"What have you got there, Jack?" asked Percival, seeing Jack stoop and pick up something.
"A gold watch, a lady's watch, apparently. How did it get in my pocket? I don't remember picking it up. It is a very handsome one, and quite expensive I should judge, although I never bought a gold watch."
"And it dropped out of your pocket?"
"Yes, that is the strangest thing about it. How did it get there?I did not put it there, I am certain."
Percival examined the watch, which Jack handed to him, and said:
"Yes, it is a very expensive gold watch, aside from the case, which is set with diamonds. The watch itself is one of the best foreign makes, and probably cost anywhere from one to two hundred dollars for the works alone. Then add the price of the case, and you have a nice little sum to pay for a little watch such as a lady carries."
"But how did I get hold of it, Dick? Could I have picked it up at the fire, and not known anything about it? We were all pretty well excited, and this might have happened."
"I am sure I don't know, Jack. I did not see you pick it up. You don't remember anything about it?"
"No, not the first thing, Dick. Well, I shall give it to the doctor in the morning, and ask him to make enquiries about it. If I picked it up anywhere it must have been at the fire."
"Yes, I don't know where else you could have done it."
The boys were not required to get up as early as usual the next morning on account of having been deprived of two or three hours' sleep to go to the fire, but as soon as they were through breakfast and drill Jack took the watch he had so singularly found to the doctor, telling him how he had found it, and asking him to seek an owner for it.
"H'm, ha, well, I declare!" said the doctor, turning the watch over and over, and examining it closely. "Quite a valuable article, Sheldon. And you don't know how it came in your pocket?"
"No, sir, I have not the slightest idea."
"H'm, ha, very singular!" and the doctor looked the watch over again. "If you did not have a very good reputation, Sheldon, I should say that there was something very suspicious about this, but I am as much puzzled to get at the solution of this mystery as you are. Well, well, I will take charge of it, and if no one speaks of it will advertise it in the local paper."
"That is a good idea, sir. I can get Mr. Brooke to advertise it.His paper is taken very extensively in this section."
"Could the young lady have dropped it when you met her at the fire?" asked Dr. Wise. "She nearly fainted in your arms, I understand."
"Possibly, sir," said Jack. "Perhaps it will be well to ask Mr.Van der Donk if he has missed the watch. There are no initialson it to show the owner, but it is likely that it belongs to MissMargaret, being a lady's watch. Will you enquire?"
"Certainly. It is likely that some one from the house will be at the camp this morning in any event."
An hour later Mr. Van der Donk called with his daughter to compliment the boys on their services of the night before, and to thank them personally for what they had done.
The doctor asked him if he had missed a valuable watch, and showed him the one which Jack had found.
"It does not belong to any of us," said the gentleman.
"I would very much like to have one like it," said Margaret, "but it does not belong to me. You say it was found last night at our house?"
"The young gentleman found it in his pocket, but, of course, it got there by accident. It is very singular."
"We have missed nothing, which is rather singular, seeing that there were so many strangers at the house. Of course, I do not include the boys. We would hardly call them strangers, being such near neighbors, and having the reputation they have, besides doing such a great service to."
"And the watch does not belong to you?" asked Dr. Wise, who was growing rather tired of the fulsome praise of the descendant of one of the oldest and best families in the Hudson valley.
"No, it does not," said Margaret.
"Then I shall have to advertise it. It is very singular. I thought it might be yours, but this makes it all the more mysterious."
The boys were obliged to listen to a long speech of thanks from Mr. Van der Donk, at the end of which they were presented with an engrossed set of resolutions drawn up by the donor, which he had had copied that very morning, the language being as full of flourishes as the penmanship.
"Some one must respond to the speech, and thank the gentleman for his very complimentary gift," suggested the doctor, and with almost one accord the Hilltop boys selected Jack Sheldon as their spokesman.
In a well chosen speech of five minutes, expressing more in that time than the descendant of an old family had expressed in his hour, Jack thanked him on behalf of the boys, stopping when he had finished and not repeating himself, as too many impromptu speakers do.
Then Mr. Van der Donk replied, and said all that he had said before, prating on till the boys began to yawn and to shift their feet from one side to the other, for they had been standing all this time, and were very tired.
When the gentleman had gone, the boys were dismissed, and some of them went to their tents, others going out on the river.
"Old Van is a tiresome old bore, Jack," said Percival when the two boys were out on the river, gliding along side by side. "I would not like to have to listen to him all day as his family must."
Jack smiled, but did not express any opinion regarding the gentleman in question, making it a rule never to give an adverse opinion of any one if he could not praise.
"I suppose if there is no owner found for the watch it will go to you, Jack?" Dick continued.
"I am sure I don't want it, Dick. It is not a boy's watch, and it is altogether too expensive a thing for me to carry. The rest of my things don't match it at all."
"You could sell it, I suppose? Or you might make a present of it toMiss Margaret. You said she was greatly taken with it."
"Yes, she was, but what business have I got making costly presents to a girl that I never saw before last night? Be sensible, Jack."
"But I'm sure you are as good as she is, Jack."
"Maybe, but look at the difference in fortune. And, as I said before, what business have I making presents, costly or otherwise, to people I have just met? It would be a piece of impertinence."
"You must not take me too seriously, Jack," laughed Dick.
