A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY
"Want to go fishing?" Rob inquired over the telephone of Merritt
Crawford a few days later.
"Sure," was the response.
"We can run into Topsail Island and get a site for the camp picked at
the same time," suggested Rob.
"Bully! I'll meet you at the wharf. Going to bring Tubby?"
"You bet! We'll be there in ten minutes."
"All right. Good-by."
At the time set the three boys met on the wharf of the yacht club, and
were speedily ready to start on their trip. Rob brought along bluefish
squids and lines, and Tubby--never at a loss to scare up a hurried
lunch--had a basket full of good things to eat.
The run to the island was made without incident, and the boys were glad
to see that, contrary to the captain's fears, his dog Skipper was all
right again, for the animal came bounding and barking down the wharf as
they drew near, in token of his gladness to see them.
Attracted by his dog's barking, the old captain, who was at work in a
small potato patch he cultivated, came hobbling to meet the boys as
they tied up and disembarked.
"Well, well, boys; come ter stay?" he cheerily remarked, as the three
lads shook hands.
"No, we're off after 'blues,"' said Rob; "but we thought we'd drop in
and see how things are coming along with you, and if you have heard any
news yet concerning the robbery."
"Not a thing, boys, not a thing," said the old man. "In fact, I
haven't left the island since my old safe was busted open. Skipper, as
yer see, got over his sickness. It's my belief that them fellers fed
him poisoned meat or something."
"I shouldn't wonder," remarked Rob dryly. "It would be quite in their
line."
"By the way," exclaimed the old man suddenly, "a queer thing happened
the other day. Skipper had been a-skirmishin' round the other side uv
the island after rabbits and critters, and he brought home this-- Wait
a minute and I'll show it to yer."
After some fumbling in his pocket, the old man produced a torn strip of
yellow material with a brass button attached to it.
"I wonder where that come from," he remarked, as he handed the fragment
to Rob for his inspection.
"Why, it's khaki," exclaimed Rob, as he felt it. "And, by hokey!" he
ejaculated the next instant, "it's a piece of a Boy Scout uniform!"
Old Skipper was jumping about in great excitement, and endeavoring to
sniff the bit of torn material as Rob examined it, and a sudden idea
struck the boy.
"I wonder if Skipper could pilot us to where he found this bit of
material."
"Are you sure it's a bit of uniform?" asked Tubby doubtfully.
"Certain of it. No one else wears khaki in these parts. Hey, Skipper,
hey, good dog! Sic 'em, sic 'em!" cried Rob, holding up the khaki for
the intelligent creature to see.
The animal seemed to be greatly excited and gave short, quick barks as
he danced about the boys.
"Well, we might try and see if he will lead us anywhere." remarked
Merritt somewhat dubiously. "At any rate, there's no harm done, except
wasting a little time; and if we can get on the track of our uniforms,
it's not such a much of a waste, after all."
"He sure wants ter be off somewhere," observed the old captain,
watching the antics of his dog, whom he regarded in the light of a
human being. "He never acts nor talks that way unless he's got suthin'
on his mind. Yer boys follow him, and I'll bet he'll lead yer ter
suthin'. It may be nothin' more than a dead rabbit, and it may be what
ye think. I'll stay here an' dig my pertaters, fer my rheumatiz is
powerful bad today."
"Very well, captain. We shan't be long," rejoined Rob, calling to the
dog. "Hey, Skipper, hey, old boy! After 'em, Skipper--after 'em!"
The dog bounded on ahead of the three boys, occasionally looking back
to see if they were following and then plunging on again.
"As the Captain said, he 'sure has got suthin' on his mind'!" laughed
Merritt.
After traversing about a mile of beach, the dog suddenly bounded into a
thicket overhanging the shore and began barking furiously.
"He's treed something, all right," remarked Rob, pushing the branches
aside.
The next minute he gave a loud shout of triumph.
"Look there, boys! Old Skipper sure did 'have suthin' on his mind'!"
Peering over Rob's shoulder, the other two were able to make out two
hidden sacks, the mouth of one of which had been torn open, evidently
by the investigating Skipper.
From the aperture appeared the torn sleeve of a Boy Scout's uniform,
and a brief searching of the sacks after they had been lugged out on
the beach revealed the entire stolen equipment.
"Bones for you, Skipper, for the rest of your life!" promised Tubby, as
the dog, evidently well pleased with the petting he received and the
admiration showered upon him, pranced about on the beach and indulged
in a hundred antics.
The only one of the uniforms damaged was the one that Skipper had torn.
The others were all intact, but badly crumpled, having been hastily
thrust into the sacks, and, as it appeared, tamped down to make them
fit more compactly.
