CHAPTER III
SOMETHING OF A SURPRISE
It did not take the Rover boys long to reach Ashton; and once in town,they lost no time in running their auto to where Doctor Havensresided. They found the house well lit up, and the old doctor in hisstudy, poring over some medical works.
"Saved a fellow from drowning, eh?" he queried, after the lads hadexplained matters. "Got him out in your auto? All right, bring himright in if you want to--or wait, I'll go out and take a look at him.Maybe I know who he is and where he belongs." And thus speaking, thedoctor went outside.
Sam still had the searchlight in hand, and as the physician approachedthe automobile, the lad flashed the rays on the face of the stranger,who was still unconscious.
"Why, I've seen that young chap before!" exclaimed Doctor Havens. "Heis stopping at the hotel. I saw him there only this afternoon."
"Then perhaps we had better take him over there," suggested Tom.
"By all means, and I'll go with you."
Running into the house, the doctor procured his hand case, and thenjoined the boys in the automobile. A run of a few minutes brought theparty to the hotel, and Sam and Tom lifted the young man out andcarried him inside.
The arrival of the party created some consternation, but as only theproprietor of the hotel and a bellboy were present, the matter waskept rather quiet. The young man had a room on the second floor, andto this he was speedily taken, and placed in the care of the doctor.
"No bones broken so far as I can ascertain," said Doctor Havens, aftera long examination. "He has cut his forehead, and he also has a bruisebehind his left ear, but I think he is suffering more from shock thananything else."
"Did you say you knew him?" questioned Tom.
"Oh, no, only that I had seen him around this hotel."
"What is his name?" asked Sam, of the hotel proprietor, who hadfollowed them to the room.
"His name is Pelter."
"Pelter!" The cry came from Tom and Sam simultaneously, and thebrothers looked at each other questioningly.
"Yes, Pelter. Do you know him?"
"What is his first name?" demanded Tom.
"Why, let me see," The hotel man mused for a moment. "I have it!Barton Pelter."
"I never heard that name before," said Tom. "We know a man in----" Andthen, as Sam looked at him in a peculiar way, he added, "Oh, well,never mind. We don't know this fellow, anyway. I hope he gets overthis trouble."
By this time the sufferer had again recovered consciousness, but hewas evidently very weak, and the doctor motioned for the Rover boysand the hotel man to leave the room.
"All right, but let us know in the morning by telephone how he is,Doctor," returned Tom; and then the Rover boys and the hotel man wentbelow.
"Can you tell us anything about this Barton Pelter?" questioned Sam,of the proprietor.
"I know very little about him, excepting that he is registered as fromBrooklyn, and that he came here three days ago. What his business isin Ashton, I haven't the least idea."
"Is he well off--that is, does he appear to have much money?" askedTom.
"Oh, he hasn't shown any great amount of cash around here," laughedthe hotel man. "My idea is that he is some sort of a commercialtraveler, although he hasn't anything with him but his suitcase."
This was all the hotel man could tell them, and a few minutes laterthe Rover boys were in their automobile once more and headed back forthe scene of the accident.
"We ought to have put up some danger signal, Tom," remarked Sam, whileon the way.
"I know it, but we hadn't any time to waste while we had that poorchap on our hands. By the way, do you think he can be any relative ofJesse Pelter, the rascal who knocked me out with the footstool, andwho tried his best to rob dad?"
"I'm sure I don't know. One thing is certain: The name of Pelter isnot common. Still, there may be other Pelters besides those related tothat scoundrel of a broker."
Arriving at the vicinity of the broken bridge, the boys found a farmerwith a wagon there. The countryman was placing some brushwood acrossthe road.
"The blame bridge is busted down," said the farmer, "and I thought Iought to put up some kind of a thing to warn folks of it."
"That is what we came for," answered Sam; and then he and his brotherrelated some of the particulars of what had occurred.
"Gee, shoo! You don't mean to tell me that one of them automobiles isdown in the river!" gasped the countryman. "I don't see nothin' ofit."
"It most be down on the bottom, close to where that end of the bridgesettled," answered Sam "I suppose there will be a job here forsomebody to haul it out."
