Pee-Wee Harris Adrift | Page 8

he half cried and half panted.
The officers now began to have some glimmerings of the fact that here
was a boy who did not belong in Barrel Alley. They were a little taken
aback by the exhibition of so much pride and spirit. The customary,
ominous grip of the collar had not worked.
"What were you doing down here, Sonny?" Detective Slippett asked.
"I came down to hunt for fellers to start a scout patrol," Pee-wee said,
"and one feller was laying keekie for cops and he had to go home so I
took his place, because he had to keep his word with those fellers,
didn't he? Maybe you wouldn't promise fellers to do that but, gee whiz,

if you did promise them you'd have to keep your word, wouldn't you?
If he sees I help him maybe he'll get to be a scout, won't he? Do you
mean to tell me it isn't more important to be a scout than it is to let
fellers get to be arrested? Even--even Roosevelt said the scouts were
important, but he didn't say it was important you should catch fellers,
did he?"
"That's some argument," Detective Slippett said, half smiling.
"I know even better arguments than that," Pee-wee boasted.
"Well," said Detective Spotson rather more gruffly, "you'd better look
out how you try to interfere with the law, young feller, 'cause first thing
you know you'll find yourself in jail. And you'd better keep away from
this outfit down here, too. Now you chase yourself back to where you
belong--see?"
"You thought you were going to scare me, didn't you?" Pee-wee said.
CHAPTER VI
THE MISSIONARY
Pee-wee retraced his steps back across the field feeling righteous and
triumphant. To him the interests of the Boy Scouts of America
superseded every other interest and like the true missionary he did not
scruple overmuch as to means employed.
As he emerged Into the alley, Keekie Joe, looking frightened and
apprehensive, appeared out of the surrounding squalor. It was a
characteristic of Keekie Joe that he always appeared without warning.
A long habit of sneaking had given him this uncanny quality. Suddenly
Pee-wee, in the full blush of his heroic triumph, was aware of the poor
wretch shuffling along beside him.
"Wot'd they say ter yer? Wot'd yer tell 'em?" he asked fearfully.
"I didn't tell them anything," Pee-wee said. "As long as the fellers got

away they won't blame you. Anyway, if you'd have been there they'd
have been caught, because you didn't know those detectives because
they're strangers around here."
"How'd you know them?" Keekie Joe inquired.
"Gee, scouts are supposed to know everything," Pee-wee informed him.
Keekie Joe gave a side glance at Pee-wee as he shuffled along at his
side. He was rather interested in a class of boys who knew all officials
on sight; here indeed was something worth knowing. "Yer spotted
'em?" he asked incredulously.
"Sure I did," said Pee-wee with great alacrity; "because scouts are
supposed to be observant, see? I saw them in Northvale once. But,
believe me, I didn't holla. Oh, no! I ran over and told the fellers and
they all got away, so as long as you didn't leave them in the lurch it was
all right. So now will you join the scouts? They always carry licorice
jaw-breakers in their pockets," he added as a supplementary
inducement; "anyway I do--lemon ones too, and strawberry ones."
"How many is in your gang?" Joe asked.
"Nobody yet," said Pee-wee, "because I haven't got it started. But if
you'll join in with me we'll start one. You're supposed to hike and run a
lot but if you want to run after fire engines and ambulances it's all
right." He said this because of the favorite outdoor sport of Barrel Alley
of trailing fire engines and ambulances. "So will you join?" he added.
They paused on the frontier of Joe's domain in the rear of the big bank
building which fronted on Main Street. Here was the makeshift
sidewalk of barrel staves whence the alley derived its name. "You have
to be, kind of, you have to be a sort of a--kind of wild and reckless to
join the scouts," Pee-wee pleaded. "Maybe you're kind of scared on
account of thinking that you have to be civilized, but you don't; you
don't even eat off plates," he added with sudden inspiration. "We cook
potatoes just like tramps do, right out in the woods; we hold them on
sticks over the fire. So now will you join? If you will you'll be elected

patrol leader because there's only one to vote for you and I'm the one
and I'm a majority. See? So if you come in right now you'll be sure to
have a majority and I'll buy