As the books struck the stove, Johnnie had once more turned his head to look, and, "Oh, my Robinson Crusoe!" he burst out now. "Oh, Aladdin! And dear Galahad!" This was more than the destruction of stories: this was the perishing of friends.
"Never mind, dear Johnnie! Never mind!" The voice of the comforter was strong and clear.
Once more a stove lid rattled. Big Tom was putting the first book upon the fire. It was the beloved Last of the Mohicans. Johnnie's tearful eyes knew it by the brown binding. He groaned. "Oh, it's Uncas!" he told Cis. "Oh, my story! I'll never read y' again!"
"He'll wish a hundred times he'd never done it!" declared Cis. "It'll cost him something, I can tell you! He'll pay for them all, over and over!"
"Is that so?" Barber was amused. Now he threw the other books after the first. After that, he lounged to and fro, waiting till it was certain that even no part of the volumes would fail to be consumed. As he sauntered, he found his sack of smoking tobacco and refilled that pipe which had been the innocent cause of all Johnnie's misfortune.
With Big Tom away from the stove, the boy rose and crossed the room. They were turning into ashes, all his books and the other things, and he wanted one last look at them before they were wholly gone. He picked up the poker, lifted a lid, and gazed down.
"Don't y' touch anythin'!" warned the longshoreman, fussing with the matches as he strolled.
"I won't." Layers of curling black leaves were lying uppermost in the stove. And they were moving, as if they were living and suffering things. On some of the leaves Johnnie could see lettering. But as, at the sight, his tears burst forth again, the force of his breath upon those blistered pages broke them, and they crumbled.
He covered the stove and stumbled away. An odd thought was in his tortured brain: What Scout Law of the Twelve covered the burning of a uniform? of the books that all scouts should love? "Trustworthy," he repeated aloud; "loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient——"
"Oh, shut up!" ordered Barber.