"Because they'd do it just to please me--they wouldn't really want me." "Well," she laughed, "Roy's good at making sacrifices." "Je-ru-salem!" said Pee-wee, shaking his head almost incredulously at the idea of such good fortune; "that'll be some trip. But you know what they say, and it's true--I got to admit it's true--that two's a company, three's a crowd." "It wouldn't be three," laughed Mary; "it would only be two and a half." She watched the sturdy figure as Pee-wee trudged along the gravel walk and down the street. He seemed even smaller than he had seemed on the veranda. And it was borne in upon her how much jollying he stood for and how many good things he missed just because he _was_ little, and how cheerful and generous-hearted he was withal. The next morning Roy received a letter which read: "Dear Roy--I want you and Tom to ask Walter Harris to go with you. Please don't tell him that I asked you. You said you were going to name one of the cabins or one of the boats for me because I took so much interest. I'd rather have you do this. You can call it a good turn if you want to--a real one. "MARY TEMPLE." Pee-wee Harris also received an envelope with an enclosure similar to many which he had received of late. He suspected their source. This one read as follows: If you want to be a scout, You must watch what you're about, And never let a chance for mischief pass. You may win the golden cross If your ball you gayly toss Through the middle of a neighbor's pane of glass. CHAPTER IV TOM AND ROY The letter from Mary Temple fell on Camp Solitaire like a thunderbolt. Camp Solitaire was the name which Roy had given his own cosy little tent on the Blakeley lawn, and here he and Tom were packing duffel bags and sharpening belt axes ready for their long tramp when the note from Grantley Square was scaled to them by the postman as he made a short cut across the lawn. "What do you know about that?" said Roy, clearly annoyed. "We can't take _him_; he's too small. Who's going to take the responsibility? This is a team hike." "You don't suppose he put the idea in her head, do you?" Tom asked. "Oh, I don't know. You saw yourself how crazy he was about it." "Pee-wee's all right," said Tom. "Sure he's all right. He's the best little camp mascot that ever happened. But how are we going to take him along on this hike? And what's he going to do when he gets there?" "He could help us on the troop cabin--getting it ready," Tom suggested. Roy threw the letter aside in disgust. "That's a girl all over," he said, as he sulkily packed his duffel bag. "She doesn't think of what it means--she just wants it done, that's all, so she sends her what-d'you-call-it--edict. Pee-wee can't stand for a hundred and forty mile hike. We'd have to get a baby carriage!"