That afternoon the boys went up the river in Jack's boat, and Jack inserted an advertisement in the News, which appeared the next morning.
The advertisement was simply to the effect that a watch had been found, and could be had upon proving property, and paying for the advertisement, no description being given.
About the middle of the forenoon the next day a crafty-looking man came to the camp, and asked to see Jack.
"Did you find a watch?" he asked when the boy came up.
"Yes," said Jack simply.
"What sort of watch was it? Maybe it was mine you found. I have lost one."
"What sort did you lose?" asked Jack. "Describe your watch, andI will tell you if it is the one I found."
"Well, what sort of watch did you find?" snapped the other. "If I say it was an open face watch you will say it wasn't. Tell me the kind of watch you found, and I'll tell you if it is mine or not."
"You may say it was yours in any event," said Jack quietly.
"Do you mean to say I would lie for the sake of a watch?" the man snapped, flushing deeply, and it was plain to see that this was just what he would do.
"Describe your watch to the doctor," said Jack. "He knows what sort of a watch I found, and he will tell you if it is the one you lost."
"You are a lot of swindlers and don't mean to give it up," the man stormed, getting redder in the face, and quite breathless from excitement. "I'll see if I am going to be robbed like this. You will hear from me again, young fellow!"
"He won't come back," laughed Percival, who was with Jack at the time.
He was quite correct, for nothing more was seen of the indignant fellow, and the boys made up their minds that he was only a swindler who had imagined that as he had only boys to deal with he would obtain a watch at very little cost.
"I wonder if we will have any more claimants?" said Jack when an hour or more had passed, and no one else had called.
"If you had said more in your advertisement you might," said Dick."But you were very wise not to do so."
"I always try not to say too much," said Jack.
Shortly before noon a showily dressed woman came to the camp and asked to see the doctor, saying excitedly:
"I understand that one of your boys found a watch, Dr. Wise. MayI see it? I lost mine the other day and—-"
"This one was found last night, Ma'am," said the doctor shortly.
"Why, yes, I suppose so, but I could have lost it before then, of course. What sort of watch was it? May I see it?"
"Where did you lose it, Ma'am?"
"Why, I am not certain about that. You see I go about a good deal, and it may have been in one place or maybe in another. I could not tell just where I lost it or I would not have lost it."
"It was lost somewhere in town, I suppose?"
"Why, yes, I suppose it was."
"This watch was not found in town, Ma'am."
"Oh, well, I do go out of town occasionally," said the woman quickly. "Why, yes, now I remember, I was down this way yesterday afternoon, looking at the camp and enjoying the view. I would know the watch in a moment. May I see it, Doctor?"
"It was a gentleman's watch, was it? Probably a keepsake? Your husband's or son's, perhaps, and you don't like to——-"
"Yes, it was my father's, and I value it very highly. Let me see it——-"
"This is not the watch you lost, Ma'am, this is a lady's watch," said Dr. Wise tersely, being convinced that the woman was an imposter, and that she had not lost a watch of any sort.
"You might at least let me see it," said the woman persuasively. "Some of my friends may have lost a watch, and I could take it back to them. I know them all."
"If your friends have lost their watches, Ma'am, let them come after them," said the doctor shortly. "Good morning, Ma'am."
"H'm! I don't think you have any manners to boast of!" snapped the woman as she went away.
She had not been gone more than ten minutes before another woman came to the camp, and asked to see the boy who had found a watch the night before.
She was sent to the doctor and said to him, evidently disappointed at not seeing the boy himself:
"Ah, good morning, I understand that one of your young gentlemen found a lady's watch last night. Ah, I have lost mine, and would like to look at it to see if——-"
"How did you know it was a lady's watch?" asked the doctor. "The advertisement merely mentioned a watch. What sort of watch was yours, domestic or foreign, stemwinder or keyed, open face or hunting case, gold, silver, or nickel case? If the watch is as you describe it, it is yours. Otherwise I shall have to hold it."
"Really now, I could not describe it so accurately as all that. Ah, do you mind showing it to me? I am very what you may call hazy on descriptions. I could not really say if it was large or small, those terms being relative, you know. Yes, it is in a gold case and is a stemwinder, that much I remember. It is an American, of course, but whether Elgin, Waltham, Howard, Thomas or—-or any other make I really could not tell you."
"You are sure it is American make?"
"Oh, yes, positively, and in a gold case, and about half this size," closing her thumb and first finger to form a circle.
"Well, I am very sorry, Ma'am, but this is not an American watch. I trust that you will find yours, but this is not it. I wish you good morning, Ma'am," and Bucephalus showed the lady out evidently greatly disappointed.
Half an hour later a self-satisfied looking man came into the camp and asked to see the boy who had found a watch, and had advertised the same in the Riverton paper.
Billy Manners happened to see him first, and, seeing Jack at a little distance with Percival, called out:
"Hello, Jack, come here, somebody wants you!"
Jack came up with Percival in a few moments, and the self-satisfied man, eyeing him fiercely, said:
"You are the boy who found a watch, I believe. Describe it to me."
"Excuse me," laughed Jack, "I have not lost a watch. I have found one. If you have lost one describe it, and we will see if it is the same as the one I have found."
