THE STUDENT DETECTIVES
The first thing they did in the morning was to hunt up Hughie. They
routed him out before breakfast. When they saw him they told him the
whole story from beginning to end. They told him about Hal’s suspension
for a week, and fixed it up with him for Hal to carry his cane and limp
when anybody was around. Then Hans got excused from practice for a few
days, also without any particular reason except the one to Hughie that
he wanted to put in his spare time on a little detective work.
After breakfast they went to Mr. Williams’ house. It was still before
hours, and after a little delay, Mr. Williams came downstairs. Hans
told him about seeing the fellow with the blue glasses on the train,
also that he had a hat and suit on that looked a good deal like Hal’s.
Mr. Williams was deeply interested and gave them both permission to
absent themselves from class for a few days, asking them to report to
him each evening. He said, too, he would tell the detective whom they
would employ that day so they could help run down the clew.
For three days they hunted the town over to find a merchant who might
have sold a blue cloth hat like Hal’s, but without result. The same
thing happened when they tried to find one who had sold a pair of blue
glasses. They didn’t make a bit of progress. The station agent couldn’t
recall anyone with a blue hat buying a ticket to Boston that day. He
didn’t even remember that Hal had worn that kind of a hat or a gray
suit, or even that he had bought a ticket.
The next morning passed also without result. At noon they went over to
Springville, the next town, to investigate the stores there to see if
they could find a clew.
As they were going into the town, the car stopped to give an automobile
a chance to cross the track ahead of them. This called Hans’ attention
to the automobile. There was no one in it but the driver, but he had on
a blue cloth hat and wore blue glasses. Hans jumped up and leaned out
to get a better view of the occupant, shouting to Hal: “Get the number
of that machine quick.” Hal did so, but just then Hans said, in a
disappointed tone, “Never mind the number, the driver’s colored and the
man who wore the blue glasses was white.” So they went back to their
seats more disappointed than ever. When they had gone a little farther,
however, Hans burst out, “Do you remember that number yet?”
[Illustration: “Get the number of that machine.”]
“Yes,” said Hal, “27,843, Mo. There was another smaller number
underneath, but I couldn’t get that one.”
“Let’s go back,” said Hans. “I have a hunch that we ought to
investigate that car.”
With that they swung off the trolley and after waiting a few minutes
along came another car going in the opposite direction.
“That auto may stop in Lowell. I don’t suppose it will do any good, but
it’s the first thing that looks like a clew that we have had, and we’d
better follow it up.”
When they got back to town they visited all the garages in the city
without explaining their mission, and looked at the numbers on all the
cars. They didn’t find the one they were looking for, so they went down
to report to Mr. Williams. He was very much interested.
“Why didn’t you ask the garage people if they had seen a car with that
number?”
“Guess we didn’t know enough,” said Hans. “We’re not such great
detectives after all.”
Mr. Williams thought enough of the clew to say that he would have one
of the detectives interview the managers of the garages and find out if
a car of that number had been in town that day and to see if they could
trace it. “We can also write to St. Louis and find out who owns that
Missouri number.”
Hans and Hal then went to their rooms to get ready for dinner, for
their work made them hungry, although of course Hans had the better
appetite of the two. In the evening they were sitting in Hans’ room
when there was a knock on the door. Hal opened it and there was Mr.
Williams.
“We’ve found the automobile,” said Mr. Williams. “It belongs to one of
the students of the University who has a colored driver. The driver has
been employed for only a month and I am afraid that there is nothing in
our clew. The machine belongs to Crossley.”
Hans jumped about four feet in the air: “Crossley did you say?” The
jump seemed to give him power to think quick. “Could it be possible.
Could he do such a thing? I hardly think so. He wouldn’t have any
reason for it. He has plenty of money.” He was thinking out loud.
“Wait, let me see. He might not want to do it just for money. He
deliberately spiked Hal. He seemed to have it in for him for some
reason. Come to think of it that fellow on the train looked something
like him under those glasses.” Then came “yes, it might have been
Crossley.”
The others sat watching him in amazement. Finally Hans turned to Mr.
Williams and told him what he had noticed about the deliberate spiking
of Hal. He could give no motive and neither could Hal say why Crossley
might dislike him.
When he had finished Mr. Williams said, “I hardly think it could be
possible. Still I think I had better send for Crossley; I will do so
right away.” He promised to let the boys know later in the evening if
anything worth while resulted. As a matter of fact Mr. Williams had
concluded there might be more in the idea than he had let on. He sent
Crossley a note like the one he had sent Hal, asking him to come to the
office at once, late though it was. But he added a few words at the
bottom: “Bring your chauffeur’s hat and goggles.”
When Crossley received the note he read it only once, but he knew it
was all up with him. He had been having a pretty uncomfortable time
himself during the past days, but it was only when he received Mr.
Williams’ note that the utter baseness of his misdeeds became fully
apparent to him. He couldn’t stand the thought of facing Mr. Williams
and Hal.
Like a lot of the boys, he was brave only until he was called upon to
stand a real test, and Crossley’s training wasn’t the kind that would
let him take his medicine. So he didn’t even wait until the messenger
had gone. His automobile was standing at the curb in front of his
quarters. He didn’t stop for anything, not even to pack up, nor did
he wait for his driver. He dashed down the stairs, jumped into his
automobile and went away as fast as his machine could carry him. The
messenger boy reported to Mr. Williams what he had seen and he said,
“He must be the guilty party. His flight surely was a confession.”
He called up Hal and Hans and told them what had happened and that Hal
might consider the suspension removed.
As for Crossley this is where he goes out of the story. They struck his
name from the rolls of the University. No doubt he turned up at his
home in due time, but the University authorities never made any attempt
to punish him. They were satisfied that he had gone without bringing
the fair name of the school into more disrepute.
They packed up his things and sent them to his home, and if they were
ever called upon by Crossley’s father to explain anything about the
matter will probably never be known. Nothing was ever said about it one
way or the other at Lowell. The college people sent out the news that
the medal had been found, leaving anyone to guess whether it had really
been stolen or mislaid.
President Lawrence sent for Hal and thanked him for the courage he had
shown while under the cloud, again expressed his sorrow that he had
been forced by circumstances to put him under suspicion, and Hal went
home feeling more relieved than he had ever felt in his life.
As for Hans he was jubilant. Hal felt particularly grateful to him for
his clever work in clearing up the mystery and wanted to tell the story
at the training table in order that Hans should have full credit, but
Hans objected in his modest way and so they kept the story absolutely
to themselves and were happy.