“How can I look at the way I look?” Pee-wee fairly screamed at him.  “You’re crazy!  I told him where it was and I told him—­”

“That shows you’re just as bad as he is,” Peter insisted.  “Are you going to stay here till Ham Sanders comes and be arrested?  Anyhow, you’re arrested now,” he ventured, “and you have to wait.”

“You tell me I’m arrested?” Pee-wee yelled.  “When I’m taking this car back to its owner?  Do you know what a boy scout is?”

“I know what they look like, they’re all dressed up in uniforms,” poor Peter said, “but you can be one without that.”

“Now you see, you said so yourself,” Pee-wee began.

“But they don’t get dressed like thieves,” Peter retorted.

“I’m on your side because you stopped him,” shouted Scout Harris.

“I don’t want you on my side,” said Peter.  “I’m a scout and I don’t want any—­any—­robbers on my side.”

“You?” said Pee-wee.

“Yes, me.”

“I bet you don’t even know—­I bet you don’t even know—­how many—­how many—­”

“That shows you don’t know anything about scouts at all,” said Peter.  “I’ve got a book that tells all about it and when a man comes you’re going to get arrested.”

“Me arrested?”

“Yes you—­you helped him to steal it and I don’t believe anything you say and you needn’t think you can fool me.  If you were a scout you wouldn’t be scared to run away in the woods now.”

“I’ve been—­I’ve been—­I—­you’re crazy,” shouted Pee-wee, fairly bursting with indignation.  “I—­I’ve been lost in the woods more times than you have.”

“Scouts don’t get lost,” said Peter.

“They get lost so they can find their way,” Pee-wee yelled.  “That shows how much you know.  If scouts didn’t get lost how could scouts rescue them?  You have to get lost.  The same as you have to get nearly drowned.  Do you want me to start a fire without a match?  That’ll show you I’m a scout—­only I’d have to have a certain kind of a stone.  I can—­I can eat a potato from a stick without it going round; that’ll prove it.  Have you got a roasted potato?”

“No, and I wouldn’t give one to a feller that steals automobiles either,” said Peter.  “I got a signal and I stopped you.”

“I know all about signalling and you didn’t get one either,” Pee-wee shouted in desperation; “I know all about everything about scouting.  I know—­I know—­I can prove I can drink out of a spring without the water going up my nose, so that’s a test.  I had a lot of adventures to-night, I was with thieves, and I’ll tell you all—­”

“I know you were,” said Peter, “and you needn’t tell me about it because I can tell by looking at you.  Do you think you can make me think you own this car, and—­and get roasted potatoes from me too, and run away when I show you where the spring is so you can prove it?”

“The man that owns this car is a friend of mine and he—­he gave me a quarter—­”