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diff --git a/old/30961.txt b/old/30961.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..930a4ca --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30961.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7174 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Rushton Boys at Rally Hall, by Spencer +Davenport + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Rushton Boys at Rally Hall + Or, Great Days in School and Out + + +Author: Spencer Davenport + + + +Release Date: January 14, 2010 [eBook #30961] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUSHTON BOYS AT RALLY HALL*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank, D Alexander, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +THE RUSHTON BOYS AT RALLY HALL + +Or + +Great Days in School and Out + +by + +SPENCER DAVENPORT + +Author of "The Rushton Boys in the Saddle," "The Rushton Boys at +Treasure Cove," etc. + + + + + + + +Whitman Publishing Co. +Racine, Wisconsin + + + * * * * * + +BOOKS FOR BOYS + +BY + +SPENCER DAVENPORT + +THE RUSHTON BOYS SERIES + + THE RUSHTON BOYS AT RALLY HALL + _Or, Great Days in School and Out_ + THE RUSHTON BOYS IN THE SADDLE + _Or, The Ghost of the Plains_ + THE RUSHTON BOYS AT TREASURE COVE + _Or, The Missing Chest of Gold_ + + * * * * * + + +Copyright, 1916 +George Sully & Company + +Printed by +Western Printing & Lithographing Co. +Racine, Wisconsin + +Printed in U. S. A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. A RASH IMPULSE 1 + II. THE RUNAWAY 8 + III. A NARROW ESCAPE 15 + IV. FACING THE MUSIC 22 + V. UNCLE AARON RAGES 30 + VI. TEDDY'S BANISHMENT 38 + VII. THE MISSING PAPERS 45 + VIII. A FRUITLESS SEARCH 53 + IX. CHASING THE TRAMPS 60 + X. BUNK GOES CRAZY 68 + XI. THE ROBBERY 76 + XII. OFF FOR RALLY HALL 85 + XIII. ANDY SHANKS, BULLY 91 + XIV. "HARDTACK" RALLY 98 + XV. LEARNING THE ROPES 104 + XVI. A JOLLY CROWD 111 + XVII. TEDDY'S JOKE 118 + XVIII. KICKING THE PIGSKIN 125 + XIX. THE MAN WITH THE SCAR 133 + XX. A RATTLING GAME 147 + XXI. A DESPERATE STRUGGLE 155 + XXII. ANDY SHANKS GETS BUSY 162 + XXIII. THE BLOW FALLS 168 + XXIV. A PUZZLING CASE 175 + XXV. TO THE RESCUE 182 + XXVI. SID WILTON TELLS 190 + XXVII. THE BASEBALL TEAM 196 + XXVIII. AN EXCITING BATTLE 202 + XXIX. ANDY SHANKS "GETS HIS" 218 + XXX. THE CAPTURE--CONCLUSION 231 + + + + +THE RUSHTON BOYS AT RALLY HALL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A RASH IMPULSE + + +"Get back, Jim. It's over your head." + +The ball had left the bat with a ringing crack that made it soar high +into the air toward left field. + +Jim Dabney, who was playing left, made a hard run for it, but stumbled +over a clump of grass, and the ball just touched the end of his fingers. + +"Wow!" he yelled, wringing his hand, "there's another nail gone." + +"Never mind your hand, Jim!" yelled the second baseman. "Put it in here. +Quick!" + +Fred Rushton, who had hit the ball, was streaking it for second, and +Jim, forgetting his injured hand, picked up the ball and threw it in. +Fred saw that it was going to be a tight squeeze and made a slide for +the base. The ball got there at almost the same time, and for a moment +there was a flying tangle of arms and legs. Then Fred rose to his feet +and brushed the dust from his clothes. + +"Never touched me," he remarked, with a slight grin. + +"No," agreed Tom Benton, the second baseman. "It was a pretty close call +though." + +He threw the ball to the pitcher and Fred danced about between second +and third. + +"Bring me in now, Jack!" he shouted to Jack Youmans, the batter. "Hit it +right on the trademark." + +Jack made a savage swing but met only the empty air. + +"Never mind, Jack," called Fred cheerfully. "Better luck next time. What +did I tell you?" he added, as the ball, meeting the bat squarely, went +whizzing past just inside third. + +Jim Dabney, who was playing close up, made a clever pick-up and threw it +straight as a die for home. Fred had passed third and was legging it for +the plate with all his might. But this time the ball had a shade the +better of it, and Fred was nabbed just as he slid over the rubber. + +"Good try, old boy, but you just didn't make it," cried Bob Ellis, the +catcher, as he clapped the ball on him. + +"Sure thing," admitted Fred, "but it was worth taking a chance." + +There were three out, and the other side came in for its inning. Jim +Dabney was all smiles, as he came over to Fred. + +"How was that for a throw, Fred?" he asked. "Pretty nifty, I call it." + +"It was a peach," assented Fred. "You got me good and proper and I'm not +saying a word. That wing of yours is certainly all right. How's the +hand? Did you hurt it badly?" + +"Only started another nail," answered Jim. "I suppose that will turn +black now and begin to come off. That'll make the third I've lost this +year. Lucky it was on the left hand, though." + +"Cheer up, Jim," laughed Bob, "you've got seven nails left." + +But, obviously, Jim did not need cheering up. His good-natured face was +aglow with satisfaction. He had made a good stop and had thrown his man +out at the plate. Then, too, he rather gloated over his scars in secret, +and would exhibit them on occasion with all the pride of a soldier +showing his wounds received in battle. They were so many proofs of his +prowess on the diamond. + +It would be straining a point, perhaps, to call the field on which the +boys were playing a "diamond." At the best it was a "diamond in the +rough." Half a mile away, on the other side of the village of Oldtown, +there was a real baseball field, well laid out and kept in good +condition. There was a fine turf infield, a spacious and closely cut +outfield and the base lines were clearly marked. The townspeople took +considerable pride in the grounds, that were much above the average for +villages of that size, and, on Saturday afternoons, almost the whole +male population of the town was to be found watching the game and +"rooting" for the home team. + +But on this day the boys were practicing on a lot directly behind the +home of Fred Rushton, who was the captain of their school nine. Big +stones marked the position of the bases, and the "rubber" at the home +plate was a sheet of tin. Although the infield was fairly smooth, the +lot further out was rough and clumpy, and it was risky work running for +high flies, as Jim had proved to his cost. But it was good practice, and +the enthusiasm and high spirits of the boys made up for all defects in +the playing field. It is safe to say that no highly paid athlete, +prancing over the velvet sward of major league grounds, got so much real +fun out of the game as these lads with their makeshift diamond. + +Most of the boys playing were members of the Oldtown school team, but +enough others had been picked up to make a scrub game of seven on a +side. Two players had to cover the whole outfield, and each side was +minus a shortstop. Even with this handicap, the game had been a good +one, and, after one more inning had been played, Fred's side had come +out two runs ahead. It was getting late in the afternoon, and the boys, +flushed and dusty, had begun to draw on their coats. + +"Oh, don't go yet, fellows," urged Teddy Rushton, Fred's younger +brother. "I haven't had half enough baseball yet. I'm as full of pep as +when I began." + +"Oh, come off," retorted Bob Ellis. "Don't you see where the sun is? +It's getting near supper time. It's too late to start another game." + +"Who said anything about another game?" replied Teddy. "I'm going to do +some fungo hitting. Get out there, you fellows, and I'll knock you some +flies. Go along, Jim, and I'll take off another nail." + +"You'd better not," grinned Jim, but scampered out just the same, +followed by three or four others, whose appetite for the game, like +Teddy's own, had not been fully satisfied. + +Teddy had a keen eye and a good arm, and there were few boys of his age +who could hit the ball harder or send it further. Usually, too, he could +gauge the distance and knock a fly so that it would fall almost in the +fielder's hands. But to-day the ball seemed to take a perverse delight +in falling either too short or too far out, and the boys were kept on +the run, with only an occasional catch to reward their efforts. + +"Have a heart, Teddy!" shouted Jim, red and perspiring. "Put 'em where a +fellow can get 'em." + +"Get a move on, why don't you?" called Teddy in return. "I can't help it +if you run like ice wagons. I hit them all right." + +"Hit!" snorted Jim wrathfully. "You couldn't hit the water, if you fell +overboard." + +A little nettled by the taunt, Teddy looked about him. He caught sight +of a stage, drawn by two horses, jogging along the road that ran beside +the field. A glint of mischief came into his eyes and he gripped his bat +tightly. Here was a chance to prove that Jim was wrong. + +The stage coach was coming from the railroad station at Carlette, a mile +away, where it had been to meet the five-thirty P. M. train. Business +had not been very brisk, judging from the fact that the ramshackle old +vehicle carried only one passenger, a rather elderly man dressed in +black, who sat on one of the side seats with his back toward the boys. A +bag of mail was on the front seat alongside the driver, a lank, +slab-sided individual, in a linen duster that had evidently seen better +days. He held the reins listlessly over the horses, who moved slowly +along, as though they were half asleep. Coach and horses and driver were +so dead and alive, so Rip Van Winkle-like, that the temptation was +almost irresistible to stir them up, to wake them out of their dream. To +Teddy, with his native love of mischief, it proved wholly irresistible. + +"Can't hit anything, eh?" he yelled to Jim. "Just watch me." + +He took careful aim, caught the ball full on the end of the bat and sent +it straight as a bullet toward the coach. Even as he swung, he heard the +startled cry of his brother: + +"Don't, Teddy, don't!" + +But it was too late. + +The ball struck the gray horse a glancing blow on the flank and caromed +off into the coach, catching the solitary passenger full in the back of +the neck. He fell over toward the opposite side, grasping at the seat to +steady himself. + +The effect was electric. If Teddy had wanted action, he got it--got it +beyond his wildest dream. + +The gray horse, stung and frightened by the sudden blow, reared high in +the air and threw himself against his companion. The sorrel, catching +the contagion, plunged forward. The startled driver tried to hold them +in, but they had gotten beyond him. The frenzied brutes rushed on down +the hill, the old coach bumping and swaying wildly behind them. + +Dazed and scared, the author of the mischief dropped his bat. Horror +stole into his eyes and his face showed white beneath its coat of tan. + +The horses were running away! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE RUNAWAY + + +At the point where the coach was moving when Teddy's hit caused all the +trouble the road wound down hill at a gentle incline. A few rods further +on, however, it became steep, and here it was the custom of every +careful driver to gather up the reins and press his foot on the brake, +to keep his wagon from crowding too closely on the heels of his horses. + +If old Jed Muggs, the driver of the coach, had been able to get his +charges under control before they reached the steeper portion of the +hill, he might have saved the day. But he had had very little experience +with runaways, and it had never entered his mind that the sober old team +he drove would ever have spirit enough to take the bit in their teeth +and bolt. That they might some day drop in their shafts and die of old +age would have struck him as likely enough. But here they were, running +like colts, and the shock of it was too much for him. + +He grabbed wildly at the reins that had been hanging loosely over the +horses' backs. + +"Stop! Whoa, consarn yer!" he yelled, half standing up as he sawed +wildly with the reins. "Burn yer old hides! what in Sam Hill's got inter +yer? Whoa, whoa!" + +He was agitated through and through, and his wild yells and feeble +handling of the reins only made the frightened brutes go faster and +faster. + +Inside the coach, the passenger was holding on for dear life, as the +coach bumped and swayed from side to side of the road. + +"Stop them, pull them in!" he shouted, and put out his hand to grasp +Jed's arm. + +The driver shook him off with a savage snarl. + +"Leave me alone," he snapped. "What d'yer suppose I'm doin', encouragin' +'em?" + +Streaming out behind the runaways came the boys, blazing with +excitement. Most of them at first had seen only the funny side of the +incident. They had howled with delight at the sight of the "old plugs," +as they irreverently spoke of Jed's horses, rearing up into the air like +frisky two-year-olds, and the frightened antics of Jed himself had added +to their amusement. It was all a huge joke, and they chuckled at the +thought of the story they would have to tell to those who had not been +there to see the fun. + +Jim Dabney was fairly doubled up with laughter. + +"Take it all back, Teddy," he shouted. "You're some hitter, after all." + +"Jiminy, look at those scarecrows dance!" exclaimed Jack Youmans. + +"Who'd ever think those old has-beens had so much ginger in 'em," +commented Tom Davis. + +But boys as a rule, though thoughtless, are not malicious, and the +laughter stopped suddenly when they saw that the joke might end in a +tragedy. + +Fred, alone of all the boys, had seen from the first this danger. +Quicker witted than the others, he had thought of the hill that lay +before the runaways. But his shout of warning to Teddy had come too late +to stop that impulsive youth, and now the damage was done. + +"This way, fellows!" he shouted, as he took a short cut across the field +in an effort to get to the horses' heads. If he had been able to do +this, the other boys, coming up, could have helped to hold them. But the +distance was too great, and when he reached the road the team was twenty +feet ahead and going too fast to be overtaken by any one on foot. + +Behind the others pounded Teddy, the cause of it all. How he hated +himself for yielding to that impish impulse that had so often gotten him +into trouble! Now, all he could think of was that somebody would be +killed, and it would be his fault and his alone. His heart was full of +terror and remorse. + +"I've killed them!" he kept repeating over and over. "Why did I do it? +Oh, why did I do it?" + +There was not a spark of real malice in Teddy's composition. He was a +wholesome, good-natured, fun-loving boy, and a general favorite with +those who knew him. His chief fault was the impulsiveness that made him +do things on the spur of the moment that he often regretted later on. +Anything in the form of a practical joke appealed to him immensely, and +he was never happier than when he was planning something that would +produce a laugh. When Teddy's brown eyes began to twinkle, it was time +to look for something to happen. + +He was a born mimic, and his imitation of the peculiar traits of his +teachers, while it sent his comrades into convulsions of laughter, often +got him into trouble at school. Notes to his parents were of frequent +occurrence, and he was no sooner out of one scrape than he was into +another. When anything happened whose author was unknown, they looked +for Teddy "on general principles." + +Sometimes this proved unjust, and he had the name without having had the +game. More often, however, the search found him only too certainly to be +the moving cause of the prank in question. His fourteen years of life +had been full of stir and action, both for him and all connected with +him, and nobody could complain of dullness when Teddy was around. Still, +he was so frank and sunny-natured that everybody was fond of him, even +those who had the most occasion to frown. He was a rogue, but a very +likable one. + +Fred Rushton, his brother, a year older than Teddy, was of a different +type. While quite as fond of fun and full of spirits, he acted more on +reason and good judgment than on impulse. As in the instance of the +batted ball, where Teddy had seen only the fun of making the horses +jump, Fred had thought of the runaway that might follow. + +Teddy was the kind who would make a leap and take a chance of getting +away without a broken neck. Fred, while quite as ready to take the leap +if it were necessary, would first figure out where he was going to land. +A deep affection bound the two boys together, and Fred was kept busy +trying to get Teddy out of old scrapes and keeping him from getting into +new ones. + +At school, Fred was a leader both in study and sports. He was one of the +best scholars in his class and it was his ambition to graduate at its +head--an ambition that was in a fair way to be realized. + +In the field of athletics, his unusual strength, both of body and will, +made him easily the first among his companions. Tall, strong, +self-reliant, with clear gray eyes that never flinched at any task set +before him, the other boys admitted his leadership, though he never made +any conscious claim to it. + +He shone in football as the fastest and cleverest fullback that the +school had known for years, and he had well earned his position as +captain and pitcher of the baseball team. + +With the boys trailing on in the rear, the coach had now nearly reached +the bottom of the hill, and was gathering speed with every jump of the +frightened horses. A man rushed out from a house beside the road and +grabbed at the bridle of the gray, but was thrown to the ground and +narrowly escaped being trodden under foot. + +On and on they went, until they were close to the little river that ran +along at the foot of the hill. A bridge, about twelve feet in width, +crossed the river at this point, and along this Jed tried to guide the +horses. But just before they reached it, the passenger, who evidently +feared that the team would crash into the railing, took a flying leap +over the side of the coach and plunged head first into the river below. + +The stage took the bridge, escaping the rails by a miracle. On the other +side, the path curved sharply, and the team, keeping on blindly, brought +up in a mass of bushes on the side of the road. The shaft snapped, and +the driver was thrown over the horses' heads and landed in a thicket, +badly scratched but otherwise unhurt. Two of the boys, who had now come +up, rushed to the heads of the trembling horses, and, with the aid of +the driver, got them under control. + +The others, including Fred and Teddy, ran to the assistance of the man +in the water. He had come up, spluttering and snorting, but unharmed, +except for the fright and the wetting. His hair was plastered over his +face and his black clothes clung tightly to his angular frame. + +The river was not deep at this point, and he waded to the bank, where +many eager hands were outstretched to aid him. He felt that he presented +a most undignified appearance, and, although, of course, thankful for +his escape, he was angry clear through. He looked up, and for the first +time they clearly saw his face. + +A new horror came into Teddy's eyes. He stepped back, startled, and his +legs grew weak under him. + +"It's--it's Uncle Aaron!" he stammered. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A NARROW ESCAPE + + +Modesty was not one of Teddy's strong points, but just then he had a +most violent desire to fade gently out of sight. He had not the +slightest wish to be "in the limelight." Never had he been more eager to +play the part of the shrinking violet. + +He tried to slip behind the other boys who came crowding around. But, +even though partly blinded by the water that streamed over his face, the +sharp eyes of his uncle had recognized him. + +"So it's you, is it?" he asked ungraciously. "I might have known that if +there was trouble anywhere you'd be mixed up in it." + +Fred, ever eager to shield Teddy, came forward. + +"Why, Uncle Aaron!" he exclaimed. "I'm awfully sorry this happened. Just +wait a minute and I'll hustle round to get a rig to take you----" + +"Happened!" broke in the shrill voice of his uncle. "Happened!" he +snorted again, his wrath rising. "This thing didn't just happen. +Something made those horses run away, and I want to know just what it +was. And I'm not going to be satisfied till I find out," the man went +on, glaring suspiciously from one to the other of the boys until he +finally settled on Teddy. + +But Teddy just then was intently studying the beautiful sunset. + +Good-natured Jim Dabney tried, right here, to make a diversion. + +"The horses must have got frightened at something," he ventured +hopefully. + +"Yes," said Jack Youmans, following his lead, "I could see that they +were awfully scared." + +"You don't say so!" retorted Uncle Aaron, with withering sarcasm. "I +could guess as much as that myself." And the two boys, having met with +the usual fate of peacemakers, fell back, red and wilted. + +"Gee, isn't he an old crank?" muttered Jim. + +"That's what," assented Jack. "I'd hate to be in Teddy's shoes just +now." + +To tell the truth, Teddy would gladly have loaned his shoes to any one +on earth at that moment. + +"Come here, Teddy," called his uncle sharply, "and look me straight in +the eye." + +Now, looking Uncle Aaron straight in the eye was far from being Teddy's +idea of pleasure. There were many things he would rather do than that. +There had been many occasions before this when he had received the same +invitation, and he had never accepted it without reluctance. It was a +steely eye that seemed to look one through and through and turn one +inside out. + +Still, there was no help for it, and Teddy, with the air of an early +Christian martyr, was slowly coming to the front, when suddenly they +heard a shout of triumph, and, turning, saw Jed Muggs hold up something +he had just found on the floor of the coach. + +"Here it is!" he cried; "here's the identical thing what done it!" And +as he came shambling forward he held up, so that all could see it, the +ball that had been only too well aimed when it had hit the gray horse. + +Jed was a town character and the butt of the village jokes. He had been +born and brought up there, and only on one occasion had strayed far +beyond its limits. That was when he had gone on an excursion to the +nearest large city. His return ticket had only been good for three days, +but after his return, bewildered but elated, he had never tired of +telling his experiences. Every time he told his story, he added some new +variation, chiefly imaginary, until he at last came to believe it +himself, and posed as a most extensive traveler. + +"Yes, sir-ree," he would wind up to his cronies in the general store, as +he reached out to the barrel for another cracker, "they ain't many +things in this old world that I ain't seen. They ain't nobody kin take +me fur a greenhorn, not much they ain't!" + +For more years past than most people could remember, he had driven the +village stage back and forth between Oldtown and Carlette, the nearest +railway station. He and his venerable team were one of the features of +the place, and the farmers set their clocks by him as he went plodding +past. Everybody knew him, and he knew the past history of every man, +woman and child in the place. He was an encyclopedia of the village +gossip and tradition for fifty years past. This he kept always on tap, +and only a hint was needed to set him droning on endlessly. + +Jed's one aversion was the boys of Oldtown. He got on well enough with +their elders, who humored and tolerated the old fellow. But he had never +married, and, with no boys of his own to keep him young in heart, he had +grown crankier and crustier as he grew older. They kept him on edge with +their frequent pranks, and it was his firm conviction that they had no +equals anywhere as general nuisances. + +"I've traveled a lot in my time," he would say, and pause to let this +statement sink in; "yes, sir, I've traveled a lot, and I swan to man I +never seen nowhere such a bunch of rapscallions as they is in this here +town." + +Then he would bite off a fresh quid of tobacco and shake his head +mournfully, and dwell on the sins of the younger generation. + +Now, as he hobbled eagerly up to the waiting group, forgetting for the +moment his "roomatics," he was all aglow with animation. His loose jaw +was wagging and his small eyes shone like a ferret's. + +"Here's what done it," he repeated, in his high, cracked voice, as he +handed the ball to his partner in the accident. "I knew them horses of +mine wouldn't run away for nuthin'." + +"Nobody ever saw them run before," Jack Youmans could not help saying. + +"You shet up!" cried Jed angrily. "They was too well trained." + +Aaron Rushton took the ball and examined it carefully. + +"I found it in the corner of the coach under the seat," volunteered Jed. +"It wasn't in there when we started. I kin stake my life on that." + +"This explains the blow I got on the back of the neck," commented +Teddy's uncle. "The ball must have hit one of the horses first, and then +glanced off into the coach. Were you boys playing ball, when we went +past?" he asked, turning to Fred. + +"Yes, we were," answered Fred. "That is, we weren't playing a regular +game. We'd got through with that and were having a little practice, +batting flies." + +"Why weren't you more careful then?" asked his uncle sharply. "Don't you +see that you came within an ace of killing one or both of us? Who was +doing the batting?" + +Jim and Jack loyally looked as though they were trying their hardest to +remember, but could not feel quite sure. + +"Yes," broke in old Jed, "who was doin' it? That's what I want to know. +'Cos all I got to say is that it'll cost somebody's father a consid'able +to make good the damages to the coach and the hosses. The pole is +snapped and the sorrel is actin' kind o' droopy." + +A smothered laugh ran around the group of boys, whose number had by this +time been considerably increased. No one in Oldtown had ever known +either sorrel or gray to be anything else than "droopy." + +Jed transfixed the boys with a stony stare. He had, at least, the +courage of his convictions. + +"Yes, sir-ree," he went on, "them hosses is vallyble, and I don't +kalkilate to be done out of my rights by nobody, just becos some fool +boy didn't have sense enough to keep from scarin' 'em. Somebody's father +has got to pay, and pay good, or I'll have the law on 'em, by ginger! +Come along now. Who done it?" + +"Jed is right, as far as that goes," said Mr. Aaron Rushton. "Of course, +it was an accident, but it was a mighty careless one and somebody will +have to make good the damage. Now, I'm going to ask you boys, one by +one----" + +Teddy stepped forward. His heart was in his boots. The game was up and +he would have to face the consequences. He knew that none of the other +boys would tell on him, and he would be safe enough in denying it, when +the question came to him. But the thought of doing this never even +occurred to him. The Rushton boys had been brought up to tell the truth. + +"I'm sorry, Uncle Aaron," he said, "but I'm the one that hit the ball." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FACING THE MUSIC + + +There was a stir of anticipation among the boys, and they crowded +closer, as Teddy faced his angry relative. + +"Jiminy, but he's going to catch it!" whispered Jim. + +"You bet he will. I wouldn't like to be him," agreed Jack, more +fervently than grammatically. + +His uncle looked at Teddy sourly. + +"I'm not a bit surprised," he growled. "From the minute I saw you on the +bank I felt sure you were mixed up in this some way or other. You'd feel +nice now, if you'd killed your uncle, wouldn't you?" + +Poor Teddy, who did not look the least like a murderer and had never +longed to taste the delights of killing, stammered a feeble negative. + +"Why did you do it?" went on his merciless cross-examiner. "Didn't you +see the stage coming? Why didn't you bat the other way?" + +The culprit was silent. + +"Come," said his uncle sharply, "speak up now! What's the matter with +you? Are you tongue-tied?" + +"You see, it was this way," Teddy began, and stopped. + +"No," said his uncle, "I don't see at all." + +"Well," Teddy broke out, desperately, goaded by the sarcasm to full +confession, "I was batting flies to the fellows, and one of them said I +couldn't hit anything, and I wanted to show him that he was wrong, and +just then I saw the coach coming, and I took aim at the gray horse. I +didn't think anything about his running away--I'd never seen him run +hard, anyway--and--and--I guess that's all," he ended, miserably. + +"No, it ain't all, not by a long sight!" ejaculated Jed, who had been +especially stung by the slur on his faithful gray. "Not much, it ain't +all! So, yer did it on puppose, did yer? I might have s'spicioned from +the fust thet you was at the bottom of this rascality. They ain't +anything happened in this town fur a long time past thet you ain't been +mixed up in. + +"I'm mortal sure," he went on, haranguing his audience and warming up at +the story of his wrongs, "thet it was this young varmint thet painted my +hosses with red, white and blue stripes, last Fourth of July. I jess had +time to harness up to get to the train in time, when I found it out, and +I didn't have time to get the paint off before I started. And there was +the people in Main Street laffin' fit ter kill themselves, and the +loafers at the deepo askin' me why I didn't paint myself so as to match +the hosses. It took me nigh on two days before I could get it off, and +the hosses smelt of benzine fur more than a week. Ef I could a ketched +the feller what done it, I'd 'a' taken it out of his hide, but I never +had no sartin proof. Howsumever, I knowed pooty well in my own mind who +done it," and he glared vindictively at Teddy. + +But Teddy had already done all the confessing he cared to do for one +day, and the author of Jed's unwilling Fourth of July display was still +to remain a mystery. + +Far more important to Teddy than Jed's threats was the wrath of his +uncle, who stood looking at him with a severity before which Teddy's +eyes fell. + +"And you mean to tell me," said Mr. Aaron Rushton slowly, "you have the +nerve to stand there and tell me that you actually aimed at that +horse--that you deliberately----" + +"No, not deliberately, Uncle Aaron," interrupted Fred, who had been +trying to get in a word for his brother, and now seized this opening. +"He didn't think of what he was doing. If he had, he wouldn't have done +it. He didn't have any idea the horses would run away. Teddy wouldn't +hurt----" + +"You keep still, Fred," and his uncle turned on him savagely. "When I +want your opinion, I'll ask you for it. If you weren't always making +excuses for him and trying to get him out of scrapes, he wouldn't get +into so many. + +"Not another word," he went on, as Fred still tried to make things +easier for Teddy. "We'll finish this talk up at the house. I want your +father and mother to hear for themselves just how near this son of +theirs came to killing his uncle." + +"I'll see if I can get a rig of some kind to carry you up," volunteered +Fred. + +"Never mind that," answered his uncle shortly. "It isn't far, and I +don't want to wait. Bring that valise that you'll find in the coach +along with you. I want to get into some dry things as soon as possible. +Lucky it isn't a shroud, instead of regular clothes," and he shot a +glance at Teddy that made that youth shudder. + +"As to the damage done to the coach and horses," Mr. Rushton said, +turning to Jed, who had been watching Teddy's ordeal with great +satisfaction and gloating over what was still coming to him when he +should reach home, "you need not worry about that. Either my brother or +I will see you to-morrow and fix things up all right." + +"Thank yer, Mr. Rushton," mumbled Jed, as he mentally tried to reach the +very highest figure he would dare to charge, with any hope of getting +it. "I knowed you would do the right thing. I'm only sorry that you +should have so much trouble with that there young imp," and he shook his +head sorrowfully and heaved a sigh, as though he already saw ahead of +Teddy nothing but the gallows or the electric chair. + +Nor could he forbear one parting shot at that dejected youth. + +"Don't forget, young man, thet you may have to reckon with Uncle Sam +yet," he hinted, with evident relish, as the party prepared to move +away. "It ain't no joke to interfere with the United States mail and +them thet's carryin' it. The padlock on that mailbag was all bent and +bunged up when the stage smashed up against that tree. Course, I ain't +sayin' what may come of it, but them gover'ment folks is mighty tetchy +on them p'ints. They've got a big prison at Leavenworth and another at +Atlanta where they puts fellers that interferes with the mails in any +way, shape or manner. Oh, I know all about them places. I've traveled a +good deal in my time, and----" + +But by this time, the uncle and nephews were well on their way up the +hill, and Jed had to save the rest of his discourse for his cronies that +evening at the general store. + +The Rushton home stood on a beautiful elm-shaded street just beyond the +field where the boys had been playing ball. It was a charming, +up-to-date house, capacious and well arranged, and furnished with every +comfort. A broad, velvety lawn stretched out in front, and towering elms +threw their cool shadows over the roadway. + +Around three sides of the house ran a hospitable veranda, with rugs and +rattan furniture that made of it one large outside room. Tables, on +which rested books and magazines, with here and there a vase of flowers +fresh cut from the garden, showed that the inmates of the house were +people of intelligence and refinement. + +Mansfield Rushton, the boys' father, was one of the most prominent +citizens of Oldtown. He was a broker, with offices in a neighboring +city, to which he commuted. His absorption in his business and his +interest in large affairs left him less time and leisure than he would +have liked to devote to his family. He was jovial and easy-going, and +very proud of his two boys, to whom he was, in fact, perhaps too +indulgent. "Boys will be boys," was his motto, and many an interview, +especially with Teddy, that ought, perhaps, to have ended in punishment, +was closed only with the more or less stern injunction "not to do it +again." + +His wife, Agnes, was a sweet, gracious woman, who, while she added +greatly to the charm and happiness of the household, did not contribute +very much to its discipline. She could be firm on occasion, and was not +as blind as the father to what faults the boys possessed. Although each +one of them was as dear to her as the apple of her eye, she by no means +adopted the theory that they could do no wrong. Like most mothers, +however, she was inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, and it +was not hard to persuade her that they were "more sinned against than +sinning." + +The Rushton system of household management, with love, rather than fear, +the ruling factor, was not without its critics. The boys' uncle, Aaron, +some years older than his brother Mansfield, and wholly different in +disposition, had been especially exasperated at it. On his occasional +visits to Oldtown he never tired of harping on his favorite proverb of +"spare the rod and spoil the child," and his predictions of Teddy's +future were colored with dark forebodings. + +To be sure, he had never gone so far as to prophesy that Teddy's +mischief would ever come near killing any one. And yet, that was +precisely what had happened. + +And as Aaron Rushton toiled up the hill the discomfort he felt from his +wet clothes was almost forgotten in the glow of satisfaction that at +last he had proved his theory. He would show Mansfield and Agnes that +even if he was a bachelor--as they had at times slyly reminded him--he +knew more about bringing up boys than they did. + +The unsuspecting parents were sitting on the veranda, waiting for the +boys to come in to supper. The table was spread and waiting, and Mr. +Rushton had once or twice glanced impatiently at his watch. + +"What on earth is keeping those boys?" he exclaimed. "Oh, here they are +now. But who's that with them? Why, it's Aaron! Great Scott! What's the +matter?" he cried, as he sprang up excitedly. + +Mrs. Rushton uttered a little shriek as her eyes fell on the three +figures entering the gateway. