usly.

"Oh, this is awful!" groaned Gif. "I'm burning up inside!" And he put
both hands on his stomach.

"Maybe we're poisoned!" suggested Randy. He made a wild dive for the
water bottle, and this was passed around from hand to hand, each lad
drinking eagerly in an endeavor to wash the burning taste from his mouth
and throat.

"I know what's the matter," said Jack, after the most of the excitement
was over. "Hop Lung doctored the cake and the doughnuts to get square
with us for the trick we played on him."

"I wonder if that's so?" questioned Andy soberly.

"Sure, it's so!" broke in Gif. "That Chink wasn't as slow as you thought,
Andy."

"Gosh, my mouth burns yet!" grumbled Randy, taking a drink of cocoa.
"That's the worst dose I ever chewed. What do you suppose he put in the
cake?"

"Tasted to me like a combination of cayenne pepper, mustard, and a few
things like that," answered Jack.

"Then the whole cake and all the doughnuts must be no good."

"That's too bad! And I had my heart set on a nice doughnut," answered
Spouter. "Just the same, I can't blame Hop Lung."

"Well, anyway, let's be thankful the sandwiches are all right and so are
the eggs," remarked Fred.

"Maybe some of the sandwiches that are left are doctored," put in Andy
suspiciously.

"No, they look all right," announced Gif, after an inspection. "And he
couldn't do much with the eggs while they were in their shells," he
added.

While he was speaking, and while some of the boys were still taking
drinks of various kinds to clear their mouths and throats of that awful
burning taste, Spouter made an inspection of the paper bag containing the
doughnuts.

"Hello! here's another little bag at the bottom of the big one," he
cried. "Let's see what it contains."

He dumped out the doughnuts and drew forth the smaller bag. Opening this,
the lads found it contained six pieces of golden yellow pound cake,
neatly wrapped in tissue paper.

"Gee! is that more of the doctored stuff?" questioned Fred.

"Maybe. But I don't think so," answered Spouter. "I think Hop Lung put
this in for a peace offering, to be found after we had chewed on that
other stuff."

And in that surmise Spouter proved correct. The pound cake was delicious,
and, having sampled it with caution to find that it was all right, the
boys ate it to the last crumb with great satisfaction.

"We'd better dump all that other stuff away," said Fred. "No use of
carrying it if it isn't fi