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diff --git a/39799.txt b/39799.txt deleted file mode 100644 index f4f62a5..0000000 --- a/39799.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7304 +0,0 @@ - BOBBY BLAKE AT ROCKLEDGE SCHOOL - - - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - - -Title: Bobby Blake at Rockledge School - or Winning the Medal of Honor -Author: Frank A. Warner -Release Date: June 03, 2013 [EBook #39799] -Language: English -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOBBY BLAKE AT ROCKLEDGE -SCHOOL *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - BOBBY BLAKE - - at Rockledge School - - - _By_ - FRANK A. WARNER - - _Author of_ - "BOBBY BLAKE AT BASS COVE" - "BOBBY BLAKE ON A CRUISE," Etc. - - - - WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. - RACINE, WISCONSIN - - - - - Copyright, MCMXV, by - BARSE & CO. - - - - Printed in the United States of America - - - - - CONTENTS - -CHAPTER - - I. "The Overland Limited" - II. Apples and Applethwaite Plunkit - III. Fred in Trouble - IV. An Eventful Afternoon - V. The Tale of a Scarecrow - VI. A Fish Fry and a Startling Announcement - VII. Financial Affairs - VIII. The Peep-Show - IX. Off for Rockledge - X. New Surroundings - XI. Getting Acquainted - XII. In the Dormitory - XIII. The Poguey Fight - XIV. The Honor Medal - XV. Getting Into Step - XVI. Hot Potatoes - XVII. Lost at Sea - XVIII. The Bloody Corner - XIX. The Result - XX. On the Brink of War - XXI. Give and Take - XXII. What Bobby Said - XXIII. Good News Travels Slowly - XXIV. Red Hair Stands for More Than Temper - XXV. The Winner - - - - - BOBBY BLAKE AT ROCKLEDGE SCHOOL - - - - CHAPTER I - - "THE OVERLAND LIMITED" - - -A boy of about ten, with a freckled face and fiery red hair cropped -close to his head, came doubtfully up the side porch steps of the Blake -house in Clinton and peered through the screen door at Meena, the -Swedish girl. - -Meena was tall and rawboned, with very red elbows usually well -displayed, and her straw-colored hair was bound in a tight "pug" on top -of her long, narrow head. Meena had sharp blue eyes and she could see -boys a great way off. - -"Mis' Blake--she ban gone out," said Meena, before the red-haired boy -could speak. "You vant somet'ing? No?" - -"I--I was looking for Bobby," said the visitor, stammeringly. He and -Mrs. Blake's Swedish girl were not on good terms. - -"I guess he ban gone out, too," said Meena, who did not want to be -"bothered mit boys." - -The boy looked as though he thought she was a bad guesser! Somewhere -inside the house he heard a muffled voice. It shouted: - -"Whoo! whoo! whoo-whoo-who-o-o-o!" - -The imitation of a steam whistle grew rapidly nearer. It seemed to be -descending from the roof of the house--and descending very swiftly. -Finally there came a decided bang--the landing of a pair of well-shod -feet on the rug--and the voice rang out: - -"All out! All out for last stop! All out!" - -"_That's_ Bobby," suggested the boy with the red hair, looking wistfully -into Meena's kitchen. - -"Vell!" ejaculated the girl. "You go in by the dining-room door, I -guess. You not go to trapse through my clean kitchen. Vipe your feet, -boy!" - -The boy did as he was bade, and opened the dining-room door. A steady -footstep was thumping overhead, rising into the upper regions of the -three-story house. - -The red-haired youngster knew his way about this house just as well as -he knew his own. Only he tripped over a corner of the dining-room rug -and bumped into two chairs in the darkened living-room before he reached -the front hall. - -This was wide and was lighted above by ground-glass oval windows on all -three flights of stairs. The mahogany balustrade was in a single smooth -spiral, broken by no ornament. It offered a tempting course from garret -to ground floor to any venturesome small boy. - -"All aboard!" shouted the voice overhead. - -"The Overland Limited," said the red-haired boy, grinning, and squinting -up the well. - -"Ding-dong! ding-dong! All aboard for the Overland Limited! This way! -No stop between Denver and Chicago! All aboard!" - -There was a scramble above and then the exhaust of the locomotive was -imitated in a thin, boyish treble: - -"Sh-h! sh-h! sh-h! Choo! choo! choo! Ding-dong-ding! We're off--" - -A figure a-straddle the broad banister-rail shot into view on the upper -flight. The momentum carried the boy around the first curve and to the -brink of the second pitch. Down that he sped like an arrow, and so -around to the last slant of the balustrade. - -"Next stop, Chi-ca-_go_!" yelled the boy on the rail. "All o-o-out! all -out for Chicago!" - -And then, bang! he landed upon the hall rug. - -"How'd you know the board wasn't set against you, Bobby?" demanded the -red-haired one. "You might have had a wreck." - -"Hello, Fred Martin. If I'd looked around and seen your red head, I'd -sure thought they'd flashed a danger signal on me--though the Overland -Limited is supposed to have a clear track, you know." - -Fred jumped on him for that and the two chums had a wrestling match on -the hall rug. It was, however, a good-natured bout, and soon they sat -side by side on the lower step of the first flight, panting, and grinned -at each other. - -Bobby's hair was black, and he wore it much longer than Fred. To tell -the truth, Fred had the "Riley cut," as the boys called it, so that his -hair would not attract so much attention. - -Fred had all the temper that is supposed to go with red hair. Perhaps -red-haired people only seem more quick tempered because everybody "picks -on them" so! Bobby was quite as boisterous as his chum, but he was more -cautious and had some control over his emotions. Nobody ever called -Bobby Blake a coward, however. - -He was a plump-cheeked, snub-nosed boy, with a wide, smiling mouth, -dancing brown eyes, and an active, sturdy body. Like his chum, he was -ten years old. - -"Thought you had to work all this forenoon, cleaning the back yard?" -said Bobby. "That's why I stayed home. 'Fraid some of the other -fellows would want me to go off with them, and we agreed to go to -Plunkit's Creek this afternoon, you know." - -"You bet you!" agreed Fred. "I got a dandy can of worms. Found 'em -under that pile of rubbish in the yard when I hauled it out." - -"But you haven't cleared up all that old yard so soon?" determined -Bobby, shaking his head. - -Fred grinned again. "No," he said. "I caught Buster Shea. He's a good -fellow, Buster is. I got him to do it for me, and paid him a cent, and -my ten glass agates, and two big alleys, and a whole cage-trap full o' -rats--five of them--we caught in our barn last night. He's goin' to -take 'em home and see if he can tame 'em, like Poley Smith did." - -"Huh!" snorted Bobby, "Poley's are _white_ rats. You can't tame reg'lar -rats." - -"That wasn't for me to tell him," returned Fred, briskly. "Buster -thinks he can. And, anyway, it was a good bargain without the rats. -He'll clean the yard fine." - -"Then let's get a lunch from Meena and I'll find my fish-tackle, and -we'll start at once," exclaimed Bobby, jumping up. - -"Ain't you got to see your mother first?" - -"She knows I'm going. She won't mind when I go, as long as I get back -in time for supper. And then--she ain't so particular 'bout what I do -just now," added Bobby, more slowly. - -"Jolly! I wish my mother was like that," breathed Fred, with a sigh of -longing. - -"Huh! I ain't so sure I like it," confessed Bobby. "There's somethin' -goin' on in this house, Fred." - -"What do you mean?" demanded his chum, staring at him. - -"Pa and mother are always talkin' together, and shutting the door so I -can't come in. And they look troubled all the time--I see 'em, when -they stare at me so. Something's up, and I don't know what it is." - -"Mebbe your father's lost all his money and you'll have to go down and -live in one of those shacks by the canal--like Buster Shea's folks," -exclaimed the consoling Fred Martin. - -"No. 'Tain't as bad as that, I guess. Mother's gone shopping for a lot -of new clothes to-day--I heard her tell Pa so at breakfast. So it ain't -money. It--it's just like it is before Christmas, don't you know, Fred? -When folks are hiding things around so's you won't find 'em before -Christmas morning, and joking about Santa Claus, and all that." - -"Crickey! Presents?" exclaimed Fred. "'Tain't your birthday coming, -Bob?" - -"No. I had my birthday, you know, two months ago." - -"What do you s'pose it can be, then?" - -"I haven't a notion," declared Bobby, shaking his head. "But it's -something about me. Something's going to happen me--I don't know what." - -"Bully!" shouted Fred, suddenly smiting him on the shoulder. "Do you -suppose they're going to let you go to Rockledge with me this fall?" - -"Rockledge School? No such luck," groaned Bobby. "You see, mother -won't hear of that. Your mother has a big family, Fred, and she can -spare you--" - -"Glad to get rid of me for a while, I guess," chuckled the red-haired -boy. - -"Well, my mother isn't. So I can't go to boarding school with you," -sighed Bobby. - -"Well," said the restless Fred, "let's get a move on us if we're going -to Plunkit's." - -"We must get some lunch," said Bobby, starting up once more. "Say! has -Meena got the toothache again?" - -"She didn't have her head tied up. But she's real cross," admitted -Fred. - -"She'll have the toothache if I ask for lunch, I know," grumbled Bobby. -"She always does. She says boys give her the toothache." - -Nevertheless, he led the way to the kitchen. There the tall, angular -Swede cast an unfavorable light blue eye upon them. - -"I ban jes' clean up mine kitchen," she complained. - -"We just want a lunch to take fishing, Meena," said Master Bobby, -hopefully. - -"You don't vant loonch to fish mit," declared Meena. "You use vor-rms." - -Fred giggled. He was always giggling at inopportune times. Meena -glared at him with both light blue eyes and reached for the red flannel -bandage she always kept warm back of the kitchen range. - -"I ban got toothache," she said. "I can't vool mit boys," and she -proceeded to tie the long bandage around her jaws and tied it so that -the ends--like long ears--stood right up on top of her head. - -"But you can give us just a little," begged Bobby. "We won't be back -till supper time." - -This seemed to offer some comfort to the hard-working girl, and she -mumbled an agreement, while she shuffled into the pantry to get the -lunch ready. She did not speak English very well at any time, and when -her face was tied up, it was almost impossible to understand her. - -Sometimes, if Meena became offended, she would insist upon waiting on -table with this same red bandage about her jaws--even if the family had -company to dinner! But in many ways she was invaluable to Mrs. Blake, -so the good lady bore Meena's eccentricities. - -By and by the Swedish girl appeared with a box of luncheon. The boys -dared not peek into it while they were under her eye, but they thanked -her and ran out of the house. Fred was giggling again. - -"She looks just like a rabbit--all ears--with that thing tied around her -head," he said. - -"Whoever heard of a rabbit with red ears?" scoffed Bobby. - -He was investigating the contents of the lunch box. There were nice ham -sandwiches, minced eggs with mayonnaise, cookies, jumbles, a big piece -of cheese, and two berry tarts. - -"Oh, Meena's bark is always worse than her bite," sighed Bobby, with -thanksgiving. - -"And _this_ bite is particularly nice, eh?" said Fred, grinning at his -own pun. - -"Guess we won't starve," said Bobby. - -"Besides, there is a summer apple tree right down there by the -creek--don't you know? If the apples are all yellow, you can't eat -enough to hurt you. If they are half yellow it'll take a lot to hurt -you. If they're right green and gnarly, about two means a hurry-up call -for Dr. Truman," and Fred Martin spoke with strong conviction, having -had experience in the matter. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - APPLES AND APPLETHWAITE PLUNKIT - - -Bobby found the little grape basket in which he kept his fishing-tackle -on a beam in the woodshed. Clinton was an old fashioned town, and few -people as yet owned automobiles. There were, therefore, not many -garages, but plenty of rambling woodsheds and barns. When all the barns -are done away with and there are nothing but garages left, boys will -lose half their chance for fun! - -The Blakes' shed, and the stable and barn adjoining, offered a splendid -play-place in all sorts of weather for Bobby and his friends. There -were a pair of horses and a cow in the stable, too. Michael Mulcahey was -the coachman, and he liked boys just as much as Meena, the Swedish girl, -disliked them. This fact was ever a bone of contention between the old -coachman and Meena. Otherwise Michael and Meena might have gotten -married and gone to housekeeping in the little cottage at the back of -the Blake property, facing on the rear street. - -"He ban _in_-courage them boys in their voolishness," accused Meena. -"Me, I don't vant no boys aroundt. Michael, he vould haf the house -overrun mit boys. So ve don't get married." - -Just now Michael was not at the barn. He had driven Mrs. Blake to the -neighboring city in the light carriage, on her shopping trip. Bobby and -Fred trailed through the back gate and down the lane, leaving the gate -open. Later Meena had to run out and chase the chickens out of the -tomato patch. Then she tied the red bandage in a harder knot and -prepared to show herself a martyr to her mistress when it came supper -time. - -Back of the Blake house the narrow street cut into a road that led right -out into the country. There were plenty of houses lining this road at -first, but gradually the distance between them became greater. - -Likewise the dust in the road grew deeper. It was not a way attractive -to automobiles, and it had not been oiled as were many of the Clinton -streets. - -"Let's take off our shoes and stockings and save our shoes," suggested -Fred. "We'll go in swimmin' before we come back, so we'll be all -clean." - -"Let's," agreed Bobby, and they sat down at once and accomplished the -act in a few moments. They stuffed their stockings into their shoes, -tied the laces together and slung them about their necks. The shoes -knocked against their shoulder-blades as they trotted on, their bare -feet scuffing up little clouds of dust. - -"We raise a lot of dust--just like the Overland Limited," said Bobby, -looking back. Bobby had once travelled west with his parents, and they -had come back by way of Denver. He had never forgotten his long ride in -that fast train. - -"Go ahead!" declared Fred. "_I'm_ the Empire State. You got to get up -some speed to beat _me_." - -A minute later two balloons of dust could have been seen hovering over -the road to the creek--the boys were shrouded in them. They ran, -scuffing, as hard as they could run, and kicked up an enormous cloud of -dust. - -They stopped at the stile leading into Plunkits' lower pasture. The -boys from town never went near the farmhouse. Plunkits' was a big farm, -and this end of it was not cultivated. If they went near the truck -patches, somebody would be sure to chase them. There always had been a -feud between the Clinton boys and the Plunkit family. - -But there wasn't a swimming hole anywhere around the town--or a fishing -stream--like the creek. The Plunkits really had no right to drive -anybody away from the stream, for the farm bordered only one side of it. -The city boys could go across and fish from the other side all they -wanted to. That had been long since decided. - -The best swimming hole was below the boundary of the Plunkit land, -anyway, but this path across the pasture was a short-cut. - -"If we see that Applethwaite Plunkit and his dog, what are we going to -do?" asked Fred, as they trotted along the sidehill path, white with -road dust from head to foot. - -"Nothing. But if he sees us, that's another matter," chuckled Bobby. - -"All right. You're the smart one. But what will we do?" - -"Run, if he isn't too near," said Bobby, practically. - -"And suppose he _is_ too near?" - -"Guess we'll have to run just the same," returned Bobby, thoughtfully. -"He can lick either of us, Fred. And with the dog he can lick us both -at once. That dog is real savage. He's made him so, Ap Plunkit has." - -"I bet we could pitch on Ap and fix him," said the combative Fred. - -"Now, you just keep out of trouble if you can, Fred Martin," advised -Bobby, cautiously. "You know--if you get into a fight, you'll catch it -when you get home. Your father will be sure to hear of it." - -"Well! what am I going to do if they pitch on me?" demanded Fred. - -"'Turn the other cheek,'" chuckled Bobby, "like Miss Rainey, our -Sunday-school teacher, says." - -"Huh! that's all right. A fellow's got two cheeks; but if you get a -punch in the nose, you can't turn your other nose--you haven't one! So -now!" declared the very literal and pugnacious Fred. - -Just then they came close enough to the creek to see the willows along -the hank. At the corner of the Plunkit fence there stood a big apple -tree--a "summer sweetnin'" as the country folk called it. - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" ejaculated Fred Martin. "See those apples? And -they're _yellow_!" - -"Some of them are," admitted his chum. - -"More'n half of them, I declare. Say! we're going to have a feast, Bob. -Come on!" - -Bobby grabbed him by the sleeve. "Hold on! don't go so fast, Fred," -exclaimed the brown-eyed boy. "Those apples aren't ours." - -"But they're going to be," returned Fred, grinning. - -"Now, you don't mean that," said Bobby, seriously. "You know you -mustn't climb that tree, or pick apples on _this_ side of the fence. -Here's where we crawl through. Now! lots of the limbs overhang this -other side of the fence--and there's a lot of ripe apples on the -ground." - -"Pshaw! the Plunkits would never know," complained Fred. But he -followed Bobby through the break in the pasture fence, just the same. - -Bobby was just as much fun as any boy in Clinton; Fred knew _that_. Yet -Bobby was forever "seeing consequences." He kept them both out of -trouble very often by seeing ahead. Whereas Fred, left to himself, never -would stop to think at all! - -They had come two miles and a half. Where were there ever two boys who -could walk as far as that without "walking up an appetite"? - -"My goodness me, Fred!" exclaimed Bobby, as they came to the clear-water -creek in which the pebbles and sand were plainly visible on the bottom. -"My goodness me, Fred! aren't you dreadfully hungry?" - -"I could eat the label off this tomato can--just like a goat!" declared -Fred, shaking the can which held the fishworms before his chum's face -and eyes. - -"Then let's eat before we bait a hook," suggested Bobby. "I don't care -if Meena _does_ have the toothache. She makes de-lic-ious sandwiches." - -"Scubbity-_yow_! I should say she did," agreed Fred, sitting down -cross-legged on the grass under a spreading oak that here broke the -hedge of willows bordering the stream. - -The boys soon had their mouths full. It was not yet noon, but the sun -was high in the heavens, and it twinkled down at them between the -interlacing leaves and twigs of the oak. A little breeze played with -the blades of grass. A thrush sang his heart out, swinging on a cane -across the stream. A locust whirred like a policeman's rattle in a tall -poplar a little way down the creek. In the distance a crow cawed lazily -as he winged his way across a field, early plowed for grain. - -"This is a fine place," said Bobby. "I just love the country." - -"This is the way it is at Rockledge," declared Fred, proudly. - -"How do you know? You've never been there." - -"But Sam Tillinghast, who comes to see us once in a while, went to -Rockledge before he went to college. He says Rockledge is right up on a -bluff overlooking Monatook Lake, and that a fellow can have more fun -there than a box of monkeys!" - -"I never had a box of monkeys," said Bobby, grinning, and with his mouth -full. - -"That's all right. I wish you were going," said Fred, wagging his head. -"Don't you suppose that's what's the matter at your house--what your pa -and your mother are thinking about?" - -"No," said Bobby, wagging his head, sadly. "I guess it ain't nothing as -good as going to boarding school. You see, they look so solemn when I -catch them staring at me." - -"Maybe you've done something and they are thinking of punishing you?" -suggested Fred. - -"No. I haven't done a thing. I really haven't! I'd thought of that, -and I just went back over everything I've done this vacation, and I -can't think of a thing," decided Bobby, reflectively. - -"Well, if it's something bad, you'll find out soon enough what it is," -said Fred, playing a regular Job's comforter. - -"And if it is something _good_, I suppose they'll worry me to death--or -pretty near--too, eh!" - -"Mebbe if we could find a Gypsy woman she'd tell your fortune and you'd -know," said Fred. - -"Yah! I don't believe in such stuff," declared Bobby. "You remember -that old woman that came around selling baskets last spring and wheedled -that ten cents out of you? She only told you that you were going to -cross water and have a great change on the other side." - -"Well, she knew!" exclaimed Fred, earnestly. "Didn't I fall into the -canal the very next day and have to swim across it; and you brought me a -change of clothing from home? Huh! I guess that old woman hit it about -right," declared the red-haired boy, with conviction. - -Bobby chuckled a long time over this. It amused him a great deal. He -and his chum had eaten up nearly the whole of Meena's luncheon--and she -had not been niggardly with it, either. - -"I'm going to have some of those apples," declared Fred. "Come on." - -"All right," agreed Bobby, who had no compunctions about taking the -apples on this side of the fence. He believed that the Plunkits had no -claim upon the fruit that overhung somebody else's land! That is the -usual belief of small boys in the country, whether it is legally -correct, or not. - -When the chums bit into the yellow apples on the ground they found that -almost every one had been seized by a prior claimant. Fred bit right -through a soft, white worm! - -"Oh! oh! oh!" exclaimed the red-haired boy, and ran down to the creek's -edge to rinse his mouth. "Isn't that awful?" - -"Don't bite blindly," advised Bobby, chuckling. "You were too eager." - -"I'm going to have a decent apple," declared Fred, coming back. - -He jumped up, seized one of the lower branches of the apple tree, and -scrambled up to a seat on a strong limb. Several tempting looking -"summer sweetnin's" were within his reach. He seized one, looked it all -over for blemishes and, finding none, set his teeth in it. - -"How is it?" asked Bobby, biting carefully around a wormy apple. - -"Fine," returned his chum, and tossed Bobby an apple he plucked. - -At that very moment a voice hailed them from a distance, and a dog -barked. "There's that Applethwaite Plunkit and his dog," gasped Bobby. - -"Sure it is," said Fred, turning his gaze upon the lanky boy of twelve, -or so, and the big black and brown dog that were running together across -the pasture. - -"Now we're in for it!" exclaimed Bobby, somewhat worried. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - FRED IN TROUBLE - - -Fred sat kicking his bare heels together and grinning over the fence at -the Plunkit boy and his dog. - -"Get down out of that tree--you!" exclaimed the Plunkit boy. - -"Who says so?" demanded Fred. - -"_I_ do." - -"Well, say it again," responded Master Fred, in a most tantalizing way. -"I like to hear you." - -Applethwaite Plunkit was not a nice looking boy at all. He had -perfectly white hair, but he wasn't an albino, for albinoes have -pink-rimmed eyes. His eyes were very strange looking, however, for they -were not mates. One was one color, and one was another. - -There are many such afflicted people in the world; usually they have one -gray eye and one brown one. But Ap Plunkit had one eye that was of a -sickly brown color, while the other was of a sickly green. That means -that the "whites" of his mismated eyes were yellowish in hue. - -Perhaps, because of this misfortune, the other boys plagued him, and -that had soured his temper. He was very angry with Fred. - -"Get out of that tree, you red-headed monkey!" he shouted, "or I'll set -my dog on you!" - -"I won't do it, you white-headed donkey--and your dog can't get me; not -unless he can climb a tree," added Fred, grinning again. - -"I'll come over there and knock you out of it," threatened Ap. - -"I'd like to see you do it," responded Fred, swinging his feet again. - -"I'll show you!" cried Ap, and he started for the hole in the fence. -"Come on, Rove!" he called to the dog. - -The big dog followed his master. He was part Newfoundland and would -have made a fine playmate for any boy, if he had not been trained to be -ugly with all strangers. When he got through the fence and saw Bobby -standing idly by, he growled at him. - -"Look out, Bob!" shouted Fred. "He'll bite you." - -"I'm not doing anything," said Bobby Blake. "And you had better not set -your dog on me, Plunkit." - -"You fellers are too fresh," said the farm boy. "My father says you're -not to come around here--" - -"Your father doesn't own this land, and your father doesn't own this -creek," whipped in Fred, from the branch. - -"You fellers came across our land to get here," declared Ap. - -"How do you know _that_, Mr. Smartie?" asked Fred. He had just finished -eating an apple. He threw the core at the dog and hit him on the nose. -Rover growled and then jumped up and snapped at Master Fred's bare -heels. - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" shrieked the daring Fred, kicking up his heels -excitedly. "Didn't get me that time, did you? I'm not _your_ meat." - -"You stop that, Ap," ordered Bobby. "Call off your dog." - -He had not been altogether idle. There was a heavy club of hard wood -lying nearby, and he seized it. - -"He'd better get down out of that tree or Rove will eat him up," said -Ap, boastfully. - -"Those branches overhang this land. The apples don't belong to you any -more than they do to us," said Bobby, and he thought he was quite right -in saying so. - -"Yah!" scoffed Ap. "He had to climb the tree-trunk to get there, and -the tree's on _our_ side of the fence." - -"Didn't neither, Mr. Smartie!" cried Fred, in delight. "I jumped up and -grabbed a limb, and pulled myself up. Have an apple?" and he aimed one -of the hard, green ones at Ap. - -"Don't you do that, Fred!" called up Bobby, in haste. - -"Well, then, I'll give it to the dog," said Fred, throwing the apple to -Rover. - -"You come down out of that tree, and you stop pelting my dog!" commanded -Applethwaite Plunkit. - -"Yes--I--will!" responded Fred, biting into another apple. - -"Well! I'll lick one of you, anyway!" exclaimed Ap, who had been slily -stepping nearer. - -And immediately he threw himself on Bobby. He caught the latter so -unexpectedly that he couldn't have used the club had he wished to. - -"Come on, Rove!" shrieked Ap. "Bite him, boy--bite him!" - -"You stop that!" shouted the red-haired boy in the tree. "Bobby hasn't -done a thing--" - -The dog growled and ran around the two struggling boys. Perhaps he was -looking for a chance to bite his master's antagonist. At least, it -looked so. - -Bobby Blake, although never a quarrelsome lad, was no mollycoddle. -Attacked as he had been, he struggled manfully to escape the bigger boy. -He dropped the club, but he tore off Ap's hat and flung it into the -creek. - -"Go for it, sir! After it!" he screamed, and Rover heard him and saw -the hat. That was one of the dog's accomplishments. He was a -Newfoundland, and retrieving articles from the water was right in his -line. - -He barked and bounded to the edge of the steep bank. He evidently -considered that, after all, his master and Bobby were only playing, and -this part of the play he approved of. - -The instant Bobby heard the splash of the big dog into the water, he -twisted in Ap's grasp, tripped him, and fell on top of the larger boy. - -"Oh! oh! oh!" gasped Ap. "You're hurtin' me--you're killin' me! I -can't breathe--" - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" yelled Fred, giving voice to his favorite battle-cry, -and he dropped from the apple tree, running to Bobby's help. - -But Bobby got up and released the bawling farm-boy at once. "Come on, -Fred," he said. "Let's get out o' here." - -"Why, you got the best of him!" cried Fred, in disgust. "Let's duck -him! Let's throw him in after his old dog." - -"No you don't," declared Bobby, seizing Fred's hand. "We're going to -get out while we have the chance. I only tripped him and got the dog -out of the way so you could escape." - -"Huh!" exclaimed Fred. "I didn't get as many apples as I wanted." - -"I don't care. You come on," said his chum. - -"Whoever heard of the winning side giving way like this?" grumbled the -red-haired boy. "Anyway," he added, picking up the club Bobby had lost, -"if that dog comes after us, I'll hit him." - -Bobby picked up the box containing the remainder of their luncheon, and -led the way through the bushes. The dog had come ashore, and it and Ap -Plunkit were quickly out of sight. Fred was still grumbling about -leaving the foe to claim "the best of it." - -"He'll pitch on us next time, just the same," he declared. "Why didn't -you punch him when you had him down, Bob?" - -"Aw, come on!" said his chum. "Always wanting to get into a fight. You -keep that up when you get to Rockledge School, and you'll be in hot -water all the time." - -"Shucks!" grinned Fred. "I'd like to be in _cold_ water right now. The -swimming hole isn't far away. Let's." - -"We can't go in but once--you know we can't," said Bobby. - -"Why not?" demanded Fred, quickly. - -"Because we promised our mothers we wouldn't go in but once a day this -vacation." - -"Huh! That ain't saying but what we can take off our clothes and put on -our swimming trunks, and stay in all day long." - -"That would be just as dishonest as going in two or three times, Fred," -exclaimed Bobby. "And you wouldn't do it. Besides," he added, grinning; -"you know you tried that _last_ summer, and 'member what you got for -it?" - -"You bet you!" exclaimed the red-haired one. "I got sunburned something -fierce! No. I won't do _that_ again. That's the day we built the raft -on Sanders' Pond, and oh, how I hurt! I guess I do remember, all -right." - -"No," said Bobby, after a minute. "We'll go fishing first, and then -take a swim before we go home. That'll clean us up, and make us feel -fresh. There's that old stump again, Fred. I believe there's a big -trout lives under that stump. Don't you 'member! We've seen him jump." - -"Ya-as," scoffed Fred. "But that old fellow won't jump for a worm. -He's had too many square meals this summer, don't you know? It'll take -a fancy fly, like those my Uncle Jim uses when he goes fishing, to coax -Mr. Trout out of the creek." - -"I'm going to try," said Bobby, who could be obstinate in his opinion. - -"I'll be satisfied if I catch a shiner," declared Fred. "I'll try off -that rock yonder. Come on! There's a couple of dandy fishpoles." - -Like real country boys, Bobby and Fred cut poles each time they went -fishing. No need to carry them back and forth to their homes in Clinton -and it did not take five minutes to cut and rig these poles. - -"What nice, fat worms," said Bobby, when Fred shook up the tomato can. - -"That's what the robin said," chuckled Fred. "Know what my sister, -Betty, said yesterday morning? You know it rained the night before and -the robins were picking up worms on the lawn right early--before -breakfast. - -"Bet was at the window and one fat robin picked up a worm, swallowed it, -and flew right up into a tree where he began to sing like sixty! Bet -says: - -"'Oh! that robin gives me the _squirms_; how can he sing that way when -he's all full of those crawly things?'" - -"Now hush!" ordered Bobby, the next moment. "I'm going to drop this nice -fellow right down beside that stump and see if I can coax Mr. Trout up." - -But Mr. Trout did not appear. Bobby, with exemplary patience, tried it -again and again. He changed his bait and dropped a fresh worm into the -brown, cloudy water where he believed the trout lay. - -"You're not fishing," chuckled Fred, from his station on the rock, a few -yards away. "You're just drowning worms." - -"Huh!" returned Bobby. "I don't see any medals on _you_. You haven't -caught anything." - -"But I'm going to!" whispered Fred, swiftly, and holding his pole with -sudden attention. - -Then, with a nervous jerk, he flung up the pole. Hook and sinker came -with it, and a tiny, wriggling, silver fish, about a finger long, shot -into the air. But Fred had not been careful to select his stand, and he -drove his line and fish up among the branches of a tree. - -"Now you've done it--and likely scared my trout," exclaimed Bobby. - -Fred, in his usual impulsive fashion, tried to jerk back his line. The -hook and sinker were caught around a branch. The shiner dropped off the -hook and rested in a crotch of the branch. No fish ever was transformed -into a bird so quickly since fishing was begun! - -And while Bobby laughed, and held his sides, Fred jerked at the -entangled line again and again until, stepping too far back, and pulling -too hard, the line chanced to give a foot or two, Master Fred fell -backwards and--_flop!_ into the deep pool below the rock he went! - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - AN EVENTFUL AFTERNOON - - -"On! oh! oh!