A STRANGER IN TOWN
Dazed by the sudden ending to his chase, Frank remained a while standing
by the tree. He had half a mind to ignore the warning and keep on after
the man, but on second thought felt it would be an unwise thing to do.
"I must try another plan," the youth said to himself. "I will get at the
bottom of this mystery concerning me. I did not know Uncle Abner was
mixed up in it. I wonder if I had better ask him about it?"
Frank debated this question in his mind as he went back home. Then he
decided he would say nothing about what he had overheard until there was
a chance of learning more about it.
"Is that you, Frank?" his uncle asked him, as the boy went into the house
a few minutes later.
"Yes, uncle."
"Well, be sure you lock up well. There have been thieves about, I hear,
and we don't want 'em to get in here."
Frank wondered at his uncle's caution, for Mr. Dent was not
usually nervous. It was also news to Frank to learn that there were
thieves about.
"Have you seen any?" he asked his uncle.
"No, but Jim Peterson's hired man was over a while ago, and told me his
dogs had barked at some tramps passing in the road. There are strangers
in the vicinity, I guess."
Frank wondered if the dogs had barked at the stranger who had been at the
Dent house a little while before, but he said nothing about it, and, soon
went to bed.
As the chums had anticipated, the breaking-up of the Upside Down Club
dance created more talk among the High School pupils than had anything
else in the line of sports and fun since the institution was built. The
members of the ball team, and their friends, who had been let into the
secret, preserved a discreet silence about the affair, and would answer
no questions.
Although it was generally believed that the four chums had been the prime
instigators of the affair, they would admit nothing, and many were the
conjectures about the mice.
As for the girls, after their first fright, they laughed as heartily as
did the boys over the sudden ending of the dance. The only pupils who
seemed angry over the matter were the boys on the dance committee, who
were incensed at the breaking up of the affair.
"I know those Darewell Chums had the most to do with it," said Denny
Thorp, who was the leader of the crowd that had captured Ned. "I'll get
even with them."
"It looks to me as though they had gotten even with us," remarked Peter
Enderby, Denny's chum. "They paid us back, good and proper."
"That's all right. What we did wasn't half as mean as letting those mice
loose and spoiling the dance."
"Oh, get out!" exclaimed Peter. "It's all in sport. What's the use of
getting mad?"
But Denny declared he was going to watch his chance to pay the Darewell
Chums back with interest.
But, though the four friends heard of Denny's threat, they were not
alarmed over it. They felt they could hold their own. From then on,
however, there was open warfare between the Upside Down Club members and
the baseball nine and their friends, and many were the tricks each side
played on the other.
One afternoon, about a week later, Jim Morton, who was watching a crowd
of boys playing on the school campus, hailed Bart, as the latter, in
chase of the ball, ran toward where Jim was lying stretched under a
shady elm tree.
"What is it?" asked Bart
"I've been waiting until someone would knock a fly over in this
direction, so's you come close," Jim went on. "I wanted to speak to you."
"Speak ahead," Bart went on, as he threw the ball back.
"Do you want a job as guide?"
"Guide? What do you mean?"
"I met a man the other day, stranger in town, I guess, and he asked me if
I'd show him the corduroy road through the woods. I told him I had to go
to school, and he said Saturday would do. But I don't just feel like
taking the job. I've got spring fever I guess. To-morrow's Saturday, and
he expects me to go to the hotel after him, and show him the road. But I
know I'll be tired tomorrow and I thought maybe you'd like the job. He
says he'll give five dollars."
"Oh, I don't know," Bart replied, somewhat surprised at what Jim told
him. "What sort of a man is he?"
"He has red hair, that's all I remember. I was sort of sleepy the day he
met me, and I didn't take much notice."
"How'd he come to ask you?" inquired Bart, wondering why lazy Jim had
ever been requested to do anything.
"Sandy Merton told the man about me. The man went to Sandy first, said
he heard Sandy knew the woods pretty well. But Sandy works for a
farmer every Saturday, and he couldn't go, so he recommended me. Said
it would be easy work, but I don't fancy tramping through the woods.