"If they want a man for that, I'm the feller to do it," returned thecountryman. "Maybe I had better go down to the hotel and see aboutit."
"Better wait till morning," suggested Tom. "The young man who owns themachine can't see anyone now."
"All right, just as you say."
"Now that this bridge is down, how can we get over the river?" musedSam.
"Where do you want to go?"
"We were on our way to Hope Seminary. I suppose we can go around tothe Upper Road, but it will be four or five miles out of our way."
"It ain't necessary to go that far. You go down stream about half amile on the Craberry Road, and you can cross The Shallows."
"Isn't it too deep for an automobile?" questioned Tom.
"No, not now. It might be, though, in wet weather."
"I don't know about that," said Sam, and shook his head. "We don'twant any accident in the water, Tom."
"Oh, come ahead, we can try it, anyway," returned Tom, who, in spiteof the recent happenings, was as anxious as ever to get to theseminary and see Nellie.
Leaving the countryman at his self-appointed task of putting a barrieracross the road--and he had said that he would also, get over to theother side of the river somehow and put a barrier there--the Roverboys swung around once again in their touring car, and headed for theside road which had been mentioned to them. Soon they reached what wasknown as "The Shallows," a spot where the river broadened out, and wasfilled with loose stones and sandbars.
By the rays from the headlights, which they now turned on to theirfullest extent, the car was guided into the water. At the edge, theysaw several tracks made, undoubtedly, by wagons, and one trackevidently made by the anti-skid tires of an automobile.
"Well, if one auto got through, we ought to be able to make it,"remarked Tom, grimly.
"Better take it on low gear," suggested his brother. "We can't see inthis water, and we may go down in a hole before we know it."
Slowly and cautiously, Tom guided the machine along, trying to keep asmuch as possible to the high points of the various sandbars which ranin a diagonal direction to the stream itself. Once or twice theybumped over some rather large stones, and once they went into a hollowwhich was somewhat deeper than expected, but, with it all, theymanaged to keep the working parts of the car above the surface of thestream, and inside of five minutes found themselves safe and sound onthe opposite shore, and headed for another side road which joined themain highway less than a quarter of a mile beyond.
"I am mighty glad we are out of that," remarked Sam, as they left therather uneven side road and came out on the smooth highway. "I mustsay, I don't like autoing in the water."
"Pooh, that wasn't so bad!" replied Tom. "But it would be, I think,after a heavy storm, when the river was swollen. It must be gettinglate," he added. "Better speed her up a little, or we'll get to Hopejust in time to say 'good-night,'" and he smiled grimly.
Fortunately for the boys, there was very little traveling that night.They met but two wagons and one automobile; and these on straightstretches of the road where there was little danger of collision. Tomwas now running at thirty-five to forty miles an hour, and this wasrather dangerous where the highway curved, and where what was aheadwas partly hidden by, trees and bushes.
"Here we are at last!" cried Tom, presently, as they came in sight ofHope Se
minary, a fine collection of buildings nestling in a prettygrove of trees. All the dormitory windows showed lights, and there wasalso a light in the reception parlor of the main building, for whichthe lads were thankful.
"Give 'em the horn, Tom," suggested Sam.
"Sure! I was only waiting to get a little closer," was the answer, andthen, as the automobile turned into the seminary grounds and ran alongthe road leading up to the main entrance, Tom sounded the horn in apeculiar fashion, a signal which had been arranged between the boysand the girls long before.
"Tom!"
"Sam!"
The cries came from two girls dressed in white, who had been seated ona rustic bench near a small fountain. Now, as Tom brought the car to aquick stop, the girls hurried forward.
"Hello, here we are again!" sang Tom, merrily, and leaping to theground he caught Nellie Laning by both hands. "How are you?"
"Oh, I am pretty well, Tom."
"And how are you, Grace?" came from Sam, as he, too, left theautomobile.
"Oh, Sam, I am so glad you have come!" cried Grace Laning. "Nellie andI have been waiting for you."
