"there don't seem to be much sport," said tinkle to green, as they sat side by side on the river bank, casting longing glances at their floats. tinkle's bobbed under, and he pulled up sharply—he had hooked a fine piece of weed, the tenth catch of the kind he had made.
"bother!" said green, putting down the landing-net, which he had seized to be in readiness to help his friend. "i am jolly well sick of it. let us drop it."
tinkle agreed; the rod was taken to pieces and the lines put away, and then the pair stood up.
"ugh—ah-r-r!" sighed tinkle. "don't it make you cramped, and—— i say, green, there's a man coming, and by gum, i believe it's that elgert's man—the chap we saw in the cake-shop!"
"so it is," was green's answer. "and look how he is sauntering. perhaps he is going to meet some one."
"let us hide," suggested tinkle eagerly, "in the old boathouse. we may hear some more secrets."
[pg 269]
green made no objection on the score of eavesdropping; the two boys, bending low, darted across the towing-path, and into an old, dilapidated, wooden building, now fast falling to decay, that had once done duty as a boathouse.
"oh, i say, here comes elgert himself!" said green excitedly, peeping through a hole. "don't make a sound. i believe——"
"oh," interrupted tinkle, in consternation, "they are coming in here! oh, what ever shall we do?"
"be quiet, you silly. hide! down you go flat under that old boat. hold up the end while i creep under; and whatever you do, don't sneeze. mind the net, and——"
his words were cut short by the boat slipping from tinkle's hands and extinguishing them both. they lay side by side. they were quite safe, for it was most unlikely that elgert or the man would look beneath it.
one of the planks had started, and they could hear plainly, and even see a good deal of the interior of the place. they did see—saw elgert and the man enter; and horace elgert sat down on the top of that boat.
"if i only had a pin!" muttered green. and tinkle dug him in the ribs and breathed in his ear—
"be quiet, or i will punch your head when i get you out!"
"you are an impertinent rascal!" was elgert's[pg 270] first polite remark. "but don't you forget the book i have, with the confession in it. it may get you into trouble yet."
"and don't you forget, mr. horace, that it was your own father who put me up to it. he wanted charlton got out of the way, and he showed me how to make a hundred pounds for myself, and make an innocent man get the blame. i haven't had a single day's peace of mind since. my conscience has accused me."
"your conscience! where do you keep it?" laughed elgert, while the ears of the two hidden boys were strained to their utmost. "a pretty sort of fellow you are. my father put you up to it! how can you prove that?"
"i cannot," was the sulky answer. "he was too clever for that. i wrote the truth in my pocket-book——"
"like the ass you are! what good would that do to you, or to charlton?"
"it did no good. but it made me feel better, even to confess it like that. you stole the book—you, a fine gentleman! you stole it from my coat!"
"yes; it was safer in my keeping than in yours. such things are dangerous if they are left lying about."
"and you have used it as a threat to me ever since; and have ordered me about as if i were a dog!" was the angry retort. and elgert laughed.
[pg 271]
"i have found it useful certainly. and, my man, do you see that scar on the back of your hand? it was a bad cut, i think. how did you manage it?"
the man, with a swift motion, put his hand in his pocket.
"i cut it," he said. and elgert laughed again.
"yes. do you know what housebreaking is? i suppose you know nothing of some one who broke into the school, the beginning of this term; and who was found near my bed, with a pillow; it looked very much as if he were going to try and kill me by smothering me. i wonder what that man wanted. he was frightened away by one of our boys, and he cut his hand getting over the wall. i wonder who that man was?"
"you know it was me. i would have done it, too, if i had not been found. i was frightened then, but i am not now. i am not in your power any more."
"oh, and what has happened to change things?" inquired horace elgert mockingly.
"this," said the man fiercely. "if i have done wrong, what about you? there was a five-pound note stolen at your school——"
"what do you know about that?" cried elgert quickly.
"i know that it was changed in the town by your friend; and i know that you and he went to buy it back, and paid far more than it was worth for it, and——"
[pg 272]
"and having got it back, there the thing ends," laughed horace; but the man laughed also.
"oh, yes, you got it back; but not before i had photographed it! i have the negative here, a beautiful negative that will enlarge."
elgert regarded him in silent fury.
"well," he said, altering his tone, "what do you want for it? i suppose you are trying to make money?"
