Bobby Blake

“ Bobby's hair was black, and he wore it much longer than Fred. To tell the truth, Fred had the "Riley cut," as the boys called it, so that his hair would not attract so much attention.
Fred had all the temper that is supposed to go with red hair. Perhaps red-haired people only seem more quick tempered because everybody "picks on them" so! Bobby was quite as boisterous as his chum, but he was more cautious and had some control over his emotions. Nobody ever called Bobby Blake a coward, however. ”

“ He shuffled up to the place where Bobby stood. One look he gave and then vented his amazement in a long whistle.
"My goodness!" he muttered. "They've got us beaten before we even begin."
"Aren't we going to fight?" demanded Bobby, with energy.
"What! fight the whole bunch—just us few?"
"Of course. We've got the island—"
"And a fat time we'd have trying to keep it," grunted Max.
"Why, you're a quitter!" exclaimed the smaller boy, under his breath. He whirled and waved his hands to the boys below, busy making snowballs. "Get up here, fellows—in a hurry!" he cried. "Here come the Bedlamites." ”

“ Bobby Blake off the ball team! Where would Rockledge be now in the race for the pennant of the Monatook Lake League?
The lessons proceeded, but the class might as well have been dismissed at once, for only one thought filled the minds of all. And when at last the gong rang, there was a rush for Bobby on the campus, and a buzzing arose that resembled a hive of angry bees.
It was well for the bullies that, sitting on the rear seats, they had slipped out of the door quickly and disappeared. They would surely have come to grief in the present excited condition of the boys. ”

“ Fred grinned at them and was—wonderful to relate!—as silent as his chum. They had agreed to say nothing in response to the chaffing.
"And who was the handsomest woman in the world?" scoffed another boy, who was rather better informed than most of his mates. "Cleopatra, maybe! And she was blacker than our Phoebe who washes for my mother. All Egyptians are black."
"I'd just like to know who you think is the prettiest girl, Bobby Blake?" demanded one of the bigger girls who went to school with the chums, her nose tip tilted to show her scorn. "What do you know about pretty girls?" ”

“ We mustn't get out of practice, even if we can't play a regular game until next spring."
"There he goes!" cried Sparrow. "His boss takes him away. Great lad, that Ginger is. Afraid to say his soul's his own. Bobby Blake just bosses him around—"
It was all over, then! Fred flung off Bobby's hand and rushed at his tormentor. Smack! his fist shot into Sparrow's face.
Half a dozen of the boys then got between the antagonists.
"You want to get us all into trouble?" growled Mouser, one of those who held Fred Martin. "Cut it out. If you've got to fight, there's the 'bloody corner.' Do it right." ”

“ Barry's a good fellow, and the Old Doc. is proud of him, I reckon; but he never was a bone for work."
Pee Wee was inspired by this statement to "root" all the harder for Bobby Blake.
"He can get it, I know!" the fat boy kept saying. "There isn't another boy in the school stands as good a chance."
"But if Mr. Leith is bound not to vote for him, what chance is there for Bobby? Tell me that, now?" demanded Fred Martin.
"What's Old Leith got against him?" asked one of the other boys.
"Oh, it's that fight," said Pee Wee, with a side glance at Fred. ”

“ Bobby wanted to shake Fred—he could have hit his chum himself! And yet—he couldn't desert him. They had come here to this school, strangers. They had agreed to stand by each other, through thick and thin—of course without a word being said about it! Boys do not talk about their friendships like girls.
If Fred were wrong, Bobby could be angry with him, but he could not desert him. If his chum intended to fight Sparrow Bangs in this disgraceful way, Bobby would "second" him—of course he would! ”

“ Bobby and his chums were jubilant over the change as they got together in the gymnasium after breakfast on the morning of the holiday.
“Isn’t it just bully?” cried Fred, doing a handspring.
“The hill will be like glass,” gloated Mouser.
“I’ll bet we fetch further than we ever did before,” exulted Bobby, who could see himself scudding like the wind on his trusty Red Arrow.
“But, gee! won’t it be tough climbing up to the top again,” put in Pee Wee, who liked well enough to ride down but hated the task of walking back. ”

