“THE SHIVELLER”
Just then our brave young hero went up in the air. “You think you’re
smart frightening girls, don’t you!” he shouted. “Don’t you know a scout
has to be a shiveller——”
“What’s that?” I asked him.
“He has to have chivalry,” he said. “Maybe you think it’s funny
frightening girls about pouring wasps——”
I said, “It doesn’t hurt them a bit, it’s absolutely painless—endorsed
by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.”
“You mean the Society for the Prevention of Lunatics!” he yelled. “It
shows how much you know about scouting and resource and things like
that——”
Brent said, “Resource? Is that any relation to apple sauce?”
“It’s a relation to scouting,” the kid yelled.
“It’s something like cranberry sauce,” I said.
“Don’t you be afraid,” Pee-wee called to the girls; “I told you they
were crazy.”
“Oh, make them stop! Don’t let them do it!” the girls shouted. They
stood away off about fifty feet from the tree looking at it kind of
terrified. All the while wasps were buzzing around the nest and Hervey
was making believe to kick it.
“Don’t you be scared,” Pee-wee called to them, “because I know a way,
I’ve got resources, that’s more than they have; they’re only trying to
scare you.”
“Oh, don’t let them _touch_ it!” Marjorie cried. “Don’t go near it,
please, _please_ don’t! Bring the things away, and we’ll go somewhere
else—please.”
Hervey said, “If we turn that nest upside down the wasps won’t know
where they are when they come out; they’ll be lost and they’ll lose
their morale.”
Marjorie called, “Oh, no, no, _no, no_, they won’t lose it. Don’t go
near it—_please_!”
“Don’t you mind them,” Pee-wee shouted. “I know a regular scout way to
do.”
“Don’t go near it,” the girls shouted. “They’re buzzing all around!”
“You leave them to me,” Pee-wee said, very brave. “I’ll fix it.”
I didn’t know what kind of an idea he had in his head, but I thought it
must be something he had read in the Handbook or somewhere or other. He
gets his stunts direct from the factories—manufacturer to consumer. He
took three or four crinkly napkins that had blown all over the ground
and lighted them with a match. Then he began waving them around. “See
them all go in?” he shouted. “The flame scares them into their nest.”
Gee whiz, it was true, I’ll say that. All the wasps that were out beat
it for their nest as fast as they could fly. Pee-wee went dancing around
waving the paper till it began burning his hands.
“Oh, isn’t that just _wonderful_!” one of the girls called.
“That’s nothing,” said Pee-wee, all the while reaching around on the
ground; “the next thing I have to do quick; then everything will be all
safe.”
I didn’t know what he was hunting for, all I knew was he was groping
around for something.
I guess he didn’t know himself what he was groping for. He knew the
girls were watching him, and he liked himself a lot on account of being
such a hero with his resources. That’s his favorite outdoor sport, being
a hero in front of girls.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked him.
But he didn’t pay any attention only kept groping until his hand hit on
something he thought might do. I couldn’t see exactly what it was, it
looked kind of shiny. Anyway he marched boldly up to the nest and stood
on tiptoes and pushed the thing into the hole so it stuck there. “Now
they’re all in and none of them can get out,” he said; “they’re sealed
in. You can come back now, you needn’t be scared because I fixed it.”