FRIENDS OF THE SCOUTS
Everybody came crowding around at hearing Mr. Briggs make such a startling accusation. Bobolink seemed to have had his very breath taken away, for all he could do was to stare helplessly at the angry, little, old storekeeper. The magnitude of the crime with which he was accused stunned him.
Some of the other scouts managed to find their tongues readily enough. Flushed with indignation they proceeded to express their feelings as boys might be expected to do under strong resentment.
“Well, I like that, now!” exclaimed Tom Betts. “When Bobolink here has been working like a beaver to save Mr. Briggs’ stuff from the maw of the flames.”
“That was only meant to be a blind to hide the truth!” cried Mr. Briggs. “After he set the fire he must have become frightened at what he had done, and tried to cover up his tracks. Oh! I 77 know what boys are capable of; but I’ll have the law on this miscreant who tried to get revenge on me this way, see if I don’t.”
“Shame on you, Mr. Briggs,” said a stout woman close by. “And the boy nearly killing himself to carry out big loads of your silks! It’s many dollars he saved you, and little credit he’ll ever get.”
“Don’t you know Bobolink has the best kind of alibi, Mr. Briggs?” said Frank. “He was over at Doctor Morrison’s house along with the rest of us until just before the alarm sounded. We were on our way home when the bell struck first.”
“The doctor himself will tell you that, if you ask him,” added Jack, indignant now because of what had passed after all they had done for the old man. “Mr. Forbes, I wish you would warn him not to make such a reckless accusation again, because he might have to prove it in court. Boys have rights as well as storekeepers, he must know.”
“It’s just as you say, Jack, my lad,” asserted the big foreman of the truck company, warmly. “I stood all your abuse, Mr. Briggs, when it was directed against myself, but I advise you to go slow about charging any of these young chaps with setting fire to your store. All of us have seen how they worked trying to save your property, 78 sir. It is a poor return you are making for their efforts.”
Others shared this opinion, and realizing that he did not have a single friend in the crowd, Mr. Briggs had the good sense to keep his further suspicions to himself. But that he was still far from convinced of Bobolink’s innocence could be seen by the malevolent glances he shot toward the boy from time to time, while the scouts stood and watched the final work of the fire-fighters.
The last spark had been extinguished, and all danger was past. Many of the townspeople began to leave for their comfortable homes, because it was bitterly cold at that hour of the night, with a coating of snow on the ground.
Paul had come up during the excitement, but somehow had failed to join the rest of the scouts until later on. The other scouts thought that doubtless he had found something to claim his attention elsewhere; but he came up to them about the time they were thinking of taking their departure.
His indignation was strong when he heard what a foolish accusation the almost distracted storekeeper had made against Bobolink. Still Paul was a sensible lad, and he realized that Mr. Briggs could hardly be held responsible for what he said at such a time. 79
“Better forget all about it, Bobolink,” he told the other, who was still fretting under the unmerited charge. “Perhaps when he cools off and realizes what a serious thing he has said, Mr. Briggs will publicly take his words back, and will thank you fellows in the bargain.”
“But how came it you were so slow in getting to the fire, Paul?” asked Tom Betts; for, as a rule, the patrol leader could be counted on to arrive with the first.
Paul laughed at that.
“I knew you’d be wondering,” he said, and then went on to explain. “For once I was caught in a trap, and, much as I wanted to get out and run, I just had to hold my horses for a spell. You see, after you had gone father asked me to hold something for him while he was attending to it, and I couldn’t very well drop it until he was through.”
“Whew! it sure must have been something pretty important to keep Paul Morrison from running to a fire,” chuckled Frank.
“It was important,” came the ready reply. “In fact, it was a man’s broken arm I was holding. Ben Holliday was brought in just after you boys left. He had fallen in some way and sustained a compound fracture of his left arm. Neither of the men who were along with him could be counted on to assist, so father called on me to lend a hand. 80 And that’s why I was late at the Briggs’ store fire.”
“You missed a great sight, Paul, let me tell you,” affirmed Bluff.
