Anxious now to don his new suit he reached down in the wagon to take up the bundle, when to his horror he could not find it!
It had been jostled out of the wagon and was gone!
In the midst of this startling plight the sound of carriage wheels behind him caught his attention. Glancing wildly backward, he found that he was being followed by the last persons on earth that he would care to meet at that time—Pluto Snyder and Lucy Howlitt!
CHAPTER XXII.
A FOURTH OF JULY “ORATION.”
It would be impossible to describe the dismay of Larry Little as he found that he was followed by Pluto Snyder and Lucy Howlitt, who was laughing and apparently enjoying herself.
Fortunately for Larry, he had prudently ducked down behind the wagon seat at the same moment he had looked around at the sound of the approaching team.
What could he do in that sorry plight?
He cried out to Old Jerry, but he knew the clumsy farm horse would prove no match for the spirited animal driven by his rival.
As if to add to his horror, the latter was driving at a smart gait, and he was rapidly overtaking him.
In vain he urged Old Jerry on.