While the doctor was attending Ruth the others of the party arrived at the physician's residence. They found Jack walking up and down in the anteroom while Randy sat in a chair doing what he could to comfort his cousin.
"What does the doctor say about Ruth?" questioned May quickly.
"He hasn't come out yet. They are in there," and Randy pointed with his hand to the inner office.
"Oh, Jack, how do your eyes feel?" questioned Martha, coming up and gazing earnestly at her brother.
"To tell the truth, they don't feel very good, Martha," he answered. "But I won't mind that so much if only Ruth gets out of it."
The boys and girls sat down, some in the outer office and some on the piazza of the doctor's residence. They had to wait nearly a quarter of an hour before the door of the inner office opened.
"I think the young lady will feel much better by to-morrow," said Doctor Borden, as he led Ruth forth. He had placed a new and heavier bandage over her eyes. "I'll call at the school to see her the first thing to-morrow morning. You need do nothing to the eyes until that time." He looked at the other girls. "I presume you young ladies are with Miss Stevenson?"
"We are," several of them answered.
"Then there ought not to be any trouble about getting her back to the school in safety," and the physician smiled faintly.
"I'll get a taxicab," said Randy, and lost no time in doing so.
"I don't want to go back to the school until Jack has been taken care of," declared Ruth. "I want to know just how bad off he is. The doctor tells me he doesn't think my eyes will be permanently injured." She was trying to bear up bravely, even though her eyes hurt her a good deal. But what the doctor had put on them was gradually allaying the pain.
Jack entered the inner office, and the doctor made a thorough examination of each eye.
"You were lucky to get off so well, Rover," he announced at the conclusion of the examination. "I'll give you a lotion to put on to-night before retiring, and I'll give you a treatment of it now. Then bathe the eyes again in the morning, and I think in a day or two you will be as well as ever."
"And what about Miss Stevenson's eyes?" questioned the young captain anxiously.
"I can't say very much about them as yet. Of course, I didn't want to worry her, so I did not tell her how bad it might be. Still, I'll know more about it to-morrow morning."
This was as much as Doctor Borden would say. Jack received the treatment and was given a small bottle filled with the lotion, and then, after settling with the physician, he was ready to leave.
"Do you want any of us to go to the school with you?" he asked of Ruth and the other girls.
"No, Jack; it won't do any good," answered the blindfolded girl. And as he took her hand and pressed it warmly, she added: "Please don't worry about me."
"But I'm going to, Ruth," he answered in a low tone. "Somehow, I feel that your injury is my fault."
"Nonsense! It was Gabe Werner's fault entirely! That boy ought really to be in jail! But, Jack, you are quite sure that your eyes are all right?" she went on anxiously.
"Yes, Ruth. The doctor says that I'll be as well as ever in a day or two. You are the only one to be worried over. I'll tell Martha to telephone to me to-morrow just as soon as the doctor has seen you." And so it was arranged.
Randy had obtained a large taxicab and into this all the girls crowded, taking care, however, to make Ruth as comfortable as possible on the rear seat. Then the girls of Clearwater Hall started for the school.
"I'll bet Miss Garwood will be surprised when she sees Ruth," was Andy's comment, as he watched the girls riding away. Miss Garwood was the head of the girls' school.
"Poor Ruth," murmured Fred. "What a miserable outing this has been!"
Fortunately for the cadets, they found the Colby Hall stage in town, and all piled in and were speedily taken to the school. Here Jack and Randy went up to their rooms, while the others reported to Colonel Colby.
"Threw pepper into Jack's eyes, did he!" said the colonel wrathfully. "What a dastardly thing to do! I am glad that Werner is no longer a pupil at the school. If he were I should feel it my duty to hand him over to the authorities. You say he did not come back to Haven Point?"
"No, sir," answered Gif. "They motored over to the other side—over to where the Hasley ammunition factory used to be located."
"I see. Then probably both he and Glutts will take good care not to show themselves in the vicinity of Haven Point," said Colonel Colby.
And in this surmise the head of the school was correct. Long afterwards it was learned that Werner had put the motor-boat into the hands of a man to bring it back to the party of whom it had been hired, and then he and Glutts had tramped three miles across the country to a railroad station where they took a train for parts unknown.
The colonel came up to see Jack and have a look at his injured eyes, and then sent Mrs. Crews up to the young captain to bathe his eyes with the lotion the doctor had given him and bind them up.
"It's too bad! too bad entirely!" said Mrs. Crews, who was quite a motherly woman. "I hope your eyes are as well as ever in a day or two." And then she added with a twinkle in her own optics: "I suppose that is what you get for running off with that baby carriage."
"If it is, it's a terrible price to pay, Mrs. Crews," answered Jack, and then told her about Ruth.
"Now that's too bad entirely," said the matron of the school. "Oh, who would want to harm a dear young lady like Miss Stevenson? It's awful how wicked some young men are," and she shook her head dolefully.
Jack took it easy for the rest of the day, and one after another his chums came in to sympathize with him.
"I can't understand a fellow like Werner," remarked Ned Lowe. "If he isn't careful he'll land in prison."
"What gets me is that a fellow like Glutts keeps on tagging after him," put in Dan Soppinger. "Sooner or later Werner is bound to lead Glutts into something pretty bad."
Jack passed a restless night, not only because his eyes hurt him, but because he could not get Ruth out of his mind. What if the girl's eyes should be permanently injured? The mere thought of such a catastrophe horrified him.
In the morning he bathed his eyes again, as Doctor Borden had directed. He had been excused from his classroom, and so sat around where he could readily be called to the telephone if any message came in for him. It was not until about eleven o'clock that his sister rang him up.
"The doctor left a few minutes ago," said Martha over the wire. "He was with Ruth about half an hour, and gave her quite a treatment. He was very much encouraged, and said he thought she would come around again all right in a few days, but that she must be careful for several weeks about how she strained her eyes or went out in the wind."
"But he really thinks she will come around all right?" questioned Jack anxiously.
"Yes, Jack, he was almost sure of it. And, oh! I am so glad, and so are all the other girls."
"Well, it's a great relief to me, Martha," he returned, and his voice showed what a weight had been lifted from his mind.
After that the days to the end of the term passed quickly. There were the usual examinations, and all of the Rovers were glad to learn that they had passed successfully. In the meanwhile Jack's eyes continued to mend, so that on the final day at the Hall they felt practically as good as ever.
The young captain and Fred had gone over to Clearwater Hall, ostensibly to call on their sisters, but in reality to find out about Ruth. She came down to greet them, and they were surprised and delighted to find that she no longer wore the bandage over her eyes.
