The Rover Boys on the Farm; or, Last Days at Putnam Hall
"Hum," mused the eldest of the Rover boys. "Wonder if I can get him on
the telephone?" For a telephone line had been put up from Oak Run to the
farm.
"Why, Dick, is there anything wrong?" demanded Mrs. Rover, turning pale.
"I hope not, Aunt Martha. We'll soon know. Don't worry, please."
"Your uncle was very much disturbed when he went away."
"I am going to try to telephone to him at once," said Dick.
The telephone was on a landing of the stairs, where the bell could
readily be heard upstairs and down, and Dick lost no time in taking down
the receiver and calling up the office at Oak Run.
"I want to get the hotel at Carwell," he told the operator. "This is 685
W," he added.
"I cannot give you Carwell," was the answer.
"Why not?"
"The lightning struck down some of our poles and the line is out of
commission."
This was dismaying news and for the moment Dick was nonplussed. Then he
spoke to the operator again.
"Can you reach Farleytown?"
"Yes, but the line from Farleytown to Carwell is down, too," came over
the wire.
"Can you reach Deeming's Corners?"
"No. Can't get to Carwell in any way at all," was the decided answer,
and Dick hung up the receiver much crestfallen.
"The storm has knocked the telephone service into a cocked hat," he
explained to the others. "The only way for us to reach Carwell is to
drive there."
"Then let us do that, and right away!" cried Tom, who had been talking
to his aunt. "Uncle Randolph took those ten thousand dollars worth of
traction company bonds with him, and Aunt Martha says the bonds were
unregistered, so anybody could use them."
"Do you think somebody is going to steal the bonds?" asked the aunt.
"Two men are up to some game,--that is as much as we know," said Dick,
thinking it unwise to keep his aunt in the dark any longer. "And we know
the men are rascals," he added.
"Oh, will they--they attack your uncle?"
"I don't think they are that kind," said Sam. "I think they'll try to
get the bonds away by some slick game."
The aunt hated to see the boys go on a mission of possible peril and yet
she wanted to have her husband warned. The lads ran down to the barn and
had Jack Ness hitch up a fresh team to a buckboard. It was now growing
dark.
"Take good care of yourselves," cried Mrs. Rover, as they drove off. "If
the telephone and telegraph poles are down on the road see that you do
not run into any of them."
They were driving to the gateway of the big farm when they saw Alexander
Pop running after them, flourishing something in his hand. Aleck was a
colored man who had once worked at Putnam Hall, but who was now attached
to the Rover household.
"I was jess a-thinkin' that maybe yo' boys wasn't armed," he said. "If
yo' ain't, don't yo' want dis pistol?" And he held up a weapon he had
purchased while on the river trip with them.
"I didn't think there would be any shooting," answered Dick. "But now
you've brought it, I might as well take the pistol along," and he placed
the weapon in his pocket.
"Perhaps yo' would like to hab dis chicken along?" went on the colored
man. He delighted to be with the Rover boys on every possible occasion.
"No, the buckboard is crowded now," answered Dick. "You do what you can
to quiet Mrs. Rover."
"Yes, tell her not to worry about us," added Tom.
"And don't mention the pistol," called Sam, as the turnout moved on
again.
After leaving the vicinity of the farm, the boys had a distance of
thirteen miles to cover. Part of the road lay through the valley which
had given the farm its name, but then it ran up and over a series of
hills, and through several patches of woods. Under the trees it was
dark, and they had to slacken their speed for fear of accident.
"Danger ahead!" cried Sam presently, and Dick, who was driving, brought
the team to a halt. Across the road lay an uprooted tree.
"Can't drive around that," announced Sam, after an inspection. "And it
will be hard work dragging it out of the way."
"We'll drive over it," announced Dick. "Hold tight, if you don't want to
be bounced off."
He called to the horses, and the team moved forward slowly. They had not
been out of the stable for several days and were inclined to dance and
prance. They stepped in among the tree branches and then one animal
reared and tried to back.
"Get up there, Dan!" cried Dick. "None of that tomfoolery! Get up, I
say!"
The other horse wanted to go ahead, and he dragged his mate deeper into
the tree limbs. Then, without warning, the balky animal made a leap,
cleared the tree, and started down the road at breakneck speed.
"Look out, the team is running away!" yelled Sam, and then stopped
short, for he as well as the others were in danger of being thrown from
the buckboard.
CHAPTER V
RANDOLPH ROVER'S STORY
It was a time of peril, and all of the Rover boys realized this fully.
The buckboard was a strong one, but the road had been washed out so much
by the storm that it was very uneven, and the jouncing threatened each
moment to land one lad or another out on his head.
"Whoa! whoa!" yelled Dick, and did his best to rein in the team. But, as
mentioned before, they had not been out for several days and were
consequently fresh and inclined to keep on. Each had the bit in his
teeth, so pulling on the lines was of little avail.
"If we don't stop soon something is going to happen," was Tom's comment,
and scarcely had he spoken when they went down into a rut and Sam was
flung up and over a wheel into some brushwood. Then the team went on as
before.
The woods left behind, they came to a large open field, where the ground
was rather soft.
"Turn in here, Dick, if you can," cried Tom.
"That is what I am trying to do," answered the eldest Rover boy, pulling
on one rein with might and main.
