IN WHICH THE CLUB'S OUTFIT DISAPPEARS.
Sidney Yates was well acquainted with a boy some years younger than
himself, named Billy Fram. Billy belonged to a family that had never
held a very good name in Lakeport, and the boy often played truant from
school and was known for his mean habits.
It was to Billy Fram that Sidney went after seeing the baseball
club members cleaning and brushing up their suits for the game with
Brookside. He had gone to Billy several times before and always got the
boy to do some dirty piece of work for him. Sidney himself was too much
of a coward to do what was now in his mind.
"Billy, I want you," he said.
"Wot yer want?" demanded Billy, suspiciously. He was "in hot water" so
much he viewed every demand on him with suspicion.
"I want you to do something for me."
"Wot?"
"It isn't very much and I'll pay you handsomely for it," went on Sidney.
"All right, I'll do it," answered Billy promptly. "Is it old Jackson's
cow ag'in?" He had once driven off a cow for Sidney and got five cents
for it.
"No, it isn't the cow, it's something else."
"Well, tell me wot it is."
"You'll keep it to yourself, won't you?"
"Huh! Don't I allers keep things to myself?" grumbled Billy.
"If you'll do what I want done I'll give you ten cents."
"'Tain't awful bad, is it?"
"No, it's only a little joke."
"I won't git took in fer it, will I?"
"Oh, no."
"Then I'll do it," answered Billy, readily.
"And you won't tell anybody about it, or that I put you up to it?"
"Course I won't."
"Well then, you know the boys of the Lakeport Baseball Club?"
"Sure--the Joe Westmore crowd."
"Yes. They have a clubroom upstairs in Mr. Darrow's carpenter shop."
"Yes, I know dat, too."
"In their clubroom they keep their uniforms."
"All right, let 'em keep 'em."
"But I want you to get the uniforms."
"Wot, you want me ter steal 'em?"
"Oh, no. I want you to get them and hide them, so that when they start
to play ball with the Brooksides next Saturday they'll have to do it in
their street clothes."
"Oh, dat's de wrinkle, eh? Where do yer want me to hide 'em?"
Sidney looked around, to make sure that nobody was close by, and then
whispered something into the other boy's ear.
"It will be dead easy," he continued. "You can do it some time
to-morrow."
"Yes, if de carpenter shop ain't locked," returned Billy.
"I know where they keep the key--close to Mrs. Darrow's washhouse door."
"It's a big risk. If I do dat I want twenty-five cents," said Billy,
after considering the matter.
"No, I'll give you ten."
"Make it twenty?"
"No."
"All right den, I won't do it."
"I'll give you fifteen cents," said Sidney, and at last Billy said
he would undertake the task for that sum and received five cents on
account, which he lost no time in spending for candy and a doughnut.
Billy thought that early in the morning would be a good time to visit
the carpenter shop, and he was in that vicinity by half-past seven
o'clock. He saw Mr. Darrow and two workmen go away to their daily
labors. One of the workmen hung the key in the accustomed place, and,
watching his chance, the lad procured it without much trouble. Then he
hung around until he was certain nobody was looking, and made his way
into the building and upstairs to the clubroom.
On a dozen hooks of a side wall hung the uniforms, all ready to be
donned on the following Saturday morning, when the club would start
up the lake for Brookside. Working with all the haste possible, Billy
caught them into a bundle and ran to a rear window of the shop. He let
them fall on the ground below and then dropped down gloves, masks and
the rest of the club outfit.
As has been mentioned before, there was an old-fashion cistern behind
the carpenter shop. It was not used, but Mr. Darrow kept it full of
water, thinking that it might be a handy thing in case of fire in the
shop. It was surrounded by a low, square box, having a hinged lid on
the top.
Sneaking downstairs, Billy locked the door of the shop and put the key
where he had found it. Then he ran to the rear of the shop and gathered
up the uniforms and other things and carried them over to the cistern.
