He thought how
Skinny's beginning at the wrong end was like his pinning of the badge on
the wrong side of his breast. Poor little Skinny....
And he thought of that other scout coming down through those woods,
tracking that mysterious animal indeed, and stopping short, and sitting
down on a log and throwing away his triumph like chaff before the wind.
Then there arose in his mind the picture of that bright-eyed,
irresponsible youngster with his hat cocked sideways on his head, off
upon some new adventure or bent on some new stunt. Not a very good scout
delegate perhaps, but the bulliest scout that ever tore a gaping hole in
his stocking....
Tom was aroused from his meditation by Skinny's eager voice. "Here's the
log where he talked to me," he said; "here's just the very same place we
sat down and he said he'd be my witness. He said I was old top, that's
what he called me."
"Old top, hey?" said Tom, smiling.
CHAPTER XXVI
MYSTERIOUS MARKS
Before reaching the log, Tom's interest had been chiefly in his queer
little companion. The tracks puzzled him somewhat, but since they had
already served their purpose and were in process of obliteration he paid
little attention to them. In his more ambitious rambles during late fall
and winter, he had run across too many tracks of deer and bear and
wildcat to become excited by these signs of some humbler creature of the
woods.
But on reaching that scene of Skinny's memorable meeting with Hervey
Willetts, Tom's keenest interest was aroused by something which he saw
there, and which both of the others characteristically had failed to
notice.
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