A MISHAP ON THE ROAD
"Gracious! where are we going?"
"Get off my head, Randy!"
"Say, Spouter, don't sit down on Ruth that way!"
"Hi! stop the horses, somebody!" screamed Fred, and then he leaped up
and clung to the partly overturned box-sled, while Gif and another cadet
did the same.
The driver had sensed the coming of the accident, and when the box-sled
went over to one side, he had leaped to the other. Now he was standing
in the snow with the reins still in his hands and doing his best to
quiet the somewhat frightened steeds, which were plunging into each
other in anything but an orderly fashion.
Down in the gully the girls and the cadets were having an exciting time
of it. Some of the party had plunged almost head first into the snow.
"Come on, boys, help the girls all you can!" came from Jack, as he
managed, though not without considerable effort, to bring Ruth to her
feet.
Fred and Randy were already assisting May to arise, and soon the other
girls and boys were doing what they could to scramble through the deep
snow toward the highway. Here there was a slippery slope of several
feet.
Jack was the first boy up, and Randy came behind him. Then, while the
two Rovers, assisted by Spouter, held fast to each other, they pulled up
one girl after another. In the meanwhile, the other cadets made
something of a chain, and soon all stood at the spot where the box-sled
had overturned.
"All here?" queried Gif.
"I guess so," answered Spouter, knocking some snow from his cap.
The driver of the box-sled, assisted by several of the cadets, had
managed to quiet the horses, some of which were inclined to bolt. The
box-sled was all right, and the boys picked up what they could of the
dry straw, and also shook out and replaced the robes.
"Oh, my, what a dreadful experience!" remarked Annie Larkins.
"Oh, I don't know that it was so very dreadful," returned Ruth. "No one
was hurt."
"But we might have been," added Jennie Mason.
"Oh, I thought it was fun," laughed Ruth.
"It was the fault of that auto," grumbled the liveryman, thinking he had
to defend himself. "He crowded me too close to the edge of the gully."
"That's just what he did!" cried Fatty. "The fellow who was driving that
car ought to be arrested."
"Did you get his number, Fatty?" questioned Fred.
"Get his number? I didn't have time to get anything. He just slid by,
and the next thing I knew, I was turning a somersault in the air and
diving right down into the bottom of that hole;" and at this remark the
other cadets had to smile.
The cadets assisted the girls back into the box-sled, and then they
moved off once more, Jack and Gif both cautioning the driver to be
careful.
Now that the danger was past, the young folks soon recovered from their
scare, and then, to put all in a better humor, Andy started another
school song, in which all joined lustily. Thus they soon rolled into
town, and a little later came up to the entrance of the Clearwater
grounds.
"I've had a perfectly splendid time, in spite of that little mishap,"
declared Ruth, as she bid Jack good-bye.
"We couldn't have had a nicer afternoon," said May. "You can come
around with your box-sled just as often as you please;" and she smiled
mischievously, in a way that set Fred's heart to bounding.
As it was growing late, the boys had scant time in which to bid the
girls good-bye. Soon they were on the way to Colby Hall, and they told
the driver to hurry as much as possible.
"If we're late and Asa Lemm finds it out, he'll certainly punish us in
some way," was Randy's comment.
"Well, we're in luck for once," announced Gif. "I heard old Lemon say
that he was going away right after lunch and wouldn't be back until
to-morrow."
"It seems to me he has been spending quite some time away lately,"
remarked Spouter. "Not but what I'm perfectly willing that he should
absent himself at every possible opportunity. The institution of
learning can very well dispense with the services of such an individual
as Professor Asa Lemm."
"A little long-winded, Spouter, but you hit the nail on the head,"
answered Fred. "Old Lemon could quit for good, and I doubt if any of us
would shed a tear."
Although the cadets were half an hour late, neither Colonel Colby nor
any of the professors who saw them found any fault, and for this they
were thankful.
As soon as he had an opportunity to do so, Jack told his cousins about
what Ruth had said regarding old Barney Stevenson. They listened to his
recital with keen interest.
"He certainly must be a queer stick," was Randy's comment. "Just the
same, I'd like to go to Snowshoe Island and visit him."
"Yes, and try the hunting around that neighborhood," added Fred.
"According to what that Bill Hobson said, Uncle Barney, as they call
him, must be quite a hunter, as well as a lumberman."
"I'd like to have the chance to talk with him," resumed Jack. "From the
way Ruth spoke, I'm quite sure her folks are very much put out over the
way he is acting."
"I'll tell you what!" put in Andy, "we're going to have an extra long
Christmas holiday, and we might get a chance to go over to Snowshoe
Island hunting at that time."
"How do you know the holiday is going to be extra long?" queried Fred.
"I heard Professor Brice saying so. It seems they have got to fix some
part of the heating plant, which is pretty well worn out, and the
furnace man said it would take longer than at first expected. So,
instead of closing up for ten days or two weeks at Christmas, they are
going to shut down for about three weeks."
