k, which Peter had never seen before. He liked it because it pulled
open the way a turtle's neck comes out, and then went in again. Oh yes,
they all showed him.

And meanwhile Peter Piper kept his secret and no one ever knew of his
little exploit, for which the handbook really deserved all the credit.
The adventure of the stolen car was now forgotten in a hundred new
activities, and with it the rope across the road and the lantern and all
that. Sometimes when they spoke of that, Peter was troubled. But they
did not often speak of it. And he did not even tell them that he was a
pioneer scout. Harding and Coolidge he now kept in the pocket of his
stove-pipe pantaloons. For Peter Piper was approaching scouthood through
the tenderfoot class. Yes, they were all busy showing him.

Scout Harris showed him. Oh yes, he showed him. But Scout Harris was too
busy showing all the rest of them to do any exclusive showing for the
pioneer scout. And besides, Peter, who was too new and too bashful and
too awed by his companions and surroundings to be a good general mixer,
was mostly occupied with his hero, Nick Vernon. Pee-wee, who was a mixer
as well as a fixer, went on mixing and fixing and soon he performed his
greatest of all "fixing" feats; probably the greatest fixing feat in
scout history. Perhaps the greatest fixing stunt in the history of the
world.

But Peter was satisfied to laugh at Pee-wee with the rest of them, with
that bashful, hesitating laugh, which endeared him to them all.

It was natural that he should follow Nick Vernon about the island, for
everyone liked Nick, who was quiet, humorous, modest and withal very
resourceful and skilful. He had a kind of a contained air, as if he knew
more than he gave out, in contrast to Scout Harris who gave out more
than he knew. A bantering, off-hand way he had, as if all the things he
did (and he could do many) were done just to kill time. Skilful though
he was, he did not take himself too seriously. Everything he did he
seemed to do incidentally.

He would wander aimlessly into some triumph. "Going tracking?" they
would say. "Guess so," he would answer. He never made a fuss. The
general impression that he gave was that scouting was a good enough way
to while away a summer. Peter Piper worshipped at the shrine, winning
scout personality. He hoped that his mother would allow him to stay for
the finish so that he could see Nick receive the cup. He watched,
jealously, anxiously,