Page:The Secret of the Caves.djvu/50

It was a warm afternoon and the others promptly accepted. Six tall, frosted glasses of soda, pink and white and orange in color, were placed before them and imbibed with many gurgles of satisfaction.

"Well, sis," remarked Chet, "I don't know but that I'd trade places with you."

"Yes, you would!" said Iola ironically. "You wouldn't give up that trip for a million dollars."

"I've just been thinking that you're lucky to be staying in town. You'll be able to have ice-cream sodas and we shan't."

"That's true, too," said Joe reflectively. He was very fond of sodas, and he had not considered the matter in this light before.

"Yes, but think of all the fun you'll have. And if you find any treasure in those caves you'll be able to eat ice-cream sodas for the rest of your lives."

"Our lives wouldn't last very long if we did nothing but eat sodas after we came back," laughed Frank. "How about another?"

The girls shook their heads. Chet groaned.

"This is my fifth to-day," he said. "I could take another but I wouldn't have any room left for supper. Guess we'd better quit."

"We'd better," agreed Biff. "If you're sick to-morrow morning we'll start without you."

The thought of this possibility drove all de-