H. Irving Hancock

“ A small morocco purse fell to the sidewalk.
"Why, that's mine!" cried a woman.
"I know it, ma'am. I saw this spalpeen take it from your pocket," nodded Policeman Whalen. "Come along with me, lad! And ye come, too, ma'am, and claim your pocketbook."
"Oh, I'm so glad you saw him do it," quivered the young woman, her face white from the shock caused by the thought of losing her Christmas money.
"I wouldn't have seen him do it," admitted Whalen honestly, "only Dick Prescott called my attention to the spalpeen." ”

“ Fits was told.
"Jupiter!" breathed Tom excitedly. "Say, I wish we could run that fellow down. I'm just aching to pay him back for the night of ghost scare that he gave us out in the forest!"
"I'd like well enough to see him caught," Dick agreed. "But I can't say that I want to do it myself."
"Why not?" challenged Tom.
"Well, he's a powerful big brute, and I doubt if we four could handle Mr. Fits."
"Huh!" retorted Tom. "I'd like to try it, anyway. And, if we had the chance, and missed, four of us could make noise enough to bring a few men to our aid." ”

“ Be careful not to let any of the hot water scald the pigeon's feet."
Working gently, in order not to alarm the spent bird, Dick and Greg soon had the window open, and Greg drew in the all but frozen little flyer.
"Say, we can have pigeon stew, or pie, if anyone knows how to make a pie," cried Hen Dutcher.
"You scoundrel!" breathed Greg fiercely. "Your stomach makes a brute of you, Hen Dutcher!"
"Oh, what's the sense of being silly about nothing but just a bird?" insisted Hen.
"I'll fight any fellow who proposes eating this poor little wayfarer," announced Greg. ”

“ Tom declared. "He'll agree to it by to-night."
"How about you, Dan?" queried Dick.
"I can go—not," groaned Dalzell.
"I hope to go," announced Greg. "All I could get out of my father was that he was in a rush, but that he'd talk it over with me to-morrow and let me know what he had to say."
Hazelton admitted that he was in the same plight, as to a delayed decision, but he did not speak as though he were very hopeful of being permitted to go.
"It'll just be a shame if we can't all go," Dave declared seriously. "It won't be a quarter as much fun unless we have the whole crowd." ”

“ Woe unto you, if you try to turn and come back into this cabin! We won't stand any more of you."
Like one beaten, and knowing it, Fits shambled out into the storm. No one followed him [111] to see that he reached the shack safely. Any man in good health could do far more than perform that feat.
"Shut the door and bar it, please," chattered Dan Dalzell. "Whew, but having that door open has made this place a cold storage plant!"
"Fellows," spoke up Dick, "if this blizzard is to continue, we'll presently freeze to death in here unless we get more firewood while we can." ”

“ Dick made no answer, deeming silence the wiser course.
"Sneak!" added Ripley.
Dick held up his hand as a signal to his chums to preserve silence. Outside the other boys heard no noise save that made by Tom Reade when he began to feed the fire, for the interior of the cabin was growing a trifle chilly.
"Now, don't say a word to them, no matter [216] what those fellows yell at us," Dick whispered, circulating among his chums. "Don't even let them hear us talking among ourselves. If everything is still in here, and they can't get any answer from us, that may set them to guessing. ”

“ No wonder the youngsters, when they were through with breakfast, and in a cabin now warm from one end to the other, felt, as Dick expressed it:
"Say, we're at peace with the whole world, aren't we?" he asked.
"Yes," agreed Dan solemnly. "Mr. Fits is snowed in tight."
"We're even at peace with Hen Dutcher, the miserable shirk," rumbled Tom Reade. [128]
"That reminds me," said Dick, turning. "Hen, it's up to you to wash all the dishes, and to do it tidily, too."
"I won't," retorted Hen defiantly. "I'm no servant to you fellows." ”

“ The distance from the door to the spring being some ninety feet, it was plain that more than an hour would be needed for digging the way to the spring.
"What's the use of all this trouble?" shouted Greg. "We can melt snow, anyway."
"Snow water doesn't taste very good," objected Dave Darrin.
"Besides, we don't want to admit ourselves stumped by a little snow," urged Dick. "Come on, fellows; we can make it if we have grit and industry enough. Here goes!"
With that Dick Prescott began to shovel harder than ever, so the two chums added their efforts. ”

