CHAPTER II
A SURPRISE
"Say, it's going to hit him, sure as fate!" cried Tom.
"No help for it," half-groaned Jack.
"And there will be some smash!" murmured Bert. "Oh, what did you do itfor, George?"
"Me do it? Why, say, you fellows had as much to do with it as I did!I didn't do it all!" and the smaller lad looked indignantly at hiscompanions.
"Come on!" cried Tom, as he started on a run down the snowy side of thehill.
The others followed.
"We can't do anything!" shouted Jack.
"Of course not," agreed Bert. "By the time we get there----"
He did not finish the sentence. All this while the big snowball hadbeen rushing on. The man in the cutter had seen it, but too late. Hetried to whip up the horse and get out of the way, but even as Bertspoke the mass of snow struck fairly between the horse and cutter.
In an instant the vehicle was overturned.
The boys, running to the rescue, had a confused vision of a man flyingout to one side, head first, toward a snowbank. They also saw the horserear up on his hind legs, struggle desperately to retain his balanceand then, with a fierce leap, break loose from the cutter and run on,free, across the ice.
As the boys hastened on, they saw the man slowly pick himself up out ofthe snowbank, and gaze wonderingly about him, as if trying to fathomwhat had happened, whether it had been an earthquake or an avalanche.Indeed, so large was the snowball, and so strong was the force of it,for it had gained speed by the rush down the steep hill, that it reallywas a small avalanche.
The ball had split into several pieces on hitting the cutter, theshafts of which were broken and splintered, showing how the horse hadbeen able to free himself.
"We'll have to--to apologize," murmured Tom, as he and his companionskept on toward the man who was now gazing down disconsolately at theruin wrought.
"Yes, I guess we will," agreed Jack. "We--why, Caesar's corn-plasters!"he cried. "Look who it is--Professor Skeel!"
"The old tyrant of Elmwood Hall!" murmured Bert. "Who'd have thoughtit?"
"Now we are in for it," added Tom, grimly.
"Burton Skeel!" said George in a whisper as he caught sight of theangry-looking man, gazing at his smashed cutter and staring off overthe ice in the direction taken by the runaway horse. "Skeel, theman who made so much trouble for Tom Fairfield. And we upset him!Oh--good-night!"
Those of you who have read the first volume of this series, entitled"Tom Fairfield's Schooldays," do not need to be introduced to ProfessorSkeel. The unpopular instructor of Elmwood Hall, where Tom and hischums attended, had been the cause of a rebellion, in which Tom wasa sort of leader, and, later, a pacifier. Tom Fairfield, the son ofMr. and Mrs. Brokaw Fairfield, of Briartown, N. J., had made himselfpopular soon after coming to Elmwood, where he had been sent to boardwhile his parents went to Australia about some property matters.
And now to find that the man upset from his cutter was this sameunpopular teacher, Professor Skeel, was enough to give pause to any setof lads.
But Tom Fairfield was no coward. He proved that when the _SilverStar_ was wrecked, an account of which you may read of in my secondvolume, called "Tom Fairfield at Sea," for the days that followed thefoundering of that vessel were trying ones indeed, and the drearydays spent in an open boat, when Mr. Skeel proved himself not only acoward, but almost a scoundrel, showed Tom fully what sort of a man theprofessor was.
Tom finally reached Australia, and set out on another voyage in time torescue his parents from some savages on one of the Pacific islands. Soit was such qualities as these, and those developed when Tom had otheradventures, set forth in the third book, "Tom Fairfield in Camp," thatmade our hero keep on instead of turning back when he found what hadhappened to Mr. Skeel.
In camp Tom and his chums succeeded in clearing up the mystery of theold mill, though for a time it seemed that they were doomed to failure.But Tom was not one to give up easily, and this, I think, was morefully shown, perhaps, in the volume immediately preceding this, called"Tom Fairfield's Pluck and Luck."
True, Tom did have "luck," but, after all, what is luck but hard workturned to the best advantage? Almost any chap can have luck if he workshard, and takes advantage of every opportunity.
And now, after many weeks of tribulations, Tom found himself at thebeginning of the Christmas holidays, and he and his chums had inprospect a very enjoyable time.
But just at the present moment they would have given up part ofanticipated pleasures, I believe, not to have had the snowball accidenthappen.
"It _is_ Skeel," murmured Tom, as though at first he had doubted theevidence of his own eyes.
"Of course it is," said Jack.
"And we're in for trouble, or I miss my guess," added Bert.
"I wonder what in the world he is doing in these parts?" came fromGeorge. "You thought you'd seen the last of him, didn't you, Tom, afterthe wreck of the _Silver Star_?"
"I certainly did."
"And yet he bobs up again," went on George. "What does he want? Is hetrying to get back on the faculty of Elmwood Hall?"
No one answered his questions, nor did Tom, or any of the others,rebuke Why for his queries. They had too much else to think about.
"Well, young men, well!" began Professor Skeel in his pompous voice."Well, are you responsible for this?"
"I--I'm afraid we are," said Tom. He did not add "sir," as once hewould have done. He had lost the little respect he had for the formerteacher, and when a man loses the respect of a manly youth, it is notgood for that man.
"Humph! Yes, you certainly have done mischief enough," went on Mr.Skeel, in snarling tones. "My cutter is broken, I am thrown out, andmay have sustained there are no telling what injuries, my horse hasrun away and may be killed, and you stand there like--like blitheringidiots!" he cried, with something of his old, objectionable, schoolroommanner.
"We--we didn't mean to," said Tom.
"We just made a big snowball and rolled it down," George said,determined to take his share of the blame.
"Hum! Yes, so I see--and so I _felt_, young men!" cried the irate man,as he brushed the snow off his garments.
The boys had not yet gotten over the surprise of identifying ProfessorSkeel. They could not understand it.
"We will do anything we can to make amends," Tom said, slinging hisskates over his shoulder with a jangling of steel. "We will try tocatch your horse, and we can get you another cutter. We are----"
Something in Tom's voice caused the man to look up quickly. As hedid so Tom noticed that his right ear appeared as though it had beenrecently injured. The lower part was torn and hung down below the otherlobe.
"Ha! So it's you, is it!" fairly snarled Mr. Skeel. "It's you, TomFairfield?"
"Yes, Mr. Skeel. And I can only say how sorry I am----"
"Don't tell me how sorry you are!" interrupted the former teacher, ina voice filled with passion. "I don't want to listen to you. I've hadenough of you. Don't you dare to address me!
"This was done on purpose. It was a deliberate attempt to injure me,perhaps kill me, for all I know. But I will not submit. I will atonce go to town and cause your arrest, Tom Fairfield. The arrest ofyourself, and those rascals with you. I'll have you all arrested."
George turned pale under his ruddy cheeks. He was not afraid, but hewas thinking of the disgrace. But Tom Fairfield was master of thesituation.
"Oh, I wouldn't have anyone arrested if I were you, Mr. Skeel," hesaid, in easy tones.
"Yes, I shall, too!" blustered the man. "I'll have you all arrested!The idea of rolling a snowball on me and almost killing me. I'll haveeveryone of you arrested."
"Oh, I wouldn't," Tom said. "You forget that little matter of theforgery, Mr. Skeel. That indictment is still hanging over you, Ibelieve. And if you were to go to the authorities, it might come out,and there would be some other arrests than ours. So if I were you----"
He did not need to finish. Mr. Skeel turned pale
and uttered anexclamation under his breath.
At that moment George created a diversion by crying:
"Here comes your horse back."