The drive to Spotville Point took longer than Vench had thought, for he was only vaguely familiar with the roads and was following a general sense of direction more than anything else. He was worried for fear that some happening might come up which would spoil his game, in which case he planned to make a sudden and savage attack on the two men, counting on the colonel to come to his aid. But at the end of half an hour he had arrived safely at Spotville Point, and now his only difficulty lay in not giving away the fact that he did not know where Denning’s house was. He was turning over in his mind the advisability of pretending that his engine was breaking down and stopping somewhere when one of the men pulled down a sliding glass window back of him and spoke into his ear.
“Take the back road, Garry,” he said. “We don’t want to go up the main street. Slow down, or you’ll miss it.”
Vench obediently slowed down, and the man ducked back, closing the slide. To his right was a lane, and Vench turned the car into it.
“You’ll never know how much I thank you for that one, mister!” he thought.
The car lurched for a short distance down this lane and then two houses loomed up out of the blackness. Vench was not sure which one was Denning’s but noting that one was not in as good a state of repair as the other one he took a desperate chance and drove into the yard. It was evidently all right, for nothing was said, and he brought the car to a stop before the front steps.
The men immediately jumped out and helped the colonel after them. Without paying any attention to Vench they took the colonel up on the porch, and one man produced a key from his pocket and unlocked the front door. All three of them walked in, the door was closed and Vench was left alone.
Without showing undue haste he turned the car around and rolled out of the yard. When once he gained the highway he turned on speed and fairly tore back for the school. He was amazed at his luck. No one had looked closely at him and his deception was unknown and unsuspected. His colonel was in a place where he could be reached easily, and although his investigations had not brought Don back he had at least fallen on a trail rich in promise. Vench drove the big car rapidly back to the school and jumped from it at the east gate.
He made his way around Clinton Hall and into the shadows of Locke. He was reasonably sure that Major Tireson was in bed by this time, but he wished to take no chances and so he proceeded with the utmost caution. When he got under the window of the room occupied by the three boys his groping fingers encountered the hanging cord and he pulled it sharply and continuously, so as to shake vigorously the bed in which Rhodes was sleeping. After a few moments there was an answering pull on the cord, and he made his way around to the side door and waited.
It seemed an age before the door back of him was pulled open and Rhodes, Terry and Jim appeared, wrapped in their uniform overcoats. He motioned to them to be quiet and led them to the big car, which he had halted beyond Clanhammer Hall. They all crowded into the broad front seat, and before driving out of the yard Vench threw off the fur coat, which was cumbersome, and donned his cold overcoat, which he found lying in the bushes where he had left it.
Then Vench drove the car out of the drive and once more headed for Spotville Point. The cadets, who had kept silent up until now, could contain their curiosity no longer.
“For the love of Mike, Vench, what is up?” inquired Rhodes.
“Have you found Don?” asked Jim.
“I’m sorry to say that I haven’t,” returned the cadet at the wheel. “But unless I am greatly mistaken I have found Colonel Morrell!”
“What!” cried the cadets.
“Yes,” nodded Vench. He told them the story of the events of the night and then went on: “This is what gave me the idea. While I was walking around this afternoon looking for clues along the lake front I ran across my friend Paul Morro, the man who cut me dead down at the drugstore. Among other things he told me that Major Tireson went to Clanhammer Hall every night and entered with his own key. As soon as I heard that I made up my mind to find out once and for all and right away why he should care to go into that old building so often. I returned to the school and immediately ran into astonishing luck.
“No one was in the central hall of Locke when I entered, and I was walking along on my way to hunt up you fellows, when I passed the office. I had on rubbers and consequently made no noise, and it was owing to this fact that I stumbled across unexpected information. The major was at his desk, telephoning, and he was directing that a closed car be sent to the door of Clanhammer Hall that very night. That was all I heard, but it was enough to make me go out there and look in on the mysterious doings. I expected that he was going to move Don, but not being sure I didn’t want to ask you fellows to spend several cold hours out there for what might prove to be a goose chase. I am disappointed that it didn’t turn out to be Don, but we can rescue the colonel, unless some unexpected hitch turns up.”
“You’ve done a good piece of work, Vench,” complimented Rhodes, warmly.
