Pee-wee’s canteen, his aluminum saucepan, his watch and his star scout badge, were used to deflect a tempting spot of brightness into the water, but the only thing that ventured near it was an inquiring pollywog, which whisked away again disgusted with the ruse. Nevertheless, the Hoptoad Patrol seemed greatly edified at this wisdom of scout lore.
“Wait a minute,” said Pee-wee, excitedly, “there’s oil in bone and oil is nourishing because don’t you know cod liver oil? Scouts in the Great North Woods get oil out of deer’s horns; you don’t ever need to starve if you’re a scout. Let’s take the buttons off our shirts and pound them up and we’ll get some oil. You have to mix water with it.”
A dozen or more buttons were contributed to this culinary enterprise and the result was a gritty concoction not unlike silver polish. Pee-wee pretended to eat this with a relish but the others rebelled. The very mention of cod liver oil had been sufficient for Willie Rivers.
“Don’t you know oil of wintergreen?” Pee-wee said contemptuously. “Sailors can live on the oil from turtles’ shells.”
“Why don’t they eat the turtles?” Howard asked innocently.
“Because maybe they already ate them!” Pee-wee shouted at him. “Maybe they were in the last pangs of hunger. That shows how much you know about scouting.”
“Do you have to be hungry to know about scouting?” Howard summoned the courage to inquire.
“You have to be resourceful,” Pee-wee said. “Now I can see which way the breeze is blowing, because look at the smoke over the cooking shack; it’s blowing away from the lake. That means it’s going to rain to-night, and to-morrow there’ll be more water in the lake and we’ll float away.”
“Won’t we have any dinner till then?” Willie asked.
“Sure we will,” Pee-wee answered, “because Nature is full of food only you have to know how to get it. You can’t starve because Nature is abundant.”