THREE IN CONSPIRACY
“And so I told him I’d go back to work to-morrow,” ended Hansel
somewhat sheepishly. Mr. Ames smiled.
“And all those noble resolutions of yours, Dana?” he asked with mock
reproachfulness.
“I can’t help it,” muttered Hansel. “I--I just had to give in. If you’d
seen Bert’s face you’d have done the same.”
“I dare say I should,” answered the other seriously. “I don’t blame
you, Dana; and perhaps it’s just as well, anyhow. From what you’ve
told me of Dr. Lambert’s remarks the other night, I gather that he has
something on his mind; I wouldn’t be surprised if----”
“What, sir?” asked Phin.
“Er--nothing; it was just an idea of mine. We’ll wait and see. Well,
two weeks from now we’ll be a very jubilant or a very depressed lot
here at Beechcroft.”
“Who do you think will win, sir?” asked Phin.
[Illustration: “‘Who do you think will win, sir?’ asked Phin.”]
“With Dana and Cameron both in the game I think we should. But Fairview
has got a pretty heavy lot of men, and they’re fast, too, I understand.
But I’m going over there Saturday to see them play, and when I get back
I’ll know more about them. Of course, they won’t show any more than
they have to, and I dare say they’ll play a lot of subs, but just the
same there’ll be plenty to see. Look here, Dorr, why don’t you come
along with me? You haven’t got anything special to do, have you, on
Saturday? It won’t cost you anything, because I’ve got mileage.”
“I’d like to,” answered Phin wistfully, “but I guess I ought to stay
here and study. I’ve got a good deal to make up.”
“Well, I need company, and I tell you what we’ll do. You come along and
take your books, and I’ll hear you in German on the way over. And I’ll
hear your French that night, if you like. What do you say?”
“It’s very kind of you, sir, and if they don’t need me here that
afternoon, I’ll be glad to go.”
“They won’t need you. I’ll tell Folsom to get along without you. The
game with Parksboro won’t amount to much. We’re going to play second
string men almost altogether, and send the first out in the country for
a walk.”
“Then we won’t see the game?” asked Hansel.
“You can see the first half; then I want the lot of you, the ones that
don’t play, to mosey over to Brookfield and back, if it’s a decent day.
By the way, Phin, you can set your mind at rest about your studies; the
doctor tells me you are to be allowed every facility for making up lost
recitations. But I forget; you know about that, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir, Hansel said John--I mean Dr. Lambert--was very kind, sir.”
Mr. Ames grinned.
“Funny how the fellows like to call us by diminutive forms of our first
names here, isn’t it?” he asked. “Last year--you remember, Dorr, I
guess?--Putnam, who graduated last spring, blurted out my pet name in
class room. I had called him down for not knowing his lesson. ‘Mr.
Bobby,’ he said earnestly, ‘I studied two hours on that last night,
sir!’”
The boys laughed.
“It’s only the ones the fellows like,” said Phin, “that get pet names.”
“Thank you,” laughed Mr. Ames. “I feel better.”
“It’s so, sir,” protested Phin earnestly. “You never heard any of us
call Mr. Foote ‘Sammy,’ sir.”
“Come, come, Dorr, that’s treason,” said the instructor, shaking his
head smilingly. “You’re a bit hard, you chaps, on Mr. Foote.” Phin made
no answer.
“By the way,” asked Mr. Ames, “I meant to ask after your--after Mrs.
Freer. How is she getting along?”
“Very nicely, sir, thank you. It isn’t a secret any longer; about her
being my mother, I mean. It was her idea, sir; she got it into her head
that the fellows would think it funny if they knew she earned money by
dressmaking.”
“She was mistaken,” answered Mr. Ames quietly. “I don’t think we have
many snobs here, do you, Dana?”
“No, sir,” Hansel replied. “Although some of the fellows who come from
a few of the prominent schools seem inclined to look down a bit on the
fellows who don’t.”
“Yes, that’s so, I guess. Well, you’re showing them that their schools
haven’t a mortgage on football, eh?”
“That’s what he is,” answered Phin heartily.
The next afternoon witnessed Hansel’s return to his old place on the
first team. He was doubtful as to the attitude the other members would
show toward him, but as it turned out his doubts were unnecessary. Most
of them seemed glad to see him back again, and big Royle absolutely
slapped him on the back, a token of friendliness which, because of
its vigorousness, was quite as disconcerting as it was unexpected.
Chastened by Saturday’s defeat by Warren, the team buckled down to work
in a manner that was highly encouraging, and pushed the second all over
the field.