“I think I can see the whole thing,” struck in Terry.
“What do you mean?” asked Jim.
“Why, it is perfectly plain. The major has somehow or other removed Don, who may have stumbled onto something just as Vench did. If we can bring the colonel back he will have Tireson arrested and we ought to have plain sailing.”
“We’re going to get our colonel back, all right,” affirmed Rhodes, his tone grim.
In a short time they reached Spotville Point and Vench once more ran the big car down the back lane. At a point some hundred yards from the dark house he brought the car to a stop and got out.
“Let’s go, fellows,” urged Vench, slipping off his overcoat. “And quiet is the word!”
Under cover of the thick darkness the cadets crept forward and approached the back of the house. There was no light to be seen, and Vench was worried for fear that they had suddenly decided to move the captive. But when they had ranged themselves alongside the building they found a faint light escaping beneath the black shades.
“They’re still here,” whispered Vench. “What shall we do, rush them?”
“It looks as though we will have to,” returned the senior captain guardedly. “We don’t know how many are in there, but we will have to take a chance on it.”
“There’s no use breaking the windows,” said Jim. “Before we could climb in they would have the light out and disappear. Can we get in from the front porch?”
Vench nodded and they made their way quietly around to the front, stepping with painful care. Once on the porch they cautiously looked in and saw that the light was in an inner room.
“We’ll have to smash the window completely with one blow,” decided Terry. “We can’t waste time by pulling out broken glass, and we don’t want to cut ourselves. Suppose two of us kick this glass through on a given signal, and two kick out the second window? We’ll jam through and go for ‘em!”
“Suppose the light goes out?” asked Jim.
“We mustn’t allow it to go out,” returned Rhodes. “Let’s get ready to board ship.”
Rhodes and Vench took up their place near one window and Terry and Jim took up a position at the other. At a whisper the four boys raised their feet, heels poised near the glass. There was no movement.
“Go!” whispered Rhodes.
Four heels struck the panes of glass with a shattering crash and a tinkling sound echoed through the house. Carried forward by the momentum Jim and Vench hurtled right on through. The leg of Jim’s trousers was cut. Vench was luckier and landed in the room without mishap. He sprinted madly for the door from which the light had come, with Jim a foot behind him.
Rhodes and Terry flung themselves after the first two, with no personal danger, for the bulk of the glass had been carried out by the kicks. By the time they reached the lighted room they found their two comrades busily engaged.
Vench had entered first, his eyes sweeping the room. The colonel sat in a chair, tightly bound, and near him were two men. One of them had been stretched on the couch in the room and the other was standing before a small stove. At the startling sound of breaking glass they had been paralyzed with astonishment, and before any movement could be made Vench was at the door and Jim was just behind him. The man on the couch leaped to his feet and reached for a heavy cane nearby, but the man near the stove leaped for the electric light button.
Vench saw him and jumped. Just as the man’s hand was closing over the button the little cadet bore down on him like a wildcat. His hands closed over the man’s shoulders and he spun him around. Before he could recover his balance Cadet Vench hit him a well-timed blow on the jaw. The man went down and Vench promptly threw himself upon him with enthusiasm.
Jim jumped for the second man, who, club upraised, bore down on Vench. Seeing Jim close to him the man whirled and struck at him with all his strength. Had the blow landed fully it would have ended Jim’s effectiveness that night. But Jim pulled his head to one side just in time. The blow landed on his shoulder near the neck. It caused him intense agony, and he faltered.
Rhodes tore into the room and at sight of him the colonel uttered a cry of delight. Terry followed and they bore down on the man with the cane. The colonel had been bewildered at the sight of the boys, for Vench, Jim and Terry were unknown to him, and only Rhodes was familiar. Seeing that his day had dawned the colonel became impatient and tugged at his bonds, eager to strike a blow in the fight for his liberty. But he was unable to pull himself loose and had to content himself with watching.
The man with the cane had thought Jim and Vench alone, but when he saw the other two cadets drawing near his tactics abruptly changed. He dropped his weapon and reached into his back pocket. It was then that Jim had his opportunity. Although his shoulder pained him greatly he threw himself forward, gripping the man’s arm. Then, while Terry and Rhodes knocked the man down, Jim twisted a revolver from his grasp.
