One thing, I hoped they"d all go home soon so I could sit down on a log and read some more in that book. Only lately I read it, but cracky, that doesn"t make any difference when it"s a good book. I thought I"d go back to the ditch pretty soon--as soon as Ed Sawyer came with the doctor. But anyway, I wanted to be alone now.
So I stuffed the book in my pocket and strolled over to where we had been cutting the saplings. Then I went over close and looked at the one Skinny had been chopping. I guess I didn"t know what I was doing and thinking about. Anyway, now that I looked at it, I was sorry I made fun of him and got mad at him. It wasn"t only because I knew he didn"t take the two dollars, but anyway, I felt sorry for him.
I couldn"t see him anywhere around and he wasn"t in the ditch, I knew that If he had been there then, you bet I"d have been all right with him.
It made me feel bad when I looked at that sapling an hacked and standing up just as strong as ever. He must have chopped away on it for half an hour and about all the poor little kid did was to get the bark off. Right close by, I saw his belt axe lying just where he left it. It had Skinny marked on it, and I guess he did it himself. It made me feel kind of sorry for him that he called himself Skinny. It was his axe, anyway. And I felt like kicking myself. And I saw how he had been trying to be a scout just like the other fellows, poor little kid. It wasn"t any of my business where he got the money. It was his, anyway.
Then I began kicking the chips around with my foot and saying, "Poor kid." And I said I guessed he"d die before he could ever chop down a tree. Because, now since I had seen those red spots on his cheeks I knew how bad he was. I knew he didn"t have any strength at all, and all the time something he had said kept running in my mind. "I like the one about honor." "Poor little Skinny," I said. I was feeling bad, anyway.
An of a sudden I heard a sound and saw three or four fellows scrambling up out of the ditch. So I went over there and just as I got there, I saw something that I"ll never forget, you can bet.
First I thought it was a ghost, and all the fellows were flabbergasted.
It was Skinny standing right near and clutching hold of a tree, and he was all trembling and I thought he was going to fall down. Honest, I never saw anything like the way he looked. His hair was all flying loose and it made him look wild, because it wasn"t cut. And his eyes were all like as if they were on fire.
"I got him," he said, "I got him--he"s coming. He"s getting--out of--out of his automobile. I got him because I"m--I"m a swamp-rat!" Thats just the way he said it, and he hung onto the tree and his fingers were all thin like an old man"s and the spots were in his cheeks. "He"s coming!"
he panted out.
Just then I could see Doctor Winters coming through the trees with a little black bag. He must have left his machine out on the road about a hundred yards away. And I guess Skinny must have jumped out and run in ahead to show him the way and he just kept saying, "I got him, I got him! Because I"m a swamp--rat--everybody says so--and I know the short cut--now can I have a badge--maybe--sometime? Maybe am I a scout now?",
I just looked at him and it gave me the creeps, because I knew what he had done. And I remembered now how people called him a dirty swamp-rat.
Many a time I"d heard them call him that. Just a dirty little swamp-rat.
And now, he was sort of proud of it.
First, I couldn"t move and I just couldn"t speak. Then I went up to him and I said--I didn"t care for the doctor or anybody--I said, "Skinny, there"s one fellow here who knows what the marshes are and that"s me.
Because I came near getting swallowed up by them."
"It"s--it"s--short-cut," he just panted out. "All I want to tell you is,"
I said, "there"s not another scout in the whole troop could do it--do you hear! You"re not a swamp-rat, you"re a swamp-scout," I said.
Then I was going to say more, only Skinny seemed as if he was going to fall and the doctor kind of seemed to want me to move away. Anyway, I went over and got Skinny"s belt-axe to carry it home for him.
CHAPTER XXVI
IN MY OWN CAMP
As soon as the fellows knew for sure that there was nothing much the matter with Westy, they scrambled out of the ditch and all stood around Skinny, praising him up and he was so excited that he didn"t talk straight, but sort of yelled at them. The only ones with Westy were the real doctor and Doc Carson, and Doc was helping him fix the bandages better.
When I saw them down there it made me feel as if I"d like to go down and say something to Westy. His face was all white and the bandage on his head made him look--oh, I don"t know--sort of as if he might die. And then I"d be sorry I hadn"t said something to him. Because I had known Westy an awful long time.
So I went down and pretty soon the doctor went up to see Skinny and Doc Carson went too. So I was alone with him down there, but his eyes were shut on account of his being weak from losing so much blood, and he didn"t notice me.
Anyway, I slipped that two dollars into his shirt pocket because I didn"t want it anyway, and I thought maybe it would be a memorandum to him, like I said. Besides I didn"t have a right to keep money I got out of another fellow"s pocket.
I said, "It"s me, Westy; the reason I didn"t come around was because all the other fellows were here. But now you"re alone I want to tell you that I"m glad you"re not hurt bad."
He just looked at me and he said, "I went--I did it."
First I didn"t know what to say, and then I said, "Never you mind, I guess you were kind of crazy. We all get crazy sometimes. I was crazy when I thought Tom Slade was lying once. Never you mind."
