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.
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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.
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“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.
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“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?”
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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.
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“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.
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“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.
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“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.
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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.
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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.
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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?”
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“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.
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“i’m glad of it,” replied jim. “well, i wonder what is in store for us in the future?”
“oh, nothing much, i guess,” laughed don. “i guess we’ll study through the spring, play a little baseball, and then go home for a summer vacation. you know, we have a plain vacation, while the first and second class go to camp.”
“just the same,” maintained jim, stoutly. “i’ll bet we’ll have some more adventures. we just can’t seem to keep out of things.”
“perhaps you’ll go sailing again,” suggested terry.
“maybe,” said don. “i don’t really know. but i guess nothing exciting will happen to us.”
but don was wrong. during the summer vacation a great many dangers and adventures fell to the lot of the three boys. their wanderings carried them far afield and they found even more stirring adventures than they had yet encountered. what happened to them will be related in the third volume of the mercer boys series entitled: the mercer boys on a treasure hunt.
