Billy Manners still had an idea of playing some sort of a joke upon Jack Sheldon, albeit a good-natured one, and not the kind that Herring and boys of that ilk would be likely to perpetrate.
Now Billy knew nothing of the hazing that Herring had intended to give Jack, for the latter had not mentioned it, and as a natural consequence Herring himself, in view of his failure, had said nothing about it to any one, not even his own cronies.
The bullies of the Academy never had much to say to the better class of boys in any event, and in this particular case Billy would not be apt to hear of the affair of the unsuccessful hazing, Herring and the rest naturally keeping their own counsel.
Consequently Billy knew nothing about it, but had an idea of his own and determined to work it entirely upon his own responsibility without taking any of the other boys into his confidence.
He was a pretty good hand at working a joke, and knew that sometimes, particularly in carrying out a practical joke, too many cooks spoil the broth, although there is another aphorism which declares that in a multitude of councillors there is wisdom.
However, Billy concluded to try the first old saw in working out his plans, and the reader can judge for himself by the sequel whether he took the wisest course or not.
After supper, when the boys were all supposed to be in the general schoolroom, Billy got a chance to go up to the dormitories in order to prepare for the little joke upon Jack.
The beds were all iron, with woven wire mattresses such as are used in hospitals and preferable as being much more sanitary than the ordinary wooden beds with slats of the same material.
Billy’s idea was to loosen the side supports in such a manner that it would not be obvious that anything had been done to them, but that the bed would collapse as soon as any weight was put upon it and let the occupant down upon the floor in the most summary fashion.
What he did was to lift up the sides and then to fasten them to the head and foot pieces with very thin cord which was sufficient to hold them in place only as long as there was no weight put upon them.
The instant that any one got upon the bed the side pieces would drop to the floor and the occupant would go down with them, much to his astonishment and the delight of the other boys.
Having fixed up his little trap, Billy replaced the clothes in as neat a fashion as a chambermaid could have done, and there was apparently nothing the matter with Jack’s bed.
“That will be one on Master Jack for the ducking I got the other night,” he said, and then he moved the washstand near enough to the bed so that in the event of the latter’s collapsing it would go down as well.
Satisfied with his work, he left the dormitory and returned to the big schoolroom, his absence having caused no comment apparently, and his presence and operations upstairs not having been noticed.
“There will be a nice little surprise party for some one at bedtime,” he said to himself, but did not let his satisfaction show on his face, so that for all that appeared no one knew of the little trick.
He had had his own flashlight with him and had not had to turn up the lights in the dormitory, a proceeding that might have caused attention, and he was sure that no one had seen him at work, and indeed no one had.
When the boys went up to bed, Jack, still occupying the same dormitory as at first, Billy was ready to see the result of his little joke, but said nothing to any of the boys about it.
“Will you change beds with me to-night, Billy?” presently asked Jack, taking off his coat and hanging it on a hook. “Mine is a little too warm, but you don’t mind that.”
“Now I wonder if he has got onto it?” thought Billy. “He could not have been up here since.”
“It will only be for to-night,” Jack added.
“What’s the use of changing?” asked Billy. “I don’t like too warm a bed myself.”
“Oh, this isn’t too warm, just warm enough for you,” laughed Jack.
“He has got onto something,” thought Billy, “and wants to see me go down. Not much, I won’t.”
“Why can’t you be obliging, Billy?” asked Arthur. “I’m sure I’d do a little thing like that if I was asked.”
“I wonder if they are both in it?” thought the young joker.
“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter,” said Jack, taking off his waistcoat and hanging it up over his coat.
“You can have my bed if you want it, Jack,” said Arthur. “I don’t see why Billy is so disobliging.”
“Well, I did not mean it for him,” thought Billy, “but it will be his own fault if he makes the change.”
“Billy’s is better,” laughed Jack, “but still I don’t mind changing with you if you don’t object.”
“Not in the least,” said Arthur. “You’re an obliging fellow, Mr. William Manners.”
“Very bad manners, I should say,” laughed Harry.
“Oh, well, I am a bit particular, I suppose,” said Billy, “but I get accustomed to a thing and don’t like to change. It’s the same with a seat at table or a desk in the schoolroom.”
Billy had been in a hurry to get ready for bed in case the boys tried to persuade him to change his mind, and now he threw back the covers and plumped himself in without further delay.
In a moment there were several surprises.
First, the bed went all to pieces and let the rather stout young fellow down upon the floor in the most unceremonious fashion.
Then there was a loud report, as if a pistol had been set off, and a lot of smoke puffed up in Billy’s face.
Next the washstand tipped over and Billy received a ducking much worse than he had got on the night that Jack’s water pitcher had been overturned upon him.
“Hello! what’s the matter with Billy?” asked several of the boys.
“Oh, you prefer that sort of bed, do you?” asked Arthur.
“Maybe that is why he did not want to let Jack have it,” added Harry.
“Enjoy yourself, Billy,” said Jack with a smile, sitting on his own bed.
Nothing happened, much to Billy’s surprise and disappointment.
“How is this?” the joker asked as he got up. “Did I fix the wrong bed, after all?”
