DETECTIVES
That afternoon, William went to the Stanhope Free Public Library to
return a book. Walking in back of the room in search of a good novel,
he came upon Paul hunched over a stack of newspapers. “What are you up
to now, Paul?” he asked in a whisper.
“Tell you later.”
“A mystery, huh?” William joked.
Paul smiled and waved his friend away. “Leave me alone now,” he said,
“I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“Very well.”
William walked away and Paul returned to his stack of newspapers.
He spent almost three hours going through the papers of the past
two months. Tired, he decided to stop there. Besides, he was quite
satisfied with the information he had obtained. He left the library and
walked home. On the way he stopped to call for Ken but did not find
him in. Crossing the street to his own home he found Jack, Ken and
William on the porch waiting for him. “Well, what is the secret?” cried
William. “Tell us.”
Paul motioned to the boys to follow him and he led them to the garage
where they would be assured of privacy. The boys found boxes on which
to sit and they gathered around Paul. “Well, what is it?” asked Jack.
“I have spent about three hours in the library this afternoon,” Paul
informed them “and—”
“William told us that already,” interrupted Ken.
“I have been going through the newspapers for the past weeks,”
continued Paul.
“What for?” asked Jack.
“I was looking up the fire reports. In the past two months there have
been four fires, one each two weeks or so.”
“What about it?” Jack wanted to know.
“Can’t you fellows see for yourselves?” asked Paul, irritated by their
indifference. “Don’t you think that in a small town such as this, a
fire every two weeks is very much above the average?”
“Say,” cried Ken, “you have hit upon something. Come to think of it,
that is a pretty high average.”
“But what has that to do with the story?” asked Jack.
“Simply this,” answered Paul. “Under normal conditions, there would not
be such frequent fires. In other words, all the fires of the past two
months may or may not have been caused accidentally.”
“You don’t think yesterday’s fire was an accident?” questioned William.
“No,” was Paul’s categorical answer.
William raised his eyebrows in surprise. He was not acquainted with
the facts of the case as the other boys were. “What therefore is the
conclusion?” asked Jack.
“It is evident,” returned Paul. “For the past two months at least one
fire, or more has been started by a maniac.”
“This thing is becoming worse and worse,” commented Ken.
“Yes,” Paul said gravely, “the situation is very serious and it is up
to us to do something.”
“Why is it up to us?” asked William. But just as soon as the words were
out of his mouth, he knew the answer.
“Because,” was Paul’s answer, “we are the only ones who seem to be
acquainted with the situation and our suspicions are quite definite.”
“Don’t you think it might be wise to acquaint the police with our
suspicions?” inquired Ken.
“I am against doing anything of the sort,” stated Jack. “If we do that,
there will be a public scandal. It will be in every newspaper in town
and the culprit, whoever he is, will become wary. As it is, we may come
upon him by surprise.”
“I agree absolutely,” commented Paul.
“What is our job going to be?” asked William, eager to do something as
soon as possible.
“For the present there is only one thing we can do,” said Paul. “We
will talk the whole matter over with the boys of the patrol. We are
all pretty close friends and we can act as a group. The thing we have
to insist upon is secrecy on the part of all the boys and to be always
on guard.”
“That alone is not enough,” added William. “I suggest that we also have
the boys patrolling the streets, so that in case of anything, they will
be Johnny-on-the-spot.”
“That is something we will have to discuss with the rest of the boys,”
asserted Paul. “In the meanwhile, suppose we notify the fellows to come
to a meeting tonight after supper. Do you think it is all right?”
“Yes, I think that is a very good idea,” commented William. The other
boys agreed and it was decided to meet in Ken’s garage.
That evening at about seven, the boys began to congregate in Ken’s
garage. They came by one’s and two’s. Fifteen minutes later they were
all there except Jack. The boys were curious as to the reason for the
meeting and they wanted to start without waiting for the missing member
but Paul refused. He suggested that someone run over to call Jack.
Bluff volunteered. They waited about five minutes and the messenger
returned saying that Jack was not home. Paul remarked, “I wonder where
he could have gone?”
Nuthin’ said, “He will most likely be here any minute. In the meanwhile
let’s get going.”
“Yes, let’s do that,” echoed Wallace.
Urged on by the other boys, Paul finally consented and the meeting
was called to order. Paul then outlined the situation for them, told
them the pros and cons of the problem and in conclusion said, “There
is one more thing I want to tell you. In going through the newspaper
files for information on the fire reports, I noticed that there seemed
to be about two weeks difference between fires. In other words, since
the last fire was yesterday, we have about two weeks in which to act.
The thing for us to do now is not to talk about it to anyone outside
of this group and to be always on guard. If we don’t track this maniac
down, God knows what damage he is liable to do.”
For a short while there was silence. Nuthin’ grinned and remarked,
“What you want us to do, Paul, is for us to become detectives.”
Nuthin’ meant it as a joke but Paul took it seriously. “That is just
what I want you to do,” he asserted gravely. “We must all become
detectives and find this man.”
“But the information we have is so slight. We really have no clues to
work on,” protested Bobolink.
“That is very true,” replied Paul, “but we must do the best we can.”
A little later, the meeting was officially adjourned, but no boy
ventured to leave. Their curiosity was aroused by Jack’s not coming to
the meeting and they waited around. Paul felt anxious, though he had
no reason to be. To Ken, who was sitting beside him, he whispered, “I
wonder what happened to Jack!”
Ken shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t imagine. He promised to be here.
And he is not home either.”
“That’s just it,” countered Paul. “The fact that he is not home implied
that he was on the way over here. But something must have happened on
the way to keep him from coming to the meeting.”
“We can go over and see if he is home now.”
“That is a good idea. Let’s go.”
Ken and Paul rose and the other boys did likewise. In a group they
walked over to Jack’s house. Ken went in while all the others remained
outside. A minute later he emerged and motioned that the missing boy
was not home. The boys were disappointed and a few of them became
worried. Bobolink commented, “This is becoming serious. We ought to
look for him.”
Paul turned the idea down. “You fellows better go home,” he said, “and
don’t worry. Jack has a right to go wherever he pleases and if he did
not show up at the meeting, there must be a good reason for it.”
“But where could he have gone,” Nuthin’ asked anxiously. “After all,
something may have happened to him.”
Paul, though he was anxious himself, made believe that there was
nothing to worry about and laughed at the suggestion that something
might have happened to Jack. “Most likely he went to see someone or
something like that,” he remarked casually. “Nothing serious could have
happened to him.”
“Besides, he is the sort of fellow who can take care of himself,” added
Ken.
“And what’s more,” argued Paul again, “we don’t know where to look for
him. And if we spread an alarm, his folks will become worried and that
is something we certainly don’t want.”
“No, I guess you are right, Paul,” agreed Nuthin’.
Several of the other boys nodded and showed willingness to agree with
Paul’s idea that they all go home. They walked along as a group until
one by one the boys fell out to go home. Finally only Paul and Ken were
left. The two boys walked side by side and Paul seemed exceedingly
quiet and preoccupied with his thoughts. Ken hesitated to break in upon
his friend, but finally he asked, “What are you so quiet and thoughtful
about?”
“I wasn’t really thinking of anything,” the other replied.
“We may as well go home, like the others,” suggested Ken.
“No, let’s not do that. Suppose we walk down Main Street a bit. To tell
you the truth, I am a bit worried about Jack.”
“Worrying won’t help any,” Ken wisely remarked.
The boys walked down Main Street and then retraced their steps. At
Paul’s house, they silently sat down on the steps of the porch and
remained like that, neither one uttering a sound.