.</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, you don’t want to eat it, +do you?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, if he doesn’t want to eat it, +what’s the use of chewing it over? Let’s send +it.”</p> + +<p>I bet you think we’re all crazy, hey? I should +worry.</p> + +<p>So then we gathered a lot of twigs and started +a fire about in the middle of that open space. +While we were doing that, Charlie Seabury and +Ralph Warner got some dead grass and brush +and took it down to the brook and got it good +and wet. Then they squeezed the water all out +of it so it was kind of damp and muggy like. It +has to be just like that if you want to send a +smudge message. Maybe you don’t know exactly +what a smudge signal is because maybe you think +that a smudge is just a dirt streak on your face—I +don’t mean on yours but on Pee-wee’s. That’s +Pee-wee’s trade mark—a smudge on his face. +Usually it’s the shape of a comet and it makes you +think of a comet, because he’s got six freckles on +his cheek that are like the big dipper. And his +face is round like the moon, too, but, gee williger, +I hate astronomy. But I’d like to go to Mars +just the same.</p> + +<p>Anyway this is the way you send a smudge +signal. When you get the fire started good and +strong you kind of shovel it into a tin can, but +if you haven’t got any tin can, you don’t. Scouts +are supposed to be able to do without things. We +should worry about tin cans. Brent Gaylong has +a tin can on wheels—that’s a Ford. My father +says it’s better to own a Ford than a can’t afford. +Anyway my sister says I ought to stick to my subject. +Gee whiz, she must think I’m a piece of +fly paper.</p> + +<h1 id='chXV'>CHAPTER XV—THE MESSAGE</h1> + +<p>The reason that I ended that chapter was because +I had to go to supper. So now I’ll tell you +about the signal. If we had only had a tin can +with some kind of a cover to lay over it, it would +have been easy. But we hadn’t any so this is the +way we did. After the fire was burning up we +piled some of the damp grass and stuff on top of +it and that made a smudge that went way up in +the air. I guess any one could see that smudge +maybe fifty miles, especially on account of it being +up on the top of a mountain.</p> + +<p>I said, “All we need now is a cloth or something +to spread over it so we can divide the letters.” +Because you know we use the Morse code.</p> + +<p>So Brent said we could have his mackinaw jacket +and he sent Pee-wee down to the brook to soak it +in the water so that it wouldn’t catch fire. That +was the beginning of Brent Gaylong’s bad luck. +Crinkums, that fellow must have been born on a +Friday—anyway, he was born on a Friday that +day, I guess. But one good thing about Friday, +it’s the day before Saturday. That’s why there +are fifty-two Good Fridays.</p> + +<p>So then we sent the message. The first word +was <span class='it'>Uncle</span>, so to spell that we let the smudge rise +for just a second, then laid Brent’s jacket over it +for about three seconds, then let it rise for another +second, then waited about three seconds more and +then let it rise for, oh, I guess about ten seconds, +maybe. That made two dots and a dash in the +Morse code and it made the letter U good and +big, cracky, bigger than you could make it on +any blackboard, as big as the whole sky. Maybe +it wouldn’t mean anything to you, but that’s because +you’re not a scout. But anyway it meant +U. I don’t mean it meant you, but I mean it +meant U.</p> + +<p>After that we made the other letters in the +word Uncle—N-K-L-E—I don’t mean K, I mean C.</p> + +<p>Then after we’d waited about a minute so as to +separate the words we spelled T-O-M, and after +that there was a big blot on our writing (that’s +what Rossie said), because Brent’s mackinaw +jacket burned up. He said he was sorry, because +there were some peanuts in one of the pockets.</p> + +<p>Anyway he said he was willing to die for the +cause, so he took off his khaki shirt and after +Pee-wee went down and soaked it in the brook, +we used that to separate the words and letters. +Maybe you’ll say that kind of writing isn’t very +neat but we knew that it could be seen for miles +and miles and that if the boy scouts in Grumpy’s +Cross-roads saw it and read it, they’d tell Major +Grumpy and he’d say the scouts were all right. +Because that was our idea, we wanted those other +scouts to get the credit.</p> + +<p>I guess maybe it took a half an hour to send +that message and it didn’t look much like a message +to us. You’ve got to get away off if you +want to read a smudge signal. A smudge signal +is no good for a fellow that’s near-sighted. When +we were all finished, this is what we had printed +in the sky:</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>Uncle Tom show will be given as announced.</p> +<p class='line'>Deny rumors.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;'>Boy Scouts of America.</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Pee-wee wanted to put in something about foiling +the railroad strikers, but Brent said if we +made the message any longer he wouldn’t have +any clothes left. Harry said that if the scouts +at Grumpy’s Cross-roads got that message and +delivered it to old Grump, that old Grump would +surrender unconditionally. So maybe we had +done a good turn for all we knew. Even if the +telegraph operator at Grumpy’s Cross-roads +should see that smudge he’d read the message, all +right. But we said that more likely he’d he asleep +and that scouts are always up early because up at +Temple Camp Uncle Jeb Rushmore (he’s camp +manager) is always telling us that the early bird +catches the first worm. But, gee whiz, if I were +the first worm I’d stay in bed and then the early +bird wouldn’t catch me.</p> + +<p>That’s what Pee-wee calls logic. That’s one +thing he’s crazy about,—logic. Logic and Charlie +Chaplin. He likes girls, too. He says they +always smile at him. Gee whiz, can you blame +them? It’s a wonder they don’t laugh out loud.</p> + +<h1 id='chXVI'>XVI—BRENT’S AMBITION</h1> + +<p>It was some job picking our way down that +mountain. We could see the road and the machines +away down below us and the machines +looked like toy autos. Brent and Harry and +Pee-wee and I were together and Brent talked a +lot of that nonsense like he always does. Pee-wee +had the convict’s suit rolled up tight and tied +with a couple of thin willow twigs. If you wet +them they’re just as good as cord; you can even +tie them in a knot. He carried the bundle on +the end of his scout staff and he had his scout +staff over his shoulder. He looked so important +you’d think he had just captured the convict, too.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “That’s what I call real adventure; +escaping from a prison and beating it off +to some lonesome mountain and being taken away +in an airplane. That fellow has old Monte Cristo +beaten twenty ways. Some convicts are lucky. +I’d like to be that chap.” That’s just the way +he talked.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “You might forge a couple of +checks if you happen to think of it sometime.”</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way of his, “If I +could only be sure of escaping and being carried +off by an airplane. But it would be just my luck +to—to——”</p> + +<p>“Languish,” Pee-wee shouted; “that’s what +they do in jails—languish.”</p> + +<p>“And just serve out my term studying logic,” +Brent said. “But if I thought there’d be a chance +to escape, I think I’d—let’s see, I think I’d—what +do you think of counterfeiting, Harry?”</p> + +<p>“Burglary’s better,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“It’s the dream of my life to be a convict,” +Brent kept up. “These little crimes don’t amount +to anything; what I’d like to do is to hit the high +spots, get sent up for life, and then escape in a +boat or an airplane. Somebody could send me +a file or a saw in a bunch of flowers. What do +you say? This convict is having the time of his +life. That’s the life—being a fugitive.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, I hope you get your wish.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “You’re crazy, that’s what I +say.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Gee whiz, there’s fun enough making a +cross country trip in four autos and running into a +stranded Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company with +bloodhounds and everything, without being sent +to jail.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, I can’t help it; that’s the +way I feel. I envy that convict. I long to languish +in a dungeon cell and file away the bars in the +dead of night and kill three keepers and escape in +an airplane. That’s living.”</p> + +<p>“Good night,” I said, “not for the three +keepers.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, all things come round to +him that waits. My ambition is to be wrecked +at sea. How about you, Roy?”</p> + +<p>I said, “My ambition is to foil old Major +Grumpy and make him fall for the scouts.”</p> + +<p>“No pep to it,” Brent said; “a dark and dismal +dungeon with rats poking around on the stone +floor, that’s <span class='it'>my</span> speed.”</p> + +<p>Cracky, that fellow’s awful funny.</p> + +<p>“You’d never get any dessert,” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Who wants dessert when he can +get a crust of bread and a mug of water?”</p> + +<p>“I do,” the kid shouted. “I want two helpings.”</p> + +<p>That was <span class='it'>his</span> ambition.</p> + +<h1 id='chXVII'>XVII—A SIDE SHOW</h1> + +<p>Pretty soon you’ll see why I named this chapter +“A Side Show.” When we got down to the +road all those show people were sitting around on +the rocks talking and laughing and telling Westy +lots of funny adventures that they had had. Oh, +boy, if I wasn’t a boy scout I’d like to be in an +Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company, that’s one sure +thing. That’s <span class='it'>my</span> ambition. Jails and dungeons +may be all right, I’m not saying, but anyway, I’d +like to be in a show—especially one that gets +stranded. They said that they could see the signal +away up on the mountain, and the man that had to +beat Uncle Tom, he was an awful nice man, he said +he could read most all of it because he used to be a +telegraph operator. But he said he liked +beating Uncle Tom better. Uncle Tom said he didn’t +mind being beaten once a day but he didn’t like +matinees.</p> + +<p>Now I’m going to tell you about how we all +got separated together—that’s what Pee-wee said. +When we were all ready to go, Harry couldn’t +start the engine of the van. He said, “Brent, I +wish you’d take a squint at this motor; it heats up +and the water boils over.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I think the timer must have been +set by Pee-wee’s watch.” Pretty soon he said he +guessed it was just a short circuit.</p> + +<p>“Anyway, that’s better than a long one,” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon Brent said he thought the coil was +running the battery down. Harry said he didn’t +blame the coil.</p> + +<p>Then Brent said there was a leak of current +somewhere, but that he couldn’t trace it. I said, +“Let one of Eliza’s bloodhounds try; maybe he +can trace it.” He said anyway the battery was +discharging; believe me, if I’d had my way I’d +have discharged the whole engine.</p> + +<p>After a while Brent got it started but he said +it wasn’t running right and he guessed he’d have +to get two new plugs. So then we looked at our +map to find out if there was a village anywhere +near along that road where there might be a garage. +Because Brent said there ought to be more +grease in the differential, too. But mostly, he +said, one of the plugs wouldn’t fire the charge.</p> + +<p>Westy said, “If the plug won’t fire it, why +don’t you get the battery to discharge it?”</p> + +<p>Now when we looked at our map we found +that about half a mile east of that mountain a +road branched off from the road we were on and +went through a place named Barrow’s Homestead. +It didn’t bother to stop at Barrow’s Homestead, +that road didn’t, but it went on and formed +a, you know, a what-do-you-call-it, a <span class='it'>junction</span>, +with the other road three or four miles farther +along. It was just a kind of a loop, that road was, +so as to take in Barrow’s Homestead. Only that +road was pretty rough.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I dare say we can find a young garage +at that place; there are bandits everywhere in +the west. If you say so, I’ll drive along that road +and meet you where the roads join.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I guess that’s the best thing to +do—for the rest of us to keep to the smooth, short +road with the touring cars. When we get to the +junction of the two roads we’ll wait for you there +as long as we think it’s safe to wait. If you don’t +show up by ten o’clock, say, we’ll jog along and +meet you at the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s +Cross-roads. We don’t want to run any chance +of not getting these people there on time. Uncle +Tom has got to be thrashed this afternoon at any +cost.” Then he asked Uncle Tom if he wanted a +cigarette. That man was awful nice—the man +that played Uncle Tom. He said he had been +thrashed twice a day for three years, except on +Sundays. Harry said it would be a good thing +if that happened to a lot of us fellows, especially +me. Anyway I’d rather be Eliza and be chased +by ferocious bloodhounds. That’s what Mr. +Abbington called them—ferocious.</p> + +<p>Now as soon as it was decided that Brent Gaylong +should drive the van along that other road, +up jumped our young hero and shouted, “I’ll go +with you; maybe they sell ice cream sodas at that +place.”</p> + +<p>As soon as he mentioned ice cream sodas all +the other fellows said they’d go—except I didn’t. +Because I’m not crazy about an ice cream soda. +I like three or four of them though.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, it looks like a mutiny and +I guess we’ll have to lock every one of you in the +van.”</p> + +<p>By that time, Pee-wee was up on the seat of +the van and he shouted, “I wouldn’t mute; I’m +already here and I’m going to stay here!”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Nobody would ever think of the +word mute in connection with you; stay where +you are and we’ll be glad to get rid of you, and +Roy too, if he wants to go.”</p> + +<p>I said, “The pleasure is mine, I go where duty +calls.”</p> + +<p>“You mean you go where ice cream sodas call,” +the kid shouted at me.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, for goodness’ sake, chuck that +bundle inside the van and give me a chance to sit +down, will you?” Because even still he had that +convict’s suit close by him on the seat as if he +was afraid somebody would get it away from +him. “What are you going to do with it?” I +said. “Hang it up in the parlor when you get +home?”</p> + +<p>So then I climbed up and chucked the bundle +into the van through the little window right behind +the seat. Brent sat down between Pee-wee +and me, and thus we started off. That’s a peach +of a word—<span class='it'>thus</span>. For a little way we could look +across to the other road and see the three touring +cars filled with the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people and +the other fellows of my patrol. Mr. Abbington +was sitting with Harry and he looked awful funny +with his high hat on.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden, <span class='it'>good night</span>, that bloodhound +that had been up on the mountain with us came +tearing across from the other road. I guess he +wanted to go with us. He clambered almost up +to the seat and began sniffing around Brent. I +bet he liked him on account of Brent’s being so +crazy about adventures, hey?</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You go back where you belong, +old Snoozer. Who do you think I am? Eliza?”</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Abbington began calling him and +the dog didn’t seem to be able to decide what to +do.</p> + +<p>“I hear you calling me,” Brent said; “go on +back, Snoozer; we’ll see you later.”</p> + +<p>So then the dog went back but I guess he didn’t +want to. Gee whiz, you couldn’t blame him. Because +one thing sure, if you stick to Brent Gaylong +you’re pretty sure to see some fun. Believe +<span class='it'>me</span>, that fellow’s middle name is adventure. +Just you wait and see.</p> + +<h1 id='chXVIII'>CHAPTER XVIII—A SHOWER BATH</h1> + +<p>Brent said, “I bet Brother Abbington will be +pretty hot to-day with that frock coat of his and +that high hat.”</p> + +<p>I said, “It’s going to be a scorcher, all right.”</p> + +<p>“Lucky for me,” he said, “as long as my mackinaw +and my khaki shirt have gone in the good +cause.”</p> + +<p>“You should worry,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“Only I don’t look very presentable,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you care,” I said; “we won’t meet anybody +along this road.”</p> + +<p>“It’s the least of my troubles,” he said; “what +I’m thinking about is this pesky engine. It jumps +like a bull-frog; I think it’s got the pip.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Some engines have the sleeping +sickness and they won’t go at all.”</p> + +<p>Then we all got to saying how we hoped that +Harry and Rossie and Tom would get the three +cars to Grumpy’s Cross-roads in time so those +actor people could give their show.</p> + +<p>“Even if we’re not with them,” I said.</p> + +<p>“I guess we’ll be able to make connections before +they get there,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, boy, that’ll be some good turn,” Pee-wee +said. “I bet old Grump won’t be mad at the +scouts any more; he’ll see that they’re dauntless +and—something or other.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he’ll see that they’re something or other,” +Brent said. “I never knew a scout that wasn’t +something or other.”</p> + +<p>“He’ll see that they do good turns,” the kid +shouted. Gee whiz, good turns are his favorite +fruit—good turns and doughnuts. Even if he had +a turning lathe he couldn’t turn out any more +good turns.</p> + +<p>Now maybe you know what a tornado is. Anyway, +there wasn’t any that day. So you don’t +need to worry. But all of a sudden dark clouds +came and pretty soon the sky was all black and +the wind was blowing like anything. I guess it +was a cyclone, all right, only it decided not to +come that way on account of the road being so +bad.</p> + +<p>Anyway the wind kept up and blew right in +our faces and after a while Brent said, “Did you +bring those old togs along, kid?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “You mean the convict suit? It’s +in the van.”</p> + +<p>“Well, get me the coat and I’ll slip it on,” +Brent told him. “We may not be able to catch +the convict, but I’m blamed sure I’ll catch cold.”</p> + +<p>So Pee-wee went around and into the van by +the doors in back and got the convict’s jacket. I +guess none of us thought there was anything funny +about Brent wearing it for a little while. Only +I said to him, just joking like, “You wanted to be +a convict, now you’ve got your wish.”</p> + +<p>“If my mother could only see me now,” he +said. “Do I look like a zebra, Pee-wee?”</p> + +<p>We had to laugh, he looked so funny in that +striped jacket; but anyway it was a pretty lonely +road and we weren’t likely to meet anybody.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we began passing houses, and Brent +took the jacket off and threw it back into the van +through the little window in front. In about five +minutes we came to a village. I said, “Go slow +or you’ll run over it.” The village was almose +right underneath the van. The main street of +that village was all black and sticky from tar and +oil that they had been sprinkling on it and pretty +soon we came to the sprinkler, standing still right +in the middle of the road, with a couple of men +near it.</p> + +<p>We had to stop because we couldn’t get past, +so we just sat there on the seat, watching them. +The sprinkler wouldn’t work and they were trying +to fix it. One man was sticking a piece of +wire into all the little holes along the pipe that ran +crossways at the back of the big tank.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “They’ll never fix it that way. +Maybe some of those holes are clogged up, but +not all of them.” Then he called down to the +man and said, “What seems to be the trouble? +Won’t she sprinkle?”</p> + +<p>“Mixture’s too gol darned thick, I reckon,” +one of the men called back.</p> + +<p>“Well, it wouldn’t clog up all the holes,” Brent +said; “probably the feed pipe is clogged up.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Well, I don’t know how we’re +ever going to get at that unless we take the whole +bloomin’ thing apart.”</p> + +<p>Then I heard Brent say, under his breath kind +of, “I could fix that in five minutes.”</p> + +<p>“Then you have to do it,” the kid shouted; +“you have to do a good turn.”</p> + +<p>“Look and see if there isn’t a turn cock on the +feed pipe,” Brent called down; “maybe it joggled +shut. That sometimes happens on an auto.”</p> + +<p>The two men got down under the sprinkler and +began looking and feeling around, but they +couldn’t seem to find anything. After a couple +of minutes Brent climbed down and said, “Let’s +take a look at this.” I guess they could see that +he was a pretty good mechanic, all right. Anyhow +they stepped out of the way and Brent +crawled down under the sprinkler. He lay on his +back part way underneath it and we all watched +him.</p> + +<p>“He’ll find the trouble,” Pee-wee said to the +man; “he’s head of a scout troop, he is, and he’s +resourceful. A scout has got to be resourceful. +Don’t you worry, we’ll do you a good turn, all +right.”</p> + +<p>The men kind of smiled, and one of them said, +“All right, sonny. So yer fer doin’ good turns, +hey?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” Pee-wee said; “that’s one of our rules. +If anybody’s in trouble we’ve got to help them +out—no matter how much trouble it is. You see +a scout can always help you out, because +he’s resourceful.”</p> + +<p>One of those men said, “Oh, that’s it, is it?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” the kid shouted; “all you have to do is +come to us. Even Uncle Sam came to us when +he wanted to sell Liberty Bonds; we helped him +out.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “I bet he was tickled to death.”</p> + +<p>I said to Pee-wee, “Shut up; don’t be shouting +so much about good turns. Actions speak +louder than words.”</p> + +<p>“Words speak loud enough,” the kid yelled.</p> + +<p>“<span class='it'>Good night</span>, you said it,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“Even now we’re doing a good turn,” the kid +shouted; “we’ve got three more autos over on +the other road and we’re taking some Uncle Tom’s +Cabin actors to the Veteran’s Reunion. We +should worry if the railroad trains don’t run.”</p> + +<p>Jimmies, I don’t know how much more he might +have told them, he’s a human billboard for the +Boy Scouts of America, that kid is; but all of a +sudden, <span class='it'>zip goes the fillum</span>, that black tarry stuff +came shooting out from all the holes in the sprinkler +and Brent came crawling out from underneath +it with his trousers and his shirt all black and +sticky and his hair all mucked up with the stuff +and with a big streaky smudge all over his face.</p> + +<p>“<span class='it'>Good night!”</span> I shouted. “What happened?”</p> + +<p>“I found it,” he said; “it had joggled shut, just +as I thought. If you happen to have a few feathers +handy, you can tar and feather me. I did a +good turn, only I didn’t turn over and get out +quick enough.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, that fellow was a sight!</p> + +<h1 id='chXIX'>XIX—BRENT GETS HIS WISH</h1> + +<p>One thing about those men, they weren’t very +good scouts, I’ll say that much. The only good +turn they did was to turn around and drive away. +Maybe the Union wouldn’t let them do good +turns; Unions have got no use for good turns.</p> + +<p>First we decided that we’d stop at the nearest +house, but one thing about scouts, they don’t like +to ask for help unless they have to. But if you +offer them something to eat it’s all right for them +to take it.</p> + +<p>I said to Brent, “Well, you were crazy for an +adventure, now you’ve got one.”</p> + +<p>He said, “I don’t care about such a sticky one. +I’m not exactly what you would call crazy about +tar shower baths.”</p> + +<p>“You’ll have to cut your hair off, that’s one +sure thing,” I told him; “you’ll never be able to +get that stuff out of your hair.”</p> + +<p>“I’d like to sit down, too,” he said; “but if I +did, I could never get up again. I think the sooner +I’m fixed up the better. Let’s run the van alongside +the road and get inside and see what we can +do. Our friend’s suit of clothes is still in there. +After boasting about my dreams of adventure it +seems rather tame to go into somebody’s back +kitchen for repairs. I’m afraid Harry would indulge +in a gentle smile.”</p> + +<p>“He’d indulge in a gentle fit if he saw you now,” +I told him.</p> + +<p>“I say let’s not go to anybody for assistance,” +Pee-wee spoke up. “We can get gasoline out of +the tank, so you can wash the tar off your face, +and I’ve got a folding scissors in my scout knife. +I’ll cut your hair for you.”</p> + +<p>“How would you like to have it cut?” I asked +him, just kidding him.</p> + +<p>“I think I’d like it cut dark,” he said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, we’ll cut it short and then if you +don’t like it we’ll cut it longer.”</p> + +<p>So we decided that we wouldn’t depend on anybody +but would act just the same as if we were +on a desert island where there weren’t any barbers +and bathtubs and things, because Columbus +and Daniel Boone didn’t have barbers and bathtubs +and things.</p> + +<p>“They depended upon their own initials,” Pee-wee +said.</p> + +<p>“You mean initiative,” I told him.</p> + +<p>He said, “What’s the difference?”</p> + +<p>So then I ran the machine over to the side of +the road right close to a kind of a grove and we +got some gas out of the tank and Brent and I +went inside the van. We told Pee-wee to stay +outside so as to keep people from opening the +doors or fooling with the car, because we were +in the village and we thought maybe people would +be hanging around.</p> + +<p>There was only one thing to do with Brent’s +hair, and that was to cut it off, because the tar +was so thick there that the gasoline wouldn’t melt +it. I made a pretty good job of it with the little +folding scissors in Pee-wee’s scout knife. We +managed to get most of the tar off his face with +the gasoline, but it left his face kind of all black +and sooty looking.</p> + +<p>He couldn’t sit down or lean against anything +on account of the tar all over his clothes, so he +took them off and I handed them out to Pee-wee +and told him to throw them in the grove. Then +Brent put on the convict’s suit, and he looked +awful funny in it with his dirty face and his hair +all cut short.</p> + +<p>He said, “At last the dream of my young life +has come true; I am a criminal. The only thing +is I haven’t committed my crime yet.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, you needn’t be in any hurry about +that.”</p> + +<p>He said, “But it seems sort of <span class='it'>false</span> for me to +be wearing a convict’s suit when I haven’t committed +any crime. It seems like deceiving people. +It troubles my conscience. And I haven’t +really escaped either. What would you do if you +were me? I don’t want to disgrace the uniform +I wear. I wish I could think of some nice easy +crime. I feel nice and clean in these things, anyway. +But my conscience is black. Do you suppose +there’s a bank in this burg, and a jail? I was +thinking if I could just let myself down by a rope. +Only it would be just my luck to have a cell on +the ground floor.”</p> + +<p>I said, “The best cell for you is right in this +little old van, at least till we get out of town. +You leave the rope business to Douglas Fairbanks. +If anybody in this place should see you, +<span class='it'>good night</span>, Sister Anne! And it isn’t any joke, +either. Now you’ve got your wish, you’ll see it +isn’t going to be as much fun as you thought it +was.”</p> + +<p>Brent sat down on an old grocery box that we +had inside the van, and, jiminetty, I had to laugh, +he had such a funny way about him. He looked +awful tough, sort of, without his hair. He said, +“Well, I appoint you my keeper. I hope I’m not +such a cheap sort of a criminal as to try to escape +from a delivery van. A stone dungeon or nothing +for me.” Gee whiz, that fellow’s particular.</p> + +<p>Just then the plot grew thicker—oh, <span class='it'>boy</span>! One +of the doors of the van opened and Pee-wee +squeezed in. He had a big piece of paper in his +hand. He said, “I went up the road a little way—shh!”</p> + +<p>I said, “I thought it was kind of quiet outside.”</p> + +<p>He said, “Shh, look at this; it was tacked to a +tree. We’re in desperate peril——”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “In which?”</p> + +<p>“Read this,” the kid whispered. “I didn’t see +it till after I threw the clothes away and they +floated down the brook. Dangers thicken—look +at this.” He got those words out of the movies, +<span class='it'>dangers thicken</span>.</p> + +<p>Brent and I read the printing on the paper and +this is what it said:</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Offered for information leading to the recapture +of Mike Donovan, alias Rinky, escaped from Indiana +State Prison. Was serving term of fifteen years +for burglary and child murder. Slender of stature. +Five feet nine inches in height. Is supposed to have +relations in the east. Age about nineteen. Is known +to be a desperate character, having served terms in +New York and Pennsylvania for burglary and highway +robbery.</p> + +</div> + +<p>There was some more, about who to notify and +all that, but I can’t remember the rest. Brent +took the paper from me and sat there on the +grocery box in the dim light with the doors closed, +reading it. It seemed awfully dark and secret, +kind of, in there.</p> + +<p>He said, “Larceny, child murder, burglary, and +highway robbery. That isn’t so bad, is it? That’s +really more than I expected. I haven’t lived in +vain.”</p> + +<p>“You’ll live in a jail, that’s where you’ll live,” +Pee-wee whispered. “What are we going to do?”</p> + +<p>“You ought to know,” I told him, “a scout is +resourceful.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXX'>CHAPTER XX—WE CONSIDER OUR PREDICAMENT</h1> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em;'>(THAT’S PEE-WEE’S HEADING)</p> + +<p>I said to Brent, “Now you’ve killed a child and +highway-robbed people and broken into houses, +I hope you’re satisfied.”</p> + +<p>“And larcenied,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“Shut up,” I told him; “do you want the whole +town to hear you? It’s bad enough as it is; suppose +somebody should come walking into this +van.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, in that crazy way of his, “Boys, +this is the end of an evil career. This is what +comes of getting mixed up with the boy scouts. +See where it has brought me. Never again will +I do a good turn.”</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“Shh,” I told him; “have a heart. Do you +want to get us all pinched?”</p> + +<p>“It was about the best turn I ever did,” Brent +said; “I turned the stop-cock all the way open. +And here I am a prisoner in a dry goods delivery +van with boy scouts for keepers. I’d be +ashamed to look an honest burglar in the face.” +Honest, that’s just the crazy way he talked. He +said, “Now the question is to escape. I want to +escape in a way that’s full of pep.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “You make me tired. Do you +mean to say that good turns——”</p> + +<p>“Will you shut up about good turns, and +listen?” I said.</p> + +<p>“I mean to say that a good turn is the cause +of my downfall,” Brent said; “and I wish I had +a cigarette. Boys, take a lesson from my terrible +example and don’t ever do a good turn.”</p> + +<p>“What are you talking about?” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“Shh,” I told him; “keep still, will you? The +first merry-go-round you see you can get on it and +do all the good turns you want, only keep still +and give us a chance to see where we’re at, will +you?”</p> + +<p>“It’s printed on the National Headquarters’ +letterheads,” he said, “to do a good turn——”</p> + +<p>“It’s bad advice to give a young boy,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Keep still, you’re worse than he is. +Give me a chance to think, will you?”</p> + +<p>“Roosevelt’s name and Taft’s name are on that +letterhead,” the kid began, “so that shows——”</p> + +<p>“I’m surprised that they should give such advice +to young boys,” Brent said. “I wonder if I +could escape from this van with a file and let +myself down with a rope?” Then he picked up +a can opener and said, “Ha, ha, just the thing.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Will you please keep still a minute, +both of you? Maybe you’ve heard the scout +motto, ‘Be Prepared.’ That’s just as important +as good turns. How are we going to get away +from this town? That’s the question. You and +your crimes, and Pee-wee and his good turns, +make me tired. We’ve got to look facts in the +face.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I’m ashamed to look even a fact +in the face.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I told him, “you’ll be looking a sheriff +in the face if you don’t talk in a whisper, and +maybe you’ll find it isn’t so pleasant being arrested.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I’m not thinking about being arrested, +I’m thinking about escaping.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you can’t escape from a dry goods van,” +I told him.</p> + +<p>He said, awful sad, kind of, “I know it. Oh, +if I were only Eliza and could be pursued by +ferocious bloodhounds.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, you can’t have everything. +You’ve done pretty well so far.”</p> + +<p>“Sure you have,” Pee-wee whispered; “there’s +one of those notices tacked up in the Post Office, +and everybody is talking about that fellow escaping. +I told them that often boy scouts find +missing people. I was telling them about good +turns, and I said we’d be on the lookout.”</p> + +<p>“I hope they won’t look <span class='it'>in</span>” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“What else did you tell them?” I asked him, +good and scared. Because I knew that if our +young hero had been able to round up an audience +in the Post Office, most likely he had given +them the whole history of the Boy Scouts of +America and a lot of other stuff besides.</p> + +<p>“I was telling them about good turns,” he said. +“There was an old lady there and I carried a +big bundle out to her carriage for her.”</p> + +<p>“And that’s all you told them?” I asked him.</p> + +<p>“I told them we were going to the Veterans’ +Reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads,” he said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Did anybody ask you any questions?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” he said; “a man asked me if I liked +gumdrops. He gave me a bag of them. Want +one?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I said, “the best thing for us to do is +to get out of this place as quick as we can. When +we once strike open country, we’ll be all right +and when we meet the rest of the crowd we can +scrape up some civilized duds.”</p> + +<p>“I wonder how I’d look in Brother Abbington’s +plug hat just now,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“You should worry,” I told him; “you look +bad enough already.”</p> + +<p>“Speaking of plug hats,” he said, “don’t forget +we have to get a couple of plugs for the motor. +What place is this, anyway?”</p> + +<p>“It’s the place we were looking for,” Pee-wee +said; “it’s Barrow’s Homestead. There aren’t +any scouts here, but I told the people all about +them. They’re going to start a troop.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, it’s time to start this troop if +we don’t want to get into trouble. This is a pretty +risky business.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXI'>XXI—GETTING STARTED</h1> + +<p>As soon as I heard that Pee-wee had been in +the Post Office talking, I decided that we had better +get away from that place just as soon as we +possibly could, if not sooner. Even Brent said +he guessed the best way to escape was inside the +van; he said it was more comfortable and convenient. +He said the good old times when people +used to escape from towers and be pursued +by ferocious bloodhounds weren’t any more except +in the movies. He said he was discouraged.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, when I looked at him sitting there +on that grocery box with his face all grimy and +his hair cropped and that striped suit on him, I +just had to laugh. I have to admit he’s awful +funny, that fellow is.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, one thing, it’s mighty lucky I +know how to drive a car and I can get us out of +this village. And another thing, it’s mighty lucky +we’re still just where the village begins; if we +weren’t we’d be surrounded. If we can get past +the Post Office, we’re safe.”</p> + +<p>So then Pee-wee and I tore down the signs we +had outside the van about going all the way from +Klucksville to New York, because people would +wonder at fellows our age doing that when there +was no big fellow with us. Safety first, that’s +what I said.</p> + +<p>“If they think we’re only going as far as +Grumpy’s Cross-roads,” I said, “I guess nobody’ll +be suspicious.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Yes, but how about Jolly & Kidder’s +name, and New York printed all over the +sides of the van?”</p> + +<p>“A scout is resourceful,” I told him; “let’s +tear down the canvas from inside and be quick +about it.”</p> + +<p>Now inside that van was lined with canvas +to keep things from getting scratched, I guess. +Brent said it was a padded cell. So we took +that down and tacked it up outside on both +sides so that all the printing was covered. After +we did that we closed the doors of the van and +locked the padlock and Pee-wee took the key. +Brent called out to us that we should take a +lesson by his terrible example. Then we could +hear him kind of muttering, “I will escape; I +will foil you all yet.” Honest, he’s crazy, that +fellow is.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee and I sat down on the back step for +about half a minute to make up our minds what +we should say if any one stopped us and asked us +questions. “Anyway,” he said, “that canvas on the +sides will make people suspicious with no printing +on it.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, we’re not going to print any lies +on it, anyway.”</p> + +<p>He said, “We don’t have to print lies. Truth +is stranger than fiction—that’s what it said in a +movie play I saw.”</p> + +<p>Then, all of a sudden he out with a piece of +chalk that he always carries so as he can make +scout signs and he sprawled all over one side of +the van,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BOY SCOUTS</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>EN ROOT TO SOLDIERS’ REUNION</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'><span class='sc'>Our Mottoes:</span></p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BE PREPARED</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>DO A GOOD TURN DAILY</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>I said, “That isn’t the way to spell en route. +What’s the matter with you?”</p> + +<p>I guess he was thinking about root beer, hey?</p> + +<h1 id='chXXII'>XXII—SILENCE!</h1> + +<p>I said to Pee-wee, “Now all we have to do is +to go straight about our business and keep our +mouths shut and we’ll get out of this burg all +right. Just keep silence. Nobody’s going to stop +us as long as people don’t get suspicious. I can +drive the car till we get out of town and I don’t +think any one will stop me. All <span class='it'>you</span> have to do +is to keep silence.”</p> + +<p>“How long do I have to keep it?” he wanted +to know.</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, keep it till it’s all used up, and then +I’ll give you some more. Believe me, you can’t +have too much of it just now.”</p> + +<p>“We’ll have to use up a lot of it, hey?” he said.</p> + +<p>“More than <span class='it'>you</span> ever used before,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“Anyway,” he said, “an innocent man has nothing +to fear.”</p> + +<p>“You got that out of the movies,” I told him. +“An innocent man with his hair cropped and a +convict suit on has a whole lot to fear.”</p> + +<p>“Innocence is a shield,” he said; “it’s in my +copy book.”</p> + +<p>“Yes?” I said. “Well, an enclosed van is a +better shield.”</p> + +<p>“Our lips will be sealed, hey?” he said. I guess +he got that out of the <span class='it'>Dan Dauntless Series</span>; he +eats those books alive.</p> + +<p>I felt kind of shaky driving that van, but I +knew I had to do it, and if a scout has to do a +thing he does it. Gee whiz, I like things that are +hard—except licorice jaw breakers. You get three +of those for a cent. Even I can eat those if I +have to, but I like marshmallows better. I like +peanut brittle too. But anyway that hasn’t got +anything to do with driving a car.</p> + +<p>For maybe an eighth of a mile there weren’t +any houses, because where we stopped was really +on the edge of the village. Anyway that village +didn’t have much of an edge to it. Pretty soon +the houses began to get near together. I guess +they were always just as near together but they—you +know what I mean.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee didn’t say a word; he just sat straight +up beside me like a little tin soldier. It was a +shame to see him wasting so much silence.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we came to the Post Office. There +were a lot of people standing around the Post +Office and they were talking about the railroad +strike. I knew that if we once got past the Post +Office we’d be all right. Because post offices in +the country are where sheriffs and constables and +other people that haven’t got anything to do hang +out. It wasn’t much of a post office. I guess they +called it a post office because there was a post out +in front of it. There was one of those signs tacked +to that post.</p> + +<p>I said to Pee-wee, “This is a young reviewing +stand. Look straight ahead, keep your mouth +shut, and look kind of careless—you know—carefree.”</p> + +<p><span class='it'>Good night</span>, you should have seen the look he +put on!</p> + +<p>“Is that what you call care free?” I whispered +to him. “You look like an advertisement for +tooth powder.”</p> + +<p>“That’s the scout smile,” he whispered.</p> + +<p>Honest, you’d have laughed to see him; he was +looking straight ahead and grinning all over his +face.</p> + +<p>“Look natural,” I whispered to him. “Look +as if there wasn’t a convict in the van. Look as +if you never saw a convict.”</p> + +<p>“How can any fellow look as if he never saw +a convict?” he whispered. “Most everybody has +never seen a convict.”</p> + +<p>“Well, look like them, then,” I told him. “Look +the same as a person would look if he wasn’t +helping a convict to escape.”</p> + +<p>He put on another kind of a smile and then +he whispered to me, “I bet now those people will +say I’m not helping a convict to escape, hey?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” I told him; “you look as if you were +on the track of an ice cream soda. Keep still +and the worst will soon be over.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXIII'>XXIII—FIXING IT</h1> + +<p>As we went past the Post Office I felt pretty +shaky, because there were a whole lot of people +there and some of them were women, and there +were a lot of children, too. The women said, +“Isn’t he cute?” They meant Pee-wee.</p> + +<p>Everybody stared at us as we went by, and +read the printing on the van and said how the +boy scouts were all right. It didn’t seem as if +anybody was suspicious at all. Some of them +waved to us and we waved back and I heard a +man say that we were lively youngsters. Gee +whiz, nobody ever accused us of being dead, that’s +one sure thing.</p> + +<p>One lady said how she had seen Pee-wee in +the store and how he had told her all about good +turns. She said it must be great to be a boy. +Gee whiz, she said something that time.</p> + +<p>“Now you see,” Pee-wee whispered; “it’s good +I was in that store. It’s good I told them all +about the scouts, because now they’re not suspicious. +They think it’s all right for kids to be +doing this, because I told them scouts are resourceful.”</p> + +<p>“Did you tell them how we have plenty of initials?” +I asked him.</p> + +<p>“Do you know what safe conduct is?” he asked +me.</p> + +<p>“I know that yours isn’t always safe,” I told +him.</p> + +<p>“It means when a general promises not to interfere +with anybody, even an enemy. He gives +them safe conduct; that means that they can go +ahead and not worry about being pinched, see? +These people gave us safe conduct and they’re +not bothering us, because they know the scouts +are all right. It’s on account of the way I talked +to them. I came along first like a kind of a—you +know—a what-d’ye-call-it——”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know <span class='it'>what</span> to call it,” I said.</p> + +<p>“A herald,” he blurted out.</p> + +<p>“Well,” I said, “you look more like the funny +page in the Journal to me. Don’t talk too loud, +the danger isn’t passed.”</p> + +<p>By that time we had got about fifty yards past +the Post Office and I was feeling kind of nervous, +but just the same I knew the danger was over.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Do you mean to tell me that +those people would let a couple of kids like us +go by driving a big van, and never ask them any +questions, if they didn’t know that we were all +right? I fixed it all right, while you and Brent +were worrying your lives out in the van. Now +we’re safe.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, you’re the little fixer, all right.”</p> + +<p>Just then, <span class='it'>good night</span>, one of those men came +running after us calling, “Hi thar, wait a minute, +you youngsters!”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, a cold shudder ran down my back. +I said, “We’re pinched. I knew it was too good +to be true.”</p> + +<p>I stopped the car and when the man caught up +with us he said, all out of breath, “What’s this +here talk one of you youngsters were givin’ us +’baout good turns? Allus ready ter do a favor, +as I understand?”</p> + +<p>Oh, bibbie, wasn’t I relieved.</p> + +<p>“That’s our middle name,” Pee-wee said.</p> + +<p>“Wall then, haow abaout doin’ one naow?” the +man said.</p> + +<p>By that time there were about a dozen people +standing around in the road and I gave Pee-wee +a nudge and said, “Watch your step; let me do +the talking.”</p> + +<p>But he didn’t pay any attention to me. Off he +went with a lot of stuff out of the handbook and +wound up by saying how scouts were supposed to +help strangers. “Sure, we’ll do anything you +want,” he said; “all you have to do is to ask us.”</p> + +<p>“Wall then,” the man said, “here’s a lot of +folks wantin’ to go to the reunion at the Crossroads +and we was thinkin’ as haow you might +pack ’em inter this here van of yourn as long as +the trains ain’t runnin’.”</p> + +<p><span class='it'>Jumping jiminies!</span> I nearly fell through the +seat.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXIV'>XXIV—SNOOZER SETTLES IT</h1> + +<p>That was a home-run all right I said, all +flabbergasted. “You see, the only trouble is I’m +not an experienced driver and these are—they’re +pretty rough roads—and—eh—”</p> + +<p>“That’s one thing about us,” Pee-wee piped up; +“we’re not as smart as we look. Maybe it seems +as if we could do most anything, but we can’t. +That’s one thing about a scout, he has to admit it +if he doesn’t know everything. He has to—he +has to—eh—he has to safeguard the lives of +others. See? Suppose we ran into a ditch and +upset the car and everybody got killed. They +wouldn’t thank us, would they?”</p> + +<p>One of the ladies said, “Oh, isn’t he just too +funny for anything!”</p> + +<p>The man said, kind of slow and drawly like, +he said, “Wall, yer could drive slow en’ thar +ain’t no ditches.”</p> + +<p>“Even one ditch would be enough,” the kid +said. “Isn’t there just one?”</p> + +<p>Jiminetty, I could hardly keep a straight face. +There were all those people crowding around the +van and saying how nice it would be if we would +take a group to the reunion and how we had +plenty of room. I thought of Brent sitting on the +grocery box inside, and I bet he was laughing.</p> + +<p>I said under my breath to Pee-wee, “All right, +you got us into this with your good turns; now +you can get us out.”</p> + +<p>Then a man said, “A couple of boys who are +going to have an eye out to recapture a convict, +like this here little feller says, they ought to be +smart enough and kind enough, I reckon, to give +some of these here disappointed souls a lift. Jest +you boys open these here doors and let the +youngsters pile in, so they can go see Uncle Tom’s +Cabin.”</p> + +<p>“That—that show isn’t going to be much +good,” Pee-wee said; “and I can tell you one +thing, it’s pretty stuffy in that van. That’s one +thing scouts believe in—fresh air.”</p> + +<p>By that time he was fidgeting around on the +seat and some of the people were laughing and +some of them looked surprised.</p> + +<p>“That’s just it,” Pee-wee said; “if you were +boy scouts and you were going to try to capture a +criminal, you wouldn’t want a lot of children +along, would you? And ladies? Ladies are +a-scared of criminals; gee, I don’t blame them.”</p> + +<p>Somebody said, “Oh, I guess the hounds they +got on the trail will find the convict, all right, so +you boys can jest consider if you’re goin’ to live up +to your words or not ’baout doin’ good turns.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, that was a terrible moment in Pee-wee’s +life. I guess <span class='it'>Dan Dauntless</span> never had so +much to worry about. But that kid has some +sense, anyway, and that’s more than that story +fellow has. In a couple of seconds I noticed that +he was wiping his face with his handkerchief and +I saw that he was getting the key sort of rolled +up in the cloth at the same time. Then he made +believe to put the handkerchief in his back pocket, +but really he dropped it through the little window +into the van. You couldn’t even hear it drop inside.</p> + +<p>Then he said, “The trouble is that this van is +locked and we haven’t got the key.” That kid +would never have said that while he had the key, +because it would have been a lie. And scouts +don’t lie, that’s sure.</p> + +<p>Jiminy, I don’t know what those people +thought; anyway I felt pretty mean. The ladies +said anyway they were just as much obliged to +us. The men looked kind of as if they didn’t +have much use for us, but they didn’t say anything +and I had to admit that Pee-wee had got +away with it all right.</p> + +<p>Then, <span class='it'>good night, Sister Anne</span>, what should +I see but our old college chum Snoozer from the +Uncle Tom’s Cabin show. There he was, right +among all those people, pushing them out of the +way and sniffing around as if he was half crazy. +Pee-wee and I jumped down and pushed past the +people who were all crowding around the back of +the van, and, <span class='it'>good night</span>, there was that pesky +actor dog with his feet on the step, sniffing and +sniffing at the doors and barking and yelping for +all he was worth.</p> + +<p>“Chop down them doors!” I heard a man say. +“That’s somethin’ wrong here. This here dog +is an official bloodhound, and, <span class='it'>by gum</span>, he’s tracked +that thar convict. That chap paid these youngsters +to help him escape, that’s what he has—by +thunder! Somebody get an axe out of the Post +Office and chop down these here doors. Don’t +either one of you youngsters try to run or, by +thunder, you’ll drop in your tracks. Good turns, +eh? So them’s the kind of good turns you do, +hey? Get an axe somebody—quick!”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXV'>XXV—BIG EXCITEMENT AT BARROW’S HOMESTEAD</h1> + +<p>I was kind of excited, but I said to Pee-wee, +“Don’t get scared; all they’ll do is arrest him; +he’ll get off.”</p> + +<p>Then one of the men came up and said to us +awful loud and gruff, “Naow, you kids, aout with +that key, hand it over!”</p> + +<p>I said, “Didn’t you hear my chum say that we +haven’t got the key? It shows you don’t know +much about scouts if you think they lie. If you +want to know where the key is, it’s inside.”</p> + +<p>“Wall then, yer better crawl through that little +winder up thar in front and git it,” he said.</p> + +<p>“I don’t have to get it,” I told him; “go and +get it yourself if you want it. You must have +been reading dime novels if you think that boys +like us help convicts to escape. If you tear down +those doors you’ll put them up again, I’ll tell you +that.”</p> + +<p>Just then along came a man with a brass badge +on about as big as a saucer. I said to Pee-wee, +“Look what he’s hiding.” He had an axe, too. +There were a lot of people crowding all about +him. One of them said, “It’s a pretty desperate +attempt, Constabule.” The man said, “I’ll have +him behind the bars in about a jiffy. These boys +is accessories, that’s what they are.”</p> + +<p>“Accessories are things that come with motor-boats,” +the kid whispered to me.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, we’re the kind of accessories +that come with motor vans. This is some circus; +Brent will get his wish and go to jail, all right. +There’s no use getting scared.”</p> + +<p>By that time everything was excitement. People +came running out of houses and crowded +around the van and stared at Pee-wee and me. +Gee whiz, I don’t know where all the people came +from. All the while the dog kept clawing at the +doors of the van and barking and yelping. I +wondered how Brent felt inside the van. In about +five minutes the whole town was out, gaping and +talking, all excited.</p> + +<p>The constable said to us, “Naow then, you +youngsters, you been compoundin’ a felony, that’s +what you been doin’. Now who’s inside that van? +Who yer hidin’? Somebody, hey?”</p> + +<p>“I’m not denying anything,” I told him. “All +I say is we didn’t break any law.”</p> + +<p>“Wall, yer admit yer concealin’ somebody in +thar, ain’t yer—huh?” he shouted.</p> + +<p>I said, “I’m not denying it, but I’m not scared +of you.”</p> + +<p>He said, “Yaas? Wall, we’ll soon see. We’ll +have him under lock and key for sartin, if that’s +what he likes.”</p> + +<p>“That’s his favorite pastime,” I said; “you +don’t know him.”</p> + +<p>“Surraound this here wagon, you people,” the +constable said, “and keep a watch on these kids; +they’re pretty slippery.”</p> + +<p>So then the constable and another man began +chopping down the doors. “It’s up to them,” I +said to Pee-wee; “we should worry.”</p> + +<p>“What do you suppose Brent will do?” he said.</p> + +<p>“They’ll lock him up till the whole thing is +explained,” I said; “they won’t take our word for +anything. He’s got troubles of his own at last; +I hope he’s satisfied. He wanted bread and +water, now he’ll get it.”</p> + +<p>“They’ll lock us up, too, won’t they?” the kid +said, good and scared. “That man is keeping his +eye on us.”</p> + +<p>All the while the dog kept yelping and clawing +at the doors and the people crowded closer around +so as to see better. Gee, I felt kind of sorry for +Brent, because I saw he was up against it.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden down came one of the doors +and the bloodhound sprang inside and came out +again. The constable poked his head in and said, +“<span class='it'>Well, I’ll be jiggered!</span>” Pee-wee and I looked +inside and, good night, that van was as empty as an +ice cream soda glass when Pee-wee is through +with it.</p> + +<p>“Well—what—do—you—know—about—that?” +I stammered under my breath to Pee-wee.</p> + +<p>“His dream came true,” Pee-wee whispered to +me; “he kept his vow, he foiled everybody, +he <span class='it'>escaped</span>. He—he—he what-d’ye-call-it—he +hasn’t lived in vain—hey?”</p> + +<p>“He hasn’t lived in the van very long, that’s +sure,” I whispered. “He has put it all over these +people and us too. Can you beat that fellow?”</p> + +<p>“He defied locks and bolts and dungeons like Houdini,” +the kid said. I guess he saw Houdini in the movies.</p> + +<p>“Sure, he’s a real hero at last,” I said; “but +he’s got <span class='it'>me</span> guessing.”</p> + +<p>The constable and a couple of other men were +stamping around inside the van and he called out, +“Thar ain’t no clew here, nothin’ but this here +can opener.” And then he came out with the can +opener in his hand.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I just couldn’t help shouting right +out in front of everybody. I said, “That clew +explains the whole mystery. There was a can of +baked beans in that van, and he must have opened +it and emptied them out and secreted himself in +the empty can. When we threw the can away, +he escaped.”</p> + +<p>The constable said, “What’s all this talk? I +want to know who you kids is, anyway. And I +want ter know what you’re doin’ here, runnin’ +this big van all by yourselves.”</p> + +<p>I said, “I’m Sherlock Nobody Holmes, the boy +detective. This is my trusty pal, Scout Harris. +We’re on our way to kidnap Major Grumpy in this +van and hold him until he gives up one thousand +dollars to the Boy Scouts of America. Can you +tell us where we can buy a couple of spark plugs?”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXVI'>XXVI—TO THE RESCUE</h1> + +<p>All of a sudden the plot grew thicker. I +thought we’d have to thin it with gasoline, it grew +so thick. For a few minutes Pee-wee and I just +stood there wondering what had become of Brent +and laughing at the constable who was holding his +axe in one hand and our can opener in the other, +and all the people stood around staring at us as +if they didn’t know what to make of us.</p> + +<p>The constable said, “I daon’t like the looks uv +this here, I don’t. You allowed there was somebody +in that van. Now whar is he?”</p> + +<p>I said, “I didn’t allow anything, I just didn’t +<span class='it'>deny</span> anything. What’s the use of blaming us +because you half chopped the van to pieces? All +you’ve got is a can opener—we should worry. +You seem to trust the dog; if you want to ask any +questions you’d better ask <span class='it'>him</span>. The only person +he knows how to track is Eliza, because that’s +his business.“</p> + +<p>“He’s on the stage,” Pee-wee piped up.</p> + +<p>“You mean he’s in the van,” I said.</p> + +<p>The constable said, “Wall, I reckon you youngsters’d +better tell yer story ter Justice Cummins. +It’s mighty funny two young boys travelin’ by +theirselves in a big van.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll recount our adventures to him,” Pee-wee +piped up. “Where is he?”</p> + +<p>For about half a minute the constable just stood +there staring at us. I guess he didn’t know what +he’d better do. All the rest of the people stood +around, staring. I guess it was the biggest thing +that ever happened in Barrow’s Homestead. Inside +the van a couple of men were holding the +bloodhound by the collar. Some excitement.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden, zip goes the fillum, along the +road came an auto, pell-mell! It came through +the village from the direction we were going in.</p> + +<p>“Look!” Pee-wee said. “Look who’s in it; it’s +Harry; who’s that with him?”</p> + +<p>Before I had a chance to say anything, the car +was close up to us and Harry and another person +were stepping out. Harry was laughing all over +his face, but he was in a terrible hurry, I could see +that. I gave one look at the person who was with +him and began to roar.</p> + +<p>“It’s—it’s Brent—Gaylong,” Pee-wee whispered.</p> + +<p>I said, “Don’t make me laugh any harder or +I’ll die of shock.”</p> + +<p>Honest, even now when I think of it I have +to laugh. He looked like Charlie Chaplin only +more so. And he had such a funny way about +him too—kind of dignified. He had on a great +big straw hat like a farmer and a black coat like +a minister, only it was all in shreds. It was his +trousers that made him look like Charlie Chaplin. +Laugh! They were about a hundred times +too big and a mile too long, and every time he +took a step he stumbled all over himself and had +to hoist them up. His big hat was pulled way +down over his ears and—oh, I just can’t tell you +about it. He was a scream. And all the while +he had a very dignified, severe look on his face, +even when he tripped all over himself.</p> + +<p>Honest, I just howled. I didn’t hear Pee-wee +laugh; I guess he must have fainted. Harry +came along behind Brent, trying not to laugh but +every time Brent’s feet caught in his trousers I +could see Harry’s face all twisted up just as if he +was trying as hard as he could not to scream. +Every step Brent took I thought he’d go kerflop +on the ground. The people were all giggling, but +he didn’t notice them at all, only kept on looking +very sober and stern—oh, boy, it was a scream.</p> + +<p>He said, “What is all this?” And then he fell +all over himself and gave his trousers a hitch. +“Who is interfering with these boys in the performance +of their duty? Stand back, everybody!” +And he went staggering against a tree and gave +his trousers a good hitch up. “Who is the leader +of this motley throng?” That’s what he said, +and, gee whiz, I thought he’d skid and land on +his head. You couldn’t see his hands, his sleeves +were so long. “Who dares to stand—” he said, +and, good night, he went kerflop on the ground +and got right up again. I had a headache from +laughing.</p> + +<p>Harry Donnelle just sat down on the step of +the van and shook and shook.</p> + +<p>Brent pointed at the sheriff with the floppy end +of his sleeve and said, “You and your minions +are charged with trespassing upon the property +of Jolly & Kidder, Inc., New York. Wait till I +roll up my sleeves so I can point better. Who +<span class='it'>dares</span> to stand in the way of the Boy Scouts of +America?”</p> + +<p>“Thar’s a convict missin’ from araound these +parts,” the constable said; “who are you, anyway, +and your friend thar?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “We represent the Archibald Abbington +Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company who are +touring the country, drawing laughter and tears +with their excruciating and heart-rending drama, +and I am in search of one of our ferocious bloodhounds. +We are in partnership with the Boy +Scouts of America and any one attempting to interfere +with our noble effort to put an end to +slavery will be punished to the full extent of the +law. When we have an opportunity we will endeavor +to find your convict for you. Please stand +aside, everybody, and allow the procession to +pass.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXVII'>CHAPTER XXVII—ANOTHER DISCOVERY</h1> + +<p>Brent stumbled up the step and stood in back +of the van, holding his trousers up with one hand +and waving the other hand in the air.</p> + +<p>“Free ride to the Veterans’ Reunion at +Grumpy’s Cross-roads!” he began shouting. +“Children and veterans free! We take you but do +not bring you back. No connection with criminals +and convicts! Free ride to the carnival. +Veterans welcome! All aboard for the carnival! +Hail to the Grand Army of the Republic and the +Boy Scouts of America. Hurrah for Jolly & +Kidder, New York’s great cash store! Step inside, +veterans!”</p> + +<p>Pretty soon an old man with an old blue army +cap came hobbling out of the crowd, and Harry +helped him up into the van. That was a starter. +Men began bringing boxes from the Post Office +and putting them in the van for seats. Most of +the mothers wouldn’t let their children go because +there wasn’t any way for them to get back, but +the veterans didn’t seem to mind that. We got +three veterans in Barrow’s Homestead and then +started out. I don’t know what the constable +thought, but we should worry about that. All +the people cheered us and gave us a fine send-off. +Pee-wee said they were stricken with remorse—I +guess he got that out of a movie play.</p> + +<p>We stopped for a couple of spark plugs and to +get the timer of the van adjusted, and a lot of +the kids followed us as far as the end of the town.</p> + +<p>Harry drove the van and Brent drove the touring +car, and Pee-wee and I sat with Brent.</p> + +<p>I said, “I wish you’d tell us about your adventures, +you crazy Indian. I thought we were in +for a lot of trouble in that village. You’ve got +me guessing. Anyway you escaped like you said +you were going to do. But I’d like to know where +you came from and where you got that bunch of +rags.”</p> + +<p>He said, “You should never laugh at honest +rags. Beneath these rags beats a noble heart. +Boys, I am sick of crime and I am going to reform.” +That’s just the way he talked, the crazy +Indian. He said, “I have had my fondest wish, +I have been a convict—a villyan. I have languished +in a dark moving van, I have foiled the +shrewdest people in the world, the boy scouts—not. +Would you like to hear the story of my evil +career? I began life as an honest boy. I never +stole but once in my life and that was when I +stole second base in a ball game.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Will you stop your jollying and tell us +what happened?”</p> + +<p>He said, “Posilutely I will. There were two +boy scouts sitting on the step outside the Jolly & +Kidder state prison. I was inside in my convicts’ +stripes.”</p> + +<p>“Were you languishing?” Pee-wee piped up.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “No, I was eating a banana. I +said two scouts, but really it was only about one +and a half. They were supposed to be alert, observant, +resourceful.”</p> + +<p>I said, “That’s right, rub it into us.”</p> + +<p>He said, “While they were arguing on the back +step I stood upon a grocery box and crawled +through the little window in back of the front +seat. I was <span class='it'>free</span>, like Monte Carlo—I mean +Monte Cristo—”</p> + +<p>“You mean Monticello,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“You mean Montenegro,” Pee-wee put in.</p> + +<p>“The world seemed bright and new,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy,” I told him; “go on, where did +you get those clothes?”</p> + +<p>He said, “Shh. Can I count on you never to +breathe a word? The man I got these clothes +from lies dead in yonder swamp.”</p> + +<p>“Who put him there?” Pee-wee wanted to +know.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Shh, I did. The man was innocent. +He was standing in a field beyond the swamp. +He was doing no harm. I approached him, crawling +through the grass.”</p> + +<p>“What was he doing there?” Pee-wee wanted +to know.</p> + +<p>“He was scaring away crows,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“<span class='it'>He was a scarecrow</span>!” I blurted out.</p> + +<p>“A harmless, innocent, hard working scarecrow,” +Brent said. “As I think of it now——”</p> + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-f146.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>BRENT CAPTURED A SCARECROW.</p> +</div> + +<p>“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “Why +didn’t you say so?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “His trustful, happy, carefree face +haunts me now. He was only scaring away the +crows——”</p> + +<p>“You give me a pain!” the kid shouted. +“You’re crazy.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “But I thought of my dungeon in +the Jolly & Kidder van and of my brutal +keepers, those two boy scouts—asleep on the back +step. I said to myself, ‘I will never return +whither——’”</p> + +<p>“You mean thither,” Pee-wee said.</p> + +<p>“I said to myself, ‘They will have to kill me +to take me alive,’” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“Anyway, you killed him?” I asked him.</p> + +<p>He said, “I killed him in cold blood—anyway +it wasn’t more than lukewarm. I tore him to +pieces and took his clothes and concealed my telltale +convict stripes under a weeping willow. It +was weeping its eyes out.”</p> + +<p>“It’s a wonder it wasn’t laughing,” I told him.</p> + +<p>He said, “The poor fellow was as thin as a +stick; his arms were made of a cross stick, I +think it was a broom stick. He lies under the +marsh grass in yonder swamp. And I am free!”</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy too,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“I said I would escape and I did,” Brent began +to laugh. “I decided that I would escape from +the very people who claim to be the most alert and +wide-awake—the boy scouts. You say I’m crazy. +Very well, even a crazy person can foil the boy +scouts. I suppose that’s what you call logic.”</p> + +<p>“That’s what you call nonsense,” Pee-wee +yelled.</p> + +<p>“I hope you boys had a good nap while I was +escaping,” Brent said. “It was a shame to do it, +it was so easy. I tried to leave good plain footprints, +I did all that an honest convict could to +help you, but in vain. I doubt if the boy scouts +could trail a steam roller. As for the authorities +of Barrow’s Homestead ... but I’ve seen +enough of crime and its evil results.” That’s just +the way he talked. “Henceforth I mean to be +honest.”</p> + +<p>“You’re a nut, that’s what you are!” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent said, awful kind of heroic like, he said, +“Ha! Sayest thou so? Then glance at this paper.”</p> + +<p>I said, “What is it? Where did you get it?”</p> + +<p>“I got it out of the inside pocket of this old +coat,” he said; “and it means mischief. <span class='it'>Shh</span>, no +one has seen it but Harry Domicile; he agrees +with me that it has to do with a dark plot.”</p> + +<p>“You mean you found it in the scarecrow’s +pocket?” Pee-wee asked him, all excited.</p> + +<p>“I found it in the scarecrow’s inside pocket,” +Brent said. “I don’t think the scarecrow knew +it was there. It is very mysterious. I think we +are on the track of a new mystery. That anybody +who wore a black frock coat should have +had such a paper in his possession is very strange. +It is no wonder the crows shunned him.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXVIII'>CHAPTER XXVIII—A MYSTERIOUS PAPER</h1> + +<p>Brent handed me the paper and Pee-wee nearly +pushed me off the seat sticking his head way over +and trying to read it. I have to admit it was +mighty interesting what was on that paper. The +more Pee-wee stared at it the bigger his eyes got, +and it had <span class='it'>me</span> guessing, too.</p> + +<p>All the while, Brent just sat there driving the +machine as if he wasn’t interested in the paper at +all. He said, “You seem to like it. I pick up +papers like that every day. If you don’t care for +that one, just say so and I’ll dig you up another; +I’ll find you German spy maps, lost patent papers +of wonderful inventions, mortgage papers stolen +by villyans, anything you say; just say the word.”</p> + +<p>“If you don’t care for this one, don’t be afraid to +say so. I know where there are some documents +about a dark anarchist plot. Do you care about +anarchist plots? Some people like them and +others don’t; it’s just a matter of taste.“</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, this will do for me.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, all excited, “Maybe it means millions +of dollars; maybe it means bars of gold. +We’ll solve the mystery, hey?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, just as you say,” Brent said; “you know +my stand on mysteries and adventures; I eat them +raw.”</p> + +<p>That paper was all old and yellow and when +we opened it I had to hold it on my knee, because +it tore where the creases were. I guess maybe +it was as old as ten years. It looked as if it had +been torn out of a memorandum book and the +writing was made with a lead pencil and it was +kind of blurred, but anyway, this is what it +said:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Snake Creek. North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton +Cove, Top of S Cove. Follow line due north +from willow. Cons to west. Stake. Measure +ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line +due NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW +limit, indicated at AN Stake. Follow S line south +to pie.</p> + +</div> + +<p>Pee-wee said, very mysterious like, “What da +you think it is? It tells where there’s buried +treasure, doesn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“Sure it does,” I said. “It sounds just like the +directions in the <span class='it'>Gold Bug</span> by Edgar Allan Poe.”</p> + +<p>“It sounds just like <span class='it'>Treasure Island</span>,” Pee-wee +put in.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, I don’t know. I was thinking +about it and I decided that it’s a bill of fare.”</p> + +<p>“A what?” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“You see it’s got stake and pie on it,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>“You make me tired!” the kid fairly yelled. +“That paper shows where buried treasure is hidden.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well then, that scarecrow must +have been a pirate in his younger days. He had +an evil past and I’m glad I killed him.”</p> + +<p>“You seem to think it’s a joke,” I said; “but +it tells where there’s buried treasure, that’s one +sure thing. You can’t make anything else out of +it—can you?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Buried treasure’s good enough for +<span class='it'>me</span>—gold or stakes or pies, I don’t care. I’d like +to dig up a few buckwheat cakes just now.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know what you are? Do you know +what you are?” the kid began shouting. “You’re +a Philippine—that’s what you are!”</p> + +<p>I said, “You mean a philistine—that’s a person +that makes fun of things and doesn’t believe anything.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “The only time I ever went after +buried treasure I was <span class='it'>foiled</span> by the boy scouts. +Never again. They wouldn’t chop down a tree +under which the treasure was buried because they +loved trees.”</p> + +<p>“This isn’t under a tree,” Pee-wee said; “it’s +in a cove—on the end of a line due north. That’s +different. That’s always the kind of a place wkere +treasure is—in a cove. You can tell by the names +that there’s treasure there—Snake Creek and +Skeleton Cove and lines due north and willows +and everything. It says <span class='it'>treasure</span>, doesn’t it? +What more do you want?”</p> + +<p>“Only where’s the place?” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“We’ll find it,” Pee-wee said; “we’ll find it if +we, if we—drop in our tracks.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “That’s something I’ve always +longed to do—drop in my tracks. I’d like to be +rescued by a St. Bernard dog.”</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, have a heart. There are +dogs enough in this series of thrilling adventures.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well anyway, this is the only story +of adventure that has a scarecrow for a villain. +What d’ye say?”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXIX'>XXIX—THE MYSTERY DEEPENS</h1> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, as long as you like my +little mystery, we might as well take a peep into +it. We may have a couple of hairbreadth escapes, +you never can tell. By rights, we ought to quarrel +over the treasure after we have found it, and +all kill each other. That’s the way they usually +do.”</p> + +<p>“They don’t do that way any more,” Pee-wee +said; “they divide it up.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “No, I insist on quarreling over +it.”</p> + +<p>He folded the paper and put it back in his +pocket. It seemed funny for a paper like that +to be in an old black frock coat like ministers +wear. I had to laugh at Brent on account of the +sober way he tucked it back into the pocket.</p> + +<p>I said, “It’s got <span class='it'>me</span> interested, that’s one sure +thing. But how are we going to find out where +that place is?”</p> + +<p>He said, “Well, the proper way would be for +us just to fit out an expedition and go in search +of it like old what’s-his-name who hunted for +the soda fountain down in Florida.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Ponce de Leon, he hunted for +the Fountain of Youth.”</p> + +<p>“But the best way,” Brent said, “if you’re really +interested, is for us to get hold of a map of the +Ohio River when we hit Indianapolis. We cross +the Ohio at Wheeling and if that old creek is +anywhere in our neighborhood we’ll see if we can +hoe up a few nuggets. That’s the proper thing, +isn’t it—nuggets?”</p> + +<p>“Nuggets and pieces of eight,” Pee-wee said, +very serious.</p> + +<p>Brent said that we had enough on our minds +then, with the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people and +the Veterans’ Reunion, and that we’d better get +along, especially as Harry with the van had almost +caught up to us.</p> + +<p>But one more thing happened before we got +very far from Barrow’s Homestead, and it threw +some light on the mystery—that’s what Pee-wee +said. A man in a pair of overalls came along +the road and Brent stopped to ask him a couple +of questions. While the machine was standing +there, the van passed us. Gee, there were a lot +of people in it and on it and all over.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Do you want us to tow you? +Come on, hurry up, you’ll be late for the show. +We’ve got Sherman’s march through Georgia beat +a hundred ways.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Don’t bother us, we’re chasing +after nuggets.” Then he said to the man, “You +don’t happen to know who owns that land beyond +the marsh down at the other end of town, do +you? Before you get to the Post Office? There’s +a big cornfield there.”</p> + +<p>I whispered to Pee-wee, “Keep your mouth +shut, now, and don’t tell him about good turns.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Yer mean swamp acres? That’s +part o’ th’ old Deacon Snookbeck place.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Yes. Who’s he?”</p> + +<p>“Wa’l, he ain’t,” the man said, “but he was. +Th’ best thing I can say abaout that ole codger +is, he’s dead.”</p> + +<p>Brent rested his arms on the steering wheel +and talked kind of careless, sort of. He said, “I +was just wondering if the place was for sale. So +he was a queer ole codger, the deacon, hey?”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Yes, en’ more’n that as I’ve +heared tell. I guess young Snookbeck ain’t calc’latin’ +on sellln’ th’ place. I reckon nobody raound +these parts is wantin’ ter buy it, neither. Yer see +thar was a kind of a mystery ’baout ole Ebenezer. +Some folks even say his haouse is haunted by a +chap he murdered. But I reckon he wasn’ as bad +as all that.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee! He +just sat there staring, his eyes as big as dinner +plates. He didn’t say a word, only just stared.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “House of mystery, hey? The +Frock-coated Villyan! That would be a good +name for a photoplay, huh?”</p> + +<p>That man leaned his elbow on the side of the +car and said, kind of friendly like, as if we were +special friends of his, he said, “Wa’l, ’baout, let’s +see, nigh onter ten year ago, thar was a couple +of young chaps wearin’ khaki like you chaps, come +out this way en they wuz rootin’ raound on th’ +deacon’s farm. They weren’t plantin’, that was +sure; and they weren’t no farm hands. Nobody +seemed jest able ter find out ezactly what they +were, ’cause they never talked ter nobody. Aunt +Josie Anne, daown th’ road a piece, asked one +uv ’em who he thought he was. He said he +thought he was Santa Claus, but he wasn’ sure. +They wuz kind o’ comics, both uv ’em. Wa’l, I +ain’t ashamed ter tell no man who I am.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You’re right,” just sort of to encourage +him to talk.</p> + +<p>The man said, “Wa’l, they stayed at th’ deacon’s +house ’n’ one night they wuz out with a +lantern in the middle of the night, under the big +tree near th’ deacon’s haouse. Steub Berry, he +’laowed they wuz buryin’ treasure thar. Some +folks had it them two strangers wuz Mexican +spies ’n’ others reckoned they wuz army deserters. +Th’ ole deacon, he jes’ laughed and said we +couldn’ guess. He wouldn’ deny nuthin’. All +of a sudden, <span class='it'>ker-bang</span>, they disappeared jes’ like +that ’n’ some folks said th’ deacon murdered both +uv ’em ter git th’ treasure. My wife, she allus had +it, they come off some ranch or other with a lot uv +stealin’s. Wa’l, ’twas a nine days’ wonder ’n arter +that folks kinder fought shy of th’ deacon.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “And he’s dead now?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, deader’n a mummy,” the man said. +“When the world war come some folks said as +haow that pair might a been German spies all th’ +while, kind uv studying ’raound. But young +Snookbeck he says if old Ebenezer had anything +hid it would be in his Bible, en’ ’s long ’s ’tain’t +thar, ’tain’t nowhere. But that’s treasure hid +somewhere, I say, ’cause them wuz mighty funny +doin’s of them strangers. Yer goin’ ter th’ reunion +over t’ ’he Cross-roads?”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXX'>CHAPTER XXX—WE MAKE A PROMISE</h1> + +<p>As soon as we had started, Brent said, “Well, +it doesn’t look half bad, does it?”</p> + +<p>“Do you know who those fellows were? Do +you know who those fellows were?” our young +hero fairly screamed.</p> + +<p>“I think they came from Mars,” Brent said; +“that’s the way it looks to me.”</p> + +<p>I said, “You can joke but it’s pretty serious.”</p> + +<p>“They were <span class='it'>smugglers</span> that’s what they were,” +Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“They were either smugglers or book-agents,” +Brent said. “In either case they deserved to be +murdered. Maybe they were introducing a new +kind of soap——”</p> + +<p>“You make me sick,” Pee-wee yelled; “there’s +treasure somewhere and we’re going to find it! +It’s at HW limit, it said so, HW means something +about <span class='it'>hollow well</span>, I bet you.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Maybe it means hot waffles; +there’s a whole table d’hote dinner in that paper. +Maybe it means Hamburger wheat cakes. Anyway, +the Ohio River is a long way from Barrow’s +Homestead.”</p> + +<p>Then Brent got kind of serious, not <span class='it'>very</span> serious, +but kind of serious—as serious as he could. +And he said we should promise him that we +wouldn’t think any more about that dark, mysterious +paper, or talk about it to the other fellows +until we got all through at Grumpy’s Crossroads +and reached Indianapolis so he could get +hold of a map. Because if we couldn’t find any +stream named Snake Creek running into the Ohio +River, he didn’t want the fellows to be disappointed. +He said there was no use of our going +on a wild goose chase.</p> + +<p>You can bet we kept our promise to Brent, but +I guess Pee-wee didn’t have any more sleep till +we reached Indianapolis. But anyway, he had a +pretty good appetite. He buried some treasure +every night—ice cream sodas at the reunion.</p> + +<p>That’s one thing I like about slavery. Because +if there hadn’t been any slavery there wouldn’t +have been any Civil War, and if there hadn’t been +any Civil War there wouldn’t have been any Veterans’ +Reunion, and if there hadn’t been any Veterans’ +Reunion, there wouldn’t have been any +ice cream sodas there. See?</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I never was in the Civil War, or the +uncivilized war or any other kind, but I got a +black eye once. Anyway, I killed four sodas when +I got to that reunion.</p> + +<p>I did it for my country’s sake.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXI'>CHAPTER XXXI—WE REACH OUR DESTINATION</h1> + +<p>Now maybe you’ll say it was a long time since +we left those other cars and the rest of the fellows, +but it was only about an hour. Only a lot +happened in that hour—it was condensed, like. +That’s the way I like things. Only I don’t like +condensed milk. But I wish they had condensed +ice cream. Pee-wee’s a condensed scout. I’d +like to have condensed lessons, too. Anyway my +sister likes pickles—gee, I hate them. She says +even a postage stamp can stick to its subject better +than I can. I should worry. I told her you +could send an animal by mail, because once I saw +a letter with a seal on it. She’s all the time sending +notes to Harry Donnelle, she is. She gets +awful mad when I jolly her. She plays the mandolin.</p> + +<p>Let’s see, where was I? Oh, yes, now I know. +Pretty soon (she likes bonbons too), pretty soon +the van and our car came to the place where +the two roads what-d’ye-call-it—converge—that +means come together. And, gee whiz, we +had a young reunion right there. Mr. Abbington +was awful nice, but, oh boy, he could +hardly keep that other bloodhound from chewing +Brent all to pieces. I guess he thought he was +a tramp.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me +to introduce the Scarecrow of Barrow’s Homestead. +The only one in captivity. We intend to +exhibit him at the reunion for the small sum of a +dime, ten cents—three cents’ war tax. He used +to be an escaped convict, but now he’s reformed +and he’s a respectable scarecrow, the only real +scarecrow ever exhibited. The crows drop dead +when they see him.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, you ought to have heard Miss +Ophelia and Topsy laugh. Even little Eva, <span class='it'>she</span> +laughed. I guess she forgot that she was going +to die and go to Heaven. Anyway, she was awful +happy. Gee, Brent made them all laugh.</p> + +<p>I bet you think it was a crazy procession that +started off for Grumpy’s Cross-roads, but what +cared we? Gee whiz, if you don’t like it you +know what you can do.</p> + +<p>There was Harry driving the van that was +chock full of veterans, because they had picked +up some along the road, and those veterans +couldn’t even have gone if the railroads had been +running, because they lived too far away from +stations and they had never been to things like +that before.</p> + +<p>Harry made all the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people +wear their costumes and when we got near to +Grumpy’s Cross-roads he had the cruel villyan +stand on top of the van cracking his whip. But +anyway Uncle Tom sat beside me, eating peanuts, +and he should worry. Brent looked awful funny, +driving one of the touring cars, but that only made +it funnier.</p> + +<p>After about two hours more we came to +Grumpy’s Cross-roads. They were pretty cross, +all right, because there was a sign that said:</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;'>AUTOMOBILE LAWS STRICTLY ENFORCED</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you just ought to have seen us. The +big van went first, with the man with the whip up +on top, holding the ferocious bloodhounds. Next +came Rossie’s car full of veterans and then the +other two cars full of those actor people all dressed +up for their play.</p> + +<p>We rolled into the Main Street and a band +that was there, just getting ready to go to the +parade ground, I guess, marched in front of us +and played “Peggy.” Inside of ten seconds there +were people crowding all around us, but Harry +told them to get out of the way, he didn’t care +who they were—constables, sheriffs, judges, or +anything.</p> + +<p>“Where’s the parade ground?” he shouted.</p> + +<p>A man called, “Who are you, anyway? Whar +do you come from?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, it gave me a good thrill when I +heard Harry shout back, “We’re the Boy Scouts +of America, that’s who <span class='it'>we</span> are! Friends and +comrades to the boys who were chased off the +parade ground. And the show opens at 3 P. M. +sharp, so get your tickets and buy your peanuts! +We’re here! And not all the railroads in the +country can stop us. <span class='it'>On the job</span>, that’s our motto! +Get from under if you don’t want to be run down. +There’s only one man in this whole country we’ll +take any orders from and that’s Major Grumpy!”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXII'>CHAPTER XXXII—SURRENDER AND INDEMNITY</h1> + +<p>Gee whiz, we reminded ourselves of General +Pershing coming home. Just before we drove +into the parade ground, a little fellow about as +big as Pee-wee came running up and called to us. +He was all excited. He shouted, “We read your +signal; we saw it way up on the mountain. People +said it was just the woods on fire but we knew +what it meant; we read it. We’ve got a signaler +in our patrol. But Major Grumpy said it was +just the woods on fire.”</p> + +<p>Harry shouted down to him, “Climb up on the +band wagon and be quick about it if you want to +be in at the finish. Where’s the rest of your +bunch?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “<span class='it'>Troop, not bunch</span>; don’t you +know anything about the scouts?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean gang.”</p> + +<p>That kid said that most of them were peeking +through the fence of the parade grounds, because +they had been chased out. He said one of them +went in to tell Major Grumpy about the smudge +message and that he had been chased out again. +He said they had dandy ice cream cones in there; +he said the ice cream went way down into the +point. Oh, boy, that’s the kind I like. He said +that one of them had enough ice cream in it for +two fellows; gee, I’ve never seen any like that. +But I’ve seen fellows that have room enough for +two cones.</p> + +<p>Poor little kid, he didn’t have any scout suit +or anything—only just a scout hat.</p> + +<p>Harry said, awful nice and friendly sort of, +he said, “Well, you just climb up here. So you +read that message, hey? Well, you and your +outfit are all right, Kiddo.”</p> + +<p>“Not outfit!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean sewing circle.”</p> + +<p>I guess that kid thought Harry was crazy; anyway +we don’t need anybody to tell us we’re crazy, +because we admit it.</p> + +<p>That kid said, “Have you got tickets to get +into the grounds?”</p> + +<p>“Tickets?” Harry said. “What do we want +tickets for when we’re going to roll up the parade +ground and take it home with us. Who are you +for? The Grand Army or the Boy Scouts? We +don’t want any hyphens here.”</p> + +<p>Poor little kid, he looked more like a period +than a hyphen. He was kind of scared of Harry, +I guess.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “We’ve got six scouts, about a +dozen veterans, two bloodhounds, nine actors +and one scarecrow. Do you think we’re afraid?”</p> + +<p>“Surrender! That’s what we’re here for,” +Rossie said.</p> + +<p>“Surrender with indemnity,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>Poor little kid, he looked all around from one +of us to another and then kept staring at Brent. +I guess he didn’t know what to make of him. +Maybe he thought Brent was a camouflaged cannon, +hey?</p> + +<p>When we got to the parade ground there were +autos and wagons standing around and lots of +people going in. There was a sign up that said +there wouldn’t be any show on account of the +railroad strike. And there were about a half a dozen +poor little codgers peeking in through cracks in +the fence; honest it made me feel sorry just to +see them. Two or three of them had on scout +hats, but most of them only had scout badges.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, Harry Domicile didn’t care about +anybody; all the people, even the doorkeepers, +began staring at us but he should worry. He +shouted to those kids, “Fall in line, you; reenforcements +are here! Two companies of war-worn +veterans, one Uncle Tom’s Cabin troupe, two +bloodhounds, six boy scouts, and a scarecrow! +Climb aboard. On to victory!”</p> + +<p>“And a popcorn bar!” Pee-wee shouted. Jiminies, +already he had bought one of those sticky +things and he was all gummed up like a piece of +fly-paper. He had to hold one of his hands out +flat with the fingers all apart, it was so sticky. +“We’ll take all the lemonade booths and candy +counters and everything!” he shouted. “We’ll +show no mercy, hey?”</p> + +<p>I said, “Shut up, you Hun! Already that popcorn +bar looks like Rheims Cathedral.”</p> + +<p>He shouted, “I’ve got a chocolate stick, too, +and I’m going to devastate that!”</p> + +<p>Talk about frightfulness!</p> + +<p>I guess those poor little kids thought we were +crazy. Brent stood up on the seat of his car and +made gestures so as his long sleeves flopped every +which way. He shouted, “Every new recruit report +to the commissary general and receive six +rounds of peanuts and three rounds of licorice +jaw-breakers. Step up!”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen those veterans +laugh; they just chuckled—you know the way old +men do. One of them said he had fought at +Gettysburg but that he had never seen anything +like this before; oh, boy, didn’t he chuckle!</p> + +<p>I don’t know when Brent got them, but anyway, +he had the pockets of that crazy old coat +full of bags of peanuts, and he handed them +around to all those little fellows. He made those +kids stay in his car, too. They all started eating +peanuts, but just the same they looked sort of +scared, as if they didn’t know what was going to +happen.</p> + +<p>Harry climbed up on top of the van and began +shouting to all of us who were in the touring cars; +gee, but those cars were crowded. About a hundred +people were crowding around us too, just +staring and laughing; you couldn’t blame them. +But what made me laugh most of all was to see +those veterans—<span class='it'>good night!</span> Even when they +were getting wounded in the Civil War, I bet they +didn’t have nearly as much fun.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXIII'>XXXIII—MOBILIZING</h1> + +<p>This is the speech that Harry made to his +troops, because my sister made him write it out +for me, because she said it would go down in history. +Brent Gaylong said he hoped if it went +down it would never come up again. Last term I +passed seventy-two in history, but, gee, I hate +dates—I don’t mean the kind you eat.