"Well, we are glad we are here. We have had quite an adventureto-night."
"Oh, did you have a breakdown?" questioned Grace, anxiously.
"No, but we had to go to the rescue of a fellow who ran into theriver."
"Oh, dear! Troubles never seem to come singly," sighed Nellie.
"What do you mean!" demanded Tom, quickly. "Is something wrong here?"
"Indeed there is, Tom!" answered Grace. And then, with a look at herolder sister, who had turned her face away, she continued: "I think itis a shame! If it was not that it would make it look as if Nellie wereguilty, we would pack up at once and leave this place."
"Why, what do you mean?" came from both of the Rovers.
"Oh, Grace, perhaps you had better not tell them," cried Nellie, withalmost a sob.
"Nellie!" And now Tom caught the girl tightly in his arms. "What hashappened?"
"I--I--can't tell!" sobbed the girl. "Grace will tell you."
"I don't suppose it is necessary to go into all the details," saidGrace, "but the long and short of it is, that Nellie is suspected ofstealing a four-hundred-dollar diamond ring."
"What!" ejaculated Tom.
"It was this way, Tom," pursued Grace. "One of the teachers here, aMiss Harrow, who assists the seminary management by keeping some ofthe books, had a diamond ring said to be worth four hundred dollarsplaced in her possession by a Miss Parsons, another teacher. It seemsthat Miss Parsons had an eccentric old aunt, who wished to give theseminary some money, and so turned over the ring, to be converted intocash. This ring Miss Harrow left on her desk in the office. Nelliewent into the office to see the teacher, but finding no one there,came away. Then Miss Harrow came back a few minutes later, and foundthe diamond ring gone. She at once made inquiries, but as she couldfind nobody who had been in the once after Nellie had left, she calledNellie in and wanted her to tell what had become of the piece ofjewelry."
CHAPTER IV
A FOUR-HUNDRED-DOLLAR RING
"Did you see this ring, Nellie?" questioned Tom, after a painfulpause.
"Why, yes, it was lying in the middle of a flat-top desk," respondedthe girl, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief.
"Didn't somebody go into the office after you were there?"
"I don't know, Tom. In fact, nobody seems to know."
"I was in the office with another girl about five minutes beforeNellie went there," came from Grace. "I saw the ring there, too, and Ithought it was very foolish to leave it so exposed. Why, anybody couldhave run off with it."
"It certainly was careless," put in Sam.
"Miss Harrow said she was on the point of putting it in the safe whenshe was called by 'phone to one of the other buildings. She had adispute to settle between some of the hired help, and she did notthink of the ring until some time later. Then, so she says, she rushedback to the office to find it missing."
"Well, I think it is a shame that she accused Nellie," said Tom,stoutly and with something of a savage look in his eyes. "Nellie, if Iwere you, I wouldn't stand for it."
"She--she hasn't accused me, exactly," returned the suffering girl."But she intimated that I must have taken the ring, so it's just asbad."
"What does the seminary management have to say about it?" asked Sam.
"They seem to think it lies between Nellie and the teacher," answeredGrace.
"In that case, how do we know the teacher didn't take the ringherself?" broke in Tom, quickly.
"Oh, do you think that possible?" questioned Nellie, in surprise.
"It's more reasonable to think she took it than you did. Anyway, shehasn't any right to accuse you," went on Tom, bluntly.
"As I said, Tom, she hasn't accused me--that is, openly; but I knowwhat she thinks, and I know what she will make others think," returnedNellie. And now she showed signs of bursting into tears again. "Oh, Ifeel as if I must pack up and go home!"
"Don't you do it, Nellie. That would make it look as if you wereguilty. You stay here and face the music." Then, as Nellie began tocry again, Tom took her in his arms and held her tightly.
"Come on!" said Sam, in a low tone of voice. "I think some people atthe window are listening." And he led the way to a distant portion ofthe seminary grounds. After that, Grace told all she knew of themiserable affair, and Nellie related just how she had seen the diamondring on the teacher's desk.
"Was the window open at the time?" questioned the older Rover boy.
"If I remember rightly, the window was tight shut," replied Nellie.