Cadet Vench was having a tough time of it. The man beneath him was powerfully built, and with a single heave he sent the little cadet floundering to one side. From that position the man succeeded in twisting one leg around Vench’s body, cutting off his breath as he pressed his body to the wall. Vench’s eyes bulged and the perspiration stood out on his head, but he was far too plucky to call out. Now safely astride the small cadet the man raised his fist to deal him a savage blow.
Jim saved Vench. Seeing that Rhodes and Terry had the other man quiet he turned to see how Vench was making out. The peril that his friend was in struck him at once, and he dived forward. Fairly and squarely he struck the man, bowling him over like a log, and when Jim raised himself the man lay still, his head against the base of the wall.
Vench rolled over, panting. “Get something and tie these guys up,” he directed.
While Rhodes kneeled on the chest of the man whom they had overcome, Terry ruthlessly tore a window curtain into strips and proceeded to bind the hands of each man behind him. Little or nothing had been said, and except for a few grunts and an oath from one of the men, the struggle had taken place in a silence that proclaimed the grimness and purpose of it. Now that the men were securely tied Rhodes ran to his colonel and began to untie knots.
“Well, we’re here, Colonel Morrell,” he sang out, cheerfully. “I hope you’ll pardon our unceremonious way of coming in, but nobody answered my knock!”
“Pardon it!” roared the colonel, beaming with excitement and delight. “I—I—I don’t know what I will do! That was the best A number One fight I ever saw in my life! I’m terribly proud of you boys!”
The ropes released, the colonel sprang up and threw himself on Rhodes in an outburst of admiration and thankfulness, pounding him familiarly on the back and very nearly shaking his hand off. With a single glance at the bound men to see that they were safe Rhodes introduced the others and lavishly praised the ingenuity and courage of Cadet Vench. The colonel was tremendously pleased with his new fourth class men.
“By George, I must have the best fourth class in the history of the school, if I may judge by you three boys and Don Mercer,” he exclaimed. He turned to Jim and told him about Don, adding. “So you see, there is nothing to worry about. As soon as we have locked these two scoundrels up and have captured Tireson we’ll liberate Don. If that happens sometime tomorrow we’ll have to keep a watchful eye on Clanhammer Hall and see that they don’t move him.”
“Shall we get these men out of here, colonel?” asked Rhodes. “There is no knowing who may come along and we wouldn’t want our game spoiled now.”
“No, that is so,” the colonel agreed. “Though the enemy would have to bring an army along to overcome you boys! We’ll get these men to the nearest police station and then have someone posted here to take Dennings if he comes, which I suppose he will.”
After making sure that the fire would go out and not set the place on fire, the boys once more examined the bonds of the prisoners and then pushed them out of the house and into the back of the car. The colonel sat guard with Rhodes and Terry. Jim, who had turned the revolver over to the colonel, rode in the front seat with Vench. At the colonel’s suggestion they drove five miles to Arrington, where, after some difficulty, the sheriff was aroused from his comfortable bed and came down to hear their story. He was interested and astonished, and when he had dressed he led them to the county jail, where the two men, still sullenly silent, were locked up. Then, after the officer of the law had agreed to send a special man to watch Dennings’ house, the boys drove the colonel to Portville.
In talking it over, just before they left Arrington, the colonel decided that he would return to Portville and remain in hiding, there to plan a trap which would take in both the major and Dennings. The major was easy to reach, but Dennings was not. He had business in many places, and had a habit of slipping from place to place, and the colonel was particularly anxious to catch him.
Vench drove to Portville and the colonel engaged a room at the main hotel. The boys followed him to his room and they had a final council of war.
“I want you boys to return and go on with things just as if nothing had happened,” directed the colonel. “Of course, the major may find out that the game has been spoiled, and then he’ll try to escape. If possible, keep your eyes on him. Watch Clanhammer Hall, too. We mustn’t allow anything to happen to Don.”
“What shall I do with that driver in the tool house?” asked Vench. “If we leave him there all night he will freeze, because I took his fur coat off.”
