There had been so few things in Pepsy’s poor little life that she had put her whole intense little heart and soul in this and was resolved that this hero from the great world of Bridgeboro should buy the tents which in plain fact he had already forgotten about.
So it happened that while Pepsy was lying on her left side (one of Licorice Stick’s prescriptions) to insure good luck for the morrow, Pee-wee was dangling his legs from the counter eating a doughnut.
What concerned him now was this mystery of the speeding cyclists. That was the big thing in his young life. He believed them to be fugitives. Their reckless speed, and the fact that they used no headlights, gave color to this delightful supposition. Little had they thought that this diminutive scout, unseen in the darkness, had read that message in the Morse Code with perfect ease. Hide Kelly’s Barn. What did that mean?
If Pee-wee had liked Beriah Bungel, the Everdoze constable, he would have gone to him with this information. But he disliked Beriah Bungel with true scout thoroughness; he knew him to be officious, and swelling with self-importance and he was not going to put business in such a creature’s way.
But the next morning something happened which showed Scout Harris in a new light. Going to the post office early in the morning, he saw a sign posted on the bulletin board and he read it with lively interest.
$250.00 REWARD
for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thieves who stole two motorcycles from the yard of Chandlers Motorcycle Repair Shop in Baxter City.
The machines are Indian models bearing license plates 2570 and 92632. Both machines are comparatively new.
Communicate with Austin Sawyer, County prosecutor, County of Borden, Baxter City.
This notice had evidently been brought down by the mail driver early in the morning and several distinguished citizens of Everdoze were gathered about commenting on it. It seemed certain that none of the Everdoze dozers had heard the motorcycles and surely no one in the village would have been any the wiser for seeing those quick, tiny flashes, which told so much to the scout.