We
could sell him for old metal."

Honest, I had to laugh. That kid looked like a Christmas tree. He was
wearing his belt-axe and it looked as if it weighed a ton the way it
dragged his belt down. In front he had his scout jack-knife dangling
from his belt and his big nickel-plated compass hanging by a cord around
his neck. He had all his badges on, and besides he had his aluminum
cooking set hanging by a strap from his shoulder. He had his brown scarf
on too, he didn't care how hot it was. The reason the Ravens chose brown
for their color is because they're all nuts in that patrol. He had his
scout staff with the Raven pennant on it and he was jabbing it into the
ground as he came along.

Westy said, "What's this? A traveling hardware store?"

Dorry said, "Are you starting off on a crusade, Kid? Where's your steel
armor? What's the large idea? Have the Germans invaded Bridgeboro?"

I was laughing so hard I could hardly speak. The kid looked like that
picture in the handbook that shows just how to wear the medals and
things.

"What's this? A coffee-pot?" Ralph Warner asked him. "You must be going
to join the Cook's Tours with all your cooking things. What's the big
idea of all the exterior decorations?"

"I'm a delegation," Pee-wee said.

"A what?" I asked him.

"Don't you know what a missionary is?" he shot back at me.

"Good night! Pity the poor heathens," I said. "So that's what you've got
the compass for! You're going to China? Break it to us gently. You sound
like a Ford when you walk."

"You think you're smart, don't you?" he shouted. "I was out doing a good
turn, so there. I was out doing a good turn for your patrol. I was
trying to get you a new member. When you go after new members you've got
to look like a scout, haven't you? You've got to show them what scouting
is, so they'll _see_. Everybody knows that. Didn't you ever hear that
it takes a scout to catch a scout?"

"You couldn't catch a snail with all that junk hanging on you," I told
him. "Who did you try to catch?"

"Warde Hollister," he shouted.

_Good night_, we all began to laugh.

"Warde Hollister?" I said. "You couldn't catch that fellow with a lasso.
He loves the wild and woolly front porch too much. You stand a tall
chance of getting Warde Hollister into the scouts. You're wasting your
time, Kiddo. What did he tell you?"

"He said he has something better to do with himself," Pee-wee said.

"There you go," Dorry told him; "that'