“Of course it seems easy when you know the answer,” said Bob, impatiently. “Shut up a few minutes and give us a chance to think, can’t you?”
“Oh, sure, take your time,” agreed Herb, and chuckled to himself as he saw them wrestling with the problem.
“Gee!” exclaimed Bob, at length. “I guess it’s too deep for me, Joe. Can you make anything out of it?”
“I hate to give it up, but I guess we’ll have to,” answered Joe. “What is it that sings and has four legs and flies through the air, Herb?”
“Why, two canary birds, of course,” chortled Herb, and gave a shout of laughter that brought Jimmy up to a sitting position with a look of alarm on his round face. As for Bob and Joe, they gazed blankly at each other for a few moments, then had to join in their friend’s laughter in spite of themselves.
“What’s the joke?” inquired Jimmy, suspiciously. “Is it that phoney riddle of Herb’s? I’ll bet any money there was a trick in it somewhere. It didn’t sound on the level when I first heard it.”
“You were wise to go to sleep, Doughnuts,” Joe assured him. “The next time I ever pay any attention to one of Herb’s jokes, I hope somebody comes along and shoots me. It would be no more than I’d deserve.”
“Don’t get sore just because you couldn’t guess it,” Herb adjured him. “I’ll try to think up a nice easy one next time—something that even you goofs can solve.”
Joe was about to make a withering reply when the driver of the car uttered a startled shout and gave the wheel a twist that almost threw the boys out in the road.