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26
ROVER BOYS ON TREASURE ISLE

sweetly. "But yo' see—I—dat is——" She stopped short. "Wot's dat?" she cried.

"Wot?"

"Dat hump on yo' back?"

"Ain't no hump on my back," answered Aleck

"Suah da is."

"He's got a sign on, too," put in Peter Thomas. "Look wot it reads, 'I hab got to hump to cotch de widow.' Hah! hah! hah! Dot's a good one."

"Yo' needn't hump yo'self to cotch me," cried the widow, wrathfully. "I'se engaged to Mistah Thomas." And she smiled on the individual in question.

Crestfallen and bewildered, Aleck felt of his back and took off his coat. He squeezed the rubber rabbit so hard that it exploded with a bang, scaring himself and the others.

"Dat's a trick on me!" roared the Rover's man, and tore the rabbit from his coat. "Dem boys did dat!"

"I can't see yo' to-night, or any udder night, Mistah Pop," said the widow. "I'se engaged to Mistah Thomas."

"Den good-night," growled Aleck, and turning on his heel he started for home.

Tom and Sam saw that he was angry, yet they had to roar at the scene presented. They