CHAPTER XXII
FUN AT THE HOTEL
It was no easy matter for Tom to get into the room Josiah Crabtreewas occupying, but after trying a good number of keys, fished uphere, there, and everywhere, one was at last found that fitted thelock.
Striking a match, Tom entered the room quickly, drew back thesheet of the bed, dumped in the crabs, and then pulled the sheetup to its original place.
"He's coming!" whispered Sam, who stood guard at the door. "Hide,Tom," and then he ran back to the big room adjoining.
Finding he could not escape, Tom threw the box under the bed andrushed to a closet in the corner. Here he crouched down behind alarge trunk left in the place on storage. He had scarcelysecreted himself when Josiah Crabtree came in. He had shoved hiskey in the lock, but had failed to notice that the lock-bolt wasalready turned back.
"Oh, what a cold night," muttered the ex-school teacher as he litthe gas. "A warm bed will feel fine."
"I reckon it will be warm enough," thought Tom.
As the room was scantily heated, Crabtree lost no time indisrobing. Having donned a long night robe, he turned off thegas, flung the sheets back, and leaped into bed.
Exactly ten seconds of silence followed. Then came a yellcalculated to raise the dead.
"Whow! What's this? Oh! What's got me by the legs? Oh, oh! oh!I'm being eaten up alive! Let go there! Oh, dear!"
And with additional yells, Josiah Crabtree leaped straight out ofbed, one crab hanging to his left knee, several on his feet, andone, which he had caught hold of clinging to the back of his hand.At once he began to do an Indian war-dance around the apartment,knocking the furniture right and left.
"Let go there! What on earth can they be? Oh, my toe is half off--Iknow it is! Let go!" And then he struggled toward the gas jet, butbefore he could light it Tom had slipped out of the apartment, closingthe door behind him. The banging of furniture continued, and then camea crash, as the washstand went over, carrying with it a bowl, a soaptray, and a large, pitcher filled with water. The icy water gushedover Crabtree's feet, making him shiver with the cold, but the crabswere undaunted and only clung the closer.
The noise soon aroused the entire hotel, and the clerk, severalbell-boys, and finally the proprietor, rushed to the scene. Thedoor was flung wide open.
"Have you been drinking, sir? How dare you disturb the hotel inthis fashion?" demanded the proprietor.
"The crabs! Take them off!" yelled Crabtree, continuing to dancearound.
"Crabs? What made you bring crabs up here?"
"I--I--oh, my toes! Take them off!" shrieked Josiah Crabtree,and kicked out right and left. One of the crabs was flung off, toland in the hotel proprietor's face and to catch the man by thenose.
"My nose! He will bite it off!" cried the hotel man. "Kill thething, Gillett--smash it with a-a-anything!"
And Gillett, the clerk, tried to do so, while the hotel man andCrabtree continued to dance around in the wildest kind of fury.Safe in their own room, the boys laughed until they cried. Allhad gone to bed, and Tom lost no time in getting under the covers.
"Somebody has played a trick," began Crabtree when an extra nip onhis knee cut him short. "Oh, my, I shall die!" he moaned. "Iknow I shall die!"
By this time the proprietor of the hotel had freed himself fromthe crab that had nipped him on the nose. "You won't die, butyou'll get out of this hotel," he snarled. "Throw the crabs outof the window," he continued to his employees, and after a gooddeal of trouble one crab after another was hurled forth, thewindow being kept open in the meantime and the icy draught causingCrabtree to shiver as with the ague. As there seemed no help forit the ex-teacher began to dress again with all possible speed.
"If I find out who did this I'll--I'll kill him," moaned JosiahCrabtree. "I've been nipped is a hundred places!"
"You'll leave this hotel!" said the proprietor. "I've had enoughof you. First the room didn't suit, then the price was too high,and at dinner and supper you found all manner of fault with themenu. You'll go, and the quicker, the better."
"But look here--" began Crabtree.
"I won't argue with you. Either get out or I'll have you arrestedas a disorderly character."
"Yes, but--"
"Not a word. Will you go quietly, or shall I have you put out?"
"I'll--I'll go!" gasped Josiah Crabtree, and five minutes laterhe was on the cold street, satchel in hand, and saying all mannerof unpleasant things under his breath.
"Oh, Tom!" laughed Sam, and could go no further. Each of the boyshad felt like exploding a dozen times. It was not until an hourafter that any of them managed to get to sleep.
