Harry Watson's High School Days: or, The Rivals of Rivertown

CHAPTER XVI – STUMBLING ACROSS A CLUE

Mingled, indeed, were the feelings with which the boys heard this ultimatum from Mr. Larmore.

After he had dropped his sarcasm, they believed that he would at least be fair with them, and accordingly, when they heard his terms, they could scarcely believe their ears.

But they managed to control their feelings and, bowing curtly, turned on their heels and strode from the office.

Once out in the hallway they gave vent to their indignation.

“My word! Princy must have had something awful mean for breakfast to have accumulated such a grouch!” exclaimed Misery.

“But we can’t blame him so much,” returned Longback. “What sticks in my craw is that old Tony Farelli, who was janitor at Rivertown High when most of our fathers and mothers were students, should have laid the trouble to the Pi Etas.”

“He must have some good reason for thinking it was some of us,” returned Dawson, “because Tony has always been square.”

“Seventy dollars is going some,” declared Jerry. “It looks to me as if the Pi Eta chapter room will be closed for some time to come.”

“Shall you pay it? I suppose you’ll assess the members equally?” asked Harry.

“Pay it! Well, I should say not!” retorted Dawson, angrily. “Princy can nail up the door of the chapter room first!”

“Now, don’t go to making any threats, Tom,” interposed Longback. “The thing to do is to have a meeting of the Kappa Phis and Psi Mus to decide what shall be done.”

“How about us?” demanded Jerry. “Being the victims, it seems to me we should have a little say in the matter.”

“There you go again,” retorted Dawson. “You freshmen never can seem to understand that it is part of your training to do as your betters tell you. Inasmuch as just about all the Kappa Phis are old Pi Eta men, you can be very sure that nothing will be decided upon that will lower the dignity of any Pie Eater.”

While they were talking, the boys were standing upon the porch of the school building.

In the meantime, the principal had started on his rounds of the various rooms, immediately upon the departure of the student committee, and it was only a short time before he had learned that all the Greek letter men had cut their classes.

Angered at such action, Mr. Larmore was stalking back to his office, when he chanced to espy the committee members through the glass in the door.

Hastening his steps, he pushed open the inner door, yanked the knob of the outside one so that the door came open with a jerk, and faced the boys.

“Why aren’t the Greek letter students at their classes, and what are you doing out here?” he demanded.

“I can only speak for myself, sir,” returned Dawson. “I am out here because I’m not going to school to-day.”

Only the tone in which he spoke saved the boy’s speech from being grossly disrespectful, but the principal had sufficient understanding of scholars to know that it would not be well for him to press the matter farther, and without another word, he closed the door and returned to his office.

“Wow, but Princy’s mad!” ejaculated Jerry. “Let’s get hold of the other fellows and decide on our plan of action just as soon as we can.”

This suggestion met with the approval of the other members of the committee, and forthwith they hied themselves down the hill.

As they reached the foot, they met a crowd of boys hurrying toward them.

“Princy’s closed the Pi Eta room,” cried several of them, as they gathered about the members of their committee.

“We know it,” returned Dawson. “And what’s more it will stay closed until the Pi Etas pay seventy dollars, which Mr. Larmore says is the amount of the damage done in the physical laboratory – and that, I opine, will be some time in the far distant future.”

At first the other boys refused to believe this announcement, but they were quickly assured of its authoritativeness, and when its full significance dawned upon them they stared at one another blankly.

“I can also tell you that Princy’s very sore because the Greek letter men have cut their classes.”

“My word, but the prospect looks cheerful, doesn’t it?” commented Socker. “Where will the Pi Eta bunch meet, now?”

“The graveyard seems the most appropriate place,” asserted Misery.

“You’ll have to do without your chapter room,” laughed Dawson. “In the meantime, the Kappa Phis and the Psi Mus are going to have a meeting to decide what you shall do.”

“That’s awfully sweet of you,” mocked one of the freshmen. “I do hope you won’t decide on anything that it won’t be perfectly ladylike to do,” and turning to his companions he exclaimed: “Come on, fellows, let’s go down to the river and have a hockey game.”

“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” countermanded Dawson, as a dozen or so of the boys started off to get their skates. “It’s up to you boys to find Tony, while the rest of us are holding our consultation.”

“But what’s old Tony got to do with it?” chorused several of the group.

“Everything, seeing that it is he who told Princy the Pi Etas were in the laboratory,” returned Longback, dryly.

