One revolving police traffic sign One large phonograph horn One dishpan full of crullers (taken in a masterly assault upon the Harris pantry) One tent One duffel bag with cooking set Part of a vacuum cleaner One scout belt axe One Thanksgiving horn One automobile siren horn. One lantern Two long clothesline supporters A towel-rack that opened like a fan A skein of clothesline A small kitchen-range shovel Two boxes filled with canned goods One box filled with loose edibles One ice cream freezer
"Didn't you bring a cow?" Townsend asked. "We can never make ice cream without cream."
"We're in reach of the mainland, aren't we?" Pee-wee retorted thunderously. "It isn't as if we were going out of sight of land; gee whiz, then I'd have brought quite a lot of stuff."
"I just picked up a few odds and ends," Pee-wee explained. "I'm going to make a couple of more trips to-morrow."
"If you happen to think of it bring a lawnmower," said Townsend; "they come in handy. And a few life preservers if you happen to have any, in case the island goes to pieces."
"How can it go to pieces?" Pee-wee demanded. "Islands don't go to pieces, do they? Australia is an island, isn't it? It's just where it always was, isn't it? You're crazy! All we need is one more scout and I know one by the name of Keekie Joe, and I'm going to try to get him and then we'll be a full patrol and I decided to name it the Alligators, because they belong on land and water both and we're sea scouts on the land kind of, so maybe I'll decide to name it the Turtles, maybe."
"Discoverer," said Townsend, "we're with you whatever you do, but there is a mystery about this island which I would like to fathom before we organize----"
"I fathomed lots of mysteries," shouted Pee-wee.
"I don't know whether you know what erosion means----"
"Sure I know what it means," said Pee-wee; "it means getting rusty, kind of."
"It means land being washed away by water. If you put a piece of land in the water, the water will dissolve it and it won't take long either. It isn't like an island that has always been where it is--a kind of hill sticking up out of the water. This is just a piece of land and the roots of this little tree won't hold it together long.