WHAT SLEUTH LEARNED.
The excited chattering of the crowd in front of the bank was broken in
upon by the harsh voice of Captain Quinn.
“Ahoy, you blatherskites!” cried the old sailor, appearing upon the edge
of the gathering. “Stow that jabber a minute and tell me if you’ve put
your peepers on my monkey. The little whelp has run away, and he’ll
freeze to death unless I find him. It would break my heart if anything
should happen to my monkey.”
This statement aroused some laughter and provoked a few jeers.
“Go crawl into your bunk, you old pirate,” advised one of the younger
men. “It would be a good thing if your monkey did freeze. The town
wouldn’t miss it—or you, either.”
“Take twenty years off my shoulders,” snarled the old tar, “and I’d lay
you by the heels for that, you swab! You talk bold and sassy to a man
three times your age and crippled with the rheumatics, but I’ve scrubbed
the deck of my vessel with dozens of your kind in my day.”
“Everybody knows that, you old man-handler,” was the retort. “You’ve
cracked the skull of more than one better man, but the law protected you
because you were the master and they were nothing but common sailors.
Oh, we know you here in Oakdale.”
“Yes, and I know you, the whole common crew of ye. You’re brave as
dogfish chasing po’gies until you spy a shark, and then you run and
hide. What are ye doing here? Why ain’t ye off with the men that’s
trying to run down the burglars? You’re afraid. There’s not one of ye’s
got the courage of a squid.”
“If you weren’t so old,” said one of the wrathy listeners, “we’d be
handing you a taste of your own high-sea methods before you could say
half as much.”
“Never mind my age,” bellowed Quinn, squaring away. “Come try it, any
one of ye or the whole crew together. You’ll find it a bit lively while
it lasts, or my name is not Aaron Quinn. Hoist anchor, you blackguards.
Up with your sails, and come at me with every stitch set. What’s the
matter, you lubbers—what’s the matter? Why don’t you come on? Afraid,
eh?—afraid of old Aaron Quinn! A bold lot you are! You can wag your
tongues loud and talk bold, but not one of ye has as much gizzard as a
chicken. Bah!”
With a derisive gesture, he disdainfully turned his back upon them and
slowly moved off into the darkness, seeming deaf to their jeers and
cat-calls.
A few minutes later Urian Eliot appeared, made his way through the
throng that respectfully stepped aside from his path, and was admitted
to the bank. The door had not long been closed behind the president when
it opened again, for Stickney, the grocer, whose manner as he came out
betrayed that he was leaving the place with great reluctance and much
against his will.
“How is it, Stickney?” called one of the gathering. “Did the robbers get
anything, or were they frightened away?”
“Huh!” grunted the grocer, standing on the steps. “I don’t know. They
waited for Eliot before they opened the inner door of the vault, and
when he came he proposed, as I didn’t happen to be a director or some
high muckamuck connected with the bank, that I should leave. And I was
one who risked his life to follow Timmick into that place, not knowing
but we might have to face desperate burglars armed to the very teeth.
That’s the way they treat a fellow citizen who is ready to shed his
blood for them. But what can you expect of men who try to run a bank in
these days without a night watchman of their own? That’s their idea of
economy, perhaps, but it will be a mercy if it hasn’t proved expensive
economy. They take our money in trust and then fail to give it proper
protection. Timmick refused to touch the inner door until Eliot came.
Perhaps it was unlocked. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the bank
had been cleaned out of every dollar and every scrap of security it
contained. I have an account here myself; seventy-nine dollars balance,
too. If there has been a robbery, somebody will have to make good. They
can afford it, men like Eliot and Hayden and the others; but I can’t
afford to lose it.”
His resentment seemed contagious, and there were others who began
murmuring about the bank officials. But, for the most part, those who
talked loudest had small accounts with the institution or none at all.
“What have they done about catching the scoundrels?” asked Stickney.
“They ought to have ’em by this time.”
He was told that armed squads were searching for the cracksmen, although
there had been no reports of a capture.
