"You don't expect us to eat all this do you, Mrs. Claxton?" asked George with a grin.
"I certainly expect you to do your share," laughed Mrs. Claxton, "and I shall feel bad if you don't."
"Well, rather than make you feel bad, we'll do our very best," said Sammy.
"Mother said we were to mind you and do just what you said," smiled Frank, "so I guess we'd better start right in now."
Starting in was easy enough. It was when it came to finishing that the boys found it hard. Everything tasted so good that they hated to stop, and Mrs. Claxton beamed with pleasure as she saw the inroads they made upon the meal.
But the best of things must come to an end and the boys at last reached the limit of their capacity. And to any one who knew these four boys that meant a great deal.
"Huh," grunted Sammy, "I don't believe I ever ate so much in all my life before."
"Same here," echoed Bob. "I'd be like the fat boy in the circus if I lived out here all the time."
The table had been waited on by Tom Lee, a Chinese servant who had been with the Claxtons for a long time. He was a short, fat Chinaman with a face that was like a mask. He glanced out of his almond-shaped eyes at the boys every once in a while, but there was no expression in his glance. He walked as softly as a cat as he went to and fro.
The boys had not seen many Chinamen. There was no Chinese laundry in Fairview and they had only caught a glimpse of a Chinaman once in a while in other places. His dress and ways were a novelty to them, and now that their appetites were satisfied they watched him with a great deal of interest as he moved about clearing the table.