begged
Darrin.

"Certainly," grinned Reade. "The end of my adventure was-----"

"Yes, yes!" pressed Greg, as Tom hesitated.

"The end of the adventure came," Tom continued maliciously, "when
I turned out the gas in my little room and hopped into bed. I
slept like a top, thank you."

"Now, now, now!" Dick warned him. "Thomas, you're hiding something
from us!"

"If I am, it's my own business, and I've a right to hide it,"
retorted Tom, smiling once more, though still uncommunicative.

At this moment Hazelton and Dan Dalzell, otherwise known as Danny
Grin, came up. They, too, had to hear all about the bottle-breaking
trick.

"How did you ever come to think of a thing like that, Tom?" asked
Harry Hazelton.

"I thought of it before I tried it out at Dick's," Reade rejoined,
and explained how he had helped Timmy Finbrink out of a scrape.

"What did you say the fellow's name is, Tom?" Dick asked.

"His name is Timmy Finbrink," Reade rejoined, "and he looks the
part. Just one glance at Timmy, and you know that he's all that
the name implies."

Then followed, for the benefit of the two latest arrivals, the
story of Tom's attempt in the rear of the Prescott bookstore.

Harry and Dalzell duly admired the bruise on Tom's face.

"Now, be a gentleman, Tom," urged Harry mischievously, "and let
us have a good, satisfying look at your skinned knuckles."

"Umph!" grunted Reade.

"Or, at least," pursued Harry relentlessly, "tell us just what
it was into which you ran to get such a mark on your face."

"Umph!" retorted Reade once more. "Danny, in the name of mercy,
take that grin of yours around the corner and lose it!"

"I'll try," promised Dan, "provided you'll tell us who caught
you last night, and why he punched your face."

But Tom, knowing that he had them all wild with curiosity, refused
to reveal the secret.

"Now, let's get back to the big fishing trip," begged Greg Holmes.
"Dick, what's the plan?"

"We start to-morrow," Prescott rejoined.

"Humph!" grunted Holmes. "We knew that all along. What we want
are the particulars in detail."

"In the next place, then," Dick replied, "we shall devote a good
deal of our time, while away, to the pleasurable excitement of
fishing."

"Perhaps you won't be able to get away," Greg retorted, "if you
go on stringing us in that fashion. I warn you that we're becoming
impatient."

"That's right," nodded Dave Darrin. "Get down to actual particulars,
Dick."