CHAPTER XXVI
THE SCAR AND THE LIMP
The chums came up shuddering, with hair plastered over their faces andthe water streaming from their shoulders.
"Ugh," sputtered Fred, "the water's as cold as ice!"
"A polar bear would like it," chattered Skeets.
"Turn on the hot water faucet, Jeems," laughed Bobby.
"We'll be all right in a minute or two," remarked Sparrow.
They swam around, racing and diving like so many young porpoises, and ina little while the blood returned to their chilled surfaces, making themperfectly comfortable again.
"Reminds you something of Plunkit's Creek, doesn't it, Fred?" saidBobby.
"Yes," agreed Fred, "only this is a good deal longer and wider thanthat."
"Then, too, we haven't got Ap here, watching us from the bank andgetting ready to set his dog on us," grinned Mouser.
"We don't owe Ap anything," laughed Bobby. "We paid him all up that daywe made him walk the plank."
"Do you remember how he looked when he struck the water?" chuckled PeeWee.
"I wonder if he and Pat have met each other since we came away," saidBobby, as he recalled the scene at the railway station on the morningthey left Clinton.
"Ap had better keep his whip handy," observed Fred.
"That wouldn't help him much," returned Bobby. "Pat would take it awayfrom him and wade into him."
They had been in and out of the water for perhaps an hour, when Bobby,who had swum down to where the shore curved a little, suddenly turnedand swam back again as fast as he could.
"Come along with me, fellows," he cried, "and don't make any more noisethan you can help."
The others followed him wonderingly until they reached the bend. Then,while they hid behind some grasses, Bobby pointed to two men who werelounging under a tree a short distance away.
They were smoking stubby pipes as they lay at their ease. Their faceswere rough and unshaven and their clothing dirty and ragged.
"Don't see much to get excited about," remarked Shiner disappointedly."Just a couple of tramps."
"They're more than that to us," replied Bobby. "They're the very trampswho robbed us in that old hut."
The boys were on edge in an instant. Just then one of the men rose,stretched himself lazily and took a few steps toward the tree. As he didso, the boys saw that he had a perceptible limp.
"And the other one has a scar on his face," whispered Bobby excitedly."You can see it if you look close."
They looked more closely, and Fred in his eagerness rose a little toohigh. His red head caught the eye of the man with the scar, and heuttered a startled exclamation.
"Now you've, done it," whispered Mouser disgustedly. "Why didn't youkeep that red mop of yours out of sight?"
"Hurry, fellows," urged Bobby. "We've got to catch those fellows beforethey can get away. Whip on your clothes and let's get back after them."
The boys swam back as fast as possible and rushed up on the bank.
"Who put a knot in the leg of my pants?" came in a howl from Fred as hestruggled desperately to unfasten the knot.
"I'd like to catch the fellow who tied my socks together," growledMouser.
"And here's one of my shoes floating in the water," wailed Skeets.
They had to pay the penalty now of the tricks they had played on oneanother, and they felt as though they were in a nightmare as they triedfrantically to get into their clothes.
"They'll get away sure," groaned Bobby. "Hustle, fellows, hustle! Comealong just as you are if you can't do any better."
He led the way, and the rest came stumbling after him in all conditionsof dress and undress. Mouser had stuffed his stockings in his pocket,Skeets carried his wet shoes in his hands, while Fred, with one leg inhis trousers, held up the rest of the garment in his hand and made whatspeed he could.
But when they reached the tree under which the tramps had been sitting,they found no one. The birds had flown. They may possibly haverecognized Fred's red head as that of one of their victims, or they mayhave thought that he was one of a company, including men, who might askthem curious and troublesome questions. At any rate they had quicklygotten out of sight.
The boys searched about everywhere in that part of the woods, butfruitlessly. Pee Wee fell into a small excavation, this time barking hisshins in reality. But he had no other injury except to his feelings, andhis comrades hauled him out without much trouble.
"Well," said Fred at last, "there doesn't seem any more reason forhurry, and I guess I'll get my pants on."
"And I'll put on my shoes," said Skeets, suiting the action to the word."This stubble has hurt my feet something fierce."
Mouser's socks also took their rightful place, and the boys began tofeel more like human beings.
"What would you have done anyway, Bobby, if you'd found them under thetree?" asked Mouser.
"I don't know exactly," answered Bobby frankly. "Of course, we couldn'ttackle grown men. But we could have kept them in sight until we met somefarmers and had them nabbed. Or one of us could have gone back toRockledge and got the constable. But we know that they're hanging roundin this neighborhood now, and we'll tell the constable about it andhe'll telephone to all the towns near by to be on the lookout for them."
"I sure would like to get back my ring," said Fred longingly.
"Those sleeve buttons would look mighty good to me," chimed in Pee Wee.
"I could use my scarf pin too," added Mouser.
"I don't _much_ expect to see my watch again," said Bobby, "but there'sa _chance_ of finding where they pawned 'em if we can get those fellowsarrested."
"There were only two of 'em," mused Fred. "I wonder where the other onewas."
"Round at some farmhouse begging for grub maybe," suggested Skeets.
"Or in jail perhaps," guessed Sparrow. "If he isn't, he ought to be."
"He'll get there sooner or later," said Fred, "and so will the rest ofthe bunch."
The boys hurried back to town and put the matter in the hands of theconstable, who promised that he would do all in his power to catch thethieves. But the days passed into weeks with the tramps still atliberty, and the chances of the boys ever getting back the stolenarticles became more and more unlikely.
But this did not hold such a place in their thoughts as the race for thechampionship of the Monatook Lake League, which kept getting hotter andhotter as the various teams tried their strength against each other.
It was a case of nip and tuck. First one team and then the other wouldforge to the front. By the time the first five games had been played nota single team could be said to be out of it.
But what grieved the Rockledge boys was that their bitter rival, Belden,although it started the season with a defeat at the hands of Ridgefield,had made a strong rally and was now in front with a total of fourvictories and one lost game. Somerset and Ridgefield were tied forsecond place, while Rockledge--Rockledge, which had so proudly countedon the pennant--was _last_!