“Indeed they do!” came from the girls.
“How soon will this parade come off?” questioned Randy.
“I don’t know that the date has been settled exactly,” answered Dick Rover. “But it will undoubtedly be in the near future. You will probably see all the details in the newspapers. I presume the whole of New York will have a holiday.”
“Yes, and Fifth Avenue will be decorated in great shape from end to end,” declared Mary. “Just see how they have been working on that Arch of Victory, and the Tower of Jewels, and all the other things.”
“It will certainly be a parade well worth seeing,” said Dick’s wife.
“Yes, and I’ll wager folks will come miles and miles to see it,” added Fred. And then he continued quickly: “What’s the matter with having Grandfather Rover down here from Valley Brook Farm?”
“Yes, and Great-aunt Martha and Uncle Randolph, too!” broke in Mary.
“Oh, we must have all of them, by all means!” cried Jack.
CHAPTER XVII
THE GREAT VICTORY PARADE
“My, what a jam of people!”
“Did you ever see such a crowd before in all your life!”
“And look at the flags and other decorations! Aren’t they beautiful?”
“This time New York has outdone herself.”
It was the day for the great parade of the returned soldiers, and New York City, especially in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue, was packed with dense crowds that filled miles of grandstands, windows, and other points of vantage, and also jammed the sidewalks and the side streets. It was a holiday for all, and everybody was going to make the most of it.
The Rovers had left their homes early to make their way to the seats they had obtained on one of the stands. With those who resided in the city were Grandfather Rover and also Aunt Martha and Uncle Randolph, who had come down the day previous from Valley Brook Farm.
“This is the greatest day of my life,” said Grandfather Rover, his eyes glistening with pleasure. “To think that my boys have all fought for our country and come back from the war safely.”
“Yes, and to think one of them has won a medal—not but what the others have been equally brave,” responded old Uncle Randolph.
“I hope they never have to go to another war—they or their sons either,” murmured old Aunt Martha.
The girls had invited May and Ruth to come to New York to witness the parade. May had accepted the invitation, but Ruth had sent word the doctor did not think a trip advisable at this time, her eyes being still in bad condition.
“It’s too bad Ruth couldn’t come,” sighed Jack.
“Well, she had better take care of her eyes,” answered his sister. “Oh, dear, why did that horrid Werner have to do such a mean thing!”
The Rovers had all they could do to get to the seats reserved for them. Each carried a small flag, to be waved as the soldiers passed. There was quite a wait, and the crowd seemed to grow denser every minute. Then from a distance came the fanfare of trumpets and the booming of many drums.
“Here they come! Here they come!” was the glad shout, and soon a platoon of police on horse-back swept by. Then followed a brass band of a hundred pieces or more, and the great parade was fairly started.
To go into the particulars of this tremendous spectacle would be impossible in the limits of these pages. Regiment after regiment swept by, representing every State in the Union. There were brass bands galore, with Old Glory everywhere in evidence. The crowd clapped and cheered, and sometimes shouted itself hoarse as some favorite command swept by with soldierly precision. Here and there a hero was recognized, and then the din would increase.
“Some parade, I say!” exclaimed Fred enthusiastically.
“Isn’t it wonderful how many soldiers there are?” marveled May, who sat next to him.
“When are our boys coming?” questioned Grandfather Rover anxiously.
“They’ll be coming along pretty soon now,” answered Jack, who had been studying the program closely. “They are in the second regiment after the one now passing.”
The New York State troops were now approaching, and the din became terrific, the more so as one company after another was recognized.
“Here they come! Here they come!” exclaimed Martha, who was gazing down the line.
“I see them! They are just at the corner!” added Mary.
“There’s dad! I see dad!” screamed Andy, to make himself heard above the noise. “There he is, in the front row on this side!”
“Yes, and there is my father!” yelled Fred. “See him? Two men away from Uncle Tom!”
“I see dad,” announced Jack. “He’s in the middle. See him with that medal on his breast?”
“Hurrah, boys! Hurrah for you!” yelled Grandfather Rover, and arose excitedly, shaking his cane in one hand and a small flag in the other.
By this time all were on their feet, cheering and waving their flags wildly. Dick, Tom and Sam Rover saw them, and although they did not dare to turn their heads, they smiled broadly in recognition. For them the moment was just as thrilling as it was for those on the stand.
“Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!” shouted the boys and girls, and their parents and other relatives joined in as strenuously as any one.
Old Aunt Martha was crying openly, and the other women had also to wipe the tears from their eyes.
“Somehow it chokes me all up,” declared old Uncle Randolph, and blew his nose vigorously.
The company containing the Rovers passed on and the great parade continued hour after hour until it seemed as if there would be no end to that grand procession.
“Gracious! I didn’t know there were so many soldiers in the whole world,” declared Aunt Martha at length.
“If you are getting tired, Aunt Martha, I’ll have somebody take you back to the house,” remarked Mrs. Dick Rover, after they had been watching the parade for four hours.
“No, no. I am going to see it to the end,” declared the old lady. “It will be something to talk about as long as I live.”
