He went on with his packing, thrusting things into the depths of his duffel bag half-heartedly and with but a fraction of his usual skill. "You know as well as I do about team hikes. How can we fix this up for three _now_? We've got everything ready and made all our plans; now it seems we've got to cart this kid along or be in Dutch up at Temple's. _He_ can't hike twenty miles a day. He's just got a bee in his dome that he'd like----" "It _would_ be a good turn," interrupted Tom. "I was counting on a team hike myself. I wanted to be off on a trip alone with you a while. I'm disappointed too, but it _would_ be a good turn--it would be a peach of a one, so far as that's concerned." "No, it wouldn't," contradicted Roy. "It would be a piece of blamed foolishness." "He'd furnish some fun--he always does." "He'd furnish a lot of trouble and responsibility! Why can't he wait and come up with the rest? Makes me sick!" Roy added, as he hurled the aluminum coffee-pot out of a chair and sat down disgustedly. "_Now_, you see, you dented that," said Tom. "A lot _I_ care. Gee, I'd like to call the whole thing off--that's what I'd like to do. I'd do it for two cents." "Well, I've got two cents," said Tom, "but I'm not going to offer it. _I_ say, let's make the best of it. I've seen you holding your sides laughing at Pee-wee. You said yourself he was a five-reel photoplay all by himself." Roy drew a long breath and said nothing. He was plainly in his very worst humor. He did not want Pee-wee to go. He, too, wanted to be alone with Tom. There were plenty of good turns to be done without bothering with this particular one. Besides, it was not a good turn, he told himself. It would expose Walter Harris to perils---- Oh, Roy was very generous and considerate of Walter Harris---- "If it's a question of good turns," he said, "it would be a better turn to leave him home, where he'll be safe and happy. It's no good turn to him, dragging him up and down mountains till he's so dog-tired he falls all over himself--is it?" Tom smiled a little, but said nothing. "Oh, well, if that's the way you feel," said Roy, pulling the cord of his duffel bag so tight that it snapped, "you and Pee-wee had better go and I'll back out." "It ain't the way I feel," said Tom, in his slow way. "I'd rather go alone with you. Didn't I say so? I guess Pee-wee thinks he's stronger than he is. _I_ think he'd better be at home too and I'd rather he'd stay home, though it's mostly just because I want to be alone with you. Maybe it's selfish, but if it is I can't help it. I think sometimes a feller might do something selfish and make up for it some other way--maybe. But I don't think any feller's got a right to do something selfish and then call it a good turn. I don't believe a long hike would hurt Pee-wee. He's the best scout-pacer in your patrol. But I want to go alone with you and I'd just as soon tell Mary so. I suppose it would be selfish, but we'd just try to make up----"