"Huh!" exploded Pudge. "How'd you know?"
"I heard about this crowd coming here, in town before we started," confessed the leader of the camping party.
"Say! An' you never told us!" Kirby complained.
"Because that Rex Kingdon and his crew were coming is why I suggested Storm Island. Say, Kirby! don't you remember that slim, slick, blond chap who played with the Ridgewood High only a couple of years ago when they beat our nine so badly? I haven't forgotten him, if you fellows have. That's Rex Kingdon, and I've had it in for him ever since they gave us such a walloping. Kingdon and I had words after the game, too—some!"
"Why didn't you lick him then, and get it over with?" scoffed Ben Comas.
"He got out o' town with his crowd, that's why," Pence responded rather more earnestly than was his wont.
"And did Kingdon go to this Walcott Hall School?" asked Kirby.
Horace nodded. He was not much of a talker and, if he could convey his meaning without speech, he seldom troubled to open his lips. He felt as though he had been actually garrulous in speaking of Rex Kingdon.
"I know who you mean," Pudge said; "he's catching for the Walcott nine. And he's a bear at football, too. Played on the Hall 'leven against Winchester last fall I tell you. And, say, Horrors!"
The tall youth looked at him questioningly, and the fat boy continued: