For a few moments neither spoke and Wig seemed to be waiting for the reassuring answer from his friend. They had seen so little of Wilfred in the patrol and he was so quiet and diffident when among them, that Wig found it necessary to his peace of mind to be always trying to check up this odd boy’s loyalty and patrol spirit. “I bet I am,” said Wilfred quietly. Still he sat there, arms about his drawn-up knees, gazing with a kind of amusement at the airy, fluttering emblem and winking at it whenever the breeze gave it the appearance of winking at him. Wig watched him, amused too at the whimsical spectacle. “The best part of it is just that,” said Wilfred finally; “no one hands it out, it just has to be taken. I like that idea.” “Isn’t it great?” enthused Wig. “And it kind of started all by itself,” said Wilfred. “And stopped all by itself,” said Wig. “It’s going to hang out here for a large bunch of summers, that’s what I told Yankee Yank. “Yankee Yank, who’s he?” “Oh, he’s the patrol leader of that New Haven menagerie; Allison Berry, his name is.” “_Allison Berry?_” Wilfred asked, astonished. “I know that fellow, I know him well. His father gave me this scarf pin that I’ve got on.” “What did he do that for?” Wig asked. “Oh, for—just for——” “What for?” Wig insisted. “Oh, for swimming out and helping Al get to shore at Short Beach. Didn’t I tell you I knew some fellows in New Haven?” “Oh, so you saved his life?” “Come on, let’s go to dinner,” said Wilfred. CHAPTER X BEFORE CAMP-FIRE Wig-wag Weigand did not fail to advertise Wilfred to the patrol members that very evening. He did this while they sprawled about their cabin waiting for the darkness before they went down to camp-fire. “He’s one of those quiet, kind of bashful fellows,” said Wig; “but, oh, boy, Tom Slade wished a winner onto us all right.” “Now you see him, now you don’t,” commented Grove Bronson. “I suppose you don’t know that a hero is always modest,” Wig shot back, rather disgusted. “I don’t know, I was never a hero,” said Grove. “I was, a lot of times!” shouted Pee-wee Harris. “And they are, so that proves it. Do you think heroes don’t have to go and take walks? That shows how much you know about them?” “I never saw that fellow in a hurry,” observed El Sawyer. “Heroes don’t have to hurry,” yelled Pee-wee. “People that run for cars, do you call them heroes?” “Well, speaking of heroes,” said Wig. “That fellow came to Bridgeboro from Connecti—— “I don’t blame him,” said Grove. “All right,” said Wig, “if you took as much trouble about him as I do, you’d learn something. He lived near a beach that’s near New Haven, that fellow did and he thinks nothing of swimming a couple of miles or so.” With the true spirit of the advance agent, Wig made it rather strong. “He used to live in the salt water, that fellow did. I had to pump it out of him——” “What, the salt water?” Grove asked.