The Rover Boys in Camp | Page 9

and came down the aisle. One was tall and
handsome, and the other stout and with a round, chubby face beaming
with good humor.
"Larry Colby!" cried Dick, leaping up and grasping the tall boy's hand.
"I'm awfully glad to meet you. Returning to the Hall, of course?"
"Yes," was the answer from the Rover boys' old chum. "Isn't it odd that
I should be thinking of you just as we meet?" and he shook hands.
"Hullo, if it ton't peen dem Rofer brudders alretty," cried the
round-faced lad, with a twinkle in his eyes. "I dink me you vos left der
Hall for goot, yah!"
"Hans Mueller!" came from Sam. "Then you are going back, too? I
thought you had scarlet fever?"
"Not much I ain't," said the German youth. "I vos eat too much of dem
puckveat cakes alretty, und dot makes mine face preak owid, put I ain't
got no scarlet fefers, nein! How you vos alretty annahow?" And he
shook hands as Larry had done.
"I can hardly believe your story about being cast away on an island in
the Pacific," said Larry.
"Your letter read like a fairy tale. If you tell the fellows they'll think
you are drawing the long bow."
"Yes, Larry vos told me somedings apoud dot," broke in Hans. "You
vos regular Robinson Roosters," he said.
"Great Scott! Robinson Roosters!" yelled Tom, bursting out into a fit of
laughter. "Boys, we are discovered at last."
"Well, if you are, you needn't crow over it," came from Larry.

"Roosters and crowing! Oh, Larry, I didn't think you'd begin to pun so
early," put in Sam.
"He just hatched it out," said Tom.
"I suppose you think that sounds chic," joined in Dick. And then there
was a laugh in which all but Hans Mueller joined. The German youth
looked blankly from one to another of his companions.
"Vos dot Robinson Rooster a choke?" he demanded. "Of it vos let me
in by it kvick."
"Oh, you couldn't climb in on a gangway and a step-ladder combined,"
answered Tom.
"Put vos you Robinson Roosters or vos you not Robinson Roosters?"
"Oh, we were Robinson Roosters right enough," answered Tom, when
he could control his laughter.
"Den vot you vos giggling apout, hey?"
"Nothing, only it was so funny to be a Robinson Rooster and live on a
big island with nobody but lions, buffaloes, snakes, and `cannonballs,'"
added the fun-loving youth.
"Cannonballs?" queried Larry
"That's what Aleck Pop calls 'em, Larry. He said it was a wonder the
'cannonballs' hadn't eaten us up," and then came another laugh, during
which Hans was as mute as ever.
"Vos dere lions, snakes, and buffaloes py dot island on?" went on the
German youth.
"To be sure there were, Hans. And likewise elephants, panthers, cats,
dogs, hippopotamuses, mice, elk, rats, and winged jibberjackers."
"Mine gracious, Tom! Und you vosn't eaten up alretty kvick!"

"None of the animals troubled us, but the three-horned jibberjacker. He
came into our house one night, crawled upstairs, and began to swallow
Sam alive."
"You ton't tole me!"
"Yes, I do tell you. He had Sam in his mouth, and had swallowed him
as far as his waist, when Sam began to kick on the floor with his feet."
"I see, I see--" Hans' eyes were as big as saucers.
"That woke Dick and me up, and we ran and got Sam by the legs, and
pulled for all we were worth."
"You ton't tole me, Tom! Und vot did dot vot-you-call-him do den?"
"He planked his ten feet on the floor, and--"
"His ten feet did you said, Tom?" interrupted Hans doubtfully.
"To be sure. Didn't you know that a real jibberjacker has ten feet?"
"Maype I did--I ton't oxactly remember about him."
"I am surprised at your ignorance of natural history, Hans. Yes, the real
jibberjacker has ten feet, although a branch of the family, known as the
jibbertwister, has only eight feet."
"Well, go on. He planked his ten feets by der floor town--"
"He held on and so did we, and it was a regular tug of war between us.
Sam was swallowed as far as the waist, and couldn't do anything to
help himself. You just ask Sam if that isn't so."
"When Tom tells the truth it's a fact every time, Hans," answered Sam,
who felt as if he would choke from suppressed laughter.
"So the blamed old jibberjacker held on and held on," continued Tom.
"Then we gave a tug and he gave a tug, and all of a sudden Sam came

out. The shock was so great it threw Dick and me clear across the room,
and through a doorway into the next room. But the poor jibberjacker
fared still worse."
"How vos dot?"
"He flew up