“It’s young Gennor,” he hissed at us from under cover. “Watch your steps, fellows! He’s up to some trick in stopping here.”

Maybe Scoop and I and Peg would have looked less dumb if we had been allowed a few seconds to sort of prepare ourselves to greet the enemy’s chief with a graceful bow.

As it was, we stared open-mouthed. So it isn’t at all surprising that the newcomer mistook us for boobs. We looked it, I imagine. [[144]]

He had said something to us in stopping, but this had failed to register in our minds. And now he followed up, smart-like:

“What is this place, anyway?—a deaf and dumb asylum?”

Right off I got his measure. Smart aleck. All swelled up over his pa’s money. Sort of fed fat on the idea that he could sit in his two-thousand-dollar roadster and bark orders at common, everyday kids and make them jump around and wait on him.

Well, I’m not much of a jumper when I meet a fellow like that!

“Did you say something?” I purred, sort of letting my neck out at him.

“I asked you,” he said, “if the town up ahead is Tutter.”

“Is it?” I inquired, turning to Scoop.