“I guess he’ll be rather dizzy when the trip’s ended,” observed Songbird.
At last the snowball came to a stop in a stretch of meadow land. The students rushed up just in time to see Peleg Snuggers crawl out on his hands and knees. When he arose he staggered around as if intoxicated.
“Say, you young villains!” he gasped, and then had to stop to catch his breath.
“Oh, Peleg, why did you run away with our snowball?” asked Tom, innocently.
“It was a mean thing to do,” put in Dick.
“We wanted some fun with that ball,” added Sam.
“I—run—off—with the—the snowball?” gasped the general utility man. “I want you to know—”
“Oh, we know all about it,” interrupted Tom. “I know what’s the matter. You’ve been drinking, and didn’t know what you were doing.”
“Perhaps we had better report this to Captain Putnam,” said Larry. “Drinking isn’t allowed around here, you know.”
“I hain’t drunk a drop—it’s the rollin’ as made me dizzy,” roared Peleg Snuggers. “Oh, dear, I can’t stand straight,” and he bumped up against the big snowball and sat down in a heap.
“I’ll tell you what I think you ought to do,” proceeded Tom, calmly. “I think you ought to roll our snowball back up the hill for us.”
“Roll it back?” snorted Snuggers. “Why, four hosses couldn’t pull that weight o’ snow up the hill! I ain’t going to tech the snowball.”
“Then at least pay us for the ride you’ve had,” suggested Sam.
“I ain’t goin’ to do that nuther! It’s a trick that’s what it is!” growled the general utility man, and arose unsteadily. “I’ll be sick for a week after this, I know I will!”
“Never mind,” said Dick, soothingly. “Just get Mrs. Green to give you a dose of pink Whirl Around Pills, and you’ll be all right again.”
“I shan’t never come out to this hill again, not fer nobody,” grumbled the general utility man, and walked off. Then he turned to gaze at the cadets. “You do anything like that again an’ I’ll tell Captain Putnam on ye, see if I don’t. I ain’t going to be no merry-go-’round, or spinnin’ top fer nobody!” And then he hurried for the stables and disappeared.
CHAPTER XXIII
HOLIDAYS AT THE FARM
Almost before they knew it, the mid-winter holidays were at hand, and the Rover boys went home to enjoy Christmas and New Year. On their way they stopped at several stores in Ithaca, where they purchased a number of Christmas presents. Some of these they mailed at the post-office. Dick sent a nice book to Dora, and Tom and Sam sent books to Grace and Nellie. The boys also united in the gift of a stick pin to Mrs. Stanhope and another to Mrs. Laning, and sent Mr. Laning a necktie. Captain Putnam was not forgotten, and they likewise remembered George Strong. The rest of their purchases they took home, for distribution there.
A number of the other students had come as far as Ithaca with them, and here the crowd had dinner at one of the hotels,—the same place where Tom had once played his great joke on Josiah Crabtree.
“By the way, who knows anything about Nick Pell?” asked one of the students, while dining.
“He has been removed to his home in the city,” answered George Granbury.
“Is he better?” questioned Dick.
“They say he is better some days, but at other times he is worse. The poison somehow affected his mind.”
“What a terrible thing to happen,” murmured the eldest Rover, and then shuddered to think what might have ensued had the snake bitten him.
“Any news of Tad Sobber?” asked another cadet. He looked at each of the others, but all shook their heads.
“It’s queer where he went to,” said Songbird. “Wonder if Captain Putnam tried to communicate with his folks?”
“He has only an uncle, and the captain couldn’t find him,” answered another youth who was present.
As the dinner progressed the boys warmed up, and at the conclusion they sang several songs. Then the Rovers had to rush for their train and they caught it just as it was pulling out of the station.
“Hullo!” cried Sam, as he dropped into a seat, and he pointed out of the car window.
“What’s up now?” queried Tom.
“I saw a fellow on the depot platform who looked like Tad Sobber!”
“Are you sure it was Sobber?” demanded Dick.
“No, I am not dead certain—but the fellow looked a good deal like Tad.”
“Must have been a mistake,” was Tom’s comment. “What would he be doing around Ithaca?”
“Well, he’s got to stay somewhere, Tom.”
“But he wouldn’t stay so close to Cedarville—he’d probably go to some big city,” put in Dick.
As the train rushed on the Rover boys talked the matter over, but could make nothing out of it.
“I suppose he is in hiding waiting to see if Nick Pell will recover,” said Dick. “He knows that if Nick doesn’t get over his trouble he’ll be liable to prosecution.”
At the station at Oak Run the boys found their father awaiting them with the big family sleigh. All piled in, and over the crisp snow they started for Valley Brook farm.
“I need not ask how you are feeling,” said Anderson Rover. “Every one of you looks the picture of health.”
“I never felt better in my life,” declared Dick, and Tom and Sam said the same.
“Has Uncle Randolph heard anything more of his traction company bonds?” asked Tom, as they drove along.
“Not a word more,” answered his father. “It is a great loss to him.”
“Do you suppose the game was tried on anybody else?” asked Sam.
