"Don't you know enough to have your door open to the south or east or west—what's the difference?" I just yelled. "Hurrah! Lieutenant Donnelle is coming to get his two hundred and I'm going to make him stay till Skin—I mean Alfred—gets the cross. Three cheers for the Gold Dust Twins! And anybody who says—"
"Just a minute," Bert said; "calm down. You're talking in chunks."
"Why shouldn't I talk in chunks, I'd like to know?" I said.
Then I told them all about it.
"It's going to be just as you said," I told them; "we're going to make the Elks come down here and give him the cross—when it comes. Mr. Ellsworth says all right. Oh, but he was fine about it He said it's only fair. Isn't he some scoutmaster? But you don't have to be in the scouts—"
The fellow they called Reggie just came over and put his hand over my shoulder, awful nice. "Yes, you do," he said; "you have to be in the scouts. We won't hear any talk against the scouts here."
Oh, but he was one fine fellow; I don't care if he didn't know anything about digging a drain ditch and all that. But anyway, I just can't tell you all we said.
And one thing, you should have seen Skinny. That's all I've got to say—you ought to have seen him.
After a little while, when the rumpus was over, Bert and I walked over to the shore of the river and sat down and just looked across at Catskill and the big hills in back. I kind of felt as if I'd like to be alone with him a little while.
I said, "You did it all, Bert. The whole camp is crazy about you."