aightened himself up to his full height. The big Crackerjack
touring car stopped.

"Some detour," the scoutmaster said with an air of infinite relief.

"Do they have scouts down here?" a member of the party asked.

"I'm only staying here, I belong in Bridgeboro, New Jersey," Pee-wee
said.

"Don't talk about bridges," another scout said.

"Talk about something pleasant. A scout is supposed to save life, scout
law number six; let's have a couple of thousand hot dogs, will you?
We're dying. And forty-eleven dozen doughnuts with the holes removed."

"Do you--I--eh--do you--need any tire tape?" Pee-wee stammered, playing
for time. "Tire tape! What do you take us for? A lot of blow-outs? Let's
have some eats and we'll take care of the blow-out."

"Come on, hurry up, a scout is supposed to be prepared," piped up a
natty scout wearing the bronze cross.

"Where's all the food?" the scoutmaster asked, glancing at the empty
counter. "We were led to suppose--"

"Don't you know what a shortage is?" Pee-wee piped up in sheer
desperation.

"We know what a shorty is," one of the party shot back.

"You don't expect us to eat a shortage, do you?" another said. "Come
ahead, hurry up, a scout isn't supposed to be cruel. You can always
depend on scout signs that you find in the woods. A scout that puts
scout signs--"

"Those are different kinds of signs!" Pee-wee shouted. "Those are
trail signs. You think you're so smart! That shows how much you know
about--about--"

"Three strikes out," one of the scouts shouted. "About--about industrial
conditions," Pee-wee concluded. "Don't you know what a--a--what'd you
call it--a--"

"Yes, that's what you call it," a scout laughed.

"Don't you know what a reconstruction period is?" Pee-wee fairly yelled,
amid uncontrollable laughter. "If something happens like a war--or
a--a bridge burning down--or something--or other--that makes business
conditions--what'd you call it--it makes them all kind of upside down,
doesn't it? Sometimes--kind of--things are hard to get. Everybody knows
that."

"We can see it," a scout said.

By this time the scoutmaster was laughing heartily but with the greatest
good humor. Pee-wee continued bravely, to the great amusement of the
party.

"Gee whiz, nobody ever came along this road. You admit that scouts are
hungry, don't you?"

"We proclaim it," said the scoutmaster.

"I ate a lot of the stuff and my aunt wouldn't cook any more stuff for
us becaus