Oh, I'm so glad. I wondered how you'd _ever_ get down the
cliff. When the men came back from Riverview Park they had that horrid
bandit with them--just think!"

"What did I tell you?" Pee-wee said.

She said, "Oh, I think it was just wonderful how you fastened him
there----"

"Without the loss of a single life," the kid shouted.

She said, "And when I saw that villainous creature and thought how you
had _really caught_ him, and when I saw the men had your rope, I was
just _stricken with remorse_ for the way we girls fooled you. I said,
'I'm just going to run after them and take their rope so their hike
won't be spoiled.' Because I thought you'd need it. So you'll forgive
me, won't you, for pretending to be so brave when all the time it was my
own house? You will, won't you?"

I said, "I don't know much about the girl scouts except that they giggle
a lot but I'll say this much, they know how to run and when it comes to
good turns----"

"Will you let me _prove_ I'm a scout? A real one?"

I said, "You're as real as real estate. All you have to do is say what
you want."

She said, "Will you let me climb down that rope and go with you, and
finish the bee-line hike with you?"

"_G-o-o-d night!_" I said.

CHAPTER XXXII

BEE-LINES AND THINGS

Gee whiz, I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to tell her that I
was afraid she couldn't do it. But we had just seen one narrow escape
and I didn't want her to take any chances.

I said, "If you think we're mean, we'll say yes, you can go with us.
Because we owe you a lot, that's sure. I'd rather give up the whole
thing than be mean about it. And I think you're just as good at doing
things as we are. But we wouldn't do this ourselves if we weren't
already in for it. Our clothes are all torn already from going over
roofs and climbing on those ferris-wheel cars, and you'll only get your
dress all torn and what's the use?"

She just stood there a few seconds, kind of trying to make up her mind.
"You think I'm afraid," she said.

"I _don't_ think you're afraid," I told her. Pee-wee started to speak
and I told him to keep still. "But what's the good of taking a chance
and getting your dress all torn?"

She just said, very stubborn like, "I want to go and I _do_ think you're
mean if you don't let me. I'm a scout as much as you are. You think I'm
a coward. Do you think I want to go back to the village and finish a
tennis tournament after seeing the things you do