CHAPTER XXIII
ON INNER BOUNDS
By noon the news was all over school: Roy Porter was on inner bounds forthe rest of the term!
"Emmy told him," confided Sid importantly to a group of Juniors andMiddlers awaiting the dinner summons on the steps of Burgess, "that ifit wasn't for his good record all year he would have suspended him!"
"Gee!" quoth the youngest boy in school, "that's pretty fierce, just forfishing on Sunday!"
"He was poaching," explained Sid. "Anyhow, Emmy says he was. Old Mercerswears he saw him on his place yesterday afternoon. Why, a couple ofyears ago there was a fellow _fired_ for poaching!"
"Gee!" echoed the youngest again in wide-eyed amaze.
"Well, Sid, who'll play first?" asked another of the audience. Sid shookhis head dispiritedly.
"Patten, I s'pose. I think it's a beast of a shame, that's what I think!Take a fellow off the nine just five days before the big game! Of courseHammond'll lick us."
"Sure!" was the concurrent opinion.
"If Patten goes back to first you may get his place at right-field,"suggested the youngest boy.
"Maybe I will," answered Sid gloomily, "but who wants to play if Roy'sout of it?"
And the countenances of the audience answered:
"Who indeed?"
"I'll bet if we wanted to we could get him back on the nine," said Sidpresently.
"How?" asked half a dozen voices eagerly.
"Oh, I know a way," was the unsatisfying reply.
"Go on and tell us, Sid!"
"I would if you'd promise never to tell anyone, cross your heart andhope to die."
Everyone promised instantly and fervidly.
"Supposing, then," resumed Sid, "that a whole raft of us were caughtfishing on old Mercer's place. What would happen?"
"We'd all get suspended," piped up the youngest boy promptly.
"Inner bounds," suggested someone else.
"Huh! I guess not! It isn't likely Emmy would suspend half the school,"replied Sid scornfully. "He'd see the injustice of it, of course, andgive us all a good blowing up and let us go. And if he let us go he'dhave to let Roy off too. It would be a--a--" Sid paused for a word--"itwould be in the nature of a popular protest!"
"That's so," said one of the number. "He couldn't punish all of us verywell."
"He might, though," muttered the youngest uneasily.
"Oh, we don't want you in it," answered Sid contemptuously.
"I'm going if the rest do," was the dogged answer.
"We'd ought to get a whole lot of fellows, though," one of the Middlerssaid.
"Yes, about twenty," answered Sid. "We can do it, too, you bet!Supposing we call a meeting of the Middlers and Juniors for thisafternoon after supper?"
"Good scheme! Whereabouts?"
"At the boat-house. You fellows tell it around, but don't say what themeeting's about. If you do Emmy'll hear of it, sure."
Then the dinner bell rang and the informal conclave broke up.
"Wait for me after dinner," whispered Chub to Roy at the table. "I wantto see you."
"All right," answered Roy cheerfully.
He was trying very hard to hide the fact that he was terribly down inthe mouth. The half-curious, wholly sympathetic looks of his companionsfollowed him all through the meal and he was glad when it was over. Chubcaught up with him on the steps and together they crossed the walk andfound seats under one of the elms well away from possible eavesdroppers.
"Tell me all about it," demanded Chub, scowling fiercely.
So Roy told him.
"You don't think he will let you off in time for the game Saturday?"asked Chub.
"No, I'm pretty sure he won't. He's dead certain it was me that Mercersaw."
Chub jumped to his feet.
"Where are you going?" asked Roy suspiciously.
"To see Emmy," was the answer. "I'll tell him that you didn't wear yourred sweater and that you couldn't have been on old Mercer's placebecause you were with me."
"Don't be a fool!" said Roy. "What's the good of getting into troubleyourself? He'll ask what you were doing and you'll have to 'fess up; andthen the nine won't have any captain on Saturday."
"I don't care," answered Chub stubbornly. "I got you into the hole andthe least I can do is to get you out."
"But you wouldn't get me out! You'd just throw yourself in with me. Lookhere, now, Chub; Emmy isn't going to take any stock in your story. He'lljust think that we concocted it between us this morning. Besides, youleft me for almost an hour and you can't swear that I didn't go over toMercer's while you were gone. It's only a quarter of a mile from whereyou left me."
