“Bob wouldn’t let you throw me out,” said Jimmy, with calm conviction. “He knows well enough that I’m the brains of this party.”
“Gosh! that’s a terrible knock at the party, then,” remarked Herb.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Jimmy. “Remember, Herb, that almost any brains are better than yours.”
Herb made an indignant lunge at him, but Bob and Joe caught hold of him before he could take vengeance on their rotund friend.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” laughed Bob. “It seems to me there’s a good deal of truth in what Jimmy says, after all, don’t you think so, Joe?”
“There’s no doubt about it,” asserted the doctor’s son. “In fact, I’d be willing to go a step further, and say that brains like Herb’s are a shade worse than nothing at all. Just look at some of the jokes he works off on us.”
“There you are!” crowed Jimmy, triumphantly. “What better evidence could I have against Herb than some of his own jokes? They’d convict him before any jury.”
“You win with us, anyway,” laughed Bob. “Will you promise to leave Jimmy alone if we let you go, Herb?”
“Oh, I suppose so,” grunted Herb. “To get even, I’d have to lick the whole bunch of you, and I don’t feel strong enough for that just now. I’ll wait till we get back in Clintonia, and then I’ll tell you all what I think of you—over the telephone.”
“That will be the safest way, if you care to live a little longer,” Joe returned. “Even then, though, I’d advise you to start for Canada and points north as soon as you hang up the receiver.”
“Well, it might be worth the trip for the sake of giving you a good earful, but I’ll have to think it over,” replied Herb, with a grin. “In the meantime, here’s a good riddle for you. You might use it, Bob, in case you do some more radio broadcasting some day.”
“It hardly seems possible that I’d ever want to repeat one of your riddles, Herb; but let’s hear it, anyway,” observed Bob. “We’ve still got a long way to go, and I suppose we might as well kill time that way as any other.”
“Well, then, here goes,” said Herb, grinning happily in anticipation of his friends’ bewilderment. “What is it that sings, has four legs, and flies through the air?”
“Good night!” exclaimed Jimmy. “That sounds too complicated for me. I’m going to take a nap while you fellows puzzle it out.”