“How did you get them to stop?” asked the doctor, with some interest. “Persuade them?”
“Well, no, sir,” answered Bobby slowly. “You couldn’t exactly say that we persuaded them. We—we had to use a little force.”
The doctor’s keen eyes twinkled.
“This grows interesting,” he remarked. “I am really curious to know what kind of force you boys used to drive away nearly half a dozen robbers who were almost the size of men.”
“If you please, doctor,” ventured Fred, who had been growing restive at what he regarded as the undue modesty of his chum, “any of the other boys can tell you about it better than Bobby, because he’s the one that about did the whole thing and he doesn’t like to say so.”
Bobby blushed and the doctor laughed.
“I suspected as much,” he said. “Well, then, Martin, suppose you go ahead and tell me all the facts.”
“Well, sir,” replied Fred, “we saw the fellows robbing the tree and we climbed over the fence and went over to them and Bobby told them to stop. The man who seemed to be the leader made a rush, and Bobby dived for his legs and tumbled him to the ground. Then Bobby told Pee Wee—I mean Wise—to sit on him and hold him down and Pee Wee—I mean Wise—did it. Then the man who had been driving the auto came for Bobby with a rock in his hand, and Bobby took the baseball we’d been practicing with out of his pocket and let him have it right in the bread basket—I mean in the stomach—and the man went down. Then Bobby got back the ball and told the other four to beat it—I mean told them to go away—or he’d soak—I mean hit—them in the same way. They saw that their goose was cooked—I mean they saw it was no use—and they flew the coop—I mean they went away. But they shook their fists and told Bobby a whole lot of things they were going to do to him if they ever got hold of him.”
The doctor sat back in his chair and laughed heartily.
“Well, well,” he remarked, while Bobby got red to his ears, “that’s the best story I’ve heard for many a long day. And it seems to have Bobby scattered all through it.”