eat while I talk."

"Better not try it, Jack," cautioned Rand, "for if you eat as
fast as you talk or talk as fast as you eat you will either starve
yourself or choke."

"All right," laughed Jack, "if that is the case I'll eat first
and talk afterwards," and this he would do, notwithstanding the
pleadings of the others, anxious to share in any exciting news.




CHAPTER III

TWO AND TWO


While the boys are finishing their breakfast it may be well to
introduce them to the reader. The four, who were known among their
acquaintances as the "inseparables," had been classmates for several
terms at School No. I, of Creston, from which they had graduated
the previous year and were now students of the Hilltop Academy,
where they were preparing for college.

Rand--Randolph in full, surname Peyton--who was slightly the eldest
of the four, was the nephew of Mr. Scott, president of the Creston
National Bank. He was a native of Virginia, having come to Creston
after the death of his father some two years before this time, with
his mother and sister. He was bright, but inclined to be indolent,