The new arrival was a short, exceedingly fat youth, with twinkling eyes and a pug nose. Bob and Joe had made his acquaintance while in South America on their Andes expedition and had taken a great liking to him.
“Just happened to be in Washington and thought I’d drop around and see you bozos,” Chubby explained. “We came by airplane. Left Houston last night.”
“Boy! Am I glad to see you!” said Bob. “Of course, you’re going to stay awhile, aren’t you?”
“Only till tomorrow,” the fat little fellow said. “Dad came here to see the President, I guess,” he said with a chuckle. “Things ain’t goin’ to suit him in his business. He’s awful hard to please, Dad is. If the dough ain’t rollin’ in to suit him he thinks there ought to be something done about it.”
“Same old Chubby,” said Bob with a laugh. “Are you sure you’re telling the truth?”
“Well—the fact is, he didn’t make it clear just what he came for. Anyway, he came. And I went with him.”
“Ever been to Washington before?” inquired Joe.
“Nope. I got to within a half a mile of here once. But just as we were about to hit the city limits, Dad turned off on another road.”
Bob and Joe laughed.
“Well, then,” began the latter, “suppose we spend the day looking around. We can see the city and go to the museum and take a look at the specimens we brought back from the Andes. That is, unless you’d rather do something else.”