Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/86

 CHAPTER VIII

A NIGHT ALARM

" you game to spend the night down by the river, Buster?" asked Frank, as he walked toward home with the fat and jolly student.

"Am I? Since my heft unfits me for participating in the glorious events of to-morrow, save as an humble 'tubber,' I'm just tickled at the chance to serve my fellow club members as a guardian of their cherished craft," replied the other, with his chest thrust out pompously.

Frank laughed at the assumption of dignity.

"No danger of you ever wanting for a job, so long as drum majors in bands are in demand, Buster. But who's going to be company with you?" he inquired, seriously.

"I've asked Bones Shadduck. You see in an affair of this sort variety is really the spice of it, and we represent the fat and the lean," grinned Buster.

"It will be a lonely watch, I imagine, if one of you intends staying awake. I suppose you mean to take turns at standing guard?" asked Frank. Rh