CHAPTER XXV.
THE BOY WHO ACTED GUILTY.
The bank officials were perplexed and mystified. With the arrival ofUrian Eliot the inner door of the vault had been opened by Timmick. Itwas evident to them all that the looters had been driven away beforethey could open this door, and therefore there was every reason tobelieve that the contents of the vault would be found undisturbed.
In order that a thorough examination might be made in the presence ofthe president and the others, the cash and securities contained in thevarious compartments of the vault had been removed and placed upon along oak table in the adjoining directors’ room. This done, theofficials gathered about the table and began the investigation, thepresident, pencil in hand, checking everything off on a list that hadbeen furnished him by Timmick.
Then it was that they were shocked to discover that twenty thousanddollars’ worth of negotiable securities could not be found. Thesuggestion that these securities had been overlooked sent Timmick andone of the directors back to the vault, but without avail. In a fewmoments the cashier and his companion returned, and Timmick’s face waspale and his voice husky as he said:
“Those securities must be here on this table. They’re not in the vault.They must be here. They can’t be gone.”
“We’ll go over the list again,” said Urian Eliot. “Let’s do it slowly,carefully and systematically.”
Their great care in this second inspection simply served to confirm thefact that the securities were missing, whereupon Timmick collapsed upona chair, seemingly on the verge of fainting.
“It’s awful—incomprehensible!” he whispered hoarsely, staring at thefaces of the other men. “I can’t understand it.”
“Nor I,” snapped the little jeweler, rapping his knuckles sharply on thetable and facing the cashier with a piercing eye. “If you can’t explainit, Mr. Timmick, I don’t know who can.”
“Why—why,” faltered the distressed cashier, “I hope—you don’t mean,sir——”
“I’m sure Mr. Sprague will not be hasty with an insinuation,”interrupted Urian Eliot. “I’m sure we all have the utmost confidence inyour integrity, Timmick.”
It was noticeable, however, that none of the others said a word insupport of this assertion, and Mr. Lucius Timmick looked very ill indeedby the white light of the shaded chandelier.
It was some time after daylight before the officials came forth from thebank and made inquiries concerning the search for the fugitive crooks.Later they learned of the remarkable capture by two boys of the woundedmember of the gang, and when the prisoner had been attended by aphysician they sought to obtain some information from him by giving hima mild sort of “third degree” treatment. The effort, however, resultedmost unsatisfactorily. The prisoner, stretched on a cot in the lockup,grimly defied them and sullenly refused to answer a single question.
“Aw, go on,” he growled. “You couldn’t make me snitch if you skinnedme.”
“Your accomplices are certain to be captured,” asserted Lemuel Hayden.“They can’t get away. It is your opportunity to obtain a little clemencyby confessing before any of the others do so.”
“Bite it off,” advised the prisoner. “You’re wasting your wind, oldgeezer. I never ties up with squealers.”
About this time Roy Hooker, crowding down a breakfast rendered tastelessby his excitement, was telling his astounded mother a story that madeher gasp and throw up her hands.
“Mercy!” she cried, staring at him. “You caught one of the robbers—youand Billy Piper? I never heard of such a thing! Two boys catching adesperate burglar!”
“We caught him,” laughed Roy, “though perhaps it wouldn’t have been soeasy, only he was pretty weak from his wound and the loss of blood.”
“You’ll be killed some day, Roy,” prophesied his mother. “Now there’syour father; I didn’t want him to go out with the men who are huntingthe robbers, but he just would go. I’m worried to death for fear he’llget shot or something.”
“Wonder what he will say when he hears what Sleuth and I did,” chuckledRoy, gulping down a final mouthful and pushing back from the table. “Bethe don’t do as much.” He rose and grabbed his cap.
“Where are you going now?” asked Mrs. Hooker apprehensively. “I won’t beable to rest easy a minute.”
“Oh, there’s something doing in Oakdale this morning. Only a dead onecould hang around home with so much going on. Don’t worry, mother;nothing will happen to me. They ought to be marching in some of theother crooks pretty soon, and I want to see ’em when they come.”
