“Hum—James Brown and John Black,” mused Jerry as he looked at the signatures. “Couldn’t be any more common names than those I guess.”
“Where are they from?” asked Bob, for Jerry had registered for his two chums.
“It might be almost any place,” was the answer, “for it’s such a scrawl that I can’t read it. Brown and Black; eh? Well, they’re both dark complexioned enough to be called ‘black.’ However let’s go in to dinner. I hope we don’t sit anywhere near them. It would spoil my appetite to be stared at the way they have been looking at us.”
“It’ll take a good deal to spoil my appetite,” observed the stout lad with a heart-felt sigh.
The fears of our heroes were groundless, for they were seated well away from the two odd men, and they managed to do ample justice to the meal.
[CHAPTER II]
WARNED AWAY
“Well,” observed Bob, after an eloquent silence, during which knives and forks had been industriously plied. “Now I’m ready to talk business. When do you think we can go to that meet, Jerry?”
“As soon as we like, or, rather, as soon as it opens, which isn’t for two weeks.”