One thing, Harry was sure right when he said that when it comes to a showdown a scout is a scout—I have to admit it. Anyway, it seemed kind of natural like, to be walking through those woods; it seemed just like at Temple Camp. You wouldn’t have known there was a village within a couple of hundred miles. Gee, I’m not saying anything against the Cadillac, but I like to hike; I’d rather hike than ride in a machine. I guess that’s because I’m a scout, hey? Especially I like hiking through the woods. Sitting on a porch, that’s one thing I hate. I hate algebra, too. My father says it’s good to know algebra, even if you don’t want to be especially good friends with it. I’ll let it alone if it’ll let me alone—that’s what I told him. Anyway, it was dandy in those Woods.
CHAPTER XXXIII—WE MEET A FRIEND
Pretty soon we saw a stick stuck in the ground near the track on our side. It was split a little way down and another stick was crossways in it. One end was peeled and it meant that we should go the way that pointed. That’s a scout sign, If you ever see one like that, go where it points and maybe you’ll get something to eat.
But anyway, we didn’t have to go far, for almost right away we heard a voice, and it was Brent’s. They had their tent up quite near the tracks and we saw it almost as soon as we saw the stick.
It was a peachy place for a camp. Brent was sitting on a rock, making some kind of a birch-bark thing, and those kids were sitting around him. Cracky, they were all crazy about that fellow.
Little Willie Wide-Awake piped up, “Oh, here they are! Here they are!”
Harry said, “Hello, you old grouch; we got your letter. Hello, kids; well, here we are at last, after many ups and downs and thrilling adventures.”
“When it comes to ups and downs, you haven’t got anything on us,” Brent said; “did you come up that road through the woods? We were hoping you wouldn’t find us so easily.”
“If you were any nearer the track, you’d get run over,” Harry said.
Brent said, “We were hoping you’d search for days and days and not find us, and then just as you were starving—just as Pee-wee was breathing his last—little Bill here, would come and place a gum drop between his emaciated lips. Everything seems to go wrong on this trip.”