“We have not heard of it.”
Arriving at home, the boys were warmly greeted by their uncle and their aunt and also by the others around the house. Their aunt had a hot supper awaiting them, and while they ate this the whole subject of the missing bonds was thoroughly discussed. The boys learned that a private detective was still on the trail of Merrick and Pike, but so far had reported nothing of importance.
“I believe those rascals,—or at least Merrick—must belong around Lake Cayuga,” observed Dick. “Otherwise we shouldn’t have seen Merrick in Ithaca and up at the Stanhope place.”
“I was very simple to let them get the best of me. The next time I shall be more careful,” said Randolph Rover.
The boys learned from Jack Ness that hunting in the woods back of the farm was good, and two days before Christmas they went out with the hired man. They went for rabbits and squirrels, and each took his shotgun along and a substantial lunch, for they expected to be out the greater part of the day.
It was clear, cold weather, the sun glistening brightly on the snow. They journeyed directly for a portion of the woods they knew was a favorite spot for rabbits, and it was not long before they started up several.
“There they go!” cried Dick, and took aim. Bang! bang! went his gun, and the reports of Tom’s firearm followed. Three rabbits came down, and a few minutes later Sam brought another one low.
“Four for a starter are not so bad,” remarked Tom, as the game was placed in their bags. “Even if we don’t get any more we won’t have to go home empty-handed.”
By noon they had made their way directly through the woods and had eleven rabbits and three squirrels to their credit. Then Tom suggested they build a campfire and rest while eating their lunch and this was done.
“I wish we could bring down a fox or two,” said Jack Ness. “They have been bothering the chickens again lately—carried off two only night before last.”
“Do you know where they hang out?” asked Dick.
“I think they come from over yonder,” and the hired man pointed with his hand to the northward.
“Let us travel in that direction after dinner,�
� suggested Sam. “Even if we don’t spot any foxes we may find as many rabbits and squirrels there as anywhere else.”
The others were willing, and half of the afternoon was spent by the four hunters in a locality that was new to them. One fox was sighted, and Jack Ness shot the animal in the hind quarters, and then Sam finished him by a shot in the side.
“Well, that makes one fox less anyway,” said the hired man.
They kept on, and brought down two rabbits and a wild turkey. By this time they were pretty well tired out, and Tom suggested that they start for home.
“It’s a long tramp,” he said, “and by the time we get back I guess we’ll all be ready to rest.”
“As for that, I am ready to rest now,” said Sam. “Tramping through the snow is no easy task.”
“Especially if a fellow’s legs aren’t very long,” returned Dick, with a grin.
“Well, mine are as long as they ought to be,” came from Sam, promptly. “They reach to the ground, and yours don’t reach any further,” and then there was a general laugh, Jack Ness guffawing loudly.
The hired man said he knew of a short cut to the farm, and they followed him to something of a path through the woods and then out on a trail made years before by charcoal burners. Soon they came in sight of a cabin, from the chimney of which the smoke was curling.
“Who lives here?” asked Dick.
“An old man named Derringham,” answered Jack Ness. “He is very old and somewhat out of his head. He makes his living by selling herbs and barks for medicine. Years ago, so they say, he was an herb doctor, but he didn’t have a certificate, or something like that, so the authorities drove him out of business. After that he got queer and took to the woods.”
“Let us go in and see him,” said Tom, whose curiosity was aroused. He walked boldly up to the hut and knocked loudly on the dilapidated door.
“Who is that, Pop?” he heard somebody ask, in a startled voice.
“I don’t know, sir,” was the answer, in the voice of an old man.
“I don’t want to see anybody,” went on the first speaker. “Send him away, whoever he is.”
“Go away!” cried the old man. “I don’t want anybody around here.”
By this time all of the party outside were at the door. Tom’s face showed that he was laboring under sudden surprise.
“Evidently the old man doesn’t want visitors,” was Dick’s comment.
“There is somebody else in there with him,” whispered Tom. “From his voice I should say it was Bill Dangler!”
CHAPTER XXIV
A CAPTURE AND A SURPRISE
The others were much astonished by what Tom said, and they could scarcely believe that they had heard aright.
“Bill Dangler!” cried Sam, but Tom put his hand over his brother’s mouth to silence him. Then he nodded vigorously.
“What would that freight thief be doing here?” questioned Dick, in a whisper.
“I am sure I don’t know. But I am almost certain it was Dangler’s voice. If you will remember, it has a certain shrillness to it.”
“Yes, I know that.”
During this talk there were murmurs in the cabin which those outside could not understand. Then the old man came towards the door and slipped a bolt into place.
“I want you to go away!” he said sharply. “I don’t like strangers around here.”
“We won’t hurt you, Mr. Derringham,” said Dick. “We came to pay you a friendly visit.”
“Wouldn’t you like a nice rabbit from us?” asked Tom, bound to get into the cabin somehow.
“I have no money with which to buy rabbits.”
“We’ll make you a present of one,” said Sam.
