The Boys of Columbia High on the Ice/Chapter 18
CHAPTER XVIII
THE PUZZLE SOLVED
"Going to cross over at Clifford?" asked Ralph, after they were well started.
"The upper bridge will do better. You see the road is much finer on our side of the river. I've been over them all many times, and ought to know," replied Frank.
"Haven't let that zebra drop out of your minds, have you, boys?" asked Lanky.
"Oh! that poor chap isn't going to hug the public roads," remarked Frank, positively, "he knows it would be too dangerous for an escaped prisoner. By this time I guess he's hovering around some other lonely farmhouse, bent on getting some food and a change of clothes. He can't go anywhere with those striped things on."
"Do you know I've somehow got an idea he'll follow the river down," said Ralph.
"If he does he'll hit up with our friend Bill—Bill—oh, the fellow on Rattail Island. I thought I was just going to say it then, but I didn't, not so you could notice it. And Bill has been warned, so he'll be on the watch. Three hundred dollars did they say, Frank? That would be a mighty nice little nest-egg for Bill, and buy him a new evening suit," laughed Lanky.
"Hold your jaw, now, fellows; I'm going to hit her up right here. You'll get the toothache if you talk in this cold wind," remarked Frank, as he gave the speedy car her head over a smooth stretch of road.
They fairly flew.
"Say, makes me think I was on my little Humming Bird, right now!" shouted Lanky; for the wheels of the car were making more or less noise upon the frozen surface of the road, so that speaking in an ordinary voice was next to impossible.
Frank did not dare turn to look at him while going at this forty miles an hour speed; but he allowed his form to shake as if with silent laughter.
"I bet you she goes better than this old machine ever could, and you can say what you please," observed Lanky, standing up stoutly for the prized product of his hands and brain.
Had it been summer and the road in first-class condition Frank would have raised his machine to top-notch speed; but he had already reached the limit of safety under the circumstances, and was not to be tempted to hasten faster. He imagined that Lanky, in his impatience to get to the farmhouse the sooner, was only nagging him on for a purpose.
"We're getting there, all right," the eager one finally said, as, having crossed the narrow river by means of a bridge they once more headed north.
"Given five minutes more and we'll arrive. What are you craning your neck for, in that way, Lanky? Think you see smoke again?" demanded Frank, as he felt the other thrusting his head close to his shoulder.
"Oh! shucks! no. I just wanted to get the first squint of the house on the little hill," replied the other.
"He's even got his handkerchief ready to wave," asserted Ralph.
"Bless his innocent little heart, does he suppose that poor girl has been standing there all this time watching for his return?" jeered the driver.
"Have your fun, sillies," answered Lanky, composedly. "It doesn't feaze me one little bit. There, I can see a peak of the house, boys. It's all right."
"He speaks as though he might have been worried about whether the fire started up again after we left, and finished the job. No, the red-cheeked Dora still has a stout roof over her pretty head. And as sure as you live, there she is, standing in the doorway, waving to us!" cried Ralph.
"Where? Let me see!" and Lanky stood up to make sure; after which he deliberately pulled out his handkerchief, and answered the greeting.
Dora, it turned out, had just been about going out to feed the chickens when she saw the car turn in at their gate; and possibly waved without knowing who the occupants were, though she never admitted that much.
The surprise of the farmer and his good wife was Great when they saw the trio of lads who had eaten dinner with them but a few hours since, come whirling up to the door in a handsome car.
"We've come to supper!" exclaimed Frank, with a broad smile.
"Don't you believe him, sir," cried Lanky, indignantly; "he's got an errand to do for his father, Mr. Allen. And the rest of us came along to make sure he didn't get lost. He needs a keeper most of the time."
"Come in, boys," said the farmer, as he shook hands all around; "we didn't dream we'd see you so soon, though Dora I believe, did say she thought you'd be up again before a great while. You're welcome to stay a week with us if you will."
Frank looked at Ralph and winked.
"You see, Dora knew. I told you Lanky wasn't asking all those questions about how you got here by road for nothing. Thank you, sir, we'll go in for a little while. My father did send me up to get something from you," he remarked.
"Oh! you must mean that document. I was thinking of it last night when I took it out of the lower drawer of my desk to look over it, and it struck me then that he said he would send for it before the time had elapsed. To think of you coming all the way back here, after what you've been through to-day. It's mighty kind of you, Frank, and the rest of you, too."
