CHAPTER XVII.
WORK OF THE YOUNG DETECTIVE.
That evening a group of somewhat doleful-looking boys gathered in frontof the Oakdale post-office and shivered as they discussed the game.Without a single dissenting voice they blamed Sage for their failure towin from Barville.
Sleuth Piper appeared, hurried into the post-office and presentedhimself at the delivery window.
“Look a’ the businesslike bustle of the great detective,” said Crane,watching Piper through the window. “Anyone would sorter s’pose heexpected to receive about a bushel of important mail. I bet he don’t geta thing.”
“You lose,” said Hunk Rollins, as a letter was passed out to Sleuth.“He’s got something.”
Before opening the letter, Piper was seen eagerly scanning the postmarkupon the envelope, and the watchers fancied there was an expression ofmingled excitement and satisfaction upon his face. Coming forth, Sleuthpaused in front of a lighted window a short distance from the others andtore his letter open. In a moment he was eagerly intent upon thecontents.
“Hi! Who’s the girl, Sleuthy?” called Jack Nelson. “Let us read it, willyou?”
“’Sh!” sibilated Chub Tuttle, spluttering forth munched peanuts with ahissing sound. “The great detective has a scent.”
“Huh!” grunted Cooper, with a forced laugh. “If that’s so, he’s betteroff than I am. I bet on the game, and I haven’t a cent.”
“Look,” urged Nelson—“look at Sleuthy’s face! He’s excited. By Jinks!that letter must be rather interesting.”
“I’ll get a peep at it,” said Harry Hopper. “I’ll tell you if it’s agirl’s writing.”
But, although he tiptoed forward with great caution, Sleuth detected hisapproach, and, having finished reading the letter, hastily folded themissive and thrust it into his pocket.
“Go chase yourself, Mr. Sly Boy,” he said, waving Hopper off. “Rubberingwill give you a cramp in the neck sometime.”
Roy Hooker, looking decidedly glum, came slouching along, his handsthrust deep into his pockets. Immediately Sleuth pounced upon him.
“Just the man I’m looking for,” said Piper, in almost tragic tones.
Roy drew away, seeking to shake Sleuth’s hand from his shoulder.
“Well, I’m not looking for you,” he retorted. “I’ve no particular usefor you, Piper.”
“Come now,” said Sleuth, “I wish to hold a private consultation with youon a matter of immense moment.”
“Run away and consult with yourself,” snapped Roy. “I don’t like yourcompany, and you know the reason why.”
But Sleuth grabbed at him again as he made a move to pass on.
“Wait,” whispered Piper. “Perhaps you’d like to know what was the matterwith Sage to-day? I can tell you.”
“The deuce you can!”
“I can,” insisted the other boy. “I’ve solved the mystery.”
“Well, if you know what ailed him, why don’t you tell? I’m sure I’m notthe only one who would like to have the matter cleared up.”
“It’s not a subject for the public ear, Hooker; it’s something to betalked over privately and discreetly between ourselves. If you want toknow what I know, you’ll just take a little walk with me to some spotwhere we’ll be all by our lonesomes. If you don’t want to know, if youhaven’t got any interest in Sage and his affairs, you needn’t bother.”
To say the least, Roy’s curiosity was aroused.
“I’ll wager it will be a waste of time,” he said; “but I’ll listen. Whathave you done, concocted some sort of fool deduction about it?”
“I have the straight, solid, indisputable facts right in my insidepocket. I can tell you something about the Sages that will make yourhair curl. Where shall we go?”
“You say.”
“Down to the bridge. There’s not likely to be anybody around there.”
It was somewhat chilly upon the bridge which spanned the river belowLake Woodrim, and Hooker’s teeth were inclined to chatter as he leanedagainst the railing and invited his companion to “divulge.”
“To begin with,” said Piper, “I want to ask you a question, and I hopeyou’ll give me an honest answer. You’ve been mighty chummy with Sage,and I have a notion that he gave me away by telling you that I wastrying to make a ten-strike by capturing a certain criminal for whom alarge reward is offered. Am I right, or not?”
“Whatever Fred has told me in confidence, I’ll not blow on him. If itwas your object to pump me, Piper, you’re wasting your time—and mine.”
“You don’t have to answer,” said Sleuth instantly. “Your failure to giveme a fair and square reply is sufficient. Sage told you. I knew hewould. Well, I don’t care. I’ve got something to tell you now, and, as Isaid, it will make your hair curl.”
He paused impressively, apparently desiring Roy to urge him to go on;but Hooker, shrugging his shoulders a bit, waited the promisedrevelation.
“I want to ask one more question,” said Piper, “and you’ll not betray aconfidence by giving me an answer. Saturday, one week ago, while outhunting with Sage, you encountered a certain mysterious stranger in thewoods beyond Culver’s Bridge. You talked with the man face to face andhad a fine opportunity to look him over thoroughly. Tell me, did he bearany personal resemblance to your friend, Sage?”
