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diff --git a/22307.txt b/22307.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eaf2fa6 --- /dev/null +++ b/22307.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8085 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Grammar School Boys of Gridley, by H. Irving Hancock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Grammar School Boys of Gridley + or, Dick & Co. Start Things Moving + +Author: H. Irving Hancock + +Release Date: August 13, 2007 [EBook #22307] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Huub Bakker and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "Now, I'm Going to Settle With You." + +_Frontispiece._] + + + + +The Grammar School Boys of Gridley + +OR + + +Dick & Co. Start Things Moving + +By + +H. IRVING HANCOCK + +Author of The Grammar School Boys Snowbound, The Grammar School +Boys in the Woods, The High School Boys' Series, The West Point +Series, The Annapolis Series, The Young Engineers' Series, +The Boys of the Army Series, The Motor Boat Club Series, Etc., Etc. + +Illustrated + +PHILADELPHIA + +HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY + +Copyright, 1911, by Howard E. Altemus + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. "Old Dut" Tells a Story--Dick Another 7 + +II. A Brush on the Street 20 + +III. Football--Without Rules 39 + +IV. Ab. Dexter's Temper is Squally 53 + +V. Football Uniforms in Sight 63 + +VI. On the Trail of the Cab 73 + +VII. Dick Leads a Spirited Rush 80 + +VIII. Two Accidents--Or Traps? 90 + +IX. An Awesome River Discovery 104 + +X. A Problem in Footprints 115 + +XI. Dan Sees Bears--In His Mind 124 + +XII. The Boy With the Oakum Taste 130 + +XIII. A Great Football Pow-Pow 142 + +XIV. Dick Steps Into a Death-Trap 154 + +XV. What Grammar School Boys Can Do 161 + +XVI. Out for Hallowe'en Fun 170 + +XVII. The Newest Trick of All 180 + +XVIII. Carrying Fun To the Danger Limit 187 + +XIX. Ben Wants To Know Who "Blabbed" 198 + +XX. Dick's Accuser Gets Two Answers 208 + +XXI. Ab. Dexter Makes a New Move 218 + +XXII. Tricked Into Bad Company 226 + +XXIII. Dick Makes His Stand for Honor 235 + +XXIV. Conclusion 247 + + + + +The Grammar School Boys of Gridley + + + + +CHAPTER I + +"OLD DUT" TELLS A STORY--DICK ANOTHER + + +"Master Prescott, what are you doing?" + +The voice of Mr. E. Dutton Jones rasped out rather sharply, jarring on +the generally studious air of the eighth-grade room of the Central +Grammar School. + +"What were you doing, Master Prescott?" repeated the stern voice of the +principal. + +Dick Prescott had glanced up, somewhat startled and confused. By this +time every boy's and girl's eyes had turned away from text-books toward +Dick Prescott. + +"I was whispering, sir," confessed Dick. + +"Oh, was that all?" demanded the somewhat ironical voice of Mr. E. +Dutton Jones, more commonly known as "Old Dut." + +"Yes, sir." + +"To whom were you whispering?" + +"To Master Hazelton." + +"If I am intruding on no confidences, what were you whispering about?" +continued Old Dut. + +"I----" began Dick, and then his face turned still more red under the +curious gaze of some fifty boys and girls. "I was telling Master +Hazelton a funny story." + +"Do you think it was very funny?" inquired Old Dut. + +"The story? Yes, sir." + +The broad grin that promptly spread over Harry Hazelton's face seemed to +confirm Dick's claim as to the humorous quality of the story. + +"Master Prescott," adjudged the principal, "you may rise in your seat +and tell the story to the whole class, myself included. On this dull, +rainy day I feel certain that we all need a good laugh." + +A smile that grew to a titter in some quarters of the room greeted Dick +as he struggled half-shamefacedly to his feet. + +"Go on with the story," encouraged Old Dut. "Or, rather, begin at the +beginning. That's the right way to serve up a story." + +"I--I'd rather not tell the story, sir," protested young Prescott. + +"Why not?" demanded the principal sharply. + +"Well, because, sir--I'd rather not. That's all." + +Principal Jones frequently employed that grilling way of questioning one +of his pupils, and his implied sarcasm had a very effective way of +making young offenders squirm before the class. + +Whispering, in itself, is not a criminal offense, yet it often has a sad +effect on the discipline of a schoolroom, and of late Old Dut had been +much annoyed by whisperers. + +"So you won't tell us all that choice story, eh, Master Prescott?" +insisted the principal, half coaxingly. + +"On account of its being such a very personal one I'd rather not, sir," +Dick answered, still standing by his desk. "I might hurt some one's +feelings." + +"Too bad!" murmured Old Dut. "And just after we had all been enlivened +by the hope of hearing something really funny! I know your rare quality +of humor, Master Prescott, and I had promised myself a treat. My own +disappointment in the matter may be cured, but what about the boys and +girls of this class? I know that they are all still eager to hear a +really funny story." + +Old Dut paused, glancing impressively about the room. Dick, shifting +first to one foot and then to the other, had not yet succeeded in +parting with much of the fiery color that had flamed up to his cheeks, +temples and forehead. + +"Master Prescott," announced the principal, "the class shall not be +deprived of its expected treat. I will tell a story, and I think you +will find some of the elements of humor in it. Will you kindly step this +way?" + +Dick went forward, head up and chest thrown out, a look almost of +defiance in his clear, blue eyes as a titter ran around the room. + +"Stand right here beside me," coaxed Old Dut. "Now, let me see if I can +remember the story. Yes; I believe I can. It runs something like this." + +Then Old Dut began his story. It was a very ordinary one that had to do +with a boy's disobedience of his father's commands. But it had a +"woodshed" end to it. + +"So," continued Old Dut, "Johnson took his boy out to the shed. There, +with a sigh as though his heart were breaking, the old man seated +himself on the chopping block. He gathered his son across his +knee--about like this." + +Here Principal Jones suddenly caught Dick Prescott and brought that lad +across his own knee. The expectant class now tittered loudly. + +"I can't tell this story unless I have quiet," announced Old Dut, +glancing up and around the room with a reproachful look. + +Then, after clearing his throat, the principal resumed: + +"'Johnny,' said the old man huskily, 'I know what my duty in the matter +really is. I ought to give you a good spanking, like this (_whack!_). +But I haven't the heart to give you such a blow as you deserve. (Whack!) +But the next time (whack!), I'm going to give you (whack!) just such a +good one (whack! whack!) as you deserve. (Whack! whack!) So, remember, +Johnny (whack!), and don't let me catch you (whack!) disobeying me +again. (Whack! whack!)." + +Each "whack" Old Dut emphasized by bringing down his own broad right +hand on Dick's unprotected body. + +A few flashing eyes there were in the young audience, and a few +sympathetic glances from the girls, but, for the most part, the class +was now in a loud roar of laughter. + +"That's the story," announced Old Dut, gently restoring Dick Prescott to +his feet. "I think you all see the point to it. Perhaps there's a moral +to it, also. I really don't know." + +Pallor due to a sense of outraged dignity now struggled for a place in +the red that covered Dick Prescott's face. + +"You may go to your seat, Master Prescott." + +Dick marched there, without a glance backward. + +"Now, that we've had our little indulgence in humor," announced Old Dut +dryly, "we will all return to our studies." + +There was silence again in the room, during which the rain outside began +to come down in a flood. + +"I'll get the fellows to-night--for that--and we'll carry Old Dut's +front gate off and throw it in the river!" ran vengefully through Dave +Darrin's mind. + +"Old Dut needn't look for his late posies to bloom until the frost comes +this year," reflected Greg Holmes, while he pored, apparently, over the +many-colored map of Asia. "I'll get some of the fellows out to-night, +and we'll make a wreck scene in Old Dut's flower beds." + +Dick said nothing, even to himself, as he picked up his much-thumbed +book on physiology and turned the pages. He was smarting not only from +the indignity to which he had been treated, but quite as much from the +masterful way in which Old Dut had punctuated that "funny story" with +his broad right hand. + +Once in a while Old Dut cast a sly glance in Dick's direction. + +"That young man will bear watching," mused the principal, as he caught a +sudden flash in Prescott's eye, as the latter glanced up. + +The recitation in arithmetic soon came along. This was one of Dick's +favorite studies, and, wholly forgetting his late experience, so it +seemed, he covered himself with glory in his blackboard demonstration of +an intricate problem in interest and discount. + +Then the class settled down to twenty minutes' more study. + +"Master Prescott," broke in Old Dut's voice, at last, "did you think my +story a funny one?" + +"Pretty fair, sir," answered Dick, looking up and straight into the eyes +of the principal. + +"Only 'pretty fair,' eh? Could you tell me a funnier story?" + +"I'm pretty sure I could, yes, sir," answered Dick, with great +promptness. "Only--_I don't believe I'm big enough yet!_" + +There was a moment's hush. Then the class caught the spirit of the +answer. A few titters sounded, cautiously--to be followed instantly by +an explosion of laughter. Even Old Dut had to join in the laugh. + +"That young man will bear watching," thought the principal grimly. "He's +my best pupil, and one of the most mischievous. I'd rather have any +youngster mischievous than stupid." + +Glancing at the clock, Principal Jones swung around, running a finger +down a line of push buttons in the wall back of his seat. In this +fashion did he announce to the schoolrooms of the seven lower grades +that morning recess time had come. Then he swung back. + +"Attention, class!" he called. Tap! sounded a bell. The eighth-grade +boys and girls rose, standing by their seats. + +Tap! At the second bell the lines filed out in orderly fashion to the +coatrooms, at the sides of the schoolroom. + +But many of the young people soon came back. It was raining heavily +outdoors on this September morning. True, the boys' and girls' basements +served as playrooms in bad weather, but the basements were always +crowded at such times, and many of the young people preferred to pass +the recess time in the schoolroom. + +"Old Dut's getting rather too fresh these days," growled Greg Holmes to +his chum. Then whispered in Dick's ear: + +"We'll get hunk with him to-night. Some of us will go around and play +the wreck scene in his flower gardens." + +"Nothing doing," retorted Dick briefly. + +"I know a good one," whispered Dave Darrin, his dark eyes flashing with +anticipated mischief. "We'll switch Old Dut's new gate off and play +Moses in the bulrushes at the river bank." + +"Say," demanded Dick, gazing curiously at his tempters, "since when have +you thought I don't know enough to pay back my own grudges!" + +"Have you got a scheme?" demanded Tom Reade eagerly, while Harry +Hazelton and Dan Dalzell, sure that Dick had a "corker" of a scheme, +grinned as happily as though they had already seen it put through with a +rush. + +"Have you got a scheme?" insisted Dave. + +"Maybe," replied Dick evasively. + +"Any of you fellows going down to the basement?" asked Hazelton after a +moment. + +"What's the use?" questioned Dick. "Tramp down three flights of stairs, +and then climb the flights again in ten minutes." + +With that Dick sauntered into the schoolroom. Old Dut was seated at his +desk, a half dozen of the girls standing about, eating apples or candy, +and talking with the principal. + +"Only girls over there by Prin's desk," thought Dick with some +dissatisfaction. He wandered about for a few minutes, but at last went +up to Old Dut's desk as though being reluctantly drawn there by some +magnet. + +"Get next," nudged Dave Darrin, poking Hazelton in the side. As Dave +sauntered over to the desk Harry followed. Tom Reade seemed interested +in the scene. Greg Holmes and Dan Dalzell strolled over, arm in arm. + +Seeing such an invasion of boys, the girls gave back for a few feet, +though they did not quit the scene. + +"Funny the Detroits didn't win the championship this year, isn't it?" +Dick asked innocently. + +"The Detroits haven't any show," returned Darrin half disgustedly. +"They've got nearly a month to play yet, but the Detroits are no good +this year." + +"If all the Detroits were in a class with Pendleton, their new pitcher, +this year," Dick contended, "the Detroits would show class enough." + +Old Dut looked up with interest. A thoroughly skilled and capable +teacher, he had always believed in encouraging sports and athletics. + +"That Pendleton fellow is more than a wonder with a ball," Dick went on +warmly. "I saw him pitch a game against the New Yorks this summer, and I +dreamed about it for a week after." + +"What's Pendleton's strong point?" followed up Dave Darrin. + +"Everything in the pitching line," Dick answered. + +"But what is his best point of all, Prescott?" broke in Old Dut. + +Even that experienced school principal had tumbled into the trap that +Dick Prescott had so ingeniously laid for him. + +"Well, sir," replied Dick, wheeling around to the principal, every trace +of resentment gone from his young face, "I should say that Pendleton's +most noticeable trick is the way he twists and handles the ball when +he's getting ready to drive in his curve. I watched Pendleton's work +that day, and I think I stole the principle on which he uses his right +wrist." + +"Show me," unsuspiciously invited Old Dut. + +Dick started to curve an imaginary ball in his right hand, then glanced +over the principal's desk. A small, but thick, heavy book lay there. + +"Well, I should say," Prescott resumed, "that Pendleton handles the ball +about like this." + +Picking up the book, Dick used both hands in trying to give it the right +preliminary curve. + +"But his delivery is, of course, the great feature," the lad went on. +"When Pendleton has the ball curved just right, he raises his right and +lets it go like this!" + +Dick was facing the bevy of girls. They were so certain he was going to +hurl the book in their direction that they scattered with little cries +of alarm. + +So forcefully had young Prescott prepared for the throw that the book +did leave his hand, though the boy made a frantic effort--apparently--to +recover the missile. + +Not toward the retreating girls, however, did the book fly. It spun +nearly at right angles, and---- + +Smack! it went, full into the face of Principal E. Dutton Jones. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon, sir!" cried Dick in a voice ringing with +remorse. "That must hurt you very much, sir." + +"It is nothing," replied Old Dut gamely, though the unexpected shock had +nearly taken his breath. Then he put one hand up to his injured face. +"Why, I believe my nose is bleeding," he added, making a quick dive for +his handkerchief. + +In truth the nose was bleeding. Old Dut made a specialty of low-cut +vests and white, immaculate shirt-fronts. Before the handkerchief was in +place, three bright, crimson drops had fallen, rendering the shirt-front +a gruesome sight to look at. + +"Oh, sir, I hope you will excuse me," followed up Dick. + +"Oh, yes; certainly," dryly returned the principal, as he rose and made +for his private room. There was a handbowl in there, with hot and cold +water, and the principal of the Central Grammar School of Gridley was +soon busy repairing his personal appearance. + +No sooner had he vanished behind the open door than Dave Darrin, Tom +Reade, Dan Dalzell, Greg Holmes, Harry Hazelton and several other boys +grinned broadly in their huge delight. Dick Prescott, however, admirable +actor that he was, still wore a look of concern on his rather fine young +face. + +"One thing I've learned to-day, which I ought to have known before," +grimly mused Old Dut, as he sopped a wet towel to his injured nose. +"Dick Prescott doesn't need any guardian. He can look out for himself!" + +"Wasn't it awful?" repeated a girl's voice out in the schoolroom. + +"No," replied her companion. "I don't think it was. After what he did it +served him just right!" + +"I'm getting the usual sympathy that is awarded to the vanquished," +smiled Old Dut to himself. "That's Laura Bentley's voice. She didn't +laugh when I was having my innings with Dick. She flushed up and looked +indignant." + +Before Old Dut felt that he was in shape to present himself, all of the +eight grades had received seven minutes' additional recess. + +At last studies were resumed. Old Dut, however, noted that whenever one +of the boys or girls looked up and caught sight of his expansive, +crimsoned shirt-front, a smile always followed. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A BRUSH ON THE STREET + + +By the time that the noon dismissal bell rang the rain had ceased, and +the sun was struggling out. + +Out in the coatroom Dick snatched his hat from the nail as though he +were in haste to get away. + +"I'll race you home, as far as we go together," proposed Dave Darrin. + +"Go you!" hovered on the tip of Prescott's tongue, but just then another +thought popped into Dick's mind. It was a manly idea, and he had learned +to act promptly on such impulses. + +"Wait a moment," he answered Darrin. "I've got something to do." + +With that Dick marched back into the schoolroom. Old Dut, looking up +from the books that he was placing in a tidy pile on the platform desk, +smiled. + +"I came back to ask, sir, if your nose pains?" + +Old Dut shot a keen glance at young Prescott, for long experience had +taught the school-teacher that malice sometimes lurks behind the most +innocent question from a boy. Then he answered: + +"I'm glad to be able to report, Master Prescott, that my nose is causing +me no trouble whatever." + +"I'm very glad of that, sir. I've been a bit uncomfortable, since +recess, thinking that perhaps my--that my act had broken your nose, and +that you were just too game to let any one know. I'm glad no real harm +was done, sir." + +Then Dick turned, anxious to get out into the open as quickly as +possible. + +"One moment, Master Prescott!" + +Dick wheeled about again. + +"Are you sure that the book-throwing was an accident?" + +"I--I am afraid it wasn't, sir," Dick confessed, reddening. + +"Then, if you threw the book into my face on purpose, why did you do +it!" + +"I was a good deal provoked, Mr. Jones." + +"Oh! Provoked over the funny story that I told you this forenoon?" + +"Not over the story, sir; but your manner of telling it." + +Old Dut had hard work to keep back the smile that struggled for an +appearance on his face. + +"Revenge, was it, Master Prescott?" + +"Well, I felt that it was due me, Mr. Jones, to get even for the show +that you made of me before the class." + +"Master Prescott, we won't go into the details of whether I was +justified in illustrating my story this morning in the manner that I +did, or whether you were right in coming back at me after the fashion +that you did. But I am going to offer one thought for your +consideration. It is this--that the man who devotes too much thought to +'getting even' with other folks is likely to let slip a lot of good, +solid chances for getting ahead in the world. I don't blame any fellow +for protecting his own rights and dignity, but just think over what I +said, won't you, about the chap who spends too much of his time thinking +up ways to get even with others?" + +"There's a good idea in that, sir," Dick assented. + +"Of course you've heard, Master Prescott, that 'revenge is sweet?'" + +"Yes; I have." + +"And I believe, Master Prescott, that the saying is often true. But did +it ever strike you, in this connection, that sweet things often make one +sick at his stomach? I believe this is just as true of revenge as it is +of other sweets. And now run along, or you won't have time to do justice +to the pudding that your mother has undoubtedly been baking for you this +morning." + +As Dick hastened from the room he found Dave Darrin waiting for him. Out +in the corridor beyond these two encountered Holmes, Dalzell, Hazelton +and Reade, for these six boys of the "top grade" generally stuck +together in all things concerning school life. + +"Was Old Dut blowing you up for showing him how to pitch a book?" +inquired Greg. + +"No; Old Dut doesn't seem to hold that in for me very hard," smiled +Prescott. "But he was giving me something to think over." + +"Huh!" muttered Greg, as the boys walked down the outer steps. "I'd like +to give him something to think about. Why did you get so crusty when I +sprang the idea of doing the wreck scene in his flower beds to-night?" + +"Because the idea was too kiddish," returned Dick. "Besides, Old Dut was +talking to me a good deal along such lines." + +"Did you go and tell him what I wanted to do?" flared Greg. + +"I didn't. But Old Dut pinned me down and asked me whether that book +throwing were really an accident, and I had to admit that it wasn't. +Now, listen!" + +Dick thereupon repeated his conversation with Principal Jones. + +"He's a wise man, all right," nodded Harry Hazelton. + +"I guess so," nodded Dave Darrin. "After all, it would look rather +kiddish in us to go slipping up to his front yard in the dark night, +lifting off his front gate and carrying it down to the river." + +"It would be stealing, or wasting, property, also," agreed Tom Reade. + +"So, fellows," resumed Dick, "I guess----" + +"Hullo! What's going on down there?" broke in Darrin hastily, as all six +of the Grammar School boys looked ahead. + +A woman's scream had caught their ear. + +"It's Mrs. Dexter," muttered Hazelton. + +"And that rascally husband of hers," added Greg Holmes. + +"Some new row, of course," broke in Dan Dalzell. + +"It's a shame!" burst from Dick. + +"That Dexter fellow ought to be hung," growled Tom Reade. "He's always +bothering that woman, and she's one of the nicest ever. But now he won't +let her alone, just because her grandfather had to die and leave Mrs. +Dexter a lot of money." + +The little city of Gridley was quite familiar with the domestic troubles +of the Dexters. The woman was young and pretty, and good-hearted. Abner +Dexter, on the other hand, was good-looking and shiftless. He had +married Jennie Bolton because he believed her family to be wealthy, and +Dexter considered himself too choice for work. But the Bolton money had +all belonged to the grandfather, who, a keen judge of human nature, had +guessed rightly the nature of Abner Dexter and had refused to let him +have any money. + +Dexter had left his wife and little daughter some two years before the +opening of this story. Three months before old man Bolton had died, +leaving several hundred thousand dollars to Mrs. Dexter. Then Dexter had +promptly reappeared. But Mrs. Dexter no longer wanted this shiftless, +extravagant man about, and had told him so plainly. Dexter had +threatened to make trouble, and the wife had thereupon gone to court and +had herself appointed sole guardian of her little daughter. At the same +time she had turned some money over to her husband--common report said +ten thousand dollars--on his promise to go away and not bother her +again. + +Plainly he had not kept his word. As Dick and his chums glanced down the +quiet side street they saw husband and wife standing facing each other. +The man was scowling, the woman half-tearful, half-defiant. Behind her, +in her left hand, Mrs. Dexter held a small handbag. + +"I'd like to be big enough to be able to enjoy the pleasure of thrashing +a fellow like that Dexter!" growled Dave Darrin, his eyes flashing. + +"There's a man standing a little way below the pair," announced Dick. "I +wonder what he's doing, for he seems to be watching the couple intently. +I hope he's on Mrs. Dexter's side." + +Unconsciously Dick and his friends had halted to watch the proceedings +ahead of them. + +"No, I won't," replied Mrs. Dexter sharply, to something that her husband +had said. + +Abner Dexter talked rapidly, a black scowl on his face meanwhile. + +"No, you won't! You don't dare!" replied the woman, her voice sounding +as though she had summoned all her courage by an effort. + +Dexter suddenly sprang closer to the woman. The next instant both were +struggling for possession of the little black bag that she carried. + +"Stop!" cried Mrs. Dexter desperately. "Help! He-lp!" + +"Fellows, I don't know that we're bound to stand for that," muttered +Dick Prescott quickly. "She's calling for help. Come along." + +Dick was off down the street like a streak, the others following, though +Dave was closest to his chum. + +"Here, what are you doing, mister?" demanded Dick, as he darted up to +where the pair were struggling. + +Dexter would have had the bag in his own possession by this time, had he +not turned to see what the onrush of boys meant. + +"None of your business what I'm doing," he replied savagely. "You +schoolboys run along out of this." + +"Don't go! Help me," pleaded the woman. "He's trying to rob me!" + +"You boys clear out, or it will be worse for you!" growled Dexter. + +"The lady wins!" Dick announced coolly, though he was shaking somewhat +from excitement. "You let go of her and her property." + +But Dexter, his face black with scowls, still clutched tightly with his +right hand at the little handbag, to which Mrs. Dexter was clinging with +both her hands. + +"You let go of that bag," challenged Dick, "or six of us will sail into +you. I think we can handle you. We'll try, anyway." + +"Yes; make him let go," begged Mrs. Dexter. "I have money and jewels +here, and he is trying to take them away from me." + +"Going to do as the lady wishes?" inquired Dick, stepping closer. + +Abner Dexter shot another angry glare at the sextette of Grammar School +boys. They were closing in around him, and it looked as though they +meant business. + +"Gus!" called Dexter sharply. + +The man who had been standing a short distance away now ran up to the +spot. + +"Hullo, what do you want!" asked Dick coolly. "Are you the understudy in +this game of robbery?" + +"I'm an officer," retorted the fellow sharply. + +"Secretary to some Chinese laundry company, eh?" jeered Dick. + +"I'm a police officer," retorted the man sharply, at the same time +displaying a shield. + +That put a different look on matters with some of young Prescott's +friends. Dick, however, was a boy not easily daunted. + +"If you're an officer," he inquired, "why don't you get busy and do your +duty? Here's a man trying to rob his wife, just because she happens to +have more money than he has." + +"A man can't legally steal from his wife, nor a woman from her husband," +retorted the policeman bullyingly. "There is no crime being committed +here. But if you boys try to interfere you'll be disturbing the peace, +and I'll run you all in." + +Mrs. Dexter looked bewildered and frightened. She even let go of the +handbag with one hand. Dick saw this, and quickly broke in: + +"Mrs. Dexter, don't you let Mr. Dexter have that handbag unless you want +to do it. We'll stand by you." + +"Oh, will you?" glared the policeman. "You boys run along, or I'll +gather you all in." + +"Where are you a policeman?" inquired Dick Prescott, eyeing the fellow +with interest. "You're not a Gridley officer, for I know every one of +them." + +"Never you mind where I'm from," jeered the man harshly. "I'm a +policeman. That'll have to be enough for you youngsters. If you don't +trot fast down the street I'll gather you in." + +Some of Dick's chums were now inclined to feel that they had broken in +at the wrong place, but not so their young leader. + +"You haven't any right to make arrests in Gridley," retorted Dick +defiantly. "And, even if you had, you couldn't stop us from defending a +woman. Tom, you and Greg stand by me. Dave, you lead the rest. We'll +make Dexter let go of his wife's property and let her alone. If this man +who says he's an officer interferes, Greg, Tom and I will devote our +attention to him!" + +"Great!" snarled Dexter jeeringly. "You're all young jailbirds!" + +"Are you going to let go of Mrs. Dexter's property?" challenged Dick. + +"I'm not." + +"Come on, fellows--let's sail into him." + +Dick was an able general, having his small force under good discipline. +There was a sudden rush of boys. True, they averaged only thirteen years +of age, but there were six of them, and they were determined. + +Dexter let go of the handbag in a hurry. He had to do so, in order to +defend himself. + +At the same moment the man named as "Gus" jumped into the fray. + +"Three to each man!" yelled Dick, and thus the force was divided. + +The self-styled policeman reached out with the flat of his hand, +knocking Greg Holmes off his feet. But, as he did so, Dick dropped down +in front of the man, wrapping both arms around the fellow's knees. Then +Dick rose. It required the exertion of all his strength, but he +succeeded in toppling Gus over onto his back. + +At the same time Abner Dexter was having all he could do, for three very +determined schoolboys were assailing him. At last Dexter turned to +retreat, but Dan Dalzell thrust a foot before him and tripped him. + +"All down!" yelled Dan. "Set 'em up in the other alley!" + +Though downed for the moment, the two men were disposed to make a +livelier fight of it than ever. It was a brisk, picturesque, +rough-and-tumble fight that followed, in which the young boys got a deal +of rough handling. + +Frightened, yet fascinated, Mrs. Dexter tottered against the fence and +stood looking on. + +Things might yet have fared badly with Dick and his friends had not a +newcomer arrived on the scene. He came running, and proved to be +Policeman Whalen in uniform. + +"Here! What's on?" demanded the Gridley officer. "Let up on kicking them +boys! I want you!" + +With that Whalen, who was a big and powerful man, grabbed Abner Dexter +by the coat collar and pulled him to his feet. With this prisoner in +tow, he moved up and seized Gus in similar fashion. + +"Now, what's the row?" demanded Officer Whalen. + +"Arrest these boys for assault!" quivered Dexter in a passion. + +"Yes, arrest them!" insisted Gus. "I'm an officer, too, and I was trying +to take them in." + +"You didn't seem to be having very good luck at it," grinned Whalen. +"But I know these boys, and they're all good lads." + +"Arrest them, just the same! They were assaulting me," insisted Dexter +angrily. + +"And what were you doing?" insisted Whalen wonderingly. + +"He was trying to steal jewels and money from his wife," interposed Dick +Prescott. + +"Bah!" growled Dexter. "A man can't steal from his wife." + +"But he can assault her," returned Policeman Whalen. "And a man can +disturb the peace with his wife, just as handily as he can anywhere +else. Mrs. Dexter, are these lads telling the truth?" + +"Oh, yes, officer! My husband was trying to take this satchel away from +me, and he knew that it contains my jewels and thirty-five hundred +dollars in cash." + +"Do you want him arrested?" + +"Yes; I--I'm afraid I shall have to have him arrested, or he'll go right +on annoying me." + +"Will you appear against him, Mrs. Dexter?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I'll take him along. And what about this fellow?" + +"Me?" demanded Gus with offended dignity. "I'm a police officer." + +"What's your name?" + +"August Driggs." + +"Where are you a policeman?" + +"In Templeton." + +"Why were you lads fighting Officer Driggs?" inquired Whalen blandly. + +Dick supplied some of the details, Dave others. Mrs. Dexter confirmed +the statements that they made. + +"I guess I'll take you along, too, Driggs," announced Policeman Whalen. + +"But I'm a police officer!" protested Driggs aghast. + +"Police officers can be arrested like anyone else, when they break the +law," announced Policeman Whalen dryly. "Come along, the two of you! +Mrs. Dexter, you wouldn't like to be seen walking along with us, but +I'll ask you to be at the station house inside of five minutes." + +"I'll be there, officer," promised the woman. + +"Do you want us, too?" inquired Dick. He and all of his friends were +eager to see the affair through to the finish. + +"No; I know where to find you lads, if you're wanted," grinned Policeman +Whalen. "I don't want a big crowd following. Mrs. Dexter, ma'am, I'll be +looking for you to be on hand sharp." + +With that the broad-backed policeman started off with two savage +prisoners in tow. + +"Say, if we're to have any dinner and get back to school on time, we'll +have to be moving fast," declared Dan Dalzell. + +"I thought we were surely going to get into a lot of trouble," muttered +Hazelton, as the youngsters moved along rapidly. "But Whalen knew his +business." + +"I hope the judge can send that Dexter fellow up for a good, long time," +muttered Dick. "He's been annoying that poor woman all the time lately." + +"Just because she has her grandfather's money at last," grumbled Dave +Darrin. + +Soon the youngsters came to a point where they had to separate. But all +hands were back at school on time. The work of the afternoon was duly +progressing when the telephone bell at the principal's desk rang. + +Old Dut held what proved to be a mysterious conversation for a few +moments. Then he wound up with: + +"All right. I'll send them right over." + +Ringing off, Old Dut glanced at Dick. + +"Master Prescott, it appears that you, Darrin, Reade, Holmes, Dalzell +and Hazelton saw some trouble on the street this noon." + +"Yes, sir." + +"All six of you are wanted, at once, down at court, to give evidence. +You are excused. If you get through at court early enough, come back to +finish your afternoon's work." + +Six Grammar School boys rose and filed out quietly. How enviously the +other boys in the room stared after them! How curiously the girls +glanced at the young heroes who were now wanted on the government's +business! + +"Say," ventured Dan as soon as they got outside, "I hope the judge +orders Dexter hanged." + +"He'll hardly do that," retorted Dave. "A street row is hardly a hanging +offense. If it were, there'd be a lot of fellows missing from the +Central Grammar School." + +"So we're called in to help decide the case?" asked Greg, puffing up. + +"Oh, get busy with some brains!" scoffed Dick airily. "We haven't +anything to do with deciding the case. That's what the judge is paid +for. But we're wanted just to tell what we know. Say, you fellows, be +careful you don't get so rattled that you try to tell a lot of things +that you don't know." + +In due time they reached the court building. Grown suddenly very quiet +and almost scared, these six thirteen-year-old boys filed upstairs. A +policeman stood before the door of the courtroom. + +"May we go in?" whispered Dick. + +"Of course," nodded the policeman. "Take your hats off." + +The officer conducted the sextette of young witnesses inside, past a +group or two of loungers who made up the usual police-court audience, +and thence on before the bench. + +At one side, at this end of the room, sat Dexter and Driggs. Right in +front of the clerk of the court were seated Mrs. Dexter and a lawyer. +Officer Whalen lounged near the two prisoners. + +"These are the lads, your honor," nodded Policeman Whalen, after giving +Dick & Co. a keen looking over. + +"Swear them, Mr. Clerk," said the Justice. + +Solemnly the six youngsters held up their right hands and took the oath. +Then Justice Lee began to question them. From Dick, first, he drew out +the story of the dispute in the street. Then the others told the same +story. + +"Why did you boys interfere?" asked the justice of Prescott. + +"Because, sir," Dick answered, "we didn't want to see a woman +ill-treated on the street." + +"A very good reason," nodded Justice Lee approvingly. "But weren't you +afraid of Driggs, here, who is really a police officer?" + +"No, sir; I didn't believe that a police officer had any more right than +any one else to break the law." + +"You boys have acted very sensibly," nodded Justice Lee. "Dexter, do you +wish to question any of these young witnesses?" + +Dexter shook his head, scowling. + +"Do you, Driggs?" + +"No, your honor. 