The Rover Boys on the Farm; or, Last Days at Putnam Hall
snowball began to turn over. "I'll be killed! Oh, dear, I think you did
this a-purpose, you rascals!"
"Never!" came back promptly.
"Enjoy the ride while you have the chance, Peleg!"
"You've got a free ticket to the bottom of the hill!"
"Let me out! Stop her!" yelled Snuggers, and they saw his feet at one
end of the big snowball and his hands at the other. "I can't stand
rollin', nohow!"
"You're not standing," called Sam. "You are just rolling."
Away went the big snowball, down the long hill, and the cadets after it.
As it progressed it grew larger and larger. They saw Peleg Snuggers
shove out his head from one end, and the head went around and around
like a top.
"I guess he'll be rather dizzy when the trip's ended," observed
Songbird.
At last the snowball came to a stop in a stretch of meadow land. The
students rushed up just in time to see Peleg Snuggers crawl out on his
hands and knees. When he arose he staggered around as if intoxicated.
"Say, you young villains!" he gasped, and then had to stop to catch his
breath.
"Oh, Peleg, why did you run away with our snowball?" asked Tom,
innocently.
"It was a mean thing to do," put in Dick.
"We wanted some fun with that ball," added Sam.
"I--run--off--with the--the snowball?" gasped the general utility man.
"I want you to know----"
"Oh, we know all about it," interrupted Tom. "I know what's the matter.
You've been drinking, and didn't know what you were doing."
"Perhaps we had better report this to Captain Putnam," said Larry.
"Drinking isn't allowed around here, you know."
"I hain't drunk a drop--it's the rollin' as made me dizzy," roared Peleg
Snuggers. "Oh, dear, I can't stand straight," and he bumped up against
the big snowball and sat down in a heap.
"I'll tell you what I think you ought to do," proceeded Tom, calmly. "I
think you ought to roll our snowball back up the hill for us."
"Roll it back?" snorted Snuggers. "Why, four hosses couldn't pull that
weight o' snow up the hill! I ain't going to tech the snowball."
"Then at least pay us for the ride you've had," suggested Sam.
"I ain't goin' to do that nuther! It's a trick that's what it is!"
growled the general utility man, and arose unsteadily. "I'll be sick for
a week after this, I know I will!"
"Never mind," said Dick, soothingly. "Just get Mrs. Green to give you a
dose of pink Whirl Around Pills, and you'll be all right again."
"I shan't never come out to this hill again, not fer nobody," grumbled
the general utility man, and walked off. Then he turned to gaze at the
cadets. "You do anything like that again an' I'll tell Captain Putnam on
ye, see if I don't. I ain't going to be no merry-go-'round, or spinnin'
top fer nobody!" And then he hurried for the stables and disappeared.
CHAPTER XXIII
HOLIDAYS AT THE FARM
Almost before they knew it, the mid-winter holidays were at hand, and
the Rover boys went home to enjoy Christmas and New Year. On their way
they stopped at several stores in Ithaca, where they purchased a number
of Christmas presents. Some of these they mailed at the post-office.
Dick sent a nice book to Dora, and Tom and Sam sent books to Grace and
Nellie. The boys also united in the gift of a stick pin to Mrs. Stanhope
and another to Mrs. Laning, and sent Mr. Laning a necktie. Captain
Putnam was not forgotten, and they likewise remembered George Strong.
The rest of their purchases they took home, for distribution there.
A number of the other students had come as far as Ithaca with them, and
here the crowd had dinner at one of the hotels,--the same place where
Tom had once played his great joke on Josiah Crabtree.
"By the way, who knows anything about Nick Pell?" asked one of the
students, while dining.
"He has been removed to his home in the city," answered George Granbury.
"Is he better?" questioned Dick.
"They say he is better some days, but at other times he is worse. The
poison somehow affected his mind."
"What a terrible thing to happen," murmured the eldest Rover, and then
shuddered to think what might have ensued had the snake bitten him.
"Any news of Tad Sobber?" asked another cadet. He looked at each of the
others, but all shook their heads.
"It's queer where he went to," said Songbird. "Wonder if Captain Putnam
tried to communicate with his folks?"
"He has only an uncle, and the captain couldn't find him," answered
another youth who was present.
As the dinner progressed the boys warmed up, and at the conclusion they
sang several songs. Then the Rovers had to rush for their train and they
caught it just as it was pulling out of the station.
"Hullo!" cried Sam, as he dropped into a seat, and he pointed out of the
car window.
"What's up now?" queried Tom.
"I saw a fellow on the depot platform who looked like Tad Sobber!"
"Are you sure it was Sobber?" demanded Dick.
"No, I am not dead certain--but the fellow looked a good deal like Tad."
"Must have been a mistake," was Tom's comment. "What would he be doing
around Ithaca?"
"Well, he's got to stay somewhere, Tom."
"But he wouldn't stay so close to Cedarville--he'd probably go to some
big city," put in Dick.
As the train rushed on the Rover boys talked the matter over, but could
make nothing out of it.
"I suppose he is in hiding waiting to see if Nick Pell will recover,"
said Dick. "He knows that if Nick doesn't get over his trouble he'll be
liable to prosecution."
At the station at Oak Run the boys found their father awaiting them with
the big family sleigh. All piled in, and over the crisp snow they
started for Valley Brook farm.
"I need not ask how you are feeling," said Anderson Rover. "Every one of
you looks the picture of health."
