"Three-tenths of a second," said Roy.

"He'll be too frightened to eat," said Dora Daring.

"He's never too frightened to eat," said Connie Bennett.

"He consumes pie while he's consumed with fear," Roy said.

"He consumes everything," said Warde.

"Oh, what will we ever _do_?" Minerva walled, wringing her arms in
desperation.

"The thing to do is to reach him before he gets really started," said
Doc Carson, who was ever thoughtful and far-sighted. "When he starts
he works fast. I don't think he's really begun yet. He believes in
fair play and he wouldn't start before ten o'clock--that's refreshment
time, isn't it?"

"It was to be," said Minerva.

"That's the time we were waiting for," said Brownie.

"Has he a watch?" Margaret asked.

"Yes, it's usually about twenty minutes fast," said Roy.

"Oh, isn't that perfectly _terrible_!" said Dora.