TREACHERY IN THE AIR
"Hugh, it looks to me like there's a hen on," was what Thad Stevens
said, as he joined his chum.
"That's a queer remark for you to make, Thad," the other chuckled;
"after seeing what's been happening here on our athletic field this
afternoon, I'd be likely to say there were a good many score of hens
setting, each hoping to hatch out one of our dandy prizes next
Saturday."
"Oh! you understand that I mean something crooked going on, Hugh,"
Thad hastened to add.
"That sounds serious enough. What do you know, Thad? The chances
are ten to one if anything in the way of trickery is contemplated I
can put my hand on the fellow who's guilty of the same."
"Sure thing, Hugh, and his name is Nicholas in the bargain. They
call him Young Nick, to distinguish him from his father who's dead
and gone; but sometimes people say he's a regular Old Nick when it
comes to playing mean jokes, and getting into trouble of all kinds."
"What's Nick Lang been up to now, Thad?"
"Oh! just spying on you, for one thing!" exclaimed the other angrily.
"He's welcome to chase around after me as often as he pleases," said
Hugh; "much good will it do him, I'm thinking. But tell me, why
should he go to all that bother, when my going-out and coming-in
don't interfere with his happiness a whit?"
"Hugh, Nick is on to your scheme for making use of that short-cut
across by way of the old deserted quarry!"
"You don't tell me?" Hugh observed. "Well, I came near speaking to
him about it myself, Thad. You see, Nick is entered for the
Marathon, just the same as a number of other Scranton High boys are.
If K. K., Just Smith, and several other fellows are to have the
benefit of that cut-off, if they choose to avail themselves of it,
why shouldn't Nick be included, I've been asking myself? Yes, and
I'd about concluded it was my duty to let him know; but if, as you
say, he's found out for himself I'll be saved all the bother of
telling."
"He followed you across yesterday, Hugh. By a mere accident I heard
him telling Tip Slavin, and he seemed to think it a good joke,
because you never once suspected he was spying on you from behind
trees and bushes. Why, he says he followed you clear across to the
road again."
Hugh shrugged his shoulders.
"Then I give Nick full credit for carrying out a clever piece of
business. I never once remember suspecting that anybody was around.
But, Thad, what's worrying you? There isn't anything about that
discovery to excite you."
"Hugh, that boy means to do something mean, and it's got a connection
with the short-cut quarry road in the bargain!"
Hugh turned and looked at the speaker a little gravely.
"I suppose now you've got some good reason for making that
accusation, Thad?" he ventured.
"Yes, I have," came the quick reply. "I heard him say something to
that other sneak which I couldn't just catch, but it started Tip
laughing like everything. He slapped a hand down on his knee, and
went on to say: 'Fine, Nick, finer than silk! I bet you he'll be as
mad as hops if he finds himself caught in such a trap, and loses the
race. You can depend on me every time. My affair comes off right in
the start, and I can easy get out there on my wheel long before the
first runner heaves in sight. I'll coach Pete Dudley in his part,
just as you were saying. It's the greatest trick you ever hatched
up, Nick, the very greatest!' Now, you can judge for yourself, Hugh,
whether it's safe for you to try to cross by that same quarry road
when the big Marathon race is on."
Hugh seemed lost in thought for a brief interval. When he spoke
again there was a settled look of grim determination on his face that
Thad could easily understand, knowing the other as well as he did.
"It isn't my way to show the white feather when the first cold wind
starts to blowing, Thad, and no matter what Nick is planning to do
I'm not going to give him the first chance to profit by my discovery
of that short-cut route from road to road."
"That means you decline to be shoved off the path, does it, Hugh?"
"If I start in that race, as I expect to," Hugh told him, "I intend
to make use of that short-cut, no matter if a dozen Tip Slavins, and
Pete Dudleys are lying in wait to trip me up. But I'm much obliged
to you all the same, Thad, for your warning. I'll be on my guard
from this time on, and they're not going to trap me with my eyes
blinded, I tell you that."
Thad seemed to be lost in thought himself for a minute or so.
Possibly he was trying to figure out how he could best serve his
comrade in such an emergency. The gloomy woods surrounding the old
quarry did not possess any attraction in the eyes of Thad Stevens.
Though he had not shown the same degree of alarm as Horatio and
Julius at the time they heard those remarkable sounds, so like human
shrieks, nevertheless, Thad felt no hankering after another similar
experience.
Still he would brave much in order to help the chum whose interests
were so dear to his own heart. He did not say what was in his mind,
only looked a bit wise, as he once more turned to Hugh, as though his
mind had been finally made up.
"Just as you think best, Hugh," he went on to say quietly. "It may
be that one or more of the other fellows will be taking advantage of
that same old road, and there's safety in numbers, you know, they say.
