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!"