I said, “I’ve got an idea we’d like to get away from here; we’re hungry. We’ve been in the hat business for over an hour. We’ve got a date with a tree.”
He said, “The world belongs to the boy scouts. Everybody knows them and likes them. To say they’re on top is just telling the truth. I think we will hook you boys up with Brown’s hats. We may ask you to pose. Brown’s hats are known the world over. Step right down, boys, and have no fear.”
“Did you see me from the train?” Pee-wee asked him. “Did you see me fall backwards? I bet I sold a lot of hats that way, hey?”
“Oceans of them,” Mr. Bull said.
You can bet we weren’t afraid with a bull to protect us. We went down the ladder and the farmer didn’t say a word. I guess he was thinking about the money he got from Brown’s hats all right. He said to Mr. Bull, very nice and polite, “I kinder thought they wuz trespassin’, you know. ’N I was a-scared they’d get inter some trouble.”
“Believe me,” I said, “we can’t get into trouble because we never got out of it. Anyway, we like the hat business pretty well and I wouldn’t mind living on a sign except for getting hungry.”
So then Mr. Slinger Bull tried to make us take five dollars for our trouble, but we wouldn’t take it because scouts don’t accept money for that kind of a service. Anyway, it wasn’t a service at all, it was just fun. I bet you never heard of anybody being marooned on a desert signboard before.