“Sure,” he said, “let’s go up and defy them!”
“That’s all well enough for you,” said Small. “You’re such a little fellow that they won’t hurt you!”
“I’m only a year younger than you are,” replied Kid warmly, “and I’m ’most as big. You’re afraid, that’s what’s the matter with you!”
“Cut it out, you two,” said Lanny. “What time is it?”
Bert peered at the ornate clock on the mantel. “’Most six,” he answered. “We’ve got to go up pretty soon, whether we want to or not.”
That couldn’t be denied.
“Perhaps we’d better go now,” said Lanny. “It will look better. I kind of wish, though, we hadn’t added that postscript at the last; it sounds awfully cheeky.”
“Well, whose idea was it?” demanded Small. “I told you not to do it.”
“Oh, we might as well be killed for sheep as lambs,” remarked Bert cheerfully. “Come on, fellows; brace up; they can’t kill us. But remember, now, no shacking!”