“Le—let go!” gasped Tom.
“Take that!” retorted the bully, and banged Tom’s head against the wall.
There was a scuffle near the stairs, and both boys fell up against the railing.
“Look out, Tom!” cried Dick. “He’ll throw you down the stairs!” And he tried to go to his brother’s assistance. But before he could reach the spot the two contestants had separated.
“That for you!” roared Sobber, and aimed a blow for Tom’s eye. Tom dodged, and then let out with his right fist. The blow landed on the bully’s chin. He tottered backward, lost his balance, and pitched down the stairs.
Just as the bully went backwards, a side door of the mess hall opened and the colored waiter who carried the food to the sick lads upstairs came out. He held a trayful of dainties in his hands. Crash! came Sobber into the tray, and he and the dishes and the waiter went to the floor in a confused heap.
“Fo’ de lan’ sake!” gasped the waiter. “What fo’ you dun dat to me?”
“Oh!” groaned the bully, and tried to get up. On one cheek he had a dab of jelly and his hand and shirt front were covered with broth. The sight was such a comical one that the boys on the landing could not help but laugh.
“Yo’ dun bust de whole dinnah up!” was the waiter’s comment, as he arose and surveyed the wreck. The food had been scattered in all directions and half of the dishes were broken.
“It wasn’t my fault!” growled Tad Sobber. “Tom Rover knocked me down the stairs.”
“It was your own fault,” cried Tom. “You started the fight, I didn’t.”
“Somebody’s got to pay fo’ dis smash,” said the waiter. “I ain’t gwine to do it. Why, I ought to sue yo’ fo’ damages, dat’s wot!” he added, glaring wrathfully at Sobber.
“I’ll fix Tom Rover for this!” exclaimed the bully, and looked up the stairs at the laughing students. “I’ll make him laugh on the other side of his face!”
And he ran up the stairs with the intention of attacking Tom again.
CHAPTER XIII
DORA, GRACE AND NELLIE
That Tad Sobber was in a thorough rage was easily to be seen. His eyes were full of hate and he looked ready to fly at Tom and tear him to pieces.
All of the boys expected to see a great fight, and some backed away from the landing, to give the contestants more room.
But before anything could be done Dick leaped to the front and barred the bully’s further progress.
“Stop it, Sobber,” he said quietly but firmly.
“Get out of my way, Dick Rover!” roared the bully. “This is none of your affair.”
“Then I’ll make it my affair,” answered the eldest Rover boy. “You shall not attack my brother here.”
“Don’t worry, Dick—I can take care of him,” put in Tom, undauntedly, and doubled up his fists. “Maybe he’d like to go down stairs again and smash some more dishes.”
“Not when John Fly am carryin’ dem,” put in the colored waiter, who stood looking at the wreckage with a sober face. “I don’t want no moah such knockovers, I don’t!” And he shook his woolly head decidedly.
The noise had summoned numerous cadets to the scene, and now George Strong, the head teacher, appeared.
“What is the trouble here?” he demanded.
For the moment nobody answered him, and he gazed in wonderment at the broken dishes and the scattered food.
“Been a accident, sah,” said John Fly. “Dat young gen’man dun fall down de stairs an’ knock me ober, tray an’ all, sah.”
“Did you fall down stairs, Sobber?”
“No, sir, I was thrown down by Tom Rover,” replied the bully.
“Thrown down?” repeated the head teacher in surprise.
“He attacked me and I hit back,” explained Tom. “It was his own fault that he fell down stairs. Had he let me alone there would have been no trouble.”
“It is false—he hit me first,” said the bully.
“That is not so,” cried Fred. “Sobber struck the first blow.”
“Yah, dot is der fact alretty,” put in Hans. “He vos caught Dom py der throat und knock his head py der vall chust so hard like nefer vos!”
“He hit me first, didn’t he, Nick?” said the bully, turning to his crony.
