re are directions for dish washing,"
he added.

As before Johnnie stared while he used a forefinger. Directions for dish
washing? in the scouts' own book? Would wonders never cease? Then
without a doubt this newest possession of his contained many another
unsuspected salve to his pride. "My goodness!" he exclaimed happily,
"what all more is there in here 'bout cookin'?"

"Well, there's a recipe for griddle cakes, and bacon, and salmon on
toast," said Mr. Perkins; "also roast potatoes, and baked fish, and
hunter's stew. But eggs and biscuits, of course, you know."

After an hour of that kind, it was quite natural that Johnnie, when he
found himself alone again, should straightway devise a cooking
think--and this for the first time in his life. He saw himself in the
center of a great group of splendidly uniformed scouts, all of whom were
nearly famished. He was uniformed, too; and he was preparing a meal
which consisted of everything edible described in the Scouts' book. And
as he mixed and stirred and tasted, his companions proclaimed him a
marvel, while proudly upon his breast he displayed that device of the
kettle.

Till the clock warned him at five that it was time to get ready for Big
Tom, the Handbook was not out of his hands. To a boy who had made easy
reading even of _The Last of the Mohicans_, Mr. Perkins's present
offered few problems. There was not a little in what he read that,
cooped up as he had been during the last five years, he did not
understand. But starting at the first page, and eating his way through
the first chapter, not missing one of the paragraphs skipped during the
morning, studying each illustration thoroughly, and absorbing both
pictures and print like a sponge, he got a very real glimmering of what
it meant to a boy to be a scout; and not only so far as the body, its
strength and its growth, was concerned, but also in relation to
character. And just that first chapter made him understand that there
was, indeed, something more to scouting than looking plump-chested,
having good blood, and cultivating strong muscles.

That evening supper achieved a dignity and a pleasure. Glad now that he
knew how to get a meal, he baked potatoes, made biscuits and gravy, and
boiled coffee. He realized that Big Tom would enjoy such a good supper,
and this, of course, was a decided drawback. Yet the fact remained that
if he (Johnnie) was to win a badge by his cooking, the longshoreman must
profit. It coul