to him. He just sat there shaking all over and staring
wild, "Three times," he panted out, "and that's the last--I--I got my
hand in his mouth before--before--he said it--I did. That's the way
murderers do--it is. I did it. Even I know how to strangle--I do. I'm a
hero!"

I said, "Listen here, Alf, you're a wonder--"

"I--I--I--could _kill_ you if I wanted to!" he screamed; "I can do
anything--I can sneak--stalk--I can take things out of your pocket--I
can choke people--I--"

That's just the way he went on and I saw he had gone all to pieces,
maybe from the strain, and didn't know what he was saying. I just put
my arm around him and I could feel that he was shaking all over, but it
wasn't anything like a chill.

He kept saying, "I want to be alone by myself now."

I said, "Alf, listen a minute--_please_. You can go and be alone by
yourself. You can go in our patrol cabin and I'll chase all the fellows
out. I know how you feel. It was wonderful, Alf. Try to get quieted
down now. You saved him."

"I--I can _bite_," he said.

I said, "Yes, I know; but try to take it easy now, because we're coming
to shore. You have to act like a real hero."

But as soon as we came into shallow water he jumped out of the boat and
scooted around the edge of the pavilion, like a wild animal. In a
couple of seconds everybody in camp was around the boat, waiting to
hear what the camp doctor said. As soon as I knew that the fellow was
going to be all right, I went away to find Skinny. No one else seemed
to miss him.

Pretty soon I heard a voice calling, "What's your hurry, Blakeley?" and
I turned around and saw Bert Winton hurrying to catch up to me.

"I'm going to look for that kid," I said.

For about half a minute we walked along together, and then he said kind
of quiet, sort of, "Do you think he's crazy?"

"I don't think he's exactly crazy," I said; "but he's all gone to
pieces."

"He sounded crazy from the shore," he said.

"He didn't know what he was saying, anybody could tell that," I
answered him.

"What did he do?" Winton asked me.

"Oh, he just nearly killed him trying to save him," I said.

"Hmph," Winton said.

"He'll be all right," I told him.

"Most of the fellows here think he's crazy," he said. "Last night they
could hear him way out on the lake, boasting about his father stealing
silver. 'Better keep your watch under your pillow and let Uncle Jeb
take care of your coin,' that's what all the fellows are