“Oh, Shadow, why this infliction!”
“Have we really got to listen?”
“How much will you pay us if we keep still until you have finished?”
“Yes, you’ve got to listen, and I won’t pay you a cent for it, either,” retorted the would-be story-teller. “This is a short one. A man had a fruit-tree in his garden, and he told a friend of his that he got three kinds of fruit from it. His friend didn’t believe it, so he told his friend: ‘Why, it was dead easy. I went out in the garden to pick an apple. I picked one, and then I picked a pair. One was no good, but another was a peach.’”
“Wow! listen to that!”
“Shadow must have had a peach of a time getting up that story,” commented Luke, evidently feeling himself justified.
“Good thing there are not a pair of them,” came from Dave.
“Such stories are the fruits of idleness,” was added by Buster, solemnly.
“Oh, don’t you poke fun at that joke,” retorted 196 Shadow. “It’s a good deal better than any you could get up.”
Dave learned that Luke Watson’s folks were now living in New York City, and that Luke had invited Buster and Shadow to spend a week with him.