Boy Scouts of America -- Juvenile fiction; Camps -- Juvenile fiction; Relay racing -- Juvenile fiction
“I stopped the train because on account of not knowing if the switch was
open,” Pee-wee shouted. “I shinnied up the gate and it went down and it
wouldn’t come up again and I didn’t have any supper yet. I bumped
against the handle and moved it, that’s why I stopped the train and a
goat ate my chum’s driver’s license so he got arrested but anyway he’s
coming back. I heard the train whistling and, gee whiz, I hurried and I
didn’t have any supper yet.”
There was quite a little furore. The conductor seemed to think that
Pee-wee was much to be blamed; he spoke severely about small boys
meddling with railroad property, and so on and so on. The men passengers
took a different view. They agreed with Pee-wee and thought he was a
hero, which was just what he thought himself. The women passengers were
staggered at the idea of his not having had any supper.
Some of the people stood about on the ground while others gazed from car
platforms and windows while the hero (who was certainly the centre of
attraction) was assisted down from his aerial prison by means of a stout
rope which had been hastily brought out of the baggage car.
This Pee-wee fastened to the cross-beam in the tower house and dangling
it thence down and out through the window was able to make a truly
scoutish descent, locking each foot in a turn of the rope as he lowered
himself.
“Don’t hold on to it,” he shouted, “because the end of it has to be
loose, that’s the way you can come down from a house when it’s on fire.”
“Well, sir,” said a stern voice among the curious, flattering throng;
“so this is Doctor Harris’ boy, eh? Well, now, what are you doing here?”
Upon realizing the staggering fact that he was being addressed by
Justice Dopett of Grantly Square, Bridgeboro, Pee-wee nearly collapsed.
And naturally enough, for Justice Dopett was not only the friend and
neighbor of John Temple, founder of Temple Camp, but a scout councilman
as well and a very devoted friend and patron of the local organization.
He was Bridgeboro’s most distinguished citizen (with the exception of
Pee-wee himself) and he was known far and wide.
“Well, sir,” he said, surprised and amused. “What _are_ you doing
_here_? Such a small boy to stop such a big train.” At which the curious
throng laughed.
“I could stop a bigger one than that,” said Pee-wee. “If you have
resources you can stop them.” At which the throng laughed still more.
“Anyway, I’m glad I met you because you’re a judge,” Pee-wee
vociferated, “and you know all about those things, so is a feller—has he
got a right to drive a car if a goat eats his license? He can’t help it,
can he? Gee whiz, that’s not fair, is it? Townsend Ripley, you know him,
he got arrested from here because a goat across the road ate his license
and eleven dollars too, so he can’t even pay a fine. Gee whiz, that
isn’t fair, is it? Maybe they won’t let him come back even, so do you
call that fair?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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