The Wolf Patrol Part 25

'Yes, White, there's a door,' replied Mr. Elliott; 'but it's in the floor, and that's what we're going to look at.'

Guided by the shine of the lantern, the party marched across the floor of the huge damp vault, and the senior partner paused beside a broad trap-door, and threw the light upon it. He gave a long, low whistle, and his brother said, 'Ah, first point to Slynn, Richard.'

'It is, it is,' said the latter, after a pause--'it certainly is.'

The trap-door was in two halves, meeting on a broad central bar slotted into the stones at either end. Each half was secured by a couple of big iron bolts running into sockets fixed on the bar. The right half was firmly fastened; the left half was unfastened at this instant; the great bolts were drawn back, and the sockets were empty.

The senior partner put his foot on the left flap. 'Here you are, inspector,' he said. 'The thieves came in here.' And in a few words he explained about the old water-gate.

'Then they had an accomplice inside, sir,' cried the inspector.

'Yes, that's very certain,' replied Mr. Elliott. 'He drew the bolts before he left the warehouse for the night, but he hasn't been yet to replace them.'

'My word, sir!' burst out White, 'there's one man never turned up to work this morning--Luke Raper. Can he have had anything to do with it?'

'Is everyone else here?' asked the inspector.

'Everyone,' returned White.

'Then I'll send one of my men after Raper at once,' said the police-officer.

'Very good,' remarked Mr. Elliott; 'and while Raper is being looked up, we'll go on the next step of our investigations.'

He had already ordered a boat to be got ready at a stage near at hand, and thither went the two partners, Chippy, and Inspector Bird. The manager was left at the warehouse to see that everyone employed about it stayed there until the police had finished their inquiries. The boat was rowed by a couple of watermen, and as soon as the party of four had taken their seats it was pulled down the river and up the creek to the spot where the derelict old barquentine lay.

The first man on the _Three Spires_ was Mr. James Elliott. He scrambled down the companion, and raised a loud cry of surprise and pleasure. 'Here they are!' he called out. 'Here are the missing bales! Slynn was right in every particular.'

He was soon joined by the others, and again the senior partner indulged in his long, low whistle when he saw the missing goods neatly piled in a dry corner.

'As clever a hiding-place as ever I heard of!' cried Inspector Bird.

'No one would ever think of overhauling this old hulk. But there's your stuff, sir, all right.'

The senior partner dropped his hand on Chippy's shoulder. 'Slynn,' he said, 'you are a brave, clever lad. I'll admit now that I could scarcely believe your story, but I am sure that you have spoken the truth in every particular. My brother and I are not only grateful to you for this recovery of our property, but you have done a service to every honest man about the warehouse. It ought not to be difficult now to trace the thief and remove all suspicion from straightforward men.'

'A very good piece of work indeed, No. 1,' chimed in the instructor; then he turned to his brother. 'Well, Richard,' he said in quiet triumph, 'this is one up to the boy scouts, I think.'

'It is, Jim,' returned the senior partner; 'there's no mistake about that. A movement which trains youngsters to be cool and level-headed in this fashion ought to be supported.'

At this moment Inspector Bird, who had been searching the vessel generally, came back to the group below the companion. He had been given a general idea of Chippy's work in the discovery of the stolen goods, and now he wished to question the scout.

'First thing,' he said, 'did you know either of the men?'

'No,' said Chippy; 'I never saw their faces, and the only way I could spot one of 'em 'ud be becos he'd lost a finger.'

'Lost a finger!' cried Mr. Jim Elliott. 'Why, Luke Raper's a finger short!'

'Ah, ha!' said Inspector Bird; 'this begins to look like narrowing it down, gentlemen. It seems to me the sooner we have a talk to Mr. Luke Raper, the better.'

'We'll go back to the warehouse,' said the senior partner, 'and see whether your man has Drought Raper up to the mark.'

So back to the warehouse they went, leaving one of the watermen to guard the goods on the _Three Spires_ until they could be removed. But there was no Luke Raper at the warehouse, nor was he ever seen there again. The police found that he had vanished from his lodgings, leaving no clue whither he had gone, and he was never traced. Chippy always felt certain that he was the timorous partner of the pair of thieves, and had fled because he feared implication in the murder which he believed had been committed.

