After Tom Gilligan had taken the pictures just the way he wanted them Warde Hollister threw the piece of rock at a tree and missed it because he wasn't a scout--because scouts always aim straight, only they don't throw rocks, but if they did they wouldn't miss. "Now you're in the movies," I said, "and you're satisfied because that's just what you wanted. And we thank you a lot." He said, "Where are you going now?" "Oh, just across the porch if you'll let us," I told him, "and then across the river in a bee-line. Some job, hey? Then straight for that big tree on the ridge. You look up there late this evening and see if there's a fire burning. Then you'll know we're roasting potatoes. Do you know what I think? I think the bee-line takes us right through the haunted house across the river. I bet you're glad you're only a scout in the movies. Pity the poor scouts, hey?" He said, kind of hesitating, "I'm not afraid of haunted houses." "Are you afraid of snakes?" Pee-wee piped up. He said, "No, I'm not. I--like roasted potatoes, though." "How many do you like?" the kid asked him. "As many as I can get," Warde said. "And I'd like to go with you fellows if you'll let me." Westy said, "Do you mean you'd like to join the scouts?" He said, "Yes, I do." Tom Gilligan was standing there with his camera over his shoulder and his big leather bag in his hand, all ready to go away. I guess he was going back to the station and I was sorry because I liked that fellow. He said to Warde, "You're a wise young fellow, you are. Go in for the real thing and don't bother with imitations. What's the use of jumping off a cliff made of pasteboard when you've got real roofs to climb over? What's the use of doing stunts in a studio when you can go on a bee-line hike across the country? You're a wise young fellow, you are. You stick to the boy scouts; they'll keep you moving." Then he said, "Well, so long, kids." And away he went. I said, "Come over here right close to us and keep near us, Warde. We're keeping this bee-line as narrow as we can." He jumped up on the porch rail right beside us. The others were all right there, squatting on the porch or sitting on the rail. We could see across the river and past the old ramshackle buildings there and right over the village of Little Valley to the ridge. That big tree stood up higher than all the others and it seemed just as if it were all alone off there. I guess it was about one o'clock then. I said, "We're going to cook some eats as soon as we get to the river, because we like to eat near where there's water. Then we'll have to think how we'll get across." "Did you come straight all the way from your house?" Warde wanted to know.