“But why should the girl send a spy here?”
“She has old Ivory Dome working on the inside, and the other guy works on the outside.”
Poppy began to pull his hair.
“Good night! Some tangle, huh?”
“Yes,” says I, “and I want to stay here to see the finish. For I have a hunch that it’s going to be exciting. So let us offer to go to Pardyville, as I say. We may not get wise to any real stuff over there. But even so we can come back to-night. And to-morrow morning another excuse may bob up to keep us here. If necessary we can make it bob up—clever little doo-dads that we are! See?”
Poppy grinned.
“Two souls with but a single thought,” he recited, “two hearts that beat each other. Lead on, kid. I’m with you till Niagara Falls.”
But I balked on doing the leading—that was his job, I said. So he set his planner to work.
“C. H. O. is closed,” says he. “Therefore, as I see it, the only thing for us to do, in case Mrs. Doane falls for our scheme, is to hoof it through New Zion to Neponset Corners, where we’ll strike C. H. P. It ought to be easy for us to catch a ride back to Pardyville, for with C. H. O. closed the other hard road will be crowded with cars.”
I let out a yip.