Bart Keene's Hunting Days; or, The Darewell Chums in a Winter Camp, Page 2

  CHAPTER II

  THE MISSING DIAMOND BRACELET

  There were three lads who had entered the Darewell High School somysteriously at midnight, and, had any one seen them, who was acquaintedwith them, he would have at once asked:

  "Where is the fourth member of the quartette? Where is Stumpy Masterson?"For there were four lads in the town of Darewell who were so inseparablethat they had come to be known as "The Darewell Chums." Their names youare already familiar with, and some of my readers have met them before inthe previous books of this series.

  In the first volume, entitled, "The Heroes of the School," there wasrelated how the four friends took part in a strange mystery, and howthey got at the bottom of it. At one time they went up in a balloon, andwere captured by some men who were their enemies, so that, for a time,it looked dubious for the lads. But our heroes were wide-awake, andresourceful, and managed to take care of themselves.

  Their home, as I have said, was in the town of Darewell, which waslocated on the Still River, a stream that flowed into Lake Erie. Livingnot far from that great body of water, the four chums often made tripsto it, though more frequently they went swimming in or sailing on theriver, in summer, and skated on it in winter.

  In the second volume of the series, called "Ned Wilding's Disappearance,"a story was told of how Ned tried to become a millionaire on his ownaccount. He speculated in stocks, and to do this he had to go to NewYork. There he became mixed up in some peculiar transactions, and hethought it was necessary for him to disappear to avoid arrest. His chums,who followed him to the city, tried for some time in vain to find him,and poor Ned suffered many hardships before the affair was finallystraightened out.

  "Frank Roscoe's Secret" was the title of the third volume. There alwaysseemed to be a mystery about Frank Roscoe, and his chums could neverpenetrate it. At times he was moody and distraught, and he seemed tohave some secret that worried him. He made no confidant of any one andsucceeded in avoiding all inquiries.

  The four lads went camping, and it was hoped that Frank would forget histroubles, but, instead, he seemed to get right into the thick of them.Frank, for some years, had believed his father dead, but it transpiredthat he was not. Mr. Roscoe was kept in a private insane asylum, thoughhe had full possession of his reason, only he was made ill by drugsconstantly administered to him by men who had an interest in keeping himout of the way. How he was rescued, and the perils the boys ran insaving him after they had released him from the institution, you willfind set down in the third book.

  In the fourth book, called "Fenn Masterson's Discovery," there wasrelated the details of a long trip the chums took on the Great Lakes.They were aboard a vessel commanded by Captain Wiggs, and almost fromthe start the boys were involved in a mystery. They were pursued bystrange men, when they landed to witness a large grain elevator on fire,and eventually they succeeded in causing the breaking up of a gang ofChinese smugglers, and a band of scoundrels who were secretly takingvaluable minerals from a cave, under land owned by a man whom the boyshad once befriended. It was not until after some strenuous happeningsthat these events had come to pass, and, more than once, our friendswere in danger. But Fenn Masterson succeeded in getting on the trail ofthe mystery, through an odd discovery he had made, and, though he wascaptured by the enemy, he used his eyes and ears to good advantage, sothat when his friends came he could lead them to the secret cave.

  Following the exciting events of their cruise on the Great Lakes, theboys had returned to Darewell, and had resumed their studies at the HighSchool, where they were great favorites with the other pupils. At thetime this story opens the fall term was well under way, and football wasthe chief sport, our heroes playing on the first team of the school.

  The reason for the midnight visit of Bart, Frank and Ned to the schoolwas this: Stumpy, the missing member of the quartette, was an odd sortof lad, always making collections of one thing or another. Sometimes itwas postage stamps, or postmarks, and again minerals, or jackknives, orbutterflies.

  The day of the midnight visit, when the Darewell Chums, together withBart's sister Alice (who wanted to be a trained nurse) and her chum,Jennie Smith, were in a drug store getting soda and cream, Fenn hadpulled from his pocket, together with his handkerchief, a small mudturtle. There had been a wild scramble on the part of the girls, andsome ladies in the store, before Fenn recaptured the reptile.