“I’ll take care of him,” promised the colonel. “The first thing in the morning I am going to report everything to the chief of police here, who is a personal friend of mine, and I’ll have a man sent up to bring him to the jail, to be kept there until we have arrested the others. He’ll be all right until morning. Now, you boys had better be getting back to school. Whatever you do, don’t let the major catch you!”
Colonel Morrell then shook hands cordially with the boys, expressing once more his satisfaction and gratitude, and the boys left him. Vench left the car at a public garage, with orders not to allow anyone to touch it without his consent. Then the four boys walked back to school.
“No use talking,” said Rhodes, enthusiastically. “Mr. Vench will be nothing less than a general!”
“I’ll be lucky if I’m ever a good bellboy!” grinned Vench. “Fate was good to me. I was looking for Don, and eventually I found him, through the colonel.”
“I guess we’ll always stand well with our headmaster!” chuckled Terry.
When they got back to the school the boys used the utmost caution and got back to their rooms in safety. The night was nearly gone, and when the bugle blew early next morning Messrs. Rhodes, Mercer, Mackson and Vench groaned aloud as they reluctantly left their beds.
That day was cold and clear, with a still, penetrating cold that sent a tingle through the veins of the cadets. For hours the ice had been forming on Lake Blair. One or two cadets had been hardy enough to test it and found that it was about ready to bear weight, and by nightfall it had frozen to a depth of several inches. It was the first real ice of the season and the students hailed it with shouts of delight. Closets and trunks were hastily ransacked, and some of the new cadets went to town and bought skates. Others went to the cellars under the barn and brought out stored barrels, breaking them up and distributing the wood at various points along the lake for their fires.
In the afternoon Rhodes went to the major and asked for permission to go to town. He found the headmaster in a suspicious and angry mood, caused probably by the things which were weighing on his mind. When the senior cadet asked for leave the major swung around.
“What for?” he snapped.
Rhodes looked surprised. “I want to have my skates ground,” he returned. “And I have other errands.”
“Very well, go ahead,” grumbled the major. “There is too much of this running to town.”
Rhodes saluted and left the office, not even taking the trouble to thank the major because of his ungracious tone. He got his skates and put on his overcoat. Then he hurried off to town.
“Wonder if Major Tireson really suspects anything or if he is just cranky today?” he wondered.
True to his statement Rhodes left his skates to be ground and purchased some necessities. Then, after making sure that no one was around who looked suspicious, he went to the main hotel in Portville and asked for the colonel’s room. The clerk called the colonel on the telephone, allowed Rhodes to talk to him, and when the colonel was satisfied that it was his senior cadet captain, he told him to come up.
The colonel greeted Rhodes warmly and they discussed plans. Rhodes told him of the major’s harshness, but the colonel was inclined to put it down to nervousness.
“He has a lot on his mind,” said the colonel. “But even so, I guess it’s about time to close in on this bunch. I’m afraid the major might slip through our fingers, so I’ve decided to trap him tomorrow morning. Just as soon as he gets teaching his classes the police chief and I will swoop down on the school and take him in. We’ll just have to hope that somehow or other we’ll run across Dennings. There are men out looking for him now, and they may run him down. I’m afraid to fool around too long, for fear that the major may move Don or skip himself.”
“If you are going to wait until tomorrow we will have to see to it that Don is not spirited away tonight,” said Rhodes.
“Yes, and a pretty close watch on the major will do that. Is anyone watching Clanhammer Hall now?”
“Terry is prowling around there,” replied Rhodes.
“Very good. The driver was taken out of the tool house early this morning and locked up, protesting that he had been kidnapped and abused by a big bully, that meaning Mr. Vench. I guess he was pretty cold, too. So you are having your skates ground, eh? The lake frozen over?”
“Yes, sir. All of the cadets are going skating tonight and we four planned to skate down near Clanhammer Hall, so as to keep an eye on the place.”
“A good idea,” nodded the colonel. “Is Jim keeping up an appearance of anxiety?”
“Yes, he is. He went to the major this morning and asked if any word had been received of his brother. The major assured him that all steps had been taken to find Don and told him to keep up his good spirits.”
“Oh, sure!” grinned the colonel. “Fine old scoundrel that major is! Well, tomorrow morning, with as little fuss as possible, we’ll just scoop up that arch plotter.”
