CHAPTER XII THE VANISHING CHINAMAN
On his way home Johnny met Goggles. "Great work, Goggles!" he exclaimedwith enthusiasm. "That stunt of yours sure drew a crowd."
"Ye-a," Goggles said with a drawl. "There was a time, though, when itlooked as if the old ump and I'd be mobbed. That Fairfield bunch played amean trick on us. Ought to be thrown out of the League."
"Oh I don't know." Johnny paused for thought. "You couldn't prove amember of their team did it. We licked 'em good and plenty. That shouldbe enough. Anyway, they don't stand high in the League.Centralia--there's the team we've got to watch out for!"
"Say!" Goggles' big eyes bulged. "I think Hop Horner and I have got a newpitcher for you."
"A new pitcher?" Johnny stared. "What's the matter with the 'Prince'?"
"Nothing. Only--" Goggles' voice dropped to a low, mysterious note, "thispitcher's different."
"He'll have to go some if he's as different as the 'Prince.'"
"You'll be surprised! Tell you what." The young inventor's tone changed."You know that open space out in the center of the pine grove?"
"Yes, sure."
"Meet me there day after tomorrow about two in the afternoon. I--I'llbring this--this er--pitcher round. Let--well, sort of let him throw overa few."
"All right, I'll be there. But I don't see--" Johnny looked up. Goggleswas gone.
"Now what's he up to!" Johnny muttered as he turned toward home.
"I'll wander over to that Chink spice shop," he told himself with suddenresolve. "See if Tao Sing's there." He felt in his pocket. Yes, thelatest think-o-graph of the wise Wung Lu's thoughts was there. He wouldgive it to Tao Sing and then go right home.
"You want Tao Sing?" the clerk behind the counter asked as Johnny enteredthe shop.
"Sure."
"No can do." The Chinaman showed all his yellow teeth in a broad grin."Tao Sing gone velly fast, velly far, mebby not come back velly quick."He laughed a dry mirthless laugh.
"Oh!" Johnny's eyes swept the place nervously.
"I--maybe I'll come back some other time." As he slid out of the placeJohnny barely escaped bumping into two slim young men who had an air ofwatchful waiting about them.
"Federal agents, like as not," was the thought that struck him all of aheap. Experience had taught him that the best detectives of today werelikely to be young, slender and quick. These were of that sort.
Finding himself still free, he hurried away.
"Perhaps I ought to tell them," he thought. And then, a moment later,"Tell them what?" What, indeed? What did he know about Tao Sing thatFederal agents should know? Little enough, that was certain. "Know hewants to salt down some of Wung Lu's wisdom," he chuckled. Then of asudden it occurred to him that the sort of knowledge he had secured fromWung Lu's thoughts might not be that which wise men would record in abook of Chinese philosophy.
"Like to read just one of them," he told himself. He fingered the smallmetal box in his pocket. "I can't," he sighed. "It's all Chinese."
Next morning Johnny, Doug, and old Professor George went to the bank anddrew out a thousand dollars. "Whew! What a lot of money!" Doug whispered.
They carried it to Big Bill Tyson's office.
"Here it is, William," Professor George squeaked in his high-pitchedvoice. "Here's your first payment on the baseball grounds."
"Fine! Fine!" Big Bill's eyes shone as if he were truly glad. And perhapshe was. Big Bill loved money. "Here's the contracts you'll have to sign."He wheeled about in his swivel chair. "One for you and one for me. Don'tmind signin' with them, do you Professor? Mere matter of form. Boys areunder age, you know."
"No. I'll sign the contracts, William." The aged professor's smile was afine thing to see. "I'm always glad to help the boys out. And William,I'm proud to see that you're willing to do your part."
Big Bill's eyes squinted in a strange way.
"Oh! Yes!" His voice seemed unusually loud and a trifle off key like thedong of a cracked bell. "Yes, Professor, you and I must help the boys outwhen we can. Here--you sign right there, all three of you. And then thisone."
He stood up when all had signed. "Well boys, I wish you luck." Just then,strangely enough, a cloud passed over the sun. It left Big Bill's face ina shadow that to Johnny's keen imagination seemed a mask. A moment laterthey were out in the open air and the sun had escaped from behind thecloud.
That evening Johnny got out the two strange objects he had taken from thedeserted bungalow--the battery and the bright tube. He studied them along time, screwing them together and unscrewing them many times. "I'dlike to know," he murmured. "Those were the men who flew over the ballfield, I am sure of that. They had these. Wonder if Goggles still hasthose two powders. Hope he has." With that he hid the battery and tubealong with the thought-camera at the bottom of his trunk.
"Oh Johnny! Come in here a minute." It was old C.K. the editor who calledto Johnny from his door next day.
"Just thought I'd tell you," C.K. said as Johnny took a seat in hisoffice, "that, mebby you didn't know it, but Big Bill Tyson drove a sharpbargain with you boys and old Professor George yesterday."
"A--a sharp bargain!" Johnny stared. "We didn't pay too much did we?"
"N--no. The price is a fair one," C.K. drawled. "But!" He sat straightup. "How you boys going to raise four thousand dollars in sixty days?"
"Four thou--"
"That's the contract you signed. Doug showed it to me yesterday. Didn'tsay anything to him about it. Wanted to think it over.
"Of course--" he sank back in his chair, "you boys can't be held for it,but the contract is binding. Four thousand dollars in sixty days, fivethousand more in three years--that's the way it reads. And, as it standsProfessor George is stuck for it. He signed you know. He's got a littlehouse and a few investments. I figure it will about clean him out. Tough,I'd say!"
"Why! I--it can't happen!" Johnny exploded. "Big Bill tricked us!"
"Guess that's right," C.K. agreed. "Too bad! But a contract is acontract."
"Four thousand dollars!" Doug groaned when Johnny told him of it. "And tothink good old Professor George will have to suffer for our blunder! Ofcourse he wouldn't suspect Big Bill. Professor George is so honest andkind himself, he'd never suspect a trick. Johnny, we've just got to dosomething."
"Sure we have," Johnny agreed. "But just think! Four thousand in sixtydays!"
"Four thousand. Sixty days," Doug repeated after him. This was followedby a vast silence.