Almost before they knew it, the mid-winter holidays were at hand, and the Rover boys went home to enjoy Christmas and New Year. On their way they stopped at several stores in Ithaca, where they purchased a number of Christmas presents. Some of these they mailed at the post-office. Dick sent a nice book to Dora, and Tom and Sam sent books to Grace and Nellie. The boys also united in the gift of a stick pin to Mrs. Stanhope and another to Mrs. Laning, and sent Mr. Laning a necktie. Captain Putnam was not forgotten, and they likewise remembered George Strong. The rest of their purchases they took home, for distribution there.
A number of the other students had come as far as Ithaca with them, and here the crowd had dinner at one of the hotels,—the same place where Tom had once played his great joke on Josiah Crabtree.
"By the way, who knows anything about Nick Pell?" asked one of the students, while dining.
178