“No, that was all right, Billy, but I have been here since,” laughed Jack, taking off his socks.
“Huh! And you found it out?”
“Quite so!” with another smile.
“How did you do it? Sit on it?”
“No, but you left the end of a string sticking out.”
“How do you know I did it?” asked Billy.
“Because you are the only fellow that uses green cord in tying up parcels. I have noticed that, among other things.”
“Billy is a bit green himself when it comes to playing jokes on observant boys,” remarked Harry.
“But how did you happen to come up here ahead of time?” asked Billy, paying no attention to Harry’s observation.
“Accident, that’s all. I wanted something.”
“But I did not see you leave the room,” said Billy. “You did not see me at work?”
“No, but I saw you come in. Even then I did not suspect anything. I was about to go up when you came in.”
“And then you fixed my bed?” with a grunt.
“Certainly. What is good enough for me is equally good for you, isn’t it, my boy?”
“Yes, but, Jack, you offered to swap beds with him,” chuckled Arthur.
“To be sure. I knew he would not take me up.”
“And if he had?”
“Well, my side of the joke would have been off, but I would not have sat on the bed.”
“Well, but what was the racket?” asked Billy.
“Giant torpedo under the bed,” said Jack. “That was an improvement on your invention.”
“Well, that’s one on you!” said Harry with a broad grin.
“And it will be one on all of us if we don’t get into bed before the lights are turned off,” added Arthur.
“Yes, that’s all right and very funny and I acknowledge that Jack has nicely got the best of me,” said Billy somewhat dolefully, “but what am I going to do? I can’t go to sleep in a wet bed.”
“I have an extra set of blankets and things,” said Jack. “I saved them out for you when I fixed your little joke to work backward. Here you are and now hurry and get fixed.”
“H’m! I bet you never had a thought of Jack in that line,” said a boy of the name of Sharpe. “Did you, now?”
“Well, no, I didn’t,” said Billy, making his bed with the dry blankets and sheets. “That’s one on me. Still, no one offered me any dry things the other night.”
“Nor me, either,” said Jack. “I was to be put through the mill in fine shape, but the joke went on the wrong tack.”
“And several of us got on more tacks than one,” rejoined Arthur. “I did, at any rate.”
“It just shows you that there is little use in trying to play tricks on Jack Sheldon,” said Billy, “and I won’t be such a chump again.”
“Some one else thinks the same way,” said Jack quietly to Arthur.
“What do you mean by that, Jack?” the other boy asked.
“I’ll tell you to-morrow if you don’t hear of it in the meantime,” Jack answered, and then the lights went down as a warning that they would presently go out entirely, and the boys all made haste to get to bed.
The next day when the boys came down Arthur and Harry happened to come upon Herring and Merritt unexpectedly, the two bullies not seeing them, and heard Merritt say angrily:
“Huh! that was a pretty hazing scheme you got up on Jack Sheldon, Pete Herring. I got the worst of it.”
“You didn’t get it any worse than I did,” snarled Herring, “but never mind, I’ll get even with him yet.”
“What are you two ruffians talking about now?” asked Arthur, and the two bullies quickly went away.
Later Arthur saw Jack, and said:
“Did Herring and those other sneaks try to haze you, Jack?”
“Yes,” said Jack, smiling. “How did you hear of it?”
“They were talking it over when Hal and I came upon them unexpectedly. I imagine from what was said that it did not work very well.”
“No, it did not and now that it has partly come out. I’ll tell you about it, as I promised.”
One morning in the second week of school, Bucephalus, the coachman, assistant cook, head waiter, butler and general factotum of the Hilltop institution, quite astonished the boys by a bit of news he brought and gave them a touch of excitement they had never expected.
Bucephalus waited on the table at breakfast and then went to the station at the foot of the hill and brought back the mail, delivering it some little time before the morning session began.
This morning when the boys came to get their letters the general factotum said excitedly:
“I done pring de letters, what dey was of dem dis mo’nin’ but ef dey was any come las’ night yo’ won’ get ’em ’cause de post-office was buglariously entahed some time in de night an’ letters an’ stamps an’ money done took o’t.”
“The post-office robbed?” cried the boys as Bucephalus began distributing the letters he had in his pouch.
“Yas’r an’ de station an’ de spress office an’ mo’ dan dat de post-office on de river was visited, too, in de same buglarious fashion an’ a big lot o’ pussonal property misappropriated by de nocturnal malefactors. Dey done said dat dey was abo’t to call on de bank but got skeered off.”
“So, they robbed the Riverton station and post-office as well, did they?” asked Harry. “Have they any notion as to who did it?”
“Wall, Ah reckon ef dey did dey would have apprehended dem by dis, Master Harry. All dey know is dat de malcomfactors done come in a auto an’ went away in a hurry.”
“Did the same fellows rob both places?”
“Ah reckon dey did and done went to de bigges’ place fust. Down at dis station de postmaster and station agent, bein’ one an’ de same, as you’ am aware, was woke up by hearin’ de noise an’ come a runnin’ to stop de robbery. Dey was an exchange of compliments in de way of pistol shots an’ de robbers took deir leave an’ as much else as dey could get away wif an’ struck fo’ de nex’ town below.”