At first the horses refused to leave the road, but at last the strain on
the one rein told and Dan swerved to the right, dragging his mate with
him. As the wheels of the buckboard sank into the soft soil of the field
the pulling became harder, and at last the horses dropped into a walk
and were then brought to a stop with ease.
"Wonder if Sam was hurt?" were Dick's first words, as he leaped to the
ground and ran to the heads of the team to quiet them.
"He went out in a hurry, that's sure," was Tom's answer. "Can you hold
them now?"
"Yes--the fire is all out of them."
"Then I'll run back and see to Sam." And Tom set off on a dog trot
toward the spot where the mishap to his younger brother had occurred. He
found Sam sitting on a rock rubbing his left wrist.
"Hurt?" he sang out, anxiously.
"This wrist is a little lame, and my knee is skinned," was the answer.
"Did they get away and throw you out?"
"No, Dick managed to stop them by turning into a soft field. It is lucky
you didn't break your neck."
"I might have if I hadn't tumbled into the bushes, Tom. Gracious, how
the buckboard did jounce up and down!"
Limping a little on account of the bruised knee, Sam followed his
brother down the road. They found Dick had led the team from the field.
He, too, was glad to learn Sam was not seriously injured.
"What's to do now?" asked Tom. "I don't like to trust that team much."
"Oh, they're tamed down now," asserted Dick. "I am sure they won't want
to run away again."
"We want to get to Carwell as soon as possible, but we don't want to do
it by breaking our necks," went on the fun-loving Rover.
Once more the three youths got on the buckboard and Dick started the
team. The fire was now all out of them, and they went along at their
regular gait. It had grown so dark the boys had to light a lantern they
had brought along.
"Listen!" said Sam presently, and held up his hand. From out of the
darkness they heard the steady chug-chug of an automobile. It seemed to
be coming toward them.
"Maybe it's the runabout with those two men!" cried Tom.
"If it is, let us try to stop them," answered Dick.
They brought the team to a halt and listened. For a few seconds the
chug-chug came closer, then it died away in the distance on their left.
"The machine must have taken to a side road," was Dick's comment.
"Yes, and we may as well go on," answered Tom.
Once more they proceeded on their way. Less than a hundred yards were
covered when they reached the side road. In the muddy roadway the tracks
of the rubber tires of the automobile were plainly to be seen.
"If we were sure they were the men we might go after them," said Sam.
"We'd not catch them with the horses," answered Dick.
"And it might be another machine," added Tom. "There are plenty of them
in Carwell."
They were now within two miles of the town and the farmhouses were
becoming more numerous. Just as they struck a paved street, Tom uttered
an exclamation:
"Here comes Uncle Randolph now!"
He pointed ahead to where a street light fell on a horse and buggy. On
the seat of the latter sat Randolph Rover, driving along contentedly.
"Hullo, Uncle Randolph!" sang out Dick, and brought the buckboard to a
halt.
"Why, Dick!" exclaimed the uncle, staring at the three boys in surprise.
"What brings you here this time of night?"
"We came to find you, Uncle Randolph," said Tom, and added: "Are your
traction company bonds safe?"
"My bonds? What do you know of my bonds?" And now the buggy halted
beside the buckboard.
"We know two men are after them," said Sam.
"Oh, I thought that was a secret," answered Mr. Rover.
"But did you see the men?" asked Dick, impatiently.
"Oh, yes, and I have had a narrow escape from being swindled," answered
the uncle, calmly.
"Oh, then you escaped," said Dick, and he and his brothers breathed a
sigh of relief.
"Yes, I escaped," answered Randolph Rover. "It was very kind of Mr.
Jardell to come to me as he did," he went on.
"Mr. Jardell?" asked Tom. "Who is he?"
"Why, the treasurer of the traction company."
"Then you haven't seen a man named Merrick and another named Pike?"
asked Sam.
"Why, no. Who are they?"
"Two rascals who were up to some game. We think they were after your
traction company bonds."
"Ha! perhaps--But no, that couldn't be," murmured Mr. Rover, wiping off
the spectacles he wore. "I--er--I really do not understand this, boys."
"Tell us what you've been doing, uncle, and then we'll tell what we
know," said Dick.
"Um! Well, you know that some time ago I invested in ten thousand
dollars worth of traction company bonds--got them through an agent in
New York."
"Yes."
"Well, about a week ago I received a private letter from Mr. Jardell, of
the traction company, stating that there was something wrong with the
bonds. Some plates had been stolen and counterfeit bonds printed."
"Yes."
"I was asked to keep quiet about the matter, for if the facts became
generally known the public would become frightened and the bonds would
go down in the stock market. Mr. Jardell said he would meet me at
Carwell and have the printer look at my bonds and find out if they were
genuine or not."
"And what did you do then?" asked Dick, who began to smell a mouse, as
the saying goes.
"I sent Mr. Jardell word I would meet him at the Carwell hotel to-day.
We met, and he and his printer, a man named Grimes, said the bonds I
possessed were counterfeits."
"And then what?"
"Of course I was very much distressed," went on Randolph Rover, calmly.
"I did not know what to do. But Mr. Jardell was very nice about it. He
said he would take the bonds and get the company to issue good ones in
their place. He gave me a receipt for them, and I am to have the good
bonds next week."
"Why should he give you good bonds for bad ones?" said Tom, who, like
Dick, was almost certain something was wrong.
"I asked that question, too, Thomas, but he said the reputation of his