“Let’s get somewhere and sit down for a spell,” Rob suggested, for he awoke to the fact that poor Tubby was not built for getting over acres and acres of ground with all that flesh to carry along.
“Now, isn’t that queer, Rob; but d’ye know I was just going to dare you to go me a plate of that ice cream over there. We can sit at a table and get rested while we partake of the stuff. Excuse me for calling it that, but the chances are against getting anything first-class when you’re dealing with a man who put up an enormous sum to pay for his concession, and has to get it back somehow out of the public.”
They spent almost half an hour there, watching the crowds and resting. Then as Tubby declared he felt capable again of almost any exertion, they resumed their sight-seeing walk.
“I notice, Rob, that you’re working around so as to come on our meeting-place after a while,” suggested Tubby.
“I was waiting to see if you’d pay attention to that,” the other told him. “I’m glad to find you did. A scout must have his eyes on the alert all the while if he wants to keep up with the procession, Tubby.”
“Oh! I’m improving right along, Rob; my folks at home tell me that, too. Time was when my favorite occupation used to be to stretch and yawn. All that’s changed now, for I yawn and stretch, you see. This scout business does work wonders, doesn’t it?”
But then everyone knew that Tubby had changed wonderfully since he joined the troop. Considering the handicap under which he labored on account of his size, and the difficulty he had in doing things that were easy for his chums, he managed to get along tip-top. Rob always gave him more credit than the rest when an object they had been laboring to accomplish had been attained; because the one who overcomes the most strenuous barriers deserves greater praise than those who have not been compelled to draw upon their reserve powers.
They stood there looking up at the vast Triumphal Arch of the Setting Sun, which, it seemed to Tubby, was the most beautiful thing in the whole Exposition. It appealed to him in a way he could hardly explain, except that something seemed to draw him back there again and again.
“Why, before you came, Rob,” he remarked, “I used to just haunt this place, together with the vicinity of the Column of Progress looking out on the Marino. I’ll see them in my dreams long after all the other effects of the Fair have faded away. And I reckon now every visitor will somehow have a certain thing stay with him through all time, as a memory of the greatest Exposition that ever was given.”
“Step back here, Tubby!” said Rob, as he took hold of the other’s sleeve and drew him swiftly around a corner.