Chapter X On the Way Home - The Rover Boys under Canvas by Edward Stratemeyer
"Oh, Jack, you don't mean it! Father and Uncle Sam have really volunteered for the war!"
It was Martha Rover who spoke. She and her brother were seated in a small summerhouse attached to Clearwater Hall. Not far away sat Mary and Fred.
"It's the truth, Martha," answered Jack; "and here is the telegram that was sent. We at once went to Colonel Colby and got some particulars."
"But he may be shot down and killed!" and Martha's face grew white as she spoke.
"That's a chance every soldier takes when he goes to the front, Martha. But let us hope that dad will escape--and let us hope that Uncle Sam will escape, too."
Jack and Fred had come over early in the morning and had asked permission of Miss Garwood to see the girls on an important errand.
They had left the school building under the curious eyes of Ruth and a number of their other chums.
"Well, in one way, I'm glad of this," declared Mary, her pride showing in her face. "It's exactly what I thought dad would do the minute we got into the war. I knew he wouldn't want to be thought a slacker."
"But, Mary! suppose they got killed--or even wounded?" murmured Martha.
"Martha Rover! do you want your father to hang back when he thinks it's his duty to go to the front?" demanded Mary, her eyes snapping questioningly.
"No, no!" answered her cousin quickly. "I know it's the right thing to do. Just the same, it worries me a great deal; and I know it will worry mamma, too."
"You mustn't say anything about being a slacker," admonished Jack. "If it should get to the ears of Uncle Tom, it might make him feel very bad."
"Oh, I don't put Uncle Tom down as a slacker," returned Mary quickly.
"I think he is making a great sacrifice, by staying behind to keep the business together, and to serve on that Loan Committee and the Red Cross Committee."
The young folks talked it over for some time, and decided to wait until they got further word from home. Then the two girls went back into the school to tell Miss Garwood and their chums the news, while the boys hurried to Colby Hall, arriving there during the morning recess.
"Say, but we've had some fun since you went away!" cried Andy gaily, when they appeared. "Pud Hicks, the janitor's assistant, got the surprise of his life."
"How is that?" questioned Fred.
"Why, Pud was using a vacuum cleaner in the upper hall when he saw something in a dark corner that he couldn't quite make out. The thing got stuck in the cleaner, and he put down his hand to see what it was.
The next minute he let out a yell like a wild Indian and came flying down the corridor, scared stiff."
"What was it--the snapping turtle?" asked Jack.
"You've struck it. The turtle must have crawled into the corner, and when he felt Pud's hand on him he took a good solid hold on Pud's little finger.
"I had just gone upstairs to get a book when I saw Pud tearing around.
Half a dozen fellows were there, and the way Pud cut up was like a circus. Shout Plunger came tearing upstairs to find out what it was all about, and Pud gave the snapping turtle a sling, and it hit Shout right in the face and then fell down inside his coat. Shout put his hand inside to find out what it was, he being too deaf to hear the talk about a snapping turtle, and then the turtle got busy and got Shout by the hand. Then there was more fun!"
"What did they do with the turtle at last?" questioned Jack.
"Oh, Shout wouldn't take any chances," answered Andy. "He put the turtle down on the floor and smashed it with his heel; and then, of course, the fun was all over."
"Did they find out how the turtle came to be there?" questioned Fred.
"No, they didn't. Codfish came along, and he started to say something, but I put up my fist and motioned to him, and then he shut up like a clam."
"He'll give you away sooner or later, Andy," remarked Jack.
"If he does, he'll pay for it," retorted the fun-loving Rover.
Several days went by, and during that time the boys learned not a little concerning the catastrophe at the Hasley Shell-Loading plant, the local papers giving a full account of the affair. Fortunately the report that several had been killed was untrue, but about sixteen men had been injured, and several of them quite seriously.
There were many speculations concerning what had started the explosions. It was proved that the first had occurred in one of the cars which was standing loaded on the railroad track, while the second explosion had come less than a minute later from what was known as Storehouse No. 3. Then had followed an explosion at Storehouse No. 2, and after that the explosions had come so rapidly and there had been so much excitement that no one could tell exactly what had happened next. But fortunately the explosions had been confined to the storehouses and the loaded cars on the track. The main building of the shell-loading plant had suffered considerably, but a portion was still standing, and some underground vaults, filled with high explosives, had not been reached. Had these explosives gone up, it is more than likely Haven Point, as well as Clearwater Hall and possibly Colby Hall, would have been shaken to their foundations and with great loss of life.
A rigid investigation had been started by three different parties--the owners of the plant, the local authorities, and the Secret Service of the national government. The Secret Service men, of course, made no public report, but the others in authority came to the conclusion that the explosions had been started either by some spies working for the shell-loading plant or by two suspicious-looking men who had been seen several times around the place--the same fellows described by Jed Kessler.
"Maybe those two fellows on the outside had confederates on the inside," remarked Jack, in talking the affair over with his cousins.
"More than likely that's the truth of it," said Randy. "Those fellows often work in gangs."