"my book—the one you stole. if it is just as it was when i had it, you shall have this; if it is torn or damaged, then i take this to the police."
"you are smarter than i thought," answered elgert blandly; but oh, in his heart, how he determined that in some way he would make this man suffer! "well, here is the book. you can see it is not harmed."
the man snatched the book which the boy took from his pocket, and ran to the door to get all the light he could, as he eagerly glanced inside.
"it is all right," he said. "here is the negative." and he handed it to elgert. "and now you go!"—this to the book. "you have caused me trouble enough. go where no one can get at you!" and, in a fit of rage, he threw it into the river; and then he turned back to the boy.
"get it again, if you can!" he laughed. "my word is as good as yours, now; and while you have the negative, you have not got the prints i took from[pg 273] it. you are in my power now, mr. horace, and you had best be civil, or there will be trouble." and with that he turned and hurried off, leaving horace elgert alone, white with passion and fear.
"i need not fear him," he muttered. "it only means paying enough, and i shall get them. this can go, the water will soon wash the film off."
he skimmed the negative away, but it slipped from his fingers and fell into shallow water. he did not trouble; in less than an hour it would be washed clean away. then horace elgert produced a book from his pocket, and this he, having tied a stone to it, also threw into the river; then, finally, he took that dreadful banknote from his pocket, and, striking a match, he set it alight and watched it burn to ashes. then, hands in pockets, he sauntered off, and tinkle and green crept from their refuge.
"we must get back," said green. "we shall be late."
"get back be bothered!" rejoined tinkle eagerly. "we are going to fish again. be careful. here, hold open your book—i see one in your pocket!"
tinkle carefully picked up all the grey, fluffy ash of that burnt banknote, and placed it between the leaves.
"my father says that banknotes have a queer ash, and we may want to show this. now let us see if we can get those things out of the river. that negative seemed to fall close in."
"i see it!" cried green, pointing into the water.
[pg 274]
"look, there it is, out on that patch of white sand—see, there!"
a clever stroke or two with the landing-net, and then the little square of glass was in their hands. it was scratched somewhat, but unbroken. tinkle laid it on the grass carefully.
"that is one," he said. "now let us try for the others."
he weighted his line heavily, and started. he fished and fished, and at last he was rewarded—up came the pocket-book; and soon after, up came another book with a stone tied to it.
"it is a crib," pronounced tinkle. "come on, green; we are in an awful mess, and we are in for a caning, i suppose; but we have caught our fish, and i don't care a bit."
the two boys raced back to the school, and they were accosted in the playground by warren.
"hallo, you two kids! where have you been, and how did you get into that state?" the monitor asked. "you are over an hour late. have you seen anything of rexworth?"
"no, warren. isn't he in? we wanted him. oh, we have got something to tell him!"
"you will have something to tell the doctor," answered warren grimly. "he is bound to want to know what you have been up to."
"don't go, warren. do listen to us. it concerns rexworth and charlton. we know about elgert."
[pg 275]
"what is that?" cried warren, turning. "what do you mean?" and the boys, with many "you sees" and "you knows," told their story, and exhibited their treasures.
"here, you come with me!" said warren. "you are a pair of little bricks. come with me!"
"where to, warren?" they asked, as he hurried on—not in the direction of their room, but towards the head's house. "where are we going?"
"to the head himself. he must deal with this. don't you be frightened. i don't think he will punish you for being late, after he knows what kept you. come on and speak up like men!"
"why, warren!" exclaimed dr. beverly, in mild surprise, when the monitor of the fourth entered his presence, accompanied by the two little draggled objects. "what is this? have these boys been in the river? take them to the housekeeper at once. they are soaking wet!"
"they won't hurt for a minute or two more. they have something to tell you, sir—something i thought that you ought to hear before any one else."
"indeed!" said the head. "and what is it? speak quickly, and let them go; they will catch bad colds."
so warren told the story for them, and placed their catch before the head. and dr. beverly, great man as he was, shook these two happy juniors by the hand, and called them clever boys, and dismissed them to[pg 276] revel in special tea in the matron's room after he had strictly enjoined both them and the monitor not to say a word of this, even to charlton or ralph rexworth.
but ralph had not come home, and it was getting late now. he had been long enough to get to crab tree hill and back twice over. what could have happened to ralph rexworth?
