“There they go! There are Glutts and Werner!” exclaimed Gif.
“And in a motor-boat, too!” added Randy. “Too bad! If they were in a rowboat we might be able to catch them.”
“Oh, let them go,” said Mary hastily. “I am more worried about Ruth’s eyes than anything else.”
“We’re all worried about that,” answered her brother. “Come on, we’ll get over to Haven Point just as fast as we can. I only hope we find one of the doctors at home.”
They tumbled into the boats, the girls leading Ruth, who still had her eyes bandaged.
“Do you think you can row, Jack?” questioned Fred.
“Of course I can,” replied the young captain. He was not going to admit that the injury to his eyes was making him feel sick all over.
May sat beside Ruth and did what she could for the sufferer. All of the boys bent to their oars and a straight course was taken for the town.
“Wouldn’t it be dreadful if Ruth was blinded for life?” remarked Alice Strobell on the way.
“Oh, Alice! don’t suggest such a thing as that,” came from Annie Larkins in horror.
“Well, people have been blinded in that way more than once,” remarked Randy. “It all depends on how bad a dose she got.”
“Jack said the pepper must have been intended for him,” came from Andy. “I can’t imagine that Werner would be wicked enough to try to injure Ruth that way.”
“Maybe he didn’t intend to do it when he started,” returned his brother. “But when Werner gets mad he’s liable to do almost anything. You know that as well as I do.”
“That’s true. When he gets into a rage he goes almost insane.”
“What an ending to our outing!” sighed Alice.
“And we didn’t eat a mouthful of the lunch!” added Annie. She had spent over an hour in fixing some fancy sandwiches.
“Was that pepper from some you brought along?” questioned Randy quickly.
“As far as I know we didn’t bring any pepper along. We had a saltcellar, and that’s all,” answered Alice.
“Then it must have been a deliberate attempt on Werner’s part to blind Jack!” cried Andy. “Oh, what a pity we didn’t catch him! Then we could have handed him over to the authorities.”
When the boys and girls reached one of the docks at Haven Point Andy and Randy ran on ahead and speedily procured a taxicab. Into this Ruth and Jack were hustled, and then Randy, sitting beside the driver, directed him to take the sufferers to the nearest doctor.
At the first physician’s house they learned that the doctor was away for the afternoon. Then they hurried to another part of the town, and there found Doctor Borden, an older man who had occasionally come to both the girls’ school and the military academy.
“Pepper in your eyes! Is it possible!” said the old physician. “Come into my office at once. Sometimes that sort of thing is very serious.”
“You wait on the lady first, Doctor,” said Jack. “She is by far the worse off.”
“Very well,” said the doctor. “Come this way,” and he led Ruth into his private office.
CHAPTER XIV
BOUND FOR HOME
While the doctor was attending Ruth the others of the party arrived at the physician’s residence. They found Jack walking up and down in the anteroom while Randy sat in a chair doing what he could to comfort his cousin.
“What does the doctor say about Ruth?” questioned May quickly.
“He hasn’t come out yet. They are in there,” and Randy pointed with his hand to the inner office.
“Oh, Jack, how do your eyes feel?” questioned Martha, coming up and gazing earnestly at her brother.
“To tell the truth, they don’t feel very good, Martha,” he answered. “But I won’t mind that so much if only Ruth gets out of it.”
The boys and girls sat down, some in the outer office and some on the piazza of the doctor’s residence. They had to wait nearly a quarter of an hour before the door of the inner office opened.
“I think the young lady will feel much better by to-morrow,” said Doctor Borden, as he led Ruth forth. He had placed a new and heavier bandage over her eyes. “I’ll call at the school to see her the first thing to-morrow morning. You need do nothing to the eyes until that time.” He looked at the other girls. “I presume you young ladies are with Miss Stevenson?”
“We are,” several of them answered.
“Then there ought not to be any trouble about getting her back to the school in safety,” and the physician smiled faintly.
“I’ll get a taxicab,” said Randy, and lost no time in doing so.
“I don’t want to go back to the school until Jack has been taken care of,” declared Ruth. “I want to know just how bad off he is. The doctor tells me he doesn’t think my eyes will be permanently injured.” She was trying to bear up bravely, even though her eyes hurt her a good deal. But what the doctor had put on them was gradually allaying the pain.
Jack entered the inner office, and the doctor made a thorough examination of each eye.
“You were lucky to get off so well, Rover,” he announced at the conclusion of the examination. “I’ll give you a lotion to put on to-night before retiring, and I’ll give you a treatment of it now. Then bathe the eyes again in the morning, and I think in a day or two you will be as well as ever.”
“And what about Miss Stevenson’s eyes?” questioned the young captain anxiously.
“I can’t say very much about them as yet. Of course, I didn’t want to worry her, so I did not tell her how bad it might be. Still, I’ll know more about it to-morrow morning.”
This was as much as Doctor Borden would say. Jack received the treatment and was given a small bottle filled with the lotion, and then, after settling with the physician, he was ready to leave.
“Do you want any of us to go to the school with you?” he asked of Ruth and the other girls.