</p> + +<p>This is the speech that Harry made. He said:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>My brave soldiers:</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Harris will please take the candy out +of his mouth and listen.</p> + +</div> + +<p>“I don’t listen with my mouth,” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>“Well then, close it,” I told him, “and listen +to your superior officer.”</p> + +<p>Harry said:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>We are outside the Parade Ground of Grumpy’s +Cross-roads. We are here to demand an unconditional +surrender. A courier will go within under +the protection of a white flag.</p> + +</div> + +<p>“I’ll go, I’ve got some popcorn; that’s white,” +Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>If Major Grumpy refuses our terms, then we +will storm his stronghold with every peanut that we +hold. We shall demand indemnity.</p> + +</div> + +<p>“Demand the territory where the lemonade +counter is,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Then everybody began hooting and yelling, and +Brent stood up in those crazy old rags and began +flapping his sleeves to keep us quiet and the old +veterans shook—kind of like a Ford car.</p> + +<p>Then Harry read us a note that he said should +be delivered to Major Grumpy in person.</p> + +<p>“I’ll deliver it,” Pee-wee shouted; “I want to +get a frankfurter, anyway.”</p> + +<p>This was the note:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p class='line'>Major Grumpy, Commanding Officer,</p> +<p class='line'>Veterans’ Reunion:</p> + +<p>You are hereby informed that the allied forces, +consisting of Boy Scouts, Civil War Veterans, +scarecrows, +and scout reinforcements from your own +town, offer you the choice of unconditional surrender +or complete extinction. As hostages we hold Uncle +Tom’s Cabin troupe scheduled to appear at your reunion. +Ten minutes will be given for an answer. +We shall advance against your stronghold immediately.</p> + +</div> + +<p>One of the veterans said it would be better to +say, “I purpose to move immediately against your +works,” because those were the very same words +that General Grant used. So Harry put it that +way.</p> + +<p>Then he said, “Let us have peace,” because +that was what General Grant said, too. Pee-wee +thought he said, “Let’s have a piece,” so he +chucked a licorice jaw-breaker up and it struck +Harry, kerplunk, on the face.</p> + +<p>That was the beginning of hostilities.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee fired the first shot.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXIV'>CHAPTER XXXIV—TR-R-AITORS!</h1> + +<p>That was the only shot in the whole war. It +was a punk war. Harry said, “Let the bloodshed +cease; who’ll volunteer to go in as a courier?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee shouted, “I will.”</p> + +<p>So Harry gave him the note and told him to +stick a white popcorn bar on a stick for a flag of +truce. Honest, if you could have seen that kid +start off with the note in one hand and that popcorn +flag of truce in the other and his mouth all +stuck up with licorice candy, you’d have laughed +till you cried.</p> + +<p>We waited for about ten minutes but still he +didn’t come out, so Harry called for another volunteer +and Westy went in, because he said he +could remember just what was in the note. +<span class='it'>Good night</span>, he didn’t come out again, either.</p> + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-f178.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>“WE’RE MAKING A DESPERATE CALVARY CHARGE,” SHOUTED PEE-WEE.</p> +</div> + +<p>Harry said, “This is very strange; they’ve either +deserted or they’re being held as prisoners.”</p> + +<p>Then Charlie Seabury said he’d go in, so he +pinned a marshmallow onto his buttonhole and +went through the admission gate. But he didn’t +come back, either.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon five of the fellows had gone in—all +the fellows in my patrol except myself. And +none of them came back. We decided that they +were all being held as prisoners.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “This is not civilized warfare at +all—not to respect a flag of truce.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Gee whiz, I never heard of a fellow +that wouldn’t respect a marshmallow or a popcorn +bar. Even I respect gum drops.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, the only thing to do is to +enter the grounds and seize the rifles in the shooting +gallery. If we can surround the dining pavilion +and seize all the sandwiches, we can cut off +their base of supplies and force a surrender. +What say, comrades?”</p> + +<p>Harry said that was the only thing to do so he +paid fifteen cents admission for all of us on account +of that being civilized warfare. Then we +drove in, and I bet that gatekeeper thought that +we were from an insane asylum, especially when +he took a good look at Brent.</p> + +<p>And, <span class='it'>good night, Sister Anne</span>, excuse me while +I laugh! What do you think we saw when we +got inside that place? About a couple of hundred +feet away was a merry-go-round, and riding +around on it were our young hero and those other +four fellows, and they were all holding on to the +brass rods with one hand and eating frankfurters +with the other.</p> + +<p>“I got the brass ring! I got the brass ring!” +Pee-wee shouted. “I get an extra ridel I’m promoted +from the Infantry, I’m in the Cavalry! +We’re making a desperate cavalry charge!”</p> + +<p>Can you beat that kid?</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXV'>CHAPTER XXXV—PEACE WITH INDEMNITY</h1> + +<p>I said, “We should worry about the cavalry; +the only thing that this cavalry can surround is +the organ on the merry-go-round.”</p> + +<p>“I can surround a frankfurter,” Pee-wee +shouted. Believe me, he could.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “The cavalry will dismount; you’re +all court-martialed and ordered to be shot at sunrise +in the shooting gallery. Fall in line.”</p> + +<p>Jiminies, I had to laugh to see that bunch trotting +along after the autos, all the while munching +frankfurters. I guess we were the craziest looking +parade that ever was; but you can have a lot +of fun being crazy, that’s one thing sure. All the +people stopped what they were doing and followed +after us. Most of the things that they were +doing were eating. I wouldn’t stop doing that +for anybody, I wouldn’t.</p> + +<p>All around were veterans in old blue coats and +they were sitting in groups talking; they were +talking about Gettysburg and Richmond, and General +Grant, and things like that. One of them +was talking about Sugar Loaf Mountain and Pee-wee +kind of slowed up so as he could listen. I +guess he thought it was some kind of candy, hey? +Harry looked around and shouted, “Attention!” +And the kid jumped about a foot in the air.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we came to a little tent and there +was a sign on it that said, “<span class='it'>Administration Tent</span>.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee shouted, “Go on, till we come to the +commissary tent.”</p> + +<p>I shouted back to him, “You’re a whole commissary +in yourself. You’re a nice looking sight +to demand a surrender. The first thing you want +to seize is a wash basin!”</p> + +<p>Sitting in front of that tent were several veterans +and one of them was kind of cross and +severe looking and he had a bald head. His head +was so bald that I guess he didn’t know where +to stop washing his face. You couldn’t even tell +where his face was unless he put his hat on. He +looked as if he was used to bossing people around. +Anyway, I knew he was a Union soldier, because +he had a telegram in his hand and it said <span class='it'>Western +Union</span> on it.</p> + +<p>We all stopped right in front of the tent and +Harry got down and made a salute; it was awful +funny. He said, “Major Grumpy, I believe?”</p> + +<p>“That is my name, sir,” the old man said, very +stern, kind of like a school principal.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I am Lieutenant Donnelle and +these are my allied forces. We come here under +the protection of a white—eh, a white popcorn +bar. Hold up the popcorn bar, Private Harris.”</p> + +<p>“It’s all gone,” Private Harris piped up.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I’m very sorry that our flag of +truce has been eaten by one of our starving troopers. +We are here to demand the surrender——”</p> + +<p>“Scouts are supposed to say <span class='it'>please</span>” Will Dawson +piped up.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Right. Scouts are polite even +amid bloodshed and the roar of cannon.”</p> + +<p>Major Grumpy said, “You look as if you had +just taken the city of Frankfort, judging from +your rear guard.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Major Grumpy, your official +report that Uncle Tom’s Cabin will not be given +here to-day is not true; it is a garbled report. +Allow me to tell you that, thanks to the boy scouts +whom you sneer at and evict from your property, +Eliza will be chased as per schedule, Uncle Tom +will be thoroughly beaten, and little Eva will die +and go to heaven as announced.”</p> + +<p>Major Grumpy was kind of surprised. First +he looked us all over, and Brent took off his hat +and flapped his long sleeves at him, awful funny. +Then the major said, “Who put you off this property?”</p> + +<p>Then Harry said, “What you do to a boy scout, +you do to every boy scout in the United States, +including Mars and Grumpy’s Cross-roads and all +outlying sections. When you put these little +townsmen of yours out of that shady grove over +there, you put <span class='it'>us</span> out. Do you know that? Even +Uncle Tom, who gets whipped six times a week, +not including Wednesday and Saturday matinees, +says he never heard of such treatment. You call +the Grand Army a kind of brotherhood, but let +me tell you, Major, that we’ve got that name +<span class='it'>brotherhood</span> copyrighted, all rights reserved. +When you put these little fellows off your land, +you put half a million scouts off your land, and +that’s a bigger army than the Grand Army ever +was.</p> + +<p>“We sent up a signal to say that we were coming +and that message was delivered to you and you +thought it was a lot of nonsense.”</p> + +<p>The major said, “So you were responsible for +that column of smoke, hey?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “You’re kind of old fashioned, +Major, on signal corps work. That was us, all +right, and these little neighbors of yours gave you +the message and you laughed at them. Well, here +we are with the goods, Little Eva weeping her +eyes out, Topsy ready to cut up, and Simon Legree +with his whip; here we are just as we said +we’d be—Johnny on the spot. We’ve brought +with us every veteran between here and Barrow’s +Homestead and they’re with us to the last ditch. +Field Marshal Gaylong here is feared by every +crow in the west. Now what are you going to do +about it?</p> + +<p>“We purpose, Major, to cut off your base of +supplies; it’s either that or surrender. We want +that shady little grove over there as indemnity. +If we don’t get it we’re going to seize all the ice +cream, all the soda water, all the lemonade, all +the candy, all the popcorn on this bloody battlefield +and starve you out. The Grand Army will +look like Grand Street, New York, when we get +through with it.”</p> + +<p>“And frankfurters too!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“There won’t be a frankfurter left to tell the +tale,” Harry said; “this peaceful land will run +red with red lemonade. Now what do you say?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I wouldn’t accuse Harry of being +a traitor, but just the same I saw him wink at +Major Grumpy, and Major Grumpy began to +smile, and then he offered Harry a cigarette.</p> + +<p>That was giving aid and comfort to the enemy, +all right.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXVI'>CHAPTER XXXVI—SCOUTS ON THE JOB</h1> + +<p>So that shows you how this story has a happy +ending, only that isn’t the end of it. Oh, boy, the +worst is yet to come. A lot of terrible things +happen after a war. Now we come to the reconstruction +period. And, believe me, Major Grumpy +reconstructed his opinion about the scouts. He +said that poor little patrol that was just starting +could have the grove to build a headquarters in +and he gave them some money to build it, too, +He said that before we got there he thought +that smoke away off on the mountain was just a +forest fire, but when he found out that we could +make smoke talk, good night, he was for us, all +right.</p> + +<p>But anyway, he said he liked to hear Pee-wee +talk better. I said, “Yes, but it would be nice +if he’d go off on a lonely mountain and talk, like +the smudge fire.”</p> + +<p>We spent the rest of that day at the Veterans’ +Reunion, and we saw the Uncle Tom’s Cabin +show, too. Only one of the bloodhounds wouldn’t +chase Eliza, and Rossie Bent had to give her a +frankfurter, so he’d chase her.</p> + +<p>Most of the time that we weren’t at the ice +cream counter, we were over in the grove with +those Grumpy’s Cross-roads scouts. They said +they were going to name their patrol the Crows, +after Brent Gaylong. Harry said it would be +better to name it the Hot Dogs, after Pee-wee.</p> + +<p>Once Major Grumpy came over and sat down +on a stump and talked with us and asked us a +lot of questions about the scouts. He told those +little fellows how they ought to build their shack +and he said he’d find a scoutmaster for them. +Most all the veterans came over and visited us, +and we did lots of good turns for them, carrying +their luggage and all like that. One of them was +overcome by the heat but we fixed him up, all +right, with first aid.</p> + +<p>Uncle Tom came over, too, and talked to us +between the shows. He asked us if we could dress +the marks that the ferocious bloodhounds made +on Eliza’s arm. Those marks were painted. He +was awful funny, Uncle Tom was.</p> + +<p>That reunion lasted three days, but we only +stayed one day, because we had to get started for +home. Anyway, I’m glad all the soldiers in the +Civil War didn’t get killed, because you can have +a lot of fun at reunions. One thing I’m sorry for +and that is that I won’t be a kid when the soldiers +who were in the World War are old veterans, +I bet there’ll be a lot of lemonade and things +then, hey? But anyway there’ll be scouts then, +and it will be lucky for them there was a world +war. Anyway, reunions are my favorite outdoor +sports—reunions and hikes.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXVII'>CHAPTER XXXVII—THAT MYSTERIOUS PAPER AGAIN</h1> + +<p>We started away from that reunion at about +five o’clock at night and everybody was sorry to +see us go. Those scouts, and the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people, and a lot of old veterans, all crowded +around us to say good-by. They said we were +a wide-awake bunch, but if they could have seen +us about four hours later they wouldn’t have said +so.</p> + +<p>We made a camp alongside the road, and I +cooked supper, and then most of us slept in the +van. While we were sitting around our camp-fire, +Brent took out that mysterious paper that +he had found in the scarecrow’s pocket, and he +kind of winked at Harry as if he was going to +spring a great surprise on us. He looked awful +funny in the light of the fire; just like a real live +scarecrow—I mean a dead one.</p> + +<p>He said, “Scouts of the victorious legion, while +we are resting after the bloody battle of Grumpy’s +Cross-roads, I have a dark communication to make +to you. Excuse me while I get in a better light.”</p> + +<p>“I thought you said it was a <span class='it'>dark</span> communication,” +Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, it’s a kind of a dim communication. +Only two scouts and our trusty +leader know about it. They have kept their lips +sealed. I wish now, by the light of this camp-fire, +to ask you one and all, if you are ready to +undertake an enterprise that is fraught with mortal +peril?”</p> + +<p>“Is it fraught with anything to eat?” Will Dawson +wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Isn’t mortal peril good enough for you?” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, some fellows are never satisfied.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Comrades, when I put an end to +the career of that miserable scarecrow and, with +a single stroke, made millions of crows happy, +I found in the pocket of his frock-coat a mysterious +paper. More than that, I know who that +frock-coat belonged to before he had it. It belonged +to Deacon Snookbeck of Barrow’s Homestead! +<span class='it'>Ha, ha</span>,—and a couple of <span class='it'>he, he’s</span>!”</p> + +<p>“Read the paper!” they all began shouting,</p> + +<p>He said, “Silence. While traveling with Scout +Harris, and patrol leader Blakeley, I met a +stranger who told us that several years ago Deacon +Snookbeck had two mysterious visitors in his +house. Whether this paper that I am about to +read to you has any connection with those strangers, +I cannot say. I am not skilled in high grade +mysteries, being only a plain, ordinary burglar +and thug——”</p> + +<p>“You larcenied!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent put his hand on his forehead and said, +awful funny, “Don’t remind me of my crimes.”</p> + +<p>“Read the paper,” Rossie Bent said.</p> + +<p>So then Brent read the paper, and I have to +admit that it sounded pretty mysterious and I +guess, after all his fooling, that he thought so +himself.</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Snake Creek, North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton +Cove. Top of S Cove. Follow line due north +from willow. Cons to west. Stake. Measure +ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line +due NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW +limit, indicated at AN Stake. Follow S line south +to pie.</p> + +</div> + +<p><span class='it'>Good night</span>, you should have heard the fellows +when he finished reading. I mean you couldn’t +have heard them, because nobody said anything; +they all just sat there gaping.</p> + +<p>Then Brent said, awful funny, he said, “It +seems, scouts, that by following S line south we +shall come to a pie. Whether it is a pumpkin pie +or a mince pie I cannot say——”</p> + +<p>Harry kind of cut him off short and said, +“Brent, putting all fooling aside, now that you +read that paper over, it sounds pretty good to +me.”</p> + +<p>“I was always fond of pie,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, I was always fond of buried +treasure and that paper has the true ring to me, +hanged if it hasn’t. Skeleton Cove sounds as if +it meant business. So does ‘<span class='it'>treasure at HW limit</span>’ +I like the sound of that. I never gave two +thoughts to that paper until just now when you +read it, but I’m hanged if I don’t think it +means something. What do you say, Tom +Slade?”</p> + +<p>Tom said in that slow way of his, “It’s got the +word <span class='it'>treasure</span> in, that’s sure.”</p> + +<p>Then Brent said with a sober face, “As an expert, +Pee-wee, what would <span class='it'>you</span> say? Is a pie a +treasure?”</p> + +<p>“Good night,” I said, “he’s buried enough pies, +he ought to know.”</p> + +<p>“It means buried treasure, that’s what it +means!” Pee-wee shouted. “And I’m with Harry; +I say let’s go and find it.”</p> + +<p>“Where?” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“You said we could get a map,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>All the fellows were with Harry; they were +just crazy to go after that treasure. Tom Slade +didn’t say much, but he never does. I went around +to the side of the fire where he was sitting and I +said, “You were always so crazy about adventures; +what do you think it means if it doesn’t +mean buried treasure?”</p> + +<p>“I haven’t got anything to say,” he said; “it’s +got the word treasure in it, and that settles it. I +say let’s go, if we can find the place.”</p> + +<p>I shouted, “Tom Slade is with us, he believes +in it. I say let’s go after it.”</p> + +<p>Harry was sitting on the back end of the van, +swinging his legs and looking in the fire. I knew +his thoughts were kind of serious, all right. He’s +crazy about adventures, that fellow is. Brent took +my scout knife and held it between his teeth and +glared into the fire, very fierce and savage, just +like a pirate. He did it to make Harry mad. +But all the fellows were with Harry, anyway, +and they were all crazy about the thing—even I +was crazy.</p> + +<p>Harry said, all the while looking into the fire +kind of dreamy like, he said, “Brent, why may +not this be true?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You mean the Pirates’ Secret or +the Mystery of the Hidden Pie?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you mind him,” Pee-wee shouted to +Harry; “he’s a Philippine!”</p> + +<p>“That’s just what you are, Brent,” Harry said; +“you’re a Philistine. You have no romance. Just +because you live in the twentieth century you think +nothing can happen. But the world war happened, +didn’t it? You have it from a man you met +that two mysterious strangers visited the old gent +who once owned that coat. You found this paper; +in that coat—didn’t you?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Alas, yes.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, you can laugh——”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I’m not laughing, I’m weeping +and gnashing my teeth; that’s true sixteenth century +stuff, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“Well, how do you explain the writing on that +paper, then?” Harry wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Sure, how do you explain it, then?” Westy +piped up.</p> + +<p>“He <span class='it'>can’t</span> explain it,” Tom Warner shouted.</p> + +<p>“Sure he can’t!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I seem to have an overwhelming +minority.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “You’re always shouting about real +adventures, but when we stumble on the real thing, +when we’re told on black and white to follow a +line due north from willow—what does that say?”</p> + +<p>“It says <span class='it'>follow a line due north from willow</span>,” +Brent said, all the while reading the paper. “It +says <span class='it'>cons to the west</span>. It says <span class='it'>stake</span>; +I don’t know whether it’s a porterhouse or a sirloin. +It may be a Hamburger. It says by following the S +line south we’ll come to the pie.”</p> + +<p>Harry jumped down and looked over Brent’s +shoulder and he said, “What does it say about +the treasure? We’ll find it at HW limit—there +it is on black and white. Boys, we’ll get a map +in Indianapolis and find out where Snake Creek +is if we have to study that map all night. We’re +on the track of pirates’ gold, by thunder! Here’s +a <span class='it'>real adventure</span> handed to us by fate! If old +Grouch Gaylong isn’t with us, we’ll send him +home in a baby carriage, that’s what!”</p> + +<p>Brent said—gee whiz, I had to laugh the way +he said it; he said, “Comrades, I will follow where +you lead. Take me to the treasure and I will dig +it up. But if that scarecrow has deceived me, I +will never trust man again. As a criminal I have +been a failure. I wanted to escape from cruel +jailers, I escaped from two boy scouts. I wanted +to plunge from the window of a dry goods van. +I wanted to kill a fellow being; I murdered a +scarecrow. My life has been a failure.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz; honest I almost felt sorry for him.</p> + +<p>He said, “But I have not lost hope. Boys, I +will go with you. I will follow the line north +from the willow. I will measure ninety-two feet +along something-or-other. I will follow the S +line south to the pie, be it pumpkin, apple or mince. +I will eat the stake. But if I am deceived, if my +hopes are again dashed——”</p> + +<p>“We’ll send you to the insane asylum,” Harry +said; “that’s where you belong.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I have always longed to be thrown +into a mad-house.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, you can’t help laughing at that fellow.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXVIII'>CHAPTER XXXVIII—THE ONLY WAY</h1> + +<p>The next afternoon we got to Indianapolis and +Harry treated us all to sodas. Then we bought a +map that showed the Ohio River. We made a +camp about ten miles east of Indianapolis and +had a dandy camp-fire. While we were there we +studied the map and, good night, there was Snake +Creek as plain as day running into it from the +north. It ran into it about fifteen miles north of +Wheeling.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “That’s enough for us; the treasure +is ours.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “I’m sorry now we didn’t get +some more sodas as long as we’re going to be +rich.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Never mind, we’ll have sodas and +ice cream and things in every town between here +and Wheeling; I’ll advance the money. What +are a few dollars against maybe several millions?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Sure, and we can afford some +jaw-breakers, too.”</p> + +<p>“All you want,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Won’t it spoil our appetites for the pie?” +Brent wanted to know. But just the same he +was interested.</p> + +<p>Now there’s no use telling you about our journey +from Indianapolis to Wheeling—that’s about +eight or nine hundred miles, roughly speaking; +only scouts don’t speak roughly. They have to +be polite. On that journey we passed through +Springfield and Columbus and a lot of other big +places, and all the people stared at us. Every +night we camped in the country, because we didn’t +like staying in cities.</p> + +<p>Gee, I thought we’d never get to Wheeling but +after a few days we got there, and then we put +our machines up to get all greased and have some +repairs made. I don’t mean <span class='it'>us</span>, I mean the machines.</p> + +<p>Then we hired a big launch and started up +the Ohio River. About ten miles up, Snake Creek +flows into it. It flows in through the north shore. +Up Snake Creek about ten miles is Skeleton Cove, +I bet you’re getting awful anxious, hey?</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Boys, the fun isn’t in getting +money; the fun is in finding treasure. Why +wouldn’t it be a good idea to send a couple of +thousand, say, to those little fellows back at +Grumpy’s Cross-roads?”</p> + +<p>“Let’s give five thousand to the Boy Scout +drive,” I said.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “All I want for myself is the pie; +I’m hungry.”</p> + +<p>Now when we got to Skeleton Cove we saw +it was all shady and spooky, like. The water was +black and the place was dark just like a cave. It +was awful still in there. I bet you’re crazy to +know what comes next, hey?</p> + +<p>Over against the shore was the wreck of an +old motor-boat; I guess it got smashed by the +rocks there. We chugged over to where it was +and Tom Slade climbed out and stepped across +it.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “What do you think it means, +Tommy boy?”</p> + +<p>Tom was kneeling on the old deck and looking +over the edge. All of a sudden he said, “Now I +know; I was a fool not to think of it before. The +name of this boat is the <span class='it'>Treasure</span>.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “What?”</p> + +<p>I said, “What?”</p> + +<p>Will Dawson shouted, “On the level?”</p> + +<p>“On the bow,” Tom said.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee piped up, “What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Dear me; foiled again.”</p> + +<p>Tom said, “Now I know what it means. The +boys from the Geological Survey were here. All +that had me guessing was the word <span class='it'>treasure</span>. A +pie is a topographic mark; it shows where government +land ends. Cons means contours. They +staked their measurings. They were just measuring +this cove and the creek so as to make government +maps. T.W. means tide water.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, awful funny like, “If it wouldn’t +be asking too much, will you please tell me what +it means where it says, ‘Treasure at HW limit +indicated at AN stake.’ Can you answer that?”</p> + +<p>Tom said in that sober way of his, “I think it +means something about this boat, the <span class='it'>Treasure</span> +being at high water limit as indicated at anchorage +stake. I can’t tell just exactly what that +memorandum means, because I never worked in +the survey, but I guess the survey boys weren’t +doing any harm out at Deacon Snookbeck’s. They +were probably lining up the contours on his farm. +Anyway, all they were doing here was taking the +contours and the water lines for the government +maps. The only thing that puzzled me was the +word treasure.”</p> + +<p>“And there is no pie here?” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“A pie is a government mark,” Tom said; “it +means the government owns the land to that point—where +the pie is. See?”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, Harry didn’t say a word. None of +the rest of us said a word—only Brent.</p> + +<p>He said, “Then I have been deceived by a +scarecrow! This ends my quest of adventure; I +am through. I am going home and to the only +refuge where real adventure can be found—the +movies. I am through with the boy scouts. Perhaps +with William S. Hart or Douglas Fairbanks +I can find the life I crave. There I can find cliffs +to jump off, roofs to leap from, people to +kill who are worthy of being killed—not scarecrows——”</p> + +<p>“And floods to get caught in!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Yes, and jails to escape from——”</p> + +<p>“And ships to get wrecked in!” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“I know all about the movies I’ll go with you! +I’ll go with you——”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, but that kid is a scream.</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;'>THE END</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>This Isn’t All!</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Would you like to know what +became of the good friends you +have made in this book?</p> + +<p>Would you like to read other +stories continuing their adventures +and experiences, or other books +quite as entertaining by the same +author?</p> + +<p>On the <span class='it'>reverse side</span> of the wrapper +which comes with this book, +you will find a wonderful list of +stones which you can buy at the +same store where you got this book.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Don’t throw away the Wrapper</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Use it as a handy analog of the books +you want some day to have. But in +case you do mislay it, write to the +Publishers for a complete catalog.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of “Tom Slade,” “Pee-wee Harris,”</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>“Westy Martin,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Illustrated. Picture Wrappers in Color.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>In the character and adventures of Roy Blakeley are typified +the very essence of Boy life. He is a real boy, as real as +Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. He is the moving spirit of +the troop of Scouts of which he is a member, and the average +boy has to go only a little way in the first book before +Roy is the best friend he ever had, and he is willing to part +with his best treasure to get the next book in the series.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S ADVENTURES IN CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S CAMP ON WHEELS</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S SILVER FOX PATROL</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY, LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S BEE-LINE HIKE</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY AT THE HAUNTED CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S FUNNY BONE HIKE</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY ON THE MOHAWK TRAIL</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S ELASTIC HIKE</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S ROUNDABOUT HIKE</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of “Tom Slade,” “Roy Blakeley,”</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>“Westy Martin,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Illustrated. Individual Wrappers in Color.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>All readers of the Tom Slade and the Roy Blakeley +books are acquainted with Pee-wee Harris. These stories +record the true facts concerning his size (what there is of +it) and his heroism (such as it is), his voice, his clothes, +his appetite, his friends, his enemies, his victims. Together +with the thrilling narrative of how he foiled, baffled, circumvented +and triumphed over everything and everybody +(except where he failed) and how even when he failed he +succeeded. The whole recorded in a series of screams and +told with neither muffler nor cut-out.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS ON THE TRAIL.</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS IN CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS IN LUCK</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS F. O. B. BRIDGEBORO</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS FIXER</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS: AS GOOD AS HIS WORD</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS: MAYOR FOR A DAY</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>GARRY GRAYSON FOOTBALL STORIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By ELMER A. DAWSON</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Wrapper and Illustration by</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WALTER S. ROGERS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Football followers all over the country will hail with delight +this new and thoroughly up-to-date line of gridiron +tales.</p> + +<p>Garry Grayson is a football fan, first, last, and all the +time. But more than that, he is a wideawake American +boy with a “gang” of chums almost as wideawake as +himself.</p> + +<p>How Garry organized the first football eleven his grammar +school had, how he later played on the High School +team, and what he did on the Prep School gridiron and +elsewhere, is told in a manner to please all readers and +especially those interested in watching a rapid forward +pass, a plucky tackle, or a hot run for a touchdown.</p> + +<p>Good, clean football at its best—and in addition, rattling +stories of mystery and schoolboy rivalries.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON’S HILL STREET ELEVEN;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Football Boys of Lenox.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON AT LENOX HIGH;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Champions of the Football League.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON’S FOOTBALL RIVALS;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Secret of the Stolen Signals.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON SHOWING HIS SPEED;</p> +<p class='line'> or, A Daring Run on the Gridiron.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON AT STANLEY PREP;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Football Rivals of Riverview.</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE TOM SLADE BOOKS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-left:1em;'>Author of “Roy Blakeley,” “Pee-wee Harris,”</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>“Westy Martin,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Color.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>“Let your boy grow up with Tom Slade,” is a suggestion +which thousands of parents have followed during the past, +with the result that the TOM SLADE BOOKS are the +most popular boys’ books published today. They take Tom +Slade through a series of typical boy adventures through +his tenderfoot days as a scout, through his gallant days as +an American doughboy in France, back to his old patrol +and the old camp ground at Black Lake, and so on.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON MYSTERY TRAIL</p> +<p class='line'>TOM BLADE’S DOUBLE DARE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE PICKS A WINNER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE AT BEAR MOUNTAIN</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE: FOREST RANGER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE IN THE NORTH WOODS</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>Jerry Todd and Poppy Ott Series</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BY LEO EDWARDS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Hundreds of thousands of boys who laughed until their +sides ached over the weird and wonderful adventures of +Jerry Todd and his gang demanded that Leo Edwards, +the author, give them more books like the Jerry Todd +stories with their belt-bursting laughs and creepy shivers. +So he took Poppy Ott, Jerry Todd’s bosom chum and +created the Poppy Ott Series, and if such a thing could be +possible—they arc even more full of fun and excitement +than the Jerry Todds.</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE POPPY OTT SERIES</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT AND THE STUTTERING PARROT</p> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT AND THE SEVEN LEAGUE STILTS</p> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT AND THE GALLOPING SNAIL</p> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT’S PEDIGREED PICKLES</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE JERRY TODD BOOKS</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE WHISPERING MUMMY</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE ROSE-COLORED CAT</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE OAK ISLAND TREASURE</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE WALTZING HEN</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE TALKING FROG</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE PURRING EGG</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD IN THE WHISPERING CAVE</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>Football and Baseball Stories</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>THE RALPH HENRY BARBOUR BOOKS FOR BOYS</p> + +<p>In these up-to-the-minute, spirited genuine stories of +boy life there is something which will appeal to every boy +with love of manliness, cleanness and sportsmanship +in his heart.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>LEFT END EDWARDS</p> +<p class='line'>LEFT TACKER THAYER</p> +<p class='line'>LEFT GUARD GILBERT</p> +<p class='line'>CENTER RUSH ROWLAND</p> +<p class='line'>FULLBACK FOSTER</p> +<p class='line'>LEFT HALF HARMON</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT END EMERSON</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT GUARD GRANT</p> +<p class='line'>QUARTERBACK BATES</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT TACKLE TODD</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT HALF ROLLINS</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>THE CHRISTY MATHEWSON BOOKS FOR BOYS</p> + +<p>Every boy wants to know how to play ball in the fairest +and squarest way. These books about boys and baseball +are full of wholesome and manly interest and information.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>PITCHER POLLOCK</p> +<p class='line'>CATCHER CRAIG</p> +<p class='line'>FIRST BASE FAULKNER</p> +<p class='line'>SECOND BASE SLOAN</p> +<p class='line'>PITCHING IN A PINCH</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THIRD BASE THATCHER, By Everett Scott</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE FLYAWAYS STORIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By ALICE DALE HARDY</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of The Riddle Club Books</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Jackets and Colored Illustrations by</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WALTER S. ROGERS</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>A splendid new line of interesting tales for the little +ones, introducing many of the well known characters of +fairyland in a series of novel adventures. The Flyaways +are a happy family and every little girl and boy will want +to know all about them.</p> + +<p>THE FLYAWAYS AND CINDERELLA</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>How the Flyaways went to visit Cinderella only to find that Cinderella’s +Prince had been carried off by the Three Robbers, Rumbo, Hibo and Jobo. +“I’ll rescue him!” cried Pa Flyaway and then set out for the stronghold of +the robbers. A splendid continuation of the original story of Cinderella.</p> + +</div> + +<p>THE FLYAWAYS AND LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>On their way to visit Lillte Red Riding Hood the Flyaways fell in with +Tommy Tucker and The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. They told +Tommy about the Magic Button on Red Riding Hood’s cloak. How the +wicked Wolf stole the Magic Button and how the wolves plotted to eat up +Little Red Riding Hood and all her family, and how the Flyaways and +King Cole lent the wolves flying, makes a story no children will want to miss.</p> + +</div> + +<p>THE FLYAWAYS AND GOLDILOCKS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>The Flyaways wanted to see not only Goldilocks but also the Three +Bears and then took a remarkable journey through the air to do so. Tommy +even rode on a Rocket and met the monstrous Blue Frog. When they +arrived at Goldilock’s house they found that the Three Bears had been there +before them and mussed everything up, mich to Goldilock’s despair. “We +must drive those bears out of the country!” said Pa Flyaway. Then they +journeyed underground to the Yellow Palace, and oh! so many things happened +after that!</p> + +</div> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE TOM SWIFT SERIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By VICTOR APPLETON</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Uniform Style of Binding. Individual Colored Wrappers.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Every boy possesses some form of inventive genius. +Tom Swift is a bright, ingenious boy and his inventions +and adventures make the most interesting kind of reading.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE DON STURDY SERIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By VICTOR APPLETON</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations by</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WALTER S. ROGERS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>In company with his uncles, one a mighty hunter and +the other a noted scientist, Don Sturdy travels far and +wide, gaining much useful knowledge and meeting many +thrilling adventures.</p> + +<p>DON STURDY ON THE DESERT OF MYSTERY</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>An engrossing tale of the Sahara Desert, of encounters with +wild animals and crafty Arabs.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY WITH THE BIG SNAKE HUNTERS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Don’s uncle, the hunter, took an order for some of the biggest +snakes to be found in South America—to be delivered alive!</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY IN THE TOMBS OF GOLD</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>A fascinating tale of exploration and adventure in the Valley +of Kings in Egypt.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY ACROSS THE NORTH POLE</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>A great polar blizzard nearly wrecks the airship of the explorers.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY IN THE LAND OF VOLCANOES</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>An absorbing tale of adventures among the volcanoes of Alaska.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY IN THE PORT OF LOST SHIPS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>This story is just full of exciting and fearful experiences on the sea.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY AMONG THE GORILLAS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>A thrilling story of adventure in darkest Africa. Don is +carried over a mighty waterfall into the heart of gorilla land.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE RADIO BOYS SERIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By ALLEN CHAPMAN</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of the “Railroad Series,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Wrappers. Illustrated.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>A new series for boys giving full details of radio work, +both in sending and receiving—telling how small and +large amateur sets can be made and operated, and how +some boys got a lot of fun and adventure out of what they +did. Each volume from first to last is so thoroughly fascinating, +so strictly up-to-date and accurate, we feel sure +all lads will peruse them with great delight.</p> + +<p>Each volume has a Foreword by Jack Binns, the well-known +radio expert.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS’ FIRST WIRELESS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FOREST RANGERS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FLOOD FIGHTERS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS ON SIGNAL ISLAND</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS IN GOLD VALLEY</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44172 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with fpgen.py 2.26a on 2013-11-13 01:11:33 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/44172-h/images/cover.jpg b/44172-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1d2dba --- /dev/null +++ b/44172-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg b/44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..52d436e --- /dev/null +++ b/44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg diff --git a/44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg b/44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..33534e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg diff --git a/44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg b/44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9783d57 --- /dev/null +++ b/44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg diff --git a/44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg b/44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7236152 --- /dev/null +++ b/44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg 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..95a4a98 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #44172 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44172) diff --git a/old/44172-0.txt b/old/44172-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..97f9c9b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5044 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, 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 Motor Caravan + +Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh + +Release Date: November 13, 2013 [EBook #44172] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark + + + + +[Illustration: THE MOTOR CARAVAN ON THE WAY.] + + + + + ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN + + BY + + PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of + + TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM + SLADE AT BLACK LAKE, + ROY BLAKELEY, ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED + + PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF + THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS—NEW YORK + + Made in the United States of America + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + + + + Table of Contents + + I—Some Expedition! + II—Who We All Are + III—Who Is Pee-Wee Harris, and If So, Why? + IV—Pee-Wee’s Watch + V—The Caravan + VI—Stranded + VII—A Good Turn + VIII—Grumpy + IX—Military Plans + X—The Signal Corps at Work + XI—A Mysterious Footprint + XII—A Discovery + XIII—Tom Slade, Scout + XIV—Pee-Wee’s Goat + XV—The Message + XVI—Brent’s Ambition + XVII—A Side Show + XVIII—A Shower Bath + XIX—Brent Gets His Wish + XX—We Consider Our Predicament + XXI—Getting Started + XXII—Silence! + XXIII—Fixing It + XXIV—Snoozer Settles It + XXV—Big Excitement at Barrow’s Homestead + XXVI—To the Rescue + XXVII—Another Discovery + XXVIII—A Mysterious Paper + XXIX—The Mystery Deepens + XXX—We Make a Promise + XXXI—We Reach Our Destination + XXXII—Surrender and Indemnity + XXXIII—Mobilizing + XXXIV—Tr-r-aitors! + XXXV—Peace With Indemnity + XXXVI—Scouts on the Job + XXXVII—That Mysterious Paper Again + XXXVIII—The Only Way + + + + + ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN + + + + + CHAPTER I—SOME EXPEDITION! + + +Gee whiz, whenever I see that fellow Harry Domicile, I know there’s +going to be a lot of fun. Just the same as I can always tell if we’re +going to have mince turnovers for dessert. That’s one thing I’m crazy +about—mince turnovers. I can tell when I go through the kitchen if +we’re going to have them, because our cook has a kind of a look on her +face. I can eat five of those things at a sitting, but that isn’t saying +how many I can eat standing up. Pee-wee Harris can eat seven, even while +he’s talking at the same time. Anyway, that hasn’t got anything to do +with Harry Donnelle. + +Maybe you’re wondering why I named this chapter “Some Expedition.” If it +was about Pee-wee Harris, I’d name it “Some _Exhibition_,” because that +kid is a regular circus. So now I guess I’ll tell you. + +One afternoon I was sitting on the railing of our porch taking a rest +after mowing the lawn. I was thinking how it would be a good idea if +they had lawn mowers that run by gas engines. We’ve got a great big lawn +at our house. At Doc Carson’s house they have a little bit of a +lawn—he’s lucky. Gee whiz, you could cut that lawn with a safety razor. + +All of a sudden I saw Harry Donnelle coming up the street. I guess maybe +you know who he is, because we had some adventures with him in other +stories. He’s a big fellow, I guess he’s about twenty-five. He was a +lieutenant in the war. My sister likes him a lot only she said I mustn’t +say so in a story. I should worry about her. He comes up to our house a +lot. Believe me, that fellow’s middle name is adventure. He says all his +ancestors were crazy about adventures. He says he wouldn’t have any +ancestors unless they were. He says that’s why he picked them out. Gee +williger, you ought to hear him jollying Pee-wee. He told Pee-wee that +once he lived in obscurity and Pee-wee wanted to know where that was. +Can you beat that? Harry told him it was in Oregon. Good night! + +So as soon as I saw that fellow coming up across the lawn, I kind of +knew there was going to be something doing. Because only a few days +before that he had told me that maybe he would want my patrol to help +him in a daring exploit. Oh, boy, those are my favorite outdoor +sports—daring exploits. I eat them alive. + +He said, “Hello, kid, I went fishing with Jake Holden last night and we +got into a school of perch.” + +I said, “Don’t talk about school; this is vacation.” + +He had a bundle with some perch in it and he said they were for supper. +So I took them into the kitchen and while I was in there I ate some +icing off a cake. If I had my way cakes would be all icing, but our cook +says you have to have a foundation to put the icing on. Me for the roof. + +When I went back Harry said, “I suppose you kids will be starting for +that old dump up in the Catskills pretty soon.” He meant Temple Camp. I +said, “We take our departure in two weeks.” + +He said, “Take your which?” + +I said, “Our departure; don’t you know what that is?” + +“Well,” he said, kind of puzzled like, “I guess I’ll have to pike around +and get some assistance somewhere else. I’ve got a little job on hand +that I thought might interest you and your patrol. Ever hear of the +Junkum Corporation, automobile dealers? They have the agency for the +Kluck car. They’re down in New York. It wasn’t anything much; just a +little hop, skip, and a jump out west, and back again.” + +“In junk cars—I mean Kluck cars?” I blurted out. + +“Mostly junk,” he said; “but of course, as long as your plans are +made——” + +“Never you mind about our plans,” I told him; “tell me all about it.” +Because, gee, I was all excited. + +He said, “Well, there isn’t much to it; just a little gypsy and caravan +stuff, as you might say. My sister’s husband’s brother, Mr. Junkum, is +tearing his hair out and lying awake nights, because he can’t get cars +here from the west. He says the customers are standing on line and all +that sort of thing and that everything is clogged up at the other end, +the railroads are all tied up in a knot, the freight is piled up as high +as the Woolworth building and nothing short of a good dose of dynamite +will loosen up the freight congestion out west. If it was a matter of +Ford cars he could get them through by parcel post, but with these big +six cylinder Klucks it’s a different proposition. He’s got three touring +cars and a big motor van waiting for shipment out in Klucksville, +Missouri, and if he can’t make deliveries in a couple of weeks or so his +customers are going to cancel. Poor guy, I’m sorry for him.” + +That’s just the way Harry talks. He said, “One of those cars, the big +enclosed van, is for Jolly and Kidder’s big store in New York.” + +“That’s where I bought my last scout suit, at Jolly and Kidder’s,” I +told him. + +Then he said, “Junkum wanted me to see if I couldn’t round up two or +three fellows and bang out to Klucksville and bring the cars home under +their own power. I told him the roads were punk and he said it’s punk to +have your business canceled, so there you are.” + +“Oh, bibbie,” I said, “we’d love to do that only we can’t run cars on +account of not being old enough.” + +Then he said, “I rounded up Tom Slade and he agreed to die for the +cause—said his vacation was at my disposal. He drove a motor truck in +France and he’s a bug on good turns. Rossie Bent has promised to run one +of the touring cars, I’m going to run the van myself and that leaves one +touring car. I tried to get Brent Gaylong on the long distance ’phone up +at Newburgh to-day, but he wasn’t home—out grouching around, I suppose. +His mother said she’d have him call me up or wire me. All I want now is +a commissary department and I got a kind of a hunch that maybe you kids +could camp in the van and cook for the crowd and make yourselves +generally useful. The way I figure it out by the road map there’ll be +long stretches of road where we won’t bunk into any towns. I figured on +taking Pee-wee along as a kind of a mascot; you know those little fancy +jim-cracks they put on radiator caps in autos? I thought he could be one +of those, as you might say, and bring us good luck. He’d be a whole +commissary department in himself, I suppose, considering the way he +eats. But if you can’t you can’t, and that’s all there is about it.” + +“What do you mean, _we can’t_?” I shouted at him. “You make me tired! Do +you suppose Temple Camp is going to run away just because my patrol is a +couple of weeks late getting there? You bet your life we’ll go. If you +try to sneak off without us, we’ll come after you. We’re coming back in +that motor van, so that’s settled. I should worry about Temple Camp.” + +He just sat there on the railing alongside of me, laughing. + +He said, “I thought it would hit you.” + +“Hit me!” I told him. “Believe me, it gave me a knockout blow.” + +He said he’d stay to supper so as to talk my mother and father into it, +because they don’t care anything about making long trips in motor vans +and things like that, and maybe they’d say I’d better not go. + +But, believe me, Harry Domicile knows how to handle mothers and fathers +all right, especially mothers. So don’t you worry, just leave it to him. + +The worst is yet to come. + + + + + II—WHO WE ALL ARE + + +What do you think my father said? He said he wished he was young enough +to go along. Oh, but he’s a peach of a father! So is my mother. My +sister Marjorie said she’d like to go too. Harry said that no girls were +allowed. He said that girls were supposed to stay home and receive +picture post-cards. Gee whiz, I’m sorry for them. I’m glad I’m not a +girl. But if I wasn’t a boy I’d like to be a girl. + +That night we had our regular troop meeting. Cracky, you can’t get that +bunch quiet enough to tell them anything. You know how it sounds in a +graveyard? And you know how it sounds in a saw mill? Well, a graveyard +sounds like a saw mill compared with the noise at one of our meetings. +So I told our scoutmaster, Mr. Ellsworth, that I had something to say +and he said they should let me have the chair. Then they began throwing +chairs at me. It’s good he didn’t tell them to let me have the floor, or +they’d have ripped that up, I suppose. + +“I’d like to get your ear,” I shouted. + +“You’ll get our goat if you don’t say what you’ve got to say,” Doc +Carson yelled. + +“I’m trying to say it if I can get your ear,” I said. + +“You can have anything except my mouth,” Pee-wee piped up. Good night, +he needs that. + +Then Mr. Ellsworth got them all quieted down and I told them how Harry +Domicile wanted the Silver Fox Patrol (that’s my patrol) to go out west +and how he wanted Pee-wee to go too, even though he was one of the +raving Ravens. I said the reason he wanted Pee-wee to go was so he could +blow up the tires and we wouldn’t have to have any pump. Pee-wee likes +auto tires, because they’re the same shape as doughnuts—that’s what I +told him. + +There’s one good thing about our troop and that is that one patrol never +gets jealous of another. If my patrol gets a chance to go somewhere the +other fellows don’t get mad, because they get more to eat. Absence makes +the dessert last longer. In our troop each patrol does as it +pleases—united we stand, divided we sprawl. Each patrol always has more +fun than the other patrols. So if everybody has more fun than anybody +else, they ought to be satisfied, I should hope. Pee-wee is in the +Ravens, because he got wished onto them when the troop started, but he +belongs to all three patrols, kind of. That’s because one patrol isn’t +big enough for him. He spreads out over three. + +So this is the last you’ll see of the Ravens and the Elks in this story. +Maybe you’ll say thank goodness for that. They went up to Temple Camp. +There were fifty-three troops up there and everybody had more dessert +because Pee-wee wasn’t there. So that shows you how my patrol did a good +turn for Temple Camp. Gee whiz, you have to remember to do good turns If +you’re a scout. + +Now this story is all about that trip that we made to bring back those +four machines, and believe me, we had some adventures. If you were to +see Jolly and Kidder’s big delivery van now, all filled up with bundles +and things C. O. D., you’d never suppose it had a dark past. But, +believe me, that past was darker than the Dark Ages. You learn about the +Dark Ages in the fifth grade—that’s Miss Norton’s class. She’s my +favorite teacher because she has to go to a meeting every afternoon and +she can’t keep us in. + +So now I guess I’ll start. The next morning who should show up but Brent +Gaylong. He didn’t even bother to wire. He said he didn’t believe in +telegrams and things like that when it came to adventures. He’s awful +funny, that fellow is—kind of sober like. He’s head of a troop up in +Newburgh and we met him when we were on a hike once. He can drive a Ford +so easy that you don’t know it’s moving. He says most of the time it’s +_not_ moving. He’s crazy about adventures. Good night, when he and Harry +Domicile start talking, we have to laugh. He said he’d do anything +provided we got into trouble. Harry told him there ought to be plenty of +trouble between Missouri and New York. That fellow tries awful hard to +get arrested but he never can. + +Now I’ll tell you about the other fellows. Harry was the captain—he had +charge of the whole outfit. I bet Mr. Junkum trusted him a lot. But one +thing, Harry never does anything for money. He says money is no good +except when it’s buried in the ground and you go and try to find it. +That’s the kind of a fellow he is. He didn’t get killed three times in +France. But he came mighty near it. He’s got the distinguished service +cross. He lives in Little Valley near Bridgeboro. Bridgeboro is my town. +I don’t mean I own it. Harry’s got a dandy Cadillac car of his own. He +takes my sister Marjorie out in it. + +There was one other big fellow that went on that trip and that was +Rossie Bent who works in the bank. He got his vacation especially so he +could go. He’s got light hair. Often when he sees me he treats me to a +soda. + +Tom Slade went so as to drive the fourth car, and he’s a big fellow too, +only you bet your life I’ll never call him a big fellow, because before +he went to the war he was in our troop. And even now he’s just like one +of us scouts. I guess maybe you know all about him. Believe me, the war +changed him more than it changed the map of Europe. + +That leaves Pee-wee and the rest of the fellows in my patrol. So now +I’ll tell you about them. First comes Roy Blakeley (that’s me), and I’m +patrol leader. That’s what makes me look so sober and worried like. I +have to take strawberry sundaes to build me up, on account of the strain +of managing that bunch. Next comes Westy Martin; he’s my special chum. +He’s got eleven merit badges. He’s awful careful. He does his homework +as soon as he gets home every day, so in case he gets killed it will be +done. I should worry about my homework if I got killed. Next comes Dorry +Benton, only he was in Europe with his mother so he didn’t go with us. +If he had gone with us he would have been there. Hunt Manners couldn’t +go because his brother was going to be married. The rest of the fellows +were Charlie Seabury and Will Dawson and the Warner twins, Brick and +Slick. They’re just the same, only each one of them is smarter than the +other. You can’t tell which is which, only one of them likes potatoes +and the other doesn’t. That’s the way I tell them apart. If I see one of +them eating potatoes I know it’s Slick. That leaves only one fellow, and +gee whiz, I’m going to give him a chapter all to himself and I hope +he’ll be satisfied. Some day he’ll have a whole book to himself, I +suppose. _Good night!_ + + + + + III—WHO IS PEE-WEE HARRIS, AND IF SO, WHY? + + +Anyway Pee-wee Harris _is_, that’s one sure thing. His mother calls him +Walter and my sisters call him Walter, but Pee-wee is his regular name. +He’s our young hero and some of the fellows call him Peerless Pee-wee, +and some of them call him Speck. + +If all of us fellows were automobiles, Pee-wee would be a Ford. That’s +because he’s the smallest and he makes the most noise. He eats all his +food running on high. He never has to shift his gears to eat dessert. +Even if it’s a tough steak he takes it on high. He’s a human cave. He’s +about three feet six inches in diameter and his tongue is about six feet +three inches long. He has beautiful brown curly hair and he’s just too +cute—that’s what everybody says. His nose has got three freckles on it. +He starts on compression. When he gets excited Webster’s Dictionary +turns green with envy. + +Now the way it was fixed was that we were all to meet at the Bridgeboro +Station at three o’clock the next day so as to get the three-eighteen +train for New York. Then we were going to go on the Lake Shore Limited +to Klucksville—that’s near St. Louis. + +When Pee-wee showed up at the station he looked like the leader of a +brass band. His scout suit was all pressed, his compass was dangling +around his neck, in case the Lake Shore Limited should lose its way, I +suppose, and his scout knife was hanging to his belt. He had his belt-ax +on too. I guess that was so he could chop his way through the forests if +the train got stalled. He had his camera and his air rifle and his swamp +boots and his scout whistle, and he had his duffel bag on the end of his +scout staff. And, oh, boy, he had a new watch. + +I said, “_Good night_, you must have been robbing the church steeple. +Where did you get that young clock? If it only had an electric bulb in +it we could use it for a headlight. Is it supposed to keep time?” + +“It ought to be able to keep a whole lot of time, it’s big enough,” +Harry said. “Are you going to take it with you or send it by express?” + +I said, “Oh, sure, a big watch like that can keep a lot of time; it +holds about a quart.” + +“You make me tired!” Pee-wee shouted. “It’s warranted for a year.” + +“I bet it takes a year to wind it up,” Westy said. + +“Anyway we can drink out of it if we get thirsty,” Will Dawson told him. +“It’s got a nice spring in it.” + +“It doesn’t vary a second,” Pee-wee shouted. “Look at the clock in the +station; that’s Western Union time.” + +Gee whiz, but that kid was proud of his new watch. He looked at it about +every ten seconds while we were waiting for the train, and every once in +a while he looked up at the sun. I guess maybe he thought the sun was a +little late, hey? When we got to the city he checked up all the clocks +he saw on the way over to the Grand Central Station, to see if they were +right, and when we were whizzing up along the Hudson on the Lake Shore +Limited he kept a time table in one hand and his watch in the other so +as to find out if we reached Poughkeepsie and Albany on time. + +Just before we all turned in for the night, Harry and Brent Gaylong went +over and sat by him and began jollying him about the watch. The rest of +us sprawled around on the Pullman seats, listening and laughing. Gee +whiz, when Harry and Brent Gaylong get together, _good night_! + +Harry said, “The trouble with those heavy duty watches is they’re not +intended for night work. They work all right in the daytime, but you see +at night when they haven’t got the sun to go by, they get to +sprinting——” + +“Do you know what kind of a watch this is?” Pee-wee shouted at him. +“It’s a scout watch——” + +Brent said in that sober way of his, “That’s just the trouble. Those +scout watches go scout-pace. A scout is always ahead of time; so is a +scout watch. If a scout watch is supposed to arrive at three o’clock, it +arrives at two—an hour beforehand. A scout is prompt.” + +“Positively,” Harry said; “by to-morrow morning that watch will be an +hour ahead of time. It’ll beat every other watch by an hour.” + +“I bet it’s right on the minute to-morrow morning,” Pee-wee shouted. +“That’s a scout watch; it’s advertised in _Boys’ Life_. The ad. said it +keeps perfect time.” + +“How long have you had it?” Rossie Bent wanted to know. + +“My father gave it to me for a present on account of this trip,” the kid +said; “he gave it to me just before I started off.” + +“So you haven’t had it overnight yet?” Brent asked him. “You don’t know +whether it’s good at night work or not.” + +“They always race in the dark,” Harry said; “that’s the trouble with +those boy scout watches.” + +By this time the colored porter and about half a dozen passengers were +standing around listening and laughing. + +Harry said, “Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Kid. I happen to know +something about those watches and they’re not to be trusted. The boy +scout watch is a pile of junk. If that watch isn’t at least an hour +ahead of time when we sit down to breakfast to-morrow morning, I’ll buy +you the biggest pie they’ve got in the city of Cleveland. If your watch +is wrong by as much as an hour you’ll have to do a good turn between +every two stations we stop at till we get to Chicago. What do you say?” + +“I won’t have to worry about any good turns,” Pee-wee shot back at him. + +Harry said, “All right, is it a go?” + +“Sure it’s a go,” the kid shouted. “Mm! Mm! I’ll be eating pie all day +to-morrow.” + + + + + CHAPTER IV—PEE-WEE’S WATCH + + +I guess Pee-wee dreamed of pie that night. Anyway he didn’t wake up very +early in the morning. When the train stopped at Cleveland for eats, he +was dead to the world. The rest of us all went into the railroad station +for breakfast and Harry took a couple of sandwiches and a hard boiled +egg and a bottle of milk back to the train for our young hero when he +should wake up. + +When we were eating breakfast in the station, Harry said, “Well, I see +that none of you kids has ever been out west before. Hadn’t we better +set our watches?” + +I looked up at the clock in the station and, _good night_, then I knew +why he and Brent had been jollying Pee-wee the night before. The dock in +the station was an hour behind my watch. + +“Western time, boys,” Harry said; “set _your_ watches back.” + +“And keep still about it when you go back on the train,” Rossie said, +“if you want to see some fun.” + +“We’ve lost an hour,” Westy said. + +“Don’t you care,” Brent said; “don’t bother looking for it; we’ll find +it coming back.” + +Gee whiz, I had to laugh when I thought of Pee-wee lying sound asleep in +his upper berth with his trusty boy scout watch under his pillow. When +we went back on the train all the berths except Pee-wee’s were made into +seats. There were only about a half a dozen passengers besides ourselves +in that car, and Harry went around asking them all not to mention to +Pee-wee about western time. + +I guess it was about a half an hour later the kid woke up. He was so +sleepy that he never thought about the time till after he had got washed +and dressed, then he came staggering through the car wanting to know +where we were. The rest of us were all sprawling in the seats and the +passengers were smiling, because I guess they knew what was coming. + +Harry said, “Sit down here and have some breakfast, Kid. We thought we +wouldn’t bother you to get up when we stopped in Cleveland. What time +have you got?” + +Pee-wee hauled out his old boy scout turnip and said, “It’s half past +nine.” + +Harry said, “Oh, not quite as bad as that; boy scouts don’t sleep till +half past nine. It’s just—let’s see—it’s just about half past eight.” +Then he showed his watch to Pee-wee, kind of careless like. + +By that time we were all crowding around waiting to see the fun and the +passengers were all looking around and kind of smiling. + +Harry said, “Sit down and eat your breakfast, Kid, and don’t let that +old piece of junk fool you. What time have you got, Roy?” + +I could hardly keep a straight face, but I said, “About half past +eight.” + +“You see, it’s just as I told you, Kid,” Harry said. “As soon as you go +to sleep those boy scout watches take advantage of you. I wouldn’t trust +one of them any more than I’d trust a pickpocket. How about that, +Brent?” + +“Oh, I’ve met some pretty honest pickpockets,” Brent said. “Of course, +some of them are dishonest. But it’s the same as it is in every other +business; some are honest and some are not. I’ve seen some good, honest, +hard working pickpockets. What time is it, Tom Slade?” + +Gee whiz, I was afraid when Tom took out his watch, because he usually +stands up for Pee-wee, and I was afraid he’d let him know. But he just +looked at his watch, very sober, and said, “Pretty nearly twenty minutes +of nine.” + +“You all make me sick!” Pee-wee yelled. “You think you’re smart, don’t +you? You all got together and changed your watches.” + +“This is the same watch I always carried,” Brent said. + +“I mean you all changed the time,” Pee-wee shouted; “you think you can +put one over on me, don’t you?” + +“That watch would be all right for a paperweight, Kid,” Rossie said, “or +for an anchor when you go fishing.” + +“It’s all right to keep time, too,” the kid shouted. + +“It doesn’t _keep_ it, it lets it out,” Harry said; “did you have the +cover closed? A whole hour has sneaked away on you.” + +“Maybe it leaks a little,” Brent said. + +“There may be a short circuit in the minute hand,” Harry said. + +“That watch is right!” the kid shouted. “That’s a boy scout watch and +it’s guaranteed for a year.” + +“Well, it’s an hour ahead of the game,” Harry said. “You ask any one of +these gentlemen the correct time.” + +Oh, boy, I had to laugh. Pee-wee went through the aisle holding his +precious old boy scout watch in his hand, asking the different +passengers what time it was. Every single one of them took out his watch +and showed the kid how he was an hour wrong. All of a sudden, in came +the conductor and Harry winked at him and said, “What’s the correct +time, Cap?” + +“Eight thirty-eight,” the conductor said. + +Harry said, “There you are, Kiddo; what have you got to say now?” + +Gee whiz, the kid didn’t have _anything_ to say. He just stood there +gaping at his watch and then staring around and the passengers could +hardly keep straight faces. + +The conductor caught on to the joke and he winked at Harry and said, +“Those toy watches aren’t expected to keep time.” + +Harry said, “Oh, no, but he’ll have a real watch when he grows up. He’s +young yet. He can take this one apart and have a lot of fun with the +works.” + +“Somebody set this watch ahead—some of you fellows did!” Pee-wee +shouted. “It was right last night. It keeps good time. Somebody played a +trick on me! This is a what-do-you-call-it—a conspiracy. You’re all in +it.” + +Just then we passed a station and there was a clock in a steeple. Harry +said, “You don’t claim that clock in the church steeple is in the +conspiracy, do you? Look at it. _Now_ what have you got to say?” + +Then the conductor put his arm over Pee-wee’s shoulder and he said, +“Didn’t you ever hear of western time, son? The next time you’re +traveling west you just drop an hour at Cleveland station and you’ll +find it waiting there for you when you come back.” + +“Sure,” I told him; “did you notice that big box on the platform? That’s +where they keep them. It’s all full of hours.” + +The kid just stood there, staring. I guess he didn’t know _what_ to +believe. + +“Set your watch back an hour and don’t let them fool you,” the conductor +said, and then he began laughing. + +“And remember that western time is different from eastern time,” Rossie +said. + +“Oh, sure, everything is different out west,” Harry put in. “I like the +western time better.” + +“Eastern time is good enough for me,” Brent said; “I always preferred +it.” + +“And if you should ever happen to be crossing the Pacific Ocean on any +of your wild adventures, Kid,” Harry said, “don’t forget to set your +watch back one day when you cross the equator.” + +“If it’s one day I wouldn’t have to set it back at all,” Pee-wee said. +“Three o’clock to-day is the same as three o’clock yesterday.” + +“It would be better to set it back and be sure,” Harry said. + +“Oh, yes, safety first,” Brent said; “there might be a slight +difference. One three o’clock might look like another, but there’s a +difference.” + +“How do you know when you cross the equator?” I asked Harry. + +He said, “You can tell by the bump. Sometimes the ship just glides over +it easily and you can’t tell at all unless you look.” + +“It’s best to shift gears going over the equator,” Brent said; “go into +second and stay in second till you get up the hill.” + +“What hill?” Pee-wee wanted to know. “You make me sick; there aren’t any +hills on the ocean.” + +“That’s where you’re wrong,” Rossie Brent said. “If you go to Coney +Island and watch a ship coming toward you from way out on the ocean, you +see the top of the masts first, don’t you? Then after a while you see +the whole ship. That’s because it’s coming up hill. See?” + +“You should worry about hills, Kid,” I said; “go ahead and eat your +breakfast.” + + + + + V—THE CARAVAN + + +I guess by now you must think we’re all crazy; I should worry. I just +thought I’d tell you that about Pee-wee’s watch because, gee, it had us +all laughing. So already you’ve lost an hour reading this story; don’t +you care. + +Now we didn’t have any more adventures on that trip. We didn’t do much +except eat and, gee whiz, you wouldn’t call that having adventures. Late +that night we got to Klucksville and we stayed at the hotel till +morning. They have dandy wheat cakes at that hotel. And syrup, _mm_, +_mm_! Then we went to the auto works and the four cars were all ready +for us, because Mr. Junkum had sent a telegram to say we were coming. + +Oh, boy, you should have seen that big van, a regular gypsy wagon. On +the outside was painted, + + JOLLY & KIDDER + THE MAMMOTH STORE + EVERYTHING FOR THE HOME + +It was all enclosed and there was an electric light inside and steps to +go up to it and everything. There were kind of lockers inside too; I +guess they were for small bundles, hey? The kind that mothers buy and +then send back again, because they don’t fit. + +Gee whiz, there wasn’t much to see in Klucksville. We could have brought +the whole town home with us in the van if we had wanted to,—all except +the auto works. We didn’t waste much time there because Harry wanted to +get an early start and go as far as we could the first day. But anyway, +we stopped long enough in the village to have a man print a big sign on +canvas that we tacked on the van. It said, + + MISSOURI TO NEW YORK + SHOULD WORRY ABOUT RAILROADS + BOY SCOUTS ON THE JOB! + WE WORK WHILE OTHERS LOAF + BE PREPARED + +Besides that we bought three straw mattresses and an oil stove and some +canned stuff. We didn’t need to buy much except food, because we had a +lot of camping stuff along. We got cans of beans and soup and tuna fish +and some egg powder and Indian meal, because I can make lots of things +with that. Gee whiz, I can’t tell you all the stuff we bought, but if +you watch us you’ll see us eating it. Believe me, we ate everything +except the straw mattresses. Harry said the Kluck was a pretty good car +for eating up the miles, but believe me, it hasn’t got anything on us +when it comes to eating. + +Now this is the way we started. First was a touring car with Tom Slade +driving it. He’s awful sober, kind of. But you can have a lot of fun +with him. He has no use for candy, but he’s got a lot of sense about +other things. I can always make him laugh—leave it to me. Next came +another touring car with Rossie Bent driving it. He had a pasteboard +sign on his and it said, + + WE’RE FROM MISSOURI, + WE’LL SHOW YOU + +Next came Brent Gaylong in the other touring car and he had a pasteboard +sign that said, + + YOU’RE IN LUCK + IF YOU GET A KLUCK + ----- + FROM THE WOOLLY WEST + ----- + BOUND FOR LITTLE OLD NEW YORK; + +After that came the big van with Harry driving it. + +Now we fellows were supposed to live in the van, but we didn’t do much +except sleep in it. Most of the time we were riding in the different +cars. A lot of the time I sat with Tom Slade. Mostly the Warner twins +rode in the car with Rossie Bent. Charlie Seabury and Westy were in +Brent Gaylong’s car a lot of the time. Will Dawson got sleepy a lot so +he was in the van mostly. Pee-wee rode in all the different cars at +once, but most of the time in the van, on account of that being the +commissary department. Wherever you see a commissary department, look +for Pee-wee. Commissary is his middle name. Sometimes he was up on top +of the van dancing around. He’s awful light on his feet. He came near +lighting on his head a couple of times. + +So now I’m going to tell you about that trip. + + + + + VI—STRANDED + + +I guess you’ll say this story is a lot of nonsense, but anyway, those +big fellows were worse than the rest of us. Harry said it didn’t make +any difference if we were foolish, because even a dollar hasn’t as much +cents as it used to have—that’s a joke. Anyway Harry had plenty of +dollars that Mr. Junkum gave him for expenses. He told us the people who +were buying the cars paid part of the money. And anyway, my patrol saved +them some money on account of knowing all about camping and cooking and +all that. Harry said it was more fun than if we stayed at hotels all the +time. Gee whiz, I hate hotels—hotels and spinach. But once I went to a +peach of a fire when a hotel burned down. That’s one good thing about +hotels, anyway. + +Now about noontime that day the road crossed the railroad station at a +place called Squash Centre. It crosses it there every day, I guess, +Sundays and holidays and all. Anyway, it crossed it there that day. +Pee-wee was sitting on the seat beside Harry and he shouted, “Squash +Centre; I like pumpkin better.” As soon as he saw the word squash right +away he thought about pie. + +There were only about six houses there and the railroad station. On the +platform were a lot of funny looking people and they had a couple of big +dogs tied by ropes. They had a lot of boxes and bags and things standing +around them on the platform. Most of the squashes of Squash Centre were +standing around a little way off laughing at them. The man that was +holding the dogs had on a long black coat and a high hat and he needed +to be shaved. His coat didn’t have any cloth on the buttons. He had long +hair sticking out from under his hat. + +Harry said, “Well, well, we sure are out west. Here’s poor old Uncle +Tom’s Cabin, bag and baggage.” Then he called down to the man with the +black coat and said, “How about you, old top? Stranded?” + +Then all the squashes of Squash Centre set up a howl. + +The man said, very dignified like, “Thank you, for your inquiry, young +sir, and might I ask if you came through Jones’ Junction? Are there any +trains running?” + +By that time our whole caravan had stopped and all the squashes got +around and began staring at us. + +Harry said, “I don’t believe there are any trains except eastern trains. +I don’t believe there’s anything that stops this side of Indianapolis. +How far are you going? What’s the matter, didn’t you hit it right among +the squashes?” + +The man said, “The squashes are without art or patriotism. I thank you +for your information, sir. We are both stalled and stranded. We have +neither a train to travel on nor money to travel on it if we had. Our +friends have not welcomed us as we hoped they would. We have a promising +engagement at Grumpy’s Cross-roads some hundred miles distant, where we +are under contract with Major Hezekiah Grumpy to give six performances +at the Grand Army reunion there. Major Grumpy, sir, fought bravely to +stamp out the evil which our play depicts with such pathos.” That was +just the way he talked. + +Harry said, “So they are having a reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads, are +they?” + +“A very magnificent affair, sir,” that’s just what the man said, “and +the major has contracted with us for the presentation of our heart +stirring drama with the view of having the dramatic part of the +celebration appropriate.” + +Geewhiz, it was awful funny to hear him talk. + + + + + VII—A GOOD TURN + + +That man’s name was Archibald Abbington, and he talked dandy, just as if +he had learned it out of a book. One of those other people told us that +his right name was Henry Flynn. I felt sorry for them, that’s one sure +thing. And, oh, boy, but those were two peachy dogs they had. The thing +those dogs did mostly was to chase Eliza. Miss Le Farge, she was the one +that played Eliza. They never let anybody feed the dogs except her, so +they’d be sure to chase her. + +Harry said, “Why don’t you let them chase some of these squashes away? +They stand around gaping just as if they never saw a human being before. +How far is Grumpy’s Cross-roads anyway?” + +Mr. Abbington said, “It’s a matter of a hundred miles or thereabout.” +Gee, he was crazy about that word _thereabout_. Then he said that they +had a contract with Major Grumpy to give their first performance the +next afternoon at the Grand Army reunion, but he didn’t know what they +would do because they were stranded. + +Harry was awful nice to him. He said, “Well, it looks as if you were in +a kind of a tight place, Archy, and I wish we could help you out. We’re +reproducing the good old times, too, as you might say, with our overland +caravan. These are boy scouts who are taking care of our commissary +department and this is their gallant leader, Roy Blakeley. How about it, +Roy? Do you think we could squeeze in a good turn, just to vary the +monotony? You’re the boss of that end of the outfit. It would mean +driving all night instead of stopping to camp as we meant to do. Let’s +look on the map and see where Grumpy’s Cross-roads is, anyway.” + +I said, “The more the merrier; I don’t care where it is or how long it +takes us to get there. We’ll take you. That’s our middle name, doing +good turns.” + +“We give shows ourselves sometimes,” Pee-wee said. “We have a movie +apparatus and we give movie shows. But one thing, we’ve never been +stranded.” + +Brent said in that funny way of his, “But we hope to be, sometime; we +can’t expect to have everything at once.” + +Mr. Abbington said, awful dignified like, “We have been stranded many +times, sir. I can assure you it is not pleasant, especially when one of +our company is ill.” + +Gee whiz, I could see plain enough that one of them wasn’t feeling good; +that was the one they called Miss De Voil—she played Topsy. Maybe the +squashes disagreed with her, hey? + +Harry said, “Well, it’s up to you kids, Roy. Grumpy’s Cross-roads is +east, so it isn’t exactly out of our way, only we’ll have to hit into a +pretty punk road and there’ll be no sleeping around the camp-fire +to-night. What do you say?” + +Mr. Abbington and all the rest of those people looked at us kids awful +anxious, sort of. Gee, it made me feel sorry for them. All of a sudden +Pee-wee piped up. He said, “Camp-fires aren’t the principal things in +scouting; good turns come first. Anyway, once I heard that actors always +help each other and maybe, kind of, you might say we’re actors, because +sometimes we give shows.” + +Mr. Abbington said, “I am delighted to hear that, my young friend. Let +me ask you what you have played.” + +“He plays the harmonica when nobody stops him,” Westy said. + +I said, “Oh, sure, he’s a peachy actor; he plays dominoes and tennis and +tiddle-de-winks. The most stirring part he ever plays is when he stirs +his coffee.” + +Miss Le Farge said to another one of those ladies, “Oh, isn’t he just +too cute?” + +So then we helped them get all their stuff into the van. They had a tent +and a lot of other things. Harry whispered to me that he guessed they +hadn’t had any supper and he said he was afraid if we didn’t give them +something to eat the man that played the slave driver wouldn’t have +strength enough to whip Uncle Tom the next afternoon. Brent said maybe +even Uncle Tom wouldn’t have strength enough to stand up and be whipped. +He said, “We’d better feed them up.” + +So we made a fire in the grove right alongside the road so as not to +interfere with Miss De Voil, who was lying on one of the mattresses in +the van. We told the ladies that they could have the van all to +themselves that night so they could get good and rested. I fried some +bacon for them and heated some beans and we got water out of the +railroad station. + +Gee whiz, the water was the only thing about that railroad that was +running. + + + + + VIII—GRUMPY + + +We ran the cars all that night so as to get those people to Grumpy’s +Cross-roads in the morning. The ladies slept in the van, all except one; +she was the one that played Aunt Ophelia. In the play she had to be +strict, like a school teacher kind of, with Topsy. But when she wasn’t +in the play she was awful nice. She sat up all night in Rossie Bent’s +car, because she said she liked the fresh air. Mr. Abbington and Harry +sat together outside the van. I didn’t get sleepy much. The rest of the +fellows sprawled in Tom Slade’s car and Brent Gaylong’s car, and were +dead to the world. It was nice traveling in the night only we had to go +slow. We went across a kind of a prairie and every once in a while we +came to farms. It was dandy to see the sun come up in the morning. + +About five o’clock we came to a village and we asked a man how far it +was to Grumpy’s Crossroads. He must have got up before breakfast, that +man. He said it was about thirty-five miles, but that we’d have to go +very slow on account of the road being all stones. We had to drive those +cars easy, because they were supposed to be delivered new. + +The man said, “If you’re bound east why didn’t you hit the south road +and cut out Grumpy’s Crossroads altogether?” + +Harry said, “Because these people have to appear at the Grand Army +reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads this afternoon and we’ve got to get them +there.” + +The man said, “If that’s all you’re going to the Cross-roads for, you +might as well take the south road. Bill Thorpe, he was t’the Cross-roads +yesterday en’ he said th’ Uncle Tom’s Cabin show was called off on +’count of thar bein’ no trains runnin’. He said ole Major Grumpy was +tearin’ ’is hair like a wild Injun at th’ railroad unions.” + +Harry said, “Is that so? Well, I hope he won’t have his hair all pulled +out by 2 P. M. Do you suppose old Grump ever heard of the Boy Scouts of +America?” + +“I’ll tell him all about them!” Pee-wee shouted. “You just leave it to +me.” + +The man was smoking a pipe and it kind of smelled like a forest fire. It +smelled like a forest fire and a gas engine put together, kind of. He +laid his pipe down on the step of the van so we’d know that what he was +going to say was very serious. + +He said, “You take my advice en’ daon’t mention no scaout boys t’the +major; it’s like wavin’ a red flag before a bull as yer might say.” + +“Doesn’t like ’em, hey?” Harry said. + +“Hates ’em,” the man said. + +“Eats ’em alive, I suppose,” Brent said. + +“He’d eat ’em raw, only he ain’t got teeth enough,” the man said. + +Brent said in that funny way he has, “Well, I guess that settles it, +we’ll hit the trail for the Cross-roads; I kind of like old Grump +already. I have a kind of a hunch he’ll put some pep into this +Lewis & Clarke expedition. All we needed to make our joy complete was +somebody to try to foil us.” + +“Cracky, I hope he tries to foil us,” Pee-wee piped up. + +“Is he a villain?” Brent wanted to know. + +“Wall, he ain’t just exactly what you might call a villain,” the man +said, very serious. + +Brent said, “Oh, that’s too bad. We haven’t got a villain for our story +yet. I suppose we’ll have to advertise when we hit into Indianapolis. +‘Wanted, willing and industrious villain; one with some experience +preferred; good chance for advancement; duties, being foiled by the Boy +Scouts of America.’” + +The man said, “Guess you’re a kind of a comic, hey?” + +“What’s the trouble between old Grump and the kids, anyway?” Harry asked +him. + +The man said, “Wall, naow, I’ll tell you. Th’ major’s an old Civil War +man en’ he’s a great stickler on military training for boys; ain’t got +no use for studyin’ natur’ en’ all that kind o’ thing. He’s daft abaout +the Civil War, en’ he’s jest abaout th’ biggest old grouch this side o’ +th’ Missippi River. This here reunion o’ his, every three years, is the +pet uv his heart, as th’ feller says. He has th’ poor ole veterans +limpin’ in from miles araound fillin’ ’em up with rations en’ givin’ ’em +shows. He’s got money enough so’s ter make the United States Treasury +look like a poor relation; and _stingy_!” + +“That sounds fine,” Brent said; “we’ll have him eating out of our hands; +we’ll have him so he comes when we call him. First I was in hopes we +might fall in with some train robbers——” + +“Gee, it isn’t too late yet!” Pee-wee shouted. + +“But a ferocious old major is good enough,” Brent said; “we can’t expect +to have everything. You’re positive about his hating the Boy Scouts, are +you?” he asked the man. “Because we shouldn’t want to count on that and +then be disappointed. It’s pretty hard when you think you’ve found a +regular scoundrel and then find that you’re deceived. Are you willing to +guarantee him?” + +“Wall, I wouldn’ say exactly as he’s a _villain_,” the man said; “but +he’s a ole wild beast, so everybuddy says, en’ I’m tellin’ yer not to +wave no red flag in front uv him with a lot uv this scaout boy nonsense. +’Cause he ain’t in the humor, see?” + +Harry said, “Do you know, Brent, I think the old codger will do first +rate.” + +“Oh, he’ll do,” Brent said; “of course, it isn’t like finding a pirate, +or a counterfeiter, or an outlaw——” + +“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “If Roy’s going to write all this +stuff up, we have to have an old grouch, so as we can convert him sort +of, don’t we, and then he’ll—then he’ll—what-d’ye-call-it—he’ll +donate a lot of money and say the boy scouts are all right. I’ll manage +him, you leave him to me.” + +Brent said, “You don’t happen to know if he has a gold-haired daughter, +do you?” + +Gee whiz, I guess that man thought we were crazy—I should worry. Even +the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people were laughing. + +Brent said, “Because if our young hero could only rescue old Grump’s +gold-haired daughter from kidnappers, perhaps old Grump would come +across with a real watch that keeps time as a reward for our young +hero’s bravery. I think we’ll have to try our hand with old Grump.” + +“Are you—are you _sure_ he’s mad at the scouts?” Pee-wee wanted to +know. + +“Tell us the worst,” Harry said. + +[Illustration: THE BLOODHOUND BEGAN SNIFFING THE FOOTPRINT.] + + + + + CHAPTER IX—MILITARY PLANS + + +The man put one foot up on the step of the van and said, “Wall, yer see +he owns the Fair Grounds. Thar was a crew uv these here scout kids +camping over in the grove to one side of it, and not doin’ no manner of +harm, I reckon.” + +“That’s one good thing about us, we never do any harm,” Pee-wee piped +up. + +“Wherever they camp the violets spring up,” Rossie said. + +“Sure, and dandelions and four-leaf clovers, too,” the kid shouted. + +The man said, “Wall, naow, them kids wasn’ doin’ no manner uv harm, just +cookin’ and eatin’——” + +“Gee whiz, they have to do that!” Pee-wee told him. “That’s one thing +about scouts, they always eat.” + +“Most always,” Harry said. + +“En’ nothin’ would do but he must chase ’em off,” the man said. “Some uv +them men who wuz interested in the kids made a rumpus about it, but it +weren’t no good; old Grump said off they must go, and off they went. I +wuz sorry ter see it too, hanged if I weren’t, because they’re a bright, +clever lot, them youngsters. Oft times when I’d go inter th’ Cross-roads +with my old mare marketin’, there they’d be in th’ grove right alongside +th’ road, sprawlin’ about and onct, when I come away abaout five o’clock +in the mornin’, thar they were en’ give my old mare a drink out uv th’ +spring.” + +“Up early, hey?” Harry said. + +“Naow, haow is them kids goin’ ter hinder th’ reunion? That’s what I +say. Poked away off in th’ grove right on ter th’ end of the grounds. +But the ole major, he says they was nuthin’ but a lot uv loafers; wanted +to know what good they ever done. Why, Lor’ bless me, if he’d a made +friends