THE BANNER BOY SCOUTS ON A TOUR
CHAPTER I
THE OPEN DOOR
"Here we are at your father's feed store, Joe!"
"Yes, but there isn't a glimmer of a light. Didn't you say he was goingto stay here till you came from the meeting?"
"Shucks! he just got tired waiting, and went home long ago; you can trotalong now by your lonesome, Joe."
"Listen! didn't you hear it, fellows? What was that sound?"
The four boys stood, as Joe asked this question, almost holding theirbreath with awe, while no doubt their hearts pounded away like so manytrip-hammers.
It was after ten o'clock at night, and the town of Stanhope, nestling onthe bank of the Bushkill, usually closed its business doors by nine,save on Saturdays.
This being the case, it was naturally very quiet on Anderson street,even though electric lights and people abounded on Broad street, themain thoroughfare, just around the corner.
These lads belonged to a troop of Boy Scouts that had been organized thepreceding summer. They wore the regular khaki suits that alwaysdistinguish members of the far-reaching organization, and one of themeven carried a bugle at his side.
The first speaker was Paul Morrison, the scout leader, to whom much ofthe labor of getting the troop started had fallen. Paul was the son ofthe leading doctor in Stanhope.
His comrades were the bugler, known as Bobolink, because he chanced toanswer to the name of Robert Oliver Link; Jack Stormways, Paul'sparticular chum; and Joe Clausin, the one who had asked his friends tostroll around in his company, to the feed store, where he expected tofind his father waiting for him.
The lads had been attending a regular weekly meeting of the troop at oneof the churches that offered them the free use of a gymnasium.
"There's no light inside," said Bobolink, in a husky voice, "but thedoor's half open, boys!"
This announcement sent another thrill through the group.
Anyone unacquainted with the wearers of the Scout uniforms might evenimagine that they had been attacked by a spasm of fear; but at least twomembers of the group had within recent times proven their valor in afashion that the people of Stanhope would never forget.
In the preceding volume of this series, issued under the name of "TheBanner Boy Scouts; or, The Struggle for Leadership," I related how theboys got together and organized their patrol and troop. Of course, therewas considerable opposition, from jealous rivals; but in the end theboys of Stanhope won their right to a prize banner by excelling thetroops from the neighboring towns in many of the things a true scoutshould know and practice. Hence, no one who has perused the first bookof this series will imagine for an instant that any of these lads weretimid, simply because they clustered together, and felt their pulsesquiver with excitement.
"Do you hear that sound again, Joe?" demanded Paul, presently, as alllistened.
"I thought I did just then," answered Joe Clausin, drawing a longbreath; "but perhaps it was only imagination. Dad's been doing more workthan he ought, lately. Mebbe he's been taken with one of his oldfainting spells."
"Say, that's just what it is, I reckon," observed Bobolink, quickly; "orelse he forgot to shut the door when he went home."
"He never could have done that, boys," declared Joe; "you know howcareful he always is about everything. I was just thinkin' about theSkarff robbery, and wonderin' if those fellows had come back to town.The police never caught 'em, you remember."
Joe's voice had once more dropped to a whisper. What he said seemed tomake considerable impression on his comrades, for the heads drew evencloser together.
"But why would they want to break open a feed store?" ventured JackStormways, dubiously; "it isn't like the Skarff place, which was ajewelry shop."
"'Sh!" went on Joe, nervously; "I happen to know that dad keeps quitesome money in his safe about the first of the month, when people paytheir bills. Mother has often told him he ought to put it in the bank;but he only laughs at her, and says he'd like to see the thief who couldopen his safe. Paul, what should we do?"
"Go in, I reckon. Wait till I find my matches," returned the scoutleader, without the least hesitation.
"Oh! what if we should run up against a man hiding there?" suggestedJoe.
"Well, there are four of us, you know, boys. But what are you doing,Jack?" Paul continued, seeing that his warmest chum was bending down, asthough he might be tugging at something.
"Look here what I've got, fellows! And there's a lot more to be had forthe taking," with which Jack Stormways held up a stout stick of wood,which, coming with some of the hay or feed that reached the store duringthe day, had been cast aside.
Immediately the three others made haste to possess themselves of similarweapons.
"Ready?" asked Paul, as he prepared to advance boldly into the densedarkness.
"Sure! We're going to back you up, old fellow. Say the word!" shrilledBobolink, close to the other's shoulder.
"Come on, then!"
The lads had hardly advanced five steps when every one caught the dreadsound that Joe claimed to have heard. And Paul, perhaps because he wasthe son of a doctor, somehow guessed its true import sooner than any oneof his chums. He knew it was a groan, and that some human being must besuffering!
There was a slight crackling sound, which was caused by the suddendrawing of a match along Paul's trousers. Instantly a tiny flame spranginto existence; and every eye was strained to discover the cause of thegroan.