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +UNCLE AARON RAGES + + +It was no wonder that both were startled, for the little group coming up +the walk showed that something far out of the ordinary had happened. + +It was a surprise in the first place to see Aaron Rushton at all, as, +contrary to his usual custom when he paid a visit to Oldtown, he had not +notified them that they might expect him. + +But to see him in such a plight as this was altogether beyond their +experience. He was prim and precise in every detail of his clothes, and +his sense of personal dignity was very strong. Neatness was a passion +with him, and, in his regulated bachelor existence, this had grown upon +him with the years. + +But now, as he walked between the two boys, he presented an appearance +that was almost grotesque. He was without his hat, which had floated +down the stream and had not been recovered. His hair was plastered down +on both cadaverous cheeks, his shirtfront was a mass of pulp, and his +wet clothes clinging closely to him brought into full relief every bony +angle of his figure. One leg of his trousers was torn from the knee to +the ankle. His feet sloshed in his shoes with every step, and a wet +trail marked his progress from the gate to the porch. + +On each side of him walked one of the boys, Fred staggering under the +weight of a big suit case, while Teddy carried nothing but a guilty +conscience. But probably his burden was the heavier of the two, and he +would gladly have changed loads with his brother. + +Under other circumstances, the pair on the veranda would have been +unable to restrain their laughter. But Aaron was not a man to take a +joke, and, besides, they did not know as yet but that he had received +some hurt more serious than a wetting. + +They hurried down the steps to meet him. + +"Why, Aaron, what on earth has happened?" asked Mr. Rushton, as he +grasped the clammy hand of his brother. + +"Can't you see?" snarled Aaron ungraciously. "I've been in the river. +It's a wonder I'm here to tell you that much." + +"In the river!" gasped Mrs. Rushton. "How did you get there?" + +"How do you suppose?" growled Aaron. "Think I went in swimming with my +clothes on? I fell in, or rather, I jumped in to save my life, when Jed +Muggs' horses ran away." + +"Ran away!" exclaimed Mr. Rushton. "I never heard of their doing +anything like that before. What made them run away? Did you get hurt?" + +"Nothing but my feelings and my clothes," said Aaron. "But if you want +to know what made them run away, ask that precious son of yours there." +And he shot a vicious glance at Teddy, who colored as the eyes of his +father and mother turned toward him. + +"Teddy!" exclaimed Mrs. Rushton. "What did he have to do with it?" + +"What didn't he have to do with it, you mean. He had everything to do +with it. He hit one of the horses with a baseball--aimed deliberately at +him, mind you--and the horses took fright and ran away. They came within +an ace of killing the driver, and, as it is, you'll have a pretty penny +to pay for the damage to the coach and horses. As for me, I might have +been killed in the smash-up, if I hadn't had the gumption to jump before +we came to the bridge." + +"Oh, Teddy," moaned Mrs. Rushton, "how could you do a thing like that?" + +"Go into the house, sir," commanded his father sternly. "I'll attend to +your case later." + +Teddy obeyed with alacrity, glad to escape for the moment from the +sharpness in his father's voice and the sadness in his mother's eyes. + +His despondency was lightened somewhat by the savory smells from the +kitchen. He made his way there, to see what they were going to have for +supper. It was behind the regular time, and he was ravenously hungry. + +Appetizing odors came from the dishes, already taken up and ready to be +conveyed to the dining-room. + +"Um-yum," he gloated. "Chicken--and green peas--and strawberries--and +peach pie. Bully!" + +The colored cook, Martha, who was whipping up some cream for the +strawberries, turned and saw him. + +"Laws sakes, honey, wut's keepin' the folks? I'se just tuckered out +tryin' to keep things hot." + +"It's Uncle Aaron," explained Teddy. "He's just come." + +"Umph,", sniffed Martha, none too well pleased. She had no liking for +unexpected company, and least of all for Uncle Aaron, whom she disliked +heartily. + +Martha was an old family servant, who had been with Mrs. Rushton from +the time of her marriage. She was big and black and good-natured, +although she did not hesitate to speak her mind at times when she was +ruffled. She was devoted to her master and mistress, and they, in turn, +appreciated her good qualities and allowed her many privileges, letting +her run her end of the house largely to suit herself. Long before this +she had come to regard herself as one of the family. + +She had dandled and crooned over the boys as babies, and, as they had +grown up, she had become almost as fond of them as the parents +themselves. They always knew where to get a doughnut or a ginger cake +when they came in famished, and, though at times they sorely tried her +patience, she was always ready to defend them against any one else. + +And the one reason more than any other why she detested their Uncle +Aaron was because he was "allus pickin' on dem po' chillen." That the +"pickin'" was only too often justified did not weigh at all in Aunt +Martha's partial judgment. + +"Here dey cum, now," she said, as she heard footsteps in the hall. "Get +out of my way now, honey, and let me serve de supper. Goodness knows, +it's time." + +"I tell you what it is, Mansfield," Aaron Rushton was saying, "you've +simply spoiled those boys of yours. You've let the reins lie loose on +their backs, and they're going straight to perdition. And Agnes is just +as bad as you are, if not worse. What they need is a good hickory switch +and plenty of muscle behind it. If they were my boys, I'd let them know +what's what. I'd put things in order in jig time. I'd show them whether +they could run things as they liked. They'd learn mighty quick who was +boss. I'd----" + +"Yes, yes, Aaron, I know," said his brother soothingly. "I feel just as +bad about this as you do, and I'll see that Teddy pays well for this +mischief." + +"Mischief!" mimicked Aaron angrily. "That's just the trouble with you +folks. You excuse everything because it's simply 'mischief.' Why don't +you call it crime?" + +"Now, Aaron, that's too much," cried Mrs. Rushton, bristling in defence +of her offspring. "It was an awful thing to do, of course, but Teddy +didn't realize----" then, seeing the retort trembling on Aaron's lips, +she went on hastily: "But go right up to your room now, and get a bath +and change your clothes. Mansfield will get you some things of his to +put on, and I'll have supper waiting for you when you come down." + +And Aaron, still rumbling like a volcano, was led to the upper regions, +where the splashing of water shortly after told of a bath more grateful +than the involuntary one he had taken an hour before. + +Mrs. Rushton, with tears in her eyes, turned to Fred, in the lower hall. + +"It's just awful," she said. "Tell me, Fred, dear, how it all happened." + +"Uncle Aaron makes too much of it, Mother!" exclaimed Fred, who had had +all he could do to keep still during his uncle's tirade. "Of course, it +might have been a bad accident. But you know just as well as I do that +Teddy wouldn't have done it for all the world, if he had thought anybody +would get hurt. The boys were teasing him about hitting the ball +straight, and, as luck would have it, Jed's team came along just that +minute. It just struck Teddy that here was something to aim at, and he +let fly. Of course, there was only one chance out of ten of hitting the +horse at all, and, even if it had hit him, it might have only made him +jump, and that would have been the end of it. But everything went wrong, +and the team ran away. Nobody felt worse about it than Teddy. If you'd +seen how white he looked----" + +"Poor boy!" murmured Mrs. Rushton softly. Then, recollecting herself, +she said a little confusedly: "Poor Uncle Aaron, I mean. It must have +been a terrible shock to him. Think what a blow it would have been to +all of us, if he had been killed!" + +"Sure, it would!" assented Fred, though his voice lacked conviction. +"But he wasn't, and there's no use of his being so grouchy over it. He +ought to be so glad to be alive that he'd be willing to let up on Teddy. +I suppose that all the time he's here now he'll keep going on like a +human phonograph." + +"You mustn't speak about your uncle that way, Fred," said his mother +reprovingly. "He's had a great deal to try his temper, and Teddy is very +much to blame. He must be punished. Yes, he certainly must be punished." + +"There's one thing, too, Mother," went on Fred, determined to put his +brother in the best light possible, "Ted might have lied out of it, but +he didn't. Uncle Aaron put the question to the boys straight, or rather +he was just going to do it, when Teddy spoke up and owned that he was +the one who hit the ball." + +"Bless his heart," cried Mrs. Rushton delightedly, pouncing on this bit +of ammunition to use in Teddy's behalf when the time came. + +Fred went to his room to wash and brush up, and a few minutes later the +family, with the unexpected guest, were gathered about the table, spread +with the good things that Martha had heaped upon it. + +Last of all, came Teddy. Usually, he was among the first. But a certain +delicacy, new to him, seemed to whisper to him to-night that he would do +well not to thrust himself obtrusively into the family circle. Perhaps, +also, a vague desire to placate the "powers that be" had made him pay +unusual attention to his face and nails and hair. He was very well +groomed--for Teddy--and he tried to assume a perfectly casual air, as he +came down the stairs. + +Martha caught sight of him from the kitchen, and shook her head +ominously. She had heard enough to know that storm signals were out. + +"Dat po' chile!" she mourned, "he sho am goin' like a lam' to de +slo'ter!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +TEDDY'S BANISHMENT + + +Teddy slipped in like a ghost. That is, as far as noise was concerned. +If he could also have had the other ghostly quality of being invisible, +it would have suited him to a dot. + +He drew out his chair and was about to sit down, when his father lifted +his hand. + +"Stop!" he said, and there was a tone in his voice that was not often +heard. "You don't sit down at this table to-night." + +Teddy stared at him, mortified and abashed. With all eyes turned toward +him, he felt as though he would like to sink through the floor. + +"I mean it," said his father. "Go straight to your room and stay there. +I'll have something to say to you later on. But before you go, I want +you to apologize to your Uncle Aaron for the danger you put him in this +afternoon." + +Teddy turned toward his uncle, and the sour smile he saw on the latter's +thin lips made him almost hate his relative. + +"Of course, I'm sorry," he blurted out sullenly. "I told him so, down at +the bridge. He knows well enough, that I didn't mean----" + +"That will do now," interrupted his father. "There's no need of adding +impudence to your other faults." + +Teddy took his hand from the back of the chair and started for the hall, +after one despairing glance at the table. + +"But, Father----" ventured Fred. + +"Wouldn't it be enough to make him go without dessert?" interposed Mrs. +Rushton. "Can't you let him have at least a piece of bread and butter? +The child's health, you know----" + +"Well," hesitated Mr. Rushton. But he caught sight of the sarcastic grin +on Aaron's face. + +"No," he went on more firmly, "he can't have a thing. It won't hurt his +health to go without his supper for once. No, nothing at all!" + +"Except what Agnes or Fred may slip to him later on," put in Aaron, with +a disagreeable smile. + +"Mansfield's wish is law in this house, and Fred would not go against +his father's will," answered Mrs. Rushton, with a coldness that for a +moment silenced her brother-in-law and wiped the smile from his face. + +Old Martha, over in one corner, glowered with indignation. + +"Cantankerous ole skinflint," she muttered under her breath. "Dey ain't +never nuffin' but trouble when dat man comes inter dis house. Sittin' +dere, stuffin' hisself, while dat po' lam' upstairs is starvin' ter def. +I on'y hopes one of dem chicken bones sticks in his froat. It'd be do +Lo'd's own jedgment on 'im." + +But Martha's wishes were not realized, and Aaron finished his supper +without suffering from any visitation of Providence. In fact, he had +seldom enjoyed a meal more. It was one of Martha's best, and, to any one +that knew that good woman's ability in the culinary line, that meant a +great deal. Then, too, Teddy, was in disgrace, and the discomfort he had +suffered that afternoon was in a fair way to be atoned for. He was not +by any means willing to let it rest at that, and he figured on putting +another spoke in the wheel of that young man's fortunes. + +But, if Aaron had enjoyed his meal, nobody else had. + +Mr. Rushton was wondering whether he had not been too severe. Mrs. +Rushton, on the verge of tears, was sure he had. And Fred, who had been +thinking all the time of poor Teddy, agreed with her. + +That morning, their home had been one of the happiest in Oldtown. +To-night, every inmate was thoroughly miserable, except their guest. + +Why was it, Mrs. Rushton wondered, that trouble always came with Aaron? +Never had he come except to her regret, and never had he left without a +sigh of heartfelt relief on the part of every member of the family. He +was a shadow on the hearth, a spectre at the feast. + +He was not without good qualities, and plenty of them. In the community +where he lived, he was highly respected. He was upright and +square-dealing, and nobody could say that Aaron Rushton had ever +wilfully done him a wrong. + +But, though everybody esteemed him, there were few who really liked him. +His was not a nature to inspire affection. He was too rigid and severe. +The "milk of human kindness" had either been left out of his +composition, or, at best, it had changed to buttermilk. Whenever one +brushed against him, he was conscious of sharp edges. He was as full of +quills as the "fretful porcupine," and always ready to let them fly. + +With young people especially, he had little sympathy. Although as far +apart as the poles in many things, he and Jed Muggs were absolutely at +one in this--their utter disapproval of boys. + +Fred and Teddy had always felt in his presence that they ought to +apologize for being alive. + +But, if Aaron did not go so far as that, he at least resented the fact +that they were so very much alive. Their noise offended him, and their +pranks irritated him. Their boisterousness got on his nerves. + +The bringing up of the boys had always been a bone of contention between +Aaron and their parents. If their birth, in Aaron's view, had been a +misfortune, the way they were reared was nothing less than an outrage. + +He never tired of storming at what he regarded as the lax and careless +way in which the boys were allowed to do largely as they pleased. He +magnified and distorted their boyish scrapes, until he had really +convinced himself that they were headed straight for destruction, unless +brought up with a round turn. + +As a matter of fact, with all their faults, there were no finer boys in +Oldtown. + +Mr. and Mrs. Rushton, although conscious that they were perhaps a little +too easy going, had always defended their methods good-naturedly. What +especially irritated Aaron was their calm assumption that he did not +know what he was talking about, because he had no children of his own, +and their sly thrusts at the perfection of "bachelors' children" made +him "froth at the mouth." + +To-night, though, he had rather the advantage. + +So he had been an old crank, had he? He hadn't known what he was talking +about! He had made too much of the boys' little foibles! Well, what did +they have to say now, now that through their younger son's +tomfoolishness, his pigheadedness, his criminal carelessness, his--there +were so many good words that Aaron hardly knew which to choose, but +lingered lovingly over them all--he had come within a hair's breadth of +causing his uncle's death. Perhaps now they'd listen to his opinions +with the respect they deserved. + +The argument was with him for once, beyond a doubt. He had the whip +hand, and he fairly reveled in his opportunity. In his heart, he was +almost thankful to Teddy for having given him this advantage over the +parents. + +They, on their part, were sad and mostly silent. They had really been +greatly shocked by the serious results that might have followed this +latest prank of Teddy's. They realized, however, the lack of malicious +motive behind the act, and they knew that Aaron was failing to take this +into account as much as he ought to have done. + +They were at a disadvantage, too, from the fact that Aaron was their +guest, and Mr. Rushton's brother. If they defended Teddy too strongly, +it would seem to be making light of Aaron's danger and possible death. + +So, with almost a clear field before him, their guest used his advantage +to the full, and rumbled on to his heart's content. + +Mrs. Rushton, however, did what she could. + +"You must admit, Aaron," she ventured, "that Teddy might have lied about +it, but didn't. He didn't let you think that somebody else had done it, +but owned up, even before you asked him. Give him that much credit, +anyway." + +"Ye-e-s," admitted Aaron slowly. He was a truthful man himself, and +respected the quality in others. + +"Yes," he repeated, "that was all right, as far as it went. But," he +went on, as though regretting his momentary weakness in making any +concession to a criminal of the deepest dye, "what good would his +telling the truth have done, if I'd been lying at the foot of the hill +with a broken neck? Answer me that." + +As poor Mrs. Rushton could not think of any real benefit that could have +come to Aaron under such unfortunate conditions, she was forced to +abandon the attack, leaving the enemy in possession of the field. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MISSING PAPERS + + +Cheered by his victory in this skirmish, Aaron Rushton went on: + +"I tell you what it is, Mansfield, what the boys need is to go to some +good boarding school, where they'll be under strict discipline and have +to toe the mark. They've a soft snap here, and they know it. You let +them run the whole shooting match." + +"Nothing of the kind, Aaron," protested Mansfield. "I don't believe in +the knock-down and drag-out system of bringing up children, but, all the +same, the boys always mind when I put my foot down." + +"When you put your foot down!" sneered Aaron. "How often do you put it +down? Not very often, as far as I've been able to see. They twist you +and their mother around their little fingers. + +"A boy's a good deal like a horse," he continued. "Any horse can tell +just from the feel of the reins how far he dares to go with his driver. +Now, what your boys need to feel is a tight rein over their backs +that'll make 'em feel that their driver isn't going to stand any +nonsense. They don't have that feeling at home, and it's up to you to +put them where they will feel it." + +"It might be out of the frying pan into the fire," objected Mr. Rushton. +"There are many boarding schools where the boys do just about as they +like." + +"Not at the one I'm thinking about," rejoined Aaron. "Not much, they +don't! When Hardach Rally tells a boy to do anything, that boy does it +on the jump." + +"Hardach Rally," inquired his brother, "who is he?" + +"He's a man after my own heart," answered Aaron. "He's one of the best +disciplinarians I've ever met. He has a large boarding school on Lake +Morora, about a mile from the town of Green Haven, the nearest railway +station. I reckon it's about a hundred miles or so from here. It's a +good school, one of the best I know of. Rally Hall, he calls it, and +under his management, it's made a big reputation. If I had boys of my +own--thank Heaven, I haven't--there's no place I'd sooner send them." + +Mr. Rushton and his wife exchanged glances. + +"Well, Aaron, we'll think it over," his brother said, "But there's no +special hurry about it, as they couldn't start in till next fall, +anyway. In the meantime, I'll write to Dr. Rally and get his catalogue +and terms." + +"It'll be the best thing you ever did," remarked Aaron. + +He yawned and looked at his watch. + +A surprised look came into his eyes. + +"Why!" he exclaimed, "it must be later than that." + +He looked again, then put it up to his ear. + +"Stopped," he said disgustedly. "I haven't let that watch run down for +five years past. And it hasn't run down now. That's some more of Teddy's +work. I must have jarred it or bent a wheel or something when I went +over into the river." + +"Let me have it," said Mr. Rushton, holding out his hand. "I'm pretty +handy with watches and perhaps I can get it started." + +Aaron handed the timepiece over. It was a heavy, double-cased gold +watch, of considerable value, and he set a great deal of store by it. It +was of English make, and on the inner case was an engraving of the Lion +and the Unicorn. Under this were Aaron's initials. + +His brother shook the watch, opened it, and made several attempts to set +it going, but all to no purpose. + +"I guess it's a job for a jeweler," he said at last regretfully. "Of +course, I'll pay whatever it costs to have it fixed." + +"By the time you get through settling with Jed Muggs, you won't feel +much like paying anything else," retorted Aaron, "Give me the watch and +I'll take it down town in the morning and leave it to be mended. Chances +are it'll never be as good again. + +"I'm dead tired now," and again he yawned. "If you folks don't mind, I +guess I'll be getting to bed." + +They were only too glad to speed him on his way. Nobody ever attempted +to stop him, when he was ready to retire. It was the one thing he did +that met with everybody's approval. + +His brother went up with him to see that everything had been made ready +for his comfort, and then, bidding him good-night, came back to his +wife. + +He smiled at her whimsically, and she smiled back at him tearfully. + +"Been a good deal of a siege," he commented. + +"Hasn't it?" she agreed. "But, oh, Mansfield, whatever in the world are +we going to do about Teddy?" + +He frowned and studied the points of his shoes. + +"Blest if I know," he pondered. "The young rascal has been in a lot of +scrapes, but this is the limit. I don't wonder that Aaron feels +irritable. Of course, he rubs it in a little too much, but you'll have +to admit, my dear, that he has a good deal of justice on his side. It +was a mighty reckless thing for Teddy to do. + +"I wonder," he went on thoughtfully, "if perhaps we haven't been a bit +too lax in our discipline, Agnes. Too much of the 'velvet glove' and too +little of the 'iron hand,' eh? What do you think?" + +"Perhaps--a little," she assented dubiously. Then, defensively, she +added: "But, after all, where do you find better boys anywhere than +ours? Fred scarcely gives us a particle of trouble, and as for +Teddy"--here she floundered a little--"of course, he gets into mischief +at times, but he has a good heart and he's just the dearest boy," she +ended, in a burst of maternal affection. + +"How about that boarding school idea?" suggested Mr. Rushton. + +"I don't like it at all," said Mrs. Rushton. "I simply can't bear to +think of our boys a hundred miles away from home. I'd be worrying all +the time for fear that something had happened to them or was going to +happen. And think how quiet the house would be with them out of it." + +"I know," agreed her husband, "I'd feel a good deal that way myself. +Still, if it's for the boys' good----" + +But here they were interrupted by a commotion on the stairs, and as they +rose to their feet, Aaron came bouncing into the room. His coat and vest +and collar and tie were off, but he was too stirred up to bother about +his appearance. He was in a state of great agitation. + +"What's the matter?" they asked in chorus. + +"Matter enough," snarled Aaron. "I was just getting ready for bed, when +I thought of some papers in the breast pocket of my coat. I just thought +I'd take a last look to make sure they were all right, but when I put my +hand in the pocket, the papers weren't there. What do you make of that +now?" and he glared at them as though they had a guilty knowledge of the +papers and had better hand them over forthwith. + +"Papers!" exclaimed Mrs. Rushton, her heart sinking at this new +complaint. "What papers were they?" + +"I hope they weren't very valuable?" said Mr. Rushton. + +"Valuable!" almost shrieked Aaron Rushton. "I should say they were +valuable. There was a mortgage and there were three notes of hand and +the transcript of a judgment that I got in a court action a little while +ago. I can't collect on any of them, unless I have the papers to show. +I'm in a pretty mess!" he groaned, as he went around the room like a +wild man. + +"We'll make a careful search for them everywhere," said Mrs. Rushton. +"They must be somewhere around the house." + +"House, nothing!" ejaculated Aaron. "I know well enough where they are. +They're down in the river somewhere, and I'll never clap eyes on them +again. They must have fallen out of my pocket when I jumped. Oh, if I +just had the handling of that imp"--and his fingers writhed in a way +that boded no good to Teddy, if that lively youth were luckless enough +to be turned over to his uncle for punishment. + +"I can't tell you how sorry I am, Aaron," his brother assured him. +"We'll have a most careful search made at the place where the accident +happened, the first thing to-morrow morning. I'll also put up the offer +of a reward in the post office. The papers are not of much value to any +one except you, and if somebody has found them, they'll be glad enough +to bring them to you. In the meantime, we'll take one more look about +the house." + +But the search was fruitless, and, at last, Aaron, still growling like a +grizzly bear, went reluctantly to his room to await developments on the +morrow. + +In the meantime, Teddy, the cause of it all, although cut off from the +rest of the household, had shared in the general gloom. He was devotedly +attached to his father and mother, and was sincerely sorry that he had +so distressed them. He would have given a good deal if he had never +yielded to his sudden impulse of the afternoon. + +Fred had spent most of the evening with him, and had done his level best +to cheer him up. He had succeeded to some extent, but, after he had left +him and gone to his own room, Teddy again felt the weight of a heavy +depression. + +It must be admitted that not all of this came from conscience. Some of +it was due to hunger. + +He had never felt so hungry in his life. And it seemed an endless time +from then till breakfast the next morning. + +He had just turned out his light, and was about to slip into bed when he +heard a soft knock on his door. He opened it and peered out into the +dark hall. + +"It's me, honey," came a low voice. "Take dis an' don't say nuffin'." + +The "dis" was a leg of chicken and a big cut of peach pie! + +The door closed, and old Martha went puffing slowly to her room in the +attic. + +"Ah doan't care," she said to herself defiantly. "Ef it wus right fer de +ravuns ter take food ter de prophet 'Lijuh in der wil'erness, et's right +fer me ter keep mah po' lam' frum starvin'. So, dere, now!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A FRUITLESS SEARCH + + +There were no traces left the next morning of Martha's stealthy visit. +The chicken bone had gone out of the window, but all the rest had gone +where it would do the most good. And Teddy had slept the sleep of the +satisfied, if not exactly the sleep of the just. + +Breakfast was served at an unusually early hour, as there was a great +deal to be done to right the wrong of the day before, and it was very +important that the boys get an early start in the search for Uncle +Aaron's missing papers. + +He himself had little hope of finding them. If they were in the river, +which seemed to him most likely, they might have been carried down the +stream. And, even if they were found, they might be so spoiled by the +soaking that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to make them out. + +In any event, it meant for him a lot of trouble, and he was in a +fiendish temper, when, after a sleepless night, he came downstairs. He +responded gruffly to the greetings of the others, and favored Teddy with +a black stare that showed that he had not forgiven him. + +"What have you got up your sleeve for to-day?" he growled. "Some more +mischief, I'll be bound." + +"I'm going to look for your papers," answered Teddy promptly, "and I +won't stop until I find them." + +His mother shot him a bright glance at the respectful reply, which +rather took the wind out of Aaron's sails. + +"Humph," he muttered. "Talk is cheap." But he became silent and devoted +himself to the breakfast, which Mrs. Rushton, with Martha's help, had +made unusually tempting in order to coax him into good humor. + +"Now," said Mr. Mansfield Rushton when they had finished, "your Uncle +Aaron and I are going down to the village. He's going to leave his watch +to be repaired, and I've got to see Jed Muggs and settle with him for +the damage to his coach and horses"--here he looked sternly at Teddy, +who kept his eyes studiously on the tablecloth--"from the runaway. I'm +going, too, to put up a notice in the post-office, offering a reward to +any one who may find and return Uncle Aaron's papers. + +"As for you boys, I want you to get some of the other boys together and +go over every foot of ground down near the river, where the +accident----" + +"_Accident!_" sneered Aaron contemptuously. + +"Where the accident happened," went on Mr. Rushton, taking no notice of +the interruption. "Look in every bush on both sides of the road. Slip on +your bathing suits under your other clothes, and if you can't find the +papers on land try to find them in the water. + +"In most places it isn't so deep but what you can wade around. Get +sticks and poke under the stones and in every hole under the bank. In +places where it's over your heads, dive down and feel along the bottom +with your hands." + +"But do be careful, boys," put in Mrs. Rushton. "I'm always nervous when +you get where the water is deep." + +"Don't worry, Agnes," were her husband's soothing words. "Both of them +can swim like fish, and now they've got a chance to do it for something +else than fun. + +"And mind, Teddy," he added, "it's up to you to get busy and make good +for your own sake, as well as Uncle Aaron's. I haven't yet +decided"--here Aaron grinned, unpleasantly--"just what I shall do to you +for what happened yesterday, but I don't mind telling you that if you +come home with those papers it's going to be a mighty sight easier for +you than if you don't. Now get along with you," addressing both boys, +"and make every minute tell." + +The Rushton boys hurried about, put on their bathing suits under their +other clothes, and hastened from the house, eager for action. They were +glad to get out of the shadow of Uncle Aaron, and, besides, the task +they had before them promised to be as much of a lark as a duty. + +"I'll pick up Jack and Jim as I go along, and you skip around and get +Bob," suggested Fred. "Probably we'll find some other fellows down by +the bridge, and they'll be glad enough to help us do the hunting." + +Teddy assented, and soon had whistled Bob out of the house. + +"Hello, Teddy," was Bob's greeting. "You're still alive, I see. What did +that old crab do to you last night?" + +"Nothing much," said Teddy cheerfully. "So far, I've only had to go +without my supper. Didn't go altogether without it, though," and he +poured into Bob's sympathetic ears the story of the pie and the chicken. + +"Bully for Martha," chuckled Bob. "She's the stuff!" + +"You bet she is!" echoed Teddy heartily. "But let's hurry now, Bob," he +went on. "Fred and the other fellows are down at the bridge by this +time, and we've got a job before us." + +The two boys broke into a run and soon overtook the three other boys, +who were looking carefully among the bushes on each side of the road as +they went along. This they did more as a matter of form than anything +else, for it was hardly likely that the papers had been dropped this +side of the bridge. + +It was almost certain that they had left Aaron's pocket at the moment he +had made his flying leap into the stream. In that case, they would be +either in the bushes on the bank or in the water itself. It was barely +possible, too, that they had fallen in the coach, when the blow of the +ball had brought Aaron to his knees. If that were so, they might have +been jarred out of the coach on the further side of the road, when it +had smashed into the trees. + +So when the boys reached the neighborhood of the bridge, the search +began in earnest. The boys scattered about under the direction of Fred, +who gave each one a certain section to search over. + +"Now, fellows," he urged, himself setting the example, "go over every +foot with a fine-tooth comb. We've simply got to get those papers, or +home won't be a very healthy place for Teddy." + +Apart from their liking for Teddy, the boys were excited by the idea of +competition. To be looking for papers that meant real money, as Fred had +carefully explained to them, seemed almost like a story or a play. Each +was eager to be the first to find them and stand out as the hero of the +occasion. + +But, try as they might, nobody had any luck. They reached and burrowed +and bent, until their faces were red and their backs were lame. And at +last they felt absolutely sure that the papers were not on either side +of the stream. + +There remained then only the river itself. + +"Well, fellows," summed up Fred, finally, "it's no go on land. We've got +to try the water. Here goes." + +And, stripping off his outer clothes, he dived in, to be followed a +moment later by Teddy. + +"Gee, that water looks good," said Jim enviously. "I wish I'd thought to +bring my bathing suit along." + +"So do I," agreed Jack, as he looked at the cool water dripping from the +bodies of the brothers. + +"Well, what if we haven't!" exclaimed Bob. "Don't let's stand here like +a lot of boobs. We can take off our shoes and roll our pants almost up +to our waists. Then we can wade along near the edge, while Fred and +Teddy do their looking further out in the river." + +It was no sooner said than done, and they were soon wading along in the +shallower parts, each armed with a long stick, with which they poked +into every place that they thought might give results. + +Fred and Teddy dived and dived again, keeping under water as long as +they could, and feeling along the river bed. They kept this up until +they were nearly exhausted, and had to go to the bank to rest. + +"It isn't our lucky day," said Fred, puffing and blowing. "I'm afraid +the river doesn't know anything about those papers." + +"I hate to go home without them," said Teddy, as visions of Uncle Aaron +flitted across his mind. + +"Oh, well, you fellows have certainly worked like truck horses," +remarked Bob, "but if they're not there you can't get them, and you +might as well make up your minds to it." + +"Phew, but I'm hot!" complained Jim. "Say, fellows, how would some of +those peaches taste?" and he cast a longing look toward a peach orchard, +across the way from where they were resting. + +"How would they taste?" repeated Jack, as he followed the direction of +Jim's glance. "Yum-yum." + +"There's a lot of big mellow ones lying on the ground," went on Jim, +whose mouth was watering more and more. "They'll only rot, anyway, so +what's the matter with our getting a few? They're no good to Sam +Perkins, and they'd certainly do us a whole lot of good." + +Fred and Teddy were hurrying into their clothes. + +"We want to keep a sharp lookout for Sam," cautioned Fred. "He's got a +new dog whip, and he said that if he caught any boy in his orchard, he +was going to skin him alive." + +"He's got to catch us first," said Teddy. "Let's take a chance." + +They took it. Another moment, and they were over the fence. