"I wish you fellows would leave me out of it," rejoined the bully's timid chum.
"Like they left you out of their patrol, eh?" sneered Bill, knowing that he was touching the other on a tender spot.
"All right, to-morrow night suits me," snapped Sam, flushing angrily at Bill's remark—as that worthy had intended he should. "Here's my house. We'll meet at Bill's 'boudoir."'
"Right you are," chuckled Jack. "Oh, say, it's going to be the joke of the century!"
CHAPTER IV
SAM IN DIRE STRAITS
"Kree-ee-ee!"
Merritt paused the next morning in front of Tubby's home, and gave the "call" of the Eagle Patrol with a not uncreditable resemblance to the scream of a real eagle.
The cry was instantly echoed—though in a rather thicker way—from inside the house, and in a minute Tubby, who knew that some one of the patrol must have uttered the call, appeared at his door, munching a large slice of bread and jam, although it was not more than an hour since breakfast.