“ He's made him so, Ap Plunkit has."
"I bet we could pitch on Ap and fix him," said the combative Fred.
"Now, you just keep out of trouble if you can, Fred Martin," advised Bobby, cautiously. "You know—if you get into a fight, you'll catch it when you get home. Your father will be sure to hear of it."
"Well! what am I going to do if they pitch on me?" demanded Fred.
"'Turn the other cheek,'" chuckled Bobby, "like Miss Rainey, our Sunday-school teacher, says."
"Huh! that's all right. A fellow's got two cheeks; but if you get a punch in the nose, you can't turn your other nose—you haven't one! ”

“ He could see that the joke was, after all, on him.
"And that's your big trout—ho, ho!" shouted Fred. "An old eel. Kill him with a club, Bobby. You'll never get him untangled if you don't."
"And he'll wiggle then till the sun goes down. Just like a snake," declared Bobby, repeating a boyish superstition held infallible by the boys of Clinton.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Fred, at last pulling the wet shirt off. "I'm aching for laughing. What a mess that line's in."
"And how about your own!" demanded Bobby, on a broad grin again, and pointing into the branches of the tree where Fred had flung his shiner. ”

“ The nearer they approached the farmhouse, the more Fred lagged. But suddenly, in the midst of the long cornfield, Master Martin uttered a cry.
"Look there, Bob!"
"What's the matter with you? I thought it was the dog."
"No, sir! See yonder, will you?"
"Nothing but a scarecrow," said Bobby.
"Yes. But it has clothes on it. I'm going to take them. I'm not going up to that house without anything more on me than what I've got."
Bobby began to chuckle at that. It seemed too funny for anything to rob a scarecrow. But Fred was pushing his way through the corn toward the absurd figure. ”

“ Raymond always had a waiting list.
Mr. Leith devoted most of his time to the older boys; but every fortnight, at least, he went over the reports of the entire school. He was a stiff and stern master, but he considered himself just. For that reason he called Bobby Blake to his desk one day and said:
"Robert, I am sorry there is a serious fault marked against you. In recitations you have done better than any boy in the Lower School and better than most in the Upper. But I do not like a stubborn boy; we can none of us—we teachers, I mean—excuse such a fault as that. ”

“ When Bobby popped up Hi saw the Rockledge boy.
"Hurrah!" yelled the Belden leader. "Come on, fellows! Charge!"
"Let's fire at them, Bobby!" gasped Fred, fairly dancing up and down in his eagerness.
"No. They're too far away yet. Hold your fire."
"Till we see the whites of their eyes—just like Bunker Hill!" exclaimed Sparrow Bangs.
"They'll hammer the life out of us if they get up here," grumbled Max.
Bobby turned on him suddenly. Big as Bender was, he was doing all he could to scare the rest of the garrison.
"You be still!" commanded Bobby. "If you won't fight, run ”

“ And it seems to have Bobby scattered all through it.”
“I guess those toughs heard some of the other fellows coming to our help, doctor,” interposed Bobby. “They did come, you know, but they got there too late—the fruit thieves had gone away by that time.”
“But really, Blake, even at that, you did wonderfully well, both in quick thinking and effective acting,” replied Dr. Raymond. “You are an honor to the school and I’m proud of you. And I want to thank all you boys, for I know that you were standing loyally by, ready to back Blake up if the necessity arose. ”

“ They walked out across the campus to the railing that bordered the edge of the bluff. They were standing there looking across the beautiful lake, and talking, when there was a sudden scrimmage over on one of the tennis courts.
"Hello! a fight!" exclaimed Fred, with lively interest.
"Pshaw!" said Bobby, with some disgust. "You're always looking for a fight!"
"I'm not either! What do you call that?" denied and demanded Fred in the same breath.
"It's the captain," said Bobby, slowly. "And some of the big fellows—I know! they're dragging Bill Bronson and Jack Jinks away to the gym. ”

“ Bobby acknowledged the justice of this with a silent nod.
"Got to be something new, Bobby," urged Fred, with much belief in his chum's powers of invention. "You think of something."
"Might have a show," said Bobby.
"Aw—now—Bobby! you know that's no good," declared Fred. "We'd have to let a lot of the other fellows into it. Can't run a circus—not even a one-ring one—without a lot of performers. And they'd want the money split up. ”

