"I'll agree to pay for as much candy as you care to eat," he said, accepting the challenge without objection. Bob stared at him. "Do you mean it?" "Certainly. Why do you question it?" "But"--faltered Bob in amazement, "you never promised anything like that before." "I may never promise it again, so make the most of it," was the dry retort. Although Bob did not reply he by no means forgot the unprecedented offer, and that the memory of it might be equally fresh in his father's mind he spoke of it once again when the three parted the next morning. "Well, Dad, we're off for the Bonbon World," he called as he passed the library door where his father sat looking over the morning's mail. "Remember you are going to O.K. any candy bills we run up." "I'm backing you for all you can eat," nodded Mr. Carlton. "Dad sure is game!" Bob declared as he and Van stepped into the waiting motor-car and began their ride to the factory. "He'll play it out, too. He never goes back on his word." "I'm afraid he'll be in for something then," grinned Van. Both boys were more than ever convinced of the truth of this remark when they entered the factory and were greeted by the mingled aroma of chocolate, wintergreen and molasses. "I could eat ten pounds of chocolates this minute!" exclaimed Van. "Go easy. Remember, we've got to wait until we have made the entire tour of this factory before we can have so much as a single caramel. You mustn't go getting up your appetite so soon." "But smell it, Bobbie! Why, the whole place is one mellifluous smudge. What do you say we chuck Colversham and get a job here? Think of having pounds of candy--tons of it--around all the time! Wouldn't it be a snap!" Van was cut short in his rhapsody by the approach of a pleasant faced lad of about his own age who was dressed from head to foot in white and wore a little white cap, across the front of which was printed in gold letters the word _Eureka_. "Are you Mr. Carlton?" he inquired of Van. "I'm not, but my chum is." "We were expecting you," the boy answered, turning to Bob. "I am to show you and your friend through the works. Will you kindly step this way?" Tagging at the heels of their white-robed guide Bob and Van made their way through a large storeroom stacked to the ceiling with fancy boxes of various sizes, shapes, and colors. "Give up Colversham, Bob, and maybe you could come here and wear a white suit every day and personally conduct visitors through the works; perhaps they'd even pay you in bonbons," whispered Van. "He must be about our age," returned Bob. "I wonder what they pay him." "I'd lots rather have had a man take us round," said Van softly. "Do you suppose this fellow knows anything?"