Dick appeared to hesitate. The boys around him, highly curious, thought he was debating within himself whether or not to give the desired information.
"Come, get swift," desired Spoff Henderson.
"See here, fellows, I'll tell you what I'll do," proposed Dick at last.
"You'll tell us what the man on the clubhouse steps said," broke in Toby Ross.
"Yes," Dick agreed; "but you'll have to let me do so on my own conditions and in my own way. You see this diploma?" holding it up. "I've been working hard for eight years to win this document. Now I'm going to hurry home and put this in a place of safety. After that I'll put on my everyday clothes, and then I'll meet you at the usual corner on Main Street at five o'clock. If any of you fellows really want to know, then, what the man on the clubhouse steps said, I'll tell you."
"You won't postpone telling us, and you won't try to crawl out of it?" pressed Dave Darrin.
"On my honor, I won't," Dick promised.
"On your honor, you won't tell us what the man on the clubhouse steps said?" demanded Tom Reade suspiciously.
"On my honor, I won't try to dodge out of it, or postpone it a minute beyond five o'clock. On my honor I'll tell you, at five o'clock, to-day, what the man on the clubhouse steps said."
"Good!" cried many voices.