Roy Blakeley's Bee-line Hike Part 17

"His right name is Sir Harris, R. R.--Raving Raven," Dorry said.

"What's _your_ name?" Pee-wee hollered at her through the horn.

"It's Dora Dane Daring," she said. "So there, Mr. Smarty. And I'm a girl scout."

"Girls are afraid of snakes," he shouted.

She said, "Well, they're not afraid of canary birds."

"They're afraid of black men and--and--bandits," he yelled. "Didn't you ever hear of _wild_ canary birds? That shows how much you know about botany--I mean zoology."

By that time everybody was screaming. Even the whole police department was laughing. He said, "Well, now, what's all this about? Have you youngsters been dreaming or what?"

"What," I said; "you guessed right the second time."

I guess if it hadn't been for Westy maybe that fellow with the cap would be up on the top of the wheel yet.

He said to the policeman, "I'll tell you how it was if these fellows will keep still."

I said, "Let's have a large chunk of silence."

So then Westy told him all about our meeting Detective Pinchem and how he was looking for a fellow that had robbed an auto party and how he had stolen a boat and left it in the marshes. He told him all about what happened at the old ferris-wheel and how I had found footprints there and how they showed that some one had come from the river. Most all the people that crowded around listening were serious. Two or three men said they guessed it was the auto bandit all right. The policeman said they'd soon find out.

A lot of people said they were going to see what happened and one or two of the patrol wanted to go back because, one thing, you don't see bandits captured every day. Maybe whole weeks might go by and you'd never see one captured in a ferris-wheel. But that shows how you never can tell. You might chase a bandit on a merry-go-round but you'd never catch him.

"We should worry about the bandit," that's what I told the fellows.

"Because we've got troubles of our own. We've got to make Carson's Hill yet and then the woods up the ridge and we'll have to go slow and use our compa.s.s in there. Look at that big tree up there waiting for us," I said. "It's got all dressed up for us since we started."

And, honest, it did look that way because it was all gold. But, anyway, you'll find out in the next chapter that gold isn't the only color.

There are blue and green and yellow and strawberry and orange and banana and grape-fruit and peaches and russet apples--those are my favorites.

Gee whiz, I don't know whether I'm talking about fruit or colors! But one kind of vegetable I like, and that is onions.

Anyway, the color I was going to speak about is black. And believe me the next chapter is the darkest one in this book.

CHAPTER XXIII

FOILED!

Most of the people went back to the park with the police department.

That girl had been listening to Westy telling the policeman about everything and so now she said to our young hero:

"You don't call that binding a bandit with ropes, do you? With him up at the top of the wheel and you down at the bottom."

The kid said, "Sure I do, that's distance binding--you're so smart. That shows how much you know about scouting. I suppose you don't know you can signal for miles and miles. Can't you do other things by distance too?"

"That's a fine argument," Warde Hollister said.

"I invented it," the kid shouted.

That girl said, very sarcastic like, "I must say you were very brave to kill that wooden figure. I'm not afraid of snakes, but I'd certainly be afraid of a wooden figure. Tell me, did you ever kill a rag doll?"

There were two or three girl friends of hers there and they all started to t.i.tter.

"Was it our fault if that colored man was made of wood?" Pee-wee said.

She said, "Oh, mercy, no. But when you were binding the poor bandit weren't you afraid he'd _bite_ you? He was only a hundred feet or so away, you know. Are you afraid of mice, too?"

"No, we're _not_ afraid of mice," Pee-wee said. "And we're not afraid of bugs either. Girls are afraid of June bugs."

"That's because they're black," she said.

"Scouts aren't afraid of anything, they don't care what color it is----"

"Purple or lavender or pale white or dark black, what do we care?" I said.

"Do you see that hill away over there in the east?" the kid shouted at her. "That's Blakeley's Hill. That's miles away. We came from there in a bee-line. Do you think that we let anything stand in our way?

We're--we're--invincible. Houses--we go right through them. Even the movie people followed us, so now you can tell. Rivers--do you think that river stopped us? Do you know what the points of the compa.s.s are?

We came straight west, just as straight as an arrow. Now we're going up on that ridge, where that big tree is. If you want to follow us, you can. Then you can see just how we do it. You'll see us--you'll see us go right through houses. I'm not blaming girls that they don't have adventures----"

She said, "Oh, isn't that too sweet?"

"And who are you going to kill next?" another one of those girls wanted to know. "Some terrible black man?"

"The blacker the better," I said.

"Do you see that tree off there on the ridge?" Pee-wee asked her. "We have to climb right up that. There are snakes up there."

She said, "Oh, isn't that terrible?"

"I'm not saying you can't do things," the kid said; "because girls know how to sew and cook, I have to admit that. But when it comes to----"

"To being invincible?" she said.

"Now you just shut one eye and look at that big tree up there," Pee-wee said. "Do you notice the house right at the edge of this green? Do you see how it's right in a bee-line with that tree? We've got to go right through that house. Do you think we'd go around it? We'll go right plunk through the middle of it, no matter what. That's what a bee-line hike means. That's why we had the police department come to us instead of our going to him. See?"

All the girls began to laugh. Dora Dane Daring said, "Isn't that just wonderful?"

"That's nothing," Pee-wee said. "We do harder things than that."

They all began to laugh again.

I said, "Well, as long as we can't take this village with us we'll have to leave it here, I suppose. I hope it will be here when we get back."

"Maybe if you bound it with ropes----" one of those girls said.