Dan Carter and the Haunted Castle
Page 9
CHAPTER 9 A Neglected Duty
Surrounding the area from which the arrows had been shot, the Cubs closedin.
But, after whipping through the bushes, they were unable to find themysterious archer.
"The fellow knew we would be after him," Brad remarked, carefully lookingabout on the ground for telltale clues. "He must have run off the momenthe shot the arrows."
"He's good too," spoke up Ross. "Better than our champion, Dan Carter."
From the Den 1 boy's tone, it was evident that he still smarted underloss of the star role in the play. Dan, however, refused to be annoyed.
"He's a lot better shot than I am," he agreed.
"We ought to find him and let him take the part," Ross went on,determined to make the Den 2 boy feel uncomfortable. "He'd show us somereal shooting."
"I wish we could trail him," Dan replied. "He'd be an asset to our play."
"He must be a youngster too," added Brad, pointing to several footprintshe had found beside a bush. "See, his shoe is shorter than mine."
The cluster of footprints appeared in a tiny clearing which gave anunobstructed view of the target.
"He must have stood here when he shot those three arrows," Brad said."The question is, which way did he go?"
Some of the Cubs were for combing the entire wooded section. However, Mr.Hatfield, who had followed the boys, advised against such action.
"The person easily could elude us, for apparently he knows the trailswell," he declared. "Furthermore, we have work to do. Now that Dandefinitely has been chosen as Robin Hood, we must begin to whip our playinto shape."
"How about the other roles?" asked Midge. "Who is to be the Sheriff ofNottingham?"
"We've decided to give that role to Ross."
"I knew it!" Ross muttered. "Why can't I be Allan-a-Dale?"
"We're not ready for the scenes in which that character appears," the Cubleader explained patiently. "You'll make a fine sheriff. Besides, Mr.Holloway tells me we'll be able to refilm the banquet scene with nochange except the addition of costumes."
"Oh, fine!" Ross grumbled.
Returning to the clearing, all the Cubs worked hard for the next hour anda half. As the archery contest had been the main attraction, many of theparents began to drift away.
By mid-afternoon, only the Cubs and a few of their fathers remained. Theboys were reacting a scene which had given them trouble, when Red calledattention to a car that had driven into the grounds from the main road.
"Why, that looks like Mr. Kain," Dan remarked. "I guess he drove out tosee what we're doing here."
"He probably wants to make certain we aren't doing any damage," addedRed.
Mr. Kain alighted from his car and sauntered over to the group. Afterspeaking to several of the boys, he asked for Mr. Hatfield.
"He went off somewhere for a minute," Brad replied. "Anything we can do?"
"Well, I merely drove out to see that everything was under control here,"the bank employee answered. "I see you've cleared away this area in frontof the castle very efficiently."
"Yes, sir," agreed Brad, pleased by the praise. "A Cub always keeps apromise."
"I'll look around a bit. Don't mind me, boys. Go on with whatever youwere doing."
Mr. Kain wandered off in the general direction of the castle and vanishedfrom view. Belatedly, it occurred to Brad that he had neglected to tellthe bank man about the broken window.
"I'll do it before he leaves," he thought.
The scene upon which the Cubs were working finally was finished.Satisfied with the filming, Mr. Holloway told the boys to snatch a briefrest.
Brad took advantage of this period to go in search of Mr. Kain. The manhad been gone so long that the boy wondered what had detained him.
As he rounded a corner of the vine-covered castle, he came upon the bankemployee. Mr. Kain was gazing at the broken window.
"Well!" he remarked, seeing Brad. "When we gave the Cub Scouts permissionto use this property, we assumed they would exercise care."
"We did, too," replied Brad, ready to defend the organization. "If you'rereferring to that broken window, we didn't smash it."
"No? I don't recall seeing that it was broken when I inspected thepremises a few days ago."
"It was though," Brad assured him. "I meant to tell you about it, butforgot."
"Indeed?" Mr. Kain spoke coldly. "It seems the Cubs forget quite a fewthings."
"I don't know what you mean," Brad said. "It's the truth, we didn't smashthe window. When we first came here, we found it broken. Vines coveredthe panes, so it wasn't noticed."
