the swimming badge all right, we
all said; the trouble is going to be to hold him back. And we were
right, too, because when he came up on the cabin roof to get dry, all
of a sudden, before any of us knew it, he was over at the edge and
dived off before Mr. Ellsworth had a chance to call to him. That was
sure too much of a dive for a beginner, for if he hit the water face
down and flat, _good night_, that might have been the end of him. The
skiff was hauled up then so Hunt Ward dived in after him, but he had to
swim some to catch him and it was mighty funny to see them.

That night Mr. Ellsworth gave Skinny a good lecture and told him he
mustn't do things like that until he was told to, but I guess Skinny
didn't understand. When I saw Mr, Ellsworth sitting alone on the deck
after dark, I went up and sat down and began talking to him. I often do
that.

I said, "I guess Skinny's going to get the swimming badge, all right."

"Yes, I guess he is," that's what Mr. Ellsworth said, "Skinny's too
much for me. If the boys would only teach him a little scouting, I'd be
better pleased. He wants to be a swimmer now; he's not thinking about
being a scout. He thinks of the badge only as something to wear."

"I tried to teach him some things out of the Handbook," I said, "but
the Elks didn't like it. I tried to tell him some things about scouting
and all I got was a good lecture from Connie. Nix on teaching fellows
in other patrols."

Mr. Ellsworth seemed awfully worried, kind of; he just sat thinking a
minute. Then he said, "I'm afraid Skinny is going to be hard to tame.
He'll make a fine swimmer and a fine stalker--"

I said, "He calls that sneaking."

Mr. Ellsworth laughed and said, "But the principal thing is to make him
a good scout. Has he done any good turns?"

I said, "The only good turns I know about, are the good turns he made
in diving; he turns every which way."

"Well, I hope he can forget about swimming long enough to eat his
supper," Mr. Ellsworth said.

But just the same Skinny didn't.

CHAPTER X

TELLS ABOUT SKINNY AND THE ELKS

Well, that was the way it was with Skinny and I could see that the Elks
were rushing him through, so that he'd get the badge. That used to be
one trouble with the Elks and I don't care if they do know I said it.
They got one good lesson to cure them, that's sure. The trouble with
them was they were making a collection of badges and when you're out
for badges, you skip at l