“Well, how’s it coming down?” asked Paddy.
“We were awful asses,” said Don disgustedly.
“It wasn’t exactly our fault,” answered Dave. “If ‘Wheels’ had only been decent about it! But what can you do if faculty won’t take your efforts toward enlivenment in the proper spirit?”
“Has any one tried to get the old thing down?” questioned Paddy.
“Yes, lots of fellows have tried. Wayne pulled the flag so far up that a corner of it’s fast in the pulley arrangement,” responded Don. “If he hadn’t been so keen to overdo the thing——”
“Oh, dry up! What’s the good of blaming Wayne. We were all in it equally,” said Paddy.
“Yes, that’s so,” admitted Don. “Let’s try and think of a way of getting the bloody thing down.”
“Bony thing,” corrected Dave.
“Look here, fellows, I got the thing up there—it was my idea in the first place—and I’ll get it down again.” Wayne scowled around the little circle. “All I want you fellows to do is to quit nagging. Who knows where I can get a boat hook?”
“There’s slathers of ’em in the boathouse,” said Paddy.