CHRISTMAS AT HOME
"Well, here we are at last. I wonder if anybody will be at the station
to meet us," said Martha Rover.
"Oh, I'm sure somebody will come down," answered Mary.
The six Rovers had had a long and uneventful train ride from Haven Point
to the Grand Central Terminal, Forty-second Street, New York City. They
had had to change cars at the Junction, where some months before they
had had such fun with Mr. Asa Lemm, the discharged teacher of the Hall,
as related in detail in the volume previous to this. The train had been
crowded with passengers, but the Rovers had managed to get seats
together, much to their satisfaction; and they had also managed to get
pretty fair accommodations when it came time to go into the diner.
They had telegraphed ahead concerning their coming, and found two
chauffeurs employed by Dick Rover and Tom Rover on hand to receive them
and take charge of their baggage. Then they went out to the street,
where they found two automobiles awaiting them, one containing Jack's
mother and the other the mothers of Fred and the twins.
"Hello, Ma!" cried the young captain, as he rushed forward to embrace
his parent. "How are you? You are looking pretty good."
"Oh, I am feeling quite fair," answered Mrs. Dick Rover with a smile.
"Home again, and glad of it!" exclaimed Fred, as he embraced his mother.
"My, my, but I'm glad that that term at the school is at an end!" cried
Andy, as he gave Mrs. Tom Rover the hug he knew she would be expecting,
a hug which was speedily duplicated by his twin. "Hope you've got a good
big dinner waiting for us. Traveling has made me hungry."
"Not but what we had a pretty good meal on the train," added his twin.
"You'll get all you want to-night," answered Mrs. Tom Rover
affectionately.
In the meantime Mary and Martha had come up and joined their parents.
There was a good deal of kissing and questioning, and while this was
going on the chauffeurs assisted the young people to their seats and
stowed away their handbaggage. There were no trunks to come, for all the
young folks had left a large part of the belongings at the schools.
There was only one thing which saddened the home-coming of the young
people, and that was the absence of their fathers. Although Jack had
said that his mother was looking well, still he had not failed to notice
that her face showed a certain paleness and some lines of care.
"Don't worry, Mother. I'm sure dad will come back all right," he said
later on, in an endeavor to comfort her.
"I am hoping so, Jack. But, oh! how I wish this awful war would come to
an end," and Mrs. Dick Rover sighed deeply.
All too quickly the next few days passed. Young folks and old folks were
busy doing their shopping for Christmas, and in addition to this, the
boys went out to purchase a number of things they thought they might
need while at the camp.
"I'm afraid we're in for it," said Randy dismally, on the afternoon
before Christmas. "This looks like a regular blizzard."
It certainly did look like a blizzard, with the snow coming down thickly
and the wind blowing it first in one direction then in another. By
nightfall the streets were almost impassable, and in the morning traffic
along Riverside Drive was practically suspended.
"Merry Christmas!" shouted Randy, who was the first to get up.
"Merry Christmas!" replied Andy. "And how do you like to live at the
North Pole?" he added, as he glanced out of the window at the
storm-bound street and the river and the Palisades beyond.
There was a grand reunion of the three families in the Dick Rover
residence, and presents were exchanged all around. The boys had
purchased a number of small but appropriate gifts for their mothers and
the two girls, and also for the various servants of the families. In
return they received a number of gifts, both useful and ornamental,
including gold-mounted stylographic pens, which each one had desired,
and also some new hockey skates and story books.
Martha had knit a bright sweater for her brother, and Mary had done the
same for Fred, and the girls between them had likewise knit sweaters for
the twins.
"We sure are the lucky kids," remarked Andy, when all of them were
looking over their gifts. "This sweater suits me to a T. And, my! just
wait until I get on those hockey skates. There won't be a thing in New
York or on Clearwater Lake that will beat me."
"I see you doing some tall skating to-day," replied his twin, with a
grin. "What you will need is a snow shovel if you want to get anywhere."
The storm kept up until noon of Christmas, and then cleared away almost
as rapidly as it had come, the night being clear and cold, with a
beautiful moon and twinkling stars shining from above.
"I hope it stays clear so that May and Ruth will have a chance to come
down," remarked Fred during the course of the afternoon.
"I guess we all hope that," answered Jack.
With so much to think of in connection with their proposed trip to Cedar
Lodge, the Rover boys put in a busy time all of that day and part of the
next. Then they went down to the Grand Central Terminal with the girls
to meet the expected visitors.