“But there isn’t one of us Tony wouldn’t recognize – except, of course, Watson.”

“That’s it, exactly,” asserted Dawson.

“Can Watson prove an alibi?” demanded a voice from the outside of the crowd which had been constantly increasing, as the word had passed around that the delegates had concluded their interview with the principal of the Rivertown High School.

“Who said that?” demanded Jerry, indignantly.

No one, however, made any response.

“I’ll wager the fellow who said that thing is the one who broke the apparatus,” declared Paul.

“Of course, I – ” began Harry.

“Keep quiet! Shut up! Don’t answer him! Forget it!” shouted several of the boys, effectually drowning Harry’s words.

“You mustn’t forget you’re a Pi Eta, and that a Pi Eta is never doubted,” said Jerry.

“Hear! Hear!” mocked several of the upper classmen.

“Seriously, though, you mustn’t waste any more time,” interposed Longback. “You noble spirited Pi Etas go find Tony, and we’ll have our confab; then you may meet us in the hall in front of the Psi Mu chapter room.”

The freshmen, however, did not wait to hear the last of the taunt, and breaking up into bands of two or three, they started out with the purpose of locating the janitor.

“Why not look for him at the school,” suggested Harry.

“Because, this is his day to go to Lumberport,” returned Jerry. “He always goes over there every Thursday to draw money for school expenses.”

“Maybe he hasn’t gone yet. Let’s go round to his house,” suggested Paul.

Quickly, the boys who were natives of Rivertown set out to guide their new chum to the house where the janitor lived; but when they arrived they were disappointed to know that he had been gone some two hours.

“Are you the young gentlemen he was expecting to bring him money?” asked Mrs. Farelli.

“Money for what?” asked Paul, surprised.

“I don’t know, sir. He just said some young men were to bring him some money and I thought it might be you, so I was going to tell you he said to take it over to Lumberport and leave it at Rector’s cigar store for him, as he won’t be back for a couple of days.”

“Then he hasn’t gone on school business, to-day?” exclaimed Jerry, with a rising inflection in his voice.

“No, sir.”

CHAPTER XVII – THE TRIP TO LUMBERPORT

After thanking the janitor’s wife for her information, the boys left the house.

“Funny Tony should be going to stay away a couple of days,” remarked Paul, as he walked along.

Both his companions agreed with him, but as Harry had lived in Rivertown so short a time, he was little acquainted with the habits of Farelli, and so he could offer no intelligent comment.

“It seems to me we ought to get over to Lumberport as quickly as we can,” announced Jerry. “If we can locate Tony and pull the story out of him before anyone else gets to him, it will be some feather in our caps.”

“It seems to me we ought to tell Dawson, and some of the other boys,” declared Harry. “If there really is any crooked work they will be more likely to make the janitor tell about it than we would, I should think, considering the fact that they have been at the school four years.”

To this suggestion, our hero’s chums agreed, and quickly they betook themselves to the hall in which the room of the Psi Mus was located.

“You’ve got a nerve to rap at our door. Didn’t we tell you to wait and meet us in the hall?” demanded the boy who answered the summons.

“That’s all right. We’ve found out something you people ought to know, so you needn’t close the door in our faces,” retorted Jerry.

The statement that they had important information to impart had been heard by the leaders of the two societies who were holding the consultation, and quickly they called to them to enter.

“Well, what is it that’s so important?” demanded Dawson.

“We went down to see if Tony was at home,” began Paul, when he was interrupted by one of the others exclaiming:

“Of course he wasn’t. This is his day to go to Lumberport on school business for Princy.”

“I know that,” retorted Paul, “but we thought perhaps he might not have started yet. When we got there, Mrs. Farelli asked us if we’d come to pay Tony some money, for if we had, he wanted us to leave it at Rector’s, in Lumberport, because Tony won’t be home for a couple of days.”

“That’s just Tony’s way of trying to collect his debts quickly,” commented one of the boys.

“Then why shouldn’t he have told his wife to take it,” asked Harry.

“And that’s what he would do,” interposed Dawson. “I say it won’t do any harm for some of us to go over to Rector’s and see what’s up. In the meantime, you three boys keep your mouths closed about what Mrs. Farelli told you.”

To their disappointment, none of the freshmen were invited to become members of the party that went to Lumberport, but they trailed along, nevertheless; and when they trooped into the tobacco store which the janitor had appointed as a rendezvous, they were surprised to see Elmer Craven and Pud Snooks talking with Tony.

