CHAPTER XXI.
WHAT SLEUTH LEARNED.
The excited chattering of the crowd in front of the bank was broken inupon by the harsh voice of Captain Quinn.
“Ahoy, you blatherskites!” cried the old sailor, appearing upon the edgeof the gathering. “Stow that jabber a minute and tell me if you’ve putyour peepers on my monkey. The little whelp has run away, and he’llfreeze to death unless I find him. It would break my heart if anythingshould happen to my monkey.”
This statement aroused some laughter and provoked a few jeers.
“Go crawl into your bunk, you old pirate,” advised one of the youngermen. “It would be a good thing if your monkey did freeze. The townwouldn’t miss it—or you, either.”
“Take twenty years off my shoulders,” snarled the old tar, “and I’d layyou by the heels for that, you swab! You talk bold and sassy to a manthree times your age and crippled with the rheumatics, but I’ve scrubbedthe deck of my vessel with dozens of your kind in my day.”
“Everybody knows that, you old man-handler,” was the retort. “You’vecracked the skull of more than one better man, but the law protected youbecause you were the master and they were nothing but common sailors.Oh, we know you here in Oakdale.”
“Yes, and I know you, the whole common crew of ye. You’re brave asdogfish chasing po’gies until you spy a shark, and then you run andhide. What are ye doing here? Why ain’t ye off with the men that’strying to run down the burglars? You’re afraid. There’s not one of ye’sgot the courage of a squid.”
“If you weren’t so old,” said one of the wrathy listeners, “we’d behanding you a taste of your own high-sea methods before you could sayhalf as much.”
“Never mind my age,” bellowed Quinn, squaring away. “Come try it, anyone of ye or the whole crew together. You’ll find it a bit lively whileit lasts, or my name is not Aaron Quinn. Hoist anchor, you blackguards.Up with your sails, and come at me with every stitch set. What’s thematter, you lubbers—what’s the matter? Why don’t you come on? Afraid,eh?—afraid of old Aaron Quinn! A bold lot you are! You can wag yourtongues loud and talk bold, but not one of ye has as much gizzard as achicken. Bah!”
With a derisive gesture, he disdainfully turned his back upon them andslowly moved off into the darkness, seeming deaf to their jeers andcat-calls.
A few minutes later Urian Eliot appeared, made his way through thethrong that respectfully stepped aside from his path, and was admittedto the bank. The door had not long been closed behind the president whenit opened again, for Stickney, the grocer, whose manner as he came outbetrayed that he was leaving the place with great reluctance and muchagainst his will.
“How is it, Stickney?” called one of the gathering. “Did the robbers getanything, or were they frightened away?”
“Huh!” grunted the grocer, standing on the steps. “I don’t know. Theywaited for Eliot before they opened the inner door of the vault, andwhen he came he proposed, as I didn’t happen to be a director or somehigh muckamuck connected with the bank, that I should leave. And I wasone who risked his life to follow Timmick into that place, not knowingbut we might have to face desperate burglars armed to the very teeth.That’s the way they treat a fellow citizen who is ready to shed hisblood for them. But what can you expect of men who try to run a bank inthese days without a night watchman of their own? That’s their idea ofeconomy, perhaps, but it will be a mercy if it hasn’t proved expensiveeconomy. They take our money in trust and then fail to give it properprotection. Timmick refused to touch the inner door until Eliot came.Perhaps it was unlocked. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the bankhad been cleaned out of every dollar and every scrap of security itcontained. I have an account here myself; seventy-nine dollars balance,too. If there has been a robbery, somebody will have to make good. Theycan afford it, men like Eliot and Hayden and the others; but I can’tafford to lose it.”
His resentment seemed contagious, and there were others who beganmurmuring about the bank officials. But, for the most part, those whotalked loudest had small accounts with the institution or none at all.
“What have they done about catching the scoundrels?” asked Stickney.“They ought to have ’em by this time.”
He was told that armed squads were searching for the cracksmen, althoughthere had been no reports of a capture.
