"Oh, please don't have another row with him!" cried Dora in alarm.
"Let him keep the seats. We can go somewhere else."
"All right, let the pig sleep," said Dick.
He felt tolerably certain that Dan Baxter was awake and heard him, but the bully made no sign.
The party walked away, and the bully sneered softly to himself.
"They didn't dare to tackle me," was what he thought in his conceit. "I'd like to meet 'em one by one alone. I'd show each a trick or two."
At last Cedarville was reached and the little steamer tied up at the dock, and the boys and girls went ashore. Just before leaving, Dick took a look at Dan Baxter and saw that he was now sleeping in earnest.
"I won't wake him," he thought. "If he is carried to the head of the lake, it will only serve him right."
Once on the dock, he and Fred hurried off to see about the baggage, and while they were gone a well-dressed and pleasant-looking farmer came up and kissed each of the girls. It was Mr. Laning.
"I hope you had a nice visit to Cousin May's," he said. "Come, the carriage is waiting out in the street."
And he hurried the girls away before they had hardly time to say good-by.
"Nice girls," remarked Tom.
"Yes, indeed," answered Sam. "Hope we see them again."
"We won't have much of a chance if what they say about Putnam Hall is true, Sam. Evidently Captain Putnam believes in keeping his pupils well in hand."
"Well, Uncle Randolph believes we ought to be taken well in hand."
Dick and Fred returned presently, bringing with them a tall, lean man of apparently fifty.
"Boys," cried Fred, "let me introduce you to Mr. Peleg Snugsomebody, general utility man at Putnam Hall."
"Peleg Snuggers, please," said the man meekly. "Excuse me, but I was sent to bring you to the Hall."
"Do we walk?" demanded Tom.
"No, sir; the carryall is out on the street, and my boy Pete has the wagon for your trunks."
"The trunks are already in the wagon," said Dick. "Come ahead."
"How many of you, please?" went on Peleg Snuggers.
"There is only one of me, thank you," answered Tom meekly.
"Don't joke me so early in the term, please," said the utility man pleadingly. "Goodness knows, I'll get more than my share between now and Christmas. I mean, how many it the party?"
"Five of us, Mr. Sluggrub."
"Snuggers, please; Peleg Snuggers--an easy name to remember when you get the swing of it, sir."
"To be sure, Smullers. Yes, there are exactly five of us," and Tom winked at his companions.
"That's all right; the captain said to bring five. Where is the other?"
"What other?"
"The other boy. I see only four of you."
"You asked me how many there were in the party, Mr. Snugbug."
"Yes, sir; and you said five."
"Four of us, and only one of you. Isn't that five--or do they have a different kind of arithmetic at Putnam Hall from what I have been studying?"
"Please don't joke, Master Rover, please don't. I was to bring five boys." The utility man drew a slip of paper from his pocket. "Four new boys--Richard, Samuel, and Thomas Rover and--Frederick Garrison--and Corporal Daniel Baxter."
"Gracious, the bully is a corporal at the Hall!" came from Sam in so low a tone that Snuggers did not catch it.
"The corporal isn't present," said Fred, gazing around absently.
"So he isn't. Must have missed the boat. Come along, please,"
and Peleg Snuggers led the way to where a large and extra-heavy carryall stood. A splendid team of iron-grays was attached to the carriage; and Dick, who loved good horseflesh, could not help but admire the animals.
"Oh, they are fine, Master Richard," said Snuggers. "Nothing finer on the lake shore. Captain Putnam's one recreation is to drive behind a fast team."
"Is it? I wish he would take me out with him some time."
"Always drives alone. Reckon it kind of quiets him, after a noisy time with the boy."
"I suppose."
They were soon on the way, which led out of Cedarville and over a hill fronting the lake.
"By the way, do you know where the farms belonging to Mr. Stanhope and to Mr. Laning are located?" asked Tom, when they were well out of the village.
"Mr. Stanhope, sir? There isn't any Mr. Stanhope. He died two years ago. That place you see away over yonder is Mrs. Stanhope's farm."
"She has a daughter Dora?"
"Yes," Peleg Snuggers paused for a moment. "They say the widder thinks of marrying again."
"Is that so!" put in Dick, and then he wondered if Dora would be pleased with her stepfather. "So that is the place?"
"Yes, sir; two hundred and fifty acres, and the fittest dairy in these parts. If the widder marries again, her husband will fall into a very good thing. The dairy company at Ithaca once offered fifty thousand dollars for the cattle and land."
"Gracious!" came from Tom. "We've been chumming with an heiress.
Are the Lanings rich, too?"