Page:Boys of Columbia High on the Ice.djvu/155

Rh see you burned out? Have you any enemies, Mr. Baxter?" the other went on, his curiosity aroused.

"Not that I know of. It may have been an accident. Perhaps there is a defective flue. We were having a fire in the grate for the first time in the sitting-room, you see. But all of you boys must stop a while with us, and help us eat the dinner that was saved. Ma will never hear of anything else, you may be sure," and the old man gripped Frank's hand again energetically.

"Thanks! That's nice of you, sir. We were just thinking of trying to buy a dinner when we saw the fire. You see we skated up here from Columbia," said Lanky, who was hovering near enough to catch what was said.

"You ought to know this boy, Mr. Baxter, though he's so black now his own mother might hardly recognize him. It's Lanky Wallace," observed Frank, smilmg at the persistence of his hungry chum.

"Why, to be sure. I have known his father these many years, and he has been my lawyer several times. Lanky, you will be welcome a dozen times to join us. There's plenty for all, and Ma has the name of being a pretty good cook. But listen, what is it your other young friend is shouting. Let us hurry out to see."

They rushed through to the outside air. Here