"But you were asleep!"
"So you say."
"Well, weren't you?"
"Yes, but Emmy won't believe it. He'll think we were both out fishingand that I went to Mercer's; and instead of being minus a first basemanon Saturday the team will be short a first baseman and a second basemantoo; also a captain."
"But it isn't fair," cried Chub. "I was the only one that fished, andnow you're getting the blame for it. It was all my fault, anyhow; I madeyou go along when you didn't want to."
"Nonsense; I didn't have to go."
"But you went to please me."
"Oh, well, what if I did?"
"It isn't fair," muttered Chub. "If I play in that game and you don'tI'll feel like a brute."
"You don't need to, Chub. Besides, there's the school to think of. Youknow plaguey well we'll get done up brown if you don't play--"
"We will anyway, I guess," interpolated Chub sadly.
"--And that isn't fair to the nine and the school. You've got to doeverything you can to win that game, Chub. You don't suppose that I mindbeing out of it if we're going to win, do you?"
"But we need you, Roy! Who's going to play first?"
"Patten, of course; he can do it."
"He can't bat like you can."
"He'll do all right," answered Roy cheerfully. "Now you keep your mouthshut, old man, will you?"
"I suppose so," Chub muttered. "But I hadn't ought to."
"Yes, you had, too. I'm not the main thing, Chub; there's the school."
"You're a brick," said Chub. "All right; I'll keep mum as long as youwant me to. But if you change your mind all you've got to do is to sayso and I'll do all I can with Emmy. Promise to tell me if you changeyour mind?"
"Honor bright; but I sha'n't change it; I don't mind, Chub, as long aswe win."
"Win! Thunder, we aren't going to win! We're going to get everlastinglywalloped!"
"No, we're not," answered Roy hopefully. "We're going to win; you see."
"Look here," said Chub after a moment's silence, "you didn't poach onMercer and I didn't. Who the dickens did?"
"I can't imagine. I dare say it was some fellow from the village."
"With a crimson sweater on? Not likely. I suppose it couldn't have beenyour sweater, eh?"
Roy shook his head.
"How do you know?" pursued Chub.
"'Cause mine was locked in my trunk."
"Sure?"
"Certain."
"Someone might have had a key that fitted the lock, though."
"They might have, but--" Roy paused and scowled thoughtfully. "Come tothink of it, Chub, my trunk wasn't locked yesterday afternoon. Iremember now. I locked it after we got back."
"Was the sweater there?"
"I didn't look."
Chub whistled softly.
"Bet you anything some fellow swiped it and wore it," he declared."Let's go see if he put it back."
They hurried up to the dormitory and Roy unlocked his trunk, threw backthe lid and opened the till.
"I thought I left it here on top," he muttered, diving through thecontents of the till. "Maybe I put it underneath, though." Out came thetill and out came most of the contents of the trunk. But there was nocrimson sweater. Roy turned to Chub in distress.
"I don't care if they took it," he said, "but I hope they'll br
ing itback! I wouldn't lose that sweater for anything!"
"Lock your trunk again," said Chub, "and let's get out of here. Someone's coming. Let's go somewhere and think it over."
"If we only knew who was away from school yesterday afternoon," said Roywhen they were once more under the trees.
"We know that Ferris and Burlen were," answered Chub suggestively. "Theysaid so."
"And Ferris saw you borrow that pole from Tom!" said Roy. Chub sat upsuddenly.
"I'll bet that was Tom's pole that old Mercer brought with him!" hecried.
"But you left it at Deep Hole, and I didn't leave there until long afterfour, I guess."
"But you said you didn't see it when you left!"
"That's so; I'm pretty sure it wasn't there," answered Roy, thinkinghard. "But how could anyone have got it?"
"Don't know, but I'll bet someone did. They might have sneaked up whileyou were asleep. Horace Burlen could do it."
They looked at each other a moment in silence. Then,
"If he took the sweater I'll bet he's thrown it away," said Roysorrowfully. "He wouldn't be likely to bring it back again."