"I can't go out in the strong sunlight yet, nor in the wind," said the girl. "Nor can I do much reading or studying. But the eyes no longer pain me, and for that I am very thankful."
"Doctor Borden says it will take a week or two before her eyes are normal again," explained Martha. "But that isn't so bad when you consider what might have occurred," and she gave a little shiver.
Colby Hall was to close several days before the girls' school, but the two Rover girls had received permission to go home with their brothers. This was the last chance Jack had of seeing Ruth, and the last chance that Fred would have to see May, and both made the most of it.
"I'll write to you, sure, Ruth," said the young captain. "And I hope your eyes will allow you to reply."
"Oh, I'll send you something, Jack, even if it's only a postal," was the quick answer. "Please don't worry about me. I am sure my eyes will come around all right sooner or later."
"If they don't I'll never forgive myself for taking you on that outing," said the young captain feelingly.
With the examinations at an end, the Colby Hall cadets were allowed to do very much as they pleased, and on the last night at school there was the usual horseplay and cutting up generally. Some boys tried to catch Stowell, but the sneak of the school outwitted them by receiving permission to leave the Hall twelve hours early.
"Well, good riddance to bad rubbish!" announced Fatty Hendry, when he heard of this. "I think Colby Hall could get along very well if Stowell stayed away for good."
"I'm sure I wouldn't worry if he did stay away," returned Walt Baxter.
"And now hurrah for little old New York!" cried Andy, on the following morning.
"Little old New York and our dads!" added his twin.
"I wonder if they have arrived yet?" put in Fred quickly. "I don't think so, or they would have sent us a telegram."
"Either that, or they want to surprise us when we get there," said Jack.
Their trunks had been sent on ahead, and directly after breakfast they set to work to finish packing their suitcases. Then they went around saying good-bye to the professors and Colonel Colby, and did not forget "Shout" Plunger and Bob Nixon, giving the latter some tips to remember them by.
"Off at last!" cried Fred, as the auto-stage rumbled up to take the first crowd of boys to the railroad station. In they piled, and were soon whirled away in the direction of Haven Point.
At the railroad station they were met by Martha and Mary. The other girls could not come, as all had examinations that morning. Soon the train rolled in, and the Rovers and a number of the other cadets piled in, Jack and Fred being accompanied by their sisters.
"I'll be glad to get home again and see mother and Aunt Grace and Aunt Nellie," remarked Martha, as she settled herself in a seat beside her brother.
"And how about dad, Martha?" questioned Jack.
"You don't have to ask that question," she returned quickly. "You know I am just as crazy to see him as you are. And I'm crazy to see Uncle Tom and Uncle Sam, too."
"I'll bet they'll have some stories to tell about their doings in France."
"Yes, indeed, Jack. Oh, how they all must have suffered! And how thankful I am that they are coming back to us whole and hearty. Just think if they had come back minus an arm or a leg, or frightfully injured in some other way!"
"I have thought of that, Martha, more than once. I can tell you, when I think of the thousands of good, strong, healthy young fellows who went over there and gave up their lives or came back crippled, I feel that our folks have much to be thankful for."
The journey to New York City was uneventful. They had to change cars at the Junction, and here a number of the other cadets left the Rovers. These included Gif and Spouter.
"Sorry you're not going down to the city with us," said Jack; "but I suppose you are as anxious to see your folks as we are to see ours."
"Right you are," answered Spouter. And Gif nodded his head to show that he agreed with his chum.
When the train rolled into the Grand Central Terminal at Forty-second Street the Rovers found two automobiles awaiting them, and in the turn-outs were the three mothers of the boys and girls.
"What's the news about dad, Ma?" burst out Jack, as he kissed his parent.
"Have the soldiers come back yet?" was Fred's question.
"They haven't got in yet, but we are expecting them almost any time now," answered Mrs. Dick Rover.
"We are just as anxious as you are to see them," came from Mrs. Tom Rover, as both of her sons gave her a warm hug. "There, there! don't smother me!" she added affectionately.
"Oh, it's so good to be home again!" exclaimed Mary. "Boarding school is all well enough, but I'd rather be with you folks any time." Mary had always been a good deal of a home girl.
The young folks piled into the cars, which were run by the Rovers' chauffeurs, and in a moment more they were picking their way through the crowded traffic in the direction of Fifth Avenue. They speeded up this noted thoroughfare and then across town to Riverside Drive.
"What is the matter with your eyes, Jack?" questioned his mother presently. "They look rather inflamed."
"Oh, I had a little run-in with one of our old enemies," returned the young captain. "I'll tell you about it later."
"It's poor Ruth Stevenson that got the worst of it," broke in Martha. "We may as well tell mother," she added. "She ought to know it."
"I wish you boys would stop making enemies," sighed Mrs. Rover. "Sooner or later they may cause you a lot of trouble."
"Well, I don't consider that it is our fault," returned Jack. "It is no more our fault than it was dad's fault to make an enemy of Dan Baxter and his father, Arnold Baxter."
"Well, if only your enemies reform, as Dan Baxter reformed, that will be something worth while," said his mother.
All of the mothers had made great preparations for the return of the young people. Their rooms had been placed in order, and there were a number of pretty and useful gifts for all of them. Then came a grand reunion in the Tom Rover home, where an elaborate dinner was served that evening.
"Gee! if only our dads were here to enjoy this with us," murmured Andy, as he gazed upon the many good things spread before him.
"I'll bet they won't find any fault with home cooking after they get back from the trenches in France," commented Randy, with a grin. "I'll bet they've had to put up with all kinds of cooking."
"Yes, and sometimes they had to put up with cooking that wasn't," added Andy.
"Cooking that wasn't?" repeated Mary, puzzled. "Oh! I know what you mean—when they couldn't get anything."
A number of their friends came in during the evening to see them, and the young folks had an enjoyable time dancing and in singing in a group around the piano, which the girls took turns in playing.
"We'll have to have another and a larger gathering when our fathers get home," declared Mary.
"Oh, won't we have the bully good time then!" cried her brother.
"Maybe they won't have some stories to tell!" piped in Andy.
"I want to hear all about how Uncle Dick won that medal," came from Randy.
It was not until after eleven o'clock that the little gathering broke up, and then Mrs. Dick Rover called her children to her.
"Now you must tell me about your eyes, Jack, and you, Martha, must tell me about Ruth Stevenson's," she said.
Thereupon the young captain and his sister related the particulars of what had occurred during the outing on Bluebell Island and what had been done by Doctor Borden to relieve the sufferers.
"It was a vile thing to do!" exclaimed Mrs. Rover, her eyes showing her displeasure. "Why, that Gabe Werner is nothing but a criminal! You can be thankful, Jack, that you escaped as you did. But are you sure poor Ruth's eyes are not permanently injured?"
