“I see his tail!” cried Fred with a shiver.
“He is moving around as if getting ready to come out.”
“I wonder if I can grab him by the tail?” mused Sam.
“Grab him? Oh Sam!”
“I’ve heard you can catch them by the tail, snap them, and make their heads fly right off.”
“Gracious, I wouldn’t attempt it!”
While Fred was speaking the tail of the snake came up on the side of the rock. Setting his teeth, Sam bent down and made a reach for the slippery thing, and caught it tight.
With a hiss the snake raised its head, its diamond-like eyes shining like twin stars.
“You’ll be poisoned!” shrieked Fred, when whack! Sam gave the body of the reptile a swing and brought the head down with great force on the edge of the rock.
One blow was enough, for the head was mashed flat. Then Sam threw the body into the bushes, there to quiver and twist for several hours to come, although life was extinct.
Fred was as white as a sheet as he leaped to the ground. “I couldn’t have done that for a million dollars!” he declared. “What a splendid nerve you have, Sam.”
“My father told me how to catch a snake in that way,” exclaimed Sam. “But hurry, or the hounds will overtake us. I can hear them coming.”
“Your father must have been equally brave, then,” answered Fred, as they started off on, a run. “By the way, have you heard anything of him yet?”
“Not a word, Fred.”
“Don’t it make you feel bad at times?”
“Does it, Fred! Why, some nights I can’t go to sleep for thinking of where he may be—dead in the heart of Africa, or perhaps a captive of some savage tribe.”
“Have they ever hunted for him?”
“Several have gone out, but no traces are to be had. Dick, Tom, and I are in to hunt for him, though, as soon as our Uncle Randolph will permit it.”
“That’s an idea. But you may have to go right into the jungles for him.”
“I don’t care if we have to go to the top of the North Pole, if only we find him,” answered Sam with quiet determination.
Inside of half an hour the bottom of the mountain was gained, and then they struck out along a road which presently took them within sight of the Stanhope homestead.
“I wonder if we have time to call on Dora?” mused Fred. “It would be a scheme to leave our paper trail right through their garden.”
“Glorious!” burst from Sam, caught by the idea. “I am certain Dora Stanhope will appreciate the sport.”
It did not take them long to reach the garden around the farmhouse; and, running up the path, they ascended a side porch.
As they did so two forms appeared around the house. One was Mrs. Stanhope, wearing a shawl over her shoulders and a bonnet on her head, and the second was Josiah Crabtree!
“Old Crabtree!” murmured Sam, and then of a sudden he pulled Fred out of sight behind some lattice-work inclosing one end of the porch.
“We must hurry, my dear, or we may be too late,” Josiah Crabtree was saying; and now the boys noted that he was conducting the lady toward a carriage standing by the horse block.
“I—I—had we not better wait until next week, Josiah?” questioned Mrs. Stanhope timidly. She was a pale, delicate woman of forty, of a shrinking nature, easily led by others.
“No, my dear, there is no use in waiting.”
“But Dora—?”
“You must not mind what your daughter says, my dear. When we are married she will easily become reconciled to the change, mark my words.”
“Gracious, old Crabtree is going to marry her!” whispered Sam. “Poor Dora!”
“She wants me to wait,” continued the lady.
“And you ought to wait, mother,” came in Dora’s voice; and now she too came into sight, but without a hat or wraps.
“Mr. Crabtree wishes very much to have the ceremony performed this afternoon, Dora dear.”
“If he wants to marry you, why can’t he do it openly—at home or in our church?”
“He is averse to any display.”
“It seems to me it is a very sneaking way to do,” answered Dora coldly. “When you and papa were married the wedding was well attended, so I have been told.”
“Your father and myself are different persons, Miss Dora,” interrupted Josiah Crabtree stiffly. “I prefer a quiet wedding, and no time is better than the present. I shall at once resign my position at Putnam Hall and come to live here.”