"Why not? He found the trunk unlocked and maybe thought he could put itback again without anyone knowing anything about it. See? That's justabout what happened, Roy. I'll bet he did the whole thing to get you introuble."
"Wasn't Tom in the dormitory when we got there?"
"Yes."
"Then maybe he was there when Horace got back; and Horace couldn't getat my trunk without being seen."
"What do you suppose he'd do with it?" asked Chub.
Roy shook his head.
"Put it in his own trunk maybe," he answered.
"Come on," said Chub.
Back to the Senior Dormitory they hurried, for each of them had anexamination at two and it was almost that hour now. The dormitory wasempty and Chub stood guard at the head of the stairs while Roy crossedthe room and examined Horace's trunk.
"Locked," he announced softly.
Chub joined him and they stood for a moment looking at the trunk asthough striving to get an X-ray view of its contents.
"Maybe we could find a key to fit it," whispered Chub.
"I wouldn't like to do that," answered Roy, shaking his head.
"No more would I," answered Chub, "but I'd do it if I was just a littlemore certain that the thing was in there. I'd like to bust it open withan axe," he added savagely.
Then the two o'clock bell rang and they hurried downstairs.
"Keep mum about it," said Chub, "and we'll get to the bottom of it yet."
"The trunk?" asked Roy with a weak effort at humor.
"You bet!" was the answer.
Roy watched practice that afternoon. He stood on the school side of thehedge which marked inner bounds and, out of sight himself, saw Pattenplaying on first. It was lonely work and after a while the figures onthe green diamond grew blurred and misty. Then, suddenly, BrotherLaurence's advice came back to him and Roy brushed the back of his handacross his eyes and turned away.
"'When you're down on your luck,'" he murmured, "'Grin as hard as youcan grin.'"
So he tried his best to grin, and made rather a sorry affair of it untilhe spied Harry walking toward the tennis courts with her racket in hand.He hailed her and she waited for him to come up.
"I'm awfully sorry, Roy," she greeted him. "I told dad you didn't doit."
"And he believed you at once," said Roy despondently.
"'When you're down on your luck,' he murmured, 'grin ashard as you can grin.'"]
"N-no, he didn't," answered Harry. "He--he's a little bit stupidsometimes; I often tell him so."
Roy laughed in spite of his sorrow.
"What does he say then?" he asked.
"Oh, he just smiles," answered Harry resentfully. "I hate people tosmile at you when they ought to answer, don't you?"
Roy supposed he did. And then, in another minute, they were side by sideon the stone coping about the stable yard and Roy was telling Harryeverything, even to the examining of Horace's trunk and the reason forit.
"That's it!" cried Harry with the utmost conviction. "He did it! I knowhe did!"
"How do you know it?" asked Roy.
"Oh, I just do! I don't care if he is my cousin; he's as mean--!"
"Well, suspecting him won't do any good," said Roy. "We can't see intothe trunk. And, anyhow, maybe he didn't bring the sweater back at all."
"Yes, he did too," answered Harry. "Don't you see he'd want to put itback again so that you couldn't say that someone had taken it and wornit? It's there, in his trunk."
"And I guess it'll stay there," said Roy hopelessly. "He won't be foolenough to take it out now."
"Couldn't you make him open his trunk?"
"I don't see how. I couldn't go and tell him I suspected him of havingstolen my sweater; not without more proof than I've got now."
"I suppose not," answered Harry thoughtfully, her chin in her hand andthe heel of one small shoe beating a restless tattoo on the wall. "Youmight--" she lowered her voice and looked about guiltily--"you mightbreak it open!"
"And supposing it wasn't there?"
"But it is there!" cried Harry. "I know it is!"
"Wish I did," grunted Roy.
"Well, we'll just have to think of a way," said Harry presently,arousing herself from her reverie. "And now I must go on, because Ipromised to play tennis with Jack Rogers. I'm sorry."
"That's all right," answered Roy. "I--I've got some studying to do,anyhow."
Harry turned upon him with alarm in her face.
"Now don't you go doing anything desperate, Roy Porter!" she commanded."You just sit still and hold tight and--and it'll come out all right.You leave it to me!"