The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle | Page 6

boys knew
they would have to wait nearly a week before seeing their parent.
"I am just dying to know what it is all about," said Tom, and the others
said practically the same.
Tom could not keep down his propensities for joking and nearly drove
Sarah, the cook, to distraction by putting some barn mice in the bread
box in the pantry and by pouring ink over some small stones and then
adding them to the coal she was using in the kitchen range. He also
took a piece of old rubber bicycle tire and trimmed it up to resemble a
snake and put it in Jack Ness' bed in the barn, thereby nearly scaring
the hired man into a fit. Ness ran out of the room in his night dress and
raised such a yell that he aroused everybody in the house. He got his
shotgun and blazed away at the supposed snake, thereby ruining a

blanket, two sheets, and filling the mattress with shot. When he found
out how he had been hoaxed he was the most foolish looking man to be
imagined.
"You just wait, Master Tom, I'll get square," he said.
"Who said I put a snake in your bed?" demanded Tom. "I never did
such a thing in my life."
"No, but you put that old rubber in, and I know it," grumbled the hired
man and then went back to bed.
Tom also had his little joke on Aleck Pop. One evening he saw the
colored man dressing up to go out and learned that he was going to call
on a colored widow living at Dexter's Corners, a nearby village.
"We can't allow this," said the fun-loving Rover to his younger brother.
"The next thing you know Aleck will be getting married and leaving
us."
"What do you think of doing?" asked Sam.
"Come on, and I'll show you."
Now, Aleck was rather a good looking and well formed darkey and he
was proud of his shape. He had a fine black coat, with trousers to match,
and a gorgeous colored vest. This suit Tom was certain he would wear
when calling on the widow.
When in Ithaca on his way home the fun-loving Rover had purchased
an imitation rabbit, made of thin rubber. This rabbit had a small rubber
hose attached, and by blowing into the hose the rabbit could be blown
up to life size or larger.
Leading the way to Aleck's room, Tom got out the colored man's coat
and placed the rubber rabbit in the middle of the back, between the
cloth and the lining. It was put in flat and the hose was allowed to
dangle down under the lining to within an inch of the split of the coat

tails, and at this point Tom put a hole in the lining, so he could get at
the end of the hose with ease.
It was not long before Aleck came in to dress. It was late and he was in
a hurry, for he knew he had a rival, a man named Jim Johnson, and he
did not want Johnson to get to the widow's home ahead of him. He
washed up and donned his clothing with rapidity, and never noticed
that anything was wrong with the coat.
"Now, Sam, you fix his necktie for him," whispered Tom, who, with
his younger brother, was lying in wait outside the house. "Tell him it
doesn't set just straight."
Sam understood, and as soon as Aleck appeared he sauntered up side
by side with Tom.
"Hullo, Aleck, going to see your best girl?" he said pleasantly.
"I'se gwine to make a little call, dat's all."
"He's after the widow Taylor," put in Tom. "He knows she's got ten
thousand or so in the bank."
"Massa Tom, you dun quit yo' foolin'," expostulated Aleck.
"If you are going to make a society call you want your necktie on
straight," said Sam. "It's a fine tie, but it's no good the way you have it
tied. Here, let me fix it," and he pulled the tie loose.
"I did hab a lot ob trubble wid dat tie," agreed the colored man.
"It's too far around," went on Sam, and gave the tie a jerk, first one way
and another. Then he began to tie it, shoving Aleck again as he did so.
In the meantime Tom had gotten behind the colored man and was
blowing up the rubber rabbit. As the rubber expanded Aleck's coat went
up with it, until it looked as if the man was humpbacked. Then Tom
fastened the hose, so the wind could not get out of it. Next the youth
brought out a bit of chalk and in big letters wrote on the black coat as

follows:
I