All of a sudden, Mr. Bagley stopped right short where we were in the woods and he looked straight at Pee-wee and said very slow and scary like, “That—will—is—still—in—Beaver Chasm.”
“Good night!” I said.
“Do you want us to find it?” Pee-wee piped up. “Those are just the kinds of things we’re supposed to do, because we’re scouts and we even find lost people sometimes—you look in the newspapers and see. And I bet if that will is down there we can find it, because anyway, I know a feller that lost a licorice jaw-breaker through a cellar grating in front of a grocery store in Bridgeboro where I live and because I told him to buy an ice cream cone instead and he wouldn’t so I said I’d get it from him because Scouts have to be out for service.”
“Sometimes they’re out for jaw-breakers,” Dub said.
Pee-wee went right on and he said, “I went in the store and so I could get on the right side of the grocery man I bought three bananas—”
“Talk about service!” Sandy said.
“Yes, continue,” I said, “and be sure to stop when you get to the end. We now have two bananas and the problem is which was the other one—”
“Are you going to let me tell Mr. Bagley or not?” the kid yelled at me.
I said, “Mr. Bagley, you must excuse our young hero, he was born during the famine in Hiawatha and that’s why he’s always eating Indian meal. His favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Feast. When it comes to stalking a licorice jaw-breaker—”
Just then Mr. Bagley stopped and laid his hand on my shoulder and he said, “If you boys want a real hunt; if you want to make names for yourselves, now is your chance. And it’s no matter for joking.”