Part 6 (2/2)
”h.e.l.lo, Porter, old man!” cried Mallory, rising from a box on which he had been seated and shaking hands. ”Caught in the storm, too, eh?”
”Yes,” answered Dave. He gazed curiously at the Rockville cadet and his companions. ”Been up the river?”
”Not any further than this.”
”Hunting?”
”No, skating. We would be going back, only Holt broke one of his skates and that delayed us. Been out hunting, eh? Any luck?”
”Some-good and bad. We shot some rabbits, squirrels, and partridges, and we likewise had our hamper, our skates, an overcoat, and some other things stolen.”
”Stolen!” cried Homer Opper. ”By gum, thet's tough luck! Who tuk the things?”
”That is what we want to find out,” and as Dave spoke he looked sharply at Mallory and the other Rockville cadets.
”Not guilty,” came promptly from Bazen. ”Honest Injun, Porter, if you think we touched your things, you are on the wrong track; isn't that so, fellows?”
”It is,” came promptly from Mallory and Holt. Then suddenly the star hockey player of Rockville Academy let out a long, low whistle of surprise.
”You know something?” demanded Dave.
”Maybe I do,” was Mallory's slow answer. ”Yes, I am sure I do,” he added. ”You can put the puzzle together yourself if you wish, Porter-because, you see, I hate to accuse anybody.”
”What do you know?”
”I know this: Less than an hour ago we met two fellows on the river, one with a hamper and the other with a bundle that looked as if it was done up in an overcoat turned inside out. We came on the fellows rather suddenly, at a turn where there were some bushes.”
”Our stuff, as sure as you're a foot high!” cried Phil.
”Who were the fellows, do you know?” demanded the senator's son.
At this question Mallory looked at Holt and Bazen.
”I wasn't exactly sure, but--” He hesitated to go on.
”I was sure enough,” chimed in Holt. ”They were those chaps who came to our school from Oak Hall and then ran away-Jasniff and Merwell. How about it, Tom?”
”I think they were Jasniff and Merwell,” answered Tom Bazen. ”To be sure, as soon as they saw us, they skated away as fast as they could, and kept their faces hidden. But if they weren't Jasniff and Merwell they were pretty good doubles.”
”Jasniff and Merwell,” murmured Dave, and his heart sank a little. Here was more underhanded work of his old enemies.
The farmer and the Rockville cadets were anxious to hear the particulars of the happening, and the Oak Hall lads told of what had occurred.
”I know those chaps,” said Homer Opper. ”They stayed here one night last summer. But they cut up so the boarders didn't like it, so my wife told 'em she didn't have no room for 'em, an' they left. They ought to be locked up.”
”They will be locked up, if we can lay hands on them,” replied Phil.
”They must have followed us to Squirrel Island, and spied on us,” said Shadow. ”Ben, you were right about seeing somebody. It must have been either Merwell or Jasniff.”
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