Leaving John Pike in charge of the others, the three Rover boys set off after Sobber and Merrick. They followed the trail for awhile with ease, for the fugitives were dripping wet from their involuntary bath.
"We have one advantage," said Dick, as they ran along. "Being wet they will attract attention, and we'll be able to follow them up that way."
About a quarter of a mile was covered when they heard a crashing in the brushwood not far ahead of them. Then came a yell of pain from both Merrick and Tad Sobber.
"Ouch! I'm being stung to death!"
"Get off of me! Oh! oh! oh!"
"They are hornets, Tad! Run, or they'll be after us!"
"I—I can't run! Oh! one stung me in the eye!" screamed Tad Sobber.
Then the Rover boys heard the man and the boy plunge on, Tad screaming with pain at every step.
"Wait! we can't go that way!" cried Tom, who had no desire to tumble into the hornets' nest as the others had probably done. "Let's go around!"
And he leaped to the left. As they progressed they heard Tad Sobber still crying wildly, and they heard Sid Merrick urging him to run faster.
"I'm stung, too—in about a dozen places!" said the bond thief. "But we mustn't be captured."
"Oh, it is awful!" groaned Tad. "I can hardly bear the pain!" And he went on, clutching his uncle by the arm.
Both were indeed in a sorry plight. But coming out on a road, fortune favored them. They met a colored man running a touring car. He was alone and they quickly hired him to take them to the nearest town.
"We fell into the lake by accident," said Sid Merrick. "We want to get where we can change our clothing."
"And get something for these hornet stings," added Tad Sobber. "If I don't get something soon I'll go crazy from pain."
As the three Rover boys ran towards the roadway Dick saw a big, flat pocketbook lying on the ground. He darted for it and picked it up.
"Merrick must have dropped this," he said. "It's wet, and here is a dead hornet stuck fast to it. Guess the hornets made him forget that he had it."
Slipping the pocketbook into his pocket, Dick ran out on the roadway and looked up and down. But Merrick and Sobber were gone, and what had become of them the boys did not learn until the next day, and then it was too late.
"What's in that pocketbook?" asked Sam, after the hunt had come to an end for the time being.
"We'll soon learn," said his big brother, and opened up the still wet leather. Inside were several bank bills and a fat envelope.
"Uncle Randolph's missing traction company bonds!" cried Dick, bringing them forth. "This is the best ever!"
"Are they all there?" asked Tom.
Dick counted them over rapidly.
"Yes—ten for one thousand dollars each."
"Hurrah!" shouted Sam. "Won't Uncle Randolph be glad when he hears of this!"
The boys were highly elated over the find, and now they had the bonds they concluded that a further search for Sid Merrick could wait. They did not care whether Tad Sobber was captured or not, as they did not think the bully was much of a criminal.
When they got back to the sloop they found that the others had bound John Pike's hands behind him. The robber was very meek, and he declared that Sid Merrick was to blame for everything.
"He wanted to sell the bonds many times," said Pike. "But he knew that Mr. Rover had advertised the numbers in the newspapers and he was afraid to do it. He said he would wait until the affair blew over. Then he was going to sell out, divide up, and go to Europe."
Pike added that the boat had belonged to himself. She was an old craft and was allowed to remain on the rocks. It came out later that Pike had formerly lived on the lake shore and had thus become acquainted with Merrick and the Sobbers.
As soon as possible the captured robber was handed over to the authorities, and Dick sent a message home acquainting his uncle with what had occurred. This brought on both Randolph Rover and the boys' father.
"You have certainly done wonderfully well," said Randolph Rover, as he took his bonds. "Were you not so rich already I should want to reward you."
"We don't want any reward," said Dick. "But I am sorry we didn't catch Merrick."
