He marched along the tracks for about half a mile, through the woods. As he went along I remembered what Uncle Jeb said, that the woods look different when you’re going in the opposite direction from which you came. He said the way a tree looks depends on where you stand. And it’s the same with hills and everything. So that’s why the woods only look familiar when you’re going the same way that you went before. That’s the reason for blazing trails. Uncle Jeb says a person looks different front and back and it’s the same with woods. Pee-wee marched along back the same way we had come, very bold and sure.
After a while he said, “I don’t know why we don’t come to the turnpike.”
“Maybe it’s because it isn’t here,” I said.
“Are you sure you’re going the right way?” Bert asked him.
“Sure I’m sure,” he said; “only it’s longer than I thought it was.”
“Maybe it got stretched,” I said.
Pee-wee just kept trudging along and he said, “Maybe it seems long because we’re kind of played out.”
“Oh, we don’t care as long as you get us home,” Garry said.
“We trust you implicitly,” Warde told him.
“You’re our guiding light,” Garry said.
Pee-wee just trudged on.
Pretty soon he said, “As long as you’re all so tired, maybe I can find—I think I know a short cut.”
“Take us the way the raven flies,” I said; “the shorter the quicker.”
“I can see a road over there through the trees,” he said. “That goes into the turnpike. It’ll be easier walking on the road.”
“As long as you know you’re going the right way,” I said.
“Sure I’m going the right way,” he said; “what’s the use of getting scared. We’ll be home in twenty minutes.”
“That’ll be nice,” Garry said.
“Won’t I be glad!” said Bert.
“Just you follow me,” Pee-wee said.
“We’re following,” I told him. “We’re following our leader wherever he goes. We know the animal cracker knows the woods. Have another apple?”
Next he left the tracks and cut over to the left where we could see a road through the trees. He hit into the road and hiked along.
“Sure you’re right?” Bert asked him.
“Do you think I don’t know the way?” the kid said, very disgusted.
“Don’t start to ask questions, or hint, or propose,” I said.
Pretty soon he came to a crossroad and g-o-o-d night magnolia! Right there, staring us in the face was the fickle signboard that I had turned around. Oh boy, you should have seen Pee-wee. The apple he was eating fell out of his hand and he just stood there staring. He couldn’t even speak.
“Don’t ask where you’re headed for nobody knows,” Hervey said.
I said, “Have no fear, our gallant leader is with us. Raving ravens do not get rattled. Trust to Scout Harris. He knows the way. Follow your leader.”
Maybe that signboard had been a pinwheel, but there it was at the very same spot where it had been before.
War............