"We haven't anything special to do with our time." "You fellows haven't much imagination, have you ?" laughed Dave, his eyes twinkling mysteriously.
"Have you guessed ?" demanded Dick Prescott.
"Well, it's only a guess, of course, and it may be a wild one." "Out with it!" ordered Tom Reade sharply.
"You know, fellows," Dave continued, "that we did some service for Mrs.
Dexter last fall, and that she tried to reward us.

Now that she's gone away to parts unknown, perhaps you also know that Lawyer Ripley is managing her money affairs these days." "Then----" gasped Greg.
"Why, fellows, now that Mrs.Dexter is away, and we can't stop her, and as to-morrow will be Christmas, why, perhaps----" Not one single member of Dick & Co.

was at all lacking in imagination now! "Why, do you think----" "I wonder if----" "Fellows," hinted Dick Prescott dryly, and in a tone that hid the excitement going on within him, "it won't take us long to skate back to Gridley!".