Dora Stanhope’s lip curled in scorn. She saw through Josiah Crabtree’s motives, even though her mother did not.
“If you wish to marry my mother, why do you not make preparations to support her?” she said.
“Dora!” cried Mrs. Stanhope pleadingly.
“I mean what I say, mother. He intends to marry you and then make you support him, out of the proceeds of this farm.”
“You are entirely mistaken,” interrupted Josiah Crabtree. “Perhaps you do not know that I am worth, in bank stocks and in bonds, between twenty and thirty thousand dollars.”
“I would like to see the stocks and bonds,” said the girl.
“So would I,” whispered Fred to Sam. “I’ll wager he isn’t worth a thousand dollars all told although they say he is a good deal of a miser.”
“Dora, do not insult Mr. Crabtree. If you wish to come along and see the ceremony performed, put on your things….”
“I do not wish to go.”
“Very well, then; you had best return to the house.”
“It is a shame!” cried the girl, and burst into tears.
“We will be back by seven o’clock,” said Josiah Crabtree, and led the widow down the garden path to where the carriage was standing.
“I wish I could stop this wedding,” whispered Sam to his chum.
“I am with you on that,” returned Fred.
“Creation, here come the hounds! Just the thing!”
He looked at Sam, and his chum, instantly understood. Leaving the porch at a bound, they ran across the garden.
“Hurrah! we have you!” yelled Larry Colby, as he rushed up, followed by Tom, Dick, and a dozen of the other big cadets.
“Quick, this way!” cried Sam. “Do you see that carriage?”
“Of course we do,” answered Tom.
“It contains Mrs. Stanhope and old Crabtree. They are going to drive off and get married against Dora Stanhope’s wishes.”
“Phew!” came in a low whistle from the eldest of the Rover Boys.
“We ought to stop this affair,” went on Fred.
“Old Crabby is going to get married!” came in a shout. “Come on, let us go along!”
And pell-mell went the boys after the carriage, which had just turned from the horse-block with the teacher and Mrs. Stanhope inside, and a farmhand named Borgy on the front seat.
CHAPTER XIV
JOSIAH CRABTREE IN DIFFICULTY
Dora Stanhope had witnessed the approach of the boys, and now she came out into the garden again and confronted them. She blushed prettily upon seeing Dick and several others with whom she was acquainted.
“I understand that Mr. Crabtree is about to be married,” said Dick in a low tone.
“Yes, he insists on marrying my mother this afternoon. He has been at her about this for several months,” answered Dora between her sobs.
“Evidently you oppose the marriage.”
“I—I hate Mr. Crabtree!” came almost fiercely. “He is—is nothing like my poor dead papa was.”
“I believe you, Dora,” answered Dick. “I don’t see what your mother can find in him to like. We hate him at the academy.”
“I know it—and I imagine Captain Putnam is preparing to get rid of him, for I heard he was corresponding with a teacher in B
uffalo—one who has been head master in a military academy out in that vicinity.”
“Indeed! I hope we do get clear of him—and I wish you could get clear of him too.”
“It doesn’t seem as if I could,” sighed Dora. “He has wound my mother right around his finger, so to speak. But what are those other boys going to do?” And she pointed to the balance of the cadets, who were following closely upon the wheels of the carriage, which had turned into the highway leading to Cedarville.
“I’ll go after them and see,” said Dick, and turned to leave. Then he came to a halt and turned back. “Dora, I am awfully sorry for you,” he whispered. “If I can ever do anything for you, don’t hesitate to call on me.”
“I’ll remember that, Dick,” she replied gratefully, but never dreamed of how much she would one day require his aid.
When Dick joined the crowd he found it on all sides of the carriage, shouting and hurrahing wildly. At first Josiah Crabtree pretended to pay no attention, but presently he spoke to the driver, and the turnout came to a halt.
“Students, what does this unseemly conduct mean?” he demanded harshly.
