CHAPTER XIV. TWO CONSPIRATORS
Doris, knowing that she could trust Bob, made him promise eternal secrecyand then she told him the whole story, withholding only the name of thehighwayman.
The lad was indeed surprised at this sudden turn of affairs and he saidat once: "You don't need to tell me who it is, Doris. I know it was TomDuffy. He was expelled from High last week and he said he was going toskip the town."
Doris wondered if she ought to deny this, but, desiring to shield Danny,she said nothing at the time.
Bringing forth the bag of gold, she gave it to the boy.
He concealed it in the deep pocket of his heavy overcoat; then he said:"Now, Doris, you just leave it to me. I'll find some way to return thisto the old man tonight so that he may be relieved of his worrying. I'llwait for a hunch."
Then, as the work of tidying the kitchen was finished, Bob exclaimed:"Now bundle up, Doris, I'll draw you on the sled while I skate. We can'tlet you miss all of the fun."
They were greeted with jolly shouts when they appeared, and Dick Jensenslid up to them, stopping only to do a double figure eight, in whichaccomplishment he excelled. Then, taking the rope of the sled from Bob'swarmly gloved hand, he said: "I'll be Doris' pony. I'm sure she wouldrather have me, and, if I'm not mistaken, you'll find Rose waiting foryou beyond the point."
Bob's face lighted. It was understood among these young people that someday, when they were older, Rose and Bob would be engaged, and since itwas the only real romance in their midst, they all took a delightedinterest in it.
For an hour the gleaming ice was the picture of a merry mid-winterfrolic, but, as soon as the sun began rapidly to descend to the horizon,Bob took Rose's horn and blew thereon a long, clear blast, while themaiden at his side, with cheeks as glowing as her ruddy name flower,beckoned the skaters shoreward.
"Time to be going!" Bob called as they flocked in. "The sky is so cloudy,the moon won't be able to light us home, so we'll try to make it beforedark."
Half an hour later the cabin had been securely locked, the sleigh filledwith merrymakers, and the horses eager to be away after their long restin the shelter of a shed.
It was nearly dark when the inn was reached. Mr. Wiggin appeared in thedoor to exclaim, "Well, I'm mighty glad to see you young folks headed fortown. My wife's been worrying the whole afternoon, knowing thathighwayman was still at large. The sheriff and his men found some tracksjust back of the inn leading toward the pine wood." Merry put inexcitedly: "Oh, Mr. Wiggin, if that robber was riding a horse, we knowwhere he turned toward the old Dorchester road." But the innkeeper shookhis head.
"No, he was afoot, old man Bartlett said. Hal Spinney, from the milkfarm, went by a spell earlier on horseback."
"How is Mr. Bartlett now?" Gertrude asked solicitously.
"Well, he's pretty much all in," Mr. Wiggin replied sympathetically.Then, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, he said in a low voice, asthough not wishing to be heard: "My wife wouldn't hear to his going backto his shack up in the woods, so she's got him in there by the fire. He'spretty hard hit, as you can guess, that five hundred dollars being hislifetime savings."
Bob was thinking hard. Now was the time to give the money back to Old ManBartlett, but he had promised Doris that he would not tell how she hadprocured it. He thought it queer that the girl should care to protectthat ne'er-do-well of a Tom Duffy; nevertheless he had given his word andwould keep it. Jack was driving and was about to start the horses whenBob called: "Wait a minute, Jack, will you? I'd like to take a look atthose tracks. Mr. Wiggin, I'm a shark at recognizing shoeprints. I wishyou'd show them to me."
The girls, who were not in the secret, smiled at each other knowingly.This carried out their theory that the members of the "C. D. C." weretrying to solve the mystery of the highwayman.
"Sure thing. I'll show them to you," the garrulous innkeeper replied."Wait till I get a lantern. Dark's settling down fast."
A couple of the other boys climbed out of the sleigh, idly curious, andaccompanied Bob and Mr. Wiggin, who had reappeared with a lightedlantern. Doris clenched her hands together nervously under the buffalorope. That Bob had his "hunch" she was sure, but what he was about to do,she could not guess.
Five minutes passed, and ten; then the boys returned greatly excited.They were all talking at once. "What happened?" Merry called out.
"Happened?" Dick Jensen exclaimed. "The money's been found. Mr. Wigginstumbled right over that bag of gold. The robber must have beenfrightened and dropped it in the snow close to his tracks. Every cent ofit was there."
"O, thank goodness!" Gertrude exclaimed. "Now the old man can stopworrying."
Mr. Wiggin held the lantern up, his round face glowing. "It sure was alucky thing that Bob, here, wanted to look at those tracks," he said. "Notelling but what that robber might have come back in the night, knowingwhere he had dropped it."
"Do hurry in, Mr. Wiggin, and give it to old Mr. Bartlett," Doris begged,and if there was an unusual tenseness in her voice, none of the othersnoticed it. Bob glanced meaningly in her direction as he sat beside hisRose, and Doris, who had been silent before that, suddenly became thelife of the party. "Oh, boys, please change your minds about taking usright home," she pleaded. "We girls want to turn up the wood road just alittle distance."
"Why, Doris Drexel," Betty Byrd cried in evident alarm, "_what_ a wildsuggestion! Why in the world should we want to go up the very road wherethe robbery took place!"
"That's what I'd like to know!" Bertha began, then she remembered thatDoris' suggestion was merely the carrying out of their plan to try todiscover if the boys of the "C. D. C." held their secret meetings in theold Welsley "haunted" house. If the boys were willing to take the girlsthrough the old ruin, it would mean that it was _not_ their meetingplace.
"Oh, yes--do let's go!" Bertha then seconded.
"All right," Jack sang out willingly. "I'll have to back up a little.We've passed the wood road."
"O, girls," Merry gave Doris and Bertha a wink of understanding, "let'sgo there some other time. I think we've given our guests of honor enoughthrills for tonight."
To which Geraldine heartily agreed, and so the horses were turned outupon the highway. When the girls had been left at their homes, the boyslaughed and shouted as though at a good joke. The girls would indeed havebeen mystified if they had heard them.