“Mercy!” cried the chaperone. “What is this? Stop it at once!” she ordered to the boys, but laughingly they persisted.
“Good luck!” cried the street lads.
“Hurray!”
“Send us a piece of wedding cake!”
Cora, turning, seeing the showers of rice and hearing the calls, guessed what had happened.
“This was Jack’s trick!” she exclaimed. “He’s given the impression that this is a big wedding party. Oh, wait until I get a chance to retaliate. Hurry up!” she cried back to Norton, who was grinning cheerfully, and trying to summon a blush to his cheeks to make him fit the part of the bashful bridegroom.
Walter shot Norton’s car ahead, and Norton guided that containing the placard out into the middle of the street. There the words were more plainly seen, and good-natured laughter came from the throng, who thought they understood the situation. The rice continued to fall, for the boys had bought liberally of it, and had bribed the street urchins to throw it.
“This is terrible!” exclaimed Bess, in the car with Walter, seeing what had happened.
“It’s only a joke,” he said. “But I was afraid you girls wouldn’t like it.”
“Like it? I should say not. I’m going to take that sign off our car at once.”