n Poughkeepsie waiting for him. You see we were a kind of a
tramp boat, but what did we care as long as we got to camp some time or
other. Scouts are tramps anyway, hey?

So now I have to tell you about that two days we spent in Poughkeepsie
and most of the time we spent in teaching Skinny to swim. Of course,
that was up to the Elks and you can bet I didn't interfere, nor any of
my patrol either, but I was mighty glad to see how easy it was for him
to learn.

[Illustration: MOST OF THE TIME WAS SPENT IN TEACHING SKINNY TO SWIM.]

"That kid is half fish," Doc Carson said to me.

"No wonder," I said, "most all his life has been spent in the marshes.
He's going to be a cracker-jack, you see."

"He'll walk away with that badge when he once gets started," Westy
said.

"You mean he'll swim away with it," I said; "gee-williger, look how
that little codger can dive."

One thing, there was a dandy place for learning, that's sure.

We put the skiff into the water and a couple of the Elks rowed around
near the house-boat, keeping near, while Hunt Ward showed Skinny the
strokes. The rest of us sat along the cabin roof, cheering just so's
the kid would be encouraged. He looked awfully thin and little in his
bathing suit and whenever he climbed up to the deck of the house-boat
the wet cloth stuck tight to him and made him look, oh, I don't know,
kind of like a marsh rat, as you may say. That's what he always said
people called him, a _swamp rat_, and I guess he was even kind of proud
of it.

One sure thing, he was game. And he was just the same in learning to
swim as he was in everything else; he got all excited and wanted to go
too fast. As soon as he got the hang of it and could manage a few
strokes, _good night_, he wanted to swim across the river. He started
right off before the fellows in the boat noticed him and was heading
across stream. Two or three times we heard him sputtering and shouting,
"_Now can I have that badge?_"

Late that afternoon they let him dive off the deck. It was low and it
didn't make much of a dive. Of course, he didn't dive right, he only
just jumped and went kerflop into the water, and he had us all
laughing. As soon as he found out how much fun it was, he kept climbing
up and splashing into the water again; oh, boy, it was as good as a
circus to see him. Then he'd go swimming to the skiff and climb in just
like a little eel, and sit there shivering.

You can bet that kid is going to have