As the match burned, and the light grew stronger, the boys discoveredthat some one lay upon the floor inside the glass enclosed office, andclose to the desk where Mr. Clausin usually sat. Paul, looking further,had seen that there was a lamp on the stand, and knowing the need ofsome better means of illumination than a succession of matches,instantly moved forward, and started to remove the chimney of this.
It was still a trifle warm, showing that the light must have been blownout not more than a couple of minutes previously.
Meanwhile, Joe had thrown himself on the floor beside the prostrateform, which he had already recognized as that of his father. He waschafing his hands, and calling out in boyish agony, while Jack andBobolink looked on with troubled faces.
Paul saw immediately that either Mr. Clausin must have had a fit whilealone, possibly just after he had blown out the lamp, or else some onehad attacked him. His collar and necktie were disarranged, and there wasa nasty bruise on the side of his head; though this might have come whenhe fell to the floor.
"If we had some water we might bring him to," observed Paul, when theman on the floor groaned again, more dismally than before.
"Back of the safe there is a bucket, with a dipper!" said Joe, eagerly.
Fortunately some water remained in the pail, and Paul was able to fillthe dipper. It was just then he noticed the door of the little safe, andsaw that it was open. This was strange, if the owner of the store hadbeen about to leave when he was seized. And supposing he had fallen in afit, who had put out the lamp?
No sooner had he applied the cold water than it seemed to have a magicaleffect on the unconscious man. He gasped two or three times, while atremor ran through his whole frame. Then his eyes suddenly opened.
"Father!" almost shrieked poor Joe, who had begun to believe that he wasnever again to be blessed by communion with his parent.
"Joe! What has happened? Where am I?" and as he muttered these words Mr.Clausin managed to sit up, staring around him in a way that at anothertime might have seemed almost comical, so great was his surprise.
"You told me to come here, and that you would wait for me," declared hisson; "when we got to the store it was all dark, and the door stood halfopen. Then we heard you groan, father. Oh! what was it? Did you haveanother of those awful spells?" Joe still kept on rubbing his handaffectionately down the sleeve of his parent's coat.
"Yes, it must have been that, my boy," the dazed storekeeper answered."I seem to remember starting to get up to put a little box in the safe,for it was about the t
ime you said you would be along. Then it all grewdark around me. I think I fell, for I seem to remember hearing a crash.And my head feels very sore. Yes, I have bruised it badly. Perhaps itwas a mighty good thing you boys came along when you did."
"Oh! that was terrible, father," cried Joe; "but at first we thoughtsome one had been in here to rob you. That door being open worried me. Inever knew you to leave it that way when you stayed here at night."
"What's that you say, my boy?" asked Mr. Clausin, hastily; "the door wasopen when you came? But I distinctly remember that it was not only shut,but latched on the inside! I expected you to knock, and let me know whenyou came along."
He still seemed half in a daze, as though the blow he had received infalling might have affected him. While speaking, however, Mr. Clausinmanaged to regain his feet, partly supported by his son's arm.
"Wait until I close my safe, and then I'll go home with you, Joe," hesaid; "the doctor told me I ought to take a little rest, and that I wasworking too hard. It looks as if he must have been right. But I'm gladyou came along when you did, for----"
He was bending down, and staring into the safe. Paul watched himuneasily, for that open door worried the boy.
"What is it, father?" exclaimed Joe, as he saw the gentleman beginhastily to open several compartments in the metal receptacle, and Paulnoticed that his hand shook as though with palsy.
"Look on the floor, boys, please. Tell me if you can see a small tin boxanywhere. Of course I must have dropped it when I fell in that faint,"Mr. Clausin was saying; but Paul fancied it was more to bolster up hisown courage, than because he really believed what he observed.
The boys immediately set to work examining the floor of the officethoroughly. But none of them met with any success.
"How large a tin box was it, father?" continued Joe, presently.
"Some eight inches long, by half as many wide. Could I have misplaced itin any way?" and Mr. Clausin began to feel in his pockets. Once more helooked into the yawning safe.
"We don't seem to see it anywhere, sir," said Paul, who suspected whatwas coming.
The feed merchant stood up before them, with a very grave face. He wasclasping both hands together in a nervous fashion.
"Then there is only one thing that can have happened, boys! I have beenrobbed while I lay here unconscious!" he said, solemnly, at whichBobolink gasped.
"Do you miss any money from your safe, sir?" questioned Paul, who seemedto be able to keep his head in this crisis.
"Fortunately I took my wife's advice this time," returned the owner ofthe feed store, "and deposited all I had in the bank this afternoon.Still, possibly the thief believed I would keep it here. Seeing that tinbox, and suspecting that it might hold valuables, he has carried itoff."
"Do you remember blowing out the lamp at all, sir?" asked Paul.
"I certainly did not," came the answer; "I can recollect seeing it as Iarose. Then all grew dark!"
"That settles it. There must have been a thief here, then!" remarkedJack, with more or less awe, as he looked around the big storeroombeyond the glass enclosed office.