Tom Fairfield

“ Skeel.
In camp Tom and his chums succeeded in clearing up the mystery of the old mill, though for a time it seemed that they were doomed to failure. But Tom was not one to give up easily, and this, I think, was more fully shown, perhaps, in the volume immediately preceding this, called “Tom Fairfield’s Pluck and Luck.”
True, Tom did have “luck,” but, after all, what is luck but hard work turned to the best advantage? ”

“ Consequently, behold yours truly without a place to sleep, unless he goes into town to a common boarding house. And I did want to get in with the Freshmen! It’s tough luck!”
Tom was doing some rapid thinking.
“I don’t suppose you know of a good place in town; do you?” went on the other. “My name is Fitch—Jack Fitch. I’m from New York city.”
“Mine’s Tom Fairfield, from Briartown,” said our hero.
“Well, Tom Fairfield, have you been here long enough to recommend a place to room, where I can also get the eats; especially the eats, for I’m a good feeder. Know of a likely place?” ”

“ We’ll give you a Latin lesson later. And, in the meanwhile, here is a dollar to buy a dictionary,” and Tom passed over a bill to the man who was always a friend to the students.
As for Professor Skeel he was not heard of [206] again for some time. But the lads of Elmwood Hall did not care. They had Tom Fairfield, who became more of a leader than ever after his successful strike. As for Sam Heller, he led a miserable life as a Freshman—ignored by nearly all.
“Come on in to town,” invited Bruce that night. “I’ll treat you fellows to a good feed, Tom. ”

“ The Tom Fairfield Series
By ALLEN CHAPMAN
Author of the “Fred Fenton Athletic Series,” “The Boys of Pluck Series,” and “The Darewell Chums Series.”
12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid.
Tom Fairfield is a typical American lad, full of life and energy, a boy who believes in doing things. To know Tom is to love him. ”

“ Tom and Jack tried to dodge, but could not. There was a clash, and Jack was caught. In a moment other Sophomores came up, and had him. Tom was struggling with his captor.
“Take that!” cried the latter, when, finding he could not subdue Tom, he struck our hero a blow in the face.
“I won’t take that from any one!” cried Tom fiercely. “Hazing customs or not!” He retaliated, and with such good measure that he knocked the other down. The black mask came off in the fall, and it was light enough for Tom to see Sam Heller.
“You!” he cried. “You’re not a Sophomore! You have no right to haze!” ”

“ Tom passed over his exercise. “Is this your usual style of printing, Fairfield?”
“I am not used to such work, and I have no decided style. I vary it, I suppose, not having had much practice at it.”
“So I see,” remarked Professor Skeel, with a sharp glance at our hero—a glance that Tom returned unabashed.
“Say, what do you think of it?” asked Jack of his chum a little later, when both were in their room.
“Think of it? That it’s getting worse and worse,” remarked Tom bitterly. “I’ve had about all I can stand. Elmwood would be a perfect school, and a most jolly one, if it wasn’t for Skeel.” ”

“ Why shouldn't we stay?"
"You know why you shouldn't stay!" cried Tom, shaking his finger at Sam and Nick. "After the mean trick you played on Bert and Jack, standing guard over them in the old mill, in league with that scoundrel Skeel—giving Jack and Bert only bread and water—after that you dare come back here and expect to be treated decently? Well, you're expecting too much, that's all I've got to say! We'll make Elmwood Hall too hot to hold you! You'll live in Coventry all the while you're here. You won't get a decent——"
"Oh, get out of my way, Fairfield, or I'll run you down!" ”

“ Skeel had seated himself at the table.
“Revenge! That’s the game!” was the fierce answer, and a fist was banged down on the table. “I want revenge, and I’m going to have it!”
“Who’s the party?” demanded Murker.
“Someone you don’t know, but whom you may soon. Tom Fairfield! I owe him a long score, but I’m going to begin to pay it now. I want you to help me, Whalen.”
“Oh, I’ll help you quick enough,” was the ready answer.
“He was instrumental in having you discharged from Elmwood Hall, wasn’t he?” went on the former instructor. ”

“ Skeel. “You would be much more useful to me at Elmwood [43] Hall than out of it. But it can’t be helped, I suppose.”
“I didn’t go and get myself discharged!” whined he who was called Whalen. “It was that whelp, Tom Fairfield, who was to blame.”
The man did not seem to count his own disgraceful conduct at all.
“Well, if Tom Fairfield was to blame, so much the better. We can kill two birds with one stone in his case,” chuckled the professor. “Now I think we understand each other. We needn’t meet again until we are up—well, we’ll say up North. ”

