CHAPTER XXV
ANDY SHANKS, EAVESDROPPER
Suddenly the boys heard two voices raised in what seemed to be analtercation of some kind. The sound appeared to come from behind a boardfence a few feet away.
One of the speakers was evidently threatening, while the other wasbegging off from something that had been demanded of him.
"I tell you, I can't," the latter was saying. "I've already given youevery cent of my allowance and I've borrowed from every friend I have inthis town. You can't get blood out of a stone. If gold dollars wereselling for fifty cents, I couldn't buy one."
"I tell you, you must," the other said fiercely. "I know well enough youcan pawn something. You can get a few plunks on that ring and scarf-pinof yours. I've long ago put everything I had in hock. Come now, Sid,"and the voice became more wheedling in tone, "you know well enough thisstate of things won't last long. The old man will take me back again andI'll be rolling in money. Then I can pay back all you've let me have."
Fred and Teddy looked at each other with a conviction that flashed onboth of them at the same moment.
"Where have I heard those dulcet tones before?" murmured Fred. "EitherI'm going crazy or that's Andy Shanks."
"And the other is Sid Wilton," replied Teddy. "Come to think of it, Iheard he lived down this way somewhere. I wonder what all this gab isabout."
"It seems to me that Andy's father has thrown him out to face life onhis own hook," conjectured Fred.
"And he doesn't seem to be making a success of it," judged Bill.
Just then the two debaters emerged from behind the fence and came faceto face with their former schoolmates.
The former bully of Rally Hall and his crony started back, and for amoment were so nonplussed that they could do nothing but stare.
"How are you, Sid?" said Fred, breaking a silence that was beginning tobe awkward.
Sid made a stammering reply.
Andy had flushed angrily at the sight of the boys and seemed about toindulge in his usual bluster, but a thought appeared to come to himsuddenly that made him change his mind.
"How are you, fellows?" he asked, in a way that was meant to beingratiating, and holding out his hand.
The movement was so wholly unexpected that for an instant the boyshardly knew what to do. They all disliked him heartily, and the Rushtonboys in particular had been bitterly wronged by him during their firstyear at Rally Hall. Still, it would have seemed ungracious to reject theproffered hand, so they took it under protest, mentally resolved to getaway from him as soon as possible.
It was a different Andy from the one to whom they had been accustomed.He had formerly been expensively dressed, and had borne himself with thearrogance of the snob and the brutality of the bully. Now he wasbeginning to look shabby and his eyes had a furtive look very differentfrom the insolent assurance that the boys remembered.
They exchanged a few commonplace remarks, and then, as Andy made no movetoward following Sid, who had excused himself and gone on, Bill finallygave him a gentle hint.
"Well, so long, Andy," he said. "We'll have to be going."
Then the motive for Andy's sudden change of front became apparent.
"Wait just a minute," he said rather sheepishly. "Will you fellows do mea favor and lend me a five spot? I'm stony broke--not a dime to blessmyself with. You know the governor has gone back on me. Says he won'tgive me a red cent, and that I'll have to learn to hoe my own row. I'mup against it for fair, and I know you fellows won't mind lending me alittle something. I'll pay it back as soon as the old man comes across,which he's bound to do sooner or later. What do you say?"
Fred, who remembered how the bully had tried to put on him the theft ofsome examination papers at Rally Hall, hesitated, but Teddy, who noticedhow shabby and downcast Andy looked, intervened.
"I guess we might fix it up," he ventured to say. "Just let me speak tothe others for a minute."
They had a short conference, as a result of which Teddy collected andhanded over the five dollars that Andy desired.
Andy's thanks were profuse, but after having tucked the money safelyaway in his pocket, something of his old surly manner returned. He tookleave of his benefactors with scant ceremony, but the boys were so gladto get rid of him that they hardly noticed this.
"After all," remarked Bill, as they watched Andy go down the street,"five dollars isn't so much to pay for getting free from that bird. I'dbe willing to lose a lot more than that if I could be sure of neverseeing him again."
The boys made their purchases and took their way to the place thatLester had in mind to eat their lunch. They found themselves on a highsand dune, overgrown with coarse grass. It afforded an excellent view ofthe sea and also furnished a comfortable place to lean against.
"This is great!" exclaimed Ross. "Let's get out that grub and pitch in.I could eat a barrel full of brass tacks and never know I had eatenanything."
"I guess you wouldn't know anything very long," laughed Lester, as heproceeded to lay out the provisions.
The eatables vanished with surprising speed, and after the first sharpedge of their hunger had worn off, the conversation turned, as itusually did these days, to their quest for the missing treasure.
A brisk breeze was blowing in from the ocean and the brittle sand grasskept up a constant rustling. This sound served admirably to cover theapproach of a stealthy figure that had followed the boys at a distanceever since they had left Bartanet. This figure crept closer and closerto the sand dune, until only a projecting hump concealed it from thefive boys on the seaward side.
As it attained this position of vantage, Teddy was addressing a remarkto Ross.
"Haven't you lost a bit of your confidence yet, Ross?" he queried.
"Not a particle," affirmed Ross stoutly. "We'll find that treasure,sooner or later, if it ever was actually hidden in the neighborhood ofBartanet Shoals."
"You bet we will!" declared Fred, "even if we have to import a steamshovel to dig up the whole territory."
"I hope it will be soon," interposed Bill. "It'll be us for Rally Hall,you know, before long, and then what chance will we have?"
"Keep a stiff upper lip," counseled Lester. "We've just begun to fight."
During the conversation the eavesdropper had lain quietly and listenedwith the closest attention. Now he edged away cautiously, and when hehad reached a sufficient distance rose to his feet and hurried back inthe direction of Bartanet.
The boys light-heartedly got into their boat and rowed back to thelighthouse without the slightest suspicion that almost all they had saidhad been overheard by Andy Shanks.
That rascal hastened back to town, his brain awhirl with dreams ofsudden riches. He had heard enough to know that there was treasureburied in or around Bartanet, and he also knew that the boys whom heheld in hatred were in search of it. What joy to steal the riches fromthem and thus gain the twofold advantage of thwarting them and at thesame time putting himself in a position to indulge those vices in whichhe delighted!
Before Andy had gone far, he met one of the village youths whoseacquaintance he had recently made. Unfortunately for Andy, this youngfellow, who was named Morton, had a strong liking for practical jokes,and after Andy, with his usual boastfulness, had thrown out sly hintsabout knowing how to "pick up all the money that he wanted," Mortonscented a chance to make a victim.
As Andy was very vague regarding the sources from which he expected toget his wealth, Morton did not hesitate to impart to Andy the slightingopinion that he was "talking through his hat."
"Not much I'm not," retorted Andy, stung by the imputation. "I tell youI know there's oodles of money buried somewhere around here and what'smore, if you'll help me to find it, I'll let you in for a share of it."
His acquaintance, seeing that Andy was in earnest, quickly formed a planto have some fun at the other's expense.
"Well, seeing you're so certain of it, I _will_ help you, then!" heexclaimed. "Shake hands on the bargain."