d the gold cross
award for heroism will be his. I think that every scout of his patrol
should thrill with pride at this thought. I dare say we all find him a
little strange, _we_ as well as _you_, and I'm afraid he is a kind of
law unto himself--if you understand what I mean. But this beautiful
cross which will soon be his will bring him closer to us all, I am
sure. It is said in our Handbook that a scout is a brother to every
other scout, so he has many thousands of brothers all over this broad
land. The gold cross is very bright. Look in it and you will see your
face reflected. You will see the scout smile, and that is brighter than
any gold.

"The best of all, it reflects honor--honor on him who wears it, honor
on his patrol, on his troop and on every troop and scout in this whole
great camp. And Alfred McCord has brought us this honor. Come here,
Alf, my boy, and let me shake your hand."

Wasn't that a peach of an address?

But I noticed that Skinny didn't move. He just stood there close to
Connie Bennett He was shaking all over and he was smiling and he was
crying. I saw Hunt Ward jump up and give him a rap on the back and he
was so little and so thin, that it kind of made him stagger.

Then he said, "Can't I stay here with them?"

Oh, boy, wasn't I glad!

CHAPTER XVIII

TELLS ABOUT MY TALK WITH BERT WINTON

Believe _me_, that was _some_ night. I guess I knew how Skinny felt
when he scooted off, because after camp-fire I felt just that same way
myself. Christmas! I don't know how it feels to win the gold cross, and
I guess I never will either, but just the same, after camp-fire that
night, I just felt as if I wanted to go and be by myself--I can't tell
you why.

It's fine hanging around the camp-fire after it's died down, but
they're pretty sure to chase you off to bed if you do that. It's a
danger zone, believe _me_. Anyway, I know a peach of a place on a big
rock near the shore. You just go along under the spring-board and pass
the boat landing and follow the path. So I went there and pretty soon
Hunt Ward came along on his way to the Elk cabin, and he stopped a
couple of minutes and talked to me.

"Well," he said, "we've got that little old medal in our patrol."

"You've got Alf in your patrol, you mean," I said.

"I don't know whether you could exactly say he _earned_ it," he said;
"because he was crazy and didn't know what he was doing."

"I wish I knew some more fellows who were crazy lik