Remembering his promise, Tom called early for his chum. Carl lived in a
pretty little cottage with his mother, and three other children. There
was Angus, a little chap of five, Dot just three, and Elsie well turned
seven.
Everybody liked to visit the Oskamp home, there was such an air of
contentment and happiness about the entire family, despite the fact that
they missed the presence of the one who had long been their guide and
protector.
Tom was an especial favorite with the three youngsters, and they were
always ready for a romp with him when he came to spend an evening with
his chum. On this occasion however Tom did not get inside the house, for
Carl was on the lookout and hurried out of the door as soon as he heard
the gate shut.
“Hello! seems to me you’re in a big hurry to-night,” laughed Tom, when
he saw the other slip out of the house and come down the path to meet
him; “what’s all the rush about, Carl?”
“Why, you see I knew we meant to drop in at Dock Phillips’ place, and we
wouldn’t want to be too late at the meeting if we happened to be held up
there,” was the explanation Carl gave.
As they hurried along they talked together, and of course much of their
conversation was connected with this visit to Dock. Carl seemed hopeful
of good results, but to tell the truth Tom had his doubts.
In the first place he was a better judge of human nature than his chum,
and he knew that the Phillips boy was stubborn, as well as vicious. If
he were really guilty of having taken the paper he would be likely to
deny it vehemently through thick and thin.
Knowing how apt Carl was to become discouraged if things went against
him very strongly, Tom felt it was his duty to prepare the other for
disappointment.
“Even if Dock denies that he ever saw the paper, we mustn’t let
ourselves feel that this is the end of it, you know, Carl,” he started
to say.
“I’ll be terribly disappointed, though, Tom,” admitted the other boy,
with a sigh that told how he had lain awake much the last two nights
trying to solve the puzzle that seemed to have no answer.
“Oh! that would only be natural,” his chum told him, cheerily; “but you
know if we expect to become scouts we must figure out what they would
do under the same conditions, and act that way.”
“That’s right, Tom,” agreed the other, bracing up. “Tell me what a
true-blue scout would figure out as his line of duty in case he ran up
against a snag when his whole heart was set on doing a thing.”
“He’d just remember that old motto we used to write in our copybooks at
school, and take it to heart—‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try
again!’ And Carl, a scout would keep on trying right along. He’d set his
teeth together as firm as iron and say he’d solve that problem, or know
the reason why.”
“Tom, you know how to brace a weak-kneed fellow up all right.”
“But you’re not that kind, Carl. Only in this case there’s so much at
stake you hardly do yourself justice. Remember how Grant went at it, and
when he found that Lee met all of his tactics so cleverly he got his
back up and said he’d fight it out on that line if it took all summer.”
“I see what you mean, and I’m game enough to say the same thing!”
declared the other, with a ring of resolution in his voice.
Tom felt wonderfully relieved. He knew that Carl was capable of great
things if only he succeeded in conquering his one little failing of
seeing the gloomy side of passing events.
“Well, here we are at Dock’s place. It’s not a particularly lovely home
for any fellow, is it? But then his father is known to be a hard
drinker, and the mother finds it a tough job to keep her family in
clothes and food. My folks feel sorry for her, and do what they can at
times to help her out, though she’s too proud to ask for assistance.”
“Dock promises to be as bad as his father, I’m afraid, only so far he
hasn’t taken to drinking,” remarked Carl.
“There’s some hope for him if only he keeps away from that,” ventured
Tom. “But let’s knock on the door.”
No sooner had his knuckles come in contact with the panel than there was
a furious barking within. Like most poor families the Phillips evidently
kept several dogs; indeed, Dock had always been a great lover of
animals, and liked to be strutting along the main street of Lenox with a
string of dogs tagging at his heels.
A harsh voice was heard scolding the dogs, who relapsed into a grumbling
and whining state of obedience.
“That’s Dock himself,” said Carl. “They mind him all right, you see. I
hope he opens the door for us, and not his father.”
