Chapter 11

THE ROBBERY

The answer came back promptly.

In addition to the catalogue and pictures of the Hall and grounds, Dr. Rally wrote a personal letter. It was in a stiff, precise handwriting that seemed to indicate the character of the man.

He would be very glad to take the Rushton boys under his care. He thought he was not exaggerating when he said that the standard of scholarship at Rally Hall was not exceeded by any institution of a similar kind in the entire state. Their staff of instructors was adequate, and their appliances were strictly up to date. There was a good gymnasium, and the physical needs of the boys were looked after with the same care as their mental and moral requirements.

But what he laid especial stress upon was the discipline. This came under his own personal supervision, and he thought he could promise Mr. Rushton that there would be no weakness or compromise in this important particular.

"That's the stuff!" broke in Uncle Aaron, gleefully rubbing his hands. "What did I tell you? Hardach Rally is the one to make boys mind."

Fred and Teddy failed to share his enthusiasm, and Mrs. Rushton shivered slightly.

But, taken as a whole, the letter met the views of Mr. Mansfield Rushton, and when the family council broke up, it was definitely settled that the boys should go to Rally Hall.

Old Martha was "dead sot," as she put it, against the whole plan.

"Ain' no good goin' to kum uv it," she grumbled to herself, as she jammed her hands viciously into the dough. "House'll seem like a graveyard wen dose po' boys get shunted off ter dat ole bo'din' school. Like enuf dey won't giv' um half enuf ter eat. An' all on 'count uv dat ole w'ited sepulker," she wound up disgustedly.

But Uncle Aaron, wholly indifferent to Martha's views even if he had known them, was in high feather. He had carried his point, and, in the satisfaction this gave him, he became almost good-natured. He could even allow himself a wintry smile at times, as he reflected that the boys--the "pests," as he called them to himself--were to get a taste of the discipline that their souls needed.

"He'll show them what's what," he chuckled. "He'll either bend 'em or break 'em. I know Hardach Rally."

As for Fred and Teddy themselves, they hardly knew whether to be glad or sorry.

They loved their home and their parents, and then, too, they hated to leave their boy friends with whom they had grown up in the home town.

But, on the other hand, there was the attraction of new sights and places and all the adventures that might come to them. It was another world into which they were going, and it was not in boy nature that they should not be thrilled by the prospect of "fresh fields and pastures new."

But before the time came for their departure, Oldtown had a sensation that turned it topsy-turvy.

The village store was robbed!

The first thing the boys knew about it was when they heard a whistle under their windows that they recognized as that of Jack Youmans. They stuck sleepy heads out to see what had brought him there at that early hour.

"Hurry up, fellows!" he cried excitedly. "Get your clothes on and come down. There's something doing."

"What is it?" they asked in chorus.

"Never you mind," answered Jack, swelling with a sense of his importance. "You get a move on and come down."

They slipped into their clothes and in less than three minutes were down beside him. He made them beg a little before he finally gave up his secret.

"The store was robbed last night," he said importantly.

"The store!" exclaimed the boys. There was no need of specifying, as there was only one store in Oldtown of any importance.

"How did it happen?" asked Fred.

"Did they get much?" questioned Teddy.

"They don't know yet," replied Jack to both questions. "A fellow came past our house a little while ago, and he called to my dad, who was working in the garden, that when Cy Briggs went to open up, he found that the front door was already open and everything inside was all scattered about. He can't tell yet just how much was stolen, but the safe was broken into and everything in it was cleaned out. Cy is awful excited about it, and they say he's running around like a hen with her head cut off. Get a wiggle on now, and let's get down there."

The boys could not remember when anything like a robbery had happened before in the sleepy little town, and they were all afire with excitement.

The family was not up yet, but the boys did not wait for breakfast in their eagerness to be on the scene of the robbery.

A hasty raid on Martha's pantry gave each of them enough for a cold bite, and, eating as they went along, and running most of the way, they were soon in front of the village store.

The news had traveled fast, and there was an eager crowd already gathered. All sorts of rumors were about, and in the absence of any real news as to the robbers, one guess was as good as another.

The only thing about which there was no doubt at all was that the robbery had occurred. The open safe and tumbled goods were sufficient proofs of that. Cy Briggs, who had run the store for forty years, and had never had a robbery or fire or anything to disturb the regular order of things, was so flustered that he had not yet been able to find out the extent of his loss.

One or two of the cooler heads were going over the stock with him, while the others clustered on the broad porch in front and waited for developments, keeping up a constant buzz of questions and conjectures.

No one had heard any unusual noise the night before. The village constable, who constituted the entire police force of Oldtown, had made his usual round about ten o'clock, and, as a matter of form, had tried the door. But it had been securely fastened as usual, and there had been nothing to rouse his suspicion. Apart from two or three traveling men who had come in with Jed Muggs, and were now staying at the one hotel, nobody had seen any outsiders.

