CHAPTER II.
A STARTLING ACCUSATION.
"Now, what d'ye suppose that fellow in the carriage is beckoning to usfor, Elmer?" asked Mark Cummings, as he and his particular chum werewalking along the main street of Hickory Ridge on the morning after thefishing trip.
They had been looking up a few things in one of the stores, for Markchanced to be the grandson of a noted artist, and had himself developeda touch of genius along the line of caricature work. Often when he andhis chums were together, he would pull out pencil and paper and dash offsome telling and humorous drawing. If a pencil were not handy Mark coulduse a crayon, a bit of chalk or charcoal, and even a piece of freshbirch bark in case paper were lacking.
And so he had been picking up a few things in his line, while Elmerinterested himself advising Lil Artha, who was selecting some plates forhis new camera, as well as developing fluid, prepared paper, and severalother necessities required by the amateur photographer devoted to hiswork.
The two boys had started home together, and were in the midst of ananimated conversation connected with the chances for that baseball gamebefore the summer vacation ended, when Mark chanced to hear some onecalling.
"Why, it looks to me like Colonel Hitchins's rig," remarked Elmer, whopossibly knew the vehicle in question better than his chum. "Yes, Iknow it is now, and the negro driver is Sam White, his coachman. Heseems to be beckoning to us, as sure as anything. I wonder what hewants, and if it has anything to do with Diablo, the educated monkey wehad all that fun with when we were in camp up on Jupiter Lake?"
"That's so, Elmer; will I ever forget what happened there, and how gladColonel Hitchins was to get his tricky pet back, after he had robbed usof a lot of our good grub. But Sam White has started his horses thisway. Let's wait here and see what he's got to say."
Colonel Hitchins was an eccentric and wealthy man who lived beyond theenvironments of Hickory Ridge. He had once been a great traveler, andhis big house was filled with trophies from every land. It was a treatfor Elmer to examine some of the almost numberless things the collectorhad gathered around him. And as a rule the colonel was favorablydisposed toward the boys of Hickory Ridge, though there were times whensome of the more malicious chaps annoyed him greatly in various ways.
Presently Sam White pulled the two prancing horses in close to thesidewalk.
"Whoa, dar, youse high falutin' thoroughbr'ds from Kentucky! I reckonsyou dun gits too much oats, dat's what; an' hit makes yuh too frisky.You am de boy belongin' tuh de Cummings fambly, ain't yuh, an' yuh nameam Mark, I spect?" was the way the colored driver proclaimed his adventon the scene.
"Sure, I'm Mark Cummings, and you know it as well as you do your ownname, Sam. What's doing now?" remarked the boy, smiling.
"Why, yuh see, de kunnel he sez tuh me, sez he: 'Sam, ef so be yuh sotyuh eyes on dat Mark Cummings, I'd like yuh tuh ask him tuh come up hyahright away, 'case I wants tuh see him!' Dat's wat de kunnel say tuhme," the driver explained.
Mark glanced at his chum with raised eyebrows.
"What d'ye suppose it means, Elmer?" he asked, in bewilderment.
The other shook his head in the negative, as though unable to hazard aguess.
"It might stand for any one of a dozen things," he observed. "You knowthe colonel takes a heap of interest in the boys of the Ridge. Perhapshe wants to make some offer to them that will be to their interest.Perhaps he may even intend to ask the scouts over to his house somenight, and give them a great time. It would be just like him, you know."
"Yes," replied Mark, smiling, "but in that case why send for me? You'rethe assistant scout master, and Mr. Garrabrant is in town right now, sohe ought to be the one consulted. But I suppose I'd better jump in andgo along. Say, what's to hinder you coming with me, Elmer?"
"Nothing that I know of," replied his chum. "And I don't suppose Samhere would have any objections to my taking a ride with you. He knowsI've been to see the colonel heaps of times."
Sam scratched his woolly pate, as if bewildered, and looked dubious.
"De kunnel he sez dat Mark Cummings boy, sah, but seein' as it's you, Ireckon it'd be all right. So jes' step in kindly, as de hosses am a bitpeeved dis yar mawnin', an' wants tuh run dey haids off."
Accordingly the two chums entered the big open carriage, Mark laying hisseveral packages down beside him. And in another minute they were beingcarried at a spanking pace toward the fine estate of Colonel Hitchins.
On the way they speculated along other lines as to what the gentlemanwished to see Mark about, but without being able to come to anyconclusion. But never suspecting that it could be anything serious theypresently allowed the subject to drop.
Turning in at the entrance to the grounds they passed along a drivewhere one could see the fancy fruit trees of which the owner was soproud.
"Looks like they were picking those splendid peaches, from the way theleaves lie on the ground," remarked Elmer, as he pointed to a couple oftrees on which there still remained a few splendidly colored andwonderfully large specimens of the delicious fruit.
"Um! makes a fellow's mouth water just to see 'em," declared Mark. "Andthere's Bruno chained up to his kennel back by the barns. What a big doghe is--a Siberian wolf hound the colonel calls him. I don't believe I'dlike to meet Bruno on a dark night, and running loose."
"Oh, he isn't a bad kind at all," remarked Elmer. "I've patted him onthe head often, of course when the colonel was along. He gets loose oncein a while, too, but was never known to attack anybody, though if athief tried to enter, and he was free at the time, he might jump on himand hold him. That happened once, so the colonel told me, when he livedoutside of New York City."
"Well, here we are at the house," observed Mark. "Come along with me,Elmer."
