CHAPTER X
NEW SURROUNDINGS
The boys were so eagerly looking ahead that they scarcely gave abackward glance at Clinton, as the train rolled away. Mr. Blake had hispaper and a whole seat to himself. Bobby and Fred occupied a seat aheadof him, and laughed and chattered as they pleased.
"This is only Friday," said Fred, "and classes don't begin at Rockledgeuntil Monday. We'll have two whole days to get acquainted in. Do yous'pose there will be some of the boys at the Rockledge station to meetus?"
"And a brass band, too, maybe--eh?" chuckled Bobby. "I guess nobody butthe principal of the school knows we're coming, Fred. We'll be newboys, and the bigger fellows will boss us around at first."
"Huh! they can't boss _me_ if I don't want to be bossed," declared thepugnacious Fred.
"Don't you begin to talk that way," advised his chum. "We'll have to bepretty small potatoes at first."
"I don't see why," grumbled Fred.
"You'll find out. My father went to a boarding school when he was aboy, and he told me," Bobby explained.
They did not have to wait until reaching Rockledge to learn somethingabout the temper of the boys with whom they would be associated. AtCambwell several students got aboard and came into their car. They wereall older than Bobby and Fred, and they were very noisy andself-assertive.
They sang, and joked together in the seats up front. Finally they spiedthe two boys from Clinton sitting in the middle of the car.
"Hullo!" exclaimed a tall, thin, yellow-haired boy who seemed to be aleader in the fun. "There's a couple of kids who look as though they'djust left home and mamma. Bet they're going with us."
One of the other boys said something in a low tone, and then he and theyellow-haired one got up and came down the aisle.
"Say!" said the second boy, who was short and stocky and squinted hiseyes up in a funny way when he talked. "Goin' to school, sonnies?"
"Yes, we are," said Fred, sharply.
"Rockledge or Belden?"
"Rockledge, if you please," said Bobby, politely.
"Huh!" said the tall boy, grinning. "I don't know whether it pleases usany to have you go to Rockledge. But it's lucky you're not bound forBelden."
"Why?" asked Fred.
"We'd have to chuck your hats out of the window. We don't allow anyBelden boys to ride in this train with their hats on."
"And do the Belden boys throw the Rockledge boys' hats out of thewindow?" asked Bobby, innocently enough.
"If they're able. But they ain't. You sure you are going toRockledge?"
"You can wait till we get off the train and then find out whether wetell the truth, or not," said Fred, rather crossly.
"Say, young fellow! we don't like fresh fish at Rockledge," warned theyellow-haired boy. "If you're going there, you want to walk Turkey."
Bobby pinched Fred warningly, and both the chums remained silent.
"I never did like the looks of red hair, anyway--did you, Bill?"suggested the squinting chap, grinning.
"No. We'll have to dye it for him," said the yellow-haired boy. "Whatcolor do you prefer instead of red?" he asked Fred Martin.
"Well, I wouldn't like it to be straw-colored," responded Fred,promptly, and with a meaning glance at his interrogator's hair. "Anyother will suit me better."
The yellow-haired boy flushed and his pale eyes sparkled. Fred staredback at him quite boldly, for the ten year old was no coward, whateverelse he might be.
"Fresh fish--just as I told you," muttered the other strange boy,scowling and squinting at the same time. He was a very ugly boy when hedid this. "Both of them."
"Well!" began Bill, and then stopped.
The train had halted at another station the moment before. Somebodyentered the front door of the car, and at once the group of boys goingto Rockledge School set up a shout.
"Hi, Barry!"
"See who's come in with the tide! Hey, Captain!"
"Hullo, Barry Gray!"
"Captain! Captain! How-de-do!"
Even the yellow-haired boy and his comrade turned to look. Bobby andFred saw a handsome, brown haired fellow coming down the aisle. He wasfourteen or older. He carried a light overcoat over his arm and he wasvery well dressed.
He tossed his coat and bag into one of the racks, and began shakinghands. Everybody seemed glad to see him. As he quickly glanced downthe aisle his look seemed to quell Bill and the squinting boy.
"He's going to butt in, of course," growled the first named.
"Sure. Feels his oats--"
The fellow with the squint said no more. The handsome fellow, whosename seemed to be Barry Gray, came down the aisle almost at once.
"Hullo, Bill Bronson," he said, with some sharpness. "Up to your usualtricks?"
