But fate had willed that they should not go to bed hungry, for when at last they reached their dormitory, they found their mates indulging in a spread that Slim had furnished to celebrate the downing of Andy Shanks.
They greeted Fred and Teddy with a frenzy of enthusiasm and pushed them down in seats before the eatables. A volley of questions was hurled at them, but Mel a.s.sumed command.
"Not a word," he said, "until we"ve filled these pilgrims up to the brim."
"But think how long that"ll take," joked Billy. "I"ve seen these fellows eat before."
"Mel," said Fred, as he pitched in like a hungry wolf, ably seconded by Teddy, "I always thought you were a good friend of mine, but now I know it. You"ve saved my life."
They ate till they could eat no more. Then, to the eager crowd around them, the Rushton boys went over all the events of that memorable day.
Their chums listened breathlessly as they told of the exciting pursuit of the tramps and their rounding up in the road house. And when they had finished, there was a tumult of applause and congratulation.
"Great stuff, old scouts!" was the way Melvin summed up the general feeling. "You"ve both done yourselves proud this day."
"Of course I"m glad you got back those things for your uncle," said Slim, "but the thing that tickles me to death is the way you polished off Andy Shanks. I haven"t enjoyed anything so much since I"ve been at Rally Hall. Whatever happens now, I feel that I haven"t lived in vain."
"I guess we all feel the same way," acquiesced Billy. "Andy has had that coming to him for a long time. Mel trimmed him once, but that was a year ago, and he"s been aching for another licking ever since."
"Well, he got it all right," declared Lester, "and it was a most artistic job."
"What gets me is how he ever had the nerve to come back here, after he"d been bundled out in disgrace," wondered Tom.
"Oh, I don"t know," grinned Slim. "You know they say every criminal is drawn back to the scene of his crimes."
"If he has that feeling again, I don"t think he will yield to it,"
laughed Lester. "I guess we"ve seen the last of Andy Shanks."
It was late when at last they got to bed and the Rushton boys had never slept more soundly than they did that night.
And when the boys went home a little later they had the warmest kind of greeting. Nothing was too good for them. Teddy saw his advantage, and the youth struck while the iron was hot.
"You _are_ going to let us go with Bill Garwood to his ranch, aren"t you, Mother?" he asked coaxingly.
"I guess I"ll have to," smiled his mother, while Mr. Rushton nodded a.s.sent.
"Sure!" broke in Uncle Aaron, "and what"s more I"ll buy the railroad tickets."
And at this the boys almost fainted.
"Say," asked Teddy, when they were alone, "won"t we have a bully time with Bill on the ranch?"
"We most certainly will," agreed Fred with emphasis.
And what glorious times they had in that wild western country, with its wide sweep of plain and forest, its danger and its mystery, its bucking bronchos and reckless cowboys will be told in our next volume, to be ent.i.tled: "The Rushton Boys in the Saddle; or, The Ghost of the Plains."
"And the cowboys," exulted Teddy. "Whoopee!"
"Riding the mustangs and watching the round-ups," added Fred.
"And greasers and rustlers and Indians and maybe some shooting," said Teddy, hopefully.
"S-sh," warned his brother, "If mother hears any talk of shooting, it"s all off."
"I don"t mean men," explained Teddy, "but bears or panthers or buffaloes----"
"Nothing doing with buffaloes," laughed Fred. "They"ve all been wiped out long ago."
"Well, anyway," Teddy wound up, his eyes shining, "we"re going to have the most exciting time of our lives."