Roy Blakeley's Silver Fox Patrol

  The clerk said, "When would you like to be called?"

  "Calling won't do any good," Harry said; "you'll have to scream. I thinkwe'll wake up about ten o'clock to-morrow morning."

  "It's to-morrow morning already," I told him; "everything is all mixedup; we'll have to have lunch for breakfast; we should worry."

  But anyway, I woke up earlier than I thought I would--that was about nineo'clock. Pee-wee woke up while I was getting dressed, and we decidedthat we'd go out and take a little walk around the city. We went outvery quiet, so as not to disturb Skinny.

  I guess none of the rest of the fellows were up; anyway, we didn't seeanything of them. We went up the street and stopped in a candy store andgot a couple of sodas. I took raspberry, because it's red--that's mypatrol color. While we were drinking them, Pee-wee said:

  "Did you ask Harry about those things?"

  I said, "I did not; we were all too sleepy. You should worry about thosethings."

  When we were finished we took a walk around the town, just for fun,looking in windows. I guess it was about half-past ten when we startedback. When we had almost got to the hotel we heard a boy calling,"_Extree! Extree! Big robbery! Extree!_"

  So we bought one, and the first thing we saw was an article with a bigheading that said _DARING BURGLARY_ and underneath it said _HOME OFJUDGE WEST ENTERED. TWO MISCREANTS HELD_.

  This is just what the article said, because we kept that paper:

  The summer home of Justice Willard E. West in Crystal Falls was entered some time between one and two o'clock this morning by means of a kitchen window, which had been forced open.

  Property consisting of jewelry and silverware to the amount of about two thousand dollars was taken.

  It was not until the burglars were leaving the house that Judge West's young daughter, hearing a sound on the lower floor, aroused her parents, who immediately investigated and found that a cabinet in their daughter's room had been rifled as well as the sideboard in the dining-room, from which several articles of value had been taken.

  The judge immediately 'phoned to the village authorities, and as a result of their prompt action, two men who were lurking near the railroad station were arrested.

  One of them had in his possession a wallet containing about fifty dollars in bills, which the judge identified as belonging to him. Constable Berry of Crystal Falls, believes that there was a third man implicated in the job, because none of the missing property, except the wallet and a few small articles of silverware, were found upon the two men under arrest. It is supposed that they were frightened away before their work was completed, but a search of the premises both inside and out, failed to reveal a large silver punch bowl, which is missing and the jewelry case of Elsa, the judge's young daughter. This, it was stated, contained a necklace of pearls valued at nearly a thousand dollars.

  An incentive to the capture of the third man is offered by Judge West, in a reward of five hundred dollars, for the return of this precious keepsake.

  I just stared at Pee-wee, and he stared at me.

  "_G-o-o-d night!_" I said, "the plot grows thicker."

  "Those are the very things," he said; "it's a mystery."

  "It looks as if we were the third man," I told him.

  "Who?" he wanted to know.

  "The eleven of us," I said.

  "How do you explain it?" he asked me, all excited.

  "I don't explain it," I said; "but I know one thing, and that is, I'mgoing to get back and tell Harry as soon as I can, before the whole crewof us are arrested. Harry's going to have a mechanic look the car overthis morning. Suppose that mechanic should----"

  That was enough for Pee-wee; he started up the street scout-pace, and Iguess he must have been pretty excited, because he passed right by anold empty sardine box and didn't even bother to pick it up.

  CHAPTER XIV--WE ARE CRIMINALS

  When I got to the hotel sheds, there was Pee-wee standing all out ofbreath, and Harry and all the rest of them standing around, gaping.Brent was laughing so hard he couldn't speak, and Harry was saying,"_Some_ scout! _Some_ bullhead!"

  "What's the matter?" I said.

  "Look in--look in--look in--side--it!" Pee-wee panted, "the back--seat."

  "It isn't my car at all," Harry said, "it's got a New York license. Ifit hadn't been for that old tin can of yours stopping every ten feetlast night I could have got a squint at the tail-light. Smiled at it,huh? You smiled at the wrong car. You started somebody else's motor."