"It isn't any business of yours, Barry, what Jack and I do," growled theyellow-haired boy.
"I'll make it my business, then," said Barry Gray, laughing. Then heturned directly to Bobby and Fred.
"You kids going to Rockledge this term?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," said Bobby, quickly.
Barry Gray was not as tall as Bill Bronson, and perhaps not as old, buthe evidently was not afraid of either of the bullies.
"Where are you from?"
"Clinton, sir," pronounced Bobby, again taking the lead.
"What's your name--and your chum's?" asked Barry.
"My name is Bob Blake, and this is Fred Martin," said Bobby.
"Glad to know you," said the older boy, shaking hands with both of them,and even Fred began to forgive him for calling them "kids."
"Ever been to school before?" asked Barry.
"Not to boarding school," Fred said.
"Come on up and I'll introduce you to the other fellows. Don't mindBill Bronson and Jack Jinks, here," added Barry Gray, grinning at thetwo retiring bullies. "If they bother you much, come to me. I'mcaptain of the school this year, and Dr. Raymond expects me to keep allof the fellows straight. Being a captain is like being a monitor. Youunderstand!"
"Oh, yes, sir," said Bobby.
"And you needn't 'sir' me so much," said the kindly captain. "Come on,now--"
Bobby turned to ask permission of his father. Barry at once saw that Mr.Blake was with the chums from Clinton.
"Who's this, Bob? Your father, or Fred's?"
"This is my father," said Bobby, politely.
The frank school captain stepped forward and offered his hand. "Glad tomeet you, Mr. Blake," he said. "You trust the boys with me. I'll seethat they get in right with the other fellows, and that they're not putupon too much."
"I'm sure of it," said Mr. Blake, smiling. "I shall feel better aboutleaving Bobby and Fred at Rockledge, knowing that you will have an eyeon them."
"Oh, you can be easy about them," said Captain Gray who, despite hisnatural conceit, seemed a very nice fellow. "Of course, they'll have totake a few hard knocks, and the boys will 'run' them some. But theysha'n't be hurt."
"Huh!" muttered Fred. "I guess we can take care of ourselves."
Barry looked down at him and grinned. "Yes, I see you own red hair," heobserved, and Mr. Blake laughed outright.
Fred followed his chum and Barry Gray up the aisle with rather a laggingstep. He felt his own importance considerably, and he did not see whyhe should be as respectful as Bobby was to the captain of RockledgeSchool.
In a very few minutes Master Martin felt better. The other boys were alot more friendly than Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks, who the chumslearned later, were two of the most troublesome boys at the school. Notmany of the others liked the bullies.
There were some fellows quite as young as Bobby and Fred, but none ofthem were "greenies," like the chums from Clinton.
"Sure you'll have to be hazed!" explained a fat, genial boy, named PerryWise--called "Pee Wee" because of his initials and his size. "Everyfellow has to, that comes to the school. But Barrymore Gray won't letthem g
o too far. He's a nice fellow, he is."
"I think he is fine," said Bobby, enthusiastically.
"He's pretty fresh, I guess," grumbled Fred.
"We don't call the captain of the school fresh," said Pee Wee. "He hasa right to boss us. The Doctor lets him. Next to the teachers, Barry'sgot more to say about things in the school than anybody else."
This did not please Master Martin much. He wanted to be of someimportance himself, and he had never been used to giving in to otherboys, unless it was to Bobby Blake.
However, there was so much to hear, and so many new people to getacquainted with that Fred had little time to worry about Barry Gray.The chums found the time passing so quickly that they were surprisedwhen the train slowed down and the brakeman shouted, "All out forRockledge!"
There was no crowd of boys and no band. Rockledge was a busy town, withoak-shaded streets, great bowlders thrusting their heads out of thevacant lots, and much blasting going on where new cellars were beingexcavated.
There was an electric car line through the middle of High Street, whichturned off at the shore of the lake (they learned this afterward) andwent as far as Belden.
Bobby and Fred, with Mr. Blake, took a car on this line and crossed therailroad, finally bringing up within sight of the grounds of RockledgeSchool.
It was not a large school, and there were only four buildings, includingthe gate-keeper's cottage where all of the outside servants slept. Ithad once been a fine private estate, and Dr. Raymond had made of it amost attractive and homelike institution.
