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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..174a043 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61094 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61094) diff --git a/old/61094-0.txt b/old/61094-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index eb9f8c0..0000000 --- a/old/61094-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4920 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pee-wee Harris: Fixer, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Pee-wee Harris: Fixer - -Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh - -Illustrator: H. S. Barbour - -Release Date: January 4, 2020 [EBook #61094] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark - - - - - - - - - PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER - - - - -[Illustration: “GO UP THAT SIDE STREET!” ORDERED PEE-WEE.] - - - - - PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER - - BY - PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH - - Author of - THE TOM SLADE BOOKS - THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS - THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS - THE WESTY MARTIN BOOKS - - ILLUSTRATED BY - H. S. BARBOUR - - Published with the approval of - THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA - - GROSSET & DUNLAP - PUBLISHERS : : NEW YORK - - - - - Copyright, 1924, by - GROSSET & DUNLAP, Inc. - - Made in the United States of America - - - - - His middle name is hunter’s stew, - he mixes it; - In mixing he can thrice outdo - All other scouts he ever knew, - And when a thing goes all askew, - he fixes it. - - - - - CONTENTS - - I He Appears - II Mug - III The Solemn Vow - IV The Noon Hour - V Queen Tut - VI The Safety Patrol - VII I Am the Law - VIII The Protector - IX The Parade - X The Fixer - XI Pee-wee’s Promise - XII Culture Triumphant - XIII Missionary Work - XIV Seeing New York - XV In for It - XVI The Real Emerson - XVII Alone - XVIII Deduction - XIX In the Dead of Night - XX The Depths - XXI Darkness - XXII Arabella - XXIII In the Woods - XXIV Robin Hood - XXV A New Member - XXVI A Fresh Start - XXVII Action - XXVIII Not a Scout - XXIX Voices - XXX When Greek Meets Greek - XXXI Bob, Scoutmaker - XXXII The New Scout - XXXIII Over the Radio - XXXIV The Short Cut - XXXV “Danger” - XXXVI Pee-wee Triumphant - - - - - PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER - - - - - CHAPTER I - - HE APPEARS - - -Pee-wee Harris, or rather the left leg of Pee-wee Harris, emerged from -an upper side window of his home, and was presently followed by the rest -of Pee-wee, clad in his scout suit. He crept cautiously along an -ornamental shingled projection till he reached the safety of the porch -roof, where he stood pulling up his stocking and critically surveying -the shady street below him. - -The roof of the front porch was approachable by a less venturesome route -than that of the ornamental coping. This was via the apartment of -Pee-wee’s sister Elsie, and out through one of her prettily curtained -front windows. - -But he had been baffled in his attempt to violate this neutral territory -by finding the door to her sanctum locked. He had demanded admittance -and had thereupon heard whispering voices within. A hurried consultation -between Elsie and her mother had resulted in a policy fatal to Pee-wee’s -plans. Not only that, but worse; his honor as a scout had been impugned. - -“Don’t let him in, I locked the door on purpose.” This from Elsie. - -“I think he just wants to get to the porch roof,” Mrs. Harris had said, -to the accompaniment of a sewing machine. - -“I don’t care, I’m not going to have him going through here; if he sees -my costume every boy in town will know about it and they’ve all got -sisters. Everybody who’s invited to the masquerade will know exactly -what I’m going to wear. I might just as well not go in costume. You know -how he is, he simply _couldn’t_ keep his mouth shut. What on earth does -he want to do on the porch roof anyway? If he’s not well enough to go to -school, I shouldn’t think he’d be climbing out on the front porch.” - -“I suppose it’s something about his radio,” Mrs. Harris replied in her -usual tone of gentle tolerance. “He’s going back to school on Monday.” - -“Thank goodness for that,” was Elsie’s comment. - -“_That shows how much you know about scouts!_” the baffled hero had -roared. “_It’s girls that can’t keep secrets!_ If you think anybody’d -ever find out anything from me about what you’re going to wear——” - -“Do go away from the door, Walter,” Mrs. Harris had pled. “You know that -Elsie is very, very busy, and I am helping her. She has only till -Wednesday to get her costume ready.” - -Conscious of his prowess and resource, Pee-wee had not condescended to -discuss a matter involving his manly honor. He would discourse upon that -theme later when no barrier intervened. - -He had returned to his own room and immediately become involved in a -formidable system of rigging which lay spread out upon the bed and on -the adjacent floor. The component parts of this were a rake-handle, two -broomsticks lashed together, a couple of pulleys, several large -screw-hooks, and endless miles of wire and cord. - -This sprawling apparatus was Pee-wee’s aerial, intended to catch the -wandering voices of the night and transmit them to Pee-wee’s ear. In the -present instance, however, it caught Pee-wee’s foot instead, the section -of rigging which was spread upon the bed was drawn into the -entanglement, and our hero, after a brief and frantic struggle, was -broadcasted upon the floor. - -This was the first dramatic episode connected with Pee-wee’s radio. It -was directly after he had extricated himself from the baffling meshes of -his own handiwork that he had emerged from the window of his room, left -foot foremost; which conclusively disproves the oft-repeated assertion -of Roy Blakeley that Pee-wee always went head first. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - MUG - - -Simultaneously with Pee-wee’s appearance on the roof of the front porch -the chintz curtains in his sister’s window were cautiously drawn -together so as to confound any attempt to look within. Pee-wee was too -preoccupied to take note of this insult. - -His eyes and thoughts were fixed upon a large elm tree which grew close -to the sidewalk some yards distant across the lawn. The tree was -stately, as only an elm knows how to be, its tall, thick trunk being -free of branches to a point almost level with the roof of the house. At -that height great limbs spread out over the sidewalk and shaded a large -area of the Harris lawn. Pee-wee studied this tree with the critical -eyes of an engineer. - -He next drew out of the depths of one of his trousers pockets a ball of -fishing-line, and out of the depths of the opposite pocket the -detachable handle of a flat-iron. This he tied to the cord which he -proceeded to unwind until he had released enough for his purpose. He -frowned upon the distant elm tree as if he intended to annihilate it. -Meanwhile, the muffled hum of the sewing machine could be heard through -his sister’s window. - -Pee-wee now replaced the ball of cord in his pocket and threw the -flat-iron handle into the branches of the tree. It fell to the ground -with the attached cord dangling after it. He pulled it up and cast it -again. Twice, thrice, it failed to find lodgment in the branches. If it -had been a kite or a beanbag or one of those twirling, ascending toys, -it would have stayed in the tree upon the first cast, out of pure -perversity. But the flat-iron handle had not the fugitive instinct, it -would not stay. - -Not only that, but a new complication presented itself. Mug, the puppy -who resided with the Harris family, made a dramatic appearance on the -lawn below just in time to catch the flat-iron handle as Pee-wee was -about to lift it. - -“You let go of that!” Pee-wee shouted. “You drop that, Mug, do you -hear?” - -But Mug, more interested in adventure than in science, did not drop it. -Pee-wee tried to pull it away but Mug rolled over on his back in the -full spirit of this tug of war, and was presently so much involved with -the cord that obedience to Pee-wee’s thunderous commands was out of the -question. For a few moments it seemed as if Mug might be hauled up -bodily and made an integral part of the aerial. - -Pee-wee endeavored by lassoing maneuvers and jump-rope tactics to -release the enmeshed pup, using the entire porch roof for his stage of -action. He loosed the cord, imparted long wavy motions to it, jerked it, -pulled it to the right, pulled it to left, but all to no avail. - -At last the puppy extricated himself, and with no regard at all for his -harrowing experience, immediately made a dash for the departing -flat-iron handle, caught it, shook it, ran half-way across the lawn with -it, shook it again, and darted around a bush with it. - -The bush was not a participant in this world war. Pee-wee pulled with -all his might and main, part of the bush came away, the puppy pounced -upon the fleeing fragment, it dropped from the cord, and the puppy with -refreshed energy caught the flat-iron handle again, bracing his forelegs -for the tussle, his tail wagging frantically. Thus has every great -scientist encountered hardships and obstacles. - -“You get away from that now, do you hear what I tell you!” Pee-wee -roared. - -He might have pulled the cord away from his diminutive antagonist but -that it caught in a crack between two shingles at the edge of the porch -roof. The cause of science seemed to be baffled at every turn, and on -the edge as well. If Mug rolled over on his back again all hope might be -lost in new complications. - -In desperation, Pee-wee glanced about him for something to throw at Mug -by way of diverting his attention to fresh novelties. The puppy was -already on his back, the cord wound around one of his forelegs. The roof -was clear of all possible missiles. Pee-wee pulled out a loose shingle -and hurled it down but Mug saw it not. - -Then Pee-wee did something which showed his power of sacrifice. He -pulled out of his pocket the sole remaining cocoanut-ball from a -purchase of three—for a cent. It was heavy, and sticky, and encased in -tissue paper. There was no time to take even a single bite of it. - -“Here you go, Mug! Here you go, Mug!” he called. - -The new temptation enabled Mug to extricate himself. He did not care for -candy but he was a ready adventurer in the matter of sports. His -preoccupation with the rolling cocoanut-ball gave Pee-wee the -opportunity to crawl cautiously to the edge of the roof and disentangle -the cord where it had caught. - -He now hurled the flat-iron handle with all his might up into the -branches of the distant tree and there it stuck. To make certain of its -security he pulled, first gently, then harder. It held fast. - -Having successfully accomplished this part of his enterprise, he cast a -wistful glance down upon the cocoanut-ball which Mug was pushing about -the lawn with his nose. - -Just then the window of his sister’s room was flung open. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - THE SOLEMN VOW - - -“Walter, what on _earth_ are you doing out there?” asked his distracted -mother. - -“I’m putting up my aerial, and if Anna kept Mug in the cellar like you -told her to do, this cord wouldn’t have got all tangled up in the roof -so I couldn’t pull it away from him and he got all tangled up in it too -because Anna didn’t keep him in the cellar like you told her to do, I -heard you. And I lost a good cocoanut-ball on account of her.” - -“Walter,” said Mrs. Harris. “You shouldn’t be climbing and you shouldn’t -be eating cocoanut-balls, when you’re just getting over the grippe.” - -“_I didn’t eat it, I told you!_” - -“Well, you come right in here and don’t you climb around on that ledge -again.” - -“Then I’m going to bring my stuff through here,” Pee-wee warned, as he -climbed in through the window. “I’ve got the first part all done now and -all I’ve got to do is bring the aerial out and tie it to the cord that’s -on the roof of the porch and then all I have to do is to go down and -then climb up the tree where the other end of the cord is and that way I -can pull one end of the aerial out to the tree and after that all I have -to do is to go up and drop a cord with a lot of hooks and things on it -down onto the porch roof and get hold of this end of the aerial and pull -it up to the attic window and then I’ll have the aerial stretched from -the attic window to the tree where it can catch the sound waves, d’you -see?” - -“Good heavens!” said Elsie. “Talk of sound waves!” - -Pee-wee now paused to glance about at the litter which filled his -sister’s room. The multi-colored evidences of intensive manufacture were -all about, on the bed, on the collapsible cutting-table, on and about -the wicker sewing stand, in the jaws of the sewing machine. There was a -riot of color, and a kind of atmosphere of cooperative ingenuity which -even the masculine invader was conscious of. This was no ordinary task -of dressmaking. A queer-looking specimen of headgear with a facsimile -snake on the front of it testified to that. - -The eyes of the rival manufacturer were attracted to this cotton-stuffed -reptile, with projecting tongue made of a bent hairpin. He glanced at a -motley costume besprinkled with writhing serpents, and among its other -embellishments he recognized one as bearing a resemblance to the sphinx -in his school geography. - -Pee-wee had never inquired into the processes of dressmaking but here -was a specimen of handiwork which caught his eye and set him gaping in -wonder. Attached to the costume, which rivaled futuristic wall-paper in -its motley originality, was a metal snake with red glass eyes. It was -long and flexible. Pee-wee was a scout, a naturalist, a lover of wild -life, and he gazed longingly upon this serpentine girdle. - -“Walter,” said his mother, “I want you to promise me that you won’t say -a word, _not a single word_, to _anybody_ about the costume Elsie is -going to wear at Mary Temple’s masquerade. I want you to _promise_ me -that you won’t even say that she has a big surprise. Do you think you -can——” - -“I don’t see why he can’t stay in the house another two or three days,” -said Elsie, who was sitting at the machine. “If dad thinks he ought to -stay home till Monday, he certainly won’t lose much by staying home till -Wednesday. If he doesn’t go out, why then he _can’t_ talk. I don’t see -why you had to let him in.” - -“Because I’m not going to have him endangering his life on that coping,” -said Mrs. Harris. - -“I might just as well send an item to the _Evening Bungle_,” said Elsie, -with an air of exasperated resignation. The Bridgeboro daily paper was -named the _Bugle_, but it was more appropriately spoken of as the -_Bungle_. “_Every single_ guest at the masquerade will know I’m going as -Queen Tut long before my costume is ready,” the girl added. - -“You shouldn’t have mentioned the name,” said Mrs. Harris. - -“Oh, there’s no hope of secrecy now,” said Elsie. “He’s seen it, that’s -enough.” - -It was at this point that Pee-wee exploded. He spoke, or rather he -roared, not for himself alone but for the Boy Scouts of America, which -organization he had under his especial care. - -“That shows how much you know about scouts,” he thundered. “Even—even if -I knew—even if Queen Tut—and she was an Egyptian, you think you’re so -smart—even if she was alive and came here—for—for a visit—and it was a -secret—I wouldn’t say anything about it. Queen Tut, she’d be the one to -give it away herself because she’s a girl—I mean she was—I mean she -would be if she wasn’t a mummy, but girls can’t be mummies because they -can’t keep still. Do you mean to say——” - -“I’m sure we’re not saying a word, Walter,” said his gentle mother. - -“Scouts never give away secrets,” Pee-wee continued vociferously. “Don’t -you know a scout’s honor is to be trusted? It’s one of the laws. Gee -whiz! A scout’s lips are, what d’you call it, they’re sealed!” - -“Yours?” laughed his sister. - -“Yes, mine. Do you think I can’t keep still?” - -“I wish you would then, Walter,” said his mother. - -“Well, then you better tell her not to say I’m as bad as the _Bugle_ -because, anyway, if anybody asks me not to give away a secret -it’s—it’s—just the same as if you locked it up in an iron box and buried -it in the ground. That shows how much she knows about scouts! Even—even -if you wouldn’t let me bring my aerial through this room so as to get it -out on the porch roof—even then I wouldn’t tell anybody what she’s going -to wear to Mary Temple’s, I wouldn’t.” - -This diplomatic feeler, intended to ascertain his sister’s attitude in -regard to crossing her territory, was successful. - -“What do you mean, bring your aerial through this room?” she asked. - -“Don’t I have to get it out to the porch roof?” he asked. “Do you think -I can carry it along the molding outside? Do you think I’m a—a -caterpillar?” - -“No, you mustn’t do that,” said his mother firmly. - -“Well, then,” said Pee-wee conclusively. “Gee whiz, both of you claim to -like music and concerts and things. If I get my radio up you can hear -those things. Gee whiz, you can hear lectures and songs and all kinds of -things. You can hear famous authors and actors and everything. All you -have to do is come in my room and listen. Gee whiz,” he added wistfully, -“you wouldn’t catch _me_ giving away a secret. _No, siree!_” - -“Walter,” said Elsie, trying to repress a smile. “If I let you bring -your things through here will you promise me, word of honor, that you -won’t tell Roy Blakeley or Westy Martin or Connie Bennett or any of -their sisters or any boys or girls in school or anybody at all what kind -of a costume I’m going to wear at Temple’s? The color of it or anything -about it—or the snakes or anything? Will you promise? Because it’s going -to be a _big_ surprise.” - -“Do you know what a solemn vow is?” Pee-wee demanded. - -“I’ve heard of them,” Elsie said. - -“Well, that’s the kind of a vow I make,” said Pee-wee. “And besides -that, I cross my heart. You needn’t worry, Elsie; nobody’ll find it out. -Because, anyway, scouts don’t tell. _Geeee whiz_, you leave it to me. -Nobody’ll ever know, that’s sure. You can ask Roy Blakeley if I can’t -keep a secret.” - -“Well,” said Mrs. Harris, “I think we had better go down and have some -lunch and after that you can finish what you’re doing. I do wish you -wouldn’t talk so loud, Walter.” - -“In about a week, maybe not so long,” Pee-wee said, “I won’t be talking -at all, I’ll be listening all the time. I’ll be listening to Chicago and -maybe even to Honolulu, maybe.” - -“You sound as if you were talking to Honolulu,” laughed Elsie. “You -remember what I said now?” - -“Absolutely, positively and definitely,” Pee-wee assured her. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - THE NOON HOUR - - -The masquerade to be given at Temple’s and the unique costume to be worn -by Elsie were the subjects of discussion at luncheon. Pee-wee was too -engrossed in his own enterprise to pay much attention to this feminine -chat. He gathered that his sister’s costume was considered to be -something of an inspiration and a masterpiece in the working out. It was -expected to startle the younger set of Bridgeboro and to be the -sensation of the evening. Queen Tut, consort of the celebrated King Tut -of ancient Egypt. Favorite wife of the renowned mummy. - -Mrs. Harris and Elsie were rather hazy about whether his name had been -Tut and whether he had possessed a Queen Tut, but anything goes in a -masquerade. There would be masked Charlie Chaplins by the score; -colonial maids, gypsy maids, Swiss peasant maids, pirates, and war -nurses galore. But only one Queen Tut, leader of fashion in ancient -Egypt. The great Egyptian flapper.... - -Pee-wee hurried through his lunch and upstairs so that he might proceed -with his work uninterruptedly, while his mother and sister lingered in -discourse about the great event. He was well beforehand with his -exterior work, for the radio set was not yet in his possession. It was -to be a birthday present deliverable several days hence. But the secret -(held by women) had leaked out and Pee-wee had thereupon set about -preparing his aerial. - -He now gathered this up and dragged it into Elsie’s room. The cross-bars -were laid together, the connecting wires loosely wound about them. He -struggled under the mass, tripped in its treacherous loops, brought it -around endways so it would go through the door, and finally by hook or -crook balanced it across the window-sill where he sat for a moment to -rest. The operations on which he was embarked seemed complicated and -large in conception. By contrast, Pee-wee seemed very small. - -It was characteristic of him that his career as a radio-bug should be -heralded by preparatory turmoil. For several days he had striven with -saw and hammer in the cellar, rolls of discarded chicken-wire had been -attacked and left for the cook to trip over, the clothes-line had been -abridged, not a wrench or screw-driver or ball of cord was to be found -in its place. - -Pee-wee’s convalescence from grippe had afforded him the opportunity -thus to turn the house and garage upside down in the interest of -science. He had even made demand for hairpins, and had mysteriously -collected all the package handles he could lay hands on. These wooden -handles he had split, releasing the copper wires which ran through them -and converting these into miniature grapnels with which he had equipped -the end of a stout cord. This cord, not an integral part of his aerial, -was nevertheless temporarily attached to it, whether by intention or as -the result of tangling, one could not say. It dangled from it, however, -like the tail of a kite. - -The function of his cord, as Pee-wee had explained, was to elevate one -end of the aerial to the attic window after the other end had been -elevated to the tree. In that lofty position no voice, not even the -voice of Honolulu, could escape it. The world (perhaps even Mars) would -talk in Pee-wee’s ear. - -The operations (conceived while lying in bed) for elevating this wire -eavesdropper into position were even more extraordinary than the aerial -itself, and Pee-wee was now prepared to take the next important step in -his enterprise. This was to fasten to the aerial the cord which he had -lodged in the tree and thereupon to ascend the tree himself and pull the -aerial up at that end. Following this, he would make his next public -appearance at the attic window from which he would dangle his grappling -line, catching the other end of the aerial and pulling it up at that -end. It could then be drawn tight, adjusted, and made ready against his -birthday. - -He was anxious to get the acrobatic part of his enterprise completed -before the return of Dr. Harris who might be expected to interpose some -objection to the flaunting exhibition of broomsticks and rake-handle -above the front lawn; and who assuredly would have been expected to veto -the acrobatic feature of the work. - -The doctor might be expected to return at one o’clock; every minute -after that hour would be fraught with apprehension. It was now past -twelve-thirty, as Pee-wee knew from the advance guard of returning -pupils bound for the high school on the next block. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - QUEEN TUT - - -Pee-wee shinned up the elm and was soon concealed amid the safety of the -spreading branches. He was a monkey at climbing. He handed himself -about, looking this way and that in quest of the flat-iron handle. Soon -he discovered it caught on a stub of a branch like a quoit on a stake. -The branches in its neighborhood were numerous and strong and he had no -difficulty in approaching it. - -He sat wedged in a comfortable fork of two stout branches, his foot -locked in a limb just below him. An upright branch, like a stanchion, -afforded the additional precaution of steadying himself with a hand, but -that was not necessary. He was as safe and comfortable as if he had been -on a merry-go-round with his feet in a pair of stirrups, his hand -holding a brass rod. - -Pleased with the coziness and safety of his aerial perch, he was moved -to celebrate his arrival by eating an apple which he had thoughtfully -brought from the dining table. And having finished the apple (and being -only human) he was moved to drop the core plunk on the head of Emerson -Skybrow, brother of Minerva Skybrow, who, being an exemplary youth and -not having much appetite, was always in the advance guard of returning -pupils. That studious boy paused, looked up curiously and proceeded on -his way. - -Pee-wee found it pleasant sitting high up in his leafy bower looking -down on the unfortunates who had to go to school. He deferred his labors -for a few minutes to enjoy the sight. He refrained from calling for fear -of attracting attention from the house; his mother was likely to -disapprove his ascent of the tree. - -The straggling advance guard became more numerous, pupils came in twos -and threes, then in little groups, until there was a steady procession -toward the school. There were Marjorie Blakeley and the two Roberts -girls going arm in arm—talking of the masquerade, possibly. There was -Elsie Benton (big sister of Scout Dorry Benton) strolling along with -Harrison Quinby—as usual. There were the Troville trio, so called, three -sisters of the flapper type. Along they all sauntered, laughing, -chatting.... - -Pee-wee, suddenly recalled to his duties, shook off his mood of -contemplative reverie and reached for the flat-iron handle. Never in all -its homely, domestic career had that flat-iron handle been cast for such -a sensational role. Pee-wee held the cord which ran to the porch roof. -He agitated it, moved it clear of leafy obstructions, pulled it taut, -shook it away from a branch which rubbed against it, and began pulling -vigorously. - -Across the distant window-sill of his sister’s room tumbled the -cumbersome aerial and fell on the porch roof. Elated, Pee-wee pulled. -Soon he heard laughter below and looked down on the increasing group -whence the laughter emanated. He saw Crabby Dennison, teacher of -mathematics, standing stark still some yards beyond the tree, looking -intently across the Harris lawn. - -Directly beneath him the group had increased to the proportions of a -crowd. And they were all laughing. Pee-wee gazed down at them, the while -pulling hand over hand. Assured of his success, it afforded him pleasure -to look down upon the curious multitude who seemed to have forgotten all -about school. - -It is said that Nero fiddled while Rome was burning. Thus Pee-wee -pulled. - -Suddenly a chorus of mirth arose beneath him, interspersed with flippant -calls, the while the merry loiterers looked up, trying to espy him in -the tree. - -“Look what’s there!” - -“Who’s running the clothes-line?” - -“Where is he?” - -“Did you _ever_?” - -“What on _earth_——” - -“It’s an oriental ghost.” - -“It’s a jumping-jack.” - -“It’s just an ad.” - -“I never saw anything so——” - -Pee-wee peered through the sheltering foliage toward the house and -beheld a horrifying spectacle. Hanging midway between two sagging -lengths of cord was his aerial. Depending from this was a motley -apparition which he perceived to be his sister’s masquerade costume, -revealed in all its fantastic and colorful glory to the gaping -multitude. No Bridgeboro girl ever did, or ever would, wear such a -costume in the streets; its bizarre design proclaimed its theatrical -character. - -It depended gracefully, naturally, from the treacherous aerial, as if -Queen Tut herself (minus her head) were being hanged. No seductive -shopkeeper could have displayed it more effectively in his window. -Pee-wee stared dismayed, aghast. - -“Oh, I know what it is,” caroled a blithe maid below; “it’s Elsie -Harris’ masquerade costume; I just _bet_ it is.” - -It was a safe bet. - -[Illustration: PEE-WEE BEHELD THE DANGLING COSTUME] - -Cold with horror, Pee-wee gazed upon this result of the ghastly -treachery of his aerial. As far as he was able to think at all he -believed that some truant end of wire had caught the royal robe and -dragged it forth. There were many truant ends of wire. Perhaps one of -the wire grapnels contrived from a package handle had coyly hooked it as -the aerial crossed the window-sill. At all events it was hooked. And -there it dangled above the Harris lawn in the full glare of the sunlight -and in full view of the enthralled multitude. - -They did not scruple to advance upon the lawn. - -“Isn’t it perfectly _gorgeous!_” one girl enthused. - -“What on earth do you suppose—— There’s one—I bet it’s Walter Harris up -in that tree,” said another. - -“Did you ever in your life see such a perfectly sumptuous thing?” -chirped a third. - -“Oh, I think it’s a _dear_,” said still another. - -For a few moments the clamoring people were so preoccupied with the -splendor of the dangling robe that they neglected to investigate the -machinery which had brought it thus into the public gaze until a -thunderous command from up in the tree assailed their ears. - -“Don’t you know enough to go to school?” Pee-wee roared. “Gee whiz, -didn’t you ever see an aerial of a radio before? Anyway, you’re -trespassing on that lawn! Get off that lawn, d’you hear? You can each be -fined fifty dollars, maybe a hundred, for trespassing on that lawn. -Don’t you know enough to go to school?” - -He pulled the cord in the hope of lifting the display above the reach of -the curious, and immediately discovered the total depravity of his whole -tangled apparatus. The cord was now caught somewhere below him in the -tree and his frantic pulling only communicated a slight agitation to the -dangling garment as if it were dancing a jig for the edification of its -gaping audience. - -The heavy cords, with the tangled mass of collapsed aerial midway -between tree and house, sagged at about the curve of a hammock with the -flaunting royal robe almost grazing the lawn. It was easily approachable -for critical feminine inspection and as Pee-wee looked down it seemed as -if the whole student body of the high school were clustered about it in -astonishment and admiration. He could single out many of his sister’s -particular friends, Olga Wetherson, Julia Stemson, Marjorie Blakeley. - -“Get away from there!” he shouted, baffled by the treacherous cord and -having no resource save in his voice. “Go on now, get away from there, -do you hear? You leave that dress alone! Don’t you know you’ll be late -for school? Don’t you know an accident when you see one? Do you think -that dress is there on purpose? Go on, get off that lawn—that—that -costume isn’t supposed to be there——” - -The face of Elsie Harris appeared in the window, a face gasping in -tragic dismay. Her mother’s face presently appeared also. They could not -see the hero in the tree but they saw the exhibition and the crowd. And -they could _hear_ the hero. - -“Tell them to go on away,” he bellowed. “It’s an accident; can’t you see -it’s an accident that happened behind my back when I wasn’t looking and -how could I help it if it got caught when I wasn’t there and didn’t know -anything about it——” - -“Oh, I think it’s just gorgeous, Else,” caroled Olga Wetherson. “How did -you _ever think_——” - -“Go on to school!” the hero thundered, “and let that alone. Don’t you -know accidents can happen to—to—even to the most—the smartest people? -Don’t you know that that isn’t supposed to be there on purpose?” - -This was shouted for the benefit of his mother and sister and intimated -his line of defense. But Elsie heard him not. One horrified glance and -she had withdrawn from the window and buried her face in the pillows of -the bed, clenching her hands and weeping copiously. - -“Walter,” called his mother, “you come in the house at once.” - -“Do you blame me for something that happened when I wasn’t there?” he -shouted. “Do you say I’m to blame for something that happened behind my -back? Gee whiz, do you call that logic? Hey, Billy Wessels, you’re in -the senior class, gee whiz, is that logic—what happened behind my back -when I wasn’t there to stop it? Can I be in two places at once?” - -“Walter, you come down out of that tree and come in the house at once.” - -“Do you say I’m to blame?” he roared. - -“I say for you to leave whatever you’re doing and come in the house—_at -once_.” - -“Gee whiz.” - -Mrs. Harris closed the window and turned to her daughter who still -clutched the pillow as if it were a life preserver, and shook her head -as if she could not look or speak, and sobbed and sobbed and would not -be comforted. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE SAFETY PATROL - - -Having entombed Queen Tut more effectually than ever the ancient -Egyptians did, Pee-wee returned to school the following Monday. A -lengthy conference between Elsie and her mother had resulted in the -decision that the girl should go to the masquerade as Joan of Arc. - -“Perhaps her martial character will protect her from annihilation,” said -Mrs. Harris wistfully. - -“I feel,” said Elsie, looking through tear-stained eyes, “as if I’d like -to go as Bluebeard and kill every one I see—including all the small -brothers. I would like to go as Attila the Hun and massacre all the boy -scouts in Bridgeboro. Then I would seek out Marconi and assassinate him -because he invented the radio—if he did.” - -“Poor Queen Tut,” said Mrs. Harris amiably, launched upon the new -costume. “Poor Walter.” - -Poor Walter needed very little sympathy. He had gone to pastures new -where fresh glories awaited him. Having triumphed over the grippe and -Queen Tut, he presented himself at grammar school Monday morning. His -aerial masterpiece remained where he had left it when peremptorily -summoned to the house, festooning the lawn, minus its ornamental -appendage. - -Upon Pee-wee’s arrival at school, his teacher sent him to Doctor Sharpe, -the principal, who wished to confer with him upon important matters. - -“Harris,” said he, turning in his swivel chair, “I’m glad to know that -you’re feeling better.” - -“Yes, sir,” said Pee-wee. - -“You had quite a time of it, eh?” - -“Yes, sir,” said Pee-wee, with more truth than the principal suspected. - -“Walter, I suppose you know of the plan we’ve adopted here of having -selected pupils act as traffic officers during the rush hours, as I -might call them, when the boys and girls are coming and going in the -neighborhood of the school building.” - -“Yes, sir,” said Pee-wee, hoisting up one of his stockings. - -“The idea is to safeguard the pupils, especially the smaller ones, from -careless drivers. The boys appointed to take this responsibility are of -course pupils in good standing—intelligent, keen-witted, resourceful. -They wear badges and have the cooperation and backing of the police.” - -“They have whistles, don’t they?” Pee-wee asked. - -Already he saw himself, or rather heard himself, blowing his lungs out -in autocratic warning for the traffic to pause. His roving eye caught -sight of something on Doctor Sharpe’s desk which gladdened his heart. -This was a huge, celluloid disk or button as large as a molasses cookie -and equipped with a canvas band to encircle the arm and hold it in -place. If it had indeed been a molasses cookie, Pee-wee could hardly -have contemplated it with deeper yearning. - -“I was an official in the clean-up campaign,” Pee-wee said. “I made ’em -clean up Barrel Alley. I cooperated with the police, I did. Once I even -got a man arrested for throwing a pie in the street. Gee whiz, that -isn’t what pies are for.” - -“I should say not,” smiled Doctor Sharpe. - -“So I know all about being a public official, kind of,” said Pee-wee. - -“Well, that’s just what I thought. And besides you’re a scout, I -believe?” - -“You said it.” - -“And I always lean toward scouts when it comes to a question of -responsibility, public duty——” - -“That’s where you’re right,” said Pee-wee. “Because scouts, you can -always depend on them. If a scout says he’ll keep a—anyway, gee whiz, -they’re always on the job, I’ll say that.” - -“Well, I’m going to appoint you a traffic officer,” said Doctor Sharpe, -“and you’re to wear this badge and act in accordance with these -instructions.” He handed Pee-wee a carbon copy of a typewritten sheet. -“Read it now and tell me if you think you can assume these duties. I’ve -heard of your work in the clean-up campaign and that’s why I thought of -you. We need one more officer.” - -“Did you hear about me—and the dead rat,” Pee-wee inquired. “I’ll read -it,” he said, alluding to the paper, “but anyway, I accept.” - -The typewritten sheet read as follows: - - INSTRUCTIONS FOR SAFETY PATROL - - Officers of the safety patrol are to be at their designated - stations from 8.30 to 9.15 A.M.; and from 12 to 12.15 P.M.; - from 12.40 to 1.15 P.M.; and from 3 to 3.30 P.M. Officers of - the Safety Patrol are expected to carry their lunches as - they will not have sufficient time to go home. - - The duties of the officers are to insure the safety of - pupils approaching and leaving the school, to warn, and when - necessary detain traffic in the interest of safety. - - Boys acting as officers of this patrol are to use their - whistles and the uplifted hand in controlling traffic while - on duty and their authority must be obeyed by drivers of - vehicles in the school neighborhood. They shall report to - the principal any flagrant disregard of their authority by - drivers, taking the license number of the vehicle. They will - have the full cooperation of the police officer stationed in - the neighborhood. - - Officers of the safety patrol will give their especial - attention to the smaller children, escorting them when - necessary. Theirs is the responsibility of keeping the - street and neighboring crossings clear during the approach - and departure of pupils, especially those of the lower - grades. - - Their teachers will permit them to leave the classroom early - and no punishment for tardiness shall be incurred by their - remaining at their posts, as provided, after the bell rings. - - Roswell Sharpe, - Principal. - -Pee-wee received the badge as if it were a Distinguished Service Cross -tendered by Marshal Foch, or the Scout Gold Cross for supreme heroism. -It looked not unlike a giant wrist-watch on his small arm. At the same -time an authoritative celluloid whistle was handed him. He could not -bear to conceal this in his pocket so he hung it around his neck by an -emergency shoe-string which he carried. - -He saw visions of himself frowning upon the proud drivers of Pierce -Arrows and Cadillacs. He saw the baffled chauffeurs of jitney buses jam -on their brakes when his authoritative hand said (as Marshal Joffre had -said), “_They shall not pass._” He saw himself the escort and protector -of golden-haired Marion Bates, who had laughed at him and called him -“Smarty.” - -As he passed out through the principal’s anteroom, he noticed sitting -there Emerson Skybrow, the boy on whose head he had let fall an apple -core. It was a fine head, filled with the most select culture and -knowledge. That was why Pee-wee had dropped the core on it. Emerson was -not a favorite in the school, much less with the scouts. He said -“cinema” when he meant the movies, he said “luncheon” and “dinner” -instead of eats, he took “constitutionals” instead of hikes, he took -piano lessons, and he spoke of shows as “entertainments” or -“exhibitions.” There is much to be said for such a boy, but he is almost -certain to have apple cores dropped on him. - -Emerson was not popular, but he was useful. He was not nervy, but he was -self-possessed. He talked like a grown person. It is significant that he -had not been appointed to the safety patrol. But he was always getting -himself appointed monitor. He distributed and gathered up books and -pencils in the classroom, he “opened the window a little at the top” -with a long implement, he could always be counted on for poetical -recitations. - -On the present occasion Emerson had been sent as a delegation of one, -representing the entire student body, to prefer a particular request of -the principal. It had been shrewdly considered that any request made by -Emerson must be regarded as eminently proper and respectable. Emerson -was never late to school and seldom absent. Therefore, a request -involving an interruption of school routine in the interest of mere -entertainment would command attention in high places if made by Emerson. - -That is why he had been delegated to approach Doctor Sharpe and request -that lessons he suspended for half an hour on the following morning in -order that the pupils might beguile themselves with something altogether -unorthodox in the humdrum daily life at school. - -That was why Emerson was waiting in the anteroom. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - I AM THE LAW - - -The two outstanding features of Tuesday were the observance of Pee-wee’s -birthday and the appearance of the circus in town. The circus gave two -“stupendous performances.” Pee-wee gave one memorable performance. - -The early morning of that festive spring day found him harassed with -perplexity. His troubles were financial. He awoke early and lay for a -little while allowing his mind to dwell on the radio set which he knew -his father intended to give him. He had extracted that much information -from his father, but he had not been able to extract the gift. Doctor -Harris had old-fashioned ideas about birthdays. - -Pee-wee’s mother had been won over and had given him her personal gift -of a dollar, most of which already had found its way into circulation -via Bennett’s Fresh Confectionery on Main Street. As for his sister -Elsie, Pee-wee felt it would be rash to expect anything from her in the -way of a present! - -He had exactly fifty-two cents. Purchases necessary to install his radio -set would require forty-seven of this, leaving five cents which would be -of no use, except to enable him to drink his own health in an orange -phosphate at Bennett’s. Or he might wish himself many happy returns of -the day with an ice cream cone. - -In any case he could not go to the circus, unless he postponed the -installation of his radio till such time as his circumstances improved. -He considered this alternative and decided that the radio must be -installed for immediate operation, circus or no circus. - -The faint hope which he had dared to indulge that Elsie might forget the -episode involving a scout’s lack of secrecy in the glow of the birthday -morn proved entirely unjustified. She did not even come down to -breakfast. Having carefully laid his precious gift on the table in his -room, and feasted his eyes upon it as long as his official duties would -permit, he emerged with his school books, the while whistling audibly in -the forlorn hope that the new Joan of Arc might hear him and relent. -After this all hope was abandoned. - -Renouncing his lingering dream of an evening at the circus and consoling -himself with thoughts of his radio, he hurried to school with the more -immediate joy of his official position uppermost in his mind. He reached -the scene of his public duties promptly at eight-thirty and immediately -put on his costume, consisting of his celluloid badge and his dangling -whistle. - -The public school was on Terrace Avenue and filled the entire block from -West Street to Allerton Street. Pee-wee’s stand was at the intersection -of Allerton Street and Terrace Avenue. Here, for half an hour, he raised -his hand, blew his whistle, beckoned reassuringly to the small children -who paused uncertainly at the curbs. Occasionally he honored some little -girl by personally conducting her across the street. - -“Stop, d’you hear?” he thundered at a bus driver who had declined to -take him seriously. “D’you see this badge? If you don’t stop, you see, -I’ll have you fined—maybe as much as—as—ten dollars, maybe.” - -And upon the cynical bus driver’s pausing, the autocrat leisurely -escorted little Willie Hobertson, whose leg was held in a nickel frame, -across to the school. - -He stopped Mr. Runner Snagg, the auto inspector, who was speeding in his -official car. Here authority clashed with authority, but Officer Harris -won the day by boldly planting himself in front of the inspector’s -roadster the while he beckoned to a group of pupils. - -“You thought you’d get away with it, didn’t you?” he shouted. “Just -because you’re an inspector you needn’t think you don’t have to obey the -law—geeeeee whiz!” - -Lacking the size and dignity of a regular policeman, he made up for it -by abandoning himself to approaching traffic, standing immovable before -vehicles, sometimes until the very bumpers and headlights touched him. -They stopped because he would not budge. - -Perhaps he erred a trifle on the side of dictatorship that first -morning, but the pupils all reached school in safety, and without -confusion or delay. He stopped everything except the flippant comments -of older boys who were guilty of _lèse majesté_. But even these he -“handled,” to use his own favorite word. - -“Look who’s holding up the traffic!” - -“Hey, mister, don’t run over that kid, you’ll get a puncture.” - -“Look at that badge with a kid tied to it.” - -“Look out, kid, you’ll blow yourself away with that whistle.” - -Pee-wee’s cheeks bulged as he blew a frantic blast to warn Mr. Temple’s -chauffeur, who was taking little Janet Temple to school in the big -Temple Pierce Arrow. Fords and Pierce Arrows, they were all the same to -Pee-wee. He would have stopped the fire engines themselves. - -“Hey, mister, look out, there’s a boy behind that badge,” a mirthful -onlooker called. - -“Cheese it, kid, here comes President Harding.” - -“Here comes the ambulance, Pee-wee. Don’t blow your whistle, you’ll wake -up the patient.” - -“Hey, kid, here comes a wop with a donkey, blow your whistle. Hold up -your hand for the donkey.” - -“Hold up your own hand!” Pee-wee shouted. “He belongs to your family.” - -“Hey, Pee-wee, tell that sparrow to get off the street or he’ll run into -a car and bust it.” - -“Stand on your head, kid, that’s what I’d do!” - -“You haven’t got any head to stand on!” Pee-wee shouted. - -By nine o’clock all the pupils were in school except a few tardy -stragglers. For ten minutes more these kept coming. Pee-wee held his -post. - -It was about nine fifteen and he could hear the singing within, when he -reluctantly decided that it was time for him to relinquish his enjoyable -occupation. The boy up at the next street intersection had already -disappeared. - -But one thing, or, to be more exact, two things, detained Pee-wee at the -neighborhood of the post which he had graced with such efficiency. One -was the sound of distant music. The other was the approach of a -dilapidated motor truck, heavily laden with bales of rags and papers. It -was this truck, rather than the faint music in the air, which attracted -our young hero. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE PROTECTOR - - -The truck came lumbering along Terrace Avenue, its huge load shaking -like some Dixie mammy of vast dimensions. The piled-up bales and burlap -sacks were agitated by each small hubble in the road; the vast, -overhanging pile tilted to an alarming angle. In a kind of cave or -alcove in this surrounding mass sat the driver, almost completely -enclosed by the load. - -Pee-wee had no intention of interrupting the progress of this -outlandish, bulging, tipsy caravan. The responsibility for what shortly -happened is traceable to little Irene Flynn, who was hurrying to school -in frantic haste, being already twenty minutes late. When Pee-wee’s eyes -were diverted from the advancing load to her spectacular approach, she -was almost at the curb, panting audibly, for she had run all the way -from Barrel Alley. - -In the full glory of his authority, he planted himself immovably in the -middle of the cross street and raised his autocratic hand, at the same -time beckoning to little Irene to proceed across Terrace Avenue. With -cynical assurance of his power, the truck driver disregarded Pee-wee, -and was presently struck with consternation to find himself within -fifteen feet of the little official, and the official still immovable. -Other drivers, finding Pee-wee a statue, had driven around him and gone -upon their way, to his chagrin. - -But the driver of the truck could not do that, for in deference to his -top-heavy load, he must keep a straight course. He therefore jammed on -both his brakes with skilful promptness; the load shook as if stricken -with palsy, a bale of rags rolled merrily off like a great boulder from -a mountain, then the whole vast edifice swayed, collapsed, and was -precipitated to the ground. A jungle of bales, sacks and huge bundles of -loosely tied papers and rags decorated the middle of Terrace Avenue. It -seemed inconceivable that any single truck could have contained so much. -The street was transformed into a rubbish dump. - -It is said that music has charms to soothe the savage beast, but the -swelling strains of an approaching band, which could now be distinctly -heard, did not soothe the driver of the truck. Pee-wee had entertained -no idea that he was as many things as the driver called him. The number -and character seemed also to astonish little Irene Flynn, who stood -beside her protector in the middle of the street. - -“Yer see wotcher done?” bawled the man. “All on account o’ that there -blamed kid! I’d oughter ran over yer, that’s wot I’d oughter done, yer -little——” - -“Just the same you didn’t,” said Pee-wee. “Why didn’t you stop when I -first raised my hand? Gee whiz, can’t you see I’m a—I’m in the official -patrol? Maybe you think I didn’t mean what I said when I motioned. Now, -you see, you’ve got only yourself to blame. Gee whiz, that shows what -you get for defying the law—geeee whiz!” - -“It serves him right,” little Irene whispered to Pee-wee, as if she were -afraid to advertise her loyalty. “It serves him a good lesson.” - -Pee-wee would have withdrawn from this scene of devastation, escorting -Irene, except that the approaching music grew louder and louder, and he -and his little charge paused to ascertain the occasion of such a festive -serenade. He was not long kept in doubt. Around the corner of Broad -Avenue, which was the first cross street beyond Allerton, where Pee-wee -was stationed, appeared a proud figure in a towering hat, swinging a -fantastic rod equipped with a sumptuous brazen sphere. - -“Oh, look at the soldier man, he’s got a barrel on his head, like,” -gasped little Irene in awestruck admiration. - -“It’s a drum-major,” said Pee-wee, staring. “Gee whiz, the circus is -coming!” - -Even the irate driver of the truck paused in the midst of the chaos he -had wrought to gaze at the imposing spectacle which emerged around the -corner and advanced down the wide thoroughfare of Terrace Avenue. Behind -the red-coated band Pee-wee beheld three pedestrians walking abreast, -and he knew that they would not be obedient to his raised arm. These -were huge elephants, complacent, serene, contemptuous of the law. - -“Oh, look—_look!