  "It's a nineteen-twenty touring Cadillac," Brent said, laughing all thewhile; "Pee-wee was the first to get in it. He showed me the niceleather seats and the shock-absorbers."

  "We'll _need_ some shock-absorbers before the day's out, I'm thinking,"Harry said; "this is some swell scout outfit--not! Got into the wrongcar! Look up the street and see if you see the sheriff coming. Pee-wee,don't ever mention the name of scout to me again. '_A scout isobservant_!' Excuse me, while I smile."

  "Well," Brent said, all the while trying not to laugh, "we're out foradventure; we have to take what comes."

  "We don't have to take other people's machines," Harry said. He wasn'tmad, because he always sees the funny side of things himself, and he waslaughing, too, but I guess all of us felt pretty cheap, because ascout--well, _you_ know----

  "I never thought I'd live to see the day when a party of Boy Scoutswould steal an auto," he said. "Well, I don't suppose there's anythingto do, but sit around and wait for the owner to come and have usarrested. I wonder if they have a nice comfortable jail here, withmodern improvements. I hate a jail without electric lights."

  Brent said in that funny way of his, "I rather like the way things areturning out. I've never been in jail. I've often promised little Billhere that some day we'd go to jail, and now we're going to have ourwish. I've read about prisoners escaping from jail--ladders, files, andall that sort of stuff. Now's our chance. We'll drug a keeper. Ever druga keeper, Harry? I'd a great deal rather escape from a jail than findburied treasure. That's a real adventure; regular Monte Cristo stuff."

  "I kinder think I'd like that, too," Harry said; "I never thought of itbefore."

  "This is just the right kind of a trip," Brent said, "we don't have torun after the adventures; they come after _us_."

  "Oh, they'll come after _us_ all right," Harry said.

  "Will we have to go to prison for twenty years?" poor little Skinnypiped up.

  "People who make mistakes like that ought to go up for life," Harrysaid; "and then some."

  "Lis--lis--lis--lis--'en!" Pee-wee began shouting, all the while waving thenewspaper in the air. He was just getting his breath, but nobody paidany attention to him. Harry and Brent sat there on a bench, side byside, and it was awful funny to see them--they just kept us laughing.

  "_Look--look--under the seat!_" Pee-wee was trying to say.

  "And the tell-tale papers are gone," Harry said. "_Curses! Curses!_"

  "My idea," Brent said, "would be to escape into a boat from one of thejail windows. I hope the jail is near a river, but I don't suppose wecan have everything. It ought to be on a dark night. This is going to begreat."

  "We should have kidnapped a maiden," Harry said; "there ought to be amaiden in it. If there had only been a gold-haired maiden in themachine----"

  "_Shut up! You're crazy!_" Pee-wee yelled. "The plot is thicker--it'sterribly thick. There _is_ a maiden--listen--shut up--listen, willyou--there is a--_a maiden_!"

  "Is she under the back seat?" Brent wanted to know.

  "Open the back seat and let her out, poor girl," Harry said.

  "How about ransom?" Brent said.

  "Read this paper!" at last Pee-wee managed to shout. "_Will you keepstill and read this paper?_ The plot is thicker than you think it is."

  "It must be about solid," Harry said.

  "Read this paper before you look under the seat," Pee-wee yelled.

  "Sp
eak not to me, P. Harris," Harry said; "you're the cause of mydownfall. I was an honest young man until I met _you_."

  "You make me tired!" Pee-wee fairly screamed.

  Just then somebody, gee whiz, I don't know who, because everyone waslaughing so, but anyway, somebody started to lift the back seat of theCadillac when Pee-wee tumbled pell-mell into the car and pushed him outand sat plunk in the middle of the seat himself.

  "There's going to be--a--a--what-d'ye-call-it--a revolution!" he said.

  "I'll join it," Brent said.

  "Put me down," Harry told him, "the more adventures the better. I likerevolutions."

  "I mean a _revelation_," Pee-wee yelled; "you just read that paper!"

  Laugh! Gee whiz, I don't know whether anyone there remembered aboutthose things under the seat. Maybe Grove thought he had dreamed it. Asfor Skinny, he had been too far gone under the buffalo robe to thinktwice about it, I guess. I just watched Harry and Brent, while Harryread the articles out loud, with all the fellows crowding around him, toget a squint at it. And all the while, Pee-wee sat straight up on themiddle of that back seat like a king on his throne. He was holding theseat down against all comers. He looked like a young hero.