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CHASING THE TRAMPS + + +The Rushton boys and their chums crouched low in the shadow of the +fence, and took a careful look around. All of them knew the violent +temper of Mr. Sam Perkins, and none of them wanted to make the +acquaintance of that famous dog whip he had recently bought at the +village store, loudly declaring at the same time the use he expected to +make of it. + +But five sharp pairs of eyes could see nothing to cause alarm. A sleepy +silence brooded over the orchard, and it looked as though Sam must be +busy at some other part of his extensive farm. + +"I guess it's all right," said Fred, in a cautious whisper. + +"Cricky, look at those beauties!" exclaimed Jack Youmans, as he pounced +upon a luscious peach that lay within a foot of him. + +The others quickly followed his example, and there was soon no sound +except the munching of jaws, as they satisfied their first hunger for +the delicious fruit. + +There was no need to pluck them from the trees, as there were plenty +lying on the ground. And since these were doomed to rot in time, the +consciences of the boys did not disturb them much. Still, they knew they +were trespassing, and at first they kept a keen lookout. Nothing +happened, however, and gradually their caution relaxed, and they strayed +farther and farther from the road into the heart of the orchard. + +Suddenly, a fierce barking made them jump and sent their hearts into +their throats. They looked behind them, and saw a big dog rushing toward +them. He was between them and the fence, and shut off escape in that +direction. + +"It's Sam's dog, Tiger!" ejaculated Bob, his face growing pale. + +"Quick, this way!" cried Fred, grasping the situation at a glance. +"Let's make for the barn. It's our only chance." + +They were not more than two hundred feet from a big red barn, which had +two entrances, one of which faced them. The one at the further end was +closed, but the one to which the boys were nearer was open. + +They ran with all their might, a wholesome fear lending wings to their +feet. There were many stories abroad about the ferocity of Tiger, whose +name seemed to fit his nature. Only a week before, he had taken a piece +out of a man's leg, and Sam Perkins had more than once been in danger of +lawsuits on account of the dog's savage disposition. But the farmer was +ugly himself, and, instead of trying to curb the brute, seemed to glory +in its reputation. + +"I ain't a-goin' to muzzle him," he would say, when people complained +that the dog was dangerous. "All any one has to do is to keep off my +grounds, and he won't get hurt." + +The dog was gaining at every jump, but the boys had a good start, and +the distance to the barn was short. They covered it in fast time, and +almost fell inside the door. Fred and Bob had just time to swing it shut +and slip the bar in place, when Tiger hurled himself against it. + +It was a close call, and for a minute or two they lay there, panting and +unable to speak. + +The hay scattered on the floor had deadened the sound of their +footsteps, as they piled in, and, in the silence of the big barn, the +only sound came from their own gaspings for breath. + +"Oh!" Jim was beginning, when Fred lifted his hand and put his finger on +his lips as a signal to keep still. + +"S-sh," he whispered. "I thought I heard some one speaking over there," +and he pointed to a distant corner of the barn where fodder for the +cattle was stored. + +"Who can it be?" whispered Teddy in return. "Do you think it can be Sam? +If it is, we're done for." + +"No, it isn't Sam," was Fred's guarded reply. "If it were, he'd come to +see what Tiger's barking about. Let's creep over there and take a look." + +As silently as Indians, the boys wormed their way across the floor. The +only light came from the cracks in the side of the barn, and they had to +use great care not to bump into anything that might betray their +presence. + +Suddenly, Fred, who was leading, stopped. + +"Wait," he breathed. "I just got a look at them. There are two of them +there, and they look to me like tramps. Stay here a minute." + +They halted, while he crept on a little farther, until, through a small +opening in a stall, he could get a better view. + +He glued his eye to the opening and studied more closely the two +strangers. + +His first guess, that they were tramps, proved to be correct. Both had +all the marks of vagrants. Their clothes were ragged and dirty, their +hair long and uncombed, and their faces were covered with scraggy +beards. + +One was tall and lank, and seemed to be the leader of the two. His eyes +were little and close together. He had no socks, and his toes showed +through his ragged shoes. His only other clothing was a torn shirt, +opened at the throat, and a pair of old trousers held up by one +suspender. Up near his temple was an ugly scar, that looked as though it +had been made by a knife. + +His companion was shorter and stockier. His clothes were on a par with +those of his "pal," and he looked equally "down and out." + +A partly emptied bottle stood on the floor beside them, and their +flushed faces and the glassy look of their eyes told what had become of +most of its contents. + +"I tell you, I heard something," the shorter of the two was saying. + +"You're woozy," answered the other. "It's only the dog a-barkin'. He's +treed a squirrel, or he's diggin' out a woodchuck, or somethin'." + +But, true to the laziness that had made them what they were, neither +took the trouble to go to see what the disturbance was about. + +"So you think we can get away with that job all right?" asked one, +evidently resuming a talk that had been interrupted. + +"Sure thing," said the other. "Why, it's a cinch. A blind man can do it. +I took a squint at the place this mornin', an' it's like taking candy +from a baby." + +Fred strained his ears to listen. + +But the men had dropped to a lower tone, and, try as he might, he could +only catch a word here and there. Once when the tall man raised his +voice a trifle, he heard the phrases "apple tree" and "side window." But +this did not give him any clear idea of what was meant, nor did the +shorter man's grunt of "dead easy" help him out. + +He beckoned to his companions, and, one by one, they crept up to take a +look at the tramps. Teddy had just taken his turn, when they were +startled at hearing a gruff voice, which they knew only too well, +speaking to the dog. + +"What in thunder's the matter with yer, Tige?" + +A frantic outburst of barking was the response. + +"It's Sam!" murmured Teddy. + +"Now we're in for it!" exclaimed Bob, and his voice was shaky. + +"Keep perfectly still," whispered Fred. "He can't get in through that +door, anyway. He'll have to come round to the other door, and the minute +he does, we'll take down the bar from this one and bolt for the fence." + +"Sumthin' doin', eh!" exclaimed the farmer, as he tried the door. "I +might have known that dog wouldn't have brought me over here fur +nuthin'. Come along, Tige," and the boys heard him running along the +side of the barn to the other door. + +The tramps too had heard the farmer, and sprang to their feet, confused +and panic-stricken. Another instant, and the door flew open, and Sam +Perkins rushed in, with Tiger at his heels. + +Coming from the bright sunlight into the twilight of the barn, the +farmer peered around, not seeing clearly for a moment. But the tramps +saw him plainly enough, as they saw also the pitchfork in his hand, and +they made a rush past him for the open air. Taken by surprise, Sam was +almost upset, and they took full advantage of the chance. A howl of pain +showed that Tige had nipped the taller one, but he shook the dog off and +ran after his companion, who was making a desperate effort to break the +record for speed. + +Pulling himself together with a shout of rage, Sam joined in the chase. + +Fred slipped the bar from the door, and pushed it open. + +"Now's our chance, fellows!" he shouted. "Sam'll never catch them, and +he'll be back here in a minute. Let's beat it while the going's good." + +He set the pace, and they needed no urging to follow close on his heels. +All reached the fence and leaped over it. And not till they found +themselves on the other side, did they dare to breathe. + +"Jiminy!" gasped Bob, "that was a narrow squeak!" + +"A miss is as good as a mile," panted Jim. + +"We didn't get here a minute too soon, either," said Teddy. "See, +there's Sam coming back, now." + +"He's not much of a sprinter," commented Jack, as the heavily built +farmer came lumbering back, muttering angrily to himself. + +"No," assented Jim, "and it's lucky for those tramps that he isn't. But +Tige had a little better luck," he added, as the dog came trotting +beside his master, holding in his mouth a patch of cloth that he had +torn from one of his enemies. + +"Chewing the rag, as usual," chuckled Bob. "They make a sweet pair, +don't they?" + +Sam caught sight of them and came over, scowling. + +"What are you boys hanging round here for?" he asked suspiciously. + +"We were watching you chase the tramps," answered Fred. "Did you catch +them?" + +"None o' yer business," snarled Sam. + +"You certainly ran fine," said Bob admiringly. "I love to see you run, +Mr. Perkins." + +"I'm goin' to see _you_ run in a minute," growled the farmer. +"Here, Tige." + +But as the boys were not anxious to pursue the conversation, they made a +more or less dignified retreat, and Sam, with a parting malediction on +all tramps and all boys, went off towards his house. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BUNK GOES CRAZY + + +"Hang it all!" exclaimed Teddy, as the Rushton boys and their chums came +near their homes. "I hate to own up that we didn't find those papers." + +"It is too bad," admitted Bob. "But you did the best you could, and if +they're not there, you can't help it." + +"I can see the look on Uncle Aaron's face," said Teddy. "That sort of +I-told-you-so look that makes you wish you were big enough to lick him." + +"You sure do stand well with that uncle of yours," laughed Jim. + +"Yes," assented Teddy gloomily, "I stand like a man with a broken leg." + +"Oh, brace up," chirped Jack. "We had the peaches anyway." + +"Bother the peaches!" exclaimed Fred. "I'd give all the peaches in the +world just to lay my eyes on those papers." + +"Sam Perkins at one end of the road and Uncle Aaron at the other," +brooded Teddy. "I sure am up against it!" + +But the confession of failure had to be made. The boys had cherished a +faint hope that somebody in town might have found the papers, and that +when they got back at noon, Uncle Aaron might have recovered them. But +although he had been downtown most of the morning and had inquired +everywhere, there had been not the slightest trace of them, and he had +returned tired and angry. + +"Rampagin' roun' like de bery Ole Nick," was the way Martha described +him, when she had a moment alone with Teddy. "It sho duz beat all, how +de good Lo'd lets people like him cumber de earf." + +His greeting was about as genial as Teddy had expected. But he had +steeled himself for that and could stand it. What disturbed him much +more was the distress his mother felt and the chilly disapproval of his +father. + +The latter had settled with Jed Muggs that morning for the damage caused +by Teddy. Jed had named an excessive price, but Mr. Rushton had been in +no mood to haggle and had paid him what he asked. But it was not this +that kept him silent and preoccupied. + +He was seriously debating with himself whether he would do well to take +Aaron's advice. The boarding school idea had set him thinking. He wanted +to do the very best thing for the boys, and he was worried by the +thought that perhaps he had been too easy and indulgent. + +Several days passed, while he was pondering the matter. Gradually the +atmosphere cleared, and the household began to go on as usual. Even +Uncle Aaron lost some of his crankiness and seemed at times to be +"almost human." + +And then, just as things were going along nicely, Teddy, once more, as +Fred sorrowfully put it, had to "spill the beans." + +It was a very warm morning, and most of the family were out on the porch +trying to get what air there was. Teddy had occasion to go upstairs, and +had to pass the door of his uncle's room. + +The latter had an appointment to meet a little later on, and, as it was +an important one, he had arranged to dress with more care than usual. +His clothes, including a new white vest, were laid out neatly on the +bed, near his writing desk. + +But what especially caught Teddy's eye, was a sheet of fly-paper, laid +on a small table close beside the desk. + +Such things were a novelty in the Rushton home. There was no need for +them, because every window and door was carefully screened during the +hot weather, and Martha was death to any unlucky fly that happened to +wing its way inside. + +But Uncle Aaron was so fidgety and nervous that even a solitary insect +buzzing around kept him awake at night, and, at his request, Mrs. +Rushton had secured the sticky sheet that now lay glistening on the +table. + +It must have been Teddy's evil genius that caused Bunk, the house cat, +to come strolling past the door at just that moment. He was so sleek and +lazy and self-satisfied that Teddy was strongly tempted to shake him out +of his calm. + +He hurried down to the kitchen, found a piece of meat on one of the +breakfast dishes that Martha was clearing up, and ran upstairs again. + +Bunk was still there, putting the last touches on his toilet. His smooth +fur, washed and rewashed, shone like silk. + +"Here, Bunk," called Teddy coaxingly, holding the bit of meat just above +the little table. + +The confiding Bunk looked up lazily. Then his eyes brightened. He +measured the distance, jumped and came down with all four paws on the +sticky fly paper. + +With a yowl of surprise and fright, he tried to free himself from the +mess. He used his head to get it away from his feet, and only succeeded +in smearing his face and shoulders. At times he would get one foot +loose, only to get it stuck again when he tried to free another. In less +time than it takes to tell, he was a yellow, sticky mass. + +Thoroughly panic stricken, he took a flying leap to the desk, upsetting +a bottle of ink in his course and landed on the bed, where he rolled +over and over on the white vest and other clothes so carefully laid out +by Uncle Aaron. + +Teddy was almost as scared as the cat. He dashed after him, grabbing at +the paper, getting some severe scratches in the process, and finally +yanked it away. As for Bunk, he dashed out of the room like a yellow +whirlwind. + +Fred, who had heard the racket, came running upstairs and found Teddy +standing aghast at the mischief he had caused. The older brother took in +the situation at a glance. + +"Quick," he urged, "get out of the window. They'll be up in a minute." + +The kitchen extension was just under the window of the room. Teddy +lifted the screen and dropped to the roof. From there it was only twelve +feet to the ground and he made the drop in safety. No one saw him but +Martha, and that faithful soul could be depended on to keep silent. + +Mr. Mansfield Rushton had already left for the city, but Mrs. Rushton +and Uncle Aaron came hurrying up the stairs. The former was in a flurry +of excitement, which increased materially when she looked into Uncle +Aaron's room and saw the awful wreck that had been made of it. + +"Oh, whatever in the world has happened now?" she gasped. + +As for Aaron, he could hardly speak at all. He was speechless with rage, +as he picked up his clothes and handled them gingerly. + +"Spoiled, utterly spoiled," he spluttered. Then, he caught sight of Bunk +in one corner of the hall. + +"It's that confounded cat," he shouted, as he made a kick at him that +missed him by a hair. "He got tangled up in the fly paper and carried it +all over the room." + +But just then he saw the bit of meat that had tempted the unwary Bunk. +He picked it up and looked hard at it. + +"Um-hum," he muttered, and the steely look came into his eyes. + +He turned sharply on Fred. + +"Where's Teddy?" he asked. + +"He doesn't seem to be around here anywhere," replied Fred. "I'll see if +I can find him downstairs." + +And he went down with alacrity, but carefully refrained from coming up +again. He remembered that he must see Bob Ellis at once. He opened the +front door and passed swiftly round the corner. + +"He'll find him," growled Aaron bitterly. "Oh, yes, he'll find him! You +won't see either of those boys till lunch time. + +"I tell you, Agnes," he went on fiercely, "one of those young scamps is +just as bad as the other. Teddy starts the mischief and Fred does all he +can to shield him." + +"You don't know yet that Teddy had anything to do with it," protested +Mrs. Rushton, in a tone which she tried to make confident, but with only +partial success. + +"No, of course not," he answered sarcastically, "he's never to blame for +anything. All the same I'll bet my life that he and nobody else is at +the bottom of this. How did this meat get up here, if somebody didn't +bring it?" + +"Perhaps the cat brought it up," suggested Mrs. Rushton desperately. +Then, feeling the weakness of her position, she went on hurriedly: + +"But now, I must get busy and clear up this awful mess. Give me those +clothes, and Martha and I will fix them up right away." + +But though the damage to the clothes was soon repaired, storm clouds +were still hovering over the household when Teddy came in to lunch. + +He loafed in with an elaborate pretense of unconcern. Nothing was said +at first, and he was beginning to hope when Uncle Aaron suddenly blurted +out: + +"What's the matter with your hand?" + +Though startled, Teddy lifted up his left hand. + +"Why, I don't see that anything's the matter with it," he replied, +holding it out for examination. + +"I mean the one you're hiding under the table," went on Aaron stonily. + +"Oh, that one?" stammered Teddy. "Why, it's scratched," he added +brightly, as he studied it with an expression of innocent surprise. + +There was a dead silence. Teddy, not caring to look anywhere else, kept +gazing at his hand, as though it were the most fascinating object in the +world. + +"Oh, Teddy!" moaned his mother. + +And then Teddy knew that the game was up. + +"Honestly, Mother," he stammered, "I didn't mean to--that is I meant to +make the cat jump on the fly-paper, but I didn't think he'd----" + +Here was Uncle Aaron's cue. + +"Didn't think!" he stormed. "Didn't think! If you were my boy----" And +here he launched into a tongue lashing that outdid all his previous +efforts. It seemed to Teddy an age before he could escape from the +table, carrying away with him the echo of Uncle Aaron's final threat to +have it out with his father when he came home that night. + +It was the last straw. Mr. Rushton's indecision vanished at the recital +of Teddy's latest prank. Before he slept that night he had written to +Dr. Hardach Rally, asking for his catalogue and terms, intimating that +if these proved satisfactory, he would send his two boys to Rally Hall. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ROBBERY + + +The answer came back promptly. + +In addition to the catalogue and pictures of the Hall and grounds, Dr. +Rally wrote a personal letter. It was in a stiff, precise handwriting +that seemed to indicate the character of the man. + +He would be very glad to take the Rushton boys under his care. He +thought he was not exaggerating when he said that the standard of +scholarship at Rally Hall was not exceeded by any institution of a +similar kind in the entire state. Their staff of instructors was +adequate, and their appliances were strictly up to date. There was a +good gymnasium, and the physical needs of the boys were looked after +with the same care as their mental and moral requirements. + +But what he laid especial stress upon was the discipline. This came +under his own personal supervision, and he thought he could promise Mr. +Rushton that there would be no weakness or compromise in this important +particular. + +"That's the stuff!" broke in Uncle Aaron, gleefully rubbing his hands. +"What did I tell you? Hardach Rally is the one to make boys mind." + +Fred and Teddy failed to share his enthusiasm, and Mrs. Rushton shivered +slightly. + +But, taken as a whole, the letter met the views of Mr. Mansfield +Rushton, and when the family council broke up, it was definitely settled +that the boys should go to Rally Hall. + +Old Martha was "dead sot," as she put it, against the whole plan. + +"Ain' no good goin' to kum uv it," she grumbled to herself, as she +jammed her hands viciously into the dough. "House'll seem like a +graveyard wen dose po' boys get shunted off ter dat ole bo'din' school. +Like enuf dey won't giv' um half enuf ter eat. An' all on 'count uv dat +ole w'ited sepulker," she wound up disgustedly. + +But Uncle Aaron, wholly indifferent to Martha's views even if he had +known them, was in high feather. He had carried his point, and, in the +satisfaction this gave him, he became almost good-natured. He could even +allow himself a wintry smile at times, as he reflected that the +boys--the "pests," as he called them to himself--were to get a taste of +the discipline that their souls needed. + +"He'll show them what's what," he chuckled. "He'll either bend 'em or +break 'em. I know Hardach Rally." + +As for Fred and Teddy themselves, they hardly knew whether to be glad or +sorry. + +They loved their home and their parents, and then, too, they hated to +leave their boy friends with whom they had grown up in the home town. + +But, on the other hand, there was the attraction of new sights and +places and all the adventures that might come to them. It was another +world into which they were going, and it was not in boy nature that they +should not be thrilled by the prospect of "fresh fields and pastures +new." + +But before the time came for their departure, Oldtown had a sensation +that turned it topsy-turvy. + +The village store was robbed! + +The first thing the boys knew about it was when they heard a whistle +under their windows that they recognized as that of Jack Youmans. They +stuck sleepy heads out to see what had brought him there at that early +hour. + +"Hurry up, fellows!" he cried excitedly. "Get your clothes on and come +down. There's something doing." + +"What is it?" they asked in chorus. + +"Never you mind," answered Jack, swelling with a sense of his +importance. "You get a move on and come down." + +They slipped into their clothes and in less than three minutes were down +beside him. He made them beg a little before he finally gave up his +secret. + +"The store was robbed last night," he said importantly. + +"The store!" exclaimed the boys. There was no need of specifying, as +there was only one store in Oldtown of any importance. + +"How did it happen?" asked Fred. + +"Did they get much?" questioned Teddy. + +"They don't know yet," replied Jack to both questions. "A fellow came +past our house a little while ago, and he called to my dad, who was +working in the garden, that when Cy Briggs went to open up, he found +that the front door was already open and everything inside was all +scattered about. He can't tell yet just how much was stolen, but the +safe was broken into and everything in it was cleaned out. Cy is awful +excited about it, and they say he's running around like a hen with her +head cut off. Get a wiggle on now, and let's get down there." + +The boys could not remember when anything like a robbery had happened +before in the sleepy little town, and they were all afire with +excitement. + +The family was not up yet, but the boys did not wait for breakfast in +their eagerness to be on the scene of the robbery. + +A hasty raid on Martha's pantry gave each of them enough for a cold +bite, and, eating as they went along, and running most of the way, they +were soon in front of the village store. + +The news had traveled fast, and there was an eager crowd already +gathered. All sorts of rumors were about, and in the absence of any real +news as to the robbers, one guess was as good as another. + +The only thing about which there was no doubt at all was that the +robbery had occurred. The open safe and tumbled goods were sufficient +proofs of that. Cy Briggs, who had run the store for forty years, and +had never had a robbery or fire or anything to disturb the regular order +of things, was so flustered that he had not yet been able to find out +the extent of his loss. + +One or two of the cooler heads were going over the stock with him, while +the others clustered on the broad porch in front and waited for +developments, keeping up a constant buzz of questions and conjectures. + +No one had heard any unusual noise the night before. The village +constable, who constituted the entire police force of Oldtown, had made +his usual round about ten o'clock, and, as a matter of form, had tried +the door. But it had been securely fastened as usual, and there had been +nothing to rouse his suspicion. Apart from two or three traveling men +who had come in with Jed Muggs, and were now staying at the one hotel, +nobody had seen any outsiders. + +The whole thing was a mystery, and this was increased by the discovery +that while the door had been found open, showing that the thieves had +come out that way, they must have found some other means of entrance. +The door had been fastened by a bolt, which Cy had pushed into the +socket the last thing before leaving. This had not been broken, as it +would have been, if the robbers had forced their way in from the front. +Cy himself had gone out of a back door, which he had locked, carrying +the key away with him, and this door was found still locked when he came +that morning to open up. + +"Well, Cy, how about it?" was the question from a dozen voices, as the +old storekeeper, grizzled and flushed, came out on the porch. "How much +did you lose?" + +"Don't know yet," Cy answered, wiping his forehead with a huge bandana +handkerchief, "but I reckon it'll figger up to close on three or four +hundred dollars' wuth." + +A hum of excitement rose from the crowd. To the boys especially, this +seemed an enormous amount of money. + +"That's a right smart sum, Cy," remarked a sympathetic listener. "What +was it they got away with?" + +"Money, mostly," mourned Cy. "The goods in the store wasn't bothered +much. Reckon they was lookin' only for cash. Then, too, they've cleaned +out a co'sid'able of jewelry and watches. Some of 'em I was gettin' +ready to send away to the city to be repaired, and others had come back +mended, but the customers hadn't called for 'em yet." + +Catching sight at that moment of Fred in the crowd, he added: "One of +them watches was your Uncle Aaron's. It was a vallyble one and I feel +wuss over that than almost anything else. I know he set a heap of store +by it." + +"Uncle Aaron's watch!" gasped the boys. + +It was a knock-down blow for them, especially for Teddy. Was he never to +get away from that miserable runaway? If it had not been for that, the +watch would not have been injured, and at this very moment it might have +been reposing in his uncle's capacious pocket. Now the "fat was in the +fire" again. The chances were that the watch would never be seen again +by the rightful owner. + +"I'm the hoodoo kid, all right!" he groaned. + +"It sure is hard luck," sympathized Jack. + +"Brace up, Teddy," urged Jim. "They may catch the fellows yet." + +"Swell chance!" retorted Teddy to their well-meant sympathy. "Even if +they do, they won't get the watch back. Those fellows will make a +beeline to the nearest pawnshop, and that'll be the end of it." + +"I wish we could have caught them at it," said Fred savagely. "If they'd +only been working when we came past last night." + +"What time last night?" asked Cy, pricking up his ears. + +"About eleven o'clock, I guess," answered Fred. "Teddy and I had been +over to Tom Barrett's house. He's just got a new phonograph, and we went +over to hear him try it out. He had a lot of records, and it was pretty +late when we came away." + +"And yer didn't see anything out of the way when you come past?" went on +Cy. + +"Not a thing. We didn't meet a soul on the way home." + +Just then there was a stir inside the store, and the constable, Hi +Vickers, came to the door. + +"Come here a minute, Cy," he said. "I bet I've found out how those +fellers got into the store." + +As many as could crowded in after him as he led the way to a little side +window. + +"They got in here," he said triumphantly. + +"But that's locked," said Cy. + +"Sure it is," explained Hi, "but they could have locked it again after +they got in, couldn't they? One thing certain, they've unlocked it first +from the outside. See here," and the constable showed where the blade of +a heavy knife had left marks on the frame. It had evidently been thrust +between the two halves of the window to push back the fastening. + +"There you are," he said. "You see, they clum that apple tree right +alongside the winder and----" + +"Say!" broke in Fred, as a thought came to him like a flash of +lightning, "I bet I know who the robbers were." + +All eyes were turned on him in surprise. + +"It was two tramps that I saw round here a few days ago," continued +Fred. "A lot of us fellows were in Sam Perkins' barn, and we heard the +tramps talking. They didn't see us, but we saw them. We couldn't hear +all they said, but I did hear them say something about an 'apple tree' +and 'side window' and something being 'dead easy.' I'd forgotten all +about it till just now. But there's the apple tree and the side window, +and that must have been what they were talking about." + +"By gum, it wuz!" assented Hi. "Tell us what the fellers looked like." + +"One of them was a good deal taller than the other," said Fred, trying +to recall their appearance. "They were both ragged and dirty. And, oh, +yes! the tall one had a scar up near his temple, as if he had been +stabbed there some time." + +"Well," commented Hi, "that may help a lot. We know now what we've got +to look for. I'll telephone all along the line to the other towns to be +on the lookout for them, and some of us will hitch up and drive along +the different roads. They can't have got very far, and we may get 'em +yet." + +Later on, as the boys were on their way home, Jim chuckled. + +"What are you laughing about, Jim?" asked Bob. + +"I was just thinking," Jim replied, "that it was mighty lucky they +didn't ask Fred how he happened to be in Sam Perkins' barn." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +OFF FOR RALLY HALL + + +As Teddy had clearly foreseen, all that had happened before was as +nothing, when Uncle Aaron learned that his cherished watch was gone, +probably forever. + +He stormed and raged and wondered aloud what he had done that he should +be saddled with such a graceless nephew. It was in vain that Mr. Rushton +offered to make good the money loss. + +"It isn't a matter of money," he shouted. "I've had that watch so long +that it had come to be to me like a living thing. I wouldn't have taken +a dozen watches in exchange for it. Big fool that I was ever to come to +Oldtown." + +All the amateur detective methods of the village constable ended in +nothing. And as day after day passed without news, it began to be +accepted as a settled fact that the culprits would never be found. + +One happy day, however, came to lighten the gloom of Uncle Aaron. And +that was the day that the Rushton boys said good-by to Oldtown and +started for Rally Hall. + +"Thank fortune," he said to himself, "they're going at last! A little +longer and I'd be bankrupt or crazy, or both." + +But if Uncle Aaron was delighted to have them go, nobody else shared +that feeling, except Jed Muggs. + +That worthy was in high glee, as he drove up to the Rushton home on that +eventful morning, to take them and their trunks to the railroad station +at Carlette. + +Although he had made a pretty good thing, in a money way, out of the +accident, charging Mr. Rushton a great deal more than would have made up +the damage, he had by no means forgiven Teddy for the fright and the +shock he had suffered on that occasion. The Fourth of July incident of +the painted horses, of which he firmly--and rightly--believed Teddy to +have been the author, also still "stuck in his crop." + +The old coach and horses swung up to the gate, and Fred and Teddy came +out. They had had a private parting with their parents, and now the +whole family, including Bunk, had come out on the veranda to see them +off. + +Mr. Rushton was grave and thoughtful. Mrs. Rushton was smiling bravely +and trying to hide her tears. Uncle Aaron looked perfectly resigned. Old +Martha was blubbering openly. + +The trunks were strapped on and the boys jumped inside the coach. Jed +climbed to the driver's seat, chirruped to his horses and they were off +amid a chorus of farewells. + +Those left behind waved to them until they were out of sight. But in the +last glimpse that the boys had of the old home, they saw that their +mother was sobbing on her husband's shoulder, while Martha's apron was +over her face. + +They themselves were more deeply stirred than they cared to show, and +for some time they were very quiet and thoughtful. + +They chanced to be the only passengers that morning, and Jed, having no +one else to talk to, turned his batteries on them. + +"So you're goin' to leave us, be you?" he remarked, chewing meditatively +on a straw. + +"Yes," answered Teddy, the light of battle coming into his eyes, "and we +hate to tear ourselves away from you, Jed. You've always been such a +good pal of ours." + +"It breaks us all up to leave you," chimed in Fred, "and we wouldn't do +it if it weren't absolutely necessary. I don't know how you are going to +get along without us." + +"A heap sight better than I ever got along with yer!" snapped out Jed. +"I won't be lyin' awake nights now, wonderin' what rascality you kids +will be cookin' up next." + +"And this is all the thanks we get for trying to make things pleasant +for you all these years!" exclaimed Teddy, in mock despair. + +"The more you do for some people, the less they think of you," and Fred +shook his head mournfully. + +"I tell you young scalawags one thing, and that ain't two," Jed came +back at them. "Ef it hadn't be'n fer me, you two might be behind the +bars this blessed minit. + +"I ain't never writ ter the gover'ment yit, about you interferin' with +the United States mail," he went on magnanimously. "Yer pa and ma is +nice folks an' I don't want ter make no trouble fer them. Perhaps I +oughtn't ter hush the matter up, me bein', as yer might say, a officer +of the gover'ment when I'm carryin' the mails"--here his chest +expanded--"an' maybe the hull matter will come out yet and make a big +scandal at Washington. Yer actually busted up gover'ment prope'ty. That +padlock on the mail bag wuz bent so that I had ter git a new one----" + +"Yes," interrupted Fred, "father said that he paid you a dollar for +that." + +"I've seen those same padlocks on sale in the store for twenty-five +cents," added Teddy. + +"That's neither here nur there," said Jed hastily. "The nub of the hull +thing is that if it hadn't been fer me, yer might be doin' the lock step +in Atlanta or Leavenworth, or some other of them gover'ment jails. How +would yer like that, eh? And wearin' stripes, an' nuthin' but mush and +merlasses fer breakfast, an' guards standin' around with guns, an'----" + +But what other dismal horrors might have been conjured up by Jed will +never be known, as at that moment they came up alongside the railroad +station at Carlette, and more pressing things demanded his attention. + +"Great Scott, Teddy!" exclaimed Fred, as they jumped down, "the whole +gang is here!" + +Sure enough, it seemed as though all the juvenile population of Oldtown +had turned out to give them a royal send-off. + +They ran up to the boys with a shout. + +"It's bully of you fellows to walk all this distance to say good-by," +said Fred, and Teddy echoed him. + +"We'd have come up to the house," explained Bob Ellis, "but we knew +you'd have a whole lot to say to your own folks, and we didn't want to +butt in." + +"We're all dead sore at your leaving the town," said Jim. "It won't seem +like the same old place with you fellows out of it." + +There was a general chorus of assent to this from the other boys. + +"We hate to leave the old crowd, too," said Fred. "But, of course, we'll +be back at holidays and vacation times. I only wish you fellows were +going along with us." + +"That would be great," agreed Jack. "But no such luck for us." + +"I don't know how we're going to fill your place on the football and +baseball teams," mourned Tom Barrett. "We'll be dead easy for the other +teams now." + +"Don't you believe it!" said Fred heartily. "You'll find fellows to take +our places that will be better players than we ever dared to be." + +"Nix on that stuff!" said Jim. "You know well enough that you put it all +over every other fellow in town." + +The locomotive whistled at the nearest crossing, and a moment later the +train came into sight. + +There was a perfect hubbub of farewells, and amid a chorus of good +wishes that fairly warmed their hearts, the boys swung aboard. Even Jed +thawed out enough to wave his hand at them in semi-friendly fashion. + +"I'll keep it dark," he called after them, "that is unless the +gover'ment gits after me, on account of----" + +But the rest was lost in the rattle of the train. + +The Rushton boys were off at last. