On the way up and after we got to the car we found out all about thepoor little duffer. He said he had started out from the Boys' Home up inWillisville. He said that some people had sent a lot of books there forthe kids, and that was how Skyhigh Sam got into the Boys' Home.
It's too bad they didn't keep him there.
That poor kid sneaked out one night and started off to conquer the worldwith fifty cents a lady gave him. He had Skyhigh Sam with him. Then hebought four packs of cigarettes and a big box of matches. He picked up acigar in the street, too.
He walked to Bridgeboro in the night and nobody stopped him. He didn'tknow where he was going, but anyway he was going to invent a submarine.After that he was going to sell it to the government--that's what hetold us.
That first night he crawled through a place where one of the boards wasbroken under Tony's Lunch Wagon. He said he was pretty hungry. That'sjust like great inventors. He said there were all toadstools under thewagon. Maybe if he had been a scout he would have known that the kindunder there were good to eat. Even raw they're better than nothing. Butanyway he didn't eat any. And he was good and hungry. He could hearpeople above him in the wagon, and he knew they were eating. I guess hesaw it was a hard life starting out to be an inventor.
The next morning he didn't dare to go out because he was afraid some onewould see him and send him back to the Home. So he stayed there all day.In the night he heard some good news. He heard that he was worth threehundred dollars. He heard them talking up in the lunch wagon about a kidrunning away from the Home up in Willisville and he heard them say howthree hundred dollars' reward was offered to any one who brought himback. I guess the poor kid never knew he was worth so much money. Iguess up to then he thought he wasn't worth more than about nineteencents, wholesale.
He was pretty hungry, but he decided that he'd stay there till hethought of a good submarine, for then he'd get a thousand dollars, onaccount of the government always paying that much to Skyhigh Sam forinventions. He told us that if he could get the thousand dollars beforeanybody found him around there, then he could give that to anybody thatfound him and they'd keep still because a thousand dollars is betterthan three hundred. Poor little kid, you can laugh, but honest, that'sjust what he told us.
Pretty soon came the terrible moment in his career. I got that out ofthe movies--_terrible moment in his career_. Tony moved the lunch wagonaway and the first thing our brave young hero knew there he was rightout in the light of day. By that you can see he was up against thehousing problem, too.
Anyway he showed more sense than Skyhigh Sam ever had. He took off hisfunny looking orphan asylum jacket, so nobody would notice him, andwhile everybody was laughing and shouting over in the field, on accountof Tony moving over, he picked up a part of a sandwich that somebody hadthrown away, and I guess it tasted pretty good to him.
After that he went over to the station and hid under the platform of thefreight house. He was a greater inventor than Edison because Edisonnever even did that. Gee whiz, it's a wonder he didn't set the freighthouse on fire. All the while he kept watching our car being moved and Ibet he wished he could come out and be with us, poor little kid. Believeme, we could have used his appetite that afternoon if we had only known.
After the circus was all over and we fellows left the car to go home, hesneaked over and went into it. He picked up some odds and ends ofsandwiches and things that were left around after the terrible battle. Ihope he got the cheese sandwich that I dropped by accident, because itwas a dandy one--good and thick.
I asked him how he liked the car when he first went inside it and hesaid it was like a castle. Believe me, it's more like an insane asylumhalf the time. He said he played it was a submarine and when it began toget dark he made believe it was going down, down, under the ocean. Gee,he's an awful funny kid. Even now he talks that way.
Anyway, then he started smoking cigarettes. I guess he ate them alive.After a while the submarine came up and there was a big British shipright near. That was Slausen's Auto Repair Shop. If he only could havetorpedoed the shop it would have saved a lot of trouble, but he decidedthat he'd set fire to it instead. He didn't exactly decide that hewould, but he did just the same. Actions speak louder than thoughts.
He went over and climbed into the shop through the window, Skyhigh Sam,cigarettes, matches and all. Underneath the work bench was some nicecotton waste and he lay down on that and went to sleep. He must havebeen there when we were there, but he was dead to the world. I guessmaybe he was dreaming about submarines and things.
