THE ROBBERS AND THE HAUNTED HOUSE
"Billiard, did you ever see a ghost?"
It was almost a week since the bank robbery had occurred, and still no
clue as to the identity of the robbers had been found, although posses
were still searching the country, determined to catch them if such a
thing were possible. But the excitement of the event had already died
down in the youthful minds of Silver Bow, and other topics of
conversation absorbed their attention.
"Naw," answered Billiard contemptuously, without looking up from the
stick he was whittling. "What's eating you, Toady? There ain't any
ghosts, and you know it."
"What about that haunted house in the east end of town?"
"'Tain't haunted."
"Susie says it is."
"And Tabitha has lived alone near it for six or seven years and she has
never seen anything stirring there."
"But ghosts walk only at midnight. She's never been there at night."
"Aw, you softy----"
"Susie says the Gates boy declares he saw a ghost in the graveyard one
night."
"Well, that's different. I don't blame a ghost for walking there."
"Why, Billiard McKittrick, what do you mean?"
"Did you ever see a lonesomer place on earth than the Silver Bow
graveyard?" demanded Billiard. "Why, it's the worst looking cemetery
in the country, I believe,--just heaps of rocks and wooden sticks to
show where folks are buried. Tabitha says they _blast_ out the graves
with dynamite, six at a time, and fill them up with people as fast as
they die. Would you rest easy if you were planted in that style?
Wouldn't your ghost want to get out and walk?"
"_Billiard McKittrick_!" Toady looked positively shocked. Then after
a moment, as the older boy made no reply, the younger one continued
thoughtfully, "Maybe that's what is the matter with the ghost in the
haunted house."
"Oh, pshaw, Toady, I tell you there ain't such a thing as a ghost!"
"I'll stump you to go down to the haunted house some time and find out."
"All right, come along!"
"Not during daylight. It must be after dark. Midnight is the best
time, Susie says."
"Bother Susie! Why don't you get her to go with you?"
"You are afraid to go!" jeered Toady.
"Am not!" retorted Billiard angrily.
"Then why don't you take my dare?"
"It's all tommy-rot," insisted Billiard, with a fine show of scorn.
"'Fraid cat!"
"Oh, I'll take you up," cried the other, stung into recklessness by
Toady's taunts. "We'll go to-night."
"To-night?" stammered Toady, much abashed at his brother's sudden
acceptance of the dare.
"Yes, to-night!"
"What's your hurry?"
"Who's the 'fraid cat now?" taunted Billiard.
"Not me! To-night's the time. We'll set the alarm-clock for half-past
ten."
"Suppose it wakes the rest of the bunch?"
"They'll think it's a mistake, and in a few minutes will be asleep
again, and we can steal outside without their hearing us at all."
So it was decided, and though each boy, deep down in his heart, hoped
that the other would back out before the hour set, both resolved not to
show the white feather, and as the alarm-clock pealed forth its summons
in the silence of the night, two sleepy lads crept stealthily out of
bed, drew on their clothes, and without exchanging a word, started for
the haunted house at the other end of town.
Never, it seemed to the quaking boys, had the desert night seemed so
black. The stars were shining, to be sure, but the very heavens seemed
further away, and the silence was appalling. Nervous, excited,
dreading the ordeal, each boy waited for the other to propose that they
give up their wild-goose chase; but neither was willing to acknowledge
his cowardice first, so they stumbled fearfully on, clutching each
other's hands to keep from falling, they told themselves, but really to
feel the nearness of another human being.
At length, however, they reached the old, abandoned shack, where they
were to keep their ghostly vigil, and with bated breath they opened the
sagging door and crept trembling over the threshold into the black
shadows of the interior. Fear held them tongue-tied, and they crouched
upon the dusty floor as close to the door as they could get. The
silence was intense, terrifying.
Then the stillness was sharply broken by a hoarse whisper, "What was
that, Bill?"
Billiard, thinking Toady had spoken to him, was about to reply when a
second voice answered, "Only the wind, I reckon. Shut up."
"But it sounded like someone opened the door."
"You're as bad as an old woman with the fidgets," said the second voice
crossly. "Go to sleep, can't you? At least, let me sleep. I tell you
we're safe enough. The fools will never think of looking for us here.
This is a _haunted_ house and no one ever comes here. When they get
tired of scouring the desert and give up hunting for us, we'll light
out, but until then we've _got_ to lie low; and we might as well spend
our time snoozing as to be worrying all the while."
"The bank robbers!" thought each boy to himself. What should they do?
It would be impossible for two small boys to capture such desperadoes
in the dead of night, especially as neither lad was armed, they argued.
Their only course was to steal noiselessly away, rouse the sheriff,
bring back a posse and surprise the men in hiding.
With one impulse, the terrified boys clasped hands, slipped cautiously
out of the house, hardly daring to breathe for fear of being heard, and
raced off along the road toward the sleeping town with all the speed
they could muster. Once they fancied they heard a voice call to them,
but this only increased their head-long flight. Their feet seemed
fairly to skim over the ground, and when they reached the main street
of the town they were breathless, exhausted and frightened almost past
speaking.
"Where--does--the sheriff--live?" panted Billiard, as they tore down
the last steep slope.
"Dunno," gasped Toady.
"Then how'll we find him?"
"Drug-store."
"It's shut."
"Ring the night bell."
And ring they did, sending peal after peal echoing through the silent
building until the sleepy proprietor, dishevelled and wrathy, stumbled
through the doorway, and demanded fiercely, "What the deuce is wanted?"
