“On the old ‘dump’ where the city ashes used to be deposited, one of the boys—Short and Long, I think it was, eh, Lance?”
“It was Billy,” said his chum, decidedly.
“I bet Billy was in it—if it meant mischief,” laughed Laura.
“Oh, the kid was innocent enough,” Chet declared. “He saw something shining on the ground and pointed it out. It really looked just like a lump of gold—didn’t it, Lance?”
“Something like. I didn’t know what it was.”
“Two or three of us handled it. But it took Pretty Sweet to turn the trick all proper. He slipped it in his hip pocket. You know, Pretty is just as stingy as he can be—a regular miser despite all his fine clothes. I expect he believed that shiny lump might be worth something. Maybe he was going to bring it down to father, to see if was sure enough gold,” laughed Chet.
“But what was it? What happened?” cried Jess.
“Why, nothing happened at first. Then, when we were half way back to town, somebody saw smoke spurting out behind Pretty Sweet as though he was an automobile. We yelled and went for him, rolled him in the street——”
“In all those good clothes!” interposed Lance between bursts of laughter.
“And we put the fire out. For he really was afire,” said Chet, when he got his voice again. “And he was burned some—so he said. He declared one of the fellows had played a trick on him—set him afire, you know.