suppose they'll bother us much if we stick up here. What are you doing,
building a city? The last time we met was in a hole in the ground, hey?
Buried alive; you remember that? Little old France!"

"I don't want to talk about that," Tom said; "when I told Uncle Jeb
about it, it made me have a headache afterwards. I don't want to think
about that any more. But I'm mighty glad to see you, and I hope you'll
stay. It seems funny, kind of, doesn't it?"

Prompt to avail himself of Tom's apparent invitation to friendly
intercourse, his companion lay flat on his back, clasped his hands over
his head and said, "As funny as a circus. So here we are again, met once
more like Stanley and Livingstone in South Africa. And do you know, you
look just like I thought you'd look. I said to myself that Tom Slade has
a big mouth--determined."

"I never thought how you'd look," Tom said soberly; "but I said you were
happy-go-lucky, and I guess you are. I bet your scouts like you. Can you
stay until they come?"

"They're a pack of wild Indians, but they think I'm the only baby in the
cradle."

"I guess they're right," Tom said.

"So you're all alone in camp, hey? And making your headquarters up here?
Nice and cosy, hey? Remote and secluded, eh? That's the stuff for me. I
tell my scouts, 'Keep away from civilization.' The further back you get
the better. Guess they won't bother you up here much, hey? Regular
hermit's den. No, I'm just on a flying visit, that's all. Came to New
York on biz, and thought I'd run up and give the place the once over. I
might loaf around a week or two if you'll let me. Suppose I _could_ stay
until the kids get here, if it comes to that; _my_ kids, I mean. After
all it would be just a case of beating it back to Ohio and then beating
it back here with them."

"You might as well stay here now you're here; I hope you will," Tom
said. "As long as you're here I might as well tell you why _I'm_ here,
all alone."

"Health?"

"Kind of, but not exactly," Tom said. "These three cabins, the old
ones--that one, and that one, and that one," he added, pointing, "are
the ones my troop always had. But I forgot all about it and gave them to
your troop. That got them sore at me. Maybe I could have fixed it for
them, but that would have left you fellows without any cabins, because
all the cabins down below are taken for August. So I came up here to
build three more; that way, nobody'll get left. They don't know I'm
doing