CHAPTER IV. SOME UP-TO-DATE ADVERTISING.
By the time the buggy drew up alongside Jake, who was too engrossed inhis rooting operations to perceive it, or at any rate to bestow anyattention upon it, Tubby had disclosed his plan to his chums, who hailedit with shouts of delight. From his pockets the fat boy produced an appleand a bit of cake. Tubby never traveled far without provisions. "Keepingin touch with his base of supplies," he called it.
It spoke volumes for his enthusiastic belief in the success of his planthat he was willing to offer both of these to Jake as soon as he hadalighted from the buggy. Close behind him came Rob and Merritt, thelatter with the horse's hitching rope in his hand.
"Come, pig! pig! pig! Nice Jake!" warbled Tubby in the most dulcet voicehe could assume.
Jake looked up. His small eyes twinkled. Unsuspectingly he sniffed theair as he perceived a rosy apple temptingly held out toward him.
"It's a shame," laughed Rob, half contritely, "if he hadn't caused a lotof trouble for a mighty nice girl I wouldn't stand for it."
"Pig! pig! pig!" chortled Tubby persuasively.
"Unk! unk! unk!" grunted Jake, wiggling his tail.
"Wonderful how they understand each other, isn't it?" remarked Merrittwith a grin. But Tubby was too intent on what he had in hand to resentthe gross insult.
Closer and closer shuffled Jake, his greedy little eyes on the apple. Allat once he appeared to make up his mind in a hurry. He made a dart forthe tempting bait.
"Now," yelled Tubby.
Quick as a flash, as soon as he heard the preconcerted signal, Merrittflung the looped hitching rope about the pig's neck. Jake gave a squealand wriggled with might and main, but his ears held the rope fromslipping off.
"Give him the apple to keep him quiet," suggested Merritt, as Jakesquealed at the top of his voice.
Tubby proffered the apple and instantly Jake forgot his troubles indevouring it. In the meantime Tubby slipped to the wagon and selected aposter or two and a brush full of paste. Returning, amidst shouts oflaughter from his fellow conspirators, he plentifully "shampooed" Jakewith paste, and then slapped the gaudy yellow bills on till it appearedas if the astute Jake had enveloped himself in a bright orange overcoat.
"Now cut him loose," ordered Rob, when Tubby, with all the satisfactionof a true artist, stepped back to view his completed work.
Merritt slipped the noose, and off down the road toward the farm dashedthe gaudily decorated Jake, conveying the news to all who might see thaton Saturday, April --, there would be a Grand Baseball Game at Hampton,Boy Scouts of The Eagle Patrol _vs._ The Hampton Town Nine.
As the boys, shouting and shaking with laughter, watched this trulyoriginal bit of advertising gallop off down the road, the one touchneeded to complete the picture was filled in. From his dooryard emergedthe farmer. The first thing his eyes lighted on was Jake. For one instanthe regarded the alarmed animal in wonderment. Then, with a yell, herushed into the house.
"Ma! ma! Lucindy!" he bellowed at the top of his voice, "Jake's got theyaller fever, er the jaunders, er suthin'. Come on quick! He's comin'down ther road like ther Empire State Express, and as yaller as a bit ofcorn bread."
At this stage of the proceedings the boys, their sides shaking withlaughter, deemed it prudent to emulate the Arabs of the poem and"silently steal away."
Looking back as they drove off they could see Lucindy and her spouseengaged in a mad chase after the overcoated Jake. Even at that distancethe latter's piercing cries reached their ears with sharp distinctnessand added to their merriment. Rob alone seemed a bit remorseful at thehuge success of Tubby's novel advertising scheme.
"Applegate's a pretty old man, fellows," he remarked, "and maybe we wenta bit too far."
"Well, if his age runs in proportion to his meanness, he'll outliveMethuselah," declared Merritt positively.
The road they followed gradually led into a by-track that joined the mainroad they had left with one that traversed the north side of the island.It was sandy, and at places along its course high banks towered on eachside of it. At length they emerged from one of these sunken lanes andfound on their right an abandoned farm. Quite close to the roadside stooda big, rattletrap-looking barn. It had once been painted red, but neglectand the weather had caused the paint to shale off in huge patches,leaving blotches of bare wood that looked leprous with moss and lichen.
"What do you say if we leave a few souvenirs pasted up there?" saidMerritt.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt the looks of the place, anyhow," decided Rob. "Idoubt if many people come along this road anyway; but I guess we might aswell get busy."
"Well, you two fellows can do the work this time," declared Tubby,stretching out luxuriously in the rig.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to drive down the road and hitch up in the shade of that treeand take a nap."
"That's pretty cool!" exclaimed Merritt.
"I know it is, at least it looks so," responded Tubby.
"Seems to me it's up to you to do some work, too," protested Merritt.
"As if I hadn't just done a big job in labeling that pig," replied Tubby,yawning; "it's your turn now."
Seeing that it was useless to try to turn Tubby from his determination torest, which, next to eating, was his favorite occupation, Rob and Merritttook up their brushes, paste and a roll of bills and set out for thebarn. Tubby watched them languidly a minute and then drove off along thesandy track while the other two clambered up a bank.
From the road the barn had appeared quite close; but when they reachedthe top of the bank they found that, actually, it stood back quite alittle distance beyond a strip of grass and weeds. The boys waded throughthese almost knee-deep, and finally reached the side of the old barn.They set down their buckets and brushes and unrolled some billspreparatory to pasting them up.
Suddenly Merritt raised a warning finger. Rob instantly divined that hischum enjoined silence.
"Hark!" was the word that Merritt's lips framed rather than spoke.
Inside the barn some one was talking,--several persons seemingly. After aminute the boys could distinguish words above the low hum of thespeakers' voices. Suddenly they caught a name: "Mainwaring."
"I guess maybe we might be interested in this," whispered Rob.
By a common impulse the two Boy Scouts moved closer to the moldering wallof the old barn.