“Then the agent saw them go?”
“Yas’r an’ dey took de wrong road at fus an’ was headin’ fo’ de little creek what runs into de river o’t’n de ravine jus’ back o’ here. De agent tried to catch ’em an’ done telephoned to de river station but de wiahs was cut. Den de robbers done turn de oder way an’ got off, goin’ like de wind an’ all.”
The boys were naturally excited over this piece of news and during the day more was heard which greatly added to the touch of excitement they had already received.
After school Dick Percival, who had a little runabout which the doctor allowed him to keep in the barn, came to Jack and said:
“I am going down to the station to learn some more of this affair of last night. Will you come along? We won’t be away more than an hour and I have already obtained permission to go.”
“Certainly. I want to hear more about it myself and would enjoy the ride very much.”
“All right then, I’ll get it out and we’ll go at once.”
Jack went to the barn with Dick and showed great interest in the little car, so much so in fact, that Dick said:
“You seem to be interested. Do you know anything about cars?”
“Oh, yes,” returned Jack, quietly.
“Would you like to run it down to the station?”
“Yes,” and both boys got in and Jack ran it out of the shed and toward the road.
As they passed the school buildings they saw Peter Herring and some of his cronies standing together, Herring saying quite audibly:
“There’s Percival and his chauffeur. I guess that’s what he was before he came here and we gentlemen have to associate with him. H’m! just an auto driver mixing in with gentlemen! It’s a shame.”
Jack did not seem to have heard and gave all his attention to the car, managing it so well that Dick was astonished and said to himself:
“He handles the thing better than I can do it myself. It’s a wonder how many things that boy can do. He may have driven a car, but what of that? That’s no disgrace.”
When they were out of sight of the buildings and going at a good speed down the hill Jack said quietly:
“I used to drive a motor truck with fruit to the railroad station and steamboat landing. Most shippers use horses but my man had a big motor truck and I used to drive it. That’s how I know about cars.”
“That’s all right,” laughed Dick. “You are a constant surprise to me. I am all the time finding out the things you can do. Don’t mind that fellow Herring. Honestly, I feel safer with you at the wheel than if I were driving myself.”
“I have had to do some pretty awkward driving. You know the Hudson River hills? We have some hard ones up my way and I have driven a car down them without an accident.”
“There’s where your cool head comes in. I wish I had it.”
They whizzed around one sharp turn and another, down steep grades and along level stretches at a rapid pace, going smoothly, however, and with never a jar or a jolt and reached the little station in an incredibly short time, Percival being delighted at the masterly manner in which his companion had handled the car.
There was a knot of men and boys around the station and the agent was telling the story of the robbery of the night before for the fiftieth time.
“Anything new, Jones?” asked Percival.
“Not much. There’s a lot of stamps missing and a package of registered mail what I hadn’t opened. I can’t tell what was in it. Maybe much and maybe little. The fellows went over the creek by the bridge and on, ’stead of coming back as folks said. Guess they knew where they was going. Smart fellows them.”
“Did you see them plain enough to know them again?”
“Guess I did, one of ’em, anyhow. He had a big white mustache and black eyebrows and hair. Guess his mask must have dropped off.”
“How many were there in the car?” and then Dick saw that Jack seemed greatly agitated about something and stopped short.
“Two, that’s all. They got some money out of the drawer and dropped a package near the bridge. Guess they was in a hurry. Smart trick that, cutting the telephone wires. I couldn’t get connection with no place, up or down. This morning, though, I heard that they broke into the office at Cedar Bush and got fifty dollars in stamps besides some money. Guess they was making a trip of it.”
“Did they make a good haul at Riverton?”
“Guess they did and it was lucky they didn’t get more. They got into the bank all right but was scared away before they got much.”
“Buck said they got nothing from the bank.”
“Well, they did but not all they might have. Folks don’t want to say too much down there.”
“I’d like to show you the country around here, Jack,” said Dick. “Jump in. There are all sorts of stories about this affair and we won’t get the truth of it for some time. I’ll show you the creek and the bridge and you may get an idea of the risks these fellows ran unless they knew the region well, which I imagine they did.”
They took the road for a quarter of a mile back from the station and then saw the banks of the creek ahead of them.
An eighth of a mile farther on the road turned sharply and ran along the creek but at a short distance from it, making a sudden turn again at the end of two or three hundred yards and crossing where the banks were steep and high and the creek itself quite tumultuous.
“This is the same creek that you reach from the ravine back of the Academy in the woods,” said Percival. “The banks there are quite high and rough. There is a descent from here to the river and there the creek does not make much trouble. Here, however it is all the time roaring and tumbling. They tell a number of stories about it. During the American Revolution it had considerable fame I believe.”
“It makes stir enough now to call attention to itself at any rate,” laughed Jack. “It certainly is a noisy little stream. Here is where the robbers crossed over? I can see auto tracks close to the rail. They did go over and back, Dick, although the agent says they did not.”
