"Twenty quarts!" ejaculated George Shaw, "that was pretty good. I hardly thought there would be so many. Wasn't my plan splendid, though, Will—oh! I beg your pardon, Mr. President?"
"Fine!" said the president; "all that you planned for was, anyhow, for I don't suppose you calculated for ten headaches and ten stomachaches, as well as ten pails of berries, did you? As nearly as I can find out, the other members of the club have suffered in these ways, like myself."
There was a good deal more talk; they decided what should be their password, and a great many other private matters. They would have been very much disgusted, I am certain, if they had guessed that Mr. Clay was intently listening to everything that was said. Their motto was to be "Fragi Agrestes," because, as John Clower, the only Latin student of the club, announced, that meant "wild strawberries." Of course that was to be used as the password, too. The seal was to be a leaf of that plant, while the color of the club was to be red.
When they went home, Mr. Clay got up and went to work again, but he didn't work as well as usual, for he had a plan in which he was more interested than he was in demolishing the grass. When he got home he sat down and wrote some sort of a letter which he sealed with a piece of red sealing-wax, and a button which he had found in his wife's button-box.
Thus it happened that on Tuesday morning, when George Shaw went to the post-office to get the mail, he found a big yellow envelope addressed to him. It had a red seal, on which there was stamped the outline of a strawberry leaf. He looked at it in amazement, for the writing was strange. He found the document inside to be sealed with the same seal. I will give you a copy of it:
"FRAGI AGRESTES."
BILL.
| The Snyvylville Do-Nothing Club | Dr, |
| To James Clay. | |
| To—— | |
| 20 qts. wild strawberries, at .15 | $3.00 |
| Pay for picking the same, at .02 | .40 |
| Balance | $2.60 |
| Rec'd Payment, | |
| July, 1879. | Cr. |
George stopped on the street in perfect amazement! Then rushed to school, for the last bell was ringing.
At recess, he called a meeting of the club, and showed them the document he had received.
Then there were grave faces and anxious discussions. How could Mr. Clay have found them out?