  "A burglary, hey?" Harry said, awful funny. "Let's see; jewelry andsilverware and a punch bowl. Fine. And Elsa West. Brent, you didn'tsteal Elsa's necklace, did you, without me knowing anything about it? Iwould have been glad to help you. I make a specialty of necklaces. Well,P. Harris, I've read the article. Tell us the worst."

  "You said a scout was not observant," Pee-wee said, very solemn like."You said it sarcastic, sort of. It was an insinuation. You said neverto mention scouts to you again--didn't you? You said I was asomething-or-other."

  "You are," Harry said; "deny it, if you can."

  "Who's responsible for bringing this machine here? You said _I_ was. _Ihave won five hundred dollars!_ I saved--saved that what's-her-name'snecklace for her. A scout is helpful--it says so. She has to thank theBoy Scouts if her necklace is safe. Those burglars are _foiled_! Maybeyou think you can get the best of the Boy Scouts. Let those people huntaround all they want--inside and outside--they won't find that punch bowl.Do you know why? _Because all those things are safe in the hands of the1st Bridgeboro Troop, Boy Scouts of America._ That's why. Look! _Here's_the box of jewelry. _Here's_ the necklace. _Here's_ the silverware. It's_saved_, because I started Brent Gaylong off in this automobile. A scoutis--a scout is--_efficient_--so _now_!"

  What did I tell you about Pee-wee? No matter what he does, he alwayslands right side up. He makes a mistake and turns out a hero.

  You can't beat him.

  CHAPTER XV--WE MEET SHERLOCK HOLMES

  Harry said, "Well, I guess it's back to Crystal Falls for us. I hopewe'll find my car there. I don't want to set a bad example to the BoyScouts, but you see what a good turn one can do stealing an automobile.I hope you boys will always remember that."

  Brent said in that funny way of his, "I'll never say another wordagainst stealing; Pee-wee has taught me a lesson."

  "Do you think the burglars were in one of those houses when we startedaway in the car?"

  "I think they were inside the house for a second haul when we rode awayin their machine," Brent said. "Make a good movie play, wouldn't it?"

  "Will we go to jail now?" poor little Skinny piped up.

  "We're heroes!" Pee-wee shouted.

  "Well, go ahead back," Brent said; "I think, considering the high costof gasoline that we'll roll on and find a good place to camp in--where isit? The woods north of Watertown?"

  "If we don't overtake you before you get to Syracuse," Harry said, "bangup north and wait for us at Kenny's Hotel in Watertown."

  Brent said, "Now look here. You don't know how long you'll be in CrystalFalls. By all the rules of the game, Pee-wee will marry the gold-hairedjudge's daughter---- I mean the judge's gold-haired daughter--and it'll bea week before we can join forces. So this is what we're going to do;we're going to motor on to what's that place--Steuben Junction. We've gota full camping outfit in our little old flivver and by the time you getthere, we'll have a nice little camp in the woods all ready for you. NowI'll tell you what you do. If you don't overtake us, before we get toSteuben Junction, go to the railroad station or the drug store----"

  "I'd rather go to the drug store," Pee-wee yelled.

  "And ask where the Newburgh scouts have their camp. You'll find us."

  So that was the way we fixed it, and after Brent and his patrol hadstarted, the rest of us piled into the Cadillac and "turned our prow"(that's what Harry said) for Crystal Falls.

  "I'm going to be the one to return the stuff," Pee-wee said.

  "You going to make a speech?" Harry asked him.

  All the while I was wondering who the auto belonged to. It had a NewYork license and I didn't believe it belonged to the burglars.

  Poor little Skinny said, "Will we get arrested now?"

  Harry said, "No, we're all going to be heroes now. We're in the hands ofP. Harris."

  "We foiled them," Pee-wee said.

  "That's what we did," Harry said. "I guess there wasn't any third man. Iwonder what those crooks thought when they came out with some more stuffand saw that the machine was gone."