“Huh!” grunted Roy. “Resemblance? What do you mean?”
“Did he look as if he might be a relative?”
“Why, I—I don’t know. What in the world are you trying to get at, Pipe?”
“That man professed to know the Sages and made inquiries about them.Nevertheless, at the approach of Fred he ran away, and, although hepretended to you that he was looking for work hereabouts, as far as Ican learn he has not attempted to obtain employment, and has not beenpublicly seen since that day.”
“If you have an idea that he was some relative of the Sages, the merefact that he has not been seen seems to knock your theory into a cockedhat.”
“When I place you in full possession of the facts,” returned Piper, in alofty and superior manner, “you’ll perceive that the man’s care not toattract public attention strengthens the foundations of my theory. Youhave not answered my question. Did he look like Fred Sage?”
“In some respects he may have borne a slight resemblance. He had blueeyes, and Fred’s eyes are blue. But that’s nothing. Come across withyour dope that’s going to make my hair curl.”
“Doesn’t it occur to you as very singular that so little is really knownabout the past history of the Sages? This family, consisting of father,mother and one son, came to Oakdale something like three years ago andsettled here. Yet who is there in this town that can tell where theycame from and how they happened to come? You’re chummy with thebefore-mentioned son, Hooker. How much has he ever told you about hispast?”
“Oh, say, Sleuth, if you’re trying to fasten a dark and terrible pastupon Fred Sage, you’ll do nothing but make yourself ridiculous. Why,anybody knows that he’s been one of the openest, frankest fellows in theworld.”
“Huh! Is that so?” sneered Piper. “Really, he may appear to be all thatyou claim, Hooker, but appearances, you should know, are often mostdeceptive. Mr. Andrew Sage has the bearing of a country gentleman inmoderate circumstances. Mrs. Sage is apparently a most estimable lady.These people are regular churchgoers, and have the respect of theirtownsfolk. Nevertheless, since living here they have never becomeespecially intimate with anyone, and you must admit that they are ratherreserved.”
“Aw, rot!” exploded Roy in exasperation. “Simply because people don’tchoose to go about telling everybody their business and all their pasthistory, you get the notion that they must have some guilty secret theyare trying to cover up. That comes from reading the kind of trash withwhich you stuff your mind, Piper.”
“In a very few minutes,” retorted Sleuth, “I’ll make it necessary foryou to take back some of your slurs, Mr. Hooker.
You know what countrypeople are. You know that gossip is one of their chief delights. As arule, let a strange family move into a town like Oakdale, and withinthirty days more than fifty per cent of the inhabitants of that placeare conversant with the history of those people as far back as it can betraced. When the Sages came here the usual curious gossips attempted tolearn things about them. They failed. To me that’s a guarantee that theSages, for good and sufficient reasons, desired to keep their familyhistory from being probed. This thought has occurred to me more thanonce, and many a time I’ve told myself that a little investigation ofthe before-mentioned Sages might prove interesting to a sensationaldegree. Recently I decided to investigate.”
“In other words, you decided to pry into affairs which did not concernyou in the least. Poor business, Piper. The fellow who persists inpoking his nose into a crack is sure to get it pinched some day.”
Not the least ruffled, Sleuth retorted: “The person who puts himself toextreme trouble to hide his past must have a guilty secret. Sometimesthere are wolves in sheep’s clothing, and for the public weal theyshould be exposed. In order to obtain information regarding the Sages,it was necessary to learn where they came from when they moved to thistown.”
“And you found out?”
“Having decided on a course of action, I never permit anything to baffleme.”
“How did you do it?”
“Oh, one day I dropped in on Mrs. Sage for a little social call. Fredwasn’t home, so I waited for him; and, while waiting, I made myselfcomfortable, at the lady’s invitation, in the sitting-room. I knew theremust be in that house something which would give me the clue I sought.It was not long before I discovered the very thing, a family photographalbum. While seemingly amusing myself by looking at the pictures in thatalbum, I slipped several of them from their places and looked for theimprint of the photographer. There were pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Sage,and also of Fred, taken some years ago. Those pictures, I found, borethe name of a photographer in the town of Rutledge, State of New York. Ilost little time in writing a letter to the postmaster of Rutledge, NewYork, making inquiries concerning the Sages. I asked if they had everlived in that town. In case they had, I politely requested informationconcerning the entire family. To insure an answer, I enclosed a stampedand addressed envelope.”
“And did you get an answer?”
“Sure,” exulted Piper. “I received it to-night. I have it in my pocketnow. The information it contains is of the most sensational character.It clears up the mystery of the Sages, and also, I firmly believe, fixesthe identity of the mysterious man you met beyond Culver’s Bridge.”