“Sure!” nodded Jim, grimly. “Of course, it would be Mr. Gates.”
“But why?” asked Vench.
“Oh, just to make us feel that he was right about his stand against Dimsdale,” Don answered, wearily. “Just a petty, babyish revenge, that is all. He got these three men to take away the eagles so that it would cast reflections on Dimsdale. Maybe he even hoped to plant the eagles on their property later on, I don’t know. Or, if they were never found he would allow the suspicion between the two schools to rankle for years to come. You can’t say anything bad enough about a man like that.”
“You bet you can’t,” agreed the captain. “How did you know we were down here, Peter?”
“My wife, she tell me when I stop up there with my two friends,” the laborer replied.
“You just listen here, Peter,” Terry lectured. “In the future you stop having such kind of friends, do you hear? We’re going to be good to you and not take you to jail, just because we wouldn’t want to be mean to your wife and the kids, see? But if we ever catch you hanging around with bad men like that again, we’ll see that you go away to the big prison for years and years. See, Mr. Peter?”
“Yes, yes!” the man agreed, eagerly. “I will make good friends always, like you!”
“Thanks for the compliment!” laughed Hudson. “Now, we’d better get out of here. Peter, you show us the way down the path, and no funny business!”
They picked up the brass eagles, which were quite heavy, and following Peter, lugged them down the path. It was growing dark and it seemed a long way back, but in time they stood in the back yard of the Cozoza house.
“Another thing, Peter,” Don said to the laborer, as they prepared to set out for the village. “We want you to keep quiet about the whole thing. If you don’t, we’ll have to go back on our promise about the jail. If Mr. Gates should ask you about the eagles you tell him some of the soldier boys came and took them away, and that you couldn’t stop them. Outside of that we want you to keep your mouth closed about the whole business. Understand?”