"I never felt better in my life," declared Dick, and Tom and Sam said
the same.
"Has Uncle Randolph heard anything more of his traction company bonds?"
asked Tom, as they drove along.
"Not a word more," answered his father. "It is a great loss to him."
"Do you suppose the game was tried on anybody else?" asked Sam.
"We have not heard of it."
Arriving at home, the boys were warmly greeted by their uncle and their
aunt and also by the others around the house. Their aunt had a hot
supper awaiting them, and while they ate this the whole subject of the
missing bonds was thoroughly discussed. The boys learned that a private
detective was still on the trail of Merrick and Pike, but so far had
reported nothing of importance.
"I believe those rascals,--or at least Merrick--must belong around Lake
Cayuga," observed Dick. "Otherwise we shouldn't have seen Merrick in
Ithaca and up at the Stanhope place."
"I was very simple to let them get the best of me. The next time I shall
be more careful," said Randolph Rover.
The boys learned from Jack Ness that hunting in the woods back of the
farm was good, and two days before Christmas they went out with the
hired man. They went for rabbits and squirrels, and each took his
shotgun along and a substantial lunch, for they expected to be out the
greater part of the day.
It was clear, cold weather, the sun glistening brightly on the snow.
They journeyed directly for a portion of the woods they knew was a
favorite spot for rabbits, and it was not long before they started up
several.
"There they go!" cried Dick, and took aim. Bang! bang! went his gun, and
the reports of Tom's firearm followed. Three rabbits came down, and a
few minutes later Sam brought another one low.
"Four for a starter are not so bad," remarked Tom, as the game was
placed in their bags. "Even if we don't get any more we won't have to go
home empty-handed."
By noon they had made their way directly through the woods and had
eleven rabbits and three squirrels to their credit. Then Tom suggested
they build a campfire and rest while eating their lunch and this was
done.
"I wish we could bring down a fox or two," said Jack Ness. "They have
been bothering the chickens again lately--carried off two only night
before last."
"Do you know where they hang out?" asked Dick.
"I think they come from over yonder," and the hired man pointed with his
hand to the northward.
"Let us travel in that direction after dinner," suggested Sam. "Even if
we don't spot any foxes we may find as many rabbits and squirrels there
as anywhere else."
The others were willing, and half of the afternoon was spent by the four
hunters in a locality that was new to them. One fox was sighted, and
Jack Ness shot the animal in the hind quarters, and then Sam finished
him by a shot in the side.
"Well, that makes one fox less anyway," said the hired man.
They kept on, and brought down two rabbits and a wild turkey. By this
time they were pretty well tired out, and Tom suggested that they start
for home.
"It's a long tramp," he said, "and by the time we get back I guess we'll
all be ready to rest."
"As for that, I am ready to rest now," said Sam. "Tramping through the
snow is no easy task."
"Especially if a fellow's legs aren't very long," returned Dick, with a
grin.
"Well, mine are as long as they ought to be," came from Sam, promptly.
"They reach to the ground, and yours don't reach any further," and then
there was a general laugh, Jack Ness guffawing loudly.
The hired man said he knew of a short cut to the farm, and they followed
him to something of a path through the woods and then out on a trail
made years before by charcoal burners. Soon they came in sight of a
cabin, from the chimney of which the smoke was curling.
"Who lives here?" asked Dick.
"An old man named Derringham," answered Jack Ness. "He is very old and
somewhat out of his head. He makes his living by selling herbs and barks
for medicine. Years ago, so they say, he was an herb doctor, but he
didn't have a certificate, or something like that, so the authorities
drove him out of business. After that he got queer and took to the
woods."
"Let us go in and see him," said Tom, whose curiosity was aroused. He
walked boldly up to the hut and knocked loudly on the dilapidated door.
"Who is that, Pop?" he heard somebody ask, in a startled voice.
"I don't know, sir," was the answer, in the voice of an old man.
"I don't want to see anybody," went on the first speaker. "Send him
away, whoever he is."
"Go away!" cried the old man. "I don't want anybody around here."
By this time all of the party outside were at the door. Tom's face
showed that he was laboring under sudden surprise.
"Evidently the old man doesn't want visitors," was Dick's comment.
"There is somebody else in there with him," whispered Tom. "From his
voice I should say it was Bill Dangler!"
CHAPTER XXIV
A CAPTURE AND A SURPRISE
The others were much astonished by what Tom said, and they could
scarcely believe that they had heard aright.
"Bill Dangler!" cried Sam, but Tom put his hand over his brother's mouth
to silence him. Then he nodded vigorously.
"What would that freight thief be doing here?" questioned Dick, in a
whisper.
"I am sure I don't know. But I am almost certain it was Dangler's voice.
If you will remember, it has a certain shrillness to it."
"Yes, I know that."
During this talk there were murmurs in the cabin which those outside
could not understand. Then the old man came towards the door and slipped
a bolt into place.
"I want you to go away!" he said sharply. "I don't like strangers around
here."
"We won't hurt you, Mr. Derringham," said Dick. "We came to pay you a
friendly visit."
"Wouldn't you like a nice rabbit from us?" asked Tom, bound to get into
the cabin somehow.
"I have no money with which to buy rabbits."
"We'll make you a present of one," said Sam.
"I want no presents from anybody. I want you to go away," said the old
man, in a high-pitched, nervous tone.