Part 18 (2/2)
”Yes, and you thought it might be only a rabbit, or a chipmunk, or something like that,” a.s.sented Colon, promptly.
”Now that the hat we were keeping as evidence has been stolen from my house,” Fred continued, ”I'm more than sure that must have been c.o.o.ney himself. He'd missed his hat, and afraid that we might find it, he came creeping back to get into that bunch of brush, where he could hear every word we spoke. So he knew I was keeping his hat to prove who was in the crowd that tackled us unawares.”
”He just knew that if his hat were ever shown, he'd be in the soup,”
observed Colon, ”so he thought it worth while to take all kinds of chances in the hope of copping it again. But let me tell you, the boy who'd open a window, and creep into a neighbor's house night times, is pretty close to the line. He's on the road to being a regular professional thief when he grows up, because it shows he likes that sort of thing.”
”You know they say, 'as the twig's inclined, the tree is bent,'” Bristles told them, ponderously, ”and we all can guess what'll become of Buck Lemington some day. He'll either make a striking figure in finance, or else head some big swindle that'll send him up for twenty years.”
”But with the evidence gone,” Colon remarked, ”of course that ends the plan to show c.o.o.ney up at school?”
”Yes, and that was what he took such big chances for,” Fred admitted.
”We might tell the whole story, but without any positive evidence there would always seem to be a weak link in it. Some folks might even say we were prejudiced. They'd rather believe the attack came from one of the other towns. People always like to believe bad things about rival places rather than the home town. So we'd better shut down on that hat part of the story, and keep it quiet.”
”Course it doesn't matter if we let it be known we were set upon, only we mustn't say we suspect any particular boys,” Colon went on to remark, with a little confusion that told Fred he must have already been telling something about the encounter, though not mentioning names.
”Call that settled, then,” Bristles added, ”but it's too bad, when you had the case framed up against c.o.o.ney for fair and keeps. He'd have found himself the most unpopular fellow in Riverport, that's, right.”
”The main thing with me,” Fred explained, ”was the hope that when everybody got to pointing the finger of scorn at c.o.o.ney, he'd feel so mean and small that, not wanting to stand for all the abuse alone, he'd up and confess that it was Buck who had started the racket. But as our plans have missed fire, we'll have to forget all about it. We've got our hands full as it is with this race, and getting ready to do our level best to win.”
”I think I see Sid coming,” Colon told them just then, and as he had an advantage over the rest by reason of his long neck, n.o.body disputed his word.
”We haven't forgotten anything, I hope?” Bristles observed, as they arose to their feet, and began to stretch themselves, boy fas.h.i.+on.
Fred carried a little pouch at his side that he did not believe would interfere at all with his running, though of course even this would be discarded when the great Marathon test was on. In this he carried matches, a small but reliable compa.s.s, and a few simple remedies that might come in handy in case any of them happened to be seized with colic or cramps from drinking water when overheated.
”Nothing that I know of, Bristles,” Fred announced, as he touched this small pouch which, in the woods among old hunters would probably be called a ”ditty-bag,” and contain all manner of little odds and ends likely to be needed from time to time.
Sid was now running. The mere fact that he might be a little behind time would hardly seem to be sufficient excuse for his starting off in this way. Fred eyed the newcomer as he approached them. He fancied that Sid was bringing news of some kind.
Sid was breathing a little fast. That was to be expected in the start, though when he got his ”second wind” he would very likely be good for a long, hard run.
”Give me five minutes, fellows, to rest up in, so we can all start even,”
Sid went on to say, ”and besides, I've got something to tell you.”
All of them dropped down again on the fresh green gra.s.s that the recent warm weather had caused to sprout forth luxuriantly in places.
”We're listening,” Bristles told him, placing the cup of a hand back of his ear, as though he wanted to make sure of not losing a single word, while Colon a.s.sumed an eager att.i.tude, with his eyes glued on Sid's flushed face.
”None of you happened to go down-town this morning, I reckon?” was the first thing Sid said, and as three heads were vehemently shaken in the negative, he continued, ”Well, then it'll give you something of a surprise to know that it's happened again.”
”Not a fire in the high school?” exclaimed Colon, for a serious event of this kind had taken place in the near past, that had created something of a panic in Riverport.
Sid shook his head in the negative.
”This was a robbery,” he went on to say, in a way that gave the other three a severe shock; ”just as when old Periwinkle was robbed. This time it was Mrs. Merriweather, the rich widow, who owns so many houses, and gets her rents in on the first. Somebody broke in there, and she never knew till this morning that her desk had been pried open, and three hundred dollars taken!”
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