"Her eyes looked a great deal better when we came away than they had," answered Martha. "Just the same, I'm greatly worried, and I know Jack is too."
"Ruth is to write to us and let us know how she is getting along," went on the oldest Rover boy.
"Ruth is such a splendid girl, and so fine looking, it would be a shame if her eyes were hurt," continued Mrs. Rover. And this remark about Ruth caused Jack to think more of his mother than ever.
Two days passed quickly, the boys and girls spending their time in getting settled and renewing old acquaintances. The girls went shopping with their mothers, while the lads visited the offices of The Rover Company in Wall Street to see with their own eyes how matters were going.
"Everything seems to be moving along swimmingly," remarked Jack, when he and his cousins came away.
"I'll bet it will seem strange to our dads to settle down to the grind once more after seeing so much fighting," remarked Fred.
"It will be hard for all of the soldiers and sailors to settle down, I'm thinking," added Randy. "A fellow can't knock around here, there, and everywhere for months and then come down to a regular routine all in a minute."
That night the young folks retired rather early. Andy and Randy were indulging in some horseplay in their bedroom when they heard the door-bell ring.
"I'll bet it's a telegram from dad!" burst out Andy.
"Maybe it's dad himself!" answered his twin. "Come on down and see."
As they hurried down the stairs they heard their mother's room door open and heard one of the servants going to the front door. The next instant there was a cry from below.
"Mr. Rover! Is it really you!"
"It's dad! It's dad!" yelled the twins simultaneously, and fairly leaped to the bottom of the stairs and ran to greet their father.
"Hello, boys! So you got home ahead of me, did you?" came from Tom Rover, as he hugged and kissed each in turn. "My, how big you are getting!"
"Tom! Tom!" cried his wife Nellie. And then she rushed down the stairs as he rushed up to meet her. He caught her up in his strong arms as he had been wont to do so many times in the past and fairly swung her above him. Then he kissed her on each cheek and on the mouth and set her down with his hands on her shoulders.
"This is what I've been waiting for, Nellie," he declared. "Just waiting to see you again!"
"And I've been waiting too, Tom—waiting every day," she murmured, with tears in her beautiful eyes.
In the meantime similar scenes were taking place in the adjoining houses. Dick Rover, having a key, had let himself in unobserved, and gave his wife quite a shock when he met her at the door to her room. But she was overjoyed to see him, as were also Jack and Martha, and all clustered around to listen to what he might have to say.
"Why, Dad, you are as brown as a berry!" declared the young captain.
"And look how tall and strong he seems to be!" put in Martha.
It was Mrs. Sam Rover herself who answered her husband's ring, and her shout of joy quickly brought Fred downstairs. Mary had already retired, but, leaping up, she threw a kimona around her and came flying down in bare feet.
And then what a reunion there was among the members of all three families! The doors which connected the three residences were thrown wide open, and all gathered in the middle house. All seemed to be talking at once, and boys, fathers and uncles shook hands over and over again, while the girls and their mothers came in for innumerable hugs and kisses.
"We are not yet mustered out," said Dick Rover. "But we expect to be before a great while."
"You ought to be very proud of having done your bit for Uncle Sam," said Mary to her father and her uncles.
"Well, I think our boys did their bit, too, if I am any judge," was Sam Rover's fond comment. "First they helped to catch those chaps who blew up the Hasley ammunition factory, then they aided in rounding up the crowd who had the hidden German submarine, and lastly they prevented those Huns from establishing that wireless station in the woods. I certainly think they did remarkably well."
"But they've made some terrible enemies," broke in Mrs. Dick Rover. "Just look at Jack's eyes. One fellow tried to throw pepper into them."
"Oh, let's not talk about that now, Ma!" cried the young captain. "I want to hear all about what dad and Uncle Tom and Uncle Sam have been doing in France."
"If we started to give you all the details we wouldn't get to bed to-night," said his Uncle Tom, with a grin. They had already been talking for quite a while, and the clock hands pointed to nearly one in the morning.
"Oh, well, this is a red-letter night, Dad," broke out Randy.
"Such a coming together may not happen again in a lifetime," added his twin.
Then the older Rovers told of many of their adventures, both while in camp in France and during the time they had been on the firing line.
"We were in some pretty hot fights," admitted Tom Rover. "One in particular—when we forced the Huns out of a stretch of woods they were holding—none of us is liable to forget. That's the fight in which Sam and I were wounded."
"Yes, and the day after they were wounded I was caught in a gas attack," said Dick Rover. "My! but that was something pretty nasty! I felt as if somebody had me by the throat and at the same time was trying to twist my stomach inside out. I never felt such a sensation in my life," and he shook his head and sighed deeply over the recollection of what he had passed through.
"Was that where you won your medal, Dad?" questioned Jack eagerly.
"No, my boy. The medal was won some time later, while your two uncles were in the hospital trying to recover from their wounds. We made two advances, and then were told to hold our new line. There was a fierce bombardment early in the morning, and then, because of a mix-up of orders, part of our command fell back while another tried to go forward. One of our men, a fellow named Lorimer Spell, a queer sort of chap who hailed from Texas, was hit by a piece of shell and knocked partly unconscious. He was unable to save himself, and as I didn't want to see him killed I ran out from behind our shelter and brought him in."
It can readily be believed that the Rovers did not sleep much that night. The boys and girls were downstairs by seven o'clock and waited anxiously for the appearance of their parents in the dining-room of Dick Rover's residence, where the fathers were to have breakfast before returning to the troopship which was docked across the river, at Hoboken.
"We've got to get back by noon," announced Tom Rover, "and Sam and I want to pay a visit to Wall Street before we go, so we won't be able to spend much more time here."
"You were going to tell us how you won that medal, Dad," said Jack, after breakfast was over and his two uncles had said good-bye to everybody and left. "What about it?"
"Well, if you must have the story, sit down and I'll give it to you," answered Dick Rover, with a smile. "As it happens, the death of Lorimer Spell may make quite a difference in my plans for this Summer."
"Oh, then the poor man died in spite of your efforts to rescue him!" said Martha in crestfallen tones.
"He didn't die from that shell wound," answered her father. "But I had better tell the story from the beginning, since you seem to be so anxious to hear it."
"You must remember, Dick, that Jack is something of a soldier himself. He is a captain of the cadets, you know," remarked the mother of the lad.
"Oh, but that isn't like being a real soldier and fighting for Uncle Sam!" protested the youth.
