gets so far that he's really an Eagle Scout, he doesn't care so
much about it. A fellow's got to be a scout to win the Eagle badge.
And if he's enough of a scout for that, he's enough of a scout to
give it up if there's any reason. What does _he_ care? If he's scout
enough to be an Eagle Scout, and gives it up, he doesn't even bother
to tell anybody. Being willing to give it up is part of winning it,
as you might say.

"Maybe you people didn't know who you were cheering when you cheered
Alfred McCord. But I'll tell you who you were cheering. You were
cheering the only Eagle Scout in Temple Camp. And he doesn't care
any more about the Eagle badge than he does about what every little
tin scout in his own troop thinks of him, either. And I'm standing
here to tell you that. I saw that scout give up one badge and win
another at the same time. I saw him lose the stalking badge and win
the animal first aid badge all inside of an hour. He thought he lost
out by giving up his tracks to Alfred McCord, when he might have
scared the life out of the little fellow and chased him back to
camp.

"But all the time he had an extra badge and he didn't know it.
That's because he doesn't bother about the handbook and because he
wins badges so fast he can't keep track of them. He's an Eagle Scout
and he doesn't know it. He threw one badge away and caught another
and he's coming up here now to stand still for two minutes if he can
and listen to the paper that Mr. Temple is going to read to him.
Come ahead up, Hervey Willetts, or I'll come down there and pull you
out of that tree and drag you up by the collar!"