of some great, famous organization which numbered
among its members all the millionaires in New York. Just what this
organization was all about, he did not pause to decide. But he had his
office in a building as large as the Grand Central Station, and was
waited upon by a man in a car-conductor's cap.

Cis had once peeped into the huge dining rooms of the Waldorf Astoria,
this while walking along Fifth Avenue. She had described to Johnnie the
lofty, ornate ceilings, and the rich, heavy hangings, which description
thereafter had furnished him with a basis whenever he transformed the
kitchen for one of his grandest thinks. Upon his new office he lavished,
now, a silver ceiling, velvet curtains, a marble desk and gold chairs.

The thing finished, he rose, shed his clothes, and, standing on his
mattress, white and stark against the black of the stove, filled his
lungs from the open window, wielded his arms, bent his torso, and kicked
up his heels.

In due time, by faithfully following Mr. Perkins's instructions, he
would be plump, well-muscled, red-faced, and rounded as to chest. Then
in a beautiful uniform and a broad hat, with his right hand at salute,
he would burst, as it were, upon the neighborhood--the perfect scout!

That night the whole world seemed to him khaki-colored. That day marked
the beginning of a new Johnnie Smith.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE ROOF

IN the morning, he was very stiff. When he discovered this, he made up
his mind that he was ill enough to stay in bed, which (it being
Saturday) would let him out of having to do the scrubbing. But when, on
second thought, he consulted Cis, he changed his mind, instantly
scrambled up, put the scrubbing water on to heat, and started breakfast.
For he dared not allow Big Tom to know the truth about his condition.
And the truth was, he gathered, that his stiffness was due to those
exercises--also to the baleful effects of the bath!

"Maybe I lost _too_ much skin," he suggested. "Y' think I'm any worse
off for it, with all that skin gone?"

"Oh, you keep it up!" returned Cis. "You won't be stiff as soon as
you've moved around a little. And, oh, Johnnie, don't ever, ever, _ever_
wait so long before you bathe again! I'm just _sick_ about what happened
yesterday! I dreamed about it!--though, of course"--catching at a straw
of comfort--"it would've been a lot worse if _He_ had been here instead
of the scout man."

Deep-breathing and exercises regularly punct