"This Lorimer Spell, the fellow I saved, was a tall, lanky Texan who joined our command after we arrived in France. Just how he got in I can't say. He was rather a quiet sort of man, and some of the soldiers thought he was decidedly queer. He took a great interest in botany and geology, and I take it he was something of a student in those lines, although he was by no means well educated.
"The day that he was knocked out by a fragment of a shell was a misty one—the kind of a mist that makes it very uncertain to see any great distance. We did not know how close some of the Huns might be, and as a matter of fact they were closer than we expected, and some time later two of our men were shot down while moving from one trench to another close by.
"When Spell went down I was over a hundred feet away from him. Before he became unconscious he tried to crawl back to the trench from which he had come. But evidently he was confused and went down in plain sight of the Huns.
"I didn't care very much for the man, as I told you before, but I could not see him remain there exposed to the fire of the enemy, and so without thinking twice I jumped up out of the trench and ran across the ground to where he was lying. The shells had torn the soil dreadfully, so that I had considerable difficulty in reaching him.
"I placed him on my shoulder, and just then several Huns began firing at us. One bullet grazed my side, giving me a deep scratch, and another went through the cloth of Spell's coat. I stumbled down into a shell crater with the man and had all I could do to drag him and myself out. Then I plunged forward again, and just as the Huns let out several more shots, both of us stumbled down into the trench, and the rescue, if you might call it such, was over."
"Well, I think that was a grand thing to do, Dad!" burst out Jack, his face beaming. "Simply grand!"
"You couldn't beat it for pluck!" said Fred.
"And that's how you won the medal?" broke in Andy. "Fine!"
"You certainly deserved it," added his twin. "Gee! but suppose those Huns had plugged you when you were carrying the fellow!"
"And that's how I got him back to the trenches," went on Dick Rover. "He was taken to the field hospital, and there his injuries were found to be slight, and in a few days he was back on the firing line again."
"He ought to have been mighty thankful," declared Martha, who sat close by, holding her father's hand.
"He was thankful; and for that reason he did something which may have an important bearing on my future business dealings," answered Dick Rover. "He said he had no relatives of any kind, and he then and there made a will whereby if anything happened to him all that he possessed in this world should go to me."
"And then he was killed?" questioned Mrs. Rover.
"Yes. Just two days after his return to duty we were making another advance. Spell was in one part of the field while I was in another. Suddenly I saw him running off to a place just in front of where our squad was located. Then he made a turn as if to come toward us, and just at that instant he threw up his hands and fell forward on his face."
Here Dick Rover paused and dropped his eyes. No one cared to speak, and for an instant there was utter silence.
"When the skirmish was over we had gained our position, and a few hours later the body of Lorimer Spell was picked up and carried to the rear," went on Jack's father. "A bullet had struck him in the back of the head, and death must have been instantaneous.
"I confess that I felt pretty bad. A number of the company knew of the will Spell had made, and two of them were witnesses to the crude document he had drawn up. As a consequence, Spell's personal effects were turned over to me. They included a small amount of money, a ring, a wrist watch, and a number of papers, including an order for a box in a safe deposit vault in a bank in Wichita Falls, Texas."
"Poor fellow, it's too bad he couldn't have lived to enjoy himself now the war is at an end," remarked Mrs. Sam Rover.
"Were any of his papers of value?" questioned Jack curiously.
"That remains to be found out, Jack. His papers spoke of a valuable tract of oil land in Texas close to the boundary line between that State and Oklahoma."
"Oil lands!" exclaimed Randy. "Why, they may be worth a fortune, Uncle Dick! They are making immense strikes in oil down in that territory."
"I know that, Randy. Some of the wells are worth a fortune. But, on the other hand, you must remember that many of the tracts that are supposed to have oil on them have so far proved to be utterly dry. Men spend ten to forty thousand dollars in sinking a well only to find in the end that they have had their labor for their pains."
"Did Lorimer Spell say that his land had oil on it?" questioned Fred.
"From the way his papers and letters read one would think so, Fred. But, as I said before, Spell was a very queer kind of man. In fact, some of the fellows in our company thought he was a little bit out of his mind at times. It is just possible that he only imagined that he possessed valuable oil land."
"But you are going to investigate, aren't you, and make sure?" questioned Jack.
"Certainly, Son. I intend to go to Texas and make an investigation just as soon as I am mustered out of the service."
"Oh, Dad! do you mean that you might go to Texas this Summer?"
"I will if they muster me out."
"If you go, won't you take me along?"
"I'll think about it," and Dick Rover smiled at his son, whose face showed his eagerness.
"Gee! I'd like to go to Texas myself," burst out Fred.
"Such a trip would suit me down to the ground," announced Andy.
"I've always wanted to see a big oil well in operation," added his twin.
"I'd like to see them shoot an oil well," went on Jack. "They say it is a wonderful sight, especially if the well happens to be a real gusher."
"The queerest part of it is this," went on Dick Rover. "Before the war came on I was more or less interested in the oil fields in Texas and Oklahoma, as well as in Kansas. A good oil well, or series of wells, is a splendid paying proposition in these days, and I'd like first rate to get possession of such a holding and then start a first-class oil company."
"Oh, there are millions in oil! I know that!" burst out Martha. "Why, I was reading in a magazine only the other day of some folks in Texas who were quite poor. They had a farm of less than a hundred acres, and could make barely a living on it. Then the oil prospectors came along and located a well or two, and now those poor farm people have so much money they don't know what to do with it."
"Wouldn't it be great if we could go down there and locate a few of those first-class wells?" said Fred, with a sigh. "I'd just like to know how it feels to be a real millionaire."
"Can I go, Dad, if you go?" questioned Jack again.
"I'll see about that later. I don't wish to make any promises now."
"If Jack goes I want to go with him," put in Fred sturdily.
"Of course we'll want to go with him!" added Andy and Randy in a breath.
"What's the matter with us girls going along?" demanded Martha.
"What would girls be doing in the oil fields?" asked Fred. "A well might go off and shoot all your beautiful dresses full of oil."
"Huh! what about it if some oil got on that flaming red necktie you are wearing, Fred?" questioned his sister quickly. In his haste to get dressed that morning her brother had donned a necktie which she detested.
"Never mind my necktie, Mary. If Jack goes to Texas I'm going to see if I can't go along."
The matter was talked over a few minutes longer, and then Dick Rover went off with his wife to arrange some private affairs before he should take his departure for Hoboken. Then he said good-bye all around and was off.
"The next time you see us I think we'll be in a big parade," said Jack's father on leaving.
"A parade?" queried several of the others.
"Yes. They are talking of having a big parade of the soldiers on Fifth Avenue. If they do, of course we'll be in it."
"Hurrah! that's the stuff," cried Andy. "I've been aching to see one of those big parades ever since war was declared."