“ As he did so, the boys saw that he had a perceptible limp.
“And the other one has a scar on his face,” whispered Bobby excitedly. “You can see it if you look close.”
They looked more closely, and Fred in his eagerness rose a little too high. His red head caught the eye of the man with the scar, and he uttered a startled exclamation.
“Now you’ve, done it,” whispered Mouser disgustedly. “Why didn’t you keep that red mop of yours out of sight?”
“Hurry, fellows,” urged Bobby. “We’ve got to catch those fellows before they can get away. Whip on your clothes and let’s get back after them.” ”

“ They finally decided to send him to Rockledge School, of which they had heard excellent reports, and to Bobby’s great delight, Mr. Martin consented to let Fred go with him.
The school opened a new world for the boys. They had to study hard, but a lot of fun was mixed in with the work and they had many exciting adventures. They formed warm friendships, but there were two or three bullies in the school who tried to make their lives burdensome. How they finally defeated these petty tyrants and came out on top is told in the first volume of the series, entitled: “Bobby Blake at Rockledge School ”

“ In this Bobby proved himself right. The men in the boats, after encircling the ice floe several times in the pursuit of the escaping seals, finally gave it up and returned, disgruntled enough, to the shore.
“Well,” said Fred suddenly, “I can’t say I’m sorry. The seal’s a friendly sort of old boy—just see what faithful intelligent pets they make, almost as good as a dog—and it seems a shame to kill ’em off just for the sake of what you can get from them.”
“Lucky for you the natives can’t understand much of what you’re saying,” laughed Bobby, glad that Fred felt the same way he did about it. ”

“ Gee, Bobby,” he continued with a sigh of relief, “it was a mighty lucky thing you had that hatchet along with you.”
“And luckier yet that he threw it just right,” put in Lee. “That’s what comes from being a good ball player. One learns how to throw.”
“Don’t give me any credit for that,” protested Bobby. “I might just as well have hit him with the handle instead of the blade. Luck sure was with us.”
They left the loathsome reptile and made their way to higher ground, picking their steps with exceeding care and avoiding as they would the plague anything that looked like a thick stick. ”

“ So I can't go to boarding school with you," sighed Bobby.
"Well," said the restless Fred, "let's get a move on us if we're going to Plunkit's."
"We must get some lunch," said Bobby, starting up once more. "Say! has Meena got the toothache again?"
"She didn't have her head tied up. But she's real cross," admitted Fred.
"She'll have the toothache if I ask for lunch, I know," grumbled Bobby. "She always does. She says boys give her the toothache." ”

“ He did his best to liven Bobby up; but was not very successful at it. It did really seem to Fred as though Bobby "gloomed about" altogether too much.
"It's all right for a fellow to feel badly about his folks," said Ginger to Sparrow, who had become his confidant for the time being, "but you can't get him out of his grouch."
"He's trying to be too good," scoffed Sparrow. "I bet he's aiming to get the medal."
"Scubbity-yow!" ejaculated Fred. "That would be great!"
"Pshaw! he can't get it. No Lower School boy ever got it. I expect Barry Gray will be medal man this year." ”

“ These and many other speculations occupied their minds in the endless hours that they spent in the moldy cellar, and it was with sensations of relief that they at last heard the key grate in the lock at the head of the stairs.
“Come up here one by one, you fellows, and be quick about it,” ordered the harsh voice of the leader of the bullies, and the boys had no choice but to obey.
Bobby was the first to ascend the stairs, and as he reached the top he was seized, a gag thrust into his mouth, and something smothering and muffling descended over his head. ”

“ No, I won't," declared the pugnacious Fred. "Sparrow's trying to get out of it. I'll box him in the gym. But if he's got the pluck of a flea, he'll come down to the corner with his bare fists—and you and Bobby here are enough to see fair play."
"Whew!" whistled Shiner, his eyes dancing. "Do you mean it?"
"You'll find out that I do," threatened Fred, wagging his head.
"You sha'n't fight that way, Fred!" cried Bobby. "The School won't stand for it."
"You mean that bully, Barry Gray, won't stand for it. He always wants to boss."
"You game to see them through, Bobby?" demanded Shiner. ”