He examined the face and hands of the boy closely.
"When did you rub up againth that vine?" he asked.
"Why," replied Landy, "just a little bit ago, when Adam was helping me get a snapshot of the camp. It was in the way and we pulled it off the tree. Fact is, I tripped over the old thing and got mad, so I yanked it loose, and Adam, he helped."
"Then let me tell you, in the firtht plathe, that I don't believe it'th poithon ivy at all, becauthe that doethn't begin to thow for theveral hourth," said Ted.
"Oh, bully for you, Ted; it makes me glad to hear you say that!" exclaimed the boy who was in trouble. "But mebbe you can tell if you see the old vine?"
"Courthe I can, and here'th Elmer who knowth all about it, too. Did it have jutht three leaveth to each thtem, do you remember?"
"Sure, I didn't pay any attention to the leaves, I was so anxious to drag the old thing away so as to get a better view," replied Landy.
Elmer beckoned to Adam, and the two hurried off. Everyone knew that they had gone to view the vine that had been accused of doing so terrible a thing to the fat boy.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ted had picked up a little bag which he usually carried with a shoulder strap. Every fellow in the troop knew what that same bag contained; and indeed, many of them had found reason to bless the forethought that induced their chum to bring it along on every trip for emergencies such as the present. Ted delighted to call it his "vade mecum," and most of the scouts had only a hazy conception of what those words meant, though they appreciated the bag all right.
"If it wath really poithon ivy," went on Ted, "the firtht thing to be done would be to wath the thurfathe of the thkin with warm water, and then apply thith weak tholution of permanganate of potath. It'th about three per thent, and the color of wine, you thee. It'll dithcolor the thkin, of courthe, and for a while Landy can path for an Injun; but it doeth the work. Elmer put me in touch with the good it can do. He thayth every hunter of big game out in India and Africa alwayth carrieth thome along, to take out the poithon if he geth clawed by a tiger, a lion or any other carnivorouth beatht."