The blunt little speech was very characteristic of Tom and it was greeted with a storm of applause. He had a way of blurting out his plans and ideas without giving any previous hint of them, but this was something of a knockout blow.
"Oh, you hit it right!" shouted Pee-wee. "Gee, I do hate railroad trains—railroad trains and homework."
"You don't mean you're going to hike it from here, Tom, do you?" asked Mr. Ellsworth.
"I had an idea I might canoe up as far as Nyack," said Tom, "and then follow the river up to Catskill Landing and hit in for Leeds—but, of course," he added, "I didn't really expect to be elected."
"Oh, crinkums!" shouted Pee-wee. "I'll go with you!"
"Well," said Roy, when the laughter had subsided, "this is a new wrinkle and it sounds rather risky for a half-baked Elk——" (Hisses from the Elks) "So far as I'm concerned, I think a hike of a hundred miles or so——"
"You're crazy!" interrupted Pee-wee. "You silver-plated Fox——"
"Is too much," concluded Roy. "In the first place, there would have to be a whole lot of discomfort." (Hisses) "A fellow would be pretty sure to get his feet wet." (Mr. Ellsworth restrained Pee-wee with difficulty.) "He would have to sleep out of doors in the damp night air——" (A voice, "Slap him on the wrist!") "And he would be likely to get lost. Scouts, it's no fun to be lost in the woods——" (Cries of "Yes, it is!") "We would be footsore and weary," continued Roy.
"You got that out of a book!" shouted Pee-wee. "Footsore and weary—that's the way folks talk in books!"
"We might be caught in the rain," said Roy, soberly. "We might have to pick our way along obscure trail or up steep mountains."