I said to Tony, “How soon you go back?”
“Sooner no more de biz,” he said.
“I’ll have one more sandwich,” said Westy.
“Can you make it two for the sake of the cause?” I asked him.
“Give me another plate of chowder,” Connie Bennett said. “You don’t hear a train in the distance, do you?”
One of the girls said, “Oh, mercy, it won’t be here till five o’clock. We’ll stay and let you know when it comes. Because, you know we really have nothing to do. We can’t run and jump and play ball, you know. We’re only girls, aren’t we, Minerva?”
I said, “Well, there’s only one thing for us to do. We’ve got to hold the fort——”
“Can we hold the food? That’s the question,” some fellows shouted.
“Absypostvly,” Pee-wee blurted out. “Hip, hip——”
“Shut up,” I told him. “There’s only one thing for us to do and that is to work in platoons. Scouts will go into the wagon four at a time and eat at the counter. Nothing must be eaten except at the counter. As they come out they’ll be relieved by others. Don’t eat too fast. The train will be here in two hours. We can hold out. There is nothing else to do. The lunch wagon must be held. Somebody go over to the station and find out if the milk train is on time. Keep busy. Chowder is recommended, but scouts must use their judgment. On to victory. We can eat forever!”