with ’em they might uv helped in the reunion, mightn’t they?... +Wall, I guess he wuz all piffed abaout the show not bein’ able to get +there. Trams east of th’ Cross-roads is runnin’ all right, but out this +way thar ain’t been a wheel movin’ in a week, ’cept express trains from +the east. If I was you fellers I wouldn’ go a couple of dozen miles out +of my way over a pile of rocks what they call by the name of a road, I +wouldn’, jus ter do a favor for an old grizzly bear, I wouldn’. Not me.” + +Gee whiz, Mr. Abbington looked kind of anxious, because Harry just sat +there on the seat whistling to himself as if he were thinking. The rest +of us were all standing around. + +Brent said, “Well, as long as old Grump is a stickler on military +training, what do you say we take Grumpy’s Cross-roads right under his +very nose? We’ll make our approach from the west, with our dry-goods +delivery van and three five-passenger touring cars. General Harris will +have charge of the Commissary. First, the signal corps will communicate +with the boy scouts of Grumpy’s Cross-roads and advise them that +reenforcements are on the way—in a dry-goods van and three touring +cars. The grove on the edge of the parade grounds will be in our hands +before night. We’ll have the Civil War veterans down on their knees +begging for an armistice.” + +“Yes, and maybe—maybe—old Major Grumpy will have to go and live in a +castle in Holland, hey?” Pee-wee yelled. + +Honest, isn’t that kid a scream? + + + + + X—THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WORK + + +First, Harry asked if the telegraph office was open, but it wasn’t open. +The reason was, because there wasn’t any there. If that place had been a +little smaller we might have run over it without seeing it and punctured +one of our tires. + +Then Brent said, “Well then, you don’t happen to have a nice hill handy, +do you? We’ll return it in good condition when we get through with it.” + +They didn’t happen to have any hills in that village—they were out of +most everything. Brent said he guessed hills were hard to get. So we +started off again and hit into the road that went to Grumpy’s +Cross-roads. Gee whiz, if Major Grumpy’s temper was anything like that +road, _good night_! That was what we all said. But we should worry about +the road as long as we had all our plans made. Harry said the Kluck car +could eat up the miles all right, but, oh, Sister Anne, if one of them +tried eating the miles on that road it would have indigestion, all +right. Even Pee-wee couldn’t have eaten those. + +After we had gone maybe about nine or ten miles we came to a dandy; it +was a kind of a young mountain. Now, on the way along, we had been +making up a message that we would send by smudge signal, because we +thought that if those other scouts got it, it would be a feather in +their cap and we were thinking about them more than we were about +ourselves. Because a scout is brother to every other scout, see? + +So this is the smudge signal that we decided to send, and, _good night_, +little we knew what it would lead to. Pretty soon you’ll see the plot +beginning to get thicker. + + Uncle Tom show will be given as announced. + Deny rumors to contrary. + + Boy Scouts of America. + +Brent said, “If those kids are up as early as old what’s-his-name said +they were, they ought to see a smudge signal up on the top of a hill +like this, and they can notify old Grump. Then later we’ll give him the +knockout blow. He’ll look like a pancake when we get through with him.” + +That started Pee-wee off—the word pancake. “We’ll go riding into the +village, and we’ll kind of have our clothes torn, and we’ll look all +what-d’ye-call-it—weary and footsore—and we’ll have all the Uncle +Tom’s Cabin company sitting in the touring cars,” he said, “and we’ll +have a big sign that says _Boy Scouts on the Job_, hey? And maybe we’ll +give a parade.” + +Harry said, “Well, the best thing for us to do now is to parade up this +hill and send the message. You see, although assaults are usually made +unknown to the enemy, in this case we’ll make a big hit if we start some +propaganda along ahead of us. It pays to advertise, as Jolly & Kidder +would say.” + +Now it was a pretty steep climb up to the top of that hill, all woods +and jungle. We left the cars down on the road and most of the actor +people stayed in them, because they were tired and sleepy. Westy stayed +down there so as to cook them some breakfast. + +For quite a long distance up that hill we went through thick woods, then +we came out into an open place where we could look down and see the +road. The autos looked small down there. We could see a little thin line +of smoke going up where Westy was starting a fire. The sun was getting +brighter and it made Jolly & Kidder’s van look all shiny on account of +the bright paint on it. It seemed funny to see a department store car +away out there in that lonesome country. + +Pretty soon we got into more woods and Harry said he guessed there must +be a trail. But we couldn’t find any. + +He said, “This is a forsaken wilderness up here.” + +“I bet the foot of white man never trod it,” Pee-wee said; “I bet it’s +unknown to civilization up here.” + +“Well, I guess we’re not likely to bunk into any movie shows,” Brent +said. + +Jiminetty, but it was some wild place, all right. We had to go single +file and tear away the brush so that we could get through. Tom Slade +went ahead, because he can find a trail if there is one, and even if +there isn’t he always knows how to go. The farther up we went, the worse +it got. We couldn’t see the road at all on account of the thick woods +below us. Gee, it was so still up there that it was sort of spooky. + +“I guess no white man ever trod this solemn wilderness before, as our +young friend Scout Harris observed,” Harry said; “it gets worser and +worser.” + +Just then Tom Slade stopped and we all stopped in his path. In about a +jiffy he was down on the ground. Gee whiz, I knew what that meant, for I +knew Tom Slade. + +“It’s a footprint,” he said. + +Just then we heard a sound right near us, just like branches crackling, +and in a couple of seconds one of those bloodhounds from the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin show came dashing up through the bushes. He pushed Tom Slade right +out of the way and began sniffing that footprint. He was so excited that +he didn’t notice us. + + + + + XI—A MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINT + + +First it seemed kind of as if that bloodhound was just scooping; that +means using something that another scout has found. If I should find a +robin’s nest and then another scout should stalk there, that would be +scooping. Gee whiz, that’s a mean thing to do. Up at Temple Camp a scout +will get himself disliked for doing that. But it’s all right to stalk +the cooking-shack. Pee-wee thinks he’s the only one who has a right to +hang out there—I should worry. + +Anyway that has nothing to do with the bloodhound. Tom got out of his +way, and we all stood about while the dog sniffed around the footprint, +awful excited like. There wasn’t another footprint anywhere in sight. + +Brent said in that funny way of his, “Well, I guess we’re up against the +real thing at last. I guess old Snoozer here is on the track of Eliza. +Listen and maybe we’ll hear her baby crying. She always carries a baby +with her when she puts one over on the bloodhounds, doesn’t she?” + +“You’re crazy!” Pee-wee shouted; “she always crosses the ice. Didn’t you +see that big roll of canvas they’ve got? That’s got ice painted on it. +They spread that on the stage and she runs across it with +har—what-d’ye-call-it—her infant child.” + +“Her which?” Harry said. + +“I think she takes a thermos bottle, too, and an aluminum cooking set,” +Brent said. + +Harry said, “Well, anyway, she has given old Snoozer the slip this +time.” + +“That’s a man’s footprint,” Pee-wee said; “there’s a mystery up here.” + +“Let’s see it,” Rossie Bent said; “where is it?” + +“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “How can you _see_ a mystery?” + +“You smell it, according to Snoozer,” Harry said; “this dog will have a +fit in a minute.” + +By that time the dog was pushing every which way in among the bushes and +every few seconds coming back to the footprint. + +“He seems to be kind of rattled.” That’s what Harry said. + +Pretty soon the dog went running through the bushes out into a big open +space that was just about on the top of the mountain. We found out +afterward that that was why the mountain was named Bald Head. Gee whiz, +he seemed rattled. He’d stop for a couple of seconds and look all +around, then start off all of a sudden, then stop again. + +Brent said, “Eliza’s got his goat this time. Look at old Tomasso there; +he’s mad because Snoozer took his job.” + +I looked at Tom Slade (because that’s whom he meant) and I saw that he +was kind of picking among the bushes over to one side of the big open +space. So I went over to where he was and I said, “Tom, what do you +think about it? I always thought a bloodhound could follow any trail. +That’s a fresh footprint too, isn’t it? But maybe that dog isn’t a real +bloodhound, hey?” + +Tom said, “He’s a real bloodhound, all right, but I don’t think he’ll +find anything.” + +I said, “Well, how about that footprint then? It was a fresh one. He +ought to be able to follow that scent. Gee whiz, I never saw a dog act +so funny. He’s all rattled and he doesn’t know which way to go.” + +Tom didn’t say anything, only he looked over to the open space where the +rest of the fellows were watching the dog. By that time the dog was +running around and barking, half crazy. + +“Eliza fell through the ice,” Brent called over to us. + +Harry shouted, “She was very poor, she didn’t even have a scent. +Snoozer’s going to have a nervous collapse in a minute; he’ll require +first aid.” + +I said to Tom, “Well, somebody was up here, that’s sure. That’s a new +footprint we found. It’s plaguey funny that a bloodhound can’t follow +that trail; I always thought a bloodhound——” + +“A bloodhound isn’t a scout,” Tom said, kind of sober like, in that way +he has; “he followed the trail as far as he could, I suppose. Look +around here; don’t you see anything?” + +That’s the way it has always been with Tom Slade ever since he got back +from the war. In scouting, he would never do anything himself, but just +give us fellows a hint that would start us off. “If you make as good use +of your eyes as he makes of his nose, you ought to be able to discover +something.” That’s what he said. + +So then I looked all around, and sure enough I could see that the bushes +were broken up toward the top and, _good night_, on one of them was +hanging a little piece of rag. + +“Some one has been through here,” I said, all excited; “why doesn’t the +dog come over here? The trail leads over this way.” + +Then I began whistling for the dog and calling to the fellows that we +had the trail, and they all started over except the dog. He wouldn’t +follow them or pay any attention to their whistling and calling, only +stayed right where he was running around as if he had a fit. + +Before the fellows reached the place where we were Tom said kind of low, +“Don’t fly off the handle, kid; there are some bushes broken here and a +rag. Now what does that mean?” + +“It means the trail runs through here,” I said; “and that crazy fool of +an Uncle Tom’s Cabin dog can’t follow the scent across that bare place. +He’s just an actor, that’s all that bloodhound is. All he’s good for is +chasing Eliza.” + +Tom just took the rag from me and looked at it. “Well then, if the trail +runs through here, where are the footprints?” he asked me. + +“And the dog doesn’t seem to think it’s worth bothering about,” he said. + +“You admit somebody went through here?” I shouted at him. + +“Oh, somebody went through here, all right,” he said. + +“And didn’t leave any footprints and didn’t leave any scent,” I came +back at him. + +“Only a rag,” he said. + +By that time the fellows had reached the place where we were. “What’s +the big idea?” Harry said. “What have you got there?” + +Brent said, “As I _live_, it’s a piece of Eliza’s dress. The plot grows +thicker.” + +“There isn’t a footprint here,” I told them. + +“She must have slid on the ice,” Brent said. + +“I’m going to drag that dog over here by the collar,” Rossie spoke up. + +“It’s a mystery,” Pee-wee shouted; “it’s a deep, dark mystery. We’ve got +to solve it—I mean penetrate it.” + +Gee whiz, that kid was more excited than the dog. + + + + + XII—A DISCOVERY + + +We all just stood there not knowing what to think. I could tell that Tom +Slade had some kind of an idea, but you never catch that fellow shouting +out about anything till he’s sure. Even when he was a tenderfoot in the +troop he was that way. + +It seemed mighty funny that we should find just one footprint in those +bushes, but maybe there weren’t any more across that open space because +it was hard and rocky. Anyway, the scent led out into that open space, +that was sure. Then on the opposite side of the open space the bushes +were broken and there was a rag hanging to one of them. Yet we couldn’t +get that dog to go all the way across and take up the scent where we +found the rag. That was the funny thing. It was funny that there weren’t +any footprints under those bushes where the rag was hanging, too. +Believe _me_, Pee-wee was right, it was a mystery. + +Pretty soon the dog began following the scent back and Will Dawson went +after him. In about ten minutes he came up again and said that the dog +had followed it as far as a brook where there was a willow tree. He said +the dog got rattled there just the same as he did on the summit. So he +studied the place carefully and saw that there was a branch of the tree +that stuck out over the water and he swung himself across and then back +again by that. So he decided that was probably what the man had done on +his way up the mountain. So you see that trail was cut in two places. + +Will said that he left the dog poking around at the edge of the stream. +And that was the last we saw of the dog till we got back to our caravan. +Then we saw that he was under the van asleep. He was resting up so he +could chase Eliza in the afternoon, that’s what Brent said. He chased +Eliza twice every day, that bloodhound did. + +Harry said, “Well, as Scout Harris says, it’s a mystery. Somebody was up +here before us, that’s sure. There’s no use trying to dope it out, I +suppose. Let’s send the signal. Our friends down below will think we’re +lost.” + +All the while Tom Slade was sort of wandering around that rocky open +space on the top of the mountain. A couple of times he looked over to +where we were as if he was kind of thinking. Most of the time he looked +at the ground and the flat rocks. I knew he had some idea in his head, +all right. + +Pretty soon he came strolling over and said sort of offhand like, “Let’s +follow these broken bushes in a ways.” + +“Nobody went through here, Tom,” Rossie said; “if they had there’d be +footprints. Let’s get busy with the smudge signal.” + +“It’ll only take a minute,” Tom said. + +“Every minute is precious, Tommy boy,” Harry told him. + +“Sure, let’s go in,” Brent said; “I’m for adventure every time. You +never can tell; come ahead.” + +So we all followed Tom in. The brush was awful thick and I kept tearing +it apart down near the ground, hunting for footprints, but I couldn’t +find a single one. The brush wasn’t even broken above, either, after we +had gone a few feet and Tom just pushed around without any signs to go +by, all the while squinting his eyes into the bushes and poking the +underbrush with his feet. + +Pretty soon, _good night_, Pee-wee gave a shout. “_I see it! I see it!_” +he yelled. “The mystery is solved! I know why there isn’t any man’s +footprint here. It was an _animal_ that came through! There he is +now—it’s a _zebra_!” + +“A which?” Harry said. + +“It’s got stripes—wide stripes,” the kid shouted. “Look there! See it? +It’s a zebra! Don’t you know a zebra?” + +Brent said, “I wouldn’t know one if I met him in the street.” + +By that time Tom had gone ahead of us and hauled something out of the +bushes. It wasn’t a zebra, but it had stripes all right—it was light +colored and it had wide, dark stripes. I bet you can’t guess what it +was, either. + +It was a suit of convicts’ clothes. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII—TOM SLADE, SCOUT + + +“Didn’t I tell you it had stripes?” Pee-wee shouted. “Wasn’t I right? +Now you see! A scout is observant.” + +“If he sees a suit of clothes he thinks it’s a zebra,” Charlie Seabury +said. + +Harry said, “Well, you weren’t so far wrong, Kiddo. The stripes weren’t +on an animal; they were on a jail bird. I’d like to know where he flew +away to. This is getting interesting. I knew that clothing was very +high, but I didn’t think we’d find a suit as far up as this.” + +“Maybe he was a murderer, hey?” Pee-wee whispered. + +“We can only hope,” Brent said in that funny way. Then he said, “I’ve +always felt that I’d like to be a murderer. I thought I was a real +convict when I was held in jail three hours after speeding in my +flivver. But when I look at this striped suit, I realize that after all +I didn’t amount to much as a criminal. Let’s take a squint at those +clothes, will you? It’s always been the dream of my young life to escape +from jail by using a hair-pin or a manicure file or some kind of acid. I +wonder how this fellow escaped.” + +“I bet he escaped in the dead of night,” Pee-wee said. + +“The question is, where is he?” Harry said. + +“He went away in an airplane,” Tom Slade said, awful sober like, just as +if Brent hadn’t been joking at all. + +_Good night_, we all just stood there stark still, looking at him. + +“What makes you think that?” Rossie wanted to know. + +“No one laid that suit of clothes here,” Tom said; “it was _dropped_ +here. There aren’t any footprints. Out there in the flat part there are +wheel marks from an airplane. I saw enough of those marks in France to +know what they mean.” + +“Tomasso Nobody Holmes, the boy detective!” I shouted. + +“The airplane grazed the bushes when it went up,” he said; “that’s why +some twigs are broken off. And part of one of the wings of the machine +was torn, too. That’s because the airman didn’t have space enough to get +away in. He took a big chance when he landed up here, that fellow.” + +Harry just stood there drumming his fingers on one of the bushes and +looking all around him and kind of thinking. Then he said, “What’s your +idea, Tommy boy? Do you think a convict escaped and made his way up to +the top of this jungle and that the airman alighted here for him by +appointment?” + +“The dog followed the scent out into the open, to the place where the +wheel tracks are,” Tom said. “That’s where the man—that convict—got +in. They didn’t have open space enough to start from there and they +grazed the bushes. I guess it was pretty risky, the whole business. +Anyway, they chucked the convict clothes out. This piece of silk is +waxed; it’s part of the wing of a machine, all right.” + +“Tomasso, you’re a wonder,” Rossie said; “no dog could follow a trail in +the air.” + +“There’s often a scent in the breeze,” Brent said. + +“Didn’t I tell you it was a mystery?” Pee-wee shouted. “Didn’t I tell +you it was a dark plot? As soon as I saw those clothes——” + +“You thought they were a zebra,” Ralph Warner said; “a scout knows all +the different kinds of animals.” + +“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “A convict is better than a zebra, +isn’t he?” + +“That’s a fine argument,” I told him. + +“It’s logic,” the kid shouted. + +“Well, let’s not complain,” Brent said; “a zebra would be a novelty, but +a convict is not to be despised. We should be thankful for the convict, +even though he isn’t here.” + +“That’s the best part of it,” the kid shouted; “that makes the mystery. +We’ve got to find him.” + +We didn’t bother any more about the mystery then, because we wanted to +send the signal and get started again, but you’ll see how that mystery +popped up again and confounded us; I guess you know what _confounded_ +means, all right. It means the same as _baffled_, only I didn’t know +whether _baffled_ has two f’s in it or not. But, gee whiz, I used it +anyway—I should worry. + +So now while our friends are waiting for us down on the road (I got this +sentence from Pee-wee), I’ll tell you about sending that signal. Signals +are my middle name—signals and geography. But the thing I like best +about school is lunch hour. I’m crazy about boating, too. + + + + + XIV—PEE-WEE’S GOAT + + +That fellow, Harry Domicile, he’s crazy. He said, “If you like signals +so much I don’t see why you send them. Why don’t you keep them?” + +Will Dawson said, “It isn’t the signal we send, it’s a message; we send +a message by a signal. See?” + +Harry said, “But if it’s a good message why should you want to send it +away? Why don’t you keep it? If it’s worth anything what’s the use of +getting rid of it? A scout should not be wasteful.” Then he winked at +Brent Gaylong. + +Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee. He shouted, “You’re crazy! +Suppose I keep some-thing—suppose I keep——” + +Rossie said, “Suppose you keep silence.” + +“That shows how much you know about logic!” the kid yelled. “How can I +keep silence——” + +By that time we were all laughing, except Harry. He had the paper with +the message written on it and he said, very sober like, “Well, if this +message is any good at all I don’t see why we don’t keep it; it might +come in useful.” + +Pee-wee shouted, “A message is no good at all—even the most important +message in the world is no good to the fellow that makes it——” + +Brent said, “Then he’s just wasting his time making it. Before we send +this message we’d better talk it over. If it’s any good we’ll keep it.” + +Gee whiz, you should have seen our young hero; I thought he’d jump off +the mountain. He yelled, “Do you know what logic is? You get that in the +third grade. My uncle knows a man that’s a lawyer and he +says—besides—anyway, do you mean to tell me——” + +Harry said, “Go on.” + +Brent said, “Proceed; we follow you.” + +“Suppose I had a piece of pie,” the kid yelled. “If it was good I’d eat +it, wouldn’t I?” + +Brent said, “That isn’t logic.” + +“Sure it’s logic!” Pee-wee shouted. “The better it is the more I’d get +rid of, wouldn’t I?” + +“Thou never spakest a truer word,” I told him. + +“And it’s the same with messages,” he said. + +I said, “_Good night_, you don’t want to eat it, do you?” + +Harry said, “Well, if he doesn’t want to eat it, what’s the use of +chewing it over? Let’s send it.” + +I bet you think we’re all crazy, hey? I should worry. + +So then we gathered a lot of twigs and started a fire about in the +middle of that open space. While we were doing that, Charlie Seabury and +Ralph Warner got some dead grass and brush and took it down to the brook +and got it good and wet. Then they squeezed the water all out of it so +it was kind of damp and muggy like. It has to be just like that if you +want to send a smudge message. Maybe you don’t know exactly what a +smudge signal is because maybe you think that a smudge is just a dirt +streak on your face—I don’t mean on yours but on Pee-wee’s. That’s +Pee-wee’s trade mark—a smudge on his face. Usually it’s the shape of a +comet and it makes you think of a comet, because he’s got six freckles +on his cheek that are like the big dipper. And his face is round like +the moon, too, but, gee williger, I hate astronomy. But I’d like to go +to Mars just the same. + +Anyway this is the way you send a smudge signal. When you get the fire +started good and strong you kind of shovel it into a tin can, but if you +haven’t got any tin can, you don’t. Scouts are supposed to be able to do +without things. We should worry about tin cans. Brent Gaylong has a tin +can on wheels—that’s a Ford. My father says it’s better to own a Ford +than a can’t afford. Anyway my sister says I ought to stick to my +subject. Gee whiz, she must think I’m a piece of fly paper. + + + + + CHAPTER XV—THE MESSAGE + + +The reason that I ended that chapter was because I had to go to supper. +So now I’ll tell you about the signal. If we had only had a tin can with +some kind of a cover to lay over it, it would have been easy. But we +hadn’t any so this is the way we did. After the fire was burning up we +piled some of the damp grass and stuff on top of it and that made a +smudge that went way up in the air. I guess any one could see that +smudge maybe fifty miles, especially on account of it being up on the +top of a mountain. + +I said, “All we need now is a cloth or something to spread over it so we +can divide the letters.” Because you know we use the Morse code. + +So Brent said we could have his mackinaw jacket and he sent Pee-wee down +to the brook to soak it in the water so that it wouldn’t catch fire. +That was the beginning of Brent Gaylong’s bad luck. Crinkums, that +fellow must have been born on a Friday—anyway, he was born on a Friday +that day, I guess. But one good thing about Friday, it’s the day before +Saturday. That’s why there are fifty-two Good Fridays. + +So then we sent the message. The first word was _Uncle_, so to spell +that we let the smudge rise for just a second, then laid Brent’s jacket +over it for about three seconds, then let it rise for another second, +then waited about three seconds more and then let it rise for, oh, I +guess about ten seconds, maybe. That made two dots and a dash in the +Morse code and it made the letter U good and big, cracky, bigger than +you could make it on any blackboard, as big as the whole sky. Maybe it +wouldn’t mean anything to you, but that’s because you’re not a scout. +But anyway it meant U. I don’t mean it meant you, but I mean it meant U. + +After that we made the other letters in the word Uncle—N-K-L-E—I don’t +mean K, I mean C. + +Then after we’d waited about a minute so as to separate the words we +spelled T-O-M, and after that there was a big blot on our writing +(that’s what Rossie said), because Brent’s mackinaw jacket burned up. He +said he was sorry, because there were some peanuts in one of the +pockets. + +Anyway he said he was willing to die for the cause, so he took off his +khaki shirt and after Pee-wee went down and soaked it in the brook, we +used that to separate the words and letters. Maybe you’ll say that kind +of writing isn’t very neat but we knew that it could be seen for miles +and miles and that if the boy scouts in Grumpy’s Cross-roads saw it and +read it, they’d tell Major Grumpy and he’d say the scouts were all +right. Because that was our idea, we wanted those other scouts to get +the credit. + +I guess maybe it took a half an hour to send that message and it didn’t +look much like a message to us. You’ve got to get away off if you want +to read a smudge signal. A smudge signal is no good for a fellow that’s +near-sighted. When we were all finished, this is what we had printed in +the sky: + + Uncle Tom show will be given as announced. + Deny rumors. + + Boy Scouts of America. + +Pee-wee wanted to put in something about foiling the railroad strikers, +but Brent said if we made the message any longer he wouldn’t have any +clothes left. Harry said that if the scouts at Grumpy’s Cross-roads got +that message and delivered it to old Grump, that old Grump would +surrender unconditionally. So maybe we had done a good turn for all we +knew. Even if the telegraph operator at Grumpy’s Cross-roads should see +that smudge he’d read the message, all right. But we said that more +likely he’d he asleep and that scouts are always up early because up at +Temple Camp Uncle Jeb Rushmore (he’s camp manager) is always telling us +that the early bird catches the first worm. But, gee whiz, if I were the +first worm I’d stay in bed and then the early bird wouldn’t catch me. + +That’s what Pee-wee calls logic. That’s one thing he’s crazy +about,—logic. Logic and Charlie Chaplin. He likes girls, too. He says +they always smile at him. Gee whiz, can you blame them? It’s a wonder +they don’t laugh out loud. + + + + + XVI—BRENT’S AMBITION + + +It was some job picking our way down that mountain. We could see the +road and the machines away down below us and the machines looked like +toy autos. Brent and Harry and Pee-wee and I were together and Brent +talked a lot of that nonsense like he always does. Pee-wee had the +convict’s suit rolled up tight and tied with a couple of thin willow +twigs. If you wet them they’re just as good as cord; you can even tie +them in a knot. He carried the bundle on the end of his scout staff and +he had his scout staff over his shoulder. He looked so important you’d +think he had just captured the convict, too. + +Brent said, “That’s what I call real adventure; escaping from a prison +and beating it off to some lonesome mountain and being taken away in an +airplane. That fellow has old Monte Cristo beaten twenty ways. Some +convicts are lucky. I’d like to be that chap.” That’s just the way he +talked. + +Harry said, “You might forge a couple of checks if you happen to think +of it sometime.” + +Brent said in that funny way of his, “If I could only be sure of +escaping and being carried off by an airplane. But it would be just my +luck to—to——” + +“Languish,” Pee-wee shouted; “that’s what they do in jails—languish.” + +“And just serve out my term studying logic,” Brent said. “But if I +thought there’d be a chance to escape, I think I’d—let’s see, I think +I’d—what do you think of counterfeiting, Harry?” + +“Burglary’s better,” Harry said. + +“It’s the dream of my life to be a convict,” Brent kept up. “These +little crimes don’t amount to anything; what I’d like to do is to hit +the high spots, get sent up for life, and then escape in a boat or an +airplane. Somebody could send me a file or a saw in a bunch of flowers. +What do you say? This convict is having the time of his life. That’s the +life—being a fugitive.” + +Harry said, “Well, I hope you get your wish.” + +Pee-wee said, “You’re crazy, that’s what I say.” + +I said, “Gee whiz, there’s fun enough making a cross country trip in +four autos and running into a stranded Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company with +bloodhounds and everything, without being sent to jail.” + +Brent said, “Well, I can’t help it; that’s the way I feel. I envy that +convict. I long to languish in a dungeon cell and file away the bars in +the dead of night and kill three keepers and escape in an airplane. +That’s living.” + +“Good night,” I said, “not for the three keepers.” + +Harry said, “Well, all things come round to him that waits. My ambition +is to be wrecked at sea. How about you, Roy?” + +I said, “My ambition is to foil old Major Grumpy and make him fall for +the scouts.” + +“No pep to it,” Brent said; “a dark and dismal dungeon with rats poking +around on the stone floor, that’s _my_ speed.” + +Cracky, that fellow’s awful funny. + +“You’d never get any dessert,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, “Who wants dessert when he can get a crust of bread and a +mug of water?” + +“I do,” the kid shouted. “I want two helpings.” + +That was _his_ ambition. + + + + + XVII—A SIDE SHOW + + +Pretty soon you’ll see why I named this chapter “A Side Show.” When we +got down to the road all those show people were sitting around on the +rocks talking and laughing and telling Westy lots of funny adventures +that they had had. Oh, boy, if I wasn’t a boy scout I’d like to be in an +Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company, that’s one sure thing. That’s _my_ ambition. +Jails and dungeons may be all right, I’m not saying, but anyway, I’d +like to be in a show—especially one that gets stranded. They said that +they could see the signal away up on the mountain, and the man that had +to beat Uncle Tom, he was an awful nice man, he said he could read most +all of it because he used to be a telegraph operator. But he said he +liked beating Uncle Tom better. Uncle Tom said he didn’t mind being +beaten once a day but he didn’t like matinees. + +Now I’m going to tell you about how we all got separated +together—that’s what Pee-wee said. When we were all ready to go, Harry +couldn’t start the engine of the van. He said, “Brent, I wish you’d take +a squint at this motor; it heats up and the water boils over.” + +Brent said, “I think the timer must have been set by Pee-wee’s watch.” +Pretty soon he said he guessed it was just a short circuit. + +“Anyway, that’s better than a long one,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Pretty soon Brent said he thought the coil was running the battery down. +Harry said he didn’t blame the coil. + +Then Brent said there was a leak of current somewhere, but that he +couldn’t trace it. I said, “Let one of Eliza’s bloodhounds try; maybe he +can trace it.” He said anyway the battery was discharging; believe me, +if I’d had my way I’d have discharged the whole engine. + +After a while Brent got it started but he said it wasn’t running right +and he guessed he’d have to get two new plugs. So then we looked at our +map to find out if there was a village anywhere near along that road +where there might be a garage. Because Brent said there ought to be more +grease in the differential, too. But mostly, he said, one of the plugs +wouldn’t fire the charge. + +Westy said, “If the plug won’t fire it, why don’t you get the battery to +discharge it?” + +Now when we looked at our map we found that about half a mile east of +that mountain a road branched off from the road we were on and went +through a place named Barrow’s Homestead. It didn’t bother to stop at +Barrow’s Homestead, that road didn’t, but it went on and formed a, you +know, a what-do-you-call-it, a _junction_, with the other road three or +four miles farther along. It was just a kind of a loop, that road was, +so as to take in Barrow’s Homestead. Only that road was pretty rough. + +Brent said, “I dare say we can find a young garage at that place; there +are bandits everywhere in the west. If you say so, I’ll drive along that +road and meet you where the roads join.” + +Harry said, “I guess that’s the best thing to do—for the rest of us to +keep to the smooth, short road with the touring cars. When we get to the +junction of the two roads we’ll wait for you there as long as we think +it’s safe to wait. If you don’t show up by ten o’clock, say, we’ll jog +along and meet you at the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads. We +don’t want to run any chance of not getting these people there on time. +Uncle Tom has got to be thrashed this afternoon at any cost.” Then he +asked Uncle Tom if he wanted a cigarette. That man was awful nice—the +man that played Uncle Tom. He said he had been thrashed twice a day for +three years, except on Sundays. Harry said it would be a good thing if +that happened to a lot of us fellows, especially me. Anyway I’d rather +be Eliza and be chased by ferocious bloodhounds. That’s what Mr. +Abbington called them—ferocious. + +Now as soon as it was decided that Brent Gaylong should drive the van +along that other road, up jumped our young hero and shouted, “I’ll go +with you; maybe they sell ice cream sodas at that place.” + +As soon as he mentioned ice cream sodas all the other fellows said +they’d go—except I didn’t. Because I’m not crazy about an ice cream +soda. I like three or four of them though. + +Harry said, “Well, it looks like a mutiny and I guess we’ll have to lock +every one of you in the van.” + +By that time, Pee-wee was up on the seat of the van and he shouted, “I +wouldn’t mute; I’m already here and I’m going to stay here!” + +Harry said, “Nobody would ever think of the word mute in connection with +you; stay where you are and we’ll be glad to get rid of you, and Roy +too, if he wants to go.” + +I said, “The pleasure is mine, I go where duty calls.” + +“You mean you go where ice cream sodas call,” the kid shouted at me. + +I said, “Well, for goodness’ sake, chuck that bundle inside the van and +give me a chance to sit down, will you?” Because even still he had that +convict’s suit close by him on the seat as if he was afraid somebody +would get it away from him. “What are you going to do with it?” I said. +“Hang it up in the parlor when you get home?” + +So then I climbed up and chucked the bundle into the van through the +little window right behind the seat. Brent sat down between Pee-wee and +me, and thus we started off. That’s a peach of a word—_thus_. For a +little way we could look across to the other road and see the three +touring cars filled with the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people and the other +fellows of my patrol. Mr. Abbington was sitting with Harry and he looked +awful funny with his high hat on. + +All of a sudden, _good night_, that bloodhound that had been up on the +mountain with us came tearing across from the other road. I guess he +wanted to go with us. He clambered almost up to the seat and began +sniffing around Brent. I bet he liked him on account of Brent’s being so +crazy about adventures, hey? + +Brent said, “You go back where you belong, old Snoozer. Who do you think +I am? Eliza?” + +Then Mr. Abbington began calling him and the dog didn’t seem to be able +to decide what to do. + +“I hear you calling me,” Brent said; “go on back, Snoozer; we’ll see you +later.” + +So then the dog went back but I guess he didn’t want to. Gee whiz, you +couldn’t blame him. Because one thing sure, if you stick to Brent +Gaylong you’re pretty sure to see some fun. Believe _me_, that fellow’s +middle name is adventure. Just you wait and see. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII—A SHOWER BATH + + +Brent said, “I bet Brother Abbington will be pretty hot to-day with that +frock coat of his and that high hat.” + +I said, “It’s going to be a scorcher, all right.” + +“Lucky for me,” he said, “as long as my mackinaw and my khaki shirt have +gone in the good cause.” + +“You should worry,” I told him. + +“Only I don’t look very presentable,” he said. + +“Don’t you care,” I said; “we won’t meet anybody along this road.” + +“It’s the least of my troubles,” he said; “what I’m thinking about is +this pesky engine. It jumps like a bull-frog; I think it’s got the pip.” + +Pee-wee said, “Some engines have the sleeping sickness and they won’t go +at all.” + +Then we all got to saying how we hoped that Harry and Rossie and Tom +would get the three cars to Grumpy’s Cross-roads in time so those actor +people could give their show. + +“Even if we’re not with them,” I said. + +“I guess we’ll be able to make connections before they get there,” Brent +said. + +“Oh, boy, that’ll be some good turn,” Pee-wee said. “I bet old Grump +won’t be mad at the scouts any more; he’ll see that they’re dauntless +and—something or other.” + +“Oh, he’ll see that they’re something or other,” Brent said. “I never +knew a scout that wasn’t something or other.” + +“He’ll see that they do good turns,” the kid shouted. Gee whiz, good +turns are his favorite fruit—good turns and doughnuts. Even if he had a +turning lathe he couldn’t turn out any more good turns. + +Now maybe you know what a tornado is. Anyway, there wasn’t any that day. +So you don’t need to worry. But all of a sudden dark clouds came and +pretty soon the sky was all black and the wind was blowing like +anything. I guess it was a cyclone, all right, only it decided not to +come that way on account of the road being so bad. + +Anyway the wind kept up and blew right in our faces and after a while +Brent said, “Did you bring those old togs along, kid?” + +Pee-wee said, “You mean the convict suit? It’s in the van.” + +“Well, get me the coat and I’ll slip it on,” Brent told him. “We may not +be able to catch the convict, but I’m blamed sure I’ll catch cold.” + +So Pee-wee went around and into the van by the doors in back and got the +convict’s jacket. I guess none of us thought there was anything funny +about Brent wearing it for a little while. Only I said to him, just +joking like, “You wanted to be a convict, now you’ve got your wish.” + +“If my mother could only see me now,” he said. “Do I look like a zebra, +Pee-wee?” + +We had to laugh, he looked so funny in that striped jacket; but anyway +it was a pretty lonely road and we weren’t likely to meet anybody. + +Pretty soon we began passing houses, and Brent took the jacket off and +threw it back into the van through the little window in front. In about +five minutes we came to a village. I said, “Go slow or you’ll run over +it.” The village was almose right underneath the van. The main street of +that village was all black and sticky from tar and oil that they had +been sprinkling on it and pretty soon we came to the sprinkler, standing +still right in the middle of the road, with a couple of men near it. + +We had to stop because we couldn’t get past, so we just sat there on the +seat, watching them. The sprinkler wouldn’t work and they were trying to +fix it. One man was sticking a piece of wire into all the little holes +along the pipe that ran crossways at the back of the big tank. + +Brent said, “They’ll never fix it that way. Maybe some of those holes +are clogged up, but not all of them.” Then he called down to the man and +said, “What seems to be the trouble? Won’t she sprinkle?” + +“Mixture’s too gol darned thick, I reckon,” one of the men called back. + +“Well, it wouldn’t clog up all the holes,” Brent said; “probably the +feed pipe is clogged up.” + +The man said, “Well, I don’t know how we’re ever going to get at that +unless we take the whole bloomin’ thing apart.” + +Then I heard Brent say, under his breath kind of, “I could fix that in +five minutes.” + +“Then you have to do it,” the kid shouted; “you have to do a good turn.” + +“Look and see if there isn’t a turn cock on the feed pipe,” Brent called +down; “maybe it joggled shut. That sometimes happens on an auto.” + +The two men got down under the sprinkler and began looking and feeling +around, but they couldn’t seem to find anything. After a couple of +minutes Brent climbed down and said, “Let’s take a look at this.” I +guess they could see that he was a pretty good mechanic, all right. +Anyhow they stepped out of the way and Brent crawled down under the +sprinkler. He lay on his back part way underneath it and we all watched +him. + +“He’ll find the trouble,” Pee-wee said to the man; “he’s head of a scout +troop, he is, and he’s resourceful. A scout has got to be resourceful. +Don’t you worry, we’ll do you a good turn, all right.” + +The men kind of smiled, and one of them said, “All right, sonny. So yer +fer doin’ good turns, hey?” + +“Sure,” Pee-wee said; “that’s one of our rules. If anybody’s in trouble +we’ve got to help them out—no matter how much trouble it is. You see a +scout can always help you out, because he’s resourceful.” + +One of those men said, “Oh, that’s it, is it?” + +“Sure,” the kid shouted; “all you have to do is come to us. Even Uncle +Sam came to us when he wanted to sell Liberty Bonds; we helped him out.” + +The man said, “I bet he was tickled to death.” + +I said to Pee-wee, “Shut up; don’t be shouting so much about good turns. +Actions speak louder than words.” + +“Words speak loud enough,” the kid yelled. + +“_Good night_, you said it,” I told him. + +“Even now we’re doing a good turn,” the kid shouted; “we’ve got three +more autos over on the other road and we’re taking some Uncle Tom’s +Cabin actors to the Veteran’s Reunion. We should worry if the railroad +trains don’t run.” + +Jimmies, I don’t know how much more he might have told them, he’s a +human billboard for the Boy Scouts of America, that kid is; but all of a +sudden, _zip goes the fillum_, that black tarry stuff came shooting out +from all the holes in the sprinkler and Brent came crawling out from +underneath it with his trousers and his shirt all black and sticky and +his hair all mucked up with the stuff and with a big streaky smudge all +over his face. + +“_Good night!”_ I shouted. “What happened?” + +“I found it,” he said; “it had joggled shut, just as I thought. If you +happen to have a few feathers handy, you can tar and feather me. I did a +good turn, only I didn’t turn over and get out quick enough.” + +Oh, boy, that fellow was a sight! + + + + + XIX—BRENT GETS HIS WISH + + +One thing about those men, they weren’t very good scouts, I’ll say that +much. The only good turn they did was to turn around and drive away. +Maybe the Union wouldn’t let them do good turns; Unions have got no use +for good turns. + +First we decided that we’d stop at the nearest house, but one thing +about scouts, they don’t like to ask for help unless they have to. But +if you offer them something to eat it’s all right for them to take it. + +I said to Brent, “Well, you were crazy for an adventure, now you’ve got +one.” + +He said, “I don’t care about such a sticky one. I’m not exactly what you +would call crazy about tar shower baths.” + +“You’ll have to cut your hair off, that’s one sure thing,” I told him; +“you’ll never be able to get that stuff out of your hair.” + +“I’d like to sit down, too,” he said; “but if I did, I could never get +up again. I think the sooner I’m fixed up the better. Let’s run the van +alongside the road and get inside and see what we can do. Our friend’s +suit of clothes is still in there. After boasting about my dreams of +adventure it seems rather tame to go into somebody’s back kitchen for +repairs. I’m afraid Harry would indulge in a gentle smile.” + +“He’d indulge in a gentle fit if he saw you now,” I told him. + +“I say let’s not go to anybody for assistance,” Pee-wee spoke up. “We +can get gasoline out of the tank, so you can wash the tar off your face, +and I’ve got a folding scissors in my scout knife. I’ll cut your hair +for you.” + +“How would you like to have it cut?” I asked him, just kidding him. + +“I think I’d like it cut dark,” he said. + +I said, “Well, we’ll cut it short and then if you don’t like it we’ll +cut it longer.” + +So we decided that we wouldn’t depend on anybody but would act just the +same as if we were on a desert island where there weren’t any barbers +and bathtubs and things, because Columbus and Daniel Boone didn’t have +barbers and bathtubs and things. + +“They depended upon their own initials,” Pee-wee said. + +“You mean initiative,” I told him. + +He said, “What’s the difference?” + +So then I ran the machine over to the side of the road right close to a +kind of a grove and we got some gas out of the tank and Brent and I went +inside the van. We told Pee-wee to stay outside so as to keep people +from opening the doors or fooling with the car, because we were in the +village and we thought maybe people would be hanging around. + +There was only one thing to do with Brent’s hair, and that was to cut it +off, because the tar was so thick there that the gasoline wouldn’t melt +it. I made a pretty good job of it with the little folding scissors in +Pee-wee’s scout knife. We managed to get most of the tar off his face +with the gasoline, but it left his face kind of all black and sooty +looking. + +He couldn’t sit down or lean against anything on account of the tar all +over his clothes, so he took them off and I handed them out to Pee-wee +and told him to throw them in the grove. Then Brent put on the convict’s +suit, and he looked awful funny in it with his dirty face and his hair +all cut short. + +He said, “At last the dream of my young life has come true; I am a +criminal. The only thing is I haven’t committed my crime yet.” + +I said, “Oh, you needn’t be in any hurry about that.” + +He said, “But it seems sort of _false_ for me to be wearing a convict’s +suit when I haven’t committed any crime. It seems like deceiving people. +It troubles my conscience. And I haven’t really escaped either. What +would you do if you were me? I don’t want to disgrace the uniform I +wear. I wish I could think of some nice easy crime. I feel nice and +clean in these things, anyway. But my conscience is black. Do you +suppose there’s a bank in this burg, and a jail? I was thinking if I +could just let myself down by a rope. Only it would be just my luck to +have a cell on the ground floor.” + +I said, “The best cell for you is right in this little old van, at least +till we get out of town. You leave the rope business to Douglas +Fairbanks. If anybody in this place should see you, _good night_, Sister +Anne! And it isn’t any joke, either. Now you’ve got your wish, you’ll +see it isn’t going to be as much fun as you thought it was.” + +Brent sat down on an old grocery box that we had inside the van, and, +jiminetty, I had to laugh, he had such a funny way about him. He looked +awful tough, sort of, without his hair. He said, “Well, I appoint you my +keeper. I hope I’m not such a cheap sort of a criminal as to try to +escape from a delivery van. A stone dungeon or nothing for me.” Gee +whiz, that fellow’s particular. + +Just then the plot grew thicker—oh, _boy_! One of the doors of the van +opened and Pee-wee squeezed in. He had a big piece of paper in his hand. +He said, “I went up the road a little way—shh!” + +I said, “I thought it was kind of quiet outside.” + +He said, “Shh, look at this; it was tacked to a tree. We’re in desperate +peril——” + +Brent said, “In which?” + +“Read this,” the kid whispered. “I didn’t see it till after I threw the +clothes away and they floated down the brook. Dangers thicken—look at +this.” He got those words out of the movies, _dangers thicken_. + +Brent and I read the printing on the paper and this is what it said: + + ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD + + Offered for information leading to the recapture of Mike + Donovan, alias Rinky, escaped from Indiana State Prison. Was + serving term of fifteen years for burglary and child murder. + Slender of stature. Five feet nine inches in height. Is supposed + to have relations in the east. Age about nineteen. Is known to + be a desperate character, having served terms in New York and + Pennsylvania for burglary and highway robbery. + +There was some more, about who to notify and all that, but I can’t +remember the rest. Brent took the paper from me and sat there on the +grocery box in the dim light with the doors closed, reading it. It +seemed awfully dark and secret, kind of, in there. + +He said, “Larceny, child murder, burglary, and highway robbery. That +isn’t so bad, is it? That’s really more than I expected. I haven’t lived +in vain.” + +“You’ll live in a jail, that’s where you’ll live,” Pee-wee whispered. +“What are we going to do?” + +“You ought to know,” I told him, “a scout is resourceful.” + + + + + CHAPTER XX—WE CONSIDER OUR PREDICAMENT + + + (THAT’S PEE-WEE’S HEADING) + +I said to Brent, “Now you’ve killed a child and highway-robbed people +and broken into houses, I hope you’re satisfied.” + +“And larcenied,” the kid shouted. + +“Shut up,” I told him; “do you want the whole town to hear you? It’s bad +enough as it is; suppose somebody should come walking into this van.” + +Brent said, in that crazy way of his, “Boys, this is the end of an evil +career. This is what comes of getting mixed up with the boy scouts. See +where it has brought me. Never again will I do a good turn.” + +“You’re crazy,” Pee-wee shouted. + +“Shh,” I told him; “have a heart. Do you want to get us all pinched?” + +“It was about the best turn I ever did,” Brent said; “I turned the +stop-cock all the way open. And here I am a prisoner in a dry goods +delivery van with boy scouts for keepers. I’d be ashamed to look an +honest burglar in the face.” Honest, that’s just the crazy way he +talked. He said, “Now the question is to escape. I want to escape in a +way that’s full of pep.” + +Pee-wee said, “You make me tired. Do you mean to say that good +turns——” + +“Will you shut up about good turns, and listen?” I said. + +“I mean to say that a good turn is the cause of my downfall,” Brent +said; “and I wish I had a cigarette. Boys, take a lesson from my +terrible example and don’t ever do a good turn.” + +“What are you talking about?” the kid shouted. + +“Shh,” I told him; “keep still, will you? The first merry-go-round you +see you can get on it and do all the good turns you want, only keep +still and give us a chance to see where we’re at, will you?” + +“It’s printed on the National Headquarters’ letterheads,” he said, “to +do a good turn——” + +“It’s bad advice to give a young boy,” Brent said. + +I said, “Keep still, you’re worse than he is. Give me a chance to think, +will you?” + +“Roosevelt’s name and Taft’s name are on that letterhead,” the kid +began, “so that shows——” + +“I’m surprised that they should give such advice to young boys,” Brent +said. “I wonder if I could escape from this van with a file and let +myself down with a rope?” Then he picked up a can opener and said, “Ha, +ha, just the thing.” + +I said, “Will you please keep still a minute, both of you? Maybe you’ve +heard the scout motto, ‘Be Prepared.’ That’s just as important as good +turns. How are we going to get away from this town? That’s the question. +You and your crimes, and Pee-wee and his good turns, make me tired. +We’ve got to look facts in the face.” + +Brent said, “I’m ashamed to look even a fact in the face.” + +“Well,” I told him, “you’ll be looking a sheriff in the face if you +don’t talk in a whisper, and maybe you’ll find it isn’t so pleasant +being arrested.” + +Brent said, “I’m not thinking about being arrested, I’m thinking about +escaping.” + +“Well, you can’t escape from a dry goods van,” I told him. + +He said, awful sad, kind of, “I know it. Oh, if I were only Eliza and +could be pursued by ferocious bloodhounds.” + +I said, “Well, you can’t have everything. You’ve done pretty well so +far.” + +“Sure you have,” Pee-wee whispered; “there’s one of those notices tacked +up in the Post Office, and everybody is talking about that fellow +escaping. I told them that often boy scouts find missing people. I was +telling them about good turns, and I said we’d be on the lookout.” + +“I hope they won’t look _in_” Brent said. + +“What else did you tell them?” I asked him, good and scared. Because I +knew that if our young hero had been able to round up an audience in the +Post Office, most likely he had given them the whole history of the Boy +Scouts of America and a lot of other stuff besides. + +“I was telling them about good turns,” he said. “There was an old lady +there and I carried a big bundle out to her carriage for her.” + +“And that’s all you told them?” I asked him. + +“I told them we were going to the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s +Cross-roads,” he said. + +I said, “Did anybody ask you any questions?” + +“Sure,” he said; “a man asked me if I liked gumdrops. He gave me a bag +of them. Want one?” + +“Well,” I said, “the best thing for us to do is to get out of this place +as quick as we can. When we once strike open country, we’ll be all right +and when we meet the rest of the crowd we can scrape up some civilized +duds.” + +“I wonder how I’d look in Brother Abbington’s plug hat just now,” Brent +said. + +“You should worry,” I told him; “you look bad enough already.” + +“Speaking of plug hats,” he said, “don’t forget we have to get a couple +of plugs for the motor. What place is this, anyway?” + +“It’s the place we were looking for,” Pee-wee said; “it’s Barrow’s +Homestead. There aren’t any scouts here, but I told the people all about +them. They’re going to start a troop.” + +I said, “Well, it’s time to start this troop if we don’t want to get +into trouble. This is a pretty risky business.” + + + + + XXI—GETTING STARTED + + +As soon as I heard that Pee-wee had been in the Post Office talking, I +decided that we had better get away from that place just as soon as we +possibly could, if not sooner. Even Brent said he guessed the best way +to escape was inside the van; he said it was more comfortable and +convenient. He said the good old times when people used to escape from +towers and be pursued by ferocious bloodhounds weren’t any more except +in the movies. He said he was discouraged. + +Gee whiz, when I looked at him sitting there on that grocery box with +his face all grimy and his hair cropped and that striped suit on him, I +just had to laugh. I have to admit he’s awful funny, that fellow is. + +I said, “Well, one thing, it’s mighty lucky I know how to drive a car +and I can get us out of this village. And another thing, it’s mighty +lucky we’re still just where the village begins; if we weren’t we’d be +surrounded. If we can get past the Post Office, we’re safe.” + +So then Pee-wee and I tore down the signs we had outside the van about +going all the way from Klucksville to New York, because people would +wonder at fellows our age doing that when there was no big fellow with +us. Safety first, that’s what I said. + +“If they think we’re only going as far as Grumpy’s Cross-roads,” I said, +“I guess nobody’ll be suspicious.” + +Pee-wee said, “Yes, but how about Jolly & Kidder’s name, and New York +printed all over the sides of the van?” + +“A scout is resourceful,” I told him; “let’s tear down the canvas from +inside and be quick about it.” + +Now inside that van was lined with canvas to keep things from getting +scratched, I guess. Brent said it was a padded cell. So we took that +down and tacked it up outside on both sides so that all the printing was +covered. After we did that we closed the doors of the van and locked the +padlock and Pee-wee took the key. Brent called out to us that we should +take a lesson by his terrible example. Then we could hear him kind of +muttering, “I will escape; I will foil you all yet.” Honest, he’s crazy, +that fellow is. + +Pee-wee and I sat down on the back step for about half a minute to make +up our minds what we should say if any one stopped us and asked us +questions. “Anyway,” he said, “that canvas on the sides will make people +suspicious with no printing on it.” + +I said, “Well, we’re not going to print any lies on it, anyway.” + +He said, “We don’t have to print lies. Truth is stranger than +fiction—that’s what it said in a movie play I saw.” + +Then, all of a sudden he out with a piece of chalk that he always +carries so as he can make scout signs and he sprawled all over one side +of the van, + + BOY SCOUTS + EN ROOT TO SOLDIERS’ REUNION + + Our Mottoes: + + BE PREPARED + DO A GOOD TURN DAILY + +I said, “That isn’t the way to spell en route. What’s the matter with +you?” + +I guess he was thinking about root beer, hey? + + + + + XXII—SILENCE! + + +I said to Pee-wee, “Now all we have to do is to go straight about our +business and keep our mouths shut and we’ll get out of this burg all +right. Just keep silence. Nobody’s going to stop us as long as people +don’t get suspicious. I can drive the car till we get out of town and I +don’t think any one will stop me. All _you_ have to do is to keep +silence.” + +“How long do I have to keep it?” he wanted to know. + +I said, “Oh, keep it till it’s all used up, and then I’ll give you some +more. Believe me, you can’t have too much of it just now.” + +“We’ll have to use up a lot of it, hey?” he said. + +“More than _you_ ever used before,” I told him. + +“Anyway,” he said, “an innocent man has nothing to fear.” + +“You got that out of the movies,” I told him. “An innocent man with his +hair cropped and a convict suit on has a whole lot to fear.” + +“Innocence is a shield,” he said; “it’s in my copy book.” + +“Yes?” I said. “Well, an enclosed van is a better shield.” + +“Our lips will be sealed, hey?” he said. I guess he got that out of the +_Dan Dauntless Series_; he eats those books alive. + +I felt kind of shaky driving that van, but I knew I had to do it, and if +a scout has to do a thing he does it. Gee whiz, I like things that are +hard—except licorice jaw breakers. You get three of those for a cent. +Even I can eat those if I have to, but I like marshmallows better. I +like peanut brittle too. But anyway that hasn’t got anything to do with +driving a car. + +For maybe an eighth of a mile there weren’t any houses, because where we +stopped was really on the edge of the village. Anyway that village +didn’t have much of an edge to it. Pretty soon the houses began to get +near together. I guess they were always just as near together but +they—you know what I mean. + +Pee-wee didn’t say a word; he just sat straight up beside me like a +little tin soldier. It was a shame to see him wasting so much silence. + +Pretty soon we came to the Post Office. There were a lot of people +standing around the Post Office and they were talking about the railroad +strike. I knew that if we once got past the Post Office we’d be all +right. Because post offices in the country are where sheriffs and +constables and other people that haven’t got anything to do hang out. It +wasn’t much of a post office. I guess they called it a post office +because there was a post out in front of it. There was one of those +signs tacked to that post. + +I said to Pee-wee, “This is a young reviewing stand. Look straight +ahead, keep your mouth shut, and look kind of careless—you +know—carefree.” + +_Good night_, you should have seen the look he put on! + +“Is that what you call care free?” I whispered to him. “You look like an +advertisement for tooth powder.” + +“That’s the scout smile,” he whispered. + +Honest, you’d have laughed to see him; he was looking straight ahead and +grinning all over his face. + +“Look natural,” I whispered to him. “Look as if there wasn’t a convict +in the van. Look as if you never saw a convict.” + +“How can any fellow look as if he never saw a convict?” he whispered. +“Most everybody has never seen a convict.” + +“Well, look like them, then,” I told him. “Look the same as a person +would look if he wasn’t helping a convict to escape.” + +He put on another kind of a smile and then he whispered to me, “I bet +now those people will say I’m not helping a convict to escape, hey?” + +“Sure,” I told him; “you look as if you were on the track of an ice +cream soda. Keep still and the worst will soon be over.” + + + + + XXIII—FIXING IT + + +As we went past the Post Office I felt pretty shaky, because there were +a whole lot of people there and some of them were women, and there were +a lot of children, too. The women said, “Isn’t he cute?” They meant +Pee-wee. + +Everybody stared at us as we went by, and read the printing on the van +and said how the boy scouts were all right. It didn’t seem as if anybody +was suspicious at all. Some of them waved to us and we waved back and I +heard a man say that we were lively youngsters. Gee whiz, nobody ever +accused us of being dead, that’s one sure thing. + +One lady said how she had seen Pee-wee in the store and how he had told +her all about good turns. She said it must be great to be a boy. Gee +whiz, she said something that time. + +“Now you see,” Pee-wee whispered; “it’s good I was in that store. It’s +good I told them all about the scouts, because now they’re not +suspicious. They think it’s all right for kids to be doing this, because +I told them scouts are resourceful.” + +“Did you tell them how we have plenty of initials?” I asked him. + +“Do you know what safe conduct is?” he asked me. + +“I know that yours isn’t always safe,” I told him. + +“It means when a general promises not to interfere with anybody, even an +enemy. He gives them safe conduct; that means that they can go ahead and +not worry about being pinched, see? These people gave us safe conduct +and they’re not bothering us, because they know the scouts are all +right. It’s on account of the way I talked to them. I came along first +like a kind of a—you know—a what-d’ye-call-it——” + +“I don’t know _what_ to call it,” I said. + +“A herald,” he blurted out. + +“Well,” I said, “you look more like the funny page in the Journal to me. +Don’t talk too loud, the danger isn’t passed.” + +By that time we had got about fifty yards past the Post Office and I was +feeling kind of nervous, but just the same I knew the danger was over. + +Pee-wee said, “Do you mean to tell me that those people would let a +couple of kids like us go by driving a big van, and never ask them any +questions, if they didn’t know that we were all right? I fixed it all +right, while you and Brent were worrying your lives out in the van. Now +we’re safe.” + +I said, “Oh, you’re the little fixer, all right.” + +Just then, _good night_, one of those men came running after us calling, +“Hi thar, wait a minute, you youngsters!” + +Oh, boy, a cold shudder ran down my back. I said, “We’re pinched. I knew +it was too good to be true.” + +I stopped the car and when the man caught up with us he said, all out of +breath, “What’s this here talk one of you youngsters were givin’ us +’baout good turns? Allus ready ter do a favor, as I understand?” + +Oh, bibbie, wasn’t I relieved. + +“That’s our middle name,” Pee-wee said. + +“Wall then, haow abaout doin’ one naow?” the man said. + +By that time there were about a dozen people standing around in the road +and I gave Pee-wee a nudge and said, “Watch your step; let me do the +talking.” + +But he didn’t pay any attention to me. Off he went with a lot of stuff +out of the handbook and wound up by saying how scouts were supposed to +help strangers. “Sure, we’ll do anything you want,” he said; “all you +have to do is to ask us.” + +“Wall then,” the man said, “here’s a lot of folks wantin’ to go to the +reunion at the Crossroads and we was thinkin’ as haow you might pack ’em +inter this here van of yourn as long as the trains ain’t runnin’.” + +_Jumping jiminies!_ I nearly fell through the seat. + + + + + XXIV—SNOOZER SETTLES IT + + +That was a home-run all right I said, all flabbergasted. “You see, the +only trouble is I’m not an experienced driver and these are—they’re +pretty rough roads—and—eh—” + +“That’s one thing about us,” Pee-wee piped up; “we’re not as smart as we +look. Maybe it seems as if we could do most anything, but we can’t. +That’s one thing about a scout, he has to admit it if he doesn’t know +everything. He has to—he has to—eh—he has to safeguard the lives of +others. See? Suppose we ran into a ditch and upset the car and everybody +got killed. They wouldn’t thank us, would they?” + +One of the ladies said, “Oh, isn’t he just too funny for anything!” + +The man said, kind of slow and drawly like, he said, “Wall, yer could +drive slow en’ thar ain’t no ditches.” + +“Even one ditch would be enough,” the kid said. “Isn’t there just one?” + +Jiminetty, I could hardly keep a straight face. There were all those +people crowding around the van and saying how nice it would be if we +would take a group to the reunion and how we had plenty of room. I +thought of Brent sitting on the grocery box inside, and I bet he was +laughing. + +I said under my breath to Pee-wee, “All right, you got us into this with +your good turns; now you can get us out.” + +Then a man said, “A couple of boys who are going to have an eye out to +recapture a convict, like this here little feller says, they ought to be +smart enough and kind enough, I reckon, to give some of these here +disappointed souls a lift. Jest you boys open these here doors and let +the youngsters pile in, so they can go see Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” + +“That—that show isn’t going to be much good,” Pee-wee said; “and I can +tell you one thing, it’s pretty stuffy in that van. That’s one thing +scouts believe in—fresh air.” + +By that time he was fidgeting around on the seat and some of the people +were laughing and some of them looked surprised. + +“That’s just it,” Pee-wee said; “if you were boy scouts and you were +going to try to capture a criminal, you wouldn’t want a lot of children +along, would you? And ladies? Ladies are a-scared of criminals; gee, I +don’t blame them.” + +Somebody said, “Oh, I guess the hounds they got on the trail will find +the convict, all right, so you boys can jest consider if you’re goin’ to +live up to your words or not ’baout doin’ good turns.” + +Oh, boy, that was a terrible moment in Pee-wee’s life. I guess _Dan +Dauntless_ never had so much to worry about. But that kid has some +sense, anyway, and that’s more than that story fellow has. In a couple +of seconds I noticed that he was wiping his face with his handkerchief +and I saw that he was getting the key sort of rolled up in the cloth at +the same time. Then he made believe to put the handkerchief in his back +pocket, but really he dropped it through the little window into the van. +You couldn’t even hear it drop inside. + +Then he said, “The trouble is that this van is locked and we haven’t got +the key.” That kid would never have said that while he had the key, +because it would have been a lie. And scouts don’t lie, that’s sure. + +Jiminy, I don’t know what those people thought; anyway I felt pretty +mean. The ladies said anyway they were just as much obliged to us. The +men looked kind of as if they didn’t have much use for us, but they +didn’t say anything and I had to admit that Pee-wee had got away with it +all right. + +Then, _good night, Sister Anne_, what should I see but our old college +chum Snoozer from the Uncle Tom’s Cabin show. There he was, right among +all those people, pushing them out of the way and sniffing around as if +he was half crazy. Pee-wee and I jumped down and pushed past the people +who were all crowding around the back of the van, and, _good night_, +there was that pesky actor dog with his feet on the step, sniffing and +sniffing at the doors and barking and yelping for all he was worth. + +“Chop down them doors!” I heard a man say. “That’s somethin’ wrong here. +This here dog is an official bloodhound, and, _by gum_, he’s tracked +that thar convict. That chap paid these youngsters to help him escape, +that’s what he has—by thunder! Somebody get an axe out of the Post +Office and chop down these here doors. Don’t either one of you +youngsters try to run or, by thunder, you’ll drop in your tracks. Good +turns, eh? So them’s the kind of good turns you do, hey? Get an axe +somebody—quick!” + + + + + XXV—BIG EXCITEMENT AT BARROW’S HOMESTEAD + + +I was kind of excited, but I said to Pee-wee, “Don’t get scared; all +they’ll do is arrest him; he’ll get off.” + +Then one of the men came up and said to us awful loud and gruff, “Naow, +you kids, aout with that key, hand it over!” + +I said, “Didn’t you hear my chum say that we haven’t got the key? It +shows you don’t know much about scouts if you think they lie. If you +want to know where the key is, it’s inside.” + +“Wall then, yer better crawl through that little winder up thar in front +and git it,” he said. + +“I don’t have to get it,” I told him; “go and get it yourself if you +want it. You must have been reading dime novels if you think that boys +like us help convicts to escape. If you tear down those doors you’ll put +them up again, I’ll tell you that.” + +Just then along came a man with a brass badge on about as big as a +saucer. I said to Pee-wee, “Look what he’s hiding.” He had an axe, too. +There were a lot of people crowding all about him. One of them said, +“It’s a pretty desperate attempt, Constabule.” The man said, “I’ll have +him behind the bars in about a jiffy. These boys is accessories, that’s +what they are.” + +“Accessories are things that come with motor-boats,” the kid whispered +to me. + +I said, “Well, we’re the kind of accessories that come with motor vans. +This is some circus; Brent will get his wish and go to jail, all right. +There’s no use getting scared.” + +By that time everything was excitement. People came running out of +houses and crowded around the van and stared at Pee-wee and me. Gee +whiz, I don’t know where all the people came from. All the while the dog +kept clawing at the doors of the van and barking and yelping. I wondered +how Brent felt inside the van. In about five minutes the whole town was +out, gaping and talking, all excited. + +The constable said to us, “Naow then, you youngsters, you been +compoundin’ a felony, that’s what you been doin’. Now who’s inside that +van? Who yer hidin’? Somebody, hey?” + +“I’m not denying anything,” I told him. “All I say is we didn’t break +any law.” + +“Wall, yer admit yer concealin’ somebody in thar, ain’t yer—huh?” he +shouted. + +I said, “I’m not denying it, but I’m not scared of you.” + +He said, “Yaas? Wall, we’ll soon see. We’ll have him under lock and key +for sartin, if that’s what he likes.” + +“That’s his favorite pastime,” I said; “you don’t know him.” + +“Surraound this here wagon, you people,” the constable said, “and keep a +watch on these kids; they’re pretty slippery.” + +So then the constable and another man began chopping down the doors. +“It’s up to them,” I said to Pee-wee; “we should worry.” + +“What do you suppose Brent will do?” he said. + +“They’ll lock him up till the whole thing is explained,” I said; “they +won’t take our word for anything. He’s got troubles of his own at last; +I hope he’s satisfied. He wanted bread and water, now he’ll get it.” + +“They’ll lock us up, too, won’t they?” the kid said, good and scared. +“That man is keeping his eye on us.” + +All the while the dog kept yelping and clawing at the doors and the +people crowded closer around so as to see better. Gee, I felt kind of +sorry for Brent, because I saw he was up against it. + +All of a sudden down came one of the doors and the bloodhound sprang +inside and came out again. The constable poked his head in and said, +“_Well, I’ll be jiggered!_” Pee-wee and I looked inside and, good night, +that van was as empty as an ice cream soda glass when Pee-wee is through +with it. + +“Well—what—do—you—know—about—that?” I stammered under my breath to +Pee-wee. + +“His dream came true,” Pee-wee whispered to me; “he kept his vow, he +foiled everybody, he _escaped_. He—he—he what-d’ye-call-it—he hasn’t +lived in vain—hey?” + +“He hasn’t lived in the van very long, that’s sure,” I whispered. “He +has put it all over these people and us too. Can you beat that fellow?” + +“He defied locks and bolts and dungeons like Houdini,” the kid said. I +guess he saw Houdini in the movies. + +“Sure, he’s a real hero at last,” I said; “but he’s got _me_ guessing.” + +The constable and a couple of other men were stamping around inside the +van and he called out, “Thar ain’t no clew here, nothin’ but this here +can opener.” And then he came out with the can opener in his hand. + +Gee whiz, I just couldn’t help shouting right out in front of everybody. +I said, “That clew explains the whole mystery. There was a can of baked +beans in that van, and he must have opened it and emptied them out and +secreted himself in the empty can. When we threw the can away, he +escaped.” + +The constable said, “What’s all this talk? I want to know who you kids +is, anyway. And I want ter know what you’re doin’ here, runnin’ this big +van all by yourselves.” + +I said, “I’m Sherlock Nobody Holmes, the boy detective. This is my +trusty pal, Scout Harris. We’re on our way to kidnap Major Grumpy in +this van and hold him until he gives up one thousand dollars to the Boy +Scouts of America. Can you tell us where we can buy a couple of spark +plugs?” + + + + + XXVI—TO THE RESCUE + + +All of a sudden the plot grew thicker. I thought we’d have to thin it +with gasoline, it grew so thick. For a few minutes Pee-wee and I just +stood there wondering what had become of Brent and laughing at the +constable who was holding his axe in one hand and our can opener in the +other, and all the people stood around staring at us as if they didn’t +know what to make of us. + +The constable said, “I daon’t like the looks uv this here, I don’t. You +allowed there was somebody in that van. Now whar is he?” + +I said, “I didn’t allow anything, I just didn’t _deny_ anything. What’s +the use of blaming us because you half chopped the van to pieces? All +you’ve got is a can opener—we should worry. You seem to trust the dog; +if you want to ask any questions you’d better ask _him_. The only person +he knows how to track is Eliza, because that’s his business.“ + +“He’s on the stage,” Pee-wee piped up. + +“You mean he’s in the van,” I said. + +The constable said, “Wall, I reckon you youngsters’d better tell yer +story ter Justice Cummins. It’s mighty funny two young boys travelin’ by +theirselves in a big van.” + +“I’ll recount our adventures to him,” Pee-wee piped up. “Where is he?” + +For about half a minute the constable just stood there staring at us. I +guess he didn’t know what he’d better do. All the rest of the people +stood around, staring. I guess it was the biggest thing that ever +happened in Barrow’s Homestead. Inside the van a couple of men were +holding the bloodhound by the collar. Some excitement. + +All of a sudden, zip goes the fillum, along the road came an auto, +pell-mell! It came through the village from the direction we were going +in. + +“Look!” Pee-wee said. “Look who’s in it; it’s Harry; who’s that with +him?” + +Before I had a chance to say anything, the car was close up to us and +Harry and another person were stepping out. Harry was laughing all over +his face, but he was in a terrible hurry, I could see that. I gave one +look at the person who was with him and began to roar. + +“It’s—it’s Brent—Gaylong,” Pee-wee whispered. + +I said, “Don’t make me laugh any harder or I’ll die of shock.” + +Honest, even now when I think of it I have to laugh. He looked like +Charlie Chaplin only more so. And he had such a funny way about him +too—kind of dignified. He had on a great big straw hat like a farmer +and a black coat like a minister, only it was all in shreds. It was his +trousers that made him look like Charlie Chaplin. Laugh! They were about +a hundred times too big and a mile too long, and every time he took a +step he stumbled all over himself and had to hoist them up. His big hat +was pulled way down over his ears and—oh, I just can’t tell you about +it. He was a scream. And all the while he had a very dignified, severe +look on his face, even when he tripped all over himself. + +Honest, I just howled. I didn’t hear Pee-wee laugh; I guess he must have +fainted. Harry came along behind Brent, trying not to laugh but every +time Brent’s feet caught in his trousers I could see Harry’s face all +twisted up just as if he was trying as hard as he could not to scream. +Every step Brent took I thought he’d go kerflop on the ground. The +people were all giggling, but he didn’t notice them at all, only kept on +looking very sober and stern—oh, boy, it was a scream. + +He said, “What is all this?” And then he fell all over himself and gave +his trousers a hitch. “Who is interfering with these boys in the +performance of their duty? Stand back, everybody!” And he went +staggering against a tree and gave his trousers a good hitch up. “Who is +the leader of this motley throng?” That’s what he said, and, gee whiz, I +thought he’d skid and land on his head. You couldn’t see his hands, his +sleeves were so long. “Who dares to stand—” he said, and, good night, +he went kerflop on the ground and got right up again. I had a headache +from laughing. + +Harry Donnelle just sat down on the step of the van and shook and shook. + +Brent pointed at the sheriff with the floppy end of his sleeve and said, +“You and your minions are charged with trespassing upon the property of +Jolly & Kidder, Inc., New York. Wait till I roll up my sleeves so I can +point better. Who _dares_ to stand in the way of the Boy Scouts of +America?” + +“Thar’s a convict missin’ from araound these parts,” the constable said; +“who are you, anyway, and your friend thar?” + +Brent said, “We represent the Archibald Abbington Uncle Tom’s Cabin +Company who are touring the country, drawing laughter and tears with +their excruciating and heart-rending drama, and I am in search of one of +our ferocious bloodhounds. We are in partnership with the Boy Scouts of +America and any one attempting to interfere with our noble effort to put +an end to slavery will be punished to the full extent of the law. When +we have an opportunity we will endeavor to find your convict for you. +Please stand aside, everybody, and allow the procession to pass.” + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII—ANOTHER DISCOVERY + + +Brent stumbled up the step and stood in back of the van, holding his +trousers up with one hand and waving the other hand in the air. + +“Free ride to the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads!” he began +shouting. “Children and veterans free! We take you but do not bring you +back. No connection with criminals and convicts! Free ride to the +carnival. Veterans welcome! All aboard for the carnival! Hail to the +Grand Army of the Republic and the Boy Scouts of America. Hurrah for +Jolly & Kidder, New York’s great cash store! Step inside, veterans!” + +Pretty soon an old man with an old blue army cap came hobbling out of +the crowd, and Harry helped him up into the van. That was a starter. Men +began bringing boxes from the Post Office and putting them in the van +for seats. Most of the mothers wouldn’t let their children go because +there wasn’t any way for them to get back, but the veterans didn’t seem +to mind that. We got three veterans in Barrow’s Homestead and then +started out. I don’t know what the constable thought, but we should +worry about that. All the people cheered us and gave us a fine send-off. +Pee-wee said they were stricken with remorse—I guess he got that out of +a movie play. + +We stopped for a couple of spark plugs and to get the timer of the van +adjusted, and a lot of the kids followed us as far as the end of the +town. + +Harry drove the van and Brent drove the touring car, and Pee-wee and I +sat with Brent. + +I said, “I wish you’d tell us about your adventures, you crazy Indian. I +thought we were in for a lot of trouble in that village. You’ve got me +guessing. Anyway you escaped like you said you were going to do. But I’d +like to know where you came from and where you got that bunch of rags.” + +He said, “You should never laugh at honest rags. Beneath these rags +beats a noble heart. Boys, I am sick of crime and I am going to reform.” +That’s just the way he talked, the crazy Indian. He said, “I have had my +fondest wish, I have been a convict—a villyan. I have languished in a +dark moving van, I have foiled the shrewdest people in the world, the +boy scouts—not. Would you like to hear the story of my evil career? I +began life as an honest boy. I never stole but once in my life and that +was when I stole second base in a ball game.” + +I said, “Will you stop your jollying and tell us what happened?” + +He said, “Posilutely I will. There were two boy scouts sitting on the +step outside the Jolly & Kidder state prison. I was inside in my +convicts’ stripes.” + +“Were you languishing?” Pee-wee piped up. + +Brent said, “No, I was eating a banana. I said two scouts, but really it +was only about one and a half. They were supposed to be alert, +observant, resourceful.” + +I said, “That’s right, rub it into us.” + +He said, “While they were arguing on the back step I stood upon a +grocery box and crawled through the little window in back of the front +seat. I was _free_, like Monte Carlo—I mean Monte Cristo—” + +“You mean Monticello,” I told him. + +“You mean Montenegro,” Pee-wee put in. + +“The world seemed bright and new,” Brent said. + +“You’re crazy,” I told him; “go on, where did you get those clothes?” + +He said, “Shh. Can I count on you never to breathe a word? The man I got +these clothes from lies dead in yonder swamp.” + +“Who put him there?” Pee-wee wanted to know. + +Brent said, “Shh, I did. The man was innocent. He was standing in a +field beyond the swamp. He was doing no harm. I approached him, crawling +through the grass.” + +“What was he doing there?” Pee-wee wanted to know. + +“He was scaring away crows,” Brent said. + +“_He was a scarecrow_!” I blurted out. + +“A harmless, innocent, hard working scarecrow,” Brent said. “As I think +of it now——” + +[Illustration: BRENT CAPTURED A SCARECROW.] + +“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “Why didn’t you say so?” + +Brent said, “His trustful, happy, carefree face haunts me now. He was +only scaring away the crows——” + +“You give me a pain!” the kid shouted. “You’re crazy.” + +Brent said, “But I thought of my dungeon in the Jolly & Kidder van and +of my brutal keepers, those two boy scouts—asleep on the back step. I +said to myself, ‘I will never return whither——’” + +“You mean thither,” Pee-wee said. + +“I said to myself, ‘They will have to kill me to take me alive,’” Brent +said. + +“Anyway, you killed him?” I asked him. + +He said, “I killed him in cold blood—anyway it wasn’t more than +lukewarm. I tore him to pieces and took his clothes and concealed my +telltale convict stripes under a weeping willow. It was weeping its eyes +out.” + +“It’s a wonder it wasn’t laughing,” I told him. + +He said, “The poor fellow was as thin as a stick; his arms were made of +a cross stick, I think it was a broom stick. He lies under the marsh +grass in yonder swamp. And I am free!” + +“You’re crazy too,” the kid shouted. + +“I said I would escape and I did,” Brent began to laugh. “I decided that +I would escape from the very people who claim to be the most alert and +wide-awake—the boy scouts. You say I’m crazy. Very well, even a crazy +person can foil the boy scouts. I suppose that’s what you call logic.” + +“That’s what you call nonsense,” Pee-wee yelled. + +“I hope you boys had a good nap while I was escaping,” Brent said. “It +was a shame to do it, it was so easy. I tried to leave good plain +footprints, I did all that an honest convict could to help you, but in +vain. I doubt if the boy scouts could trail a steam roller. As for the +authorities of Barrow’s Homestead ... but I’ve seen enough of crime and +its evil results.” That’s just the way he talked. “Henceforth I mean to +be honest.” + +“You’re a nut, that’s what you are!” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, awful kind of heroic like, he said, “Ha! Sayest thou so? +Then glance at this paper.” + +I said, “What is it? Where did you get it?” + +“I got it out of the inside pocket of this old coat,” he said; “and it +means mischief. _Shh_, no one has seen it but Harry Domicile; he agrees +with me that it has to do with a dark plot.” + +“You mean you found it in the scarecrow’s pocket?” Pee-wee asked him, +all excited. + +“I found it in the scarecrow’s inside pocket,” Brent said. “I don’t +think the scarecrow knew it was there. It is very mysterious. I think we +are on the track of a new mystery. That anybody who wore a black frock +coat should have had such a paper in his possession is very strange. It +is no wonder the crows shunned him.” + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII—A MYSTERIOUS PAPER + + +Brent handed me the paper and Pee-wee nearly pushed me off the seat +sticking his head way over and trying to read it. I have to admit it was +mighty interesting what was on that paper. The more Pee-wee stared at it +the bigger his eyes got, and it had _me_ guessing, too. + +All the while, Brent just sat there driving the machine as if he wasn’t +interested in the paper at all. He said, “You seem to like it. I pick up +papers like that every day. If you don’t care for that one, just say so +and I’ll dig you up another; I’ll find you German spy maps, lost patent +papers of wonderful inventions, mortgage papers stolen by villyans, +anything you say; just say the word.” + +“If you don’t care for this one, don’t be afraid to say so. I know where +there are some documents about a dark anarchist plot. Do you care about +anarchist plots? Some people like them and others don’t; it’s just a +matter of taste.“ + +I said, “_Good night_, this will do for me.” + +Pee-wee said, all excited, “Maybe it means millions of dollars; maybe it +means bars of gold. We’ll solve the mystery, hey?” + +“Oh, just as you say,” Brent said; “you know my stand on mysteries and +adventures; I eat them raw.” + +That paper was all old and yellow and when we opened it I had to hold it +on my knee, because it tore where the creases were. I guess maybe it was +as old as ten years. It looked as if it had been torn out of a +memorandum book and the writing was made with a lead pencil and it was +kind of blurred, but anyway, this is what it said: + + Snake Creek. North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton Cove, Top of S + Cove. Follow line due north from willow. Cons to west. Stake. + Measure ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line due + NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW limit, indicated at AN + Stake. Follow S line south to pie. + +Pee-wee said, very mysterious like, “What da you think it is? It tells +where there’s buried treasure, doesn’t it?” + +“Sure it does,” I said. “It sounds just like the directions in the _Gold +Bug_ by Edgar Allan Poe.” + +“It sounds just like _Treasure Island_,” Pee-wee put in. + +Brent said, “Well, I don’t know. I was thinking about it and I decided +that it’s a bill of fare.” + +“A what?” Pee-wee shouted. + +“You see it’s got stake and pie on it,” Brent said. + +“You make me tired!” the kid fairly yelled. “That paper shows where +buried treasure is hidden.” + +Brent said, “Well then, that scarecrow must have been a pirate in his +younger days. He had an evil past and I’m glad I killed him.” + +“You seem to think it’s a joke,” I said; “but it tells where there’s +buried treasure, that’s one sure thing. You can’t make anything else out +of it—can you?” + +Brent said, “Buried treasure’s good enough for _me_—gold or stakes or +pies, I don’t care. I’d like to dig up a few buckwheat cakes just now.” + +“Do you know what you are? Do you know what you are?” the kid began +shouting. “You’re a Philippine—that’s what you are!” + +I said, “You mean a philistine—that’s a person that makes fun of things +and doesn’t believe anything.” + +Brent said, “The only time I ever went after buried treasure I was +_foiled_ by the boy scouts. Never again. They wouldn’t chop down a tree +under which the treasure was buried because they loved trees.” + +“This isn’t under a tree,” Pee-wee said; “it’s in a cove—on the end of +a line due north. That’s different. That’s always the kind of a place +wkere treasure is—in a cove. You can tell by the names that there’s +treasure there—Snake Creek and Skeleton Cove and lines due north and +willows and everything. It says _treasure_, doesn’t it? What more do you +want?” + +“Only where’s the place?” Brent said. + +“We’ll find it,” Pee-wee said; “we’ll find it if we, if we—drop in our +tracks.” + +Brent said, “That’s something I’ve always longed to do—drop in my +tracks. I’d like to be rescued by a St. Bernard dog.” + +I said, “_Good night_, have a heart. There are dogs enough in this +series of thrilling adventures.” + +Brent said, “Well anyway, this is the only story of adventure that has a +scarecrow for a villain. What d’ye say?” + + + + + XXIX—THE MYSTERY DEEPENS + + +Brent said, “Well, as long as you like my little mystery, we might as +well take a peep into it. We may have a couple of hairbreadth escapes, +you never can tell. By rights, we ought to quarrel over the treasure +after we have found it, and all kill each other. That’s the way they +usually do.” + +“They don’t do that way any more,” Pee-wee said; “they divide it up.” + +Brent said, “No, I insist on quarreling over it.” + +He folded the paper and put it back in his pocket. It seemed funny for a +paper like that to be in an old black frock coat like ministers wear. I +had to laugh at Brent on account of the sober way he tucked it back into +the pocket. + +I said, “It’s got _me_ interested, that’s one sure thing. But how are we +going to find out where that place is?” + +He said, “Well, the proper way would be for us just to fit out an +expedition and go in search of it like old what’s-his-name who hunted +for the soda fountain down in Florida.” + +Pee-wee said, “Ponce de Leon, he hunted for the Fountain of Youth.” + +“But the best way,” Brent said, “if you’re really interested, is for us +to get hold of a map of the Ohio River when we hit Indianapolis. We +cross the Ohio at Wheeling and if that old creek is anywhere in our +neighborhood we’ll see if we can hoe up a few nuggets. That’s the proper +thing, isn’t it—nuggets?” + +“Nuggets and pieces of eight,” Pee-wee said, very serious. + +Brent said that we had enough on our minds then, with the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people and the Veterans’ Reunion, and that we’d better get along, +especially as Harry with the van had almost caught up to us. + +But one more thing happened before we got very far from Barrow’s +Homestead, and it threw some light on the mystery—that’s what Pee-wee +said. A man in a pair of overalls came along the road and Brent stopped +to ask him a couple of questions. While the machine was standing there, +the van passed us. Gee, there were a lot of people in it and on it and +all over. + +Harry said, “Do you want us to tow you? Come on, hurry up, you’ll be +late for the show. We’ve got Sherman’s march through Georgia beat a +hundred ways.” + +Brent said, “Don’t bother us, we’re chasing after nuggets.” Then he said +to the man, “You don’t happen to know who owns that land beyond the +marsh down at the other end of town, do you? Before you get to the Post +Office? There’s a big cornfield there.” + +I whispered to Pee-wee, “Keep your mouth shut, now, and don’t tell him +about good turns.” + +The man said, “Yer mean swamp acres? That’s part o’ th’ old Deacon +Snookbeck place.” + +Brent said, “Yes. Who’s he?” + +“Wa’l, he ain’t,” the man said, “but he was. Th’ best thing I can say +abaout that ole codger is, he’s dead.” + +Brent rested his arms on the steering wheel and talked kind of careless, +sort of. He said, “I was just wondering if the place was for sale. So he +was a queer ole codger, the deacon, hey?” + +The man said, “Yes, en’ more’n that as I’ve heared tell. I guess young +Snookbeck ain’t calc’latin’ on sellln’ th’ place. I reckon nobody raound +these parts is wantin’ ter buy it, neither. Yer see thar was a kind of a +mystery ’baout ole Ebenezer. Some folks even say his haouse is haunted +by a chap he murdered. But I reckon he wasn’ as bad as all that.” + +Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee! He just sat there staring, his +eyes as big as dinner plates. He didn’t say a word, only just stared. + +Brent said, “House of mystery, hey? The Frock-coated Villyan! That would +be a good name for a photoplay, huh?” + +That man leaned his elbow on the side of the car and said, kind of +friendly like, as if we were special friends of his, he said, “Wa’l, +’baout, let’s see, nigh onter ten year ago, thar was a couple of young +chaps wearin’ khaki like you chaps, come out this way en they wuz +rootin’ raound on th’ deacon’s farm. They weren’t plantin’, that was +sure; and they weren’t no farm hands. Nobody seemed jest able ter find +out ezactly what they were, ’cause they never talked ter nobody. Aunt +Josie Anne, daown th’ road a piece, asked one uv ’em who he thought he +was. He said he thought he was Santa Claus, but he wasn’ sure. They wuz +kind o’ comics, both uv ’em. Wa’l, I ain’t ashamed ter tell no man who I +am.” + +Brent said, “You’re right,” just sort of to encourage him to talk. + +The man said, “Wa’l, they stayed at th’ deacon’s house ’n’ one night +they wuz out with a lantern in the middle of the night, under the big +tree near th’ deacon’s haouse. Steub Berry, he ’laowed they wuz buryin’ +treasure thar. Some folks had it them two strangers wuz Mexican spies +’n’ others reckoned they wuz army deserters. Th’ ole deacon, he jes’ +laughed and said we couldn’ guess. He wouldn’ deny nuthin’. All of a +sudden, _ker-bang_, they disappeared jes’ like that ’n’ some folks said +th’ deacon murdered both uv ’em ter git th’ treasure. My wife, she allus +had it, they come off some ranch or other with a lot uv stealin’s. Wa’l, +’twas a nine days’ wonder ’n arter that folks kinder fought shy of th’ +deacon.” + +Brent said, “And he’s dead now?” + +“Oh, deader’n a mummy,” the man said. “When the world war come some +folks said as haow that pair might a been German spies all th’ while, +kind uv studying ’raound. But young Snookbeck he says if old Ebenezer +had anything hid it would be in his Bible, en’ ’s long ’s ’tain’t thar, +’tain’t nowhere. But that’s treasure hid somewhere, I say, ’cause them +wuz mighty funny doin’s of them strangers. Yer goin’ ter th’ reunion +over t’ ’he Cross-roads?” + + + + + CHAPTER XXX—WE MAKE A PROMISE + + +As soon as we had started, Brent said, “Well, it doesn’t look half bad, +does it?” + +“Do you know who those fellows were? Do you know who those fellows +were?” our young hero fairly screamed. + +“I think they came from Mars,” Brent said; “that’s the way it looks to +me.” + +I said, “You can joke but it’s pretty serious.” + +“They were _smugglers_ that’s what they were,” Pee-wee shouted. + +“They were either smugglers or book-agents,” Brent said. “In either case +they deserved to be murdered. Maybe they were introducing a new kind of +soap——” + +“You make me sick,” Pee-wee yelled; “there’s treasure somewhere and +we’re going to find it! It’s at HW limit, it said so, HW means something +about _hollow well_, I bet you.” + +Brent said, “Maybe it means hot waffles; there’s a whole table d’hote +dinner in that paper. Maybe it means Hamburger wheat cakes. Anyway, the +Ohio River is a long way from Barrow’s Homestead.” + +Then Brent got kind of serious, not _very_ serious, but kind of +serious—as serious as he could. And he said we should promise him that +we wouldn’t think any more about that dark, mysterious paper, or talk +about it to the other fellows until we got all through at Grumpy’s +Crossroads and reached Indianapolis so he could get hold of a map. +Because if we couldn’t find any stream named Snake Creek running into +the Ohio River, he didn’t want the fellows to be disappointed. He said +there was no use of our going on a wild goose chase. + +You can bet we kept our promise to Brent, but I guess Pee-wee didn’t +have any more sleep till we reached Indianapolis. But anyway, he had a +pretty good appetite. He buried some treasure every night—ice cream +sodas at the reunion. + +That’s one thing I like about slavery. Because if there hadn’t been any +slavery there wouldn’t have been any Civil War, and if there hadn’t been +any Civil War there wouldn’t have been any Veterans’ Reunion, and if +there hadn’t been any Veterans’ Reunion, there wouldn’t have been any +ice cream sodas there. See? + +Gee whiz, I never was in the Civil War, or the uncivilized war or any +other kind, but I got a black eye once. Anyway, I killed four sodas when +I got to that reunion. + +I did it for my country’s sake. