THE MAN WITH THE SCAR
A few days later Teddy came rushing up to Fred on the campus, his face
aglow with excitement.
"Say, Fred," he gasped, "I saw one of them to-day!"
"One of whom?" asked Fred.
"The tramps that looted Cy Brigg's store," responded Teddy.
"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Fred, catching his brother's excitement.
"Are you sure? Where did you see him? How do you know he was one of
them?"
"By the scar on his face," answered Teddy. "You remember the tall one
who looked as if some one had stabbed him up near the temple? I'm sure
he's the same one we saw in Sam Perkins' barn."
"Wasn't the other fellow with him?" asked Fred.
"No, he was all alone this time. I was coming up from the post office
with Lester Lee when I caught sight of him near the railroad track. He
looked tough and slouchy, but not as ragged as when we first saw him."
"Yes," interrupted Fred, "he's had money since then."
"I thought there was something about him that reminded me of some one,"
went on Teddy, "but it wasn't till after I'd passed him that it came
over me who he was. Then I turned around to go after him, with the idea
of having him arrested. But he had just gone over the tracks in front of
a freight train. The train was a long one and we had to wait several
minutes on this side before it got by. Then it was too late. We hunted
all over, but couldn't see anything of him."
"That was hard luck," said Fred regretfully.
"Of course," resumed Teddy, "he wasn't trying to get away, because he'd
never seen me before, and didn't know that I'd ever seen him. He must
have turned a corner somewhere and then melted out of sight. Maybe I
wasn't sore! Think what a satisfaction it would be to telegraph to Uncle
Aaron that we'd got the fellow who stole his watch."
"It's certainly tough," assented Fred, "to come so close to him and just
miss getting him. I'll 'phone down right away to the constable at Green
Haven, and tell him to be on the lookout for the fellow."
"Tell him there's a reward out for him," suggested Teddy. "That'll make
him keep his eye peeled."
Fred telephoned at once, and received the assurance that the fellow
would be arrested if found, and held as a suspicious character until the
Oldtown authorities could send for him.
And the next day, the boys themselves, together with a number of their
friends, spent all their spare time searching in that part of the town
where the tramp had disappeared.
"It's no use, I guess," remarked Fred at last, as they turned back from
the outskirts of the town. "He may be miles away by this time."
"Getting ready to break into some other store, perhaps," suggested
Teddy. "The loot he got in Oldtown won't last him forever."
"There's a pretty tough looking customer going down that lane,"
exclaimed Bill Garwood, as they came to a corner in a poor part of the
town.
The boys followed his glance and saw a tall, roughly dressed man
slouching along a hundred yards away and making toward the open country.
He was alone and seemed to be in no hurry.
"It's the same fellow we saw yesterday," said Teddy excitedly. "I'm sure
of it. How about it, Lester?"
"It surely looks like him," replied Lester Lee. "The same walk and the
same clothes and--yes, the same face," as the man gave a careless look
behind him.
"You get down to the constable's office, quick, Teddy," directed Fred.
"Run every step of the way. Tell him we've got this fellow located.
We'll try to keep him in sight until you get back. Hustle."
Teddy was off like a shot.
But the tramp seemed to know that something was in the air. He looked
around again and then quickened his pace. The boys, too, walked faster,
and, noting this with another backward glance, the man in front made
certain that they were following him with a purpose. What that purpose
was he did not know, but his guilty conscience told him that it might be
for any one of half a dozen offences.
At the first corner he turned sharply, and when the boys reached it,
they saw him loping along at a pace that carried him rapidly over the
ground. The houses had thinned out, and there was no one to intercept
him as he made for the woods that lay a little way ahead.
"Oh, if Teddy were here with the constable," exclaimed Fred, in an agony
of apprehension, as he saw the prey escaping.
They all broke into a run, and, as they were younger and fleeter, they
were soon at the fellow's heels. His whiskey sodden body could not keep
up the pace, and as they neared him, he stopped running and turned about
savagely.
"What are you fellows chasing me for?" he snarled, a dangerous light in
his eyes.
"What are you running away for?" countered Fred.
"None of yer business," the fellow growled. "Now you git, or I'll split
yer heads," he snapped as he drew an ugly looking blackjack from his
pocket.
For an instant the boys hesitated. Then Fred had an inspiration.
"That's the man, Constable," he cried, looking over the fellow's
shoulder. "Nab him."
The man turned in alarm to see who was behind him, and at the same
instant Fred dived for his legs in a flying tackle that brought him to
the ground. It was a splendid tackle, but the man was big and heavy,
and, as they struck the ground, his knee drove into Fred's chest and
knocked the breath out of him.
In another second, the other boys could have launched themselves upon
the tramp, and their united strength would have been able to hold him
down until the arrival of the officer. This had been Fred's idea when he
had made the tackle. But his mind worked so much more quickly and his
action had been so swift, that they did not at once grasp the situation.
