CHAPTER XIX
BLACK PAINT
As Bob had pointed out, it was Saturday night, and even in Hillsportmost of the merchants kept their shops open. As it was consideredunwise to ask the location of a hardware store, the quartette was sometime finding one. But success rewarded their efforts presently and,lest numbers create suspicion, Bob was delegated to do the purchasingalone. Cal emptied his pocket of all it contained except sufficient topay his fare back to Alton and Bob pulled his cap down and entered thestore. In a very few minutes he emerged, a paper-covered package underone arm, and strolled casually along the street to a dimly lightedcorner where the others awaited him.
"Get it?" whispered Martin.
"Sure! Also and likewise a brush." Bob pulled the latter article froma trousers pocket and waved it triumphantly. "Here's the change," headded.
Cal held the few coins that dropped into his palm to the uncertainlight of a distant street lamp. "Huh, there isn't much of it," he said.
"Paint's high, owing to--to--I forget what," answered Bob cheerfully."But the brush was only thirty cents. That was cheap, eh?"
"It must be a wonder!" commented Cal. "Bet you the bristles all comeout before we get through with it."
"We ought to soak it in water first," said Bob, "but I guess thereisn't time."
"You're a swell little guesser," answered Martin. "Which way do we go?"
"Back the way we came," said Cal. "The nearer the school, the better, Isay."
"That's right. I wonder should we stir this stuff up." Bob tore off thedisguising paper and revealed a quart can. "Guess we'll have to. Let'sget the cover off and find a stick or something."
Getting the cover off was not difficult, Cal prying it up with hislocker key, but finding a piece of wood with which to stir was moreof a problem. They searched and poked around in the gloom of the backstreet without success until Martin found a broken fence picket andpulled off a nice long splinter. Then, in the added darkness of atree, they put the can on the sidewalk and proceeded to mix theingredients thoroughly. Once a passer on the other side caused them tostraighten up and assume casual attitudes, but for the rest they wereundisturbed. Even on the business thoroughfares Hillsport was not acrowded town tonight. Presently they set off, Bob bearing the paintand Cal the brush, keeping to the darker streets until the center ofthe town was left behind. Then they crossed to the residence avenue bywhich they had returned from the school and began to look for blankwalls or fences appropriate to their purpose.
After some five blocks had been traveled Bob voiced disparagement."This is a punk town for decorating," he said. "Nothing but iron andpicket fences."
"What's that over there?" asked Martin, pointing. It proved, when theyhad crossed the street, to be the clapboarded side of a stable orgarage set some three feet back from the fence. Bob gloated fiendishlyand called for the brush. But, although until that instant scarcelyhalf a dozen persons had been sighted, now the long street suddenlybecame densely populated, or so it seemed to the vandals. A man cameout of a house across the way, a boy and a dog appeared from a crossthoroughfare and two ladies appeared from the direction of theshopping district. Bob deposited the paint can against the fence andthe boys stood in front of it in negligent attitudes. Cal whistled idlyand unmusically. The boy passed unsuspiciously, but the dog showedsigns of curiosity until Martin lifted him swiftly but mercifully fromthe vicinity with a dexterous foot. Then the man, having lighted acigar very deliberately, took himself off and the two ladies passed,casting nervous glances at the quartette, and the street was againquiet.
Bob dipped brush in paint and reached toward the immaculate whitenessof the building. Willard looked on dubiously, but forebore toremonstrate. It was a difficult reach and Bob was grumbling beforehe had formed the big A that started the inscription. But, althoughthe black paint ran down the handle of the brush and incommoded himvastly, he persevered and in a minute the sign stood forth in thesemi-darkness, huge and startling:
A. A. 14 H. S. 0
One brief instant they tarried to admire, and then they hurried awayfrom the place. It seemed to them that those big black letters andnumerals were visible for blocks! By common consent they turned thenext corner and dived into the comparative blackness of a side street.Presently they stopped and exchanged felicitations.
One brief instant they tarried to admire]
"Swell!" chuckled Cal. "Gee, I wish I could see the Hillsport fellowstomorrow when they catch sight of it!"
"So do I," said Bob. "Didn't it show up great? Who's got a handkerchiefhe's not particular about?"
"Wipe your hands on your trousers," advised Martin coldly.
"What's the matter with your own handkerchief?" inquired Cal. "You gettoo much paint on your brush, anyway."
"Well, you can't be very careful when you've got to hurry," grumbledBob. "You can do the next one, seeing you know so blamed much about it!Gosh, the silly stuff is running up my sleeve!"
"I've got an old handkerchief you can have," said Willard.
"Thanks, Brand. You're the only gentleman in the bunch. Excepting me,"added Bob as Martin laughed.
"Where next?" asked Cal while Bob wiped his hand.
"Let's paint a good one somewhere near the school," Martin suggested."Seems to me there was a brick wall across from where we were waitingfor the car that would be just the ticket."
"Lead me to it," begged Cal. "This is my turn."
They got back to the main street a block farther on and a few minutes'walk brought them in sight of the main entrance to the school. "Wedon't want to stay around too long," said Willard. "It's nearly eighto'clock now."
"Guess we'll have to do one more and call it a day," replied Bob. "Inever saw such a punk town for--for decorative purposes!"
