Ford and Frank brought a fresh gust of enthusiasm with them, and they had Dick and his eels up from the grass in short order.
"We must see Mrs. Lee right away," said Ford. "It would never do to let
Dick tell her."
"Guess dat's so," said Dick.
Quite an embassy they made, those four boys, with Dab Kinzer for spokesman, and Dick Lee almost crouching behind them. Mrs. Lee listened with open mouth while Dab unfolded his plan, but when he had finished she shut her lips firmly together. They were not very thin, and not at all used to being shut, and in another instant they opened again.
"Sho! De boy! Is dat you, Dick? Dat's wot comes ob dressin' on 'im up. How's he goin' to git clo'es? Wot's he got to do wid de 'Cad'my, anyhow? Wot am I to do, yer all alone, arter he's gone? Who's goin' to run err'nds an' do de choahs? Wot's de use ob bringin' up a boy an' den hab him go trapesin' off to de 'Cad'my? Wot good'll it do 'im?"
"I tole yer so, Dab," groaned poor Dick. "It ain't no use. I 'most wish
I was a eel!"
Dabney was on the point of opening a whole broadside of eloquence, when
Ford Foster pinched his arm, and whispered,—
"Your mother's coming, and our Annie's with her."
"Then let's clear out. She's worth a ten-acre lot full of us. Come on, boys!"
If Mrs. Lee was surprised by their very sudden and somewhat unceremonious retreat, she need not have been, after she learned the cause of it. She stood in wholesome awe of Mrs. Kinzer; and a "brush" with the portly widow, re-enforced by the sweet face of Annie Foster, was a pretty serious matter.