"Where are you kids bound for, anyway?" asked Bat.
"Over the Divide," told General Ashley.
"Why can't we go along?"
That staggered us. They weren't our kind; and besides, we were all Boy Scouts, and our party was big enough as it was. So for a moment nobody answered. And then Walt spoke up.
"Aw, we won't hurt you any. What you afraid of? We aren't tenderfeet, and we'll do our share. We'll throw in our grub and we won't use your dishes. We've got our own outfit."
"I don't know. We'll have to vote on that," said General Ashley. "We're a Patrol of Boy Scouts, traveling on business."
"What's that—Boy Scouts?" demanded Bat.
"Take us in, then," said Walt. "We're good scouts—ain't we, Bat?"
But they weren't. They didn't know anything about Scouts and Scouts' work.