'Twouldn't be any use." + +"You're right about that, I imagine," nodded the justice. "Boys, the +court wishes to express its pleasure over your good sense, and to praise +you for your chivalry and courage. You did just right--as the court +hopes you will always do under similar circumstances. Dexter, stand up. +Driggs, also." + +The two prisoners arose, sullen enough in their appearance. + +"Dexter, you have been guilty of disturbing the peace. I do not believe +a mere fine sufficient in your case. I therefore sentence you to serve +thirty days in jail. Driggs, your primary offense was about as great as +Dexter's, but your offense is worse, for you are a police officer, and +you tried to throw the strength of your position around the acts of the +prisoner. The court therefore sentences you to sixty days in jail." + +"We both wish to appeal, your honor," cried Dexter, his face aflame. + +"Dexter's bail will then be fixed at two hundred dollars; Driggs's at +four hundred dollars. Are you prepared to furnish bail?" + +"I will furnish the cash for both of us," announced Abner Dexter, +drawing a roll of banknotes from a pocket. + +Mrs. Dexter and her lawyer filed out while this matter was being +arranged with the clerk of the court. Dick and his friends, at a sign +from the court, left the room as soon as they had received their fees as +witnesses. + +"So he pays the money, Dexter does, and walks out?" grunted Dan Dalzell. + +"Oh, no," Dick answered. "Dexter and his friend have to be tried over +again in a higher court. That money is just their forfeit in case they +don't show up for trial." + +"They won't," predicted Greg. + +"I don't know," murmured Dick. "Six hundred dollars would be a lot of +money to lose." + +By hastening, the Grammar School boys were back in school for the last +hour of the session. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FOOTBALL--WITHOUT RULES + + +School was out for the day. Three quarters of the boys belonging to the +four upper grades made a bee line for a field about a block away. The +magnet was a football that Dave Darrin proudly carried tucked under his +left arm. + +"I wanter play!" + +"Let me try just one good kick with it, Dave!" + +"Take a stroll," advised Darrin laconically. "How can I blow up the ball +and talk to you fellows, too?" + +"Hurry up, then. We want to give the ball a fierce old kick." + +"No kids in this," announced Dave, rather loftily. "Only fellows in the +eighth and seventh grades. Fellows in the grades below the seventh are +only kids and would get hurt." + +"Oh, say!" + +"That isn't fair!" + +The protests were many and vigorous from sixth and fifth-grade boys, but +Darrin, ignoring them all, went placidly on inflating the pigskin. At +last the task was completed. + +"Hurrah! Now, Dave, give it a boost and let us all have some fun!" cried +the boys. But Darrin coolly tucked the ball under one arm. + +"Dick Prescott has a few remarks to make first," Dave announced. + +"Dick going to make a speech?" + +"Cut it, and start the ball moving!" + +"Won't you fellows interrupt your music lessons long enough to listen to +an idea that some of us have been talking over?" called Dick. "Now, +fellows, you know this is the time when the crack Gridley High School +football team is hard at work. We're all proud of the Gridley High +School eleven. A lot of you fellows expect to go to High School, and I +know you'd all like a chance to play on Gridley High's eleven." + +"Set the ball moving!" + +"Wait a minute," Dick insisted. "Now, fellows, no Grammar School in +Gridley has ever had an eleven." + +"How could we," came a discontented wail, "if we have to stand here and +see Dave just do nothing but hold the ball?" + +"Fellows," Dick went on impressively, "it's time to have Grammar School +football teams here in Gridley. Central Grammar ought to have one, North +Grammar one and South Grammar one. Then our three Grammar Schools could +play a championship series among themselves." + +"Hooray! Give the ball a throw, Dave!" + +"So, fellows," Dick continued, "a lot of us think we ought to organize a +football team at once. Then we can challenge North Grammar and South +Grammar. We can practise the rest of this month, and next month we can +play off our games. What do you say?" + +"Hooray!" + +"We'll have two teams," called Dave. "We'll call one team the Rangers +and the other the Rustlers. Now, let's make Dick captain of the +Rangers." + +"All right!" + +"And Tom Craig captain of the Rustlers." + +"Good!" + +"All right, then," nodded Dave. "Dick, you pick out the Rangers; Craig, +you go ahead with the Rustlers. After we've practised a few times we'll +pick the best men from both elevens, and make up the Central Grammar +eleven. Get busy, captains!" + +Forthwith the choosing began. Dick chose all his chums for his own +eleven. And no boy lower than seventh grade was allowed on either team. + +"Now, who'll be referee?" demanded Dick. "Captain Craig, have you any +choice?" + +"Have we got any fellows, not on either team, who really know the +rules?" asked Tom Craig dubiously. + +There was a hush, for this was surely a stumbling block. It seemed clear +that a referee ought to know the rules of the game. + +"What's up, kids?" called a friendly voice. + +The speaker was Len Spencer, a young man who had been graduated from the +High School the June before, and who was now serving his apprenticeship +as reporter on one of the two local daily papers, the morning "Blade." + +"Oh, see here, Len!" called Dick joyously. "You're just the right fellow +for us. You know the football rules?" + +"I have a speaking acquaintance with 'em," laughed Len. + +Dick rapidly outlined what was being planned, adding: + +"You can put that in the 'Blade' to-morrow morning, Len, and state our +challenge to North and South Grammars. Won't you?" + +"Surely." + +"But we want to practise this afternoon," Dick continued earnestly, "and +we haven't any referee. Len, can't you spare us a little time? Won't you +boss the first practice for us?" + +"All right," agreed Len, after a little thought. "I'll tackle it for a +while. Have you got your teams picked?" + +"Teams all picked, and the ball ready. We'll have to place stones for +goal posts, though." + +"Hustle and do it, then," commanded Len. "I can't stay here forever." + +Five minutes later the field was as ready as it could be made. + +"Captains will now attend the toss-up," ordered Len Spencer, producing a +coin from one of his pockets. "Heads for Craig, tails for Prescott." + +It fell head up, and Craig chose his goal, and also the first kick-off. + +Dick had been busily engaged in making up his line and backfield. There +was some delay while Tom Craig accomplished this same thing. + +"Now, one thing that all you youngsters want to remember," declared Len, +"is that no player can play off-side. All ready?" + +Both young football captains called out that they were. Len had provided +himself with a pocket whistle loaned by one of the fifth-grade boys. + +Trill-ll! Tom Craig kicked the ball himself, but it was a poor kick. The +pigskin soon struck the ground. + +"I'll try that over again," announced Tom. + +But Dick and his own fighting line had already started. Dick, at center, +with Dave on his right hand and Greg Holmes on his left, snatched up the +ball and started with it for the Rustlers' goal. + +A bunch of Rustlers opposed and tackled Prescott. Dick succeeded, by the +help of Dave and Greg, in breaking through the line, but the Rustlers +turned and were after him. Down went Dick, but he had the pigskin under +him. + +"Take it away from him, fellows!" panted Craig. But Len blew his +whistle, following up the signal by some sharp commands that brought the +struggle to a close. + +"Prescott's side have the ball," declared Len, "and will now play off a +snap-back. And, boys, one thing I must emphasize. I've told you that +under the rules no man may play off-side. So, hereafter, if I find any +of you off-side, I'm going to penalize that eleven." + +Dick was whispering to some of his players, for, without any code of +signals, he must thus instruct his fellows in the play that was to be +made with the ball. + +Then the whistle sounded. The Rangers put the ball through the Rustlers' +line, and onward for some fifteen yards before the ball was once more +down. + +"Good work, Prescott," nodded Len Spencer. "Now, pass your orders for +the next play, then hustle into line and snap-back." + +Len placed the whistle between his lips and was about to blow it when +Dave Darrin darted forward, holding up one hand. + +"What's the trouble?" asked Len. + +"Mr. Referee, count the men on the other team." + +"Fifteen players," summed up Len. "That's too many. Captain Craig, +you'll have to shed four men." + +"Oh, let him have 'em all," begged Dick serenely. "Craig'll need 'em all +to keep us from breaking through with the ball." + +At blast of the whistle the pigskin was promptly in play again, both +teams starting in with Indian yells. There was plenty of enthusiasm, but +little or no skill. The thing became so mixed up that Len ran closer. + +A human heap formed. Greg Holmes was somewhere down near the bottom of +that mix-up, holding on to the ball for all he was worth. Over him +sprawled struggling Rangers and fighting Rustlers. Other players, from +both teams, darted forward, hurling themselves onto the heap with +immense enthusiasm. + +"The ball is down," remarked one eager young spectator disgustedly. "Len +oughter blow his whistle." + +"Yes, where's the whistle?" demanded other close-by spectators. + +From somewhere away down toward the bottom of the heap came Len +Spencer's muffled remark: + +"I'll blow the whistle all right, if half a hundred of you Indians will +get off my face for a minute!" + +"Come out of that tangle, all of you," ordered Tom Craig, after pulling +himself out of the squirming heap of boys. "It's against the rules to +smother the referee to death. He has to be killed painlessly." + +When the tangle had been straightened out Greg Holmes was found to be +still doubled up, holding doggedly to the pigskin that had been his to +guard. + +"Get ready for the next snap-back," ordered Captain Dick. + +"Don't do anything of the sort," countermanded Len. "I can see that what +you youngsters need more than play, just at present, is a working +knowledge of the rules. So listen, and I'll introduce you to a few +principles of the game." + +After ten minutes of earnest talk Len Spencer allowed the ball to be put +once more in play. + +At one time it was discovered that Craig, reinforced by enthusiastic +onlookers from the sidelines, had seventeen men in his team. Dick, on +the other hand, kept an alert eye to see that no more than eleven ranged +up with his team. + +"Now, that's enough for the first day," called out Len at last. "Neither +side won, but the Rangers had by far the better of it. Now, before you +fellows play to-morrow I advise you all to do some earnest studying of +the rules of the game." + +"Don't make too much fun of us in the 'Blade,' will you, Mr. Spencer?" +begged Dick. "We really want to get a good Central Grammar eleven at +work. We want to play the other Grammar Schools in town." + +"Oh, no one but a fool could find it in his heart to make fun of boys +who display as much earnestness as you youngsters showed to-day," +Spencer replied soothingly. + +"It's the first time we ever tried real play, you know," Dick went on. + +"Yes; and you'll have to do a lot more practising before you can +convince any one that you are doing any real playing," Len nodded. "Go +after the rules. Memorize 'em. And watch the High School crowd play +football. That will teach you a lot." + +"I know we need it," Dick sighed. "But then, you see, Grammar School +football is a brand-new thing." + +"Why, now I come to think of it, I don't believe I ever did hear before +of a Grammar School eleven," Len Spencer admitted. + +At least twenty other boys followed Dick and his chums from the field on +the way home. + +"Say, Dick," called Tom Craig, "is the Central Grammar team going to +have a uniform?" + +"Why, I suppose we must have one," Dick answered. + +"Where are we going to get the money?" + +Dick looked blank at that. A football uniform costs at least a few +dollars, and who ever heard of an average Grammar School boy having a +few dollars, all his own to spend? + +"I hadn't thought of that," muttered Prescott. "Oh, well, we'll have to +find some way of getting uniforms. We've got to have 'em. That's all +there is to it." + +"'Where there's a will there's a way,'" quoted Tom Reade blithely. + +But most of the fellows shook their heads. + +"We can't get uniforms," declared several of the older eighth-grade +boys. + +"Then, if we can't we'll have to play without uniforms," Dick +maintained. "We've got to play somehow. I hope you fellows won't go and +lose your enthusiasm. Let's all hang together for football." + +One by one the other boys dropped off, until only Dick and his five +chums were left at a corner on Main Street. + +"I'm afraid a lot of the fellows will go and let their enthusiasm cool +over night," declared Harry Hazelton. + +"Remember, fellows, we've got to have our football eleven, and we've got +to keep at it until we can really play a good game," insisted Dick. + +"But what if most all the fellows drop out?" demanded Dan Dalzell. "You +know, that's the trouble with Grammar School fellows. They don't stick." + +"There are six of us, and we'll all stick," proclaimed Dick. "That means +that we've got to get only five other fellows to stick. Surely we can do +that, if we've got hustle enough in us to play football at all." + +"Oh, we'll have our eleven somehow," insisted Dave positively. + +"How about our uniforms?" Tom Reade wanted to know. + +"We'll have them, too," asserted Dick. "I don't know just how we'll do +it, but we'll manage." + +Dick Prescott and his chums were in much better spirits after that brief +consultation. Then they separated, each going to his home for supper. + +Dick's father and mother were proprietors of the most popular bookstore +in Gridley. It stood on one of the side streets, just a little way down +from Main Street. Over the store were the living rooms of the family. +Dick was an only child. + +After stowing away such an evening meal as only a healthy boy knows how +to take care of, Dick reached for his cap. + +"I'm going out to meet the fellows, mother, if you don't mind," said +young Prescott. + +"I'm sorry to say that there's just one matter that will delay you for +perhaps twenty minutes," replied Mrs. Prescott. "Mrs. Davis was in and +ordered some books this afternoon. She wants them delivered this +evening, so I said I'd send you around with them. That won't bother you +much, will it?" + +"Not so much but that I'll get over it," laughed the boy. "Maybe I'll +pick up one or two of the fellows, anyway." + +"Richard, I'd rather you'd deliver the books before you meet any of your +friends," urged Mrs. Prescott. "The books are worth about ten dollars, +and if you have some of your friends along you may begin skylarking, and +some of the books may get damaged." + +"All right, mother. I'll go alone." + +Off Dick started with the bundle, whistling blithely. All his thoughts +were centered on the forming of the Central Grammar eleven, and that +plan now looked like a winner. + +"We won't let the High School fellows have all the fun," young Prescott +mused as he hurried along. + +He reached the rather large and handsome Davis house, rang the bell, +delivered his books and then started back. His evening, up to nine +o'clock, was now his own to do with as he pleased. + +Suddenly the thought of the happenings at noon came back to his mind. + +"What a mean fellow that Dexter is!" muttered the Grammar School boy. +"I've heard folks say that Dexter is mean enough, and scoundrel enough, +to kill his wife one of these days. Whew! I should think it would hurt +to be so all-fired mean, and to have everyone despising you, as folks +seem to despise Dexter. I hope the upper court will give him six months +in jail, instead of one." + +Prescott was moving along a dark street now. It bordered a broad field, +back of which stood a deep grove. At the street end of the field was a +neat, solid, stone wall. + +Had Dick been looking ahead all the time he would have seen a man, +coming down the street, start, take a swift look at the boy, and then +dart behind a tree. But Prescott did not see until he reached the tree. +Then the man stepped out. + +"Prescott!" uttered Abner Dexter hoarsely, "I've been wanting to see you +again!" + +"That's more than I can say about you," retorted Dick, trying to edge +away. + +"No! You don't get away from me like that!" hissed Ab. Dexter sharply, +twisting a hand on Dick's collar. Lifting the boy from his feet, Dexter +hurled him over the wall into the field. + +"Now, I'm going to settle with you, young meddler!" announced Dexter, +vaulting the wall and throwing himself upon Dick. "When I get through +with you you'll never feel like meddling with any one again!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AB. DEXTER'S TEMPER IS SQUALLY + + +"You're taking a lot upon yourself!" ventured Dick Prescott angrily. + +"That's all right," laughed Dexter savagely. "Come along with me and +I'll show you something really funny." + +With that the man caught young Prescott up, starting across the field +with him. Dick fought and struggled, but a grown man was too powerful +for one thirteen-year-old boy. + +"Don't make any noise," warned Dexter, as he ran with his "catch," "or +I'll make you wish you hadn't opened your mouth!" + +If he feared that Dick would call for help, this high-handed one was +reckoning without a knowledge of the kind of boy he had to deal with. +For Dick, though he was just a little more than slightly alarmed, would +have been ashamed to call out for help. + +"You think you're having a lot of fun," sputtered young Prescott +angrily, "but you'll be sorry for this before you are through!" + +"Through with whom?" demanded Dexter blandly, now. + +"Before you're through with me. You'll find that you can't act like this +around Gridley. Justice Lee will get hold of you again, first thing you +know." + +"Huh! I'll talk to you about that in a few minutes!" + +"See here, where are you taking me?" + +"Wherever I please." + +"Then I don't know about that, either, Dexter. I've about made up my +mind that I won't go any further with you." + +"Oh, you won't, eh, boy! Well, just help yourself, if you can." + +By this time Dexter had crossed the field and had run well inside of the +grove. + +Dick wriggled, getting one hand free--and then he struck Dexter a +stinging blow in the face. + +"Confound you!" growled the other. "I see that I've got to tame you, you +young hornet!" + +"You put me down, or I'll sting worse than a hornet," threatened Dick +angrily. "I'm not a doormat that you can wipe your feet on." + +"We'll see about that!" muttered Dexter, halting suddenly and throwing +Dick savagely to the ground. He followed this up by sitting on the +Grammar School boy. + +Whack! Whack! Dexter struck him so savagely, both blows in the face, +that Prescott gasped. + +"I've got a few hundred more of those in reserve if you want 'em--or +need 'em," Dick's captor advised him grimly. He still sat on the boy, +looking down at him in the darkness with evil satisfaction. + +"It doesn't take one long to find your number, Dexter," observed the boy +undauntedly. "Your specialty is frightening women and pounding boys who +offend you." + +"Well, a lot of you boys hammered me this noon, didn't you!" + +"Yes; and I wish I had a couple of the fellows here now," retorted Dick +with spirit. "We'd soon make a coward like you seem small. You'd be on +your knees, begging, if I had a couple of my chums here to help me." + +"Well, you haven't got 'em, and I'll do all the talking that amounts to +anything. Dick Prescott, you're the worst and freshest boy in Gridley!" + +"Such a statement, coming from a fellow like you, amounts to high +praise, Dexter," Dick retorted doughtily. + +"None of your impudence, now, Dick Prescott! I've stood all the +insolence from you that I'm going to allow." + +"My! How big the man talks to the small boy!" taunted Dick. "And he had +to drag the boy away off here, so that there wouldn't be a chance of +another boy coming along. A man of your caliber, Dexter, may be brave +enough to face one boy, when he's angry enough, but you wouldn't dare +say 'boo' if one of my boy friends were here to back me up." + +"I'll stop that sort of impudence right now," growled Dexter, stung more +deeply by the taunts than he would have been willing to let the boy +guess. "I'm pretty savage in my mind against you, at any rate, and I may +as well let some of it out!" + +Whack! smack! thump! Dexter began savagely to vent all of his bottled-up +spite against young Prescott, striking him repeatedly, and with such +force that the lad was soon aching all over. + +Dick fought back as best he could, but, pinned down as he was, and in +the grip of one three times as strong as himself, Dick could get in an +effective blow only now and then. Such blows as he did land only served +to fan Dexter's wrath to greater fury--and the boy suffered accordingly. + +It would have been a brutal beating, under any circumstances, that Dick +received. In his helpless condition it was doubly brutal. + +"Now, do you think you've got enough to hold you for a while?" Ab. +Dexter demanded, as he paused, panting. + +"I'm just thinking about the time when you'll get it all back with +interest!" snapped young Prescott. + +"Oh, then you haven't had enough--_yet_?" + +"I had enough before you began." + +"But you haven't learned to keep a civil tongue in your head?" + +"Dexter," retorted the lad, speaking more earnestly than he was aware, +"I try to keep not only a civil tongue, but a pleasant manner for every +human being who tries to act decently. With you it's different. Before +to-day I didn't know much about you. What little I did know wasn't to +your credit. But now I know you to belong to nothing better than the +scum of the earth. No human being with any self-respect could be decent +with you!" + +"You're getting worse than ever, are you?" sneered Dexter. "I see that +my work is only half started." + +With that Ab. Dexter threw himself upon the boy again, giving him an +even more lively beating than before. + +Dick Prescott, panting with his struggles, disdained to cry out, but +saved all his strength to fight back. + +At last, all but exhausted, Ab. Dexter paused. + +"You got a little better lesson that time," boasted the wretch. + +"And I got a small lunch while you were taking your dinner," retorted +Prescott, no more daunted than before. "Your nose is bleeding and your +lip is cut!" + +"Yes, I know it! I'm going to take that out of you presently." + +"Are you enjoying yourself, Dexter?" asked the boy tauntingly. + +"Yes. And before I get through with you, I'm going to make sure that +you'll never interfere in my affairs again." + +"Do you mean that you expect I'll stand off the next time that I see you +trying to frighten your wife into supporting a lazy loafer in style?" +Dick asked dryly. + +"Hang you! You haven't learned your lesson yet, have you?" + +"If you're trying to make me 'respect' you, Dexter, you've acted the +wrong way all through to-day. You're entitled to no more respect than an +Indian would show a rattlesnake." + +Ab. Dexter's face was ablaze with wrath. He had expected to make this +Grammar School boy beg for mercy before things had gone half as far as +they had. Dick Prescott's undaunted pluck bewildered the mean bully. + +"I'll make you shut up, boy, before I'm through with you!" he warned the +lad. + +"There's just one way to do that, Dexter!" + +"Eh?" + +"You'll have to knock me out." + +"I'll do that, then!" + +It would be wrong to seek to give the reader an impression that young +Prescott was not afraid, and did not mind his two thrashings. He was +afraid that Dexter would go to great lengths, yet Dick would not give +the bully satisfaction by admitting any fear. + +"What you've got to do, before I get through with you," Dexter +announced, "is to beg my pardon and to promise that you'll never again +interfere with me." + +"You'll wait a long while, then," jeered Dick, "and you'll get strong +man's cramp in both arms!" + +"And you've got to do more than promise that much," continued the bully. +"You've got to promise, solemnly, to help me in some plans that I have +for the future." + +"Oh? Plans against your wife, I suppose." + +"Very likely," half admitted Dexter. "Whatever the plans are, you're +going to help me in them." + +"You're going about in a fine way, Dexter, to get my cheerful help." + +"Never mind about the cheerful part of it," snarled the man. "You're +going to help me, and I'm going to tame you." + +"Gracious! What a fine, large tail our cat is growing," laughed Dick, +though his voice did not ring very mirthfully. + +Dexter, still astride his young captive, raised his fist. Prescott did +not flinch, and it suddenly struck the fellow that he was going about +his business in the wrong way. Dexter had never looked for a young +Grammar School boy to be so firm and undaunted. + +"Now, don't be a fool, Prescott," he began, trying a new tack. + +"You ought to be a fine teacher in the subject of good sense," suggested +Dick mockingly. + +"I think I can be." + +"Fire away, then." + +"Prescott, you don't have much spending money, do you?" + +"Not enough to worry the bank with." + +"You'd like more?" + +"Of course." + +"I'm going to find it for you." + +"You are--or do you mean that your wife is?" + +Ab. Dexter winked. He had not looked for the youngster to be so keen. + +"Prescott, take it from an older man. It doesn't make so much +difference, in this world, where the money comes from, if a fellow only +has it." + +"I guess, from your actions, that's about the way you feel about it, +Dexter," rejoined the boy. + +"Don't you feel the same way?" + +"No; I'd like to be worth a million dollars, Dexter, but I don't believe +I ever shall be." + +"Why not?" + +"Because the opportunities for getting a million honestly are not very +plentiful, and I wouldn't have a dollar--or a million--with a stain on +it!" + +"You simpleton!" sneered Dexter. + +"There are a few of us left in the world," Dick retorted complacently. +"But you, Dexter, you wouldn't care whether it was money or slime, as +long as you could spend it!" + +"You're talking nonsense, boy," argued Dexter, restraining himself as +best he could. "Now, see here, I'm sorry I thumped you. I've got a lot +of use for a boy with as much sand and grit as you've shown. I can use +you, and I can show you how to make a nice little lot of money by +helping me in something that I have on hand. So come on. Get up and walk +along with me while we talk it over." + +Dexter rose, and Dick got to his feet as nimbly as he could. He ached, +though, fortunately, he was not badly crippled by the pummeling that he +had received. + +"Come on, now, and let's take a little walk," urged the man +persuasively. + +But Dick Prescott glared back at the bully with all the contempt in the +world in his look. + +"Nothing doing in the way of walking together, Dexter," announced the +boy. + +"Why not?" + +"Folks might see me with you." + +"Suppose they did!" + +"Then they'd imagine that I knew you. Dexter, a boy who hopes to grow up +and become a useful citizen can't be too careful about the company he +keeps." + +"You confounded little imp! You're not tamed yet." + +Dexter's foot struck against a stick lying on the ground. Snatching this +weapon up and uttering a cry of rage, he sprang forward to fell the boy +with the club. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FOOTBALL UNIFORMS IN SIGHT + + +Had Dick turned to run Ab. Dexter would have darted after him. The bully +possessed much longer legs and prided himself on his speed. + +To Dexter's amazement, however, Dick did not flinch or turn. + +Perhaps there was not time enough. Again, perhaps young Prescott saw two +other figures moving in the darkness. + +At all events, the man suddenly felt the stick fly from his hand. Then, +before he could regain his self-possession, two boyish figures crouched +swiftly one on each side of him. + +Dexter felt his knees gripped. In the same instant two boys rose +suddenly, holding on, and the bully toppled over backward. + +"Never hit a man when he's down," quoth the dry voice of Greg Holmes. +"But, if he isn't even any sort of a man, it doesn't matter!" + +Thump! Greg brought his not very big fist down on Dexter's nose. It was +an ugly blow, delivered before the bully could recover from his own +amazement. + +Dave Darrin, the other boy, did not even wait to speak. He began to rain +down blows on the prostrate enemy. + +"Here, stop that, Davey!" urged Dick, darting forward. "Don't hit the +cur any more." + +"But he was going to club you," argued Dave, hitting two more blows. + +"Stop this, boys! Let up! I'll clear out," begged Ab. Dexter. + +Dick, finding that neither of his chums was much inclined to stop the +merited punishment, darted in and forcibly dragged Darrin off Dexter's +prostrate form. + +"Let me have him, for a minute or two yet," coaxed Greg Holmes. "You +know, Dick, he was going to club you." + +"I know it," rejoined young Prescott doggedly. "He did thrash me twice, +and it hurt. I don't believe in soiling our hands on anything like this +fellow, when it can be helped. Besides, we're too many." + +Though Dave and Greg had now both been pulled off their prey, they +hovered over Dexter, who seemed afraid to rise for fear it would lead to +a renewed onslaught. + +"Stand back, fellows," coaxed Dick, pushing them gently. "Dexter, I told +you you'd be a booby in any fight where you couldn't have it all your +own way. I was right about it. Get up, now--and make your fly-away while +I'm still able to hold these two bulldogs in leash. Hustle now!" + +Dick emphasized his advice with a kick, but it was not a vicious one. +Ab. Dexter looked up in wonder. Then he rose, crouchingly, next made a +sprinter's start and bolted. + +"Humph! We can never get him now," uttered Dave Darrin disgustedly. +"Whew! I wish I could run as fast as that." + +"You can learn," replied Dick. + +"Yes; in about ten years!" + +"Dave, you could learn to run a heap faster than you do, and in a mighty +short time." + +"How?" + +"Just start in to train. Get someone who knows something about it to +give you pointers on running. Pshaw! I believe our whole crowd ought to +start in to learn to run. To run, really, I mean. If I had been a faster +runner to-night I might have gotten away from that bully. I might have +saved myself from a good many aches that I've got just now." + +"You aching?" questioned Darrin. "What makes you ache?" + +"Dexter gave me two hard thrashings before you fellows got along." + +"He did?" sputtered Dave vengefully. "O Dick, why did you ever let him +get away from us?" + +"I'm glad I did something to the sneak while I had the chance," declared +Greg Holmes. + +"First of all, tell me how you fellows came to find me," suggested Dick +Prescott. + +"Oh, that's easy enough to account for," Dave replied. "Greg and I were +on Main Street looking for you. Then we went down to the store. Your +mother told us that you'd gone to Mrs. Davis's with a package of books, +so we set out to meet you on your return. And right over there, on the +street, we came across a little girl, white, scared and half crying. She +said she had seen a man grab you up, throw you over the wall----" + +"Yes, that happened," nodded Prescott. + +"And the little kiddie said she saw the man jump over the wall, grab you +up and start for the woods. She was sure the wicked man was going to +kill you." + +"Dexter was mad enough, but he lacked the sand for going that far, I +guess," remarked Prescott. + +"He might not be without the sand," argued Dave. "I've got a notion that +Dexter, while a coward, perhaps, about some things, would go about as +far as his anger drove him. I'm glad we came along, anyway." + +"So am I. You fellows sneaked in so quietly in the dark, that I didn't +see you until just before you tackled Dexter. Well, there's no great +harm done, thanks to you, Dave, and to you, Greg. Let's get back to Main +Street." + +As the youngsters crossed the field and strolled up the street, Dick +gave an accurate account of what had befallen him. + +"So the sneak wanted to pay you to help him in some dirty sort of work?" +demanded Dave, his dark eyes ablaze with disgust. + +"I imagine it must have been dirty work, since Dexter had planned it +out," Dick admitted, smiling. + +"The hound! But then, see here, Dick; if Dexter wanted you to help him +in anything of that sort, it means that he's going to try to bother that +poor wife of his again." + +"It looks that way, Dave." + +"Then we ought to warn Mrs. Dexter, so that she can be on her guard +against the worthless rascal." + +"I've been thinking of that, Dave. Yes; I'm sure we must go and give +Mrs. Dexter a hint. It wouldn't be right not to tell her of what may be +ahead of her." + +"We might go around to her house to-morrow afternoon after school, eh?" +proposed Greg. + +"Football practice to-morrow afternoon," retorted Dave Darrin dryly. + +"Besides, to-morrow afternoon might be too late," urged Dick. "Fellows, +when we have a message like this, which may be of great importance to +some other human being, there's no time for doing the errand +like--_now_!" + +"That's right, too," approved Dave. "It won't take us more than five +minutes to reach Mrs. Dexter's house. Let's head for there at the next +corner?" + +That being agreed to, the three chums set out at a brisk walk. A few +minutes later Dick was pulling the doorbell of Mrs. Dexter's new home, +while Dave and Greg stood just a little below him on the steps. + +It was a pretty little house, of ten rooms; not as large a house as Mrs. +Dexter might have been able to afford, but one that was a happy contrast +to the three-room flat in which Mrs. Dexter had lived when obliged to +support herself at dressmaking. As yet there were but two servants on +the place--a woman who did the house-work and a hired man, who slept in +a room over the little barn at the rear of the house. + +"Will you ask Mrs. Dexter if she can see us, please?" asked Dick, +lifting his cap, when the woman-of-all-work opened the door. "Kindly +tell her that we have news for her which we think may be very +important." + +"Come in, boys," replied the housekeeper, doubtless pleased by Dick's +deference in raising his cap, an example in which he had been promptly +followed by Dave and Greg. + +The woman showed them into a little parlor. Mrs. Dexter soon came down +and greeted them. + +"I'm very glad you boys have called on me," she said. "You and your +other friends did me a service to-day that I can't forget. I was on the +way to the bank to leave the jewels and the money when you helped me so +handsomely." + +"We've come, Mrs. Dexter," said Dick, "to tell you what happened +to-night. It may be the means of saving you from further trouble with +Mr. Dexter." + +Then Dick told the story of his adventure that evening. Dave and Greg +added a few words at the end. + +"So we think," summed up Dick, "that Mr. Dexter may not yet be through +with his schemes against you. Excuse us, Mrs. Dexter, but don't you +think it would be well to have a man sleep in the house--one that you +can depend on if Dexter comes here to make trouble?" + +"Yes, indeed. My hired man is a straight-forward fellow. I'll have him +stay around here more, and I'll have a room fitted up in the house for +him. Mr. Dexter isn't usually extremely brave. I imagine that the hired +man can take care of him if he puts in an appearance. At all events, I +shall feel safer for having a man in the house." + +Their errand being done, the three Grammar School boys would have risen +to go, but Mrs. Dexter detained them, asking many questions about their +school life. + +Then, somehow, the story came out of the newly organized Central Grammar +football squad. + +"Oh, but that is going to be fine!" cried Mrs. Dexter. "Manly sports +always make boys stronger, and give them a better sense of fair play +when such a sense is needed. You'll have uniforms, of course. What will +your uniforms be like?" + +"That's one of the points we haven't decided on yet," smiled Dick. "The +uniforms will have to come, in good time." + +"Your football organization has a treasurer, of course?" + +"He's a luxury we don't need yet," laughed Dave. + +"Why not?" + +"Because there isn't any treasury." + +"Yet there will be, of course--that is, if----" + +Suddenly Mrs. Dexter looked mightily pleased and clapped her hands. + +"I've stumbled on to one of your secrets, boys," she cried. "You haven't +any treasury, and you're still wondering where the money can come from +to pay for uniforms. Well, you needn't wonder any longer. All of you +boys who helped me to-day are interested in the football plan. You did +me a very great service to-day, and you've done me another one to-night. +Now I'm going to buy the football uniforms. How much will they cost--ten +dollars apiece?" + +"Five or six ought to buy as good uniforms as we'll need," replied Dick +Prescott, reddening. "But, Mrs. Dexter, we don't want----" + +"Let me have my own way, won't you?" she pleaded plaintively. "It's such +a very new thing for me to be able to have my own way. I'm going to +write the check, to-night, to pay for the uniforms. Don't stop me, +please don't." + +Mrs. Dexter rose and went over to a little desk, where she sat fingering +her checkbook. + +"Now please give me some idea of what such uniforms cost. I want to do +it nicely for you boys. Excuse me just a moment, though." + +Mrs. Dexter touched a bell on her desk and the housekeeper entered. + +"Jane, when I put Myra to bed this evening, she showed signs of a cough. +I don't want the child to get croupy and not know anything about it. +Just run up and watch Myra, won't you, without waking her? Then come +down and let me know, after a few minutes." + +The housekeeper started upstairs. Mrs. Dexter returned to the subject of +football uniforms, while the three boys, red-faced and reluctant, +answered her questions. They appreciated her kindness, but they did not +want her to pay for the uniforms. To Dick and his chums it looked too +much like begging. + +A shriek sounded upstairs. Then Jane came rushing down. + +"Oh, ma'am!" she cried in dismay. "Myra's gone--her bed's empty, and the +clothes that she wore have been taken from the chair!" + +While Mrs. Dexter turned deathly pale and tottered, Dick Prescott leaped +up, exclaiming: + +"It's the work of Dexter. That's the scheme he had!