Part 3 (1/2)
”You'll be the hero of this occasion, Sam,” remarked Stanley, as the students tramped in the direction of the college campus.
”Hero of the occasion, I suppose, for hitting Mr. Fogg in the head,”
returned Sam, with a slight grin.
”Oh, forget that!” burst out Spud. ”I don't think he'll do a thing.
Remember the affair occurred on the college grounds, just as Stanley said.”
”Say! where is Songbird to-day?” asked Paul Orben. ”He ought to have been in this fight.”
”He wanted to come very much,” answered Sam, ”but he had a special errand to do for Mr. Sanderson, who is laid up with a broken ankle.”
”Was he doing the errand for Mr. Sanderson or for Minnie?” questioned Stanley; and then a short laugh went up, for it was well known among the young collegians that Songbird Powell and the daughter of Mr. Sanderson, a prosperous farmer of that vicinity, were much attached to each other.
As Sam Rover and his friends reached the college campus, a great cheer arose.
”There he is!”
”Here the conquering hero comes!”
”Let us put him up on our shoulders, fellows!” and a rush was made towards the youngest Rover boy.
”Not much! Not to-day!” returned Sam, and slid back behind some of his friends.
”Aw! come on, Sam!” cried one of the students. ”You are the hero of the occasion, and you know it.”
”Forget it, Snips,” answered Sam. ”What did the fellows do with those banners?”
”Lentwell has them. He is keeping them for you. I suppose you'll nail them up in your den?”
”Surest thing you know!”
”Maybe the fres.h.i.+es and sophs will want them back,” put in another youth in the crowd.
”Not much! They can have them back after I graduate next June,” answered Sam. ”They have got to understand---- Stop it, fellows, stop it! I don't want to---- Well, if you've got to, I suppose I'll have to submit.” And an instant later Sam found himself hoisted up on the shoulders of several stalwart seniors, who tramped around and around the college campus with him while all the other seniors, and also the juniors, cheered wildly and waved their caps.
”Doesn't that make you feel proud, Sam?” asked Spud, during a lull in the proceedings.
”It sure does, Spud,” was the quick reply. ”I've only got one regret--that d.i.c.k and Tom aren't here to share this victory with us.”
”Yes, it's a shame. And just to think of it, after next June, when we graduate, we'll all be scattered here, there, and everywhere, and the good old times at Brill will be a thing of the past.”
”Don't mention such things,” put in Stanley. ”It makes me sick clean to the heels every time I think of it. But I suppose college days can't last forever. We've got to go out into the world, just as our fathers did before us.”
”Yes, and I've got to get into business,” answered Sam. ”I want to help father, as well as d.i.c.k and Tom, all I can.”
”Hi, fellows!” was the unexpected cry from the lower end of the campus.
”Here come the fres.h.i.+es and the sophs back! Line up and be ready to receive them!”