The next day Hansel stole an hour between recitations, and walked
to the village and paid a visit to the little book store where the
students bought their stationery. As the proprietor wrapped up
the half dozen blue books and the two scratch pads which had been
purchased, he remarked casually:
“Well, maybe the next time you call you’ll find us in our new quarters.”
“Oh,” said Hansel, “are you going to move?”
“Yes, they’re going to tear this place down and put up a big four-story
block here. My lease is up next week, and I’m going up the street to
the store just this side of Perry’s drug store. I expect I’ll get back
here when the new building’s done. Well, it’s time it was torn down,”
he added disgustedly. “The place is almost ready to fall to pieces. I
haven’t been able to get them to make any repairs for over a year.”
Hansel paid for his purchases and went out. On the sidewalk, from sheer
curiosity, he paused and examined the building that was to disappear.
It was a small affair, two stories and a half high. The ground floor
was taken up by the book store, and by the entrance to a stairway
leading to the upper floors, the first of which was occupied by a
tailor. From his windows Hansel’s gaze roamed higher to the single
casement under the peak of the roof, and a spot of color caught his
eyes. He moved to the curb and looked up again. Yes, it was undoubtedly
a light blue Beechcroft flag which he saw. Evidently, then, one of
the students had quarters up there. Well, whoever he was, he’d have
to move out and find a new room very shortly. Hansel started up the
street, paused and turned back, struck by a thought. After a moment of
indecision he returned to the store.
“Who lives on the top floor here?” he asked.
“Top floor?” answered the bookseller. “A Mrs. Wagner. She’s a German
woman, a widow. She works in Barker’s laundry. She has three rooms
upstairs, and gets them for almost nothing. Lets the front one to
students and makes a pretty good thing out of it, I guess.”
“Who are the students?” Hansel asked. “Do you know their names?”
“Let me see. One of them is named Sankey or Sanger, or something like
that. I don’t know his friend’s name.”
“Sanger, I guess,” said Hansel. “I know there is such a chap. They’ll
have to move out, too, I suppose.”
“Yes, we’ve all got to go inside of a fortnight. For my part, I’ll be
glad to get out of here.”
“You don’t happen to have heard what this Mrs. Wagner is going to do?”
“No, but I guess she’ll be able to find another place, all right. I
guess she isn’t very particular.”
“Thank you,” said Hansel. He went back to the street and meditated.
Then he passed in at the entrance to the upper stories and mounted the
stairs. The first flight was well lighted, but when he came to the
second he had to grope his way up, for the place was as dark as Egypt.
From the upper corridor four doors opened, one of them, as was evident,
to a closet filled with trash, and the others to the three rooms. The
only light came from a small and very dusty skylight let into a leaky
roof. Hansel went to the door of the room on the front of the building
and knocked. There was no answer. As he had presumed, the occupants
were at school. On the door were tacked two cards bearing their names.
What with the poor writing and the lack of light, it was all Hansel
could do to decipher them. But he succeeded at last, and learned that
the names of the occupants were John Wild Sanger and Evan Fairman
Shill. He had learned all that it was possible to learn at present, and
so he made his way cautiously down the stairs and hurried back to the
academy.
After football practice that afternoon Hansel walked back to the campus
with Harry Folsom. There had been something of a slump in the team, and
Harry was looking rather gloomy for him; it took a good deal to ruffle
his cheerfulness. After they had discussed the cause of the slump, and
had attributed it to a variety of things, and Hansel had predicted a
return to form the next day, the latter brought the conversation around
to the subject upon which his thoughts had been engaged ever since the
forenoon.
“Say, Harry,” he asked, “do you know a fellow named Sanger, who lives
in the town?”
“Johnny Sanger? Sure, I do. He lives over Dole’s store; rooms with a
fellow named Sill.”
“Shill; but that’s the chap. Well, what sort of a fellow is he?”
“Sanger? Oh, he’s a sort of a frost. He’s in the second class, I think,
and I also think that he was there last year, too. Somebody told me
that his folks have lots of money, and give Johnny all he wants, and he
doesn’t spend any of it from the time he comes until he goes home in
the spring. But I don’t know much about him personally. In fact, he may
be a very decent sort, after all; you can’t believe all you hear.”
“And who is Shill?”
“Don’t know him except by sight. He’s a tall and thin youth with an
earnest countenance; wears glasses, I think.”
“Are his folks rich, too?”
“Search me, my boy. Say, what the dickens are you after, anyhow? Take
me for a city directory, do you? Or a copy of the school catalogue?”
“S-sh, don’t excite yourself,” laughed Hansel. “I’ll tell you all
about it. In fact, I want your help. Can I have a few minutes of your
valuable time? Or are you going to study?”