"I have not lost a watch," snapped the other. "I am in the detective service, and if I have the description of the article I can enquire who has lost one like it, don't you understand?"
"And you wish to be a sort of middle man between me and the owner?" and Jack laughed again. "I advertised for the owner of the watch, not for an agent who would help me find the owner. I cannot see that we need spend any more time on the affair."
"How do I know that you have not stolen the——-"
It was very fortunate for the man that Jack was nearer to him thanPercival, who suddenly aimed a swinging blow at him.
Jack threw up Dick's arm, and said quickly:
"Dick! What are you about?"
"It is lucky for you, sir," said Dick hotly, "that my friend stopped me. Is it a part of your business to insult people without provocation?"
"Sir," said the other, "I come in contact with very many persons of a suspicious character and——-"
"Yes, I should suppose you might," said Dick significantly. "We do not, and it is not at all necessary that you should consider this boy one of that sort. Let him talk to the doctor, Jack."
The boys were walking away when the man interrupted them hastily with:
"I am in search of a watch which has been stolen. It is a lady's watch, heavy gold case, about an inch and a quarter diameter, hunting case, set with five or six small diamonds, made in Switzerland, Jurgensen movement, worth from three hundred to five hundred dollars. There are no initials nor monograms, but the number is—-"
"That describes the watch the doctor has," said Jack. "We will see what the number is, and if it is the same as what you mention there is no doubt that this is the watch. We will go and see him."
"Where did you find this watch?" asked the other, as he hurried after the two boys.
"Excuse me, but that has nothing to do with it," said Jack. "I found a watch, and your description tallies with it all but the number, which I do not know. That we will ascertain."
The boys led the way to the cottage, which the doctor occupied, and went to his study where they found him.
"Write the number of the watch you are in search of on a pieceof paper, and let the doctor see the number of the watch," saidJack to the detective, after telling the doctor why they had come.Then we will see if this is the one or not.
The man wrote a number on a card, and handed it to the doctor, who took the watch from a pigeon hole in his desk and opened it.
"The number is identical," he said, and handed the watch and the card with the number on it to Jack that he might compare them.
"Yes, so they are," the boy said, showing them to Dick. "This is certainly the watch you are in search of."
"May I ask you where and how you found it?" asked the detective, still with the accusing air that both Dick and Jack himself resented.
"I found it in my pocket after coming from the fire at Mr. Van der Donk's house last night or this morning," he replied.
"In your pocket? Was not that a singular place to find it? How did it get in your pocket?"
"You know as much about that as I do," said the boy quietly.
"Are you sure you did not put it there yourself?" asked the man in an insinuating manner, which Jack resented.
"Dr. Wise," he said, flushing, "will you tell this person whatI told you when I gave you the watch this morning? I am afraidI cannot keep my temper if I talk with him any longer."
"And I know I shall not!" sputtered Percival.
"The young gentleman did gallant work at the fire last night, and came home very much fatigued," said the doctor. "While undressing with his companion who is here, this watch dropped from his trousers pocket. Percival will doubtless tell you the same. This is what he told me when he handed me the watch this morning. If you suspect him you do him an act of the rankest injustice."
"This watch has been stolen," said the other. "The thief was traced to Riverton. He went to the fire last night with a number of suspicious characters who generally congregate at such places in the hope of gain. The watch was doubtless passed from one person to another, for it was not in the possession of the suspected man who denies all knowledge of it. Now I want to know how this boy got hold of it."
"He does not know any more than you do, and I have told you just what he told me, and which I believe."
"It sounds very queer," said the detective. "I shall have to hold him for the Grand—-"
"I beg your pardon, you will do nothing of the sort, in fact, you cannot," said the doctor.
"Just let the Hilltoppers hear him, and see what they will have to say about it!" sputtered Percival under his breath.
"I beg your pardon, Mr.—-, I did not catch your name," continued Dr. Wise, "but you have no authority in this case. You are not a civil magistrate, not even a police court judge, and you cannot hold this boy for any jury, grand or little. You can make a charge against him, it is true, and then if the local magistrate considers the evidence good he will be held for the Grand Jury. You are doubtless unaware, being a stranger to the section, that I am a magistrate myself, although seldom called upon to adjudge cases."
"I was not aware of it, sir," said the other, a little shamefaced. "I may have been hasty, but my association with suspicious characters——-"
"Has made him one himself," muttered Percival, whereat Jack could not help smiling.
"Has made me suspect persons unjustly, perhaps," the detective went on. "Still you must admit yourself that the finding of the watch, as related by you, is, to say the least, singular."
"Singular, yes; suspicious, not necessarily. You say yourself that the watch was supposedly passed from one person to another. Why could not one of the suspected men have slipped it in Sheldon's pocket, either designedly or by mistake? It is certainly possible."
"I wish you'd let me go out and tell the Hilltop boys that this man has more than intimated that Jack Sheldon is a thief, Doctor," said Percival "I can imagine what they will have to say about it, and what they will do to him. The river is very convenient!"
"Restrain yourself, Percival," said the doctor.
"If I have given the young gentleman an unenviable reputation," the detective rejoined, his face red, "it is on account of the reports I have heard of him from——-" and he stopped short.
