“What’s too bad?”
“The professor can’t get here to-day.”
“Why not?”
“He has been taken sick and is at the hotel in New Haven.”
“That will be a big disappointment to this crowd.”
“I admit it, but it can’t be helped.”
The boy listened to the conversation with interest.
He pushed his way to where the man in charge of the balloon stood.
“I’ll go up in the balloon for you, if you’ll pay me,” he said.
“You!” the man looked at him in astonishment.