CHAPTER XXV
WHAT AN AUTOMOBILE DID
"Dave Porter, Doctor Clay wishes to see you in his private office immediately."
It was Murphy the monitor who spoke, and he addressed Dave just as the latter was getting ready to retire for the night. He had already called Phil and Gus Plum.
"What does he want, Jim?" questioned Dave.
"I don't know, I'm sure. He and Mr. Dale just came in, and he is as mad as a hornet."
Without delay Dave put on the coat he had taken off, and went below, accompanied by Phil and Gus. The door to the private office stood open and inside were the master of Oak Hall, Mr. Dale, and Job Haskers.
"Come in, young gentlemen," said the doctor, somewhat grimly. "I want to ask you a few questions."
They walked in and stood in a row, facing the master. Certainly Doctor Clay was angry, and Andrew Dale looked far from pleased.
"All of you were on Bush Island this afternoon," went on Doctor Clay. "When you went away, did you do anything to the rowboat that Mr. Dale and myself took there?"
"No, sir," answered Dave, promptly.
"We didn't see your boat – at least, I didn't," answered Plum.
"I didn't see it either," came from Phil.
"Porter, did you see the boat?"
"No, sir."
"All of you are positive of this?" went on the master of the school, sternly.
"The only time I saw the boat was when you and Mr. Dale were on the river rowing – before we got to the island," said Dave.
"That boat was taken by somebody. We tied it to a tree and when we went for it, it was gone. We had to remain on the island, in the dark and cold, until Mr. Haskers came with Poole's motor boat and took us off."
"Excuse me, Doctor, may I ask a question?" said Andrew Dale.
"Certainly."
"Did you boys see anybody else on the island?"
"No, sir," returned Dave.
"Was anybody near there, so far as you know?"
"Not very near. We met a number of the fellows on the river, while we were rowing toward the island."
"Who were some of those boys?" asked Doctor Clay.
Dave remembered that one of the boats had contained Roger, Ben, Sam Day, and Messmer, and remained silent.
"Don't any of you remember who were in the other boats?" asked the doctor, and his voice was sharper than ever.
"Nat Poole and Link Merwell were out in the motor boat," answered Phil.
"Yes, I know that, but both declare they were not near the island."
"Roger Morr, Sam Day, and a lot of others were out, but they were near the boathouse, and I don't think any of them went near Bush Island," answered Gus Plum.
"Well, somebody was there, and took our boat," said Doctor Clay. "If I find out who was guilty of the trick I shall punish him severely." He knew that many of the boys would laugh behind his back, and he hated to be the butt of such a joke.
After being questioned for quarter of an hour the boys were told they could go, and returned to their dormitory. Hardly had they left the office when Siller, the boatman, came in.
"The boat you had is at the dock," he announced. "It was tied up around a corner, where I didn't see it before."
"That proves some boys from this school took it from the island," said the doctor. "Is the boat all right?"
"Yes, sir. I looked her over, and in the bottom I found this case."
As Siller spoke he handed over a small leather case, which was empty but smelt strongly of tobacco.
"A cigarette case!" cried the master of the school. "Could any pupil here have had that? They know that smoking is forbidden." He turned the case over in the light. "Here is a letter painted on the side. It is rather worn."
"It is an M," said Andrew Dale, after an examination. "Let me see, what pupils' names begin with M?" He mused for a moment. "Morrison, Morr, Merwell – "
"Morrison went home yesterday, to be gone a week. Merwell said the motor boat was not near the island, and I certainly did not hear it."
"Plum just said Morr and some others were out in a rowboat," added Andrew Dale, quickly. "This may be his cigarette case."
"We'll question him."
Thereupon Roger was made to visit the office and put through a course of questions. He denied being near Bush Island and also denied owning the cigarette case. He felt angered to think he was suspected and answered the doctor so sharply that he was told to translate ten pages of Cæsar the next afternoon – a task he hated. And there the whole matter rested for the time being. Merwell missed his cigarette case, sent to him by a friend for his birthday, and he warned Poole not to breathe a word about it.
"We have told the doctor we were not near the island," said the bully. "Now, if he finds out that we were, he'll punish us severely, and maybe he'll expel us." This fairly terrorized Nat, and he wished he had never seen Bush Island or listened to Merwell's plan to rob Dave and his chums of their rowboat.
In some way Roger became convinced that Dave was responsible for his being hauled up before Doctor Clay, and as a consequence he grew colder and colder toward his former chum, something that hurt Dave very much. Phil, in a roundabout way, tried to patch up the matter, but Roger would not listen. He spent his entire time in company with Shadow, Buster, and some others, and only spoke to Dave when the baseball nine did its practicing.