_” gasped little Irene. “They’re efilants, they’re -_real_ efilants! Will they eat you?” - -Pee-wee was too absorbed with the motley spectacle to answer. Behind the -elephants came rolling cages, and amid the strains of martial music he -could hear a mighty intermittent roaring—savage, terrible. Little Irene -grasped his arm. - -“Don’t you be scared,” he said. “I won’t let them hurt you.” - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - THE PARADE - - -Pee-wee was a true circus fan, but he was first of all a traffic -officer. He knew that the parade could not easily pass this litter. -Zigzagging his way through the chaos of crates and bales and bundles, he -headed off the imposing procession before it reached the corner. He -seemed a very small rudder to such a large ship, but he pointed up the -side street, displaying his badge ostentatiously, and shouting at the -top of his voice. - -“You can’t pass here, you’ll have to turn up that street! Go on, turn -into that street and you can come back into Terrace Avenue, the next -block below. Hey, go up that side street!” - -Without appearing to pay the slightest attention to him the drum-major, -swinging his stick and looking straight before him, inscribed a wide, -graceful turn into Allerton Street, and was mechanically followed by his -red-coated band. They were blowing so prodigiously on their instruments -that they seemed neither to know nor care which way they went and were -steered as easily as a racing shell. - -It is true that one of the elephants seemed sufficiently interested to -pick up a bale of rags, which had rolled somewhat beyond the center of -disorder, and hurl it onto the sidewalk, but he swung around with his -companions. - -Following the elephants came the camels and they too swung around; it -was all the same to them. Followed an uproarious steam calliope which -made the turn with a clamor to wake the dead. Then came the rolling -cages with their ferocious tenants. And all these turned into Allerton -Street following the calliope which followed the camels which followed -the elephants which followed the band which followed the drum-major who -followed the direction authoritatively indicated by Pee-wee Harris. - -“Come on, anyway, I’m not going into school yet, because I’m going to -see it,” Pee-wee said to Irene. - -“I’ll get the blame on me ’cause I got late,” little Irene protested, as -she followed him to a point of vantage on Allerton Street. - -“You got a right to see the parade, _gee whiz_,” Pee-wee said. “You know -Emerson Skybrow? He never does anything wrong and he got ninety-seven in -arithmetic, and even he’s going to see it, I heard him say so. So if -he’s late on purpose, I guess you can be. Anyway, I’m an official.” - -This last reminder was what proved conclusive to little Irene; in the -protection of the law, she could not do wrong. She had seen her valiant -escort deflect a whole circus parade; surely he could handle Principal -Sharpe. She clung to him with divine faith and they turned the corner -into Allerton Street which was now thronging with people. They were -mostly either too old or too young to go to school; there was a -noticeable absence of children. - -Pee-wee led the way to the hospitable porch of the Ashleys, where Mrs. -Ashley and her married daughter had hurriedly emerged, lured by the -thrilling music. The married daughter held her baby in uplifted arms -saying, “See the pretty animals.” Neighbors presently availed themselves -of the spacious Ashley porch which became a sort of grandstand for the -neighborhood. - -People who had not thought enough about the parade to wait on Terrace -Avenue were ready enough to step out or to throw open their windows, now -that the motley procession was passing their very doors. In less than -half a minute the quiet side street was seething with excitement. Women -hurried, babies cried, lions roared, the steam calliope drowned the -stirring music of the band, a gorgeous float bearing a fat woman and a -skeleton lumbered around the corner. - -Little Irene Flynn was somewhat timid about the proximity of wild -beasts, but this feeling was nothing to her excitement at finding -herself upon the porch of the sumptuous Ashley residence. But apparently -her hero was not in the least abashed at finding himself in such a -distinguished company. He and Irene sat side by side on a lower step, -watching the parade with spellbound gaze. - -“I’m the one that fixed it so you could all sit here and see it,” -Pee-wee announced for the benefit of the company. “I made it turn the -corner.” - -“Really?” asked Mrs. Ashley. - -“Absolutely, positively,” said Pee-wee; “you can ask her,” alluding to -Irene. - -“Yes, ma’am, he did,” Irene ventured tremulously. - -“I’m on the school traffic patrol,” Pee-wee explained, “and I have -charge of the traffic up on the corner. I stopped a truck so she could -get across the street and it served the man right because he wasn’t -going to stop, but anyway he had to stop because I got authority, so -then his whole load fell over and it served him right.” - -“It just did,” said a lady. - -“So then I told the—did you see that man with the big, high hat leading -the band? I motioned to him to come down this way and turn through the -street in back of the school and do you know how it reminds me of the -Mississippi River?” - -“I can’t imagine.” - -“Because all of a sudden it changes its course, did you know that? And -you wake up some fine morning and it’s not near your house any more. -Maybe it’s a mile off.” - -“Isn’t that extraordinary!” - -“That’s nothing,” said Pee-wee. “Islands change too; once North America -wasn’t here, but anyway I’m glad it’s here now because, gee whiz, I have -a lot of fun on it, but anyway if it hadn’t been for me you wouldn’t all -be sitting here watching the parade go by, that’s one sure thing.” - -“We ought to give you a vote of thanks,” some one observed. - -“It’s what you kind of call a good turn that happens by accident,” -Pee-wee said. “You know scouts have to do good turns, don’t you? They -have to do one every day. Anyway, gee whiz, I’m glad that truck broke -down. If a circus parade turns, that’s a good turn, isn’t it—for the -people that live on the street where it turns?” - -“Oh, absolutely, positively,” laughed an amused lady. - -“There goes a leopard,” Pee-wee said. “I know a way you can catch a -leopard with fly-paper, only you got to have a lot of it. Leopards have -five toes, do you know that? I can make a call like a leopard, want to -hear me? Scouts have to know how to imitate animals so as to fool ’em.” - -“Can you imitate a cataclysm—a vocal cataclysm?” asked a young woman. - -“Is it an animal?” - -“No, it’s something like a volcanic eruption combined with an -earthquake.” - -“_Suuure_, I can imitate it.” - -“Well, don’t, you’ll only drown the music.” - -“Shall I keep still so you can hear the tigers roar?” he asked. - -“No,” she said, “we don’t care if the tigers don’t.” - -“Gee whiz, they should worry,” said Pee-wee. - -They seemed not to worry as they paced their narrow cages. Following -them came gorgeous chariots drawn by spirited horses, resplendent in -gold harness and driven by men resembling Julius Caesar. Came a clown -driving a donkey, then more floats, then two giants, then some midgets -in a miniature automobile. - -Little Irene watched, spellbound. Pee-wee divided his attention between -the pageant and the company, which seemed to enjoy him quite as much as -it did the spectacular procession. He seemed to have appropriated the -parade as his own private exhibition. - -“I suppose you’d have arrested the whole parade, elephants and all, if -they hadn’t turned into this street,” a lady said. - -“They got a right to do what he says,” said the admiring Irene. - -“Do you see my badge?” Pee-wee asked, displaying it. “I got a whistle, -too.” - -The parade moved but one block along Allerton Street then turned into -Carlton Place which paralleled Terrace Avenue, then to the next cross -street, and so into the thoroughfare of Terrace Avenue again, where -restless and increasing throngs awaited its coming. - - - - - CHAPTER X - - THE FIXER - - -Inside the school, also, an excited, expectant throng waited. Special -permission had been given to the whole student body to view the parade -and every one of the many windows facing on Terrace Avenue was filled -with faces. Teachers (who are universally referred to as _old_ by their -pupils) were young again in those slow, expectant, listening moments. -“Old” Cartright, “Old” Johnson, “Grouchy” Gerry, “Keep-in” Keeler were -all there, with their clustering, elbowing charges about them, waiting -to see the parade. - -The large windows of the gymnasium were packed. So were the windows of -the big assembly room. “Old” Granger, the music teacher, seemed almost -human for once, as he actually elbowed his way to a front place where -Doctor Sharpe smilingly awaited the coming of the great show. - -The weather was too brisk for open windows, but the several hundred -waiters heard the muffled strains of music, three blocks, two blocks, -one block off, and in the renewed excitement and suspense many noses -grew flat in an instant, pressed eagerly against the glass. - -One block away. Half a block away. The great bass drum sounded like -thunder. They could hear the complaining roar of a monarch lion. The -frightful but rousing din of the calliope (eternal voice of the circus) -smote their ears. Louder, louder, louder sounded the music. In a minute, -half a minute, the motley heralds of the fantastic, gorgeous, roaring -spectacle would show themselves. - -Then the music seemed a trifle less stentorian and, presently becoming -more and more subdued, was muffled again by distance. The lion was -either losing his pep or retreating. His roar seemed less tremendous—at -last he seemed to speak in a kind of aggrieved whisper. - -Even the terrible calliope modified its shrieking and discordant tones. -It seemed to be receding. Could the _Evening Bungle_ have committed the -greatest bungle of all its bungling career and misstated the line of -march? Impossible, perish the thought! Where but down the fine, broad -thoroughfare of Terrace Avenue would a circus parade make its -ostentatious way? The pupils waited, patient, confident, all suspense. -The procession had paused.... - -They waited five, ten, fifteen minutes, till the calliope had ceased -entirely to shock the air with its outlandish clamor and the lion had -ceased to roar. - -Twenty minutes. - -Then, suddenly, a procession appeared indeed before this thronging -grandstand of the school. It consisted of two people, little Irene Flynn -and Scout Pee-wee Harris. But it was not without music, for he was -demonstrating the powers of his official whistle for her especial -edification, his cheeks bulging with his official effort. - -Straight along the thoroughfare they came, the eyes of the waiting -multitude upon them. They ascended the steps of the large central -entrance, then disappeared to view and presently reappeared in the main -corridor and entered the adjacent office of the principal, which awful -sanctum had been invaded by a score of pupils and teachers who still -crowded at the windows. - -“I had to stay as late as this on account of making the parade turn into -Allerton Street,” said the small official, “because I made a truck -driver stop on account of his being—maybe—he was going to run over Irene -Flynn, but, anyway, I made him stop and his load went over—gee whiz, -awful funny—all over—and so then I made the parade turn into Allerton -Street and we stayed to watch it and, _oh, boy_, it was peachy. There -were wild animals and chariots with men in kind of white nightgowns in -’em and clowns and elephants and zebras and fat women and skinny men and -dwarfs and a kind of a man only not exactly a man that they held by a -chain and he was wild and uncivilized like—you know—like scouts, and he -growled and looked like a monkey, and, gee whiz, they had two giraffes -and a lady with a beard like Smith Brothers’ cough drops, and I sat on -Mrs. Ashley’s porch and a boy that sits in a window because he’s sick -saw the parade, so that shows how I did a good turn, even Mrs. Ashley -said so, and they had snakes in a glass wagon—gee whiz, you ought to -have seen all the things they had! Wasn’t it dandy, Irene?” - -“You saw the procession?” said “Grouchy” Gerry. - -“Oh, boy, did we! Geee whiz, you ought to have seen it. We saw it all -from beginning to end, didn’t we, Irene? And, anyway, she has to be -excused on account of a parade being something special. Oh, boy, if you -had seen it, you’d have said it was something special——” - -He paused for breath and in the interval a boy student sank into -affected unconsciousness across a table. Another staggered to the wall, -leaning limp and helpless against it. A girl buried her head on another -girl’s shoulder, silently shaking. Principal Sharpe managed to reach his -revolving chair, swung around in it away from the scene of anguish, -leaned forward, placed his two hands before his face, and said nothing. -Miss Rossiter, proud teacher of our hero’s own class, gave one look at -him, an inscrutable look, then glanced at another teacher, turned around -and laid her face gently on the top of the Encyclopedia Britannica case -in a kind of last abandonment of laughing despair. - -“He—he—boasts—he——” she tried to speak but could not. “He c-cl-_aims_ -that his sp-ec—specialty is—f-f-fixing—fix—fixing. Oh, _dear_, I have -—a—a—_headache_!” - -“So didn’t I fix it all right?” demanded Pee-wee proudly. “Gee whiz, you -can leave it to me to handle traffic out there, because I’m not scared -of them. Oh, boy! You should have seen those elephants!” - -That afternoon, in composition hour, the pupils did not (as has been -planned) write upon the theme of “_What impressed me most in the -procession._” One waggish boy did, indeed, place that heading at the top -of his composition sheet and wrote nothing whatever underneath it, which -seemed a truthful enough composition when you come to think of it. But -he was kept in after school for essaying the rôle of humorist. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - PEE-WEE’S PROMISE - - -Emerson Skybrow was also detained after school that afternoon, but not -for being a humorist; far from it. Life was no jesting matter to -Emerson. He remained for the wildly adventurous task of sharpening the -lead pencils used in his class. He was a sort of chambermaid in the room -which he adorned. - -But he did not remain long enough to complete his task for there were -important matters on for the evening. Emerson was going to a show, or, -as his mother preferred him to say, an “exhibition.” He tried to -remember to say this and succeeded very well. In the case of a circus, -he could not very well say _exhibition_. But he could not say show. So -he compromised and said _circus exhibition_. But he ran plunk into a -catastrophe on his way home which all but proved fatal to his plans. - -Meanwhile Pee-wee, fresh from his latest triumph, proceeded at once to -Main Street and to the “five and ten” where he began a purchasing -debauch at the hardware counter. Having fifty cents, he bought ten -different things, or rather lots, at five cents each. These appeared to -represent plans both novel and far-reaching in the field of radio -equipment. - -He counted out three dozen screws for a nickel; he purchased two brass -handles evidently intended for bureau drawers, at the same price. He -purchased a roll of tire tape and a half-dozen brass screw eyes. His -resources thus diminished to twenty-five cents, he pursued a more -conservative policy in his inspection. He finally bought three boxes of -copper staples for a nickel and allowed his eyes to dwell fondly on a -compartment full of ornate picture hooks, thirty for five cents. He -paused to consider how he might use these and having found a place for -them in his new field of scientific interest, he counted out thirty; -then the salesgirl recounted them and put them in a paper bag. - -The remainder of his capital was spent at the counter where radio parts -and accessories were sold. He bought six little brass rods. He did not -know exactly why, but they looked tempting and had a mysterious -suggestion of electrical apparatus about them. In this carnival of -temptation, he was strong enough to reserve one lonely nickel for an ice -cream cone on the way home. It was, perhaps, the most sensible of all -his purchases for at least he knew how he was going to use it. - -He started home penniless. No millionaire or United States president -could ever, in his struggling days of early youth, have been a poorer -boy than Pee-wee. - -And now in his state of financial ruin, flamboyant circus posters -confronted him on every hand. They called to him from fences and shop -windows. He knew that the afternoon performance was already under way. A -fitful hope still lingered in his mind that something would happen to -enable him to see the evening performance. Warde Hollister (Bridgeboro’s -most confirmed radio-bug) was coming the following day to bring order -out of chaos in the matter of Pee-wee’s aerial and to hook up the -apparatus. Until then he could do nothing. - -He paused now and again, gazing wistfully at the seductive posters. One -of these showed three elephants playing a game of one-o’-cat with a -monkey for umpire. Another showed a pony walking a tight rope. Still -another showed the clown’s donkey appropriately cast in the role of -traffic cop. - -On the way home he resolved upon a policy which from previous experience -seemed to hold out some prospect of success. He would prefer no requests -but would enthusiastically relate to his mother the unexpected glories -of the great show, leaving it to her own conscience what she would do in -the matter. But his mother and sister had both gone to the city in the -interests of Joan of Arc, leaving the dismal message that they might not -be home for supper at the usual time. As for Doctor Harris, he was -absent on a case and his return was problematical. So Pee-wee withdrew -to his room where he drowned his sorrow by feasting his gaze upon the -waiting apparatus. - -After a little while he went forth intending to visit the scene of the -circus and enjoy such external features of the “great exhibeeeshun” as -might be free. On his way through Grantly Place he came upon Emerson -Skybrow standing before a vacant store. This had lately been a drug -store but had proved ill-advised in that purely residential section. The -circus man, however, had filled its dusty windows with flaring posters -of “The world’s most stupendous exhibition.” - -In the sidewalk before the windows of this store was an iron grating of -several yards’ area which opened upon a shaft leading into the cellar. -As Pee-wee approached, Emerson was standing upon the grating looking -intently down into the shaft below. Something evidently had happened and -it seemed likely to have been incidental to his inspection of the -posters in the window. - -“What’s the matter?” asked Pee-wee. - -“It’s plaguy exasperating,” said Emerson. - -“What is?” - -“This infernal grating; I dropped my tickets down; you can see them down -there.” - -Pee-wee looked down, and amid the litter of soiled and crumpled papers -at the bottom of the shaft saw a small, fresh-looking, white envelope. - -“I can’t go to the exhibition without them, I know that,” said Emerson, -annoyed. “And I can’t get them, that’s equally certain.” - -“What d’you mean _you can’t get them_?” Pee-wee demanded. Then in a -sudden inspiration, he asked, “How many tickets are there?” - -“Just two,” said Emerson, preoccupied with his downward gaze. - -“You—you going with your mother or your sister?” - -“Goodness, no, they’re too busy getting Minerva ready for the Temple’s -masquerade.” - -“You—you—maybe—I bet you’re going to take a girl. Hey?” Pee-wee’s -interest was beginning to liven up. “I—gee, I bet you’re not going -alone.” - -“It looks as if I were not going at all,” said Emerson. - -“Anyway, if you asked me to go, I wouldn’t refuse,” said Pee-wee, -casting a wistful eye upon the posters. - -“I’m sure you’d be only too welcome,” said Emerson. - -“_Gee whiz_, do you mean it?” Pee-wee gasped. - -“It isn’t much of an invitation though,” said Emerson, “with the tickets -so near and yet so far——” - -“You call that far?” Pee-wee shouted, his hope mounting. “But anyway, I -bet you’re only fooling; because—I’m not a pal of yours. Are you -fooling? Do you mean it, _honest_?” - -“Even if I had the tickets,” Emerson assured him, “I couldn’t go unless -I found a boy to go with me; my mother doesn’t want me to go alone. So -it would be a favor on your part.” - -“Geeeeeeeeeeee _whiz_!” said Pee-wee. “Will you promise to take me with -you if I get the tickets?” - -“Would you promise to go?” Emerson asked. “What are you talking about?” -Pee-wee vociferated. “_Would I promise to go!_ Oh, _boy_! You just get a -picture of me refusing!” - -“You’d have to ask your mother, but anyway I don’t think you can get the -tickets.” - -“You should worry about my mother,” said Pee-wee excitedly. “You leave -her to me; handling mothers is my middle name—fathers too. And sisters -and everything. Don’t you worry, I can go and I promise to go -absolutely, positively, cross my heart. And I’ll get the tickets too.” - -“I’ve already asked three boys and none of them could go,” said Emerson. -“Two of them didn’t care to——” - -“_What?_” gasped Pee-wee. - -“The other two were not allowed to.” - -“I want to and I’m allowed to both,” Pee-wee said with increasing -elation. “And I promise absolutely and definitely and positively and -double sure to go, so there! Gee whiz, I know how it is with those -fellows, they just, you know, kind of——” - -“I know I’m not popular,” said Emerson. - -“Oh, _boy_, you’re popular with _me_,” said Pee-wee. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - CULTURE TRIUMPHANT - - -It was never clearly determined what was the nature of the part Emerson -played in this matter. Pee-wee’s scout comrades believed that he used -the “fine Italian hand” and effected a masterstroke of quiet diplomacy. -His parents and his teacher, however, protested that he was simply -preoccupied and absent-minded and that his grand coup was attributable -to these poetical and intellectual qualities. - -He sat upon the step of the closed-up store watching Pee-wee’s frantic -and resourceful activities with a certain detachment. He did not join -the little scout nor render him any assistance either of a practical or -advisory character. He seemed altogether too well bred to sit upon a -door-step. Nor did he seem particularly edified by Pee-wee’s running -comment as he made ready to give a demonstration of his scout -resourcefulness. - -“Gee whiz, you needn’t be afraid I won’t go,” Pee-wee reassured the -complacent watcher. “Because scouts they always keep their words; no -matter what they say they’ll do, they’ve got to do it. That’s where you -make a mistake not being a scout. Because if you were a scout, you’d -know just how to get those tickets.” - -He had unwound a sufficient length of twine from a ball he had carried -in his pocket since his encounter with his aerial, and now he made a -mysterious, hurried tour of all the neighboring trees, feeling them and -inspecting them critically. - -“I bet you wonder what I’m doing,” he said. Emerson did wonder, but he -said nothing. - -Visions of the “Great Exhibeeeshun” acted like a stimulant on Pee-wee, -impelling him to frantic haste in all his movements. - -“You’ll get all over-heated,” Emerson observed. - -“What do I care!” said Pee-wee. - -Having found a tree to his liking, he brought forth his formidable scout -jack-knife and scraped some gum from a crevice in the bark and proceeded -to smear this upon a small stone which he had fastened to the end of the -twine. - -“Now do you see what I’m going to do?” he asked proudly. “Maybe you -didn’t know that that’s scout glue and it’s better than the kind they -have in school.” - -It seemed to suit his purpose very well, for he lowered the stone down -into the shaft directly above the precious little envelope. But he had -aimed amiss and it settled on a faded scrap of brown paper which he -hoisted up. On one side of it was written, “Leave two quarts to-day.” -Aged, faded missive of some neighboring housewife to an early milkman. - -He tried again, lowering the sticky little stone slowly down, straddling -the grating directly above the envelope. And this time the gummy weight -settled nicely upon the prize. - -“I’ll go home and get washed up and have supper,” cried Pee-wee -excitedly; “and I’ll be at your house at seven o’clock, hey?” - -Detaching the little envelope from the clinging stone, he took the -liberty, in his excitement, of opening it for a reassuring glimpse of -the precious tickets. Scarcely had he glanced at them when a look of -bewilderment appeared upon his face. He scowled, puzzled, and inspected -them still more closely. New York academy of design, they read. In a -kind of trance, he read what followed: Tuesday evening, April 16th. -Admit one. Exhibition of medieval painting and tapestries. - -He looked down into the depths of the shaft which had yielded up these -admission cards. “I fished up the wrong envelope,” he said. - -“No, you didn’t,” said Emerson. - -“What d’you mean,” Pee-wee demanded. “Do you know what they’re for?” - -“Of course I do,” said Emerson. “They’re for the art exhibition in New -York—medieval art.” - -“What d’you mean, _medieval art_?” - -“You’ll see when you go.” - -“I’ll what?” - -“Didn’t you say you’d go? Didn’t you say on your honor? Didn’t you cross -your heart?” Emerson asked. “You even said absolutely, positively.” - -Pee-wee stood gaping at him. “Didn’t you say they were for the circus? -I’ll—I’ll leave it to——” He looked about but there was no one to leave -it to. - -“I certainly did not,” said Emerson calmly. “I said the _exhibition_.” - -For a moment the entrapped hero paused aghast. “Now I know why you -couldn’t get anybody to go with you,” he thundered. “Now I know!” - -“You’re not going to back out, are you?” Emerson asked. “You promised to -go. Are you going to keep your word?” - -“What do I care about medium paintings or whatever you call them?” -Pee-wee thundered. “Anyway, besides I have no use for academies or -designs or mediums——” - -“Medieval,” said Emerson. - -“Or that either,” shouted Pee-wee. “Anyway, besides if I made a -mistake—you can’t deny you were looking at the posters—let’s hear you -deny it because you can’t! I got no use for medium pictures or any other -kind. No wonder you couldn’t find a feller. Geeee whiz!” - -“Are you going to break your promise?” Emerson inquired with unruffled -calm. “You said scouts always do what they promise.” - -“If they promise a thing that turns out to be different from the regular -thing,” Pee-wee fairly roared, “if they promise—do you mean to tell me -medium pictures in an academy are the same as a circus—if they promise -do they have to live up to something different just because they weren’t -thinking about it when the other feller said—kept back something—can you -promise to do a thing that’s kept back when you—geeeeeee whiz!” - -“I never said anything about the circus,” said Emerson. “I saw it in -Little Valley. I’d like to know whether you’re going to be a—a quitter -or not. That’s all.” - -“You call me a quitter?” thundered Pee-wee. - -“I don’t know what to call you yet, not till I know if you’re going to -back down.” - -“Well, I’m not going to back down,” said Pee-wee, sullenly. - -“Thank you,” said Emerson. - -Pee-wee took his way homeward in a mood there is no word terrible enough -to describe. His face bore a lowering expression which can only be -likened to the awful minutes preceding a thunderstorm. The scowl with -which he usually accompanied his famous sallies to his jollying comrades -was intensified a hundredfold. He kicked sticks and stones sullenly as -he went along. He was in for it and he knew it. - -He was to meet the terrible Emerson at the Bridgeboro station for the -seven-twenty train into the metropolis unless some just fate dealt a -vengeful blow to Emerson in the meanwhile. Emerson had explained that he -was to defray all expenses. The only thing which would save Pee-wee now -seemed an earthquake or some such kindly interference. - -Entering the house, he slammed the front door, stamped upstairs and -entered his own room for a few moments’ inspection of his radio before -he put on his gray Sunday suit and white collar. He was engaged in this -hateful task when the maid called up that Roy Blakeley wanted to see -him. And her announcement was promptly followed by the exuberant voice -of the leader of the Silver Foxes. - -“Hey, kid, come on around to my house to supper. I’m going to blow you -to the circus for a birthday present. I’ve got two dandy reserved seats -right in front. Come on, Westy’s going, and Warde and Artie and Connie. -We’re going to give you a regular birthday party!” - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - MISSIONARY WORK - - -Pee-wee was a good scout, and a good scout is a good loser. He -accompanied Emerson to the city and to the exhibit of medieval art. -Emerson, having passed his time entirely among his elders, was the kind -of boy who enjoyed the things which appeal to grown people. Yet the -pictures in the exhibit seemed too much even for him. - -“Gee whiz, we might have gone to a movie show,” said Pee-wee, as he -followed him dutifully about; “they have dandy ones here in the city.” - -“It’s sort of dry, I admit,” said Emerson. “I don’t like it as well as -the Metropolitan Museum.” - -“Is that where they have skeletons and mummies and things?” Pee-wee -asked. “I heard they have mummies of Egyptians there. Did you ever hear -of Queen Tut? My sister was going to be Queen Tut at the masquerade only -she changed her mind and decided to be—something else. Gee whiz, there’s -no pep to this kind of a show. I don’t see anything in those bowls and -things.” - -“That’s medieval pottery,” said Emerson. “That one looks like a thing -the cook baked beans in,” said Pee-wee, alluding to a bulging urn. “Oh, -boy, I’m crazy about those, ain’t you? At Temple Camp we have those lots -of times.” - -“I guess we’ve seen about everything,” said Emerson. - -“I bet you don’t like things like this as much as you think you do,” -said Pee-wee, encouraged to find some flickering spark of boyhood in his -companion. “I bet you’d like to be a scout if you only once got started, -because I can prove it—do you know how? Because you said you liked some -of those pictures because they’re so barbarous and that shows you like -things that are barbarous and that’s how scouts are, kind of. If you -like things that are barbarous, I should think you’d like to be -barbarous yourself. If you want to join, I’ll show you how, because I’m -one.” - -“I meant I enjoyed the pictures because they were so outlandish,” said -Emerson. - -“Scouts are outlandish,” Pee-wee vociferated. - -“I don’t think I’d care for camping,” said Emerson. - -“Not even getting lost—in the wilderness?” Pee-wee demanded. - -Emerson seemed to think that he would not care greatly for that either. -He was a queer boy. - -“Scouts always have to have their wits about them,” Pee-wee said. “They -have to be prepared and be observant and all that. Did you ever go away -and forget to take matches? Scouts don’t care if they do that, because -they can get a light with two sticks; they don’t care.” - -“If they have their wits about them, I shouldn’t think they’d forget to -take matches,” said Emerson, sagely. - -“Maybe sometimes they don’t always have their wits,” said Pee-wee, “but -if you’ve got resources and—and—and forest lore and things like that it -doesn’t make any difference. See? Gee whiz, I admit you know all about -the city and subways and trains and all things like that. But anyway I -bet you’d like being a scout, I bet you would.” - -“I think I’d rather have my wits about me,” said Emerson. “Sometime when -I haven’t my wits about me, perhaps I’ll join the scouts.” - -“Will you promise?” said Pee-wee. - -“Well, you kept your promise with me,” Emerson conceded. - -“That’s because I’m a scout. See?” - -“Well, if I ever lose my wits I’ll promise to become a scout,” said -Emerson, amused in spite of himself. - -Little did he know that the sequel of that promise was to prove more -terrible than the sequel of the promise which Pee-wee had made. - -“Absolutely, positively, cross your heart?” Pee-wee demanded. - -It seemed altogether unlikely that the prim, level-headed, cultured -little Emerson would ever lapse in the matter of poise and sanity. But -Pee-wee had at least that one forlorn hope to cling to, so he clung to -it. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - SEEING NEW YORK - - -The difference between Pee-wee and Emerson Skybrow was illustrated by -the contents of their respective pockets. - -Pee-wee carried with him as regular equipment a piece of chalk for -marking scout signs, the broken cap of a fountain pen used to simulate -the call of a sea-gull, a cocoon containing a silkworm (daily expected -to emerge in wingful glory but which never did), a scout jack-knife, a -compass, a nail for converting his watch into an emergency sun-dial, an -agate handle of an umbrella, a golf ball, a receipt for making -scout-scrapple (a weird edible) written on birch bark, and a romantic -implement which no scout should be without, a hairpin. Some of these -things were rather sticky from recent proximity to gum-drops; the -compass seemed almost sugar-coated. - -Emerson carried in the inside pocket of his jacket a respectable leather -wallet with his name stamped in gilt upon it. In this he carried five -new one-dollar bills, a ten-trip ticket on the Erie road, a tiny -calendar, some engraved cards and a railroad time-table. This latter he -now unfolded and found that the next train on the Bridgeboro branch left -Jersey City at ten twenty-two. This left time enough for a little -sightseeing, and they lingered in the city. - -Emerson did things handsomely. He treated Pee-wee to soda in a gorgeous -emporium and bought some candy as well. He seemed quite at home in this -night life of the metropolis. Pee-wee found him companionable and -generous. All the unfavorable things which he had thought about Emerson -simmered down to a certain unfortunate habit the boy had of talking well -and using words that grown people use. It seemed an insufficient reason -for disliking him that he called a “cop” a policeman. - -Pee-wee felt a little under his protection as they hiked down Broadway -looking in the brilliantly lighted windows and finding free -entertainment everywhere—in the electrical displays, the vociferous -merchants who sold things (“while they last for a dime, ten cents”) out -of the leather valises which they hurriedly closed and departed at the -approach of a policeman. - -Particularly they enjoyed a man on stilts with the placard of a -restaurant on his back proclaiming the delights of wheatcakes and -coffee. This man sat on the roofs of taxicabs and was followed by an -admiring throng. Emerson suggested that they sample the wheatcakes and -coffee. - -Emerging from the restaurant, they strolled down to Herald Square and -gazed at the woodland camp settings in the illuminated windows of the -mammoth stores. They spoke seductively of spring, these displays. One -showed a campfire with wax scouts sitting about; the cheerful blaze -consisted of sparkling red paper crumpled upon real logs. Another wax -scout was sitting in a canoe, staring with ghastly fixity upon the -street. An open lunch basket stood on the painted ground. - -“That’s just the way scouts are,” Pee-wee said. “So now wouldn’t you -like to be one?” - -“They look rather stiff,” said Emerson. He was not without a sense of -humor. “You mean that scouts are dummies?” - -“What d’you mean, _dummies_?” roared Pee-wee. “That shows just the way -they live in the woods when they go camping. If that scout in the canoe -wants to know what time it is, do you know how he can tell?” - -“By looking at his watch,” said Emerson. - -“_Naaaah_, by the stars; he can tell by the consolations—stars all in -crowds, sort of. Anyway, you’d make a dandy scout, do you know why? -Because you like to eat. Do you know how to save yourself from -drowning?” - -“By not going in the water,” said Emerson. - -“Nope,” said Pee-wee. “Scouts, the more they go in the more they don’t -get drowned. They have to know how to track animals too, and stalk birds -and everything. They have to sneak up on birds when the birds aren’t -looking——” - -“I wouldn’t call that honorable,” said Emerson. - -“_You’re crazy_!” Pee-wee shouted. “That hasn’t got anything to do with -a scout being honorable; that’s stalking. You can be—stealthy, can’t -you? Suppose you were out in the woods where you couldn’t—where you -couldn’t get any—any wheatcakes and coffee, maybe; then what would you -do?” - -“I’d go home.” - -“Suppose you were lost. Suppose you were going to starve. Can you tell -mushrooms from toadstools?” - -“Would that help me to get home?” Emerson asked. - -“It would help you to know what to eat,” said Pee-wee contemptuously. -“Gee whiz, if you’ll say you’ll join, I’ll get you into my patrol. Will -you?” - -“When I lose my wits,” smiled Emerson. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - IN FOR IT - - -They went through the Hudson Tunnel and hit the endless trail which runs -through a concrete passageway to the old Erie station. - -“You can’t get lost on that trail,” commented Emerson. - -Indeed the neighborhood seemed to offer little prospect of adventure. -Yet, as the sequel proved, it was not without possibilities. Emerson led -the way to the ten twenty-two train and graciously invited Pee-wee to -sit by the window. Not only that, but he purchased a slab of milk -chocolate from a man who came through the train. - -In a few moments they were rattling through the country and a brakeman -whom they had not heard before was saying, “Westfield and Springvale -Express. The first stop is Westfield.” - -“_Gooood niiiight!_ It doesn’t stop at Bridgeboro,” Pee-wee said. “Now -see what you—what we did. We’re on the wrong train.” - -[Illustration: “GOOD NIGHT, WE’RE ON THE WRONG TRAIN!”] - -“Apparently,” said Emerson, consulting his time-table. “We should have -taken the ten forty-two. I didn’t notice that this train doesn’t stop at -Bridgeboro. It’s provoking, it’s my fault; I should have had my——” - -“I know what you’re going to say! I know what you’re going to say!” -Pee-wee shouted at the top of his voice. Every one in the car turned to -stare. “You’re going to say you should have had your wits about you and -I’m glad you didn’t, because now you’ve got to join the scouts, and -that’s one good thing about the Erie Railroad anyway, _oh, gee whiz_, -we’re going to go right past Bridgeboro, and I’m glad, and I’ll show you -the way home through the woods from Westfield because I got a compass, -so now you got to be a scout, so will you? Because on account of your -honor you’re to be trusted, so will you? Oh, boy, I bet you’ll like -hiking home through the woods!” - -“I don’t see how I made such a mistake,” said Emerson, frowningly -inspecting his time-table, for all the world like an experienced -traveling man. - -“Don’t you care, don’t you care!” cried Pee-wee. “It’s a dandy mistake; -I’ve made lots of dandy ones but, _oh, boy_, that’s even better than any -of mine because now you’ve got to keep your word just like I did, but -anyway I want you to join because now I like you, so you’ve got to join, -so will you?” - -“I suppose I’ll have to,” said Emerson ruefully. - -“Sure you have to,” said Pee-wee, his lips painted with soft chocolate. -“You took me to the city so now I’m going to take you through the woods -in the dark, but don’t you be scared, because anyway if you try to go in -a straight line in the woods you can’t do it on account of your heart -beating on your left side, so you go round in a circle like a -merry-go-round, but don’t you care because we have to go south from -Westfield and I can tell the south by the way moss grows on the -trees—you’ll see. And I bet you’ll say you’re glad you got to be a -scout; gee whiz, I hope the engineer doesn’t stop at Bridgeboro by -mistake or maybe on account of a freight or something. Anyway, as long -as it’s not supposed to stop, we wouldn’t have any right to get out -anyway, would we? Because that would be kind of sneaking.” - -“I guess I’m in for it,” said Emerson. - -“Sure you’re in for it—don’t you be scared. We could go home by the road -from Westfield, but that’s longer, so we’ll take a short-cut through Van -Akren’s woods, hey?” - -Pee-wee had a terrible fright when the train slowed down as it -approached Bridgeboro. He was prepared to restrain the gentle Emerson by -main force from violating the time-table. But the train gathered speed -again and went gliding past the familiar station on which the baffled -Emerson bestowed a lingering and wistful gaze. He was indeed, as he had -said, in for it. - -And being in for it, he resigned himself to the inevitable like a good -sport. At Westfield he agreed to the hike back through the woods, and -though his attitude was one of good-humored reluctance, there seemed no -doubt that he meant to keep his word with Pee-wee. - -“Gee whiz, I didn’t make you lose your wits,” the little missionary -said. “You can’t say I’m to blame, but anyway I’m glad of it.” - -“As long as it had to happen, I’m glad it happened with you along -instead of some one else,” said Emerson. “You deserve to win because you -kept your word and went to the city with me when you didn’t want to. -You’ll see I can make good too.” - -They hiked into the woods south of Westfield and were soon enclosed by -the dark, stately trees and the silent night. In a marshy area near the -indistinct trail which wound away among the trees could be heard the -steady, monotonous croaking of frogs, those nocturnal heralds of the -spring. Somewhere in the distance an owl was hooting. Yet these sounds -seemed only to emphasize the stillness. They were startled by every twig -that crackled under their feet. - -“When scouts don’t want to make any noise, they wear moccasins,” said -Pee-wee; “I’ll show you when we go to camp. Oh, boy, you’ll see scouts -from all over the country up there. Maybe you kind of won’t like it at -first but after a while you will. I bet you’ll be crazy about stalking; -I bet you’ll be dandy at it. Signaling too. Anyway, I admit I had fun -to-night in the city, and, gee whiz, I like you too, that’s one sure -thing. It seems kind of as if I know you now; you treated me dandy, I’ll -say that. Good night, I knew all about circuses anyway, so what’s the -difference, but anyway I didn’t know you; but now I do.” - -But he did not quite know Emerson. For it was not just that Emerson did -not understand tracking and stalking and signaling. He did not -understand how to get acquainted and to make himself liked. He did not -know how to speak the language of boys—that language which is the -admission card to their vast fraternity. - -That was the tragedy of Emerson Skybrow. He said _policeman_ and -_cinema_ and _exhibition_ and talked about going for _constitutionals_, -and those things stood in his way. It was necessary for some boy to look -behind these things and to discover the real boy who knew how to be -generous and kind and friendly. And that boy had never come along and -Emerson was lonely and isolated. - -That was the tragedy of Emerson Skybrow. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - THE REAL EMERSON - - -There was a pathos in his answer to Pee-wee’s explosive enthusiasm. -“I’ll join if you think they’d like to have me,” he said. - -“What d’you mean, _like to have you?”_ Pee-wee demanded. “I’m the boss -of that patrol. I’m not the patrol leader, but just the same I’ve got a -lot to say about it. Gee whiz, I’d like to hear anybody say they don’t -want you. _Just you let me hear them say it!_” - -“I should think any one would like to have dinner in the woods,” said -Emerson, with a frankness that was pathetic. - -“You don’t say _dinner_, you say _grub_,” said Pee-wee. “Or if you want -to, you can say _eats_. Some scouts say _feed_. But I like eats best, -don’t you?” - -“You seem to be an authority on the subject,” said Emerson. - -“That’s why you don’t get in with fellers, because you talk so grown-up, -kind of,” said Pee-wee, referring to this nice observation of his -friend. - -“I suppose it doesn’t make much difference what you call it, as long as -you eat plenty,” laughed Emerson. - -“_Oh, boy_, I’m the one to do that,” said Pee-wee. “You just watch me -when we get there. You’re going to go, ain’t you?” he asked, in a sudden -burst of apprehension. - -“If they’ll let me,” said Emerson. “I don’t know how they’ll feel about -it.” - -“There’s a place in my patrol, too,” said Pee-wee, ignoring these -misgivings. “My patrol’s the Ravens; you have to learn to make a noise -like a raven. Do you know ravens can talk? Just like parrots, they can. -They talk all the time.” - -“Is that why you’re a Raven?” Emerson asked. - -“The Silver Foxes in my troop, they’re all crazy,” said Pee-wee. “Gee -whiz, those fellers tried to tell me that your favorite book is -Webster’s dictionary. They’re a bunch of jolliers in that patrol. - -“Roy Blakeley—he’s their patrol leader—he says that a civil engineer -means an engineer that’s polite; that shows how crazy he is, and they -have him for leader. He says that goldfish are sun-fish that got -sunburned. He tried to make me think they didn’t choose you for the -traffic patrol, because you’re too rough. No wonder he can’t get a new -member for his patrol because, gee, there are no more fellers in -Bridgeboro crazy enough. They ought to be the loons instead of the -Silver Foxes, that’s what I told him. - -“Warde Hollister, he’s in that patrol, he says you ought to start the -Rabbit Patrol but, oh, boy, I’m glad there’s a place in my patrol and I -bet you’ll like us too. You know Artie Van Arlen? He’s leader in my -patrol. And you know Bert Carson? The feller whose sister has a -birthmark on her neck? It’s the shape of Cuba, but anyway we call him -‘Doc’ because he studied first aid—he’s in my patrol.” - -Pee-wee paused, breathless, and for a few minutes as they followed the -narrow trail no word was spoken. - -“Do you like being in the woods?” Pee-wee asked. - -“Yes, I do,” said Emerson. - -Missionary and propagandist though he was. Pee-wee was not strong on -tact. His unguarded talk, intended only to encourage, had chilled the -budding interest of his friend. So that was the way they talked! His -favorite book, the dictionary.... Too rough for the traffic patrol.... -He should start the Rabbit Patrol.... - -“Gee whiz,” said Pee-wee, as he tramped doggedly along, “they’d never -call you Arabella any more when you join the scouts, that’s one thing -sure.” - -Emerson had been hailed by this name, but he had never thought that he -was known by it among the boys of Bridgeboro. He had not known (for such -a boy never knows) that his nice phraseology was material for mirth. He -had not known that his mincing walk and adult manner were ironically -characterized as “rough.” The Bridgeboro boys had not often made fun of -him to his face; particularly the scouts had not. But just the same, -they had left him out of their lives and plans, and among themselves (as -he now saw) his name had been a byword for effeminacy. - -It is fatal for a boy to talk too well and use an approved phraseology. -It was this misfortune which had won for Emerson his various posts of -monitorship in school. And by a universal law no monitor can be popular. -That was the pathos of it, that he was ostracized without really knowing -the reason. But now he was beginning to see a little of the light in -which the boys regarded him. - -He had walked as far this night in the city as anybody could be expected -to walk, and there was nothing against him on that score. He had also -shown that he was human by partaking liberally of soda and candy, and -there was nothing against him on that score. He had shown himself manly -and self-reliant in the city, quite the leader. But he had “treated” -Pee-wee instead of “blowing” him. He had talked of “seeing the sights” -instead of “piking around.” Pee-wee’s enthusiasm ignored these defects, -but would the boys see Emerson for the really generous, first-rate -fellow that he was? - -He did not ask himself this question, for he did not know that he was a -generous, first-rate fellow. He only knew that he didn’t fit in, and he -wondered why. That was why he felt shaky about joining the scouts and -going to camp with them. When he had spoken of the “great outdoors” to -several of them, they had laughed at the phrase. When he had once asked -Connie Bennett where he was going in his “natty regalia,” Connie had -answered, “To a pink tea, Arabella.” It was the “natty regalia” business -which had done the mischief. But why? And how was Emerson to know? - -There is only one way for a boy like Emerson to deal with a group of -boys and that is with some sort of a knock-out blow. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - ALONE - - -They picked their way along the trail which was as “easy as pie” to -Pee-wee, as he remarked to his companion. It must have been easy indeed, -for it was well known that pie was like child’s play to him. They -emerged from the woods at North Bridgeboro, a couple of miles above the -larger town and separated from it by Van Akren’s woods, a familiar -resort in the summer time. - -A lonely lunch wagon stood near the little railroad station, a cheerful -light showing through its incongruous stained-glass windows. Above it -was a sign which read HAMBURGER MIKE’S EATS. Pee-wee knew Hamburger Mike -and sang his praise. - -“Did you ever eat hamburger steak in there?” he said innocently. - -Emerson had not. “He seems to specialize on that article of diet,” he -commented. - -“You said it,” enthused Pee-wee. - -“Shall we buy some?” Emerson asked. - -But Pee-wee was filled to capacity. “No, I was only telling you,” he -said. “Lots of times we hike through these woods on Saturday and get -some eats there.” - -“You needn’t hesitate if you’d like some,” said Emerson. “You went into -the city with me as my guest, you know.” - -“Yop, and I had a good time, too.” - -“I’m glad you found it enjoyable,” said Emerson. “I enjoyed it, too. -You’re certainly entertaining.” - -“You ought to hear me when Roy Blakeley is trying to jolly me,” Pee-wee -boasted. “I can handle the whole crowd of them.” - -“I should like to hear you,” said Emerson. - -“You will,” said Pee-wee. “Up in camp is where I handle that bunch. -Remember you said you’d go.” - -“You’d better ask your friends about it first,” said Emerson. - -“_Gee whiz_, you promised, didn’t you? You’re not going to break your -word?” - -“I think no one could accuse me of that,” said Emerson. - -“Well then,” said Pee-wee. - -From North Bridgeboro to Bridgeboro the trail through the woods was more -traveled and easily distinguishable. Here was a true wood interior, -filled with stately trees and free of underbrush. Here and there a soggy -pasteboard box or rusted can or dirty, empty bottle bespoke the visits -of the only species of animal that defiles nature. But for these -discordant mementos the woods were beautiful, solemn. There was no moon, -but the sky was crowded with stars and the night was not too dark. - -“Gee, don’t you say it’s nice in here?” Pee-wee encouraged. - -“Indeed it is,” said Emerson. “It’s certainly a contrast to the city—to -Broadway.” - -“Will your mother and father be mad?” Pee-wee asked. - -“Oh, no, they’ll think we’re coming on the late train. They wouldn’t -worry till after that.” - -“Do you know where this path brings us out?” Pee-wee asked. - -“I’m afraid I don’t,” his companion said. - -“It brings us out on the state road. The state road runs right along the -edge of these woods. Even if this path wasn’t here I could find the way -all right. Listen, can you hear voices—way far off? Those are in cars on -the state road.” - -“I hear voices, but I don’t hear any cars,” said Emerson. - -“Maybe there are some people walking on the road, hey?” - -“It sounds to me like calling,” said Emerson. - -“When we get to the state road, we follow it right down into Main -Street,” said Pee-wee. - -“We will have made quite an evening of it,” said Emerson. - -“Oh, boy, you said it,” commented Pee-wee. - -The direction in which they were going, as Pee-wee had said, was toward -the state road which bordered the woods. The woods path came out into -that road and once upon the road, their journey would be nearly over. - -Pee-wee was not at first excited by the distant voices, for the course -of the road seemed to explain them. But, as his companion had observed, -there was no sound of autos. Moreover, since the voices were loud enough -to be heard at such distance, they certainly were not in the ordinary -tones of casual passers-by. Yet casual talking is often strangely -audible through woodland in the night. - -Pee-wee (not without a certain ostentation of wisdom) placed himself -against the trunk of a tree and listened intently. “Do you know why I’m -doing this?” he asked. - -“I’m afraid I don’t,” Emerson confessed. - -“Sometimes the tree catches sounds and they come down the trunk and you -can hear better. It’s woods lore, that is.” - -But like most of Pee-wee’s “woods lore” it did not work. Emerson waited -patiently and rather curiously. Then they resumed their journey. - -“Anyway, there are voices calling, that’s one sure thing,” said Pee-wee. -“I think they’re in the woods, that’s what _I_ think. Anyway, you’re not -scared, are you?” - -“Indeed, no,” said Emerson. - -They had not gone many more yards when all doubt of the presence of -others in the woods was dispelled by voices indistinguishable in the -distance and others, clearly audible, which seemed to be approaching. - -“We have it easiest,” they heard a voice say. An answering voice said -something in which the word _compass_ was distinguishable. Then suddenly -two brown forms appeared trotting toward them along the path. They -proved to be Roy Blakeley, leader of unruly Silver Foxes, and Connie -Bennett, leader of the Elks. - -“Well—I’ll—be,” ejaculated Roy, stopping suddenly. “That you, kid? What -in blazes are you doing here?” - -“Not out trailing lightning-bugs, are you?” Connie asked. - -Neither of them paid any attention to Emerson, but he volunteered an -answer to their question. “We took the wrong train from the city on -account of my own silly mistake and we’ve come afoot from Westfield.” - -“Afoot, hey?” said Connie. It cannot be said that he quoted Emerson’s -word in a way of ridicule. Yet there was a note of ridicule in it, too. -“Well, you’d better _come afoot_ with us,” he said, ignoring Emerson and -turning upon Pee-wee. - -“Little Margie Garrison is missing and we’re combing the woods. All the -scouts in the troop were rounded up; we got calls as soon as we got home -from the circus——” - -Roy, breathless and excited, interrupted him. “We cut into the woods in -pairs about four hundred feet apart; we’re all cutting straight north. -Ed Bronson and Westy are right through there; you can hear them. Hey, -Westy!” Roy raised his voice. “What d’you know, here’s the kid on his -way back from Westfield.” - -“Good night! The animal cracker,” Emerson heard a distant voice say. - -“Hurry up, give us a cooky or something, kid,” said Connie. - -“Look in his inside pocket for emergency crullers,” some one in the -distance shouted. - -Emerson felt very much an outsider. Perhaps they would not have so -completely ignored him but for their preoccupation and the urgency of -their errand. But the effect of all this upon him was a pathetic -consciousness of the fact that they regarded him as superfluous and -inefficient in their hurried and serious business. - -“Come ahead, kid, you can ’phone home from North Bridgeboro,” said Roy -hurriedly. “The whole troop is out. Your patrol is mostly over toward -the west; come on and keep your eyes peeled. Connie has to watch his -compass so we won’t go crooked. What d’you say? Let’s go, Connie.” - -Pee-wee could not resist. “Come on,” he said to Emerson. - -To do him justice, he did not intend to desert his new friend. Probably -he assumed that no boy living would hang back in such an enterprise. The -worst that can be said of him is that he forgot to look behind him. Nor -did Emerson hold back because he lacked interest and desire. But he saw -that he was an outsider, superfluous, disregarded. In the intense -preoccupation of this hustling, fraternal company, his detachment from -them seemed hopeless. Perhaps he had not the initiative to push into -this exciting enterprise where his presence would hardly be known.... - -The next thing that he knew he was standing alone in the woods, -listening to distant and receding voices. Only a cheery little cricket -was there to keep him company. He seemed very far from joining the -scouts. He bore no resentment toward Pee-wee. He looked at his gold -watch to see what time it was. Then, from force of habit, he felt to see -if his neat, leather wallet was in place. There were only two crisp -bills in the wallet now; the rest had been spent in the entertainment of -his exuberant little friend. - -Poor Emerson was no pathfinder (the very thought seemed to suggest -laughter) but the kindly path would guide him to the state road, and -from there he could find his way home easily enough. As he made his -lonely way along the path, he could still hear voices, spent by the -distance, farther and farther off. He thought the different groups were -calling to each other. He fancied those two aggressive, resourceful, -hurrying, purposeful patrol leaders jollying Pee-wee. - -He picked his way along the path and was soon upon the state road. He -looked funny walking along through the country in the night. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - DEDUCTION - - -Emerson knew that scouts were always called out whenever any one was -lost. He wondered whether they had investigated the neighborhood of the -circus. Though he had not been included in their organized search, there -was no harm in his thinking about the affair and forming theories as he -went along. No one could “guy” him or interfere with him in that purely -academic pastime. - -He had never before been brought so close to a possible tragedy. He felt -the excitement, the thrill of it, though the door had been so heedlessly -slammed in his face. Poor Emerson’s adventures were mostly in his mind -where no one could see them—and make fun of them. It was not a bad sort -of mind. - -As he hurried along with his funny, prim walk, he decided that the -“public authorities” had certainly not failed to consider the perils -which accompany a visiting circus. They would certainly investigate that -field of major importance, leaving the less important field to the -scouts. There was, as he saw it, an affinity between scouts and woods, -and the woods would naturally be the scene of their quest. He wondered -if there were any particular reason for supposing that little Margie -Garrison had gone into the woods. He assumed that the scouts knew what -they were about.... - -As he took his lonely way homeward, he did not put himself out of sorts -by any feeling of resentment toward these scouts whose organization he -had consented, and really desired, to join. He was quite without malice. -Pee-wee would be disappointed and he was sorry for that. But even -Pee-wee must see.... - -So this gentlemanly young pedestrian indulged in a little mental -investigation all his own. He did not know that scouts were supposed to -be strong on this sort of thing, deducing and the like. For some -incomprehensible reason Pee-wee had neglected to tell him that. - -He eliminated the circus and the woods as being in competent, -experienced hands, and let his thoughts wander to the school, which was -the field where he shone. There, indeed, was his happy hunting ground, -where he collected not stalking photos but lead pencils. - -Idly, he did not know exactly why, he recalled all the events of the day -in school. Thoughts came to him, were considered, forgotten. If little -Margie Garrison had been disappointed at not seeing the parade (Pee-wee -and Irene were evidently the only pupils in Bridgeboro who had seen it) -why then might she not have wandered to the circus grounds after school? -Well, the police, at all events, had looked after that end of it. Well, -then, where did little Margie go? And why? - -As Emerson thought these thoughts and pondered on them a great hubbub of -searching and calling and meeting and separating and planning and -replanning was going on in the woods. Oh, if she were there they would -find her, these scouts! - -But why would she have gone there? She must have first walked more than -a mile along the road. So Emerson Skybrow, alias Arabella, worked too, -in his own way, all by himself. - -The last he had seen of little Margie was in the assembly room that -morning, and as he recalled the fact, a very vivid picture was presented -to his mind. She had sat two or three rows in front of him across the -aisle. She was always conspicuous by her red hair. - -The occasion had been one of those hurried musterings ordered by gongs -in the several class rooms, which usually heralded the appearance at -school of some minor celebrity or state educational official. These -horrible occurrences came like thunder-showers and were soon over. All -classes were herded into the assembly room, the principal introduced -“Some one whom you will all be glad of the opportunity to hear,” the -speaker spoke, the pupils became restless, the principal asked for a -vote of thanks, the student body joined in an unanimous lie, filed back -to their class rooms, and the agony was over till the next minor -celebrity hit Bridgeboro. Emerson was probably the only one who liked -these frantic mobilizations for no cause whatever. - -On the morning of this memorable day the occasion had been the visit of -a “distinguished English botanist,” Miss Flowerberry, of Oxford or some -place or other, who was visiting in Bridgeboro. She discoursed upon the -English ivy which she said spread over the ancient ruins of England like -a coverlet of green. She explained the romantic attachment between -ancient ruins and ivy, and said that it was on such picturesque -memorials of the past that the ivy clings.... - -How vividly now poor Emerson recalled a most trifling thing which had -happened. He had seen Margie Garrison turn and whisper to a girl who sat -behind her. It seemed as if something the lady had said gave her an -inspiration which, in the full flush of the idea, she had communicated -to the girl behind her. - -It was all so trifling and insignificant that he had given no more -thought to it than he would have given to a fly buzzing about the -assembly room. But now, one thought producing another, his mind reverted -to it. Something had been said which caught the quick interest of a -languid listener who had thought enough about it to whisper it to -another. - -Well, what of it? Nothing except that on the road between Bridgeboro and -Little Valley was the old Van Dorian ruin, subject of many a kodak -snap-shot, spooky, romantic, ivy-covered. - -Might it have been that which Margie Garrison whispered to the girl -behind her? “Oh, I know where there’s lots of it—Van Dorian’s ruin.” She -might have said something like that. - -Was anybody looking after the Van Dorian, ruin? - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT - - -Emerson had still an hour before the arrival of the last train at -Bridgeboro. He knew that his people would not be concerned until after -that. Stranger to boys though he was, he had a certain self-reliance. -Perhaps this was the result of his lonely habit of life. He was also -thoughtful. It was only the flaring, rough and ready qualities of -scouthood that he lacked; and the boy talk. - -In Bridgeboro he went into the only place which was open, the Union -League Club, of which his father was a member. Here he telephoned to -Doctor Harris and said that Walter was with the scouts, searching the -woods. He did not say _combing_ the woods. They thanked him and promised -not to worry about the busy hero. Emerson mentioned that he was going -toward Little Valley on this same business but did not say why. - -He then went up Main Street into Ashburton Place and thence to the -Little Valley road. He looked singularly unlike a scout in his natty, -conventional suit and shallow-crowned, telescoped hat. - -His walk seemed to match his way of talking, although one could not -possibly say anything worse about it than that it was a gentlemanly -walk. Yet boys walked behind him and crudely mimicked him. It seemed -strange for him to be upon such an errand. It was unlike the adventurous -quest of the scouts in this, that it had originated wholly in his mind. -Oddly enough, it was evolved from a trifling incident observed in -school. - -Soon he was beyond the last house in Bridgeboro and outside its -boundaries. The Van Dorians had been a penurious race and when they died -they seemed to have taken the village with them. - -But the Van Dorian mansion, destroyed many years before by fire, seemed -reincarnated into a thing of picturesque beauty, where it sat well back -from the road, its jagged ends of masonry and broken turrets softened by -the poetical hand of time and covered with a winding robe of ivy. Small -wonder if this old ruin were thought of by one who had been reminded of -the romantic English ivy. - -But no one would ever have thought of Emerson Skybrow climbing about -those broken walls and exploring the littered interiors which lay open -to the starlight. He entered through an irregular gap in the masonry -which probably had once been a doorway of the old stone mansion. Here -was a spacious unroofed interior level with the outer ground. A rank -profusion of weeds poked up through the rotted remnants of flooring and -all but covered the crumpled masses of copper which had once been part -of the roof. - -The sound of his own feet moving about in this long deserted place -affected him strangely. It seemed as if they were the feet of some one -else, unseen but near him. When his foot encountered a crumpled piece of -old copper concealed in the weeds, it emitted a kind of flat ringing -sound as if the ghost of some cheery old dinner bell were faintly trying -to call the departed household to supper. - -Emerson was not in the least timid. It is customary to associate -timidity, even cowardice, with such demeanor as his. It is true that he -did not face the horde of mockers and force an issue with them. But that -was because he did not fully realize that there was any issue or that he -was regarded with such humorous disdain. If he was too “grown-up” (and -unfortunately he was) he had at least the poise and self-possession of a -grown person. Any one of the Bridgeboro boys would have found something -excruciatingly funny in this little gentleman tripping about in that -grim old ruin. But none of them would have been less sensitive to the -ghostly surroundings than he. - -He paused in his exploration of the chaotic place and glanced about. -Some small creature of the night, a rat, perhaps, scurried away, -breaking the solemn stillness with its flight. - -“Is there any one here?” Emerson asked aloud. He waited a few seconds, -then spoke again, his voice emphasized by the stillness and darkness. -“Is there any one here?” - -There was no answer but a flutter of the drooping ivy which hung on a -broken chimney near by. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - THE DEPTHS - - -And now Emerson became troubled with doubts. He saw his quest as -something absurdly romantic—like an adventure in the “cinema.” What -relation was there between a public speaker’s mention of ivy, and a -small girl turning and whispering to her neighbor, and this spooky old -ruin? “There isn’t any logical connection,” said Emerson in his prim, -nice way. - -He emerged and clambered up a heap of masonry which might once have been -a flight of stone steps. It brought him to the top of a wall which was -one of four forming a square enclosure like a great well. These walls -were fairly even on top and wide enough to walk on. - -The bottom of this enclosure, which might once have been a vault -(possibly a wine vault) in the cellar was perhaps ten feet below the -level of the ground; the top of its walls was perhaps five or six feet -above the level of the ground. So that Emerson, where he stood, looked -down into a dank enclosure about fifteen feet deep. - -As he stooped forward slightly, peering down into the depths, he looked -exactly as he had looked that very morning when Pee-wee had encountered -him gazing down through the grating in front of the vacant store. He had -said then that the loss of his tickets was “exasperating” and he might -have used the same word now, as he looked into the baffling enclosure -and saw no way to explore it. - -At the bottom of this fearful place was water with stars reflected in -it; it seemed to cover the whole area of the enclosure, save at one -place near a corner where a disorderly heap of stone projected above the -surface like a tiny volcanic island. It was probably the material which -had once formed a flight of steps into this dungeon. At all events there -was no other way of descending. - -Two things, and only two, could Emerson see in the bottom of that dark -pit. These were the broken end of a board projecting slantingwise out of -the water, and another piece of board with a broken end floating on the -surface. The end which was sticking out of the water was moving -slightly. Or perhaps it was only the faint, uncertain flicker of light -which made it seem to move. - -Instantly the thought occurred to him that the length of this board -below the surface must be considerable if it were embedded in mud, for -otherwise the tendency would be for the bottom to release it and let it -float. But perhaps it was caught among rocks instead of in mud. Anyway, -it seemed as if the two fragments had formed a single timber. If the -fragment which projected at a tipsy angle out of the dark water was not -very long below the surface, then it seemed likely that it _had not been -there very long_. It could not long have remained in that freakish -position. - -All this occurred to Emerson, who had never supposed that he would make -a scout. He walked around on the wall looking down to see if from any -other viewpoint other objects might be visible below. He presently made -a discovery which was conclusive. Then another not so conclusive. - -Reaching the opposite side of the square, he noticed upon the flat -masonry at his feet a slightly discolored area about ten inches wide. -Its position on the wall was like that of a diagonal stripe. He stooped, -not without some tremor, for stooping seemed a risky business, and poked -a little dark spot upon this area. Something prompted him to strike a -match and examine it. It proved to be a dead slug, one of those flat, -loathsome little creatures that scurry out of their damp concealment -when a plank is lifted from the ground. This one, however, had met his -doom in a larger catastrophe. - -Around the corner was another such area on the wall corresponding to the -one first discovered. _A board had lain across the corner at this -place._ The fact that the little slug was still upon the masonry would -seem to indicate the very recent taking away of the board. And the -position of one fragment of the board in the water appeared to confirm -this supposition in Emerson’s mind. - -He felt pretty certain now what had happened. Some one had walked along -that board to cut off a corner in the journey around. And the board had -broken. Yet Emerson had seen nothing below but the two pieces of board -and the water. - -It was then that he made his second discovery. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - DARKNESS - - -It happened at that very minute that Pee-wee, trotting breathlessly -along through the woods, trying to run and talk at the same time, was -telling Roy and Connie Bennett how he had recovered those dreadful -tickets by the application of his wonderful “scout resource.” - -“Gee whiz, believe me, he never could have got ’em, because he doesn’t -know any scout tricks,” he panted. “But anyway I showed him how you can -get gum out of trees, and I had a good time with him anyway and he -treated me fine (interval of panting) and anyway, I’m sorry he didn’t -come along. I—I—I’m sorry because I l-l-like (more panting) him.” - -“He’d have dropped out anyway and got lost in the woods, kid,” said -Connie. “I wouldn’t take him unless he brought his go-cart.” - -“I—jus—jus—just the s-s-same I like——” Pee-wee panted. - -“Listen, there’s Westy shouting,” said Roy. - -They paused to listen, then tramped on again, looking sharply to the -right and left as they made their way in a bee-line through the dark -woods. - - * * * * * - -The match Emerson had lighted reminded him of something; and the thought -having occurred to him, he did not hesitate. He removed his wallet to -his trousers pocket, slipped off his neat jacket and ignited the lining -of it with another match. It stubbornly refused to burn, so he took the -precious Erie time-table out of his wallet and ignited that. - -With this torch he was enabled to encourage the jacket to burn more -hopefully. He swung it to and fro to fan the doubtful blaze and soon it -was a mass of flame. For a brief moment it showed the boy in bold -relief, standing there on the narrow wall of masonry surrounded by the -night. His white pique shirt with starched cuffs attached gave him an -appearance of polite negligee which did not ill become him. - -He tucked his neat four-in-hand scarf into his shirt front to prevent it -from catching fire, and bent far forward to keep the spreading flame -well away from him. Then he threw the blazing jacket into the enclosure. -It dropped where he intended it to, on the end of the timber which -slanted up out of the water. - -The interior of the walled-in hole was instantly illuminated. Emerson -saw that the water reached to the very edges; there was no telling how -deep it might be nor what was beneath it. Odds and ends of debris -floated in it; twigs, a soggy, half-recognizable cap, a bobbing -baseball. Evidently these treasures had not beguiled their owners to -venture into that perilous place. - -One thing more he saw in the fitful light. Close to the little, hobbly -island was a dab of red and near it something of another color, foreign -to its immediate surroundings. He thought it was the sleeve of a -garment. Something that might be a hand was visible at the end of it. -But the position was unnatural for an arm; there was something appalling -in the way it lay. Then the jacket, reduced to a charred mass with a few -unburned shreds, tumbled off the board into the water and all was -darkness. - -Emerson listened but there was no sound save the sizzling of the last -burning remnant as it was swallowed in the black water. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - ARABELLA - - -Clouds were now bespreading the sky, obscuring the myriad stars, and -bringing with them a freshening breeze. The boy who thought they would -not want him in the scouts stood upon the wall, his shirt blowing and -flapping against his slender form. He was just a dash of white in the -enveloping blackness. - -Some day a sculptor will carve a statue of a scout. But it will not be -the figure standing there that night in the darkness, his hair blowing, -his spotless white shirt agitated by the heightening wind. It was -ironical that this fine, heroic picture with its touch of wildness and -impending recklessness, was in the darkness, and isolated where it could -not be seen. For that was the way it was with Emerson; no one saw him, -no one really knew him. And so the stirring picture was wasted.... - -Should he hurry to the nearest house for aid? - -He gazed around but there was no light anywhere in that forsaken -neighborhood. He looked below into the enclosure, then away again, and -for a moment, several moments, seemed uncertain, fearful, bewildered. -Then the monitor of the spelling books, knight of the lead pencils, -Arabella, the teacher’s pet, fixed his eyes upon the projecting end of -board for whatever doubtful safety it might afford him, and leaped -straight for it into the black, watery hole. - -A sudden, painful contact, a splash, a frantic grasping for something, -anything; a warm, wet feeling on his throbbing forehead, a tingling in -his finger-tips, a sinking, sinking—— - -Then oblivion. - - * * * * * - -When he came to his senses, the stars were looking down at him, silent -watchers known to scouts, the only comrades who saw what he had done. -The clouds had cleared for Emerson Skybrow and he saw the light. These -stars would guide him many times and oft; they seemed even now to be -waiting for him. - -He was lying half-submerged on rocks and mud. The plank which he had -alighted on was floating. One of his eyes was glued shut and he had to -use a trembling hand to open it. He stretched his arms and legs and -found that he was not helpless. He felt of his forehead and it was -shocking to the touch, as if something terrible had happened there. But -this was only a cut, extensive rather than deep, and incrusted with -blood. But it had ceased to bleed. He felt strange and his head ached -cruelly and when he got to his feet, he found that he was weaker than he -had supposed. - -For a moment, he reeled and caught himself just in time to keep from -falling. He glanced about bewildered, pressing his wounded forehead and -wondering where he was. “I think I must be dreaming, I—I don’t—I seem to -have lost my bearings completely,” he said in his nice way. - -But soon he was in full possession of his wits; he remembered leaping, -and he realized why he did not have his jacket on. He wondered how long -he had lain unconscious. Long enough for the clouds to have passed and -for the friendly stars to resume their watch in the sky, at any rate. - -“This is certainly a predicament,” he said, looking about. From sheer -force of habit he brought his left hand up to his bedraggled scarf and -pinched it into proper adjustment in the opening of his soiled, wilted -collar. - -Suddenly it came to him in a flash why he was there. One misgiving was -dispelled; the water was not deep. If it had been, he certainly would -have been in a “predicament” for he did not know how to swim. - -He stumbled through the shallow water, encountering rocks and sinking -almost knee-deep in mud, and sat upon the little hubble of fallen -masonry which was the only dry spot in that horrible prison. He lowered -his throbbing forehead to his hands and sat thus for a few moments to -regain possession of his fitful senses. Then he was startled into -activity by sudden recollection of the urgency of his errand. - -He seemed quite himself now, but weak and shaky. Tremblingly, in a panic -of fearful apprehension, he looked for the dash of color which he had -seen from above. There it was, a mud-stained sleeve, almost at his feet. -He could not bear to touch the white hand that projected from it. Rather -than do that, he felt of the other little spot of color near it, which -also he had seen from above. It was a mass of disordered hair upon the -water close to the debris. If the head which it covered lay face down -then his reckless plunge and suffering had gone for naught. - -He could not bring himself to move that spreading, undulating mass of -hair. He found it easier to feel of the mud-smeared hand. If the one to -whom that mud-stained hand belonged could have known that it was -“Arabella” Skybrow clasping it, she would have been the most astonished -little girl in the world. - -Would she ever know? Or was she past all knowing? Was even she, the -little red-headed subject of his heroism, not to see him as he really -was? - -He felt of the little hand where it lay upon the stones and it was cold. -For a moment he hesitated, breathing in quick, spasmodic, panicky -breaths. He was prepared for what he expected to see. But he must pause -just a moment to calm his nerves and muster the courage to look—to face -it. Then he reached down and lifted the mass of hair which rested like a -clump of seaweed on the shallow water. Meanwhile, the friendly stars -smiled down upon him. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - IN THE WOODS - - -They shone, too, upon the scouts who tramped through the woods that -night. And the boys who had not compasses used the stars to guide them -in their bee-line course northward. Most of these traveling units -consisted of two scouts so that observation might be kept both to right -and left as they trotted northward. Some of the parties, however, -consisted of three, even four, scouts. - -It was nice, skilfully geometric, how they made a sort of checker-board -of the woods and covered the whole area. For almost a mile, which was -the breadth of the wooded area, they moved in a score or more of -straight lines, pausing here and there for incidental investigation, but -for the most part keeping a straight course. - -Neighboring units were always within call and the woods echoed with -cheery, hopeful voices. Now and again a sudden shout far to east or west -brought all searchers to a stop; there would be a moment of suspended -elation, then the parties would trot on again. Every hubble of the -ground, every object apparently foreign to the woods, every stump and -rock was noticed, and investigated. There was probably not a yard of -territory in those dark woods that was not seen that night by the prying -eyes of scouts. The object of their quest made the work serious, yet -there was much badinage back and forth between neighboring parties. - -Roy and Connie, with their new recruit, Pee-wee, followed the woods path -and their progress was easy. Now and then, as they went along, they -could see a quick, brief light to east or west where other scouts were -verifying their direction with compass and flashlight. - -Pee-wee used both compass and flashlight in spite of the path; he was -nothing if not thorough. The familiar path might change its mind and -alter its accustomed course; Pee-wee was for safety first. He jogged -along with his compass in one hand and Roy’s flashlight in the other, -eating an apple (gift from Connie) which he managed to hold also, and -talking volubly at the same time. - -In addition, his frowning gaze penetrated the woods now to one side, now -to the other, and occasionally he confirmed the accuracy of his compass -by a searching look heavenward where one of his particular friends, the -Big Dipper, resided. So it may be said that every movable part of -Pee-wee was in action—particularly his jaws. - -“Gee, I have to take the blame because he went back, that’s one sure -thing,” he said. “Gee whiz, I thought he’d follow me.” - -“You should have known him better than that, kid,” laughed Connie. “Can -you picture him on a trip like this?” - -“Don’t make me laugh,” said Roy. - -“Now maybe he won’t join,” said Pee-wee. “I had him all worked up to the -point where he was going to join.” - -“Don’t you believe it, kid,” laughed Connie again. “You stand a better -chance of being struck by lightning than getting that Mary into your -patrol. What do you want him for, anyway? They’d only guy the life out -of him up at camp.” - -“You don’t know him like I do,” Pee-wee protested. “He’s a nice feller. -Gee whiz, I didn’t want to go with him but I promised to, so I did——” - -“After half a dozen other fellows passed it up,” said Connie. “You were -a little brick, kid, to let him wish himself on you like that.” - -“Some good turn,” panted Roy, as they jogged along. - -“He treated me,” said Pee-wee; “he treated me to a lot of things.” - -“Yop, I’ve seen that wallet,” laughed Connie. “He keeps calling cards in -it.” - -“He keeps dollar bills in it,” said Pee-wee. - -“You love him for his money,” said Roy. - -“He loves him for his wheatcakes,” said Connie. - -“You make me tired!” roared Pee-wee. “That shows how much you know about -propa——” - -“Oh, he’s proper all right,” said Connie. - -“I mean propaganda,” Pee-wee roared. “That shows how much you know about -being a propagandist and getting new fellers. Anyway, I like him and I -don’t care what you say. He treated me fine in the city, and he’s all -right.” - -“For collecting lead pencils,” said Connie. - -“I heard he does embroidery work,” said Roy. - -“Is that any worse than birch-bark work?” Pee-wee thundered, not without -a real touch of his boasted logic. “What’s the difference between making -fancy things out of cloth or out of wood? Gee whiz! You make -napkin-rings, don’t you?” - -“You love him for his riches, kid,” laughed Roy. - -“You make me sick,” Pee-wee panted, as he buried his teeth in his apple. - -“I’ll tell you how it is, kid,” said Connie more seriously. “It isn’t a -case of what _you_ want. You’re all right, kiddo, as far as that goes. -But he won’t join because it isn’t in him to join. If he joined, he’d -drop out.” - -“Look at Tom Slade!” Pee-wee shouted, speaking while he held the apple -with his teeth in order to throw a light on his compass. - -“Tom was a hoodlum if that’s what you mean,” said Roy. “He wasn’t a -sissy. You’ve got something to work on with a hoodlum. If Arabella wants -to hit the great outdoors, as he calls it, let him join the Camp-fire -Girls. Forget it, kid; it’s all right to be friends with him but for -goodness’ sake pike around and get somebody else to join your patrol. -You’ll never get Arabella, take that from me. He just wouldn’t fit in, -and he wouldn’t join anyway.” - -“It isn’t so easy to get fellers,” said Pee-wee, reminiscent of his -dubious experience as a missionary. “Who could I get, tell me -that—you’re so smart.” - -“What’s the matter with Toby Ralston?” Connie queried. - -“There you are,” agreed Roy, “and you’d get two scouts in one. You’d get -Robin Hood, too.” - -“Oh, boy! Some scout!” said Connie. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - ROBIN HOOD - - -They emerged into the road at North Bridgeboro where other scouts were -already straggling after their fruitless quest. None of the parties had -anything to report except that they were tired. Pee-wee reported, also, -that he was hungry. They gathered on the dark platform of the little -North Bridgeboro station, considering what to do next. - -Across the road from the station were the country store, the grain and -feed yard, and several other stores and buildings, locked and in -darkness. In all that rural solitude only one bright spot was to be -seen, the dirty stained-glass windows of Hamburger Mike’s “eats” wagon. - -“Let’s go over and get some pie and coffee,” one of the disheartened -searchers suggested. - -“Let’s follow the road back to town,” another proposed. - -Some who did not care to regale themselves thought it would be well to -do that in the forlorn hope that some clew or information might come to -them along the road. Since they had no clew, one way was as good as -another. - -Roy, Pee-wee, Connie and several others decided to get something to eat -at Mike’s before returning through the woods, where they would make a -supplementary search. What else could they do? The whole thing seemed so -hopeless. It was in Hamburger Mike’s that Pee-wee’s party encountered -Toby Ralston. - -Toby lived in North Bridgeboro. He was a quiet, easy-going, country boy, -familiar in the thoroughfare of the larger town some two or three miles -below; one of those boys who seemed never to go home, notwithstanding -that he was not in the least adventurous or wayward. He was the kind of -boy (and there are many such) who attaches himself to some place of -doubtful interest and makes it his accustomed headquarters. - -Now and then, a boy is found who likes to hang out in a garage, or -perhaps at a fire house, and identify himself with the place as a cat -does. Usually he renders much gratuitous service for no comprehensible -reason. Such boys may be said to have the local habit. - -Toby Ralston was one of those boys. Why he had never joined the scouts -is an interesting question. The scene of his altogether innocent -lounging was Hamburger Mike’s lunch wagon. Hamburger Mike never closed -up. Trains might come and trains might go, the stores might close, the -villagers go to bed, the neighborhood of the station become a deserted -wilderness; but the light always burned in the dirty stained-glass -windows of Hamburger Mike’s lunch wagon. Surely, on the day of judgment, -Hamburger Mike would be the last to turn out his lights. - -It is not on record that Mike ever gave Toby Ralston a cent for helping -to wash dishes and drawing coffee out of his nickel cylinders, or -putting new menu cards in the greasy menu card frame. But Toby did these -things every day and usually until midnight. And while he was thus -engaged his side partner, Robin Hood, waited patiently for him. - -Robin Hood was a magnificent police dog. His noble posture as he sat in -the dingy place made the lunch wagon look squalid and mundane enough. -Robin Hood disdained the place with the disdain of a true aristocrat. It -was perfectly evident that he did not approve of his young master’s -attachment to this greasy, smoky, stuffy emporium. Hour in and hour out, -he would lie waiting patiently, and when his lord went forth, he would -slowly rise, stretch his legs and go too. - -Robin Hood’s gray wolfish hair and wild eyes and upright ears were -familiar on the streets of Bridgeboro and the staring admiration which -he aroused seemed a matter of no concern to him whatever. He was -oblivious to every one but Toby. He received petting from others as if -it bored him; and occasionally, when it was excessive, he showed -resentment. - -He paid not the slightest attention to these scouts as they entered and -lined up on the row of revolving stools before the greasy counter. - -“Here’s your chance to join the scouts, Toby,” said Connie Bennett. -“There’s a vacancy in the animal cracker’s patrol.” - -“What’s up?” Toby asked, as he slid a plate of pie along the counter so -that it came to a stop directly before Connie. “Want coffee—you -fellows?” - -Hamburger Mike himself waited on the others, then went back to his -corner and resumed the reading of a newspaper. - -“Here’s your chance,” repeated Connie. “Do you know what brings us up -here this late? You know Margie Garrison, don’t you? Red-headed? She -hasn’t been seen since four o’clock this afternoon—lost. We’ve been -combing the woods for her. Nothing doing. You’re always saying you’re -going to join and you never do—_gee williger_, this coffee’s hot. She -was seen in Westover’s field this afternoon and nobody saw her after -that. Bring Robin Hood along and we’ll trail her; what d’you say? Say -you’ll join the scouts and we’ll keep the job in the family. If we find -her, won’t it be some tall sensation?” - -“Robin Hood could never trail her,” said Roy, drinking coffee. - -[Illustration: “ROBIN HOOD COULD NEVER TRAIL HER!” SAID ROY.] - -“Oh, is that so?” Toby sneered. - -“Yes, that’s so,” said Westy Martin. - -“Now, you tell one,” said Toby, turning to Pee-wee. - -It was half a minute before Pee-wee was able sufficiently to get the -upper hand of the pie he was eating to speak coherently. But he was able -to think meanwhile. And a great light suddenly burst upon him. What a -glorious acquisition to his patrol Toby and this magnificent dog would -be. He had heard about dogs tracking fugitives. He had seen them thus -employed in _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_. He had seen them in the movies. But the -idea of a dog attached to his own patrol, leading the way to a poor, -little lost girl in the dead of night—this was something beyond the -range of his fondest dreams. Here would be adventure and glory. That was -some inspiration of Connie’s, he thought. - -When he was able to speak it was Roy, who sat next to him, whom he -addressed. His conscience may have troubled him a little, for he spoke -in an undertone. Roy, despite his habit of victimizing Pee-wee with -unholy banter, was after all his friend—his closest friend. - -“Do you mean—do you really think he won’t—that when it comes down to it -he won’t join?” - -“Who, Arabella?” - -“Do you mean it?” - -“_Good night_, kid, have some sense on your birthday. Why didn’t he come -with us if he was willing to be one of us? What did he do? Turned around -and walked home. There you are; what more do you want?” - -Pee-wee was thoughtful. As he could not decide what he wanted to do or -say, he fell back on doing something which he was absolutely positive he -wanted to do. He bespoke two sugar crullers with which to finish his -coffee. - -And meanwhile, the talk went on. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - A NEW MEMBER - - -“Come ahead, Toby; eventually, why not now?” asked Westy. - -“_Eventually_,” mocked Dorry Benton. “Sounds like Arabella.” - -“Don’t worry about him, he’s home in bed,” said Connie. - -But Pee-wee, for one, did worry about him. He could not get him out of -his thoughts. He recalled how ready Emerson had been to treat him, and -how pleasant he had been in his own prim way. Yet now, among his own -comrades, rough and ready and bantering, Pee-wee really did feel more at -home. And he saw Emerson as a boy quite impossible in such company. -Right and left, they were ridiculing his schemes and ideas about poor -Emerson. And then there was Robin Hood.... - -As he finished, he slipped down from the stool and went over and patted -Robin Hood. The splendid animal paid not the slightest attention to him. - -Hamburger Mike glanced over the top of his paper. “He wouldn’ make frens -widcher,” he informed Pee-wee. “Dem perlece dogs got no use for nobody -’cepten’ dere owners.” - -“You do something big and he’ll pay attention to you,” said Toby. “In -the war, Bob would go to anybody that had the distinguished service -cross, wouldn’t you, Bobby—hey, Bobby?” - -Robin Hood glanced slowly around at his young master, then away again. -He did not look as if he were likely to pay much attention to any one -else. - -Pee-wee could not own this dog, but he might have him in his patrol. And -probably the scouts were right about Emerson.... He forgot his radio, he -forgot Emerson, he forgot everything in the new scout plan which -Connie’s inspiration had suggested. - -“I’d like to put one over on the police,” he heard Dorry say. - -“Boy Scouts Successful in Search with Police Dog,” he heard Westy say, -suggesting a possible heading in the Bridgeboro _Daily Bungle_. - -“If—if you really want to join,” said Pee-wee, his conscience still -causing him to speak in a halting way, “gee whiz, I’ll only be too glad, -and I guess Artie will too; won’t you, Artie?” - -“You bet,” said Artie Van Arlen, titular head of the Ravens. Like many -titular heads, he was subject to a boss. And it was the boss who was -speaking. - -“If I go with you to-night and let Bob help, it means I’m in on it?” -said Toby conditionally. - -“You said it,” encouraged Roy. “Same as Pee-wee; member in good -standing, only he doesn’t stand very high.” - -“Will you? Say the word,” Connie encouraged. - -“And you can go to camp and everything,” Pee-wee shouted, his conscience -reconciled or drugged at last. “To-night—right now—we’ll—I tell you what -we’ll do—we’ll take Bob—we’ll—listen—we’ll take Bobbin Hood—I mean Robin -Hood—and we’ll go to Garrisons, hey, and start from there. We’ll give -him the scent, and, oh, boy, we’ll rescue her, I bet, before morning and -it’ll be in the New York papers and everything—and I tell you what we’ll -do—we’ll change the name of our patrol from the Ravens to the Police -Dogs—hey? Won’t we, Artie? So will you join? Will you come ahead?” - -“I don’t mind,” said Toby. - -“_Good night_, we found a scout, now we ought to find Margie Garrison,” -said Connie. “Some big night, hey?” - -“_Oh, boy, you said it!_” vociferated Pee-wee. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - - A FRESH START - - -It was wonderful what fresh inspiration the presence of Robin Hood gave -to the rather disheartened searchers. In the seething mind of Pee-wee -all else was forgotten at this adventurous turn of their enterprise. He -was all excitement. The scouts would triumph and be the heroes of the -town; their exploit would be heralded abroad. - -To discover the lost child in the woods would have been an achievement. -To track her with a police dog and carry her home to her distracted -parents; to witness the consternation of the police; there would be -adventure and glory! To Pee-wee it was as good as done. - -He had begun to feel the fatigue of this eventful day; a dull weariness -had set in as they concluded their search of the woods. But now, in the -flush of the new adventure, he seemed invigorated. He forgot everything -and could think only of what they were going to do. The hour was late -but that made it all the better. - -It was in high spirit of elation that he ran to Toby’s house with him to -get the dog leash; he would take no chances with freakish parental -objections. If necessary, he would meet Mr. and Mrs. Ralston -single-handed. But no obstacles were met there; Toby was happy in the -possession of easy-going parents who did not require any strenuous -representations of scout duty to release their son to a nocturnal -enterprise. - -All was hurry and excitement now; the air seemed charged with -expectation. The seven scouts who, with Toby, constituted the party -hurried into the woods, Robin Hood securely leashed and enforcing his -autocratic will by pausing to sniff here and there, then dragging his -young master willy-nilly after him. Only Hamburger Mike seemed -undisturbed. His next call to service would be when the milk train -stopped at four o’clock in the morning. No one should go wanting for -refreshment while Hamburger Mike lived. - -In half an hour, they were back on the state road and hurrying into -Bridgeboro. The town was dark and deserted. A lone auto sped up Main -Street as they crossed, and its swift passing seemed to reduce the -sleeping town to insignificance, so much greater is a speeding auto to a -sleeping town in the still, small hours of night. - -They hurried through Terrace Avenue where the school (scene of Pee-wee’s -famous coup) seemed like a thing dead. Not a sound was there, nor a soul -upon the street. They turned into Elm Place, then to Carver Street and -to the cottage of the Garrisons. Here, at least, were signs of life. The -interior was illuminated, the front door wide open, and a little group -upon the porch. It looked strange at that hour of the night, and in the -surrounding solitude, to see the bright oblong area caused by the open -door, and the hatrack and stairs within. It spoke pathetically of -waiting and trouble and suspense. - -Mrs. Garrison was there, and her elder daughter, and a couple of -neighbors with shawls thrown about them. They seemed to have been just -standing on the porch. Mr. Garrison was out somewhere with others, -pursuing inquiries. The mother’s anxiety, which had mounted all through -the evening, was heartrending. Disappointment after disappointment she -had met; ’phone call after ’phone call had dealt her blows as from a -hammer. Still she waited with these comforting, patient, hopeful -neighbors in the still night air. She was too distraught to sit inside -and wait for the ringing of the door-bell. - -“Let me do the talking, kid,” said Westy out of his familiar knowledge -of Pee-wee. It was always Westy to talk in a case like this. - -“Oh, the scout boys!” said Mrs. Garrison. - -“Mrs. Garrison,” said Westy, “we—we didn’t find her in the woods. Is -there any news?” - -“No, dear—you’re good boys, all of you,” she said, wringing her hands. - -“We’ve got a police dog here,” said Westy, “and we know about her being -in Westover’s field this afternoon. She cut across the field on her way -to Stella Henry’s house—I know the path. Let’s have something that -belonged—belongs to her, will you? A dress or something; stockings would -be good.” - -There was no chance to talk; he pinned her down to the vital -requirement; and seeing them all, restless, ready, efficient, she -hurried into the house and brought out some articles of clothing, -weeping as if they belonged to some one dear, and lost indeed. - -“You call up our houses and tell them,” said Westy hurriedly. “You know -us all I guess—Blakeley, Van Arlen, Bennett, Benton, Harris, Carson -and—that’s all. See you later.” - -They were gone, Robin Hood dragging, pausing, dilly-dallying; his young -master pulling, then running after him. - -The field where little Margie had last been seen was a corner lot which -afforded a short-cut to the door of the house next to it. It was known -that she had called at that house for a girl friend and, not finding her -at home, had cut through the lot again and entered the bordering street. -No one had been found who had seen her after that. - -It was in this field that Robin Hood took upon himself the -responsibility of the search and became master of the situation. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - - ACTION - - -And meanwhile the last of the passing clouds disappeared for Emerson -Skybrow and the myriad stars shone pleasantly upon him, deep down in his -black prison. He separated the strands of soaked hair which lay still -upon the water and beheld a face which for the moment he did not -recognize. The eyes were closed; the face, as near as he could tell in -the starlight, mud-smeared and ashen pale. It looked ghastly, appalling, -this face, with apparently no body connected with it. But Emerson -presently realized how it was. - -The body lay barely submerged, face up, and the head lying upon the -debris close under the exposed pile was partly out of water. The -disordered hair had covered the face instead of the back of the head. -Whatever the victim’s fate had been it seemed unlikely that it had been -that of drowning. - -It was several moments before Emerson realized that there was a way of -determining whether life existed. And then (notwithstanding the -universal ease with which boy scouts are represented as making these -determinations) he found the matter not easy. - -A more coy and elusive thing than the pulse is hardly imaginable, when -the search is made by an amateur. He tried both wrists; then, appalled -at not discovering cheery little pulsations, groped under water and -tried to feel the victim’s heart. With the knowledge of first aid that -many scouts have, he would have known that the closed eyes were a good -sign; there was no fixed stare up into the night. - -At last, he was rejoiced to find the pulse; he lost it, then found it -again. It seemed such a trifling thing, that half-palpable beating, to -signify so much. The assurance it gave him aroused him to quick effort. -He was not alone, in that frightful hole, with only death for his -companion. - -He looked about him, hardly knowing what to do. But whatever he did it -would be necessary first to lift the victim out of the water. This he -did as gently as he could, lifting the small form under the armpits, and -pulling it up onto the debris. The eyes opened and closed again. - -“Margie—you’re—all right—I’m—I’ll take care of you,” he said fearfully. -“Can’t you speak?” - -If she could only speak and understand, that would encourage him so -much. For a moment, he paused bewildered, not knowing what to do. No -injury was visible upon the little form. He did not know how to look for -injuries that might be expected from such a fall; broken limbs, a -fractured skull. He was all at sea, helpless. He looked up out of that -frightful place that enclosed him in its four walls. There was more -pathos in his well-expressed despair than there could have been in the -language of panic fear. “I don’t see what I can do in this dilemma,” he -said. “I dare say I’d better call at the top of my voice for -assistance.” - -But some unseen force kept him from doing that. No one would have heard -him anyway. Yet a certain persisting self-reliance and a strange fear of -his own voice rising out of that dark hole into the lonely night, was -what deterred him from calling. He was not afraid to be there, but, -oddly, he was afraid to call. - -Then, a reassuring thought came to cheer him. The girl had fallen in the -mud, save that her head was somewhat elevated on harder substance. And -her head showed no sign of injury. It seemed unlikely that she was -otherwise injured. Perhaps then, her unconsciousness was just the -unconsciousness of utter exhaustion, which had followed the first shock. - -Limping through the shallow water, he procured the longer of the two -pieces of board and laid this at an angle against the wall, its lower -end resting securely on the exposed debris at the bottom. Placed in this -position, the upper end of the plank was within about four feet of the -top of the wall. - -Emerson had never done much climbing and it was fortunate that his essay -at this manly sport was made in private. He looked queer and frog-like, -scrambling up the plank. He made little progress until he discovered the -important part played by the knees in such an undertaking. Then he was -able to ascend slowly, laboriously. The scouts would have said he looked -funny climbing; fortunately, he could not see himself as others would -have seen him. - -At the upper end of the plank his experimenting to get away from it -would have been ludicrous if the occasion had not been serious. He was -within four feet of the top of the wall, yet he could not disconnect -himself from his slanting support and get a hold anywhere else. - -At last, by a hazardous gymnastic effort, he managed to get an uncertain -hold on a rock doubtfully embedded in the crumbling plaster on top of -the wall. He then ventured to rest one foot on the ragged end of the -plank and succeeded in lifting himself to a standing posture. He felt a -certain sense of elation along with his tremulousness. There is a kind -of fascination in the knowledge that safety, even life, hangs by a -thread. Emerson stood upon his uncertain foothold, reaching above him -and clutching the rock on the wall. What to do next, he could not -imagine. He could not regain the safety of the plank. Neither could he -pull himself up onto the wall. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII - - NOT A SCOUT - - -What he did, he did in a kind of impulse of reckless endeavor. He knew -that if he went down, he would not this time fall in the mud, but on the -pile of rocky debris. Clasping the rock above with both hands, he -succeeded in getting one leg upon the wall, then the other. For just two -or three seconds, his peril was frightful, until he got his whole weight -upon the wall. Then he was lying safely on top of it. - -At this spot there was a sheer descent upon the outside. He might have -risked a jump, for the depth was not so great as within. But he was -chafed and sore from his frantic effort and lame from his earlier fall. -So he limped around to the point where the remains of the stone steps -were and descended there. If it had not been for the unconscious child -within, he would have experienced the exhilaration of Monte Cristo at -being out in the world once more. - -But what should he do now? The nearest house, he knew, was a mile off, -and it would take him long to limp that distance. Moreover, he was now -conscious of a certain personal quality which he had always exhibited in -an insignificant way. - -This was his self-reliance, destined to be the making of him. As long as -Emerson could remember, he had been the butt of ridicule by boys. -Sometimes, he had been the victim of rough usage. But he had never told -of this at home nor committed the unpardonable sin of making an ally of -his older brother; “big-brother stuff” he had eschewed. He had begun -when very young going into the city alone, and attending select -matinees, lectures and exhibitions. Very early, he had begun carrying -his wallet with the means to finance these trips. Once, when a mere -child, he had been lost, and he had gone and told a policeman. - -These things, and things like them, had won him only ridicule at the -hands of boys. And his queer, adult phraseology had aroused unholy -mirth. It would hardly do to say that a boy should not be too refined, -yet extreme refinement in a boy is apt to tell to his disadvantage. At -all events, it had been so with Emerson. - -But the spirit of self-reliance, if it exists, will manifest itself in -large ways as well as in small ways, given only the occasion. And -Emerson Skybrow, baffled, lame, distraught, would not go to the nearest -house and put his business into some one else’s hands. He had not -stumbled upon little Margie Garrison, he had gone seeking her. Well, he -would see this thing through or know the reason why. That was his own -phrase, “or know the reason why.” They had often laughed at him when he -said he would do this or that _or know the reason why_. Scouts are so -fond of laughing that sometimes they laugh too soon.... - -He limped along the road to a small bridge some hundred feet distant. -His exploit with the broken plank had given him an idea. With a plank of -adequate length he might get the child out of that hole; then he would -carry her to the nearest house; he would carry or get her there somehow. - -The flooring lay loosely across the bridge; he had heard it rattle under -a speeding auto while he was in the sunken enclosure. He found that the -top layer of loose planks was supported by a still older flooring -underneath. He could remove a plank without causing peril to travelers. -These flooring planks extended out beyond the width of the bridge on -either side in disorderly, irregular lengths, and he selected the -longest. It was a heavy, thick timber and hard to manage. But it was -easily long enough for his purpose. - -He tugged and dragged at this unwieldy burden, pausing at intervals to -rest, until he reached the enclosure. Here he slid it over the edge of -the wall until it dropped by its own weight into the hole. Reaching from -the bottom of one side to the top of the other, it was at an angle of -less than forty-five degrees; easy enough to ascend, he thought. - -His hopes now ran high. And besides, good news awaited him as he went -cautiously down the plank, letting himself descend backward on hands and -knees. He heard the child stirring. Then he heard her speak. Her voice -sounded strangely clear and out of place in that black dungeon, calling -for her mother. “Mother, my back aches and I got a pain,” she said -weakly. It seemed like any other child awaking in the night. “It’s all -water,” she said faintly. - -Then Emerson spoke to her. “It isn’t your mother, it’s Emerson Skybrow; -you fell in here and I found you. You needn’t be afraid because I’m -going to get you out of here and take you home. I guess you came here -after ivy, didn’t you?” - -“You’re the boy they call Sissie Skybrow,” she said; “I know you.” - -“Yes,” he said. “You needn’t be afraid.” - -“Oh, I’m not afraid of _you_,” she said, half noticing him as she rocked -her head in discomfort from side to side. “Nobody’s afraid of _you_.” - -She was but a small child, and suffering; she did not mean to hurt him. - -“I want to get you on this board,” he said; “and then maybe I can help -you up. Do you think you can sit up? I guess you’re not hurt very much, -are you?” - -“There were people trying to chop me with axes,” she said, as he gently -encouraged her to a sitting posture. “They came on a ship.” - -“Well, you’re better now,” he comforted. - -“I like you,” she said. “I don’t care if a lot of smarties don’t. -They’re sillies calling you a girl’s name; boys don’t have girls’ -names.” - -“No,” he said; “I’m going to help you get on the board now.” - -But this was more difficult than he had supposed, for she closed her -eyes again, seeming to hover in the borderland of consciousness. And -whatever her actual condition, he saw that she could not cooperate in -her own rescue. The angle of the plank was too steep to permit walking -up, even assuming that she could help herself. She was a dead-weight and -might remain so for hours. - -What he did entailed somewhat rough handling and all the strength he -had, besides considerable risk. But he did it and succeeded in it. He -got the little body onto the shorter piece of broken plank and bound it -there like an Indian papoose bound to a board. For this purpose, he used -his own shirt and the light coat which the child wore. She was conscious -in a weak, half-interested sort of way, and made no objection to this -novel treatment. It was curious how her undirected, wandering thoughts -reverted to Emerson in his familiar role of “sissie” and “teacher’s -pet.” - -“They said you play jacks,” she said, and seemed not particularly -interested in an answer. - -He got his burden onto the slanting plank and pushed it up little by -little. It was hard to push and care was required to keep it from going -over sideways. But if it did not move easily, at least it did not -backslide easily. He got it forward a few inches, then rested, letting -the weight of it press against him while he straddled the plank and -locked his legs beneath it to keep from sliding. Then he advanced it a -few inches and moved up himself. - -Before he had pushed his burden far, it occurred to him to slip a lead -pencil under the makeshift car and this roller enabled him to advance it -more easily. It seemed a risky business as slowly, inch by inch, he -progressed higher and higher, guiding his burden carefully to avoid side -movement. Reaching the top, he found it easier to attain the wall than -before. Now he was able to lift the child and half drag, half carry her, -down the slope of masonry which had once been a flight of steps. - -To do this thing, he had strained every nerve and every muscle in his -body. He was bare to the waist, and covered with splinters, cuts and -bruises. His natty trousers were in shreds. And this was Emerson -Skybrow—“Arabella.” - -As he bore his burden down the chaos of stone and ancient crumbling -mortar, away from the scene of his harrowing adventure, he breathed in -great gulps, pausing now and again to get his breath. His chest heaved, -his wet hair fell streaking over his eyes, he reeled, he staggered, he -paused exhausted, with the child clinging to his knees. - -It was while pausing in this attitude some yards in from the road, with -the child clinging to him as he tried to get his breath, that he heard -voices in the distance.... - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - - VOICES - - -In the field where little Margie Garrison had been last seen, the scouts -gave Robin Hood the scent. He found much difficulty in following it -across the broad thoroughfare, but once in the open fields beyond, he -jogged along steadily, pulling his young master after him. It was -significant that poor Emerson did not know this short-cut to the old -ruin, by which he might have eliminated a mile or more in his journey -thither. - -They led the way across fields on the edge of town and the dog had no -doubtful pauses, save once at a cross-road where for a few seconds he -moved about beset with perplexity. Then he was off again through the -sparse woods between the outer reaches of Bridgeboro and Little Valley. - -To Pee-wee, this following a dog upon the scent was the very essence of -scoutish adventure. His legs, which relatively were not so long as his -tongue, were kept in a continuous state of intensive labor, keeping up -with Toby, whom he had appropriated as his own. Meanwhile, his tongue -(always equal to any occasion) labored unceasingly. The others of the -party having tasted the novelty of tracking with a hurrying dog, -followed at a distance. - -“One thing sure anyway, you can bet,” said Pee-wee, with such breath as -he could spare. “I’m glad I went back with them to North Bridgeboro, gee -whiz, I’m glad of that, you can bet. And you can bet I’m glad there’s a -vacant place in my patrol, because Wig Weigand went away to live in -Vermont and his father has a big farm there with fruit orchards and -everything and I’m going to visit him there next Christmas vacation, -because in the summer I go to Temple Camp and you’ll go there too. So -will you take Robin Hood?” - -“Where I go he goes,” Toby said. - -“Gee whiz, I don’t blame you,” said Pee-wee. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re in -my patrol. I was going to get a feller named Skybrow; maybe you know -him, they call him Arabella. But anyway I guess he wouldn’t have joined -anyway, that’s what Roy and the fellers say. But anyway after this I’m -going to be friends with him, but just the same I’m glad you’re in my -patrol. I saw you a lot down in Bridgeboro; once I was in Bennett’s -drinking soda, you get a dandy soda there, and I saw you go by with -Robin Hood and a girl that was buying candy said what a mag—what a -mag—what a mag—nif——” - -He paused a moment; came up for air. - -“Well, you’ve got the both of us wished on you now,” said Toby. - -“And Robin Hood’ll have the Pathfinder’s badge too,” said Pee-wee, -“because I can fix it, because I know how to fix things; you leave it to -me.” - -He paused only when the dog paused, excitedly preoccupied with some -baffling difficulty in the scent. - -“All right, old Bob,” Toby encouraged. - -The dog paused long enough in his intense preoccupation to lick the hand -of his young master. But he seemed quite oblivious to the praises and -friendly strokes of Pee-wee, and of the others who had come up. - -“They never bother with any one but their owners, that kind, do they?” -Connie asked. “That’s what I heard.” - -“Didn’t you hear Toby say he bothered with heroes in the war?” Artie -demanded. - -“Sure, he did,” said Westy Martin. - -“He used to invite them to his headquarters to supper and everything,” -said Roy. “Didn’t he, Toby?” - -“That’s all right,” said Toby. “He knows something big when he sees it.” - -“Sure, that’s why he doesn’t see Pee-wee,” said Roy. - -They were off again, following Robin Hood, who strained at his leash, -causing Toby to stumble along. - -“You’re crazy!” Pee-wee yelled. “I know what he means; he means heroes; -he can see them with——” - -“Opera-glasses,” said Roy. “Right the first time as usual.” - -“Don’t you mind him,” Pee-wee panted, addressing Toby. “Didn’t I tell -you they’re all crazy in that—anyway, listen. It means—I know what you -mean because if you do something kind of very brave like, then he won’t -be stuck-up, but he’ll kind of notice you; I bet that’s what you -mean—hey?” - -“Yop,” said Toby. - -“And anyway, I bet he’ll notice me if he——” - -“Has a magnifying glass,” said Roy. - -“—if he’s in my patrol,” thundered Pee-wee; “because I bet he’ll be -friends with the fellers in my, in our patrol, won’t he, Toby?” - -“Yop, guess so,” said the taciturn Toby. “He knows who’s worth noticing -all right.” - -It was this last remark which Emerson Skybrow, scarred, bleeding, -gulping with overwhelming fatigue, and standing half-naked in the -darkness, heard in the unseen distance. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX - - WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK - - -Then suddenly, Robin Hood, liberated, bound toward him, panting, -triumphant. He had evidently broken loose in his excitement as he had -neared his goal, for the leash dangled after him. - -And thus it was that the scouts came upon Emerson Skybrow who stood with -one arm around the little girl, while Robin Hood clambered upon him. It -was the kindly irony of fate that Emerson was the first person to whom -the dog had paid the slightest attention. - -“Well—I’ll—be——” Connie Bennett ejaculated, then paused in speechless -consternation. “What—do—you—know! It’s Arabella!” - -“There’s Margie, too,” said Westy. - -“What the dickens——” Dorry Benton began, but was unable to say more. - -Arabella was stroking the dog nervously and withdrawing slightly as if -to modify the vigor of the animal’s aggressiveness. He seemed perturbed -by a doubt of whether the dog was friendly or not. And meanwhile, he -tightened his arm about the little girl, his prize, while she clung to -him with a new and panic fear. - -“It seems to be a great surprise,” said Emerson in his nice way, a way -which ill-accorded with his almost primeval look. “It’s very easily -explained,” he continued, backing and endeavoring by gentle dissuasion -to free himself from the dog’s insistence. - -“He won’t hurt you,” said Toby. - -“He’s rather rough,” said Emerson, using the word which, of all words, -was sure to arouse mocking ridicule. But only a dead silence greeted his -rather mincing phrase. And meanwhile, Robin Hood, the scout, clambered -upon him until he was drawn away by main force. - -“I want to go home,” wept the little girl. “I want to go home to my -mother; I’m afraid of him, he’ll bite me. You said you’d take me home, I -don’t want to play with all these boys.” - -“I said I’d take you home and you can depend on me,” said Emerson. She -seemed to think she could, and ceased crying and clung to him more -tightly. - -“How the dickens did _you_ happen to get here?” Connie asked, with -anything but a flattering note of incredulity in his voice. The slur of -it was somewhat modified by Westy who asked, “Where in all creation did -_you_ come from, Skybrow?” - -It would have been tribute enough to Emerson to be called by his first -name; to be called by his last name was hardly believable. -Self-possession was always one of his strong points. He had never been -able to show it with these boys, because they would have laughed him -down with banter. But now he had them at a slight disadvantage; they -were so astonished that they would listen. One of them (the fairest of -the lot) had even surrendered to the extent of calling him Skybrow. -Emerson took advantage of the occasion, and his appearance if not his -manner of talk seemed to command attention. - -“Since you ask me,” said he, “I came here to find Margie Garrison. I -found her in the bottom of this cellar, or whatever it is. I suppose -every one of you fellows, scouts, I guess you all are, were in the -assembly this morning when that lady spoke about ivy and ruins. I should -think it might have occurred to you that maybe Margie Garrison came out -here to get some. Girls are always getting wild flowers and such things -to take to their teachers. I guess you’ve all noticed that much,” he -added, as a kind of side dig. - -“So I came here and found her and jumped in and we had quite a time of -it getting out; I used a long plank from the bridge. I ’phoned to your -house, Harris, and told them you were out with the searching party. I -wish we could get an auto to take her home. I don’t think there’s -anything much the matter with her except she’s pretty well shaken-up. -You had a lot of running for nothing; it seems a pity.” - -“I don’t want to go with them, I want to go with _you_,” cried little -Margie, clinging to him. “Because you’re not afraid.” - -Exhausted, he sat down upon a rock, and Robin Hood, seeing his chance, -approached him again and laid his head upon the torn trousers, looking -up. - -“Here, Rob,” said Roy. - -“Let him alone,” said Pee-wee. It was the first word he had spoken. - -“He knows, all right,” said Westy. - -“You bet he knows,” Toby boasted. “Didn’t I tell you?” - -Robin Hood seemed to know indeed, for heedless of the gaping boys, who -were silent because they were all at sea and knew not what to say, he -wriggled his head up till it lay against the bare, scratched shoulder of -“Arabella” Skybrow. The boy did not stroke him, for one hand held that -of the little girl he had rescued, while the other was pressed to his -wounded, throbbing forehead. But the dog seemed to be content. - -And so for a moment, they all stood about in a kind of awkwardness. And -no one spoke, not even Pee-wee. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI - - BOB, SCOUTMAKER - - -It was Westy who spoke first. Just the same as it had been Westy to -speak for the others at the stricken home of this child whom Emerson -Skybrow had rescued. And what impelled Westy to break the silence was -the sight of Pee-wee gone to pieces, all his boisterous enthusiasm ebbed -away. A pitiable sight he was as he stood there, trying bravely not to -show his feelings. Of all the botches he had ever made (and he had made -many) this was the worst. Within twenty-four hours the local paper of -Bridgeboro would have the name of Emerson Skybrow in glaring headlines. -And he had lost him. A deed worthy of the scout gold cross had been done -by this boy to whom a little girl and a noble dog paid the tribute of -their trust and love. - -As by a miracle, the boy who had “treated him fine” in the city was -transformed into a rugged hero before his eyes. No wonder he saw that -scarred and ragged figure as through a haze! No wonder the irrepressible -Roy Blakeley kept his mouth shut. No wonder Westy, always kind and -thoughtful, had to speak for the “boss” of the Raven Patrol. There is -dignity in a boy’s last name and Westy paid Emerson this tribute in -addressing him. - -“Some searching party,” he said, quoting Emerson’s own phrase. “Some -scouts, I’ll say! Skybrow, I’ll be hanged if I wouldn’t hide my little -old face in shame, if it wasn’t that I like to look at you. Give us your -hand, will you?” - -“I’ll be very glad to,” said Emerson. “It’s pretty muddy, I’m afraid. Is -this a new member of your troop, Harris? I’ve often seen you with the -dog,” he added, addressing Toby. “They were lucky to find you.” - -“What do you mean, new member?” Toby demanded. “Don’t pick on me, I’m -out of it. Put me on the waiting list if you want to. There’s your -scout, _right there_. Bob picked him out for you. You’ll find me up at -Hamburger Mike’s any time you want me. If I’m not there, I’ll be talking -to the girl over in the station.” - -“That’s the talk,” said Westy. “Now we _know_ you’re a scout and you’ll -get tagged before long. Before we go any further, let’s get this thing -settled. I hear a car coming, and I want to try to stop it and see if -they’ll take us back to Bridgeboro. You’re wished onto the raving -Ravens, you understand that, don’t you?” Westy asked Emerson. - -“Why—eh, I promised in a way——” - -“Yes, well, you’re going to keep your word, aren’t you?” Westy insisted. -“If you’re willing to tie up with a bunch of simps like us. What do you -say, Skybrow? We can talk it all over afterward, but just say the word -now—on account of the kid.” - -“I kept—I kept my—promise to you,” said Pee-wee, speaking with -difficulty. “Gee whiz, I should think you’d be willing to join us -because anyway, we’re not such _terrible_ simps and anyway, maybe you -can sort of teach us, kind of.” The sound of an auto was heard in the -distance. - -“Come on, Em, say the word,” said Connie. - -“You’re very kind,” said Emerson. - -“Is it yes?” demanded Artie. - -“Why if, I’m sure——” - -“Say yop,” said Pee-wee. - -“Yop,” said Emerson Skybrow. - -“Now to stop the auto,” said Westy. “Seems to be coming along pretty -fast; I bet he doesn’t pay any attention——” - -“Leave it to me! Leave it to me!” Pee-wee thundered. “I know a way to -stop it! Leave it to me. Gee whiz, didn’t I even stop a circus parade?” - -“Oh, absolutely, positively,” laughed Roy. - -“And don’t forget Queen Tut,” said Dorry Benton. - -“Oh, posilutely not,” laughed Roy again. - -“Don’t worry about the auto,” said Connie. - -“Leave it to Pee-wee,” laughed several voices in chorus. - -“Safe in the hands of the fixer,” shouted Roy joyously. “Goooood -niiiiiiight.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII - - THE NEW SCOUT - - -From the adventure just narrated you might suppose Emerson Skybrow -rather than Pee-wee to be the hero of this faithful chronicle. Such, -however, is not the case. Emerson was in truth a hero, but he was -Pee-wee’s property by right of discovery. - -“Didn’t I invent him?” Pee-wee demanded in a thunderous voice of -challenge. - -Poor Emerson was in for it now and the next night he went up to -Pee-wee’s house to take his first lesson in scouting and to listen to -Pee-wee’s radio. - -Since the unhappy episode of the Queen Tut costume, Pee-wee and his -sister had not been on cordial terms; indeed the relation was so -strained that our hero contemplated the prospect of having a boy come to -see him not without some trepidation. He selected the following night -(which was Wednesday) because he knew that Elsie in a hastily devised -Joan of Arc costume would be absent at the masquerade. Queen Tut had -died a sudden death and in her place “The Maid of Orleans” had appeared -as a sort of understudy. - -Since Pee-wee’s brief illness a reform movement had been instituted in -his home looking to the avoidance of any more holidays from school. A -feature of this brutal program was the closing of the pantry against -late raids. “This continual eating, especially at night, has got to -stop,” Doctor Harris had said. - -Pee-wee knew that neither of his parents would enforce this rule and -that it would presently become a dead letter. But he feared that Elsie, -capable of any atrocity now, would spy on him and shame her indulgent -parents into making good their resolution. Pee-wee could “handle” his -mother and father, but he could not in that critical time “handle” his -infuriated sister. If she heard him go downstairs at the significant -hour of ten or eleven she would balk his project, appealing to the -powers higher up, out of pure spitefulness. - -All this was easily to be avoided by inviting the new hero on the -evening of the great masquerade, and thereby other adventures ensued -confirming Pee-wee’s right to the title of “fixer.” Queen Tut was dead -but the dreadful radio still lived. - -“I’m sure I should be very glad to listen in,” said Emerson politely, -“and it’s very good of you to ask me.” - -Emerson was the kind of boy who voluntarily wiped his feet before -entering a house, but even this defect could not dim his glory now; he -might be a little gentleman, but he was still a hero. - -“I guess every one in town has gone to the masquerade to-night,” he -observed, pausing in his encounter with the doormat. “Shall I hang my -hat here?” he added, as he stepped in. - -“Come ahead up into my room,” Pee-wee said, leading the way, “and I’ll -show you some things in the handbook; I’ll show you a woodchuck skin -too. I know a lot of things about scouting. Do you know how to tell the -time if you’re out in the woods a hundred miles from anywhere?” - -“By looking at my watch?” Emerson ventured. - -“That shows how much you know about scouting,” Pee-wee said. “Suppose -the mainspring should break; then what would you do? You can tell time -by a nail if you know how.” - -“Well, I’m in for it now,” said Emerson, looking curiously about -Pee-wee’s room. “I want to learn all there is.” - -“The troop’s just crazy about you,” said Pee-wee. “But anyway, I’m the -one that discovered you. All these stones and things, and these cocoons -and everything, they all came from up around Temple Camp—I picked ’em up -in the woods. Gee whiz, we won’t bother with the radio now, hey? Because -they’re having a lecture about agriculture; that man he talks every -Wednesday night; he gets through at about nine o’clock and after that -to-night there’s a sympathy orchestra——” - -“You mean symphony?” Emerson asked. - -“Sure, and after that a man’s going to tell about how they catch salmon -but anyway what do I care about that? If I have a can opener, that’s all -I care about. But anyway, if I didn’t have one it wouldn’t make any -difference even if I was in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, because I -can use a pointed stone to open a can but if I didn’t have a can of -salmon I wouldn’t starve anyway; gee whiz, I wouldn’t starve no matter -what.” - -It is a pity that the dissertation which Pee-wee gave Emerson on the -subject of scouting could not have been broadcasted. He found Emerson a -good listener and a likely pupil. The new boy, turning the pages of the -handbook thoughtfully, asked questions which showed an intelligent -interest and which Pee-wee was sometimes at perplexity to answer. Here -was a scout in the making indeed. - -At about ten o’clock Pee-wee suggested refreshments, and, going -downstairs, presently reappeared with a dishful of cookies and a couple -of apples. And Emerson was forced to agree with Pee-wee’s pronouncement -that there was no likelihood at all of him starving. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII - - OVER THE RADIO - - -The latter part of the evening was given over to the radio, and the two -sat listening in with the receivers on their ears. - -O.U.J. was furnishing a varied program that evening. Pee-wee liked -O.U.J. for the performers were a happy, bantering set, seeming to make -the distant listener one of their own merry party. Moreover, O.U.J. was -a night owl pursuing its wanton course of song and laughter after other -stations had said good night and gone to bed. Evidently Plarry Blythe -who sang songs and jollied the silver-tongued announcer had no home; at -least he never went to it. - -Emerson had never listened to a radio and he found it novel and -entertaining. The ear pieces did double duty for they not only -transmitted the voices of the night to Emerson but they effectually shut -off Pee-wee’s voice as well. He talked but Emerson did not hear him. - -It must have been nearly midnight and time for all respectable -broadcasting stations to be home and in bed. Certainly it was time for -Pee-wee to be in bed. But O.U.J. kept it up, and as the hour grew later -they sang the latest songs. Lateness was their middle name. At last the -Jamboree Jazz Band struck up. This outlandish and earsplitting group, -compared with which the noises of a boiler factory were like a gentle -zephyr, usually heralded the conclusion of the program. Pee-wee liked -the Jamboree Jazz Band. Emerson, educated to good music, listened with -rueful amusement. - -Suddenly, in the very midst of the _Jumping Jiminy One Step_, the -Jamboree Jazz Band ceased to play. For a few moments a holy calm seemed -to have fallen upon the still night. Then came a series of weird squeaks -and plaintive wails as if the spirits of the air were uniting in an -uncanny chorus. One of these spirits seemed to have gone completely out -of its head, shrieking uncontrollably. - -Schooled to such a contingency, Pee-wee’s hand sought the little knob by -which the unseen performers might be lured back to their duties. - -But the weird voices only screamed the more discordantly. Then they -ceased altogether. With both hands Pee-wee tried desperately to find the -music but his frantic efforts were of no avail. The Jamboree Jazz Band -was as silent as the grave. _The Jumping Jiminy One Step_ had stepped -away altogether. - -“What’s the matter?” Emerson asked. - -“Wait a minute,” Pee-wee said, frantically preoccupied with the -mechanism. - -But the _Jumping Jiminy One Step_ had evidently jumped too far and he -could not overtake it. - -“They stopped right in the middle,” said Emerson. - -Then suddenly Pee-wee caught the friendly, ingratiating voice of the -announcer at O.U.J. Nothing could ruffle that gentlemanly tone. He would -have announced the end of the world in a voice of soft composure. - -“Listen!” said Pee-wee, “he’s saying something.” - -He was certainly saying something. He had evidently begun saying it -before Pee-wee had succeeded in arresting that soft voice. From the -rather startling nature of his announcement (or such of it as our -listeners-in heard) it seemed likely that the Jamboree Jazz Band had -been summarily silenced in the interest of this important matter. The -boys listened attentively, Pee-wee spellbound as the voice continued: - -“... and the police department of New York will be glad of any -information that might be helpful in running down this car.” - -“Listen!” Pee-wee gasped in a tragic whisper. “He’s finished, we missed -it,” said Emerson. But the announcer continued, hesitating now and then, -as if putting into his own words a request made from some other source, -“Every effort is being made to head off this car in Westchester County -in this state but it is thought not unlikely that the thieves may have -crossed one of the Jersey ferries with it, probably an uptown ferry, and -be heading through northern New Jersey. If the car was stolen by -gypsies, as is suspected——” - -Here the announcer’s voice was drowned in a riot of irrelevant sounds -characteristic of Pee-wee’s radio set, and when our hero succeeded in -catching the voice again, the announcer was concluding his thrilling -appeal to listeners—in New Jersey. “The car was a Hunkajunk six touring -car thought to be occupied by gypsies, the license number is 642-987 -N.Y. but the number may have been obscured to prevent identification. -Any information concerning this car should be telephoned at once to the -police authorities where the car was seen. This is station O.U.J., New -York City. Please stand by for continuation of our regular program.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV - - THE SHORT CUT - - -But Pee-wee did not “stand by” for continuation of the regular program. -The Jamboree Jazz Band had no more charms for him. - -He had heard and read of startling announcements being made over the -radio, of interruptions in deference to appalling S.O.S. calls, of -appeals for cooperation and assistance from the constituted authorities -here and there. But never in his wildest dreams (and his dreams were the -wildest) had he, Walter Harris, ever been asked, directly and indirectly -to cooperate in the apprehension of a fugitive criminal. He felt now -that in a way he had been appointed a member of the great metropolitan -police force and that a terrible responsibility had been placed upon -him. - -“That’s very interesting,” said Emerson, unmoved by the dramatic -character of the announcement. - -“Interesting?” roared Pee-wee. “Do you call it interesting if—if—if a -lot of gypsies steal a car and we have to be on the lookout for them? Do -you call it _interesting_, just kind of, if we have to hurry out of here -to circumspect thieves?” - -“Do you mean circumvent?” Emerson asked. - -“I mean _foil_!” Pee-wee shouted. “Come ahead, we have to catch them, -hurry up, where did I leave my cap?” - -“I don’t know,” said Emerson, arising dutifully but reluctantly. “You -said scouts always know where they leave things.” - -“In the woods I said,” roared Pee-wee. “If a scout hides something in -the woods he can always find it. Caps are different,” he added, -instituting a frantic search for his ever elusive cap. - -“I should think the best place to keep it would be on your head,” -Emerson commented, “then you’d always know where to find it. Mine’s -downstairs on the hat rack.” - -Pee-wee presently apprehended his cap on the top of the bookcase and -then hurried downstairs intent on apprehending the fugitives from New -York. Emerson followed with a calmness quite disproportionate to the -dramatic character of their errand. He had just begun thoroughly to -enjoy the broadcasting and was listening in with quiet interest when -suddenly he found himself launched again upon the sea of adventure. - -Having accustomed himself to the clamor and turmoil of the Jamboree Jazz -Band and begun to enjoy the novelty of the distant, unseen -entertainment, he would have preferred to let well enough alone. But he -was beginning to learn that one who followed Pee-wee must be prepared -for anything or must be willing to do anything whether he is prepared or -not. - -“What are we going to do?” Emerson asked as they hurried along the dark -street. - -“We’re going to take a short-cut to the state road,” Pee-wee answered, -“because that’ll surely be the road they’ll take.” - -“Why will it?” the reasonable Emerson asked. - -“Because it will be. We’re going to lie in ambush along the road just -where it leaves town where we can see every car that comes along. Do you -know where Lanky Betts keeps his frankfurter stand in the summer? We’re -going to hang out there. That little shack is open,” Pee-wee panted as -they ran, “and we can wait inside of it because the door is broken and -we can get in and it’ll be all right because I know Lanky because I buy -lots of frankfurters from him when the shack is open and root beer -too—you get great big ice cream cones there.” - -Emerson was not too hopeful of a triumphant sequel to their midnight -excursion into the detective field; he felt that it was a long call -between the rather unconclusive information of the broadcaster and the -actual halting of the criminals in this neighborhood. But the mention of -frankfurters touched a responsive chord in his nature, for the night was -chill and raw and even the lowly frankfurter appealed to him. - -“It’s a pity we can’t get something to eat there now,” he observed. - -“We’re not supposed to be thinking of eats now,” panted our hero. - -This was rather odd, coming from Pee-wee. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV - - “DANGER” - - -“I didn’t tell you all I’m going to do,” said Pee-wee darkly. “I didn’t -tell you all the plans I have.” - -This rather startling pronouncement prompted Emerson to say, “You’d -better tell me the worst.” - -“You’ll see,” said Pee-wee. - -On arriving at Lanky Betts’ deserted shack, Emerson was somewhat caught -by the spirit of their adventure. Pee-wee had at least brought him to a -good waiting place. The rough, little refreshment stand had that forlorn -look which all such roadside dispensaries have during the closed season. -But the spirit of the frankfurter haunted it and it soon became evident -to the patient Emerson that here Pee-wee was on familiar ground. - -“Maybe you didn’t know I was here last Saturday,” said Pee-wee. “I was -here with Lanky when he brought his stove and a lot of things and I -helped him to bring them. Do you see that can? That’s got red paint in -it so as he can paint his signs. Do you know why he uses red paint?” - -“So he can paint his signs,” said Emerson. - -“He paints ’em in red so everybody’ll know the frankfurters are hot; gee -whiz, he knows how to make you hungry, that feller does.” - -“He’s made me hungry already,” said Emerson. - -“Are you hungry?” - -“I think it makes you hungry being out in the chill air, don’t you?” - -“I don’t know,” said Pee-wee; “gee whiz, I’m always hungry. But don’t -you care, because afterwards we’ll get something to eat. Do you know -what I’m going to do? Now you’ll see all the ideas I had. I’m going to -paint the word Danger on a board, good and big, in red letters. See, I -got my flashlight to work by; a scout has to remember things. So hurry -up, you open the can while I get a board.” - -There is reality in action. And such desperate action as Pee-wee’s was -bound to be convincing. - -Even the quiet Emerson could not fail to be captivated by the situation, -and all of Pee-wee’s frantic preparations for his epoch-making coup had -the true ring of adventure. It was not like sitting home talking about -catching bandits. Here they were in a little, deserted, rough board -shack on the outskirts of town, bordering the likeliest exit from the -metropolitan area. And this within ten or fifteen minutes of the -sensational appeal broadcasted from station O.U.J., New York. - -Surely, Emerson felt bound to acknowledge, it was not at all unlikely -that the gypsies in the stolen car might pass here, and if he and -Pee-wee could but stop them a great triumph would be theirs. A great -triumph was Pee-wee’s already, for his enthusiasm and concentrated -efforts proved contagious. Picking up an old rusty knife, Emerson -proceeded to dig a hole in the top of the can of red paint while Pee-wee -hauled forth an old board which was part of the detachable architecture -of the shack. - -“Now while I paint Danger on the board,” said Pee-wee excitedly, “you -take that old chair and stand it in the middle of the road and then -we’ll stand the board against the back of the chair.” - -Within five minutes Lanky Betts’ rickety old kitchen chair in which he -was wont to sit tilted back against the shack waiting for trade was cast -in the heroic role of easel for a board on which the arresting word -Danger was painted in huge red letters. So liberally had the paint been -used in Pee-wee’s frantic haste that the letters had pendants of -dripping red below them, imparting an artistic effect to Pee-wee’s -handiwork. - -But the whole thing looked like business and the general effect of -something impending was heightened by the appearance of Pee-wee himself -lurking in the doorway of the shack clutching in one hand the rusty -knife, dripping red, with which Emerson had opened the paint can, and in -his other hand another weapon equally dangerous, which he had rescued -from a grocery box under the counter. This was an ice-pick used in the -good old summer-time to reduce the ice to fragments in the genial -freezers containing chocolate, vanilla and raspberry cream. But now it -was to be used for a purpose less kindly. - -“Now I’ll tell you the way we’ll do,” said Pee-wee. “We’ll sit inside -here all quiet like and every car that stops we’ll see if it’s a -Hunkajunk six, and if it is and it’s got gypsies in it, I’m going to -sneak around in back of it and jab this ice-pick into one of the rear -tires and then run. While I’m doing that—do you see that house up off -the road? There’s no light in it but you can see it.” - -“I see it,” said Emerson. - -“As soon as I sneak around in back of the car you run up to that house -for all you’re worth and ring the bell and bang on the door and -everything and wake them up no matter what and tell them to ’phone down -to Chief Shay that we stopped some bandits stealing a car. I’ll come -running up to the house by a roundabout way and I’ll meet you there. -See? They won’t be able to drive the car, not very fast anyway, and -before they could change a tire or drive half a mile the Bridgeboro -police will be here.” - -This plan seemed sound and scientific. Nobody whose armament was limited -to an ice-pick could have planned better. There was at least an even -chance that the auto thieves would come this way and unless they were -very near-sighted or very reckless they would certainly pause before -Pee-wee’s flaunted warning. If Emerson had been skeptical at first he -was now convinced that the chances were at least fair and that the plan -of campaign was masterly. - -In short there was not the slightest reason why the moon should have -smiled down upon these brave preparations. But the moon did smile. -Pee-wee did not smile, however. He scowled. He scowled the scowl of a -hero as he laid aside the knife dripping with gore, and felt tenderly -the point of the deadly ice-pick. - -Perhaps it was a wonder the moon did not laugh out loud. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI - - PEE-WEE TRIUMPHANT - - -In a little while the boys were rewarded by the appearance of a pair of -headlights coming around the bend in the road. - -“You be ready to run up to the house and wake them,” whispered Pee-wee, -clutching his ice-pick. - -“Suppose they haven’t a ’phone,” said Emerson. - -“They have,” said Pee-wee; “a scout has to notice things. Don’t you see -the wire branching over that way?” - -Emerson thoroughly liked Pee-wee but now he was beginning to have a -wholesome respect for his friend’s prowess and resource. Why should the -fugitives not come this way? And if they did, had not Pee-wee provided -for all contingencies? Had he not even taken note of the ’phone wire -stretched from the main lines along the highway to the distant house? -And his disinclination to arouse the occupants of that house till -necessary suggested both self-reliance and consideration for others. -Yes, to be sure, thought Emerson, he was in the hands of a bully little -scout. - -“I think you’re very clever,” said Emerson. - -“Even I’ll get you something to eat afterwards too,” said Pee-wee, -“because you know Schmitt’s Bakery on Main Street. By the time we leave -here the bakers will be starting to work in the cellar and I know them -and I know how to get in the back way and they’ll give us some hot -rolls. Do you like hot rolls? Do you like buns? _Shhh_, here comes the -car.” - -The car proved to be a roadster and the driver of it was not a gypsy. -Pee-wee removed the sign with a few words of explanation and the car -went ahead. Another car came, and still another, then a long interval -with no cars. - -“Gee whiz, I’m hungry too, I’ll say that,” said Pee-wee. - -“Don’t say it,” said Emerson. - -Pretty soon they were rewarded by the sight of another pair of -headlights coming around the bend. As the car approached its dimmed -lights suddenly flared up and set two bright columns straight against -the warning sign. - -Slowly, with its great nickel headlights glaring, the big machine moved -forward toward the obstruction. It stopped, then advanced very slowly a -few feet more. Then, with heart thumping, Pee-wee beheld something which -made his blood run cold—a bright-colored shawl with spangles that shone -brilliant in the moonlight and a dusky woman with a bandage around her -forehead. - -But this was not all. For sitting at the wheel was the most villainous -looking man that Pee-wee had ever seen, a man with a mustache of a -pirate or a Spanish brigand. There was murder in his slouch hat and the -scarf which was knotted about his throat (when taken in conjunction with -this hat and his atrocious mustache) suggested a man who would not be -satisfied with murder; who would be satisfied with nothing less than -torture and massacre. He was Bluebeard and Captain Kidd and all the -thieving, kidnaping gypsies of the world rolled into one horrible, -appalling, brutal spectacle! - -And then Pee-wee realized that he was face to face with the escaping -gypsies and the Hunkajunk car. He was terrified, trembling. But he would -not shirk his perilous duty now. - -“Run to the house,” he whispered to Emerson; “try not to let them see -you; crawl on the ground for a ways. Hurry up.” - -Scarcely had he said the words when he lowered himself to the ground -and, crawling through the tall grass which bordered the road, came -around to the back of the car. The pulsating engine helped to drown the -slight sound of his cautious movements but his heart beat against his -chest like a hammer until he had emerged from his concealment and stood -trembling but unseen except by the little red eye of the tail-light. -Then, his hand shaking, but his resolve unweakened, he raised his arm -and with all the furious vigor of an assassin plunged his deadly -ice-pick to the very heart of the innocent cord tire which immediately -began breathing its last in a continuous hissing sound while our hero -started to run. - -“Goodness me we’ve got a flat!” called the merry voice of Pee-wee’s -sister, Elsie. - -She was nestling in the rear seat between Carmen and Napoleon and on the -front seat sat Charlie Chaplin close by the terrible gypsy brigand so as -to make room for Martha Washington. Elsie was very sweet in her Joan of -Arc costume, far too sweet to have had as an escort the gypsy king whose -kindly task of taking the party to their several homes the champion -fixer had so effectually baffled. - -_Sssssssssssss_, went the tire. - -“We’ve got a puncture,” said Napoleon. - -“Sure as you live,” said Charlie Chaplin. - -“That was a new tire, too,” said Harry Bensen, the gypsy king, as he got -out to inspect the damage. - -“Isn’t it exasperating!” said Carmen alias Ruth Collins. - -“Now I suppose we’ll _simply never_ get home,” chirped Martha Washington -alias Marjorie Dennison. “And I want you all to stop at my house for a -cup of coffee, it’s so chilly.” - -Slowly, fearfully, the mighty hero retraced his steps. The hurrying -Emerson, too, had heard the merry voice of Elsie Harris and then the -others and he paused midway between the road and the dark house, and -then returned curiously. - -“What on earth are you doing here?” Elsie asked of the abashed hero. -“And Emmy Skybrow too! You both ought to be home in bed.” - -“I—we—we got an—a call over the radio,” Pee-wee stammered. “It was -broadcasted that a stolen car with gypsies in it was maybe coming this -way so we laid keekie for it and I thought Harry Bensen was a gypsy like -the announcer said so that shows anybody can be mistaken so I punched a -hole in the tire with an ice-pick because then if it had been stolen—the -car—we’d have caught them, wouldn’t we? So I jabbed a hole in it with an -ice-pick but anyway I was mistaken. But anyway if you’re going to -Marjorie Dennison’s for hot coffee we’ll go with you, and we’ll help you -change the tire too, because, gee whiz, we’re good and hungry.” - -We need not recount the comments of the several members of the -masquerade party, particularly the rather pithy observations of -Pee-wee’s sister Elsie who had previously suffered at his hands. It will -be quite sufficient to say that Harry Bensen, the gypsy king, was a good -sport and a staunch admirer of Pee-wee. They put on a spare tire and -then took the unhappy heroes into the car and made good speed for the -Dennison place in East Bridgeboro. - -But in fact Pee-wee was not unhappy, only Emerson was unhappy. For -Pee-wee was, as usual, triumphant. He sat on the front seat wedged in -between Harry Bensen, the gypsy, and Martha Washington. Charlie Chaplin -sat upon the top of the door to make room for him. - -“Didn’t I tell you I’d fix it for you?” Pee-wee demanded of Emerson who -squatted unobtrusively on the floor in back. “Didn’t I say I’d get you -some eats? Now you’re going to have hot coffee and cake maybe and -everything. Didn’t I say I’d fix it for you? Gee whiz, if a scout says -he’ll do a thing he does it.” - -“Even if he has to use an ice-pick,” said Harry Bensen, the gypsy king. - -“I’d like to be a scout,” said Ruth Collins. - -“Gee, it’s great being a scout,” said Pee-wee. - -“It’s not so great being a scout’s sister,” said Joan of Arc. - -“Joan of Arc carried a sword,” said Harry Bensen, nudging Pee-wee, “and -a scout carries an ice-pick. I don’t believe you could use an ice-pick -with such deadly skill.” - -“The way I feel now I would like to use an axe with deadly skill if I -had one,” said Elsie. - -“What a bloodthirsty family,” laughed Harry Bensen. - -“Are you hungry?” Pee-wee asked, looking around and peering down at the -silent Emerson. “Now you’re going up to Dennison’s and I fixed it for -you and you’re going to have eats just like you wanted, so gee whiz, you -can’t say I’m not a fixer.” - -“_Fixer_ is right,” laughed Harry Bensen. - - - END - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Pee-wee Harris: Fixer, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER *** - -***** This file should be named 61094-0.txt or 61094-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/0/9/61094/ - -Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Pee-wee Harris: Fixer - -Author: Percy Keese Fitzhugh - -Illustrator: H. S. Barbour - -Release Date: January 4, 2020 [EBook #61094] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER *** - - - - -Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark - - - - - -</pre> - -<div class='page'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<h1 style='font-size:1.4em;'>PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER</h1> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:344px;'> -<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>“GO UP THAT SIDE STREET!” ORDERED PEE-WEE.</p> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;'>PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>BY</div> -<div style='font-size:1.2em;'>PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>Author of</div> -<div>THE TOM SLADE BOOKS</div> -<div>THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS</div> -<div>THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS</div> -<div>THE WESTY MARTIN BOOKS</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>ILLUSTRATED BY</div> -<div>H. S. BARBOUR</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>Published with the approval of</div> -<div>THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA</div> -<div style='margin-top:1em;'>GROSSET & DUNLAP</div> -<div>PUBLISHERS : : NEW YORK</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div>Copyright, 1924, by</div> -<div>GROSSET & DUNLAP, Inc.</div> -<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-top:1em;'>Made in the United States of America</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<div style='text-align:center; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em'> - <div style='display:inline-block; text-align:left;'> -<div class='cbline'>His middle name is hunter’s stew,</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> he mixes it;</div> -<div class='cbline'>In mixing he can thrice outdo</div> -<div class='cbline'>All other scouts he ever knew,</div> -<div class='cbline'>And when a thing goes all askew,</div> -<div class='cbline' style='padding-left:1.4em'> he fixes it.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='page'> -<table summary='TOC' class='tcenter' style='margin-bottom:3em'> - <thead> - <tr> - <th colspan='2' style='font-weight:normal;padding-bottom:1em;'>CONTENTS</th> - </tr> - </thead> - <tbody> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>I</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chI'>He Appears</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>II</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chII'>Mug</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>III</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chIII'>The Solemn Vow</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>IV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chIV'>The Noon Hour</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>V</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chV'>Queen Tut</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>VI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chVI'>The Safety Patrol</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>VII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chVII'>I Am the Law</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>VIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chVIII'>The Protector</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>IX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chIX'>The Parade</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>X</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chX'>The Fixer</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXI'>Pee-wee’s Promise</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXII'>Culture Triumphant</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXIII'>Missionary Work</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XIV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXIV'>Seeing New York</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXV'>In for It</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XVI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXVI'>The Real Emerson</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XVII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXVII'>Alone</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XVIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXVIII'>Deduction</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XIX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXIX'>In the Dead of Night</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXX'>The Depths</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXI'>Darkness</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXII'>Arabella</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXIII'>In the Woods</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXIV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXIV'>Robin Hood</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXV'>A New Member</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXVI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXVI'>A Fresh Start</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXVII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXVII'>Action</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXVIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXVIII'>Not a Scout</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXIX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXIX'>Voices</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXX</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXX'>When Greek Meets Greek</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXI'>Bob, Scoutmaker</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXII'>The New Scout</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXIII</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXIII'>Over the Radio</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXIV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXIV'>The Short Cut</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXV</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXV'>“Danger”</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tdc1'>XXXVI</td><td class='tdc2'><a href='#chXXXVI'>Pee-wee Triumphant</a></td></tr> - </tbody> -</table> -</div> <!-- page --> -<div class='chapter'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='font-size:1.4em;'>PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER</div> -</div> -<h2 id='chI'>CHAPTER I<br /> <span class='sub-head'>HE APPEARS</span></h2> -<p>Pee-wee Harris, or rather the left leg of Pee-wee Harris, emerged from -an upper side window of his home, and was presently followed by the rest -of Pee-wee, clad in his scout suit. He crept cautiously along an -ornamental shingled projection till he reached the safety of the porch -roof, where he stood pulling up his stocking and critically surveying -the shady street below him.