"Well, what do you know about that?" was Merritt's astonished
exclamation, as one by one Rob drew forth the regimentals and laid them
on the beach.
"You mean what does Jack Curtiss and Company know about that,"
seriously returned Rob.
"However, we found them--that's one thing to be enthusiastic over,"
observed Tubby sagely.
"I'd like just as well almost to find out exactly who hid them there,"
was Merritt's reply.
"The same folks that stole the old captain's seventy-five dollars, I
guess," returned Rob, thrusting the garments back into the sacks
preparatory to carrying them to the boat. "Here, Tubby, you carry this
one--it'll take some of that fat off you to do a hike along the beach
with it. I'll shoulder this one."
"Well, boys, yer certainly made a haul, thanks ter old Skipper here,"
declared Captain Job, after the delighted boys had made known their
discovery. "He's a smart one, I tell yer. No better dog ever lived."
"That's what we think," agreed Merritt warmly, patting old Skipper's
black and white head.
The recovery of the uniforms had quite put all thoughts of blue or any
other fishing out of the boys' heads, and after bidding farewell to the
captain, who promised to point out to them a good site for a camp on
their next visit, they made their best speed back to Hampton. On their
way to the armory they spread the news of their discovery broadcast, so
that in a short time the town was buzzing with the information that the
Boy Scouts' lost uniforms had been found under most surprising
circumstances; and the editor of the Hampton News, who was just going
to press, held his paper up till he could get in an item about it.
It was this item that caught Jack Curtiss' eye, the next morning as he
and Bill Bender and Sam were seated in Bill's "club room."
"Confound those brats, they seem always to be putting a spike in our
schemes!" muttered Jack, as he handed the paper to Bill for that
worthy's perusal. "Which reminds me," he went on, "that we haven't
attended to the case of that young Digby yet."
"I wish you'd leave those kids alone for a while, Jack," objected Sam,
in his usual whining tones. "You've had your fun with them. They've
had to do without their uniforms for a long time. Now let up on them,
won't you?"
"Oh, you're feeling friendly toward 'em, now, are you?" sneered Jack.
"Oh, no, it isn't that," Sam hastened to assure him; "nothing of the
kind. What I mean is that we are liable to get into serious trouble if
we keep on this way. I saw Hank Handcraft the other day, and I can
tell you he's in no very amiable mood. He wants his money for the
other night, he says, and he intimated that if he didn't get it he'd
make things hot for us."
"He'd better not," glowered Bill Bender, looking up from his paper.
"We know a few things about friend Hank."
"Yes, and he knows a good deal about us that wouldn't look well in
print," retorted Sam gloomily. "I wish I'd never gone into that thing
the other night."
"Pshaw, it was just borrowing a little money from the old man, wasn't
it?" snorted Jack. "We'll pay it back some time."
"When we get it," rejoined Sam more gloomily than ever; "and I don't
see much immediate chance of that."
"Oh, well, cheer up; we'll get it all right somehow," Jack assured him.
"And in connection with that I've got a scheme. Why shouldn't we three
fellows go camping after the motor-boat races?"
"Go camping--where?" asked Bill, looking up surprised.
"Well, I would have suggested Topsail Island, but those pestiferous
kids are going there, I hear. However, there are plenty of other
islands right inside the Upper Inlet. What's the matter with our
taking possession of one of those?"
The Upper Inlet was a sort of narrow and shallow bay a short distance
above Topsail Island, and was well known to both Bill and Jack, who had
been there in the winter on frequent ducking expeditions.
"We might as well do something like that before school opens," said
Sam. "I think that Jack's suggestion is a pretty good one."
"I don't know that it's so bad myself," patronizingly admitted Bill;
"but what connection has that with your scheme for getting money, Jack?"
"A whole lot," replied the bully. "I'm going to get even with that
young Digby if it takes me a year. He cost me the fifty-dollar prize,
and, beside that, all the kids in the village now call me 'cheater,'
and hardly anybody will have anything to do with me."
"Well, how do you propose to get even by going camping?" inquired Bill.
"I plan to take that Digby kid with me," rejoined Jack calmly.
"You're crazy!" exclaimed Bill. "Why, we'd have the whole country
after us for kidnapping."
"Oh, I've got a better plan than that," laughed Jack coolly, "and we
won't need to be mixed up in it at all. It'll all come back on Hank
Handcraft, I owe him a grudge for bothering me about money, anyhow, the
old beach-combing nuisance!"
"But where do we come in to get any benefit out of it?" demanded Sam.
"I'll explain that to you later," said Jack grandiloquently. "I
haven't quite worked out all the details yet; but if you'll meet me
here this evening I'll have them all hot and smoking for you."