“The stories are greatly confused and you won’t find out what really happened for some time, I don’t think. That man with the white mustache and black hair ought to be readily recognized. If he is a professional some ought to know him.”
“Yes, probably they will,” and Dick once more noticed that his companion seemed agitated.
He asked Jack to turn and go back as he did not feel quite equal to the task, the road being a bad one so Jack took the wheel and got them back to the station with little trouble.
Stopping here a few minutes and listening to the talk but learning nothing new, they went through the little village, made a few trifling purchases and then returned to the Academy, Jack managing the car and quite exciting Dick’s admiration by the cool manner in which he took the trying hills, sharp turns and steep ascents.
“I’d like to have you with me whenever I go to the station, Jack,” Dick said. “I fancied I could run a car anywhere but you can beat me all to bits. Herring can say what he likes but a fellow that can run a car as steadily and coolly as you can is good enough to associate with the president himself.”
“I am glad you like it,” said Jack, smiling, “but long use has made me well accustomed to our Hudson valley hills and I really do not mind them nor think them so bad as a stranger would.”
The story of the robbery was added to the next day and many conflicting accounts were related so that one could not readily find out what was true and what was not.
The man that Jones had seen was identified as a former prisoner in one of the State institutions but whether he had escaped or had served his term was very much in doubt.
On the second afternoon succeeding Jack’s visit to the station he was taking a stroll through the woods in the rear of the Academy, expecting Percival to join him, the two often taking walks together.
He suddenly observed that he was quite near to the bank of the ravine and was about to turn when all at once a form flew out of the bushes close at hand, rushed violently against him and sent him in an instant off his feet and down the steep incline.
Jack Sheldon uttered a startled cry as he found himself darting through space and then he struck on his back and went sliding down the bank toward the creek below unable to stop himself.
Many thoughts passed rapidly through his mind as he went on down the bank, narrowly missing great rocks, stumps of fallen trees and clumps of thorn bushes, feeling no pain but wondering where he would land.
What occurred to him with the most startling distinctness, however, was the fact that he had not lost his footing through his own carelessness but that some one had pushed him from the bank.
Speculation as to who this person might be seemed absolutely useless for he had not seen him and had not known of his presence until the very instant before he had fallen.
What might eventually happen to him did not occupy his thoughts so much as the identity of this person and it seemed as if he must have turned this thought over in his mind a thousand times during his descent of the bank.
His progress was so rapid that he could tell nothing of the objects he passed nor how long he was in descending, the only thing that was definite being the fact that the creek lay below and he might or might not be thrown into it.
At last when it seemed as if he must have slid a thousand feet or more, although it was much less than that distance, he was suddenly brought up sharply by his feet striking a great mass of moss, decayed wood and rich loam at the foot of a short stump almost on the brink of the roaring creek tumbling over the rocks in its bed.
He was thrown half across this stump by the violence of the contact but quickly realized that he was not hurt although nearly out of breath and with a rapidly beating heart.
His coat was about his neck, he had no hat, his shoes were badly scraped and his trousers had many holes in them but he was alive and evidently not seriously bruised or scratched by his rapid slide over the rough ground and coarse grass.
But for his having been stopped by the stump he would have gone into the water which at this point was right up to the bank.
Standing up and arranging his clothing as much as was possible at the moment, he took a deep breath or two and looked about him.
At a short distance there was a rude path along the water’s edge wide enough for him to make his way, here and there obstructed by stones or bushes but wide enough for him to walk on.
There was clearly no use in trying to reach the top of the ravine by climbing and he might by following the path come to the bridge over which he and Dick had crossed two days before.
He had no idea how far it was to the station for he could see nothing but the woods and the ravine and the brook and he set off, therefore, with no idea how far he would have to go or what obstacles might be in his way.
Walking on along the tumbling brook, now having to descend at a considerable angle where the path was just wide enough for his feet, now having to make his way through tangled bushes, now scrambling over rough stones and occasionally being turned aside by great thickets of briar but still keeping the water in sight he at length came to a point whence he could see the bridge ahead of him.
He judged that he must have gone nearly half a mile although the difficulties of the way made it seem like five.
The bridge was still some little distance away and the path was no less easy for travel than at first although it was wider and evidently more traversed as if used now and then by fishermen or picknickers.
Coming near the bridge he was looking for a good place to leave the path and reach the road when he saw something half in the water and half on the ground that at once arrested his attention.
It seemed to be a rubber bag and was evidently heavy by its looks, the part on the ground being deep in the sand as if it had been thrown from the bridge.
At once it dawned upon him that here was an important discovery.
“I wonder if that is not some of the plunder stolen from the bank or from the station?” he thought to himself.
Some had advanced the theory that the robbers had not carried off all that they had stolen, some had said that the men had gone across the creek and then back and it at once occurred to Jack that they had not gone to the bridge for nothing and that here was something that they had gotten rid of at the time on account of the risk of being discovered with it and for which they meant to return at some convenient time.
Making his way down the bank, which at this point was quite steep, the boy rested on one knee, took hold of a stout sapling and tried to lift the bag half out of water.