“Just think of a lot of soldiers like these fighting all over our farm at Valley Brook,” was Uncle Randolph’s comment. “That’s what they did over in France. It must have been terrible, the way things were cut up.”
“My dad says you wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see it,” answered Randy. “He said some of the shell craters were big enough to dump a small barn in. Think of holes like that in your pasture lot.”
But even the greatest of parades must come to an end, and at last the final body of soldiers marched by, and then came more police, followed by a great crowd of people that surged into Fifth Avenue like great flocks of sheep, hurrying, bustling, and jostling in an effort to get every way at once.
“Wasn’t it perfectly grand?” cried Mary.
“It couldn’t have been more wonderful,” answered May.
“Now we’ll get you back to the house and give you something to eat,” said Mrs. Dick Rover to the old folks. “You certainly must be hungry as well as tired.”
“Well, a little bit of something to eat wouldn’t go bad, Dora,” answered Grandfather Rover, placing an affectionate hand on her shoulder. And then he added softly: “We’re mighty proud of our Dick, aren’t we?”
“Proud! I should say we are!” answered Mrs. Rover, her whole face glowing with keen satisfaction.
It was decided that all of the older folks, as well as the three girls, should return to Riverside Drive. The boys, however, wanted to remain out and see what might take place further.
“We can pick up a little lunch somewhere—some sandwiches and pie and maybe a glass of milk,” said Randy.
“Anything will do for me,” announced Fred. “I’m almost too excited to eat.”
“If you boys stay out you take good care of yourselves in this awful ja
m,” warned Mrs. Tom Rover. “And don’t you get into any mischief,” she added to her twins.
The four lads saw the others safely to the automobiles, which were standing down one of the side streets, and then came back to Fifth Avenue.
“Let’s walk down and look at the decorations and at the Arch of Victory,” suggested Jack, and so it was decided.
In many places the sidewalks were littered with boxes which had been used to sit or stand upon. As a consequence, the best place to walk was in the street, and down this the boys pushed their way through the crowds which were gradually beginning to thin out.
“I never imagined buildings could be so handsomely decorated,” declared Jack. “Those flags and banners and all that mass of bunting must have cost a fortune.”
“Yes, and think of the money spent in decorating some of these windows,” put in Fred.
They were gazing at a large show-window filled with a representation of American soldiers and sailors from colonial times to the present day. There were at least twenty-five figures in full uniform, and the display was as valuable to study from an historical standpoint as it was interesting to view as a picture.
“Some work to get all those uniforms together and to have everything exactly right,” remarked Randy.
“I like the plain khaki of to-day as well as any of them,” announced Jack. “The others are more gaudy, but when it comes to actual service—Ouch!”
Jack’s remark broke off abruptly as a small but heavy box thrown from the gutter landed directly on his head. Then another box came flying through the air, to strike between the three other Rovers. It was followed by a ball of soaking-wet and muddy newspapers which struck the show-window with a thud, sending some dirty drops of water into the Rover boys’ faces.
Fred was the first to whirl around in an endeavor to see where the two boxes and the wadded-up newspapers had come from. He was just in time to see two young fellows try to lose themselves in the rapidly moving crowd.
“Gabe Werner!” he ejaculated. “There he goes!”
“Yes, and there is Bill Glutts with him!” added Andy.
“What’s that?” questioned Jack. He had received a small cut on one ear from the flying box and his cap had been knocked over his eyes.
“Werner and Glutts did it,” answered Fred. “There they go down the street.”
“If that’s the case we’ve got to catch them,” returned the oldest Rover boy. “Come on, quick!”
All started in pursuit of the two former bullies of Colby Hall. But to follow them through the rapidly moving crowd was not easy, and several times they were afraid the rascals would get away from them.
“Here, here! Take your time,” said a policeman to Fred, as the latter brushed by him. “Take your time.”
“I’m after a fellow who ought to be arrested,” answered Fred quickly.
“Where is he?” demanded the bluecoat with interest.
“There he goes—down around the corner!” And then, as the policeman showed no disposition to leave his post, the youngest Rover boy hurried away after the others.
Werner and Glutts had looked back, and seeing that the Rovers were in pursuit, they had tried to throw them off the trail by passing around the nearest corner. Now they headed in the direction of the East Side.
“I told you not to bother with them,” panted Glutts, who was somewhat out of breath. “Now, for all you know, they’ll have us arrested.”
“Oh, shut up your whining, Bill!” growled Werner in disgust. “I wish I had knocked that Jack Rover’s head off with the box.”
“You came very near busting the window.”
“I wouldn’t care if I did bust it,” answered the other recklessly.
“It don’t look as if that dose of pepper hurt Jack Rover much.”
“Never mind. I’ll fix him some day, you see if I don’t.”
The two glanced back once more and to their chagrin saw that the Rovers had come around the corner and were chasing after them faster than ever. This caused Bill Glutts to become more frightened than before.
“Oh, what shall we do? They’ll catch us sure!” he wailed.