Almost at the same time a wild, drunken longsh.o.r.eman, known as Spitfire Bill--a name which his savage temper had earned for him--disappeared from the wharves of Bardon River, and very possibly he was Raper's accomplice. No one could say, for neither man was ever brought to book; but Raper's guilt was certain, for every other man about the place could account for himself clearly, and none other than Raper had a deformed hand.

Mr. Elliott wished to give Chippy a handsome reward, but the Raven steadily refused to take it. 'Can't be done,' was his reply. 'Yer see, theer's Law 2 an' the back end o' Law 5; they'm dead agin it.'

However, Mr. Elliott did something which filled Chippy and his followers with immense delight. He rigged out the Raven Patrol, from their leader down to No. 8, in full khaki scout's rig, so that when they went out in friendly compet.i.tion or on a scouting-run with their friends the Wolves it was hard to say which patrol was the more smartly turned out.

CHAPTER XXVII

d.i.c.k'S GREAT PLAN

No one was more delighted to hear of Chippy's clever work in connection with the robbery than his fellow patrol-leader, d.i.c.k Elliott. Part of d.i.c.k's delight, if the truth must be told, was on his own account.

'Now,' he said to himself, 'if I can only get permission to go myself, I ought to be sure of Chippy as my companion for the week.'

What did this mean? It meant that d.i.c.k was turning over in his mind a splendid plan which he had formed for Whitsun week, if only he could gain permission to carry it out.

He was burning to go a real scouting journey--a journey upon which he would be cast upon his own resources, sleeping under the sky, or in a hay-loft or barn, and marching through the country, patrol staff in hand, taking what might come. He thought it would be splendid if he could set out on such a tramp with Chippy for a companion; and surely, after Chippy's splendid bit of work for the firm, it would be easy to beg for a week's holiday for him.

The Grammar School was always closed in Whit-week for local reasons.

The fine old building stood at one side of the wide market-place, and this place was the scene of a great annual fair--a fair as old as the town itself, and possibly older. In former days, when manners were ruder and rougher, the school had not been closed during Whitsun Fair, and traditions still existed among the schoolboys of wild pranks played by their predecessors among the booths and stalls. In this way enmity arose between the boys and the fair-folk--an ill-feeling which had more than once given rise to pitched battles and serious rioting, as the town records went to prove. So towards the close of the eighteenth century the practice arose of closing the school during the fair, and forbidding the boys to frequent the market-place. During the hundred years and more that had pa.s.sed since then the fair had fallen off very much, but the Whit-week holiday was still given at the school.

d.i.c.k's first move in the matter was to go to his uncle and lay the whole affair before him, including his hopes of having Chippy as a companion.

'I don't see that you could come to much harm in a few days,' said his uncle, when d.i.c.k had finished. 'I suppose you want me to back you up with your father and mother.'

'That's just it, uncle,' cried d.i.c.k; 'if you'll only do that, I shall be awfully glad.'

'Well, go ahead,' said his uncle; 'I'll do what I can for you.'

Even with his uncle's help d.i.c.k had some difficulty in gaining his parents' consent. At last his father was struck with a brilliant idea, which he thought would settle the affair very neatly. 'We'll let him go, as he's so keen on it,' said Mr. Elliott to his wife; 'but we'll soon have him back. I've thought of a plan.' And he explained it.

That evening d.i.c.k was in the schoolroom busy with his lessons for the next day, when he was summoned to the study, where his father was sitting by the fire with the evening paper.

'Well, d.i.c.k,' said Mr. Elliott, 'about that scouting idea of yours, now.'

'Oh, father,' burst out d.i.c.k, 'I can go, can't I? And Chippy as well?

I'm sure you ought to be willing to spare him for a week.'

'Perhaps, perhaps,' laughed Mr. Elliott; 'but wait a little. I'm going to put a plan before you, to take it or leave it. Here it is: You shall start Whit-Monday morning, and I'll give you a couple of half-sovereigns. One will be for the expenses of yourself and your companion----'

'Hooray! Chippy's coming!' yelled d.i.c.k.

'Your companion on the road,' went on Mr. Elliott; 'and you must give me your word as a scout that you will not go outside that ten shillings for any expense whatsoever. The other half-sovereign is for your rail-fare home as soon as you are on your beam-ends--and that will be pretty soon, I shouldn't wonder. It will cover you up to sixty miles third-cla.s.s, and you're not likely to get outside that radius on your feet.'