CHAPTER XIII.

PUTTING THE CLAMPS ON.

Hugh had figured it all out, and decided that the first thing he would do after the business part of the meeting had been carried through, would be to pick the fellows who were to help guard the jewelry establishment with some of the regular police force, so as to surprise the thieves, if they should come as expected.

He believed it might be unwise to tell the others anything about the plan of campaign. This was not because he had reason to suspect the loyalty of a single scout, but boys will talk as well as girls, and unwittingly a fellow might let something escape him that, through devious channels, would be carried to the ears of those who were concerned in the contemplated raid on the store.

This plan was carried out to the letter. Those whose names were not on the list of lucky ones felt a little aggrieved, but at the same time they knew it would do no good to enter a complaint. Hugh had promised they were to be given full particulars as soon as possible. He assured them also that it was a move in the interests of the grand project that engaged their labors—cleaning up Oakvale.

Once he found himself left with seven stout chums, Hugh proceeded to gather them around him, and explained what was in the air. He had a most attentive audience, and it would have been amusing to any one interested in boys to watch the expressions of wonder and growing delight that gradually crept over their faces as they drank in his words.

Say what you will, the seed of adventure has always taken root deep down in the hearts of every healthy boy. The mere fact that they were scouts, and had promised to observe the rules of the organization whose badge they so proudly wore, did not mean that they must stifle this feeling, which, if directed along the right channels, does a boy ten times as much good as harm.

Dozens of eager questions poured in upon Hugh as soon as he had managed to tell them about the dastardly plot that had been hatched up by those desperate men who realized they were getting near the end of their rope, and that the energy of the scouts was primarily responsible for the whole thing.

Hugh acted with considerable patience and answered as best he might. He realized that under similar conditions he, too, might have felt inclined to ask for further information, because it was a tremendous subject, truth to tell, and difficult to grapple with in the beginning.

“We’ll make our way by a round-about route to a place appointed,” he went on to explain, “and there we’ll find Chief Wallis waiting for us. He will have three of his men along with him, all that can be spared from their night duties. Between us we’ll probably fix it so that a complete cordon will be thrown around the jewelry store they’ve picked out for robbery.”

How they hung upon his every word! Hugh would know just how to place them in order that they might be able to throw themselves upon the night prowlers after the latter had actually started to break into the store. Hugh had explained that they must not be premature in unmasking their batteries, or the thieves might find a loophole by means of which they could escape from the meshes of the law.

When Hugh decided that it was time they started to effect a junction with the regular police; he warned his followers for the last time how to act.

“If it comes to actual fighting,” he said, impressively, “remember, you must leave _that_ to the officers, who are armed to bear the brunt of the attack. We can throw ourselves on any fellow, if the chance offers, and hold him down. But all that will be arranged exactly after we meet the other guards.”

He took them along an unfrequented street and by making several detours, the little group finally found the threatened store looming up close by.

Hugh gave a prearranged signal and received a soft reply.

“The Chief is over there in that dense shadow,” he whispered to the rest. “We must slip along and join him. First, Tom, here, can go, and drop down when he finds himself in the dark spot. Then Alec will follow, and in regular order Buck, Ralph, Jack, Bud and Sam are to imitate him. I’ll fetch up the rear. Make a move, Tom.”

They were all on their mettle, and besides, had the reputation of being clever scouts, well versed in most of the secrets of woodcraft. Consequently the maneuver was carried out without a single hitch. Before many minutes passed Hugh, having arrived on the spot, found his chums crouching there close by the Chief.

In low whispers the head of the Oakvale police force now explained their plan of campaign. It was not known whether any hostile eye kept watch over the threatened store or not, but they must always believe that such might be the case, and act accordingly.

That principle was also in line with a scout’s education, and pleased the boys exceedingly. They had been taught never to underestimate an enemy, and that it were far better to waste time in taking precautions than have over-confidence ruin the best-laid plan.

One of the police and three of the scouts were to remain outside the building, and their part in the enterprise was easily guessed. If the thieves were like most of their class they would very likely leave one of their number without to keep watch and give a signal should any sudden peril loom up. It was to secure that sentry that the force detailed to stay in the open had been marked off.

Hugh with the rest and the Chief meant to enter the store. He had visited it often and ought to be well acquainted with its every detail. Even at that Hugh never left a thing to chance when he could help it. That very afternoon, after he had left Ralph and the others, the boy had made some sort of excuse to drop in at Ainslee’s establishment. With his scout ability he had been able to make a mental map, and had noted every particular of the store, so that he believed he could, if necessary, get around in the dark without colliding with showcases or pillars or counters.

Chief Wallis must have found a way to communicate with the proprietor of the store, for he certainly had a key that opened the side door, through which numerous shadowy figures now silently slipped.

Here again Hugh proved of considerable value, for it was he who really directed the others where to hide so that they might divide their force. The Chief had a pocket electric light along with him, but he hesitated to make use of it, lest some one passing and repassing the front of the store, and looking in, take notice of the strange glow, and communicate the alarm to his fellows.

Talking was absolutely forbidden among the scouts. They could only indicate the tremendous interest they were taking in the proceedings by numerous sly digs in the ribs, after the manner of lively boys unduly repressed. None of these were given with such vigor as to elicit a gasp or groan.

How still it seemed after they had been posted in their hiding places. Some of the scouts must have thought they could actually hear the beating of their own hearts, such was the stress under which they labored.

Luckily Hugh had used discretion when making his selections. He had not chosen them merely for brawn alone, but for an ability to keep a good grip on their spirits, and bravely face exciting conditions that might well try the nerves of experienced officers.

