The bell-boy now led them through an orchard.
"There seem to be a lot of apples on the ground," remarked Prescott, halting.
"Green ones---they"re no good," replied the bell-boy.
"Then they are good---just what we want!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Prescott.
"Hold on, fellows! Fill your hats with these apples."
"What are you going to do when you come upon these fellows?" asked the bell-boy.
"Scuttle "em---the way they did our tent!" Tom retorted.
"I hope you pay them back generously," muttered the bell-boy.
"I"ve a score to settle with them for trying to blacken good old Saunders! But see here! Up to date, at least, they"re guests of the hotel, and I"m an employe there. Now, if they get too much the better of matters in a scrimmage, I"ll sail in with you boys, even though I have to resign my hotel job. But, if I see that you can handle "em all right, I shall just stand by without taking any part in the fight"
"We understand your position, and appreciate it," d.i.c.k replied.
"We thank you, too, but we believe that we can take care of them all by ourselves. If we can"t, then we"ll take our drubbing."
"You boys have done some things in athletics, haven"t you?" asked the bell-boy, noting the way that each of the five present members of d.i.c.k & Co. carried himself.
"Gridley High School football team last season," d.i.c.k replied, a trace of justifiable pride in his voice.
"You were?" demanded the bell-boy eagerly. "Then shake! My name is Gerard. We know a lot about the Gridley High School brand of football at Saunders."
Introductions were quickly pa.s.sed.
"Now, I"d like to feel that I"m really one of you, and I"ll fight shoulder to shoulder with you!" chuckled Gerard.
"Please don"t try to take a hand in any fight that may occur,"
Prescott begged. "If you"re working your way through college, just keep your eye on your job. Don"t mix up in any trouble with the guests."
"We"ll soon be at the spot where I left the bunch," said Gerard, a few moments later.
Over a rise of ground the bell-boy led d.i.c.k & Co. Then he pointed to a little grove of chestnut trees.
"There is the rah-rah crowd," he whispered. "You see, they have one of your lanterns, and they"re lunching on some of your food supplies that they brought along with them."
"I wonder what those freshies are saying now," came in a laughing voice, from the rah-rah group under the chestnut trees.
"Their potted chicken is all right, anyway," laughed another.
"Cut me off another slice of the bread. Whee! This college mischief on a dark night gives one an appet.i.te."
d.i.c.k gave whispered instructions to his own forces, then signed to Gerard, who drew back into the shadow.
"I"d like to see the fresh kids now," jeered another rah-rah youth.
"May all your wishes in life be as promptly fulfilled!" muttered Tom Reade under his breath.
"We might have had a nice time to-night dancing with the girls from Gridley if their kid friends hadn"t stepped in and spoiled it all in their juvenile way," grumbled another.
"We"ve finished up all the borrowed food," said another. "What shall we do next?"
"For "next,"" roared d.i.c.k Prescott, "you fake collegians will stand up and take your medicine!"
There was instant consternation in the group under the chestnut trees. All the rah-rah boys leaped to their feet, but, ere they could stir, there was a whizzing sound on the air.
Plunk! Plunk! Ker-plunk! Missiles were flying through the air and the rah-rahs were stopping a good many of them with their own persons.
"Hey! Stop that!" bellowed one of the rah-rahs. "You---wow!"
For his utterance had been for the moment stopped by a large-sized green apple that had struck him full in the mouth.
"Hey! Let up!"
But nothing could stay the fast and furious volley of green apples until d.i.c.k & Co. had exhausted their ammunition. Most of the shots found targets, too.
Once they had had time to recover from their bewilderment the rah-rahs turned in full, inglorious flight, without attempting to strike a single blow in their own defense. Who was going to be fool enough, anyway, to run blindly into a storm of flying green apples?
d.i.c.k and his chums expended the last of their ammunition while chasing the rah-rahs. Their missiles gone, the Gridley boys put on full speed, ran after and overhauled some of their late foes and drubbed them well.
But at last, by common consent, d.i.c.k & Co. came to a halt.
"I reckon we paid the score," laughed Prescott. "They ought to let us alone hereafter."
"No doubt they will," replied Gerard grimly, coming up with the Gridley boys. "I haven"t a doubt that the manager will order them to leave the hotel in the morning."
After extending their heartiest thanks to Gerard, the Gridley boys returned to their camp. There, from their supplies, they rigged new guy-ropes and erected their tent. Soon after, all hands turned in, feeling quite secure against another visitation that night.
The manager, at first, the next morning, said nothing whatever to the rah-rah youths. But, at about ten o"clock a constable appeared and gathered in all of them on a charge of disturbing the peace.
d.i.c.k & Co. were not even asked to go the justice"s court. The hotel manager and bell-boy were on hand, but the crest-fallen lot of rah-rah youths all pleaded guilty. They paid fines of ten dollars apiece.
Then, on their return to the hotel, they were informed that their rooms were wanted at once.
The manager and Gerard personally escorted the rah-rah boys off the grounds of the Ashbury Terraces, and they were seen no more thereabouts. Who they were was not learned, but Gerard"s word was accepted that the rah-rah boys had no connection with Saunders College.
d.i.c.k & Co. had two more pleasant meetings with their high school friends before an about-face was made, and the return hike to Gridley started.
Their liveliest adventures were yet ahead of them.
CHAPTER XV
MAKING PORT IN A STORM
"Did you ever see a blacker, more peculiar looking cloud coming than that one?" demanded Tom Reade, as the high school boys emerged from the gloom of a long, narrow forest road into comparatively open country.