CHAPTER X
FUN WITH OLD RICKS
It was a moment of extreme peril. Sam brought the automobile to a stop.Had the roadway been wider he might have sheered to one side, but thehighway was too narrow for that, and with a ditch on either side, tocarry off rain water, he did not want to take a chance of going over.
"Go pack! Go pack!" shrieked Hans Mueller. He was crouching down,looking with staring eyes through the lowered wind shield of the touringcar.
Suddenly Sam acted. While the biplane was still a hundred feet away hethrew his lever into the reverse and allowed the gears to connect withthe engine. Then the automobile began to move backwards, slowly at firstand then faster and faster, as the youngest Rover put on the power.
"He's coming! He's coming! Ve peen busted up in a minit!" roared Hans,who was shaking as with the ague. "Oh, vy tidn't I sthay home ven Icome to pay dis visit!"
The biplane had slowed down, for Tom had shut off the engine. But the_Dartaway_ still had headway enough to catch up to the automobile and itcame up like some bird of ill-omen, that made even stout-hearted Samquail. But he stuck to his post, sending the automobile backward as fastas he dared. He knew the roadway behind was straight, so he simplysteered by keeping the wheel as it was.
"Tom, Tom, can't you do something?" he yelled. "Turn her aside!"
"I'm trying!" yelled back his brother. "The steering outfit is jammed!"
Backward went the automobile and on and on came the big biplane, untilthe forward part of the machine was almost over the hood of the touringcar.
"Maybe you had better jump out!" cried Sam to Hans.
But even as he spoke there came a sudden snap from the flying machine. Acaught wire had released itself. At once the biplane could be steeredagain, and with a dexterous twist of the wheel and a deflection of oneof the tips, Tom brought it around. Over a rail fence it sailed, toland gracefully in the open field beyond. Then Sam stopped theautomobile.
"Well!" came from the youngest Rover. And that single word meant a gooddeal.
"Hope I didn't scare you to death," sang out Tom, as he climbed from hisseat. "Hans, did you get heart failure?"
"Oh, Dom! Dom! vot for you do him?" asked the German youth, in a voicehe tried in vain to steady. "I dink sure you vos going to cut off ourheads off alretty!"
"It was the steering outfit did it," explained Tom. "I'm awfully sorry Iscared you. I was scared myself. I was going to fly over you and then goback when all at once I found I couldn't budge the rudders. Then I gotalarmed, thinking the machine might turn turtle on me, so I shut off theengine, intending to glide to earth. But I didn't want to glide rightinto the auto. Sam, it's a good thing you thought to run backwards. Ifyou hadn't there would have been a smash-up sure!"
"So dot is der new flying machine," remarked Hans, as he walked into thefield to inspect the _Dartaway_. "Mine gracious! she vos almost so piglike a house!"
"Want to go up, Hansy, old boy?" queried Tom.
"Not for a dousand tollers, Dom! No, not for a million!"
"You'll like it, Hans, when you get used to it."
"No, sir; nixy!" returned the German youth firmly. "I sthay py derground on. You fellers can fly und I vatch you, yah!"
"How are you going to get the machine back?" asked Sam.
"Sail her back," answered his brother promptly. "But I'll have to lookat that steering apparatus first--and you'll have to help me start."
"Better let Captain Colby inspect it first," advised Sam.
But Tom did not want to wait, and so he and his brother looked over theflying machine and soon found out what had gone wrong, and fixed it, sothat the same accident might not occur again. Then Tom got in, and Samand Hans started the propellers, and away sailed the youth in a mannerthat made the German lad stare in amazement.
"Dot's fine!" was Hans's comment. "Say, Dom, he peen a regularaviadventurer, hey?"
"What's that, Hans?"
"Dom, he peen a regular aviadventurer, or vot you call him?"
"Oh, you mean aviator."
"Yah, dot's him. He peen von sure!"
"Your word was O. K., Hans," was Sam's comment. "Tom is certainly an airadventurer!"
The two boys got into the automobile once more and were soon at theRover homestead, where Hans was warmly greeted by the others, all butCaptain Colby knowing him well. Tom had already arrived and the captainwas inspecting the biplane with care.
"Such things will happen, especially with a new and stiff machine," saidthe old aviator. "All you can do is to watch out, and look over themachine with care every time you plan a flight."
Hans had much news of interest to tell about the boys who were still atPutnam Hall and about Captain Putnam and George Strong, the headteacher. He had also seen Mr. and Mrs. Laning, the parents of Nellie andGrace, and had heard something of the latest trouble with Tad Sobber andJosiah Crabtree.
"Vy ton't you got dem arrested?" he asked, when he was told that theevil-disposed pair were in that vicinity.
"We don't want the notoriety," said Dick. "If we had them locked upthey'd be sure to drag Mrs. Stanhope and the girls into court. We arewilling to let them alone if they will only let us alone."
Captain Colby remained at the farm a week and during that time gave theRover boys as much instruction as possible in the art of flying ingeneral and the art of managing the biplane in particular. He hadbrought with him several books on flying and recommended that these beread carefully.
"You all seem to take to it naturally," he said. "I don't believe you'llhave any trouble excepting on rare occasions--and every person who goesup is bound to have that."
