Chapter 11

A BIT OF SIGNAL WORK

Jack Sheldon said nothing to Dick Percival or any of his friends in the Academy of the singular interview he had had in the woods with the strange man, having kept his own counsel thus far and resolving to keep it still unless forced to take some one else into his confidence.

No one would have guessed, seeing him among the boys, light-hearted and gay, apparently, that he had anything on his mind and he took good care that no one should guess it.

There was a time during the evening that one might absent himself from the general assembly if he chose although none of the boys was supposed to leave the grounds.

There was a direct rule against this except in a case of necessity, but Jack considered that it was necessary for him to leave the place at that time and he accordingly made his way rapidly down the hill, taking care that no one should see him leave.

"I cannot explain," he muttered to himself as he hurried on in the darkness, "and yet I must see if those scoundrels are at work."

He met no one, saw no one and at length reached the old hollow tree where he had met the strange man that afternoon.

He had his pocket flashlight with him and now, as he reached the tree he turned a brilliant glare into the hollow, taking care that it went nowhere else.

There was something at the bottom of the opening and he reached in his hand and brought it out.

It was a folded bit of coarse paper tied around a stone and, unfolding it, he read as follows:

"Dear Bill: Coast is clear. Think we can do the crack to-night."

"Very good!" he said to himself as he put the paper in his pocket, shut off the light and hurried away. "I don't know if this was overlooked or if it has just been put here but I am glad I have secured it."

He mixed in with the boys and left them to go to his room in one of the cottages where he was now quartered only a short time before the hour of retiring.

When ten o'clock struck he waited about ten minutes and, looking out of the window to assure himself that all was dark, he opened the sash and flashed his light in the direction of the river, keeping the light on until an answering flash in the distance told him that his own signal had been seen.

Then he sent a number of long and short flashes and waited a few moments until he saw a steady flash of a few seconds in the direction where he had seen the first.

"All right, he is ready," he said to himself and then sent a number of flashes as before, holding the light for a longer or shorter period as required to indicate dots and dashes in the Morse code of telegraphy.

As a matter of fact, he was sending a message in this manner to the editor of the _News_ as already arranged between them.

His first long flash was to determine if the editor was at his post and, having ascertained that he was, he announced that he was about to send an important message and then when the answer came that they were ready for him he went on.

Leaving out all unnecessary and obvious words, his message to the _News_ man was as follows:

"Inform bank officials attempt robbery be made to-night. Thought they would keep away from bank account danger."

To telephone at that time of night would be inconvenient as well as not feasible and Jack had therefore hit upon this method of sending word to Mr. Brooke as being the safest and surest.

He had signaled before with great success, his light being a powerful one and capable of carrying to the river without the least difficulty, providing the night was clear.

"That is all right," he muttered as he shut off his light, closed the window and turned into bed, having no need of any light and not caring to have any show from the cottage at that hour.

Unknown to him, however, there were those who saw his signals, or a part of them, in addition to the man for whom they were intended.

Peter Herring and Ernest Merritt, returning from a clandestine visit to the village after hours were coming along the road, keeping as much in the shadows as possible, not caring to be seen, when Herring whispered:

"See that light?"

"Yes, what is it? Keeps winking and blinking like a----"

"Sh! some one is signaling. H'm! regular dots and dashes, that's what they are. H'm! do you know the code?"

"Yes, a little bit. We used to practise it----"

"Watch 'em. H'm! I've got some of it. It's a regular message to----"

The two prowlers advanced as close as they dared and watched the signals, muttering to each other as one word and another was flashed out.

"What do you make it, Pete? 'Keep away from something on account of danger.' Is that it?"

"Yes, 'keep away from bank,' that's it."

"Keep away from the bank? What bank? The river or the ravine?"

"No, stupid! The bank in the town. The one that was robbed. Are you so stupid you can't put two and two together? That's Sheldon's room where the lights came from. He was warning his father to keep away from the bank on account of danger. Don't you see? He is not the fine honorable fellow he makes himself out to be."

