STARTLING NEWS FROM HOME
"Here the conquering hero comes!"
"Say, but he looks like a real Lord, doesn't he?"
"Don't forget to bow to all the people you pass, Sir Tubbs!"
So the cries rang on, as the carriage and the carryall rolled away from
the Ashton depot.
"Say, look here, what does this mean?" stammered the dudish student. "I
tell you I'm no lord, or knight, or anything like that! I was over to
Paris, not London, don't you know. Weally, this is--er--very
embarrassing!" he pleaded, wildly.
"Stand up and make a speech, when you get to the campus, Willie boy!"
sang out Tom. "Give 'em something grand on high finance, or railroad
building, or cooking beans, or something like that."
"Why, Tom, weally, don't you know, I know nothing of--er--railroads,
or--er--beans. Please stop the carriage, I wish to get out. This
is--er--awful, don't you know!" fairly panted the dude. He had stood up,
but now the carriage gave a jolt and down he sat very suddenly.
On through the town and straight for the college drove the two turnouts,
the students yelling themselves hoarse. Many at Brill had been let into
the secret, and when the grounds were reached a big crowd was
congregated, to take part in the sport.
"Here they are!"
"Hurrah for Lord Tubbs!"
"How are you, Duke William Philander!"
"Do you wear the order of the Red Garter?"
"No, it's the Blue Suspender he was decorated with."
"Speech! speech!" came the cry from every side.
Then the carriage came to a halt and was immediately surrounded by a
howling mob. A few had flowers that they threw at William Philander,
while others had supplied themselves with stalks of celery, carrot and
beet tops, and similar things, which they sent forward with force and
directness.
"Here's a bouquet for you!"
"My kindest regards, Tubbs!"
"Oh, isn't it grand to be a real, live Emperor!"
"Hi, let up, will you!" fairly shrieked poor Tubbs, as the things hit
him in the head and shoulders, "Let up, I tell you! Oh, what a joke! Let
me get out of the carriage! I can't make a speech! Stop throwing at me!
Oh, my eye!" he added, as a beet top caught him in the left optic. Then,
watching his chance, he leaped from the carriage, dove like a madman
through the crowd, and rushed for one of the dormitories, quickly
disappearing from view.
"Good bye, my boy, good bye!" sang out several. And then Tom sent the
dress-suit case after him; and the fun came to an end.
"Poor William Philander, he won't forget that in a hurry!" was Dick's
comment. "Just the same, I am afraid the sport got a little too rough at
the end."
"Maybe it did," answered Tom. "If you want it, I'll speak to Tubbs and
apologize."
"I see that apology in a gold frame right now!" declared Sam, with a
laugh. "Tom, let him alone and he'll be all right."
All of the boys wondered how Tubbs would act when he showed himself.
Much to their amazement he called Tom to one side that evening and shook
hands cordially.
"It was all a mistake--this report that I had--er--been knighted, don't
you know," he lisped. "But it was very nice to get up such a reception
in my honor, Thomas, really it was--although it got a bit rough towards
the end. But I know it was meant well, and I thank you, honestly I do."
And the dudish student shook Tom's hand again.
And then, for once in his life, Tom Rover didn't know what to say. As he
afterwards admitted, he was completely "stumped." Poor, innocent Tubbs
had really thought it an honor! To Tom that was "the limit."
"I'll never really know that chap," he said to his brothers. "His head
must be filled with sawdust and punk."
"Well, let him drop now," advised Dick. "Quit your fooling, Tom, and get
at your studies. You know what I told you. We may have to leave Brill
before we anticipated. And we want to get all the learning we can."
"Have you heard anything more from dad?" demanded the fun-loving Rover
quickly.
"Yes, a letter came this evening. That business affair is in a worse
twist than ever. But dad hopes he can straighten it out. But he writes
that he isn't feeling as well as he was. If he gets sick, we'll have to
jump in--or at least I will--and take his place."
"We'll all jump in," was Sam's comment. "I'd like to do something in a
business way."
"Did dad give any particulars?" asked Tom.
"None but what we already know. He felt too ill to write much."
"Has he heard anything more of Crabtree or Sobber?"
"Nothing."
During the following week there was some excitement at Brill because of
a football game between that college and another institution of
learning. It was a gala occasion, and the Rover boys hired a
three-seated carriage and brought Dora, Nellie and Grace to the game.
Brill won the contest, and a great jubilee lasting far into the night
followed. The Rovers and the three girls had a little feast of their own
at the Ashton hotel, and on the way back to Hope the young people sang
songs, and had a good time generally. Perhaps some very sentimental
things were said--especially between Dick and Dora--but if so, who can
blame them? The placing of that engagement ring on Dora's finger by Dick
had made them both exceedingly happy.