About six miles from Oak Hall was a private park known as Hilltop. This belonged to a gentleman named Richard Mongrace, who had a brother, a man who had once been a college football player, but who was now an invalid and could not leave the estate. Mr. Mongrace had a fine field for all sorts of outdoor sports at Hilltop, with a grand stand and bleachers, and, to please his brother, he frequently invited local clubs to use his grounds for their contests.
In the past both Oak Hall and Rockville Military Academy had played at Hilltop, and now they had been invited to do so again, and it had been arranged that the baseball series should be played there. It may be as well to state here that the contest was to consist of two games out of a possible three. If either side won the first two games the third was not to be played.
The day for the first game proved cloudy and windy, yet the Oak Hall boys went to the grounds in high spirits. Some went on bicycles, some in the carryall, and a few walked, just for the exercise.
Dave was in the carryall, along with Phil, Shadow, and ten others. They were a jolly crowd, and as the turnout bowled along over the road they sang, gave the school yell, and cut up generally. The athletic yell was very popular, as follows:
"Baseball!
Football!
Oak Hall!
Has the call!
Biff! Boom! Bang! Whoop!"
"This is the day we rip Rockville up the back!" cried one of the students.
"And poke holes in the sky with raps for home runs," added another.
"And strike out three men every inning!" cried a third. "Dave, how is our pitcher to-day?"
"Able to sit up and eat pie," answered Dave, with a smile.
"Talking about pitchers puts me in mind of a little story I heard yesterday – " began Shadow. "A little girl – "
"Hello, Shadow has hit the story trail once more!" sang out Phil. "Thought there must be something wrong with him. He hasn't told a story for an hour and ten minutes."
"He's thinking of all the outs he is going to make," put in Plum, slyly.
"Not an out for yours truly," returned the story-teller. "But to get back to the little girl. Says she to her papa, 'Papa, did you say a baseball club has a pitcher?' 'Yes, my dear,' says papa. 'Well, do they have a sugar-bowl too?'" And at this anecdote the boys smiled.
Jackson Lemond was driving the carryall. He had a team of horses which the doctor had purchased only a few weeks before. They were a mettlesome pair, and the Hall driver did not altogether understand them. At times they went along very well, but at others they "cut up simply awful," to use Horsehair's way of expressing it.
"Why don't you let the team out, Horsehair?" asked one of the boys, presently. "We don't want to take all day to get to Hilltop."
"I hate to give 'em too much headway," answered the driver. "The road ain't none of the best along here, and there ain't no telling what they might do."
"We'll have to hurry some," said Dave. "I want some time to warm up, and so do the others."
"Maybe it will rain and the game will have to be called off," was Phil's comment, with an anxious look at the overcast sky.
"Oh, it's not going to rain just now," answered Henshaw.
They had just reached the top of a long hill and were preparing to go down the other side, when they heard a tooting behind them.
"Here comes an automobile!" cried Phil, looking back.
"I know that machine," answered Buster. "It belongs to some of the students at Rockville – two cousins, I think. They brought it down from Portland, Maine, where they come from."
"It is full of Rockville fellows," said Sam. "They want to pass us," he added, as the tooting sounded louder.
"It's a narrow road to pass on," grumbled Horsehair. "Whoa, there!" he cried to his team.
"Whoa, I say!"
For the horses had begun to prick up their ears and dance about at the sound of the automobile horn.
"Clear the road, for we are coming!" came the cry from behind, and then with a tooting of the horn, a puffing from the engine, and a wild yelling from the occupants, the big touring car shot past the carryall with less than three inches to spare, and plunged down the hill at a speed that soon carried it out of sight in a cloud of dust.
It was enough to scare anybody, and the hearts of some of the boys beat wildly for the moment.
"That's taking a fearful risk," was the comment of one lad. "If they don't look out, they'll break their necks."
There was little time to say more, for the students now realized that Horsehair was having his hands full with the new team. One horse was plunging with might and main to break away and the other was shying to the left. Then came a sudden snap, as a portion of the harness gave way, and the next moment the carryall was sweeping down the hill on the very heels of the team that was running away.
CHAPTER XXVI
A DEFEAT FOR OAK HALL
It was a time of great peril and all the students in the carryall realized it. With a portion of the harness broken, the driver could do little or nothing to control the team. They had the bits in their teeth and plunged down the hill and over the rocks in a manner that sent the turnout swinging first to one side and then the other.
"We'll go over!"
"We'll be smashed to pieces!"