Their amazement, however, was nothing compared to that of the two students of Rivertown High when they discovered the presence of their schoolmates.

“Didn’t know you boys would dare come into a cigar store,” growled Elmer, scowling.

“So that’s why you selected it for your meeting place with Tony?” retorted Dawson, and then, ignoring the presence of the rich boy, the leader of the Kappa Phis turned to the janitor.

“Tony, I want you tell me which of the Pi Etas it was who broke the stuff last night?”

“It was this young man, here,” returned the Italian, nodding toward Harry.

“What do you mean?” demanded the accused boy, his face blanching. “I wasn’t anywhere near the schoolhouse last night. Just as soon as the fun was over at the chapter room, I went home – and to bed.”

“I can vouch for the going home part of it,” declared Jerry.

“And so can I,” added Paul.

“And my aunt can vouch for my being in the house,” continued Harry.

“You see, Tony, you must have made a mistake, don’t you?” pursued Dawson.

The charge that he had been wrong in the identification of the marauder angered the Italian and he did not hesitate to let the fact be known.

Dawson and Harry’s chums, however, refused to accept the janitor’s statement, and began to ply him with a series of cross questions which finally extracted the statement from him that there really was a possibility he had made an error because he was fully thirty feet away from the person he had seen in the building, and the only light he had was a lantern.

As these facts were brought out, the boys who formed the investigating committee exchanged significant glances.

But their surprise was to be still further increased.

With an unexpectedness that made them gasp, Dawson exclaimed:

“I want you to tell me, Tony, if it isn’t in connection with this identification business that Pud and Elmer came over here to pay you some money?”

Too amazed to speak, the janitor and the boys with whom he had been talking when the others entered the tobacco shop, glanced at one another.

And their action was accepted by the other boys as a tacit admission that the amazing charge made by Dawson was true.

“Well, why don’t you tell me?” repeated the leader of the Kappa Phis who had been acting as spokesman.

“Because it is a matter that does not concern you,” retorted the janitor.

“But you can’t deny it was about this laboratory business, now, Tony, can you?” pursued his interrogator.

“I haven’t been given any money by those boys,” protested the janitor.

“But your wife said you were expecting some from them,” declared Dawson, stretching the truth, that he might make his point more effective.

“They haven’t given me a cent,” whined the Italian. “They backed out!”

CHAPTER XVIII – HARRY ARRANGES FOR A SETTLEMENT

Aware that they had been discovered in their underhand work, Pud and Elmer worked their way toward the door while Dawson was quizzing the janitor, and when they heard his statement that they had gone back on their bargain, they made a bolt to get outside. But Jerry blocked them.

“No, you’ll have to stay here until this matter is settled once and for all,” he exclaimed, his face growing white and his hands clenching.

Realizing that resistance was futile, the two boys slunk back from the door and awaited the further action of Dawson and his companions.

“Why not let them go?” suggested Harry. “Mr. Farelli’s words and their actions have vindicated the Pi Etas, and it seems to me very poor policy to bring any scandal to Rivertown High.”

“But you forget that Princy has assessed a fine of seventy dollars on the Pi Etas,” protested Dawson. “While I’m perfectly willing to let the matter drop, I see no reason why the boys who are members should be compelled to pay out money for something for which they were not responsible in any way.”

Although Harry’s suggestion had met with murmurs of approval from the other boys when it had been made, the senior’s statement had brought back to their minds the cost of such procedure, and they were equally enthusiastic for the latter plan.

The thought that he could get himself out of a situation which had become decidedly embarrassing, since his schoolmates had discovered him in conference with the janitor and the bully of Rivertown High made Elmer come forward.

“Suppose I agree to pay the seventy dollars and let the matter rest? Is that agreeable to you fellows?” he asked.

“We ought to know how the trick was planned,” declared Jerry.

“Especially as it is Harry against whom the insinuation is the most serious,” added Paul.

“Oh, never mind about me,” exclaimed our hero. “The only thing to be considered is what’s best for the Pi Etas and for Rivertown High.”

This stand of the new student appealed to the rest of the boys, and at a sign from Dawson, they withdrew to a corner of the cigar store for a conference, leaving Harry, the janitor, Snooks and Elmer leaning against the glass showcase.

The entire proceeding had been distasteful to the janitor, who had filled his position for so many years and, believing that it would be best for him to propitiate the boy for whom the other students had taken up the cudgels, he riveted his eyes upon the new member of the Pi Etas.

“Do you know, I think I was wrong, sir, when I told Mr. Larmore that you were the boy I had seen in the building.”

