They had intended to jolly Skinny and discourage his project of using the canoe. The Elks thought a good deal of this canoe. They liked to see it safely in its locker when they were not using it. They had intended to say as usual, "Oh, you don't want to use it." But here was an embarrassing complication. The tall, smiling boy with the white scarf had modestly shown them a trick and a strength of arm not to be ridiculed. This was no time or place for authority or banter. He was quite master of the situation. It would be quite absurd to remind Skinny of dangers. "I suppose it's all right for us to go out in his canoe, isn't it?" Danville asked. There was no hint of sarcasm in his remark and his handsome open face was wreathed in a friendly smile. But just the same these Elks felt a rebuke. A strange, uncomfortable feeling was upon them that this boy was their master, mentally and physically. If they had been sure that he meant that pronoun Ids in a sneering sense, they could have got back at him. But they did not know what he meant, any more than they knew how he had tipped the canoe. They were wise scouts and they made no mistake. Somehow or other no boys ever made a mistake with Danville Bently. They sensed something. They were embarrassed--and respectful. "Sure, it's his. Why can't he use it if he wants to?" Connie said. He seemed inclined to be reasonable. "That'll be dandy," said Danville. Just as Howell Cross's group had watched him rather puzzled, so now these three returning voyagers lingered there on the float watching him as he paddled away with Skinny wedged up in the bow like an uncanny little doll. He paddled, as he did everything else, without the slightest fuss or effort. He had that about him which suggested that he could make up his mind without the slightest fuss or effort, that he would jump off a roof without the slightest fuss or effort. "I can't make _that_ guy out," said the scout from Rhode Island. "Gee, that white scarf looks plain out on the water huh?" "Notice how he holds his left hand!" said Connie. "I think he compensates with his right wrist, honest." "No, it's the long back sweep," said Hunt. "Geeeee! Look at the reach he's got!" "He kind of reminded us it was Skinny's canoe," said Connie. "Did you notice how nice he did that?" "Sure, and he paddles the same way," laughed Hunt. "He _does_ things the same way he _says_ things. You never know what he means. Looks easy till you try to do it." "Any other scout came up here with a bib around his neck they'd kid the life out of him," said Connie. "Nothing about him looks like a bib to me," said the scout from Rhode Island. CHAPTER XXII PARTNERS "Just flop around, hey?" "Yes, that's the way I like to do," said Skinny. "If I was in the bow of a rowboat I couldn't look at you, because you'd be facing backwards. I like to look at you with your white scarf. I like canoes better than rowboats, don't you?"