There was one part of the community, however, that looked upon it with great favor.
“Now for the jolliest of sleigh-rides!” said a clique of Atherton boys. “Hurra for old Jerry Downer! We’ll make him turn out this time!”
The roads between the two places were soon well worn, and not two days after the astonished world had waked to its surprise, Samuel Ray’s best sleigh was hired, four extra sets of bells promised for the four horses, and a thoroughly organized “spree” was decided upon. 109
It was no use to ask Jerry to help them in any thing contrary to the rules; but through him they might convey to certain girls there the knowledge of their coming, and their plans for the evening. They would give Jerry a note to his sister; she would hand it to Mamie Smythe; and, once in her possession, the whole thing would take care of itself.
The bells were taken off from the horses and put carefully away in the bottom of the sleigh before it left the stable; the boys did not have it driven to the dormitories, as it did when they had a licensed ride, but met it at Wilbur’s Corner.
They had a ready reason for this, and for the absence of the bells when Jerry noticed and inquired about them. It would not do to give him the least occasion to suspect them.
It was a beautiful night, with a bright moon making the cold landscape clearer and colder. There wasn’t a young heart in either of these two educational towns that would not have leaped with joy over the pleasure of a sleigh-ride then and there.
A very merry ride the boys had as soon as they had cleared the thickly settled part of the town, breaking out into college songs, glees, snatches of wild music that the buoyant air caught up and carried on over the long reaches of the ghost-like road before them.
Jerry had a fine baritone voice, and he loved music. How he led tune after tune was a marvel and a delight. As they passed solitary farmhouses, 110 where only a light shone from a back kitchen window, the quiet people there would drop their work and listen as the sleigh dashed by.
When the party reached Montrose, Jerry was told that “while he was making his visit they would drive on, and if they were not back in time he had better go home by the train, as they knew he would not like to be out late.”