"Who told you this?" demanded the doctor. "There is not a more exemplary boy in the whole Academy than John Sheldon. Ask any one of the instructors, ask the boys themselves, ask the editors of the Riverton papers, ask the heads of the business houses, the superintendent of the Machine Works, the Chief of Police himself, and they will all tell you the same. Who was your informant to the contrary?"
"I am not at liberty to reveal the name of my informant," said the detective, a little abashed, "but I had it from more than one source."
"Then let me tell you that you were maliciously misinformed, for there is not a boy in the Academy who bears a better character than John Sheldon. I will retain this watch until I have a better authority to deliver it than yours. I wish you a very good morning."
Just then the bugle blew to call the boys to dinner, and as they always formed in regular order to march into the dining tent there was not the opportunity, which Percival so much desired, of pitching the detective into the river or at least giving him a sound hissing.
"As you please, sir," the man said, as he bowed himself out. "You cannot expect me to believe all that this young gentleman says after what I have heard of him from——-"
"You could have consulted me, at any rate," said the doctor. "I think I am best competent to judge of the characters of the boys put in my charge. Good morning, sir. Boys, the bugle has sounded."
The detective went away in a hurry, looking a good deal crestfallen, the boys getting into line with the rest, this operation preventing Percival from giving the man the send off that he had meant to give him.
"I'd like to know where that fellow got his information about you,Jack," he said to his friend when they were seated at table.
"I don't care to know, Dick, so long as the doctor speaks well of me," Jack returned.
"Well, I'd like to know just the same. There are some boys here who would say all they could against you, and the man may have seen them before he saw the doctor, and heard what they had to say. You could see that he was prejudiced from the start."
"Yes, he presupposed my guilt before giving me a chance to speak for myself, Dick. However, it is fortunate that I have a good reputation."
"Which is what some of the Hilltop boys have not. I am not mentioning any names," and Percival began eating his soup with a good appetite.
An hour or two after dinner Jack asked Percival to go up the river in his boat, having one or two errands in town to do, and wanting company.
Dick was glad to go in Jack's boat, as the boy managed it so well, and he would have very little to do himself.
Finishing his errands in town Jack was proceeding down the river when, with a sudden impulse, which he could not explain, he said to Dick:
"Suppose we go up the creek a bit. The tide is that way now, and we shall have water enough, and it will not be against us."
"You don't want to go to the Academy, do you, Jack?" asked Percival."You can run in as far as the ravine. You came down that way once."
There was quite a deep ravine on the bill where the Academy was located, from which a turbulent creek or kill ran to the river, and Jack had once had a tumble into this, and had made his way to the little station at the foot of the hill along its banks, and, incidentally, had discovered a considerable sum of money stolen from a bank in Riverton and hidden there.
"No, I don't want to go all the way, Dick," answered Jack with a smile, "but we might go a short way up."
They put into the little kill, and went beyond the business part of the town, finally getting into the woods and finding banks of some height on either side.
The kill was full, and the current set their way, so that they had no trouble and kept on for a mile beyond the town, finding themselves in a most wild and picturesque spot, most of the time in deep shadow, and hearing no sounds except those of the woods, now and then seeing a drowsy bird on a bough or hearing the low hum of insects as they flew past.
"You'll get to the station before long, Jack," said Percival at length. "I think the tide is beginning to turn. We get considerable of it even here. Do you think——-"
Jack raised his hand as a sign for his friend to be quiet, and at that moment somewhere on the bank above them they heard a querulous voice:
"Why do you give me it if it is worth so moche, and there is alarm about it?" they heard in a high-keyed, querulous voice, evidently that of a woman, and Jack started involuntarily.
He had heard that voice before, but at the moment he could not tell where, or when it was.
"What have you done with it?" asked a man in a low tone, which Jack caught, nevertheless, all being silent in the place.
"How I know where I have lose it?" answered the woman. "I have be in a many exciting time. If there was suspicion you should not give it. I do not know, and maybe I show it to some friend to make her jealous."
"Did you?" growled the man. "You should have more sense."
"But you do not tell me. Now it is lose. I do not know where. I am glad. You should not have give me it."
Jack now recognized the voice as that of the nurse who had taken the Van der Donk child from him the night before, but he was still at a loss to know what she was talking about.
"I gave it to you to keep safe for me until I could dispose of it," the man answered. "The detectives were after me. Luckily I got rid of it in good time, but now that they have nothing against me I can dispose of it to advantage. And you have lost it?"
"I have tell you that I have," the woman answered in her high voice, with a strong foreign accent, Jack now remembering that she had seemed to be French or Italian, although he had met her but a few moments. "I have lose it, and I am glad. Why shall I get into prison for you? You shall keep your gold and diamond watches for yourself, and not give them to me."
"Sh! not so loud!" cautioned the man. "Somebody may hear you."
It was the watch he had found in his pocket that the woman was talking about, and Jack had some trouble in restraining his surprise.
"But how did you lose it?" the man continued. "Did you carry it with you? You don't go to throwing such things about, do you?"
"I don't know. There is much excitement at the house, there is the big fire, there is the boy of the Academy coming to put it out, there is the man from Riverton, and there is the baby, which I forget, and the boy go up in all the smoke and bring him down. I shall lose my place if the baby is lose. How can I remember a watch, which I cannot carry, for fear some one say I steal? Ah! you should not give!"
