The Rover Boys on the Farm; or, Last Days at Putnam Hall
has turned over a new leaf, I wish him the best of luck."
Almost before they knew it, it was time to leave the farm and journey to
Putnam Hall. Everybody was sorry to see them go.
"I can't abide yo' boys being away nohow!" wailed Aleck Pop. "It jess
don't seem natural to have yo' gone, dat's wot it don't!"
"Oh, we'll be back some day, Aleck," answered Dick. "And if we go off on
some trip later, maybe we'll take you along."
"I most wish I was a waiter ag'in at de Hall," sighed the colored man.
"They can't spare you from here," said Sam.
"Oh, I know dat, Sam."
The boys' trunks had been packed and sent on ahead, so all they carried
with them were their dress-suit cases. Their father drove them to the
railroad station at Oak Run, and their aunt and uncle and the others
around the farm came out on the piazza to see them off.
"Now be good boys," admonished their Aunt Martha. "And take care and
don't get sick."
"And be sure and study all you can," said their Uncle Randolph.
"Remember nothing is quite so grand as learning in this world."
"Yo' keep out ob mischief!" cried Aleck Pop, shaking a warning finger at
Tom, who grinned broadly.
And then the carriage started off, and the journey to Putnam Hall was
begun.
CHAPTER IX
AT THE WILD WEST SHOW
As my old readers know, Putnam Hall was located not far from the village
of Cedarville on Cayuga Lake. To get to the school the boys had to take
a train to Ithaca and then board a little lake steamer stopping at
Cedarville and various other points along the shore.
"It seems a long time since we were at the Hall," observed Dick, as they
settled down in the train.
"And what a lot of things have happened since then!" exclaimed Sam. "I
can tell you what, we'll have a story to tell to the others, won't we?"
"I guess Songbird, Fred, and Hans Mueller have already told everything,"
returned Tom. "More than likely Songbird has concocted some verses about
it."
The run to Ithaca took several hours, and they lunched at noon in the
dining car. It was a beautiful day, and the boys enjoyed the scenery as
much as if they had never seen it before.
"I hope we can make a good connection for Cedarville," said Sam as they
left the train and started for the dock from which the _Golden Star_
made her trips on the lake. But they were doomed to disappointment, the
steamboat had had a break-down and would be delayed two hours or more.
As there was nothing to do but to wait, the boys checked their
dress-suit cases and then started for a stroll through the city. They
soon learned that a wild west show was giving an exhibition there and
consequently the place was crowded with folks from the surrounding
districts.
"I shouldn't mind going to the wild west show," observed Tom. "Do you
think we have time?"
"We could spend an hour there anyway," answered Sam.
"It depends on where the show is to be held," came from Dick.
They soon ascertained that the show grounds were not far off, and made
their way thither. The exhibition had already started, and they got
inside the big tent-like enclosure as speedily as possible.
The show was a fairly good one, and the boys thoroughly enjoyed the
trick riding by cowboys, and the fancy rifle shooting. Then came some
wild riding by real Indians.
"Almost makes a fellow feel as if he'd like to be on a horse himself,"
said Tom. He liked horseback riding very well.
"Say, I want you to look over there," said Sam, pointing to the seats
some distance away. "Do you see that man sitting near the bottom--right
beside that boy with the basket of peanuts?"
Tom and Dick looked in the direction pointed out, and the eldest Rover
gave a start.
"Sam, do you think it is the fellow called Merrick?" he exclaimed.
"Doesn't he look like it?"
"He certainly does--now you speak of it," came from Tom. "And, by the
way, don't you remember about that envelope picked up in the log cabin?
It was postmarked Ithaca."
"So it was! Perhaps this Merrick lives here."
"Let us go over and get a closer look at him," said Dick, and left his
seat, followed by the others.
There was a large crowd, so they had some difficulty in making their way
to where the man was located. In his haste, Dick bumped against a waiter
selling lemonade and spilled the contents of two glasses on the ground.
"Excuse me," he said.
"Hi! you've got to pay for the lemonade," roared the waiter, angrily.
"You pay up, you clumsy clown!"
"See here, my man, I'll pay you, but I want you to understand you can't
call me a clown," said Dick, angrily.
"Ah! go on wid yer! Pay up, see?"
"Here's your money," and Dick held out ten cents. "Now, am I a clown or
not?"
"Well, er----"
"Am I or not?" And the eldest Rover boy doubled up his fists. He knew he
must "take the bull by the horns" with such an individual as that before
him.
"Excuse me," mumbled the fellow and moved away. "I--er--suppose yer
couldn't help it."
Sam and Tom had gone ahead and they were now close to the man they took
to be Merrick.
"No mistake here!" declared Sam, as he got a good, square look at the
fellow's face.
"He sees us!" exclaimed Tom, a second later. "He is trying to get away."
The boy was right, Merrick had seen them. He was greatly amazed, for he
had not dreamed of their being in that vicinity. He left his seat in a
hurry, and, elbowing his way through the crowd, started for the entrance
to the big tent-like enclosure.
By this time Dick was coming up and Sam and Tom quickly acquainted him
with what was going on. All three of the Rovers pushed through the big
crowd after Merrick, but, before they could draw near, the rascal was
outside and running between a number of carriages and wagons standing in
that vicinity.
