"Why, who could this wonderful person have been? I didn't know there was such a famous man stopping in Camden at present. Was it the governor of the State?"
"Naw! Somebody bigger'n him!"
"A United States Senator, perhaps?"
"Senators ain't in it with this feller!"
"Really! You surprise and interest me. It could not have been the President of the United States?"
"Bigger feller than the Prince of Wales! Oh, if I could grow up to be like him!"
"Now I am astounded!" exclaimed the gentleman. "Who can this wonderful person be? Won't you tell me his name?"
"His name is Frank Merriwell, and he is a lollypolooser! He's the most wonderful feller living in the whole world."
"Frank Merriwell?" repeated the gentleman, in perplexity. "It's strange I never heard of him. What has he ever done?"
"Done?" cried the boy, excitedly and enthusiastically. "What ain't he done? He's traveled round the world, shot panthers and Greasers in South America, gorillas in Africa, tigers in India, elephants in Ceylon, and bears and other critters out West in this country. Done? Why, he made a bicycle trip across the country from New York to San Francisco, and he licked everybody that tried to bother him on the way. Done? Mister, he goes to Yale College, and he is the greatest football player in the world! He pitches on the Yale nine, and he wiped up the earth with Harvard and Princeton this spring. Done? If there's a thing that feller ain't done an' can't do, I want ter know it!"