"You just keep your mind on that one badge and remember those letters," I said; "and for goodness' sake don't talk about badges for sneaking. Because, you take a tip from me, you can only do one thing at a time." He said, "The poultry badge is a good one. It's got a picture of a rooster on it." "You should worry about pictures of roosters," I said, "just keep thinking about that one badge, you take my advice. Because you're good on keeping your eyes open and that's the badge for you. And you're small and kind of thin and that's good in stalking, too, because you can hide behind trees and things." Then I said, "If you'll make me a promise that you'll just think about that one badge and not about a lot of others all at once, when we get up to camp, I'll make you a basket out of a peach-pit to hang around your neck." Just then the door of the galley opened and in came Connie Bennett. Right behind him were Vic Norris and Stut Moran. Connie is leader of the Elks and the other two fellows are Elks, too. Right away he began and I saw he was mad. "That's a good thing you're talking about--_sneaking_" he said. I said, "What do you mean?" "He's getting a good lesson in sneaking all right," he shot right back at me. "Gee whiz, I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "Oh, no," he said, all the while sort of sneering at me; "I suppose you didn't bring him in here so you could be where nobody else heard you. Maybe you think you own the galley." "Sure I brought him in here so we could be alone," I said. "_Sure you did_," he said, "just so you could start him after the stalker's badge. We heard you make him promise to go after that and not think about anything else. He's easy, that kid is." "Why should I--" I began. "You know well enough why," he said; "who started the rule about not having two of the same merit badges in a patrol?" "I did," I told him. "Yes," he said, "and now you're trying to rush this kid through just so you can get even with Vic. What have _you_ got to do with our patrol anyway? Don't you think we're old enough to take care of our new members? All because you and Vic were on the outs last summer." Jingo, that made me mad. "I forgot all about that," I said; "didn't Vic treat me to a soda only last week? It wasn't a quarrel anyway. I should worry about who has the stalker's badge in your patrol. I didn't even know Vic was after it. You know yourself the kid hasn't begun his second-class tests yet. What chance does _he_ stand if Vic is after it? I only thought I'd try to do a good turn. Cracky, it's hard enough to think up anything to do out here on a Sunday afternoon--you know that yourself. I was waiting all day for somebody to fall overboard, so I could jump in and save them. You're a lot of old grandmothers in your patrol. If that's all you've got to complain about, you'd better go and sweep the wind off the deck."