“Why, Mr. Crabtree, is that you!” exclaimed Frank Harrington in pretended surprise.
“Yes, Harrington. I say, what does it mean?”
“We are out playing hare and hounds, sir.”
“But you are following this carriage.”
“Oh, no, sir, we are following the paper scent, sir,” answered Larry Colby, and pointed to the pieces of paper, which Fred Harrison was slyly dropping just in front of the horses.
“Then our carriage is on the trail,” sighed Josiah Crabtree. “It is very annoying.”
“Oh, it doesn’t bother us much, sir,” answered Frank coolly.
“Bother you! It is myself and Mrs. Stanhope to whom I referred. Make the hares take another course.”
“Can’t do that, sir, until we catch them.”
“But why must you keep so close to this carriage?”
“I don’t know, sir. Perhaps it is the carriage which is keeping close to us.”
Josiah Crabtree looked more angry than ever. He spoke to the driver, with a view to increasing the speed of the team, but Borgy had entered into the spirit of the fun at hand, and he was, moreover, a great friend of Dora, and he shook his head. “Couldn’t do it sir,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to run the risk of winding them.”
“Do you mean to say they cannot outrun these boys?” demanded the head assistant at Putnam Hall.
“Hardly, sir—the lads is uncommonly good runners,” answered Borgy meekly.
“I will show you how to manage them!” ejaculated Josiah Crabtree, and stepped over to the front seat.
“Oh, Josiah, be careful!” pleaded Mrs. Stanhope.
“I know how to drive horses, so don’t worry,” answered Crabtree, and took up both reins and whip. Before Borgy could stop him he had given one of the horses a smart cut on the flank.
The steed was a spirited one and not used to the whip, and scarcely had the lash landed than he gave a wild leap into the air, came down, and broke into a mad run, dragging his mate with him. A second later the carriage struck a stone, bounced up, and Borgy was pitched out, to land in the midst of some bushes growing by the roadside.
The bolting of the team proved almost fatal to the boys in front, who scattered just in time to let horses and carriage pass them with lightning-like speed. Then the cadets gathered together and stared blankly at one another.
“It’s a runaway!”
“Serves old Crabby right, for hitting the horse!”
“Yes, but he and the lady may be killed!”
Such were some of the cries. As soon as they could recover, the whole party made after the carriage, now disappearing around a bend.
“They’ll never get around the next turn alive!” said Captain Harry Blossom, who was running beside Tom. Soon Dick joined the pair.
In the meantime Josiah Crabtree was filled with terror over the sudden turn of affairs. He dropped the whip and tugged first at one rein and then the other.
“Whoa! whoa!” he cried in a hoarse whisper. “Whoa!”
But instead of slackening their speed, the team moved on faster than ever, the carriage rocking violently from side to side.
“We will be killed!” moaned Mrs. Stanhope. “Oh, why did I not take Dora’s advice and have a regular wedding, as she proposed!”
“I will—will stop them!” panted Crabtree. “Whoa, you brutes, whoa!”
“Whoa, Peter; whoa, Jack!” added Mrs. Stanhope timidly.
For an instant the horses seemed to take notice of the lady’s voice, but only for an instant; then they went on as fast as ever, around another bend, and down a rocky stretch, lined on either side with trees and bushes.
Suddenly there came a crash, as a wheel came off the carriage. Then came a second crash and Mrs. Stanhope was hurled forth among some bushes. But the turnout continued on its way, Josiah Crabtree clinging to the wreck, until at last he too was hurled forth, to fly up among some tree branches and remain there for the best part of ten minutes.
When the crowd of cadets reached Mrs. Stanhope they found the lady unconscious and evidently suffering from a broken arm. Several of them, including Dick, Tom, and Sam, did what they could for her, while others ran off to find Josiah Crabtree and to summon a doctor.
It was several minutes before the head assistant at Putnam Hall could be helped out of the tree. He came down in fear and trembling, so overcome he could scarcely stand.