And when they did, it was too late.
The tramp, desperate now, got on his feet and rushed at them with his
blackjack. Before that deadly weapon they scattered. The next instant,
he was running toward the shelter of the woods. Fred still lay gasping
for breath, and, not knowing how badly he might have been hurt, his
chums rushed to help him to his feet.
He was white and shaken, but had sustained no injury beside the
temporary loss of breath. In a few minutes he was as good as ever. But
by this time the tramp had made good his escape.
Presently Teddy came up with the constable and a careful search of the
woods was made. But it was all to no purpose.
"Hard luck, old scout," condoled Lester, "but that flying tackle of
yours was a dandy."
"That knee of his was better," mourned Fred. "It knocked me out good and
proper."
"You threw an awful scare into him, anyway," laughed Bill. "I'll bet
he's running yet."
"He can't always get away with it," prophesied Teddy. "That's twice. The
next time will be the third time and out."
They got back to the school tired and vexed. But their thoughts were
turned in another and a welcome direction by a tip given them by Slim
Haley on their return.
"Big feed on," he whispered. "Ned Wayland's uncle sent him a ten-dollar
gold piece for his birthday, and Ned has blown nearly all of it for a
spread in the dormitory to-night."
"Best news I've heard since Hector was a pup," exulted Teddy.
"Ned's the real goods," said Fred. "I wish he had a birthday every
month."
It was hard for the occupants of Dormitory Number Three to keep their
minds on their lessons during the study period that followed supper, and
it was with a whoop and a bang that they rushed into their quarters,
when the gong released them from further work that night.
"On with the dance, let joy be unrefined," sang out Teddy, as he flung a
pillow at Billy Burton.
"You mean un_con_fined," corrected Billy.
"I mean just what I said," replied Teddy. "I know the bunch of lowbrows
I'm talking to."
"Where have you stacked the eats, Ned?" asked Tom Eldridge, who, though
his ankle was still weak, found his appetite as good as ever.
"In here," replied Ned, throwing open his wardrobe door and displaying a
host of things that made their mouths water.
"Wow, what a pile!" exclaimed Lester Lee.
"It won't be a pile long, when you cormorants get at it," said Tom.
"He counted them at break of day,
And when the sun set, where were they?"
he quoted.
"Officer, he's in again," said Melvin.
"It takes more than a sprained ankle to keep Tom off the poetry stuff,"
laughed Fred. "Nothing less than an axe will do the business."
"How did you get all this fodder up here?" asked Slim.
"I gave Jimmy, the laundryman, half a dollar for the use of his hand
cart," explained Ned, "and he sent his boy up with it, with directions
to wait down on the other side of the gymnasium. Then I slipped out
between supper time and study period, and smuggled them in without any
one's seeing me. The janitor nearly caught me, though. Big Sluper was
just turning into the corridor as I got the last thing in and shut the
wardrobe door."
"We want to look out for Beansey, though," he warned them. "He's monitor
this week, and you know how strict he is."
"Beansey," as the boys called him, because he came from Boston, was a
monitor and assistant instructor. He was very lank and solemn, and
extremely precise in his manner of speech. In the matter of discipline,
he was almost as severe as Dr. Rally himself, and the boys sometimes
referred to him as "Hardtack's understudy."
"Who cares for Beansey?" said the irrepressible Teddy. "If he comes,
we'll sic the cheese on him. It smells strong enough to down him. What
kind is it, Ned? Brie, Roquefort, Limburger?"
"It is pretty strong," admitted Ned. "When I ordered it from the grocer,
he turned to one of his clerks and said: 'Unchain Number Eight.'"
The laugh that followed was interrupted by a warning:
"Lay low. Here he comes now."
"Beansey" came in with measured step and walked slowly through the
dormitory. His sharp eyes took in everything, but there was nothing to
awaken distrust, even in his suspicious soul. All the boys were busily
engaged in getting ready for bed, and frequent yawns seemed to indicate
that they would be only too glad to get there.
As the door closed behind him, there was a smothered chuckle of
exultation.
"He won't be round now for another hour," said Tom, "and what we can do
in an hour will be plenty."
"You bet!" said Bill Garwood. "Just watch our smoke."
They slipped the bolt on the door to avoid a sudden surprise. Then they
dragged the clothing and mattress off one of the beds, and made a table
of the springs. On this they piled, indiscriminately, the things brought
from the wardrobe, gloating over the evidence of Ned's generous
provision for the "inner man."
"Say!" exclaimed Fred, "why didn't you clean out the whole store while
you were about it?"
"Some feast," commented Melvin. "Cheese and pickles and sardines, and
pies and chocolates, and ginger ale and soda water, and cake and jelly,
and grapes and----"
"Shut up, Mel, and get busy, or you'll get left," said Slim, as he
speared a bunch of sardines, an example which the rest needed no urging
to follow.