--gurgle! gurgle! _blob_! Help! Give us a hand--" - -Down Master Fred went again, and, his mouth being open, he swallowed -more of the murky water of the creek than was good for him. He came up, -coughing and blowing. - -Bobby, although forced to laugh, extended the butt of his own fish pole -and Fred seized it. In half a minute he was on the bank, panting and -"blowing bubbles," as Bobby said. - -"You can laugh--" - -"I hope so," returned Bobby, turning to give his attention to his own -hook and line. "Oh!" - -Something was the matter down under that stump; the water was agitated. -The taut line pulled in Bobby's hands. - -"Oh! A bite!" cried he, picking up his pole. "Oh, Fred! I've hooked -that old trout!" - -Master Martin was too much taken up with his own affairs just then to -pay much attention. Bobby, all of a tremble (for he had never caught a -trout over a finger long), began to "play" the fish cautiously. It -seemed to be sulking down in its hole under the old stump. Bobby pulled -on the line gently. - -Meanwhile Fred, getting his breath, began to remove his saturated -garments. - -"I guess," he grunted, "we might as well go in swimming right now. Gee! -I'm wet. And these things will have to dry before I start home. Oh!" - -Bobby's line "gave" suddenly. Bobby uttered a yell, for he thought the -trout had jumped. - -Whatever was on his hook shot to the surface of the brown pool. Bobby -went over backward on the grass. The point of his pole stood straight -up, and the hook was snapped out of the water. - -There was a long, black, _squirmy_ thing on the hook. As Bobby -squealed, the eel flopped right down into his face! - -"Aw! ouch! take him off!" shouted Bobby, and flung away his pole. - -In a second the eel was so tangled in the fishline that one might have -thought it and the line had been tied into a hard knot! Fred was -rolling with laughter on the bank, his wet shirt half over his head. - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" he shrieked. "Now you got it. You laughed at _me_, -Bobby Blake. See how you get it yourself." - -Bobby began to laugh, too. He could see that the joke was, after all, -on him. - -"And that's your big trout--ho, ho!" shouted Fred. "An old eel. Kill -him with a club, Bobby. You'll never get him untangled if you don't." - -"And he'll wiggle _then_ till the sun goes down. Just like a snake," -declared Bobby, repeating a boyish superstition held infallible by the -boys of Clinton. - -"Oh, dear!" sighed Fred, at last pulling the wet shirt off. "I'm aching -for laughing. What a mess that line's in." - -"And how about your own!" demanded Bobby, on a broad grin again, and -pointing into the branches of the tree where Fred had flung his shiner. - -"We're a pair of fine fishermen--I don't think!" admitted Fred, in some -disgust. - -He got off the remainder of his wet clothing, and slipped on his trunks. - -"You might as well do the same, Bobby," he advised, while he laid his -clothing over the low bushes back from the bank of the creek, where the -sun could get at them nicely. "Look at your shirt. All slime from that -old eel." - -"I wish he'd keep still a minute," said Bobby, with some impatience. -"_What_ were eels ever made for?" - -"They're good eating, some folks think. But I'd just as lief eat -snakes." - -"Some savages eat snakes," said Bobby, trying to keep one foot on the -tail-end of the eel, and unwinding the fishline. - -But the next moment the squirmy creature wound itself up in the line -again into a harder knot than before. - -"Looks just like the worm he swallowed," chuckled Fred. "There! he's -got the hook out of his mouth. Fling him back, Bobby!" - -Bobby did so, pitching eel and line into the water. There was a flop or -two and the wriggling fish got free. Then Bobby hauled in his line and -began to rebait the hook. - -"I guess I'll try fishing somewhere else," he said. "I won't try here. -If there ever _was_ a trout under that stump, he's scared away." - -"There never was a trout where an old eel made his nest," scoffed Fred, -struggling with his own line. - -"That eel didn't belong here," announced Bobby, with confidence. "What -do you bet I don't catch a trout to-day?" - -"Never mind. I've landed _one_ fish," chuckled Fred. - -"Fish! what's it doing roosting in that tree, then!" demanded Bobby, -giggling. "It's a bird." - -Fred managed to untangle his own line, and in doing so he shook the -shiner out of the branches. - -"Catch it!" he shouted. "There it goes!" - -"Plop!" the fish went right into the pool, and with a wiggle of its tail -disappeared. - -"We're a couple of healthy fishermen," scoffed Bobby. "We land them, -and then lose them." - -"Le's go farther down stream. We've made so much noise here that we -couldn't catch anything but deaf fish--that's sure." - -Bobby was quite agreed to this, and Fred in his bathing trunks, leaving -his wet clothing to dry on the bushes, led the way along the creek bank. -Bobby followed with the can of worms. - -They found another quiet place and this time both took pains to cast -their lines where no overhanging branches would interfere with the tips -of their poles. The creek was well stocked with sunfish, yellow perch, -shiners, and small brook trout. Once--"in a dog's age," Fred's Uncle Jim -said--somebody landed a big trout out of one of the deeper holes in the -stream. - -The boys fished for an hour, and both landed perch and shiners. - -"If we get enough of them we can have a fish supper," declared Fred. - -"At home?" - -"Sure. We can clean them--" - -"Who'll cook them? Our Meena won't," declared Bobby, with confidence. - -"And I don't suppose our girl will, either. Besides, we'd have to catch -a bushel to give the crowd at our house a taste, even," for there were -five young Martins at Fred's house, besides himself, ranging from the -baby who could just toddle around, to Fred's fourteen year old sister, -Mary. There was another girl older than Fred, who was the oldest boy. - -"Just wish Michael Mulcahey would light a fire in his stove and pan them -for us," said Bobby, wistfully. "'Member, he did once!" - -"Yes. But we haven't caught enough yet." - -"Hush!" murmured Bobby. "I got another bite." - -In a minute he had landed a nice, big sunfish. He cut a birch twig then, -with a hook on the end of it, and strung his three fish. Fred did the -same for his two, and the fish were let down into the cool water, and -were thus kept alive. - -They moved farther down the creek after a bit, and tried another pool. -The strings of fish grew steadily. It looked, really, as though they -would have enough for supper--and it takes a right good number of such -little fish to make a meal for two hungry boys. - -Not that they wanted food again so soon. During the afternoon they ate -the rest of the lunch and some apples to stave off actual hunger! - -"I bet you get sunburned again," said Bobby. - -"No, I won't. I'm in the shade all the time." - -"The wind will burn as well as the sun." - -"But I'm not in and out of the water all the time, like I was that day -at Sanders' Pond. Just the same," added Fred, "I'm going into the creek -now. There's a dandy place for fish just across there." - -"There's some stepping stones below. I'll go over with you," declared -Bobby, winding up his line. - -Fred was not afraid of splashing himself. He ran across the stones laid -in the bed of the creek. Bobby came more cautiously, but he did not see -the wide grin on Fred's face as he stood on the far side and watched his -chum. - -Bobby stepped on the rock in the middle of the stream. Just as it bore -his full weight, and he had his right foot in the air, stepping to the -next dry-topped rock, the one under him rolled! - -The red-haired boy had felt that stone "joggle" when he came across but -he had leaped lightly from it. Bobby was caught unaware. - -He yelled, and tried to jump, but the stepping stone, under which the -action of the water had excavated the sand, turned clear over. -"Splash!" went Bobby into the water. - -He stood upright, but he was in a pool over his knees, and the agitated -water splashed higher. His knickerbockers were as wet as Fred's clothes -had been when he waded out. - -"Oh, oh, oh!" shouted Fred, writhing on the grass. "Aren't you clumsy? -Now you'll have to take off _your_ clothes to dry, Bobby." - -"You might have told a fellow that rock was loose," grumbled Bobby. - -"And you might have told _me_ that I was stepping off into the old creek -when I was jerking at my line," retorted Fred. "I got it worse than you -did." - -Bobby removed his trousers and wrung them out. Then he put them on -again. "They'll dry as good on me, as off," he said. "Now, come on. -Let's go up along and see if we can't get some more fish." - -They whipped the creek for half a mile up stream, and were successful -beyond their hopes. Both boys had a nice string of pan-fish when they -came to the deep swimming hole, which was only a few yards below the -corner of Plunkit's farm Sphere the apple tree stood. - -The sun was then sliding down toward the western horizon. Bobby's -trousers were pretty well dried. He put on his bathing trunks, and -followed Fred into the pool. - -Both boys were good swimmers. There was a fine rock to dive from and a -soft, sandy bottom. No danger here, and for an hour the chums had a most -delightful time. - -Then Bobby brought his own clothes across to the side of the creek where -they had begun to fish. Fred brought the fishing-tackle and the two -strings of fish. Then he trotted down the bank to get his own clothes -and their shoes and stockings. - -Bobby was half dressed when he heard his chum shouting. "Bobby! -Bobby!" shrieked the red-haired boy. - -Fearing that his chum was in trouble, Bobby started for the sound of -Fred's voice, on a hard run. - -"I'm coming, Fred! Hold on!" he shouted, as loudly as he could. - -In a few moments he came out into the open place where Fred had -carefully arranged his clothing on the low bushes. There wasn't a -garment there, and Fred came out of the brush, his face very red and -angry. - -"What's the matter?" asked Bobby. - -"Matter enough!" returned his chum. "Don't you _see_?" - -"Not--not your clothes gone?" gasped Bobby. - -"Yes they are. Every stitch. And your shoes, too. What do you think -of _that_?" - -"Why--why--Somebody's taken them?" - -"Of course somebody has. And it's your fault," said Fred, very much -provoked. "If you had helped me pitch in and lick that Ap Plunkit, he -wouldn't have dared do this." - -"Maybe--maybe he'd have licked us," stammered Bobby. - -"He'll--he'll just have to lick me when I meet up with him next time, or -else he'll take the biggest licking _he_ ever took," threatened the -wrathful Master Martin, wiping a couple of angry tears out of his eyes -with a scratched knuckle. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - THE TALE OF A SCARECROW - - -"My goodness! you can't go home that way," said Bobby Blake, faintly. - -He did not laugh at all. The situation had suddenly become tragic -instead of comic. Fred could not walk back to Clinton in his -bathing-trunks--that is, not until after dark. - -"I wish I had hold of that Ap Plunkit," repeated Fred Martin. "_He_ did -it," he added. - -"Oh, we don't know--" - -"Of course we do. He sneaked along there after us and found my clothes, -and ran away with them--every one. And your shoes and stockings, too!" - -"No he didn't, either!" cried Bobby, suddenly, staring up into the tall -tree over their heads. - -"Eh?" - -"There are the shoes and stockings--shoes, anyway," declared Bobby, -pointing. - -It was a chestnut tree above their heads. It promised a full crop of -nuts in the fall, for the green burrs starred thickly the leafy -branches. - -Whoever had disturbed the chums' possessions had climbed to the very -tip-top of the chestnut and hung the two pair of shoes far out on a -small branch. - -"That's Ap Plunkit's work--I know," declared Fred, with conviction. "He -climbs trees like a monkey. You see how long his arms are. I've seen -him go up a taller tree than this." - -"Maybe he's taken your clothes up there, too," said Bobby, going to the -trunk of the tree. - -"The mean scamp!" exclaimed Fred. "How'll we get them, Bob? I--I can't -climb that tree this way." - -"Neither can I," admitted his friend. "But wait till I run and get my -clothes on--" - -"And you'd _better_ run, too!" exclaimed Fred, suddenly, "or you won't -find the rest of _your_ clothes." - -Thus advised, Bobby Blake set out at once for the spot where he had been -dressing. There was no sign of Applethwaite Plunkit about--or of any -other marauder. Just the same, when Bobby was dressed and went down the -creek side again to Fred, he carried all their possessions with him. - -That chestnut was a hard tree for Bobby to climb--especially barefooted. -There were so many prickly burrs that had dropped into the crotches of -the limbs, and, drying, had become quite stiff and sharp. He had to -stop several times as he mounted upward to pick the thorns from his -feet. - -But he got the shoes and stockings, and, hanging them around his neck, -came down as swiftly as he could. Both boys at once sat down and put on -this part of their apparel. Fred was almost tempted to cry; but then, -he was too angry to "boo-hoo" much. - -"I'll catch that Ap Plunkit, and I'll do something to him yet," he -declared. "I'll have him arrested for stealing my clothes, anyway." - -"How can we prove he took them? We didn't see him," said Bobby, -thoughtfully. - -"Well!" - -"I tell you what," Bobby said. "Let's go up to his house and tell his -mother. We _know_ he did this, even if we didn't see him. Of course, -we got him mad first--" - -"We didn't have to get him mad," declared Fred. "He's mad all the -time." - -"Well, we plagued him. He just was getting square." - -"But such a mean trick to steal a fellow's clothes!" - -"Maybe his folks will see it that way and make Applethwaite give them -back." - -"But I can't go up there to the house with only these old tights on!" -said Fred. - -"No," and Bobby couldn't help grinning a little. "You wear my jacket." - -"And if I have lost my clothes," wailed Fred, "and have to go home this -way, my father will give it to me good! Come on!" - -"Let's each find a good club. That dog, you know," said Bobby. - -"Sure. And if we meet up with Ap, I'll be likely to use it on him, -too!" growled Fred, angrily. - -Bobby decided that it was useless to try to pacify his chum at the -moment. It seemed to relieve Fred to threaten the absent Ap Plunkit, -and it did that individual no bodily harm! - -So the boys found stout clubs and started up the bank of the creek. -Fred was feeling so badly that he did not pick more of the "summer -sweetnin's" when they came to the apple tree. - -They crawled through the hole in the boundary fence of the Plunkit Farm -and kept on up the creek-side. First they crossed the pasture, then -they climbed a tight fence and entered a big cornfield. The corn was -taller than their heads and there were acres and acres of it. It was -planted right along the edge of the creek bank, and they had to walk -between the rows. - -"If old Plunkit sees us in his corn, he'll be mad," said Fred, at last. - -"This is the nearest way to the house, and we've got to try and get your -clothes," said Bobby, firmly. - -After that, he took the lead. The nearer they approached the farmhouse, -the more Fred lagged. But suddenly, in the midst of the long cornfield, -Master Martin uttered a cry. - -"Look there, Bob!" - -"What's the matter with you? I thought it was the dog." - -"No, sir! See yonder, will you?" - -"Nothing but a scarecrow," said Bobby. - -"Yes. But it has clothes on it. I'm going to take them. I'm not going -up to that house without anything more on me than what I've got." - -Bobby began to chuckle at that. It seemed too funny for anything to rob -a scarecrow. But Fred was pushing his way through the corn toward the -absurd figure. - -Suddenly Fred uttered another yell--this time his famous warwhoop: - -"Scubbity-_yow_! I got him!" - -"You got who?" demanded Bobby, hurrying after his chum. - -"This is some o' that Ap Plunkit's doings--the mean thing! Look here!" -and he snatched the cap off the scarecrow's head of straw. - -"Why--that looks like _your_ cap, Fred," gasped Bobby. - -"And it _is_, too." - -"That--that's just the stripe of your shirt!" - -"And it is my shirt. And it's my pants, and all!" cried Fred. "I'll -get square with Ap Plunkit yet--you see if I don't. There's the old -ragged things this scarecrow wore, on the ground. And he's dressed it in -_my_ things. Oh, you wait till I catch him!" - -Meanwhile Fred was hastily tearing off the garments that certainly were -his own. They were all here. Bobby kept away from him, and laughed -silently to himself. It was really too, too funny; but he did not want -to make Fred angry with _him_. - -"Now I guess we'd better not go to the farmhouse--had we?" demanded -Bobby. - -"Let's go home," grunted Fred, very sour. "It's almost sundown." - -"All right," agreed his chum. - -"He tore my shirt, too. And we might never have found these clothes. -I'm going to get square," Fred kept muttering, as they struck right down -between the corn rows toward the distant roadside fence. - -Just as they climbed over the rails to leap into the road they were -hailed by a voice that said: - -"Hey there! what you doin' in that cornfield?" - -There was the Plunkit hopeful--otherwise Applethwaite, the white-headed -boy. He sat on the top rail near by and grinned at the two boys from -town. - -"There you are--you mean thing!" cried Fred Martin, and before Bobby -could stop him, he rushed at the bigger fellow. - -He was so quick--or Ap was so slow--that Fred seized the latter by the -ankles before he could get down from his perch. - -"Git away! I'll fix you!" shouted the farm boy. - -He kicked out, lost his balance, and Fred let him go. Ap fell backward -off the fence into the cornfield, and landed on his head and shoulders. - -He set up a terrific howl, even before he scrambled to his feet. By his -actions he did not seem to be so badly hurt. He searched around for a -stone, found it, and threw it with all his force at Fred Martin. -Fortunately he missed the town boy. - -Immediately Fred grabbed up a stone himself and poised it to fling at -his enemy. Bobby threw himself upon his chum and seized his raised arm. - -"Now you stop that, Fred!" he commanded. - -"Why shouldn't I hit him? He flung one at me," declared the angry boy. - -"I know. But he didn't hit you. And you might hit him and do him harm. -Suppose you put his eye out--or something? Come on home, Fred--don't be -a chump." - -"Aw--well," growled Fred, and threw the stone away. - -"You know you are always getting into a muss," urged Bobby, hurrying his -chum along the road toward town. "What'll you do when you go to -Rockledge--" - -"You got to go with me, Bob," declared Fred, grinning. - -"Oh! I wish they'd let me," murmured his friend. - -But as far as he could see then, no circumstances could arise that would -make such a wished for event possible. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - A FISH FRY AND A STARTLING ANNOUNCEMENT - - -They got home at early supper time, fish and all. But one look into the -kitchen assured Bobby that it was useless to expect Meena to pan their -catch for them. - -The "rabbit ears" stuck up on top of her head at a more uncompromising -angle than ever. Mr. and Mrs. Blake had not returned from town. At a -late hour Michael Mulcahey had come back with the carriage and announced -that his mistress would stay in town for dinner with Mr. Blake and they -were to be met at the 10:10 train. - -Michael had just finished cleaning the carriage and now sat with his -pipe beside the stable door. He was a long-lipped Irishman, with kindly, -twinkling eyes, and "ould counthry" whiskers that met under his chin, -giving his cleanly shaven, wind-bitten face the look of peering out -through a frame of hair. - -"'Tis a nice string of fish ye have, byes," he said. - -"And I s'pose we got to give them to the cats," complained Fred. "They -won't cook 'em at my house, and Meena's got the toothache." - -Michael grinned broadly, puffing slowly at his pipe. "Clane the fish, -byes. There's a pan jest inside the dure. Get water from the hydrant. -Have ye shar-r-rp knives?" - -"Oh, yes, Michael!" cried Bobby. - -"Scale thim fish, then. I'll start a fire in my stove. An' I've a pan. -Belike Meena, the girl, will give ye a bit of fat salt por-r-rk and some -bread. Tell her she naden't bother with supper. We'll make it -ourselves--in what th' fancy folks calls 'ally-frisco'--though _why_ so, -I _dun_-no," added Michael. - -He knocked the dottle out of his pipe and washed his hands. The boys, -meanwhile, were cleaning the little fish rapidly, and whispering -together. They were delighted with the coachman's suggestion. It was -just what they had been hoping for. Fred even forgot his "grouch" -against Applethwaite Plunkit. - -Bobby ventured to the kitchen door. Meena was just untying the red -bandage, but the moment she caught sight of him she hesitated. She may -have felt another slight twinge of "face ache." - -"Vat you vant?" she demanded. - -Bobby told her what they were going to do. Michael had his own plates, -and knives and forks. He had "bached it" a good many years before he -came to work for Bobby's father. Meena saw a long, quiet evening ahead -of her. - -"Vell," she said, ungraciously enough, for it was not her way to -acknowledge her blessings--not in public, at least. "Vell, I give you -the pork and bread. But that Michael ban spoil you boys. I vouldn't -efer marry him." - -"What did she say?" asked the coachman when Bobby returned to the room -over the harness closets in which Michael slept--and sometimes cooked. - -"She says she won't marry you because you spoil us," declared Bobby, -winking at Fred. - -"Did she now?" quoth Michael. "So she has rayfused me again--though it -wasn't just like a proposal _this_ time. Still--we'll count it so's to -make sure." - -He gravely walked to a smooth plank in the partition behind the door, -and picked up the stub of a pencil from a ledge. On this board was a -long array of pencil marks--four straight, up and down marks, and a -fifth "slantingdicular" across them. There were a great many of these -marks. - -Each of these straight, up and down, marks meant "No," and the slanting -mark meant another "No"; so that Meena's refusals of the coachman's -proposal for her hand were grouped in fives. - -"The Good Book says Jacob sarved siven years for Rachael, and then -another siven. He didn't have nawthin' on me--sorra a bit! When -Meena's said 'No' a thousan' times, she'll forgit some day an' say -'Yis.'" - -He went back to shaking the pan on the stove, in which the cubes of salt -pork were sputtering. He mixed some flour and cornmeal in a plate, with -salt and pepper. Wiping each of the little fish partly dry, he rolled -them in the mixture, and then laid them methodically in rows upon a -board. When the fat in the skillet was piping hot, he dropped in the -fish easily so as not to splash the hot fat about. Then with a fork he -turned them as they browned. - -As he forked them out of the hot fat, all brown and crispy, he laid them -on a sheet of brown paper for a bit to drain off the fat. Then the -boys' plates and his own were filled with the well fried fish. - -"There's just a mess for us," said Michael, as they sat down. "For what -we are about to rayceive make us tr-r-ruly grateful! Pass the bread, -Master Bobby. 'Tis the appetite lends sauce to the male, so they say. -Eat hearty!" - -Bobby and Fred had plenty of the "sauce" the coachman spoke of. After -the excitement and adventures of the afternoon they had much to tell -Michael, too, and the supper was a merry one. - -Fred had to go home at eight o'clock and an hour and a half later it was -Bobby's bedtime. But the house seemed very still and lonely when he had -gone to bed, and he lay a long time listening to the crickets and the -katydids, and the other night-flying insects outside the screens. - -He heard Michael drive out of the lane to go to the station and he was -still awake when the carriage returned and his father and mother came -into the house. They came quietly up stairs, whispering softly, but the -door between Bobby's room and his mother's dressing-room was ajar and he -could hear his parents talking in there. They thought him asleep, of -course. - -"But Bobby's got to be told, my dear. I have bought our tickets--as I -told you," Mr. Blake said. "We can't wait any longer." - -"Oh, dear me, John!" Bobby heard his mother say. "_Must_ we leave him -behind?" - -"My dear! we have talked it all over so many times," Mr. Blake said, -patiently. "It is a long voyage. Not so long to Para; but the -transportation up the river, to Samratam, is uncertain. Brother Bill -left the business in some confusion, I understand, and we may be obliged -to remain some months. It would not be well to take Bobby. He must go -to school. I am doubtful of the advisability of taking _you_, my -dear--" - -"You shall not go without me, John," interrupted Mrs. Blake, and Bobby -knew she was crying softly. "I would rather that we lost all the money -your brother left--" - -"There, there!" said Bobby's father, comfortingly. "You're going, my -dear. And we will leave Bobby in good hands." - -"But _whose_ hands?" cried his wife. "Meena can look after the house, -and Michael we can trust with everything else. But neither of them are -proper guardians for my boy, John." - -"I know," agreed Mr. Blake, and Bobby, lying wide awake in his bed, knew -just how troubled his father looked. He hopped out of bed and crept -softly to the door. He did not mean to be an eavesdropper, but he could -not have helped hearing what his father and mother said. - -"We have no relatives with whom to leave him," Mrs. Blake said. "And -all our friends in Clinton have plenty of children of their own and -wouldn't want to be bothered. Or else they are people who have _no_ -children and wouldn't know how to get along with Bobby." - -"It's a puzzle," began her husband, and just then Bobby pushed open the -door and appeared in the dressing-room. - -"I heard you, Pa!" he cried. "I couldn't help it. I was awake and the -door was open. I know just what you can do with me if I can't go with -you to where Uncle Bill died." - -"Bobby!" exclaimed Mrs. Blake, putting out her arms to him. "My boy! I -didn't want you to know--yet." - -"He had to hear of the trip sometime," said Bobby's father. - -"And I'm not going to make any trouble," said Bobby, swallowing rather -hard, for there seemed to be a lump rising in his throat. He never -liked to see his mother cry. "Why, I'm a big boy, you know, Mother. -And I know just what you can do with me while you're gone." - -"What's that, Bobs?" asked his father, cheerfully. - -"Let me go to Rockledge School with Fred Martin--do, _do_! That'll be -fun, and they'll look out for me there--you know they are _awfully_ -strict at schools like that. I can't get into any trouble." - -"Not with Fred?" chuckled Mr. Blake. - -"Well," said Bobby, seriously, "you know if I have to look out for Fred -same as I always do, _I_ won't have time to get into mischief. You told -Mr. Martin so yourself, you know, Pa." - -Mr. Blake laughed again and glanced at his wife. She had an arm around -Bobby, but she had stopped crying and she looked over at her husband -proudly. Bobby was such a sensible, thoughtful chap! - -"I guess we'll have to take the school question into serious -consideration, Bobs," he said. "Now kiss your mother and me goodnight, -and go to sleep. These are late hours for small boys." - -Bobby ran to bed as he was told, and this time he went to sleep almost -as soon as he placed his head upon the pillow. But how he _did_ dream! -He and Fred Martin were walking all the way to Rockledge School, and -they went barefooted with their shoes slung over their shoulders, -Applethwaite Plunkit and his big dog popped out of almost every corner -to obstruct their way. Bobby had just as exciting a time during his -dreams that night as he and his chum had experienced during the -afternoon previous! - -Nothing was said at the late Sunday morning breakfast about his parents' -journey to South America. Bobby knew all about poor Uncle Bill. He -could just remember him--a small, very brown, good-tempered man who had -come north from his tropical station in the rubber country four years, -or so, before. - -Uncle Bill was Mr. Blake's only brother, and most of Bobby's father's -income came from the rubber exporting business, too. Uncle Bill had -lived for years in Brazil, but finally the climate had been too much for -him and only a few months ago word had come of his death. He had been a -bachelor. Mr. Blake had positively to go to Samratam to settle the -company's affairs and Bobby's mother would not be separated from her -husband for the long months which must necessarily be engaged in the -journey. - -Bobby felt that he _must_ talk about the wonderful possibility that had -risen on the horizon of his future, so, long before time for Sunday -School, he ran over to the Martin house and yodled softly in the side -lane for Fred. - -Fred put his head out of a second-story window. "Hello!" he said, in a -whisper. "That you, Bobby?" - -"Yep. Come on down. I got the greatest thing to tell you." - -"Wait till I get into this stiff shirt," growled Fred. "It's just like -iron! I just _hate_ Sunday clothes--don't you, Bobby?" - -Bobby was too eager to tell his news to discuss the much mooted point. -"Hurry up!" he threw back at Fred, and then sat down on the grassy bank -to wait. - -He knew that Fred would have to pass inspection before either his mother -or his sister Mary, before he could start for Sunday School. He heard -some little scolding behind the closed blinds of the Martin house, and -grinned. Fred had evidently tried to get out before being fully -presentable. - -He finally came out, grumbling something about "all the girls being -nuisances," but Bobby merely chuckled. He thought Mary Martin was -pretty nice, himself--only, perhaps inclined to be a little "bossy," as -is usually the case with elder sisters. - -"Never mind, Fred," Bobby said, soothingly. "Let it go. I got something -just wonderful to tell you." - -"What is it?" demanded Fred, not much interested. - -"I believe something's going to happen that you've just been _hoping_ -for," said Bobby, smiling. - -"That Ap Plunkit's got the measles--or something?" exclaimed Fred, with -a show of eagerness. - -"Aw, no! It isn't anything to do with Ap Plunkit," returned Bobby, in -disgust. - -"What is it, then?" - -So Bobby told him. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - FINANCIAL AFFAIRS - - -Two boys in Clinton did not go to Sunday School that day with minds much -attuned to the occasion. Fred could scarcely restrain himself within -the bounds of decent behavior as they walked from Merriweather Street, -where both the Blakes and the Martins lived, to Trinity Square, where -the spire of the church towered above the elms. - -The thought that Bobby was going with him to Rockledge (Fred had jumped -to that conclusion at once) put young Martin on the very pinnacle of -delight. - -"Of course, it would be great if your folks would take you to South -America," admitted Fred, after some reflection. "For you could bring -home a whole raft of marmosets, and green-and-gray parrots, and iguanas, -and the like, for pets. And you'd see manatees, and tapirs, and jaguars -and howling monkeys, and all the rest. But crickey! you wouldn't have -the fun we'll have when we get to Rockledge School." - -_Fun_ seemed to be all that Fred Martin looked forward to when he got to -boarding school. Lessons, discipline, and work of any kind, never -entered his mind. - -That evening Mr. and Mrs. Blake, with Bobby, went up the street to the -Martin house, and the parents of the two chums talked together a long -time on the front porch, while the children were sent into the back -yard--that yard that Buster Shea had cleaned so nicely the day before, -being partly paid in rats! - -When the Blakes started home, it had been concluded that Bobby was to -attend school with Fred, and that if Mr. and Mrs. Blake did not return -from their long journey in season, Bobby was to be under the care of the -Martins during vacation. - -"Another young one won't make any difference here, Mrs. Blake," said -easy-going Mrs. Martin. "Really, half the time I forget how many we -have, and have to go around after they are all abed, and count noses. -Bobby will make us no trouble, I am sure. And he always has a good -influence over Fred--we've remarked that many times." - -This naturally made Mrs. Blake very proud. Yet she took time to talk -very seriously to Bobby on several occasions during the next few days. -She spoke so tenderly to him, and with such feeling, that the boy's -heart swelled, and he could scarcely keep back the tears. - -"We want to hear the best kind of reports from you, Bobby--not only -school reports, but in the letters we may get from our friends here in -Clinton. Your father and I have tried to teach you to be a manly, -honorable boy. You are going where such virtues count for more than -anything else. - -"Be honest in everything; be kindly in your relations to the other boys; -always remember that those weaker than yourself, either in body or in -character, have a peculiar claim upon your forbearance. Father would -not want you to be a mollycoddle but mother doesn't want you to be a -bully. - -"You will go to church and Sunday School up there at Rockledge just as -you have here. Don't be afraid to show the other boys that you have -been taught to pray. I shall have your father find out the hour when -you all go to bed, and at that hour, while you are saying your prayers -and thinking of your father and me so far away from you, I shall be -praying for my boy, too!" - -"Don't you cry, Mother," urged Bobby, squeezing back the tears himself. -"I will do just as you tell me." - -It was arranged that Mr. Blake should take the boys to school when the -time came, but there was still a fortnight before the term opened at -Rockledge. Bobby and Fred had more preparations to make than you would -believe, and early on Monday morning Fred came over to the Blake house -and the chums went down behind the garden to have a serious talk. - -"Say! there's fifty boys in that school," Fred said. "There's another -school right across Monatook Lake. They call it Belden School. There's -all sorts of games between the two schools, you know, and we want to be -in them, Bobby." - -"What do you mean--games?" asked Bobby. - -"Why, baseball, and football, and hockey on the ice in winter, and -skating matches, and boating in the fall and spring--rowing, you know. -Lots of games. And we want to be in them, don't we?" - -"Sure," admitted his chum. - -"It's going to cost money," said Fred, decidedly. "We'll have to get -bats, and good horse-hide balls, and a catcher's mask and glove, and a -pad, and all that. We want to get on one of the ball teams. You know I -can catch, and you've got a dandy curve, Bobby, and a fade-away that -beats anything I've ever seen." - -"Yes. I'd like to play ball," admitted Bobby, rather timidly. "But -will they let us--we being new boys?" - -"We'll make them," said the scheming Fred. "If we show them we have the -things I said--mitt, and bats, and all--they'll be glad to have us play, -don't you see?" - -"But we haven't them," suddenly said Bobby. - -"No. But we must have them." - -"Say! they'll cost a lot of money. You know I don't have but a dollar a -month," said Bobby, "and I know Mother won't let me open my bank." - -"Of course not. That's the way with mothers and fathers," said Fred, -rather discontentedly. "They get us to start saving against the time -we'll want money awfully bad for something. And then we have to buy -shoes with it, or Christmas presents, or use it to pay for a busted -window. _That's_ what cleaned out my bank the last time--when I threw a -ball through Miklejohn's plate-glass window on the Square." - -"Well," said Bobby, getting away from _that_ unpleasant subject, "I have -most of my dollar left for this month, and Pa will give me another on -the first day of September." - -"I haven't but ten cents to my name," confessed Fred. - -"Then how'll we get new bats, and the mask, and pad, and all?" - -"That's what we want to find out," Fred said, grimly. "We'll have to -think up some scheme for making money. I wish I'd cleaned our yard -Saturday instead of hiring Buster Shea." - -"_That_ didn't cost you much," chuckled Bobby. "Only a cent--and you -couldn't have sold the five rats for anything." - -"Aw--well--" - -"Let's start a lemonade stand," suggested Bobby. - -"No. It's been done to death in Clinton this vacation," Fred declared, -emphatically. "Besides, the sugar and lemons and ice cost so much. And -you're always bound to drink so much yourself that there's no profit -when the lemonade's gone." - -Bobby acknowledged the justice of this with a silent nod. - -"Got to be something new, Bobby," urged Fred, with much belief in his -chum's powers of invention. "_You_ think of something." - -"Might have a show," said Bobby. - -"Aw--now--Bobby! you know that's no good," declared Fred. "We'd have to -let a lot of the other fellows into it. Can't run a circus--not even a -one-ring one--without a lot of performers. And they'd want the money -split up. We wouldn't make anything." - -"A peep-show," said Bobby, still thoughtfully chewing a straw. - -"Aw, shucks! that's worse. The kids will only pay pins, or rusty nails, -to see _that_ kind of a show." - -"No. That's not just what I mean," Bobby said, thoughtfully. "Let's -have a show that will only need us two to run it, Fred. Then we won't -have to divide the money with anybody else. And let's have a show that -grown up folks will want to see." - -"Great, Bobby! That's a swell idea--if we could do it." - -"I believe we _can_ do it." - -"Tell a fellow," urged Fred, excitedly. "Grown folks have money. We -could charge them a nickel--maybe a dime--" - -"No. A penny show," said Bobby, still chewing the straw. "Of course, -it's got to be worth a penny--and then, it'll have to be sort of a joke, -too--" - -"Whatever are you trying to get at, Bobby Blake?" demanded his chum in -wonder. - -"Listen here. Now--don't you tell--" - -He pulled Fred down beside him and whispered into his ear. The -red-haired boy looked puzzled at first. Then he caught the meaning of -his chum's plan, and his eyes grew big and he began to grin. Suddenly -he flung his cap into the air and seized Bobby round the neck to hug -him. - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" he yelled. "That's the greatest thing I've ever -heard, Bob! And we can have it right down 'side of my father's store." - -Mr. Martin kept a grocery store on Hurley Street, in a one-story -building on one side of which was an open lot belonging to the store -property. There was a side-door to the store-building opening upon this -lot, but not far back from the street. - -For the next two or three days Bobby and Fred were very busy indeed at -this place and, with some little help, they managed to erect a structure -that was made partly of old fence-boards and partly of canvas. - -The half-tent, half-shack was about ten feet wide. It had a sloping -canvas roof. It ran back from the sidewalk far enough to mask the -side-door into Mr. Martin's store. - -Mr. Martin was not in the secret of the nature of the boys' proposed -"show," but he was a good natured man and made no objection to his son -and Bobby utilizing his side door. - -"You see, we must have an 'entrance' and an 'exit'," Bobby explained. -"Folks can pass out through the store after seeing our show." - -"Sure," chuckled Fred. "As long as we don't call it 'egress,' nobody -will be scared that it's some strange and savage animal. All right. -'Exit' it is," and he proceeded to paint the sign, per Bobby's -instructions. - -And that was not the only sign to be painted. Fred was rather handy with -a brush, and when all the sign-painting was done, Bobby pronounced the -work fine. - -In front of the tent, Bobby had built a little platform with a box, -waist high, before it. Bobby was to be the lecturer, or "ballyhoo," and -was, likewise, to sell the tickets. The other boys were eaten up with -curiosity about the show, but neither Bobby nor Fred would give them a -chance to get a look inside the shelter after the roof was on. - -There was a canvas wall in the front, with a very narrow entrance. -Inside that was a canvas screen so that nobody peeking into the doorway -could see much of what lay beyond. They had one kerosene lamp to light -the interior. - -They made several other arrangements for the opening of the show, and -then there was nothing to do but wait for Saturday to arrive. On that -day many people from out-of-town came into Clinton to market, and the -Hurley Street stores were well patronized all day long. Bobby and Fred -knew they would not lack a curious company outside the tent, whether -they tolled many within or not. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - THE PEEP-SHOW - - -Very early on Saturday morning Bobby and Fred went down to Hurley Street -and hung the painted banners upon the front of the show tent. As to -their beauty, there might have been some question, but Fred had painted -the words clearly, and there could be no mistaking their meaning. - -The sheets on which the signs were painted stretched across the width of -the tent, and the upper line read: - - FOUR MARVELS OF THE WORLD - -Underneath this startling statement, in no less emphatic letters, -appeared the following: - - _ON EXHIBITION:_ - _The Strongest Man in the World_ - _The Handsomest Woman in the World_ - _The Prettiest Girl in the World_ - _The Smartest Boy in the World_ - -The surprising nature of these signs began to draw a crowd almost at -once--even before breakfast. The early comers were mostly boys, and -Bobby and Fred were not yet ready to admit the curious. - -The chums kept perfectly serious faces and refused to answer any of the -questions, or respond much to the raillery of their young friends. - -"You know that ain't so, Bobby Blake!" exclaimed one boy. "You can't -have all those people in that tent. And where'd you get them? Huh! -'Strongest man in the world.' Who's that? Sandow, or John L. Sullivan? -Bet you jest got a picture of Samson throwin' down the pillars." - -"That's what it is--just pictures!" agreed the other curious ones. - -Fred grinned at them and was--wonderful to relate!--as silent as his -chum. They had agreed to say nothing in response to the chaffing. - -"And who was the handsomest woman in the world?" scoffed another boy, -who was rather better informed than most of his mates. "Cleopatra, -maybe! And she was blacker than our Phoebe who washes for my mother. -All Egyptians are black." - -"I'd just like to know who you think is the prettiest girl, Bobby -Blake?" demanded one of the bigger girls who went to school with the -chums, her nose tip tilted to show her scorn. "What do you know about -pretty girls?" - -"If you want to see her, you can do so by paying your penny by and by," -said Bobby politely. - -"Humph! I'd like to see myself!" snapped the young lady--and at once -went home and secured a penny for that very purpose! - -"I s'pose you've got a photograph of your own self in there for the -smartest boy, Reddy Martin!" suggested one of the big fellows who dared -give Fred this hated nickname. - -"Well," drawled Fred, his eyes sparkling, "if it lay between you and me -who was the smartest, I don't believe _you'd_ get any medal." - -The boys took turns breakfasting on crackers and cheese in Mr. Martin's -store. Fred's father was greatly amused by the signs in front of the -tent and he wanted a private view of the wonders. But he was politely -refused. - -"We can't begin the show till Bobby's made the lecture, Dad," declared -Fred. "And we're not going to begin till there's a crowd on the street. -We'll pass them right into the store here, and I bet you and the clerks -will be too busy waiting on customers to see the show at all," and he -chuckled. - -In only a single matter did the boys have help in the arrangements for -the show. Mr. Blake, without being in the secret of the show itself, -had written the lecture which Bobby was to deliver outside the tent -every time a crowd gathered. - -Bobby put on a shabby drum-major's coat, with one epaulet, which had -been found in the Martins' attic. On his head he perched an old silk -hat belonging to his father, with the band stuffed out so that it would -not slip down over his ears and hide his face entirely. - -He beat upon a tin pan with a padded drum-stick, and thus brought -together the first crowd before the show-tent at about nine o'clock. -His ridiculous figure and the noise of the drumming soon collected -twenty or thirty grown people--mostly men at that hour--beside a crowd -of boys, and a few timid girls who fringed the crowd. - -Having called his audience together, Bobby, with a perfectly serious -face, began his speech which he had learned by heart, and spoke as well -as ever he recited "a piece" on Friday afternoons at school: - -"Kind Friends: - -"This wonderful exhibition has been arranged for the sole purpose of -extracting money from your pockets and putting it into ours. We make -this frank announcement at the start so that there may be no -misunderstanding. - -"This marvelous Museum is not a charitable institution nor is it for the -benefit of any philanthropic cause. - -"It is merely an effort and an invention to promote good humor; any -person unable to appreciate a joke on himself, or herself, is -respectfully requested not to patronize our stupendous and surprising -entertainment. - -"Where before, in any conglomeration of Wonders of the World, have four -such marvelous creatures been placed simultaneously on exhibition? - -"Now, kind friends, but one person is admitted to our entertainment at a -time, and but one of these advertised marvels will be exhibited to each -visitor. This is a positive rule that cannot be broken. - -"The charge for our educational and startling exhibit is but a penny--a -cent--the smallest coin of the realm. It will not make you, and it -cannot break you. - -"In addition, it is understood that the person paying his, or her, -entrance fee to this Museum of Marvels, agrees to keep silent regarding -what is shown within, for at least twenty-four hours. On that, and on no -other terms, do we accept your penny. - -"If one should not be satisfied that a penny's worth is given in -exchange for the entrance fee, the same will be cheerfully refunded. - -"Now, kind friends, one at a time," concluded Bobby, stepping down from -the rostrum to the narrow entrance to the tent. "Form in line at the -right, please. Have your pennies ready; we cannot make change. Doctor -Truman is the first to enter the Hall of Marvels. Thank you, Doctor!" -as the cheerful, chuckling physician, bag in hand, on his morning rounds -to see his patients, pushed forward to the entrance of the tent. - -There was a good deal of hanging back at first. Bobby had expected that. -And Fred might have lost hope had he been outside where he could see the -crowd that began to dwindle away when Bobby's funny speech was finished. - -But in a moment the doctor's roar of laughter from within the tent -brought some of the suspicious ones back. The doctor appeared at the -store door, his plump sides shaking with laughter, and wiping the joyous -tears from his eyes. - -"What is it, Doc?" asked an old farmer. "What's them 'tarnal boys doin' -in that tent?" - -"Pay your penny and go in and see," exclaimed Doctor Truman, hurrying -away. "If a laugh like that isn't worth a cent, I don't know what is!" - -Fred's whistle had announced the departure of the first visitor by way -of the shop door, and Bobby urged up another: - -"Don't crowd, kind friends. The performance will continue all day and -this evening--or until everybody desiring to do so has seen one of these -four Wonders of the World." - -Jim Hatton, the harness maker, followed the doctor. He didn't laugh, -but the curious ones heard him exclaim, a moment after his -disappearance: - -"Well, I'll be jiggered!" which was Mr. Hatton's favorite expression, -and he came out of the front door of Mr. Martin's shop, grinning -broadly. - -"What was it, Jim?" asked the same curious farmer. - -"Can't tell ye, Jake. See it yourself--'nless you're afraid o' riskin' -a penny to find out just how smart our boys here in Clinton be," and Mr. -Hatton went off to his shop still grinning. - -Somebody pushed forward the very girl who had sharpened her wit on Bobby -before the exhibition opened. She had her penny clutched tightly in her -hand. - -"Don't you let go of that cent, Susie," advised Bobby, grinning at her, -"if you think you'll want it again for anything. For you won't be -pleased by what you see--maybe." - -Susie tossed her head and went inside. In just a minute Fred blew his -whistle and Susie, with flaming cheeks, appeared at the front door of -the store. - -"What was it, Susie?" demanded one of her friends. - -"Which did you see--the strong man, or the handsome lady, or the pretty -girl, or the smart boy?" cried another. - -But Susie shut her lips tightly, glanced once at Bobby, who was letting -the curious old farmer pass into the tent, and then she ran home. The -curiosity of the boys and girls mounted higher and higher. - -The old farmer popped out almost as quick as he popped in. He was -chewing a straw vigorously, and his face was flushed. It was hard to -tell for a moment whether he was mad, or not. - -"Wal, Neighbor Jake, did yet git your money's wuth?" demanded another -rural character. - -The bewhiskered old fellow turned on the speaker, and gradually a grin -spread over his face. - -"Say, Sam!" he drawled. "You never had none too much schoolin'. Your -edication was frightfully neglected. You pay that there boy a cent and -go in there, and you'll l'arn more in a minute than you ever did before -in a day! You take it from me." - -Thus advised his neighbor pressed forward and was the next "victim." -When he came out his face was red likewise, while Jake burst into a -mighty roar of laughter and rocked himself to and fro on the horseblock -in front of the store door. - -Soon the second farmer joined in the laughter, and thereafter, for an -hour, the two stood about and urged everybody from out of town whom they -knew to enter the peep-show. - -Occasionally Bobby mounted the platform, banged on the pan, and lifted -up his voice in the speech Mr. Blake had written for him. It coaxed the -people to stop before the show every time. And between whiles, Bobby -kept repeating: - -"It is only a cent--and your money back if you are not satisfied! If it -is a joke, keep it to yourself and let the next one find it out. Come -on! Have your pennies ready, please, kind friends. See one of the four -greatest wonders of the world." - -At first none of the ladies who were out shopping did more than stop and -listen and wonder among themselves "what that Blake boy was up to now." -But the girl who worked in Mr. Ballard's real estate office ran across -the street to see what the crowd was about, and was tempted to enter the -tent. - -She came out giggling, and greatly delighted, and pretty soon the girls -who worked in the offices and stores along Hurley Street, were attracted -to the show. They all seemed to be highly delighted, when they came out -through the store. - -"I declare!" exclaimed Mrs. Hiram Pepper, to a neighbor, as they passed -the peep-show again. "I've a mind to see what that means." - -"It's some foolishness," said her friend, who was a rather vinegary -maiden lady named Miss Prissy Craven. "I wonder what that boy's mother -can be thinking of!" - -"Why, Mrs. John Blake is as nice a lady as there is in town," declared -Mrs. Pepper. "And I must say for Bobby that he's never in any mischief. -He's full of fun--like any boy. But there ain't a _smitch_ of meanness -in him." - -"Humph!" exclaimed the other lady, sourly. - -"Now, you wait. I'm going in," declared Mrs. Pepper, fumbling in her -purse for a penny. - -She marched up to Bobby, eyeing him rather sternly. To tell the truth, -for the first time the young showman quailed. - -"Maybe you'd--you'd better not go in, Mrs. Pepper," he mumbled. - -"Why not? Ain't it fit for a lady to see?" demanded she, with -increasing sternness. - -"Oh, yes!" and Bobby _had_ to giggle at that. "But--but--Well, anyway, -you mustn't tell, and you can have your money back if you don't like the -show." - -"Ha!" exclaimed Mrs. Pepper, "as though I was worried about the loss of -a penny," and she went into the tent with her back very straight. - -She came out shaking with laughter. The tears rolled down her face and -she had to sit down on Mr. Martin's steps to get her breath. Miss -Prissy Craven demanded, sharply: "What under the sun is the matter with -you, Mis' Pepper? I never seen you behave so. What is it in that tent -them boys have got? I sh'd think it was a giggle ball full o' tickle!" - -"Ha, ha, ha!" chuckled the amused Mrs. Pepper. "You go in yourself, -Prissy, and see what you think of it. I can't tell you." - -"I'm going!" announced the maiden lady, nodding her head. "But lemme -tell you," she added to Bobby, "if it's anything I don't like, you'll -hear about it when I come out." - -Bobby looked across at Mrs. Pepper doubtfully, but he had to grin. The -lady who was laughing nodded to him vigorously, and he let Miss Craven -through. - -In less than a minute she flounced through the store and demanded, in -her high, rasping voice: - -"What did you mean by trickin' me that-a-way, Mis' Pepper? I never was -so disgusted in all my life. A perfec' swindle--" - -"You can get back your penny if you didn't like it," suggested Bobby, -trying hard not to laugh. - -"Well, I--" - -But Mrs. Pepper broke in upon the angry spinster's possible tirade: -"Jest what did you see, Prissy?" she asked the angry one, with emphasis. -Miss Craven's mouth remained open for fully half a minute, but no sound -came forth. The blood mounted into her face, and then she shut her lips -and started off hastily for her own home. _Evidently she did not want to -tell_! - -This incident excited the curiosity of the bystanders more than ever. -So far every person seeing the show had "played fair" and had refused to -say what he or she had seen on the inside of the tent. - -Bobby had refused to let the smaller boys or girls into the show, -telling them that late in the day they might see it for nothing. That -had been agreed upon with Fred, for the proprietors of the entertainment -were afraid that the little folk would be tempted to talk the matter -over among themselves and thus spoil the fun--as well as reduce the -receipts. - -And the pennies came in faster than Bobby or Fred had dared hope. -During the morning those people who had business on Hurley Street came -to see the show, and to listen to Bobby as "bally-hoo," and by noon-time -wind of the peep-show had gone all over town. - -Bobby's mother, and Fred's, too, heard of it from their husbands at -luncheon, and they decided to see what their young hopefuls were about. -Bobby was just a little bit scared when he saw his mother; he didn't -know whether she would see the joke as his father had, earlier in the -day--for Mr. Blake had come out of the tent roaring with laughter. - -"It beats anything how those two youngsters have got the whole town -guessing," he had said to Mr. Martin. "And they have hit on a positive -human failing that shows more sober thought than I believed either of -them capable of." - -"Dare you let your mother in to see this show, Bobby Blake?" asked Mrs. -Blake, seriously, when the boy's lecture--which he now rattled off -glibly enough--was finished. - -"There's no 'free list'," said Bobby, his eyes twinkling. "Pa told me -to be sure not to let you in unless you paid. And I am sure, Mother, -that you will see the handsomest woman in the world, if you want to, -when you go inside." - -"I declare! you have _me_ puzzled, Bobby Blake," said easy going Mrs. -Martin. - -"Just a minute, please!" urged Bobby, detaining his chum's mother. -"You'll have to take your turn. But one person is allowed to enter at a -time. This way! this way, kind friends! The line forms on the right. -Only a penny--a cent--the smallest coin of the realm. It won't make you -and it can't break you!" - -The two mothers joined each other afterward outside of Mr. Martin's -store. They looked into each other's faces wonderingly. - -"What do you think of those boys?" demanded Mrs. Martin. "What will -they do next?" - -"I--I don't know," admitted Mrs. Blake, with a sigh. "But I _do_ fear -that they will turn that school they are going to this fall -topsy-turvy!" - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - OFF FOR ROCKLEDGE - - -Trade at the peep-show was brisk until mid-afternoon. Bobby and Fred -had been able to get only a bite of luncheon from the store "in their -fists," and had compared notes but seldom. - -Bobby's trouser-pockets were borne down with the weight of pennies. In -refusing to make change it soon became very hard along Hurley Street to -obtain pennies at all. All the copper money in the town was fast coming -the way of the proprietors of the peep-show. - -Neither Bobby nor Fred realized this fact--nor what it meant to -them--until after the First National and the Old Farmers' Banks had -closed their doors for the day. The storekeepers then began running -around to borrow copper money, and it was some time before anybody knew -what made the scarcity of pennies in the storekeepers' tills! - -Meanwhile the financial adventure of Bobby Blake and Fred Martin was -prospering. - -Bobby suddenly saw the long-armed, white-headed Applethwaite Plunkit -standing in the crowd eying him while he delivered his talk. The crowd -before the rostrum laughed as usual, and those who had been in to see -the show urged their friends to venture likewise. - -The white-headed farm boy from Plunkit's Creek was pushing forward to -enter the show. Bobby had hoped he would not venture, but when Ap -approached, Bobby made up his mind quickly. - -"You can't go in, Applethwaite," he said, decidedly. "We don't want -you." - -"Why not!" - -"Never mind why not," said Bobby, firmly, looking straight into the -flushed face of the boy who had treated him and Fred so meanly just a -week before. "But you can't go in." - -"Ain't my cent just as good as anybody else's?" - -"Not here it isn't," declared Bobby, who knew very well that if the -white head appeared in the tent where the red head was, there would be -an explosion! Besides, he did not trust Ap. He believed Ap would do -all he could to break up the show after he had seen it. - -Ap began to bluster and threaten, but there were too many grown folk -around for him to dare attack Bobby. "You jes' wait," he whispered. -"I'll fix you some time." - -Bobby did not know what Applethwaite might try to do, and when he saw -him a little later with a group of boys who were pretty rough looking, -he was worried. These boys stood across the street from the show and -Bobby was afraid they were waiting for some slack time, when there were -no grown folk about, to "rush" the tent. - -He called Fred out and told him what he feared and Fred went through and -told the biggest clerk in his father's store. The clerks were -interested in the two young showmen, for they had been into the tent and -were delighted with what they had seen. - -The big fellow promised, therefore, to come running and bring the other -clerks to help, if the boys whistled for assistance. This plan quieted -Bobby's fears, and he gave his mind to the lecture, and to coaxing the -audience into the show, one by one. - -Suddenly the young lecturer saw Mr. Priestly in the crowd. He flushed -up pretty red when he saw him, for Mr. Priestly was the minister at the -church the boys attended, and Bobby thought he was about the finest man -in town. - -The clergyman was a young man who had made a name for himself in -University athletics, and he had the biggest Boys' Club in town. Bobby -and Fred were particular friends of the young minister, and for a moment -Bobby wondered if Mr. Priestly would approve of the peep-show. - -The gentleman's ruddy, smoothly shaven face was a-smile as he listened -to Bobby's speech, and his blue eyes twinkled. He was the first to -reach the tent entrance when Bobby stepped down from the platform. - -"Which wonder am _I_ to see, Bobby?" he asked, as he presented his penny -to the youthful showman. - -"We--we favor the clergy, Mr. Priestly," said Bobby, hesitatingly, yet -with an answering smile. "_You_ shall see two wonders." Then he called -in to his partner: "Hey, Fred!" - -"Hullo!" returned the red-haired one, coming to the entrance. - -"Here's Mr. Priestly," said Bobby, in a low voice. "I want you to show -_him_ the strongest man in the world, and the very best man in Clinton!" - -"Oh-ho!" cried Mr. Priestly. "_That's_ the way of it, eh?" and he -pinched Bobby's cheek as he went into the tent. "I believe I can guess -your joke, boys." - -"Never mind! nobody else has guessed it," chuckled Fred, going before -him. "Stand right there, Mr. Priestly." - -The oil lamp was in a bracket screwed to a post in the back of the tent. -Just where its light shone best was a narrow red curtain. Fred became -preternaturally solemn as he stepped forward and laid his hand upon the -cords that manipulated the curtain. - -"We will show you, Mr. Priestly," he said, "the Strongest Man in the -World--and as Bobby says, the very _best_ man in Clinton!" - -He pulled aside the curtain and Mr. Priestly saw his own reflection in a -long mirror that had been borrowed from the Martin attic. - -"Well, well!" exclaimed the minister, nodding. "And is this all your -show?" - -"Anybody who is not satisfied with what he _sees_," returned Fred, -chuckling, "can have the entrance fee refunded." - -At that the clergyman burst into a great laugh. "You boys! you boys! -You certainly have them _there_. One must be dissatisfied with himself -to ask for the return of his penny. I--I am not altogether sure that -this doesn't smack of a swindle; but it certainly _is_ smart. You -should show your own face in the glass, Fred, when the younger victims -come in to see the Smartest Boy in the World." - -"No, sir," grinned Fred. "Every fellow that comes in is better -satisfied to see his own reflection, I reckon." - -The clergyman went out, laughing. That the joke had kept up all day was -the wonder of it. The audience became smaller as supper time drew near. - -Then came Mr. Harrod, who kept the variety and ice cream store down the -street. "Say," he said to Bobby. "You boys must have cornered all the -pennies in town. I've got to have some. I'll give you a dollar bill for -ninety cents, Bobby Blake." - -"All right, sir," cried Bobby. "Is a dollar's worth all you want? I'll -send them down to your store in a few moments." - -"Send two dollars' worth," returned Mr. Harrod, hurrying away. - -"Hi, Betty Martin!" shouted Bobby to Fred's "next oldest sister," who -was on the fringe of the crowd. "Come here and count pennies--do, -please!" - -"Hi Betty Martin" stuck out her tongue promptly and did not stir. "Call -me by my proper name, Mister Smartie!" she said, sharply. - -"Oh, me, oh, my! I beg your pardon," laughed Bobby. "Miss Elizabeth -Martin, will you please count some of these pennies and roll them into -papers--right there on the box, please?" - -"All right," said Betty, who did not like to be called after any Mother -Goose character. - -She was a bright girl and she counted the pennies correctly into piles -of thirty, rolled them up that way, carried six of the rolls down to the -variety store, and brought back a two dollar bill. - -Then Mr. Martin needed copper money, and Betty counted a dollars' worth -out for him--at the rate of exchange established by Mr. Harrod. - -"Wow, Bobby!" murmured Fred, at the door of the tent. "We get them -coming and going, don't we? Ten cents on the dollar, too! We're -getting rich." - -But the peep-show had had its run. Not many could be coaxed in after -supper, and the boys were tired, too. They had not eaten a proper meal -all day, and Mr. Martin advised them to shut up shop. - -They took down the signs, put out the lamp, and went into the back room -of the grocery to count the receipts. The amount was far beyond their -expectations, and naturally Bobby and Fred were delighted. - -"It takes you to think up the bright ideas, chum," said Fred, -admiringly. - -But Bobby looked thoughtful. "I wonder if Mr. Priestly thought it was -just right?" he murmured. "I suppose we _did_ fool them all," and he -sighed. - -"Shucks!" exclaimed Fred. "They didn't have to be fooled if they didn't -want to. And even Prissy Craven didn't come back for her penny, did -she?" - -Only a few days more before they would start for Rockledge School. The -chums bought the bats and mask and other things they craved. They packed -their trunks two or three times over. They carried the books they liked -best, and many treasures for which their troubled mothers could see no -reason whatsoever. - -"Now, this can of pins and nails, Bobby," urged Mrs. Blake, helplessly. -"What _possible_ good can they be? I do not see how I am to get your -clothing into the trunk." - -"Aw--Mother!" gasped Bobby. "Don't throw them away. A fellow never can -tell when he'll want a pin--or a nail--or a button--or something. Never -mind putting in so many stockings. Leave the can--do, Mother!" - -All the Clinton boys who had been the chums' particular associates at -school were greatly interested in what they termed Bobby's and Fred's -"luck." They all had to be told, over and over again, of the expected -wonders of Rockledge School. - -"And I bet you and Fred turn things upside down there," said "Scat" -Monroe, with an envious sigh. - -"I bet we don't!" responded Bobby, quickly. "Dr. Raymond is awfully -strict, they say. We'll have to walk a chalk line." - -"Well, if Fred Martin ever walks a chalk-line," scoffed another of the -fellows, "it'll be a mighty crooked one!" - -However, the night before the boys were to start for Rockledge, the good -natured groceryman gave his son a long talk, and Fred went to bed -feeling pretty solemn. For the first time, he began to realize that he -was not going away to boarding school merely for the fun there was to be -got out of it! - -"You haven't made much of a mark for yourself in the Clinton Public -School, Frederick," said Mr. Martin, sternly; "but I do not believe that -is because you are either a dunce, or stubborn. You have been -frittering away your opportunities. - -"I am tired of seeing your name at the foot of your class roster--or -near it. Inattention is your failing. You are going where they make -boys attend. And if you do not work, and keep up with your mates, you -will be sent home. Do you understand that? - -"And if you are sent home, you shall be sent to another school where -you'll have very little fun at all for the rest of your life. I mean -the School of Hard Experience! - -"You shall be set to work in my store half of each day, like a poor -man's son, and go to the public school the other half day, and your name -will be on the truant officer's list." - -"And I guess he meant it," said Fred to Bobby the next morning. "Father -doesn't often scold, but he was mad at me for being so low in my classes -last term." - -The boys started for the railroad station with Mr. Blake, gayly enough, -however. When Bobby had parted from his mother, he had to swallow a big -lump in his throat, and he hugged her around the neck _hard_ for a -minute. But he had forced back the tears by the time they got to the -Martins' house. - -There the other children were all out on the front porch to bid their -brother and Bobby good-by. "Hi Betty Martin" threw an old shoe after -them. - -"For luck," she said. "That's what they do when folks get married." - -"But Bobby and I aren't getting married," complained Fred, rubbing his -right ear where the shoe had landed. "And, anyway, no girl's got a -right to shut her eyes tight and throw an old boot like _that_. How'd -you know you wouldn't do some damage?" - -"That's the luck of it," chuckled Bobby. "It's lucky she didn't hurt -you worse." - - - - - CHAPTER X - - NEW SURROUNDINGS - - -The boys were so eagerly looking ahead that they scarcely gave a -backward glance at Clinton, as the train rolled away. Mr. Blake had his -paper and a whole seat to himself. Bobby and Fred occupied a seat ahead -of him, and laughed and chattered as they pleased. - -"This is only Friday," said Fred, "and classes don't begin at Rockledge -until Monday. We'll have two whole days to get acquainted in. Do you -s'pose there will be some of the boys at the Rockledge station to meet -us?" - -"And a brass band, too, maybe--eh?" chuckled Bobby. "I guess nobody but -the principal of the school knows we're coming, Fred. We'll be new -boys, and the bigger fellows will boss us around at first." - -"Huh! they can't boss _me_ if I don't want to be bossed," declared the -pugnacious Fred. - -"Don't you begin to talk that way," advised his chum. "We'll have to be -pretty small potatoes at first." - -"I don't see why," grumbled Fred. - -"You'll find out. My father went to a boarding school when he was a -boy, and he told me," Bobby explained. - -They did not have to wait until reaching Rockledge to learn something -about the temper of the boys with whom they would be associated. At -Cambwell several students got aboard and came into their car. They were -all older than Bobby and Fred, and they were very noisy and -self-assertive. - -They sang, and joked together in the seats up front. Finally they spied -the two boys from Clinton sitting in the middle of the car. - -"Hullo!" exclaimed a tall, thin, yellow-haired boy who seemed to be a -leader in the fun. "There's a couple of kids who look as though they'd -just left home and mamma. Bet they're going with us." - -One of the other boys said something in a low tone, and then he and the -yellow-haired one got up and came down the aisle. - -"Say!" said the second boy, who was short and stocky and squinted his -eyes up in a funny way when he talked. "Goin' to school, sonnies?" - -"Yes, we are," said Fred, sharply. - -"Rockledge or Belden?" - -"Rockledge, if you please," said Bobby, politely. - -"Huh!" said the tall boy, grinning. "I don't know whether it pleases us -any to have you go to Rockledge. But it's lucky you're not bound for -Belden." - -"Why?" asked Fred. - -"We'd have to chuck your hats out of the window. We don't allow any -Belden boys to ride in this train with their hats on." - -"And do the Belden boys throw the Rockledge boys' hats out of the -window?" asked Bobby, innocently enough. - -"If they're able. But they ain't. You sure you are going to -Rockledge?" - -"You can wait till we get off the train and then find out whether we -tell the truth, or not," said Fred, rather crossly. - -"Say, young fellow! we don't like fresh fish at Rockledge," warned the -yellow-haired boy. "If you're going there, you want to walk Turkey." - -Bobby pinched Fred warningly, and both the chums remained silent. - -"I never did like the looks of red hair, anyway--did you, Bill?" -suggested the squinting chap, grinning. - -"No. We'll have to dye it for him," said the yellow-haired boy. "What -color do you prefer instead of red?" he asked Fred Martin. - -"Well, I wouldn't like it to be straw-colored," responded Fred, -promptly, and with a meaning glance at his interrogator's hair. "Any -other will suit me better." - -The yellow-haired boy flushed and his pale eyes sparkled. Fred stared -back at him quite boldly, for the ten year old was no coward, whatever -else he might be. - -"Fresh fish--just as I told you," muttered the other strange boy, -scowling and squinting at the same time. He was a very ugly boy when he -did this. "Both of them." - -"Well!" began Bill, and then stopped. - -The train had halted at another station the moment before. Somebody -entered the front door of the car, and at once the group of boys going -to Rockledge School set up a shout. - -"Hi, Barry!" - -"See who's come in with the tide! Hey, Captain!" - -"Hullo, Barry Gray!" - -"Captain! Captain! How-de-do!" - -Even the yellow-haired boy and his comrade turned to look. Bobby and -Fred saw a handsome, brown haired fellow coming down the aisle. He was -fourteen or older. He carried a light overcoat over his arm and he was -very well dressed. - -He tossed his coat and bag into one of the racks, and began shaking -hands. Everybody seemed glad to see him. As he quickly glanced down -the aisle his look seemed to quell Bill and the squinting boy. - -"He's going to butt in, of course," growled the first named. - -"Sure. Feels his oats--" - -The fellow with the squint said no more. The handsome fellow, whose -name seemed to be Barry Gray, came down the aisle almost at once. - -"Hullo, Bill Bronson," he said, with some sharpness. "Up to your usual -tricks?" - -"It isn't any business of yours, Barry, what Jack and I do," growled the -yellow-haired boy. - -"I'll make it my business, then," said Barry Gray, laughing. Then he -turned directly to Bobby and Fred. - -"You kids going to Rockledge this term?" he asked. - -"Yes, sir," said Bobby, quickly. - -Barry Gray was not as tall as Bill Bronson, and perhaps not as old, but -he evidently was not afraid of either of the bullies. - -"Where are you from?" - -"Clinton, sir," pronounced Bobby, again taking the lead. - -"What's your name--and your chum's?" asked Barry. - -"My name is Bob Blake, and this is Fred Martin," said Bobby. - -"Glad to know