CHAPTER XI A DAY TO REMEMBER
"Great Cicero, is it possible we have shot the cook's pocketbook topieces!" murmured Dick, who had come up in time to hear the conversation.
"Shoot it! Did you shoot at my pocketbook?" demanded Sarah.
"We didn't shoot at it, Sarah," answered Sam. "I stuffed that paper inthe cannon for wadding."
"What, with my pocketbook in it!" screamed the cook. "Oh, dear! Was everthere such boys!"
"I didn't know there was anything in the paper. It looked all crumpledup."
"It was the best paper I could find and I thought it would do," groanedSarah. "Oh, dear, what am I to do? Where is the pocketbook now?"
"Blown to kingdom come, I reckon," murmured the youngest Rover. "Butnever mind, I'll buy you a new one."
"The pocketbook couldn't have been a very large one," said Tom, who hadcome up to learn the cause of the excitement in the kitchen.
"It wasn't--it was quite small. My sister sent it to me from Chicago, fora birthday present."
"What did you have in it?" asked Sam anxiously.
"I had four dollars in it in bills, and ten of those new shiny cents, anda ten-cent piece, and a sample of dress goods, and a slip of paper with anew way on it to make grape jelly, and some pills for the headache, and amotto verse, and--and I don't know what else."
"Well, that's enough," came from Tom. "No wonder the bees kicked athaving all that fired at 'em."
"I'll give you back the money, Sarah, and get you a new pocketbook," saidSam. "I'm awfully sorry it happened."
"Let's look for the pocketbook," suggested Dick, and this was done, theboys taking good care, while on the search, to keep out of the range ofthe bees. All they could find in the orchard were two of the cent piecesand part of the metal clasp of the pocketbook--the rest had disappeared.
"Well, let us be thankful that we didn't blow the cannon apart, or hitsomebody with that charge," said Dick.
Later the cannon was fired off with more care. It certainly made a loudnoise, and a farmer, driving past, said he had heard it away down at OakRun.
"A feller down there told me he guessed the quarry men were blastin'," hesaid. "But I said 'twas a cannon. She kin go some, can't she!" And heshook his head grimly as he drove on.
The boys and girls spent the morning in firing off the cannon and inshooting off some firecrackers. Mrs. Rover served an elaborate dinner,and had the dining room trimmed in red, white and blue flowers in honorof the national birthday.
"Do you remember how we spent last Fourth," said Tom, when the meal wasabout over.
"Indeed I do!" cried Nellie. "Don't you remember that big imitationcannon cracker you set off on the dining room table of the yacht and howit covered all of us with confetti."
"Yes, and how Hans Mueller slid under the table in fright!" added Dick;and then all laughed heartily over an affair that I have alreadydescribed in detail in "The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle."
"Dear old Hans!" murmured Tom. "I'd like first rate to see him thissummer."
"Let us ask him to the farm for a week," suggested Sam.
"All right, we will, along with Fred Garrison," answered Dick.
During the afternoon the boys and girls played croquet and took a shortride in the touring car, and had ice-cream and cake served to them underthe trees by Aleck Pop, who wore his waiter outfit for the occasion. Thenthey sat around until it was dark, and after supper the boys broughtforth the fireworks.
"Now, be careful," warned both their father and their uncle.
"We will be!" they cried, and set off the pieces from a field where theycould not possibly do harm. The girls and the ladies, as well as the men,watched proceedings with interest.
"Oh, how grand!" cried Dora, as the rockets curved gracefully through theair.
"Beautiful!" murmured Grace.
"I could look at fireworks all night!" declared Nellie.
The fireworks came to an end with a set piece called Uncle Sam. It fizzedand flared brightly, showing the well-known face of the old man and thebig hat. Then Tom commenced to pull a wire and Uncle Sam took his hat offand put it on.
"Oh, how cute!" cried Grace.
"Last act!" cried Tom, and set fire to a slow match that was near.Presently some flower pots commenced to send up a golden shower, andthen, from a wire between two trees there blazed forth the words "GoodNight."
"Well, that was very nice indeed!" was Mrs. Stanhope's comment.
"As nice an exhibition of fireworks as I ever saw," declared Mrs. Laning.
"Just what I say!" cried Mrs. Rover. "The boys certainly know how to getup a show!"
After the fireworks came darkness, but neither the boys nor the girlsseemed to mind this. They paired off, and took walks around the house anddown the roadway. Perhaps a good many silly things were said, but, if so,there was no harm in them. The only ones who were really serious wereDick and Dora, and seeing this Tom nudged Nellie in the side.
"Looks like they were getting down to business, doesn't it?" he observed,dryly.
"Oh, Tom, hush, they might hear you!" she whispered.
"You'll have Dick for a cousin-in-law some day."
"Well, I shan't mind."
"How about having him for a brother-in-law, Nellie?"