It was quite heavy, as he had supposed and considerable of a tug was required to draw it out of the water and close to him.
This he accomplished, however, and then, using the sapling to aid him, he drew the bag farther up on the bank and then to the top where he put it down and started to open it.
There was a stout cord around the neck of the bag but this he loosened with some little trouble on account of its having been swollen and made tighter by the water.
Opening the bag he caught sight of a polished tin despatch or cash box, a bundle of letters, a package of bills and a thick envelope which probably contained postage stamps by its appearance.
Reaching in and taking out the cash box, the first thing that attracted his attention were the letters on the cover.
“Hello! Riverton National Bank!” he exclaimed. “Then they did get something from the bank after all. What is this? Bunch of registered mail for the little post-office down here. Well, it was lucky I was thrown down the bank after all.”
Putting back the contents of the bag and securing it with the cord, Jack now made his way toward the end of the bridge, looking up and down and listening attentively.
“If I am seen with this in my possession some one will be sure to say that I stole it and yet I must get it either to the station or up to the Academy. It will be a considerable tug to get it up the hill and perhaps I had better hide it till I can come after it with a car or a wagon. That’s the best thing to do.”
He was looking for a place among the bushes or under the bridge to hide the bag when he heard the sound of a car coming toward him and got behind a tree so as not to be observed.
Then, peering out, he saw the car and recognized it as the little runabout belonging to Dick and saw young Percival himself at the wheel.
“Hello, Dick, come here, I want to see you,” he called, stepping out and beginning to climb the bank.
“Hello! That’s you, is it? And all right, of course? I was very much afraid that I would have——”
“To do what?” for Percival suddenly stopped.
“To carry your remains back to the Academy. They told me you had fallen down the bank and I scarcely expected to see you alive again. As quick as I could I got out the car and came down here to look for you.”
“They told you that I had fallen down the bank?” asked Jack, in the greatest excitement.
“Yes, and you look it all right.”
“Who told you that, Dick?”
“Pete Herring and Ernest Merritt. They said they had seen you fall and had tried to warn you but were too late.”
“Where did you see them?”
“In the woods. I was going there to meet you as I had promised.”
“How long before had it happened, did they tell you? Did you meet them in the woods?”
“Yes, and very soon after you fell, probably. I heard a scream and hurried on. Then I met them and they told me what had happened.”
“Yes, but not how it happened. Dick, I was thrown down the bank. It was not an accident at all, it was a deliberate——”
“Do you know which of the two did it?” gasped Dick.
“No, but I am satisfied that one of them did it. However, never mind that now. Come here. I want to show you something.”
Dick got out of his car and followed Jack.
The boy led his friend to where he had deposited the bag, uncovered it by throwing off the leaves he had thrown over it and said:
“That’s what I found down here, a few paces away. What do you suppose is in it?”
“I have not the least idea. What is?”
“A cash box from the Riverton bank, a packet of registered letters for our office, some stamps, money and other things.”
“And you found it here?”
“Yes, half on the bank and half in the water.”
“How did it get there?”
“Thrown from the bridge by the robbers. They did not want to be found with it on them I suppose. Probably they meant to return for it at some convenient time.”
“You have examined the contents?”
“Not all of them.”
“What shall we do with it, Jack?”
“Take it up to the doctor. Later we can take it to the bank. I don’t want to go there now, looking as I do.”
“Well, you don’t look just the thing to call on a bank president,” laughed Dick, “but I am glad you are alive. Are you hurt any? No bones broken, no internal injuries, nothing the matter with you?”
“I don’t think there is, Dick. I do feel a bit sore and bruised but I don’t think there is anything serious the matter. A good hot bath will fix me up all right, I think.”
“Come on then and get that bag up to the Academy. Here, don’t you lift it. I can do it better. Can you run the car up, do you think?”
“Yes. Did you raise an alarm about my having fallen down the bank?”
“No. Herring said he would speak to the doctor. I came right away.”
“All right. Let them think for the present that I did fall down.”
“Very good, but as soon as I am certain which one of those fellows it was that pushed you down I will make it warm for him.”
“I don’t believe you ever will know, Dick.”
The two boys went up the hill to the Academy with the bag which one of them had found in the creek and had an interview with Dr. Wise.
The doctor looked his name in some respects and in others he did not.
He was a tall, spare man, dressing habitually in solemn black and a huge white choker, his face being clean shaven and showing the firmness of his chin and his square, well-set jaws.
He was very bald, however, and the big round spectacles which he always wore gave an owlish aspect to his face, the glasses being set in a heavy black frame which made his eyes look even deeper than they naturally were.
However, the doctor was of a most kindly nature and all the boys under his charge, with a few notable exceptions, were greatly attached to him and treated him with admiration as well as respect.
He listened attentively to Jack’s story of falling down the ravine and finding the rubber bag and then examined the latter, saying:
“H’m, ha! yes, this is a most important discovery. I am not privileged to examine it closely, that will be the duty of the agent at the station and the officers of the bank, but I am very glad that the bag has been recovered. This packet doubtless contains registered letters for me. I was expecting them and their loss would have caused us all some trouble. One thing, however. Has no one told you of the danger of wandering through our woods, especially at night?”