  "I bet they were peeved," I said.

  "I bet they had unkind thoughts," Grove said.

  "I bet they swore, but it didn't do them any good," Pee-wee shouted,"they were--what-d'ye-call-it--checkmated."

  "You have no right to say that," Harry said, "there is no reason why aburglar should not be a gentleman. Naturally they were annoyed; any onewould be, under the same circumstances."

  When we got to Crystal Falls, Harry ran the car through the street wherehe had left his own car, and there it was just as we had left it, andthere were a lot of people standing around, looking at it. I guess maybethey thought it belonged to the burglars, hey?

  Harry said, "Anybody here in authority?"

  A man opened his coat and showed us a big steel badge, "I'm constable,"he said.

  Harry said, "Well, Mr. Constable, that car belongs to me. It's stalled.Here's my license card; just compare it with the plate. All right? Iwish you'd see that nobody fools with it until we get back; Judge Westlives just around the corner, doesn't he?"

  "What cher want to see the jedge about?" the constable asked us.

  Harry said, "Well, we're boy scouts and we had an idea that we might beable to find his property."

  "Had an idee, huh?" the man said, kind of, you know, sarcastic like."Well now, don't you put sech crack brained notions into the heads o'these kids."

  "No?" Harry said, awful funny.

  "'Cause this here ain't no case for boy scouts," the constable said.

  Harry said, "No, really?"

  It was awful funny to see them. The constable was standing right outsidethe car with a lot of people around him, and Harry was sitting in thedriver's place, with his hands on the wheel, looking down at that bunch.

  "How does it come you own two cars?" the constable said, very shrewdlike.

  "Is that a riddle?" Harry said.

  "Where'd you come from?" the man asked.

  "Well, we came from Utica," Harry said, "we happened to read about therobbery in the papers there--five hundred bucks reward, you know. Wecouldn't resist that."

  "City fellers, ain't yer?" the constable said.

  "Right the first time," Harry said; "you're a regular Sherlock Holmes;how did you ever find it out?"

  The man said, "Well, I ain't got no use fer these here amatoordetectives. And I ain't got no use fer filling youngsters' heads up witha lot of truck about doin' sleuth work, neither. 'Cause all that's apart uv dime novels. Clews and sech things is for the _po_-lice. Themstolen goods is in some pawnshop or maybe buried, and as soon as themtwo swabs is ready to give us the tip, I'm ready to talk business with'em--that's me."

  "What could be nicer?" Harry said.

  "They'll weaken," the man said.

  "Did you ask them
_please_?" Harry wanted to know.

  "If you're set on going around to the jedge's," the main said, "I'll goround with yer. But don't you bother your heads about _of_-ficialbusiness. We got those chaps and we'll get the booty; I got two clewsI'm workin' on now." Just then he climbed in and sat down between Groveand I on the back seat. "And I'll tell you this," he said, "that stolenproperty's miles and miles away from here."

  "You're sitting on it," Harry said, very calm and sober.

  "Settin' on what?" the constable said.

  "On my cap," Harry said; "would you mind handing it to me?"

  Gee whiz, I could hardly keep a straight face. Grove had to look out ofthe car, he was laughing so hard. I was afraid Skinny'd blurt somethingout, but he didn't. I guess he thought we were all being arrested.

  "Sometimes a feller sets right down on a thing and never knows it," theconstable said.

  "Very true," Harry said. "I know a man who sat on a committee and neverknew it. Judge lives just around the corner, you say?"

  The constable said, "Yes, but I tell you now, he won't be able to giveyou no clews. He's a good jedge, but when it comes to solving a case, hecan't see very deep."

  "Sometimes you don't have to see very _deep_," Harry said--"just a fewinches or so. Are you comfortable back there, Constable? So you thinkthe Boy Scouts are not much good at this kind of thing, hey? Think itwouldn't be worth while under the--under----"

  "Shh!" I said. I just couldn't help it.

  "Under the circumstances, it wouldn't be no use at all," the constablesaid, very important, "because we've got the case in hand, and we knowhow to handle these things. My cal'calation is, that them things is inpawn in Noo York, or maybe Albany. But then, again, they may be under----"