"If you do parade, Dad, we'll all be there to see you," declared Martha.
"We'll want front seats in the grandstand," added Mary.
"I don't think you'll get any front seats, Mary," answered her mother. "More than likely those seats will be reserved for the gold-star mothers—those who have lost their sons in battle."
"Well, those mothers deserve the front seats every time," said Jack.
"Indeed they do!" came from the girls.
"How soon will this parade come off?" questioned Randy.
"I don't know that the date has been settled exactly," answered Dick Rover. "But it will undoubtedly be in the near future. You will probably see all the details in the newspapers. I presume the whole of New York will have a holiday."
"Yes, and Fifth Avenue will be decorated in great shape from end to end," declared Mary. "Just see how they have been working on that Arch of Victory, and the Tower of Jewels, and all the other things."
"It will certainly be a parade well worth seeing," said Dick's wife.
"Yes, and I'll wager folks will come miles and miles to see it," added Fred. And then he continued quickly: "What's the matter with having Grandfather Rover down here from Valley Brook Farm?"
"Yes, and Great-aunt Martha and Uncle Randolph, too!" broke in Mary.
"Oh, we must have all of them, by all means!" cried Jack.
"My, what a jam of people!"
"Did you ever see such a crowd before in all your life!"
"And look at the flags and other decorations! Aren't they beautiful?"
"This time New York has outdone herself."
It was the day for the great parade of the returned soldiers, and New York City, especially in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue, was packed with dense crowds that filled miles of grandstands, windows, and other points of vantage, and also jammed the sidewalks and the side streets. It was a holiday for all, and everybody was going to make the most of it.
The Rovers had left their homes early to make their way to the seats they had obtained on one of the stands. With those who resided in the city were Grandfather Rover and also Aunt Martha and Uncle Randolph, who had come down the day previous from Valley Brook Farm.
"This is the greatest day of my life," said Grandfather Rover, his eyes glistening with pleasure. "To think that my boys have all fought for our country and come back from the war safely."
"Yes, and to think one of them has won a medal—not but what the others have been equally brave," responded old Uncle Randolph.
"I hope they never have to go to another war—they or their sons either," murmured old Aunt Martha.
The girls had invited May and Ruth to come to New York to witness the parade. May had accepted the invitation, but Ruth had sent word the doctor did not think a trip advisable at this time, her eyes being still in bad condition.
"It's too bad Ruth couldn't come," sighed Jack.
"Well, she had better take care of her eyes," answered his sister. "Oh, dear, why did that horrid Werner have to do such a mean thing!"
The Rovers had all they could do to get to the seats reserved for them. Each carried a small flag, to be waved as the soldiers passed. There was quite a wait, and the crowd seemed to grow denser every minute. Then from a distance came the fanfare of trumpets and the booming of many drums.
"Here they come! Here they come!" was the glad shout, and soon a platoon of police on horse-back swept by. Then followed a brass band of a hundred pieces or more, and the great parade was fairly started.
To go into the particulars of this tremendous spectacle would be impossible in the limits of these pages. Regiment after regiment swept by, representing every State in the Union. There were brass bands galore, with Old Glory everywhere in evidence. The crowd clapped and cheered, and sometimes shouted itself hoarse as some favorite command swept by with soldierly precision. Here and there a hero was recognized, and then the din would increase.
"Some parade, I say!" exclaimed Fred enthusiastically.
"Isn't it wonderful how many soldiers there are?" marveled May, who sat next to him.
"When are our boys coming?" questioned Grandfather Rover anxiously.
"They'll be coming along pretty soon now," answered Jack, who had been studying the program closely. "They are in the second regiment after the one now passing."
The New York State troops were now approaching, and the din became terrific, the more so as one company after another was recognized.
"Here they come! Here they come!" exclaimed Martha, who was gazing down the line.
"I see them! They are just at the corner!" added Mary.
"There's dad! I see dad!" screamed Andy, to make himself heard above the noise. "There he is, in the front row on this side!"
"Yes, and there is my father!" yelled Fred. "See him? Two men away from Uncle Tom!"
"I see dad," announced Jack. "He's in the middle. See him with that medal on his breast?"
"Hurrah, boys! Hurrah for you!" yelled Grandfather Rover, and arose excitedly, shaking his cane in one hand and a small flag in the other.
By this time all were on their feet, cheering and waving their flags wildly. Dick, Tom and Sam Rover saw them, and although they did not dare to turn their heads, they smiled broadly in recognition. For them the moment was just as thrilling as it was for those on the stand.
"Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" shouted the boys and girls, and their parents and other relatives joined in as strenuously as any one.
Old Aunt Martha was crying openly, and the other women had also to wipe the tears from their eyes.
"Somehow it chokes me all up," declared old Uncle Randolph, and blew his nose vigorously.
The company containing the Rovers passed on and the great parade continued hour after hour until it seemed as if there would be no end to that grand procession.
"Gracious! I didn't know there were so many soldiers in the whole world," declared Aunt Martha at length.
"If you are getting tired, Aunt Martha, I'll have somebody take you back to the house," remarked Mrs. Dick Rover, after they had been watching the parade for four hours.
"No, no. I am going to see it to the end," declared the old lady. "It will be something to talk about as long as I live."
"Just think of a lot of soldiers like these fighting all over our farm at Valley Brook," was Uncle Randolph's comment. "That's what they did over in France. It must have been terrible, the way things were cut up."
"My dad says you wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it," answered Randy. "He said some of the shell craters were big enough to dump a small barn in. Think of holes like that in your pasture lot."
But even the greatest of parades must come to an end, and at last the final body of soldiers marched by, and then came more police, followed by a great crowd of people that surged into Fifth Avenue like great flocks of sheep, hurrying, bustling, and jostling in an effort to get every way at once.
"Wasn't it perfectly grand?" cried Mary.
"It couldn't have been more wonderful," answered May.
"Now we'll get you back to the house and give you something to eat," said Mrs. Dick Rover to the old folks. "You certainly must be hungry as well as tired."
"Well, a little bit of something to eat wouldn't go bad, Dora," answered Grandfather Rover, placing an affectionate hand on her shoulder. And then he added softly: "We're mighty proud of our Dick, aren't we?"
"Proud! I should say we are!" answered Mrs. Rover, her whole face glowing with keen satisfaction.
It was decided that all of the older folks, as well as the three girls, should return to Riverside Drive. The boys, however, wanted to remain out and see what might take place further.
"We can pick up a little lunch somewhere—some sandwiches and pie and maybe a glass of milk," said Randy.
"Anything will do for me," announced Fred. "I'm almost too excited to eat."
