On the way out I met Pee-wee shouting away like a machine gun. "Come on
up the street with me," I said; "I want to tell you something."

When we were about a block off I said, "You listen here, kiddo. I don't
want you to be shouting about belt-axes and jack-knives and things like
that in front of Skinny McCord. I'm telling you that and I want you to
remember it. And I've got good reasons, too. Scouts aren't made out of
belt-axes and jack-knives and badges. They're made out of ideas, as you
might say. You just remember what I tell you and don't be springing this
stuff about the emblem of the woods and all that. A belt-axe costs two
dollars--haven't you got sense enough to know that. And do you know how
much it costs to take the scout oath? Not one blooming cent!"

Jiminy crinkums, he just listened and didn't say a single word. For two
blocks he didn't say a word.

It was the biggest stunt he ever did.

CHAPTER XXIII

IN THE WOODS

Now I have to go backward--that's one good thing about this story, it
has a reverse gear; you can go backward.

The first night we had the house-boat, Mr. Ellsworth went to see Mr.
Darren, who is superintendent of Northside Woods (that's owned by the
Northside estate) and he asked Mr. Darren if we could chop down some
saplings to use on the boat. Because we wanted to make some stanchions
for the awning, and another flagpole, and some bumper sticks. He
thought that was a good idea, because lumber costs so much. Connie said
the reason it was high is because they're building tall houses. So Mr.
Darren marked some saplings with chalk and said we could take those.

The next afternoon after that last meeting, we all hiked over to
Northside Woods to chop down the saplings. You have to go across the
bridge to get to Northside Woods and then you go up the road toward
Little Valley.

Westy didn't go with the rest of us because he wanted to get a book out
of the library, for he thought the library might be closed when we got
back.

"Have a heart," I said, "and don't be late whatever you do, because
there's been enough of that kind of thing in our patrol lately."

"I'll be Johnny--on--the--spot, don't you fear," he said. And I knew he
would, only he's one of those fellows that's always trying to do too
much. He isn't late much, I'll say that for him, but he always comes
running in at the last minute.

"Well, don't get us in Dutch," I told him, "that's all I care about."

We had a