"That's the trouble, Slady, and it's got me guessing."
CHAPTER XI
OFF ON A NEW TACK
It is doubtful if ever there was a scout at Temple Camp for whom Tom
felt a greater interest or by whom he was more attracted than by this
irrepressible boy whose ready prowess he had just witnessed. And the
funny part of it was that no two persons could possibly have been more
unlike than these two. Hervey even got on Tom's nerves somewhat by his
blithe disregard of the handbook side of scouting, except for what it
was worth to him in his stuntful career.
The handbook was almost a sacred volume to sober Tom. Still, he was
captivated by Hervey, as indeed others were in the big camp.
"Well, you were after the Eagle and you got an oriole," he said, half
jokingly. "That's what I meant when I said that sometimes you don't
know where a trail will bring you out. You got a lot to learn about
scouting. What you did to-day was better than tracking a half a mile or
so."
"The pleasure is mine," said Hervey, in bantering acknowledgment of the
compliment, "but if there's anything higher in scouting than the Eagle
award, I'd like to know what it is."
"How much good has it done you trying for it?" Tom asked. "Nobody is
supposed to go after a thing in scouting the same as he does in a game.
He's supposed to learn things why he's going after something," he added
in his clumsy way. "You went through the bird study test and you didn't
even know it was an oriole's nest that you rescued.
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