"If you boys stay out you take good care of yourselves in this awful jam," warned Mrs. Tom Rover. "And don't you get into any mischief," she added to her twins.
The four lads saw the others safely to the automobiles, which were standing down one of the side streets, and then came back to Fifth Avenue.
"Let's walk down and look at the decorations and at the Arch of Victory," suggested Jack, and so it was decided.
In many places the sidewalks were littered with boxes which had been used to sit or stand upon. As a consequence, the best place to walk was in the street, and down this the boys pushed their way through the crowds which were gradually beginning to thin out.
"I never imagined buildings could be so handsomely decorated," declared Jack. "Those flags and banners and all that mass of bunting must have cost a fortune."
"Yes, and think of the money spent in decorating some of these windows," put in Fred.
They were gazing at a large show-window filled with a representation of American soldiers and sailors from colonial times to the present day. There were at least twenty-five figures in full uniform, and the display was as valuable to study from an historical standpoint as it was interesting to view as a picture.
"Some work to get all those uniforms together and to have everything exactly right," remarked Randy.
"I like the plain khaki of to-day as well as any of them," announced Jack. "The others are more gaudy, but when it comes to actual service—Ouch!"
Jack's remark broke off abruptly as a small but heavy box thrown from the gutter landed directly on his head. Then another box came flying through the air, to strike between the three other Rovers. It was followed by a ball of soaking-wet and muddy newspapers which struck the show-window with a thud, sending some dirty drops of water into the Rover boys' faces.
Fred was the first to whirl around in an endeavor to see where the two boxes and the wadded-up newspapers had come from. He was just in time to see two young fellows try to lose themselves in the rapidly moving crowd.
"Gabe Werner!" he ejaculated. "There he goes!"
"Yes, and there is Bill Glutts with him!" added Andy.
"What's that?" questioned Jack. He had received a small cut on one ear from the flying box and his cap had been knocked over his eyes.
"Werner and Glutts did it," answered Fred. "There they go down the street."
"If that's the case we've got to catch them," returned the oldest Rover boy. "Come on, quick!"
All started in pursuit of the two former bullies of Colby Hall. But to follow them through the rapidly moving crowd was not easy, and several times they were afraid the rascals would get away from them.
"Here, here! Take your time," said a policeman to Fred, as the latter brushed by him. "Take your time."
"I'm after a fellow who ought to be arrested," answered Fred quickly.
"Where is he?" demanded the bluecoat with interest.
"There he goes—down around the corner!" And then, as the policeman showed no disposition to leave his post, the youngest Rover boy hurried away after the others.
Werner and Glutts had looked back, and seeing that the Rovers were in pursuit, they had tried to throw them off the trail by passing around the nearest corner. Now they headed in the direction of the East Side.
"I told you not to bother with them," panted Glutts, who was somewhat out of breath. "Now, for all you know, they'll have us arrested."
"Oh, shut up your whining, Bill!" growled Werner in disgust. "I wish I had knocked that Jack Rover's head off with the box."
"You came very near busting the window."
"I wouldn't care if I did bust it," answered the other recklessly.
"It don't look as if that dose of pepper hurt Jack Rover much."
"Never mind. I'll fix him some day, you see if I don't."
The two glanced back once more and to their chagrin saw that the Rovers had come around the corner and were chasing after them faster than ever. This caused Bill Glutts to become more frightened than before.
"Oh, what shall we do? They'll catch us sure!" he wailed.
"No, they won't! Come on!" yelled Werner, and caught his crony by the arm.
He was too excited to notice carefully where he was running, and the next instant he, followed by Glutts, brought up against a stand on the sidewalk in front of a small shop. This stand was filled with various articles of bric-a-brac, and it went down with a crash, carrying dozens of small articles with it.
"Hi! hi! phat—phat you mean py knocking mine stand ofer?" cried out a voice from the doorway of the building, and a small, stockily built foreigner came running forward.
"Get off of me!" spluttered Bill Glutts, who was under Gabe Werner. "You're pressing some of this broken stuff into my face!"
Werner could not answer, being too surprised by the sudden turn affairs had taken. But then, as he realized that the four Rovers were close at hand, he rolled over on the sidewalk, upsetting a small boy as he did so, and then managed to scramble to his feet.
"Come on, Bill!" he panted, and set off down the street at the best gait he could command.
What Bill Glutts had said about being pushed into the broken bric-a-brac was true. His face had come down into the midst of several broken vases, and one hand rested on a broken bit of glassware. When he arose to his feet he found himself held fast by the storekeeper.
"You don't vas git avay from me already!" bawled the owner of the place. "You vas pay for de damages you make."
"You let me go! It wasn't my fault!" stormed Glutts.
By this time the Rovers had come up. Bill Glutts looked the picture of despair, with blood flowing from several cuts on his face and on one hand.
"Where is Werner?" questioned Jack quickly.
"There he goes!" exclaimed Randy. "Come on after him before he gets away."
"Some one had better stay here and see that Glutts doesn't get away," suggested Fred.
"All right, Fred, you and Andy stay here until we get back," answered Randy, and then he sped off after Jack, who was already running at his best rate of speed in the direction Gabe Werner had taken.
By this time Werner was thoroughly scared. He knew that he was liable to arrest for smashing the bric-a-brac stand, and he had no desire to fall into the clutches of the Rovers, feeling instinctively that they might pummel him thoroughly before handing him over to the authorities. Besides that, he remembered that they might hold him to account for the pepper incident.
He had turned down a side street where there were a number of tenements. He dove through an open doorway and ran the length of the hall, coming out of the building at the rear. Here there was a small yard surrounded by a board fence. He leaped the fence with ease, and then dove into the back end of another tenement and out at the front, and soon lost himself in a crowd on the other street.
Jack and Randy hunted around for fully a quarter of an hour, and were then compelled to give up the chase.
"It's too bad," declared the oldest Rover boy, "but it can't be helped. Let us go back and see what they have done with Glutts."
They soon found their way back to where the bric-a-brac stand had been smashed. A woman was now in charge, and she was just finishing the cleaning away of the wreckage. Fred and Andy stood nearby watching her. Both wore a broad grin.
"What's the matter? Couldn't you catch Werner?" questioned Fred.
"No, he slipped us," answered Jack, and gave the particulars.
"The police just carted Bill Glutts off in a patrol wagon," announced Andy. "The keeper of the store, a Bohemian with an unpronounceable name, went along. He declared Glutts would have to pay the bill in full, and even then he wanted him put in prison for life or beheaded, or something like that."
"Phew! In that case Glutts will get all that is coming to him!" exclaimed Randy.
"He sure will if that Bohemian has anything to do with it."
