“Why, what was he doin’?” Josiah asked.
“Nothin’, only kinder lookin’ as if he was tryin’ some mischief. He acted too sweet, that’s what’s the matter with him; an’ when Sim gets on such a face you wanter watch out for him.”
“Do you s’pose the other fellers will catch him?” Josiah asked.
“Course they will! I’d agree to set up all night rather’n lose the chance of payin’ him off for what he’s done,” and Bob shook his fist in impotent rage toward that point where the thieves had last been seen.
Then the hosts returned, each carrying a parcel, and once more the locker was covered with a varied collection of dainties.
“There!” Bill said, when he had arranged the provision on the impromptu table to his entire satisfaction. “We won’t leave this place agin with so much stuff spread out, if every feller in Jersey jumps on the deck. They sha’n’t fool us twice in the same way. I reckon Sim was mad ’cause we didn’t invite him to chip in with us, an’ that’s why he got away with the dinner.”
There was no delay in beginning the feast after it had been made ready.
Bill invited the guests to commence, by saying, with a majestic wave of his hand toward the locker:—
“Pitch right in, fellers, an’ fill yourselves up. This ain’t no twenty-five cent chowder at Coney Island; but I’ll bet you’ll feel a good deal better when you get through with it than we did down there yesterday.”
During the next fifteen minutes but little conversation was indulged in, for every boy seemed to think it his solemn duty to eat as fast and as much as possible.