Dick Percival was about to say something which Jack did not want him to say at the moment and he quickly interposed:
“Yes, sir, they have, and I will admit that I was careless. However, I will take better precautions in future.”
“Do so. I should be very sorry if anything happened to you and I do not like to restrict the enjoyment of the young gentlemen under my care. They enjoy walking through the woods but all of them know the danger and I need not restrict them as long as they know where to go.”
“Then these things had better be taken to the station and to the bank at Riverton?” asked Jack.
“Yes. To-morrow you and Percival may attend to it. Meanwhile, I will wire the bank officers that some of their property has been found. There will doubtless be a reward given for its recovery and I am very glad that this is so, for your sake.”
“My finding it was quite accidental, however, Doctor.”
“Even so, the reward has been offered and belongs to you. It is immaterial how the property was found as long as it was found. You must have had a thrilling adventure but I am glad that only your wearing apparel and not you suffered injury.”
The bag was left with the doctor and the boys left him, Jack to get whole garments out of his meagre store and Dick to house his car.
Outside they came upon Herring, who turned pale when he saw Jack and muttered, half under his breath:
“Then you were not killed? I was afraid that——”
“No, he was not,” said Dick, “little thanks, however, to——” but Jack gave him a sudden look and he stopped short.
Herring hurried away to join some of his companions at a little distance and Dick said:
“I was too much in a hurry, I see, and now it will be harder to discover the truth. Herring will be on his guard.”
“And we don’t know that he had anything to do with it.”
“It lies between him and Merritt, I am certain, but I will keep still after this until I am certain.”
Those of the boys who had heard of the accident to Jack were quick to assure him of their satisfaction that he was not seriously hurt and there the matter rested.
The next day Dick and Jack went in the runabout to the bank where they delivered the cash box and other things which evidently belonged to it, leaving the package of registered letters and the postage stamps at the station at the foot of the hill.
“I am authorized by the bank to pay you a reward of one hundred dollars for the recovery of this property,” said the president, after he had thoroughly examined the contents of the bag. “Shall I pay it to you or put it to your credit in the bank? I will have a book made out if you prefer the latter.”
“I think that will be satisfactory,” the boy replied. “Then if I desire to draw against it or add to it I can do so.”
“Very good, my dear sir. You show the proper spirit. Many young men would wish to spend the amount at once.”
“I believe I have learned the value of money, sir,” said Jack, quietly, while Dick laughed and said.
“H’m! I am afraid I would have done just what the president hints at. Perhaps I have not learned the value of money from having so much of it.”
The money was left to the boy’s credit and he was supplied with a bank book and blank checks, feeling quite proud at having so much money as it would give him an opportunity to help his mother as well as to pay his bills at the Academy.
“You did not expect to get this, did you, Jack?” asked Dick.
“No, but I am glad to get it just the same. It means a good deal to me, Dick, although I suppose you regard it as a mere trifle.”
“Well, not so much after all,” laughed Dick, “but, come on. I want to stop at the office of the Riverton News. I furnish them with school items now and then and this is the day before publication. You might tell the editor of your experience yesterday. I have no doubt that he will regard it as a bit of valuable news. He does not get much.”
“I would like to see him at any rate,” Jack returned. “I always did like to go into a newspaper office.”
The newspaper office was down the street a short distance and on the opposite side from the bank and in a decidedly less pretentious building, being in a little two-story wooden affair which looked fully a hundred years old and as if it might fall down at any moment.
They found the editor in his office, sitting at his typewriter in his shirt sleeves and busy preparing an article for the paper, this being the eve of publication day.
He was a fat little man; the top of his head being very bald and shiny with a fringe of black hair all around it and two big tufts at his ears, his eyebrows being thick and shaggy and standing straight out from twin caverns.
He held his shoulders high and put his head forward and down, pecking savagely at the keys of the typewriter with the first fingers of both hands very much as a hen pecks at the worms or grain of corn in a dunghill and making the machine rattle at every stroke.
“Busy, Mr. Brooke?” asked Dick. “Want some items?”
“Yes, of course,” said the other, never stopping at his savage attack on the typewriter. “I am doing something about the robbery. Nothing new, I suppose?”
“Why, yes, I think there is,” laughed Dick. “Have you heard——”
“What?” asked the editor sharply, looking up at the two boys. “I’ve heard lots of things and it’s hard to tell just what’s true and what isn’t. What have you got, Percival?”
“Why don’t you use all your fingers on your machine?” asked Jack, before Dick could answer.
“What’s that?” snapped the editor quickly, fixing his eyes on the questioner. “Why don’t I use all my fingers? Because it’s quicker to use two, that’s why.”
“Oh, no it is not,” with a quiet smile. “Let me show you. What is this? Something about the robbery? Let me add a few lines. It is news.”
Jack spoke with a quiet air that evidently had its effect on the nervous little man pecking away at the machine with two fat fingers and he moved his chair to one side a little so as to make room, but apparently unwilling to believe that he could be taught anything.
