“Maybe Nat put the hole there,” returned the senator’s son.
“Why would he do that?” questioned Phil.
“So that nobody would know what the name of the sanitarium really was. I believe with Dave that Nat knows the man, or knows about him, and is trying to keep something a secret.”
“Hum! Maybe you are right,” mused the shipowner’s son.
Phil had perfected all his arrangements for his spread at the hotel, and his guests for that 138 occasion had been duly invited and all had accepted the invitation. It had been arranged with Mr. Dale that the boys should drive to the hotel in the school carryall, and Horsehair was to have his supper in town and, later on, bring them home. No secret was made of the affair, for this was not necessary.
“I am only sorry for one thing,” said Phil to Dave. “That is that I can’t have the whole school there. But that would go beyond my purse.”
“Well, you’ll have enough, Phil, to insure a good time,” answered our hero.
The night was clear, with numberless stars glittering in the heavens, when the carryall drove around to the Hall door and the boys piled in. All were in the best of humor, and they left the campus in a burst of song.
“I’ve been saving up for this!” cried Ben. “Haven’t eaten a mouthful for two days!”
“Say, that puts me in mind of a story,” cried Shadow. “Once a poor street-boy was invited to a Sunday-school picnic. The ladies fed him all he could hold and then some. At last, when he couldn’t eat another mouthful, and saw some cake and pie and ice-cream going to waste, what do you suppose he said?”