It wasn't easy to wait until the next day, with the other boys gone and knowing that we should have to do it, too, in the morning. Pa said that maybe the time would pass more quickly if I'd hoe in the garden a spell, but it didn't seem to make any difference. My mind was following the boys, especially Skinny, on his long walk over a hilly road to Pumpkin Hook. "Scout's law says that we must be useful and help others," he had told us, "and, bet your life, I am going to do things." "Maybe," said he, after a minute, "I can rescue some fair damsel in distress, like the knights used to do, even if there ain't any dragons now-a-days. The road goes too far from the river for me to save anybody from drowning; unless I come back by the river road." In the evening Benny and I sat out on the woodpile, talking about it. We wondered where the boys were making their camps, if anything would happen to them and if Skinny had rescued anybody yet. That night I dreamed that I was on the way. I met a little, old woman, going to market, and carried her basket for her. "Noble boy," said she. "Because of your kind act I'll change shoes with you. Mine hurt my feet." I didn't like to do it very well because her shoes were old and shabby, but Scout law says to be courteous. So I thanked her as well as I could and put them on. And, say, they were magic shoes. I got to North Adams in about three jumps and liked it so well that I went on to Boston. I was just going to sleep on Boston Common when a big policeman grabbed me by one shoulder and gave me a shake. "Quit!" I said. "A Scout's honor is to be trusted." "John! John!" came a voice. "It's time to be up and away." I opened my eyes and there was Pa, laughing down at me. "You're a pretty Scout," said he. "It's after six o'clock and you have to start at seven." Ma hated to see me go, knowing that I'd be out all night, but Pa didn't care, or pretended that he didn't. "He's all right," he said. "What's going to hurt him, I'd like to know?" Before seven o'clock the four of us were at the bridge and, say, we looked fine in our uniforms. Each one carried a little pan to cook in, some bacon and other things to eat, and a blanket strapped on his back. We also carried "first aid to injured" things, to be ready if we should find somebody getting hurt. When the bells rang for seven o'clock we started. This time it was Benny and I who went north on Park Street, and Hank and Chuck, south. "You watch my smoke," whispered Hank to me, when we were ready to start. "I've got a new invention and I'm going to try it on somebody." When we were passing Benny's house Mrs. Wade came out and waved to us. "Benny Wade," she shouted, "if you are not home by nine o'clock to-night, your mother will have a fit." I knew from the look on Benny's face how hard it was for him to be cheerful, when he wanted to stay out all night, like the rest of us. "All right, Ma," said he. "Don't worry. I'll come back, if I live."