was at all swayed by the sudden tribute, it was as an oak tree might be
swayed in a summer breeze. He knew what he wanted to say and he was
going to say it. He waited, he _had_ to wait, for at least five minutes,
till Temple Camp had had its say.

Then he said, slowly, deliberately, with a kind of mixture of clumsiness
and assurance which was characteristic of him.

"Maybe I haven't got any right to speak. I'm not on the staff, and
as you might say, I'm through being a scout----"

"Never, Tomasso!" said a voice.

"But I saw something that none of you saw and I know something that
none of you know about--except Mr. Temple, that I told it to, and
the trustees.

"Since I been assistant to Uncle Jeb--that's two years--I saw the
Eagle award given out twice----"

"You won it yourself, Tomasso!"

"I saw it given to a scout from Virginia and one from New York. You
always hear a lot of talk about the Eagle award here in camp. Lots
of scouts start out big and don't get away with it. I guess
everybody knows it isn't easy. If you're an Eagle Scout you're
everything else. You got to be.

"I've seen scouts get it. But in the last couple of days I saw one
chuck it in the dirt and trample on it. That's because when a fellow