“Say, SAY!” suggested the great Poodle, excitedly, “that’s a peach of an idea of yours, Hike. Why not have the reporter chap interview Dr. Bell-Boy for you? Say, Doctor, you said you knew this reporter, but does he know you?”
“Naw. Dat’s where a bell-hop gets next. He keeps behind the keyhole and never says nawthin’ to nobody no time, and knows everything dat’s going on.”
“Say,” urged Poodle, “you strip off your clothes, and put on Hike’s pajamas, and get in bed, and let Hike sneak under the bed here, and we’ll have one splendiferous time with Mr. Reporter, Esquire.”
Grinning, the bell-boy obeyed, and while Hike crawled under his bed, with a pillow and a cup of cocoa, the bell-boy became a very sleepy but rather dignified young aviator. Another boy admitted the clever young reporter. Poodle sat by the window, magnificent in his dressing-gown, and listened.
The reporter was a young, young man. He stumbled into the room in a way that made Poodle remark to himself that he “sort of pushed his eye-glasses ahead of him as though he was going to grab something with ’em, and smole real nice—only he just kept that smile for interviews and slapped it on like a hair-puff.”
Bowing to Poodle, the reporter said, “Is this Mr. Griffin?”
Poodle shrugged his shoulders, pointed to the bed where the bell-boy lay, and turned back to look out of the window, with great dignity. (This last was spoiled, dreadfully, for Hike found a carpet-tack that was wandering around idly beneath the bed, and shied it out at Poodle, who squeaked and then looked silently foolish.)
Began the reporter: “Good morning, Mr. Griffin. I wished—You saw my account of your second flight, in this morning’s Crier, I hope.”
“Yuh. I seen it,” growled the bell-boy. “And I been wanting to tell you how it was wrong what you put in the paper. You said how the tehedrum was invented by Bell, the guy what made the telephone, first, and then Priest, he took it up. That ain’t right. I made it up, outa my own head.”
“You did?” feverishly inquired the reporter, writing a couple of words on one sheet of paper, and beginning to sketch the bell-boy on another sheet.