The doctor and his family, and his chief assistant, lived in a handsomehouse connected with the main building of the school by a long, roofedportico. This last building was of brick and sandstone, and heldclassrooms, dining-rooms, the kitchen department in one end of thebasement, and a fine gymnasium in the other.
In the upper stories were a hall, two large dormitories in each of whichwere beds for twenty boys, and five small dormitories for two boys each.The ten highest scholars occupied these small rooms, and from them waschosen the captain of the school each June.
The junior teachers slept in this big building, too.
There were beautiful lawns, fine shrubs, winding, shaded walks, and alarge campus on which were a baseball diamond, a football field, andcourts for tennis, basket-ball, and other games.
These facts Bobby and Fred gradually absorbed. At first they were tooround-eyed to appreciate much but the fact that the place seemed large,and that there positively was an immense number of boys! Fifty boysseemed to have swelled to a hundred and fifty--and they all stared atthe newcomers.
Mr. Blake went immediately to the doctor's study, taking Bobby and Fredwith him. Dr. Raymond was a tall, big-boned man, wearing very loosegarments and a collar a full size too large. The big doctor had bushyside-whiskers, and his chin and lip were very closely shaved. He hadwhite, big teeth, and he showed them all when he smiled.
His eyes were kindly, and wrinkles appeared around them when he smiled,in a most engaging fashion. When he shook hands with Bobby and Fred,some magnetic feeling passed from the big man to the boys, so that thelatter decided on the instant that they liked Dr. Raymond!
"Manly little fellows--both," said the doctor, to Mr. Blake, as the twogentlemen walked toward the big windows at the end of the room, leavingBobby and Fred marooned, like two castaway sailors, on a desert isle ofrug near the door.
The doctor's study was enormously long, with a high ceiling, and linedwith books, save where a fireplace broke into the bookshelves on oneside. There was a very large flat-topped desk, too, several deep chairs,and a number of smaller tables at which the older boys sometimes didtheir lessons.
"You'll find them just as full of fun and mischief as a couple ofchestnuts are of meat," said Mr. Blake, with a chuckle. "But I don'tthink there is a mean trait in either of them. My boy has had, wethink, rather a good influence over Freddie Martin. The latter's redhair is apt to get him into trouble."
"I understand," said the doctor, nodding and smiling. "I try to leavethe boys much to themselves in the matter of deportment. The biggerboys are supposed to set the standard of morals, and I am glad to saythat I have never yet had occasion to be sorry for beginning that way.
"We run Rockledge School on honor, sir. Every year--in June--we presentto the boy who earns it, a gold medal stating that for the past year hehas shown himself to be worthy of distinction above his fellows in astrictly honorable way.
"This medal is not given for scholarship--yet none but a fairly studiousboy may earn it. It is not given for deportment strictly--though no boywho is not gentlemanly and of manly bearing and action, can win it. Themedal is not given for mere popularity, for a boy may sometimes bepopular with his fellows, without having many of the fundamental virtuesof character which we hope to see in our boys.
"The boy who won it last year, and is gone from us now, stood ninth inhis class only, and was not much of an athlete--which latter tellsmightily among the boys themselves, you know. Yet my teachers andmyself, as well as the school, were practically unanimous in theselection of Tommy Wardwell as the recipient of the Medal of Honor."
The gentlemen talked some few minutes longer. Then Mr. Blake came to bidBobby and Fred good-by. He shook hands gravely with his own son andthen took Fred's hand.
"You've got some trouble, some fun, and a lot of work before you, MasterFred," he said. "I expect your father and mother will be anxiouslywaiting for good reports about you."
Then he looked at Bobby again. That youngster was having greatdifficulty in "holding in." His father was going away--and going to afar country. Thousands of miles would separate them before they wouldmeet again.
"You got anything to say to me, Bobs?" asked 'Mr. Blake, briskly.
"Ye--yes, sir!" gasped Bobby. "I--I got to kiss you before you go, Pa!"and he flung his arms around Mr. Blake's neck and for a minute was ababy again.
He knew that Fred would think such a show of emotion beneath him, and hesaw the doctor looking at him curiously. Just the same, Bobby Blake wasglad--oh, how glad!--many and many a time thereafter that he had badehis father good-by in just this way.
Bobby Blake at Rockledge School; or, Winning the Medal of Honor Page 10