CHAPTER X
"THE DAY OF THEIR LIVES"
The boys kept on their way. As they reached the farm where Dick lived, he took them all into the dairy. His mother came out and welcomed the crowd. She brought half a dozen tin cups.
"Now then, boys," she said, passing these around, "Dick will show you where the buttermilk is."
"Say," spoke Tom, as he helped himself to the second cup of the cool, refreshing buttermilk, "I'd like to live here."
"Jed's crowd are missing it, I tell you," said Sammy, smacking his lips.
"Dick, this is just fine," spoke Bob.
Mrs. Hazelton came out with a package of home-made cheese to add to the lunch, and the boys greeted her with a cheer and started briskly on their way.
Their guide led them to a fence, over it, and through a dry watercourse.
"Here we are, fellows," he announced, pointing to a scattered grove of trees on the rise opposite.
"Hurrah!" shouted Sammy. "I feel like a squirrel."
The crowd placed their lunches under a shady tree and started over for the hickory grove. Soon each one, except Tom, was scrambling up a tree.
"There's a rather low one over yonder," said Tom to Bob. "I guess I'll tackle it."
"What with?" asked Bob.
Tom drew a stout slung-shot from his pocket. Then he rambled along the watercourse, and filled an old fruit basket he had found with good-sized pebbles.
The next hour was a jolly one for the happy crowd. There were some mishaps, but only amounting to scratches and scrapes. The shaken limbs of the trees rained down hickory nuts like hailstones.
Bob came back to the tree where he had left Tom to find his friend lying fast asleep on the grass. A little pile of hickory nuts lay near his coat and cap.
"Had lots of fun," Tom declared, when he woke up. "I'm not a very good shot, though."
All hands were soon ready for lunch. Nearly every bag was filled. The boys were pleased with their success, and it was a gay crowd that enjoyed the dinner under the trees.
"What now?" asked Sammy, when he had eaten his fill.
"Walnuts next," replied Dick.
"What will we do with the hickories?" asked Frank.
"We'll leave them here," said Dick. "Bring along the empty bags, and we'll go up to the North Woods after the walnuts."
"It will be some tramping, each lugging two bags home," spoke Sammy.
"You won't have to do that," answered Dick.
"Why not?"
"When we get all the bags full, I'll go home and get a wagon and team."
"That will be fine," said Tom.
"Say, Dick," spoke Frank, "what do you suppose has become of Jed and his crowd?"
"They must have taken in the walnut trees first," replied Dick.
The route to the North Woods took the boys along the road where Jed and his friends had left them earlier in the morning. As they came up to a farmhouse Dick said:
"Farmer Griggs lives here. We'll go in and get a good cool drink of well water."
They trooped into the farm-yard. They were all gathered about the well when an old man came out from the house.
"How'dy, Dick," he said. "Mornin', lads. Hey, lost any of your friends?"
"Have you found any, Mr. Griggs?" asked Dick.
"I have, for a fact," replied the farmer, with a grin, "six of them."
"He means Jed and the others," said Frank.
"I shouldn't wonder," answered Bob.
"Where are the friends you spoke of, Mr. Griggs?" asked Dick, guessing.
"Treed. Just step this way, so you can see the orchard, and you'll understand what I mean," replied the farmer, with a grim chuckle.
The boys trooped eagerly after the farmer. Behind the barns of the place was a small fenced-in orchard. The trees hung heavy with red, luscious fruit. More than one of the boys knew of the fine fruit that came from the Griggs farm and was on sale in the village every fall and winter.
"After you've looked a bit, lads," said the farmer, "you can go and eat your fill. I've no objection to any orderly boys helping themselves to an apple or two, but when it comes to stealing bagfuls, though, and breaking whole limbs off the trees, I can't stand it. There's the fellows I spoke of," added Mr. Griggs, coming to a halt.
Inside the orchard were four big dogs. They did not look so fierce and ugly, but there was something about them that told one they knew how to protect the property of their owner.
Each one of the animals lay on the grass under a tree, its head between its paws, its eyes fixed up among the branches overhead. Among these, two in one tree, the boys made out Jed and his companions.
"How long have they been there, Mr. Griggs?" asked Dick, his face on a broad grin.
"About three hours."
"And haven't dared to come down on account of the dogs—I see," said Frank, smiling.
"They may now," answered the farmer. "I guess they've had a good dose this time."
He whistled to the dogs, opened the gate for them to pass out, and waved his hand towards the treed captives.
"Hey, you fellows!" he shouted, "you can go on your way now."
Jed and his friends climbed down from the trees. They sneaked for the further corner of the fence away from their amused schoolmates.
"They look pretty forlorn, for a fact," chuckled Tom.
"Go in and help yourselves, lads," invited Farmer Griggs, opening the gate for Bob and his friends to pass through.
"Oh, say, you're awful kind," cried Sammy.
"Just pick the windfalls," directed the farmer. "Hey!" as the boys rushed gladly for the trees, "as you go over the next fence you'll find a little melon patch. You take two of the late watermelons—no more, mind you."
"I'll see that they obey orders, Mr. Griggs." promised Dick, "and—thank you!"
"Many thanks!" shouted the others.
The boys ate two or three apples apiece and stowed as many more in their pockets. Then there was a rush for the melon patch. Bob and Dick came out into the road, each 
"Oh, Say! Isn't This Glorious!" Cried Sammy
carrying a big fat melon of the late variety that looked ripe and tempting.
"Oh, say, isn't this glorious!" cried Sammy, as they all sat down under a tree by the roadside, and Dick got out his pocket-knife.
Jed and his friends sat on a fallen tree about fifty yards distant. They watched the boys enviously, while not getting slivers out of their hands and the creases out of their clothes.
"Come on, Burr, and all of you," cried Dick, in a pleasant, open-hearted way.
Jed and his companions skulked up to the spot, rather shame-faced. No one referred to their long roost in the appletrees. Sammy, however, had to laugh outright when it came out that they had left their lunches on the ground, and the dogs had eaten them up.
Bob and his friends divided what they had in their pockets with Jed's party. This and a watermelon made the deserters feel a good deal better.
All hands went to the North Woods, and put in two hours gathering walnuts. About three o'clock Dick and Bob started off for the Hazelton farm, leaving their comrades in the woods.
Dick got a team and a light wagon at the farm. First, he and Bob drove over to the flat and loaded in the bags of hickory nuts.
Then they drove around into the North Woods, and the walnuts were safely stowed. The boys crowded into the wagon on top of them.
"Say, this feels good," said Tom, as he rested his tired limbs.
"Never had such a grand day in my life!" cried Sammy.
The team took the boys around to their homes. Even Jed Burr voted that they had enjoyed a fine occasion.
Bob was so tired he could hardly do his evening chores, and he was glad to get to bed early. All the next day, too, he had to keep his scratched hands rubbed with grease. His knees were pretty sore from climbing.
Monday morning he woke up with a start. A loud voice sounded in the yard below, and Bob ran to the window, wondering at the commotion. He heard the window in his father's room pushed up.
"What's the matter?" called down Mr. Bouncer to Mr. Haven, his neighbor, who, quite pale and excited, had just breathlessly called out to him.
"Get up quick, Mr. Bouncer—the jewelry store has been robbed!"