Stacy stood up.
"What are you going to favor us with?" questioned Tad.
"It's a little thing of my own," grinned Stacy. "Hope you'll like it."
"Oh, we'll like it all right," chuckled Ned. "The audience will please refrain from applauding until the performer finishes."
"What's the name of the piece?" demanded Walter.
"Hasn't been named. You can name it if you wish."
"Go ahead, go ahead. Never mind the name," chorused the lads.
Stacy surveyed the upturned, laughing faces of his companions and then launched out in a shrill soprano:
It's all day long on the alka-li,
Where the coyotes howl and the wells run dry,
Where the badgers badge in the water holes,
And the twisters twist the old tent poles—
Right up from the alka-li.
"Yeow!" shrieked the Pony Rider Boys.