Jack shifted the paper a line or two and then, standing over the machine, set to work, operating rapidly and writing as he thought.
He not only used all his fingers but did the spacing with his thumbs and wrote so rapidly that Dick thought he was copying and not writing off-hand.
What he wrote was a brief account of the finding of the rubber bag containing the missing cash box near the bridge at the upper station, not mentioning himself by name, however, nor even saying that the property had been found by one of the Hilltop boys.
When he had finished the editor looked at the paper and muttered:
“H’m! not an error! Well, you are certainly an expert operator and have taught me something but I could never write like that. Force of habit, I suppose.”
“Where did you ever learn to use a typewriter, Jack?” asked Dick in admiration. “Why, you show me some new accomplishment every day.”
“Oh, I have used one for some time. I have done work for the lawyers in our town. I have made a good deal of money that way.”
“He gets along faster with all his fingers than you do, playing a sort of crazy jig with your two first fingers, Mr. Brooke,” laughed Dick, uproariously. “I have seen other fellows play the machine like that and thought it was the only way, but now I see that it is not.”
“You have put it very concisely,” said the editor. “By the way, who was the person who found the money?”
“That was Jack himself,” said Dick. “I was there just afterward and took the thing up to the Academy in my car. Jack is a modest fellow and you could not get him to say anything about himself.”
“Very well put,” said the editor. “What do you think about the political situation? I want a leader on it but hardly feel equal to it.”
“Write him an editorial, Jack,” laughed Dick. “How much do you pay for good articles, Mr. Brooke?”
“H’m! the News is not equipped for paying very much for anything,” replied the other, pecking at the machine, “but if I could get a really good article on the situation at present or anything, the farming outlook, for instance, I would be willing to pay something for it.”
“I can tell you what I think,” said Jack, quietly, “and furnish you with articles on different subjects. I would like to earn all the money I can as I am paying for my education out of my own pocket.”
“H’m! very commendable spirit,” snapped the other. “Is that your case, Mr. Percival?”
“No, I cannot say that it is. However, I am anxious to see how Jack makes out as a writer of editorials. Let Mr. John Sheldon have your desk for a few minutes, Mr. Brooke.”
“It won’t be long,” said Jack, blushing. “Only a few sentences but it is just what I think.”
He sat at the typewriter and wrote rapidly for a few minutes, during which time both Percival and Mr. Brooke remained perfectly quiet.
When he had finished, Jack took the paper from the machine and handed it to the editor, saying:
“There, that is my opinion of the situation. You may not agree with it but that is how I think.”
The editor read over the article carefully and then said with more spirit than he had yet betrayed:
“It is the thing in a nutshell. It is tersely put and carries conviction with every sentence. If it had been any longer or any shorter it would have failed of its purpose. I could not express myself any better if I wrote a column. It will go in just as it is and whenever I want an editorial written I shall call upon you.”
“May I read it?” asked Percival.
The editor passed the sheet over to the boy who read it most carefully and then said:
“Great, my boy! We have long wanted a good editor for our Academy paper and the position is yours. If I say so every boy in Hilltop will agree with me, so it is settled.”
Dick Percival was as good as his word and lost no time in telling the Hilltop boys that he had found an ideal editor for the monthly magazine conducted in the interests of the Academy and contributed to by the brightest minds among them.
The majority agreed that Jack would make a better editor but there were some who opposed this choice, not openly but in a sneering, underhand way that was harder to combat than if they had put on an attitude of bold defiance.
“You don’t want a mere clerk for an editor,” said Peter Herring to a number of his cronies. “If we did we could hire a six-dollar-a-week typewriter girl to do the work. Any one can work a machine with a little practice but it takes brains to run a high-class magazine like ours.”
“How much do you contribute to it, Pete?” asked Merritt, with a half laugh.
“Well, I contribute to the expense of the publication and I am not going to have my money wasted,” retorted the other angrily.
“So do all the boys contribute. You don’t have to pat yourself on the back for that.”
“Well, do you want this upstart to be editor?” snarled Herring, annoyed at these interruptions and yet not wishing to pick a quarrel with one who was useful to him at times.
“No, of course I don’t but you don’t need to make a fool of yourself for all that. You are no better than the rest of us.”
“I don’t say I am and I don’t make a fool of myself. What is the matter with you anyhow?”
“Never mind bickering, you two,” said one of the group. “What we want to get at is to keep Sheldon out of the paper, isn’t it?”
“Of course!” said all the rest.
“Then get to work and do it.”
“Leave it to me,” said Herring in a mysterious tone. “I’ll fix it all right, never fear.”
The preparation of the next number of the Hilltop Gazette was begun under the direction of Jack Sheldon, however, Dick, Harry and a few more assisting him in the selection and arrangement of articles and the opposition of Herring and his satellites seemed to have ceased.
Jack had made arrangements with the editor of the News to furnish him material for the weekly paper and to give him news as well if there happened to be any and he entered on his duties as contributor under a regular if not large salary.
Meanwhile, Herring took every opportunity to speak disparagingly of Jack, to sneer at everything he said or at every word of praise that was given him and to snub him whenever they met.
