o. But you might get a carriage over to the Sanderson place."

"Where is that?" asked Sam.

"Up the road a piece," and the old lady motioned with her head as she
spoke. "But now, if my son Jimmie was in that accident--"

"Good day, madam," said Dick and walked away, and Sam and Tom did the
same. The old lady continued to call after them, but they paid no
attention.

"Poor Jimmie! If he isn't killed in a railroad accident, he'll be
talked to death some day," was Sam's comment.

"Don't you care. We know that Jimmie's got a wart, anyway," observed
Tom, and he said this so dryly his brothers had to laugh. "Always add
to your fund of knowledge when you can," he added, in imitation of his
Uncle Randolph.

"I hope we have better success at the next farmhouse," said Sam.
"I don't know that I want to walk all the way to Ashton with this
dress-suit case."

"Oh, we're bound to find some kind of a rig at one place or another,"
said Dick. "All the folks can't be like that old woman."

They walked along the road until they came in sight of a second
farmhouse, also set in among trees and bushes. A neat gravel path,
lined with rose bushes, ran from the gate to the front piazza.

"This looks nice," observed Sam. "Some folks of the better sort must
live here."

The three boys walked up to the front piazza and set down their
baggage. On the door casing was an electric push button.

"No old-fashioned knocker here," observed Dick as he gave the button a
push.

"Well, we are not wanting electric push buttons," said Tom. "An
electric runabout or a good two-seat carriage will fill our bill."

The boys waited for fully a minute and then, as nobody came to answer
their summons, Dick pushed the button again.

"I don't hear it," said Sam. "Perhaps it doesn't ring."

"Probably it rings in the back of the house," answered his big
brother.

Again the boys waited, and while they did so all heard talking at a
distance.

"Somebody in the kitchen, I guess," said Tom. "Maybe we had better go
around there. Some country folks don't use their front doors excepting
for funerals and when the minister comes."

Leaving their dress-suit cases on the piazza, the Rover boys walked
around the side of the farmhouse in the direction of the kitchen.
The building was a low and rambling one and they had to pass a
sitting-room. Here they found a window wide open to let in the fresh
air and sunshine.

"Now, you must go, really you must!" they hear