Page:Dave Porter at Oak Hall.djvu/94

78 "Which puts me in mind of another——" began Shadow.

"Not just now," interrupted Roger. "We came in to eat."

"I'm glad to know you all," said Dave, with a smile. "Roger has been telling me of you on the train." He shook hands with each of them.

"You want to be good when Dave's around," went on the senator's son. "He's a detective—regular sleuth——"

"Roger!" cried Dave, appealingly. "I thought you promised not to mention that again?"

"Did I? Well, I can't help it. It's this way, to cut a short story long, as the poets say. Our house was robbed this morning. Dave spotted the thief on the train, and through him we recovered a large portion of the goods. Wasn't that great?"

"Going to open a detective agency?" asked Buster Beggs, soberly. "If you are I'll call around. I lost a toothbrush last season, and——"

"I never hunt for toothbrushes unless the teeth go with them," came from Dave, brightly. He was catching the spirit of the crowd around him. "Now if you could only manage to lose your teeth——" And then a laugh went up.

"Which puts me in mind——" began Shadow.

"That we must make room for Roger and our new schoolfellow," finished Phil Lawrence.