“Who is the album to go to?” asked Tom indifferently.

“Why—­er—­Minnie Sanderson,” answered Songbird innocently.  “You see, we have gotten to be very good friends lately.”

CHAPTER XXI

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

The next day the Rover boys went down to Ashton to see what they could find in the stores.  Dick said he wanted to get something nice for his Aunt Martha, Tom wanted something for his father, and Sam said he thought Uncle Randolph was deserving of a gift that was worth while.

Yet when they got into the largest store of which the town boasted all seemed to gravitate naturally to where the pretty things for the ladies were displayed.

“There’s a dandy fan,” murmured Tom.  “Nellie likes fans very much.”

“So does Grace,” returned Sam.  “Say, what are you going to do?”

“What are you going to do, Sam?”

“I’m going to get one of those fans and send it, along with a box of bonbons and chocolates,” answered the youngest Rover boldly.  “And I’m going to send Mrs. Laning a pair of kid gloves,” he added.

“Then I’ll send a fan, too,” answered Tom, “and I’ll send Mrs. Laning a workbox.  I know she’d like one.”

In the meantime Dick was looking at some fancy belt buckles and hatpins.  He knew Dora liked such things.

“I’ll just take Songbird’s advice and get the best I can and send them,” he told himself.  And he picked out the best buckle he could find, and likewise a handsome hatpin, and had them put into a fancy box, along with a fancy Christmas card, on which he wrote his name.  Then he purchased a five-pound box of candy at the confectioner’s shop, and Tom and Sam did the same.

This was the start, and now that the ice was broken, and the first plunge taken, the boys walked around from one store to another, picking up various articles, not alone for the folks at home, but also for their various friends.  And they added a number of other things for the girls, too.

“It’s no worse to send four things than two,” was the way Tom expressed himself.

“Right you are,” answered Dick.  Now that they had decided to send the things they all felt better for it.

On the day school closed there was another fall of snow, and the boys were afraid they would be snowbound.  But the train came in, although rather late, and all piled on board.

At Oak Run, their railroad station, they found Jack Ness, the Rover’s hired man, awaiting them with the big sleigh.  Into this they tumbled, stowing their dress-suit cases in the rear, and then, with a crack of the whip, they were off over Swift River, and through Dexter’s Corners, on their way to Valley Brook farm.

“And how are the folks, Jack?” asked Sam as they drove along, the sleighbells jingling merrily in the frosty air.

“Fine, Master Sam, fine,” was the hired man’s answer.