or
this miserable creature and he wondered what would happen if they both
remained in the car for several days more, with nothing to eat. Then,
surely, the man would be compelled to put a little faith in him and let
him go out in search of food. He wondered what he should do in that
case--what he ought to do; but that, he realized, was borrowing trouble.
Mr. Ellsworth, his scoutmaster, had once said that it is _always bad to
play false_. Well, then, would it be bad to play false with an escaped
felon--to double-cross him? Pee-wee did not know.

His companion interrupted his train of thought "They don' look inside o'
way-billed empties--not much," he said, "an' they don't let 'em stan' so
long, nuther. I got bad luck, I did, from doin' my trick on a Friday.
They'll be 'long pretty quick, though. They reckisitioned all th' empty
grain cars fer Buff'lo. I'm lookin' ter hear th' whistle any minute, I
am, an' I got a pal waitin' fer me in the yards up ter Buff'lo, wid the
duds. When I get there 'n' get me clo's changed, mebbe I'll leave ye
come back if me pal 'n' me thinks ye kin be trusted."

"I can be trusted now just as much as I could be trusted then," said
Pee-wee, greatly disturbed at the thought of this enforced journey;
"and how could I get back? I guess maybe you don't know anything about
scouts--maybe they weren't started when you were---- Anyway, a scout can
be trusted. Anybody'll tell you that. If he gives his word he'll keep
it. I don't know anything about what you did and if you ask me if I want
to see you get captured I couldn't tell you, because I don't know how I
feel. But if you'll let me go now I'll promise not to say anything to
anyone. I don't want to go to Buffalo. I want to go to my camp. As long
as I know about you, you got to trust me some time and you might as well
trust me now."

If the fugitive could have seen Pee-wee's earnest face and honest eyes
as he made this pitiful appeal, he might have softened a little, even if
he had not appreciated the good sense of the boy's remarks.

"I'd ruther get me other duds on fust, 'n' I'd like fer ter hev ye meet
me pal," he said, with the first touch of humor he had shown. "Now, if
yer go ter cuttin' up a rumpus I'll jest hev ter brain ye, see?"

Pee-wee leaned back against the side of the car in the darkness as
despair seized him. He had always coveted adventure but this was too
much and he felt himself to be utterly helpless in this dreadful
predicamen