Pep burst in upon his friends filled to the brim with excitement. His
impetuous nature anticipated a great welcome as he felt that he had done
a big thing. As he crossed the threshold of the living room he found
that his friends had apparently just returned from the scene of the
fire.
Frank and Randy were at the sink washing the grime from their faces. As
Pep learned later, they and Jolly and Vincent had been busy saving what
goods they could from the burning building. Jolly was brushing the
cinders from his coat with a whisk broom. Vincent was applying some
court plaster to a burn on the back of his hand.
"There!" exclaimed Pep, planking the package down upon the table with a
flourish. "It's been some trouble, but I got it."
"Hello, Pep," said Jolly. "Got what, may I ask?"
Pep felt rather hurt at the cool way in which his return was greeted. He
did not realize that his friends were in ignorance of the burglarious
event of the hour, and his own sensational experiences. He had just been
missed and all hands supposed that he was lingering at the scene of the
fire.
"Why, the box, of course," almost snapped Pep.
"What box?" questioned Randy.
Pep gave the wetted pillow case a jerk, freeing it of its enclosure, and
the little cash box was disclosed.
"That box, of course," he announced. "What's the matter with you
fellows? I guess you've been asleep while people have been stealing from
you!"
Frank advanced to the table, curiosity dawning in his expression as he
recognized the box.
"I don't quite understand," he remarked.
"Don't?" resented Pep. "Well, you ought to. Look at that," and he
exhibited the bump on his head, received when one of the robbers had
knocked him across the room and against the wall. "And that, too," and
Pep held up his chin so the red marks on his throat showed. "Then, too,"
he continued, "half an hour ducking and diving in the cold waters of a
creek at midnight is no grand fun, I can tell you!"
"Why, it looks as if our Pep has been up to something," observed Jolly,
coming to the table.
"I've been down in front of the seat of an automobile and half choked to
death," replied Pep tartly. "I say, Frank, it was a good thing that I
didn't run off and leave the place unprotected, as you fellows did when
that fire broke out. Open the box and see if everything is all right."
The appearance of the box and Pep's story made Frank and the others
grasp that he was discussing something of importance not yet fully
explained.
"You had better commence at the beginning all over again, Pep," Frank
advised, "and let us know the whole story."
It did not take Pep long to recite his recent adventures. He had an
interested audience. Frank drew the key of the tin box from his pocket
when Pep had concluded his story. He applied it to the lock.
"Oh, the mischief!" fairly shouted Pep, glancing into it to find that
all it contained was a collection of pennies, nickels and dimes. "I've
been fooled, after all. These fellows rifled the box in some way----"
"Not at all," answered Frank, with a reassuring smile. "It is my turn to
explain, Pep. When the fire broke out I thought instantly of the cash
box and the treasure it contained, so I took out the bills and the
necklace. Here they are," and Frank produced them from an inside pocket
of his coat.
"Then--then----" stammered Pep, taken aback.
"Then you are just as much a hero as if you had saved a whole bank of
money!" cried Frank, giving Pep a commending slap on the shoulder.
"It was a big thing you did, Pep," declared Randy enthusiastically.
Ben Jolly and Vincent added more approving words, and Pep warmed up to
his usual self at the praise of his friends.
"There's the fellows outside to settle with," he suggested.
"Glad to do it," said Frank. "There must be at least thirty dollars in
the box, so you have saved us a good deal, Pep."
"Didn't catch a weasel asleep when they came in here!" chuckled Jolly in
Pep's ear. "You taught them something this time."
The farmer was very modest in his charges. "Two dollars covered the
damages," he remarked, "and seeing the fire was worth half of that."
It was getting well on to morning by the time all hands were settled
down. Vincent was the last to go to bed. He had got a card out of his
pocket and said he had some business down town.
"It's to send a message to the city officer who took those two prisoners
to New York on the last train," he explained to Frank. "Of course there
is no doubt that the necklace was part of the proceeds of the burglary
he arrested them for."
"I think you are right," agreed Frank.
A quiet day in reading and rest did wonders in refreshing the tired out
motion picture friends after a week of unusual activity and excitement.
All were up bright and early Monday morning.
"I tell you, this is genuine office business," said Frank, as he rested
at noon from continuous labors at his desk.
"You take to it like a duck to water," declared Ben Jolly.
"Who wouldn't, with the able corps of assistants at my command?"
challenged Frank. "Mr. Vincent took Mr. Booth off my hands. He knows the
man much better than I do and, as he expresses it, understands how to
keep that visionary individual in the traces. Pep and Randy seem to have
just the ability to get our new programme into the very places we want
them. Mr. Vincent has sifted out the supply men as they came along, and
those letters you got off for me took a big load off my shoulders, Mr.
Jolly."
"It all amounts to having a good machine and starting it right,"
insisted Jolly.
The boys felt a trifle anxious as it began to cloud up about one
o'clock. A few drops of rain fell. It almost broke Pep's heart, Randy
declared, to see people begin to scatter along the beach and made their
way to shelters, and the hotels.
"I'll try and stem the tide," observed Vincent smartly, as a bright idea
seemed to strike him.
He dived into one of the bedrooms and reappeared in his band costume,
cornet in hand.
"Open the door, Pep," he directed. "Never mind routine this time--what we
want to do is to get the crowd."
Vincent posted himself under the shelter of the canopy that ran over the
ticket booth. Soon his instrument was in action. The delightful music
halted more than one hurrying group. The inviting shelter beyond the
open doors attracted attention. The word went down the beach. The shower
would be over in an hour and here was a fine place to spend the interim.
"Twenty minutes to two and the house nearly full," reported Pep
gleefully, to Jolly at the piano.
The shower was over in half an hour, but when the first crowd passed out
there was another one ready to take its place. About half the seats were
occupied when the second entertainment began, but during the programme
as many more came in. The last matinee could not accommodate the crowd.
The Wonderland caught the throngs going to the boats and trains as well
as those arriving.
The boys and their friends were at supper when there was a visitor. He
proved to be the officer from the city who had arrested the two
burglars. He had come in response to the telegram Vincent had sent him.
The latter told him about the finding of the necklace and added the
story of Pep's later adventures.
"The necklace is down at the bank in our safety deposit box," explained
Vincent. "We didn't want to risk having it around here any longer."
"I knew from the circumstances and your description that it is part of
the plunder I am after," said the city officer. "I wish you would meet
me at the hotel in the morning. I will have the local police head there.
As a mere formality the goods will be delivered by you to him, who will
turn them over to me. Then I will give you an order for your share of
the reward."
Randy pricked up his ears and Pep looked interested.
"How much is it?" inquired Vincent.
"Five hundred dollars. I think it fair to divide it; don't you?"
"I know that will be very acceptable to our young friends here,"
assented Vincent, nodding at Pep and Randy. "All the credit for finding
the necklace is theirs."
Pep and Randy were considerably fluttered. They had their heads together
animatedly discussing their good fortune as Vincent accompanied his
visitor to the door.
"I say, you lucky young fellows," hailed the ventriloquist airily, "what
you going to do with all that money?"
"Oh, Randy and I have settled that," proclaimed Pep.
"Have, eh?"
"Yes, sir. That two hundred and fifty dollars goes into the capital fund
of the Wonderland."