[Illustration: map: "This map shows you how the water broke through
Frick's Cove and flowed into the old creek bed.">[
"But they wouldn't pick out the place for a camp," Bert said; "they made me do that. 'We don't want to be drowned out again,' they said. Honest, Westy, those two fellows are down there now, digging a drain ditch and carrying it way over to the Hudson. 'Safety First—that's what they said. And Skinny's sitting there with a bandage around his head, eating peanuts."
As soon as Bert got out of the boat, he started right off up the hill for Tigers' Den, as they called it. We could see him stumbling up the path, limping to favor his leg.
"He'll go back by the road, I suppose," I said.
Westy and I just sat in the boat watching until we couldn't see him any more. Then he said:
"Some scout, hey?"
CHAPTER XXXVII
TELLS ABOUT HOW I VISITED CAMP MC CORD
Of course, everybody in camp said that Bert Winton was a wonder; they couldn't help saying that. His own troop didn't seem to think so much about it. One of them said to me that he guessed Bert was having the time of his life. They were funny in that way—those tigers. They didn't seem to get excited over him at all. None of them went around shouting.
The next morning everybody was talking about Bert. All the time fellows kept going over in boats to see the remains of Nick's Cove, and most all they talked about was Bert. Some of them said, Skinny wasn't worth it—they meant being rescued like that. I could see they all thought that he took the money. Some said he was crazy. Some of them thought he knew about the money and just swam out for that.