"From the top of the mountain for all I know," Tom answered. "Watch your step and follow me. We're in luck."
"You don't call this luck, do you?" Westy asked.
"Watch me, I can go scout-pace on the trunk," said Hervey, handing himself along.
"Never mind any of those stunts," said Tom; "you watch what you're doing and follow me."
"The pleasure is mine," said Hervey; "a scout is always—whoa! There's where I nearly dipped the dip. Watch me swing over this branch. I bet you can't hang by your knees—like this."
There are some people who think that trees were made to bear fruit and to afford shade, and to supply timber. But that is a mistake; they were made for Hervey Willetts. They were the scenes of his gayest stunts. He had even been known to dive under the water and shimmy up a tree that was reflected there. He even claimed that he got a splinter in his hand, so doing! Upside down or wedged across a channel under water, trees were all the same to Hervey Willetts. He lived in trees. He knew nothing whatever about the different kinds of trees and he could not tell spruce from walnut. But he could hang by one leg from a rotten branch, the while playing a harmonica. He was for the boy scout movement, because he was for movement generally. As long as the scouts kept moving, he was with them. He had a lot of merit badges but he did not know how many. "He should worry," as Roy said of him.
"Here's a good one—known as the jazzy-jump," he exclaimed. "Put your left foot...."
"You put your left foot on the trunk and don't let go the branches and follow me," said Tom, soberly. "Do you think this is a picnic we're on?"
"After you, my dear Tomasso," said Hervey, blithely. "I guess we're not going to be killed after all, hey?"
"I'm afraid not," said Tom.