GLORIOUS NEWS
"Look! there he goes scooting away over past that other pile of lumber!"
said Tom Betts, pointing as he spoke; and both the others caught a
glimpse of a dim figure that was bending over while hurrying away, as if
anxious not to be seen.
"Well, what d'ye think of the nerve of that?" ejaculated Bobolink, making
a move as though in his impetuous way he was sorely tempted to chase
after the disappearing figure of the unknown; only that the more cautious
Jack threw out a hand, and caught hold of his sleeve.
"Never mind him, boys," remarked the son of the lumber man. "Perhaps it
was only a tramp from the railroad, after all, meaning to find a place to
sleep among the lumber piles. But I'm going to tell my father about it,
all the same. Seems to me he ought to have some one like Hans stay here
every night. Some of those hoboes will set fire to things, either by
accident, or because they are mad at the town for not handing enough good
things out to suit their appetites."
They walked on, and in another minute were at the office door. There they
sat down on the stoop to rest and talk; but only a few minutes had passed
when they heard the sound of approaching footsteps; and a small but very
erect figure appeared, carrying an old-fashioned musket of the vintage of
'61 over his shoulder.
"Hello! Hans, on time all right, I see!" called out Jack.
"Dot is me, I dells you, every time. I am punctuality idself. I sets me
der clock, undt figure dot all oudt, so I haf yust der time to valk here.
Der sooner you obens der door, Misder Jack, der sooner I pe on der chob,"
was the reply of the little man who had been hired to watch the mill, and
those strange boxes, during the night.
Evidently Hans was "strictly business." He had been hired to watch, and
he wanted to be earning his wages as quickly as possible.
So Jack used his key, and the four entered the office. It was quite a
good-sized room. The windows were covered with heavy wire netting, and it
seemed strong enough to resist any ordinary degree of force. After that
attempt to rob his safe, Mr. Stormways had taken precautions against a
similar raid.
The watchman also carried a lantern, which he now lighted. No sooner had
this been done than Bobolink uttered an exclamation.
"I reckon now, Jack, that these three big boxes are the ones the
professor wants watched?" he observed, pointing as he spoke to several
cumbersome cases that stood in a group, occupying considerable space.
Tom Betts, also looking, saw that they were unusually well fastened. In
addition to the ordinary nailing, they were bound along the edges with
heavy twisted wire, through which frequent nails had been driven. When
they came to be opened, the job would prove no easy one.
"Yes, those are the ones; and Hans is to spend most all his time right
here in the office," Jack went on to say. "I'm going to ask my father if
he ought not to hire you to be night watchman right along, Hans. This
plant of ours is getting too big a thing to leave unguarded, with so many
tramps coming along the road in the good old summer time. I suppose you'd
like the job, all right?"
"Sure," replied the bustling little man, his eyes sparkling. "I always
did enchoy vorkin' for Misder Stormways. Undt it habbens dot yust now I
am oudt off a chob. Dot vill pe allright. I hopes me idt turns out so.
Undt now, off you like, you could lock der door some. I stay me here
till somepody gomes der mornin' py."
"Oh! you keep the key, Hans," replied Jack. "You might want to chase out
after some one; but father told me to warn you not to be tempted to go
far away. You see, he's storing these cases for a friend, and it seems
that somebody wants to either get at 'em, or steal them. They're what
you're hired to protect, Hans. And now let us out, and lock the door
after we're gone."
Anxious to get to the church before the meeting could be called to order,
the three scouts did not linger, although Hans was such an amusing little
man that they would have liked nothing better than to spend an hour in
his society, listening to stories about his adventures--for the Dutchman
had roamed pretty much all over the world since his boyhood.
"Shucks! I forgot to examine those boxes," lamented Bobolink, when they
were on the way past the end of the lumber yard.
Jack was glancing sharply about, wondering whether that tall, skulking
figure they had glimpsed could be some one who had a peculiar interest in
the boxes stored in the office of the mill until Professor Hackett called
for them; or just an ordinary "Weary Willie," looking for a soft board to
sleep on, before he continued his hike along the railroad track.
But look as he would, he could see no further sign of a trespasser. Of
course that was no sign the unknown might not be within twenty feet of
them, right then. The tall piles of lumber offered splendid hiding-places
if any one was disposed to take advantages of the nooks; Jack had
explored many a snug hole, when roaming through the yard at various
times, and ought to know about it.
"Oh! I took care of that part," chuckled Tom Betts. "I saw you were
talking with Jack and old Hans, so I just stepped up, and walked around
the boxes. There isn't a thing on 'em but the name of the professor, and
Jack's dad's address in Stanhope."
"And they didn't look much like animal cages to me," muttered Bobolink;
upon which both of the others emitted exclamations of surprise, whereupon
the speaker seemed to think he ought to make some sort of explanation, so
he went on hastily: "You see, Jack, I somehow got a silly idea in my mind
that p'raps this little professor was some sort of an animal trainer, and
meant to come up here, just to have things quiet while he did his little
stunts. But that was a punk notion for me, all right; there ain't any
smell of animals about those boxes, not a whiff."
"But what in the wide world gave you that queer notion?" asked Tom.
"Don't know," replied Bobolink, "'less it was what Jack said about
the professor writing up from Coney Island near New York City; that's
the place where all the freaks show every summer. I've been down
there myself."
