"Sure it is, _this_ is to-morrow afternoon. Somebody told me yesterday. If it was to-morrow afternoon yesterday it must be to-day." "Posolutely," said Roy Blakeley. "What was true yesterday is true to-day, because the truth is always the same--only different." "Sure," concurred another scout, "to-morrow, to-day will be yesterday. It's as clear as mud." Goliath thought for a few moments and then made a flank attack. "Gilbert Tyson is a hero," he said; "he saved the lives of everybody in that bus--he did." "That's where he was wrong," said Roy Blakeley; "a scout is supposed to be generous. He mustn't be all the time saving." "Isn't it good to save lives?" Goliath demanded. "Sure, but not too many. A scout that's all the time saving gets to be stingy." Goliath pondered a moment. "Gilly is all right but he's not a first-class scout," said Roy. "A first-class scout," said Westy Martin, "is not supposed to turn back. Gilbert turned back. Then he shouted '_stop_.' Law three says that a scout is courteous. He should have said '_please_ stop.' Law ten says that a scout must face danger, but he turned his back to it. He wasn't thinking about the danger, all he was thinking about was the bus. All he was thinking about was being thrifty--saving lives. I've known fellows like that before. It's just like striking an average; a scout that strikes an average is a coward." "You mean if the average is small?" said Roy. "Oh, sure." "Because it all depends," Roy continued; "a scout isn't supposed to fight, is he? But he can strike an attitude. The same as he can hit a trail. Suppose he hits a poor, little thin trail----" "Then he's a coward," said Connie Bennett. "Not necessarily," said Westy, "because----" "_A scout has to be obedient! You can't deny that!_" Goliath nearly fell off the springboard in his excitement. "That other feller is going to get sent away because I heard a man say so!" This was not exactly an answer to the well-reasoned arguments of Roy and his friends, but it had the effect of making them serious. Moreover, just at that juncture, Mr. Carroll, scoutmaster of the Hillsburgh troop, appeared and very gently ordered Goliath from his throne upon the springboard. The little fellow's mind had been somewhat unsettled by the skillful reasoning of his new friends. He trotted off in obedience to Mr. Carroll's injunction that he go in and take off his wet shoes.