uch fun in it. Ma makes me. She says it saves gittin' a meal
at home, but I don't like the stuff they have there."

"I don't either--not much--but I'm going this time and so are you.
Because, listen, something's going to happen."

"Honest?"

Bob nodded vigorously several times. There was a bright twinkle in
his eyes.

"Don't say a word to anybody," he cautioned Ted, "but just you be on
hand. This is going to be the best joke yet."

"Maybe he'll get mad."

"What if he does? He won't know who did it. You and I will be up
in the gallery, or somewhere, and no one will see us. I'll bet
there'll be some fun."

The chief trouble was, as I have pointed out before, that Bob's
ideas of fun and those of other persons did not always agree. Boys
and older folks seldom think the same on any subject, and so how can
they be expected to about "jokes"?

The minister's donation party was an annual affair in Moreville.
Rev. Daniel Blackton, who had charge of the only church in the
village, did not receive a very large salary, and it was the custom
to give him a "donation party" once a year to help pay him.

This usually took the form of a supper, held in the church parlors.
The women of the congregation provided the food, and a small price
was charged for the meal. Nearly every one, including the "men
folks" and the children, attended, and sometimes quite a fair sum
was realized in this way.

In addition, every one who could afford to was expected to bring
some "donation" for the minister. The women would knit him mittens,
or slippers, or socks, they would crochet articles for the
minister's wife, or bring jars of preserves, which were very welcome
at the parsonage.

The men would donate wood, garden products, or whatever they could
best afford. In this way, while the reverend gentleman's salary was
not large, he managed to obtain a comfortable living.

It was to this donation party, or supper, that Bob and Ted were
going, and as they crouched in the shadow of the bushes they
perfected Bob's plan for some fun.

Mrs. Henderson was usually on the committee of arrangements for the
supper, and this occasion was no exception. For a week before she
was busy making pies and cakes and getting great pans of baked beans
ready, for the supper victuals were of a plain but very wholesome
sort.

As Captain Spark was a guest at the Henderson home at the time the
supper was to be held, he, of course, was invited to attend,