"I think it's a mean shame," cried Joel, on a high vindictive key.
"You've had burglars here twice, and I haven't been home."
"You speak as if we appointed the meeting, Joe," said Ben with a laugh.
"Well, it's mean, anyway," cried Joel, with a flash of his black eyes.
"Now there won't any come again in an age."
"Goodness, I hope not," ejaculated Mr. King, lowering his newspaper to peer over its top.
"I'd have floored him," declared Joel, striking out splendidly from the shoulder, "if I'd only have been here."
"All very well," said Percy negligently, "but you weren't here," and he laughed softly.
"Do you mean to say that I couldn't have handled the burglar?" demanded Joel belligerently, and advancing on Percy, "say? Because if you do, why, I'll try a bout with you."
"I didn't say anything what you could or couldn't do. I said you weren't here, and you weren't. That's enough," and Percy turned his back on him, thrust his hands in the pockets of his morning jacket and stalked to the window.
Van opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it, and gave a low whistle. Joel, finding no enthusiasm for tales of his fighting prowess, ran off to interview Dick on the old topic of the burglary and to obtain another close account of its details.
"To think Phronsie saw the other burglar five years ago, and now Dick was on hand for this one—those two babies," he fumed, "and none of us men around."