After the captain left the boys took several flights, some of them quitelong. They sailed over Dexter's Corners and the railroad station of OakRun, and at the latter place nearly scared old Ricks, the stationmaster,into a fit, by swooping down close to where he was standing. Dick alsomade a flight to the Marley place, and visited the Snubble homestead.
"What did you find out?" asked Sam, when he came back from thelast-named trip.
"Sobber and Crabtree have left the old mill," answered Dick. "TheSnubble boys were over there twice and they couldn't see a sign ofanybody."
"Have they any idea where they went to?" asked Tom.
"No. They said Crabtree sold the mill property."
"Besser you look out for dem scalavags," was the advice from Hans. "Ivouldn't drust dem mit mine eyes open alretty!"
"Oh, we're on the watch!" declared Tom.
The next day the German youth had to leave, and all the boys went downto the railroad station in the touring car to see him off. Old Ricks wasthere and he glared souring at the Rovers when he saw them.
"I guess he didn't like that flying affair," was Sam's comment.
"Oh, he's thinking of the time Tom put the cannon cracker in the bonfireand made him think some dynamite had gone off," returned Dick, with agrin.
"Or the time Tom gave him the cigar that turned into a snake!" went onSam, with a laugh.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way, you boys!" cried the oldstationmaster, as he brushed past, hitting Tom in the knee with a suitcase he was carrying. The train that carried Hans had rolled away,leaving Ricks and the Rovers alone on the little platform.
"Why, Mr. Ricks, what's your rush?" asked Tom, sweetly. "Going to awedding?"
"No, I ain't going to no wedding!" grunted old Ricks. "I don't want youyoung fellers to git in my way, that's all."
"Maybe you have to testify in that case in court," went on Tom, with awink at his brother.
"Ain't got to testify in no court."
"Why, you're in that case--I read all about it in the papers!" criedTom.
"Me in a case in court?" asked old Ricks, suspiciously.
"Sure. It was a terrible trouble, wasn't it?" went on Tom. "I am mightysorry for you, really I am, Mr. Ricks."
Now as it chanced, Mr. Ricks had had some trouble with a neighbor over afence that had blown down between the two properties. The neighbor had
threatened to sue him if he did not put the fence up again. The Roversknew nothing about this, but it had been in old Ricks's mind for a week.
"If anybody sues me he'll git the wust of it!" growled the stationmastersavagely.
"It's a terrible mess, that's a fact," went on Tom. "The papers said hehad threatened to get after you with a shotgun!"
"A shotgun? After me?" exclaimed old Ricks, and turned slightly pale.
"And they say you poisoned the cat," put in Dick.
"And caught the dog and starved the poor animal to death," added Sam.
"It ain't so--I never teched his cat, nor his dog nuther!" roared oldRicks. "He's a blamed fool, he is!"
"Hush! hush!" whispered Tom, solemnly. "Don't speak so harshly of thedead."
"Dead!" exclaimed the startled Ricks. "Who's dead?"
"Didn't you know he was found on the railroad tracks dead?" asked thefun-loving Rover. "Of course they say you let the freight train run overhim. But we know you wouldn't be so wicked, Mr. Ricks."
"Dead? On the tracks? Me let the train run over him?" half-whispered thestationmaster. "I--I--didn't do it! Say, this is awful! Who told youthis?"
"Haven't you read the newspapers?" asked Dick.
"That comes for being too stingy to buy a morning paper," added Sam.
"Of course the local papers didn't dare to print the truth," said Tom."But you'll find a full account in the New York _Blizzard_ and thePhiladelphia _Bazoo_. Your picture on the front page, too, entitled,'Did He Do It, or Did He Did It Not.'"
"Say, I ain't done nuthin', I tell ye!" almost shouted old Ricks, whowas too excited to realize that the boys were making fun of him. "Ifthem blamed city newspapers say I did I'll sue 'em fer damages, that'swot I'll do. I ain't teched Ham Ludd, nor his cat, nor his dog nuther!And it was the wind blew the fence down, I didn't tech that nuther!" Hepaused to catch his breath, "Where was Ham killed? I didn't hear ofanybuddy gitting struck by a train."
"Oh, I don't know who the man was, or where he was struck," answeredTom, as he started to walk away. "But they are after you, Mr. Ricks. IfI was you, I'd pack my valise and hike for California, or Sing Sing, orsome other place."
"I ain't going to run away, Tom Rover, and you can't make me," was thewild reply. "I ain't teched Ham, nor his cat, nor his dog, nor the fencenuther, I tell ye! It's an outrage to say so! I'll sue them newspapersfer a million dollars damages!"
"I'd make it two millions," answered Tom, calmly, and then started forthe automobile, followed by his brothers.
"But see here," went on the stationmaster. "I want to know----"
"Sorry, but we haven't time now," put in Dick. "Hurry, Tom!" hewhispered.
"It's Ham Ludd coming!" added Sam. "Let's get out--before the fat's inthe fire!"
And off the three Rover boys ran to the automobile and were soon rollingaway from the railroad station. But they did not go far.
"I'm going back and watch the fun," said Tom, and leaped out, and ran upbehind the station, while his brothers followed him.