"Can we start as soon as it is dark?" Artie wanted to know.
"We want to start early, because we have to go to bed early," declared Polly. "Mother says we want to get a good early start in the morning."
Margy gave a wriggle of pure delight.
"Isn't it fun!" she sighed. "We have fireworks to-night and in the morning we are going to Sunrise Beach and this minute we're going to have ice-cream!"
They all laughed at her summing up, but the red, white and blue ice-cream was hailed with a cheer.
It obligingly grew dark as rapidly as possible, and it was decided that the Larue lawn was the best for the fireworks. The mothers were to be the guests of honor and sit on the porch while the three fathers and the children would set off the contents of Mr. Kirby's package.
"There goes a Roman candle!" cried Ward, as one shot up from the dark tree tops that enclosed the Pepper yard.
There was a great hubbub of laughter and talk from the Pepper side porch, where the fourteen members of the Conundrum Club were gathered. They did not seem to be agreeing either, for several voices were arguing loudly that "it's my turn"—"you've had yours"—"you said it was my turn next."
But the Riddle Club forgot to listen when they began their own entertainment. Only one package of the many arranged neatly in the large box Mr. Kirby had sent was labeled. This bore a small card which said, "Set this off when everything else is gone."
"What do you suppose it can be?" the curious Margy speculated, holding it up to her ear and shaking it as if she hoped to detect it by this action.