“Oh, they’ll let ’em get away, I’ll guarantee,” sneered the grocer. “Iwas opposed to the hiring of a night-watch by the town. I said it wouldbe an extravagant waste of money, and this night proves I was right.”
“Only for him,” reminded some one, “the robbers might have finished thejob and got off without an alarm being raised. Likely nobody would everknown it till the bank was opened at nine o’clock.”
“He might have nabbed ’em, instead of running away and hollering like aloon,” asserted Stickney. “He had the chance. If I’d been in his place,I’d potted the whole bunch. Now it’s doubtful if any one of ’em iscaught. Well, I’m going home to get a little rest before breakfast.”Apparently it did not occur to the courageous grocer that he might be ofservice by joining one of the searching parties.
It was growing light and a curious throng still lingered in front of thebank hoping to learn if a robbery had actually taken place, when thedoor of the building opened again, and this time Sleuth Piper was thrustforth with such violence that he was saved from sprawling on thesidewalk only by the quick hand of a man who stood on the lower step.
“Hello, Piper,” said this man, gazing at him in astonishment. “How didyou get in there?”
“Sh!” hissed Sleuth, pulling away. “Never mind, never mind. In pursuanceof my duty, I am liable to be found anywhere. Had they given me a littletime, I might have imparted some information of tremendous moment. Butlet them go on. Let them work in the dark. They will need me yet.”
“Tell us, has the bank been robbed?”
“They are now going over the contents of the vault,” was the boy’sevasive reply. “I’ll not forestall their report by a prematurestatement.”
Some one pulled at his sleeve, and, looking around, he saw Roy Hooker.Willingly he followed Roy, who led the way to the rear of the bank,where at least a dozen men were gathered outside the window by which therobbers had obtained entrance.
“You beat the Dutch, Pipe,” said Roy, in a manner bordering on respect.“How the deuce _did_ you ever get in there?”
Piper explained, taking to himself abundant credit for quick thought,rapidity of action and amazing cleverness in keeping concealed once hehad slipped inside.
“Well, what did you learn, anyhow?” questioned Hooker. “Did you find outanything, or did you waste your time?”
“I never waste my time,” retorted Sleuth with dignity. “It was throughmy natural desire to learn all that could be learned that I was detectedand ejected. At the present moment the officers of the bank are in thedirectors’ room at the rear, going over the securities. There’s a doorleading from that room into the outside corridor, and, in order to hearand see, I had to open that door. They closed it once, but I opened itagain on a crack, and that aroused the suspicions of Rufus Sprague, whostepped out quickly and nabbed me. Then, refusing to listen, theychucked me outside. I was ready to throw a bombshell into their midst,but I’m glad now that I was restrained from action.”
“What did you propose to tell them, Sleuth?”
“It was on the tip of my tongue to advise them to look for a certainparty known as ‘James Wilson,’ _alias_ ‘William Hunt,’ _alias_ ‘PhilipHastings,’ _alias_ ‘Gentleman Jim,’ and furthermore and finally, _alias_Clarence Sage.”
“Then you fancy——”
“Fancy, Hooker? Nay, sir, this is no case of guesswork; I know what I’mabout. Doubtless Sage is as far from Oakdale as his feet could carry himin the time since the would-be robbers fled.”
“The would-be robbers!” echoed Roy. “Then they really didn’t getanything?”
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nbsp; “Right there,” said Sleuth, “you touch the one point that as yet remainsinexplicable to me. The inner door of the vault apparently has not beenbroken open by the burglars. It was unlocked by Timmick in the presenceof Urian Eliot and the directors. They removed cash and securities tothat back room for investigation. At first everything seemed undisturbedand they were congratulating themselves, when the discovery was madethat a package of securities amounting to twenty thousand dollars wasmissing.”
“Gee!” gasped Hooker. “Then there _was_ a robbery. But how can it bepossible, if the inner door of the vault had not been opened?”
In the gray light of the morning a wise and significant smile flickeredacross Piper’s face.
“There’s but one explanation,” he answered. “The men who tried to robthe bank last night did not get those securities. They were stolen atsome previous time.”