"Oh, Sam, it's only a bill."

"A bill! You are fooling!" And then as his face fell, she did not have the heart to tease him longer, and brought the letter forth from her handbag.

As the lads had antic.i.p.ated, the communications were from Grace and Nellie. In them the girls said that the session at the seminary was over, and that the day previous they had returned to their home on the outskirts of Cedarville. Both had pa.s.sed in their examinations, for which they were exceedingly thankful.

"But they haven't found that four-hundred-dollar diamond ring yet,"

said Sam, after he had finished his letter. "It certainly is a shame!"

"It's as great a mystery as the disappearance of our bonds," was d.i.c.k's comment.

"What has Nellie to say about it, Tom?" questioned Dora, anxiously; for even though she was married and away from them, her two cousins were as dear to her as ever.

"She doesn't say very much," answered Tom. "No one has seen or heard anything about the ring."

"But what of Miss Harrow? How has she treated Nellie since the fire?"

"She says Miss Harrow has not been very well, and consequently did not take part in the final examinations. Now the teacher has gone to Asbury Park, on the New Jersey coast, to spend the summer."

"Perhaps that mystery never will be solved," said Sam. "It's a jolly shame, that's all I've got to say about it!"

After dinner that evening, as it was exceedingly warm, none of the young folks felt like staying in the hotel. d.i.c.k proposed that they take a stroll up Broadway.

"We can walk till we get tired," he said, "and then if you feel like it, we can jump into a taxi and take a ride around Central Park before we retire."

"That will be nice," returned Dora; and Tom and Sam said it would suit them, too.

As usual, upper Broadway--commonly called The Great White Way--was ablaze with electric lights. As the young folks strolled along, the great, flaring advertising signs perched on the tops of many of the buildings interested them greatly.

"I heard yesterday that some of those signs cost ten thousand dollars and more," observed Sam. "What a lot of money to put into them!"

"So it is, Sam. But think of all the money some firms spend in newspaper and magazine advertising," answered d.i.c.k.

"Some day we'll have to do some advertising ourselves," put in Tom.

"That is, after we get our business in first-cla.s.s running order."

"And get our bonds back," added d.i.c.k.

"Oh, say, let's forget those bonds for just one night!" entreated Sam.

"I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep since I came here because of them."

The portion of Broadway where they were walking, is lined with innumerable theaters and moving picture places. They had pa.s.sed on less than three blocks further, when Sam suddenly caught Tom by the arm.

"Here we are, Tom!" he exclaimed, somewhat excitedly. "Here's that moving picture."

"So it is!" returned Tom, and immediately became as interested as his younger brother. They had come to a halt before a gorgeous moving picture establishment, and on one of the billboards they saw exhibited a flashy lithograph, depicting two men struggling in a rowboat with a third man on the sh.o.r.e aiming a gun at one of the others. Over the picture were the words: "His Last Chance. A Thrilling Rural Drama in Two Reels."

"What is it, Tom?" questioned Dora.

"Why, that's the moving picture play we told you about--the one that we got into at the Oak Run railroad station," explained the youth.

"That picture you see there was taken along the river bank back of our farm. Another picture shows the railroad station at Oak Run, with old Ricks in it, and still another ought to show the railroad train with Sam and me on the back platform. Let us go in and see it."

"Why, yes, I want to see that by all means!" declared d.i.c.k's wife.

"Won't it be funny to see you boys in a moving picture!"

"Well, I don't know about this," returned d.i.c.k, hesitatingly; and he looked rather quickly at Tom. "Are you quite sure, Tom, that you want to go into a moving picture show?" he went on. He had not forgotten how Tom had once gone to a moving picture exhibition, and been completely carried away by a scene of gold digging in faraway Alaska, nor how his poor brother had for a time lost his mind and wandered off to the faraway territory, as related in detail in "The Rover Boys in Alaska."

"Oh, don't you fear for me, d.i.c.k!" cried Tom, hastily. "My head is just as good as it ever was and able to stand a hundred moving picture shows. Come on in, I'll get the tickets;" and without waiting for an answer, Tom stepped up to the little ticket booth and secured the necessary pasteboards.

CHAPTER XXII

THE MOVING PICTURE AGAIN

The moving picture theater was fairly well filled, but the four managed to obtain seats close to the middle of the auditorium. They had entered while a slap-dash comedy was being depicted--something that set the audience laughing heartily. Then followed a parlor drama, which was more notable for its exhibition of fashions than it was for plot or acting.

"This sort of thing makes me tired!" was Tom's comment. "I like to see outdoor life much better."

Another one-reel comedy of life on the ca.n.a.l followed the parlor drama, and then there was flashed on the screen the words: "His Last Chance."

"Here we are!" murmured Sam, and sat bolt upright with renewed interest, while Tom did likewise. The first scene of the drama showed the interior of a farmhouse sitting-room and kitchen, and the boys easily recognized several of the men they had seen at the river and the railroad station. There followed quite a plot and a number of other scenes around the farm, and also at a stone quarry which all of the lads recognized as being located at Dexter's Corners. Then came a pretty love scene at the farmhouse, followed by a quarrel between some of the men in an apple orchard.

"Say, that's Blinks' apple orchard, just as sure as fate!" exclaimed d.i.c.k, in a low voice.

"So it is!" answered Sam. "Many's the time we've got apples there!"

The quarrel in the apple orchard was followed by a fishing scene on the river not far from Humpback Falls, where Sam once upon a time had had such a strenuous adventure. Then of a sudden came the quarrel in the boat followed by the shooting.

"Say, that looks just as it did when we saw it taken!" exclaimed Sam, enthusiastically. "This moving picture business is a great thing, isn't it?"

"It isn't just as we saw it," chuckled Tom. "They didn't show how that fellow who went overboard came up again and swam ash.o.r.e."

"Oh, that would spoil the plot of the play," answered his younger brother.

Other scenes in the drama were shown, one in a barnyard full of cows being especially realistic. Then came the scene inside the railroad station at Oak Run, and all of the boys and Dora laughed heartily when they saw the look of astonishment on old Ricks' face as he peered through his ticket window at the actor who had come in for a ticket.

"I'd give a dollar to have old Ricks here looking at himself,"

whispered Tom. "Wouldn't he be surprised?"

"Oh, look! look!" exclaimed Dora, in a low tone. "Sam and Tom, I do declare!"

The scene had shifted suddenly, as do all scenes in moving pictures.

Now was shown the platform of the Oak Run railroad station. The train was coming in, and there were Sam and Tom as natural as life, dresssuit cases in hand, ready to get aboard. The train stopped and some pa.s.sengers alighted, and Tom and Sam climbed the steps of the last car.

"And look! Tom is waving his hand to some one," went on d.i.c.k's wife.

"Isn't it great!"