“To be sure they will—­especially after all we did for them on the Lakes,” put in Sam.  “But let me tell you, I am curious to know how this thing is going to end.”

“I think Mr. Grinder will get the worst of it,” returned Tom confidently.  “He must know he was doing wrong to put you in that icy storeroom and poor Tubbs in the stone cell.  How did you make out with Tubbs in the closet?”

“Oh, he became quite friendly, and we decided to let the past drop.  I promised I wouldn’t call him Tubby any more.”

“That’s fair,” came from Dick.  “He isn’t such a bad sort.”

On and on hurried the boys.  The road was a somewhat lonely one, with several patches of woods to be passed.  Several times they halted, endeavoring to ascertain if they were being pursued.  But all remained silent.  The snow was now coming down more thickly than ever.

“What a lot of adventures we have had in these woods,” observed Tom, during one of the halts.  “Don’t you remember the tramp who stole the watch, and the rows with Josiah Crabtree and with Arnold Baxter and Dan?”

“Indeed I do,” said Sam.  “Mrs. Stanhope and Dora must be glad to be rid of old Crabtree and Arnold Baxter.”

“It’s a pity Dan Baxter wasn’t locked up with his father,” said Dick.  “Don’t you remember how he used to bother Dora and the Laning girls?”

“Do you think he’d bother them now?” asked Sam.  “If he bothers Grace Laning he had better look out for me.”

“That’s right, Sam, stand up for your own particular girl——­” began Tom.

“I didn’t say she was my girl,” cried Sam, and he was glad that the darkness hid his red-growing face.  “I’m no more sweet on her than you are on her sister Nellie.”

“It’s Dick who must lead off, with Dora Stanhope——­” went on Tom.

“Oh, stow it, and come on!” burst in Dick.  “If you keep on talking you’ll surely be caught.  Grinder may be coming after us in a carriage.”

“If we had our bicycles we could get there in no time,” said Sam.

“Yes, and we might break our necks in the dark,” added Dick.  “Come, we haven’t more than a mile further to go.”

On the three trudged, through the snow, which was coming down faster each instant.  Once they thought they heard carriage wheels behind them, but soon the sounds faded away in the distance.

At last they came in sight of the Stanhope cottage.  A bright light was streaming from the sitting-room windows, and looking in they saw Dora sitting at the table reading a book, and Mrs. Stanhope resting comfortably in an easy-chair in front of the bright-burning fire.

Dora herself came to the door in answer to their ring.  “Why, mamma, it’s the Rovers!” she cried, as she shook hands, “I never expected to see you to-night, in such a snowstorm.  How kind of Captain Putnam to let you come.”

“The captain had nothing to do with it,” answered Dick, as he gave her hand an extra squeeze, which he somehow thought she returned.  “We came because we were having a lot of trouble, and didn’t know what else to do.”