CHAPTER XV—WE MEET SHERLOCK HOLMES
Harry said, “Well, I guess it’s back to Crystal Falls for us. I hope we’ll find my car there. I don’t want to set a bad example to the Boy Scouts, but you see what a good turn one can do stealing an automobile. I hope you boys will always remember that.”
Brent said in that funny way of his, “I’ll never say another word against stealing; Pee-wee has taught me a lesson.”
“Do you think the burglars were in one of those houses when we started away in the car?”
“I think they were inside the house for a second haul when we rode away in their machine,” Brent said. “Make a good movie play, wouldn’t it?”
“Will we go to jail now?” poor little Skinny piped up.
“We’re heroes!” Pee-wee shouted.
“Well, go ahead back,” Brent said; “I think, considering the high cost of gasoline that we’ll roll on and find a good place to camp in—where is it? The woods north of Watertown?”
“If we don’t overtake you before you get to Syracuse,” Harry said, “bang up north and wait for us at Kenny’s Hotel in Watertown.”
Brent said, “Now look here. You don’t know how long you’ll be in Crystal Falls. By all the rules of the game, Pee-wee will marry the gold-haired judge’s daughter—— I mean the judge’s gold-haired daughter—and it’ll be a week before we can join forces. So this is what we’re going to do; we’re going to motor on to what’s that place—Steuben Junction. We’ve got a full camping outfit in our little old flivver and by the time you get there, we’ll have a nice little camp in the woods all ready for you. Now I’ll tell you what you do. If you don’t overtake us, before we get to Steuben Junction, go to the railroad station or the drug store——”
“I’d rather go to the drug store,” Pee-wee yelled.
“And ask where the Newburgh scouts have their camp. You’ll find us.”
So that was the way we fixed it, and after Brent and his patrol had started, the rest of us piled into the Cadillac and “turned our prow” (that’s what Harry said) for Crystal Falls.
“I’m going to be the one to return the stuff,” Pee-wee said.
“You going to make a speech?” Harry asked him.
All the while I was wondering who the auto belonged to. It had a New York license and I didn’t believe it belonged to the burglars.
Poor little Skinny said, “Will we get arrested now?”
Harry said, “No, we’re all going to be heroes now. We’re in the hands of P. Harris.”
“We foiled them,” Pee-wee said.
“That’s what we did,” Harry said. “I guess there wasn’t any third man. I wonder what those crooks thought when they came out with some more stuff and saw that the machine was gone.”
“I bet they were peeved,” I said.
“I bet they had unkind thoughts,” Grove said.
“I bet they swore, but it didn’t do them any good,” Pee-wee shouted, “they were—what-d’ye-call-it—checkmated.”
“You have no right to say that,” Harry said, “there is no reason why a burglar should not be a gentleman. Naturally they were annoyed; any one would be, under the same circumstances.”
When we got to Crystal Falls, Harry ran the car through the street where he had left his own car, and there it was just as we had left it, and there were a lot of people standing around, looking at it. I guess maybe they thought it belonged to the burglars, hey?
Harry said, “Anybody here in authority?”
A man opened his coat and showed us a big steel badge, “I’m constable,” he said.
Harry said, “Well, Mr. Constable, that car belongs to me. It’s stalled. Here’s my license card; just compare it with the plate. All right? I wish you’d see that nobody fools with it until we get back; Judge West lives just around the corner, doesn’t he?”
“What cher want to see the jedge about?” the constable asked us.
Harry said, “Well, we’re boy scouts and we had an idea that we might be able to find his property.”
“Had an idee, huh?” the man said, kind of, you know, sarcastic like. “Well now, don’t you put sech crack brained notions into the heads o’ these kids.”
“No?” Harry said, awful funny.
“’Cause this here ain’t no case for boy scouts,” the constable said.
Harry said, “No, really?”
It was awful funny to see them. The constable was standing right outside the car with a lot of people around him, and Harry was sitting in the driver’s place, with his hands on the wheel, looking down at that bunch.
“How does it come you own two cars?” the constable said, very shrewd like.
“Is that a riddle?” Harry said.
“Where’d you come from?” the man asked.
“Well, we came from Utica,” Harry said, “we happened to read about the robbery in the papers there—five hundred bucks reward, you know. We couldn’t resist that.”
“City fellers, ain’t yer?” the constable said.
“Right the first time,” Harry said; “you’re a regular Sherlock Holmes; how did you ever find it out?”
The man said, “Well, I ain’t got no use fer these here amatoor detectives. And I ain’t got no use fer filling youngsters’ heads up with a lot of truck about doin’ sleuth work, neither. ’Cause all that’s a part uv dime novels. Clews and sech things is for the po-lice. Them stolen goods is in some pawnshop or maybe buried, and as soon as them two swabs is ready to give us the tip, I’m ready to talk business with ’em—that’s me.”
“What could be nicer?” Harry said.
“They’ll weaken,” the man said.
“Did you ask them please?” Harry wanted to know.
“If you’re set on going around to the jedge’s,” the main said, “I’ll go round with yer. But don’t you bother your heads about of-ficial business. We got those chaps and we’ll get the booty; I got two clews I’m workin’ on now.” Just then he climbed in and sat down between Grove and I on the back seat. “And I’ll tell you this,” he said, “that stolen property’s miles and miles away from here.”
“You’re sitting on it,” Harry said, very calm and sober.
“Settin’ on what?” the constable said.
“On my cap,” Harry said; “would you mind handing it to me?”
Gee whiz, I could hardly keep a straight face. Grove had to look out of the car, he was laughing so hard. I was afraid Skinny’d blurt something out, but he didn’t. I guess he thought we were all being arrested.
“Sometimes a feller sets right down on a thing and never knows it,” the constable said.
“Very true,” Harry said. “I know a man who sat on a committee and never knew it. Judge lives just around the corner, you say?”
The constable said, “Yes, but I tell you now, he won’t be able to give you no clews. He’s a good jedge, but when it comes to solving a case, he can’t see very deep.”
“Sometimes you don’t have to see very deep,” Harry said—“just a few inches or so. Are you comfortable back there, Constable? So you think the Boy Scouts are not much good at this kind of thing, hey? Think it wouldn’t be worth while under the—under——”
“Shh!” I said. I just couldn’t help it.
“Under the circumstances, it wouldn’t be no use at all,” the constable said, very important, “because we’ve got the case in hand, and we know how to handle these things. My cal’calation is, that them things is in pawn in Noo York, or maybe Albany. But then, again, they may be under——”
“Exactly so,” Harry said; “they may be under——”
“Underground,” the constable said. “They may be buried in the woods down near the station. I’m goin’ ter hev a search made there to-morrer. Leastways, me and my depyties ain’t goin’ ter be fooled. We ain’t sayin’ nuthin’, but we had a rough little tussle with them two swabs down ter the station, and we landed on top, by gum! And we’ll land on top in regards to this here stolen vallybles—by gum!”
“Bully for you, and a couple of hips for Crystal Falls,” Harry said; “you may be on top already. Who knows. You’re not telling all you know.”
“That’s what I ain’t,” the constable said. “Well, here we are at the jedge’s.”