you," said the older boy, shaking hands with both of them, -and even Fred began to forgive him for calling them "kids." - -"Ever been to school before?" asked Barry. - -"Not to boarding school," Fred said. - -"Come on up and I'll introduce you to the other fellows. Don't mind -Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks, here," added Barry Gray, grinning at the -two retiring bullies. "If they bother you much, come to me. I'm -captain of the school this year, and Dr. Raymond expects me to keep all -of the fellows straight. Being a captain is like being a monitor. You -understand!" - -"Oh, yes, sir," said Bobby. - -"And you needn't 'sir' me so much," said the kindly captain. "Come on, -now--" - -Bobby turned to ask permission of his father. Barry at once saw that Mr. -Blake was with the chums from Clinton. - -"Who's this, Bob? Your father, or Fred's?" - -"This is my father," said Bobby, politely. - -The frank school captain stepped forward and offered his hand. "Glad to -meet you, Mr. Blake," he said. "You trust the boys with me. I'll see -that they get in right with the other fellows, and that they're not put -upon too much." - -"I'm sure of it," said Mr. Blake, smiling. "I shall feel better about -leaving Bobby and Fred at Rockledge, knowing that you will have an eye -on them." - -"Oh, you can be easy about them," said Captain Gray who, despite his -natural conceit, seemed a very nice fellow. "Of course, they'll have to -take a few hard knocks, and the boys will 'run' them some. But they -sha'n't be hurt." - -"Huh!" muttered Fred. "I guess we can take care of ourselves." - -Barry looked down at him and grinned. "Yes, I see you own red hair," he -observed, and Mr. Blake laughed outright. - -Fred followed his chum and Barry Gray up the aisle with rather a lagging -step. He felt his own importance considerably, and he did not see why -he should be as respectful as Bobby was to the captain of Rockledge -School. - -In a very few minutes Master Martin felt better. The other boys were a -lot more friendly than Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks, who the chums -learned later, were two of the most troublesome boys at the school. Not -many of the others liked the bullies. - -There were some fellows quite as young as Bobby and Fred, but none of -them were "greenies," like the chums from Clinton. - -"Sure you'll have to be hazed!" explained a fat, genial boy, named Perry -Wise--called "Pee Wee" because of his initials and his size. "Every -fellow has to, that comes to the school. But Barrymore Gray won't let -them go too far. He's a nice fellow, he is." - -"I think he is fine," said Bobby, enthusiastically. - -"He's pretty fresh, I guess," grumbled Fred. - -"We don't call the captain of the school fresh," said Pee Wee. "He has -a right to boss us. The Doctor lets him. Next to the teachers, Barry's -got more to say about things in the school than anybody else." - -This did not please Master Martin much. He wanted to be of some -importance himself, and he had never been used to giving in to other -boys, unless it was to Bobby Blake. - -However, there was so much to hear, and so many new people to get -acquainted with that Fred had little time to worry about Barry Gray. -The chums found the time passing so quickly that they were surprised -when the train slowed down and the brakeman shouted, "All out for -Rockledge!" - -There was no crowd of boys and no band. Rockledge was a busy town, with -oak-shaded streets, great bowlders thrusting their heads out of the -vacant lots, and much blasting going on where new cellars were being -excavated. - -There was an electric car line through the middle of High Street, which -turned off at the shore of the lake (they learned this afterward) and -went as far as Belden. - -Bobby and Fred, with Mr. Blake, took a car on this line and crossed the -railroad, finally bringing up within sight of the grounds of Rockledge -School. - -It was not a large school, and there were only four buildings, including -the gate-keeper's cottage where all of the outside servants slept. It -had once been a fine private estate, and Dr. Raymond had made of it a -most attractive and homelike institution. - -The doctor and his family, and his chief assistant, lived in a handsome -house connected with the main building of the school by a long, roofed -portico. This last building was of brick and sandstone, and held -classrooms, dining-rooms, the kitchen department in one end of the -basement, and a fine gymnasium in the other. - -In the upper stories were a hall, two large dormitories in each of which -were beds for twenty boys, and five small dormitories for two boys each. -The ten highest scholars occupied these small rooms, and from them was -chosen the captain of the school each June. - -The junior teachers slept in this big building, too. - -There were beautiful lawns, fine shrubs, winding, shaded walks, and a -large campus on which were a baseball diamond, a football field, and -courts for tennis, basket-ball, and other games. - -These facts Bobby and Fred gradually absorbed. At first they were too -round-eyed to appreciate much but the fact that the place seemed large, -and that there positively was an immense number of boys! Fifty boys -seemed to have swelled to a hundred and fifty--and they all stared at -the newcomers. - -Mr. Blake went immediately to the doctor's study, taking Bobby and Fred -with him. Dr. Raymond was a tall, big-boned man, wearing very loose -garments and a collar a full size too large. The big doctor had bushy -side-whiskers, and his chin and lip were very closely shaved. He had -white, big teeth, and he showed them all when he smiled. - -His eyes were kindly, and wrinkles appeared around them when he smiled, -in a most engaging fashion. When he shook hands with Bobby and Fred, -some magnetic feeling passed from the big man to the boys, so that the -latter decided on the instant that they liked Dr. Raymond! - -"Manly little fellows--both," said the doctor, to Mr. Blake, as the two -gentlemen walked toward the big windows at the end of the room, leaving -Bobby and Fred marooned, like two castaway sailors, on a desert isle of -rug near the door. - -The doctor's study was enormously long, with a high ceiling, and lined -with books, save where a fireplace broke into the bookshelves on one -side. There was a very large flat-topped desk, too, several deep chairs, -and a number of smaller tables at which the older boys sometimes did -their lessons. - -"You'll find them just as full of fun and mischief as a couple of -chestnuts are of meat," said Mr. Blake, with a chuckle. "But I don't -think there is a mean trait in either of them. My boy has had, we -think, rather a good influence over Freddie Martin. The latter's red -hair is apt to get him into trouble." - -"I understand," said the doctor, nodding and smiling. "I try to leave -the boys much to themselves in the matter of deportment. The bigger -boys are supposed to set the standard of morals, and I am glad to say -that I have never yet had occasion to be sorry for beginning that way. - -"We run Rockledge School on honor, sir. Every year--in June--we present -to the boy who earns it, a gold medal stating that for the past year he -has shown himself to be worthy of distinction above his fellows in a -strictly honorable way. - -"This medal is not given for scholarship--yet none but a fairly studious -boy may earn it. It is not given for deportment strictly--though no boy -who is not gentlemanly and of manly bearing and action, can win it. The -medal is not given for mere popularity, for a boy may sometimes be -popular with his fellows, without having many of the fundamental virtues -of character which we hope to see in our boys. - -"The boy who won it last year, and is gone from us now, stood ninth in -his class only, and was not much of an athlete--which latter tells -mightily among the boys themselves, you know. Yet my teachers and -myself, as well as the school, were practically unanimous in the -selection of Tommy Wardwell as the recipient of the Medal of Honor." - -The gentlemen talked some few minutes longer. Then Mr. Blake came to bid -Bobby and Fred good-by. He shook hands gravely with his own son and -then took Fred's hand. - -"You've got some trouble, some fun, and a lot of work before you, Master -Fred," he said. "I expect your father and mother will be anxiously -waiting for good reports about you." - -Then he looked at Bobby again. That youngster was having great -difficulty in "holding in." His father was going away--and going to a -far country. Thousands of miles would separate them before they would -meet again. - -"You got anything to say to me, Bobs?" asked 'Mr. Blake, briskly. - -"Ye--yes, sir!" gasped Bobby. "I--I got to kiss you before you go, Pa!" -and he flung his arms around Mr. Blake's neck and for a minute was a -baby again. - -He knew that Fred would think such a show of emotion beneath him, and he -saw the doctor looking at him curiously. Just the same, Bobby Blake was -glad--oh, how glad!--many and many a time thereafter that he had bade -his father good-by in just this way. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - GETTING ACQUAINTED - - -Pee Wee was the boy who first "took up" the chums from Clinton. The fat -boy sat on the steps of the doctor's house, idly whistling and twiddling -his fingers when Bobby and Fred came out. Perry Wise never stood when -he could sit, and never walked when he could stand, and never ran when -walking would get him to his goal just as well. He was the picture of -peace just now. - -"Hello, fellows!" he said. - -"Hello!" returned Bobby. - -"Is the Old Doc goin' to let you stay?" grinned the fat boy. - -"Huh! why shouldn't he?" demanded Fred, quick to take offense. - -"Cause you're so terrible green," chuckled Pee Wee. "They let the sheep -loose sometimes to crop the lawn, and they might eat you." - -"Aw--you're too smart," said the abashed Fred. - -Bobby only laughed. He was glad to have his mind taken up by something -beside the fact of his father's going away. - -"Say!" said Pee Wee, cordially. "Don't you want to look over the -place?" - -"We'd be very glad to," admitted Bobby. - -Pee Wee made no effort to rise at first. He merely bawled after another -boy who was some distance away: - -"Hey, Purdy! Don't you want to beau the greenhorns around?" - -Fred Martin doubled his fist again and scowled at the placid fat boy, -but Bobby warned him by a shake of the head. The boy addressed, who was -smaller than Pee Wee, but who was well out of his reach, turned and made -a face at the fat boy, saying: - -"Do your own work, Fatty. Don't try to put it off on me." - -Pee Wee was quite unmoved by this rough retort. He looked around and -hailed another lad: - -"Jimmy Ailshine! come on and show the newsies all the lions, will you?" - -"For why?" demanded the boy addressed. - -"Aw--well--I have a stone bruise," explained Pee Wee, hesitatingly. - -"You must have it from sitting so much, then," declared Jimmy, with a -loud laugh. "You better take them around yourself, or the captain will -be after you." - -"You needn't show us about if it is very, very painful," suggested -Bobby, beginning to understand the fat boy now. - -"Guess we can find our way around alone," grunted Fred. - -"Aw well! we won't row about it," said Pee Wee, getting up slowly. "But -that stone bruise--" - -However, the trouble in question seemed, later, to be of a shifting -nature, for first Pee Wee favored his right foot and then his left. - -It must be confessed that Perry Wise was a very lazy boy, but he was a -good natured one, and when once the exploration party was started, he -played the part of show-master very well indeed. - -They went through the school rooms and up to the dormitories first. In -the second dormitory, where the smaller boys slept, in a pair of twin -beds in one corner, Bobby and Fred were billeted. - -"And no pillow fights, or other ructions, after 'lights out,' unless you -ask the captain first," warned Pee Wee. - -"Seems to me this captain has a lot to say around here," growled Fred. - -"You bet he has. And what he says he means. And it's not healthy for -anybody to do a thing when he says '_don't_.'" - -"Why not?" queried Master Fred. - -Pee Wee grinned. "You try it if you like," he said. "Then you'll find -out. Dr. Raymond says experience is the surest, if not the best, -teacher." - -The dormitory was a big, light room, cheerfully furnished, with a locker -beside each bed for the boy's clothes and personal possessions, and a -chair at the head of the bed. - -That wall-space over the heads of the beds was considered the private -possession of each couple, for the flaunting of banners, photographs, -strings of birds-eggs, shells, pine-cone frames, and a hundred other -objects of virtu dear to boyish hearts. - -"You see, we can hang up a lot of stuff, too, when our trunks come," -whispered Fred to Bobby, pointing to the blank spaces over their beds, -lettered only with the names: "Blake" and "Martin." - -"You can see clear across the lake from the window here," drawled Pee -Wee, lolling on a sill. - -The chums came to see. Lake Monatook was spread before them--a -beautiful, oval sheet of water, with steep, wooded banks in the east, -and sloping yellow beaches of sand at the other end. - -Where the Rockledge School stood, a steep sandstone cliff dropped right -down to a narrow beach, more than fifty feet below. A strong, -two-railed fence guarded the brink of this cliff the entire width of the -school premises, save where the stairs led down to the boat-house. - -In the middle of the lake were several small islands, likewise wooded. -The lake was quite ten miles long, and half as wide in its broadest -part. - -Across from Rockledge School was the village of Belden. On a high bluff -over there the new boys saw several red brick buildings among the trees. - -"That's Belden School," explained Pee Wee. "We have to beat them at -football this fall. We did them up at baseball in the spring. They're -a mean set of fellows anyway," added the fat boy. "Once they came across -here and stole all our boats. We'll have to get square with them for -that, some time." - -"Come on," said Fred, who had begun to enjoy pushing the fat boy, -now--knowing that he had been set the task of showing them around--and -was determined to keep their guide up to the mark. "We don't want to -stay here till bedtime, do we?" - -"Aw-right," returned Pee Wee, with a groan. "That's my bed next to -yours, Blake. Mouser Pryde is chummed on me this year. We call him -Mouser because he brought two white mice with him to school when he -first came. - -"Shiner and Harry Moore have the beds on your other side. Shiner's the -chap you saw down stairs--Jimmy Ailshine. He's a good fellow, but -awfully lazy," remarked the fat boy, with a sigh. - -"What do you call yourself?" demanded Fred, rather impolitely. - -"Oh, _me_? I'm not well--honest. And that stone bruise--" - -It was then he began to favor the other foot, and Bobby giggled. Pee -Wee looked at him solemnly. "What are you laughing at?" he asked. - -Bobby pointed out that the stone bruise seemed to have shifted. - -"Aw, well! it hurts so bad I feel it in both feet," returned the fat -boy, grinning. "Come on." - -They went down to the gymnasium. It was a dandy! Bobby and Fred saw -that it was a whole lot better than the one Mr. Priestly had for his -Boys' Club in the Church House at home. - -Then they inspected the outside courts, the ball field, and the cinder -track--which was an oval, on the very verge of the cliff. - -They met boys everywhere, and Pee Wee told them the names of some of -them, while a few of about their own age stopped to speak to Bobby and -Fred. - -Jack Jinks and the yellow-haired youth, Bill Bronson, came up to the -trio of smaller boys as they stood by the railing that defended the -cliff's brink. - -"So you're showing the greenies around, are you, Fatty?" proposed Jack. -"Shown them the stake where the Old Doctor ties up fresh kids and gives -them nine and thirty lashes if they as much as whisper in class?" - -"Yes," said Pee Wee, nodding. "And I showed them the straps there where -_you_ were tied up last term, Jinksey." - -"Aw--smart, aren't you?" snarled the squint-eyed boy, while Bill Bronson -grinned. - -"This red-headed chap's going to be a favorite--I can see that," said -Bill, rolling the cap on Fred's head with one hand, but pressing hard -enough to hurt. - -"Let go of me!" cried Fred, hotly, jerking away. - -"Don't you get too presumptuous, sonny," advised the yellow-haired -youth. "There's lots of chance for you to get into trouble here." - -"If I get into trouble with _you_," snapped Fred, "it won't all be on -one side." - -"Keep still, Fred!" said Bobby. "Let's come on away," and he tugged at -his chum's sleeve. - -"That's a pretty fresh kid, too," said Jack, eyeing Bobby with disfavor. - -But the trio of younger boys withdrew. "Those fellows," said Pee Wee, -"are always picking on fellows they think they can lick. If you don't -toady to them, they'll treat you awfully mean!" - -"I won't toady to anybody--not even to that captain," declared Fred. - -"What! Barry Gray?" cried Pee Wee, in surprise. - -"Yes. I don't like him--much," confessed the belligerent Fred. - -"You'll be dreadfully lonesome, then," chuckled the fat boy. "For 'most -every fellow in the school likes Barry. He's captain of the baseball -team, and center in the football team. He can do anything, Barry can. -And the Old Doctor thinks he is about right. He was next choice after -Tommy Wardwell last year for the Medal of Honor, and he'll likely get it -this year." - -"What's the Medal of Honor?" asked Fred, curiously. - -Pee Wee grinned. "It's something that no red-headed boy ever won," he -declared, mysteriously. - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - IN THE DORMITORY - - -By supper time Bobby and Fred knew ten boys to speak to--without -counting Jack Jinks, Bill Bronson, and the school captain, Barrymore -Gray. The latter they did not see at all again until they beheld him -sitting at the doctor's right hand at the head of the "upper table," as -they soon learned to call the one around which the head scholars and the -assistant master sat with Dr. Raymond. The junior teachers sat at the -heads of the other tables and kept order. - -Rockledge was divided into the Upper School and the Lower School. Bobby -and Fred would of course be in the Lower, but just how they would be -placed in classes they would not know until the real business of the -school opened on Monday. - -The supper was plentiful, but plain. Bobby missed Meena's sweet cakes -and hot tea-biscuit, and Fred whispered that there was hayseed in the -strawberry jam, so he knew it was not "home made." - -Pee Wee sat across the table from them and ate steadily, showing beyond -peradventure that his plumpness arose from a very natural cause! - -Until eight o'clock the boys were allowed to frolic outside as they -wished, no tasks being set them as yet. Bobby noticed that one of the -junior teachers was always within sight, while Captain Barry Gray, and -some of the older fellows, were grouped on the main steps of the -dormitory building, swapping vacation experiences. - -Bobby noticed that Barry was always very well dressed--indeed, richly -dressed, beside many of the boys--so he made up his mind that the school -captain must come from a wealthy home. - -Bill Bronson jingled money in his pockets and wore a handsome gold watch -and a diamond pin in his tie. Most of the smaller boys, however, were -no better dressed than Bobby and Fred. - -Taken altogether, the boys who appeared at the supper table were a -bright and interesting looking crowd. Bobby was sure he was going to be -happy here, and Fred was already on terms of intimacy with half a dozen -of the chaps about their own age. - -The boys from Clinton chanced to be the only new ones to enter Rockledge -this semester. There was usually a long waiting list, but Mr. Martin's -influence had gained Bobby the chance to attend with Fred, because the -two boys were chums. - -Before they left the supper table the doctor arose and walked down the -line of smaller tables and shook hands with each boy, called him by -name, and welcomed him again to the school. - -To some he said a word of warning, but all in a cheerful way that took -the sting out of the admonition. He evidently knew the failings of each -boy, and had studied their characters carefully. - -When he came to Bobby and Fred he placed a hand on each boy's shoulder -and said, so that all the school could hear: - -"Our two new friends. I hope all of you will welcome them kindly. Make -them feel at home." - -This was before the evening run outside. Bobby and Fred were taken into -a noisy game of "relievo," and the great clock in the tower chiming -eight was all that brought the fun to a close. - -The students filed into the library and general study-room on the first -floor of the main building. For an hour every night the boys were -allowed to read or play quiet games here. It was a cheerful, bright -room, with rugs on the floor, and pretty hangings, and comfortable -chairs. Although one of the teachers was always present, there was a -feeling of freedom among the boys, and they could talk or read, as they -pleased--just so they were not noisy. - -When nine struck in the tower, they filed upstairs to bed. There was -plenty of time to undress and prepare for bed before the half hour -struck. Bobby and Fred found that the older boys in the small rooms -were allowed to remain up a half hour longer than those occupying the -big dormitories. - -Captain Gray came in and advised the small boys to lay their clothing -carefully on their chairs as they removed the garments. - -"Part of the fire drill, you know," he said, cheerfully. "Coat and vest -over the back of the chair. Pants folded nicely and laid across the -back, too. Here, Pee Wee! None of that! Shake out your stockings and -hang them on the chair-round. Shoes each side of the chair as you take -them off--right and left. That's it." - -He walked up and down between the rows of beds. He told Bobby and Fred -just how to distribute the remainder of their garments so that they -would be easily at hand if there came an alarm. - -"Of course, there's no danger, and there are plenty of fire escapes and -all that," said the big boy, cheerfully. "But the Old Doctor insists -upon our being ready for any emergency. Some night you'll be waked up -by the fire bell and find drill is called. Want to be ready for it." - -Then he glanced again at Fred's chair. "Hi, Ginger!" he said. "Put -your boots straight. Your left one's on your right side, and vice -versa." - -There was a good deal of fun at Fred's expense when Barry had gone. -"Hi, Ginger!" resounded from all parts of the room; Fred Martin had won -a distinctive nickname on the spot, and he didn't like it much. - -"I knew I shouldn't like that big fellow," he confessed to Bobby. "And -I'll lick some of these kids yet, if they keep on calling me Ginger." - -"No, you won't," declared Bobby. "You know you won't. They all have -nicknames, too. Yours is no worse than 'Pee Wee,' or 'Shiner,' or -'Buck,' or 'Skeets.' They'll stick me with one yet." - -"But 'Ginger'--" - -"Aw, stop your kicking," advised his chum. "It won't get you anywhere." - -There was still a buzz of voices as the twenty boys finished getting -ready for bed. The door opened and Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks, from -their room across the hall, looked in. - -"Sleep with an eye open, you kids," Bill ordered, in a shrill whisper. -"Something doing by and by." - -"Oh, what, Bill?" cried Purdy, near the door. - -"Somebody's got to ride the goat," chuckled the squint-eyed boy, looking -over his chum's shoulder. - -At that several of the others looked at Bobby and Fred, and chuckled. -The two Clinton boys did not hear this by-play. Bill and his chum -looked over at the newcomers with wide grins. - -Just at this moment Bobby was completely ready for bed and he dropped -upon his knees before his chair at the head of the bed and proceeded to -say his prayers as he always did at home. Fred, after a moment's -hesitation, followed suit. - -Instantly a hush fell upon the room. The boys who had been gabbling -together stopped because they saw the facial expression of those boys -grouped at the doorway. Everybody turned to look at the corner occupied -by the chums from Clinton. - -The silence was but for a moment. Then Bill laughed and took one long -stride to the nearest bed. He snatched up a pillow and sent it with -unerring aim and considerable force at the back of Bobby's head. - -The pillow reached its mark, and Bobby jumped. But he did not rise until -his prayer was completed. A second pillow came his way, while Jack and -some of the other spectators laughed immoderately. - -Fred Martin jumped up with an angry exclamation. Perhaps he did not -finish his prayer at all. He grabbed one of the pillows which had struck -his chum and made for Bill Bronson at the other end of the room. - -"You big bully!" he exclaimed, all the rage which he had bottled up that -day boiling over in an instant, "You big bully! Can't you leave a -peaceable fellow alone?" - -He slammed the yellow-haired youth over the head, and struck him so hard -that the pillow-case burst and the feathers began to fly. Bill uttered -a roar of rage, and tried to seize him. - -"Don't, Fred! Stop! Stop!" called Bobby, from the other end of the -room. - -Fred Martin had gone too far to stop now. He expected to take a -thrashing for his boldness, but meanwhile he was filling Bronson's eyes -and mouth with feathers. - -Jack Jinks put out his foot and tripped the smaller boy up. Fred fell -with Bill on top of him. The bigger boy began to use his fists. - -"No fair! Let him up, Bill!" cried two or three. - -"Shut up!" ordered Jack, putting his back against the closed door. "You -kids that holler will get all that's coming to you." - -Bobby came running up the room to help his chum, and at just that -instant the door knob was turned and the door was burst in, sending Jack -sliding half way across the room. - -"Cheese it!" squealed Pee Wee, jumping into bed with his trousers on. - -But it was only Barry Gray who appeared. - -"Hello! Can't keep quiet the first night, eh?" demanded the captain. -"What you doing in here, Jack?" - -Then he saw Bill Bronson on top of the struggling Fred. Bill had got in -one savage punch and there was blood flowing from Fred's nose upon the -burst pillow. - -Captain Gray seized Bill by the back of his collar and with both hands -jerked him to his feet. Bill squealed like a rat, thinking the Old -Doctor himself had come to Fred's rescue. - -"Ow! Ow! Ouch!" he squealed. "Aw--_you_! Let me alone, Barry Gray. -This isn't any of your business." - -"All right. I'll pass it up to the teachers if you say so," snapped the -captain. - -"Aw--well--" - -"Hold on!" commanded Barry, stepping in front of Jack who was sneaking -out of the room "_You're_ in this, too." - -"No, I'm not," said Jack. - -"You were holding the door," said Barry. "Stop here till we hear what's -the trouble." - -Half a dozen shrill voices tried to tell him at once. But Barry pointed -at Fred. "_You_ tell," he said. - -"I hit him with the pillow," growled Fred, ungraciously enough. - -Barry glanced down the room toward Fred's bed. "It isn't your pillow," -he said. "Did he shuck the pillow at you first?" - -"No," said Fred, determined not to "snitch." - -But Howell Purdy didn't feel that way about it. He said to the captain: - -"Bill Bronson began it. He fired a couple of pillows at Bobby Blake -when Bobby was saying his prayers. Then Fred went for him." - -Barry looked from Fred's flushed and bloody face to Bobby's pale one. -He said nothing for a moment to either of them, but turned on Bill -Bronson. - -"You know the rules. You had no business in this dormitory--neither you -nor Jack." - -"I suppose you'll tell on us," snarled Bill. "Of course! I knew what a -tattle-tale you'd be just as soon as the Old Doc appointed you captain -last June. He did it so that he'd be sure to have somebody to run to -him with every little thing." - -"Maybe," returned Barry, flushing. "But he doesn't call it a little -thing for two boys to fight in a dormitory." - -"Yah!" snarled Bill. - -"Give me a fair chance and I'll fight him anywhere!" declared the -belligerent Fred, sopping the blood with a handkerchief that Bobby had -brought him. - -"You are one plucky kid," said Barry, quickly. "But if there has got to -be a fight, it must be between two fellows more evenly matched. I leave -it to the room: Is a fight fair between Bronson and Martin!" - -"No!" cried the boys in chorus. - -"But Bill Bronson started the fight, so he ought to be accommodated," -Captain Gray said. "Isn't that right?" - -Some of the boys giggled. Fred muttered: "Let me fight him. I'm not -afraid." - -"If Bill doesn't want me to go to the Doctor with this, he'll have to -abide by my decision, won't he?" proceeded Barry, his eyes twinkling. - -"Sure!" cried the crowd, led by Pee Wee, now delighted by what they saw -was coming. - -"Aw, you're too fresh," grumbled the bully. - -"That's not the question," said Barry. "Do you agree?" - -"To what?" - -"To have me set the punishment for this infraction of the rules, instead -of putting it up to the Old Doctor?" - -"Well!" - -"You, too, Jack?" demanded Barry of the squinting fellow. - -"Yes," muttered the latter. - -"All right. Then I announce that as Bill wants to fight, he shall be -accommodated. Jack is a good match for him. Isn't that so, boys?" - -There was a storm of giggling. The two bullies looked at each other and -grinned. The idea of them fighting each other was preposterous--or, so -it seemed. - -"And for fear," said the captain, his eyes twinkling, "that they won't -play fair, if they are matched in a regular fight, we'll make it a -'poguey fight' to-morrow morning at nine--in the gym. Now, you two -fellows run to your rooms--and show up at nine in the gym, or I'll come -after you." - -He drove the bullies out of the room before him, and then went himself. -There was a subdued whispering and giggling all over the dormitory. - -"What's a 'poguey fight'?" demanded Bobby, of Pee Wee, in some alarm. - -The fat boy was rocking himself to and fro on the bed in huge delight, -and could scarcely answer for laughing. - -"You wait and see," he finally chuckled, "It's more fun than the -Kilkenny cats!" - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - - THE POGUEY FIGHT - - -Fred staunched his bleeding nose at the basin in the corner, and then -exchanged pillows with Howell Purdy. Fred slept on the burst one. - -"I'll get into trouble anyway over this," Fred growled in Bobby's ear. -"I wish I could have hit that mean bully just once with something hard." - -Bobby hadn't the heart to scold. Fred had attacked a much bigger boy -than himself just because that bully had flung a pillow at Fred's chum. -That was the impulsive way of Fred Martin. Bobby knew that his chum was -going to have a hard row to hoe here at Rockledge, unless he learned to -control his temper. - -Bobby Blake had some difficulty in getting to sleep that night--and that -was not usually the case with him. The plan of Bill and Jack to haze -the two newcomers to Rockledge had evidently been stopped. The -dormitory was not disturbed until morning, save that once in the night -Pee Wee had a nightmare and groaned and fought, until the next fellow to -him punched him and woke him up. - -"Wow!" said the fat boy, "I thought I was up in a balloon and they -wanted to put me out instead of dropping sandbags." - -"Don't eat so much at supper; then you won't dream such stuff," growled -Mouser Pryde, punching his pillow and settling down again. - -The rising bell at half past six got everybody but Pee Wee out of bed. -Mouser pulled off the bed clothes, but that did not start the fat boy, -and finally, when the others were half dressed, Mouser tiptoed over from -the basins with a glass of water, and let the drops trickle down, one by -one, upon Perry's fat neck. - -"Ow! ow! ouch!" bawled Pee Wee. "Something's sprung a leak. Let me up -before I drown!" - -He struck the floor before he was half awake and landed in his bare feet -upon a set of "jacks" that Shiner had conveniently dropped on the rug. - -"Ow! what are these things? Wow! I'll bet I can't walk at all now." - -"They hurt worse than the stone bruise, eh?" asked Bobby, grinning. - -"These fellows are always playing jokes on me," grumbled Pee Wee. "And -I never do a living thing to hurt them." - -The fat boy _was_ a tempting subject for a joke, and he probably was the -butt more often than anybody else. - -While they were dressing, Fred almost got in a fight with Shiner because -the latter called him "Ginger." Bobby took his chum aside. - -"Now, Fred, that name's bound to stick," he said. "What's the use of -getting mad at it? They all like you; no use in making enemies. Take it -laughingly." - -"That's because of Smartie Gray," grumbled Fred. "_He_ called me -'Ginger' first." - -"That isn't as bad as 'Bricktop'," suggested Bobby, smiling. "You ought -to be glad it's no worse. I expect they'll find a nickname for me -pretty soon, that will be a corker!" - -At seven the bell rang again and they all marched down to breakfast. -Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks scowled at Bobby and Fred on the stairs, but -the captain was near and they did not say a word to the chums. - -Before the boys separated, the first master, Mr. Leith, said: - -"Young gentlemen: Doctor Raymond will see you all in the hall at eleven. -Nobody is to be out of bounds this morning. Be prompt at eleven, -remember. You are excused." - -Bobby thought Mr. Leith a very grim and serious gentleman indeed. - -As the smaller boys scurried out of the hall to the porch, they found a -steady stream of boys going down the basement steps to the gymnasium. -Howell Purdy and Shiner were set, one on either side of the doorway, -where they whispered to those who passed: - -"Poguey fight in the gym at nine. Don't forget the poguey fight." - -"What _is_ that, Shiner?" asked Bobby. - -"You don't want to miss it," grinned Shiner. "You and your chum are at -the bottom of it." - -"But we're not going to fight," declared Bobby. - -"No. But Bill and Jack are. No fear!" - -Bobby and Fred did not go down into the basement at once. There was -still an hour before the time set by Captain Gray, the evening before, -for the mysterious "poguey fight." Nobody whom the chums asked would -tell them any particulars. - -"I expect I'll get into trouble over bloodying that pillow," said Fred. -"What shall I tell them if they ask me?" - -"Say your nose bled," returned Bobby. "If they ask you _how_ it came to -bleed, that's another question." - -"Well, that's the question I'm afraid of." - -"Wouldn't you tell on that Bill Bronson?" - -"No. The other boys would say I snitched. I hate him, but I won't -snitch on him," declared Fred. - -"Maybe nobody will ask you. And Barry Gray will take your side." - -"I don't want him to take my side," growled Fred. "He's a big fellow, -too, and expects to be toadied to." - -"You're making a mistake about him, I think," said Bobby, mildly. He -knew it was no use to argue the matter with his chum. - -They walked out across the campus to the railing that bordered the edge -of the bluff. They were standing there looking across the beautiful -lake, and talking, when there was a sudden scrimmage over on one of the -tennis courts. - -"Hello! a fight!" exclaimed Fred, with lively interest. - -"Pshaw!" said Bobby, with some disgust. "You're always looking for a -fight!" - -"I'm not either! What do you call that?" denied and demanded Fred in -the same breath. - -"It's the captain," said Bobby, slowly. "And some of the big