Three Hillsport fellows, returning to school, overtook them asthey neared the entrance and, as it seemed, viewed them very, verysuspiciously. But the four kept their heads down, and Cal, now carryingthe pot of paint, was careful to keep it hidden. The three entered theschool grounds and were lost to sight and the conspirators breathedmore freely. The wide street ended at the campus. A cross street ranright and left and for a block in each direction the high iron fenceof the school bore it company. From the right the street car linecame, turning in front of the gate. As, however, they had seen but onecar since they had started forth on their expedition, interruptionfrom that source seemed unlikely. The brick wall of which Martin hadspoken could not have been placed more advantageously. It surroundedthe small premises of a residence on the left-hand corner, and, as Bobtriumphantly pointed out, a sign painted there would be the first thingseen by anyone coming through the school gate.
"That's all right," returned Cal dubiously, "but it's awfully lighthere." And so it was, for just inside the gate an electric arc lampshed its blue radiance afar.
"I'll stand at the gate," volunteered Bob, "and Mart and Brand canwatch the streets. If anyone comes we'll whistle."
"What about the folks in the house?" Cal's enthusiasm was rapidlywaning. The residence was brightly lighted and the strains of a pianocame forth.
"They can't see through the wall, you lunkhead," answered Bob, "and ifanyone comes out we'll see 'em and let you know. All you need to dothen is set the paint pot down and just walk away, careless-like."
"We-ell, but you fellows watch," said Cal resignedly.
Bob posted himself across the street at the entrance and Martin andWillard took up positions from where they could see anyone approachingon either street. Then Cal set to work. Painting on the rough surfaceof a brick wall is not so simple as painting on wood, and Cal madeslow progress. Now and then the others heard disgusted murmurs fromwhere, a darker form against the shadows, he stooped at his task.Several minutes passed, and Willard, concerned with the fact that traintime was approaching, grew nervous; which, perhaps, accounted for amomentary lapse from watchfulness. At all events, the approachingpedestrian, coming along on the school side of the cross street, wasscarcely a dozen yards dis
tant when Willard saw him. The latter'swarning might, it seemed, have been heard a mile away.
"Beat it!" yelled Willard.
Afterwards he explained that shouting was quicker than whistling, andthat if he had taken time to pucker his lips they would never have gotaway without being seen.
They came together a block down the main thoroughfare, breathless andhilarious. "He--he went in the gate," panted Bob. "I saw him. Lookedlike one of the faculty, too. Gee, it was a lucky thing he didn't catchus! D-did you get it done, Cal?"
"Just! I was going over the naught a second time when I heard Brandyell. I had the paint can in one hand and the brush in the other and Ijust heaved 'em both over the wall and ran!"
"I'll bet it looks great," chuckled Martin.
"I know it does," answered Cal proudly. "I made the letters and figuresas big as that." He held his hands nearly a yard apart. "It took mostof the paint, too. Brick's awfully hard to work on. What did you dowith Brand's handkerchief, Bob?"
"Gave it back," said Bob.
"No, you didn't," denied Willard.
"Didn't I? I thought I did. Meant to, anyway. Must have dropped itsomewhere, then. Wipe your hands on your own hanky. That's what youtold me to do!"
"I will like fun," muttered Cal. "I'll bet the stuff is all over me,hang it!"
"You can wash up at the station," said Martin. "Who knows when the carsrun over to Darlington?"
An uneasy silence followed. Then Bob said: "What about it, Cal? Youasked, didn't you?"
"I asked when the trains went," replied Cal. "I--I suppose the cars goevery ten minutes or so, don't they?"
"What time is it now?" asked Martin bruskly.
"Five to eight," answered Willard.
With one accord the four broke into a trot. "If we miss that trainwe're dished!" said Bob. "Seems to me you'd find out something, Cal,while you were at it! What time does the train go?"
"Eight-thirty-eight," replied Cal. "You didn't ask me to find out aboutthe trolley. I thought you knew about it. How was I to know--"
"Save your breath for running," advised Bob coldly. "If we can't get atrolley we'll have to foot it."
"Gee, we'll never do it in thirty minutes!" exclaimed Martin.
"We'll have to," said Bob grimly, "if we can't get a car. If we're notback at school by ten we'll get fits. And then, if the faculty overhere makes a fuss about those signs, why, we'll be nabbed!"
"I told you it was too risky," mourned Martin.
"Well, you took a hand in it, didn't you?" asked Bob shortly. "Shut upand get a move on! Isn't that the square ahead there?"
It was, and when, very much out of breath, the quartette reached it, acar obligingly swung around a corner and paused in front of a waitingstation a block away. "Come on!" yelled Cal. "That's ours!"
Of course, having reached it and staggered breathlessly inside, theyhad to sit there for quite ten minutes before the car resumed itsjourney. But they were too grateful to mind that, and, although Willardlooked at his watch frequently and anxiously, the conductor assuredthem that, if they didn't burn out a fuse or run off the track or ifthe power didn't give out, they would reach the Darlington stationeight minutes before train time. Bob advised Cal to keep his handsout of sight and Cal hung them down between his knees all the way.The conductor's prediction proved correct, and, as there were nomisadventures on the journey, Cal was able to eradicate most of thepaint from his hands before the train arrived. To his disgust, however,he discovered that his coat and trousers were liberally specked withblack, and when Bob told him cheerfully that the paint wouldn't bevery noticeable on mixed goods he became quite angry. In the end theyreached the Academy well before ten o'clock and unobtrusively soughttheir rooms, everyone very weary and, if the truth must be told, rathershort-tempered by now.