The Winning Touchdown/Chapter 34
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE EXCITED STRANGER
At first, Tom's chums did not know whether or not he was joking. They crowded around him and looked over his shoulder as he unfolded the paper. The inner contents bore out the endorsement on the face of the document.
"That's it, all right!" cried Frank. "It's the quit-claim deed, as sure as you're a foot high!"
"And does possession of it mean that Randall College is all right?" asked Sid.
"Sure!" asserted Tom.
"But how in the world did it ever get inside that chair?" demanded Phil. "This is the greatest mystery yet. The loss of our chair and clock aren't in it."
"I should say not!" agreed Frank.
"What had we better do?" asked Sid.
"Get this deed into the hands of Dr. Churchill as soon as possible," decided Tom. "He'll lock it in the safe, whence it can't disappear again, and then they'll call off the suit against Randall. I guess this will put a crimp in Lawyer Langridge, all right."
"Who was this Jacob Randall mentioned in the deed?" asked Frank, who was carefully reading the document.
"Oh, he was some relative to the Randall who founded the college," declared Phil. "Randall, the founder, got it later, and endowed the college. Jove! but this is a great find, all right, eh, fellows?"
"It's a good thing I came down hard in that seat, or we'd never found the deed," went on Tom. "Otherwise we might have traded back this chair for our own, and never would have known a thing about the quit-claim."
"But where is our chair?" asked Sid. "And how in the name of the sacred cow did the deed get in the seat of this one?"
"Say, don't ask any more questions, or I'll go batty," declared Tom. "Come on, let's take this deed to Prexy right away."
It was such a momentous occasion that nothing less than a full delegation of the four "guardsmen" could do justice to it, so the quartette of chums invaded the office of Dr. Churchill, to that gentleman's no small amazement. On the way our heroes met several of their chums, but they did not mention their find, thinking it best to let the proper authorities know of it first.
"Ahem! Is this a strike, gentlemen?" asked the president, with a twinkle in his eyes.
"It's a 'find'!" exclaimed Tom, and he held out the deed.
To say that Dr. Churchill was surprised would be but faintly to express it. He eagerly questioned the boys, who as eagerly answered, telling the story of their missing clock and chair from the beginning.
"I can't understand it," went on the president, with a puzzled shake of his head. "But I'll take good care of this quit-claim deed, and we can make inquiries later. You have rendered a service to Randall to-day, gentlemen, that she will not soon forget. I thank you personally, and, later, I will see that you receive the recognition you deserve."
"Come on!" whispered Tom to his chums, for the good old doctor was much affected. "It's nearly time for the game, and we don't want to miss that."
Murmuring over and over again his thanks at the unexpected discovery, Dr. Churchill locked the deed in the safe, stating that he would take immediate steps to have the court matters brought to a close, if possible.
"For this, I think, settles forever the title of Randall College," he said. "We are now secure."
Tom and his chums hurried back to their room. Dr. Churchill had requested them to say nothing for a little while regarding the finding of the deed.
"Now for Boxer Hall," remarked Phil, grimly, as he looked at his watch. "They'll begin to arrive in about an hour."
Wallops, the messenger, stepped toward our friends.
"There's a gentleman just gone up to your room," he said. "He was inquiring for you, and I sent him up. He said he'd wait outside until you came back from the president's office."
"Who is he?" asked Tom. "Maybe it's some of our folks, fellows, come to see the big game."
"No, I think he is a stranger," remarked the messenger.
Wondering who could be paying them a visit at this time, our heroes hastened their steps. Outside, in the corridor, they saw a man excitedly pacing up and down. He approached them eagerly.
"Are you Mr. Parsons, Mr. Clinton, and—er" He paused, as if trying to remember the other names.
"Simpson and Henderson," finished Tom. "Did you want to see us?"
"Indeed I do, very much! Did you receive a big chair from a dealer named Rosenkranz, a few days ago?"
"We received it to-day," spoke Phil. "Why?"
"May I look at it?" went on the man, eagerly. "I have reason to think that it is mine, and that I have yours."
"At last!" murmured Tom. "Once more on the trail of the mystery at last! Like a prima donna's final-final concert. Yes, you may see the chair, and welcome."
He opened the door of their room, and at the first glance inside, the stranger noted the chair.
"Yes, that's mine!" he cried, eagerly.
"That's what we thought at first," spoke Sid, calmly.
The stranger paid no attention to the boys now. He went over to the chair, in the bottom part of which the boards had again been fitted loosely. The man put his hand underneath, and, as he did so, the boards fell down once more.
"What's this!" he cried. "Someone has been tampering with my chair! There is something missing! Something valuable! Did you lads take anything from this chair?"
"What might it have been?" inquired Tom, calmly, motioning to his chums to keep silent.
"A paper—a document—a valuable document! Did you take it?"
"We found a certain paper," replied Tom. "I sat in the chair a little too hard, the boards dropped, and there was a paper in there."
"It's mine! Where is it now? I demand it!"
"Easy," counseled Tom. "Do you know what that paper was?"
"I should say I do! Give it to me at once! You may keep the chair if you like, but give me the paper!"
The man was getting more and more excited.
"That paper," said Tom, calmly, "was a missing quit-claim deed to property owned by Randall College. The loss of it entailed a lawsuit which is still pending. We found the deed, and, of course, that brings the suit to an end."
"Where is that deed?" demanded the man, angrily. "It was in my chair, and I want it."
"It was in the chair—it isn't now," said Tom. "It is where you can't get it—in Dr. Churchill's safe, and Randall College is rid of her enemies!"
"Give—me—back—my—deed!" fairly howled the man.
He seemed as if he would strike Tom, but the plucky end faced him fearlessly. Suddenly from outside came a burst of cheers. They welled to the ears of our heroes.
"The Boxer Hall crowd!" exclaimed Phil. "They're here for the big game! Come on, fellows! Now to play for our lives!"
Once again came the burst of cheers. Looking from their windows, our friends could see a crowd of Boxer Hall students, arriving in big stages, which they had hired. Their cries of greeting and defiance were answered by those of the Randall lads, who came pouring out on the campus.
"My deed—where is my deed? Give it to me!" repeated the stranger, eagerly.
Tom turned on him like a flash.
"Look here!" the end cried. "I don't know you, and I don't know what your game is. But I do know that we've got the deed, and that we're going to keep it. Now, you get out of here, and don't come back. We're going to play football, and if you want to make any claim, you go to the Randall lawyers. Now—vamoose!"
Tom pointed to the door. The man looked at him defiantly, and seemed about to leap at the lad. Then, with a slinking glance, he departed.
"Well," remarked Phil, as the echoes of his footsteps died away down the corridor, "what do you think of that?"
"Isn't it the limit?" demanded Sid.
"Worse and more of it," added Frank. "I wonder"
"No time to wonder now," interrupted Tom, briskly. "We haven't anything to worry about from that chap. The deed is safe. Now, come on, get into our togs, and wipe up the ground with Boxer Hall."