It was shortly after Mr. Hanks’ disconcerting assumption of the r?le of despot that Jeffrey crossed the hall to Gil and Poke’s room one Friday evening. “Are you fellows still grinding?” he asked.
“We are still studying,” responded Poke. “Please try to abstain from slang, Mr. Latham. I don’t care so much about myself, but it sets a bad example for my friend across the table. I have to be very careful about him. His parents have placed him in my charge, you see. Well, what’s on your mind, old top?”
“I’ve been thinking,” said Jeffrey gravely.
“I know.” Poke nodded sympathetically. “It does make you feel sort of queer, doesn’t it? Have a glass of water?”
“That might give him water on the brain,” observed Gil, looking up from his book.
Poke observed him sorrowfully. “Your[184] humor, Gil, is heavy, very heavy. Go on with your Latin, my poor fellow.”
“How the dickens can I, when you two chaps are talking?” asked Gil mildly, pushing his book away.
“I thought you’d be through,” said Jeffrey. “I’ll come in again later.”
“Sit still, Jeff. I am through. I was just taking a fall out of Monday’s stuff. Where’s Jim?”
“Over there; studying math.” Jeffrey indicated his room with a jerk of his head. “I’ve been thinking—”
“You said that before,” interrupted Poke sweetly.
“Shut up, Poke! Let him think if he wants to. Just because you never do it—”
“Let him tell it, Gil, can’t you? Always interrupting and annoying folks with your beastly chatter. Go ahead, Jeff; don’t mind him; you’ve been thinking; now what’s the rest? Bet you I know the answer!”
Jeff aimed a blow at Poke’s shins with the end of a crutch and Poke kicked his feet up just in time. “He’s getting crutchity, Gil,” he said sadly.
Gil threatened him with a book from the table[185] and Poke retired to the other side of the room.
“You see,” said Jeff, taking advantage of Poke’s retreat to state his errand, “you see, fellows, I’ve been thinking—”
There was a chuckle from the window seat which turned quickly into a cough as Gil swung around in that direction, the book still in his hand. Jeffrey smiled.
“Thinking,” he went on, “about getting a canoe.”
“Gee, but I’m glad you aren’t thinking about getting a steam yacht!” ejaculated Poke. “You’d have brain fever by this time!”
“They say there’s a man named Sandford up the river who makes corkers.”
“There is; at Riverbend. There are two or three up there who make canoes,” replied Gil.
“Well, I’ve always heard that Sandford’s were the best. I think—”
“He’s at it again!” groaned Poke, who had fortified himself with half a dozen cushions. “He’s at it again!”
“I think I’ll buy one. Oughtn’t I get a pretty good one for thirty dollars, Gil?”
“I really don’t know, Jeff. Never bought a[186] canoe in my life. I would think so, though. How about it, Poke?”
“Oh, am I to be allowed to speak?” asked Poke in a muffled voice from behind his breastworks. “Had to come to old Poke when you wanted to know something, didn’t you?”
“Oh, shut up, you idiot!” laughed Gil. “How much do canoes cost?”
Poke emerged in a shower of cushions. “Canoes?” he asked. “Well now, what kind of canoes? There are canvas canoes, wooden canoes, paper canoes, birch-bark canoes, steel canoes, dug-outs—”
“Dug-outs, of course,” replied Gil sarcastically. “Those are what Sandford makes, I suppose?”
“Irony doesn’t become you,” responded Poke critically. “Irony, Gil, should be indulged in only by those having an iron constitution. Returning to the subject of canoes and the cost thereof—”
“Thirty dollars will probably buy you a first-class one, Jeff,” Gil interrupted. “When are you going to—”
“Thirty dollars will buy a very fair one only,” Poke corrected. “Allow me, if you please, to speak on this subject. I suppose[187] there is no one in Crofton who has more knowledge of canoes than I, Jeff. Canoes are—are an open book to me. I can tell you where to buy them, how to buy them, when to buy them—and when not to! Also, I have full knowledge of what to feed them and how to bring them up. I suppose I’ve brought up more canoes—”
“Honestly, Poke, you’re silly,” said Gil disgustedly. “We’re talking seriously, so shut up or get out, will you?”
“I can be just as serious as you can, you old Mr. Grouch!” Poke returned to his chair at the table, wearing an expression of intense dignity. “Sandford’s eighteen-foot canoe, Jeff, costs forty-two dollars, but you can get a dandy sixteen-footer for thirty-five. It isn’t finished quite as nicely, I believe. Sometimes you can pick up a good second-hand one up there. Perky Wright has one he only paid about fifteen for. I don’t think it came from Sandford, though. What’s that other fellow’s name up there, Gil?”
“I don’t know. There are two or three others, aren’t there? Was Perky’s second-hand when he got it, Poke?”
“Yes, and he had the fellow paint it all up[188] as good as new. You’d never have known it had been used before he got it, Jeff.”
“I think I’d rather have a brand-new one,” said Jeff doubtfully............