"Me mudder sez I dasn' go swimmin' widout she leaves me."

"Good for you, Joe," said Townsend, "I'll see your mother next week and fix it. And you do just what she told you to do till then. You've got the right idea, Joe." And he hit Joe a good rap on the shoulder in his friendly way …

CHAPTER XXXI

A PROMISE

When he had put the racing fans on the Edgemere trolley, Pee-wee, like Jack ashore, betook himself into Bridgeboro to have his fling before returning to the ship. The habit of sailors home from long voyages is well known, and we need not be surprised to find him bending his steps toward Bennett's Fresh Confectionery, where he climbed onto one of the stools before the soda fountain.

He had just consumed a raspberry ice cream soda and was considering the question of whether he should have another when he noticed somebody which reminded him of the doom which awaited him on Monday morning. This was Miss Carlton who taught in the Bridgeboro Public School. She had just consummated the purchase of a box of candy and such were the cordial relations between herself and Pee-wee (out of school) that she proffered him the box for a choice of its contents.

"I don't know whether to take a chocolate one or a white one," Pee-wee said.

"Why not take both?" she suggested.

"I guess maybe that would be safest, hey?" he said.