For a long time the authorities tried to catch Sid Merrick and also endeavored to learn the whereabouts of Tad Sobber, but without success. They had disappeared, and that seemed to be the end of it. The old house was visited again, but nothing of value was found there. Later on some tramps set it on fire and it was burnt to the ground. A month later John Pike and one other freight thief who was captured were tried for their misdeeds and sent to prison. The authorities used Bill Dangler as a witness against them, and Dangler, consequently, was let go. Strange to say, Dangler turned over a new leaf and became a hard working man in a railroad stone quarry some miles from Carwell.
With the mystery of the traction company bonds cleared up, the Rover boys returned to Putnam Hall to complete their last term at that institution of learning. They applied themselves diligently to their studies, and when the final examinations came off all passed with flying colors.
"Whoop! I'm glad those exams, are over!" cried Tom. "I feel as if a hundred-pound weight was taken off my shoulders."
"I am glad, too," answered Sam.
"And I am glad all of us did so well," put in Dick. "Our reports will please father and Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha."
It had been arranged that the commencement exercises should be carried out on rather an elaborate scale, and many people were invited to attend. This brought all the Rovers and also the Stanhopes and the Lanings to Putnam Hall. Dick had been called on to deliver the valedictory and he made such a stirring address that he was vigorously applauded. Sam and Tom appeared in a humor dialogue, with Fred and Larry, and this was received with shouts of laughter. Songbird recited an original poem which was a vast improvement over the most of his doggerel, and Hans and some of the others sang in a quartet which would have done credit to the average college glee club.
"Oh, it was splendid, Dick!" said Dora, after it was over and congratulations were in order. And her eyes shone like stars as she pressed his hand.
"I saw only you, Dora, when I got up to speak," he whispered. "And that's why I did my best."
"You and Sam had better go on the stage," said Nellie to Tom. "That dialogue was too funny for anything!"
"I laughed till the tears came," added Grace. "It was a splendid programme all the way through."
"Well done, my boys, well done," said Anderson Rover, as he took each by the hand. "I was never so proud of you as I am to-day."
"Now that we have finished our studies here what are we to do next?" questioned Dick, earnestly.
"We will settle that question this summer," answered his father. "But in the meantime—" Mr. Rover paused and looked at his oldest son thoughtfully.
"But what, father?"
"I will tell you when we get home, Dick—there is no use of my trying to do so in this excitement. I have something very unusual to propose," answered Anderson Rover, and what that proposal was, and what came of it, will be related in another volume, to be entitled, "The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle; Or, The Strange Cruise of the Steam Yacht." In that volume we shall meet many of our old friends again, and also learn something concerning the disappearance of Sid Merrick and Tad Sobber.
That evening the celebration at Putnam Hall was continued. The cadets lit a huge bonfire on the campus and around this they danced and sang and made speeches. They cheered everybody, from Captain Putnam down to Peleg Snuggers, and the festivities were kept up until midnight. Then the boys went to bed—but not to sleep—for was this not the last night at school? Innumerable tricks were played, including one on Peter Slade that that youth never forgot. This made the bully so angry he declared he was going to quit Putnam Hall for good, and he did, and nobody missed him.
"And now for home!" cried Dick the next morning on dressing.
"And fresh adventures," added Tom.
"But I do hate to leave dear old Putnam Hall," sighed Sam, and then the others sighed, too.
It was not until noon that the three Rover boys were ready to go, having first bid farewell to their numerous friends. Then they shook hands with Captain Putnam.
"We hate awfully to leave you," said Dick, earnestly.
"And I hate to have you go, Richard," was the reply. "You must visit the Hall some time in the future."
"And you must come and see us, Captain Putnam," said Tom.
"Yes, indeed," added Sam.
"I will," answered the master of the Hall.
Then the boys shook hands all over again and ran for the carryall. Some boys left behind set up a shout:
"Good-bye, Dick!"
"Sorry to have you go, Tom!"
"May we meet again, Sam!"
"Good-bye, everybody!" was the answering shout. "Good-bye to dear old Putnam Hall!"
Then the whip cracked, the carryall rolled from the door; and the Rover boys' days at Putnam Hall military school were at an end.
THE END