“Oh, how ridiculous!” responded the dudish student. Nevertheless, he looked much worried. “Of course, they do report a sea serpent now and then.”
“Well, you haven’t got to believe it, Billy,” answered Tom. “At the same time, you’ll be a fine specimen of a college boy if you come back next Fall minus an arm and a leg. How on earth are you going to any of the fashionable dances in that condition?” And at this, there was a general snicker, in the midst of which William Philander arose, caught up his dresssuit case, and fled to another car.
“You can bet that will hold William Philander for awhile,” remarked Sam. “He won’t dare to put as much as a toe in the water at Atlantic City until he is dead sure it is safe.”
“Humph! William Philander isn’t one of the kind to go into the water,” sniped Tom. “He belongs to the crowd that get into fancy bathing costumes, and then parades up and down on the sand, just to be admired.”
It was not long before the Junction was reached, and here the Rovers had to part from a number of their friends. A fifteen-minute wait, and then their train came along. It was not more than half full, so the students had all the room they desired.
“I must say, the farm will look pretty good to me,” remarked Tom, when the time came for them to collect their belongings.
“I want to see dad,” returned his younger brother.
“Oh, so do I.”
“Oak Run! All out for Oak Run!” It was the well-known cry of the brakeman as the train rolled into the station where the Rovers were to alight.
“Good-bye, everybody!” sang out both Sam and Tom, and, baggage in hand, they hurried to the station platform. Then the train went on its way, leaving them behind.
The boys had sent a message ahead, stating when they would arrive, and, consequently, Jack Ness, the hired man, was on hand with the family touring car.
“Back safe and sound, eh? Glad to see yer!” cried the hired man, as they approached, and he touched his cap.
“And we are glad to be back, Jack,” returned Tom, and added quickly: “How is my father?”
“Oh, he’s doin’ as well as can be expected, Mr. Tom. The doctors say he has got to keep quiet. Your Aunt Martha said to warn both of you not to excite him.”
“Is he in bed?” questioned Sam.
“Not exactly. He sits up in his easy chair. He can’t do much walkin’ around.”
While talking, the boys had thrown their belongings into the car. Tom took the wheel, with Sam beside him, leaving the hired man to get in among the baggage. Then away they rolled, over the little bridge that spanned the river and connected the railroad station with the village of Dexter’s Corners. Then, with a swerve that sent Jack Ness up against the side of the car, they struck into the country road leading to Valley Brook Farm, their home.
“Looks good, doesn’t it?” remarked Sam, as they rolled along, past well-kept farms and through a pleasant stretch of woodland.
“Yes, it looks good and is good,” returned Tom, with satisfaction. “The college and the city are all right enough, Sam, but I don’t go back on dear old Valley Brook!”
“How the country around here has changed since the time when we moved here,” went on Sam. “Do you remember those days, Tom?”
“Do I remember them? Well, I guess! And how Uncle Randolph used to be annoyed at what we did.” And Tom smiled grimly.
Another turn or two, and they came in sight of the first of the farm fields. Then they reached the long lane leading to the commodious farmhouse, and Tom began to sound the automobile horn.
“There is Uncle Randolph!” cried Sam, pointing to the upper end of the lane.
“Yes, and there is Aunt Martha,” added Tom, as a figure stepped out on the farmhouse piazza. Then both of the boys waved their hands vigorously.
“Back again, eh!” cried Uncle Randolph, when the car had been brought to a stop. “Glad to see you, boys,” and he shook hands.
“Back again, and right side up with care!” exclaimed Tom. He made one leap up the piazza steps, and caught his aunt in his arms. “How are you, Aunt Martha? Why, I declare, you are getting younger and better looking every day!” and he kissed her heartily.
“Oh, Tom, my dear, don’t smother me!” gasped the aunt. Yet she looked tremendously pleased as she gazed at him. Then Sam came in for a hug and a kiss.
“You mustn’t be too boisterous,” whispered Uncle Randolph, when all started to enter the house. “Remember, your father isn’t as strong as he might be.”
“Where is he?” both boys wanted to know.
“He is up in the wing over the dining-room,” answered their aunt. “We thought that would be the nicest place for him. The window has a fine outlook, you’ll remember.”
“Can we go up now?” questioned Tom.
“Yes, but remember, do not say anything to excite him
“All right, we’ll be careful,” came from Sam. And then both lads cast aside their caps and hurried up the stairs.
Mr. Anderson Rover sat in an easy chair, attired in his dressing gown. He looked thin and pale, but his face lit up with a smile as his eyes rested on his two sons.
“Dad!” was the only word each could utter. And then they caught him by either hand, and looked at him fondly.
“I am glad to see you back, boys,” said their father, in a low but clear voice. “It seems like a long while since you went away.”
“And we have missed you a great deal!” broke out Sam. “It’s too bad you don’t feel better.”
“Oh, I think I’ll get over it in time,” answered Mr. Rover. “But the doctors tell me I must go slow. I wouldn’t mind that so much, if it wasn’t for Dick. I think he ought to have some help.”
“Now, don’t you worry, Dad,” interposed Tom, gently. “You just leave everything to us. We are both going to New York to help Dick straighten out matters, and it will be all right, I am sure.” And he stroked his father’s shoulder affectionately.
“But you’ll have to go back to college—” began the invalid.
“Sam is going back. I am going to help Dick, and stay with him. Now, don’t say anything against it, Dad, for it is all settled,” went on Tom, as his father tried to speak again. “I don’t care to go back. I think Dick and I were cut out for business men. Sam is the learned member of this family.”
“Well, boys, have your own way; you are old enough to know what you are doing.” And now Mr. Rover sank back in the chair, for even this brief conversation had almost exhausted him.
CHAPTER XIV
A STARTLING SCENE
“Dear old dad! Isn’t it awful to see him propped up in that chair, unable to leave his room!”
“You are right, Sam. And yet it might be worse—he might be confined to his bed. I hope we didn’t excite him too much.”
“He was very much surprised at your determination to give up Brill, and join Dick. I guess he was afraid Dick would have to shoulder the business alone. And by the way, Tom,” went on the youngest Rover, earnestly, “somehow it doesn’t seem just right to me that I should put all this work off on you and Dick.”
“Now, don’t let that bother you, Sam. You can go to New York with me this Summer, and then you go back to college, and come out at the head of the class. That will surely please us all.”
This conversation took place while the two boys were retiring for the night. They had not remained very long with their father, fearing to excite him too much. Aunt Martha had, as usual, had a very fine repast prepared for them, and to this, it is perhaps needless to state, the youths did full justice.
“It’s a grand good thing that we have Aleck Pop with us,” went on Sam, referring to the colored man, who, in years gone by, had been a waiter at Putnam Hall, but who was now firmly established as a member of the Rover household. “Aunt Martha says he waits on dad, hand and foot; morning, noon and n
ight.”
“Well, Aleck ought to be willing to do something for this family in return for all we have done for him,” answered Tom.
Despite the excitement of the day, the two boys slept soundly. But they were up at an early hour, and, after breakfast, took a walk around the farm in company with their Uncle Randolph, who wished to show them the various improvements he had made.
“We have a new corncrib and a new root hovel,” said their uncle, as they walked around. “And next week we are going to start on a new pigsty.”
“Going to have one of those new up-to-date, clean ones, I suppose?” returned Sam.
“Yes. I do not think that it is at all necessary to keep pigs as dirty as they are usually kept,” returned Uncle Randolph.
“Say, Uncle,” put in Tom, with a sudden twinkle in his eye, “are you going to sell pork by the yard after this?”
“By the yard?” queried Uncle Randolph, and then a faint smile flickered over his face. “Oh, I see! You mean sausage lengths, eh?”
“Not exactly, although that is one way of selling pork by the yard,” returned Tom. “I was thinking of what happened in our college town. One of the boys went into a butcher’s shop, and asked for a yard of pork, and the butcher handed out three pig’s feet.”
“Oh, what a rusty joke, Tom!” exclaimed Sam.
“Well, I didn’t ask for the yard of pork; it was Dobson who did that,” returned Tom, coolly.
Having inspected the various improvements, the boys returned to the house, and then went upstairs for another short talk with their father. In the midst of this, the family physician arrived. When he had waited on the invalid, the boys called the doctor to one side, and asked him to tell them the truth regarding their parent.
“Oh, I think he’ll pull through all right,” said the doctor. “But as I have told your uncle and your aunt, he must be kept quiet. If you talk business to him, or excite him in any way, it is bound to make matters worse.”
“Then we’ll keep him just as quiet as possible,” returned Tom. “If anything unusual occurs in his business, we won’t let him know anything about it.”
“That would be best,” answered the doctor, gravely; and took his departure.
Several days passed, and by that time the boys felt once more quite at home. Once they went out in the touring car, taking their aunt and uncle along.
“It’s too bad we can’t take dad,” was Sam’s comment, “but the doctor says it won’t do. We’ll have to leave him in charge of Aleck.” The ride proved a most enjoyable one, and the older folks were much pleased by it.
“What do you say, Tom, if we go down to the river and have a swim?” proposed Sam, the next morning. It was an unusually hot day, and the thought of getting into the cool water of the old swimming hole appealed strongly to the youth.
“Suits me,” returned his brother. “We haven’t had a swim down there since last year.”
“You young gents want to be careful about that there swimmin’ hole,” put in Jack Ness, who had heard the talk.
“Why, what’s the matter now, Jack?”
“I dunno, exactly, but I hear some of the fellers sayin’ as how that swimmin’ hole wasn’t safe no more. I think it’s on account of the tree roots a growin’ there.”
“We’ll be on our guard,” answered Sam, and a little later the two lads set off. It was a long walk over the fields and through the patch of woods skirting the stream, and on arriving at the old swimming hole, Sam and Tom were glad enough to rest awhile before venturing into the water. As my old readers know, the stream was a swiftly-flowing one, and the water was rather cool.
“Remember the day we flew over this way in the biplane?” said Tom. “That sure was some adventure!”