“ Pack ’em in like sardines. The more the merrier. We’ll make this a record spread.”
“Jove, a spread just after you’ve organized a strike!” exclaimed Bert Wilson, admiringly. “Say, you do do things, Tom Fairfield.”
“Oh, what’s the use sitting around like a bump on a log?” asked our hero. “Now we’ll go to supper, and mind, every fellow is to stow away in his pockets anything not in a liquid form that he can. ”

“ His identity was ascertained by some papers taken from his pocket, it was—Don Carlo—the “Hero of Shirt-Tail Bend.”
SCENE THIRD—THE SEPARATED SISTERS. On the stream of human nature's blood,
Are ups and downs in every shape and form,
Some sail gently on a rising flood,
And some are wrecked in a tearful storm.
Tom Fairfield was descended from one of the best families in Virginia. Yet he was animated by what we may call a restless spirit. He ran away from home at twelve years of age, and came to Kentucky with a family of emigrants, who settled near Boone Station, in 1791. ”

“ Off in the distance, down the hill, could be seen the dim lights in the old farmhouse of Mr. Appleby.
"Well?" asked the tramp, in a hard voice. "Go ahead, an' get done with it. I'm tired of standing here." He had released his thumb from the spring of the electric torch, and the light went out, making the spot seem all the blacker by contrast.
Tom drew in his breath sharply. Taking a stride forward, and reaching out his two muscular arms in the darkness, he asked in a low voice:
"How much did you pay for that cyanide of potassium, Jacob Crouse?" ”

“ Tom had no intention of sharing his prison with a bear, and, raising his two bound feet Tom kicked the animal on its most tender place—the nose. With a growl Bruin withdrew, and Tom could hear him sniffing indignantly as he scampered over the snow. But the bear had made for Tom a way of escape. ”

“ My! but it's good to see the old place again, Morse," and the tall, good-looking lad whom the other had greeted so effusively held out his hand—a firm, brown hand that told of a summer spent in the open.
"Any of our boys back, Morse?" went on Tom Fairfield, as he looked around the campus of Elmwood Hall. "I thought I'd meet Bert Wilson or Jack Fitch on my way up, but I missed 'em. How are you, anyhow?"
"Fit as a fiddle. Say, you're looking as if you had enjoyed your vacation."
"I sure did! You're not looking bad yourself. Able to sit up and take nourishment, I guess." ”

“ Tom at once made friends and enemies, as any lad would. But his enemies were few, the two principal ones being Sam Heller and Nick Johnson, and they cordially hated our hero. Tom's chief friend was Jack Fitch, with whom he roomed, though Bert Wilson, George Abbot, Joe Rooney, Lew Bentfield, Ed. Ward, Henry Miller and a host of others were on intimate terms with him. I might also mention Bruce Bennington, a Senior when Tom reached Elmwood Hall, and with whom Tom soon became friendly. ”

“ Why do you want to bother answering a fellow like him?"
"Oh—er—all right," stammered Bert, and he looked from Jack to Tom, wonderingly.
"All right. You may think you're smart, but you'll find that th' law's smarter than any of ye!" threatened the farmer, as he turned aside with a scowl.
"Nice sort of chap—not," murmured Tom, as he strode on, his companions hurrying to catch up to him.
"I should say so," agreed Jack. "Why, any fellow might lose his pin—not necessarily at Appleby's hay stacks—and that, in his eyes, would make him guilty. I don't even know where my school pin is at this moment." ”

“ Once they had made up their minds to accept the situation the boys made merry over the meager breakfast.
“Anyhow, we can cut all lectures!” exulted several who were not fond of study.
“And we’ll have to pull our belts in a few holes if this sort of grub keeps up long,” commented Jack.
“Yes, a fine sort of strike this is!” sneered Sam Heller. “I never agreed to starve, Tom Fairfield.” He glared at his rival.
“You can starve with the rest of us,” spoke our hero, grimly. “Besides, you can live a long time on bread and water. ”

