-"

"That's just it--just what he has done!" cried Phil. "I've got---- But
wait," cried the shipowner's son, interrupting himself. "I'll plan
this thing out. You shall all be my guests later on," he added,
mysteriously.

"Will you give a spread?" asked Chip Macklin.

"Don't ask questions, only wait," returned Phil. And that was all he
would say on the point, although he talked freely about his
inheritance.

The next morning Phil and Ben were seen in earnest conversation, and
that afternoon the two boys left the school as soon as they could get
away, bound on an errand to Oakdale.

"We ought to get a dandy spread for a dollar or a dollar and a half a
head," said Phil, as they hurried along. "And twelve at a dollar and a
half will be only eighteen dollars."

"The music will cost something," said Ben.

"Yes, I'm counting on two pieces, a harp and a violin, for ten
dollars. That's the price Professor Smuller charges."

The boys were bound for the Oakdale Union House, a new hotel which had
just been opened by a man named Jason Sparr. It was a nice resort,
without a bar, and catered to the better class of people, including
the students at Oak Hall and at the Military Academy.

The boys found the hotel proprietor glad to see them, and willing to
set any kind of a spread that they were able to pay for. Trade was not
yet brisk, and Jason Sparr said he would do his best to serve them. He
was a smooth, oily man, and a fellow who wanted all that was coming to
him.

"I can set you an elegant table for eighteen dollars for twelve," said
he. "I'll give you oysters, fish, two kinds of meat, several
vegetables, salad, ice-cream, coffee, and also nuts, cake, olives,
celery, and other fixings."

"That's the talk!" cried Phil, enthusiastically. "Just make a nice
spread of it, and you can have all our trade in the future."

"You'll be well pleased," answered Jason Sparr.

"Can we have a private dining-room?"

"To be sure--the blue room over yonder," and the hotel man showed the
boys the apartment.

"I want some flowers, too," said Phil. "You can put two dollars' worth
of roses on the table."

"Very well--that will make an even twenty dollars."

"When do you want me to pay?"

"Such spreads are usually paid for in advance," answered Jason Sparr,
shrewdly. He did not intend to take any chances with schoolboys.

"All right, here is your money," answered the shipowner's son, and
brought forth one of the two crisp twenty