Chapter X. When the Cannon Went Off - The Rover Boys down East by Edward Stratemeyer
The boys went down to the railroad station in the new touring car to meet Mrs. Laning and the three girls, and possibly Mrs. Stanhope. The car was a fine seven-seat affair, of forty-horse power, and Dick ran it.
"It's the slickest thing in cars I've seen!" cried the eldest Rover boy, enthusiastically. "A tour in it would be great."
"Well, we'll have to take a tour in it before the summer is over," returned Sam.
The train was late and the boys waited impatiently for it to put in an appearance. When it did arrive they were delighted to see that Mrs. Laning had induced Mrs. Stanhope to come along.
"I wanted her to come for two reasons," whispered Dick to Dora, after the first greetings were over. "I wished her here, and I was afraid, if she remained behind, Josiah Crabtree might try to visit her."
"He did try, Dick," answered the girl.
"What, again?"
"Yes, and what do you think? We had another visit from Tad Sobber."
"And what did he say?"
"He wanted us to give him half of the fortune. Said that if we didn't he would never rest until he got the money."
"What did your mother do?"
"She had two hired men, who happened to be at the house, put him out."
"Good! That's the best way to treat him.'*
"Mamma was very much upset, as you can imagine. And the very next day Josiah Crabtree called, and what do you think he said? He sent word by the maid that he had called not alone on his own behalf, but also on behalf of Sobber."
"Oh, so that's the way the wind blows, eh? They are going to form a sort of partnership, to see if they can't get hold of your money, by one way or another."
"It looks that way, Dick, and I am worried to death."
"I'd like to run Sobber down and put him in prison. He has done a number of things for which he might be arrested."
"I am trying to get mamma to take a trip somewhere. I want her to go in secret, so that Sobber and Mr. Crabtree can't follow her."
"That might be a good thing, Dora," answered Dick, and then he had to turn his attention to run ning the touring car. Although the automobile was built for but seven, all had crowded in, Sam sitting in front on Tom's lap, and the ladies and girls occupying the tonneau.
The run to the farm took but a few minutes, Dick "letting the machine out" in a manner that made the ladies gasp.
"Never rode so fast in my life, on a country road!" declared Mrs. Laning, on alighting. "It was like a train!"
"Oh, that was nothing," answered Tom. "We can go twice as fast if we want to."
"Not with me in the car!" declared the lady, firmly.
"It's a splendid automobile," said Mrs. Stanhope. "But I shouldn't care to travel at racing speed in one."
The visitors were warmly welcomed by Mrs. Rover and her husband and by the boys' father, and soon all were made to feel at home. The best rooms in the farmhouse were given over to the guests, and Mrs. Rover had placed a beautiful bunch of June roses in each apartment.
"What lovely roses!" cried Mrs. Stanhope. "We have some, but not as grand as these!" And her face showed her satisfaction.
"It's great to have you girls here!" declared Sam. "What a jolly family we would be if we all lived together!"
"Oh, what an idea!" cried Grace, but she smiled even as she spoke.
Of course the boys had to show the girls all over the farm, and Uncle Randolph took the ladies around, showing them the big barns and the cattle, the chickens, the horses, the pigs, and the orchards, and broad fields of corn, wheat, and other products. Then they came back to look at the neat vegetable garden, and Mrs. Rover's flower plots, and also at the bees.
"I hope for great things from my bees," announced Randolph Rover. "I have taken up the study of them with care, and I think I can produce a variety that will give us extra fine clover honey."
"I thought you had your bees all in one place, Uncle Randolph," said Dick, as he noticed a hive set apart from the others.
"That is a new family I bought last week," was the explanation. "I am keeping them apart for the purpose of studying them. But they are rather wild as yet, and I do not dare to disturb them very much."
"Oh, I can't bear bees!" whispered Nellie to Tom. "Let's get out of here," and she walked away, and the others followed.
Although the young folks remained up rather late on the night before the Fourth, Tom, Dick and Sam arranged among themselves to get up early the next day, to fire a salute from the old cannon.
"We'll surprise them all," said Tom. "We'll show 'em we can make a noise even if we are in the country."
The boys crept downstairs at five o'clock and hurried out to the shed where the powder had been left. Bringing the box forth they took it to where the old cannon had been placed on the lawn. The piece was pointed towards an apple orchard, so that it might do no damage.
"Now, fill her up good!" cried Tom. "We want to make as much noise as we can with the first shot."
"Don't put in such a load that she bursts," cautioned Dick.
The powder was measured out and put in, and then this was followed by a wad of paper Sam brought from the kitchen. They rammed the paper in good and tight.
"Now, I guess she's ready to set off," said Tom.
"Tom, don't you stand too close," said Dick. "That cannon might explode. Light the slow match and then run behind a tree, or the corner of the piazza."
"All right, Dick But I dont think she'll explode," was the reply.