"The robbers--" half sobbed the boys.
"Well, they ain't here," snarled the angry druggist, not catching the
meaning of their words. "Now you hike for home and the next time you
want to play a practical joke----"
"Oh, this isn't a joke!" cried Toady imploringly. "We've found the
sure 'nough robbers, but----"
"We aren't big enough to capture them," finished Billiard.
"Aw, come off!" said the man, beginning to see from the boys' demeanor
that something was really wrong. "You are having a bad dream. How do
you happen to be wandering around town this time of night?"
"We dared each other to visit the haunted house to see if there was a
really ghost, like Susie said."
"And you found one, did you?" the druggist laughed sarcastically.
"Oh, this ain't a ghost. It's burglars, truly! They talked and we
heard what they said," cried Toady with convincing earnestness.
"And what _did_ they say?" persisted the druggist, though in a
different tone of voice.
Briefly they recounted their adventure in the vacant house, and as the
man listened he took down the telephone, said a few words which the
boys could not hear, and hung up the receiver again. Almost
immediately there was a sound of footsteps without, and an armed
citizen of Silver Bow appeared in the doorway, then another, and
another, until a score or more had gathered just outside the building.
There was a hasty consultation one with another, then the boys were
bidden to repeat the story they had told the druggist, and after the
men had heard the meagre details, the posse separated, vanishing one by
one in the blackness. But instinctively the boys knew that they would
attempt to surround the haunted house, and taking its occupants by
surprise, would compel them to surrender.
They wanted to remain at the drug-store until the capture was effected,
but the keeper ordered them home to bed, and they reluctantly obeyed,
listening every step of the way for the sound of shots. But nothing
occurred to mar the stillness of the night, and they wondered if the
desperadoes had after all escaped. So anxious were they, and so
nervous over their unusual experience that it seemed as if sleep would
never come to close their eyes, as they lay once more in their bed at
the Eagles' Nest; and they were astonished to find themselves waking up
the next morning at the sound of someone knocking at their door.
"Who is it?" called Billiard, vaguely wondering if he could have
dreamed all that had transpired during the past twelve hours.
"Susie," answered a voice from the hall. "The sheriff wants to see
you."
"The sheriff?"
"Yes. Hurry up! The bank robbers have been caught and you have to go
to the justice of the peace's office."
"Then it's really so," sighed Billiard in relief.
"Course it is!" retorted Toady, now thoroughly awake. "But what do you
s'pose the _sheriff_ wants us for?"
"Dunno. Quickest way to find out is to go down and see."
Susie and the twins were waiting for them when they emerged from their
room, and ecstatically announced, "We're all going, too. They want you
to be _witnesses_, and Tabitha to take notes. No one else in town
writes shorthand."
"But what is it all about?" demanded Billiard. "Ain't the robbers in
jail?"
"We have no real jail here," explained Tabitha, who chanced to overhear
his question. "When a man does anything that he has to go to prison
for, they take him to the county seat. This court only tries to prove
whether or not there is evidence enough to hold him for trial by the
county. Hurry up, they are waiting for us. And children, remember,
you must come straight back here after you take a look at the
prisoners. Queer how youngsters want to see such things, isn't it?
Perhaps it will be quite a while before I can get back, but I know I
can trust you to keep out of mischief and mind Mercedes. Oh, Glory,
I've got nervous chills already about taking that dictation. The
lawyer who is to defend the robbers can talk like lightning."
"Fudge!" replied Gloriana reassuringly. "You won't have any trouble at
all, I know. They will take into consideration the fact that you have
no experience outside of school. Is this the place? What a funny
looking court! Does he live here, too? The justice of peace, I mean."
"Why, Tabitha!" interrupted Irene, clutching the older girl by the arm.
"Look there! That's our candy man,--the tallest one--and they've got
him hand-cuffed. Does-- Is _he_ the man they say robbed the bank? I
don't believe he ever did it!"
"Hush!" warned Inez, giving her twin a vicious dig in the ribs. But
the damage was already done.
"What do you mean?" demanded Tabitha, pausing on the threshold of the
tiny, dirty room that served as courthouse for the town of Silver Bow.
"Yes, what do you mean?" asked one of the lawyers, who had chanced to
overhear the remark.
"He made candy for us the day you went to the river and left us at
home," explained Irene, ignoring the frowns of her partners in guilt.
"Tell us all about it."
Bit by bit the story came out, and to Irene's great grief it forged
another link in the chain of evidence already so strong against the
cheery stranger. "I don't want him to go to jail," she sobbed. "He's
an awfully nice man."
"But, dear, he is a thief," Tabitha told her. "He ought to go to jail."
"If they'd only let him loose this time, I'm sure he would never steal
again," the child staunchly maintained. But in spite of her faith in
him, the "candy man," as the children continued to call him, was sent
to the county seat for trial, convicted, and sentenced to a long term
in prison.
"He shouldn't have stolen if he didn't want to go to prison," asserted
Billiard virtuously. "If he hadn't robbed the bank, he never would
have had to hide in the haunted house and we wouldn't have found them
there."
"But as 'tis," added Toady, "they paid Billiard and me each fifty
dollars for finding them. I mean the town paid us."
"Though you didn't discover whether there are any ghosts or not," said
Susie much disappointed.
"Who cares?" retorted the boys, drawing out their little hoard of gold
pieces and gloating over them. "I wish there were more haunted houses
if they'd all pay us as well as this one did. Now, what shall we do
with our money?"