Don knew the Gates' home by a description which the colonel had given him and they had no difficulty in finding it. Since there was no hospital nearby they knew that their best plan was to get Gates to his own home as soon as possible. It was with a vast sense of relief that they ran the bob-sled up the driveway of the Gates home and came to a halt before the wide front doors.
"Well, I'm glad that is over!" murmured Terry, straightening his aching back.
Don ran swiftly up the front porch and rang the bell madly. It seemed an unusually long time before a very deliberate and correct butler opened the door. He stared at Don with expressionless eyes.
"Mr. Gates has been hurt," Don cried. "Get his bed ready and open these doors wide, so that we can carry him upstairs."
The butler came to life, his correctness vanished and he ran with undignified but practical haste up the front stairs, calling aloud for the younger Mr. Gates. Don opened the front doors as wide as they would go just as Arthur Gates and his wife appeared anxiously in the doorway. Without paying any attention to their frightened inquiries Don ran back to Douglas and Terry.
"Lift him gently," Don said, and the three boys exerted all their care as they raised the elder Gates from the sled. At that same moment a car stopped at the front gate and the doctor, with Jim and Vench, jumped from the car. Arthur Gates lent a helping hand to the cadets and together they carried the old man up the front stairs and to his luxurious bedroom on the second floor. When they had laid him on the bed the boys quietly withdrew, leaving Gates, his wife and the doctor alone in the room with the injured man, while the agitated butler patrolled the upper hall.
"Do you suppose we had better beat it?" Douglas whispered, after Don had closed the front doors and kicked some loose snow outside.
"No, we'll stay and see if his condition is serious," Don replied.
"But his family is none too friendly with us," Douglas persisted.
"I guess all that will be forgotten in a time like this," Don answered.
The cadets waited. The house had become quiet after the first flurry of excitement and no one appeared to be downstairs. To Don this state of affairs was gratifying, for he had a plan in mind. Taking care not to seem too curious he edged away from the others, who were looking at some magazines on the table, and in time made his way around the downstairs floor on a tour of inspection, keeping a wary eye about for a possible maid or the upset butler.