"Now you just listen," pursued Shadow. "A young married lady went and bought a barrel of best flour——"
"Four X or Not At Home brand?" questioned Buster, innocently.
"If you interrupt me I'll throw the soap at you, Buster. This was a barrel of guaranteed flour. Two days later she came back to the grocer with a very indignant look on her face. 'That flour is no good,' says she to Mr. Grocer. 'Why not?' says the grocer. 'Because it is tough,' says the lady. 'I made doughnuts with it yesterday and my husband thought they were paperweights!'"
"No well-bred lady would say that," came softly from Dave.
"O my! what a pun!" cried Roger. "Well, she wasn't well-bred, she was poor-bread." And then a general laugh went up.
It was indeed cold, with the sun hiding behind a gray sky and a keen north wind blowing. When they went below they ran into Babcock, who had been down to the river.
"The ice is coming along finely," said Babcock. "I think we'll be able to skate by to-morrow."
All the boys hoped so, and as soon as they could went down to the river to look at the ice. It was moderately firm and some lads were already sliding on a stretch of meadow. But Dr. Clay would not let them go on the river proper until it was safe.
That day the master of Oak Hall sent out Andrew Dale and Swingly the janitor to look for Nick Jasniff. But the search proved of no avail. Wherever the student was, he managed to cover up his tracks completely.
By Monday of the following week skating was at its best, and many hours were spent by Dave and the others on the ice. They skated for miles, and also had half a dozen races, including one between Dave, Roger, and Messmer, in which the two chums came out even, with Messmer not far behind.