Then Harry said, “Now, you kids listen to me, and keep still a minute. There’s a way of getting around that law.”
Pee-wee shouted, “Is it a long way around? Because I’m hungry.”
“No, it’s a short cut around the outside,” Harry said. “We can take the check and beat Judge West at his own game. We can show him that boy scouts are not to be trifled with and browbeaten….”
“You’d better not, Harry,” Pee-wee said; “safety first. Gee, I’m not afraid of rattlesnakes or wasps or mince pie; but judges—good night!”
Harry said, “We’ll just take this check and when we get to Temple Camp, if we ever do, we’ll make arrangements to have a shack or a cabin built there; maybe we could build it ourselves; and we’ll endow it….”
“Shingles are better,” Pee-wee shouted.
“We’ll use what we need to build it,” Harry said, “and the rest we’ll put in the bank, and we’ll get your scoutmaster and the rest of you wild Indians interested, and we’ll have that cabin maintained for poor troops that can’t afford the regular troop cabins. I don’t believe the trustees will have any objection. I don’t believe that scout law means that you can’t take money and use it to help others; it means that you can’t take it and just buy sodas with it. That’s my idea.”
“Oh, boy! Five hundred dollars worth of sodas! Mm—mmm!” Pee-wee put in.
I said, “Yes, and if we find the bags of gold dust, we’ll add that to it, too.”
“That’s what we will,” Harry said.