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI—WE REACH OUR DESTINATION + + +Now maybe you’ll say it was a long time since we left those other cars +and the rest of the fellows, but it was only about an hour. Only a lot +happened in that hour—it was condensed, like. That’s the way I like +things. Only I don’t like condensed milk. But I wish they had condensed +ice cream. Pee-wee’s a condensed scout. I’d like to have condensed +lessons, too. Anyway my sister likes pickles—gee, I hate them. She says +even a postage stamp can stick to its subject better than I can. I +should worry. I told her you could send an animal by mail, because once +I saw a letter with a seal on it. She’s all the time sending notes to +Harry Donnelle, she is. She gets awful mad when I jolly her. She plays +the mandolin. + +Let’s see, where was I? Oh, yes, now I know. Pretty soon (she likes +bonbons too), pretty soon the van and our car came to the place where +the two roads what-d’ye-call-it—converge—that means come together. +And, gee whiz, we had a young reunion right there. Mr. Abbington was +awful nice, but, oh boy, he could hardly keep that other bloodhound from +chewing Brent all to pieces. I guess he thought he was a tramp. + +Harry said, “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Scarecrow +of Barrow’s Homestead. The only one in captivity. We intend to exhibit +him at the reunion for the small sum of a dime, ten cents—three cents’ +war tax. He used to be an escaped convict, but now he’s reformed and +he’s a respectable scarecrow, the only real scarecrow ever exhibited. +The crows drop dead when they see him.” + +Gee whiz, you ought to have heard Miss Ophelia and Topsy laugh. Even +little Eva, _she_ laughed. I guess she forgot that she was going to die +and go to Heaven. Anyway, she was awful happy. Gee, Brent made them all +laugh. + +I bet you think it was a crazy procession that started off for Grumpy’s +Cross-roads, but what cared we? Gee whiz, if you don’t like it you know +what you can do. + +There was Harry driving the van that was chock full of veterans, because +they had picked up some along the road, and those veterans couldn’t even +have gone if the railroads had been running, because they lived too far +away from stations and they had never been to things like that before. + +Harry made all the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people wear their costumes and when +we got near to Grumpy’s Cross-roads he had the cruel villyan stand on +top of the van cracking his whip. But anyway Uncle Tom sat beside me, +eating peanuts, and he should worry. Brent looked awful funny, driving +one of the touring cars, but that only made it funnier. + +After about two hours more we came to Grumpy’s Cross-roads. They were +pretty cross, all right, because there was a sign that said: + + AUTOMOBILE LAWS STRICTLY ENFORCED + +Oh, boy, you just ought to have seen us. The big van went first, with +the man with the whip up on top, holding the ferocious bloodhounds. Next +came Rossie’s car full of veterans and then the other two cars full of +those actor people all dressed up for their play. + +We rolled into the Main Street and a band that was there, just getting +ready to go to the parade ground, I guess, marched in front of us and +played “Peggy.” Inside of ten seconds there were people crowding all +around us, but Harry told them to get out of the way, he didn’t care who +they were—constables, sheriffs, judges, or anything. + +“Where’s the parade ground?” he shouted. + +A man called, “Who are you, anyway? Whar do you come from?” + +Gee whiz, it gave me a good thrill when I heard Harry shout back, “We’re +the Boy Scouts of America, that’s who _we_ are! Friends and comrades to +the boys who were chased off the parade ground. And the show opens at 3 +P. M. sharp, so get your tickets and buy your peanuts! We’re here! And +not all the railroads in the country can stop us. _On the job_, that’s +our motto! Get from under if you don’t want to be run down. There’s only +one man in this whole country we’ll take any orders from and that’s +Major Grumpy!” + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII—SURRENDER AND INDEMNITY + + +Gee whiz, we reminded ourselves of General Pershing coming home. Just +before we drove into the parade ground, a little fellow about as big as +Pee-wee came running up and called to us. He was all excited. He +shouted, “We read your signal; we saw it way up on the mountain. People +said it was just the woods on fire but we knew what it meant; we read +it. We’ve got a signaler in our patrol. But Major Grumpy said it was +just the woods on fire.” + +Harry shouted down to him, “Climb up on the band wagon and be quick +about it if you want to be in at the finish. Where’s the rest of your +bunch?” + +Pee-wee said, “_Troop, not bunch_; don’t you know anything about the +scouts?” + +Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean gang.” + +That kid said that most of them were peeking through the fence of the +parade grounds, because they had been chased out. He said one of them +went in to tell Major Grumpy about the smudge message and that he had +been chased out again. He said they had dandy ice cream cones in there; +he said the ice cream went way down into the point. Oh, boy, that’s the +kind I like. He said that one of them had enough ice cream in it for two +fellows; gee, I’ve never seen any like that. But I’ve seen fellows that +have room enough for two cones. + +Poor little kid, he didn’t have any scout suit or anything—only just a +scout hat. + +Harry said, awful nice and friendly sort of, he said, “Well, you just +climb up here. So you read that message, hey? Well, you and your outfit +are all right, Kiddo.” + +“Not outfit!” Pee-wee yelled. + +Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean sewing circle.” + +I guess that kid thought Harry was crazy; anyway we don’t need anybody +to tell us we’re crazy, because we admit it. + +That kid said, “Have you got tickets to get into the grounds?” + +“Tickets?” Harry said. “What do we want tickets for when we’re going to +roll up the parade ground and take it home with us. Who are you for? The +Grand Army or the Boy Scouts? We don’t want any hyphens here.” + +Poor little kid, he looked more like a period than a hyphen. He was kind +of scared of Harry, I guess. + +Harry said, “We’ve got six scouts, about a dozen veterans, two +bloodhounds, nine actors and one scarecrow. Do you think we’re afraid?” + +“Surrender! That’s what we’re here for,” Rossie said. + +“Surrender with indemnity,” Harry said. + +Poor little kid, he looked all around from one of us to another and then +kept staring at Brent. I guess he didn’t know what to make of him. Maybe +he thought Brent was a camouflaged cannon, hey? + +When we got to the parade ground there were autos and wagons standing +around and lots of people going in. There was a sign up that said there +wouldn’t be any show on account of the railroad strike. And there were +about a half a dozen poor little codgers peeking in through cracks in +the fence; honest it made me feel sorry just to see them. Two or three +of them had on scout hats, but most of them only had scout badges. + +Gee whiz, Harry Domicile didn’t care about anybody; all the people, even +the doorkeepers, began staring at us but he should worry. He shouted to +those kids, “Fall in line, you; reenforcements are here! Two companies +of war-worn veterans, one Uncle Tom’s Cabin troupe, two bloodhounds, six +boy scouts, and a scarecrow! Climb aboard. On to victory!” + +“And a popcorn bar!” Pee-wee shouted. Jiminies, already he had bought +one of those sticky things and he was all gummed up like a piece of +fly-paper. He had to hold one of his hands out flat with the fingers all +apart, it was so sticky. “We’ll take all the lemonade booths and candy +counters and everything!” he shouted. “We’ll show no mercy, hey?” + +I said, “Shut up, you Hun! Already that popcorn bar looks like Rheims +Cathedral.” + +He shouted, “I’ve got a chocolate stick, too, and I’m going to devastate +that!” + +Talk about frightfulness! + +I guess those poor little kids thought we were crazy. Brent stood up on +the seat of his car and made gestures so as his long sleeves flopped +every which way. He shouted, “Every new recruit report to the commissary +general and receive six rounds of peanuts and three rounds of licorice +jaw-breakers. Step up!” + +Oh, boy, you should have seen those veterans laugh; they just +chuckled—you know the way old men do. One of them said he had fought at +Gettysburg but that he had never seen anything like this before; oh, +boy, didn’t he chuckle! + +I don’t know when Brent got them, but anyway, he had the pockets of that +crazy old coat full of bags of peanuts, and he handed them around to all +those little fellows. He made those kids stay in his car, too. They all +started eating peanuts, but just the same they looked sort of scared, as +if they didn’t know what was going to happen. + +Harry climbed up on top of the van and began shouting to all of us who +were in the touring cars; gee, but those cars were crowded. About a +hundred people were crowding around us too, just staring and laughing; +you couldn’t blame them. But what made me laugh most of all was to see +those veterans—_good night!_ Even when they were getting wounded in the +Civil War, I bet they didn’t have nearly as much fun. + + + + + XXXIII—MOBILIZING + + +This is the speech that Harry made to his troops, because my sister made +him write it out for me, because she said it would go down in history. +Brent Gaylong said he hoped if it went down it would never come up +again. Last term I passed seventy-two in history, but, gee, I hate +dates—I don’t mean the kind you eat. + +This is the speech that Harry made. He said: + + My brave soldiers: + + Lieutenant Harris will please take the candy out of his mouth + and listen. + +“I don’t listen with my mouth,” Pee-wee shouted. + +“Well then, close it,” I told him, “and listen to your superior +officer.” + +Harry said: + + We are outside the Parade Ground of Grumpy’s Cross-roads. We are + here to demand an unconditional surrender. A courier will go + within under the protection of a white flag. + +“I’ll go, I’ve got some popcorn; that’s white,” Pee-wee yelled. + + If Major Grumpy refuses our terms, then we will storm his + stronghold with every peanut that we hold. We shall demand + indemnity. + +“Demand the territory where the lemonade counter is,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Then everybody began hooting and yelling, and Brent stood up in those +crazy old rags and began flapping his sleeves to keep us quiet and the +old veterans shook—kind of like a Ford car. + +Then Harry read us a note that he said should be delivered to Major +Grumpy in person. + +“I’ll deliver it,” Pee-wee shouted; “I want to get a frankfurter, +anyway.” + +This was the note: + + Major Grumpy, Commanding Officer, + Veterans’ Reunion: + + You are hereby informed that the allied forces, consisting of + Boy Scouts, Civil War Veterans, scarecrows, and scout + reinforcements from your own town, offer you the choice of + unconditional surrender or complete extinction. As hostages we + hold Uncle Tom’s Cabin troupe scheduled to appear at your + reunion. Ten minutes will be given for an answer. We shall + advance against your stronghold immediately. + +One of the veterans said it would be better to say, “I purpose to move +immediately against your works,” because those were the very same words +that General Grant used. So Harry put it that way. + +Then he said, “Let us have peace,” because that was what General Grant +said, too. Pee-wee thought he said, “Let’s have a piece,” so he chucked +a licorice jaw-breaker up and it struck Harry, kerplunk, on the face. + +That was the beginning of hostilities. + +Pee-wee fired the first shot. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV—TR-R-AITORS! + + +That was the only shot in the whole war. It was a punk war. Harry said, +“Let the bloodshed cease; who’ll volunteer to go in as a courier?” + +Pee-wee shouted, “I will.” + +So Harry gave him the note and told him to stick a white popcorn bar on +a stick for a flag of truce. Honest, if you could have seen that kid +start off with the note in one hand and that popcorn flag of truce in +the other and his mouth all stuck up with licorice candy, you’d have +laughed till you cried. + +We waited for about ten minutes but still he didn’t come out, so Harry +called for another volunteer and Westy went in, because he said he could +remember just what was in the note. _Good night_, he didn’t come out +again, either. + +[Illustration: “WE’RE MAKING A DESPERATE CALVARY CHARGE,” SHOUTED +PEE-WEE.] + +Harry said, “This is very strange; they’ve either deserted or they’re +being held as prisoners.” + +Then Charlie Seabury said he’d go in, so he pinned a marshmallow onto +his buttonhole and went through the admission gate. But he didn’t come +back, either. + +Pretty soon five of the fellows had gone in—all the fellows in my +patrol except myself. And none of them came back. We decided that they +were all being held as prisoners. + +Harry said, “This is not civilized warfare at all—not to respect a flag +of truce.” + +I said, “Gee whiz, I never heard of a fellow that wouldn’t respect a +marshmallow or a popcorn bar. Even I respect gum drops.” + +Brent said, “Well, the only thing to do is to enter the grounds and +seize the rifles in the shooting gallery. If we can surround the dining +pavilion and seize all the sandwiches, we can cut off their base of +supplies and force a surrender. What say, comrades?” + +Harry said that was the only thing to do so he paid fifteen cents +admission for all of us on account of that being civilized warfare. Then +we drove in, and I bet that gatekeeper thought that we were from an +insane asylum, especially when he took a good look at Brent. + +And, _good night, Sister Anne_, excuse me while I laugh! What do you +think we saw when we got inside that place? About a couple of hundred +feet away was a merry-go-round, and riding around on it were our young +hero and those other four fellows, and they were all holding on to the +brass rods with one hand and eating frankfurters with the other. + +“I got the brass ring! I got the brass ring!” Pee-wee shouted. “I get an +extra ridel I’m promoted from the Infantry, I’m in the Cavalry! We’re +making a desperate cavalry charge!” + +Can you beat that kid? + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV—PEACE WITH INDEMNITY + + +I said, “We should worry about the cavalry; the only thing that this +cavalry can surround is the organ on the merry-go-round.” + +“I can surround a frankfurter,” Pee-wee shouted. Believe me, he could. + +Harry said, “The cavalry will dismount; you’re all court-martialed and +ordered to be shot at sunrise in the shooting gallery. Fall in line.” + +Jiminies, I had to laugh to see that bunch trotting along after the +autos, all the while munching frankfurters. I guess we were the craziest +looking parade that ever was; but you can have a lot of fun being crazy, +that’s one thing sure. All the people stopped what they were doing and +followed after us. Most of the things that they were doing were eating. +I wouldn’t stop doing that for anybody, I wouldn’t. + +All around were veterans in old blue coats and they were sitting in +groups talking; they were talking about Gettysburg and Richmond, and +General Grant, and things like that. One of them was talking about Sugar +Loaf Mountain and Pee-wee kind of slowed up so as he could listen. I +guess he thought it was some kind of candy, hey? Harry looked around and +shouted, “Attention!” And the kid jumped about a foot in the air. + +Pretty soon we came to a little tent and there was a sign on it that +said, “_Administration Tent_.” + +Pee-wee shouted, “Go on, till we come to the commissary tent.” + +I shouted back to him, “You’re a whole commissary in yourself. You’re a +nice looking sight to demand a surrender. The first thing you want to +seize is a wash basin!” + +Sitting in front of that tent were several veterans and one of them was +kind of cross and severe looking and he had a bald head. His head was so +bald that I guess he didn’t know where to stop washing his face. You +couldn’t even tell where his face was unless he put his hat on. He +looked as if he was used to bossing people around. Anyway, I knew he was +a Union soldier, because he had a telegram in his hand and it said +_Western Union_ on it. + +We all stopped right in front of the tent and Harry got down and made a +salute; it was awful funny. He said, “Major Grumpy, I believe?” + +“That is my name, sir,” the old man said, very stern, kind of like a +school principal. + +Harry said, “I am Lieutenant Donnelle and these are my allied forces. We +come here under the protection of a white—eh, a white popcorn bar. Hold +up the popcorn bar, Private Harris.” + +“It’s all gone,” Private Harris piped up. + +Harry said, “I’m very sorry that our flag of truce has been eaten by one +of our starving troopers. We are here to demand the surrender——” + +“Scouts are supposed to say _please_” Will Dawson piped up. + +Harry said, “Right. Scouts are polite even amid bloodshed and the roar +of cannon.” + +Major Grumpy said, “You look as if you had just taken the city of +Frankfort, judging from your rear guard.” + +Harry said, “Major Grumpy, your official report that Uncle Tom’s Cabin +will not be given here to-day is not true; it is a garbled report. Allow +me to tell you that, thanks to the boy scouts whom you sneer at and +evict from your property, Eliza will be chased as per schedule, Uncle +Tom will be thoroughly beaten, and little Eva will die and go to heaven +as announced.” + +Major Grumpy was kind of surprised. First he looked us all over, and +Brent took off his hat and flapped his long sleeves at him, awful funny. +Then the major said, “Who put you off this property?” + +Then Harry said, “What you do to a boy scout, you do to every boy scout +in the United States, including Mars and Grumpy’s Cross-roads and all +outlying sections. When you put these little townsmen of yours out of +that shady grove over there, you put _us_ out. Do you know that? Even +Uncle Tom, who gets whipped six times a week, not including Wednesday +and Saturday matinees, says he never heard of such treatment. You call +the Grand Army a kind of brotherhood, but let me tell you, Major, that +we’ve got that name _brotherhood_ copyrighted, all rights reserved. When +you put these little fellows off your land, you put half a million +scouts off your land, and that’s a bigger army than the Grand Army ever +was. + +“We sent up a signal to say that we were coming and that message was +delivered to you and you thought it was a lot of nonsense.” + +The major said, “So you were responsible for that column of smoke, hey?” + +Harry said, “You’re kind of old fashioned, Major, on signal corps work. +That was us, all right, and these little neighbors of yours gave you the +message and you laughed at them. Well, here we are with the goods, +Little Eva weeping her eyes out, Topsy ready to cut up, and Simon Legree +with his whip; here we are just as we said we’d be—Johnny on the spot. +We’ve brought with us every veteran between here and Barrow’s Homestead +and they’re with us to the last ditch. Field Marshal Gaylong here is +feared by every crow in the west. Now what are you going to do about it? + +“We purpose, Major, to cut off your base of supplies; it’s either that +or surrender. We want that shady little grove over there as indemnity. +If we don’t get it we’re going to seize all the ice cream, all the soda +water, all the lemonade, all the candy, all the popcorn on this bloody +battlefield and starve you out. The Grand Army will look like Grand +Street, New York, when we get through with it.” + +“And frankfurters too!” Pee-wee shouted. + +“There won’t be a frankfurter left to tell the tale,” Harry said; “this +peaceful land will run red with red lemonade. Now what do you say?” + +Gee whiz, I wouldn’t accuse Harry of being a traitor, but just the same +I saw him wink at Major Grumpy, and Major Grumpy began to smile, and +then he offered Harry a cigarette. + +That was giving aid and comfort to the enemy, all right. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI—SCOUTS ON THE JOB + + +So that shows you how this story has a happy ending, only that isn’t the +end of it. Oh, boy, the worst is yet to come. A lot of terrible things +happen after a war. Now we come to the reconstruction period. And, +believe me, Major Grumpy reconstructed his opinion about the scouts. He +said that poor little patrol that was just starting could have the grove +to build a headquarters in and he gave them some money to build it, too, +He said that before we got there he thought that smoke away off on the +mountain was just a forest fire, but when he found out that we could +make smoke talk, good night, he was for us, all right. + +But anyway, he said he liked to hear Pee-wee talk better. I said, “Yes, +but it would be nice if he’d go off on a lonely mountain and talk, like +the smudge fire.” + +We spent the rest of that day at the Veterans’ Reunion, and we saw the +Uncle Tom’s Cabin show, too. Only one of the bloodhounds wouldn’t chase +Eliza, and Rossie Bent had to give her a frankfurter, so he’d chase her. + +Most of the time that we weren’t at the ice cream counter, we were over +in the grove with those Grumpy’s Cross-roads scouts. They said they were +going to name their patrol the Crows, after Brent Gaylong. Harry said it +would be better to name it the Hot Dogs, after Pee-wee. + +Once Major Grumpy came over and sat down on a stump and talked with us +and asked us a lot of questions about the scouts. He told those little +fellows how they ought to build their shack and he said he’d find a +scoutmaster for them. Most all the veterans came over and visited us, +and we did lots of good turns for them, carrying their luggage and all +like that. One of them was overcome by the heat but we fixed him up, all +right, with first aid. + +Uncle Tom came over, too, and talked to us between the shows. He asked +us if we could dress the marks that the ferocious bloodhounds made on +Eliza’s arm. Those marks were painted. He was awful funny, Uncle Tom +was. + +That reunion lasted three days, but we only stayed one day, because we +had to get started for home. Anyway, I’m glad all the soldiers in the +Civil War didn’t get killed, because you can have a lot of fun at +reunions. One thing I’m sorry for and that is that I won’t be a kid when +the soldiers who were in the World War are old veterans, I bet there’ll +be a lot of lemonade and things then, hey? But anyway there’ll be scouts +then, and it will be lucky for them there was a world war. Anyway, +reunions are my favorite outdoor sports—reunions and hikes. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII—THAT MYSTERIOUS PAPER AGAIN + + +We started away from that reunion at about five o’clock at night and +everybody was sorry to see us go. Those scouts, and the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people, and a lot of old veterans, all crowded around us to say +good-by. They said we were a wide-awake bunch, but if they could have +seen us about four hours later they wouldn’t have said so. + +We made a camp alongside the road, and I cooked supper, and then most of +us slept in the van. While we were sitting around our camp-fire, Brent +took out that mysterious paper that he had found in the scarecrow’s +pocket, and he kind of winked at Harry as if he was going to spring a +great surprise on us. He looked awful funny in the light of the fire; +just like a real live scarecrow—I mean a dead one. + +He said, “Scouts of the victorious legion, while we are resting after +the bloody battle of Grumpy’s Cross-roads, I have a dark communication +to make to you. Excuse me while I get in a better light.” + +“I thought you said it was a _dark_ communication,” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, “Well, it’s a kind of a dim communication. Only two scouts +and our trusty leader know about it. They have kept their lips sealed. I +wish now, by the light of this camp-fire, to ask you one and all, if you +are ready to undertake an enterprise that is fraught with mortal peril?” + +“Is it fraught with anything to eat?” Will Dawson wanted to know. + +“Isn’t mortal peril good enough for you?” Pee-wee shouted. + +Gee whiz, some fellows are never satisfied. + +Brent said, “Comrades, when I put an end to the career of that miserable +scarecrow and, with a single stroke, made millions of crows happy, I +found in the pocket of his frock-coat a mysterious paper. More than +that, I know who that frock-coat belonged to before he had it. It +belonged to Deacon Snookbeck of Barrow’s Homestead! _Ha, ha_,—and a +couple of _he, he’s_!” + +“Read the paper!” they all began shouting, + +He said, “Silence. While traveling with Scout Harris, and patrol leader +Blakeley, I met a stranger who told us that several years ago Deacon +Snookbeck had two mysterious visitors in his house. Whether this paper +that I am about to read to you has any connection with those strangers, +I cannot say. I am not skilled in high grade mysteries, being only a +plain, ordinary burglar and thug——” + +“You larcenied!” Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent put his hand on his forehead and said, awful funny, “Don’t remind +me of my crimes.” + +“Read the paper,” Rossie Bent said. + +So then Brent read the paper, and I have to admit that it sounded pretty +mysterious and I guess, after all his fooling, that he thought so +himself. + + Snake Creek, North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton Cove. Top of S + Cove. Follow line due north from willow. Cons to west. Stake. + Measure ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line due + NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW limit, indicated at AN + Stake. Follow S line south to pie. + +_Good night_, you should have heard the fellows when he finished +reading. I mean you couldn’t have heard them, because nobody said +anything; they all just sat there gaping. + +Then Brent said, awful funny, he said, “It seems, scouts, that by +following S line south we shall come to a pie. Whether it is a pumpkin +pie or a mince pie I cannot say——” + +Harry kind of cut him off short and said, “Brent, putting all fooling +aside, now that you read that paper over, it sounds pretty good to me.” + +“I was always fond of pie,” Brent said. + +Harry said, “Well, I was always fond of buried treasure and that paper +has the true ring to me, hanged if it hasn’t. Skeleton Cove sounds as if +it meant business. So does ‘_treasure at HW limit_’ I like the sound of +that. I never gave two thoughts to that paper until just now when you +read it, but I’m hanged if I don’t think it means something. What do you +say, Tom Slade?” + +Tom said in that slow way of his, “It’s got the word _treasure_ in, +that’s sure.” + +Then Brent said with a sober face, “As an expert, Pee-wee, what would +_you_ say? Is a pie a treasure?” + +“Good night,” I said, “he’s buried enough pies, he ought to know.” + +“It means buried treasure, that’s what it means!” Pee-wee shouted. “And +I’m with Harry; I say let’s go and find it.” + +“Where?” Brent said. + +“You said we could get a map,” the kid shouted. + +All the fellows were with Harry; they were just crazy to go after that +treasure. Tom Slade didn’t say much, but he never does. I went around to +the side of the fire where he was sitting and I said, “You were always +so crazy about adventures; what do you think it means if it doesn’t mean +buried treasure?” + +“I haven’t got anything to say,” he said; “it’s got the word treasure in +it, and that settles it. I say let’s go, if we can find the place.” + +I shouted, “Tom Slade is with us, he believes in it. I say let’s go +after it.” + +Harry was sitting on the back end of the van, swinging his legs and +looking in the fire. I knew his thoughts were kind of serious, all +right. He’s crazy about adventures, that fellow is. Brent took my scout +knife and held it between his teeth and glared into the fire, very +fierce and savage, just like a pirate. He did it to make Harry mad. But +all the fellows were with Harry, anyway, and they were all crazy about +the thing—even I was crazy. + +Harry said, all the while looking into the fire kind of dreamy like, he +said, “Brent, why may not this be true?” + +Brent said, “You mean the Pirates’ Secret or the Mystery of the Hidden +Pie?” + +“Don’t you mind him,” Pee-wee shouted to Harry; “he’s a Philippine!” + +“That’s just what you are, Brent,” Harry said; “you’re a Philistine. You +have no romance. Just because you live in the twentieth century you +think nothing can happen. But the world war happened, didn’t it? You +have it from a man you met that two mysterious strangers visited the old +gent who once owned that coat. You found this paper; in that +coat—didn’t you?” + +Brent said, “Alas, yes.” + +Harry said, “Well, you can laugh——” + +Brent said, “I’m not laughing, I’m weeping and gnashing my teeth; that’s +true sixteenth century stuff, isn’t it?” + +“Well, how do you explain the writing on that paper, then?” Harry wanted +to know. + +“Sure, how do you explain it, then?” Westy piped up. + +“He _can’t_ explain it,” Tom Warner shouted. + +“Sure he can’t!” Pee-wee yelled. + +Brent said, “I seem to have an overwhelming minority.” + +Harry said, “You’re always shouting about real adventures, but when we +stumble on the real thing, when we’re told on black and white to follow +a line due north from willow—what does that say?” + +“It says _follow a line due north from willow_,” Brent said, all the +while reading the paper. “It says _cons to the west_. It says _stake_; I +don’t know whether it’s a porterhouse or a sirloin. It may be a +Hamburger. It says by following the S line south we’ll come to the pie.” + +Harry jumped down and looked over Brent’s shoulder and he said, “What +does it say about the treasure? We’ll find it at HW limit—there it is +on black and white. Boys, we’ll get a map in Indianapolis and find out +where Snake Creek is if we have to study that map all night. We’re on +the track of pirates’ gold, by thunder! Here’s a _real adventure_ handed +to us by fate! If old Grouch Gaylong isn’t with us, we’ll send him home +in a baby carriage, that’s what!” + +Brent said—gee whiz, I had to laugh the way he said it; he said, +“Comrades, I will follow where you lead. Take me to the treasure and I +will dig it up. But if that scarecrow has deceived me, I will never +trust man again. As a criminal I have been a failure. I wanted to escape +from cruel jailers, I escaped from two boy scouts. I wanted to plunge +from the window of a dry goods van. I wanted to kill a fellow being; I +murdered a scarecrow. My life has been a failure.” + +Gee whiz; honest I almost felt sorry for him. + +He said, “But I have not lost hope. Boys, I will go with you. I will +follow the line north from the willow. I will measure ninety-two feet +along something-or-other. I will follow the S line south to the pie, be +it pumpkin, apple or mince. I will eat the stake. But if I am deceived, +if my hopes are again dashed——” + +“We’ll send you to the insane asylum,” Harry said; “that’s where you +belong.” + +Brent said, “I have always longed to be thrown into a mad-house.” + +Gee whiz, you can’t help laughing at that fellow. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII—THE ONLY WAY + + +The next afternoon we got to Indianapolis and Harry treated us all to +sodas. Then we bought a map that showed the Ohio River. We made a camp +about ten miles east of Indianapolis and had a dandy camp-fire. While we +were there we studied the map and, good night, there was Snake Creek as +plain as day running into it from the north. It ran into it about +fifteen miles north of Wheeling. + +Harry said, “That’s enough for us; the treasure is ours.” + +Pee-wee said, “I’m sorry now we didn’t get some more sodas as long as +we’re going to be rich.” + +Harry said, “Never mind, we’ll have sodas and ice cream and things in +every town between here and Wheeling; I’ll advance the money. What are a +few dollars against maybe several millions?” + +Pee-wee said, “Sure, and we can afford some jaw-breakers, too.” + +“All you want,” Harry said. + +“Won’t it spoil our appetites for the pie?” Brent wanted to know. But +just the same he was interested. + +Now there’s no use telling you about our journey from Indianapolis to +Wheeling—that’s about eight or nine hundred miles, roughly speaking; +only scouts don’t speak roughly. They have to be polite. On that journey +we passed through Springfield and Columbus and a lot of other big +places, and all the people stared at us. Every night we camped in the +country, because we didn’t like staying in cities. + +Gee, I thought we’d never get to Wheeling but after a few days we got +there, and then we put our machines up to get all greased and have some +repairs made. I don’t mean _us_, I mean the machines. + +Then we hired a big launch and started up the Ohio River. About ten +miles up, Snake Creek flows into it. It flows in through the north +shore. Up Snake Creek about ten miles is Skeleton Cove, I bet you’re +getting awful anxious, hey? + +Harry said, “Boys, the fun isn’t in getting money; the fun is in finding +treasure. Why wouldn’t it be a good idea to send a couple of thousand, +say, to those little fellows back at Grumpy’s Cross-roads?” + +“Let’s give five thousand to the Boy Scout drive,” I said. + +Brent said, “All I want for myself is the pie; I’m hungry.” + +Now when we got to Skeleton Cove we saw it was all shady and spooky, +like. The water was black and the place was dark just like a cave. It +was awful still in there. I bet you’re crazy to know what comes next, +hey? + +Over against the shore was the wreck of an old motor-boat; I guess it +got smashed by the rocks there. We chugged over to where it was and Tom +Slade climbed out and stepped across it. + +Harry said, “What do you think it means, Tommy boy?” + +Tom was kneeling on the old deck and looking over the edge. All of a +sudden he said, “Now I know; I was a fool not to think of it before. The +name of this boat is the _Treasure_.” + +Harry said, “What?” + +I said, “What?” + +Will Dawson shouted, “On the level?” + +“On the bow,” Tom said. + +Pee-wee piped up, “What do you mean?” + +Brent said, “Dear me; foiled again.” + +Tom said, “Now I know what it means. The boys from the Geological Survey +were here. All that had me guessing was the word _treasure_. A pie is a +topographic mark; it shows where government land ends. Cons means +contours. They staked their measurings. They were just measuring this +cove and the creek so as to make government maps. T.W. means tide +water.” + +Harry said, awful funny like, “If it wouldn’t be asking too much, will +you please tell me what it means where it says, ‘Treasure at HW limit +indicated at AN stake.’ Can you answer that?” + +Tom said in that sober way of his, “I think it means something about +this boat, the _Treasure_ being at high water limit as indicated at +anchorage stake. I can’t tell just exactly what that memorandum means, +because I never worked in the survey, but I guess the survey boys +weren’t doing any harm out at Deacon Snookbeck’s. They were probably +lining up the contours on his farm. Anyway, all they were doing here was +taking the contours and the water lines for the government maps. The +only thing that puzzled me was the word treasure.” + +“And there is no pie here?” Brent said. + +“A pie is a government mark,” Tom said; “it means the government owns +the land to that point—where the pie is. See?” + +Oh, boy, Harry didn’t say a word. None of the rest of us said a +word—only Brent. + +He said, “Then I have been deceived by a scarecrow! This ends my quest +of adventure; I am through. I am going home and to the only refuge where +real adventure can be found—the movies. I am through with the boy +scouts. Perhaps with William S. Hart or Douglas Fairbanks I can find the +life I crave. There I can find cliffs to jump off, roofs to leap from, +people to kill who are worthy of being killed—not scarecrows——” + +“And floods to get caught in!” Pee-wee yelled. + +Brent said, “Yes, and jails to escape from——” + +“And ships to get wrecked in!” the kid shouted. + +“I know all about the movies I’ll go with you! I’ll go with you——” + +Gee whiz, but that kid is a scream. + + THE END + + + + + This Isn’t All! + + Would you like to know what became of the good friends you have + made in this book? + + Would you like to read other stories continuing their adventures + and experiences, or other books quite as entertaining by the + same author? + + On the _reverse side_ of the wrapper which comes with this book, + you will find a wonderful list of stones which you can buy at + the same store where you got this book. + + Don’t throw away the Wrapper + + Use it as a handy analog of the books you want some day to have. + But in case you do mislay it, write to the Publishers for a + complete catalog. + + + + + THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of “Tom Slade,” “Pee-wee Harris,” + “Westy Martin,” Etc. + + Illustrated. Picture Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +In the character and adventures of Roy Blakeley are typified the very +essence of Boy life. He is a real boy, as real as Huck Finn and Tom +Sawyer. He is the moving spirit of the troop of Scouts of which he is a +member, and the average boy has to go only a little way in the first +book before Roy is the best friend he ever had, and he is willing to +part with his best treasure to get the next book in the series. + + ROY BLAKELEY + ROY BLAKELEY’S ADVENTURES IN CAMP + ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER + ROY BLAKELEY’S CAMP ON WHEELS + ROY BLAKELEY’S SILVER FOX PATROL + ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN + ROY BLAKELEY, LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN + ROY BLAKELEY’S BEE-LINE HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY AT THE HAUNTED CAMP + ROY BLAKELEY’S FUNNY BONE HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL + ROY BLAKELEY ON THE MOHAWK TRAIL + ROY BLAKELEY’S ELASTIC HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY’S ROUNDABOUT HIKE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of “Tom Slade,” “Roy Blakeley,” + “Westy Martin,” Etc. + + Illustrated. Individual Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +All readers of the Tom Slade and the Roy Blakeley books are acquainted +with Pee-wee Harris. These stories record the true facts concerning his +size (what there is of it) and his heroism (such as it is), his voice, +his clothes, his appetite, his friends, his enemies, his victims. +Together with the thrilling narrative of how he foiled, baffled, +circumvented and triumphed over everything and everybody (except where +he failed) and how even when he failed he succeeded. The whole recorded +in a series of screams and told with neither muffler nor cut-out. + + PEE-WEE HARRIS + PEE-WEE HARRIS ON THE TRAIL. + PEE-WEE HARRIS IN CAMP + PEE-WEE HARRIS IN LUCK + PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT + PEE-WEE HARRIS F. O. B. BRIDGEBORO + PEE-WEE HARRIS FIXER + PEE-WEE HARRIS: AS GOOD AS HIS WORD + PEE-WEE HARRIS: MAYOR FOR A DAY + PEE-WEE HARRIS AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + GARRY GRAYSON FOOTBALL STORIES + + By ELMER A. DAWSON + + Individual Colored Wrapper and Illustration by + + WALTER S. ROGERS + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +Football followers all over the country will hail with delight this new +and thoroughly up-to-date line of gridiron tales. + +Garry Grayson is a football fan, first, last, and all the time. But more +than that, he is a wideawake American boy with a “gang” of chums almost +as wideawake as himself. + +How Garry organized the first football eleven his grammar school had, +how he later played on the High School team, and what he did on the Prep +School gridiron and elsewhere, is told in a manner to please all readers +and especially those interested in watching a rapid forward pass, a +plucky tackle, or a hot run for a touchdown. + +Good, clean football at its best—and in addition, rattling stories of +mystery and schoolboy rivalries. + + GARRY GRAYSON’S HILL STREET ELEVEN; + or, The Football Boys of Lenox. + + GARRY GRAYSON AT LENOX HIGH; + or, The Champions of the Football League. + + GARRY GRAYSON’S FOOTBALL RIVALS; + or, The Secret of the Stolen Signals. + + GARRY GRAYSON SHOWING HIS SPEED; + or, A Daring Run on the Gridiron. + + GARRY GRAYSON AT STANLEY PREP; + or, The Football Rivals of Riverview. + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE TOM SLADE BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of “Roy Blakeley,” “Pee-wee Harris,” + “Westy Martin,” Etc. + + Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +“Let your boy grow up with Tom Slade,” is a suggestion which thousands +of parents have followed during the past, with the result that the TOM +SLADE BOOKS are the most popular boys’ books published today. They take +Tom Slade through a series of typical boy adventures through his +tenderfoot days as a scout, through his gallant days as an American +doughboy in France, back to his old patrol and the old camp ground at +Black Lake, and so on. + + TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT + TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP + TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER + TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS + TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT + TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE + TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER + TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS + TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE + TOM SLADE ON MYSTERY TRAIL + TOM BLADE’S DOUBLE DARE + TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN + TOM SLADE PICKS A WINNER + TOM SLADE AT BEAR MOUNTAIN + TOM SLADE: FOREST RANGER + TOM SLADE IN THE NORTH WOODS + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + Jerry Todd and Poppy Ott Series + + BY LEO EDWARDS + + Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +Hundreds of thousands of boys who laughed until their sides ached over +the weird and wonderful adventures of Jerry Todd and his gang demanded +that Leo Edwards, the author, give them more books like the Jerry Todd +stories with their belt-bursting laughs and creepy shivers. So he took +Poppy Ott, Jerry Todd’s bosom chum and created the Poppy Ott Series, and +if such a thing could be possible—they arc even more full of fun and +excitement than the Jerry Todds. + + THE POPPY OTT SERIES + + POPPY OTT AND THE STUTTERING PARROT + POPPY OTT AND THE SEVEN LEAGUE STILTS + POPPY OTT AND THE GALLOPING SNAIL + POPPY OTT’S PEDIGREED PICKLES + + THE JERRY TODD BOOKS + + JERRY TODD AND THE WHISPERING MUMMY + JERRY TODD AND THE ROSE-COLORED CAT + JERRY TODD AND THE OAK ISLAND TREASURE + JERRY TODD AND THE WALTZING HEN + JERRY TODD AND THE TALKING FROG + JERRY TODD AND THE PURRING EGG + JERRY TODD IN THE WHISPERING CAVE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + Football and Baseball Stories + + Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +THE RALPH HENRY BARBOUR BOOKS FOR BOYS + +In these up-to-the-minute, spirited genuine stories of boy life there is +something which will appeal to every boy with love of manliness, +cleanness and sportsmanship in his heart. + + LEFT END EDWARDS + LEFT TACKER THAYER + LEFT GUARD GILBERT + CENTER RUSH ROWLAND + FULLBACK FOSTER + LEFT HALF HARMON + RIGHT END EMERSON + RIGHT GUARD GRANT + QUARTERBACK BATES + RIGHT TACKLE TODD + RIGHT HALF ROLLINS + +THE CHRISTY MATHEWSON BOOKS FOR BOYS + +Every boy wants to know how to play ball in the fairest and squarest +way. These books about boys and baseball are full of wholesome and manly +interest and information. + + PITCHER POLLOCK + CATCHER CRAIG + FIRST BASE FAULKNER + SECOND BASE SLOAN + PITCHING IN A PINCH + + THIRD BASE THATCHER, By Everett Scott + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE FLYAWAYS STORIES + + By ALICE DALE HARDY + + Author of The Riddle Club Books + + Individual Colored Jackets and Colored Illustrations by + WALTER S. ROGERS + +A splendid new line of interesting tales for the little ones, +introducing many of the well known characters of fairyland in a series +of novel adventures. The Flyaways are a happy family and every little +girl and boy will want to know all about them. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND CINDERELLA + + How the Flyaways went to visit Cinderella only to find that + Cinderella’s Prince had been carried off by the Three Robbers, + Rumbo, Hibo and Jobo. “I’ll rescue him!” cried Pa Flyaway and + then set out for the stronghold of the robbers. A splendid + continuation of the original story of Cinderella. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD + + On their way to visit Lillte Red Riding Hood the Flyaways fell + in with Tommy Tucker and The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. They + told Tommy about the Magic Button on Red Riding Hood’s cloak. + How the wicked Wolf stole the Magic Button and how the wolves + plotted to eat up Little Red Riding Hood and all her family, and + how the Flyaways and King Cole lent the wolves flying, makes a + story no children will want to miss. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND GOLDILOCKS + + The Flyaways wanted to see not only Goldilocks but also the + Three Bears and then took a remarkable journey through the air + to do so. Tommy even rode on a Rocket and met the monstrous Blue + Frog. When they arrived at Goldilock’s house they found that the + Three Bears had been there before them and mussed everything up, + mich to Goldilock’s despair. “We must drive those bears out of + the country!” said Pa Flyaway. Then they journeyed underground + to the Yellow Palace, and oh! so many things happened after + that! + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE TOM SWIFT SERIES + + By VICTOR APPLETON + + Uniform Style of Binding. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +Every boy possesses some form of inventive genius. Tom Swift is a +bright, ingenious boy and his inventions and adventures make the most +interesting kind of reading. + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE + TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS + TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE + TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER + TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON + TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP + TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL + TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH + TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER + TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE DON STURDY SERIES + + By VICTOR APPLETON + + Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations by + + WALTER S. ROGERS + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +In company with his uncles, one a mighty hunter and the other a noted +scientist, Don Sturdy travels far and wide, gaining much useful +knowledge and meeting many thrilling adventures. + +DON STURDY ON THE DESERT OF MYSTERY + + An engrossing tale of the Sahara Desert, of encounters with wild + animals and crafty Arabs. + +DON STURDY WITH THE BIG SNAKE HUNTERS + + Don’s uncle, the hunter, took an order for some of the biggest + snakes to be found in South America—to be delivered alive! + +DON STURDY IN THE TOMBS OF GOLD + + A fascinating tale of exploration and adventure in the Valley of + Kings in Egypt. + +DON STURDY ACROSS THE NORTH POLE + + A great polar blizzard nearly wrecks the airship of the + explorers. + +DON STURDY IN THE LAND OF VOLCANOES + + An absorbing tale of adventures among the volcanoes of Alaska. + +DON STURDY IN THE PORT OF LOST SHIPS + + This story is just full of exciting and fearful experiences on + the sea. + +DON STURDY AMONG THE GORILLAS + + A thrilling story of adventure in darkest Africa. Don is carried + over a mighty waterfall into the heart of gorilla land. + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE RADIO BOYS SERIES + + By ALLEN CHAPMAN + + Author of the “Railroad Series,” Etc. + + Individual Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +A new series for boys giving full details of radio work, both in sending +and receiving—telling how small and large amateur sets can be made and +operated, and how some boys got a lot of fun and adventure out of what +they did. Each volume from first to last is so thoroughly fascinating, +so strictly up-to-date and accurate, we feel sure all lads will peruse +them with great delight. + +Each volume has a Foreword by Jack Binns, the well-known radio expert. + + THE RADIO BOYS’ FIRST WIRELESS + THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT + THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION + THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS + THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FOREST RANGERS + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FLOOD FIGHTERS + THE RADIO BOYS ON SIGNAL ISLAND + THE RADIO BOYS IN GOLD VALLEY + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, by +Percy Keese Fitzhugh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN *** + +***** This file should be named 44172-0.txt or 44172-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/7/44172/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark + +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 + www.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 1.F.3. 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 MERCHANTABILITY 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 are 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 information page at www.gutenberg.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. 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 +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +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 www.gutenberg.org/donate + +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: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty 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: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/44172-0.zip b/old/44172-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d33ac2d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-0.zip diff --git a/old/44172-h.zip b/old/44172-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..995ac6b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-h.zip diff --git a/old/44172-h/44172-h.htm b/old/44172-h/44172-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57a66cd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-h/44172-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6309 @@ +<!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=utf-8" /> + <title>Roy Blakeley’s Motor Caravan</title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg"/> + <meta name="DC.Title" content="Roy Blakeley’s Motor Caravan"/> + <meta name="DC.Creator" content="Percy Keese Fitzhugh"/> + <meta name="DC.Language" content="en"/> + <meta name="DC.Created" content="1921"/> + <style type="text/css"> + body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } + .it { font-style:italic; } + .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + p { text-indent:0; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; + text-align: justify; } + div.lgc { } + div.lgc p { text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } + h1 { text-align:center; font-weight:normal; + font-size:1.2em; margin: 2em auto 1em auto} + .imgcenter { text-align:center; margin:1em auto; } + p.caption { text-align:center; margin: 0 auto; width:100%; } + hr.pb { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; + width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em; } + div.blockquote { margin:1em 2em; text-align:justify; } + p.line { text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } + .literal-container { text-align:center; margin: 0 0; } + .literal-container { text-align:center; margin: 1em auto; } + .literal { display:inline-block; text-align:left; } + p.toc { text-align:left; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } + p.toch { text-align:center; text-indent: 0; font-size:1.2em; margin: 1em auto; } + </style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, 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 Motor Caravan + +Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh + +Release Date: November 13, 2013 [EBook #44172] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>THE MOTOR CARAVAN ON THE WAY.</p> +</div> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.4em;'>ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;'>BY</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;font-size:1.2em;'>PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;'>Author of</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>SLADE AT BLACK LAKE,</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>ROY BLAKELEY, ETC.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;font-style:italic;'>ILLUSTRATED</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;font-size:0.8em;'>PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>PUBLISHERS—NEW YORK</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;'>Made in the United States of America</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='literal-container'> +<p class='toch'>Table of Contents</p> +<div class='literal'> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chI'>I—Some Expedition!</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chII'>II—Who We All Are</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chIII'>III—Who Is Pee-Wee Harris, and If So, Why?</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chIV'>IV—Pee-Wee’s Watch</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chV'>V—The Caravan</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chVI'>VI—Stranded</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chVII'>VII—A Good Turn</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chVIII'>VIII—Grumpy</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chIX'>IX—Military Plans</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chX'>X—The Signal Corps at Work</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXI'>XI—A Mysterious Footprint</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXII'>XII—A Discovery</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXIII'>XIII—Tom Slade, Scout</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXIV'>XIV—Pee-Wee’s Goat</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXV'>XV—The Message</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXVI'>XVI—Brent’s Ambition</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXVII'>XVII—A Side Show</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXVIII'>XVIII—A Shower Bath</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXIX'>XIX—Brent Gets His Wish</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXX'>XX—We Consider Our Predicament</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXI'>XXI—Getting Started</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXII'>XXII—Silence!</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXIII'>XXIII—Fixing It</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXIV'>XXIV—Snoozer Settles It</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXV'>XXV—Big Excitement at Barrow’s Homestead</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXVI'>XXVI—To the Rescue</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXVII'>XXVII—Another Discovery</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXVIII'>XXVIII—A Mysterious Paper</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXIX'>XXIX—The Mystery Deepens</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXX'>XXX—We Make a Promise</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXI'>XXXI—We Reach Our Destination</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXII'>XXXII—Surrender and Indemnity</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXIII'>XXXIII—Mobilizing</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXIV'>XXXIV—Tr-r-aitors!</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXV'>XXXV—Peace With Indemnity</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXVI'>XXXVI—Scouts on the Job</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXVII'>XXXVII—That Mysterious Paper Again</a></p> +<p class='toc'><a href='#chXXXVIII'>XXXVIII—The Only Way</a></p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.4em;'>ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN</p> + +<h1 id='chI'>CHAPTER I—SOME EXPEDITION!</h1> + +<p>Gee whiz, whenever I see that fellow Harry +Domicile, I know there’s going to be a lot of fun. +Just the same as I can always tell if we’re going +to have mince turnovers for dessert. That’s one +thing I’m crazy about—mince turnovers. I can +tell when I go through the kitchen if we’re going +to have them, because our cook has a kind of a +look on her face. I can eat five of those things +at a sitting, but that isn’t saying how many I can +eat standing up. Pee-wee Harris can eat seven, +even while he’s talking at the same time. Anyway, +that hasn’t got anything to do with Harry +Donnelle.</p> + +<p>Maybe you’re wondering why I named this +chapter “Some Expedition.” If it was about Pee-wee +Harris, I’d name it “Some <span class='it'>Exhibition</span>,” because +that kid is a regular circus. So now I guess +I’ll tell you.</p> + +<p>One afternoon I was sitting on the railing of +our porch taking a rest after mowing the lawn. I +was thinking how it would be a good idea if they +had lawn mowers that run by gas engines. We’ve +got a great big lawn at our house. At Doc Carson’s +house they have a little bit of a lawn—he’s +lucky. Gee whiz, you could cut that lawn with a +safety razor.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden I saw Harry Donnelle coming +up the street. I guess maybe you know who he +is, because we had some adventures with him in +other stories. He’s a big fellow, I guess he’s +about twenty-five. He was a lieutenant in the war. +My sister likes him a lot only she said I mustn’t +say so in a story. I should worry about her. He +comes up to our house a lot. Believe me, that +fellow’s middle name is adventure. He says all +his ancestors were crazy about adventures. He +says he wouldn’t have any ancestors unless they +were. He says that’s why he picked them out. +Gee williger, you ought to hear him jollying +Pee-wee. He told Pee-wee that once he lived in obscurity +and Pee-wee wanted to know where that +was. Can you beat that? Harry told him it was +in Oregon. Good night!</p> + +<p>So as soon as I saw that fellow coming up across +the lawn, I kind of knew there was going to be +something doing. Because only a few days before +that he had told me that maybe he would +want my patrol to help him in a daring exploit. +Oh, boy, those are my favorite outdoor sports—daring +exploits. I eat them alive.</p> + +<p>He said, “Hello, kid, I went fishing with Jake +Holden last night and we got into a school of +perch.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Don’t talk about school; this is vacation.”</p> + +<p>He had a bundle with some perch in it and he +said they were for supper. So I took them into +the kitchen and while I was in there I ate some +icing off a cake. If I had my way cakes would be +all icing, but our cook says you have to have a +foundation to put the icing on. Me for the roof.</p> + +<p>When I went back Harry said, “I suppose you +kids will be starting for that old dump up in the +Catskills pretty soon.” He meant Temple Camp. +I said, “We take our departure in two weeks.”</p> + +<p>He said, “Take your which?”</p> + +<p>I said, “Our departure; don’t you know what +that is?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” he said, kind of puzzled like, “I guess +I’ll have to pike around and get some assistance +somewhere else. I’ve got a little job on hand that +I thought might interest you and your patrol. +Ever hear of the Junkum Corporation, automobile +dealers? They have the agency for the Kluck +car. They’re down in New York. It wasn’t anything +much; just a little hop, skip, and a jump out +west, and back again.”</p> + +<p>“In junk cars—I mean Kluck cars?” I blurted +out.</p> + +<p>“Mostly junk,” he said; “but of course, as long +as your plans are made——”</p> + +<p>“Never you mind about our plans,” I told him; +“tell me all about it.” Because, gee, I was all +excited.</p> + +<p>He said, “Well, there isn’t much to it; just a +little gypsy and caravan stuff, as you might say. +My sister’s husband’s brother, Mr. Junkum, is +tearing his hair out and lying awake nights, because +he can’t get cars here from the west. He +says the customers are standing on line and all +that sort of thing and that everything is clogged +up at the other end, the railroads are all tied up in +a knot, the freight is piled up as high as the Woolworth +building and nothing short of a good dose +of dynamite will loosen up the freight congestion +out west. If it was a matter of Ford cars he could +get them through by parcel post, but with these big +six cylinder Klucks it’s a different proposition. +He’s got three touring cars and a big motor van +waiting for shipment out in Klucksville, Missouri, +and if he can’t make deliveries in a couple of weeks +or so his customers are going to cancel. Poor guy, +I’m sorry for him.”</p> + +<p>That’s just the way Harry talks. He said, “One +of those cars, the big enclosed van, is for Jolly +and Kidder’s big store in New York.”</p> + +<p>“That’s where I bought my last scout suit, at +Jolly and Kidder’s,” I told him.</p> + +<p>Then he said, “Junkum wanted me to see if I +couldn’t round up two or three fellows and bang +out to Klucksville and bring the cars home under +their own power. I told him the roads were punk +and he said it’s punk to have your business canceled, +so there you are.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, bibbie,” I said, “we’d love to do that only +we can’t run cars on account of not being old +enough.”</p> + +<p>Then he said, “I rounded up Tom Slade and +he agreed to die for the cause—said his vacation +was at my disposal. He drove a motor truck in +France and he’s a bug on good turns. Rossie +Bent has promised to run one of the touring cars, +I’m going to run the van myself and that leaves +one touring car. I tried to get Brent Gaylong on +the long distance ’phone up at Newburgh to-day, +but he wasn’t home—out grouching around, I +suppose. His mother said she’d have him call me +up or wire me. All I want now is a commissary +department and I got a kind of a hunch that maybe +you kids could camp in the van and cook for the +crowd and make yourselves generally useful. The +way I figure it out by the road map there’ll be +long stretches of road where we won’t bunk into +any towns. I figured on taking Pee-wee along as +a kind of a mascot; you know those little fancy +jim-cracks they put on radiator caps in autos? I +thought he could be one of those, as you might say, +and bring us good luck. He’d be a whole commissary +department in himself, I suppose, +considering the way he eats. But if you can’t you can’t, +and that’s all there is about it.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean, <span class='it'>we can’t</span>?” I shouted at +him. “You make me tired! Do you suppose +Temple Camp is going to run away just because +my patrol is a couple of weeks late getting there? +You bet your life we’ll go. If you try to sneak off +without us, we’ll come after you. We’re coming +back in that motor van, so that’s settled. I should +worry about Temple Camp.”</p> + +<p>He just sat there on the railing alongside of +me, laughing.</p> + +<p>He said, “I thought it would hit you.”</p> + +<p>“Hit me!” I told him. “Believe me, it gave me +a knockout blow.”</p> + +<p>He said he’d stay to supper so as to talk my +mother and father into it, because they don’t care +anything about making long trips in motor vans +and things like that, and maybe they’d say I’d +better not go.</p> + +<p>But, believe me, Harry Domicile knows how to +handle mothers and fathers all right, especially +mothers. So don’t you worry, just leave it to him.</p> + +<p>The worst is yet to come.</p> + +<h1 id='chII'>II—WHO WE ALL ARE</h1> + +<p>What do you think my father said? He said +he wished he was young enough to go along. Oh, +but he’s a peach of a father! So is my mother. +My sister Marjorie said she’d like to go too. +Harry said that no girls were allowed. He said +that girls were supposed to stay home and receive +picture post-cards. Gee whiz, I’m sorry for them. +I’m glad I’m not a girl. But if I wasn’t a boy +I’d like to be a girl.</p> + +<p>That night we had our regular troop meeting. +Cracky, you can’t get that bunch quiet enough to +tell them anything. You know how it sounds in a +graveyard? And you know how it sounds in a +saw mill? Well, a graveyard sounds like a saw +mill compared with the noise at one of our +meetings. So I told our scoutmaster, Mr. Ellsworth, +that I had something to say and he said they +should let me have the chair. Then they began +throwing chairs at me. It’s good he didn’t tell +them to let me have the floor, or they’d have +ripped that up, I suppose.</p> + +<p>“I’d like to get your ear,” I shouted.</p> + +<p>“You’ll get our goat if you don’t say what +you’ve got to say,” Doc Carson yelled.</p> + +<p>“I’m trying to say it if I can get your ear,” I +said.</p> + +<p>“You can have anything except my mouth,” +Pee-wee piped up. Good night, he needs that.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Ellsworth got them all quieted down +and I told them how Harry Domicile wanted the +Silver Fox Patrol (that’s my patrol) to go out +west and how he wanted Pee-wee to go too, even +though he was one of the raving Ravens. I said +the reason he wanted Pee-wee to go was so he +could blow up the tires and we wouldn’t have to +have any pump. Pee-wee likes auto tires, because +they’re the same shape as doughnuts—that’s what +I told him.</p> + +<p>There’s one good thing about our troop and +that is that one patrol never gets jealous of +another. If my patrol gets a chance to go somewhere +the other fellows don’t get mad, because +they get more to eat. Absence makes the dessert +last longer. In our troop each patrol does as it +pleases—united we stand, divided we sprawl. +Each patrol always has more fun than the other +patrols. So if everybody has more fun than anybody +else, they ought to be satisfied, I should hope. +Pee-wee is in the Ravens, because he got wished +onto them when the troop started, but he belongs +to all three patrols, kind of. That’s because one +patrol isn’t big enough for him. He spreads out +over three.</p> + +<p>So this is the last you’ll see of the Ravens and +the Elks in this story. Maybe you’ll say thank +goodness for that. They went up to Temple +Camp. There were fifty-three troops up there and +everybody had more dessert because Pee-wee +wasn’t there. So that shows you how my patrol +did a good turn for Temple Camp. Gee whiz, +you have to remember to do good turns If you’re +a scout.</p> + +<p>Now this story is all about that trip that we +made to bring back those four machines, and believe +me, we had some adventures. If you were +to see Jolly and Kidder’s big delivery van now, +all filled up with bundles and things C. O. D., +you’d never suppose it had a dark past. But, believe +me, that past was darker than the Dark Ages. +You learn about the Dark Ages in the fifth grade—that’s +Miss Norton’s class. She’s my favorite +teacher because she has to go to a meeting every +afternoon and she can’t keep us in.</p> + +<p>So now I guess I’ll start. The next morning +who should show up but Brent Gaylong. He didn’t +even bother to wire. He said he didn’t believe +in telegrams and things like that when it came to +adventures. He’s awful funny, that fellow is—kind +of sober like. He’s head of a troop up in +Newburgh and we met him when we were on a +hike once. He can drive a Ford so easy that you +don’t know it’s moving. He says most of the time +it’s <span class='it'>not</span> moving. He’s crazy about adventures. +Good night, when he and Harry Domicile start +talking, we have to laugh. He said he’d do anything +provided we got into trouble. Harry told +him there ought to be plenty of trouble between +Missouri and New York. That fellow tries awful +hard to get arrested but he never can.</p> + +<p>Now I’ll tell you about the other fellows. +Harry was the captain—he had charge of the +whole outfit. I bet Mr. Junkum trusted him a lot. +But one thing, Harry never does anything for +money. He says money is no good except when +it’s buried in the ground and you go and try to +find it. That’s the kind of a fellow he is. He +didn’t get killed three times in France. But he +came mighty near it. He’s got the distinguished +service cross. He lives in Little Valley near +Bridgeboro. Bridgeboro is my town. I don’t +mean I own it. Harry’s got a dandy Cadillac car +of his own. He takes my sister Marjorie out in +it.</p> + +<p>There was one other big fellow that went on +that trip and that was Rossie Bent who works in +the bank. He got his vacation especially so he +could go. He’s got light hair. Often when he +sees me he treats me to a soda.</p> + +<p>Tom Slade went so as to drive the fourth car, +and he’s a big fellow too, only you bet your life +I’ll never call him a big fellow, because before he +went to the war he was in our troop. And even +now he’s just like one of us scouts. I guess maybe +you know all about him. Believe me, the war +changed him more than it changed the map of +Europe.</p> + +<p>That leaves Pee-wee and the rest of the fellows +in my patrol. So now I’ll tell you about them. +First comes Roy Blakeley (that’s me), and I’m +patrol leader. That’s what makes me look so +sober and worried like. I have to take strawberry +sundaes to build me up, on account of the +strain of managing that bunch. Next comes Westy +Martin; he’s my special chum. He’s got eleven +merit badges. He’s awful careful. He does his +homework as soon as he gets home every day, so +in case he gets killed it will be done. I should +worry about my homework if I got killed. Next +comes Dorry Benton, only he was in Europe with +his mother so he didn’t go with us. If he had gone +with us he would have been there. Hunt Manners +couldn’t go because his brother was going to +be married. The rest of the fellows were Charlie +Seabury and Will Dawson and the Warner twins, +Brick and Slick. They’re just the same, only each +one of them is smarter than the other. You can’t +tell which is which, only one of them likes potatoes +and the other doesn’t. That’s the way I tell them +apart. If I see one of them eating potatoes I +know it’s Slick. That leaves only one fellow, and +gee whiz, I’m going to give him a chapter all to +himself and I hope he’ll be satisfied. Some day +he’ll have a whole book to himself, I suppose. +<span class='it'>Good night!</span></p> + +<h1 id='chIII'>III—WHO IS PEE-WEE HARRIS, AND IF SO, WHY?</h1> + +<p>Anyway Pee-wee Harris <span class='it'>is</span>, that’s one sure +thing. His mother calls him Walter and my sisters +call him Walter, but Pee-wee is his regular +name. He’s our young hero and some of the fellows +call him Peerless Pee-wee, and some of them +call him Speck.</p> + +<p>If all of us fellows were automobiles, Pee-wee +would be a Ford. That’s because he’s the smallest +and he makes the most noise. He eats all his +food running on high. He never has to shift his +gears to eat dessert. Even if it’s a tough steak +he takes it on high. He’s a human cave. He’s +about three feet six inches in diameter and his +tongue is about six feet three inches long. He +has beautiful brown curly hair and he’s just too +cute—that’s what everybody says. His nose has +got three freckles on it. He starts on compression. +When he gets excited Webster’s Dictionary +turns green with envy.</p> + +<p>Now the way it was fixed was that we were all +to meet at the Bridgeboro Station at three o’clock +the next day so as to get the three-eighteen train +for New York. Then we were going to go on the +Lake Shore Limited to Klucksville—that’s near +St. Louis.</p> + +<p>When Pee-wee showed up at the station he +looked like the leader of a brass band. His scout +suit was all pressed, his compass was dangling +around his neck, in case the Lake Shore Limited +should lose its way, I suppose, and his scout knife +was hanging to his belt. He had his belt-ax on +too. I guess that was so he could chop his way +through the forests if the train got stalled. He +had his camera and his air rifle and his swamp +boots and his scout whistle, and he had his duffel +bag on the end of his scout staff. And, oh, boy, he +had a new watch.</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, you must have been robbing +the church steeple. Where did you get that +young clock? If it only had an electric bulb in +it we could use it for a headlight. Is it supposed +to keep time?”</p> + +<p>“It ought to be able to keep a whole lot of +time, it’s big enough,” Harry said. “Are you +going to take it with you or send it by express?”</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, sure, a big watch like that can keep +a lot of time; it holds about a quart.”</p> + +<p>“You make me tired!” Pee-wee shouted. “It’s +warranted for a year.”</p> + +<p>“I bet it takes a year to wind it up,” Westy +said.</p> + +<p>“Anyway we can drink out of it if we get +thirsty,” Will Dawson told him. “It’s got a nice +spring in it.”</p> + +<p>“It doesn’t vary a second,” Pee-wee shouted. +“Look at the clock in the station; that’s Western +Union time.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, but that kid was proud of his new +watch. He looked at it about every ten seconds +while we were waiting for the train, and every +once in a while he looked up at the sun. I guess +maybe he thought the sun was a little late, hey? +When we got to the city he checked up all the +clocks he saw on the way over to the Grand Central +Station, to see if they were right, and when +we were whizzing up along the Hudson on the +Lake Shore Limited he kept a time table in one +hand and his watch in the other so as to find out if +we reached Poughkeepsie and Albany on time.</p> + +<p>Just before we all turned in for the night, Harry +and Brent Gaylong went over and sat by him and +began jollying him about the watch. The rest of +us sprawled around on the Pullman seats, listening +and laughing. Gee whiz, when Harry and +Brent Gaylong get together, <span class='it'>good night</span>!</p> + +<p>Harry said, “The trouble with those heavy duty +watches is they’re not intended for night work. +They work all right in the daytime, but you see +at night when they haven’t got the sun to go by, +they get to sprinting——”</p> + +<p>“Do you know what kind of a watch this is?” +Pee-wee shouted at him. “It’s a scout watch——”</p> + +<p>Brent said in that sober way of his, “That’s +just the trouble. Those scout watches go scout-pace. +A scout is always ahead of time; so is a +scout watch. If a scout watch is supposed to arrive +at three o’clock, it arrives at two—an hour +beforehand. A scout is prompt.”</p> + +<p>“Positively,” Harry said; “by to-morrow +morning that watch will be an hour ahead of time. It’ll +beat every other watch by an hour.”</p> + +<p>“I bet it’s right on the minute to-morrow morning,” +Pee-wee shouted. “That’s a scout watch; +it’s advertised in <span class='it'>Boys’ Life</span>. The ad. said it keeps +perfect time.”</p> + +<p>“How long have you had it?” Rossie Bent +wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“My father gave it to me for a present on account +of this trip,” the kid said; “he gave it to me +just before I started off.”</p> + +<p>“So you haven’t had it overnight yet?” Brent +asked him. “You don’t know whether it’s good +at night work or not.”</p> + +<p>“They always race in the dark,” Harry said; +“that’s the trouble with those boy scout watches.”</p> + +<p>By this time the colored porter and about half +a dozen passengers were standing around listening +and laughing.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, +Kid. I happen to know something about those +watches and they’re not to be trusted. The boy +scout watch is a pile of junk. If that watch isn’t +at least an hour ahead of time when we sit down +to breakfast to-morrow morning, I’ll buy you the +biggest pie they’ve got in the city of Cleveland. +If your watch is wrong by as much as an hour +you’ll have to do a good turn between every two +stations we stop at till we get to Chicago. What +do you say?”</p> + +<p>“I won’t have to worry about any good turns,” +Pee-wee shot back at him.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “All right, is it a go?”</p> + +<p>“Sure it’s a go,” the kid shouted. “Mm! Mm! I’ll +be eating pie all day to-morrow.”</p> + +<h1 id='chIV'>CHAPTER IV—PEE-WEE’S WATCH</h1> + +<p>I guess Pee-wee dreamed of pie that night. +Anyway he didn’t wake up very early in the morning. +When the train stopped at Cleveland for +eats, he was dead to the world. The rest of us +all went into the railroad station for breakfast and +Harry took a couple of sandwiches and a hard +boiled egg and a bottle of milk back to the train +for our young hero when he should wake up.</p> + +<p>When we were eating breakfast in the station, +Harry said, “Well, I see that none of you kids +has ever been out west before. Hadn’t we better +set our watches?”</p> + +<p>I looked up at the clock in the station and, <span class='it'>good +night</span>, then I knew why he and Brent had been +jollying Pee-wee the night before. The dock in +the station was an hour behind my watch.</p> + +<p>“Western time, boys,” Harry said; “set <span class='it'>your</span> +watches back.”</p> + +<p>“And keep still about it when you go back on +the train,” Rossie said, “if you want to see some +fun.”</p> + +<p>“We’ve lost an hour,” Westy said.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you care,” Brent said; “don’t bother +looking for it; we’ll find it coming back.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I had to laugh when I thought of +Pee-wee lying sound asleep in his upper berth with +his trusty boy scout watch under his pillow. When +we went back on the train all the berths except +Pee-wee’s were made into seats. There were only +about a half a dozen passengers besides ourselves +in that car, and Harry went around asking them +all not to mention to Pee-wee about western time.</p> + +<p>I guess it was about a half an hour later the kid +woke up. He was so sleepy that he never thought +about the time till after he had got washed and +dressed, then he came staggering through the car +wanting to know where we were. The rest of +us were all sprawling in the seats and the passengers +were smiling, because I guess they knew +what was coming.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Sit down here and have some +breakfast, Kid. We thought we wouldn’t bother +you to get up when we stopped in Cleveland. +What time have you got?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee hauled out his old boy scout turnip +and said, “It’s half past nine.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Oh, not quite as bad as that; boy +scouts don’t sleep till half past nine. It’s just—let’s +see—it’s just about half past eight.” Then +he showed his watch to Pee-wee, kind of careless +like.</p> + +<p>By that time we were all crowding around waiting +to see the fun and the passengers were all +looking around and kind of smiling.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Sit down and eat your breakfast, +Kid, and don’t let that old piece of junk fool you. +What time have you got, Roy?”</p> + +<p>I could hardly keep a straight face, but I said, +“About half past eight.”</p> + +<p>“You see, it’s just as I told you, Kid,” Harry +said. “As soon as you go to sleep those boy +scout watches take advantage of you. I wouldn’t +trust one of them any more than I’d trust a pickpocket. +How about that, Brent?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I’ve met some pretty honest pickpockets,” +Brent said. “Of course, some of them are +dishonest. But it’s the same as it is in every other +business; some are honest and some are not. I’ve +seen some good, honest, hard working pickpockets. +What time is it, Tom Slade?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I was afraid when Tom took out his +watch, because he usually stands up for Pee-wee, +and I was afraid he’d let him know. But he just +looked at his watch, very sober, and said, “Pretty +nearly twenty minutes of nine.”</p> + +<p>“You all make me sick!” Pee-wee yelled. “You +think you’re smart, don’t you? You all got together +and changed your watches.”</p> + +<p>“This is the same watch I always carried,” +Brent said.</p> + +<p>“I mean you all changed the time,” Pee-wee +shouted; “you think you can put one over on me, +don’t you?”</p> + +<p>“That watch would be all right for a paperweight, +Kid,” Rossie said, “or for an anchor when +you go fishing.”</p> + +<p>“It’s all right to keep time, too,” the kid +shouted.</p> + +<p>“It doesn’t <span class='it'>keep</span> it, it lets it out,” Harry said; +“did you have the cover closed? A whole hour +has sneaked away on you.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe it leaks a little,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“There may be a short circuit in the minute +hand,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“That watch is right!” the kid shouted. +“That’s a boy scout watch and it’s guaranteed +for a year.”</p> + +<p>“Well, it’s an hour ahead of the game,” Harry +said. “You ask any one of these gentlemen the +correct time.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, I had to laugh. Pee-wee went through +the aisle holding his precious old boy scout watch +in his hand, asking the different passengers what +time it was. Every single one of them took out +his watch and showed the kid how he was an hour +wrong. All of a sudden, in came the conductor +and Harry winked at him and said, “What’s the +correct time, Cap?”</p> + +<p>“Eight thirty-eight,” the conductor said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “There you are, Kiddo; what have +you got to say now?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, the kid didn’t have <span class='it'>anything</span> to say. +He just stood there gaping at his watch and then +staring around and the passengers could hardly +keep straight faces.</p> + +<p>The conductor caught on to the joke and he +winked at Harry and said, “Those toy watches +aren’t expected to keep time.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Oh, no, but he’ll have a real watch +when he grows up. He’s young yet. He can take +this one apart and have a lot of fun with the +works.”</p> + +<p>“Somebody set this watch ahead—some of you +fellows did!” Pee-wee shouted. “It was right +last night. It keeps good time. Somebody played +a trick on me! This is a what-do-you-call-it—a +conspiracy. You’re all in it.”</p> + +<p>Just then we passed a station and there was a +clock in a steeple. Harry said, “You don’t claim +that clock in the church steeple is in the conspiracy, +do you? Look at it. <span class='it'>Now</span> what have you got to +say?”</p> + +<p>Then the conductor put his arm over Pee-wee’s +shoulder and he said, “Didn’t you ever hear of +western time, son? The next time you’re traveling +west you just drop an hour at Cleveland station +and you’ll find it waiting there for you when +you come back.”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” I told him; “did you notice that big +box on the platform? That’s where they keep +them. It’s all full of hours.”</p> + +<p>The kid just stood there, staring. I guess he +didn’t know <span class='it'>what</span> to believe.</p> + +<p>“Set your watch back an hour and don’t let them +fool you,” the conductor said, and then he began +laughing.</p> + +<p>“And remember that western time is different +from eastern time,” Rossie said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, sure, everything is different out west,” +Harry put in. “I like the western time better.”</p> + +<p>“Eastern time is good enough for me,” Brent +said; “I always preferred it.”</p> + +<p>“And if you should ever happen to be crossing +the Pacific Ocean on any of your wild adventures, +Kid,” Harry said, “don’t forget to set your +watch back one day when you cross the equator.”</p> + +<p>“If it’s one day I wouldn’t have to set it back at +all,” Pee-wee said. “Three o’clock to-day is the +same as three o’clock yesterday.”</p> + +<p>“It would be better to set it back and be sure,” +Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes, safety first,” Brent said; “there might +be a slight difference. One three o’clock might +look like another, but there’s a difference.”</p> + +<p>“How do you know when you cross the equator?” +I asked Harry.</p> + +<p>He said, “You can tell by the bump. Sometimes +the ship just glides over it easily and you can’t tell +at all unless you look.”</p> + +<p>“It’s best to shift gears going over the equator,” +Brent said; “go into second and stay in second till +you get up the hill.”</p> + +<p>“What hill?” Pee-wee wanted to know. “You +make me sick; there aren’t any hills on the ocean.”</p> + +<p>“That’s where you’re wrong,” Rossie Brent +said. “If you go to Coney Island and watch a +ship coming toward you from way out on the +ocean, you see the top of the masts first, don’t +you? Then after a while you see the whole ship. +That’s because it’s coming up hill. See?”</p> + +<p>“You should worry about hills, Kid,” I said; +“go ahead and eat your breakfast.”</p> + +<h1 id='chV'>V—THE CARAVAN</h1> + +<p>I guess by now you must think we’re all crazy; +I should worry. I just thought I’d tell you that +about Pee-wee’s watch because, gee, it had us all +laughing. So already you’ve lost an hour reading +this story; don’t you care.</p> + +<p>Now we didn’t have any more adventures on +that trip. We didn’t do much except eat and, +gee whiz, you wouldn’t call that having adventures. +Late that night we got to Klucksville and +we stayed at the hotel till morning. They have +dandy wheat cakes at that hotel. And +syrup, <span class='it'>mm</span>, <span class='it'>mm</span>! Then we went to the +auto works and the +four cars were all ready for us, because Mr. +Junkum had sent a telegram to say we were +coming.</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen that big van, +a regular gypsy wagon. On the outside was +painted,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>JOLLY & KIDDER</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE MAMMOTH STORE</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>EVERYTHING FOR THE HOME</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>It was all enclosed and there was an electric +light inside and steps to go up to it and everything. +There were kind of lockers inside too; I +guess they were for small bundles, hey? The +kind that mothers buy and then send back again, +because they don’t fit.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, there wasn’t much to see in Klucksville. +We could have brought the whole +town home with us in the van if we had +wanted to,—all except the auto works. We +didn’t waste much time there because Harry +wanted to get an early start and go as far as +we could the first day. But anyway, we stopped +long enough in the village to have a man print +a big sign on canvas that we tacked on the van. +It said,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>MISSOURI TO NEW YORK</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>SHOULD WORRY ABOUT RAILROADS</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BOY SCOUTS ON THE JOB!</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WE WORK WHILE OTHERS LOAF</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BE PREPARED</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Besides that we bought three straw mattresses +and an oil stove and some canned stuff. We didn’t +need to buy much except food, because we had a +lot of camping stuff along. We got cans of beans +and soup and tuna fish and some egg powder and +Indian meal, because I can make lots of things +with that. Gee whiz, I can’t tell you all the stuff +we bought, but if you watch us you’ll see us eating +it. Believe me, we ate everything except the +straw mattresses. Harry said the Kluck was a +pretty good car for eating up the miles, but believe +me, it hasn’t got anything on us when it comes +to eating.</p> + +<p>Now this is the way we started. First was a +touring car with Tom Slade driving it. He’s +awful sober, kind of. But you can have a lot of +fun with him. He has no use for candy, but he’s +got a lot of sense about other things. I can always +make him laugh—leave it to me. Next came +another touring car with Rossie Bent driving it. +He had a pasteboard sign on his and it said,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WE’RE FROM MISSOURI,</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WE’LL SHOW YOU</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Next came Brent Gaylong in the other touring +car and he had a pasteboard sign that said,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line'>YOU’RE IN LUCK</p> +<p class='line'>IF YOU GET A KLUCK</p> +<hr style='border:none;border-bottom:1px solid black; width:4em'/> +<p class='line'>FROM THE WOOLLY WEST</p> +<hr style='border:none;border-bottom:1px solid black; width:4em'/> +<p class='line'>BOUND FOR LITTLE OLD NEW YORK;</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>After that came the big van with Harry driving +it.</p> + +<p>Now we fellows were supposed to live in the +van, but we didn’t do much except sleep in it. +Most of the time we were riding in the different +cars. A lot of the time I sat with Tom Slade. +Mostly the Warner twins rode in the car with +Rossie Bent. Charlie Seabury and Westy were in +Brent Gaylong’s car a lot of the time. Will Dawson +got sleepy a lot so he was in the van mostly. +Pee-wee rode in all the different cars at once, but +most of the time in the van, on account of that +being the commissary department. Wherever you +see a commissary department, look for Pee-wee. +Commissary is his middle name. Sometimes he +was up on top of the van dancing around. He’s +awful light on his feet. He came near lighting on +his head a couple of times.</p> + +<p>So now I’m going to tell you about that trip.</p> + +<h1 id='chVI'>VI—STRANDED</h1> + +<p>I guess you’ll say this story is a lot of nonsense, +but anyway, those big fellows were worse +than the rest of us. Harry said it didn’t make +any difference if we were foolish, because even a +dollar hasn’t as much cents as it used to have—that’s +a joke. Anyway Harry had plenty of dollars +that Mr. Junkum gave him for expenses. He +told us the people who were buying the cars paid +part of the money. And anyway, my patrol saved +them some money on account of knowing all about +camping and cooking and all that. Harry said it +was more fun than if we stayed at hotels all the +time. Gee whiz, I hate hotels—hotels and spinach. +But once I went to a peach of a fire when a +hotel burned down. That’s one good thing about +hotels, anyway.</p> + +<p>Now about noontime that day the road crossed +the railroad station at a place called Squash Centre. +It crosses it there every day, I guess, Sundays +and holidays and all. Anyway, it crossed it +there that day. Pee-wee was sitting on the seat beside +Harry and he shouted, “Squash Centre; I +like pumpkin better.” As soon as he saw the word +squash right away he thought about pie.</p> + +<p>There were only about six houses there and +the railroad station. On the platform were a lot +of funny looking people and they had a couple of +big dogs tied by ropes. They had a lot of boxes +and bags and things standing around them on the +platform. Most of the squashes of Squash Centre +were standing around a little way off laughing at +them. The man that was holding the dogs had on +a long black coat and a high hat and he needed to +be shaved. His coat didn’t have any cloth on the +buttons. He had long hair sticking out from under +his hat.