“ Tom glanced ahead, and from side to side, to see if the tramp had leaped a fence and was seeking to get away across some pasture. But he saw nothing, and was aware of a dim moving spot just ahead of him. It was as if the spot was a little lighter in darkness than the surrounding night.
"He's in the lane yet, I think," said Tom, to himself, trying to run so as to bring as little weight as possible on his injured ankle. "At least I hope he is. And the lane doesn't end yet for some distance." ”

“ Say! Look at Tom go through with the ball."
"Yes. He's playing better. I'm sorry he and Sam are on the outs. I'm always afraid of a clash."
"Yes, that's likely. See him go! Say! if he'll play that way Saturday we'll wipe up the gridiron with Holwell."
"Let's hope so!" exclaimed the captain.
Indeed, Tom was playing as he had seldom played before. And Sam was passing the ball to him accurately. There was not a fumble.
Perhaps it was because he realized that he was being narrowly-watched, not only by Tom but by Bert and Jack as well. ”

“ This time there was not an eye but what was turned on Tom. He felt the gaze and straightened up.
"But I wish to state, Doctor Meredith," he said quickly, "that I had nothing to do with the poisoning of the horses, and I did not know of the occurrence until I saw the account in the paper."
"Very well, we will note your denial, Fairfield, but about this sweater. It is rather damaging evidence, since you yourself admit that it is yours." ”

“ I'm much obliged to you, and with a smile of hope our hero hurried from the drug store, followed by the curious glances of the proprietor and the clerk.
CHAPTER XX MORE SEEKING Tom Fairfield hurried on back toward Elmwood Hall. His brain was busy with many thoughts. At first he felt a spirit of elation.
"A scar—a big scar," he murmured. "Then it couldn't have been him, unless he got hurt after I saw him. And yet if he had, it was too short a time for a scar to form. The clerk would have said a wound, and not a scar. And yet—oh, I'm not sure after all! ”

“ Tom said. “Let’s try some other route.”
“Say!” cried Jack. “What’s the sense of all four of us going in the same direction all the while? Why not try four ways at once? The one who finds the road can fire two shots in quick succession. The rest of us will then come to where we hear the shots.”
“A good idea!” commented Tom. “We’ll try it. Scatter now, and don’t go too far. Oh, you’re coming with me, are you, Towser?” for the dog followed him, evidently considering Tom his master.
The four boys now set off in different directions, and soon were lost to sight of one another in the storm. ”

“ The tramp had blundered into some puddle, and had flashed his electric torch to get his bearings. This Tom saw, and he also saw that the man had increased the distance between them.
"He's going to get away from me if I can't do a little better sprinting work," murmured Tom grimly. "If I was making a touchdown I'd have to do better than this. I'll just pretend that I am out for a touchdown."
Clenching his teeth to keep back exclamations of pain, that, somehow or other, would force themselves out, as his ankle twinged him, Tom swept on. ”

“ Who—who are you?" gasped Tom, when he had recovered his breath.
"I—I—who are you?" came the quick retort, and the voice was suspicious. Whoever it was evidently was not going to be caught by a prowling monitor.
"George Abbot!" gasped Tom, as he recognized the voice of his chum.
"What in the world is the rush? What's the hurry?"
"News! I've got great news!" cried George. "Cats! But you knocked the wind out of me all right. I—I was coming fast myself, I guess. Where are you going?"
"Out," replied Tom briefly. "But what's the news?"
"Better not go," advised George, speaking more composedly now. ”

“ I like a man to take some interest in life.”
“Didn’t this man do that?” asked Tom, as he stowed his gun away on the straw-covered bottom of the pung.
“Not a cent’s worth!” cried Sam, who was hearty and bluff enough to suit anyone, and jolly in the bargain. “This chap sort of wrapped himself up in one of my fur robes, like one of them blanket Indians I read about out West, and he hardly spoke the whole trip. But you’ll probably see him over at Hounson’s. Well, are you boys all ready?”
“I guess so,” assented Bert, as he slung his camera over his shoulder by a strap. ”

“ There was no doubt but that some one was out in the corridor, but as silence replaced the rather noiseless celebration of the feast, the footsteps could be heard retreating.
“A spy sent to make a report,” was Tom’s opinion. “Well, we can’t be any worse off than we are. Keep things going, fellows,” and the spread proceeded.
Meanwhile a curious scene was being enacted in the study of Doctor Meredith. All the members [165] of the faculty were present, and were being addressed by Professor Skeel.
“I think it is due me, as an instructor in this school, that this class be punished,” he said. ”