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ON THE TRAIL OF THE CAB + + +"The wretch has stolen Myra! I didn't I think he would dare do that," +cried the woman. + +Mrs. Dexter had never made any effort to secure a divorce from her +worthless husband. After he had abandoned her she had appeared in court +and had had herself appointed sole guardian and custodian of little +Myra. Under the law, therefore, Dexter, if he stole Myra away from the +mother, could be arrested and punished for abduction. + +At this frantic moment, however, Mrs. Dexter was not thinking of +punishments. All she wanted was to get her child back in her own +keeping. + +"Isn't it possible there's a mistake?" demanded Greg of the dismayed +housekeeper. "The little one may have gotten up out of bed. She may be +in some other part of the house." + +"Not much!" interjected the housekeeper. "The child's jacket and coat +are gone from a hook near by." + +After the first moment of fright Mrs. Dexter had raced upstairs; now she +came down again. + +"Myra's really gone," she cried, sobbing. "And no one but Dexter would +think of stealing her from me. He has done it for spite--or as the means +of extorting more money from me." + +"A man could hardly go through the streets carrying a child that didn't +want to be carried. The child could cry out and attract attention," +guessed Dick. + +"Myra wouldn't cry out. She would be cowed by her father's threats. She +always was afraid of him," wailed Mrs. Dexter. + +"Are you going to appeal to the police?" Dick asked. + +"I--I must." + +"Then you're losing time, Mrs. Dexter--and there's your telephone. We +boys will go out into the streets and see if we can find any trace--pick +up any word. When we came along there was a cab standing in front of the +Grahams. But I suppose that cab belonged to some of their visitors." + +"The Grahams have been out of town for the last few days," broke in Mrs. +Dexter. "There has been no one at their house, except one old man who +acts as care-taker." + +"Then Dexter may have had that cab waiting for him," flashed young +Prescott. "Come along, fellows! Let's see what we can find out." + +Dave and Greg were at the street door ahead of their young leader. None +of the boys paused longer, for Mrs. Dexter was already at her telephone. + +Out in the street the three Grammar School lads raced along the sidewalk +until they reached the house of the Graham family. The cab was gone. + +"We can find that cab anywhere," declared Dick. "Any one else would +recognize it. It had one brown, or dark horse, and one gray horse." + +"I didn't notice the driver," stated Darrin. + +"He was sitting inside the cab," spoke up Greg. "I didn't get a good +look at him, either." + +"Going to race on into Main Street?" asked Dave, as the three came to a +street corner. + +"Dexter would hardly drive right into the clutches of the police, would +he?" pondered Prescott. "No; I think it'll turn out that he went the +opposite way, out of town." + +Saying this, Dick headed for the outskirts of Gridley, still keeping +along at a dog-trot. Dave and Greg didn't talk now; they were husbanding +their store of "wind." + +After a short time all three boys had to slow down to a walk. That "pain +in the side," which seizes all boys who try to run far without training +and practice, had caught them. Still, they moved along as fast as they +could go. + +"Excuse me, mister," hailed Dick, halting the first man they met, who +came strolling toward them, smoking a pipe, "have you seen a cab go by?" + +"Yes." + +"Oldish cab?" broke in Dave. + +"One gray horse and one dark or brown?" breathed Greg. + +"Yep." + +"How long ago?" asked all three. + +"'Bout two minutes ago. Why?" + +"Which way did it go?" breathed Dick anxiously. + +"Why, the driver stopped me," explained the man, taking out his pipe, +"and asked if there was a drug store ahead in this part of the town. I +told him he'd find one on the next block, around the next corner to the +left. So----" + +"Thank you!" came politely from three breathless boys, and off they +started again on a trot. + +"Any one sick?" called the man after them. "Huh! Curious how excited +those boys are!" + +"Two minutes! I'm afraid horses will leave us far behind with that +start," groaned Dick. + +Then they turned around the corner. Ahead of them, in front of the +little drug store, or rather, just past the entrance, stood the cab that +occupied all their thoughts at the present time. + +"There it is!" breathed Dick excitedly, as though forgetful of the fact +that his chums had eyes also. "Come along--over on the other side of the +street--in the dark." + +In a twinkling all three lads had crossed stealthily to the further side +of the little street. + +"Oh, for a policeman!" appealed Dick. "Or any full-grown man, who would +listen to us and have the grit to give us a strong hand." + +"If Dexter has the little girl, and that's his cab, what has he taken +her into a drug store for?" whispered Dave. + +"We don't know that he has taken her into the store. We don't know +anything until we see it," was Dick's answer. "Dexter didn't stop for a +trifle. He isn't buying Myra a glass of soda, or anything like that." + +The three boys were stealing down the street, on the further side, +keeping close in the shadow of the buildings. They did not wish to risk +being seen until they had had a chance for a good look at the cab and +its possible contents. + +Dick's reason for crossing the street had been that he had first caught +sight of the driver standing on the sidewalk beside the cab. If he could +get down close to the cab, and have that vehicle between himself and the +driver, Dick hoped that he would have a chance to steal across the +street and look inside the rig. + +By good luck, combined with stealth, Dick, Dave and Greg succeeded in +gaining a point on the street opposite the cab. + +"Careful, now," whispered Dick, "one bad move might spoil everything." + +On tip-toe they crossed. At a point midway in the street they halted a +brief instant. From this point they could make out the unmistakable form +of Ab. Dexter at the back of the drug store, walking to and fro as if +waiting for something. + +No word was spoken. Still on tip-toe the boys went on until they stood +by one of the doors of the cab. + +Dave and Greg made way for Dick to get up close and peer into the +vehicle. + +Young Prescott gave a start of exultation as he made out a little, +wrapped-up human bundle huddled on the back seat. It was little +four-year-old Myra. She had collapsed into a heap and was very softly +sobbing to herself, wholly unaware of what might be passing outside. + +On the further side of the cab, standing on the sidewalk, Dick caught +sight of the man whom he presumed to be the driver. The fellow was +standing staring fixedly ahead. + +"If he had been looking the other way he would have caught us coming +down the street," flashed through Prescott's mind. + +Then he turned, nodding swiftly, silently, at his companions. + +They had found Myra, these Grammar School lads, but in a desperate +fight, Dexter and the driver would prove overwhelming odds. The pair of +rascals could knock these youngsters senseless and whip up the horses +for a dash. + +What was to be done? + +In sheer nervousness Dave Darrin began to try the handle of the cab +door. Then, understanding coming to him, Dave tried in earnest to see +whether he could unfasten the door with out making the least noise. + +All three of the lads realized that it was a ticklish moment. Even Myra, +if startled, might give the scream that would betray and defeat them. + +Steadily Dave worked at his problem. Dick and Greg, quivering, stood +alertly on guard on either side of him. + +Squeak! That cab-door handle needed oiling sadly. Even under Darrin's +cautious handling it gave forth a noise that sounded startling in the +stillness. + +"What's that?" they heard the driver mutter, as he started. Then came +the sound of footsteps, as the driver wheeled and ran around behind the +cab. + +He was bearing down straight upon them! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DICK LEADS A SPIRITED RUSH + + +"Hustle, Dave--into the cab!" shouted Dick Prescott lustily. + +Darrin obeyed like a flash, pulling the door shut. + +"What are you young monkeys doing here?" yelled the driver hoarsely. +Then, as he caught better sight of them, he snarled: + +"Oh, I know you boys! You belong to the Butt-insky family!" + +The driver's next remark was "ouch!" as Greg darted in and struck him +fairly at the belt line. In the same instant young Prescott managed to +trip the fellow. + +"Boss!" bawled the driver, as he struck the pavement. + +"Into the cab with you, Greg!" shouted Dick. + +Dave swung the door open, and in the same instant Greg bolted inside, +while Dick Prescott made a single bound at the front wheel, from which +he mounted to the driver's seat. + +"None of that!" yelled the driver, getting upon his feet and moving +forward. At the same moment another man came to the door of the drug +store. + +That man was--must have been--Abner Dexter. He wore the same clothes +that Dick remembered, but over his head and face were drawn a wig and +beard that made him look some one else. + +Whish! Dick's left hand clutched at the reins, but his right hand +grasped the whip. That useful implement described an arc downward and +caught the driver roundly, judging by the yell that the fellow let out. + +"Gid-dap!" yelled young Prescott, completing the swing of the whip by +bringing it down across the horses' backs. + +The startled animals leaped forward, the lurch almost throwing Dick from +the box; in fact, it nearly overturned the cab. + +But the vehicle soon righted itself, and Dick, somewhat scared, yet +steady, pulled the horses down to a steady trot and reined them in +closer together. + +The disguised man who had come out of the drug store succeeded in +resting one hand for an instant on the body of the cab. But the +springing horses carried it away from him. For a few rods the man +pursued, the smarting driver bringing up the rear. + +Then both pursuers halted, panting, cursing, at the same time, as only +foul-mouthed ruffians can. + +Inside, Myra was shrieking with fright. + +"We're your mother's friends, Myra, and are taking you back to her," +explained Dave, holding the small child on his knee and trying to quiet +her. + +Greg Holmes, in the meantime, was more concerned with looking out of the +window. + +"Why, say," muttered Greg. "Dick ain't driving to Mrs. Dexter's, not by +a long shot. He seems to be heading straight into the business part of +the town." + +"You leave Dick Prescott alone to know what he's doing," advised Dave +Darrin calmly. + +"Yes; I guess that's right," assented Greg. + +"Dick is the longest-headed fellow in our school." + +"Except me," grinned Greg modestly. + +"You? Huh! I'm glad you're not outside on the box." + +"I reckon it's the first time Dick ever drove cab horses." + +"He'll do it right, anyway." + +"But I wonder why he isn't going to the Dexter house," pursued young +Holmes. + +Then Myra took fright again. + +"Take me home!" she cried. "I want to see my mamma!" + +From that she passed into wild sobbing, taxing all Dave Darrin's powers +to ease her mind. + +[Illustration: The Whip Caught the Driver Roundly.] + +"You're going home, Myra," he wound up. "You're going to see your +mother." + +"My papa is a bad man!" + +"Well, he's not here now," smiled Dave. "Did you ever hear of Dick +Prescott?" + +"Yes; he's a nice boy." + +"You're right he is," added Dave with enthusiasm. "Well, Dick is up +outside, driving the horses, and he'll take us home by the way that it's +best to go." + +"Here we are in Main Street," announced Greg wonderingly. + +Dave thought he began to understand Prescott's plan, but he said +nothing. A few moments later the cab turned down one of the side +streets, then halted before a cluster of lights. + +"The police station!" exploded Greg. + +"Of course," nodded Dave. + +"Why 'of course'?" + +"Because it's part of Dick's plan." + +"Come out, fellows," called Dick. "We're at the end of our trip, thank +goodness." + +Greg opened the door, Dave stepping out with Myra in his arms. + +"My mamma doesn't live here," cried the child uneasily. + +"No, but it's all right," Dave urged soothingly. "You come right along +and see if it isn't." + +Dick led the way up the police-station steps. In the office three +uniformed members of the force were talking excitedly. One of them was +the night lieutenant, Janeway. + +"I tell you, Lieutenant, the thing was done so slickly that the child +ain't going to be found to-night," one of the patrolmen was saying. + +"If you're talking about Myra Dexter, guess again," laughed young +Prescott. "Here she is now." + +Three astounded policemen turned to regard the happy-faced Grammar +School boys. + +"Then she wasn't stolen at all?" demanded one of the patrolmen. "Just +strolled away and got lost, eh?" + +"Oh, no!" Dick retorted. "Myra was stolen, all right; but we stole her +back again." + +"How?" + +"We took her away from her father and a cab-driver," chuckled Greg +Holmes. + +"Stop telling us any nonsense like that," interposed the lieutenant +sternly. "Tell us where you found the child." + +Dick related the story briefly. The policemen were at first inclined to +doubt the story, but one of them glanced outside and saw the cab. + +"If you'll let me offer a suggestion," went on Dick, "there's a mother +at home who is nearly crazy with grief. Hadn't you better call Mrs. +Dexter on the telephone and tell her that Myra is safe with you?" + +The lieutenant quickly wheeled to his 'phone, calling for Mrs. Dexter's +number. One of the policemen, in the meantime, received Myra in his +arms. + +"Mrs. Dexter?" called the lieutenant into the transmitter. "This is the +police station. We have your little girl here, all safe and sound. How +was she found? Three schoolboys, Dick Prescott, Dave Dar---- Oh, you +know the names? Well, they trailed the cab to where it had stopped +outside of a drug store. They knocked the driver down and got away with +the cab. How did three boys manage to do such a deed? Wait! I'll let +Master Prescott himself tell you over the 'phone." + +The lieutenant wheeled about. + +"Where in the name of mischief are those boys?" he demanded. The two +policemen turned in equal confusion. Certain it was that the Grammar +School boys had bolted. + +So the lieutenant sent out to find a driver, and one of his policemen +got inside with Myra, to take her home. The policeman was also +instructed to remain on guard outside through the night, in case Dexter +and his confederate should feel inclined to make another attempt to +abduct the little one. + +Dick and his chums, after leaving the station house silently, had run +until they found themselves around the corner on Main Street. + +"We don't want to be thanked any more by Mrs. Dexter to-night," Dick +ventured to his friends. + +"We certainly don't," agreed Dave. + +"What'll we do now?" asked Greg. + +"We'll go home," suggested young Prescott. "Our folks will be wondering +where we are." + +"Whee! But we'll have a lot to tell the folks!" chuckled Greg. "When my +mother hears what we've been through to-night the chances are ten to one +that she'll make me stay in nights." + +"Not if she pauses to think what you did to help another mother out," +hinted Dave. + +"Well, good night, fellows," called Dick as he reached his corner. +"We've had a bully time, but that won't get us up early in the morning." + +The bookstore was due to close at nine o'clock, but it was twenty-five +minutes after that hour when Dick swung in through the front door. + +"Mother, here's the boy," called Mr. Prescott, being the first to espy +the returning son. "Young man, you'll have to give your mother a good +account of yourself. She's been worrying about you." + +"Oh, I knew Dick was in no great danger," laughed Mrs. Prescott, coming +forward to kiss her son, now that her worry had ended pleasantly. "But, +Richard, you're still a bit young to stay out so late." + +"I suppose, mother, that depends a bit upon what I've been doing, +doesn't it?" + +"Why, has anything happened out of the usual?" + +"I'll tell you about it," agreed the lad. + +"Wait until I put up the shutters and lock the door," directed his +father. "Then we'll all go upstairs." + +Gathered on the floor above, the Prescotts listened in amazement to what +their son narrated. + +"Why, I never heard of so much happening before in one day," gasped Mrs. +Prescott. + +"It never happened to me, before, anyway," laughed Dick. "However, I +hope I've brought home a good excuse for being out a little late." + +"Dick," broke in his father solemnly, "the next time any such train of +events happens you have my permission to be out until--let me see. Well, +say, until quarter of ten. But don't let such things happen too often. +And now, to bed with you!" + +"Dick is not going to bed just yet," interposed his mother. "A boy who +has been as active as he has to-night is bound to be hungry. Come with +me to the pantry." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TWO ACCIDENTS--OR TRAPS? + + +Before Gridley left its breakfast tables the following morning Dick +Prescott and his chums were rather famous. + +For the editor of the "Blade" had played up the Dexter abduction for the +big local story in the morning's issue. + +Dick saw it, of course, and felt a curious thrill when he saw his own +name in big block type. The names of Dave and Greg were also there. + +"I'll read the yarn to you while you eat," smiled his father. "This is a +great day for you, lad. You're tasting, for the first time, the +sensation of looming large in the public eye." + +Dick read the story over twice for himself before starting for school. +Yet the first thrill was missing. + +"Pshaw! Len Spencer, or someone, has made a hero tale out of a boys' +lark," muttered the Grammar School boy. "It sounded fine, at first, but +that just shows how ready a fellow is to believe he's smarter than other +folks. Whee! But we'll get a choice lot of teasing out of the fellows at +school to-day!" + +Prescott was glad, that morning, that he contrived to pick up Dave and +Greg on the way to school. + +"Get yourselves braced," Dick warned his friends. "All the fellows will +be out to roast us for being 'heroes.' Oh, we'll catch it." + +No sooner had the three turned the corner that led down to the school +than one of their class-mates "spotted" them. + +"Here come Dick & Co!" roared the discoverer. "Turn out! Give 'em a +welcome! Dick & Co.--lost children trapped and trained! See the real, +bony-fido heroes! 'Ray! Now, then, altogether--_ouch!_" + +The spouter found himself suddenly flat on his back on the sidewalk, +having been sent there by a vigorous trip from Tom Reade. + +"All that ails you, Hen Dutcher, is that you didn't get your name in the +paper," called Tom denouncingly. "But you will, one of these days. It'll +be in the police-court news, though. Sixty days for vagrancy!" + +"Say, do you know what I'll do to you?" demanded young Dutcher, +clenching his fists and advancing upon Reade. + +"Nothing," asserted Tom calmly. "That's all you ever do, except make a +noise with your mouth. I never hear your mouth making any noise, though, +when recitation in arithmetic is going on." + +"You think you're smart, don't you?" glowered Hen Dutcher. + +"I don't think you are, anyway," retorted Tom, turning on his heel. + +Dan Dalzell and Harry Hazelton were at hand, and now the whole of Dick & +Co. presented a rather solid front. Some of the other boys wanted to do +some "guying," but Tom's prompt and vigorous rebuke to Dutcher had +cooled the ardor of a lot of would-be teasers. + +The bell rang soon, calling all inside. School opened as usual, but +after a little Old Dut glanced up, looking keenly at Dick and two of the +latter's friends. + +"I am glad to be able to tell you all," began the principal, "that three +of my boys, last night----" + +As he paused all eyes were turned toward three boys who were turning +different shades of red. + +"Three of my boys," continued Old Dut, "did their school credit by +displaying the qualities of good citizenship. You all know whom I mean. +Master Prescott, do you care to rise and tell us something of the events +of last night?" + +"I'd rather not, sir," pleaded Prescott. + +"Master Darrin?" pursued Old Dut. + +"I feel like Master Prescott, only more so," replied Dave, turning +redder still. + +"Master Holmes?" + +"By the advice of my lawyer," rejoined Greg solemnly, "I have nothing to +say." + +"I'm glad to see that our young men are modest, as well as brave," +continued Old Dut. + +Some of the boys had been staring expectantly, some of the girls +admiringly. Laura Bentley, the doctor's daughter, looked secretly +pleased when she heard Dick decline to tell of his adventures. + +"First class in American history will now recite," announced Old Dut, +and the work of the day had begun. Yet, somehow, most of the pupils +seemed to have forgotten whatever they had previously known of the +campaign against Richmond. + +At recess Dick, Dave and Greg, flanked by their three other chums, +managed to keep clear of tormentors. + +When school was out at noon, however, one boy called out: + +"Are we going to have football practice this afternoon, Dick?" + +"He can't waste the time," sang out Hen Dutcher derisively. "He has a +job going a-heroing." + +Tom Reade turned sharply, but this time there was no need of his darting +at the tormentor. Six boys had promptly caught up Hen--two by the legs, +two at the body and two more at the shoulders. Rushing Hen to the +nearest tree, they promptly and soundly spanked him by the very simple +method of holding his legs apart and swinging his body smartly against +the tree-trunk. + +"You kids think ye're smart!" growled Hen ruefully, as he rubbed +himself. + +"Everyone knows you're not, Hen," retorted one of the late spankers. +"You're only stupidly fresh." + +Hen quickly subsided and vanished. + +"Yes; we ought to have football practice this afternoon," Dick answered, +when the question was put to him again. "We have no time to lose if +we're going to play this season. How many of you fellows have studied +the rules?" + +"I have," answered several. + +"But, say," broke in one boy, "we can just as well give up the idea of +having uniforms. We fellows can't raise the cash." + +"Mrs. Dexter has offered to buy the uniforms," put in Greg incautiously. + +"Has she?" + +A whoop of delight went up from some of the boys. + +"She'll be able to buy us bully ones; she has lots of money these days," +declared one listener. + +"Yes; Mrs. Dexter offered to supply the money," Dick admitted. "But, +fellows, I want you all to think that over. I, for one, shall vote +against getting our uniforms that way." + +"Why?" came a chorus. + +"Because, fellows, if we haven't brains and industry enough to get our +uniforms ourselves we've no business togging up at all. We can play +pretty good football, for that matter, with nothing but the ball +itself." + +Some sided with Dick; others were in favor of letting any one who was +willing provide the field togs for the Central Grammar School eleven. + +Dick didn't stop to argue long. He was hungry for his dinner. On Main +Street he parted from his chums, pursuing his way home alone. He had not +gone far when he had to pass a new building in process of erection. +Three stories had already been built up, and the workmen were now +engaged in putting on the fourth and last story. + +Dick was just passing the main entrance of the new building when he +heard a warning rattle above. Instinct made him dart into the entrance. + +Nor did he move an instant too soon. Some thirty bricks fell to the +sidewalk with a great clatter. Among them landed a heavy hod. + +"My! But that was a close shave!" quivered the boy. "A second or two +later and my head would have been split open!" + +He darted out, but did not stop until he had reached the middle of the +road. + +"Hey!" Prescott shouted up to the top of the building, but no one +answered. + +"Be careful, up there, where you dump your bricks!" called Dick once +more. + +A customer coming out of a store next door caught sight of the bricks +and the hod. + +"What's the matter, Prescott?" called the man. + +"Some workman was careless, and let that hod and all the bricks fall," +Dick answered. "I heard them coming, and got in out of the shower just +in time." + +"No workman did that," muttered the man, after staring in bewilderment +for a moment. "The men are all off, getting their dinner." + +"Then who could have done it?" Dick wanted to know. + +"Humph! If you have any enemies, Prescott, I'd say that trick was done +by some one who didn't care how badly you were hurt." + +"Oh, nonsense!" rejoined Dick. "I don't believe any one hates me badly +enough to do a thing like that." + +"Didn't you have some trouble with a couple of men yesterday?" + +"Why, yes; but----" + +Dick halted suddenly, looking puzzled. Could it be possible, after all, +that this was a "delicate" attention from Ab. Dexter? + +For Dexter had no need to be afraid of walking the streets of Gridley. +His wife had refused to procure a warrant for him on the charge of +attempted abduction of Myra. She was unwilling that her child should +bear the disgrace of having a father in prison. + +Three other men had drawn close and halted. To them the first man +explained what had happened. + +"Come on!" cried one of the newcomers, hastening into the building. "One +of you stay out on the sidewalk; another go to the back of the building. +We'll soon find out whether there's any one in the building." + +Dick joined, as the person most interested, in the swift, thorough +search that was made. + +No other human being than the searchers, however, was to be found in the +building. + +"I don't believe any one threw it at me," said Dick thoughtfully, after +all hands had returned to the street. "The hod must have been left +standing near the edge of the building--perhaps against the top of a +ladder. Then the breeze up there may have jarred it out of place. At any +rate, I'm not hurt, and no harm is done. But I wish to thank all of you +gentlemen for taking the trouble to make the search." + +"Humph!" muttered one of the men, after Dick had hurried away. "The idea +of a hod being left standing, and then being blown over into the street +doesn't satisfy me!" + +Dick was late reaching home. What he had in the way of dinner he had to +force down hurriedly, and then start for school once more. + +After school that afternoon most of the boys of seventh and eighth +grades turned up at the field, eager for more football work. + +"It seems to me," announced Dick thoughtfully, "that there is no sense +in kicking a ball around the field aimlessly. There isn't much use in +rushes or mass plays, either, until we know what we are doing and can do +it according to the rules. So, fellows, what do you say to seeing who +knows the rules best? Let's have a drill in rules." + +Many of the youngsters objected to that as being too tame. Yet Dick's +idea carried the day, after all. Some of the fellows went away, thinking +this sort of procedure too much like a lesson and too little like fun. +After nearly an hour's discussion of the rules two elevens were formed +and there was time for some play. + +Dick & Co. left the field together. On the way home young Prescott spoke +of the falling of the bricks at noon. + +"That wasn't any accident," spoke up Dave, with an air of great +conviction. + +"You think some one did that on purpose?" + +"I'm sure of it," Dave asserted. + +"Who could have done it?" + +"Who but Ab. Dexter?" + +"Wrong!" volunteered Tom Reade. "Up at the field a man in a buggy hauled +up to watch the play. He happened to mention that he had seen Dexter +over in Stayton this noon. Stayton is nine miles away from here." + +"Then of course it wasn't Dexter," declared Dick. + +"It must have been that other fellow," suggested Greg. + +"You mean that special officer, Driggs?" inquired Dick. + +"Of course. And I'll tell you where else we saw that fellow Driggs. He +was the driver of the cab last night. I've just placed that voice of +his." + +"Then Driggs was disguised last night, the same as Dexter was." + +"Of course." + +"And I can tell you something else," continued Tom Reade. "I know what +Dexter was doing in the drug store last night. I met Len Spencer this +noon. Len had been investigating." + +"What did Dexter want in the drug store?" asked Prescott. + +"Soothing syrup. Len says he guesses that Ab. Dexter was afraid Myra +would make too much noise before he got through the night, and that +Dexter must have meant to drug the child into quietness." + +"It ought not to have taken Dexter all that time just to get a bottle of +soothing syrup," suggested Prescott. + +"It did, in this case," Reade declared. "The druggist thought there was +something queer in Dexter's manner, and so he questioned him sharply as +to what Dexter wanted to do with the stuff. Dexter got confused, next +angry, and the druggist had about made up his mind not to sell the +stuff." + +"Well, I hope we've heard the last of that precious pair, Driggs and +Dexter," murmured Dalzell plaintively. + +"Mrs. Dexter holds the key to that situation," remarked Dick +thoughtfully. "If she lets Dexter have money, from time to time, he'll +still hang around. If she won't let him have money, and has herself +guarded from him, then by and by he'll get tired. Then he'll clear out +for new scenes and try some other scheme of getting a living without +working. Mrs. Dexter----" + +"Sh!" warned Harry Hazelton. "Speaking of angels, here she comes now." + +"Boys, I've been looking for you," cried Mrs. Dexter, halting before +them. "We didn't come to an understanding last night about the uniforms +for your football team." + +"How's Myra to-day?" asked Dick, anxious to shelve the other topic. + +"She's all right to-day, except that the child is very nervous. That is +natural, of course, after her bad scare last night." + +"Aren't you afraid to leave her alone?" + +"Myra isn't alone. She has Jane to look after her, and Special Officer +Grimsby is in the house. I have hired Mr. Grimsby to live at my house +for the present. He's a brave man, and will stop any nonsense that may +be tried by certain people." + +"Well, we must be getting along," urged Prescott. "It is very near our +supper time, and----" + +"But about the uniforms?" persisted Mrs. Dexter. + +"Mrs. Dexter, the fellows appreciate your offer very highly. It pleased +them all to know that you made it." + +"I'm glad to hear that," smiled Mrs. Dexter. + +"But, ma'am," Prescott continued just as earnestly, "while the fellows +all feel extremely grateful, they would rather you didn't think of doing +anything of the sort. The fellows feel that if they're smart enough to +wear football uniforms, they're smart enough to get 'em. It would take +all feeling of hustle out of the team if some one else smoothed the way +for them like that." + +"I see," half assented Mrs. Dexter reluctantly. + +"Therefore, ma'am, if you will accept our gratitude for your offer, and +agree to the notion of the fellows that they'll do best if they do their +own hustling, we'll all be mightily pleased as well as grateful." + +"Oh, well, then," replied the good woman, "we'll simply consider that +the matter is postponed. I can't agree, as easily as this, to drop what +I have considered my privilege." + +As soon as could be, Dick & Co. made their escape. + +They met again for a little while in the evening. Nothing of any real +moment happened while they were together. + +While Dave Darrin was on his way home, however, and going along a dark +part of the street, something whizzed by his head, striking the sidewalk +just ahead. + +"Quit your fooling!" yelled Dave, wheeling about angrily. + +No human being, however, was in sight. Dave ran back, some two hundred +feet in all, but could see no one on the little street, nor in any +hiding place near by. + +Then Dave went back to inspect the missile. It was a stone, slightly +larger than his two fists together. + +"Whew!" whistled Dave inwardly. "That thing wasn't meant for any joke, +either!