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, well, we sure are out west. +Here’s poor old Uncle Tom’s Cabin, bag and +baggage.” Then he called down to the man with +the black coat and said, “How about you, old top? +Stranded?”</p> + +<p>Then all the squashes of Squash Centre set up +a howl.</p> + +<p>The man said, very dignified like, “Thank you, +for your inquiry, young sir, and might I ask if +you came through Jones’ Junction? Are there +any trains running?”</p> + +<p>By that time our whole caravan had stopped +and all the squashes got around and began staring +at us.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I don’t believe there are any trains +except eastern trains. I don’t believe there’s anything +that stops this side of Indianapolis. How +far are you going? What’s the matter, didn’t you +hit it right among the squashes?”</p> + +<p>The man said, “The squashes are without art +or patriotism. I thank you for your information, +sir. We are both stalled and stranded. We +have neither a train to travel on nor money to +travel on it if we had. Our friends have not welcomed +us as we hoped they would. We have a +promising engagement at Grumpy’s Cross-roads +some hundred miles distant, where we are under +contract with Major Hezekiah Grumpy to give six +performances at the Grand Army reunion there. +Major Grumpy, sir, fought bravely to stamp out +the evil which our play depicts with such pathos.” +That was just the way he talked.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “So they are having a reunion at +Grumpy’s Cross-roads, are they?”</p> + +<p>“A very magnificent affair, sir,” that’s just what +the man said, “and the major has contracted with +us for the presentation of our heart stirring drama +with the view of having the dramatic part of the +celebration appropriate.”</p> + +<p>Geewhiz, it was awful funny to hear him talk.</p> + +<h1 id='chVII'>VII—A GOOD TURN</h1> + +<p>That man’s name was Archibald Abbington, +and he talked dandy, just as if he had learned it +out of a book. One of those other people told us +that his right name was Henry Flynn. I felt +sorry for them, that’s one sure thing. And, oh, +boy, but those were two peachy dogs they had. +The thing those dogs did mostly was to chase +Eliza. Miss Le Farge, she was the one that played +Eliza. They never let anybody feed the dogs except +her, so they’d be sure to chase her.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Why don’t you let them chase +some of these squashes away? They stand +around gaping just as if they never saw a human +being before. How far is Grumpy’s Cross-roads +anyway?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington said, “It’s a matter of a +hundred miles or thereabout.” Gee, he was crazy +about that word <span class='it'>thereabout</span>. Then he said that +they had a contract with Major Grumpy to give +their first performance the next afternoon at the +Grand Army reunion, but he didn’t know what +they would do because they were stranded.</p> + +<p>Harry was awful nice to him. He said, “Well, +it looks as if you were in a kind of a tight place, +Archy, and I wish we could help you out. We’re +reproducing the good old times, too, as you might +say, with our overland caravan. These are boy +scouts who are taking care of our commissary department +and this is their gallant leader, Roy +Blakeley. How about it, Roy? Do you think we +could squeeze in a good turn, just to vary the monotony? +You’re the boss of that end of the outfit. +It would mean driving all night instead of +stopping to camp as we meant to do. Let’s look +on the map and see where Grumpy’s Cross-roads +is, anyway.”</p> + +<p>I said, “The more the merrier; I don’t care +where it is or how long it takes us to get there. +We’ll take you. That’s our middle name, doing +good turns.”</p> + +<p>“We give shows ourselves sometimes,” Pee-wee +said. “We have a movie apparatus and we give +movie shows. But one thing, we’ve never been +stranded.”</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way of his, “But we +hope to be, sometime; we can’t expect to have +everything at once.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington said, awful dignified like, “We +have been stranded many times, sir. I can assure +you it is not pleasant, especially when one of our +company is ill.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I could see plain enough that one of +them wasn’t feeling good; that was the one they +called Miss De Voil—she played Topsy. Maybe +the squashes disagreed with her, hey?</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, it’s up to you kids, Roy. +Grumpy’s Cross-roads is east, so it isn’t exactly out +of our way, only we’ll have to hit into a pretty +punk road and there’ll be no sleeping around the +camp-fire to-night. What do you say?”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington and all the rest of those people +looked at us kids awful anxious, sort of. Gee, it +made me feel sorry for them. All of a sudden +Pee-wee piped up. He said, “Camp-fires aren’t +the principal things in scouting; good turns come +first. Anyway, once I heard that actors always +help each other and maybe, kind of, you might say +we’re actors, because sometimes we give shows.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Abbington said, “I am delighted to hear +that, my young friend. Let me ask you what you +have played.”</p> + +<p>“He plays the harmonica when nobody stops +him,” Westy said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, sure, he’s a peachy actor; he plays +dominoes and tennis and tiddle-de-winks. The +most stirring part he ever plays is when he stirs +his coffee.”</p> + +<p>Miss Le Farge said to another one of those +ladies, “Oh, isn’t he just too cute?”</p> + +<p>So then we helped them get all their stuff into +the van. They had a tent and a lot of other +things. Harry whispered to me that he guessed +they hadn’t had any supper and he said he was +afraid if we didn’t give them something to eat the +man that played the slave driver wouldn’t have +strength enough to whip Uncle Tom the next afternoon. +Brent said maybe even Uncle Tom wouldn’t +have strength enough to stand up and be whipped. +He said, “We’d better feed them up.”</p> + +<p>So we made a fire in the grove right alongside +the road so as not to interfere with Miss De Voil, +who was lying on one of the mattresses in the van. +We told the ladies that they could have the van +all to themselves that night so they could get good +and rested. I fried some bacon for them and +heated some beans and we got water out of the +railroad station.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, the water was the only thing about +that railroad that was running.</p> + +<h1 id='chVIII'>VIII—GRUMPY</h1> + +<p>We ran the cars all that night so as to get those +people to Grumpy’s Cross-roads in the morning. +The ladies slept in the van, all except one; she was +the one that played Aunt Ophelia. In the play +she had to be strict, like a school teacher kind of, +with Topsy. But when she wasn’t in the play she +was awful nice. She sat up all night in Rossie +Bent’s car, because she said she liked the fresh +air. Mr. Abbington and Harry sat together outside +the van. I didn’t get sleepy much. The rest +of the fellows sprawled in Tom Slade’s car and +Brent Gaylong’s car, and were dead to the world. +It was nice traveling in the night only we had to +go slow. We went across a kind of a prairie and +every once in a while we came to farms. It was +dandy to see the sun come up in the morning.</p> + +<p>About five o’clock we came to a village and we +asked a man how far it was to Grumpy’s Crossroads. +He must have got up before breakfast, +that man. He said it was about thirty-five miles, +but that we’d have to go very slow on account of +the road being all stones. We had to drive those +cars easy, because they were supposed to be delivered +new.</p> + +<p>The man said, “If you’re bound east why didn’t +you hit the south road and cut out Grumpy’s Crossroads +altogether?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Because these people have to appear +at the Grand Army reunion at Grumpy’s +Cross-roads this afternoon and we’ve got to get +them there.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “If that’s all you’re going to the +Cross-roads for, you might as well take the south +road. Bill Thorpe, he was t’the Cross-roads yesterday +en’ he said th’ Uncle Tom’s Cabin show +was called off on ’count of thar bein’ no trains +runnin’. He said ole Major Grumpy was tearin’ +’is hair like a wild Injun at th’ railroad +unions.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Is that so? Well, I hope he won’t +have his hair all pulled out by 2 P. M. Do you +suppose old Grump ever heard of the Boy Scouts +of America?”</p> + +<p>“I’ll tell him all about them!” Pee-wee shouted. +“You just leave it to me.”</p> + +<p>The man was smoking a pipe and it kind of +smelled like a forest fire. It smelled like a forest +fire and a gas engine put together, kind of. He +laid his pipe down on the step of the van so we’d +know that what he was going to say was very +serious.</p> + +<p>He said, “You take my advice en’ daon’t mention +no scaout boys t’the major; it’s like wavin’ a +red flag before a bull as yer might say.”</p> + +<p>“Doesn’t like ’em, hey?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Hates ’em,” the man said.</p> + +<p>“Eats ’em alive, I suppose,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“He’d eat ’em raw, only he ain’t got teeth +enough,” the man said.</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way he has, “Well, I +guess that settles it, we’ll hit the trail for the +Cross-roads; I kind of like old Grump already. I +have a kind of a hunch he’ll put some pep into +this Lewis & Clarke expedition. All we needed to +make our joy complete was somebody to try to +foil us.”</p> + +<p>“Cracky, I hope he tries to foil us,” Pee-wee +piped up.</p> + +<p>“Is he a villain?” Brent wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Wall, he ain’t just exactly what you might call +a villain,” the man said, very serious.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Oh, that’s too bad. We haven’t +got a villain for our story yet. I suppose we’ll +have to advertise when we hit into Indianapolis. +‘Wanted, willing and industrious villain; one with +some experience preferred; good chance for advancement; +duties, being foiled by the Boy Scouts +of America.’”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Guess you’re a kind of a comic, +hey?”</p> + +<p>“What’s the trouble between old Grump and +the kids, anyway?” Harry asked him.</p> + +<p>The man said, “Wall, naow, I’ll tell you. Th’ +major’s an old Civil War man en’ he’s a great +stickler on military training for boys; ain’t got no +use for studyin’ natur’ en’ all that kind o’ thing. +He’s daft abaout the Civil War, en’ he’s jest +abaout th’ biggest old grouch this side o’ th’ Missippi +River. This here reunion o’ his, every +three years, is the pet uv his heart, as th’ feller +says. He has th’ poor ole veterans limpin’ in +from miles araound fillin’ ’em up with rations en’ +givin’ ’em shows. He’s got money enough so’s +ter make the United States Treasury look like a +poor relation; and <span class='it'>stingy</span>!”</p> + +<p>“That sounds fine,” Brent said; “we’ll have +him eating out of our hands; we’ll have him so he +comes when we call him. First I was in hopes +we might fall in with some train robbers——”</p> + +<p>“Gee, it isn’t too late yet!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“But a ferocious old major is good enough,” +Brent said; “we can’t expect to have everything. +You’re positive about his hating the Boy Scouts, +are you?” he asked the man. “Because we +shouldn’t want to count on that and then be disappointed. +It’s pretty hard when you think you’ve +found a regular scoundrel and then find that you’re +deceived. Are you willing to guarantee him?”</p> + +<p>“Wall, I wouldn’ say exactly as he’s a <span class='it'>villain</span>,” +the man said; “but he’s a ole wild beast, so +everybuddy says, en’ I’m tellin’ yer not to wave no +red flag in front uv him with a lot uv this scaout +boy nonsense. ’Cause he ain’t in the humor, see?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Do you know, Brent, I think the +old codger will do first rate.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he’ll do,” Brent said; “of course, it isn’t +like finding a pirate, or a counterfeiter, or an outlaw——”</p> + +<p>“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “If +Roy’s going to write all this stuff up, we have to +have an old grouch, so as we can convert him sort +of, don’t we, and then +he’ll—then he’ll—what-d’ye-call-it—he’ll +donate a lot of money and say +the boy scouts are all right. I’ll manage him, you +leave him to me.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You don’t happen to know if he +has a gold-haired daughter, do you?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I guess that man thought we were +crazy—I should worry. Even the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people were laughing.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Because if our young hero could +only rescue old Grump’s gold-haired daughter +from kidnappers, perhaps old Grump would come +across with a real watch that keeps time as a reward +for our young hero’s bravery. I think we’ll +have to try our hand with old Grump.”</p> + +<p>“Are you—are you <span class='it'>sure</span> he’s mad at the +scouts?” Pee-wee wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Tell us the worst,” Harry said.</p> + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-f058.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>THE BLOODHOUND BEGAN SNIFFING THE FOOTPRINT.</p> +</div> + +<h1 id='chIX'>CHAPTER IX—MILITARY PLANS</h1> + +<p>The man put one foot up on the step of the van +and said, “Wall, yer see he owns the Fair +Grounds. Thar was a crew uv these here scout +kids camping over in the grove to one side of it, +and not doin’ no manner of harm, I reckon.”</p> + +<p>“That’s one good thing about us, we never do +any harm,” Pee-wee piped up.</p> + +<p>“Wherever they camp the violets spring up,” +Rossie said.</p> + +<p>“Sure, and dandelions and four-leaf clovers, +too,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>The man said, “Wall, naow, them kids wasn’ +doin’ no manner uv harm, just cookin’ and +eatin’——”</p> + +<p>“Gee whiz, they have to do that!” Pee-wee told +him. “That’s one thing about scouts, they always +eat.”</p> + +<p>“Most always,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“En’ nothin’ would do but he must chase ’em +off,” the man said. “Some uv them men who wuz +interested in the kids made a rumpus about it, but +it weren’t no good; old Grump said off they must +go, and off they went. I wuz sorry ter see it too, +hanged if I weren’t, because they’re a bright, +clever lot, them youngsters. Oft times when I’d +go inter th’ Cross-roads with my old mare marketin’, +there they’d be in th’ grove right alongside +th’ road, sprawlin’ about and onct, when I come +away abaout five o’clock in the mornin’, thar they +were en’ give my old mare a drink out uv th’ +spring.”</p> + +<p>“Up early, hey?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Naow, haow is them kids goin’ ter hinder th’ +reunion? That’s what I say. Poked away off in +th’ grove right on ter th’ end of the grounds. But +the ole major, he says they was nuthin’ but a lot +uv loafers; wanted to know what good they ever +done. Why, Lor’ bless me, if he’d a made friends +with ’em they might uv helped in the reunion, +mightn’t they?... Wall, I guess he wuz all +piffed abaout the show not bein’ able to get there. +Trams east of th’ Cross-roads is runnin’ all right, +but out this way thar ain’t been a wheel movin’ in +a week, ’cept express trains from the east. If I +was you fellers I wouldn’ go a couple of dozen +miles out of my way over a pile of rocks what they +call by the name of a road, I wouldn’, jus ter do a +favor for an old grizzly bear, I wouldn’. Not +me.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, Mr. Abbington looked kind of anxious, +because Harry just sat there on the seat +whistling to himself as if he were thinking. The +rest of us were all standing around.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, as long as old Grump is a +stickler on military training, what do you say we +take Grumpy’s Cross-roads right under his very +nose? We’ll make our approach from the west, +with our dry-goods delivery van and three five-passenger +touring cars. General Harris will have +charge of the Commissary. First, the signal corps +will communicate with the boy scouts of Grumpy’s +Cross-roads and advise them that reenforcements +are on the way—in a dry-goods van and three +touring cars. The grove on the edge of the +parade grounds will be in our hands before night. +We’ll have the Civil War veterans down on their +knees begging for an armistice.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, and maybe—maybe—old Major Grumpy +will have to go and live in a castle in Holland, +hey?” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Honest, isn’t that kid a scream?</p> + +<h1 id='chX'>X—THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WORK</h1> + +<p>First, Harry asked if the telegraph office was +open, but it wasn’t open. The reason was, because +there wasn’t any there. If that place had +been a little smaller we might have run over it +without seeing it and punctured one of our tires.</p> + +<p>Then Brent said, “Well then, you don’t happen +to have a nice hill handy, do you? We’ll return +it in good condition when we get through with +it.”</p> + +<p>They didn’t happen to have any hills in that +village—they were out of most everything. Brent +said he guessed hills were hard to get. So we +started off again and hit into the road that went +to Grumpy’s Cross-roads. Gee whiz, if Major +Grumpy’s temper was anything like that road, +<span class='it'>good night</span>! That was what we all said. But +we should worry about the road as long as we +had all our plans made. Harry said the Kluck +car could eat up the miles all right, but, oh, Sister +Anne, if one of them tried eating the miles on that +road it would have indigestion, all right. Even +Pee-wee couldn’t have eaten those.</p> + +<p>After we had gone maybe about nine or ten +miles we came to a dandy; it was a kind of a young +mountain. Now, on the way along, we had been +making up a message that we would send by +smudge signal, because we thought that if those +other scouts got it, it would be a feather in their +cap and we were thinking about them more than +we were about ourselves. Because a scout is +brother to every other scout, see?</p> + +<p>So this is the smudge signal that we decided to +send, and, <span class='it'>good night</span>, little we knew what it would +lead to. Pretty soon you’ll see the plot beginning +to get thicker.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>Uncle Tom show will be given as announced.</p> +<p class='line'>Deny rumors to contrary.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;'>Boy Scouts of America.</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Brent said, “If those kids are up as early as old +what’s-his-name said they were, they ought to see +a smudge signal up on the top of a hill like this, +and they can notify old Grump. Then later we’ll +give him the knockout blow. He’ll look like a +pancake when we get through with him.”</p> + +<p>That started Pee-wee off—the word pancake. +“We’ll go riding into the village, and we’ll kind +of have our clothes torn, and we’ll look all what-d’ye-call-it—weary +and footsore—and we’ll have +all the Uncle Tom’s Cabin company sitting in the +touring cars,” he said, “and we’ll have a big sign +that says <span class='it'>Boy Scouts on the Job</span>, hey? And +maybe we’ll give a parade.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, the best thing for us to do +now is to parade up this hill and send the message. +You see, although assaults are usually made unknown +to the enemy, in this case we’ll make a big +hit if we start some propaganda along ahead of +us. It pays to advertise, as Jolly & Kidder would +say.”</p> + +<p>Now it was a pretty steep climb up to the top +of that hill, all woods and jungle. We left the +cars down on the road and most of the actor people +stayed in them, because they were tired and +sleepy. Westy stayed down there so as to cook +them some breakfast.</p> + +<p>For quite a long distance up that hill we went +through thick woods, then we came out into an +open place where we could look down and see the +road. The autos looked small down there. We +could see a little thin line of smoke going up where +Westy was starting a fire. The sun was getting +brighter and it made Jolly & Kidder’s van look +all shiny on account of the bright paint on it. It +seemed funny to see a department store car away +out there in that lonesome country.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we got into more woods and Harry +said he guessed there must be a trail. But we +couldn’t find any.</p> + +<p>He said, “This is a forsaken wilderness up +here.”</p> + +<p>“I bet the foot of white man never trod it,” +Pee-wee said; “I bet it’s unknown to civilization +up here.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I guess we’re not likely to bunk into any +movie shows,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>Jiminetty, but it was some wild place, all right. +We had to go single file and tear away the brush +so that we could get through. Tom Slade went +ahead, because he can find a trail if there is one, +and even if there isn’t he always knows how to +go. The farther up we went, the worse it got. +We couldn’t see the road at all on account of the +thick woods below us. Gee, it was so still up there +that it was sort of spooky.</p> + +<p>“I guess no white man ever trod this solemn +wilderness before, as our young friend Scout Harris +observed,” Harry said; “it gets worser and +worser.”</p> + +<p>Just then Tom Slade stopped and we all stopped +in his path. In about a jiffy he was down on the +ground. Gee whiz, I knew what that meant, for +I knew Tom Slade.</p> + +<p>“It’s a footprint,” he said.</p> + +<p>Just then we heard a sound right near us, just +like branches crackling, and in a couple of seconds +one of those bloodhounds from the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin show came dashing up through the bushes. +He pushed Tom Slade right out of the way and +began sniffing that footprint. He was so excited +that he didn’t notice us.</p> + +<h1 id='chXI'>XI—A MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINT</h1> + +<p>First it seemed kind of as if that bloodhound +was just scooping; that means using something +that another scout has found. If I should find a +robin’s nest and then another scout should stalk +there, that would be scooping. Gee whiz, that’s +a mean thing to do. Up at Temple Camp a scout +will get himself disliked for doing that. But it’s +all right to stalk the cooking-shack. Pee-wee +thinks he’s the only one who has a right to hang +out there—I should worry.</p> + +<p>Anyway that has nothing to do with the bloodhound. +Tom got out of his way, and we all stood +about while the dog sniffed around the footprint, +awful excited like. There wasn’t another footprint +anywhere in sight.</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way of his, “Well, I +guess we’re up against the real thing at last. I +guess old Snoozer here is on the track of Eliza. +Listen and maybe we’ll hear her baby crying. She +always carries a baby with her when she puts one +over on the bloodhounds, doesn’t she?”</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy!” Pee-wee shouted; “she always +crosses the ice. Didn’t you see that big roll of +canvas they’ve got? That’s got ice painted on +it. They spread that on the stage and she runs +across it with har—what-d’ye-call-it—her infant +child.”</p> + +<p>“Her which?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“I think she takes a thermos bottle, too, and +an aluminum cooking set,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, anyway, she has given old +Snoozer the slip this time.”</p> + +<p>“That’s a man’s footprint,” Pee-wee said; +“there’s a mystery up here.”</p> + +<p>“Let’s see it,” Rossie Bent said; “where is it?”</p> + +<p>“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “How +can you <span class='it'>see</span> a mystery?”</p> + +<p>“You smell it, according to Snoozer,” Harry +said; “this dog will have a fit in a minute.”</p> + +<p>By that time the dog was pushing every which +way in among the bushes and every few seconds +coming back to the footprint.</p> + +<p>“He seems to be kind of rattled.” That’s what +Harry said.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon the dog went running through the +bushes out into a big open space that was just +about on the top of the mountain. We found out +afterward that that was why the mountain was +named Bald Head. Gee whiz, he seemed rattled. +He’d stop for a couple of seconds and look all +around, then start off all of a sudden, then stop +again.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Eliza’s got his goat this time. +Look at old Tomasso there; he’s mad because +Snoozer took his job.”</p> + +<p>I looked at Tom Slade (because that’s whom +he meant) and I saw that he was kind of picking +among the bushes over to one side of the big open +space. So I went over to where he was and I +said, “Tom, what do you think about it? I always +thought a bloodhound could follow any trail. +That’s a fresh footprint too, isn’t it? But maybe +that dog isn’t a real bloodhound, hey?”</p> + +<p>Tom said, “He’s a real bloodhound, all right, +but I don’t think he’ll find anything.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, how about that footprint then? +It was a fresh one. He ought to be able to follow +that scent. Gee whiz, I never saw a dog act so +funny. He’s all rattled and he doesn’t know which +way to go.”</p> + +<p>Tom didn’t say anything, only he looked over +to the open space where the rest of the fellows +were watching the dog. By that time the dog was +running around and barking, half crazy.</p> + +<p>“Eliza fell through the ice,” Brent called over +to us.</p> + +<p>Harry shouted, “She was very poor, she didn’t +even have a scent. Snoozer’s going to have a +nervous collapse in a minute; he’ll require first +aid.”</p> + +<p>I said to Tom, “Well, somebody was up here, +that’s sure. That’s a new footprint we found. +It’s plaguey funny that a bloodhound can’t follow +that trail; I always thought a bloodhound——”</p> + +<p>“A bloodhound isn’t a scout,” Tom said, kind +of sober like, in that way he has; “he followed the +trail as far as he could, I suppose. Look around +here; don’t you see anything?”</p> + +<p>That’s the way it has always been with Tom +Slade ever since he got back from the war. In +scouting, he would never do anything himself, but +just give us fellows a hint that would start us off. +“If you make as good use of your eyes as he makes +of his nose, you ought to be able to discover +something.” That’s what he said.</p> + +<p>So then I looked all around, and sure enough +I could see that the bushes were broken up toward +the top and, <span class='it'>good night</span>, on one of them +was hanging a little piece of rag.</p> + +<p>“Some one has been through here,” I said, all +excited; “why doesn’t the dog come over here? +The trail leads over this way.”</p> + +<p>Then I began whistling for the dog and calling +to the fellows that we had the trail, and they all +started over except the dog. He wouldn’t follow +them or pay any attention to their whistling +and calling, only stayed right where he was running +around as if he had a fit.</p> + +<p>Before the fellows reached the place where we +were Tom said kind of low, “Don’t fly off the +handle, kid; there are some bushes broken here +and a rag. Now what does that mean?”</p> + +<p>“It means the trail runs through here,” I said; +“and that crazy fool of an Uncle Tom’s Cabin +dog can’t follow the scent across that bare place. +He’s just an actor, that’s all that bloodhound is. +All he’s good for is chasing Eliza.”</p> + +<p>Tom just took the rag from me and looked at +it. “Well then, if the trail runs through here, +where are the footprints?” he asked me.</p> + +<p>“And the dog doesn’t seem to think it’s worth +bothering about,” he said.</p> + +<p>“You admit somebody went through here?” I +shouted at him.</p> + +<p>“Oh, somebody went through here, all right,” +he said.</p> + +<p>“And didn’t leave any footprints and didn’t +leave any scent,” I came back at him.</p> + +<p>“Only a rag,” he said.</p> + +<p>By that time the fellows had reached the place +where we were. “What’s the big idea?” Harry +said. “What have you got there?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “As I <span class='it'>live</span>, it’s a piece of Eliza’s +dress. The plot grows thicker.”</p> + +<p>“There isn’t a footprint here,” I told them.</p> + +<p>“She must have slid on the ice,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“I’m going to drag that dog over here by the +collar,” Rossie spoke up.</p> + +<p>“It’s a mystery,” Pee-wee shouted; “it’s a deep, +dark mystery. We’ve got to solve it—I mean +penetrate it.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, that kid was more excited than the +dog.</p> + +<h1 id='chXII'>XII—A DISCOVERY</h1> + +<p>We all just stood there not knowing what to +think. I could tell that Tom Slade had some kind +of an idea, but you never catch that fellow shouting +out about anything till he’s sure. Even when +he was a tenderfoot in the troop he was that way.</p> + +<p>It seemed mighty funny that we should find +just one footprint in those bushes, but maybe +there weren’t any more across that open space +because it was hard and rocky. Anyway, the +scent led out into that open space, that was sure. +Then on the opposite side of the open space the +bushes were broken and there was a rag hanging +to one of them. Yet we couldn’t get that dog +to go all the way across and take up the scent +where we found the rag. That was the funny +thing. It was funny that there weren’t any footprints +under those bushes where the rag was hanging, +too. Believe <span class='it'>me</span>, Pee-wee was right, it was +a mystery.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon the dog began following the scent +back and Will Dawson went after him. In about +ten minutes he came up again and said that the +dog had followed it as far as a brook where there +was a willow tree. He said the dog got rattled +there just the same as he did on the summit. So +he studied the place carefully and saw that there +was a branch of the tree that stuck out over the +water and he swung himself across and then back +again by that. So he decided that was probably +what the man had done on his way up the mountain. +So you see that trail was cut in two places.</p> + +<p>Will said that he left the dog poking around at +the edge of the stream. And that was the last we +saw of the dog till we got back to our caravan. +Then we saw that he was under the van asleep. +He was resting up so he could chase Eliza in the +afternoon, that’s what Brent said. He chased +Eliza twice every day, that bloodhound did.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, as Scout Harris says, it’s a +mystery. Somebody was up here before us, that’s +sure. There’s no use trying to dope it out, I suppose. +Let’s send the signal. Our friends down +below will think we’re lost.”</p> + +<p>All the while Tom Slade was sort of wandering +around that rocky open space on the top of +the mountain. A couple of times he looked over +to where we were as if he was kind of thinking. +Most of the time he looked at the ground and +the flat rocks. I knew he had some idea in his +head, all right.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon he came strolling over and said +sort of offhand like, “Let’s follow these broken +bushes in a ways.”</p> + +<p>“Nobody went through here, Tom,” Rossie +said; “if they had there’d be footprints. Let’s +get busy with the smudge signal.”</p> + +<p>“It’ll only take a minute,” Tom said.</p> + +<p>“Every minute is precious, Tommy boy,” Harry +told him.</p> + +<p>“Sure, let’s go in,” Brent said; “I’m for adventure +every time. You never can tell; come +ahead.”</p> + +<p>So we all followed Tom in. The brush was +awful thick and I kept tearing it apart down near +the ground, hunting for footprints, but I couldn’t +find a single one. The brush wasn’t even broken +above, either, after we had gone a few feet and +Tom just pushed around without any signs to go +by, all the while squinting his eyes into the bushes +and poking the underbrush with his feet.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon, <span class='it'>good night</span>, Pee-wee gave a shout. +“<span class='it'>I see it! I see it!</span>” he yelled. “The mystery is +solved! I know why there isn’t any man’s footprint +here. It was an <span class='it'>animal</span> that came through! +There he is now—it’s a <span class='it'>zebra</span>!”</p> + +<p>“A which?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“It’s got stripes—wide stripes,” the kid +shouted. “Look there! See it? It’s a zebra! +Don’t you know a zebra?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I wouldn’t know one if I met him +in the street.”</p> + +<p>By that time Tom had gone ahead of us and +hauled something out of the bushes. It wasn’t +a zebra, but it had stripes all right—it was light +colored and it had wide, dark stripes. I bet you +can’t guess what it was, either.</p> + +<p>It was a suit of convicts’ clothes.</p> + +<h1 id='chXIII'>CHAPTER XIII—TOM SLADE, SCOUT</h1> + +<p>“Didn’t I tell you it had stripes?” Pee-wee +shouted. “Wasn’t I right? Now you see! A +scout is observant.”</p> + +<p>“If he sees a suit of clothes he thinks it’s a +zebra,” Charlie Seabury said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, you weren’t so far wrong, +Kiddo. The stripes weren’t on an animal; they +were on a jail bird. I’d like to know where he +flew away to. This is getting interesting. I knew +that clothing was very high, but I didn’t think we’d +find a suit as far up as this.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe he was a murderer, hey?” Pee-wee +whispered.</p> + +<p>“We can only hope,” Brent said in that funny +way. Then he said, “I’ve always felt that I’d +like to be a murderer. I thought I was a real +convict when I was held in jail three hours after +speeding in my flivver. But when I look at this +striped suit, I realize that after all I didn’t amount +to much as a criminal. Let’s take a squint at +those clothes, will you? It’s always been the dream +of my young life to escape from jail by using a +hair-pin or a manicure file or some kind of acid. +I wonder how this fellow escaped.”</p> + +<p>“I bet he escaped in the dead of night,” Pee-wee +said.</p> + +<p>“The question is, where is he?” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“He went away in an airplane,” Tom Slade +said, awful sober like, just as if Brent hadn’t +been joking at all.</p> + +<p><span class='it'>Good night</span>, we all just stood there stark still, +looking at him.</p> + +<p>“What makes you think that?” Rossie wanted +to know.</p> + +<p>“No one laid that suit of clothes here,” Tom +said; “it was <span class='it'>dropped</span> here. There aren’t any +footprints. Out there in the flat part there are +wheel marks from an airplane. I saw enough of +those marks in France to know what they mean.”</p> + +<p>“Tomasso Nobody Holmes, the boy detective!” +I shouted.</p> + +<p>“The airplane grazed the bushes when it went +up,” he said; “that’s why some twigs are broken +off. And part of one of the wings of the machine +was torn, too. That’s because the airman +didn’t have space enough to get away in. He +took a big chance when he landed up here, that +fellow.”</p> + +<p>Harry just stood there drumming his fingers +on one of the bushes and looking all around him +and kind of thinking. Then he said, “What’s +your idea, Tommy boy? Do you think a convict +escaped and made his way up to the top of this +jungle and that the airman alighted here for him +by appointment?”</p> + +<p>“The dog followed the scent out into the open, +to the place where the wheel tracks are,” Tom +said. “That’s where the man—that convict—got +in. They didn’t have open space enough to start +from there and they grazed the bushes. I guess +it was pretty risky, the whole business. Anyway, +they chucked the convict clothes out. This piece +of silk is waxed; it’s part of the wing of a machine, +all right.”</p> + +<p>“Tomasso, you’re a wonder,” Rossie said; “no +dog could follow a trail in the air.”</p> + +<p>“There’s often a scent in the breeze,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>“Didn’t I tell you it was a mystery?” Pee-wee +shouted. “Didn’t I tell you it was a dark plot? +As soon as I saw those clothes——”</p> + +<p>“You thought they were a zebra,” Ralph Warner +said; “a scout knows all the different kinds +of animals.”</p> + +<p>“You make me sick!” the kid shouted. “A +convict is better than a zebra, isn’t he?”</p> + +<p>“That’s a fine argument,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“It’s logic,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“Well, let’s not complain,” Brent said; “a zebra +would be a novelty, but a convict is not to be +despised. We should be thankful for the convict, +even though he isn’t here.”</p> + +<p>“That’s the best part of it,” the kid shouted; +“that makes the mystery. We’ve got to find him.”</p> + +<p>We didn’t bother any more about the mystery +then, because we wanted to send the signal and +get started again, but you’ll see how that mystery +popped up again and confounded us; I guess +you know what <span class='it'>confounded</span> means, all right. It +means the same as <span class='it'>baffled</span>, only I didn’t know +whether <span class='it'>baffled</span> has two f’s in it or not. But, gee +whiz, I used it anyway—I should worry.</p> + +<p>So now while our friends are waiting for us +down on the road (I got this sentence from Pee-wee), +I’ll tell you about sending that signal. +Signals are my middle name—signals and geography. +But the thing I like best about school is +lunch hour. I’m crazy about boating, too.</p> + +<h1 id='chXIV'>XIV—PEE-WEE’S GOAT</h1> + +<p>That fellow, Harry Domicile, he’s crazy. He +said, “If you like signals so much I don’t see why +you send them. Why don’t you keep them?”</p> + +<p>Will Dawson said, “It isn’t the signal we send, +it’s a message; we send a message by a signal. +See?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “But if it’s a good message why +should you want to send it away? Why don’t +you keep it? If it’s worth anything what’s the +use of getting rid of it? A scout should not be +wasteful.” Then he winked at Brent Gaylong.</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee. He +shouted, “You’re crazy! Suppose I keep some-thing—suppose +I keep——”</p> + +<p>Rossie said, “Suppose you keep silence.”</p> + +<p>“That shows how much you know about logic!” +the kid yelled. “How can I keep silence——”</p> + +<p>By that time we were all laughing, except +Harry. He had the paper with the message written +on it and he said, very sober like, “Well, if +this message is any good at all I don’t see why +we don’t keep it; it might come in useful.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee shouted, “A message is no good at +all—even the most important message in the world +is no good to the fellow that makes it——”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Then he’s just wasting his time +making it. Before we send this message we’d +better talk it over. If it’s any good we’ll keep +it.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, you should have seen our young hero; +I thought he’d jump off the mountain. He yelled, +“Do you know what logic is? You get that in +the third grade. My uncle knows a man that’s +a lawyer and he says—besides—anyway, do you +mean to tell me——”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Go on.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Proceed; we follow you.”</p> + +<p>“Suppose I had a piece of pie,” the kid yelled. +“If it was good I’d eat it, wouldn’t I?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “That isn’t logic.”</p> + +<p>“Sure it’s logic!” Pee-wee shouted. “The better +it is the more I’d get rid of, wouldn’t I?”</p> + +<p>“Thou never spakest a truer word,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“And it’s the same with messages,” he said.</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, you don’t want to eat it, +do you?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, if he doesn’t want to eat it, +what’s the use of chewing it over? Let’s send +it.”</p> + +<p>I bet you think we’re all crazy, hey? I should +worry.</p> + +<p>So then we gathered a lot of twigs and started +a fire about in the middle of that open space. +While we were doing that, Charlie Seabury and +Ralph Warner got some dead grass and brush +and took it down to the brook and got it good +and wet. Then they squeezed the water all out +of it so it was kind of damp and muggy like. It +has to be just like that if you want to send a +smudge message. Maybe you don’t know exactly +what a smudge signal is because maybe you think +that a smudge is just a dirt streak on your face—I +don’t mean on yours but on Pee-wee’s. That’s +Pee-wee’s trade mark—a smudge on his face. +Usually it’s the shape of a comet and it makes you +think of a comet, because he’s got six freckles on +his cheek that are like the big dipper. And his +face is round like the moon, too, but, gee williger, +I hate astronomy. But I’d like to go to Mars +just the same.</p> + +<p>Anyway this is the way you send a smudge +signal. When you get the fire started good and +strong you kind of shovel it into a tin can, but +if you haven’t got any tin can, you don’t. Scouts +are supposed to be able to do without things. We +should worry about tin cans. Brent Gaylong has +a tin can on wheels—that’s a Ford. My father +says it’s better to own a Ford than a can’t afford. +Anyway my sister says I ought to stick to my subject. +Gee whiz, she must think I’m a piece of +fly paper.</p> + +<h1 id='chXV'>CHAPTER XV—THE MESSAGE</h1> + +<p>The reason that I ended that chapter was because +I had to go to supper. So now I’ll tell you +about the signal. If we had only had a tin can +with some kind of a cover to lay over it, it would +have been easy. But we hadn’t any so this is the +way we did. After the fire was burning up we +piled some of the damp grass and stuff on top of +it and that made a smudge that went way up in +the air. I guess any one could see that smudge +maybe fifty miles, especially on account of it being +up on the top of a mountain.</p> + +<p>I said, “All we need now is a cloth or something +to spread over it so we can divide the letters.” +Because you know we use the Morse code.</p> + +<p>So Brent said we could have his mackinaw jacket +and he sent Pee-wee down to the brook to soak it +in the water so that it wouldn’t catch fire. That +was the beginning of Brent Gaylong’s bad luck. +Crinkums, that fellow must have been born on a +Friday—anyway, he was born on a Friday that +day, I guess. But one good thing about Friday, +it’s the day before Saturday. That’s why there +are fifty-two Good Fridays.</p> + +<p>So then we sent the message. The first word +was <span class='it'>Uncle</span>, so to spell that we let the smudge rise +for just a second, then laid Brent’s jacket over it +for about three seconds, then let it rise for another +second, then waited about three seconds more and +then let it rise for, oh, I guess about ten seconds, +maybe. That made two dots and a dash in the +Morse code and it made the letter U good and +big, cracky, bigger than you could make it on +any blackboard, as big as the whole sky. Maybe +it wouldn’t mean anything to you, but that’s because +you’re not a scout. But anyway it meant +U. I don’t mean it meant you, but I mean it +meant U.</p> + +<p>After that we made the other letters in the +word Uncle—N-K-L-E—I don’t mean K, I mean C.</p> + +<p>Then after we’d waited about a minute so as to +separate the words we spelled T-O-M, and after +that there was a big blot on our writing (that’s +what Rossie said), because Brent’s mackinaw +jacket burned up. He said he was sorry, because +there were some peanuts in one of the pockets.</p> + +<p>Anyway he said he was willing to die for the +cause, so he took off his khaki shirt and after +Pee-wee went down and soaked it in the brook, +we used that to separate the words and letters. +Maybe you’ll say that kind of writing isn’t very +neat but we knew that it could be seen for miles +and miles and that if the boy scouts in Grumpy’s +Cross-roads saw it and read it, they’d tell Major +Grumpy and he’d say the scouts were all right. +Because that was our idea, we wanted those other +scouts to get the credit.</p> + +<p>I guess maybe it took a half an hour to send +that message and it didn’t look much like a message +to us. You’ve got to get away off if you +want to read a smudge signal. A smudge signal +is no good for a fellow that’s near-sighted. When +we were all finished, this is what we had printed +in the sky:</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>Uncle Tom show will be given as announced.</p> +<p class='line'>Deny rumors.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;'>Boy Scouts of America.</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Pee-wee wanted to put in something about foiling +the railroad strikers, but Brent said if we +made the message any longer he wouldn’t have +any clothes left. Harry said that if the scouts +at Grumpy’s Cross-roads got that message and +delivered it to old Grump, that old Grump would +surrender unconditionally. So maybe we had +done a good turn for all we knew. Even if the +telegraph operator at Grumpy’s Cross-roads +should see that smudge he’d read the message, all +right. But we said that more likely he’d he asleep +and that scouts are always up early because up at +Temple Camp Uncle Jeb Rushmore (he’s camp +manager) is always telling us that the early bird +catches the first worm. But, gee whiz, if I were +the first worm I’d stay in bed and then the early +bird wouldn’t catch me.</p> + +<p>That’s what Pee-wee calls logic. That’s one +thing he’s crazy about,—logic. Logic and Charlie +Chaplin. He likes girls, too. He says they +always smile at him. Gee whiz, can you blame +them? It’s a wonder they don’t laugh out loud.</p> + +<h1 id='chXVI'>XVI—BRENT’S AMBITION</h1> + +<p>It was some job picking our way down that +mountain. We could see the road and the machines +away down below us and the machines +looked like toy autos. Brent and Harry and +Pee-wee and I were together and Brent talked a +lot of that nonsense like he always does. Pee-wee +had the convict’s suit rolled up tight and tied +with a couple of thin willow twigs. If you wet +them they’re just as good as cord; you can even +tie them in a knot. He carried the bundle on +the end of his scout staff and he had his scout +staff over his shoulder. He looked so important +you’d think he had just captured the convict, too.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “That’s what I call real adventure; +escaping from a prison and beating it off +to some lonesome mountain and being taken away +in an airplane. That fellow has old Monte Cristo +beaten twenty ways. Some convicts are lucky. +I’d like to be that chap.” That’s just the way +he talked.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “You might forge a couple of +checks if you happen to think of it sometime.”</p> + +<p>Brent said in that funny way of his, “If I +could only be sure of escaping and being carried +off by an airplane. But it would be just my luck +to—to——”</p> + +<p>“Languish,” Pee-wee shouted; “that’s what +they do in jails—languish.”</p> + +<p>“And just serve out my term studying logic,” +Brent said. “But if I thought there’d be a chance +to escape, I think I’d—let’s see, I think I’d—what +do you think of counterfeiting, Harry?”</p> + +<p>“Burglary’s better,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“It’s the dream of my life to be a convict,” +Brent kept up. “These little crimes don’t amount +to anything; what I’d like to do is to hit the high +spots, get sent up for life, and then escape in a +boat or an airplane. Somebody could send me +a file or a saw in a bunch of flowers. What do +you say? This convict is having the time of his +life. That’s the life—being a fugitive.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, I hope you get your wish.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “You’re crazy, that’s what I +say.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Gee whiz, there’s fun enough making a +cross country trip in four autos and running into a +stranded Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company with +bloodhounds and everything, without being sent +to jail.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, I can’t help it; that’s the +way I feel. I envy that convict. I long to languish +in a dungeon cell and file away the bars in the +dead of night and kill three keepers and escape in +an airplane. That’s living.”</p> + +<p>“Good night,” I said, “not for the three +keepers.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, all things come round to +him that waits. My ambition is to be wrecked +at sea. How about you, Roy?”</p> + +<p>I said, “My ambition is to foil old Major +Grumpy and make him fall for the scouts.”</p> + +<p>“No pep to it,” Brent said; “a dark and dismal +dungeon with rats poking around on the stone +floor, that’s <span class='it'>my</span> speed.”</p> + +<p>Cracky, that fellow’s awful funny.</p> + +<p>“You’d never get any dessert,” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Who wants dessert when he can +get a crust of bread and a mug of water?”</p> + +<p>“I do,” the kid shouted. “I want two helpings.”</p> + +<p>That was <span class='it'>his</span> ambition.</p> + +<h1 id='chXVII'>XVII—A SIDE SHOW</h1> + +<p>Pretty soon you’ll see why I named this chapter +“A Side Show.” When we got down to the +road all those show people were sitting around on +the rocks talking and laughing and telling Westy +lots of funny adventures that they had had. Oh, +boy, if I wasn’t a boy scout I’d like to be in an +Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company, that’s one sure +thing. That’s <span class='it'>my</span> ambition. Jails and dungeons +may be all right, I’m not saying, but anyway, I’d +like to be in a show—especially one that gets +stranded. They said that they could see the signal +away up on the mountain, and the man that had to +beat Uncle Tom, he was an awful nice man, he said +he could read most all of it because he used to be a +telegraph operator. But he said he liked +beating Uncle Tom better. Uncle Tom said he didn’t +mind being beaten once a day but he didn’t like +matinees.</p> + +<p>Now I’m going to tell you about how we all +got separated together—that’s what Pee-wee said. +When we were all ready to go, Harry couldn’t +start the engine of the van. He said, “Brent, I +wish you’d take a squint at this motor; it heats up +and the water boils over.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I think the timer must have been +set by Pee-wee’s watch.” Pretty soon he said he +guessed it was just a short circuit.</p> + +<p>“Anyway, that’s better than a long one,” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon Brent said he thought the coil was +running the battery down. Harry said he didn’t +blame the coil.</p> + +<p>Then Brent said there was a leak of current +somewhere, but that he couldn’t trace it. I said, +“Let one of Eliza’s bloodhounds try; maybe he +can trace it.” He said anyway the battery was +discharging; believe me, if I’d had my way I’d +have discharged the whole engine.</p> + +<p>After a while Brent got it started but he said +it wasn’t running right and he guessed he’d have +to get two new plugs. So then we looked at our +map to find out if there was a village anywhere +near along that road where there might be a garage. +Because Brent said there ought to be more +grease in the differential, too. But mostly, he +said, one of the plugs wouldn’t fire the charge.</p> + +<p>Westy said, “If the plug won’t fire it, why +don’t you get the battery to discharge it?”</p> + +<p>Now when we looked at our map we found +that about half a mile east of that mountain a +road branched off from the road we were on and +went through a place named Barrow’s Homestead. +It didn’t bother to stop at Barrow’s Homestead, +that road didn’t, but it went on and formed +a, you know, a what-do-you-call-it, a <span class='it'>junction</span>, +with the other road three or four miles farther +along. It was just a kind of a loop, that road was, +so as to take in Barrow’s Homestead. Only that +road was pretty rough.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I dare say we can find a young garage +at that place; there are bandits everywhere in +the west. If you say so, I’ll drive along that road +and meet you where the roads join.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I guess that’s the best thing to +do—for the rest of us to keep to the smooth, short +road with the touring cars. When we get to the +junction of the two roads we’ll wait for you there +as long as we think it’s safe to wait. If you don’t +show up by ten o’clock, say, we’ll jog along and +meet you at the Veterans’ Reunion at Grumpy’s +Cross-roads. We don’t want to run any chance +of not getting these people there on time. Uncle +Tom has got to be thrashed this afternoon at any +cost.” Then he asked Uncle Tom if he wanted a +cigarette. That man was awful nice—the man +that played Uncle Tom. He said he had been +thrashed twice a day for three years, except on +Sundays. Harry said it would be a good thing +if that happened to a lot of us fellows, especially +me. Anyway I’d rather be Eliza and be chased +by ferocious bloodhounds. That’s what Mr. +Abbington called them—ferocious.</p> + +<p>Now as soon as it was decided that Brent Gaylong +should drive the van along that other road, +up jumped our young hero and shouted, “I’ll go +with you; maybe they sell ice cream sodas at that +place.”</p> + +<p>As soon as he mentioned ice cream sodas all +the other fellows said they’d go—except I didn’t. +Because I’m not crazy about an ice cream soda. +I like three or four of them though.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, it looks like a mutiny and +I guess we’ll have to lock every one of you in the +van.”</p> + +<p>By that time, Pee-wee was up on the seat of +the van and he shouted, “I wouldn’t mute; I’m +already here and I’m going to stay here!”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Nobody would ever think of the +word mute in connection with you; stay where +you are and we’ll be glad to get rid of you, and +Roy too, if he wants to go.”</p> + +<p>I said, “The pleasure is mine, I go where duty +calls.”</p> + +<p>“You mean you go where ice cream sodas call,” +the kid shouted at me.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, for goodness’ sake, chuck that +bundle inside the van and give me a chance to sit +down, will you?” Because even still he had that +convict’s suit close by him on the seat as if he +was afraid somebody would get it away from +him. “What are you going to do with it?” I +said. “Hang it up in the parlor when you get +home?”</p> + +<p>So then I climbed up and chucked the bundle +into the van through the little window right behind +the seat. Brent sat down between Pee-wee +and me, and thus we started off. That’s a peach +of a word—<span class='it'>thus</span>. For a little way we could look +across to the other road and see the three touring +cars filled with the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people and +the other fellows of my patrol. Mr. Abbington +was sitting with Harry and he looked awful funny +with his high hat on.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden, <span class='it'>good night</span>, that bloodhound +that had been up on the mountain with us came +tearing across from the other road. I guess he +wanted to go with us. He clambered almost up +to the seat and began sniffing around Brent. I +bet he liked him on account of Brent’s being so +crazy about adventures, hey?</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You go back where you belong, +old Snoozer. Who do you think I am? Eliza?”</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Abbington began calling him and +the dog didn’t seem to be able to decide what to +do.</p> + +<p>“I hear you calling me,” Brent said; “go on +back, Snoozer; we’ll see you later.”</p> + +<p>So then the dog went back but I guess he didn’t +want to. Gee whiz, you couldn’t blame him. Because +one thing sure, if you stick to Brent Gaylong +you’re pretty sure to see some fun. Believe +<span class='it'>me</span>, that fellow’s middle name is adventure. +Just you wait and see.</p> + +<h1 id='chXVIII'>CHAPTER XVIII—A SHOWER BATH</h1> + +<p>Brent said, “I bet Brother Abbington will be +pretty hot to-day with that frock coat of his and +that high hat.”</p> + +<p>I said, “It’s going to be a scorcher, all right.”</p> + +<p>“Lucky for me,” he said, “as long as my mackinaw +and my khaki shirt have gone in the good +cause.”</p> + +<p>“You should worry,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“Only I don’t look very presentable,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Don’t you care,” I said; “we won’t meet anybody +along this road.”</p> + +<p>“It’s the least of my troubles,” he said; “what +I’m thinking about is this pesky engine. It jumps +like a bull-frog; I think it’s got the pip.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Some engines have the sleeping +sickness and they won’t go at all.”</p> + +<p>Then we all got to saying how we hoped that +Harry and Rossie and Tom would get the three +cars to Grumpy’s Cross-roads in time so those +actor people could give their show.</p> + +<p>“Even if we’re not with them,” I said.</p> + +<p>“I guess we’ll be able to make connections before +they get there,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, boy, that’ll be some good turn,” Pee-wee +said. “I bet old Grump won’t be mad at the +scouts any more; he’ll see that they’re dauntless +and—something or other.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he’ll see that they’re something or other,” +Brent said. “I never knew a scout that wasn’t +something or other.”</p> + +<p>“He’ll see that they do good turns,” the kid +shouted. Gee whiz, good turns are his favorite +fruit—good turns and doughnuts. Even if he had +a turning lathe he couldn’t turn out any more +good turns.</p> + +<p>Now maybe you know what a tornado is. Anyway, +there wasn’t any that day. So you don’t +need to worry. But all of a sudden dark clouds +came and pretty soon the sky was all black and +the wind was blowing like anything. I guess it +was a cyclone, all right, only it decided not to +come that way on account of the road being so +bad.</p> + +<p>Anyway the wind kept up and blew right in +our faces and after a while Brent said, “Did you +bring those old togs along, kid?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “You mean the convict suit? It’s +in the van.”</p> + +<p>“Well, get me the coat and I’ll slip it on,” +Brent told him. “We may not be able to catch +the convict, but I’m blamed sure I’ll catch cold.”</p> + +<p>So Pee-wee went around and into the van by +the doors in back and got the convict’s jacket. I +guess none of us thought there was anything funny +about Brent wearing it for a little while. Only +I said to him, just joking like, “You wanted to be +a convict, now you’ve got your wish.”</p> + +<p>“If my mother could only see me now,” he +said. “Do I look like a zebra, Pee-wee?”</p> + +<p>We had to laugh, he looked so funny in that +striped jacket; but anyway it was a pretty lonely +road and we weren’t likely to meet anybody.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we began passing houses, and Brent +took the jacket off and threw it back into the van +through the little window in front. In about five +minutes we came to a village. I said, “Go slow +or you’ll run over it.” The village was almose +right underneath the van. The main street of +that village was all black and sticky from tar and +oil that they had been sprinkling on it and pretty +soon we came to the sprinkler, standing still right +in the middle of the road, with a couple of men +near it.</p> + +<p>We had to stop because we couldn’t get past, +so we just sat there on the seat, watching them. +The sprinkler wouldn’t work and they were trying +to fix it. One man was sticking a piece of +wire into all the little holes along the pipe that ran +crossways at the back of the big tank.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “They’ll never fix it that way. +Maybe some of those holes are clogged up, but +not all of them.” Then he called down to the +man and said, “What seems to be the trouble? +Won’t she sprinkle?”</p> + +<p>“Mixture’s too gol darned thick, I reckon,” +one of the men called back.</p> + +<p>“Well, it wouldn’t clog up all the holes,” Brent +said; “probably the feed pipe is clogged up.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Well, I don’t know how we’re +ever going to get at that unless we take the whole +bloomin’ thing apart.”</p> + +<p>Then I heard Brent say, under his breath kind +of, “I could fix that in five minutes.”</p> + +<p>“Then you have to do it,” the kid shouted; +“you have to do a good turn.”</p> + +<p>“Look and see if there isn’t a turn cock on the +feed pipe,” Brent called down; “maybe it joggled +shut. That sometimes happens on an auto.”</p> + +<p>The two men got down under the sprinkler and +began looking and feeling around, but they +couldn’t seem to find anything. After a couple +of minutes Brent climbed down and said, “Let’s +take a look at this.” I guess they could see that +he was a pretty good mechanic, all right. Anyhow +they stepped out of the way and Brent +crawled down under the sprinkler. He lay on his +back part way underneath it and we all watched +him.</p> + +<p>“He’ll find the trouble,” Pee-wee said to the +man; “he’s head of a scout troop, he is, and he’s +resourceful. A scout has got to be resourceful. +Don’t you worry, we’ll do you a good turn, all +right.”</p> + +<p>The men kind of smiled, and one of them said, +“All right, sonny. So yer fer doin’ good turns, +hey?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” Pee-wee said; “that’s one of our rules. +If anybody’s in trouble we’ve got to help them +out—no matter how much trouble it is. You see +a scout can always help you out, because +he’s resourceful.”</p> + +<p>One of those men said, “Oh, that’s it, is it?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” the kid shouted; “all you have to do is +come to us. Even Uncle Sam came to us when +he wanted to sell Liberty Bonds; we helped him +out.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “I bet he was tickled to death.”</p> + +<p>I said to Pee-wee, “Shut up; don’t be shouting +so much about good turns. Actions speak +louder than words.”</p> + +<p>“Words speak loud enough,” the kid yelled.</p> + +<p>“<span class='it'>Good night</span>, you said it,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“Even now we’re doing a good turn,” the kid +shouted; “we’ve got three more autos over on +the other road and we’re taking some Uncle Tom’s +Cabin actors to the Veteran’s Reunion. We +should worry if the railroad trains don’t run.”</p> + +<p>Jimmies, I don’t know how much more he might +have told them, he’s a human billboard for the +Boy Scouts of America, that kid is; but all of a +sudden, <span class='it'>zip goes the fillum</span>, that black tarry stuff +came shooting out from all the holes in the sprinkler +and Brent came crawling out from underneath +it with his trousers and his shirt all black and +sticky and his hair all mucked up with the stuff +and with a big streaky smudge all over his face.</p> + +<p>“<span class='it'>Good night!”</span> I shouted. “What happened?”</p> + +<p>“I found it,” he said; “it had joggled shut, just +as I thought. If you happen to have a few feathers +handy, you can tar and feather me. I did a +good turn, only I didn’t turn over and get out +quick enough.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, that fellow was a sight!</p> + +<h1 id='chXIX'>XIX—BRENT GETS HIS WISH</h1> + +<p>One thing about those men, they weren’t very +good scouts, I’ll say that much. The only good +turn they did was to turn around and drive away. +Maybe the Union wouldn’t let them do good +turns; Unions have got no use for good turns.</p> + +<p>First we decided that we’d stop at the nearest +house, but one thing about scouts, they don’t like +to ask for help unless they have to. But if you +offer them something to eat it’s all right for them +to take it.</p> + +<p>I said to Brent, “Well, you were crazy for an +adventure, now you’ve got one.”</p> + +<p>He said, “I don’t care about such a sticky one. +I’m not exactly what you would call crazy about +tar shower baths.”</p> + +<p>“You’ll have to cut your hair off, that’s one +sure thing,” I told him; “you’ll never be able to +get that stuff out of your hair.”</p> + +<p>“I’d like to sit down, too,” he said; “but if I +did, I could never get up again. I think the sooner +I’m fixed up the better. Let’s run the van alongside +the road and get inside and see what we can +do. Our friend’s suit of clothes is still in there. +After boasting about my dreams of adventure it +seems rather tame to go into somebody’s back +kitchen for repairs. I’m afraid Harry would indulge +in a gentle smile.”</p> + +<p>“He’d indulge in a gentle fit if he saw you now,” +I told him.</p> + +<p>“I say let’s not go to anybody for assistance,” +Pee-wee spoke up. “We can get gasoline out of +the tank, so you can wash the tar off your face, +and I’ve got a folding scissors in my scout knife. +I’ll cut your hair for you.”</p> + +<p>“How would you like to have it cut?” I asked +him, just kidding him.</p> + +<p>“I think I’d like it cut dark,” he said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, we’ll cut it short and then if you +don’t like it we’ll cut it longer.”</p> + +<p>So we decided that we wouldn’t depend on anybody +but would act just the same as if we were +on a desert island where there weren’t any barbers +and bathtubs and things, because Columbus +and Daniel Boone didn’t have barbers and bathtubs +and things.</p> + +<p>“They depended upon their own initials,” Pee-wee +said.</p> + +<p>“You mean initiative,” I told him.</p> + +<p>He said, “What’s the difference?”</p> + +<p>So then I ran the machine over to the side of +the road right close to a kind of a grove and we +got some gas out of the tank and Brent and I +went inside the van. We told Pee-wee to stay +outside so as to keep people from opening the +doors or fooling with the car, because we were +in the village and we thought maybe people would +be hanging around.</p> + +<p>There was only one thing to do with Brent’s +hair, and that was to cut it off, because the tar +was so thick there that the gasoline wouldn’t melt +it. I made a pretty good job of it with the little +folding scissors in Pee-wee’s scout knife. We +managed to get most of the tar off his face with +the gasoline, but it left his face kind of all black +and sooty looking.</p> + +<p>He couldn’t sit down or lean against anything +on account of the tar all over his clothes, so he +took them off and I handed them out to Pee-wee +and told him to throw them in the grove. Then +Brent put on the convict’s suit, and he looked +awful funny in it with his dirty face and his hair +all cut short.</p> + +<p>He said, “At last the dream of my young life +has come true; I am a criminal. The only thing +is I haven’t committed my crime yet.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, you needn’t be in any hurry about +that.”</p> + +<p>He said, “But it seems sort of <span class='it'>false</span> for me to +be wearing a convict’s suit when I haven’t committed +any crime. It seems like deceiving people. +It troubles my conscience. And I haven’t +really escaped either. What would you do if you +were me? I don’t want to disgrace the uniform +I wear. I wish I could think of some nice easy +crime. I feel nice and clean in these things, anyway. +But my conscience is black. Do you suppose +there’s a bank in this burg, and a jail? I was +thinking if I could just let myself down by a rope. +Only it would be just my luck to have a cell on +the ground floor.”</p> + +<p>I said, “The best cell for you is right in this +little old van, at least till we get out of town. +You leave the rope business to Douglas Fairbanks. +If anybody in this place should see you, +<span class='it'>good night</span>, Sister Anne! And it isn’t any joke, +either. Now you’ve got your wish, you’ll see it +isn’t going to be as much fun as you thought it +was.”</p> + +<p>Brent sat down on an old grocery box that we +had inside the van, and, jiminetty, I had to laugh, +he had such a funny way about him. He looked +awful tough, sort of, without his hair. He said, +“Well, I appoint you my keeper. I hope I’m not +such a cheap sort of a criminal as to try to escape +from a delivery van. A stone dungeon or nothing +for me.” Gee whiz, that fellow’s particular.</p> + +<p>Just then the plot grew thicker—oh, <span class='it'>boy</span>! One +of the doors of the van opened and Pee-wee +squeezed in. He had a big piece of paper in his +hand. He said, “I went up the road a little way—shh!”</p> + +<p>I said, “I thought it was kind of quiet outside.”</p> + +<p>He said, “Shh, look at this; it was tacked to a +tree. We’re in desperate peril——”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “In which?”</p> + +<p>“Read this,” the kid whispered. “I didn’t see +it till after I threw the clothes away and they +floated down the brook. Dangers thicken—look +at this.” He got those words out of the movies, +<span class='it'>dangers thicken</span>.</p> + +<p>Brent and I read the printing on the paper and +this is what it said:</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Offered for information leading to the recapture +of Mike Donovan, alias Rinky, escaped from Indiana +State Prison. Was serving term of fifteen years +for burglary and child murder. Slender of stature. +Five feet nine inches in height. Is supposed to have +relations in the east. Age about nineteen. Is known +to be a desperate character, having served terms in +New York and Pennsylvania for burglary and highway +robbery.</p> + +</div> + +<p>There was some more, about who to notify and +all that, but I can’t remember the rest. Brent +took the paper from me and sat there on the +grocery box in the dim light with the doors closed, +reading it. It seemed awfully dark and secret, +kind of, in there.</p> + +<p>He said, “Larceny, child murder, burglary, and +highway robbery. That isn’t so bad, is it? That’s +really more than I expected. I haven’t lived in +vain.”</p> + +<p>“You’ll live in a jail, that’s where you’ll live,” +Pee-wee whispered. “What are we going to do?”</p> + +<p>“You ought to know,” I told him, “a scout is +resourceful.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXX'>CHAPTER XX—WE CONSIDER OUR PREDICAMENT</h1> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em;'>(THAT’S PEE-WEE’S HEADING)</p> + +<p>I said to Brent, “Now you’ve killed a child and +highway-robbed people and broken into houses, +I hope you’re satisfied.”</p> + +<p>“And larcenied,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“Shut up,” I told him; “do you want the whole +town to hear you? It’s bad enough as it is; suppose +somebody should come walking into this +van.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, in that crazy way of his, “Boys, +this is the end of an evil career. This is what +comes of getting mixed up with the boy scouts. +See where it has brought me. Never again will +I do a good turn.”</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“Shh,” I told him; “have a heart. Do you +want to get us all pinched?”</p> + +<p>“It was about the best turn I ever did,” Brent +said; “I turned the stop-cock all the way open. +And here I am a prisoner in a dry goods delivery +van with boy scouts for keepers. I’d be +ashamed to look an honest burglar in the face.” +Honest, that’s just the crazy way he talked. He +said, “Now the question is to escape. I want to +escape in a way that’s full of pep.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “You make me tired. Do you +mean to say that good turns——”</p> + +<p>“Will you shut up about good turns, and +listen?” I said.</p> + +<p>“I mean to say that a good turn is the cause +of my downfall,” Brent said; “and I wish I had +a cigarette. Boys, take a lesson from my terrible +example and don’t ever do a good turn.”</p> + +<p>“What are you talking about?” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“Shh,” I told him; “keep still, will you? The +first merry-go-round you see you can get on it and +do all the good turns you want, only keep still +and give us a chance to see where we’re at, will +you?”</p> + +<p>“It’s printed on the National Headquarters’ +letterheads,” he said, “to do a good turn——”</p> + +<p>“It’s bad advice to give a young boy,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Keep still, you’re worse than he is. +Give me a chance to think, will you?”</p> + +<p>“Roosevelt’s name and Taft’s name are on that +letterhead,” the kid began, “so that shows——”</p> + +<p>“I’m surprised that they should give such advice +to young boys,” Brent said. “I wonder if I +could escape from this van with a file and let +myself down with a rope?” Then he picked up +a can opener and said, “Ha, ha, just the thing.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Will you please keep still a minute, +both of you? Maybe you’ve heard the scout +motto, ‘Be Prepared.’ That’s just as important +as good turns. How are we going to get away +from this town? That’s the question. You and +your crimes, and Pee-wee and his good turns, +make me tired. We’ve got to look facts in the +face.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I’m ashamed to look even a fact +in the face.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I told him, “you’ll be looking a sheriff +in the face if you don’t talk in a whisper, and +maybe you’ll find it isn’t so pleasant being arrested.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I’m not thinking about being arrested, +I’m thinking about escaping.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you can’t escape from a dry goods van,” +I told him.</p> + +<p>He said, awful sad, kind of, “I know it. Oh, +if I were only Eliza and could be pursued by +ferocious bloodhounds.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, you can’t have everything. +You’ve done pretty well so far.”</p> + +<p>“Sure you have,” Pee-wee whispered; “there’s +one of those notices tacked up in the Post Office, +and everybody is talking about that fellow escaping. +I told them that often boy scouts find +missing people. I was telling them about good +turns, and I said we’d be on the lookout.”</p> + +<p>“I hope they won’t look <span class='it'>in</span>” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“What else did you tell them?” I asked him, +good and scared. Because I knew that if our +young hero had been able to round up an audience +in the Post Office, most likely he had given +them the whole history of the Boy Scouts of +America and a lot of other stuff besides.</p> + +<p>“I was telling them about good turns,” he said. +“There was an old lady there and I carried a +big bundle out to her carriage for her.”</p> + +<p>“And that’s all you told them?” I asked him.</p> + +<p>“I told them we were going to the Veterans’ +Reunion at Grumpy’s Cross-roads,” he said.</p> + +<p>I said, “Did anybody ask you any questions?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” he said; “a man asked me if I liked +gumdrops. He gave me a bag of them. Want +one?”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I said, “the best thing for us to do is +to get out of this place as quick as we can. When +we once strike open country, we’ll be all right +and when we meet the rest of the crowd we can +scrape up some civilized duds.”</p> + +<p>“I wonder how I’d look in Brother Abbington’s +plug hat just now,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“You should worry,” I told him; “you look +bad enough already.”</p> + +<p>“Speaking of plug hats,” he said, “don’t forget +we have to get a couple of plugs for the motor. +What place is this, anyway?”</p> + +<p>“It’s the place we were looking for,” Pee-wee +said; “it’s Barrow’s Homestead. There aren’t +any scouts here, but I told the people all about +them. They’re going to start a troop.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, it’s time to start this troop if +we don’t want to get into trouble. This is a pretty +risky business.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXI'>XXI—GETTING STARTED</h1> + +<p>As soon as I heard that Pee-wee had been in +the Post Office talking, I decided that we had better +get away from that place just as soon as we +possibly could, if not sooner. Even Brent said +he guessed the best way to escape was inside the +van; he said it was more comfortable and convenient. +He said the good old times when people +used to escape from towers and be pursued +by ferocious bloodhounds weren’t any more except +in the movies. He said he was discouraged.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, when I looked at him sitting there +on that grocery box with his face all grimy and +his hair cropped and that striped suit on him, I +just had to laugh. I have to admit he’s awful +funny, that fellow is.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, one thing, it’s mighty lucky I +know how to drive a car and I can get us out of +this village. And another thing, it’s mighty lucky +we’re still just where the village begins; if we +weren’t we’d be surrounded. If we can get past +the Post Office, we’re safe.”</p> + +<p>So then Pee-wee and I tore down the signs we +had outside the van about going all the way from +Klucksville to New York, because people would +wonder at fellows our age doing that when there +was no big fellow with us. Safety first, that’s +what I said.</p> + +<p>“If they think we’re only going as far as +Grumpy’s Cross-roads,” I said, “I guess nobody’ll +be suspicious.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Yes, but how about Jolly & Kidder’s +name, and New York printed all over the +sides of the van?”</p> + +<p>“A scout is resourceful,” I told him; “let’s +tear down the canvas from inside and be quick +about it.”</p> + +<p>Now inside that van was lined with canvas +to keep things from getting scratched, I guess. +Brent said it was a padded cell. So we took +that down and tacked it up outside on both +sides so that all the printing was covered. After +we did that we closed the doors of the van and +locked the padlock and Pee-wee took the key. +Brent called out to us that we should take a +lesson by his terrible example. Then we could +hear him kind of muttering, “I will escape; I +will foil you all yet.” Honest, he’s crazy, that +fellow is.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee and I sat down on the back step for +about half a minute to make up our minds what +we should say if any one stopped us and asked us +questions. “Anyway,” he said, “that canvas on the +sides will make people suspicious with no printing +on it.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, we’re not going to print any lies +on it, anyway.”</p> + +<p>He said, “We don’t have to print lies. Truth +is stranger than fiction—that’s what it said in a +movie play I saw.”</p> + +<p>Then, all of a sudden he out with a piece of +chalk that he always carries so as he can make +scout signs and he sprawled all over one side of +the van,</p> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BOY SCOUTS</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>EN ROOT TO SOLDIERS’ REUNION</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'><span class='sc'>Our Mottoes:</span></p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BE PREPARED</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>DO A GOOD TURN DAILY</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>I said, “That isn’t the way to spell en route. +What’s the matter with you?”</p> + +<p>I guess he was thinking about root beer, hey?</p> + +<h1 id='chXXII'>XXII—SILENCE!</h1> + +<p>I said to Pee-wee, “Now all we have to do is +to go straight about our business and keep our +mouths shut and we’ll get out of this burg all +right. Just keep silence. Nobody’s going to stop +us as long as people don’t get suspicious. I can +drive the car till we get out of town and I don’t +think any one will stop me. All <span class='it'>you</span> have to do +is to keep silence.”</p> + +<p>“How long do I have to keep it?” he wanted +to know.</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, keep it till it’s all used up, and then +I’ll give you some more. Believe me, you can’t +have too much of it just now.”</p> + +<p>“We’ll have to use up a lot of it, hey?” he said.</p> + +<p>“More than <span class='it'>you</span> ever used before,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“Anyway,” he said, “an innocent man has nothing +to fear.”</p> + +<p>“You got that out of the movies,” I told him. +“An innocent man with his hair cropped and a +convict suit on has a whole lot to fear.”</p> + +<p>“Innocence is a shield,” he said; “it’s in my +copy book.”</p> + +<p>“Yes?” I said. “Well, an enclosed van is a +better shield.”</p> + +<p>“Our lips will be sealed, hey?” he said. I guess +he got that out of the <span class='it'>Dan Dauntless Series</span>; he +eats those books alive.</p> + +<p>I felt kind of shaky driving that van, but I +knew I had to do it, and if a scout has to do a +thing he does it. Gee whiz, I like things that are +hard—except licorice jaw breakers. You get three +of those for a cent. Even I can eat those if I +have to, but I like marshmallows better. I like +peanut brittle too. But anyway that hasn’t got +anything to do with driving a car.</p> + +<p>For maybe an eighth of a mile there weren’t +any houses, because where we stopped was really +on the edge of the village. Anyway that village +didn’t have much of an edge to it. Pretty soon +the houses began to get near together. I guess +they were always just as near together but they—you +know what I mean.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee didn’t say a word; he just sat straight +up beside me like a little tin soldier. It was a +shame to see him wasting so much silence.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we came to the Post Office. There +were a lot of people standing around the Post +Office and they were talking about the railroad +strike. I knew that if we once got past the Post +Office we’d be all right. Because post offices in +the country are where sheriffs and constables and +other people that haven’t got anything to do hang +out. It wasn’t much of a post office. I guess they +called it a post office because there was a post out +in front of it. There was one of those signs tacked +to that post.</p> + +<p>I said to Pee-wee, “This is a young reviewing +stand. Look straight ahead, keep your mouth +shut, and look kind of careless—you know—carefree.”</p> + +<p><span class='it'>Good night</span>, you should have seen the look he +put on!</p> + +<p>“Is that what you call care free?” I whispered +to him. “You look like an advertisement for +tooth powder.”</p> + +<p>“That’s the scout smile,” he whispered.</p> + +<p>Honest, you’d have laughed to see him; he was +looking straight ahead and grinning all over his +face.</p> + +<p>“Look natural,” I whispered to him. “Look +as if there wasn’t a convict in the van. Look as +if you never saw a convict.”</p> + +<p>“How can any fellow look as if he never saw +a convict?” he whispered. “Most everybody has +never seen a convict.”</p> + +<p>“Well, look like them, then,” I told him. “Look +the same as a person would look if he wasn’t +helping a convict to escape.”</p> + +<p>He put on another kind of a smile and then +he whispered to me, “I bet now those people will +say I’m not helping a convict to escape, hey?”</p> + +<p>“Sure,” I told him; “you look as if you were +on the track of an ice cream soda. Keep still +and the worst will soon be over.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXIII'>XXIII—FIXING IT</h1> + +<p>As we went past the Post Office I felt pretty +shaky, because there were a whole lot of people +there and some of them were women, and there +were a lot of children, too. The women said, +“Isn’t he cute?” They meant Pee-wee.</p> + +<p>Everybody stared at us as we went by, and +read the printing on the van and said how the +boy scouts were all right. It didn’t seem as if +anybody was suspicious at all. Some of them +waved to us and we waved back and I heard a +man say that we were lively youngsters. Gee +whiz, nobody ever accused us of being dead, that’s +one sure thing.</p> + +<p>One lady said how she had seen Pee-wee in +the store and how he had told her all about good +turns. She said it must be great to be a boy. +Gee whiz, she said something that time.</p> + +<p>“Now you see,” Pee-wee whispered; “it’s good +I was in that store. It’s good I told them all +about the scouts, because now they’re not suspicious. +They think it’s all right for kids to be +doing this, because I told them scouts are resourceful.”</p> + +<p>“Did you tell them how we have plenty of initials?” +I asked him.</p> + +<p>“Do you know what safe conduct is?” he asked +me.</p> + +<p>“I know that yours isn’t always safe,” I told +him.</p> + +<p>“It means when a general promises not to interfere +with anybody, even an enemy. He gives +them safe conduct; that means that they can go +ahead and not worry about being pinched, see? +These people gave us safe conduct and they’re +not bothering us, because they know the scouts +are all right. It’s on account of the way I talked +to them. I came along first like a kind of a—you +know—a what-d’ye-call-it——”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know <span class='it'>what</span> to call it,” I said.</p> + +<p>“A herald,” he blurted out.</p> + +<p>“Well,” I said, “you look more like the funny +page in the Journal to me. Don’t talk too loud, +the danger isn’t passed.”</p> + +<p>By that time we had got about fifty yards past +the Post Office and I was feeling kind of nervous, +but just the same I knew the danger was over.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Do you mean to tell me that +those people would let a couple of kids like us +go by driving a big van, and never ask them any +questions, if they didn’t know that we were all +right? I fixed it all right, while you and Brent +were worrying your lives out in the van. Now +we’re safe.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Oh, you’re the little fixer, all right.”</p> + +<p>Just then, <span class='it'>good night</span>, one of those men came +running after us calling, “Hi thar, wait a minute, +you youngsters!”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, a cold shudder ran down my back. +I said, “We’re pinched. I knew it was too good +to be true.”</p> + +<p>I stopped the car and when the man caught up +with us he said, all out of breath, “What’s this +here talk one of you youngsters were givin’ us +’baout good turns? Allus ready ter do a favor, +as I understand?”</p> + +<p>Oh, bibbie, wasn’t I relieved.</p> + +<p>“That’s our middle name,” Pee-wee said.</p> + +<p>“Wall then, haow abaout doin’ one naow?” the +man said.</p> + +<p>By that time there were about a dozen people +standing around in the road and I gave Pee-wee +a nudge and said, “Watch your step; let me do +the talking.”</p> + +<p>But he didn’t pay any attention to me. Off he +went with a lot of stuff out of the handbook and +wound up by saying how scouts were supposed to +help strangers. “Sure, we’ll do anything you +want,” he said; “all you have to do is to ask us.”</p> + +<p>“Wall then,” the man said, “here’s a lot of +folks wantin’ to go to the reunion at the Crossroads +and we was thinkin’ as haow you might +pack ’em inter this here van of yourn as long as +the trains ain’t runnin’.”</p> + +<p><span class='it'>Jumping jiminies!</span> I nearly fell through the +seat.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXIV'>XXIV—SNOOZER SETTLES IT</h1> + +<p>That was a home-run all right I said, all +flabbergasted. “You see, the only trouble is I’m +not an experienced driver and these are—they’re +pretty rough roads—and—eh—”</p> + +<p>“That’s one thing about us,” Pee-wee piped up; +“we’re not as smart as we look. Maybe it seems +as if we could do most anything, but we can’t. +That’s one thing about a scout, he has to admit it +if he doesn’t know everything. He has to—he +has to—eh—he has to safeguard the lives of +others. See? Suppose we ran into a ditch and +upset the car and everybody got killed. They +wouldn’t thank us, would they?”</p> + +<p>One of the ladies said, “Oh, isn’t he just too +funny for anything!”</p> + +<p>The man said, kind of slow and drawly like, +he said, “Wall, yer could drive slow en’ thar +ain’t no ditches.”</p> + +<p>“Even one ditch would be enough,” the kid +said. “Isn’t there just one?”</p> + +<p>Jiminetty, I could hardly keep a straight face. +There were all those people crowding around the +van and saying how nice it would be if we would +take a group to the reunion and how we had +plenty of room. I thought of Brent sitting on the +grocery box inside, and I bet he was laughing.</p> + +<p>I said under my breath to Pee-wee, “All right, +you got us into this with your good turns; now +you can get us out.”</p> + +<p>Then a man said, “A couple of boys who are +going to have an eye out to recapture a convict, +like this here little feller says, they ought to be +smart enough and kind enough, I reckon, to give +some of these here disappointed souls a lift. Jest +you boys open these here doors and let the +youngsters pile in, so they can go see Uncle Tom’s +Cabin.”</p> + +<p>“That—that show isn’t going to be much +good,” Pee-wee said; “and I can tell you one +thing, it’s pretty stuffy in that van. That’s one +thing scouts believe in—fresh air.”</p> + +<p>By that time he was fidgeting around on the +seat and some of the people were laughing and +some of them looked surprised.</p> + +<p>“That’s just it,” Pee-wee said; “if you were +boy scouts and you were going to try to capture a +criminal, you wouldn’t want a lot of children +along, would you? And ladies? Ladies are +a-scared of criminals; gee, I don’t blame them.”</p> + +<p>Somebody said, “Oh, I guess the hounds they +got on the trail will find the convict, all right, so +you boys can jest consider if you’re goin’ to live up +to your words or not ’baout doin’ good turns.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, that was a terrible moment in Pee-wee’s +life. I guess <span class='it'>Dan Dauntless</span> never had so +much to worry about. But that kid has some +sense, anyway, and that’s more than that story +fellow has. In a couple of seconds I noticed that +he was wiping his face with his handkerchief and +I saw that he was getting the key sort of rolled +up in the cloth at the same time. Then he made +believe to put the handkerchief in his back pocket, +but really he dropped it through the little window +into the van. You couldn’t even hear it drop inside.</p> + +<p>Then he said, “The trouble is that this van is +locked and we haven’t got the key.” That kid +would never have said that while he had the key, +because it would have been a lie. And scouts +don’t lie, that’s sure.</p> + +<p>Jiminy, I don’t know what those people +thought; anyway I felt pretty mean. The ladies +said anyway they were just as much obliged to +us. The men looked kind of as if they didn’t +have much use for us, but they didn’t say anything +and I had to admit that Pee-wee had got +away with it all right.</p> + +<p>Then, <span class='it'>good night, Sister Anne</span>, what should +I see but our old college chum Snoozer from the +Uncle Tom’s Cabin show. There he was, right +among all those people, pushing them out of the +way and sniffing around as if he was half crazy. +Pee-wee and I jumped down and pushed past the +people who were all crowding around the back of +the van, and, <span class='it'>good night</span>, there was that pesky +actor dog with his feet on the step, sniffing and +sniffing at the doors and barking and yelping for +all he was worth.</p> + +<p>“Chop down them doors!” I heard a man say. +“That’s somethin’ wrong here. This here dog +is an official bloodhound, and, <span class='it'>by gum</span>, he’s tracked +that thar convict. That chap paid these youngsters +to help him escape, that’s what he has—by +thunder! Somebody get an axe out of the Post +Office and chop down these here doors. Don’t +either one of you youngsters try to run or, by +thunder, you’ll drop in your tracks. Good turns, +eh? So them’s the kind of good turns you do, +hey? Get an axe somebody—quick!”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXV'>XXV—BIG EXCITEMENT AT BARROW’S HOMESTEAD</h1> + +<p>I was kind of excited, but I said to Pee-wee, +“Don’t get scared; all they’ll do is arrest him; +he’ll get off.”</p> + +<p>Then one of the men came up and said to us +awful loud and gruff, “Naow, you kids, aout with +that key, hand it over!”</p> + +<p>I said, “Didn’t you hear my chum say that we +haven’t got the key? It shows you don’t know +much about scouts if you think they lie. If you +want to know where the key is, it’s inside.”</p> + +<p>“Wall then, yer better crawl through that little +winder up thar in front and git it,” he said.</p> + +<p>“I don’t have to get it,” I told him; “go and +get it yourself if you want it. You must have +been reading dime novels if you think that boys +like us help convicts to escape. If you tear down +those doors you’ll put them up again, I’ll tell you +that.”</p> + +<p>Just then along came a man with a brass badge +on about as big as a saucer. I said to Pee-wee, +“Look what he’s hiding.” He had an axe, too. +There were a lot of people crowding all about +him. One of them said, “It’s a pretty desperate +attempt, Constabule.” The man said, “I’ll have +him behind the bars in about a jiffy. These boys +is accessories, that’s what they are.”</p> + +<p>“Accessories are things that come with motor-boats,” +the kid whispered to me.</p> + +<p>I said, “Well, we’re the kind of accessories +that come with motor vans. This is some circus; +Brent will get his wish and go to jail, all right. +There’s no use getting scared.”</p> + +<p>By that time everything was excitement. People +came running out of houses and crowded +around the van and stared at Pee-wee and me. +Gee whiz, I don’t know where all the people came +from. All the while the dog kept clawing at the +doors of the van and barking and yelping. I +wondered how Brent felt inside the van. In about +five minutes the whole town was out, gaping and +talking, all excited.