Inside, Silvey's glance took in the prostrate figures of Sid, Red Brown, and Perry Alford, who were packed so closely together in the enclosure that they could scarcely move, then roamed listlessly past John with his insignia of office, out to the sunlit fence and railroad tracks. Red yawned wearily. "Hurry up and do something, Sil." "Where's Skinny?" asked the president. "Down town with Mrs. Mosher," Sid volunteered. "She wanted him to help her carry packages home." "Gee," commented Perry, sympathetically. "If I had her for a mother, I'd run away. Honest, I would!" "And the Harrison kids?" "Both sick in bed. Too many pork chops again." "Master-at-arms and secretary," Silvey raised his voice. "Come on in." John squatted in the doorway and gazed meaningly at his superior. They had walked home from school together that afternoon, and instructions upon the proper way of opening a meeting had been profuse. Silvey grew palpably nervous. "This here meeting," he blurted at last. "That isn't the way I told you." John shook the revolver in disapproval. "Meeting will now come to order." "Meeting will now come to order," Silvey repeated mechanically. "Secretary call the roll." John snapped his fingers in disgust. He had been so busy looking after Silvey's duties that he'd forgotten his own. There was an interchange of glances between the two before the president spoke up scornfully, "We'll have to let that go. Who'll be in the gang this year?" Each member present raised a hand. The two leaders in the affair beamed. Everything augured for a successful night of sport. "What'll we do?" "Let's go outside where there's room," Sid suggested. "My leg's gone to sleep." "Now," said John a few minutes later, as the five boys stretched themselves out on the soft grass beside the shack, "there's the garbage cans on the flats' back porches. They're never, taken in on Halloween." Silvey nodded. "'Member the chase the janitor gave us last year before we had half of 'em spilled?" "That was because we started at the bottom and worked up," explained the master strategist. "This time we'll begin at the top and spill 'em out as we go down. We'll be off before the janitor learns about it." Red chewed on a blade of grass thoughtfully. "Leave milk bottles alone this time. 'Specially old lady Boyer's."