t good,
doesn't it?"

"I am glad we let him have that hundred dollars," said Sam. "Do you
think he'll pay it back?"

"Here is a postscript in which he says he will send a money order next
week."

"He certainly means to pull himself together," said Tom. "Well, now he
has turned over a new leaf, I wish him the best of luck."

Almost before they knew it, it was time to leave the farm and journey to
Putnam Hall. Everybody was sorry to see them go.

"I can't abide yo' boys being away nohow!" wailed Aleck Pop. "It jess
don't seem natural to have yo' gone, dat's wot it don't!"

"Oh, we'll be back some day, Aleck," answered Dick. "And if we go off on
some trip later, maybe we'll take you along."

"I most wish I was a waiter ag'in at de Hall," sighed the colored man.

"They can't spare you from here," said Sam.

"Oh, I know dat, Sam."

The boys' trunks had been packed and sent on ahead, so all they carried
with them were their dress-suit cases. Their father drove them to the
railroad station at Oak Run, and their aunt and uncle and the others
around the farm came out on the piazza to see them off.

"Now be good boys," admonished their Aunt Martha. "And take care and
don't get sick."

"And be sure and study all you can," said their Uncle Randolph.
"Remember nothing is quite so grand as learning in this world."

"Yo' keep out ob mischief!" cried Aleck Pop, shaking a warning finger at
Tom, who grinned broadly.

And then the carriage started off, and the journey to Putnam Hall was
begun.

CHAPTER IX

AT THE WILD WEST SHOW

As my old readers know, Putnam Hall was located not far from the village
of Cedarville on Cayuga Lake. To get to the school the boys had to take
a train to Ithaca and then board a little lake steamer stopping at
Cedarville and various other points along the shore.

"It seems a long time since we were at the Hall," observed Dick, as they
settled down in the train.

"And what a lot of things have happened since then!" exclaimed Sam. "I
can tell you what, we'll have a story to tell to the others, won't we?"

"I guess Songbird, Fred, and Hans Mueller have already told everything,"
returned Tom. "More than likely Songbird has concocted some verses about
it."

The run to Ithaca took several hours, and they lunched at noon in the
dining car. It was a beautiful day, and the boys enjoyed the scenery as
much as if they had never seen it before.

"I hope we can make a good connection for