BOUND FOR HOME

“Hurry Up, Sam, unless you want to be left behind!”

“I’m coming!” shouted Sam Rover, as he crossed the depot platform on the run.  “Where is Tom?”

“He went ahead, to get two good seats for us,” answered Dick Rover.  He looked around the crowd that had gathered to take the train.  “Hi, there, Songbird, this way!  Come in this car, Hans!”

“Say, aren’t you fellows coming aboard?” came a voice from the nearest car, and a curlytopped head with a pair of laughing eyes appeared.  “Folks crowding in to beat the band!  Come on in if you want seats.”

“We’ll be in directly,” answered Sam, and followed his brother Dick to the car steps.  Here there was quite a jam, and the Rover boys had all they could do to get into the car, followed by half a dozen of their school chums.  But Tom Rover had managed to keep seats for all, and they sat “in a bunch,” much to their satisfaction.  Then the train rolled out of the station, and the journey homeward was begun.

The term at Putnam Hall Military Academy was at an end, and the school days of the three Rover boys at that institution were now a thing of the past.  Each had graduated with honors, yet all were a trifle sad to think that there would be no going back to a place where they had made so many friends.

“It’s almost like giving up your home,” Dick had said, several times, while at the actual parting Sam had had to do his best to keep back the tears which welled up in his eyes.  Even fun-loving Tom had stopped a good deal of his whistling and had looked unusually sober.

“We’ll never have such good times as we’ve had at Putnam Hall,” Sam had said, but he was mistaken, as later events proved.

The three Rover boys did not wish to part from their many school chums, yet they were, more than anxious to get home, and for this there was a very good reason.  Their father had told them that he had a very important communication to make to them one regarding how the summer was to be spent.  So far no arrangements had been made for the vacation, and the brothers were anxious to know “what was in the wind,” as Tom expressed it.

“Maybe we are to prepare for college,” said Dick.

“Perhaps we are to go on another trip to Africa?” added Sam.

“Or start on a hunt for the North Pole,” put in Tom.  “That would be just the thing for this hot weather.”

“I can tell you one thing,” went on Dick.  “Whatever father has on his mind is of a serious nature.  It is no mere outing for pleasure.”

“I know that,” answered Sam, “I could see it by the look on his face.”

“Well, we’ll know all about it by this time tomorrow,” said Tom.  “I hope it is some trip—­I love to travel,” and his brothers nodded their heads in approval.