“I know what you can do, Fred,” and Andy suddenly grinned in spite of the pain he was enduring. “You can tell us the story of the ocean bottom.”
“Gee, that’s just what he can do!” burst out Randy.
“I’ll second the commotion on that!” came from Jack.
“Say, what in the name of striped cauliflower is all this talk about ‘ocean bottom’?” demanded Gif.
“Sounds to me as if somebody was going to stake out an underwater city,” came from Spouter. “Maybe Fred is going to sell town lots warranted free from malaria and mosquitoes with an extended view of coral highways and a beautifully enameled pool for whales.”
“Say, Spouter, I know what business you ought to go into,” cried Fred. “You ought to be a real estate agent. You’d make your fortune at it.”
“Never mind, Fred. Don’t try to switch us from the ocean bottom to real estate,” interrupted Jack. “If you want to make Andy feel better you just tell us about this secret you’ve been carrying on your shoulders so long.”
“All right. If I must, I must,” answered the youngest Rover in mock despair. “I’ll spin my little yarn after we’ve had supper and everything is tidied up.”
“Hurrah!” shouted Randy. “Here comes the first volume of Fred’s interesting series, entitled ‘Down on the Ocean Bottom; or, Looking for the Lost Suspenders.’”
“Say, Fred, if this is a lost treasure you should have told us about it before,” said Jack. “Then I could have picked out all of the savings banks in which I should want to place my part of the loot.”