“You most certainly were!” returned Harry.

“Oh, well, in a time of excitement, any man is apt to be mistaken,” interposed Elmer, lightly, “and so long as no harm has been done, if I am willing to pay the expense, I don’t see why the matter should go any farther.”

At this statement, Harry looked at the rich boy.

“So you don’t think it’s any harm to have such a charge made against you when you are practically unknown to the school authorities, and to the people of the town in which the school is located?” he asked.

At the question, Elmer flushed and before he could think of a reply that was adequate, Dawson and the boys with whom he had been talking, moved over towards them.

“We’ve decided that if Watson is willing to overlook the affront that has been put upon him, for the good of the Pi Etas and Rivertown High, we will allow you to pay the seventy dollars, Craven, and let the matter drop.”

“Very well, I will go to Mr. Larmore in the morning,” announced Elmer, his relief at the solution of the difficulty evidenced by the look which settled on his face.

“No, that won’t do,” returned Dawson. “Mr. Larmore appointed me as collector of the assessment, and if the matter is to be arranged as you suggested, you must give the money to me. I will pay him. In that way, no one but ourselves need know of the real facts.”

“But I shall need time in which to raise the money,” protested Elmer.

“How long?” asked the boy who had been acting as spokesman.

“A month, I should say.”

“And we’re to stand for the Pi Eta society room being closed for that length of time just to accommodate you,” demanded Jerry, stepping toward Elmer.

As though fearing an assault from his schoolmate, the rich boy drew back.

“Well, I might be able to get the money in two weeks,” he announced.

“That won’t do, either,” said Dawson. “Knowing you as I do, it is my opinion that you have the money right in your pocket this minute.”

“But think of the sum, seventy dollars,” protested Elmer.

“Which is nothing to you, if the stories that come from Lumberport and Springtown are true,” returned the senior, “and besides, I can tell from the way Snooks is acting that he has some money in his pocket.

“Now you two boys might just look the matter squarely in the face. You have deeply wronged Harry Watson – for reasons best known to yourselves. Watson is a member of the Pi Eta and a scholar in Rivertown High and is willing to overlook your actions, provided you clear the society from all odium.

“I don’t mind telling you frankly that it was only because I insisted upon it that the rest of the boys who came over with me consented to such an arrangement.

“But unless you pay the money at once and to me, I shall withdraw my objections to the true state of affairs being told to Mr. Larmore – and you all know what the result of such action would be.”

The tones in which the senior spoke were bitter and, fully as much as the words, they made Craven understand that he could not count upon the sympathy or support of the other Greek letter men.

And even Snooks, who had never been able to gratify his dearest ambition of becoming a Pi Eta, felt their sting.

“I’ve got fifteen dollars,” the bully announced. “If you have the rest let’s pay it, Elmer.”

This statement that the butcher’s son had any money in his pocket was a distinct surprise not alone to Elmer but to the other boys, and deeming that it would make the burden upon him just so much the lighter, Craven put his hand in his pocket.

“Very well. I have fifty dollars. With Pud’s fifteen that will make sixty-five. If the rest of you will raise the remaining five dollars among yourselves, I will pay it in the morning.”

In his talk, Dawson had been more or less bluffing, for he had not thought that even as rich as Elmer’s father was, he allowed him any such amount of money; and when he had heard the boy announce that he had fifty dollars in his pocket, he could scarcely restrain the exclamation of surprise that rose to his lips. But he managed to dissemble his feelings.

“All right. You place your money on the showcase, Elmer, and you put yours down, Pud.”

Quickly, the two boys obeyed and, after verifying the count, Dawson turned to the others.

“It’s up to us to make up the other five dollars. Come on, shell out?” he exclaimed.

“I have fifty cents,” and producing the coin, he laid it down on the showcase beside the other money.

The rest of the boys, however, not being accustomed to carrying money about with them, fidgeted nervously, then put their hands in their pockets, and the sum total they produced did not amount to over fifty cents more.

Enjoying their embarrassment, Elmer’s face suddenly lighted.

“You fellows have driven hard terms with me, and if you can’t make up the other five dollars, then I withdraw my offer to stand the brunt of the cost.”

In dismay, Dawson and his friends looked at one another, but just as they were on the point of admitting they could not carry out their agreement, Harry took out an envelope from his pocket.

“I have five dollars,” he announced. “And for the sake of the Pi Etas and Rivertown, I should be glad to put it into the fund.”