</p> -<p>The roof of the front porch was approachable by a less venturesome route -than that of the ornamental coping. This was via the apartment of -Pee-wee’s sister Elsie, and out through one of her prettily curtained -front windows.</p> -<p>But he had been baffled in his attempt to violate this neutral territory -by finding the door to her sanctum locked. He had demanded admittance -and had thereupon heard whispering voices within. A hurried consultation -between Elsie and her mother had resulted in a policy fatal to Pee-wee’s -plans. Not only that, but worse; his honor as a scout had been impugned.</p> -<p>“Don’t let him in, I locked the door on purpose.” This from Elsie.</p> -<p>“I think he just wants to get to the porch roof,” Mrs. Harris had said, -to the accompaniment of a sewing machine.</p> -<p>“I don’t care, I’m not going to have him going through here; if he sees -my costume every boy in town will know about it and they’ve all got -sisters. Everybody who’s invited to the masquerade will know exactly -what I’m going to wear. I might just as well not go in costume. You know -how he is, he simply <i>couldn’t</i> keep his mouth shut. What on earth does -he want to do on the porch roof anyway? If he’s not well enough to go to -school, I shouldn’t think he’d be climbing out on the front porch.”</p> -<p>“I suppose it’s something about his radio,” Mrs. Harris replied in her -usual tone of gentle tolerance. “He’s going back to school on Monday.”</p> -<p>“Thank goodness for that,” was Elsie’s comment.</p> -<p>“<i>That shows how much you know about scouts!</i>” the baffled hero had -roared. “<i>It’s girls that can’t keep secrets!</i> If you think anybody’d -ever find out anything from me about what you’re going to wear——”</p> -<p>“Do go away from the door, Walter,” Mrs. Harris had pled. “You know that -Elsie is very, very busy, and I am helping her. She has only till -Wednesday to get her costume ready.”</p> -<p>Conscious of his prowess and resource, Pee-wee had not condescended to -discuss a matter involving his manly honor. He would discourse upon that -theme later when no barrier intervened.</p> -<p>He had returned to his own room and immediately become involved in a -formidable system of rigging which lay spread out upon the bed and on -the adjacent floor. The component parts of this were a rake-handle, two -broomsticks lashed together, a couple of pulleys, several large -screw-hooks, and endless miles of wire and cord.</p> -<p>This sprawling apparatus was Pee-wee’s aerial, intended to catch the -wandering voices of the night and transmit them to Pee-wee’s ear. In the -present instance, however, it caught Pee-wee’s foot instead, the section -of rigging which was spread upon the bed was drawn into the -entanglement, and our hero, after a brief and frantic struggle, was -broadcasted upon the floor.</p> -<p>This was the first dramatic episode connected with Pee-wee’s radio. It -was directly after he had extricated himself from the baffling meshes of -his own handiwork that he had emerged from the window of his room, left -foot foremost; which conclusively disproves the oft-repeated assertion -of Roy Blakeley that Pee-wee always went head first.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chII'>CHAPTER II<br /> <span class='sub-head'>MUG</span></h2> -<p>Simultaneously with Pee-wee’s appearance on the roof of the front porch -the chintz curtains in his sister’s window were cautiously drawn -together so as to confound any attempt to look within. Pee-wee was too -preoccupied to take note of this insult.</p> -<p>His eyes and thoughts were fixed upon a large elm tree which grew close -to the sidewalk some yards distant across the lawn. The tree was -stately, as only an elm knows how to be, its tall, thick trunk being -free of branches to a point almost level with the roof of the house. At -that height great limbs spread out over the sidewalk and shaded a large -area of the Harris lawn. Pee-wee studied this tree with the critical -eyes of an engineer.</p> -<p>He next drew out of the depths of one of his trousers pockets a ball of -fishing-line, and out of the depths of the opposite pocket the -detachable handle of a flat-iron. This he tied to the cord which he -proceeded to unwind until he had released enough for his purpose. He -frowned upon the distant elm tree as if he intended to annihilate it. -Meanwhile, the muffled hum of the sewing machine could be heard through -his sister’s window.</p> -<p>Pee-wee now replaced the ball of cord in his pocket and threw the -flat-iron handle into the branches of the tree. It fell to the ground -with the attached cord dangling after it. He pulled it up and cast it -again. Twice, thrice, it failed to find lodgment in the branches. If it -had been a kite or a beanbag or one of those twirling, ascending toys, -it would have stayed in the tree upon the first cast, out of pure -perversity. But the flat-iron handle had not the fugitive instinct, it -would not stay.</p> -<p>Not only that, but a new complication presented itself. Mug, the puppy -who resided with the Harris family, made a dramatic appearance on the -lawn below just in time to catch the flat-iron handle as Pee-wee was -about to lift it.</p> -<p>“You let go of that!” Pee-wee shouted. “You drop that, Mug, do you -hear?”</p> -<p>But Mug, more interested in adventure than in science, did not drop it. -Pee-wee tried to pull it away but Mug rolled over on his back in the -full spirit of this tug of war, and was presently so much involved with -the cord that obedience to Pee-wee’s thunderous commands was out of the -question. For a few moments it seemed as if Mug might be hauled up -bodily and made an integral part of the aerial.</p> -<p>Pee-wee endeavored by lassoing maneuvers and jump-rope tactics to -release the enmeshed pup, using the entire porch roof for his stage of -action. He loosed the cord, imparted long wavy motions to it, jerked it, -pulled it to the right, pulled it to left, but all to no avail.</p> -<p>At last the puppy extricated himself, and with no regard at all for his -harrowing experience, immediately made a dash for the departing -flat-iron handle, caught it, shook it, ran half-way across the lawn with -it, shook it again, and darted around a bush with it.</p> -<p>The bush was not a participant in this world war. Pee-wee pulled with -all his might and main, part of the bush came away, the puppy pounced -upon the fleeing fragment, it dropped from the cord, and the puppy with -refreshed energy caught the flat-iron handle again, bracing his forelegs -for the tussle, his tail wagging frantically. Thus has every great -scientist encountered hardships and obstacles.</p> -<p>“You get away from that now, do you hear what I tell you!” Pee-wee -roared.</p> -<p>He might have pulled the cord away from his diminutive antagonist but -that it caught in a crack between two shingles at the edge of the porch -roof. The cause of science seemed to be baffled at every turn, and on -the edge as well. If Mug rolled over on his back again all hope might be -lost in new complications.</p> -<p>In desperation, Pee-wee glanced about him for something to throw at Mug -by way of diverting his attention to fresh novelties. The puppy was -already on his back, the cord wound around one of his forelegs. The roof -was clear of all possible missiles. Pee-wee pulled out a loose shingle -and hurled it down but Mug saw it not.</p> -<p>Then Pee-wee did something which showed his power of sacrifice. He -pulled out of his pocket the sole remaining cocoanut-ball from a -purchase of three—for a cent. It was heavy, and sticky, and encased in -tissue paper. There was no time to take even a single bite of it.</p> -<p>“Here you go, Mug! Here you go, Mug!” he called.</p> -<p>The new temptation enabled Mug to extricate himself. He did not care for -candy but he was a ready adventurer in the matter of sports. His -preoccupation with the rolling cocoanut-ball gave Pee-wee the -opportunity to crawl cautiously to the edge of the roof and disentangle -the cord where it had caught.</p> -<p>He now hurled the flat-iron handle with all his might up into the -branches of the distant tree and there it stuck. To make certain of its -security he pulled, first gently, then harder. It held fast.</p> -<p>Having successfully accomplished this part of his enterprise, he cast a -wistful glance down upon the cocoanut-ball which Mug was pushing about -the lawn with his nose.</p> -<p>Just then the window of his sister’s room was flung open.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIII'>CHAPTER III<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE SOLEMN VOW</span></h2> -<p>“Walter, what on <i>earth</i> are you doing out there?” asked his distracted -mother.</p> -<p>“I’m putting up my aerial, and if Anna kept Mug in the cellar like you -told her to do, this cord wouldn’t have got all tangled up in the roof -so I couldn’t pull it away from him and he got all tangled up in it too -because Anna didn’t keep him in the cellar like you told her to do, I -heard you. And I lost a good cocoanut-ball on account of her.”</p> -<p>“Walter,” said Mrs. Harris. “You shouldn’t be climbing and you shouldn’t -be eating cocoanut-balls, when you’re just getting over the grippe.”</p> -<p>“<i>I didn’t eat it, I told you!</i>”</p> -<p>“Well, you come right in here and don’t you climb around on that ledge -again.”</p> -<p>“Then I’m going to bring my stuff through here,” Pee-wee warned, as he -climbed in through the window. “I’ve got the first part all done now and -all I’ve got to do is bring the aerial out and tie it to the cord that’s -on the roof of the porch and then all I have to do is to go down and -then climb up the tree where the other end of the cord is and that way I -can pull one end of the aerial out to the tree and after that all I have -to do is to go up and drop a cord with a lot of hooks and things on it -down onto the porch roof and get hold of this end of the aerial and pull -it up to the attic window and then I’ll have the aerial stretched from -the attic window to the tree where it can catch the sound waves, d’you -see?”</p> -<p>“Good heavens!” said Elsie. “Talk of sound waves!”</p> -<p>Pee-wee now paused to glance about at the litter which filled his -sister’s room. The multi-colored evidences of intensive manufacture were -all about, on the bed, on the collapsible cutting-table, on and about -the wicker sewing stand, in the jaws of the sewing machine. There was a -riot of color, and a kind of atmosphere of cooperative ingenuity which -even the masculine invader was conscious of. This was no ordinary task -of dressmaking. A queer-looking specimen of headgear with a facsimile -snake on the front of it testified to that.</p> -<p>The eyes of the rival manufacturer were attracted to this cotton-stuffed -reptile, with projecting tongue made of a bent hairpin. He glanced at a -motley costume besprinkled with writhing serpents, and among its other -embellishments he recognized one as bearing a resemblance to the sphinx -in his school geography.</p> -<p>Pee-wee had never inquired into the processes of dressmaking but here -was a specimen of handiwork which caught his eye and set him gaping in -wonder. Attached to the costume, which rivaled futuristic wall-paper in -its motley originality, was a metal snake with red glass eyes. It was -long and flexible. Pee-wee was a scout, a naturalist, a lover of wild -life, and he gazed longingly upon this serpentine girdle.</p> -<p>“Walter,” said his mother, “I want you to promise me that you won’t say -a word, <i>not a single word</i>, to <i>anybody</i> about the costume Elsie is -going to wear at Mary Temple’s masquerade. I want you to <i>promise</i> me -that you won’t even say that she has a big surprise. Do you think you -can——”</p> -<p>“I don’t see why he can’t stay in the house another two or three days,” -said Elsie, who was sitting at the machine. “If dad thinks he ought to -stay home till Monday, he certainly won’t lose much by staying home till -Wednesday. If he doesn’t go out, why then he <i>can’t</i> talk. I don’t see -why you had to let him in.”</p> -<p>“Because I’m not going to have him endangering his life on that coping,” -said Mrs. Harris.</p> -<p>“I might just as well send an item to the <i>Evening Bungle</i>,” said Elsie, -with an air of exasperated resignation. The Bridgeboro daily paper was -named the <i>Bugle</i>, but it was more appropriately spoken of as the -<i>Bungle</i>. “<i>Every single</i> guest at the masquerade will know I’m going as -Queen Tut long before my costume is ready,” the girl added.</p> -<p>“You shouldn’t have mentioned the name,” said Mrs. Harris.</p> -<p>“Oh, there’s no hope of secrecy now,” said Elsie. “He’s seen it, that’s -enough.”</p> -<p>It was at this point that Pee-wee exploded. He spoke, or rather he -roared, not for himself alone but for the Boy Scouts of America, which -organization he had under his especial care.</p> -<p>“That shows how much you know about scouts,” he thundered. “Even—even if -I knew—even if Queen Tut—and she was an Egyptian, you think you’re so -smart—even if she was alive and came here—for—for a visit—and it was a -secret—I wouldn’t say anything about it. Queen Tut, she’d be the one to -give it away herself because she’s a girl—I mean she was—I mean she -would be if she wasn’t a mummy, but girls can’t be mummies because they -can’t keep still. Do you mean to say——”</p> -<p>“I’m sure we’re not saying a word, Walter,” said his gentle mother.</p> -<p>“Scouts never give away secrets,” Pee-wee continued vociferously. “Don’t -you know a scout’s honor is to be trusted? It’s one of the laws. Gee -whiz! A scout’s lips are, what d’you call it, they’re sealed!”</p> -<p>“Yours?” laughed his sister.</p> -<p>“Yes, mine. Do you think I can’t keep still?”</p> -<p>“I wish you would then, Walter,” said his mother.</p> -<p>“Well, then you better tell her not to say I’m as bad as the <i>Bugle</i> -because, anyway, if anybody asks me not to give away a secret -it’s—it’s—just the same as if you locked it up in an iron box and buried -it in the ground. That shows how much she knows about scouts! Even—even -if you wouldn’t let me bring my aerial through this room so as to get it -out on the porch roof—even then I wouldn’t tell anybody what she’s going -to wear to Mary Temple’s, I wouldn’t.”</p> -<p>This diplomatic feeler, intended to ascertain his sister’s attitude in -regard to crossing her territory, was successful.</p> -<p>“What do you mean, bring your aerial through this room?” she asked.</p> -<p>“Don’t I have to get it out to the porch roof?” he asked. “Do you think -I can carry it along the molding outside? Do you think I’m a—a -caterpillar?”</p> -<p>“No, you mustn’t do that,” said his mother firmly.</p> -<p>“Well, then,” said Pee-wee conclusively. “Gee whiz, both of you claim to -like music and concerts and things. If I get my radio up you can hear -those things. Gee whiz, you can hear lectures and songs and all kinds of -things. You can hear famous authors and actors and everything. All you -have to do is come in my room and listen. Gee whiz,” he added wistfully, -“you wouldn’t catch <i>me</i> giving away a secret. <i>No, siree!</i>”</p> -<p>“Walter,” said Elsie, trying to repress a smile. “If I let you bring -your things through here will you promise me, word of honor, that you -won’t tell Roy Blakeley or Westy Martin or Connie Bennett or any of -their sisters or any boys or girls in school or anybody at all what kind -of a costume I’m going to wear at Temple’s? The color of it or anything -about it—or the snakes or anything? Will you promise? Because it’s going -to be a <i>big</i> surprise.”</p> -<p>“Do you know what a solemn vow is?” Pee-wee demanded.</p> -<p>“I’ve heard of them,” Elsie said.</p> -<p>“Well, that’s the kind of a vow I make,” said Pee-wee. “And besides -that, I cross my heart. You needn’t worry, Elsie; nobody’ll find it out. -Because, anyway, scouts don’t tell. <i>Geeee whiz</i>, you leave it to me. -Nobody’ll ever know, that’s sure. You can ask Roy Blakeley if I can’t -keep a secret.”</p> -<p>“Well,” said Mrs. Harris, “I think we had better go down and have some -lunch and after that you can finish what you’re doing. I do wish you -wouldn’t talk so loud, Walter.”</p> -<p>“In about a week, maybe not so long,” Pee-wee said, “I won’t be talking -at all, I’ll be listening all the time. I’ll be listening to Chicago and -maybe even to Honolulu, maybe.”</p> -<p>“You sound as if you were talking to Honolulu,” laughed Elsie. “You -remember what I said now?”</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively and definitely,” Pee-wee assured her.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIV'>CHAPTER IV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE NOON HOUR</span></h2> -<p>The masquerade to be given at Temple’s and the unique costume to be worn -by Elsie were the subjects of discussion at luncheon. Pee-wee was too -engrossed in his own enterprise to pay much attention to this feminine -chat. He gathered that his sister’s costume was considered to be -something of an inspiration and a masterpiece in the working out. It was -expected to startle the younger set of Bridgeboro and to be the -sensation of the evening. Queen Tut, consort of the celebrated King Tut -of ancient Egypt. Favorite wife of the renowned mummy.</p> -<p>Mrs. Harris and Elsie were rather hazy about whether his name had been -Tut and whether he had possessed a Queen Tut, but anything goes in a -masquerade. There would be masked Charlie Chaplins by the score; -colonial maids, gypsy maids, Swiss peasant maids, pirates, and war -nurses galore. But only one Queen Tut, leader of fashion in ancient -Egypt. The great Egyptian flapper....</p> -<p>Pee-wee hurried through his lunch and upstairs so that he might proceed -with his work uninterruptedly, while his mother and sister lingered in -discourse about the great event. He was well beforehand with his -exterior work, for the radio set was not yet in his possession. It was -to be a birthday present deliverable several days hence. But the secret -(held by women) had leaked out and Pee-wee had thereupon set about -preparing his aerial.</p> -<p>He now gathered this up and dragged it into Elsie’s room. The cross-bars -were laid together, the connecting wires loosely wound about them. He -struggled under the mass, tripped in its treacherous loops, brought it -around endways so it would go through the door, and finally by hook or -crook balanced it across the window-sill where he sat for a moment to -rest. The operations on which he was embarked seemed complicated and -large in conception. By contrast, Pee-wee seemed very small.</p> -<p>It was characteristic of him that his career as a radio-bug should be -heralded by preparatory turmoil. For several days he had striven with -saw and hammer in the cellar, rolls of discarded chicken-wire had been -attacked and left for the cook to trip over, the clothes-line had been -abridged, not a wrench or screw-driver or ball of cord was to be found -in its place.</p> -<p>Pee-wee’s convalescence from grippe had afforded him the opportunity -thus to turn the house and garage upside down in the interest of -science. He had even made demand for hairpins, and had mysteriously -collected all the package handles he could lay hands on. These wooden -handles he had split, releasing the copper wires which ran through them -and converting these into miniature grapnels with which he had equipped -the end of a stout cord. This cord, not an integral part of his aerial, -was nevertheless temporarily attached to it, whether by intention or as -the result of tangling, one could not say. It dangled from it, however, -like the tail of a kite.</p> -<p>The function of his cord, as Pee-wee had explained, was to elevate one -end of the aerial to the attic window after the other end had been -elevated to the tree. In that lofty position no voice, not even the -voice of Honolulu, could escape it. The world (perhaps even Mars) would -talk in Pee-wee’s ear.</p> -<p>The operations (conceived while lying in bed) for elevating this wire -eavesdropper into position were even more extraordinary than the aerial -itself, and Pee-wee was now prepared to take the next important step in -his enterprise. This was to fasten to the aerial the cord which he had -lodged in the tree and thereupon to ascend the tree himself and pull the -aerial up at that end. Following this, he would make his next public -appearance at the attic window from which he would dangle his grappling -line, catching the other end of the aerial and pulling it up at that -end. It could then be drawn tight, adjusted, and made ready against his -birthday.</p> -<p>He was anxious to get the acrobatic part of his enterprise completed -before the return of Dr. Harris who might be expected to interpose some -objection to the flaunting exhibition of broomsticks and rake-handle -above the front lawn; and who assuredly would have been expected to veto -the acrobatic feature of the work.</p> -<p>The doctor might be expected to return at one o’clock; every minute -after that hour would be fraught with apprehension. It was now past -twelve-thirty, as Pee-wee knew from the advance guard of returning -pupils bound for the high school on the next block.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chV'>CHAPTER V<br /> <span class='sub-head'>QUEEN TUT</span></h2> -<p>Pee-wee shinned up the elm and was soon concealed amid the safety of the -spreading branches. He was a monkey at climbing. He handed himself -about, looking this way and that in quest of the flat-iron handle. Soon -he discovered it caught on a stub of a branch like a quoit on a stake. -The branches in its neighborhood were numerous and strong and he had no -difficulty in approaching it.</p> -<p>He sat wedged in a comfortable fork of two stout branches, his foot -locked in a limb just below him. An upright branch, like a stanchion, -afforded the additional precaution of steadying himself with a hand, but -that was not necessary. He was as safe and comfortable as if he had been -on a merry-go-round with his feet in a pair of stirrups, his hand -holding a brass rod.</p> -<p>Pleased with the coziness and safety of his aerial perch, he was moved -to celebrate his arrival by eating an apple which he had thoughtfully -brought from the dining table. And having finished the apple (and being -only human) he was moved to drop the core plunk on the head of Emerson -Skybrow, brother of Minerva Skybrow, who, being an exemplary youth and -not having much appetite, was always in the advance guard of returning -pupils. That studious boy paused, looked up curiously and proceeded on -his way.</p> -<p>Pee-wee found it pleasant sitting high up in his leafy bower looking -down on the unfortunates who had to go to school. He deferred his labors -for a few minutes to enjoy the sight. He refrained from calling for fear -of attracting attention from the house; his mother was likely to -disapprove his ascent of the tree.</p> -<p>The straggling advance guard became more numerous, pupils came in twos -and threes, then in little groups, until there was a steady procession -toward the school. There were Marjorie Blakeley and the two Roberts -girls going arm in arm—talking of the masquerade, possibly. There was -Elsie Benton (big sister of Scout Dorry Benton) strolling along with -Harrison Quinby—as usual. There were the Troville trio, so called, three -sisters of the flapper type. Along they all sauntered, laughing, -chatting....</p> -<p>Pee-wee, suddenly recalled to his duties, shook off his mood of -contemplative reverie and reached for the flat-iron handle. Never in all -its homely, domestic career had that flat-iron handle been cast for such -a sensational role. Pee-wee held the cord which ran to the porch roof. -He agitated it, moved it clear of leafy obstructions, pulled it taut, -shook it away from a branch which rubbed against it, and began pulling -vigorously.</p> -<p>Across the distant window-sill of his sister’s room tumbled the -cumbersome aerial and fell on the porch roof. Elated, Pee-wee pulled. -Soon he heard laughter below and looked down on the increasing group -whence the laughter emanated. He saw Crabby Dennison, teacher of -mathematics, standing stark still some yards beyond the tree, looking -intently across the Harris lawn.</p> -<p>Directly beneath him the group had increased to the proportions of a -crowd. And they were all laughing. Pee-wee gazed down at them, the while -pulling hand over hand. Assured of his success, it afforded him pleasure -to look down upon the curious multitude who seemed to have forgotten all -about school.</p> -<p>It is said that Nero fiddled while Rome was burning. Thus Pee-wee -pulled.</p> -<p>Suddenly a chorus of mirth arose beneath him, interspersed with flippant -calls, the while the merry loiterers looked up, trying to espy him in -the tree.</p> -<p>“Look what’s there!”</p> -<p>“Who’s running the clothes-line?”</p> -<p>“Where is he?”</p> -<p>“Did you <i>ever</i>?”</p> -<p>“What on <i>earth</i>——”</p> -<p>“It’s an oriental ghost.”</p> -<p>“It’s a jumping-jack.”</p> -<p>“It’s just an ad.”</p> -<p>“I never saw anything so——”</p> -<p>Pee-wee peered through the sheltering foliage toward the house and -beheld a horrifying spectacle. Hanging midway between two sagging -lengths of cord was his aerial. Depending from this was a motley -apparition which he perceived to be his sister’s masquerade costume, -revealed in all its fantastic and colorful glory to the gaping -multitude. No Bridgeboro girl ever did, or ever would, wear such a -costume in the streets; its bizarre design proclaimed its theatrical -character.</p> -<p>It depended gracefully, naturally, from the treacherous aerial, as if -Queen Tut herself (minus her head) were being hanged. No seductive -shopkeeper could have displayed it more effectively in his window. -Pee-wee stared dismayed, aghast.</p> -<p>“Oh, I know what it is,” caroled a blithe maid below; “it’s Elsie -Harris’ masquerade costume; I just <i>bet</i> it is.”</p> -<p>It was a safe bet.</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:336px;'> -<img src='images/illus-001.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>PEE-WEE BEHELD THE DANGLING COSTUME</p> -</div> -<p>Cold with horror, Pee-wee gazed upon this result of the ghastly -treachery of his aerial. As far as he was able to think at all he -believed that some truant end of wire had caught the royal robe and -dragged it forth. There were many truant ends of wire. Perhaps one of -the wire grapnels contrived from a package handle had coyly hooked it as -the aerial crossed the window-sill. At all events it was hooked. And -there it dangled above the Harris lawn in the full glare of the sunlight -and in full view of the enthralled multitude.</p> -<p>They did not scruple to advance upon the lawn.</p> -<p>“Isn’t it perfectly <i>gorgeous!</i>” one girl enthused.</p> -<p>“What on earth do you suppose—— There’s one—I bet it’s Walter Harris up -in that tree,” said another.</p> -<p>“Did you ever in your life see such a perfectly sumptuous thing?” -chirped a third.</p> -<p>“Oh, I think it’s a <i>dear</i>,” said still another.</p> -<p>For a few moments the clamoring people were so preoccupied with the -splendor of the dangling robe that they neglected to investigate the -machinery which had brought it thus into the public gaze until a -thunderous command from up in the tree assailed their ears.</p> -<p>“Don’t you know enough to go to school?” Pee-wee roared. “Gee whiz, -didn’t you ever see an aerial of a radio before? Anyway, you’re -trespassing on that lawn! Get off that lawn, d’you hear? You can each be -fined fifty dollars, maybe a hundred, for trespassing on that lawn. -Don’t you know enough to go to school?”</p> -<p>He pulled the cord in the hope of lifting the display above the reach of -the curious, and immediately discovered the total depravity of his whole -tangled apparatus. The cord was now caught somewhere below him in the -tree and his frantic pulling only communicated a slight agitation to the -dangling garment as if it were dancing a jig for the edification of its -gaping audience.</p> -<p>The heavy cords, with the tangled mass of collapsed aerial midway -between tree and house, sagged at about the curve of a hammock with the -flaunting royal robe almost grazing the lawn. It was easily approachable -for critical feminine inspection and as Pee-wee looked down it seemed as -if the whole student body of the high school were clustered about it in -astonishment and admiration. He could single out many of his sister’s -particular friends, Olga Wetherson, Julia Stemson, Marjorie Blakeley.</p> -<p>“Get away from there!” he shouted, baffled by the treacherous cord and -having no resource save in his voice. “Go on now, get away from there, -do you hear? You leave that dress alone! Don’t you know you’ll be late -for school? Don’t you know an accident when you see one? Do you think -that dress is there on purpose? Go on, get off that lawn—that—that -costume isn’t supposed to be there——”</p> -<p>The face of Elsie Harris appeared in the window, a face gasping in -tragic dismay. Her mother’s face presently appeared also. They could not -see the hero in the tree but they saw the exhibition and the crowd. And -they could <i>hear</i> the hero.</p> -<p>“Tell them to go on away,” he bellowed. “It’s an accident; can’t you see -it’s an accident that happened behind my back when I wasn’t looking and -how could I help it if it got caught when I wasn’t there and didn’t know -anything about it——”</p> -<p>“Oh, I think it’s just gorgeous, Else,” caroled Olga Wetherson. “How did -you <i>ever think</i>——”</p> -<p>“Go on to school!” the hero thundered, “and let that alone. Don’t you -know accidents can happen to—to—even to the most—the smartest people? -Don’t you know that that isn’t supposed to be there on purpose?”</p> -<p>This was shouted for the benefit of his mother and sister and intimated -his line of defense. But Elsie heard him not. One horrified glance and -she had withdrawn from the window and buried her face in the pillows of -the bed, clenching her hands and weeping copiously.</p> -<p>“Walter,” called his mother, “you come in the house at once.”</p> -<p>“Do you blame me for something that happened when I wasn’t there?” he -shouted. “Do you say I’m to blame for something that happened behind my -back? Gee whiz, do you call that logic? Hey, Billy Wessels, you’re in -the senior class, gee whiz, is that logic—what happened behind my back -when I wasn’t there to stop it? Can I be in two places at once?”</p> -<p>“Walter, you come down out of that tree and come in the house at once.”</p> -<p>“Do you say I’m to blame?” he roared.</p> -<p>“I say for you to leave whatever you’re doing and come in the house—<i>at -once</i>.”</p> -<p>“Gee whiz.”</p> -<p>Mrs. Harris closed the window and turned to her daughter who still -clutched the pillow as if it were a life preserver, and shook her head -as if she could not look or speak, and sobbed and sobbed and would not -be comforted.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVI'>CHAPTER VI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE SAFETY PATROL</span></h2> -<p>Having entombed Queen Tut more effectually than ever the ancient -Egyptians did, Pee-wee returned to school the following Monday. A -lengthy conference between Elsie and her mother had resulted in the -decision that the girl should go to the masquerade as Joan of Arc.</p> -<p>“Perhaps her martial character will protect her from annihilation,” said -Mrs. Harris wistfully.</p> -<p>“I feel,” said Elsie, looking through tear-stained eyes, “as if I’d like -to go as Bluebeard and kill every one I see—including all the small -brothers. I would like to go as Attila the Hun and massacre all the boy -scouts in Bridgeboro. Then I would seek out Marconi and assassinate him -because he invented the radio—if he did.”</p> -<p>“Poor Queen Tut,” said Mrs. Harris amiably, launched upon the new -costume. “Poor Walter.”</p> -<p>Poor Walter needed very little sympathy. He had gone to pastures new -where fresh glories awaited him. Having triumphed over the grippe and -Queen Tut, he presented himself at grammar school Monday morning. His -aerial masterpiece remained where he had left it when peremptorily -summoned to the house, festooning the lawn, minus its ornamental -appendage.</p> -<p>Upon Pee-wee’s arrival at school, his teacher sent him to Doctor Sharpe, -the principal, who wished to confer with him upon important matters.</p> -<p>“Harris,” said he, turning in his swivel chair, “I’m glad to know that -you’re feeling better.”</p> -<p>“Yes, sir,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“You had quite a time of it, eh?”</p> -<p>“Yes, sir,” said Pee-wee, with more truth than the principal suspected.</p> -<p>“Walter, I suppose you know of the plan we’ve adopted here of having -selected pupils act as traffic officers during the rush hours, as I -might call them, when the boys and girls are coming and going in the -neighborhood of the school building.”</p> -<p>“Yes, sir,” said Pee-wee, hoisting up one of his stockings.</p> -<p>“The idea is to safeguard the pupils, especially the smaller ones, from -careless drivers. The boys appointed to take this responsibility are of -course pupils in good standing—intelligent, keen-witted, resourceful. -They wear badges and have the cooperation and backing of the police.”</p> -<p>“They have whistles, don’t they?” Pee-wee asked.</p> -<p>Already he saw himself, or rather heard himself, blowing his lungs out -in autocratic warning for the traffic to pause. His roving eye caught -sight of something on Doctor Sharpe’s desk which gladdened his heart. -This was a huge, celluloid disk or button as large as a molasses cookie -and equipped with a canvas band to encircle the arm and hold it in -place. If it had indeed been a molasses cookie, Pee-wee could hardly -have contemplated it with deeper yearning.</p> -<p>“I was an official in the clean-up campaign,” Pee-wee said. “I made ’em -clean up Barrel Alley. I cooperated with the police, I did. Once I even -got a man arrested for throwing a pie in the street. Gee whiz, that -isn’t what pies are for.”</p> -<p>“I should say not,” smiled Doctor Sharpe.</p> -<p>“So I know all about being a public official, kind of,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Well, that’s just what I thought. And besides you’re a scout, I -believe?”</p> -<p>“You said it.”</p> -<p>“And I always lean toward scouts when it comes to a question of -responsibility, public duty——”</p> -<p>“That’s where you’re right,” said Pee-wee. “Because scouts, you can -always depend on them. If a scout says he’ll keep a—anyway, gee whiz, -they’re always on the job, I’ll say that.”</p> -<p>“Well, I’m going to appoint you a traffic officer,” said Doctor Sharpe, -“and you’re to wear this badge and act in accordance with these -instructions.” He handed Pee-wee a carbon copy of a typewritten sheet. -“Read it now and tell me if you think you can assume these duties. I’ve -heard of your work in the clean-up campaign and that’s why I thought of -you. We need one more officer.”</p> -<p>“Did you hear about me—and the dead rat,” Pee-wee inquired. “I’ll read -it,” he said, alluding to the paper, “but anyway, I accept.”</p> -<p>The typewritten sheet read as follows:</p> -<div style='margin:1em 10%;'> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div>INSTRUCTIONS FOR SAFETY PATROL</div> -</div> -<p>Officers of the safety patrol are to be at their designated stations -from 8.30 to 9.15 A.M.; and from 12 to 12.15 P.M.; from 12.40 to 1.15 -P.M.; and from 3 to 3.30 P.M. Officers of the Safety Patrol are expected -to carry their lunches as they will not have sufficient time to go home.</p> -<p>The duties of the officers are to insure the safety of pupils -approaching and leaving the school, to warn, and when necessary detain -traffic in the interest of safety.</p> -<p>Boys acting as officers of this patrol are to use their whistles and the -uplifted hand in controlling traffic while on duty and their authority -must be obeyed by drivers of vehicles in the school neighborhood. They -shall report to the principal any flagrant disregard of their authority -by drivers, taking the license number of the vehicle. They will have the -full cooperation of the police officer stationed in the neighborhood.</p> -<p>Officers of the safety patrol will give their especial attention to the -smaller children, escorting them when necessary. Theirs is the -responsibility of keeping the street and neighboring crossings clear -during the approach and departure of pupils, especially those of the -lower grades.</p> -<p>Their teachers will permit them to leave the classroom early and no -punishment for tardiness shall be incurred by their remaining at their -posts, as provided, after the bell rings.</p> -<div style='text-align:right; margin-right:2em;'>Roswell Sharpe,</div> -<div style='text-align:right;'><i>Principal.</i></div> -</div> -<p>Pee-wee received the badge as if it were a Distinguished Service Cross -tendered by Marshal Foch, or the Scout Gold Cross for supreme heroism. -It looked not unlike a giant wrist-watch on his small arm. At the same -time an authoritative celluloid whistle was handed him. He could not -bear to conceal this in his pocket so he hung it around his neck by an -emergency shoe-string which he carried.</p> -<p>He saw visions of himself frowning upon the proud drivers of Pierce -Arrows and Cadillacs. He saw the baffled chauffeurs of jitney buses jam -on their brakes when his authoritative hand said (as Marshal Joffre had -said), “<i>They shall not pass.</i>” He saw himself the escort and protector -of golden-haired Marion Bates, who had laughed at him and called him -“Smarty.”</p> -<p>As he passed out through the principal’s anteroom, he noticed sitting -there Emerson Skybrow, the boy on whose head he had let fall an apple -core. It was a fine head, filled with the most select culture and -knowledge. That was why Pee-wee had dropped the core on it. Emerson was -not a favorite in the school, much less with the scouts. He said -“cinema” when he meant the movies, he said “luncheon” and “dinner” -instead of eats, he took “constitutionals” instead of hikes, he took -piano lessons, and he spoke of shows as “entertainments” or -“exhibitions.” There is much to be said for such a boy, but he is almost -certain to have apple cores dropped on him.</p> -<p>Emerson was not popular, but he was useful. He was not nervy, but he was -self-possessed. He talked like a grown person. It is significant that he -had not been appointed to the safety patrol. But he was always getting -himself appointed monitor. He distributed and gathered up books and -pencils in the classroom, he “opened the window a little at the top” -with a long implement, he could always be counted on for poetical -recitations.</p> -<p>On the present occasion Emerson had been sent as a delegation of one, -representing the entire student body, to prefer a particular request of -the principal. It had been shrewdly considered that any request made by -Emerson must be regarded as eminently proper and respectable. Emerson -was never late to school and seldom absent. Therefore, a request -involving an interruption of school routine in the interest of mere -entertainment would command attention in high places if made by Emerson.</p> -<p>That is why he had been delegated to approach Doctor Sharpe and request -that lessons he suspended for half an hour on the following morning in -order that the pupils might beguile themselves with something altogether -unorthodox in the humdrum daily life at school.</p> -<p>That was why Emerson was waiting in the anteroom.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVII'>CHAPTER VII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>I AM THE LAW</span></h2> -<p>The two outstanding features of Tuesday were the observance of Pee-wee’s -birthday and the appearance of the circus in town. The circus gave two -“stupendous performances.” Pee-wee gave one memorable performance.</p> -<p>The early morning of that festive spring day found him harassed with -perplexity. His troubles were financial. He awoke early and lay for a -little while allowing his mind to dwell on the radio set which he knew -his father intended to give him. He had extracted that much information -from his father, but he had not been able to extract the gift. Doctor -Harris had old-fashioned ideas about birthdays.</p> -<p>Pee-wee’s mother had been won over and had given him her personal gift -of a dollar, most of which already had found its way into circulation -via Bennett’s Fresh Confectionery on Main Street. As for his sister -Elsie, Pee-wee felt it would be rash to expect anything from her in the -way of a present!</p> -<p>He had exactly fifty-two cents. Purchases necessary to install his radio -set would require forty-seven of this, leaving five cents which would be -of no use, except to enable him to drink his own health in an orange -phosphate at Bennett’s. Or he might wish himself many happy returns of -the day with an ice cream cone.</p> -<p>In any case he could not go to the circus, unless he postponed the -installation of his radio till such time as his circumstances improved. -He considered this alternative and decided that the radio must be -installed for immediate operation, circus or no circus.</p> -<p>The faint hope which he had dared to indulge that Elsie might forget the -episode involving a scout’s lack of secrecy in the glow of the birthday -morn proved entirely unjustified. She did not even come down to -breakfast. Having carefully laid his precious gift on the table in his -room, and feasted his eyes upon it as long as his official duties would -permit, he emerged with his school books, the while whistling audibly in -the forlorn hope that the new Joan of Arc might hear him and relent. -After this all hope was abandoned.</p> -<p>Renouncing his lingering dream of an evening at the circus and consoling -himself with thoughts of his radio, he hurried to school with the more -immediate joy of his official position uppermost in his mind. He reached -the scene of his public duties promptly at eight-thirty and immediately -put on his costume, consisting of his celluloid badge and his dangling -whistle.</p> -<p>The public school was on Terrace Avenue and filled the entire block from -West Street to Allerton Street. Pee-wee’s stand was at the intersection -of Allerton Street and Terrace Avenue. Here, for half an hour, he raised -his hand, blew his whistle, beckoned reassuringly to the small children -who paused uncertainly at the curbs. Occasionally he honored some little -girl by personally conducting her across the street.</p> -<p>“Stop, d’you hear?” he thundered at a bus driver who had declined to -take him seriously. “D’you see this badge? If you don’t stop, you see, -I’ll have you fined—maybe as much as—as—ten dollars, maybe.”</p> -<p>And upon the cynical bus driver’s pausing, the autocrat leisurely -escorted little Willie Hobertson, whose leg was held in a nickel frame, -across to the school.</p> -<p>He stopped Mr. Runner Snagg, the auto inspector, who was speeding in his -official car. Here authority clashed with authority, but Officer Harris -won the day by boldly planting himself in front of the inspector’s -roadster the while he beckoned to a group of pupils.</p> -<p>“You thought you’d get away with it, didn’t you?” he shouted. “Just -because you’re an inspector you needn’t think you don’t have to obey the -law—geeeeee whiz!”</p> -<p>Lacking the size and dignity of a regular policeman, he made up for it -by abandoning himself to approaching traffic, standing immovable before -vehicles, sometimes until the very bumpers and headlights touched him. -They stopped because he would not budge.</p> -<p>Perhaps he erred a trifle on the side of dictatorship that first -morning, but the pupils all reached school in safety, and without -confusion or delay. He stopped everything except the flippant comments -of older boys who were guilty of <i>lèse majesté</i>. But even these he -“handled,” to use his own favorite word.</p> -<p>“Look who’s holding up the traffic!”</p> -<p>“Hey, mister, don’t run over that kid, you’ll get a puncture.”</p> -<p>“Look at that badge with a kid tied to it.”</p> -<p>“Look out, kid, you’ll blow yourself away with that whistle.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee’s cheeks bulged as he blew a frantic blast to warn Mr. Temple’s -chauffeur, who was taking little Janet Temple to school in the big -Temple Pierce Arrow. Fords and Pierce Arrows, they were all the same to -Pee-wee. He would have stopped the fire engines themselves.</p> -<p>“Hey, mister, look out, there’s a boy behind that badge,” a mirthful -onlooker called.</p> -<p>“Cheese it, kid, here comes President Harding.”</p> -<p>“Here comes the ambulance, Pee-wee. Don’t blow your whistle, you’ll wake -up the patient.”</p> -<p>“Hey, kid, here comes a wop with a donkey, blow your whistle. Hold up -your hand for the donkey.”</p> -<p>“Hold up your own hand!” Pee-wee shouted. “He belongs to your family.”</p> -<p>“Hey, Pee-wee, tell that sparrow to get off the street or he’ll run into -a car and bust it.”</p> -<p>“Stand on your head, kid, that’s what I’d do!”</p> -<p>“You haven’t got any head to stand on!” Pee-wee shouted.</p> -<p>By nine o’clock all the pupils were in school except a few tardy -stragglers. For ten minutes more these kept coming. Pee-wee held his -post.</p> -<p>It was about nine fifteen and he could hear the singing within, when he -reluctantly decided that it was time for him to relinquish his enjoyable -occupation. The boy up at the next street intersection had already -disappeared.</p> -<p>But one thing, or, to be more exact, two things, detained Pee-wee at the -neighborhood of the post which he had graced with such efficiency. One -was the sound of distant music. The other was the approach of a -dilapidated motor truck, heavily laden with bales of rags and papers. It -was this truck, rather than the faint music in the air, which attracted -our young hero.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chVIII'>CHAPTER VIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE PROTECTOR</span></h2> -<p>The truck came lumbering along Terrace Avenue, its huge load shaking -like some Dixie mammy of vast dimensions. The piled-up bales and burlap -sacks were agitated by each small hubble in the road; the vast, -overhanging pile tilted to an alarming angle. In a kind of cave or -alcove in this surrounding mass sat the driver, almost completely -enclosed by the load.</p> -<p>Pee-wee had no intention of interrupting the progress of this -outlandish, bulging, tipsy caravan. The responsibility for what shortly -happened is traceable to little Irene Flynn, who was hurrying to school -in frantic haste, being already twenty minutes late. When Pee-wee’s eyes -were diverted from the advancing load to her spectacular approach, she -was almost at the curb, panting audibly, for she had run all the way -from Barrel Alley.</p> -<p>In the full glory of his authority, he planted himself immovably in the -middle of the cross street and raised his autocratic hand, at the same -time beckoning to little Irene to proceed across Terrace Avenue. With -cynical assurance of his power, the truck driver disregarded Pee-wee, -and was presently struck with consternation to find himself within -fifteen feet of the little official, and the official still immovable. -Other drivers, finding Pee-wee a statue, had driven around him and gone -upon their way, to his chagrin.</p> -<p>But the driver of the truck could not do that, for in deference to his -top-heavy load, he must keep a straight course. He therefore jammed on -both his brakes with skilful promptness; the load shook as if stricken -with palsy, a bale of rags rolled merrily off like a great boulder from -a mountain, then the whole vast edifice swayed, collapsed, and was -precipitated to the ground. A jungle of bales, sacks and huge bundles of -loosely tied papers and rags decorated the middle of Terrace Avenue. It -seemed inconceivable that any single truck could have contained so much. -The street was transformed into a rubbish dump.</p> -<p>It is said that music has charms to soothe the savage beast, but the -swelling strains of an approaching band, which could now be distinctly -heard, did not soothe the driver of the truck. Pee-wee had entertained -no idea that he was as many things as the driver called him. The number -and character seemed also to astonish little Irene Flynn, who stood -beside her protector in the middle of the street.</p> -<p>“Yer see wotcher done?” bawled the man. “All on account o’ that there -blamed kid! I’d oughter ran over yer, that’s wot I’d oughter done, yer -little——”</p> -<p>“Just the same you didn’t,” said Pee-wee. “Why didn’t you stop when I -first raised my hand? Gee whiz, can’t you see I’m a—I’m in the official -patrol? Maybe you think I didn’t mean what I said when I motioned. Now, -you see, you’ve got only yourself to blame. Gee whiz, that shows what -you get for defying the law—geeee whiz!”</p> -<p>“It serves him right,” little Irene whispered to Pee-wee, as if she were -afraid to advertise her loyalty. “It serves him a good lesson.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee would have withdrawn from this scene of devastation, escorting -Irene, except that the approaching music grew louder and louder, and he -and his little charge paused to ascertain the occasion of such a festive -serenade. He was not long kept in doubt. Around the corner of Broad -Avenue, which was the first cross street beyond Allerton, where Pee-wee -was stationed, appeared a proud figure in a towering hat, swinging a -fantastic rod equipped with a sumptuous brazen sphere.</p> -<p>“Oh, look at the soldier man, he’s got a barrel on his head, like,” -gasped little Irene in awestruck admiration.</p> -<p>“It’s a drum-major,” said Pee-wee, staring. “Gee whiz, the circus is -coming!”</p> -<p>Even the irate driver of the truck paused in the midst of the chaos he -had wrought to gaze at the imposing spectacle which emerged around the -corner and advanced down the wide thoroughfare of Terrace Avenue. Behind -the red-coated band Pee-wee beheld three pedestrians walking abreast, -and he knew that they would not be obedient to his raised arm. These -were huge elephants, complacent, serene, contemptuous of the law.</p> -<p>“Oh, look—<i>look!</i>” gasped little Irene. “They’re efilants, they’re -<i>real</i> efilants! Will they eat you?”</p> -<p>Pee-wee was too absorbed with the motley spectacle to answer. Behind the -elephants came rolling cages, and amid the strains of martial music he -could hear a mighty intermittent roaring—savage, terrible. Little Irene -grasped his arm.</p> -<p>“Don’t you be scared,” he said. “I won’t let them hurt you.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chIX'>CHAPTER IX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE PARADE</span></h2> -<p>Pee-wee was a true circus fan, but he was first of all a traffic -officer. He knew that the parade could not easily pass this litter. -Zigzagging his way through the chaos of crates and bales and bundles, he -headed off the imposing procession before it reached the corner. He -seemed a very small rudder to such a large ship, but he pointed up the -side street, displaying his badge ostentatiously, and shouting at the -top of his voice.</p> -<p>“You can’t pass here, you’ll have to turn up that street! Go on, turn -into that street and you can come back into Terrace Avenue, the next -block below. Hey, go up that side street!”</p> -<p>Without appearing to pay the slightest attention to him the drum-major, -swinging his stick and looking straight before him, inscribed a wide, -graceful turn into Allerton Street, and was mechanically followed by his -red-coated band. They were blowing so prodigiously on their instruments -that they seemed neither to know nor care which way they went and were -steered as easily as a racing shell.</p> -<p>It is true that one of the elephants seemed sufficiently interested to -pick up a bale of rags, which had rolled somewhat beyond the center of -disorder, and hurl it onto the sidewalk, but he swung around with his -companions.</p> -<p>Following the elephants came the camels and they too swung around; it -was all the same to them. Followed an uproarious steam calliope which -made the turn with a clamor to wake the dead. Then came the rolling -cages with their ferocious tenants. And all these turned into Allerton -Street following the calliope which followed the camels which followed -the elephants which followed the band which followed the drum-major who -followed the direction authoritatively indicated by Pee-wee Harris.</p> -<p>“Come on, anyway, I’m not going into school yet, because I’m going to -see it,” Pee-wee said to Irene.</p> -<p>“I’ll get the blame on me ’cause I got late,” little Irene protested, as -she followed him to a point of vantage on Allerton Street.</p> -<p>“You got a right to see the parade, <i>gee whiz</i>,” Pee-wee said. “You know -Emerson Skybrow? He never does anything wrong and he got ninety-seven in -arithmetic, and even he’s going to see it, I heard him say so. So if -he’s late on purpose, I guess you can be. Anyway, I’m an official.”