  "What's that for?" Bart had asked.

  "Oh, nothing," Fenn had answered, as casually as possible.

  "It certainly _is_ something," Ned had insisted, and they had badgeredFenn until he finally admitted that he was now collecting mud turtles,and had a number of them in a pen at home.

  This had at once given Bart his cue for playing a joke, and it might bementioned that the fun-loving youth never let go by a chance to play atrick. A little later, that same afternoon, after Fenn had beensufficiently "rigged" over his new fad, Bart Keene might have been seenwhispering cautiously to Ned and Frank.

  His proposal was that the three of them should pay a surreptitious visitto the school that Friday night, and, from the room of Professor Long,the science teacher, take a number of turtles, snakes and smallalligators which the instructor kept for the use of his class inbiology. The three conspirators planned to remove the reptiles, takethem to Fenn's house, slyly put them in with his collection of turtles,and then see what their chum would say when he found his number ofreptiles so unexpectedly increased.

  The plan found favor on the part of Ned and Frank. They had met atBart's home after supper, and started off, leaving word with Alice, thatif Fenn accidentally came, he was to be detained, entertained, orsomething done to him, to prevent him from becoming suspicious over theabsence of the three lads.

  But Fenn, or Stumpy, which he was more frequently called, had nosuspicions, and did not leave his house that night. Meanwhile, as toldin the first chapter, Bart and the others had gone to the school, hadsuffered a momentary alarm at the sight of the mysterious man, and hadfinally gained an entrance through the front door, unexpectedly foundopen.

  "Well, we're in here, what's next on the program?" asked Ned, of Bart.

  "Go ahead up stairs, and don't make any more noise than you have to."

  Long familiarity with the interior arrangements of the High Schoolenabled the three lads to ascend the stairs without the aid of a light.Bart, as a precaution, however, had brought along a pocket electricflash lamp, to use when they reached the case of live reptiles.

  They got to the room where Professor Long gave instruction, and whenBart sent out little flashes of light, all gazed quickly around.

  "No traces of any burglar here," observed Frank.

  "Guess you're right," admitted Bart. "But we surely saw some one up herewith a light."

  "Might have been one of Riggs' friends," commented Ned. "Anyhow he isn'there now. Come on, and let's finish. It's getting late. The cabinet ofturtles, alligators and snakes is over here," and he led the way acrossthe almost dark room, for the electric lamp only gave light in a smallcircle.

  Professor Long was more enthusiastic over science than are most teachers,and he used live animals to illustrate points in biology, evolution andkindred studies. Hence he had quite a collection of reptiles, which werekept in a case especially constructed for them, where they could be fedand watched, and live under conditions as nearly approaching those ofnature as possible.

  The three conspirators proposed "borrowing" a few specimens, smugglingthem into Stumpy's collection, which was kept in a shack in his backyard, and, after witnessing his surprise, they would take ProfessorLong's reptiles back to the school. The interval between the closing ofthe school Friday night and the Monday morning opening gave them timefor this.

  "Get some of the toads, lizards, alligators and snakes, besides the mudturtles," advised Bart, "and take care that the beggars don't bite you.I don't want to get blood poison, even if my sister is studying to be atrained nurse. Here, I'll hold the light, and you fellows can put thecreatures in the
bags."

  "Yes, you will!" exclaimed Frank, somewhat indignantly. "You want us torun all the risks! No, sir, you put the lamp down and pitch in yourself.If we get bit, so do you."

  "But the lamp won't give any light unless I press the spring," explainedBart, for the electric switch was thus operated.

  "I'll show you how to make it," volunteered Ned. "I can fasten the springwith a match," which he proceeded to do, the light glowing without anyone touching the spring. Bart had no further excuse, and assisted hischums in transferring to the bags he had brought a large part ofProfessor Long's collection. The reptiles made little resistance, thoughone of the large turtles did nip Frank slightly.

  "Never mind, Alice will put on some carbolic salve or peroxide," saidBart, cheerfully. "I guess we've got enough now. Look out, there's asnake going to get away!" He grabbed the lively reptile just in time,and stuffed it into his bag.

