The Rover Boys in Camp | Page 5

"Tom, do you remember how you got into trouble with old Crabtree the very first day we landed at Putnam Hall?"
"I do, Sam; and do you remember our first meeting, on the boat, with Dan Baxter, and how we sent him about his business when he tried to annoy Nellie, and Grace, and Dora?"
"Yes, indeed. Say, I am getting anxious to get back to the Hall. It seems almost like a second home."
"So am I," put in Dick. "Besides, we have lost time enough from our studies. We'll have to pitch in, or we'll drop behind our classes."
"Father says we can return to the Hall next Monday, if we wish."
"I vote we do so."
"So do I."
And thus it was decided that they should return to the academy four days later.
But during those four days something was to happen which would have an important bearing upon their future actions.
CHAPTER III
A MIDNIGHT VISITOR
The next day, shortly after noon, it began to rain, and the storm increased in violence until the wind blew almost a gale.
The rain kept the boys indoors, at which Tom was inclined to grumble.
"No use of grumbling, Tom," said Dick cheerfully. "Let us improve the time by looking over our school books. That will make it easier to slip into the grind again when we get back to the Hall."
"That is excellent advice, Richard," said Randolph Rover. "Whatever you do, do not neglect your studies."
"By the way, Uncle Randolph, how is scientific farming progressing?" said Tom, referring to something that had been his uncle's hobby for years--a hobby that had cost the gentleman considerable money.
"Well--ah--to tell the truth, Thomas, not as well as I had hoped for."
"Hope you didn't drop a thousand or two this year, uncle?"
"Oh, no--not over fifty dollars."
"Then you got off easy."
"I shall do better next year. The potatoes already show signs of improvement."
"Good! I suppose you'll be growing 'em on top of the ground soon. Then you won't have the bother of digging 'em, you know," went on the fun-loving boy innocently.
"Absurd, Thomas! But I shall have some very large varieties, I feel certain."
"Big as a watermelon?"
"Hardly, but--"
"Big as a muskmelon, then?"
"Not exactly, but--"
"About the size of a cocoanut, eh?"
"No! no! They will be as large as--"
"I mean a little cocoanut," pleaded Tom, while Sam felt like laughing outright.
"Well, yes, a little cocoanut. You see--"
"We saw some big potatoes in California, Uncle Randolph."
"Ah! Of what variety?"
"Cornus bustabus, or something like that. Sam, what was the name, do you know?"
"That must be something like it, Tom," grinned the youngest Rover.
"Took two men to lift some of those potatoes," went on Tom calmly.
"Two men? Thomas, surely you are joking."
"No, uncle, I am telling nothing but the strict truth."
"But two men! The potatoes must have been of monstrous size!"
"Oh, not so very big. But they did weigh a good deal, no question of it."
"Think of two men lifting one potato!"
"I didn't say one potato, Uncle Randolph. I said some of those potatoes."
"Eh?"
"The men had a barrel full of 'em."
"Thomas!" The uncle shook his finger threateningly. "At your old tricks, I see. I might have known it." And then he stalked off to hide his chagrin.
"Tom, that was rather rough on Uncle Randolph," said Sam, after a laugh.
"So it was, Sam. But I've got to do something. This being boxed up, when one might be fishing or swimming, or playing baseball, is simply dreadful," answered the other.
Just before the evening meal was announced Jack Ness came up from the barn, and sought out Randolph Rover.
"Found a man slinking around the cow-shed a while ago," he said. "He looked like a tramp. I wanted to talk to him, but he scooted in double-quick order."
"Humph! We haven't had any tramps here in a long time," came from Randolph Rover. "Where did he go to?"
"Down toward the berry patch."
"Did you follow him up?"
"I did, sir, but he got away from me."
"You must keep a close watch for those fellows," said Randolph Rover bluntly. "I don't want any of them getting in our barn and burning it down to the ground."
"You are right, Randolph," said Anderson Rover. "Make them keep away from the place by all means, Jack."
"I'll keep my eye peeled for 'em," answered the hired man.
The wind was now blowing a gale, causing the trees near the farmhouse to creak and groan, and banging more than one shutter. But the boys did not mind this, and went to bed promptly at the usual hour.
"A storm like this on land is nothing to one on the sea," was the way Tom expressed himself. "I don't like anything better than to listen to the whistling of the wind when I am snug in bed."
For the time being Sam and Tom were occupying a room in the L of the farmhouse, and Dick had