“I like the West Shore Railroad,” Hervey said; “it’s full of pep; it goes scout pace.” “You wanted ginger in our trip back to camp,” I said, “and you’ve got tabasco sauce. Gee whiz, you ought to be satisfied. We’ll go back to camp by way of the island of Yap.” “You’re the leader,” Warde said. CHAPTER V WE KEEP ON GOING NORTH One thing I’ll say for Hervey Willetts and that is that wherever he goes there is adventure. He carries it with him. He couldn’t just go on a hike, that fellow couldn’t. He always has to start something. Garry said, “Well, things seem to be moving.” “Oh, they’re moving all right,” Bert said. Warde said, “There are only two directions left to go in.” “Have patience,” I told him; “we’ll try them all; there are four, east and west and up and down.” “And in and out,” Warde said. “Sure,” I said, “that’s six. I wonder how much the fare to Albany is—the round trip?” “It’s not so very round,” Pee-wee said. “It’s a kind of triangular circle,” I told him. “If we pay our fare both ways we don’t get any dinner in Albany, we’ll have to walk back. And if we don’t have some dinner we can’t walk. So there you are; take your choice. It’s as clear as mud.” “You’ve got us into a nice fix,” the kid said. “I knew you were crazy when you made us throw away those chocolate bars. The next thing you’ll have us in jail.” “You should worry, you can eat the prison bars,” I told him. “Let’s see how much money we’ve got,” Bert said. I had about seventy-five cents and the cap of a fountain pen that I use for a whistle. Pee-wee had fifty-two cents and a lot of junk; we had a little over seven dollars altogether. It was lucky that was enough for our fare to Albany. But we didn’t get much change. The conductor said the train went to Albany without change—I guess that’s why we didn’t get much. “How can we hike back thirty miles to-day, tell me that?” the Animal Cracker wanted to know. “That’s easy,” I said; “by doing two miles at a time, that makes fifteen. Are you getting frightened?” “We don’t know where we’re going but we’re on our way,” Bert began singing. “Maybe it won’t be so far back as it is there,” Garry said. “Sure, because it’s always shorter going south,” I told him. “Six of us ought to be able to earn seven dollars in Albany,” Warde said. “And we can take an evening train down.” “I’m not going on any more trains,” Pee-wee yelled. “I’ve had enough of trains. If we come back on a train it won’t stop till it gets to Poughkeepsie, and then if we come up on another one it won’t stop till it gets to Montreal. You don’t catch me getting on another train.” “Follow your leader,” I told him. “Follow your leader wherever he goes.” Everybody in the train was laughing at us, but what did we care? It might have been worse, we might have been on the Erie. “We’ve got enough left to wire to camp, if the worst comes to the worst,” Bert said.