“I went past once on my way from Mr. Treuhaft’s place,” Dan answered. “That was Sunday.”
“Did you see anyone around the premises?”
“Why, no.” The questioned surprised Dan. “No person,” he amended. “I did see a sort of shadow moving away toward the graveyard. It might have been a person or an animal or—”
“Or a ghost?” interposed Midge, half teasingly.
The other Cubs however, were in no mood for his joke.
“How could the trustees threaten to sue for twenty thousand dollars?” Brad asked, deeply troubled. “Why, it’s silly! Anyway, they haven’t a chance of collecting, because we don’t have twenty dollars, much less twenty thousand.”
“They’re threatening to bring a court action against the entire Scout organization,” Mr. Hatfield explained. “The Scout treasury by coincidence has almost exactly twenty thousand. The money is in a special building fund.”
“Mr. Brady knew that!” Dan exploded. “That’s why he’s demanding so much.”
“Perhaps,” the Cubmaster agreed. “But any way we look at it, this is serious business. The honor of our Den is at stake.”
“How can they blame us for something we didn’t do?” Midge demanded.