“Right the first time,” I told him. “Ideas are stuff, just the same as any other stuff. Deny it if you dare.” “Will you answer me a civilized question?” the kid asked me. “If it’s not too civilized,” I said. “What is it?” “Why do we have to go on a hike without eating breakfast?” “I never said we did,” I told him. “Wrong the first time. I said we’d start before breakfast--from my patrol cabin. Then we’ll stop in the eats pavilion for breakfast.” He said, “Oh.” “Then we’ll go out in front of Administration Shack and hold the windmeter up and see which way the wind is blowing if any and if so, why not. Am I right? Do you follow me?” “We’re way ahead of you,” Dub said. “Then we’ll all raise our hands and make a solemn vow----” “There you go with your solemn vows,” the kid shouted. “That means we won’t have anything to eat all day, _I_ know.” I said, “Your leader would like to have a large chunk of silence and very little of that. We are going to go whichever way the wind blows, north, south, east, west----” “Hither,” said Dub. “Thither,” said Egg Sandwich. “Or yon,” I said. “It’s settled. The rules will be very simple. We’ll go where the wind goes. We’ll return when we get back. We won’t take anything with us, not even any ideas. The only excess baggage that we carry will be Pee-wee.” Dub said, “The object of the expedition is to find out where the wind goes--to stalk it.” I said, “Sure, and to find out what it does when it gets there and if so where. Am I right?” “Absolutely, unanimously,” said Egg Sandwich. CHAPTER IV THE QUITTER Now pretty soon it’s going to start. The next morning we went in front of Administration Shack and everybody was there laughing at us. I made a kind of a speech. I said, “We, the big four, I mean the big three and a half, on account of Pee-wee, do solemnly pledge our words that we will go the way the wind blows till five o’clock to-night, because then we’ll have to come home on account of supper. The solemn pledge only lasts till five o’clock.” One Scout said, “Why don’t you make it last for the rest of the season? If you got back by Labor Day that would be all right. What’s your hurry?” I said, “We will be at camp-fire to-night with much scientific information to impart about the winds because wherever they go, we’re going to follow them with Scout Harris’ famous windmeter, patent not applied for.”