as an
adventure, whereas the troop regarded it as a commission--a commission
entailing responsibility."

"I'm not so stuck on eagles," said Hervey, repeating Tom Slade's very
words. "There might be something better than the Eagle award, you can't
tell."

"Oh, Hervey, my boy, don't talk like that, and above all, don't let the
boys hear you talk like that. There's nothing better than to finish what
you begin--_nothing_. You know, Hervey, I understand you thoroughly.
You're a wizard for stunts, but you're weak on responsibility. Now
you've got some new stunt on your mind, and the troop doesn't count. Am
I right?"

Hervey did not answer.

"And now the chance has nearly passed. Tomorrow we all go to the college
regatta on the Hudson, the next day is camp clean-up and we've all got
to work, and the next night, awards. Even if you were to do the
unexpected now, I don't know whether we could get the matter through and
passed on for Saturday night. I'm disappointed with you, Hervey, and so
are the boys. We all expected to see Mr. Temple hand you the Eagle badge
on Saturday night. I expected to send your father a wire. Walley has
been planning to take our picture as an Eagle troop."

"Well, and you'll all be disappointed," said Hervey with a kind of
heedlessness that nettled his scoutmaster. "And if anybody should ask
you about it, any of the troop, you can just say that I found out
something and that I'm not so stuck on the Eagle award, after all.
That's what you can tell them."

"Well, I will tell them no such thing, for I would be ashamed to tell
them that. I think we all know what the highest honor is. Perhaps the
boys are not such reckless young adventurers as you, but they know what
the highest scout honor is. And I think if you will be perfectly honest
with me, Hervey, you'll acknowledge that something new has caught your
fancy. Come now, isn't that right?"

"Right the first time," said Hervey with a gayety that quite disgusted
his scoutmaster.

"Well, go your way, Hervey," he said coldly.

CHAPTER XVII

HERVEY GOES HIS WAY

So Hervey went his way alone, and a pretty lonesome way it was. The
members of his troop made no secret of their disappointment and
annoyance, he was clearly an outsider among them, and Mr. Warren treated
him with frosty kindness. Hervey had been altogether too engrossed in
his mad career of badge-getting to cultivate friends, he was always
running on high, as the scouts of cam