Chapter XIII: An Inspiration

The Hop-toad Patrol consisted of two small scouts besides Pee-wee. So there was plenty of room for extension upward. Willie Rivers and Howard Delekson were the names of these two tenderfeet, and what they lacked in size and numbers they made up in admiration for their leader.

Probably no army ever mobilized had such profound confidence in their commander as these two staring-eyed little fellows had for Pee-wee. To them he was not only a star scout, he was the whole firmament. One of them came from Connecticut, the other from New York, and neither had scout affiliations prior to their admission into Pee-wee’s organization. The rule that none but scouts should visit camp was often waived to welcome some lone and budding tenderfoot into the community.

The way these two little fellows gazed at Pee-wee and the veneration in which they held his prowess and resourcefulness was almost pathetic. Their first dutiful tribute was to vote for him for patrol leader, and as he voted for himself, the election was carried by a “unanimousness,” as he called it.

The pennant of the Hop-toads, bearing a crude representation of their humble namesake reptile, was displayed over an old discarded float which had been drawn up on shore, but after several days of patient waiting it became more and more evident that if Scout Harris were going to enlist a full patrol he would have to start a selective service draft. The star scout badge did not prove as magnetic as he had counted on its being, or else the stray scouts in camp were frightened away by the glamour of such fame and heroism. At all events, the unattached scouts (of whom there were not a great many) did not rally to Pee-wee’s standard.

He soon abandoned the extensible patrol idea, (for Pee-wee’s mind was quite as extensible as the purposed patrol) in favor of another which seemed to hold out some prospect of adventure and a very considerable prospect of financial success.

“Did you ever hear of sea scouting?” he asked his worshipping patrol.

“You go on the ocean, don’t you?” Willie Rivers ventured to ask.

“As long as it’s water it doesn’t make any difference,” Pee-wee said. “Do you know what an inspiration is?”

“Is it an animal?” Scout Delekson asked.

“Is it something you win--maybe?” Scout Rivers asked, doubtfully.

“It’s something you _get_,” Pee-wee said contemptuously. “I just had one and I don’t look any different, do I?”

They gazed at him and were forced to admit that the inspiration had not altered his heroic appearance.

“It’s a sudden idea,” Pee-wee said.

“Oh,” said Scout Rivers.

“That’s why you can’t see it,” said Scout Delekson.

“Do you know what I’m going to do? Will you say that you’re with me? Even if I go to--to--foreign shores?”

“Are we going to China?” Scout Rivers asked.

“No, we’re going across the lake; _shh_, don’t say anything. Have either one of you got an onion?”

Neither of them had an onion but they looked at Pee-wee as if they were ready to follow him to the ends of the earth.

“When the pilgrims started to come to America, everybody stood around crying,” Pee-wee said; “but that isn’t what I want an onion for. Did you ever hear of invisible writing? If you write with onion juice it won’t show, but if you hold the paper over a fire the writing will come out plain. Shh.”

The patrol stared, but did not utter a word. They realized that they were in for something terrible; they stared fearfully but were brave.

“If you take an onion to school with you,” Pee-wee said, “you can write notes to the feller across the aisle and he can hold them over the radiator and then read them. But don’t ever tell anybody; don’t ever tell any girls because they can’t keep secrets.”

“Can’t I tell my sister?” Willie asked.

“No, sisters are even worse than regular girls,” said Pee-wee; “sisters are the worst kind. Now I’ll tell you what you have to do. You sit here on this float and watch it till I get back, then we’ll sail out on the lake with sealed orders; do you know what those are?”

“Like captains of ships have?” Willie ventured.

“Sure, and if anybody asks you what we’re going to do you tell them I’m going to win the pioneering badge, but don’t tell them anything else; understand?”

The two small boys sat side by side on the edge of the float watching their leader as he disappeared around the main pavilion. Their admiration of him knew no bounds. They felt that they were already a part of some dark mystery. It was very easy indeed for them to refrain from telling anybody anything, since they did not know anything to tell....