The four boys took another look around for Werner, and then walked back to Fifth Avenue and a little later went home. Here a fine dinner awaited them.
"It's certainly been a banner day," remarked Fred. "I'll never forget it as long as I live."
After that two weeks passed rapidly. The boys went on a visit to Valley Brook Farm, and also met Spouter, Gif and several of their other school chums. They had a glorious Fourth of July, and then came back to New York City.
During that time Jack wrote two letters to Ruth, and received one in return. The girl stated that she felt quite well, but that her eyes were still bothering her a good deal.
"It's too bad, Jack," said Martha, when her brother spoke about this. "Ruth is not the one to complain. Her eyes are probably in worse shape than she is willing to admit."
"I'm worried greatly, Martha," he answered. "I wish I could do something for her."
In a roundabout way the Rovers heard of what had happened to Bill Glutts. He had been locked up over night, and in the morning some relatives had come to his assistance and through paying a fine had had him released. Then Glutts and his relatives had paid for the damage done to the bric-a-brac stand, a damage amounting to nearly a hundred dollars. In the meanwhile, so far as they could ascertain, nothing further had been heard of Gabe Werner.
"Werner is evidently going to keep shady," remarked Fred. "Perhaps we'll never see him again." But in this surmise the youngest Rover boy was mistaken, as later events proved.
At last came another red-letter day when the command to which the older Rovers belonged was mustered out of the United States service. Tom and Sam came in one day, and Dick the next evening.
"Now for civilian clothes once more!" announced Tom Rover. "And then I guess it will be high time for me to get back to the offices in Wall Street."
"And I'm with you, Tom," said Sam. "I'd rather be at my desk than on a battlefield, any day."
When Dick Rover came back he was more filled than ever with a desire to get down to Texas to look over the land which had been left to him by Lorimer Spell.
"I've found out that it is right in a territory where a number of well-paying oil wells have been located," said he. "But I'm not altogether certain that his claim is a sure one, and it might be just possible that some prospectors might try to jump it, now that word has gone forth that he was killed in battle. They may think he died without leaving any heir."
"Well, Dad, you know what I said," cried Jack quickly. "If you went to Texas I'd like first rate to go along. Maybe I could help you with your claim."
"Oh, Uncle Dick! won't you take us all with you?" pleaded Fred. "It would be a grand outing for this Summer. We've been working very hard at school, you know."
"A trip to Texas would put us in A, Number One condition for Colby Hall this Fall," added Andy, with a grin.
"We wouldn't interfere with your business in the least," commented his twin.
At first Dick Rover was rather doubtful about taking four lively boys with him on the trip. But then he felt that they deserved something for applying themselves so diligently to their studies during the Winter, and also for helping matters to run smoothly while he and his brothers had been in France.
"You can go," he announced the next day, after a consultation with his brothers and their wives. "But I am going very quickly—by to-morrow night at the latest. Can you boys get ready so soon?"
"Can we get ready!" exclaimed Andy. "Say, Uncle Dick, just let me run upstairs and get an extra pair of socks and a toothbrush and I'll be ready to go to the North Pole if you say so!" And at this sally there was a general laugh.
After that matters moved with incredible swiftness. It was decided that the boys should take no baggage but what would go in their suitcases for the trip, and these were speedily packed. In the meanwhile, Dick Rover obtained the necessary railroad tickets and sleeping-car accommodations.
"Hurrah! we're off for Texas and the oil fields!" cried Fred.
"Off for the land of luck!" exclaimed Dick Rover, with a smile.
"The land of luck?" questioned Jack. "Is that what they call it, Dad?"
"Yes, Son. And it's truly the land of luck for some. For others it is the land of bitter disappointment."
"Then I would call it the land of luck—good or bad," announced Andy.
They were to leave from the Pennsylvania Terminal late in the evening. The whole family had dinner together, and those to be left behind did not hesitate to give the boys a great deal of advice.
"I hope you don't fall in with any rough characters down there," said Mrs. Dick Rover. "They tell me there are some men in the oil fields who are anything but nice."
"You may find you will have to rough it," said Tom Rover. "I understand some of the oil fields are ten or fifteen miles away from the nearest town."
"Well, we've roughed it before," answered Jack.
The mothers of the boys might have been more upset, but they felt relieved to think that Dick would be with the lads.
Soon the time came for parting, and all drove quickly to the railroad terminal. Then finally good-byes were said, and those bound for Texas hurried downstairs to the big underground train station. Porters with their bags took them to the proper car, and they soon found themselves settled. A few minutes later they were off.
The trip during the night was uneventful, and, strange as it may seem, all of the boys slept soundly. But they were up early and ready for their breakfast just as soon as that meal was announced from the diner.
"I'm afraid we're going to have a rainy day of it," said Dick Rover, as the four boys sat down to a large table while he took his place at a smaller one opposite. "But as we'll be on board all day, it won't matter."
During the meal Jack noticed that his father was reading a letter very attentively, and when the party walked back to their Pullman he mentioned this fact.
"This is a letter from an oil well promoter," said Dick Rover. "I don't exactly know what to make of it. He makes a proposition which on the face of it looks rather good, but somehow or other I have got it in my head that he is a crook."
"In that case, Dad, I'm sure you won't want to have anything to do with him."
"Is he a New York man or one from down in Texas?" questioned Fred, who overheard this conversation.
"He operates mostly in Texas, although he has some connection in New York. He is very anxious to form a new company, and, of course, sell the stock. Well, I am willing to go into a new thing and take stock for myself and try to dispose of some to others, provided the company is really a good one. But I don't want to get mixed up in any shady transaction."
"I should say not!" cried Jack. "The Rover name has always been a clean one."
"What is the name of this promoter?" questioned Fred.
"Carson Davenport."
"What's that?" exclaimed Jack, somewhat startled.
"Carson Davenport. Did you ever hear that name before?"
"I certainly did, Dad. This Carson Davenport has a son Perry, and this Perry Davenport and Nappy Martell were great chums, and unless I am mistaken, Mr. Martell and Carson Davenport were once partners in some mining scheme. I heard Perry and Nappy talking about it several times."
"Humph! if this Carson Davenport was a partner of Nelson Martell, I don't know as I want anything to do with him. That whole bunch is tarred with the same stick. Not one of them is honest," declared Dick Rover bluntly.
"Well, here we are in Texas at last."
"And what immense stretches of country there seem to be, Jack. Miles and miles without a house or any other building."
"You must remember, boys, that Texas is the largest State in the Union," came from Dick Rover. "Some of the farms, or ranches, down here cover thousands of acres."
"How much farther have we to ride?" questioned Randy.
"Ten miles, that's all," replied his uncle.
