e getting to be a regular bunch of rough-necks," he
growled, after he and his crony had finished a somewhat hurried meal
and gone back to the smoking car.

"Did he want to fight you?" queried Slugger.

"That's what he had in mind to do--as if I would want to fight before
that crowd of people! Why, we would all have been arrested!"

Jack's meal had been spoiled for him, but he did not let the others
know this. He, however, kept his eyes on Brown and Martell until they
left the dining car. Then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Gee! I'm glad they're gone," was Fred's comment.

"You're no more glad than I am," answered his cousin. "I'll teach him
to stare at my sister! For two pins I'd have wiped up the floor with
him!"

"I wish I'd have gotten the chance," put in Andy, from across the
aisle. "Wouldn't I like to have peppered up their food good for them!"

In due course of time the young Rovers reached the Grand Central
Terminal at Forty-Second Street, in New York City. They had sent a
telegram, announcing their coming, and found Mrs. Dick Rover and Mrs.
Sam Rover awaiting them, each with a touring car.

"Well, I see you got in on time," said Mrs. Dick Rover, after the
greetings were over. "I thought on account of so many soldiers being
sent to the various camps, the train might be late."

"We saw some soldiers on the way," answered her daughter.

"And we also saw some freight cars carrying cannon," put in Mary.

"This war is going to make a great change all around," declared Mrs.
Sam Rover. And then she added to her daughter: "What do you think
about your father going to the front?"

"It's just what I expected," answered Mary promptly. "He's a real
patriot--dad is!"

"You are right. But I hate awfully to see him go away," sighed the
mother.

The young folks were soon seated in the two automobiles, and their
handbags were disposed of in the tonneau. Then the cars were started
up, and they were soon whirling away over to Broadway and Riverside
Drive, and then to the comfortable mansions occupied by the three
Rover families.

It was still rather early in the afternoon, but Sam Rover had already
come uptown from his office and was there to greet his son and
daughter and the others.

"It's great news, Dad!" cried Fred, shaking him warmly by the hand,
while Mary clung around his neck and kissed him.

"Oh, I'm going to be real proud of you!" said the daughter.

A little later Dick Rover arrived, and Jack sho