“Oh, they’ll let ’em get away, I’ll guarantee,” sneered the grocer. “I
was opposed to the hiring of a night-watch by the town. I said it would
be an extravagant waste of money, and this night proves I was right.”
“Only for him,” reminded some one, “the robbers might have finished the
job and got off without an alarm being raised. Likely nobody would ever
known it till the bank was opened at nine o’clock.”
“He might have nabbed ’em, instead of running away and hollering like a
loon,” asserted Stickney. “He had the chance. If I’d been in his place,
I’d potted the whole bunch. Now it’s doubtful if any one of ’em is
caught. Well, I’m going home to get a little rest before breakfast.”
Apparently it did not occur to the courageous grocer that he might be of
service by joining one of the searching parties.
It was growing light and a curious throng still lingered in front of the
bank hoping to learn if a robbery had actually taken place, when the
door of the building opened again, and this time Sleuth Piper was thrust
forth with such violence that he was saved from sprawling on the
sidewalk only by the quick hand of a man who stood on the lower step.
“Hello, Piper,” said this man, gazing at him in astonishment. “How did
you get in there?”
“Sh!” hissed Sleuth, pulling away. “Never mind, never mind. In pursuance
of my duty, I am liable to be found anywhere. Had they given me a little
time, I might have imparted some information of tremendous moment. But
let them go on. Let them work in the dark. They will need me yet.”
“Tell us, has the bank been robbed?”
“They are now going over the contents of the vault,” was the boy’s
evasive reply. “I’ll not forestall their report by a premature
statement.”
Some one pulled at his sleeve, and, looking around, he saw Roy Hooker.
Willingly he followed Roy, who led the way to the rear of the bank,
where at least a dozen men were gathered outside the window by which the
robbers had obtained entrance.
“You beat the Dutch, Pipe,” said Roy, in a manner bordering on respect.
“How the deuce _did_ you ever get in there?”
Piper explained, taking to himself abundant credit for quick thought,
rapidity of action and amazing cleverness in keeping concealed once he
had slipped inside.
“Well, what did you learn, anyhow?” questioned Hooker. “Did you find out
anything, or did you waste your time?”
“I never waste my time,” retorted Sleuth with dignity. “It was through
my natural desire to learn all that could be learned that I was detected
and ejected. At the present moment the officers of the bank are in the
directors’ room at the rear, going over the securities. There’s a door
leading from that room into the outside corridor, and, in order to hear
and see, I had to open that door. They closed it once, but I opened it
again on a crack, and that aroused the suspicions of Rufus Sprague, who
stepped out quickly and nabbed me. Then, refusing to listen, they
chucked me outside. I was ready to throw a bombshell into their midst,
but I’m glad now that I was restrained from action.”
“What did you propose to tell them, Sleuth?”
“It was on the tip of my tongue to advise them to look for a certain
party known as ‘James Wilson,’ _alias_ ‘William Hunt,’ _alias_ ‘Philip
Hastings,’ _alias_ ‘Gentleman Jim,’ and furthermore and finally, _alias_
Clarence Sage.”
“Then you fancy——”
“Fancy, Hooker? Nay, sir, this is no case of guesswork; I know what I’m
about. Doubtless Sage is as far from Oakdale as his feet could carry him
in the time since the would-be robbers fled.”
“The would-be robbers!” echoed Roy. “Then they really didn’t get
anything?”
“Right there,” said Sleuth, “you touch the one point that as yet remains
inexplicable to me. The inner door of the vault apparently has not been
broken open by the burglars. It was unlocked by Timmick in the presence
of Urian Eliot and the directors. They removed cash and securities to
that back room for investigation. At first everything seemed undisturbed
and they were congratulating themselves, when the discovery was made
that a package of securities amounting to twenty thousand dollars was
missing.”
“Gee!” gasped Hooker. “Then there _was_ a robbery. But how can it be
possible, if the inner door of the vault had not been opened?”
In the gray light of the morning a wise and significant smile flickered
across Piper’s face.
“There’s but one explanation,” he answered. “The men who tried to rob
the bank last night did not get those securities. They were stolen at
some previous time.”