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ANDY SHANKS, BULLY + + +The train was a long one, consisting of seven cars, beside the smoker, +but, as the homeward rush after summer vacations was in full swing, it +was pretty well filled, and the boys found it hard to get two seats +together. + +It was only after they had gone through the first three coaches, that +they saw their opportunity. + +About the middle of the fourth car, a back had been turned so that two +seats faced each other. + +Only one passenger was occupying this space, a large overgrown boy, +about sixteen years old. His face was heavy, and his loose mouth and +protruding eyes gave him a most unpleasant expression. A traveling cap +was pulled down part way over his eyes, and he looked up from under the +peak of this with a cold, piggy stare, as the boys paused beside the +seats. + +Filling up the rest of the seat beside him was a raincoat and a tennis +racket. On the seat facing him he had deposited a heavy suit case, that +filled it from end to end. + +Fred and Teddy stood beside him for a moment without speaking, taking it +for granted that he would take his suit case from the seat and put it on +the floor. He did nothing of the kind, however, and continued to gaze at +them insolently. + +The surprise that Fred felt at first was rapidly giving place to a +different feeling, but he restrained himself, and asked, pleasantly +enough: + +"Beg pardon, but would you mind putting your suit case on the floor, so +that we may have the seat?" + +"Of course, I'd mind," came the ungracious answer. "There are plenty of +other seats in the train, if you'll only look for them." + +A red flush began to creep up Fred's neck, which to any one who knew him +would have been a danger signal. But he put out a hand to restrain +Teddy, and answered patiently: + +"Perhaps there may be, though I haven't been able to find them, but I +just happen to want this one," and he pointed to where the suit case was +resting. + +"Nothing doing!" sneered the other. "Guess again!" + +Fred came of fighting stock. One of his ancestors had fought in the +battle of Kings Mountain, and another had scoured the seas under Decatur +in the War of 1812. + +He had been taught to keep his temper under restraint and never to +provoke a quarrel. But he had been trained also never to dodge trouble +if it came his way in any case where his rights or his self-respect were +involved. + +Like a flash, he grasped the heavy suit case and put it on the floor, +its owner giving a howl as it came down on his toes. At the same +instant, Teddy swung the back of the seat so that it faced the other +way, and the boys dropped into it. + +The rage of the flabby-faced youth was fearful. He started to his feet, +his eyes popping from his head in his excitement. + +"You--you----" he spluttered. "I'll----" + +"Well," replied Fred, turning and looking him straight in the face, +"what'll you do?" + +Before the resolute glow in Fred's eyes, the bully weakened. + +"You'll find out what I'll do," he mumbled. "I'll--I'll get you yet." + +"All right," remarked Fred calmly. "You can start something whenever you +like. I'll be ready for you. No car seat hog can try any such game with +me and get away with it." + +The fellow slumped back in his seat, mouthing and muttering. Nor was his +defeat made less bitter by noting the smiles of approval with which the +other passengers greeted the incident. + +"Good work, son," laughed a grizzled old farmer, sitting across the +aisle. "That's the way to take the wind out of his sails." + +"What you got to say about it?" growled Andy, glaring at him. + +"Whatever I choose to," was the answer, "and there'll be plenty more to +say if you give me any of your impudence." + +Andy subsided, but for the rest of the journey his little eyes glowered +with rage as he kept them fixed on the boys in front. + +"He's a sweet specimen, isn't he?" chuckled Teddy. + +"I'd hate to have to live under the same roof with him," answered Fred, +little thinking that for the next nine months they would have to do just +that thing. + +"Starting off with a scrap the first thing!" laughed Ted. "Wonder what +mother would say to that?" + +"I think she'd say we did just right," answered Fred, "and I'm dead sure +that father would." + +Nothing further happened to mar the pleasure of their journey. The +country through which the train was passing was entirely new to the +boys, and, in the ever changing panorama that flew past the windows, +they soon became so absorbed, that they almost forgot the existence of +their unpleasant fellow-traveler. + +"Green Haven the next stop!" sang out the brakeman. + +"Here we are," said Fred, as the boys began to gather up their traps. A +little quiver of excitement ran through their veins. They were on the +threshold of a new life. It was the most momentous step they had ever +taken. + +With a clangor of the bell and hissing of steam, the train slowed up at +the station. + +Green Haven was a smart, hustling little town, much larger than Oldtown. +There was a row of stores stretching away from the station, quite a +pretentious hotel, and the spires of three churches rose above the +maples that bordered the village streets. There was the hotel bus drawn +up beside the depot, and alongside this a much larger one, used by the +students in going to and from Rally Hall, which was a little more than a +mile from the town. + +"Quite a crowd of people getting off here," commented Fred, as he +stepped into the aisle of the car. + +"Yes," answered Teddy. "Hello, the bully is gone!" he exclaimed, as he +glanced at the seat back of him. + +"Sure enough," rejoined Fred. "There he goes, now," and he indicated the +rear door of the car, through which their ugly neighbor was just +disappearing. + +"I wonder if he lives in Green Haven," said Teddy. "If he does, we may +run across him once in a while." + +"Something pleasant to look forward to," laughed Fred, as they stepped +down to the station platform. + +There was a large crowd of young fellows at the station, and there was a +noisy interchange of greetings, as others stepped from the train. +Everybody seemed to know everybody else, and the boys felt a little +forlorn, as they looked over the gay throng and saw no face that they +knew. + +They were making their way toward the bus, when a tall, manly young +fellow, who had been watching them, came to meet them. His keen grey +eyes were kindly and humorous, and he wore a friendly smile that made +the boys warm to him at once. + +"I don't know how good a guesser I am," he laughed, as he held out a +hand to each, "but I'll bet you fellows are going to Rally Hall." + +"Guessed it right, the first time," smiled Fred, as he and Teddy grasped +the extended hands. + +"Good," was the answer. "Then we're fellow sufferers, and we'd better +get acquainted right away. Melvin Granger is my handle. What are the +names you fellows go by? + +"Brothers, eh?" he went on, when the boys had introduced themselves. +"That's dandy. It won't be half as lonesome for you at the start as it +would be if either of you came alone. Still, there's a bunch of good +fellows here, and it won't be long before you'll feel at home. I think +you'll like them, most of them, that is. Of course, there is, here and +there, an exception----" + +He paused just here to nod carelessly to a passer-by. + +"How are you, Shanks?" he said indifferently. + +The boys followed the direction of his glance, and Teddy clutched Fred's +arm. + +"Why!" he exclaimed, "that's the fellow we had the scrap with on the +train." + +"Scrap," repeated Granger, laughing. "Well, I don't wonder. Scrap is +Andy's middle name. He," and his eyes twinkled, "he's one of the +'exceptions' I just mentioned." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"HARDTACK" RALLY + + +"Well," commented Fred, as they made their way toward the bus which was +filling up rapidly, "I'm glad that he's the exception and not the rule. +A very little of him will go a good way with me." + +"Yes, that's a case where 'enough is plenty,'" assented Granger. + +The Rushton boys' bags were slung into a wagon standing alongside the +bus and their trunks followed. Then the lads took the only seats +remaining in the bus, the door slammed to and they were on their way to +Rally Hall. The students inside were in high spirits, and as the Rushton +boys looked around at their companions they were ready to believe Melvin +Granger's statement that they were all around good fellows. Brown as +berries from their summer outings, full of the zest of living, their +bright eyes and boisterous laughter showed that they were kindred +spirits to the newcomers. + +"I don't see our grouchy friend here with the rest," Fred remarked, as +he looked around. + +"Not with the common herd," grinned Melvin. "There he goes now," as they +heard the honk of a horn, and an automobile swept by, leaving a cloud of +dust behind it. + +In the driver's seat, holding the wheel, was their acquaintance of the +train, while slumped down beside him was a smaller youth, with little, +shifting eyes and a retreating chin. + +The fellows in the bus looked at each other understandingly. + +"Andy and his valet," one of them remarked. + +"Yes," replied Granger, to the unspoken question in the eyes of the +brothers, "he's got an auto of his own. Keeps it in a garage down in the +village." + +"To tell the truth," he went on, "that's half the trouble with Shanks. +He has more money than is good for him. His father's a millionaire they +say--got a big woolen mill somewhere down in Massachusetts. But if he +knows how to make money, he doesn't know how to bring up a boy. Andy's +the only son, and his father lets him have all the money he wants, and +doesn't ask him what he does with it. He's always been allowed to have +his own way, and it's only natural that he should think he owns the +earth. And that's one of the reasons he wanted to have four seats to +himself in the train this morning, even if some one else had to stand." + +"One of the reasons, you say. What are the others?" asked Fred. + +"Well, I guess the others must be set down to Andy's unfortunate +disposition," laughed Granger. "There are other fellows here who have +rich fathers, but they're good fellows just the same." + +"Was that really his valet who was in the auto with him?" asked Teddy. + +"No," replied Melvin, with a smile, "that's only the name the fellows +gave to Sid Wilton. He plays second fiddle to Shanks. He's always at his +beck and call, and ready to fetch and carry for him. He jumps through +the hoop and rolls over and plays dead whenever Andy gives the word. + +"But here we are now," the other youth went on, as the bus turned from +the road into a broad avenue, shaded by elms and maples. "Behold, +gentlemen and fellow citizens," he jested, "the far-famed institution of +learning known as Rally Hall!" + +The boys leaned out eagerly to see what would be their home for many +months to come. + +Before them rose a massive building, three stories in height, made of +pressed brick and with white granite facings. A wing at right angles to +the main building on each side, gave it the form of three sides of a +square. + +A wide flight of stone steps led to the main floor, which was devoted to +class rooms and the offices of the institution. On the second floor were +the dormitories, varying in size, and containing from eight to twelve +beds each. The rooms of the principal and teachers occupied the greater +part of the third floor, while a section in the left wing was set apart +for the janitor and the other employees of the school. + +Before the building stretched a large campus, covering several acres. +Most of it was lawn, although it was interspersed with bits of woodland. +On one side of it was a large frame building, used as a gymnasium, and +immediately adjoining was the athletic field. This was very large and +was kept in superb condition. There were a number of tennis courts, but +the major part was reserved for baseball and football. A full-sized +diamond was surrounded with smooth turf that shone like green velvet, +though browning a little in places under the September sun. A half mile +running track encircled the whole field. + +Directly in front of the Hall, at the foot of the gently sloping campus, +lay Lake Morora. It was about two miles in length by three-quarters of a +mile wide and was dotted by several tiny islands. It was the most +beautiful body of water the boys had ever beheld, and they fell in love +with it at once. + +"My! isn't it a peach?" murmured Teddy. + +"It sure does make a hit with me!" agreed Fred emphatically. + +"It's a dandy, all right," was Granger's comment, "and the fellows have +no end of fun on it. But come along now," he added. "You'll have plenty +of time later on to ask 'what are the wild waves saying?' But just at +present, we'd better hunt up old Hardtack." + +"Hardtack?" asked Fred wonderingly. + +"Sure!" grinned Granger, "the boss of this shebang." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Fred, a light breaking in upon him, "you mean Dr. +Hardach Rally?" + +"Dr. Hardach Rally," said Melvin, with mock solemnity, "is the very man +I mean. + +"Naturally," he went on, "I don't call him 'Hardtack' to his face. It +wouldn't be exactly healthy to do it." + +"Hardtack," chuckled Teddy. "Wouldn't Uncle Aaron have a fit if he knew +the fellows called him that?" + +"The name fits pretty well, too, I guess," laughed Fred. "From what +we've heard, he must be a terror." + +"Oh, I don't know," rejoined Granger. "He isn't exactly a cooing dove in +disposition, and if a fellow tries any monkey business, he comes down on +him like a thousand of brick. Still, he's not such a bad kind after all. +He's pretty severe, and he won't stand for a shirk or a crook. But if a +fellow's white and tries to do the square thing, he'll get along and not +find Hardtack too hard to digest." + +By this time they had mounted the steps, and Granger, who had taken an +instant liking to the boys and had made himself their "guide, +philosopher and friend," led the way to the private office of the head +of Rally Hall. + +A gruff "come in" was the answer to his knock, and they entered the +study. + +It was a large square room with a polished hardwood floor. Behind the +flat mahogany desk sat Dr. Hardach Rally. + +He was lean and spare and above middle height. He wore a pair of horn +spectacles through which peered a keen, uncompromising pair of eyes. He +gave the impression of a stern man, but nevertheless a just one. + +"Good afternoon, Granger," he said stiffly, and his eyes rested +inquiringly on the two boys. + +"Good afternoon, Dr. Rally," replied Granger. "These friends of mine are +Fred and Teddy Rushton. I met them at the railroad station." + +Dr. Rally shook hands with the newcomers and asked them to be seated. +Then Granger excused himself and with a whispered "see you later" +hurried from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LEARNING THE ROPES + + +The boys sat there, silently studying the new "master of their fate," +and wondering how they would get along with him. He, in turn, looked +them over carefully. Then he leaned forward and took some papers from +his desk. + +"I was expecting you," he said, glancing at two letters he held in his +hand. "Your father wrote me that you would reach here to-day. + +"I have also here a letter from your uncle, Mr. Aaron Rushton," he went +on. "He is a very close friend of mine, and I gather that it was through +his suggestion that your father decided to send you here." + +Fred murmured an assent, while Teddy's heart sank, as he tried to +imagine what Uncle Aaron had said about him in the letter. + +Dr. Rally sat up straight in his chair. It was significant that it was +not an easy revolving chair, but as stiff and perpendicular as the +doctor himself. + +"The matter of your studies and assignment to classes," Dr. Rally +continued, "will be looked after by Professor Raymond, my chief +assistant. I will send you to him in a moment. But first, I want to say +one word. + +"The discipline of the school is strict, and it must be obeyed. +Sometimes"--here he glanced at Uncle Aaron's letter and then let his +gaze fall on Teddy, who squirmed inwardly--"a boy comes here who thinks +that he is going to run the school. He never makes the same mistake a +second time. That is all." + +He gave the boys directions how to find Professor Raymond, and they +found themselves out in the hall, surprised at the briefness of the +interview, but relieved that it was over. + +"Say!" exclaimed Fred, "he didn't have so much to say, after all." + +"He didn't talk very much, if that is what you mean," corrected Teddy, +who was unusually thoughtful, for him, "but he said a good deal." + +"I wonder what Uncle Aaron told him in his letter," mused Teddy. "I'll +bet he just skinned me alive." + +"Oh, well, don't you care," Fred consoled him. "Your cake is dough with +Uncle Aaron, and I suppose it will always, unless he finds his watch and +papers." + +"Do you suppose he ever will?" asked Teddy, for at least the hundredth +time, and rather wistfully. + +"We'll keep on hoping so, anyway," replied Fred. "But here's the room +the doctor told us to go to." + +They found Professor Raymond to be a young man, alert and vigorous and +full of snap. He was very friendly and cordial, and the boys liked him +from the start. + +He examined the boys as to the point that they had reached in their +studies, and carefully looked over the reports they had brought from +their teachers in the Oldtown school. These proved exceedingly +satisfactory. Fred's work had been really brilliant, while Teddy, +despite his love of mischief, had held a very creditable rank in his +studies. + +The professor assigned them to their classes and gave them all necessary +directions as to the hours of study and times for recitations. Then he +consulted a slip he took from his desk. + +"I'm going to put you boys in Dormitory Number Three," he said finally. +"There are ten beds in there, and just two have been left vacant. I'll +give directions for your trunks and bags to be sent up there, and you +can unpack and get your things arranged in the wardrobe and locker that +stand at the heads of your beds. By the time you get rested and +freshened up, it will be nearly time for supper." + +Dormitory Number Three, they found to be a very large and airy room in +the front of the building on the second floor, and commanding a splendid +view of the lake. There were ten single beds, with ample space between +them, and at the head of each was a wardrobe and locker. At the foot was +a washstand with all the necessary appliances. + +The dormitory was intended for sleeping purposes only. On the floor +below, there were special study rooms, where the boys were supposed to +prepare their lessons for the next day's recitations. + +Fred and Teddy had just begun to wash, when Granger came through the +door like a whirlwind. + +"Well, by all that's lucky!" he exclaimed. "So Raymond's put you in +here, has he? I was hoping he would. Now that's what I call bully!" + +"That's what we call it, too, if this is your dormitory," said Fred, who +had seldom formed so strong a liking for any one on such short +acquaintance. + +"I've slept here for the last two years," replied Melvin, "and I think +it's the best dormitory in the whole school. Look at the view from +here." His sweeping gesture took in the lake, rippling in the glow of +the western sun. + +"It's a pippin, all right!" assented Fred. + +"It sure is!" echoed Teddy. + +"And we've got a ripping lot of fellows in here, too," went on Melvin. +"All of them are the real goods. There isn't a snoop or a sneak in the +bunch. All of them are old timers, except two fellows that came in two +days ago. One of them is named Garwood, who comes from out West +somewhere. The other is Lester Lee from somewhere down on the coast of +Maine. I don't know much about them yet, but I like them first-rate from +what I've seen of them so far. I think we're going to be a regular happy +family, as soon as we get going, and I'm mighty glad you fellows are +going to be in the crowd." + +Nobody was gladder than Fred and Teddy themselves. Although they had not +confessed it, even to each other, they had felt a sort of dread of the +first few days at school. They had not known but what it might take +weeks before they could establish their footing and begin to feel at +home. Yet here it was only a few hours, and this friendly, big-hearted +boy had taken them right in, as cordially as though he had known them +for years. If they were to suffer from loneliness or homesickness, it +would not be Melvin Granger's fault. + +"Here come some of the fellows now," he said, as a noisy group burst +into the room and began to make use of wash basins and towels. "I won't +stop to introduce you now. The supper gong will ring in about five +minutes, and they'll be breaking their necks to get ready in time. When +we get up here again after supper and study hours, I'll trot them all +out, and they can tell you the sad stories of their lives." + +As he had predicted, the splashing of water and brushing of hair were +interrupted a few moments later by the clanging of the gong that told a +hundred or more hungry boys that supper was ready. There was no need of +a second summons, and with a last hasty touch to their incomplete +toilets, they came trooping into the immense dining-room that covered an +entire floor in one of the wings. + +There were eight long tables, at the head of each of which was one of +the teachers. Dr. Rally sat apart, in state, with his family, at a +private table in one corner of the room. For this, all the boys inwardly +thanked their stars. Not one of them would have cared to eat under the +direct glare of the head of the school. + +Fred and Teddy were glad to find that they had been assigned to the +table over which Professor Raymond presided. Melvin, too, was at the +same table, a little higher up. + +The food was plentiful and well cooked, and although Fred and Teddy +would not have minded having one or two of the dainties that old Martha +was so adept in preparing, it was plain that her prophecy of their early +death from starvation was not going to be fulfilled. They made a most +satisfactory meal, marred only by the fact that Teddy's piece of pie was +devoured by some unknown neighbor while he was talking to Fred. + +He was game, however, and not being able to swallow the pie, swallowed +his resentment, making a mental vow to get even, if he should ever +discover the culprit. + +A half an hour for rest and recreation followed the supper. Then the +bell rang for a study period of two hours. At the end of this time work +was over for the day, and the boys sought their dormitories to do as +they chose till bedtime. All lights were to be out by ten o'clock. + +The boys came into Number Three with a clatter and a bang. When they +were all there, Melvin lifted his hand to hush the racket. + +"Hi, there, you fellows," he shouted. "Keep still for a minute. I want +to say something." + +The tumult subsided, as the boys came crowding around him. + +"Gentlemen," he said, with mock dignity--"I know I flatter you, but no +matter--I want to introduce you to two new roommates, Fred and Teddy +Rushton." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A JOLLY CROWD + + +There was a general bow and smile on the part of all, as the boys +acknowledged the introduction, and then Melvin became more personal: + +"You have here before you," he said to the Rushton boys, assuming the +air and tone of a "barker" at a seaside show, "the most gorgeous +collection of freaks ever gathered under one tent. Positively, +gentlemen, an unparalleled aggregation of the most astonishing wonders +of nature now in captivity, assembled by the management without regard +to expense from all quarters of the civilized and uncivilized world. So +remarkable, gentlemen, are these specimens of the animal world that they +have even been taught to walk, talk and eat like human beings. Some have +even gone so far as to say that they _are_ human, although this +opinion is not maintained by those who know them best. + +"And what do I charge you, gentlemen, for gazing at this mammoth +collection of monsters and missing links? Do I charge you a half a +dollar? I do not. Do I even ask you for a quarter? I do not. Do I even +set you back to the extent of a dime? I do not. Do I even extract from +your vest pocket the humble jitney? No, gentlemen, a thousand times, no! + +"This amazing show is free, gentlemen, absolutely free, free as the air, +free as the sunshine, free as good advice, free as----" + +He ducked, just as a pillow flew past his head. + +"Jo-Jo, the dog-faced boy, did that," he explained; "whenever he hears +me say 'free' he thinks it means that he's to be free with me. But I +don't mind, because he never hits anything." + +There was a general laugh, and Granger abandoned his showman's attitude. + +"This is Billy Burton, the sweet singer of the Wabash," he said, +indicating a stocky youth with a shock of red hair. "We call him the +Indiana Nightingale, because he's so different. You ought to hear him +sing 'We Give the Baby Garlic, So that We Can Find Him in the Dark!' The +sentiment's so strong, it brings tears to your eyes." + +"You're pretty good at music yourself, Mel," retorted Billy. + +"I?" said Melvin in surprise. "Why I don't know one note from another. I +don't think I could play a jewsharp or a hand-organ. What kind of music +am I good at?" + +"Chin music," replied Billy. + +Melvin was fairly caught, and the boys howled. + +"You got me that time, Billy," Melvin cried. "But, talking of music, +here's the real goods in that line," and he laid his hand on the +shoulder of an olive-skinned Italian boy, with delicate features and +large dark eyes. + +"This is Tony Dirocco," he went on; "Tony's a count or some other high +muckamuck in his own country, and he's studying here while his father is +at Washington on some diplomatic business or other. But Tony doesn't +care half as much about books as he does about music. Say, when he gets +hold of a violin he fairly makes it talk. Real high brow stuff, you +know, operas and things like that, the kind that goes right up and down +your spine and takes your heart out by the roots. Just wait until he +gives us one of his concerts all by himself." + +Tony shook hands with a shy smile, and the boys made up their minds that +they were going to like him immensely. + +"Now for our Spanish athlete," said Granger, "the man who 'throws the +bull.' This is Slim Haley," and he nodded toward a fat chubby fellow who +must have weighed close to two hundred pounds. His broad face was +wreathed with smiles, and his eyes twinkled with fun, as he came +forward. + +"This puny infant," went on Melvin, "can tell the most wonderful stories +you ever heard, and tell them with such an innocent air that sometimes +you almost believe him. He's got Baron Munchausen skinned a mile. He was +telling me one to-day about a rabbit, and I sat watching him, expecting +every minute to see him choke." + +"Oh, come off, Mel," laughed "Slim." "You see," he said, turning to the +boys, "the trouble with Mel is that he hasn't imagination enough to +understand anything he hasn't seen himself. Now that story of the +rabbit----" + +"Let's hear it, and judge for ourselves," suggested Fred. + +"Why, it was like this," said Slim. "It was out in the Western League, +and they were having a close game of ball. It was in the ninth inning, +with two men out and one run needed to win. + +"The man at the bat, one of the best sluggers on the team, soaked the +ball good and plenty on a line to centre field. It hit a rabbit, who was +browsing near the centre field fence. Of course it scared him, and he +came streaking in and reached second base just before the batter. + +"Down the line went the rabbit toward third, with the batter legging it +right after him. The rabbit touched third and then, frightened at the +crowd in the bleachers just behind third, it turned around and scooted +for the home plate. It crossed the plate with the batter right at its +heels, just as the ball was thrown in. But although the batter touched +the plate just before the ball got there, the umpire called him out." + +"I don't see why," interrupted Teddy. + +"Of course there was a big kick about it," said Slim smoothly, "but the +decision went, just the same. The umpire said the rabbit paced the +runner and made him run faster than he otherwise would, and so he got to +the plate before the ball." + +There was a dead silence, while the boys watched Slim, as though they +expected the fate of Ananias to overtake him. + +Fred coughed significantly. + +"You see," said Slim mournfully, to Granger, "he doesn't believe it +either. You've poisoned his mind against me. You've taken away my +reputation. Why, if you don't believe it," he went on, in pretended +indignation, "I can take you out there and show you the very grounds +where the thing happened! I can show you the very base that the rabbit +touched! I can show you the bleachers where the crowd sat that +frightened the rabbit! If the rabbit's alive still, perhaps I can show +you the rabbit! If----" + +"That'll do," said Melvin solemnly. "The court finds you guilty, and +condemns you to twenty years of truth-telling." + +"That's a cruel and unusual punishment," put in Billy Burton, "and the +Constitution forbids that kind." + +"I'm only making the punishment fit the crime," answered Melvin. "I'm +ashamed of you, Slim. Now you go way back and sit down, while I +introduce the rest of these infants." + +The remaining "infants," so disrespectfully alluded to, were duly made +known to the boys in a similar jovial way. There was Ned Wayland, who +was introduced as the heaviest batter on the baseball team, and Tom +Eldridge, who had kicked the deciding goal in their last game of +football with a rival school. + +Finally, there were Lester Lee and Bill Garwood, of whom Melvin had less +to say, because they had just come, and he knew them hardly better than +he did the Rushton boys themselves. + +But Fred and Teddy felt from the start that there was something in these +newcomers that attracted them strongly. + +Bill Garwood, they found, was a quiet, reserved youth, who gave one the +impression of latent force. His eyes that looked straight into theirs +were clear and frank, and there were the tiny wrinkles beneath them that +come from looking off into far spaces. On the ranch at Snake River from +which he came, he had lived far from neighbors, and he seemed a little +shy and awkward amid the abounding life at the Hall. But, underneath his +quiet exterior, one felt that he had sterling qualities and in case of +trouble would be a good friend to have at one's back. + +Lester Lee impressed them with equal favor. He was tall and lean, and +his face was as bronzed as a sailor's. This did not surprise the boys +when they learned that he had lived in the lighthouse at Bartanet Shoals +on the coast of Maine. He was jolly and full of fun, and had a magnetic +way with him that put him on cordial terms with the boys at once. + +When at last they were undressing, seated on their adjoining beds, Fred +turned to Teddy, who had just given a low chuckle. + +"What's the joke?" he asked. + +"I was thinking that the joke was on Uncle Aaron," replied Teddy. + +"How's that?" + +"Why, he thought he was punishing us by having us sent here," answered +Teddy, "and I'll just bet that we're going to have the best time of our +lives." + +"Provided we don't have a run in with Andy Shanks," suggested Fred, +yawning. + +"Yes," said Teddy thoughtfully, "we've got to look out for that fellow." + +"I don't think he knows we're here yet," continued Fred. "He didn't seem +to see us when he spoke to Granger this afternoon." + +"He'll find it out soon enough," remarked Teddy, "and when he does, look +out for squalls." + +And the squalls were not long in coming. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +TEDDY'S JOKE + + +Two weeks went by with amazing swiftness, and it looked as though +Teddy's prediction was going to be realized. Certainly, so far, they +were having, in Fred's words, "a whale of a time." + +All the newness and rawness had worn off, and they felt as fully at home +at Rally Hall, as they might have felt in months, if they had started +under less favorable conditions. + +All the boys in their own dormitory had learned to like them thoroughly, +and among the rest of the boys outside they were general favorites. + +There were, to be sure, a few exceptions. And chief among these were the +bully, Andy Shanks, and his toady, Sid Wilton, together with two or +three others who hung about Shanks, because of his money and the "good +times" he could give those who sought his favor. + +Andy, in the crowd at the station, had not seen the boys get off the +train and enter the bus. So that he was entirely taken aback, when, on +the following day, he had come face to face with them on the campus. + +He stepped back with an ugly sneer. + +"So you're here, are you?" he whipped out. + +"No," said Fred coolly, "I'm somewhere else." + +"None of your lip now!" snarled Shanks, thrusting out his jaw and +putting his pasty face close to Fred's. "I'm not used to taking back +talk from any fellow in this school." + +"You'd better get used to it then right away," was the retort, "because +I give it to you straight that you're going to get plenty of it, if you +come fooling around me. And I give you the tip to steer clear of me, if +you don't want to get something besides talk." + +The bully was clearly at a loss to know what to do, when he found his +bluff called in such a determined manner. He had been used to having +things largely his own way. His money was accountable for this, in part, +and then, too, he was much larger and stronger than most of the boys in +the school. + +He measured Fred with his eye from head to foot, and what he saw did not +serve to increase his confidence. Fred was tall and muscular, and Andy +saw again in his eyes the fighting look that had cowed him in the train. + +Still it was hard for him to believe that, when the test came, this +newcomer would not back down as most of the other boys had done. +Besides, quite a crowd of the fellows had come up now, scenting a fight +in prospect, and it would ruin his reputation among them if he retreated +now before them all. + +"I've a good mind to give you a thump in the jaw," he growled. + +"Don't hesitate on my account," said Fred politely. + +The snicker that came from the crowd at this remark maddened Andy. + +"I won't," he shouted, and made a move to strike. + +Like a flash, Fred shed his coat. + +"Come on then," he cried, "and I'll give you the licking that you're +aching for." + +There was a delighted stir among the other fellows, as they formed a +ring around the two. Their sympathies were all with Fred, although few +expected him to win against the bully of the school. + +Only one voice was lifted for Shanks. + +"Soak him, Andy," piped up the shrill voice of Sid Wilton, his toady, +whom most of the boys disliked even more than they did Andy, if that +were possible. + +But Andy, at that moment, was not showing any great eagerness to "soak" +his antagonist. If Fred had flinched in the slightest degree, he would +have been upon him. But as he looked into the flashing eyes that met his +defiantly, the "yellow streak" that is in most bullies began to show in +Andy. His pallid face grew whiter and a blue tinge showed about his +lips. + +With the eyes of all upon him, however, he saw no way of retreat, and +began to take off his coat. + +It was noticeable, though, that he did this with great deliberation. + +Suddenly a look of relief came into his eyes as he saw an approaching +figure. + +"Here comes Professor Raymond," he said, trying to put into his words a +tone of disappointment. "We'll have to put this off till some other +time. Mighty lucky for you, too, or I'd have done you up good and +proper," he flung at Fred, all his courage returning when there was no +longer any demand for it. + +"Let's go down to the gymnasium and have it out there," suggested Fred. +But Andy pretended not to hear. He slipped on his coat hurriedly, and, +in company with Sid Wilton, strolled off in one direction, while most of +the boys scattered in the other. + +Professor Raymond sauntered up to a little group, composed of Fred, +Teddy, Billy Burton and "Slim" Haley. + +His keen eye took in the flushed face of Fred and the air of suppressed +excitement among the others. He guessed pretty well what had been about +to happen, and, knowing Andy for what he was, he had little doubt as to +who had provoked the row. In his secret heart he would not have been at +all sorry to have that young cub get the whipping he richly deserved. + +Still, of course, he could not tolerate any breach of the rules of the +school, which strictly forbade fighting. + +He paused and looked keenly from one to the other. + +"Any trouble, boys?" he asked. + +"No, sir," answered Fred respectfully, "that is, not yet." + +"Nor at any other time, I hope," said his teacher. "Remember, boys, no +fighting." + +But he did not pursue the matter further, and, after chatting a moment, +went on, with a little smile upon his lips. In his own college days he +had been the lightweight champion of his class. There was good red blood +in Professor Raymond. + +"That 'not yet' was a good one," grinned Billy Burton. "I see a whole +lot of trouble coming in the near future." + +"I shouldn't wonder," answered Fred, who was firmly convinced in his own +mind that Andy would still force him to give him the thrashing that he +needed. + +"And I guess that most of the trouble will be for Andy," said Slim. "Did +you notice how he tried to crawfish just now? And how glad he was to see +the prof coming? It was a life-saver for Andy." + +"Yes," laughed Billy, "he reminded me of two fellows that got into a +fight. Half a dozen men rushed in, crying, 'hold them, stop them.' The +fellow who had been getting the worst of it hollered out: 'That's right, +boys, five of you hold him. One'll be enough to hold me.'" + +"It sure wouldn't have needed many to hold Andy back," chuckled Slim. + +As the days passed on, however, the affair simmered down and perhaps +would have died a natural death, if a bit of mischief on Teddy's part +had not revived it. + +Andy, one day, brought out on the campus a placard, on which was written +"Kick me." A bent pin at the top enabled him to fasten it to the coat of +some unsuspecting boy. Then Andy would give him a vigorous kick, and +when the victim protested, would show him the invitation. + +Under ordinary conditions it would only have been a harmless joke, and +would have been taken in good part. But Andy's vicious nature and love +for causing pain made him kick so hard and cruelly that his victims felt +rage and resentment. But as he carefully chose only the smaller boys, +they did not dare to retaliate. + +But after a while they were all on their guard, and the brave Andy, +seeing no more worlds to conquer, laid the placard on a bench and forgot +it. + +Teddy caught sight of it, and the impulse seized him to give the bully a +taste of his own medicine. He slipped up behind him and fastened the +card to his coat amid the awestruck silence of those who saw him. + +Bill Garwood, who had seen with indignation what Andy had been doing, +promptly accepted the invitation. He swung his foot and it landed fair +on Shanks, who turned with a roar of rage. + +"What did you do that for?" he howled. + +"Because you asked me to," said Bill, deftly unhooking the placard and +showing it to him. + +"Ted Rushton put that on you," shrilled Sid Wilton, who came hurrying +up. "I saw him do it." + +Bill was husky, while Teddy was smaller, and Shanks, true to his nature, +reached for what seemed to him the easier game. Teddy stoutly stood his +ground, but before the bully could reach him, Bill Garwood's hand was on +his collar, his knuckles boring deep into his neck. + +"No, you don't," he said, as he yanked him back. "What kind of a sport +are you, anyway? You've been kicking these fellows twice as hard as I +kicked you, but the minute you get a taste of it, you go off the handle. +And anyway, if you want to do any fighting why don't you pick out a +fellow of your size? I'm about your size. Do you get me?" + +There was no doubt of his meaning, and his perfect readiness to stand by +his meaning was so evident, that Andy concluded discretion to be the +better part of valor. He turned away sourly, shooting a look at Teddy, +which, if looks could kill, would have left him dead upon the spot. + +For both Fred and Teddy a storm was brewing. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +KICKING THE PIGSKIN + + +Letters kept coming every week to the Rushton boys from the family at +home. Mr. Rushton's, although less frequent than his wife's, were always +bright and jolly, and seldom came without enclosing a check, which +helped to cover the cost of many a midnight spread in the dormitory, +when the boys were supposed to be in bed. Their friends were a unit in +declaring that Mr. Rushton was a "real sport." + +Those of Mrs. Rushton came oftener, and were full of loving expressions +and anxious advice to wear proper clothing and avoid rough sports and be +careful about getting their feet wet. Although her chicks were no longer +under her maternal wings, she brooded over them every moment, and was +counting the days till they returned to her. + +She often referred to Uncle Aaron, and the boys were sorry to learn that +there was still no trace of the missing watch and papers. He had offered +a reward and advertised widely, but had never received even a hint of +their whereabouts. + +"Old Hi Vickers is a swell detective--I don't think," sighed Teddy, +after reading the latest letter. + +"I blame myself, partly, for the loss of the watch," remarked Fred +regretfully. "I ought to have told somebody right away about those +tramps hanging around. Then they might have been rounded up and chased +out of town before they had a chance to break into the store." + +"You're not to blame for anything," said Teddy bitterly. "I'm the person +that caused all the trouble. If I'd only had sense enough not to plug +Jed's horse that day, this whole thing wouldn't have happened. If a +prize were offered for ivory domes, I'd win it, sure." + + "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, + The saddest are these--it might have been," + +quoted Tom Eldridge, who usually had something pat in the poetical line +for all occasions. + +"Lay off on the spouting stuff, Tom," said Ned Wayland, "and you fellows +stop your grizzling and come down to the football field. It's a dandy +afternoon for practice." + +It was a wonderful October day, with a crisp breeze coming from the lake +that moderated the warmth of the sun, and the boys were stirred by the +thrill of youth and life that ran through every vein. + +It was too much for Tom, despite the sarcasm with which his previous +effort had been greeted, and he burst out: + + "There is that nameless splendor everywhere, + That wild exhilaration in the air----" + +He dodged a pass that Ned made at him. + +"Let me alone," he chortled. "Don't you see that I can't help it?" + + "The lyric joys that in me throng, + Seek to express themselves in song." + +The other lads gave it up. + +"A hopeless case," murmured Ned, shaking his head sadly. + +"Yes," mourned Fred. "And he used to be such a nice fellow, too, before +he went bughouse." + +"You rough necks are jealous," grinned Tom. "You'd have tried to +discourage Shakespeare, if you'd been living then. + +"Lucky for the world, you weren't living then," he went on. "For that +matter you're not living now. You're dead ones, but you don't know it." + +They were still trying to think up a sufficiently cutting response when +they came in sight of the football field. + +It was an animated scene. A dozen or more boys in their football togs +were running over the field, while many more crowded round the side +lines as spectators. There was a dummy, at which some of the players +were throwing themselves in turn to get tackling practice. Others were +running down under punts, and still others were getting instructions in +the forward pass. + +The game with the Lake Forest School, one of their principal rivals, was +now only two weeks off, and the boys were working for dear life to get +into form. They had a good team, although three of their best players of +the year before had not returned to school this fall. + +Teddy was a little too light for the heavy work required in football, +although he would have made a good quarter-back, where quickness is more +necessary than weight. But that position was already filled by Billy +Burton, who was doing capital work, so that there seemed no opening for +Teddy. He consoled himself by the determination to make the shortstop +position on the baseball team the following spring. + +But Fred was husky enough to fill any position, either in the line or +the back field, and he had been picked out by Melvin Granger as a +"comer." + +Melvin was the captain of the team and played centre. He was always on +the lookout for any one who could strengthen the team, and had promptly +spotted Fred as first-class material. + +"Ever play football?" he had asked him, the day after his arrival at +Rally Hall. + +"A little," answered Fred modestly. He was averse to boasting and did +not add, as he might have done truthfully, that he had been, far and +away, the best player in his school league. + +"What position have you played?" asked Melvin, interested at once. + +"Oh, I've played left end and right tackle at different times, but I've +had more experience at fullback than anywhere else." + +"Great!" exclaimed Melvin. "Welcome to our fair city. We've got a lot of +good players for almost every other position on the team, and, if one +gets hurt, we don't have much trouble in finding a substitute from the +scrubs, which is almost as good as the regular. But in the fullback job +there's only one first-class fellow, and that's Tom Eldridge, who's +playing it now. Tom's a dandy, but he might get hurt at any time, and +we'd have hard work to find any one who could fill his shoes. + +"Of course," he went on, "there isn't any vacancy now, and the boys who +have been here longest will be given first chance. But, to hold his +position, he'll have to prove that no one of the new fellows is better +than he is. You won't mind playing on the scrubs at the start, will +you?" + +"Not a bit," answered Fred stoutly. "I'll go in there and work my head +off just the same as if I were on the regular team." + +"That's the talk," cried Melvin. "That's the spirit I like to see. And I +can see right now that Tom will have all he wants to do to hold his +job." + +So Fred had gone in on the scrub. There had not been as much chance for +practice as usual, as there had been an unusually large number of rainy +days that fall, but already he had loomed up as by far the best player +among the substitutes. He was right in line for promotion. + +And this afternoon his chance came, sooner than he had expected. + +The playing had been unusually spirited, and the scrubs had been giving +the regulars all they could do to hold their own. At last, however, the +first team had got the ball down within ten feet of their opponents' +line, and the ball had been passed to Tom Eldridge for one determined +attempt to "get it over." + +The scrubs braced savagely, but Tom came plunging in like a locomotive. +There was a wild mix-up as his adversaries piled up on him, and when the +mass was untangled, Tom lay on the ground with a badly sprained ankle. +He tried to rise, but sank back with a groan. + +They lifted him up, and he stood on one foot, with his arms on their +shoulders. Professor Raymond, who had the oversight of athletic sports, +came hurrying up and examined the injury. All were immensely relieved +when they learned that there were no bones broken, but became grave +again when the professor said that the sprain was a bad one and would +probably lay Tom up for a couple of weeks. + +"Just before the Lake Forest game, too!" exclaimed Ned Wayland. "I tell +you, it's tough." + +"We're goners now!" moaned Slim Haley. + +"Not by a jugful," put in Tom, between whom and Fred the rivalry had +been of the most generous kind. "I never saw the day when I could play +better football than Fred Rushton. He'll play the position to the +queen's taste." + +"Nonsense," said Fred. "You can put it all over me, Tom. I'm awfully +sorry you got hurt." + +Professor Raymond insisted that Tom should be carried at once to the +school, where he could have his injured ankle attended to properly. The +boys cheered the lad as he was taken away, and then Granger turned to +Fred. + +"You take his place, Fred," he said, "and show these fellows from +Missouri what you can do." + +And Fred showed them. He was a little nervous at first as he felt all +eyes following him, but, in the excitement of the game, this wore off, +and he played like a fiend. He was here, there and everywhere, dodging, +twisting, running like a deer, bucking the line with a force that would +not be denied. Twice he carried the ball over the line for a touchdown, +and before his onslaughts the scrubs crumpled up like paper. It was some +of the finest playing that Rally Hall had ever seen, and when the game +was ended, he was greeted with a tempest of cheers. He had "made good" +beyond a doubt. + +"Fred, you played like a wild man!" said Melvin, as they were walking +back to the Hall after the game. "You're all to the mustard. Keep it up +and we'll lick Lake Forest out of their boots!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE MAN WITH THE SCAR + + +A few days later Teddy came rushing up to Fred on the campus, his face +aglow with excitement. + +"Say, Fred," he gasped, "I saw one of them to-day!" + +"One of whom?" asked Fred. + +"The tramps that looted Cy Brigg's store," responded Teddy. + +"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Fred, catching his brother's excitement. +"Are you sure? Where did you see him? How do you know he was one of +them?" + +"By the scar on his face," answered Teddy. "You remember the tall one +who looked as if some one had stabbed him up near the temple? I'm sure +he's the same one we saw in Sam Perkins' barn." + +"Wasn't the other fellow with him?" asked Fred. + +"No, he was all alone this time. I was coming up from the post office +with Lester Lee when I caught sight of him near the railroad track. He +looked tough and slouchy, but not as ragged as when we first saw him." + +"Yes," interrupted Fred, "he's had money since then." + +"I thought there was something about him that reminded me of some one," +went on Teddy, "but it wasn't till after I'd passed him that it came +over me who he was. Then I turned around to go after him, with the idea +of having him arrested. But he had just gone over the tracks in front of +a freight train. The train was a long one and we had to wait several +minutes on this side before it got by. Then it was too late. We hunted +all over, but couldn't see anything of him." + +"That was hard luck," said Fred regretfully. + +"Of course," resumed Teddy, "he wasn't trying to get away, because he'd +never seen me before, and didn't know that I'd ever seen him. He must +have turned a corner somewhere and then melted out of sight. Maybe I +wasn't sore! Think what a satisfaction it would be to telegraph to Uncle +Aaron that we'd got the fellow who stole his watch." + +"It's certainly tough," assented Fred, "to come so close to him and just +miss getting him. I'll 'phone down right away to the constable at Green +Haven, and tell him to be on the lookout for the fellow." + +"Tell him there's a reward out for him," suggested Teddy. "That'll make +him keep his eye peeled." + +Fred telephoned at once, and received the assurance that the fellow +would be arrested if found, and held as a suspicious character until the +Oldtown authorities could send for him. + +And the next day, the boys themselves, together with a number of their +friends, spent all their spare time searching in that part of the town +where the tramp had disappeared. + +"It's no use, I guess," remarked Fred at last, as they turned back from +the outskirts of the town. "He may be miles away by this time." + +"Getting ready to break into some other store, perhaps," suggested +Teddy. "The loot he got in Oldtown won't last him forever." + +"There's a pretty tough looking customer going down that lane," +exclaimed Bill Garwood, as they came to a corner in a poor part of the +town. + +The boys followed his glance and saw a tall, roughly dressed man +slouching along a hundred yards away and making toward the open country. +He was alone and seemed to be in no hurry. + +"It's the same fellow we saw yesterday," said Teddy excitedly. "I'm sure +of it. How about it, Lester?" + +"It surely looks like him," replied Lester Lee. "The same walk and the +same clothes and--yes, the same face," as the man gave a careless look +behind him. + +"You get down to the constable's office, quick, Teddy," directed Fred. +"Run every step of the way. Tell him we've got this fellow located. +We'll try to keep him in sight until you get back. Hustle." + +Teddy was off like a shot. + +But the tramp seemed to know that something was in the air. He looked +around again and then quickened his pace. The boys, too, walked faster, +and, noting this with another backward glance, the man in front made +certain that they were following him with a purpose. What that purpose +was he did not know, but his guilty conscience told him that it might be +for any one of half a dozen offences. + +At the first corner he turned sharply, and when the boys reached it, +they saw him loping along at a pace that carried him rapidly over the +ground. The houses had thinned out, and there was no one to intercept +him as he made for the woods that lay a little way ahead. + +"Oh, if Teddy were here with the constable," exclaimed Fred, in an agony +of apprehension, as he saw the prey escaping. + +They all broke into a run, and, as they were younger and fleeter, they +were soon at the fellow's heels. His whiskey sodden body could not keep +up the pace, and as they neared him, he stopped running and turned about +savagely. + +"What are you fellows chasing me for?" he snarled, a dangerous light in +his eyes. + +"What are you running away for?" countered Fred. + +"None of yer business," the fellow growled. "Now you git, or I'll split +yer heads," he snapped as he drew an ugly looking blackjack from his +pocket. + +For an instant the boys hesitated. Then Fred had an inspiration. + +"That's the man, Constable," he cried, looking over the fellow's +shoulder. "Nab him." + +The man turned in alarm to see who was behind him, and at the same +instant Fred dived for his legs in a flying tackle that brought him to +the ground. It was a splendid tackle, but the man was big and heavy, +and, as they struck the ground, his knee drove into Fred's chest and +knocked the breath out of him. + +In another second, the other boys could have launched themselves upon +the tramp, and their united strength would have been able to hold him +down until the arrival of the officer. This had been Fred's idea when he +had made the tackle. But his mind worked so much more quickly and his +action had been so swift, that they did not at once grasp the situation. +And when they did, it was too late. + +The tramp, desperate now, got on his feet and rushed at them with his +blackjack. Before that deadly weapon they scattered. The next instant, +he was running toward the shelter of the woods. Fred still lay gasping +for breath, and, not knowing how badly he might have been hurt, his +chums rushed to help him to his feet. + +He was white and shaken, but had sustained no injury beside the +temporary loss of breath. In a few minutes he was as good as ever. But +by this time the tramp had made good his escape. + +Presently Teddy came up with the constable and a careful search of the +woods was made. But it was all to no purpose. + +"Hard luck, old scout," condoled Lester, "but that flying tackle of +yours was a dandy." + +"That knee of his was better," mourned Fred. "It knocked me out good and +proper." + +"You threw an awful scare into him, anyway," laughed Bill. "I'll bet +he's running yet." + +"He can't always get away with it," prophesied Teddy. "That's twice. The +next time will be the third time and out." + +They got back to the school tired and vexed. But their thoughts were +turned in another and a welcome direction by a tip given them by Slim +Haley on their return. + +"Big feed on," he whispered. "Ned Wayland's uncle sent him a ten-dollar +gold piece for his birthday, and Ned has blown nearly all of it for a +spread in the dormitory to-night." + +"Best news I've heard since Hector was a pup," exulted Teddy. + +"Ned's the real goods," said Fred. "I wish he had a birthday every +month." + +It was hard for the occupants of Dormitory Number Three to keep their +minds on their lessons during the study period that followed supper, and +it was with a whoop and a bang that they rushed into their quarters, +when the gong released them from further work that night. + +"On with the dance, let joy be unrefined," sang out Teddy, as he flung a +pillow at Billy Burton. + +"You mean un_con_fined," corrected Billy. + +"I mean just what I said," replied Teddy. "I know the bunch of lowbrows +I'm talking to." + +"Where have you stacked the eats, Ned?" asked Tom Eldridge, who, though +his ankle was still weak, found his appetite as good as ever. + +"In here," replied Ned, throwing open his wardrobe door and displaying a +host of things that made their mouths water. + +"Wow, what a pile!" exclaimed Lester Lee. + +"It won't be a pile long, when you cormorants get at it," said Tom. + + "He counted them at break of day, + And when the sun set, where were they?" + +he quoted. + +"Officer, he's in again," said Melvin. + +"It takes more than a sprained ankle to keep Tom off the poetry stuff," +laughed Fred. "Nothing less than an axe will do the business." + +"How did you get all this fodder up here?" asked Slim. + +"I gave Jimmy, the laundryman, half a dollar for the use of his hand +cart," explained Ned, "and he sent his boy up with it, with directions +to wait down on the other side of the gymnasium. Then I slipped out +between supper time and study period, and smuggled them in without any +one's seeing me. The janitor nearly caught me, though. Big Sluper was +just turning into the corridor as I got the last thing in and shut the +wardrobe door." + +"We want to look out for Beansey, though," he warned them. "He's monitor +this week, and you know how strict he is." + +"Beansey," as the boys called him, because he came from Boston, was a +monitor and assistant instructor. He was very lank and solemn, and +extremely precise in his manner of speech. In the matter of discipline, +he was almost as severe as Dr. Rally himself, and the boys sometimes +referred to him as "Hardtack's understudy." + +"Who cares for Beansey?" said the irrepressible Teddy. "If he comes, +we'll sic the cheese on him. It smells strong enough to down him. What +kind is it, Ned? Brie, Roquefort, Limburger?" + +"It is pretty strong," admitted Ned. "When I ordered it from the grocer, +he turned to one of his clerks and said: 'Unchain Number Eight.'" + +The laugh that followed was interrupted by a warning: + +"Lay low. Here he comes now." + +"Beansey" came in with measured step and walked slowly through the +dormitory. His sharp eyes took in everything, but there was nothing to +awaken distrust, even in his suspicious soul. All the boys were busily +engaged in getting ready for bed, and frequent yawns seemed to indicate +that they would be only too glad to get there. + +As the door closed behind him, there was a smothered chuckle of +exultation. + +"He won't be round now for another hour," said Tom, "and what we can do +in an hour will be plenty." + +"You bet!" said Bill Garwood. "Just watch our smoke." + +They slipped the bolt on the door to avoid a sudden surprise. Then they +dragged the clothing and mattress off one of the beds, and made a table +of the springs. On this they piled, indiscriminately, the things brought +from the wardrobe, gloating over the evidence of Ned's generous +provision for the "inner man." + +"Say!" exclaimed Fred, "why didn't you clean out the whole store while +you were about it?" + +"Some feast," commented Melvin. "Cheese and pickles and sardines, and +pies and chocolates, and ginger ale and soda water, and cake and jelly, +and grapes and----" + +"Shut up, Mel, and get busy, or you'll get left," said Slim, as he +speared a bunch of sardines, an example which the rest needed no urging +to follow. + +The various good things disappeared like magic before the onslaught of +ten hungry boys, and one would have thought, to see them eat, that they +had just been rescued after days in an open boat without food or water. +And not till the last crumb had disappeared did they lie back in all +sorts of lazy attitudes, like so many young anacondas gorged to the +limit. + +"That old Roman, Lucullus, or whatever his name was, who used to give +those feasts, didn't have anything on you, Ned," said Tom. "You've got +him skinned to death." + +"Who's all right, fellows?" asked Fred. + +"Ned Wayland!" came the unanimous shout. + +"And now," said Melvin, "it's up to Billy Burton to give us a song. Tune +up, Billy." + +"Great Scott!" protested Billy, "haven't you fellows any feelings at +all? It's cruelty to animals to ask me to sing after such a feed as +that." + +But they persisted and Billy finally obliged with what the boys called a +pathetic little ballad, entitled: "I Didn't Raise My Dog to be a +Sausage." + +It met with such approval that he gave as an encore: "Mother, Bring the +Hammer, There's a Fly on Baby's Head." This "went great," as they say in +vaudeville, but despite uproarious applause, the "Sweet Singer of the +Wabash" declared that that was his limit for the night. + +"A story from Slim!" cried Teddy, and, "A story! A story!" clamored the +other boys. + +"Ah, what's the use," said Slim, with a gloom that the twinkle in his +eyes belied. "You wouldn't believe it, anyway." + +"I would," said Melvin solemnly. "Cross my heart and hope to die if I +wouldn't." + +"Well," began Slim cautiously, "there was a fellow up in Maine once that +was spending the winter with a pal of his, trapping in the woods. They +were about twenty miles off from the nearest town, and every month or so +one of them would have to go to town to lay in a stock of provisions. + +"This was a good many years ago, and the wolves were very thick in this +part of Maine up near the Canadian border. That winter had been colder +than usual, and, as the ground was covered with snow, the wolves were +unusually fierce and hungry. + +"One day, this fellow I'm telling you about, hitched up his team to the +sleigh and drove to town, as their stock was running pretty low. He was +kept in town longer than he had expected, and it was late in the +afternoon when he started back for his cabin in the woods. + +"He had gone about half way, when he heard behind him the howl of a +wolf. Then other wolves took it up, and, looking back, he saw some black +specks that kept getting bigger and bigger. He whipped up his horses, +and they did the best they could, because the wolves frightened them +just as much as they did the driver. But they had traveled a good many +miles that day, and the wolves kept getting nearer. + +"The man had some flour and bacon and other things in the sleigh, and he +kept throwing these out as he went along, hoping it would stop the +wolves until he could reach his cabin. But he soon found that this was +no go, and they'd surely get him, unless he tried something else. + +"The only things left in the sleigh now were an empty hogshead, a cask +of nails and a hatchet. + +"By this time, he had reached a small lake that he had to cross. It was +frozen solid, with ice several feet thick. + +"By the time he had driven into the middle of this, the wolves were +close behind and coming fast. He jumped out of the sleigh and cut the +traces, so that the horses might have a chance to get away. Then he +threw the nails and hatchet and empty hogshead out on the ice. He turned +the hogshead upside down, crept in under and let it down over him. He +hadn't any more than done this, before the wolves were all around him. + +"But he was safe enough for the time. He had the little cask of nails to +sit on, and he was sure that he could hold the hogshead down so that +they couldn't overturn it. + +"They came sniffing around and trying to stick their paws under, and +suddenly that gave him an idea." + +Here Slim looked slyly out of the corner of his eye at his companions. +They were listening breathlessly, hanging on every word. + +"He took the hatchet," Slim resumed, "and broke open the cask of nails. +The next time a paw came under he drove a nail through it, fastening it +to the ice. He did this to the next and the next, until there was a +circle of paws under the hogshead. Then he chopped off the paws and the +wolves limped away howling. + +"Then he slid the hogshead along to a smooth place in the ice, and did +the same thing all over again. There seemed to be no end of wolves, and +he kept moving on from place to place till all his nails were used up. + +"At last, he didn't hear any more noise, and, lifting up the edge of the +hogshead, he saw that it was morning, and all the wolves were gone. He +got out, and made his way on foot to the cabin, where he found that the +horses had got home safe, and his friend was just setting out to look +for him. They went back together and counted the paws, and there were +just----" + +He paused a moment. + +"How many?" asked Billy Burton. + +"Seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-six," said Slim impressively. +Then, as the boys gasped, "seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-six," +he repeated firmly. + +They rose to smite him. + +"Of all the yarn spinners this side of kingdom come!" burst out Ned +Wayland. + +"There you go," protested Slim plaintively, "you're always pickin' on +me. + +"It does seem quite a lot," he admitted judicially, "but if it wasn't +true, why should they give those exact figures, seven thousand nine +hundred and ninety-six? It shows they were conscientious and careful. +Now, a liar might have said eight thousand and let it go at that. He +might have----" + +Just then there came a knock at the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A RATTLING GAME + + +The lights went out in a second. + +"Great Scott!" whispered Melvin. "It's Beansey. I didn't think it was +anywhere near time for him to be around again." + +Again came the knock, a little more impatient and imperative this time. + +"Open the door," came a voice that they had no difficulty in recognizing +as that of "Beansey" Walton. + +The boys huddled together, scarcely venturing to breathe. + +"Who is there?" drawled out Melvin, in a voice that he tried to make as +sleepy as possible. + +"It's me, Mr. Walton," was the response. + +Melvin had an inspiration. + +"Not on your life!" he shouted. "You're one of those lowbrows from +Number Two trying to play a trick on us. Mr. Walton wouldn't say: 'It's +me.' He'd have said, 'It is I.' Now, go 'way and let us sleep. We're on +to you, all right." + +There was a moment of awful silence and then they heard the steps of +their visitor going softly and swiftly down the hall. + +The boys were nearly bursting with laughter at Melvin's audacity, and +when they felt sure that it had really succeeded, they broke out in a +roar. + +"And it worked!" shrieked Slim, rolling over and over. "By jiminy, it +really worked! Mel, you're a genius. I take off my hat to you." + +"You covered yourself with glory that time, old man," said Fred, as soon +as he could speak for laughter. "Beansey will never get over it. Can't +you see his face, as he faded away down the hall? The fellows in the +other dormitories will be green with envy when they hear about it." + +"It was nip and tuck," grinned Melvin. "I just took a chance that +Beansey would rather let us go than to own up that he'd made a slip in +grammar. But even now, we're not safe. He might think it over and come +back. Let's get a hustle on and remove these evidences of crime." + +In three minutes more, everything was set to rights, and the boys +slipped in between their covers, theoretically to sleep, but actually to +lie awake and chuckle for a long time, at the way they had "put one +over" on the monitor. + +The day for the football game with Lake Forest was rapidly drawing +nearer. Under the steady practice and hard work through which Granger +put his team, it was swiftly rounding into shape. + +Although at first the other boys had the advantage over Fred of having +played a long time together, and of knowing just what to expect from one +another in any crisis of the game, his quick mind and keen ambition soon +put him on a level with them in that respect, and he had developed into +one of the mainstays of the team. + +None had appreciated this more than Tom Eldridge, whose place Fred had +taken at fullback, but there was not a trace of envy in the way he stood +around the side lines, leaning on a stick, and applauding every +brilliant play of his successor. + +"You're a star, Fred," he said to him one day after an especially +sparkling bit of strategy. "You can play rings around the Lake Forest +fullback. And he's no slouch, either." + +"You must put me on to his style," said Fred; and together they worked +out a scheme of offence and defence that they hoped would bring victory +to Rally Hall. + +There was a good deal of anxiety as the day of the game drew near. The +last time the elevens had met, Lake Forest had won by two touchdowns, +and it was reported that they were fully as fast this year. + +"They've got a cracking good team and no mistake," admitted Melvin. +"They're a bit heavier than we are in the line, but I think we have it +on them in the back field. But it'll be a fight for blood from the first +kickoff, and I don't look for a big score, whichever side wins." + +Professor Raymond, who himself had been a crack player on his own +college eleven, worked hard to get the team into first-class shape. He +had been much worried by the accident to Tom, but, as he watched the +work of Fred, he soon reached the conclusion that the team had been +strengthened rather than weakened. + +So that it was with strong hopes of a successful outcome that Rally Hall +went into the fight on the day of the great game. + +It was a beautiful day, with just enough snap and coolness in the air to +make it perfect for football. The game was to take place on the Rally +Hall grounds, and Big Sluper, the janitor, with his assistants, had +outdone themselves in getting the gridiron into fine condition. + +Long before the time set for the game, a great crowd had gathered. Of +course, every member of the school was there, ready to yell for his +favorites, and, in addition, everybody in Green Haven who had a drop of +sporting blood in his veins had journeyed out to see the gridiron +battle. + +Lake Forest had sent down a large crowd of rooters with the team, and +while, of course, they were in the minority, they were chock full of +enthusiasm, and prepared to make up in noise what they lacked in +numbers. + +"How do you feel, Fred?" asked Melvin, as they were getting into their +togs. + +"Like a fighting cock," replied Fred, doing an impromptu jig. "If I