“Good-by, everybody!” cried our hero, as he entered the carryall sleigh. “Take good care of the school until we come back!”
“Good-by!” was the answer. “Don’t eat too much turkey while you are gone!” And then, as the sleigh rolled away from the school grounds, the lads to leave commenced to sing the favorite school song, sung to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne”:
“Oak Hall we never shall forget,
No matter where we roam;
It is the very best of schools,
To us it’s just like home!
Then give three cheers, and let them ring
Throughout this world so wide,
To let the people know that we
Elect to here abide!”
“That’s the stuff!” cried Roger, and then commenced to toot loudly on a tin horn he carried, and many others made a din.
At the depot the boys had to wait a little while. But presently the train came along and they got aboard. Dave and Ben found a seat near the middle of the car and Nat Poole sat close by them. He acted as if he wanted to talk, but the others gave him little encouragement.
“Nat has something on his mind, I’ll wager a cookie,” whispered Ben to Dave.
“Well, if he has, he need not bother us with it,” was Dave’s reply. “I am done with him—I told him that some time ago.”
The train rolled on and when near the Junction, where the boys had to change to the main line, a couple in front of Ben and Dave got up, leaving the seat vacant. At once Nat Poole took the seat, at first, however, turning it over, so that he might face the other Oak Hall students.
“I want to talk to you, Dave Porter,” he said, in a low and somewhat ugly voice. “I want you to give an account of yourself.”