WHERE PROFESSOR DIMP COMES IN BIG
"What under the sun are you talking about, Bobby?" demanded Lil
Pendleton; and Nell cried:
"Professor Dimp! What do you know about the professor?"
"Is _he_ here?" demanded Dora.
"Not Old Dimple?" chimed in her twin.
"You surprise me, Clara," said Mrs. Morse. "Are you referring to your
Latin teacher? and is he anywhere near here?"
"Oh, gracious! I'm always putting my foot into it whenever I open my
mouth," groaned Bobby.
"A highly impossible athletic feat, I am sure, Bobby," said Jess,
unable to keep from laughing, although she knew Bobby deserved
chiding.
"I want to know what this means," exclaimed Lil again. "Who is this
sheriff after? And why is Old Dimple mixed up in it?"
"It's the fellow who came and robbed our larder!" shrieked Nell,
guessing the enigma at last.
"I am afraid that is who the sheriff is looking for," admitted Laura,
gravely.
"And why _here_?" cried Lil. "Didn't that fellow take the food and get
away from the island?"
"We did not find him--that's sure!" said Dora Lockwood.
"Barnacle found his camp, and we saw Professor Dimp there," explained
Laura seeing that a clean breast of it was the better way.
"Who's 'we?'" demanded Lil.
"Jess and Bobby and I. We spoke to the old professor, and he was real
cross to us. He would not tell us anything about the young man."
"Then Liz _did_ see that Mr. Norman the night we were robbed?" said
Nell.
"Yes. I expect so."
"'Mr. Norman?'" Nell repeated, reflectively. "And the fellow who
robbed that bank in Albany is Norman Halliday? The very same!"
"And you knew this all along, Laura Belding?" cried Lil. "You mean
thing!"
"Oh, quit, Lil," advised Bobby, gruffly. "Why should Laura stir up a
row and scare you all? I never till this very moment guessed who the
fellow might be, myself. Of course the sheriff is looking for him!"
"And on this island!" murmured Lil. "A criminal!"
"We don't know how much of a criminal he is," said Laura, stoutly. "He
was the fellow that saved Short and Long from that dog yesterday, I
verily believe," and she wagged her head. "_He_ didn't look very
desperate, I can tell you!"
"My goodness! that's so," said Bobby, eagerly. "Let's keep the sheriff
off."
"How are you going to do it?" asked Jess. "Go down there and stone him
when the barge comes near?" and she chuckled.
"He hasn't any permit. This is private land----"
"But can't he search the island for a lawbreaker?" asked Dorothy.
"I don't know that he has a right to, without a warrant."
"But if we try to stop him," said Laura, slowly, "won't he suspect
that we don't want him to search the island?"
"Say!" exclaimed Lil, angrily. "What do _we_ care?"
"We don't want him to find that poor fellow," said Bobby.
"Why not?" repeated Lil, sharply.
"After he saved Short and Long's life?"
"Humph! should we pass a vote of thanks to him for _that_?" demanded
Lil, with, sarcasm.
"Not for that, perhaps," Laura said, gently. "But think of the old
professor."
"Old Dimple!"
"The old Prof?"
"What about him?"
The chorus rose loud and general. Laura flushed, but held her ground.
"Our loyalty to Central High ought to be enough to prompt us to help
one of our teachers. In some way the old professor is connected with
this young man who is in danger of arrest. I don't mean that we should
actually thwart the officer of the law. But I, for one, certainly will
not help the officer."
"You are right, Mother Wit!" cried Bobby. "I'll go a step farther.
I'll try to keep that man from landing here with his dogs."
"I know nothing about the right or wrong of the case," said Mrs.
Morse; "but I am afraid of those awful beasts. There are five of
them!"
"And Barnacle will only get into a fight with them if they land,"
declared Jess, rather amused. "Let's go down to the lake in a body and
refuse to allow the dogs to come ashore."
Liz Bean had listened from the cook-tent, but said nothing. Her plain
face was as expressionless as ever.
Now, when Mrs. Morse and the girls of Central High started down the
slope on the northern side of the knoll, Liz slipped into the woods to
the west, and quickly disappeared in the thick underbrush.
The big mainsail of the barge had been dropped and the men with the
sheriff were paddling the craft in to the shore. Now and then a hound
would lift its head and utter a mournful bay. Then Barnacle would
strive to bark his own head off!
Laura recognized one of the paddlers with a start of surprise. It was
the vicious farmer who had set his dog on Short and Long, on Bang-up
Creek!
If she had had any doubts about the right and wrong of an attempt to
thwart the sheriff before, Laura had none _now_. Perhaps her course
was indefensible; but intuitively she believed that farmer to be a bad
man. And she was sure that he was the one who had set the sheriff on
this trail.
He had doubtless followed the young man with the gun and seen him join
Professor Dimp. The two had paddled for Acorn Island. The farmer had
communicated with the sheriff.
Right then, so hotly burned Laura's righteous indignation, that she
would have done her very best to keep the officer of the law from
landing those bloodhounds, and chasing the mysterious "Mr. Norman" out
of his hiding place.
But it was Bobby who put the ball into play first.
"Say, Mister! don't you bring those dogs ashore here!" she called to
the sheriff.
He was a big, red-faced, beefy-looking man, with a bristling mustache
and little, piglike eyes.
"I wanter know!" he said, huskily. "Who do you think you are giving
orders to, young lady?"
"You are a sheriff, aren't you?"
"Yes I be," said the man.
"And you are searching all the woods around about for a convict?"
"Not perzactly. But he's likely ter be a convic' arter I git him," and
he chuckled, hoarsely.
"Well, this island is posted. We have a permit to camp here, but I
don't believe _you_ have any warrant for landing at all," said Bobby,
sharply. "And my father, who is one of the directors of the Rocky
River Lumber Company, certainly does not want a pack of hounds like
those, running the game on this island--out of season, too."
"This ain't that kind o' game, young lady," said the sheriff, slowly.
Then he stopped. A figure had suddenly appeared from the wood. It was
a shabby but commanding figure, and the girls themselves shrank
together and waited for the old Latin professor to speak.
"Miss Hargrew is quite right," said Professor Dimp, in his iciest
tone. "Those hounds must not land here."
"I say, now!" growled the sheriff.
"This is private property," continued Professor Dimp, coldly, "as Miss
Hargrew tells you. You can see the signs. You will trespass here if
you are determined. But I warn you that if you bring those dogs ashore
you will be prosecuted."
"I'm a-goin' to search this islan'," growled Sheriff Larkin, uglily.
"You may. You have no warrant to do so, but you may. But you must not
bring ashore those dogs. And," added the professor, turning and bowing
with old-fashioned courtesy to Mrs. Morse, "you must keep away from
the camp where this lady and her young charges are ensconced."
He turned on his heel in conclusion, and walked into the woods again.
"Three rousing cheers!" whispered Bobby under her breath. "What's the
matter with Old Dimple? _He's_ all right!"