There was a great celebration on the Rockledge campus that night in honor of the victory. Rules were relaxed and the boys were allowed to do just about as they chose. A great heap of boxes and barrels had been piled up to a height of a dozen feet or more, saturated with oil and set on fire, while the jubilant Rockledge boys did a snake dance around the blazing pile. Even Pee Wee danced, and when that animated mountain so far forgot his natural laziness as to indulge in dancing it was positive proof that the occasion was worth it.
Bobby had been accorded the honor of setting the torch to the pile in recognition of the part he had played in the winning of the pennant, but when in addition he was called on for a speech he, blushing furiously, took refuge behind his comrades, and Billy, who had no scruples against being in the limelight, took his place and regaled the crowd with some of his choicest jokes.
It was late when the flames at last died down and the tired but happy boys agreed to call it a day and sought the beds that beckoned them.
The baseball game had practically marked the ending of the school term, though one or two of the final examinations still remained. These, however, had no terror for Bobby and Fred, who came through them with flying colors. Then nothing remained but to pack up and make ready for home and the long glorious summer vacation to which they had been looking forward for so long.
It was a hilarious crowd that finally bade farewell to Rockledge School. Skeets, Shiner, Mouser and Billy were to accompany Bobby and Fred for a part of the way, though the first two were to separate from their comrades at a junction a little way down the line.
If a dark shadow, dangerous and menacing, was hanging over some of the party, they were blissfully unconscious of it. Life ran strong in their veins and the future seemed to be made up of sunshine and roses. They laughed, wrestled and frolicked, as full of vim and spirit as so many young colts turned out to pasture.
Almost before they knew it, the junction was reached and they got off on the platform. The train that Skeets and Shiner were to take was already waiting, and they had barely time to scramble aboard with shouted farewells to their comrades.
When Fred and Bobby consulted the station agent they learned that there had been a change in the schedule and that the train they had expected to take had left an hour before. There would not be another one on that branch until nearly dark. This was somewhat disconcerting, as they had counted on being home in time for supper and now found themselves faced by the prospect of having to spend the long summer afternoon at this forlorn little junction, where there was absolutely nothing that promised amusement.
As they came out of the station to impart this information to their friends, they found Mouser and Billy standing spellbound before some gorgeous circus posters that had been plastered on the side of an old barn at the far end of the platform.
There was the usual “unparalleled aggregation of matchless, magnificent marvels, gathered together at vast expense from all quarters of the habitable globe,” the wonderful trapezists and acrobats in their “stupendous, death-defying leaps,” the “peerless queen of bareback riders on her milk-white Arabian steed,” the glorious procession of daring knights and fair ladies in the tournament of love and beauty and all the other features that maintain their thrall and witchery for the young.