The High School Boys in Summer Camp | Page 6

once more.
"May I have a word aside with you, sir?" demanded Colquitt.
"A dozen," agreed Hibbert readily.
The two walked apart from the boys, going down the sidewalk together slowly. But the youngsters heard Hibbert say earnestly:
"I tell you, Colquitt, that is the boy. He has the ear and all. And he'll be in luck with the money he'll have!"
"And I tell you, Mr. Hibbert, that he isn't the boy at all," retorted Colquitt, with even greater positiveness.
More was said, but the two passed out of hearing.
"Greg," declared Tom Reade solemnly, "it appears that you're the million-dollar kid!"
"I know it," grinned young Holmes. "I am! Also it seems equally certain that I am not!"
"What do you make of the whole business, fellows?" Tom asked, turning to the other chums.
"I've my own idea," laughed Dave Darrin.
"Give it us, quickly!" begged Danny Grin.
"My idea," Dave declared, "is that Hibbert is a rather harmless lunatic, yet one who has to be watched a bit."
"Then what about Colquitt?" urged Hazelton.
"Colquitt," guessed Darry, "is Hibbert's keeper."
"The mild lunatic idea," Tom observed, "fits in well with a chap who, in this sweltering July weather, will insist on wearing a four-quart silk hat, a spite-fence collar and a long, black, double-breasted coat."
"There's only one part of the whole dream that I'd like to believe," sighed young Holmes. "I'd be quite willing to have it proved to me that I'm a young millionaire!"
"What would you do if you had the million---right in your hand?" quizzed Danny Grin.
"I'd transfer it to my pockets," Greg answered.
"What next?" pressed Dan.
"I'd hurry to the bank with the money."
"And---then?" Dan still insisted.
"Then," supplied practical Tom Reade, "he'd end our suspense by paying Dick ninety dollars for our war canoe!"
"I would," Greg agreed.

CHAPTER II
DICK AND SOME HIGH FINANCE
"I feel like a fellow without any manners," complained Dave Darrin.
"What have you done now?" asked Greg, coming out of his million-dollar trance.
"It's what I haven't done," Darry answered. "It's also what none of us have done. We haven't thanked our very pleasant, even if slightly erratic, host for his entertainment."
"We can't very well butt in," declared Reade, glancing down the street. "Hibbert and his kee---I mean, his friend---are still talking earnestly. I wonder if they lock poor Hibbert up part of the time?"
Colquitt and young Mr. Hibbert had now turned in at the Eagle Hotel. Dave glanced at his watch, remarking:
"Fellows, it's ten minutes after six. Those of you who want any supper will do well to hurry home."
"I'm certain that I can't eat a bit of supper," declared Hazelton, looking almost alarmed. "I've eaten so much of that cream and cantaloupe that I haven't a cubic inch of space left for anything else."
Nevertheless the high school boys parted, going their various directions, after having agreed to meet by seven o'clock. All wanted to be on hand when Prescott got back to town.
After supper Greg had not been out of the house five minutes when Mr. Hibbert appeared at the gate of the Holmes cottage, and passed inside. The caller inquired for Greg's father, met that gentleman, and the two remained in private conversation for some five minutes.
Ere the first minute was over, however, Greg's father might have been heard, from the sidewalk, laughing uproariously. Finally Mrs. Holmes was called into the conference. She came forth again, looking somewhat amused.
From that meeting Hibbert went back to Main Street, where he fell in with Tom Colquitt.
"Are you satisfied, now?" demanded the latter.
"I'm puzzled," replied Hibbert, with the air and tone of a man who hates to give up a delusion.
Colquitt and Hibbert had not gone a block and a half ere they encountered Dave, Tom and the others, only Dick being absent from the gathering of the chums. Curiously, too, the meeting took place before the same ice cream shop.
"Just in time to have some more cream, boys," suggested young Mr. Hibbert.
"And we'd enjoy it, too, thank you," responded Tom courteously, "but there is a point, sir, past which it would be imposition to go. So we are going to content ourselves with enjoying a very pleasant recollection of the good time we had with you this afternoon."
"Better come inside with us," urged Mr. Colquitt. "I notice a table, away over in the corner, where we can be by ourselves. You see, boys, after what Hibbert said to one of your number this afternoon, we feel that an explanation is due to you. We can explain inside much better than we could on a street corner."
That crowbar of curiosity wedged the boys away from their fear that they were accepting too much from strangers. So they followed their mysterious conductors inside. Young Mr. Hibbert ordered ices similar to those that had been enjoyed that afternoon. Then Mr. Colquitt, with a brisk air, began:
"Concerning that suspicion that young Holmes might