During the days following the victory over Hixley High, a number of the cadets had gone down to Haven Point at various times, and several brought back the report that they had met Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell driving through the town in their runabout. Slugger and Nappy had put on a lordly air, bowing very condescendingly to those they knew, but refusing to stop for any conversation.
"Those fellows make me weary in the bones," was the way Dan Soppinger expressed himself. "What ever brought 'em to Haven Point? If I had been fired out of the school the way they were, I wouldn't want to show my face around here again."
"Yes, Dan; but you aren't the sort they are," declared Jack. "I don't believe either Slugger Brown or Nappy Martell has a particle of real pride. They think just because they have a little more spending money than most fellows, they can lord it over anybody."
It worried all of the Rovers to think that Brown and Martell were hanging around Haven Point, and Jack telephoned to Clearwater Hall several times, calling up Ruth and also his sister Martha, asking if they had been annoyed in any way by the pair.
"We saw them again down near our boathouse," said Ruth over the telephone. "They acted as if they wanted to talk to us, but we did not give them any chance to do it."
"If they dare to say a word to any of you, just let us know and we'll take care of them," declared the oldest Rover boy.
On the third day came a long letter to Jack and an equally lengthy communication for Fred. The letters were from their fathers, and in them Dick and Sam Rover gave the particulars of how they had volunteered for service in France and how Dick had been commissioned a captain and Sam a lieutenant. They mentioned the fact that they were soon to leave New York City, along with a number of other volunteers, to go to Camp Huxwell, a beautiful site selected by the government and located on the Atlantic coast.
"Why, say, that isn't very far from here!" exclaimed Jack. "I've often heard them talk about that place."
Jack's father also mentioned the fact that Colonel Colby had obtained a commission as a captain and that a great many others of his old school chums from Putnam Hall, and likewise two of his comrades from Brill College, were going. He added that if Jack wanted to come home to see him off, he could do so.
"And that's just what my dad says, too," said Fred, after both boys had finished reading the letters. "Of course we'll go!"
"Ten horses couldn't hold me back," answered Jack.
"Well, if you fellows go, we're going, too," declared Randy, when the matter was talked over.
"Bet your life!" added Andy slangily. "I want to know what dad has got to say about all this."
Jack and Fred communicated at once with their sisters, and learned that they, too, had received letters from home and were going to depart for New York City at the earliest possible moment. It was then arranged that the young folks should all leave together on the following morning.
"Remember me to your fathers," said Colonel Colby, after they had asked for and received permission to go. "Tell them they will hear from me very shortly."
The two girls met the four boys at Haven Point, and Ruth, May, Gif, and Spouter came to see them off.
"I've got a surprise for you," said Spouter, who had come to the railroad station at Haven Point earlier than the others, in order to obtain parlor-car seats for the party.
"What is that?" questioned Fred.
"When I came in for the seats, who do you think was just ahead of me at the ticket window?"
"You don't mean Slugger and Nappy?" questioned Randy quickly.
"You've struck it!"
"What were they doing there?" asked Jack with interest.
"They were getting tickets for New York."
"Oh, dear! do you mean to say we've got to put up with those fellows on this trip?" sighed Martha.
"You won't have to notice them, Martha," declared her brother.
"Don't worry but what we'll make them keep their distance," added Fred.
The whole crowd looked around the depot, and presently made out Slugger and Nappy at the far end of the platform. They were smoking cigarettes and talking in low, earnest tones.
"I hope they didn't get seats in the parlor car," said Mary.
"I don't think they did," answered Spouter. "They're such smokers, I guess they'd just as lief hang out in the smoking car."
In a few minutes the train came along, and, bidding their friends good-bye, the Rovers got aboard and had a porter show them to their seats. From the window Jack waved Ruth a good-bye, and then the long train pulled out of Haven Point and began its trip to the metropolis.
It was rather a long journey, and it was necessary that they obtain a meal on the train.
"Let me go into the dining car and have a look around first," remarked Fred, when it came time to eat.
"What's the matter--afraid we won't be able to get seats?" inquired Randy.
"I want to see if Slugger and Nappy are around. I don't want to eat when they do."
"Right you are!" answered Jack.
He and Fred hurried through the train and into the diner. Neither Brown nor Martell were present, for which they were thankful. They found a table for four on one side of the car, with a table for two directly opposite, and at once engaged both. Then, while Jack held the tables, Fred hurried back and brought the girls and the twins.
"I never eat in a dining car but what I think of that fun we had with Asa Lemm when we first came to the Hall," remarked Andy, as they sat down. "My, what a pickle we did get that professor in!" he chuckled, referring to a series of incidents, the particulars of which were related in "The Rover Boys at Colby Hall."
"I wonder if we'll ever meet old Asa Lemm again?" remarked Fred.
"Sure!" returned Randy. "He's like a bad penny--bound to turn up some time."
The young folks ordered soup for a first course, and this was quickly served. Mary and Martha sat at the larger table with Andy and Randy opposite, while Fred and Jack occupied the smaller table on the other side of the car.
The soup was finished and the young folks were waiting to be served with the more substantial portion of the meal, when suddenly Fred, who was looking toward the far end of the dining car, pressed his foot down on that of his cousin.
"What is it?" questioned Jack quickly.
"Here come Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell," was the low reply.