rejoined his brothers.

With a handful of paper Ricks again approached the blaze. He was
standing almost over it when the firecracker went off, making a
tremendous report and scattering the light blazing paper in all
directions.

"Help! I'm killed!" yelled old Ricks, as he fell upon his back.
"Get me away from here! There's dynamite in this fire!" And he
rolled over, leapt to his feet, and ran off like a madman.

"Don't be alarmed -- it was only a firecracker," called out Tom,
loud enough for all standing around to bear, and then he ran for
the train, which had just come in. Soon he and his brothers were
on board and off, leaving poor Ricks to be heartily laughed at by
those who had observed his sudden terror. It was many a day
before the cranky station master heard the last of his dynamite.

The boys were to ride from Oak Run to Ithaca, and there take a
small steamer which ran from that city to the head of the lake,
stopping at Cedarville, the nearest village to Putnam Hall. At
Cedarville one of the Hall conveyances was to meet them, to
transfer both them and their baggage to the institution.

The run to Ithaca proved uneventful although the boys did not tire
of looking out of the window at the beautiful panorama rushing
past them. At noon they had lunch in the dining car, a spread
that Sam declared was about as good as a regular dinner. Three
o'clock in the afternoon found them at the steamboat landing,
waiting for the Golden Star to take them up to Cedarville.