Page:Boys of Columbia High on the Ice.djvu/142

128 the family," grumbled Lanky, from the rear, as he stumbled along.

"Whatever got that notion into your head?" asked Frank, turning around.

"Oh! I had it happen one time I was away. I think that was on Thanksgiving. We floundered three miles across a marsh, in mud up to our knees, and got to the house on the hill only to find it shut up and cold, with a paper on the back door telling John, whoever he might be, that they would be back to-morrow. You ought to have seen us if you ever wanted to look on a disgusted bunch."

"Go on," said Frank.

"How do you know there is anything else?" asked Lanky, grinning whimsically.

"Because I know you too well to believe it would end there. Confess now that you got something to eat after all—that you broke into that peaceful farmhouse and cooked a full dinner for the crowd."

"Oh! I see that you've heard. Well, we did that same thing, for we were nearly famished. But we cleaned everything up, washed the dishes, and when we went away left two dollars on the kitchen table with a note of apology," confessed Lanky.

"Well, that was decent of you anyhow. Catch Lef Seller and his cronies doing anything like that. They'd have smashed things generally like a lot of Apaches on the war-path. But you seem to be