ll wet." That was just to jolly
Pee-wee.

"That's because of the recent rains," I said.

"The which?" Artie asked me.

"You think you're smart talking about _recent rains,_ don't you?"
Pee-wee shouted. "You got that out of a book."

"I bet there'll be a lot of troops there this summer," El Sawyer said.

Pretty soon I saw he was right, too, because five boats came across to
get us and there was a strange scout in every single one of them. Uncle
Jeb was waiting at the landing on the other side to meet us, and oh,
cracky, didn't it look good to see the big pavilion and the tents and
patrol cabins upside down in the water. There were a lot of scouts
waiting too, and I could see the camp was pretty full.

Uncle Jeb said, "Wall, Roay"--that's just the way he talks, slow like;
"haow's all the boys from Bridgeboro? I reckon little Pee-wee ain't
growed at all. Hain't you never goin' ter grow, Pee-wee? And Artie and
Grovey, and El, and Hunter Ward and, let's see, Vic Norris--every
plaguy one of yer here. Ain't none of yer died or gone off ter war,
hey? And there's Connover Bennett, too, large as life, and still crazy
about raisin cake, I reckon. Wall, wall, it's good ter see ye all."

I said, "It's good to see you, too, Uncle Jeb, gee, all the fellows
were crazy to see you, that's one sure thing."

"And still making them flapjacks, hey?" he said; "I remember when one
uv them New Hampshire scouts scaled one uv them flapjacks uv your'n
across the lake. I reckon you're the same old Roay that put the
mosquito dope in the biscuits. Yer remember that?" Cracky, I'm not
going to tell you anything about my past life, but summer before last
up there--_oh, boy!_

Most of the morning we rested up and got our patrol cabins cleaned out
and all fixed up, and in the afternoon we banged around and got
acquainted with some of the new troops.

Just before supper, Westy and I went down for a swim and there were
Connie Bennett and two or three of the Elks diving with Skinny. A whole
lot of fellows were standing around watching. Most of them laughed at
Skinny, but they all had to admit he was a crackerjack. I knew the Elks
were just kind of showing him off and putting him through a lot of
freak stunts just to get their name up around the camp.

After supper, Westy and I and a new fellow in an Ohio troop were rowing
around near the shore. He was an awful nice fellow--quiet like--just
like me, only different. All of a sudden we noticed Skin