The various good things disappeared like magic before the onslaught of
ten hungry boys, and one would have thought, to see them eat, that they
had just been rescued after days in an open boat without food or water.
And not till the last crumb had disappeared did they lie back in all
sorts of lazy attitudes, like so many young anacondas gorged to the
limit.
"That old Roman, Lucullus, or whatever his name was, who used to give
those feasts, didn't have anything on you, Ned," said Tom. "You've got
him skinned to death."
"Who's all right, fellows?" asked Fred.
"Ned Wayland!" came the unanimous shout.
"And now," said Melvin, "it's up to Billy Burton to give us a song. Tune
up, Billy."
"Great Scott!" protested Billy, "haven't you fellows any feelings at
all? It's cruelty to animals to ask me to sing after such a feed as
that."
But they persisted and Billy finally obliged with what the boys called a
pathetic little ballad, entitled: "I Didn't Raise My Dog to be a
Sausage."
It met with such approval that he gave as an encore: "Mother, Bring the
Hammer, There's a Fly on Baby's Head." This "went great," as they say in
vaudeville, but despite uproarious applause, the "Sweet Singer of the
Wabash" declared that that was his limit for the night.
"A story from Slim!" cried Teddy, and, "A story! A story!" clamored the
other boys.
"Ah, what's the use," said Slim, with a gloom that the twinkle in his
eyes belied. "You wouldn't believe it, anyway."
"I would," said Melvin solemnly. "Cross my heart and hope to die if I
wouldn't."
"Well," began Slim cautiously, "there was a fellow up in Maine once that
was spending the winter with a pal of his, trapping in the woods. They
were about twenty miles off from the nearest town, and every month or so
one of them would have to go to town to lay in a stock of provisions.
"This was a good many years ago, and the wolves were very thick in this
part of Maine up near the Canadian border. That winter had been colder
than usual, and, as the ground was covered with snow, the wolves were
unusually fierce and hungry.
"One day, this fellow I'm telling you about, hitched up his team to the
sleigh and drove to town, as their stock was running pretty low. He was
kept in town longer than he had expected, and it was late in the
afternoon when he started back for his cabin in the woods.
"He had gone about half way, when he heard behind him the howl of a
wolf. Then other wolves took it up, and, looking back, he saw some black
specks that kept getting bigger and bigger. He whipped up his horses,
and they did the best they could, because the wolves frightened them
just as much as they did the driver. But they had traveled a good many
miles that day, and the wolves kept getting nearer.
"The man had some flour and bacon and other things in the sleigh, and he
kept throwing these out as he went along, hoping it would stop the
wolves until he could reach his cabin. But he soon found that this was
no go, and they'd surely get him, unless he tried something else.
"The only things left in the sleigh now were an empty hogshead, a cask
of nails and a hatchet.
"By this time, he had reached a small lake that he had to cross. It was
frozen solid, with ice several feet thick.
"By the time he had driven into the middle of this, the wolves were
close behind and coming fast. He jumped out of the sleigh and cut the
traces, so that the horses might have a chance to get away. Then he
threw the nails and hatchet and empty hogshead out on the ice. He turned
the hogshead upside down, crept in under and let it down over him. He
hadn't any more than done this, before the wolves were all around him.
"But he was safe enough for the time. He had the little cask of nails to
sit on, and he was sure that he could hold the hogshead down so that
they couldn't overturn it.
"They came sniffing around and trying to stick their paws under, and
suddenly that gave him an idea."
Here Slim looked slyly out of the corner of his eye at his companions.
They were listening breathlessly, hanging on every word.
"He took the hatchet," Slim resumed, "and broke open the cask of nails.
The next time a paw came under he drove a nail through it, fastening it
to the ice. He did this to the next and the next, until there was a
circle of paws under the hogshead. Then he chopped off the paws and the
wolves limped away howling.
"Then he slid the hogshead along to a smooth place in the ice, and did
the same thing all over again. There seemed to be no end of wolves, and
he kept moving on from place to place till all his nails were used up.
"At last, he didn't hear any more noise, and, lifting up the edge of the
hogshead, he saw that it was morning, and all the wolves were gone. He
got out, and made his way on foot to the cabin, where he found that the
horses had got home safe, and his friend was just setting out to look
for him. They went back together and counted the paws, and there were
just----"
He paused a moment.
"How many?" asked Billy Burton.
"Seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-six," said Slim impressively.
Then, as the boys gasped, "seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-six,"
he repeated firmly.
They rose to smite him.
"Of all the yarn spinners this side of kingdom come!" burst out Ned
Wayland.
"There you go," protested Slim plaintively, "you're always pickin' on
me.
"It does seem quite a lot," he admitted judicially, "but if it wasn't
true, why should they give those exact figures, seven thousand nine
hundred and ninety-six? It shows they were conscientious and careful.
Now, a liar might have said eight thousand and let it go at that. He
might have----"
Just then there came a knock at the door.