Chapter XI Tom Rover’s Dilemma - The Rover Boys under Canvas by Edward Stratemeyer
Andy and Randy were facing the same way as Fred, and they, too, noticed the approach of Brown and Martell. Randy whispered something in a low tone of voice to Martha and Mary, and the two girls pursed up their lips, but said nothing, nor did they look around.
The dining car was almost full, and the only table vacant was a small one directly behind where Fred was sitting. Slugger and Nappy were conducted to this by the head waiter, thus passing the Rovers. They did not, however, notice our friends until they had seated themselves and given their order.
"Humph! what do you know about that?" murmured Nappy Martell to his crony. He was seated where he could stare directly at the two girls.
"What's the matter?" returned Slugger Brown, and then turned around to follow his crony's gaze. "What do you know about that? I didn't know they were in such a hurry to get to the diner, did you?"
"I knew they would most likely want to eat," answered Nappy.
The newcomers winked at each other, and then, while they were waiting to be served, Nappy began to stare boldly at Martha. But she refused to look at him, confining her attention to her plate and to Mary and the twins.
Fred could no longer see the unworthy pair, as they were behind him.
But Jack, looking over his cousin's shoulder, got a good view of how Martell was staring at his sister, and he also saw how uncomfortable this was making Martha. He waited a minute or two longer, hoping that Nappy would desist. But then, as the dudish young man continued to gaze at the girl, trying his best to catch her eye, he whispered something to Fred, and then rose to his feet.
"All right, Jack, I'm with you if you want any help," returned Fred promptly.
Without hesitation, Jack approached the table at which Brown and Martell sat eating their soup, and placed himself close to the latter's side.
"Now listen to me, Nappy Martell," he said in a low but distinct voice, meant only for the dudish youth. "You keep your eyes to yourself and leave my sister and my cousin alone. If you don't, I'll smash you one in the face that will put you in the hospital. Now remember--I won't give you another warning!" And having thus spoken, Jack turned on his heel and went back to his own table.
Nappy Martell flushed up and an angry retort arose to his lips. Then, however, he became pale and not a word escaped him.
"What was that he said, Nappy?" demanded Slugger in a whisper.
"I--I'll tell you afterwards," stammered Martell. "He's mighty fresh--that fellow!"
"Did he threaten you?"
"I guess he wants to start a row," grumbled Nappy. "But I don't want any fight in front of those girls."
"Those Rovers are getting too fresh to live," was Slugger's comment.
"Some day we'll have to get after 'em and polish 'em off."
"We can't get after 'em any too quick to suit me," answered his crony.
After that Nappy confined his gaze to his chum and to the lunch set before him. Never once did he allow his eyes to rove over to the table opposite. Jack had spoken with an intensity that showed his earnestness, and for once Nappy Martell was completely subdued.
"Those Rovers are getting to be a regular bunch of rough-necks," he growled, after he and his crony had finished a somewhat hurried meal and gone back to the smoking car.
"Did he want to fight you?" queried Slugger.
"That's what he had in mind to do--as if I would want to fight before that crowd of people! Why, we would all have been arrested!"
Jack's meal had been spoiled for him, but he did not let the others know this. He, however, kept his eyes on Brown and Martell until they left the dining car. Then he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Gee! I'm glad they're gone," was Fred's comment.
"You're no more glad than I am," answered his cousin. "I'll teach him to stare at my sister! For two pins I'd have wiped up the floor with him!"
"I wish I'd have gotten the chance," put in Andy, from across the aisle. "Wouldn't I like to have peppered up their food good for them!"
In due course of time the young Rovers reached the Grand Central Terminal at Forty-Second Street, in New York City. They had sent a telegram, announcing their coming, and found Mrs. Dick Rover and Mrs.
Sam Rover awaiting them, each with a touring car.
"Well, I see you got in on time," said Mrs. Dick Rover, after the greetings were over. "I thought on account of so many soldiers being sent to the various camps, the train might be late."
"We saw some soldiers on the way," answered her daughter.
"And we also saw some freight cars carrying cannon," put in Mary.
"This war is going to make a great change all around," declared Mrs.
Sam Rover. And then she added to her daughter: "What do you think about your father going to the front?"
"It's just what I expected," answered Mary promptly. "He's a real patriot--dad is!"
"You are right. But I hate awfully to see him go away," sighed the mother.
The young folks were soon seated in the two automobiles, and their handbags were disposed of in the tonneau. Then the cars were started up, and they were soon whirling away over to Broadway and Riverside Drive, and then to the comfortable mansions occupied by the three Rover families.
It was still rather early in the afternoon, but Sam Rover had already come uptown from his office and was there to greet his son and daughter and the others.
"It's great news, Dad!" cried Fred, shaking him warmly by the hand, while Mary clung around his neck and kissed him.
"Oh, I'm going to be real proud of you!" said the daughter.
A little later Dick Rover arrived, and Jack shook hands with a warmth that was most unusual. When Martha kissed her father a curious lump arose in her throat, and her eyes grew misty.
"I suppose it's all right, Dad," she whispered in his ear. "But, oh! I do hope you'll come back all right." And she clung to him in a way that spoke volumes.
"Of course I'll come back all right, Martha," said Dick Rover confidently. "And for all you know, your dad will come back a major or a colonel, or maybe a brigadier general."
