CHAPTER XXXIV
THE EXCITED STRANGER
At first, Tom's chums did not know whether or not he was joking. Theycrowded around him and looked over his shoulder as he unfolded thepaper. The inner contents bore out the endorsement on the face of thedocument.
"That's it, all right!" cried Frank. "It's the quit-claim deed, as sureas you're a foot high!"
"And does possession of it mean that Randall College is all right?"asked Sid.
"Sure!" asserted Tom.
"But how in the world did it ever get inside that chair?" demanded Phil."This is the greatest mystery yet. The loss of our chair and clockaren't in it."
"I should say not!" agreed Frank.
"What had we better do?" asked Sid.
"Get this deed into the hands of Dr. Churchill as soon as possible,"decided Tom. "He'll lock it in the safe, whence it can't disappearagain, and then they'll call off the suit against Randall. I guess thiswill put a crimp in Lawyer Langridge, all right."
"Who was this Jacob Randall mentioned in the deed?" asked Frank, who wascarefully reading the document.
"Oh, he was some relative to the Randall who founded the college,"declared Phil. "Randall, the founder, got it later, and endowed thecollege. Jove! but this is a great find, all right, eh, fellows?"
"It's a good thing I came down hard in that seat, or we'd never foundthe deed," went on Tom. "Otherwise we might have traded back this chairfor our own, and never would have known a thing about the quit-claim."
"But where _is_ our chair?" asked Sid. "And how in the name of thesacred cow did the deed get in the seat of this one?"
"Say, don't ask any more questions, or I'll go batty," declared Tom."Come on, let's take this deed to Prexy right away."
It was such a momentous occasion that nothing less than a fulldelegation of the four "guardsmen" could do justice to it, so thequartette of chums invaded the office of Dr. Churchill, to thatgentleman's no small amazement. On the way our heroes met several oftheir chums, but they did not mention their find, thinking it best tolet the proper authorities know of it first.
"Ahem! Is this a strike, gentlemen?" asked the president, with a twinklein his eyes.
"It's a 'find'!" exclaimed Tom, and he held out the deed.
To say that Dr. Churchill was surprised would be but faintly to expressit. He eagerly questioned the boys, who as eagerly answered, telling thestory of their missing clock and chair from the beginning.
"I can't understand it," went on the president, with a puzzled shake ofhis head. "But I'll take good care of this quit-claim deed, and we canmake inquiries later. You have rendered a service to Randall to-day,gentlemen, that she will not soon forget. I thank you personally, and,later, I will see that you receive the recognition you deserve."
"Come on!" whispered Tom to his chums, for the good old doctor was muchaffected. "It's nearly time for the game, and we don't want to missthat."
Murmuring over and over again his thanks at the unexpected discovery,Dr. Churchill locked the deed in the safe, stating that he would takeimmediate steps to have the court matters brought to a close, ifpossible.
"For this, I think, settles forever the title of Randall College," hesaid. "We are now secure."
Tom and his chums hurried back to their room. Dr. Churchill hadrequested them to say nothing for a little while regarding the findingof the deed.
"Now for Boxer Hall," remarked Phil, grimly, as he looked at his watch."They'll begin to arrive in about an hour."
Wallops, the messenger, stepped toward our friends.
"There's a gentleman just gone up to your room," he said. "He wasinquiring for you, and I sent him up. He said he'd wait outside untilyou came back from the president's office."
"Who is he?" asked Tom. "Maybe it's some of our folks, fellows, come tosee the big game."
"No, I think he is a stranger," remarked the messenger.
Wondering who could be paying them a visit at this time, our heroeshastened their steps. Outside, in the corridor, they saw a man excitedlypacing up and down. He approached them eagerly.
"Are you Mr. Parsons, Mr. Clinton, and--er----" He paused, as if tryingto remember the other names.
"Simpson and Henderson," finished Tom. "Did you want to see us?"
"Indeed I do, very much! Did you receive a big chair from a dealer namedRosenkranz, a few days ago?"
"We received it to-day," spoke Phil. "Why?"
"May I look at it?" went on the man, eagerly. "I have reason to thinkthat it is mine, and that I have yours."
"At last!" murmured Tom. "Once more on the trail of the mystery at last!Like a prima donna's final-final concert. Yes, you may see the chair,and welcome."
He opened the door of their room, and at the first glance inside, thestranger noted the chair.
"Yes, that's mine!" he cried, eagerly.
"That's what _we_ thought--at first," spoke Sid, calmly.
The stranger paid no attention to the boys now. He went over to thechair, in the bottom part of which the boards had again been fittedloosely. The man put his hand underneath, and, as he did so, the boardsfell down once more.
"What's this!" he cried. "Someone has been tampering with my chair!There is something missing! Something valuable! Did you lads takeanything from this chair?"
"What might it have been?" inquired Tom, calmly, motioning to his chumsto keep silent.
"A paper--a document--a valuable document! Did you take it?"
"We found a certain paper," replied Tom. "I sat in the chair a littletoo hard, the boards dropped, and there was a paper in there."
"It's mine! Where is it now? I demand it!"
"Easy," counseled Tom. "Do you know what that paper was?"
"I should say I do! Give it to me at once! You may keep the chair if youlike, but give me the paper!"
The man was getting more and more excited.
"That paper," said Tom, calmly, "was a missing quit-claim deed toproperty owned by Randall College. The loss of it entailed a lawsuitwhich is still pending. We found the deed, and, of course, that bringsthe suit to an end."
"Where is that deed?" demanded the man, angrily. "It was in my chair,and I want it."
"It was in the chair--it isn't now," said Tom. "It is where you can'tget it--in Dr. Churchill's safe, and Randall College is rid of herenemies!"
"Give--me--back--my--deed!" fairly howled the man.
He seemed as if he would strike Tom, but the plucky end faced himfearlessly. Suddenly from outside came a burst of cheers. They welled tothe ears of our heroes.
"The Boxer Hall crowd!" exclaimed Phil. "They're here for the big game!Come on, fellows! Now to play for our lives!"
Once again came the burst of cheers. Looking from their windows, ourfriends could see a crowd of Boxer Hall students, arriving in bigstages, which they had hired. Their cries of greeting and defiance wereanswered by those of the Randall lads, who came pouring out on thecampus.
"My deed--where is my deed? Give it to me!" repeated the stranger,eagerly.
Tom turned on him like a flash.
"Look here!" the end cried. "I don't know you, and I don't know whatyour game is. But I _do_ know that we've got the deed, and that we'regoing to keep it. Now, you get out of here, and don't come back. We'regoing to play football, and if you want to make any claim, you go to theRandall lawyers. Now--vamoose!"
Tom pointed to the door. The man looked at him defiantly, and seemedabout to leap at the lad. Then, with a slinking glance, he departed.
"Well," remarked Phil, as the echoes of his footsteps died away down thecorridor, "what do you think of that?"
"Isn't it the limit?" demanded Sid.
"Worse and more of it," added Frank. "I wonder----"
"No time to wonder now," interrupted Tom, briskly. "We haven't anythingto worry about from that chap. The deed is safe. Now, come on, get intoour togs, and wipe up the ground with Boxer Hall."