“How are you, Major?”

“Does the leg ache much, Jack?”

“Mr. Phipps says you’ll have to pay for the new rails.”

With these characteristic greetings, the gentlemen cast away their hats and sat down, all grinning cheerfully, and all with eyes irresistibly fixed upon the dainties, which proved too much for the politeness of ever-hungry boys.

“Help yourselves,” said Jack, with a hospitable wave.  “All the dear old ladies in town have been sending in nice things, and I can’t begin to eat them up.  Lend a hand and clear away this lot, or we shall have to throw them out of the window.  Bring on the doughnuts and the tarts and the shaky stuff in the entry closet, Frank, and let’s have a lark.”

No sooner said than done.  Gus took the tarts, Joe the doughnuts, Ed the jelly, and Frank suggested “spoons all round” for the Italian cream.  A few trifles in the way of custard, fruit, and wafer biscuits were not worth mentioning; but every dish was soon emptied, and Jack said, as he surveyed the scene of devastation with great satisfaction,—­

“Call again to-morrow, gentlemen, and we will have another bout.  Free lunches at 5 P.M. till further notice.  Now tell me all the news.”

For half an hour, five tongues went like mill clappers, and there is no knowing when they would have stopped if the little bell had not suddenly rung with a violence that made them jump.

“That’s Jill; see what she wants, Frank;” and while his brother sent off the basket, Jack told about the new invention, and invited his mates to examine and admire.

They did so, and shouted with merriment when the next despatch from Jill arrived.  A pasteboard jumping-jack, with one leg done up in cotton-wool to preserve the likeness, and a great lump of molasses candy in a brown paper, with accompanying note:—­

“Dear Sir,—­I saw the boys go in, and know you are having a nice time, so I send over the candy Molly Loo and Merry brought me.  Mammy says I can’t eat it, and it will all melt away if I keep it.  Also a picture of Jack Minot, who will dance on one leg and waggle the other, and make you laugh.  I wish I could come, too.  Don’t you hate grewel?  I do.—­In haste,

“J.P.”

“Let’s all send her a letter,” proposed Jack, and out came pens, ink, paper, and the lamp, and every one fell to scribbling.  A droll collection was the result, for Frank drew a picture of the fatal fall with broken rails flying in every direction, Jack with his head swollen to the size of a balloon, and Jill in two pieces, while the various boys and girls were hit off with a sly skill that gave Gus legs like a stork, Molly Loo hair several yards long, and Boo a series of visible howls coming out of an immense mouth in the shape of o’s.  The oxen were particularly good, for their horns branched like those of the moose, and Mr. Grant had a patriarchal beard which waved in the breeze as he bore the wounded girl to a sled very like a funeral pyre, the stakes being crowned with big mittens like torches.