“That hat cost me five dollars, and I don’t know where to get one like it,” growled the dudish pupil.
“Oh, I can tell you where to get a hat like that!” piped in a drawling voice. “Try the Melrose English Shop, on Broadway. They have all styles, don’t you know.”
“Good for William Philander Tubbs!” cried Dick. “He knows the directory on straw hats.”
“Huh! Think I’m going all the way to New York for a new hat?” growled Dudd Flockley. “I want one to go home in.”
“Maybe I can lend you an old one,” suggested Tom, dryly.
“I don’t want your old hat,” growled Dudd Flockley. “I’ll get a new one—and you can foot the bill!” and he turned and walked away, his face full of sourness.
“The same old Flockley,” whispered Sam to his brother. “After all we did for him, too!”
“You beware of Dudd,” put in Songbird, who was near. “He pretends to be friendly, since you put in a good word for him to the doctor, but, just the same, he has got it in for you.”
“Play ball!” called out the umpire; and then the ball was thrown down to Frank Holden, and the game went on. Tom gave one more glance in the direction of Dudd Flockley and saw that the dudish student had stopped in his walk, turned around, and was glaring at him savagely.
To my old readers the lads who have thus far taken a part in this story will need no special introduction. But for the benefit of others who have not read the former volumes in this “Rover Boys Series,” let me state that Dick, Tom and Sam Rover were three brothers, who, when at home, lived with their father, Anderson Rover, and their Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha, on a beautiful farm called Valley Brook.