"Gosh!" exclaimed Herb, wiping tears of merriment from his eyes. "I'll never forget this night if I live to be a hundred. Oh, my, but that was rich!"
"Those fellows will learn after a while that it doesn't pay to get gay with this bunch," said Joe. "I think we let them off easy for stealing Doughnuts' outfit, as it is. We might have landed them a few swift ones while we were there."
"They saved us even that trouble," Bob pointed out. "They were punching each other hard enough to suit any one."
"That's right," said Joe, laughing. "I guess by this time they're sorry they stole that set."
"I'm mighty grateful to you fellows for helping me get this back," said Jimmy, looking lovingly at his set, which had escaped with hardly a scratch. "When I found it was gone, I pretty nearly gave it up for lost."
"'One for all and all for one,'" quoted Bob. "We'll teach Buck Looker and his set to let us alone, if it's possible to teach them anything. But I suppose we might as well run along now, because it's getting pretty late."
"I happen to know that there's a big pan of rice pudding in the ice box," said Jimmy. "It may be late, but it's never too late for that, is it?"
"Lead us to it!" the other three chanted in unison, and in a short time the rice pudding was only a memory. Then the boys said good-night and parted, each to his own home, well satisfied with the result of their adventure.
Bob and Joe were walking down Main Street the next day, when they met
Buck Looker and Carl Lutz, both looking very much the worse for wear.
Joe stopped and gazed at them in apparent astonishment.