“You don’t take this message seriously, do you?” asked Luke, and Ruth could see by the moonlight that he was smiling.
“Take it seriously? Of course I do, Luke. Hop Wong isn’t the kind of Chinese to play jokes; though when he first came here the boys played enough mean jokes on him. But he was patient. Of course, I take it seriously. Maybe some new boys have been annoying him—none of those who know him would bother him,” and Ruth started down the steps.
“Wait a minute!” counseled Luke, with a laugh. “I think this is one of Sammy’s tricks,” he whispered to the Corner House girl. “We’ll see if we can’t turn it on Sammy himself.”
But Ruth did not take this view of it, and instead of pretending to believe what Sammy had said, which was Luke’s intention, she at once “spilled the beans,” as Luke said afterward, by blurting out:
“Sammy, you’re not joking, are you?”
“Sure not, Ruth!”
“Does Hop Wong really want to see me?”
“Cross my heart he does!” and Sammy quickly performed this childish rite, than which there is no stronger confirmation.
“Did he say what he wanted?” demanded Luke. “And how did he come to send word by you, Sammy? Why didn’t he come to the front door, or even the back door, himself?”
“’Cause he was skairt, I guess,” was all Sammy could think of.