"They met me on the street about an hour ago," said Seddon, "and proposed that we three should accompany them on a serenade, intended for the entertainment of Ida." "How far does Crabstick live from the town?" inquired Toney. "About two miles," said Tom. "Let us go," said Toney. "I will arrange with some young men in Bella Vista, who will eagerly participate in the performance. We will have fun," said Seddon. "There is nothing like fun," said the Professor. "I am about to originate a sect to be called the Funny Philosophers. Let's organize it at once. We three,--Toney, Tom, and Tickle." "Agreed," said Toney. "And now we will commence operations by going on the proposed serenade," said the Professor. "And Pate and Wiggins shall leave this town!" said Tom Seddon. CHAPTER XVIII. There was no moon, but the stars were brightly twinkling, when Toney, Tom, and the Professor started, in company with Wiggins and M. T. Pate, on a pedestrian excursion to the mansion of Samuel Crabstick, situated at a distance of about two miles from the town of Bella Vista. They had proceeded some distance when they came to a rustic stile which had been erected over a fence on the side of the main road, and from which a path led through a field into a forest. Toney seated himself on the stile and proposed that they should diverge from the main road and follow the path across the field; saying that it was the most direct route to their place of destination. "I would prefer the main road," said Pate. "It is more circuitous; but there is no moon, and it will be very dark in yonder forest. We will have difficulty in finding our way through it." "Not at all," said Toney, "I know every foot of the path, which runs in a straight line to the place we are going." "Then, let us take the path," said the Professor. "When beauty is the attraction I always want to make a bee-line for her abode." "That is in accordance with natural laws," said Toney. "Who ever saw pyrites of iron taking a circuitous route to the magnet? Ida is the magnet. Is it not so, Tom?" Tom nodded assent. "And we are the pyrites," said the Professor. "Let us go straight to the attraction, and not be acting contrary to the laws of nature." Pate was overcome by these arguments, and, ascending the stile, was about to pursue that path, when Toney called out,-- "Don't be in a hurry, Mr. Pate. We have plenty of time." "In fact, it is too early yet for a serenade," said the Professor. "We should wait until the young lady has put on her nightcap. If we wake her out of her first nap, when she has been wandering in the fairy-land of dreams, her impression will be that angels are singing around her window." "That is so," said Toney. "Let us wait. I have a proposition to make." "What is that?" asked the Professor. "Here we are going on a serenade," said Toney. "Now, I move that each man furnish evidence of his musical accomplishments by singing a song. Let Mr. Pate lead off."