“No, I don’t mean that,” the doctor laughed. Then, evidently sizing the young patient up, he added, “We’ll make it an even month; this is the twenty-fifth of June. That will be playing safe. Think you can take it easy for a month?”
“I can if I have to,” said Wilfred.
“That’s the way to talk,” Doctor Brent encouraged.
“He can read nice books,” said Mrs. Cowell.
“Well,” said the doctor, “I’ll tell you what he mustn’t do, then you can tell him what he can do.” He addressed himself to the mother but it was evident that he was speaking at the boy. “He mustn’t go swimming or rowing. He ought not to run much. He ought to avoid all strenuous physical exertion.”
“You hear what the doctor says,” the fond mother warned.
“Couldn’t I go scout pace?” came the wistful query. “That’s six paces walking and six paces running?”
“Better do them all walking,” said the doctor.
“Then I can’t go to camp and be a scout?” the boy asked pitifully.
“Not this year,” said his mother gently; “because scouting means swimming and running and diving and climbing to catch birds——”