Agreeing to call the colonel immediately if anything came up Rhodes left him, and after getting his skates, went back to school. After a good supper the cadets studied for an hour and then rushed with whoops to the lake, where a half dozen big fires blazed along the edge of the sheet of ice. In a short time the runners of scores of skates were ringing with sharp, crisp sounds over the hard surface.
A dozen games were immediately started, games of snap the whip, hockey and races, but the four friends carefully avoided these and kept to themselves. Those who were not in the mood for playing, but who wanted to skate more calmly, moved toward the lower end of the lake, and the boys were in this company. Most of the fires were near the school, and only a few scattered ones extended down the lake.
“Let’s take a long trip down to the end of the lake,” suggested Vench, and they started off, side by side, their skates ringing on the frozen surface. They passed Clanhammer Hall, turning to watch it as they went by, but there was no light in it. They passed the last skaters and plunged on in the half gloom of the winter night toward the place where the lake narrowed down to a mere brook.
“Poor old Don must think we have deserted him,” said Jim.
“I guess he does,” cried Terry. “But we’ll haul him out tomorrow morning as soon as the colonel returns.”
“Tomorrow will be a big day,” smiled Rhodes. “The older class men will be wild to have the colonel back, and it is a pretty safe bet that we won’t do much in the way of routine when he does get back. The colonel is a good joe, and it is ten to one that he’ll give us the whole day off, to skate and fool around, in celebration of his return.”
They skated to the end of the lake and turned and started back. They were now in darkness, with the fires in front of them as they began the return trip. Consequently, they could see far up the lake, to where several dark figures skated about, outlines against the distant fires. None of them was below Clanhammer Hall at the time.
“Somebody coming across the ice from the opposite side of the lake,” called Jim.
Rhodes spun in a half circle and stopped, screening himself behind some bushes that grew near the shore, the others following his example. They watched the man who was crossing.
“He is walking,” decided Terry, after they had watched him for a time.
“Yes, it isn’t one of the cadets,” said Vench. “He keeps looking up the lake and watching the boys. Wonder who it is?”
The man walked swiftly across the ice, his head bent over his shoulder to watch the boys who skated further up near the school. He was tall and wore a heavy overcoat and a cap. Rhodes eyed him keenly.
“Isn’t he heading for Clanhammer Hall?” he asked.
“He certainly is!” cried Jim. “And do you know, I think it’s Dennings!”
“There is no doubt of that,” said Terry. “He is certainly going toward the hall, too. Maybe they are going to move Don right away. What shall we do?”
Rhodes swiftly unbuckled the strap on his skates, kicking them off and stowing them in the bushes. “We’ll follow him and see what he is up to. If a move is afoot to carry Don off we want to break it up in short order.”
“You’re right,” agreed Jim. “Good thing we were at this end of the lake.”
The others took off their skates, and following Rhodes’ example, placed them in the near-by bushes. When they looked again the man was leaving the ice and just entering the tangle of snow-covered bushes that fringed the lake back of Clanhammer Hall.
“Well, let’s go,” ordered Rhodes. “We must keep that fellow in sight and somehow get in the hall. By hurrying along the shore we can soon make the place. On your toes, and don’t make a sound!”
Leaping up the bank the four boys broke into a trot, heading for the old building which stood in darkness some quarter of a mile down the lake.
When they finally came in sight of the building Dennings was nowhere to be seen, and the boys came to a halt. When they were reasonably sure that he was not lurking somewhere about they made their way to the school and found that he had gone around to the front door. Not wishing to try the door they walked around to the back, keeping in the shadow. Vench went to the cellar window and pushed it open.
“Still able to get in here,” he whispered. “I’ll go first, because I know the way.”
Vench lowered himself through the window and dropped with a dull thud into the musty cellar. The other boys followed, Terry taking the precaution to close the window after him. For a moment they stood there, listening.
There was no sound from above, and Vench began to move away in the direction in which he remembered the stairs to be. Guided by the sound of his footsteps the cadets followed him, feeling their way gingerly. Vench struck his foot against the flight of wooden steps and began to ascend, and the others came after him.
