ack, handling it
with delight, as he sat bolt upright, with his leg on a rest, for he was
getting on capitally now.

"Mostly. Rather a neat job, I flatter myself."

"I should say so. What a clever fellow you are! Any new inventions
lately?" asked Frank, coming up to examine and admire.

"Only an anti-snoring machine and an elbow-pad," answered Ralph, with a
twinkle in his eye, as if reminded of something funny.

"Go on, and tell about them. I never heard of an anti-snorer. Jack
better have one," said Frank, interested at once.

"Well, a rich old lady kept her family awake with that lively music, so
she sent to Shirtman and Codleff for something to stop it. They thought
it was a good joke, and told me to see what I could do. I thought it
over, and got up the nicest little affair you ever saw. It went over the
mouth, and had a tube to fit the ear, so when the lady snored she woke
herself up and stopped it. It suited exactly. I think of taking out a
patent," concluded Ralph, joining in the boys' laugh at the droll idea.

"What was the pad?" asked Frank, returning to the small model of an
engine he was making.

"Oh, that was a mere trifle for a man who had a tender elbow-joint and
wanted something to protect it. I made a little pad to fit on, and his
crazy-bone was safe."

"I planned to have you make me a new leg if this one was spoilt," said
Jack, sure that his friend could invent anything under the sun.

"I'd do my best for you. I made a hand for a fellow once, and that
got me my place, you know," answered Ralph, who thought little of such
mechanical trifles, and longed to be painting portraits or modelling
busts, being an artist as well as an inventor.

Here Gus, Ed, and several other boys came in, and the conversation
became general. Grif, Chick, and Brickbat were three young gentlemen
whose own respectable names were usually ignored, and they cheerfully
answered to these nicknames.

As the clock struck seven, Frank, who ruled the club with a rod of iron
when Chairman, took his place behind the study table. Seats stood about
it, and a large, shabby book lay before Gus, who was Secretary, and kept
the records with a lavish expenditure of ink, to judge by the blots. The
members took their seats, and nearly all tilted back their chairs and
put their hands in their pockets, to keep them out of mischief; for, as
every one knows, it is impossible for two lads to be near each other
and refrain from tickling or pin