fellows--I -know! they're dragging Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks away to the gym. -There's going to be something doing--" - -Just then Pee Wee appeared at the corner of the main building and yodled -for the Clinton boys, beckoning them across the campus with excited -gestures. - -"Come o-o-on!" bawled the fat boy. - -Fred grabbed Bobby's hand and started running. The chums were at the -gym steps almost as quickly as the big fellows and their captives. - -"You let me alone, Barry Gray!" yelled Bill, as he was shoved down the -steps. "I'll fix you for this." - -"Thanks, Billy Bronson. I can do my own fixing. You agreed to this, and -you'll go through with it," Barry said, firmly. - -"_I_ didn't do a thing," Jack was urging. - -"Ah! but you're going to," chuckled Barry, who seemed to have answers -ready for both objectors. - -The bullies were dragged below. The smaller boys followed. Every boy -in the school was waiting in the gymnasium, and no teacher--not even the -athletic instructor--was present. - -Some of the boys had been at work on the bars, or the ladder, or -otherwise using the gymnastic paraphernalia. They all gathered around -in interest to see what the big boys were going to do with the bullies. - -Bill Bronson and his chum kicked and struggled for a time. But there -were enough to help Barry, so that their struggles were useless. The -bullies' shoes were quickly removed, despite their kicking. Then a sort -of harness made of straps was buckled around both boys under their arms. -There was a steel ring sewed into the crosspiece of each harness at the -back. - -Somebody produced eight objects that looked like huge -boxing-gloves--only they were made of cotton cloth stuffed with -cotton-batting. One of these clumsy things was strapped on each foot, -and another on each hand. The victims of the joke were now unable to -hurt any of their captors when they struck out at them, and the crowd -was greatly amused as well as excited. - -"Come on, now!" panted Barry. "Boost them up here. Throw the rope over -a couple of rungs of the ladder, Max. That's it." - -The rope in question was a strong manilla, about four feet long. At -each end was a snap, such as is spliced upon the ends of hitch-ropes. - -Two boys lifted each of the embarrassed prisoners, and held them under -the ladder. The snaps were fastened in the rings back of their -shoulders. - -There they hung, kicking and sprawling. At first Barry Gray and Max -Bender, one of the other big boys, held the victims. - -"Here you are now," said Captain Gray, sternly. "You wanted to fight a -fellow much smaller than yourself last night, Bill; and you agreed to -take on a fellow nearer your size. Here's Jack willing to accommodate -you. Now, go to it, you chaps, and may the best man win!" - -He and Max both stepped back, dragging their prisoners with them, and -then they let the two helpless ones swing together. - -Their heads bumped. Bill let out a roar and tried to kick Max with one -of his muffled feet. In doing so his other foot caught Jack above the -knee. - -"Look out what you're doing--you chump!" exclaimed Jack. "Keep still, -can't you?" - -"Keep still yourself," growled Bill, as his gyrating friend collided -with him again with some force. He tried to push Jack away. At once -the latter put out his mittened hand and punched Bill between the eyes. - -"Look out what you're doing!" yelled Bill, striking madly at his -opponent. - -In a moment they were at it! The poguey fight was on. The two -erstwhile chums swung over the rungs of the horizontally laid ladder, -like the famous Kilkenny cats, punched and kicked and batted at each -other in a most ridiculous manner. - -They couldn't hurt each other very much, save when they bumped heads, -and that was not often. But they grew madder every moment. - -The spectators were delighted, and the harder the combatants tried to -strike each other, the more ridiculous the whole thing appeared. - -Why it was called "poguey" nobody seemed to know, but Bobby discovered -that it had long been practiced at Rockledge School, and that usually -the two victims accepted the situation philosophically and did not -really get mad. - -The two bullies, however, had never learned to control their tempers. -Besides, both considered that the other was somewhat to blame for their -predicament. - -The battle continued, fast and furious. Bill Bronson's face was -blazing. Jack Jinks' was very ugly indeed to look at. If they could -have torn the gloves off their hands they would have done so and struck -each other with their bare fists. - -Suddenly Jack drew up his knee as they swung together, and he caught -Bill right in the belt. It was a solid blow and the victim uttered a -cry of anger and pain. Captain Gray stepped forward and stopped the two -from swinging together again. - -"Foul blow," he said, decidedly. "You know the penalty well enough, -Jack. When you're let down, Bill's got the right to punch you with his -bare fist--if he likes." - -"And if he does, I'll hand him all he's looking for," declared the -squint-eyed youth, glaring at the boy who had been his chief friend. - -"Do it, and you'll get what's coming to you!" threatened Bill, just as -angrily. - -Barry winked at Max Bender. "Let's take them down. I guess they won't -be half so thick hereafter--and then maybe some of the little fellows -will have a better time." - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - - THE HONOR MEDAL - - -Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks were released from their harnesses, and the -"pillows" were taken off their feet and hands, they went to opposite -ends of the gymnasium and had nothing to say to each other. - -Barry did not mention the foul blow and its punishment, and none of the -smaller boys dared speak of it. It was certain, however, that the -intimacy of the only two boys in the school inclined to bully the -smaller ones had taken a decided set back. - -The fun of the "poguey fight" was not to end so quickly, however. Some -of the bigger boys caught Pee Wee and Mouser Pryde, and fastened them -into the harness and put the mufflers on their feet and hands. - -The fat boy and his chum made no decided remonstrance, and when they -were swung up, they made an earnest endeavor to give the fellows all the -fun they were looking for. Their gyrations certainly were amusing, and -Bobby and Fred laughed as loudly as any of the other boys. - -But when the fat boy and Mouser were let down, and Max and Barry grabbed -the chums from Clinton, for a moment, Fred was inclined to cut up rough. - -"Aw, be a sport, Fred!" said Bobby, earnestly. "If Pee Wee can stand it, -_we_ can." - -So Fred thought better of "getting mad" and for a while the two friends -swung in the air and punched and kicked at each other to the delight of -the other boys. Bobby was very careful not to anger the red-haired lad, -and they came through the poguey fight with smiling faces. It was borne -in upon Bobby's mind more and more that Fred Martin was going to have -difficulty in keeping out of trouble in this new environment. - -At eleven o'clock the whole school filed up to the hall on the second -floor. None of the teachers were present and there was some little -confusion and noise at first. - -Barry stepped forward and held up a hand for silence. "You fellows -better take a tumble to yourselves," he said calmly. "You want to show -the Doctor that you don't have to be watched all the time. You all -know--at least, all of you but Bobby Blake and Fred Martin, and they are -not making the noise--that _this_ isn't the place for skylarking. - -"We had our fun downstairs. I hear the Doctor coming now. Let's give -him a Rockledge cheer when he comes in and then--silence!" - -The door opened as he ceased speaking and the tall, heavy-set principal -with his quiet smile and pleasant eyes peering through the thick lenses -of his glasses, appeared. - -Captain Gray raised his hand again. The roomful of boys sprang to their -feet. Bobby noted that many of them placed their left hands upon the -little blue and white enameled button that they wore on the lapels of -their coats, as they shouted in unison: - - "One, two, three--_boom_! - Boom--Z-z-z--ah! - Rockledge! Rockledge! - Sword and star! - Who's on top? - We sure are-- - _Rock_-ledge!" - - -Bobby and Fred had both noticed the blue and white buttons with the star -and sword upon them, but they did not know what they meant. Now Bobby -guessed that there was some society, or inner circle at Rockledge School -that they, as newcomers, knew nothing about. - -All the boys did not belong to it. Pee Wee did not wear a button, nor -did many of the fellows from their dormitory. Bill Bronson and Jack -Jinks did not possess the badge, either. - -Meanwhile, Doctor Raymond, smiling and bowing, approached the rostrum. -Bobby--his mind always on the alert--noted the little blue and white -spot against the dead black of the doctor's coat. - -"Well, boys! I am extremely obliged to you, I am sure," said the -Doctor, bowing again. "I am just as sensitive to compliments as the -next person. I hope you will always be as glad to see me as you appear -to be at this moment. - -"Now, I shall not detain you for long. You know my little lectures have -usually the saving grace of brevity. We have come together once more to -face a year of study. Let us face it like real men! Star and sword, my -boys! The star we are aiming for, and the Sword of Determination will -hew our way to the goal. - -"There! I will give you no homilies. There are but two new boys with -us this year--Robert Blake and Frederick Martin. Give them a warm -welcome. They only do not understand about our Medal of Honor." - -He suddenly opened his large hand and displayed in its palm a -five-pointed gold star, at least two inches across, and with a beautiful -blue-velvet background. - -"Here it is--all ready for the engraving. At the close of the school -year, this medal will be presented to the one among you who has won it -by studiousness, good conduct, manliness and general popularity. - -"It is not always the boy who sets out to win the medal who really -_does_ win it. You, who are older, know _that_. We teachers try not to -influence the opinion of the school in the choice of the recipient of -the Honor Medal. - -"The winner must stand well in his classes, or he cannot have the -faculty vote. His deportment must be good, or we teachers cannot vote -for him. But you boys yourselves must--after all--choose the winner. - -"There are fifty of you in Rockledge School. You have each, -individually, a better chance to understand your neighbors' characters -than anybody else. You are quick to find out if there is something -_fine_ in a lad's temper. You will soon learn the one who restrains -himself under provocation, who bears insult, perhaps, with confidence in -his own uprightness; who keeps straight on his way without turning aside -because of any temptation. - -"_That_ is the sort of a lad who will win this Medal of Honor," -concluded the Doctor, very seriously. "Any boy--even the youngest--may -secure it. It does not have to go to the boy at the top of his class, -nor to the oldest boy in the school. You little chaps stand just as good -a chance for it as Captain Gray," and he rested his hand upon Barry -Gray's shoulder for an instant as though there was some secret -understanding between him and the captain of the school. - -"Now, I have talked enough. School will begin in earnest on Monday. -Remember, bounds are as usual. You little fellows, see Barrymore, or -some of the masters, if you are not sure of a thing. And remember that -my office door is never locked." - -He went out quickly at the door behind the platform. Somehow, the boys -felt rather serious, and there was no shouting or fooling as they filed -out and down the stairs to the open air. - -"Say! that was a handsome gold medal he showed us," said Fred, with -enthusiasm, to Bobby. - -"Wasn't it?" returned his chum, with sparkling eyes. - -"I'd like to get that myself," admitted the red-haired one. - -"Didn't I tell you, you'd have no chance at _that_, Ginger?" chuckled -Pee Wee's voice behind them. - -"I see it," admitted Fred, without getting angry. "But it would be fine -to win it, just the same." - -So Bobby thought. He remembered what his mother had said to him on one -occasion, and wondered if it were possible for _him_ to win the gold -medal and present it to her when she returned from that far journey -which she and his father were soon to take. - -"She certainly would be proud of me then," thought Bobby Blake. "I -guess she'd think after _that_, it would be safe to leave me alone -anywhere--yes, sir! And I certainly would like to own such a medal." - -This set his mind to thinking upon the fact that at daybreak the very -next morning the ship on which his parents had bought their stateroom -would sail from New York. They were already on the train which would -bear them to the coast. - -After they sailed it would be a long time before he could even expect a -picture post-card from them--a month, at least. And _then_, they would -be thousands of miles away! - -He slipped away from Fred and Pee Wee and went into one of the -schoolrooms. There was a big globe there, and he timidly turned this -around and around until he found the pink splotch of color which marked -Brazil. - -There was the gaping mouth of the Amazon, with the big island dividing -it, and the river on the south side, against which was the black dot -marking the city of Para--where his parents would land. - -He thought of all he had ever heard or been taught about the -Amazon--"that Mighty River." He knew how the current of the vast stream -met the ocean tides and fought with them for supremacy. He knew how the -river overflowed its banks in the rainy seasons and covered vast areas -of forest and plain. - -The trader's station, to which his parents were bound, was a thousand -miles up the Amazon, and then five hundred miles more up another river. -Why--why, if he fell ill, or anything-- - -He never realized until this moment just what it would mean to have his -mother and father so far away. It had been great fun to come to -Rockledge to school. He liked it here. He hoped he would learn, and -advance, and win his way with both the boys and the teachers. - -But to have a mother and father so many, many miles away--especially to -have a mother going away from one just as fast as steam could take her-- - -Bobby Blake put his arm on the big globe, and laid his face against his -jacket-sleeve. His shoulders shook. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - - GETTING INTO STEP - - -The routine of the school did not really begin, as Dr. Raymond had said, -until Monday morning. Yet by that time Bobby Blake and Fred Martin felt -as though they were really old members of the Rockledge Fifty. - -They had learned many of the stock stories of school--legends of great -fights with the boys of Belden School, or of mighty games at football or -baseball or some other sport, in which victory had perched upon the -banners of Rockledge. - -The loyalty of boarding school boys is second only to family feeling or -patriotic love for one's country. Bobby and Fred and the other boys of -Dormitory Two were just at that age when the mind and heart are both -most impressionable. - -The new boys learned the school yell, or cheer, which they had first -heard given in eulogy of Dr. Raymond. They thought it the finest yell -they had ever heard. - -They were told about the Sword and Star, too. It was indeed an honor to -wear the little blue and white button. One had to be at least one year -at Rockledge, to stand at a certain mark in recitations, and to have a -pretty clean record in deportment, to gain entrance into the Order of -the Sword and Star. - -It was true that such chaps as Pee Wee, and the Mouser, as well as -Shiner and Howell Purdy, were rather skeptical about the value of -membership in the school secret society. Dr. Raymond was a member and -that "looked bad" to those boys who were out for fun. And "f-u-n" -spelled--in their minds--"mischief," and vice versa! - -Those first few weeks of the new school year, however, passed without -any very wild outbreak upon the part of either the merely mischievous, -like Pee Wee and his mates, or by the really disturbing element (which -was small) headed by Billy Bronson and Jack Jinks. - -Those two worthies had, after a time, joined forces again; but they were -not as good friends and co-workers as they had been before the poguey -fight. - -Bobby and Fred really gave most of their attention to studies. The -school at Clinton had been graded so differently from this preparatory -institution, that the chums had to work hard to pick up in some studies, -while they were well advanced beyond their mates in others. - -Fred was inspired by Bobby's example to win good marks for himself. -Even the stern master, Mr. Leith, who looked over the work of the -smaller boys fortnightly, commented favorably upon what the chums had -accomplished. - -In play hours the Lower School kept together for the most part. Here -was where Fred Martin's plans were proven smart. The baseball outfit -that he and Bobby had purchased with their peep-show money was welcomed -with great approval by the boys of Number Two Dormitory. - -Bobby and Fred won their places on the Second Nine at once. They played -the First Dormitory Nine on Saturday of the first week of school, and -won. Bobby's "fade-away," as Fred had prophesied, puzzled the other -nine's battery splendidly. - -The next Saturday the victorious nine played against a team of town boys -and again won. Captain Gray then began to take notice of the victorious -nine. He coached them a little and then they challenged a nine -belonging to the Belden School across the lake. - -It was after the first of October when this match occurred, and the -Rockledge boys went across in their own boats. Although visiting a -hostile camp, the boys of Rockledge were very nicely received by the -older Belden boys. Naturally, the home team had the crowd with them, -but Bobby held the enemy down to ten hits and only six runs, and the -Rockledge nine won by two runs. - -Although their hosts remained polite to the visitors, Bobby and Fred saw -very plainly that the rivalry between the two schools was deep-seated. -They heard Captain Gray and Max Bender talking to some of the big -fellows of Belden, and both sides were boasting of what the rival -football teams would do to each other on Thanksgiving Day. - -On that day the Belden crowd would come over to Rockledge, and from this -time on, there was little more baseball played by the Rockledge boys. -They were deeply interested in football. - -In this game Bobby and Fred did not shine so brightly, but they went -into hard training with the second junior team and under Captain Gray, -who coached the smaller boys as well as the first team, learned a whole -lot about football. - -Meanwhile, not a word had come to Bobby from his parents after they had -sailed from New York. He heard from Clinton every week, for Michael -Mulcahey painfully indited a scrawly letter to him, enclosing sometimes -a note from Meena. Michael, having crossed from Ireland in a sailing -ship years before, was considered by Bobby a marvel of sea-lore. One -time he wrote: - - -"DERE BOBBY:-- - -"It ain't nawthin alarmin that we don't here yet from Mistur Blake an -his good lady an so I tell Meena whos got the face ache most of the time -now and is just as good compny as a mad cat. She's rayfused to marry me -agin, an I do be thinkin thats struck in an worries her face a lot. -Howsomever 'tis about your feyther and mother Id write to cheer you up a -bit. I well remember the long passage we made from the Ould Sod when I -kem to this counthry. Twas head winds we had, an its like head winds -that has held the big ship back thats takin Mistur Blake an his good -lady to these Brazils. An tis a mortal far ways they do be goin. -Mistur Martin says the offices in New York hav had no wareless telegraf -despatches (what iver they be) from the ship since she was off Hattie -Ross--an whoever she is I dunnaw. But if she's like most females, she's -cranky, an that accounts for the delay. - -"Be good an ye'll be happy, aven if ye don't have so much fun, from your -friend and well wisher, rayspectfully, - -"MICHAEL MULCAHEY." - - -This letter--and similar epistles--cheered Bobby some, and Mr. Martin -wrote him a jolly little note, enclosed in a longer letter to Fred. But -Bobby could not help feeling worried about the silence of his parents, -especially at night. - -When he knelt to say his prayers (and most of the other boys in -Dormitory Two did likewise), he remembered what his mother had said -about her praying for him at the same time every evening, and sometimes -he had to squeeze his eyes shut tight to keep back the tears. - -That the time on board the great steamship going south to the Tropics, -and the time in New England was vastly different, did not enter Bobby's -mind. It just seemed to him as though his mother was very near him -indeed as he knelt before his chair. - -For a sturdy, busy boy, however, there was not much time for worriment. -Every day there was something new; one could not be lonesome at -Rockledge. - -The boys went from their beds to breakfast, from their meals to work in -the schoolroom, from their lessons to play--a continual round of -activities. - -The athletic instruction interested the chums from Clinton immensely, -and until the real cool weather set in, the boys of the school enjoyed -swimming in the lake every day. - -Dr. Raymond hoped that, before long, he would be able to build a -gymnasium with a swimming pool in a special building by itself. This -was something to look forward to, however. - -All aquatic sports did not stop when the frost came. There were plenty -of boats belonging to the school--from light, flat-bottomed skiffs which -the little fellows could not possibly tip over, to a fine eight-oared -shell manned by the bigger boys. In this they raced the Belden School -every June before Commencement. - -Wednesday and Saturday afternoons were holidays, but without special -permission the boys of the Lower School could not go out of bounds. On -Saturdays the bigger boys went to town if they so desired, or took long -tramps through the woods, or rowed to the upper end of the lake. - -If the smaller fellows wanted to go out of bounds, usually a teacher -went with them. There was a picnic of the Lower School on one of the -islands in the lake, however, that Bobby and Fred were not likely to -forget for a long time. - -Pee Wee and Mouser got it up. They first got permission to take a cold -dinner on Saturday and row to the island. There was a farmer whose land -joined the school property on the east. From him they obtained several -dozen ears of late greencorn--nubbins, but sweet as sugar--and some new -potatoes. - -They were excused from lessons that day at eleven--all but Pee Wee -himself. He had been lazy, as usual, and was behind in his work. It -looked, for a time, as though the picnic had to be delayed. - -But urged on by the others, Bobby faced Mr. Carrin, who had Pee Wee's -class in history, and begged the fat boy off. - -"_Do_ let him do the extra work to-night, sir, after supper," begged -Bobby. "We were going to have such a nice time, and Pee--I mean -Perry--got the picnic up, and--" - -"It is a pity that Perry cannot spend a little of his mind and effort on -his lessons," said Mr. Carrin, with a smile. - -"Yes, sir. I know, sir," said Bobby, eagerly, "but he doesn't seem to -be able to think of two things at once." - -"I guess that is right," chuckled Mr. Carrin, who was a much more -pleasant gentleman than Mr. Leith. "Tell him he may go, but I shall -expect a perfect recitation on Monday morning, first thing." - -"Huh!" growled Pee Wee, who had overheard some of this. "I'm glad -enough to get off, Bobby Blake. But you needn't have told him I was -weak-minded." - -Bobby grinned at him. "What do you care if you _are_ a little bit -crazy? And I didn't tell him anything new. He was on to it." - -The crowd rowed off in three boats. There were seventeen of them. They -went to the upper island, which was the biggest, in an hour and a half, -and as soon as they landed they set to work to build a fire and make the -picnic dinner. - -Of course, they were too hungry to wait until the potatoes were baked, -but as soon as the light wood had burned down to ashes and coals, they -thrust the potatoes under the bed of the fire to bake slowly. - -Meanwhile they ate the sandwiches and cake they had brought from school, -and each boy cut a stick, on the end of which he stuck an ear of corn. -These ears they roasted in the flames. - -Of course, they were scorched a little, but they had butter and pepper -and salt with which to dress the corn and it _did_ taste mighty nice! - -"And there's pretty near a bushel of the potatoes," said Fred, happily. -"After the fire dies down again, we can rake them out and eat them. -There's a big dab of butter left and plenty of salt and pepper. -Crickey! I could eat a peck of them myself." - -"We ought to have brought more potatoes and corn along," suggested Pee -Wee, licking his fingers, "and hidden the stuff here somewhere. Then we -could come another day and have a bake like this." - -"Say! the corn wouldn't be much good," Bobby said. - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" yelled Fred, suddenly. "I have it." - -"Gee! you must have it bad," responded Mouser. "What kind of a -battlecry _is_ that?" - -"Say!" went on Fred, without paying the least attention to Mouser's -question, "I've got the dandy idea." - -"Let's have it?" proposed Bobby. - -"Let's build a shack, or a cabin, or something, up there in the thick -trees. Nobody would ever see it from the lake. Then we can bring -things over to furnish it--on the sly, you know--" - -"Why on the sly?" demanded his chum. - -"Aw--well--if the other fellows knew it, they'd come and bust it up, -wouldn't they?" - -"Not our fellows," declared Shiner. - -"But you bet the kids from Belden would," urged Pee Wee. - -"We could keep still about it, I s'pose," admitted Bobby. - -"Well, then!" returned Fred. "Now, we'd fit it up, and store stuff in -it for winter--nuts, and popcorn, and 'taters, and turnips--" - -"You can't bake turnips," objected Howell Purdy. - -"Well! they're good raw, aren't they?" demanded the eager Fred. - -"It's a great old scheme," declared Jimmy Ailshine, otherwise "Shiner." -"Let's get at it at once. Skeets Brody has his ax. Come on!" - -And the excited boys trooped away from the beach and left the potatoes -under the coals of the campfire to finish cooking. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - - HOT POTATOES - - -Bobby and Fred had already become leaders to a degree, with the boys of -their own age at Rockledge School. This suggestion of the red-haired -one about building a hut was accepted with enthusiasm by the fifteen -others in the present crowd. - -They trooped up into the thick grove that crowned the summit of the -rocky island. Bobby and Fred had been on many camping expeditions at -home, along the banks of Plunkit Creek. They wasted no time in -discussing _how_ they should build a shelter with the materials at hand. - -"Leave it to us, and we'll go ahead and show you how to make a nice -shack," promised Bobby, when the others began to gabble as to how it -should be done. - -"Good idea!" cried Pee Wee. "Let's elect Bobby Blake, captain. - -"And Fred Martin, lieutenant," said Shiner. "They both know what to do -and we don't." - -This was agreed to without a word of objection from any of the fifteen. -Bobby took charge at once. - -"Here are four trees," he announced, pointing to four that stood almost -in a square, some twelve feet apart, and with nothing but saplings in -the square made by them. "These will be our posts. First we want to -clean out all the small trees and brush inside these big trees, and for -some feet around the outside--so we can work." - -"Wish we had more axes," said Fred. - -"We all have knives. Those with knives can cut off the smaller brush. -Skeets is really our only woodsman. Come on, Skeets, and let's find -four good trees for the cross-timbers." - -They were all soon very busy. Bobby did little but show the others what -to do and make measurements with a piece of fishline. Fred gave his -attention to cutting spruce boughs for walls and roof. - -Skeets cut the four trees needed, they were measured and notched at the -ends and then lifted into place--each end in a crotch of the low -branching trees Bobby had selected for the corner posts of the hut. - -The roof would not be exactly flat, for one crotch was somewhat higher -than the others, but the four timbers lay firm, being lashed together -with black-birch withes. - -Soon the other boys began to bring the spruce boughs; but first Bobby -laid several good sized saplings across the string-pieces, to strengthen -the roof. - -They worked so hard and with such enthusiasm that they really forgot the -potatoes under the bonfire. In two hours a heavy roofing of boughs lay -upon the poles, and the boys could all stand up under it and be -sheltered. - -Suddenly Fred exclaimed: "Crickey! Let's see if those potatoes are -done. I'm as hungry as a hound right now." - -This set them all on a run. It does not take much to put an edge on a -boy's appetite. Just the suggestion of the potatoes was enough. - -"First at the fire!" yelled Howell Purdy, as he hurried down through the -grove, and over the rocks. - -"Bet you I make it first!" declared Shiner, vigorously following the -leader. - -It was a stampede. With whoops and shouts the seventeen scrambled down -the descent to the shore. - -Suddenly they halted. Shiner and Howell, who had been wrestling to put -each other behind, looked, too. There was a crowd of boys around their -campfire on the shore. - -"Who are they?" demanded Bobby, in amazement. - -"Say! they're raking out our potatoes!" gasped Fred Martin. - -"They're Beldenites!" declared Pee Wee, panting, and on the high ground -behind. "There's their boats. And there's half as many more of them as -there are of _us_." - -"I don't care if they're two to one!" cried Fred in anger. "Those are -our potatoes." - -"Suppose they beat us and take away our boats?" demanded Howell Purdy, -falling back. "You know--those Belden fellows can fight." - -"Well! can't _we_?" demanded Fred Martin, panting and doubling his -fists. "What are we--babies?" - -"We won't fight--yet," put in Bobby, calmly. "Perhaps they don't realize -that that is our fire and our potatoes." - -"What'll we do?" asked Pee Wee, by no means anxious to advance. - -"Come on," said Bobby; feeling dreadfully shaken inside, but too proud -to show it. "Let's talk to them." - -"Better get some clubs and _go_ for them," growled Fred. - -"No. They haven't clubs," declared Bobby. "Let's not start any fight." - -He and Shiner and Mouser proceeded along the beach. They saw the Belden -fellows scrambling for the hot potatoes, and shouting and skylarking. - -"That's Larry Cronk--that fellow with the curly hair. Don't you -remember, Bobby? He pitched for their club when we went over to beat -them that day." - -"I remember. And that's their first baseman--Ben Allen." Then Bobby -raised his voice so the Belden crowd could hear him: "I say! that's our -fire and those are our potatoes. We were just coming down to get them." - -"Is that so?" sneered Larry Cronk, standing up and laughing at the -Rockledge boys. "Well, you came too late--do you see?" - -"I'll throw a rock at him!" growled the belligerent Fred. - -"Keep still!" commanded Bobby. Then to the Beldenites he said: "That's -not fair--or honest. Those are our potatoes--" - -Larry swung back his arm, and poised one of the potatoes. The next -moment he flung it with all his force at Bobby. The latter just escaped -it by dodging. - -"Mean thing!" yelled Fred, and he picked up a stone on the instant -(there were plenty of pebbles on the beach) and flung it at the Belden's -captain. - -"That's right! let's drive them off!" cried Pee Wee, from the rear. - -Fred's stone was flung true and Larry Cronk received it in the shoulder. -He yelled and dodged, and at once the Belden boys let go a flight of -_hot potatoes_! - -The potatoes burst wherever they struck--and not a few of them landed -upon the boys who had hoped to feast upon the tubers. This was adding -insult to injury, and the Rockledge boys were greatly enraged. - -"They're spoiling all our 'taters!" cried Pee Wee--almost wailing, in -fact. "There! there's another busted." - -He had turned just in time to get the potato in the back instead of in -the chest. Mouser and Howell were jumping about and rubbing their -cheeks. The hot potatoes burned as well as stung, and although they -were mealy enough to fly all about when they burst--like miniature -bombs--when flung by a vigorous arm, they hurt more than a little. - -The Rockledge crowd broke before the flight of hot potatoes, and seemed -about to run back to the woods. But Bobby and Fred could not stand -_that_. - -"Hold on, fellows!" yelled Fred. "We can lick those chaps--I know we -can! Get some stones! They can't hurt more than hot potatoes." - -Bobby did not delay in joining in the return fusillade of stones. Some -of the pebbles landed heavily. Although outnumbering the Rockledge boys -by considerable, the Belden crowd began to retreat toward its boats. - -"Come on! push them!" yelled Fred, running ahead. - -The others, thus encouraged, ran after him. They reached their own boats -and felt safe, then. The Beldens could not get their craft away from -them. - -At the fire there were a lot of the potatoes scattered about and -trampled into the sand. Pee Wee began yelling: - -"Use the stones! use the stones! Don't fling those potatoes--we want -them!" - -This brought about some laughter, and the Rockledge boys did not throw -their missiles so viciously thereafter. The Beldens had gotten enough, -anyway. Two of them were nursing bad bruises on their heads, and were -crying. Bobby was glad the battle was so soon over, for he was afraid -somebody would be seriously hurt. - -The Belden youngsters scrambled into their boats and pushed off from the -island, while the Rockledge boys collected all the potatoes they could -find, that had not burst, and enjoyed their delayed feast with the sauce -of having won it by force of arms. - -They did not finish the hut on the island that day, but agreed to come -back to complete it the next half holiday--if they could gain -permission. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - - LOST AT SEA - - -And then there came an unhappy time indeed for Bobby Blake. In the back -of his mind, for weeks, had been the uncertainty about his father and -mother. Now that uncertainty suddenly developed into a great and -lingering horror--a horror from which not even the elasticity of youth -could easily rebound. - -One morning Dr. Raymond sent a note into Mr. Carrin's school. Had not -Bobby been so busy at his work, he would have seen the pale faced -teacher grow still more pallid, and look at him. - -Mr. Carrin arose and walked up and down the room. The boys soon -discovered that he was not watching them. Occasionally he stole a -glance at Bobby, but he noticed no other boy. - -Then, without saying another word, he went out, and in a minute came -back with Barry Gray. Barry looked startled himself, and very serious. -He stood in the doorway and said: - -"Blake! Doctor Raymond wants you in his office. You are to come with -me." - -Bobby got up quickly, and with a suddenly beating heart. He believed he -must have done something to bring down upon his head the wrath of the -good Doctor. He could not imagine what it was, but he was frightened. - -You see, Bobby had gotten it into his head that possibly he _might_ have -a chance at the Medal of Honor. He was trying to be an exemplary -scholar for that reason--and because he knew it would delight his absent -father and mother, if he gained such an honor. - -Now, this sudden and unexpected call shocked him. Fred grabbed his hand -secretly as he passed his seat and squeezed it. Bobby knew that his -chum, thoughtless as Fred usually was, appreciated his present feelings. - -When he reached the door, his own face was aflame. He knew all the boys -of the Lower School were looking at him. Mr. Carrin, too, seemed to be -staring at Bobby in a strange way. - -Barry put his arm across the smaller boy's shoulder just as soon as the -classroom door closed behind them. - -"Buck up, old man!" he said, with a funny choke in his voice. "Things -are never so hard as they seem at first. And there's such a lot of -uncertainty about such reports--" - -"What reports, sir?" asked Bobby, breathlessly. - -"Didn't Carrin tell you a _thing_?" gasped Barry, stopping short. - -"No! What have I done? What's Doctor Raymond going to do with me?" - -"Why, you poor little kid!" ejaculated the big boy, grabbing Bobby -tightly again. "You mustn't be afraid of the Old Doc. He wouldn't hurt -a fly. And you're not in bad with him--don't think it!" - -"But what is the matter, then?" demanded Bobby. - -"It's your folks, Bob," blurted out Barry. "There's uncertain news about -them--" - -"They're not sick--not _dead_?" cried Bobby, shaking all over. - -"No, no! Of course not," returned Barry, heartily. "Nothing as bad as -that." - -"What is it, then?" - -"Why, it's only a shipwreck, or something like that. Of course they've -been rescued; folks always are, you know. And they'll have lots of -adventures to write you about." - -Bobby was speechless. His pretty, delicate mother _shipwrecked_! Of -course, his father would save her, but she might get wet and catch cold; -that was the first thought that took form in his mind. - -"News has come about the big ship they sailed away on," Barry Gray went -on, cheerfully. "Another ship has found part of the deckworks of your -father's steamship, all scorched and burned. There must have been a -fire at sea." - -"Well, don't you s'pose they could put the fire out with so much water -around?" asked Bobby, seriously. - -"That's right!" exclaimed Barry. "But perhaps the machinery was hurt, -so the ship couldn't be made to go. There wasn't any sails to her, of -course." - -"I see," said Bobby, gravely, nodding. - -"So they had to take to the boats. You know how it is: Women and -children first! The sailors are always so brave. And the officers -stand by to the last--and if the ship sinks, the captain always goes -down with her, standing on the quarter deck, with the flags flying. -You've read about it, Bobby!" - -"Sure!" choked Bobby. - -"Of course there are always boats enough for the passengers--and -life-rafts. And they float about for a while and are either picked up -by other ships, or the natives row out in their canoes and save them." - -"Yes!" gasped Bobby, letting out the great fear at his heart. "But--but -suppose she should get cold? You know she has a weak throat. The -doctor always tells her to look out for bron--bron-_skeeters_, or -somethin' like that." - -"_Who_ has bronchitis?" demanded Barry, rather puzzled. - -"My mother." - -"Oh! don't you know it's a warm climate down there? Sure! It's in the -Tropics. No chance of catching cold--not at all." - -"Oh!" murmured Bobby, and he felt somewhat relieved. - -"And they've been picked up by some ship bound around the world, -maybe--that is why you haven't heard from them. You won't hear till -they touch at some port clear across the world, from which they can send -mail. - -"Or perhaps," said the comforting captain, "they have gone to some -tropic island, where boats don't often touch. And the sailors will -build shelters for the passengers against the coming of the rainy -season, and then a boat-load of volunteers will hike out looking for a -civilized port, and it will be months and months before help comes to -the island. - -"Meanwhile," said the imaginative youngster, his eyes glowing and his -cheek flushed, "your mother and the other ladies will get well and -strong, and all brown like Indians. And the men will have to dress in -goat-skins, for their clothes will wear out, and they'll learn to make -fire by rubbing two sticks together, and they'll have fights with -jaguars--But no!" exclaimed the big boy, suddenly; "of course, there -will be no harmful creatures on an _island_. - -"Say! I guess they're having fun all right. Don't you worry, Bobby." - -They halted at the doctor's door, and Barry rapped. The voice of the -big principal told them to "Enter!" and the bigger boy pushed open the -door. - -"Here he is, sir," said Barry, winking fast over the head of the smaller -boy at Dr. Raymond. "I have just been telling him what a jolly good time -his folks are likely having right now. It must be _so_ interesting to -be shipwrecked." - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - - THE BLOODY CORNER - - -The news went over the school at noon, of course, and most of the -smaller boys eyed Bobby Blake askance. The boy himself seemed walking -in a kind of cloud; his mind was stunned, and it was lucky that Dr. -Raymond had said to him, kindly: - -"You are excused from recitations to-day, Robert." - -The good doctor had spoken to him quite cheerfully of the probable loss -of the steamship on which Mr. and Mrs. Blake had sailed from New York. -The principal seemed to have taken his cue from Barrymore Gray. - -To tell the truth, what Barry had said cheered Bobby more than anything -else. Even Fred Martin was a trifle depressing. Fred wanted to give -him his share in the bats and mask and other baseball paraphernalia, and -turn over to him, in fact, most of his personal property, likely to be -dear to a boy's heart. - -This was the red-haired boy's way of showing sympathy. But it did not -help much. - -The roseate picture Barry had drawn of the shipwreck stuck in Bobby's -mind. He was very glad his mother could not take cold down there, even -if she got her feet wet. - -For several days the other boys were very gentle with Bobby. It did not -make Bobby feel very comfortable, but he knew they meant it kindly. - -Soon, however, their awkwardness wore off, and they were as rough and -friendly as ever, and he liked it better. Deep in his heart he kept -thinking all the time of his parents, and the possibilities arising out -of the wreck of the steamship. Outwardly he was much the same as ever. - -Only one thing Bobby Blake desired now more than before. He longed--oh! -how he _did_ long--to win the Medal of Honor. If his parents were -shipwrecked, and there was any suffering for them in it, it seemed to -Bobby that if he won the Honor Medal at Rockledge School, that fact -would alleviate their misery, wherever they were! - -Yet there was nothing of the mollycoddle about Bobby. Fun appealed to -him just as strongly as it ever did to any ten year old boy. - -There were certain set rules of Rockledge School that he would not break -and that he kept Fred from breaking. - -"There's no fun in getting caught and held up to the whole school as -dishonorable," he told Fred. "We're expected to keep in bounds. We -know the bounds well enough. And if we want to go out of them, we have -only to ask, and give a good reason, to get permission to go farther." - -"Aw, they treat us as if we were a lot of babies," growled Fred Martin. - -"They do nothing of the kind," Bobby replied. "Doctor Raymond treats us -as though we were gentlemen. He trusts to our _honor_. I wouldn't -disappoint him for a farm!" - -"We-ell!" sighed Fred. "I suppose you're right, Bobby. I--I almost -wish he didn't treat us just this way. There'd be some fun in busting -up the old rules!" - -And that was where Dr. Raymond showed his wisdom. He knew how to manage -boys with the least amount of friction. - -Weeks passed, full of work and play, and no further news came of the -lost steamship on which Mr. and Mrs. Blake had sailed for Brazil. The -wreckage had been sighted off the Orinoco, and the name of the steamship -was plain upon the wreck. But it might have drifted a long way after -the catastrophe. Just _where_ the ship had been burned, nobody could -guess. - -No boat from her, no word from her captain or crew, came to the owners -in New York. She had been a freight boat, carrying on that trip -scarcely a score of passengers. - -Much of this Bobby did not hear, or understand. He clung like a limpet -to the imaginative idea of a shipwreck that Barrymore Gray had drawn for -him. And it was well that this was so. - -Thanksgiving came and went. The Belden school came over in the forenoon -to Rockledge and its football team was nicely thrashed by the Rockledge -eleven. The Lower School went almost mad with delight; and Fred Martin -and Larry Cronk, the Belden boy, came almost to blows on the campus. - -Neither of the Lower Schools had forgotten the hot potato fight on the -island. Ere this, Bobby and his friends had completed their camp and -had begun to furnish it, but they hoped the youngsters from Belden would -learn nothing about the hideout. - -One thing pleased Bobby and Fred immensely at Thanksgiving. A big box -came to them from Clinton. In it were all sorts of good things made by -Meena and Mrs. Martin, fall apples and pears picked by Michael Mulcahey, -candy from Mr. Martin's store, and gifts from Fred's sisters and smaller -brothers. - -The Second Dormitory had a great feast after hours one night, of which -even Captain Gray knew nothing. Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks got onto -it, and the small boys had to bribe the two bullies with some of the -choicest of their stores. Nevertheless, the midnight feast went off very -smoothly. - -There were a few more cases for the medical attendant to see to at -Rockledge School after Thanksgiving than usual. The midnight feast -coming so soon after the big Thanksgiving dinner, played havoc in the -ranks of the smaller boys. - -Pee Wee had what Bobby declared to be "internal, or civil war," and went -to the hospital in Dr. Raymond's house for three days. He came out wan -and interesting looking, declaring that he had lost pounds of flesh! -But he proceeded to get his avoirdupois back again very promptly. - -It was a full week before the school was back on its usual working -basis--and the midwinter holidays only a month away. The teachers -spurred the lazy scholars, and helped the dull ones, and out of this -pushing in classes arose the trouble that became a very serious affair -indeed for both Fred Martin and Bobby Blake. - -Fred was not always bright in arithmetic. One morning he made a -ridiculous blunder, and the whole class laughed at him. Mr. Carrin -reprimanded Fred for his inattention, and as they filed out for -recreation before dinner, Sparrow Bangs--named so because he had a whole -cage-full of tame sparrows down at the gatekeeper's cottage--made fun of -the red-haired boy. - -Fred had been angered by the teacher's sharpness. Now he turned on -Sparrow in a terrible passion. - -"What's that you say? I'll give you a punch you'll remember." - -"Aw, no you won't!" returned Sparrow. "And I'll say it again, Ginger! -You've no time to play catch--you'll have to study the multiplication -table, like Mr. Carrin said." - -Fred rushed at the teasing lad, but Pee Wee and Howell Purdy came -between them. - -"Cheese it!" said the fat boy. "You two fellows want to get into -trouble? Right under the schoolroom windows, too!" - -"Well, he's got to stop nagging me," cried Fred, very red, and puffing -very hard. - -"Who are you, Ginger, that I should be so awfully careful of?" sneered -Sparrow. "You're not so much!" - -"I'll show you--" - -"Stop it! stop it, Fred!" advised Bobby, catching his chum by the arm. -"Come on, I want to throw you a few fast ones. We mustn't get out of -practice, even if we _can't_ play a regular game until next spring." - -"There he goes!" cried Sparrow. "His boss takes him away. Great lad, -that Ginger is. Afraid to say his soul's his own. Bobby Blake just -bosses him around--" - -It was all over, then! Fred flung off Bobby's hand and rushed at his -tormentor. Smack! his fist shot into Sparrow's face. - -Half a dozen of the boys then got between the antagonists. - -"You want to get us all into trouble?" growled Mouser, one of those who -held Fred Martin. "Cut it out. If you've got to fight, there's the -'bloody corner.' Do it right." - -The chums had heard of "the bloody corner," but since their appearance -at Rockledge School there had been no real pugilistic encounter between -any of their mates. - -Down in the far corner of the grounds--oh! a long way from the -buildings--behind a tall hedge of hemlock, there had once been a -toolshed. It had been removed and the corner was just a heap of soft -sand. No matter how hard the frost was, this sand did not freeze. - -And here, from time immemorial, had been arranged the school fights. -Whether the good Doctor was aware that in this arena was fought out such -feuds as could not be otherwise settled, nobody knew. Usually the -fights were arranged by the older fellows, and the captain of the school -was supposed to be present and see fair play. - -It spoke well for Barrymore Gray that thus far under his regime, not a -fight had occurred in "bloody corner." - -The belligerents--Fred and Sparrow--were separated for the time, but as -Bobby and his friend started to run to dinner when the big gong rang, -Shiner stopped them. - -"Hey, Ginger," said he. "Are you game to fight Sparrow?" - -"I'm going to fight him," declared the red-haired boy, showing his -teeth. "He can't get out of it." - -"Oh! he's not trying to," said Shiner. "In fact, he told me to put it -up to you. He wants to knock your head off." - -"He'll have a fine time trying it," declared Fred, hotly. "I'll show -him--" - -"Aw, drop it!" begged Bobby. "You don't want to fight Sparrow--and he -doesn't want to fight you." - -"Better keep out of this, Bobby Blake," advised Shiner, importantly. -"Sparrow says Fred's afraid, anyway--" - -"I'll show him!" cried the maddened red-haired boy. - -"Bluffing's all right," sneered Shiner. "But will you _fight_?" - -"Give me a chance!" - -"Aw-right. We'll put it up to the captain and you and Sparrow can get -together down in the corner." - -"With gloves? and have Barry Gray boss it? No, I won't," declared the -pugnacious Fred. "Sparrow's trying to get out of it. I'll box him in -the gym. But if he's got the pluck of a flea, he'll come down to the -corner with his bare fists--and you and Bobby here are enough to see -fair play." - -"Whew!" whistled Shiner, his eyes dancing. "Do you mean it?" - -"You'll find out that I do," threatened Fred, wagging his head. - -"You sha'n't fight that way, Fred!" cried Bobby. "The School won't -stand for it." - -"You mean that bully, Barry Gray, won't stand for it. He always wants -to boss." - -"You game to see them through, Bobby?" demanded Shiner. - -"If you don't want to come with me, I'll get Pee Wee," growled Fred. - -"No," said Bobby, in great trouble. "If you mean to fight Sparrow, of -course I'm going to stand by you." - -"And keep your mouth shut about it?" snapped Shiner. - -"Bobby's no snitch," exclaimed Fred, hotly. "If we're caught, it won't -be because either Bobby or I tell." - -"Nuff said," declared Shiner, shortly. "I'll see Sparrow again and put -it up to him. We'll find a time when nobody else will be around. Be -ready," and Shiner went off whistling, evidently feeling his importance -in the matter. - -Bobby felt pretty badly. He did not want to see Fred fight at all. And -he certainly did not want him to meet Sparrow Bangs in this way. A -sparring match was one thing, but a fist fight, deliberately arranged, -and held in secret, was an entirely different matter. - -"You can't do it!" he said to Fred, greatly disturbed. "Dr. Raymond -might send you home." - -"I don't care if I'm sent home twice!" exclaimed the hotheaded Fred. "I -am going to thrash that fellow, or he'll thrash _me_." - -Bobby wanted to shake Fred--he could have hit his chum himself! And -yet--he couldn't desert him. They had come here to this school, -strangers. They had agreed to stand by each other, through thick and -thin--of course without a word being said about it! Boys do not talk -about their friendships like girls. - -If Fred were wrong, Bobby could be angry with him, but he could not -desert him. If his chum intended to fight Sparrow Bangs in this -disgraceful way, Bobby would "second" him--of course he would! - -If Dr. Raymond should hear of it and suspend them both from school, it -could not be helped. He knew very well that he was running a risk of -losing all chance for the Medal of Honor; yet he would stick to his -chum. - -He was unhappy that night--very, very unhappy. Fred and he said little -when they were alone. Shiner came to him and whispered, at bedtime, -that there would be a chance to "pull off" the fight the next noontime -after dinner. They could cut the mid-day study hour to do it, without -being caught. - -Beyond his determination to stand by Fred, right or wrong, Bobby wanted -his chum--as long as he _would_ fight--to win! He advised him in the -morning: - -"Now, Fred, eat a good breakfast--a _big_ breakfast. But you're going to -go light on dinner." - -"I know," grunted the red-haired one. - -"Don't drink much water at dinner time, either. If you think you'll be -tempted too much, keep out of the dining-room." - -"No," growled Fred. "They'll think I'm afraid." - -"All right. But eat lightly," urged Bobby. - -For once something was going on in the Lower School that the whole crowd -of boys was not "on to." Shiner and Sparrow had been as mum as Fred and -Bobby. - -The two combatants did not even scowl at each other; they kept apart. -They did not want any of the other boys to suspect. - -Howell Purdy asked Bobby if "Ginger wasn't going to knock Sparrow's head -off?" and Bobby dodged the question adroitly. - -It seemed to Bobby as though that forenoon would never come to an end. -At half past eleven the Lower School was let out. Bobby took Fred into -the gymnasium and they put on the gloves together for a little practice. - -With the experience they had had before, and the instruction of the -Rockledge athletic teacher, for boys of their size, Bobby and Fred were -quite proficient in the so-called manly art. - -Sparring, as a game like baseball or tennis, is splendid exercise and -good training for mind and temper. It may, or may not, lead to -fisticuffs among boys. Certainly boys who spar together in a gymnasium -are much less likely to have rude fights as the outgrowth of sudden -temper. They respect each other's prowess too much. - -Fred was careful at dinner. As soon as they could, he and Bobby slipped -out, and made their way to the distant corner, and by a roundabout way -so that they could not be seen. Five minutes later Sparrow and Jimmy -Ailshine appeared. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - - THE RESULT - - -Just who would have won in that battle between Fred Martin and Sparrow -Bangs remains one of the unsolved mysteries of Rockledge School. - -It was never finished. The quartette of boys had made one mistake. -They should have taken a fifth youngster into their confidence and set -him on watch. - -Mr. Leith, the head master under Dr. Raymond, always took a -constitutional around the grounds after the midday meal. Not often did -he cross the campus, for he was not a man given to spying upon his young -charges. - -But this day the campus seemed to be deserted. It was a cold day, and -most of the boys had remained indoors to take advantage of the hour of -study before afternoon lessons. - -He came down the railing that defended the cliff's edge, and he heard, -as he approached the notorious "bloody corner," boyish voices. - -"That's it, Sparrow! Hit him again!" shrieked one voice. - -"Let him hit me--I'll give him as good as he sends!" spoke up another -voice. - -There was the instant sound of blows interchanged. The teacher could not -doubt what was going on. - -"Boys! boys! how dare you fight?" he demanded, and strode toward the -hedge of hemlock trees, his coattails flapping behind him. - -The fight had not continued long. Both boys had removed their coats and -vests and caps. They were hard at it indeed when Mr. Leith's voice smote -upon their ears. - -"Cheese it!" gasped Shiner. "Leith's onto us!" - -With the fear of being apprehended in all their minds, the four boys -sprang for the underbrush, on the other side of the corner. They knew -which way the teacher was coming. - -The two belligerents had picked up their discarded clothing, but as they -got under cover Fred gasped: - -"Scubbity-_yow_! I've dropped my cap." - -"Keep on!" exclaimed Bobby. "I'll get it." - -He was so earnest to shield his chum from the result of his wrong doing, -that he forgot his own danger. If Fred's cap were found, Mr. Leith -would know it, and Fred would be called upon to explain. - -Bobby darted back while the other boys scudded through the bushes. He -saw the cap on the ground just inside the open space. He sprawled all -over it, grabbed it up, and then was stricken motionless and dumb by the -voice of the master who stepped into view: - -"Robert! What does this mean?" - -Bobby shook all over, but he stuffed the cap into the breast of his -jacket. - -"Robert, stand up!" commanded the teacher. - -Bobby did so. He looked timidly across at the gentleman. Certainly Mr. -Leith was a very stern looking man! - -"Come here, Robert," said Mr. Leith. - -Bobby crossed the sandlot at a slow crawl. Mr. Leith cleared his -throat, removing his eyeglasses to wipe them. On the instant, as the -boy reached the fence, he flung Fred's cap through the rails and out -over the edge of the cliff. It disappeared like a shot. - -"What was that, sir?" demanded Mr. Leith, putting on the eyeglasses and -looking at Bobby again. - -The boy hesitated. The gentleman repeated: - -"What was it? I saw you throw something away." - -"It--it was a cap," said Bobby. - -"A cap? Not your own cap?" exclaimed the teacher, in surprise. "You -have your own cap on." - -"No, sir. Not my own cap," admitted Bobby. - -"Whose cap was it, then?" - -Bobby was silent. He looked up at Mr. Leith pleadingly. That gentleman -knew well enough what was in the boy's mind. He, too, understood boys -pretty well, but he did not believe in handling them just as the old -Doctor did. - -"Do you hear me, young man?" he asked, harshly. - -"Yes, sir." - -"Why do you not answer me?" - -Bobby wanted to cry out and plead with him. Mr. Leith had no _right_ to -ask such a question! That is the way the boy looked at it. The teacher -was tempting him to do the meanest thing in a boy's catalog of sins. - -He was asking Bobby to _snitch_! - -"I--I can't tell you, sir," stammered the boy. - -"You mean you are determined not to tell me?" repeated Mr. Leith. - -Bobby was silent, but still looked straight into his face. No frown -could make Bobby Blake drop his eyes in shame. - -"Two boys were fighting here just now," said the teacher, slowly and -sternly. "Isn't that so?" - -"Yes, sir," said Bobby, quietly. - -"Barrymore Gray was not here?" asked the other, sharply. - -"Oh, no, sir. Barry knew nothing about it, sir," cried Bobby. - -"Ah! Indeed? Then this fight was a strictly private affair?" - -Bobby looked miserable, but said nothing. - -"How many boys were here?" - -Bobby wagged his head negatively. "I--I can't tell you, sir." - -"Nor the names of the boys who fought?" - -"No, sir." - -"You know who they are?" - -"Oh, yes, sir." - -"And you refuse to tell me?" - -"I--I can't tell!" gasped Bobby, both hands clutched tightly upon the -breast of his jacket. It seemed to him as though the teacher must see -the pounding of his heart. - -"Robert," said Mr. Leith, "I do not like such actions as this. I will -not allow a boy to refuse me answers to perfectly proper questions. Go -to your class-room. You must not go to the gymnasium, nor out of doors -at all, until I bid you. When you are not in classes, remain in your -dormitory. - -"I am disappointed in you, Robert. You have shown yourself to be a -studious boy heretofore and not a ruffian." - -"Oh, sir--" - -"Silence! You may not have been one of the boys fighting; but you were -aiding and abetting a ruffianly encounter between two of your -schoolmates. It cannot be overlooked. - -"I had hopes of you, Robert. We all had. Dr. Raymond himself had -commended your course since you came to Rockledge. But no boy who -wishes to stand in the honor class can break the rules of the school and -then refuse to stand the full punishment for his act." - -"Oh, Mr. Leith!" cried Bobby, brokenly. "I am not trying to get out of -anything. Truly I'm not! Punish me all you want to, sir, but _don't_ -ask me to tell on the other boys. I can't do that." - -"We shall see, Robert," said the teacher, grimly. "Return to your -class-room." - -Now began a very terrible time for Bobby Blake--or so it seemed to the -heartsick boy. He held a secret that he could not speak of, and his -refusal to reveal it broke down his chances of gaining that Honor Medal -on which he had set his hopes. - -Of course, it never entered his mind for a moment that he _could_ -tell--even though the other boys did not realize what he had been -through with Mr. Leith, and what his punishment was. - -Fred and Sparrow, made friends by the emergency, with Jimmy Ailshine, -waited for Bobby in a secure hiding place known to all four; but Bobby -did not come. When they got back to the classroom at half past one, -Bobby was there ahead of them. - -His face was very red; he may have been crying, but Fred could not tell. -The latter slipped a brief note to him: - -"Did he catch you?" - -Bobby nodded, but did not write back. Fred, after a while, slipped over -another written question: - -"Where's my cap?" - -This time Bobby replied: "At the foot of the cliff. He doesn't know any -of you. Keep still." - -"Good old sport, Bobby," quoth Fred to Sparrow, when recitations were -over and they filed out. "Scubbity-_yow_! that was a soaker you gave me -on the jaw. It's sore yet." - -"I believe I'm going to have a black eye," revealed Sparrow, with pride. - -They went off together, inseparable friends for the time being. Bobby -remained behind, taking his books into the big study. - -Mr. Leith did not speak to him again. In fact, nobody came near him -before supper. When the boys came in, giggling and talking, just as -unable as usual to settle down quietly to the meal until an adult eye -was turned threateningly upon them, Bobby entered, too, but with such a -lump in his throat that he felt that he could scarcely swallow a -mouthful. - -Nobody noticed his condition but Pee Wee, and he only to seize upon the -pudding that Bobby could not touch. "You act as if you had the mumps -and couldn't swallow," whispered the fat boy. "But what you can't eat -I'll get rid of for you, Bobby." - -Three wistful days passed. Bobby remained indoors, and the boys knew -that he was being punished. Only three knew what for, and they did not -know how much. - -"Good old scout, Bobby!" said Shiner, clapping him on the shoulder. -"Wild horses wouldn't get anything out of you, eh!" - -Fred began to eye his chum askance. Thoughtless as the red-haired one -usually was, he began to worry. - -Then Mr. Leith called Bobby to him again. - -"Will you tell me who was fighting down there at the corner?" he asked. - -"Please--please do not ask me, sir!" begged the boy. - -"Ahem! you are still stubborn, are you!" - -"Ye--yes, sir," said Bobby, not knowing what else to say. - -"Very well. I shall keep you indoors no longer. I see that gentle means -will not cure _your_ trouble. At the last, I should have been tempted to -keep the matter to myself and give you a chance for the medal. But I -see leniency is wasted upon you. - -"You may have your freedom, Robert. Nothing you can do now will wipe -out the fact that you have deliberately refused to answer my questions. -That is all." - -_And Bobby Blake forgot the Doctor's office door was unlocked!_ - -He accepted the punishment of Mr. Leith as final. He knew he had lost -all chance of winning the Medal of Honor. Young as he was, it seemed to -him as though his punishment was almost too great for him to bear! - - - - - CHAPTER XX - - ON THE BRINK OF WAR - - -To everybody else, affairs at Rockledge School seemed to go on as ever. -There were hard lessons, and easy lessons (the former predominating, the -boys thought) and there were many, many good times as the season -advanced. - -Monatook Lake froze completely over. At first the boys were not allowed -upon it; but when a team of horses, hitched to a pung, had been driven -from shore to shore--from the edge of Rockledge town to Belden--word was -given from the teachers' desks that skating on the lake within so many -yards of the boathouse, would be allowed. - -The gate-keeper set stakes, to which little red flags were attached, at -the corners of the ice-bounds, and for a few days, at least, the -Rockledge boys were satisfied with the restrictions. - -They saw the Belden boys skating on their side of the lake, too, and -other boys, from the two villages, who did not go to either school, -skated where they pleased. - -On half holidays bounds were released, but if the boys wished to skate -the length of the lake a teacher went along. Owing to the feeling -between the boys of the two schools, Dr. Raymond did not even test the -Lower School with Barry Gray for monitor. - -Bobby, of course, entered into all these sports. Even Fred thought that -his chum's punishment had ended, and likely enough the red-haired boy -had forgotten all about his interrupted fight with Sparrow Bangs. - -Fred and Sparrow were the best of friends. To tell the truth, Bobby -Blake was somewhat gloomy these days--he was not as much fun as usual. - -Fred put it down to the fact of the mystery regarding Mr. and Mrs. -Blake. Of course, a fellow could not be very jolly when he did not know -for sure whether his father and mother were dead or alive! - -However, Fred did not see how he could help his chum. He did his best -to liven Bobby up; but was not very successful at it. It did really -seem to Fred as though Bobby "gloomed about" altogether too much. - -"It's all right for a fellow to feel badly about his folks," said Ginger -to Sparrow, who had become his confidant for the time being, "but you -can't get him out of his grouch." - -"He's trying to be too good," scoffed Sparrow. "I bet he's aiming to get -the medal." - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" ejaculated Fred. "That would be great!" - -"Pshaw! he can't get it. No Lower School boy ever got it. I expect -Barry Gray will be medal man _this_ year." - -"He won't get _my_ vote," declared Fred, shaking his head. - -"Why not, Ginger?" - -Fred was used to this nickname now, and did not get mad at it, but he -shook his head, and said: - -"Just for _that_. Barry nicknamed me. He's too fresh." - -"Aw, pshaw! you're prejudiced," laughed Sparrow. - -None of the boys realized what the matter was with Bobby. And he would -not tell Fred that he had anything to do with forming the cloud under -which Bobby suffered. - -The silence of his father and mother--the uncertainty about them--_did_ -trouble Bobby continually. Yet he had a deep-seated hope that all would -come out right about them. Barry Gray's comforting words regarding the -shipwreck had fired his imagination. - -The thought, however, that no matter how well he stood in his classes, -or how high his marks of deportment were, he could not win the Medal of -Honor, disturbed the boy's mind. - -Christmas week came. Bobby and Fred had intended to go home to Clinton -for the short holiday, but the very day the term closed a great -snowstorm set in. It snowed so heavily the first night that the -railroads were blocked. Dr. Raymond would not let any of the boys leave -the school, save two or three who lived near and whose people came for -them in sleighs. - -The good doctor telegraphed to the parents of his boys instead, and -great preparations were made for a dinner and celebration at the school -which would make the boys forget their disappointment. - -Presents could arrive by express, too, by New Year's, and Dr. Raymond -said that the actual distribution of gifts at Rockledge would be -advanced one week. New Year's should be celebrated like Christmas. - -The two and a half days' snow covered the lake two feet deep on a level. -The ice had been more than a foot thick when it began to snow. In fact, -the Rockledge and Belden icemen had been getting ready to cut, but would -now have to put it over until after New Year's, because of the scarcity -of labor. - -There was no danger on the ice. There was not one airhole anywhere -between the shore-fronts of the two schools--a stretch of nearly four -miles of level, glistening snow. - -The boys of the Rockledge Lower School had had much fun, on half -holidays, up the lake at the island where the winter camp had been -built; but that was a long way to go over the snow. Nobody had ever -tried snowshoeing and skiing, and the authorities at the school rather -frowned upon these sports. However, the field of snow between the -bluffs on which the rival schools were built was a vast temptation for a -hundred active boys. - -There was a snowball skirmish between the larger boys of the two schools -the very first day after the storm ceased. Captain Gray and his crowd -had met a bunch of Beldenites ("Bedlamites," the Rockledge boys called -their rivals) near the first island--a little, rocky cone, now a snowy -mound, and with only a few trees upon it. - -The fight had been fast and furious as long as it lasted, but it was -rather a good-natured one, after all. Finally Captain Gray and the -captain of the Belden School met for a few minutes' conversation. In -that few minutes a challenge was given and accepted. Unless the -teachers interfered, it was arranged to have a general snow battle -between the schools. - -Free from lessons, and with most of the ordinary rules relaxed, Captain -Gray could plan a coup that the enemy would not possibly expect. It had -been agreed that the coming battle should be fought near the island, -which was about in the middle of the lake between the two schools. - -That night, after supper, Captain Gray picked a dozen boys to help -him--and not all big boys, for Bobby and Fred were among them--and they -slipped out of the house. - -"We'll get the bulge on those Bedlamites," chuckled the captain. "Come -on, now. Run!" and he set off in the lead. - -He would not tell what was afoot, but every boy was excited enough to -follow and obey. - -They crossed the campus and went down the long flight of stairs to the -boathouse. The cold was so intense, and the wind had blown so hard -while it was snowing, that they crunched along right on top of the -drifts, and the walking was easy. - -There was no moon, but the stars gave them light enough. Besides, it is -never really dark when the snow covers the ground. - -The twelve boys speeded across the white expanse. Bobby and Fred were -proud that they had been chosen by the bigger fellows to take part in -this mysterious adventure. - -Captain Gray insisted upon several snow-shovels being brought along, and -as soon as they reached the island, he put them all to work. The idea -was to fortify the islet and hold it against the expected attack next -day of the Belden School. - -"This will be a surprise to them," declared Gray, proudly. "I saw right -off that whichever side could get this island and hold it, would have an -advantage. - -"Building breastworks down on the pond is all right, but from this -height we can throw snowballs right into any breastworks that those -fellows can build. - -"A bunch of us will come out here to-morrow morning with our breakfasts -in our hands (I've fixed it all up with Mary, the cook) and we'll hold -this island till the crowd on both sides gets here." - -Two hours' work under the direction of Barry turned the island (which -was barely ten yards long) into a veritable fort. Within that time, the -twelve boys had built the fortress, partly of bowlders that had been -well placed by Nature, and pieced out the rock buttresses with thick -walls of snow. - -The party got back to school just before the retiring bell rang, and -escaped a scolding only because the rules were relaxed for the holidays. -In the cold, chilly dawn, half a dozen of the boys of Dormitory Two were -awakened by the bigger fellows. Bobby and Fred were among them. - -"Aw, crickey!" gaped Fred, burrowing in the pillow. "I don't want to -get up now." - -Bobby was out of bed in a moment. "Come along! It's going to be fun, -Fred," he said. - -Fred was lazy. He burrowed deeper. In about thirty seconds a large, -juicy snowball, scooped off the window sill by Max Bender, was thrown -into the back of Fred Martin's neck. - -"Yee-ow!" yelled the startled Ginger, and rose up to fight back. The -big boy ran, however, chuckling, and all Fred could do was to dress, -grumblingly. - -"All these big fellows are fresh," he confided to Bobby. - -"I wonder what _we'll_ be when we are as big as they are, and boss the -school?" returned his more thoughtful chum. - -That feazed Fred a little. By and by--as he finished his dressing--he -admitted: - -"Well, Bobby, I'd never thought of that!" - -The guard thus called to duty by Captain Gray gathered, shivering, in -the kitchen. Good natured Mary had risen an hour earlier than usual and -made a big can of coffee, and there were sandwiches and doughnuts. - -"Worth getting up early for, that's sure," announced Fred, becoming more -content. "Won't Pee Wee be sore because he's not in this?" - -They marched away with shovels and sleds. Overnight the smaller boys had -made a lot of snowballs and they had been packed in boxes and put on the -sleds. But before the early procession started, Barry examined all the -boxes, and finding that somebody had made "soakers," he dumped them out. - -"Let me catch any of you boys icing the ammunition, and I'll tend to -you," he promised, angrily. - -"Aw, those Bedlamites busted Frankie Doane's head open with a soaker -last winter," complained Sparrow Bangs. - -"We won't be mean just because they've been," declared Captain Gray. -"You see that you're not guilty, Sparrow." - -"Gosh!" muttered Fred, in Sparrow's ear, "don't that sound just like -Bobby?" - -"You bet! They're a pair. Guess Bobby's a copy-cat. He's following in -Barry's 'feet-prints.'" - -"Don't you say that!" flamed up Ginger, at once. "Bobby has _always_ -been like that. He's the fairest chap that ever was. If anybody's the -copy-cat, it's old Captain Gray!" - -Neither of the boys in question beard this, and it was just as well -perhaps that they didn't. - -It was scarcely daylight when the party reached the island. They did -not see a Belden boy stirring on the farther bank of the lake. After -setting the tasks to be done by these guards, Barry went back to the -school, leaving Max Bender in charge of the fortress. - -Max was rather a lazy fellow, and he always let the smaller boys do his -work--if they would agree. He was good natured enough about it. - -He sat down in a sheltered place, and had Bobby and Fred cut the under -branches of the firs for firewood, and they soon had a nice little fire -going. - -This might attract the attention of the enemy to the fort, but Max did -not care for that. - -"You boys keep on making snowballs. You'll have to make them outside -the fort--down on the ice, there, and then you can draw them in on the -sleds. Get busy now." - -"What are _you_ going to do?" demanded Ginger Martin, rather perkily. - -"Never you mind, youngster," returned Max. "You never read of the -officers in authority getting on the firing line, do you? I've got to -stay up here and keep watch, and plan the defense of the island." - -"Oh, crickey!" exclaimed Ginger, scornfully. "You're a regular -Napoleon--_not_!" - -And it was a fact that, had the younger boys holding the fort depended -upon Bender's watchfulness, the Beldenites would have been upon them -unannounced. - -Naturally the boys making snowballs did so on the side of the island -facing Rockledge School. The island hid from them the Belden side of the -lake. - -But suddenly Bobby, who had dragged in a heavy sled load of snowballs, -and was packing them securely in a pile behind an upper fortification, -chanced to stand up to stretch his limbs and looked over the breastwork. - -"Oh, look here!" he yelled. "Here's the Bedlamites right onto us!" - -And it was true. The captain of the rival school had seen what the -Rockledge boys were about--or he had suspected it, seeing the smoke of -Max Bender's fire. - -He had brought out his whole crew, and the vanguard of Belden boys was -now but a few yards from the shore of the snow-covered and embattled -island. They were making the attack in silence, and hoped to take the -garrison of the fort by surprise. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - - GIVE AND TAKE - - -Bobby was scared at first by his sudden discovery. Here the Belden boys -were coming on the rush, and there was only a handful of Rockledge -boys--ten in all--at the island, to stand the unexpected charge. - -Hi Letterblair, the captain of the Belden School, was at the head of the -charging column. He and eight of the biggest boys of Belden were very -near the island already. - -Directly in the rear of the vanguard were a dozen smaller boys with -schoolbook bags over their shoulders. Bobby knew by the bulky -appearance of these receptacles, that they were full of snowballs. - -Some distance behind were the rest of the Belden boys, dragging sleds -heaped with ammunition. The entire force of the enemy was approaching. - -Bobby wheeled about, even before he cried out, save for that first -exclamation of surprise, to look at the Rockledge shore. There was not -another Rockledge boy in sight save those at the island. - -"What's the matter!" lazily demanded Max Bender, warming his hands over -the tiny blaze. - -"Look! Look!" repeated Bobby, turning to point again. "Here they -come!" - -"Here _who_ come?" asked Bender, jumping up. - -He shuffled up to the place where Bobby stood. One look he gave and then -vented his amazement in a long whistle. - -"My goodness!" he muttered. "They've got us beaten before we even -begin." - -"Aren't we going to fight?" demanded Bobby, with energy. - -"What! fight the whole bunch--just us few?" - -"Of course. We've got the island--" - -"And a fat time we'd have trying to keep it," grunted Max. - -"Why, you're a quitter!" exclaimed the smaller boy, under his breath. -He whirled and waved his hands to the boys below, busy making snowballs. -"Get up here, fellows--in a hurry!" he cried. "Here come the -Bedlamites." - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" was Ginger Martin's response, and the red head came on -the run. A fight was meat and drink to Fred. - -The other boys hurried up the slope, too. Bobby yelled to them to bring -in the sleds and all the ammunition. - -In making the fortress the evening before, and in rolling "snow bombs" -to fling down upon the heads of the enemy should they get to close -quarters, the island itself had been for the most part swept clean of -snow. The bulwarks of the fortress were as tall as most of the boys -defending it at the present moment. - -"We're going to get licked," muttered Max Bender again. - -Sparrow grinned at Ginger. "I always believed Bender was a softie," he -whispered. Ginger nodded, but he looked at Bobby. - -"We've _got_ to hold on here till Captain Gray gets over with -reinforcements," the boy from Clinton was saying, eagerly. - -"Sure we have!" agreed most of the ten, in chorus. - -"And the way to do it is not to let those Belden fellows see how few in -numbers we are," said Bobby, thoughtfully. "We have heaps of -ammunition. We'll beat them off till Captain Gray comes." - -"We can't do it," declared Max Bender, with conviction. - -Fred turned on him with his face as well as his hair aflame: "You're a -healthy lieutenant, you are!" he snarled. "Why didn't Captain Gray -leave a baby in command? Come on! you can fling snowballs, can't you, -like Bobby says?" - -"Well--But these fellers will surround the island and then they'll get -us," croaked Max. - -Sparrow laughed sneeringly. It was Bobby who replied. - -"If you propose to run, you start now before the fight begins," he said, -gravely. "Then they'll think we're sending a messenger for -reenforcements, not that one of our side is a coward and is running -away." - -"Hurrah!" yelled Sparrow. - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" exclaimed Ginger. "Now he's got it." - -Max Bender was actually pale. He was scared to fight and he was scared -to run! In truth his position was pitiable. - -But Bobby Blake gave the big fellow very little attention. The other -boys just naturally looked to Bobby to lead them. - -"Don't show yourselves, fellows, if you can help it. Don't throw too -quickly; we don't want to waste ammunition. Let's all line up along -here now, and one of us peek over and give the word to fire--" - -"I'll do that!" cried the excited Mouser Pryde. - -"Yes you will!" sneered Fred. "I'd like to see you. Bobby's bossing -this." - -"That's right!" exclaimed Sparrow, generously. "If this big simpleton, -Bender, won't take the lead, let Bobby do it." - -"Sure! let Bobby do it!" shouted the others. - -Bobby, his eyes flashing, his cheeks red with excitement, did not argue -the point. Of course he wanted to lead--what boy would not? - -Besides, he believed they could hold the Beldenites off until -reinforcements came. Max Bender stood beside him, packing a snowball -tighter, and said nothing. Bobby jumped up and looked over the high -parapet. It was almost two feet across at the top, and lots thicker at -the bottom. The inside was cut straight up and down, but outside it -sloped. - -Bobby could stand upon a rock and see over the top of the wall. Hi -Letterblair and his crowd was now quite near. When Bobby popped up Hi -saw the Rockledge boy. - -"Hurrah!" yelled the Belden leader. "Come on, fellows! Charge!" - -"Let's fire at them, Bobby!" gasped Fred, fairly dancing up and down in -his eagerness. - -"No. They're too far away yet. Hold your fire." - -"Till we see the whites of their eyes--just like Bunker Hill!" exclaimed -Sparrow Bangs. - -"They'll hammer the life out of us if they get up here," grumbled Max. - -Bobby turned on him suddenly. Big as Bender was, he was doing all he -could to scare the rest of the garrison. - -"You be still!" commanded Bobby. "If you won't fight, run; but if you -stay with us, you keep your mouth shut and throw snowballs as hard as -you can!" - -And actually, big as he was, the pale faced Max did not reply! - -Bobby whirled back to look over the parapet. His eyes danced and he was -so excited that he could scarcely keep still. - -"Now!" he cried. "Up and at them! Fire three each, and then drop down. -And take aim--_do_ take aim!" - -Most of the boys obeyed him. The snowballs flew in a shower upon the -advancing enemy. With the advantage of their position, the Rockledge -boys pelted the on-comers well. - -Belden's leader brought up his whole force before he attempted to reply -to the fusillade. Letterblair knew that they would have to get nearer to -pelt their missiles at the garrison with any precision. - -Behind the wall of snow and rock, Bobby said: - -"Now, three more snowballs. Get ready!" Each boy could hold two -missiles in his left hand while he threw the third. The idea was to get -in the fusillade and then drop out of sight before the enemy could -return the compliment. - -"All ready?" cried Bobby again. "Come on, now! Let them have it!" - -Up jumped the nine youngsters and saw that Hi Letterblair and his crew -was now very near the island. - -"Shoot!" yelled the captain of the Belden boys. - -They were at a disadvantage, however. They had to throw up, while the -Rockledge garrison threw down. - -The missiles from the island-fortress descended upon the charging enemy -with considerable force. Before the Beldens could return the fire, Bobby -and his crowd dropped out of sight again. - -The Beldens cheered. Bobby popped up, saw that they were still -advancing, and gave the order for another volley. - -"At them again!" he shouted. - -Fred was yelling his battle-cry like a crazy boy, and Shiner and Sparrow -were scarcely less excited. In the midst of one of Fred's vociferous -shouts, _slam_ came a snowball right into his mouth! - -"Oh! oh! that was a soaker!" cried Sparrow. - -Fred was hopping mad. He wanted to keep on firing at the enemy when -Bobby gave the command to dip down for another supply of ammunition. - -"Obey the captain!" bawled Howell Purdy. - -"Get ready!" called Bobby, steadily. "Don't throw so wild. They are -getting too near for comfort." - -"They'll just give us _fits_ when they get up here," murmured the -shaking Max. - -"I never _did_ see such a lump of uselessness," grumbled Mouser. "Did -you, Bobby?" - -"Come on!" shouted the young leader of the defenders. "Give them as -good as they send--and take what they send us laughing." - -The Rockledge boys popped up again. Their last volley had stopped the -Belden boys. Some of the youngsters had run away with the ammunition. -Hi Letterblair had halted his party to make new snowballs. - -"Give it to them!" shouted Bobby, and down upon the attacking party -hurtled another well-aimed volley. - -They drove the besiegers back several yards, but now Hi Letterblair saw -that there was but a small garrison on the island. He saw only boys -from the Rockledge Lower School, and it was evident that Captain Gray -was not present. - -He called a council of war, and soon the Belden party began to spread -out and quickly surrounded the island. Bobby and his crowd were -completely hemmed in. - -"What did I tell you?" whined Max Bender. "Now we _can't_ get away at -all." - -"You had your chance to go," Bobby said, with scorn. "We can beat the -whole crowd off--for awhile, at least. We have plenty of snowballs." - -"But there's not much snow to make any more," said Howell Purdy. - -"We should worry!" exclaimed Sparrow. "We'll throw them just as fast as -we can, as long as they last." - -"No use in trying to throw so far," advised Bobby. "We have the -advantage of them, anyway. They have to throw higher than we do." - -Soon a shower of snowballs was flung at every head which appeared above -the ramparts. Nor could Bobby and his friends remain in hiding all the -time. If they did so, the Beldens would soon charge and rout them by -the weight of superior numbers. - -It was only by returning the enemy's fire with vigor and precision that -the Rockledge boys held the fort at all. Hi Letterblair had ten or a -dozen big boys massed to make a charge; Bobby could see that. - -Therefore the young leader of the defending party urged his followers to -concentrate their attack upon the captain of the Belden School. - -"Keep them off! we've _got_ to keep them off till Captain Gray gets -here," panted Bobby. - -"Hurrah! here they come!" yelled one of the smaller boys, suddenly. - -Bobby shot a glance toward the Rockledge shore. Indeed, there they did -come! With Captain Gray and the school flag at their head, the bulk of -the Rockledge boys were coming across the snow-covered lake towards the -island. - -"Keep still! don't wake them up!" begged Bobby, before anybody else -could cheer. "If the Bedlamites don't know they're coming till they get -here--why, all the better." - -The appearance of reenforcements put pluck into Max Bender. He began to -hurl snowballs with more precision and with more force. He became very -active. Hi Letterblair's crew of big boys charged only half heartedly. - -The boys behind the ramparts almost smothered them before the attacking -party got upon the island. They had chosen the easiest ascent, but only -one of the attackers reached the snow-wall. - -Instantly half a dozen hands reached for this plucky enemy, and it was -Max who hauled him over into the fort and sat on him. - -"Hurrah! we've got a prisoner!" yelled Howell Purdy, dancing up and -down. - -"What'll we do with him, Bobby?" demanded Fred. - -"Huh! _I_ captured him," grumbled Max. "I guess I'll do what I please -with him." - -"While we're fooling with that fellow, the others will get up here," -declared Shiner. - -"Come on! here they come!" shouted Bobby, who was ever on the watch. - -The second charge of Hi and his cohorts was resultless to either party. -And then, almost immediately, Captain Gray and the rest of the Rockledge -boys came upon the Beldens. - -Hi Letterblair ordered his party to face about, and brought up the -smaller boys from the other side of the island. At once the garrison of -the fort leaped upon the ramparts and drove down a withering fire upon -the enemy. - -Thus held between two fires, the Beldenites were driven back around the -island, and out of shot from the fortress. Captain Gray ordered his -army to spread out and hold them at bay. - -They had dragged out from the shore thousands of snowballs. The -Rockledge party had ammunition enough to last for hours, both in the -fort and on the sleds. - -Captain Gray hurried into the fort. Max had let the prisoner up and the -boys were all dancing about excitedly. - -"You fellows did fine!" cried Barry Gray, his eyes shining. "Max! -you're all right! You held them off in fine shape." - -"They gave us a hard rub, Barry," said the big fellow, coolly. "And I -yanked this chap inside when they charged." - -His statement was perfectly correct--as far as it went; but for Max to -accept praise for the defense of the fort struck most of the smaller -boys dumb. Not Fred Martin, however. - -"Well I never!" gasped the red-haired boy. "Will you listen to _that_? -Talk about the brass cheek of him!" - -"What's the matter with you, Ginger?" demanded Max, scowling. - -"Say! do you think you can get away with it?" shouted Fred. "_You_ -getting thanked for holding this island? Why, Barry," he cried, turning -on the captain, with blazing eyes, "that big simpleton wanted to give up -the fort and run away when he saw the Bedlamites coming. Yes he did! -I'll leave it to Sparrow and the rest of the boys." - -Sparrow shouldered his way to the front. "That's right, captain," he -said. "Max was having a fit of shivers here, and wouldn't give orders. -Bobby fought us." - -"Sure he did!" cried Shiner and Howell Purdy together. "It was Bobby -who did it. We'd have been whipped, if it hadn't been for Bobby." - -"Well, did I say he _didn't_ do his share?" snarled Max Bender, the wind -all taken out of his sails. "I--I had a headache, anyway. And I _did_ -grab this fellow prisoner." - -He looked around for the boy in question. But while they had been -arguing, the Belden boy had slipped out of the fort and made his escape. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - - WHAT BOBBY SAID - - -The battle between the Rockledge and the Belden Schools continued -furiously until noon. The former had the advantage because of their -entrenchments on the island, but Hi Letterblair was not a bad general, -and Barry and his helpers were often put to it to hold the enemy in -check. - -At one time when the Rockledge troops made a sally, four of them were -captured and were held prisoners for an hour. Then they were rescued, -Bobby and Fred being of the rescuing party. - -Altogether the snow-battle was carried on in good temper, but there -could not help being some rough work, especially when it came to -hand-to-hand encounters. - -Fred Martin and Ben Allen, one of the Lower School boys on the other -side of the lake, had a short and vigorous fist fight in one scrimmage, -and the captains put them out of the battle and sent them back to their -respective schools in disgrace. - -Noon came and an armistice was declared until the next morning at nine -o'clock. It was agreed that the battle should begin just as it left -off--with Rockledge holding the island against Belden. - -The masters of both schools had begun to take an interest in the snow -fight and that afternoon Dr. Raymond gave a pleasant talk to his boys in -the big study, on the science of battle formation and military -maneuvers. - -The boys were interested. Captain Gray tried to put into execution in -the next forenoon's fighting some of the advice the Old Doctor had given -them. But Hi Letterblair had been advised by his instructors, too. - -The teachers from both schools walked over to the island to watch the -fight. It was a less rough-and-tumble affair than that of the previous -day's battle, and in the end Rockledge lost the fort and island to the -enemy. - -Time was called, and both sides retired to renew the battle on the third -morning. Captain Gray instructed his followers just what to do, and, at -the beginning of the third morning's attack, Rockledge had recovered the -fort, and captured half the Belden School in less than an hour! - -It was great fun, and the boys learned to keep their tempers better as -the fighting continued on more scientific lines. A storm came on and -spoiled the fun, however, for the rest of the week. - -Captain Gray came to Bobby and said: "You're all right! I've been -getting the facts about that fight you put up at the island, holding off -the Belden crowd, and it was smart of you. - -"I thought Max Bender had more gumption in him. But he's a big bluff. -Well! we won't talk about him. But I've told the Old Doctor what you -did--" - -"I didn't do any more than the other fellows," said Bobby, rather -sheepishly. "They all put up a good fight." - -"Sure! But they all say you did it--you kept them at it, and told them -what to do. And Hi Letterblair says he'd have taken the fort right -then, if it hadn't been for you. Oh, you can't escape the credit for -it, old chap!" - -Bobby knew that, although the boys might praise him, and even the Old -Doctor himself might be his friend, there was one member of the faculty -who did not approve of him. Mr. Leith seldom spoke to him, save when it -was necessary in class-room. - -New Year's Day came, and the presents from home were given out in the -big hall after breakfast. It was a time of great hilarity and fun; but -Bobby had hard work to keep back the tears when there were put into his -hands presents addressed in his mother's and his father's -writing--presents prepared far back in the summer before they had gone -on that fatal voyage, and left in the care of Mrs. Martin. - -Michael Mulcahey and Meena had not forgotten the boy, either. Their -little presents breathed of love and friendship. Meena had a tender -place in her heart for Bobby, after all. Michael wrote that she had -refused to marry him on Christmas day, for the seven hundred and -fifteenth time! - -It was hard work by this time for Bobby Blake to believe that Gray's -imaginary shipwreck was the real truth. Surely, if his parents were -alive, some word must come from them. - -The owners of the steamship that had been lost had never heard from any -survivor. The newspapers had ceased to speak of the affair. It had -become one of the many marine mysteries recorded within the last few -years. - -"S'pose you shouldn't ever hear about them till you grew up, Bobby?" -suggested Fred, with awe. "They'd come home, and find you grown up and -living in the same house, and--" - -"I wouldn't be living there," declared Bobby, choking back that big lump -that _would_ rise in his throat. - -"Where'd you be?" demanded Fred, in wonder. - -"When I'm big enough, I'll go off and look for them." - -"You will? Way down to Brazil?" - -"I'd search all over South America. Maybe some bad tribe of natives has -them. I'll find and rescue them," said Bobby, nodding his head. - -"Scubbity-_yow_!" cried the ever enthusiastic Fred. "That'll be great. -I'll go with you, and we'll hide in the jungle, and catch a native and -make him show us the way to the village where the captives are held. - -"Crickey, Bobby! you'd make out you were a magician, and you'd have a -storage battery, and things, and you'd show them blackies more magic -than they ever saw before, and they'll kill their old medicine man and -make you chief of the tribe. - -"And then we can get into the temple where your folks are held -prisoners, and release them. We'll all get out through the secret -passage and take enough gold and precious stones with us to load a -donkey, and come home as rich as mud! Say! it's a great idea." - -"Well! what do you think of _that_?" was Bobby's comment. "You must -have been reading some of Sparrow's story-papers." - -"Huh! they're jolly good stories." - -"Wait till the Old Doctor catches him at it," said Bobby. "Those are -just foolish stories. Nothing ever really happens like it says in those -stories." - -"Aw--well," said Fred, grinning, "it would be great if they _did_ -happen, wouldn't it?" - -Lessons began right after New Year again, and it seemed harder than ever -to buckle down to them because of the fun that week between Christmas -and the first of the year. - -"Wish it would be vacation all the time," grumbled Pee Wee, who had -spent several days in bed because of the way he had abused his stomach. - -"Goodness, Pee Wee!" exclaimed Bobby. "If every day was a holiday, -you'd be sick all the time." - -"No I wouldn't," returned the fat boy, who had figured the thing all -out. "If we had holiday dinners every day, I'd get used to them and -wouldn't get sick. See?" - -Although Bobby had concluded that he had no chance at all for the Medal -of Honor, he tried to stand as well as he could in his classes, and -never again did Mr. Leith, or anybody else, catch him in an infraction -of the rules of the school. - -Not that he refused to go in for any legitimate fun, but he kept out of -mischief, and did his best to keep his chum and the other boys of the -Lower School out of trouble, too. - -After that first snow-ball fight with Belden at the island, Bobby Blake -became quite an influence among the smaller boys of Rockledge. The -story of his taking charge of the defense of the island, after the -defection of Max Bender, was common property, although Bobby himself -would never discuss the matter. - -Off and on, there was both snow and ice for two months following the -great battle, but the boys had only the two half holidays a week in -which to play on the frozen lake. - -By and by the lake became unsafe, too, and, after a time came the spring -thaw, the ice went out, and the boys could get into the boats again. - -Every morning when he got up, Bobby ran to the window first of all and -sniffed the moist, sweet air. Spring was on the way. And spring sets -the blood to coursing more swiftly in the veins of every healthy boy. - -For two months the boys of the Second Dormitory had not seen their camp -in the woods on the larger island at the other end of Lake Monatook. -When it was whispered around that there was a chance for a trip there -the next Saturday, all were agreed. - -Bobby and Pee Wee were the committee to "rustle up" the necessities for -a feast at the camp. No potatoes and corn this time of year; the school -commissary department had to be approached. - -No boy in the school, save Barry Gray himself, had more influence with -Mary, the head cook, than Bobby Blake. Like the other servants about -Rockledge, the good woman knew all about the loss of Bobby's parents at -sea. Besides that, he was always polite and friendly, and never -mischievously tried to raid the pantry. - -Pee Wee's influence lay in his inordinate love for sweet cakes and the -like, for which he was always willing to spend his pocket-money. Many -of the fat boy's dimes and quarters reached Mary's palm for "bites" -between meals. - -It chanced to be a good day with Mary, and the committee of two got the -promise of a big hamper of good things for the first picnic of the year. -Bobby had refused to be one of those who asked for the privilege of -going up the lake. He knew that the request would have to be made to -Mr. Carrin or Mr. Leith, and neither of them, he feared, were favorably -inclined to him. - -The permission was granted, however, and the crowd of nearly twenty boys -raced down to the boathouse immediately after they were released from -study at eleven o'clock on Saturday morning. - -They had three boats, four boys at the oars in each. Some of the big -fellows were going to get out the shells and begin practicing for the -June regatta, but Bobby and his friends were eager to see their old -camp. - -"If those Bedlamites haven't found it and busted the camp all up," -grumbled Pee Wee, pulling at an oar. "'Member how they pelted us with -hot potatoes that time?" - -"I hope they'll keep on their own side of the lake this spring," said -Mouser. - -"I expect they have as much right at the islands as we have," ventured -Bobby. "Only it ought to be 'first come, first served.'" - -"We'll serve them out nicely, if they bother us this spring," grunted -Fred, who was likewise pulling. - -"We'll beat them as we did in the snowball fight," cried Shiner. - -"If we can spell 'able,'" laughed Bobby. - -"Aw, we'll spell it all right, won't we, Ginger?" demanded Sparrow -Bangs. - -"Let me at them--that's all," boasted Fred. - -When they got to the upper island, there was nobody there. They pulled -their boats ashore and went up into the wood. There was the shack they -had built the previous fall, almost as good as new. - -Of course, the roof was rotting and wet, but it was pretty dry inside -and they patched up the walls and roof in a little while. - -Then they built a fire, made cocoa, opened a can of condensed milk, and -spread out the sandwiches and pie that Mary had furnished. In the midst -of the picnic, a chunk of sod popped right into the tin cup out of which -Pee Wee was drinking. - -"Oh! who did that?" demanded the fat boy. - -In a moment a big sod came slap into the fire, and scattered the burning -brands. Then followed a fusillade from the woods on two sides of the -camp! - -"The Bedlamites! I see that Larry Cronk!" yelled Howell Purdy. - -The feast was spoiled. The boys from the rival school had pulled up a -lot of soft, wet turf, and they bombarded the boys from Rockledge -nicely. - -It was an uneven fight at first, for the picnickers had been totally -unprepared for such an attack. - -Nobody wanted to run, however, and Bobby and Sparrow stemmed the tide of -defeat with pine-cones, until their mates could cut clubs and come to -close quarters. - -The Rockledge boys were driven out of their camp. With great hilarity, -Larry Cronk and his mates held the camp, and drove off their antagonists -every time they attacked. - -"They're too many for us," growled Fred, when the Rockledge crew finally -retired. "Why! there are four boatloads of them." - -"I tell you," whispered Shiner, "let's get back at them." - -"Crickey! we've been back at them enough," complained Pee Wee. "I'm -beaten black and blue. And look at our clothes--all mud! We'll hear -about this, when we get back to the school." - -In fact, it was a sorrowful and angry group that went down to the boats. -These were on one side of the island, while those belonging to the -Belden boys were beached on the other side. - -Shiner had whispered his bright idea to Bobby and some of the others. -Bobby was a little slow to accept it, but finally was convinced. The -Beldens were watching them from the summit of the rocks. - -Only one of the Rockledge boats was pushed into the water. Bobby, -Shiner, Sparrow and Skeets Brody got in and took up the oars. They -rowed away around the island. - -Meanwhile the other boys collected a lot of pebbles as though they -proposed to attack the Beldenites again. This would have been foolish, -however, for the enemy had much the better position. - -The two gangs were not above threats shouted to each other and -make-believe dashes from either side. With volleys of stones and sod -they kept up the interest in the fight for half an hour. - -Then suddenly there came a shriek from some boy left on the other side -of the island as a sentinel. He came flying, yelling his distress. - -"Into the boats, boys!" Fred Martin commanded. "Bobby's got them." - -They pushed off the two remaining boats and jumped in. At that moment -the absent Rockledge boat appeared around the end of the island, and -strung behind it, in one, two, three, four order were the boats -belonging to the Belden boys. The latter were marooned. - -"We've beaten them this time!" yelled Howell Purdy, with delight. - -"You bet!" agreed Pee Wee. "We've been more'n a year getting them fixed -just right. 