"Do I?" drawled Harry dryly. "Maybe. And then when Dick made his run, pretty Dora Stanhope just put out her arms as if she wanted to hug— Whow!"
Harry Blossom's banter came to a sudden ending, for, as red in the face as his brother, Dick Rover reached forward and thrust a banana he was eating into the tormenter's half open mouth. Harry gulped once or twice, then the fruit disappeared as if by magic.
"All right, Dick, I accept the bribe and will henceforth be silent," he said solemnly, as soon as he could speak.
"That's right, tie up your tongue, unless you want to be lifted from the stage," said Tom.
"It's all right," put in Dave Kearney, another cadet. "Dora Stanhope and the Laning girls are nice folk and I don't blame anybody for being sweet on them."
"Yes, but you keep out of their cornfield, or you'll have all three of the Rovers after you," came from Harry warningly.
"What are we going to do to-night?" asked Dick abruptly, and in such a tone that the others felt the bantering must come to an end. "Is it feast, or fireworks, or both?"
"Make it both!" came in chorus from a dozen cadets. "Captain
Putnam is just in the humor to let us do anything to-night. And
Mr. Strong's in the same good humor. Let us make the best of it."
"All right; feast and fireworks it is," said Dick. "But both will cost money. Who'll pass around the hat?"
A groan went up, as is generally the case when an academy boy is asked to part with some of his spending money. But the groan counted for nothing, and the passing of the hat brought in over ten dollars.