The situation actually was more serious than he liked to acknowledge. Since the night of the party, word had spread throughout Webster City that Old Terry had caught the Cubs with property stolen from the Christian Church basement.
Friends and acquaintances of the Den 2 boys knew that the tale was untrue. Whenever the Cubs encountered others repeating the story, they denied it vigorously. How well their assertions were believed, they could not tell.
Never by word nor act had Mr. Hatfield even hinted that he doubted the Cubs. Repeatedly he assured them that the truth would come out in the end. Yet, sometimes the Cub leader looked so worried, the boys wondered if he weren’t keeping really bad news from them.
Since the night of the party, Dan had seen Pat Oswald only once. The Bay Shore boy had come to the Cub clubroom to ask if the Purple Five might have a final practice in the gymnasium before the Friday night game.
“I suppose so,” Dan had told him. “You’ll have to talk to Mr. Hatfield about it.”
Pat had loitered too long to please the Cubs. Deliberately, he looked over the exhibits, the achievement lists, and especially Fred’s fort.
“Heard your party was a bust the other night,” he twitted Dan. “Someone stole your ice cream, eh?”
“It was a low down trick.” Dan looked the Bay Shore boy squarely in the eyes and Pat’s gaze wavered. “You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you?”
“Who, me? What an idea!” Pat laughed uproarously.
He slipped out the clubroom door before Dan could fire any more questions at him.