The Rover Boys on the Farm | Page 9

bonds?" asked Sam, who could not hold
back his curiosity.
"Yes. But how do you happen to know about it?" demanded his aunt, in
astonishment.
"We found something out to-day, aunty," said Dick. "It's a queer piece
of business. Do you know where Uncle Randolph was going?"
"You mean in Carwell?"
"Yes."
"I think to the hotel."
"Hum," mused the eldest of the Rover boys. "Wonder if I can get him
on the telephone?" For a telephone line had been put up from Oak Run

to the farm.
"Why, Dick, is there anything wrong?" demanded Mrs. Rover, turning
pale.
"I hope not, Aunt Martha. We'll soon know. Don't worry, please."
"Your uncle was very much disturbed when he went away."
"I am going to try to telephone to him at once," said Dick.
The telephone was on a landing of the stairs, where the bell could
readily be heard upstairs and down, and Dick lost no time in taking
down the receiver and calling up the office at Oak Run.
"I want to get the hotel at Carwell," he told the operator. "This is 685
W," he added.
"I cannot give you Carwell," was the answer.
"Why not?"
"The lightning struck down some of our poles and the line is out of
commission."
This was dismaying news and for the moment Dick was nonplussed.
Then he spoke to the operator again.
"Can you reach Farleytown?"
"Yes, but the line from Farleytown to Carwell is down, too," came over
the wire.
"Can you reach Deeming's Corners?"
"No. Can't get to Carwell in any way at all," was the decided answer,
and Dick hung up the receiver much crestfallen.
"The storm has knocked the telephone service into a cocked hat," he

explained to the others. "The only way for us to reach Carwell is to
drive there."
"Then let us do that, and right away!" cried Tom, who had been talking
to his aunt. "Uncle Randolph took those ten thousand dollars worth of
traction company bonds with him, and Aunt Martha says the bonds
were unregistered, so anybody could use them."
"Do you think somebody is going to steal the bonds?" asked the aunt.
"Two men are up to some game,--that is as much as we know," said
Dick, thinking it unwise to keep his aunt in the dark any longer. "And
we know the men are rascals," he added.
"Oh, will they--they attack your uncle?"
"I don't think they are that kind," said Sam. "I think they'll try to get the
bonds away by some slick game."
The aunt hated to see the boys go on a mission of possible peril and yet
she wanted to have her husband warned. The lads ran down to the barn
and had Jack Ness hitch up a fresh team to a buckboard. It was now
growing dark.
"Take good care of yourselves," cried Mrs. Rover, as they drove off. "If
the telephone and telegraph poles are down on the road see that you do
not run into any of them."
They were driving to the gateway of the big farm when they saw
Alexander Pop running after them, flourishing something in his hand.
Aleck was a colored man who had once worked at Putnam Hall, but
who was now attached to the Rover household.
"I was jess a-thinkin' that maybe yo' boys wasn't armed," he said. "If
yo' ain't, don't yo' want dis pistol?" And he held up a weapon he had
purchased while on the river trip with them.
"I didn't think there would be any shooting," answered Dick. "But now

you've brought it, I might as well take the pistol along," and he placed
the weapon in his pocket.
"Perhaps yo' would like to hab dis chicken along?" went on the colored
man. He delighted to be with the Rover boys on every possible
occasion.
"No, the buckboard is crowded now," answered Dick. "You do what
you can to quiet Mrs. Rover."
"Yes, tell her not to worry about us," added Tom.
"And don't mention the pistol," called Sam, as the turnout moved on
again.
After leaving the vicinity of the farm, the boys had a distance of
thirteen miles to cover. Part of the road lay through the valley which
had given the farm its name, but then it ran up and over a series of hills,
and through several patches of woods. Under the trees it was dark, and
they had to slacken their speed for fear of accident.
"Danger ahead!" cried Sam presently, and Dick, who was driving,
brought the team to a halt. Across the road lay an uprooted tree.
"Can't drive around that," announced Sam, after an inspection. "And it
will be hard work dragging it out of the way."
"We'll drive over it," announced Dick. "Hold tight, if you