A SERIOUS ACCUSATION
Instantly there was great excitement in the dormitory, and all of the
students crowded around Polly, to learn what he might have to say.
"It was this way, don't you know," said the scholarly youth. "I went
to Oakdale to see my uncle, who stopped off on his trip from Portland
to St. Louis. He wanted to ask me about some family matters, and he
didn't have time to come to the Hall. I went down in the buggy----"
"Oh, never mind that, Polly, tell about the explosion," interrupted
Roger.
"Well, I had just seen my uncle to the midnight train and was getting
into the buggy to come back when I heard a low boom! coming from the
direction of Sparr's hotel. The station-master and I were the only
people around, and I asked him what the noise meant, but he said he
didn't know. Then he jumped into the buggy with me to find out. We
drove to the hotel, and there was excitement enough, I can tell you.
The girls and women folks were screaming wildly and Mr. Sparr and some
men were running around, not knowing what to do. Soon a crowd began to
collect, and then we found out that a wing of the building--where the
dining-room is--had been blown up. Some men from the railroad said it
had been done by dynamite--the kind used for blowing up that old
bridge."
"Was anybody hurt?" asked Dave.
"Nobody but an old man who was sleeping in the house next to the
addition. He got so scared he jumped from an upper window and sprained
his ankle. Oh, that dining-room is a sight, I can tell you! One end is
completely gone--the wall away from the main house--and all the tables
and chairs and ornaments smashed! And the roof is full of holes!"
"How was it done?" questioned Gus.
"The dynamite was placed at the side of the dining-room foundation,
according to the railroad men, and it was set off by some sort of
clockwork," answered Polly.
"And who did it?" asked Shadow.
"They don't know, yet. But Sparr suspects Phil. That is why I woke him
up as soon as I came in," continued the girlish student.
"Suspects me!" exclaimed the shipowner's son.
"Yes. He says you are the only one who would do such a thing--you and
the crowd who have been backing you up."
"Well, I never!"
"Maybe he means me, too," murmured Ben.
"He does, and all the others in the crowd, too. He thinks it's a plot
to get square because he wouldn't give Phil his dinner money back."
"I had nothing to do with it," declared Phil, stoutly.
"Nor I," added Ben.
"Well, I am sure I wasn't in it," said Dave. "I didn't dream of such a
thing."
"Nor did I," added Roger and some others.
The news soon spread through several dormitories, and the boys
discussed the startling happening in whispers. Phil was greatly
disturbed.
"I didn't do it, but I know he'll try to fasten it on me," he told
Dave. He did not add that he had written to his father about the
affair of the feast and his parent had sent a warning letter back,
ordering his son to have nothing more to do with Jason Sparr.
The next morning the news was all over the school. Nat Poole heard of
it, and he and some of his cronies declared it as their opinion that
Phil and some others were to blame. This brought on a fistic encounter
between Ben and the money-lender's son, and the latter got a black eye
in consequence.
"You sha'n't say I did it--or had anything to do with it," said Ben,
when Nat backed away, having had enough of the battle.
"Humph! just wait till the law has its say!" retorted Nat. "Then maybe
you'll get what is coming to you!"
Some of the boys wanted to go to town--to see the damaged hotel--but
Doctor Clay would not permit this. In the meantime the wreckage was
being cleared away, and the authorities and Jason Sparr were doing
their best to locate the author or authors of the crime.
Then came a great surprise, in the shape of a letter delivered in a
mysterious way to the hotel-keeper. He was seated in the hotel office
in the evening, talking to one of the town constables, when a missive
was hurled at him through an open window. He dodged at first, fearing
more dynamite, but when he saw it was only a letter, he picked it up
and turned it over. It was addressed to him and marked "Private and
Personal."
"Wonder what this is?" he mused, and walked over to the light to read
the letter. It was written on a single sheet of paper, in lead pencil,
and evidently in a disguised hand. It contained but a few lines, as
follows:
"If you want to catch the fellows who blew up your hotel have
these boys of Oak Hall school arrested at once, Philip Lawrence,
Benj. Basswood, David Porter, Roger Morr, and Joseph Beggs. They
were together when it was done, and one or more of them surely did
it.
"One Who Knows."
The hotel-keeper read this letter several times and then stuffed it
into his pocket. Then he went into the next room and drew from a
drawer several things wrapped up in a newspaper.
"I am going down to see the squire," he said, to the constable. "You
can come along, if you want to."
"What was in the letter?"
"The names of the rascals who blew up my hotel."
"What! You don't mean it, Jason!"
"Yes, I do."
"Who sent the letter?"
"That's a secret. But come on, we'll talk it over with Squire
Thompson. Ain't no time to waste." And then the hotel man went off to
interview the leading legal light of the town.
The conference at the squire's office lasted the best part of two
hours. At this Jason Sparr produced the contents of the package,
several things picked up near the hotel at the time of the
explosion--a tan glove, somewhat worn, two iron rings, an empty paper
box marked, "L." in one corner, a whip handle, and a clock-like
contrivance which had been used to set off the dynamite. He told of
his trouble with Phil and his chums, of the threats made, and produced
the letter received so mysteriously.