At this suggestion Nellie's face grew crimson.
"Tom Rover, you're the limit!"
"Well, how about it?" he persisted.
"You mean if Sam should marry Grace?" she asked archly.
"Not much--although that may happen too. I mean if you should condescendto marry such a harum-scarum chap like me."
"Oh, Tom!" And now Nellie hid her face.
"Maybe you don't like me, Nellie."
"Why, Tom!"
"You know how much I like you. It's been that way ever since we met onthe Cedarville steamer. I know I'm pretty young to talk this way,but----"
"You'll get older, eh?"
"Yes, and I don't want any other fellow to come around--when I'm away."
"How about some other girl coming around when I'm away?"
"There can't be any other girl, Nellie."
"Are you sure?" And now Nellie looked quite in earnest.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Well then--" her voice sank very low. "There can't be any other fellow!There!"
"Nellie!" he cried. Then he would have caught her in his arms, but sheheld him back.
"Wait, Tom. I understand, and I am very, very glad," she said, earnestly."But mamma--she is a little bit old-fashioned, you know. She made both ofus--Grace and I--promise not to--to become engaged until we were twentyor twenty-one."
"Oh!"
"So we'll have to wait a little longer."
"I see. But we understand each other, don't we, Nellie?"
"Yes, I'm sure we do."
"And when you are old enough----"
"We'll talk it over again," she answered, and took his arm as if to walkback to the others.
"All right," he said. Then of a sudden he turned and faced her. "And isthat all?" he pleaded.
"Oh, Tom, it ought to be!" she murmured.
"But, Nellie!" he pleaded, and drew her a little closer. Then for just aninstant her head went down on his shoulder and she allowed him to kissher. Then they joined the others, both feeling as if they were walking onair.
An hour later found everybody either in the house or on the veranda. Dorasat down to the piano and the other young folks gathered around to singone favorite song after another, while the old folks listened. They sangsome of the Putnam Hall songs, and tried several that were popular atBrill and at Hope.
"I like that even better than the fireworks," murmured Mrs. Stanhope, toAnderson Rover.
"Well, I think I do, myself, Mrs. Stanhope," he answered. And then hedrew his rocking-chair a little closer to where the widow was sitting."It seems to me that Dick and Dora match it off pretty well," hecontinued, in a lower tone.
"Yes, Mr. Rover. And Dick is
a fine young man--your sons are all fineyoung men. I shall never forget what they have done for me and for Dora."
"Well, they are bright lads, if I do say it myself," answered the father,proudly. "And let me say, too, that I think Dora is a very dear girl. Ishall be proud to take her for a daughter."
"No prouder than I shall be to take Dick for a son, Mr. Rover."
"I am glad to hear you say that--glad that the idea is agreeable allaround," returned Anderson Rover.
"I shouldn't be surprised if, some day, Nellie and Grace married yourother sons."
"Possibly. But they are rather young yet to think of that. Dick is older,even though they go to college together. You see, he got behind a littleat Putnam Hall because, when I was sick, he had to attend to a lot ofbusiness for me. But he is going ahead fast now. He came out at the headof his class."
"So Dora told me. Oh, he will make his mark in the world, I am sure ofit."
"If he does not, it will be his own fault. I shall give him as much of aneducation as he desires, and when he wishes to go into business, or aprofession, I shall furnish him with all the money he may need. I amgoing to do that for all of the boys--that is, unless the bottom shoulddrop out of everything and I should become poor."
"Oh, Mr. Rover, I trust you do not anticipate anything of that sort!"
"No, at present my investments are safe. But one cannot tell what mayhappen. Hard times come, banks break, railroads default on their bonds,and a man is knocked out before he knows it. But I don't look for thosethings to happen."
"Mr. Rover, before I leave I wish to ask your advice about that fortunewe brought home from Treasure Isle."
"What about it?"
"Do you think I ought to invest the money, or keep it intact and wait tosee what that Tad Sobber does?"
"I should invest it, if I were you. I really can't see how Sobber has anyclaim."
"Would you be willing to invest it for me? A large part of it reallybelongs to Dora, you know. I am not much of a business woman, and I wouldbe glad if you would help me in the matter."
"Certainly I will help you to invest, if you wish it," answered AndersonRover.
"Can I send the money to you?"
"Yes, But wait till I send you word. I want to look over the variousofferings in securities first."
At that moment came a call from the parlor. The young folks wanted theold folks to come in and join in the singing, and they complied. As theyleft the piazza a form that had been hiding behind some bushes nearbyslunk away. The form was that of Tad Sobber.
"Thought I'd hear something if I came here," muttered that individual tohimself. "Going to turn the fortune over to old Rover to invest, eh? Notmuch! not if I can get my hands on it!"
And then Tad Sobber disappeared down the road in the darkness.
The Rover Boys Down East; or, The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune Page 13