“Dinner!” exclaimed Mr. Brill. “Why it’s long past noon. Besides we had a snack on the train—me and Jim.”
“We call supper dinner here,” explained Jerry, with a laugh. “There’s no sense in it, as far as I can see, but we always have dinner at night.”
“And breakfast at noon?” asked Mr. Brill.
“No, that goes by its regular name, but the noon meal is lunch, here in the East.”
“I don’t care what they call ’em, as long as there’s something to eat,” said Bob, with a sigh, at which they all laughed.
Mrs. Hopkins came in, and soon made the two miners feel at home. They were shown to their rooms, and the professor to his.
“Well, Jerry, what is it this time?” asked his mother, with a smile.
“Sixty nuggets of gold, and some luminous snakes!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, what boys!” cried Mrs. Hopkins. “There, I’m not going to listen to a thing about it now. I’ve got to see about dinner.”
“Then we’ll talk it over at the table,” proposed Jerry, as his mother hurried away to look to the comfort of her unexpected guests. “For we’re bound to go.”