</p> + +<p>The constable said to us, “Naow then, you +youngsters, you been compoundin’ a felony, that’s +what you been doin’. Now who’s inside that van? +Who yer hidin’? Somebody, hey?”</p> + +<p>“I’m not denying anything,” I told him. “All +I say is we didn’t break any law.”</p> + +<p>“Wall, yer admit yer concealin’ somebody in +thar, ain’t yer—huh?” he shouted.</p> + +<p>I said, “I’m not denying it, but I’m not scared +of you.”</p> + +<p>He said, “Yaas? Wall, we’ll soon see. We’ll +have him under lock and key for sartin, if that’s +what he likes.”</p> + +<p>“That’s his favorite pastime,” I said; “you +don’t know him.”</p> + +<p>“Surraound this here wagon, you people,” the +constable said, “and keep a watch on these kids; +they’re pretty slippery.”</p> + +<p>So then the constable and another man began +chopping down the doors. “It’s up to them,” I +said to Pee-wee; “we should worry.”</p> + +<p>“What do you suppose Brent will do?” he said.</p> + +<p>“They’ll lock him up till the whole thing is +explained,” I said; “they won’t take our word for +anything. He’s got troubles of his own at last; +I hope he’s satisfied. He wanted bread and +water, now he’ll get it.”</p> + +<p>“They’ll lock us up, too, won’t they?” the kid +said, good and scared. “That man is keeping his +eye on us.”</p> + +<p>All the while the dog kept yelping and clawing +at the doors and the people crowded closer around +so as to see better. Gee, I felt kind of sorry for +Brent, because I saw he was up against it.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden down came one of the doors +and the bloodhound sprang inside and came out +again. The constable poked his head in and said, +“<span class='it'>Well, I’ll be jiggered!</span>” Pee-wee and I looked +inside and, good night, that van was as empty as an +ice cream soda glass when Pee-wee is through +with it.</p> + +<p>“Well—what—do—you—know—about—that?” +I stammered under my breath to Pee-wee.</p> + +<p>“His dream came true,” Pee-wee whispered to +me; “he kept his vow, he foiled everybody, +he <span class='it'>escaped</span>. He—he—he what-d’ye-call-it—he +hasn’t lived in vain—hey?”</p> + +<p>“He hasn’t lived in the van very long, that’s +sure,” I whispered. “He has put it all over these +people and us too. Can you beat that fellow?”</p> + +<p>“He defied locks and bolts and dungeons like Houdini,” +the kid said. I guess he saw Houdini in the movies.</p> + +<p>“Sure, he’s a real hero at last,” I said; “but +he’s got <span class='it'>me</span> guessing.”</p> + +<p>The constable and a couple of other men were +stamping around inside the van and he called out, +“Thar ain’t no clew here, nothin’ but this here +can opener.” And then he came out with the can +opener in his hand.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I just couldn’t help shouting right +out in front of everybody. I said, “That clew +explains the whole mystery. There was a can of +baked beans in that van, and he must have opened +it and emptied them out and secreted himself in +the empty can. When we threw the can away, +he escaped.”</p> + +<p>The constable said, “What’s all this talk? I +want to know who you kids is, anyway. And I +want ter know what you’re doin’ here, runnin’ +this big van all by yourselves.”</p> + +<p>I said, “I’m Sherlock Nobody Holmes, the boy +detective. This is my trusty pal, Scout Harris. +We’re on our way to kidnap Major Grumpy in this +van and hold him until he gives up one thousand +dollars to the Boy Scouts of America. Can you +tell us where we can buy a couple of spark plugs?”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXVI'>XXVI—TO THE RESCUE</h1> + +<p>All of a sudden the plot grew thicker. I +thought we’d have to thin it with gasoline, it grew +so thick. For a few minutes Pee-wee and I just +stood there wondering what had become of Brent +and laughing at the constable who was holding his +axe in one hand and our can opener in the other, +and all the people stood around staring at us as +if they didn’t know what to make of us.</p> + +<p>The constable said, “I daon’t like the looks uv +this here, I don’t. You allowed there was somebody +in that van. Now whar is he?”</p> + +<p>I said, “I didn’t allow anything, I just didn’t +<span class='it'>deny</span> anything. What’s the use of blaming us +because you half chopped the van to pieces? All +you’ve got is a can opener—we should worry. +You seem to trust the dog; if you want to ask any +questions you’d better ask <span class='it'>him</span>. The only person +he knows how to track is Eliza, because that’s +his business.“</p> + +<p>“He’s on the stage,” Pee-wee piped up.</p> + +<p>“You mean he’s in the van,” I said.</p> + +<p>The constable said, “Wall, I reckon you youngsters’d +better tell yer story ter Justice Cummins. +It’s mighty funny two young boys travelin’ by +theirselves in a big van.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll recount our adventures to him,” Pee-wee +piped up. “Where is he?”</p> + +<p>For about half a minute the constable just stood +there staring at us. I guess he didn’t know what +he’d better do. All the rest of the people stood +around, staring. I guess it was the biggest thing +that ever happened in Barrow’s Homestead. Inside +the van a couple of men were holding the +bloodhound by the collar. Some excitement.</p> + +<p>All of a sudden, zip goes the fillum, along the +road came an auto, pell-mell! It came through +the village from the direction we were going in.</p> + +<p>“Look!” Pee-wee said. “Look who’s in it; it’s +Harry; who’s that with him?”</p> + +<p>Before I had a chance to say anything, the car +was close up to us and Harry and another person +were stepping out. Harry was laughing all over +his face, but he was in a terrible hurry, I could see +that. I gave one look at the person who was with +him and began to roar.</p> + +<p>“It’s—it’s Brent—Gaylong,” Pee-wee whispered.</p> + +<p>I said, “Don’t make me laugh any harder or +I’ll die of shock.”</p> + +<p>Honest, even now when I think of it I have +to laugh. He looked like Charlie Chaplin only +more so. And he had such a funny way about +him too—kind of dignified. He had on a great +big straw hat like a farmer and a black coat like +a minister, only it was all in shreds. It was his +trousers that made him look like Charlie Chaplin. +Laugh! They were about a hundred times +too big and a mile too long, and every time he +took a step he stumbled all over himself and had +to hoist them up. His big hat was pulled way +down over his ears and—oh, I just can’t tell you +about it. He was a scream. And all the while +he had a very dignified, severe look on his face, +even when he tripped all over himself.</p> + +<p>Honest, I just howled. I didn’t hear Pee-wee +laugh; I guess he must have fainted. Harry +came along behind Brent, trying not to laugh but +every time Brent’s feet caught in his trousers I +could see Harry’s face all twisted up just as if he +was trying as hard as he could not to scream. +Every step Brent took I thought he’d go kerflop +on the ground. The people were all giggling, but +he didn’t notice them at all, only kept on looking +very sober and stern—oh, boy, it was a scream.</p> + +<p>He said, “What is all this?” And then he fell +all over himself and gave his trousers a hitch. +“Who is interfering with these boys in the performance +of their duty? Stand back, everybody!” +And he went staggering against a tree and gave +his trousers a good hitch up. “Who is the leader +of this motley throng?” That’s what he said, +and, gee whiz, I thought he’d skid and land on +his head. You couldn’t see his hands, his sleeves +were so long. “Who dares to stand—” he said, +and, good night, he went kerflop on the ground +and got right up again. I had a headache from +laughing.</p> + +<p>Harry Donnelle just sat down on the step of +the van and shook and shook.</p> + +<p>Brent pointed at the sheriff with the floppy end +of his sleeve and said, “You and your minions +are charged with trespassing upon the property +of Jolly & Kidder, Inc., New York. Wait till I +roll up my sleeves so I can point better. Who +<span class='it'>dares</span> to stand in the way of the Boy Scouts of +America?”</p> + +<p>“Thar’s a convict missin’ from araound these +parts,” the constable said; “who are you, anyway, +and your friend thar?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “We represent the Archibald Abbington +Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company who are +touring the country, drawing laughter and tears +with their excruciating and heart-rending drama, +and I am in search of one of our ferocious bloodhounds. +We are in partnership with the Boy +Scouts of America and any one attempting to interfere +with our noble effort to put an end to +slavery will be punished to the full extent of the +law. When we have an opportunity we will endeavor +to find your convict for you. Please stand +aside, everybody, and allow the procession to +pass.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXVII'>CHAPTER XXVII—ANOTHER DISCOVERY</h1> + +<p>Brent stumbled up the step and stood in back +of the van, holding his trousers up with one hand +and waving the other hand in the air.</p> + +<p>“Free ride to the Veterans’ Reunion at +Grumpy’s Cross-roads!” he began shouting. +“Children and veterans free! We take you but do +not bring you back. No connection with criminals +and convicts! Free ride to the carnival. +Veterans welcome! All aboard for the carnival! +Hail to the Grand Army of the Republic and the +Boy Scouts of America. Hurrah for Jolly & +Kidder, New York’s great cash store! Step inside, +veterans!”</p> + +<p>Pretty soon an old man with an old blue army +cap came hobbling out of the crowd, and Harry +helped him up into the van. That was a starter. +Men began bringing boxes from the Post Office +and putting them in the van for seats. Most of +the mothers wouldn’t let their children go because +there wasn’t any way for them to get back, but +the veterans didn’t seem to mind that. We got +three veterans in Barrow’s Homestead and then +started out. I don’t know what the constable +thought, but we should worry about that. All +the people cheered us and gave us a fine send-off. +Pee-wee said they were stricken with remorse—I +guess he got that out of a movie play.</p> + +<p>We stopped for a couple of spark plugs and to +get the timer of the van adjusted, and a lot of +the kids followed us as far as the end of the town.</p> + +<p>Harry drove the van and Brent drove the touring +car, and Pee-wee and I sat with Brent.</p> + +<p>I said, “I wish you’d tell us about your adventures, +you crazy Indian. I thought we were in +for a lot of trouble in that village. You’ve got +me guessing. Anyway you escaped like you said +you were going to do. But I’d like to know where +you came from and where you got that bunch of +rags.”</p> + +<p>He said, “You should never laugh at honest +rags. Beneath these rags beats a noble heart. +Boys, I am sick of crime and I am going to reform.” +That’s just the way he talked, the crazy +Indian. He said, “I have had my fondest wish, +I have been a convict—a villyan. I have languished +in a dark moving van, I have foiled the +shrewdest people in the world, the boy scouts—not. +Would you like to hear the story of my evil +career? I began life as an honest boy. I never +stole but once in my life and that was when I +stole second base in a ball game.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Will you stop your jollying and tell us +what happened?”</p> + +<p>He said, “Posilutely I will. There were two +boy scouts sitting on the step outside the Jolly & +Kidder state prison. I was inside in my convicts’ +stripes.”</p> + +<p>“Were you languishing?” Pee-wee piped up.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “No, I was eating a banana. I +said two scouts, but really it was only about one +and a half. They were supposed to be alert, observant, +resourceful.”</p> + +<p>I said, “That’s right, rub it into us.”</p> + +<p>He said, “While they were arguing on the back +step I stood upon a grocery box and crawled +through the little window in back of the front +seat. I was <span class='it'>free</span>, like Monte Carlo—I mean +Monte Cristo—”</p> + +<p>“You mean Monticello,” I told him.</p> + +<p>“You mean Montenegro,” Pee-wee put in.</p> + +<p>“The world seemed bright and new,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy,” I told him; “go on, where did +you get those clothes?”</p> + +<p>He said, “Shh. Can I count on you never to +breathe a word? The man I got these clothes +from lies dead in yonder swamp.”</p> + +<p>“Who put him there?” Pee-wee wanted to +know.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Shh, I did. The man was innocent. +He was standing in a field beyond the swamp. +He was doing no harm. I approached him, crawling +through the grass.”</p> + +<p>“What was he doing there?” Pee-wee wanted +to know.</p> + +<p>“He was scaring away crows,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“<span class='it'>He was a scarecrow</span>!” I blurted out.</p> + +<p>“A harmless, innocent, hard working scarecrow,” +Brent said. “As I think of it now——”</p> + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-f146.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>BRENT CAPTURED A SCARECROW.</p> +</div> + +<p>“You make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled. “Why +didn’t you say so?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “His trustful, happy, carefree face +haunts me now. He was only scaring away the +crows——”</p> + +<p>“You give me a pain!” the kid shouted. +“You’re crazy.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “But I thought of my dungeon in +the Jolly & Kidder van and of my brutal +keepers, those two boy scouts—asleep on the back +step. I said to myself, ‘I will never return +whither——’”</p> + +<p>“You mean thither,” Pee-wee said.</p> + +<p>“I said to myself, ‘They will have to kill me +to take me alive,’” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“Anyway, you killed him?” I asked him.</p> + +<p>He said, “I killed him in cold blood—anyway +it wasn’t more than lukewarm. I tore him to +pieces and took his clothes and concealed my telltale +convict stripes under a weeping willow. It +was weeping its eyes out.”</p> + +<p>“It’s a wonder it wasn’t laughing,” I told him.</p> + +<p>He said, “The poor fellow was as thin as a +stick; his arms were made of a cross stick, I +think it was a broom stick. He lies under the +marsh grass in yonder swamp. And I am free!”</p> + +<p>“You’re crazy too,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“I said I would escape and I did,” Brent began +to laugh. “I decided that I would escape from +the very people who claim to be the most alert and +wide-awake—the boy scouts. You say I’m crazy. +Very well, even a crazy person can foil the boy +scouts. I suppose that’s what you call logic.”</p> + +<p>“That’s what you call nonsense,” Pee-wee +yelled.</p> + +<p>“I hope you boys had a good nap while I was +escaping,” Brent said. “It was a shame to do it, +it was so easy. I tried to leave good plain footprints, +I did all that an honest convict could to +help you, but in vain. I doubt if the boy scouts +could trail a steam roller. As for the authorities +of Barrow’s Homestead ... but I’ve seen +enough of crime and its evil results.” That’s just +the way he talked. “Henceforth I mean to be +honest.”</p> + +<p>“You’re a nut, that’s what you are!” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent said, awful kind of heroic like, he said, +“Ha! Sayest thou so? Then glance at this paper.”</p> + +<p>I said, “What is it? Where did you get it?”</p> + +<p>“I got it out of the inside pocket of this old +coat,” he said; “and it means mischief. <span class='it'>Shh</span>, no +one has seen it but Harry Domicile; he agrees +with me that it has to do with a dark plot.”</p> + +<p>“You mean you found it in the scarecrow’s +pocket?” Pee-wee asked him, all excited.</p> + +<p>“I found it in the scarecrow’s inside pocket,” +Brent said. “I don’t think the scarecrow knew +it was there. It is very mysterious. I think we +are on the track of a new mystery. That anybody +who wore a black frock coat should have +had such a paper in his possession is very strange. +It is no wonder the crows shunned him.”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXVIII'>CHAPTER XXVIII—A MYSTERIOUS PAPER</h1> + +<p>Brent handed me the paper and Pee-wee nearly +pushed me off the seat sticking his head way over +and trying to read it. I have to admit it was +mighty interesting what was on that paper. The +more Pee-wee stared at it the bigger his eyes got, +and it had <span class='it'>me</span> guessing, too.</p> + +<p>All the while, Brent just sat there driving the +machine as if he wasn’t interested in the paper at +all. He said, “You seem to like it. I pick up +papers like that every day. If you don’t care for +that one, just say so and I’ll dig you up another; +I’ll find you German spy maps, lost patent papers +of wonderful inventions, mortgage papers stolen +by villyans, anything you say; just say the word.”</p> + +<p>“If you don’t care for this one, don’t be afraid to +say so. I know where there are some documents +about a dark anarchist plot. Do you care about +anarchist plots? Some people like them and +others don’t; it’s just a matter of taste.“</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, this will do for me.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, all excited, “Maybe it means millions +of dollars; maybe it means bars of gold. +We’ll solve the mystery, hey?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, just as you say,” Brent said; “you know +my stand on mysteries and adventures; I eat them +raw.”</p> + +<p>That paper was all old and yellow and when +we opened it I had to hold it on my knee, because +it tore where the creases were. I guess maybe +it was as old as ten years. It looked as if it had +been torn out of a memorandum book and the +writing was made with a lead pencil and it was +kind of blurred, but anyway, this is what it +said:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Snake Creek. North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton +Cove, Top of S Cove. Follow line due north +from willow. Cons to west. Stake. Measure +ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line +due NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW +limit, indicated at AN Stake. Follow S line south +to pie.</p> + +</div> + +<p>Pee-wee said, very mysterious like, “What da +you think it is? It tells where there’s buried +treasure, doesn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“Sure it does,” I said. “It sounds just like the +directions in the <span class='it'>Gold Bug</span> by Edgar Allan Poe.”</p> + +<p>“It sounds just like <span class='it'>Treasure Island</span>,” Pee-wee +put in.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, I don’t know. I was thinking +about it and I decided that it’s a bill of fare.”</p> + +<p>“A what?” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“You see it’s got stake and pie on it,” Brent +said.</p> + +<p>“You make me tired!” the kid fairly yelled. +“That paper shows where buried treasure is hidden.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well then, that scarecrow must +have been a pirate in his younger days. He had +an evil past and I’m glad I killed him.”</p> + +<p>“You seem to think it’s a joke,” I said; “but +it tells where there’s buried treasure, that’s one +sure thing. You can’t make anything else out of +it—can you?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Buried treasure’s good enough for +<span class='it'>me</span>—gold or stakes or pies, I don’t care. I’d like +to dig up a few buckwheat cakes just now.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know what you are? Do you know +what you are?” the kid began shouting. “You’re +a Philippine—that’s what you are!”</p> + +<p>I said, “You mean a philistine—that’s a person +that makes fun of things and doesn’t believe anything.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “The only time I ever went after +buried treasure I was <span class='it'>foiled</span> by the boy scouts. +Never again. They wouldn’t chop down a tree +under which the treasure was buried because they +loved trees.”</p> + +<p>“This isn’t under a tree,” Pee-wee said; “it’s +in a cove—on the end of a line due north. That’s +different. That’s always the kind of a place wkere +treasure is—in a cove. You can tell by the names +that there’s treasure there—Snake Creek and +Skeleton Cove and lines due north and willows +and everything. It says <span class='it'>treasure</span>, doesn’t it? +What more do you want?”</p> + +<p>“Only where’s the place?” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“We’ll find it,” Pee-wee said; “we’ll find it if +we, if we—drop in our tracks.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “That’s something I’ve always +longed to do—drop in my tracks. I’d like to be +rescued by a St. Bernard dog.”</p> + +<p>I said, “<span class='it'>Good night</span>, have a heart. There are +dogs enough in this series of thrilling adventures.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well anyway, this is the only story +of adventure that has a scarecrow for a villain. +What d’ye say?”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXIX'>XXIX—THE MYSTERY DEEPENS</h1> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, as long as you like my +little mystery, we might as well take a peep into +it. We may have a couple of hairbreadth escapes, +you never can tell. By rights, we ought to quarrel +over the treasure after we have found it, and +all kill each other. That’s the way they usually +do.”</p> + +<p>“They don’t do that way any more,” Pee-wee +said; “they divide it up.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “No, I insist on quarreling over +it.”</p> + +<p>He folded the paper and put it back in his +pocket. It seemed funny for a paper like that +to be in an old black frock coat like ministers +wear. I had to laugh at Brent on account of the +sober way he tucked it back into the pocket.</p> + +<p>I said, “It’s got <span class='it'>me</span> interested, that’s one sure +thing. But how are we going to find out where +that place is?”</p> + +<p>He said, “Well, the proper way would be for +us just to fit out an expedition and go in search +of it like old what’s-his-name who hunted for +the soda fountain down in Florida.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Ponce de Leon, he hunted for +the Fountain of Youth.”</p> + +<p>“But the best way,” Brent said, “if you’re really +interested, is for us to get hold of a map of the +Ohio River when we hit Indianapolis. We cross +the Ohio at Wheeling and if that old creek is +anywhere in our neighborhood we’ll see if we can +hoe up a few nuggets. That’s the proper thing, +isn’t it—nuggets?”</p> + +<p>“Nuggets and pieces of eight,” Pee-wee said, +very serious.</p> + +<p>Brent said that we had enough on our minds +then, with the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people and +the Veterans’ Reunion, and that we’d better get +along, especially as Harry with the van had almost +caught up to us.</p> + +<p>But one more thing happened before we got +very far from Barrow’s Homestead, and it threw +some light on the mystery—that’s what Pee-wee +said. A man in a pair of overalls came along +the road and Brent stopped to ask him a couple +of questions. While the machine was standing +there, the van passed us. Gee, there were a lot +of people in it and on it and all over.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Do you want us to tow you? +Come on, hurry up, you’ll be late for the show. +We’ve got Sherman’s march through Georgia beat +a hundred ways.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Don’t bother us, we’re chasing +after nuggets.” Then he said to the man, “You +don’t happen to know who owns that land beyond +the marsh down at the other end of town, do +you? Before you get to the Post Office? There’s +a big cornfield there.”</p> + +<p>I whispered to Pee-wee, “Keep your mouth +shut, now, and don’t tell him about good turns.”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Yer mean swamp acres? That’s +part o’ th’ old Deacon Snookbeck place.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Yes. Who’s he?”</p> + +<p>“Wa’l, he ain’t,” the man said, “but he was. +Th’ best thing I can say abaout that ole codger +is, he’s dead.”</p> + +<p>Brent rested his arms on the steering wheel +and talked kind of careless, sort of. He said, “I +was just wondering if the place was for sale. So +he was a queer ole codger, the deacon, hey?”</p> + +<p>The man said, “Yes, en’ more’n that as I’ve +heared tell. I guess young Snookbeck ain’t calc’latin’ +on sellln’ th’ place. I reckon nobody raound +these parts is wantin’ ter buy it, neither. Yer see +thar was a kind of a mystery ’baout ole Ebenezer. +Some folks even say his haouse is haunted by a +chap he murdered. But I reckon he wasn’ as bad +as all that.”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee! He +just sat there staring, his eyes as big as dinner +plates. He didn’t say a word, only just stared.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “House of mystery, hey? The +Frock-coated Villyan! That would be a good +name for a photoplay, huh?”</p> + +<p>That man leaned his elbow on the side of the +car and said, kind of friendly like, as if we were +special friends of his, he said, “Wa’l, ’baout, let’s +see, nigh onter ten year ago, thar was a couple +of young chaps wearin’ khaki like you chaps, come +out this way en they wuz rootin’ raound on th’ +deacon’s farm. They weren’t plantin’, that was +sure; and they weren’t no farm hands. Nobody +seemed jest able ter find out ezactly what they +were, ’cause they never talked ter nobody. Aunt +Josie Anne, daown th’ road a piece, asked one +uv ’em who he thought he was. He said he +thought he was Santa Claus, but he wasn’ sure. +They wuz kind o’ comics, both uv ’em. Wa’l, I +ain’t ashamed ter tell no man who I am.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You’re right,” just sort of to encourage +him to talk.</p> + +<p>The man said, “Wa’l, they stayed at th’ deacon’s +house ’n’ one night they wuz out with a +lantern in the middle of the night, under the big +tree near th’ deacon’s haouse. Steub Berry, he +’laowed they wuz buryin’ treasure thar. Some +folks had it them two strangers wuz Mexican +spies ’n’ others reckoned they wuz army deserters. +Th’ ole deacon, he jes’ laughed and said we +couldn’ guess. He wouldn’ deny nuthin’. All +of a sudden, <span class='it'>ker-bang</span>, they disappeared jes’ like +that ’n’ some folks said th’ deacon murdered both +uv ’em ter git th’ treasure. My wife, she allus had +it, they come off some ranch or other with a lot uv +stealin’s. Wa’l, ’twas a nine days’ wonder ’n arter +that folks kinder fought shy of th’ deacon.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “And he’s dead now?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, deader’n a mummy,” the man said. +“When the world war come some folks said as +haow that pair might a been German spies all th’ +while, kind uv studying ’raound. But young +Snookbeck he says if old Ebenezer had anything +hid it would be in his Bible, en’ ’s long ’s ’tain’t +thar, ’tain’t nowhere. But that’s treasure hid +somewhere, I say, ’cause them wuz mighty funny +doin’s of them strangers. Yer goin’ ter th’ reunion +over t’ ’he Cross-roads?”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXX'>CHAPTER XXX—WE MAKE A PROMISE</h1> + +<p>As soon as we had started, Brent said, “Well, +it doesn’t look half bad, does it?”</p> + +<p>“Do you know who those fellows were? Do +you know who those fellows were?” our young +hero fairly screamed.</p> + +<p>“I think they came from Mars,” Brent said; +“that’s the way it looks to me.”</p> + +<p>I said, “You can joke but it’s pretty serious.”</p> + +<p>“They were <span class='it'>smugglers</span> that’s what they were,” +Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“They were either smugglers or book-agents,” +Brent said. “In either case they deserved to be +murdered. Maybe they were introducing a new +kind of soap——”</p> + +<p>“You make me sick,” Pee-wee yelled; “there’s +treasure somewhere and we’re going to find it! +It’s at HW limit, it said so, HW means something +about <span class='it'>hollow well</span>, I bet you.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Maybe it means hot waffles; +there’s a whole table d’hote dinner in that paper. +Maybe it means Hamburger wheat cakes. Anyway, +the Ohio River is a long way from Barrow’s +Homestead.”</p> + +<p>Then Brent got kind of serious, not <span class='it'>very</span> serious, +but kind of serious—as serious as he could. +And he said we should promise him that we +wouldn’t think any more about that dark, mysterious +paper, or talk about it to the other fellows +until we got all through at Grumpy’s Crossroads +and reached Indianapolis so he could get +hold of a map. Because if we couldn’t find any +stream named Snake Creek running into the Ohio +River, he didn’t want the fellows to be disappointed. +He said there was no use of our going +on a wild goose chase.</p> + +<p>You can bet we kept our promise to Brent, but +I guess Pee-wee didn’t have any more sleep till +we reached Indianapolis. But anyway, he had a +pretty good appetite. He buried some treasure +every night—ice cream sodas at the reunion.</p> + +<p>That’s one thing I like about slavery. Because +if there hadn’t been any slavery there wouldn’t +have been any Civil War, and if there hadn’t been +any Civil War there wouldn’t have been any Veterans’ +Reunion, and if there hadn’t been any Veterans’ +Reunion, there wouldn’t have been any +ice cream sodas there. See?</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I never was in the Civil War, or the +uncivilized war or any other kind, but I got a +black eye once. Anyway, I killed four sodas when +I got to that reunion.</p> + +<p>I did it for my country’s sake.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXI'>CHAPTER XXXI—WE REACH OUR DESTINATION</h1> + +<p>Now maybe you’ll say it was a long time since +we left those other cars and the rest of the fellows, +but it was only about an hour. Only a lot +happened in that hour—it was condensed, like. +That’s the way I like things. Only I don’t like +condensed milk. But I wish they had condensed +ice cream. Pee-wee’s a condensed scout. I’d +like to have condensed lessons, too. Anyway my +sister likes pickles—gee, I hate them. She says +even a postage stamp can stick to its subject better +than I can. I should worry. I told her you +could send an animal by mail, because once I saw +a letter with a seal on it. She’s all the time sending +notes to Harry Donnelle, she is. She gets +awful mad when I jolly her. She plays the mandolin.</p> + +<p>Let’s see, where was I? Oh, yes, now I know. +Pretty soon (she likes bonbons too), pretty soon +the van and our car came to the place where +the two roads what-d’ye-call-it—converge—that +means come together. And, gee whiz, we +had a young reunion right there. Mr. Abbington +was awful nice, but, oh boy, he could +hardly keep that other bloodhound from chewing +Brent all to pieces. I guess he thought he was +a tramp.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me +to introduce the Scarecrow of Barrow’s Homestead. +The only one in captivity. We intend to +exhibit him at the reunion for the small sum of a +dime, ten cents—three cents’ war tax. He used +to be an escaped convict, but now he’s reformed +and he’s a respectable scarecrow, the only real +scarecrow ever exhibited. The crows drop dead +when they see him.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, you ought to have heard Miss +Ophelia and Topsy laugh. Even little Eva, <span class='it'>she</span> +laughed. I guess she forgot that she was going +to die and go to Heaven. Anyway, she was awful +happy. Gee, Brent made them all laugh.</p> + +<p>I bet you think it was a crazy procession that +started off for Grumpy’s Cross-roads, but what +cared we? Gee whiz, if you don’t like it you +know what you can do.</p> + +<p>There was Harry driving the van that was +chock full of veterans, because they had picked +up some along the road, and those veterans +couldn’t even have gone if the railroads had been +running, because they lived too far away from +stations and they had never been to things like +that before.</p> + +<p>Harry made all the Uncle Tom’s Cabin people +wear their costumes and when we got near to +Grumpy’s Cross-roads he had the cruel villyan +stand on top of the van cracking his whip. But +anyway Uncle Tom sat beside me, eating peanuts, +and he should worry. Brent looked awful funny, +driving one of the touring cars, but that only made +it funnier.</p> + +<p>After about two hours more we came to +Grumpy’s Cross-roads. They were pretty cross, +all right, because there was a sign that said:</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;'>AUTOMOBILE LAWS STRICTLY ENFORCED</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you just ought to have seen us. The +big van went first, with the man with the whip up +on top, holding the ferocious bloodhounds. Next +came Rossie’s car full of veterans and then the +other two cars full of those actor people all dressed +up for their play.</p> + +<p>We rolled into the Main Street and a band +that was there, just getting ready to go to the +parade ground, I guess, marched in front of us +and played “Peggy.” Inside of ten seconds there +were people crowding all around us, but Harry +told them to get out of the way, he didn’t care +who they were—constables, sheriffs, judges, or +anything.</p> + +<p>“Where’s the parade ground?” he shouted.</p> + +<p>A man called, “Who are you, anyway? Whar +do you come from?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, it gave me a good thrill when I +heard Harry shout back, “We’re the Boy Scouts +of America, that’s who <span class='it'>we</span> are! Friends and +comrades to the boys who were chased off the +parade ground. And the show opens at 3 P. M. +sharp, so get your tickets and buy your peanuts! +We’re here! And not all the railroads in the +country can stop us. <span class='it'>On the job</span>, that’s our motto! +Get from under if you don’t want to be run down. +There’s only one man in this whole country we’ll +take any orders from and that’s Major Grumpy!”</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXII'>CHAPTER XXXII—SURRENDER AND INDEMNITY</h1> + +<p>Gee whiz, we reminded ourselves of General +Pershing coming home. Just before we drove +into the parade ground, a little fellow about as +big as Pee-wee came running up and called to us. +He was all excited. He shouted, “We read your +signal; we saw it way up on the mountain. People +said it was just the woods on fire but we knew +what it meant; we read it. We’ve got a signaler +in our patrol. But Major Grumpy said it was +just the woods on fire.”</p> + +<p>Harry shouted down to him, “Climb up on the +band wagon and be quick about it if you want to +be in at the finish. Where’s the rest of your +bunch?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “<span class='it'>Troop, not bunch</span>; don’t you +know anything about the scouts?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean gang.”</p> + +<p>That kid said that most of them were peeking +through the fence of the parade grounds, because +they had been chased out. He said one of them +went in to tell Major Grumpy about the smudge +message and that he had been chased out again. +He said they had dandy ice cream cones in there; +he said the ice cream went way down into the +point. Oh, boy, that’s the kind I like. He said +that one of them had enough ice cream in it for +two fellows; gee, I’ve never seen any like that. +But I’ve seen fellows that have room enough for +two cones.</p> + +<p>Poor little kid, he didn’t have any scout suit +or anything—only just a scout hat.</p> + +<p>Harry said, awful nice and friendly sort of, +he said, “Well, you just climb up here. So you +read that message, hey? Well, you and your +outfit are all right, Kiddo.”</p> + +<p>“Not outfit!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Excuse me, I mean sewing circle.”</p> + +<p>I guess that kid thought Harry was crazy; anyway +we don’t need anybody to tell us we’re crazy, +because we admit it.</p> + +<p>That kid said, “Have you got tickets to get +into the grounds?”</p> + +<p>“Tickets?” Harry said. “What do we want +tickets for when we’re going to roll up the parade +ground and take it home with us. Who are you +for? The Grand Army or the Boy Scouts? We +don’t want any hyphens here.”</p> + +<p>Poor little kid, he looked more like a period +than a hyphen. He was kind of scared of Harry, +I guess.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “We’ve got six scouts, about a +dozen veterans, two bloodhounds, nine actors +and one scarecrow. Do you think we’re afraid?”</p> + +<p>“Surrender! That’s what we’re here for,” +Rossie said.</p> + +<p>“Surrender with indemnity,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>Poor little kid, he looked all around from one +of us to another and then kept staring at Brent. +I guess he didn’t know what to make of him. +Maybe he thought Brent was a camouflaged cannon, +hey?</p> + +<p>When we got to the parade ground there were +autos and wagons standing around and lots of +people going in. There was a sign up that said +there wouldn’t be any show on account of the +railroad strike. And there were about a half a dozen +poor little codgers peeking in through cracks in +the fence; honest it made me feel sorry just to +see them. Two or three of them had on scout +hats, but most of them only had scout badges.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, Harry Domicile didn’t care about +anybody; all the people, even the doorkeepers, +began staring at us but he should worry. He +shouted to those kids, “Fall in line, you; reenforcements +are here! Two companies of war-worn +veterans, one Uncle Tom’s Cabin troupe, two +bloodhounds, six boy scouts, and a scarecrow! +Climb aboard. On to victory!”</p> + +<p>“And a popcorn bar!” Pee-wee shouted. Jiminies, +already he had bought one of those sticky +things and he was all gummed up like a piece of +fly-paper. He had to hold one of his hands out +flat with the fingers all apart, it was so sticky. +“We’ll take all the lemonade booths and candy +counters and everything!” he shouted. “We’ll +show no mercy, hey?”</p> + +<p>I said, “Shut up, you Hun! Already that popcorn +bar looks like Rheims Cathedral.”</p> + +<p>He shouted, “I’ve got a chocolate stick, too, +and I’m going to devastate that!”</p> + +<p>Talk about frightfulness!</p> + +<p>I guess those poor little kids thought we were +crazy. Brent stood up on the seat of his car and +made gestures so as his long sleeves flopped every +which way. He shouted, “Every new recruit report +to the commissary general and receive six +rounds of peanuts and three rounds of licorice +jaw-breakers. Step up!”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, you should have seen those veterans +laugh; they just chuckled—you know the way old +men do. One of them said he had fought at +Gettysburg but that he had never seen anything +like this before; oh, boy, didn’t he chuckle!</p> + +<p>I don’t know when Brent got them, but anyway, +he had the pockets of that crazy old coat +full of bags of peanuts, and he handed them +around to all those little fellows. He made those +kids stay in his car, too. They all started eating +peanuts, but just the same they looked sort of +scared, as if they didn’t know what was going to +happen.</p> + +<p>Harry climbed up on top of the van and began +shouting to all of us who were in the touring cars; +gee, but those cars were crowded. About a hundred +people were crowding around us too, just +staring and laughing; you couldn’t blame them. +But what made me laugh most of all was to see +those veterans—<span class='it'>good night!</span> Even when they +were getting wounded in the Civil War, I bet they +didn’t have nearly as much fun.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXIII'>XXXIII—MOBILIZING</h1> + +<p>This is the speech that Harry made to his +troops, because my sister made him write it out +for me, because she said it would go down in history. +Brent Gaylong said he hoped if it went +down it would never come up again. Last term I +passed seventy-two in history, but, gee, I hate +dates—I don’t mean the kind you eat.</p> + +<p>This is the speech that Harry made. He said:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>My brave soldiers:</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Harris will please take the candy out +of his mouth and listen.</p> + +</div> + +<p>“I don’t listen with my mouth,” Pee-wee +shouted.</p> + +<p>“Well then, close it,” I told him, “and listen +to your superior officer.”</p> + +<p>Harry said:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>We are outside the Parade Ground of Grumpy’s +Cross-roads. We are here to demand an unconditional +surrender. A courier will go within under +the protection of a white flag.</p> + +</div> + +<p>“I’ll go, I’ve got some popcorn; that’s white,” +Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>If Major Grumpy refuses our terms, then we +will storm his stronghold with every peanut that we +hold. We shall demand indemnity.</p> + +</div> + +<p>“Demand the territory where the lemonade +counter is,” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Then everybody began hooting and yelling, and +Brent stood up in those crazy old rags and began +flapping his sleeves to keep us quiet and the old +veterans shook—kind of like a Ford car.</p> + +<p>Then Harry read us a note that he said should +be delivered to Major Grumpy in person.</p> + +<p>“I’ll deliver it,” Pee-wee shouted; “I want to +get a frankfurter, anyway.”</p> + +<p>This was the note:</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p class='line'>Major Grumpy, Commanding Officer,</p> +<p class='line'>Veterans’ Reunion:</p> + +<p>You are hereby informed that the allied forces, +consisting of Boy Scouts, Civil War Veterans, +scarecrows, +and scout reinforcements from your own +town, offer you the choice of unconditional surrender +or complete extinction. As hostages we hold Uncle +Tom’s Cabin troupe scheduled to appear at your reunion. +Ten minutes will be given for an answer. +We shall advance against your stronghold immediately.</p> + +</div> + +<p>One of the veterans said it would be better to +say, “I purpose to move immediately against your +works,” because those were the very same words +that General Grant used. So Harry put it that +way.</p> + +<p>Then he said, “Let us have peace,” because +that was what General Grant said, too. Pee-wee +thought he said, “Let’s have a piece,” so he +chucked a licorice jaw-breaker up and it struck +Harry, kerplunk, on the face.</p> + +<p>That was the beginning of hostilities.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee fired the first shot.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXIV'>CHAPTER XXXIV—TR-R-AITORS!</h1> + +<p>That was the only shot in the whole war. It +was a punk war. Harry said, “Let the bloodshed +cease; who’ll volunteer to go in as a courier?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee shouted, “I will.”</p> + +<p>So Harry gave him the note and told him to +stick a white popcorn bar on a stick for a flag of +truce. Honest, if you could have seen that kid +start off with the note in one hand and that popcorn +flag of truce in the other and his mouth all +stuck up with licorice candy, you’d have laughed +till you cried.</p> + +<p>We waited for about ten minutes but still he +didn’t come out, so Harry called for another volunteer +and Westy went in, because he said he +could remember just what was in the note. +<span class='it'>Good night</span>, he didn’t come out again, either.</p> + +<div class='imgcenter '> +<img src='images/illus-f178.jpg' alt='' /> +<p class='caption'>“WE’RE MAKING A DESPERATE CALVARY CHARGE,” SHOUTED PEE-WEE.</p> +</div> + +<p>Harry said, “This is very strange; they’ve either +deserted or they’re being held as prisoners.”</p> + +<p>Then Charlie Seabury said he’d go in, so he +pinned a marshmallow onto his buttonhole and +went through the admission gate. But he didn’t +come back, either.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon five of the fellows had gone in—all +the fellows in my patrol except myself. And +none of them came back. We decided that they +were all being held as prisoners.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “This is not civilized warfare at +all—not to respect a flag of truce.”</p> + +<p>I said, “Gee whiz, I never heard of a fellow +that wouldn’t respect a marshmallow or a popcorn +bar. Even I respect gum drops.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, the only thing to do is to +enter the grounds and seize the rifles in the shooting +gallery. If we can surround the dining pavilion +and seize all the sandwiches, we can cut off +their base of supplies and force a surrender. +What say, comrades?”</p> + +<p>Harry said that was the only thing to do so he +paid fifteen cents admission for all of us on account +of that being civilized warfare. Then we +drove in, and I bet that gatekeeper thought that +we were from an insane asylum, especially when +he took a good look at Brent.</p> + +<p>And, <span class='it'>good night, Sister Anne</span>, excuse me while +I laugh! What do you think we saw when we +got inside that place? About a couple of hundred +feet away was a merry-go-round, and riding +around on it were our young hero and those other +four fellows, and they were all holding on to the +brass rods with one hand and eating frankfurters +with the other.</p> + +<p>“I got the brass ring! I got the brass ring!” +Pee-wee shouted. “I get an extra ridel I’m promoted +from the Infantry, I’m in the Cavalry! +We’re making a desperate cavalry charge!”</p> + +<p>Can you beat that kid?</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXV'>CHAPTER XXXV—PEACE WITH INDEMNITY</h1> + +<p>I said, “We should worry about the cavalry; +the only thing that this cavalry can surround is +the organ on the merry-go-round.”</p> + +<p>“I can surround a frankfurter,” Pee-wee +shouted. Believe me, he could.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “The cavalry will dismount; you’re +all court-martialed and ordered to be shot at sunrise +in the shooting gallery. Fall in line.”</p> + +<p>Jiminies, I had to laugh to see that bunch trotting +along after the autos, all the while munching +frankfurters. I guess we were the craziest looking +parade that ever was; but you can have a lot +of fun being crazy, that’s one thing sure. All the +people stopped what they were doing and followed +after us. Most of the things that they were +doing were eating. I wouldn’t stop doing that +for anybody, I wouldn’t.</p> + +<p>All around were veterans in old blue coats and +they were sitting in groups talking; they were +talking about Gettysburg and Richmond, and General +Grant, and things like that. One of them +was talking about Sugar Loaf Mountain and Pee-wee +kind of slowed up so as he could listen. I +guess he thought it was some kind of candy, hey? +Harry looked around and shouted, “Attention!” +And the kid jumped about a foot in the air.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon we came to a little tent and there +was a sign on it that said, “<span class='it'>Administration Tent</span>.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee shouted, “Go on, till we come to the +commissary tent.”</p> + +<p>I shouted back to him, “You’re a whole commissary +in yourself. You’re a nice looking sight +to demand a surrender. The first thing you want +to seize is a wash basin!”</p> + +<p>Sitting in front of that tent were several veterans +and one of them was kind of cross and +severe looking and he had a bald head. His head +was so bald that I guess he didn’t know where +to stop washing his face. You couldn’t even tell +where his face was unless he put his hat on. He +looked as if he was used to bossing people around. +Anyway, I knew he was a Union soldier, because +he had a telegram in his hand and it said <span class='it'>Western +Union</span> on it.</p> + +<p>We all stopped right in front of the tent and +Harry got down and made a salute; it was awful +funny. He said, “Major Grumpy, I believe?”</p> + +<p>“That is my name, sir,” the old man said, very +stern, kind of like a school principal.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I am Lieutenant Donnelle and +these are my allied forces. We come here under +the protection of a white—eh, a white popcorn +bar. Hold up the popcorn bar, Private Harris.”</p> + +<p>“It’s all gone,” Private Harris piped up.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “I’m very sorry that our flag of +truce has been eaten by one of our starving troopers. +We are here to demand the surrender——”</p> + +<p>“Scouts are supposed to say <span class='it'>please</span>” Will Dawson +piped up.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Right. Scouts are polite even +amid bloodshed and the roar of cannon.”</p> + +<p>Major Grumpy said, “You look as if you had +just taken the city of Frankfort, judging from +your rear guard.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Major Grumpy, your official +report that Uncle Tom’s Cabin will not be given +here to-day is not true; it is a garbled report. +Allow me to tell you that, thanks to the boy scouts +whom you sneer at and evict from your property, +Eliza will be chased as per schedule, Uncle Tom +will be thoroughly beaten, and little Eva will die +and go to heaven as announced.”</p> + +<p>Major Grumpy was kind of surprised. First +he looked us all over, and Brent took off his hat +and flapped his long sleeves at him, awful funny. +Then the major said, “Who put you off this property?”</p> + +<p>Then Harry said, “What you do to a boy scout, +you do to every boy scout in the United States, +including Mars and Grumpy’s Cross-roads and all +outlying sections. When you put these little +townsmen of yours out of that shady grove over +there, you put <span class='it'>us</span> out. Do you know that? Even +Uncle Tom, who gets whipped six times a week, +not including Wednesday and Saturday matinees, +says he never heard of such treatment. You call +the Grand Army a kind of brotherhood, but let +me tell you, Major, that we’ve got that name +<span class='it'>brotherhood</span> copyrighted, all rights reserved. +When you put these little fellows off your land, +you put half a million scouts off your land, and +that’s a bigger army than the Grand Army ever +was.</p> + +<p>“We sent up a signal to say that we were coming +and that message was delivered to you and you +thought it was a lot of nonsense.”</p> + +<p>The major said, “So you were responsible for +that column of smoke, hey?”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “You’re kind of old fashioned, +Major, on signal corps work. That was us, all +right, and these little neighbors of yours gave you +the message and you laughed at them. Well, here +we are with the goods, Little Eva weeping her +eyes out, Topsy ready to cut up, and Simon Legree +with his whip; here we are just as we said +we’d be—Johnny on the spot. We’ve brought +with us every veteran between here and Barrow’s +Homestead and they’re with us to the last ditch. +Field Marshal Gaylong here is feared by every +crow in the west. Now what are you going to do +about it?</p> + +<p>“We purpose, Major, to cut off your base of +supplies; it’s either that or surrender. We want +that shady little grove over there as indemnity. +If we don’t get it we’re going to seize all the ice +cream, all the soda water, all the lemonade, all +the candy, all the popcorn on this bloody battlefield +and starve you out. The Grand Army will +look like Grand Street, New York, when we get +through with it.”</p> + +<p>“And frankfurters too!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>“There won’t be a frankfurter left to tell the +tale,” Harry said; “this peaceful land will run +red with red lemonade. Now what do you say?”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, I wouldn’t accuse Harry of being +a traitor, but just the same I saw him wink at +Major Grumpy, and Major Grumpy began to +smile, and then he offered Harry a cigarette.</p> + +<p>That was giving aid and comfort to the enemy, +all right.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXVI'>CHAPTER XXXVI—SCOUTS ON THE JOB</h1> + +<p>So that shows you how this story has a happy +ending, only that isn’t the end of it. Oh, boy, the +worst is yet to come. A lot of terrible things +happen after a war. Now we come to the reconstruction +period. And, believe me, Major Grumpy +reconstructed his opinion about the scouts. He +said that poor little patrol that was just starting +could have the grove to build a headquarters in +and he gave them some money to build it, too, +He said that before we got there he thought +that smoke away off on the mountain was just a +forest fire, but when he found out that we could +make smoke talk, good night, he was for us, all +right.</p> + +<p>But anyway, he said he liked to hear Pee-wee +talk better. I said, “Yes, but it would be nice +if he’d go off on a lonely mountain and talk, like +the smudge fire.”</p> + +<p>We spent the rest of that day at the Veterans’ +Reunion, and we saw the Uncle Tom’s Cabin +show, too. Only one of the bloodhounds wouldn’t +chase Eliza, and Rossie Bent had to give her a +frankfurter, so he’d chase her.</p> + +<p>Most of the time that we weren’t at the ice +cream counter, we were over in the grove with +those Grumpy’s Cross-roads scouts. They said +they were going to name their patrol the Crows, +after Brent Gaylong. Harry said it would be +better to name it the Hot Dogs, after Pee-wee.</p> + +<p>Once Major Grumpy came over and sat down +on a stump and talked with us and asked us a +lot of questions about the scouts. He told those +little fellows how they ought to build their shack +and he said he’d find a scoutmaster for them. +Most all the veterans came over and visited us, +and we did lots of good turns for them, carrying +their luggage and all like that. One of them was +overcome by the heat but we fixed him up, all +right, with first aid.</p> + +<p>Uncle Tom came over, too, and talked to us +between the shows. He asked us if we could dress +the marks that the ferocious bloodhounds made +on Eliza’s arm. Those marks were painted. He +was awful funny, Uncle Tom was.</p> + +<p>That reunion lasted three days, but we only +stayed one day, because we had to get started for +home. Anyway, I’m glad all the soldiers in the +Civil War didn’t get killed, because you can have +a lot of fun at reunions. One thing I’m sorry for +and that is that I won’t be a kid when the soldiers +who were in the World War are old veterans, +I bet there’ll be a lot of lemonade and things +then, hey? But anyway there’ll be scouts then, +and it will be lucky for them there was a world +war. Anyway, reunions are my favorite outdoor +sports—reunions and hikes.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXVII'>CHAPTER XXXVII—THAT MYSTERIOUS PAPER AGAIN</h1> + +<p>We started away from that reunion at about +five o’clock at night and everybody was sorry to +see us go. Those scouts, and the Uncle Tom’s +Cabin people, and a lot of old veterans, all crowded +around us to say good-by. They said we were +a wide-awake bunch, but if they could have seen +us about four hours later they wouldn’t have said +so.</p> + +<p>We made a camp alongside the road, and I +cooked supper, and then most of us slept in the +van. While we were sitting around our camp-fire, +Brent took out that mysterious paper that +he had found in the scarecrow’s pocket, and he +kind of winked at Harry as if he was going to +spring a great surprise on us. He looked awful +funny in the light of the fire; just like a real live +scarecrow—I mean a dead one.</p> + +<p>He said, “Scouts of the victorious legion, while +we are resting after the bloody battle of Grumpy’s +Cross-roads, I have a dark communication to make +to you. Excuse me while I get in a better light.”</p> + +<p>“I thought you said it was a <span class='it'>dark</span> communication,” +Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Well, it’s a kind of a dim communication. +Only two scouts and our trusty +leader know about it. They have kept their lips +sealed. I wish now, by the light of this camp-fire, +to ask you one and all, if you are ready to +undertake an enterprise that is fraught with mortal +peril?”</p> + +<p>“Is it fraught with anything to eat?” Will Dawson +wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Isn’t mortal peril good enough for you?” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, some fellows are never satisfied.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Comrades, when I put an end to +the career of that miserable scarecrow and, with +a single stroke, made millions of crows happy, +I found in the pocket of his frock-coat a mysterious +paper. More than that, I know who that +frock-coat belonged to before he had it. It belonged +to Deacon Snookbeck of Barrow’s Homestead! +<span class='it'>Ha, ha</span>,—and a couple of <span class='it'>he, he’s</span>!”</p> + +<p>“Read the paper!” they all began shouting,</p> + +<p>He said, “Silence. While traveling with Scout +Harris, and patrol leader Blakeley, I met a +stranger who told us that several years ago Deacon +Snookbeck had two mysterious visitors in his +house. Whether this paper that I am about to +read to you has any connection with those strangers, +I cannot say. I am not skilled in high grade +mysteries, being only a plain, ordinary burglar +and thug——”</p> + +<p>“You larcenied!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> + +<p>Brent put his hand on his forehead and said, +awful funny, “Don’t remind me of my crimes.”</p> + +<p>“Read the paper,” Rossie Bent said.</p> + +<p>So then Brent read the paper, and I have to +admit that it sounded pretty mysterious and I +guess, after all his fooling, that he thought so +himself.</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Snake Creek, North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton +Cove. Top of S Cove. Follow line due north +from willow. Cons to west. Stake. Measure +ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line +due NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW +limit, indicated at AN Stake. Follow S line south +to pie.</p> + +</div> + +<p><span class='it'>Good night</span>, you should have heard the fellows +when he finished reading. I mean you couldn’t +have heard them, because nobody said anything; +they all just sat there gaping.</p> + +<p>Then Brent said, awful funny, he said, “It +seems, scouts, that by following S line south we +shall come to a pie. Whether it is a pumpkin pie +or a mince pie I cannot say——”</p> + +<p>Harry kind of cut him off short and said, +“Brent, putting all fooling aside, now that you +read that paper over, it sounds pretty good to +me.”</p> + +<p>“I was always fond of pie,” Brent said.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, I was always fond of buried +treasure and that paper has the true ring to me, +hanged if it hasn’t. Skeleton Cove sounds as if +it meant business. So does ‘<span class='it'>treasure at HW limit</span>’ +I like the sound of that. I never gave two +thoughts to that paper until just now when you +read it, but I’m hanged if I don’t think it +means something. What do you say, Tom +Slade?”</p> + +<p>Tom said in that slow way of his, “It’s got the +word <span class='it'>treasure</span> in, that’s sure.”</p> + +<p>Then Brent said with a sober face, “As an expert, +Pee-wee, what would <span class='it'>you</span> say? Is a pie a +treasure?”</p> + +<p>“Good night,” I said, “he’s buried enough pies, +he ought to know.”</p> + +<p>“It means buried treasure, that’s what it +means!” Pee-wee shouted. “And I’m with Harry; +I say let’s go and find it.”</p> + +<p>“Where?” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“You said we could get a map,” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>All the fellows were with Harry; they were +just crazy to go after that treasure. Tom Slade +didn’t say much, but he never does. I went around +to the side of the fire where he was sitting and I +said, “You were always so crazy about adventures; +what do you think it means if it doesn’t +mean buried treasure?”</p> + +<p>“I haven’t got anything to say,” he said; “it’s +got the word treasure in it, and that settles it. I +say let’s go, if we can find the place.”</p> + +<p>I shouted, “Tom Slade is with us, he believes +in it. I say let’s go after it.”</p> + +<p>Harry was sitting on the back end of the van, +swinging his legs and looking in the fire. I knew +his thoughts were kind of serious, all right. He’s +crazy about adventures, that fellow is. Brent took +my scout knife and held it between his teeth and +glared into the fire, very fierce and savage, just +like a pirate. He did it to make Harry mad. +But all the fellows were with Harry, anyway, +and they were all crazy about the thing—even I +was crazy.</p> + +<p>Harry said, all the while looking into the fire +kind of dreamy like, he said, “Brent, why may +not this be true?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “You mean the Pirates’ Secret or +the Mystery of the Hidden Pie?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you mind him,” Pee-wee shouted to +Harry; “he’s a Philippine!”</p> + +<p>“That’s just what you are, Brent,” Harry said; +“you’re a Philistine. You have no romance. Just +because you live in the twentieth century you think +nothing can happen. But the world war happened, +didn’t it? You have it from a man you met +that two mysterious strangers visited the old gent +who once owned that coat. You found this paper; +in that coat—didn’t you?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Alas, yes.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Well, you can laugh——”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I’m not laughing, I’m weeping +and gnashing my teeth; that’s true sixteenth century +stuff, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“Well, how do you explain the writing on that +paper, then?” Harry wanted to know.</p> + +<p>“Sure, how do you explain it, then?” Westy +piped up.</p> + +<p>“He <span class='it'>can’t</span> explain it,” Tom Warner shouted.</p> + +<p>“Sure he can’t!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I seem to have an overwhelming +minority.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “You’re always shouting about real +adventures, but when we stumble on the real thing, +when we’re told on black and white to follow a +line due north from willow—what does that say?”</p> + +<p>“It says <span class='it'>follow a line due north from willow</span>,” +Brent said, all the while reading the paper. “It +says <span class='it'>cons to the west</span>. It says <span class='it'>stake</span>; +I don’t know whether it’s a porterhouse or a sirloin. +It may be a Hamburger. It says by following the S +line south we’ll come to the pie.”</p> + +<p>Harry jumped down and looked over Brent’s +shoulder and he said, “What does it say about +the treasure? We’ll find it at HW limit—there +it is on black and white. Boys, we’ll get a map +in Indianapolis and find out where Snake Creek +is if we have to study that map all night. We’re +on the track of pirates’ gold, by thunder! Here’s +a <span class='it'>real adventure</span> handed to us by fate! If old +Grouch Gaylong isn’t with us, we’ll send him +home in a baby carriage, that’s what!”</p> + +<p>Brent said—gee whiz, I had to laugh the way +he said it; he said, “Comrades, I will follow where +you lead. Take me to the treasure and I will dig +it up. But if that scarecrow has deceived me, I +will never trust man again. As a criminal I have +been a failure. I wanted to escape from cruel +jailers, I escaped from two boy scouts. I wanted +to plunge from the window of a dry goods van. +I wanted to kill a fellow being; I murdered a +scarecrow. My life has been a failure.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz; honest I almost felt sorry for him.</p> + +<p>He said, “But I have not lost hope. Boys, I +will go with you. I will follow the line north +from the willow. I will measure ninety-two feet +along something-or-other. I will follow the S +line south to the pie, be it pumpkin, apple or mince. +I will eat the stake. But if I am deceived, if my +hopes are again dashed——”</p> + +<p>“We’ll send you to the insane asylum,” Harry +said; “that’s where you belong.”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “I have always longed to be thrown +into a mad-house.”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, you can’t help laughing at that fellow.</p> + +<h1 id='chXXXVIII'>CHAPTER XXXVIII—THE ONLY WAY</h1> + +<p>The next afternoon we got to Indianapolis and +Harry treated us all to sodas. Then we bought a +map that showed the Ohio River. We made a +camp about ten miles east of Indianapolis and +had a dandy camp-fire. While we were there we +studied the map and, good night, there was Snake +Creek as plain as day running into it from the +north. It ran into it about fifteen miles north of +Wheeling.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “That’s enough for us; the treasure +is ours.”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “I’m sorry now we didn’t get +some more sodas as long as we’re going to be +rich.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Never mind, we’ll have sodas and +ice cream and things in every town between here +and Wheeling; I’ll advance the money. What +are a few dollars against maybe several millions?”</p> + +<p>Pee-wee said, “Sure, and we can afford some +jaw-breakers, too.”</p> + +<p>“All you want,” Harry said.</p> + +<p>“Won’t it spoil our appetites for the pie?” +Brent wanted to know. But just the same he +was interested.</p> + +<p>Now there’s no use telling you about our journey +from Indianapolis to Wheeling—that’s about +eight or nine hundred miles, roughly speaking; +only scouts don’t speak roughly. They have to +be polite. On that journey we passed through +Springfield and Columbus and a lot of other big +places, and all the people stared at us. Every +night we camped in the country, because we didn’t +like staying in cities.</p> + +<p>Gee, I thought we’d never get to Wheeling but +after a few days we got there, and then we put +our machines up to get all greased and have some +repairs made. I don’t mean <span class='it'>us</span>, I mean the machines.</p> + +<p>Then we hired a big launch and started up +the Ohio River. About ten miles up, Snake Creek +flows into it. It flows in through the north shore. +Up Snake Creek about ten miles is Skeleton Cove, +I bet you’re getting awful anxious, hey?</p> + +<p>Harry said, “Boys, the fun isn’t in getting +money; the fun is in finding treasure. Why +wouldn’t it be a good idea to send a couple of +thousand, say, to those little fellows back at +Grumpy’s Cross-roads?”</p> + +<p>“Let’s give five thousand to the Boy Scout +drive,” I said.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “All I want for myself is the pie; +I’m hungry.”</p> + +<p>Now when we got to Skeleton Cove we saw +it was all shady and spooky, like. The water was +black and the place was dark just like a cave. It +was awful still in there. I bet you’re crazy to +know what comes next, hey?</p> + +<p>Over against the shore was the wreck of an +old motor-boat; I guess it got smashed by the +rocks there. We chugged over to where it was +and Tom Slade climbed out and stepped across +it.</p> + +<p>Harry said, “What do you think it means, +Tommy boy?”</p> + +<p>Tom was kneeling on the old deck and looking +over the edge. All of a sudden he said, “Now I +know; I was a fool not to think of it before. The +name of this boat is the <span class='it'>Treasure</span>.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, “What?”</p> + +<p>I said, “What?”</p> + +<p>Will Dawson shouted, “On the level?”</p> + +<p>“On the bow,” Tom said.</p> + +<p>Pee-wee piped up, “What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Dear me; foiled again.”</p> + +<p>Tom said, “Now I know what it means. The +boys from the Geological Survey were here. All +that had me guessing was the word <span class='it'>treasure</span>. A +pie is a topographic mark; it shows where government +land ends. Cons means contours. They +staked their measurings. They were just measuring +this cove and the creek so as to make government +maps. T.W. means tide water.”</p> + +<p>Harry said, awful funny like, “If it wouldn’t +be asking too much, will you please tell me what +it means where it says, ‘Treasure at HW limit +indicated at AN stake.’ Can you answer that?”</p> + +<p>Tom said in that sober way of his, “I think it +means something about this boat, the <span class='it'>Treasure</span> +being at high water limit as indicated at anchorage +stake. I can’t tell just exactly what that +memorandum means, because I never worked in +the survey, but I guess the survey boys weren’t +doing any harm out at Deacon Snookbeck’s. They +were probably lining up the contours on his farm. +Anyway, all they were doing here was taking the +contours and the water lines for the government +maps. The only thing that puzzled me was the +word treasure.”</p> + +<p>“And there is no pie here?” Brent said.</p> + +<p>“A pie is a government mark,” Tom said; “it +means the government owns the land to that point—where +the pie is. See?”</p> + +<p>Oh, boy, Harry didn’t say a word. None of +the rest of us said a word—only Brent.</p> + +<p>He said, “Then I have been deceived by a +scarecrow! This ends my quest of adventure; I +am through. I am going home and to the only +refuge where real adventure can be found—the +movies. I am through with the boy scouts. Perhaps +with William S. Hart or Douglas Fairbanks +I can find the life I crave. There I can find cliffs +to jump off, roofs to leap from, people to +kill who are worthy of being killed—not scarecrows——”</p> + +<p>“And floods to get caught in!” Pee-wee yelled.</p> + +<p>Brent said, “Yes, and jails to escape from——”</p> + +<p>“And ships to get wrecked in!” the kid shouted.</p> + +<p>“I know all about the movies I’ll go with you! +I’ll go with you——”</p> + +<p>Gee whiz, but that kid is a scream.</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;'>THE END</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>This Isn’t All!</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Would you like to know what +became of the good friends you +have made in this book?</p> + +<p>Would you like to read other +stories continuing their adventures +and experiences, or other books +quite as entertaining by the same +author?</p> + +<p>On the <span class='it'>reverse side</span> of the wrapper +which comes with this book, +you will find a wonderful list of +stones which you can buy at the +same store where you got this book.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Don’t throw away the Wrapper</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Use it as a handy analog of the books +you want some day to have. But in +case you do mislay it, write to the +Publishers for a complete catalog.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of “Tom Slade,” “Pee-wee Harris,”</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>“Westy Martin,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Illustrated. Picture Wrappers in Color.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>In the character and adventures of Roy Blakeley are typified +the very essence of Boy life. He is a real boy, as real as +Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. He is the moving spirit of +the troop of Scouts of which he is a member, and the average +boy has to go only a little way in the first book before +Roy is the best friend he ever had, and he is willing to part +with his best treasure to get the next book in the series.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S ADVENTURES IN CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S CAMP ON WHEELS</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S SILVER FOX PATROL</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S MOTOR CARAVAN</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY, LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S BEE-LINE HIKE</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY AT THE HAUNTED CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S FUNNY BONE HIKE</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S TANGLED TRAIL</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY ON THE MOHAWK TRAIL</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S ELASTIC HIKE</p> +<p class='line'>ROY BLAKELEY’S ROUNDABOUT HIKE</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of “Tom Slade,” “Roy Blakeley,”</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>“Westy Martin,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Illustrated. Individual Wrappers in Color.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>All readers of the Tom Slade and the Roy Blakeley +books are acquainted with Pee-wee Harris. These stories +record the true facts concerning his size (what there is of +it) and his heroism (such as it is), his voice, his clothes, +his appetite, his friends, his enemies, his victims. Together +with the thrilling narrative of how he foiled, baffled, circumvented +and triumphed over everything and everybody +(except where he failed) and how even when he failed he +succeeded. The whole recorded in a series of screams and +told with neither muffler nor cut-out.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS ON THE TRAIL.</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS IN CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS IN LUCK</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS F. O. B. BRIDGEBORO</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS FIXER</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS: AS GOOD AS HIS WORD</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS: MAYOR FOR A DAY</p> +<p class='line'>PEE-WEE HARRIS AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>GARRY GRAYSON FOOTBALL STORIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By ELMER A. DAWSON</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Wrapper and Illustration by</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WALTER S. ROGERS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Football followers all over the country will hail with delight +this new and thoroughly up-to-date line of gridiron +tales.</p> + +<p>Garry Grayson is a football fan, first, last, and all the +time. But more than that, he is a wideawake American +boy with a “gang” of chums almost as wideawake as +himself.</p> + +<p>How Garry organized the first football eleven his grammar +school had, how he later played on the High School +team, and what he did on the Prep School gridiron and +elsewhere, is told in a manner to please all readers and +especially those interested in watching a rapid forward +pass, a plucky tackle, or a hot run for a touchdown.</p> + +<p>Good, clean football at its best—and in addition, rattling +stories of mystery and schoolboy rivalries.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON’S HILL STREET ELEVEN;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Football Boys of Lenox.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON AT LENOX HIGH;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Champions of the Football League.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON’S FOOTBALL RIVALS;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Secret of the Stolen Signals.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON SHOWING HIS SPEED;</p> +<p class='line'> or, A Daring Run on the Gridiron.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line'>GARRY GRAYSON AT STANLEY PREP;</p> +<p class='line'> or, The Football Rivals of Riverview.</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE TOM SLADE BOOKS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-left:1em;'>Author of “Roy Blakeley,” “Pee-wee Harris,”</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>“Westy Martin,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Color.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>“Let your boy grow up with Tom Slade,” is a suggestion +which thousands of parents have followed during the past, +with the result that the TOM SLADE BOOKS are the +most popular boys’ books published today. They take Tom +Slade through a series of typical boy adventures through +his tenderfoot days as a scout, through his gallant days as +an American doughboy in France, back to his old patrol +and the old camp ground at Black Lake, and so on.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON MYSTERY TRAIL</p> +<p class='line'>TOM BLADE’S DOUBLE DARE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE PICKS A WINNER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE AT BEAR MOUNTAIN</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE: FOREST RANGER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SLADE IN THE NORTH WOODS</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>Jerry Todd and Poppy Ott Series</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>BY LEO EDWARDS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Hundreds of thousands of boys who laughed until their +sides ached over the weird and wonderful adventures of +Jerry Todd and his gang demanded that Leo Edwards, +the author, give them more books like the Jerry Todd +stories with their belt-bursting laughs and creepy shivers. +So he took Poppy Ott, Jerry Todd’s bosom chum and +created the Poppy Ott Series, and if such a thing could be +possible—they arc even more full of fun and excitement +than the Jerry Todds.</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE POPPY OTT SERIES</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT AND THE STUTTERING PARROT</p> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT AND THE SEVEN LEAGUE STILTS</p> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT AND THE GALLOPING SNAIL</p> +<p class='line'>POPPY OTT’S PEDIGREED PICKLES</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE JERRY TODD BOOKS</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE WHISPERING MUMMY</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE ROSE-COLORED CAT</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE OAK ISLAND TREASURE</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE WALTZING HEN</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE TALKING FROG</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD AND THE PURRING EGG</p> +<p class='line'>JERRY TODD IN THE WHISPERING CAVE</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>Football and Baseball Stories</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself.</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>THE RALPH HENRY BARBOUR BOOKS FOR BOYS</p> + +<p>In these up-to-the-minute, spirited genuine stories of +boy life there is something which will appeal to every boy +with love of manliness, cleanness and sportsmanship +in his heart.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>LEFT END EDWARDS</p> +<p class='line'>LEFT TACKER THAYER</p> +<p class='line'>LEFT GUARD GILBERT</p> +<p class='line'>CENTER RUSH ROWLAND</p> +<p class='line'>FULLBACK FOSTER</p> +<p class='line'>LEFT HALF HARMON</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT END EMERSON</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT GUARD GRANT</p> +<p class='line'>QUARTERBACK BATES</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT TACKLE TODD</p> +<p class='line'>RIGHT HALF ROLLINS</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>THE CHRISTY MATHEWSON BOOKS FOR BOYS</p> + +<p>Every boy wants to know how to play ball in the fairest +and squarest way. These books about boys and baseball +are full of wholesome and manly interest and information.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>PITCHER POLLOCK</p> +<p class='line'>CATCHER CRAIG</p> +<p class='line'>FIRST BASE FAULKNER</p> +<p class='line'>SECOND BASE SLOAN</p> +<p class='line'>PITCHING IN A PINCH</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THIRD BASE THATCHER, By Everett Scott</p> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE FLYAWAYS STORIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By ALICE DALE HARDY</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of The Riddle Club Books</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Jackets and Colored Illustrations by</p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WALTER S. ROGERS</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>A splendid new line of interesting tales for the little +ones, introducing many of the well known characters of +fairyland in a series of novel adventures. The Flyaways +are a happy family and every little girl and boy will want +to know all about them.</p> + +<p>THE FLYAWAYS AND CINDERELLA</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>How the Flyaways went to visit Cinderella only to find that Cinderella’s +Prince had been carried off by the Three Robbers, Rumbo, Hibo and Jobo. +“I’ll rescue him!” cried Pa Flyaway and then set out for the stronghold of +the robbers. A splendid continuation of the original story of Cinderella.</p> + +</div> + +<p>THE FLYAWAYS AND LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>On their way to visit Lillte Red Riding Hood the Flyaways fell in with +Tommy Tucker and The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. They told +Tommy about the Magic Button on Red Riding Hood’s cloak. How the +wicked Wolf stole the Magic Button and how the wolves plotted to eat up +Little Red Riding Hood and all her family, and how the Flyaways and +King Cole lent the wolves flying, makes a story no children will want to miss.</p> + +</div> + +<p>THE FLYAWAYS AND GOLDILOCKS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>The Flyaways wanted to see not only Goldilocks but also the Three +Bears and then took a remarkable journey through the air to do so. Tommy +even rode on a Rocket and met the monstrous Blue Frog. When they +arrived at Goldilock’s house they found that the Three Bears had been there +before them and mussed everything up, mich to Goldilock’s despair. “We +must drive those bears out of the country!” said Pa Flyaway. Then they +journeyed underground to the Yellow Palace, and oh! so many things happened +after that!</p> + +</div> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE TOM SWIFT SERIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By VICTOR APPLETON</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Uniform Style of Binding. Individual Colored Wrappers.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>Every boy possesses some form of inventive genius. +Tom Swift is a bright, ingenious boy and his inventions +and adventures make the most interesting kind of reading.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS</p> +<p class='line'>TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE DON STURDY SERIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By VICTOR APPLETON</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations by</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>WALTER S. ROGERS</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>In company with his uncles, one a mighty hunter and +the other a noted scientist, Don Sturdy travels far and +wide, gaining much useful knowledge and meeting many +thrilling adventures.</p> + +<p>DON STURDY ON THE DESERT OF MYSTERY</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>An engrossing tale of the Sahara Desert, of encounters with +wild animals and crafty Arabs.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY WITH THE BIG SNAKE HUNTERS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>Don’s uncle, the hunter, took an order for some of the biggest +snakes to be found in South America—to be delivered alive!</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY IN THE TOMBS OF GOLD</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>A fascinating tale of exploration and adventure in the Valley +of Kings in Egypt.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY ACROSS THE NORTH POLE</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>A great polar blizzard nearly wrecks the airship of the explorers.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY IN THE LAND OF VOLCANOES</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>An absorbing tale of adventures among the volcanoes of Alaska.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY IN THE PORT OF LOST SHIPS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>This story is just full of exciting and fearful experiences on the sea.</p> + +</div> + +<p>DON STURDY AMONG THE GORILLAS</p> + +<div class='blockquote'> + +<p>A thrilling story of adventure in darkest Africa. Don is +carried over a mighty waterfall into the heart of gorilla land.</p> + +</div> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class='pb'/> + +<div class='lgc'> <!-- rend='center;' --> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;'>THE RADIO BOYS SERIES</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>By ALLEN CHAPMAN</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Author of the “Railroad Series,” Etc.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Individual Colored Wrappers. Illustrated.</p> +<p class='line'> </p> +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>Every Volume Complete in Itself</p> +</div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p>A new series for boys giving full details of radio work, +both in sending and receiving—telling how small and +large amateur sets can be made and operated, and how +some boys got a lot of fun and adventure out of what they +did. Each volume from first to last is so thoroughly fascinating, +so strictly up-to-date and accurate, we feel sure +all lads will peruse them with great delight.</p> + +<p>Each volume has a Foreword by Jack Binns, the well-known +radio expert.</p> + +<div class='literal-container'><div class='literal'> <!-- rend='block;' --> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS’ FIRST WIRELESS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FOREST RANGERS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FLOOD FIGHTERS</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS ON SIGNAL ISLAND</p> +<p class='line'>THE RADIO BOYS IN GOLD VALLEY</p> +</div></div> <!-- end rend --> + +<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP, <span class='it'>Publishers</span>, NEW YORK</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, by +Percy Keese Fitzhugh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN *** + +***** This file should be named 44172-h.htm or 44172-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/7/44172/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark + +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 + www.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 1.F.3. 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 MERCHANTABILITY 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 are 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 information page at www.gutenberg.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. 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 +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +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 www.gutenberg.org/donate + +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: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty 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: + + 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> + <!-- created with fpgen.py 2.26a on 2013-11-13 01:11:33 GMT --> +</html> diff --git a/old/44172-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/44172-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1d2dba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/old/44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg b/old/44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..52d436e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-h/images/illus-f058.jpg diff --git a/old/44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg b/old/44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..33534e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-h/images/illus-f146.jpg diff --git a/old/44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg b/old/44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9783d57 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-h/images/illus-f178.jpg diff --git a/old/44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg b/old/44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7236152 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg diff --git a/old/44172.txt b/old/44172.