mother
remained behind to nurse her boy.

The Thanksgiving holidays were now at hand, but the Rover boys decided
to remain at the Hall and not go home until Christmas. Besides, they
were preparing for the party at the Stanhope cottage, which was to come
off on the following Wednesday evening. They had seen Dora, Nellie and
Grace several times, and all had prepared for "the best time ever," as
the girls put it. Captain Putnam gave the boys permission to take the
carryall and allowed them to leave the school on the day of the party at
six o'clock.

"Whoop! here we go!" cried Tom, as he took the whip and cracked it
loudly. "Hold on, everybody! Peleg, don't let the team lag," he went on,
to the driver.

"An' don't you go for to make 'em run away, Master Tom," answered the
driver, grimly.

"It's a pretty long drive and we don't want to be late," said Dick. "So
push ahead as fast as you can."

"Say, Tubby, where's your stovepipe hat?" asked Sam of the dude cadet,
who formed one of the party.

"I--ah--thought it would not be--ah--quite appropriate," lisped William
Philander. "Not--ah--being full dress, you know."

"He was afraid of having it mashed," said Fred. "Hurrah! We're off! Now
for a good night's fun!"

They were to have a good night's fun--and a most unusual adventure with
it.

CHAPTER XIX

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE PARTY

It was a clear, bright evening when the boys drove over to the Stanhope
cottage. All were in high spirits and sang and joked to their hearts'
content. For the time being the trouble with Tad Sobber was totally
forgotten. So far nothing more had been heard of the bully, and all were
satisfied that he had left both Putnam Hall and Cedarville and perhaps
for good.

"One boy told me he used to live with an uncle in New York City," said
Larry. "He didn't know the uncle's name."

When the carryall arrived at the Stanhope place they found the cottage
well lit up. Dora had invited a number of her girl friends and these,
with her cousins, Grace and Nellie, were already on hand. The boys let
out a ringing cheer as they stopped at the horse-block, and the girls
came out to greet them.

"All here?" cried Dora.

"All here," was the answer.

"Good!" cried several of the girls.

"I guess we are a bit early," observed Dick. "But we wanted to make sure
we wouldn't be late, and it's a long drive over."

"You are not a bit too early," answered Dora, and gave him her dainty
hand which he s