“Well, if you can’t keep a badge do you think you can keep a secret?  You were telling me you wouldn’t let a girl wear an honor badge of yours——­”

“That was three days ago I told you that.  Girls are different from what they were then.  Can you balance a scout staff on your nose?”

“I never tried that.  Listen, Hervey, and promise you won’t tell anybody.  I’m telling you because I know I can trust you and because I like you and I think you can help me.  I want you to do something for me, will you?”

“Suppose while I’m doing it I should decide I’d rather do something else?  You know how I am.”

“Well, in that case,” said Tom soberly, “you get a large rock tied to your neck by a double sailor’s knot, and are gently lowered into Black Lake.”

“I can undo a double sailor’s knot under water,” said Hervey.

Tom laughed in spite of himself.  “Hervey,” said he, “do you know what kind of tracks those were you followed?”

“A killyloo bird’s?”

“They were the tracks of a turtle and I was a fool not to know it.  That turtle had the letters T. H. carved on his shell.  Do you know what those letters might possibly stand for?”

“Terrible Hustler?  How many guesses do I have?”

“Those letters were printed wrong way around in the mud up near that log when the turtle fell off the log upside down,” Tom continued soberly.

“He fell all over himself, hey?”

“You didn’t happen to notice those letters up there, did you?”

“Not guilty.”

“It’s best always to keep your eyes open,” Tom said.

“Not always, Slady.”

“Yes, always.”

“When you’re asleep?”

Tom was a trifle nettled.  “Well, are you willing to help me or not?” he asked.

“Slady, I’m yours sincerely forever.”

“Well then, meet me under Asbestos’ elm tree at quarter of eleven, and keep your mouth shut about it.  We’re going to see if we can find Anthony Harrington, Jr.”

“T.  H.?”

“Tony is nickname for Anthony; you just said so in your song.”

“When my soul burst forth in gladness, hey?  The scout Caruso, hey, Slady?  What are we going to meet under the elm tree for?”

“You’ll see when we get there.  All you have to do in the meantime is to keep still.  Do you think you can do that?”

“Silence is my middle name, Slady; I eat it alive.”

CHAPTER XXXI

SHERLOCK NOBODY HOLMES

Since Tom Slade, camp assistant, said it would be all right for Hervey to meet him at quarter of eleven under the elm tree, Hervey was only too glad to jump the rule, which was that scouts must turn in at ten thirty, directly after camp-fire.  This stealthy meeting under the old elm tree near the witching hour of midnight was quite to Hervey’s taste.

He found Tom already there.