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb1802d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5045 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, 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 Motor Caravan + +Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh + +Release Date: November 13, 2013 [EBook #44172] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark + + + + +[Illustration: THE MOTOR CARAVAN ON THE WAY.] + + + + + ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN + + BY + + PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of + + TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT, TOM + SLADE AT BLACK LAKE, + ROY BLAKELEY, ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED + + PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF + THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS--NEW YORK + + Made in the United States of America + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY + GROSSET & DUNLAP + + + + + Table of Contents + + I--Some Expedition! + II--Who We All Are + III--Who Is Pee-Wee Harris, and If So, Why? + IV--Pee-Wee's Watch + V--The Caravan + VI--Stranded + VII--A Good Turn + VIII--Grumpy + IX--Military Plans + X--The Signal Corps at Work + XI--A Mysterious Footprint + XII--A Discovery + XIII--Tom Slade, Scout + XIV--Pee-Wee's Goat + XV--The Message + XVI--Brent's Ambition + XVII--A Side Show + XVIII--A Shower Bath + XIX--Brent Gets His Wish + XX--We Consider Our Predicament + XXI--Getting Started + XXII--Silence! + XXIII--Fixing It + XXIV--Snoozer Settles It + XXV--Big Excitement at Barrow's Homestead + XXVI--To the Rescue + XXVII--Another Discovery + XXVIII--A Mysterious Paper + XXIX--The Mystery Deepens + XXX--We Make a Promise + XXXI--We Reach Our Destination + XXXII--Surrender and Indemnity + XXXIII--Mobilizing + XXXIV--Tr-r-aitors! + XXXV--Peace With Indemnity + XXXVI--Scouts on the Job + XXXVII--That Mysterious Paper Again + XXXVIII--The Only Way + + + + + ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN + + + + + CHAPTER I--SOME EXPEDITION! + + +Gee whiz, whenever I see that fellow Harry Domicile, I know there's +going to be a lot of fun. Just the same as I can always tell if we're +going to have mince turnovers for dessert. That's one thing I'm crazy +about--mince turnovers. I can tell when I go through the kitchen if +we're going to have them, because our cook has a kind of a look on her +face. I can eat five of those things at a sitting, but that isn't saying +how many I can eat standing up. Pee-wee Harris can eat seven, even while +he's talking at the same time. Anyway, that hasn't got anything to do +with Harry Donnelle. + +Maybe you're wondering why I named this chapter "Some Expedition." If it +was about Pee-wee Harris, I'd name it "Some _Exhibition_," because that +kid is a regular circus. So now I guess I'll tell you. + +One afternoon I was sitting on the railing of our porch taking a rest +after mowing the lawn. I was thinking how it would be a good idea if +they had lawn mowers that run by gas engines. We've got a great big lawn +at our house. At Doc Carson's house they have a little bit of a +lawn--he's lucky. Gee whiz, you could cut that lawn with a safety razor. + +All of a sudden I saw Harry Donnelle coming up the street. I guess maybe +you know who he is, because we had some adventures with him in other +stories. He's a big fellow, I guess he's about twenty-five. He was a +lieutenant in the war. My sister likes him a lot only she said I mustn't +say so in a story. I should worry about her. He comes up to our house a +lot. Believe me, that fellow's middle name is adventure. He says all his +ancestors were crazy about adventures. He says he wouldn't have any +ancestors unless they were. He says that's why he picked them out. Gee +williger, you ought to hear him jollying Pee-wee. He told Pee-wee that +once he lived in obscurity and Pee-wee wanted to know where that was. +Can you beat that? Harry told him it was in Oregon. Good night! + +So as soon as I saw that fellow coming up across the lawn, I kind of +knew there was going to be something doing. Because only a few days +before that he had told me that maybe he would want my patrol to help +him in a daring exploit. Oh, boy, those are my favorite outdoor +sports--daring exploits. I eat them alive. + +He said, "Hello, kid, I went fishing with Jake Holden last night and we +got into a school of perch." + +I said, "Don't talk about school; this is vacation." + +He had a bundle with some perch in it and he said they were for supper. +So I took them into the kitchen and while I was in there I ate some +icing off a cake. If I had my way cakes would be all icing, but our cook +says you have to have a foundation to put the icing on. Me for the roof. + +When I went back Harry said, "I suppose you kids will be starting for +that old dump up in the Catskills pretty soon." He meant Temple Camp. I +said, "We take our departure in two weeks." + +He said, "Take your which?" + +I said, "Our departure; don't you know what that is?" + +"Well," he said, kind of puzzled like, "I guess I'll have to pike around +and get some assistance somewhere else. I've got a little job on hand +that I thought might interest you and your patrol. Ever hear of the +Junkum Corporation, automobile dealers? They have the agency for the +Kluck car. They're down in New York. It wasn't anything much; just a +little hop, skip, and a jump out west, and back again." + +"In junk cars--I mean Kluck cars?" I blurted out. + +"Mostly junk," he said; "but of course, as long as your plans are +made----" + +"Never you mind about our plans," I told him; "tell me all about it." +Because, gee, I was all excited. + +He said, "Well, there isn't much to it; just a little gypsy and caravan +stuff, as you might say. My sister's husband's brother, Mr. Junkum, is +tearing his hair out and lying awake nights, because he can't get cars +here from the west. He says the customers are standing on line and all +that sort of thing and that everything is clogged up at the other end, +the railroads are all tied up in a knot, the freight is piled up as high +as the Woolworth building and nothing short of a good dose of dynamite +will loosen up the freight congestion out west. If it was a matter of +Ford cars he could get them through by parcel post, but with these big +six cylinder Klucks it's a different proposition. He's got three touring +cars and a big motor van waiting for shipment out in Klucksville, +Missouri, and if he can't make deliveries in a couple of weeks or so his +customers are going to cancel. Poor guy, I'm sorry for him." + +That's just the way Harry talks. He said, "One of those cars, the big +enclosed van, is for Jolly and Kidder's big store in New York." + +"That's where I bought my last scout suit, at Jolly and Kidder's," I +told him. + +Then he said, "Junkum wanted me to see if I couldn't round up two or +three fellows and bang out to Klucksville and bring the cars home under +their own power. I told him the roads were punk and he said it's punk to +have your business canceled, so there you are." + +"Oh, bibbie," I said, "we'd love to do that only we can't run cars on +account of not being old enough." + +Then he said, "I rounded up Tom Slade and he agreed to die for the +cause--said his vacation was at my disposal. He drove a motor truck in +France and he's a bug on good turns. Rossie Bent has promised to run one +of the touring cars, I'm going to run the van myself and that leaves one +touring car. I tried to get Brent Gaylong on the long distance 'phone up +at Newburgh to-day, but he wasn't home--out grouching around, I suppose. +His mother said she'd have him call me up or wire me. All I want now is +a commissary department and I got a kind of a hunch that maybe you kids +could camp in the van and cook for the crowd and make yourselves +generally useful. The way I figure it out by the road map there'll be +long stretches of road where we won't bunk into any towns. I figured on +taking Pee-wee along as a kind of a mascot; you know those little fancy +jim-cracks they put on radiator caps in autos? I thought he could be one +of those, as you might say, and bring us good luck. He'd be a whole +commissary department in himself, I suppose, considering the way he +eats. But if you can't you can't, and that's all there is about it." + +"What do you mean, _we can't_?" I shouted at him. "You make me tired! Do +you suppose Temple Camp is going to run away just because my patrol is a +couple of weeks late getting there? You bet your life we'll go. If you +try to sneak off without us, we'll come after you. We're coming back in +that motor van, so that's settled. I should worry about Temple Camp." + +He just sat there on the railing alongside of me, laughing. + +He said, "I thought it would hit you." + +"Hit me!" I told him. "Believe me, it gave me a knockout blow." + +He said he'd stay to supper so as to talk my mother and father into it, +because they don't care anything about making long trips in motor vans +and things like that, and maybe they'd say I'd better not go. + +But, believe me, Harry Domicile knows how to handle mothers and fathers +all right, especially mothers. So don't you worry, just leave it to him. + +The worst is yet to come. + + + + + II--WHO WE ALL ARE + + +What do you think my father said? He said he wished he was young enough +to go along. Oh, but he's a peach of a father! So is my mother. My +sister Marjorie said she'd like to go too. Harry said that no girls were +allowed. He said that girls were supposed to stay home and receive +picture post-cards. Gee whiz, I'm sorry for them. I'm glad I'm not a +girl. But if I wasn't a boy I'd like to be a girl. + +That night we had our regular troop meeting. Cracky, you can't get that +bunch quiet enough to tell them anything. You know how it sounds in a +graveyard? And you know how it sounds in a saw mill? Well, a graveyard +sounds like a saw mill compared with the noise at one of our meetings. +So I told our scoutmaster, Mr. Ellsworth, that I had something to say +and he said they should let me have the chair. Then they began throwing +chairs at me. It's good he didn't tell them to let me have the floor, or +they'd have ripped that up, I suppose. + +"I'd like to get your ear," I shouted. + +"You'll get our goat if you don't say what you've got to say," Doc +Carson yelled. + +"I'm trying to say it if I can get your ear," I said. + +"You can have anything except my mouth," Pee-wee piped up. Good night, +he needs that. + +Then Mr. Ellsworth got them all quieted down and I told them how Harry +Domicile wanted the Silver Fox Patrol (that's my patrol) to go out west +and how he wanted Pee-wee to go too, even though he was one of the +raving Ravens. I said the reason he wanted Pee-wee to go was so he could +blow up the tires and we wouldn't have to have any pump. Pee-wee likes +auto tires, because they're the same shape as doughnuts--that's what I +told him. + +There's one good thing about our troop and that is that one patrol never +gets jealous of another. If my patrol gets a chance to go somewhere the +other fellows don't get mad, because they get more to eat. Absence makes +the dessert last longer. In our troop each patrol does as it +pleases--united we stand, divided we sprawl. Each patrol always has more +fun than the other patrols. So if everybody has more fun than anybody +else, they ought to be satisfied, I should hope. Pee-wee is in the +Ravens, because he got wished onto them when the troop started, but he +belongs to all three patrols, kind of. That's because one patrol isn't +big enough for him. He spreads out over three. + +So this is the last you'll see of the Ravens and the Elks in this story. +Maybe you'll say thank goodness for that. They went up to Temple Camp. +There were fifty-three troops up there and everybody had more dessert +because Pee-wee wasn't there. So that shows you how my patrol did a good +turn for Temple Camp. Gee whiz, you have to remember to do good turns If +you're a scout. + +Now this story is all about that trip that we made to bring back those +four machines, and believe me, we had some adventures. If you were to +see Jolly and Kidder's big delivery van now, all filled up with bundles +and things C. O. D., you'd never suppose it had a dark past. But, +believe me, that past was darker than the Dark Ages. You learn about the +Dark Ages in the fifth grade--that's Miss Norton's class. She's my +favorite teacher because she has to go to a meeting every afternoon and +she can't keep us in. + +So now I guess I'll start. The next morning who should show up but Brent +Gaylong. He didn't even bother to wire. He said he didn't believe in +telegrams and things like that when it came to adventures. He's awful +funny, that fellow is--kind of sober like. He's head of a troop up in +Newburgh and we met him when we were on a hike once. He can drive a Ford +so easy that you don't know it's moving. He says most of the time it's +_not_ moving. He's crazy about adventures. Good night, when he and Harry +Domicile start talking, we have to laugh. He said he'd do anything +provided we got into trouble. Harry told him there ought to be plenty of +trouble between Missouri and New York. That fellow tries awful hard to +get arrested but he never can. + +Now I'll tell you about the other fellows. Harry was the captain--he had +charge of the whole outfit. I bet Mr. Junkum trusted him a lot. But one +thing, Harry never does anything for money. He says money is no good +except when it's buried in the ground and you go and try to find it. +That's the kind of a fellow he is. He didn't get killed three times in +France. But he came mighty near it. He's got the distinguished service +cross. He lives in Little Valley near Bridgeboro. Bridgeboro is my town. +I don't mean I own it. Harry's got a dandy Cadillac car of his own. He +takes my sister Marjorie out in it. + +There was one other big fellow that went on that trip and that was +Rossie Bent who works in the bank. He got his vacation especially so he +could go. He's got light hair. Often when he sees me he treats me to a +soda. + +Tom Slade went so as to drive the fourth car, and he's a big fellow too, +only you bet your life I'll never call him a big fellow, because before +he went to the war he was in our troop. And even now he's just like one +of us scouts. I guess maybe you know all about him. Believe me, the war +changed him more than it changed the map of Europe. + +That leaves Pee-wee and the rest of the fellows in my patrol. So now +I'll tell you about them. First comes Roy Blakeley (that's me), and I'm +patrol leader. That's what makes me look so sober and worried like. I +have to take strawberry sundaes to build me up, on account of the strain +of managing that bunch. Next comes Westy Martin; he's my special chum. +He's got eleven merit badges. He's awful careful. He does his homework +as soon as he gets home every day, so in case he gets killed it will be +done. I should worry about my homework if I got killed. Next comes Dorry +Benton, only he was in Europe with his mother so he didn't go with us. +If he had gone with us he would have been there. Hunt Manners couldn't +go because his brother was going to be married. The rest of the fellows +were Charlie Seabury and Will Dawson and the Warner twins, Brick and +Slick. They're just the same, only each one of them is smarter than the +other. You can't tell which is which, only one of them likes potatoes +and the other doesn't. That's the way I tell them apart. If I see one of +them eating potatoes I know it's Slick. That leaves only one fellow, and +gee whiz, I'm going to give him a chapter all to himself and I hope +he'll be satisfied. Some day he'll have a whole book to himself, I +suppose. _Good night!_ + + + + + III--WHO IS PEE-WEE HARRIS, AND IF SO, WHY? + + +Anyway Pee-wee Harris _is_, that's one sure thing. His mother calls him +Walter and my sisters call him Walter, but Pee-wee is his regular name. +He's our young hero and some of the fellows call him Peerless Pee-wee, +and some of them call him Speck. + +If all of us fellows were automobiles, Pee-wee would be a Ford. That's +because he's the smallest and he makes the most noise. He eats all his +food running on high. He never has to shift his gears to eat dessert. +Even if it's a tough steak he takes it on high. He's a human cave. He's +about three feet six inches in diameter and his tongue is about six feet +three inches long. He has beautiful brown curly hair and he's just too +cute--that's what everybody says. His nose has got three freckles on it. +He starts on compression. When he gets excited Webster's Dictionary +turns green with envy. + +Now the way it was fixed was that we were all to meet at the Bridgeboro +Station at three o'clock the next day so as to get the three-eighteen +train for New York. Then we were going to go on the Lake Shore Limited +to Klucksville--that's near St. Louis. + +When Pee-wee showed up at the station he looked like the leader of a +brass band. His scout suit was all pressed, his compass was dangling +around his neck, in case the Lake Shore Limited should lose its way, I +suppose, and his scout knife was hanging to his belt. He had his belt-ax +on too. I guess that was so he could chop his way through the forests if +the train got stalled. He had his camera and his air rifle and his swamp +boots and his scout whistle, and he had his duffel bag on the end of his +scout staff. And, oh, boy, he had a new watch. + +I said, "_Good night_, you must have been robbing the church steeple. +Where did you get that young clock? If it only had an electric bulb in +it we could use it for a headlight. Is it supposed to keep time?" + +"It ought to be able to keep a whole lot of time, it's big enough," +Harry said. "Are you going to take it with you or send it by express?" + +I said, "Oh, sure, a big watch like that can keep a lot of time; it +holds about a quart." + +"You make me tired!" Pee-wee shouted. "It's warranted for a year." + +"I bet it takes a year to wind it up," Westy said. + +"Anyway we can drink out of it if we get thirsty," Will Dawson told him. +"It's got a nice spring in it." + +"It doesn't vary a second," Pee-wee shouted. "Look at the clock in the +station; that's Western Union time." + +Gee whiz, but that kid was proud of his new watch. He looked at it about +every ten seconds while we were waiting for the train, and every once in +a while he looked up at the sun. I guess maybe he thought the sun was a +little late, hey? When we got to the city he checked up all the clocks +he saw on the way over to the Grand Central Station, to see if they were +right, and when we were whizzing up along the Hudson on the Lake Shore +Limited he kept a time table in one hand and his watch in the other so +as to find out if we reached Poughkeepsie and Albany on time. + +Just before we all turned in for the night, Harry and Brent Gaylong went +over and sat by him and began jollying him about the watch. The rest of +us sprawled around on the Pullman seats, listening and laughing. Gee +whiz, when Harry and Brent Gaylong get together, _good night_! + +Harry said, "The trouble with those heavy duty watches is they're not +intended for night work. They work all right in the daytime, but you see +at night when they haven't got the sun to go by, they get to +sprinting----" + +"Do you know what kind of a watch this is?" Pee-wee shouted at him. +"It's a scout watch----" + +Brent said in that sober way of his, "That's just the trouble. Those +scout watches go scout-pace. A scout is always ahead of time; so is a +scout watch. If a scout watch is supposed to arrive at three o'clock, it +arrives at two--an hour beforehand. A scout is prompt." + +"Positively," Harry said; "by to-morrow morning that watch will be an +hour ahead of time. It'll beat every other watch by an hour." + +"I bet it's right on the minute to-morrow morning," Pee-wee shouted. +"That's a scout watch; it's advertised in _Boys' Life_. The ad. said it +keeps perfect time." + +"How long have you had it?" Rossie Bent wanted to know. + +"My father gave it to me for a present on account of this trip," the kid +said; "he gave it to me just before I started off." + +"So you haven't had it overnight yet?" Brent asked him. "You don't know +whether it's good at night work or not." + +"They always race in the dark," Harry said; "that's the trouble with +those boy scout watches." + +By this time the colored porter and about half a dozen passengers were +standing around listening and laughing. + +Harry said, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do, Kid. I happen to know +something about those watches and they're not to be trusted. The boy +scout watch is a pile of junk. If that watch isn't at least an hour +ahead of time when we sit down to breakfast to-morrow morning, I'll buy +you the biggest pie they've got in the city of Cleveland. If your watch +is wrong by as much as an hour you'll have to do a good turn between +every two stations we stop at till we get to Chicago. What do you say?" + +"I won't have to worry about any good turns," Pee-wee shot back at him. + +Harry said, "All right, is it a go?" + +"Sure it's a go," the kid shouted. "Mm! Mm! I'll be eating pie all day +to-morrow." + + + + + CHAPTER IV--PEE-WEE'S WATCH + + +I guess Pee-wee dreamed of pie that night. Anyway he didn't wake up very +early in the morning. When the train stopped at Cleveland for eats, he +was dead to the world. The rest of us all went into the railroad station +for breakfast and Harry took a couple of sandwiches and a hard boiled +egg and a bottle of milk back to the train for our young hero when he +should wake up. + +When we were eating breakfast in the station, Harry said, "Well, I see +that none of you kids has ever been out west before. Hadn't we better +set our watches?" + +I looked up at the clock in the station and, _good night_, then I knew +why he and Brent had been jollying Pee-wee the night before. The dock in +the station was an hour behind my watch. + +"Western time, boys," Harry said; "set _your_ watches back." + +"And keep still about it when you go back on the train," Rossie said, +"if you want to see some fun." + +"We've lost an hour," Westy said. + +"Don't you care," Brent said; "don't bother looking for it; we'll find +it coming back." + +Gee whiz, I had to laugh when I thought of Pee-wee lying sound asleep in +his upper berth with his trusty boy scout watch under his pillow. When +we went back on the train all the berths except Pee-wee's were made into +seats. There were only about a half a dozen passengers besides ourselves +in that car, and Harry went around asking them all not to mention to +Pee-wee about western time. + +I guess it was about a half an hour later the kid woke up. He was so +sleepy that he never thought about the time till after he had got washed +and dressed, then he came staggering through the car wanting to know +where we were. The rest of us were all sprawling in the seats and the +passengers were smiling, because I guess they knew what was coming. + +Harry said, "Sit down here and have some breakfast, Kid. We thought we +wouldn't bother you to get up when we stopped in Cleveland. What time +have you got?" + +Pee-wee hauled out his old boy scout turnip and said, "It's half past +nine." + +Harry said, "Oh, not quite as bad as that; boy scouts don't sleep till +half past nine. It's just--let's see--it's just about half past eight." +Then he showed his watch to Pee-wee, kind of careless like. + +By that time we were all crowding around waiting to see the fun and the +passengers were all looking around and kind of smiling. + +Harry said, "Sit down and eat your breakfast, Kid, and don't let that +old piece of junk fool you. What time have you got, Roy?" + +I could hardly keep a straight face, but I said, "About half past +eight." + +"You see, it's just as I told you, Kid," Harry said. "As soon as you go +to sleep those boy scout watches take advantage of you. I wouldn't trust +one of them any more than I'd trust a pickpocket. How about that, +Brent?" + +"Oh, I've met some pretty honest pickpockets," Brent said. "Of course, +some of them are dishonest. But it's the same as it is in every other +business; some are honest and some are not. I've seen some good, honest, +hard working pickpockets. What time is it, Tom Slade?" + +Gee whiz, I was afraid when Tom took out his watch, because he usually +stands up for Pee-wee, and I was afraid he'd let him know. But he just +looked at his watch, very sober, and said, "Pretty nearly twenty minutes +of nine." + +"You all make me sick!" Pee-wee yelled. "You think you're smart, don't +you? You all got together and changed your watches." + +"This is the same watch I always carried," Brent said. + +"I mean you all changed the time," Pee-wee shouted; "you think you can +put one over on me, don't you?" + +"That watch would be all right for a paperweight, Kid," Rossie said, "or +for an anchor when you go fishing." + +"It's all right to keep time, too," the kid shouted. + +"It doesn't _keep_ it, it lets it out," Harry said; "did you have the +cover closed? A whole hour has sneaked away on you." + +"Maybe it leaks a little," Brent said. + +"There may be a short circuit in the minute hand," Harry said. + +"That watch is right!" the kid shouted. "That's a boy scout watch and +it's guaranteed for a year." + +"Well, it's an hour ahead of the game," Harry said. "You ask any one of +these gentlemen the correct time." + +Oh, boy, I had to laugh. Pee-wee went through the aisle holding his +precious old boy scout watch in his hand, asking the different +passengers what time it was. Every single one of them took out his watch +and showed the kid how he was an hour wrong. All of a sudden, in came +the conductor and Harry winked at him and said, "What's the correct +time, Cap?" + +"Eight thirty-eight," the conductor said. + +Harry said, "There you are, Kiddo; what have you got to say now?" + +Gee whiz, the kid didn't have _anything_ to say. He just stood there +gaping at his watch and then staring around and the passengers could +hardly keep straight faces. + +The conductor caught on to the joke and he winked at Harry and said, +"Those toy watches aren't expected to keep time." + +Harry said, "Oh, no, but he'll have a real watch when he grows up. He's +young yet. He can take this one apart and have a lot of fun with the +works." + +"Somebody set this watch ahead--some of you fellows did!" Pee-wee +shouted. "It was right last night. It keeps good time. Somebody played a +trick on me! This is a what-do-you-call-it--a conspiracy. You're all in +it." + +Just then we passed a station and there was a clock in a steeple. Harry +said, "You don't claim that clock in the church steeple is in the +conspiracy, do you? Look at it. _Now_ what have you got to say?" + +Then the conductor put his arm over Pee-wee's shoulder and he said, +"Didn't you ever hear of western time, son? The next time you're +traveling west you just drop an hour at Cleveland station and you'll +find it waiting there for you when you come back." + +"Sure," I told him; "did you notice that big box on the platform? That's +where they keep them. It's all full of hours." + +The kid just stood there, staring. I guess he didn't know _what_ to +believe. + +"Set your watch back an hour and don't let them fool you," the conductor +said, and then he began laughing. + +"And remember that western time is different from eastern time," Rossie +said. + +"Oh, sure, everything is different out west," Harry put in. "I like the +western time better." + +"Eastern time is good enough for me," Brent said; "I always preferred +it." + +"And if you should ever happen to be crossing the Pacific Ocean on any +of your wild adventures, Kid," Harry said, "don't forget to set your +watch back one day when you cross the equator." + +"If it's one day I wouldn't have to set it back at all," Pee-wee said. +"Three o'clock to-day is the same as three o'clock yesterday." + +"It would be better to set it back and be sure," Harry said. + +"Oh, yes, safety first," Brent said; "there might be a slight +difference. One three o'clock might look like another, but there's a +difference." + +"How do you know when you cross the equator?" I asked Harry. + +He said, "You can tell by the bump. Sometimes the ship just glides over +it easily and you can't tell at all unless you look." + +"It's best to shift gears going over the equator," Brent said; "go into +second and stay in second till you get up the hill." + +"What hill?" Pee-wee wanted to know. "You make me sick; there aren't any +hills on the ocean." + +"That's where you're wrong," Rossie Brent said. "If you go to Coney +Island and watch a ship coming toward you from way out on the ocean, you +see the top of the masts first, don't you? Then after a while you see +the whole ship. That's because it's coming up hill. See?" + +"You should worry about hills, Kid," I said; "go ahead and eat your +breakfast." + + + + + V--THE CARAVAN + + +I guess by now you must think we're all crazy; I should worry. I just +thought I'd tell you that about Pee-wee's watch because, gee, it had us +all laughing. So already you've lost an hour reading this story; don't +you care. + +Now we didn't have any more adventures on that trip. We didn't do much +except eat and, gee whiz, you wouldn't call that having adventures. Late +that night we got to Klucksville and we stayed at the hotel till +morning. They have dandy wheat cakes at that hotel. And syrup, _mm_, +_mm_! Then we went to the auto works and the four cars were all ready +for us, because Mr. Junkum had sent a telegram to say we were coming. + +Oh, boy, you should have seen that big van, a regular gypsy wagon. On +the outside was painted, + + JOLLY & KIDDER + THE MAMMOTH STORE + EVERYTHING FOR THE HOME + +It was all enclosed and there was an electric light inside and steps to +go up to it and everything. There were kind of lockers inside too; I +guess they were for small bundles, hey? The kind that mothers buy and +then send back again, because they don't fit. + +Gee whiz, there wasn't much to see in Klucksville. We could have brought +the whole town home with us in the van if we had wanted to,--all except +the auto works. We didn't waste much time there because Harry wanted to +get an early start and go as far as we could the first day. But anyway, +we stopped long enough in the village to have a man print a big sign on +canvas that we tacked on the van. It said, + + MISSOURI TO NEW YORK + SHOULD WORRY ABOUT RAILROADS + BOY SCOUTS ON THE JOB! + WE WORK WHILE OTHERS LOAF + BE PREPARED + +Besides that we bought three straw mattresses and an oil stove and some +canned stuff. We didn't need to buy much except food, because we had a +lot of camping stuff along. We got cans of beans and soup and tuna fish +and some egg powder and Indian meal, because I can make lots of things +with that. Gee whiz, I can't tell you all the stuff we bought, but if +you watch us you'll see us eating it. Believe me, we ate everything +except the straw mattresses. Harry said the Kluck was a pretty good car +for eating up the miles, but believe me, it hasn't got anything on us +when it comes to eating. + +Now this is the way we started. First was a touring car with Tom Slade +driving it. He's awful sober, kind of. But you can have a lot of fun +with him. He has no use for candy, but he's got a lot of sense about +other things. I can always make him laugh--leave it to me. Next came +another touring car with Rossie Bent driving it. He had a pasteboard +sign on his and it said, + + WE'RE FROM MISSOURI, + WE'LL SHOW YOU + +Next came Brent Gaylong in the other touring car and he had a pasteboard +sign that said, + + YOU'RE IN LUCK + IF YOU GET A KLUCK + ----- + FROM THE WOOLLY WEST + ----- + BOUND FOR LITTLE OLD NEW YORK; + +After that came the big van with Harry driving it. + +Now we fellows were supposed to live in the van, but we didn't do much +except sleep in it. Most of the time we were riding in the different +cars. A lot of the time I sat with Tom Slade. Mostly the Warner twins +rode in the car with Rossie Bent. Charlie Seabury and Westy were in +Brent Gaylong's car a lot of the time. Will Dawson got sleepy a lot so +he was in the van mostly. Pee-wee rode in all the different cars at +once, but most of the time in the van, on account of that being the +commissary department. Wherever you see a commissary department, look +for Pee-wee. Commissary is his middle name. Sometimes he was up on top +of the van dancing around. He's awful light on his feet. He came near +lighting on his head a couple of times. + +So now I'm going to tell you about that trip. + + + + + VI--STRANDED + + +I guess you'll say this story is a lot of nonsense, but anyway, those +big fellows were worse than the rest of us. Harry said it didn't make +any difference if we were foolish, because even a dollar hasn't as much +cents as it used to have--that's a joke. Anyway Harry had plenty of +dollars that Mr. Junkum gave him for expenses. He told us the people who +were buying the cars paid part of the money. And anyway, my patrol saved +them some money on account of knowing all about camping and cooking and +all that. Harry said it was more fun than if we stayed at hotels all the +time. Gee whiz, I hate hotels--hotels and spinach. But once I went to a +peach of a fire when a hotel burned down. That's one good thing about +hotels, anyway. + +Now about noontime that day the road crossed the railroad station at a +place called Squash Centre. It crosses it there every day, I guess, +Sundays and holidays and all. Anyway, it crossed it there that day. +Pee-wee was sitting on the seat beside Harry and he shouted, "Squash +Centre; I like pumpkin better." As soon as he saw the word squash right +away he thought about pie. + +There were only about six houses there and the railroad station. On the +platform were a lot of funny looking people and they had a couple of big +dogs tied by ropes. They had a lot of boxes and bags and things standing +around them on the platform. Most of the squashes of Squash Centre were +standing around a little way off laughing at them. The man that was +holding the dogs had on a long black coat and a high hat and he needed +to be shaved. His coat didn't have any cloth on the buttons. He had long +hair sticking out from under his hat. + +Harry said, "Well, well, we sure are out west. Here's poor old Uncle +Tom's Cabin, bag and baggage." Then he called down to the man with the +black coat and said, "How about you, old top? Stranded?" + +Then all the squashes of Squash Centre set up a howl. + +The man said, very dignified like, "Thank you, for your inquiry, young +sir, and might I ask if you came through Jones' Junction? Are there any +trains running?" + +By that time our whole caravan had stopped and all the squashes got +around and began staring at us. + +Harry said, "I don't believe there are any trains except eastern trains. +I don't believe there's anything that stops this side of Indianapolis. +How far are you going? What's the matter, didn't you hit it right among +the squashes?" + +The man said, "The squashes are without art or patriotism. I thank you +for your information, sir. We are both stalled and stranded. We have +neither a train to travel on nor money to travel on it if we had. Our +friends have not welcomed us as we hoped they would. We have a promising +engagement at Grumpy's Cross-roads some hundred miles distant, where we +are under contract with Major Hezekiah Grumpy to give six performances +at the Grand Army reunion there. Major Grumpy, sir, fought bravely to +stamp out the evil which our play depicts with such pathos." That was +just the way he talked. + +Harry said, "So they are having a reunion at Grumpy's Cross-roads, are +they?" + +"A very magnificent affair, sir," that's just what the man said, "and +the major has contracted with us for the presentation of our heart +stirring drama with the view of having the dramatic part of the +celebration appropriate." + +Geewhiz, it was awful funny to hear him talk. + + + + + VII--A GOOD TURN + + +That man's name was Archibald Abbington, and he talked dandy, just as if +he had learned it out of a book. One of those other people told us that +his right name was Henry Flynn. I felt sorry for them, that's one sure +thing. And, oh, boy, but those were two peachy dogs they had. The thing +those dogs did mostly was to chase Eliza. Miss Le Farge, she was the one +that played Eliza. They never let anybody feed the dogs except her, so +they'd be sure to chase her. + +Harry said, "Why don't you let them chase some of these squashes away? +They stand around gaping just as if they never saw a human being before. +How far is Grumpy's Cross-roads anyway?" + +Mr. Abbington said, "It's a matter of a hundred miles or thereabout." +Gee, he was crazy about that word _thereabout_. Then he said that they +had a contract with Major Grumpy to give their first performance the +next afternoon at the Grand Army reunion, but he didn't know what they +would do because they were stranded. + +Harry was awful nice to him. He said, "Well, it looks as if you were in +a kind of a tight place, Archy, and I wish we could help you out. We're +reproducing the good old times, too, as you might say, with our overland +caravan. These are boy scouts who are taking care of our commissary +department and this is their gallant leader, Roy Blakeley. How about it, +Roy? Do you think we could squeeze in a good turn, just to vary the +monotony? You're the boss of that end of the outfit. It would mean +driving all night instead of stopping to camp as we meant to do. Let's +look on the map and see where Grumpy's Cross-roads is, anyway." + +I said, "The more the merrier; I don't care where it is or how long it +takes us to get there. We'll take you. That's our middle name, doing +good turns." + +"We give shows ourselves sometimes," Pee-wee said. "We have a movie +apparatus and we give movie shows. But one thing, we've never been +stranded." + +Brent said in that funny way of his, "But we hope to be, sometime; we +can't expect to have everything at once." + +Mr. Abbington said, awful dignified like, "We have been stranded many +times, sir. I can assure you it is not pleasant, especially when one of +our company is ill." + +Gee whiz, I could see plain enough that one of them wasn't feeling good; +that was the one they called Miss De Voil--she played Topsy. Maybe the +squashes disagreed with her, hey? + +Harry said, "Well, it's up to you kids, Roy. Grumpy's Cross-roads is +east, so it isn't exactly out of our way, only we'll have to hit into a +pretty punk road and there'll be no sleeping around the camp-fire +to-night. What do you say?" + +Mr. Abbington and all the rest of those people looked at us kids awful +anxious, sort of. Gee, it made me feel sorry for them. All of a sudden +Pee-wee piped up. He said, "Camp-fires aren't the principal things in +scouting; good turns come first. Anyway, once I heard that actors always +help each other and maybe, kind of, you might say we're actors, because +sometimes we give shows." + +Mr. Abbington said, "I am delighted to hear that, my young friend. Let +me ask you what you have played." + +"He plays the harmonica when nobody stops him," Westy said. + +I said, "Oh, sure, he's a peachy actor; he plays dominoes and tennis and +tiddle-de-winks. The most stirring part he ever plays is when he stirs +his coffee." + +Miss Le Farge said to another one of those ladies, "Oh, isn't he just +too cute?" + +So then we helped them get all their stuff into the van. They had a tent +and a lot of other things. Harry whispered to me that he guessed they +hadn't had any supper and he said he was afraid if we didn't give them +something to eat the man that played the slave driver wouldn't have +strength enough to whip Uncle Tom the next afternoon. Brent said maybe +even Uncle Tom wouldn't have strength enough to stand up and be whipped. +He said, "We'd better feed them up." + +So we made a fire in the grove right alongside the road so as not to +interfere with Miss De Voil, who was lying on one of the mattresses in +the van. We told the ladies that they could have the van all to +themselves that night so they could get good and rested. I fried some +bacon for them and heated some beans and we got water out of the +railroad station. + +Gee whiz, the water was the only thing about that railroad that was +running. + + + + + VIII--GRUMPY + + +We ran the cars all that night so as to get those people to Grumpy's +Cross-roads in the morning. The ladies slept in the van, all except one; +she was the one that played Aunt Ophelia. In the play she had to be +strict, like a school teacher kind of, with Topsy. But when she wasn't +in the play she was awful nice. She sat up all night in Rossie Bent's +car, because she said she liked the fresh air. Mr. Abbington and Harry +sat together outside the van. I didn't get sleepy much. The rest of the +fellows sprawled in Tom Slade's car and Brent Gaylong's car, and were +dead to the world. It was nice traveling in the night only we had to go +slow. We went across a kind of a prairie and every once in a while we +came to farms. It was dandy to see the sun come up in the morning. + +About five o'clock we came to a village and we asked a man how far it +was to Grumpy's Crossroads. He must have got up before breakfast, that +man. He said it was about thirty-five miles, but that we'd have to go +very slow on account of the road being all stones. We had to drive those +cars easy, because they were supposed to be delivered new. + +The man said, "If you're bound east why didn't you hit the south road +and cut out Grumpy's Crossroads altogether?" + +Harry said, "Because these people have to appear at the Grand Army +reunion at Grumpy's Cross-roads this afternoon and we've got to get them +there." + +The man said, "If that's all you're going to the Cross-roads for, you +might as well take the south road. Bill Thorpe, he was t'the Cross-roads +yesterday en' he said th' Uncle Tom's Cabin show was called off on +'count of thar bein' no trains runnin'. He said ole Major Grumpy was +tearin' 'is hair like a wild Injun at th' railroad unions." + +Harry said, "Is that so? Well, I hope he won't have his hair all pulled +out by 2 P. M. Do you suppose old Grump ever heard of the Boy Scouts of +America?" + +"I'll tell him all about them!" Pee-wee shouted. "You just leave it to +me." + +The man was smoking a pipe and it kind of smelled like a forest fire. It +smelled like a forest fire and a gas engine put together, kind of. He +laid his pipe down on the step of the van so we'd know that what he was +going to say was very serious. + +He said, "You take my advice en' daon't mention no scaout boys t'the +major; it's like wavin' a red flag before a bull as yer might say." + +"Doesn't like 'em, hey?" Harry said. + +"Hates 'em," the man said. + +"Eats 'em alive, I suppose," Brent said. + +"He'd eat 'em raw, only he ain't got teeth enough," the man said. + +Brent said in that funny way he has, "Well, I guess that settles it, +we'll hit the trail for the Cross-roads; I kind of like old Grump +already. I have a kind of a hunch he'll put some pep into this +Lewis & Clarke expedition. All we needed to make our joy complete was +somebody to try to foil us." + +"Cracky, I hope he tries to foil us," Pee-wee piped up. + +"Is he a villain?" Brent wanted to know. + +"Wall, he ain't just exactly what you might call a villain," the man +said, very serious. + +Brent said, "Oh, that's too bad. We haven't got a villain for our story +yet. I suppose we'll have to advertise when we hit into Indianapolis. +'Wanted, willing and industrious villain; one with some experience +preferred; good chance for advancement; duties, being foiled by the Boy +Scouts of America.'" + +The man said, "Guess you're a kind of a comic, hey?" + +"What's the trouble between old Grump and the kids, anyway?" Harry asked +him. + +The man said, "Wall, naow, I'll tell you. Th' major's an old Civil War +man en' he's a great stickler on military training for boys; ain't got +no use for studyin' natur' en' all that kind o' thing. He's daft abaout +the Civil War, en' he's jest abaout th' biggest old grouch this side o' +th' Missippi River. This here reunion o' his, every three years, is the +pet uv his heart, as th' feller says. He has th' poor ole veterans +limpin' in from miles araound fillin' 'em up with rations en' givin' 'em +shows. He's got money enough so's ter make the United States Treasury +look like a poor relation; and _stingy_!" + +"That sounds fine," Brent said; "we'll have him eating out of our hands; +we'll have him so he comes when we call him. First I was in hopes we +might fall in with some train robbers----" + +"Gee, it isn't too late yet!" Pee-wee shouted. + +"But a ferocious old major is good enough," Brent said; "we can't expect +to have everything. You're positive about his hating the Boy Scouts, are +you?" he asked the man. "Because we shouldn't want to count on that and +then be disappointed. It's pretty hard when you think you've found a +regular scoundrel and then find that you're deceived. Are you willing to +guarantee him?" + +"Wall, I wouldn' say exactly as he's a _villain_," the man said; "but +he's a ole wild beast, so everybuddy says, en' I'm tellin' yer not to +wave no red flag in front uv him with a lot uv this scaout boy nonsense. +'Cause he ain't in the humor, see?" + +Harry said, "Do you know, Brent, I think the old codger will do first +rate." + +"Oh, he'll do," Brent said; "of course, it isn't like finding a pirate, +or a counterfeiter, or an outlaw----" + +"You make me tired!" Pee-wee yelled. "If Roy's going to write all this +stuff up, we have to have an old grouch, so as we can convert him sort +of, don't we, and then he'll--then he'll--what-d'ye-call-it--he'll +donate a lot of money and say the boy scouts are all right. I'll manage +him, you leave him to me." + +Brent said, "You don't happen to know if he has a gold-haired daughter, +do you?" + +Gee whiz, I guess that man thought we were crazy--I should worry. Even +the Uncle Tom's Cabin people were laughing. + +Brent said, "Because if our young hero could only rescue old Grump's +gold-haired daughter from kidnappers, perhaps old Grump would come +across with a real watch that keeps time as a reward for our young +hero's bravery. I think we'll have to try our hand with old Grump." + +"Are you--are you _sure_ he's mad at the scouts?" Pee-wee wanted to +know. + +"Tell us the worst," Harry said. + +[Illustration: THE BLOODHOUND BEGAN SNIFFING THE FOOTPRINT.] + + + + + CHAPTER IX--MILITARY PLANS + + +The man put one foot up on the step of the van and said, "Wall, yer see +he owns the Fair Grounds. Thar was a crew uv these here scout kids +camping over in the grove to one side of it, and not doin' no manner of +harm, I reckon." + +"That's one good thing about us, we never do any harm," Pee-wee piped +up. + +"Wherever they camp the violets spring up," Rossie said. + +"Sure, and dandelions and four-leaf clovers, too," the kid shouted. + +The man said, "Wall, naow, them kids wasn' doin' no manner uv harm, just +cookin' and eatin'----" + +"Gee whiz, they have to do that!" Pee-wee told him. "That's one thing +about scouts, they always eat." + +"Most always," Harry said. + +"En' nothin' would do but he must chase 'em off," the man said. "Some uv +them men who wuz interested in the kids made a rumpus about it, but it +weren't no good; old Grump said off they must go, and off they went. I +wuz sorry ter see it too, hanged if I weren't, because they're a bright, +clever lot, them youngsters. Oft times when I'd go inter th' Cross-roads +with my old mare marketin', there they'd be in th' grove right alongside +th' road, sprawlin' about and onct, when I come away abaout five o'clock +in the mornin', thar they were en' give my old mare a drink out uv th' +spring." + +"Up early, hey?" Harry said. + +"Naow, haow is them kids goin' ter hinder th' reunion? That's what I +say. Poked away off in th' grove right on ter th' end of the grounds. +But the ole major, he says they was nuthin' but a lot uv loafers; wanted +to know what good they ever done. Why, Lor' bless me, if he'd a made +friends with 'em they might uv helped in the reunion, mightn't they?... +Wall, I guess he wuz all piffed abaout the show not bein' able to get +there. Trams east of th' Cross-roads is runnin' all right, but out this +way thar ain't been a wheel movin' in a week, 'cept express trains from +the east. If I was you fellers I wouldn' go a couple of dozen miles out +of my way over a pile of rocks what they call by the name of a road, I +wouldn', jus ter do a favor for an old grizzly bear, I wouldn'. Not me." + +Gee whiz, Mr. Abbington looked kind of anxious, because Harry just sat +there on the seat whistling to himself as if he were thinking. The rest +of us were all standing around. + +Brent said, "Well, as long as old Grump is a stickler on military +training, what do you say we take Grumpy's Cross-roads right under his +very nose? We'll make our approach from the west, with our dry-goods +delivery van and three five-passenger touring cars. General Harris will +have charge of the Commissary. First, the signal corps will communicate +with the boy scouts of Grumpy's Cross-roads and advise them that +reenforcements are on the way--in a dry-goods van and three touring +cars. The grove on the edge of the parade grounds will be in our hands +before night. We'll have the Civil War veterans down on their knees +begging for an armistice." + +"Yes, and maybe--maybe--old Major Grumpy will have to go and live in a +castle in Holland, hey?" Pee-wee yelled. + +Honest, isn't that kid a scream? + + + + + X--THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WORK + + +First, Harry asked if the telegraph office was open, but it wasn't open. +The reason was, because there wasn't any there. If that place had been a +little smaller we might have run over it without seeing it and punctured +one of our tires. + +Then Brent said, "Well then, you don't happen to have a nice hill handy, +do you? We'll return it in good condition when we get through with it." + +They didn't happen to have any hills in that village--they were out of +most everything. Brent said he guessed hills were hard to get. So we +started off again and hit into the road that went to Grumpy's +Cross-roads. Gee whiz, if Major Grumpy's temper was anything like that +road, _good night_! That was what we all said. But we should worry about +the road as long as we had all our plans made. Harry said the Kluck car +could eat up the miles all right, but, oh, Sister Anne, if one of them +tried eating the miles on that road it would have indigestion, all +right. Even Pee-wee couldn't have eaten those. + +After we had gone maybe about nine or ten miles we came to a dandy; it +was a kind of a young mountain. Now, on the way along, we had been +making up a message that we would send by smudge signal, because we +thought that if those other scouts got it, it would be a feather in +their cap and we were thinking about them more than we were about +ourselves. Because a scout is brother to every other scout, see? + +So this is the smudge signal that we decided to send, and, _good night_, +little we knew what it would lead to. Pretty soon you'll see the plot +beginning to get thicker. + + Uncle Tom show will be given as announced. + Deny rumors to contrary. + + Boy Scouts of America. + +Brent said, "If those kids are up as early as old what's-his-name said +they were, they ought to see a smudge signal up on the top of a hill +like this, and they can notify old Grump. Then later we'll give him the +knockout blow. He'll look like a pancake when we get through with him." + +That started Pee-wee off--the word pancake. "We'll go riding into the +village, and we'll kind of have our clothes torn, and we'll look all +what-d'ye-call-it--weary and footsore--and we'll have all the Uncle +Tom's Cabin company sitting in the touring cars," he said, "and we'll +have a big sign that says _Boy Scouts on the Job_, hey? And maybe we'll +give a parade." + +Harry said, "Well, the best thing for us to do now is to parade up this +hill and send the message. You see, although assaults are usually made +unknown to the enemy, in this case we'll make a big hit if we start some +propaganda along ahead of us. It pays to advertise, as Jolly & Kidder +would say." + +Now it was a pretty steep climb up to the top of that hill, all woods +and jungle. We left the cars down on the road and most of the actor +people stayed in them, because they were tired and sleepy. Westy stayed +down there so as to cook them some breakfast. + +For quite a long distance up that hill we went through thick woods, then +we came out into an open place where we could look down and see the +road. The autos looked small down there. We could see a little thin line +of smoke going up where Westy was starting a fire. The sun was getting +brighter and it made Jolly & Kidder's van look all shiny on account of +the bright paint on it. It seemed funny to see a department store car +away out there in that lonesome country. + +Pretty soon we got into more woods and Harry said he guessed there must +be a trail. But we couldn't find any. + +He said, "This is a forsaken wilderness up here." + +"I bet the foot of white man never trod it," Pee-wee said; "I bet it's +unknown to civilization up here." + +"Well, I guess we're not likely to bunk into any movie shows," Brent +said. + +Jiminetty, but it was some wild place, all right. We had to go single +file and tear away the brush so that we could get through. Tom Slade +went ahead, because he can find a trail if there is one, and even if +there isn't he always knows how to go. The farther up we went, the worse +it got. We couldn't see the road at all on account of the thick woods +below us. Gee, it was so still up there that it was sort of spooky. + +"I guess no white man ever trod this solemn wilderness before, as our +young friend Scout Harris observed," Harry said; "it gets worser and +worser." + +Just then Tom Slade stopped and we all stopped in his path. In about a +jiffy he was down on the ground. Gee whiz, I knew what that meant, for I +knew Tom Slade. + +"It's a footprint," he said. + +Just then we heard a sound right near us, just like branches crackling, +and in a couple of seconds one of those bloodhounds from the Uncle Tom's +Cabin show came dashing up through the bushes. He pushed Tom Slade right +out of the way and began sniffing that footprint. He was so excited that +he didn't notice us. + + + + + XI--A MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINT + + +First it seemed kind of as if that bloodhound was just scooping; that +means using something that another scout has found. If I should find a +robin's nest and then another scout should stalk there, that would be +scooping. Gee whiz, that's a mean thing to do. Up at Temple Camp a scout +will get himself disliked for doing that. But it's all right to stalk +the cooking-shack. Pee-wee thinks he's the only one who has a right to +hang out there--I should worry. + +Anyway that has nothing to do with the bloodhound. Tom got out of his +way, and we all stood about while the dog sniffed around the footprint, +awful excited like. There wasn't another footprint anywhere in sight. + +Brent said in that funny way of his, "Well, I guess we're up against the +real thing at last. I guess old Snoozer here is on the track of Eliza. +Listen and maybe we'll hear her baby crying. She always carries a baby +with her when she puts one over on the bloodhounds, doesn't she?" + +"You're crazy!" Pee-wee shouted; "she always crosses the ice. Didn't you +see that big roll of canvas they've got? That's got ice painted on it. +They spread that on the stage and she runs across it with +har--what-d'ye-call-it--her infant child." + +"Her which?" Harry said. + +"I think she takes a thermos bottle, too, and an aluminum cooking set," +Brent said. + +Harry said, "Well, anyway, she has given old Snoozer the slip this +time." + +"That's a man's footprint," Pee-wee said; "there's a mystery up here." + +"Let's see it," Rossie Bent said; "where is it?" + +"You make me sick!" the kid shouted. "How can you _see_ a mystery?" + +"You smell it, according to Snoozer," Harry said; "this dog will have a +fit in a minute." + +By that time the dog was pushing every which way in among the bushes and +every few seconds coming back to the footprint. + +"He seems to be kind of rattled." That's what Harry said. + +Pretty soon the dog went running through the bushes out into a big open +space that was just about on the top of the mountain. We found out +afterward that that was why the mountain was named Bald Head. Gee whiz, +he seemed rattled. He'd stop for a couple of seconds and look all +around, then start off all of a sudden, then stop again. + +Brent said, "Eliza's got his goat this time. Look at old Tomasso there; +he's mad because Snoozer took his job." + +I looked at Tom Slade (because that's whom he meant) and I saw that he +was kind of picking among the bushes over to one side of the big open +space. So I went over to where he was and I said, "Tom, what do you +think about it? I always thought a bloodhound could follow any trail. +That's a fresh footprint too, isn't it? But maybe that dog isn't a real +bloodhound, hey?" + +Tom said, "He's a real bloodhound, all right, but I don't think he'll +find anything." + +I said, "Well, how about that footprint then? It was a fresh one. He +ought to be able to follow that scent. Gee whiz, I never saw a dog act +so funny. He's all rattled and he doesn't know which way to go." + +Tom didn't say anything, only he looked over to the open space where the +rest of the fellows were watching the dog. By that time the dog was +running around and barking, half crazy. + +"Eliza fell through the ice," Brent called over to us. + +Harry shouted, "She was very poor, she didn't even have a scent. +Snoozer's going to have a nervous collapse in a minute; he'll require +first aid." + +I said to Tom, "Well, somebody was up here, that's sure. That's a new +footprint we found. It's plaguey funny that a bloodhound can't follow +that trail; I always thought a bloodhound----" + +"A bloodhound isn't a scout," Tom said, kind of sober like, in that way +he has; "he followed the trail as far as he could, I suppose. Look +around here; don't you see anything?" + +That's the way it has always been with Tom Slade ever since he got back +from the war. In scouting, he would never do anything himself, but just +give us fellows a hint that would start us off. "If you make as good use +of your eyes as he makes of his nose, you ought to be able to discover +something." That's what he said. + +So then I looked all around, and sure enough I could see that the bushes +were broken up toward the top and, _good night_, on one of them was +hanging a little piece of rag. + +"Some one has been through here," I said, all excited; "why doesn't the +dog come over here? The trail leads over this way." + +Then I began whistling for the dog and calling to the fellows that we +had the trail, and they all started over except the dog. He wouldn't +follow them or pay any attention to their whistling and calling, only +stayed right where he was running around as if he had a fit. + +Before the fellows reached the place where we were Tom said kind of low, +"Don't fly off the handle, kid; there are some bushes broken here and a +rag. Now what does that mean?" + +"It means the trail runs through here," I said; "and that crazy fool of +an Uncle Tom's Cabin dog can't follow the scent across that bare place. +He's just an actor, that's all that bloodhound is. All he's good for is +chasing Eliza." + +Tom just took the rag from me and looked at it. "Well then, if the trail +runs through here, where are the footprints?" he asked me. + +"And the dog doesn't seem to think it's worth bothering about," he said. + +"You admit somebody went through here?" I shouted at him. + +"Oh, somebody went through here, all right," he said. + +"And didn't leave any footprints and didn't leave any scent," I came +back at him. + +"Only a rag," he said. + +By that time the fellows had reached the place where we were. "What's +the big idea?" Harry said. "What have you got there?" + +Brent said, "As I _live_, it's a piece of Eliza's dress. The plot grows +thicker." + +"There isn't a footprint here," I told them. + +"She must have slid on the ice," Brent said. + +"I'm going to drag that dog over here by the collar," Rossie spoke up. + +"It's a mystery," Pee-wee shouted; "it's a deep, dark mystery. We've got +to solve it--I mean penetrate it." + +Gee whiz, that kid was more excited than the dog. + + + + + XII--A DISCOVERY + + +We all just stood there not knowing what to think. I could tell that Tom +Slade had some kind of an idea, but you never catch that fellow shouting +out about anything till he's sure. Even when he was a tenderfoot in the +troop he was that way. + +It seemed mighty funny that we should find just one footprint in those +bushes, but maybe there weren't any more across that open space because +it was hard and rocky. Anyway, the scent led out into that open space, +that was sure. Then on the opposite side of the open space the bushes +were broken and there was a rag hanging to one of them. Yet we couldn't +get that dog to go all the way across and take up the scent where we +found the rag. That was the funny thing. It was funny that there weren't +any footprints under those bushes where the rag was hanging, too. +Believe _me_, Pee-wee was right, it was a mystery. + +Pretty soon the dog began following the scent back and Will Dawson went +after him. In about ten minutes he came up again and said that the dog +had followed it as far as a brook where there was a willow tree. He said +the dog got rattled there just the same as he did on the summit. So he +studied the place carefully and saw that there was a branch of the tree +that stuck out over the water and he swung himself across and then back +again by that. So he decided that was probably what the man had done on +his way up the mountain. So you see that trail was cut in two places. + +Will said that he left the dog poking around at the edge of the stream. +And that was the last we saw of the dog till we got back to our caravan. +Then we saw that he was under the van asleep. He was resting up so he +could chase Eliza in the afternoon, that's what Brent said. He chased +Eliza twice every day, that bloodhound did. + +Harry said, "Well, as Scout Harris says, it's a mystery. Somebody was up +here before us, that's sure. There's no use trying to dope it out, I +suppose. Let's send the signal. Our friends down below will think we're +lost." + +All the while Tom Slade was sort of wandering around that rocky open +space on the top of the mountain. A couple of times he looked over to +where we were as if he was kind of thinking. Most of the time he looked +at the ground and the flat rocks. I knew he had some idea in his head, +all right. + +Pretty soon he came strolling over and said sort of offhand like, "Let's +follow these broken bushes in a ways." + +"Nobody went through here, Tom," Rossie said; "if they had there'd be +footprints. Let's get busy with the smudge signal." + +"It'll only take a minute," Tom said. + +"Every minute is precious, Tommy boy," Harry told him. + +"Sure, let's go in," Brent said; "I'm for adventure every time. You +never can tell; come ahead." + +So we all followed Tom in. The brush was awful thick and I kept tearing +it apart down near the ground, hunting for footprints, but I couldn't +find a single one. The brush wasn't even broken above, either, after we +had gone a few feet and Tom just pushed around without any signs to go +by, all the while squinting his eyes into the bushes and poking the +underbrush with his feet. + +Pretty soon, _good night_, Pee-wee gave a shout. "_I see it! I see it!_" +he yelled. "The mystery is solved! I know why there isn't any man's +footprint here. It was an _animal_ that came through! There he is +now--it's a _zebra_!" + +"A which?" Harry said. + +"It's got stripes--wide stripes," the kid shouted. "Look there! See it? +It's a zebra! Don't you know a zebra?" + +Brent said, "I wouldn't know one if I met him in the street." + +By that time Tom had gone ahead of us and hauled something out of the +bushes. It wasn't a zebra, but it had stripes all right--it was light +colored and it had wide, dark stripes. I bet you can't guess what it +was, either. + +It was a suit of convicts' clothes. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII--TOM SLADE, SCOUT + + +"Didn't I tell you it had stripes?" Pee-wee shouted. "Wasn't I right? +Now you see! A scout is observant." + +"If he sees a suit of clothes he thinks it's a zebra," Charlie Seabury +said. + +Harry said, "Well, you weren't so far wrong, Kiddo. The stripes weren't +on an animal; they were on a jail bird. I'd like to know where he flew +away to. This is getting interesting. I knew that clothing was very +high, but I didn't think we'd find a suit as far up as this." + +"Maybe he was a murderer, hey?" Pee-wee whispered. + +"We can only hope," Brent said in that funny way. Then he said, "I've +always felt that I'd like to be a murderer. I thought I was a real +convict when I was held in jail three hours after speeding in my +flivver. But when I look at this striped suit, I realize that after all +I didn't amount to much as a criminal. Let's take a squint at those +clothes, will you? It's always been the dream of my young life to escape +from jail by using a hair-pin or a manicure file or some kind of acid. I +wonder how this fellow escaped." + +"I bet he escaped in the dead of night," Pee-wee said. + +"The question is, where is he?" Harry said. + +"He went away in an airplane," Tom Slade said, awful sober like, just as +if Brent hadn't been joking at all. + +_Good night_, we all just stood there stark still, looking at him. + +"What makes you think that?" Rossie wanted to know. + +"No one laid that suit of clothes here," Tom said; "it was _dropped_ +here. There aren't any footprints. Out there in the flat part there are +wheel marks from an airplane. I saw enough of those marks in France to +know what they mean." + +"Tomasso Nobody Holmes, the boy detective!" I shouted. + +"The airplane grazed the bushes when it went up," he said; "that's why +some twigs are broken off. And part of one of the wings of the machine +was torn, too. That's because the airman didn't have space enough to get +away in. He took a big chance when he landed up here, that fellow." + +Harry just stood there drumming his fingers on one of the bushes and +looking all around him and kind of thinking. Then he said, "What's your +idea, Tommy boy? Do you think a convict escaped and made his way up to +the top of this jungle and that the airman alighted here for him by +appointment?" + +"The dog followed the scent out into the open, to the place where the +wheel tracks are," Tom said. "That's where the man--that convict--got +in. They didn't have open space enough to start from there and they +grazed the bushes. I guess it was pretty risky, the whole business. +Anyway, they chucked the convict clothes out. This piece of silk is +waxed; it's part of the wing of a machine, all right." + +"Tomasso, you're a wonder," Rossie said; "no dog could follow a trail in +the air." + +"There's often a scent in the breeze," Brent said. + +"Didn't I tell you it was a mystery?" Pee-wee shouted. "Didn't I tell +you it was a dark plot? As soon as I saw those clothes----" + +"You thought they were a zebra," Ralph Warner said; "a scout knows all +the different kinds of animals." + +"You make me sick!" the kid shouted. "A convict is better than a zebra, +isn't he?" + +"That's a fine argument," I told him. + +"It's logic," the kid shouted. + +"Well, let's not complain," Brent said; "a zebra would be a novelty, but +a convict is not to be despised. We should be thankful for the convict, +even though he isn't here." + +"That's the best part of it," the kid shouted; "that makes the mystery. +We've got to find him." + +We didn't bother any more about the mystery then, because we wanted to +send the signal and get started again, but you'll see how that mystery +popped up again and confounded us; I guess you know what _confounded_ +means, all right. It means the same as _baffled_, only I didn't know +whether _baffled_ has two f's in it or not. But, gee whiz, I used it +anyway--I should worry. + +So now while our friends are waiting for us down on the road (I got this +sentence from Pee-wee), I'll tell you about sending that signal. Signals +are my middle name--signals and geography. But the thing I like best +about school is lunch hour. I'm crazy about boating, too. + + + + + XIV--PEE-WEE'S GOAT + + +That fellow, Harry Domicile, he's crazy. He said, "If you like signals +so much I don't see why you send them. Why don't you keep them?" + +Will Dawson said, "It isn't the signal we send, it's a message; we send +a message by a signal. See?" + +Harry said, "But if it's a good message why should you want to send it +away? Why don't you keep it? If it's worth anything what's the use of +getting rid of it? A scout should not be wasteful." Then he winked at +Brent Gaylong. + +Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee. He shouted, "You're crazy! +Suppose I keep some-thing--suppose I keep----" + +Rossie said, "Suppose you keep silence." + +"That shows how much you know about logic!" the kid yelled. "How can I +keep silence----" + +By that time we were all laughing, except Harry. He had the paper with +the message written on it and he said, very sober like, "Well, if this +message is any good at all I don't see why we don't keep it; it might +come in useful." + +Pee-wee shouted, "A message is no good at all--even the most important +message in the world is no good to the fellow that makes it----" + +Brent said, "Then he's just wasting his time making it. Before we send +this message we'd better talk it over. If it's any good we'll keep it." + +Gee whiz, you should have seen our young hero; I thought he'd jump off +the mountain. He yelled, "Do you know what logic is? You get that in the +third grade. My uncle knows a man that's a lawyer and he +says--besides--anyway, do you mean to tell me----" + +Harry said, "Go on." + +Brent said, "Proceed; we follow you." + +"Suppose I had a piece of pie," the kid yelled. "If it was good I'd eat +it, wouldn't I?" + +Brent said, "That isn't logic." + +"Sure it's logic!" Pee-wee shouted. "The better it is the more I'd get +rid of, wouldn't I?" + +"Thou never spakest a truer word," I told him. + +"And it's the same with messages," he said. + +I said, "_Good night_, you don't want to eat it, do you?" + +Harry said, "Well, if he doesn't want to eat it, what's the use of +chewing it over? Let's send it." + +I bet you think we're all crazy, hey? I should worry. + +So then we gathered a lot of twigs and started a fire about in the +middle of that open space. While we were doing that, Charlie Seabury and +Ralph Warner got some dead grass and brush and took it down to the brook +and got it good and wet. Then they squeezed the water all out of it so +it was kind of damp and muggy like. It has to be just like that if you +want to send a smudge message. Maybe you don't know exactly what a +smudge signal is because maybe you think that a smudge is just a dirt +streak on your face--I don't mean on yours but on Pee-wee's. That's +Pee-wee's trade mark--a smudge on his face. Usually it's the shape of a +comet and it makes you think of a comet, because he's got six freckles +on his cheek that are like the big dipper. And his face is round like +the moon, too, but, gee williger, I hate astronomy. But I'd like to go +to Mars just the same. + +Anyway this is the way you send a smudge signal. When you get the fire +started good and strong you kind of shovel it into a tin can, but if you +haven't got any tin can, you don't. Scouts are supposed to be able to do +without things. We should worry about tin cans. Brent Gaylong has a tin +can on wheels--that's a Ford. My father says it's better to own a Ford +than a can't afford. Anyway my sister says I ought to stick to my +subject. Gee whiz, she must think I'm a piece of fly paper. + + + + + CHAPTER XV--THE MESSAGE + + +The reason that I ended that chapter was because I had to go to supper. +So now I'll tell you about the signal. If we had only had a tin can with +some kind of a cover to lay over it, it would have been easy. But we +hadn't any so this is the way we did. After the fire was burning up we +piled some of the damp grass and stuff on top of it and that made a +smudge that went way up in the air. I guess any one could see that +smudge maybe fifty miles, especially on account of it being up on the +top of a mountain. + +I said, "All we need now is a cloth or something to spread over it so we +can divide the letters." Because you know we use the Morse code. + +So Brent said we could have his mackinaw jacket and he sent Pee-wee down +to the brook to soak it in the water so that it wouldn't catch fire. +That was the beginning of Brent Gaylong's bad luck. Crinkums, that +fellow must have been born on a Friday--anyway, he was born on a Friday +that day, I guess. But one good thing about Friday, it's the day before +Saturday. That's why there are fifty-two Good Fridays. + +So then we sent the message. The first word was _Uncle_, so to spell +that we let the smudge rise for just a second, then laid Brent's jacket +over it for about three seconds, then let it rise for another second, +then waited about three seconds more and then let it rise for, oh, I +guess about ten seconds, maybe. That made two dots and a dash in the +Morse code and it made the letter U good and big, cracky, bigger than +you could make it on any blackboard, as big as the whole sky. Maybe it +wouldn't mean anything to you, but that's because you're not a scout. +But anyway it meant U. I don't mean it meant you, but I mean it meant U. + +After that we made the other letters in the word Uncle--N-K-L-E--I don't +mean K, I mean C. + +Then after we'd waited about a minute so as to separate the words we +spelled T-O-M, and after that there was a big blot on our writing +(that's what Rossie said), because Brent's mackinaw jacket burned up. He +said he was sorry, because there were some peanuts in one of the +pockets. + +Anyway he said he was willing to die for the cause, so he took off his +khaki shirt and after Pee-wee went down and soaked it in the brook, we +used that to separate the words and letters. Maybe you'll say that kind +of writing isn't very neat but we knew that it could be seen for miles +and miles and that if the boy scouts in Grumpy's Cross-roads saw it and +read it, they'd tell Major Grumpy and he'd say the scouts were all +right. Because that was our idea, we wanted those other scouts to get +the credit. + +I guess maybe it took a half an hour to send that message and it didn't +look much like a message to us. You've got to get away off if you want +to read a smudge signal. A smudge signal is no good for a fellow that's +near-sighted. When we were all finished, this is what we had printed in +the sky: + + Uncle Tom show will be given as announced. + Deny rumors. + + Boy Scouts of America. + +Pee-wee wanted to put in something about foiling the railroad strikers, +but Brent said if we made the message any longer he wouldn't have any +clothes left. Harry said that if the scouts at Grumpy's Cross-roads got +that message and delivered it to old Grump, that old Grump would +surrender unconditionally. So maybe we had done a good turn for all we +knew. Even if the telegraph operator at Grumpy's Cross-roads should see +that smudge he'd read the message, all right. But we said that more +likely he'd he asleep and that scouts are always up early because up at +Temple Camp Uncle Jeb Rushmore (he's camp manager) is always telling us +that the early bird catches the first worm. But, gee whiz, if I were the +first worm I'd stay in bed and then the early bird wouldn't catch me. + +That's what Pee-wee calls logic. That's one thing he's crazy +about,--logic. Logic and Charlie Chaplin. He likes girls, too. He says +they always smile at him. Gee whiz, can you blame them? It's a wonder +they don't laugh out loud. + + + + + XVI--BRENT'S AMBITION + + +It was some job picking our way down that mountain. We could see the +road and the machines away down below us and the machines looked like +toy autos. Brent and Harry and Pee-wee and I were together and Brent +talked a lot of that nonsense like he always does. Pee-wee had the +convict's suit rolled up tight and tied with a couple of thin willow +twigs. If you wet them they're just as good as cord; you can even tie +them in a knot. He carried the bundle on the end of his scout staff and +he had his scout staff over his shoulder. He looked so important you'd +think he had just captured the convict, too. + +Brent said, "That's what I call real adventure; escaping from a prison +and beating it off to some lonesome mountain and being taken away in an +airplane. That fellow has old Monte Cristo beaten twenty ways. Some +convicts are lucky. I'd like to be that chap." That's just the way he +talked. + +Harry said, "You might forge a couple of checks if you happen to think +of it sometime." + +Brent said in that funny way of his, "If I could only be sure of +escaping and being carried off by an airplane. But it would be just my +luck to--to----" + +"Languish," Pee-wee shouted; "that's what they do in jails--languish." + +"And just serve out my term studying logic," Brent said. "But if I +thought there'd be a chance to escape, I think I'd--let's see, I think +I'd--what do you think of counterfeiting, Harry?" + +"Burglary's better," Harry said. + +"It's the dream of my life to be a convict," Brent kept up. "These +little crimes don't amount to anything; what I'd like to do is to hit +the high spots, get sent up for life, and then escape in a boat or an +airplane. Somebody could send me a file or a saw in a bunch of flowers. +What do you say? This convict is having the time of his life. That's the +life--being a fugitive." + +Harry said, "Well, I hope you get your wish." + +Pee-wee said, "You're crazy, that's what I say." + +I said, "Gee whiz, there's fun enough making a cross country trip in +four autos and running into a stranded Uncle Tom's Cabin Company with +bloodhounds and everything, without being sent to jail." + +Brent said, "Well, I can't help it; that's the way I feel. I envy that +convict. I long to languish in a dungeon cell and file away the bars in +the dead of night and kill three keepers and escape in an airplane. +That's living." + +"Good night," I said, "not for the three keepers." + +Harry said, "Well, all things come round to him that waits. My ambition +is to be wrecked at sea. How about you, Roy?" + +I said, "My ambition is to foil old Major Grumpy and make him fall for +the scouts." + +"No pep to it," Brent said; "a dark and dismal dungeon with rats poking +around on the stone floor, that's _my_ speed." + +Cracky, that fellow's awful funny. + +"You'd never get any dessert," Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, "Who wants dessert when he can get a crust of bread and a +mug of water?" + +"I do," the kid shouted. "I want two helpings." + +That was _his_ ambition. + + + + + XVII--A SIDE SHOW + + +Pretty soon you'll see why I named this chapter "A Side Show." When we +got down to the road all those show people were sitting around on the +rocks talking and laughing and telling Westy lots of funny adventures +that they had had. Oh, boy, if I wasn't a boy scout I'd like to be in an +Uncle Tom's Cabin Company, that's one sure thing. That's _my_ ambition. +Jails and dungeons may be all right, I'm not saying, but anyway, I'd +like to be in a show--especially one that gets stranded. They said that +they could see the signal away up on the mountain, and the man that had +to beat Uncle Tom, he was an awful nice man, he said he could read most +all of it because he used to be a telegraph operator. But he said he +liked beating Uncle Tom better. Uncle Tom said he didn't mind being +beaten once a day but he didn't like matinees. + +Now I'm going to tell you about how we all got separated +together--that's what Pee-wee said. When we were all ready to go, Harry +couldn't start the engine of the van. He said, "Brent, I wish you'd take +a squint at this motor; it heats up and the water boils over." + +Brent said, "I think the timer must have been set by Pee-wee's watch." +Pretty soon he said he guessed it was just a short circuit. + +"Anyway, that's better than a long one," Pee-wee shouted. + +Pretty soon Brent said he thought the coil was running the battery down. +Harry said he didn't blame the coil. + +Then Brent said there was a leak of current somewhere, but that he +couldn't trace it. I said, "Let one of Eliza's bloodhounds try; maybe he +can trace it." He said anyway the battery was discharging; believe me, +if I'd had my way I'd have discharged the whole engine. + +After a while Brent got it started but he said it wasn't running right +and he guessed he'd have to get two new plugs. So then we looked at our +map to find out if there was a village anywhere near along that road +where there might be a garage. Because Brent said there ought to be more +grease in the differential, too. But mostly, he said, one of the plugs +wouldn't fire the charge. + +Westy said, "If the plug won't fire it, why don't you get the battery to +discharge it?" + +Now when we looked at our map we found that about half a mile east of +that mountain a road branched off from the road we were on and went +through a place named Barrow's Homestead. It didn't bother to stop at +Barrow's Homestead, that road didn't, but it went on and formed a, you +know, a what-do-you-call-it, a _junction_, with the other road three or +four miles farther along. It was just a kind of a loop, that road was, +so as to take in Barrow's Homestead. Only that road was pretty rough. + +Brent said, "I dare say we can find a young garage at that place; there +are bandits everywhere in the west. If you say so, I'll drive along that +road and meet you where the roads join." + +Harry said, "I guess that's the best thing to do--for the rest of us to +keep to the smooth, short road with the touring cars. When we get to the +junction of the two roads we'll wait for you there as long as we think +it's safe to wait. If you don't show up by ten o'clock, say, we'll jog +along and meet you at the Veterans' Reunion at Grumpy's Cross-roads. We +don't want to run any chance of not getting these people there on time. +Uncle Tom has got to be thrashed this afternoon at any cost." Then he +asked Uncle Tom if he wanted a cigarette. That man was awful nice--the +man that played Uncle Tom. He said he had been thrashed twice a day for +three years, except on Sundays. Harry said it would be a good thing if +that happened to a lot of us fellows, especially me. Anyway I'd rather +be Eliza and be chased by ferocious bloodhounds. That's what Mr. +Abbington called them--ferocious. + +Now as soon as it was decided that Brent Gaylong should drive the van +along that other road, up jumped our young hero and shouted, "I'll go +with you; maybe they sell ice cream sodas at that place." + +As soon as he mentioned ice cream sodas all the other fellows said +they'd go--except I didn't. Because I'm not crazy about an ice cream +soda. I like three or four of them though. + +Harry said, "Well, it looks like a mutiny and I guess we'll have to lock +every one of you in the van." + +By that time, Pee-wee was up on the seat of the van and he shouted, "I +wouldn't mute; I'm already here and I'm going to stay here!" + +Harry said, "Nobody would ever think of the word mute in connection with +you; stay where you are and we'll be glad to get rid of you, and Roy +too, if he wants to go." + +I said, "The pleasure is mine, I go where duty calls." + +"You mean you go where ice cream sodas call," the kid shouted at me. + +I said, "Well, for goodness' sake, chuck that bundle inside the van and +give me a chance to sit down, will you?" Because even still he had that +convict's suit close by him on the seat as if he was afraid somebody +would get it away from him. "What are you going to do with it?" I said. +"Hang it up in the parlor when you get home?" + +So then I climbed up and chucked the bundle into the van through the +little window right behind the seat. Brent sat down between Pee-wee and +me, and thus we started off. That's a peach of a word--_thus_. For a +little way we could look across to the other road and see the three +touring cars filled with the Uncle Tom's Cabin people and the other +fellows of my patrol. Mr. Abbington was sitting with Harry and he looked +awful funny with his high hat on. + +All of a sudden, _good night_, that bloodhound that had been up on the +mountain with us came tearing across from the other road. I guess he +wanted to go with us. He clambered almost up to the seat and began +sniffing around Brent. I bet he liked him on account of Brent's being so +crazy about adventures, hey? + +Brent said, "You go back where you belong, old Snoozer. Who do you think +I am? Eliza?" + +Then Mr. Abbington began calling him and the dog didn't seem to be able +to decide what to do. + +"I hear you calling me," Brent said; "go on back, Snoozer; we'll see you +later." + +So then the dog went back but I guess he didn't want to. Gee whiz, you +couldn't blame him. Because one thing sure, if you stick to Brent +Gaylong you're pretty sure to see some fun. Believe _me_, that fellow's +middle name is adventure. Just you wait and see. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII--A SHOWER BATH + + +Brent said, "I bet Brother Abbington will be pretty hot to-day with that +frock coat of his and that high hat." + +I said, "It's going to be a scorcher, all right." + +"Lucky for me," he said, "as long as my mackinaw and my khaki shirt have +gone in the good cause." + +"You should worry," I told him. + +"Only I don't look very presentable," he said. + +"Don't you care," I said; "we won't meet anybody along this road." + +"It's the least of my troubles," he said; "what I'm thinking about is +this pesky engine. It jumps like a bull-frog; I think it's got the pip." + +Pee-wee said, "Some engines have the sleeping sickness and they won't go +at all." + +Then we all got to saying how we hoped that Harry and Rossie and Tom +would get the three cars to Grumpy's Cross-roads in time so those actor +people could give their show. + +"Even if we're not with them," I said. + +"I guess we'll be able to make connections before they get there," Brent +said. + +"Oh, boy, that'll be some good turn," Pee-wee said. "I bet old Grump +won't be mad at the scouts any more; he'll see that they're dauntless +and--something or other." + +"Oh, he'll see that they're something or other," Brent said. "I never +knew a scout that wasn't something or other." + +"He'll see that they do good turns," the kid shouted. Gee whiz, good +turns are his favorite fruit--good turns and doughnuts. Even if he had a +turning lathe he couldn't turn out any more good turns. + +Now maybe you know what a tornado is. Anyway, there wasn't any that day. +So you don't need to worry. But all of a sudden dark clouds came and +pretty soon the sky was all black and the wind was blowing like +anything. I guess it was a cyclone, all right, only it decided not to +come that way on account of the road being so bad. + +Anyway the wind kept up and blew right in our faces and after a while +Brent said, "Did you bring those old togs along, kid?" + +Pee-wee said, "You mean the convict suit? It's in the van." + +"Well, get me the coat and I'll slip it on," Brent told him. "We may not +be able to catch the convict, but I'm blamed sure I'll catch cold." + +So Pee-wee went around and into the van by the doors in back and got the +convict's jacket. I guess none of us thought there was anything funny +about Brent wearing it for a little while. Only I said to him, just +joking like, "You wanted to be a convict, now you've got your wish." + +"If my mother could only see me now," he said. "Do I look like a zebra, +Pee-wee?" + +We had to laugh, he looked so funny in that striped jacket; but anyway +it was a pretty lonely road and we weren't likely to meet anybody. + +Pretty soon we began passing houses, and Brent took the jacket off and +threw it back into the van through the little window in front. In about +five minutes we came to a village. I said, "Go slow or you'll run over +it." The village was almose right underneath the van. The main street of +that village was all black and sticky from tar and oil that they had +been sprinkling on it and pretty soon we came to the sprinkler, standing +still right in the middle of the road, with a couple of men near it. + +We had to stop because we couldn't get past, so we just sat there on the +seat, watching them. The sprinkler wouldn't work and they were trying to +fix it. One man was sticking a piece of wire into all the little holes +along the pipe that ran crossways at the back of the big tank. + +Brent said, "They'll never fix it that way. Maybe some of those holes +are clogged up, but not all of them." Then he called down to the man and +said, "What seems to be the trouble? Won't she sprinkle?" + +"Mixture's too gol darned thick, I reckon," one of the men called back. + +"Well, it wouldn't clog up all the holes," Brent said; "probably the +feed pipe is clogged up." + +The man said, "Well, I don't know how we're ever going to get at that +unless we take the whole bloomin' thing apart." + +Then I heard Brent say, under his breath kind of, "I could fix that in +five minutes." + +"Then you have to do it," the kid shouted; "you have to do a good turn." + +"Look and see if there isn't a turn cock on the feed pipe," Brent called +down; "maybe it joggled shut. That sometimes happens on an auto." + +The two men got down under the sprinkler and began looking and feeling +around, but they couldn't seem to find anything. After a couple of +minutes Brent climbed down and said, "Let's take a look at this." I +guess they could see that he was a pretty good mechanic, all right. +Anyhow they stepped out of the way and Brent crawled down under the +sprinkler. He lay on his back part way underneath it and we all watched +him. + +"He'll find the trouble," Pee-wee said to the man; "he's head of a scout +troop, he is, and he's resourceful. A scout has got to be resourceful. +Don't you worry, we'll do you a good turn, all right." + +The men kind of smiled, and one of them said, "All right, sonny. So yer +fer doin' good turns, hey?" + +"Sure," Pee-wee said; "that's one of our rules. If anybody's in trouble +we've got to help them out--no matter how much trouble it is. You see a +scout can always help you out, because he's resourceful." + +One of those men said, "Oh, that's it, is it?" + +"Sure," the kid shouted; "all you have to do is come to us. Even Uncle +Sam came to us when he wanted to sell Liberty Bonds; we helped him out." + +The man said, "I bet he was tickled to death." + +I said to Pee-wee, "Shut up; don't be shouting so much about good turns. +Actions speak louder than words." + +"Words speak loud enough," the kid yelled. + +"_Good night_, you said it," I told him. + +"Even now we're doing a good turn," the kid shouted; "we've got three +more autos over on the other road and we're taking some Uncle Tom's +Cabin actors to the Veteran's Reunion. We should worry if the railroad +trains don't run." + +Jimmies, I don't know how much more he might have told them, he's a +human billboard for the Boy Scouts of America, that kid is; but all of a +sudden, _zip goes the fillum_, that black tarry stuff came shooting out +from all the holes in the sprinkler and Brent came crawling out from +underneath it with his trousers and his shirt all black and sticky and +his hair all mucked up with the stuff and with a big streaky smudge all +over his face. + +"_Good night!"