Harry said, "Well, it's a long story and really it would be a shame totell it, unless we were all sitting around the camp-fire. We're a bandof adventurers and we're on our way to see what will happen next. Ourspecialties are murder, burglary, treasure hunting and food, when we canget it. Going to be warm to-day, don't you think so?"
Honest, that man hardly knew what to say, he was so flabbergasted. Iguess he must have felt like Alice in Wonderland, hey? With men beingthrown out and disappearing and nice little boy scouts instead ofburglars, and papers that he couldn't make out the meaning of at all. Hejust looked around kind of puzzled, and all the while Harry sat therewith his arms folded on the wheel--oh, boy, I could hardly keep astraight face.
Pretty soon the man said, "Well, young feller, you got to give anexplanation of your whereabouts. You were seen in Utica with this carand you had some valuables in it. A porter in the hotel seen them underthe seat. You went away and later passed through Utica with this samecar. And what did you do with that stuff? And where'd you get your platechanged? Just let's see your card."
Harry showed him his driver's card. Gee whiz, I wanted Harry to tell himthat scouts don't get mixed up with burglaries and things like that, buthe didn't bother to tell him anything. I guess he thought that anybodyought to know that much. Cracky, I wouldn't be a burglar.
Then he walked all around the car, sizing it up; I guess he was huntingfor some kind of clews or other. Then he whispered with the other men.And all the while, Harry just sat there smiling.
I said, "Why, don't you tell them how it was?"
"They wouldn't believe us," Harry said; "don't you know you can't tell adetective anything? You've got to let him crack his head against a stonewall."
"Will we get put in jail?" Skinny asked.
"Guess not," Harry said; "my one regret is, that Brent isn't here. He'denjoy this. Evidently these fellows belong in Utica and they're a littlebehind on their information. I rather prefer our old friend, theconstable."
Pretty soon the big man left the other two poking around in the water,and came over and said, "I'll ride into Lurin with you. You'll have togo before a justice you fellers. You got to explain your movements. Wasthat man you threw out of the car, dead?"
Harry said, "Oh, very dead. I don't think I've ever seen anybody so deadbefore."
"Well, then, you killed him," the man said; "'twasn't no shot of ours.How'd that man come by his death, huh?"
"He was thrown off a cliff," Harry said.
"Well, we'll find out who threw him off," the man said.
Harry said, "Oh, that's easy; fifteen cents and the war tax, and you'llknow the whole story. Climb over in back Alf, and let this gentleman sithere."
Just then one of the other men came dragging poor Mr. Ragtime Sandbanksafter him. He looked awful silly--I mean the man. The poor old dummy wasall soaked and his legs and arms flopped this way and that. Harrylooked, but didn't seem especially interested.
"So that's it, is it?" the big man said.
"That's it," Harry said.
"_A dummy!_" the man just what-do-you-call-it--you know--_ejaculated_.
"Oh, don't call yourself names," Harry said.
_Jimmetty_, you should have seen that man.
CHAPTER XXVIII--OUR CASE IS DISMISSED
Oh, boy! Laugh! I guess, to use Pee-wee's favorite words, those menthought we were some _deep mystery_. I guess they didn't know what tothink at all. Anyway, two of them took the dummy in the Ford and the bigman rode with us--pity the dummy! That was the hardest part of all hisadventures.
It was awful funny to hear Harry talking on the front seat. He said,"I've often wondered why you fellows don't get after thegarage-keepers--they're the real robbers. I'd be willing to take mychance with a highwayman, but with a garage-keeper, nix."
In Lurin, we all stopped in front of a nice white house that had a signon the door that said:
GEORGE WINTERS JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
I guess poor little Skinny thought our mad career of evil was up atlast. Pee-wee looked kind of scared, too.
We all went in and stood in front of a desk and George Winters, Justiceof the Peace, sat on the other side of it. He wasn't cross and ugly atall. He said good morning, and he thought it would be a nice day.