“How—how is Mrs. Stanhope?” was his, first question.
“We don’t know,” answered several of the cadets, and Josiah Crabtree hobbled back to find out.
The shades of night had long fallen when Mrs. Stanhope was conveyed to her home, and a doctor was brought from Cedarville and the Lanings were informed of what had happened. The doctor said that a rib as well as the left arm had been fractured, and that the lady must be kept quiet for at least two months. At once Dora set about doing what she could for her mother, and Nellie Laning remained at the homestead to assist her. No one seemed to care about Josiah Crabtree, and he was allowed to hobble back to Putnam Hall on foot.
“It was the fault of those boys,” he muttered to himself. “I’ll get even with them, see if I don’t!”
But his chances of “getting even” while at the academy were speedily nipped in the bud by Captain Putnam, who did not say anything on Sunday, but interviewed the head assistant early on the day following.
“It is perhaps needless for us to go into the details of what has occurred, Mr. Crabtree,” said the owner of the Hall. “Your contract with me comes to an end next month. I will pay you in full tomorrow and then I wish you to remove yourself and your belongings from this place.”
“You—you discharge me!” cried the teacher in astonishment.
“I do. I have long been dissatisfied with your conduct toward my pupils, and I am now satisfied that you are not worthy of the position with which I entrusted you.”
At this Josiah Crabtree’s face fell, for he had hoped to keep his place at Putnam Hall until his marriage to Mrs. Stanhope was assured. Now there was no telling when that marriage would occur, and in the meantime it was not likely he could get another position.
“I think I ought to have more notice than this.”
“You deserve no notice—since you were about to marry on the sly, so to speak, and, most likely, leave me when your contract came to an end without allowing me time to make other arrangements.”
“I would have given you at least two weeks time.”
“And I am giving you three weeks pay, which you do not deserve. I do not think we need to prolong the discussion,” and Captain Putnam turned away.
The departure of Josiah Crabtree was hailed with satisfaction by all of the pupils excepting Da
n Baxter. Strange to say, a strong friendship had sprung up between the bully and the hot-tempered school teacher. Baxter was the only one who shook hands when Crabtree left.
“I hope we meet again, Mr. Crabtree,” he said. “I like you, even if the others don’t.”
“And I like you, Baxter,” answered Josiah Crabtree. “I shall remember you.”
And Josiah Crabtree did remember the bully in a manner which was strange in the extreme.
CHAPTER XV
DAN BAXTER’S MONEY
After the departure of Josiah Crabtree from Putnam Hall, George Strong became the leading assistant, and another teacher named Garmore took second place.
Garmore was a Yale man, and soon became as favorably known as Strong, so the pupils had nothing more to find fault with, so far as their instructors went.
As has been noted before, there were several baseball teams among the boys. As it grew too cold for baseball, these teams gave up this sport, and a good number of the lads took up football.
In this sport, Sam, being a good runner, felt very much at home, and soon he was at the head of one of the teams, playing center. Tom was also on the team, playing quarterback.
Not far from Putnam Hall was another academy kept by a certain gentleman named Pornell. The pupils at Pornell’s were also great football players, and one day they sent over a challenge that the Putnams, as they were dubbed, should play them a match for the championship of the township in which both seats of learning were located.
The challenge was brought, by Peleg Snuggers, who had gone over to Pornell’s on an errand for Captain Putnam.
“It’s for you,” said Snuggers, handing the communication to Sam. The youthful captain of the eleven broke open the letter and read it aloud:
“PORNELL ACADEMY, November 18, 189-
“To the Putnam Hall Football Team: We hereby challenge you to a game of football for the championship of the township of Cedarville, the game to be played Thanksgiving afternoon next at two o’clock, at our grounds or at your own, as you may elect. We would prefer to play on our grounds, as we have a grandstand, one-half of which will be reserved for your friends, if you will come over.
“PORNELL FOOTBALL TEAM,
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 9