"I admit Billy is some little ball player," agreed another boy. "But it looks bad, his running away."
"What would you have done?" flashed out Dora Lockwood, for the twins had become strong partisans of the absent Billy since talking with Alice Long, "if that store detective had come and bullied you?"
"Put him through the third degree, did he?"
"Yes. And scared him by all sorts of threats. And then, everybody around the neighborhood got hold of it, and said that Billy was just the boy to do such a thing," Dorothy broke in.
"He was up to all sorts of mischief," Nellie Agnew observed.
"Never did a mean thing in his life, Billy didn't," declared Chet.
"Come on ashore," said Lance, he and Otto Sitz pulling their heavy boat in to a sloping landing. "No use gassing here about that old boat. We can't raise it. But I'll tell Mr. Norman where it is when I go back."
"You're very right, Lance," said Purt Sweet. "It's time to have the luncheon—don't you think? I'm getting howwibly hungry, dontcher know?"
"To see you eat strawberries up at Eve's house last Monday, I thought you would never be hungry again—if you recovered," laughed Jess.
"Aw—now—Miss Josephine—weally, you know," gasped the dude. "You are too, too cwuel!"