"Don't mention it, sir. Why, it's just prime fun to sit there and be whirled along at a mile a minute clip. Better than the labor of skating, easy though that is. And so far as the rest of the bunch goes, why, they were only too glad to come. I couldn't keep one of them away, for he piled in as soon as he heard we were headed for the Baxter ranch."
Lanky scowled at Frank, and made threatening gestures, to which, however, the other paid little attention.
So the three boys followed the farmer into the sitting-room. Here it was, Lanky remembered having seen him groping in the smoke and trying to drag his desk toward the door, it doubtless holding all his papers of consequence, since there was no house safe visible.
"Just sit down for a minute, please, and I'll get the document."
Mr. Baxter drew open the large lower drawer of his desk. After fumbling around a short time he bent lower to look closer. Then he seemed to grow a bit excited, for getting down on his knees he started a systematic search through the entire contents of the almost full drawer.
"Strange! I put it there last night, and now it isn't to be found at all! I declare that drawer must be bewitched. It isn't the first time something has vanished from it," they heard him mutter, as he stared at the jumble of papers.
"What's wrong, Mr. Baxter?" asked Frank, interested in spite of himself.
"Why, that paper's gone! I know it was safe last night, for I remember putting it there, and locking the drawer. It was locked now, you saw, but the document has strangely disappeared," he said, as if greatly worried.
"Say, it couldn't be possible that rascal who set fire to the house nabbed it, could it?" suggested Lanky, promptly.
The farmer looked uneasily at Frank.
"Nonsense! I don't believe he was in here at all. You remember that the whole family had gathered here. I suppose there was somebody in this room every minute of the time all morning, and up to our arrival. You see the drawer is well filled with papers, Mr. Baxter; do you generally have it that way?" he asked.
"Why, yes, usually so," came the ready reply; "but why do you ask that, Frank?"
"I was thinking that possibly the paper might have caught when you pulled the drawer open just now. In that case it would have fallen down behind, or underneath. Suppose you let me see, sir?"
Frank immediately got down on his knees. It was the work of a second to pull the lower drawer completely out, leaving a yawning cavity, into which he thrust his arm, while the others watched with deep interest.
"I feel something—there, is that your document, sir?" and Frank handed over the rustling paper he had drawn forth.
"As sure as you live. Well, it seems as though I'm always going to be indebted to you boys for favors. But what are you after now, Frank?" for again was the other reaching in the cavity.
"I thought I felt something else in there, sir. You see there's qijite a vacancy between the bottom of the drawer and the base board of the desk," and even while he was speaking Frank drew forth another object, which he passed over to the hands of the old farmer, which were visibly trembling as they received the same, so that he nearly let it fall to the floor.
Lanky and Ralph saw that it was an old but stout looking pocketbook. It had evidently been lying snugly in that cavity a long while, and might have continued there, its presence unknown and unsuspected, only for the valuable paper being lost, and found through Frank's ingenuity.
Mr. Baxter sat there on the floor staring at that old pocketbook as though its unexpected reappearance had frightened him. He handled it reverently as he undid the strap, and opening the leather receptacle disclosed a large amount of money in bills.
One would think the recovery of such a treasure ought to make any person laugh with joy. It seemed to have just the contrary effect on him, for he groaned from the depths of his heart, and shook his head, while tears dropped on the pocketbook.
"Oh! may Heaven forgive me for my cruelty," he said, bitterly, as he continued to stare at the object he held in his hand; "to think that I refused to believe him when he declared he had nevertouched this money. And that I drove him away from his home, and sent him out into the cold world, to become perhaps a thief, and the companion of thieves! Oh! Willie! my poor boy, how could I know? And now it is revealed too late to do any good. Willie! I would give all I have to see you once again, and start fresh; but it's too late, too late!"
Frank and Ralph looked at each other, with sympathy in their eyes. But Lanky jumping to his feet plainly excited, muttering:
"Willie! Willie Baxter; that's it! I've got it, Frank! Didn't I tell you I knew it would come to me sooner or later. Willie! 'call me just Bill!' he said. Don't you see, it's all right. He said don't you know 'they're gone, and I'm out in the cold?' He was hoping to eat Christmas dinner with his folks, poor old top! Shake hands on it, Frank. You see it's got to be a pretty tough tangle that gets me all the time. Oh! you Bill, I know you now, if you have grown older, and raised a beard. Hurrah!"