HUGH'S PETS IN DANGER
"Rotten luck, Hugh, to have that practice game called off this
afternoon just because it rained a little. The ground wasn't drenched
very much, and we could have done some work, anyhow. But it's too late
now."
Thad was on the way home from school on Wednesday afternoon when he
said this. He had hastened and overtaken the other a block or so away
from the campus. Already the rain had stopped. Mr. Leonard, however,
had sent word around that there would be no baseball practice that day;
but for every one to be on hand Thursday P. M., as no excuses would be
taken for absence, when every day counted so much now.
"Hold on, please, Hugh and Thad!" called some one from the rear; and
looking back they discovered a lame boy called Limpy Wallace, who
always carried a crutch and had to twist his body in a curious fashion
when he wished to make speed.
Limpy could get over ground wonderfully well, considering the
difficulties under which he labored. More than once he had been held
up by Doctor Carmack to the other boys at Scranton High as a rebuke for
their laziness. If a fellow who had so much to contend with could
always appear so satisfied, and manage to get along as well as he did,
they ought to be ashamed to dawdle, and waste time when they had all
their faculties intact.
Limpy Wallace was a constant and consistent admirer of Hugh Morgan. In
fact, he might be said to fairly worship the other boy, who had always
treated him most kindly, and seemed to sympathize with his having been
cheated by a cruel Fate out of the ordinary pleasures connected with
the average boy's life. Limpy Wallace would have gone far out of his
way to do Hugh a favor. He now came bounding along, with his crutch
making rapid jumps, and apparently every muscle in his poor distorted
body in action.
But his thin face was lighted up with eagerness. Evidently, it was no
ordinary motive that had caused the lame boy to exert himself so
earnestly in order to overtake the two chums.
"I've got something to tell you, Hugh," he panted, for he was almost
out of breath, owing to his exertions; an ordinary boy might have run
over that same stretch without showing it much, but it must have been a
strenuous undertaking for the cripple.
"Glad to hear it," laughed Hugh. "I'm waiting to have some one tell me
that our team is going to wipe up the ground with both Allandale and
Belleville when we come to grips. Is your news of that sort, Limpy?"
Of course he was only joking when he said this. Every one called the
other Limpy, nor did he seem to mind it a particle; indeed, only from
the teachers at school and his folks at home was it likely that he ever
heard his name of Osmond spoken.
"Shucks! it hasn't a thing to do with baseball, or any other outdoor
sport, Hugh," the cripple hastened to say. "Because I heard your name
mentioned plainly I felt that you ought to know what little I managed
to pick up."
"All right, then, Limpy, start ahead, and spin the yarn," said Hugh.
"Has some one been remarking what a poor excuse of an athlete Hugh
Morgan is; and that he ought never to have been given his job as field
captain of the Scranton High baseball team? It's no more than I
expected, Limpy, and my feelings can't be hurt a bit; so don't try to
spare me."
"Listen, then, please, and you, too, Thad, seeing that you're his
chum," began the other, eagerly. "It was just an accident, you
understand, because I never yet was intentionally guilty of trying to
overhear what other fellows were saying. I had been tired out at
recess, and was lying down on that bench, you remember, that stands in
the corner of the grounds. It happens to have a back to it, and I
guess no one could notice me there. The other fellows were walking
around in bunches, and talking to beat the band. All at once I heard
your name spoken, and in an angry voice; so I just raised my head a
little to take a peep. Who should I see standing near by but that big
bully, Nick Lang, and his faithful shadow, Leon Disney."
Thad dug his elbow into Hugh's short ribs as if to emphasize the remark
just made by Limpy Wallace. When two such arch schemers as Nick and
Leon got off by themselves, and were seen to have their heads together,
the chances were there must be some mischief afloat.
"Well, after that I just lay still and listened, because I felt sure
they must be getting up some sort of a game to play even with you,
Hugh, because you gave Nick such a beautiful trouncing the other night,
so I was told. It was hard luck that I could only catch a word now and
then, for some of the boys were calling out to each other; and that
silly clown, Claude Hastings, had begun to sing one of his comic songs,
while he capered around like a baboon. But I did hear Nick say the
words: 'Get even,' 'show him who's who in this burgh,' and 'Belgian
hares.' Do they put you wise to anything, Hugh?"
"I should say they did, Limpy!" ejaculated the impetuous Thad, even
before Hugh could speak the first word in reply. "Why, who's got prize
Belgian hares in Scranton but Hugh Morgan? Now, that cunning old
schemer, Nick Lang, knows how much Hugh thinks of his pets, and the
chances are ten to one he's hatched up a scheme to steal or kill every
lasting one of the rabbits. It would be just like him. Hugh, of
course you'll be forewarned, and take the necessary precautions to nip
his little plot in the bud."
Hugh himself looked serious. A slight frown could be seen on his
usually calm and reposeful face.
