Part 18 (1/2)
Of course all of them were in their running outfits, which consisted of trunks, sleeveless jerseys, shoes with spikes in the soles, and an excuse of a hat, though Bristles declined to wear anything on his mop of hair.
”All here but Sid, now, Fred,” announced Colon, as the other joined them.
”We're a little ahead of the time that was set,” remarked Fred, who seemed to be unusually sober it appeared to the sharp-eyed Colon, ”and Sid will be along soon. I saw him heading for town, and he called across lots that he had a little errand, but would join us as soon as he could get back home, and pile into his running togs. Let's sit down somewhere, and take it easy, boys.”
”A good idea, too,” commented Bristles, ”because, with a twenty-five mile run before us, we'll have all the standing on our feet we want. Chances are it'll be a pretty tired bunch of boys that'll turn up here some hours from now.”
They found a place to settle down, and after a little talk about the weather, during which Colon was called upon to once more prophesy as to the chances for rain, he suddenly turned to Fred, to say:
”What's bothering you this morning, Fred?”
”Why do you ask me that?” returned the other, with a little smile.
”Well,” Colon continued, ”I'm used to watching faces, and it struck me when you came up, there was a worried look on your face. Hope you're not feeling anyway off?”
”Never felt in better condition in my life,” Fred a.s.sured him. ”One or two little bruises from that business of last night, but nothing to mention, and I don't expect to even think of them again.”
”What happened, then?” asked Bristles.
”Only that our house was entered last night!” Fred observed, calmly.
The other boys gave expression to their astonishment in various exclamations.
”Burglarized, you mean, Fred?” cried Colon.
”Well, yes, I guess you might call it that, though it seems only one particular thing was carried off,” Fred replied.
”You've got us guessing good and hard,” said Bristles. ”Was that your dad's pocketbook, his watch, the piano, or what could it be?”
”A hat,” explained Fred.
Bristles and Colon fairly gasped upon hearing this.
”D'ye mean to tell us, Fred, that a desperate burglar would take all the chances of breaking into a house where he might get shot, just to steal a hat!” Colon demanded, as though suspecting they were being made the victims of a joke, although as a rule Fred seldom allowed himself to attempt anything of the kind.
”Sometimes even a hat may be a mighty important thing, if you stop to think of it, fellows,” he informed them.
”Great smoke! Fred, do you mean that hat?” exclaimed Bristles, suddenly remembering something.
”The one we picked up on the battlefield!” added Colon, helplessly.
”That's the one I mean,” they were told by the other, with a positive tone that could not be mistaken. ”When I got home I tossed it onto the hall table. It wasn't there this morning, and I asked the girl, and everyone about the house if they'd seen it, but n.o.body had. And what was plain evidence of a robbery was the fact that a window was found open in the sitting-room, which my dad says he is sure he shut and locked before he went to bed.”
”It was c.o.o.ney Jimmerson, of course?” suggested Colon.
”He's always been too clever with his fingers,” Bristles gave as his opinion. ”Maybe you remember, Colon, because it was before Fred's time here, how c.o.o.ney used to sneak into the coat-rooms at school, and go through the pockets of our reefers looking for pennies or tops or any old thing. He got in a peck of trouble on account of his sly tricks. If anybody could turn the catch of a window, and crawl in, I'd put it up to him.”
”But Fred, how would he know you'd found his old hat?” asked Colon.
”We'll have to guess at that,” he was told. ”Look back, Colon, and you'll be likely to remember that several times we heard a rustling sound in that clump of bushes, while we were standing there talking, after finding the hat.”