The details were soon arranged. Sube would invite Gizzard to his house for supper and to spend the night, and Gizzard would, in turn, invite Sube to his house for supper and lodging, and then! Nothing could be simpler. A few moments later Sube was fingering his cap in the presence of Mrs. Tobin and bashfully requesting that Gizzard be permitted to accept the hospitality of the Cane household until the following morning. "Why, it will be all right for Charley to take supper with you, Sube, but what about the bonfire to-night? I never allow Charley to be out so late alone, and his uncle Bert was going to take him to see it. He stopped in here a few minutes ago and said he'd come for Charley at about eleven." Sube swallowed once or twice, and then managed to say, "Oh, that's all right! My mother won't let me go alone, either--" "But who will go with you?" Mrs. Tobin persisted. "Why,--why, my father's going with us!" Mrs. Tobin was mildly astonished. "Your _father_?" she asked. "Oh, yes'm! My father's crazy about fires! He's stuck on bonfires! But he likes every kind of fires. He always goes to fires, even in the middle of the night! He wouldn't miss one for anything! He says a big bonfire is the noblest way to celebrate the ever-glorious Fourth, and he's never missed a single one since we signed the Declaration of Independence from the Germans!" Sube glanced triumphantly at Gizzard while Mrs. Tobin was busy with her thoughts. She was a little uncertain whether Sube had misquoted his father or recent discoveries had upset some more of our traditional history. What the boy had said, sounded like his father, certainly; and she decided to read up her history a bit before attempting to correct him. But while thinking the matter over she busied herself by wrapping up a package containing a toothbrush and certain other nocturnal necessities for her son, and reminding him to wash behind his ears and put on a clean collar before he went. "It was that there hist'ry that put it acrost," Gizzard admitted as he and Sube passed out of the house. "It must of been the Germans." "Why I knew all the time it was the Germans! Don't you s'pose I know the hist'ry of the country I live in? Now you be sure you call it the Germans when you go in and spout before _my_ mother." "Me?--_Me_ spout before _your_ mother?" "Yes, _you_! Didn't I spout 'fore _your_ mother?" "Yes, Sube, but I ain't a very good spouter. I get too dumb scairt!" "Now don't back out on me, Giz!" pleaded Sube, "I got you off, didn't I? Well, then, you gotta get me off! Now I'll tell you what to do. You tell her about your uncle Bert first pop, and then she won't have any excuse to say no!" "I will if I can remember it," mumbled Gizzard. "I get so scairt I can't remember nothin'."