But Tom had thought too much of the troop and of the Elks for that, and a new cause of apprehension for Mr. Ellsworth had arisen which now showed in every line of his face as he looked at Tom. "I want you to promise me, Tom, that you won't try to enlist without my permission. If you'll say that and obey Rule Seven the same as you have always obeyed it, I'll be satisfied." "How about Rule Ten?" said Tom, in his usual dogged, half-hearted manner; "a scout has got to be brave, he's got to face danger, he's----" "You notice Rule Seven comes before Rule Ten," snapped Mr. Ellsworth. "They put them in the order of their importance. The men who made the Handbook knew what they were about. The question is just whether you're going to continue to respect Rule Seven, that's all." Mr. Ellsworth knew how to handle Tom. "Yes, I am," Tom said reluctantly. "Then that's all there is to it. Give me your hand, Tom." Tom put out his hand, and as the scoutmaster shook it his manner relaxed into the usual off-hand way which the scouts so liked and which had made him so popular among them. "President Wilson wasn't in any great rush about going to war, and I don't want you to be in a hurry to get into a uniform. You're in a uniform already, if it comes to that. And the Secretary of War says our little old scout khaki is going to make itself felt. I'd be the last to preach slacking, and when it's time, if the time comes, I'll tell you.... You know, Tom," he added ruefully, "you're getting to be such a fine, strapping fellow that it makes me afraid you'd get away with it if you tried. I don't like to see you so big, Tom----" "Don't you care," said Pee-wee soothingly, "I'm small still." "If you were old enough, I wouldn't say anything against it," Mr. Ellsworth added. "But you're not, Tom. Some people don't seem to think there's anything wrong in a boy's lying about his age to get into the army. But I do, and I think you do---- Don't you?" he added anxiously. "Y-e-es." "Of course, you couldn't enlist without Mr. Temple's consent, he being your guardian, unless you lied--and I know you wouldn't do that." "You didn't catch me in many, did you?" "I never caught you in _any_, Tom." "Well, then----" "Well, then," concluded Mr. Ellsworth, "I guess we'd all better go home and get some sleep. We've got one strenuous day to-morrow." "It's going to be a peach," said Roy, looking up at the stars. As they started to move away, Mr. Ellsworth instinctively extended his hand to Tom again. "I have your promise, then?" said he. "Y-e-s." "I'm not stuck on that 'yes.'" "Yes," said Tom, more briskly. "That you won't do anything along that line till you consult me?" "Don't do anything till you count ten," said Roy. "Make it ten thousand," said Mr. Ellsworth. "And after you've counted ten," put in Pee-wee, "if you decide to go, I'll go with you, by crinkums!" "Go-o-d-night!" laughed Roy. "That ought to be enough to keep you at home, Tomasso!"