During those days the boys took several short trips in the _Dartaway_,
once landing in the field on the Dawson farm. They sought out Dan
Murdock and asked him if he had seen anything more of Koswell and
Larkspur.
"Yes, I see 'em last week, but they got out of sight in the woods, and
I couldn't find 'em," answered the farm hand.
"Around here?" asked Dick.
"No, that was on the edge of the big woods back of Hope Seminary. I was
driving along, with some crates of eggs for the girls' college, when I
see 'em, sitting on a fallen tree, smoking cigarettes. I stopped my
hosses and spoke to 'em, and then they up and run into the woods as fast
as they could go! I looked for 'em, but I couldn't git on their track
nohow."
"What can they be doing up around Hope?" murmured Sam.
"Maybe they are sweet on some of the girls," returned Tom. "I know they
used to go up there, when they attended Brill."
"I hope, if they visit Hope, they don't speak to Dora and the others,"
said Dick, as his face clouded.
"Maybe we better warn the girls," said Sam.
"No, don't do that," said Tom. "You'd only scare them. They know Koswell
and Larkspur well enough. Don't say anything." And so the matter was
dropped.
Two days later came a special delivery letter from home that filled the
three boys with intense interest.
"Josiah Crabtree and Tad Sobber have at last shown their
hand," wrote Mr. Anderson Rover. "They have sent an unsigned
communication to me demanding fifty thousand dollars. They
give me just two weeks in which to get the money together in
cash and place it at a certain spot along the road between
our home and Oak Run. If the money is not forthcoming they
promise to blow up every building on the farm. The
communication says, 'You can pay half of this and get the
other half from your lady friends.' Which means, of course,
the Stanhopes and Lanings."
"Of all the cowardly things!" cried Tom, after listening to the above.
"Why, it's a regular sort of Black Hand communication!"
"So it is," added Sam. "What else does dad say," he went on, and Dick
continued the reading of the letter:
"At first I was inclined to treat the communication lightly
and laugh at it, but then came another letter--a mere scrawl,
stating they would give me a taste of what to expect that
night. I told the detective of this and he came to the house
and remained all night with us. About three o'clock in the
morning there was an explosion outside, and when we dressed
and ran out we found one of the chicken houses blown to
flinders by dynamite or some other explosive. About one
hundred chickens were destroyed."
"Just listen to that!" gasped Tom. "Oh, the rascals!"
"And Uncle Randolph's prize stock chickens!" murmured Sam. "That must
have made his heart ache!"
"I'll wager Aunt Martha was scared to death," added Tom. And Dick read
on:
"Of course there was great excitement, and four of us, the
detective, Ness, Pop, and myself, went after the rascals,
leaving your Uncle Randolph to look after your aunt and the
cook, both of whom were very much frightened. We hunted
around until daylight, but without success. Then we went to
the old mill in the auto, but the place was deserted. After
that I notified the local authorities, and I have hired ten
watchmen to guard the farm and every building on it. I have
also sent for two more detectives, and I am hoping that,
sooner or later, they will be able to trace the scoundrels
and run them down."
"Does he say how he is feeling?" questioned Sam, as his brother paused
in the reading of the letter.
"Yes, he says he is about the same, but that Uncle Randolph is very much
upset over the loss of his chickens and wants to know if they hadn't
better pay the money demanded."
"Oh, I hope they don't pay a cent!" cried Tom.
"So do I," added Sam. "But I don't want to see them blown up either," he
continued, seriously.
"None of us want that," said Dick. "But I'd not give them a cent--I'd be
blown up a dozen times before I'd do it!" he continued, firmly.
"Do they want us home?" asked Tom.
"No, dad says it will do no good for us to come home. He says he will
write or telegraph if anything new develops. He thinks, with the extra
watchmen on guard, and the detectives at work, Crabtree and Sobber will
get scared and leave them alone."
"I hope they do," said Sam. He heaved a deep sigh. "Gracious! it seems
to me that no sooner are we out of one trouble than we get into
another!"
"That is true."
"It's too bad--to have this piled on poor dad when he's so worried about
that business affair."
"Well, you know the old saying, 'troubles never come singly,'" answered
the older brother.
After that the three boys watched the mails anxiously for over a week.
Then came another letter from their father, in which he stated that
nothing new had developed. Then came another wait--until the day after
that set by Crabtree and Sobber for the delivery of the fifty thousand
dollars,--when Dick got a telegram, as follows:
"All quiet. Received another letter, to which I have paid no
attention. Feel almost sure the rascals have left this part
of the country. All fairly well."
"Well, that's some comfort," was Tom's comment. "I hope they have gone
away, and that we never see or hear of them again."
"Don't comfort yourself that way, Tom," answered Dick. "They are bound
to show their hand again, sooner or later. We won't be safe from them
until they are in jail."