"Listen to him, would you, Jack, owning up that he's a sure enough freak?
Well, some of us had a little idea that way, Bobolink, but we never
thought you'd admit it so coolly," remarked Tom Betts, laughingly.
"And the wild animal show down there is just immense," the other went on,
not heeding the slur cast upon his reputation; for like many boys,
Bobolink had a pretty tough skin, and was not easily offended; "and I
guess I've thought about what I saw done there heaps of times. So Coney
stands for wild animal trainin' to me. But that guess was away wide of
the mark. Forget it, fellows. Only whenever Jack here learns what was in
those boxes, he must let his chums know. It's little enough to pay for
draggin' a lame scout all the way out here tonight; think so, Jack?"
"I sure do, and you'll have it, if ever I find out," was the reply.
"Perhaps, after they've been taken away by the professor, my father
mightn't mind telling me what was in them. And we'll let it rest at
that, now."
"But you mark me, if Bobolink gets any peace of mind till he learns,"
warned Tom.
Chatting on various matters connected more or less with the doings of the
Boy Scout movement, and what a fine thing it was proving for the youth of
the whole land, Jack and his chums presently brought up at the church
which had the bell tower; and where a splendid meeting room had been
given over for their occupancy in the basement, in which a gymnasium was
fitted up for use in the fall and winter.
In that tower hung a big bell, whose brazen tongue had once upon a time
alarmed the good people of Stanhope by ding-donging at a most unusual
hour. It had come through a prank played upon the scouts by several tough
boys of the town whose enmity Paul Morrison and his chums had been
unfortunate enough to incur. But for the details of that exciting episode
the reader will have to be referred back to the preceding volume.
Jack Stormways never glanced up at that tower but that he was forcibly
reminded of that startling adventure; and a smile would creep over his
face as he remembered some of the most striking features connected with
the event.
In the big room the three scouts found quite a crowd awaiting their
coming. Indeed, it seemed as though nearly every member of the troop had
made it an especial point to attend this meeting just as though they
knew there was something unusual about to come before them for
consideration.
As many of these lads will be apt to figure in the pages of this story,
it might be just as well to listen to the secretary, as he calls the
roster of the Stanhope Troop. Once this duty had devolved upon one of the
original Red Fox Patrol; but with the idea of sharing the
responsibilities in a more general way, it had been transferred to the
shoulders of Phil Towns, who belonged to the second patrol.
RED FOX PATROL
1--Paul Morrison, patrol leader, and also assistant scout master.
2--Jack Stormways.
3--Bobolink, the official bugler.
4--Bluff Shipley, the drummer.
5--Nuthin, whose real name was Albert Cypher.
6--William Carberry, one of the twins.
7--Wallace Carberry, the other.
8--Tom Betts.
GRAY FOX PATROL
1--Jud Elderkin, patrol leader.
2--Joe Clausin.
3--Andy Flinn.
4--Phil Towns.
5--Horace Poole.
6--Bob Tice.
7--Curly Baxter.
8--Cliff Jones, whose entire name was Clifford Ellsworth Fairfax Jones.
BLACK FOX PATROL
1--Frank Savage, patrol leader.
2--Billie Little, a very tall lad, and of course always called Little
Billie.
3--Nat Smith.
4--Sandy Griggs.
5--Old Dan Tucker.
6--"Red" Conklin.
7--"Spider" Sexton.
8--"Gusty" Bellows.
Unattached, but to belong to a fourth patrol, later on:
George Hurst.
"Lub" Ketcham.
Thus it will be seen that there were now twenty-six lads connected with
the wide awake Stanhope Troop, and more coming.
After the roll call, they proceeded to the regular business, with Paul
Morrison in the chair, he being the president of the association. It was
surprising how well many of these boyish meetings were conducted; Paul
and some of his comrades knew considerable about parliamentary law, and
long ago the hilarious members of the troop had learned that when once
the meeting was called to order they must put all joking aside.
Many a good debate had been heard within those same walls since the
scouts received permission to meet there; and yet in camp, when the rigid
discipline was relaxed, these same fellows could be as full of fun and
frolic as any lads going.
Tonight it had been whispered around that Paul had some sort of
important communication to make. No one could give a guess as to what it
might be, although all sorts of hazards were attempted, only to be
jeered at as absurd.
And so, while the meeting progressed, they were growing more and more
excited, until finally it was as much as some of them could do to repress
a cheer when Paul, having made sure that there was no other business to
be transacted, arose with a smile, and announced that he had a certain
communication to lay before them.
"Are you ready to hear it?" he asked; "every fellow who is raise
his hand."
Needless to say, not a single hand remained unraised. Paul deliberately
counted them to the bitter end.
"Just twenty-four; and as that is the total number present, we'll call it
unanimous," he said, just to tantalize them a little; and then, with an
air of business he went on: "Two splendid gentlemen of this town, by name
Mr. Everett and Colonel Bliss, happen to own motorboats. As they have
gone to Europe, to be away until late in the Fall, they thought it would
show how they appreciated the work of the Stanhope Troop of Boy Scouts if
they offered the free use of their two boats to us, to make a cruise
wherever we thought best during the balance of vacation time. Now, all in
favor of accepting this magnificent offer from our fellow townsmen
signify by saying 'aye!'"
Hardly had the words fallen from the speaker's lips when a thunderous
"aye" made the stout walls of the building tremble.