"I hope nobody ain't seein' me!" he muttered, anxiously. "Dis ain't no
little trick ter do, dis ain't!"
[Illustration: The outfit disappears.]
He opened the lid of the cistern and gazed down into the opening. Then
he looked around the yard. Nobody was in sight. He gathered up the
uniforms, masks, gloves and other things, and down went the whole
outfit of the club into the water. This done, he closed the lid of the
cistern quickly, and lost no time in scooting down through a wagon way
which led to a back street of the town. On a corner he met Sidney, on
his way to the mill.
"It's done," he said, briefly. "I want me money."
"You took every uniform?"
"Yes, an' de udder t'ings, too."
"And put everything into the cistern?"
"Yes. Where's de money you promised me fer de job?"
"Here it is," and Sidney passed the amount over in pennies.
"It ought to be more."
"That is what I promised you. I am not going to pay more," answered
Sidney, firmly.
"Don't you ever lay dis on to me," said Billy, on parting. "If you do
I'll tell folks you set me up to it." And then he passed out of hearing
before Sidney could answer back.
The trick had been played on Friday morning, and as it happened none of
the members of the baseball club chanced to go up to the clubroom until
late in the afternoon.
"Hullo, where are the uniforms and the rest of the things?" queried
Bart.
"I'm sure I don't know," answered Fred, who was with him.
"Maybe Joe or Link took them to have them brightened up," suggested
Walter.
"The uniforms were cleaned the other day," answered Bart.
"Well, they are gone."
"Yes, I can see that as well as you can. Here comes Harry. Let us ask
him about this."
"Why, I don't know anything about this," said Harry, when questioned.
"Aren't any of you fooling?"
"I'm not."
"Neither am I."
"Then let us ask the other fellows. Perhaps somebody has stolen the
outfit."
"Stolen it!" came from nearly all of the others.
Harry had left Joe and Matt down at the corner, and he lost no time in
interviewing them. The news spread, and soon every member of the team
but Teddy Dugan was present.
"This is either a trick, or else the outfit has been stolen," declared
Joe, bitterly.
"Maybe the Excelsiors know something about it," suggested Link. "Wait
till I ask my mother about the key. Fred, did you find it in the usual
place?"
"I did."
Mrs. Darrow and also her hired girl were appealed to, but both declared
they knew nothing of the affair. They had seen no stranger take the key.
"This is the worst yet!" groaned Frank. "If we can't get those uniforms
back, what are we to do? We can't go to Brookside in our regular
clothes."
"Maybe the Excelsiors will lend us their uniforms?" came from one of
the club members.
"Not much! They don't like us well enough, and, besides, they are going
to play a game themselves," answered another.
"Let us take a look around the shop," suggested Harry. "They may be
hidden close at hand."
The suggestion was followed out, and they looked high and low around
the building and even under it, and also in the yard and in the
woodshed. Joe glanced into the cistern, but the outfit had sunk out of
sight and he saw nothing but muddy water.
"This beats the cars!" exclaimed Bart, sitting down on a saw-horse to
rest. "What in the world are we to do, fellows?"
"Don't ask me," responded Matt. "We can't even hire other uniforms, so
far as I know."
"They'll laugh at us if we go to Brookside in our plain clothes," put
in Paul.
It soon became noised around the vicinity that the outfit of the club
was missing, and several men and boys joined in the search, which was
continued until dark. Then the club members locked up the shop once
more and each went home to get supper.
"If this isn't a measly shame then I don't know what is," declared Joe.
"I thought we'd be able to make a fine appearance when we went out of
town for the first time."
"We might get out our old hunting knickerbockers and sweaters," said
his brother. "They would be better than our street clothes."
"Yes, but no two sweaters are alike."
"I know that."
"For two pins I'd send a message to the Brooksides, asking them to
postpone the game."
"Well, we might do that," answered Harry, and there the unsatisfactory
conversation came to an end.