He said he didn't know what time it was when he woke up, but he washungry. He said it was all dark all around. He said it smelled likekerosene. No wonder. Gee, I've slept on balsam and moss and all kinds ofthings, but I never slept on cotton waste. So then, _g-o-o-d night_, hestruck a match!
And pretty soon after that was when I heard the fire whistle.
CHAPTER XXIV--THE THREE OF US
That was the match! Talk about your baseball matches and your rowingmatches. That was the world renowned parlor match. The great inventorgot out just in time, with his ammunition. You know the rest.
He didn't know how much depended on our finding him and on his tellingthe truth. But anyway, he didn't seem to know about it being so seriousto set a building on fire-I knew we wouldn't have any trouble making himsay what he did. Gee, he seemed to like to tell about it.
We were sitting in the car after dark on that Sunday night, when he toldus about his career of glory. He didn't tell us the way I told it toyou. We had to keep asking him questions and that's how we got it out ofhim. He was an awful funny kid. When he made believe about something hetalked as if that thing just really happened. He said we could bepartners with him in his new submarine if we wanted to.
I said, "Thanks just the same, but I've got the Silver Fox patrol on myhands and that's enough." Believe me, that's a whole world war initself.
He said we'd divide up the thousand dollars.
"Sure," I told him, "and we'll buy a couple of tons of matches."
He seemed to think that now we were friends with him he'd never have togo back to the Home.
He asked us, "Are we going to live in this car?"
I said, "You've got in with a tribe of wild scouts. Do you know whatthey are? They inhabit the marshes and the woods and the candy storesand ice cream parlors----"
"We have ice cream every Sunday," he piped up. "But only one helping. Wehave doughnuts, too. Do they inhabit the river?" he wanted to know.
"Who? The doughnuts?" I asked him. "Not the ones around here. Theyinhabit the bakery stores."
He said, "After I invent that submarine I'm going to invent an engine."
Westy said, "What do you say we invent some supper?"
So then Westy and I went out on the platform of the car. We told theinventor to stay inside.
I said, "What are we going to do about this kid? I don't want to takehim to my house because I don't want anybody to know yet. But if we gohome to supper and leave him here he'll invent a way to escape."
"Or else he'll set fire to the car," Westy said.
"Once we hand this kid over," I said, "that lets us out of the arsonbusiness and it also lets Charlie Slausen out. And we'll get threehundred dollars' reward, too, for finding the inventor."
"I don't care anything about that," Westy said; "and I'm not worrying somuch about our being accused. It's all going to fall on Charlie whenthey make us talk."
"Believe me," I told him, "when they see this kid and his box of matchesthat will let Charlie out. I guess they won't ask us any questions."
Westy said, "What shall we do? Take him to court in the morning?"
"Sure," I said, "matches and all. It won't make any difference whodidn't start the fire as long as they know who did. You leave it to me,my father's uncle on my mother's side was a lawyer. What we have to dois to keep the inventor under cover till to-morrow."
"I hate like the dickens to see him go back to the Hom
e," Westy said.
"You leave that to me, too," I told him. "I'm an inventor. Come on overto Tony's and we'll get some eats for the poor kid."
Westy stayed in the car with him while I went over. I got some soup in apail and I got some sandwiches and a big piece of pie, and a hole with adoughnut around it to remind the kid of home sweet home. When I saw theway he could eat I nearly fainted. After he got through the only thingthat was left was the hole in the doughnut--_good night_!
After a while I said, "Now you're going to sleep here in this submarineto-night. We're going to shut the doors so the water won't come in.We're going to leave one window open so in case the water comes in itcan get out again. You're supposed to sleep here and guard the placeagainst whales. Understand? We're going to go and see if we can findsome ships to sink. You're supposed to stay here till we get back. Ifyou wake up stay right here and we'll be back early in the morning. Ifthere isn't enough water to go down in, you'll find some in the watercooler. If you want to make believe you're on a desert isle, step out inthe aisle. But don't go till we get back because we're going to plan abig attack on the Court House to-morrow morning and we want you withus."
