And it was just like him—I mean about that French coin. He was always coming to me, too, as if I was scoutmaster and everything else. He began clutching me by the arm and saying, "I got it for keeping my eyes open, didn't I? I got it for being honest and asking all the scout guys, didn't I?"
I had to just pull his hand off my arm, he was holding so fast to it. Cracky, I didn't know what to tell him. Then I said, "I tell you what you do Alf." (I wasn't going to be calling him Skinny,) I said, "You go and ask Vic Norris if he's got an awl or a small gimlet—see? Then I'll fix it for you." Vic had charge of the locker where we kept the lights and oil and tools and all that kind of stuff.
Pretty soon he came back with an awning needle and asked me if it would do. I think he would have gone crazy if I had told him no.
I said, "Yes, I guess so. Come ahead, and let go my arm, do you hear?
I'm not going to run away."
Then he said, "I like you better than any of the scout guys."
"We're not guys, we're just scouts," I told him; "you can cut out the guys. Didn't Mr. Ellsworth tell you that?"
The fellows were sitting around on the deck, reading. Some of them were sprawling around on the cabin roof, killing time and jollying Pee-wee. I don't know where Mr. Ellsworth was, but I guess he was inside writing letters. Anyway, it was nice and sunny and you could see the sun in the water. Over on shore, in St. George, I could hear a church bell and it sounded clear. There weren't many boats out, except sometimes the boats to Coney Island went by and we could hear the music. I thought I'd rather be where I was, anyway. Maybe it was because it was Sunday and because it was so still all around that I had a good idea. Anyway, I thought it was a good idea, but good night, it got me into a kind of a scrape.
That's one thing about me, I'm always getting in scrapes.
So then I took Skinny and we climbed in through the galley window. I guess nobody noticed us; nobody said anything except El Sawyer. He asked me if I was going to get supper.
"Supper!" I said. "Didn't you just have dinner?" Honest, that fellow never thinks of anything except eats.