He said, "Now don't begin that. We've had one flood already; isn't that enough? Do you want everybody leaving camp? The trustees won't stand for that. I can speak to my scoutmaster, but _you_ can't because yours is away. Now don't spoil everything, _please_. Come down and see us to-morrow, both of you, and we'll give you a couple of home-made doughnuts." "Will the twins make them?" "Never you mind. Come down to-morrow and give us the once over. Just follow the shore up from Pike's Landing; you'll see a khaki colored tent in among the trees. That's us. They're putting up the tent now." "Have you got drainage?" Westy asked him, kind of funny. "They're digging a regular Panama Canal around that tent," he said. "Bert," I told him, "you know the rule--" "Now don't begin about rules. Listen. Your scoutmaster is away. About every fellow in Temple Camp thinks Skinny is just a miserable little thief. He went over to see those fellows because--well you know why. They took him in. And, by jinks, he's going to stay there and so am I-- till this thing is fixed up. Blakeley and Westy," he said, and I could see he was pretty serious now; "I went into that passageway with that kid on my back. I was ready to crawl a mile and drag him along if I had to. As it turned out, the passage was about a couple of hundred feet long and came out in the old creek bed, like I said--up above the flood area. Blakeley, when I saw the light of day--or the light of night rather, because anything was lighter than that black hole--and when I laid that skinny little kid down--he doesn't weigh fifty pounds, Blakeley--I just said to myself, '_By the great Eternal, I'm going to stick to him like glue!_' That's what I said. Even then I didn't know he had been over to plead with those fellows and ask them _please_ not to believe he was a thief. When I heard that--" [Illustration: I WENT INTO THAT PASSAGEWAY WITH THAT KID ON MY BACK.] "I know, Bert," I told him, "you're right" "I'm not thinking about myself," he said; "my troop understands me; and they understand Skinny. He could bunk with us, or with you fellows. But this is better." "I hope nobody'll raise a kick," Westy said.