“No, they won’t! Come on!” yelled Werner, and caught his crony by the arm.
He was too excited to notice carefully where he was running, and the next instant he, followed by Glutts, brought up against a stand on the sidewalk in front of a small shop. This stand was filled with various articles of bric-a-brac, and it went down with a crash, carrying dozens of small articles with it.
CHAPTER XVIII
BOUND FOR TEXAS
“Hi! hi! phat—phat you mean py knocking mine stand ofer?” cried out a voice from the doorway of the building, and a small, stockily built foreigner came running forward.
“Get off of me!” spluttered Bill Glutts, who was under Gabe Werner. “You’re pressing some of this broken stuff into my face!”
Werner could not answer, being too surprised by the sudden turn affairs had taken. But then, as he realized that the four Rovers were close at hand, he rolled over on the sidewalk, upsetting a small boy as he did so, and then managed to scramble to his feet.
“Come on, Bill!” he panted, and set off down the street at the best gait he could command.
What Bill Glutts had said about being pushed into the broken bric-a-brac was true. His face had come down into the midst of several broken vases, and one hand rested on a broken bit of glassware. When he arose to his feet he found himself held fast by the storekeeper.
“You don’t vas git avay from me already!” bawled the owner of the place. “You vas pay for de damages you make.”
“You let me go! It wasn’t my fault!” stormed Glutts.
By this time the Rovers had come up. Bill Glutts looked the picture of despair, with blood flowing from several cuts on his face and on one hand.
“Where is Werner?” questioned Jack quickly.
“There he goes!” exclaimed Randy. “Come on after him before he gets away.”
“Some one had better stay here and see that Glutts doesn’t get away,” suggested Fred.
“All right, Fred, you and Andy stay here until we get back,” answered Randy, and then he sped off after Jack, who was already running at his best rate of speed in the direction Gabe Werner had taken.
By this time Werner was thoroughly scared. He knew that he was liable to arrest for smashing the bric-a-brac stand, and he had no desire to fall into the clutches of the Rovers, feeling instinctively that they might pummel him thoroughly before handing him over to the authorities. Besides that, he remembered that they might hold him to account for the pepper incident.
He had turned down a side street where there were a number of tenements. He dove through an open doorway and ran the length of the hall, coming out of the building at the rear. Here there was a small yard surrounded by a board fence. He leaped the fence with ease, and then dove into the back end of another tenement and out at the front, and soon lost himself in a crowd on the other street.
Jack and Randy hunted around for fully a quarter of an hour, and were then compelled to give up the chase.
“It’s too bad,” declared the oldest Rover boy, “but it can’t be helped. Let us go back and see what they have done with Glutts.”
They soon found their way back to where the bric-a-brac stand had been smashed. A woman was now in charge, and she was just finishing the cleaning away of the wreckage. Fred and Andy stood nearby watching her. Both wore a broad grin.
“What’s the matter? Couldn’t you catch Werner?” questioned Fred.
“No, he slipped us,” answered Jack, and gave the particulars.
“The police just carted Bill Glutts off in a patrol wagon,” announced Andy. “The keeper of the store, a Bohemian with an unpronounceable name, went along. He declared Glutts would have to pay the bill in full, and even th
en he wanted him put in prison for life or beheaded, or something like that.”
“Phew! In that case Glutts will get all that is coming to him!” exclaimed Randy.
“He sure will if that Bohemian has anything to do with it.”
The four boys took another look around for Werner, and then walked back to Fifth Avenue and a little later went home. Here a fine dinner awaited them.
“It’s certainly been a banner day,” remarked Fred. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”
After that two weeks passed rapidly. The boys went on a visit to Valley Brook Farm, and also met Spouter, Gif and several of their other school chums. They had a glorious Fourth of July, and then came back to New York City.
During that time Jack wrote two letters to Ruth, and received one in return. The girl stated that she felt quite well, but that her eyes were still bothering her a good deal.
“It’s too bad, Jack,” said Martha, when her brother spoke about this. “Ruth is not the one to complain. Her eyes are probably in worse shape than she is willing to admit.”
“I’m worried greatly, Martha,” he answered. “I wish I could do something for her.”
In a roundabout way the Rovers heard of what had happened to Bill Glutts. He had been locked up over night, and in the morning some relatives had come to his assistance and through paying a fine had had him released. Then Glutts and his relatives had paid for the damage done to the bric-a-brac stand, a damage amounting to nearly a hundred dollars. In the meanwhile, so far as they could ascertain, nothing further had been heard of Gabe Werner.
“Werner is evidently going to keep shady,” remarked Fred. “Perhaps we’ll never see him again.” But in this surmise the youngest Rover boy was mistaken, as later events proved.
At last came another red-letter day when the command to which the older Rovers belonged was mustered out of the United States service. Tom and Sam came in one day, and Dick the next evening.
“Now for civilian clothes once more!” announced Tom Rover. “And then I guess it will be high time for me to get back to the offices in Wall Street.”
“And I’m with you, Tom,” said Sam. “I’d rather be at my desk than on a battlefield, any day.”
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