If you come out smilin' and with what you came after, why--
why, then the cream of their joke has turned a little sour, as you
might say. See?"
Grover laughed. "Yes, I see that plain enough," he agreed. "And
I'm certainly obliged to you. I owed those fellows one. But what
I don't see is how you got those cranks by going down to the
seashore."
"W-e-e-ll, if I'd gone straight up the road to Rogers's our jokin'
friends would have known that's where the cranks came from. I
wanted 'em to think they came from right here. So I went over the
bank back of the shop, where they couldn't see me, along the beach
till I got abreast of Joshua's and then up across lots. I came
back the way I went. I hope those things 'll fit, Major. One of
'em will, I guess likely."
The major laughed again. "I certainly am obliged to you, Mr.
Winslow," he said. "And I must say you took a lot of trouble on my
account."
Jed sighed, although there was a little twinkle in his eye.
"'Twan't altogether on your account," he drawled. "I owed 'em one,
same as you did. I was the crank they sent you to."
Their visitor bade Barbara and her mother good afternoon, gathered
up his cranks and turned to the door.
"I'll step over and start the car," he said. "Then I'll come back
and return these things."
Jed shook his head. "I wouldn't," he said.
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