's got to fish wid
fellers 'at don't know nuffin."

"No you wont. You're going with us. It's all fixed, money and all."

Dick would never have thought of questioning a statement made by
"Captain Kinzer," but the rueful expression deepened on his face, the
basket of eels dropped heavily on the grass, the tough, black fingers
twisted nervously together for a moment, and then he sat mournfully down
beside the basket.

"It aint no use, Dab."

"No use? Why not?"

"I aint a w'ite boy."

"What of it? Don't you learn well enough over at the school?"

"More dar like me. Wot'd I do in a place whar all de res' was w'ite?"

"Well as anybody."

"Wot'll my mudder say, w'en she gits de news? You isn't a jokin', is
you, Dab Kinzer?"

"Joking? I guess not."

"You's lit on me powerful sudden, 'bout dis. Yonder's Ford an' Frank
a-comin'. Don't tell 'em, not jist yet."

"They know all about it. They helped raise the money."

"Did dey? Well, 'taint no use. All I's good for is eels and crabs and
clams and sech. Har dey come. Oh, my!"

But Ford and Frank brought a fresh gust of enthusiasm with them, and
they had Dick and his eels up from the grass in short order. "We must
see Mrs. Lee right away," said Ford. "It would never do to let Dick tell
her."

[Illustration: "I HASN'T SAID HE MIGHT GO."]

"Guess dat's so," said Dick.

Quite an embassy they made, those four boys, with Dab Kinzer for
spokesman, and Dick half crouching behind him. Mrs. Lee listened with
open mouth while Dab unfolded his plan, but when he had finished she
shut her lips firmly together. They were not very thin and not at all
used to being shut, and in another instant they opened again.

"Sho! De boy! Is dat you, Dick? Dat's wot comes of dressin' on him up.
How's he goin' to git clo'es? Wot's he got to do wid de 'cad'my, anyhow?
Wot am I to do, yer, all alone, arter he's gone, I'd like to know? Who's
goin' to run err'nds an' do de choahs? Wot's de use ob bringin' up a boy
'n' den hab 'im go trapesin' off to de 'cad'my? Wot good 'll it do 'im?"

"I tole yer so, Dab," groaned poor Dick. "It aint no use. I 'most wish I
was a eel."

Dab was on the point of opening a whole broadside of eloquence when Ford
Foster pinched his arm and whispered: "Your mother's coming, and our
Annie's with her."

"Then let's clear out. She's worth a ten-acre lot full of us. Come on,
boys."

If Mrs. Lee was surprised by their very sudden retreat, she need not
have been a