"Yes, it was shut when I was in the office," put in Grace. "I havebeen trying to think out some way by which the ring could havedisappeared, but without success."
The matter was talked over for some time, and then the girlsquestioned the boys regarding the happening at the broken bridge.Nellie, and Grace also, wanted to know the latest news from Dick andDora.
"So far as I know, Dora is in fine health and enjoying herself in thecity," said Tom. "But Dick is having his hands full, and I ratherthink that, sooner or later, I'll have to pack up and go to hisassistance."
"Then you'll leave Brill for good?" questioned Nellie.
"I think so. I can't be breaking in on my college course every now andthen as I have been doing, and pass my examinations. More than that, Ibegin to believe that I was not cut out for a college man. I am likeDick; I prefer a business career rather than a professional one. It isSam who is going to make the learned one of the family."
"Oh, come now, Tom! Don't pile it on!" pleaded the younger brother.And yet he looked greatly pleased; and Grace looked pleased, too.
"But if you leave Brill, you won't be able to get here very often,Tom," remarked Nellie, wistfully.
"That is true. But if I have to go to New York, why can't you go,too?"
"Oh, Tom!"
"Well, that is what Dora did when Dick gave up his college career. Ithink the folks understand----"
Just then a bell in the tower of the main seminary building began toclang loudly. At the first stroke both girls started.
"There goes the first bell!" cried Grace. "We must go."
"Oh, hang the bell!" muttered Tom, and then, as Grace ran towards thebuilding, with Sam beside her, he once more caught Nellie by the hand.
"Now say, Nellie, don't you think----"
"Oh, Tom, I must get in before the second bell rings!" pleaded Nellie.
"Yes, but won't you promise----"
"How can I promise anything, Tom, with this affair of the missingring----"
"Missing ring! You don't suppose for one minute that that is going tomake any difference to me, do you?"
"Oh, no, Tom. I know you too well for that." And now Nellie gave him alook that thrilled him through and through. "But I think I ought toclear my name before--before I do anything else."
"All right. I suppose it has got to be as you say," returned Tom,hopelessly. "But liste
n! If they make any more trouble for you,promise me that you will let me know."
"All right, Tom, I will." And then, after Tom had stolen a quick kiss,Nellie hastened her steps, and a few seconds later she and her sisterdisappeared within the building.
"Do you know what I'd like to do, Sam?" muttered Tom, as the brothersturned away from the seminary grounds in the automobile. "I'd like towring that Miss Harrow's neck! What right has she to accuse Nellie?"
"No right at all, Tom. But one thing is certain, the ring must bemissing. I don't think that the teacher had anything to do with takingit. They don't have that sort here."
"Possibly not. At the same time, to my mind it is far more reasonableto suppose that she took it than that Nellie had anything to do withit," declared Tom, stoutly.
"If the window was closed down, it seems to me that the ring must havebeen taken by somebody in the building," pursued Sam, thoughtfully."Perhaps one of the hired help did it."
"Maybe." Tom gave a long sigh. "I certainly hope they clear the matterup before long. I shall be very anxious to hear from the girls aboutit."
As the young collegians had received permission to be out after hours,they did not attempt to take the short cut through The Shallows onreturning to Brill. Instead, they went around by another road, over abridge that was perfectly safe.
"It's not so late, after all," remarked Sam, as they entered theirroom. "Perhaps I had better, finish that theme."
"Oh, finish it in the morning," returned Tom, with a yawn. "You'llfeel brighter."
"All right," answered Sam, who felt sleepy himself; and a few minuteslater the brothers retired.
The next morning found Sam at work on the theme long before the hourfor breakfast. Tom was also up, and said he would take a walk aroundthe grounds to raise an appetite.
"As if you needed anything of that sort," grinned Sam. "The firstthing you know, you'll be eating so much that the college managementwill be charging you double for board."
Down on the campus, Tom ran into Songbird, and, a few minutes later,William Philander Tubbs. Songbird, as usual, had a pad and pencil inhis hand.
"Composing verses, I suppose," remarked Tom. "What have you got now?"
