The tools upon being exhibited were soon claimed by Mr. Mallet, the carpenter, who said that when he reached his shop that morning he found a window had been forced, and quite a quantity of his property carried away. And so it was rendered impossible to identify the rascals by the abandoned tools.
Of course, had Andy wished to carry the thing further he might have drawn attention to the fact that Percy Carberry, Sandy Hollingshead, and another boy often seen in their company were absent from their customary haunts that morning; and if interviewed at home would be found to have sundry patches of court plaster adorning their noses and foreheads which would indicate that there must have been an epidemic of falling out of bed on the preceding night. But of course Andy did not mean to pursue the matter any further, believing that “all was well that ended well,” and that the boys had already been sufficiently punished.
What he did do immediately after leaving the shed was to call up Frank on the phone at the drug store. Frank did not often oversleep, but being up late on the night before, seemed to cause him to lie abed a little later on this morning. He happened to be eating his breakfast at the time the bell rang; and as the phone was in the diningroom of course he answered it.
“Hello! this you, Frank?” came in a voice he recognized as belonging to Andy.
“Yes, what’s all this row about?” answered Frank, humorously.
“Coming down here soon; I’m at the drugstore close to the station, you know?” the other went on to say.
“What’s the matter—anything happen?” demanded the boy at the other end of the wire as if realizing from Andy’s manner that there had something occurred that must be out of the common.
“Sure. We had company, and the greatest old time you ever heard of, Frank. Tell you about it when you get here. We’re going to breakfast now, and will meet you at the freight shed later to see the stuff packed in the car.”
“Hold on. Was there any damage done to our machine?” demanded the other.
“Never a scratch; but it was a close shave. So-long, Frank; see you later!” and having accomplished his object, which was to excite his cousin’s curiosity to fever pitch, for it was seldom he had the chance to do such a thing as this, Andy abruptly severed connections and hurried home to get something to eat.