LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOG
"Where did you find the hat?" Hervey inquired. "I bet you can't sit on
this without holding on. Were you in the swamp? This is my friend, Mr.
Hood--Robin Hood--sometimes I call him _Lid_ instead of _Hood_. Call him
_cap_ if you want to, he doesn't care," he added, still swinging.
Mr. Robin Hood did not seem as much at ease as his young companion. He
seemed rather troubled and glanced sideways at Gilbert.
"We should worry about his name if he doesn't want to give it, hey?"
Hervey said, winking at Gilbert. "What's in a name?"
Gilbert was shrewd enough not to mention Tom but to give his visit the
dignity of highest authority.
"Well, this is a big surprise to me," he said, "and I'm mighty glad it's
this way," he added with a deep note of sincerity and relief in his
voice. "I was sent from the office to find you and give you this note. I
tracked you to the pond and I thought--golly, I'm glad it isn't so--but
I thought you went down in the quicksand. I near got into it myself."
"Me?"
"Yes, how did you----"
"Easiest thing in the world. I knew if I could get to the log--did you
see the log?"
"It isn't there now."
"I knew if I could get to that I could jump from it to the pond."
"And did you?"
"Surest thing. I kept chucking the suit-case ahead and stepping on it. I
had an old board, too. I guess they're both gone down by now."
"Yes."
"When I got to the log I was all hunk--for half a minute. 'One to get
ready,' that's what I said. Oh, boy, going down. Toys and stationery in
the basement."
Just in that moment Gilbert thought of the bird.
"Yes?" he urged, "and then?"
"One to get ready,
One to jump high,
One to light in the pond or die."
"And you did it? I heard you were reckless. Here, read the note,"
Gilbert said with unconcealed admiration. The wandering minstrel had
made another capture.
He was, however, a little sobered as he opened the envelope. He had
never been the subject of an official missive before. He had never been
honored by a courier. He had won badges and had an unique reputation for
stunts. But when the momentary sting had passed it cannot be said that
he left camp with any fond regrets. On the other hand, he bore the camp
and his scoutmaster no malice now. He who forgets orders may also forget
grievances. In Hervey's blithe nature there was no room for abiding
malice.
"What are they trying to hand me now?" he asked, reading the notice.
"I don't know anything about it," said Gilbert; "I think you have to
come back, don't you?"
"Sure, I've got the Gold Cross wished on me."
"The cross?" said Gilbert in admiring surprise. "What for?"
"Search me. They're going to test some money or something--testimony,
that's it. Something big is going to happen in my young life."
"You'll go back?" Gilbert asked anxiously.
"Sure, if Robin Hood can go with me. Love me, love my dog."
"I don't want to go there," said the young fellow; "you kids better go."
"Then that's the end of the red cross," said Hervey, still swinging. "I
mean the Gold Cross or the double cross or whatever you call it.
What'd'you say, Hoody? They have good eats there. Will you come and see
me cop the cross?"
"He just happened to blow in here," said the stranger, by way of
explaining Hervey's presence to Gilbert. "I was knocking around in the
woods and bunking in here."
Gilbert was a little puzzled, but he did not ask any questions. He was
thoughtful and tactful. He had a pretty good line on Hervey's nature,
too.
"Of course, Hervey has to go back," he said, as much for Hervey's
benefit as for the stranger's. "I say all three of us go. You'll like
to see the camp----"
"They've got a washed-out cove and an oven for making marshmallows, and
a scoutmasters' meeting-place with a drain-pipe you can climb up to the
roof on, 'n everything," said Hervey in a spirit of fairness toward the
camp and its attractions. "They've got messboards you can do
hand-springs on when the cook isn't around. I bet you can't do the
double flop, Hoody."
"Well, then, we'll all go?" Gilbert asked rather anxiously.
Hervey spread out his arms by way of saying that anything that suited
Gilbert and the stranger would suit him.
So the three started off to camp, the stranger rather hesitating,
Gilbert highly elated with his success, and Hervey perfectly agreeable
to anything which meant action.
It was characteristic of Hervey that he really had not the faintest idea
of why he was to be honored with the highest scout award. He had
apparently forgotten all about his almost superhuman exploit. He would
never have mentioned it nor thought of it. He did recall it in that
moment of humiliation when Mr. Denny had talked with him. But he would
not speak of it even then. He would suffer disgrace first. And how much
less was he likely to think of it now! Surely the Gold Cross had nothing
to do with that fiasco which had ended in unconsciousness. That was not
supreme heroism. There was something wrong, somewhere. _That_ was just a
stunt....
Well, he would take things as they came--quicksand, a frantic run in
storm and darkness, new friends, the Gold Cross, anything....
Was there one soul in all that great camp that really understood him?
As they picked their way through the woods, following his lead (for he
alone knew the way) he edified them with another song, for these ballads
which had made him the wandering minstrel he remembered even if he
remembered nothing else.
"You wouldn't think to look at me
That I'm as good as good can be--
a little saint.
You wouldn't care to make a bet,
That I'm the teacher's little pet--
I ain't."