Bobby Blake at Rockledge School; or, Winning the Medal of Honor

by Frank A. Warner

  CHAPTER XV

  GETTING INTO STEP

  The routine of the school did not really begin, as Dr. Raymond had said,until Monday morning. Yet by that time Bobby Blake and Fred Martin feltas though they were really old members of the Rockledge Fifty.

  They had learned many of the stock stories of school--legends of greatfights with the boys of Belden School, or of mighty games at football orbaseball or some other sport, in which victory had perched upon thebanners of Rockledge.

  The loyalty of boarding school boys is second only to family feeling orpatriotic love for one's country. Bobby and Fred and the other boys ofDormitory Two were just at that age when the mind and heart are bothmost impressionable.

  The new boys learned the school yell, or cheer, which they had firstheard given in eulogy of Dr. Raymond. They thought it the finest yellthey had ever heard.

  They were told about the Sword and Star, too. It was indeed an honor towear the little blue and white button. One had to be at least one yearat Rockledge, to stand at a certain mark in recitations, and to have apretty clean record in deportment, to gain entrance into the Order ofthe Sword and Star.

  It was true that such chaps as Pee Wee, and the Mouser, as well asShiner and Howell Purdy, were rather skeptical about the value ofmembership in the school secret society. Dr. Raymond was a member andthat "looked bad" to those boys who were out for fun. And "f-u-n"spelled--in their minds--"mischief," and vice versa!

  Those first few weeks of the new school year, however, passed withoutany very wild outbreak upon the part of either the merely mischievous,like Pee Wee and his mates, or by the really disturbing element (whichwas small) headed by Billy Bronson and Jack Jinks.

  Those two worthies had, after a time, joined forces again; but they werenot as good friends and co-workers as they had been before the pogueyfight.

  Bobby and Fred really gave most of their attention to studies. Theschool at Clinton had been graded so differently from this preparatoryinstitution, that the chums had to work hard to pick up in some studies,while they were well advanced beyond their mates in others.

  Fred was inspired by Bobby's example to win good marks for himself.Even the stern master, Mr. Leith, who looked over the work of thesmaller boys fortnightly, commented favorably upon what the chums hadaccomplished.

  In play hours the Lower School kept together for the most part. Herewas where Fred Martin's plans were proven smart. The baseball outfitthat he and Bobby had purchased with their peep-show money was welcomedwith great approval by the boys of Number Two Dormitory.

  Bobby and Fred won their places on the Second Nine at once. They playedthe First Dormitory Nine on Saturday of the first week of school, andwon. Bobby's "fade-away," as Fred had prophesied, puzzled the othernine's battery splendidly.

  The next Saturday the victorious nine played against a team of town boysand again won. Captain Gray then began to take notice of the victoriousnine. He coached them a little and then they challenged a ninebelonging to the Belden School across the lake.

  It was after the first of October when this match occurred, and theRockledge boys went across in their own boats. Although visiting ahostile camp, the boys of Rockledge were very nicely received by theolder Belden boys. Naturally, the home team had the crowd with them,but Bobby held the enemy down to ten hits and only six runs, and theRockledge nine won by two runs.

  Although their hosts remained polite to the visitors, Bobby and Fred sawvery plainly that the rivalry between the two schools was deep-seated.They heard Captain Gray and Max Bender talking to some of the bigfellows of Belden, and both sides were boasting of what the rivalfootball teams would do to each other on Thanksgiving Day.

  On that day the Belden crowd would come over to Rockledge, and from thistime on, there was little more baseball played by the Rockledge boys.They were deeply interested in football.

  In this game Bobby and Fred did not shine so brightly, but they wentinto hard training with the second junior team and under Captain Gray,who coached the smaller boys as well as the first team, learned a wholelot about football.

  Meanwhile, not a word had come to Bobby from his parents after they hadsailed from New York. He heard from Clinton every week, for MichaelMulcahey painfully indited a scrawly letter to him, enclosing sometimesa note from Meena. Michael, having crossed from Ireland in a sailingship years before, was considered by Bobby a marvel of sea-lore. Onetime he wrote:

  "DERE BOBBY:--

  "It ain't nawthin alarmin that we don't here yet from Mistur Blake anhis good lady an so I tell Meena whos got the face ache most of the timenow and is just as good compny as a mad cat. She's rayfused to marry meagin, an I do be thinkin thats struck in an worries her face a lot.Howsomever 'tis about your feyther and mother Id write to cheer you up abit. I well remember the long passage we made from the Ould Sod when Ikem to this counthry. Twas head winds we had, an its like head windsthat has held the big ship back thats takin Mistur Blake an his goodlady to these Brazils. An tis a mortal far ways they do be goin.Mistur Martin says the offices in New York hav had no wareless telegrafdespatches (what iver they be) from the ship since she was off HattieRoss--an whoever she is I dunnaw. But if she's like most females, she'scranky, an that accounts for the delay.

  "Be good an ye'll be happy, aven if ye don't have so much fun, from yourfriend and well wisher, rayspectfully,

  "MICHAEL MULCAHEY."

  This letter--and similar epistles--cheered Bobby some, and Mr. Martinwrote him a jolly little note, enclosed in a longer letter to Fred. ButBobby could not help feeling worried about the silence of his parents,especially at night.

  When he knelt to say his prayers (and most of the other boys inDormitory Two did likewise), he remembered what his mother had saidabout her praying for him at the same time every evening, and sometimeshe had to squeeze his eyes shut tight to keep back the tears.

