The Golden Boys and Their New Electric Cell

by L. P. Wyman

According to the man's account, the house in the woods belonged to him. It had been built by a man from New York, three years ago, who intended to use it as a summer home, but his wife had died before it was completely furnished, and he had bought it at a very low price. King and Reed had driven into his yard one afternoon, a week or so ago, in an automobile. The smaller of the two, Reed, had said that he was a wealthy business man from Boston and that King was his servant. He, Reed, had suffered from a nervous breakdown, and his doctor had ordered him to go way somewhere, with his man, where he could be perfectly quiet and where no one would bother him, and they were looking for a place which they could rent.

He had at once thought of the log house in the woods and had offered to show it to them. On seeing it, Reed had declared it to be just the thing and had paid him a month's rent in advance. He had thought that Reed was pretty healthy looking for a sick man, but considered it none of his business so long as he got his money. He had seen but little of them, but did know that they were away most of the time. Yes, he thought it strange, seeing that he wanted to be perfectly quiet, but here again, it was none of his affair and he had not bothered his head about it.

Bob asked him why he had been so hostile toward Jack and him, and why his son had stolen their wheels, and why he had kept the cap, on abandoning them. He said, in explanation, that Reed had called at the house one day, and during their conversation had told him that two boys had stolen an invention from him. Some kind of a storage battery, the secret of which was in some metal caps. He had said that he was very anxious to get back at least one of the caps as he had lost the formula for making them and had been unable to get the right proportion of metals. Asked why he didn't have the boys arrested, he had replied that, unfortunately, he had no proof that they had stolen it, but that he would give one thousand dollars to get one of the caps. So, it happened that when he had seen the boys the day before, and had noticed the electric motors on their wheels, he had at once jumped to the conclusion that they were the boys Reed had told him about. So, seeing a good chance, as he thought, to make one thousand dollars honestly and without much trouble, he and his son, who had been at work in a field nearby, had followed them, and he guessed they knew the rest.

The farmer's story sounded plausible enough as he told it, and, as they had no evidence to the contrary, Mr. Switzer said he guessed probably he was all right, but cautioned him to be more careful in the future or he might get into trouble, and telling him that he might be called as a witness, proposed that they start back.

"I don't know I'm sure," he said to the boys, on the way back, "whether that fellow was telling the truth or not, but as long as we caught the robbers, I don't see that we'd gain anything by arresting him and I guess we'd have a pretty hard time proving anything against him."

"Well, I got one good crack at him anyhow," chuckled Bob, "and I guess that son of his will think twice the next time, before he tackles a dude."

As the car drew up in front of the bank, they found that their father and the others had returned and getting their wheels, the boys lost no time in starting for the cottage, as they felt, according to Jack, hollow clear to the toes. Mrs. Golden said that he and Uncle Ben had eaten lunch and would be up later as he had some business to attend to at the bank.

As they rode through the town, they had to stop a dozen times and receive congratulations from their friends, and it was nearly two o'clock when they reached the cottage. However, they found a good lunch awaiting them, as their father had 'phoned that they were coming. While eating, they gave their mother, their aunt and the two girls an account of the events of the forenoon.

"I am very glad," declared Mrs. Golden, "that they are caught, as I would never have felt easy with them at large."

Mr. Golden and Uncle Ben came up in time for supper and the evening was spent in talking over the events of the last few days.