“I think I do,” nodded Don in a low voice. “After Gates had promised Long that he would confess his dishonorable action he said he would write it where it would stand for good. Long didn’t know what he meant by that, but when he had left the room Gates scratched that confession on the bottom of the cup with a sharp instrument.”
“Yes,” went on the colonel. “Long never knew of that, and during the night Gates must have experienced a change of heart, so he took the cup on the following morning. He knew that Long would expose him if he went back on his promise to confess, so he stole that cup in order to create an atmosphere that would make Long the butt of ridicule if he ever came out with the story of Gates’ dishonesty.”
“How can a man with any sense of common decency do a thing like that?” wondered Jim.
The colonel shrugged his shoulders. “I’m very much afraid that Arthur Gates was never a shining light of virtue. We have found out that he was dismissed from at least one school for an offense such as he committed here. You can see that he would never have the courage to face the school and say, ‘Gentlemen, I cheated.’ Under Long’s persuasion he relented long enough to write the confession on the cup, but I guess he bitterly regretted his act later.”
“The cup was a nightmare to him,” said Jim. “He didn’t have the nerve to take it to a jeweler, so he kept it hidden in his own house.”
“Things are getting pretty bad,” murmured Terry, staring at the simple confession on the cup. “A fellow can’t tell a lie without having it come back after him years later!”
“That’s something a man can never escape,” replied the colonel briefly. “But tell me how you got the cup.”
Don related his share and the other two boys had just finished telling their part in the adventure when there was the sound of a car stopping outside the school door. The sound of determined footsteps followed and then the hall door was opened. Don, guessing what was in the wind, pushed the cup from sight under the colonel’s desk. A slight nod from the portly headmaster showed that he grasped the situation.
Melvin Gates strode into the office with his son Arthur at his heels. The elder Gates was fairly bristling and his son wore a blustering air that deceived no one. Melvin Gates shot a triumphant glance at the assembled party and then addressed the colonel.
“Look here, Morrell, do you know that these boys have been breaking into my house tonight?” he rasped.