felt +any better, I'd be afraid of myself." + +"Great!" said Melvin. "I feel the same way myself. We'll sure bring home +the bacon." + +"Here they come!" + +There was a roar of greeting, when the Lake Forest team trotted out and +began passing and falling on the ball. But the roar became thunderous +when the Rally Hall boys came into view. + +"They're sure giving us a royal send off," commented Billy Burton, "and +it won't do to disappoint them. We've simply _got_ to win." + +The Lake Forest captain won the choice of goals, and Rally Hall +therefore had the kickoff. Amid a breathless silence, Fred measured the +distance, gave a mighty swing and sent the ball sailing down toward the +enemy's goal. Adams, their left end, made a good catch, but before he +could run back with it, Billy Burton downed him in his tracks. The team +lined up for the scrimmage on Lake Forest's forty-yard line, and the +game was fairly on. + +It soon became apparent that the teams were very evenly matched, and +that neither would have a walkover. Back and forth they surged, neither +able to make a definite gain, though most of the time it was in Lake +Forest's territory. Each of the teams had the ball in turn, only to lose +it before the fourth down could be made, so stubborn was the resistance. + +Melvin, at centre, stood like a rock against the enemy's charges, while +Billy, at quarter, reeled off the signals as steadily as a clock. Slim +Haley, with his great bulk, was a tower of strength at right guard, and +Madison and Ames did some savage tackling. Fred, at full, did the work +of two ordinary players, and was ably helped by Thompson and Wayland, +the two halfbacks. But neither side scored, and it began to look like a +goose egg for each, for the first quarter. + +It was two minutes from the end of the quarter, and the ball was within +thirty yards of the Lake Forest goal. Ensley, the enemy's left halfback, +had the ball, but in his eagerness to advance it, he fumbled it, and +Billy Burton pounced upon it like a hawk. Like lightning, he passed it +to Fred, who dropped back for a kick. The enemy's line bore down upon +him, but too late. He lifted the ball into the air, and it soared like a +bird above the bar between the posts. The Lake Forest rooters looked +glum, and the home team's supporters went wild with joy. + +Just then, the whistle blew, and the quarter ended, with the score three +to none, in favor of Rally Hall. + +"Some class to that kick, Fred!" cried Melvin, while the rest of the +team gathered around and patted him on the shoulders. "I never saw a +cleaner goal from field." + +"All we've got to do now is to hold them down, and the game is ours," +exulted Ned Wayland. + +But "holding them down" was no easy task. The lead they had gained put +their opponents on their mettle, and they fairly ran amuck in the second +quarter. By successive rushes, they worked the ball down the field. At +the ten-yard line, the Rally Hall boys braced, and the enemy lost the +ball on downs. A fake forward pass, splendidly engineered by Billy and +Fred, would have saved the day, but Ned, who received it, slipped, just +as he turned to run. The ball dropped from his hands, and Burns, of the +Lake Forests, grabbed it on the bound and went over the line for a +touchdown. + +"Five points for Lake Forest!" yelled one of their rooters. + +"Six points, you mean," shouted his neighbor. "Wake up." + +"Why, I thought a touchdown counted five," was the answer. + +"It used to, but under the new rules it counts for six." + +"So much the better! We need every point we can get," the other +chuckled. "See, there's another one to the good," as Burns kicked the +goal. + +"Hurrah! That's the way to do it!" + +"Now keep it up, Lake Forest!" + +"Hurrah! hurrah!" + +It was now the visitors' turn to cheer. They shook their rattles, blew +their horns, danced up and down and yelled like madmen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A DESPERATE STRUGGLE + + +"We've got our work cut out for us," said Melvin grimly, as, after their +brief rest, the teams lined up for the third quarter. + +"Don't worry, Mel, we've just begun to fight," was Fred's reassuring +answer. + +The fighting blood of both teams was up now, and they scrapped like +wildcats for the slightest advantage. Twice during the period, Fortune +seemed about to smile on the home team, but each time the smile faded +into a frown, and the hearts of their supporters went down into their +boots. + +Once, on the Lake Forest thirty-yard line, the home boys tried out a +trick play that Professor Raymond had taught them. The ball was passed +to Fred, apparently for him to make a drop kick. But instead of doing +this, he started to skirt the end. The opposing halfback thought that +this was a fake to draw in the end. He hesitated to come in, therefore, +and in the meantime Fred kept on running behind the scrimmage line, +until the halfback did not dare to wait any longer, as it seemed to be a +dead sure thing that Fred was going to circle the end. In the meantime, +Melvin had had time to get down the field, and Fred turned about +swiftly, just as the halfback reached out for him, and sent the ball +like a shot to Melvin. It was a pretty play, and nine times out of ten +would have got by, but just as it had almost reached Melvin's +outstretched hands, Barton, the opposing left tackle, touched it with +the tips of his fingers, just enough to deflect it from its course. +Ensley grabbed it, and it was Lake Forest's ball. + +"What do you think of that for luck?" growled Slim disgustedly. + +"They're sure getting all the breaks," agreed Billy. + +"Never mind, fellows!" sang out Melvin. "Buck up. We'll beat them yet." + +But the gloom of the Rally Hall rooters became still deeper a few +minutes later, when a beautiful drop kick of Fred's that was going +straight for the goal was blown by a puff of wind just enough to graze +the post on the wrong side. + +There was no more scoring in that period, and the quarter ended with +Lake Forest still in the lead. + +"Now, fellows," said Melvin, as they came out to do or die in the last +quarter, "it's our last chance. Go at them and rip up their line. Go +through them like a prairie fire. We won't try drop kicking. Even if we +got a goal from the field, they'd still be ahead, and the time's too +short to make two of them. The only thing that'll do us any good is a +touchdown. We _must_ win! Hammer the heart out of them! Tear them +to pieces!" + +And the boys responded nobly. They charged hard and played fast. They +plunged into the lines of their opponents like so many wild men. Every +member of the team played as though the victory depended on him alone. +Down the field they went, in one desperate raging charge that carried +all before it. Only once did they fail to make their distance, and even +then they got the ball back promptly. + +But time was on the enemy's side. They fought back savagely and +contested every inch. Six, eight, ten minutes went by, while the ball +was traveling down the field, and when the teams faced each other, pale, +panting, covered with dust and sweat, on Lake Forest's ten-yard line, +only three minutes of playing time remained. + +All the spectators now were on their feet, yelling wildly, and the +tumult was fearful. + +"Brace, fellows, brace!" screamed Eggleston, the Lake Forest captain. +"Throw 'em back! Don't give an inch!" + +Melvin selected Fred for the final plunge. + +"Go to it, old scout," he said. "This is the third down. For heaven's +sake, make it." + +Fred's eyes were blazing. + +"Watch me," he said. + +Billy made a perfect snap to Melvin, who passed the ball to Fred like a +flash. Haley and Ames made a hole between left guard and tackle, and +Fred, with lowered head, plunged in like a battering ram. The whole team +piled in after him, and when at last he was downed, he had gained six +yards of the coveted space. + +Dizzy and bruised, he rose to his feet. + +"We've got 'em going!" yelled Melvin. "One more does it!" + +"Hold 'em, boys, hold 'em!" shouted Eggleston. "This is their last +down." + +"Rushton! Rushton! Rushton!" the stands were shouting. + +"They're counting on you, you see," said Melvin. + +Fred's muscles grew taut, and he braced for one final effort. + +Once more the ball was passed, and, like a thunderbolt, he went into the +line between centre and guard. + +The whole Lake Forest team threw themselves upon him, but there was no +stopping him. Ploughing, raging, tearing, he went through them and over +the line for a touchdown! + +"Look at that!" + +"Great work! Hurrah!" + +Rally Hall had won the game in the last minute of play! + +The stands went crazy, and after the goal had been kicked, making the +final score ten to seven, the crowd swept down over the field, hoisted +Fred upon their shoulders and marched up and down yelling like Indians. +It was all he could do to get away from them and to the shower baths and +dressing rooms of the gymnasium. + +Here he met with another ovation from the team itself. They were all in +a state of the highest delight and excitement at winning the game that +had seemed so surely lost, and they insisted on giving him the chief +credit for the victory. + +"Nonsense," he protested, "I didn't do a thing more than any one else. +It takes eleven men to win a football game." + +Professor Raymond was warm in his congratulations, and even Dr. Rally, +who had seen the game from a portion of the stand reserved for the +teaching staff, so far unbent as to stop for a moment and tell him that +he had done "very well, very well indeed." + +"Say," murmured Slim, after the doctor had passed on, "even Hardtack is +human. He's got something beside ice water in his veins." + +"Sure!" assented Billy, "I'll bet the old chap's tickled to death to see +Rally Hall put one over on Lake Forest." + +Eggleston, the captain of the Lake Forest team, who had a few minutes +before train time, also was generous enough to come in and shake hands +with his conquerors. He was a fine, manly fellow, and took his beating +like a gentleman. + +"You sure have a dandy fullback," he said to Melvin. "You've been pretty +foxy in keeping him under cover. We hadn't any idea what we were going +up against." + +"Isn't he a pippin?" said Melvin enthusiastically. "You'd have copped +the game all right, if it hadn't been for him." + +"He's some line bucker," assented Eggleston. "I got in his way once, and +he stood me on my head. You might as well try to stop an express train." + +"It's hard to flag that kind of a train," laughed Melvin. + +"Sure thing," grinned Eggleston. "Well, so long. I'll just have time to +get to the station. We'll try to even things up next year." + +As the boys were strolling back to the Hall, they passed Andy Shanks and +Sid Wilton talking earnestly together. They were so absorbed that they +did not see Fred and his companion. + +"Wonder what they're hatching up now?" laughed Fred. + +"Some mischief, I'll be bound," answered Granger. "It isn't the first +time I've seen them putting their heads together lately, and somehow or +other, I rather think it has to do with you." + +"Nonsense!" said Fred lightly. + +"Maybe it's nonsense and maybe it's not," replied Melvin soberly. "I +know Andy pretty well, and I'm dead sure he'll never forget the show you +made of him before the other fellows. At any rate keep your eyes wide +open and look out for squalls." + +"I'll take a chance," laughed Fred. + +"Don't take too many," Melvin warned him. "Of course, I may be wrong, +but I have a feeling that he's out to do you." + +Melvin was a better prophet than he knew. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ANDY SHANKS GETS BUSY + + +There were great times on the campus that night. By a special decree of +Dr. Rally, the regular study period was omitted, and after supper the +boys had full liberty to do as they pleased until bedtime, provided they +did not stray beyond the limits of the grounds. + +They built a bonfire and paraded about it, carrying brooms to indicate +the clean sweep they had made of the game. They cheered the team in +general, and then cheered each separate member in particular. They +cheered the final touchdown and the boy who had made it. They cheered +Professor Raymond, and even raised a doubtful cheer for Dr. Rally. They +were ready to cheer for anything or anybody that offered them the +slightest excuse. They yelled for speeches from Granger, the captain, +and from Fred, the hero of the day. + +Tony Dirocco brought out his violin and played a series of rollicking +tunes that set their feet to jigging and their hands to clapping. Billy +was made to sing his choicest songs until he was hoarse. Then they all +gathered on the broad steps, and lifted up their young voices in the old +school songs that swelled out into the night. And it was a tired, but +thoroughly happy crowd that scattered at last and went reluctantly to +their rooms. + +Altogether, it had been one of the greatest days and nights that Rally +Hall had ever known. Fred had won his spurs and established his footing +firmly in the school. He had been popular from the first in his own +dormitory, but now he was known and liked by all the boys at the Hall. + +Except, of course, by Andy Shanks, Sid Wilton, and a few of their +stripe. Andy, if possible, hated him now worse than ever. It had been +gall and wormwood for him when Fred had made the touchdown. + +He, himself, had had an ambition to play on the team. He was big and +heavy enough for a place in the line. But he was stupid in getting the +signals and slow in running down under kicks. Besides, he was a trouble +maker on the team, disobeying the captain and quarreling with the other +members. They had tried him for a while, but he was of no use, and both +Granger and Professor Raymond had ruled him out. + +So that he was doubly angered at Fred for having made a brilliant +success where he had scored a dismal failure. He had hoped to put Fred +in bad repute with the boys by giving him a beating. But since that day +on the campus when Fred had defied him and dared him to come on, he had +lost all ambition in that direction. + +But he was more determined than ever to crush him by hook or by crook, +and he cudgeled his slow brain to find a way that would be safe for +himself and disastrous to Fred. + +As the weeks went by, however, and nothing occurred to him, he began +almost to despair. + +But the Evil One is said to "look after his own," and as the Christmas +holidays drew nearer, Andy had an inspiration. + +The winter weather set in unusually early, and the air was sharp and +stinging. A score or more of the boys were down in the gymnasium, +chinning the bar and swinging in the rings. + +"If this kind of weather keeps up," said Melvin, "it won't be long +before we have skating. There's ice forming on the lake now, down near +the edges." + + "Over the ice-bound lake we fly, + Swift as the wind and free," + +chanted Tom Eldridge, as he made a flying leap from one horizontal bar +to the next. + +"'Swift' all right, but it won't be 'free,'" grumbled Billy Burton. "I +won't feel 'free,' till I get those awful examinations off my mind. +They'll be here now in less than a week, and I can't think of anything +else." + +"They'll be pretty tough, do you think?" asked Fred. + +"Tough!" broke in Slim, "they'll be as tough as a pine knot. Professor +Raymond is a shark on algebra. He'd rather solve a problem than eat. And +because it's so easy for him, he thinks it ought to be easy for us, too. +He puts down corkers for us to do, and then looks at us in pained +surprise if we think they're hard. If I get through this time, it'll be +due to a special providence." + +"I wish we knew what he was going to ask, beforehand," sighed Billy. +"Couldn't we bone up on them then? I'd get a hundred per cent. sure." + +"Wouldn't it be bully, if we were mind readers, and knew just what +questions he was going to put on that printed list?" laughed Fred. + +"The first glimpse we'll get of that printed list will be when they're +plumped down on the desk in front of us the day of the examination," +said Ned Wayland. "They'll be kept snug under lock and key until then." + +"Yes," chimed in Tom, "and the prof's so foxy that he doesn't even have +them printed in town, for fear that some copy might get into some of the +fellows' hands. He sends them away to some city to be printed, and +they're sent back to him by registered mail." + +"I'll bet that was the package I saw him putting away in his desk +yesterday!" exclaimed Fred. "It was a long manila envelope, stuffed with +something that crackled, and it had a lot of sealing wax on it. I +noticed that he seemed to be very careful of it, and put it away under a +lot of other papers before he locked his desk." + +"Likely enough, those were the examination slips," said Billy. + +"We'll see them soon enough, but then it'll be too late to do any good," +remarked Melvin. + +The conversation took another turn and the subject was forgotten for the +time. + +Andy, busy at one of the rings, had overheard the talk, although he had +not joined in it because of the terms on which he was with Fred and his +friends. He had pricked up his ears at Fred's laughing remark about mind +reading, and from then on he had followed closely all that had been said +about the papers. An idea had suddenly come into his mind, and a slow, +evil smile spread over his face as he turned it over and over. + +Two nights later, Fred woke from his sleep about midnight, conscious +that something was bothering him. He found that it was the moon, which +was just then at the full, and was shining in his face. He rose, and +went to the window to draw down the shade. + +The campus was flooded with light and Fred stood for a moment, enjoying +the beauty of the scene. + +Suddenly, something moving beneath him attracted his attention. + +The buildings threw a heavy shadow, made all the deeper by contrast with +the moonlight beyond. But Fred could just make out a moving figure +coming down the steps swiftly, and crouching as though to avoid +detection. + +At first he thought it was the dog belonging to Big Sluper, the janitor. +But as the figure turned around the corner of the building, he saw that +it was a boy, rather slight in figure. His hat was drawn over his eyes +and his coat over the lower part of his face, so that it was impossible +to recognize him. + +"That's queer," mused Fred. "I wonder who he was and what he was doing +at this time of night." + +But the floor was cold and his eyes were heavy with sleep, and he did +not debate the problem long. He crept back into the warm bed, drew the +covers over him, and in a few minutes was fast asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE BLOW FALLS + + +The next day, after school hours, Professor Raymond opened his desk to +get a paper that he wanted. He was about to close it again, when +something in the tumbled condition of its contents, attracted his +attention. He reached sharply over to the lower right-hand corner, and +felt for a package that he knew had been there the day before. + +A startled look came into his face, and he felt again more carefully. +Then he hastily took out everything that the desk contained. + +He sat down in his chair with a jolt, and a grim expression came into +his eyes. Then he made a painstaking examination of the lock. + +It had not been broken, nor was there any other evidence that violence +had been used. + +He took out his penknife and scraped the lock. A tiny shaving of +something soft was brought out by the blade, and close examination +showed that it was wax. + +He rang the bell for the janitor, and when Big Sluper came in, he +motioned him to a chair. + +"Sluper," he said abruptly, "my desk was robbed last night." + +"What!" cried Sluper, starting up. "How could that be? Are you sure, +sir?" + +"Perfectly sure," replied the professor. "I only wish I were not. But I +had a valuable package in here yesterday, and now it's gone." + +"Why, nothing of that kind has ever happened before," said Sluper, much +agitated. "Did the thief take anything else?" + +"No," replied Professor Raymond. "And it was no outsider that took the +package. There was a little money in the desk, and any ordinary thief +would have taken that. Besides, the papers that were taken would have +been of no value to any one outside the school. They were the +examination slips for the next algebra test. Sluper, we've a thief right +here in Rally Hall." + +"I'd be sorry to think that, sir," said the dismayed janitor. "I can't +think of any of the boys who might do such a thing." + +"But some one of them did, just the same," replied the professor. "See +here," and he showed the janitor the shaving of wax. + +"That proves that it was all planned beforehand," he said. "An outside +thief would have had a skeleton key, or simply pried it open with a +jimmy. But somebody has taken a wax impression of the lock and had a key +made to fit. + +"Keep this thing perfectly quiet for a time," the teacher cautioned. "Be +on the watch for anything suspicious you may see or hear among the boys. +And I want you to go down town to Kelly's, the locksmith. Get into a +talk with him, and bring the conversation round to the subject of +duplicate keys, and how they're made. If he's done anything of that kind +lately, he may drop a hint of it. He'd have no reason to keep quiet, for +he's an honest man and wouldn't do a crooked thing. If he's made such a +key, the thief has given him some plausible reason for getting it made. +Find out anything you can, and let me know at once. But, above all +things, don't let the matter get out." + +The janitor, badly confused, went away on his mission, while Professor +Raymond sought out Dr. Rally to lay the matter before him. If it had +been an ordinary case, he would have acted on his own discretion. But +this was altogether too serious, involving as it did the good name of +one of the scholars, and, to a certain extent, the reputation of the +school itself. + +He found the doctor in his office, and laid the matter before him, +giving him all the details that he knew himself and telling of his +instructions to the janitor. + +Dr. Rally was white hot with amazement and indignation. + +"The rascal shall suffer for it if we catch him!" he announced, with a +grimness that would have delighted Aaron Rushton and confirmed him in +his admiration for the doctor's sternness. "I'll dismiss him. I'll +disgrace him. I'll make such an example of him that nothing of the kind +will ever happen in this school again." + +His eyes flashed under his shaggy brows, and the fist he brought down on +the desk clenched till the knuckles showed white. + +"But what could have been the motive?" he asked, as he grew more +composed. "Of course, we can understand why some one might want to know +the questions that were going to be asked. But why did they take the +whole package? One slip would have done as well as fifty. Then, too, +they might know that if the whole package were taken, you would simply +call the examination off, as soon as you had missed them, and make out a +new set of questions. Then they'd have had all their trouble and risk +for nothing." + +"It is curious," answered Raymond. "If the idea was simply to get +advance information to help some boy through with the test, the only way +to do it was to take one copy and leave the rest of the slips there, +trusting me not to notice that the package had been tampered with. + +"My theory is that he meant to do this, but perhaps was frightened away +by some sound, and didn't have time to do it. In that case, he may take +out one of the slips and try to put the package back to-night. The +examination doesn't take place till day after to-morrow, and he may +figure that I haven't missed them. As a matter of fact, it was only by +the merest chance that I did miss them to-day." + +"Well, let us hope that he will try it," said Doctor Rally. "We'll have +Sluper stay in your office all night and nab him if he comes." + +Sluper came back from his trip to town and reported that Kelly knew +nothing of the matter. Nor had he heard of anything among the boys that +might throw light on the mystery. + +He kept a careful watch that night in Professor Raymond's office, but +without result. + +The next day there was something in the atmosphere of Rally Hall that +made every one feel that a storm was brewing. The air was electric with +signs of trouble. Nothing had been allowed to leak out, but any one +could see that something was the matter, though without the slightest +idea of what it was. + +Doctor Rally was more snappy and gruff than they had ever seen him, and +Professor Raymond went about his work in a brooding and absent-minded +way, that, with him, was most unusual. + +"What's come over Raymond to-day?" asked Fred. "He looks as though he +were going to the electric chair." + +"He certainly does have plenty of the gloom stuff," agreed Billy. + +"Off his feed, perhaps," suggested Slim, to whom nothing seemed more +tragic than a loss of appetite. + + "Into each life some rain must fall, + Some days be dark and dreary," + +quoted Tom. + +Fred laughed and made a pass at him, little thinking how soon the lines +would apply to himself. + +In his mail that afternoon, the professor received a letter. There was +nothing about it to identify the writer. In fact, there was no writing, +as both the address and the letter itself were printed in rough, +sprawling letters. It read this way: + + "Look in Fred Rushton's locker." + +The professor was thunderstruck. For several minutes, he sat staring at +the printed words without moving a muscle. + +The first shock of amazement gave place to a sharp, gripping pain. + +It could not be a coincidence. In the present condition of affairs, this +mysterious note could refer only to one thing--the missing slips of the +algebra test. + +Fred Rushton! He, of all boys! Why, he would almost have been ready to +stake his life on the lad's honesty. He was so frank, so square, so +"white." The professor had grown to have the warmest kind of a liking +for him. In study and in sport, he had stood in the first rank, and so +far there had not been the slightest stain on his record. + +No, it could not be possible that he had done this dastardly thing. He +was almost tempted to tear the letter up. + +And yet--and yet---- + +He _must_ make sure. + +He went to the office of Doctor Rally. From there, after a short +conference, he went in search of Fred. + +"Would you mind letting me take a look at your locker, Rushton?" he +asked carelessly. + +"Why, certainly not," answered Fred promptly, but wonderingly. + +They went to the dormitory which at that hour was deserted. + +"Here you are, Professor," he said, opening the locker. + +There were some clothes lying there, neatly folded. The professor picked +them up. + +There, with the seals still unbroken, lay the missing package! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A PUZZLING CASE + + +Professor Raymond picked the package up and examined it carefully. There +was no sign of tampering with the seals. It was in precisely the same +condition as when he had received it. + +"Well," he said, as he looked coldly and accusingly at Fred, "what have +you got to say?" + +Fred was looking at the package with wide open and horrified eyes. He +groped for words in his bewilderment, but his tongue seemed unable to +utter them. The silence grew painful. + +"Why," he managed to stammer, at last, "I don't know what to say. I +hadn't any idea that there was anything in the locker, except my +clothes." + +"How could it have got there unless you put it there?" pursued the +professor. + +"I don't know," replied Fred, his head still whirling, "unless some one +else put it there by mistake, thinking it was his own locker. I +certainly never saw the package before. That is," as he looked at it +more closely, "I think I did see it once." + +"Oh, you did, eh?" said Professor Raymond quickly. "And when was that?" + +"Two or three days ago," answered Fred. "I was gathering up my books in +your office, and I saw you put in your desk a package that looked just +like this one." + +The professor's heart grew sick within him, as every new item seemed to +connect Fred more closely with the theft. + +"You knew then that it was in my desk?" he went on. "Did you have any +idea of what the package contained?" + +"Not then," answered Fred. "But, a little while afterward I was talking +with some of the fellows in the gymnasium, and they said it probably +held the examination slips for the algebra test." + +"Do you remember anything else you said at that time?" asked the +cross-examiner. + +"No-o," began Fred slowly. "Oh, yes, I remember saying what fun it would +be if one were a mind reader and could know just what you were going to +ask. + +"But, Professor," he broke out, as the significance of all these +questions dawned upon him, "you don't think for the minute, do you, that +I stole this package from your desk?" + +"I hardly know what to think," replied the professor sadly, "but I want +you to come right over with me to Doctor Rally's office." + +Utterly stunned and overwhelmed by the blow that had fallen upon him, +Fred followed the professor. His limbs dragged, as though he were +walking in a nightmare. They crossed the campus, and went straight to +the room where Doctor Rally awaited them. + +He motioned them to chairs, and sat there, stern and implacable as Fate, +his eyes seeming to bore Fred through and through, while the professor +told of the finding of the papers in Fred's locker, and the explanation, +or rather the lack of explanation, that Fred had offered. + +"Well, young man," the doctor said, and, although his eyes were flaming, +his words were as cold as ice, "you seem to have put the rope around +your own neck by your admissions. Have you anything else to say?" + +"What can I say?" burst out Fred desperately. "If telling the truth has +put the rope around my neck, I can't help it. I didn't take the papers, +and don't know a single thing about them. Every single word I've said is +true." + +"But the papers were found in your locker," returned the inquisitor +coldly, "and they couldn't have got there of their own accord. Some one +put them there. If you didn't, who did?" + +"I don't know," said Fred miserably. + +"Have you any enemy in the school, who might have done it?" asked +Professor Raymond. + +"Not that I know of," answered Fred. "That is----" the thought of Andy +flashed across his mind, but he was too generous to give it utterance. +"No," he went on, "I don't think of anybody who could be mean enough to +put the thing off on me." + +"Is there anything that might have any connection with this matter that +you haven't yet told us?" continued his questioner. + +"Only one thing," replied Fred, to whom at that moment came the +recollection of what he had seen in the moonlight. "I did see a fellow +going away from the Hall the other night after twelve o'clock." + +"Ah," came from both men, bending forward, and then they questioned him +carefully about the size and general appearance of the midnight skulker. + +"Why didn't you tell some of us about that at the time?" asked Doctor +Rally severely. + +"I suppose I ought to have done so," was the answer, "but I was cold and +sleepy, and the next day I forgot all about it." + +There was a long silence, while Doctor Rally pondered. He broke it at +last by saying: + +"I want to be entirely just to you, Rushton. I am not ready to condemn +you on this evidence, though I will not deny that things look dark for +you. I shall look into the matter further, and when I have reached a +decision I will let you know. That is all for the present." + +He nodded a dismissal, and Fred, picking up his hat, stumbled blindly +from the room. + +The two men who held his fate in their hands, stared at each other for a +long minute without speaking. + +"It looks bad," said Doctor Rally, at last, "and I am more sorry than I +can tell, that he should be mixed up in such a wretched mess. His +parents are the finest kind of people, and his uncle is a particular +friend of mine." + +"Do you think that he is guilty, then?" asked the professor. + +"What else can I think?" said the doctor gloomily. "Everything seems to +indicate it. The facts are like so many spokes of a wheel, all leading +to the hub, and that hub is Rushton. + +"Who knew that the examination papers were in your desk? Rushton. Who +had been wishing he were a mind reader, so that he might know what +questions you were going to ask? Rushton. Who saw, or says he saw a +mysterious marauder coming from the building at midnight, and yet said +nothing to any one about it? Rushton. And, above all, who actually had +the missing package in his locker? Rushton. + +"Of course, all this is circumstantial evidence. But sometimes that is +the strongest kind. Naturally, he would take the greatest care not to +have any witnesses to the theft. The proof seems strong and many a man +has been hung on less." + +"That is true," admitted the other thoughtfully, "but there are many +things, too, to be said on the other side. + +"In the first place, there is the boy's character up to this time. He +ought to have the full advantage of that, and certainly he has seemed to +be one of the most upright and straightforward boys in the entire +school. I haven't had a black mark against him, and neither has any of +the other teachers. + +"Then, too, what motive did he have for taking them? He's very bright, +especially in mathematics, for which he has a natural gift. He's always +up in the nineties somewhere in his marks. He hadn't the slightest +reason to fear the examinations. + +"And I can't understand his manner, if he is guilty. When I first spoke +to him, instead of being the least bit flustered, he wasn't at all slow +in taking me straight to the locker. And when we caught sight of the +papers, he was just as much dumfounded as I was myself, more so if +anything, because I had had a hint that they were there. + +"Why did he tell us about the talk in the gymnasium? He didn't need to +say a word about it. Yet he blurted it out without any hesitation. +Either the boy is innocent, or he's one of the finest actors I ever +saw." + +"What is your theory, then?" asked the doctor. "Do you think that +somebody, in his haste to conceal the papers, mistook Rushton's locker +for his own?" + +"Hardly that," replied Professor Raymond. "The matter was too important +for such carelessness. The papers were put there deliberately." + +"By whom?" + +"By the person who wrote this letter," and the professor took from his +pocket the scrap of paper he had received that afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +TO THE RESCUE + + +The master of Rally Hall and Professor Raymond knitted their brows as +they studied the scrawl. There was absolutely no clue, except that it +bore the Green Haven postmark on the envelope, and had been mailed that +morning. + +"One of the boys sent it, without a doubt," went on the professor. "He +knew we were familiar with his handwriting and so printed the letter." + +"Might not the writer, whoever he is, have seen Rushton hide the +package, and chosen this method to tell on him?" queried the doctor. + +"I would go further than that," said the other slowly. "I believe that +the writer of this note deliberately stole the package and put it in +Rushton's locker, in order to bring disgrace on him." + +"It's hard to think that there is such a despicable wretch as that in +Rally Hall," said Doctor Rally, bringing his clenched fist down on his +desk. + +"So it is," replied the other, "but to believe that Fred Rushton stole +them is harder yet." + +"Who, in the whole body of students, do you believe is capable of such a +thing?" asked the doctor. + +"Only one," was the cautious answer, "but, in the total absence of +proof, it wouldn't perhaps be fair to name him." + +"I think I know whom you have in mind," rejoined the master. "Here," +tearing two bits of paper from a sheet on his desk, "in order that our +guess be independent, you write a name on this piece of paper and I will +write on this. Then we will compare." + +The professor did so. Then they laid the papers side by side. + +Each bore the same name, "Shanks." + +"He's a poor stick," mused the doctor, "but I'd hate to think that he'd +sink as low as this. And, of course, so far, it is purely guess work. He +may be as innocent as the driven snow. Has he ever had any trouble with +Rushton?" + +"Not that I know of," was the answer, "although at one time I came upon +them when they seemed to have been having words," and Professor Raymond +narrated the affair on the campus. + +"Well," Doctor Rally wound up the discussion by saying, "for the +present, we suspend judgment. Keep a sharp eye on both Rushton and +Shanks. I'll not rest until I have probed this thing to the bottom." + +In the meantime Fred had gone to his room utterly crushed and +despondent. The whole thing had come on him like a thunderbolt. In half +an hour, from being one of the happiest boys in the school he had become +the most miserable. + +It seemed to him as though all his world had fallen into ruins. To be +accused of theft, to be, perhaps, driven in disgrace from Rally Hall, to +have all his relatives and friends know of the awful charge against him! +For a time, he felt that he would go crazy. + +Teddy, who was the only one in whom he could confide, was studying when +Fred dragged himself in. + +"Oh, Ted," he groaned, as he threw himself down on his bed. + +"What's the matter, Fred?" exclaimed Teddy, leaping to his feet in +alarm, as he saw the blank misery in his brother's eyes. + +"They think I'm a thief," moaned Fred. + +"Who thinks so? What do you mean?" and Teddy fairly shouted. + +"Doctor Rally and Professor Raymond," was the answer. "They think I +stole the examination papers." + +"Stole! _Stole!