"Oh, I don't care about that! All I want is for you to come back safe and sound!"
"Your father will be up in a little while," announced Dick Rover to the twins. "He had a meeting to attend in reference to the next Liberty Loan. He's a tremendously busy man these days."
"But Uncle Dick! he wanted to go to the front just as well as you did, didn't he?" questioned Randy eagerly.
"Of course he wanted to go," was the ready response. "But we couldn't all go, you know. Somebody had to stay behind to look after our business interests in Wall Street."
"But--but couldn't you hire somebody else to run the business for you?" questioned Andy. Now that he and his brother were face to face with the fact that their Uncle Dick and their Uncle Sam were going into the army, it did not look right at all to them to have their father left behind.
"We thought something of that, but we really couldn't see how it could be done. You see, we have a great many important deals under way, and if those transactions are not looked after carefully, we might stand to lose a great deal of money."
"I don't care--if dad wanted to go to the front, he should have had the chance to go!" burst out Randy.
"I declare, Randy, you'll be as hard to manage in this affair as your father was," said Dick Rover, with a faint smile.
"Was he really hard to manage?" queried Andy eagerly.
"He sure was! We had to talk to him for several days before he would agree to remain behind. He told us once that the whole business could go to pot."
"Hurrah for dad! That's the way I knew he'd act!" burst out the boy.
"If I was him I'd let the business go to pot!" declared Randy. "What good will your old business be if those Germans win this war and start in to rule everything? For all you know, they'll come right over to New York and take your whole business away from you."
"Well, that might possibly happen," put in Sam Rover seriously.
"Although I don't think it is very probable."
Knowing that the young folks were usually very hungry when they got home and that they always enjoyed home cooking, their mothers had prepared quite a spread for them. Mrs. Tom Rover had gone downtown to meet her husband, and now she came back in a flutter of excitement.
"Hello, Ma! Where is Dad?" questioned Randy, as he ran up and gave her a hug and a kiss, followed by his twin.
"He's downtown, up to his ears in that Liberty Loan business,"
answered Mrs. Tom Rover. "Oh, dear! I never saw such a busy man! Half a dozen men are coming in and going out all the time, wanting to know what to do next and asking him if he won't make another speech here, there, or somewhere else. They want him to talk at two Liberty Loan meetings to-night and one Liberty Loan meeting and a Red Cross meeting to-morrow afternoon."
"Isn't he coming home at all?" questioned both of the twins in a breath.
"Oh, yes. He'll be here in a little while. But he won't be able to stay long," returned the mother.
When Tom Rover arrived he looked rather tired out, but he greeted all the boys with a smile and gave each of the girls the kiss he knew they were expecting.
"Oh, I'm in it neck deep," he answered, in reply to his sons'questions. "They must think I can talk just like a coffee-grinder grinds out coffee. And the nerve of some of them!" he continued. "Here they have asked me to go somewhere uptown and meet a lot of bankers and tell them how some of the work on the Liberty Loan is to be done!
As if those bankers don't know as much about it as I do, and maybe more!"
"You've bought some of the bonds yourself, haven't you, Dad?"
questioned Randy.
"Yes, Son--twenty thousand dollars' worth, and The Rover Company, as a company, has taken twice that amount."
"And my father has taken twenty thousand dollars' worth, too," said Mary.
"And so has mine," added Martha.
"All told, I think we're doing pretty well by Uncle Sam!" cried Jack.
"Just the same, Uncle Tom, I think it's a shame that they are going to make you stay behind to run the business."
"I won't stay behind if things get much warmer!" burst out Tom Rover suddenly. "I'll put somebody in my place and grab a gun and go after those Huns."
"Hurrah! that's the way to talk," cried Andy enthusiastically.
"Would you really, Dad?" burst out Randy, his eyes shining.
"Do you want me to go, Son?" demanded the father, catching him by the shoulder.
"Of course I do! I don't think you ought to stay behind with Uncle Dick and Uncle Sam going."
"It doesn't seem right," added his twin.
"And it isn't right! But what am I going to do?" asked their father somewhat helplessly. "We've all our money locked up in our various business deals. Those deals have got to be looked after. Who is going to do it if we all go away?"
"Oh, you can get somebody!"
"This getting somebody that you can trust absolutely is not so easy,"
answered Tom Rover. "I did think of getting one gentleman we know very well--a Mr. Allen Charter, who graduated from Brill College a year after your uncles and I were admitted to the institution. Mr.
Charter is a very fine business man, and understands the deals we are in perfectly."
"Well, then, why didn't you get Mr. Allen Charter to take hold?"
questioned Randy.
"He was going to take hold, but at the last minute he declined, stating that he had made up his mind to volunteer for the army."
"Well, there must be somebody else."
"There was another student at that college, named Stanley Browne. He is a cousin of Colonel Colby. We were very good friends, and I thought sure that we could get him to take charge. But Browne has also gone into the United States service."
"Oh, if that isn't a shame--every one of them going in and you left behind!" grumbled Randy. "I don't think it's fair at all!"
"Well, I suppose I've got to make the best of it," answered Tom Rover.
But as he spoke he heaved a mountainous sigh. This being left behind while his brothers and his best friends went to the front was going to almost break his heart.