They were making such a commotion, splashing his dignitary up and down, that it was all I could do to make myself heard. I rushed up to Pete, grabbed him by the arm and hollered in his ear, “Cheese it, you big boob! It’s Obadiah!”
Just then one of the fellows caught sight of Obadiah’s double-lensed goggles which had sloshed over the side of the trough and he let out a whoop like he was shot in ten places at once.
“Great razzberries!” exclaimed Pete, his eyes sticking out of his head. “Beat it, guys!”
The fellows didn’t wait to help Obadiah out ... they just jerked him to a sitting position in the trough and left him sputtering and gasping and blowing water like the cross between a garden spray and a whale with two spouts.
I was too stunned to move ... and when I did begin to think of locomotion I heard some new noises around me and saw some other black forms come dashing across the alley. Then it dawned on me like a flash. Eddie had outwitted us again. He’d seen through my invitation somehow. He’d tipped off the Freshies and they had waited, in hiding, figuring on catching us Sophs flat-footed at the trough. But they’d not counted on unforeseen circumstances any more than we had ... so they were a little late in arriving.
Right here’s one time where I used my head for something besides growing a hair on. I didn’t have a second to lose. The Freshies were almost on me. I gritted my teeth and ran up the steps and plunged into the watering trough beside Obadiah.
Cold? Oh, boy! Cold? The minute I hit the water it felt like my backbone was one long icicle ... and when I rolled over and sat up I thought I had about a hundred sets of teeth. Poor old Obadiah! He hardly seemed to know what was going on except that he was holding down half the country of Greenland and had a chunk of the North pole in one hand.
“Now we’ve got you!” someone cried, close to my ear.
Hands reached in and grabbed Obadiah and me, dragging us out of the trough like a couple of wet meal bags. Obadiah was as limp as a wet bathing suit. His arms and legs were all tangled up and he was doubled into a knot so’s not to expose any more of his anatomy than he could help. I wasn’t exactly comfortable myself. If it hadn’t been so dark I’ll bet you could have seen steam coming off our clothes.