“They thought we cut ’em dead,” replied Sam. “Isn’t this the worst ever? And all on Flockley’s account! I’d like to punch his nose!”
“I’d like to be sure of one thing,” said Dick, a hard tone stealing into his voice. “Did Flockley just happen to be in Ashton when the girls got there, or did he open and read these letters and then go on purpose, with Koswell and Larkspur?”
“Say, that’s something to think about!” cried Tom. “If he opened the letters I’d like to make him confess.”
“Well, one thing is certain,” said Dick after the matter had been talked over for a while, “we missed a splendid chance to talk matters over with the girls. It is too bad!” And his face showed his concern.
“And you didn’t even want to go to Hope with me,” commented Tom, with a humor he could not repress.
“Wish we had gone yesterday,” answered Sam bluntly. He could read “between the lines” of the note he had received, and knew that Grace wanted to see him just as much as he wanted to see her.
Sam said he was going to write a letter that night, and finally Tom and Dick agreed to do the same.
“But I shan’t write much,” said Dick. “I am not going to put my foot in it.” Nevertheless he wrote a letter of four pages, and then added a postscript of two pages more. And the communications Sam and Tom penned were equally long.
“We’ll not trust ’em to the college mail,” said Tom. “We can take ’em to the post-office when we go to church tomorrow,” And this was done.
After the letters were posted the brothers waited anxiously for replies, and in the meantime buckled down once more to their studies. It was now well along in December, and one morning they awoke to find the ground covered with snow.
“Snowballing today!” said Tom with a touch of cheerfulness, and he was right. That day, after class hours, the students snowballed each other with a will. The freshmen and the sophomores had a regular pitched battle, which lasted the best part of an hour. All of the Rovers took part in the contest, and it served to make them more cheerful than they had been for some time.
“What’s the good of moping?” said Tom. “We are bound to hear from the girls sooner or later.” Yet, as day after day went by, and no letters came, he felt as downcast as did his brothers.
The boys were to go home for the Christmas holidays, and under ordinary circumstances they would have felt gay over the prospect. But now it was different.
“Going to send Dora a Christmas present?” asked Tom of Dick, a few days before the close of the term.
“I don’t know. Are you going to send anything to Nellie?”
“Yes, if you send something to Dora.”
“Sam says he is going to send Grace a writing outfit and a book of postage stamps,” went on Dick.
“That’s what they all need,” growled Tom. “It’s a shame! They might at least have acknowledged our letters.”
The boys did not know what to do. Supposing they sent presents to the girls, and got them back? They held a meeting in Dick’s room and asked Songbird’s advice.
“Send them the nicest things you can buy,” said the would-be poet. “I am going to send a young lady a gift—a beautiful autograph album, with a new poem of mine, sixteen verses in length. It’s on ‘The Clasp of a Friendly Hand.’ I got the inspiration once when I—er—But never mind that. It’s a dandy poem.”
“Who is the album to go to?” asked Tom indifferently.
“Why—er—Minnie Sanderson,” answered Songbird innocently. “You see, we have gotten to be very good friends lately.”
CHAPTER XXI
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The next day the Rover boys went down to Ashton to see what they could find in the stores. Dick said he wanted to get something nice for his Aunt Martha, Tom wanted something for his father, and Sam said he thought Uncle Randolph was deserving of a gift that was worth while.
Yet when they got into the largest store of which the town boasted all seemed to gravitate naturally to where the pretty things for the ladies were displayed.
“There’s a dandy fan,” murmured Tom. “Nellie likes fans very much.”
“So does Grace,” returned Sam. “Say, what are you going to do?”
“What are you going to do, Sam?”
“I’m going to get one of those fans and send it, along with a box of bonbons and chocolates,” answered the youngest Rover boldly. “And I’m going to send Mrs. Laning a pair of kid gloves,” he added.
“Then I’ll send a fan, too,” answered Tom, “and I’ll send Mrs. Laning a workbox. I know she’d like one.”
In the meantime Dick was looking at some fancy belt buckles and hatpins. He knew Dora liked such things.
“I’ll just take Songbird’s advice and get the best I can and send them,” he told himself. And he picked out the best buckle he could find, and likewise a handsome hatpin, and had them put into a fancy box, along with a fancy Christmas card, on which he wrote his name. Then he purchased a five-pound box of candy at the confectioner’s shop, and Tom and Sam did the same.
This was the start, and now that the ice was broken, and the first plunge taken, the boys walked around from one store to another, picking up various articles, not alone for the folks at home, but also for their various friends. And they added a number of other things for the girls, too.
“It’s no worse to send four things than two,” was the way Tom expressed himself.
“Right you are,” answered Dick. Now that they had decided to send the things they all felt better for it.
On the day school closed there was another fall of snow, and the boys were afraid they would be snowbound. But the train came in, although rather late, and all piled on board.
At Oak Run, their railroad station, they found Jack Ness, the Rover’s hired man, awaiting them with the big sleigh. Into this they tumbled, stowing their dress-suit cases in the rear, and then, with a crack of the whip, they were off over Swift River, and through Dexter’s Corners, on their way to Valley Brook farm.
