“So? I thought maybe he was a battleship from his name. And what does Dan do to pass the time?”

“This one I’m reading now,” said Connover, “is the Eureka Patrol in the Fiji Islands; Dan stabs two natives.

“Get out! Does he really?”

“And the captain of the squad—­”

“What squad?”

“Of Boy Scouts-the captain is taken prisoner by the cannibals—­”

“You don’t say! How many of these books are there, Connie?”

“Twenty-seven—­all one series.”

“Well, Dan’s some boy, isn’t he? How would you like to be a scout, Connie?”

“My mother wouldn’t let me have a musket.”