"Well, sir," he said, crisply.
"Are you Mr. Stanton?" Tom asked. "We are Scouts," he added, as the
gentleman nodded perfunctorily, "and we came from Bridgeboro. We're on
our way to camp. Last night we got caught in the rain and we ran----"
"Took refuge," whispered Pee-wee.
"For that old boat on the marsh. This morning we heard it was yours, so
we came to tell you that we camped in it last night. We made a fire in a
can, but I don't think we did any harm, except we chopped up a couple of
old stanchions. We thought they were no good, but, of course, we
shouldn't have taken them without leave."
Mr. Stanton stared at him with an ominous frown. "Built a fire in a
can?" said he. "Do you mean in the boat?"
"We used the exhaust for a draught," said Roy.
"Oh--and what brings you here?"
"To tell you," said Tom, doggedly. "A man came and told us you owned the
boat. He said you might have us arrested, so we came to let you know
about what we did."
"We didn't come because we wanted to be arrested," put in Pee-wee.
"I see," said Mr. Stanton, with the faintest suggestion of a smile.
"Isn't it something new," he added, "running into the jaws of death?
Boys generally run the other way and don't go hunting for trouble."
"Well, I'll tell you how it is," said Pee-wee, making the conversation
his own, somewhat to Roy's amusement. "Of course, a scout has got to be
cautious--but he's got to be fearless too. I was kind of scared when I
heard you were a lawyer----"
Mr.
Pages:
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63