Doubtless if his scout regalia
had fitted him properly he would not have seemed so pathetic, for it is
not uncommon for a scout to want to be alone in the great companionable
wilderness.
Suddenly, this little fellow's gaze was withdrawn from the lake and fell
upon something which seemed to interest him right at his feet. He slid
down from the rock and examined it closely. His poor little thin figure
and skinny legs were very noticeable then. But he picked up nothing,
only kneeled there, apparently in a state of great excitement and
elation.
Presently, he started away, looked back, as if he was afraid his
discovery would take advantage of his absence to steal away. Again he
started, hurrying around the edge of the cooking shack and to the little
avenue of patrol cabins beyond. As he hurried along, the big brass
compass flopped about and sometimes banged against his belt buckle,
making quite a noise. Several boys laughed as he passed them, trotting
along as if possessed by a vision. But no one stopped him or spoke to
him.
In the patrol cabin where he belonged, he rooted in great haste and
excitement among the contents of a cheap pasteboard suit case and
presently pulled out a torn and battered old copy of the scout handbook.
He sat down on the edge of his cot and, hurriedly looking through the
index, opened the book at page thirty. He was breathing so hard that he
almost gulped, and his thin little hands trembled visibly....
CHAPTER III
THE "ALL BUT" SCOUT
In that same hour, perhaps a little earlier or later, I cannot say, Tom
Slade, having finished his duties for the day, strolled along the lake
shore away from camp and struck into the woods which extended northward
as far as the Dansville road.
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