“I hope you did,” put in Fred with a grin.
Billy looked scornfully at his would-be-tormentors.
“I don’t have to depend on any joke book,” he replied loftily. “I get the best things I spring on you dubs right out of here,” and he touched his forehead.
“How can you?” queried Sparrow. “Mr. Leith was telling us the other day that you couldn’t get anything out of a vacuum because there wasn’t anything in it.”
Billy favored him with a stony stare.
“Just to prove to you that you’re wrong,” he said, “I’ll ask you fellows a simple question, and I’m willing to bet that none of you can answer it. That’ll show where the vacuums are.”
There was no immediate acceptance of the challenge, and the scorn in Billy’s eyes became more pronounced.
“Just as I thought,” he announced. “Every one of you has rooms to let in his upper story.”
“Oh, well,” remarked Mouser, stung into acceptance, “we’ve stood so many of Billy’s jokes that one more won’t count. Go ahead, Billy, and get it off your chest.”
The invitation was none too cordial, but Billy pounced on it.