BOUND FOR HOME
While the doctor was attending Ruth the others of the party arrived at
the physician's residence. They found Jack walking up and down in the
anteroom while Randy sat in a chair doing what he could to comfort his
cousin.
"What does the doctor say about Ruth?" questioned May quickly.
"He hasn't come out yet. They are in there," and Randy pointed with his
hand to the inner office.
"Oh, Jack, how do your eyes feel?" questioned Martha, coming up and
gazing earnestly at her brother.
"To tell the truth, they don't feel very good, Martha," he answered.
"But I won't mind that so much if only Ruth gets out of it."
The boys and girls sat down, some in the outer office and some on the
piazza of the doctor's residence. They had to wait nearly a quarter of
an hour before the door of the inner office opened.
"I think the young lady will feel much better by to-morrow," said Doctor
Borden, as he led Ruth forth. He had placed a new and heavier bandage
over her eyes. "I'll call at the school to see her the first thing
to-morrow morning. You need do nothing to the eyes until that time." He
looked at the other girls. "I presume you young ladies are with Miss
Stevenson?"
"We are," several of them answered.
"Then there ought not to be any trouble about getting her back to the
school in safety," and the physician smiled faintly.
"I'll get a taxicab," said Randy, and lost no time in doing so.
"I don't want to go back to the school until Jack has been taken care
of," declared Ruth. "I want to know just how bad off he is. The doctor
tells me he doesn't think my eyes will be permanently injured." She was
trying to bear up bravely, even though her eyes hurt her a good deal.
But what the doctor had put on them was gradually allaying the pain.
Jack entered the inner office, and the doctor made a thorough
examination of each eye.
"You were lucky to get off so well, Rover," he announced at the
conclusion of the examination. "I'll give you a lotion to put on
to-night before retiring, and I'll give you a treatment of it now. Then
bathe the eyes again in the morning, and I think in a day or two you
will be as well as ever."
"And what about Miss Stevenson's eyes?" questioned the young captain
anxiously.
"I can't say very much about them as yet. Of course, I didn't want to
worry her, so I did not tell her how bad it might be. Still, I'll know
more about it to-morrow morning."
This was as much as Doctor Borden would say. Jack received the treatment
and was given a small bottle filled with the lotion, and then, after
settling with the physician, he was ready to leave.
"Do you want any of us to go to the school with you?" he asked of Ruth
and the other girls.
"No, Jack; it won't do any good," answered the blindfolded girl. And as
he took her hand and pressed it warmly, she added: "Please don't worry
about me."
"But I'm going to, Ruth," he answered in a low tone. "Somehow, I feel
that your injury is my fault."
"Nonsense! It was Gabe Werner's fault entirely! That boy ought really to
be in jail! But, Jack, you are quite sure that your eyes are all right?"
she went on anxiously.
"Yes, Ruth. The doctor says that I'll be as well as ever in a day or
two. You are the only one to be worried over. I'll tell Martha to
telephone to me to-morrow just as soon as the doctor has seen you." And
so it was arranged.
Randy had obtained a large taxicab and into this all the girls crowded,
taking care, however, to make Ruth as comfortable as possible on the
rear seat. Then the girls of Clearwater Hall started for the school.
"I'll bet Miss Garwood will be surprised when she sees Ruth," was Andy's
comment, as he watched the girls riding away. Miss Garwood was the head
of the girls' school.
"Poor Ruth," murmured Fred. "What a miserable outing this has been!"
Fortunately for the cadets, they found the Colby Hall stage in town, and
all piled in and were speedily taken to the school. Here Jack and Randy
went up to their rooms, while the others reported to Colonel Colby.
"Threw pepper into Jack's eyes, did he!" said the colonel wrathfully.
"What a dastardly thing to do! I am glad that Werner is no longer a
pupil at the school. If he were I should feel it my duty to hand him
over to the authorities. You say he did not come back to Haven Point?"
"No, sir," answered Gif. "They motored over to the other side--over to
where the Hasley ammunition factory used to be located."
"I see. Then probably both he and Glutts will take good care not to show
themselves in the vicinity of Haven Point," said Colonel Colby.
And in this surmise the head of the school was correct. Long afterwards
it was learned that Werner had put the motor-boat into the hands of a
man to bring it back to the party of whom it had been hired, and then he
and Glutts had tramped three miles across the country to a railroad
station where they took a train for parts unknown.
The colonel came up to see Jack and have a look at his injured eyes, and
then sent Mrs. Crews up to the young captain to bathe his eyes with the
lotion the doctor had given him and bind them up.
"It's too bad! too bad entirely!" said Mrs. Crews, who was quite a
motherly woman. "I hope your eyes are as well as ever in a day or two."
And then she added with a twinkle in her own optics: "I suppose that is
what you get for running off with that baby carriage."
"If it is, it's a terrible price to pay, Mrs. Crews," answered Jack, and
then told her about Ruth.
"Now that's too bad entirely," said the matron of the school. "Oh, who
would want to harm a dear young lady like Miss Stevenson? It's awful how
wicked some young men are," and she shook her head dolefully.
