"Quarter after four," said Roger, consulting his watch. "Bert, we can take you around the lake with ease before we start for home."
"Yes, and you can have dinner with us, too, before you go," was the reply. "Now don't say 'No', for father and mother expect it, and so do I."
"All right, then, we'll stay," answered Roger, after a look at Dave and Phil. "We can start for home about eight o'clock, or half-past."
The boys walked back to the hotel shed and got out the touring-car. Bert took the vacant seat beside Roger, and away the party bowled over the highway that ran around Lake Sargola.
"I wish we had a car," said Bert. "But dad won't get one, because, last summer, a friend of his was killed in an automobile accident."
"Well, that's enough to take the nerve out of any one," was Dave's answer.
The car rolled on, and Bert asked about the doings of the boys at Oak Hall, and told of life at the technical training school which he attended. They had almost circled the lake when Roger slowed down.
"What do you say to a trip to the top of Sugar Hill?" he asked.
"Sugar Hill?" cried Bert. "Can you go up that hill with this car?"
"Sure!" was Roger's prompt reply. "It's pretty steep, I know, but I'm sure I can make it."