Best of all, there was nearly three dollars in the little drinking cup which stood on a stump near the flivver. It would be hard to determine whether the boarders were better pleased at having the dullness taken out of their knives and scissors or out of their lives, for a while at least. Alas, neither form of dullness would be long in abeyance. The emery treatment would not last long, the entertainment was but the thing of an hour. But if a laugh isn’t worth ten cents with a sharpened scissors thrown in as a premium, why then a scout might as well beg and be done with it. When you consider the overhead expenses, you can’t make people laugh and sharpen scissors for less than ten cents—it can’t be done. CHAPTER XXVII TOWNSEND AND HIS FLIVVER “I think boy scouts are wonderful,” said a lady boarder. “Sure they are,” Pee-wee agreed. “They can’t take anything for a service; they can’t take any money unless they earn it. They’re supposed to almost starve and then think up a way not to, kind of. See?” He sat on the edge of the porch waiting for Townsend to transform the grindstone back into a wheel. “They have to depend on themselves,” he added. “You can’t starve them because they can eat roots. Of course that isn’t saying they won’t eat pie.” “I understand,” said a man. “They eat most everything,” Pee-wee said. “Oh, how terrible,” said a girl. “You don’t call that terrible, do you?” said Pee-wee. “They can imitate any kind of an animal.” “Can they imitate a calliope?” the girl asked. “Is it an animal?” demanded Pee-wee. “No, it’s a thing that makes a noise by steam; it’s about fifty noises at once.” “If I heard it I could imitate it,” Pee-wee said. “I think you do imitate one very well,” laughed the girl. Pee-wee took this as a compliment. “How many different noises can you make?” he asked. “I can only make one noise when you’re around,” said the girl, “and that is to laugh.” “That means you can imitate a hyena,” said Pee-wee, “because they laugh; girls and hyenas are all the time laughing; they laugh for not any reason.” “Oh, thank you,” said the girl. “Jackasses too,” said Pee-wee. “Oh, thank you, _so much_.” “Well,” said a lonely looking man whose penknife had undergone treatment, “I wish you fellows were going to stay here. But if you have to go, why my car is in the barn and I can drain a little gas out of it to accommodate you. You could—you could buy it, you know,” he added. He evidently had a pretty correct estimate of scout principles. But on learning that there was a supply station only a few yards north of the Brookside Villa grounds, our heroes decided to escort the car that far by hand. Their departure was therefore even more impressive than their arrival, Townsend pushing the car while Pee-wee steered it along the private way and out into the high road.