[Illustration: HE AND PEE-WEE WERE TRYING TO CLIMB UP OVER THE SAME SIDE OF THE BOAT.] ROY BLAKELEY’S ROUNDABOUT HIKE BY PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH Author of THE TOM SLADE BOOKS, THE ROY BLAKELEY BOOKS, THE PEE-WEE HARRIS BOOKS, WESTY MARTIN, HERVEY WILLETTS, ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY H. S. BARBOUR PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK Made in the United States of America Copyright, 1927 GROSSET & DUNLAP CONTENTS I. Here We Are II. Kerflop III. The Big Four IV. The Quitter V. The Stranger VI. Where There’s a Will VII. Beaver Chasm VIII. Plans of Campaign IX. Hercules Harris X. The Distant Flicker XI. In The Dark XII. The Reward XIII. It Is to Laugh XIV. Honors and Awards XV. The Hero Maker XVI. Reel Heroes XVII. Talk Is Cheap XVIII. Waiting XIX. The Fixer XX. The Full Salute XXI. The Lake Trail XXII. Sounds in the Night XXIII. The Other Fellow XXIV. Safe XXV. Being a Scout XXVI. The Day Before XXVII. The Last Hike XXVIII. Follow Your Leader XXIX. The Distant Whistle XXX. The North Bound XXXI. Held XXXII. Better Than Gold [Illustration: (map to accompany) ROY BLAKELEY’S ROUNDABOUT HIKE] CHAPTER I HERE WE ARE Every time I start telling you about one of our hikes, I say it’s the craziest hike I ever took. I guess it’s true, because they’re all crazier than each other. If there are a lot of things and each one of them is crazier than the other, that shows they’re all the craziest. If you don’t believe it, you can do it by long division only I like short division better--the shorter it is the better I like it. Even if there wasn’t any arithmetic at all I’d be satisfied. But there’s one good thing about ancient history and that is we don’t study it in my grade. Next term I get civilized government and French pastry or history or something or other--I’m going to get a bicycle too. Then I’m going to have a bicycle trip and write about it. So now I’m going to tell you about our latest hike--it’s a nineteen twenty-six model only it hasn’t got four wheel brakes. It hasn’t got any brakes at all--we just kept on going and going and going. The noise you hear will be Pee-wee Harris; when he talks, he’s always trying to get distance. Don’t blame me, I couldn’t get rid of him.