ll baths if he discovered they were being taken (on the
ground that they used up too much soap), but the longshoreman might go
further, and administer punishment which would be particularly
trying--with Johnnie in a clothesless condition.

He waited for nightfall. The day was unseasonably warm. By sundown the
patch of sky framed by the window was solidly overlaid with clouds,
among which the thunder was rolling. A shower was brewing, and Johnnie
had an idea. He took the soap and a wash rag to bed with him.

The others were asleep when the storm broke. But Johnnie was just inside
the little house on the roof, shedding his clothes under cover. As the
rain came lashing upon the warm, painted tin, he rushed forth into it,
letting it whip his bare skin as he soaped and rubbed.

It was glorious! And though he dared not shout, he leaped hither and
thither in an excess of joy, and did his calisthenics, the lightning
flashing him into his own sight. And he took in from the rain, through
tossing arms and legs, the electricity that he lacked--cut off as he had
been so long from even the touch of a pavement.

Next, naked though he was, he played scout; and as he romped other
scouts came to romp with him, dropping over the edge of the roof in all
directions, or popping out from behind the chimney and the little
house. And all were as naked as he, and as full of joy, and they danced
in a circle with him, and marched, and went through the exercises.

When at last his yellow hair was streaming, and his breath was spent, he
dried himself, standing on the stairs, and using the long tails of the
big shirt; then, trousered once more, he crept down and in, to sleep an
unbroken, dreamless sleep, wrapped from head to toe in just nothing but
his quilt. Only his small unfreckled nose showed, drawing in the
rain-washed breeze that came swirling upon his bed through the open
window.

"It's my beach!" he told Cis proudly the next morning. "I waded--honest,
I did! And I pretty near _swimmed_!"

He felt stronger, and consequently did not hate his housework so much.
As for his appearance, Mr. Perkins was more than ever struck with its
improvement when he saw Johnnie again; also, the leader was a trifle
puzzled. But other things than breathing and bathing and exercises were
helping Johnnie. He had something to look forward to now--a goal.
Indeed, the greater part of his betterment was the result of that fresh
interest Mr. Perkins had given him,