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN AWESOME RIVER DISCOVERY + + +"Want to come, fellows?" asked Greg, halting Dick and Dave on Main +Street Saturday morning. + +"Where?" asked Dick. + +"Jim Haynes told me I might take his big canoe this morning." + +"So you're going canoeing?" queried Dave. + +"Yep; and better'n that, too," glowed Greg. "You know Payson, the +farmer, up the river?" + +"Of course." + +"This being an apple year, Payson told me I could have a few barrels of +apples if I'd pick 'em and pay him twenty cents a barrel. His orchard is +right along the river bank. Isn't that a cinch?" + +"I'd like to go," rejoined Dick wistfully. "But I can't, very well. You +see, I've got to work in the store this afternoon. Dad is going to be +away." + +"Your mother'll let you go, if you tell her what a fine time you can +have." + +"That wouldn't be quite fair," replied Dick, shaking his head. "Mother +would let me go, I know; but the trouble with her," he added, with a +smile, "is that she's always too easy. And I know there's more work to +do in the store this afternoon than she can handle alone." + +"I'd go in a minute," Dave chipped in, "but you see I've agreed to go to +the express office this afternoon and help check up bundles. I'm to get +a quarter for it." + +"Huh," returned Greg candidly. "I'm disappointed about you two. It takes +money to buy apples, even at twenty cents a barrel. You two generally +have some money." + +"I've got five cents," laughed Dave. "Here it is." + +"I've got a whole quarter, as it happens," added Dick, producing the +coin. "I'm not going to be mean, either." + +"Whew, but I'll have a job pulling the canoe alone," muttered Greg +ruefully. "And it isn't much fun picking apples all alone. However, I'm +going. Maybe Harry Hazelton can go with me. Tom can't and Dan won't. +I'll see that you two get your shares of apples for the money you've +turned over to me." + +"My share will be half a hat full," laughed Dave. + +"And then some more, and still some more," added Greg readily. "I won't +forget that you two financed my expedition." + +"I wish awfully that I could go with you, Greg," spoke Dick truthfully. +"But it wouldn't be fair for me to think of leaving everything at the +store for mother to do this afternoon." + +"Oh, that's all right," nodded Greg. + +"And you can bet that I wish I were going with you," supplemented +Darrin. "But I get a lot of snaps like this one at the express office, +and there are too many fellows hanging around there looking for my +chance. It isn't the easiest thing in the world for a fellow to pick up +silver quarters, Greg." + +"Don't I know!" muttered Holmes. + +So Greg went on his way. + +"Say, wouldn't that be a great way to put in the afternoon?" sighed +Dave. "These fine September days get into a fellow's blood and make him +itch for the river and the fields." + +"Don't tempt me," begged Dick Prescott plaintively. "I'm trying to do +the square thing by mother, and I do want to go with Greg!" + +"Oh, well, a fellow can't always act on the square and have a good time, +too," philosophized Dave. "On the whole, I guess I'd rather have the +satisfaction of acting on the square." + +Afternoon toil brought its rewards, however. Five members of Dick & Co., +released from further responsibilities, met as usual on Main Street that +evening. They strolled about, met other fellows from the Central +Grammar, discussed football and talked over all the other topics dear to +the hearts of Grammar School boys. + +"I wonder how Greg got along this afternoon?" suggested Dave. "Any of +you hear?" + +The others shook their heads. + +"We could go down to his house and ask him, only it would look as though +we were just hunting for apples," said Dick. + +"Oh, Greg knows us better'n that," declared Tom Reade. "And Greg will +simply bring the apples to us, if we don't go to his house. What' say if +we take a trip down Greg's way? Maybe we'll meet him coming up to find +the crowd." + +This counsel prevailing, the five set out on a direct walk to Greg's +home. A block away they met Mr. Holmes coming in their direction. + +"You're just the ones I wanted to see, boys," was Mr. Holmes's greeting. +"Where's Greg?" + +"We were going down to the house to find him, sir," Dick responded. + +"I'm a good deal worried," confessed Mr. Holmes. "Greg went up river +this afternoon, after apples, and he hasn't been home yet." + +"Not home yet?" gasped Dave Darrin. + +Then he and Dick gazed at each other in an amazement that quickly turned +in both hearts to a sickening fear. + +Dave recalled the stone flying past his head; Dick remembered the flying +hod of bricks. And Greg had been the third of their party who had +blocked Ab. Dexter's plans! + +"Oh, Greg's all right," spoke up Tom Reade cheerily. + +"Then why isn't he home?" demanded Mr. Holmes. "He has had time to +paddle down from Payson's three times since dark." + +There was no gainsaying this statement. All five of the youngsters +plainly showed their uneasiness. + +"Maybe Jim Haynes knows something about the canoe," suggested Dan +Dalzell. + +"No; for Jim has just left our house," replied Mr. Holmes. "Jim came +over to see what luck my boy had had. I'm growing more worried every +minute. I think I'll go down to the river." + +"We'll go with you, sir, if you don't mind," urged Dick. + +"I'll be glad to have you, boys." + +But the trip to the river did not lessen their worry. At the boathouse, +where Jim Haynes kept his canoe, Jim's craft was the only one absent. + +"There won't be any sleep in our house to-night until Greg gets home," +spoke Mr. Holmes plaintively. He saw by their faces that Greg's five +chums were equally uneasy. Yet all five dreaded equally to mention the +bare thought that Greg might have fallen in with violence at the hands +of cowardly Ab. Dexter. + +"What in the wide world are we going to do?" whispered Dave aside to +Dick. + +"Oh, dear, I don't really know. At any rate, we'll have to leave that to +Mr. Holmes." + +"Boys," spoke that gentleman suddenly, "who owns that gasoline launch +yonder?" + +"Mr. Edward Atwater," Dick answered. + +"That looks like a powerful reflector light on the bow." + +"Yes, it is, sir," Dave volunteered. + +"Where does Mr. Atwater live?" + +"On Benson Avenue," Tom Reade replied. + +"Boys, I'm going over and see if I can induce Mr. Atwater to take us up +the river to-night." + +"May we go, too, sir?" begged Dick anxiously. + +"Yes; if you get your parents' permission. We may be up the river late +to-night." + +Mr. Holmes turned on his heel, going away at a walk that was close to a +run. + +The five members of Dick & Co. scurried homeward. Every one of them +secured permission to go with Mr. Holmes, and to be out as late as +necessary. Dan Dalzell, the last of the five to get back to the +boathouse, was there for some minutes ere Mr. Holmes turned up with Mr. +Atwater. + +The owner of the roomy launch speedily had things in running order. The +"Napoleon," with the reflector light going brightly, turned out of the +berth and headed up the river. + +"My notion, Mr. Holmes," called the owner, sitting over the steering +gear, "is that we had better go rather slowly. If you'll turn that light +from side to side we ought to be able to scan the whole river as we +move." + +Mr. Holmes was already busy swinging the light on its pivot. Behind, +peering ahead in all directions, crouched Dick Prescott and his chums. + +They had gone about a mile upstream when Dick suddenly called out: + +"Turn the light to the right again, Mr. Holmes, please. Yes; there it +is. Don't you make out a canoe over close by the shore?" + +"Turn over there, Mr. Atwater," called Mr. Holmes, his hands shaking as +he tried to hold the light steadily on the floating object that Dick's +keen vision had picked up. + +"Is--is that Jim Haynes's canoe?" asked Mr. Holmes in a choking voice, +as the launch swung in close to the drifting craft. + +"Yes, sir," spoke Dick huskily. "See, there's an 'H' in a circle on the +bow." + +Mr. Atwater ran up so close that the boys reached over and held the +canoe by its rim. There could be no doubt that it was Haynes's canoe. +All of the boys recognized it. + +"There are no apples in the canoe," murmured Tom Reade. + +"You glutton!" muttered Dan Dalzell angrily. + +"No; I wasn't thinking of that," Tom retorted indignantly. "But there +being no apples shows that Greg didn't get as far as getting any. If +anything happened, then it happened before he had time to load the canoe +with apples." + +"And that must have been hours ago," spoke Mr. Holmes with a noise in +his throat that was curiously like a sob. + +Silently Dick and Dave fished for the bowline of the canoe, then went +back and made it fast astern. + +"What now?" queried Mr. Atwater, looking at Greg's father. + +"I think, perhaps, we had better go on up to Mr. Payson's," suggested +Mr. Holmes. "It isn't too late to call on him, and he will be able to +tell us whether Greg showed up at his house at all." + +The launch was soon alongside the little landing at Mr. Payson's place. +Taking a lantern from the boat, Dick and his friends explored the +orchard for signs of Greg until Mr. Holmes returned. + +"Mr. Payson tells me that he didn't see my boy," stated Mr. Holmes. +"What can we do now, I wonder?" + +"I should think, sir," Dick suggested, "that it's plain enough that Greg +didn't try to go home by the river. The canoe may have gotten adrift, +and he may have started toward home on foot. Some of us, I think, ought +to follow the road. We may find Greg somewhere along the road, injured +as a result of some accident." + +"That's a good idea," nodded Mr. Holmes. "Yet I shall want Mr. Atwater +to keep on searching along the river, and some of you boys ought to be +with him, using your sharp eyes." + +A conference was held at the landing. Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton +boarded the "Napoleon," after which Mr. Holmes and the other boys set +out for the road. + +Truth to tell, neither those aboard the launch nor those who slowly +followed the road back to Gridley had much hope of encountering news of +the missing Greg. + +"He has fallen in with Ab. Dexter or Driggs," whispered Dave to Dick +when they were so far from Mr. Holmes that the latter could not overhear +them. + +"That's the way I feel about it," nodded young Prescott. "First, the +affair of the bricks for mine; then the big stone that whizzed by within +an inch of your head at night. And now Greg, the third of us to spoil +the abduction plan, is mysteriously missing." + +"There's some scoundrelly plan back of all three affairs," replied Dave +Darrin with conviction. "Yet why should Dexter take all this trouble to +punish boys?" + +"First of all, because we interfered with him, and spoiled his bold +stroke," guessed Dick Prescott. "Next, through hitting so mysteriously +at us all, he probably hopes to scare Mrs. Dexter out of her life. If +Dexter gets her thoroughly nervous and cowed probably she'll buy him off +with a lot of her inherited money. That fellow Dexter would do anything +on earth to escape the penalty of having to work for his living." + +"The mean rascal!" was all Dave could mutter, and he said it with +pent-up savagery. + +Wherever a light showed along the country road the seekers after Greg +knocked at doors. Invariably the answer was the same--no tidings. + +It was after one o'clock Sunday morning when the Grammar School boys +returned to their several homes, discouraged and heartsick. + +Of course the "Blade" got wind of the affair and had Len Spencer and +another reporter out working on the mystery. + +The police, too, took a hand, though there was an absolute lack of clues +upon which to work. + +Broad daylight came Sunday morning, and still no Greg Holmes accounted +for. Now, the police took a further hand by beginning to drag the river. + +The mystery continued throughout that long, dreary day. The Grammar +School boys felt as though "there had been a death in the family." Len +Spencer was aware of the suspicions against Ab. Dexter, but, through +fear of the libel law, he was restrained from putting his suspicions +into print until there was some real proof against Dexter. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A PROBLEM IN FOOTPRINTS + + +Monday morning dawned bright and clear. + +Yet, at 7.40, the fire alarm whistle blew "twenty-two," the signal for +"no school." + +Some boys heard the whistle and wondered. Dick & Co., minus Greg, who +were gathered on Main Street at the time, did not wonder. + +Two minutes later a series of long, loud blasts rang out, the signal to +call the populace to fire headquarters. + +"Just what we thought," guessed Dick, as he, Dave, Dan, Tom and Harry +started on a run. "There's no school because there's to be a general +hunt for Greg." + +The volunteer firemen of Gridley were among the first to reach fire +headquarters. The few regulars of the fire department could not leave +their posts. They must be on hand in case of fires starting. + +But the police, the local militia officers and a few fire-department +officials were quickly gathered and ready to lead searching parties. As +swiftly as could be, the fire chief detailed the leaders for the parties +that were to go in the various directions. + +The boys of Gridley were left to join which ever searching parties they +chose. + +"Which crowd shall we go with?" asked Tom Reade. + +"I think we'd better go with the crowd that's going up the river road," +hinted Dick. "Have the rest of you any better plan?" + +No member of Dick & Co. had a better suggestion to make, so Dick's plan +prevailed. + +There were some twenty men in the party that went up along the river +road, and more than a dozen boys. Captain Hall, of the Gridley militia +company, commanded this expedition. + +"Now, just as soon as we get out into the country," explained Captain +Hall, as they started, "we shall do well to spread out. We can cover a +wide range of ground, and yet keep within hearing of each other, so that +we can signal." + +The first part of the road was covered rapidly. Out in the rural part +Captain Hall halted his searching party and disposed of the men and boys +under his command. + +The line, when it moved forward again, extended into the fields for a +considerable distance on each side of the road. Everyone had a complete +description of Greg's clothing and hat when he had last left home. All +were instructed, also, to look for a gunny sack, or any fragments +thereof, for Greg had carried such a sack with him on his expedition up +the river, and this sack had not yet been found. + +"Even a shred of that sack, if found, may form a most important clue," +added Captain Hall impressively. "I'll keep to the road. If a searcher +finds anything that he regards as a clue, let him pass the word along to +me as rapidly as possible. Then we'll halt the whole line, on each side, +until that clue has been investigated. Don't any of you boys--or men, +either, for that matter--get any idea that he's just tramping for +pleasure. There is no telling who may have the luck to find a clue that +will soon lead to the end of the search. Now, forward!" + +It was with a sincere good will and much straining of eyes that the hunt +started. It proved to be slow work. Every now and then some seeker came +across what he thought might prove a clue, and then the line halted. + +Many times footprints were the cause of halting the line. One set of +footprints that a man found, and on which he passed the signal, proved, +when measured by Captain Hall's tape measure, to be the prints of a pair +of number-ten boots. + +"Greg Holmes, a thirteen-year-old boy, hadn't feet of that size," +remarked the militia officer almost sharply. "We know that young Holmes +wears a number four boot." + +Still the line dragged on. Noon came, finding the searching party about +a mile above Payson's and in wilder country. Some of the men were +decidedly hungry, as were also all of the boys. + +Captain Hall's whistle blew sharply, bringing in his forces. + +"We never thought, of course, of provisioning this expedition," said the +officer, with a smile. "Do you see that farmhouse ahead? Spread out your +line again, and look for me to signal when we come up with that +farmhouse. If the folks living there have any food that they will sell, +I'll pay for it, and we'll halt a few minutes to stoke up for more +steam." + +There was a cheer at this announcement, after which the line spread out +again. Ten minutes later a halt was made at the farmhouse, and the +flanks of the searching party came in. The farmer's wife, it turned out, +had an assortment of food that she was willing to sell at a rather good +price. On this assorted stuff the searchers fed, washing it all down +with glasses of milk. Then the search was taken up once more. + +"We're moving about a mile an hour now," Dave called across to Dick, as +the Grammar School boys, away out on the right flank, tramped through a +stretch of woods. "Greg may be a hundred miles from here at this minute. +Question--what day in the week shall we have the luck to come up with +him?" + +"We're doing the best we can," Dick called back. + +"Don't pass along that old chestnut that 'angels can do no better,'" +grimaced Dave. + +"Well, could they?" + +"I don't know. But do you expect that we'll ever find Greg, moving along +in this fashion?" + +"Honestly, I don't," Dick called across. "But we're following the scheme +laid down by wiser and older heads than ours, and I haven't any better +plan to suggest. Have you?" + +"I----" began Dave, but finished with: "Hang that branch! It flew back +and hit me!" + +"Look where you're going," called Prescott, as he climbed over a wall. +"For your information, Dave, I'll say that we're coming to a road now." + +Tom Reade, on Dick's right hand, and Harry Hazelton, on Dave's left, +were also jumping into the road, which they started to cross hurriedly. + +"Halt!" cried Prescott, and stood like one transfixed, staring down at +the ground. + +"What have you found?" jeered Tom. "A gold mine?" + +"Better--I believe!" cried Dick joyously. "Hustle here, fellows! +No--don't crowd too close or you'll trample it out." + +"What do you see?" demanded Hazelton. + +"This," answered Prescott, pointing down to the ground. His chums +peered, too, and made out a very distinct footprint in the soft soil of +this wild, little-used road through the woods. + +"There's been a horse and wagon along here, too," Dick went on +excitedly. "See the fresh wheeltracks, and the marks of the horse's +hoofs?" + +"But only that one bootprint," objected Tom. "It doesn't seem to me that +it means much." + +Dick gazed reproachfully at his grouped chums, his eyes blazing with +excitement in the meantime. + +"Say, don't you fellows remember how Greg ripped off the lower part of +his left bootheel at football practice Friday afternoon?" + +"Yes," admitted Dan Dalzell. "But how does this print prove----" + +"I see!" broke in Dave Darrin tremulously. "This print, at the rear end, +is from the same sort of heel." + +"It surely is," nodded Dick. "Dan, you wear a number-four shoe like +Greg's. Come here and let me measure the length of your left shoe with +this string. Sit down first." + +Young Prescott took the measure with his string, then applied it to the +print in the ground. + +"Same length, you see," flashed Dick triumphantly. "Fellows, that's Greg +Holmes's footprint! You see, the print looks old, as though it had been +made a couple of days ago. Yet there's been no rain and it isn't washed +away. The footprint looks just about as old as the horse's hoof mark." + +"Then you think that Greg took a carriage as far as here?" demanded Tom +Reade dubiously. + +"He was brought here in some sort of wagon!" + +"Go on and read the rest of the page to us," begged Dan Dalzell, still +skeptical. + +"This was as far as Dexter, or whoever had Greg, wanted to bring him in +the wagon," Dick continued, still scanning the ground, while employing +his hands to wave away whichever of his chums attempted to come too +close. "Probably Greg was taken somewhere not far from here. He may be +mighty close to us now, fellows. Let's see. The footprint points +straight ahead of us." + +"Why isn't there more than one print?" insisted Harry Hazelton. + +"Because Greg was probably lifted, so that he wouldn't leave too much of +a trail." + +"Then why aren't there more prints, especially of the man or men who +lifted Greg?" questioned Dave. + +"The men didn't intend to leave any trail at all," replied Dick, +thinking hard. "Probably the first man down from the wagon landed on +that hummock of grass there." Dick moved forward. "Yes, siree! Just look +here, fellows--don't crowd too close to it and blot it out. See, there +isn't a sharply lined footprint here, but there's a pressing down of the +grass, as if some considerable weight had been pressed upon it." + +Dick now moved slowly forward, the others on his flanks. + +"Here's another footprint--the right foot, but Greg's size," he soon +called. + +Not one of the Grammar School boys but felt the full force of the +excitement now. + +"Say!" exploded Tom Reade suddenly. "We've plumb forgotten to pass the +signal along to the others in the line." + +"It's too late now. They're too far ahead of us," Dick announced. +"Besides, if Greg isn't far from here, and if his captors are with him, +we don't want to raise too much of a racket and scare the captors away." + +"I wish they'd go away, the captors, if they're around here," grinned +Dalzell. "Maybe they have guns, and would be cranky enough to use 'em on +us, sooner'n give Greg up." + +"If you're afraid, Dan, turn around and go back," advised Dick quietly, +as he moved slowly forward. "The rest of you keep a sharp lookout for +more prints around here." + +"Who's afraid?" snapped Dan, his grin fading. + +"Here's another footprint!" called Reade, who had ranged slightly ahead +of the others. + +Dick was quickly at the spot. + +"That was made by Greg's left shoe," Prescott swiftly declared. + +"Correct," nodded Tom Reade. "Say, fellows, we are on Greg's trail!" + +The enthusiasm was "catching" by this time. The little line narrowed and +the Grammar School boys pressed forward, tingling with the mystery and +excitement of this problem written on the face of old Mother Earth! + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +DAN SEES BEARS--IN HIS MIND + + +In twenty minutes, studying the ground harder than any one of the five +had ever scanned a problem in arithmetic, the Grammar School boys had +advanced some three hundred feet. Their course had taken them into the +woods on the further side of the bridle path. + +"I don't see any footprints around here," half grumbled Tom Reade. + +"No," Dick replied, "because the ground is hard and stony here. This +isn't the place to look for prints. But we may find some other sign at +any----" + +"Stop right where you are!" ordered Dave excitedly. + +All halted at once, gazing up the hillside, where Dave pointed. + +"Fellows, there's a big rock cropping up, and do you see that hole +leading into it?" + +"Looks like a bear's hole," suggested Dan, with another grin. + +"Cheer up!" advised Dick, smiling. "There haven't been any bears in this +part of the country in a century. But come on, fellows! That place is +worth looking into." + +Willingly enough all trotted up the slope to the hole in the rock, +though, truth to tell, all the boys were rather footsore by this time. + +The hole in the wall of rock proved to be some three feet in diameter. +Dick struck a match and peered in. + +"This tunnel seems to go in as far as I can see with the help of the +match," young Prescott announced. "Fellows, some of us will have to +crawl in here and see what we can find." + +"Better not," advised Dan. "Greg isn't in there. And if that hole isn't +the home of a bear then it's snakes. Ugh!" + +"I'll go in with you, Dick," agreed Dave. "As for Dan, you stay +out--'fraidcat'!" + +"No more afraid than you are!" retorted Dalzell, stung into sudden +spirit. "If you rascals are going to crawl in there, then I'm going with +you. Can't take 'no' for an answer." + +"If Dalzell finds any wild animals in that hole he'll feel like Daniel +in the lions' den," chuckled Reade. + +"I wish we had something to make a torch of," grumbled Dick. "It's slow +work and a lot of nuisance to be lighting two or three matches every +minute." + +"Do I get a chance to go in there with you?" demanded Dan. + +"I don't know whether you do or not," grimaced Dick. "You're such a +scared-cat that----" + +"Say that again, and you don't get--this," grinned Dalzell, hauling an +object out into daylight. It proved to be a pocket electric lamp. + +"Oh, you jewel!" glowed Dick. + +"Am I a scared-cat?" insisted Dan, returning the lamp to his pocket. + +"Nothing of the sort!" Dick declared readily. + +"How about you, Dave?" demanded Dan, wheeling upon his other tormentor. + +"I never admired any one's courage as much as I do yours, Danny boy," +laughed Darrin. + +"All right, then. You can use the lamp," conceded Dalzell, bringing it +forth from his pocket and handing it over to Dick. + +"Let's all hurry and get in there," proposed Tom Reade. + +"Nothing like it!" rejoined Dick. "Wouldn't it be fine if we all crawled +in there and Dexter and Driggs really happened to be in the +neighborhood? They might come along and pen us all in there! Tom, you +and Harry will have to stay outside on guard--and keep your eyes wide +open." + +"Hazelton can keep his ears wide open," suggested Reade. "His ears are +the generous, wide-open kind, anyway." + +Dick had already thrown himself on his knees, and, holding the lamp +ahead of him, he crawled in as fast as he could over the rough, rocky +floor of the tunnel. + +Dave Darrin was right behind the leader. Third in line came Dan Dalzell, +who comforted himself with the thought that, if Dick and Dave +encountered anything dangerous, he (Dan) would have loads of time to +crawl out again before the danger could assail him. + +For more than a dozen feet the tunnel ran irregularly into the rock. +Suddenly Dick uttered an excited shout. + +"Whh-a-at's the matter?" almost chattered Dalzell. "What's hit you?" + +"There's a regular cave here," Dick called back. "A fine, big place!" + +At this moment Dave, too, straightened up as he stepped into the cave +proper. + +"What's going on in there?" Tom Reade called in through the tunnel. + +"Stay where you are," Dalzell called back, "and don't let us get bagged +in here by any one." + +Then Dan straightened up on his feet and took several curious looks +about him while Dick flashed the light. + +"Say, this is bigger'n a barn in here, only not so high!" gasped Dan. + +"I wonder why nobody ever knew of this dandy place before?" mused Dave. +"And the air's good in here, too." + +"The air's good enough," Dick assented hurriedly. "But what we came here +for was to see whether we can find Greg. Come on, fellows--be quick." + +"This leads to nothing, after all," sighed Dave Darrin at last. + +"There may be other parts to the cave that we haven't found yet," +advanced young Prescott. "Now, halt, everyone! Quiet! Greg?" + +Dick's voice echoed in the place. Away off in one corner something +seemed to be stirring. + +"What's that?" asked Dick quickly. + +"Time to beat it!" muttered Dan. "We've disturbed some animal that lives +here." + +"Sh!" ordered Prescott, holding up one hand. "Greg!" + +Against their ear-drums came again, rather faintly, the sound of +something moving. + +"If you're Greg, you keep on making the noise until I locate you," urged +Dick. "Fellows, you stay right where you are. Don't move." + +Once more that sound of something moving came to the boys, and Dick, on +tip-toe, moving softly, ranged toward the direction from which he +believed the noise had come. As Dick moved away from them with the +light, Dave and Dan found themselves in comparative darkness. + +"If that's you, Greg, keep on making all the noise you can," directed +young Prescott, as he neared one of the jutting ledges of rock. + +A distant snort came as though in answer. + +"If that's you, Greg, you can do it again," cried Dick in a low, eager +voice. "If it's you, do it just four times." + +Then Dick halted, realizing in the stillness that he could hear his own +heart beating rapidly. + +Again came the snort--one, two, three--four times. Then it stopped. + +"Dave! Dan!" quivered Dick's voice. "Come running! It's Greg." + +There was a sound of running feet--then a thump. Dave Darrin was still +coming, but Dan had tripped over some little obstacle and had fallen +flat. + +"Hold on, there, you two!" howled Dan. "I've hurt my knee. Wait until I +reach you." + +But Dave and Dick paid no heed. Once more they had heard the snorts, and +had made a dash for a low ledge of rock, from behind which they believed +the sounds to have come. + +Then both young leaders of the Grammar School boys gave a joyous whoop, +mingled with dismay. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BOY WITH THE OAKUM TASTE + + +"Hustle, Dan! We've found him!" rang Dave Darrin's voice, echoing +through the rock-bound spaces. + +"Greg, old fellow, you've had us worried," gasped Dick Prescott, sinking +to the stone floor beside his friend. + +Greg lay on the floor, tightly bound hand and foot, a gag of oakum stuck +in his mouth and securely held there by cloth tightly strapped in place. + +"Get your knife open, Dave, while I hold the light," ordered Dick. +"We've got to have Greg free at once. See how white and sick he looks." + +Slash! Dave cut away the gag first of all, picking out all he could of +the gag. + +"Ugh!" sputtered young Holmes, spitting out shreds of oakum. "You bet +I'm sick!" + +"How do you feel?" Dick asked anxiously, as Dave rolled Greg over and +began to cut away the cords at the lad's wrists. + +"Sick!" muttered Greg. "Sick of the very taste of that oakum stuff. Did +you ever eat any oakum?" + +"Can't say that I did," laughed Dick merrily, now that he knew at last +that his chum was safe. + +"You haven't missed much," growled Greg. + +"There, your hands are free," announced practical Dave. "How long have +you been here, Holmesy?" + +"Since Saturday afternoon." + +"Had anything to eat?" Dick wanted to know. + +"No; and I'll have to get the taste of that vile oakum out of my mouth +before I can endure the taste of food," uttered Greg dismally. + +Darrin had made the last slash at Greg's foot-lashings. + +"Now, get up, old fellow!" + +Both helped young Holmes to his feet, but he would have fallen had not +Dick caught him. + +"Circulation's all stopped," muttered Greg disgustedly. "No wonder! The +scoundrels must have tied me as tight as they knew how. Ugh! That fierce +oakum taste!" + +"Say, you'll be the hero of the town when you get home, Greg," +proclaimed Dan Dalzell, who had groped his way to the spot. + +"Hero? With that oakum taste in my mouth?" sputtered young Holmes. +"Bosh! I'd sooner have a good gargle than be two heroes!" + +While Dick supported the rescued boy, Dave Darrin was rubbing Greg's +legs roughly up and down to promote better circulation. + +"Now, take a few steps," advised Dave. "See how you can go." + +Supported by Dick's arm, Greg did fairly well in the way of walking. Of +course every step that he took helped restore the circulation. + +"Wow! There's going to be an exciting time in Gridley," grinned Dan +Dalzell. + +"What day is it now?" inquired Greg. + +"Monday--afternoon," Prescott answered. + +"My folks must be stirred up." + +"They're crazy," Dan supplied very impressively. + +"How far is this place from Gridley?" + +"Six miles. Don't you know where you are, Greg!" + +"Haven't an idea in the world." + +"How did you get here? What happened?" + +"Wait a little while," begged Greg. "I've just got to spit all the oakum +taste out of my mouth before I want to do much talking." + +By this time they were at the tunnel that led outside. + +"Hullo, Tom!" called Dick through the tunnel. + +"Hullo yourself, and see how you like it!" came from outside. + +"Tom," cried Dick joyously, "we've found Greg! We're bringing him with +us." + +"Can't he bring himself?" demanded Reade. Then, in a suddenly scared +voice: + +"Is he--dead?" + +"Dead sore on oakum as a food," laughed Dan, grinning broadly. + +Dick, holding the light, was piloting Greg through the tunnel. In a few +moments all were outside. Tom and Harry danced a jig for sheer joy. + +"Greg, aren't you thirsty?" demanded Dick, as young Holmes stood +blinking in the bright sunlight. + +"I shall be, as soon as I get the oakum washed out of my mouth," +grimaced Greg. "Whew! What a vile taste that sort of stuff has!" + +"Folks in the good old town won't believe us when we get back," muttered +Darrin. + +"Yes, they will; they'll have to," insisted Dan, producing some articles +from one of his pockets. "Here are some of the cords you cut from Greg's +wrists and ankles, and here's some of the oakum." + +"Throw that oakum stuff away, or else hide it. Please do," begged young +Holmes, making a wry face. + +"Come on. There's no time to be lost," advised Dick. "We've got a long +way to go, and Greg needs the exercise. Besides, he's thirsty and +hungry--or ought to be." + +Within five minutes the Grammar School boys came across a spring. There +Greg knelt and took in several mouthfuls, one after another, for the +purpose of rinsing his mouth of that nauseating oakum taste. Then, at +last, he swallowed water freely. + +"My, but it's good to be out in the world again," breathed Greg happily. +"But how did you fellows find me?" + +"The whole town turned out to search," Dick explained. "There was no +school to-day. And we came across clues that led us here. That's enough, +from our side. Now, tell us how you came to be in such a fix." + +At this point the Grammar School boys came out on the highway. + +"Better each put a few stones in your pockets, fellows," advised Dick +Prescott, stooping. "If we should meet any one we don't want to meet, +stones might not prove such bad ammunition. Now, Greg, start in and tell +us what happened." + +"You know that big clump of bushes near the landing at Payson's?" asked +young Holmes. + +"Yes." + +"Well, Saturday afternoon I landed, tied the canoe and then, with a +gunny sack on my arm, started toward the orchard. Just as I was going by +the bushes I heard a little noise. Before I could turn I was thrown +flat. Then a man was on top of me, holding my nose ground into the +dirt." + +"Dexter? Driggs?" questioned Prescott. + +"I couldn't see who it was. Next thing my own gunny sack was forced over +my head. I could feel, now, that there were two men working over me. +Then my hands were yanked behind me and tied. Next my feet. I forgot to +say that when I was thrown I was hurled in among the bushes. Well, after +I had been bound a dark cloth of some kind was passed around the sack +over my eyes." + +"Didn't you holler?" asked Dan, his mouth wide open. + +"Yes. While the cloth was being tied tight I thought it was time to +start in to yell. At the first sound a pair of hands gripped me around +the throat. Whee! I thought I was being hanged, certainly! I must have +been black in the face when that scoundrel let up on choking me. Well, I +took the choking as a hint that I wasn't expected to make any noise. +After that I was thrown on my back, but I couldn't see anything. One +man, who had rather soft hands----" + +"Dexter," guessed Dick. + +"Most likely. Well, he sat with one hand across my throat, and I didn't +think it was my time to yell, so I lay quiet. After a while I heard a +wagon coming along. Then I was lifted into the wagon and a lot of old +sacking was thrown over the whole length of my body. I guess it was the +same sacking that you found me lying on in the cave. Then the wagon +started and I had a long ride. At last we branched off into what I guess +was a sort of bridle path. Not