The whole thing was a mystery, and this was increased by the discovery that while the door had been found open, showing that the thieves had come out that way, they must have found some other means of entrance. The door had been fastened by a bolt, which Cy had pushed into the socket the last thing before leaving. This had not been broken, as it would have been, if the robbers had forced their way in from the front. Cy himself had gone out of a back door, which he had locked, carrying the key away with him, and this door was found still locked when he came that morning to open up.

"Well, Cy, how about it?" was the question from a dozen voices, as the old storekeeper, grizzled and flushed, came out on the porch. "How much did you lose?"

"Don't know yet," Cy answered, wiping his forehead with a huge bandana handkerchief, "but I reckon it'll figger up to close on three or four hundred dollars' wuth."

A hum of excitement rose from the crowd. To the boys especially, this seemed an enormous amount of money.

"That's a right smart sum, Cy," remarked a sympathetic listener. "What was it they got away with?"

"Money, mostly," mourned Cy. "The goods in the store wasn't bothered much. Reckon they was lookin' only for cash. Then, too, they've cleaned out a co'sid'able of jewelry and watches. Some of 'em I was gettin' ready to send away to the city to be repaired, and others had come back mended, but the customers hadn't called for 'em yet."

Catching sight at that moment of Fred in the crowd, he added: "One of them watches was your Uncle Aaron's. It was a vallyble one and I feel wuss over that than almost anything else. I know he set a heap of store by it."

"Uncle Aaron's watch!" gasped the boys.

It was a knock-down blow for them, especially for Teddy. Was he never to get away from that miserable runaway? If it had not been for that, the watch would not have been injured, and at this very moment it might have been reposing in his uncle's capacious pocket. Now the "fat was in the fire" again. The chances were that the watch would never be seen again by the rightful owner.

"I'm the hoodoo kid, all right!" he groaned.

"It sure is hard luck," sympathized Jack.

"Brace up, Teddy," urged Jim. "They may catch the fellows yet."

"Swell chance!" retorted Teddy to their well-meant sympathy. "Even if they do, they won't get the watch back. Those fellows will make a beeline to the nearest pawnshop, and that'll be the end of it."

"I wish we could have caught them at it," said Fred savagely. "If they'd only been working when we came past last night."

"What time last night?" asked Cy, pricking up his ears.

"About eleven o'clock, I guess," answered Fred. "Teddy and I had been over to Tom Barrett's house. He's just got a new phonograph, and we went over to hear him try it out. He had a lot of records, and it was pretty late when we came away."

"And yer didn't see anything out of the way when you come past?" went on Cy.

"Not a thing. We didn't meet a soul on the way home."

Just then there was a stir inside the store, and the constable, Hi Vickers, came to the door.

"Come here a minute, Cy," he said. "I bet I've found out how those fellers got into the store."

As many as could crowded in after him as he led the way to a little side window.

"They got in here," he said triumphantly.

"But that's locked," said Cy.

"Sure it is," explained Hi, "but they could have locked it again after they got in, couldn't they? One thing certain, they've unlocked it first from the outside. See here," and the constable showed where the blade of a heavy knife had left marks on the frame. It had evidently been thrust between the two halves of the window to push back the fastening.

"There you are," he said. "You see, they clum that apple tree right alongside the winder and----"

"Say!" broke in Fred, as a thought came to him like a flash of lightning, "I bet I know who the robbers were."

All eyes were turned on him in surprise.

"It was two tramps that I saw round here a few days ago," continued Fred. "A lot of us fellows were in Sam Perkins' barn, and we heard the tramps talking. They didn't see us, but we saw them. We couldn't hear all they said, but I did hear them say something about an 'apple tree' and 'side window' and something being 'dead easy.' I'd forgotten all about it till just now. But there's the apple tree and the side window, and that must have been what they were talking about."

"By gum, it wuz!" assented Hi. "Tell us what the fellers looked like."

"One of them was a good deal taller than the other," said Fred, trying to recall their appearance. "They were both ragged and dirty. And, oh, yes! the tall one had a scar up near his temple, as if he had been stabbed there some time."

"Well," commented Hi, "that may help a lot. We know now what we've got to look for. I'll telephone all along the line to the other towns to be on the lookout for them, and some of us will hitch up and drive along the different roads. They can't have got very far, and we may get 'em yet."

Later on, as the boys were on their way home, Jim chuckled.

"What are you laughing about, Jim?" asked Bob.

"I was just thinking," Jim replied, "that it was mighty lucky they didn't ask Fred how he happened to be in Sam Perkins' barn."