ARTIE'S ADVENTURE Then I heard one of the fellows shouting "Look who's here!" and I saw the fellow who had been sitting on the steps coming toward the float and I could tell it was Artie Van Arlen.

Then I could hear Pee-wee dancing on the cabin roof and screaming, "The plot grows thicker! The plot grows thicker!"-- good night, the kid was almost having a fit.
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," I said to Artie, "would you please relate your adventures, I see that you're not dead." "Well, not so you'd notice it," he said, "but I guess I came pretty near it." Then I could see he was all in and must have had a pretty hard time of it, but I couldn't help kidding him, because I was feeling so good to know he was safe.

Believe me, that fellow had some adventure.
"It was lucky for me," he said, "that you tied this crazy canoe or whatever you call it-" "That is an Indian dugout, if anyone should ask you," I said, "and if I wanted to sell it to an antiquary--" "A what ?" Pee-wee shouted down from the cabin roof.
"An antiquary," I said; "comes from the Latin word aunt and the Chinese word query, meaning to ask questions--otherwise the same as Pee-wee.

As I was saying, if I wanted to sell it to an antiquary I could get a large check for it." "How large ?" Pee-wee shouted.
"About eight inches by two and a half inches; now, shut up!" I said.
Cracky, you should have heard those fellows laugh.
"Well, whatever it is," said Artie, "it's lucky for me that you tied it just under the cabin window, because I fell into it--I fell in good and hard." "I think you fell in soft," I said; "it shows how thoughtful I am.

A scout is foresighted--" "You make me sick!" Pee-wee shouted.
"Tell Doc Carson to give you some medicine," I answered.
Laugh! Because, you see, we were all feeling so good about Artie being saved that we'd laugh at nothing, like a lot of girls.