“Don’t be silly,” answered Harry, leading the way up to his room. “Who
ever studies with exams two months and more away? Take the Morris chair
and make yourself ‘ter hum.’ Now, then, unburden your mind. But let me
tell you before you start that I’m dead broke. If you are thinking of
hiring any more nurses, old son, you mustn’t ask me. And that reminds
me that I haven’t collected all that money yet; there are three fellows
still owing me. What you ought to do, Hansel, is to start a hospital.”
“It isn’t a nurse this time,” answered the other, “but it’s Mrs. Freer
again.”
“The dickens it is! What are you going to do now? Buy her a new silk
dress or send her to Europe?”
“Well, you quit being funny and I’ll tell you.”
“Oh, I’m not funny; I can’t be; I try awfully hard, but I can’t make
it.”
“Well, stop trying then. And listen here, Harry. You know how Phin and
his mother are fixed; they have mighty little money; she’s been trying
to make some sort of a living by doing sewing and dressmaking, but Phin
says she hasn’t found much to do. I suppose that’s only natural in a
town like this. I guess most of the women do their own dressmaking, eh?”
“Can’t say for sure,” answered Harry with a broad smile, “but judging
by some of the dresses you see, I dare say you’re right.”
“Well, anyway, they’re having a hard pull of it. You know how Phin
works; he gets up before it’s light and he works until long after it’s
dark, and I don’t suppose he makes very much, either. It’s a shame!”
“Sure it is! But we can’t support them, Hansel. I like Phin as much as
you do, and I’ve got a lot of respect for that mother of his; she’s a
dandy sort of a mother to have; but--well, what the dickens can we do?”
“Help them,” answered Hansel promptly.
“Well--but how?” asked Harry dubiously.
“You know they’ve got a room at their house that they want to rent.
I’ve seen it, and it’s a dandy. If they had rented that when school
began they’d have been all right, Phin says. It’s only three dollars a
week, but I suppose that three dollars means a whole lot to them.”
“I suppose so. What then, O Solomon?”
“Well, I propose to find some one to take it for the rest of the year.”
“Oh! It sounds simple, but can you do it?”
“I think so, if you help me.”
“Here’s where I come in, eh? What do you want me to do? Walk through
the town with a placard on my back? Go around with a dinner bell
yelling ‘Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! There is a fine room for rent at Mrs.
Freer’s, and the price be moderate?’”
“No, I want you to hush up and let me do the talking for a minute,”
Hansel laughed. Harry looked hurt.
“Let you do the talking!” he muttered. “You don’t seem to realize the
fact that you’ve been talking a steady stream ever since you entered my
humble apartment.”
“I was in Dole’s this morning,” said Hansel, “and he told me that he
had to move out inside of a fortnight, because the owner is going to
pull that old building down and put up a big four-story affair.”
“Phew!” whistled Harry. “Won’t that be swell? Think of Bevan Hills with
a four-story block! Maybe there’ll be a real store there when they get
it finished!”
“Well, do you see what I’m driving at?” asked Hansel.
“Driving--no, I’m blessed if I do!”
“Didn’t you just tell me awhile ago that this fellow Sanger lives over
Dole’s store?”
“Yes, but----”
“Well, do you think he’s going to stay there after they pull the place
down?”
“Of course not, you idiot, but what’s that got to do with Mrs. Freer’s
room that she wants to--” Harry paused. “Look here, you don’t mean that
you’re thinking of trying to rent Mrs. Freer’s room to Sanger and Sill,
or Shill, or whatever his silly name is?”
“Why not?”
“But supposing he doesn’t want to go there?”
“I intend to make him.”
“Oh, yes, indeed! Go ahead and rave, poor youth! Only, after a while,
kindly make an effort and talk sense!”
“Well, why shouldn’t those fellows take that room? It’s a good one, and
it isn’t nearly as far from school as the one they’re in now. Besides,
it’s cheap.”
“It’s three dollars, and I’ll bet they haven’t been paying more than
two where they are.”
“But if Sanger’s folks are well off, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t
be willing to pay three, is there?”
“No, only maybe he’d rather not,” Harry answered dryly. “If what I’ve
heard of Johnny Sanger is true, he’d much rather save that dollar than
spend it. So it seems likely that what he will do when he gets turned
out of his present quarters is to hunt around the town until he finds
something nice and cheap.”
“All right, but suppose he can’t find anything?”
“What’s the good of supposing that? Aren’t there lots of rooms to be
had?”
