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 own sake, ’cause I’m so fond of you, I’m just telling you before I start that you better remember how California feels about antique furniture.”

The little Scout closed the door and went down the path and scaled the fence and said to Jamie: “I can’t chase up a reason for staying there any longer, and I’m about sick hungry. If you can hang out the night and do something to scare her off about getting into that chest until morning, I’ll go on the job again pretty soon after seven, and I'll stick at it until I see if I can’t make something happen.”

Then the line of march was taken up to the nearest hot-dog stand. A few rods away the little Scout turned.

“Let me wise you up to this: if she gets desperate in the night like the hardened criminals do, she may try breaking my chest. Be a good idea for you to take the ax or anything she could pry with out of the tool house and fasten the windows on the inside where they latch and lock it on the outside. If she can’t find anything that just suits her to attack with, maybe she will let it be until morning,”

And that was what Miss Worthington did. She was tired herself. Being too lazy te cook, she ate bread and milk, took a bath, and went to bed early, and she was still asleep when the Scout Master arrived in the morning. Depending on the assurance that he would be called if needed, Jamie, reeling for lack of sleep, stretched himself on his bed and went over the edge. The situation for that day was up to the little Scout.