"
Honk! honk! sounded over by the road. The noise continued.
"Greg," said Dick, "that's Miss Sharp's father's man. Evidently
he wants something. You'd better run over."
In less than five minutes back came Greg with three other men,
all of them unexpected. Mr. Alonzo Hibbert, minus his four-quart
hat, and wearing a flat straw hat instead, as well as light clothes
and silk negligee shirt, came in advance of Tom Colquitt, the
man from Blinders' detective agency. Still to the rear of them
was a third man, slightly bent and looking somewhat old, though
there were no gray streaks in his light brown hair.
"How do you do, boys?" called Mr. Hibbert airily, as he came swiftly
forward. "We saw a big smoke over this way, and so we stopped
to find out what was the matter. Young Holmes has asked us to
stop for your barbecue, but it looks to me like a terrible imposition
on you, and so-----"
Here Mr. Hibbert paused, looking highly embarrassed as he caught
sight of Mrs. Bentley and the girls coming out of the tent.
"You already have other company," murmured Hibbert apologetically.
"No; most decidedly we must not intrude on you."
"How do you do, Mr. Colquitt?" was Dr. Bentley's greeting. Then
other introductions followed, and, ere he knew it, Hibbert and
his friends were members of the party and destined to partake
of the barbecue feast.
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