“I don’t believe so; at least, not at this time of year. You know there
aren’t many more rooms in the fall than will accommodate the fellows
who want to live in town. I heard Spring talking about it when I first
came here. He said that if the school kept on growing, they’d either
have to build a new dormitory or put up some more boarding houses
in the village. He was going to write an editorial about it in _The
Record_, but I guess he never did.”
“Spring’s always going to ‘touch things up editorially,’” laughed
Harry, “but he generally changes his mind. He’s got such a busy mind,
Spring has!”
“Well, anyhow, I guess what he said was about so. And I’ll bet there
aren’t half a dozen rooms in town for rent now; and what there are are
pretty bum.”
“Well, why didn’t Phin rent his, then?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because the fellows didn’t know about it. Last
year the house was closed up, you know. Besides, lots and lots of
fellows rent their rooms in the spring for the next year.”
“All right. Then you think that Sanger will have to take Mrs. Freer’s
room because it will be the only decent one left, eh?”
“Yes.”
“Then where do you come in? And what have I got to do?”
“We’ve got to make sure that it is the best one left.”
“You’ll have to talk in words of one syllable,” sighed Harry
hopelessly, “and illustrate copiously with diagrams. Tell me frankly
what the dickens it is you propose to do. Anything short of highway
robbery that doesn’t require a larger capital than two dollars, you may
count me in on.”
“Thanks. I propose to see that when Sanger starts to find a new room
he won’t be able to find anything nearly as good as Mrs. Freer’s for
any such price. I propose to find out to-morrow just what rooms are for
rent. Then I’ll see Sanger--and you’ll go with me--and we’ll tell him
about Mrs. Freer’s place and get him to look at the room. If he takes
it, why, that’s all right. If he doesn’t, we’ll go and get options on
the decent rooms, so that when he tries to rent them he won’t be able
to.”
Harry whistled long and expressively. Then he burst into a laugh.
“I thought I was a pretty nifty schemer, Hansel,” he said, “but
you’ve got me beaten a city block. Do you think, though, that the
boarding-house folks will give us options, as you call it, on their
rooms?”
“Yes, because they don’t expect to rent them now after school has
commenced. They’ll be glad to give us refusals of any old rooms they
have left. And it won’t be necessary to ask many, I guess, because
there can’t be many rooms for rent at two or three dollars that Sanger
would take.”
“Well, it sounds all right the way you tell it,” said Harry, “but maybe
it won’t work out just according to specifications. But we’ll try it.
I’d like mighty well to see Phin and his mother comfortable. If Phin
doesn’t make his scholarship in January, I guess he will be up against
it for fair.”
“Yes, but I think he will make it all right. They’re letting him make
up what he missed while he was out, you know. Now, how can we get hold
of Sanger to-morrow?”
“Why to-morrow?” asked Harry. “Let’s go and see him this evening and
take him to see the room.”
“Have you got time?” asked Hansel doubtfully.
“Time? I have more time than money! I’ll come over for you at eight,
and we’ll beard Johnny in his den. By the way, have you spoken to Bert
about this?”
“No,” answered Hansel.
“Well, I would. He knows Johnny Sanger better than I do. You tell him
about it, and get him to go along with us this evening. The more the
merrier. And if we can’t reason with the silly dub, we’ll intimidate
him by a show of force.”
“All right,” laughed Hansel. “I’ll look for you at eight.”
“Or thereabouts. The fact is, there’s a little matter of some fourteen
pages of Latin that I think I’ll just glance over after supper.”
“To hear you talk,” said Hansel with a smile, “a fellow would think
that you never did a bit of studying! And you always have your lessons
better than anyone else, Bert says. You’re a fraud!”
Harry grinned as he opened his door with a flourish and ushered the
visitor out.
“Not so loud!” he whispered. “It’s a secret, and I don’t want it known.
I’m simply wearing my brain out with study, and I’m afraid that if the
faculty hear of it they’ll make me stop! Eight o’clock, my boy, or
words to that effect. Let us say between eight.”
“Between eight and what?” asked Hansel.
“No, just between eight,” replied Harry politely, as he closed the door.
Bert was in an extremely contented frame of mind that evening after
supper, the result of an article in the paper which predicted defeat
for the Fairview football eleven when it met Beechcroft. He read the
article to Hansel, and the latter pretended to feel greatly encouraged,
although as a matter of fact he placed very little reliance on the
writer’s powers of prophecy. As soon as he could switch Bert away
from the subject of football, which was about the only thing that his
roommate thought about in those days, he told about the plan to rent
Mrs. Freer’s vacant room to Sanger and Shill. The idea appealed to Bert
at once.