“I—I think he did,” stammered Nick Pell. He did not dare to tell an outright falsehood. “I think it was all Tom Rover’s fault,” he added, after a surly look from Sobber.
“All of you know it is against the rules to fight in this school,” said Mr. Strong, sternly.
“Well, I only fought after I was attacked,” answered Tom, doggedly.
“Mr. Strong, whether you believe it or not, my brother speaks the plain truth,” came from Dick. “I was coming from Larmore’s room and saw it all. Had you been in Tom’s place you would have done as he did.”
These plain words from Dick made George Strong hesitate. He knew the Rover boys well, and knew that they were generally in the right. More than this, he had caught Tad Sobber in a falsehood only the day before.
“You may all go to your rooms and I will see about this later,” he said. “Sobber, as you broke the dishes, you will have to pay for them.”
“Can’t Rover pay half the bill?” growled the bully.
“No, for I cannot see how he is to blame for that.”
After this some sharp words followed. Tad Sobber was impudent, and as a consequence was marched off to a storeroom which was occasionally used as a “guardhouse” by the teachers and Captain Putnam. Here he had to stay in solitary confinement for twenty-four hours and on the plainest kind of a diet. This imprisonment made Sobber furious, and he vowed he would get square with Tom and Dick for it if it cost him his life.
“They may have been able to down other fellows in this school, but they shan’t down me,” was what he told Nick Pell.
“Well, you want to go slow in what you do,” answered Pell. “I’ve been talking to some of the others and I’ve learned that they got the best of several fellows who were here at different times—Dan Baxter, Lew Flapp and some others.”
“Humph! I am not afraid of them,” growled Tad Sobber. “I suppose they think, because they are rich and have traveled some, they can lord it over everybody. Well, I’ll show them a trick or two before I’m done with them.”
After Tad Sobber came out of confinement the Rover boys thought he might try to play some underhand trick on Tom, and consequently kept their eyes open. But nothing developed for some days, and then it came in a most unexpected way.
The boys settled down to their studies, but it was not in their nature to go in for all work and no play. On the following Saturday they asked for permission to visit Cedarville, to buy some things Sam and Tom needed. They took with them Songbird and Hans, and went on foot, the weather being ideal for walking. Just before leaving they saw Sobber and Pell hurry away, also in the direction of the town.
“I wonder where they are going?” mused Dick.
“Sobber is going to take a run by steamboat to Ithaca,” answered Songbird. “I heard him speak to Captain Putnam about it.”
“Is Pell going along?”
“I don’t think so.”
The three Rover boys and their friends were soon on the way. They felt in the best of spirits, and Powell could not resist the temptation to break out into his usual doggerel:
“I love to roam o’er hill and dale,
In calm or storm or windy gale,
I love the valley and the hill,
The brooklet and the running rill,
I love the broad and placid lake—”
“Where we can swim or take a skate,”
finished Tom, and then went on:
“And just remember, of the rest, I love old Putnam Hall the best!”
“That last sentiment
hits me,” said Fred. “Tell you what, fellows, no place like our school.”
“I dink I make me some boetry alretty,” said Hans, solemnly, and began:
“I lof to hear der insects hum,
I lof to chew on chewing gum!
I lof to see der moon shine owit—”
“And love to eat my sauerkraut,”
added Tom gaily. “Songbird, can’t you get up some real nice bit of verse about sauerkraut and Limburger cheese for Hans’ benefit?”
“The idea of poetry about sauerkraut and Limburger cheese!” snorted the verse maker in disgust.
“Well, anyway, the lines about the cheese would be good and strong,” was Dick’s comment.
“A poem about sauerkraut wouldn’t do for this automobile age,” said Sam, dryly.
“Why not?” asked Tom.
“Because sauerkraut belongs to the cabbage,” answered the youngest Rover, and then dodged a blow Tom playfully aimed at him.
“I shan’t try to make up any more verses,” said Songbird. “Every time I try—”
“Hullo, here comes a carriage with three young ladies in it,” called out Dick.