Just then the Phillips door was drawn back.
“Hello! Carl, and you too Tom; what’s up?”
Although Dock tried to say this with extreme indifference Tom saw that
he was more or less startled at seeing them. In fact he immediately
slipped outside, and closed the door behind him, as though he did not
want his mother or any one else to overhear what might be said.
This action was positive evidence to the mind of Tom Chesney that Dock
was guilty. His fears caused him to act without thinking. At the same
time such evidence is never accepted in a court of law as
circumstantial.
If either of the two boys had ever called at the Phillips’ house before
it must have been on account of some errand, and at the request of their
mothers. Dock might therefore be filled with curiosity to know why he
had been honored with a visit.
“We dropped around to have a few words with you, Dock,” said Tom, who
had made arrangements with his chum to manage the little interview, and
had his plan of campaign all laid out in advance.
“Oh is that so?” sneered the other, now having had time to recover from
the little shock which their sudden appearance had given him. “Well,
here I am, so hurry up with what you’ve got to say. I came home late
from the store and I’m not done my supper yet.”
“We’ll keep you only a few minutes at the most, Dock,” continued Tom;
“you take the orders for groceries for the store, don’t you?”
“What, me? Why, course I do. Ain’t you seen me a-goin’ around with that
bob-tail racer of Old Culpepper’s that could make a mile in seventeen
minutes if you kept the whip a-waggin’ over his back? What if I do take
orders; want to leave one with me for a commission, hey?”
Dock tried to throw all the sarcasm he could into his voice. He had an
object no doubt in doing this; which was to impress these two boys as to
his contempt for them and their errand, whatever it might be.
“We came here in hopes that you might solve a little bit of a mystery
that’s bothering Carl’s mother, Dock,” continued Tom.
It was pretty dark out there, as the night had settled down, and not
much light escaped from the windows close by; still Tom thought he saw
the other boy move uneasily when he said this.
“That’s a funny thing for you to say, Tom Chesney,” grumbled the other.
“How’d I be able to help Mrs. Oskamp out, tell me? I ain’t much of a
hand to figger sums. That’s why I hated school, and run away, so I had
to go to work. Now what you drivin’ at anyhow? Just tell me that.”
“Day before yesterday you called at Mrs. Oskamp’s house, Dock, as you do
every morning, to take orders. You always make it about the same time,
I understand, which is close to a quarter after nine.”
“Oh! I’m the promptest grocery clerk you ever saw!” boasted Dock,
perhaps to hide a little confusion, and bolster up his nerve.
“After you had gone, or to make it positive at just a quarter to ten
Mrs. Oskamp, who had dressed to go out, missed something that was on the
table of the sitting room where you came for orders, and which she says
she knows was there when you first arrived!”
“What’s this you’re a-sayin’, Tom Chesney? Want to make me out a thief,
do you? Better go slow about that sort of talk, I tell you!” blustered
Dock, aggressively. “Did Mrs. Oskamp see me take anything?”
“Oh! no, certainly not,” continued Tom; “but she had to go upstairs to
get a bill she wanted you to take back to the store for correction, and
left you alone in the room for a couple of minutes, that’s all.”
Tom was fishing for a “rise,” as he would have put it himself, being
something of an angler; and he got it too. All unsuspicious of the trap
that had been spread for his unwary feet Dock gave a harsh laugh, and
went on to say angrily:
“You have got the greatest nerve I ever heard about, Tom Chesney,
a-comin’ here right to my own home, and accusin’ me of bein’ a reg’lar
thief. I wouldn’t take a thing for the world. Besides, what’d I want
with a silly old scrap of paper, tell me?”
“Oh!” said Tom, quietly, “but I never mentioned what it was that was
taken. How do you happen to know then it was a paper, Dock?”