"There they are!" cried Martha, after the long train had rolled into the
station. And a moment later she and Ruth were in each other's arms,
while Mary was embracing May. Then the boys shook hands, and all drove
away to the Rover residences.
"Did you get that picture for me, Ruth?" questioned Jack, as soon as he
could get a chance to speak to the girl in private.
"Oh, you don't want any picture," she declared mischievously.
"Aw, come now," he pleaded, "don't try to put me off that way. You know
what you promised."
"Well, can't you wait until we get to the house?"
"Oh, sure! But I wanted to make certain that you had brought the picture
along."
"You'll be scared when you see it," declared Ruth. "I look a perfect
fright. The man snapped the picture before I was half ready."
But later on, when Jack received the gift, he declared that the picture
was a very good one indeed, although it did not look half as pretty as
Ruth did herself. The two had quite a little fun over the picture, and
then Jack placed it in his pocket.
"Now you've got it, what are you going to do with it?" questioned Ruth
curiously.
"I'm going to carry it right here," he declared, for he had it in an
inside pocket over his heart.
"Oh, you big goose!" cried Ruth, but then she blushed and looked pleased
nevertheless.
It was announced that part of the lake in Central Park had been scraped
clear of the snow, and the following day the young folks went skating
and had a most glorious time. Then in the evening all attended a
theatrical performance at one of the leading theaters.
"Oh, my! but I am having a splendid time," said Ruth to Martha.
"It's too bad the boys are going away," was the answer. "But I don't
blame them for wanting to go on a hunt. If I were a boy I'd like to go
on a hunt myself."
On the following morning came a letter from Dick Rover, stating that
matters were still somewhat quiet in the sector in France where they
were located, but that word was being passed around that they were to
make an advance in the near future.
"Hurrah! I guess they'll show those Huns what Americans can do," cried
Jack.
"Oh, I dread to think of their going into battle!" said his mother.
"Ma, while we are away don't forget to send us any news that may come
in," said Jack quickly. "You can telegraph to Timminsport, and we will
leave word there at the telegraph office so that any important message
will be delivered to us."
"I'll certainly do that, Jack." And later on Mrs. Tom Rover and Mrs. Sam
Rover promised to do the same thing.
"There is no telling what may happen to our dads if they get into a
regular first-class battle," remarked Fred, that night when the four
boys were holding a little conference among themselves.
"Well, we've got to take what comes," returned Randy briefly. "However,
I'll be as much worried as ma until this war is at an end or until our
dads come home."
The boys had looked over their traps with care and examined their rifles
and shotguns, and had even gone down into the cellar of one of their
residences to try out the weapons to make certain that they were in
working order.
With a shotgun in his hand Andy wanted to have some fun with one of the
servant girls, but Randy quickly stopped him.
"Nothing doing, Andy," he said. "You'll only make ma nervous, and she is
nervous enough already, thinking about dad. You save your tomfoolery
until we are on the way or up at the camp."
At length came the time for the boys to take their departure. Jack hated
to think of running away from Ruth, and Fred was equally sorry to leave
May Powell behind, yet the thought of what was ahead brightened all of
the lads considerably.
"We ought to have the time of our lives," declared Fred. "That is, if
hunting is half as good as Gif Garrison said it was."
"And if I can get that silver fox," added Jack.
"Nothing but a moose for me," declared Randy. "Either a moose or a
six-legged jack rabbit."
"Wouldn't you like to shoot a bear that weighed about a thousand
pounds?" questioned Jack.
"And lug the carcass to camp yourself?" came from Fred.
"Speaking about carrying a thousand-pound bear puts me in mind of
something," cried Randy quickly. "A fellow was telling me of a man here
in the city who carried twelve hundred pounds."
"Twelve hundred pounds!" exclaimed his twin. "It can't be done."
"Why, that's more than a half a ton!" said Jack incredulously.
"Never mind, the fellow carried the twelve hundred pounds," went on
Randy. "A whole lot of people saw him do it."
"Where was this?" questioned Fred.
"It was down at one of the Broadway banks," answered Randy innocently.
"The fellow was an English army officer. He had twelve hundred pounds in
English money that he was exchanging for good old U. S. A. coin."
"Fooled!" cried Fred, and this was followed by a general laugh.