An hour passed. It did not slip by, as most of the waiting scouts would have readily agreed. In fact, that was one of the longest hours they ever knew, and as ten boomed from the church clock, they could hardly believe their ears, for surely, they figured, it must be that a longer time had elapsed.

Hugh allowed them a chance to change their positions when cramped, but insisted that it be done with due regard to caution. They could not tell when suspicious ears would be listening for any sound to indicate trouble. When the thieves did come they would do so—silently, and without any trumpet to announce their mission.

The second hour was worse by far than the first. How their lower limbs did seem to want to “go to sleep,” as the boys termed it when circulation of blood ceased, and a species of numbness resulted. Various were the remedies resorted to in order to overcome this unpleasant feeling. When eleven struck some of the crouching figures moved uneasily and came as near groaning as they dared.

Still, it could not be long now before something was likely to happen, Hugh whispered to Tom, with orders to pass it along the line, and then become mute again.

Hugh himself was wondering whether or not all these preparations were doomed to disappointment. What if the grand scheme had fallen through, or the intended robbery been postponed because of good and sufficient reasons? He felt that he would be grievously disappointed, for somehow he had come to set much store on being able to strike this telling blow against the worst of the offenders of decency in Oakvale.

He had an impression that this would mark the final effort to break down the new order of things; that if the robbery of the jewelry establishment, and the subsequent placing of the crime at the door of certain innocent parties, could be balked in its perpetration, the last barrier would have yielded, and after that the reform people would have a clean order of things.

It must have been pretty near the midnight hour when a door was heard to close. That little piece of carelessness on the part of the thieves was likely to cost them dear in the end, since it gave ample warning of their coming.

One soft hiss from Hugh and every scout flattened himself as low as he could, so that discovery might not follow in case those who had entered the store produced any sort of light.

They were not experts in this profession, Hugh guessed, for they took certain chances of being discovered while at work. Nevertheless, they depended on the vigilance of their outpost stationed on the street, as well as the reputation acquired by the town night officers for shirking their work when on beat.

When it was seen that the two men had actually commenced operations on the big safe, as though meaning to break into it, and have “the game as well as the name” now that they had gone to all this trouble, the concealed boys could hardly keep from leaping up and throwing themselves upon the robbers. Only the mastery which Hugh possessed over them prevented such a break; for it had become second nature now with them to wait for orders before making a move.

Apparently, there was no need of waiting further before showing their hand. Those outside could take warning when they heard a sudden sound of confusion within, and pounce upon the “outlook.”

The Chief had reserved to himself the giving of the signal, and every one, man and boy alike, knew what his particular part in the surprise attack was to be. If everything went right it would be like the mechanical action of clockwork machinery. Hugh hoped no cog in the wheel would miss connections, because that might interfere with the ultimate success of the whole scheme.

The two men were bending low when there came a sharp exclamation. They would have started up like a flash, but even then their action was just a trifle too late, for something heavy dropped upon them, and flattened both out upon the floor.

It was really the body of the Chief that had accomplished this coup. Before either one of the astonished rascals could squirm out from under his ponderous form the scouts became as busy as beavers. Hugh flashed the little light handed over to him by the Chief, and kept it playing full upon the focussing point where all their interest was centred. Consequently Tom, Sam and the rest of the fellows had no trouble in distributing themselves along the length of the recumbent figures of the disturbed thieves.

Hugh felt sure that, as Billy Worth would have said, it “was all over but the shouting,” when he saw how well pinned down the desperate rascals found themselves. He advanced closer so as to be in a position to carry out any wishes of the astute police head, such as slipping the waiting handcuffs over the wrists of the prisoners, and rendering them harmless, so that they might be stood up and looked over.

Several loud outcries from beyond the door announced that those who had been given the task of trapping the third member of the audacious set had taken a hint just as soon as they heard the first sound within the store. They soon came into the building pushing a man before them, who was lined up with the other pair.

Three more disgusted-looking fellows had likely never before been paraded in front of the scouts. Just as Hugh and Ralph had suspected, they turned out to be Gaffney, the former owner of the poolroom and gymnasium that had been abolished by orders of council; Slimmons, once the athletic trainer in the public schools before he took so heavily to drink that he had to be let go; and that third man, a stranger whom Hugh believed must be secretly interested in seeing Oakvale’s reform movement slump, perhaps because he had some connection with the interests of those who had been defying the law.

Caught in the act, it was likely to go hard with the three. Gaffney did tell his mates not to open their mouths, but to leave it to him to get them clear. Hugh believed they were leaning on a broken reed if they entertained any hope that political influence was going to keep the outraged law from taking its course. That day had gone for Oakvale, and the degrading elements which such men as Gaffney represented, would have to emigrate to other quarters if they hoped to be able to continue to ply their evil vocations.

The trio of prisoners were marched through the now deserted streets to the lockup, where Chief Wallis would see to it that there was no chance for a getaway. The seven scouts, who accompanied Hugh and the little group of officers surrounding the prisoners, would never be able to forget the exciting experiences of that night. It would have to go down upon the annals of scout achievements, and serve to add one more glorious event to the string of exploits carried to a successful conclusion by the boys of the Oakvale Troop.

Before Hugh dismissed his followers he took occasion to thank them warmly for having acquitted themselves so splendidly. Tom Sherwood, in particular, squeezed his hand with peculiar emphasis at parting, as he said in a happy tone:

“This has been a white letter night for me, Hugh, and one I’ll never, never forget. You know why, Hugh, and the first thing to-morrow morning I’m going to buy those Belgian hares back if they are still in the market. So good night, and thank you a thousand times, Hugh. It’s bound to be a happy birthday for me, I tell you.”