"Not if we go to jail it won't," Pee-wee said.
"Will we have to stay as much as ten years?" little Alf, wanted to know.
Justice Winters said, "Well, what's all the trouble?"
The big man told him that they gave us the chase out of Utica. Can youbeat that? A flivver chasing a Cadillac! Excuse me, while I laugh. Hetold the Justice how we had reached Utica very early in the morning andhad stopped at a hotel, and how a porter who was cleaning up in thesheds had seen the things under the back seat of the car. Then he saidhow we left very suddenly and, several hours later, were seen passingthrough Utica again with a different number on our machine. He didn'tsay anything about Mr. Ragtime Sandbanks. Gee whiz, I didn't blame himfor that.
But Harry wasn't going to let him off so easy. He said, "You forgot totell the Justice about the murder we committed. We wish to plead guiltyto that."
Oh, gee, that poor man; he had to tell about the whole business, howthey hunted around in the water and found the rag dummy. That Justicescowled, kind of, and I guess he didn't know what it all meant, butanyway, he had to smile. "That shows we're innocent," Pee-wee spoke up,"because if a thing isn't alive, you can't murder it, can you?"
Justice Winters sort of smiled and he said, no, you couldn't.
After he had listened to what all those men had if say, he said, "Well,you wish to make a charge against these people?"
"I want 'em held for complicity," that's what the big man said.
"That's one thing we didn't do, anyway," Pee-wee said; "complicity. Howdid we complicit?" Justice Winters smiled kind of, and began rootingaround among a lot of papers. He said, "Well, I'm glad you caught thesefellows, because they're wanted."
The big man said, "I knew there was something wrong when I heard oftheir coming back through Utica with a different license plate andgetting off the state road and cutting up through the hills. They waslooking to get off the main line of travel."
Justice Winters said, "We have already received a phone message to havethem stopped when they passed through the town. Judge West of CrystalFalls, lost no time in having them traced. It is fortunate that youcaught them, though our own authorities were on the watch." He beganrooting among his papers some more, and pretty soon he picked up a longenvelope.
You ought to have seen Pee-wee and Skinny. They looked as if all hopewas lost. Even Harry looked kind of puzzled. But those men--oh, didn'tthey look chesty!
"I knew there was something wrong about 'em," the big man said.
Justice Winters said, "Yes, you've made a good capture. I was talking onthe 'phone with Judge West last night, and promised to have this partystopped if they passed through. Very early this morning I received aspecial delivery letter from him. I will read it to you."
"I'm glad we were able to do a favor for the Judge," that big man said,awful important like.
"We haven't found his valuables yet, but we will. This oldest fellowknows where they are."
"Right the first time," Harry said; "I do."
Then the Justice read the letter and _g-o-o-d night_, this is just whatit said:
"Dear Justice:--
"Pursuant to our 'phone talk just now, I am enclosing check for five hundred dollars, payable to bearer, by registered special delivery. I hope it will reach you before this young man and his friends pass through your town. I was sorry not to see them when they restored our property. Please hand him this check, which is for the amount of the reward I offered, and insist upon these boys accepting it. I do not know where they belong and could probably never get in touch with them, so do not let them get away. Convince them that this money is theirs, and that they earned it.
"Hurriedly, "Josiah E. West."
"That's all there is to it," Justice Winters said; "there's no usetrying to get the better of a man like Judge West. Which would youprefer to do; accept the money, or have me hold you on a technicalcharge of appropriating a rag dummy, until I can notify the Judge?"
"You'd--you'd better take the check, Harry," Pee-wee piped up; "itwouldn't be safe to try to foil a man like Judge West--safety first,Harry--we'd better take the check."
I wish I had a snapshot of those three men to show you--especially thebig one. They looked as if they were suffering from shell shock.