Carl gave a gasp of admiration for the clever work of his chum. As for
Dock, he hardly knew what to say immediately, though after he caught his
breath he managed to mutter:
“Why, there was some papers on the table, I remembered, and I just
guessed you must be meanin’ that. I tell you I ain’t seen no paper, and
you can’t prove it on me either. I defy you to; so there! Now just tell
me what you’re goin’ to do about it.”
He squared off as though he had a dim idea the two boys might want to
lay hands on him and try to drag him around to the police headquarters.
Of course this was the very last thing Tom and Carl would think of
attempting. Strategy alone could influence Dock to confess to the truth.
“Oh! we don’t mean to touch you, Dock,” said Tom, hastily. “All we
wanted to do was to ask you if you had seen that paper? If you denied it
we knew we would have to try and find it another way; because sooner or
later the truth is bound to come out, you understand. We’d rather have
you on our side than against us, Dock.”
“But what would a feller like me want with your old paper?” snarled the
boy, who may not have wholly liked the firm way in which Tom said that
in the end the real facts must be made known, just as if they meant to
get some one accustomed to spying on people to watch him from that time
on.
“Nothing so far as it concerned you,” replied Tom; “but it was of
considerable value to another. Your employer, Mr. Culpepper, might be
willing to pay a considerable sum to get possession of that same paper,
because it bore his signature.”
Dock gave a disagreeable laugh.
“What, that old miser pay any real money out? Huh, you don’t know him.
He squeezes every dollar till it squeals before he lets it go. He’d
bargain for the difference of five cents. Nobody could do business with
him on the square. But I tell you I ain’t seen no paper; and that’s all
I’m a-goin’ to say ’bout it. I’m meanin’ to let my dogs out for a little
air soon’s I go back in the house, an’ I hopes that you’ll close the
gate after you when you skip!”
There was a veiled threat in his words, and as he proceeded to terminate
the interview by passing inside Tom and Carl thought it good policy to
make use of the said gate, for they did not like the manner in which the
dogs growled and whined on the other side of the barrier.
“He’s a tough one, all right,” Carl was saying as they walked on
together, and heard the three dogs barking in the Phillips’ yard.
“Yes,” admitted his chum, “Dock’s a hard customer, but not so very smart
when you come right down to it. He fell headlong into my trap, which is
a very old one with lawyers who wish to coax a man to betray his guilt.”
“You mean about saying it was a paper that had been lost?” said Carl.
“Yes, you fairly staggered him when you asked him how he knew that.”
“There’s no question about Dock’s being the guilty one,” asserted Tom.
“He gave himself away the worst kind then. The only thing we have to do
is to try and get the truth from him. Sooner or later it’s got to be
found out.”
“Yes,” continued Carl, dejectedly, “but if he’s handed that paper over
to Mr. Culpepper in the meantime, even if we could prove that Dock took
it what good will that do? Once that paper is torn up, we could recover
nothing.”
“But I’m sure he hasn’t made his bargain with old Amasa yet,” Tom
ventured.
“Why do you believe that?” asked the other, eagerly.
“You heard what he said about the meanness of his employer, didn’t you?”
was what Tom replied. “Well, it proves that although Dock sounded Mr.
Culpepper about being in a position to give him the paper they haven’t
arrived at any satisfactory conclusion.”
“You mean Dock wants more than Amasa is willing to pay, is that it,
Tom?”
“It looks that way to me,” the other boy assented; “and that sort of
deadlock may keep on indefinitely. You see, Dock is half afraid to carry
the deal through, and will keep holding off. Perhaps he may even have
put so high a price on his find, that every once in a while they’ll lock
horns and call it a draw.”
“I hope you’ve hit on the right solution,” sighed Carl; “if it didn’t do
anything else it would give us a chance to think up some other scheme
for getting the truth out of Dock.”
“Leave it to me, Carl; sooner or later we’ll find a way to beat him at
his own game. If he’s got that paper hidden away somewhere we may
discover his secret by following him. There are other ways too. It’s
going to come out all right in the end, you take my word for it!”
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