“Yes, but it wasn’t a patch to the adventure we had when the biplane was wrecked,” returned his brother, referring to a happening which has been related in detail in “The Rover Boys in New York.”
Having rested awhile, the two boys started to get ready for their swim. Both had just thrown off their coats, when there came a sudden cry from up the river.
“What’s that, Tom?” questioned Sam.
“Somebody is calling. Listen!” and then both boys strained their ears for what might follow.
“There! Stay where you are! Don’t move!”
“I can’t stay here,” said another voice.
“Shall I shoot him now?” put in a heavy bass voice.
“No, wait a minute, I am coming over,” said still another voice, and then there was silence. The Rover boys looked at each other in amazement. What did the talk mean?
“Say, sounds to me as if somebody was in trouble!” exclaimed Sam.
“Perhaps we had better go and see,” returned Tom.
“All right, but we don’t want to get into trouble ourselves. Those fellows, whoever they are, or at least one of them, seems to be armed.”
“We’ll take a few stones along, Sam, and a couple of sticks, too, if we can find them.”
Stones were to be had in plenty, and having picked up several of them, and cast their eyes around for a couple of clubs, the lads lost no time in making their way towards the spot from whence the voices had proceeded. This was at a point where the river made a turn and was divided by a long, narrow island into two channels. The island was covered with brushwood, while the banks of the stream were lined with overhanging trees.
“Now, I am going to shoot him!” cried one of the voices which the boys had heard before.
“No, don’t do it, just wait a minute!” answered some one else.
“Maybe they have got some poor fellow, and have robbed him,” suggested Sam, as he and his brother hurried forward as quickly as the trees and tangled brushwood would permit.
“One thing is certain, that fellow, whoever he is, is in trouble,” returned Tom. “Perhaps we had better yell to those other fellows to stop.”
“If we do that, they may shoot the poor chap, and then run away.”
“That’s so, too! Well, come ahead, let’s hurry and see if we can catch sight of them.” And then the two boys pushed ahead faster than ever.
Presently the youths came to where there were a number of high rocks covered with trailing vines. As, to avoid these, it would have been necessary to wade in the stream, and thus get their shoes and stockings wet, they began to scramble over the rocks with all possible speed.
“Listen! They are talking again!” exclaimed Sam.
“Grab him! Grab him by the throat!”
“That’s all right, Jim, but I don’t want the boat to upset,” growled another voice.
“Say, you fellows make me tired!” roared the heavy bass voice. “Do you want to keep us here all day?”
“What do you know about this gun? Maybe it will explode.”
“Say, Sam, I don’t know what to make of this!” panted Tom, who was almost out of breath from the violence of his exertion.
“Maybe they are tramps, and are holding somebody up. Anyway, it sounds bad,” returned his brother.
Hauling themselves at last to the top of the rocks, the Rover boys looked ahead. Down in the swiftly-flowing stream, they saw a flat-bottom boat containing two men. One man, a tall, burly individual, had a much smaller fellow by the throat, and was bending him backward. Close at hand, on the shore, stood another man, gun in hand, and with the weapon aimed at the burly individual.
“Now then, shoot!” yelled somebody from the shore of the island opposite, and an instant later the gun went off with a bang. As the report died away, the burly man in the boat relaxed his hold on the other fellow, threw up his arms, and fell over into the river with a loud splash.
CHAPTER XV
A TELEGRAM OF IMPORTANCE
The Rover boys were horrified by what they saw, and for the instant they neither moved nor spoke. They saw the small man in th
e boat look over the side into the stream where his assailant had plunged from sight, then this fellow caught up a single oar that remained in the craft, and commenced to paddle quickly to shore.
“Oh, Tom, they have killed him!” gasped Sam, on recovering from the shock.
“It certainly looks like it, Sam,” returned Tom. “If he wasn’t shot dead, he must be drowned. Come on!” and, heedless of possible danger, Tom scrambled down from the rocks and hurried towards the men, with Sam close behind him. They had not yet reached the pair on the river bank, when, to their amazement, they saw the burly individual who had gone overboard, reappear at a point further down the stream. He was swimming lustily for shore.
“Hello! He can’t be so badly hurt!” exclaimed Tom. “Look at him strike out!”
“Maybe he was only scared, and went overboard to escape a second shot,” suggested Sam.
“Hi! you fellows over there!” yelled the man who carried the gun. “Was that all right?”
“It looked so to me, although you were a little slow about it,” came from the shore of the island; and now, glancing in that direction, Sam and Tom saw two men. One had what looked to be a megaphone in his hand, and the second stood behind a high, thin camera with a handle attached, set on a tripod. At the sight of the camera, both youths stopped short. Then Tom looked at his brother and began to snicker.
“Sold! What do you think of that, Sam?”
“Why, they are only taking a moving picture!” exclaimed the younger Rover. “Talk about a sell, Tom! That’s one on us.”
“Don’t let them know how we were sold,” returned the brother, quickly. “If it leaked out we’d never hear the end of it.”
“Right you are! Mum’s the word!” And it may be added here that the boys kept their word, and said nothing to those at home about how they had been fooled.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 297