Do you want the job?"
"Sure, I'll take it," Bart replied. "It'll be fun. I wonder if he only
wants one boy?"
"I guess he doesn't mind. Said I could bring a friend along if I
wanted to. Here, I'll give you his card, and you can inquire for him
at the hotel," and Jim extended a bit of pasteboard on which was
printed the name:
JACOB HARDMAN.
"I'll go see him," Bart remarked. "Sure you don't want the job, Jim?
Five dollars is a nice bit of money to pick up for just going to the
corduroy road."
"I--got--spring--fever," murmured Jim, and Bart saw that the boy's eyes
were closed as though he had gone to sleep.
"Queer he had energy enough to tell me that much," remarked Bart, as he
moved off. "Just like him, to lie here and wait for a chance ball to
bring me in his direction. Jim certainly is the limit when it comes to
laziness."
That evening Bart went to see Mr. Hardman at the hotel. He found the
stranger pleasant enough, and, as Jim had said, with a wealth of
thick red hair.
"You're the third boy that has been engaged for this work," said Mr.
Hardman with a smile, when Bart had explained his errand. "I hope you
will not fail me. You see I am a stranger in this locality, and I'm
thinking of buying land for a house, if I like the place. But I'm fond of
solitude, and I have heard that the woods, through which the corduroy
road runs, are just about what I want. I don't wish to get lost, so I
thought I would hire one of the town boys to show me around. Do you know
your way through the forest?"
"Quite well," Bart replied. "I have camped there. The road is easy to
find, but it winds in and out, and you might get lost, as there are
several branches to it. What time do you want to start to-morrow?"
"About nine o'clock. You might bring a couple of friends, if you like.
I'm fond of company. Is it worth while to take lunch?"
"Well, we could hardly go there and back before dinner."
"Then we'll take something to eat," Mr. Hardman went on. "Here are two
dollars. Get some sandwiches and things, and we'll have a little picnic
in the woods."
In spite of the man's apparently hearty manner Bart felt an indescribable
aversion to him. Mr. Hardman was pleasant enough, but he had a habit of
shifting his gaze around as he talked and he did not look one squarely in
the eyes. But Bart gave only a momentary thought to that. He was
wondering whether he had better bring his three chums on the trip. He was
about to ask the man if he would object to a party of four boys, but Mr.
Hardman evidently considered the incident closed, for he bowed to Bart
and opened the door of his room, where the interview had taken place.
"I'll bring 'em anyhow," Bart decided, as he went downstairs. "He didn't
mention any special number. Besides, I don't know the road any too well,
and the others can help me out."
Bart told his three chums of the matter that night. Fenn and Ned said
they would go, but Frank declared he had to do some errands for his
uncle and would not be through in time.
"I may walk out that way and meet you," Frank said. "I expect to be
finished shortly after dinner. Are you just going to the road and back?"
"I don't know how far he may want to go," Bart answered. "We'll probably
be gone all day."
"Wish I could go," Frank said, but, as he spoke, his thoughts seemed to
be elsewhere.
"Frank's getting stranger than ever," remarked Ned, as the former left
Ned's house where the four chums were talking that evening. "I wonder if
he doesn't want to go?"
"I guess he'd like to, if he could," Bart replied.
"Do you know anything about this Mr. Hardman?" asked Fenn.
"Only what I've heard," Bart answered. "He came to the hotel about a week
ago. Seems to have plenty of money. Treated me very nicely, but, somehow
I don't like him, and I can't give any reason for it."
"Did you get the grub with the money he gave you?" asked Ned.
"Yes."
The next morning the three chums went to the hotel. They found Mr.
Hardman waiting for them.
"On time I see," he remarked, as Bart introduced Ned and Fenn. "It's just
the morning for a nice long tramp. I hope you boys are good walkers."
"I guess we can keep up with you," Bart replied, and they started off.