“What, those spooneys!” exclaimed Ross, who was very much surprised. “I believe I would rather stay here than go with them. I thought you didn’t like them.”
“Neither do I; but our fellows are pretty well strapped, and, as I said, Smith and Wheeler have money. We shall be in their company only about an hour and a half, and you surely can stand it for that length of time.”
“We won’t run any risk of missing the train, will we?”
“Oh, no. I have a watch.”
Smith and Wheeler came up at this moment, and when Lester proposed that they four should club together and hire a team to take them out to the Big Tree, they consented at once. The four boys then strolled slowly toward the livery stable, which they reached shortly before noon. When Lester told the proprietor that he and his companions wanted a double team for an hour and a half, the man did not seem to be in any hurry to order it out.
“Have you got the money to pay for it?” he demanded.
“Of course we have,” answered Lester, indignantly. “Did I ever order a team of you without paying for it?”
“No, you never did; but last week some of your boys ordered a rig for Saturday afternoon, and told me to be sure and keep it for them, and they would take it, rain or shine. I could have let that team a dozen times. When Saturday came it rained, and the boys didn’t show up; consequently I lost my money.”
“We are perfectly willing to pay you in advance,” said Ross.
“More than that,” continued the livery stable man, “I’ve had students come here, order a rig out of pure meanness, and slip out while I was hitching up; and I have said that no academy boy should ever draw a rein over one of my horses again. Will you take the team if I bring it out?”