“Mouse came near being a dead cat this afternoon, though,” said Louis. “I had my trunk all shut and locked once; but I heard a dismal, lonesome little noise inside, so I suspected something was wrong, and went on an exploring expedition. There was Mouse, carefully put to bed in the deepest box of my trunk-tray, on top of all my collars and cuffs. Gyp had stowed her away in there and forgotten all about her, till I rooted her out. She was so distressed, that I gave her that little old lambswool rug of mine, and sent her off home, to put Mouse to bed.”
“Mouse is getting old,” remarked Alex; “and I’m afraid that, if we come back here next June, there won’t be any Mouse to welcome us.”
“She ought to be perfect through suffering, long before this,” said Leon. “With the best intentions in life, Gyp has tormented the very hair off her head. I don’t know what she will do, when Mouse dies.”
“Do you know,” said Paul reflectively; “I believe this has been the jolliest year we have had. I shouldn’t have been half so sorry to leave Flemming, a year ago, as I am now. We nine boys have had uncommonly good times together.”
“Especially after the football game,” suggested Leon maliciously.
“You did get rather the worst of that, Leon; but then, you did by far the best work on our side, and I’d be content to make such a record as you did, on almost any terms,” said Jack admiringly. “But do any of you lads know what Bony is going to do, next year?”
“I’m afraid he’s getting ready to leave,” said Max regretfully. “I’m no end sorry, for now I know him, I like him. He’s a good man, through and through, and it will be a long time before we get anybody to fill his place.”
“That’s true,” assented Louis; “but it took us long enough to discover it.”
“I told you, in the first place, he was like an olive,” retorted Max. “He’s puckery, the first you get of him; but if you keep at him, you’ll want more and more. I do wish he’d stay another year, to finish us off.”
Just as he spoke, the boys caught sight of two figures coming up the hill from the doctor’s house.