  The three conspirators hurried away from the school, and made their wayto the back yard of Fenn's house. The shack was fastened with a simplecatch, which Bart had no difficulty in loosening. Then, working quicklyand silently, the three chums made a large addition to Fenn's collection.The snakes, turtles, lizards and frogs from the school cabinet were putin the boxes with Fenn's pets, and the small doors fastened. Then the hutwas closed.

  "Now we must be on hand here early to-morrow morning," said Bart, asthey sneaked away.

  "Sure. We'll pretend to Fenn that we are anxious to see his collection,"said Ned. "He'll be only too glad to take us out here, and then we cansee his expression, when he catches sight of the visitors. Oh, we'll beon hand all right!" and then the trio went to their homes.

  Early the next morning, Bart, Ned and Frank called on Fenn. He had notbeen in evidence the night before, so they felt sure their trick had notbeen discovered. He came to the door in response to their whistles.

  "Say, you fellows are on the job early, aren't you?" inquired Stumpy,with just a shade of suspicion in his tones.

  "We want to have a little football practice," answered Bart. "And wecame to see if you'd show us your collection of turtles."

  "Hey? What's that?" asked Fenn, quickly.

  "That's straight, Stumpy," added Ned. "We won't hurt 'em, will we,fellows?"

  "Sure not," agreed Frank.

  His suspicions lulled to rest, Fenn led the way to the shack in the backyard.

  "I haven't fed 'em yet," he remarked. "I was just going to when youchaps came along. I haven't had my breakfast yet."

  "Oh, it's awful to have to pay these social calls on young ladies!"mocked Bart, pretending to yawn. "It keeps you up so late, and morningcomes too soon."

  "Aw, cut it out," advised Fenn, with an injured air, but he blushed."Now, no poking the turtles," he stipulated, as he opened the shackdoor.

  "Visitors are politely requested not to feed or annoy the animals,"quoted Bart, from some menagerie sign. "Do they eat much?" he asked ofFenn.

  "Oh, not much, especially in cool weather. They're sort of sluggishthen. I haven't got many yet, but I expect to--"

  By this time Fenn had the door open, and the sight that met his eyesalmost bereft him of speech.

  For, to his small collection had been added nearly all the reptiles fromthe High School. Snakes reared up their heads and hissed at him. Fromthe corner of one cage a large mud turtle stuck out its leathery neck.A fat toad, one of many, squatted on the box of worms Fenn kept for his"pets," and two alligators, like twins, waved their long tails to andfro.

  "For the love of Mike, what have you here?" cried Bart, pretending to befrightened.

  "Good land! You never said you had so many!" added Ned.

  "Is it safe to go in? Let me hide behind you, Stumpy. You're so fat andjuicy that they'd grab you first," said Frank.

  For a moment Fenn did not speak. Then he understood the joke that hadbeen played.

  "You fellows think you're awful smart; don't you?" he demanded. "Well,all I've got to say is----"

  "That you're stung! Eh, Stumpy, my lad?" cried Bart good naturedly,clapping his chum on the back. "Take your medicine like a man. You'restung good and proper. We thought your animals would be lonesome, so weadded a few for luck. Pretty, aren't they?" and, at the sight of Fenn'sbewildered face, Bart went off in a paroxysm of mirth, finally lyingdown on the ground outside the shack, and rolling over and over.

  Frank and Ned joined him, and their howls brought Mrs. Masterson to theback door to see what was the matter. As soon as she saw the four chumsshe knew, without being told, that it was some joke.

  "It wouldn't be them, if they weren't up to something," she observed, asshe went on getting breakfast.

  Fenn was not long proof against the infectious laughter of his chums.The frown faded from his face, and a smile replaced it. Soon, he too,was laughing heartily at the joke played on him.

  "All I've got to say," he remarked, "is that you fellows went to a lotof work to get a laugh. You must have brought nearly all the schoolcollection," for he recognized the professor's specimens.

