g. That kid thought the Maltese Cross meant that the cup
was to drink malted milk out of. He's a three-ring circus, that kid."

"It was a stunt to send that--to make that light, wasn't it?" Peter
asked.

"Well, I'll say it was," said Scoutmaster Ned, giving the cup another
admiring rub.

That settled it for Peter. He could not match his poor little exploit
against such miraculous performances. The sight of those uniforms in the
broad daylight had cowed him. The sight of Nick Vernon's signalling
badge had brought him to his sober senses, and he felt ashamed even of
his dreams and his pretending. The brief glimpse he had had of Scout
Harris in all his flaunting array, going forth to new conquests
surrounded by infatuated disciples, these things settled it for poor
Peter. He thought himself lucky not to have drawn attention and been
made a fool by those heroes. Maybe they would not all have been as
considerate as Scoutmaster Ned. The safest thing, as well as the thing
nearest to his heart, was to stand for Nick Vernon. He could stand for
him even if he was afraid of him. After all, a pioneer scout was not
really and truly a scout....

"I don't know why I put the rope up," he said nervously; "I just did.
There is a--a bad place in the road if you're going fast--I'll--I just
as soon show it to you--if you don't believe me. I thought maybe the
light--but anyway I wasn't sure--and I'll show you that bad place. I
guess he'll _sure_ win the cup, won't he; the scout that made the
light?"

"Shouldn't wonder," said Scoutmaster Ned, a little puzzled, but
apparently satisfied. "Didn't you say something about a signal? To that
little codger? Or was he dreaming? Or am I dreaming?" He scrutinized
Peter very curiously but seeing no sign of the scout about him, he
dismissed the receiving end of this business with Peter's rather awkward
explanation, and let it go at that.

As for what Pee-wee had said, that did not worry Scoutmaster Ned.
Pee-wee's dream and experiences seemed to be all mixed up together like
the things in a hunter's stew. Scoutmaster Ned went by the _signs_,
which scouts do, and the signs were a funny ticking shirt and a pair of
pantaloons like stove pipes. No hint of scouting there.

For you see the scout was _inside_ of Peter Piper of Piper's Crossroads.
That was why he was for Nick Vernon. It was _inside_ him, and
"disguised" (as Pee-wee would have said) as a checker-board shirt. And
that was why Scoutmaster Ne