Roy Blakeleys Adventures in Camp | Page 9

read that article twice. And it made me wonder a lot of things about that fishing trip. One thing, it looked as if they might have had more adventures than Lieutenant Donnelle had told me about, and maybe he didn't want to tell me everything--that's what I thought. Anyway, he didn't say anything about a life-boat, that's sure. But maybe he forgot to.
Just the same I wondered if maybe he had any other reason for being in such a hurry and so excited, kind of. Then I remembered how he said he would tell me all about it some day. Anyway, I said, he's had a lot of adventures, that's sure. You bet I'd like to have a lot of adventures like that.
CHAPTER V
TELLS ABOUT SKINNY'S MERIT BADGE
The next day was Sunday and two things happened, not counting dinner. Early in the morning we drew lots to see who'd be deck steward for the day, and Skinny was the one. That meant he'd have to sweep up the deck and wipe the rail and do everything outside like that. Anyway, there wasn't much to do.
At about twelve o'clock I went into the galley to cook dinner and Charlie Seabury and Brick Warner went along to help me. While we were peeling the potatoes, Skinny came in and showed me three or four dimes and some pennies, and said he found them on the deck, when he was sweeping. He said, "I've been to every fellow in the troop and nobody lost any money. Are they yours?"
I told him no and so did Brick and Charlie and we said he had better give them to Mr. Ellsworth. "One of them is a French coin," Brick said, and he showed it to me and I saw that it was.
"I guess one of the fellows dropped some change climbing over the rail," Charlie said, "and maybe didn't miss it on account of not losing all he had, hey?"
"He'd know if he had a French coin and lost it," Brick said.
It made me feel kind of funny, because all the while I knew where those coins came from. Anyway, Skinny went and gave them to Mr. Ellsworth and when we were all together at dinner, Mr. Ellsworth asked us if any fellow owned a French coin that was missing. Nobody said yes, and then he said, kind of funny like, "Well, I suppose this is what our young friend Mr. Walter Harris would call a mystery," and he said we'd put the money in the troop treasury. Then he gave it to Will Dawson (he's in my patrol), because Will is troop treasurer.
Somebody said, "How about the French coin? That's no use in the treasury." And Mr. Ellsworth said we'd give that to Skinny, because he found the money. He said it would be a kind of a merit badge to Skinny, for keeping his eyes open.
I was mighty glad Mr. Ellsworth didn't ask us if anybody knew anything about the money, because then--jiminy, I don't know what I would have done. Maybe it would have been all right to keep still because I wasn't dead sure whose it was. But all the while I knew I was sure. Maybe I would have said I knew only I didn't want to tell, hey? Anyway, he didn't ask and that was one good thing.
After dinner Skinny came to me all smiles and said, "I've got a merit badge, it's for keeping my eyes open, and will you bore a hole in it so I can wear it around my neck?" Oh, but that kid was happy.
I said, "Did you have a good dinner, kiddo?" And he said, "Yes, but will you bore a hole in it so I can wear it around my neck?" He looked awful thin and his scout suit didn't fit him and his belt wasn't tight enough and he didn't look anything like pictures you see of scouts--you know what I mean. And when he smiled it made wrinkles in his cheeks. One thing sure, he was different from all the rest of the fellows. Even if it was only a little thing that he was interested in, he got all excited about it, and his eyes got all bright and if he grabbed you by the arm you could feel that his hand was trembling--he'd be so excited. We made a lot of allowance for him, because he was sick and came out of the slums, but anyway, one trouble with him was, that Mr. Ellsworth couldn't make him study up scouting the way other fellows do. All of a sudden he'd go crazy for the gold medal or the eagle badge and you couldn't tell him that a fellow has to get to be a first class scout, before