CHAPTER XXIX--WE HAVE AN ELECTION
So that was the end of Mr. Ragtime Sandbanks; anyway, it was the last ofhim as far as we know. Harry said maybe those men would get him a job asa detective. Gee whiz, there are worse detectives, believe me. Harrysaid he was one of the greatest movie heroes that ever lived--or _didn't_live; what's the difference? He said he liked him, because he didn'tkeep smiling all the time and aiming pistols like some movie heroes.Some knocker.
We had a conclave about that five hundred dollars; that's what Pee-weecalled it--a _conclave_. And we voted whether we should keep it or not.Pee-wee said it would be contempt of court not to keep it, and that ascout must obey his superiors. Skinny said if we didn't take it, maybewe'd all have to go to jail. Harry said it might be fun to go to jail,because that was one of the things he had never done.
I said, "The longer you put it off, the more you'll enjoy it; lots ofpeople are in too much of a hurry to go to jail."
Cracky, we didn't know what to do, because a scout is supposed not totake anything for a service. We sat there in the auto talking andtalking about it, and all of us kept changing around, and I guess wedidn't know what would be right for us to do.
I said, "If it was just a glass of soda or something like that, I'd knowwhat to do with it."
Pee-wee said, "Sure, even if it was two glasses."
"I could handle six just now," Grove put in.
"Some bunch!" I said; "any one would think we were hunting for sodasinstead of buried treasure."
"If I had a soda it would be a buried treasure in about ten seconds,"Pee-wee shouted. Can you beat that kid?
Harry said, "Well, here we are talking about ice-cream sodas when theparamount issue is a five hundred dollar check."
"What kind of an issue?" Pee-wee piped up.
Grove said, "I vote not to take it."
"I'll take the same," Pee-wee said.
"Where do you think you are; in a candy store?" I asked him.
"I mean I vote the same," he said.
Skinny said, "I vote to take it, because I'm afraid of that judge."
Harry said, "Well, so far everybody has voted both ways, so everybodywins, including Judge West."
"I vote in the positive," our young hero said.
"You mean negative," I told him; "what do you think this outfit is; astorage battery?"
"I mean infirmative," he shouted.
"Which is the best thing to do?" Harry said.
"I vote that it is," Grove spoke up.
"What is?" Harry said.
"I vote we get some breakfast," poor little Skinny piped up.
"Carried by an unanimous majority," I shouted.
Then Harry said, "Now, you kids listen to me, and keep still a minute.There's a way of getting around that law."
Pee-wee shouted, "Is it a long way around? Because I'm hungry."
"No, it's a short cut around the outside," Harry said. "We can take thecheck and beat Judge West at his own game. We can show him that boyscouts are not to be trifled with and browbeaten...."
"You'd better not, Harry," Pee-wee said; "safety first. Gee, I'm notafraid of rattlesnakes or wasps or mince pie; but _judges_--good night!"
Harry said, "We'll just take this check and when we get to Temple Camp,if we ever do, we'll make arrangements to have a shack or a cabin builtthere; maybe we could build it ourselves; and we'll endow it...."
"Shingles are better," Pee-wee shouted.
"We'll use what we need to build it," Harry said, "and the rest we'llput in the bank, and we'll get your scoutmaster and the rest of you wildIndians interested, and we'll have that cabin maintained for poor troopsthat can't afford the regular troop cabins. I don't believe the trusteeswill have any objection. I don't believe that scout law means that youcan't take money and use it to help others; it means that you can't takeit and just buy sodas with it. That's my idea."
"Oh, boy! Five hundred dollars worth of sodas! Mm--mmm!" Pee-wee put in.
I said, "Yes, and if we find the bags of gold dust, we'll add that toit, too."
"That's what we will," Harry said.
"And I've got a dandy idea," Pee-wee shouted. "As long as we've beenmixed up with burglaries and all like that, and as long as we got thismoney in that way, we'll have that cabin named _Robbers' Cave_."
I said, "Sure, because really we have to thank those burglars. If ithadn't been for them, we wouldn't be able to help poor scouts."
