Part 3 (2/2)

”I suppose now you've got some good reason for making that accusation, Thad?” he ventured.

”Yes, I have,” came the quick reply. ”I heard him say something to that other sneak which I couldn't just catch, but it started Tip laughing like everything. He slapped a hand down on his knee, and went on to say: Fine, Nick, finer than silk! I bet you he'll be as mad as hops if he finds himself caught in such a trap, and loses the race. You can depend on me every time. My affair comes off right in the start, and I can easy get out there on my wheel long before the first runner heaves in sight. I'll coach Pete Dudley in his part, just as you were saying. It's the greatest trick you ever hatched up, Nick, the very greatest! Now, you can judge for yourself, Hugh, whether it's safe for you to try to cross by that same quarry road when the big Marathon race is on.”

Hugh seemed lost in thought for a brief interval. When he spoke again there was a settled look of grim determination on his face that Thad could easily understand, knowing the other as well as he did.

”It isn't my way to show the white feather when the first cold wind starts to blowing, Thad, and no matter what Nick is planning to do I'm not going to give him the first chance to profit by my discovery of that short-cut route from road to road.”

”That means you decline to be shoved off the path, does it, Hugh?”

”If I start in that race, as I expect to,” Hugh told him, ”I intend to make use of that short-cut, no matter if a dozen Tip Slavins, and Pete Dudleys are lying in wait to trip me up. But I'm much obliged to you all the same, Thad, for your warning. I'll be on my guard from this time on, and they're not going to trap me with my eyes blinded, I tell you that.”

Thad seemed to be lost in thought himself for a minute or so. Possibly he was trying to figure out how he could best serve his comrade in such an emergency. The gloomy woods surrounding the old quarry did not possess any attraction in the eyes of Thad Stevens. Though he had not shown the same degree of alarm as Horatio and Julius at the time they heard those remarkable sounds, so like human shrieks, nevertheless, Thad felt no hankering after another similar experience.

Still he would brave much in order to help the chum whose interests were so dear to his own heart. He did not say what was in his mind, only looked a bit wise, as he once more turned to Hugh, as though his mind had been finally made up.

”Just as you think best, Hugh,” he went on to say quietly. ”It may be that one or more of the other fellows will be taking advantage of that same old road, and there's safety in numbers, you know, they say. Nick is likely to get his fingers burned if he attempts any of his silly tricks. What do you suppose now he could plan to have those chaps do? They wouldn't want to really hurt you, because that might get them in bad with Captain Wambold, our police head. Can you think of any fool play he'd be apt to conjure up, such as might make Tip say it was the best and slickest scheme he'd ever heard about?”

”Nick has so many wild ideas that he's likely to attempt nearly anything,” said Hugh. ”If he could find a good place where a runner would have to keep to the road I even believe he'd try to dig a deep pit, and cover the same over, just as the wild-animal catchers do in Africa, when they go out after big game for the menageries and zoos.”

”Why, would that work, do you think, Hugh?” cried the startled Thad, mentally picturing his chum cras.h.i.+ng through a false roadbed, and dropping down into a deep hole from which, alone and unaided, he could not hope to escape until much time had elapsed, and all hope of winning the big Marathon was lost.

”It might have done so if I hadn't chanced to possess a wide-awake chum, who gave me due warning, and caused me to keep a sharp lookout.

As it is, if I glimpse a suspicious spot in my path I'll fight mighty shy of the same; or by a big leap give it the go-by. Of course, there might be other ways in which they could hope to detain me, such as dropping down on my shoulders from a tree, and with their faces covered so I couldn't recognize them.”

Thad looked grave.

”Yes, they could do that, for a fact,” he admitted. ”Seems to me you'll have to keep one eye aloft all the while, Hugh, while the other is watching the ground for treachery. I must say this is a fine state of affairs. Not only does Scranton High have to go smack up against all the best runners of Allandale and Belleville, but be on the lookout for treachery at home besides. I'd give something to be one of a bunch of indignant fellows to take Nick Lang and his two pals out to the woods some fine night, and give the same a coat of tar and feathers, or else ride them on a rail. They're a disgrace to the community, and Scranton ought to take them in hand right away. That boy will set the town on fire yet I'm thinking, with his desperate tricks.”

”He will, unless he soon sees a light, and turns over a new leaf,”

admitted Hugh, who, it seems, had an idea of his own in connection with the said Nick, which, perhaps, he might find an opportunity to work out one of these days; but which he did not care to confide to his chum, because he knew Thad would be apt to consider it impossible, perhaps foolish.

”There they go now, Hugh,” suddenly remarked Thad in an undertone.

”You see, he has both Tip and Leon along with him, and they're grinning as they look over this way. I warrant you Nick has been elaborating on that fine scheme of his; and, in antic.i.p.ation, they can already see you held up in that lonely place, kicking your toes at the bottom of a miserable pit, or else tied to a tree.”

”Don't scowl so savagely, Thad,” warned Hugh. ”There's no need of letting them understand we're on to their game. The advantage always lies in catching the other fellow off his guard. Let's laugh while we walk past, as if we'd been figuring out how a certain prize was already dangling close to our fingertips.”

So Thad managed to ”take a brace,” profiting by the sage advice of his comrade; and, as they pa.s.sed Nick and his two cronies, Hugh remarked as pleasantly as he could:

”I've been watching you run to-day, Nick, and I honestly believe you are right up with the topnotchers in the game. There may be some surprises next Sat.u.r.day for those who think they've got it all figured out who's going to win the prizes. And Nick, as far as I'm concerned, I'd like to see you take the long-distance prize, honestly and cleanly, if I can't get it myself. You're a representative of Scranton High, Nick, and we're all out to see the old school do herself proud.”

Nick seemed taken aback by these hearty words on the part of the fellow whom he had so long sought an opportunity to injure. He shot a hasty glance, accompanied by the uplifting of his heavy eyebrows, toward his companions, who, thereupon, catching a sly wink, perhaps, both chuckled audibly as though amused.

”Oh! I've already as good as copped that Marathon prize,” Nick went on to say, at the same time thrusting out his chin in his customary aggressive and boastful fas.h.i.+on. ”I calculate to give the folks some surprise by the ease with which I'll come in away ahead of the next compet.i.tor. There'll be a wheen of those who also ran, bringing up the tail of the procession. Long-distance is my best suit, and I've waited a while to show up certain chaps in this town who think they are just the thing. Don't worry about me, Morgan; Nick Lang generally gets there when he throws his hat into the ring.”

At that the other two laughed uproariously, as though they thought the joke too good for anything. Possibly they took Nick's reference to ”those who also ran” to mean Hugh Morgan particularly; and in their minds they could see him desperately trying to break his bonds; or climb up out of the deep pit into which he had gone cras.h.i.+ng when the covered mattress, formed of slender twigs and dead leaves, had given way under his weight.

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