“And how are the folks, Jack?” asked Sam as they drove along, the sleighbells jingling merrily in the frosty air.
“Fine, Master Sam, fine,” was the hired man’s answer.
“And how have you been?”
“Me? Oh, I’ve been takin’ it easy—since Master Tom quit plaguing me.”
“Why, I never plague anybody,” murmured Tom, with a look of injured innocence on his round face. He reached out and caught some snow from a nearby bush. “Say, Jack, what is that on the horse’s hind foot?” he went on.
“Where? I don’t see nuthin’,” answered the hired man, and leaned over the dashboard of the turnout to get a better view. As his head went forward Tom quickly let the snow in his hand fall down the man’s neck, inside his collar.
“Hi! hi! Wow!” spluttered Jack Ness, straightening up and twisting his shoulders. “Say, what did you put that snow down my back for?”
“Just to keep you from sweating too much, Jack,” answered Tom with a grin.
“At your old tricks again,” groaned the hired man. “Now, I reckon the house will be turned upside down till you go back to college.”
When the boys got in sight of the big farm house they set up a ringing shout that quickly brought their father and their uncle and aunt to the door. And behind these appeared the ebony face of Aleck Pop, the colored man who was now a fixture of the Rover household.
“Hello, everybody!” cried Tom, making a flying leap from the sleigh the instant it drew up to the piazza. “Isn’t this jolly, though?” And he rushed to his Aunt Martha and gave her a hug and kiss, and then shook hands with his father and his Uncle Randolph Dick and Sam were close behind him, and went through a similar performance.
“My! my! Don’t squeeze the breath out of me!” cried Mrs. Rover, as she beamed with delight “You boys ar
e regular bears!”
“Glad you got through,” said their father. “It looks like a heavy storm.”
“It does my heart good to see you again,” said Uncle Randolph. “I trust you have profited by your stay at Brill.” He was well educated himself, and thought knowledge the greatest thing in the world.
“Oh, we did profit, Uncle Randolph,” answered Tom with mischief chewing in his eyes. “Dick and I helped to win the greatest football game you ever heard about.”
“Tom Rover!” remonstrated his aunt, while Aleck Pop doubled up with mirth and disappeared behind a convenient door.
“We brought home good reports,” said Sam. “Dick stands second in the class and Tom stands fifth. That’s not so bad in a class of twenty-two.”
“And Sam stands third,” put in Tom.
“That is splendid!” said Anderson Rover. “I am proud of you!”
“And so am I proud,” added Randolph Rover.
“You’ll all be great men some time,” said their Aunt Martha. “But come into the sitting-room and take off your things. Supper will be ready in a little while. But if you want a doughnut beforehand—”
“Hurrah for Aunt Martha’s doughnuts!” cried Sam. “I was thinking of them while riding in the train.”
“Well, you shall have all you wish during the holidays,” answered his aunt fondly.
They were soon settled down and relating the particulars of some of the things that had happened at Brill. None of the boys cared to tell of the coldness that had sprung up between themselves and the girls. They simply said they knew the girls had gone home.
“That was an outrage,” said Mr. Rover with considerable warmth.
“An outrage?” repeated Dick doubtfully. “What do you mean?”
“Perhaps you didn’t hear the report that was circulated at Hope Seminary concerning them.”
“We heard no report, excepting that they had been called home.”
“Somebody circulated a story that they were going to school on money that did not belong to them—that their folks had confiscated a fortune belonging to others. Grace wrote to her mother that the story was being whispered about everywhere, and it was making them all miserable; and that’s the main reason for their going home.”
“What a contemptible thing to do!” cried Tom. “Who do you suppose is guilty—Tad Sobber?”
“I can think of nobody else. He is so angry he would do anything to injure them and us.”
“And what of the case?” asked Sam. “Will it come up in court soon?”
“Some time next Spring.”
“And what do the lawyers think of our side winning?” questioned Dick eagerly.
“They say it depends largely upon the evidence the other side submits. It is possible that the case may drag on for years.”
“What a shame!” murmured Dick.
It continued to snow all that night and the next day, and Christmas found the family all but snowbound at Valley Brook.
“Merry Christmas!” was the cry, early in the morning, and the boys tumbled out of bed and dressed in a hurry. Then they went below, to find a stack of presents awaiting them. They quickly distributed the gifts they had brought and then looked at their own. They had almost everything their hearts could desire.
Yet each youth felt a pang of disappointment, for among all the gifts there were none for them from the Stanhopes or the Lanings.
“We are out of it,” said Dick laconically to his brothers.
“So it appears,” answered Tom soberly. For once, all the fun was knocked out of him.
“Well, I am glad I didn’t forget them, anyway,” said Sam bravely. But he wondered how it was Grace could treat him so shabbily.
The boys passed the day as best they could in reading and playing games, and in snowballing each other and Jack Ness and Aleck Pop.
“My! my! But dis am lik old times at Putnam Hall!” said the colored man, grinning from ear to ear when Tom hit him on the head with a snowball. “Hab yo’ fun while yo’ am young, Massa Tom.”
