Jiminy crinkums, he just listened and didn’t say a single word. For two blocks he didn’t say a word.
It was the biggest stunt he ever did.
CHAPTER XXIII
IN THE WOODS
Now I have to go backward—that’s one good thing about this story, it has a reverse gear; you can go backward.
The first night we had the house-boat, Mr. Ellsworth went to see Mr. Darren, who is superintendent of Northside Woods (that’s owned by the Northside estate) and he asked Mr. Darren if we could chop down some saplings to use on the boat. Because we wanted to make some stanchions for the awning, and another flagpole, and some bumper sticks. He thought that was a good idea, because lumber costs so much. Connie said the reason it was high is because they’re building tall houses. So Mr. Darren marked some saplings with chalk and said we could take those.
The next afternoon after that last meeting, we all hiked over to Northside Woods to chop down the saplings. You have to go across the bridge to get to Northside Woods and then you go up the road toward Little Valley.
Westy didn’t go with the rest of us because he wanted to get a book out of the library, for he thought the library might be closed when we got back.
“Have a heart,” I said, “and don’t be late whatever you do, because there’s been enough of that kind of thing in our patrol lately.”
“I’ll be Johnny-on-the-spot, don’t you fear,” he said. And I knew he would, only he’s one of those fellows that’s always trying to do too much. He isn’t late much, I’ll say that for him, but he always comes running in at the last minute.
“Well, don’t get us in Dutch,” I told him, “that’s all I care about.”