Nick is likely to get his fingers burned if he attempts any of his
silly tricks. What do you suppose now he could plan to have those
chaps do? They wouldn't want to really hurt you, because that might
get them in bad with Captain Wambold, our police head. Can you think
of any fool play he'd be apt to conjure up, such as might make Tip
say it was the best and slickest scheme he'd ever heard about?"
"Nick has so many wild ideas that he's likely to attempt nearly
anything," said Hugh. "If he could find a good place where a runner
would have to keep to the road I even believe he'd try to dig a deep
pit, and cover the same over, just as the wild-animal catchers do in
Africa, when they go out after big game for the menageries and zoos."
"Why, would that work, do you think, Hugh?" cried the startled Thad,
mentally picturing his chum crashing through a false roadbed, and
dropping down into a deep hole from which, alone and unaided, he
could not hope to escape until much time had elapsed, and all hope of
winning the big Marathon was lost.
"It might have done so if I hadn't chanced to possess a wide-awake
chum, who gave me due warning, and caused me to keep a sharp lookout.
As it is, if I glimpse a suspicious spot in my path I'll fight mighty
shy of the same; or by a big leap give it the go-by. Of course,
there might be other ways in which they could hope to detain me, such
as dropping down on my shoulders from a tree, and with their faces
covered so I couldn't recognize them."
Thad looked grave.
"Yes, they could do that, for a fact," he admitted. "Seems to me
you'll have to keep one eye aloft all the while, Hugh, while the
other is watching the ground for treachery. I must say this is a
fine state of affairs. Not only does Scranton High have to go smack
up against all the best runners of Allandale and Belleville, but be
on the lookout for treachery at home besides. I'd give something to
be one of a bunch of indignant fellows to take Nick Lang and his two
pals out to the woods some fine night, and give the same a coat of
tar and feathers, or else ride them on a rail. They're a disgrace to
the community, and Scranton ought to take them in hand right away.
That boy will set the town on fire yet I'm thinking, with his
desperate tricks."
"He will, unless he soon sees a light, and turns over a new leaf,"
admitted Hugh, who, it seems, had an idea of his own in connection
with the said Nick, which, perhaps, he might find an opportunity to
work out one of these days; but which he did not care to confide to
his chum, because he knew Thad would be apt to consider it
impossible, perhaps foolish.
"There they go now, Hugh," suddenly remarked Thad in an undertone.
"You see, he has both Tip and Leon along with him, and they're
grinning as they look over this way. I warrant you Nick has been
elaborating on that fine scheme of his; and, in anticipation, they
can already see you held up in that lonely place, kicking your toes
at the bottom of a miserable pit, or else tied to a tree."
"Don't scowl so savagely, Thad," warned Hugh. "There's no need of
letting them understand we're on to their game. The advantage always
lies in catching the other fellow off his guard. Let's laugh while
we walk past, as if we'd been figuring out how a certain prize was
already dangling close to our fingertips."
So Thad managed to "take a brace," profiting by the sage advice of
his comrade; and, as they passed Nick and his two cronies, Hugh
remarked as pleasantly as he could:
"I've been watching you run to-day, Nick, and I honestly believe you
are right up with the top-notchers in the game. There may be some
surprises next Saturday for those who think they've got it all
figured out who's going to win the prizes. And Nick, as far as I'm
concerned, I'd like to see you take the long-distance prize, honestly
and cleanly, if I can't get it myself. You're a representative of
Scranton High, Nick, and we're all out to see the old school do
herself proud."
Nick seemed taken aback by these hearty words on the part of the
fellow whom he had so long sought an opportunity to injure. He shot
a hasty glance, accompanied by the uplifting of his heavy eyebrows,
toward his companions, who, thereupon, catching a sly wink, perhaps,
both chuckled audibly as though amused.
"Oh! I've already as good as copped that Marathon prize," Nick went
on to say, at the same time thrusting out his chin in his customary
aggressive and boastful fashion. "I calculate to give the folks some
surprise by the ease with which I'll come in away ahead of the next
competitor. There'll be a wheen of those who also ran, bringing up
the tail of the procession. Long-distance is my best suit, and I've
waited a while to show up certain chaps in this town who think they
are just the thing. Don't worry about me, Morgan; Nick Lang
generally gets there when he throws his hat into the ring."
At that the other two laughed uproariously, as though they thought
the joke too good for anything. Possibly they took Nick's reference
to "those who also ran" to mean Hugh Morgan particularly; and in
their minds they could see him desperately trying to break his bonds;
or climb up out of the deep pit into which he had gone crashing when
the covered mattress, formed of slender twigs and dead leaves, had
given way under his weight.
Hugh and Thad walked on, the latter fairly boiling with
illy-suppressed anger.
"That fellow always gives me a pain, Hugh," he was saying, as they
increased the distance separating them from the still merry trio in
the rear. "He is really the meanest boy you could find in all the
towns of this country. But fellows like him sometimes catch a
Tartar; so, perhaps, it might happen in this case," and Thad, who
evidently had something on his mind, would not commit himself
further, as they walked on in company.