CHAPTER IX
CELEBRATING THE VICTORY,
"Oh, what luck!"
"And just when we wanted to make time, too!"
"I hope it doesn't take us long to put on another tire!"
These remarks came from the three students as they climbed down fromthe car to make an examination of the damage done. Sam had secured hissearchlight, but this was hardly needed. One glance at the left-handback tire told the story. They had evidently run over somethingsharp--perhaps a piece of glass--and there was a cut in the shoe atleast three inches long. Through this, the inner tube had blown outwith the report that had so startled them.
"Well, boys, everybody on the job!" cried Tom, and lost no time instripping off his coat and donning a jumper, which he carried for usewhen working on the car.
"I suppose that's my fault," said Songbird, much crestfallen.
"It might have happened to any of us, Songbird," returned Sam. "Let ussee how quickly we can put on another shoe and inner tube." He, too,put on a jumper, and in a few minutes the boys had the back axle ofthe touring car jacked up.
"You hold the light, Songbird," directed Tom. "Sam and I can do thiswork without any help." Then the two Rovers set to work, and in a veryshort time the old shoe with its inner tube had been removed. In themeantime, Songbird had brought out another inner tube, and unstrappedone of the extra shoes attached to the side of the car, and these werequickly placed over the wheel rim.
"Now, let me do my share of the pumping," insisted Songbird.
"Nothing doing on that score, Songbird!" replied Tom, quickly. "We hada new power pump installed last week. I will attach it, and then youcan start up the motor."
"A power pump! Say, that beats hand pumping all to pieces."
"Indeed, it does!" broke in Sam. "I never minded putting on a newtire, but the pumping-up always came hard."
"Say, this puts me in mind of a story," came from Tom, with a grin."Some Germans were going on an automobile tour, and a friend wasbidding them good-bye. Says the friend: 'Uf you haf a blowout, be sureand haf it in de right place--at de hotel!'" And at this little jokethere was a general laugh.
Five minutes more found them again on the way, and now Songbird hadthe large lights turned on, which made the roadway ahead as bright asday. He drove as speedily as possible, but with great care, avoidingeverything that looked as if it might harm the tires.
"Oh, what a splendid time I have had!" exclaimed Minnie, as, all toosoon, the Sanderson homestead was reached. Then Songbird assisted herto alight, and insisted upon accompanying her into the cottage.
"I will wager he would rather stay here than go on to Brill," remarkedTom, slyly.
"Sure thing!" returned Sam. "Wouldn't we rather remain at Hope than goto Brill?" And at this pointed remark both of the girls giggled.
Those outside waited for several minutes, and then Tom sounded thehorn loudly. Soon Songbird re-appeared and took his place at thewheel, and then the automobile was turned in the direction of theseminary.
"When will we see you again?" remarked Nellie, when the touring carhad been run through the grounds.
"Oh, it won't be very long," replied Tom. But as he spoke, little didhe realize under what peculiar conditions they would come togetheragain.
"If you hear anything more about that money affair, let us know atonce," whispered Sam to Grace.
"I will, Sam," returned the girl; and a few minutes later the youngfolks bade each other a fond good-night, and the touring car turnedtowards Brill.
The lads were still some distance from the college grounds when theyheard the sounds of horns and rattles. Then they beheld a glimmer oflight down by the river bank. Soon the light brightened until itcovered a goodly portion of the sky.
"Some bonfires and some noise!" was Sam's comment.
"Well, we don't defeat Roxley every day in the year," returned Tom,gaily. "Say, this suits me right down to the ground! Songbird, youought to get up a poem in honor of the occasion."
"Perhaps I will," answered the would-be poet of the college, and thenhe began to murmur to himself. Evidently the poem was alreadybeginning to shape itself in his fertile mind.
"I say, you Rovers!" came a call as the car swung into the roadwaylining one side of the campus. "What's the matter with giving us a joyride?" and one of the students came running forward, followed byseveral others. Two of them carried torches made of old brooms dippedin tar.
"Nothing doing to-night," returned Sam quickly, and added in a whisperto Tom: "Those fellows would wreck the car completely."
"I know it," answered the older Rover, and then he said aloud: "Wehave had all the run we want this evening. We are going to celebratewith the rest of the crowd down at the river." And without stopping toargue the matter, Tom ran the automobile to its garage.
"Back, safe an' sound, eh?" questioned Abner Filbury, as he cameforward to take charge of the machine.
"Ab, you look out that some of the fellows don't take this carto-night," warned Tom.
"There ain't no cars goin' out less'n I've the correct orders for'em," replied Abner. "This is the last machine in, an' I'm goin' tolock up an' stay on guard. If anybody tries to break in here againstorders, they'll git a dose of buckshot in 'em." And Abner pointedgrimly at a shotgun that hung on one of the walls.
"Oh, Ab, don't go in for shooting anybody!" exclaimed Sam, in alarm."Turn the hose on them, that will be enough."
"All right, jest as you say. But they ain't goin' to git in here atthese machines without permission."
