uppose it did."

Mr. Denny paused; he was up against the hardest job he had ever tackled.
It was harder than he had thought it would be.

"You see, Hervey, how it is. Last week you stayed away over night at
some farm. I had told you you must not leave camp without my knowledge.
For that I had you stay here all day, making a birchbark basket. I
thought that was a good punishment."

"I'll tell the world it was," said Hervey.

Mr. Denny paused before proceeding.

"Did it do any good? Not a bit."

"The basket was a punk one," said Hervey.

"Again you rode down as far as Barretstown, hitching onto a freight
train."

"I'd have got all the way down to Jonesville, if it hadn't been for the
conductor. He was some old grouch, believe _me_."

"Then we had a little talk--you remember. You promised to be here at
meal times. Look at Mr. Ellsworth's troop, Harris, Blakeley and those
boys. Always on hand for meals----"

"I'll say so; they're some hungry bunch," Hervey commented.

"And you gave me your word that you wouldn't leave camp without my
permission. _You think as little about breaking your word as you do
about breaking your leg, Hervey_," Mr. Denny added with sober emphasis.

Hervey began poking the ground again with his stick.

"That's just the truth, Hervey. And it can't go on any longer."

"Am I out of the troop?" Hervey asked, wistfully.

"N--no, you're not. But I want you to learn to be as good a scout in one
way as you are in another. You have won merit badges with an ease which
is surprising to me----"

"They're a cinch," Hervey interrupted.

"I want you to go home and stop doing stunts and read the handbook. I
want you to read the oath and the scout laws, so that when the rest of
us come home you can give me your hand and say, 'I'm an all round scout,
not just a doer of stunts.'"

"H--how soon are--the rest of you coming back?" Hervey asked with just
the faintest suggestion of a break in his voice.

"Why, you know we're here for six weeks, Hervey. Don't you know anything
about your troop's affairs? You know how much money we have in our
treasury, don't you?"

Hervey did not miss the reproach. He said nothing, only kept tracing the
circle with his stick. Finally it occurred to him to mark two eyes, a
nose and a mouth in the circle. Mr. Denny sat studying him. I think Mr.
Denny was on the point of weakening. Hervey seemed sober and
preoccupied. But the face on the ground seemed to wink at Mr. Denn