“All I’m interested in is fixing Arnoldson,” Hervey said. “I’ll make him look like two cents before I go. Come on, Sandwich, if you’re going.” I said, “What are you going to do, Herve?” “I’m going to swim over there,” he said. “If it’s that dancing monkey out there, he’s coming back here to admit he answered the ’phone. I don’t care anything about his sneaking into Administration Shack or anything else, that’s his business. But he’s coming back here to say he answered that ’phone call. Or else he’s going to the bottom of the lake. That’s me.” He started sliding off the board, but I held him back. I said, “Hervey, you’re crazy, you’re not going to swim over there.” “The boats are locked,” he said. “Well,” I said, “I’ve got the key for them.” Gee, I never felt more sorry for Hervey than I did then. Because all the scouts at camp had keys for the boats. They were only kept locked at night on account of strange fellows coming there and using them for eel bobbing. It seemed that Hervey was the only fellow that didn’t have a key. I said, “Hervey, I can’t swim that far, even if you and Sandwich can. But I’m going with you, so you’ll have to use a boat; remember you’ve got a punk scout with you, Herve. You have to make allowance for me. Will you wait just a minute?” I groped my way back to my patrol cabin and got a padlock key out of my duffel bag. Hervey was still waiting, swinging his legs from the board. Sandwich was right close beside him. “Come on,” I said, “we’ll row over. If he’s there we’ll find him and if he’s the one why then he’ll sit out the next dance and have a free ride back to camp; that ought to appeal to him.” “You’re breaking the rule to use a boat after nine o’clock,” Hervey said. “You’re doing well,” I laughed. “Where did _you_ ever learn the rule? I always thought that you wouldn’t even know a foot rule unless you were introduced to it.” “I don’t want to get you in Dutch,” he said. I said, “I’m not thinking about rules at all. I’m thinking about you. Come ahead.” CHAPTER XXXI THE VOICE IN THE NIGHT Maybe I wouldn’t have thought the same as Hervey did about it, only for his telling me that the person who answered the ’phone lisped. I hadn’t noticed anything in Administration Shack at all, I have to admit that. But if some one answered the ’phone some one must have been there. And if there were signs that some one had been there, we ought to have noticed them. When I thought about it as we rowed out on the lake, gee whiz, I could see plain enough that that young freak we had met would be just likely to hike around to camp and walk into Administration Shack if no one was there. Anyway all the camp was at supper when we were waiting for Hervey to ’phone, I knew that much.