“That reminds me that I haven’t had anything to eat in about two hours,” said Rube, with a grin, “and that it is about time we met at the festive board.”
“But how are you going to get a meal cooked in the middle of the forenoon?” asked Buck. “It strikes me that the cooks will be busy at this time. Better wait until noon.”
“Not much,” laughed Alex, with a prodigious wrinkling of his nose. “Not when I’ve got a man back of me that stands six feet and a half in his stocking feet!”
“Go to it,” said Clay, with a grin. “If this thing keeps on you’ll swell up and burst.”
“I guess I’ll take a chance on bursting myself,” announced Jule. “Two bust-ups won’t make any more noise than one, and no more mess, either.” The three started away toward the tavern, while the others set out to walk to the motor boat, which was some distance away.
“Tell you what I think,” Buck observed, as they passed a clothing store where about everything was sold from handkerchiefs to threshing machines, “you boys have been walking the street undressed about long enough. I’ll buy you good suits if you’ll come inside. You won’t make any hit with the natives by going around in that rig.”
Clay looked down at his scanty apparel and laughed. The suit did look inappropriate for use on the street.
“All right,” said the boy. “If you want to take chances on losing your investment, go ahead.”
“How do you know that you’ll ever get the money back?” asked Case. “Perhaps we only borrowed the Rambler and turned it over to the owners here.”
“You didn’t borrow the faces you have, did you?” answered Buck, with a smile. “If you ever set out to be robbers, you’ve got to get new faces.”