at was the harm?

But just the same I felt awful queer and shaky. I guess maybe it was
because I couldn't come right out and tell him the plain truth about
that key.

CHAPTER XXII

TELLS ABOUT HOW I VISITED THE OHIO TROOP'S CABIN

One thing I was sure of, and that was that Skinny went away into the
woods just to be alone by himself, like he said. I knew it was just
like him to do that. Maybe you'll think it was funny for him to do that
when it was raining, but already he was good and wet; you have to
remember that. I said to myself, "I should worry about the key, because
anyway, that had nothing to do with Skinny." But just the same I kept
worrying about something, I don't know just what.

Pretty soon I made up my mind to do something that I didn't want to do.
I went up the hill to where the Ohio troop bunked. They had one of the
big troop cabins that holds two patrols. I guess they were a pretty
fine troop, because they had everything fixed up dandy. One patrol was
called the Royal Bengal Tigers, and the other was called the African
Tigers, and both patrols wore yellow scarfs with black stripes, and all
their scout staffs had tigers' heads on them. Even when they dived from
the spring-board they had a certain kind of a way of jumping, they
called it the tiger spring, and nobody could get the hang of it. Some
organization they had, that's what Mr. Ellsworth said. Every one of
those fellows had a tiger claw hung around his neck. Oh, boy, that was
some troop for you.

I asked one of the fellows for Bert Winton, and he came around from
behind the cabin where he was spearing papers and leaves. I said,
"_You_ fellows ought to be called the gold dust twins, your two patrols
I mean, because you're so plaguy particular--picking up leaves and
everything. You'll be dusting the roof next."

He said, "We're a lot of old maids up here."

Then he climbed up on the cabin roof and sat on the peak and I
scrambled up too, and sat down alongside of him. Honest, that fellow
would squat in the funniest places. And always he had a stick with him.

"Nice and breezy up here," he said, in that quiet, easy sort of way he
had, "and we can scan the horizon. Anything particular?"

I don't know, but I seemed to sort of feel that he knew what I was
going to talk about, and I guess he just scrambled up there so the
other fellows wouldn't hear. Cracky, that fellow always had his wits
about him, that's one sure thing.

I said, "I don't