CHAPTER IX
NAT POOLE GETS CAUGHT
In the middle of the week came Phil and Roger, in the midst of another snowstorm that was so heavy it threatened to stall the train in which they arrived. Dave went to the station to meet them.
"Say, what do you think?" burst out Phil, while shaking hands.
"We saw Jasniff and Merwell!" finished the senator's son.
"You did!" ejaculated Dave. "Where?"
"On our train. We walked through the cars at Melton, to see if we knew anybody aboard, and there were the pair in the smoker, smoking cigarettes, as big as life."
"Did you speak to them?"
"Didn't get the chance. The car was crowded, and before we could get to Jasniff and Merwell they saw us, ran down the aisle the other way, and got off."
"Is that so? Evidently they must know we are on their track," said Dave, shaking his head gravely.
"I wish we could have collared 'em," went on the shipowner's son. "I'd like to punch their heads."
"Don't do it, Phil. If you ever catch them, call an officer and have them locked up. A thrashing is wasted on such rascals."
"Do you know some more about them?" questioned Roger, quickly.
"I do." And then Dave related what Nat Poole had had to say, and also told about how Laura and Jessie had been scared when attending the church fair.
"You are right, they ought to be locked up," was Roger's comment.
"By the way, did you hear the news from Oak Hall?" went on Phil, as they drove off towards the Wadsworth mansion.
"What news?"
"Somehow or other, the storm lifted off two of the skylights from the roof of the main building and the snow got in the garret and there the heat from the chimney must have melted it, for it ran down—the water did—through the floor and loosened the plaster in several of the dormitories, including ours. I understand all of the plaster has got to come down."
"What a muss!"
"Yes, and it is going to take several weeks to fix it up—they couldn't get any masons right away."
"Then where will we sleep when we go back?"
"I don't know. I understand from Shadow that the doctor was thinking of keeping the school closed until about the first of February."
"Say, that will give us quite a holiday!" exclaimed Dave.
"For which all of us will be profoundly sorry," responded Phil, making a sober face and winking one eye.
The girls greeted the newcomers with sincere pleasure.
"What a pity Belle Endicott isn't here," sighed Laura.
"So it is," answered Jessie. "We'll have to do what we can to make up for her absence."
Two days later it cleared off, and the young folks enjoyed a long sleigh-ride. Then they went skating, and on New Year's Eve attended a party given at Ben Basswood's house. Besides our friends, Ben had invited Sam Day and Buster Beggs, and also a number of girls; and all enjoyed themselves hugely until after midnight. When the clock struck twelve, the boys and girls went outside and tooted horns and rang a big dinner-bell, and wished each other and everybody else "A Happy New Year!"
The celebration on the front piazza was at its height when suddenly came a shower of balls from a near street corner. One snowball hit Dave in the shoulder and another landed directly on Jessie's neck, causing the girl to cry out in mingled pain and alarm.
"Hi! who's throwing snowballs!" exclaimed Roger, and then came another volley, and he was hit, and also Laura and one of the other girls. At once the girls fled into the house.
"Some rowdies, I suppose," said Phil. "I've half a mind to go after them."
"We can't without our hats and coats," answered Dave.
Just then came another shower of snowballs and Dave was hit again. This was too much for him, and despite the fact that he was bare-headed and wore a fine party suit, he leaped down on the sidewalk and started for the corner. Phil and Roger came after him. Ben rushed into the hallway, to catch up two of his father's canes and his chums' hats, and then he followed.
Those who had thrown the snowballs had not dreamed of being attacked, and it was not until Dave was almost on them that they started to run. There were three boys—two rather rough-looking characters. The third was well dressed, in a fur cap and overcoat lined with fur.
"Nat Poole!" cried Dave, when he got close to the well-dressed youth. "So this is your game, eh? Because Ben didn't see fit to invite you to his party, you think it smart to throw snowballs at the girls!"
As he spoke Dave ran closer and suddenly gave the money-lender's son a shove that sent him backwards in the snow.
"Hi, you let me alone!" burst out Nat, in alarm. "It ain't fair to knock me down!"
By this time Dave's chums had reached the scene, and seeing Nat down they gave their attention to the two others. They saw that they were roughs who hung around the railroad station and the saloons of Crumville. Without waiting, Ben threw a cane to Roger and sailed in, and the senator's son followed. Both of the roughs received several severe blows and were then glad enough to slink away in the darkness.
When Nat got up he was thoroughly angry. He had hired the roughs to help him and now they had deserted the cause. He glared at Dave.
"You let me alone, Dave Porter!" he cried.