  "We did," admitted Bart, "but it was worth it all; eh, fellows?"

  The boys paused to admire Fenn's "pets" as well as to take a morecareful view of the reptiles they had "borrowed" from the school. ThenBart and his two chums put back into the bags the snakes, lizards,turtles, toads and alligators belonging to the professor, and hurriedback with them to the school. They were lucky in escaping observation bythe janitor, and soon the science-cabinet cages held their formertenants.

  There was a football game that afternoon, in which the four chums tookpart, playing hard and well, their team winning the contest by a narrowmargin. They took a short walk, Sunday, discussing the game, and talkingrather vaguely of the possibility of going to a winter camp that year.

  "I think it would be just the cheese, fellows," observed Bart.

  "It would, and the crackers, too," conceded Ned. "But I don't see how wecan manage it."

  "Maybe we can," declared Frank indefinitely.

  When the four chums went to school the following Monday morning theywere made aware that something unusual had taken place. It was not somuch in what was said, as in an indefinable air of expectancy on thepart of several members of the faculty. After the usual opening morningservices, Principal McCloud advanced to the edge of the platform in theassembly hall, and remarked:

  "Young gentlemen, I have something to say to you. After I have finished,Mr. Long, the science teacher, has a few words to add."

  At once Bart cast apprehensive looks at his chums. Had the "borrowing"of the specimens been discovered? It looked so.

  "Some time between Friday night and this morning," went on the principal,"this school was entered, and some objects were taken from the sciencecabinets."

  There was no doubt about it. The blow had fallen. Bart, Ned and Frankprepared to "take their medicine."

  "It has been discovered," continued Mr. McCloud, "that several specimensof snakes, lizards, toads and alligators were surreptitiously removedfrom Professor Long's cabinet. This would not have been so serious, for,whoever took them, brought them all back again--that is all save one. Iregret to report that one of the finest and largest specimens of mudturtles is missing. Now Professor Long has a word to say."

  Mr. Long, who was a small man, with a bustling, nervous manner, camebriskly to the edge of the platform.

  "I can only confirm what Professor McCloud has said," he began. "While Iregret exceedingly that any persons, least of all pupils of this school,whom I may say we suspect, could so far forget themselves as to run therisk of damaging my collection of reptiles, that is not the worst I haveto speak about. The loss of the mud turtle is serious, for it was a rarekind, but there is something else missing. It is a valuable diamondbracelet, belonging to my wife. She gave it to me, as she was going awayon a little trip, to take to the jewelers to have the setting of some ofthe stones tightened, and I placed it in the cabinet with the reptilesfor safe keeping, until school should be closed, Friday. I forgot allabout it until this morn
ing, and when I went to look for it, I discoveredthat my collection had been disturbed.

  "It was easy to see," went on Mr. Long, "that some one had taken thereptiles out, and placed them back, for they were not in their propercages. It was also easy to see that my wife's diamond bracelet wasmissing. It is valued at over a thousand dollars, and I presume wastaken by accident, or, perhaps, for a joke. In either case I shall beglad to have it back.

  "I might add that I have certain clews as to who were the midnightvisitors to the school, for one of them dropped his knife, and it hashis name on it."

  Bart frantically felt in his pocket, and then, conscious that many eyeswere on him, sat still, but a guilty flush suffused his face.

  "If the bracelet is returned to me," went on Mr. Long, "all will be well.If not, I must take--" he hesitated a moment--"strenuous measures," headded. "I will await in the principal's office, any one who may wish tosee me," he concluded significantly, after a pause.

  "You are dismissed to your classes," said Principal McCloud. "Any onewho wishes to see Professor Long has permission to do so."

  The boys arose, and filed from the assembly hall; the girls were on thefloor below. Bart looked at Frank and Ned. Then Fenn whispered:

  "Maybe the missing turtle is in with mine."

  "Maybe," Bart whispered back. "But what of the diamond bracelet? Wenever took it!"

  "The man--the stranger--who was in the school just before us?" repliedNed. "Fellows, I guess we'd better make a clean breast of it to Mr.Long!"