(Deafening applause.) Tom Slade knew him even if he did
not know himself.
"My friends, many scouts have sought the Eagle award and a few have won
it. But the Eagle award now seeks Hervey Willetts. He threw it aside but
still it comes to him and asks for acceptance. He deserves something
better, but there is nothing better which we have to give. For there is
no badge for a noble good turn. Tom Slade was right."
"You said something!" some one shouted.
"To be enough of a scout to win the Eagle award is much. To be scout
enough to ignore it is more. But twenty-one badges is twenty-one badges,
and the animal first aid badge is as good as any other. The technical
question of whether a bird is an animal----"
"Sure a bird's an animal!" called a voice from a far corner which
sounded suspiciously like the voice of Pee-wee Harris. "Everybody's an
animal--even I'm an animal--even you're an animal--sure a bird's an
animal! That's not a teckinality! Sure a bird's an animal!"
"Well, then, that settles it," laughed Mr. Temple amid a very tempest
of laughter, "if that is Mr. Harris of my own home town speaking, we
have the opinion of the highest legal expert on scouting----"
"And eating!" came a voice.
Thus, amid an uproarious medley of laughter and applause, and of
cheering which echoed from the darkening hills across the quiet lake,
Hervey Willetts stood erect while Mr. John Temple, founder of the camp
and famous in scouting circles the world over, placed upon his jacket
the badge which made him an Eagle Scout and incidentally brought him the
canoe on which so many eyes had gazed longingly.
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