Jack cared nothing for this latter treatment and, indeed, seemed not to notice it and as far as snubbing went he never had anything to say to the bully and always passed him by without notice.
It was about ten days after the finding of the money in the creek and Jack was strolling in the woods half way down from the Academy, absorbed in thought and paying little attention to where he went or to the objects about him when he heard a sudden sharp hiss and then:
“Well? Do you like it here?”
He looked up suddenly and saw a man in a rough dark grey suit and wearing a thick black beard, standing close to a tree which had a great hollow on one side.
“You!” he exclaimed, stepping back a pace and straightening himself as if wishing to keep away from something defiling.
“Yes, me. So you are going to a high-class school, are you?”
“Why should I not if I pay for it?” asked Jack, coolly.
“And I need the money. Have you any with you?”
“Yes—and I mean to keep it with me,” with a slight interruption.
“I can claim all you have. It is mine by right,” said the other in a dogged tone. “Come closer. I want to talk to you. Perhaps I can make a business proposition.”
There was a rustle among the leaves at a little distance and Jack looked around sharply but saw nothing, the stranger having evidently not taken note of anything.
“Come here,” he said, resting his hand in the hollow of the tree. “Do you see this hole? You could put something in there and I would get it. I have used it for a post-office before. It has been very handy. So, you found the money in the creek, did you? I was coming after it in a day or so. What have you done with it?”
“Restored it to the bank, whose property it was,” came the quiet answer. “You do not suppose I would keep it?”
“I worked for that money and only for my pals getting frightened I would have had more. We left the biggest part behind.”
“It is not safe for you here since the police have your description and know your reputation,” said Jack, quietly. “I would advise you to go away at once.”
“Who would recognize me?” asked the other with a laugh, whisking off his beard and restoring it again in a flash but revealing for a brief moment a large white mustache. “Besides, no one would suppose that I would stay in this neighborhood.”
“Why do you?”
“To get what I left behind,” with a laugh. “They say lightning does not strike twice in the same place but I do and with profit. You know the bank, don’t you? Give me a little idea of the location of things. I am a little hazy on some points. Of course I could fix that but time is an item with me. Where is the——”
“I shall tell you nothing!” said Jack, firmly, “and it is useless to prolong this interview.”
“Ain’t I your father, Mr. John Shelden, alias——”
“No, you are not!” said Jack, fiercely.
He was retreating when the man said with a laugh and a sneer:
“You won’t get people to believe that. Help me and I will keep quiet; refuse and I will see that your term here is a very short one. Ha! I still use the old word. Familiar, of course.”
“I care nothing for your threats,” said Jack, hurrying away and looking around sharply, the sound he had before heard coming again to his ears.
“The fellow has some confederate hidden in the woods,” he thought, and made his way as rapidly as possible to the road and then went on up the hill toward the Academy.
The strange man disappeared in the woods but Jack did not look back to see where he went but kept straight on to the Academy.
Reaching the building he went to the telephone which the boys were allowed to use on occasion and called up Mr. Brooke.
“Hello! Mr. Brooke? I may have news for you about something. I will communicate with you as previously arranged in case there is anything to tell you. Good-bye.”
No one hearing this message could guess what it meant and Jack was purposely cautious and guarded, knowing that some of the operators in the exchange had told things which they had heard over the wires.
Having sent his message to the editor, he hung up the receiver and went to find Percival or some other of the boys.
A few minutes after the strange man with whom Jack had had his strange interview had disappeared in the woods, Peter Herring crept cautiously out of the bushes and whistled softly to some one.
In a moment he was joined by Merritt and the two hurried toward the road and took their way down hill.
“You heard the whole business?” asked Herring.
“Yes. That’s a nice mix-up.”
“I guess it is. Now we’ve got a hold on Sheldon. The son of a bank robber and he said his father was dead.”
“I’ll bet he was in the robbery himself,” muttered Merritt.
“Anyhow, we can make it look so,” snarled the other with an evil look.
Jack Sheldon said nothing to Dick Percival or any of his friends in the Academy of the singular interview he had had in the woods with the strange man, having kept his own counsel thus far and resolving to keep it still unless forced to take some one else into his confidence.
No one would have guessed, seeing him among the boys, light-hearted and gay, apparently, that he had anything on his mind and he took good care that no one should guess it.
There was a time during the evening that one might absent himself from the general assembly if he chose although none of the boys was supposed to leave the grounds.
There was a direct rule against this except in a case of necessity, but Jack considered that it was necessary for him to leave the place at that time and he accordingly made his way rapidly down the hill, taking care that no one should see him leave.
“I cannot explain,” he muttered to himself as he hurried on in the darkness, “and yet I must see if those scoundrels are at work.”
He met no one, saw no one and at length reached the old hollow tree where he had met the strange man that afternoon.
He had his pocket flashlight with him and now, as he reached the tree he turned a brilliant glare into the hollow, taking care that it went nowhere else.
There was something at the bottom of the opening and he reached in his hand and brought it out.
It was a folded bit of coarse paper tied around a stone and, unfolding it, he read as follows: