“There will be something doing when they start to use those stores,” chuckled Andy. “My, won’t Glutts and Werner be mad!”
“They won’t know we did it,” returned his twin.
“They won’t know it,” answered Fred, “but they’ll take it for granted, nevertheless. I’ll tell you, fellows, I don’t know about this,” he added dubiously.
“Oh, don’t worry,” answered Andy gayly. “Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts deserve all that they are getting, and more too.”
CHAPTER XVIII
FISHING THROUGH THE ICE
With nothing of importance to do and nobody to awaken them, the Rover boys and their chums slept late the next morning. Gif was the first to get up, and, seeing that the others were still asleep, he made as little noise as possible when he went out into the living-room to stir up the smouldering fire and place upon it a couple of extra logs.
“Hello, Gif! Up already?” came from Spouter, when the other cadet came back to finish his dressing. “What sort of a day is it?”
“Clear as crystal, Spouter. It couldn’t be better.”
“Then perhaps we’ll get a chance to go out hunting.”
“Perhaps.” Gif looked doubtful for a moment. “I don’t know that I care to leave this place until Glutts and Werner have gone.”
“I don’t blame you, Gif. It would be just like those mean chaps to try to do some damage before they left. They are not the kind to appreciate in the least what we have done for them.”
“Hardly—after the way they kicked up about washing a few dishes. It made me sick.”
Gif and Spouter began preparations for breakfast, and while they were at this the four Rovers appeared, one after another. The door to the room turned over to Glutts and Werner remained closed.
“Those fellows are certainly putting in some sleep,” was Jack’s comment.
“Shall I wake ‘em up?” questioned Fred quickly.
“No. Let them take their own time,” answered Gif. “With such fine weather they ought to have no trouble in getting away, and there is no use of another row before they start.”
The lads prepared a generous breakfast of pancakes and some sausage meat that had been brought along from Timminsport, washed down with a copious supply of hot coffee. As they ate they cast sundry glances at the closed bedroom door, but saw no sign of Glutts or Werner.
“Gee! they must be sleeping like rocks,” was Andy’s comment.
“You’d think the smell of the pancakes and sausage would wake ‘em up on such a cold morning as this,” added his twin. “My! but it’s good!”
“Perhaps they thought they wouldn’t bother us about breakfast and take it out in sleep instead,” suggested Fred.
“Say, did any of you fellows get up during the night to get something to eat—crackers or cheese, or anything like that?” questioned Gif quickly.
All of the others shook their heads.
“What makes you ask that question, Gif?” remarked Jack.
“Why, I saw a lot of crumbs scattered over the kitchen table and on the floor.”
“Maybe Glutts and Werner got up to get something—” began Fred, and then a sudden idea came into his mind and he gave a start. “Gee! what would you say if they were gone?”
“Gone!” echoed the others.
“Maybe they’re not in that room at all!” added Jack.
“I’ll soon find out!” answered Gif, and, leaving the breakfast table, he went over and tried the bedroom door. It was unlocked, and he opened it and went inside.
“They’re gone, all right enough,” he called out, and immediately the others followed him into the room. Here they found the beds mussed up and empty. All of the things belonging to Glutts and Werner were gone and the single window of the room was wide open.
“That’s a fine way to leave, I must say,” grumbled Gif.
“Yes, and to leave this window wide open so the room can get as cold as a barn!” added Spouter, as he pulled down the sash. “Some mean fellows, believe me!”
“Let’s see if the horse and sleigh are gone too!” cried Randy.
In a few minutes he and Fred were ready to go out, and they lost no time in hurrying down to the barn and the shed. Sure enough, the horse and sleigh were gone, and the barn door had been left wide open.
“I wonder when they went,” remarked Fred.
“Most likely as soon as it was daylight. They probably had this all fixed last night. That’s why they went to bed early.”
“Well, it doesn’t hurt my feelings to have them missing.”
“I’d like to know if they took any of our things with them.”
The two Rovers returned to the Lodge, and there told of what they had discovered. A search around the Lodge was immediately instituted, the boys looking over their clothing and firearms and then their stores and the regular belongings of the bungalow.
“As far as I can make out, there is only one flannel blanket from the bed missing,” said Gif. “I suppose they took that along to keep warm on the ride. They didn’t have but one small robe in the sleigh.”
“I don’t know about these stores,” announced Spouter, who had been going over them carefully. “It seems to me we had more canned stuff than this—some green corn and asparagus, and also some canned salmon and sardines.”
“I wouldn’t put it past ‘em to take anything they thought they needed,” declared Fred. “They are just that sort, and everybody here knows it.”
“All I can say is, ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish,’” said Randy.
“And may we fail to see ‘em again while we’re in this vicinity,” added his twin.
“My! but it’s a real relief to have them gone,” announced Jack. “Now we can do as we please and have the best times ever,” and his face showed his pleasure.
Everybody felt glad to think the two bullies were gone, and soon they were chatting gayly. Then, after the breakfast dishes had been put away, all went outside and there indulged in a snowball fight which lasted the best part of the morning.