"Hello, goin' to fire her off, eh?" came a voice from the fence, and Jack Ness appeared.
"Yes, Jack," answered Sam. "But keep still—we want to surprise the folks."
"Good enough," murmured the hired man. "You'll do it right enough. Thet old cannon all ways was a snorter fer noise." And he backed away towards the orchard to get behind a tree, out of the way of possible harm.
All being ready, Tom lit a match and applied it to the slow match of the cannon. Then he ran for the corner of the piazza, to join his brothers.
A few seconds passed—they seemed unusually long just then—but nothing happened.
"The slow match must have gone out," murmured Tom.
"Don't go back!—it may go off, yet," answered Dick. "Sometimes——"
Bang! went the cannon, and the tremendous report echoed and re-echoed throughout the hills surrounding Valley Brook. The charge had been so big that the piece had "kicked back" about a yard.
"Say, that was a noise!"
"If that didn't wake the folks up nothing will!"
"I'm glad she didn't burst."
"So am I"
"By gum, you're celebratin' all right!" came from Jack Ness, as he poked his head from behind a tree. "I guess they must have heard that clear down to the Corners."
"Further than that!" replied Tom.
"Oh, Tom, did you do that?" came a voice from an upper window, and Nellie showed her face.
"What an awful noise!" came from another window, as Dora appeared.
"Did it wake you up?" cried Tom.
"It made me bounce right out of bed!" declared Nellie. "I thought I was shot."
"I thought the house had been hit," said Dora.
"Did your cannon burst?" questioned Grace, as she appeared beside Nellie.
"Not a bit of it!" declared Tom. "Just listen, while we fire another shot."
"Oh, Tom, wait till I put some cotton in my ears!" cried Mrs. Rover, as she showed herself, followed by the others.
"Boys, you didn't shoot off anything in the cannon, did you?" asked Randolph Rover, nervously.
"Nothing but powder and paper, Uncle," answered Sam.
"That ain't so!" suddenly shouted Jack Ness. "By gum! You hit the bee hive, an' here come the bees! Gee, shoo! Git out! Oh, my! I'm stung!" And he started to run from the orchard.
The boys stared for a moment. Down in the orchard was the hive which their uncle had set apart from the others. It seemed to be torn at the top, and a swarm of angry bees were flying around. Part of the swarm had made for Jack Ness, and now the hired man was running for his life.
"Why, I don't see how we hit the hive——" commenced Dick, when a yell from Sam interrupted him.
"The bees! The bees! Some of 'em are head ing this way!"
"Hi! hi! don't let 'em fly away!" screamed Randolph Rover. "They are very valuable! Stop them! Make them go back in the hive!"
"Excuse me from touching any bees!" murmured Tom. "I'm going to get out of here!" And he started to run.
"Don't go to the house!" cried Dick. "We don't want the ladies and the girls to get stung. Head for the barn!"
His brothers understood, and they scampered at top speed for the nearest barn. In the mean time they could see poor Jack Ness slashing around wildly with a coat he was carrying.
"Git out o' here, you troublesome critters!" screamed the hired man. "Lemme alone, consarn ye! Oh, my nose! Oh, my eye!" And then he pelted for the vegetable garden. Here he fell over a hot-bed frame and went sprawling. But he soon picked himself up, and then he streaked it down the garden to a patch of corn, gradually outdistancing his little tormentors.
"Say, this is the worst yet!" groaned Tom, and he and his brothers watched the bees from a distance. "However did we happen to hit that hive?"
"I'mm sure I don't know," replied Dick, "unless you put something in the cannon. Did you use stones?"
"No. Did you, Sam?"
"Not a thing but that paper. But we rammed that down rather hard."
"I don't think paper would reach to the orchard. Maybe there was something in it. Did you look?"
"No. Come to think of it, it did feel a little hard," answered Sam.
In a few minutes Randolph Rover appeared, followed by the boys' father. The man who was making a study of bees had placed a net over his head and donned gloves, and thus equipped he went down to look at the hive. A small corner of the top had been torn away.
"I fancy the bees will settle down before a great while," said he. "The hive is not much damaged."
"I am glad to hear that, Uncle Randolph," said Tom. "I didn't think that shot would reach so far."
"Next time you had better point the cannon into the air," replied the uncle.
"That's a good idea; we will."
The cook slept at the top of the house, and awakened by the noice came down to the kitchen to start up the fire. She heard the others discussing the discharge of the cannon and mention the damage done to the bee hive. Then she looked around the kitchen and suddenly gave a scream.
"My pocketbook! Where is my pocketbook?"
"Your pocketbook?" asked Sam, who had come around to the kitchen to wash his hands. "Where did you leave it?"
"I had it on that side table. It was wrapped in an old newspaper. I was going to take it up to my room last night and hide it, but I forgot."
"That newspaper!" ejaculated Sam, and turned slightly pale. "If you had it in that newspaper it was your pocketbook that shot the top off that bee hive!"