"I'll bring the matches, hey?" he said, "and we'll----"
"Thanks," I told him; "we'll take care of the matches. Let's have them,please. They may get wet under the ocean. You roll up on the seat and goto sleep, and maybe to-morrow we'll elect you king." He was asleepbefore we left him.
"One thing I'm thankful for," said Westy, as we started home.
"What's that?" I asked him.
"That the new Court House is fire-proof," he said.
CHAPTER XXV--THE TALK OF THE TOWN
We knew well enough he'd sleep all night.
"I kind of like him," Westy said while we were on our way home; "I don'tknow what it is but there's something about him I kind of like. I wishhe didn't have to go back to Willisville."
"He's a funny little duffer," I said. "There'll be some surprise when westand him up in front of Recorder Van Wort in the morning."
"Maybe they'll send him up for being a firebug," Westy said.
"A fire-bug?" I said. "He's a whole menagerie."
He said, "Well, I'm going to cut up through Terrace Place. I'll be atthe car at seven o'clock to-morrow morning. You be there as soon as youcan get there."
"I'll be there by eight," I told him. "You stop on your way and get himsome breakfast from Tony's."
On the way up the hill to my house (we live up on Blakeley's Hill, it'sdandy up there) I began to find out what people were thinking about thefire. Maybe you think just on account of the Silver Fox Patrol being sofamous in the history of the world that Bridgeboro (that's where I live)is a great big place. Believe me, it isn't big enough to hold the SilverFox Patrol. If Hoboken was about the size of an elephant, Bridgeborowould be about as big as Pee-wee. So that shows you. There are only twocandy stores in Bridgeboro and one of them is no good. Bridgeboro is soslow and tired it has to be sitting down all the time; that's why theycall it the county seat.
So everybody knows all about everybody else in Bridgeboro. They're goodscouts, they're observant. Harry Donnelle says it takes a song threeyears to get from New York to Bridgeboro, even if it's fast music.Anyway we've got a dandy river in Bridgeboro only it doesn't stay there,it just passes through. Gee, I don't blame it.
Mr. Dallman, he was standing in front of his drug store (don't ever buya soda in there whatever you do), he said to me, "Well, you kids havegot yourselves in trouble, haven't you? What's the matter? Young Slausenbeen using you?"
From that I saw that people were suspecting him and not us. Gee whiz,that's the way it is when you have a bad name.
I said, "Westy Martin and I were the ones who had to go to the station.We're the ones that are accused if anybody is."
"Yes, but you kids never started that fire," he said. "You're justprotecting somebody. They'll have young Slausen behind the bars by thistime to-morrow. He and Bert Waring are a good pair. I guess young Waringwanted to see his Buick burned up all right. Charlie'll clear up acouple of hundred dollars or so on his little flivver. I hope he'll payme the three dollars he owes me when he gets his insurance. What wereyou kids doing in there, anyway?"
I said, "If I tell you will you promise not to tell anybody?"
"It's none of _my_ concern," he said.
"Well, we were standing in there," I said. "So now you know what we weredoing in there."
He kind of laughed and he said, "Well, you youngsters want to be carefuland tell the truth or Chief O'Day will have the whole lot of you in thelockup."
"Is that so?" I said, kind of mad. "If I couldn't find out who did athing any better than he does I'd get a job as commander-in-chief of akindergarten. He's a regular Sherlock Nobody Holmes."
"He'll put young Slausen where he belongs," Mr. Dallman said; "he seesthrough this whole business."
"Oh, sure," I said, "he sees so fine that he can't even see threehundred dollars right under his feet. Good night, I'm going home."
