Pepsy said nothing, only thought. And Pee-wee said nothing, only sucked the lemon stick, observing it from time to time, as its point became more deadly.
“Maybe I’m not as brave as you are and can’t do things and I’m scared of Baxter City, but I bet you I can think up as good turns as you can, so there! And if you promise to stay here I’ll make it so lots of people will come and you can buy the tents and that will be a good turn, won’t it? You said if you make up your mind to do a thing you can do it.”
“I wouldn’t take back what I said,” said Pee-wee, finishing the lemon stick by a terrible sudden assault with his teeth.
“Well, then, so there, Mr. Smarty,” she said with an air of triumph, “I’m going to do a good turn, you see, because I made up my mind to it good and hard, and we’ll make lots and lots of money. So do you promise to stay here and keep on being partners? Do you cross your heart you will?”
If Pee-wee had been as observant of Pepsy as he was used to being of signs along a trail he might have noticed that her eyes were all ablaze and that her little, thin, freckly wrist trembled. But how should he know that his own carelessly uttered words had burned themselves into her very soul? “If you make up your mind to do a thing you can do it.”
CHAPTER XXIV
PEPSY’S ENTERPRISE
Pepsy knew the scouts only through Pee-wee. She knew they could do things that girls could not do. She must have been deaf if she did not hear this. She knew they walked with dauntless courage in great cities, and that they were not afraid of prosecutors.
They were strange, wonderful things to her. They possessed all the manly arts and some of the womanly arts as well. They could track, swim, dive, read strange messages in flashes of light, sacrifice appalling riches and think nothing of it. They could cook, sew, imitate birds, and read things in the stars. Pee-wee had not left Pepsy in the dark about any of these matters.
Pepsy knew that she could not aspire to be a scout. The young propagandist had forgotten to tell her of the Girl Scouts who can do a few things, if you please. But one thing Pepsy could do; she could worship at the feet of his heroic legion.