"Looks kind of plain to me, Squire," he said. "Don't you think so?"
"It isn't for me to say," replied the squire, cautiously. "But if you
want to swear out warrants for those boys' arrest----"
"Ain't I justified?"
"Sure you are," put in the constable, who happened to be the squire's
brother-in-law. "I wouldn't waste no time on it." He thought he saw in
this a job for himself, with some fat fees.
"If you have them arrested, you've got to prove your case," said
Squire Thompson, slowly. "It's a serious business, Sparr."
"But this letter says they are guilty."
"Lock 'em up and make 'em confess!" broke in the constable. "Give 'em
the third degree!" he added. He had read something of how city
criminals were occasionally treated and he wished to air his
knowledge.
"I'll do it!" cried Jason Spar. "I'll show 'em they can't insult me
and take away my trade and then try to blow up my hotel! I'll have 'em
all locked up! Then we can examine 'em one by one, and get 'em
tangled up and make 'em confess."
After much trouble, the warrants for the arrest of Phil, Ben, Dave,
Roger, and Buster were made out. The constable wanted to serve them at
once, but it was decided at the last moment to wait until the next
morning, to see if any new evidence regarding the crime might be
forthcoming.
The constable went home, sworn to secrecy, but he had to tell his wife
and her sister of the affair, and the news got to the ears of a man
who boarded with them. This fellow, who was named Andy Prime, chanced
to know Dave quite well, our hero having once done him a favor. Early
in the morning Prime drove past the school, and seeing Dave on the
campus, hailed him.
"Come over here, I want to tell you something, Porter," said Prime,
mysteriously.
"What do you want?" asked Dave, good-naturedly.
"Ride a bit with me, will you? I don't want nobody to hear us," went
on the man, lowering his voice.
Wondering what was coming, Dave got up on the seat of the man's wagon
and they drove to the far end of the Oak Hall grounds. There Andy
Prime told of all he had learned.
"Please don't say I told ye!" he pleaded. "It might git me in
trouble. But you did me a good turn onct an' I ain't forgot it."
"Thank you, Prime, I won't tell who told me," answered Dave.
"Thet old skinflint o' a Sparr deserved to have his buildin' blown
up."
"Perhaps. But we didn't do it, I can assure you of that. If Mr. Sparr
has us arrested, he'll get in hot water," answered our hero; and then
he got out of the wagon and Andy Prime drove on.
Dave at once carried the news to those immediately concerned. All were
very indignant, and some were scared.
"Say, I won't stand for being arrested!" cried Phil, in horror. "It's
too much of a disgrace!"
"My folks would never get over it," added Ben.
"It would just about kill my mother, if I was locked up," came from
Buster.
"Well, I'll stand it if I have to," said Roger. "But I'll make that
fellow suffer for it later!" he added, bitterly.
All thoughts of going to school that morning were abandoned by the
five boys. They talked the situation over, and determined to go down
the road and await the arrival of the constable, Andy Prime having
said that Hickson would come by ten o'clock.
"This is awful!" gasped Phil, shaking his head dolefully. "Say, Dave,
I can't stand it!"
"Wait until we hear what the constable has to say."
"He won't say anything--he'll just drag us to the Oakdale lockup!" put
in Ben.
"I wonder what my dad will say to that, when he hears of it?" murmured
Roger. "The newspapers are bound to make a spread of it. 'Son of a U.
S. Senator Jailed for Blowing Up a Hotel!' or something like that. Oh,
it makes me sick!"
Plainly the majority of the students were very nervous. The only one
who kept calm was Dave, and even he was much disturbed. All walked
along the road, keeping a sharp eye out for the appearance of Paul
Hickson.
"Here he comes!" cried Phil, as a covered wagon came along the road,
driven by the keeper of the Oakdale jail. On the front seat beside the
driver were the constable and Jason Sparr.
"Hi, you boys!" shouted the constable, as the wagon came closer. "I
want to see you!"
"What do you want?" demanded Dave, stepping to the front.
"We want you, for one!" cried the hotel-keeper. "Be careful, Hickson,
that none of 'em get away!" he added.
"I don't know one from tudder," said the constable, doubtfully.
"This is just the bunch we are after, unless I am mistaken," went on
the hotel man. "That is Lawrence there, and Basswood, and this is
Porter, and I think that is Morr," and he pointed to the various
students.
"Good enough. Boys, in the name of the law, I call on you to halt,"
declared the constable, pompously.
"Mr. Sparr, what does this mean?" demanded Dave.
"It means that I am going to have the whole bunch of you arrested!"
shouted the hotel man, harshly. "You blew up my hotel, and I can prove
it! I've got the evidence against every one of you! I am going to have
you arrested right now and sent to prison!" And he shook his fist at
the boys.
"The evidence against us?" faltered Phil.
"Yes, sir, the plain, clear evidence," went on the hotel-keeper,
dramatically. "I've got you just where I want you. I am going to send
every one of you to prison for five or ten years!"