"Oh, it isn't so very much," returned Songbird, hesitatingly. "It's alittle poem I was writing about dogs."
"Dogs!" chimed in William Philander. "My gracious me! What sort ofpoetry can you get up about dogs? I must confess, I don't like them.Unless, of course, they are the nice little lap-dog kind."
"This isn't about a lap-dog, exactly," returned Songbird. "It's abouta watchdog."
"Um! By the way, Songbird, haven't the Sandersons a new watchdog?"
"Yes." And now Songbird reddened a little.
"Well, let us have the poem, anyway. I love dogs, and some poetryabout them ought to run along pretty good."
Thereupon, rather hesitatingly, Songbird held up his writing-pad andread the following:
"The sun sinks low far in the west-- The farmer plodeth home to rest, The watchdog, watching in the night, Assures him ev'ry thing is right."
"Fine!" cried Tom. "Real, dyed-in-the-wool poetry that, Songbird. Giveus some more." And then the would-be poet continued:
"The sun comes up and it is morn, The farmer goes to plow his corn, The watchdog, watching through the day, Keeps ev'ry tramp and thief away."
And be it night or be it day----"
"The watchdog's there, and there to stay!"
continued Tom, and then on:
"The watchdog, watching in his sleep, Catches each flea and makes him weep!"
"Catching fleas indeed!" interrupted Songbird. "Now, Tom, I didn'thave any fleas in this poem."
"But all dogs have fleas, Songbird--they own them naturally. Youwouldn't deprive a poor, innocent dog of his inheritance, would you?"
"But, Tom, see here----"
"But I wanted to say the poem couldn't be better," went on thefun-loving Rover. "Why don't you send it to some of the dog journals?They would be sure to print it."
"Dog journals?" snorted the would-be poet. "Do you think I write forsuch a class of publications as that?"
"Well, you might do worse," responded Tom, coolly. "Now, for afirst-class journal, they ought to pay you at least a dollar a foot."
"Oh, Tom, you are the worst ever!" murmured Songbird, as he turnedaway. A few minutes later, Tom saw him sit down on a bench to composeverses as industriously as ever.
"I think I must be going," said William Philander, who had listened toSongbird's effort without making any comment.
"Wait a minute, my dear Billy, I want----"
"Now, Tom, please don't call me Billy," pleaded the dudish student.
"Oh, all right, Philly. I was just going to say----"
"Now, Tom, Philly is just as bad as Billy, if not worse. You know myname well enough."
"All right, Tubblets. If you prefer any such handle to the tub, whyI----"
"Tom, if you are going to talk that way, I'll really have to leaveyou, don't you know," cried William Philander. "I am not going tostand for it any longer. I have told you at least a hundred times----"
"No, not a hundred times, not more than sixty-eight times at themost," interrupted Tom.
"Well, I've told you enough times, anyway, Tom. So if you----"
"Don't say another word, or you'll make me weep," said Tom, and drewdown his face soberly. "Why, my dear fellow, I wouldn't hurt yourfeelings, not for the world and a big red apple thrown in. But what Iwas going to say was this: Are you going to play on our baseball teamthis Spring? Somebody said you were going to pitch for us," and Tomlooked very much in earnest.
"Me pitch for you?" queried William Philander. "Why, who told you sucha story as that?"
"It's all over college, Tubbs, all over college. You must bepracticing pitching in private."
"But I don't know a thing about pitching. In fact, I don't know muchabout baseball," pleaded the dudish student.
"Oh, come now, Tubbs--you can't fool me. Most likely you have beenpracticing in private, and when you come out on the diamond you willastonish everybody. Well, I am glad to know that Brill College isreally to have a first-class pitcher at last. We need it if we aregoing to win any baseball games.
"Now, Tom, I tell you that I don't know----"
"Oh, you can't fool me, William," declared Tom, positively. "I got theinformation straight, and I know it is absolutely correct. You arebooked as the head pitcher for Brill this season." And thus speaking,Tom turned on his heel and walked off, leaving William Philander Tubbsmuch perplexed.