“I say, boys, does it occur to you that we fellows have a splendid opportunity before us if we choose to accept it?”
“Are you meditating a jump overboard?” asked Irv, “or did you just now remember the great truth that fills my mind, namely, that there’s enough of that beef pie left to make a good midnight supper all round?”
“No, for once I’m serious, Irv,” said Phil, whose new habit of seriousness had grown upon him with increasing responsibility, until all the boys observed the change in him with wonder, not unmixed with amusement.
“All right, then,” said Irv; “go ahead. We’re ‘at attention.’”
“What is it, Phil?” asked Will Moreraud, seeing that Irv’s light chatter annoyed the boy, or at the least distracted his attention. “You’ve something worth while to say. So we’ll listen.”
Phil broke into the middle of his subject.
“Why shouldn’t we fellows all get a college education?” he asked.
“Our parents aren’t able to give it to us,” answered Constant.
“No, but we are able to get it for ourselves,” answered Phil. “That gentleman up there in Mississippi wanted to help us do it, but I refused that offer for the whole party.”
Then he reported the conversation he had had with the planter, and his comrades heartily approved his course in refusing assistance.