Brent said, “There may be some truth in that. We’ll go and see. I never heard that explanation before. If the thing moves away as we approach, We’ll just have to head it off and catch it. Maybe it would be better if we take a roundabout, circuitous course and approach it from beyond.” “It wouldn’t even be there then,” Pee-wee said, all excited; “you wouldn’t see it.” Brent said, “This makes our expedition all the more interesting. Sir Harris has thrown a new light on the subject. If a thing goes away it must go somewhere. It can’t go nowhere—that’s logic. Nowhere is not a place.” “Why isn’t it?” I said. “It’s got a name, hasn’t it?” “If it wasn’t it couldn’t have a name,” Hervey said. “If _Somewhere_ is a place, _Nowhere_ is a place. All I know is the West Shore tracks come to a point away up the line and they ought to be separated. I’m going to hike up there this afternoon. Those who are afraid to go can go anyway for all I care.” “I’ll go,” Pee-wee said, “because I like to go hiking, but I don’t subscribe to it kind of.” “He thinks it’s a magazine,” I said. “I mean that crazy nonsense,” he shouted. “Oh, that?” I said. “That isn’t such crazy nonsense; it’s very sensible nonsense. We’re going now to ask Mr. Apthorpe for permission to go on our tour of investigation.” “The first thing you know you’ll get in trouble,” Pee-wee said, “making fools out of the trustees like that. The first thing you know we’ll all get sent home on account of Hervey Willetts—getting fresh with trustees like that.” “Was Christopher Columbus afraid to ask Queen Isabella if he could go and discover Columbus, Ohio?” Brent asked him. “We fear not trustees. Look at the horizon! Somebody discovered it or we wouldn’t know it’s there. Yet it moves away. That’s because nobody has ever been smart enough to stalk it. How do you suppose the milkman would ever have discovered the Milky Way or the iceman discovered Iceland if they’d been afraid of trustees?” “You’d better look out,” Pee-wee said, kind of very dark and mysterious. “The first thing you know we’ll get sent home on account of all this crazy stuff.” All the while he was following us toward Administration Shack—that’s where Mr. Apthorpe is in the mornings because he opens the mail. The kid wanted to go but he was kind of scared like. Especially he was scared because Mr. Apthorpe is very cross-looking and dignified. We were all laughing the way Pee-wee came along after us, kind of hesitating. But anyway, I guess Mr. Apthorpe knew about us being crazy—the whole camp knows that by this time. It’s getting so up there that if you just mention the word hike everybody starts laughing. Anyway nobody ever gets mad at Brent, not even the trustees. And they only get mad at Hervey to his face—behind his back they have to laugh at him, scoutmasters and all. We should worry about being scared of trustees—they’re not as bad as principals anyway. And mathematic teachers.