They had made two changes since leaving New York City, but each stop had been less than an hour in duration; so to these boys so used to outdoor activities it felt as if the whole journey had been continuous. They were bound for a small town which in years gone by had been known as Steerville, but the name of which since the oil boom had been changed to Columbina. This, so far as Dick Rover could ascertain, was the nearest point to where the Lorimer Spell tract was located.
"We'll take a look around Columbina first," Jack's father had said. "I want to see how that claim looks. Then I'll take a run over to Wichita Falls and get those documents belonging to Spell from the safe deposit box in the bank."
"I see an oil well!" shouted Fred presently, and he pointed out of the car window to where the huge derrick could be seen over a distant rise of ground.
"There is another! And another!" added Andy, a few minutes later.
"Now we must be coming into the oil fields," announced Dick Rover, and his face showed that he was just as eager as the boys. "Just think of how some of these wells have made a great many comparatively poor people almost millionaires over night!"
"It sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it, Dad?" exclaimed Jack. "No wonder they call this the land of luck."
"But don't forget the disappointments, Son. Many a man has put his all into sinking a well only to find it absolutely dry."
"And wells cost so much to sink, too!" put in Fred. "Ten to forty thousand dollars each! It's an awful amount to gamble away."
"Not all of the wells cost that much, Fred. In some places they strike oil at a distance of a few hundred feet. But here they have to go down much deeper. Many good wells are down three thousand feet or more."
The train had stopped at one or two towns, and now the porter announced that the next stop would be Columbina, and he took their suitcases to the platform for them. Presently they rolled up to a small wooden station, and the travelers alighted. Then the heavy train rolled westward.
"Welcome to Columbina!" cried Andy jestingly. "Some big city, I must declare. I wonder where the Waldorf-Vanderbilt Hotel is located?"
"What's the matter with going to the Ritz-Copley Square?" added his twin, with a grin.
"Perhaps we'll be thankful to get any kind of a shake-down, boys," announced Dick Rover. "This certainly is worse than I anticipated, although I knew that we couldn't expect much in one of these boom towns."
To a newcomer Columbina certainly offered no special attractions. Only a few years before it had been nothing but a point where the ranchmen had shipped their steers on the railroad, with a tiny stockyard and a small ranchmen's hotel and saloon combined. Now the boom city, if such it might be called, consisted of a long straggling main street with a much dilapidated boardwalk on one side only. In the middle of the street the mud was all of a foot deep, and through this wagons and automobiles plowed along as best they could. All of the buildings were of wood, and none of them more than three stories in height. There were half a dozen general stores, the same number of eating and drinking places, and two buildings which were designated as hotels, O'Brian's being one and Smedley's the other. There was also a long, shed-like moving picture theater advertised to be open twice a week, in the evening.
"I was advised by a man on the train to try the Smedley Hotel first," said Dick Rover. "He thought I'd find a better class of people there than at the O'Brian place. Wait till I ask the station master where the hotel is located."
"You can't miss it," said the station man, when applied to. "It's down at the end of that boardwalk. If you go any further you'll sink into mud up to your knees," and he smiled feebly.
"Any chance of our getting in there?"
"Just as good a chance as getting in anywhere. They tell me O'Brian's place is so full they're falling out of the windows," and the station master chuckled over his little joke.
"Anything in the way of a taxicab around here to take us and our baggage up there?"
"Taxicab? The last man to run a taxicab was Jim Lumpkins, and now Jim's struck oil and he's so rich he won't do nothing. If you want to get up to Smedley's I reckon you'll have to hoof it."
"Come on, Dad, let's walk up there," said Jack.
"But your suitcases are pretty heavy," answered his father, with a smile.
"Oh, we won't mind those," declared Fred. "We've hiked around with just as much to carry many times."
"I sha'n't mind it myself," declared his uncle. "Campaigning in France was a splendid thing to harden one's muscles."
They set off down the one business street of which Columbina boasted. They had to pick their way carefully along the dilapidated boardwalk. At one point they came opposite O'Brian's Hotel. Downstairs was a saloon, and in this a noisy bunch were talking and singing.
"I don't know as I would care to stop there," remarked Randy. "It looks like rather a tough hole to me."
"You are right," responded Jack. "I'd rather go to some private house, if I could find one, or else buy a tent and hire a place where we could pitch it."
"Gee, that's an idea!" cried Andy. "I'd much rather go camping out and do my own cooking than put up with just any old thing."
At length they came to Smedley's Hotel. It was a new building, three stories in height, with a restaurant occupying one-half of the lower floor. Half a dozen men were occupying chairs on the front piazza, and they eyed the newcomers curiously.
"Looks fairly clean, anyway," whispered Fred to his cousins. "I wouldn't want to get into some old ranch that was full of bugs."
The office of the hotel was about twelve feet square, with a sanded floor. On one side was a plain wooden settee, and on the other an equally plain counter on which rested a register and a bell. Behind the counter was a tall, freckle-faced man with a shock of red hair.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," he said hospitably. "What can I do for you?"
"We want to know if we can be accommodated here," answered Dick Rover. "There are five of us."
"How long do you want to stay?"
"I don't know exactly. Several days at least, and maybe a week or two."
"I see." The hotel proprietor scratched his head thoughtfully. "I've got one big room left and one small room directly opposite. The small room has only a single bed in it, but the other room has a double bed and I could easily put two cots in there besides that."
"Would you mind showing us the quarters?" questioned Jack's father. Experience had taught him when in out-of-the-way places not to accept hotel accommodations until he had inspected them.
"Sure thing, Brother. Just follow me."
The boys waited below while Dick Rover and the hotel man went upstairs. A minute later they came down, and then Jack's father registered for the entire crowd.
"You pay for your meals in the restaurant when you get 'em," announced the hotel man. "The rooms are separate. Three dollars each per day."
The rooms to which they had been assigned were on the third floor of the hotel. One was amply large for all of the boys, and the other, while much smaller, had good ventilation and Dick Rover said it would suit him very well.
"The whole outfit is better than I was afraid it might be," he announced. "Some of these boom towns have wretched quarters for newcomers. In fact, I've read in the newspapers that in many places the newcomers had to roll themselves in blankets and sleep out in the fields."
"I was reading about one place where they set up cots on the floor of a general store at night and sold the right to sleep on a cot until seven o'clock in the morning for one dollar," said Randy.
There was no running water, but each room was supplied with a bowl and pitcher, and after the extra cots were placed in the larger apartment an extra bucket of water was also brought up by a maid.
Although they did not know it, the Rovers had no sooner disappeared upstairs than two of the men sitting on the veranda of the hotel came into the office and looked over the register.