“Yes, and you missed hearing a friend of yours called a fire-bug, too, in the bargain,” grunted Bobolink. “And after I’d sweated and toiled like fun to drag a lot of his old junk out of reach of fire and flood! That’s what makes me sore. Now, if I’d just stood around and laughed, like a lot of the fellows did, it wouldn’t have been so bad.”
“Listen!” said Jud Elderkin, lowering his voice, “when old Briggs got the notion that some bad boy set his store on fire in a spirit of revenge, maybe he wasn’t so far wrong after all.”
“Say, what are you hinting at now, Jud?” gasped Bobolink, suspiciously. “You know as well as anything I was along with the crowd every minute of the time.”
“Sure I do, Bobolink,” asserted the other, blandly. “I wasn’t referring to you at all when I said that. There are others in the swim. You’re not the only pebble on the beach, you understand.”
“Now I get you, Jud!” Tom Betts exclaimed. “And let me say, I’ve been having little suspicions of my own leading in that same direction.”
“We found Hank, Jud Mabley and Sim Jeffreys on the spot when we got here, you all remember, and they seemed tickled to death because it was the 81 Briggs’ place that was on fire,” continued Jud.
Even Paul and Jack seemed impressed, though too cautious to accept the fact until there was more proof. Already the foolishness of making an unsupported accusation had been brought home to them, and the scout-master felt that it was his duty to warn Jud and Tom against talking too recklessly of their suspicion.
“Better go slow about it, fellows, no matter what you think,” he told them. “The law does not recognize suspicion as counting for anything, unless you have some sort of proof to back it up. It may be those fellows are guilty, for they have been going from bad to worse of late; but until you can show evidence leading that way, button up your lips.”
“Guess you’re right there, Paul,” admitted Jud. “Some of us are apt to be too previous when we get a notion in our heads. But Mr. Briggs is dead sure it was no accident, whether the fire was started by the Lawson crowd or some one else.”
“I heard him say he suspected that his safe had been broken open,” declared Tom Betts just then, “and that the fire might have been an after thought meant to hide a robbery.”
“Whew! that’s going some, I must say, if that Lawson gang has come down to burglary, as well as arson,” observed Spider Sexton, seriously. 82
“You’ll have to get Jud Mabley away from his cronies mighty quick then, Paul, if you hope to pull him out of the fire,” commented Frank.
“Well, for one I’ve yet to be convinced that they had anything to do with the fire,” Paul told them.
“But we know they’ve had trouble with Mr. Briggs plenty of times,” urged another of the scouts.
“And you must remember they were here when we arrived, which looks suspicious,” added Bobolink.
“Appearances are often deceitful, Bobolink, as you yourself know to your cost,” the scout-master remarked. “If forced to explain their being on the spot so early perhaps they could prove an alibi as well as you. But come, since the fire is all over, and it’s pretty shivery out here now, suppose we get back home.”
No one offered any objection to this proposal. Indeed, several of the scouts who had worked hard enough to get into a perspiration, were moving about uneasily as though afraid of taking cold.
When the boys left the scene the crowd had thinned out very much, for the wintry night made standing around unpleasant. Besides, most of the people were disgusted with the actions of old Mr. Briggs, and cared very little what his loss might prove to be. 83
At the time the scouts turned away and headed for another section of the town, the old storekeeper was entering the still smoking building, desirous of examining his safe to ascertain whether it showed signs of having been tampered with.
Once again the boys stood on the corner ready to separate into several factions as their homes chanced to lie.
“There, the fire is out; that’s back-taps!” said Tom Betts.
“You’re off your base, Tom,” Bluff disagreed, “for that’s the town clock striking the hour of midnight.”
“Sure enough,” agreed Tom, when four and five had sounded.
They counted aloud until the whole twelve had struck.
“That means it’s Sunday morning. Merry Christmas, Paul, and the rest!” cried Frank.
“The same to you, and good-night, fellows!” called out Paul, as with Jack he strode away.