"Come on after him!" cried Tom. "We must capture him if we can!"
They set off on a smart run, but Merrick could run also, and fear now
lent speed to his flying feet. On and on went the swindler, with the
Rover boys less than a square behind him. Then, as they came to a number
of tall buildings, Merrick darted around a corner and out of sight.
When the Rover boys reached the corner they looked in every direction
for the man. Only a few people were about, the majority of the town
folks being at the show.
"Wonder if he went straight on, or took to some side street?" mused
Dick.
"I'll go straight on," said Sam. "Dick, you can take one side street and
Tom can take the other," and away went the youngest Rover, at a fresh
burst of speed.
Sam's advice was considered good, and soon all of the boys had
scattered. The street Tom followed was lined with tall tenements and
ended in little more than an alleyway.
Coming to another corner, Tom paused and gazed in all directions. As he
turned his head he saw a man look out from a tenement doorway. Then the
head was drawn back quickly.
"Merrick!" muttered Tom to himself, and turned back to the tenement,
which was a building four stories high. On one side was something of an
alleyway and beyond were other tenements, and the rear of a big building
used for a factory and offices.
Tom found the front door of the tenement wide open and he did not
hesitate to go in. Nobody was in sight, but he heard hasty footsteps on
the floor above.
"Merrick! you might as well give up!" he called out. "Come down here!"
"Go on about your business, young fellow!" came the reply. "If you try
to follow me you'll get the worst of it."
Undaunted by this threat, Tom mounted the stairs two steps at a time. As
he did so he heard Merrick go up a second flight and then a third.
"Must think he can hide on the roof," thought Tom. "Well, I'll corner
him if I can."
As Tom ran through the hallway on the third floor a door opened and an
old woman confronted him.
"What do yez want here?" she demanded, in strong Irish accents.
"I am after a thief," answered Tom.
"A thafe! Sure an' there's no thafe in this house."
"He just ran in here from the street."
"Bedad, is that true now? Where did he go to?"
"I don't know. How do you get to the roof?"
"Be the laddher at the back av the hall."
The old woman pointed in the direction, and Tom sped on. Soon he reached
a common wooden ladder leading to a scuttle, which was wide open. As the
youth mounted the ladder the scuttle was banged shut, almost hitting him
on the top of the head. Then he heard hasty footsteps across the roof.
"Maybe he thinks he can jump to one of the other buildings," said Tom to
himself. "Well, if he can do it, so can I."
He pushed the scuttle up with difficulty, for it was heavy. Then with
caution, for he did not want to receive a kick in the head, he gazed
around the roof of the tenement. Nobody was in sight.
With caution Tom stepped out on the roof. A number of chimneys were not
far off, and he wondered if Merrick was concealed behind them.
"I wish I had a club or something," he thought. "I'd have a tough time
of it up here, if it came to a hand-to-hand struggle."
With eyes on the alert, Tom made his way to one chimney and then
another. The swindler was not there, nor was he on the adjoining roof.
Then the youth got down on his hands and knees and looked over the edge
of the tenement, on the alleyway side. Here was an iron fire escape,
running from the fourth story to the second. On the fire escape he saw
Merrick, descending to the bottom with all possible rapidity.
CHAPTER X
JOLLY OLD SCHOOLMATES
Evidently the swindler had dropped from the roof to the upper landing of
the fire escape. He was now almost to the bottom.
"Stop!" cried Tom, but he knew the command was a useless one. At the
sound of his voice Merrick looked up and muttered something the boy
could not catch. Then he swung himself from the bottom landing of the
fire escape and dropped to the ground.
"If he can get down that way, so can I," thought Tom, and in another
moment he was descending the escape in the same fashion as the swindler
had done. As he reached the second landing of the escape he saw Merrick
turn the corner of the alleyway and disappear on the street beyond.
When Tom came out on the street he almost ran into the arms of two burly
men who had come out of the tenement. Both caught him by the arms.
"What does this mean, young fellow?" asked one, savagely. "Doing the
sneak-thief act?"
"I am after a thief," was the answer. "Did you see a man running away?"
"No, and we don't think there was a man," answered one of the tenement
dwellers.
"Well, there was a man," said Tom. "Come, if you will help me catch him
I will reward you well."
"What did he steal?"
"Some bonds worth ten thousand dollars--they belonged to my uncle,"
explained Tom, hastily.
The promise of a reward made the men attentive and they soon agreed to
assist Tom as much as possible. Then Dick and Sam came in sight, and had
to be told of what had happened.
The two men knew the tenement and factory district well, and they led in
a hunt lasting over half an hour, and a policeman was likewise called
into service.
"I've heard of that bond case," said the policeman. "I'd like to lay my
hands on Merrick."
But the hunt was a useless one, for Merrick could not be found. For
their trouble Tom gave the two men from the tenement a dollar each, with
which they had to be satisfied. The policeman promised to report the
matter at headquarters, and as there seemed to be nothing else to do,
the three Rover boys walked down to the steamboat dock, first, however,
sending a telegram to Randolph Rover, relating briefly what had
occurred.
"It's a great pity we didn't catch this Merrick," sighed Tom, when they
were steaming along the lake shore. "Perhaps we'll never see or hear of
him again."
"Well, we don't want Merrick as much as we want Uncle Randolph's