_ I shouted. "What happened?" + +"I found it," he said; "it had joggled shut, just as I thought. If you +happen to have a few feathers handy, you can tar and feather me. I did a +good turn, only I didn't turn over and get out quick enough." + +Oh, boy, that fellow was a sight! + + + + + XIX--BRENT GETS HIS WISH + + +One thing about those men, they weren't very good scouts, I'll say that +much. The only good turn they did was to turn around and drive away. +Maybe the Union wouldn't let them do good turns; Unions have got no use +for good turns. + +First we decided that we'd stop at the nearest house, but one thing +about scouts, they don't like to ask for help unless they have to. But +if you offer them something to eat it's all right for them to take it. + +I said to Brent, "Well, you were crazy for an adventure, now you've got +one." + +He said, "I don't care about such a sticky one. I'm not exactly what you +would call crazy about tar shower baths." + +"You'll have to cut your hair off, that's one sure thing," I told him; +"you'll never be able to get that stuff out of your hair." + +"I'd like to sit down, too," he said; "but if I did, I could never get +up again. I think the sooner I'm fixed up the better. Let's run the van +alongside the road and get inside and see what we can do. Our friend's +suit of clothes is still in there. After boasting about my dreams of +adventure it seems rather tame to go into somebody's back kitchen for +repairs. I'm afraid Harry would indulge in a gentle smile." + +"He'd indulge in a gentle fit if he saw you now," I told him. + +"I say let's not go to anybody for assistance," Pee-wee spoke up. "We +can get gasoline out of the tank, so you can wash the tar off your face, +and I've got a folding scissors in my scout knife. I'll cut your hair +for you." + +"How would you like to have it cut?" I asked him, just kidding him. + +"I think I'd like it cut dark," he said. + +I said, "Well, we'll cut it short and then if you don't like it we'll +cut it longer." + +So we decided that we wouldn't depend on anybody but would act just the +same as if we were on a desert island where there weren't any barbers +and bathtubs and things, because Columbus and Daniel Boone didn't have +barbers and bathtubs and things. + +"They depended upon their own initials," Pee-wee said. + +"You mean initiative," I told him. + +He said, "What's the difference?" + +So then I ran the machine over to the side of the road right close to a +kind of a grove and we got some gas out of the tank and Brent and I went +inside the van. We told Pee-wee to stay outside so as to keep people +from opening the doors or fooling with the car, because we were in the +village and we thought maybe people would be hanging around. + +There was only one thing to do with Brent's hair, and that was to cut it +off, because the tar was so thick there that the gasoline wouldn't melt +it. I made a pretty good job of it with the little folding scissors in +Pee-wee's scout knife. We managed to get most of the tar off his face +with the gasoline, but it left his face kind of all black and sooty +looking. + +He couldn't sit down or lean against anything on account of the tar all +over his clothes, so he took them off and I handed them out to Pee-wee +and told him to throw them in the grove. Then Brent put on the convict's +suit, and he looked awful funny in it with his dirty face and his hair +all cut short. + +He said, "At last the dream of my young life has come true; I am a +criminal. The only thing is I haven't committed my crime yet." + +I said, "Oh, you needn't be in any hurry about that." + +He said, "But it seems sort of _false_ for me to be wearing a convict's +suit when I haven't committed any crime. It seems like deceiving people. +It troubles my conscience. And I haven't really escaped either. What +would you do if you were me? I don't want to disgrace the uniform I +wear. I wish I could think of some nice easy crime. I feel nice and +clean in these things, anyway. But my conscience is black. Do you +suppose there's a bank in this burg, and a jail? I was thinking if I +could just let myself down by a rope. Only it would be just my luck to +have a cell on the ground floor." + +I said, "The best cell for you is right in this little old van, at least +till we get out of town. You leave the rope business to Douglas +Fairbanks. If anybody in this place should see you, _good night_, Sister +Anne! And it isn't any joke, either. Now you've got your wish, you'll +see it isn't going to be as much fun as you thought it was." + +Brent sat down on an old grocery box that we had inside the van, and, +jiminetty, I had to laugh, he had such a funny way about him. He looked +awful tough, sort of, without his hair. He said, "Well, I appoint you my +keeper. I hope I'm not such a cheap sort of a criminal as to try to +escape from a delivery van. A stone dungeon or nothing for me." Gee +whiz, that fellow's particular. + +Just then the plot grew thicker--oh, _boy_! One of the doors of the van +opened and Pee-wee squeezed in. He had a big piece of paper in his hand. +He said, "I went up the road a little way--shh!" + +I said, "I thought it was kind of quiet outside." + +He said, "Shh, look at this; it was tacked to a tree. We're in desperate +peril----" + +Brent said, "In which?" + +"Read this," the kid whispered. "I didn't see it till after I threw the +clothes away and they floated down the brook. Dangers thicken--look at +this." He got those words out of the movies, _dangers thicken_. + +Brent and I read the printing on the paper and this is what it said: + + ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD + + Offered for information leading to the recapture of Mike + Donovan, alias Rinky, escaped from Indiana State Prison. Was + serving term of fifteen years for burglary and child murder. + Slender of stature. Five feet nine inches in height. Is supposed + to have relations in the east. Age about nineteen. Is known to + be a desperate character, having served terms in New York and + Pennsylvania for burglary and highway robbery. + +There was some more, about who to notify and all that, but I can't +remember the rest. Brent took the paper from me and sat there on the +grocery box in the dim light with the doors closed, reading it. It +seemed awfully dark and secret, kind of, in there. + +He said, "Larceny, child murder, burglary, and highway robbery. That +isn't so bad, is it? That's really more than I expected. I haven't lived +in vain." + +"You'll live in a jail, that's where you'll live," Pee-wee whispered. +"What are we going to do?" + +"You ought to know," I told him, "a scout is resourceful." + + + + + CHAPTER XX--WE CONSIDER OUR PREDICAMENT + + + (THAT'S PEE-WEE'S HEADING) + +I said to Brent, "Now you've killed a child and highway-robbed people +and broken into houses, I hope you're satisfied." + +"And larcenied," the kid shouted. + +"Shut up," I told him; "do you want the whole town to hear you? It's bad +enough as it is; suppose somebody should come walking into this van." + +Brent said, in that crazy way of his, "Boys, this is the end of an evil +career. This is what comes of getting mixed up with the boy scouts. See +where it has brought me. Never again will I do a good turn." + +"You're crazy," Pee-wee shouted. + +"Shh," I told him; "have a heart. Do you want to get us all pinched?" + +"It was about the best turn I ever did," Brent said; "I turned the +stop-cock all the way open. And here I am a prisoner in a dry goods +delivery van with boy scouts for keepers. I'd be ashamed to look an +honest burglar in the face." Honest, that's just the crazy way he +talked. He said, "Now the question is to escape. I want to escape in a +way that's full of pep." + +Pee-wee said, "You make me tired. Do you mean to say that good +turns----" + +"Will you shut up about good turns, and listen?" I said. + +"I mean to say that a good turn is the cause of my downfall," Brent +said; "and I wish I had a cigarette. Boys, take a lesson from my +terrible example and don't ever do a good turn." + +"What are you talking about?" the kid shouted. + +"Shh," I told him; "keep still, will you? The first merry-go-round you +see you can get on it and do all the good turns you want, only keep +still and give us a chance to see where we're at, will you?" + +"It's printed on the National Headquarters' letterheads," he said, "to +do a good turn----" + +"It's bad advice to give a young boy," Brent said. + +I said, "Keep still, you're worse than he is. Give me a chance to think, +will you?" + +"Roosevelt's name and Taft's name are on that letterhead," the kid +began, "so that shows----" + +"I'm surprised that they should give such advice to young boys," Brent +said. "I wonder if I could escape from this van with a file and let +myself down with a rope?" Then he picked up a can opener and said, "Ha, +ha, just the thing." + +I said, "Will you please keep still a minute, both of you? Maybe you've +heard the scout motto, 'Be Prepared.' That's just as important as good +turns. How are we going to get away from this town? That's the question. +You and your crimes, and Pee-wee and his good turns, make me tired. +We've got to look facts in the face." + +Brent said, "I'm ashamed to look even a fact in the face." + +"Well," I told him, "you'll be looking a sheriff in the face if you +don't talk in a whisper, and maybe you'll find it isn't so pleasant +being arrested." + +Brent said, "I'm not thinking about being arrested, I'm thinking about +escaping." + +"Well, you can't escape from a dry goods van," I told him. + +He said, awful sad, kind of, "I know it. Oh, if I were only Eliza and +could be pursued by ferocious bloodhounds." + +I said, "Well, you can't have everything. You've done pretty well so +far." + +"Sure you have," Pee-wee whispered; "there's one of those notices tacked +up in the Post Office, and everybody is talking about that fellow +escaping. I told them that often boy scouts find missing people. I was +telling them about good turns, and I said we'd be on the lookout." + +"I hope they won't look _in_" Brent said. + +"What else did you tell them?" I asked him, good and scared. Because I +knew that if our young hero had been able to round up an audience in the +Post Office, most likely he had given them the whole history of the Boy +Scouts of America and a lot of other stuff besides. + +"I was telling them about good turns," he said. "There was an old lady +there and I carried a big bundle out to her carriage for her." + +"And that's all you told them?" I asked him. + +"I told them we were going to the Veterans' Reunion at Grumpy's +Cross-roads," he said. + +I said, "Did anybody ask you any questions?" + +"Sure," he said; "a man asked me if I liked gumdrops. He gave me a bag +of them. Want one?" + +"Well," I said, "the best thing for us to do is to get out of this place +as quick as we can. When we once strike open country, we'll be all right +and when we meet the rest of the crowd we can scrape up some civilized +duds." + +"I wonder how I'd look in Brother Abbington's plug hat just now," Brent +said. + +"You should worry," I told him; "you look bad enough already." + +"Speaking of plug hats," he said, "don't forget we have to get a couple +of plugs for the motor. What place is this, anyway?" + +"It's the place we were looking for," Pee-wee said; "it's Barrow's +Homestead. There aren't any scouts here, but I told the people all about +them. They're going to start a troop." + +I said, "Well, it's time to start this troop if we don't want to get +into trouble. This is a pretty risky business." + + + + + XXI--GETTING STARTED + + +As soon as I heard that Pee-wee had been in the Post Office talking, I +decided that we had better get away from that place just as soon as we +possibly could, if not sooner. Even Brent said he guessed the best way +to escape was inside the van; he said it was more comfortable and +convenient. He said the good old times when people used to escape from +towers and be pursued by ferocious bloodhounds weren't any more except +in the movies. He said he was discouraged. + +Gee whiz, when I looked at him sitting there on that grocery box with +his face all grimy and his hair cropped and that striped suit on him, I +just had to laugh. I have to admit he's awful funny, that fellow is. + +I said, "Well, one thing, it's mighty lucky I know how to drive a car +and I can get us out of this village. And another thing, it's mighty +lucky we're still just where the village begins; if we weren't we'd be +surrounded. If we can get past the Post Office, we're safe." + +So then Pee-wee and I tore down the signs we had outside the van about +going all the way from Klucksville to New York, because people would +wonder at fellows our age doing that when there was no big fellow with +us. Safety first, that's what I said. + +"If they think we're only going as far as Grumpy's Cross-roads," I said, +"I guess nobody'll be suspicious." + +Pee-wee said, "Yes, but how about Jolly & Kidder's name, and New York +printed all over the sides of the van?" + +"A scout is resourceful," I told him; "let's tear down the canvas from +inside and be quick about it." + +Now inside that van was lined with canvas to keep things from getting +scratched, I guess. Brent said it was a padded cell. So we took that +down and tacked it up outside on both sides so that all the printing was +covered. After we did that we closed the doors of the van and locked the +padlock and Pee-wee took the key. Brent called out to us that we should +take a lesson by his terrible example. Then we could hear him kind of +muttering, "I will escape; I will foil you all yet." Honest, he's crazy, +that fellow is. + +Pee-wee and I sat down on the back step for about half a minute to make +up our minds what we should say if any one stopped us and asked us +questions. "Anyway," he said, "that canvas on the sides will make people +suspicious with no printing on it." + +I said, "Well, we're not going to print any lies on it, anyway." + +He said, "We don't have to print lies. Truth is stranger than +fiction--that's what it said in a movie play I saw." + +Then, all of a sudden he out with a piece of chalk that he always +carries so as he can make scout signs and he sprawled all over one side +of the van, + + BOY SCOUTS + EN ROOT TO SOLDIERS' REUNION + + Our Mottoes: + + BE PREPARED + DO A GOOD TURN DAILY + +I said, "That isn't the way to spell en route. What's the matter with +you?" + +I guess he was thinking about root beer, hey? + + + + + XXII--SILENCE! + + +I said to Pee-wee, "Now all we have to do is to go straight about our +business and keep our mouths shut and we'll get out of this burg all +right. Just keep silence. Nobody's going to stop us as long as people +don't get suspicious. I can drive the car till we get out of town and I +don't think any one will stop me. All _you_ have to do is to keep +silence." + +"How long do I have to keep it?" he wanted to know. + +I said, "Oh, keep it till it's all used up, and then I'll give you some +more. Believe me, you can't have too much of it just now." + +"We'll have to use up a lot of it, hey?" he said. + +"More than _you_ ever used before," I told him. + +"Anyway," he said, "an innocent man has nothing to fear." + +"You got that out of the movies," I told him. "An innocent man with his +hair cropped and a convict suit on has a whole lot to fear." + +"Innocence is a shield," he said; "it's in my copy book." + +"Yes?" I said. "Well, an enclosed van is a better shield." + +"Our lips will be sealed, hey?" he said. I guess he got that out of the +_Dan Dauntless Series_; he eats those books alive. + +I felt kind of shaky driving that van, but I knew I had to do it, and if +a scout has to do a thing he does it. Gee whiz, I like things that are +hard--except licorice jaw breakers. You get three of those for a cent. +Even I can eat those if I have to, but I like marshmallows better. I +like peanut brittle too. But anyway that hasn't got anything to do with +driving a car. + +For maybe an eighth of a mile there weren't any houses, because where we +stopped was really on the edge of the village. Anyway that village +didn't have much of an edge to it. Pretty soon the houses began to get +near together. I guess they were always just as near together but +they--you know what I mean. + +Pee-wee didn't say a word; he just sat straight up beside me like a +little tin soldier. It was a shame to see him wasting so much silence. + +Pretty soon we came to the Post Office. There were a lot of people +standing around the Post Office and they were talking about the railroad +strike. I knew that if we once got past the Post Office we'd be all +right. Because post offices in the country are where sheriffs and +constables and other people that haven't got anything to do hang out. It +wasn't much of a post office. I guess they called it a post office +because there was a post out in front of it. There was one of those +signs tacked to that post. + +I said to Pee-wee, "This is a young reviewing stand. Look straight +ahead, keep your mouth shut, and look kind of careless--you +know--carefree." + +_Good night_, you should have seen the look he put on! + +"Is that what you call care free?" I whispered to him. "You look like an +advertisement for tooth powder." + +"That's the scout smile," he whispered. + +Honest, you'd have laughed to see him; he was looking straight ahead and +grinning all over his face. + +"Look natural," I whispered to him. "Look as if there wasn't a convict +in the van. Look as if you never saw a convict." + +"How can any fellow look as if he never saw a convict?" he whispered. +"Most everybody has never seen a convict." + +"Well, look like them, then," I told him. "Look the same as a person +would look if he wasn't helping a convict to escape." + +He put on another kind of a smile and then he whispered to me, "I bet +now those people will say I'm not helping a convict to escape, hey?" + +"Sure," I told him; "you look as if you were on the track of an ice +cream soda. Keep still and the worst will soon be over." + + + + + XXIII--FIXING IT + + +As we went past the Post Office I felt pretty shaky, because there were +a whole lot of people there and some of them were women, and there were +a lot of children, too. The women said, "Isn't he cute?" They meant +Pee-wee. + +Everybody stared at us as we went by, and read the printing on the van +and said how the boy scouts were all right. It didn't seem as if anybody +was suspicious at all. Some of them waved to us and we waved back and I +heard a man say that we were lively youngsters. Gee whiz, nobody ever +accused us of being dead, that's one sure thing. + +One lady said how she had seen Pee-wee in the store and how he had told +her all about good turns. She said it must be great to be a boy. Gee +whiz, she said something that time. + +"Now you see," Pee-wee whispered; "it's good I was in that store. It's +good I told them all about the scouts, because now they're not +suspicious. They think it's all right for kids to be doing this, because +I told them scouts are resourceful." + +"Did you tell them how we have plenty of initials?" I asked him. + +"Do you know what safe conduct is?" he asked me. + +"I know that yours isn't always safe," I told him. + +"It means when a general promises not to interfere with anybody, even an +enemy. He gives them safe conduct; that means that they can go ahead and +not worry about being pinched, see? These people gave us safe conduct +and they're not bothering us, because they know the scouts are all +right. It's on account of the way I talked to them. I came along first +like a kind of a--you know--a what-d'ye-call-it----" + +"I don't know _what_ to call it," I said. + +"A herald," he blurted out. + +"Well," I said, "you look more like the funny page in the Journal to me. +Don't talk too loud, the danger isn't passed." + +By that time we had got about fifty yards past the Post Office and I was +feeling kind of nervous, but just the same I knew the danger was over. + +Pee-wee said, "Do you mean to tell me that those people would let a +couple of kids like us go by driving a big van, and never ask them any +questions, if they didn't know that we were all right? I fixed it all +right, while you and Brent were worrying your lives out in the van. Now +we're safe." + +I said, "Oh, you're the little fixer, all right." + +Just then, _good night_, one of those men came running after us calling, +"Hi thar, wait a minute, you youngsters!" + +Oh, boy, a cold shudder ran down my back. I said, "We're pinched. I knew +it was too good to be true." + +I stopped the car and when the man caught up with us he said, all out of +breath, "What's this here talk one of you youngsters were givin' us +'baout good turns? Allus ready ter do a favor, as I understand?" + +Oh, bibbie, wasn't I relieved. + +"That's our middle name," Pee-wee said. + +"Wall then, haow abaout doin' one naow?" the man said. + +By that time there were about a dozen people standing around in the road +and I gave Pee-wee a nudge and said, "Watch your step; let me do the +talking." + +But he didn't pay any attention to me. Off he went with a lot of stuff +out of the handbook and wound up by saying how scouts were supposed to +help strangers. "Sure, we'll do anything you want," he said; "all you +have to do is to ask us." + +"Wall then," the man said, "here's a lot of folks wantin' to go to the +reunion at the Crossroads and we was thinkin' as haow you might pack 'em +inter this here van of yourn as long as the trains ain't runnin'." + +_Jumping jiminies!_ I nearly fell through the seat. + + + + + XXIV--SNOOZER SETTLES IT + + +That was a home-run all right I said, all flabbergasted. "You see, the +only trouble is I'm not an experienced driver and these are--they're +pretty rough roads--and--eh--" + +"That's one thing about us," Pee-wee piped up; "we're not as smart as we +look. Maybe it seems as if we could do most anything, but we can't. +That's one thing about a scout, he has to admit it if he doesn't know +everything. He has to--he has to--eh--he has to safeguard the lives of +others. See? Suppose we ran into a ditch and upset the car and everybody +got killed. They wouldn't thank us, would they?" + +One of the ladies said, "Oh, isn't he just too funny for anything!" + +The man said, kind of slow and drawly like, he said, "Wall, yer could +drive slow en' thar ain't no ditches." + +"Even one ditch would be enough," the kid said. "Isn't there just one?" + +Jiminetty, I could hardly keep a straight face. There were all those +people crowding around the van and saying how nice it would be if we +would take a group to the reunion and how we had plenty of room. I +thought of Brent sitting on the grocery box inside, and I bet he was +laughing. + +I said under my breath to Pee-wee, "All right, you got us into this with +your good turns; now you can get us out." + +Then a man said, "A couple of boys who are going to have an eye out to +recapture a convict, like this here little feller says, they ought to be +smart enough and kind enough, I reckon, to give some of these here +disappointed souls a lift. Jest you boys open these here doors and let +the youngsters pile in, so they can go see Uncle Tom's Cabin." + +"That--that show isn't going to be much good," Pee-wee said; "and I can +tell you one thing, it's pretty stuffy in that van. That's one thing +scouts believe in--fresh air." + +By that time he was fidgeting around on the seat and some of the people +were laughing and some of them looked surprised. + +"That's just it," Pee-wee said; "if you were boy scouts and you were +going to try to capture a criminal, you wouldn't want a lot of children +along, would you? And ladies? Ladies are a-scared of criminals; gee, I +don't blame them." + +Somebody said, "Oh, I guess the hounds they got on the trail will find +the convict, all right, so you boys can jest consider if you're goin' to +live up to your words or not 'baout doin' good turns." + +Oh, boy, that was a terrible moment in Pee-wee's life. I guess _Dan +Dauntless_ never had so much to worry about. But that kid has some +sense, anyway, and that's more than that story fellow has. In a couple +of seconds I noticed that he was wiping his face with his handkerchief +and I saw that he was getting the key sort of rolled up in the cloth at +the same time. Then he made believe to put the handkerchief in his back +pocket, but really he dropped it through the little window into the van. +You couldn't even hear it drop inside. + +Then he said, "The trouble is that this van is locked and we haven't got +the key." That kid would never have said that while he had the key, +because it would have been a lie. And scouts don't lie, that's sure. + +Jiminy, I don't know what those people thought; anyway I felt pretty +mean. The ladies said anyway they were just as much obliged to us. The +men looked kind of as if they didn't have much use for us, but they +didn't say anything and I had to admit that Pee-wee had got away with it +all right. + +Then, _good night, Sister Anne_, what should I see but our old college +chum Snoozer from the Uncle Tom's Cabin show. There he was, right among +all those people, pushing them out of the way and sniffing around as if +he was half crazy. Pee-wee and I jumped down and pushed past the people +who were all crowding around the back of the van, and, _good night_, +there was that pesky actor dog with his feet on the step, sniffing and +sniffing at the doors and barking and yelping for all he was worth. + +"Chop down them doors!" I heard a man say. "That's somethin' wrong here. +This here dog is an official bloodhound, and, _by gum_, he's tracked +that thar convict. That chap paid these youngsters to help him escape, +that's what he has--by thunder! Somebody get an axe out of the Post +Office and chop down these here doors. Don't either one of you +youngsters try to run or, by thunder, you'll drop in your tracks. Good +turns, eh? So them's the kind of good turns you do, hey? Get an axe +somebody--quick!" + + + + + XXV--BIG EXCITEMENT AT BARROW'S HOMESTEAD + + +I was kind of excited, but I said to Pee-wee, "Don't get scared; all +they'll do is arrest him; he'll get off." + +Then one of the men came up and said to us awful loud and gruff, "Naow, +you kids, aout with that key, hand it over!" + +I said, "Didn't you hear my chum say that we haven't got the key? It +shows you don't know much about scouts if you think they lie. If you +want to know where the key is, it's inside." + +"Wall then, yer better crawl through that little winder up thar in front +and git it," he said. + +"I don't have to get it," I told him; "go and get it yourself if you +want it. You must have been reading dime novels if you think that boys +like us help convicts to escape. If you tear down those doors you'll put +them up again, I'll tell you that." + +Just then along came a man with a brass badge on about as big as a +saucer. I said to Pee-wee, "Look what he's hiding." He had an axe, too. +There were a lot of people crowding all about him. One of them said, +"It's a pretty desperate attempt, Constabule." The man said, "I'll have +him behind the bars in about a jiffy. These boys is accessories, that's +what they are." + +"Accessories are things that come with motor-boats," the kid whispered +to me. + +I said, "Well, we're the kind of accessories that come with motor vans. +This is some circus; Brent will get his wish and go to jail, all right. +There's no use getting scared." + +By that time everything was excitement. People came running out of +houses and crowded around the van and stared at Pee-wee and me. Gee +whiz, I don't know where all the people came from. All the while the dog +kept clawing at the doors of the van and barking and yelping. I wondered +how Brent felt inside the van. In about five minutes the whole town was +out, gaping and talking, all excited. + +The constable said to us, "Naow then, you youngsters, you been +compoundin' a felony, that's what you been doin'. Now who's inside that +van? Who yer hidin'? Somebody, hey?" + +"I'm not denying anything," I told him. "All I say is we didn't break +any law." + +"Wall, yer admit yer concealin' somebody in thar, ain't yer--huh?" he +shouted. + +I said, "I'm not denying it, but I'm not scared of you." + +He said, "Yaas? Wall, we'll soon see. We'll have him under lock and key +for sartin, if that's what he likes." + +"That's his favorite pastime," I said; "you don't know him." + +"Surraound this here wagon, you people," the constable said, "and keep a +watch on these kids; they're pretty slippery." + +So then the constable and another man began chopping down the doors. +"It's up to them," I said to Pee-wee; "we should worry." + +"What do you suppose Brent will do?" he said. + +"They'll lock him up till the whole thing is explained," I said; "they +won't take our word for anything. He's got troubles of his own at last; +I hope he's satisfied. He wanted bread and water, now he'll get it." + +"They'll lock us up, too, won't they?" the kid said, good and scared. +"That man is keeping his eye on us." + +All the while the dog kept yelping and clawing at the doors and the +people crowded closer around so as to see better. Gee, I felt kind of +sorry for Brent, because I saw he was up against it. + +All of a sudden down came one of the doors and the bloodhound sprang +inside and came out again. The constable poked his head in and said, +"_Well, I'll be jiggered!_" Pee-wee and I looked inside and, good night, +that van was as empty as an ice cream soda glass when Pee-wee is through +with it. + +"Well--what--do--you--know--about--that?" I stammered under my breath to +Pee-wee. + +"His dream came true," Pee-wee whispered to me; "he kept his vow, he +foiled everybody, he _escaped_. He--he--he what-d'ye-call-it--he hasn't +lived in vain--hey?" + +"He hasn't lived in the van very long, that's sure," I whispered. "He +has put it all over these people and us too. Can you beat that fellow?" + +"He defied locks and bolts and dungeons like Houdini," the kid said. I +guess he saw Houdini in the movies. + +"Sure, he's a real hero at last," I said; "but he's got _me_ guessing." + +The constable and a couple of other men were stamping around inside the +van and he called out, "Thar ain't no clew here, nothin' but this here +can opener." And then he came out with the can opener in his hand. + +Gee whiz, I just couldn't help shouting right out in front of everybody. +I said, "That clew explains the whole mystery. There was a can of baked +beans in that van, and he must have opened it and emptied them out and +secreted himself in the empty can. When we threw the can away, he +escaped." + +The constable said, "What's all this talk? I want to know who you kids +is, anyway. And I want ter know what you're doin' here, runnin' this big +van all by yourselves." + +I said, "I'm Sherlock Nobody Holmes, the boy detective. This is my +trusty pal, Scout Harris. We're on our way to kidnap Major Grumpy in +this van and hold him until he gives up one thousand dollars to the Boy +Scouts of America. Can you tell us where we can buy a couple of spark +plugs?" + + + + + XXVI--TO THE RESCUE + + +All of a sudden the plot grew thicker. I thought we'd have to thin it +with gasoline, it grew so thick. For a few minutes Pee-wee and I just +stood there wondering what had become of Brent and laughing at the +constable who was holding his axe in one hand and our can opener in the +other, and all the people stood around staring at us as if they didn't +know what to make of us. + +The constable said, "I daon't like the looks uv this here, I don't. You +allowed there was somebody in that van. Now whar is he?" + +I said, "I didn't allow anything, I just didn't _deny_ anything. What's +the use of blaming us because you half chopped the van to pieces? All +you've got is a can opener--we should worry. You seem to trust the dog; +if you want to ask any questions you'd better ask _him_. The only person +he knows how to track is Eliza, because that's his business." + +"He's on the stage," Pee-wee piped up. + +"You mean he's in the van," I said. + +The constable said, "Wall, I reckon you youngsters'd better tell yer +story ter Justice Cummins. It's mighty funny two young boys travelin' by +theirselves in a big van." + +"I'll recount our adventures to him," Pee-wee piped up. "Where is he?" + +For about half a minute the constable just stood there staring at us. I +guess he didn't know what he'd better do. All the rest of the people +stood around, staring. I guess it was the biggest thing that ever +happened in Barrow's Homestead. Inside the van a couple of men were +holding the bloodhound by the collar. Some excitement. + +All of a sudden, zip goes the fillum, along the road came an auto, +pell-mell! It came through the village from the direction we were going +in. + +"Look!" Pee-wee said. "Look who's in it; it's Harry; who's that with +him?" + +Before I had a chance to say anything, the car was close up to us and +Harry and another person were stepping out. Harry was laughing all over +his face, but he was in a terrible hurry, I could see that. I gave one +look at the person who was with him and began to roar. + +"It's--it's Brent--Gaylong," Pee-wee whispered. + +I said, "Don't make me laugh any harder or I'll die of shock." + +Honest, even now when I think of it I have to laugh. He looked like +Charlie Chaplin only more so. And he had such a funny way about him +too--kind of dignified. He had on a great big straw hat like a farmer +and a black coat like a minister, only it was all in shreds. It was his +trousers that made him look like Charlie Chaplin. Laugh! They were about +a hundred times too big and a mile too long, and every time he took a +step he stumbled all over himself and had to hoist them up. His big hat +was pulled way down over his ears and--oh, I just can't tell you about +it. He was a scream. And all the while he had a very dignified, severe +look on his face, even when he tripped all over himself. + +Honest, I just howled. I didn't hear Pee-wee laugh; I guess he must have +fainted. Harry came along behind Brent, trying not to laugh but every +time Brent's feet caught in his trousers I could see Harry's face all +twisted up just as if he was trying as hard as he could not to scream. +Every step Brent took I thought he'd go kerflop on the ground. The +people were all giggling, but he didn't notice them at all, only kept on +looking very sober and stern--oh, boy, it was a scream. + +He said, "What is all this?" And then he fell all over himself and gave +his trousers a hitch. "Who is interfering with these boys in the +performance of their duty? Stand back, everybody!" And he went +staggering against a tree and gave his trousers a good hitch up. "Who is +the leader of this motley throng?" That's what he said, and, gee whiz, I +thought he'd skid and land on his head. You couldn't see his hands, his +sleeves were so long. "Who dares to stand--" he said, and, good night, +he went kerflop on the ground and got right up again. I had a headache +from laughing. + +Harry Donnelle just sat down on the step of the van and shook and shook. + +Brent pointed at the sheriff with the floppy end of his sleeve and said, +"You and your minions are charged with trespassing upon the property of +Jolly & Kidder, Inc., New York. Wait till I roll up my sleeves so I can +point better. Who _dares_ to stand in the way of the Boy Scouts of +America?" + +"Thar's a convict missin' from araound these parts," the constable said; +"who are you, anyway, and your friend thar?" + +Brent said, "We represent the Archibald Abbington Uncle Tom's Cabin +Company who are touring the country, drawing laughter and tears with +their excruciating and heart-rending drama, and I am in search of one of +our ferocious bloodhounds. We are in partnership with the Boy Scouts of +America and any one attempting to interfere with our noble effort to put +an end to slavery will be punished to the full extent of the law. When +we have an opportunity we will endeavor to find your convict for you. +Please stand aside, everybody, and allow the procession to pass." + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII--ANOTHER DISCOVERY + + +Brent stumbled up the step and stood in back of the van, holding his +trousers up with one hand and waving the other hand in the air. + +"Free ride to the Veterans' Reunion at Grumpy's Cross-roads!" he began +shouting. "Children and veterans free! We take you but do not bring you +back. No connection with criminals and convicts! Free ride to the +carnival. Veterans welcome! All aboard for the carnival! Hail to the +Grand Army of the Republic and the Boy Scouts of America. Hurrah for +Jolly & Kidder, New York's great cash store! Step inside, veterans!" + +Pretty soon an old man with an old blue army cap came hobbling out of +the crowd, and Harry helped him up into the van. That was a starter. Men +began bringing boxes from the Post Office and putting them in the van +for seats. Most of the mothers wouldn't let their children go because +there wasn't any way for them to get back, but the veterans didn't seem +to mind that. We got three veterans in Barrow's Homestead and then +started out. I don't know what the constable thought, but we should +worry about that. All the people cheered us and gave us a fine send-off. +Pee-wee said they were stricken with remorse--I guess he got that out of +a movie play. + +We stopped for a couple of spark plugs and to get the timer of the van +adjusted, and a lot of the kids followed us as far as the end of the +town. + +Harry drove the van and Brent drove the touring car, and Pee-wee and I +sat with Brent. + +I said, "I wish you'd tell us about your adventures, you crazy Indian. I +thought we were in for a lot of trouble in that village. You've got me +guessing. Anyway you escaped like you said you were going to do. But I'd +like to know where you came from and where you got that bunch of rags." + +He said, "You should never laugh at honest rags. Beneath these rags +beats a noble heart. Boys, I am sick of crime and I am going to reform." +That's just the way he talked, the crazy Indian. He said, "I have had my +fondest wish, I have been a convict--a villyan. I have languished in a +dark moving van, I have foiled the shrewdest people in the world, the +boy scouts--not. Would you like to hear the story of my evil career? I +began life as an honest boy. I never stole but once in my life and that +was when I stole second base in a ball game." + +I said, "Will you stop your jollying and tell us what happened?" + +He said, "Posilutely I will. There were two boy scouts sitting on the +step outside the Jolly & Kidder state prison. I was inside in my +convicts' stripes." + +"Were you languishing?" Pee-wee piped up. + +Brent said, "No, I was eating a banana. I said two scouts, but really it +was only about one and a half. They were supposed to be alert, +observant, resourceful." + +I said, "That's right, rub it into us." + +He said, "While they were arguing on the back step I stood upon a +grocery box and crawled through the little window in back of the front +seat. I was _free_, like Monte Carlo--I mean Monte Cristo--" + +"You mean Monticello," I told him. + +"You mean Montenegro," Pee-wee put in. + +"The world seemed bright and new," Brent said. + +"You're crazy," I told him; "go on, where did you get those clothes?" + +He said, "Shh. Can I count on you never to breathe a word? The man I got +these clothes from lies dead in yonder swamp." + +"Who put him there?" Pee-wee wanted to know. + +Brent said, "Shh, I did. The man was innocent. He was standing in a +field beyond the swamp. He was doing no harm. I approached him, crawling +through the grass." + +"What was he doing there?" Pee-wee wanted to know. + +"He was scaring away crows," Brent said. + +"_He was a scarecrow_!" I blurted out. + +"A harmless, innocent, hard working scarecrow," Brent said. "As I think +of it now----" + +[Illustration: BRENT CAPTURED A SCARECROW.] + +"You make me tired!" Pee-wee yelled. "Why didn't you say so?" + +Brent said, "His trustful, happy, carefree face haunts me now. He was +only scaring away the crows----" + +"You give me a pain!" the kid shouted. "You're crazy." + +Brent said, "But I thought of my dungeon in the Jolly & Kidder van and +of my brutal keepers, those two boy scouts--asleep on the back step. I +said to myself, 'I will never return whither----'" + +"You mean thither," Pee-wee said. + +"I said to myself, 'They will have to kill me to take me alive,'" Brent +said. + +"Anyway, you killed him?" I asked him. + +He said, "I killed him in cold blood--anyway it wasn't more than +lukewarm. I tore him to pieces and took his clothes and concealed my +telltale convict stripes under a weeping willow. It was weeping its eyes +out." + +"It's a wonder it wasn't laughing," I told him. + +He said, "The poor fellow was as thin as a stick; his arms were made of +a cross stick, I think it was a broom stick. He lies under the marsh +grass in yonder swamp. And I am free!" + +"You're crazy too," the kid shouted. + +"I said I would escape and I did," Brent began to laugh. "I decided that +I would escape from the very people who claim to be the most alert and +wide-awake--the boy scouts. You say I'm crazy. Very well, even a crazy +person can foil the boy scouts. I suppose that's what you call logic." + +"That's what you call nonsense," Pee-wee yelled. + +"I hope you boys had a good nap while I was escaping," Brent said. "It +was a shame to do it, it was so easy. I tried to leave good plain +footprints, I did all that an honest convict could to help you, but in +vain. I doubt if the boy scouts could trail a steam roller. As for the +authorities of Barrow's Homestead ... but I've seen enough of crime and +its evil results." That's just the way he talked. "Henceforth I mean to +be honest." + +"You're a nut, that's what you are!" Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, awful kind of heroic like, he said, "Ha! Sayest thou so? +Then glance at this paper." + +I said, "What is it? Where did you get it?" + +"I got it out of the inside pocket of this old coat," he said; "and it +means mischief. _Shh_, no one has seen it but Harry Domicile; he agrees +with me that it has to do with a dark plot." + +"You mean you found it in the scarecrow's pocket?" Pee-wee asked him, +all excited. + +"I found it in the scarecrow's inside pocket," Brent said. "I don't +think the scarecrow knew it was there. It is very mysterious. I think we +are on the track of a new mystery. That anybody who wore a black frock +coat should have had such a paper in his possession is very strange. It +is no wonder the crows shunned him." + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII--A MYSTERIOUS PAPER + + +Brent handed me the paper and Pee-wee nearly pushed me off the seat +sticking his head way over and trying to read it. I have to admit it was +mighty interesting what was on that paper. The more Pee-wee stared at it +the bigger his eyes got, and it had _me_ guessing, too. + +All the while, Brent just sat there driving the machine as if he wasn't +interested in the paper at all. He said, "You seem to like it. I pick up +papers like that every day. If you don't care for that one, just say so +and I'll dig you up another; I'll find you German spy maps, lost patent +papers of wonderful inventions, mortgage papers stolen by villyans, +anything you say; just say the word." + +"If you don't care for this one, don't be afraid to say so. I know where +there are some documents about a dark anarchist plot. Do you care about +anarchist plots? Some people like them and others don't; it's just a +matter of taste." + +I said, "_Good night_, this will do for me." + +Pee-wee said, all excited, "Maybe it means millions of dollars; maybe it +means bars of gold. We'll solve the mystery, hey?" + +"Oh, just as you say," Brent said; "you know my stand on mysteries and +adventures; I eat them raw." + +That paper was all old and yellow and when we opened it I had to hold it +on my knee, because it tore where the creases were. I guess maybe it was +as old as ten years. It looked as if it had been torn out of a +memorandum book and the writing was made with a lead pencil and it was +kind of blurred, but anyway, this is what it said: + + Snake Creek. North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton Cove, Top of S + Cove. Follow line due north from willow. Cons to west. Stake. + Measure ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line due + NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW limit, indicated at AN + Stake. Follow S line south to pie. + +Pee-wee said, very mysterious like, "What da you think it is? It tells +where there's buried treasure, doesn't it?" + +"Sure it does," I said. "It sounds just like the directions in the _Gold +Bug_ by Edgar Allan Poe." + +"It sounds just like _Treasure Island_," Pee-wee put in. + +Brent said, "Well, I don't know. I was thinking about it and I decided +that it's a bill of fare." + +"A what?" Pee-wee shouted. + +"You see it's got stake and pie on it," Brent said. + +"You make me tired!" the kid fairly yelled. "That paper shows where +buried treasure is hidden." + +Brent said, "Well then, that scarecrow must have been a pirate in his +younger days. He had an evil past and I'm glad I killed him." + +"You seem to think it's a joke," I said; "but it tells where there's +buried treasure, that's one sure thing. You can't make anything else out +of it--can you?" + +Brent said, "Buried treasure's good enough for _me_--gold or stakes or +pies, I don't care. I'd like to dig up a few buckwheat cakes just now." + +"Do you know what you are? Do you know what you are?" the kid began +shouting. "You're a Philippine--that's what you are!" + +I said, "You mean a philistine--that's a person that makes fun of things +and doesn't believe anything." + +Brent said, "The only time I ever went after buried treasure I was +_foiled_ by the boy scouts. Never again. They wouldn't chop down a tree +under which the treasure was buried because they loved trees." + +"This isn't under a tree," Pee-wee said; "it's in a cove--on the end of +a line due north. That's different. That's always the kind of a place +wkere treasure is--in a cove. You can tell by the names that there's +treasure there--Snake Creek and Skeleton Cove and lines due north and +willows and everything. It says _treasure_, doesn't it? What more do you +want?" + +"Only where's the place?" Brent said. + +"We'll find it," Pee-wee said; "we'll find it if we, if we--drop in our +tracks." + +Brent said, "That's something I've always longed to do--drop in my +tracks. I'd like to be rescued by a St. Bernard dog." + +I said, "_Good night_, have a heart. There are dogs enough in this +series of thrilling adventures." + +Brent said, "Well anyway, this is the only story of adventure that has a +scarecrow for a villain. What d'ye say?" + + + + + XXIX--THE MYSTERY DEEPENS + + +Brent said, "Well, as long as you like my little mystery, we might as +well take a peep into it. We may have a couple of hairbreadth escapes, +you never can tell. By rights, we ought to quarrel over the treasure +after we have found it, and all kill each other. That's the way they +usually do." + +"They don't do that way any more," Pee-wee said; "they divide it up." + +Brent said, "No, I insist on quarreling over it." + +He folded the paper and put it back in his pocket. It seemed funny for a +paper like that to be in an old black frock coat like ministers wear. I +had to laugh at Brent on account of the sober way he tucked it back into +the pocket. + +I said, "It's got _me_ interested, that's one sure thing. But how are we +going to find out where that place is?" + +He said, "Well, the proper way would be for us just to fit out an +expedition and go in search of it like old what's-his-name who hunted +for the soda fountain down in Florida." + +Pee-wee said, "Ponce de Leon, he hunted for the Fountain of Youth." + +"But the best way," Brent said, "if you're really interested, is for us +to get hold of a map of the Ohio River when we hit Indianapolis. We +cross the Ohio at Wheeling and if that old creek is anywhere in our +neighborhood we'll see if we can hoe up a few nuggets. That's the proper +thing, isn't it--nuggets?" + +"Nuggets and pieces of eight," Pee-wee said, very serious. + +Brent said that we had enough on our minds then, with the Uncle Tom's +Cabin people and the Veterans' Reunion, and that we'd better get along, +especially as Harry with the van had almost caught up to us. + +But one more thing happened before we got very far from Barrow's +Homestead, and it threw some light on the mystery--that's what Pee-wee +said. A man in a pair of overalls came along the road and Brent stopped +to ask him a couple of questions. While the machine was standing there, +the van passed us. Gee, there were a lot of people in it and on it and +all over. + +Harry said, "Do you want us to tow you? Come on, hurry up, you'll be +late for the show. We've got Sherman's march through Georgia beat a +hundred ways." + +Brent said, "Don't bother us, we're chasing after nuggets." Then he said +to the man, "You don't happen to know who owns that land beyond the +marsh down at the other end of town, do you? Before you get to the Post +Office? There's a big cornfield there." + +I whispered to Pee-wee, "Keep your mouth shut, now, and don't tell him +about good turns." + +The man said, "Yer mean swamp acres? That's part o' th' old Deacon +Snookbeck place." + +Brent said, "Yes. Who's he?" + +"Wa'l, he ain't," the man said, "but he was. Th' best thing I can say +abaout that ole codger is, he's dead." + +Brent rested his arms on the steering wheel and talked kind of careless, +sort of. He said, "I was just wondering if the place was for sale. So he +was a queer ole codger, the deacon, hey?" + +The man said, "Yes, en' more'n that as I've heared tell. I guess young +Snookbeck ain't calc'latin' on sellln' th' place. I reckon nobody raound +these parts is wantin' ter buy it, neither. Yer see thar was a kind of a +mystery 'baout ole Ebenezer. Some folks even say his haouse is haunted +by a chap he murdered. But I reckon he wasn' as bad as all that." + +Oh, boy, you should have seen Pee-wee! He just sat there staring, his +eyes as big as dinner plates. He didn't say a word, only just stared. + +Brent said, "House of mystery, hey? The Frock-coated Villyan! That would +be a good name for a photoplay, huh?" + +That man leaned his elbow on the side of the car and said, kind of +friendly like, as if we were special friends of his, he said, "Wa'l, +'baout, let's see, nigh onter ten year ago, thar was a couple of young +chaps wearin' khaki like you chaps, come out this way en they wuz +rootin' raound on th' deacon's farm. They weren't plantin', that was +sure; and they weren't no farm hands. Nobody seemed jest able ter find +out ezactly what they were, 'cause they never talked ter nobody. Aunt +Josie Anne, daown th' road a piece, asked one uv 'em who he thought he +was. He said he thought he was Santa Claus, but he wasn' sure. They wuz +kind o' comics, both uv 'em. Wa'l, I ain't ashamed ter tell no man who I +am." + +Brent said, "You're right," just sort of to encourage him to talk. + +The man said, "Wa'l, they stayed at th' deacon's house 'n' one night +they wuz out with a lantern in the middle of the night, under the big +tree near th' deacon's haouse. Steub Berry, he 'laowed they wuz buryin' +treasure thar. Some folks had it them two strangers wuz Mexican spies +'n' others reckoned they wuz army deserters. Th' ole deacon, he jes' +laughed and said we couldn' guess. He wouldn' deny nuthin'. All of a +sudden, _ker-bang_, they disappeared jes' like that 'n' some folks said +th' deacon murdered both uv 'em ter git th' treasure. My wife, she allus +had it, they come off some ranch or other with a lot uv stealin's. Wa'l, +'twas a nine days' wonder 'n arter that folks kinder fought shy of th' +deacon." + +Brent said, "And he's dead now?" + +"Oh, deader'n a mummy," the man said. "When the world war come some +folks said as haow that pair might a been German spies all th' while, +kind uv studying 'raound. But young Snookbeck he says if old Ebenezer +had anything hid it would be in his Bible, en' 's long 's 'tain't thar, +'tain't nowhere. But that's treasure hid somewhere, I say, 'cause them +wuz mighty funny doin's of them strangers. Yer goin' ter th' reunion +over t' 'he Cross-roads?" + + + + + CHAPTER XXX--WE MAKE A PROMISE + + +As soon as we had started, Brent said, "Well, it doesn't look half bad, +does it?" + +"Do you know who those fellows were? Do you know who those fellows +were?" our young hero fairly screamed. + +"I think they came from Mars," Brent said; "that's the way it looks to +me." + +I said, "You can joke but it's pretty serious." + +"They were _smugglers_ that's what they were," Pee-wee shouted. + +"They were either smugglers or book-agents," Brent said. "In either case +they deserved to be murdered. Maybe they were introducing a new kind of +soap----" + +"You make me sick," Pee-wee yelled; "there's treasure somewhere and +we're going to find it! It's at HW limit, it said so, HW means something +about _hollow well_, I bet you." + +Brent said, "Maybe it means hot waffles; there's a whole table d'hote +dinner in that paper. Maybe it means Hamburger wheat cakes. Anyway, the +Ohio River is a long way from Barrow's Homestead." + +Then Brent got kind of serious, not _very_ serious, but kind of +serious--as serious as he could. And he said we should promise him that +we wouldn't think any more about that dark, mysterious paper, or talk +about it to the other fellows until we got all through at Grumpy's +Crossroads and reached Indianapolis so he could get hold of a map. +Because if we couldn't find any stream named Snake Creek running into +the Ohio River, he didn't want the fellows to be disappointed. He said +there was no use of our going on a wild goose chase. + +You can bet we kept our promise to Brent, but I guess Pee-wee didn't +have any more sleep till we reached Indianapolis. But anyway, he had a +pretty good appetite. He buried some treasure every night--ice cream +sodas at the reunion. + +That's one thing I like about slavery. Because if there hadn't been any +slavery there wouldn't have been any Civil War, and if there hadn't been +any Civil War there wouldn't have been any Veterans' Reunion, and if +there hadn't been any Veterans' Reunion, there wouldn't have been any +ice cream sodas there. See? + +Gee whiz, I never was in the Civil War, or the uncivilized war or any +other kind, but I got a black eye once. Anyway, I killed four sodas when +I got to that reunion. + +I did it for my country's sake. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI--WE REACH OUR DESTINATION + + +Now maybe you'll say it was a long time since we left those other cars +and the rest of the fellows, but it was only about an hour. Only a lot +happened in that hour--it was condensed, like. That's the way I like +things. Only I don't like condensed milk. But I wish they had condensed +ice cream. Pee-wee's a condensed scout. I'd like to have condensed +lessons, too. Anyway my sister likes pickles--gee, I hate them. She says +even a postage stamp can stick to its subject better than I can. I +should worry. I told her you could send an animal by mail, because once +I saw a letter with a seal on it. She's all the time sending notes to +Harry Donnelle, she is. She gets awful mad when I jolly her. She plays +the mandolin. + +Let's see, where was I? Oh, yes, now I know. Pretty soon (she likes +bonbons too), pretty soon the van and our car came to the place where +the two roads what-d'ye-call-it--converge--that means come together. +And, gee whiz, we had a young reunion right there. Mr. Abbington was +awful nice, but, oh boy, he could hardly keep that other bloodhound from +chewing Brent all to pieces. I guess he thought he was a tramp. + +Harry said, "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Scarecrow +of Barrow's Homestead. The only one in captivity. We intend to exhibit +him at the reunion for the small sum of a dime, ten cents--three cents' +war tax. He used to be an escaped convict, but now he's reformed and +he's a respectable scarecrow, the only real scarecrow ever exhibited. +The crows drop dead when they see him." + +Gee whiz, you ought to have heard Miss Ophelia and Topsy laugh. Even +little Eva, _she_ laughed. I guess she forgot that she was going to die +and go to Heaven. Anyway, she was awful happy. Gee, Brent made them all +laugh. + +I bet you think it was a crazy procession that started off for Grumpy's +Cross-roads, but what cared we? Gee whiz, if you don't like it you know +what you can do. + +There was Harry driving the van that was chock full of veterans, because +they had picked up some along the road, and those veterans couldn't even +have gone if the railroads had been running, because they lived too far +away from stations and they had never been to things like that before. + +Harry made all the Uncle Tom's Cabin people wear their costumes and when +we got near to Grumpy's Cross-roads he had the cruel villyan stand on +top of the van cracking his whip. But anyway Uncle Tom sat beside me, +eating peanuts, and he should worry. Brent looked awful funny, driving +one of the touring cars, but that only made it funnier. + +After about two hours more we came to Grumpy's Cross-roads. They were +pretty cross, all right, because there was a sign that said: + + AUTOMOBILE LAWS STRICTLY ENFORCED + +Oh, boy, you just ought to have seen us. The big van went first, with +the man with the whip up on top, holding the ferocious bloodhounds. Next +came Rossie's car full of veterans and then the other two cars full of +those actor people all dressed up for their play. + +We rolled into the Main Street and a band that was there, just getting +ready to go to the parade ground, I guess, marched in front of us and +played "Peggy." Inside of ten seconds there were people crowding all +around us, but Harry told them to get out of the way, he didn't care who +they were--constables, sheriffs, judges, or anything. + +"Where's the parade ground?" he shouted. + +A man called, "Who are you, anyway? Whar do you come from?" + +Gee whiz, it gave me a good thrill when I heard Harry shout back, "We're +the Boy Scouts of America, that's who _we_ are! Friends and comrades to +the boys who were chased off the parade ground. And the show opens at 3 +P. M. sharp, so get your tickets and buy your peanuts! We're here! And +not all the railroads in the country can stop us. _On the job_, that's +our motto! Get from under if you don't want to be run down. There's only +one man in this whole country we'll take any orders from and that's +Major Grumpy!" + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII--SURRENDER AND INDEMNITY + + +Gee whiz, we reminded ourselves of General Pershing coming home. Just +before we drove into the parade ground, a little fellow about as big as +Pee-wee came running up and called to us. He was all excited. He +shouted, "We read your signal; we saw it way up on the mountain. People +said it was just the woods on fire but we knew what it meant; we read +it. We've got a signaler in our patrol. But Major Grumpy said it was +just the woods on fire." + +Harry shouted down to him, "Climb up on the band wagon and be quick +about it if you want to be in at the finish. Where's the rest of your +bunch?" + +Pee-wee said, "_Troop, not bunch_; don't you know anything about the +scouts?" + +Harry said, "Excuse me, I mean gang." + +That kid said that most of them were peeking through the fence of the +parade grounds, because they had been chased out. He said one of them +went in to tell Major Grumpy about the smudge message and that he had +been chased out again. He said they had dandy ice cream cones in there; +he said the ice cream went way down into the point. Oh, boy, that's the +kind I like. He said that one of them had enough ice cream in it for two +fellows; gee, I've never seen any like that. But I've seen fellows that +have room enough for two cones. + +Poor little kid, he didn't have any scout suit or anything--only just a +scout hat. + +Harry said, awful nice and friendly sort of, he said, "Well, you just +climb up here. So you read that message, hey? Well, you and your outfit +are all right, Kiddo." + +"Not outfit!" Pee-wee yelled. + +Harry said, "Excuse me, I mean sewing circle." + +I guess that kid thought Harry was crazy; anyway we don't need anybody +to tell us we're crazy, because we admit it. + +That kid said, "Have you got tickets to get into the grounds?" + +"Tickets?" Harry said. "What do we want tickets for when we're going to +roll up the parade ground and take it home with us. Who are you for? The +Grand Army or the Boy Scouts? We don't want any hyphens here." + +Poor little kid, he looked more like a period than a hyphen. He was kind +of scared of Harry, I guess. + +Harry said, "We've got six scouts, about a dozen veterans, two +bloodhounds, nine actors and one scarecrow. Do you think we're afraid?" + +"Surrender! That's what we're here for," Rossie said. + +"Surrender with indemnity," Harry said. + +Poor little kid, he looked all around from one of us to another and then +kept staring at Brent. I guess he didn't know what to make of him. Maybe +he thought Brent was a camouflaged cannon, hey? + +When we got to the parade ground there were autos and wagons standing +around and lots of people going in. There was a sign up that said there +wouldn't be any show on account of the railroad strike. And there were +about a half a dozen poor little codgers peeking in through cracks in +the fence; honest it made me feel sorry just to see them. Two or three +of them had on scout hats, but most of them only had scout badges. + +Gee whiz, Harry Domicile didn't care about anybody; all the people, even +the doorkeepers, began staring at us but he should worry. He shouted to +those kids, "Fall in line, you; reenforcements are here! Two companies +of war-worn veterans, one Uncle Tom's Cabin troupe, two bloodhounds, six +boy scouts, and a scarecrow! Climb aboard. On to victory!" + +"And a popcorn bar!" Pee-wee shouted. Jiminies, already he had bought +one of those sticky things and he was all gummed up like a piece of +fly-paper. He had to hold one of his hands out flat with the fingers all +apart, it was so sticky. "We'll take all the lemonade booths and candy +counters and everything!" he shouted. "We'll show no mercy, hey?" + +I said, "Shut up, you Hun! Already that popcorn bar looks like Rheims +Cathedral." + +He shouted, "I've got a chocolate stick, too, and I'm going to devastate +that!" + +Talk about frightfulness! + +I guess those poor little kids thought we were crazy. Brent stood up on +the seat of his car and made gestures so as his long sleeves flopped +every which way. He shouted, "Every new recruit report to the commissary +general and receive six rounds of peanuts and three rounds of licorice +jaw-breakers. Step up!" + +Oh, boy, you should have seen those veterans laugh; they just +chuckled--you know the way old men do. One of them said he had fought at +Gettysburg but that he had never seen anything like this before; oh, +boy, didn't he chuckle! + +I don't know when Brent got them, but anyway, he had the pockets of that +crazy old coat full of bags of peanuts, and he handed them around to all +those little fellows. He made those kids stay in his car, too. They all +started eating peanuts, but just the same they looked sort of scared, as +if they didn't know what was going to happen. + +Harry climbed up on top of the van and began shouting to all of us who +were in the touring cars; gee, but those cars were crowded. About a +hundred people were crowding around us too, just staring and laughing; +you couldn't blame them. But what made me laugh most of all was to see +those veterans--_good night!_ Even when they were getting wounded in the +Civil War, I bet they didn't have nearly as much fun. + + + + + XXXIII--MOBILIZING + + +This is the speech that Harry made to his troops, because my sister made +him write it out for me, because she said it would go down in history. +Brent Gaylong said he hoped if it went down it would never come up +again. Last term I passed seventy-two in history, but, gee, I hate +dates--I don't mean the kind you eat. + +This is the speech that Harry made. He said: + + My brave soldiers: + + Lieutenant Harris will please take the candy out of his mouth + and listen. + +"I don't listen with my mouth," Pee-wee shouted. + +"Well then, close it," I told him, "and listen to your superior +officer." + +Harry said: + + We are outside the Parade Ground of Grumpy's Cross-roads. We are + here to demand an unconditional surrender. A courier will go + within under the protection of a white flag. + +"I'll go, I've got some popcorn; that's white," Pee-wee yelled. + + If Major Grumpy refuses our terms, then we will storm his + stronghold with every peanut that we hold. We shall demand + indemnity. + +"Demand the territory where the lemonade counter is," Pee-wee shouted. + +Then everybody began hooting and yelling, and Brent stood up in those +crazy old rags and began flapping his sleeves to keep us quiet and the +old veterans shook--kind of like a Ford car. + +Then Harry read us a note that he said should be delivered to Major +Grumpy in person. + +"I'll deliver it," Pee-wee shouted; "I want to get a frankfurter, +anyway." + +This was the note: + + Major Grumpy, Commanding Officer, + Veterans' Reunion: + + You are hereby informed that the allied forces, consisting of + Boy Scouts, Civil War Veterans, scarecrows, and scout + reinforcements from your own town, offer you the choice of + unconditional surrender or complete extinction. As hostages we + hold Uncle Tom's Cabin troupe scheduled to appear at your + reunion. Ten minutes will be given for an answer. We shall + advance against your stronghold immediately. + +One of the veterans said it would be better to say, "I purpose to move +immediately against your works," because those were the very same words +that General Grant used. So Harry put it that way. + +Then he said, "Let us have peace," because that was what General Grant +said, too. Pee-wee thought he said, "Let's have a piece," so he chucked +a licorice jaw-breaker up and it struck Harry, kerplunk, on the face. + +That was the beginning of hostilities. + +Pee-wee fired the first shot. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV--TR-R-AITORS! + + +That was the only shot in the whole war. It was a punk war. Harry said, +"Let the bloodshed cease; who'll volunteer to go in as a courier?" + +Pee-wee shouted, "I will." + +So Harry gave him the note and told him to stick a white popcorn bar on +a stick for a flag of truce. Honest, if you could have seen that kid +start off with the note in one hand and that popcorn flag of truce in +the other and his mouth all stuck up with licorice candy, you'd have +laughed till you cried. + +We waited for about ten minutes but still he didn't come out, so Harry +called for another volunteer and Westy went in, because he said he could +remember just what was in the note. _Good night_, he didn't come out +again, either. + +[Illustration: "WE'RE MAKING A DESPERATE CALVARY CHARGE," SHOUTED +PEE-WEE.] + +Harry said, "This is very strange; they've either deserted or they're +being held as prisoners." + +Then Charlie Seabury said he'd go in, so he pinned a marshmallow onto +his buttonhole and went through the admission gate. But he didn't come +back, either. + +Pretty soon five of the fellows had gone in--all the fellows in my +patrol except myself. And none of them came back. We decided that they +were all being held as prisoners. + +Harry said, "This is not civilized warfare at all--not to respect a flag +of truce." + +I said, "Gee whiz, I never heard of a fellow that wouldn't respect a +marshmallow or a popcorn bar. Even I respect gum drops." + +Brent said, "Well, the only thing to do is to enter the grounds and +seize the rifles in the shooting gallery. If we can surround the dining +pavilion and seize all the sandwiches, we can cut off their base of +supplies and force a surrender. What say, comrades?" + +Harry said that was the only thing to do so he paid fifteen cents +admission for all of us on account of that being civilized warfare. Then +we drove in, and I bet that gatekeeper thought that we were from an +insane asylum, especially when he took a good look at Brent. + +And, _good night, Sister Anne_, excuse me while I laugh! What do you +think we saw when we got inside that place? About a couple of hundred +feet away was a merry-go-round, and riding around on it were our young +hero and those other four fellows, and they were all holding on to the +brass rods with one hand and eating frankfurters with the other. + +"I got the brass ring! I got the brass ring!" Pee-wee shouted. "I get an +extra ridel I'm promoted from the Infantry, I'm in the Cavalry! We're +making a desperate cavalry charge!" + +Can you beat that kid? + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV--PEACE WITH INDEMNITY + + +I said, "We should worry about the cavalry; the only thing that this +cavalry can surround is the organ on the merry-go-round." + +"I can surround a frankfurter," Pee-wee shouted. Believe me, he could. + +Harry said, "The cavalry will dismount; you're all court-martialed and +ordered to be shot at sunrise in the shooting gallery. Fall in line." + +Jiminies, I had to laugh to see that bunch trotting along after the +autos, all the while munching frankfurters. I guess we were the craziest +looking parade that ever was; but you can have a lot of fun being crazy, +that's one thing sure. All the people stopped what they were doing and +followed after us. Most of the things that they were doing were eating. +I wouldn't stop doing that for anybody, I wouldn't. + +All around were veterans in old blue coats and they were sitting in +groups talking; they were talking about Gettysburg and Richmond, and +General Grant, and things like that. One of them was talking about Sugar +Loaf Mountain and Pee-wee kind of slowed up so as he could listen. I +guess he thought it was some kind of candy, hey? Harry looked around and +shouted, "Attention!" And the kid jumped about a foot in the air. + +Pretty soon we came to a little tent and there was a sign on it that +said, "_Administration Tent_." + +Pee-wee shouted, "Go on, till we come to the commissary tent." + +I shouted back to him, "You're a whole commissary in yourself. You're a +nice looking sight to demand a surrender. The first thing you want to +seize is a wash basin!" + +Sitting in front of that tent were several veterans and one of them was +kind of cross and severe looking and he had a bald head. His head was so +bald that I guess he didn't know where to stop washing his face. You +couldn't even tell where his face was unless he put his hat on. He +looked as if he was used to bossing people around. Anyway, I knew he was +a Union soldier, because he had a telegram in his hand and it said +_Western Union_ on it. + +We all stopped right in front of the tent and Harry got down and made a +salute; it was awful funny. He said, "Major Grumpy, I believe?" + +"That is my name, sir," the old man said, very stern, kind of like a +school principal. + +Harry said, "I am Lieutenant Donnelle and these are my allied forces. We +come here under the protection of a white--eh, a white popcorn bar. Hold +up the popcorn bar, Private Harris." + +"It's all gone," Private Harris piped up. + +Harry said, "I'm very sorry that our flag of truce has been eaten by one +of our starving troopers. We are here to demand the surrender----" + +"Scouts are supposed to say _please_" Will Dawson piped up. + +Harry said, "Right. Scouts are polite even amid bloodshed and the roar +of cannon." + +Major Grumpy said, "You look as if you had just taken the city of +Frankfort, judging from your rear guard." + +Harry said, "Major Grumpy, your official report that Uncle Tom's Cabin +will not be given here to-day is not true; it is a garbled report. Allow +me to tell you that, thanks to the boy scouts whom you sneer at and +evict from your property, Eliza will be chased as per schedule, Uncle +Tom will be thoroughly beaten, and little Eva will die and go to heaven +as announced." + +Major Grumpy was kind of surprised. First he looked us all over, and +Brent took off his hat and flapped his long sleeves at him, awful funny. +Then the major said, "Who put you off this property?" + +Then Harry said, "What you do to a boy scout, you do to every boy scout +in the United States, including Mars and Grumpy's Cross-roads and all +outlying sections. When you put these little townsmen of yours out of +that shady grove over there, you put _us_ out. Do you know that? Even +Uncle Tom, who gets whipped six times a week, not including Wednesday +and Saturday matinees, says he never heard of such treatment. You call +the Grand Army a kind of brotherhood, but let me tell you, Major, that +we've got that name _brotherhood_ copyrighted, all rights reserved. When +you put these little fellows off your land, you put half a million +scouts off your land, and that's a bigger army than the Grand Army ever +was. + +"We sent up a signal to say that we were coming and that message was +delivered to you and you thought it was a lot of nonsense." + +The major said, "So you were responsible for that column of smoke, hey?" + +Harry said, "You're kind of old fashioned, Major, on signal corps work. +That was us, all right, and these little neighbors of yours gave you the +message and you laughed at them. Well, here we are with the goods, +Little Eva weeping her eyes out, Topsy ready to cut up, and Simon Legree +with his whip; here we are just as we said we'd be--Johnny on the spot. +We've brought with us every veteran between here and Barrow's Homestead +and they're with us to the last ditch. Field Marshal Gaylong here is +feared by every crow in the west. Now what are you going to do about it? + +"We purpose, Major, to cut off your base of supplies; it's either that +or surrender. We want that shady little grove over there as indemnity. +If we don't get it we're going to seize all the ice cream, all the soda +water, all the lemonade, all the candy, all the popcorn on this bloody +battlefield and starve you out. The Grand Army will look like Grand +Street, New York, when we get through with it." + +"And frankfurters too!" Pee-wee shouted. + +"There won't be a frankfurter left to tell the tale," Harry said; "this +peaceful land will run red with red lemonade. Now what do you say?" + +Gee whiz, I wouldn't accuse Harry of being a traitor, but just the same +I saw him wink at Major Grumpy, and Major Grumpy began to smile, and +then he offered Harry a cigarette. + +That was giving aid and comfort to the enemy, all right. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI--SCOUTS ON THE JOB + + +So that shows you how this story has a happy ending, only that isn't the +end of it. Oh, boy, the worst is yet to come. A lot of terrible things +happen after a war. Now we come to the reconstruction period. And, +believe me, Major Grumpy reconstructed his opinion about the scouts. He +said that poor little patrol that was just starting could have the grove +to build a headquarters in and he gave them some money to build it, too, +He said that before we got there he thought that smoke away off on the +mountain was just a forest fire, but when he found out that we could +make smoke talk, good night, he was for us, all right. + +But anyway, he said he liked to hear Pee-wee talk better. I said, "Yes, +but it would be nice if he'd go off on a lonely mountain and talk, like +the smudge fire." + +We spent the rest of that day at the Veterans' Reunion, and we saw the +Uncle Tom's Cabin show, too. Only one of the bloodhounds wouldn't chase +Eliza, and Rossie Bent had to give her a frankfurter, so he'd chase her. + +Most of the time that we weren't at the ice cream counter, we were over +in the grove with those Grumpy's Cross-roads scouts. They said they were +going to name their patrol the Crows, after Brent Gaylong. Harry said it +would be better to name it the Hot Dogs, after Pee-wee. + +Once Major Grumpy came over and sat down on a stump and talked with us +and asked us a lot of questions about the scouts. He told those little +fellows how they ought to build their shack and he said he'd find a +scoutmaster for them. Most all the veterans came over and visited us, +and we did lots of good turns for them, carrying their luggage and all +like that. One of them was overcome by the heat but we fixed him up, all +right, with first aid. + +Uncle Tom came over, too, and talked to us between the shows. He asked +us if we could dress the marks that the ferocious bloodhounds made on +Eliza's arm. Those marks were painted. He was awful funny, Uncle Tom +was. + +That reunion lasted three days, but we only stayed one day, because we +had to get started for home. Anyway, I'm glad all the soldiers in the +Civil War didn't get killed, because you can have a lot of fun at +reunions. One thing I'm sorry for and that is that I won't be a kid when +the soldiers who were in the World War are old veterans, I bet there'll +be a lot of lemonade and things then, hey? But anyway there'll be scouts +then, and it will be lucky for them there was a world war. Anyway, +reunions are my favorite outdoor sports--reunions and hikes. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII--THAT MYSTERIOUS PAPER AGAIN + + +We started away from that reunion at about five o'clock at night and +everybody was sorry to see us go. Those scouts, and the Uncle Tom's +Cabin people, and a lot of old veterans, all crowded around us to say +good-by. They said we were a wide-awake bunch, but if they could have +seen us about four hours later they wouldn't have said so. + +We made a camp alongside the road, and I cooked supper, and then most of +us slept in the van. While we were sitting around our camp-fire, Brent +took out that mysterious paper that he had found in the scarecrow's +pocket, and he kind of winked at Harry as if he was going to spring a +great surprise on us. He looked awful funny in the light of the fire; +just like a real live scarecrow--I mean a dead one. + +He said, "Scouts of the victorious legion, while we are resting after +the bloody battle of Grumpy's Cross-roads, I have a dark communication +to make to you. Excuse me while I get in a better light." + +"I thought you said it was a _dark_ communication," Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent said, "Well, it's a kind of a dim communication. Only two scouts +and our trusty leader know about it. They have kept their lips sealed. I +wish now, by the light of this camp-fire, to ask you one and all, if you +are ready to undertake an enterprise that is fraught with mortal peril?" + +"Is it fraught with anything to eat?" Will Dawson wanted to know. + +"Isn't mortal peril good enough for you?" Pee-wee shouted. + +Gee whiz, some fellows are never satisfied. + +Brent said, "Comrades, when I put an end to the career of that miserable +scarecrow and, with a single stroke, made millions of crows happy, I +found in the pocket of his frock-coat a mysterious paper. More than +that, I know who that frock-coat belonged to before he had it. It +belonged to Deacon Snookbeck of Barrow's Homestead! _Ha, ha_,--and a +couple of _he, he's_!" + +"Read the paper!" they all began shouting, + +He said, "Silence. While traveling with Scout Harris, and patrol leader +Blakeley, I met a stranger who told us that several years ago Deacon +Snookbeck had two mysterious visitors in his house. Whether this paper +that I am about to read to you has any connection with those strangers, +I cannot say. I am not skilled in high grade mysteries, being only a +plain, ordinary burglar and thug----" + +"You larcenied!" Pee-wee shouted. + +Brent put his hand on his forehead and said, awful funny, "Don't remind +me of my crimes." + +"Read the paper," Rossie Bent said. + +So then Brent read the paper, and I have to admit that it sounded pretty +mysterious and I guess, after all his fooling, that he thought so +himself. + + Snake Creek, North shore from Ohio R. to Skeleton Cove. Top of S + Cove. Follow line due north from willow. Cons to west. Stake. + Measure ninety-two feet along north line, then follow line due + NW through T.W. Stake. Treasure at HW limit, indicated at AN + Stake. Follow S line south to pie. + +_Good night_, you should have heard the fellows when he finished +reading. I mean you couldn't have heard them, because nobody said +anything; they all just sat there gaping. + +Then Brent said, awful funny, he said, "It seems, scouts, that by +following S line south we shall come to a pie. Whether it is a pumpkin +pie or a mince pie I cannot say----" + +Harry kind of cut him off short and said, "Brent, putting all fooling +aside, now that you read that paper over, it sounds pretty good to me." + +"I was always fond of pie," Brent said. + +Harry said, "Well, I was always fond of buried treasure and that paper +has the true ring to me, hanged if it hasn't. Skeleton Cove sounds as if +it meant business. So does '_treasure at HW limit_' I like the sound of +that. I never gave two thoughts to that paper until just now when you +read it, but I'm hanged if I don't think it means something. What do you +say, Tom Slade?" + +Tom said in that slow way of his, "It's got the word _treasure_ in, +that's sure." + +Then Brent said with a sober face, "As an expert, Pee-wee, what would +_you_ say? Is a pie a treasure?" + +"Good night," I said, "he's buried enough pies, he ought to know." + +"It means buried treasure, that's what it means!" Pee-wee shouted. "And +I'm with Harry; I say let's go and find it." + +"Where?" Brent said. + +"You said we could get a map," the kid shouted. + +All the fellows were with Harry; they were just crazy to go after that +treasure. Tom Slade didn't say much, but he never does. I went around to +the side of the fire where he was sitting and I said, "You were always +so crazy about adventures; what do you think it means if it doesn't mean +buried treasure?" + +"I haven't got anything to say," he said; "it's got the word treasure in +it, and that settles it. I say let's go, if we can find the place." + +I shouted, "Tom Slade is with us, he believes in it. I say let's go +after it." + +Harry was sitting on the back end of the van, swinging his legs and +looking in the fire. I knew his thoughts were kind of serious, all +right. He's crazy about adventures, that fellow is. Brent took my scout +knife and held it between his teeth and glared into the fire, very +fierce and savage, just like a pirate. He did it to make Harry mad. But +all the fellows were with Harry, anyway, and they were all crazy about +the thing--even I was crazy. + +Harry said, all the while looking into the fire kind of dreamy like, he +said, "Brent, why may not this be true?" + +Brent said, "You mean the Pirates' Secret or the Mystery of the Hidden +Pie?" + +"Don't you mind him," Pee-wee shouted to Harry; "he's a Philippine!" + +"That's just what you are, Brent," Harry said; "you're a Philistine. You +have no romance. Just because you live in the twentieth century you +think nothing can happen. But the world war happened, didn't it? You +have it from a man you met that two mysterious strangers visited the old +gent who once owned that coat. You found this paper; in that +coat--didn't you?" + +Brent said, "Alas, yes." + +Harry said, "Well, you can laugh----" + +Brent said, "I'm not laughing, I'm weeping and gnashing my teeth; that's +true sixteenth century stuff, isn't it?" + +"Well, how do you explain the writing on that paper, then?" Harry wanted +to know. + +"Sure, how do you explain it, then?" Westy piped up. + +"He _can't_ explain it," Tom Warner shouted. + +"Sure he can't!" Pee-wee yelled. + +Brent said, "I seem to have an overwhelming minority." + +Harry said, "You're always shouting about real adventures, but when we +stumble on the real thing, when we're told on black and white to follow +a line due north from willow--what does that say?" + +"It says _follow a line due north from willow_," Brent said, all the +while reading the paper. "It says _cons to the west_. It says _stake_; I +don't know whether it's a porterhouse or a sirloin. It may be a +Hamburger. It says by following the S line south we'll come to the pie." + +Harry jumped down and looked over Brent's shoulder and he said, "What +does it say about the treasure? We'll find it at HW limit--there it is +on black and white. Boys, we'll get a map in Indianapolis and find out +where Snake Creek is if we have to study that map all night. We're on +the track of pirates' gold, by thunder! Here's a _real adventure_ handed +to us by fate! If old Grouch Gaylong isn't with us, we'll send him home +in a baby carriage, that's what!" + +Brent said--gee whiz, I had to laugh the way he said it; he said, +"Comrades, I will follow where you lead. Take me to the treasure and I +will dig it up. But if that scarecrow has deceived me, I will never +trust man again. As a criminal I have been a failure. I wanted to escape +from cruel jailers, I escaped from two boy scouts. I wanted to plunge +from the window of a dry goods van. I wanted to kill a fellow being; I +murdered a scarecrow. My life has been a failure." + +Gee whiz; honest I almost felt sorry for him. + +He said, "But I have not lost hope. Boys, I will go with you. I will +follow the line north from the willow. I will measure ninety-two feet +along something-or-other. I will follow the S line south to the pie, be +it pumpkin, apple or mince. I will eat the stake. But if I am deceived, +if my hopes are again dashed----" + +"We'll send you to the insane asylum," Harry said; "that's where you +belong." + +Brent said, "I have always longed to be thrown into a mad-house." + +Gee whiz, you can't help laughing at that fellow. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII--THE ONLY WAY + + +The next afternoon we got to Indianapolis and Harry treated us all to +sodas. Then we bought a map that showed the Ohio River. We made a camp +about ten miles east of Indianapolis and had a dandy camp-fire. While we +were there we studied the map and, good night, there was Snake Creek as +plain as day running into it from the north. It ran into it about +fifteen miles north of Wheeling. + +Harry said, "That's enough for us; the treasure is ours." + +Pee-wee said, "I'm sorry now we didn't get some more sodas as long as +we're going to be rich." + +Harry said, "Never mind, we'll have sodas and ice cream and things in +every town between here and Wheeling; I'll advance the money. What are a +few dollars against maybe several millions?" + +Pee-wee said, "Sure, and we can afford some jaw-breakers, too." + +"All you want," Harry said. + +"Won't it spoil our appetites for the pie?" Brent wanted to know. But +just the same he was interested. + +Now there's no use telling you about our journey from Indianapolis to +Wheeling--that's about eight or nine hundred miles, roughly speaking; +only scouts don't speak roughly. They have to be polite. On that journey +we passed through Springfield and Columbus and a lot of other big +places, and all the people stared at us. Every night we camped in the +country, because we didn't like staying in cities. + +Gee, I thought we'd never get to Wheeling but after a few days we got +there, and then we put our machines up to get all greased and have some +repairs made. I don't mean _us_, I mean the machines. + +Then we hired a big launch and started up the Ohio River. About ten +miles up, Snake Creek flows into it. It flows in through the north +shore. Up Snake Creek about ten miles is Skeleton Cove, I bet you're +getting awful anxious, hey? + +Harry said, "Boys, the fun isn't in getting money; the fun is in finding +treasure. Why wouldn't it be a good idea to send a couple of thousand, +say, to those little fellows back at Grumpy's Cross-roads?" + +"Let's give five thousand to the Boy Scout drive," I said. + +Brent said, "All I want for myself is the pie; I'm hungry." + +Now when we got to Skeleton Cove we saw it was all shady and spooky, +like. The water was black and the place was dark just like a cave. It +was awful still in there. I bet you're crazy to know what comes next, +hey? + +Over against the shore was the wreck of an old motor-boat; I guess it +got smashed by the rocks there. We chugged over to where it was and Tom +Slade climbed out and stepped across it. + +Harry said, "What do you think it means, Tommy boy?" + +Tom was kneeling on the old deck and looking over the edge. All of a +sudden he said, "Now I know; I was a fool not to think of it before. The +name of this boat is the _Treasure_." + +Harry said, "What?" + +I said, "What?" + +Will Dawson shouted, "On the level?" + +"On the bow," Tom said. + +Pee-wee piped up, "What do you mean?" + +Brent said, "Dear me; foiled again." + +Tom said, "Now I know what it means. The boys from the Geological Survey +were here. All that had me guessing was the word _treasure_. A pie is a +topographic mark; it shows where government land ends. Cons means +contours. They staked their measurings. They were just measuring this +cove and the creek so as to make government maps. T.W. means tide +water." + +Harry said, awful funny like, "If it wouldn't be asking too much, will +you please tell me what it means where it says, 'Treasure at HW limit +indicated at AN stake.' Can you answer that?" + +Tom said in that sober way of his, "I think it means something about +this boat, the _Treasure_ being at high water limit as indicated at +anchorage stake. I can't tell just exactly what that memorandum means, +because I never worked in the survey, but I guess the survey boys +weren't doing any harm out at Deacon Snookbeck's. They were probably +lining up the contours on his farm. Anyway, all they were doing here was +taking the contours and the water lines for the government maps. The +only thing that puzzled me was the word treasure." + +"And there is no pie here?" Brent said. + +"A pie is a government mark," Tom said; "it means the government owns +the land to that point--where the pie is. See?" + +Oh, boy, Harry didn't say a word. None of the rest of us said a +word--only Brent. + +He said, "Then I have been deceived by a scarecrow! This ends my quest +of adventure; I am through. I am going home and to the only refuge where +real adventure can be found--the movies. I am through with the boy +scouts. Perhaps with William S. Hart or Douglas Fairbanks I can find the +life I crave. There I can find cliffs to jump off, roofs to leap from, +people to kill who are worthy of being killed--not scarecrows----" + +"And floods to get caught in!" Pee-wee yelled. + +Brent said, "Yes, and jails to escape from----" + +"And ships to get wrecked in!" the kid shouted. + +"I know all about the movies I'll go with you! I'll go with you----" + +Gee whiz, but that kid is a scream. + + THE END + + + + + This Isn't All! + + Would you like to know what became of the good friends you have + made in this book? + + Would you like to read other stories continuing their adventures + and experiences, or other books quite as entertaining by the + same author? + + On the _reverse side_ of the wrapper which comes with this book, + you will find a wonderful list of stones which you can buy at + the same store where you got this book. + + Don't throw away the Wrapper + + Use it as a handy analog of the books you want some day to have. + But in case you do mislay it, write to the Publishers for a + complete catalog. + + + + + THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of "Tom Slade," "Pee-wee Harris," + "Westy Martin," Etc. + + Illustrated. Picture Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +In the character and adventures of Roy Blakeley are typified the very +essence of Boy life. He is a real boy, as real as Huck Finn and Tom +Sawyer. He is the moving spirit of the troop of Scouts of which he is a +member, and the average boy has to go only a little way in the first +book before Roy is the best friend he ever had, and he is willing to +part with his best treasure to get the next book in the series. + + ROY BLAKELEY + ROY BLAKELEY'S ADVENTURES IN CAMP + ROY BLAKELEY, PATHFINDER + ROY BLAKELEY'S CAMP ON WHEELS + ROY BLAKELEY'S SILVER FOX PATROL + ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN + ROY BLAKELEY, LOST, STRAYED OR STOLEN + ROY BLAKELEY'S BEE-LINE HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY AT THE HAUNTED CAMP + ROY BLAKELEY'S FUNNY BONE HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY'S TANGLED TRAIL + ROY BLAKELEY ON THE MOHAWK TRAIL + ROY BLAKELEY'S ELASTIC HIKE + ROY BLAKELEY'S ROUNDABOUT HIKE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of "Tom Slade," "Roy Blakeley," + "Westy Martin," Etc. + + Illustrated. Individual Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +All readers of the Tom Slade and the Roy Blakeley books are acquainted +with Pee-wee Harris. These stories record the true facts concerning his +size (what there is of it) and his heroism (such as it is), his voice, +his clothes, his appetite, his friends, his enemies, his victims. +Together with the thrilling narrative of how he foiled, baffled, +circumvented and triumphed over everything and everybody (except where +he failed) and how even when he failed he succeeded. The whole recorded +in a series of screams and told with neither muffler nor cut-out. + + PEE-WEE HARRIS + PEE-WEE HARRIS ON THE TRAIL. + PEE-WEE HARRIS IN CAMP + PEE-WEE HARRIS IN LUCK + PEE-WEE HARRIS ADRIFT + PEE-WEE HARRIS F. O. B. BRIDGEBORO + PEE-WEE HARRIS FIXER + PEE-WEE HARRIS: AS GOOD AS HIS WORD + PEE-WEE HARRIS: MAYOR FOR A DAY + PEE-WEE HARRIS AND THE SUNKEN TREASURE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + GARRY GRAYSON FOOTBALL STORIES + + By ELMER A. DAWSON + + Individual Colored Wrapper and Illustration by + + WALTER S. ROGERS + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +Football followers all over the country will hail with delight this new +and thoroughly up-to-date line of gridiron tales. + +Garry Grayson is a football fan, first, last, and all the time. But more +than that, he is a wideawake American boy with a "gang" of chums almost +as wideawake as himself. + +How Garry organized the first football eleven his grammar school had, +how he later played on the High School team, and what he did on the Prep +School gridiron and elsewhere, is told in a manner to please all readers +and especially those interested in watching a rapid forward pass, a +plucky tackle, or a hot run for a touchdown. + +Good, clean football at its best--and in addition, rattling stories of +mystery and schoolboy rivalries. + + GARRY GRAYSON'S HILL STREET ELEVEN; + or, The Football Boys of Lenox. + + GARRY GRAYSON AT LENOX HIGH; + or, The Champions of the Football League. + + GARRY GRAYSON'S FOOTBALL RIVALS; + or, The Secret of the Stolen Signals. + + GARRY GRAYSON SHOWING HIS SPEED; + or, A Daring Run on the Gridiron. + + GARRY GRAYSON AT STANLEY PREP; + or, The Football Rivals of Riverview. + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE TOM SLADE BOOKS + + By PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH + + Author of "Roy Blakeley," "Pee-wee Harris," + "Westy Martin," Etc. + + Illustrated. Individual Picture Wrappers in Color. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +"Let your boy grow up with Tom Slade," is a suggestion which thousands +of parents have followed during the past, with the result that the TOM +SLADE BOOKS are the most popular boys' books published today. They take +Tom Slade through a series of typical boy adventures through his +tenderfoot days as a scout, through his gallant days as an American +doughboy in France, back to his old patrol and the old camp ground at +Black Lake, and so on. + + TOM SLADE, BOY SCOUT + TOM SLADE AT TEMPLE CAMP + TOM SLADE ON THE RIVER + TOM SLADE WITH THE COLORS + TOM SLADE ON A TRANSPORT + TOM SLADE WITH THE BOYS OVER THERE + TOM SLADE, MOTORCYCLE DISPATCH BEARER + TOM SLADE WITH THE FLYING CORPS + TOM SLADE AT BLACK LAKE + TOM SLADE ON MYSTERY TRAIL + TOM BLADE'S DOUBLE DARE + TOM SLADE ON OVERLOOK MOUNTAIN + TOM SLADE PICKS A WINNER + TOM SLADE AT BEAR MOUNTAIN + TOM SLADE: FOREST RANGER + TOM SLADE IN THE NORTH WOODS + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + Jerry Todd and Poppy Ott Series + + BY LEO EDWARDS + + Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +Hundreds of thousands of boys who laughed until their sides ached over +the weird and wonderful adventures of Jerry Todd and his gang demanded +that Leo Edwards, the author, give them more books like the Jerry Todd +stories with their belt-bursting laughs and creepy shivers. So he took +Poppy Ott, Jerry Todd's bosom chum and created the Poppy Ott Series, and +if such a thing could be possible--they arc even more full of fun and +excitement than the Jerry Todds. + + THE POPPY OTT SERIES + + POPPY OTT AND THE STUTTERING PARROT + POPPY OTT AND THE SEVEN LEAGUE STILTS + POPPY OTT AND THE GALLOPING SNAIL + POPPY OTT'S PEDIGREED PICKLES + + THE JERRY TODD BOOKS + + JERRY TODD AND THE WHISPERING MUMMY + JERRY TODD AND THE ROSE-COLORED CAT + JERRY TODD AND THE OAK ISLAND TREASURE + JERRY TODD AND THE WALTZING HEN + JERRY TODD AND THE TALKING FROG + JERRY TODD AND THE PURRING EGG + JERRY TODD IN THE WHISPERING CAVE + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + Football and Baseball Stories + + Durably Bound. Illustrated. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +THE RALPH HENRY BARBOUR BOOKS FOR BOYS + +In these up-to-the-minute, spirited genuine stories of boy life there is +something which will appeal to every boy with love of manliness, +cleanness and sportsmanship in his heart. + + LEFT END EDWARDS + LEFT TACKER THAYER + LEFT GUARD GILBERT + CENTER RUSH ROWLAND + FULLBACK FOSTER + LEFT HALF HARMON + RIGHT END EMERSON + RIGHT GUARD GRANT + QUARTERBACK BATES + RIGHT TACKLE TODD + RIGHT HALF ROLLINS + +THE CHRISTY MATHEWSON BOOKS FOR BOYS + +Every boy wants to know how to play ball in the fairest and squarest +way. These books about boys and baseball are full of wholesome and manly +interest and information. + + PITCHER POLLOCK + CATCHER CRAIG + FIRST BASE FAULKNER + SECOND BASE SLOAN + PITCHING IN A PINCH + + THIRD BASE THATCHER, By Everett Scott + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE FLYAWAYS STORIES + + By ALICE DALE HARDY + + Author of The Riddle Club Books + + Individual Colored Jackets and Colored Illustrations by + WALTER S. ROGERS + +A splendid new line of interesting tales for the little ones, +introducing many of the well known characters of fairyland in a series +of novel adventures. The Flyaways are a happy family and every little +girl and boy will want to know all about them. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND CINDERELLA + + How the Flyaways went to visit Cinderella only to find that + Cinderella's Prince had been carried off by the Three Robbers, + Rumbo, Hibo and Jobo. "I'll rescue him!" cried Pa Flyaway and + then set out for the stronghold of the robbers. A splendid + continuation of the original story of Cinderella. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD + + On their way to visit Lillte Red Riding Hood the Flyaways fell + in with Tommy Tucker and The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. They + told Tommy about the Magic Button on Red Riding Hood's cloak. + How the wicked Wolf stole the Magic Button and how the wolves + plotted to eat up Little Red Riding Hood and all her family, and + how the Flyaways and King Cole lent the wolves flying, makes a + story no children will want to miss. + +THE FLYAWAYS AND GOLDILOCKS + + The Flyaways wanted to see not only Goldilocks but also the + Three Bears and then took a remarkable journey through the air + to do so. Tommy even rode on a Rocket and met the monstrous Blue + Frog. When they arrived at Goldilock's house they found that the + Three Bears had been there before them and mussed everything up, + mich to Goldilock's despair. "We must drive those bears out of + the country!" said Pa Flyaway. Then they journeyed underground + to the Yellow Palace, and oh! so many things happened after + that! + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE TOM SWIFT SERIES + + By VICTOR APPLETON + + Uniform Style of Binding. Individual Colored Wrappers. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +Every boy possesses some form of inventive genius. Tom Swift is a +bright, ingenious boy and his inventions and adventures make the most +interesting kind of reading. + + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRSHIP + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SUBMARINE BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RUNABOUT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIRELESS MESSAGE + TOM SWIFT AMONG THE DIAMOND MAKERS + TOM SWIFT IN THE CAVES OF ICE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS SKY RACER + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC RIFLE + TOM SWIFT IN THE CITY OF GOLD + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR GLIDER + TOM SWIFT IN CAPTIVITY + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WIZARD CAMERA + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCHLIGHT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT CANNON + TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AERIAL WARSHIP + TOM SWIFT AND HIS BIG TUNNEL + TOM SWIFT IN THE LAND OF WONDERS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS WAR TANK + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIR SCOUT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS UNDERSEA SEARCH + TOM SWIFT AMONG THE FIRE FIGHTERS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE + TOM SWIFT AND HIS FLYING BOAT + TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT OIL GUSHER + TOM SWIFT AND HIS CHEST OF SECRETS + TOM SWIFT AND HIS AIRLINE EXPRESS + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE DON STURDY SERIES + + By VICTOR APPLETON + + Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations by + + WALTER S. ROGERS + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +In company with his uncles, one a mighty hunter and the other a noted +scientist, Don Sturdy travels far and wide, gaining much useful +knowledge and meeting many thrilling adventures. + +DON STURDY ON THE DESERT OF MYSTERY + + An engrossing tale of the Sahara Desert, of encounters with wild + animals and crafty Arabs. + +DON STURDY WITH THE BIG SNAKE HUNTERS + + Don's uncle, the hunter, took an order for some of the biggest + snakes to be found in South America--to be delivered alive! + +DON STURDY IN THE TOMBS OF GOLD + + A fascinating tale of exploration and adventure in the Valley of + Kings in Egypt. + +DON STURDY ACROSS THE NORTH POLE + + A great polar blizzard nearly wrecks the airship of the + explorers. + +DON STURDY IN THE LAND OF VOLCANOES + + An absorbing tale of adventures among the volcanoes of Alaska. + +DON STURDY IN THE PORT OF LOST SHIPS + + This story is just full of exciting and fearful experiences on + the sea. + +DON STURDY AMONG THE GORILLAS + + A thrilling story of adventure in darkest Africa. Don is carried + over a mighty waterfall into the heart of gorilla land. + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + THE RADIO BOYS SERIES + + By ALLEN CHAPMAN + + Author of the "Railroad Series," Etc. + + Individual Colored Wrappers. Illustrated. + + Every Volume Complete in Itself + +A new series for boys giving full details of radio work, both in sending +and receiving--telling how small and large amateur sets can be made and +operated, and how some boys got a lot of fun and adventure out of what +they did. Each volume from first to last is so thoroughly fascinating, +so strictly up-to-date and accurate, we feel sure all lads will peruse +them with great delight. + +Each volume has a Foreword by Jack Binns, the well-known radio expert. + + THE RADIO BOYS' FIRST WIRELESS + THE RADIO BOYS AT OCEAN POINT + THE RADIO BOYS AT THE SENDING STATION + THE RADIO BOYS AT MOUNTAIN PASS + THE RADIO BOYS TRAILING A VOICE + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FOREST RANGERS + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE FLOOD FIGHTERS + THE RADIO BOYS ON SIGNAL ISLAND + THE RADIO BOYS IN GOLD VALLEY + + GROSSET & DUNLAP, _Publishers_, NEW YORK + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan, by +Percy Keese Fitzhugh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROY BLAKELEY'S MOTOR CARAVAN *** + +***** This file should be named 44172.txt or 44172.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/7/44172/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark + +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 + www.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 1.F.3. 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 MERCHANTABILITY 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 are 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 information page at www.gutenberg.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. 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 +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +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 www.gutenberg.org/donate + +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: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty 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: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/44172.zip b/old/44172.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..34c2fc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44172.zip |
