etting it ready will go on a strike; maybe there'll be measles or
whooping cough or something. I've had those."

"You're not missing much, hey?"

"You said it. I've been lost in the woods too. Roy Blakeley says I get
lost at C when I sing. He's crazy, that feller is. He started the Silver
Foxes. There's a feller in that patrol can move his ears without
touching them. I should worry as long as I can move my mouth. I'll show
you how to flop a fried egg in the pan only you have to look it doesn't
come down on your head. You can scramble eggs but you can't unscramble
them. Once one came down on my head. I took a bee-line hike, too."

"With a fried egg on your head?"

"No-o-o. I'll show you how to make a thing to get olives out of the
bottom of a bottle too; it's better than a hatpin, but a hatpin is good
to catch pollywogs with. There's a Pollywog Patrol that comes to Temple
Camp. Gee, I never knew that silver cup was in the car with me all the
time."

"Well, we expect you to walk away with that," said Scoutmaster Ned. "You
rode away with it once. So now we expect you to walk away with it."

"It's won already," said Charlie Norris. "Nick's the one."

"Gee whiz, I wish I had seen that signal," said Pee-wee, "but anyway I
have to admit it was a stunt sending it. Gee, I guess you'll get the cup
all right."

It was characteristic of Pee-wee that his thoughts did not recur to his
lonely adversary at Piper's Crossroads. His thoughts were always of the
moment and aroused by the present company. He was just as ready to shout
for others as he was to shout for himself, and that is saying a great
deal. It was immaterial to him who he shouted for so long as he could
shout.

Nick Vernon was the nearest and likeliest, so he was all for Nick's
stunt. And he was not in the least curious about the things said by that
lonely boy with wide eyes who had stopped the car. He was thinking of
other things now.

CHAPTER XXXV

SCOUTMASTER NED DOESN'T SEE

But Scoutmaster Ned was curious and when they reached the little cottage
he jumped out and, taking the can of gasoline he had brought, he bade
the others go on their way, saying that he would follow when he got his
car started.

"Well sir, you haven't been sitting here all this time, I hope?" he said
to Peter. "Nice brisk morning, hey? The kind of weather to give you an
appetite."

"Wouldn't they wait for you?" Peter asked.

"I'm glad to get rid of them," said Scoutmaste