At the top of the flight Cadet Vench stopped, feeling the door before him. He felt some anxiety that it might be locked, but it was not and he pushed it open. It swung back slowly and without sound, and they looked into the hall of the old school. It was black there, but to their surprise they heard voices in a side room.
Following Vench they tiptoed along the hall, prepared to fight things out if they were discovered. Opposite the room from which the faint light was streaming and from which the voices came was another room, and the four boys had no difficulty in slipping into it. And from this vantage point, safe in the darkness, they looked straight across the hall into a large room.
Dennings was in the room, with his back to them, a revolver in his hand. He was pointing it at two very frightened men, who cowered in a far corner near some dusty old portraits which hung on the wall. Vench started in surprise. One of the men was Paul Morro and the other was his companion.
The men had a single candle by which to work, and they had been engaged in cutting the canvas out of a picture when Dennings had surprised them. Morro had a sharp knife in his hand. A long bench had been placed under the picture, and the men were standing in front of it. As they listened Dennings was speaking, his revolver still pointed at the men.
“That’s a pretty queer story,” the man was saying. “I wonder if I am supposed to believe it?”
“Sir,” answered Paul Morro, “I am telling you the truth. My companion and I are French collectors, and we were tipped off that a valuable painting, stolen from France years ago, had been brought to this country and later had been given to this school as a present. We heard that the original canvas had been concealed under the canvas of a common picture, and acting on the hint we came to America to rescue the portrait and return it to its rightful home. Sometime ago we entered Locke Hall and slashed a picture that we suspected there, but it did not prove to be the one that we wanted.”
“I heard about that,” nodded Dennings, half convinced. “How did you fellows come to get in here?”
“We made inquiries about the school in town,” said Morro, “and we learned that this old building, which we had thought empty, had some furniture and paintings in it. A man who had repaired the roof a few years ago told us, and we decided that the portrait might be in here. So we forced a window and got into the place tonight. We were examining these pictures when you came in.”
“So I noticed,” said Dennings grimly.
“That is all there is to it, sir. We did not intend to steal anything except the portrait, and that is ours anyway. We’ll promise to leave and never come back if you will let us off.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Dennings thoughtfully, lowering the revolver. “Look here, I can use you two. I have a prisoner up on the third floor, and I’m going to take him out of here tonight. I want to get him across the lake and into my car, which is on the other side. If you two will help me get him out of here I don’t care if you cut up every picture in the school! What do you say?”
Morro glanced at his companion, who shrugged his shoulders. Morro then turned back to the man who was facing them.
“We will help you,” he promised.
Dennings thrust the revolver into a back pocket. “All right, come along. Bring your coats and the candle with you.”
Morro and his companion put on their coats, and Morro picked up the candle. Dennings took it from him and walked to the stairs, the men following. They tramped heavily up to the second floor, and the faint beam of the flickering candle disappeared from sight.
“Now we can go,” whispered Rhodes, when the sound of their footsteps died out. “But be careful and remember that Dennings has a gun. Wonder where that old man is?”
With Vench in the lead the four cadets climbed the stairs and found themselves in the hallway of the second floor. They had no difficulty in finding the stairs to the third floor, as Dennings had left the door open. It was with painful care that they ascended and stopped just outside the room into which Dennings had gone.
A single lamp burned in this room and they could see Don standing beside the table, facing Dennings. Back of the man stood the two Frenchmen, obviously ill at ease. Dennings, firmly believing that he was safe, was speaking to Don.
“Get your coat and hat on, Mercer,” he was saying. “We’re going to take you away from here. It’s getting a bit too hot for comfort.”
“Where am I going?” asked Don without moving.
“Never mind that,” snapped Dennings. “We took your friend the colonel for a long ride and we are going to take you on one. Don’t waste time; hurry up.”
Rhodes gripped the arms of the cadets in quick succession. “Let’s go!” he hissed, and darted into the room.
At the sound of his footsteps Dennings swung around, his hand sliding toward his rear pocket. But Rhodes was upon him before he could reach it, and Terry was with him. Each of them grasped the arms of the man and Jim threw one arm around his throat. Don uttered a cry at seeing them and rushed to their aid.