_" roared Teddy. "Why, they're crazy! What makes +them think anything like that?" + +"They'd been taken from Professor Raymond's desk, and they found them in +my locker." + +He blurted out the whole story and Teddy was wild with grief and rage. +But in the absence of the slightest clue, they were unable to do +anything but await events while they ate their hearts out in silence. + +A week went by without results. The winter had set in in earnest, and +the lake was coated with ice, thick enough for skating. + +Fred had been looking forward to hockey and skating, in both of which he +took great delight. But now, he had little interest in them, and kept as +much as possible to himself. + +The boys, of course, saw that something had happened, and did all they +could to cheer him up. + +"You've simply got to come to-day, Fred," said Melvin, one bright +December day, bursting into the room, his eyes dancing and his cheeks +glowing with the frost. "It's just one peach of a day, and the ice is as +smooth as glass. + +"Nothing doing," he went on, as Fred started to protest. "Come along, +fellows, and we'll rush him down to the lake. A bird that can skate and +won't skate must be made to skate." + +"I never heard of a bird skating," objected Fred, but yielded, as the +whole laughing throng closed around him and hurried him out of doors. + +Once on the ice, with the inspiring feeling of the skates beneath him, +with the tingling air bringing the blood to his cheeks, and the glorious +expanse of the frozen lake beckoning to him, the "blues" left him for a +time, and he was his natural self again, all aglow with the mere delight +of living. + +He had gone around the lower end of the lake, and was making a wide +sweep to return when he passed Andy Shanks and Sid Wilton. They shot a +malicious look at him as they passed, and he saw them whisper to each +other. + +Once more he made the circuit of the lake, with long swinging strokes, +his spirits steadily rising as the keen air nipped his face and put him +in a glow from head to foot. + +At the northern end of the lake was a bluff about twenty feet high. As +there had been two or three heavy snowfalls already that winter, the top +of the bluff held a mass of snow and ice that was many feet deep. The +wind had hollowed out the lower part of the drifts so that the upper +part overhung the lake for some distance from the shore. + +A group of boys, including Andy Shanks and his toady, Sid Wilton, were +playing "snap-the-whip." Shanks had put his "valet," as the boys called +him, at the extreme end, and, although this was the most dangerous point +and Wilton had little relish for it, he had not dared to object to +anything that Andy wanted. + +As Fred approached, the "whip" was "snapped" + +Skating at full speed, the long line straightened out and Wilton was let +go. He shot away from the others, trying to skirt the edge of the ice so +as to avoid the shore and sweep out into the open. But the space was too +narrow and he went into the bluff with a crash. + +He scrambled up, jarred and bruised, and just as he did so, Fred saw the +great overhanging mass of snow on the top of the bluff sway forward. + +"Jump!" he yelled. "The snow! Quick! For your lives!" + +The other boys looked up and skated from under. Sid made a desperate +lunge forward, but too late. With a sullen roar the snow came down and +buried him from sight. + +There were exclamations of fright and horror. Andy skated away, +panic-stricken. Most of the boys lost their heads. Two or three shouted +for help. + +Fred alone remained cool. With one motion, he unclamped his skates and +threw them from him. The next instant he had plunged into the tons of +snow and his arms were working like flails as he threw the masses aside. + +"Quick, fellows!" he shouted. "Go at it, all of you! He'll smother if we +don't get him out right away!" + +Inspired by his example, the others pitched in, working like beavers. +Other boys coming up aided in the work of cleaving a way to their +imprisoned schoolmate. + +Their frantic energy soon brought results. + +"I touched him then, fellows!" cried Fred. "Hurry, hurry," he added, as +he himself put forth redoubled efforts. + +A few minutes more and they had uncovered Sid's head and shoulders. His +eyes were closed and he seemed to be unconscious. + +"We're getting him," exulted Fred, forgetful of his hands that were torn +and bleeding from tearing at the ice mixed with the snow. + +He grabbed Sid under the arms. + +"Now, fellows," he cried, "get hold of me and when I say pull----" + +But just then there was a startled cry: + +"Look out! There's more coming!" + +Fred looked up and saw that another enormous mass was slipping slowly +over the edge. + +The other boys jumped back, but Fred remained. He tugged frantically, +putting forth all his strength. One more desperate pull and he fell back +on the ice, dragging Sid with him. At the same instant a tremendous mass +of snow came down, one heavy block of ice just grazing him where he lay, +panting and breathless. + +"Fred, old boy, that was a grand thing for you to do!" cried Melvin, who +with Teddy had just come up; and the sentiment was echoed by all the +others who clustered admiringly around him. + +"Oh, that was nothing," disclaimed Fred. "We've got to get a hustle on +now and take him to the Hall." + +They carried the unconscious Sid to his dormitory, and medical aid was +called at once. The doctor worked over him vigorously, and was soon able +to predict that in a day or two he would be all right again. + +Fred took a hot bath and changed into other clothes, and had soon shaken +off all the shock of the accident. + +He had barely finished supper when a message was brought to him that Sid +wanted to see him. + +He went at once, without any thought of what awaited him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SID WILTON TELLS + + +Fred found Wilton propped up in bed, in a room off the main dormitory +that was used in cases of sickness or accident. He looked very white and +weak, and, although Fred had never liked the boy, he felt sincerely +sorry that he had had such a shock. + +He reached out his hand with a friendly smile, and Wilton grasped it +eagerly. + +"I can't thank you enough for pulling me out of the snowfall, Rushton," +he said. "I don't remember much about it after it once buried me, but +they tell me that I was all in when you got me. It was an awfully plucky +thing for you to do, to hang on when that second mass was coming down, +and I don't believe there's another fellow in school that would have +taken the chance." + +"Oh, yes there are, plenty of them," said Fred heartily. "I just +happened to be the nearest one to you. I'm glad to hear that you will be +all right again in a little while." + +"All right in body, perhaps," said Sid with a faint smile, "but I won't +be all right in mind till I tell you something you ought to know." + +"What do you mean?" said Fred wonderingly. + +Sid turned to the boy who was sitting in the room to wait upon him. + +"Would you mind leaving me alone with Rushton for a few minutes, +Henley?" he asked. + +"Sure thing!" answered Henley, rising. "I'll come in again later on." + +He left the room; and Sid turned to Fred. + +"It's about the examination papers," he said, shamefacedly. + +Fred's heart gave a leap as though it would jump out of his body. + +"What do you mean?" he cried excitedly. + +"I mean," and Sid's face went red with the shame of the confession, +"that Andy Shanks and I put up a job on you. We took the papers and put +them in your locker, so that Professor Raymond would think you stole +them. There, it's out now." + +The room seemed to be whirling about Fred. The blood pounded madly +through his veins. With an effort he steadied himself. + +"What?" he shouted. "You did _that_?" + +"It was a dirty trick, I know," went on the younger boy, not venturing +to meet the eyes of the youth he had wronged, "and I'd give anything +I've got in the world if I hadn't done it. But Andy----" + +"Wait," cried Fred, jumping up, "wait till I can get Professor Raymond +over here, so that he can hear what you've got to say." + +"No need of that," said a deep voice, and Professor Raymond advanced +from the door towards the bed. "I was coming in to see how Wilton was +getting along, and, as the door was ajar, I heard what he was saying." + +He looked sadly and sternly at Sid, who cowered down on his pillow. + +"You have done a terrible thing, Wilton," he said; "but you're weak and +sick now, and what I have to say and do will be postponed to a later +time. Now, go ahead and tell us all about it from beginning to end." + +With trembling voice Sid went on: + +"Andy was down in the gymnasium one day, and he heard Rushton say that +he had seen you put a package in your desk, and one of the other fellows +said that they were probably the examination slips. He was sore at +Rushton because of something that had happened on the train coming here, +and because, later on, Rushton had faced him down on the campus. So he +went off to another town, after I had got a wax impression from the lock +of your desk, and had a key made to fit. Then I opened your desk one +night and got the package. I watched my chance till there was no one in +Number Three Dormitory, and hid the papers in Rushton's locker. Then +Andy printed a letter to you, telling you where to look." + +"We didn't know for sure what happened after that, but Rushton has been +so down in the mouth, that we felt sure the plan worked. Andy expected +him every day to be sent away from the school, and he didn't know why he +was allowed to hang on. I felt awfully mean about it, because Rushton +had never done anything to me. But Andy was my friend and it seemed that +I had to do anything he asked me, no matter what." + +"But after what Rushton did for me to-day, I simply had to tell him +about it. He saved my life----" + +Here his voice faltered, and Sid hid his face in his hands. + +A few more questions and they left him, shamed to the marrow by what he +had done, but relieved at getting the thing off his conscience. + +Outside the room, Professor Raymond turned to Fred. + +"Rushton," he said, "this confession will be laid before Doctor Rally at +once, and you can trust us to deal with Shanks. In the meantime, I want +to shake hands with you, and tell you how delighted I am to have this +thing cleared up. It must have been a fearful strain on you, but you +have borne yourself nobly. And your brave act of to-day only confirms me +in what I have felt all along, that you were a credit to Rally Hall." + +Fred stammered some words of thanks and was off to break the glorious +news to his brother. + +Teddy went wild with delight. + +"Glory, hallelujah!" he shouted, catching Fred in his arms and dancing +around the room. + +"Hey, what's the matter with you fellows?" called out Lester Lee, as +they gyrated about. "You act as though you'd just got money from home." + +"Better than that, eh, Ted?" beamed Fred, his face radiant with +happiness. + +"You bet it is," chuckled Teddy. + +"Better than money, eh?" grunted Lester. "It must be pretty good then. +But bear in mind that this is a respectable joint, and if you don't stop +acting rough house, I'll call a cop and have you pinched." + +But it was a long time before they could sober down. The reaction was so +great that they laughed and chattered and whooped like a pair of +lunatics. + +Fred felt as though he were walking on air. The black cloud was lifted. +His good name was given back to him. He stood untarnished before the +world. + +"What are you going to do to Andy?" asked Teddy. + +"Do?" replied Fred. "I'm going to lick him to a frazzle." + +But Doctor Rally got at Andy first. + +That very night, he sent for him and confronted him with the confession. +Andy, true to his nature, tried to lie out of it, but, under the +searching questions of the head of the school, he broke down and +confessed. Then Doctor Rally, in words that stung and blistered even +Andy's thick hide, told him that he was a disgrace to the school, and +commanded him to leave Rally Hall, bag and baggage, within twenty-four +hours. + +Andy begged and blubbered, but to no purpose. His offence was too +dastardly and contemptible. The doctor, doubly enraged because he had so +nearly condemned an innocent lad, justified the reputation for sternness +that Uncle Aaron had given him. + +Andy slunk away white and shaken, and the next morning the whole school +was surprised to learn that he had gone for good. + +"Humph!" exclaimed Fred, when he heard the news, "I wish he'd waited +just one day more. Now, I suppose we've seen the last of him." + +But Fred was mistaken. He had not yet seen the last of Andy Shanks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE BASEBALL TEAM + + +The rest of the winter passed rapidly, and Fred, with the load off his +mind, pitched into all the winter sports, making up royally for all he +had missed in the dark days when he was under suspicion. + +He and Teddy had gone home for the Christmas holidays, taking with them +Bill Garwood and Lester Lee, to whom they had become warmly attached. +Mr. and Mrs. Rushton had outdone themselves to give them a good time, +and Martha, her black face shining, had made the table fairly groan with +the good things she heaped upon it for her "lambs" and their friends. + +The days had slipped away like magic. The visitors had had the time of +their lives, and both Bill and Lester had insisted that the boys should +come to see them in the summer vacation. They had a partial promise to +this effect, but the matter was left for final decision later on. + +Uncle Aaron had not been in Oldtown at the time, for which the boys were +profoundly thankful. They could easily do without him any time, but now, +with the watch and papers still missing, they cared less than ever to +see him. + +Nothing had been heard of the stolen watch, nor had the papers turned +up, and every day that passed made it less likely that they ever would. + +"Those papers!" sighed Teddy. "And that watch! Oh, if I'd only nabbed +that tramp when I saw him!" + +"Cheer up, old scout," said Bill. "While there's life, there's hope." + +"Yes," agreed Fred, "but there isn't much nourishment in hope." + +The Rushton boys returned to Rally Hall, refreshed and rested, ready for +hard work as well as for fun and frolic. The going of Andy Shanks had +removed a disturbing element from the school, and the second term was +much more pleasant than the first had been. + +And now, they were right on the verge of spring. The ice had +disappeared, the athletic field was drying out and getting into shape, +and the thoughts of all were turning toward baseball practice. + +Slim Haley was in the midst of one of his stories, when Fred, with a bat +in his hand, burst into the dormitory one Saturday morning. + +"Come along, fellows," he called out. "Come out and get some practice. +What do you mean by staying indoors a morning like this?" + +"Just a minute, Fred," answered Bill Garwood, for the rest. "Slim has +got to get this story out of his system." + +"As I was saying when this low-brow came in to interrupt me," said Slim, +looking severely at Fred, "this cat was a very smart cat. And a plucky +one too, by ginger. There was no rat so big that he was afraid to tackle +it. And the way he went for snakes was a caution." + +"Snakes!" exclaimed Lester Lee incredulously. + +"That's what I said, 'snakes,'" said Slim firmly. "There used to be a +lot of rattlesnakes in that neighborhood, and the cat would go out +hunting for one every morning. + +"When he found a rattler, he would creep up to him, and the snake, +seeing him, would throw itself into a coil to strike. The cat would hold +up a paw and the snake would strike at it. But the cat was too quick and +would dodge the stroke. Then, before the snake could coil up again, the +cat would have it by the neck. He used to drag them home and stretch +them out in the dooryard, so as to show his folks how smart he was." + +"Some cat!" murmured Melvin. + +"Yes," assented Slim, "and he was a good-hearted cat too. Some folks say +that a cat thinks only of himself, but do you know what that cat did? + +"One day, the baby of the house had lost his rattle and was crying. The +cat sat looking at him for a minute. Then he went out in the yard, bit +the rattles off a dead snake and brought it in and laid it down near the +baby. You see----" + +But what Slim saw just at that moment was a pillow coming toward his +head. He dodged with an agility born of long practice; and the laughing +crowd went out with Fred into the bright April morning. + +They scattered out on the diamond, on which Big Sluper and his +assistants had been busy for some days past, and which was already in +condition for a game. The turf was smooth and springy, the base paths +had been rolled until they were perfectly level, and the foul lines +stretched away toward left and right field. + +"Won't we have some bully times here this spring?" exulted Fred. + +"Bet your life we will!" assented Teddy, turning a handspring. "And I'm +going to play shortstop and don't you forget it!" + +"Don't be too sure of that," Fred cautioned him. "It'll be nip and tuck +between you and Shorty Ward for the position. And Shorty's a pretty +nifty player." + +"I know he is," admitted Teddy. "But I'm going to make a fight for it." + +"There's Ned Wayland and Professor Raymond over there now, sizing the +fellows up," said Fred. "They're from Missouri and will have to be +shown. Get out there and I'll knock you some hot grounders." + +Ned Wayland was the captain of the team. He played pitcher and had made +a splendid record in the box the year before. He had a good fast ball +and a puzzling assortment of curves. Contrary to the usual run of +pitchers, he was also a heavy batter, and could usually be relied on to +"come across" when a hit was needed. + +Most of last year's team had returned to the school, so that a fairly +good nine was assured from the start. But there were also a lot of +promising youngsters among the newcomers, who, in Professor Raymond's +judgment, would "bear close watching." + +He and Ned were standing a little to one side of the diamond, looking +over the old material and the "new blood," as they cavorted like so many +colts about the base lines. The boys knew that they were under +inspection, and they played with snap and vim, each hoping that he would +be chosen for some coveted position on the team. + +"Pretty good stuff to choose from, don't you think, Professor?" remarked +Ned. + +"Unusually so, it seems to me," replied the other, as his keen eye +followed a great pick-up and swift throw to first by Teddy. "Unless all +signs fail, we ought to have a cracking good team this year." + +"We need to have if we're going to beat out Mount Vernon," said Wayland. +"I hear that they're going great guns in practice." + +"We're all right in the outfield," mused the professor. "Duncan at +right, Hawley in centre and Melton at left are all good fielders, and +they're heavy hitters, too." + +"We could make our infield stronger than it is, though. I don't think +that----" + +"Great Scott!" exclaimed Wayland. "Look at that!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +AN EXCITING BATTLE + + +The "that" was a brilliant bit of fielding "pulled off" by Teddy. + +Fred had varied the grounders by sending up a high fly into short centre +field. It was away over Teddy's head, and it seemed impossible for him +to reach it. But he had started for it at the crack of the bat, and, +running like a deer, he just managed to get under it with his ungloved +hand. He clung to it desperately, however, and, although he rolled over +and over, he rose with the ball in his hand. It was a neat bit of +fielding and Teddy got a round of hand clapping from those who had seen +it. + +"Wasn't that a peach?" asked Wayland enthusiastically. + +"It certainly was!" agreed the professor warmly. "I didn't think he had +a chance to reach it." + +"Of course, one swallow doesn't make a summer," conceded Wayland, "and +perhaps he couldn't do it often." + +"I don't think it was a fluke," said the professor. "I saw him make a +swift pick-up a few minutes ago that nine out of ten would have missed. +And he threw down to first almost on a line. The ball didn't rise more +than three inches on the way down." + +"If he can keep up that kind of work, he'll give Ward all he can do to +hold his job," declared Ned. + +"Baseball ability seems to run in the family," said the professor. "Fred +is a first-rate pitcher, and, with him in the box besides yourself, I +think we'll be well fortified in that position. Besides, he's a good +hitter, and on days when he isn't pitching, you can put him in to bat at +times when a hit is needed." + +"Yes," agreed Ned, "he'll be a great big element in our success this +season. That outcurve of his is awfully hard to hit, and his drop ball +is a pippin." + +"As for the backstop," went on the professor, "Tom Eldridge hasn't any +rival. Granger, at first base, is a star both in fielding and hitting. +But we're not any too strong at second. Hendricks doesn't seem to take +so much interest in his work as he did last season." + +"How would it do to put Morley there, on trial?" suggested Ned. "Then we +could shift Ward to third and try out Teddy Rushton at short." + +For several days the sifting process went on, but when the line up was +finally settled upon, Teddy held down short, while Fred was to alternate +with Ned as pitcher. + +The nine practiced faithfully, playing with neighboring village teams +and making a good record. They had won three games and lost only one, +and that by a close score, when the day came for the Mount Vernon game. + +This was to be held on the enemy's grounds, and the boys had a train +ride of twenty miles before they reached the station. A crowd of the +Rally Hall boys went with them, to root and cheer for a victory over +their most important baseball rivals. + +The Green Haven station was crowded that morning with hilarious youths, +and there was a buzzing as of a swarm of bees, while they waited for +their train to come. + +The only fly in the ointment was the cloudy condition of the sky. No +rain had fallen, but it looked as though it might come down at any +moment. + +"It's up to us to get a good start early in the game," remarked Fred, +"so that if the rain does come down after the fifth inning and we're in +the lead, we'll win anyway." + +"Right you are," replied Ned. "Last year we lost a game that way just as +we thought we had it tucked away in our bat bag. The other fellows were +one run ahead, and when we came to bat in our half of the sixth we got +three men on bases in less than no time. Our heaviest batters were just +coming up, and one of them knocked a homer, clearing the bases and +putting us three runs in the lead. The fellows were dancing round and +hugging each other, when just then the rain came down like fury and the +game had to be called. Of course, our runs didn't count and the score +stood as it was at the end of the fifth, with the other fellows ahead. I +tell you it was a tough game to lose." + + "Well, I swan, + It looks like ra-in, + Gidde-ap, Napoleon, + We'll get the hay in," + +drawled Tom, who had not only a store of good poetry always on tap but +was also well provided with plenty that was not so good. + +"Your poetry is rank, Tom," laughed Teddy, as he made a pass at him, +"but the sentiment is all to the good. We'll get the hay in in the early +part of the game." + +Just then there was a whistle in the distance. + +"Here she comes!" went up the cry and there was a general scurry toward +the front of the platform. The train was a local, with only three cars, +and it was a certainty that with the unusual crush that morning a lot of +the passengers would have to stand. + +The train drew up with a clang and a rattle, and there was a regular +football rush the moment it came to a stop. + +"Get aboard!" shouted one. + +"If you can't get a board, get a plank," yelled another. + +"Easy there," shouted the conductor, as the swirling mob almost swept +him off his feet. + +But he might as well have tried to check a cyclone. They swarmed around +him, and in less than a minute the train was packed. There was a lot of +jolly, good-natured scuffling to get the vacant seats. + +"Wow! get off my toes!" yelled one of the unlucky ones. + +"How can I help it?" laughed the one addressed. "I've got to stand +somewhere, haven't I?" + +The conductor wiped his perspiring brow. + +"Well, of all the young limbs!" he ejaculated. But his frown quickly +melted into a grin. He had boys of his own. + +"They can only be kids once," he muttered, as he gave the engineer the +signal to go ahead. + +Inside the cars, all was cheerful hubbub and confusion. + +"Give us a song, Billy!" shouted one. + +The request was greeted by a roar of unanimous approval. + +"What shall it be?" grinned Billy Burton, who seldom had to be coaxed. + +There was a chorus of suggestions, for Billy's repertoire was very +extensive. The majority seemed to favor: "We All Sit Round and Listen, +When Hiram Drinks His Soup," although there was a strong minority for +"When Father Carves the Duck." In order to satisfy them all, Billy sang +both ditties to a thunder of applause. + +He had to respond to numerous encores, and when at last he was too +hoarse to sing any longer, the crowd fell back on "Ten Little Injuns" +and "Forty-nine Bluebottles, a-Hanging on the Wall," together with other +school favorites. There were any number of discords and any amount of +flatting, but little things like that did not bother the young +minstrels. They wanted noise and plenty of it. And no one in that train +could deny that they got what they wanted. + +"Now, Slim, it's up to you," said Ned Wayland. "It's a long time since +we've had one of your truthful stories." + +"A story from Slim," went up the chorus, as all that could crowded +around. + +But Slim assumed an air of profoundest gloom. + +"Nothing doing," he said, shaking his head with a decision that the +twinkle in his eyes belied. "You fellows wouldn't believe me anyway. + +"Look at the last one I told you," he went on, with an aggrieved air, +"about the fellows that used to catch crabs with their toes as they sat +on the end of the dock. Didn't you fellows as much as call me +a--er--fabricator? Even when I explained that they had hardened their +toes by soaking them in alum, so that they wouldn't feel the bites? Even +when I offered to show you one of the crabs that they caught?" + +He wagged his head sadly, as one who was deeply pained by the appalling +amount of unbelief to be met with in the world. + +"Perhaps we did you a great injustice, Slim," said Fred with a mock air +of penitence. + +"I'm willing to apologize and never do it again," chimed in Melvin. + +"And I'll go still further and agree to believe your next story before +you tell it," promised Tom. + +"Now that sounds more like it," said Slim, throwing off his gloom. "I'm +always ready to add to the slight store of knowledge that you lowbrows +have in stock, but you must admit that it's rather discouraging to see +that cold, hard look in your eyes when I'm doing my best to give you the +exact facts." + +"We'll admit anything, Ananias," chirped up Billy; "only go ahead with +the story." + +Slim shot a scathing glance at Billy, but seeing that all were waiting +breathlessly, he gave an impressive cough and started in. + +"There was a farmer down our way," he began, "who was strictly up to +date. He wasn't satisfied to go along like the majority of old +mossbacks, year in and year out, doing the same old thing in the same +old way as it had been done for a hundred years. He tried all the new +wrinkles, subscribed to the leading farm papers, and studied the market +reports. + +"He was looking over these one night when he saw that there was an +unusual demand for beef tongues and that they were bringing the biggest +price in the market that they had brought for a good many years past. +This set him thinking. + +"You know how fond cattle are of salt. Well, this farmer set aside about +a dozen of his cows, to try an experiment with them. He kept them +without salt during the day so that they got crazy for it. Then at night +he tied them up in stalls, and hung a lump of rock salt by a string just +a little out of their reach. They'd stick out their tongues to get at it +but couldn't quite make it. At last, by straining hard they'd maybe +touch it. Of course, as they stretched, the effort gradually made their +tongues grow bigger, and--" + +Here, Slim looked around rather dubiously to see if his hearers were +preparing to spring upon him, but they seemed as if held in the spell of +an awful fascination. So he took courage and went on: + +"You know how it is with a blacksmith. The more he exercises his arm the +bigger the muscles get. You know that our dear Dr. Rally has often +impressed on our youthful minds that the more we use our brains the more +brains we'll have to use. Well, that's just the way it was with these +cows. Each day the farmer would put the salt a little further ahead of +them, and they'd keep stretching more and more, until finally their +tongues were three times the ordinary size. I tell you that farmer +cleared up a pile of money when he sent his cattle to market that fall, +and--" + +"I should think," interrupted Fred, in a voice that he tried to keep +steady, "that their tongues would get in the way and choke them." + +"You would think so," admitted Slim, easily, "but as I said, this farmer +was up to date and he had figured that out. He got a lot of rubber tubes +and taught the cows to curl their tongues around in those and keep them +out of the way. He--" + +But just then, the overtaxed patience of his auditors gave way and they +rushed in a body on Slim. + +"I told you it would be that way," he complained, as he extricated +himself from the laughing mob. "It's casting pearls before swine to try +to tell you fellows the truth. You wouldn't want the truth, if I handed +it to you on a gold platter." + +The rest of the passengers in the train, other than the Rally Hall boys, +looked on and listened with varied emotions. One or two had a sour +expression and muttered more or less about "those pesky boys," but by +far the greater number were smiling and showed a frank pleasure in the +picture of bubbling, joyous youth that they presented. It came as a +welcome interlude in the cares of life. + +Fred had found a seat alongside a rather elderly man whose face radiated +good nature. When the train had gone ten miles or so, the stranger +entered into conversation. + +"A jolly crowd you have here," he said, beaming. "I take it you're going +somewhere special. What's on for to-day?" + +"We're going to play a game of ball with the Mount Vernon team, a little +way up the line," Fred smiled in return. + +"Baseball, eh?" said the other with an evident quickening of interest. +"That's the king of sports with me. I used to play a lot in my time and +I've never got over my liking for it. I'd rather see a game than eat." + +"It's a dandy sport, all right," assented Fred, with enthusiasm. "There +isn't anything in the world to equal it in my opinion, except perhaps +football." + +"I don't know much about football," admitted the other. "I see a game +once in a while, but it always seems to me rather confusing. That's +because I don't know the rules, I guess. But I know baseball from start +to finish and from the time the umpire says 'Play ball!' until the last +man's out in the ninth inning, I don't take my eyes off the diamond." + +"I suppose you have some great memories of the old days," remarked Fred. + +"You're just right," said the stranger with emphasis. "I guess I've seen +almost all the great players who made the game at one time or another. +There were the old Red Stockings of Cincinnati, the Mutuals of New York, +the Haymakers of Troy, the Forest Cities of Rockford, that we boys used +to read and talk about all the time. We had our special heroes, too, +just as you have to-day. + +"Of course," he went on, "the game has improved a great deal, like +everything else. The pitching is better now. My, how those old timers +used to bat the pitchers all over the lot! You don't see any scores of +two hundred runs in a game these days." + +"Two hundred runs!" exclaimed Fred. "You don't mean to say that any team +ever made as many as that?" + +"Not often, I'll admit," smiled the other. "Still, the Niagaras of +Buffalo won a game once by 201 to 11." + +"Whew!" ejaculated Tom, who had been sitting on the arm of the seat, +listening to the talk. "There must have been some tired outfielders when +that game was over." + +"I'd have hated to be the scorer," laughed Fred. + +"Of course that was unusual," said the other, "but big scores were a +common thing. The first game between college teams was won by 66 to 32. + +"There was a time," he continued, "when a man could make two or three +home runs on a single hit. The diamonds were only vacant lots as a rule +and the ball would get lost in the high grass. Then the runner, after +reaching the plate, could start round the bases again and keep on +running until the ball was found or until he was too tired out to run +any longer. Of course that was in the very early days of the game. We +used to put a man out then by throwing the ball at him and hitting him +with it." + +"I'd hate to have one of them catch me between the shoulders nowadays!" +exclaimed Tom. + +"The ball was soft then and didn't hurt much," explained the other. "Oh, +the game is better now in every way. We didn't know anything about +'inside stuff' as you call it, 'the squeeze play,' 'the delayed steal' +and all that." + +"I'll bet you got just as much fun out of it though as we do now," said +Fred. + +"I suppose we did," assented the other. "You can trust boys to get fun +out of anything. But in those days it was mainly sport. Now it's sport +and skill combined." + +The lads were to get off at the next station, and there was a general +stir as they got their things together. + +"I'm very glad I met you," said Fred, as he shook hands with his chance +acquaintance. "I've learned a lot about the game that I didn't know +before." + +"It does me good to brush up against you young fellows," the man replied +warmly, returning the handshake. "I hope you wax the other team this +afternoon. I'll be rooting for you to win." + +"We'll do our best," promised Fred. "Thanks for the good wishes. It +would be jolly if you could stop off and see the game." + +"I'd like nothing better, but business won't let me. Good-bye and good +luck." + +"Who's your friend that you were talking to so long?" asked Ned, as the +crowd got off the train. + +"I never saw him before," answered Fred. "But he's a good old scout, +whoever he is. He sure is fond of baseball and he knows the game. I'd +like to have him in the stands this afternoon. I'll bet he'd be a mascot +for us." + +The nine was in fine fettle, and felt that they would have no excuses to +offer if they failed to win. + +"But we're not going to lose!" exclaimed Granger. "I feel it in my +bones!" + +"It'll be the score and not your bones that'll tell the story," jibed +Slim. + + "Scots wha' hae with Wallace bled, + Scots wha' Bruce has often led, + Welcome to your gory bed, + Or to victory," + +chanted Tom Eldridge. + +"And it's going to be victory," affirmed Teddy, "The other fellows will +be the dead ones." + +But the "other fellows" had views of their own on that subject, and from +the time the first ball was pitched the Rally Hall boys knew that they +had their work cut out for them. + +Ned was in the box at the start, and Fred, who was ready to take his +place if needed, played right field. + +The pitchers on both sides were in good form, and for the first three +innings neither side scored a run, although a two-base hit by Melvin and +a daring steal had gotten him as far as third. Two were out at the time, +however, and Ward made the third out on a high fly to left. + +The pitcher on the Mount Vernon team was a big, sandy-haired, +freckle-faced youth who did not look at all like a student, and the boys +noticed that when his nine was at the bat, he sat apart from the others, +almost as though he were a stranger. Slim Haley had a suspicion, and +strolled over to have a chat with him, while he was resting. + +"Mount Vernon is a pretty good school," said Slim, trying to start a +conversation. + +"Yep," said the other shortly. + +"Nice bunch of fellows," continued Slim affably. + +"Good enough, I s'pose," said the other. + +"What studies are you taking?" asked Slim, his suspicions deepening. + +The other hesitated a moment. + +"Voconometry and trigoculture," he got out, with an effort. + +"What?" asked the puzzled Slim. + +But just then the inning ended, and the sandy-haired pitcher had to go +to the box. + +Slim made his way back to his own crowd. + +"Did you fellows ever hear of voconometry and trigoculture?" he asked. + +"What are you giving us?" jeered Tom, with a grin. + +"Stop stringing us, Slim," added Ned. + +"Honest, I'm not fooling," protested Slim, "I asked that pitcher what +studies he was taking, and he said 'voconometry and trigoculture.'" + +The boys pondered a moment. + +"I've got it!" shouted Fred, a light breaking in on him. "That fellow's +a 'ringer.' He isn't a Mount Vernon student at all. There's something +the matter with their regular pitcher, and they've picked up this fellow +somewhere and rung him in on us as a regular school player. They've been +afraid we might tumble to it and ask him questions, and so they told him +what to say." + +"But why did they tell him to say any nonsense like that?" asked Slim, +perplexed. + +"They didn't," explained Fred. "He's got mixed up. What they told him to +say if any one asked him was that he was studying trigonometry and vocal +culture.' He got stuck and called it 'voconometry and trigoculture.'" + +There was a roar of laughter, but this was quickly followed by +indignation. + +"It's a dirty trick to play on us," growled Billy Burton. + +"Sure it is," agreed Tom. "But it's too late to protest now. Let's go in +and lick them anyway." + +In the fifth inning, a scorching liner struck Ned on his pitching arm. +He picked it up and got his man at first. But the blow had bruised his +muscles badly, and he became wild. He could not control the sphere, and +gave two bases on balls. These, with an error and a hit sandwiched in, +yielded two runs before the side was out. + +"You'll have to take my place, Fred," he said as they came in for their +turn at bat. "My arm is numb and I can't get them over." + +So Fred took up the pitching burden with a handicap of two runs against +him to start with. + +"All over but the shouting," yelled the Mount Vernon rooters. + +But they changed their tune as Fred shot his curves and benders over the +plate. He pitched his prettiest, and only once was in danger. Then, with +a man on first and one out, a rattling double play started by Teddy +pulled him out of the hole. + +But the other fellow, too, was pitching magnificently. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +ANDY SHANKS "GETS HIS" + + +The Mount Vernon partisans were in an ecstasy of delight at the lead +their favorites were holding and from present indications seemed likely +to hold to the end. They yelled their loudest at every good play made by +the home team, and did all they could to keep them up to fighting pitch. + +The Rally Hall followers, although of course outnumbered, kept up their +end and shouted until they were hoarse. Among these none were more +vociferous than Lester Lee and Bill Garwood. They had not "made" the +team, although they liked and understood the game. But they were +"dyed-in-the-wool" rooters for their team, and especially for the +Rushton boys upon whose shoulders rested so much of responsibility for +the fate of the game. + +As luck would have it, they were surrounded on every side by the Mount +Vernon boys, many of whom were accompanied by pretty girls who had come +to see the downfall of the invaders. Some of them knew very little of +the game, but that did not dampen their enthusiasm, and they clapped +their hands and waved their flags whenever that seemed the right thing +to do. + +One of them was seated right alongside of Lester, and he and Bill could +not help hearing her conversation. + +Her escort, in an interval between innings, was trying to tell her of a +game he had recently seen. + +"This fellow was a fast runner," he remarked, "and he stole second base +while the pitcher wasn't looking." + +"Stole it!" she exclaimed. "Why, I thought the bases were fastened +down." + +"They are," the young man laughed, "but he stole it just the same." + +"I think that's just disgraceful," she said indignantly. "Did they +arrest him?" + +Her escort explained what he meant, and she looked relieved. + +"A minute later, he tried it again," he went on, "but this time the ball +was too quick for him, and the runner died at third." + +"Oh, how dreadful! I suppose he had been running so hard that his heart +gave out." + +Bill nudged Lester, whose face was purple with his efforts to restrain +himself. + +Again her escort patiently explained that the incident at third had been +in no sense a tragedy. + +"That made two out," he went on, "but the next man at the bat lammed the +horsehide--No," he interrupted himself hurriedly, as he saw another +question trembling on her lips, "the horse wasn't in the hide. I mean, +he hit the ball and made a home run. That rattled the pitcher and he +went up in the air." + +"Let's get out," whispered Bill to Lester. "I can see that she'll ask +him whether it was a baseball game or an aviation meet." + +"It's his own fault," replied Lester, as he followed his companion to +another part of the stand where they could give free vent to their +mirth. "You can't blame her for not understanding baseball slang. I'll +bet after this that he'll stick to plain English." + +"Look at those clouds coming up!" exclaimed Bill suddenly. "I'm afraid +rain's coming before the game is over." + +"And our fellows behind," groaned Lester. + +"We ought to have 'got the hay in' before this," said Bill, as Tom's +doggerel of the morning came back to him. + +The Mount Vernon team was quick to see its advantage and began to play +for time. + +They were ahead, and as more than five innings had been played, it would +be called a complete game and credited to them, if they could keep their +opponents from scoring before the rain came down. + +With this end in view, they began a series of movements designed to +delay the game. The Rally Hall boys were at the bat and it was the +beginning of the seventh inning. They were desperate in their desire to +tie or go ahead of the enemy. Those two runs loomed bigger and bigger, +as the game drew near its end. + +"We've got to get a move on, fellows," admonished Fred, as his side came +to bat. + +"And in an awful hurry, too," agreed Melvin. + +"The time's short even if the rain doesn't come," declared Ned. "But +from the look of those clouds, we won't play a full game. Make this the +'lucky seventh' and crack out a couple of runs." + +"How are we going to get anything, if that pitcher doesn't put it over?" +asked Tom, as he stood at the plate, bat in hand. "Hi, there," he called +to the boxman. "Put the ball over the plate and I'll kill it." + +"Take your time," drawled the pitcher, as he bent over, pretending to +tie his shoe lace. "I'll strike you out soon enough." + +That shoe lace seemed very hard to tie, judging from the time he spent +in doing it. At last, when he could not keep up the pretence any longer, +he straightened up and took his position in the box. Then, something +about the ball seemed to attract his attention. He looked at it +earnestly and signaled to the captain who walked in slowly from centre +field. He in turn beckoned to the first baseman, and the three joined in +conversation at the pitcher's box. + +By this time, the crowd had caught the idea, and a storm of protest +broke out from the stands. + +"Play ball!" + +"Cut out the baby act!" + +"Can't you win without the rain?" + +"What a crowd of quitters!" + +"Be sports and play the game!" + +"They're showing a yellow streak!" + +"The white feather, you mean!" + +Most of the protests came from the Rally Hall followers, but a good many +also of the home team's supporters were disgusted at these +unsportsmanlike tactics. + +Teddy rushed up to the umpire, his eyes blazing. + +"Are you going to stand for this?" he asked. "What kind of a deal are we +getting in this town, anyway?" + +The umpire, who had tried to be strictly impartial, raised his hand +soothingly. + +"Go easy, son," he replied. "I was only waiting to make sure. I'll see +that you get fair play. + +"Cut out that waiting stuff," he called to the pitcher, "and play ball." + +The pitcher took his position in the box, but the captain strolled +toward centre field at a snail's pace. + +"Hurry up there now," ordered the umpire. "I'll give you till I count +ten to get out in the field. If you're not there by that time, I'll put +you out of the game." + +"I'm going, am I not?" retorted the captain, still creeping along. + +"One," said the umpire. "Two. Three." + +The captain's pace quickened. + +"Four. Five. Six." + +The captain broke into a trot. + +"Seven. Eight. Nine." + +But by this time the captain had reached his position. It was evident +that the umpire meant what he said. + +"Now, put them over," he ordered the pitcher, "and I'll send you to the +bench, if I see any signs of holding back. Play ball." + +There was no further delay, and the pitcher shot the ball over the +plate. Tom, true to his promise, "killed" the ball, sending a scorching +liner between second and third that netted him two bases. Fred +sacrificed him to third by laying a beautiful bunt down on the first +base line. Morley hit the ball a resounding crack, but it went straight +to the second baseman, who made a great stop and nipped Tom as he came +rushing in to the plate. A long fly to centre field ended the inning, +and gloom settled down on the boys from Rally Hall. + +"Seven goose eggs in a row," groaned Billy Burton. + +"Never mind," said Fred cheerily, as he picked up his glove. "We're +getting on to his curves now. Did you see how we belted him in that +inning? No pop-up flies, but good solid welts. The breaks in the luck +were against us but they won't be always." + +As though to back up his words of cheer, the sun at that instant broke +through the clouds and the field was flooded with light. + +"Hurrah!" yelled Teddy, throwing up his hat. "It isn't going to rain +after all." + +"Those were only wind clouds," exulted Melvin. + +"It is the sun of Austerlitz," quoted Tom. + +"It's a good omen anyway," declared Ned. "Buckle down to your work now, +boys, and play like tigers." + +And they did. Fred promptly struck the first man out on three pitched +balls. The second popped up a high foul, which Tom gathered in after a +long run. The third man up dribbled a slow one to the box and Fred +quickly snapped the ball over to first for an out. + +"Short and sweet, that inning," commented Slim Haley. + +"Now it's our turn again," said Teddy. "Here's where we win." + +"Up guards and at them," encouraged Tom. + +But, try as they would, their bad luck persisted. Their slugging was +hard and fierce, but the ball went straight into a fielder's hands, and +again they went out on the diamond without a score to their credit. + +In the enemy's eighth turn at bat, it looked as if they might get one or +more runs over the plate. A lucky bound allowed one man to get to first, +and he went to second when Morley dropped a high fly after a long run. +There were men on first and second with none out, and their chance for a +score was bright. + +The next man up sent a whistling liner right over second. Teddy, who was +playing close to the bag, jumped in the air and pulled down the ball. +That, of course, put out the batter. As Teddy came down with the ball in +his hand, he stepped on the base, thus putting out the man who had made +a bee line for third, thinking the ball would go safe, and was now +trying desperately to get back. That made two out. The fellow who had +been on first had almost reached second, but turned and sprinted back +with Teddy in hot pursuit. He clapped the ball on him just in time, and +the side was out. Teddy had made a triple play unassisted. + +It was a sparkling and most unusual feat, and the whole stand rose to +Teddy as he came in, and cheered and cheered until he was forced to pull +off his cap. The Mount Vernon rooters forgot their partisanship and +shouted as loudly as the rest. As for his schoolmates, they mauled and +hugged him until he fled for refuge to the bench. + +"Some fireworks!" yelled one. + +"I can die happy, now!" exclaimed another. "I've seen a triple play +pulled off." + +"You'll never see another," prophesied his neighbor. + +The Rally Hall boys were yelling their loudest to encourage their +favorites when they came to bat for the last time. + +A groan went up when Duncan lifted a high fly to centre field, which was +caught easily. But Melvin sent a sizzling liner to left, just inside +third, and made two bases on it. And the yells were deafening, when Ward +advanced him to third, by a fierce grounder to short, that was too hot +to hold. + +"Rushton! Rushton!" they shouted, as Fred came to bat after Tom had gone +out on a foul. "Hit it on the trademark!" "Give it a ride!" "Win your +own game!" + +The first ball was a deceptive drop, but Fred did not "bite." The second +was a low fast one, about knee high, just the kind he was accustomed to +"kill." + +With a mighty swing he caught it fair "on the seam." It rose like a shot +and soared into centre field, far over the fielder's head. + +Melvin and Ward came in, tying the score, and Fred, who had gone around +the bases like a deer, made it a home run by just beating the ball on a +headlong slide to the plate. + +Rally Hall promptly went raving mad. + +There was still one more chance for the Mount Vernon lads, and their +best hitters were coming on. But Fred was on his mettle now, and put +every ounce of his strength and cunning into his pitching. They simply +could not hit his slants. The first went out on strikes, Ward made a +dazzling catch of a hot liner, and, when Melvin, after a long run, +caught a high foul close to the left field bleachers, the game was over, +with the score three to two in favor of Rally Hall. + +It was a hilarious crowd that met the team at Green Haven when the train +pulled in. The whole nine had played well, and all came in for their +share of the ovation, though the Rushton brothers were regarded as +having carried off the honors of the game. + +"Do you know what pleased me most of all?" asked Fred of Melvin. + +"That home run you made, I suppose," answered the other. + +"No," was the answer. "It was that we downed the 'ringer.' They couldn't +get away with their low-down trick. We put one over on 'voconometry and +trigoculture.'" + +But Fred had a chance to "put one over" a few days later that pleased +him still more. + +A group of the boys had been down to the post office and were walking +slowly on the road back to Rally Hall. It was a beautiful afternoon, and +they took their time, in no hurry to get home. + +Suddenly there was a loud "honk," "honk" behind them, and, looking back, +they saw an automobile coming swiftly toward them. + +They scattered to let it pass, but, as it came up it slackened speed and +began zigzagging from one side of the road to the other, making the boys +jump to keep out of the way. + +"Can't you look out where you're going?" asked Slim angrily. "What kind +of a driver are you, anyway?" + +"By Jove, fellows!" exclaimed Bill Garwood, as he looked more closely at +the face behind the goggles, "it's Andy Shanks!" + +It was indeed that disgraced youth, who was making a trip through that +part of the state, and whom some impulse had prompted to go by way of +Green Haven. + +"Sure it is," he answered sourly. "Get out of the way, you boobs. Jump, +you skate," he said to Fred, as he darted the machine at him. + +Fred leaped nimbly out of the way, and Andy, with a derisive jeer, sped +on, looking behind him and laughing insolently. + +Fred was white with indignation. + +"The coward!" he exclaimed. "If I could get on that running board, I'd +drag him from his seat!" + +"He sure ought to have a licking," agreed Bill. "But we'd have to be +some good little sprinters to catch him now." + +"Look, fellows!" cried Billy Burton excitedly, "he's stopped. There must +be something the matter with his engine." + +They all started to run. + +Andy had dismounted quickly and was working desperately to get his +stalled engine going. + +He got it sparking at last, but before he could jump into the seat the +boys were on him. + +"No, you don't!" cried Fred, getting between him and the machine. "I've +got an account to settle with you." + +"Get out of my way," snarled Andy, trying to push past. + +Fred's answer was a blow that caught the bully under the chin and sent +his teeth together with a snap. + +"I'll fix you for that," Andy roared. + +"Come along," was Fred's challenge, slipping off his coat, "but first +take off your goggles. I'm going to lick you good and plenty, but I +don't want to blind you." + +Then followed a fight that Slim afterward described to a delighted group +at the dormitory as a "peach of a scrap." + +Even a rat will fight if it is cornered, and Andy, having no way out, +did his best. All the hate and venom he felt for Fred came to the +surface, and he fought ferociously. + +But he was no match, despite his size and strength, for the boy he had +wronged. Fred was in splendid shape, thanks to his athletic training, +and, besides, he was as quick as a cat. He easily evaded the bull-like +rushes of Andy, and got in one clean-cut blow after another that shook +the bully from head to foot. The thought of all he had suffered through +Shank's trickery gave an additional sting to the blows he showered on +him, and it was not long before Andy lay on the ground, sullen and +vanquished. + +"Have you had enough?" asked Fred. + +"Enough," mumbled Andy, through his bruised lips. + +They left him there, humbled but furious, and went on their way to the +Hall. + +"Fred, you went round him like a cooper round a barrel!" said Bill +Garwood admiringly. + +"He had it coming to him," answered Fred. "If ever a fellow needed it, +he did." + +He stepped aside to avoid a car coming toward him in which two +rough-looking men were seated. + +"Look, Fred!" cried Teddy, clutching his brother's arm as the car went +by. + +"What? Where?" asked Fred wonderingly. + +"The auto!" gasped Teddy. "The man with a scar! The fellows that stole +Uncle Aaron's watch!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE CAPTURE--CONCLUSION + + +"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Fred, as excited as Teddy. + +"I'm sure of it! And now we're going to miss them again," groaned his +brother. + +At that moment a boy on a motorcycle came round a curve in the road. + +"It's Lester Lee on his motorbike!" cried Fred, as an idea came to him. +"Quick!" he yelled, waving his hand to Lester. + +The latter put on speed and was soon beside them. + +"What's the matter?" he asked, as he jumped from the saddle. + +"Lend us your machine, Lester, like a good fellow," cried Fred. "I'll +tell you all about it later. Quick, Teddy, jump on with me!" + +In a second the Rushton boys were off, while the boys without the +slightest idea of what was happening, looked after them with wonder in +their eyes. + +Fred had often ridden on Lester's motorcycle and knew how to handle it +as well as the owner himself. He let out all speed and soon was +traveling like the wind, with Teddy hanging on for dear life. + +The automobile had a good start, and it was several minutes before they +came in sight of it. Then they slackened their pace, keeping a couple of +hundred yards in the rear. + +"How on earth did those fellows ever get an auto?" asked Teddy +wonderingly. + +"Stole it, probably," answered Fred. "But that isn't what is bothering +me. What I want to know is, how we're going to get them nabbed. We don't +know where they're going to stop, and when they do land somewhere +they'll probably have others of their gang around." + +It was a perplexing problem, and they taxed their brains to think of an +answer. But at present, the chief thing was to keep them in sight, and, +as the men had no idea that they were being followed, this was easy +enough. + +Everything went well until, just after they turned a bend in the road, +they ran into a bed of sand. Up to now the road had been hard and +smooth, and they had been going at top speed. Fred saw the sandy stretch +and tried to put on the brakes, but the distance was too short. + +The sudden check in speed as the motorcycle ploughed into the sand sent +both boys flying over the handle bars, while the machine staggered and +at last fell down beside the trunk of a tree. + +For a moment they lay still, the breath fairly knocked out of them by +the shock. Then they slowly scrambled to their feet, a little shakily, +and looked at each other in disgust. + +"Did you ever see such luck as that?" asked Teddy. "Now our goose is +cooked. We'll lose sight of them and that will be the end of it." + +"Not by a jugful, it won't," declared Fred, stoutly. "Jump up, and we'll +catch up to them in a jiffy." + +He righted the machine, and after leading it through the streak of sandy +road, they mounted and started off. But they had not gone twenty rods +before they began to slow up, and Fred discovered to his dismay that +they were riding on a flat tire. + +"We must have had a puncture when the machine fell down," he said as +they jumped off. "It bumped up against the tree, and some projection +jammed into the tire. Here it is now," as he disclosed a tiny opening. + +They opened Lester's tool box and set themselves vigorously to work to +repair the puncture. They worked feverishly, and in a minute or two got +out the inner tube and prepared to patch the damaged spot. + +"I can do this just as well alone," said Fred. "You take a squint at the +tank and see if we have enough gas to take us on. Lester may have been +nearly out when we grabbed the machine from him." + +A groan from Teddy, a moment later, told him that he had hit on an +unpleasant truth. + +"Almost empty!" exclaimed Teddy. "There isn't enough to take us another +mile. There's a hoodoo in it. We no sooner see those fellows than we +lose them again." + +There was consternation in the boys' eyes as they gazed blankly at each +other. + +Fred rose to his feet and looked about him. Half a mile ahead, he saw a +church spire rising above the trees. + +"There must be a town over there," he said. "I'll tell you what we'll +do. You skip ahead and find some place where they sell gasoline. Get a +couple of quarts and hustle back. This job will take me ten or fifteen +minutes more, and as soon as I get it done, I'll come on to meet you. If +the gas gives out before I get there, I'll trundle the machine along +until we meet. Get a move on now, for every minute counts." + +Teddy started off on a dog trot, and Fred once more bent over his work. +Despite his air of confidence, he had very little hope of picking up the +trail, once the vagrants had gotten out of sight. Still, they could make +inquiries and might have luck. At the very worst they could do no more +than fail, and they would have the consolation of knowing that they had +not quit. + +He worked desperately, and soon the inner tube was as good as ever. He +tumbled the tools back into the box, mounted the machine, and as the +road was good, once past the sandy stretch, he let it out, fearing, +however, that at any moment it might go dry. + +He had reached the outskirts of the village, when he saw Teddy hurrying +toward him with a can in his hand. He greeted his brother with a shout. +And it seemed to the boys that they had never heard sweeter music than +the splashing of the gasoline as it went down into the tank. + +"I've had one bit of luck, anyway!" exclaimed Teddy, once more in his +normal high spirits. "I asked if they had seen the auto go through, and +they showed me where it had turned off to the right. We'll get them +yet." + +"That's the way to talk!" responded his brother. "We'll follow the old +advice and be like the postage stamp. We'll stick until we get there." + +They took the road to the right that had been pointed out, and let the +motorcycle out at full speed. They soon made up for lost time, and their +hearts exulted when at last they saw before them the automobile they +were looking for. They slowed down at once, keeping an easy distance in +the rear. + +On they went through several villages, until at last the automobile +stopped at a low roadhouse on the outskirts of the town of Saxby. The +men got out and went into the house. + +Still without any definite plan, the boys brought the motorcycle to a +stop at the same place. + +There was a barroom in front, and a sign announced that soda and soft +drinks were for sale. + +They pulled their caps down over their faces, went in and ordered +sarsaparilla. They took their seats at a small table in the rear and +sipped it slowly, glancing carelessly from time to time at the two men +who were sitting nearby with a whisky bottle between them. + +And as they looked, the suspicion that these were the tramps they had +seen in Sam Perkins' barn became a certainty. There was the tall man +with the scar on his temple showing clearly; and the short, stout man +with him was without doubt his former companion. They were dressed more +decently than before, evidently as the result of their stealings, but +there had been no improvement in their coarse and evil faces. + +They seemed in no hurry, and it was a pretty safe guess that they would +tarry where they were until they had emptied the bottle. + +"You stay here," whispered Fred to Teddy, "and keep your eye on them. +I'll take the bike and skip down to the main part of the town and get a +constable." + +"I'll be back in a minute, Ted," he said aloud, as he sauntered from the +room. + +He climbed into the saddle and in three minutes was in the heart of the +town. A hurried inquiry led him to the office of the constable. He found +him at his ease, swapping stories with three or four of his cronies. + +But the indifference with which he greeted Fred's entrance gave place to +eager interest as Fred told him of the theft at Oldtown and of the +reward that had been offered. + +"Sure, I'll go with you, Son," he said, rising to his feet. "And two or +three of you fellows had better come along," he added to his friends. +"Those fellows may put up a fight when they're tackled." + +A moment more and an automobile carrying four men was speeding to the +roadhouse, while Fred rode alongside. + +He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the other automobile was +still standing in front. The birds had not yet flown. + +Two of the constable's party stayed outside to intercept the men if they +should attempt to escape, while he himself, with another, entered the +room. He went straight up to the pair, who looked at him angrily. + +"I want you," he said, at the same time exhibiting his badge. + +As though moved by the same spring, the men jumped to their feet and +rushed for the door. The constable collared the short one, but the tall +man had nearly reached the door when Fred tripped him, and he went down +with a crash. Before he could rise the rest were on him and in a moment +both men were handcuffed. + +They bundled them into the automobile and took them to the constable's +office. Fred and Teddy accompanied them on the motorcycle, their hearts +beating high with exultation. + +A careful search of their pockets brought to light several pawntickets. +The boys scanned them eagerly. + +"Here it is!" cried Fred, as he noted the date on one of them. "It's for +a watch, and it's dated three days after the robbery at Oldtown. And +here's the number of the watch on it." + +He drew from his vest pocket a slip of paper and compared the number. + +"Sure as guns!" he exclaimed delightedly. "Here's the number, 61,284. +The same one that's on the pawn ticket." + +"Won't Uncle Aaron be tickled to death?" chortled Teddy. "Glory, +hallelujah!" + +"What are these, I wonder," asked the constable as he looked over a +package of papers. + +"Why don't you say we stole those, too?" snarled the tall prisoner. + +"Well, didn't you?" asked the constable sarcastically. + +"No, we didn't," was the sullen reply. "We found them in an open road +near a bridge----" + +"A bridge!" interrupted Teddy, pricking up his ears. "Let's see them." + +They spread out the papers. They were greasy and dirty from long +carrying, but the boys' hearts leaped as they saw on them the name of +Aaron Rushton. + +They looked at each other. Then they shouted. + +"Hang out the flags!" cried Teddy. "Fire the cannon! Ring the bells! +Say, Fred, is this our lucky day, or isn't it?" + +"You bet your life!" gloated Fred. "What is the nearest way to the +telegraph station?" he asked, turning to the constable. + +The officer told him. + +"Can't get the news home quick enough, eh?" he laughed good-naturedly. +"Well, I don't wonder. And when you see your folks, tell 'em I said +they're lucky to have such a pair of kids." + +It was rather an excited, jumbled message that reached the Rushton home +that night, but it made Mr. Rushton's eyes kindle with pride, while his +wife's were wet with happy tears. Old Martha strutted about, glorying in +the vindication of her "lambs," and Uncle Aaron so far forgot himself as +to clap his brother on the shoulder and say: + +"Fine boys, Mansfield, fine boys!" + +Then, as though he had said too much, he added: + +"I knew that Rally Hall would be the making of them." + +After the telegram had been sent, the Rushton boys started back for +Rally Hall. They had had the most strenuous kind of a day, but all their +weariness was forgotten in the glorious ending that had been brought +about. + +"It's a long lane that has no turning," remarked Fred, as they rode +along through the darkness. "Those fellows got away from us twice, but +they couldn't do it again." + +"It was the third time and out for them, all right," jubilated Teddy. +"Say, Fred, can't you see the folks at home when they get that telegram? +Perhaps they're reading it this blessed minute." + +"I guess we've squared ourselves with Uncle Aaron," chuckled his +brother. + +"You mean I've squared myself," corrected Teddy. "He never had very much +against you, except that you always stood up for me when I got into +scrapes." + +"He'll put it all up to Dr. Rally and the splendid discipline of the +school," said Fred. + +"I suppose so," assented Teddy. "But we don't care where the credit +goes, as long as he gets back his watch and papers. + +"By the way, Fred," he continued, as he became conscious of a feeling of +emptiness. "Do you realize that we haven't had any supper?" + +"Haven't thought a thing about it," laughed Fred. "The fact is; I've +been too excited to think of eating. I'll bet that's the first time I +ever forgot anything like that. But now that you speak of it, I +certainly could punish a good supper." + +"It'll be way past supper time when we get to the Hall," mused Teddy. + +"Right you are," was the answer. "But we won't be long in getting to +sleep, after a day like this, and when we wake up it will be time for +breakfast." + +But fate had willed that they should not go to bed hungry, for when at +last they reached their dormitory, they found their mates indulging in a +spread that Slim had furnished to celebrate the downing of Andy Shanks. + +They greeted Fred and Teddy with a frenzy of enthusiasm and pushed them +down in seats before the eatables. A volley of questions was hurled at +them, but Mel assumed command. + +"Not a word," he said, "until we've filled these pilgrims up to the +brim." + +"But think how long that'll take," joked Billy. "I've seen these fellows +eat before." + +"Mel," said Fred, as he pitched in like a hungry wolf, ably seconded by +Teddy, "I always thought you were a good friend of mine, but now I know +it. You've saved my life." + +They ate till they could eat no more. Then, to the eager crowd around +them, the Rushton boys went over all the events of that memorable day. +Their chums listened breathlessly as they told of the exciting pursuit +of the tramps and their rounding up in the road house. And when they had +finished, there was a tumult of applause and congratulation. + +"Great stuff, old scouts!" was the way Melvin summed up the general +feeling. "You've both done yourselves proud this day." + +"Of course I'm glad you got back those things for your uncle," said +Slim, "but the thing that tickles me to death is the way you polished +off Andy Shanks. I haven't enjoyed anything so much since I've been at +Rally Hall. Whatever happens now, I feel that I haven't lived in vain." + +"I guess we all feel the same way," acquiesced Billy. "Andy has had that +coming to him for a long time. Mel trimmed him once, but that was a year +ago, and he's been aching for another licking ever since." + +"Well, he got it all right," declared Lester, "and it was a most +artistic job." + +"What gets me is how he ever had the nerve to come back here, after he'd +been bundled out in disgrace," wondered Tom. + +"Oh, I don't know," grinned Slim. "You know they say every criminal is +drawn back to the scene of his crimes." + +"If he has that feeling again, I don't think he will yield to it," +laughed Lester. "I guess we've seen the last of Andy Shanks." + +It was late when at last they got to bed and the Rushton boys had never +slept more soundly than they did that night. + +And when the boys went home a little later they had the warmest kind of +greeting. Nothing was too good for them. Teddy saw his advantage, and +the youth struck while the iron was hot. + +"You _are_ going to let us go with Bill Garwood to his ranch, +aren't you, Mother?" he asked coaxingly. + +"I guess I'll have to," smiled his mother, while Mr. Rushton nodded +assent. + +"Sure!" broke in Uncle Aaron, "and what's more I'll buy the railroad +tickets." + +And at this the boys almost fainted. + +"Say," asked Teddy, when they were alone, "won't we have a bully time +with Bill on the ranch?" + +"We most certainly will," agreed Fred with emphasis. + +And what glorious times they had in that wild western country, with its +wide sweep of plain and forest, its danger and its mystery, its bucking +bronchos and reckless cowboys will be told in our next volume, to be +entitled: "The Rushton Boys in the Saddle; or, The Ghost of the Plains." + +"And the cowboys," exulted Teddy. "Whoopee!" + +"Riding the mustangs and watching the round-ups," added Fred. + +"And greasers and rustlers and Indians and maybe some shooting," said +Teddy, hopefully. + +"S-sh," warned his brother, "If mother hears any talk of shooting, it's +all off." + +"I don't mean men," explained Teddy, "but bears or panthers or +buffaloes----" + +"Nothing doing with buffaloes," laughed Fred. "They've all been wiped +out long ago." + +"Well, anyway," Teddy wound up, his eyes shining, "we're going to have +the most exciting time of our lives." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUSHTON BOYS AT RALLY HALL*** + + +******* This file should be named 30961.txt or 30961.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/9/6/30961 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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