don't they take him in and
make friends with him? He's won the gold cross for them; gee, the least
they can do is to show some interest in him. Are they ashamed of him?
They don't even trust him, that's what _I_ think."

Mr. Ellsworth said, "Yes, he's won the gold cross for them; no doubt of
that."

"Yes," I said, "and where is he now? He's gone off so's he can be
alone. One fellow around here says everybody in camp thinks he's a
thief."

"Oh, I guess he didn't say just that, Roy," Mr. Ellsworth said, very
nice like, "but we've got to have a little talk with Skinny about the
way he talks--the things he says. He's a very queer youngster. They see
he's different from the rest of us, that he's out of the slums and,
well, they don't understand him, that's all."

"He just blurts everything out," I said, "that's all."

"Well, he _mustn't_," Mr. Ellsworth laughed, "especially when he's out
on the lake. His tirade to-day, after the rescue, sounded very strange.
The boys are not used to hearing talk about picking pockets and
stealing silverware. They don't understand it."

"I should worry about them," I said; "Skinny's just a kind of a freak.
Look at the way he wanted to go away and be alone by himself. Doesn't
that prove it?"

"Well," Mr. Ellsworth said, "it will be more to the point if he comes
back all right."

"It would be more to the point if the Elks were out hunting for him," I
said. You can bet I wasn't afraid to say it--to Mr. Ellsworth or
anybody else.

"I think we'll have to organize a search if he doesn't show up soon,"
Mr. Ellsworth said. Then neither of us said anything for a few seconds.

"How about the camping fellow?" I asked him.

"They took him home in a skiff," Mr. Ellsworth said; "he wanted to go,
so three of the boys rowed him across after the weather cleared."

"I don't see how Skinny held him up--I just don't," I told Mr.
Ellsworth.

Mr. Ellsworth said, "No, it was marvelous any way you look at it. I
think Skinny nearly broke the poor fellow's jaw. There is wonderful
power in frantic desperation."

Anyway, at supper all the fellows were shouting about Skinny. Everybody
said he'd have the gold cross--even Uncle Jeb and Mr. Elting. And you
never hear Mr. Elting saying much about those things till he's sure.
All the Elks were shouting about the gold cross and where they'd keep
it, just as if it was theirs. Hardly any of them said anything about
Skinny.

At camp-fire it was just the same