off. Waal, ha ow's
refreshments?" he added, turning upon Pee-wee.

"You ought to know," Pee-wee piped up; "you took enough of them." Which
caused a laugh among the store loungers.

"When I wuz a youngster if I sassed my elders I got the hickory stick,"
Beriah said. "Yes, and when you grew up you got the peppermint sticks
and doughnuts and things," Pee-wee shot back.

At this Darius Dragg and Nathaniel Knapp laughed uproariously. Constable
Bungel saw but one way out of his rather embarrassing situation and
that was the old approved device of a box on the ears. The official slap
sounded loud in the little post office and left Pee-wee's cheek and ear
tingling.

"I'll learn yer how to answer back yer superiors," said Constable
Bungel. "We don't relish sass from city youngsters daown here, you mind
that. Naow yer git along a outer here n' tell yer uncle ter learn yer
some manners n' respect fer th' law."

Pee-wee faced him, his cheek flushed, his eyes blazing. "You're
a--you're a--coward--and a thief--that's what you are," he shouted.
"You--you--haven't got brains enough to find two--two--motorcycles--you
haven't--all you can do is stand around and eat things that other people
are trying to sell! You're a coward and a--a fo--ol--and you owe us as
much as--a--a dollar. You'd better button your coat up or you'll--you'll
be stealing your own watch--you--you coward!"

With this rebuke, which left Beriah gaping, Pee-wee started home,
holding a hand to his cheek. He was trying hard not to cry, not from
pain, but from the indignity he had suffered. He had never known such
a thing in all his life before. He felt shamed, humiliated. His whole
sturdy little form trembled at the thought of such degradation at the
hands of a stranger. . . .

CHAPTER XXI

SCOUT HARRIS FIXES IT

Perhaps you will say that Pee-wee was not a good scout to speak with
such impudent assurance to his elders. But you are to remember what I
told you about Pee-wee, that everything about him was tremendous except
his size. He was not always the ideal scout in little things. He was a
true scout in the big things.

When he reached the shack he found Pepsy waiting for him and he poured
forth his grievance into her sympathetic ears. "I'll fix him all right,"
he said; "he's a coward, that's what he is, and he, needn't think I'm
afraid of him. I'll get even with him all right. Whenever I make up my
mind to do a thing I do it, that