"We'd better jump, if we want to save our lives!"
These and many other cries rang out. Dave and Ben were on the front seat with Horsehair, but all the others were inside, being thrown around like beans in a bag.
"Let them go!" sang out Dave. "Give them the middle of the road, – and put on the brake."
At first the driver was too scared to pay attention to Dave's words, and the youth had to lean over and pull the brake back. This all but locked the wheels and caused the carryall greatly to diminish its speed. But the horses kept dancing and plunging as madly as ever, and it looked as if at any instant they might bring the turnout to grief in one or the other of the water gullies lining the highway.
"If you fellows want to get off, drop out the back one at a time," sang out Dave, when he saw that the brake was telling on the speed of both team and carryall.
"You had better jump, too," answered one youth, as he prepared to do as advised.
"Not yet – I think the team will stop at the foot of the hill," returned Dave.
His coolness restored confidence to the others, and all remained in the carryall. Horsehair had tight hold of the reins, and now began to talk soothingly to the horses – getting back some of his own wits. Then the bottom of the hill was reached; and after a few minutes of work the team was brought down to a walk and then halted. Without waiting for an invitation, the students leaped to the ground and the school driver did likewise.
"Say, that was surely a scare," was Jackson Lemond's comment. "I'd like to wring the neck o' the young rascal who is running that auto!"
"He certainly had no right to rush past us as he did," replied Phil. "But how about it, Horsehair; can you mend the harness? Remember, we want to get to Hilltop."
"I reckon I can mend it – I've got extry straps and buckles under the seat."
Horsehair set to work and Dave and Plum aided him, and in a very few minutes they were able to proceed on their way. The driver now kept the team well in hand, and the boys kept a keen lookout for more automobiles, but none passed them.
"I've a good mind to report those chaps to the constable," said Horsehair, as they neared Hilltop. "They ought to be locked up."
"You'll be laughed at for your pains," answered Shadow. "Let us wax Rockville at baseball – that will be revenge enough."
The grounds were comfortably filled at the ball-field, and by the time the game started nearly every seat was taken. In one corner of the grand stand was a group of girls and among them Mary Feversham and Vera Rockwell, and they had flags with the initials O. H. on them.
"They are going to root for us, bless 'em!" cried Phil, and he waved his hand at Mary and Vera, and Dave did likewise. Roger pretended not to see the girls, but hurried immediately to the dressing-room to prepare for the game.
It had brightened up a little and for a short while the sun came out. Promptly at three o'clock the game started with Oak Hall at the bat. They were retired in one, two, three order, much to the delight of the Rockville contingent.
"That's the way to do it!"
"Now then, fellows, show them how you can bat the ball!"
And then arose the Military Academy slogan:
"Rockville!
Rockville!
You'll get your fill
From Rockville!"
Dave was certainly in the pink of condition when he walked down to the pitcher's box. Yet, despite his best efforts, one of the Rockville players "found him" for a two-bagger and another for a single, and when the side went out it had two runs to its credit.
Then what a roar went up from the Military Academy boys!
"That's the way! Keep it up!"
"If you make two every inning, you'll have eighteen by the time you finish."
During the second, third, and fourth innings Oak Hall did its best to score, but though two players reached second and one third, it was not to be. In the meantime Rockville got four more runs, making six in all.
"Six to nothing! That's going some!"
"Here is where we show Oak Hall what we can do!"
Phil was very much worried and came to talk the matter over with Dave.
"Dave, can't you strike some more of 'em out?" he asked. So far the pitcher had struck out two men.
"I'm doing my best, Phil. They seem to be good hitters and no mistake. If you want to try somebody else in my place – "
"No, no, Dave! Only I'd like to keep down that score. Do your best."
In the next two innings Oak Hall managed to get two runs – one by a wild throw to second. This was a little encouraging, and the students rooted wildly. But in the seventh inning Roger made a wild throw to third and that gave the Rockvilles two more runs. At the end of the eighth the score stood, Rockville 10, Oak Hall 3.
"We ought to have another pitcher and another catcher," said some. "Porter and Morr are both off to-day."
"Phil, you can put somebody else in my place if you wish," said the senator's son, quickly.
"And you can put somebody in my place, too," added Dave.
"No, you stick and do the best you can," answered the manager of the nine.
"They can't do anything!" sneered Link Merwell, who stood close by.
"They can both play far better ball than you," retorted Phil. "If you were pitching or catching, the Rockvilles would have about fifty runs," and then he turned his back on the bully.