When they came down in the morning the hotel clerk winked at them."I'm not saying a word," he whispered. "But it served the oldcrank right. Even the boss is doing a little smiling, although hegot quite a nip himself."
"Really, I don't know what you are talking about," answered Tom.Then he shut up one eye, stuck his tongue into his cheek, andstrolled into the dining room.
"He's an out-and-out boy, he is," murmured the clerk, gazing afterhim.
Breakfast was finished, and the cadets were strolling around thehotel awaiting further instructions from Captain Putnam, when aman drove up to the door in a big livery-stable sleigh.
"I am after some boys bound for Putnam Hall," he said. "CaptainPutnam telegraphed to the boss to bring 'em up to the Hall inthis sleigh."
"Hurrah!" shouted Sam. "Such a long ride will just suit me!"
"If it doesn't prove too cold," was Dick's comment.
There was but one seat in the turnout, the back being filled withstraw and robes. "Take your lunch with you," said the driver."For it's a long trip we have before us, and I reckon a part ofthe road ain't none too good."
The clerk of the hotel was consulted, and soon a big lunch-box waspacked, containing sandwiches, cake, and a stone jug of hotcoffee. This was stowed away in the straw, and the lads piled in,laughing merrily over the prospect before them.
"Off we go!" shouted Larry, and with a crack of the whip thesleigh started. It was drawn by a heavy pair of horses, wholooked well able to get through any snowdrift that might presentitself.
Ithaca was soon left behind, and they sped swiftly along a roadrunning northward, a half mile more from the west shore of thelake. The road was level, and somewhat worn by travel, and forthe first three miles good time was made.
"If we can continue this gait we'll reach Putnam Hall by three orfour o'clock this afternoon, allowing an hour's rest at noon,"said the driver in reply to a question put by Frank. "But we havestill a number of small hills to climb, and it's not going to stayas clear as it was early this morning."
The latter remark was caused by the sun disappearing under heavyclouds. Soon it began to snow, at first lightly, and then heavierand heavier.
"We're going to catch it!" said Tom, after the noon stop had beentaken at a wayside hotel, where they had taken dinner, keeping theboxed lunch for later on. "The snow is four inches deeper than itwas."
On they went again, the snow becoming so thick at last that theycould scarcely see a yard before them. It was very cold, and thecadets were glad enough to huddle in the straw, with the robesover them, leaving the driver to pick his way as best he could.
An hour had gone by, and they were wondering if they were anywherenear Cedarville, when a wild shout rang out, and the next instantcame a crash, as their sleigh collided with another coming fromthe opposite direction. A runner of each turnout was smashed, andthe occupants of the other sleigh came tumbling in upon the ladsin great confusion.
"Great Caesar! what's this?" groaned Tom as he shifted a weightfrom his shoulders, and then he stared in amazement as he foundhimself confronted by Nellie Laning!
"Tom Rover!" burst from the girl's lips soon as she could recoverher breath. "Did you ever!"
"Well, hardly!" murmured Tom, as he helped her to, a sittingposition. "You're coming in on us fast. What's the trouble? Oh
,and there is Grace and your father!"
"The sleighs ran into each other," answered Nellie. "Can you stopthe horses, father?" she called out.
"Yes, but the sleigh is a goner," answered Mr. Laning, and thensome sharp words passed between himself and the livery-stabledriver. There was no doubt, however, but that the blinding stormwas largely responsible for the accident.
An examination proved that both sleighs would have to be abandoned,and then the two parties sought shelter at a near-by farmhouse, whileMr. Laning went off on one horse, and the livery-stable driver onanother, each to borrow a sleigh elsewhere.
This left the boys in the company of the girls for over an hour,and during that time Dick, Tom and Sam asked a great manyquestions, especially about Mrs. Stanhope and Dora.
"Yes, the marriage is to come off next week, Thursday, unlesssomething prevents it," said Nellie. "Dora is fairly sick overthe prospect. What Aunt Lucy can see in Mr. Crabtree is more thanany of us can understand."
"He must have hypnotized her," observed, Dick. "It's a shame! Iwish old Crabtree was in Jericho!"
"So do all of us!" laughed Grace, and then Sam took her off for aquiet chat, while Tom, monopolized Nellie.
"Those Rover boys think a great deal of the Lanings andStanhopes," observed Larry to Fred. "Well, it's all right--theyare awfully nice girls, every one of 'em!"
The Rover Boys at School; Or, The Cadets of Putnam Hall Page 22