CHAPTER 14 THE BELFRY BELL
Brad could not provide a ready answer to Dan's demand for a means ofstopping the Bay Shore boys in their Halloween prank.
The boy called Pete had been left on guard at the entrance to the coalchute. Pat and at least five others now were inside the empty building.
"We're two against six," Brad muttered. "We can't stop 'em, Dan."
"But to let them take the bell! The trustees are almost certain to blamethe Cubs. If they'd only come here now and learn the truth!"
Brad had been thinking fast. "Our best bet is to telephone Mr. Hatfieldand have him call the police," he whispered. "It will take 'em a fewminutes to get that bell down. They aren't going to unfasten it half aseasy as they think!"
"It will weigh a ton too! Say, maybe we will have time enough to nab'em!"
"You dash for a 'phone, Dan," Brad advised in a whisper. "Sneak aroundbehind the hedge and don't let that kid, Pete, see you. I'll keep watchuntil you get back."
"I'll hurry as fast as I can."
Dan started to creep away. He had taken less than three steps when asudden commotion inside the church brought him up sharply.
From the interior of the building, issued an eerie scream.
Then utter confusion! He could hear Pat and the other Bay Shore boysgasping and yelling as they evidently pushed and shoved one another downthe iron stairway which led from the belfry.
Dan couldn't guess what had happened. Had one of the boys fallen on thestairs? But surely that wouldn't have been enough to have caused suchpanic.
As he hesitated, wondering whether to wait or hasten on to find atelephone, the intruders began to pour out of the building.
Pat was the first to crawl through the narrow opening.
"What happened?" Pete demanded. "Where's the bell?"
"Bell?" Pat laughed hysterically. "That bell can stay up there forever!The church is haunted!"
The other Bay Shore boys came out of the coal chute as fast as they couldsqueeze through. Without even waiting for their buddies, they started ona run away from the building.
Pat and Pete stayed until the last member of their gang had reachedsafety. Hastily, they slammed down the door of the coal chute.
At that moment, from overhead, came the faint tap-tap-tap of the churchbell. It was a muted sound but one which could not have been caused bythe light breeze which was blowing.
"Hear that?" Pat muttered fearfully. "I'm getting away from thisplace--fast!"
He fled, leaving Pete to bound after him. In another moment, Dan and Bradwere the only two left in the churchyard.
"What d'you know?" Brad chuckled, recovering from the rapidity of theflight.
"We lost our chance to trap 'em inside the building," Dan saidregretfully, returning to stand beside the Den Chief at the coal chuteopening. "What do you suppose happened in there?"
"I wish I knew. Want to go inside and find out?"
"Say, are you kidding?"
"Sure, I am," Brad chuckled. "You couldn't drag me into that buildingtonight. All the same, I'm mighty curious. Pat and his boys must haveseen or heard something that completely unnerved them."
"Pat's no coward either."
"No, it would take plenty to jolt him, Dan. It was more than just atapping bell." Brad gazed thoughtfully up at the dark belfry.
Dan shivered, feeling ill at ease. "That bell's enough to give me thejim-jams," he confessed. "This isn't the first time we're heard it. Howdo you explain it, Brad? You don't think the church could be--"
"Haunted? Say, be your age!"
"I know it's silly," Dan admitted, sheepishly. "But so many queer thingshave happened here."
"Man-made queer things."
"What do you mean by that, Brad?" Dan quickly caught him up.
The older boy, however, did not answer. He moved back a few paces so thathe could obtain a better view of the shadowy belfry.
"See anything?" Dan asked, following him nervously.
"Nothing."
"We didn't imagine the tapping of that bell, Brad."
"No, it sounded all right. And it didn't ring by itself either."
"Then you think someone may be up there--right now?"
"Could be."
"Gosh, it scares me to think about it," Dan muttered. "Even now, someonemight be watching us, and we couldn't see him."
"Don't get yourself worked up," Brad advised in a matter-of-fact voice."We're safe enough here so long as we don't go inside the building."
The boys circled the church, studying it from every angle. Now that Patand the others had fled, it was difficult to believe that anything everhad been amiss. The old building appeared as deserted as on the day whenthe Cubs first had seen it.
"At any rate, we know how Pat and his bunch got inside the church thatfirst time," Dan commented. "Through the coal chute."
Both he and Dan felt a trifle discouraged over the outcome of theirlittle adventure. With half a break they might have caught the Bay Shoreboys inside the building! Now, it seemed they were no closer than ever toproving the innocence of the Cubs.
"No use to telephone Mr. Hatfield now, or to call the police," Danremarked, sunk in gloom. "We muffed it right, Brad."
"Oh, I wouldn't say so." The older boy was quite cheerful. "We learnedquite a bit. And we can be sure of one thing. I don't think Pat and hispals will come back here for awhile."
"Not after the way they poured out of that building." Dan grinned at therecollection. "I sure wish we could have had a picture! Even Pat wasscared half out of his wits!"
"Hearing that bell tap gave me quite a start myself," Brad admittedfrankly. "I wish I knew what it was that scared those kids. They musthave seen something--not a ghost either!"
"Want to come back here sometime to investigate?" Dan proposed, halfjokingly. "When it's daylight, I mean?"
"Maybe I will," the Den Chief replied. "I intend to talk this over withMr. Hatfield. If he thinks we wouldn't run afoul of the trustees, I maytry to get in there again to see what I can learn."