"I guess I was crazy," he just said, and then he shut his eyes and I didn"t bother him any more--only just sat there. I don"t know what made him tell me, but anyway, I was glad.
Pretty soon I helped him to Dr. Winters" automobile because he limped pretty bad. Skinny went in the automobile, too, and Doc Carson, but they didn"t ask me. All the fellows went along the road, too, because n.o.body felt like hauling the saplings that day, and I didn"t, that"s sure. I said I was going back to get Skinny"s axe, and I was glad when I was all alone in the woods. That"s the best place to be if you"ve got any troubles and you want to think.
And I kind of didn"t want to think about Westy, so I thought about Skinny just to keep everything else out of my head. Because I knew it wouldn"t ever be just the same again with Westy and I didn"t want to think about it. In the troop it would be all right, and maybe in the patrol too, but it wouldn"t ever be just the same again with Westy and me.
I was glad that I"d be interested in Skinny and now I could see he was different from all of us kind of wonderful-I don"t know how to tell you.
His eyes were so big, and wild, and starey. And he said things in such a funny way and he got so excited. Up at Temple Camp, afterwards, Mr.
Ellsworth told Jeb Rushmore that Skinny was inspired, but I don"t know just what he meant. An I knew is we were even scared of him sometimes.
He never called any of us by our names--that was funny.
Pretty soon I went home. It was all dark in the woods and dandy for thinking, and I was glad I had one friend, anyway, and that was Jim Hawkins in the book. I guessed maybe that was the reason that Westy got the book, because only lately I had read it, and I had told him so much about it. All the way home I kept thinking about Westy and I wished I had never found that out.
Mostly at night I sit on the porch with my mother and father, but that night I went to my tent and lit the lantern and sat there. I like a lantern because it reminds you of camping. Nix on electric lights up at Temple Camp, that"s what Jeb Rushmore says. Gee, he has no use for electric lights--electric lights and umbrellas. But, anyway, I"ve got a wire from our garage to Camp Solitaire (that"s my tent) and a bulb for when I want to read. Jerry says I ought to pay for tapping the garage current. I should worry.
I sat down and began reading "Treasure Island" all over again. I skipped a lot because I had only just lately read it, and pretty soon I was reading about in the middle of it, where they start off in the ship.
That"s the part I like best. All of a sudden I couldn"t see the reading very good and I noticed there was a stain on the page.
Here"s where I wish that I knew all about writing books like a regular grown up author, because I have to explain something to you and, cracky, I wish you could see that book, because then it would be easier. First, I didn"t think anything about it at all, only I noticed that the stain was on the left hand page. Then, all of a sudden I noticed something about that stain that got me all excited. It was in the shape of a ring, kind of.
Right away I knew what it meant. I picked up one of my oar-locks and laid it on the stain and it just covered it. So I saw I had damaged the book when I had it before. That"s one thing you"re not supposed to do--damage books out of the library. If you keep a book till its overdue, that isn"t so bad, because then you just pay a fine. Connie says that"s being a good bookkeeper.
But to damage a book--g--o--o--d night!
CHAPTER XXVII
THE GENTLE BREEZE
I was just thinking how funny it was that Westy got this very same book that I had, but maybe it wasn"t so funny, because that was what put it into his head to get it--seeing it in my tent. Anyway, I was glad it came back to me, because now I saw what I had done and I made up my mind that I"d buy a new book for the library.
Then I was thinking how I"d have to tell Westy about it, and, oh, I don"t know, I just didn"t know how to go and speak to him. I wasn"t mad at him, but anyway, I felt as if I didn"t want to see him--yet. Anyway, I didn"t have any money yet and books like that cost a lot.
All of a sudden I heard Don start barking and then he stopped. So I knew somebody was coming that he knew. Then I heard somebody say, "You"re always suspicious, ain"t you," and oh, I felt awful funny, because I knew it was Westy. It seemed as if he might be saying that to me, but I knew he was saying it to Don--just kind of jollying him. Maybe you think you can"t jolly a dog but you can. You can Don, anyway.
I didn"t know what I would say to him, because I thought probably he"d come to give me my two dollars and say he was sorry and must have been crazy or in a hurry. Jiminy, any excuse would be good enough for me, as long as he told me straight out about it, like he did in the ditch. And maybe things would get to be all right after a while. But I couldn"t understand how he could come up the lawn whistling and jollying Don and feeling so good. I don"t mean because he was hurt, because I knew that wasn"t so bad, but I didn"t set how he could be feeling so happy.
Pretty soon he came in and Don was jumping up all around him and wagging his tail. "I"m glad you"re well enough to come out," I said.
"You should worry about me," he said; "I just have to limp a little, that"s all. I"m a swell looking Silver Fox, hey?" And then he gave me a push and rumpled my hair all up and said, "You won"t be ashamed of me on account of my honorable wounds, will you? I was a punk scout to go and do that."
Gee, I didn"t know what to think, because it wasn"t anything to be laughing at, that"s sure.
"Do what?" I said.
"Run right into that ditch."