“Perhaps he figures that if they did, Woodcrest people would naturally take his part against Dimsdale. I wonder if you fellows are getting the same idea that I am?” Jim advanced.
“Perhaps we are,” Terry replied, slowly. “Are you beginning to think that Gates had the eagles stolen to keep alive bad feeling and to make us think he was right all along?”
“That is just what I think!” said Jim. “Just a sort of a petty revenge. Now all we have to do is to prove it!”
Chapter 11
The Hunt in the Swamp
“Guess what I just found?” smiled Cadet Jim Mercer, joining a group at the piano in the recreation room.
Douglas was playing the piano and Don, Terry, Vench and Hudson were standing around listening. Jim had been at Inslee Hall visiting a friend and had just popped into the recreation room. It was in the evening just before study period.
“The pot at the end of the rainbow!” laughed Vench. “Lot of people been hunting for that a long time!”
“I wouldn’t be likely to find that at night, would I?” retorted Jim. He unbuttoned the overcoat and dipped his hand into his jacket pocket. “This is what I found.”
He produced a long, thin instrument of steel, at the sight of which the assembled boys cried out. It was nothing less than a steel saw, slightly rusty from exposure to the weather. One end of it had been broken off.
“Ah, ha!” cried the senior captain, examining it closely. “A steel saw! That thing was used to saw off the base of our eagles!”