“They look familiar to me,” announced Tom. “Yes, they are Dora Stanhope and Grace and Nellie Laning!” he cried.
“Well, this is a pleasure,” said Songbird, and forgot all about what he was going to say concerning his verse making.
The carriage was soon up to them. It was a two-seated affair, and on the front seat were Dora and Nellie and in the rear Grace and Mrs. Stanhope.
“We were going to stop at Putnam Hall for a few minutes,” said Dora, after the greetings were over. “It was such a lovely day we couldn’t resist the temptation to go out for a long drive.”
“Sorry we won’t be at the Hall to receive you,” answered Dick, and he gave Dora such an earnest look that the pretty girl blushed.
“The girls have something up their sleeve,” said Mrs. Stanhope. “And they wanted to see you and Captain Putnam about it.”
“We are getting up a little party,” announced Nellie. “It is to come off at Dora’s home some time this fall. We wanted to find out if Captain Putnam would let you and a few of your friends come over.”
“Oh, he’ll have to let us come!” cried Tom. “Why, I wouldn’t miss a party for anything!” And he said this so comically that all of the girls laughed.
“We haven’t set any date yet,” said Grace. “But you’ll speak to Captain Putnam about it, won’t you? We thought you might make up a party of say eight or ten boys, and come over in the carryall.”
“It’s as good as done,” announced Sam, with a profound bow. “Please put me down on your card for the first two-step.”
“Und put me town for a dree-steps,” added Hans, and at this there was another laugh.
“I don’t know whether we’ll have dancing or not,” said Mrs. Stanhope. “But we’ll try to have a good time.”
“Who do you want us to invite—if we can come?” questioned Dick.
“Oh, Dick, we’ll leave that to you. Of course we want all who were on the houseboat,” and Dora looked at the Rovers and Songbird and Hans.
“With Fred that will make six. Shall I ask Larry Colby and George Granbury?”
“If you want to—and two more. But please don’t ask those boys we just met,” went on Dora, hastily.
“You mean Tad Sobber and Nick Pell?” questioned Tom, quickly.
“One called the other Nick. He was a very large lad,” said Mrs. Stanhope.
“Sobber and Pell sure,” murmured Tom. “What did they do?”
“Stood right in the middle of the road and would not get out of the way,” explained Grace. “I think they were perfectly horrid!”
“They made us drive around to one side and we nearly went into a ditch,” added Dora.
“And then, after we had passed, they burst out laughing at us,” continued Nellie. “They certainly weren’t a bit nice.”
“We’ll have to settle with Sobber and Pell for this,” said Dick, and his face took on a serious look that bode no good for the cadets who had played so ungallant a part towards his lady friends.
CHAPTER XIV
AT THE ICE-CREAM ESTABLISHMENT
The Lanings and the Stanhopes had been in the best of health since returning from the south. Mrs. Stanhope was no more the pale and delicate person she had been, and her former nervous manner was entirely gone. The cheeks of the three girls were like roses, and it was no wonder that the Rovers thought them the nicest young ladies in the whole world.
“Wish we were in a carriage,” observed Tom, after the turnout had gone on. “Then we might have gone for a drive together.”
“I know what Tom would like,” said Sam. “A nice buggy and a slow horse, and Nellie beside him—”
“Humph, please change the names to Sam and Grace and you’ll hit it closer,” answered Tom, his face growing red.
“I’m going to make up a poem about them some day,” said Songbird. “I shall call it—let me see—ah, yes—The Three Fair Maidens of Cedarville.”
“Don’t!” cried Dick. “Songbird, if you dare to do anything like that—”
“You’ll have to leave Dora out anyway,” said Tom. “If you don’t, Dick will get in your wool sure. He—”
“Say, what about Sobber and Pell?” broke in the eldest Rover, his face quite red. “I feel like punishing them for making the ladies drive into the ditch.”
“We’ll remember it,” answered Sam. “If we catch them in Cedarville let’s speak of it and see what they have to say for themselves.”
