Dave Porter and His Rivals: or, The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall. Stratemeyer Edward

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      "We'll have the Lookout all to ourselves," said Dave. "And that is just what we want."

      "Maybe I'm not getting hungry!" cried Phil. "I really believe I could choke down a chicken sandwich, if I was forced to do it!"

      "'Forced' is good!" answered Dave. "Girls, be sure to keep the hamper away from Phil, or he won't leave enough behind to feed a canary," and this remark brought forth the first laugh since the trouble on the road.

      They drove as close to Lookout Point as the road allowed, and then placed the two cars in a safe place under the trees.

      "We must keep our eyes open," whispered Dave to the other boys. "That other crowd may sneak up and try to damage the machines, so as to make us walk from here."

      "We'll watch out," answered Roger; and the others said the same.

      While the boys started a campfire over which to boil some coffee, and obtained a bucket of fresh drinking water from a nearby spring, the girls spread a tablecloth over some flat rocks and set around the dishes and the things to eat. There was more than enough of everything to go around, and it was particularly appetizing after that long ride in the fresh air.

      "I tell you, this is something like," cried Dave, munching on a sandwich and a stalk of celery. "I shouldn't mind having a picnic like this once a week regularly."

      "Make it twice a week," returned Roger, who was eating a sandwich from one hand and a hard-boiled egg from the other.

      "Who'll have some coffee?" cried Phil, coming up with a pot of the steaming beverage. "I've got to strain it through the corner of a napkin, but I guess that won't hurt it."

      "Napkin, indeed!" cried Jessie. "There is a strainer in the spout."

      "Oh, is there? I didn't look in to see. Well, here goes! Coffee! Ten cents a cup, or two cups for a nickel! Good for the complexion and warranted to cure the blues!" cried the shipowner's son gayly, and swung the pot around over his head.

      "Hi! Look out there!" roared Sam, clapping his hand to his ear. "I like coffee, but I don't drink it that way!" And he wiped off a few drops that had reached him.

      "Phil is fined one horseshoe nail for spilling the coffee," cried Dave.

      "Don't nail me so soon!" answered the shipowner's son gayly.

      "Shoo! Just to hear that!" murmured Roger.

      "I'm too hoarse to answer to that!" said Ben.

      "Say, do you know why a lawyer likes to drink coffee?" asked Sam.

      "Why?" asked the girls, in a chorus.

      "Because there is always a fee in it for him," was the answer. And then the joker had to dodge an olive and a pickle that Dave and Phil hurled at him, while all the girls giggled.

      An hour was spent over the lunch, the boys doing their best to entertain the girls and succeeding admirably. Of course a good many of the things that were said were silly, but everybody was in good humor and out for a good time, so what did it matter? In their high spirits they forgot all about the unfortunate occurrence of the morning.

      After the lunch the boys helped the girls clean up and put away what was left, and then all strolled about, first to the edge of the Lookout, to view the scenery, and then to the woods and the brook beyond. Dave naturally paired off with Jessie, while Roger went with Laura, and Phil with Belle.

      "Well, it won't be long now before I'll be off again for Oak Hall," said Dave, as he and Jessie stood where the brook tumbled over a series of rocks, making a murmur pleasant to hear.

      "Yes, Dave, and I – I shall be sorry to have you go," said Jessie, looking him full in the eyes.

      "You'll write to me often, won't you, Jessie?" he asked, in a lower voice.

      "I'll answer every letter you send, Dave," and now she cast down her eyes for a moment. "I always do."

      "I know it – and you can't imagine how much I treasure those letters," he went on.

      "Well, I – I think a lot of your letters, too," she whispered.

      "Then you want me to write very often?"

      "Yes."

      "All right, I will. And, Jessie – " continued Dave, but just then a shout from Sam interrupted him.

      CHAPTER V

      THE BOYS AND A BULL

      "Wonder what Sam wants?" said Dave, as the shouting continued. "I guess I'll have to go and see."

      He ran over the rocks in the direction of the cries, and soon came in sight of his chum.

      "Hurry up!" cried Sam. "I want you!"

      "What is it, Sam?" questioned Dave.

      "We are going to have trouble."

      "What, have Jasniff and those others come here?"

      "No, but maybe it's just as bad, Dave. Just look toward the autos."

      Dave did as requested, and his face became a study. He was half inclined to laugh, yet, having been brought up in the country, he well knew the seriousness of the situation.

      The two automobiles stood side by side, about three yards apart. Between them was a big and angry-looking bull, tramping the ground and snorting viciously. The bull had a chain around his neck, and to the end of this was a small-sized tree stump, which the animal had evidently pulled from the ground in his endeavor to get away from his pasture. The tree stump had become entangled in the wheel of one of the automobiles, and the bull was giving vicious jerks, first one way and then another, causing the machine to "slew around" in an alarming fashion.

      "Sam, we'll have to get him out of there!" cried Dave. "If we don't he may break that wheel – or do worse."

      "I'm afraid he'll run off with the car!" gasped Sam. He was almost out of breath from running and calling.

      By this time the others were coming up. At the sight of the savage bull several of the girls commenced to scream.

      "Oh, we'll be killed!"

      "Can't somebody drive him away!"

      "Look! look! He is dragging one machine into the other!"

      "You girls had better keep back," warned Dave. "If he breaks loose he may come for you."

      "Oh, Dave, do be careful!" cried Jessie.

      "Yes, yes, don't go too close," added his sister.

      "What do you suppose we can do?" questioned the senator's son, as the boys gathered in a group at a little distance, and the girls got behind them.

      "If I had a hooked pole I'd soon fix him," answered Dave.

      "How?" asked Phil, who knew little or nothing about bulls.

      "See that ring in his nose? I'd hook him in that and then keep him at the end of the pole. That always brings 'em to terms."

      "But we haven't got any hook," said Ben. СКАЧАТЬ