During Mr. Stanton’s absence, Mr. Ellsworth had made a flying trip to Bridgeboro to arrange for the troop’s absence for another week or two, and meanwhile the scouts camped on the boat, spending much of their time at the Stanton place, where they played tennis and basket-ball and taught the parrot to say “I’m a scout,” and “Poor Pee-wee.”
Those were days of great delight to Ruth Stanton. In contemptuous defiance of Pee-wee’s proud assertion that “boys could do things that girls couldn’t do” she beat him again and again at tennis, and beat the rest of them, too, for she was an old hand at the game.
For the first time, too, her brother showed his interest and skill in outdoor games; his fondness for tennis seemed to come back on him in a rush, and though he sometimes got rattled and did not think quickly enough, his playing was rapid and accurate in the main and he and Ruth came out first in the tournament in which they all joined.
“And wait till you see Harry swim!” she said proudly, as, racket in hand, she sank onto a garden bench; “he can swim across the river and back; do you know how far that is?”
“I know how far it is over; I don’t know how far it is back,” said Roy.
“You think you’re smart, don’t you!”
“I’ll give you a correct imitation of a boy scout raising a racket,” Roy said, holding his racket high in the air. “Next imitation, that of a boy scout following a trail,” he added, going on his hands and knees and with an absurd air of scrutiny and stealth following the chalk mark around the tennis court.
“Isn’t he too silly!” laughed Ruth.
Roy resumed his seat beside her. “Did you hear about the Germans bombarding a man’s garden and shelling all his peas?”
“Really—” began Ruth. “Oh, nonsense, it’s a joke!”