Vench had paused to speak to the astonished Frenchmen. His eyes glittering, he thrust his determined chin close to Morro’s face.
“Beat it, Paul,” he warned. “You and your friend get out of here, and don’t come near this school again! I know enough about you now to put you in prison for a long time, so get a move on and get out. And keep your mouth closed!”
Morro looked just once to where Rhodes was taking the revolver from the man they had overpowered and then moved. He seized the arm of his companion and pulled him after him. They found the stairs and ran down them.
Vench turned his attention to Dennings, but that was not necessary. The man had been overpowered and his revolver taken away from him. He had offered a brief and savage struggle, but the suddenness of the attack had proved his undoing, and he was powerless. Glaring and cursing he lay on his back, looking with blazing eyes at his young captors.
“Well, Mr. Dennings,” said Don. “I guess that I am not going on a trip after all. You will take the only trip.”
“I’ll fix you kids for this!” roared Dennings.
“What shall we do now?” asked Jim disregarding Dennings.
“You fellows tie him up and bring him over to the school,” suggested Rhodes. “I’ll go back, find out where the major is, and call up the colonel and tell him to get up here, that we have them both.”
“Oh, have you got the colonel?” cried Don. Dennings’ eyes bulged in astonishment.
“Yes,” said Vench, as Rhodes took up the candle and went out. “We rescued him and he is now down in the hotel. Well, let’s get busy on this fellow. If we can’t find any rope we’ll use our belts and take him over to the school. I guess this will break up their precious ring.”
While the boys were strapping Dennings’ hands back of him with their belts Rhodes was hurrying across the campus in the direction of Locke Hall. The cadets were still skating on the lake and the whole school had the look of regularity about it. No one was near Clanhammer Hall and he reached Locke in safety.
Rhodes hurried to the office, keeping a sharp lookout for the major. He was not in the office, but Captain Chalmers was there. Rhodes considered, and then determined to enlist the aid of the teacher in capturing the major. But first he asked a question.
“Where is Major Tireson, sir?”
Chalmers answered without hesitation. “He just left for the station,” he said. “He said that he had to go away on business for a short time, and he left here in civilian clothes, to be gone for a week. I am in charge now. Is there anything I can do for you, Captain Rhodes?”
“Yes, sir!” exploded Rhodes. “How long ago did he leave?”
“About ten minutes ago. Is there anything wrong? Can——”
Without a word Rhodes scooped up the telephone and pressed the receiver to his ear, leaving the instructor lost in astonishment. It seemed an age before an answer came, but finally the night operator broke in.
“I want the Portville Hotel, operator,” called Rhodes. “This is an emergency call, so please rush it.”
Captain Chalmers refrained from saying anything while Rhodes waited. When the hotel answered, Rhodes gave the number of the colonel’s room, and a moment later the headmaster answered.
“Hello, Colonel Morrell?” called Rhodes. Chalmers jumped to his feet with a sharp exclamation, but Rhodes went on: “This is Rhodes, colonel. Major Tireson left the school a few minutes ago to go to the station. I think he is running away. We have just captured Dennings and released Don. See if you can capture him, colonel.”
The colonel hung up with a sharp click and Rhodes turned to Chalmers. “I know you are astonished, Captain Chalmers, but we have found the colonel. I’ll tell you about it later. Here is a more pressing matter.”
The other boys had entered with the prisoner and they brought him to the office. In a few words matters were explained to Chalmers, and the man was securely locked in a strong room from which there was no escape. Then they waited for the colonel, sitting in the office and talking things over with the man who was destined to succeed Major Tireson as assistant headmaster.
To the astonishment of the cadet body there was no call of taps that night. They returned from skating and to study, but the lights did not go out. No Officer of the Day patrolled the halls, and finally sheer curiosity drove them from their rooms to see what the trouble was. It was then that word spread like wildfire that the colonel had returned.
It was some hours after the telephone call that Colonel Morrell, with springy step and wide smile, burst into the office and shook hands all around. To their anxious questions he replied that Major Tireson had been arrested with the old man of Clanhammer Hall just as he was about to step on a train for New York City. The major had decided that the game was getting much too warm, and he planned to go to Spotville Point, see to it that the colonel was carried off on a long sea voyage, and then disappear. A sense of uneasiness had come over him, and he had decided to clear out, to communicate with Dennings later and decide on the fate of Don.
