Pee-wee said, "Those cookies are good, I'm going to have a couple more." "Don't go over to the end of the porch," I told him. "We have to stay right here in front of the door; this is where the bee-line is." "The bee-line can have a branch to it while we're waiting," the kid said. "Maybe the bee-line might be wider than you think--maybe." "The bee-line runs just this side of those cookies," I said. "You're a fine kind of a leader," he said, "to let her stand that plate over there. Is that what you call tactics?" I said, "Why didn't you take a half dozen cookies when she passed them around the same as the rest of us did? You only took one." "You don't call that tactics, do you?" Westy asked him. "I've got some manners," the kid said. I said, "Well, you haven't got any cookies. Look here." Then I showed him about a half a dozen. Oh, boy, they were nice and brown and crisp and they had nuts in them. The fellows all had about as many as a dozen cookies each, because Mrs. Copley had said, "Oh, _do_ take more, I'm _sure_ you're a hungry lot of scouts." Pee-wee sat there on one of the steps watching us eat cookies. Every time he moved I said, "You stay right where you are. Remember, this is a _bee-line hike_." Westy said, "These cookies are mighty good." I said, "_M--mmm_, that's what they are." Hunt said, "They're about the best I ever tasted. I've got eleven left." "I bet they were just cooked," Dorry said. I said, "Well, here goes another." Will Dawson said, "That's one thing I like about the Raven Patrol; they have such good manners." Pee-wee said, "Do you mean to tell me a bee-line can't have a--a--kind of a side track to it? Especially when we're sitting still?" "Oh, positively not," I said. "A bee-line hasn't even got any waves or wrinkles in it. It's just as straight as a line drawn right through the middle of this cookie." "Or this one," Westy said. I said, "Yes, but this one is bigger. Do you see this cookie, Kid? Do you see that nut sticking up out of the end of it? Now suppose I draw a straight line----" "You make me tired!" the kid yelled, and he started to get up. "My official staff will be seated," I said. "You call this a kind of an army, don't you?" the kid shouted. "Do you mean to tell me that we can't make a flank movement?" "Couldn't be did," I said; "remember your solemn pledge. Your duty is to stay as near to your beloved leader as you can. You just notice how these fellows obey me; _now watch_. Every scout will take a cookie in his right hand. When I say three they will start to eat. One, two, three. A scout is obedient----" "You mean a scout is resourceful," the kid shouted, jumping to his feet. All of a sudden he grabbed the coil of rope we had and, _good night_, if he didn't lasso the table and drag it over to him! Just as he pulled the table within reach and was starting to fill his pockets with cookies, we heard some one call. "_Still! Just a minute! Don't move!_" CHAPTER VIII REEL ADVENTURE