"Darry!" exclaimed Jessie Norwood. "I thought you and Burd went to his aunt's."

"And we came back. That is an awful place. There's an uncle, too--a second crop uncle. And both uncle and auntie are vegetarians, or something. Maybe it's their religion. Anyway, they eat like horses--oats, and barley, and chopped straw. We were there for two meals. Shall we ever catch up on our regular rations, Burd?"

"I've my doubts," said his friend. "Say, Nick, bring me a plate of the fillingest thing there is on your bill of fare."

"In just a minute," replied the clerk, hopping around the other table to have Belle Ringold and her friends repeat their orders.

Belle had immediately begun preening when Darry and Burd came in. That the two college youths were so much older, and that they merely considered Amy and Jessie "kids," made no difference to Belle. She really thought that she was quite grown up and that college men should be interested in her.

"We had just finished, boys," Jessie managed to say in a low tone. "We had not even paid for our sundaes."

Darry and Burd just then caught sight of the punched check lying on the table and they both reached for it. There was some little rivalry over who should pay the score, but Darry won.

"Leave it to me," he said cheerfully. "Girls shouldn't be trusted with money anyway."

"Oh! Oh!" gurgled Amy, choked with laughter again.

"What's the matter with you, Sis?" demanded her brother.

Jessie forbade her chum to tell, by a hard stare and a determined shake of her head. It was all right to have Darry pay the check--it was really a relief--but it did not seem to Jessie as though she could endure having the matter made an open joke of.

The four settled about the little table. But the Ringold crowd was too near. Belle turned sideways in her chair, even before they were served, and, being at Darry's elbow, insisted upon talking to him.

"Talk about my aunt!" said Burd Alling, grinning. "I'll tell the world that somebody has a crush on Sir Galahad that's as plain to be seen as a wart on the nose of Venus."

"Of all the metaphors!" exclaimed Amy.

Jessie feared that Belle would overhear the comments of Burd and her chum, and she hurried the eating of her second sundae.

"I must get home, Darry," she explained. "Momsy has gone without me in her car and will be surprised not to find me there."

"Sure," agreed Burd quickly. "We'll gobble and hobble. Can't you tear yourself away, Darry?" he added, with a wicked grin.

Amy's brother tried politely to turn away from Belle. But the latter caught him by the coat sleeve and held on while she chattered like a magpie to the young college man. She smiled and shook her bobbed curls and altogether acted in a rather ridiculous way.

Darry looked foolish, then annoyed. His sister was in an ecstasy of delight. She enjoyed her big brother's annoyance. She and Jessie and Burd had finished their cream.

"Come on, Darry," Burd drawled, taking a hint from the girls. "Sorry you are off your feed and can't finish George Washington's finest product. I'll eat it for you, if you say so, and then we'll beat it."

He reached casually for Darry's plate; but the latter would not yield it without a struggle. The incident, however, gave Darry a chance to break away from the insistent Belle. The latter stared at the two girls at Darry's table, sniffed, and tossed her head.

"Yes, Mr. Drew," she said in her high-pitched voice, "I suppose you have to take the children home in good season, or they would be chastised."

"Ouch!" exclaimed Burd. "I bet that hurt you, Amy."

Darry had picked up both checks from the table. Belle smiled up at him and moved her check to the edge of her table as Darry rather grimly bade her good-night. He refused to see that check, but strode over to the desk to pay the others.

"That girl ought to get a job at a broadcasting station," growled out Darry, as they went out upon the street. "I never knew before she was such a chatterbox. Don't need any radio rigging at all where she is."

"Oh, wouldn't it be fun to get a chance to work at a broadcasting station?" Amy cried. "We could sing, Jess. You know we sing well together.

'The Dartmoor Boy' and 'Bobolink, Bobolink, Spink-spank-spink' and----"

"And 'My Old Kentucky Blues,'" broke in Burd Alling. "If you are going to broadcast anything like that, give us something up to date."

"You hush," Amy said. "If Jess and I ever get the chance we shall be an honor to the program. You'll see."

That the two young fellows had returned so much earlier than had been expected was a very fortunate thing, Jessie and Amy thought. For their a.s.sistance was positively needed in the work of making ready for the Fourth of July bazaar on the Norwood place, they declared.

There were only three days in which to do everything. "And believe me," groaned Burd before the first day was ended, "we're doing everything. Talk about being in training for the scrub team!"

"It will do you good, Burdie," cooed Amy, knowing that the diminutive of Burd Alling's name would fret him. "You are getting awfully plump, you know you are."

"I feel it peeling off," he grumbled. "Don't fear. No fellow will ever get too fat around you two girls. Never were two such young Simon Legrees before since the world began!"

But the four accomplished wonders. Of course the committee and their a.s.sistants and some of the other young people came to help with the decorations. But the two girls and Amy's older brother and his friend set up the marquees and strung the j.a.panese lanterns, in each of which was a tiny electric light.

"No candle-power fire-traps for us," Jessie said. "And then, candles are always blowing out."

About all the relaxation they had during the time until the eve of the Fourth was in Jessie's room, listening to the radio concerts. Mr.

Norwood brought out from the city a two-step amplifier and a horn and they were attached to the instrument.

The third of the month, with the help of the men servants on the Norwood place, the tent for the radio concert was set up between the house and the driveway, and chairs were brought from the parish house to seat a hundred people. It was a good tent, and there were hangings which had been used in some church entertainment in the past to help make it sound proof.

They strung through it a few electric bulbs, which would give light enough. And the lead wire from the aerials, well grounded, was brought directly in from overhead and connected with the radio set.

"I hope that people will patronize the tent generously," Jessie said.

"We can give a show every hour while the crowd is here."

"What are you going to charge for admission?" Amy asked.

"Momsy says we ought to get a quarter. But ten cents----"

"Ten cents for children, grown folks a quarter," suggested Amy. "The kids will keep coming back, but the grown folks will come only once."

"That is an idea," agreed Jessie. "But what bothers me is the fact that there are only concerts at certain times. We ought to begin giving the shows early in the afternoon. Of course, the radio is just as wonderful when it brings weather reports and agricultural prices as when Toscanini sings or Volburg plays the violin," and she laughed.

"But----"

"I've got it!" cried her chum, with sudden animation. "Give lectures."

"What! You, Amy Drew, suggesting such a horrid thing? And who will give the lecture?"

"Oh, this is a different sort of lecture. Tell a little story about the radio, what has already been done with it, and what is expected of it in the future. I believe you could do it nicely, Jess. That sort of lecture I would stand for myself."

"I suppose somebody has got to attend to the radio and talk about it.

I had not thought of that," agreed Jessie. "I'll see what the committee say. But me lecture? I never did think of doing that!" she proclaimed, in no little anxiety.