  That the time on board the great steamship going south to the Tropics,and the time in New England was vastly different, did not enter Bobby'smind. It just seemed to him as though his mother was very near himindeed as he knelt before his chair.

  For a sturdy, busy boy, however, there was not much time for worriment.Every day there was something new; one could not be lonesome atRockledge.

  The boys went from their beds to breakfast, from their meals to work inthe schoolroom, from their lessons to play--a continual round ofactivities.

  The athletic instruction interested the chums from Clinton immensely,and until the real cool weather set in, the boys of the school enjoyedswimming in the lake every day.

  Dr. Raymond hoped that, before long, he would be able to build agymnasium with a swimming pool in a special building by itself. Thiswas something to look forward to, however.

  All aquatic sports did not stop when the frost came. There were plentyof boats belonging to the school--from light, flat-bottomed skiffs whichthe little fellows could not possibly tip over, to a fine eight-oaredshell manned by the bigger boys. In this they raced the Belden Schoolevery June before Commencement.

  Wednesday and Saturday afternoons were holidays, but without specialpermission the boys of the Lower School could not go out of bounds. OnSaturdays the bigger boys went to town if they so desired, or took longtramps through the woods, or rowed to the upper end of the lake.

  If the smaller fellows wanted to go out of bounds, usually a teacherwent with them. There was a picnic of the Lower School on one of theislands in the lake, however, that Bobby and Fred were not likely toforget for a long time.

  Pee Wee and Mouser got it up. They first got permission to take a colddinner on Saturday and row to the island. There was a farmer whose landjoined the school property on the east. From him they obtained severaldozen ears of late greencorn--nubbins, but sweet as sugar--and some newpotatoes.

  They were excused from lessons that day at eleven--all but Pee Weehimself. He had been lazy, as usual, and was behind in his work. Itlooked, for
a time, as though the picnic had to be delayed.

  But urged on by the others, Bobby faced Mr. Carrin, who had Pee Wee'sclass in history, and begged the fat boy off.

  "_Do_ let him do the extra work to-night, sir, after supper," beggedBobby. "We were going to have such a nice time, and Pee--I meanPerry--got the picnic up, and--"

  "It is a pity that Perry cannot spend a little of his mind and effort onhis lessons," said Mr. Carrin, with a smile.

  "Yes, sir. I know, sir," said Bobby, eagerly, "but he doesn't seem tobe able to think of two things at once."

  "I guess that is right," chuckled Mr. Carrin, who was a much morepleasant gentleman than Mr. Leith. "Tell him he may go, but I shallexpect a perfect recitation on Monday morning, first thing."

  "Huh!" growled Pee Wee, who had overheard some of this. "I'm gladenough to get off, Bobby Blake. But you needn't have told him I wasweak-minded."

  Bobby grinned at him. "What do you care if you _are_ a little bitcrazy? And I didn't tell him anything new. He was on to it."

  The crowd rowed off in three boats. There were seventeen of them. Theywent to the upper island, which was the biggest, in an hour and a half,and as soon as they landed they set to work to build a fire and make thepicnic dinner.

  Of course, they were too hungry to wait until the potatoes were baked,but as soon as the light wood had burned down to ashes and coals, theythrust the potatoes under the bed of the fire to bake slowly.

  Meanwhile they ate the sandwiches and cake they had brought from school,and each boy cut a stick, on the end of which he stuck an ear of corn.These ears they roasted in the flames.

  Of course, they were scorched a little, but they had butter and pepperand salt with which to dress the corn and it _did_ taste mighty nice!

  "And there's pretty near a bushel of the potatoes," said Fred, happily."After the fire dies down again, we can rake them out and eat them.There's a big dab of butter left and plenty of salt and pepper.Crickey! I could eat a peck of them myself."

  "We ought to have brought more potatoes and corn along," suggested PeeWee, licking his fingers, "and hidden the stuff here somewhere. Then wecould come another day and have a bake like this."

  "Say! the corn wouldn't be much good," Bobby said.

  "Scubbity-_yow_!" yelled Fred, suddenly. "I have it."

  "Gee! you must have it bad," responded Mouser. "What kind of abattlecry _is_ that?"

  "Say!" went on Fred, without paying the least attention to Mouser'squestion, "I've got the dandy idea."

  "Let's have it?" proposed Bobby.

  "Let's build a shack, or a cabin, or something, up there in the thicktrees. Nobody would ever see it from the lake. Then we can bringthings over to furnish it--on the sly, you know--"

  "Why on the sly?" demanded his chum.

  "Aw--well--if the other fellows knew it, they'd come and bust it up,wouldn't they?"

  "Not our fellows," declared Shiner.

  "But you bet the kids from Belden would," urged Pee Wee.

  "We could keep still about it, I s'pose," admitted Bobby.

  "Well, then!" returned Fred. "Now, we'd fit it up, and store stuff init for winter--nuts, and popcorn, and 'taters, and turnips--"

  "You can't bake turnips," objected Howell Purdy.

  "Well! they're good raw, aren't they?" demanded the eager Fred.

  "It's a great old scheme," declared Jimmy Ailshine, otherwise "Shiner.""Let's get at it at once. Skeets Brody has his ax. Come on!"

  And the excited boys trooped away from the beach and left the potatoesunder the coals of the campfire to finish cooking.