After such a glorious time in the open, all the cadets ought to have felt in the best of spirits, but it was observed by Jack at dinner time that Fred and the twins looked rather preoccupied. They were whispering together, and presently Randy spoke.
“I and Andy and Fred have been thinking that perhaps it would be best for us to let you other fellows know how matters stand,” said he. “Maybe you won’t approve of what we did. Just the same, we think Glutts and Werner deserve it.” And thereupon he and the others related what had been done the evening before down at the shed. All of the others had to grin at the recital, yet Jack and Gif shook their heads.
“I don’t blame you,” said the oldest Rover boy. “Just the same, it may lead to more trouble.”
“If they find out that you did it, they’ll probably come here and try to pay us back,” was Gif’s comment.
“Let them come,” announced Spouter. “I guess we can hold our own against them. I am glad we did something for them to remember us by, especially if they walked off with some of our stuff.”
That afternoon the boys went hunting again, but on account of the heavy fall of snow did not go any great distance. They managed, however, to get two more rabbits, and also two squirrels, and two quail.
“Well, that’s something, anyhow,” declared Fred, who had laid one of the squirrels low. “A bird and squirrel potpie won’t go bad for a change.”
“Right-o!” cried Andy.
“Say, Gif, what’s the matter with trying our hand at fishing through the ice?” questioned Jack. “The deep snow ought not to interfere with that sport.”
“Just as you say. We can go down to the river to-morrow if the crowd is willing.”
The day passed without their seeing or hearing any more of Werner and Glutts, nor did anyone come to distu
rb them through the night. Once Andy awoke to hear a noise at a distance, but he soon figured out that this was nothing more than a hoot owl.
Ten o’clock of the next day found them on the river bank. They had brought their fishing tackle with them, and also an axe with which to chop some holes through the ice.
“Pretty thick, I’m thinking,” announced Jack, as they came out on the ice. “We’ll have our own troubles making holes.”
“How foolish we were not to bring our skates along!” cried Randy. “We could have a dandy skate.” Their skates had been left up at the Lodge.
“Never mind, we’ll skate some other time,” said Spouter. “We’re out for some fish to-day.”
It took over half an hour to knock several fair-sized holes through the ice, and then the boys began their fishing, following directions that had been given to Gif by some of the older hunters.
“If I catch a whale I don’t see how I’m going to bring him up through this hole,” remarked Andy, with a grin.
“Oh, that’s easy,” returned his brother gayly. “All you’ll have to do will be to jump in and push him up through the hole where I can get hold of him.”
“Thank you, you can do the jumping in yourself. This water is about twenty degrees below Cicero.”
“I was thinking that we could enlarge one of the holes and keep it open,” said Jack, with a serious look on his face; “then all you fellows can come down here every morning and take a dip.” At present they were obtaining water from a deep well directly outside of the kitchen.
They fished for a long time without getting even a nibble. But then Jack felt a gentle tug, and, after some little excitement, managed to bring out a fair-sized catch.
“Hurrah! The first fish!” he cried, holding it up proudly.
“And may he be the forerunner of many more,” proclaimed Spouter.
“I want a whale,” declared Randy.
Such a catch was an incentive to all of the others to do their best, and as a result inside of three hours the lads had eleven fish between them, some of fair size and others quite small, one, in fact, so tiny that it was thrown back into the stream, “so it might grow a little,” as Fred expressed it.
“One o’clock!” announced Gif, looking at his watch. “I think we had better go back to the Lodge and have some of these fish fried for dinner.”
“Second the commotion!” cried Randy quickly.
Properly fried, the freshly-caught fish proved delicious eating, and the boys lingered over the repast while a scrap of those which had been served was left. Half of the catch was packed away in snow to be served at another time.
The day had just come to an end when the boys heard a jingle of sleighbells on the road, and then came a whistle.
“It’s Jed Wallop,” announced Gif.
“Yes, and he’s coming from the direction of Timminsport!” cried Fred. “He must have been down to the town.”
“Look! He’s holding up some letters!” ejaculated Jack. “Letters!”
“Letters! Letters!” was the general cry, and then the whole crowd of cadets rushed down to meet the old hunter.
CHAPTER XIX
LETTERS FROM HOME
While Gif was sorting out the mail, which included not only letters but also several packages which had been sent by parcel post, Jack and Spouter told the old hunter about the coming of the two bullies to the Lodge, and how they had sneaked away at daybreak.
“Accordin’ to that, them fellers can’t be very good friends o’ yourn,” remarked the old hunter dryly.
“They are our enemies,” answered Spouter. “They did all sorts of mean things at Colby Hall, and when they were found out Werner got so scared that he ran away and never came back.”
“I guess their folks ought to take ‘em in hand. If they don’t they’ll be sorry fer it later on,” said Wallop. “But I must be gittin’ on now, fer I’ve got to git ready to-night fer a big day’s work to-morrow.”
“Some day we want you to come down here and go out hunting with us,” said Jack. “Can’t you show us where we can get a chance at a deer, or something else that is worth while?”