“No, Jack; it won’t do any good,” answered the blindfolded girl. And as he took her hand and pressed it warmly, she added: “Please don’t worry about me.”
“But I’m going to, Ruth,” he answered in a low tone. “Somehow, I feel that your injury is my fault.”
“Nonsense! It was Gabe Werner’s fault entirely! That boy ought really to be in jail! But, Jack, you are quite sure that your eyes are all right?” she went on anxiously.
“Yes, Ruth. The doctor says that I’ll be as well as ever in a day or two. You are the only one to be worried over. I’ll tell Martha to telephone to me to-morrow just as soon as the doctor has seen you.” And so it was arranged.
Randy had obtained a large taxicab and into this all the girls crowded, taking care, however, to make Ruth as comfortable as possible on the rear seat. Then the girls of Clearwater Hall started for the school.
“I’ll bet Miss Garwood will be surprised when she sees Ruth,” was Andy’s comment, as he watched the girls riding away. Miss Garwood was the head of the girls’ school.
“Poor Ruth,” murmured Fred. “What a miserable outing this has been!”
Fortunately for the cadets, they found the Colby Hall stage in town, and all piled in and were speedily taken to the school. Here Jack and Randy went up to their rooms, while the others reported to Colonel Colby.
“Threw pepper into Jack’s eyes, did he!” said the colonel wrathfully. “What a dastardly thing to do! I am glad that Werner is no longer a pupil at the school. If he were I should feel it my duty to hand him over to the authorities. You say he did not come back to Haven Point?”
“No, sir,” answered Gif. “They motored over to the other side—over to where the Hasley ammunition factory used to be located.”
“I see. Then probably both he and Glutts will take good care not to show themselves in the vicinity of Haven Point,” said Colonel Colby.
And in this surmise the
head of the school was correct. Long afterwards it was learned that Werner had put the motor-boat into the hands of a man to bring it back to the party of whom it had been hired, and then he and Glutts had tramped three miles across the country to a railroad station where they took a train for parts unknown.
The colonel came up to see Jack and have a look at his injured eyes, and then sent Mrs. Crews up to the young captain to bathe his eyes with the lotion the doctor had given him and bind them up.
“It’s too bad! too bad entirely!” said Mrs. Crews, who was quite a motherly woman. “I hope your eyes are as well as ever in a day or two.” And then she added with a twinkle in her own optics: “I suppose that is what you get for running off with that baby carriage.”
“If it is, it’s a terrible price to pay, Mrs. Crews,” answered Jack, and then told her about Ruth.
“Now that’s too bad entirely,” said the matron of the school. “Oh, who would want to harm a dear young lady like Miss Stevenson? It’s awful how wicked some young men are,” and she shook her head dolefully.
Jack took it easy for the rest of the day, and one after another his chums came in to sympathize with him.
“I can’t understand a fellow like Werner,” remarked Ned Lowe. “If he isn’t careful he’ll land in prison.”
“What gets me is that a fellow like Glutts keeps on tagging after him,” put in Dan Soppinger. “Sooner or later Werner is bound to lead Glutts into something pretty bad.”
Jack passed a restless night, not only because his eyes hurt him, but because he could not get Ruth out of his mind. What if the girl’s eyes should be permanently injured? The mere thought of such a catastrophe horrified him.
In the morning he bathed his eyes again, as Doctor Borden had directed. He had been excused from his classroom, and so sat around where he could readily be called to the telephone if any message came in for him. It was not until about eleven o’clock that his sister rang him up.
“The doctor left a few minutes ago,” said Martha over the wire. “He was with Ruth about half an hour, and gave her quite a treatment. He was very much encouraged, and said he thought she would come around again all right in a few days, but that she must be careful for several weeks about how she strained her eyes or went out in the wind.”
“But he really thinks she will come around all right?” questioned Jack anxiously.
“Yes, Jack, he was almost sure of it. And, oh! I am so glad, and so are all the other girls.”
“Well, it’s a great relief to me, Martha,” he returned, and his voice showed what a weight had been lifted from his mind.
After that the days to the end of the term passed quickly. There were the usual examinations, and all of the Rovers were glad to learn that they had passed successfully. In the meanwhile Jack’s eyes continued to mend, so that on the final day at the Hall they felt practically as good as ever.
The young captain and Fred had gone over to Clearwater Hall, ostensibly to call on their sisters, but in reality to find out about Ruth. She came down to greet them, and they were surprised and delighted to find that she no longer wore the bandage over her eyes.
“I can’t go out in the strong sunlight yet, nor in the wind,” said the girl. “Nor can I do much reading or studying. But the eyes no longer pain me, and for that I am very thankful.”
“Doctor Borden says it will take a week or two before her eyes are normal again,” explained Martha. “But that isn’t so bad when you consider what might have occurred,” and she gave a little shiver.
Colby Hall was to close several days before the girls’ school, but the two Rover girls had received permission to go home with their brothers. This was the last chance Jack had of seeing Ruth, and the last chance that Fred would have to see May, and both made the most of it.
“I’ll write to you, sure, Ruth,” said the young captain. “And I hope your eyes will allow you to reply.”
