CHAPTER VI
THE MYSTERY OF A GOLD WATCH
"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 initials
on it to show the owner, but it is likely that it belongs to Miss
Margaret, 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 to
Miss 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, and
I 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.