“What are you talking about?” the kid shouted.
“Shh,” I told him; “keep still, will you? The first merry-go-round you see you can get on it and do all the good turns you want, only keep still and give us a chance to see where we’re at, will you?”
“It’s printed on the National Headquarters’ letterheads,” he said, “to do a good turn——”
“It’s bad advice to give a young boy,” Brent said.
I said, “Keep still, you’re worse than he is. Give me a chance to think, will you?”
“Roosevelt’s name and Taft’s name are on that letterhead,” the kid began, “so that shows——”
“I’m surprised that they should give such advice to young boys,” Brent said. “I wonder if I could escape from this van with a file and let myself down with a rope?” Then he picked up a can opener and said, “Ha, ha, just the thing.”
I said, “Will you please keep still a minute, both of you? Maybe you’ve heard the scout motto, ‘Be Prepared.’ That’s just as important as good turns. How are we going to get away from this town? That’s the question. You and your crimes, and Pee-wee and his good turns, make me tired. We’ve got to look facts in the face.”
Brent said, “I’m ashamed to look even a fact in the face.”
“Well,” I told him, “you’ll be looking a sheriff in the face if you don’t talk in a whisper, and maybe you’ll find it isn’t so pleasant being arrested.”