"I guess Ned's a little excited," suggested Jerry.

"You guess so-- well, I know so," responded Bob. "Are you all done?"
and he cautiously removed his hands from his ears.

"Tell him about it, Jerry," said Ned, and Jerry told the news.

"It would be fine to go out there," said Bob, reflectively. "But
there's school. We can't get out of that."

They all agreed they could not, and decided the only thing to do was
to wait until the following summer.

"Too bad," remarked Bob with a sigh. "Winter is the best time of the
year out there, too."

In spite of the fact that they knew, under the present circumstances,
they could not go for several months, the boys spent an hour or more
discussing what they would do if they could go to California.

"Oh, what's the use!" exclaimed Ned, when Jerry had spoken of how fine
it would be to hire a motor boat and cruise along the Pacific coast.
"Don't get us all worked up that way, Jerry. Have some regard for our
feelings!"

"Well, let's talk about school. It opens Monday."

"Don't mention it!" cried Ned. "I say-- hello, there's the postman's
whistle. He's coming here."