TOM HICKSLEY REAPPEARS
The housekeeper carried out the principal's order to the letter. And she
did it with the better grace because she herself was fond of the boys.
She bustled about and in a very short time, which seemed long enough,
however, to the hungry boys, had a smoking hot meal on the table. The
boys gathered around and pitched into the good things like so many
hungry wolves, while the housekeeper watched them with a genial smile on
her good-natured face.
"Some feed," pronounced Fred, with a sigh of satisfaction, when at last
they were through.
"We've had a tough day in some ways," declared Pee Wee, "but a mighty
lucky one in another. Just think of the three cooks we've come up
against. Meena for breakfast, Mrs. Wilson for dinner, and Mary here for
supper. Yum-yum!"
"Sounds as if you were a cannibal," commented Mouser, with a grin.
"Oh, Pee Wee hasn't got to that yet," mocked Fred, "but there's no
telling when he will if that appetite of his holds out."
"I'd hate to be out on a raft with Pee Wee in the middle of the ocean,
if we were short of grub," chuckled Mouser. "Just think of the hungry
looks he'd be throwing at me."
"I'd like nothing better than to have Pee Wee along," put in Bobby. "We
could live off him for a month."
The chaff flew back and forth for a while, and then the call of sleep
began to make itself felt.
Bobby yawned and reached for his watch.
"I wonder what time--" he began, and then stopped short in chagrin.
"No use, Bobby," said Mouser. "The chances are that you'll never see
that watch again."
"Maybe it's in some pawnshop by this time," was the cold comfort that
Fred had to offer.
"No loss without some gain," chimed in Pee Wee. "I won't have the
trouble of unfastening my sleeve buttons anyway."
"That's looking on the bright side of things all right," laughed Bobby.
"Come along, fellows, and let's get to bed."
There was no dissenting voice, and they made their way upstairs to the
old familiar dormitory.
This was one of the brightest and most cheerful rooms in the school and
not the least of its charm was that it commanded a splendid view of the
lake. There was ample space for the twenty beds that the room contained.
A locker stood beside each bed for the exclusive use of the occupant,
and there was a chair at the head of each bed on which the regulations
of the school demanded that clothing should be carefully folded and
arranged each night upon retiring.
Most of the boys had already arrived for the beginning of the term, and
the room was full of noise and the clatter of tongues. Later on, a
little more quiet would be insisted upon, but the regular school course
was not in full swing yet and the boys were allowed a little more
latitude than usual.
The other occupants of the room clustered instantly about Bobby and his
party, who were general favorites. They had already learned almost all
there was to be told about the adventures of the day, but they were
keenly interested in the exploits of the party during their winter
holiday in the Big Woods.
"Shiner"--the nickname that had been bestowed on Jimmy Ailshine--Howell
Purdy and "Sparrow" Bangs, had also been on that memorable trip, but as
they too had reached school but a little earlier in the day, they had
been able to tell only enough of their adventures to whet the appetite
for more. The newcomers were pleased at this, as they had feared that
all the wind would be taken out of their sails and that the trip would
be an old story when they arrived upon the scene.
"Sparrow says that you killed a big bear up in the woods," said Sam
Thompson, one of the younger boys.
"And to hear Sparrow tell it, it must have been a twenty-foot bear at
least," laughed Frank Durrock.
"No," grinned Fred. "It had only four feet, just like any other bear."
"Smarty!" Frank shot back at him.
"But it seemed like twenty feet when he reared up at us," explained
Bobby.
"He was an old sockdolager, all right," added Mouser.
"I don't want to see any bear so close again," remarked Pee Wee.
"I've seen him in my sleep once or twice since," said Fred, "and I've
waked up all in a sweat."
"Just which one of you was it that killed it?" asked Sam, his eyes as
big as saucers.
"That's something we can't tell," answered Bobby. "We all fired at it,
but I guess it was Gid Harple, the guide, who did the trick. He was a
dandy shot, all right."
"Gid's going to fix up the claws and teeth and send 'em down to us,"
said Mouser. "Then you can see for yourself just what a big fellow that
bear was."
"I heard that you had a shot at a wildcat too," put in "Skeets" Brody.
"Yes," said Fred, "and that was a fool stunt too. We didn't have much
chance of getting him, and that left our guns empty when we saw the bear
the first time. My! but we had a run for it that day. Talk about a
Marathon!"
"How did Pee Wee manage to make it?" asked Frank skeptically. "I can't
imagine him putting on speed."
"Pee Wee wasn't with us that time," explained Bobby. "The rest of the
fellows walked down to the station, but Pee Wee came behind in the
sleigh with Gid."
"I had more sense than the rest of the gang," put in Pee Wee, with a
superior air.
"I hear you got a lot of muskrats by stunning them through the ice,"
said Skeets. "How did you make out with training them, Mouser?"
"Not very well," confessed Mouser. "They're too wild. Gid said I
couldn't train 'em, and I guess he knew what he was talking about."
The finding of Pat's father in the little shack, and the story of the
hunting lodge, completely buried in the big snowslide, and the great
fight they had to get out alive were also subjects of which their
audience could not have enough. The listeners kept clamoring for more
details and still more, until in sheer self-defense the boys had to call
a halt.
"Have a heart, fellows," said Bobby. "I'm so dead tired that I can
hardly keep my eyes open."
"Yes," added Fred, "we'll have all the term to tell you about the rest
of it."
Their hearers had to be content with this, and in a few moments more the
boys had undressed and were in bed. But it is safe to say that in their
dreams that night enough bears and wildcats were seen to stock a
menagerie.
"Say, Fred," was Bobby's last remark that night, as he slipped between
the sheets, "isn't it bully to be back in the old dormitory again? Just
suppose the tramps had tied us up in that old shack while they slipped
out and left us there."
"Ugh!" shuddered Fred, as he snuggled still deeper in his bed. "It gives
me the cold shivers just to think of it."
It was a hard thing for the boys to get out of their warm beds when the
rising bell sounded the next morning. But there was no help for it, and
they washed and dressed in a hurry, cheered by the thought of breakfast
waiting for them.
Several tables were spread in the large bright dining-room. One of them
was reserved for Dr. Raymond and his family, together with the head
teachers. The boys were ranged about the others, with a junior
instructor sitting at the head of each to keep order. But his duties
were light, for the boys were so intent upon dispatching their food that
they had little time left for mischief. Each kept a wary eye on his
plate, however, for special dainties had a way sometimes of vanishing
mysteriously, and "eternal vigilance" was the price of pie.
The morning was frosty but sunny, and after they had finished their
meal, the boys lost no time in getting outdoors. There was little to be
done on the first day except to gather in the classrooms for a few
minutes and have their lessons assigned for the following day.
"Any new fellows here this term, Skeets?" Bobby asked, as the latter
strolled with him and Fred on the hard snowy path in front of the main
building.
"Two or three came in yesterday, I heard," answered Skeets, "but I've
only met one of them so far. His name's Tom Hicksley."
"What kind of fellow does he seem to be?" asked Fred.
"I don't care for him very much," replied Skeets. "That is, judging by
his looks. But you can't always tell by that. There he is now," he
added, as a boy approached them.
Fred and Bobby looked first at the newcomer and then at each other.
"My! it's the fellow we squelched for teasing the old soldier on the
train!" gasped Bobby.