“Wot’s the matter with stirrin’ up a bear?” replied the old hunter, with a grin, his eyes twinkling.
“That would suit me to a T!” exclaimed Randy.
“Trot out your bears and we’ll polish ‘em off!” added his twin.
“Not many bears ‘round here,” announced Jed Wallop. “But you might strike something jest as bad, especially if the snow keeps on gittin’ deeper. The wolves in this neighborhood git mighty pestiferous when they can’t git nothin’ to eat.”
“Wolves!” exclaimed Fred. “Gee! I don’t know that I want to run up against a savage wolf.”
After promising to come down and see them during the following week, Jed Wallop drove off, leaving the boys to return to the Lodge and look over their letters and parcel post packages.
“Here is a letter from mother, and it encloses a letter from dad!” cried Jack, as he glanced over the epistle.
“I’ve got a letter from Mary,” said Fred. “And here is one from May Powell, too.”
“Who is your second letter from, Jack?” queried Spouter.
“Oh, never you mind about that.”
“Looks as if it might be in Ruth Stevenson’s handwriting,” said Andy, with a grin.
There were letters for everybody. Two of the packages were from the Rover boys’ homes, and the third had been sent to Spouter by his mother.
“A fruit cake!” exclaimed Fred, as he opened the package addressed to him. “I’ll tell you! It takes my mother to remember what us fellows like,” and he smacked his lips.
The other package, addressed to Andy and Randy, contained a box of home-made sugar cookies, while that which Spouter had received contained a long loaf of ginger cake and a box of hard candies.
“Well, one thing is sure—they haven’t forgotten us,” was Spouter’s remark, as he passed the candies around.
All the boys were anxious to read their letters, and for the time being everything else was forgotten. Mrs. Dick Rover wrote that nothing of importance had happened at home since they had gone away. Ruth Stevenson and May Powell were still with them, but all of the girls expected to go to the Stevenson homestead to finish their school vacation.
The letter from Dick Rover had been sent from the battlefront in France. In it he related how he and his brothers, as well as some of their old school chums, had been in a number of small engagements. In one of these Tom and Sam Rover had been slightly wounded by the fragments from a shell, and he himself had been in a gas attack, but had escaped without serious injury. All had been sent to the field hospital to be treated, but now they were once more at the front in what were called their winter quarters.
“The Boches are watching us like a cat watches a mouse, and we are equally on the alert,” wrote Dick Rover. “There have been no big battles, but sniping is going on constantly, and several of our men have been killed or wounded. We are all anxious to have the cold weather break up, so that we can go forward and finish this war. We feel that we can wallop the enemy, if only we have a chance to get at them.”
“That’s dad, all right,” murmured Jack admiringly. He had read the letter aloud for the benefit of the others.
“Oh, dear! I hope dad wasn’t seriously hurt,” murmured Fred.
“I think if our fathers were very badly hurt Uncle Dick would let us know,” answered Randy. “He isn’t one to hold back news—he knows we want the truth.”
“If only this war was over!” remarked Andy, and now there was little of his usual light-heartedness in his tone. “I won’t feel at ease until our soldiers are bound for home.”
The six cadets talked over the letters they had received for some time. They had brought stationery with them, and they spent the evening wr
iting letters in return.
“I don’t see how we’re going to get these down to Timminsport unless we walk down there,” remarked Jack. “And a walk of five or six miles through this snow each way wouldn’t be an easy job.”
“I know what we can do,” replied Gif. “We can skate down the river to a place called Henryville. There is a post-office there, and letters are sent over to Timminsport at least once a day.”
“How far is it to Henryville?” questioned Randy.
“Oh, not more than three miles.”
“Do you suppose the skating is any good?”
“I don’t see why it shouldn’t be.”
“Let’s do it!” broke in Spouter. “We wanted to have a skate anyway. We can take our guns along, in case we see any game.” And so it was arranged.
The next day dawned bright and clear, and after breakfast the boys got their letters and their skates and started for the river.
“I’ll wager we’ll find the ice covered with snow in some places,” remarked Randy.
“I don’t know about that,” answered Gif. “I was hoping the high wind had swept it pretty clean.”
They were soon on the ice, their skates ringing merrily as they struck out into an impromptu race. They swept down the river and around a broad bend, and were soon well out of sight of the tract of forest land upon which the Lodge was located.
“I hope Glutts and Werner don’t visit the bungalow during our absence,” remarked Spouter.
“Well, that’s a risk we’ve got to run,” answered Jack. “We can’t remain at home all the time.”
“Exactly so!” put in Gif. “And it would be no fun for some of us to stay behind on guard while the others were off enjoying themselves.”
For the most part they found the river swept clear of snow, although here and there were drifts more or less deep over which they had to plough their way as best they could. This, however, was nothing but fun for the lads, and nobody complained.
Arriving at Henryville, they found that the mail for Timminsport would go out in less than an hour, and also learned that the mail from that place came in twice daily, morning and evening.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 396