came all the way out here _alone_? Oh, isn't that perfectly
_adorable_! And you're going to give a show to earn money----"

"So we won't perish," Pee-wee said.

"Which?" Westy asked him.

"Perish," he said; "don't you know what perish means?"

"And will the pictures show you doing all those things?" one of the
girls wanted to know.

"Sure," Pee-wee said; "maybe you'll get some good ideas from them, only
you mustn't scream when you see one of the fellows fall out of a tree
into the water, because that's nothing. That's one thing scouts don't
do--scream."

But believe me, that was one thing scouts did do the very next day. I
did, anyway; I screamed till I had a headache.

CHAPTER XI

WE MEET THE CHEERFUL IDIOT

They said they would surely canoe across that night and take in the show
and so we told them we'd see them later. Westy gave Pee-wee one of his
sign placards and we marched up and down Main Street for about an hour,
till we got hungry. Then we decided that as long as everybody in
Skiddyunk knew about our show, we'd go back to Ridgeboro and catch some
fish. Mr. Tarkin told us that as long as everybody had laughed so much
and had seemed to take so much interest, he guessed our show was a safe
investment and that if we needed a couple of dollars or so to carry us
through, he'd let us have it. But we didn't take it, because scouts like
to rely on themselves, and we knew there were lots of fish in that lake.

When we got back to Ridgeboro, the man that owned the store came and
gave us a telegram. He said a boy on horseback had brought it from the
office in Skiddyunk. This is what it said:

"Just learned of unfortunate error of freight conductor. Don't be
afraid or worried. Have wired money to Skiddyunk. You can get
eastern train there at three. Parents informed. Keep cool.

"JOHN TEMPLE."

"Just our luck," Westy said; "we've got to go home."

"What!" Pee-wee shouted.

"_Keep cool_," I said; "that means _you_."

"Are you going to answer it?" he wanted to know.

"Absolutely, positively," I told him; "and I'm going to send it
collect."

"If you think I'm going home," Pee-wee yelled, "you've got another
think. A scout is not a quitter. We've got things coming our way now--do
you think I'm going to admit----"

"Come on in the car and we'll make up an answer," I said, "and I'll sign
it, because I'm patrol leader."

So this was the ans