with the night coming on. Nature was so big and Skinny was so little.

"Hello, Skinny, old top!" Hervey said cheerily. "What do you think
you're doing here? Lost, strayed, or stolen?"

Skinny's eyes were bright with a strange light; he seemed not to hear
his questioner. But Hervey, knowing the little fellow's queerness, was
not surprised.

"You look kind of frightened. Are you lost?" Hervey inquired.

For just a moment Skinny stared at him with a look so intense that
Hervey was startled. The little fellow's fingers which clutched a branch
of the log, trembled visibly. He seemed like one possessed.

"Don't get rattled, Skinny," Hervey said; "I'll take you back to camp.
We'll find the way, all right-o."

"I'm a second-class scout," Skinny said.

"Bully for you, Skinny."

"I--I just did it. I'm going to do more so as to be sure. Will you stay
with me so you can tell them? Because maybe they won't believe me."

"They'll believe you, Skinny, or I'll break their heads, one after
another. What did you do, Alf, old boy?"

"Maybe they'll say I'm lying."

"Not while I'm around," Hervey said. "What's on your mind, Skinny?"

"I ain't through yet," Skinny said. "I know your name and I like you. I
like you because you can dive fancy."

"Yes, and what are you doing here, Alf?" Hervey asked, sitting down
beside the little fellow.

"I'm a second-class scout," Skinny said; "I found the tracks and I
tracked them. See them? There they are. Those are tracks."

"Yes, I see them."

"I tracked them all the way up from camp and I've got to go further up
yet, so as to be sure. You got to be _sure_--or you don't get the badge.
So now I won't be a tenderfoot any more. Are you a second-class scout?"

"First-class, Skinny."

"I bet you don't care about tracks--do you?"

Hervey put his arm over the little fellow's shoulder and as he did so he
felt the little body trembling with nervous excitement.

"Not so much, Skinny. No, I don't care about tracks. I--eh--I like
diving better. How far up are you going to follow the tracks?"

"I'm going to follow them away, way, way up so as I'll be _sure_. They
might say it wasn't a half a mile, hey?"

The hand which rested on the little thin shoulder, patted it
reassuringly.

"Well, I'll be there to tell them different, won't I, Skinny, old boy?"

"Will you go with me all the way up to where the mountain begins--will
you?"

"Surest thing you know."

"And will you prove it for me?