“That’s my motto, Aleck,” answered Tom. “Have another.” And he landed a snowball on the colored man’s shoulder.
“I move we go down to the post-office for mail,” said Dick toward evening. “We don’t know what we may be missing.”
“Second the motion!” cried Tom. “The post-office it is, if we can get through.”
“Can’t no hoss git through these drifts,” came from Jack Ness.
“We’ll hitch up our biggest team and take our time,” said Dick. “We have got to get down to the post-office somehow.” He was hoping desperately that he would find a letter from Dora there.
When the old folks heard of it they shook their heads doubtfully. But the boys pleaded so strongly that at last they were allowed to go. They got out a strong cutter and the best pair of horses on the farm, and bundled up well.
“If you can’t make it, drive in at one of the neighbors,” said Mr. Rover on parting.
“We will,” answered Dick.
CHAPTER XXII
WORD AT LAST
It was a long, hard drive to Dexter’s Corners, and by the time the boys arrived there they were chilled through and through and the team was pretty well winded. They went directly to the postmaster’s house, for the office was in a room of the building.
“I’ll see if there are any letters,” said the postmaster, and went off. He returned with a picture postal for Mrs. Randolph Rover and two advertising circulars for her husband. There were also a newspaper and a magazine for the boys’ father.
“And is that all?” asked Dick, his heart sinking.
“That’s all.”
“Not worth coming for,” muttered Tom as they turned away.
“The mail didn’t come in this morning,” shouted the postmaster after them. “You’ll have to wait for more stuff until the train arrives at Oak Run.”
“Let us go over to the Run and see if we can learn anything about the trains,” said Sam, a spark of hope springing up in his breast.
They drove over the river, and as they did so they heard the whistle of a locomotive.
“Something is coming,” cried Dick.
“Perhaps it’s only the night freight,” returned Tom.
When they reached the depot the train was standing there. It was the morning accommodation, nine hours late. They saw some mail bags thrown off and also several express boxes and packages.
Curiosity prompted Dick to inspect the express goods. He uttered a cry of joy.
“A box for us!” he exclaimed. “And from Cedarville!”
“Where?” cried Tom and Sam, and ran forward to look the box over. It was two feet long and a foot high, and equally deep, and was addressed to R., T. and S. Rover.
“From the girls, I’ll bet a snowball!” cried Tom joyfully. “Hurry up and sign for it and we’ll see what it contains.”
The agent was at hand, for he was the ticket agent and station master as well, and they soon signed for the box. Then they took it to a secluded corner of the station, and with a borrowed hammer and chisel pried off the cover.
The sight “that met their gaze filled them with pleasure. There were several packages for each of the boys, from the girls and from Mrs. Stanhope and Mrs. Laning. There were some beautiful neckties, some books, and some diaries for the new year, and a box of fudge made by the girls. Dora had written on the flyleaf of one of the books, wishing Dick a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and similar sentiments from Nellie and Grace appeared in the books for Tom and Sam.
“Say, I reckon this was worth coming for,” remarked Sam.
“Rather,” answered Dick.
“Wouldn’t have missed it for a million dollars,” added Tom.
“Maybe the mail bag has some letters for us,” went on Sam. He was disappointed tha
t no note had accompanied the gifts.
“We’ll take the bags to the office and see,” said Dick, and this was done a little later, after the box had been closed and put in the cutter and carefully covered with a robe. In the bags were found letters from their old friends, Hans Mueller and Fred Garrison, and a postal from Dave Kearney, but that was all.
“Well, we mustn’t expect too much,” said Dick. “Remember, we didn’t send any letters.”
“But we will now, thanking them for all these nice things,” said Sam quickly.
It was nearly midnight before the boys got home again, and their folks were much alarmed about them. They were almost exhausted, but very happy, and they showed their new presents with great pride.
“They are dear girls!” said Mrs. Rover. “It was splendid of them to remember you this way, and splendid of Mrs. Stanhope and Mrs. Laning, too.”
The next morning was spent in writing letters. It was rather hard at first to say just what they wanted to, but after they had started the letters grew and grew, until each was ten pages or more. They told about meeting Minnie Sanderson and the other girls by accident, and about not getting the notes until that night, and Dick added the following to his letter to Dora:
“And now let me tell you something in secret. Songbird Powell has developed a very, very strong liking for Miss Sanderson, the girl Tom and Sam and I aided when first we came to Brill. He talks about her a good deal, and took her to a concert at Ashton one evening. He said he was going to give her an autograph album for Christmas and write in it an original poem sixteen verses long, on ‘The Clasp of a Friendly Hand,’ That is pushing matters some, isn’t it? We all wish him luck.”
“There, that ought to make her understand how I feel about Miss Sanderson,” said Dick to himself. And then he ended the letter by stating he hoped they would meet again soon so that they could have a good long talk.
On the day after the letters were mailed the storm cleared away and the sun came out brightly. The boys went for a long sleigh ride, and visited some friends living in that vicinity. Then they helped to clear off a pond, and on New Year’s day went skating.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 214