had to tell him. It's a shame to let Nat cotton to fellows like Jasniff and Merwell. They will drag him down as sure as fate."
"I believe you there. But if Nat's father won't listen--why, I'd drop the matter. Besides, you must remember that those fellows are going to another school, situated quite some distance from Oak Hall. Nat won't see them, excepting on special occasions."
"He can meet them whenever he goes to Rockville--the town I mean--and Jasniff and Merwell will get him to drink and smoke, and maybe gamble, and worse. Nat is easily led at times."
"Yes, I know that." Ben drew a long breath. "Well, let's drop the subject, Dave. We have our own battles to fight." And then the boys separated, each to finish the preparations for his departure.
CHAPTER VII
ON THE WAY TO OAK HALL
Swiftly the hours rolled away until it was time for Dave to bid his family and his friends good-by and leave for Oak Hall. The evening before his departure he took a walk with Jessie, to the end of the Wadsworth garden, but what was said between the pair was never known to anybody but themselves. When they came back he was holding her hand, and both of them looked as if they understood each other perfectly and were correspondingly happy.
All of the girls, as well as Dave's father, went to the depot to see him off, and there they met Ben and some of his folks. Then the train came in, and the youths climbed on board, dress-suit cases in hand. The girls waved their handkerchiefs.
"Have a good time!" cried Belle, gayly.
"Take good care of yourself, Dave!" added Jessie.
"Don't forget to write," supplemented Laura.
"We'll do everything you want us to do!" shouted Dave, with a smile, and then he and Ben waved their caps from the car window as the train rolled forward, and Crumville was left behind.
"Well, we are off at last," observed Ben, as he and Dave settled back in the seat for the run to the Junction, where they would have to change cars for Oakdale, the town nearest to the school. "And I am not sorry, are you?"
"Not at all, Ben. When it comes time to go to Oak Hall I am always glad to go and meet the other fellows; when the term is over I am equally glad to get home and see the folks. It is like the seasons--at the end of the summer I am glad winter is coming, and at the end of winter I am just as pleased that summer is at hand."
"It's the change, I suppose." Ben stretched out and drew his knees high up in front of him. "My, but when you come to look at it, what changes have taken place at Oak Hall since we first went there! Don't you remember what a bully Gus Plum used to be, and how Chip Macklin used to toady to him! Now Plum has reformed completely, and Chip is as manly a little chap as any of 'em."
"It's a pity that Nat Poole can't take a leaf from Gus's notebook and reform, too," answered Dave.
"Maybe he will--after he sees the error of his ways. But, Dave, what of athletics this season? Are you going in for them?"
"I am--but not too strongly, Ben. I want to get all the education I can."
"Want to get through and leave Oak Hall?"
"I don't want to be a schoolboy all my life. I want to get out in the world and make something of myself."
"What are you going to become after you leave school?"
"I don't know yet. I was talking it over with father and my uncle, but I haven't reached any decision."
At the Junction the boys had to wait about half an hour for the train to Oakdale. Dave suggested that they walk over to a candy store and have some soda water.
"May meet some of the other fellows there," he added. "The train from the other way came in quarter of an hour ago, and I saw a lot of dress-suit cases in the baggage room."
As the two youths entered the candy store a shout went up from three boys who were drinking soda.
"There are Dave Porter and Ben Basswood!"
"Hello, Dave, old man; how are you?"
"My, look at Ben's new suit! It's almost loud enough to talk!"
"Hello, fellows!" answered Dave, and striding forward he shook hands with the crowd, one after the other.
"Got any of those mountain lions with you?" queried Joseph Beggs, a round-faced, fat lad. "Heard you brought down about a dozen while you were on the ranch."
"Yes, Buster, I've got three in my trunk," answered Dave, gayly. "Want me to let 'em loose!"
"Heard you did up Link Merwell," said Luke Watson, another lad, who was well liked because of his singing and playing abilities. "I was glad to hear it."
"So were all of us," broke in the third boy, a tall, slim youth, Maurice Hamilton by name. "But speaking of mountain lions puts me in mind of a story. Once three men----"
"The same old Shadow!" interrupted Dave, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze that made the story-teller of the school wince. "Shadow, I believe you'd try to spin a yarn when you were proposing to your best girl."
"That sure would be a yarn," cried Ben, as he, too, shook hands.
"I haven't any best girl and you know it," retorted Shadow. "But I say," he continued, closing one eye tightly. "How is Miss Jessie Wadsworth, Dave?"
"Very well," was the answer, and Dave turned a bit red. "Let us have something," he added, hastily, to the clerk behind the soda fountain counter. "What shall it be, Ben?"
"Make it a true love frapp," sang out Buster Beggs, with a broad grin.
"But don't forget to put some ginger in it," added Shadow Hamilton.
"My love, how can I leave thee! One parting hug I give thee! And now when Oak Hall calls me, I go, whate'er befalls me!"
sang Luke Watson, and put up his hands as if playing an imaginary guitar.
"Say, doesn't anybody want to hear that story about the mountain lions?" queried Shadow, reproachfully. Story-telling was his hobby, and it had often been said by his friends that he would rather spin a yarn than eat.
"Some other time, Shadow," answered Buster. "We want to hear about Dave's trip West, and about what he did to Link Merwell."
"Before I tell you about that, let me give you a piece of news," said Dave. And then he related how he and the others had met Merwell and Jasniff with Nat Poole, and how the two former youths were going to Rockville Military Academy. As he had anticipated, this created quite a sensation, and a lively discussion followed, which was kept up even after the crowd got aboard the train which would carry them to Oakdale.
"Well, if Rockville wants such fellows it can have 'em," was Buster Beggs's comment. "I, for one, am glad they are out of Oak Hall."
"I know one fellow who will be glad they are gone," said Shadow. "That is Gus Plum."
"Yes, indeed," answered Dave, for he well remembered what influence Merwell and even Jasniff had exercised over Plum when the youth had found his appetite for liquor almost too strong for him.
Of course Dave had to go over many of his Western adventures, and the others listened with keen interest to all he had to tell. When he mentioned the theft of the horses at the ranch, and how Link Merwell had been mixed up with the thieves, more than one shook his head.
"According to that, Link and Nick are a team," said Luke Watson. "Dave, you had better be on your guard. They won't hesitate to play you some foul trick."
Oakdale, a small but prosperous town, was reached at last, and the schoolboys piled out of the train, along with a few other passengers.