GROPING IN THE DARK
"Well, I feel as weak as a sick cat, after meeting with such an
adventure as that!" exclaimed Jerry, after he and his three chums once
more found themselves alone in the cabin.
"To think of our being accused of being common, every-day thieves!"
grumbled the indignant Bluff. "Why, it just makes my blood fairly
boil!"
"But I'm mighty glad to know my films are all right," Will burst forth
with, and this remark showed that this important fact took precedence
of all others in his mind.
Frank stepped over to the opening where the plank had been removed,
and glanced down as he rubbed his chin reflectively.
"Look here, fellows," he said to the others, "all of you saw the hole
under this board that time we found the coin, the half of an old
envelope with Mr. Dennison's name on it in faded writing, and that
baby shoe; isn't it so?"
"Of course we did, Frank," assented Jerry; "and I want to make my
solemn affidavit to the fact that there wasn't any gold cup lying
there then."
"Will, you are just as positive about that as Jerry, of course?"
continued Frank.
"Well, I should say I was!" came the prompt reply.
"And you too, Bluff?" Frank went on, evidently intending that there
should not be a single dissenting voice in the group.
Bluff immediately lifted his hand, with the fingers stiffened as
though he fancied himself on the witness stand.
"Give you my word for it, Frank; nothing doing," he asserted in his
customary vigorous manner, that was usually very convincing.
"Gilbert came up to the scratch smiling, didn't he?" remarked Jerry;
"and I take it he's going to turn out a pretty decent sort of a
fellow."
"Queer, isn't it," Will was saying, "how chickens do come home to
roost? When we stopped a little while on our way here, and pulled
Gilbert up by the use of that wild grape-vine, none of us ever dreamed
he'd be in a position to return the favor, and yet see what happened.
What's that old proverb about the bread thrown to the fishes, or
something like that?"
"You must mean 'bread cast upon the waters will come back again ere
many days,'" explained Frank, smilingly.
"All right, no matter how it runs, it worked, you see," continued
Will. "We got Gilbert out, and now he has returned the favor."
"Huh! strikes me he kept us from getting in," interrupted Bluff;
"because the old gentleman seemed bent on ordering Mr. Jeems to arrest
us, and throw us in the village lockup."
"Luck still seems to hang out with us," ventured Jerry; "and you know
they say it's a heap better to be born lucky than rich. Money may fly
away, but so long as luck stands back of you it's easy to get
everything you want."
"But all the same that mystery of the golden cup bothers me," said
Frank.
"Yes, that's a fact," added Jerry. "How in the wide world could it
ever have come into this cabin, when we know it wasn't here a few days
ago?"
"Mr. Dennison admits it was safe in his house until about the day
before yesterday," continued Frank; and then he cast a sly look out of
the tail of his eye in the direction of Jerry.
Truth to tell, Frank was just a trifle uneasy concerning that member
of the little party. There was a shadow of a reason why he should
feel that way, too. He could only too easily remember how impulsive
Jerry had hinted that he felt a great temptation to try to find out
what the secret of the hermit's house was. At the time he expressed
this longing Frank had taken him severely to task; and Jerry had
promised faithfully to forego all effort to pry into matters that were
none of his concern.
Jerry as a rule could be depended on. When he gave his word about
anything it was as good as his bond, and Jerry was proud to declare
that.
Frank could not bring himself to believe there could be anything in
this sudden thought. Even if Jerry had crept out in the night-time
while his chums were fast asleep, how could the boy possibly have made
his way along the trail to the hermit's place, have entered the house
and carried off the valuable cup, to hide it under the cabin floor?
No wonder Frank decided that such an explanation of the mystery was
impossible. Even if they never learned the truth he could not bring
himself to suspect any of his chums of doing such a monstrous thing.
To the surprise and also the consternation of Frank, he found that
Jerry had noticed his manner, and he immediately accused the other.