“Say, that’s a scheme, isn’t it?” he exclaimed admiringly. “And won’t
Johnny be mad when we tell him about it afterwards!”
“Well, I hadn’t thought of telling him,” laughed the other. “Maybe we’d
better keep the joke to ourselves.”
“Oh, he won’t mind after he’s got settled at Phin’s,” said Bert
carelessly.
“Just the same, I guess we’ll keep it to ourselves,” Hansel insisted.
“What we want to know is whether you’ll go and see Sanger with us this
evening. Will you?”
“Oh, but I’ve got to study!” said Bert blankly.
“But it won’t take more than an hour.”
“An hour! Thunder! Why, I’ve got a whole bunch of work to do; and
Latin’s the hardest ever!”
“Well, have a go at it now. Harry won’t be here for three-quarters of
an hour.”
“Can’t,” replied Bert. “I’ve got a couple of plays I want to work out.
I’ve got to do those first. I’ll go with you to-morrow night, though.”
“You’ll go with us to-night,” answered Hansel firmly. He switched away
the paper from under Bert’s pencil and substituted his Latin book.
“There! Now find your place and get busy. Here’s your dictionary.”
Bert looked puzzled, and for a moment seemed half inclined to resent
being dictated to. But he evidently thought better of it, for after a
moment he laughed, looked regretfully at his diagrams, and bent over
the book with a sigh.
“All right,” he said. “But I won’t go along unless I’ve got this
plaguey stuff by the time Harry comes.”
“Oh, you’ll have it by then,” answered Hansel, as he found his own
books and seated himself at the opposite side of the table. “A fellow
can learn a lot when he’s in the mood for it.”
“Humph!” muttered Bert.
At a quarter past eight Harry beat on the door, Hansel shouted “Come
in!” and Bert looked up surprisedly from his labor.
“Hello, Harry,” he said. “You’re just in time. Tell me what this
beastly Latin means, will you?”
“When we get back,” answered Harry. “You’re coming with us to Johnny
Sanger’s, aren’t you?”
Bert stretched his arms above his head and looked undecided.
“I don’t know,” he said. Then his eyes fell on the diagrams beside him.
“Say, I started on those plays before supper and one’s about done.
Look here, Harry. How’s this for a ripping fake? Close formation; see?
Ball goes to left half and quarter----”
“Great!” said Harry. “You can tell me about it when we get back. Find
his cap, Hansel. He’s in a hurry.”
Bert got up good-naturedly and laid the diagrams between the pages of
his book to mark the place.
“You fellows make me tired,” he said. “When I want to study, you won’t
let me. Why the mischief don’t you let Phin rent his own room?”
“Phin’s too busy,” answered Hansel. “He’s in a hole, anyhow, with
a week’s work to make up. Besides, this is going to be a sort of a
surprise.”
“Who for?” laughed Bert. “Johnny Sanger?”
“No,” said Harry, “for the landladies whose rooms we get the refusals
of!”
“It’s a bit hard on them, isn’t it?” asked Bert virtuously, as he took
his cap which Hansel tossed him. “They’ll think you mean to take their
old rooms.”
“Merely a bit of innocent deception,” responded Harry airily. “They
won’t be any worse off than they were before.”
“Besides,” said Hansel, “if you’ll persuade this Sanger chap to rent
Mrs. Freer’s room we won’t have to play tricks on the landladies. And
then your conscience won’t trouble you, Bert.”
“All right; come along. I was cut out for a room-renting agency,
anyhow. Besides, Sanger is an awful duffer, anyway, and ought to have
worse than this happen to him.”
“Worse than this!” exclaimed Harry. “You’d think we were going to haze
him to hear you talk! Instead of that we’re doing him a real kindness;
finding him a nice comfortable room and charging nothing for our
services!”
“Guess we’d be doing a heap better,” muttered Bert as they went
downstairs, “if we minded our own business!”
There was a half moon in the sky and it was very easy to follow the
path across the terrace and the green. They made good time and were
soon in the village. When they reached the building they sought, they
found all its windows dark.
“That’s funny,” said Hansel, peering up. “Where do you suppose they
are?”
“Visiting,” answered Bert. “Come on; I’m going back. I’ve got work
to do. The next time I start out on a wild-goose chase with you
fellows----”
“Hold on!” said Harry. “There’s a light up there, I think. They’ve got
a heavy curtain at the window. Let’s go up, anyhow, and make sure.”
So they climbed the two flights of narrow stairs, dimly illumined by
a bracket lamp on the first landing, and found that Harry was right.
Above the door of the room at the front of the building the transom was
a dim yellow oblong. Bert knocked and a voice bade them enter.