"You're crazy!" Pee-wee shouted.
"Roy is right," Harry said. "We should not forget the poor, honest,hardworking burglars who never receive credit. They help the homeless,and feed the hungry and give poor boys a little whiff of the freshcountry air, and for this they are denounced and misjudged. Never speakunkindly of the poor, charitable, kind-hearted burglar."
Honest, that fellow is crazier than the rest of us. Poor little Skinnydidn't seem to know what to think.
CHAPTER XXX--WE SEE OUR FRIENDS
All the fellows said that was a good idea, and Grove said that if thetrustees didn't like the name of Robbers' Cave, we would call the cabin,West Cabin, on account of Judge West. Pee-wee said the only good placeleft for a cabin at Temple Camp was on what we called East Hill, and ifit was on East Hill, how could we call it West Cabin?
"Anyway, let's get some breakfast," I said.
So then Harry called up Judge West in Crystal Falls, and I guess JudgeWest must have been a pretty nice man, because Harry was laughing a lotwhile they were talking. You bet that fellow knows how to talk toanybody. Especially girls.
He said, "Well, it's all right; I told the judge all about it and he'sstrong for Robbers' Cave--he says he likes that name best. He seems tothink he'd like to visit Temple Camp some time."
"What did you tell him?" Pee-wee wanted to know.
"I told him to bring his knitting and stay all day," Harry said; "I toldhim he could be one of the judges in the pancake race."
"What did he say?" he kid piped up, all excited.
"He said he's crazy about pancakes," Harry told us.
"Believe _me_, he isn't any crazier than I am," I said.
So that was what put the idea of pancakes into our heads, and we wentinto a funny little place in that village and had some dandy ones. When,you get started eating pancakes, it's awful hard to stop. After that westarted off again and by lunch time, we were in Watertown.
Skinny said, "I'm glad we're in Watertown, because I want a drink ofwater."
"I wish we'd get to Iceland, and then we'd get some ice cream," I toldhim.
On the road maps they show you the best hotels--anyway, that's what theycall them. Believe me, if I ever make a road map, I'll show Wessel's inWatertown, because that's where you get the ice-cream cones--oh,_bibbie_!
Now, this is my advice to you if you're taking the road from Watertownto Steuben Junction--_don't_. But if you take it, for goodness' sake takeit away altogether. Because it only gets in your way.
"It must have been awful in that flivver, coming along here," Harrysaid.
"Anyway, you bet I'll be glad to see Brent and those fellows," I toldhim.
"I only hope we find them," Harry said.
"I only hope we find the treasure," Grove spoke up.
Harry said, "Yes, we'll have to get on the job now and remember thatwe're out for buried go
ld."
It was fine going from Watertown to Steuben Junction, even if the roadwas bad. Because anyway, even if motoring is a lot of fun, that isn'twhat scouts think most about. What they think most about is the woods.And we went through dandy woods. I was glad we had to go slow, becausewe like to be in the woods. Gee, that was one good thing about that roadanyway--it went through the woods.
It was nice and dark in there and in some places you could only just seethe sky through the trees. There were a lot of squirrels, too, in thosewoods. I like the red ones best. But you can't tame a chipmunk.Squirrels you can. It reminded me of Temple Camp to hear the birds,because at Temple Camp that's the first thing you hear mornings. Robins,gee, there are a lot of them up there. Right near our troop cabinthere's an elm with seven of them in it. One more and they'd be a fullpatrol.
Harry said, "Nice riding through here, hey?"
Grove said, "Listen to that noise."
"It's a tree-toad," Pee-wee said; "don't you know a tree-toad when youhear one?"
Harry stopped the car and we all listened. "Sounds like a baby," that'sjust what he said.
"It isn't," I told him; "it's a tree-toad, all right. Do you know why hecalls like that? It's to let the birds know to get out of the tree,because it belongs to him."