to-morrow," teased the girl,
"he'll be so proud."

Tom smiled uncomfortably and wandered over to the window where, but a
few minutes before, he had looked out with such pride and happiness. He
did not feel very happy now.

Close by him was a table on which were strewn photographs of Temple Camp
and the adjacent lake, a few birch bark ornaments, carved canes, and
other specimens of handiwork which scouts had made there. There was also
a large portfolio with plans of the cabins and pavilion and rough charts
and diagrams of the locality.

Tom had shown this portfolio to many callers--scoutmasters and parents
of scouts--who had come to make inquiries about the woodland community.
He had shown it to Roscoe Bent only the day before and, as we know, he
had been greatly pleased at the lively interest which that worldly young
gentleman had shown.

He opened the portfolio idly now, and as he did so his gaze fell upon
the map which showed the wooded hill and the position of the lonesome
shack upon its summit. He called to mind with what pride he had traced
his own blazed path up through the forest and how Roscoe had followed
him, plying him with questions.

Then, suddenly, like a bolt out of the sky, there flashed into Tom's
mind a suspicion which, but for his generous, unsuspecting nature, he
might have had before. Was _that_ why Roscoe Bent had been so interested
in the little hunting shack on the mountain? Was _that_ why he had asked
if any one ever went up there; why he had inquired if there were fish to
be caught in the brook and game to be hunted in the neighborhood? Was
that why he had been so particular about the blazed path, and whether
there was a fireplace in or near the shack? Had he been thinking of it
as a safe refuge, a place of concealment for a person who had shirked
his duty?

"He could never live there," said Tom; "he could never even _get_
there."

As the certainty grew in his mind, he was a little chagrined at his own
credibility, but he was more ashamed for Roscoe.

"I might have known," he said, "that he wasn't really interested in
camping.... He's a fool to think he can do that."

To Tom, who longed to go to war and who was deterred only by his promise
to Mr. Ellsworth, the extremity that Roscoe had evidently gone to in the
effort to escape service seemed unbelievable. But that was his game, and
Tom saw the whole thing now as plain as day. It made him almost sick to
think of it. While he, Tom, w