wilfred was forewarned of the tempest by a little storm which occurred early in the morning. they were astonished that he had not noticed the absence of the banner as he entered the cabin. that would have been an appropriate moment to tell them the whole business. but he did not tell them, he did not know why. he thought he would like to tell wig alone, first.
“it must have been taken before he got in,” said el sawyer, “because after i heard him come in i was awake till daylight. yet he didn’t say anything about it.”
“gee whiz, don’t you take any interest in the patrol?” grove asked him scornfully.
wilfred could only tell the whole thing or say nothing. he could not face that astonished and angry group; he wanted to tell what he had done, or failed to do, in his own way, at his own time. so he wandered away, which strengthened their impression of his lagging interest.
“he’s just queer,” said artie, always fair.
“queer is right,” said grove, sarcastically.
“i guess he was thinking about the movie play,” said pee-wee, always straining a point to champion a colleague. “maybe—maybe he was studying the stars when he came in and didn’t notice, hey? lots of times i don’t notice things when i’m studying the stars.”
wig said nothing. he wondered what was the matter with this likeable boy who had quite captivated him. “oh, i suppose he was sleepy,” he finally said, and was not convinced by his own haphazard explanation.
“i hope he doesn’t get sleepy while he’s swimming,” said artie.
“or try to study the stars,” said grove. “come ahead, let’s go down and eat.”
“gee whiz, i’m not hungry for breakfast,” said pee-wee. this startling declaration alone shows what it meant to the ravens to lose their flaunting banner.
“i bet the whole ‘eats shack’ knows about it by now,” said doc carson. “come on, let’s go and get it over with. where’s he gone, anyway?”
“strolling, i guess,” said grove.
the whole “eats shack” did know about it; it knew even more than the ravens knew, for it knew the worst. archie dennison was basking in the limelight. and the matter was even worse than poor wilfred had suspected, for even before archie had advertised wilfred as a slacker the whole camp knew that the emblem of the single eye had been taken by allison berry.
how it leaked out so quickly that wilfred and the new haven scout had known each other in connecticut one can only conjecture. but the disclosure of this fact put wilfred not only in the light of a slacker but in the graver light of a traitor as well. it was inconceivable that he would stand and watch a boy escape with that treasured emblem and do nothing.
the discovery of the triumphant scouts’ identity explained the whole thing; wilfred’s heart was in connecticut and he had not been able to bring himself to wrest a triumph from the boy whose life he had once saved. from the standpoint of the camp, what other explanation was there? to lose the emblem was bad enough. to lose it to its boastful, original possessors was worse. but to lose it while one of the raven patrol stood looking on was incredible and made the crude banter at the breakfast board hard to bear.
a manly silence, prompted by scout pride, on the part of archie dennison and the whole sorry business would have been accepted as a salutary rebuke to the ravens’ prowess, and a corresponding triumph for the gray wolves. but now it was outside the wholesome field of sport, it was a shameful thing and the “eats shack” was not an agreeable place for the ravens during breakfast.
“hey, conway,” an exuberant scout called from one table to another. “in connecticut you learn to sleep standing up.”
“oh, sure, ravens can walk in their sleep; didn’t you know that?”
“benedict arnold cowyard,” another shouted.
then, as a result of several poetical experiments somebody or other evolved this, which caused uproarious laughter:
“i love, i love, i love, i love;
i love so much to rest.
but the thing i love the most of all,
i love another patrol best.”
one or other of the ravens tried to stem this tide of wit but their angry voices were drowned in the uproar. even pee-wee’s scathing tongue and thunderous tone could not stifle the unholy mirth. he was handicapped for he tried to eat and shout at the same time while the others accommodated their eating somewhat to their vociferous commentary.
“i suppose you know he got a peach of a scarf pin for saving that berry fellow’s life?” wig shouted at the merry scoffers. it was a forlorn essay at loyalty to poor wilfred, but it was not cheering even in his own ears.
“i suppose anybody can get rattled,” artie van arlen sneered. it was not for wilfred’s sake that he attempted this dubious defense; rather was it in pride for his patrol. he felt that if any defense could be made for a recreant raven, it should at least be attempted—in public.
but these impotent sallies were useless; the ravens were buried under an avalanche of good-humored but cutting banter. amid it all, archie dennison, proudly ensconced at “officials’ table,” derived a contemptible delight in witnessing the uproar he had created. his scout sense was so far askew that he contrived to see himself as the hero of the occasion.
among the bridgeboro scouts was one (i know not who, and it makes no difference) who evidently recalled the scene in bridgeboro, of which perhaps he had been a witness. he was now inspired to revive the unhappy nickname which had rung in wilfred’s ears when he fell unconscious on the sidewalk near his home.
“wilfraid coward, raven!” he shouted.
“you better let up on that,” called artie van arlen, but the entertainer persisted, judiciously omitting the word raven.
“wilfraid coward! wilfraid coward! aren’t you afraid you’ll get arrested for speeding? slow but sure—wilfraid coward! wil——”
a certain stir among the clamorous diners made him pause and following the averted gaze of others, he beheld the subject of his wretched jesting standing in the doorway.
it was only in small matters that wilfred was diffident. what ordeal he may have passed through in the few minutes he had spent alone was over now, and he entered the room without bravado but with a certain ease; he had the same look as when he had approached the bully, madden. shyness does not necessarily interfere with moral courage. his brown eyes were lustrous, his wavy hair in picturesque disorder, and he was conspicuous because he was the only boy who had no scout regalia.
he seemed lithe, even graceful, as he sauntered down between two mess-boards and around to another where the reviver of his nickname sat. you would have thought that wilfred was waiting on the table and was asking his traducer if he would have another cup of coffee.
“you come from bridgeboro, don’t you?” he asked.
“yes, but i’m not in your troop, thank goodness,” the boy answered, addressing himself more to the whole assemblage than to wilfred.
“what’s your name?” wilfred asked, quietly.
“he wants to invite me to go walking, i guess,” the boy said aloud.
“give him your card, maybe he wants to fight a duel with you,” some young wag shouted.
“you’re not going to hurt him, are you, wandering willie?” called another.
“oh, no,” said wilfred, blushing a little.
“edgar coleman,” laughed the boy.
“how long do you expect to be here?” wilfred asked.
“longer than you will, you can bet.”
“thanks,” said wilfred, and moved along to his own seat.
many had finished breakfast and departed when wilfred took his seat, and as he did so the two or three ravens who still lingered contrived to finish quickly and were soon gone. so he ate his breakfast quite alone (so far as his comrades were concerned) and before he had finished there was not another boy in the room, except those who were doing penance for trifling rule violations by clearing the tables.