“Speaking about a party,” observed Songbird, as they approached the village, “do you realize that we haven’t had any sort of a feast at the Hall since we got back to the grind?”
“Fred was saying the same thing only a few days ago,” answered Tom. “We certainly ought to have some sort of a blow-out.”
“Vot you vos going to plow owid?” asked Hans innocently.
“Blow out the stuffings from a mince pie, Hansy.”
“Vere you vos plow dem to, Dom?”
“Blow them into your stomach. Have a spread—a feast—a fill-up, so to speak—something to eat, cheese, sandwiches, cake, pie, pudding, jam, oranges, bananas, lard, salt, plum pudding, toothpicks, ice-cream, turnips, and other delicacies,” went on the fun-loving Rover, rapidly.
“Ach, yah, I understand now, ain’t it! I like dem feasts. Ve haf him in von of der pedrooms alretty yet, hey?”
“If the crowd is willing,” said Sam. “For one, I vote in favor of it.”
“Second the nomination,” put in Tom, promptly. “It is elected by a unanimous vote we have a feast at the school, some night in the near future, at eleven o’clock, G. M.”
The idea of a feast pleased all the boys. They always got enough to eat during regular meal hours at the Hall, but there was something enticing in the idea of having a feast on the sly some night in one of the dormitories. They had had a number of such in the past and these had been productive of a good deal of sport.
“Let us go down to the steamboat landing and see if we can see anything of Pell and Sobber,” suggested Dick. “If Sobber is going to Ithaca he’ll most likely go by the Golden Star.”
They were walking along the main street of Cedarville when they chanced to look into the principal candy store. There, in front of the soda fountain, were the bully of the Hall and his crony. They were drinking soda and talking to a young girl who had served them.
“Hullo, here they are!” cried Sam, and came to a halt.
As they looked into the place they saw Tad Sobber reach over the counter and catch the girl clerk by her curls. He held fast, grinning into her face, while she tried to pull away from him.
“The mean wretch!” cried Dick. “He tries to make himself as obnoxious as
he can to everybody he meets.”
“Oh, please let go!” came in the girl’s voice through the open doorway. “You hurt me!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you,” replied Sobber, still grinning.
“But I—I don’t want my curls pulled,” pleaded the frightened girl. “Oh, please let go, won’t you?”
“I want you—” began the bully, but did not finish, for at that moment he felt Dick’s hand on his ear. Then he received a yank that pained him exceedingly.
“Ouch!” he yelled, and dropped his hold of the girl. “Oh, my ear! Dick Rover, what did you do that for?”
“I did it to make you behave yourself,” answered Dick, sternly. “Sobber, I didn’t really think you could be so mean,” he went on.
“I—I wasn’t hurting the girl,” grumbled the bully. “And it’s none of your business anyway,” he added, suddenly, in a blaze of passion.
“After this, you leave her alone.”
Tad Sobber glared at Dick for an instant. Then he raised his glass of soda and attempted to dash it into Dick’s face. But Sam saw the movement, knocked up the bully’s arm, and the soda went into Nick Pell’s ear.
“Hi, stop!” roared Nick Pell, as the soda trickled down his neck. “What did you do that for?”
“It was Sam Rover’s fault,” answered Sobber.
“My brand new collar is spoilt!”
“Charge it to your crony,” said Tom.
“I’ll fix you fellows!” roared the bully, and raised the empty soda glass over Dick’s head. But now Tom rushed in and wrenched the glass from Sobber’s hand. In the meantime the girl behind the counter had become more frightened than ever and she ran to the back of the store to summon assistance.
It looked as if there might be a regular fight, but in a few seconds the proprietor of the store appeared, armed with a mop stick he had picked up. He happened to be the father of the girl, and she told him how Tad Sobber had caught her by the hair.
“See here,” began the candy store keeper, and flourished his mop stick at the bully. Then Sobber retreated from the establishment and Nick Pell did likewise, and both started on a run up the street.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 175
