“Not to mention you and Nellie,” retorted his younger brother.
The three Rovers rode past the house and then stopped to rest under a wide-spreading tree. Some June apples were handy, and they munched on these until Songbird reappeared, about a quarter of an hour later.
“Say, it took more than two minutes to deliver that book,” remarked Dick. “We were just getting ready to go on without you.”
“Don’t forget we want some supper,” added Sam.
“I—er—I just stopped to point out several poems of special interest,” explained Songbird. “One was on ‘Her Eyes So Blue and True.’ It’s a grand poem, and——”
“Let me see, Miss Sanderson’s eyes are blue, aren’t they?” questioned Sam, gravely.
“I wasn’t speaking of her eyes—I meant the poem’s—that is—those spoken of in the poem,” stammered Songbird. “By the way,” he added, hastily, to hide his confusion, “I just heard strange news. Minnie and her father were down in Ashton a couple of days ago and they saw Dudd Flockley at the depot, and he was talking with Jerry Koswell and Bart Larkspur.”
“Koswell and Larkspur!” exclaimed Dick. “I didn’t think they would dare to show themselves around here.”
“Just what I thought, but Mr. Sanderson and Minnie were both sure they saw the pair. They were talking very earnestly to Flockley, as if trying to get him to do something, and Minnie says Flockley said, ‘I’ll see about it—maybe I can go.’”
“Humph! Flockley promised that he would drop Koswell and Larkspur,” said Sam.