“Good idea,” Mac approved. “There are a couple of places where we’ll have to leave the ice and hike.”
“I know that,” Barry acknowledged. “But we can skate most of the way. How much of the story did Pearl tell you?”
They stood under the street light in a group, and the Ford boys told what they had learned. Pearl knew most of the events that had taken place at Bluff Lodge, and with only a few details Barry completed the story. All the boys were now more eager than ever before to go.
“Let’s keep the mystery part a secret,” Kent urged. “We’ll simply give out the information that we are going on a Christmas-vacation camping trip. That is partly true and is as much as anyone else needs to know.”
“Do you think we’ll run afoul of Wolf and his bunch?” Tim asked.
“I hardly think so,” was Barry’s reply. “We won’t let them worry us if we do see them. Well, I want to get on home and do a little studying. Are you twins through with yours?”
It developed that the twins had simply gone out for a walk after their evening meal and had dropped in first at Kent’s and then at Barry’s home. It was the custom of the four boys to stroll some after supper and then buckle down to their studies. They all made fair grades in school, and Kent was the outstanding one among them.
“Are you fellows going to win that soccer game against Berkley?” Kent asked the Fords, as they lingered for a moment in front of Barry’s door. His question immediately plunged them into a discussion concerning the soccer game, now only two days off. Tim and Mac were on the team, but Kent and Barry had cast in their lots with the gymnasium group.
They finally separated, somewhat reluctant to split up, as they were devoted friends, and the study table was less to be desired than their companionship. But as Mac expressed it, “all good things have to come to an end, even a plate of ice cream!” and with that the soccer players started off on a sprint around the corner, while Barry and Kent went to their front doors with less forceful energy.
Two days later Cloverfield went to Berkley to play soccer. The team had gone down earlier in the day in a big bus, and the rooters followed in cars and on the train. Barry and Kent decided to go by rail, as it was a short trip and not too expensive, so they caught the proper train and were soon in the small town and on their way to the athletic field.