"I could stand almost any attempted injury to myself a lot better than
having my poor dumb pets made the object of revenge," he went on to
say, soberly. "Limpy, this is certainly news you've brought me. I'm a
thousand times obliged to you for taking the trouble."
"Oh! not at all, Hugh. Why, there's nothing I wouldn't do to help pay
back all your kindness to me in the past. Some people think a lame boy
has no feelings, but you've never considered it so; you've always acted
as if you felt mighty sorry for a boy so badly afflicted. And I can
never forget how you shamed Pete Garinger into begging my pardon for
something mean he threw at me. All I hope is that you catch those curs
in the act, and give them what they deserve, if they really try to hurt
your poor little pets."
"Make your mind easy on that score, Limpy," asserted Thad, with his
accustomed show of confidence, "we'll fix a trap to get the sneaks,
should they call in the dead of night. They'll think they've run up
against a threshing machine, all right, when Hugh and myself start in
to maul them."
"Suppose you come over later in the afternoon, Thad," suggested Hugh,
as they arrived at their customary parting spot. "Meanwhile, I'll take
a look at my rabbit hutch, and try to figure just how we can turn the
tables on Nick and Leon, if they should pay me a visit tonight."
"Make it as severe as you can, Hugh," begged Thad; "nothing could be
too hard for a pair of miserable schemers who, to get even with a
fellow they dare not face openly any longer, would creep into his
rabbit house like thieves in the night, and either steal his property,
or injure it so that there'd be no chance to exhibit the hares in a
show."
"See you later on, and we can tell better then," was all Hugh said, for
if he had any idea simmering in his brain just then, he did not care to
mention it until he had found a chance to "look around," as he termed
it.
"I'll be across inside of half an hour, you can bet on that!" called
out Thad, as he hurried away.
He was as good as his word. Indeed, Hugh had hardly started to make
his investigation of the premises before he heard his chum come through
the gate, slamming it after him.
There was an outbuilding back of the barn, which had been intended for
a storage house of some sort, but not used by the present occupants of
the premises. This Hugh had commandeered, and fitted to his purpose.
The upper part he had made into a pretty fine loft for his fancy homing
pigeons. When the first of his pedigreed youngsters arrived at the
flying stage, he meant to have considerable fun taking them ten or
twenty miles away, and then letting them loose, in the expectation of
finding them at home when he got back. After that, it would be longer
flights until he could learn whether he had any record breakers in his
flock.
In the lower part of the building, Hugh had his long-eared Belgian
hares. There was now quite a family of them, what with the old ones,
and seven strapping youngsters. Hugh took great pleasure in watching
his pets, and figuring out how he could improve on their quarters, so
as to make them more comfortable in every way.
"Well, have you struck any promising scheme yet, Hugh?" demanded Thad,
as he breezed into the hutch, seeming to guess that he would find his
chum there, and not in the house.
"I've just been fixing things in my mind," returned Hugh, quietly, "and
trying to determine how any intruder would expect to get in here. Why,
up to now such a thing as having my hares stolen never once occurred to
me. Really I'm surprised to find what confidence I've been placing in
all Scranton; when there have been bad eggs among the boys from away
back. Do you know I've never had a fastening on this window here, not
even a stick to hold the lower sash down. It's about time I woke up
and insured the safety of the poor things."
"But you do lock the door every night," interjected Thad; "because
I've seen you do that same thing."
"Oh! just as a matter of form," confessed the other, "for I've never
dreamed it was necessary. Any fellow could have climbed in by that
window of a night, if he'd chosen to."
"Do you suppose, Hugh, that Nick Lang knows about that unguarded
window'?"
"I was figuring that out," mused Hugh, "and, really, I believe he does.
I'll tell you what I base that supposition on. Some time ago, a fellow
came to see me, and tried to buy a pair of my hares; but his figures
and mine didn't agree, and so we failed to make a bargain. But I
showed him my place here, and he examined it all through. I even can
remember that he gave the window a little upward push, speaking at the
time of the necessity for all pets to have plenty of pure air, or their
dens would become foul smelling. That boy was Tip Slavin, and I
understand that he's pretty thick with Nick and Leon. They must have
heard about his visit here, and pumped him dry. So if they do make me
a night visit, depend on it this window will figure big in their
calculations."
Thad chuckled as though pleased.
"That makes it simple, then, Hugh," he went on to say, exultantly, "for
with such a thing settled, it ought to be easy for us to hatch up some
scheme to play hob with their plan of campaign. It'd just about serve
the sneaks right if we set a spring-gun trap that'd give them a dose of
fine bird-shot; but then I don't suppose you'd want to go quite as far
as that. Look here, Hugh, I believe right now, you've already settled
on some sort of surprise for those fellows when they come snooping
around here. If that's a fact, you're going to up and explain its
workings to your best chum, ain't you?"