“ A score of boys grinned, a dozen laughed outright. But Hen wasn't bright enough to see the point.
"What's an anvil got to do with it all?" demanded Hen in a puzzled tone. "An anvil belongs in a blacksmith shop."
"And that's where you ought to go, to do all your 'hammering' and 'knocking,'" explained Dave, as he skated slowly away.
"Huh! You think you're smart!" growled Hen, who still couldn't see why the other fellows had laughed.
"Hen," remarked Dick Prescott, "I'm afraid you're not up to concert pitch." ”

“ Soon after the pigeon took to flying more and more. He seemed attracted towards the windows, flying straight at them three or four times.
"Your pigeon isn't showing good manners, Dan," teased Tom. "He is showing as plainly as possible that he doesn't like this crowd."
"Most likely it's Hen he objects to," murmured Dalzell, with a grin. "But I'll tell you what I think Tit-bit wants. He's warm, fed and feels as strong as ever. What he wants, now, is to hit up a pace for Gridley and get back into the cote with his mates." ”

“ Dick stepped over to the cook stove, raising a lid.
"Look, fellows; here are a few live coals left here yet."
Dave and Tom joined him, staring at the embers in some astonishment.
"Yet there's no one here, and no tracks in the snow outside," observed Tom. "Say, if the tenant of this place can go over the snow without leaving a trail, it does look rather ghostly, eh?"
"A ghost wouldn't need warmth," Dick retorted promptly. ”

“ The youngsters soon began to warm up, and all became cheery.
"Oh, but this life is going to be great!" sighed Greg exultantly. "Say, fellows, I'm glad I thought of this way of putting in a vacation. Won't the other fellows in town be crazy when they hear what a great time we've had?"
"What I want to know," Harry broke in, "is whether rabbits really do run in the woods in winter? My mouth is made up for some rabbit stew."
"Maybe we can buy a couple of rabbits, then, from some farmer's son," suggested Dick dryly. ”

“ Hen Dutcher dropped the crockery plate he was drying, then plunged headlong into Dick's bunk, burrowing under the blankets.
"It's our crowd!" cried Dick joyously, as he leaped to Greg Holmes's side. "And there are two men with 'em." ”

“ So Dick's chums turned back, to see how their leader had fared.
Dr. Bentley was leaning over the boy, who, white and lifeless, lay at the edge of the sidewalk.
"Take him to the drug store, doctor," urged one of the women.
"He'll revive quicker in the open air, madam," answered the physician.
"Is young Prescott very badly hurt?"
"I can't tell yet," said Dr. Bentley. "There doesn't seem to be any fracture of the bone at the point where he was struck. And the back of his head seems to be sound and whole. I think Master Dick is simply stunned." ”

“ Hen Dutcher was traveling with so much effort that he panted hard as he skated.
"Get him, Dick!" sang out Ben Alvord, as Prescott shot ahead of the others.
Hen, looking back, saw Dick gaining on him swiftly, while Greg and Tom were just behind.
"They're mean as all-git-out!" sputtered panting Hen. "Why can't they let a fellow alone? Don't they think I've got as much right to talk as the rest of 'em? ”

“ Dan made a rush for the bow and arrow, fitting a steel tipped arrow to the string. Tom Reade espied the crowbar, and reached it in two bounds. Dave Darrin caught up a stick of firewood, Harry Hazelton following suit.
Hen Dutcher didn't do anything except to slink away to one side of the big room. His bravery didn't go beyond the risk of telling lies.
"If Fits makes a move towards any of us, fellows," commanded Dick, in a tone whose steadiness surprised even young Prescott himself, "then the rest close in on all sides and give this big bully the best you've got." ”

