Come on, don't you be scared."
Then, with sudden inspiration, he added, "This is a peachy place to lay
keekie for cops, because you can see all around you away, _way_ off.
And when all this food is gone there'll be apples getting ripe on this
tree and you won't have to speak for cores either, because you can have
whole apples, all you want of them. That's what scouts do, they eat
and they stay out all night and they're wild, kind of. And they don't
care what happens, and anyway the ice cream is melting all the time, so
will you join?"
Keekie Joe, still hesitating in profound astonishment, and a little
fearful of this strange apparition with its presiding genius saw that
if he were going to act he must act quickly for though Pee-wee was king
of the island he seemed not able to govern its capricious fancy.
Clutch the tree as he would, the gap between scout and hoodlum
persistently widened, and the island seemed bent on hurrying upon its
wanton career.
Keekie Joe, not altogether easy in his mind, still found it impossible
to resist these enumerated benefits of scouting. Being wild and
staying out all night and eating and eating and eating forever and
forever under a profusion of blossoms which gave new promise, was too
much for the sentinel of Barrel Alley to ignore.
So he ran away to sea as so many other boys had done before him and
sailed out upon the briny deep in the good barque Merry-go-round. And
he ate such a supper that night as he had never eaten in his life
before.
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