Then for a minute we both stood there and neither one of us said anything. I know what I was thinking, but I didn’t want to say it. I guess Westy was thinking the same thing, too. We both sat down beside the road and after a couple of minutes, he said: “Maybe a tramp took it, hey?” “Jerry wouldn’t let anyone on the grounds,” I said. Jerry’s our gardener. “And besides Don wouldn’t, either.” He’s our dog—he’s a collie. “Well, it isn’t there, anyway,” Westy said; “I lifted the oar-lock and felt underneath and I laid it down again, right where it was—on a book or something. When I flashed the light it wasn’t there. Come on, we’ll be late. I’d let you have two bucks if I had that much extra, but I’ve only got two myself. You can chip in yours to-morrow, it’ll be all right.” I got up and I felt awful funny. “Anyway, there’s no use being late,” he said; because I kind of just couldn’t start. “It isn’t that I’m thinking about,” I told him, “It’s——” “I know,” he said, “I thought about that, too, but we’ve got to hustle.” So we started down the hill and neither of us said anything. Of course, we were both thinking about Skinny, but neither one of us would say it. “Pee-wee’s to blame in a way,” Westy said, after a while; “it’s the belt-axe the poor kid was thinking about.” “No, he isn’t to blame, either,” I said; “he didn’t mean anything—he didn’t mean for Skinny to do anything like that.” “He should have kept his mouth shut,” Westy said. “Anyway,” I said, “I’m not going to make that speech; I just can’t. I’m not going to say anything to Skinny about it. Maybe I’ll tell Mr. Ellsworth sometime—I don’t know. But anyway, I can’t present him to the Elks that way, I can’t. I just can’t. Poor kid, I don’t suppose he ever saw as much as two dollars before.” “You shouldn’t have left it out like that,” Westy said. After that I guess neither of us said anything. Gee, I can’t tell you how I felt. I know if a fellow is low down and fires stones and calls names and all like that, even still he can get to be a scout. But if he steals—jiminy, I’ve got no use for a fellow that steals. A plaguy lot I care about two bucks, but, oh, boy, I was looking forward to that meeting and how we were going to have Skinny all decorated and present him to the Elks. And now we couldn’t do it. Honest, I didn’t even want to see him. I didn’t feel sore at him, but I didn’t want to see him. Because he’d spoiled all the fun for me, that’s all. CHAPTER XXII SHOWS YOU WHERE I DO THE TALKING Westy said we shouldn’t say anything to Mr. Ellsworth, but wait until Skinny had taken the oath and knew all the laws and all about scouting, and then maybe say something to him, how we thought maybe he had made a mistake sometime and would like to fix it right. Westy said we’d call it just getting off the trail. Westy’s a mighty nice fellow, you bet, and he’s a good scout.