Jack took it easy for the rest of the day, and one after another his
chums came in to sympathize with him.
"I can't understand a fellow like Werner," remarked Ned Lowe. "If he
isn't careful he'll land in prison."
"What gets me is that a fellow like Glutts keeps on tagging after him,"
put in Dan Soppinger. "Sooner or later Werner is bound to lead Glutts
into something pretty bad."
Jack passed a restless night, not only because his eyes hurt him, but
because he could not get Ruth out of his mind. What if the girl's eyes
should be permanently injured? The mere thought of such a catastrophe
horrified him.
In the morning he bathed his eyes again, as Doctor Borden had directed.
He had been excused from his classroom, and so sat around where he could
readily be called to the telephone if any message came in for him. It
was not until about eleven o'clock that his sister rang him up.
"The doctor left a few minutes ago," said Martha over the wire. "He was
with Ruth about half an hour, and gave her quite a treatment. He was
very much encouraged, and said he thought she would come around again
all right in a few days, but that she must be careful for several weeks
about how she strained her eyes or went out in the wind."
"But he really thinks she will come around all right?" questioned Jack
anxiously.
"Yes, Jack, he was almost sure of it. And, oh! I am so glad, and so are
all the other girls."
"Well, it's a great relief to me, Martha," he returned, and his voice
showed what a weight had been lifted from his mind.
After that the days to the end of the term passed quickly. There were
the usual examinations, and all of the Rovers were glad to learn that
they had passed successfully. In the meanwhile Jack's eyes continued to
mend, so that on the final day at the Hall they felt practically as good
as ever.
The young captain and Fred had gone over to Clearwater Hall, ostensibly
to call on their sisters, but in reality to find out about Ruth. She
came down to greet them, and they were surprised and delighted to find
that she no longer wore the bandage over her eyes.
"I can't go out in the strong sunlight yet, nor in the wind," said the
girl. "Nor can I do much reading or studying. But the eyes no longer
pain me, and for that I am very thankful."
"Doctor Borden says it will take a week or two before her eyes are
normal again," explained Martha. "But that isn't so bad when you
consider what might have occurred," and she gave a little shiver.
Colby Hall was to close several days before the girls' school, but the
two Rover girls had received permission to go home with their brothers.
This was the last chance Jack had of seeing Ruth, and the last chance
that Fred would have to see May, and both made the most of it.
"I'll write to you, sure, Ruth," said the young captain. "And I hope
your eyes will allow you to reply."
"Oh, I'll send you something, Jack, even if it's only a postal," was the
quick answer. "Please don't worry about me. I am sure my eyes will come
around all right sooner or later."
"If they don't I'll never forgive myself for taking you on that outing,"
said the young captain feelingly.
With the examinations at an end, the Colby Hall cadets were allowed to
do very much as they pleased, and on the last night at school there was
the usual horseplay and cutting up generally. Some boys tried to catch
Stowell, but the sneak of the school outwitted them by receiving
permission to leave the Hall twelve hours early.
"Well, good riddance to bad rubbish!" announced Fatty Hendry, when he
heard of this. "I think Colby Hall could get along very well if Stowell
stayed away for good."
"I'm sure I wouldn't worry if he did stay away," returned Walt Baxter.
"And now hurrah for little old New York!" cried Andy, on the following
morning.
"Little old New York and our dads!" added his twin.
"I wonder if they have arrived yet?" put in Fred quickly. "I don't think
so, or they would have sent us a telegram."
"Either that, or they want to surprise us when we get there," said Jack.
Their trunks had been sent on ahead, and directly after breakfast they
set to work to finish packing their suitcases. Then they went around
saying good-bye to the professors and Colonel Colby, and did not forget
"Shout" Plunger and Bob Nixon, giving the latter some tips to remember
them by.
"Off at last!" cried Fred, as the auto-stage rumbled up to take the
first crowd of boys to the railroad station. In they piled, and were
soon whirled away in the direction of Haven Point.
At the railroad station they were met by Martha and Mary. The other
girls could not come, as all had examinations that morning. Soon the
train rolled in, and the Rovers and a number of the other cadets piled
in, Jack and Fred being accompanied by their sisters.
"I'll be glad to get home again and see mother and Aunt Grace and Aunt
Nellie," remarked Martha, as she settled herself in a seat beside her
brother.
"And how about dad, Martha?" questioned Jack.
"You don't have to ask that question," she returned quickly. "You know I
am just as crazy to see him as you are. And I'm crazy to see Uncle Tom
and Uncle Sam, too."
"I'll bet they'll have some stories to tell about their doings in
France."
"Yes, indeed, Jack. Oh, how they all must have suffered! And how
thankful I am that they are coming back to us whole and hearty. Just
think if they had come back minus an arm or a leg, or frightfully
injured in some other way!"
"I have thought of that, Martha, more than once. I can tell you, when I
think of the thousands of good, strong, healthy young fellows who went
over there and gave up their lives or came back crippled, I feel that
our folks have much to be thankful for."