"H'm! that gives us another hold on him. If he puts on any airs with us now we'll spit upon him."

"Sh! not so loud. We've got to get in without being found out. It is not late but it's after hours and a half minute or a half hour over time is all the same with the doctor."

"It's a good thing we were late, Pete. Otherwise, we wouldn't have seen this high-toned burglar's son signaling to----"

"No, but keep still," whispered Herring and the two hurried on in the darkness till they reached the rear of the building where an associate was waiting to let them in at their signal.

Jack went to sleep feeling assured that if the bank robbers made another attempt to rob the Riverton institution they would meet with a warm reception and satisfied that he had done his duty.

In the morning when Bucephalus came with the mail he quite astonished the boys by announcing:

"Dem robbers was at deir wo'k again las' night, down at de bank on de river an' one of dem was shooted bad an' am in jail, so dey tell me down at de station."

"Tried to rob the bank again, did they?" cried one or two of the boys excitedly.

"Yas'r, but the bank kind o' suspected dat dey was coming and was prepared for them. The robbers did not suspicion that anything was wrong for the bank was playing 'possum and the robbers was caught at their surreptitious employment and----"

"Which one got away and how many were there, Buck?" asked Herring, who seemed puzzled over something.

"Ah donno sah, Ah don' keep acco'nt of such obnoxious individuals as bank robbers, sah," replied Bucephalus, with great dignity.

"Was the fellow with the white mustache caught?"

"Ah donno, sah, and----"

"What is it to you which one was caught and how do you happen to know so much about them, Herring?" asked Harry.

"It is not much to me, of course," returned Herring, "although I fancy it is a lot to somebody not a hundred miles away."

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Harry. "You are hinting at something. Out with it if you are man enough."

Herring flushed scarlet and then, feeling that he was defied, he said doggedly:

"You'd better ask Sheldon how he is interested in the matter."

"What has he got to do with it?" asked Percival, hotly, having just arrived on the scene.

"What has he got to do with it?" sneered Herring. "Oh, nothing very much. He signaled to the robbers to keep away from the bank last night, that's all. He must have some interest in them to do that."

Jack said nothing, although he was clearly agitated and Percival turned to him and asked kindly:

"It is not so, is it, Jack? Say that it is not so."

"No, it is not so. I signaled to Brooke and told him to warn the bank officials that there was to be another attempt to rob it."

"You knew this, Jack?" asked Dick.

"Yes, I knew it," quietly.

"Of course he knew it," said Herring, with a disagreeable laugh. "Why wouldn't he know it when he had a meeting with the chief robber yesterday afternoon and told him that he would keep him and his pal posted as to a good time to rob the bank?"

"Peter Herring," said Jack, turning white but retaining full command of himself, "you are a miserable liar!"

"Oh, am I?" and Herring began to bluster, feeling sure of his ground. "You won't deny that you had a meeting with a disguised man yesterday afternoon in the woods near the foot of the Academy hill, will you? Will you deny that you telegraphed with your pocket flashlight, 'Keep away from the bank on account of danger?' You did not do that?"

"That was only a part of my message. It was sent to Mr. Brooke, the editor of the _News_ at Riverton and not to the robbers."

"Why should he send warning to the robbers, you toad?" demanded Dick, angrily.

"Stop, Dick, never mind," said Jack, putting a hand on his friend's arm. "The fellow is lying and he knows it."

"Oh, I do, hey?" and Herring turned purple with rage. "Maybe I am lying when I tell the boys that you had a secret interview with your father yesterday afternoon and that he is the chief robber, the one with the white mustache, the one that Jones shot at. Maybe you will deny that you have a father?"

"I do deny it," said Jack, quietly. "My father is dead, as I told you once before."

"You are a liar!" roared Herring, "and I'll bet that you are just as bad as this----"

That was as far as he got for in an instant Jack had knocked him down.