Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/98

88 You're always hatching up some fool play like that," grumbled the sleepy one.

"Oh! rats! This is all it is," and Buster took out an alarm clock from a package he had brought to the boathouse after supper.

"Oh! I'm not afraid of that biting me," remarked Bones, cheerfully, "They keep one in my room every night, and we're good friends all right. When the pesky thing buzzes at seven o'clock I just open one eye and say 'thanks, awfully,' and then I'm off again. That thing has saved me from lots of trouble in my dreams. I consider it invaluable."

"Well, this clock doesn't know you. If you refuse to get up when it says 'time' I've got the blessed thing trained to kick like a steer. It's set for two hours, and I take the first watch. Then I'll set it again and you stand guard. Understand about that, now, Bones?" demanded the other.

"Yes. That's all right. Just let me get a little wink and I'll be all right. But say, don't it seem spooky down here when all the fellers are gone? I never thought the old place would be so still," and Shadduck looked a bit nervously around him.

"Spooky! Now, what makes you mention that, when you know I'm naturally inclined to feel a little shaky, after reading them stories about ghosts that were in one of the magazines this week? Just forget it, will you?"