“No, but you were going to,” I said. “I took the pail over to the coal-yard and started calling names at the men and sticking out my tongue at them and making faces. Then the men began throwing coal at me and pretty soon I had a pailful. So, then, I took it to the poor family. And that shows how a few hard names and ugly faces can bring much happiness. But the trouble with Pee-wee is that he can never stick out his tongue because it’s too busy.”
Stella Wingate said, “Really?”
“Absolutely, positively,” I said. “I can tell you lots of good turns that we did.”
“Don’t you believe a word he’s telling you!” Pee-wee shouted.
“Don’t believe him,” I said. “He’s so dumb he’s named after a dumb-waiter. He thinks that a somersault is a good turn.”
By that time everybody was laughing because they like to see Pee-wee and me in a mortal come-back—I mean combat.
“Wait till I finish this jelly cone and I’ll tell you something,” the kid shouted, all excited. “When I was trying to win the stromeny—wait a minute—badge——”
“He means the astronomy badge,” Warde said.
“Sure,” I said. “He’s so dumb he thinks Warde is named after Ward’s cake. When he was trying for the astronomy badge he thought William S. Hart was a shooting star because he’s always aiming a couple of pistols.”
“That shows——” Pee-wee started.