</p> -<p>This last reminder was what proved conclusive to little Irene; in the -protection of the law, she could not do wrong. She had seen her valiant -escort deflect a whole circus parade; surely he could handle Principal -Sharpe. She clung to him with divine faith and they turned the corner -into Allerton Street which was now thronging with people. They were -mostly either too old or too young to go to school; there was a -noticeable absence of children.</p> -<p>Pee-wee led the way to the hospitable porch of the Ashleys, where Mrs. -Ashley and her married daughter had hurriedly emerged, lured by the -thrilling music. The married daughter held her baby in uplifted arms -saying, “See the pretty animals.” Neighbors presently availed themselves -of the spacious Ashley porch which became a sort of grandstand for the -neighborhood.</p> -<p>People who had not thought enough about the parade to wait on Terrace -Avenue were ready enough to step out or to throw open their windows, now -that the motley procession was passing their very doors. In less than -half a minute the quiet side street was seething with excitement. Women -hurried, babies cried, lions roared, the steam calliope drowned the -stirring music of the band, a gorgeous float bearing a fat woman and a -skeleton lumbered around the corner.</p> -<p>Little Irene Flynn was somewhat timid about the proximity of wild -beasts, but this feeling was nothing to her excitement at finding -herself upon the porch of the sumptuous Ashley residence. But apparently -her hero was not in the least abashed at finding himself in such a -distinguished company. He and Irene sat side by side on a lower step, -watching the parade with spellbound gaze.</p> -<p>“I’m the one that fixed it so you could all sit here and see it,” -Pee-wee announced for the benefit of the company. “I made it turn the -corner.”</p> -<p>“Really?” asked Mrs. Ashley.</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively,” said Pee-wee; “you can ask her,” alluding to -Irene.</p> -<p>“Yes, ma’am, he did,” Irene ventured tremulously.</p> -<p>“I’m on the school traffic patrol,” Pee-wee explained, “and I have -charge of the traffic up on the corner. I stopped a truck so she could -get across the street and it served the man right because he wasn’t -going to stop, but anyway he had to stop because I got authority, so -then his whole load fell over and it served him right.”</p> -<p>“It just did,” said a lady.</p> -<p>“So then I told the—did you see that man with the big, high hat leading -the band? I motioned to him to come down this way and turn through the -street in back of the school and do you know how it reminds me of the -Mississippi River?”</p> -<p>“I can’t imagine.”</p> -<p>“Because all of a sudden it changes its course, did you know that? And -you wake up some fine morning and it’s not near your house any more. -Maybe it’s a mile off.”</p> -<p>“Isn’t that extraordinary!”</p> -<p>“That’s nothing,” said Pee-wee. “Islands change too; once North America -wasn’t here, but anyway I’m glad it’s here now because, gee whiz, I have -a lot of fun on it, but anyway if it hadn’t been for me you wouldn’t all -be sitting here watching the parade go by, that’s one sure thing.”</p> -<p>“We ought to give you a vote of thanks,” some one observed.</p> -<p>“It’s what you kind of call a good turn that happens by accident,” -Pee-wee said. “You know scouts have to do good turns, don’t you? They -have to do one every day. Anyway, gee whiz, I’m glad that truck broke -down. If a circus parade turns, that’s a good turn, isn’t it—for the -people that live on the street where it turns?”</p> -<p>“Oh, absolutely, positively,” laughed an amused lady.</p> -<p>“There goes a leopard,” Pee-wee said. “I know a way you can catch a -leopard with fly-paper, only you got to have a lot of it. Leopards have -five toes, do you know that? I can make a call like a leopard, want to -hear me? Scouts have to know how to imitate animals so as to fool ’em.”</p> -<p>“Can you imitate a cataclysm—a vocal cataclysm?” asked a young woman.</p> -<p>“Is it an animal?”</p> -<p>“No, it’s something like a volcanic eruption combined with an -earthquake.”</p> -<p>“<i>Suuure</i>, I can imitate it.”</p> -<p>“Well, don’t, you’ll only drown the music.”</p> -<p>“Shall I keep still so you can hear the tigers roar?” he asked.</p> -<p>“No,” she said, “we don’t care if the tigers don’t.”</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, they should worry,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>They seemed not to worry as they paced their narrow cages. Following -them came gorgeous chariots drawn by spirited horses, resplendent in -gold harness and driven by men resembling Julius Caesar. Came a clown -driving a donkey, then more floats, then two giants, then some midgets -in a miniature automobile.</p> -<p>Little Irene watched, spellbound. Pee-wee divided his attention between -the pageant and the company, which seemed to enjoy him quite as much as -it did the spectacular procession. He seemed to have appropriated the -parade as his own private exhibition.</p> -<p>“I suppose you’d have arrested the whole parade, elephants and all, if -they hadn’t turned into this street,” a lady said.</p> -<p>“They got a right to do what he says,” said the admiring Irene.</p> -<p>“Do you see my badge?” Pee-wee asked, displaying it. “I got a whistle, -too.”</p> -<p>The parade moved but one block along Allerton Street then turned into -Carlton Place which paralleled Terrace Avenue, then to the next cross -street, and so into the thoroughfare of Terrace Avenue again, where -restless and increasing throngs awaited its coming.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chX'>CHAPTER X<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE FIXER</span></h2> -<p>Inside the school, also, an excited, expectant throng waited. Special -permission had been given to the whole student body to view the parade -and every one of the many windows facing on Terrace Avenue was filled -with faces. Teachers (who are universally referred to as <i>old</i> by their -pupils) were young again in those slow, expectant, listening moments. -“Old” Cartright, “Old” Johnson, “Grouchy” Gerry, “Keep-in” Keeler were -all there, with their clustering, elbowing charges about them, waiting -to see the parade.</p> -<p>The large windows of the gymnasium were packed. So were the windows of -the big assembly room. “Old” Granger, the music teacher, seemed almost -human for once, as he actually elbowed his way to a front place where -Doctor Sharpe smilingly awaited the coming of the great show.</p> -<p>The weather was too brisk for open windows, but the several hundred -waiters heard the muffled strains of music, three blocks, two blocks, -one block off, and in the renewed excitement and suspense many noses -grew flat in an instant, pressed eagerly against the glass.</p> -<p>One block away. Half a block away. The great bass drum sounded like -thunder. They could hear the complaining roar of a monarch lion. The -frightful but rousing din of the calliope (eternal voice of the circus) -smote their ears. Louder, louder, louder sounded the music. In a minute, -half a minute, the motley heralds of the fantastic, gorgeous, roaring -spectacle would show themselves.</p> -<p>Then the music seemed a trifle less stentorian and, presently becoming -more and more subdued, was muffled again by distance. The lion was -either losing his pep or retreating. His roar seemed less tremendous—at -last he seemed to speak in a kind of aggrieved whisper.</p> -<p>Even the terrible calliope modified its shrieking and discordant tones. -It seemed to be receding. Could the <i>Evening Bungle</i> have committed the -greatest bungle of all its bungling career and misstated the line of -march? Impossible, perish the thought! Where but down the fine, broad -thoroughfare of Terrace Avenue would a circus parade make its -ostentatious way? The pupils waited, patient, confident, all suspense. -The procession had paused....</p> -<p>They waited five, ten, fifteen minutes, till the calliope had ceased -entirely to shock the air with its outlandish clamor and the lion had -ceased to roar.</p> -<p>Twenty minutes.</p> -<p>Then, suddenly, a procession appeared indeed before this thronging -grandstand of the school. It consisted of two people, little Irene Flynn -and Scout Pee-wee Harris. But it was not without music, for he was -demonstrating the powers of his official whistle for her especial -edification, his cheeks bulging with his official effort.</p> -<p>Straight along the thoroughfare they came, the eyes of the waiting -multitude upon them. They ascended the steps of the large central -entrance, then disappeared to view and presently reappeared in the main -corridor and entered the adjacent office of the principal, which awful -sanctum had been invaded by a score of pupils and teachers who still -crowded at the windows.</p> -<p>“I had to stay as late as this on account of making the parade turn into -Allerton Street,” said the small official, “because I made a truck -driver stop on account of his being—maybe—he was going to run over Irene -Flynn, but, anyway, I made him stop and his load went over—gee whiz, -awful funny—all over—and so then I made the parade turn into Allerton -Street and we stayed to watch it and, <i>oh, boy</i>, it was peachy. There -were wild animals and chariots with men in kind of white nightgowns in -’em and clowns and elephants and zebras and fat women and skinny men and -dwarfs and a kind of a man only not exactly a man that they held by a -chain and he was wild and uncivilized like—you know—like scouts, and he -growled and looked like a monkey, and, gee whiz, they had two giraffes -and a lady with a beard like Smith Brothers’ cough drops, and I sat on -Mrs. Ashley’s porch and a boy that sits in a window because he’s sick -saw the parade, so that shows how I did a good turn, even Mrs. Ashley -said so, and they had snakes in a glass wagon—gee whiz, you ought to -have seen all the things they had! Wasn’t it dandy, Irene?”</p> -<p>“You saw the procession?” said “Grouchy” Gerry.</p> -<p>“Oh, boy, did we! Geee whiz, you ought to have seen it. We saw it all -from beginning to end, didn’t we, Irene? And, anyway, she has to be -excused on account of a parade being something special. Oh, boy, if you -had seen it, you’d have said it was something special——”</p> -<p>He paused for breath and in the interval a boy student sank into -affected unconsciousness across a table. Another staggered to the wall, -leaning limp and helpless against it. A girl buried her head on another -girl’s shoulder, silently shaking. Principal Sharpe managed to reach his -revolving chair, swung around in it away from the scene of anguish, -leaned forward, placed his two hands before his face, and said nothing. -Miss Rossiter, proud teacher of our hero’s own class, gave one look at -him, an inscrutable look, then glanced at another teacher, turned around -and laid her face gently on the top of the Encyclopedia Britannica case -in a kind of last abandonment of laughing despair.</p> -<p>“He—he—boasts—he——” she tried to speak but could not. “He c-cl-<i>aims</i> -that his sp-ec—specialty is—f-f-fixing—fix—fixing. Oh, <i>dear</i>, I have -—a—a—<i>headache</i>!”</p> -<p>“So didn’t I fix it all right?” demanded Pee-wee proudly. “Gee whiz, you -can leave it to me to handle traffic out there, because I’m not scared -of them. Oh, boy! You should have seen those elephants!”</p> -<p>That afternoon, in composition hour, the pupils did not (as has been -planned) write upon the theme of “<i>What impressed me most in the -procession.</i>” One waggish boy did, indeed, place that heading at the top -of his composition sheet and wrote nothing whatever underneath it, which -seemed a truthful enough composition when you come to think of it. But -he was kept in after school for essaying the rôle of humorist.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXI'>CHAPTER XI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>PEE-WEE’S PROMISE</span></h2> -<p>Emerson Skybrow was also detained after school that afternoon, but not -for being a humorist; far from it. Life was no jesting matter to -Emerson. He remained for the wildly adventurous task of sharpening the -lead pencils used in his class. He was a sort of chambermaid in the room -which he adorned.</p> -<p>But he did not remain long enough to complete his task for there were -important matters on for the evening. Emerson was going to a show, or, -as his mother preferred him to say, an “exhibition.” He tried to -remember to say this and succeeded very well. In the case of a circus, -he could not very well say <i>exhibition</i>. But he could not say show. So -he compromised and said <i>circus exhibition</i>. But he ran plunk into a -catastrophe on his way home which all but proved fatal to his plans.</p> -<p>Meanwhile Pee-wee, fresh from his latest triumph, proceeded at once to -Main Street and to the “five and ten” where he began a purchasing -debauch at the hardware counter. Having fifty cents, he bought ten -different things, or rather lots, at five cents each. These appeared to -represent plans both novel and far-reaching in the field of radio -equipment.</p> -<p>He counted out three dozen screws for a nickel; he purchased two brass -handles evidently intended for bureau drawers, at the same price. He -purchased a roll of tire tape and a half-dozen brass screw eyes. His -resources thus diminished to twenty-five cents, he pursued a more -conservative policy in his inspection. He finally bought three boxes of -copper staples for a nickel and allowed his eyes to dwell fondly on a -compartment full of ornate picture hooks, thirty for five cents. He -paused to consider how he might use these and having found a place for -them in his new field of scientific interest, he counted out thirty; -then the salesgirl recounted them and put them in a paper bag.</p> -<p>The remainder of his capital was spent at the counter where radio parts -and accessories were sold. He bought six little brass rods. He did not -know exactly why, but they looked tempting and had a mysterious -suggestion of electrical apparatus about them. In this carnival of -temptation, he was strong enough to reserve one lonely nickel for an ice -cream cone on the way home. It was, perhaps, the most sensible of all -his purchases for at least he knew how he was going to use it.</p> -<p>He started home penniless. No millionaire or United States president -could ever, in his struggling days of early youth, have been a poorer -boy than Pee-wee.</p> -<p>And now in his state of financial ruin, flamboyant circus posters -confronted him on every hand. They called to him from fences and shop -windows. He knew that the afternoon performance was already under way. A -fitful hope still lingered in his mind that something would happen to -enable him to see the evening performance. Warde Hollister (Bridgeboro’s -most confirmed radio-bug) was coming the following day to bring order -out of chaos in the matter of Pee-wee’s aerial and to hook up the -apparatus. Until then he could do nothing.</p> -<p>He paused now and again, gazing wistfully at the seductive posters. One -of these showed three elephants playing a game of one-o’-cat with a -monkey for umpire. Another showed a pony walking a tight rope. Still -another showed the clown’s donkey appropriately cast in the role of -traffic cop.</p> -<p>On the way home he resolved upon a policy which from previous experience -seemed to hold out some prospect of success. He would prefer no requests -but would enthusiastically relate to his mother the unexpected glories -of the great show, leaving it to her own conscience what she would do in -the matter. But his mother and sister had both gone to the city in the -interests of Joan of Arc, leaving the dismal message that they might not -be home for supper at the usual time. As for Doctor Harris, he was -absent on a case and his return was problematical. So Pee-wee withdrew -to his room where he drowned his sorrow by feasting his gaze upon the -waiting apparatus.</p> -<p>After a little while he went forth intending to visit the scene of the -circus and enjoy such external features of the “great exhibeeeshun” as -might be free. On his way through Grantly Place he came upon Emerson -Skybrow standing before a vacant store. This had lately been a drug -store but had proved ill-advised in that purely residential section. The -circus man, however, had filled its dusty windows with flaring posters -of “The world’s most stupendous exhibition.”</p> -<p>In the sidewalk before the windows of this store was an iron grating of -several yards’ area which opened upon a shaft leading into the cellar. -As Pee-wee approached, Emerson was standing upon the grating looking -intently down into the shaft below. Something evidently had happened and -it seemed likely to have been incidental to his inspection of the -posters in the window.</p> -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“It’s plaguy exasperating,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“What is?”</p> -<p>“This infernal grating; I dropped my tickets down; you can see them down -there.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee looked down, and amid the litter of soiled and crumpled papers -at the bottom of the shaft saw a small, fresh-looking, white envelope.</p> -<p>“I can’t go to the exhibition without them, I know that,” said Emerson, -annoyed. “And I can’t get them, that’s equally certain.”</p> -<p>“What d’you mean <i>you can’t get them</i>?” Pee-wee demanded. Then in a -sudden inspiration, he asked, “How many tickets are there?”</p> -<p>“Just two,” said Emerson, preoccupied with his downward gaze.</p> -<p>“You—you going with your mother or your sister?”</p> -<p>“Goodness, no, they’re too busy getting Minerva ready for the Temple’s -masquerade.”</p> -<p>“You—you—maybe—I bet you’re going to take a girl. Hey?” Pee-wee’s -interest was beginning to liven up. “I—gee, I bet you’re not going -alone.”</p> -<p>“It looks as if I were not going at all,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Anyway, if you asked me to go, I wouldn’t refuse,” said Pee-wee, -casting a wistful eye upon the posters.</p> -<p>“I’m sure you’d be only too welcome,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“<i>Gee whiz</i>, do you mean it?” Pee-wee gasped.</p> -<p>“It isn’t much of an invitation though,” said Emerson, “with the tickets -so near and yet so far——”</p> -<p>“You call that far?” Pee-wee shouted, his hope mounting. “But anyway, I -bet you’re only fooling; because—I’m not a pal of yours. Are you -fooling? Do you mean it, <i>honest</i>?”</p> -<p>“Even if I had the tickets,” Emerson assured him, “I couldn’t go unless -I found a boy to go with me; my mother doesn’t want me to go alone. So -it would be a favor on your part.”</p> -<p>“Geeeeeeeeeeee <i>whiz</i>!” said Pee-wee. “Will you promise to take me with -you if I get the tickets?”</p> -<p>“Would you promise to go?” Emerson asked. “What are you talking about?” -Pee-wee vociferated. “<i>Would I promise to go!</i> Oh, <i>boy</i>! You just get a -picture of me refusing!”</p> -<p>“You’d have to ask your mother, but anyway I don’t think you can get the -tickets.”</p> -<p>“You should worry about my mother,” said Pee-wee excitedly. “You leave -her to me; handling mothers is my middle name—fathers too. And sisters -and everything. Don’t you worry, I can go and I promise to go -absolutely, positively, cross my heart. And I’ll get the tickets too.”</p> -<p>“I’ve already asked three boys and none of them could go,” said Emerson. -“Two of them didn’t care to——”</p> -<p>“<i>What?</i>” gasped Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“The other two were not allowed to.”</p> -<p>“I want to and I’m allowed to both,” Pee-wee said with increasing -elation. “And I promise absolutely and definitely and positively and -double sure to go, so there! Gee whiz, I know how it is with those -fellows, they just, you know, kind of——”</p> -<p>“I know I’m not popular,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Oh, <i>boy</i>, you’re popular with <i>me</i>,” said Pee-wee.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXII'>CHAPTER XII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>CULTURE TRIUMPHANT</span></h2> -<p>It was never clearly determined what was the nature of the part Emerson -played in this matter. Pee-wee’s scout comrades believed that he used -the “fine Italian hand” and effected a masterstroke of quiet diplomacy. -His parents and his teacher, however, protested that he was simply -preoccupied and absent-minded and that his grand coup was attributable -to these poetical and intellectual qualities.</p> -<p>He sat upon the step of the closed-up store watching Pee-wee’s frantic -and resourceful activities with a certain detachment. He did not join -the little scout nor render him any assistance either of a practical or -advisory character. He seemed altogether too well bred to sit upon a -door-step. Nor did he seem particularly edified by Pee-wee’s running -comment as he made ready to give a demonstration of his scout -resourcefulness.</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, you needn’t be afraid I won’t go,” Pee-wee reassured the -complacent watcher. “Because scouts they always keep their words; no -matter what they say they’ll do, they’ve got to do it. That’s where you -make a mistake not being a scout. Because if you were a scout, you’d -know just how to get those tickets.”</p> -<p>He had unwound a sufficient length of twine from a ball he had carried -in his pocket since his encounter with his aerial, and now he made a -mysterious, hurried tour of all the neighboring trees, feeling them and -inspecting them critically.</p> -<p>“I bet you wonder what I’m doing,” he said. Emerson did wonder, but he -said nothing.</p> -<p>Visions of the “Great Exhibeeeshun” acted like a stimulant on Pee-wee, -impelling him to frantic haste in all his movements.</p> -<p>“You’ll get all over-heated,” Emerson observed.</p> -<p>“What do I care!” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>Having found a tree to his liking, he brought forth his formidable scout -jack-knife and scraped some gum from a crevice in the bark and proceeded -to smear this upon a small stone which he had fastened to the end of the -twine.</p> -<p>“Now do you see what I’m going to do?” he asked proudly. “Maybe you -didn’t know that that’s scout glue and it’s better than the kind they -have in school.”</p> -<p>It seemed to suit his purpose very well, for he lowered the stone down -into the shaft directly above the precious little envelope. But he had -aimed amiss and it settled on a faded scrap of brown paper which he -hoisted up. On one side of it was written, “Leave two quarts to-day.” -Aged, faded missive of some neighboring housewife to an early milkman.</p> -<p>He tried again, lowering the sticky little stone slowly down, straddling -the grating directly above the envelope. And this time the gummy weight -settled nicely upon the prize.</p> -<p>“I’ll go home and get washed up and have supper,” cried Pee-wee -excitedly; “and I’ll be at your house at seven o’clock, hey?”</p> -<p>Detaching the little envelope from the clinging stone, he took the -liberty, in his excitement, of opening it for a reassuring glimpse of -the precious tickets. Scarcely had he glanced at them when a look of -bewilderment appeared upon his face. He scowled, puzzled, and inspected -them still more closely. New York academy of design, they read. In a -kind of trance, he read what followed: <span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Tuesday evening, April 16th. -Admit one. Exhibition of medieval painting and tapestries.</span></p> -<p>He looked down into the depths of the shaft which had yielded up these -admission cards. “I fished up the wrong envelope,” he said.</p> -<p>“No, you didn’t,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“What d’you mean,” Pee-wee demanded. “Do you know what they’re for?”</p> -<p>“Of course I do,” said Emerson. “They’re for the art exhibition in New -York—medieval art.”</p> -<p>“What d’you mean, <i>medieval art</i>?”</p> -<p>“You’ll see when you go.”</p> -<p>“I’ll what?”</p> -<p>“Didn’t you say you’d go? Didn’t you say on your honor? Didn’t you cross -your heart?” Emerson asked. “You even said absolutely, positively.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee stood gaping at him. “Didn’t you say they were for the circus? -I’ll—I’ll leave it to——” He looked about but there was no one to leave -it to.</p> -<p>“I certainly did not,” said Emerson calmly. “I said the <i>exhibition</i>.”</p> -<p>For a moment the entrapped hero paused aghast. “Now I know why you -couldn’t get anybody to go with you,” he thundered. “Now I know!”</p> -<p>“You’re not going to back out, are you?” Emerson asked. “You promised to -go. Are you going to keep your word?”</p> -<p>“What do I care about medium paintings or whatever you call them?” -Pee-wee thundered. “Anyway, besides I have no use for academies or -designs or mediums——”</p> -<p>“Medieval,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Or that either,” shouted Pee-wee. “Anyway, besides if I made a -mistake—you can’t deny you were looking at the posters—let’s hear you -deny it because you can’t! I got no use for medium pictures or any other -kind. No wonder you couldn’t find a feller. Geeee whiz!”</p> -<p>“Are you going to break your promise?” Emerson inquired with unruffled -calm. “You said scouts always do what they promise.”</p> -<p>“If they promise a thing that turns out to be different from the regular -thing,” Pee-wee fairly roared, “if they promise—do you mean to tell me -medium pictures in an academy are the same as a circus—if they promise -do they have to live up to something different just because they weren’t -thinking about it when the other feller said—kept back something—can you -promise to do a thing that’s kept back when you—geeeeeee whiz!”</p> -<p>“I never said anything about the circus,” said Emerson. “I saw it in -Little Valley. I’d like to know whether you’re going to be a—a quitter -or not. That’s all.”</p> -<p>“You call me a quitter?” thundered Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“I don’t know what to call you yet, not till I know if you’re going to -back down.”</p> -<p>“Well, I’m not going to back down,” said Pee-wee, sullenly.</p> -<p>“Thank you,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>Pee-wee took his way homeward in a mood there is no word terrible enough -to describe. His face bore a lowering expression which can only be -likened to the awful minutes preceding a thunderstorm. The scowl with -which he usually accompanied his famous sallies to his jollying comrades -was intensified a hundredfold. He kicked sticks and stones sullenly as -he went along. He was in for it and he knew it.</p> -<p>He was to meet the terrible Emerson at the Bridgeboro station for the -seven-twenty train into the metropolis unless some just fate dealt a -vengeful blow to Emerson in the meanwhile. Emerson had explained that he -was to defray all expenses. The only thing which would save Pee-wee now -seemed an earthquake or some such kindly interference.</p> -<p>Entering the house, he slammed the front door, stamped upstairs and -entered his own room for a few moments’ inspection of his radio before -he put on his gray Sunday suit and white collar. He was engaged in this -hateful task when the maid called up that Roy Blakeley wanted to see -him. And her announcement was promptly followed by the exuberant voice -of the leader of the Silver Foxes.</p> -<p>“Hey, kid, come on around to my house to supper. I’m going to blow you -to the circus for a birthday present. I’ve got two dandy reserved seats -right in front. Come on, Westy’s going, and Warde and Artie and Connie. -We’re going to give you a regular birthday party!”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIII'>CHAPTER XIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>MISSIONARY WORK</span></h2> -<p>Pee-wee was a good scout, and a good scout is a good loser. He -accompanied Emerson to the city and to the exhibit of medieval art. -Emerson, having passed his time entirely among his elders, was the kind -of boy who enjoyed the things which appeal to grown people. Yet the -pictures in the exhibit seemed too much even for him.</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, we might have gone to a movie show,” said Pee-wee, as he -followed him dutifully about; “they have dandy ones here in the city.”</p> -<p>“It’s sort of dry, I admit,” said Emerson. “I don’t like it as well as -the Metropolitan Museum.”</p> -<p>“Is that where they have skeletons and mummies and things?” Pee-wee -asked. “I heard they have mummies of Egyptians there. Did you ever hear -of Queen Tut? My sister was going to be Queen Tut at the masquerade only -she changed her mind and decided to be—something else. Gee whiz, there’s -no pep to this kind of a show. I don’t see anything in those bowls and -things.”</p> -<p>“That’s medieval pottery,” said Emerson. “That one looks like a thing -the cook baked beans in,” said Pee-wee, alluding to a bulging urn. “Oh, -boy, I’m crazy about those, ain’t you? At Temple Camp we have those lots -of times.”</p> -<p>“I guess we’ve seen about everything,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“I bet you don’t like things like this as much as you think you do,” -said Pee-wee, encouraged to find some flickering spark of boyhood in his -companion. “I bet you’d like to be a scout if you only once got started, -because I can prove it—do you know how? Because you said you liked some -of those pictures because they’re so barbarous and that shows you like -things that are barbarous and that’s how scouts are, kind of. If you -like things that are barbarous, I should think you’d like to be -barbarous yourself. If you want to join, I’ll show you how, because I’m -one.”</p> -<p>“I meant I enjoyed the pictures because they were so outlandish,” said -Emerson.</p> -<p>“Scouts are outlandish,” Pee-wee vociferated.</p> -<p>“I don’t think I’d care for camping,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Not even getting lost—in the wilderness?” Pee-wee demanded.</p> -<p>Emerson seemed to think that he would not care greatly for that either. -He was a queer boy.</p> -<p>“Scouts always have to have their wits about them,” Pee-wee said. “They -have to be prepared and be observant and all that. Did you ever go away -and forget to take matches? Scouts don’t care if they do that, because -they can get a light with two sticks; they don’t care.”</p> -<p>“If they have their wits about them, I shouldn’t think they’d forget to -take matches,” said Emerson, sagely.</p> -<p>“Maybe sometimes they don’t always have their wits,” said Pee-wee, “but -if you’ve got resources and—and—and forest lore and things like that it -doesn’t make any difference. See? Gee whiz, I admit you know all about -the city and subways and trains and all things like that. But anyway I -bet you’d like being a scout, I bet you would.”</p> -<p>“I think I’d rather have my wits about me,” said Emerson. “Sometime when -I haven’t my wits about me, perhaps I’ll join the scouts.”</p> -<p>“Will you promise?” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Well, you kept your promise with me,” Emerson conceded.</p> -<p>“That’s because I’m a scout. See?”</p> -<p>“Well, if I ever lose my wits I’ll promise to become a scout,” said -Emerson, amused in spite of himself.</p> -<p>Little did he know that the sequel of that promise was to prove more -terrible than the sequel of the promise which Pee-wee had made.</p> -<p>“Absolutely, positively, cross your heart?” Pee-wee demanded.</p> -<p>It seemed altogether unlikely that the prim, level-headed, cultured -little Emerson would ever lapse in the matter of poise and sanity. But -Pee-wee had at least that one forlorn hope to cling to, so he clung to -it.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIV'>CHAPTER XIV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>SEEING NEW YORK</span></h2> -<p>The difference between Pee-wee and Emerson Skybrow was illustrated by -the contents of their respective pockets.</p> -<p>Pee-wee carried with him as regular equipment a piece of chalk for -marking scout signs, the broken cap of a fountain pen used to simulate -the call of a sea-gull, a cocoon containing a silkworm (daily expected -to emerge in wingful glory but which never did), a scout jack-knife, a -compass, a nail for converting his watch into an emergency sun-dial, an -agate handle of an umbrella, a golf ball, a receipt for making -scout-scrapple (a weird edible) written on birch bark, and a romantic -implement which no scout should be without, a hairpin. Some of these -things were rather sticky from recent proximity to gum-drops; the -compass seemed almost sugar-coated.</p> -<p>Emerson carried in the inside pocket of his jacket a respectable leather -wallet with his name stamped in gilt upon it. In this he carried five -new one-dollar bills, a ten-trip ticket on the Erie road, a tiny -calendar, some engraved cards and a railroad time-table. This latter he -now unfolded and found that the next train on the Bridgeboro branch left -Jersey City at ten twenty-two. This left time enough for a little -sightseeing, and they lingered in the city.</p> -<p>Emerson did things handsomely. He treated Pee-wee to soda in a gorgeous -emporium and bought some candy as well. He seemed quite at home in this -night life of the metropolis. Pee-wee found him companionable and -generous. All the unfavorable things which he had thought about Emerson -simmered down to a certain unfortunate habit the boy had of talking well -and using words that grown people use. It seemed an insufficient reason -for disliking him that he called a “cop” a policeman.</p> -<p>Pee-wee felt a little under his protection as they hiked down Broadway -looking in the brilliantly lighted windows and finding free -entertainment everywhere—in the electrical displays, the vociferous -merchants who sold things (“while they last for a dime, ten cents”) out -of the leather valises which they hurriedly closed and departed at the -approach of a policeman.</p> -<p>Particularly they enjoyed a man on stilts with the placard of a -restaurant on his back proclaiming the delights of wheatcakes and -coffee. This man sat on the roofs of taxicabs and was followed by an -admiring throng. Emerson suggested that they sample the wheatcakes and -coffee.</p> -<p>Emerging from the restaurant, they strolled down to Herald Square and -gazed at the woodland camp settings in the illuminated windows of the -mammoth stores. They spoke seductively of spring, these displays. One -showed a campfire with wax scouts sitting about; the cheerful blaze -consisted of sparkling red paper crumpled upon real logs. Another wax -scout was sitting in a canoe, staring with ghastly fixity upon the -street. An open lunch basket stood on the painted ground.</p> -<p>“That’s just the way scouts are,” Pee-wee said. “So now wouldn’t you -like to be one?”</p> -<p>“They look rather stiff,” said Emerson. He was not without a sense of -humor. “You mean that scouts are dummies?”</p> -<p>“What d’you mean, <i>dummies</i>?” roared Pee-wee. “That shows just the way -they live in the woods when they go camping. If that scout in the canoe -wants to know what time it is, do you know how he can tell?”</p> -<p>“By looking at his watch,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“<i>Naaaah</i>, by the stars; he can tell by the consolations—stars all in -crowds, sort of. Anyway, you’d make a dandy scout, do you know why? -Because you like to eat. Do you know how to save yourself from -drowning?”</p> -<p>“By not going in the water,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Nope,” said Pee-wee. “Scouts, the more they go in the more they don’t -get drowned. They have to know how to track animals too, and stalk birds -and everything. They have to sneak up on birds when the birds aren’t -looking——”</p> -<p>“I wouldn’t call that honorable,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“<i>You’re crazy</i>!” Pee-wee shouted. “That hasn’t got anything to do with -a scout being honorable; that’s stalking. You can be—stealthy, can’t -you? Suppose you were out in the woods where you couldn’t—where you -couldn’t get any—any wheatcakes and coffee, maybe; then what would you -do?”</p> -<p>“I’d go home.”</p> -<p>“Suppose you were lost. Suppose you were going to starve. Can you tell -mushrooms from toadstools?”</p> -<p>“Would that help me to get home?” Emerson asked.</p> -<p>“It would help you to know what to eat,” said Pee-wee contemptuously. -“Gee whiz, if you’ll say you’ll join, I’ll get you into my patrol. Will -you?”</p> -<p>“When I lose my wits,” smiled Emerson.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXV'>CHAPTER XV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>IN FOR IT</span></h2> -<p>They went through the Hudson Tunnel and hit the endless trail which runs -through a concrete passageway to the old Erie station.</p> -<p>“You can’t get lost on that trail,” commented Emerson.</p> -<p>Indeed the neighborhood seemed to offer little prospect of adventure. -Yet, as the sequel proved, it was not without possibilities. Emerson led -the way to the ten twenty-two train and graciously invited Pee-wee to -sit by the window. Not only that, but he purchased a slab of milk -chocolate from a man who came through the train.</p> -<p>In a few moments they were rattling through the country and a brakeman -whom they had not heard before was saying, “Westfield and Springvale -Express. The first stop is Westfield.”</p> -<p>“<i>Gooood niiiight!</i> It doesn’t stop at Bridgeboro,” Pee-wee said. “Now -see what you—what we did. We’re on the wrong train.”</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:339px;'> -<img src='images/illus-002.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>“GOOD NIGHT, WE’RE ON THE WRONG TRAIN!”</p> -</div> -<p>“Apparently,” said Emerson, consulting his time-table. “We should have -taken the ten forty-two. I didn’t notice that this train doesn’t stop at -Bridgeboro. It’s provoking, it’s my fault; I should have had my——”</p> -<p>“I know what you’re going to say! I know what you’re going to say!” -Pee-wee shouted at the top of his voice. Every one in the car turned to -stare. “You’re going to say you should have had your wits about you and -I’m glad you didn’t, because now you’ve got to join the scouts, and -that’s one good thing about the Erie Railroad anyway, <i>oh, gee whiz</i>, -we’re going to go right past Bridgeboro, and I’m glad, and I’ll show you -the way home through the woods from Westfield because I got a compass, -so now you got to be a scout, so will you? Because on account of your -honor you’re to be trusted, so will you? Oh, boy, I bet you’ll like -hiking home through the woods!”</p> -<p>“I don’t see how I made such a mistake,” said Emerson, frowningly -inspecting his time-table, for all the world like an experienced -traveling man.</p> -<p>“Don’t you care, don’t you care!” cried Pee-wee. “It’s a dandy mistake; -I’ve made lots of dandy ones but, <i>oh, boy</i>, that’s even better than any -of mine because now you’ve got to keep your word just like I did, but -anyway I want you to join because now I like you, so you’ve got to join, -so will you?”</p> -<p>“I suppose I’ll have to,” said Emerson ruefully.</p> -<p>“Sure you have to,” said Pee-wee, his lips painted with soft chocolate. -“You took me to the city so now I’m going to take you through the woods -in the dark, but don’t you be scared, because anyway if you try to go in -a straight line in the woods you can’t do it on account of your heart -beating on your left side, so you go round in a circle like a -merry-go-round, but don’t you care because we have to go south from -Westfield and I can tell the south by the way moss grows on the -trees—you’ll see. And I bet you’ll say you’re glad you got to be a -scout; gee whiz, I hope the engineer doesn’t stop at Bridgeboro by -mistake or maybe on account of a freight or something. Anyway, as long -as it’s not supposed to stop, we wouldn’t have any right to get out -anyway, would we? Because that would be kind of sneaking.”</p> -<p>“I guess I’m in for it,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Sure you’re in for it—don’t you be scared. We could go home by the road -from Westfield, but that’s longer, so we’ll take a short-cut through Van -Akren’s woods, hey?”</p> -<p>Pee-wee had a terrible fright when the train slowed down as it -approached Bridgeboro. He was prepared to restrain the gentle Emerson by -main force from violating the time-table. But the train gathered speed -again and went gliding past the familiar station on which the baffled -Emerson bestowed a lingering and wistful gaze. He was indeed, as he had -said, in for it.</p> -<p>And being in for it, he resigned himself to the inevitable like a good -sport. At Westfield he agreed to the hike back through the woods, and -though his attitude was one of good-humored reluctance, there seemed no -doubt that he meant to keep his word with Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, I didn’t make you lose your wits,” the little missionary -said. “You can’t say I’m to blame, but anyway I’m glad of it.”</p> -<p>“As long as it had to happen, I’m glad it happened with you along -instead of some one else,” said Emerson. “You deserve to win because you -kept your word and went to the city with me when you didn’t want to. -You’ll see I can make good too.”</p> -<p>They hiked into the woods south of Westfield and were soon enclosed by -the dark, stately trees and the silent night. In a marshy area near the -indistinct trail which wound away among the trees could be heard the -steady, monotonous croaking of frogs, those nocturnal heralds of the -spring. Somewhere in the distance an owl was hooting. Yet these sounds -seemed only to emphasize the stillness. They were startled by every twig -that crackled under their feet.</p> -<p>“When scouts don’t want to make any noise, they wear moccasins,” said -Pee-wee; “I’ll show you when we go to camp. Oh, boy, you’ll see scouts -from all over the country up there. Maybe you kind of won’t like it at -first but after a while you will. I bet you’ll be crazy about stalking; -I bet you’ll be dandy at it. Signaling too. Anyway, I admit I had fun -to-night in the city, and, gee whiz, I like you too, that’s one sure -thing. It seems kind of as if I know you now; you treated me dandy, I’ll -say that. Good night, I knew all about circuses anyway, so what’s the -difference, but anyway I didn’t know you; but now I do.”</p> -<p>But he did not quite know Emerson. For it was not just that Emerson did -not understand tracking and stalking and signaling. He did not -understand how to get acquainted and to make himself liked. He did not -know how to speak the language of boys—that language which is the -admission card to their vast fraternity.</p> -<p>That was the tragedy of Emerson Skybrow. He said <i>policeman</i> and -<i>cinema</i> and <i>exhibition</i> and talked about going for <i>constitutionals</i>, -and those things stood in his way. It was necessary for some boy to look -behind these things and to discover the real boy who knew how to be -generous and kind and friendly. And that boy had never come along and -Emerson was lonely and isolated.</p> -<p>That was the tragedy of Emerson Skybrow.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVI'>CHAPTER XVI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE REAL EMERSON</span></h2> -<p>There was a pathos in his answer to Pee-wee’s explosive enthusiasm. -“I’ll join if you think they’d like to have me,” he said.</p> -<p>“What d’you mean, <i>like to have you?”</i> Pee-wee demanded. “I’m the boss -of that patrol. I’m not the patrol leader, but just the same I’ve got a -lot to say about it. Gee whiz, I’d like to hear anybody say they don’t -want you. <i>Just you let me hear them say it!</i>”</p> -<p>“I should think any one would like to have dinner in the woods,” said -Emerson, with a frankness that was pathetic.</p> -<p>“You don’t say <i>dinner</i>, you say <i>grub</i>,” said Pee-wee. “Or if you want -to, you can say <i>eats</i>. Some scouts say <i>feed</i>. But I like eats best, -don’t you?”</p> -<p>“You seem to be an authority on the subject,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“That’s why you don’t get in with fellers, because you talk so grown-up, -kind of,” said Pee-wee, referring to this nice observation of his -friend.</p> -<p>“I suppose it doesn’t make much difference what you call it, as long as -you eat plenty,” laughed Emerson.</p> -<p>“<i>Oh, boy</i>, I’m the one to do that,” said Pee-wee. “You just watch me -when we get there. You’re going to go, ain’t you?” he asked, in a sudden -burst of apprehension.</p> -<p>“If they’ll let me,” said Emerson. “I don’t know how they’ll feel about -it.”</p> -<p>“There’s a place in my patrol, too,” said Pee-wee, ignoring these -misgivings. “My patrol’s the Ravens; you have to learn to make a noise -like a raven. Do you know ravens can talk? Just like parrots, they can. -They talk all the time.”</p> -<p>“Is that why you’re a Raven?” Emerson asked.</p> -<p>“The Silver Foxes in my troop, they’re all crazy,” said Pee-wee. “Gee -whiz, those fellers tried to tell me that your favorite book is -Webster’s dictionary. They’re a bunch of jolliers in that patrol.</p> -<p>“Roy Blakeley—he’s their patrol leader—he says that a civil engineer -means an engineer that’s polite; that shows how crazy he is, and they -have him for leader. He says that goldfish are sun-fish that got -sunburned. He tried to make me think they didn’t choose you for the -traffic patrol, because you’re too rough. No wonder he can’t get a new -member for his patrol because, gee, there are no more fellers in -Bridgeboro crazy enough. They ought to be the loons instead of the -Silver Foxes, that’s what I told him.</p> -<p>“Warde Hollister, he’s in that patrol, he says you ought to start the -Rabbit Patrol but, oh, boy, I’m glad there’s a place in my patrol and I -bet you’ll like us too. You know Artie Van Arlen? He’s leader in my -patrol. And you know Bert Carson? The feller whose sister has a -birthmark on her neck? It’s the shape of Cuba, but anyway we call him -‘Doc’ because he studied first aid—he’s in my patrol.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee paused, breathless, and for a few minutes as they followed the -narrow trail no word was spoken.</p> -<p>“Do you like being in the woods?” Pee-wee asked.</p> -<p>“Yes, I do,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>Missionary and propagandist though he was. Pee-wee was not strong on -tact. His unguarded talk, intended only to encourage, had chilled the -budding interest of his friend. So that was the way they talked! His -favorite book, the dictionary.... Too rough for the traffic patrol.... -He should start the Rabbit Patrol....</p> -<p>“Gee whiz,” said Pee-wee, as he tramped doggedly along, “they’d never -call you Arabella any more when you join the scouts, that’s one thing -sure.”</p> -<p>Emerson had been hailed by this name, but he had never thought that he -was known by it among the boys of Bridgeboro. He had not known (for such -a boy never knows) that his nice phraseology was material for mirth. He -had not known that his mincing walk and adult manner were ironically -characterized as “rough.” The Bridgeboro boys had not often made fun of -him to his face; particularly the scouts had not. But just the same, -they had left him out of their lives and plans, and among themselves (as -he now saw) his name had been a byword for effeminacy.</p> -<p>It is fatal for a boy to talk too well and use an approved phraseology. -It was this misfortune which had won for Emerson his various posts of -monitorship in school. And by a universal law no monitor can be popular. -That was the pathos of it, that he was ostracized without really knowing -the reason. But now he was beginning to see a little of the light in -which the boys regarded him.</p> -<p>He had walked as far this night in the city as anybody could be expected -to walk, and there was nothing against him on that score. He had also -shown that he was human by partaking liberally of soda and candy, and -there was nothing against him on that score. He had shown himself manly -and self-reliant in the city, quite the leader. But he had “treated” -Pee-wee instead of “blowing” him. He had talked of “seeing the sights” -instead of “piking around.” Pee-wee’s enthusiasm ignored these defects, -but would the boys see Emerson for the really generous, first-rate -fellow that he was?</p> -<p>He did not ask himself this question, for he did not know that he was a -generous, first-rate fellow. He only knew that he didn’t fit in, and he -wondered why. That was why he felt shaky about joining the scouts and -going to camp with them. When he had spoken of the “great outdoors” to -several of them, they had laughed at the phrase. When he had once asked -Connie Bennett where he was going in his “natty regalia,” Connie had -answered, “To a pink tea, Arabella.” It was the “natty regalia” business -which had done the mischief. But why? And how was Emerson to know?</p> -<p>There is only one way for a boy like Emerson to deal with a group of -boys and that is with some sort of a knock-out blow.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVII'>CHAPTER XVII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>ALONE</span></h2> -<p>They picked their way along the trail which was as “easy as pie” to -Pee-wee, as he remarked to his companion. It must have been easy indeed, -for it was well known that pie was like child’s play to him. They -emerged from the woods at North Bridgeboro, a couple of miles above the -larger town and separated from it by Van Akren’s woods, a familiar -resort in the summer time.</p> -<p>A lonely lunch wagon stood near the little railroad station, a cheerful -light showing through its incongruous stained-glass windows. Above it -was a sign which read HAMBURGER MIKE’S EATS. Pee-wee knew Hamburger Mike -and sang his praise.</p> -<p>“Did you ever eat hamburger steak in there?” he said innocently.</p> -<p>Emerson had not. “He seems to specialize on that article of diet,” he -commented.</p> -<p>“You said it,” enthused Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Shall we buy some?” Emerson asked.</p> -<p>But Pee-wee was filled to capacity. “No, I was only telling you,” he -said. “Lots of times we hike through these woods on Saturday and get -some eats there.”</p> -<p>“You needn’t hesitate if you’d like some,” said Emerson. “You went into -the city with me as my guest, you know.”</p> -<p>“Yop, and I had a good time, too.”</p> -<p>“I’m glad you found it enjoyable,” said Emerson. “I enjoyed it, too. -You’re certainly entertaining.”</p> -<p>“You ought to hear me when Roy Blakeley is trying to jolly me,” Pee-wee -boasted. “I can handle the whole crowd of them.”</p> -<p>“I should like to hear you,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“You will,” said Pee-wee. “Up in camp is where I handle that bunch. -Remember you said you’d go.”</p> -<p>“You’d better ask your friends about it first,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“<i>Gee whiz</i>, you promised, didn’t you? You’re not going to break your -word?”</p> -<p>“I think no one could accuse me of that,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Well then,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>From North Bridgeboro to Bridgeboro the trail through the woods was more -traveled and easily distinguishable. Here was a true wood interior, -filled with stately trees and free of underbrush. Here and there a soggy -pasteboard box or rusted can or dirty, empty bottle bespoke the visits -of the only species of animal that defiles nature. But for these -discordant mementos the woods were beautiful, solemn. There was no moon, -but the sky was crowded with stars and the night was not too dark.</p> -<p>“Gee, don’t you say it’s nice in here?” Pee-wee encouraged.</p> -<p>“Indeed it is,” said Emerson. “It’s certainly a contrast to the city—to -Broadway.”</p> -<p>“Will your mother and father be mad?” Pee-wee asked.</p> -<p>“Oh, no, they’ll think we’re coming on the late train. They wouldn’t -worry till after that.”</p> -<p>“Do you know where this path brings us out?” Pee-wee asked.</p> -<p>“I’m afraid I don’t,” his companion said.</p> -<p>“It brings us out on the state road. The state road runs right along the -edge of these woods. Even if this path wasn’t here I could find the way -all right. Listen, can you hear voices—way far off? Those are in cars on -the state road.”</p> -<p>“I hear voices, but I don’t hear any cars,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Maybe there are some people walking on the road, hey?”</p> -<p>“It sounds to me like calling,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“When we get to the state road, we follow it right down into Main -Street,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“We will have made quite an evening of it,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Oh, boy, you said it,” commented Pee-wee.</p> -<p>The direction in which they were going, as Pee-wee had said, was toward -the state road which bordered the woods. The woods path came out into -that road and once upon the road, their journey would be nearly over.