saying."

"Is that what _you're_ saying?" I said.

"I'm not saying anything," he shot back.

"You saw what he just did," I told him.

"I saw what he just did," he said.

"You don't seem to be very excited about it," I shot back at him again.

"What's the good of getting excited?" he said.

"Do _you_ think he's crazy and a thief?" I asked him.

"I think he may be a little crazy--at times," he said. "As to being a
thief--" And then he screwed his mouth up, but didn't say anything
more.

"A hero-thief," I said, kind of sarcastic, for the way he talked made
me mad.

"He's sure a hero," he said.

"I'm glad you think so," I told him. "Heroes aren't usually thieves,
are they?"

"Not as a rule," he said, kind of quiet and all the while kicking a
stone.

"Well then," I said.

"Well then," he said too.

"Well then, there you are," I spoke up.

"Well then, here we are," he said, with an awful funny smile, "and the
question is, where is the little skinny fellow?"

"I guess I can find him without any help from you," I said.

Then he walked away. Cracky, maybe I couldn't understand Skinny very
well, but I sure couldn't understand Bert Winton at all.

CHAPTER XVI

TELLS ABOUT SKINNY'S ABSENCE

I hunted for Skinny for a couple of hours, but I couldn't find him. I
went all the way into Leeds for I couldn't think where else he'd be, if
he wasn't around camp. But he wasn't in the village, that was sure, and
I began to get kind of anxious, because I knew the crazy state he was
in, and besides he was soaked from being in the lake.

It cleared up nice and sunny while I was gone and when I got back to
camp, everybody was getting ready for supper. I had to change my
clothes, they were so wet, and while I was doing it Mr. Ellsworth came
into our cabin and asked me if I knew where Skinny was.

I said, "No, I don't; I hiked all over looking for him, but I couldn't
find him. That's how I got so wet I should think Connie would have his
patrol out hunting for him."

Mr. Ellsworth and I walked over to supper together, and he seemed kind
of worried. "I'm afraid this thing has jarred his balance a little,"
that's what he said.

"One reason he wants to be alone," I said, "is because he hasn't got
any friends."

"I think his patrol is very proud of him," he said; "the whole camp is
proud of him."

"They're proud of what he _did_; they couldn't help being proud of it,"
I said. "But they're not proud of _him_. Why