“I went to see me uncle, who was sthoppin’ at the hotel till Monday marnin’. Coming home I passed that new tavern on the shore road. I met Roy Bock comin’ out, and he had Sedley, Carey, and four or five others wid him. They was all smokin’ and cuttin’ up in a lively fashion.”
“I don’t believe Doctor Pornell approves of that,” came from Joe Nelson. He himself rarely did anything against the rules and was a good deal of a model for the other boys.
“I don’t believe that new tavern is a very good place, either,” said Jack. “Last week they arrested three men there, for getting into a quarrel over a game of cards. They said the men were drinking heavily and gambling. That kind of a resort is no place for any students to visit.”
“Roy Bock is sore on us,” was Andy’s comment. “Every time I meet him he glares at me as if he’d like to chew me up.”
“I know he is down on us,” answered Pepper.
“That’s because Pepper is sweet on those Ford girls,” said Bart Conners. “Say, Imp, which are you going to choose when you grow up?”
“Pep has got to stand aside for Jack and Andy,” put in Dale. “Ever since——”
“Oh, change the subject!” cried Andy, growing red in the face.
“That’s what I say,” added Pepper. “By the way,” he continued. “Somebody said there was to be a surprise to-night.”
“Exactly—at ten-thirty,” answered Henry Lee.
“Well, if you must know, my cousin from Boston was in town to-day, and just for the fun of it he had the Cedarville baker make two big strawberry shortcakes for me. He told me to treat my friends. The baker is to leave them in a box at the apple-tree on the corner of the campus. He had a party to cater to, and he said he would leave the cakes at just ten o’clock.”
“Hurrah for the shortberry strawcakes!” cried Pepper. “Hen, your cousin is a fellow after my own heart.”
“I wanted to keep it a little quiet,” continued Henry Lee. “For I didn’t want to invite too many to the spread. I don’t really know how big the cakes will be—although I know my cousin Dick doesn’t do things by halves.”
“It is half-past nine now,” said Jack, consulting the time-piece he carried.
“I’d like one of you to go out with me, after the cakes,” said Henry. “Each may be in a separate box, you know.”
All volunteered at once, for all loved strawberry shortcake. At last it was decided that Pepper should go with Henry.