“Haven’t been off the walk or the porch,” Dan said, and most of the Cubs gave a similar reply.
“Well, a gang of kids must have been here then,” Brad declared. “See the tracks lead toward the hedge. Here, you can tell that something heavy was dragged over the ground.”
“Maybe it was Pat and his gang!” Fred exclaimed. “Of all the mean ingratitude! We let ’em use our gym and equipment, and they repay us by stealing our ice cream!”
“We worked so hard to make it too!” Red added.
“We ought to call off our basketball games with ’em—that’s what,” Midge said indignantly.
Mr. Hatfield reminded the Cubs that they had no proof that the ice cream actually had been taken by Pat and his cronies.
“It looks highly suspicious,” he admitted, “but I’m in favor of giving the other fellow the benefit of the doubt.”
Several of the Den Dads toured the church yard, in search of the culprits. They returned to report no sign of the freezers, or the persons who had taken them. Evidently the theft had been accomplished nearly a half hour earlier, or at least long before the discovery of the loss.
“No chance of catching anyone now,” Mr. Hatfield said regretfully. “We may as well forget about it.”
“Forget it?” Midge wailed. “After all the work we did?”