When the cadets learned that their beloved colonel had returned there was an end, for that night at least, of discipline. The older cadets who knew him well thronged around him, shaking hands and greeting him, and the colonel fairly beamed his pleasure. The story was soon out, and the cadet body heaped warm praise on the boys who had solved the mystery of Clanhammer Hall.
Very much later the bugler made a poor attempt to sound taps, and the cadets went to bed, to lie awake for the most part and talk across beds of the unexpected developments in their school life. There was a general feeling that not much work would be done on the following day, and in this they were not mistaken. The colonel granted them a full holiday, which they spent on the lake, enjoying the splendid ice and healthy weather. To the colonel it was an enjoyable holiday also, and he appeared on the ice to skate for a brief time with his boys. The fourth class men, just making the acquaintance of their real headmaster, were more than pleased with him.
Captain Chalmers was made assistant headmaster in Tireson’s place. In due time the major and Dennings, with three hangers-on, were all given prison terms on various charges. School life settled down to a regular run of routine that was now thoroughly enjoyable, and the boys began to find the days slipping by rapidly and pleasurably.
Clanhammer Hall was in time turned into an alumni hall, and the former graduates of Woodcrest held many a stirring rally within its walls. There was no longer any mystery about the old hall, and clean windows and walls gave it new appearance.
On one evening just before Christmas the five boys, Vench, Rhodes, Terry, Jim and Don gathered in the Mercer boys’ room to discuss the reward. There had been offered the sum of five hundred dollars to the one who should discover information leading to the discovery of the whereabouts of the colonel. This reward had been turned over to them that morning, and they sat around the dormitory to discuss it.
Don told them of the card and the old station master. “This is the way I look at it, fellows,” he said earnestly. “Each of us would get a hundred dollars out of it by splitting, and no doubt a hundred dollars would come in handy in one way or another. But Jim and I don’t actually need ours. Perhaps some of the rest of you do. That old station agent is pretty well along in life, and some of that money would make the rest of his days a whole lot easier for him. If he hadn’t furnished us with the card we would have been in the dark on several points. Jim and I have agreed to turn over our money to him.”
“You may turn mine over, too,” said Vench. “I have all the money I need, and I’d gladly see him get it.”
“That goes for me, too,” nodded Captain Rhodes. “I am not rolling in wealth, but my father takes excellent care of me. The old man is welcome to my share.”
“Look here,” said Terry. “I’m perhaps the least well-to-do of all, but I’m not going to touch my share of it, either. The reward was for information leading to the discovery of clues that would be helpful, and the agent certainly deserves it under those circumstances. Give him the whole thing and make his Christmas a happy one.”
This was done. Just before Christmas the boys went home, and Don, Jim and Terry got off the train at Spotville Point, where, Don learned, the train would stop for ten minutes. They approached the ticket window and found the old agent seated before his desk.
“How do you do,” greeted Don. “How are you today?”
“Oh, so-so,” returned the agent, staring at them without recognition. “Got a bad spell of pain in my back and I ain’t just in position to call in a doctor. But no use kickin’, I suppose.”
“Do you remember us?” inquired Don.
The agent looked closely, and then shook his head.
“No, I don’t think—You ain’t them soldier boys, are you?”
“Yes, we are the two who came here to ask you about an old gentleman who got off here in October. This is my brother and this is a friend. We are on our way home and just got off the train.”
“Hum, I suppose nothin’ come out of that post card, did it? I knew it wouldn’t, told my wife so. I sez ‘Catch us ever havin’ good luck,’ I sez. What’s that?”
Don thrust a long envelope under the small opening. “That is something to convince you that for once you guessed wrong,” he smiled. “Something did come of that post card, and here is your reward. We all wish you a very Merry Christmas.”
The three boys went away, leaving the agent staring at the envelope in his hand. Finally he opened it and found the check. He shook like a leaf.
“Oh, my good golly!” he said over and over again.
The boys once more seated themselves on the train and soon left Spotville Point far behind them. Terry laughed as he thought of the agent.
“This Christmas will be quite a shock to him,” he said.