younger brother. "The girls are not here
yet--won't be for two weeks."

"Oh, we might get a view of the place anyway, Sam."

"I want to see Brill first," came from Dick. "If that doesn't suit
us--" He ended with a sigh.

"Oh, it will suit, you can bet on it!" cried Sam. "Father wouldn't
send us there if he wasn't sure it would be O.K. He's as much
interested as we are."

Walking along the highway, which ran down to a little milk station
on the railroad, the three boys soon discovered a farmhouse nestling
between some trees and bushes. They threw their baggage on the grass
and walked up to the front door.

They had to knock several times before their summons was answered.
Then an old lady opened the door several inches and peeped out.

"What do you want?" she demanded in a cracked voice.

"Good afternoon," said Dick politely. "Can we hire somebody to drive
us to Ashton? We were on the train, but there has been a smash-up, and
we--"

"Land sakes alive! A smash-up, did you say?" cried the old lady.

"Yes, madam."

"Was my son Jimmie killed?"

"Nobody was killed or even hurt."

"Sure of that? My son Jimmie went to Crawford yesterday an' was coming
back this afternoon. Sure he wasn't on that train?"

"If he was he wasn't hurt," answered Dick. "Can we hire a carriage to
take us to Ashton?"

"How did it happen--that accident?"

"The express ran into the end of a freight train."

"Land sakes alive! The freight! Maybe it was the one we sent the cows
away on. Was there any cows killed, do you know?"

"I don't think so."

"Well, tell me the particulars, will you? I don't go out much an' so I
don't hear nuthin'. But an accident! Ain't it awful? But I always
said it was risky to ride on the railroad; I told Jimmie so a hundred
times. But he would go to Crawford an' now maybe he's a corpse. You
are sure you didn't see a tall, thin young man, with a wart on his
chin, that was cut up?"

"What do you mean, the wart or the young man?" asked Tom, who was
bound to have his fun.

"Why, the young man o' course; although I allow if he was cut up the
wart would be, too. Poor boy! I warned him a hundred--"

"Can we hire a carriage here or not?" demanded Dick. The talk was
growing a little tiresome to him.

"No, you can't!" snapped the old lady. "We never hire out our
carriage. If we did it would soon go to pieces."

"Is there anybody who can drive us to Brill College? We'll pay for the
service, of course."

"N