Roy Blakeleys Adventures in Camp | Page 8

but he
only said, "Never mind, let it go, you can have all you find, and here's a
quarter to get a couple of sodas."
I said, "We don't take anything for a service, scouts don't."
"Well, you can have a soda on me, can't you?" he said, trying to make
me take the quarter.
"If you want me to be loyal to you, I have to be loyal if I make a
promise, don't I?" I said.
He said, "What promise?"

And I said, "I can't take anything for a service."
Then he hit me a rap on the shoulder and laughed and he punched me in
the chest, not hard, only kind of as if to show me that he liked me. Then
he said, "Bully for you, kiddo, you're one little trump." Then, all of a
sudden he was gone.
Sometimes you can't tell just why you like a fellow, but, anyway, I
liked him just the same.
CHAPTER IV
TELLS ABOUT THE PAPER I FOUND
One thing, I bet it was Pee-wee Harris that the lieutenant heard talking,
while he was hiding on shore. Anyway, it was Pee-wee that I heard first
when they were on their way back--that's sure. You know how plain
you can hear voices on the water. And believe me, before those fellows
were half way out I knew all about the bandit of Red Hallow. That was
the fellow in the movies, I suppose, and he must have been some bandit,
because he saved a school teacher from about twenty other bandits, and
shot them all. I guess everybody was shooting pistols at everybody else,
like they mostly do in the movies. Pee-wee was sticking up for the poor
school teacher, and it made me laugh because he hasn't got much use
for school teachers on account of they're always keeping him in for
talking. Anyway, what fun is there in everybody shooting pistols at
each other. Me for stalking, that's what I say.
When Mr. Ellsworth came on board he said, "Well, Roy, alone in your
glory, eh?" I didn't say anything and I hoped he wouldn't ask me any
questions, because anyway, I wasn't going to lie, that's one sure thing. I
asked him how the fellows liked the movies and he said, everybody got
shot so they were all satisfied. He was just joking. He asked the fellows
if they'd like to meet a lot of bandits in real life, and they said, "Good
night, no." And then he said it was funny how they liked to meet them
in the movies and all the fellows had to admit it was crazy. You
wouldn't catch Mr. Ellsworth stopping us from going to the movies, but
he always makes us feel silly afterward.

Pretty soon Grove Bronson, who is one of the Raving Ravens, came up
to me and gave me a newspaper with a whole lot of ears of corn in it,
and said we were going to have it for Sunday dinner.
Pee-wee said, "They're dandy big ears all right, and here's some cans of
tongue."
"Good night," I told him, "I thought we had tongue enough with you
here." Oh, you ought to have seen little Skinny McCord laugh. His face
was all thin on account of his not being very strong and he never had
much food until he got in with us, either. But it was fun to see him
laugh whenever we got back at Pee-wee.
"There's some heads of cabbage, too," he said; "Doc's got them."
"Heads and ears and tongues," I said; "you ought to have brought some
potatoes, so we'd have eyes." He thinks I'm funny, but I just say those
things to make him laugh, so as he'll feel good.
Then I took all the stuff into the galley and put it in the food locker. I
was just crunching up the newspaper that they brought the corn in, and
was going to throw it out of the window, when I saw a heading that
read: Fishermen Have Harrowing Adventure. Oh, boy, didn't I sit down
on the barrel and read that article through! First, I looked to see the date
of the paper and I saw it was a couple of days old. After I read that
article I cut it out, because I knew I was going to tell you about all
these things. So here it is now for you to read:
FISHERMEN HAVE HARROWING ADVENTURE
The fishing schooner Stella B arrived in port to-day with two castaways,
who had drifted for three days in an open boat in the stormy waters off
Rockaway. The two men, Mike Corby and Dan McCann, hail from
Jersey, and were carried out to sea in their twenty-two foot launch from
about