"Think I'd better, when he only wanted to see you?" asked his chum,dubiously.
"Yes, come along," Mark insisted. "I don't know how it is, but I've justgot a hunch that I'd like to have you with me. And the colonel is sofond of you he'll be glad you've come."
Thus urged Elmer also jumped from the vehicle.
"Jes' leab dem packages dar, 'case I 'spect tuh dribe yuh bofe back tuhtown agin arter yuh done seein' de kunnel," said Sam. "An' sense de dooram open, p'raps yuh bettah jes' go long tuh de library, whar de kunnelam asittin'."
"That's the ticket; come along, Elmer."
In this spirit, then, the two boys quickly reached the door of thelibrary, a room which Elmer knew very well, as he had spent many apleasant evening there. Mark knocked lightly on the door.
"Enter!" said a voice, which they knew belonged to the master of themansion.
At seeing two lads the colonel's eyebrows went up, and he glancedsharply from one to the other in a questioning way. So Elmer thought itonly right that he should explain.
"We were walking home together when Sam gave your message, colonel," hesaid, "and so I took the liberty of coming with my chum Mark."
The elderly gentleman smiled. Elmer was a favorite of his, and he hadtaken a great interest in many of the lad's schemes and plans that hadto do with the affairs of the troop of Boy Scouts of Hickory Ridge.
"Say nothing more about it, Elmer; I'm always glad to see you"; and yetElmer noticed to his surprise that the colonel did not offer him hishand as usual.
He asked them to be seated, and all the while his keen eyes seemed to beroving uneasily toward Mark; and several times Elmer saw him shake hishead slightly.
For a few minutes they talked of various things. Elmer asked how themonkey was getting on, and the gentleman told them that Diablo had grownso vicious that he had been compelled to send him away to the CentralPark collection of animals in New York City.
"I hated to part from the brute very much, too, but it seemed as thoughall the bad in his nature was coming to the surface, and he lost much ofthe charm he used to have for me." Then to the surprise of the boys thecolonel leaned forward, adding: "Let me take your caps, boys."
"But we can only stay a short time, sir; I promis
ed my mother to be homeat eleven, because she wants me to go somewhere with her," Mark said,although he could not very well refuse to let the persistent gentlemantake his cap.
Elmer stared when he saw the colonel actually examine the head gear ofhis chum. Nor was his astonishment at all lessened when he heard what hesaid.
"Oh, I will not detain you more than five or ten minutes at the most, Ipromise you, boys. By the way, I see that both of you have the habit offastening your initials inside your caps. I suppose most boys do thatbecause they are apt to get their head gear mixed when they wrestle andknock around; isn't that so, Mark?"
"Why, yes, sir, I guess that's the main reason they put the initialsthere," replied the one addressed, his eyes opening wide with surpriseat the peculiar turn given to the conversation by the colonel.
"I suppose, now, you've always done it, Mark?" continued the gentleman,watching the boy's face.
"For several years, yes, sir. I've had as many as five sets of initialsin that time. And the habit has saved me a lot of caps, too. If a fellowclaims mine, all I have to do is to point at the three initials inside,and he gives up."
"H'm! like this, for instance," remarked the colonel, picking somethingup from behind a pile of books on his table and holding it out.
It was a fairly well-worn cap, and had evidently belonged to a boy.Elmer immediately sat up and began to take notice. He realized that thecolonel must indeed have an object in asking Mark to drop in and seehim.
For unless he was very much mistaken Elmer had seen that same capbefore, many times, and on the head of his chum!
As for Mark, his eyes had opened very wide as they fastened on thearticle the gentleman was holding out before him.
"Will you kindly take this cap in your hands, my boy?" said the colonel,and almost mechanically Mark did so, for as yet he could not find hisvoice to express his mingled feelings.
"Please examine it, now, and tell me if you have ever seen it before,"continued the colonel, whose heavy brows were lowered, as though undertheir shelter he were trying to analyze the emotions that chased eachother across the face of the boy.
Mark made a pretense of looking inside and out, but it was notnecessary, for the fellow who cannot instantly recognize a cap he hasworn for some months must be pretty dense indeed.
"Well?" said the gentleman, with an interrogation point in the one word.
"I know it is mine, sir, because--well, every little mark about it isfamiliar, even to this little triangular tear. Besides, here are myinitials inside--just as they are in this other cap I own--M. A. C.,which stand for Mark Anthony Cummings."
The gentleman moved uneasily. It seemed as though he might be bothsurprised and annoyed because of this frank acceptance of the ownershipof the cap.
"You're quite positive there can be no mistake--that some other boy maynot have the same initials?" he asked.
"I don't know of a single one, do you, Elmer?" replied Mark, steadily.
"Not that I can recall just now; and besides, Mark, I ought to know thatcap as well as you, and I'm ready to declare it's your property. I'monly wondering how it happens to be in the possession of ColonelHitchins after you lost it," Elmer remarked, watching the face of thegentleman and wondering why he looked so downcast over such a littlething.
"I'm sorry to hear you say it belongs to you, Mark, because you are oneof the last boys I'd dream of accusing of such a thing as robbery."
"Robbery!" gasped Mark, his face turning a trifle white with the shock.
"It is just that, for my premises were invaded last night by some boldthieves, who raided my choice peach trees, and almost cleaned them ofthe prize fruit that I would not have taken its weight in silver for.And I regret to say that this morning I found this self-same cap underthose trees, where it would appear it had been accidentally dropped byone of the fruit thieves."