so very long after the wagon stopped and +I was lifted down to my feet. I walked a little way, guided by one of +the men, and then they lifted me up and carried me. Then I felt them +poking me through that tunnel. After that I saw some kind of a light, +dimly, through the cloths over my head, and then I was thrown down where +you found me. The light was out then, and the cloths were taken off my +head. Then that sickening gag was jammed into my mouth." + +"Didn't you offer any kick?" inquired Dan. + +"Where was the use?" sighed Greg. "I knew that men who had gone to all +that trouble to bother me wouldn't waste any time listening to what I +might have to say." + +"Then you don't know," inquired Dick, "if Dexter and Driggs were the +men?" + +"They didn't speak once, from the time they grabbed me up to the time +when they left me in the cave," Greg answered. "Hours after that I must +have fallen asleep. I woke up to hear their voices a little way off. +They were talking in whispers. I couldn't hear all that was said, but +I'm certain in my own mind that the two were Dexter and Driggs." + +"Did you make out anything that they were talking about?" pressed Dick. + +"Here and there I caught some of it. I heard one man scolding the other +about throwing bricks and shying a stone; and so that must have been +what happened to you, Dick, and to you, Dave. I'm pretty sure it was +Dexter who was doing the scolding. Later I heard him say it was foolish, +and this carrying me off was much more to the purpose--that a thing like +my being carried away would do a heap more to 'scare that woman' and +make her understand that she had some one she couldn't afford to fool +with. Next the other man broke in and said that lugging me away was +foolish, and only a cause of trouble. But the other man broke in, with a +laugh, and said he'd make 'that woman' pay handsomely to have me set +free. He said she had always been a tender-hearted woman, and would +spend plenty of money to save the life of a boy who had helped her. Then +the two men, I judged from the sounds, left the cave. Any way, I haven't +heard any sound of them since then. I----" + +Here Greg stopped suddenly, clutching at a tree that he was passing. + +"Fellows, I feel about all in," he remarked brokenly. "I'm awfully +dizzy, too." + +"You're played out, starved and all used up--that's what ails you," +exclaimed Dick sympathetically. "We'll halt here and give you a chance +to rest." + +In five minutes Greg declared himself fit to go on again. Dave and Dick +walked on either side of him, half supporting him. + +"There's a house ahead, and a telephone wire running into it," said +young Prescott. "We'll try to get that far, and then we'll telephone +into Gridley." + +That much of the trip was made, with a couple of short halts for rest. +Dick went up to the front door of the farmhouse and knocked loudly. It +was the farmer himself who came to the door. + +"We've found the boy that all the searching parties were out looking +for," Dick announced. "May we use your telephone to send the word into +Gridley?" + +"You sure can," rejoined the farmer. "Come this way." Then, with a side +glance at young Holmes, "I guess you're him." + +"Yes," nodded Greg. + +"And you hain't had a bite to eat for a day or two?" + +"No." + +"Mother," called the farmer, leading the way into the living room, +"here's that missing youngster that there's been all the fuss over. He's +hungry. You know what treatment that calls for." + +Dick, in the meantime, had espied the telephone and was engaged in +ringing up. He called for the police station and sent the news to the +chief. + +"And say that I'm hitching up a team and am going to bring you all in," +added the farmer. So Prescott added that item of information. + +"Hark! Hear that?" broke in Dick a minute later, while nearly all the +others were talking at once. Despite the distance there came to their +ears the sound of Gridley's fire alarm whistle, sounding the recall for +all searching parties. + +"Now, goodness knows I'd like to offer you a lot more to eat, young +man," said the farmer's gray-haired wife, patting Greg's head. "But, +after fasting so long you don't want to eat too much at first. What +you've had ought to be enough until you've had your drive and are at +home with your own folks." + +"I feel fine, ma'am," responded young Holmes gratefully. "I don't know +how to thank you. And I'm glad you stopped my eating too much for my own +good. I'll be all right now, when I get home." + +The farmer drove up to the door and called out. All of Greg's friends +wanted to help him outdoors, but he insisted that he could walk all by +himself. Into the farm wagon piled the Grammar School boys, after having +thanked the woman of the house most heartily. + +"This is a lot better'n walking, after all," murmured Greg gratefully. + +Even with his late start the boys were ahead of the searchers under +Captain Hall, who had heard the signal and were now returning. + +"Turn down one of the side streets, will you, please?" begged Greg, as +the party neared the outskirts of Gridley. "I don't feel exactly like +meeting a whole crowd." + +For, even at a distance, it could be seen that Gridley was swarming with +thousands of people who had not joined the searching parties. + +Thus Greg was delivered at his own home, and the other members of Dick & +Co. were up on Main Street before the news had spread of young Holmes's +return. + +All sensational events are dead as soon as they have been discussed for +a few hours. The police authorities visited Greg at his home and +questioned him, then reluctantly decided that there was not enough +evidence for issuing a warrant for Abner Dexter and his man Driggs. But +the news came over, from Driggs's own town, that the fellow had been +dropped from the police force there. + +On Tuesday morning school went on as usual, and in the afternoon the +boys of the Central Grammar went at their football practice as though +nothing had happened. + +Before the practice game Dick called a meeting in the field, at which he +and Dave Darrin were authorized to challenge the North and South Grammar +Schools to a series of games. + +Within the next three days both schools had been heard from, and there +seemed every prospect of keen rivalry between the boys of the three +schools. + +Many days went along ere Dick & Co. heard again from Dexter or the +latter's henchman. Yet events were shaping that were destined to mark +important pages in the history of Gridley. + +Except for football, in fact, things were now so quiet that Dick +Prescott had not an inkling of the startling events that were ahead of +him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A GREAT FOOTBALL POW-WOW + + +"I have important news to communicate," began Old Dut dryly, after +tapping the bell for the beginning of the afternoon session. + +Dick and some of his friends looked up rather placidly, for they knew +what the news was to be. + +"All lovers of football in the Central Grammar School," continued the +principal, "are requested to meet in the usual field immediately after +the close of school. The purpose is to form a league and to arrange for +games between the three Grammar Schools of Gridley. I will add that I am +glad that so much interest in athletics is being displayed by our young +men. To show my pleasure, I will add that if any of the young men in +this school are so unfortunate as to incur checks this afternoon that +would keep them in after school they may serve out the checks to-morrow +instead. First class in geography! For the next twenty minutes the boys +of this class are requested to remember that football is not geography!" + +Excited as many of the youngsters were, and great as was the temptation +to whisper, it happened that not a boy in the eighth grade received a +check or a demerit, as it is usually called, for any form of bad conduct +that afternoon. Immediately at the close of school the almost solid +legion of boys of the seventh and eighth grades started on a run for the +big field in which they had been practising of late. + +"Now, we'll have to wait a few minutes for the fellows from the other +schools," announced Dick when he had marshaled his forces in the field. +"It will take them longer to get here." + +"Here come some of the North Grammar boys!" called a lookout, a few +minutes later. "Hi Martin is one of them." + +"Welcome to the North Grammar," called Dick, as Hi Martin and two other +boys made their appearance on the field. A dozen more boys from the same +school could be seen straggling along in the rear by twos and threes. + +"My, but you fellows have brought a mob," was Hi's greeting. + +"We invited all of the fellows of the two top grades," Dick explained. + +"A small, select committee would have been better," remarked Hi. "When +you have too big a crowd you can't hear each other, for everyone is +talking at once. So you fellows of the Central Grammar think you can +play football, do you?" + +"We don't know," laughed Prescott. "We want to find out." + +"Huh!" + +"Here come a dozen fellows from the South Grammar," announced another +lookout. + +"Huh! They're coming in a mob, too," uttered Martin in some disdain. +"There's at least thirty in their crowd." + +"Well, you Norths have brought at least fifteen," observed Dave. + +"But only three of us are a committee," retorted Hi Martin. "The other +fellows are just hangers on--camp followers, so to speak." + +"Don't get too chesty, Hi," objected one of the outside dozen from the +North Grammar. + +"Don't try to give me any orders, Ben Lollard," snapped Martin. "We got +all our orders from the school before we started." + +"Who represents the South Grammar?" called Dick as the new comers +trooped on to the field. + +"Well, aren't there enough of us here?" demanded Ted Teall. + +"But Martin, of the North Grammar, thinks each school ought to be +represented by a committee," explained Dick. + +"Committee of three," amended Hi Martin. + +"Huh! That's a dude arrangement," rejoined Ted Teall. + +"We have some sense of dignity at the North Grammar," snapped Hi Martin, +flushing. + +"And you carry it around with you all the time," jeered young Teall. + +Things began to look badly for the success of the league. Many of the +North Grammar boys came from rather well-to-do families, and not a few +of these boys considered themselves infinitely superior to the class of +boys that helped to make up the Centrals and Souths. + +"Let's not have any disagreements," urged Dick coaxingly. + +"Then keep these Souths in check," grumbled Hi Martin. + +"Don't let the Norths get too fresh just because they have clean collars +every day," advised Ted Teall. + +"Fresh? It takes a South Grammar boy to be fresh," sputtered Hi. + +"Oh, does it?" sneered Ted. "Dude!" + +"Mucker!" responded Hi cheerfully. + +"Say, if you could only use your hands as well as you do your mouths," +sneered Ted, "ten----" + +"We do," announced Hi Martin, bounding over in front of Teall. + +"Fight! Fight!" howled half a hundred boys gleefully. + +Ted Teall was more than willing, and Hi looked as though he were afraid +only of soiling his hands in touching a South Grammar boy. Dick, +however, darted in between the pair, and Darrin, Reade and Dalzell +followed. + +"Now, stop all this fooling, fellows," begged Dick. "We all know that +Ted and Hi can fight. What we want to find out is whether there are +brains and muscle enough in town to get three football elevens together. +Ted, put your hands in your pockets. Hi, you move back. We don't want +any fighting here." + +"Then that cub will have to stop calling names," retorted Teall. + +"You started it yourself," retorted Martin. + +"You're another!" + +"Fight! Fight!" yelled many of the young onlookers. + +Ted was willing, and Martin not unwilling. Crowds surged forward, +threatening to push the North and South champions to close quarters. + +"Let's go home, if nobody ain't going to do nuthing," remarked one South +disgustedly. + +"Stop all this, fellows--please do," begged Dick once more. "Ted and Hi, +you two show your good sense by shaking hands." + +"Shake hands with that?" demanded Hi scornfully, glaring at Teall. + +"Shake hands with a high-collared dude?" muttered Ted. "I'd get mobbed +for disgracing my part of the town." + +"You are a disgrace, anyway," snapped back Hi. + +"Now, you get back, Martin, and let us get down to real football," +directed Darrin, pushing Martin back several feet. "No; you needn't +glare at me. I won't fight you, at all events, until the football season +is over." + +Dalzell was backing up Dave in an effort to keep Martin back. Reade and +Hazelton now placed themselves in front of young Teall. + +"Now, come to order, please!" called Dick. + +"Hey, Prescott! Who asked you to preside?" hailed a South Grammar boy. + +"I don't know that I want to, either," Prescott answered, with a smile. +"But some one has to start the meeting. As soon as you come to order you +can choose any one you want for presiding officer. All I'm trying to do +is to get the thing started. Come to order, please." + +"I'll meet you on Main Street any Saturday you like, Hi Martin!" called +Ted belligerently. + +"I wouldn't go out of my way to meet anything like you," shot back +Martin. + +"Order! Order!" insisted Dick. "Come to order, fellows!" + +By the aid of his chums and a few other friends, and a great deal of +"sh! sh!" all through the crowd, Dick at last got the meeting into a +semblance of quiet. + +"Now, as I said before," Prescott went on, "all the reason I had for +taking the chair----" + +"Where is it?" + +"What did you take it for?" + +"----was to get the meeting started," Dick went on. "Now that we're at +least as quiet as some of the very small boys here will allow us to be, +suppose you nominate some one to preside over this meeting." + +"Dick Prescott is good enough for us," sang out several Central Grammar +boys. + +"Hi Martin!" came from the North squad. + +"Ted Teall!" insisted the South boys. + +"Well, whom do you want?" insisted Dick patiently. + +"Dick Prescott!" "Hi Martin!" "Ted Teall!" + +"Don't waste time trying to choose a chairman, Dick," advised Dave. +"Just hold on to the job yourself, and try to get something through the +meeting." + +But a clamor went up on all sides that lasted fully a minute. + +"Mr. Chairman!" shouted Tom Reade as soon as quiet came. + +"Reade," acknowledged Prescott, with a bow in Tom's direction. + +"Will you kindly state the object of the meeting?" + +"The object of the meeting," Prescott went on, "is to see whether each +of the three Grammar Schools in this town is able and willing to +organize a football team. The object, further, is to see whether we can +form the three teams into a league and play off a series of games for +the championship this fall." + +"Who's going to run the league?" demanded Ted Teall. + +"That's for this meeting to decide," Dick answered. "I would suggest +that each school nominate a committee of three to represent it in a +council of nine made up from the three schools. That the council choose +a chairman and that the council have full charge of league +arrangements." + +"Is Hi Martin going to be in that council?" called a South boy. + +"I presume so, fellows," responded the chair. "Martin is already a +member of a committee of three chosen at the North Grammar." + +"But we haven't any committee of three," objected a Central boy. + +"We can soon straighten that out," piped up Tom Reade. "I'm going to +make a motion, and it's addressed only to the fellows of the Central +Grammar. I move that Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin and Greg Holmes +represent the Central." + +"All in favor say 'aye,'" directed Prescott. + +The motion was carried with a rush, there being no dissenting voices. + +"I would now suggest," Dick continued, "that the South Grammar fellows +put forward their committee of three. Then the council can get together, +and soon be able to report back to the whole crowd." + +But Ted Teall, who had been talking rapidly in undertones to several of +the Souths, now yelled back: + +"No, sir-ree! That doesn't go. South Grammar wants the whole thing put +through in town-meeting style. Let every fellow here have his say." + +"Will that be agreeable to the North Grammar?" asked Dick, glancing at +Martin. + +"Not much," retorted Hi. "South Grammar has twice as many fellows here +as we have, and Central has a bigger crowd present than both other +schools put together. Let's have committees and organize 'em into a +council." + +"We Souths won't stand for anything but town-meeting style," bawled Ted +Teall. + +"But we haven't enough fellows for that," objected Hi strenuously. + +"Why didn't you bring more?" jeered Ted. "Did the rest of your fellows +have to go home to put on clean collars and practise on the piano?" + +"We shan't get anywhere unless the Souths put forward a more gentlemanly +fellow to speak for them," remarked Hi with stiff dignity. + +"Fight!" yelled one boy hopefully. + +The surging and pushing began all over again, but Dick managed to make +his voice carry over the hubbub. + +"Fellows, what ails you all?" he cried. "Are we going to have it said +that the Grammar School fellows of Gridley haven't brains and manners +enough to get together and discuss an ordinary question or two?" + +"What about uniforms?" spoke up a member of Hi's committee. + +"Central hopes to have uniforms," replied Dick. + +"North Grammar is going to have uniforms," shouted Hi Martin, "and we +want to make it plain, right now, that we won't play with any team that +isn't uniformed." + +This cast a damper on the Souths, who knew, to a boy, that they couldn't +hope to raise money enough to buy football uniforms. + +"Aw," retorted Ted Teall scornfully, "what's the use of playing football +with dudes that don't dare go on to the field if they haven't nifty +uniforms and clean collars?" + +"That's our stand," retorted Hi with intense dignity. "North Grammar +will play no un-uniformed teams." + +"And South Grammar won't play any dudes," shouted Ted defiantly. "We +want real meat to play against--no mush!" + +"Let's hear what Central Grammar proposes on this question?" put in Hi +Martin hopefully. "Prescott, you said your school would be uniformed." + +"Let's go home, fellows," proposed Ted, turning away and stalking off. +For a moment the other Souths hesitated. Then, with a yell, they started +off after their leader. + +"Good riddance to muckers!" shouted a North boy derisively. + +"Come to order, please," begged Dick. "Any one who calls names is out of +order. It's bad practice." + +"Who asked you to run this meeting, anyway, Dick Prescott?" snapped +Martin. + +"No one in particular, and I'm willing you should preside if you want +to, Martin." + +"The Centrals ain't any better stuff than the Souths," observed one of +the Norths slightingly. + +"Cut that out!" cried Dave, his eyes flashing. He stepped forward, +looking for the fellow who had made the remark. + +"I call upon the North Grammar delegation to step aside and confer for a +few minutes," announced Hi. He led his own schoolmates some two hundred +feet away. + +"Say, the whole scheme's gone to pieces," grumbled Tom Reade +disgustedly. + +"Wait, and we'll see," answered Prescott hopefully. + +The North Grammar boys talked matters over among themselves for two or +three minutes. + +"There, see!" grumbled Greg. "Hi Martin is leading his crowd away. +They're all quitters!" + +"That always seems to be the way with Grammar School fellows," sighed +Dick. "High School fellows do big things, but you can't ever get Grammar +School boys to stick together long enough to do anything!" + +So Grammar School football died an almost painless death. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +DICK STEPS INTO A DEATH-TRAP + + +"Hullo, Dave!" + +"Hullo, Dick. I've been looking for you. My, but you're dressed up +to-night. Going to a party that I haven't heard about?" + +"Not exactly," laughed Dick. "I'm going to call on Mrs. Dexter." + +"Oho!" + +"She sent a note that she'd like to have me call this evening. What it's +about I don't know." + +"Then I can guess," offered Dave. + +"What?" + +"Mrs. Dexter was set on getting football uniforms for us. When the +league dropped out at the bottom that spoiled her chance. Mrs. Dexter +feels that she's under obligations, and so has sent for you in order to +find what she can do in the place of buying uniforms." + +"Do you think that's it?" questioned young Prescott, looking bothered. + +"I'm sure of it." + +"Then I wish I weren't going up there to-night." + +"Have you got to?" asked Darrin. + +"It would hardly look polite if I didn't go. But I'll tell you what, +Dave." + +"What?" + +"You come along with me." + +"Not much!" + +"Why not?" + +"First place, I'm not invited. Second place, I'm not dressed up, and you +are. Extra, I don't want to look as though I were trotting up there +after a reward." + +"I'm not, either," Dick retorted with considerable spirit. + +"I know you're not, but you can say 'no' for both of us, and for Greg +thrown in." + +"Then you won't come with me?" + +"I'll feel more comfortable down here on Main Street," laughed Dave. "If +you get back early enough you can tell me about it." + +"If Mrs. Dexter doesn't want anything except to talk about rewarding +us," grunted Prescott, "I can promise you that I'll be back bright and +early." + +"So long, then, and good luck!" + +"What?" + +"Good luck in getting away, I mean." + +So Dick pursued his course alone, and feeling a good deal more +uncomfortable, now that he had a suspicion of Mrs. Dexter's business. + +Up at the pretty little Dexter cottage things had been moving serenely +of late. Ab. Dexter had not been heard from, and his wife imagined that +the fellow had gone to other parts. For weeks she had kept a special +policeman in the house at night. On this particular evening the man +wanted to be away at a lodge meeting, and Mrs. Dexter had felt that it +was wholly safe to let him go, more especially, as resourceful Dick +Prescott would put in part of the evening there. + +When the bell rang, Jane being upstairs with little Myra, Mrs. Dexter +herself opened the front door. + +Then she sprang back suddenly, stifling a dismayed little scream, for +Abner Dexter stood facing her. + +"Didn't expect me, did you?" jeered the fellow, pushing his way into the +hall. "Jennie, I'm at the end of my rope, and of my patience, too. I'm +broke--have hardly a dollar in the world, and now you've got to do your +duty and provide for me in the way that a rich wife should. In there +with you!" + +Ab. pushed her into a little room just beyond the parlor, and stepped in +after her. + +"Nice, comfortable place you have here, while I'm wondering where my +next meal is coming from!" sneered the fellow. + +"Abner, I gave you ten thousand dollars, and you promised to leave me +alone," protested the woman, afraid of the evil look that she now saw in +her worthless husband's face. + +"Well, I haven't any of that money, and I've got to have more," retorted +Dexter emphatically. "Jennie, I want twenty-five thousand dollars. Give +me that, and I'll leave the country for good." + +"I--I couldn't trust you," she faltered. + +"Don't talk that way to me!" + +"I have good reason to, Abner, and you know it." + +"You thought I had forgotten you, didn't you?" he sneered harshly. + +"I hoped that you had at last made up your mind to let me alone," +replied the woman, trying to summon a bravery that she did not feel. + +"I haven't forgotten you. Jennie, you will have to find and turn over to +me the twenty-five thousand dollars that I want. You will never know any +peace until you do do it, and you will never see me again after you have +given me the money. Now, aren't you going to be sensible?" + +"Yes," she flashed. "I'm going to be too sensible to listen to you any +longer. You have been watching this house, and you came to-night because +you knew I was alone. If you won't go, at least I shall not stay here to +listen to you." + +"Oh, yes, you will," replied the man angrily, barring the doorway. + +At that instant the telephone bell in a niche in the hallway sounded. + +"Let me answer that call," cried Mrs. Dexter. + +"No, I won't!" + +Then both heard, with very different feelings, a voice speaking these +words: + +"Central, I am Dick Prescott, at Mrs. Dexter's. I shall probably be +interfered with. Call up the police station in a hurry and say that +Dexter is here, threatening Mrs. Dexter, who is without defense. I----" + +Slam! Dick felt himself seized by the collar. He was banged up roughly +against the wall. + +"You young hound!" blazed Ab. Dexter. + +"Don't hurt him!" screamed Mrs. Dexter. + +"I'll do as I please with this young hound!" snarled Dexter hoarsely. +"What right has he interfering with me in this manner? Come along, you +meddling youngster!" + +As the telephone connection was still open, the girl at central office +was able to hear every word. + +Ab. Dexter, still gripping struggling Prescott by the collar, dragged +him down the hallway and into the same room where he had recently been +talking with his unfortunate wife. Mrs. Dexter followed, pleading. + +"What are you doing here?" blazed Dexter, giving Dick a shaking that +made his teeth rattle. + +"I sent for him, Abner. I wanted to find how I could best reward him +for----" + +"For interfering with me on another occasion--yes, I know!" finished her +husband, glaring at her. "You'd spend a lot of money on any one who +tried to injure me, but you wouldn't give me a cent to keep me from +starving!" + +As Dexter rattled off this charge he worked himself up into a passion. +He shook Dick again, until he espied a closet in the room, in the lock +of which was the key. + +"In there for you!" snarled Dexter, still shaking Prescott and dragging +him across the room. Slam! Into the closet went Dick. Click! went the +lock, and Dexter thrust the key into his pocket. + +"I'll take command of things here, as I ought to," growled the man. "As +for you, Jennie, here's another closet on the other side of the room. +Come, for I don't want to hurt you." + +Frightened badly now, the woman obeyed the impulse of Dexter's hand on +her arm. She sank, cowering, into the other closet. Dexter turned the +key in that lock also. + +"Now, are you going to come to your senses?" He called through the +locked door to his wife. + +"If you mean am I going to give you any more money, I am not!" came Mrs. +Dexter's reply, in a firmer tone, for she had been stung anew into +defiance. + +"Then good night--and good-bye!" he laughed harshly. + +Both captives heard the scratching of a match. Dexter held the small +flame against a drapery until it was burning freely. + +He had no intention of having his wife burn up in the house, for, dead, +her money would be lost to him forever. He planned only to scare her +into nervous collapse. But Jane, the housekeeper, did not liberate the +captives in the two closets as Dexter had expected. Instead, as the +housekeeper came to the head of the stairs, heard the crackling of +flames and smelled the rising smoke, she fell on the landing in a faint. + +"Dick! Dick!" screamed Mrs. Dexter's voice. "The house is afire. Can't +you break down the door and save us both?" + +"I'm trying to," shouted back young Prescott above the din of his own +blows. "I'm trying to--but I'm afraid this door is too strong for me!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WHAT GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS CAN DO + + +Inside of a minute Dick Prescott was both gasping and despairing. + +Outside the volume of smoke was increasing. Some of it worked in through +the cracks around the door. + +Coughing, choking, trembling in a cold chill of dread, Dick continued +frantically to hurl himself against the door. + +"Can't you get out, Dick?" + +"I'm awfully afraid I can't." + +"Nor can I," screamed back Mrs. Dexter, though she was doing nothing +besides beating a feeble tattoo with her soft fists against the panels +of the door of her prison. "Jane! Jane!" + +But the housekeeper still lay in a death-like faint above. As for Myra, +she slept as only a tired small child can sleep. + +"Oh, Dick, you must break down your door!" screamed the woman. "Myra--my +child--upstairs. She'll be burned to death!" + +"I'll keep on trying, ma'am, as long as I have any life left," Dick +promised, chokingly. + +Brave words! Young as he was, Dick Prescott was not of the kind to die a +coward's death. Yet, in his own mind he was convinced that the door was +too stout for him. + +"You can't save us, can you?" called Mrs. Dexter's own choking tones +finally. + +"I'm still trying, ma'am." + +"But you don't expect to succeed. Tell me the truth." + +"I shan't give up, ma'am, but I am afraid that all the chances are +against us!" + +Bang! Bang! went Dick's shoulders against the panels. He was aching now +from his hopeless exertions. + +Yet, every time that he paused he heard the crackling of the flames +outside. The sound told him that the woodwork had caught at last. + +"Dick!" + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"I'm quite calm now." + +"I'm glad to hear that, Mrs. Dexter." + +"I've stopped thinking of myself, Dick. I know that my little Myra is +asleep. She'll suffocate, and won't wake up to know any pain." + +"But where's your housekeeper?" + +"She must have slipped out after she put Myra to bed. There's no hope +for us, Dick. We must go as bravely as we can. But, my poor boy, I can't +tell you how sorry I am that helping me has brought you to such a +plight." + +"But you forget, Mrs. Dexter. Central will send a policeman. He will +find out what's wrong here and save us." + +"Don't try to comfort me with false hopes, Dick. You and I both know +that the policeman can't get here in time to save us." + +This had, indeed, occurred to Dick some moments before, but he wanted to +help Mrs. Dexter to keep her courage up as long as possible. + +"Dick," called a subdued voice, "your mother taught you to pray?" + +"Oh, yes, ma'am." + +"Then you know how to pray now--the last chance you'll have." + +"All right, then," young Prescott shot back to her, "and I'll keep on +working while I pray!" + +Mrs. Dexter did not speak again. The smoke, passing into the closet, had +proved too much for her, and she had collapsed on the floor. + +But Dick, naturally stronger, and with robust lungs, was still fighting +bravely, though he was conscious that he was growing feebler and that +air was harder to get. + +Then there came to his ears two sounds of the sweetest description. The +first noise was that of running feet. The second was Dave Darrin's voice +shouting: + +"Fellows, there's some fearful work going on here. And here's the fire! +Move like lightning! Bring water from the kitchen--in anything." + +There was a sound of many running feet. Then Dick called, huskily: + +"Dave, are you there?" + +"Dick, where are you?" + +"In this closet--locked in!" + +"But there doesn't seem to be any key," quivered Darrin. + +"No; Dexter took that away with him." + +"Did he set this----" + +"Yes; but listen! Mrs. Dexter is locked up in the closet opposite." + +Dave crossed the room in a flash. Finding the key in the lock of the +other closet door, Dave Darrin turned it and found Mrs. Dexter lying on +the floor. + +"Fellows!" bawled Dave hoarsely. "Never mind the water. Come here--on +the jump!" + +Half a dozen boys ran back into the room, just in time to see Dave +struggling to drag Mrs. Dexter out to the front porch. + +"One of you help me," directed Darrin. "The others batter down that +closet door over there. Dick Prescott is locked up there, and there is +no key." + +"Here's a hatchet," cried another boy, running in from the kitchen. +"Clear the way and let me at the door." + +The boy was Greg Holmes. He brought the hatchet down with telling force +at each blow, smashing all the paneling around the lock. In a very few +moments Greg had the door open, and he and Dave helped catch Dick as the +latter fell forward, dizzy and all but unconscious. + +"Rush him out on to the front porch!" ordered Dave. "Then we'll come +back and fight the fire!" + +"Has--has anyone turned in an alarm?" inquired Dick, as he reached the +porch and took in a life-saving breath of the pure, cool air. + +"No," admitted Dave. "We forgot that. But I'll run and do it now." + +"What's the matter? Fire?" called a man from the next yard. + +"Yes," Dave yelled back. "Run and turn in an alarm, won't you?" + +"I surely will," came the answer. + +This left Dave free to remain and do what he could. + +"I'm all right now," declared Dick, getting up out of the chair into +which he had been dropped, though he was not yet any too strong. "Dave, +you and the other fellows fight the fire the best you can. Greg, you +come upstairs with me, and we'll find Myra and get her out of the +smoke." + +At the head of the stairs Prescott and Holmes found Jane, still in a +faint. + +"We'll need more help to get her downstairs," muttered Dick. "Greg, you +find Myra, bundle her in blankets and rush down with her. I'll stay here +until you come back." + +When Greg, after darting downstairs with the child, returned, he had two +other boys with him. It took all four to get Jane down and outside to +one of the porch chairs. + +"This is work for the doctor," announced Dick, looking from Jane to Mrs. +Dexter. "You other fellows jump in to get the fire out, and I'll 'phone +for Dr. Bentley. He's Mrs. Dexter's doctor." + +While making that comment, Dick darted back to the telephone. As seconds +were precious here, he merely called up central and stated what was +wanted. Then he ran to join the others. + +"There's a hose outside this window. I've seen it before," called +Prescott, opening the window and jumping outside. Then: + +"Dave!" + +"Here I am, Dick." + +"Here's the hose. I'll pass the nozzle in and then turn the water on." + +"Bully for you, Handy Andy!" + +Sizz-zz! Dave directed the stream against the liveliest flames. It was +only a lawn-sprinkling hose that he held, but even that threw a lot of +water. + +Dick climbed in through the window again. + +"We'll hold things down until the firemen get here," he announced +energetically. + +So busy had all been that only two or three out of the ten boys present +had noticed that the fire-alarm whistle had called off the box number +some time previously. + +Finally, with a screeching of whistles and a clanging of gongs, a part +of the Gridley Fire Department hauled up outside. + +While hosemen fastened a line to a hydrant, and nozzlemen dragged the +lengths in through the wide-open front door, the chief ran ahead of +them. + +"Where's the fire?" he called, and made his way inside. + +"Well, you boys are dandies!" remarked the chief grimly. Then he ran out +to the front door. + +"Shut that stream off!" the chief bellowed hoarsely. "A lot of Grammar +School boys have put the fire out with a lawn hose." + +Two or three minutes later the policeman whom Prescott had summoned +arrived, out of breath. Two minutes after that Dr. Bentley's auto +stopped at the door. + +Both unconscious women were revived, and Myra, who had not once awakened +in all the excitement, was taken up and tucked in bed. + +"How did you get into the house, Dick?" Mrs. Dexter at last found time +to inquire. + +"Why, the door was open just a crack, ma'am, when I got here. I heard +Dexter threatening you, and realized that you must be alone. I knew I +couldn't do much alone, so I sneaked in as softly as I could and got to +the telephone." + +As soon as he found himself with only his boy friends about, Dick +demanded to know how they had arrived so opportunely. + +"That's easy enough," Dave Darrin explained. "Just after you left me I +ran into Greg, Tom, Dan and Harry. I told them where you'd gone, and +what the business would probably turn out to be. Then--then--well, we +got so awfully curious that we made up our minds to stroll up here to +the corner and wait until you came out. Then we ran into four other +fellows from our school, and there was a mob of us. To kill time we +walked down past. As we went past we saw smoke coming out of one of the +open windows on the ground floor. Then Bert Johnson remembered that he +had seen Ab. Dexter come out and hurry away. It didn't take us long, +then, to make up our minds to get into the house. We found the front +door unlocked, and the rest was easy." + +"We'll get out of here as soon as we can now," hinted Dick. + +"Why?" Dalzell wanted to know, "This is the center of all the excitement +in town to-night." + +"Yes," Prescott replied, "but as soon as Mrs. Dexter thinks of it she'll +send for us and offer more thanks and rewards. We can get away 'most any +time now. And there comes her special policeman. Dexter won't be back +to-night, anyway." + +So the Grammar School boys slipped away, but they had added another page +to the history of Gridley. + +Dexter, with his usual luck, appeared to have made a safe retreat. The +police paid a visit to his former cave up the road, but did not catch +him there, although a police guard was kept at the cave for three days. + +But Dick received a postal card, on the back of which was printed: + +"If you ever interfere with me again, I promise you that your luck is at +an end!" + +The message was unsigned, but the message was postmarked at Gridley. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +OUT FOR HALLOWE'EN FUN + + +"There'll be loads of fun to-night," proclaimed Dan Dalzell, his eyes +sparkling with mischief, as he danced up and down in the schoolyard at +forenoon recess. + +"Why?" asked Dick innocently. + +"Don't you know what day this is?" Dan insisted. + +"Yes; and I also know that to-night will be Hallowe'en." + +"Then don't you know that there are going to be several barrels of fun +uncorked in this old burg to-night?" + +"I didn't know that barrels were ever 'uncorked,'" replied Dick +judicially. + +"Oh, pshaw! This isn't the first class in language!" retorted Dan +disdainfully. "You're going to be out to see the fun, aren't you?" + +"I suppose likely I shall be out on the street a little while after +supper," Prescott admitted. + +"Hear the young saint!" taunted Dan derisively, appealing to a group of +boys. "No one would ever suppose that Dick Prescott had ever gotten up +any mischief--hey?" + +"Oh, Dick will have one or two tricks ready for us to trim our enemies +with to-night," replied Ben Alvord. "Don't worry!" + +"Sure! Dick never yet went back on the crowd," declared Wrecker Lane. +"He's got a few good ones ready right now." + +"Have you, Dick?" demanded a chorus of eager voices. + +"Tell us one or two of the tricks now," pressed "Hoof" Sadby. + +But Dick shook his head. + +"Come on out with it!" coaxed Spoff Henderson. + +"Ain't he the mean one--keeping it all to himself?" + +"If Dick has anything hidden in his sleeve," broke in Tom Reade, "he'd +show a lot of sense, wouldn't he, telling it to a lot of you fellows +with loose-jointed tongues? Why, it would be in the evening paper, and +the folks we want to torment would be at their gates waiting for us." + +"We won't tell--won't breathe a word! Honest!" came in instant denial. + +"I'll tell you just one thing, fellows, if you think you really can keep +it to yourselves," grinned Dick. + +"Go ahead!" + +"Don't trust these talkative Indians with anything in advance, Dick," +protested Tom Reade. + +"Yes, yes--go ahead!" cried the boys. + +"You won't tell, fellows, will you?" Dick fenced. + +"Cross our hearts we won't." + +"Well, then, fellows, the truth is that you are all on the wrong scent. +I haven't thought up a blessed prank for to-night." + +"Aw!" came an unbelieving chorus. + +"Let's make him tell. Get hold of him. We'll paddle Dick Prescott until +he'll be glad to tell." + +There was a rush, but Dave and Tom got in front of Dick. + +"Who wants to try the paddle first?" asked Dave, his fists clenching, as +he faced the mischievous Grammar School boys. + +"But I haven't thought of a thing, fellows," protested Prescott. + +"Say, I want some of you fellows to help me take off old Pond's gate +to-night," called Toby Ross. "We can take it down and hang it on the +fountain in the square. That'll be a good mile from his house, and old +Pond will be awful mad, because he'll have to tote it all the way back +himself. He's too stingy to hire a teamster to take it back." + +"And that's your idea of fun is it?" demanded Dick. + +"Sure!" grinned Toby. + +"It might be for a seven-year-old, but it sounds pretty stupid for an +eighth grader." + +"What do you want me to do, then--set old Pond's house a-fire?" queried +Toby with an injured air. + +"We'll have to take down a lot of signs and change 'em," proposed Ned +Allen. + +"What do you think of that, Dick?" asked Spoff Henderson. + +"That sounds kiddish, too, doesn't it?" objected Dick. "And the trick is +at least three times as old as Gridley." + +"We can slip in at the back of George Farmer's place," suggested Wrecker +Lane. "You know, he's always bragging about the fine milk he serves. +Well, if we can get in at the cooling trough in his yard we can empty +half the milk out of each big can and fill it up with water. Then won't +he hear a row from his customers about watered milk?" + +That brought a guffaw from some of the youngsters, but Dick shook his +head. + +"That's kiddish, too," he remarked. + +"Say, what do you call kiddish tricks?" Hoof Sadby wanted to know. + +"Why, things that have been done, over and over again, by small boys. +All the tricks you fellows have named have been done by our +grandfathers. That's why I call 'em kiddish. A fellow who can't think up +a new one is only a kid. Use your brains, fellows." + +"Well, if you're so all-fired smart, you tell us a new one that has some +ginger in it," growled Wrecker. + +"I told you that I hadn't any," retorted Dick. "I admit that I'm dull. +But, if I do play any tricks to-night, they'll have to be just a little +bit new. Boys of our age haven't any business traveling around with +Hallowe'en jokes that are so old that they've voted and worn whiskers +for forty years. It isn't showing proper respect for old age." + +"Dick has a few new ones in his tank. Don't you worry about that," +muttered some of the wise ones. "You just find Dick & Co. on the street +to-night, and stick to 'em, and you'll see plenty of fun happening." + +"I'll tell you something else that we fellows are growing a bit too old +for, too, if you want to know," Dick offered presently, for the crowd +still insisted on hanging out close to this usually fertile leader in +fun. + +"Fire away," groaned Spoff. + +"Well, then, I mean the kind of tricks that destroy people's property. +The fellow that shies a stone through the window of some one he doesn't +like, or who carries off gates, or tramples flower beds is only a cheap +penny pirate." + +That was rather daring, for Dick's condemnation had touched rather +closely some forms of mischief that boys always imagine as belonging to +them on Hallowe'en night. + +However, the general opinion was against quarreling with Dick. Without +him and his chums on the streets, the Grammar School boys knew that +there wouldn't be as much sport. + +"You're trying to think up some good ones, aren't you?" asked Dave, as +he and Dick were about to part on the homeward way at noon. + +"Yes, of course; but I hope you other fellows have brains that are +working faster than mine is to-day." + +"Oh, you'll have something ready by to-night," laughed Dave. + +"I hope so." + +That afternoon the boys and girls in Old Dut's room did not appear to +have their minds very much on their lessons. A man of Old Dut's +experience knew why. + +"I'll stay at home and sit tight on my place to-night," murmured the +principal to himself. "Like as not I'm slated to be one of the biggest +Hallowe'en victims." + +When Dick reached Main Street that evening he found himself instantly +the center of a crowd of at least twenty boys from the Central Grammar. + +"What'll we do, Dick?" came the hail. + +"Anything you like," agreed Prescott. + +"But what have you thought up?" + +"Nothing." + +"Cut that!" + +"Honest, fellows, I haven't." + +"Never mind," sang out Dave. "We fellows will just roam around town for +a while and see what is happening. Something will pop into our minds, +and then we can have a bit of mischief." + +"Hullo!" muttered Toby. "Say! Just look at Hoof!" + +"Whatcher got there, Hoof?" demanded a laughing chorus. + +For Hoof Sadby, looking more sheepish than ever before in his life, had +appeared on the scene carrying a baby. It was a real, live one, too--his +year-and-a-half-old brother, to be exact. + +"Say, don't guy me too much, fellows," begged Hoof sadly. "I'm in a +pickle, sure. Pop and mother are going to a sociable to-night. That is, +they've already gone. And they said----" Hoof paused. "They said----" he +tried again. Then, in final desperation he shot it out quickly. "They +said I'd have to stay home, and--mind the baby!" + +"Isn't that a shame?" came a sympathetic chorus, but a few of the +fellows laughed. + +"It's a boy, any way," argued Hoof, rather brokenly, "and a smart little +fellow, too. Now, if he's going to grow up right as a boy the kid ought +to start in early. So I've wrapped him up warm and have brought him out +with me." + +"What are you going to do with him, Hoof?" + +"I'm going to tote the little fellow around to see the fun--if you +fellows can stand having me with you," announced Hoof sadly, rather +pleadingly. + +"Why, of course you can come, can't he, fellows?" appealed Dick. + +"If you're sure that the youngster won't catch cold," agreed Tom Reade. +"A baby is a human being, you know, and has some rights of his own." + +"Oh, I won't let the little shaver catch cold," promised Hoof. "See how +warmly I've got him wrapped up." + +As some of the fellows crowded about their encumbered mate, baby laughed +and tried to reach them. + +"He's a good fellow, if he is young," spoke up Greg. "Bring him along, +Hoof." + +So that was settled, and the crowd turned down one of the side streets. +These darker thoroughfares, as all knew by experience, were safer for +Hallowe'en pranks. The dark places were the easiest ones in which to +escape when pursuit offered. + +Nor had the Grammar School crowd been strolling along more than +two minutes when Dick suddenly halted them by holding up one hand. + +"What is it?" whispered several, mysteriously, as they crowded about the +leader. + +"There's Mose Waterman's house, and it's all dark there," murmured Dick. +"And it's the same over at Mr. Gordon's. Now, you know, Waterman and +Gordon have never spoken to each other since they had that law suit." + +"Yes, yes!" + +"Well, the warm weather lately has led Mose Waterman to leave his porch +chairs out later'n usual. Now, fellows, suppose we lift the chairs from +Waterman's porch and put 'em over on Gordon's porch. That wouldn't be +far for Waterman to go after 'em, but do you think he'd do it? Never! He +will growl, and swear that Gordon stole the chairs. And Mr. Gordon is +too angry with Mose Waterman to take the chairs back. So it'll give us +fun for a fortnight strolling by in the day time and noticing whether +Waterman has his chairs back." + +"Wow!" "Whoop!" "And you said, Dick"--reproachfully--"that you couldn't +think up anything!" + +Half a dozen figures moved swiftly and stealthily. In a twinkling the +transfer of porch chairs from Waterman's house to Gordon's had been +made. The young mischief-makers passed on, looking for more nonsense. +But that joke became almost classic in Gridley. For days and days after +that Waterman and Gordon glared at each other from their front windows, +or whenever they met on the street. But neither would touch the chairs, +and neighbors grinned every time they passed and saw the chairs still on +the Gordon porch. One night, in November, however, Gordon took the +chairs as far as the middle of the road. An hour later Mose Waterman +slipped out from his unlighted house and carried the chairs back and +into his own house. The neighbors had had their hearty laughs, however. + +"Say, I'll bet that's the best thing done to-night," chuckled Toby Ross, +as the "gang" pressed on to new scenes and new laughs. + +But it wasn't quite the best thing done that night as later events +showed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEWEST TRICK OF ALL + + +"Here's where old Miss Lowthry lives," muttered Ned Allen, halting +before a gate leading into the grounds surrounding a cosy little +cottage. + +"It wouldn't be very manly to do anything to scare lone women, would +it?" demanded Dick. + +"She's an old maid," protested Toby. + +"That's no crime," insisted Dick. + +"She has no use for boys," breathed Ben Alvord, complainingly. + +"From some things that boys do, I don't altogether blame her," chuckled +young Prescott. + +"And--say! Don't Miss Lowthry hate babies!" grunted Wrecker Lane. "You +remember Fred Porter? His folks used to live in that next house. When +Fred was a baby they say he used to cry something awful. Well, once in +the summer, after Fred had cried every night for a week, and Miss +Lowthry had to hear it all through her open windows, what did she do but +go to the health board and ask that the Porters be ordered to make their +baby stop crying. There was an awful fuss about it, and Miss Lowthry +made some talk about all babies being brats." + +"They are not," denied Hoof Sadby indignantly. + +"That's what I'm trying to tell you," went on Wrecker calmly. "That's +why I have no use for old maids that hate babies. Now, there are some +old maids that are really fine. But Miss Lowthry!" + +"Wrecker, you live right near here," murmured Dick suddenly. + +"'Course I do." + +"Then come aside. I want to whisper something to you." + +Then Dick talked in whispers with Wrecker for a few moments. The other +boy was seen by the curious suddenly to double up with laughter. From +that attitude Wrecker recovered, only to start off on the run. + +"Say, what is it?" demanded a dozen cautious voices as Dick came back to +the crowd. + +"Now, see here, fellows, don't want to know too much. Just stay around +and see what happens, and you'll all enjoy it as much as Miss Lowthry +does." + +"Then it's against her?" breathed Ben Alvord. "Good! great!" + +"Now, you, Dave, stay here with me," Dick went on, disposing of his +forces with the air of a general. "The rest of you fellows scoot across +the lawn and hide in the bushes. Hide so that you can't be seen from the +street or from the front door of the cottage, either. Then just wait and +see what happens." + +Tom Reade and Greg managed to get the crowd started. Then Dick called, +softly: + +"Oh, say, Hoof! I'll hold the baby for you a while. You must be tired." + +Hoof started, and glared suspiciously. But he knew that Dick was "always +on the square," and so, after swallowing hard, passed the tiny, bundled +youngster over to Prescott's waiting arms. "Say, be careful what you do +with him," pleaded Sadby. "He's a fine little fellow." + +Then the crowd hid. How they watched and waited! Miss Lowthry's sitting +room was lighted, and the boys could see her, seated in a rocking chair, +reading a book. + +It seemed ages ere Wrecker Lane returned. When he came he brought a +basket. Some soft fragments of blanket rested in the bottom of it. + +"Just the thing," chuckled Dick softly, placing the baby in the basket. +"Now, skip over there, Wrecker, and hide with the fellows in the +bushes." + +Dick waited until Wrecker Lane vanished. + +"Now, come along, Dave," chuckled Prescott. "You ring the bell just as I +place the basket on the steps. Then we'll both hot-foot it to join the +fellows." + +A few moments later Dick and Dave scurried to cover, snuggling down +among a lot of Grammar School boys who were holding their handkerchiefs +wedged in their mouths. + +Then they heard the front door open, saw Miss Lowthry peer out, and then +heard her utter a shriek, followed with: + +"Mercy me! Who has dared to leave a foundling on my step?" + +And then, as she bent over and poked the pieces of blanket aside: + +"Mercy! What a horridly homely brat!" + +"It isn't!" exploded Hoof, in an undertone, as he snatched the +handkerchief from his mouth. "Gracious! Wouldn't I like to pinch her!" + +But Miss Lowthry must have recognized her duty as a citizen, for she +picked up the basket and bore it into the house, slamming the door +behind her. + +"Wow! Oh, dear! oh, dear!" laughed a lot of mischievous youngsters +hidden in the bushes. + +"Look!" whispered Dave Darrin. "She has taken the basket into her +sitting room. She's placed it on a table. There she goes to the +telephone. Whee! See how she's working her arm, jerking that telephone +bell crank!" + +Some conversation that the young peepers, of course, couldn't hear +passed over the telephone. Then Miss Lowthry hung up the receiver and +thrust her forefingers into her ears as she turned to stare at the human +contents of the basket on the table. + +"The poor kid's hollering," muttered Hoof. "Can you blame it?" + +All that followed, and which the boys could see through the lighted +windows of the room interested them mightily. But at last they heard a +heavy step on the sidewalk. Then one of the blue-coated guardians of +Gridley's peace turned in at the gate, went up to the door and rang the +bell. + +"She sent for the police," chuckled Dick Prescott. + +"Of course," grinned Dave. + +The peeping boys saw the officer step through into the old maid's +sitting room. Miss Lowthry pointed at the basket in a highly dramatic +way. The policeman bent over to take a kindly look at the tiny youngster +therein, then adjusting the pieces of blanket, he lifted the basket. + +"Now, it's time to do your turn, Hoof," whispered Dick, giving young +Sadby a nudge. "Slip over the fence and do it right." + +Miss Lowthry followed the policeman to the door, opening it for him and +letting him out. + +"Boo-hoo!" sounded a heart-broken voice out on the sidewalk, in the +darkness beyond. Then, as the policeman stepped down from the steps, +Hoof suddenly let out a wail and darted into the yard. + +"Say, Mister Cop, have you got it?" demanded Hoof eagerly. + +"Got what?" demanded the policeman. + +"My baby brother! You see, Mister Cop, some fellows took my baby brother +and carried him off for a joke." + +Then Hoof came into the pale light that was shed just past the open +front door. There were tears in his eyes, all right, for an onion was +one of the things that "Wrecker" Lane had brought from home. Hoof had +rubbed a slice of the onion on the skin under his eyes, and the tears +that he wanted to show were genuine enough. + +"Is this your brother?" demanded the policeman, lowering the basket he +was carrying. + +The Sadby baby had begun to cry again, but at sight of Hoof the little +fellow stopped suddenly, crowed and reached out with its little hands. + +"After that do you have to ask if that's my kid brother?" demanded Hoof +Sadby proudly. + +"I guess it is, all right, Sadby," replied the policeman. "I know you. +Well, if this is your brother, please take him off my hands--and +welcome. You see, Miss Lowthry, it was nothing but the humorous prank of +some boys. This is Hallowe'en." + +"Boys!" sniffed Miss Lowthry, glaring. "Humph! I think I could eat a +couple of boys, right now, if I could see them skinned alive and then +boiled." + +Hoof, once he had possession of the basket, raced away as though nothing +else on earth mattered. This was good policy for, if he lingered, the +policeman might begin to ask questions. + +When the door had closed and the officer was gone, Dick and his crowd +slipped out from concealment, joining Hoof and his baby brother. + +"Oh, me, oh, my!" groaned Dave Darrin, stifling with laughter. "We must +play this on some more folks." + +"But say," warned Dick Prescott, "don't you think that, by the time +we've played this on three or four more people, the policeman will begin +to be suspicious of Hoof's wailing accents and his great joy at finding +his kid brother?" + +"Oh, we'll have to try it again, anyway," urged Tom Reade. "I know just +the people to work it on. You know Mr. and Mrs Crossleigh? They live +around on the next street. They haven't any children, and they're big +cranks." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +CARRYING "FUN" TO THE DANGER LIMIT + + +The Hallowe'eners hidden across the street, and Hoof Sadby posted up the +street, ready to come on the scene and do his part when needed, Tom +Reade and Greg Holmes crept up to the front porch of the Crossleigh +home, deposited the basket, rang and then bolted. + +In a short time a dim light was visible through the stained glass of the +front door. Then that barrier itself was opened, and Mr. Crossleigh, a +man past middle age, and in dressing-gown and slippers, came out. + +Seeing no one, and coming further out, Mr. Crossleigh almost kicked the +basket. But he recovered in time, and bent down. + +The peepers, not far away, heard him utter an exclamation of amazement. +Then: + +"Wife!" he called back into the house. "Come and see who's here!" + +"Who is it?" hailed a voice from inside. "Cousin Jenny?" + +"No; it isn't." + +"Who? The minister?" + +"No; you just come and see." + +Then Mrs. Crossleigh came down the hallway and out on to the porch. + +"Now, who do you think it is?" chuckled Mr. Crossleigh, lifting the +basket. + +"Henry Crossleigh, where on earth----" + +"Don't ask me where it came from, wife. I found it here on the stoop +when I answered the bell." + +"Well of all the----" gasped the woman in wonder. + +"Ain't it!" agreed her husband. + +"It's--it's--why, I do believe it's a real cute little shaver," +continued the woman hesitatingly. + +"Fine little fellow, I should say, though I'm no judge," continued Mr. +Crossleigh. + +"And it isn't crying a bit. Do you suppose it's a foundling, left on our +stoop, as we sometimes read of in the papers, Henry?" + +"That's just what it is, of course. Folks don't leave small children +around for a joke, wife." + +"And have we got to take it in and keep it?" + +"The law doesn't compel us to." + +"But--Henry----" + +"What is it, wife?" + +"Do you suppose--we've never had any children. Do you think we +could----" + +"We can do whatever you say, wife," nodded + +[Illustration: "Is This the Brother You're Looking For?"] + +Mr. Crossleigh. "If you say that you want to----" + +Here he came to a pause. The new idea was so wholly strange that he +couldn't grasp it all at once. + +Here Hoof Sadby, straining his ears from the distance, judged that it +was high time for him to use his slice of onion. Then his doleful voice +was heard as he came wailing along. + +"Why, who's that out there?" cried Mrs. Crossleigh. + +"Say, have you got my baby brother!" demanded Hoof, halting at the +gateway, then running forward for a minute. "Some fellers---- + +"Is this the brother you're looking for?" asked Mr. Crossleigh, stepping +toward Hoof, basket in hand. + +"Yes!" snapped Hoof, giving a pretended gulp of joy. But, truth to tell, +he felt so ashamed of himself that he was a poor actor at this moment. +Had the Crossleighs been more suspicious they would have detected +something sham in Hoof's beginning grief and his swift change to joy. + +"Oh, thank you, sir," awkwardly sobbed Hoof, taking the basket. "I know +the fellows that did this to me. They think this is a good Hallowe'en +joke." + +"I'm glad, boy, that you didn't have a longer hunt," remarked Mr. +Crossleigh. "Good night!" + +Then Hoof and the peepers across the way saw Mr. Crossleigh throw an arm +around his wife's waist and draw her into the house, closing the door. + +"Say, who said they were cranks?" demanded Greg Holmes, when the abashed +Hallowe'eners had gathered a little way down the street. "Why, those +folks would have been only too glad to take the little shaver in +and----" + +"Adopt it," supplied Dan Dalzell. + +Truth to tell, Dick and all the Grammar School boys had seen the +beginning of a scene that made their joke look small. + +"If I ever catch any fellow trying to sneak the Crossleigh's gate," +warned Dave loftily, "I'll give that fellow all that's coming his way!" + +"They're the right sort of people," confessed Dick. "Fellows, we've all +got to make it our business to see that the Crossleighs are never +bothered again by fellows out for larks. Say, they showed us that +playing a joke with a baby is only a clownish trick, didn't they?" + +"I'm going home," announced Hoof. "This little shaver has been out long +enough. It's time he was in his crib." + +To this no objection was offered. As Wrecker Lane was near his home he +ran off with the basket, which he tossed into the yard, after which he +overtook his companions. + +"What are we going to do, now?" Ben Alvord wanted to know. + +"Let's prowl around and see what other Hallowe'eners are doing," +proposed Dick. + +Apparently there was enough going on. The Grammar School boys came +across one party of grown young men who had climbed to the top of a +blacksmith shop and had hoisted a wagon into place on the ridge pole. At +another point they came across a group of High School boys who, with +bricks done up in fancy paper, and with a confectioner's label pasted on +the package, were industriously circulating these sham sweets by tying +the packages to door-knobs, ringing the bells and then hurrying away. In +another part of the town the Grammar School boys came upon a bevy of +schoolgirls engaged in the ancient pastime of "hanging baskets." + +In time Dick and the rest of the crowd found themselves down by the +railroad, not far from the railway station. Lights shone out from the +office where the night operator was handling train orders and other +telegrams. + +"What can we do here?" demanded Ben Alvord. + +"I don't know," returned Dave. + +"It's a bad place to play tricks," advised Dick. "Railway people are in +a serious line of business, and they don't stand for much nonsense." + +"Green is the night operator, and I don't forget the switching he gave +some of us a year ago," muttered Ben Alvord bitterly. + +"What were you doing?" asked Dick. + +"Oh, just catching on and off a night freight that was being made up in +the yard." + +"And taking a big chance of getting hurt?" asked Dick. "I don't know +that I blame Green much for taking the quickest course he knew of +getting you out of harm's way." + +"He had no right to switch us with a stick," insisted Ben. + +"You're right he hadn't," spoke up another youngster. "I was there, and +I got some of that switch across my legs, too. Whew! I can feel the +sting yet." + +"I guess it's about time that Green heard from us," insisted Ben. + +"If I were you I wouldn't do anything around here," advised Dick. + +"You're right," nodded Dave. "And I guess, Ben, you fellows didn't get a +bit more than you deserved." + +"I'll show old Green whether we did," snapped Ben. + +"Don't you think of it," warned Greg Holmes. "It's a serious business to +monkey with railroad property. Besides, anything serious might put in +danger the lives of people traveling on the railroad." + +"Oh, keep quiet and do some thinking," retorted young Alvord. "Any of +you fellows that never eat anything but milk, and are 'fraidcats, can +cut out of this. I tell you, I'm going to get hunk with Green, and +fellows with sand, who want to see it, can stay. The milksops can go +home and to bed." + +Not a boy stirred away just then. It isn't boy nature to withdraw under +taunts. + +"Say, Ben, I'll tell you something you dassent do," dared one of the +boys. + +"It'll have to be something pretty big that I don't dare do," boasted +young Alvord. + +"Do you dast to pick up a stone and smash one of the red or green lights +over there?" + +The lights referred to were the signal lights for passing trains. + +"Don't do that!" protested Dick Prescott sharply. "That certainly would +be downright criminal!" + +"Milksop!" retorted Ben. "I dast to do anything that I want to." + +"I think I dare do anything that's decent," retorted Dick quietly. "But +I don't pretend that I'm brave enough to commit crimes, if you call +breaking the law bravery." + +"Crime?" sneered Ben. "Bosh! This is only fun, and getting square with a +man who has been mean to some of us." + +"If you don't take Dick's advice, and cut out the trick, you'll be +mighty sorry afterwards," urged Tom Reade. "Come on, fellows. Let's move +along and find some fun that is more decent." + +"Babies!" jeered Ben Alvord. "You haven't nerve enough to stand up for +your rights and pay Green back for the way he treats the fellows when he +loses his temper. You're babies! Go on. Those who aren't babies will +stay right here and see what happens." + +"You're talking boldly enough, now, Ben Alvord, but you'll be whining +to-morrow, instead. Come on, fellows; let's have nothing to do with the +scheme," cried Dick. + +"Babies!" sneered Ben again. "You fellows who want to be classed with +the babies can go. The fellows with nerve can stay right here." + +"Come along, then," urged Dick, and he and his chums started away. At +the corner, just before turning up the street that led away from the +railway station Dick turned to see if others than his chums were coming +along. But Dick & Co. proved to be the only ones who had left the scene. + +There were others who wanted to go with Dick Prescott, but they didn't +care to risk being taunted with being "babies." So they stood by Ben, +though nervously. + +"Do you s'pose we'll get in jail?" whispered one of Ben's followers +nervously. + +"Humph! You'd better run along with the babies," jeered Ben Alvord. "I +guess it's time that some of you were in your cradles, anyway." + +"Shut up! We're standing by you, aren't we?" Wrecker Lane demanded. + +"Are you ready, then?" inquired Ben, glancing around at those who had +stayed with him. + +"Yes," replied Toby. + +"Now, take good aim!" warned Ben, in a conspirator's tone. "Remember, we +can't wait, this time, for any repeat shots. All you fellows ready?" + +"Yes," came the response. + +"When I say 'three,' then," ordered Ben. "All ready! One, two, three!" + +Through the air whizzed a volley of stones. + +Crash! Both the red and the green lights went out, the glass flying in +splinters. + +Guessing what had happened, Operator Green dashed out hotfoot in +pursuit. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BEN WANTS TO KNOW WHO "BLABBED" + + +"Cheese it! Scoot!" sounded the unnecessary warning. + +A crowd of boys, engaged in mischief, doesn't have to wait to be +instructed in the art of vanishing. + +By the time that Mr. Green, swift though he was, got out into the open, +Ben and the other stone-throwers had scattered in as many different +directions as there were boys in the party. + +For a moment Night Operator Green halted, baffled, for every one of the +fugitives had found safe cover. + +"They've run down to the street, and are making off," decided the night +operator, with bad judgment. "I'll catch some of them yet." + +Whereupon he sprinted down to the corner and turned up the street. True +enough he beheld a clump of boys, but they were gathered around one of +their number and talking earnestly. + +"Stop, you young heathen! Stay right where you are, if you know what's +good for you!" yelled the angered operator. + +None of the six boys moved more than was necessary in order for them to +get a view of the charging operator. + +"Now, I've got you;" roared Mr. Green swooping down upon Dick & Co. + +"Well, Mr Green?" inquired Dick unafraid, as he had a right to be. + +"I want all your names!" growled the operator. "Your right names, too!" + +"I guess you know all of our names now, if you take a good look at us," +smiled Prescott. + +"Yes, I do," nodded Mr. Green grimly. "I wouldn't have thought it of any +of you boys, either. But there's no telling what boys won't do +nowadays." + +"What are we supposed to have done?" Dick queried. + +"You're the youngsters who threw a volley of stones and broke the +railroad signal lights." + +"Guess again!" suggested Dave. + +"Aren't the lights broken, and didn't I catch you moving away from the +scene?" glared Mr. Green. + +"Yes; but didn't you hear some other boys getting away at the same +time?" demanded Prescott. + +"Um! I--er--suppose I did." + +"Doesn't it strike you that the boys who broke your signal lights were +the ones who ran away so fast?" + +"Then you boys didn't do it!" + +"We certainly didn't." + +"Who were the boys, then!" + +"Excuse me, Mr. Green, but you'll have to find that out for yourself." + +"Who were they?" pressed the operator. + +"As I said before, Mr. Green, you'll have to find that out for +yourself." + +"Then I guess I'll take you youngsters in on the charge. You know that I +belong to the railway police, don't you?" + +"Yes; and I also know," smiled Dick steadily, "that, if you don't +succeed in proving your charge, you'll lay both yourself and the +railroad liable to damages for false arrest." + +Mr. Green looked a bit uneasy. This is a point of law intended to +restrain officers of the law from making arrests without evidence. + +"For the last time, will you tell me the names of the boys who threw the +stones?" + +"No," Dick rejoined, "for we don't know exactly what boys did the +throwing." + +"Name the boys you suspect, then." + +"Nothing doing," Dave Darrin interposed, with emphasis. + +"Then I'll have to take you boys in." + +"That's your privilege--and your risk, as Dick has explained," laughed +Dave. + +Green fidgeted. He didn't want to make any mistakes, but he did wish +that these Grammar School boys could be scared more easily. + +"Will you come back to the station with me, without going in arrest?" +asked the operator. + +"Why?" questioned Prescott, pointedly. + +"Because I'm going to send for the chief of police, and I shall want him +to talk with you," Green answered. + +"The chief of police knows where to find any of us when he wants to," +hinted Darrin. + +"If Mr. Green asks us to go to the railway station with him, without +being placed under arrest, I don't see what harm that can do, fellows. +What do you say if we accept Mr. Green's invitation?" + +"All right," agreed some of the six. Even Dave consented. + +Ten minutes later the chief of police was on hand. He inspected the +broken lights just before the operator placed out new ones. Mr. Green +stated what he knew of the affair. Then the chief turned to Dick & Co. +He put many questions. Some of these Dick and his friends answered +promptly. They even told how they had spoken against the proposed prank, +and how they had left when they had found that the other boys couldn't +be stopped. But as to the matter of naming the other boys all six +refused. + +"We're not tell-tales," Dick explained. + +"Justice Lee can make you tell," warned the chief of police. + +"Can he?" inquired Dick. "Can he make us testify as to our suspicions? +And wouldn't warrants have to be issued for us before we could be taken +to court?" + +"No; the judge could issue summons for you all." + +"But could he make us testify as to suspicions--things we didn't +actually see?" propounded Dick Prescott. + +The chief chewed the ends of his moustache. + +"It's a criminal act to destroy the signal lights of a railway," the +police officer went on. "You ought to tell us, to serve the ends of +justice." + +"Do you know what would happen to us?" Dick demanded. + +"What?" + +"Every other fellow in town would point his finger at us and cry +'tell-tale!' We'd get thrashed whenever we showed our heads outdoors." + +"The police can protect you," declared the chief. + +"Have you ever had policemen enough yet to prevent boys from fighting in +Gridley?" challenged Dick, though his tone was respectful. "Besides, the +thrashings wouldn't be anything to the scorn and contempt that we'd meet +everywhere." + +"You ought to tell us," insisted the chief of police. "You're helping to +defeat the ends of justice." + +"Aren't men clever enough to catch a few boy offenders, without +demanding that other boys 'queer' themselves with every fellow in town?" +insisted Dick. + +"Justice Lee will make you tell, then," promised the chief, with a shake +of his head. + +"He can't!" spoke Dick with spirit. "I'll go to prison, and stay there, +before I'll turn blab. So will my friends." + +"That's just what we'll do," nodded Dave, his eyes flashing. + +The chief chewed his moustache thoughtfully. At last he spoke. + +"You boys can go now. I know where to find you when I want you." + +Dick & Co. lost no time in getting away from this uncomfortable +examination. + +"Prescott and Darrin are regular little schoolboy lawyers, Green," +laughed the chief. "We can't make them tell a thing." + +"But the judge ought to be able to." + +"Perhaps Justice Lee has the power, Green, but we'd only make heroes of +Prescott, Darrin and the rest if we made martyrs of them in court. It +would stir up a lot of bad feeling in the town, too, and after that +every boy would feel that he had a grudge against you railway people. +You'd be annoyed in loads of ways that the police couldn't very well +stop. Prescott scored a hit with me when he said that a lot of grown men +ought to be able to catch a lot of boy offenders. Green, the best thing +to do is to put the case up to your railway company." + +"The boys who threw the stones must be found and punished!" insisted the +operator firmly. + +"Yes; I agree with you on that point. But you'd better go about in a +regular way. Wire your headquarters and ask that a railway detective be +sent here on the case. My department will give your detective all proper +aid in the matter." + +One of the earliest trains, the next morning, brought Detective Briscoe. +That official, however, worked very quietly. No one guessed who or what +he was until he was ready to strike. + +Ned Allen, Ben Alvord, Toby Ross, Wrecker Lane and Spoff Henderson were +badly scared that same next morning. They met on the way to school and +took blood-curdling oaths as to secrecy. + +Then, in the school yard, Ben Alvord hunted up Prescott. + +"Dick, you didn't give our names last night, did you?" + +"No," Prescott replied. + +"You won't name us, either, will you?" + +"No, sirree!" + +So the light-smashers felt more comfortable. By the day following they +breathed easily--until they reached school. + +The boys were in the yard, playing until the gong rang for morning +session. A buggy drove up, and Detective Briscoe and two policemen in +plain clothes got out. + +"Trouble!" was the word whispered. Ben Alvord and his fellows turned +pale. But the gong rang. Glad of any chance to bolt, Ben, Spoff, Ned, +Toby and Wrecker fled to the basement to get into line. + +Briscoe and the two policemen appeared in Old Dut's room. The detective +drew some papers from his pocket, inquiring: + +"You have boys here by the names of Allen, Alvord, Ross, Lane and +Henderson, haven't you?" + +"Yes," nodded Old Dut. + +"Ask them to step forward, please." + +Pallid and shaking a bit, the five came forward. + +"Boys," announced Detective Briscoe, "I am sorry to say that Justice Lee +wants to see you about a little matter on Hallowe'en. Get your hats and +coats and come along." + +An awed hush crept over the eighth grade room after the youngsters had +left. + +"I hope," declared Old Dut to his class, "that the young men haven't +been doing anything very wrong." + +Under Justice Lee's questioning the five broke down, one after another +and confessed. + +"Young men," said Justice Lee severely, "this is a more serious offense +than probably any of you understand. Destroying railway signals is +always likely to lead to destruction of property and even loss of life. +I advise the parents of these young men to explain to them carefully and +earnestly what a criminal thing these boys have done. If any of you +young men are ever brought before me again, on such a charge, I shall +send the offenders to a reformatory, there to remain until they are +twenty-one. For this first offense I trust that the parents will act as +my allies. On this occasion, therefore, I shall let the young men off +with a fine of ten dollars each." + +The fines were paid. Ben and his comrades reached school just as the +afternoon session was closing. All five of the culprits were in an +angry, defiant frame of mind. + +"Whoop! There's Ben Alvord," shouted one of the eighth grade boys, as +Central Grammar "let out." "Hullo, Ben! What did they do to you?" + +"How long you got to go up for, Ben?" jeered another. + +The five were quickly surrounded and eagerly questioned. + +"That judge was too fresh!" declared Alvord wrathfully. "He called us +criminals, and gave us a fierce scolding. He made our folks pay ten +dollars apiece." + +"That don't cost you anything," grinned one of the boys. + +"Don't it, though?" Ben demanded angrily. "I had ten dollars and forty +cents saved up for a bicycle. Dad said that, as long as I liked such +expensive amusements, I could just pay the fine out of my bicycle money. +So, now, I've got only forty cents left. And all because some fellows +can't keep their mouths shut!" + +"What do you mean by that, Ben?" demanded three or four fellows. + +"I mean that Dick Prescott and his gang had to go and blab on us!" +charged Ben Alvord. "There he is, now, the sneak!" + +There was a great bobbing of heads. All eyes, and most of them accusing +eyes, were turned on Dick & Co. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +DICK'S ACCUSER GETS TWO ANSWERS + + +Dick took a step forward, his face grave but his eyes steady as he faced +his accuser. + +"Ben, I know you're sore, but if you say that I, or any of my friends +told on you, then you're going too far." + +"You did!" asserted young Alvord. "You blabbed!" + +"I didn't, and we didn't; not one of us." + +"That's all right to say after you're caught," flared Ben. + +"Then you call us liars?" flashed Dave Darrin, pushing his way forward, +his fists clenched. + +"You are, if you say you didn't blab!" panted Ben. + +"Fight! fight!" chorused some of the boys. + +"Get back, Dave, and keep cool," warned Dick, pushing his chum to the +rear. "This thing started with me, and it's my affair first of all. Ben +Alvord, look at me! I don't want to fight. I don't believe in fighting +when it can be helped. I know you're sore, too, for you've just had a +rough time of it after what you thought was fun on Hallowe'en. But +you're going too far when you say we blabbed on you, for we didn't." + +"Who did, then?" sneered Ben. + +"I don't know. I'm not the chief of police. But, just because you can't +think who told on you, you needn't come along and accuse us." + +"I say you did tell--you or some of your gang!" retorted Ben. + +"It sounds likely enough. No one else knew," muttered a boy on the +outskirts of the crowd. + +"Of course Dick Prescott or some of his gang told on us," insisted Ben +Alvord angrily. + +Dick took a step closer to his accuser. + +"Then, Ben, you're a liar!" Prescott announced coolly. + +"Punch him!" urged another boy, giving Ben a shove toward Dick. + +"You bet I will!" snapped Alvord. "I don't allow a sneak to call me a +liar." + +"You can have a fight, if you insist on it," agreed Dick promptly. "You +can have it right away, too, and it will last as long as you want. But +this is no place. Let's go up to the field where we used to practise +football." + +"Whoop! Come on!" The crowd of Grammar School boys surged around the +prospective fighters. A big procession started up the road. + +"See here, this whole crowd can't come. So many will get us into +trouble," shouted Dave. + +"I'll name ten of Dick's friends, and Ben can name ten of his friends. +No one else will be allowed to come." + +Dave quickly called off his list of boys. + +"Choose me, Ben!" "Choose me!" urged two score boys whom Dave had not +named. Ben looked around, trying to select those whom he thought most +friendly to himself. + +Then the procession started again, containing only the chosen ones. +Others wanted to go, but knew they would be driven back by the selected +twenty friends. + +The field was quickly reached. Ben Alvord was cooling, now. He would +have drawn out of the fight, but knew that he couldn't get out without +discredit. So Ben pulled off his jacket, took off his collar and tie and +made ready. + +Dick, who was almost wholly free from anger, made similar preparations. +After a good deal of disputing Hoof Sadby was agreed upon as a referee +satisfactory to both sides. Dave, of course, seconded Dick, while Alvord +chose Toby Ross. + +"Get your men forward," ordered Hoof. "Want to shake hands before you +start?" + +"No," growled Ben sullenly. + +"Time, then! Get busy!" + +Dick threw himself on guard. He was not an amazingly good boxer, but he +had been through a few schoolboy fights. + +"I'll knock your head off and wind it up!" blazed Ben, darting forward. + +Instead of carrying out his programme, Ben received a blow on the nose +that staggered him. + +"No fair!" howled Ben, retreating. "I hadn't my guard up." + +"Your fault, then," mocked Dick. + +"All fair," chimed in Hoof. "Stop talking and mix it up." + +Ben soon advanced once more, rather disconcerted by the wholly steady +bearing of Dick Prescott. + +This time Alvord tried to foul by hitting below the belt. Dick +sidestepped and drove in a blow against Ben's left eye. + +"My! That was a socker!" yelled some of the spectators. + +"You're hitting too hard. It ain't fair," wailed Ben, backing off. + +"If all you want is gymnastics you don't need me," mocked Dick. "Fight, +if you're going to. If you're not, then get out of this." + +"Mix it up!" ordered Hoof tersely, and the crowd took up the cry. + +Ben suddenly let loose. For a few moments he kept young Prescott pretty +busy. Not all of Ben's blows were fended off, either. Dick's face began +to show red spots from the hard impacts of Alvord's tough little fists. + +"Good boy, Ben! Go in and wind up his clock!" came the gleeful advice. +"You've got him started. Keep him going!" + +Just then a blow under the chin sent Ben down to the ground. + +"Keep back, Prescott. Don't hit him while he's down," cried several. But +this Dick had no intention of doing. Panting slightly, he waited for Ben +to get to his feet. This Alvord soon did, drawing away crouchingly. + +"Got enough?" hailed Dick. + +"I'll show you!" raged Ben, rushing forward. + +Dick met him half-way, in a leap. Now it was Prescott on the offensive, +and he forced Ben all over the field, to the tune of encouraging yells. +Ben tried to save his face, but couldn't. Then Dick hammered his body. +Young Alvord lost all his coolness, and began to windmill his hands. +That settled it, of course. Any boy who forsakes his guard to take to +windmilling is as good as whipped. Dick watched his chance, then drove +in a blow on Ben's jaw that felled him flat. + +"O-o-oh!" wailed Ben, holding to his jaw with both hands. + +"Do you give it up?" demanded Hoof. + +"No!" + +"Then get up and go on with the fight." + +"I will when I'm ready." + +"You will, now, or I'll decide against you," warned Hoof. + +"That booby broke my jaw," groaned Ben. + +"You wag it pretty well, for a broken jaw," jeered Dave. + +"Get up, Ben!" + +"If you don't you're thrashed!" + +"Don't give up like a baby!" + +"Get up and fight," ordered Hoof. "One!" + +Ben lay on the ground, glaring about him in sullen silence. + +"Going to get up?" demanded Hoof. "Two!" + +"Oh, Ben, don't let Prescott whip you as easily as that," implored +several of Alvord's backers. + +"Get up!" commanded Hoof, putting the toe of his boot lightly against +Alvord's body. "Three!" + +Still Ben refused to stir. + +"Dick Prescott wins the fight," announced Hoof judicially. "Ben refused +three times to get up and go on." + +As soon as Prescott began to don his discarded coat, Ben got to his +feet. + +"Now, I have something to say to you, Alvord," announced Dave, going +over to the worsted one. "You insulted six of us and called us liars. +Dick is only one. You'll have to fight the rest of us, one a day, or +else apologize before the crowd." + +"I won't apologize," glared Ben. + +"All right, then. You'll fight me after school to-morrow," Darrin +declared. + +"And me the day after," challenged Greg Holmes. Reade, Dalzell and +Hazelton all put in their claims for dates. + +"You think you're going to bully me, don't you?" grunted Ben. + +"No," Dave answered. "But when a fellow lies about me I'm going to make +him fight or apologize." + +"I don't know whether I will fight you, or not," snarled Ben. + +"Then you'll get a thrashing just the same, and be called a coward by +every decent fellow in school," flared Dave. + +Ben quailed a bit inwardly. He had had all the fighting he wanted for +the present. + +"That Prescott fellow is no good, anyway," sniffed Ben, as he walked +homeward with Toby Ross, the only one of the late spectators who had +stood by him. + +"Well, may-be he didn't tell on us," suggested Toby. + +"'Course he did!" + +"Dick has always acted pretty decently." + +"Huh! If neither he nor any of his gang told, then who did?" demanded +Ben, as though that settled it. + +"Ben Alvord, what have you been doing?" demanded his mother, as Ben +showed up at the kitchen door. + +"Why?" + +"Your face is all bruised. Have you been fighting?" + +"Yes, ma'am. I had to. I thumped Dick Prescott for telling on us and +getting us all arrested." + +"Did Dick say that he told on you?" asked Mrs. Alvord. + +"No, ma'am." + +"Denied it, didn't he?" + +"Yes'm." + +"And I guess Dick told the truth. I know who did tell on all you boys," +announced his mother. + +"Who?" demanded Ben sullenly. + +"Your little brother, Will." + +Willie Alvord was only between four and five; not yet old enough to go +to school. + +"I got it all out of the baby this afternoon," continued Mrs. Alvord. "I +saw him playing with a new baseball bat, and I made him tell me where he +got it. It seems that Willie heard you and Toby, and the other boys +talking about your Hallowe'en pranks yesterday morning before you went +to school. Then, later, Willie was out in the street playing, when 'a +nice man'--as Willie called him--came along and got to talking with him. +The man talked about you, it seems, Ben, and he made believe he didn't +think Willie's big brother was very smart. Then Willie up and boasted of +your smartness down at the railroad. The 'nice man' took Willie to the +corner and bought him some candy and a baseball bat, and kept on talking +about you and Toby, and the rest, and of course Willie told the 'nice +man' all he'd heard about the railroad business." + +"That 'nice man' must have been the detective," growled Ben. "Oh, he's a +real 'nice man.' If Willie was larger I'd take the baseball bat to him +for talking too much!" + +"Well, you won't," warned his mother dryly. "Willie is only a baby, and +didn't know what he was saying. But you'd better go and apologize to +Dick Prescott." + +"Huh!" was Ben's undutiful retort. Then he went outside with Toby. + +"So Dick didn't tell?" mused Toby. "It was your kid brother?" + +"Don't you tell that to any one!" warned Ben Alvord, flushing. + +"Why, you'll have to tell it yourself," protested Toby. "You'll surely +have to beg Dick Prescott's pardon after what you said to him before the +whole crowd. If you don't, then I'll tell myself. I'm not going to see +Dick blamed for what he didn't do." + +"If you blab to any one," warned Ben angrily, "I'll give you a good +thrashing." + +"Try it, and perhaps you'll get more of what Dick gave you this +afternoon," Toby shot back as he walked through the gate. + +Toby was as good as his word. He told the news at school the next day, +and Ben Alvord's stock went even lower. After school that afternoon Dave +Darrin made Ben apologize. So did Reade, Holmes, Hazelton and Dalzell. +It was a bitter pill for young Alvord to swallow. The fights that the +other chums had claimed were now called off. They felt Ben to be beneath +their notice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AB. DEXTER MAKES A NEW MOVE + + +"Did you hear the latest from Ab. Dexter?" asked Dave, as he met Dick +one Saturday afternoon in November. + +"No; nothing very good, was it?" + +"That's hardly to be expected," laughed Dave, as the two chums came to a +halt on a street corner. "Did you happen to remember that Dexter and +Driggs were due to come up for trial in court this afternoon?" + +"No; I had forgotten the date." + +"Well, this was the day. Justice Lee, if you remember, bound them over +to answer at court." + +"Yes; I remember that." + +"Well, neither of them showed up, and so the court declared forfeited +the cash bail that Dexter put up for the pair." + +"The money ought to be worth more to the county than both men put +together," laughed Dick. + +"I guess that's the way the court looked at it." + +"I hope Dexter and Driggs are both a mighty long way from Gridley, and +that they will stay. Mrs. Dexter isn't having any bother at all, these +days, is she?" + +"You ought to be the one to know that," teased Dave. "You're the one she +sends for whenever she takes it into her head that she wants to reward +us for some jolly good fun that we had in helping her." + +"I had a note from Mrs. Dexter a few days ago," Dick went on. "Maybe I +forgot to tell you about it. She wanted me to call on her, and I wrote +back that I was awfully sorry but that my evenings just then had to be +put in getting ready for the monthly exams. I haven't heard a word from +her since then." + +"She's a fine woman," nodded Dave, "but she certainly has the reward +habit in bad shape." + +"Feels some like snow, doesn't it?" inquired Dick, looking up at a +lead-colored sky. + +"It'll rain," predicted Dave. "It isn't yet cold enough for snow." + +"I'll be mighty glad when the snow comes." + +"Maybe I won't," uttered Darrin. "That's the best time of the +year--winter." + +"Unless you call summer the finest time." + +"Of course in summer we have the long vacation and plenty of time to +have fun." + +"Better duck," advised Dick suddenly. "Here comes Mrs. Dexter now." + +"Looks as though she'd been crying, too," murmured Dave, scanning the +approaching woman. + +"Then we won't scoot," advised Dick, changing front instantly. "It +doesn't look very fine to run away from any one who's in trouble." + +Strangely enough Mrs. Dexter didn't appear, at first, to want to talk +with the boys. She nodded, smiled wanly and said: + +"Good afternoon, boys! Are things dull to-day?" + +"Just quiet, Mrs. Dexter," Dick answered. + +Then Dave, with some of his usual impulsiveness, put in, earnestly: + +"You look as though you had heard bad news, Mrs. Dexter." + +The woman had started to go on her way. Then she turned about again. + +"Perhaps I have heard bad news," she smiled wearily. + +"It isn't anything that we could help you about, is it?" asked Dick. He +felt that he was taking a liberty in putting the question, yet he could +not hold his inquiry back. + +"I--I am afraid not, this time," she answered slowly. "Besides, I don't +want to see any of you get into any more trouble on my account." + +"Then it's--it's Mr. Dexter?" hazarded Dave. + +The woman swallowed hard, seemed to be trying to choke back something, +and then replied: + +"Yes." + +"Has he dared to get troublesome again?" flashed Dick. + +"N-n-n-o matter. Please don't ask me. You can't help me any this time." + +Once more Mrs. Dexter looked as though she would follow her way, but +some other instinct prompted her to add: + +"Don't think I don't appreciate my excellent young friends. But you +can't help me this time. No one can. Mr. Dexter is too dangerous a man, +and when he threatens disaster, and says he'll wait patiently a year to +bring it about, he means every word that he says." + +"Whew! So he has threatened that, has he?" Dick inquired. + +"Yes. I guess I may as well tell you the rest of it. Well, this morning +I received a letter from Mr. Dexter. He wanted more money before. Now he +puts his demand at thirty thousand dollars. He says that, if I don't +arrange to meet him and turn over the cash, he'll wait patiently for a +year or more, if necessary, but that he'll watch and find his chance to +burn my home down and destroy Myra and me in it." + +"Dexter threatened that, did he?" chuckled Dave Darrin, almost merrily. +"Why Dexter hasn't the nerve to do such a thing. Excuse me, Mrs. Dexter, +but all that fellow is good for is frightening timid women." + +"I wish I could believe that," sighed the woman nervously. + +"You have a special policeman still in the house, haven't you, Mrs. +Dexter?" + +"Yes. He's there, now, watching over Myra." + +"Well, at the worst," pursued Dick, "hire a second man and put him on +guard nights outside the house, and you'll never hear from +Dexter--except by mail, anyway. But how does the man expect you to send +him word about the money? Did he give you any address?" + +"He told me to put an advertisement, worded in a certain way, in the +morning 'Blade.'" + +"And--pardon me--you've been up and inserted the advertisement?" +questioned Dick. + +"Ye-es." + +"And have arranged to get the money?" + +"Yes; I've seen Mr. Dodge at the bank." + +"When are you to meet Dexter!" + +"When he sees my advertisement in the 'Blade' to-morrow he'll send me +word where to meet him." + +"You ought to send a detective, instead," blazed Dave Darrin. + +"If I did, Dexter would wait his time and then destroy my child and +myself," answered the woman, her under-lip quivering. + +"You don't really believe that, do you?" asked Dave. + +"No; I know it." + +"You haven't been to see a lawyer, have you?" inquired Prescott. + +"No; I don't dare that, for a lawyer would advise, as you did, sending a +detective to keep the appointment, and then Mr. Dexter would be put in +prison. I don't want Myra to grow up with the shame of having a father +in prison. I--I am glad that Dexter jumped his bail on the other little +charge." + +"I see just this much about it, Mrs. Dexter," followed Dick. "But--you +don't mind my speaking, do you?" + +"No; I like to hear you, for you boys have already saved me some +heartaches." + +"What I was going to say, Mrs. Dexter, is that, no matter how much money +you give that man, he'll always keep bothering you as long as you have +any left. A man who won't work can't be very brave, and a man who +doesn't work can spend an awful lot of money. If you surrender to Dexter +I'm sure you'll have to keep on giving in just as long as you have any +money left." + +"Then you think I ought not to give him the money, and that I ought to +hire another good man to guard the house outside?" + +"Yes; if you 're really afraid. It'll be cheaper to hire another man +than to give all your fortune away." + +"But I've put the advertisement in the 'Blade.'" + +"There's time enough to take it out." + +"I--I believe I'll do that," murmured Mrs. Dexter. Talking with the boys +had given her a new little rise in courage. + +"That's what I'd do if it were my case," added Darrin. + +"Thank you! I'll go right up and take the advertisement out at once." + +As though afraid that her courage might fail her, if she delayed, Mrs. +Dexter turned and walked rapidly back in the direction whence she had +just come. + +"There flies a pot of money out of Dexter's window!" grinned Dave. + +"I'm far from being sorry," returned Prescott. + +Though neither boy had paid any heed to the fact a cab had moved slowly +down Main Street past them while Mrs. Dexter was talking. The curtains +were drawn just enough to make the interior of the vehicle a black +shadow. Lolling on the back seat, with one curtain adjusted just so that +he could look out sufficiently, sat a man, disguised somewhat, though +none the less Abner Dexter. + +"My wife has been up to the 'Blade' office and has put an advertisement +in," muttered Dexter. "Now, she's talking to those two meddlesome boys. +About me, I wonder? Blazes! There she is, turning about again. I wonder +if she's going back to take that advertisement out?" + +The cab turned a corner. Then, on directions from inside, the driver +moved his horses along at a brisk trot. The same cab was passing near +the "Blade" office when Mrs. Dexter went there for a second time. + +The next morning Ab. Dexter and Driggs unfolded a copy of the "Blade" +between them. + +"I've got a misgiving that we won't find the advertisement," muttered +Dexter gloomily. "No, sir. It isn't here, Driggs. Hang the woman, and +twenty times hang those meddling youngsters! Driggs, I never shall win +while those confounded boys are loose in Gridley!" + +"We'll take real care of 'em this time," muttered Driggs, with an oath. + +"We will!" confirmed Dexter. "We'll stop their troubling us!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TRICKED INTO BAD COMPANY + + +The heads of fifty eighth grade pupils were bent over as many broad +volumes on geography. It was study period; recitation would be called in +five minutes. + +Old Dut looked up from a report blank over which he had been poring, to +shoot out this question: + +"Why doesn't the tide rise and fall in inland rivers?" + +It was a habit of Old Dut's to throw out questions like this in study +time, for the purpose of waking up some of the intellects that needed +rousing. + +"Master Holmes, you may answer that," proclaimed the principal. + +Greg started out of a brown study at hearing his name spoken. He had a +vague recollection of having heard a question asked. But his mind was +still far away, so he did not realize the enormity of his offense as he +replied: + +"I don't know, but I'll be the goat. What's the answer?" + +A gasp of amazement sounded around the room. + +"Master Gregory Holmes," uttered Old Dut sternly, "ten checks for that +impertinence. And go and stand in the corner by the piano. Turn your +back to the school that you've insulted!" + +At that moment there came a rap on the door. Then a young man entered, +handing a sealed envelope to the principal. + +"Master Prescott, put your books away and come here," directed Old Dut. + +The class looked on wonderingly, while Dick obeyed. + +"Here is a note from your mother, which requests that you be allowed to +go home at once, as your father has been injured in an accident. I hope, +my boy, that it is nothing serious," said the principal in a low tone. +"Your mother has sent a carriage in order that you may get home sooner. +Go at once, Master Prescott, and may you learn that the news is not too +bad." + +Old Dut held out the note, but Dick barely saw it. Instead, he turned +and ran to the coat room, caught up his coat and cap and sped +downstairs. The messenger had already started downstairs. + +"There's the rig," announced the messenger, as Dick appeared on the +steps. + +Alongside a surrey was drawn up. A rain curtain and side panels covered +the rear seat, but the driver, a silent individual, who had a full, +heavy red beard and wore smoked glasses over his eyes moved to make room +for Dick on the front seat. + +"How badly is dad hurt?" demanded Dick breathlessly, as he bundled +himself in on the front seat. + +"Can't say," replied the driver, in a low, weak voice. "I was only hired +to come after you." + +"Hurry!" appealed Dick. The driver nodded, and started the horse away +briskly. + +Young Prescott was fearfully worried. His mother was a woman of cool, +calm judgment. She was not likely to send a driver after him unless his +father's injuries were dangerous. + +"I hope dad isn't going to die," breathed the boy to himself. "If he +must, then I hope I get home in time before he goes." + +So absorbed was he in his own gloomy thoughts that Dick gave no heed to +the road that was taken. Nor had the surrey gone far when the rain +curtain behind parted, but Prescott did not see that. + +Yet he had no suspicion of foul play until a pair of hands from behind +gripped him about the throat. + +In a twinkling Dick was drawn over the back of the front seat. Then he +vanished behind the curtain. + +"Anybody in the street see that done, Driggs?" whispered the voice of +Abner Dexter. + +"Nary one," retorted Driggs, in a more natural voice than he had used +before. + +Though Dick Prescott was half strangled he heard both voices, now, and +they sounded wholly natural to him. Driggs was disguised, but Dexter had +taken no such pains. + +"Now, you keep mighty quiet, or you'll be worse off than you thought +your father was," snarled Ab. Dexter. He had Dick jammed down on the +floor, the boy's head just above the man's lap. Dexter's fingers kept +their fearful grip at the boy's throat. + +Not that Dick didn't fight back. He fought with all his strength. Yet +that was not for long. Dexter had taken a foul hold and had the boy at +his mercy. The gripping at the throat continued until Dick's muscles +relaxed and he was still. + +"He'll come back to his senses, though, in a minute," uttered Dexter to +himself. He drew out a big handkerchief and a bottle. There was an odor +of something sickishly sweet in the air for a moment, as the +handkerchief was pressed to the boy's nostrils. + +All the time Driggs had continued to drive onward at a brisk trot. + +"I've got to open up this curtain a bit, Driggs," called Ab. Dexter, in +a not-too-loud voice. "I don't want to whiff in much of the stuff that +I'm giving the youngster." + +Yet, though some air was admitted to the rear part of the surrey Dexter +took pains not to expose himself to the possibly too-curious glance of +any passer on the street. At the same time the man bent over Dick, to +note any signs of returning consciousness. + +At last, seeing that second inhalation of the drug had rendered Dick +wholly senseless, Dexter drew another handkerchief from a pocket, and +with this he gagged the boy. Then, a moment later, he reached down and +tied the youngster's hands. + +It was in a direction very different from that of Dick's home that the +surly, silent Driggs was driving. Before long he was out in the suburbs +of the town, traveling up the back country into the hills. + +"The cub will learn, this time," mused Dexter savagely. "If he doesn't, +it will be because he's too stubborn to learn anything. And, in that +case----" + +After the first half hour the road grew wilder. After going some two +miles up into the hills Driggs turned off at the right, following a road +used only in winter, and then principally by wood-cutters. Thus on, +farther and farther into the woods, and turning, now and then, off into +branching roads. + +Though given an occasional whiff of the stuff from the bottle, that kept +him senseless, Dick was allowed to regain his wits after the surrey had +branched off over the forest roads. + +"Keep quiet and be a good boy," admonished Dexter grimly. "You don't +want any more of the stuff, do you? Too much of it might wind you up for +good. We don't want to go that far--if you've got sense enough to be of +use to us at last." + +"Where on earth are they taking me--and what for?" wondered Dick, +struggling against the nausea that the inhaling of the drug had caused. +"What's Dexter's newest piece of villainy, I wonder? Whew! But that was +a slick trick! Anyway, dad can't be hurt at all. Mother would never pick +them as the messengers to send for me! I'm glad dad's all right, anyway, +even if I may happen to have a rough time ahead of me." + +The messenger who had entered the schoolroom, it may be said in passing, +was not in the plot, nor had he been aware that there was any one at all +in the rear part of the surrey. That messenger had been picked up on the +street, by Driggs, and had been offered a quarter to take the note +upstairs to the principal's class room, "because," Driggs had explained, +"I don't dare leave my horse." + +"How on earth did this rascally pair ever manage to write a note that +would look enough like mother's handwriting!" was Dick's next puzzle. + +As this, of course, was beyond his fathoming, Dick's next and very +natural thought was: + +"What on earth do these scoundrels want of me? I don't believe they have +brought me away just for vengeance." + +"A nice ride like this, off amid the beauties of nature, is a whole lot +better than spending your time over dull school books, isn't it?" Dexter +asked mockingly. + +But Dick could gain no idea as to the kind of country through which he +was passing, more than that the surrey was moving over rough road. +Jammed down where he was he could see nothing but the half dark interior +of the vehicle. + +At last Driggs began to whistle softly. That being a signal, Ab. Dexter +again produced the bottle. There was the same sickening odor as a wet +handkerchief was placed against Dick's nostrils. Then he lost track of +what was happening. + +"Whoa!" called Driggs and willingly enough the horse stopped. There was +a ripping aside of the rubber side panels to the carriage, after which +Driggs stood on the ground to receive the senseless boy as Dexter passed +him out. + +"Into the house, I suppose?" inquired Driggs. + +"Yes," nodded Dexter. + +"Go ahead, then, with the key, and open up." + +The house stood at some distance from the road, and, in summer time, +would have been hidden from the road. The house had not been occupied in +a quarter of a century by any lawful tenant. It was a two story affair, +and had been originally built for the superintendent of a lumber and +milling camp. Beyond was a brook that had been dammed, furnishing good +water-power for all the year excepting in the summer months. By the old +water course lay the ruins of what had once been a saw-mill. + +Running up the short flight of steps to the front door of the +dilapidated old dwelling off in the forests, Ab. Dexter produced a rusty +iron key and swung the door open. + +"Where you going to put him?" asked Driggs. + +"In the rear apartments, upstairs," answered Dexter, with a laugh. + +Accordingly Dick was carried upstairs and into a roomy back apartment. +There were inside shutters that Dexter swung open while Driggs dropped +the breathing though unconscious Grammar School boy on the floor. + +"Now, you'd better get that borrowed rig back in the part of the world +where it belongs," advised Ab. Dexter. + +"I will," nodded Driggs. "But--say!" + +"Well?" + +"That Prescott boy is young, but he's tricky." + +"I know that, don't I?" + +"Then, when he comes to, you won't let him play any trick on you that +will give him a chance to bolt from here?" + +"Not I," promised Dexter. "You needn't worry. There are too many +thousands of dollars at stake. Run along, Driggs. I'll do my part, here +on the scene." + +Driggs went out. He had a long drive ahead of him. The point at which he +intended to abandon the stolen surrey was nearly ten miles from the +present spot. For the horse and surrey had been stolen from a farmer +known to be away for the day with his family. Driggs meant to abandon +the rig two or three miles from the farmer's home, and then return on a +bicycle which he had hidden near the spot. + +As soon as Driggs had gone, Dexter bent over, tying Prescott's hands +more securely. + +Soon after that Dick, still lying on the floor, opened his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +DICK MAKES HIS STAND FOR HONOR + + +Ab. Dexter's harsh voice jarred on the air. + +"Welcome to our city, Prescott," he laughed. + +Dick's first discovery was that the gag was gone from his mouth. He made +an effort to use his hands, but discovered that these were more securely +tied than ever. + +"I hope you'll enjoy this little visit with us," laughed Dexter, +changing his voice, which now sounded almost pleasant. + +"I'd enjoy it a lot more," retorted Dick dryly, "if I had my chums here +with me." + +"I, too, wish we had