"Will you please not mention the word ate?" said Townsend. "They ought to be thankful he left the lawn."
"What did his father say over the "phone?" one asked.
"Oh, he didn"t seem to worry," said Townsend. "He knows that the island is on a scow and that the river is small and that his son always lands right side up; that"s what he said. I told him the island would come up with the tide and that we"d wait here and row out when he came in sight. He said there was no danger, that the discoverer is always lucky."
"Oh, he"s lucky," said Brownie.
"Nothing short of an earthquake can capsize the island," Townsend said.
"He"s a whole earthquake in himself," said Billy.
"More than that," said Shorty. "If I owned a restaurant I wouldn"t leave it around, not unless there were buildings on both sides of it."
"And a weight on the top," said Brownie.
"Oh, that goes without saying," said Shorty.
"The blamed thing can"t sink, can it?" Billy asked.
"I don"t know how heavy his nine ideas are," said Townsend. "They would be the only thing that could sink it."
"We"ll reach him easy as pie----"
"Please don"t say that word," Townsend pled.
"I think I see the lantern now," said Billy.
"I was afraid he might have eaten that----"
"I could eat it myself," said Roly Poly.
"It"s probably all you get," said Townsend.
Pee-wee"s surprising coup had not indeed caused any real anxiety in any quarter. It is true that his mother, answering Townsend"s thoughtful "phone call from the Skybrow home, had expressed concern at his being cast up with no companion but a banquet, but no one, not even his parents, feared for his safety.
The river was too tame and narrow, and the island altogether too secure upon its vast scow to introduce the smallest element of peril into his exploit. The tide would have to come up and upon its expanding bosom the gorged hero would return to his native land. Roy and his friends, knowing that Pee-wee"s new victims were to rejoin him, went to their several homes to rifle kitchens and turn pantries inside out.
"Yes, that"s his light, all right," said Billy.
"That you, Discoverer?" Townsend called, as the light bobbed gayly nearer and nearer. It was coming up the channel.
"Sure," called Pee-wee. "I"ve got something new! I"ve got a big surprise for you!"
"Another?" said Townsend.
"It"s alive," Pee-wee shouted. "Is the party all over?"
"Oh, absolutely," Townsend called; "you closed it up. Have you got two or three salted almonds over there?"
"Sure," Pee-wee shouted rea.s.suringly, "six or seven."
It was funny with what an air of humorous resignation Townsend Ripley stepped into the skiff and the mock air of ebbing vitality which the others showed was as good as a circus.
"You don"t suppose it"s some new kind of hunter"s stew, do you?" said Townsend resignedly as he languidly took a pair of oars.
"You needn"t think I"m coming ash.o.r.e," called Pee-wee, "because I"m not. Now we"ve got a full patrol and we"re going to live here.
There"s going to be a boat race next Sat.u.r.day and I"ve got two new ideas besides the ones I told you about and I bet I had more fun than you did dancing and somebody"s got to go ash.o.r.e to-morrow and see this feller"s mother and father and tell them he"s joined the scouts, because he can"t go home on account of not having four cigarettes."
Then the boys in the approaching boat could hear Pee-wee saying in a lowered voice to Keekie Joe, "Don"t you be scared of them because they won"t hurt you."
CHAPTER XXVI
SHORT AND TO THE POINT
Thus began the famous Alligator Patrol, so named because its home was on the water as well as on the land, and also on the mud. Under its flaunting traffic sign many adventures occurred that summer, but the present narrative must be confined to the surprising events which befell during Easter vacation. Later, in the good old summer time, we shall visit the island again if we can find it.
It was a fortunate thing for Keekie Joe that Townsend Ripley was chosen leader of the new patrol. And it was a fortunate thing for everybody that Pee-wee was defeated by a large majority in the election of a camp cook. It is true that every voice was raised for Pee-wee in this stirring campaign when suddenly Townsend turned the traffic sign so it said STOP and that was the end of Pee-wee"s chances. "Safety first,"
said Townsend.
Keekie Joe liked Townsend and felt at home with him. He admired and trusted him because in the beginning Townsend made a point of calling the fellows blokes and guys and talking about "dem t"ings."
"If yez want a guy ter lay keekie, I"ll do it fer yez," Keekie Joe said.
"If we see any cops coming," said Townsend, "we"ll turn the traffic sign on them and make them stop."
On Sunday morning, Townsend rowed ash.o.r.e with Keekie Joe and invaded the tenement in Barrel Alley. He took a brand new package of cigarettes to Mr. Keekie Joe, Senior, and Keekie Joe, Junior, was struck dumb with awe at the familiar and persuasive way in which Townsend talked to his parent. The result of the interview was that Keekie Joe returned to the island on a week"s furlough from his squalid home. The Barrel Alley gang, which was mobilized in front of Billy Gilson"s tire repair shop, made catcalls at the stranger as the pair pa.s.sed along and when they were some yards distant, several of them summoned Keekie Joe to their loitering conference.
"Hey, Keekie, come "ere, I want ter tell yer sup"m," one called.
Keekie Joe hesitated and turned. It was a crucial moment in the history of the new patrol.
"Come on back, Keekie," another shouted.
Then it was that Slats Corbett, imperial head of the gang, did a good turn for the scouting movement. He picked up a half dry sponge which was lying in an auto wash pail and hurled it at Townsend Ripley.
Without even turning, Townsend raised his hand, caught it, dipped it in the mud at his feet, and walking briskly back, smeared the face and head of the big ungainly bully, leaving him furious and dripping.
Keekie Joe trembled at this rash exploit of his new friend and waited in fearful suspense for the sequel. It was not long in coming. With a roar of obscene invectives, Slats Corbett rushed upon the smiling, slim, quiet stranger, and then in the s.p.a.ce of two seconds, there was Slats Corbett lying flat in the mud. In a kind of trance Keekie Joe heard a brisk, pleasant voice.
"Any of the rest of you want any? All right, come along, Joe."
And that really was the ceremony that made Keekie Joe a scout. It is true that they had a kind of formal initiation under the apple tree on Merry-go-round Island and gave him a badge and had him take the oath and so on and so on. And had him hold up his hand--you know how. But it was not when his hand went up that he became a scout. It was when Slats Corbett went down. That was the clincher.
CHAPTER XXVII