"Talk to me about the Sphinx! Frank has the old relic beaten to a
frazzle!"

Three boys gathered eagerly around the fourth as they bombarded him after
this fashion. Frank Langdon looked at the faces of his chums and laughed
again.

"Well, it would be a shame to keep you squirming on the anxious seat any
longer, boys, and I'm going to take you into my confidence just as fast
as I can. Sit down and hold your oars. Jerry, pull that stool up; Will,
the settee must do for you and Bluff. Now, are you ready?" he asked,
tantalizingly.

"Crazy to hear!" was the characteristic reply of Bluff, otherwise Richard
Masters, son of Centerville's greatest lawyer.

"Tell me about that, will you?" exclaimed Jerry Wallington.

"Please go on before we explode!" begged Will Milton.

"These things always have a beginning, you know. This one happens
to be founded on the fact that we are close to our annual Christmas
vacation, and that this year it happens that we're going to enjoy
two full weeks--you know that?" said Frank.

"Of course we do, thanks to that steam-heater getting out of order. But
don't rehash old stuff. That's history by now. What we want is the meat
in the cocoanut. Please hit for the bull's-eye, first chop," pleaded
Will.