except a cricket, two beetles and a cow that belongs on the Hasbrook
farm. Don't mind if I stroll along with you a little way, do you? My
name is Willetts--Hervey Willetts. I'm with that troop from
Massachusetts. I'm an Eagle Scout--_all but_."

"But's a pretty big word," Tom said.

"You said it," Hervey Willetts said, still wrestling with his breath;
"it's the biggest word in the dictionary."




CHAPTER IV

HERVEY LEARNS SOMETHING


They strolled on through the woods together, the younger boy's gayety
and enthusiasm showing in pleasing contrast to Tom's stolid manner.

He was a wholesome, vivacious boy, this Willetts, with a breeziness
which seemed to captivate even his sober companion, and if Tom had felt
any slight annoyance at being thus overhauled by a comparative stranger,
the feeling quickly passed in the young scout's cheery company.

"They told me down in camp that if I need a guide, philosopher, and
friend, I'd better run you down, or up----"

"If you'd gone a little to the left you'd have found it easier," Tom