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Read Ebook: The High School Boys in Summer Camp by Hancock H Irving Harrie Irving
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Ebook has 1899 lines and 50366 words, and 38 pages
"And made of genuine birch bark, which is so hard to get these days," added Reade. "Fellows, I can't believe that our old Dick will come back whipped. Defeat isn't a habit of his, you know."
So the "Co." of Dick & Co. wandered up on to Main Street, a prey to suspense. Some hours must pass ere they could hope to know the result of their young leader's mission at Porthampton.
We now find our young high school friends, just after the Fourth of July, at a very exciting point in their careers. As has been intimated, Harry Hazelton's and Dan Dalzell's parents had grown nervous about the canoeing sport, and had urged their sons not to enter the craft again. As Dick & Co. had always been companions in all forms of sport, the other four chums had promptly decided to sell the canoe, if possible, and to devote the proceeds to going off in the "real woods" to camp.
And now a probable customer at Porthampton had been found, and Dick had departed by train to see whether the sale could be effected.
"I've twenty cents left. Is there money enough in the crowd to buy five ice creams?" asked Tom Reade, displaying two dimes.
"I've a whole half dollar, though you won't believe it until you see it," laughed Dave Darrin.
"Then there's enough for cream," decided Tom.
"I'll put in my half, if you fellows say so," Dave went on. "But we may soon be in need of quite a bit of money. Wouldn't it be better to hold on to our fruit of the mint?"
"When we sell the canoe we'll have plenty of money," suggested Danny Grin.
"Very true, old Smilax," nodded Dave. "But what if Dick doesn't sell it?"
"Then we won't have plenty of money," responded Greg promptly.
"If Dick doesn't make a sale to the parties he has gone to see," Dave went on argumentatively, "we may want money to buy him a ticket to some other town. It won't be wise to spend our little capital until we see some more money coming in."
"That sounds like common sense," agreed Reade, dropping his dimes back into his pocket. "Still, I'm sorry that we're not rich enough to finance the ice cream proposition and still have enough capital left."
"So am I sorry," sighed Danny Grin. "This waiting for Dick Prescott to get back with the news is a wearing proposition."
"Come down to my house," suggested Dave. "I've got that catalogue from the tent and camping goods house. Let's go and look over the catalogue, and try to decide just what we want to buy for our camp when Dick gets the money for the canoe."
"That would be bully fun, if we really knew that Dick had sold the canoe," smiled young Holmes wistfully. "However, until we do know, I suggest that we avoid all false hopes and keep away from all catalogues."
At this instant Tom nudged Dave. Two men were passing, and one of them was saying to the other:
"Is he talking about real money?" grunted Darrin. "He can't be!"
"He is," Tom declared. "That's Buller, of Wrenville. He is a very successful man in real estate. Father knows him."
"Humph! Talking of thousands, when a few ten dollar bills would fix us for the summer," muttered Dave Darrin. "I wonder if men ever stop to think how it feels for a boy to go around broke."
"I spoke to my dad along those lines once," smiled Tom.
"What did he say?" asked Danny Grin.
"Oh, dad told me there was no objection whatever to my starting out and earning a lot of money. He explained that was how he had gotten his."
The other youngsters were smiling now, for, as was well known to them all, Mr. Reade wasn't credited with possessing a great deal of money.
"Well, are you fellows coming down to my place to look over the catalogue?" Dave proposed once more. "It'll help to kill time during our suspense."
Though they felt rather foolish about spending their dollars before they obtained them, the four high school boys turned to follow Darrin, when a voice behind them called:
"Oh, boys! Just a moment, please!"
"It's the man in the four-quart silk hat," Tom whispered, as the five chums baited and turned.
"Man?" echoed Darry, though also in a whisper. "Humph! Hibbert looks more like a boy who has run away from home with his father's wardrobe."
"I just wanted to ask you boys to do me something of a favor," Mr. Alonzo Hibbert went on.
"Name the favor, please," urged Tom with drawling gentleness.
"Can you tell me what shop that is over there?" inquired Mr. Hibbert, pointing, with a dapper cane, across the street.
"That is Anderson's Ice Cream Emporium," Tom answered gravely.
"Let's go over there," proposed Mr. Hibbert smiling, as he glanced from one face to another.
"That proposition was just before the house, and was voted down," Tom continued.
"What was the matter, boys?" demanded young Mr. Hibbert beamingly. "Didn't you have the price?"
"On the contrary, we had the price," Reade answered, as gravely as ever. "However, after discussion, we decided that we had other uses for our capital."
"But I haven't any other uses for my present capital," pursued Mr. Hibbert, as smiling as ever. "So come along, please."
Instead of jumping at the offer, Dick's partners regarded the man in the four-quart hat with some doubt. Often, when offered a courtesy from strangers that they would like to accept, these boys were likely to regard the offer with this same attitude of suspicion. It was not that Dick & Co. meant to be ungracious to strangers, but rather that their boyish experience with the world had taught them that such offers from strangers usually have strings attached to them.
"Don't you young men like ice cream?" asked Mr. Hibbert, looking fully as astonished as he felt.
"Certainly we do, Mr. Hibbert," Tom responded. "But what's the idea? What do you want us to do for you?"
"I ask you for the pleasure of your company," explained Mr. Hibbert. "I'm a stranger in this town, and I'd like a little company."
"'Afterwards'?" repeated Alonzo Hibbert looking puzzled.
"What do you want us to do for you by and by?" Tom asked.
"Oh, I see," replied Hibbert, laughing with keen enjoyment. "You think my invitation a bait for services that I expect presently to demand. Nothing of the sort, I assure you. All I want is someone to talk to for the next half hour. Won't you oblige me?"
"Mr. Hibbert," broke in Dave suddenly, "I've just happened to remember that there is a man in town who wants to talk with you. We met him at the station, and he inquired where he could find you."
"I think I know whom you mean," admitted Hibbert.
"We told him you were stopping at the Eagle Hotel," Greg added.
"Then, if the man who is looking for me went to the Eagle Hotel, he has already learned that I am elsewhere. It's his business to find me, not mine to run about town seeking him. He can find me as well in the ice cream shop as in any other place. Will you young men oblige me with your company?"
At a nod from Darrin the others fell in line. Mr. Hibbert led the way across the street, entering the shop, which proved to be empty of other customers.
As the waitress approached the two tables to take the orders for ice cream the host of the occasion turned to his guests.
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