“Oh, I’ll send you something, Jack, even if it’s only a postal,” was the quick answer. “Please don’t worry about me. I am sure my eyes will come around all right sooner or later.”
“If they don’t I’ll never forgive myself for taking you on that outing,” said the young captain feelingly.
With the examinations at an end, the Colby Hall cadets were allowed to do very much as they pleased, and on the last night at school there was the usual horseplay and cutting up generally. Some boys tried to catch Stowell, but the sneak of the school outwitted them by receiving permission to leave the Hall twelve hours early.
“Well, good riddance to bad rubbish!” announced Fatty Hendry, when he heard of this. “I think Colby Hall could get along very well if Stowell stayed away for good.”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t worry if he did stay away,” returned Walt Baxter.
“And now hurrah for little old New York!” cried Andy, on the following morning.
“Little old New York and our dads!” added his twin.
“I wonder if they have arrived yet?” put in Fred quickly. “I don’t think so, or they would have sent us a telegram.”
“Either that, or they want to surprise us when we get there,” said Jack.
Their trunks had been sent on ahead, and directly after breakfast they set to work to finish packing their suitcases. Then they went around saying good-bye to the professors and Colonel Colby, and did not forget “Shout” Plunger and Bob Nixon, giving the latter some tips to remember them by.
“Off at last!” cried Fred, as the auto-stage rumbled up to take the first crowd of boys to the railroad station. In they piled, and were soon whirled away in the direction of Haven Point.
At the railroad station they were met by Martha and Mary. The other girls could not come, as all had examinations that morning. Soon the train rolled in, and the Rovers and a number of the other cadets piled in, Jack and Fred being accompanied by their sisters.
“I’ll be glad to get home again and see mother and Aunt Grace and Aunt Nellie,” remarked Martha, as she settled herself in a seat beside her brother.
“And how about dad, Martha?” questioned Jack.
“You don’t have to ask that question,” she returned quickly. “You know I am just as crazy to see him as you are. And I’m crazy to see Uncle Tom and Uncle Sam, too.”
“I’ll bet they’ll have some stories to tell about their doings in France.”
“Yes, indeed, Jack. Oh, how they all must have suffered! And how thankful I am that they are coming back to us whole and hearty. Just think if they had come back minus an arm or a leg, or frightfully injured in some other way!”
“I have thought of that, Martha, more than once. I can tell you, when I think of the thousands of good, strong, healthy young fellows who went over there and gave up their lives or came back crippled, I feel that our folks have much to be thankful for.”
CHAPTER XV
BACK FROM FRANCE
The journey to New York City was uneventful. They had to change cars at the Junction, and here a number of the other cadets left the Rovers. These included Gif and Spouter.
“Sorry you’re not going down to the city with us,” said Jack; “but I suppose you are as anxious to see your folks as we are to see ours.”
“Right you are,” answered Spouter. And Gif nodded his head to show that he agreed with his chum.
When the train rolled into the Grand Central Terminal at Forty-second Street the Rovers found two automobiles awaiting them, and in the turn-outs were the three mothers of the boys and girls.
“What’s the news about dad, Ma?” burst out Jack, as he kissed his parent.
“Have the soldiers come back yet?” was Fred’s question.
“They haven’t got in yet, but we are expecting them almost any time now,” answered Mrs. Dick Rover.
“We are just as anxious as you are to see them,” came from Mrs. Tom Rover, as both of her sons ga
ve her a warm hug. “There, there! don’t smother me!” she added affectionately.
“Oh, it’s so good to be home again!” exclaimed Mary. “Boarding school is all well enough, but I’d rather be with you folks any time.” Mary had always been a good deal of a home girl.
The young folks piled into the cars, which were run by the Rovers’ chauffeurs, and in a moment more they were picking their way through the crowded traffic in the direction of Fifth Avenue. They speeded up this noted thoroughfare and then across town to Riverside Drive.
“What is the matter with your eyes, Jack?” questioned his mother presently. “They look rather inflamed.”
“Oh, I had a little run-in with one of our old enemies,” returned the young captain. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“It’s poor Ruth Stevenson that got the worst of it,” broke in Martha. “We may as well tell mother,” she added. “She ought to know it.”
“I wish you boys would stop making enemies,” sighed Mrs. Rover. “Sooner or later they may cause you a lot of trouble.”
“Well, I don’t consider that it is our fault,” returned Jack. “It is no more our fault than it was dad’s fault to make an enemy of Dan Baxter and his father, Arnold Baxter.”
“Well, if only your enemies reform, as Dan Baxter reformed, that will be something worth while,” said his mother.
All of the mothers had made great preparations for the return of the young people. Their rooms had been placed in order, and there were a number of pretty and useful gifts for all of them. Then came a grand reunion in the Tom Rover home, where an elaborate dinner was served that evening.
“Gee! if only our dads were here to enjoy this with us,” murmured Andy, as he gazed upon the many good things spread before him.
“I’ll bet they won’t find any fault with home cooking after they get back from the trenches in France,” commented Randy, with a grin. “I’ll bet they’ve had to put up with all kinds of cooking.”
“Yes, and sometimes they had to put up with cooking that wasn’t,” added Andy.
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