Tom and Sam made a hasty visit to their room, and then hurrieddownstairs again and off to the waterfront. Here, several bonfires hadbeen lit. They were composed of boxes and barrels with a largequantity of brushwood added, and one bonfire was nearly twenty feet inheight.
"Here they come!" called out a student.
"Hurrah for our pitcher!"
"And the best fly catcher Brill ever saw!"
"Say, this is certainly some bonfire!" exclaimed Sam, looking at thebig blaze.
"It sure is!" returned his brother. "If the wind should shift, itmight prove dangerous," he added, as he watched a great mass of sparksfloating across the stream and over the woods beyond.
"Oh, it's perfectly safe," came from Paul Orben, who was one of thestudents who had helped to pile up the combustibles.
The crowd was certainly a gay one, and the Rovers lost no time injoining in the festivities. One student had a bugle, and another hadan old base drum which boasted of only one head. These two succeededin forming a crowd of their fellow-students into marching order, and,singing gaily and tooting horns and sounding rattles, and withnumerous torches flickering, the collegians tramped around the collegebuildings and over the campus and then back to the bonfires.
"Whoop! Hurrah!" came a sudden yell, and from one of the distant barnsrushed half a dozen students, dragging behind them a buggy. On theseat, wearing an exceedingly tight jockey jacket, and likewise ajockey cap, sat old man Filbury, the general caretaker of thedormitories.
"Hurrah! Here the conquering hero comes!"
"It's a race--a race for a thousand dollars!"
"I'll bet on Filbury, every time!"
"Now, see here, gents, I don't like this at all. You lemme out o' thishere kerridge," wailed the old man-of-all-work. "I ain't doin' none o'this celebratin'. I got some work to do. You let me go."
"Oh, we couldn't think of it, Filbury," cried Stanley, who was one ofthe students at the shafts of the carriage. "Now then, boys,together!" And along the turnout rattled, past the various bonfires.
"Speech! Speech!" came another cry. "Filbury, can't you say somethingabout Brill and this glorious victory?"
"Never mind the victory," came from Tom. "Let him tell us about how topass our examinations without studying."
"And how to get credit down in town without paying any bills," put inanother student, who, evidently, had hard work making both ends meet.
"I tell you, I ain't a-goin' to make no speech," wailed old Filb
ury."I've got work to do. You lemme go."
"Sam," whispered Tom, catching his brother, by the arm, "what's thematter with giving William Philander a ride with old Filbury?"
"Just the cheese, Tom!" returned the young Rover. "But how can we doit?"
The matter was talked over for a short minute, and Spud and Bob werecalled in to aid. William Philander Tubbs sat on a small packing casewhich had not, as yet, been fed to the flames. He was, as usual,faultlessly attired, even down to his spats.
Passing the word to those who had charge of the carriage and who weredoing their best to get some fun out of old Filbury, Tom and Sam andtheir chums worked their way to a position behind William Philander.Then came a sudden rush, and the dudish student found himself caughtup and carried bodily over to the carriage, where he wasunceremoniously dumped on the seat beside the old man-of-all-work.
"My gracious me! What does this mean?" gasped the astonished WilliamPhilander. "I don't want any ride, I want you to leave me alone."
"All aboard, everybody!" sang out Tom, and gave the carriage a shovefrom behind. Before the dudish student could attempt to leap to theground, the turnout was once more in motion and dashing along thecampus roadway as fast as the students could pull and push it.
"Them boys is plumb crazy!" gasped old Filbury.
"Oh, I never! We shall certainly be hurt," wailed William Philander.And then, as two wheels of the turnout went over a big stone, heclutched old Filbury wildly by the shoulder. Then the carriage struckanother stone, and both occupants held fast for dear life. Three timesthe turnout, with its terrified occupants, circled the campus. All thewhile William Philander and old Filbury were yelling wildly for theirtormentors to stop. But now, a long rope had been hitched fast to thefront axle, and fully two dozen students had hold of this, fresh onescontinually taking the places of those who became tired out. As itwas, Sam and Tom went around twice, and then fell out to rest.
"Say, Washer," said a student named Lamar to his close chum, "here's achance to square up with old Filbury for the way he treated us."
"What do you mean?" asked the student named Washer.
"Let us get in the lead on the rope, and run the carriage down to theriver."
"Say, that's just the cheese!" chuckled the other. "We'll do it. Ithink old Filbury deserves something for reporting us as he did."
On and on went the carriage, but at the turn in the roadway it wassuddenly hauled over the grass and between some bushes.
"Oh, Tom, look! They are heading for the river!" cried Sam.
"All aboard!" yelled Washer. "Now then, straight ahead!" He and Lamarhad headed for the water. Some of the students tried to turn to theright or the left, but others followed the leaders. In a moment more,the carriage had reached the sloping bank of the river. Then the crowdscattered, and a moment later the turnout, with a twist, struck thewater and went over sideways, plunging old Filbury and WilliamPhilander into the stream.