"And now you have lost it!" growled the man. "Haven't you any idea? Couldn't you have mislaid it? You are not lying to me, you have really lost it, Gabrielle?"
"Yes, I tell you I have lose it, and I am glad!" cried the woman in a higher key than before, and with great excitement.
The tide now began to take the boys back down the hill, and Jack quickly steered so that he would go down with it, being speedily out of sound of voices.
"What do you think of that, Jack?" whispered Percival.
"That the mystery of the watch seems to be as deep as ever."
The boys made their way down to the mouth of the kill, and out upon the river, no more being said concerning what they had heard until they were on the river gliding down stream.
"That must have been the nurse you saw last night," said Dick.
"Yes, but I don't know the man. He must be a bad character."
"Decidedly. There is one thing I cannot make out, though. How did that watch get in your pocket?"
"I don't know myself unless the girl slipped it in during the short time I saw her. It was evidently not passed from hand to hand as we thought. The girl had it, but I cannot see that any one else did. I am as much in the dark as ever."
"And we still have to learn who it was who gave you a bad reputation to the detective. He won't tell."
"He may not know," rejoined Jack musingly. "I don't care very much.My reputation does not depend upon what he says nor upon what someof the boys here may say. I have enough friends among the boys ofHilltop, and the faculty, not to mind the rest."
"True enough, Jack. Hello! there are some of those fellows now looking for a race if not trouble."
Herring and Merritt just now appeared in their boat off the railroad dock, and waited till Jack and Percival came up when Herring shouted:
"Come on if you want to race. We'll meet you on the way back."
"Race 'em, Jack, just to show them you can beat 'em!" whisperedDick hoarsely.
"No, Dick, I won't," said Jack with emphasis. "I'll race any one else for the fun of it, but I will not race with those fellows."
Herring started off at a good pace, expecting that Jack would follow, and when they had a good lead, Jack having turned and gone up the river, Billy Manners and young Smith in the latter's boat set off after them.
"We'll give you a race, Pete!" shouted Billy. "Whoop her up, J.W., and see how we'll leave 'em behind!"
Young Smith was managing the boat and doing it well, and now, anxious to show off, he shot ahead, and soon began to gain on the other boat.
"You can watch the fun even if you don't race, Jack," chuckledPercival. "Turn around, old man, and follow."
"I don't mind that," said Jack, "and if anything should happen to either Billy or to J.W., we will be on hand to help them."
Young Smith was putting his boat to its paces, and as Jack turned to follow had nearly reached the leading boat.
"Go ahead if you are going!" shouted Billy Manners with a laugh, greatly enjoying the excitement. "Chuck us a line and we'll tow you."
"Huh! you can't beat anything!" shouted Merritt.
"Let's see you beat us!" snarled Herring, forging ahead.
Young Smith put on a spurt and came on behind at a swift pace, shortly being even with Herring.
"Watch 'em, Jack!" exclaimed Dick excitedly. "I'd give a dollar to see young Jesse W. beat those fellows, yes, five. I hope he'll keep it up."
The boy did keep it up, for in a few minutes he passed Herring and Merritt, and gained a good lead on them, much to Billy's delight.
The joker laughed and shouted, and seemed greatly to enjoy the fun, while the younger boy kept up his speed and increased the lead, Jack following till a bend in the river hid the two boys in the first boat from sight.
He would not pass Herring and Merritt, but went across the river where he could get sight of young Smith, who was going on at a good rate, Herring trying his best to reach him, but in vain.
"That's the best yet," laughed Percival uproariously. "Beaten by little Jesse W. Smith, and those fellows claim to have the fastest boat on the river. I think they will have less to say now."
"Probably Herring will say that there was something the matter with his boat, and yet he was ready to race with us just a moment before. He'll get out of it somehow, you'll see. It's just like him."
Herring did not overtake the other boys, and they were ashore some little time ahead of him, Jack coming along leisurely and letting Herring land first.
"Did you see that?" asked Billy in great glee when Jack came ashore."We won't hear any more boasting from that quarter I guess."
"We didn't have enough gasolene to go fast," growled Herring, who came up at that moment. "We got out without knowing it. We'll race you for ten dollars to-morrow."
"Oh, we are satisfied," chuckled Billy, while Percival looked significantly at Jack, and said:
"What did I tell you, Jack? A poor excuse is better than none."
Jack said nothing, and he and Percival went off into the woods.
Within a short time of the supper hour when the boys returned they were told by Bucephalus that the doctor wished to see them, and they went at once to the cottage where they found a well-dressed stranger talking with the principal.
"This is the young gentleman who found the watch," said Dr. Wise."Will you describe it to him?"
"It is a lady's watch," said the other slowly, and in well modulated tones. "It was a present to my wife, and, of course, I am sorry to lose it, and will give a good reward for its return. It was stolen from the house where I live a few weeks ago, and I have been trying to find it ever since. I did succeed in tracing the man whom I suspected of stealing it, but when he was arrested the watch was not in his possession. I saw an advertisement in the paper only this afternoon, which made me think that perhaps this might be the watch I am in search of."
Jack looked closely at the man who did not have the marks of a bad character anywhere, being well dressed, well spoken, and evidently a man of easy means and considerable culture.
There was something about him, nevertheless, that made Jack think he was not what he seemed, and he tried to think what it was and to place him in his mind.
