mped there, and met old Major Chandler and Mr. Wade and Horace, and had a
lot of fun, you can bet. It's a whole story all by itself. They have dandy
russet apples up there, and, oh boy, can't Horace's sister Betty make apple
dumplings. I ate four one night. Hunt Manners ate six, but anyway he
started before I did.

CHAPTER XXXIV

A GOOD IDEA

That same day we hiked out through Woodstock. Harry Donnelle said we had to
be careful, because the woods were infested with poets and authors and
artists, but I should worry, who's afraid of a poet? We saw a lot of them
and they wore funny big neckties and long hair. But anyway, Harry said they
were harmless. They live in little shacks.

We went around the Ashokan Reservoir and then along the road down through
Atwood and Stone Ridge till we got to the Wallkill River, and that night we
camped near New Paltz. There's a great big abnormal school there, or a
normal school, or whatever you call it. I should worry. Anyway, there's one
thing I like about school, and that's vacation.

The next day we followed the Wallkill River and caught some perch and
cooked them "for supper", and that night, around the fire, we made Harry
tell us how he saved four privates on the West Front. The next morning we
started off again and passed a place named Great Bluff. It was a great
bluff all right, because it was so small you could send it by Parcels Post.

Pretty soon we came to a place named Tanner's Crossroads. I couldn't see
anything so cross about them. But anyway Mr. Tanner was cross enough to
make up. He wouldn't let us take a short cut across his land. What cared
we? I don't know how big the village was, because I didn't have a ruler
with me. I guess somebody must have dropped the village there and never
noticed it. That night we slept just inside of a village named _Slow_.
Anyway, that's what it said on a sign alongside the road. Harry said it
meant for autos to go slow. I made flapjacks that night. In two days we
came in sight of the Hudson. I knew it would be there. Oh boy, but we
climbed some hills. Pretty soon we could see Haverstraw, but we didn't go
near it. We camped in a dandy place outside the town. And that's the place
where we had our big adventure. Maybe you'll remember how I said our hike
got tied in a knot in one place. Well, that was the place.

So now I'm going to tell you about that adventure. It has girls in it and
everything. And it shows you how boy scouts can be h