'Member, Ginger, I told you and Bobby how those Bedlamites -stole _all_ our boats once? How about it now?" - -There was great hilarity indeed. The boys from Rockledge manned the -Belden boats and the whole flotilla pulled toward the south shore. At -this place the lake was quite five miles wide and the island was in the -middle. So the pull was quite arduous. - -Besides, the wind had come up and there was a threatening black cloud -mounting the sky. Soon thunder began to mutter in the distance, and the -lightning tinged the lower edge of this cloud. - -The first heavy thunder shower of the season was approaching. - -As they rowed to the mainland, the Rockledge boys could see their -enemies standing disconsolately on the shore, and wistfully looking -after their boats. - -"They'll get a nice soaking," declared Shiner. "Oh! maybe I'm not glad!" - -"So am I," said Fred. "And we'll hide these boats--eh?" - -"Sure," agreed Sparrow Bangs. "I know a dandy place right down at the -edge of Monckton's farm. They wouldn't find them in a week of Sundays -in the mouth of that creek." - -The rain had begun to fall before the boys reached the shore. It was a -lashing, dashing rain, with plenty of thunder and the sharpest kind of -lightning. Several of the Rockledge boys were afraid of thunder and -lightning, but they all took shelter in an old tobacco barn--the farmers -of the Connecticut Valley raise a certain quality of tobacco. - -For an hour the storm continued. Then the thunder died away, and the -rain ceased. By that time it was almost dark, and the boys stood a good -chance of being belated for supper. - -They hid the stolen boats and went home in their own. As they rowed -steadily down the edge of the lake, they looked out across the darkening -water to the island, and did not see a spark of light there. - -"Maybe they haven't a match," said Bobby, suddenly, after a little -silence. - -"I should hope not!" snapped Fred. - -"Anyway, there's no dry wood after this rain," said his chum. - -"Good!" repeated the red-haired one. - -"They're going to have a mighty bad time," ruminated Bobby. Fred only -grunted, and Bobby fell silent. - -Just the same, there was a troublesome thought in Bobby Blake's mind. -He had little to say after they got to the school, and remained silent -all through supper. - -The boys had changed their clothes. The clouds had blown away and it -was a starlit evening. They had their choice of playing outside for a -while, or going to the big study until retiring hour. - -"I say," said Shiner, going about quickly among the Second Dormitory -lads, "Bobby wants us all in the gym. Something doing." - -Jimmy Ailshine was a good Mercury. He got most of the boys who had been -to the island together, in five minutes. - -Bobby looked dreadfully serious; Fred was scowling; Sparrow looked as -though he did not know whether to laugh, or not. - -"Go on, Bobby!" advised Pee Wee, yawning. "What's doing!" - -"I'll tell you," shot in Bobby, without a moment's hesitation. "We've -done an awfully mean thing, and we've got to undo it." - -"What's _that_?" demanded Howell Purdy, in amazement. - -"What we did to those Bedlamites," said Bobby, firmly. "We mustn't let -them stay there all night. Some of us have got to take their boats back -so that they can get ashore." - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - - GOOD NEWS TRAVELS SLOWLY - - -The crowd of scatterbrained youngsters were smitten speechless for the -moment. They stared at Bobby Blake, and then looked at each other -curiously. Pee Wee was the first to find his voice. - -"Aw, cheese it, Bobby!" he drawled. "You're kidding us." - -"No. We've done a mean thing. We'll get them into trouble over to -their school--" - -"Good enough!" cried Howell Purdy, in delight. - -"And maybe we'll get into trouble because of it, too," went on Bobby, -seriously. "But whether we do, or we don't, we oughtn't to leave those -fellows over there on the island all night. It's a mean trick." - -"Say! haven't they played many a mean trick on us?" demanded Pee Wee, -excitedly. - -"That has nothing to do with it," said Bobby, still seriously. "It's -cold and wet on that island. Maybe they are all soaking wet from the -rain-storm. Suppose they should get cold--all of them--some of -them--only _one_ of them?" - -This was rather a grave way to put it. Bobby was not much more -thoughtful than other boys of his age--and he not eleven; but the thing -had gripped him hard. - -"I tell you," he said, quietly, "if none of you will go back with me, -I'll go alone." - -"Shucks!" exclaimed Pee Wee, "you couldn't row up there alone, Bobby -Blake, let alone tugging those four boats after you." - -"Well! and he doesn't have to--see?" snapped Fred Martin, dragging on -his cap over his red hair. "I guess _two_ of us can do something." He -grinned rather sheepishly at Bobby. - -"Three," said Sparrow Bangs, briefly. - -"Me, too," said the Mouser. "You can stay home, if you want to, Pee -Wee. _I'm_ going." - -"Oh--very well!" groaned the fat boy. "You can count me in." - -"And me! And me!" cried several. - -In the end there were two boats full of volunteers who left the -Rockledge boathouse, known only to the man who had charge of it, and -rowed up to Monckton's farm. There they dragged the four Belden boats -out of the mud, and towed them across to the island. - -It was pretty dark, for there was no moon. The marooned youngsters -heard them coming and began to shout, believing that it was a rescue -party from their own school. - -Bobby and Fred stood up and yelled to them to come down to the shore for -their boats. There was a good deal of bandying talk, and the two sets -of boys said some sharp things to each other, but they separated without -a fight. - -"They'll tell, of course, and the Old Doctor will make an -investigation," said Fred, as they pulled for home. - -"Sure!" groaned Shiner. - -"But it won't be so bad for us as it would have been if we'd left them -there for their own folks to find, and kept their boats hid," Pee Wee -observed, with more thoughtfulness than he usually showed. - -"And the Belden boys will be a deal more comfortable, eh?" chuckled -Bobby. - -There _was_ an investigation. The Doctor conducted it himself. He went -"back to the year one," as Barry Gray said, and considered all the -causes of the rivalry between the two schools, and what each had done to -the other. - -The hot potato fight was taken into consideration, as well as the fact -that the Belden schoolboys had once stolen every boat the Rockledge boys -possessed, and hidden them for a week. - -Then he rendered his decision: No party of boys without a teacher was to -go to any of the islands. None of the boys were to venture across the -lake to the Belden shore. - -These decisions were repeated by the head of the Belden School, and from -that time on there was less friction between the two institutions. - -But, meanwhile, Dr. Raymond had heard all about Bobby Blake's action in -the matter of the return of the boats to the marooned boys. He said -nothing to Bobby about it, but he talked with his assistants. - -This, too, made Bobby more popular with his mates. It had been the -right thing to do, and, after all, boys respect a boy who is willing to -do the right thing, even if it may make him unpopular for the time -being. - -The popularity that Bobby was winning at Rockledge School, however, was -of a lasting kind. If Bobby said a thing, he meant it. If he made a -promise, he stuck to it. He was no shirk, and no "goody-goody," and it -began to be whispered around (goodness only knows how the story started) -that Bobby might have a chance for the Medal of Honor if it was not for -"Old Leith." - -"What's Leith got it in for him for?" demanded the hot-headed Fred -Martin. "What's Bobby ever done to him?" - -"Something about Bobby's not giving away a fight," said Pee Wee, who had -got the news pretty straight from a waitress, who had heard Mr. Leith -and Mr. Carrin talking about it. - -"Aw, get out!" muttered Fred, rather abashed. He suddenly remembered the -fight he had started with Sparrow. - -"Never was a Lower School boy yet that won the medal," said How Purdy. - -"But we'd all pull for him--wouldn't we?" demanded Mouser. "I like Bob -all right." - -"I do, too," said Skeets Brody. "He was the only fellow that would stay -in and play checkers with me, when I had the sore throat." - -"He's done a lot of things for me," admitted Howell. "I haven't -forgotten them." - -"Well!" sighed Pee Wee. "I couldn't count the times Bobby's given me -his pudding at supper." - -"I guess we all like him," Sparrow said. "He's square as he can be. Old -Leith hasn't anything against him, I don't believe. It's just his -meanness." - -"No," said Pee Wee. "It's because Bobby wouldn't tell on somebody. I -put it up to Bobby myself, and he got mad and told me to mind my eye," -and the fat boy grinned. - -"Well! it gets me," said Shiner. "There haven't been many fights this -year that Bobby could have been in. And he's not quarrelsome." - -Fred said nothing. He was thinking hard, and from the expression on his -face, it was apparent that his thoughts were not of a pleasant nature. - -Bobby Blake certainly would have been surprised, had he known how his -mates were talking about him. He went on his usual course now-a-days -without much thought for the Medal of Honor. - -Only, he did his best. For his absent mother's and father's sake, he -did his best. - -Where were they? The question was with him always. Deadened somewhat -by time, the pain of his loss smarted just the same. He seldom -mentioned the mystery, even to Fred. Nevertheless, there was at least -one time in every day when he remembered it. - -He was as earnest in his prayers at night for his parents' safety as -ever he had been. He believed that some time he should hear good news. - -It is famous that bad news travels quickly, while good news has leaden -feet. It was so in this case. - -The spring advanced. Mr. and Mrs. Blake had sailed from New York early -in September, and nine months had nearly gone since then. The discovery -of burned wreckage from the ship on which they had sailed was all the -news that had ever come back to the United States regarding it. - -There arrived in the port of Baltimore one day a bluff-bowed, -frowsy-looking old two-stick schooner, with a tarnished figure-head -under her patched bowsprit, dirty sails, and a bottom undoubtedly thick -with barnacles. - -She was the _Ethelina_, and she loafed into her dock as though she had -never hurried within the knowledge of her owners. One of her owners -stood upon her deck and gave orders--Captain Adoniram Speed. - -His crew was partly made up of South American half-breeds, and the bulk -of the crew of the steamship on which the Blakes had sailed, so long -before, from New York. - -The captain brought letters for various people from a trading station -far up a tributary of the Amazon. Had not a sharp reporter, nosing -about for news on the Baltimore docks, gotten into conversation with -Captain Speed, it is likely that the newspapers would never have -obtained the full story of the loss of the steamship in question. - -She had burned only a few hundred miles off the mouth of the Amazon. It -was rough weather at the time and two of the boats' crews and most of -the passengers had lost their lives before the _Ethelina_ came loafing -along and had taken the remainder of the survivors aboard. - -The _Ethelina_ was bound for an up-river station. She had no reason for -touching at Para or any other big city of Brazil. She kept right on her -course, and her course chanced to be the route to be followed by Mr. and -Mrs. Blake, who were among the few passengers rescued. - -The old hooker sailed up the Amazon, and several hundred miles up the -tributary on which was situated the town of Samratam, which was the -Blakes' goal. - -The Blakes left letters for the captain of the _Ethelina_ to bring back -to civilization. Captain Speed had not considered it necessary to hurry -these letters along. - -He had waited to bring them himself, to mail at Baltimore. Good news -surely had traveled slowly in this case. Almost at the time the old -schooner was being warped into her dock at Baltimore, Mr. and Mrs. -Blake, in good health, expected to leave Samratam for the United States! - -The letters came in good time to Clinton, and to Rockledge School. Dr. -Raymond sat before his great, flat-topped desk one warm May morning -staring at a letter written on thin notepaper, with a packet of similar -letters, wrapped in an oiled-paper wrapper, before him on the desk. - -Somehow his spectacles were clouded, and he had to take them off and -wipe them twice before he could finish reading the business-like lines. - -The second time he wiped the glasses and set them astride his big nose, -he saw a small figure standing in the open doorway. - -"Ha! Robert!" he exclaimed. - -"Yes, sir." - -"I sent for you, Robert," said the master of Rockledge School, in a very -gruff voice--gruffer than usual, in fact. - -"Yes, sir?" returned Bobby, timidly. - -In spite of everything, he could not help being more than a little -frightened of Dr. Raymond. He was so big, and he was so gruff when he -spoke, and he had such searching eyes--usually--when he looked at one. - -But stop! There was something entirely different about Dr. Raymond's -eyes on this occasion. If Bobby Blake had not known that it was -impossible, he would have believed that there were tears in the Doctor's -eyes. - -"Robert," the gentleman said, finally, seeming to have some difficulty -in getting his words out. "Robert, did you ever hear the old saying that -'no news is good news'?" - -Bobby had no answer. His lips opened. He really _thought_ he said -"Yes, sir." But there was such a roaring in his ears, and his heart -suddenly pounded so hard, that he could scarcely hear. - -The furniture began to go around him in a sort of stately dance--and the -good doctor went with the furniture! It was very curious. Bobby tried -to rub his eyes free of the water that welled up, with his coat sleeves. - -"Yes, Robert; 'no news is good news.' We haven't heard for months from -those whom we wished to hear from. But always I have told you to keep -up heart--" - -Bobby could stand no more. He flung himself forward, around the corner -of the great desk. He grabbed at the Doctor's coatsleeve before he could -swim away from him again. - -"My mother! my father! You've heard--?" - -"They're all right, Robert! they're all right!" exclaimed the -Doctor--and did his voice break strangely as he said it? "There, there, -my boy! They're safe as can be and here's a whole packet of letters for -you from them. Don't cry, my boy--" - -But Bobby wasn't crying. It seemed to him that he never should cry -again. - -"Tell me!" he gasped, still clinging to the Doctor's arm. "Did--did she -get her feet wet? Or is she all right? She didn't get the--the -bron-skeeters, did she? Father was always afraid of that, if she got -cold." - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - - RED HAIR STANDS FOR MORE THAN TEMPER - - -June had come. The regatta on Monatook Lake was but a few days away; -Commencement followed. Even the boys of the Lower School were working -hard to make up lost lessons these days. - -Captain Gray was to graduate, and with him Max Bender and five of the -other big boys. There would be at least seven new scholars to come to -Rockledge the next September, for there were never less than fifty boys -at the school and--as has been said--Dr. Raymond always had a waiting -list. - -Mr. Leith devoted most of his time to the older boys; but every -fortnight, at least, he went over the reports of the entire school. He -was a stiff and stern master, but he considered himself just. For that -reason he called Bobby Blake to his desk one day and said: - -"Robert, I am sorry there is a serious fault marked against you. In -recitations you have done better than any boy in the Lower School and -better than most in the Upper. But I do not like a stubborn boy; we can -none of us--we teachers, I mean--excuse such a fault as that. I hear -good reports of you in every direction, and your name has been mentioned -among the few who stand a chance of winning the Medal of Honor. - -"It is a most serious matter for a boy to refuse to answer proper -questions put to him by those who have him in charge. You must learn -this _now_. To obey is your duty. Do you realize that?" - -"Yes, sir," said Bobby in a low tone, and swallowing hard. "I -understand, sir." - -What he understood was that, if he had been willing to tell on his chum, -and Shiner, and Sparrow, he might have won the medal. _But he could not -do that_! - -He had never thought of taking the matter up with Dr. Raymond. An older -boy--Captain Gray, for instance--might have gone to the Doctor and -stated his side of the case. But Bobby did not question for a moment -the right of Mr. Leith to put in that report against him. - -It was pretty hard for the boy to bear. He wanted so much to write his -parents that he had won the distinction of the gold medal Dr. Raymond -had shown them on that first day of school. The Lower School was solid -for Bobby and many of the older lads admired the pluck and good humor of -the boy from Clinton. His strongest partisans were Fred Martin and -Sparrow Bangs, who admired him so much because he was so different from -themselves, perhaps. - -Pee Wee was Bobby's staunch champion, too. The fat boy boldly declared -his admiration for the Clinton boy in any company. - -"There isn't another boy like him," Pee Wee said in gymnasium one day, -when Bobby was absent. "Say! there's not one of you big fellows but -what he's done a favor for--and more than once. I say--" - -"Come! you needn't froth at the mouth over it," growled Max Bender. - -"Huh! _you_ haven't anything to say against Bobby," declared Pee Wee. - -"I know I haven't," returned Max, red to his ears. "I'd vote for him -right now. Barry can't get the medal anyway. - -"He doesn't stand well enough in Latin and physics for one thing," -pursued Max. "He knows it. Barry's a good fellow, and the Old Doc. is -proud of him, I reckon; but he never was a bone for work." - -Pee Wee was inspired by this statement to "root" all the harder for -Bobby Blake. - -"He can get it, I know!" the fat boy kept saying. "There isn't another -boy in the school stands as good a chance." - -"But if Mr. Leith is bound not to vote for him, what chance is there for -Bobby? Tell me that, now?" demanded Fred Martin. - -"What's Old Leith got against him?" asked one of the other boys. - -"Oh, it's that fight," said Pee Wee, with a side glance at Fred. - -"You've said that before," Skeets Brody observed. "I don't know about -any fight Bobby's been in since he came here." - -"Oh, _he_ wasn't in it," returned Pee Wee. - -Fred's face colored deeply. He waited his chance and got the fat boy -aside. "What's all this about Bobby fighting?" he demanded. "You know -something more than you're telling." - -"_You_ know," said the fat boy. - -"No, I don't!" - -"Yes, you do; and Sparrow knows, and Shiner knows--" - -"That old thing!" exclaimed Fred. "Who told you about it? And it -happened months ago." - -"Old Leith doesn't forget easily. You and Sparrow had a scrap, didn't -you?" - -"Who told you so?" - -"Never you mind. I know you are as thick as thieves now," grinned Pee -Wee. "But there was a time when you and Sparrow were going to knock -each other's heads off. Isn't that so?" - -"Aw--it wasn't a fight," growled Fred. - -"And Bobby was in it." - -"What if he was?" - -"Leith knows. He caught Bobby somehow. And Bobby wouldn't tell on the -rest of you," said Pee Wee. "That's how he got in bad with Mr. Leith, -and it's what is going to keep him out of winning that medal--yes, it -is!" - -"Wow! I didn't know it was like that," gasped the red-haired boy. -"Bobby ran back for my cap. I remember now. I thought Leith only -punished him by keeping him shut in for three days." - -"Huh! that's the _how_ of it, is it?" - -"He never said a word about it," declared Fred, gulping. "He's never -peeped that Old Leith was holding it up against him." - -"I know," declared Pee Wee, nodding. "He tried to make Bobby tell on -you fellows, and Bobby wouldn't. So that busted up his chance of -getting the medal." - -"Why!" murmured Fred, "he's been working just as hard for it all the -time." - -The fat boy seemed to have a little better appreciation of Bobby's -character than his own chum. "Why!" he said. "I reckon Bobby would do -his best anyway. He's that kind of a fellow." - -Fred went to the dressing room and slowly got out of his gymnasium suit -and stood under the shower. He was puzzled and disturbed. It was not -his way to think very deeply. - -But red hair stands for something besides a quick temper. Such hair -usually belongs to a warm heart. Fred, if thoughtless, was as loyal to -his chum as Damon was to Pythias, and all boys have read the story of -those famous friends. - -Fred had taken it for granted that Bobby's punishment, on that long-past -occasion, was completed when he had remained indoors at Mr. Leith's -command. Fred did not suppose it had gone farther. - -Bobby had never said a word. Of course, he _would not_ have! that was -Bobby's way. - -It smote Fred Martin hard that if Bobby lost his chance to win the -medal, it would be partly his fault. And Bobby had tried to keep him -out of the fight with Sparrow, in the first place! - -The fight had not done him, or Sparrow, or Shiner, a bit of harm. He -and Sparrow had been the best of friends ever since that day in the -"bloody corner"! But poor Bobby-- - -"It's a mean shame," Fred muttered to himself. "Old Leith's not fair. -What business has he got holding that against Bobby! He's punishing -Bobby for _our_ sins. It's a shame!" - -Thinking about it, or talking about it, was not going to help his chum -in the least. Fred had been a little afraid that some of the reports -that had gone home to his father would call forth from Mr. Martin sharp -criticism. He knew he did not stand any too well in his own classes, -and in deportment. - -He had not been caught in any great fault. However, if Mr. Leith knew -that he had been fighting that day in the corner, it would mean a big, -black smear on his report for the year. That was just as sure as could -be. - -"And Dad said if I didn't show up good this year, he'd take me into the -store and make me run errands, and send me back to public school," -thought Master Fred. - -"Gracious! that would leave Bobby here alone. Not to come back to -Rockledge next fall--" - -The red-haired boy could not bear to think of such a calamity. It was -certainly most awful to contemplate. - -He got into his clothing and wandered out of the gymnasium. Nobody -chanced to speak to him and he stood on the school steps for some -minutes turning a very hard problem over in his mind. - -And then a thought, like a keen-bladed rapier, stabbed Fred right in his -most vulnerable point--his conscience! - -"What does it matter if Bobby _does_ appear cheerful? _You're wrong_! - -"Oh, crickey!" groaned the red-haired boy, and he turned square around -and climbed the steps. With dragging footsteps he made his way to Mr. -Leith's class-room, where he knew he should find the master correcting -examination papers. - - -Pee Wee, having gotten hold of one end of the thread, unraveled the -whole piece in short order. He soon had the truth out of Sparrow and -Shiner about the long-forgotten fight in "bloody corner." - -The fat boy was something more than a gossip, however. He, whose mind -seemed usually interested mainly in food, proved that he could think of -something else. - -He wasted little time on the Lower School but it was not long before -every other boy at Rockledge knew how Bobby had pluckily--and -silently--suffered for the wrong three other boys had done. - -Pee Wee knew that the threat of the loss of the medal had hung over -Bobby all the time. He--and the other boys, too--knew that Bobby's -record was otherwise clean. - -"Vote for Bobby Blake--he's all right!" became the rallying cry all over -the school, and even Captain Gray took it up. - -"You know, fellows," he said to his particular chums, "I haven't a ghost -of a show for the medal. I'd like to get it, but your votes wouldn't -win it for me. And I declare! beside Bobby, I don't think I deserve -it." - -The boys had a chance to express their individual opinion about the -winner of the medal by secret ballot, several days before the actual -vote was taken. In this way the teachers learned just who was most -popular with the boys at large. - -A slip was given each boy in class, on which was printed "First Choice," -"Second Choice," "Third Choice." Every fellow in the Lower School wrote -Bobby's name against each choice! - -And when the teachers, Mr. Leith and Mr. Carrin, came to count the votes -from the other boys, Bobby's name predominated by a good majority. There -were still some faithful to Barry Gray, and one or two other boys were -named for the medal; but on every slip save two, Bobby's name appeared -as either first, second, or third choice. Those two particular slips -did not have Barry Gray's name on them, either, and the astute teachers -recognized the handwriting of Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks! - -If, after this first ballot, there were names voted for, whose owners -could not possibly win the medal, because of their standing with the -teachers, the fact was to be made known by the Doctor. The whole school -waited, most anxiously, for Dr. Raymond's decision in this case. - -The regatta came in between. That was the great sporting event of the -spring between the two schools which faced each other on opposite sides -of Lake Monatook. - -There were two-oared races, four-oared races, and then the big race of -the day--the trial of speed between the eight-oared shells. The -Rockledge boys thought Captain Gray and the others, in their white -jerseys with a crimson "R" on each side, were "a pretty nifty crew," -when they entered their boat and pushed out to the starter's place. - -The Belden crew had rowed over from their side of the lake. The course -was laid on the Rockledge side and was two miles in length--a mile -straight away, then round the post and return to the starting point. - -The younger boys forgot all other things and rooted for Gray and his -crew with all the strength of their lungs. They were massed on a part -of the bluff where they could see the whole race, and their friends and -parents and the townspeople were on hand in force to add to the -excitement of the occasion. - -Clinton was too far away for Mr. and Mrs. Martin to come to the closing -exercises of the school. Mr. Martin could not leave his store long -enough for that, and there were too many children at home for Fred's -mother to leave for over night. - -The chums got warm letters from them, and there were presents for both -Fred and Bobby. When the latter saw his mother's handwriting on his -package, and knew that she had thought of this time so long ahead, and -prepared for it, he was more touched than he had been by the Christmas -presents that had reached him from the same source. - -Fred was rather woebegone these last few days. "Wow! wait till Dad sees -my report," he said, hopelessly. "He'll be sorry he sent me this watch -and chain." - -Nevertheless, both lads wore their watches very proudly. They were just -what they had longed for, and although the timepieces were not very -valuable, they were good, practical instruments. - -The boys held them now, as they watched the racing shells, and came -pretty close to knowing by how many seconds the Rockledge crew beat the -Belden, when the shells raced down to the starter's boat. - -There was an extra supper that night. Mary baked an enormous cake, with -candles on it, and the date of the winning of the boat race traced in -pink frosting. This was set down in the middle of the upper table, and -Captain Gray had the honor of cutting it. A good-sized piece was sent -around to each boy, and Gray was called on for a speech. - -The handsome, well-dressed lad was not afraid to speak in public. He -was a bit forward but goodhearted. Yet perhaps the Doctor was just as -well suited that Barrymore Gray should not be in line for the Medal of -Honor. - -There was a certain conceit about his character which had always -troubled the good doctor; yet Barry had carried off the duties of his -captaincy with success. - -Frank Durrock was appointed captain for the coming year, and _he_ was -called on for a speech, too, having rowed bow in the winning shell. -Frank was another sort of a boy. He could only nod his thanks and sit -down in confusion. - -The youngsters cheered Barry and laughed at Frank; yet they all liked -the latter pretty well, too. - -The Doctor himself covered Frank Durrock's confusion by making a little -speech. His last words were: "And now, boys, to-morrow we decide upon -the winner of the Medal of Honor. All electioneering must cease -to-night, you know. Be prepared to-morrow to settle for yourselves who -is the most popular candidate. You are dismissed." - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - - THE WINNER - - -Pee Wee was so full of tickle that he was not sleepy! His father and -mother had been up for the regatta, and were staying at the Rockledge -Hotel until the school closed for the year. - -Mr. Wise was a rich man and he could afford to do about anything that -Pee Wee wanted him to do. There was something now on Pee Wee's mind -and, as Fred said, "he'd have to get it out of his system or he couldn't -go to sleep." - -"Wait till the other boys are asleep," whispered the fat boy. "I'm -going to keep pinching Mouser so he'll keep awake. You fellows pinch -each other." - -The beds of Bobby and Fred, and Pee Wee and Mouser Pryde, were side by -side. It rather tickled Bobby and Fred to think they should keep each -other awake in the way the fat boy suggested; but that he carried it out -in Mouser's case was very evident from the occasional grunts and -objections from the latter. - -The chums from Clinton kept themselves awake by asking each other -riddles, and telling stories. Fred had one "giggly" joke that went as -follows: "Say, Bobby, do you know they're going to close the public -library down town?" - -"What for?" demanded his chum. - -Just then Pee Wee's shrill whisper reached them: "Cheese it! Come here, -fellows. I have something to tell you--honest!" - -The dormitory was quite silent, save for the four boys in the corner. -Fred slipped out of bed and Bobby followed him. Pee Wee and Mouser were -sitting up in their own beds. - -"Now listen," whispered the fat boy. "Just as soon as school's out, my -folks are going to Bass Cove. We go there every summer. It's a dandy -place--you bet!" - -"All right. We've heard about that before," said Mouser, yawning. "You -might let a fellow go to sleep and wait till morning to tell us your -chestnuts." - -"I've a good mind not to tell _you_ at all," grunted Pee Wee. - -"Say! you're not telling any of us very fast," whispered Fred, giving -the fat boy a poke. "Get busy! some of the others will wake up." - -"I'll tell you," whispered Perry Wise, earnestly. "I have the grandest -father! He says I can have you three down to Bass Cove, if your folks -will let you come. What do you know about _that_?" - -"Oh--fine!" gasped Fred, when he could get his breath. - -All three of the boys had heard about that summer place. Pee Wee was -never weary of talking about it. - -"Sure he'll let us come?" demanded Mouser, wide awake on the instant. - -"That's what I said. I've been asking him in my letters. And he saw -you to-day--and mother, too--and he said 'yes.' He liked you -all--'specially Bobby--and he says you all can come." - -"Say!" gasped Fred. "That'll be great. Won't it, Bobby?" - -"I should say," admitted his chum. "And I was wondering what would -become of me before my folks got home again." - -"We'll go clamming, and crabbing, and fishing, and sailing--oh, -crickey!" gasped Fred, with his head under the bedclothes, "what won't -we do?" - -"It will be great," admitted Bobby, with a sigh of longing. "I just -hope your folks will let us go." - -This hope was realized, as my readers may learn if they meet Bobby and -Fred in the next volume of this series, entitled: "Bobby Blake at Bass -Cove; Or, The Hunt for the Motor Boat _Gem_." - -The four giggled, and whispered, and talked the matter over for another -hour before they could close their eyes. The outlook for the summer -vacation was first in their mind, too, when they awoke in the morning. - -But this was an important day at Rockledge School. Even the expected -pleasures of a summer at Bass Cove must be put temporarily in the -background. - -In the afternoon the graduating exercises were to be held--called at -Rockledge "the commencement exercises." In the evening the boys -entertained socially all their friends and relatives who could or would -come to the school. - -There was something else--something that loomed almost as big to some of -them as the graduation of the seven head boys. - -After breakfast the whole school filed up to the big hall. It was a -serious occasion, and even Fred Martin was not "cutting up" this -morning, and was one of those who most solemnly reached their seats. - -All the teachers were sitting on the platform with Dr. Raymond. The old -captain of the school, and the new captain, each stood at a door in the -back of the room to see that nobody slipped out, and to collect ballots -when the time came. - -"Now, boys," said the good Doctor, rising and smiling at the fifty. -"This is a serious occasion yet it is a happy one, too. It should be -happy for you all, because your teachers have found among you at least -one boy who is worthy of the high honor of receiving the medal," and he -displayed the gold star as he had on that first day, nine months before. - -"It is happy for us on the platform," and he made a little bow to the -gentlemen with him, "because you have found one among you whom so many -seem to admire. And we know what you admire him for. - -"It is unhappily impossible for every boy voted for to win the medal. -That is understood. Not alone must he be popular with you all, but he -must have stood high in every study and in his deportment as well. -Several of those voted for the other day in the informal balloting by -the school, cannot possibly receive the approval of myself and the other -masters. - -"Master Gray, unfortunately, is not eligible; neither is Masters -Durrock, Converse, or Spelt. There is no dishonor attached to the -records of these boys, but there are other reasons--reasons connected -with their standing in class--that make it impossible for us teachers to -agree on either of these names. - -"Now, boys, on the ballot now handed around, you will have but one -choice. And it looks as though your choice had already been indicated. -Let me assure you that, if that is so, your teachers are, one and all, -in favor of your choice." - -There was a murmur of approval--almost a cheer--when the doctor had done -speaking. Lots of the boys turned to smile at Bobby. He suddenly found -himself very red in the face. Fred looked delighted. Pee Wee could -scarcely keep in his seat. - -Barry Gray and Frank Durrock passed the papers swiftly, and gathered -them again in a few minutes. That the school was almost unanimous could -not be doubted. - -Mr. Leith and Mr. Carrin counted the slips. There was a bunch of them on -one side of the table and only a few on the other side. The doctor -rose, smiling with satisfaction. - -"My dear boys!" he said, ringingly. "It is a joy to me to find you so -nearly unanimous. And you have chosen the boy of whom, above all -others, we approve. - -"Robert Blake! stand up." - -_Then_ they cheered. It was impossible to silence the Lower School, at -least, for fully three minutes. Bobby stood, blushing and trembling -during this "unseemly riot." - -"Robert," said Dr. Raymond, quietly, at last, "you have been a good boy -here, and an exceptionally faithful scholar. I have watched your course -for the year with interest. You have won out under circumstances that -were most trying. - -"You boys have a code of morals of your own. I know it. 'Thou Shalt Not -Tell Tales' seems greater to you than any other commandment. And I -confess I do not uphold the tale-bearer. - -"If a boy does wrong, he should tell on himself. _That_ is being -honorable. Especially if he knows that because of his wrong-doing any -other fellow is suffering. - -"You all know that Robert bore a burden of punishment for months which -he did not really deserve. There is another among you, however--and I'm -proud of him!" and the doctor flashed a single glance toward Fred -Martin's red hair and red face, "who came forward when he understood, -and did his all to remove the black mark from Robert's record. - -"It makes me happy to know that I have such boys as these in Rockledge -School. I do not believe there are fifty boys anywhere--in any -school--any finer than _my_ boys," declared the Doctor, with growing -enthusiasm. - -"And I have never presented the Medal of Honor to any of my boys with -greater pride than I shall feel when I pin this star upon Robert Blake's -coat this afternoon." - -The school cheered again. Even Mr. Leith smiled at the enthusiasm -displayed by the youngsters. They formed in line, Barry and Frank -Durrock lifted Bobby to their shoulders, and the procession marched down -stairs and out, and around the campus. - -Bobby felt terribly disturbed. It seemed to him as though his ears -would never stop burning. - -They made too much of it. He was delighted that he could tell his -mother and father of his success, and show them the gold star. But he -could not see just how he had won it, nor how he had won the boys' -enthusiastic approval. - -There was another honor for him, too. He was selected as one of the new -members of the school secret order--The Sword and Star. _That_ went -with the winning of the medal without question. - -"Wow!" sighed Pee Wee, "he can hit as hard as any fellow in the Lower -School, when he boxes. And he's good fun, and is not afraid to get into -a game of fun, even if the teachers scowl on it a little." - -"Huh! I guess not," grunted Fred. "That's right about Bobby. He's not -afraid of _any_thing. That is, he's not afraid to do anything that isn't -mean." - -And that being a most just expression of his character, we will say -good-by for the present to Bobby Blake and his friends. - - - - - THE END - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOBBY BLAKE AT ROCKLEDGE SCHOOL -*** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39799 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. 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