</p> -<p>Pee-wee was not at first excited by the distant voices, for the course -of the road seemed to explain them. But, as his companion had observed, -there was no sound of autos. Moreover, since the voices were loud enough -to be heard at such distance, they certainly were not in the ordinary -tones of casual passers-by. Yet casual talking is often strangely -audible through woodland in the night.</p> -<p>Pee-wee (not without a certain ostentation of wisdom) placed himself -against the trunk of a tree and listened intently. “Do you know why I’m -doing this?” he asked.</p> -<p>“I’m afraid I don’t,” Emerson confessed.</p> -<p>“Sometimes the tree catches sounds and they come down the trunk and you -can hear better. It’s woods lore, that is.”</p> -<p>But like most of Pee-wee’s “woods lore” it did not work. Emerson waited -patiently and rather curiously. Then they resumed their journey.</p> -<p>“Anyway, there are voices calling, that’s one sure thing,” said Pee-wee. -“I think they’re in the woods, that’s what <i>I</i> think. Anyway, you’re not -scared, are you?”</p> -<p>“Indeed, no,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>They had not gone many more yards when all doubt of the presence of -others in the woods was dispelled by voices indistinguishable in the -distance and others, clearly audible, which seemed to be approaching.</p> -<p>“We have it easiest,” they heard a voice say. An answering voice said -something in which the word <i>compass</i> was distinguishable. Then suddenly -two brown forms appeared trotting toward them along the path. They -proved to be Roy Blakeley, leader of unruly Silver Foxes, and Connie -Bennett, leader of the Elks.</p> -<p>“Well—I’ll—be,” ejaculated Roy, stopping suddenly. “That you, kid? What -in blazes are you doing here?”</p> -<p>“Not out trailing lightning-bugs, are you?” Connie asked.</p> -<p>Neither of them paid any attention to Emerson, but he volunteered an -answer to their question. “We took the wrong train from the city on -account of my own silly mistake and we’ve come afoot from Westfield.”</p> -<p>“Afoot, hey?” said Connie. It cannot be said that he quoted Emerson’s -word in a way of ridicule. Yet there was a note of ridicule in it, too. -“Well, you’d better <i>come afoot</i> with us,” he said, ignoring Emerson and -turning upon Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Little Margie Garrison is missing and we’re combing the woods. All the -scouts in the troop were rounded up; we got calls as soon as we got home -from the circus——”</p> -<p>Roy, breathless and excited, interrupted him. “We cut into the woods in -pairs about four hundred feet apart; we’re all cutting straight north. -Ed Bronson and Westy are right through there; you can hear them. Hey, -Westy!” Roy raised his voice. “What d’you know, here’s the kid on his -way back from Westfield.”</p> -<p>“Good night! The animal cracker,” Emerson heard a distant voice say.</p> -<p>“Hurry up, give us a cooky or something, kid,” said Connie.</p> -<p>“Look in his inside pocket for emergency crullers,” some one in the -distance shouted.</p> -<p>Emerson felt very much an outsider. Perhaps they would not have so -completely ignored him but for their preoccupation and the urgency of -their errand. But the effect of all this upon him was a pathetic -consciousness of the fact that they regarded him as superfluous and -inefficient in their hurried and serious business.</p> -<p>“Come ahead, kid, you can ’phone home from North Bridgeboro,” said Roy -hurriedly. “The whole troop is out. Your patrol is mostly over toward -the west; come on and keep your eyes peeled. Connie has to watch his -compass so we won’t go crooked. What d’you say? Let’s go, Connie.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee could not resist. “Come on,” he said to Emerson.</p> -<p>To do him justice, he did not intend to desert his new friend. Probably -he assumed that no boy living would hang back in such an enterprise. The -worst that can be said of him is that he forgot to look behind him. Nor -did Emerson hold back because he lacked interest and desire. But he saw -that he was an outsider, superfluous, disregarded. In the intense -preoccupation of this hustling, fraternal company, his detachment from -them seemed hopeless. Perhaps he had not the initiative to push into -this exciting enterprise where his presence would hardly be known....</p> -<p>The next thing that he knew he was standing alone in the woods, -listening to distant and receding voices. Only a cheery little cricket -was there to keep him company. He seemed very far from joining the -scouts. He bore no resentment toward Pee-wee. He looked at his gold -watch to see what time it was. Then, from force of habit, he felt to see -if his neat, leather wallet was in place. There were only two crisp -bills in the wallet now; the rest had been spent in the entertainment of -his exuberant little friend.</p> -<p>Poor Emerson was no pathfinder (the very thought seemed to suggest -laughter) but the kindly path would guide him to the state road, and -from there he could find his way home easily enough. As he made his -lonely way along the path, he could still hear voices, spent by the -distance, farther and farther off. He thought the different groups were -calling to each other. He fancied those two aggressive, resourceful, -hurrying, purposeful patrol leaders jollying Pee-wee.</p> -<p>He picked his way along the path and was soon upon the state road. He -looked funny walking along through the country in the night.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXVIII'>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>DEDUCTION</span></h2> -<p>Emerson knew that scouts were always called out whenever any one was -lost. He wondered whether they had investigated the neighborhood of the -circus. Though he had not been included in their organized search, there -was no harm in his thinking about the affair and forming theories as he -went along. No one could “guy” him or interfere with him in that purely -academic pastime.</p> -<p>He had never before been brought so close to a possible tragedy. He felt -the excitement, the thrill of it, though the door had been so heedlessly -slammed in his face. Poor Emerson’s adventures were mostly in his mind -where no one could see them—and make fun of them. It was not a bad sort -of mind.</p> -<p>As he hurried along with his funny, prim walk, he decided that the -“public authorities” had certainly not failed to consider the perils -which accompany a visiting circus. They would certainly investigate that -field of major importance, leaving the less important field to the -scouts. There was, as he saw it, an affinity between scouts and woods, -and the woods would naturally be the scene of their quest. He wondered -if there were any particular reason for supposing that little Margie -Garrison had gone into the woods. He assumed that the scouts knew what -they were about....</p> -<p>As he took his lonely way homeward, he did not put himself out of sorts -by any feeling of resentment toward these scouts whose organization he -had consented, and really desired, to join. He was quite without malice. -Pee-wee would be disappointed and he was sorry for that. But even -Pee-wee must see....</p> -<p>So this gentlemanly young pedestrian indulged in a little mental -investigation all his own. He did not know that scouts were supposed to -be strong on this sort of thing, deducing and the like. For some -incomprehensible reason Pee-wee had neglected to tell him that.</p> -<p>He eliminated the circus and the woods as being in competent, -experienced hands, and let his thoughts wander to the school, which was -the field where he shone. There, indeed, was his happy hunting ground, -where he collected not stalking photos but lead pencils.</p> -<p>Idly, he did not know exactly why, he recalled all the events of the day -in school. Thoughts came to him, were considered, forgotten. If little -Margie Garrison had been disappointed at not seeing the parade (Pee-wee -and Irene were evidently the only pupils in Bridgeboro who had seen it) -why then might she not have wandered to the circus grounds after school? -Well, the police, at all events, had looked after that end of it. Well, -then, where did little Margie go? And why?</p> -<p>As Emerson thought these thoughts and pondered on them a great hubbub of -searching and calling and meeting and separating and planning and -replanning was going on in the woods. Oh, if she were there they would -find her, these scouts!</p> -<p>But why would she have gone there? She must have first walked more than -a mile along the road. So Emerson Skybrow, alias Arabella, worked too, -in his own way, all by himself.</p> -<p>The last he had seen of little Margie was in the assembly room that -morning, and as he recalled the fact, a very vivid picture was presented -to his mind. She had sat two or three rows in front of him across the -aisle. She was always conspicuous by her red hair.</p> -<p>The occasion had been one of those hurried musterings ordered by gongs -in the several class rooms, which usually heralded the appearance at -school of some minor celebrity or state educational official. These -horrible occurrences came like thunder-showers and were soon over. All -classes were herded into the assembly room, the principal introduced -“Some one whom you will all be glad of the opportunity to hear,” the -speaker spoke, the pupils became restless, the principal asked for a -vote of thanks, the student body joined in an unanimous lie, filed back -to their class rooms, and the agony was over till the next minor -celebrity hit Bridgeboro. Emerson was probably the only one who liked -these frantic mobilizations for no cause whatever.</p> -<p>On the morning of this memorable day the occasion had been the visit of -a “distinguished English botanist,” Miss Flowerberry, of Oxford or some -place or other, who was visiting in Bridgeboro. She discoursed upon the -English ivy which she said spread over the ancient ruins of England like -a coverlet of green. She explained the romantic attachment between -ancient ruins and ivy, and said that it was on such picturesque -memorials of the past that the ivy clings....</p> -<p>How vividly now poor Emerson recalled a most trifling thing which had -happened. He had seen Margie Garrison turn and whisper to a girl who sat -behind her. It seemed as if something the lady had said gave her an -inspiration which, in the full flush of the idea, she had communicated -to the girl behind her.</p> -<p>It was all so trifling and insignificant that he had given no more -thought to it than he would have given to a fly buzzing about the -assembly room. But now, one thought producing another, his mind reverted -to it. Something had been said which caught the quick interest of a -languid listener who had thought enough about it to whisper it to -another.</p> -<p>Well, what of it? Nothing except that on the road between Bridgeboro and -Little Valley was the old Van Dorian ruin, subject of many a kodak -snap-shot, spooky, romantic, ivy-covered.</p> -<p>Might it have been that which Margie Garrison whispered to the girl -behind her? “Oh, I know where there’s lots of it—Van Dorian’s ruin.” She -might have said something like that.</p> -<p>Was anybody looking after the Van Dorian, ruin?</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXIX'>CHAPTER XIX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT</span></h2> -<p>Emerson had still an hour before the arrival of the last train at -Bridgeboro. He knew that his people would not be concerned until after -that. Stranger to boys though he was, he had a certain self-reliance. -Perhaps this was the result of his lonely habit of life. He was also -thoughtful. It was only the flaring, rough and ready qualities of -scouthood that he lacked; and the boy talk.</p> -<p>In Bridgeboro he went into the only place which was open, the Union -League Club, of which his father was a member. Here he telephoned to -Doctor Harris and said that Walter was with the scouts, searching the -woods. He did not say <i>combing</i> the woods. They thanked him and promised -not to worry about the busy hero. Emerson mentioned that he was going -toward Little Valley on this same business but did not say why.</p> -<p>He then went up Main Street into Ashburton Place and thence to the -Little Valley road. He looked singularly unlike a scout in his natty, -conventional suit and shallow-crowned, telescoped hat.</p> -<p>His walk seemed to match his way of talking, although one could not -possibly say anything worse about it than that it was a gentlemanly -walk. Yet boys walked behind him and crudely mimicked him. It seemed -strange for him to be upon such an errand. It was unlike the adventurous -quest of the scouts in this, that it had originated wholly in his mind. -Oddly enough, it was evolved from a trifling incident observed in -school.</p> -<p>Soon he was beyond the last house in Bridgeboro and outside its -boundaries. The Van Dorians had been a penurious race and when they died -they seemed to have taken the village with them.</p> -<p>But the Van Dorian mansion, destroyed many years before by fire, seemed -reincarnated into a thing of picturesque beauty, where it sat well back -from the road, its jagged ends of masonry and broken turrets softened by -the poetical hand of time and covered with a winding robe of ivy. Small -wonder if this old ruin were thought of by one who had been reminded of -the romantic English ivy.</p> -<p>But no one would ever have thought of Emerson Skybrow climbing about -those broken walls and exploring the littered interiors which lay open -to the starlight. He entered through an irregular gap in the masonry -which probably had once been a doorway of the old stone mansion. Here -was a spacious unroofed interior level with the outer ground. A rank -profusion of weeds poked up through the rotted remnants of flooring and -all but covered the crumpled masses of copper which had once been part -of the roof.</p> -<p>The sound of his own feet moving about in this long deserted place -affected him strangely. It seemed as if they were the feet of some one -else, unseen but near him. When his foot encountered a crumpled piece of -old copper concealed in the weeds, it emitted a kind of flat ringing -sound as if the ghost of some cheery old dinner bell were faintly trying -to call the departed household to supper.</p> -<p>Emerson was not in the least timid. It is customary to associate -timidity, even cowardice, with such demeanor as his. It is true that he -did not face the horde of mockers and force an issue with them. But that -was because he did not fully realize that there was any issue or that he -was regarded with such humorous disdain. If he was too “grown-up” (and -unfortunately he was) he had at least the poise and self-possession of a -grown person. Any one of the Bridgeboro boys would have found something -excruciatingly funny in this little gentleman tripping about in that -grim old ruin. But none of them would have been less sensitive to the -ghostly surroundings than he.</p> -<p>He paused in his exploration of the chaotic place and glanced about. -Some small creature of the night, a rat, perhaps, scurried away, -breaking the solemn stillness with its flight.</p> -<p>“Is there any one here?” Emerson asked aloud. He waited a few seconds, -then spoke again, his voice emphasized by the stillness and darkness. -“Is there any one here?”</p> -<p>There was no answer but a flutter of the drooping ivy which hung on a -broken chimney near by.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXX'>CHAPTER XX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE DEPTHS</span></h2> -<p>And now Emerson became troubled with doubts. He saw his quest as -something absurdly romantic—like an adventure in the “cinema.” What -relation was there between a public speaker’s mention of ivy, and a -small girl turning and whispering to her neighbor, and this spooky old -ruin? “There isn’t any logical connection,” said Emerson in his prim, -nice way.</p> -<p>He emerged and clambered up a heap of masonry which might once have been -a flight of stone steps. It brought him to the top of a wall which was -one of four forming a square enclosure like a great well. These walls -were fairly even on top and wide enough to walk on.</p> -<p>The bottom of this enclosure, which might once have been a vault -(possibly a wine vault) in the cellar was perhaps ten feet below the -level of the ground; the top of its walls was perhaps five or six feet -above the level of the ground. So that Emerson, where he stood, looked -down into a dank enclosure about fifteen feet deep.</p> -<p>As he stooped forward slightly, peering down into the depths, he looked -exactly as he had looked that very morning when Pee-wee had encountered -him gazing down through the grating in front of the vacant store. He had -said then that the loss of his tickets was “exasperating” and he might -have used the same word now, as he looked into the baffling enclosure -and saw no way to explore it.</p> -<p>At the bottom of this fearful place was water with stars reflected in -it; it seemed to cover the whole area of the enclosure, save at one -place near a corner where a disorderly heap of stone projected above the -surface like a tiny volcanic island. It was probably the material which -had once formed a flight of steps into this dungeon. At all events there -was no other way of descending.</p> -<p>Two things, and only two, could Emerson see in the bottom of that dark -pit. These were the broken end of a board projecting slantingwise out of -the water, and another piece of board with a broken end floating on the -surface. The end which was sticking out of the water was moving -slightly. Or perhaps it was only the faint, uncertain flicker of light -which made it seem to move.</p> -<p>Instantly the thought occurred to him that the length of this board -below the surface must be considerable if it were embedded in mud, for -otherwise the tendency would be for the bottom to release it and let it -float. But perhaps it was caught among rocks instead of in mud. Anyway, -it seemed as if the two fragments had formed a single timber. If the -fragment which projected at a tipsy angle out of the dark water was not -very long below the surface, then it seemed likely that it <i>had not been -there very long</i>. It could not long have remained in that freakish -position.</p> -<p>All this occurred to Emerson, who had never supposed that he would make -a scout. He walked around on the wall looking down to see if from any -other viewpoint other objects might be visible below. He presently made -a discovery which was conclusive. Then another not so conclusive.</p> -<p>Reaching the opposite side of the square, he noticed upon the flat -masonry at his feet a slightly discolored area about ten inches wide. -Its position on the wall was like that of a diagonal stripe. He stooped, -not without some tremor, for stooping seemed a risky business, and poked -a little dark spot upon this area. Something prompted him to strike a -match and examine it. It proved to be a dead slug, one of those flat, -loathsome little creatures that scurry out of their damp concealment -when a plank is lifted from the ground. This one, however, had met his -doom in a larger catastrophe.</p> -<p>Around the corner was another such area on the wall corresponding to the -one first discovered. <i>A board had lain across the corner at this -place.</i> The fact that the little slug was still upon the masonry would -seem to indicate the very recent taking away of the board. And the -position of one fragment of the board in the water appeared to confirm -this supposition in Emerson’s mind.</p> -<p>He felt pretty certain now what had happened. Some one had walked along -that board to cut off a corner in the journey around. And the board had -broken. Yet Emerson had seen nothing below but the two pieces of board -and the water.</p> -<p>It was then that he made his second discovery.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXI'>CHAPTER XXI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>DARKNESS</span></h2> -<p>It happened at that very minute that Pee-wee, trotting breathlessly -along through the woods, trying to run and talk at the same time, was -telling Roy and Connie Bennett how he had recovered those dreadful -tickets by the application of his wonderful “scout resource.”</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, believe me, he never could have got ’em, because he doesn’t -know any scout tricks,” he panted. “But anyway I showed him how you can -get gum out of trees, and I had a good time with him anyway and he -treated me fine (interval of panting) and anyway, I’m sorry he didn’t -come along. I—I—I’m sorry because I l-l-like (more panting) him.”</p> -<p>“He’d have dropped out anyway and got lost in the woods, kid,” said -Connie. “I wouldn’t take him unless he brought his go-cart.”</p> -<p>“I—jus—jus—just the s-s-same I like——” Pee-wee panted.</p> -<p>“Listen, there’s Westy shouting,” said Roy.</p> -<p>They paused to listen, then tramped on again, looking sharply to the -right and left as they made their way in a bee-line through the dark -woods.</p> -<hr class='tbk' /> -<p>The match Emerson had lighted reminded him of something; and the thought -having occurred to him, he did not hesitate. He removed his wallet to -his trousers pocket, slipped off his neat jacket and ignited the lining -of it with another match. It stubbornly refused to burn, so he took the -precious Erie time-table out of his wallet and ignited that.</p> -<p>With this torch he was enabled to encourage the jacket to burn more -hopefully. He swung it to and fro to fan the doubtful blaze and soon it -was a mass of flame. For a brief moment it showed the boy in bold -relief, standing there on the narrow wall of masonry surrounded by the -night. His white pique shirt with starched cuffs attached gave him an -appearance of polite negligee which did not ill become him.</p> -<p>He tucked his neat four-in-hand scarf into his shirt front to prevent it -from catching fire, and bent far forward to keep the spreading flame -well away from him. Then he threw the blazing jacket into the enclosure. -It dropped where he intended it to, on the end of the timber which -slanted up out of the water.</p> -<p>The interior of the walled-in hole was instantly illuminated. Emerson -saw that the water reached to the very edges; there was no telling how -deep it might be nor what was beneath it. Odds and ends of debris -floated in it; twigs, a soggy, half-recognizable cap, a bobbing -baseball. Evidently these treasures had not beguiled their owners to -venture into that perilous place.</p> -<p>One thing more he saw in the fitful light. Close to the little, hobbly -island was a dab of red and near it something of another color, foreign -to its immediate surroundings. He thought it was the sleeve of a -garment. Something that might be a hand was visible at the end of it. -But the position was unnatural for an arm; there was something appalling -in the way it lay. Then the jacket, reduced to a charred mass with a few -unburned shreds, tumbled off the board into the water and all was -darkness.</p> -<p>Emerson listened but there was no sound save the sizzling of the last -burning remnant as it was swallowed in the black water.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXII'>CHAPTER XXII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>ARABELLA</span></h2> -<p>Clouds were now bespreading the sky, obscuring the myriad stars, and -bringing with them a freshening breeze. The boy who thought they would -not want him in the scouts stood upon the wall, his shirt blowing and -flapping against his slender form. He was just a dash of white in the -enveloping blackness.</p> -<p>Some day a sculptor will carve a statue of a scout. But it will not be -the figure standing there that night in the darkness, his hair blowing, -his spotless white shirt agitated by the heightening wind. It was -ironical that this fine, heroic picture with its touch of wildness and -impending recklessness, was in the darkness, and isolated where it could -not be seen. For that was the way it was with Emerson; no one saw him, -no one really knew him. And so the stirring picture was wasted....</p> -<p>Should he hurry to the nearest house for aid?</p> -<p>He gazed around but there was no light anywhere in that forsaken -neighborhood. He looked below into the enclosure, then away again, and -for a moment, several moments, seemed uncertain, fearful, bewildered. -Then the monitor of the spelling books, knight of the lead pencils, -Arabella, the teacher’s pet, fixed his eyes upon the projecting end of -board for whatever doubtful safety it might afford him, and leaped -straight for it into the black, watery hole.</p> -<p>A sudden, painful contact, a splash, a frantic grasping for something, -anything; a warm, wet feeling on his throbbing forehead, a tingling in -his finger-tips, a sinking, sinking——</p> -<p>Then oblivion.</p> -<hr class='tbk' /> -<p>When he came to his senses, the stars were looking down at him, silent -watchers known to scouts, the only comrades who saw what he had done. -The clouds had cleared for Emerson Skybrow and he saw the light. These -stars would guide him many times and oft; they seemed even now to be -waiting for him.</p> -<p>He was lying half-submerged on rocks and mud. The plank which he had -alighted on was floating. One of his eyes was glued shut and he had to -use a trembling hand to open it. He stretched his arms and legs and -found that he was not helpless. He felt of his forehead and it was -shocking to the touch, as if something terrible had happened there. But -this was only a cut, extensive rather than deep, and incrusted with -blood. But it had ceased to bleed. He felt strange and his head ached -cruelly and when he got to his feet, he found that he was weaker than he -had supposed.</p> -<p>For a moment, he reeled and caught himself just in time to keep from -falling. He glanced about bewildered, pressing his wounded forehead and -wondering where he was. “I think I must be dreaming, I—I don’t—I seem to -have lost my bearings completely,” he said in his nice way.</p> -<p>But soon he was in full possession of his wits; he remembered leaping, -and he realized why he did not have his jacket on. He wondered how long -he had lain unconscious. Long enough for the clouds to have passed and -for the friendly stars to resume their watch in the sky, at any rate.</p> -<p>“This is certainly a predicament,” he said, looking about. From sheer -force of habit he brought his left hand up to his bedraggled scarf and -pinched it into proper adjustment in the opening of his soiled, wilted -collar.</p> -<p>Suddenly it came to him in a flash why he was there. One misgiving was -dispelled; the water was not deep. If it had been, he certainly would -have been in a “predicament” for he did not know how to swim.</p> -<p>He stumbled through the shallow water, encountering rocks and sinking -almost knee-deep in mud, and sat upon the little hubble of fallen -masonry which was the only dry spot in that horrible prison. He lowered -his throbbing forehead to his hands and sat thus for a few moments to -regain possession of his fitful senses. Then he was startled into -activity by sudden recollection of the urgency of his errand.</p> -<p>He seemed quite himself now, but weak and shaky. Tremblingly, in a panic -of fearful apprehension, he looked for the dash of color which he had -seen from above. There it was, a mud-stained sleeve, almost at his feet. -He could not bear to touch the white hand that projected from it. Rather -than do that, he felt of the other little spot of color near it, which -also he had seen from above. It was a mass of disordered hair upon the -water close to the debris. If the head which it covered lay face down -then his reckless plunge and suffering had gone for naught.</p> -<p>He could not bring himself to move that spreading, undulating mass of -hair. He found it easier to feel of the mud-smeared hand. If the one to -whom that mud-stained hand belonged could have known that it was -“Arabella” Skybrow clasping it, she would have been the most astonished -little girl in the world.</p> -<p>Would she ever know? Or was she past all knowing? Was even she, the -little red-headed subject of his heroism, not to see him as he really -was?</p> -<p>He felt of the little hand where it lay upon the stones and it was cold. -For a moment he hesitated, breathing in quick, spasmodic, panicky -breaths. He was prepared for what he expected to see. But he must pause -just a moment to calm his nerves and muster the courage to look—to face -it. Then he reached down and lifted the mass of hair which rested like a -clump of seaweed on the shallow water. Meanwhile, the friendly stars -smiled down upon him.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIII'>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>IN THE WOODS</span></h2> -<p>They shone, too, upon the scouts who tramped through the woods that -night. And the boys who had not compasses used the stars to guide them -in their bee-line course northward. Most of these traveling units -consisted of two scouts so that observation might be kept both to right -and left as they trotted northward. Some of the parties, however, -consisted of three, even four, scouts.</p> -<p>It was nice, skilfully geometric, how they made a sort of checker-board -of the woods and covered the whole area. For almost a mile, which was -the breadth of the wooded area, they moved in a score or more of -straight lines, pausing here and there for incidental investigation, but -for the most part keeping a straight course.</p> -<p>Neighboring units were always within call and the woods echoed with -cheery, hopeful voices. Now and again a sudden shout far to east or west -brought all searchers to a stop; there would be a moment of suspended -elation, then the parties would trot on again. Every hubble of the -ground, every object apparently foreign to the woods, every stump and -rock was noticed, and investigated. There was probably not a yard of -territory in those dark woods that was not seen that night by the prying -eyes of scouts. The object of their quest made the work serious, yet -there was much badinage back and forth between neighboring parties.</p> -<p>Roy and Connie, with their new recruit, Pee-wee, followed the woods path -and their progress was easy. Now and then, as they went along, they -could see a quick, brief light to east or west where other scouts were -verifying their direction with compass and flashlight.</p> -<p>Pee-wee used both compass and flashlight in spite of the path; he was -nothing if not thorough. The familiar path might change its mind and -alter its accustomed course; Pee-wee was for safety first. He jogged -along with his compass in one hand and Roy’s flashlight in the other, -eating an apple (gift from Connie) which he managed to hold also, and -talking volubly at the same time.</p> -<p>In addition, his frowning gaze penetrated the woods now to one side, now -to the other, and occasionally he confirmed the accuracy of his compass -by a searching look heavenward where one of his particular friends, the -Big Dipper, resided. So it may be said that every movable part of -Pee-wee was in action—particularly his jaws.</p> -<p>“Gee, I have to take the blame because he went back, that’s one sure -thing,” he said. “Gee whiz, I thought he’d follow me.”</p> -<p>“You should have known him better than that, kid,” laughed Connie. “Can -you picture him on a trip like this?”</p> -<p>“Don’t make me laugh,” said Roy.</p> -<p>“Now maybe he won’t join,” said Pee-wee. “I had him all worked up to the -point where he was going to join.”</p> -<p>“Don’t you believe it, kid,” laughed Connie again. “You stand a better -chance of being struck by lightning than getting that Mary into your -patrol. What do you want him for, anyway? They’d only guy the life out -of him up at camp.”</p> -<p>“You don’t know him like I do,” Pee-wee protested. “He’s a nice feller. -Gee whiz, I didn’t want to go with him but I promised to, so I did——”</p> -<p>“After half a dozen other fellows passed it up,” said Connie. “You were -a little brick, kid, to let him wish himself on you like that.”</p> -<p>“Some good turn,” panted Roy, as they jogged along.</p> -<p>“He treated me,” said Pee-wee; “he treated me to a lot of things.”</p> -<p>“Yop, I’ve seen that wallet,” laughed Connie. “He keeps calling cards in -it.”</p> -<p>“He keeps dollar bills in it,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“You love him for his money,” said Roy.</p> -<p>“He loves him for his wheatcakes,” said Connie.</p> -<p>“You make me tired!” roared Pee-wee. “That shows how much you know about -propa——”</p> -<p>“Oh, he’s proper all right,” said Connie.</p> -<p>“I mean propaganda,” Pee-wee roared. “That shows how much you know about -being a propagandist and getting new fellers. Anyway, I like him and I -don’t care what you say. He treated me fine in the city, and he’s all -right.”</p> -<p>“For collecting lead pencils,” said Connie.</p> -<p>“I heard he does embroidery work,” said Roy.</p> -<p>“Is that any worse than birch-bark work?” Pee-wee thundered, not without -a real touch of his boasted logic. “What’s the difference between making -fancy things out of cloth or out of wood? Gee whiz! You make -napkin-rings, don’t you?”</p> -<p>“You love him for his riches, kid,” laughed Roy.</p> -<p>“You make me sick,” Pee-wee panted, as he buried his teeth in his apple.</p> -<p>“I’ll tell you how it is, kid,” said Connie more seriously. “It isn’t a -case of what <i>you</i> want. You’re all right, kiddo, as far as that goes. -But he won’t join because it isn’t in him to join. If he joined, he’d -drop out.”</p> -<p>“Look at Tom Slade!” Pee-wee shouted, speaking while he held the apple -with his teeth in order to throw a light on his compass.</p> -<p>“Tom was a hoodlum if that’s what you mean,” said Roy. “He wasn’t a -sissy. You’ve got something to work on with a hoodlum. If Arabella wants -to hit the great outdoors, as he calls it, let him join the Camp-fire -Girls. Forget it, kid; it’s all right to be friends with him but for -goodness’ sake pike around and get somebody else to join your patrol. -You’ll never get Arabella, take that from me. He just wouldn’t fit in, -and he wouldn’t join anyway.”</p> -<p>“It isn’t so easy to get fellers,” said Pee-wee, reminiscent of his -dubious experience as a missionary. “Who could I get, tell me -that—you’re so smart.”</p> -<p>“What’s the matter with Toby Ralston?” Connie queried.</p> -<p>“There you are,” agreed Roy, “and you’d get two scouts in one. You’d get -Robin Hood, too.”</p> -<p>“Oh, boy! Some scout!” said Connie.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIV'>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>ROBIN HOOD</span></h2> -<p>They emerged into the road at North Bridgeboro where other scouts were -already straggling after their fruitless quest. None of the parties had -anything to report except that they were tired. Pee-wee reported, also, -that he was hungry. They gathered on the dark platform of the little -North Bridgeboro station, considering what to do next.</p> -<p>Across the road from the station were the country store, the grain and -feed yard, and several other stores and buildings, locked and in -darkness. In all that rural solitude only one bright spot was to be -seen, the dirty stained-glass windows of Hamburger Mike’s “eats” wagon.</p> -<p>“Let’s go over and get some pie and coffee,” one of the disheartened -searchers suggested.</p> -<p>“Let’s follow the road back to town,” another proposed.</p> -<p>Some who did not care to regale themselves thought it would be well to -do that in the forlorn hope that some clew or information might come to -them along the road. Since they had no clew, one way was as good as -another.</p> -<p>Roy, Pee-wee, Connie and several others decided to get something to eat -at Mike’s before returning through the woods, where they would make a -supplementary search. What else could they do? The whole thing seemed so -hopeless. It was in Hamburger Mike’s that Pee-wee’s party encountered -Toby Ralston.</p> -<p>Toby lived in North Bridgeboro. He was a quiet, easy-going, country boy, -familiar in the thoroughfare of the larger town some two or three miles -below; one of those boys who seemed never to go home, notwithstanding -that he was not in the least adventurous or wayward. He was the kind of -boy (and there are many such) who attaches himself to some place of -doubtful interest and makes it his accustomed headquarters.</p> -<p>Now and then, a boy is found who likes to hang out in a garage, or -perhaps at a fire house, and identify himself with the place as a cat -does. Usually he renders much gratuitous service for no comprehensible -reason. Such boys may be said to have the local habit.</p> -<p>Toby Ralston was one of those boys. Why he had never joined the scouts -is an interesting question. The scene of his altogether innocent -lounging was Hamburger Mike’s lunch wagon. Hamburger Mike never closed -up. Trains might come and trains might go, the stores might close, the -villagers go to bed, the neighborhood of the station become a deserted -wilderness; but the light always burned in the dirty stained-glass -windows of Hamburger Mike’s lunch wagon. Surely, on the day of judgment, -Hamburger Mike would be the last to turn out his lights.</p> -<p>It is not on record that Mike ever gave Toby Ralston a cent for helping -to wash dishes and drawing coffee out of his nickel cylinders, or -putting new menu cards in the greasy menu card frame. But Toby did these -things every day and usually until midnight. And while he was thus -engaged his side partner, Robin Hood, waited patiently for him.</p> -<p>Robin Hood was a magnificent police dog. His noble posture as he sat in -the dingy place made the lunch wagon look squalid and mundane enough. -Robin Hood disdained the place with the disdain of a true aristocrat. It -was perfectly evident that he did not approve of his young master’s -attachment to this greasy, smoky, stuffy emporium. Hour in and hour out, -he would lie waiting patiently, and when his lord went forth, he would -slowly rise, stretch his legs and go too.</p> -<p>Robin Hood’s gray wolfish hair and wild eyes and upright ears were -familiar on the streets of Bridgeboro and the staring admiration which -he aroused seemed a matter of no concern to him whatever. He was -oblivious to every one but Toby. He received petting from others as if -it bored him; and occasionally, when it was excessive, he showed -resentment.</p> -<p>He paid not the slightest attention to these scouts as they entered and -lined up on the row of revolving stools before the greasy counter.</p> -<p>“Here’s your chance to join the scouts, Toby,” said Connie Bennett. -“There’s a vacancy in the animal cracker’s patrol.”</p> -<p>“What’s up?” Toby asked, as he slid a plate of pie along the counter so -that it came to a stop directly before Connie. “Want coffee—you -fellows?”</p> -<p>Hamburger Mike himself waited on the others, then went back to his -corner and resumed the reading of a newspaper.</p> -<p>“Here’s your chance,” repeated Connie. “Do you know what brings us up -here this late? You know Margie Garrison, don’t you? Red-headed? She -hasn’t been seen since four o’clock this afternoon—lost. We’ve been -combing the woods for her. Nothing doing. You’re always saying you’re -going to join and you never do—<i>gee williger</i>, this coffee’s hot. She -was seen in Westover’s field this afternoon and nobody saw her after -that. Bring Robin Hood along and we’ll trail her; what d’you say? Say -you’ll join the scouts and we’ll keep the job in the family. If we find -her, won’t it be some tall sensation?”</p> -<p>“Robin Hood could never trail her,” said Roy, drinking coffee.</p> -<div class='figcenter' style='width:80%; max-width:337px;'> -<img src='images/illus-003.jpg' alt='' style='width:100%;height:auto;' /> -<p class='caption'>“ROBIN HOOD COULD NEVER TRAIL HER!” SAID ROY.</p> -</div> -<p>“Oh, is that so?” Toby sneered.</p> -<p>“Yes, that’s so,” said Westy Martin.</p> -<p>“Now, you tell one,” said Toby, turning to Pee-wee.</p> -<p>It was half a minute before Pee-wee was able sufficiently to get the -upper hand of the pie he was eating to speak coherently. But he was able -to think meanwhile. And a great light suddenly burst upon him. What a -glorious acquisition to his patrol Toby and this magnificent dog would -be. He had heard about dogs tracking fugitives. He had seen them thus -employed in <i>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</i>. He had seen them in the movies. But the -idea of a dog attached to his own patrol, leading the way to a poor, -little lost girl in the dead of night—this was something beyond the -range of his fondest dreams. Here would be adventure and glory. That was -some inspiration of Connie’s, he thought.</p> -<p>When he was able to speak it was Roy, who sat next to him, whom he -addressed. His conscience may have troubled him a little, for he spoke -in an undertone. Roy, despite his habit of victimizing Pee-wee with -unholy banter, was after all his friend—his closest friend.</p> -<p>“Do you mean—do you really think he won’t—that when it comes down to it -he won’t join?”</p> -<p>“Who, Arabella?”</p> -<p>“Do you mean it?”</p> -<p>“<i>Good night</i>, kid, have some sense on your birthday. Why didn’t he come -with us if he was willing to be one of us? What did he do? Turned around -and walked home. There you are; what more do you want?”</p> -<p>Pee-wee was thoughtful. As he could not decide what he wanted to do or -say, he fell back on doing something which he was absolutely positive he -wanted to do. He bespoke two sugar crullers with which to finish his -coffee.</p> -<p>And meanwhile, the talk went on.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXV'>CHAPTER XXV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>A NEW MEMBER</span></h2> -<p>“Come ahead, Toby; eventually, why not now?” asked Westy.</p> -<p>“<i>Eventually</i>,” mocked Dorry Benton. “Sounds like Arabella.”</p> -<p>“Don’t worry about him, he’s home in bed,” said Connie.</p> -<p>But Pee-wee, for one, did worry about him. He could not get him out of -his thoughts. He recalled how ready Emerson had been to treat him, and -how pleasant he had been in his own prim way. Yet now, among his own -comrades, rough and ready and bantering, Pee-wee really did feel more at -home. And he saw Emerson as a boy quite impossible in such company. -Right and left, they were ridiculing his schemes and ideas about poor -Emerson. And then there was Robin Hood....</p> -<p>As he finished, he slipped down from the stool and went over and patted -Robin Hood. The splendid animal paid not the slightest attention to him.</p> -<p>Hamburger Mike glanced over the top of his paper. “He wouldn’ make frens -widcher,” he informed Pee-wee. “Dem perlece dogs got no use for nobody -’cepten’ dere owners.”</p> -<p>“You do something big and he’ll pay attention to you,” said Toby. “In -the war, Bob would go to anybody that had the distinguished service -cross, wouldn’t you, Bobby—hey, Bobby?”</p> -<p>Robin Hood glanced slowly around at his young master, then away again. -He did not look as if he were likely to pay much attention to any one -else.</p> -<p>Pee-wee could not own this dog, but he might have him in his patrol. And -probably the scouts were right about Emerson.... He forgot his radio, he -forgot Emerson, he forgot everything in the new scout plan which -Connie’s inspiration had suggested.</p> -<p>“I’d like to put one over on the police,” he heard Dorry say.</p> -<p>“Boy Scouts Successful in Search with Police Dog,” he heard Westy say, -suggesting a possible heading in the Bridgeboro <i>Daily Bungle</i>.</p> -<p>“If—if you really want to join,” said Pee-wee, his conscience still -causing him to speak in a halting way, “gee whiz, I’ll only be too glad, -and I guess Artie will too; won’t you, Artie?”</p> -<p>“You bet,” said Artie Van Arlen, titular head of the Ravens. Like many -titular heads, he was subject to a boss. And it was the boss who was -speaking.</p> -<p>“If I go with you to-night and let Bob help, it means I’m in on it?” -said Toby conditionally.</p> -<p>“You said it,” encouraged Roy. “Same as Pee-wee; member in good -standing, only he doesn’t stand very high.”</p> -<p>“Will you? Say the word,” Connie encouraged.</p> -<p>“And you can go to camp and everything,” Pee-wee shouted, his conscience -reconciled or drugged at last. “To-night—right now—we’ll—I tell you what -we’ll do—we’ll take Bob—we’ll—listen—we’ll take Bobbin Hood—I mean Robin -Hood—and we’ll go to Garrisons, hey, and start from there. We’ll give -him the scent, and, oh, boy, we’ll rescue her, I bet, before morning and -it’ll be in the New York papers and everything—and I tell you what we’ll -do—we’ll change the name of our patrol from the Ravens to the Police -Dogs—hey? Won’t we, Artie? So will you join? Will you come ahead?”</p> -<p>“I don’t mind,” said Toby.</p> -<p>“<i>Good night</i>, we found a scout, now we ought to find Margie Garrison,” -said Connie. “Some big night, hey?”</p> -<p>“<i>Oh, boy, you said it!</i>” vociferated Pee-wee.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVI'>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>A FRESH START</span></h2> -<p>It was wonderful what fresh inspiration the presence of Robin Hood gave -to the rather disheartened searchers. In the seething mind of Pee-wee -all else was forgotten at this adventurous turn of their enterprise. He -was all excitement. The scouts would triumph and be the heroes of the -town; their exploit would be heralded abroad.</p> -<p>To discover the lost child in the woods would have been an achievement. -To track her with a police dog and carry her home to her distracted -parents; to witness the consternation of the police; there would be -adventure and glory! To Pee-wee it was as good as done.</p> -<p>He had begun to feel the fatigue of this eventful day; a dull weariness -had set in as they concluded their search of the woods. But now, in the -flush of the new adventure, he seemed invigorated. He forgot everything -and could think only of what they were going to do. The hour was late -but that made it all the better.</p> -<p>It was in high spirit of elation that he ran to Toby’s house with him to -get the dog leash; he would take no chances with freakish parental -objections. If necessary, he would meet Mr. and Mrs. Ralston -single-handed. But no obstacles were met there; Toby was happy in the -possession of easy-going parents who did not require any strenuous -representations of scout duty to release their son to a nocturnal -enterprise.</p> -<p>All was hurry and excitement now; the air seemed charged with -expectation. The seven scouts who, with Toby, constituted the party -hurried into the woods, Robin Hood securely leashed and enforcing his -autocratic will by pausing to sniff here and there, then dragging his -young master willy-nilly after him. Only Hamburger Mike seemed -undisturbed. His next call to service would be when the milk train -stopped at four o’clock in the morning. No one should go wanting for -refreshment while Hamburger Mike lived.</p> -<p>In half an hour, they were back on the state road and hurrying into -Bridgeboro. The town was dark and deserted. A lone auto sped up Main -Street as they crossed, and its swift passing seemed to reduce the -sleeping town to insignificance, so much greater is a speeding auto to a -sleeping town in the still, small hours of night.</p> -<p>They hurried through Terrace Avenue where the school (scene of Pee-wee’s -famous coup) seemed like a thing dead. Not a sound was there, nor a soul -upon the street. They turned into Elm Place, then to Carver Street and -to the cottage of the Garrisons. Here, at least, were signs of life. The -interior was illuminated, the front door wide open, and a little group -upon the porch. It looked strange at that hour of the night, and in the -surrounding solitude, to see the bright oblong area caused by the open -door, and the hatrack and stairs within. It spoke pathetically of -waiting and trouble and suspense.</p> -<p>Mrs. Garrison was there, and her elder daughter, and a couple of -neighbors with shawls thrown about them. They seemed to have been just -standing on the porch. Mr. Garrison was out somewhere with others, -pursuing inquiries. The mother’s anxiety, which had mounted all through -the evening, was heartrending. Disappointment after disappointment she -had met; ’phone call after ’phone call had dealt her blows as from a -hammer. Still she waited with these comforting, patient, hopeful -neighbors in the still night air. She was too distraught to sit inside -and wait for the ringing of the door-bell.</p> -<p>“Let me do the talking, kid,” said Westy out of his familiar knowledge -of Pee-wee. It was always Westy to talk in a case like this.</p> -<p>“Oh, the scout boys!” said Mrs. Garrison.</p> -<p>“Mrs. Garrison,” said Westy, “we—we didn’t find her in the woods. Is -there any news?”</p> -<p>“No, dear—you’re good boys, all of you,” she said, wringing her hands.</p> -<p>“We’ve got a police dog here,” said Westy, “and we know about her being -in Westover’s field this afternoon. She cut across the field on her way -to Stella Henry’s house—I know the path. Let’s have something that -belonged—belongs to her, will you? A dress or something; stockings would -be good.”</p> -<p>There was no chance to talk; he pinned her down to the vital -requirement; and seeing them all, restless, ready, efficient, she -hurried into the house and brought out some articles of clothing, -weeping as if they belonged to some one dear, and lost indeed.</p> -<p>“You call up our houses and tell them,” said Westy hurriedly. “You know -us all I guess—Blakeley, Van Arlen, Bennett, Benton, Harris, Carson -and—that’s all. See you later.”</p> -<p>They were gone, Robin Hood dragging, pausing, dilly-dallying; his young -master pulling, then running after him.</p> -<p>The field where little Margie had last been seen was a corner lot which -afforded a short-cut to the door of the house next to it. It was known -that she had called at that house for a girl friend and, not finding her -at home, had cut through the lot again and entered the bordering street. -No one had been found who had seen her after that.</p> -<p>It was in this field that Robin Hood took upon himself the -responsibility of the search and became master of the situation.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVII'>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>ACTION</span></h2> -<p>And meanwhile the last of the passing clouds disappeared for Emerson -Skybrow and the myriad stars shone pleasantly upon him, deep down in his -black prison. He separated the strands of soaked hair which lay still -upon the water and beheld a face which for the moment he did not -recognize. The eyes were closed; the face, as near as he could tell in -the starlight, mud-smeared and ashen pale. It looked ghastly, appalling, -this face, with apparently no body connected with it. But Emerson -presently realized how it was.</p> -<p>The body lay barely submerged, face up, and the head lying upon the -debris close under the exposed pile was partly out of water. The -disordered hair had covered the face instead of the back of the head. -Whatever the victim’s fate had been it seemed unlikely that it had been -that of drowning.</p> -<p>It was several moments before Emerson realized that there was a way of -determining whether life existed. And then (notwithstanding the -universal ease with which boy scouts are represented as making these -determinations) he found the matter not easy.</p> -<p>A more coy and elusive thing than the pulse is hardly imaginable, when -the search is made by an amateur. He tried both wrists; then, appalled -at not discovering cheery little pulsations, groped under water and -tried to feel the victim’s heart. With the knowledge of first aid that -many scouts have, he would have known that the closed eyes were a good -sign; there was no fixed stare up into the night.</p> -<p>At last, he was rejoiced to find the pulse; he lost it, then found it -again. It seemed such a trifling thing, that half-palpable beating, to -signify so much. The assurance it gave him aroused him to quick effort. -He was not alone, in that frightful hole, with only death for his -companion.</p> -<p>He looked about him, hardly knowing what to do. But whatever he did it -would be necessary first to lift the victim out of the water. This he -did as gently as he could, lifting the small form under the armpits, and -pulling it up onto the debris. The eyes opened and closed again.</p> -<p>“Margie—you’re—all right—I’m—I’ll take care of you,” he said fearfully. -“Can’t you speak?”</p> -<p>If she could only speak and understand, that would encourage him so -much. For a moment, he paused bewildered, not knowing what to do. No -injury was visible upon the little form. He did not know how to look for -injuries that might be expected from such a fall; broken limbs, a -fractured skull. He was all at sea, helpless. He looked up out of that -frightful place that enclosed him in its four walls. There was more -pathos in his well-expressed despair than there could have been in the -language of panic fear. “I don’t see what I can do in this dilemma,” he -said. “I dare say I’d better call at the top of my voice for -assistance.”