Roger. "I reckon he could give the ignorant farmers
as good a talk about them as Montgomery himself."

"More than likely, since Montgomery is a very ignorant man," answered
Dave.

"The other fellows ought to be ready to go back to school by this time,"
said the senator's son, after watching those in the hotel for a minute.
"Let us hunt them up;" and thus, for the time being, Jasniff, Merwell,
and Doctor Montgomery were dismissed from their minds. The meeting at
the hotel was an important one to our friends as well as to those who
participated, but how important Dave and his chums did not learn until
long afterwards.

It was a comical sight to see the boys of dormitories Nos. 11 and 12
walking back to the Hall, each with a shoe box under his arm. Sam Day
led the procession, carrying his box up against his forearm, like a
sword.

"Shoulder boxes!" he shouted, gayly. "Forward march!" And then he added:
"Boom! boom! boom, boom, boom!" in imitation of a bass-drum.

"We've got boxes enough to last us for a year of picnics," cried Ben,
for in Crumville, as in many other places, shoe boxes were frequently
used for packing up picnic lunches.

"Say, that puts me in mind of a story!" put in Shadow, eagerly. "A girl
who was going to get married had a shower, as they call 'em. Well, a wag
of the town--maybe he was sore because he couldn't marry the girl
himself--told all his friends, in private, that she was very anxious to
get a nice bread-box. The shower was to be a surprise, and it was, too,
for when it came off the girl got exactly eleven bread-boxes."

"Oh!" came in a groan. "The worst yet."

"Not so bad," said Dave, dryly. "If she filled the boxes the married
pair must have proved a well-bred couple."

"Hark to that!" roared Phil. "Say, Dave, go and take a roll!"

"When it comes to a joke, Dave is the flower of this flock," was Luke's
comment.

"Anyway, he takes the cake," murmured Ben.

"Ben, say something; don't loaf on the job," came from the senator's
son.

"A joke like that is pie for Roger," murmured Polly Vane.

"Even so, nobody has a right to get crusty," murmured Plum.

"Or pious!" continued Dave, and then Shadow made a pass for him with a
shoe box. Then Roger started to run, and the others came after him, and
away they went in a merry bunch, along the road leading to Oak Hall.
Soon they came out at a point where the highway ran along the Leming
River, and there halted to rest, for the run had depri