Outside the house, however, he paused, as if doubtful concerning thecourse he would pursue, and for some moments he seemed struggling withcontending desires.
“Sleuth didn’t want me to see Fred,” he muttered. “He made me promise Iwouldn’t tell Sage anything. Fred’s my friend. If he’s mixed up in thisrotten business it’s a shame. I’d like to see him a minute; I must seehim. I won’t give anything away, but I’d like to see how he’ll behave.I’m just going up to his house, that’s all.”
Having arrived at this decision, he hurried up Willow Street, crossingto Main only after the heart of the village had been left behind. As hedrew near the home of the Sages his pace slackened somewhat, and hebegan to realize that he almost dreaded to meet Fred face to face. Evenwhen he had reached the proper point to turn in from the street hehesitated and was almost tempted to retrace his steps.
At that moment, as if he had seen Hooker, Fred came out of the house,and Roy walked into the yard.
“Hello, Hook,” said Sage. “What’s the latest? Have they caught any ofthe robbers? My father is down town now.”
It seemed rather singular to Hooker that Fred also was not in thevillage, and, furthermore, Roy imagined he could perceive somethingunnatural and distraught in his friend’s manner.
“S’pose you’ve heard about Pipe and me?” said Roy.
“No. I’ve been staying home with mother. She’s nervous. Father depositsat the bank, you know, and he wanted to find out if there had reallybeen a robbery. What about you and Sleuth?”
“We caught one of the gang,” announced the visitor proudly.
“You—you did?” faltered Sage, seeming to stiffen a bit. “Really andtruly did you and Sleuth catch one of them?”
“Really and truly, old man. We ran him down over behind Turkey Hill andnabbed him. He’s in the lockup now.”
“Back of Turkey Hill!” said Fred, a bit huskily, and the other boyfancied his face lost color somewhat. “How—how did you do it?”
“Oh, the fellow was wounded, and it wasn’t much of a trick. Old Quinnblazed away blindly at the robbers when they ran, and he happened to hitthis one. Of course,” he continued, with a pardonable touch of pride,“some folks seem to think we did quite a thing in nabbing him.”
“I don’t wonder,” muttered Fred. “Tell me just how you did it.”
With a sudden impulse, Roy strode past his companion, saying: “Come oninto the stable and I’ll tell you.”
“We can talk just as well out here,” said Sage hastily. “Let’s not go inthere.”
“But I want to go in there,” persisted Hooker, keeping on, although hisfriend had grasped his arm.
The sliding doors were now nearly closed, but Hooker thrust one of themback sufficiently to enter, and Fred, ceasing to object, followed intothe building.
At a glance Roy perceived a large damp spot upon the floor, where uponhis previous visit there had been a pool of blood. Every trace of theblood stains was gone. Turning quickly to Sage, Hooker saw that he wasbeing watched narrowly, but instantly Fred’s eyelids drooped.
“Sleuth was right in his suspicions, after all,” thought the visitor,with sinking heart. “If there wasn’t something wrong, they’d neverremoved those stains and kept still about it.”
“Tell me,” urged Fred, “how you happened to find this wounded robber.How did you trace him?”
??
?I didn’t say we traced him.”
“No, but I supposed—that is, I imagined you must have been led in someway to search for him over by Turkey Hill.”
“He’s in it—in it up to the neck,” thought Roy, almost bitterly. “It’s ashame! He seemed like such a fine fellow!”
“What’s the matter?” asked the other lad nervously. “Why don’t you tellme all about it?”
“Oh, yes, I—I will. You see, it was this way.” He began his story at thepoint where he and Piper had discovered the fugitive from their positionin the clearing on the northern shoulder of the hill. In the midst ofthe narrative, through which he was hurrying, the boys were startled bythe swift tread of feet, and a moment later several persons, led byConstable Hubbard, entered the stable.
“What—what is it?” demanded Fred Sage at sight of the men. “What are youdoing here?”
“We’re a-looking for one of them there bank robber critters,” answeredthe constable, “and for sartain reasons we’re led to believe he’s hidinground these premises somewhere. The buildings are surrounded complete,and he can’t git away.”