tle things in order to arouse the interest of the one who was
listening; and he certainly had a subject worthy of his best efforts in
this explanation of what the Boy Scout movement stood for.

And the mountain man was deeply interested too. He proved this by the
way he hung upon the words of the boy. Now and then his suspicious
nature would show itself in a cautious look around, as though he wanted
to make sure that no shrewd game were being engineered, while the
speaker kept his attention engaged.

Several times he broke in on Thad to ask questions. He could not get it
through his head, for instance, why boys any more than men, should set
about doing all the work that scouts attempt, without pay. In this
region of the hookworm, where men never dream of working until driven to
it by actual hunger, they think others must be crazy to voluntarily take
upon themselves huge tasks that try both brain and muscle.

"But sure the Gov'ment pays yuh!" he said three separate times, as
though he felt positive there must be some secret connection between the
Boy Scout movement, and the authorities at Washington; else why should
they be wearing the uniform he and his fellow-moonshiners had come to
look on as the mark of the oppressor; for several times the army had
been called into the field to hunt down the elusive law breakers, who
simply vanished utterly from view, and remained in hiding until the raid
was over.

"Not one cent do we get from anybody," Thad assured him, positively.
"Why, even our uniforms have to be bought with money we've each one
earned. We're not allowed to accept them as a gift from any man, or any
source. So you see, we're under no obligations to anybody."

Again Phin Dady asked a series of questions which would indicate that he
was at least interested in all Thad told him, though possibly he
believed only a small part of the whole.

When Thad repeated to him the twelve cardinal features of a Boy Scout's
vow, taken when he joined a troop, Phin shook his head helplessly, as
though it were beyond his power of understanding. Indeed, that was where
the trouble lay; he possessed so shallow a nature that he was utterly
unable to grasp the full significance of the scheme. There must be some
sort of recompense, in dollars and cents, to make it worth while for any
person to do things that called for labor. And that was why he
continued to keep his weapon across his knees as he sat and listened,
and asked an occas