"I wish I were a boy," sighed Callie Shaw.
Iola Morton looked up from her ice-cream soda.
"Me, too."
"It's tough luck that you're not," said Joe Hardy. "We'd like to have you along on the trip with us."
"Boys have all the luck. Girls have to stay at home."
The Hardy boys, Chet Morton, and Biff Hooper were celebrating their departure by treating Callie Shaw and Iola Morton—and incidentally, themselves—to ice-cream at the Bon Ton Confectionery Shop. Iola, a plump, dark girl, was Chet's sister, and fully as fun-loving as her brother. Of all the girls at Bayport High she was the special favorite of Joe, as Callie Shaw, brown-haired and brown-eyed, was above all other girls in Frank's opinion.
"This one is my treat," Joe announced. "Another soda won't hurt any one."
It was a warm afternoon and the others promptly accepted. Six tall, frosted glasses of soda, pink and white and orange in color, were placed before them and imbibed with many gurgles of satisfaction.
"Well, sis," remarked Chet, "I don't know but that I'd trade places with you."
"Yes, you would!" said Iola ironically. "You wouldn't give up that trip for a million dollars."