I guess it was about nine o'clock when I got to the house. I was kind ofanxious because I didn't know what to say about where I had been tosupper. There wasn't anybody around and I was just starting upstairswhen I heard my father call me. I went down again and I saw him in thelibrary. He was sitting there in the dark. I felt awful funny, kind of,because it seemed as if he was feeling bad. I kind of knew it was onaccount of me. He was just sitting in the big leather chair by thelibrary table. He was smoking a cigar and the light in that cigar wasall the light there was.
He said, "You've been at Westy's, I suppose?" Because I often stay thereSunday nights to tea.
I said, "I had supper with Westy." And right away I was kind of sorrybecause it was true the way I meant it but it wasn't true the way _he_meant it.
I said, "Where's Mamsy and Marjorie?" (That's what I call mymother--Mamsy.)
He said, "They went to church and then to some meeting. Sit down, Roy."
Then he didn't speak for about a minute. The big clock out in the hallsounded awful loud.
CHAPTER XXVI--IN THE DARK
I didn't know what to say so I said, "Are you waiting for them?"
He said, "No, I was waiting for you, Roy. I wanted to speak to you."Then he said how I never made him worry any but how he had been worryingthat day. He said, "I was hoping you would be here to take a littlestroll this afternoon."
I said, "I was helping clear up--at Slausens." Lots of times I go for awalk with him Sundays, because he doesn't care about the machines.
Then he said how he had been worrying a lot because nobody belonging tohim had ever been arrested. He said that morning was the first time hehad ever seen inside the police station and it made him feel ashamed. Hesaid, "You know you're under arrest, you and Westy, just the same as ifyou were in a cell." He said, "You understand that, don't you, Roy?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "It's only because I'm a rich man and they know who I am andtrust me that you have been free to-day. The same with Westy." He said,"I would rather have bought Mr. Slausen's shop, I would rather havebought the whole field from Mr. Downing, than to think that you----"
"You don't think that, do you?" I asked him.
He said, "I do not, Roy. I would rather have thrown up a bungalow foryou scouts down by the river than to think so. And you know I would havedone it, too, gladly. No son of mine needs to burn down property----"
I said, "Then why do you talk about it?" I just started to cry, Icouldn't help it. "It isn't a question of needing to," I said. "Wewouldn't do it, anyway--we wouldn't."
He said, "I'm glad to hear you say that, Roy."
"Mr. Ellsworth knows we wouldn't," I said. "Fellows that have good namesdon't need to worry," I told him. "They're safe. It's only in crazystories that scouts get suspected of committing crimes and things. Weshould worry. It's the people that haven't got good names that have tolook out. Suppose I told you a lie once, then you'
d think I was tellingyou one now, and that wouldn't be fair."
He said, "It would be natural, Roy."
I said, "Well, if a fellow doesn't tell lies, then people have got aright to believe him, haven't they? Like Mr. Ellsworth does. If you sayI have to tell what we were doing in the garage, then I have to tell.Gee, I admit that. But I've got a reason not to tell and you'll knowtomorrow. Chief O'Day isn't as smart as he thinks he is, I know thatmuch."
For about a minute my father didn't say anything and I could hear thebig clock ticking. I could hear the crickets outside, too, so that's asign school would be closing soon. No wonder everybody likes crickets.
Then my father said, "Roy, I want you to know I trust you." He said, "Iwaited here for you to tell you that." Then he said how I never told hima lie and how that was like putting money in the bank, kind of. Becausenow I could draw on that. He said now he had to believe me and believeeverything was all right, just because I had a right to be trusted. Andhe said when I asked for him to let me keep still about it, he had tosay yes because my credit was good. He said he had to trust me andbelieve me now. He said even _if_ he wanted to know why we were inSlausen's, still he'd have to do the way I wanted, and let me keepstill, because I had kind of like a lot of honor saved up. When hetalked like that it made me feel awful sorry for Charlie Slausen. Butanyway, one thing, my father wouldn't think a fellow ought to get introuble for something he didn't do, even if that fellow wasn't muchgood. He's fair and square, my father is.