A THREATENING SUIT
Mr. Hatfield’s blunt announcement electrified the Cubs. For a moment no
one spoke and then there was a buzz of excited conversation. Everyone
talked at the same time, demanding details.
“I can’t tell you very much,” Mr. Hatfield replied. “Mr. Brady said two
of the church trustees came to him this morning, asking that he place
their complaint before the Scout organization. The trustees insist that
Cub Scouts visited the church grounds Saturday and did a great deal of
damage. They demand a settlement of their claim, or they’ll sue.”
“Twenty thousand for a broken window?” Dan demanded. “Why, that’s crazy!”
“Those old trustees are out of their heads!” Red added furiously.
“More than a single window is involved,” Mr. Hatfield informed the Cubs.
“Statues were broken, the attorney said, and at least three of the large
stained-glass windows.”
“But that’s impossible!” Dan cried.
“We only broke one tiny little window,” Red added.
“Start at the beginning and tell me everything,” Mr. Hatfield ordered.
“Who went out to the church Saturday?”
“I planned the hike,” Dan confessed. “Brad and Fred couldn’t go. Chips,
Chub, Midge, Red and myself were the only ones.”
“You were after an ice cream freezer the attorney said.”
“That’s right. We asked Mr. Treuhaft if we could borrow a couple that are
stored in the basement. He was busy and told us to come back later.”
“After he turned you down, did you try to break into the church?”
“We certainly didn’t,” Dan denied indignantly.
“We just ate lunch there and tossed my basketball around a little while,”
Red contributed. “Chub made a bad throw and broke a window. That’s all
there was to it, except that Dan said he’d pay for it.”
“I tried,” Dan took up the story. “Yesterday I went to Old Terry’s place.
He wasn’t there, but his wife refused the money.”
“Has anyone returned to the church since the group left there Saturday?”
the Cub leader inquired.
“I went past once on my way from Mr. Treuhaft’s place,” Dan answered.
“That was Sunday.”
“Did you see anyone around the premises?”
“Why, no.” The questioned surprised Dan. “No person,” he amended. “I did
see a sort of shadow moving away toward the graveyard. It might have been
a person or an animal or—”
“Or a ghost?” interposed Midge, half teasingly.
The other Cubs however, were in no mood for his joke.
“How could the trustees threaten to sue for twenty thousand dollars?”
Brad asked, deeply troubled. “Why, it’s silly! Anyway, they haven’t a
chance of collecting, because we don’t have twenty dollars, much less
twenty thousand.”
“They’re threatening to bring a court action against the entire Scout
organization,” Mr. Hatfield explained. “The Scout treasury by coincidence
has almost exactly twenty thousand. The money is in a special building
fund.”
“Mr. Brady knew that!” Dan exploded. “That’s why he’s demanding so much.”
“Perhaps,” the Cubmaster agreed. “But any way we look at it, this is
serious business. The honor of our Den is at stake.”
“How can they blame us for something we didn’t do?” Midge demanded.
Mr. Hatfield assured the Cubs that he believed their story that only one
window had been broken.
“I’m driving out to the church now to see for myself how much damage has
been done,” he announced. “Who wants to ride along?”
Because it was nearing the dinner hour, only Brad, Dan, Fred and Chips
elected to go.
The sun was riding low in the sky by the time the automobile reached the
church grounds. Mr. Hatfield parked along the main road, and the boys
walked up the broken front walk.
“Twenty thousand, of course, is a ridiculous figure to demand,” Mr.
Hatfield remarked, following the Cubs. “I doubt the property is worth
much more than that, including the land. The trustees have been trying to
sell it for nearly two years, and haven’t yet found a buyer.”
“So they’re taking it out on us!” Chips said resentfully.
The walk curved and the Cubs obtained a clear view of the old building.
Dan, slightly ahead of the others, halted abruptly, dismayed by what he
saw.
Not one, but half a dozen small windows had been smashed. The
rainbow-hued glass of a circular, stained window had been broken too.
“Someone else did that!” he exclaimed. “No wonder the trustees are sore!”
“It’s unfair to blame the Cubs,” Chips declared.
The boys circled the old church, noting evidence of extensive damage.
With so many windows smashed, entry into the building itself could not be
prevented.
Chips started to crawl through one of the larger openings, but Mr.
Hatfield hauled him back.
“We’re in deep enough now,” he said severely. “Don’t make it worse.”
It was well that Chips was prevented from crawling through the window,
for a few minutes later, an automobile pulled up at the side entrance of
the building.
Terry Treuhaft and two men the Cubs did not recognize, came over to the
group.
“The church trustees, I think,” Mr. Hatfield advised in a whisper.
His guess was correct. The two elderly men proved to be Elwin Maxwell and
Joshia Brennan. The newcomers spoke curtly to Mr. Hatfield and ignored
the Cubs completely.
Old Terry unlocked the front church door with a massive key so that the
trustees could enter. Though not invited to do so, the Cubs followed
close behind.
In the vestibule a marble statue lay smashed. Plaster either had fallen
of its own weight or had been knocked in ugly patches from the walls.
Pews were overturned, a stair railing broken from its supports and a
stack of old hymn books scattered.
“You see what they did!” Old Terry said to the two trustees. “I’ve been
taking good care of this place. Now look at it!”
“We had nothing to do with this,” Dan said, trying to draw the attention
of the trustees. “Absolutely nothing.”
“These were the boys,” Old Terry identified them for his employers. “They
came out to my place to demand the key so they could get an ice cream
freezer. When I denied it to ’em, they came here just the same and broke
in.”
“We came here to eat our lunch on the grounds,” Dan replied, “but we
didn’t break in.”
“You admit you broke a window?”
“One window. We didn’t do all this damage.”
“You were seen breaking in,” Old Terry insisted. “Some folks in the
neighborhood saw your gang climbing through the windows and called the
police. But you managed to get away before the wagon came.”
“You must have dreamed all that!” Chip gasped.
“What time was this supposed to have happened?” Dan demanded.
“You know well enough. Just about dusk.”
“We were home long before that,” Chips retorted. “So your story doesn’t
hang together.”
Mr. Hatfield spoke quietly. “The Cubs have told me their version of what
happened, and I believe it. Den 2 boys are honorable and truthful. I’m
convinced they’re not responsible for this damage. Believe me, if I
thought otherwise, I’d be the last to defend them.”
“You’ll have an opportunity to defend them in court,” Mr. Maxwell said
acidly. “I don’t care to discuss this matter further. See our attorney,
Mr. Brady.”
Mr. Hatfield knew that it would be a waste of breath to try to talk to
the two trustees while they were in their present mood. He motioned for
the Cubs to leave the church.
All filed out with exception of Brad, who had taken no part in the
conversation with the trustees. He had busied himself at the rear of the
church, inspecting an overturned pew which had caught his attention.
“Coming, Brad?” Mr. Hatfield asked.
“Be right with you,” the Den Chief replied.
Even then he lingered for a moment. When finally he came outside, he
seemed very thoughtful.
“What’s the matter, Brad?” Dan questioned him. “You’re so quiet. You
don’t think we wrecked the church do you?”
“Of course not.”
“You’re acting sort of queer. What kept you in the church, Brad? You were
looking at that bench a long while.”
“I found something too.”
“You did?” Dan became eager. “What was it, Brad? Anything that might help
clear the Cubs?”
“I don’t know,” Brad replied slowly. “It might not have any significance,
and then again, it could.”
“What did you find?”
“You’ll keep it under your hat?”
“Of course.”
Brad lowered his voice. “On that overturned pew I noticed some freshly
carved initials. They were ‘P. O.’ Does that mean anything to you?”