Some boys were killed and some were not,
Of those that went to war;
And a lot of boys are dying now,
That never died before.

Before camp-fire was started Tom hunted up Mr. Carroll.

"I see you have a William Corbett in your troop, Mr. Carroll," said he.

"Oh, yes, that's Goliath."

"He--he wasn't the kid who was knocked down by an auto?"

"Why, yes, he was. You know about that?"

Tom hesitated. The newspapers had not yet had time to publish the
sensational accounts of Harlowe's tragic death on the mountain and the
facts about this harrowing business had not been made public in camp.

"I thought the kid was killed," Tom said.

"Oh, no, that was just newspaper talk. It's a long way from being
mortally injured in a newspaper to being killed, Mr. Slade."

"Y-es, I dare say you're right," said Tom, still astonished.

"Yes, the little codger has a weak heart," said Mr. Carroll. "When the
machine struck him it knocked him down and he was picked up
unconscious. Probably he looked dead as he lay there. I dare say that's
what frightened the man in the machine. No, it was just his heart," he
added. "A couple of the boys in my troop knew the family, mother did
washing for them or something of that sort, and so we got in touch with
the little codger and there was our good turn all cut out for us.

"You know, Slade, we have a kind of an institution--troop good turn.
Ever hear of anything like that? So we brought him along. He's a kind of
a scout in the chrysalis stage. He doesn't even know what happened to
him. A good part of his life has been spent in hospitals; he'll pick up
though. I think the newspaper reporters did more harm than the autoist.
Do you know, Slade, I think the man may have just got panicky, like some
of the soldiers in the war."

"I've seen a fellow shrink like a whipped cur at the sound of a cannon
and then I've seen him flying after the enemy like a fiend," said Tom.

"Yes, human nature's a funny thing," said Mr. Carroll.

Tom's mind was divided between admiration of this kind, tolerant,
generous scoutmaster and astonishment at what he had learned.

"Well, that's news to me," he said.

"Yes, the main thing is to build the little codger up now," Mr. Carroll
mused aloud.

"Mr. Carroll," said Tom, "Gilbert didn't say anything about going up the
mountain with me last night?"

"N-no, I don't know that he did."

"The trustees didn't want anything said about the matter here in c