The weeks glided by quickly, until spring was at hand, and the green grass began to cover the bills and fields surrounding Cayuga Lake. Still the Rover boys pegged away, and it must be admitted that even Captain Putnam was astonished at their progress. "They are whole-souled fellows," he said to George Strong. "They put their whole mind into everything they go into." "And those are the boys who afterward make their mark in the world," answered the head assistant. "The Rover boys are all right." CHAPTER XV HOW ARNOLD BAXTER ESCAPED "Well, I never!" It was Dick Rover who uttered the remark, as he leaped from the chair in which he had been sitting, newspaper in hand. "Never what, Dick?" drawled Tom lazily, looking up from a kite he was mending. "Never saw anything to equal those Baxters. What do you think? Arnold Baxter has escaped from prison." "What!" ejaculated Tom, and on the instant the kite was forgotten, and Tom smashed it directly through the middle with his foot as he came to his brother's side. "Yes, he has escaped, and in the slickest manner I ever heard of. I tell you, Tom, he is a prize criminal, if ever there was one." "But how did he get out?" "How? Why, just shook hands with his jailers, thanked them for their kindness, and then left." "Oh, pshaw, Dick, is this a joke? Because if it is, I want to remind you that we had the first of April last week." "It's no joke, although Baxter ought to have played his trick on the first, true enough." "Well, what is the trick? You said he shook hands with his jailers and walked off. Of course, he couldn't do that, unless his time was up." "But it wasn't up--not by several years." "Then how did he do it?" "By a trick, Tom--the neatest, cleverest, slickest ever performed in this State." "Oh, stow your long-winded speeches, Dick," cried the younger brother half angrily. "Boil it down and serve the extract in short order." "Very well, I will. Firstly, Arnold Baxter is in jail. Secondly, he states his friends are going to ask the governor for a pardon. Thirdly, a friend in disguise comes to the jail with the supposed pardon. Fourthly, great joy of Baxter. Fifthly, he thanks his jailers and bids them good-by, as I said before. Sixthly, after he and his friend are gone the jailers inspect the so-called pardon. Seventhly, the jailers telephone to the governor. Eighthly, the pardon is pronounced a forgery, signatures, seal, and all. Ninthly, all the powers that be are as mad as hornets, but they can do nothing, for Baxter the elder has gone and has left no trace behind him." "Phew!" Tom emitted a long, low whistle. "Say, but that runs like the half-dime novels I used to stuff myself with in my green days, doesn't it?" "That's right, Tom, excepting that this is strictly true, while the half-dime novels used to be as far from the truth as a howling dog is from the moon. But seriously, I don't like this," went on the elder Rover earnestly.