“I want no presents from anybody. I want you to go away,” said the old man, in a high-pitched, nervous tone.
“Mr. Derringham, don’t you remember me?” asked Jack Ness. “I used to buy herbs and watercress from you. I’d like to speak to you for a minute.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Jack Ness, the man who works over on the Rover farm.”
“The Rover farm!” muttered a voice in the cabin. “Don’t let them in! Don’t you do it!”
“I am sure that is Dangler!” cried Tom, whose ears were on the alert. “If he is really there we have him cornered!”
“Yes, and he shan’t get away from us again,” added Dick.
“If he tries it we can halt him with a dose of buckshot,” put in Sam.
After that there was a pause, the boys not knowing exactly how to proceed. Tom pressed on the door, but it refused to give way.
“I tell you I want you to leave!” cried the old man, after some more whispering in the cabin. “If you don’t go away I’ll get my gun.”
“There are four of us and all armed,” answered Dick. “So you had better not do any shooting. But you have got to open that door. We will do you no harm.”
“What do you want in here?”
“We want to see who is in there with you?” answered Tom, boldly.
“Don’t you know that I am alone?”
“You are not alone,” said Sam.
“Well, I know best,” was the hesitating answer. “If I was sure you wouldn’t hurt me I’d let you in.”
“We will not harm you in the least,” answered Dick.
There was a moving around in the cabin and what seemed to be the dropping of a door. Then old Derringham came forward again.
“You are sure you won’t rob me if I open the door?” he asked.
“We mean you no harm—if you will do what is right,” said Tom.
Then the door was thrown open and the Rover boys and Jack Ness were confronted by a man at least seventy years of age. He had snow-white hair and a snowy beard that reached to his waist.
The boys and the hired man went hastily into the cabin and looked around. Nobody but Derringham was in sight. Dick looked at the floor under the table and saw something which looked like a trap door.
“He must have gone into the cellar,” said he to the others, and made a movement forward.
“Stop, do not touch that table!” cried the old man, in alarm.
“Mr. Derringham, listen to me,” said the eldest Rover boy firmly. “We are after a criminal—a man who for years robbed the railroad company of valuable freight. We know he is somewhere around your place. If you shield this criminal, or aid him in getting away, you will be guilty of a crime.”
At this strong assertion the old man began to tremble, and he looked from one to another of those before him in alarm.
“I—I Bill Dangler said it was not true—that it was a plot against him,” he murmured.
“It is true, and there is no plot against him, excepting to make him pay the penalty of his crimes,” put in Tom. “If you have hidden him you had better give him up.”
“I know you,” said old Derringham, turning to Jack Ness. “You used to pay me good prices for what you bought of me. Can I trust you?” he went on, pleadingly.
“Certainly you can, and you can trust these boys, too,” was the hired man’s reply. “If you want to keep out of trouble you had better help us all you can.”
By this time Dick had the table shoved to one side. Under the bottom of one of the legs he found a small iron ring, connecting with the door in the floor. He pulled on this and the door came up, showing a small cellar below, used chiefly by the old man for the storage of winter vegetables and the roots he gathered.
“Dangler, you might as well come up!” called out Dick. “It won’t do you any good to try to hide.”
“What do you want of me?” came in a sullen voice from below.
“You know very well what we want.”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“You can tell that to the police, after you are locked up.
Come up.”
Slowly and with downcast face Bill Dangler crawled from the small cellar and pulled himself up to the floor of the cabin. He gazed reproachfully at the old man, who was again trembling.
“I’ll fix you for going back on me,” he muttered.
“They say you are a thief,” answered the old man. “If you are, I want nothing more to do with you. I am poor, but I am honest—everybody who knows me knows that.”
“He shall not harm you,” put in Tom. “He’ll soon be behind the bars.”
A glance at the party of four, with their shotguns, convinced the freight thief that escape was out of the question.
“I suppose I’ll have to give up,” he growled. “But I ain’t as guilty as you may think I am.”
“You are guilty enough,” said Sam.
“I didn’t plan those freight robberies.”
“Who did then?” questioned Tom.
“Merrick and Pike. I don’t mind telling on them, for they have gone back on me.”
“Is Merrick the head of the gang?” asked Dick.
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?”
“If I tell will you let me go?”
“I can’t do that, Dangler.”
“Well, I don’t care anyway. Merrick hasn’t treated me right, and he ought to suffer. He has a hangout a few miles from the city of Ithaca, if you know where that is.”
“Yes, on Lake Cayuga.”
“That’s it.”
“You say a few miles from the city,” pursued Sam. “What do you mean by that?”
“He and some of his friends, Pike among them, have a meeting place along the lake. It’s an old house, unpainted, and with very narrow windows, so I’ve been told. You find that house and likely you’ll find Merrick and Pike.”
“I thought those chaps were from the city?” said Sam.
“They are, but every once in a while they find it convenient to disappear, and then they go to that place on Lake Cayuga. It’s an old homestead that used to belong to Merrick’s sister.”
“We ought to be able to find that place,” said Tom to his brothers. “Especially if it was a homestead.”
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