them here," nodded Dexter. "But they'd be tied up, +just as you are. You don't seem a bit curious as to why you're here." + +"No," Dick admitted. + +"Marvelous youth, in whom the instinct of curiosity is dead!" + +"Whatever your game in bringing me here, I can guess that it's one that +wouldn't interest honest men." + +"Oh, you're going to turn 'fresh,' are you?" + +Dick did not reply. Dexter drew a cigar out from a vest pocket, as he +stood leaning against a decaying mantel, and lighted it. This imitation +of a man smoked in silence for a few moments, during which Prescott did +not offer to speak. + +Going over to the table, and drawing a newspaper from one of his +pockets, Dexter sat down to read. He did not take off his coat, for the +room was chilly. + +Dick did not move, nor did he offer to speak. In his present bad plight +he would have been glad enough to talk with anything living, even with +so despicable a human object as Ab. Dexter. + +"But he'd only torment me, and try to scare me, too, probably," thought +Dick. "I won't give him any chance that I can help." + +It was wholly natural that the boy's obstinate silence, which endured +for the next hour, should anger the man. + +At last, after having consumed two cigars and read a lot of stuff in the +paper in which he was not interested, Dexter rose and stepped over to +the boy. + +"Having pleasant thoughts, eh?" he demanded. + +"Better than yours, I'm sure," retorted the boy dryly. + +"Yes?" + +"Yes; because my thoughts, at least, are clean and honest ones." + +"Oh, you little saint!" jeered Ab. + +"I'm hardly a saint, and am not sure that I'd care to be one. But at +least I'm happier and better off than a bigger fellow who'd be a big +scoundrel if he weren't too big a coward!" + +"You mean that for me, do you?" snarled Dexter. + +"You may have it if you like it!" + +"You insolent little puppy!" snapped Ab., giving emphasis to his wrath +by kicking him. + +"I see that I was wrong," said Prescott quietly. "I intimated that you +are a coward. I apologize. Only a brave man would kick a helpless boy." + +The quiet irony of the speech made even Ab. Dexter flush. + +"Well, I wasn't kicking a boy. I was kicking his freshness," explained +Dexter, in a harsh voice. "And I'll kick a lot more of that freshness, +if I have to." + +"I don't doubt it. Women and boys are your choice for fighting material. +And, if I had some of my chums here, you'd find kicking boys too +perilous a sport." + +"You won't have them here," laughed Ab. coarsely. "You're the only one +of the six that I want, so the others can stay in Gridley." + +"But they won't," declared Dick. "At least, not long, after they +discover that I'm missing." + +"They'll never discover you, unless you go back to town by my +permission," jeered Dexter. "Here, I'll show you something." + +Bending over, he seized the boy by his coat collar, next lifting and +dragging Dick to a window at the rear. + +"Look out, and tell me what you see," commanded the jailer. + +"I see the woods, and a few other things," Dick replied. "And--yes, I +know where I am. This is the house at Bannerman's old mill. I was up +this way last year after nuts." + +"You know, then, that you're a good way from where folks would look for +you." + +"Oh, I'm not so sure of that, Dexter. Dave Darrin and the rest of the +fellows know all of this country. We've all tramped through here before. +They're very likely to think of this place within the next day or two." + +"If they don't get here before dark, and if you haven't done, by that +time, what I brought you here to do, then they won't find you." + +"No?" challenged Dick Prescott. + +"Look again, and tell me what you see outside. Do you see that place +where Driggs has been digging? Do you see the hole he started, and the +shovel beside it? Can you guess how we could dig that hole deeper, and +put something away in it?" + +There was a derisive smile on young Prescott's face as he started to +look. Then his expression changed. He did not start, cry out nor turn +pale, but that smile vanished. + +"You see it, don't you?" demanded Ab. Dexter, watching the boy's face. + +"You want to scare me about that hole, I suppose?" + +"Yes; if you haven't gotten around completely to my way of thinking +before dark to-night Driggs may have to finish his digging." + +"Does he need exercise?" + +"You've guessed what I mean," declared Dexter, "although you pretend to +misunderstand me." + +"Humph!" + +"Look out, Prescott, that you don't put us in an ugly temper." + +But Dick had found his courage by this time. He laughed merrily, though +it was forced. + +"What are you laughing at?" asked the other. + +"At the very idea, Dexter, of your having nerve enough to do a thing +like that! Why, there are boys in the primary school in Gridley who have +more real sand than you have." + +For answer the scoundrel seized the boy, hurling him across the room. +Dick tottered. Being unable to use his hands to aid himself, he fell to +the floor and lay there. + +"Do you know what you ought to be doing, Dexter?" inquired Dick, as soon +as he had smothered his wrath a bit. + +"Well?" + +"You ought to be training puppies for the dog circus. Not by fear, you +know, for you really couldn't scare anything. But, in training puppies +by the golden rule you'd be at your best!" + +"I'll train you before I get through with you," snarled the rascal. + +"There's only one thing you need to make you rather funny," remarked +Dick. + +"What is that?" + +"All you need to make you funny, Dexter, is a little more wit." + +Ab. stepped over and administered another kick. + +"Thank you," acknowledged Prescott politely. + +"Much obliged, are you?" + +"Yes; a kick from you is an honor. Only a handshake or a compliment +would hurt." + +Dexter's face showed his wrath. He would have retorted, but he felt his +helplessness in a battle of wits alone against Dick Prescott. + +For a moment or two Ab. left the room. Dick began immediately to test +the security of the cords at his wrists. He found himself only too well +tied. Dick glanced searchingly about, intent on finding something that +promised help or escape. + +But Ab. came back, carrying an oil heater and a book. Placing the +lighted heater beside the table Dexter sat down and opened the book. + +"I knew you had cold feet," laughed Dick. "I've been waiting for you to +seek some way of warming up." + +Ab. scowled, but went on reading his book. This time the silence was an +extremely long one. It was not broken, in fact, until Dick had lost all +track of time, and knew only that there was still some daylight left. At +last a whistle sounded outside. + +Dropping the book, Dexter made his way out into the hall, and thence +downstairs. Again Dick began to tug at the cords around his wrists. Then +Dexter came into the room, followed by Driggs. + +"Well," asked Driggs, "has the young cub come to his senses yet?" + +"I haven't tried him," responded Ab. sourly. "You can take him in hand +if you want, Driggs." + +"You hain't told him what we want?" + +"Not a word," Ab. answered. "You can take him in hand. Don't stand any +nonsense, either." + +"It ain't exactly my way to stand nonsense," growled Driggs, who was a +good deal more courageous than Dexter. "As a first step I'll untie his +hands. The boy can't make any fight against the two of us." + +Instead of untying, however, Driggs opened his clasp knife, and cut the +cords at Dick's wrists, after which he untied the big handkerchief that +had also been tied there. + +"Now, get on your feet, Prescott." + +Dick obeyed, taking his time about it. No matter what was about to +happen Dick knew that he could take better care of himself standing up. + +"Exercise your hands and arms a bit, if you want to," continued Driggs. +"You may find that circulation has been stopped." + +This Dick knew well enough. As his hands might be of extreme use to him +in the very near future he followed the last bit of advice. + +"Go get your writing materials," said Driggs, turning to Ab. + +Dexter left the room, soon returning with paper, envelopes and a pen +thrust down into a bottle of ink. + +"Now, I'll tell you what you've got to do, boy," Driggs continued. "Or +maybe you can tell him that better, Dexter." + +"You're going to write a letter to Mrs. Dexter," stated Ab. "In that +letter you're going to tell her that you're hopelessly in my power, and +that you realize how foolish it is for her to refuse my demands any +longer. So you're to advise her that the best thing for her--and the +only hope of saving your life as well as hers--is for her to pay me that +forty thousand dollars----" + +"You've gone up ten in your price, haven't you?" asked Dick with a +momentary lack of caution. + +"So-ho!" muttered Ab. "Mrs. Dexter did tell you about my last letter +when you were talking on Main Street last Saturday. And I suppose you +advised her to go back to the 'Blade' office and withdraw the +advertisement that my letter had frightened her into paying for." + +Dick bit his lips in silence. + +"Did you advise her that way, or didn't you?" insisted Ab. angrily. + +"Whatever she and I may have said to each other is not going to be +repeated here," Prescott answered. + +"Oh, it isn't Mr. High-and-mighty?" sneered Driggs, going closer to the +boy and laying a hard hand on him. "See here, youngster, you may have an +idea that Dexter isn't very dangerous. You'll have a different notion +about me, if I turn myself loose on you. Now, you get suddenly +respectful. Answer straight, and do just what we tell you--or I'll take +you in hand." + +"I won't write any such letter as you order me to," retorted Dick +stubbornly. + +"You won't? I tell you you will!" roared Driggs, gripping Prescott by +the collar. "Sit down at that table." + +"I won't!" + +"You will!" + +Driggs lifted Dick fairly off his feet, shaking him roughly. A +thirteen-year-old boy didn't have much chance against a brute of +Driggs's strength. The latter slammed the boy into a seat at the table. + +"Now, pick up that pen!" + +Dick picked it up, but aimed it at the wall opposite, hurling it +forcibly. + +With an oath Ab. Dexter went over and picked up the pen. + +"He's broken the nibs," growled Ab., coming back with the pen. "No +matter, I have a pencil. If he breaks the point of that it can be +sharpened again. Here's the pencil." + +"Now, pick up that pencil," commanded Driggs hoarsely, "and write just +what Dexter tells you to write. When you've written it you'll sign it. +Then Dexter will enclose it with a letter from himself in which he'll +tell Mrs. Dexter just where to meet him and pay over the money. If it +ain't paid over, then slam you go into the hole that I've dug for you +out back of here, and the dirt will go falling in on your face. +Now--write!" + +However slight a notion Dick might have concerning Dexter's nerve, he +did not doubt that Driggs was really "bad." Here was a brute who might +very likely carry out his threats. Yet Dick, in addition to possessing +an amazing lot of grit for a boy of his age, had also a great amount of +stubbornness about doing the right thing and not doing a wicked one. + +"I don't know what you'll do to me, Driggs," the boy retorted, "and +probably I can't hinder you any. But if you think I'm going to obey +nasty loafers like you two, then you've made a poor guess." + +"What's that?" roared Driggs. "I'll teach you!" + +He caught Dick Prescott up with both hands, shaking the boy until it +seemed as though all the breath had left the youngster's body. Next, +Driggs held his victim with one hand while with the other he struck +blows that all but rendered the Grammar School boy unconscious. + +"Here, don't kill the boy just yet, Driggs," ordered Dexter. + +"You mind your own business, now, Ab.," retorted Driggs, his face purple +with passion. "Your milk-and-water way doesn't do any good. I'm in +charge, now, and I'm sole boss as to what shall be done to this baby if +he doesn't take our orders!" + +Again Dick received a severe mauling. He tried to fight back, but Driggs +held him off at arm's length. At last Driggs lifted the boy once more by +his coat collar. + +"Now, I'll finish you!" roared the brute. "That is, unless you holler +out, mighty quick, that you're ready to write all that we tell you to +write." + +"That won't happen this year!" Dick flashed back recklessly. + +"Oh, it won't, eh? Then so much the worse for you. I won't waste another +second's time in coaxing you. Do you want to change your mind before I +start?" + +"No!" the Grammar School boy retorted doggedly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +CONCLUSION + + +At heart young Prescott was frightened enough. Yet he was also aroused +to a fury of resistance. + +With an ugly growl Driggs started in to shake the lad once more. Just at +this moment, however, Dick found a chance on which he had been doing +some frenzied calculating. + +As he hung from Driggs's outstretched hand Dick's foot was just about on +a level with one of the fellow's knees. Dick drew his foot back like a +flash, delivering a lusty kick. + +The blow glanced. Even at that Driggs's knee-cap suffered. With a groan +of pain Driggs let go and stood by to rub his injured knee. + +"You young fiend!" hissed Ab. Dexter, grabbing Dick by the collar. + +Driggs tried two or three limping steps. + +"Anything broken there?" demanded Ab. anxiously. + +"No; but I've got to have cold water to bandage it with, right away," +replied Driggs. "Give me hold of the young pest's collar, and I'll hold +him all right until you get in again. But hustle with the water." + +By this time Driggs had sunk into one of the chairs. Ab. dragged the boy +to him and the other ruffian took vindictive hold. + +"I'll settle with you, you little varmint, after I get my knee attended +to," growled Driggs. "If you try any more tricks I'll let even my knee +go and choke the life out of you." + +Dexter hurried from the room. Dick, who felt that seconds must be made +to count now, turned like a flash, sinking his teeth in the wrist of the +hand that gripped his collar. + +"You young----" began Driggs, in a wild temper, starting to rise from +the chair as the pain forced him to let go of Dick's collar. + +But Prescott, moving only two steps, caught up the other chair, bringing +it down on the head of the ugly rascal. + +"Dexter! Dexter--quick!" roared Driggs. "The boy's getting away!" + +It was dark now, in the lower hall, as Dick, darting down the stairs, +made out the form of Ab. Dexter as the latter hastened in through the +outer door. + +"Out of the way, or I'll hurt you with Driggs's knife!" panted the +fleeing boy. + +In that instant Abner Dexter proved Dick's suspicion that he was at +bottom a coward. Ab. drew up close to the wall, and Dick, with the speed +of the hunted deer, dashed from the house. + + +[Illustration: Dick Caught Up the Other Chair.] + + +"It may take Ab. a little while to find that I haven't got Driggs's +knife," grinned the boy. + +For more than a quarter of a mile Dick Prescott ran at the best speed +that he could summon. Then, after glancing back, he slowed down to a +walk, breathing hard. It was fortunate that he knew these forests so +well, or he might have been at a loss to find the path leading in the +most direct way to Gridley. + +Finally he came out on a more traveled road. After keeping along for +another half mile or so he heard a horse behind him and the sound of +wheels as well. + +"I won't take any chance on that," muttered the boy. Bounding over a +stone wall he lay low until the vehicle came up. Peering between the +stones of the wall Dick made out an unmistakable farmer. + +"Hey, there!" cried Dick, leaping up and bounding over the wall. "Give +me a ride, please, mister!" + +"Well, I swan! Who are ye--dropping from the skies that-a-fashion?" +demanded the astounded driver, reining up. + +"Grammar School boy from Gridley," Dick replied. "Going that way?" + +"I guess I've seen you before," murmured the farmer, as Prescott went +closer. "Your pa runs a bookstore, don't he?" + +"Yes. Are you going to Gridley?" + +"Straight." + +"Then please take me." + +Not waiting for an answer Dick climbed up to the seat. + +"How do you come so far out of the way?" asked the farmer, as he started +the horse. + +"I'd tell you, but for one thing," Dick laughed. + +"What's that, son?" + +"You wouldn't believe me." + +"Wouldn't believe old Prescott's boy?" demanded the farmer. "Well, I +would if the boy is half as square as his dad." + +Thus encouraged Dick began to tell his story. Some past events the +farmer already knew. This inclined him very strongly to believe Dick's +strange tale. + +Once in Gridley the farmer drove the Grammar School boy straight to the +police station. + +"Dick Prescott?" shouted the chief. "Boy, your parents are crazy over +your disappearance. What part of the skies did you drop from? And I've +four of my men out trying to track you! Tell me what has happened." + +"I will if you'll walk around to the store with me," Dick offered, +smiling. "But the first thing I'm going to start to do is to show my +father and mother that I'm safe." + +The farmer good-naturedly offered to drive them both around to the +Prescott store. On the way Dick told some of his story. The rest had to +wait until he had shown himself to his parents. Then Mr. and Mrs. +Prescott heard the story, too. + +"This isn't really a case for me," said the chief of police. "It's for +the sheriff. I must get him on the 'phone." + +The news spread with great rapidity. Dave Darrin, Greg Holmes and all +the other chums of Dick & Co. were on hand by the time that Dick had +finished a belated supper with splendid appetite. + +"May I go out on the street with the fellows?" Dick asked his mother. + +"Yes; if you'll keep on the lighted parts of the streets," smiled his +mother. "Although I'm not very much afraid of any more trouble +overtaking you when you have all your friends with you." + +Later that night a party of sheriff's searchers came upon Driggs, not +far from the old mill site. The fellow, fearing prompt pursuit, had +endeavored to get away, but the pain in his stiffening knee had +prevented his going very far. Ab. Dexter had started with his injured +confederate, but had finally played the sneak and fled. However, Dexter, +too was caught later that night, while endeavoring to board a train two +stations away from Gridley. + +Mrs. Dexter, of course, was notified as to what had happened. + +For this latest outrage against Dick the rascally pair were not tried. +This was for the very simple reason that Dick would have furnished the +sole evidence for the prosecution, and the law would have required +another witness to corroborate young Prescott's testimony. + +However, both men were held as fugitives from justice, for having jumped +their bail on their original trial. Both were now held without bail and +were presently tried before the higher court. + +Both were found guilty, of course. As it is the privilege of the court +of resort to impose a heavier punishment than the original one appealed +from, Dexter and Driggs were both sent to jail for a year--the highest +penalty possible under the circumstances. + +"That man will bother me worse than ever as soon as he gets out," +complained Mrs. Dexter to Dick and Dave one day. + +"If he finds you," added Dick, by way of a hint. + +"If he finds me? What you mean by that?" + +"Mrs. Dexter, you're not obliged to live in Gridley. Why don't you slip +away from here, one of these near days, without letting a soul know +where you and your little girl are going. With all your money you could +go to Europe or to the Pacific Coast. At a great distance from here you +can live securely. Dexter will never have any money if he has to earn +it. Go a few thousand miles from here, and, even if Dexter found out +where you were, he wouldn't be able to reach you. No--don't tell even us +where you are going." + +Mrs. Dexter followed that very sensible advice. She and Myra vanished +completely one day not long after. + +Before that good but timid woman went away, however, she did her best to +provide some suitable reward for the Grammar School boys who had proved +her staunchest friends and protectors, but they refused to consider any +reward. + +Dexter, when at last at liberty, must have known of his wife's flights +to parts unknown, for he never revisited Gridley, and was not again +heard of there. + +Dick Prescott's last and greatest adventure placed him securely on the +pinnacle of local fame. Where, in all the world, was there another +Grammar School boy who had been through as much, or shown as much +daring? + +Even that shrewd and rather dryly spoken judge of boys and girls Old +Dut, took the latest happenings as the text for a little address to the +members of his class. He wound up by saying: + +"In a few months more this present class will have passed on, some going +to High School and many more to their life employment. This present +class will be gone, and another class here in its place. Yet I believe I +can say in all truthfulness that I shall remember this present class +always with pride as the class containing the bravest and brightest +boys--and the finest girls--of any class that has been graduated from +the Central Grammar School." + +It is not our purpose, however, to take leave of Dick Prescott and our +other young friends. There was too much yet ahead of them--absorbing +happenings that merit being recorded in other volumes. We shall meet +Dick, Dave, Greg, Tom and all of the chums once more in the next volume, +which is published under the title: "The Grammar School Boys Snowbound; +Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports." Here we shall find them amid stranger +and even more thrilling adventures. + + +The End + + +HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S +CATALOGUE OF +The Best and Least Expensive +Books for Real Boys +and Girls + +Really good and new stories for boys and girls are not plentiful. Many +stories, too, are so highly improbable as to bring a grin of derision to +the young reader's face before he has gone far. The name of ALTEMUS is a +distinctive brand on the cover of a book, always ensuring the buyer of +having a book that is up-to-date and fine throughout. No buyer of an +ALTEMUS book is ever disappointed. + +Many are the claims made as to the inexpensiveness of books. Go into any +bookstore and ask for an Altemus book. Compare the price charged you for +Altemus books with the price demanded for other juvenile books. You will +at once discover that a given outlay of money will buy more of the +ALTEMUS books than of those published by other houses. + +Every dealer in books carries the ALTEMUS books. + + * * * * * + +Sold by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price. + +Henry Altemus Company + +1326-1336 Vine Street, Philadelphia + + +The Motor Boat Club Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The keynote of these books is manliness. The stories are wonderfully +entertaining, and they are at the same time sound and wholesome. No boy +will willingly lay down an unfinished book in this series. + +1 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; Or, The Secret of Smugglers' +Island. + +2 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; Or, The Mystery of the Dunstan Heir. + +3 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; Or, A Daring Marine Game at +Racing Speed. + +4 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; Or, The Dot, Dash and Dare +Cruise. + +5 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; Or, Laying the Ghost of Alligator +Swamp. + +6 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; Or, A Thrilling Capture in the +Great Fog. + +7 THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; Or, The Flying Dutchman of the +Big Fresh Water. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +The Range and Grange Hustlers + +By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + +Have you any idea of the excitements, the glories of life on great +ranches in the West? Any bright boy will "devour" the books of this +series, once he has made a start with the first volume. + +1 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; Or, The Boy Shepherds of +the Great Divide. + +2 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS' GREATEST ROUND-UP; Or, Pitting Their +Wits Against a Packers' Combine. + +3 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS; Or, Following the Steam +Plows Across the Prairie. + +4 THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO; Or, The Conspiracy of the +Wheat Pit. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +Submarine Boys Series + +By VICTOR G. DURHAM + +1 THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; Or, Life on a Diving Torpedo Boat. + +2 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' TRIAL TRIP; Or, "Making Good" as Young Experts. + +3 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; Or, The Prize Detail at Annapolis. + +4 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; Or, Dodging the Sharks of the Deep. + +5 THE SUBMARINE BOYS' LIGHTNING CRUISE; Or, The Young Kings of the Deep. + +6 THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; Or, Deeding Their Lives to Uncle Sam. + +7 THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; Or, Breaking Up the New Jersey +Customs Frauds. + + * * * * * + + +The Square Dollar Boys Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +1 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS WAKE UP; Or, Fighting the Trolley Franchise +Steal. + +2 THE SQUARE DOLLAR BOYS SMASH THE RING; Or, In the Lists Against the +Crooked Land Deal. + + * * * * * + + +The College Girls Series + +By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. + +1 GRACE HARLOWE'S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + +2 GRACE HARLOWE'S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + +3 GRACE HARLOWE'S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + +4 GRACE HARLOWE'S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. + +5 GRACE HARLOWE'S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS. + + * * * * * + + +Dave Darrin Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +1 DAVE DARRIN AT VERA CRUZ; Or, Fighting With the U. S. 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Each story is +full of adventure and fascination. + +1 THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; Or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft. + +2 THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; Or, Heading the Diamond Drill Shift. + +3 THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; Or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes. + +4 THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; Or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder +Pits. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +The Madge Morton Books + +By AMY D. V. CHALMERS + +1 MADGE MORTON--CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID. + +2 MADGE MORTON'S SECRET. + +3 MADGE MORTON'S TRUST. + +4 MADGE MORTON'S VICTORY. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +West Point Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The principal characters in these narratives are manly, young Americans +whose doings will inspire all boy readers. + +1 DICK PRESCOTT'S FIRST YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Two Chums in the Cadet +Gray. + +2 DICK PRESCOTT'S SECOND YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Finding the Glory of +the Soldier's Life. + +3 DICK PRESCOTT'S THIRD YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Standing Firm for Flag +and Honor. + +4 DICK PRESCOTT'S FOURTH YEAR AT WEST POINT; Or, Ready to Drop the Gray +for Shoulder Straps. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +Annapolis Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The Spirit of the new Navy is delightfully and truthfully depicted in +these volumes. + +1 DAVE DARRIN'S FIRST YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Plebe Midshipmen at the +U. S. Naval Academy. + +2 DAVE DARRIN'S SECOND YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Two Midshipmen as Naval +Academy "Youngsters." + +3 DAVE DARRIN'S THIRD YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Leaders of the Second Class +Midshipmen. + +4 DAVE DARRIN'S FOURTH YEAR AT ANNAPOLIS; Or, Headed for Graduation and +the Big Cruise. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +The Young Engineers Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +The heroes of these stories are known to readers of the High School Boys +Series. In this new series Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton prove worthy of +all the traditions of Dick & Co. + +1 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN COLORADO; Or, At Railroad Building in Earnest. + +2 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN ARIZONA; Or, Laying Tracks on the "Man-Killer" +Quicksand. + +3 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN NEVADA; Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a +Pick. + +4 THE YOUNG ENGINEERS IN MEXICO; Or, Fighting the Mine Swindlers. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +Boys of the Army Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +These books breathe the life and spirit of the United States Army of +to-day, and the life, just as it is, is described by a master pen. + +1 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE RANKS; Or, Two Recruits in the United States +Army. + +2 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS ON FIELD DUTY; Or, Winning Corporal's Chevrons. + +3 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS AS SERGEANTS; Or, Handling Their First Real Commands. + +4 UNCLE SAM'S BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES; Or, Following the Flag Against +the Moros. + +(_Other volumes to follow rapidly._) + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +Battleship Boys Series + +By FRANK GEE PATCHIN + +These stories throb with the life of young Americans on to-day's huge +drab Dreadnaughts. + +1 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS AT SEA; Or, Two Apprentices in Uncle Sam's Navy. + +2 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS FIRST STEP UPWARD; Or, Winning Their Grades as +Petty Officers. + +3 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN FOREIGN SERVICE; Or, Earning New Ratings in +European Seas. + +4 THE BATTLESHIP BOYS IN THE TROPICS; Or, Upholding the American Flag in +a Honduras Revolution. + +(_Other volumes to follow rapidly._) + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +The Meadow-Brook Girls Series + +By JANET ALDRIDGE + +Real live stories pulsing with the vibrant atmosphere of outdoor life. + +1 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER CANVAS. + +2 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS COUNTRY. + +3 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT. + +4 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS. + +5 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA. + +6 THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +High School Boys Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +In this series of bright, crisp books a new note has been struck. + +Boys of every age under sixty will be interested in these fascinating +volumes. + +1 THE HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN; Or, Dick & Co.'s First Year Pranks and +Sports. + +2 THE HIGH SCHOOL PITCHER; Or, Dick & Co. on the Gridley Diamond. + +3 THE HIGH SCHOOL LEFT END; Or, Dick & Co. Grilling on the Football +Gridiron. + +4 THE HIGH SCHOOL CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM; Or, Dick & Co. Leading the +Athletic Vanguard. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +Grammar School Boys Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +This series of stories, based on the actual doings of grammar school +boys, comes near to the heart of the average American boy. + +1 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS OF GRIDLEY; Or, Dick & Co. Start Things +Moving. + +2 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS SNOWBOUND; Or, Dick & Co. at Winter Sports. + +3 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN THE WOODS; Or, Dick & Co. Trail Fun and +Knowledge. + +4 THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER ATHLETICS; Or, Dick & Co. Make Their +Fame Secure. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +High School Boys' Vacation Series + +By H. IRVING HANCOCK + +"Give us more Dick Prescott books!" + +This has been the burden of the cry from young readers of the country +over. Almost numberless letters have been received by the publishers, +making this eager demand; for Dick Prescott, Dave Darrin, Tom Reade, and +the other members of Dick & Co. are the most popular high school boys in +the land. Boys will alternately thrill and chuckle when reading these +splendid narratives. + +1 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' CANOE CLUB; Or, Dick & Co.'s Rivals on Lake +Pleasant. + +2 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN SUMMER CAMP; Or, The Dick Prescott Six +Training for the Gridley Eleven. + +3 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' FISHING TRIP; Or, Dick & Co. in the Wilderness. + +4 THE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS' TRAINING HIKE; Or, Dick & Co. Making Themselves +"Hard as Nails." + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +The Circus Boys Series + +By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON + +Mr. Darlington's books breathe forth every phase of an intensely +interesting and exciting life. + +1 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; Or, Making the Start in the +Sawdust Life. + +2 THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; Or, Winning New Laurels on the +Tanbark. + +3 THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; Or, Winning the Plaudits of the Sunny +South. + +4 THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; Or, Afloat with the Big Show on +the Big River. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +The High School Girls Series + +By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. + +These breezy stories of the American High School Girl take the reader +fairly by storm. + +1 GRACE HARLOWE'S PLEBE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Merry Doings of the +Oakdale Freshman Girls. + +2 GRACE HARLOWE'S SOPHOMORE YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Record of the +Girl Chums in Work and Athletics. + +3 GRACE HARLOWE'S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, Fast Friends in the +Sororities. + +4 GRACE HARLOWE'S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; Or, The Parting of the +Ways. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. + + * * * * * + + +The Automobile Girls Series + +By LAURA DENT CRANE + +No girl's library--no family book-case can be considered at all complete +unless it contains these sparkling twentieth-century books. + +1 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; Or, Watching the Summer Parade. + +2 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; Or, The Ghost of Lost Man's +Trail. + +3 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; Or, Fighting Fire in Sleepy +Hollow. + +4 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; Or, Winning Out Against Heavy Odds. + +5 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; Or, Proving Their Mettle Under +Southern Skies. + +6 THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON; Or, Checkmating the Plots of +Foreign Spies. + +Cloth, Illustrated Price, per Volume, 50c. +*/ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Grammar School Boys of Gridley, by +H. 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