"Not just yet, Nat," replied our hero, and catching up a handful of loose snow, he forced it down inside of the other's collar. Then the other lads pitched in, too, and soon Nat found himself down once more and all but covered with snow, which got down his neck, in his ears and nose, and even into his mouth.
"Now then, don't you dare to throw snowballs at the girls again!" said Dave sternly. "It was a cowardly thing to do, and you know it."
"If you do it again, we'll land on you ten times harder than we did just now," added Ben.
"And don't you get any more of those roughs to take a hand," continued Dave. "If you do, they'll find themselves in the lock-up, and you'll be there to keep them company."
"You just wait!" muttered Nat, wrathfully. "I'll fix you yet—you see if I don't!" And then he turned and hurried away, but not in the direction his companions had taken. He wanted to escape them if possible, for he had promised each a dollar for aiding him and he was now in no humor to hand over the money. But at another corner the roughs caught up to him and made him pay up, and this added to his disgust.
When Dave and the others got back to the house they were considerably "roughed up," as Roger expressed it. But they had vanquished the enemy and were correspondingly happy. They found that the girls had not been much hurt, for which everybody was thankful.
"Maybe they'll lay for you when you go home," whispered Ben to Dave, when he got the chance.
"I don't think they will," answered Dave. "But we'll be on our guard."
"Why not take a cane or two with you?"
"We can do that."
When it came time to go home the girls were somewhat timid, and Jessie said she could telephone for the sleigh. But, as it was a bright, starry night, the boys said they would rather walk, and Laura said the same.
In spite of their watchfulness, the boys were full of fun, and soon had the girls laughing. And if, under those bright stars, Dave said some rather sentimental things to Jessie, for whom he had such a tender regard, who can blame him?
On the day following New Year's came word from Oak Hall that the school would not open for its next term until the first Monday in February.
"Say, that suits me down to the ground!" cried Phil.
"Well, I'm not shedding any tears," answered Roger. "I know what I'd like to do—take a trip somewhere."
"I don't know where you'd go in this winter weather," said Dave.
"Oh, some warm climate—Bermuda, or some place like that."
Another day slipped by, and Dave was asked by his father to go to one of the near-by cities on an errand of importance. He had to go to a lawyer's office and to several banks, and the errand took all day. For company he took Roger with him, and the boys did not get back to Crumville until about eleven o'clock at night.
"Guess they thought we weren't coming at all," said Dave, when he found no sleigh awaiting him. "Well, we can walk."
"Of course we can walk," answered the senator's son. "I'll be glad to stretch my legs after such a long ride."
"Let us take a short cut," went on Dave, as they left the depot. "I know a path that leads almost directly to our place."
"All right, if the snow isn't too deep, Dave."
"It can't be deep on the path, for many of the men who work at the Wadsworth jewelry place use it. It runs right past the Wadsworth works."
"Go ahead then."
They took to the path, which led past the freight depot and then along a high board fence. They turned a corner of the fence, and crossed a vacant lot, and then came up to one corner of the jewelry works, at a point where the new addition was located.
"Now, here we are at the works," said Dave. "It's not very much further to the house."
"Pretty quiet around here, this time of night," remarked Roger, as he paused to catch his breath, for they had been walking fast. "There doesn't seem to be a soul in sight."
"There is usually a watchman around, old Tony Wells, an army veteran. I suppose he is inside somewhere."
"There's his lantern!" cried the senator's son, as a flash of light shone from one of the windows. Hardly had he spoken when the light disappeared, leaving the building as black as before.
"It must be a lonely job, guarding such a place," said our hero, as he and his chum resumed their walk. "But I suppose it suits Tony Wells, and he is glad to get the money it brings in."
"They must have a lot of valuable jewelry there, Dave."
"Oh, yes, they have. But it is all locked up in the safes at night." Dave thought of the Carwith diamonds, but remembered his promise not to mention them to anybody.
As the boys turned another corner they came face to face with a fat man, who was struggling along through the snow carrying two heavy bundles.
"Hello!" cried Dave. "How are you, Mr. Rowell?"
"Bless me if it isn't Dave Porter!" cried Amos Rowell, who was a local druggist. "Out rather late, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"So am I. Had to visit some sick folks and I'm carrying home some of their washing. Good-night!" and the druggist turned down one road and Dave and Roger took the other.
Inside of five minutes more our hero and his chum were at the entrance to the Wadsworth mansion. Just as they were mounting the steps, and Dave was feeling in his pocket for his key, a strange rumble reached their ears.
"What was that?" asked the senator's son.
"I don't know," returned Dave, in some alarm. "It sounded to me as if it came from the direction of the jewelry works!"