"Will you describe the watch, please?"
"Certainly, with the greatest of pleasure," and the man proceeded to give an accurate description of the watch, not omitting the slightest detail, giving the name of the maker, the size, the number of diamonds on the case, and, in fact, everything about it.
"Number, please?" said Jack, still looking fixedly at the man. "You will know the number of the watch, of course? Persons who own valuable watches always make a record of the number."
"The number?" said the other. "Oh, yes, to be sure. I have it in my pocket-book. The rest of the description is accurate, is it?"
"Let me hear the number," said Jack quietly. "Two watches may be exactly alike, but have different numbers. I have not said that your description is correct. You have the number?"
"Why, of course!" said the other somewhat impatiently, and all at once a light broke in upon Jack.
The man was the one he had heard, but had not seen, talking with the foreign nurse maid on the bank of the kill earlier in the afternoon.
He had tried to place the man's voice, but while he talked in low, pleasant tones, with a good inflection, he was puzzled, knowing and yet not knowing it.
The instant that the man spoke in impatient, angry tones, such as he had used on the bank of the kill, Jack recognized him, and he wondered that he had not done so before.
The man took a slip of paper from his pocketbook, and read out a number written in pencil, the exact number of the watch which Jack had found.
"Is that correct?" he asked Jack with a certain tone of triumph.
"Perfectly so," the boy answered.
"And the description is correct also?"
"Absolutely."
"Ah, I am glad of that. I mentioned a reward a few minutes ago, and I am perfectly willing to pay it. Will a hundred dollars be sufficient?"
"It would be more than ample in the event of my having the actual owner of the watch to deal with," in a quiet tone.
The man flushed, glared angrily at the boy, and cried excitedly:
"What do you mean by that, you young scoundrel? Do you dare to say that I am not—-" and then he stopped short, laughed, and said in his former pleasant tones: "but this is a joke, of course."
"No, it is not, it is the truth," said the boy. "Dr. Wise, don't give it to him. He is not the real owner of the watch. Have you forgotten your conversation with Gabrielle this afternoon?" to the man himself. "Well, I have not, nor has my friend, and we both heard it. It was on the banks of a little kill that runs into the Hudson a few miles from here, and about a mile up from the river."
Before the boy had finished the man uttered an inarticulate mutter, and flushed deeply, dashing out of the room as the sentence was completed.
"Come On, Dick, the man must not escape!" cried Jack excitedly."Excuse us, Doctor, we've got to watch him. Come ahead, Dick!"
Both boys left the cottage in haste, seeing the man running toward the river when they reached the outside.
"Hello! stop that man!" shouted Dick.
"Catch him!" echoed Jack.
Jack's boat was at the shore, not hauled up on the bank as usual, and now this man made directly for it, sprang in, started the engine in a few moments, and was out on the river as the two boys and some others came running down.
"I am going to take your boat, J.W., if it's ready!" shouted Jack to young Smith whom he saw approaching. "I must catch that fellow!"
"All right, Jack!" cried the boy. "Do what you like with it."
Jack sprang into the smaller boy's boat, started the engine and set off after the runaway at a good speed.
The man was going up the river, and already had a good lead, but Jack did not hesitate, relying on getting help to stop him before he had gone much farther, or, at any rate, when he reached town, where he was evidently making his way.
The fugitive kept as close in to shore as possible, and made the highest speed he could; Jack realized that his boat was a good one, and would have some trouble to keep it in sight, although young Smith's boat was capable of making good time.
"I am glad I know what young J.W.'s boat can do," he said to himself, "and if that fellow had not had a lead on me I would have been up to him by this time. I think I can beat him in the long run, as he does not know my boat as well as I do, and I know this one now."
Jack hoped that by the time he reached town he might get aid to stop the man even if he had not overhauled him, and he kept on at a good rate.
"That fellow must know something about motor-boats," he thought, "for he is managing mine in good shape. I could do better with her, but he is doing very well. I only wish some one would come along so as to head him off. I don't like to lose him."
When they neared the mouth of the kill Jack shot a hasty glance ahead to see if there was any one coming to whom he could shout, and saw a little tug put out from the railroad dock.
He was about to shout to them when to his great annoyance he saw the man in his boat shoot into the kill and disappear.
"H'm! I don't know where he will go now!" he muttered in disappointment, hurrying after the fugitive.
He was not far behind as it was, and as he entered the creek, having put on extra speed, he saw the man only a short distance ahead.
Not far away there was a turn in the creek, and the runaway presently disappeared around it, Jack following and gaining ground.
In a short time he came in sight not of the man, but of his boat, tied up at the bank, the man having disappeared.
"Well, I have my boat at any rate," laughed Jack rather ruefully, "and that is something I suppose. I wanted the man, but I shall have to be satisfied with what I can get."
He got into his own boat, and towed the other out of the creek and down the river, disappointed, of course, but, on the whole, glad that it was no worse, and that he had not lost his boat.
He met Percival and some of the boys on his way back, the boys questioning him excitedly as they came up.
"Did you get him, Jack?"
"You have got your own boat back anyhow. Did you catch him?"
"How did he get away, Jack?" asked Percival. "Did he put up a fight?"
"No, he ran into the kill, and as soon as he got out of sight around a bend tied up my boat and skipped out," said Jack in a tone of disgust.
