 Jerry, that's Ferox. Wait a second. Yeah, yes, have them confirm delivery of both of them. Yes, sir, will you be in the hotel? Yes, I'll be in the dining room for dinner, and if I'm not going to be in the hotel later, I'll leave word with the clerk where I'll be. Yes, sir, thank you, Mr. Randall. OK. Mr. Randall? Oh, all right, I'll be right in, as soon as my young guests arrive. Yes, sir. Oh, no, Jerry, over here. Ah, gee, this is your surprise, Mr. Randall. I should say it is, sir. We haven't eaten anywhere except the mess hall and Max since I came to Ferox. Well, I thought it might be a nice change for you. Oh, it sure is. Golly, it's like old times with the circus, isn't it? Yeah. Well, are you lads ready for dinner? Oh, yes, sir. All right, come along into the dining room. Gee, this is a nice hotel. I've never been in here before, have you, Lee? Oh, just once, when Uncle Ross and Mrs. Thor brought me up here to Ferox. Oh, yeah. Say, Mr. Randall, there are a lot of people here, aren't there? What a few, son, yeah. I wonder what they're all doing in Ferox. Well, I think most of them are traveling people, Jerry. You know, salesmen. Oh, yeah, sure. Ferox is quite a thriving little city. This is probably one of their best stops. All right here, Mr. Randall. Here's your table. All right, thanks, Bill. Come along, boys. All right. A menu, sir? Yeah, yeah. Well, let's see. Well, what are you boys going to have? Well, I think I'll have, uh, what are you going to have, Lee? Uh, well, I don't know yet, Jerry. How would you like to have me order for you, boys? Oh, yes, well. All right, and we'll have the vegetable soup, chef's salad, and filet mignon. How do you like your steaks, boys? Lee? Oh, just medium, I guess, sir. I'll take mine the same, please. That's all right for me, too. Bake potatoes, spinach. Well, uh. Jerry, you'll take spinach and like it. Well, OK. Milk, boys. Please, sir. And I'll have some coffee later. We'll decide on the desserts later, too. Yes, sir. Thank you. Well, Lee, I got the telegram off to Mr. Thorpe. Oh, thank you, sir. I'm sure he'll give his permission for you to join Jerry and Bruce during vacation time, even though you'll have to go on to Mapleton afterward instead of coming back to Faroaks. Yes, sir. You don't look forward very much to leaving the academy, do you, son? No, sir, I certainly don't. Well, Lee, may seem a little peculiar to you that I came up here to Faroaks two days before the midterm exercises. Well, sir, I just thought you were taking a little extra vacation yourself. Yes, I know that's what I told you, but that wasn't it at all. Oh? No. Yesterday afternoon, I received a long distance telephone call from your roommate here. Will you call Mr. Randall and ask him to come up early, Jerry? Yeah, Lee, I did. See, Lee, Jerry had something on his mind that he wanted to ask me before the end of the term. Well, there were really two things, Mr. Randall. Yeah, yeah, there's two. Well, Lee already knows the first one. Now, about the invitation to spend vacation with him at Circus One, of course, sir. That's right, that's right. But, well, the second idea that could that Jerry Duggan cook up is really quite a bit more important than the first one, Lee. Oh, is that so, sir? Yeah, quite a bit more important. Jerry, why don't you tell Lee what it is right now? Oh, right now, huh? I think this is as good a time as any, don't you? Well, sir, I thought you were, I mean... Oh, you want me to tell Lee, is that it? Yes, sir. No, son, that's your idea, and I think you should tell Lee about it. Go ahead, Jerry. Well, it's like this, Lee. You know, I told you about that property my dad left me. Mm-hmm, yes, I know about that. And that a railroad company wanted to buy your property so they could build a branch line over it, wasn't it? Yeah. Well, I've got quite a lot of money in the bank, Lee, and... and, well, I want to lend you enough money so you can come back to Farrokh's next term and finish up this year. What do you say? Well, thanks, Jerry. That means a lot to me. Just your offering to lend the money to me, but... Well, I can't take it. Why not? Well, because, well, Jerry, if the business back home is as bad as Mr. Thorpe says it is, well, I might never be able to pay you back. Oh, well, gee, I don't care, Lee. I don't care if you never pay it back. Well, that's swell of you, but I... You know, I can't take it. Oh, God. Ready for the soup, sir? Oh, yes, that's fine. All right, boys, start in. And, Lee... Yes? Suppose I could get Mr. Thorpe's permission for you to borrow the money from Jerry. Would you be willing to accept a loan under those conditions? No, sir. No, that wouldn't make any difference. Well, let me put it this way. Suppose we were to find out that this, uh... Well, this situation in the organization of Waterman and Phillips is just temporary. That without any doubt in a few months, everything would be all right again. Then, uh, would you accept Jerry's loan? Well, I suppose that... Wait a