It had begun to rain a little, but both clubs decided to play the game out unless it came down too hard. Oak Hall went to the bat with vigor in the ninth and got two men on bases. But then came a foul fly, a short hit to first, and a pop fly, and there their chances ended. Then, to see what they could do, Rockville took the last half of the ninth and batted out four more runs, amid the wildest kind of yelling from the Military Academy cadets and their friends.
Final score, Rockville 14, Oak Hall 3.
The Oak Hall boys felt as gloomy as the sky above them and they had little or nothing to say. They could now realize how Rockville had felt, when defeated on the football field, the season before. None of the players gave attention to the rain, which was now coming down in torrents.
"Told you we'd lose," said Link Merwell, to some of the boys near him.
"Oh, you're a croaker!" cried Messmer. "We can't win every time."
"You should have had Purdy in the box," said another. Purdy was a new student and it was said he could pitch very well.
"Yes, and Barloe behind the bat," added another. Barloe had caught in some games the year before and done fairly well.
It must be confessed that both Dave and Roger were considerably disheartened by the result of the game, and each blamed himself for errors made. Gus Plum also bewailed the fact that he had missed a foul fly that came down just out of his reach.
It was raining so hard the boys had to wait in the dressing rooms and on the grand stand for the downpour to let up before starting for Oak Hall. Here the game was discussed in every particular, and each player came in for commingled praise and blame.
"Well, if you want my opinion I'll give it," said Dave, frankly. "I do not say that I didn't make any errors myself, for I did. But I think our nine needs team-work – we don't play well enough together."
"That is true," answered Plum. "I go in for constant practice between now and the time for the next game."
During the wait Phil slipped away from the other players and sought out Mary Feversham. The girl smiled sadly at his approach.
"I shouldn't have minded the rain at all if you had won," she said. "But to have you lose and have the rain also is dreadful!"
"Well, we still have a chance to win the series," answered the club captain, bravely. "I am sorry you are caught here. Perhaps I can get a covered carriage – "
"Thank you, but Vera has a gentleman friend here, and he is going to take us home in a coach."
"Oh!"
"He's a young man that used to think a lot of Vera," went on Mary, in a whisper. "I guess she thinks a lot of him, too – but don't let her know I told you."
Soon the young gentleman drove up in a coach and Phil was introduced. Then the young ladies got in, and off the turnout sped through the rain. Then Phil rejoined the others of the club; and a little later all were on their way to Oak Hall, in the carryall, and in covered carriages and wagons.
"Were Mary Feversham and Vera Rockwell here alone?" asked Roger, while on the way.
"I guess so," answered Phil.
"How were they going to get home?"
"A young gentleman, fellow named Greene, – personal friend of Vera's, – took them home in a coach."
"Greene?"
"Yes, George Greene. Looked like a nice fellow. Mary said he and Vera were quite thick."
Phil said this carelessly, but he looked sharply at the senator's son as he spoke.
"Why, I thought – " Roger broke off short. "Didn't you and Dave call on Vera and Mary one night last week?" he added, after a long pause.
"Why – er – I passed Mary's house and spoke to her at the gate for a few minutes," stammered Phil. "Dave was with me, but he didn't stop – said he wanted to post a letter to his sister."
"Didn't he go to Vera's house?"
"No. I don't think he has seen her since that ball game at Oakdale."
"Is that really true, Phil?"
"I believe it is, Roger. And now see here, old boy, what is this trouble between you and Dave? I'm your chum and I'm Dave's chum, too, and I think I have a right to know."
"Why don't you ask Dave?"
"He says he doesn't know – at least, he says the trouble all comes from you – no, I don't mean that either, I mean – Hang it, Roger, what do I mean?"
At this outburst the senator's son had to laugh, and Phil laughed also, and both boys felt better for it. There was a pause.
"I guess I've been – been – well, jealous, Phil," said Roger. "I – I thought Dave was sweet on little Jessie Wadsworth – "
"So he is."
"And then he got acquainted with Vera Rockwell, and – and – "
"And he became friendly with her, nothing more, Roger – just as you became friendly with Jessie. Didn't he have a right to do that? Why, I don't think – in fact, I am quite sure, – she doesn't care for him excepting in a general way. Why should she? She's young yet, and so is Dave, – and so are all of us. Now, I like Mary Feversham, and I guess she likes me, but I am not going to let that come between my friendship for you and Dave. Really, Roger, you are taking this too much to heart. I rather think, if you ought to be jealous, it should be of Mr. Greene, not of Dave."
"Maybe you're right, Phil," answered the senator's son, slowly and thoughtfully. "And if you are – well, I've been making a fool of myself, that's all."