"That's too bad. I hoped that you would catch him"
"Young J.W. will think all the more of his boat after this," saidBilly Manners. "You made it go, Jack."
"Haven't I told him that he could get speed out of a canal-boat?"Percival retorted with a laugh.
"No one will want to race with Jesse W. after this," remarkedArthur. "They won't make fun of his boat now, nor of him either."
"Well, he got away from me," said Jack, as the boys turned and went back with him, "and now I suppose he will be harder than ever to find. He has not got the watch anyhow."
When the boys reached camp supper had already started, but Bucephalus looked after them, and the doctor readily excused them on account of the importance of their errand.
"He got away from me, Doctor," said Jack, "but I recovered my boat and that is something."
"Percival told me of the conversation you heard this afternoon, and so I readily, understood why you were so anxious to apprehend the man. I was prepared to turn the watch over to him, being convinced that he was the owner, and your accusation came as a great surprise, therefore."
After supper Jack suggested to Percival that they go up to the Van der Donk house and see the nurse, as they might learn more about the man who had claimed the watch.
"It is a good idea, Jack," said Dick, "but I guess you will need to be careful how you proceed with that excitable creature, who is ready to go up in the air at the slightest notice."
"Yes, it will be necessary to observe caution if we wish to learn anything. These foreigners are very excitable, especially the women, and one has to be cautious in dealing with them."
Early in the evening the two boys went up to the Van der Donk house, being met by Margaret, who seemed very glad to see them, and said:
"We have been busy putting things to rights, and if it does not look very tidy here you must excuse it. Gabrielle has gone away, no one knows why or where."
Jack glanced significantly at Percival, and said carelessly:
"Gabrielle? She was the nurse?"
"Yes, and I have been obliged to look after the baby, to help the maids with the cleaning and dusting, to assist the cook, to look after things generally and to keep father and mother from getting into the dumps."
"Did Gabrielle do all these things?"
"Oh, no, but when one maid goes the others want to, and it has been a difficult matter to keep them all contented and busy. Gabrielle was a good nurse, but a bit flighty and quite excitable."
"But you don't know that she has gone for good?"
"She took her boxes, and went away very unexpectedly. It may have been on account of the fire, but we don't know. She has never gone away like this before, but I suppose an excitable person, such as she was, is liable to do strange things at any time."
"It must be very awkward to be without help at such a time, and if we are any trouble—-"
"Oh, no, don't think of going," said Margaret hurriedly. "By the way, did you find an owner for the watch?"
"We have had several claimants, but no real owner," said Jack. "It is a very handsome one, and almost anybody might be excused for wanting it."
"Yes, indeed. I would like very much to have it myself. How could it have been here when it does not belong to any one in our family?"
"There were strangers here last night, and we think that the man who stole it put it in Jack's pocket by mistake when he saw that the police were watching him."
"But we did not miss anything ourselves. One would think that if thieves were about they would try to pick up something when there was so much excitement. It seems very mysterious to me."
"Yes, and to every one," said Percival. Mr. and Mrs. Van der Donk came in shortly, and for a time there was a very pleasant conversation, but at last the old gentleman got upon the subject of his family, and before long the boys were yawning, and the old lady fast asleep.
"You will have to excuse us," said Percival, getting up, "but we boys had very little sleep last night, and we have to be back at nine o'clock in any event."
The boys took their leave, and when once clear of the house Percival said with a grin:
"I could not stand the old man and his genealogy, although we could have stayed an hour longer easily."
"I saw that you were beginning to yawn, and I must confess that I felt a bit drowsy myself."
"We won't find out anything about the watch through that girl, Jack," said Percival a little later. "Our plans of being cautious and all that did not amount to anything."
"No, and we are as much in the dark as before regarding the real owner. We may never know who he is, Dick."
"It looks like that," said Dick.
As the boys were nearing the camp on their way back they suddenly heard the sound of angry voices, and Percival whispered:
"Wait a minute, Jack. Some of the boys are having a quarrel, and I believe I know who they are."
"I told you to let my boat alone, you idiot!" the boys heard Herring say just ahead of them.
They were in the woods adjoining the camp, and the two quarreling boys were very close to them.
"Well, I didn't hurt it!" they heard Merritt say angrily. "You are making a lot of fuss over an old tub that isn't any good anyhow. Look how little Smith beat us this afternoon, and he the smallest boy in the Academy. I didn't hurt your boat."
"I say you did, and I told you not to go out with it. You've busted the engine."
"No, I didn't. It wasn't any good anyhow. You tried to put Sheldon's boat out of business, but you couldn't."
"You had as much to do with that as I did!" sputtered Herring.
"Well, you started it, same as you started telling that detective that Sheldon had a bad name in the Academy, and—-"
"Shut up! Somebody will hear you. You had as much to do with that as——-"
Percival suddenly let out a great bellow, such as a calf in search of its mother might make.
"Gracious! what's that?" cried Herring in alarm, making a dash for the camp, the lights of which could be plainly seen.
Merritt followed in hot haste, frightened out of his wits, and Percival broke into a hearty laugh, not caring if the two conspirators heard him or not, and greatly enjoying their terror.
They may have done so, but they did not pause until they reached the camp, and were challenged by the sentry.
