“Huh, no fellow ever sets foot over there! I say, I’ve got it!”
“Shoot, then, Stick.”
“We’ll hire half a store from some one who doesn’t need it!”
“Why, yes, that might do,” replied Russell slowly, “but where are we going to find it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we can’t, but it’s an idea, isn’t it? Something to work on, eh? Let’s go and have a look.”
[CHAPTER III]
A NEW YEAR BEGINS
The journey of the little red car came to an end in three days instead of four, for Matilda developed distressing symptoms at a place called Bradford, got vastly worse at Mystic and broke down utterly some two miles short of New London. There for the present the three travelers left her and completed the trip by rail, parting one afternoon in the Grand Central Station with assurances of a speedy reunion.
Four days later, on the twenty-second, which was a Monday, Harley McLeod and Jimmy Austen reached Alton shortly after two o’clock and at half-past three were out on the football field with some sixteen other candidates. To-morrow would bring more, but sixteen wasn’t so bad for a first session, and Martin Proctor, this year’s captain, was plainly elated.