The searchers were not so successful on this occasion as when they used to rove over land and sea for Will and his companions; not the slightest clew to Marmaduke’s whereabouts being found.
The news of the preceding day’s doings was already known throughout the neighborhood, and the boys were spoken of in no flattering terms. Those villagers whose phraseology was refined, called them “whimsical juveniles, wise beyond their years;” while those villagers whose phraseology was terse and expressive, brutally gave them Greek and Japanese nick-names for the Evil One.
As the hour of dinner approached, a grim-visaged man, who looked like the descendant of a long line of executioners and muleteers, so grave and stern were his features, called on each one of the five boys who had had an interview with Mr. Stolz, and delivered to each one a formidable envelope that bore the impress of the Law, and a single glance at which was sufficient to freeze one’s blood. Having done this, the “minion of the law,” as the terrified boys supposed he was, left the village at a round pace, looking less and less grave with every step. Reader, this person was a bosom-friend of B. F. Stolz’s, disguised with a lawyer’s neck-tie, hat, and cane, or cudgel.
Fearfully the awe-inspiring seals were broken, and the legal missives were found to run as follows:
“Having observed a party of urchins prowling around my place up stream, and having, by the merest accident, learned the contents of a certain ‘letter’ written by a certain William, I was so long-headed as to put this and that together; and I resolved to make myself acquainted with what was going on. Accordingly, I watched, and waited, and hovered lovingly near you, when you knew it not. I discovered your plot. Last night I was hidden away up-stairs, within earshot, prepared to spring among you suddenly as a ghost, when I had an unexpected meeting with Jim. The rest I believe you know. Don’t be at all alarmed about the fire; Jim alone is responsible for that; I will take no further notice of the affair. I wished to punish you, however, and hit on this little plan. Whether I have succeeded or not, you yourselves know best. If you were kept awake by uneasiness last night as much as I was by laughter, I am more than indemnified for the loss of ‘Nobody’s House.’
“In the matter of Marmaduke, I believe he is keeping house in the big barn on the road to——. I have already notified his parents of this. To the Rescue, O ye Heroes!
“I have the honor, your excellencies, to sign myself your humble servant.
“B. F. Stolz.”
This Stolz was a remarkable man—almost a genius. Professionally a farmer, he was wholly taken up with the pastime of playing practical jokes. No subject, no person, was too exalted to escape him; and, as his letter proves, he stooped to play off his tricks on even boys! In this instance he had actually spied on them, and let them make free with his house, intending to electrify them as a hobgoblin when they should have worked themselves up to a proper pitch of excitement.