  “Let’s see if there’s anything missing!” As Andy made this remark he started to gather up some of his possessions that strewed the floor close to his suitcase, where they had been hastily thrown when the leather receptacle was emptied. “Wait a minute,” said Rob, halting him in the work; “let’s take a general look around first. It seems to me as if they hadn’t gotten more than half-way through our trunk. That would indicate something had alarmed the thief, and caused him to leave in a hurry.” “Oh, mebbe I’m not tickled nearly to death!” exclaimed Hiram, suddenly, beaming on the others as though he felt like shaking hands with himself over something. “What about?” asked Tubby. “I can give a guess,” said Rob. “It’s about the papers we left in the safe downstairs, eh, Hiram?” “Just what it is, Rob,” admitted the other, continuing to show his pleasure. “Only for your smartness in getting me to deposit the packet with the clerk under a seal, it might have been in my bag right here. Say, I wonder now, if that was what the thief wanted?” “But no one out here would suspect that you carried valuable papers, Hiram,” objected Rob. “How do we know that?” asked the other, who had seized upon that explanation of the mystery, and saw no reason as yet to abandon his theory. “Didn’t I tell you how several companies I approached had men in their employ who tried to play smart games on me, so as to steal the fruits of my labor? Rob, you haven’t forgotten that unscrupulous Marsters, have you?” “Why, no, but there’s a whole lot that would have to be explained about him before I could believe he had anything to do with this game,” Rob told him. “Then you’re of the opinion it’s just an ordinary everyday hotel sneak thief who’s been looking through our stuff in hopes of finding some spare money hidden away in one of our grips, is that it, Rob?” and Andy started in once more to gathering up his scattered property, rubbing at the bosom of a shirt where it seemed to be marked with dirty fingers. “I don’t believe he found anything worth taking,” said Hiram, “because we made it a point never to keep valuables in our bags, outside of those rolls belonging to your Professor McEwen.” “If anything worth a considerable amount had been stolen,” ventured Rob, “I’d have stopped Andy before now from destroying one of the finest clues that could ever be found. I mean that finger-print so plainly marked on the bosom of your white shirt. With the modern methods used by the police to fix a crime on a criminal, that dark impression of his fingers would prove the fellow guilty in case they could use a drag net and round-up a bunch of suspects.” Tubby stood and watched the others work, gathering their belongings together. Both Hiram and Andy growled occasionally because the thief in his haste to look through everything had jumbled things considerably. “What did he want to waste his precious time for trying to find anything worth while in the belongings of three boys?” Andy asked, as though he had a personal grievance against the rogue who had entered their rooms with a duplicate key, since they had certainly found the door locked. Struck with an idea, Rob stepped over to one of the windows and looked out. “Think he may have climbed in from some fire-escape, don’t you, Rob?” demanded Tubby, who had noted this move on the part of the scout leader. “The idea struck me,” admitted Rob, “but it only took one look to tell me such a thing is quite impossible, and out of the question. No, he must have come in by the door.” “And went out the same way?” continued Tubby. “Yes, after upsetting our things in the way he did,” pursued Rob. “I s’pose he found out that the owners of the trunk and bags were only three boys,” Tubby went on to say in his logical way, “and then he threw up the game; no use expecting to run across jewelry or any extra cash in baggage belonging to boys seeing the Fair.” “Seems like it’s the old story over again,” Hiram remarked, “and there’s no end to the queer things we run up against. I’m getting so nowadays I expect some surprise to break in on me any minute, day or night. If it isn’t one thing then it’s another. And when all else fails why we c’n depend on Tubby here to keep the wheels spinning with some of his antics.” “Antics!” echoed Tubby, indignantly. “I object to you giving my adventure of this afternoon such a name as that. You must think I would purposely tie myself to a speeding aËroplane, and then have to run after it just for the fun of the thing. Antics nothing. Misfortunes, you’d better call my troubles after this.” “Oh, never mind, Tubby! After all, you didn’t get hurt,” said Andy. “In this case it looks like the thief had had his troubles for nothing.” “I’ve got a theory,” said Rob, “but of course there’s no way of proving it. It’s connected with those two fellows who tried to play a smart game on Hiram here at Los Angeles, and got left for their pains.” “Hello! I haven’t heard anything about that up to now,” exclaimed Tubby. “Who and what were they, Rob? Ten to one you engineered a scheme to block them, because it would be just like Rob Blake to do that.” So Andy, having a glib tongue, took it upon himself to relate the adventure of the through train, and how the two clever rogues had tried to get them to enter a carriage as prisoners, meaning, of course, to rob Hiram as soon as the chance came. Tubby laughed when he heard how their plan was brought to naught. His merriment grew even more boisterous after he learned that Rob had taken Hiram’s papers to secrete them on his person, while the other hid some old letters in an inside pocket, which were deftly “lifted” during the short time the boys happened to be in close touch with the pair of rogues. “Just to think of the bitter disappointment they met with,” said Tubby between his gasps. “I’m sure they’ll remember you fellows with anything but pleasure. Every time they glimpse a boy in khaki they’ll be apt to utter some hard words.” “Well,” continued Rob, “it was on what they must feel that I based my theory. You see, they must have been coming to one of the expositions, probably the big Panama-Pacific show, to ply their trade. That would take them here to San Francisco. By some chance or other they may have seen us, and found out where we are stopping; and this raid was carried out more with a desire to have revenge on us than anything else. If some one hadn’t alarmed the fellows they might have amused themselves destroying everything in our bags and trunk.” “A mean revenge, but I wouldn’t put it past a thief who was boiling mad because three Boy Scouts had managed to get the better of him,” Andy declared, with considerable emphasis, which looked as though he rather favored the theory advanced by the scout leader. “Whee! I hope this thing isn’t as catching as the measles,” ventured Tubby. “You know, I’ve gone and paid out some good money for several things that caught my eye in the booths at the Exposition; and I’d hate to have some one get away with them during my absence.” “Oh, small chance of that happening, Tubby! And if you’re afraid to stay alone to-night, why, I’ll go over with you to get your bag, and come on here,” Andy told the anxious one. Perhaps Tubby was at first sorely tempted to accept that offer; but then he chanced to catch a gleam of amusement on Hiram’s face. That settled the matter. Pride stepped in and took the reins. “Oh, never mind about that, Andy!” he hastened to say. “It’s very kind of you to offer me help, but I think I had better wait until morning. I’ll be around early and take breakfast with the bunch, remember. What time do you eat?” Hiram and Andy allowed Rob to settle that for them. “Call it eight o’clock, then. We’ll wait that long for you, Tubby,” the scout leader said. “I’ll be on the move by seven, and as I expect to pack my bag to-night before turning in, it isn’t going to take me long to finish.” Tubby got up as though he knew he ought to be going; but apparently he hated to part from his chums. They had been together so much of recent years that they were as thick as peas in a pod. Rob somehow did not seem to be altogether satisfied with the result of his first examination of the room; he was heard moving around in the second apartment. When he joined the rest again, Andy, who must have guessed what he had been about, began to question Rob. “Find anything to give the game away in there, Rob?” he asked. “Well, no, not that I could see,” the scout leader replied. “The door, as you may remember, is locked, and the key at the office, where we haven’t bothered taking it out. Besides, when we left this morning I shot the bolt home, so that no thief could have entered by that door; and certainly no one left the room that way, or the bolt would not be in the socket as it is.” “Oh, well, what’s the use of bothering about it? We don’t as a rule believe in crying over spilled milk. If that’s the case, why should we fret when there’s been no damage done at all, except my white shirt being soiled by finger prints?” “Send that to the hotel laundry and forget it,” advised Tubby. “Where did I leave my hat? Oh, here it is! By the way, don’t be surprised when you see me in the morning, because I expect to be togged out in my khaki uniform, which Uncle had me fetch along in my big collapsible grip.” “We’ll try and stand the wonderful sight the best way we can,” Hiram told him; “but break it to us by inches, please, Tubby, so as to avoid as much risk as possible. I’ve got a weak heart, you know, and a sudden shock might be serious.” “Too bad you made your bargain with the hotel clerk before you donned your khaki, Tubby,” ventured Andy. “He might have given you the room at half the price you expect to pay for it now on the European plan. Your presence here would be a standing advertisement for the place. They could afford to let you stay for nothing if only you’d agree to stand outside the restaurant door an hour each day, and pick your teeth.” All this kind of “joshing” had no effect on Tubby, who really seemed rather to enjoy being a target for these shafts of sarcasm leveled by his comrades, for his smile was as bright and cheery as ever. “I’ll tie my shoe first, and then skip out. Must be going on nine o’clock now, and I’ve got some lost sleep to make up.” Saying which he dropped down on one knee and set to work. The others accommodated themselves to the several easy-chairs, Hiram swinging one of his long legs over the arm of his seat in real Yankee fashion. Rob yawned, and then taking out his little notebook—in which he was particular to jot down every daily event of any consequence on the trip—he felt in his pocket for a pencil. “By the way, Hiram, you borrowed my pencil this afternoon, and didn’t return it,” he remarked, stretching out his hand toward the other scout, who, with a sheepish shrug of his shoulders, fished the article in question out of his vest pocket and handed it over. It was just then that Tubby fairly scrambled to his feet. Rob looked up in some surprise, when to his further astonishment the fat boy tiptoed over, bent down, and said: “Please don’t give me the grand laugh, Rob, when I tell you I saw something moving under that bed there—a pair of shoes!” |
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