</p> -<p>But some unseen force kept him from doing that. No one would have heard -him anyway. Yet a certain persisting self-reliance and a strange fear of -his own voice rising out of that dark hole into the lonely night, was -what deterred him from calling. He was not afraid to be there, but, -oddly, he was afraid to call.</p> -<p>Then, a reassuring thought came to cheer him. The girl had fallen in the -mud, save that her head was somewhat elevated on harder substance. And -her head showed no sign of injury. It seemed unlikely that she was -otherwise injured. Perhaps then, her unconsciousness was just the -unconsciousness of utter exhaustion, which had followed the first shock.</p> -<p>Limping through the shallow water, he procured the longer of the two -pieces of board and laid this at an angle against the wall, its lower -end resting securely on the exposed debris at the bottom. Placed in this -position, the upper end of the plank was within about four feet of the -top of the wall.</p> -<p>Emerson had never done much climbing and it was fortunate that his essay -at this manly sport was made in private. He looked queer and frog-like, -scrambling up the plank. He made little progress until he discovered the -important part played by the knees in such an undertaking. Then he was -able to ascend slowly, laboriously. The scouts would have said he looked -funny climbing; fortunately, he could not see himself as others would -have seen him.</p> -<p>At the upper end of the plank his experimenting to get away from it -would have been ludicrous if the occasion had not been serious. He was -within four feet of the top of the wall, yet he could not disconnect -himself from his slanting support and get a hold anywhere else.</p> -<p>At last, by a hazardous gymnastic effort, he managed to get an uncertain -hold on a rock doubtfully embedded in the crumbling plaster on top of -the wall. He then ventured to rest one foot on the ragged end of the -plank and succeeded in lifting himself to a standing posture. He felt a -certain sense of elation along with his tremulousness. There is a kind -of fascination in the knowledge that safety, even life, hangs by a -thread. Emerson stood upon his uncertain foothold, reaching above him -and clutching the rock on the wall. What to do next, he could not -imagine. He could not regain the safety of the plank. Neither could he -pull himself up onto the wall.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXVIII'>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>NOT A SCOUT</span></h2> -<p>What he did, he did in a kind of impulse of reckless endeavor. He knew -that if he went down, he would not this time fall in the mud, but on the -pile of rocky debris. Clasping the rock above with both hands, he -succeeded in getting one leg upon the wall, then the other. For just two -or three seconds, his peril was frightful, until he got his whole weight -upon the wall. Then he was lying safely on top of it.</p> -<p>At this spot there was a sheer descent upon the outside. He might have -risked a jump, for the depth was not so great as within. But he was -chafed and sore from his frantic effort and lame from his earlier fall. -So he limped around to the point where the remains of the stone steps -were and descended there. If it had not been for the unconscious child -within, he would have experienced the exhilaration of Monte Cristo at -being out in the world once more.</p> -<p>But what should he do now? The nearest house, he knew, was a mile off, -and it would take him long to limp that distance. Moreover, he was now -conscious of a certain personal quality which he had always exhibited in -an insignificant way.</p> -<p>This was his self-reliance, destined to be the making of him. As long as -Emerson could remember, he had been the butt of ridicule by boys. -Sometimes, he had been the victim of rough usage. But he had never told -of this at home nor committed the unpardonable sin of making an ally of -his older brother; “big-brother stuff” he had eschewed. He had begun -when very young going into the city alone, and attending select -matinees, lectures and exhibitions. Very early, he had begun carrying -his wallet with the means to finance these trips. Once, when a mere -child, he had been lost, and he had gone and told a policeman.</p> -<p>These things, and things like them, had won him only ridicule at the -hands of boys. And his queer, adult phraseology had aroused unholy -mirth. It would hardly do to say that a boy should not be too refined, -yet extreme refinement in a boy is apt to tell to his disadvantage. At -all events, it had been so with Emerson.</p> -<p>But the spirit of self-reliance, if it exists, will manifest itself in -large ways as well as in small ways, given only the occasion. And -Emerson Skybrow, baffled, lame, distraught, would not go to the nearest -house and put his business into some one else’s hands. He had not -stumbled upon little Margie Garrison, he had gone seeking her. Well, he -would see this thing through or know the reason why. That was his own -phrase, “or know the reason why.” They had often laughed at him when he -said he would do this or that <i>or know the reason why</i>. Scouts are so -fond of laughing that sometimes they laugh too soon....</p> -<p>He limped along the road to a small bridge some hundred feet distant. -His exploit with the broken plank had given him an idea. With a plank of -adequate length he might get the child out of that hole; then he would -carry her to the nearest house; he would carry or get her there somehow.</p> -<p>The flooring lay loosely across the bridge; he had heard it rattle under -a speeding auto while he was in the sunken enclosure. He found that the -top layer of loose planks was supported by a still older flooring -underneath. He could remove a plank without causing peril to travelers. -These flooring planks extended out beyond the width of the bridge on -either side in disorderly, irregular lengths, and he selected the -longest. It was a heavy, thick timber and hard to manage. But it was -easily long enough for his purpose.</p> -<p>He tugged and dragged at this unwieldy burden, pausing at intervals to -rest, until he reached the enclosure. Here he slid it over the edge of -the wall until it dropped by its own weight into the hole. Reaching from -the bottom of one side to the top of the other, it was at an angle of -less than forty-five degrees; easy enough to ascend, he thought.</p> -<p>His hopes now ran high. And besides, good news awaited him as he went -cautiously down the plank, letting himself descend backward on hands and -knees. He heard the child stirring. Then he heard her speak. Her voice -sounded strangely clear and out of place in that black dungeon, calling -for her mother. “Mother, my back aches and I got a pain,” she said -weakly. It seemed like any other child awaking in the night. “It’s all -water,” she said faintly.</p> -<p>Then Emerson spoke to her. “It isn’t your mother, it’s Emerson Skybrow; -you fell in here and I found you. You needn’t be afraid because I’m -going to get you out of here and take you home. I guess you came here -after ivy, didn’t you?”</p> -<p>“You’re the boy they call Sissie Skybrow,” she said; “I know you.”</p> -<p>“Yes,” he said. “You needn’t be afraid.”</p> -<p>“Oh, I’m not afraid of <i>you</i>,” she said, half noticing him as she rocked -her head in discomfort from side to side. “Nobody’s afraid of <i>you</i>.”</p> -<p>She was but a small child, and suffering; she did not mean to hurt him.</p> -<p>“I want to get you on this board,” he said; “and then maybe I can help -you up. Do you think you can sit up? I guess you’re not hurt very much, -are you?”</p> -<p>“There were people trying to chop me with axes,” she said, as he gently -encouraged her to a sitting posture. “They came on a ship.”</p> -<p>“Well, you’re better now,” he comforted.</p> -<p>“I like you,” she said. “I don’t care if a lot of smarties don’t. -They’re sillies calling you a girl’s name; boys don’t have girls’ -names.”</p> -<p>“No,” he said; “I’m going to help you get on the board now.”</p> -<p>But this was more difficult than he had supposed, for she closed her -eyes again, seeming to hover in the borderland of consciousness. And -whatever her actual condition, he saw that she could not cooperate in -her own rescue. The angle of the plank was too steep to permit walking -up, even assuming that she could help herself. She was a dead-weight and -might remain so for hours.</p> -<p>What he did entailed somewhat rough handling and all the strength he -had, besides considerable risk. But he did it and succeeded in it. He -got the little body onto the shorter piece of broken plank and bound it -there like an Indian papoose bound to a board. For this purpose, he used -his own shirt and the light coat which the child wore. She was conscious -in a weak, half-interested sort of way, and made no objection to this -novel treatment. It was curious how her undirected, wandering thoughts -reverted to Emerson in his familiar role of “sissie” and “teacher’s -pet.”</p> -<p>“They said you play jacks,” she said, and seemed not particularly -interested in an answer.</p> -<p>He got his burden onto the slanting plank and pushed it up little by -little. It was hard to push and care was required to keep it from going -over sideways. But if it did not move easily, at least it did not -backslide easily. He got it forward a few inches, then rested, letting -the weight of it press against him while he straddled the plank and -locked his legs beneath it to keep from sliding. Then he advanced it a -few inches and moved up himself.</p> -<p>Before he had pushed his burden far, it occurred to him to slip a lead -pencil under the makeshift car and this roller enabled him to advance it -more easily. It seemed a risky business as slowly, inch by inch, he -progressed higher and higher, guiding his burden carefully to avoid side -movement. Reaching the top, he found it easier to attain the wall than -before. Now he was able to lift the child and half drag, half carry her, -down the slope of masonry which had once been a flight of steps.</p> -<p>To do this thing, he had strained every nerve and every muscle in his -body. He was bare to the waist, and covered with splinters, cuts and -bruises. His natty trousers were in shreds. And this was Emerson -Skybrow—“Arabella.”</p> -<p>As he bore his burden down the chaos of stone and ancient crumbling -mortar, away from the scene of his harrowing adventure, he breathed in -great gulps, pausing now and again to get his breath. His chest heaved, -his wet hair fell streaking over his eyes, he reeled, he staggered, he -paused exhausted, with the child clinging to his knees.</p> -<p>It was while pausing in this attitude some yards in from the road, with -the child clinging to him as he tried to get his breath, that he heard -voices in the distance....</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXIX'>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>VOICES</span></h2> -<p>In the field where little Margie Garrison had been last seen, the scouts -gave Robin Hood the scent. He found much difficulty in following it -across the broad thoroughfare, but once in the open fields beyond, he -jogged along steadily, pulling his young master after him. It was -significant that poor Emerson did not know this short-cut to the old -ruin, by which he might have eliminated a mile or more in his journey -thither.</p> -<p>They led the way across fields on the edge of town and the dog had no -doubtful pauses, save once at a cross-road where for a few seconds he -moved about beset with perplexity. Then he was off again through the -sparse woods between the outer reaches of Bridgeboro and Little Valley.</p> -<p>To Pee-wee, this following a dog upon the scent was the very essence of -scoutish adventure. His legs, which relatively were not so long as his -tongue, were kept in a continuous state of intensive labor, keeping up -with Toby, whom he had appropriated as his own. Meanwhile, his tongue -(always equal to any occasion) labored unceasingly. The others of the -party having tasted the novelty of tracking with a hurrying dog, -followed at a distance.</p> -<p>“One thing sure anyway, you can bet,” said Pee-wee, with such breath as -he could spare. “I’m glad I went back with them to North Bridgeboro, gee -whiz, I’m glad of that, you can bet. And you can bet I’m glad there’s a -vacant place in my patrol, because Wig Weigand went away to live in -Vermont and his father has a big farm there with fruit orchards and -everything and I’m going to visit him there next Christmas vacation, -because in the summer I go to Temple Camp and you’ll go there too. So -will you take Robin Hood?”</p> -<p>“Where I go he goes,” Toby said.</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, I don’t blame you,” said Pee-wee. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re in -my patrol. I was going to get a feller named Skybrow; maybe you know -him, they call him Arabella. But anyway I guess he wouldn’t have joined -anyway, that’s what Roy and the fellers say. But anyway after this I’m -going to be friends with him, but just the same I’m glad you’re in my -patrol. I saw you a lot down in Bridgeboro; once I was in Bennett’s -drinking soda, you get a dandy soda there, and I saw you go by with -Robin Hood and a girl that was buying candy said what a mag—what a -mag—what a mag—nif——”</p> -<p>He paused a moment; came up for air.</p> -<p>“Well, you’ve got the both of us wished on you now,” said Toby.</p> -<p>“And Robin Hood’ll have the Pathfinder’s badge too,” said Pee-wee, -“because I can fix it, because I know how to fix things; you leave it to -me.”</p> -<p>He paused only when the dog paused, excitedly preoccupied with some -baffling difficulty in the scent.</p> -<p>“All right, old Bob,” Toby encouraged.</p> -<p>The dog paused long enough in his intense preoccupation to lick the hand -of his young master. But he seemed quite oblivious to the praises and -friendly strokes of Pee-wee, and of the others who had come up.</p> -<p>“They never bother with any one but their owners, that kind, do they?” -Connie asked. “That’s what I heard.”</p> -<p>“Didn’t you hear Toby say he bothered with heroes in the war?” Artie -demanded.</p> -<p>“Sure, he did,” said Westy Martin.</p> -<p>“He used to invite them to his headquarters to supper and everything,” -said Roy. “Didn’t he, Toby?”</p> -<p>“That’s all right,” said Toby. “He knows something big when he sees it.”</p> -<p>“Sure, that’s why he doesn’t see Pee-wee,” said Roy.</p> -<p>They were off again, following Robin Hood, who strained at his leash, -causing Toby to stumble along.</p> -<p>“You’re crazy!” Pee-wee yelled. “I know what he means; he means heroes; -he can see them with——”</p> -<p>“Opera-glasses,” said Roy. “Right the first time as usual.”</p> -<p>“Don’t you mind him,” Pee-wee panted, addressing Toby. “Didn’t I tell -you they’re all crazy in that—anyway, listen. It means—I know what you -mean because if you do something kind of very brave like, then he won’t -be stuck-up, but he’ll kind of notice you; I bet that’s what you -mean—hey?”</p> -<p>“Yop,” said Toby.</p> -<p>“And anyway, I bet he’ll notice me if he——”</p> -<p>“Has a magnifying glass,” said Roy.</p> -<p>“—if he’s in my patrol,” thundered Pee-wee; “because I bet he’ll be -friends with the fellers in my, in our patrol, won’t he, Toby?”</p> -<p>“Yop, guess so,” said the taciturn Toby. “He knows who’s worth noticing -all right.”</p> -<p>It was this last remark which Emerson Skybrow, scarred, bleeding, -gulping with overwhelming fatigue, and standing half-naked in the -darkness, heard in the unseen distance.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXX'>CHAPTER XXX<br /> <span class='sub-head'>WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK</span></h2> -<p>Then suddenly, Robin Hood, liberated, bound toward him, panting, -triumphant. He had evidently broken loose in his excitement as he had -neared his goal, for the leash dangled after him.</p> -<p>And thus it was that the scouts came upon Emerson Skybrow who stood with -one arm around the little girl, while Robin Hood clambered upon him. It -was the kindly irony of fate that Emerson was the first person to whom -the dog had paid the slightest attention.</p> -<p>“Well—I’ll—be——” Connie Bennett ejaculated, then paused in speechless -consternation. “What—do—you—know! It’s Arabella!”</p> -<p>“There’s Margie, too,” said Westy.</p> -<p>“What the dickens——” Dorry Benton began, but was unable to say more.</p> -<p>Arabella was stroking the dog nervously and withdrawing slightly as if -to modify the vigor of the animal’s aggressiveness. He seemed perturbed -by a doubt of whether the dog was friendly or not. And meanwhile, he -tightened his arm about the little girl, his prize, while she clung to -him with a new and panic fear.</p> -<p>“It seems to be a great surprise,” said Emerson in his nice way, a way -which ill-accorded with his almost primeval look. “It’s very easily -explained,” he continued, backing and endeavoring by gentle dissuasion -to free himself from the dog’s insistence.</p> -<p>“He won’t hurt you,” said Toby.</p> -<p>“He’s rather rough,” said Emerson, using the word which, of all words, -was sure to arouse mocking ridicule. But only a dead silence greeted his -rather mincing phrase. And meanwhile, Robin Hood, the scout, clambered -upon him until he was drawn away by main force.</p> -<p>“I want to go home,” wept the little girl. “I want to go home to my -mother; I’m afraid of him, he’ll bite me. You said you’d take me home, I -don’t want to play with all these boys.”</p> -<p>“I said I’d take you home and you can depend on me,” said Emerson. She -seemed to think she could, and ceased crying and clung to him more -tightly.</p> -<p>“How the dickens did <i>you</i> happen to get here?” Connie asked, with -anything but a flattering note of incredulity in his voice. The slur of -it was somewhat modified by Westy who asked, “Where in all creation did -<i>you</i> come from, Skybrow?”</p> -<p>It would have been tribute enough to Emerson to be called by his first -name; to be called by his last name was hardly believable. -Self-possession was always one of his strong points. He had never been -able to show it with these boys, because they would have laughed him -down with banter. But now he had them at a slight disadvantage; they -were so astonished that they would listen. One of them (the fairest of -the lot) had even surrendered to the extent of calling him Skybrow. -Emerson took advantage of the occasion, and his appearance if not his -manner of talk seemed to command attention.</p> -<p>“Since you ask me,” said he, “I came here to find Margie Garrison. I -found her in the bottom of this cellar, or whatever it is. I suppose -every one of you fellows, scouts, I guess you all are, were in the -assembly this morning when that lady spoke about ivy and ruins. I should -think it might have occurred to you that maybe Margie Garrison came out -here to get some. Girls are always getting wild flowers and such things -to take to their teachers. I guess you’ve all noticed that much,” he -added, as a kind of side dig.</p> -<p>“So I came here and found her and jumped in and we had quite a time of -it getting out; I used a long plank from the bridge. I ’phoned to your -house, Harris, and told them you were out with the searching party. I -wish we could get an auto to take her home. I don’t think there’s -anything much the matter with her except she’s pretty well shaken-up. -You had a lot of running for nothing; it seems a pity.”</p> -<p>“I don’t want to go with them, I want to go with <i>you</i>,” cried little -Margie, clinging to him. “Because you’re not afraid.”</p> -<p>Exhausted, he sat down upon a rock, and Robin Hood, seeing his chance, -approached him again and laid his head upon the torn trousers, looking -up.</p> -<p>“Here, Rob,” said Roy.</p> -<p>“Let him alone,” said Pee-wee. It was the first word he had spoken.</p> -<p>“He knows, all right,” said Westy.</p> -<p>“You bet he knows,” Toby boasted. “Didn’t I tell you?”</p> -<p>Robin Hood seemed to know indeed, for heedless of the gaping boys, who -were silent because they were all at sea and knew not what to say, he -wriggled his head up till it lay against the bare, scratched shoulder of -“Arabella” Skybrow. The boy did not stroke him, for one hand held that -of the little girl he had rescued, while the other was pressed to his -wounded, throbbing forehead. But the dog seemed to be content.</p> -<p>And so for a moment, they all stood about in a kind of awkwardness. And -no one spoke, not even Pee-wee.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXI'>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>BOB, SCOUTMAKER</span></h2> -<p>It was Westy who spoke first. Just the same as it had been Westy to -speak for the others at the stricken home of this child whom Emerson -Skybrow had rescued. And what impelled Westy to break the silence was -the sight of Pee-wee gone to pieces, all his boisterous enthusiasm ebbed -away. A pitiable sight he was as he stood there, trying bravely not to -show his feelings. Of all the botches he had ever made (and he had made -many) this was the worst. Within twenty-four hours the local paper of -Bridgeboro would have the name of Emerson Skybrow in glaring headlines. -And he had lost him. A deed worthy of the scout gold cross had been done -by this boy to whom a little girl and a noble dog paid the tribute of -their trust and love.</p> -<p>As by a miracle, the boy who had “treated him fine” in the city was -transformed into a rugged hero before his eyes. No wonder he saw that -scarred and ragged figure as through a haze! No wonder the irrepressible -Roy Blakeley kept his mouth shut. No wonder Westy, always kind and -thoughtful, had to speak for the “boss” of the Raven Patrol. There is -dignity in a boy’s last name and Westy paid Emerson this tribute in -addressing him.</p> -<p>“Some searching party,” he said, quoting Emerson’s own phrase. “Some -scouts, I’ll say! Skybrow, I’ll be hanged if I wouldn’t hide my little -old face in shame, if it wasn’t that I like to look at you. Give us your -hand, will you?”</p> -<p>“I’ll be very glad to,” said Emerson. “It’s pretty muddy, I’m afraid. Is -this a new member of your troop, Harris? I’ve often seen you with the -dog,” he added, addressing Toby. “They were lucky to find you.”</p> -<p>“What do you mean, new member?” Toby demanded. “Don’t pick on me, I’m -out of it. Put me on the waiting list if you want to. There’s your -scout, <i>right there</i>. Bob picked him out for you. You’ll find me up at -Hamburger Mike’s any time you want me. If I’m not there, I’ll be talking -to the girl over in the station.”</p> -<p>“That’s the talk,” said Westy. “Now we <i>know</i> you’re a scout and you’ll -get tagged before long. Before we go any further, let’s get this thing -settled. I hear a car coming, and I want to try to stop it and see if -they’ll take us back to Bridgeboro. You’re wished onto the raving -Ravens, you understand that, don’t you?” Westy asked Emerson.</p> -<p>“Why—eh, I promised in a way——”</p> -<p>“Yes, well, you’re going to keep your word, aren’t you?” Westy insisted. -“If you’re willing to tie up with a bunch of simps like us. What do you -say, Skybrow? We can talk it all over afterward, but just say the word -now—on account of the kid.”</p> -<p>“I kept—I kept my—promise to you,” said Pee-wee, speaking with -difficulty. “Gee whiz, I should think you’d be willing to join us -because anyway, we’re not such <i>terrible</i> simps and anyway, maybe you -can sort of teach us, kind of.” The sound of an auto was heard in the -distance.</p> -<p>“Come on, Em, say the word,” said Connie.</p> -<p>“You’re very kind,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Is it yes?” demanded Artie.</p> -<p>“Why if, I’m sure——”</p> -<p>“Say yop,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Yop,” said Emerson Skybrow.</p> -<p>“Now to stop the auto,” said Westy. “Seems to be coming along pretty -fast; I bet he doesn’t pay any attention——”</p> -<p>“Leave it to me! Leave it to me!” Pee-wee thundered. “I know a way to -stop it! Leave it to me. Gee whiz, didn’t I even stop a circus parade?”</p> -<p>“Oh, absolutely, positively,” laughed Roy.</p> -<p>“And don’t forget Queen Tut,” said Dorry Benton.</p> -<p>“Oh, posilutely not,” laughed Roy again.</p> -<p>“Don’t worry about the auto,” said Connie.</p> -<p>“Leave it to Pee-wee,” laughed several voices in chorus.</p> -<p>“Safe in the hands of the fixer,” shouted Roy joyously. “Goooood -niiiiiiight.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXII'>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE NEW SCOUT</span></h2> -<p>From the adventure just narrated you might suppose Emerson Skybrow -rather than Pee-wee to be the hero of this faithful chronicle. Such, -however, is not the case. Emerson was in truth a hero, but he was -Pee-wee’s property by right of discovery.</p> -<p>“Didn’t I invent him?” Pee-wee demanded in a thunderous voice of -challenge.</p> -<p>Poor Emerson was in for it now and the next night he went up to -Pee-wee’s house to take his first lesson in scouting and to listen to -Pee-wee’s radio.</p> -<p>Since the unhappy episode of the Queen Tut costume, Pee-wee and his -sister had not been on cordial terms; indeed the relation was so -strained that our hero contemplated the prospect of having a boy come to -see him not without some trepidation. He selected the following night -(which was Wednesday) because he knew that Elsie in a hastily devised -Joan of Arc costume would be absent at the masquerade. Queen Tut had -died a sudden death and in her place “The Maid of Orleans” had appeared -as a sort of understudy.</p> -<p>Since Pee-wee’s brief illness a reform movement had been instituted in -his home looking to the avoidance of any more holidays from school. A -feature of this brutal program was the closing of the pantry against -late raids. “This continual eating, especially at night, has got to -stop,” Doctor Harris had said.</p> -<p>Pee-wee knew that neither of his parents would enforce this rule and -that it would presently become a dead letter. But he feared that Elsie, -capable of any atrocity now, would spy on him and shame her indulgent -parents into making good their resolution. Pee-wee could “handle” his -mother and father, but he could not in that critical time “handle” his -infuriated sister. If she heard him go downstairs at the significant -hour of ten or eleven she would balk his project, appealing to the -powers higher up, out of pure spitefulness.</p> -<p>All this was easily to be avoided by inviting the new hero on the -evening of the great masquerade, and thereby other adventures ensued -confirming Pee-wee’s right to the title of “fixer.” Queen Tut was dead -but the dreadful radio still lived.</p> -<p>“I’m sure I should be very glad to listen in,” said Emerson politely, -“and it’s very good of you to ask me.”</p> -<p>Emerson was the kind of boy who voluntarily wiped his feet before -entering a house, but even this defect could not dim his glory now; he -might be a little gentleman, but he was still a hero.</p> -<p>“I guess every one in town has gone to the masquerade to-night,” he -observed, pausing in his encounter with the doormat. “Shall I hang my -hat here?” he added, as he stepped in.</p> -<p>“Come ahead up into my room,” Pee-wee said, leading the way, “and I’ll -show you some things in the handbook; I’ll show you a woodchuck skin -too. I know a lot of things about scouting. Do you know how to tell the -time if you’re out in the woods a hundred miles from anywhere?”</p> -<p>“By looking at my watch?” Emerson ventured.</p> -<p>“That shows how much you know about scouting,” Pee-wee said. “Suppose -the mainspring should break; then what would you do? You can tell time -by a nail if you know how.”</p> -<p>“Well, I’m in for it now,” said Emerson, looking curiously about -Pee-wee’s room. “I want to learn all there is.”</p> -<p>“The troop’s just crazy about you,” said Pee-wee. “But anyway, I’m the -one that discovered you. All these stones and things, and these cocoons -and everything, they all came from up around Temple Camp—I picked ’em up -in the woods. Gee whiz, we won’t bother with the radio now, hey? Because -they’re having a lecture about agriculture; that man he talks every -Wednesday night; he gets through at about nine o’clock and after that -to-night there’s a sympathy orchestra——”</p> -<p>“You mean symphony?” Emerson asked.</p> -<p>“Sure, and after that a man’s going to tell about how they catch salmon -but anyway what do I care about that? If I have a can opener, that’s all -I care about. But anyway, if I didn’t have one it wouldn’t make any -difference even if I was in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, because I -can use a pointed stone to open a can but if I didn’t have a can of -salmon I wouldn’t starve anyway; gee whiz, I wouldn’t starve no matter -what.”</p> -<p>It is a pity that the dissertation which Pee-wee gave Emerson on the -subject of scouting could not have been broadcasted. He found Emerson a -good listener and a likely pupil. The new boy, turning the pages of the -handbook thoughtfully, asked questions which showed an intelligent -interest and which Pee-wee was sometimes at perplexity to answer. Here -was a scout in the making indeed.</p> -<p>At about ten o’clock Pee-wee suggested refreshments, and, going -downstairs, presently reappeared with a dishful of cookies and a couple -of apples. And Emerson was forced to agree with Pee-wee’s pronouncement -that there was no likelihood at all of him starving.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXIII'>CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> <span class='sub-head'>OVER THE RADIO</span></h2> -<p>The latter part of the evening was given over to the radio, and the two -sat listening in with the receivers on their ears.</p> -<p>O.U.J. was furnishing a varied program that evening. Pee-wee liked -O.U.J. for the performers were a happy, bantering set, seeming to make -the distant listener one of their own merry party. Moreover, O.U.J. was -a night owl pursuing its wanton course of song and laughter after other -stations had said good night and gone to bed. Evidently Plarry Blythe -who sang songs and jollied the silver-tongued announcer had no home; at -least he never went to it.</p> -<p>Emerson had never listened to a radio and he found it novel and -entertaining. The ear pieces did double duty for they not only -transmitted the voices of the night to Emerson but they effectually shut -off Pee-wee’s voice as well. He talked but Emerson did not hear him.</p> -<p>It must have been nearly midnight and time for all respectable -broadcasting stations to be home and in bed. Certainly it was time for -Pee-wee to be in bed. But O.U.J. kept it up, and as the hour grew later -they sang the latest songs. Lateness was their middle name. At last the -Jamboree Jazz Band struck up. This outlandish and earsplitting group, -compared with which the noises of a boiler factory were like a gentle -zephyr, usually heralded the conclusion of the program. Pee-wee liked -the Jamboree Jazz Band. Emerson, educated to good music, listened with -rueful amusement.</p> -<p>Suddenly, in the very midst of the <i>Jumping Jiminy One Step</i>, the -Jamboree Jazz Band ceased to play. For a few moments a holy calm seemed -to have fallen upon the still night. Then came a series of weird squeaks -and plaintive wails as if the spirits of the air were uniting in an -uncanny chorus. One of these spirits seemed to have gone completely out -of its head, shrieking uncontrollably.</p> -<p>Schooled to such a contingency, Pee-wee’s hand sought the little knob by -which the unseen performers might be lured back to their duties.</p> -<p>But the weird voices only screamed the more discordantly. Then they -ceased altogether. With both hands Pee-wee tried desperately to find the -music but his frantic efforts were of no avail. The Jamboree Jazz Band -was as silent as the grave. <i>The Jumping Jiminy One Step</i> had stepped -away altogether.</p> -<p>“What’s the matter?” Emerson asked.</p> -<p>“Wait a minute,” Pee-wee said, frantically preoccupied with the -mechanism.</p> -<p>But the <i>Jumping Jiminy One Step</i> had evidently jumped too far and he -could not overtake it.</p> -<p>“They stopped right in the middle,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>Then suddenly Pee-wee caught the friendly, ingratiating voice of the -announcer at O.U.J. Nothing could ruffle that gentlemanly tone. He would -have announced the end of the world in a voice of soft composure.</p> -<p>“Listen!” said Pee-wee, “he’s saying something.”</p> -<p>He was certainly saying something. He had evidently begun saying it -before Pee-wee had succeeded in arresting that soft voice. From the -rather startling nature of his announcement (or such of it as our -listeners-in heard) it seemed likely that the Jamboree Jazz Band had -been summarily silenced in the interest of this important matter. The -boys listened attentively, Pee-wee spellbound as the voice continued:</p> -<p>“... and the police department of New York will be glad of any -information that might be helpful in running down this car.”</p> -<p>“Listen!” Pee-wee gasped in a tragic whisper. “He’s finished, we missed -it,” said Emerson. But the announcer continued, hesitating now and then, -as if putting into his own words a request made from some other source, -“Every effort is being made to head off this car in Westchester County -in this state but it is thought not unlikely that the thieves may have -crossed one of the Jersey ferries with it, probably an uptown ferry, and -be heading through northern New Jersey. If the car was stolen by -gypsies, as is suspected——”</p> -<p>Here the announcer’s voice was drowned in a riot of irrelevant sounds -characteristic of Pee-wee’s radio set, and when our hero succeeded in -catching the voice again, the announcer was concluding his thrilling -appeal to listeners—in New Jersey. “The car was a Hunkajunk six touring -car thought to be occupied by gypsies, the license number is 642-987 -N.Y. but the number may have been obscured to prevent identification. -Any information concerning this car should be telephoned at once to the -police authorities where the car was seen. This is station O.U.J., New -York City. Please stand by for continuation of our regular program.”</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXIV'>CHAPTER XXXIV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>THE SHORT CUT</span></h2> -<p>But Pee-wee did not “stand by” for continuation of the regular program. -The Jamboree Jazz Band had no more charms for him.</p> -<p>He had heard and read of startling announcements being made over the -radio, of interruptions in deference to appalling S.O.S. calls, of -appeals for cooperation and assistance from the constituted authorities -here and there. But never in his wildest dreams (and his dreams were the -wildest) had he, Walter Harris, ever been asked, directly and indirectly -to cooperate in the apprehension of a fugitive criminal. He felt now -that in a way he had been appointed a member of the great metropolitan -police force and that a terrible responsibility had been placed upon -him.</p> -<p>“That’s very interesting,” said Emerson, unmoved by the dramatic -character of the announcement.</p> -<p>“Interesting?” roared Pee-wee. “Do you call it interesting if—if—if a -lot of gypsies steal a car and we have to be on the lookout for them? Do -you call it <i>interesting</i>, just kind of, if we have to hurry out of here -to circumspect thieves?”</p> -<p>“Do you mean circumvent?” Emerson asked.</p> -<p>“I mean <i>foil</i>!” Pee-wee shouted. “Come ahead, we have to catch them, -hurry up, where did I leave my cap?”</p> -<p>“I don’t know,” said Emerson, arising dutifully but reluctantly. “You -said scouts always know where they leave things.”</p> -<p>“In the woods I said,” roared Pee-wee. “If a scout hides something in -the woods he can always find it. Caps are different,” he added, -instituting a frantic search for his ever elusive cap.</p> -<p>“I should think the best place to keep it would be on your head,” -Emerson commented, “then you’d always know where to find it. Mine’s -downstairs on the hat rack.”</p> -<p>Pee-wee presently apprehended his cap on the top of the bookcase and -then hurried downstairs intent on apprehending the fugitives from New -York. Emerson followed with a calmness quite disproportionate to the -dramatic character of their errand. He had just begun thoroughly to -enjoy the broadcasting and was listening in with quiet interest when -suddenly he found himself launched again upon the sea of adventure.</p> -<p>Having accustomed himself to the clamor and turmoil of the Jamboree Jazz -Band and begun to enjoy the novelty of the distant, unseen -entertainment, he would have preferred to let well enough alone. But he -was beginning to learn that one who followed Pee-wee must be prepared -for anything or must be willing to do anything whether he is prepared or -not.</p> -<p>“What are we going to do?” Emerson asked as they hurried along the dark -street.</p> -<p>“We’re going to take a short-cut to the state road,” Pee-wee answered, -“because that’ll surely be the road they’ll take.”</p> -<p>“Why will it?” the reasonable Emerson asked.</p> -<p>“Because it will be. We’re going to lie in ambush along the road just -where it leaves town where we can see every car that comes along. Do you -know where Lanky Betts keeps his frankfurter stand in the summer? We’re -going to hang out there. That little shack is open,” Pee-wee panted as -they ran, “and we can wait inside of it because the door is broken and -we can get in and it’ll be all right because I know Lanky because I buy -lots of frankfurters from him when the shack is open and root beer -too—you get great big ice cream cones there.”</p> -<p>Emerson was not too hopeful of a triumphant sequel to their midnight -excursion into the detective field; he felt that it was a long call -between the rather unconclusive information of the broadcaster and the -actual halting of the criminals in this neighborhood. But the mention of -frankfurters touched a responsive chord in his nature, for the night was -chill and raw and even the lowly frankfurter appealed to him.</p> -<p>“It’s a pity we can’t get something to eat there now,” he observed.</p> -<p>“We’re not supposed to be thinking of eats now,” panted our hero.</p> -<p>This was rather odd, coming from Pee-wee.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXV'>CHAPTER XXXV<br /> <span class='sub-head'>“DANGER”</span></h2> -<p>“I didn’t tell you all I’m going to do,” said Pee-wee darkly. “I didn’t -tell you all the plans I have.”</p> -<p>This rather startling pronouncement prompted Emerson to say, “You’d -better tell me the worst.”</p> -<p>“You’ll see,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>On arriving at Lanky Betts’ deserted shack, Emerson was somewhat caught -by the spirit of their adventure. Pee-wee had at least brought him to a -good waiting place. The rough, little refreshment stand had that forlorn -look which all such roadside dispensaries have during the closed season. -But the spirit of the frankfurter haunted it and it soon became evident -to the patient Emerson that here Pee-wee was on familiar ground.</p> -<p>“Maybe you didn’t know I was here last Saturday,” said Pee-wee. “I was -here with Lanky when he brought his stove and a lot of things and I -helped him to bring them. Do you see that can? That’s got red paint in -it so as he can paint his signs. Do you know why he uses red paint?”</p> -<p>“So he can paint his signs,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“He paints ’em in red so everybody’ll know the frankfurters are hot; gee -whiz, he knows how to make you hungry, that feller does.”</p> -<p>“He’s made me hungry already,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Are you hungry?”</p> -<p>“I think it makes you hungry being out in the chill air, don’t you?”</p> -<p>“I don’t know,” said Pee-wee; “gee whiz, I’m always hungry. But don’t -you care, because afterwards we’ll get something to eat. Do you know -what I’m going to do? Now you’ll see all the ideas I had. I’m going to -paint the word Danger on a board, good and big, in red letters. See, I -got my flashlight to work by; a scout has to remember things. So hurry -up, you open the can while I get a board.”</p> -<p>There is reality in action. And such desperate action as Pee-wee’s was -bound to be convincing.</p> -<p>Even the quiet Emerson could not fail to be captivated by the situation, -and all of Pee-wee’s frantic preparations for his epoch-making coup had -the true ring of adventure. It was not like sitting home talking about -catching bandits. Here they were in a little, deserted, rough board -shack on the outskirts of town, bordering the likeliest exit from the -metropolitan area. And this within ten or fifteen minutes of the -sensational appeal broadcasted from station O.U.J., New York.</p> -<p>Surely, Emerson felt bound to acknowledge, it was not at all unlikely -that the gypsies in the stolen car might pass here, and if he and -Pee-wee could but stop them a great triumph would be theirs. A great -triumph was Pee-wee’s already, for his enthusiasm and concentrated -efforts proved contagious. Picking up an old rusty knife, Emerson -proceeded to dig a hole in the top of the can of red paint while Pee-wee -hauled forth an old board which was part of the detachable architecture -of the shack.</p> -<p>“Now while I paint Danger on the board,” said Pee-wee excitedly, “you -take that old chair and stand it in the middle of the road and then -we’ll stand the board against the back of the chair.”</p> -<p>Within five minutes Lanky Betts’ rickety old kitchen chair in which he -was wont to sit tilted back against the shack waiting for trade was cast -in the heroic role of easel for a board on which the arresting word -Danger was painted in huge red letters. So liberally had the paint been -used in Pee-wee’s frantic haste that the letters had pendants of -dripping red below them, imparting an artistic effect to Pee-wee’s -handiwork.</p> -<p>But the whole thing looked like business and the general effect of -something impending was heightened by the appearance of Pee-wee himself -lurking in the doorway of the shack clutching in one hand the rusty -knife, dripping red, with which Emerson had opened the paint can, and in -his other hand another weapon equally dangerous, which he had rescued -from a grocery box under the counter. This was an ice-pick used in the -good old summer-time to reduce the ice to fragments in the genial -freezers containing chocolate, vanilla and raspberry cream. But now it -was to be used for a purpose less kindly.</p> -<p>“Now I’ll tell you the way we’ll do,” said Pee-wee. “We’ll sit inside -here all quiet like and every car that stops we’ll see if it’s a -Hunkajunk six, and if it is and it’s got gypsies in it, I’m going to -sneak around in back of it and jab this ice-pick into one of the rear -tires and then run. While I’m doing that—do you see that house up off -the road? There’s no light in it but you can see it.”</p> -<p>“I see it,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“As soon as I sneak around in back of the car you run up to that house -for all you’re worth and ring the bell and bang on the door and -everything and wake them up no matter what and tell them to ’phone down -to Chief Shay that we stopped some bandits stealing a car. I’ll come -running up to the house by a roundabout way and I’ll meet you there. -See? They won’t be able to drive the car, not very fast anyway, and -before they could change a tire or drive half a mile the Bridgeboro -police will be here.”</p> -<p>This plan seemed sound and scientific. Nobody whose armament was limited -to an ice-pick could have planned better. There was at least an even -chance that the auto thieves would come this way and unless they were -very near-sighted or very reckless they would certainly pause before -Pee-wee’s flaunted warning. If Emerson had been skeptical at first he -was now convinced that the chances were at least fair and that the plan -of campaign was masterly.</p> -<p>In short there was not the slightest reason why the moon should have -smiled down upon these brave preparations. But the moon did smile. -Pee-wee did not smile, however. He scowled. He scowled the scowl of a -hero as he laid aside the knife dripping with gore, and felt tenderly -the point of the deadly ice-pick.</p> -<p>Perhaps it was a wonder the moon did not laugh out loud.</p> -</div> <!-- chapter --> -<div class='chapter'> -<h2 id='chXXXVI'>CHAPTER XXXVI<br /> <span class='sub-head'>PEE-WEE TRIUMPHANT</span></h2> -<p>In a little while the boys were rewarded by the appearance of a pair of -headlights coming around the bend in the road.</p> -<p>“You be ready to run up to the house and wake them,” whispered Pee-wee, -clutching his ice-pick.</p> -<p>“Suppose they haven’t a ’phone,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“They have,” said Pee-wee; “a scout has to notice things. Don’t you see -the wire branching over that way?”</p> -<p>Emerson thoroughly liked Pee-wee but now he was beginning to have a -wholesome respect for his friend’s prowess and resource. Why should the -fugitives not come this way? And if they did, had not Pee-wee provided -for all contingencies? Had he not even taken note of the ’phone wire -stretched from the main lines along the highway to the distant house? -And his disinclination to arouse the occupants of that house till -necessary suggested both self-reliance and consideration for others. -Yes, to be sure, thought Emerson, he was in the hands of a bully little -scout.</p> -<p>“I think you’re very clever,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>“Even I’ll get you something to eat afterwards too,” said Pee-wee, -“because you know Schmitt’s Bakery on Main Street. By the time we leave -here the bakers will be starting to work in the cellar and I know them -and I know how to get in the back way and they’ll give us some hot -rolls. Do you like hot rolls? Do you like buns? <i>Shhh</i>, here comes the -car.”</p> -<p>The car proved to be a roadster and the driver of it was not a gypsy. -Pee-wee removed the sign with a few words of explanation and the car -went ahead. Another car came, and still another, then a long interval -with no cars.</p> -<p>“Gee whiz, I’m hungry too, I’ll say that,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“Don’t say it,” said Emerson.</p> -<p>Pretty soon they were rewarded by the sight of another pair of -headlights coming around the bend. As the car approached its dimmed -lights suddenly flared up and set two bright columns straight against -the warning sign.</p> -<p>Slowly, with its great nickel headlights glaring, the big machine moved -forward toward the obstruction. It stopped, then advanced very slowly a -few feet more. Then, with heart thumping, Pee-wee beheld something which -made his blood run cold—a bright-colored shawl with spangles that shone -brilliant in the moonlight and a dusky woman with a bandage around her -forehead.</p> -<p>But this was not all. For sitting at the wheel was the most villainous -looking man that Pee-wee had ever seen, a man with a mustache of a -pirate or a Spanish brigand. There was murder in his slouch hat and the -scarf which was knotted about his throat (when taken in conjunction with -this hat and his atrocious mustache) suggested a man who would not be -satisfied with murder; who would be satisfied with nothing less than -torture and massacre. He was Bluebeard and Captain Kidd and all the -thieving, kidnaping gypsies of the world rolled into one horrible, -appalling, brutal spectacle!</p> -<p>And then Pee-wee realized that he was face to face with the escaping -gypsies and the Hunkajunk car. He was terrified, trembling. But he would -not shirk his perilous duty now.</p> -<p>“Run to the house,” he whispered to Emerson; “try not to let them see -you; crawl on the ground for a ways. Hurry up.”</p> -<p>Scarcely had he said the words when he lowered himself to the ground -and, crawling through the tall grass which bordered the road, came -around to the back of the car. The pulsating engine helped to drown the -slight sound of his cautious movements but his heart beat against his -chest like a hammer until he had emerged from his concealment and stood -trembling but unseen except by the little red eye of the tail-light. -Then, his hand shaking, but his resolve unweakened, he raised his arm -and with all the furious vigor of an assassin plunged his deadly -ice-pick to the very heart of the innocent cord tire which immediately -began breathing its last in a continuous hissing sound while our hero -started to run.</p> -<p>“Goodness me we’ve got a flat!” called the merry voice of Pee-wee’s -sister, Elsie.</p> -<p>She was nestling in the rear seat between Carmen and Napoleon and on the -front seat sat Charlie Chaplin close by the terrible gypsy brigand so as -to make room for Martha Washington. Elsie was very sweet in her Joan of -Arc costume, far too sweet to have had as an escort the gypsy king whose -kindly task of taking the party to their several homes the champion -fixer had so effectually baffled.</p> -<p><i>Sssssssssssss</i>, went the tire.</p> -<p>“We’ve got a puncture,” said Napoleon.</p> -<p>“Sure as you live,” said Charlie Chaplin.</p> -<p>“That was a new tire, too,” said Harry Bensen, the gypsy king, as he got -out to inspect the damage.</p> -<p>“Isn’t it exasperating!” said Carmen alias Ruth Collins.</p> -<p>“Now I suppose we’ll <i>simply never</i> get home,” chirped Martha Washington -alias Marjorie Dennison. “And I want you all to stop at my house for a -cup of coffee, it’s so chilly.”</p> -<p>Slowly, fearfully, the mighty hero retraced his steps. The hurrying -Emerson, too, had heard the merry voice of Elsie Harris and then the -others and he paused midway between the road and the dark house, and -then returned curiously.</p> -<p>“What on earth are you doing here?” Elsie asked of the abashed hero. -“And Emmy Skybrow too! You both ought to be home in bed.”</p> -<p>“I—we—we got an—a call over the radio,” Pee-wee stammered. “It was -broadcasted that a stolen car with gypsies in it was maybe coming this -way so we laid keekie for it and I thought Harry Bensen was a gypsy like -the announcer said so that shows anybody can be mistaken so I punched a -hole in the tire with an ice-pick because then if it had been stolen—the -car—we’d have caught them, wouldn’t we? So I jabbed a hole in it with an -ice-pick but anyway I was mistaken. But anyway if you’re going to -Marjorie Dennison’s for hot coffee we’ll go with you, and we’ll help you -change the tire too, because, gee whiz, we’re good and hungry.”</p> -<p>We need not recount the comments of the several members of the -masquerade party, particularly the rather pithy observations of -Pee-wee’s sister Elsie who had previously suffered at his hands. It will -be quite sufficient to say that Harry Bensen, the gypsy king, was a good -sport and a staunch admirer of Pee-wee. They put on a spare tire and -then took the unhappy heroes into the car and made good speed for the -Dennison place in East Bridgeboro.</p> -<p>But in fact Pee-wee was not unhappy, only Emerson was unhappy. For -Pee-wee was, as usual, triumphant. He sat on the front seat wedged in -between Harry Bensen, the gypsy, and Martha Washington. Charlie Chaplin -sat upon the top of the door to make room for him.</p> -<p>“Didn’t I tell you I’d fix it for you?” Pee-wee demanded of Emerson who -squatted unobtrusively on the floor in back. “Didn’t I say I’d get you -some eats? Now you’re going to have hot coffee and cake maybe and -everything. Didn’t I say I’d fix it for you? Gee whiz, if a scout says -he’ll do a thing he does it.”</p> -<p>“Even if he has to use an ice-pick,” said Harry Bensen, the gypsy king.</p> -<p>“I’d like to be a scout,” said Ruth Collins.</p> -<p>“Gee, it’s great being a scout,” said Pee-wee.</p> -<p>“It’s not so great being a scout’s sister,” said Joan of Arc.</p> -<p>“Joan of Arc carried a sword,” said Harry Bensen, nudging Pee-wee, “and -a scout carries an ice-pick. I don’t believe you could use an ice-pick -with such deadly skill.”</p> -<p>“The way I feel now I would like to use an axe with deadly skill if I -had one,” said Elsie.</p> -<p>“What a bloodthirsty family,” laughed Harry Bensen.</p> -<p>“Are you hungry?” Pee-wee asked, looking around and peering down at the -silent Emerson. “Now you’re going up to Dennison’s and I fixed it for -you and you’re going to have eats just like you wanted, so gee whiz, you -can’t say I’m not a fixer.”</p> -<p>“<i>Fixer</i> is right,” laughed Harry Bensen.</p> -<div style='text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;'> -<div style='margin-top:1.4em;'>END</div> -</div> -</div> <!-- chapter --> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Pee-wee Harris: Fixer, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEE-WEE HARRIS: FIXER *** - -***** This file should be named 61094-h.htm or 61094-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/0/9/61094/ - -Produced by Roger Frank and Sue Clark -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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