"I can guess easily enough what you're thinking, Frank," asserted
Jerry, with offended dignity marked in his manner; "but 'tisn't so, I
tell you. I never set eyes on that old cup before he snatched it up
out of that hole."
"No need of your saying that, Jerry," declared Frank, "because I
believe you are as innocent as I can be myself. I only happened to
remember that you talked of wanting to sneak up there and spy around a
bit, though you owned it would be mean. And I also chance to know that
you've been around every hour since you came back from the village."
"I'm blessed if I can make head or tail out of the game," admitted
Jerry. "I never was a good hand at guessing answers to riddles; and
say, let me tell you this thing is the toughest nut to crack that ever
came our way, eh, Frank?"
"It's going to bother us a heap, that's right, Jerry."
"But somehow I've got my little hunch, Frank, that in the end you'll
hit on the answer. It may take a lot of time and figuring, but I sure
believe you can do it."
"It may be Gilbert can help us out," suggested Will, just then.
"But how would he know anything about the job," objected Bluff, "when
he just got back from that golf tournament?"
Frank bent down and looked closely into the hole.
"All we know for certain is that somebody put that gold trophy cup in
here," he observed reflectively.
"Yes, and if the old plank could talk it'd be easy for us to get at
the truth. But then of course that isn't possible," Jerry remarked,
with a sigh.
"Help me to put the plank back in place again," said Frank, and after
this had been done he commenced to work at it as if to see whether one
person could manage to raise the heavy board.
"It can be done, you see," was what Frank said, as, managing to get
his fingers underneath, he raised the plank a little.
"Now what's the line you're figuring on, Frank?" demanded Jerry;
"because it's as plain to me as the nose on my face that you've struck
a strong clue."
"Yes, tell us what it is, won't you, Frank?" urged Will.
"Well, listen," the other began to say, slowly, as with upraised
finger he marked off each point in his theory. "Look back a little,
Will, to when we got home here after our high jinks up in the woods.
Don't you remember what we discovered the first thing?"
Will thereupon uttered an exclamation, while his face lighted up with
eagerness.
"That's so, Frank!" he exclaimed; "we knew somebody had been in here
after we started out the afternoon before. The door wasn't shut close,
and a chair lay on its side on the floor. Besides that, a number of
little things showed they had been disturbed. Yes, somebody had been
in the cabin!"
Jerry gave a shrill cry in which delight could be traced.
"It was that person, then, who hid the pesky old cup under the loose
plank; that goes without saying, Frank!" he announced, as though his
mind was made up to that fact and could not be easily changed.
"Well, even if we agree on that," said Bluff, "how're we going to
learn who the intruder was? To tell you the truth, it gets me why a
sneak thief would steal just that gold loving cup of Gilbert's, and
then come all the way down here to hide it under the floor."
"Frank, you're keeping something back; I can see it in your face!"
cried Will. "Tell us, do you think old Aaron put that cup here
himself?"
"Whew! that would be the limit, I should say!" gasped Jerry.
All of them waited to hear what Frank would have to say. The leader
of the Outdoor Chums did not reply hastily, for Frank did not wish to
commit himself in so grave a matter without due consideration. Still,
he must have had his mind made up fairly well, for presently he
started to answer.
"Let's see, fellows, how the case stands," he told them. "We know that
long ago Aaron Dennison once lived in this cabin. We also know that he
probably kept what little money he owned in those days down under that
loose plank. The finding of that old mouldy half dollar points toward
that. So you see he knew about the cavity under the board."
"So far as that goes, Frank," observed Bluff, "you could see by the
way he had the constable raise the plank that he knew. But I was
watching his face at the time, and let me tell you he looked as
astonished to see the cup lying there as any one of us did, and that
means a lot."
"That's what bothers me," admitted Frank; "one minute I seem to think
Mr. Dennison put the cup there; and then again I'm just as certain
that he believes us guilty of stealing it. We'll have to keep trying
to find the answer; but just now, Jerry, you and Bluff had better get
busy cleaning those fine bass you hooked, if we mean to have them for
dinner to-day."