Pee-wee and I sat down on the back step for about half a minute to make up our minds what we should say if any one stopped us and asked us questions. “Anyway,” he said, “that canvas on the sides will make people suspicious with no printing on it.” I said, “Well, we’re not going to print any lies on it, anyway.” He said, “We don’t have to print lies. Truth is stranger than fiction—that’s what it said in a movie play I saw.” Then, all of a sudden he out with a piece of chalk that he always carries so as he can make scout signs and he sprawled all over one side of the van, BOY SCOUTS EN ROOT TO SOLDIERS’ REUNION Our Mottoes: BE PREPARED DO A GOOD TURN DAILY I said, “That isn’t the way to spell en route. What’s the matter with you?” I guess he was thinking about root beer, hey? XXII—SILENCE! I said to Pee-wee, “Now all we have to do is to go straight about our business and keep our mouths shut and we’ll get out of this burg all right. Just keep silence. Nobody’s going to stop us as long as people don’t get suspicious. I can drive the car till we get out of town and I don’t think any one will stop me. All _you_ have to do is to keep silence.” “How long do I have to keep it?” he wanted to know. I said, “Oh, keep it till it’s all used up, and then I’ll give you some more. Believe me, you can’t have too much of it just now.” “We’ll have to use up a lot of it, hey?” he said. “More than _you_ ever used before,” I told him. “Anyway,” he said, “an innocent man has nothing to fear.” “You got that out of the movies,” I told him. “An innocent man with his hair cropped and a convict suit on has a whole lot to fear.” “Innocence is a shield,” he said; “it’s in my copy book.” “Yes?” I said. “Well, an enclosed van is a better shield.” “Our lips will be sealed, hey?” he said. I guess he got that out of the _Dan Dauntless Series_; he eats those books alive. I felt kind of shaky driving that van, but I knew I had to do it, and if a scout has to do a thing he does it. Gee whiz, I like things that are hard—except licorice jaw breakers. You get three of those for a cent. Even I can eat those if I have to, but I like marshmallows better. I like peanut brittle too. But anyway that hasn’t got anything to do with driving a car. For maybe an eighth of a mile there weren’t any houses, because where we stopped was really on the edge of the village. Anyway that village didn’t have much of an edge to it. Pretty soon the houses began to get near together. I guess they were always just as near together but they—you know what I mean. Pee-wee didn’t say a word; he just sat straight up beside me like a little tin soldier. It was a shame to see him wasting so much silence.