“Oh, there is more to come, eh?”
“Yes, sir,” went on Jack, calmly facing the angry gentleman.
“Tickets to the show, ten cents,” came from the irrepressible Bates; “three for a quarter. Children admitted free.”
“It’s an honest fact—we were going to try and make George return home; but we thought he ought to have a chance, and not be dragged back for that silly chauffeur to have the laugh on him.”
“George is a high-spirited boy,” said Redfern; “but we hoped to appeal to his reason.”
“And head off a fierce row,” added Bates. “Say, what wouldn’t have happened in the word-throwing line?”
“So you have constituted yourselves into a committee, as it were, to decide questions between myself and my ward? Very well, Redfern; I wish you to understand one thing—let my ward alone, or I shall place the matter in the hands of the authorities.”
Turning abruptly, Colonel Ellison hailed the Thornton students.
“Young gentlemen,” he said, “will you kindly put me ashore?”
“Certainly,” answered Lon Bates. “Start the engine, ‘Chickens,’—only about five thumps. That will do. Hang on to the post there, until the gentleman gets in.”