"Three weeks! That will give us a nice holiday at home and give us a
chance for an outing in the bargain," cried Jack.
Late that evening Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell put in an appearance
and were closeted with Colonel Colby for the best part of half an hour.
What was said by the master of Colby Hall the other cadets did not
learn, but the two new arrivals looked exceedingly meek when they went
up to their former rooms. On the following day they met the Rovers, but
paid no attention whatever to them.
"Maybe they are going to give us the cold shoulder," remarked Fred.
"Well, that won't hurt me," answered Jack.
Several days went by, and the Rover boys applied themselves closely to
their studies, realizing that before long the examinations previous, to
the Christmas holidays would take place. They did very well in their
recitations, and got along nicely with all the professors except Asa
Lemm.
"There is no use of talking--I can't get along with that man!" said Andy
one afternoon. He was almost in despair. "If I hadn't just shut my mouth
hard when old Lemon lectured me, there would have been an explosion, and
I'd have told him just exactly what I think of him--and it wouldn't
have been anything that he would want to hear."
"Gif was telling me that Lemm is getting more and more anxious about
some of that money he lost years ago."
"Maybe he thought he saw a chance of getting it back, and now it is
slipping away from him again, and that is making him more sour than
ever," suggested Randy.
"I don't care what is making him so sour--he needn't take it out of me,"
retorted his twin.
There had been another slight fall of snow, and on Thursday afternoon
the cadets of Colby Hall organized a grand snowball match. A fort was
built on the top of a little hill in the vicinity, and one crowd of
cadets defended this, while the others made an attack. The school flag
was hoisted over the fort, and the battle raged furiously for over an
hour. Major Ralph Mason was in charge of the fort defenders, while the
Rover boys, along with half of the school cadets, composed the attacking
party. The fort was captured only after a terrific bombardment with
snowballs, and it was Jack who had the pleasure of hauling down the
flag.
"Some fight that!" remarked Fred, after the contest was over.
"Almost like a real battle," said Randy. "Just look at my left ear, will
you?" and he pointed to that member, which was much swollen. "Got hit
there twice--with regular soakers, too."
"Well, that's part of the game, Randy," remarked Jack. He had been hit
half a dozen times, but had not minded it in the least.
On the following afternoon the Rover boys visited a long hill in that
vicinity, which a number of the cadets were using for coasting purposes.
With money sent to them by Jack's father, they had purchased a fine
bobsled, and on this they took numerous rides, along with several of
their chums.
There were two ways of going down the hill. One was in the direction of
Haven Point, and the other wound around a second smaller hill and ended
in the pasture lot of an old farmer. This farmer was an Irishman named
Mike O'Toole, a pleasant enough individual, who had often given the boys
rides on his farm wagon, and who was not averse to selling them fruit,
and also milk, when they desired it. He was such a good-natured old man
that very few of the cadets ever thought to molest his orchard.
"Say, I've got an idea!" cried Andy suddenly, when he and the other
Rovers were riding down into O'Toole's pasture. "Let's go down and have
a look at the old man's goats," and he winked knowingly at his twin.
O'Toole had once lived in the city, and there had been the proud
possessor of several goats, which he had used in one of the public
parks, where they were attached to little wagons in which the children
could ride for ten cents per person. O'Toole had brought his goats to
the farm with him, and treated them with as much affection as if they
were members of his family.
"What have you go up your sleeve, Andy?" questioned Fred, as they got
off the bobsled and dragged it behind them toward Mike O'Toole's house.
The old Irish farmer and his wife lived alone, having no children and no
hired help.
"Oh, I thought we might hire a goat or two to pull the bobsled," was the
easy answer.
"To pull the bobsled?"
"To be sure. If those goats can pull wagons, they can certainly pull
sleds, too. Then, I thought if we could get the goats to pull us all the
way to Colby Hall, it wouldn't be any more than fair to take the goats
in out of the cold and treat 'em nicely."
"Oh, I see!" cried Randy, who was listening to his twin's talk. "For
instance, we might take the goats into the Hall and up to Professor
Lemm's room, eh?"
"You've caught the idea, Randy. What do you think of it?"
"Fine! Couldn't be better!" chuckled the other.
"What's this talk about taking O'Toole's goats to Colby Hall?" demanded
Jack.
"Oh, we were thinking Professor Lemm would like to see the goats."
The oldest Rover boy looked stern for an instant, but then his mouth
relaxed and he broke into a broad grin.
"Of course, we'll have to be careful how we get the goats into the
Hall," he began.
"Hurrah! I knew it would hit you just right, Jack!" cried Andy, slapping
his cousin on the shoulder. "Just you wait--we'll make old Lemon sit up
and take notice this time!"
"But mum's the word--remember that," cautioned Randy. "If he ever caught
us, well--good-night!"