minute. Waterman and Phillips? Well, you know the name of the... Yes, I do, son. I know the name of your father's business, and I knew your father, too, very well. Oh, gee, I... Lee, I've been doing business with Waterman and Phillips for years. I've bought all my advertising paper from your dad for more than 15 years. Well, gee, what do you know about that? Howly. As a matter of fact, I've just been to Mapleton and made arrangements for the printing of all my circus posters and billboards and hand bills for next season. I, uh, I don't know what this situation is that's forcing you to leave Fair Oaksley, but whatever it is, I'm certain it's not going to last. I'm sure it's just purely temporary. Now, uh, what do you say about taking Jerry up on his offer? Well, gee, this is all so kind of sudden. All right, all right, then. You, you think it over. Uh, I'll tell you another good idea. Finished with the soup, Mr. Reynolds. Oh, yes, yes, of course. Take it away. Yes, sir. Uh, I was going to suggest this, too, Lee. Yes, sir? That, uh, if Mr. Thorpe allows you to come to Winter Quarters with Jerry and Bruce, we'll take a little run down to Mapleton from Melrose City during the vacation time, and I'll have a talk with Mr. Thorpe about this loan business. Oh, say, Mr. Randall, that'll be swell. Golly, yeah. Then we can see your old home, Lee, the one that Mr. Thorpe bought. Well, yes, sure you can. Uh, Mr. Thorpe bought your old home, did he, Lee? Yes, sir. After Dad died, Mr. Thorpe thought that we'd better sell the place out in the country, and he also bought the house in town for himself and Mrs. Thorpe. I see. Big house, is it? Well, yes, sir. I guess it is pretty big. 14 rooms. Mm, yeah. Uh, Mr. Thorpe pay a pretty good price for it? Price? Oh, I don't know anything about that, Mr. Randall. See, he told me he'd take care of everything through the bank. I understand. Oh, well, here's our dinner, lads. Well, let's forget business and loans for a while and enjoy our steaks, hm? Well, I can certainly enjoy mine a whole lot more right now, Mr. Randall. After you told me that you were sure this thing that's happened to the business for the last long. More? Sure, son. That's a way to look at everything anyway. You know, more people suffer from fear in this world of ours than actual misfortune. Well, come on, dig in. All right, steaks all right. Um, how's the spinach, Jerry? Spinach? Oh, well, uh. All right now, all right. You dig into that spinach, too, young man. If you don't, you won't get any dessert. Oh, golly. Well, here goes, then. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, pardon me. Telegram for you, Mr. Randall? Telegram. Oh, you mean the, uh, confirmation of delivery, don't you? This is a straight message. Oh, all right, thanks. That's quick service. Wonder if it's for Mr. Thorpe, please. Yeah, I wonder, too. Very interesting. Now, say, this steak'll get cold if I don't get out of here pretty soon. Uh, Mr. Randall? Yes, Jerry? That, that telegram, was it, was it from? Uh, yes, son, it was from Melrose City. Oh, well, I mean, was it from? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yep, it was from Mr. Ross Thorpe. Oh, gee, Mr. Randall, quit kidding. Won't you please, please tell us what he said? All right, all right. I'll tell you. In fact, I'll read it to you. Mr. Sam Randall, care of, uh, Fair Oaks Hotel? Fair Oaks... Oh, golly, go ahead, Mr. Randall. All right. Glad to grant permission to Lee Phillips visit your circus with his roommate. Stop. Happy the boy can enjoy vacation before returning home here, Ross Thorpe. Oh, be, be, be. Jerry, Jerry. Oh, gee. I forgot where I was. Isn't that swell? Oh, you bet it is. Oh, thanks, Mr. Randall. That's all right, son. I'm more than tickled that Jerry's going to be able to show you all the sights of the circus and give you a little taste of circus life. And say, I'm glad because of another reason, too. What's that, Mr. Randall? That you'll be kept so busy showing Lee around that you'll be out from under my feet while you're there. Oh, no. Well, then it's all right. Well, then it's all settled. Now, you see, Jerry Dugan, you see how easily things work out in this old life of ours if we just look at our problems with a sense of humor, take them apart and see what started them in the first place? Sure, sure. There isn't a problem in this world that couldn't be solved if everybody'd go after trying to find a solution that way. Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm sorry to bother you again, Mr. Randall. That's all right. What is it? This telegram. Another one has come for you, sir. Oh, all right. Thanks. Uh, Mr. Randall. Yes, son? Is that... I mean... Oh, excuse me, I... I didn't mean to be rude. I was just wondering... No, that's all right, Jerry. No, uh, this isn't another telegram from Mr. Thorpe. It's, uh, one answer to a wire I sent to Jim Bennett. Jim Bennett? At the circus, huh? That's right. But this is one telegram I can't read to you. For a while yet.