“What good will it do them to come here?” inquired Mr. Colson. “The dinner is gone—there is no two ways about that.”
“That remains to be seen,” answered Blake. “They’ve got a pretty sharp fellow at their head——”
“I should say so,” exclaimed Mr. Colson. “Who is he, anyhow? I am sorry he stole your dinner, but I must say I admire the skill he showed in doing it.”
“The idea originated with Lester Brigham, a Mississippi boy,” replied Blake. “He is the same fellow who got up the scheme for running off with Mr. Packard’s schooner last term. But Enoch Williams managed that expedition, and I am of the opinion that he is furnishing the brains for this one. Now let’s talk business. Do you suppose I could charter a locomotive and two cars at the transfer-depot?”
“What do you want to do with them?”
“I am going after that dinner. There were a score or more of academy boys visiting here in town when those pirates marched through the streets with our band and our flags, and I don’t see why they didn’t do something about it.”
“What in the world could they have done?” asked White. “They could not have stopped them even if they had wanted to, and they had no excuse for calling upon the officers of the law for help. Besides, how do you know but that every one of the twenty boys who are visiting here are not in sympathy with them? Endicott and two other boys that we know of have gone to Bordentown with Lester and his crowd, and what reason have we to think that they are the only Hamilton boys who are in the plot?”
Blake began to look sober now. These words opened his eyes to the fact that he had set himself no easy task when he resolved to capture that dinner. Still the attempt must be made—that much was settled—and if it failed, what could the class say to the guests who had come so far, in response to their invitation? This question made him so nervous and excited that he could scarcely keep his seat.
CHAPTER XII.
“FALL IN FOR DINNER!”
“What will the superintendent do with those boys for stealing your dinner?” asked Mr. Colson, after a little pause.