THE CLUE
If Hope Stillmore could have seen the old lady’s partner at cards as he
appeared creeping stealthily down the stairs in that still, dark hour,
she would have laughed. For the girl was not without a sense of humor.
The three adventurers had dressed in a great hurry and in a sudden
inspiration (as Pee-wee would have called it) Fuller had thrown a fancy
table cover over his shoulder and drawn it in at the waist by a broken
trunk strap (souvenir of the departed Braggens) which he had found in
the room. He looked not unlike a Spanish bull fighter.
A scout is supposed to be not only economical, but cautious, and Pee-wee
did not follow his two friends quite to the scene of excavation. He did
not take his thirty-one cents’ worth all at once, but prudently fell
behind, taking about fifteen cents’ worth. Fuller stepped up first, Ray
presently joined him, and Pee-wee advanced as he gathered courage. One
look at the stranger informed the three that he was the man they had
seen at the station.
[Illustration: Like a flash of lightning, Fuller reached for the coat.]
“Digging for bait?” Fuller asked pleasantly.
The stranger seemed greatly disconcerted. “Yere, but I don’t find any,”
he said.
“Maybe you’re digging too deep?” said Ray. “Anybody tell you that this
is the only place to find bait?”
“I ain’t hurtin’ nobody, am I?” asked the man.
“No, but you’re trespassing,” said Fuller quietly. He glanced about,
casually inspecting the immediate vicinity. He squinted his eyes at the
tree under which they stood. Then he leaned against the tree in an
offhand manner.
“I was wondering whether this nail in the tree meant anything to you,”
he asked in a friendly way. Ray fancied that he could catch a certain
unexpressed meaning in his friend’s tone. “Sometimes they mark spots
where there is good bait,” Fuller said. “You’re a stranger in town,
aren’t you?”
“Am I doin’ any harm?” the stranger asked, reaching for his coat that
hung on a limb of the tree. Like a flash of lightning, Fuller reached
for the coat, quickly went through the pockets in which he found
nothing, then flung the coat in the man’s face.
“The best thing for you to do is to get out of here double quick,” he
said briskly. “You’re either an escaped convict or an ex-convict. Oh,
you needn’t be afraid, we haven’t got anything on you. Only if you’re
caught here it might be bad for you. If there’s any good fishing bait
here we’ll find it. Now get out of here, _quick_. There’s a freight
train leaving about now, and we’re very much obliged to you for
calling.”
The stranger hesitated for just a moment. It seemed as if he could not
bring himself to go. Then he departed.
He had dug all around the tree; he must have been at work long before
Pee-wee saw him. Fuller sat down on the edge of the irregular
excavation; the others followed.
“I have a hunch! there’s something planted around here,” Fuller said.
“There’s no mysterious paper with figures and crazy directions on it and
death’s head designs and four paces in the light of the moon stuff, and
that’s too bad. But that chap had a reason for coming here. The only
mark of identification anywhere around that I can see is that old rusty
nail in the tree. Anyway, the rusty nail seems to have the laugh on him.
Come on, let’s go in and get some sleep.”
Fuller and Ray slept peacefully enough for the balance of the night, but
Pee-wee did not sleep. Skimper’s was transformed into a desert island
where he had come to search for buried treasure. He would stay six
months if necessary. So far as he was concerned he had voyaged a
thousand miles to the desolate haunt of pirates, all for thirty-one
cents. Once again his spirit rallied to the standard of Ray and Fuller.
“Gee whiz, they’re right,” he said. “One place is as good as another if
not better.”
Great was the excitement at the Snailsdale House in the morning. “It’s
_thrilling_,” Hope said, as she examined the excavation with several
curious old ladies. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Those fellers—they always have adventures,” Pee-wee told her. “You can
even find treasure on—you can even find it on fire escapes—sometimes.
Gee whiz, you should never go hunting for something like you did,
because you never find it, that’s sure.”