"That's good!" laughed Dick. "And we have found out something as well. Now we know who it was who tried to put your boat out of commission. I have always suspected those rascals of having had something to do with it, and now I am certain."
"Yes, but that was not as bad as——-"
"As trying to make you out a bad character. No, it is not. I had my suspicions on that score, too. If you had asked me to name the fellows who were most likely to do a thing of that sort I would have named them in a moment. They are just mean enough."
"Well, it does not matter," said Jack. "No one would believe them who knows me. It is not worth thinking about."
"But I think it is!" said Percival hotly. "You don't know how far a thing of that sort might go. Suppose the detective had arrested you before he saw the doctor or you had a chance to explain? It would have taken a long time to explain things away."
"I do not think so," Jack replied. "I have friends enough in town to say nothing of the Academy. Besides, who is going to arrest me in any such peremptory fashion as all that? Do you suppose I would submit to it?"
"No, I guess not!" and Percival laughed again. "You are a quiet sort of fellow, Jack, but when it comes to a thing of that sort you can be as lively as any one, myself for instance. I remember the time you knocked this same Herring bully down for insulting you. It was a surprise to him, and to all of us, for we all thought you were a quiet chap who would stand most anything for the sake of peace."
"Well, I don't seek quarrels," Jack replied, "but being in one——-"
"As Shakespeare says you stick it out," and Percival laughed again. "I think it ought to be known that Herring and Merritt tried to give you a black eye, Jack. It is no more than right."
"But they did not give it to me, Dick, and there is no use in stirring up trouble. Let it go. Both Herring and Merritt must know by this time that the Hilltop boys in general will not believe their lies."
"Well, if they do not they must be very stupid," grunted Percival, and by this time the boys were in the camp.
"Pete Herring and Erne Merritt saw a ghost!" laughed Billy Manners, as the boys came in. "They were frightened to bits. I believe myself that it was nothing but a white calf."
"You were frightened by a calf yourself once, Billy," chuckled Dick, "and declared that it was a roaring bull."
"Did I?" asked Billy innocently. "When was that?"
"You know well enough," said Percival, "so you need not be so innocent. However, I know what frightened Herring and Merritt."
"What was it?" asked Billy, and a number of others.
"Guilty consciences!" said Dick shortly, and with some emphasis, and then he and Jack went on to their tent.
"They will want to know more, Dick," said Jack. "You should not have given them a clue like that."
"I won't say any more, then. They are within hearing and they will understand, and you will see that they are careful how they talk about you to any one after this."
"Let them talk," laughed Jack.
For two or three days things went on as usual in the camp on the river, the boys doing a certain amount of study, drilling a little, exercising in the outdoor gymnasium, skimming along the river in their boats and otherwise occupying themselves, the time, on the whole, passing very pleasantly.
Then one day a messenger came from a boys' camp some miles down the river asking them to take part in a regatta, which was going to take place at the other camp in a day or so.
"We know you Hilltop boys," said the messenger, "and we would like to have some representatives of your Academy at our sports. Will you send a few of them?"
The messenger had met Percival and Jack, and Percival now answered:
"We shall be very glad to send any number. Do you intend to have any other besides aquatic sports? Any running, jumping, or anything of that sort? Our boys are good at all of them."
"Mostly water sports, but I suppose we could have some of the rest. There will be races for motor-boats, shells, canoes, a tub race, and a swimming match. We have a good stretch of river at our camp, and there is plenty of room."
"And the affair takes place the day after tomorrow?"
"Yes, beginning at two in the afternoon. That will give you time to get home after it is over, either by train or in your own boats."
"Very well. We will be on hand. I cannot tell you whom we will send, for the doctor will have something to say about that, but there will be some of us there beyond a doubt."
"You have a boy named Sheldon, who is a dandy at running a motor-boat, haven't you?" the other boy asked.
"Yes, and he can get speed out of a canal-boat," laughed Dick."Do you want him?"
"We certainly do," said the other emphatically. "We have heard of him, and we certainly want him."
"Here he is now. You can ask him yourself." The other boy was a bit surprised at seeing the very boy he had been talking about, and said:
"But I thought you were bigger. They said you were strong and wiry, and I expected to see a giant. Why, you are no bigger than I am. And you can run a motor-boat?"
"Certainly he can," replied Dick. "Size does not count in a thing like that. Why, I am bigger than Jack, but he can beat me running a boat. Then there is little Jesse W. Smith, who is the smallest thing in the way of a boy in the Academy, and he has beaten boys twice his size."
"And you will be down?" to Jack himself.
"If I am chosen to represent the Hilltop boys, I will certainly be on hand," Jack replied. "I should like nothing better."
Other boys now came up, and Percival told them about the regatta to be held at the other camp on the next day, but one, all of them being greatly excited over it.
"Even if we don't take part I suppose we can go?" asked Billy Manners."There ought to be a lot of fun in it."
"There will be if you race, Billy," said Percival. "There is going to be a tub race as one of the attractions."
"Good enough! I can win a tub race as well as anything else if I put my mind on it," laughed Billy. "I think I'll enter for it."
"Anything to make things lively," said the messenger, and then he shortly took his leave, while the Hilltop boys were greatly excited over the coming contest wherein they hoped to take more than one prize.