"'We have met the enemy and they are ours!'" he quoted.
A snowball from the opposite fort struck him on the ear and he sat down abruptly.
Then the fight began in earnest. It was not until Chet had personally led his warriors out of their fortress and across the no man's land between to win a glorious victory over the other army and had personally washed the face of the marksman who had ruined his triumphant cheers that peace was restored. Then, the forts having been demolished, the bobsleds were pressed into service again, and the hill rang with shouts and laughter until nightfall. For Officer Con Riley made it his business to attend to duties downtown for the rest of the day.
CHAPTER VI
A Message from Montana
When the Hardy boys returned home that night after their afternoon's fun and sat down to an ample hot dinner of steak and onions, with mashed potatoes, thick gravy "and all the trimmings," as Jadbury Wilson expressed it, they found that the old miner had won a firm place in the household. He was able to be up and around again, although he hobbled painfully about, but his tales of the early days in the mining country of the West had won the interest of the women.
Mrs. Hardy was particularly interested when he talked of Montana, because of the fact that her husband was in that particular state at the time.
As for Aunt Gertrude, she was in a constant condition of solicitous excitement seeing that the old man was comfortable. And comfortable he was. It was a treat to see him relax in an easy chair after dinner, puffing contentedly at the pipe that he never allowed out of his sight.
In the evening Frank and Joe besought him to tell again the story of how he had been so basely cheated of his fortune in the West, and the women listened entranced to the strange tale.