“ Fits warning. Then you yelled out again, just as we reached the cabin. Fits had had time to get on his snowshoes, and then he started. Whew, but snowshoes seem to be as swift as skates would be on the ice."
"Huh! You needn't blame me," sniffed Hen. "I didn't have anything to do with the rascal getting away. I'd have gone after him if I had had snowshoes."
The absurdity of this was so apparent that Dick & Co. burst into a chorus of laughter.
"Huh!" sneered Hen, though his face went very red. "You fellows think you're the only winds that ever blew."
"You wrong us, Hen," declared Tom solemnly. ”

“ Blankets, fur robes and food were transferred to the log cabin.
"But just how much better are we than thieves?" Greg suddenly asked. "We've just been taking things that didn't belong to us."
For a moment or two that was a poser, for every member of Dick & Co. tried, always, to be as open and honest as the day itself.
"Oh, well," grunted Dick at last, "we haven't been robbing Mr. Fits, for a man of his habits never has anything of his own. All that he has he steals from some one else."
"Then ought we not to try to find owners for [192] the food we've brought in from the shack?" queried Dave. ”

“ We all went out on the snow. We found the crust so hard and thick that we could stamp on it with force. Dave said that that was a good enough crust for him. So off he started, and Tom and Dan went with him. They ought to be back, with men to help, in an hour more."
"Hurrah!" glowed Greg. "Oh, I do hope that the constables get here in time to nab Mr. Fits."
"It'll be a good thing, all around, if that happens," nodded Dick. "But now—are you fellows hungry?"
Greg and Harry scurried away to wash hands and faces.
"I think you had a cheek to let three fellows go after help," grumbled Hen. ”

“ Might have colds, especially," remarked Dick thoughtfully. "Oh, I say, Joe! Haul up, quick!"
Dick was standing up, using his arms to signal an automobile that was coming toward them.
"Well, who's sick?" smiled Dr. Bentley, stopping his auto.
"Doctor, I have six free patients here for you," Dick announced solemnly.
"Good!" laughed the physician. "That's the kind I like best. What are you boys up to?"
"We're going camping, doctor, out in the forest, and may be gone a fortnight. Just this minute it struck us that we hadn't a bit of medicine with us in case any of us got sick. ”

“ It was eight in the morning when the first one of them awoke.
"Well, we got through the night without having any more of either Ripley or Fits," remarked Tom, as he dressed.
"Which is worse?" inquired Dave.
"Mr. Fits, by all means," Dick replied. "We can come very close to thrashing Fred Ripley and his crew. And they can be scared away, too. But Mr. Fits is downright dangerous."
"If all outsiders, intruders and enemies will only keep away from here we can have a splendid time after this," sighed Tom. ”

“ A man who has been practising medicine more than twenty years should know too much to be taken in by sham fits on the part of a thief who plays his trick in order to rob a crowd of Christmas shoppers. ”

“ Greg reminded him.
"Yes; but we're boys with a craze for open air and something different," Prescott maintained. "Now, if men have been living here, the case is different. Men don't care about schoolboy junkets. If the man or men who have been living here are honest, I don't mind. Such men will move on if they find that we're here, and that we alone have the proper authority to live here. But suppose the men are not honest? Or rough characters?"
"It will depend on how many there are of them," responded Dan, with one of his broad grins.
"Why?" challenged Dick. ”

“ If Dutcher were caught alone in the cabin by a fellow like Mr. Fits, Hen wasn't likely to hold out his knowledge against threats, and Fits must not be given another chance at the plunder he had first stolen and then hidden. [170]
Soon after darkness came on supper was ready.
"I wonder if we're going to hear the ghosts to-night," muttered Greg.
"No one knows that," Dick answered. "But I think we'd better keep one fellow on guard when the rest go to bed. The guard can take a two hour trick. He can keep the fire going, and, if anything happens, he can warn the other fellows in turn." ”

“ It was nearly half past two when the horses were finally hauled up before the log cabin. But now the truck was bare of boys. Dick & Co. had leaped overboard the instant they came in sight of the cabin, and had scampered on before for a look at the place.
"Say, this is great!" cried Greg. "The old cabin looks good and solid, too."
"But how do you get in?" queried Dan, bracing his shoulder against the door and pushing hard. "The place seems to be locked." ”