"Since then, the Cubs have been going in and out whenever they felt likeit."
"I guess we did roam around a bit inside," Brad admitted. "But no harmwas done. I'm sure of that."
"I'll see that the window is repaired. However, there are other mattersthat concern me. Your failure to keep a promise, for instance."
Brad was dumbfounded. "My promise?" he echoed. "Why, I don't know whatyou mean, Mr. Kain."
"A promise was given me that if I allowed the Cub Scouts to use thisproperty, all the dead brush would be cleared away."
"We did the job too," Brad said indignantly. "You said yourself we workedvery efficiently."
"You did as far as clearing space for an archery range. I'll admit thatthe grounds look very well out front where they show. But the area behindthe castle hasn't been touched. And the fire hazard is greater there thanelsewhere."
"Why, I thought all the work had been done," Brad said in dismay. "Showme the place you mean."
"Gladly."
Mr. Kain led the Den Chief to the section of the estate which had beenassigned to Ross to clear.
"I don't wonder you're annoyed, Mr. Kain," Brad said as he viewed theuntouched accumulation of brush. "This area was assigned to one of theboys from Den 1. I thought the work had been done."
"Unless the Cubs keep their promises, I can't allow them to continue touse the grounds."
"The work will be done no later than tomorrow," Brad promised grimly."I'll give you my word."
The Den Chief's straightforward manner impressed the bank employee.
"Very well," he said, satisfied by the promise. "The Cubs may continue touse the grounds here, provided the work is done by tomorrow night. Ifnot, I'm afraid I'll have to put my foot down. The truth is, some of thebank officials aren't much in favor of the Cubs roaming around here. Ifany damage should be done, we'll have to ask you to leave."
"We'll take precautions," Brad promised again.
Mr. Kain did not wait to see Mr. Hatfield, but went directly to his car.As he bade Brad good-bye, however, he warned once more that he would beback within a day or two to make another inspection.
Scarcely had the car driven away than Dan sought his friend to learn whatwas wrong.
"Plenty!" Brad snapped. "That lazy Ross Langdon really has fouled us upthis time! We're apt to get bounced from here, and all because he didn'tattend to the work assigned him."
"Golly, if we had to leave here with only part of our play filmed, we'dbe sunk," Dan murmured. "Let's put the bee on Ross right now."
The two boys sought the Den 1 Cub, who at the moment was being measuredfor his sheriff's costume. His paper route had provided a substantial sumfor the purchase of materials which Mrs. Holloway had offered to sew.
Ross, however, could not make up his mind whether he wanted a home-madecostume or one he might purchase.
"I think I could make you a very nice outfit," Mrs. Holloway told theboy.
"I want a jerkin and seagreen hose," Ross declared. "Also a cap with afeather."
"Don't you think we should omit the feather?" Mrs. Holloway suggested."After all, it won't do for you to look too much like Robin Hood."
"Yes, but I want a feather," Ross argued. "Can't I have it?"
Before Mrs. Holloway could answer, Brad and Dan came up.
"If the fitting is over, we want to see
you a minute," Brad said to theboy.
"What for?" he demanded suspiciously.
"Oh, you'll find out," Brad said.
Mrs. Holloway, whose patience had been worn by Ross' insistent demands,declared that she had finished taking measurements. Rather reluctantly,the Den 1 boy followed Brad and Dan across the clearing.
"Where you taking me?" he asked.
"Just come along," Brad returned shortly.
As the boys rounded the castle, Ross began to catch on to what was instore.
"Oh, you're going to rag me about not getting the brush cleaned up," heguessed. "Well, I've been too busy with my paper route. Three customerskicked yesterday because their papers were delivered late. I've no timeto be doing grubby work out here."
"The rest of us have work too," Brad retorted. "By not doing what youwere supposed to, you got us in bad with Mr. Kain."
"Unless the brush is cleared away by tomorrow night, the Cubs stand tolose the use of this property," Dan added severely.
"Wouldn't that be too bad?" Ross drawled. "Then you wouldn't get the roleof Robin Hood!"
Brad whirled around to glare at the Den 1 boy.
"You're acting like a spoiled brat, Ross!" he said curtly. "You promisedto clear your section of land and you're going to do it or get out of thePack! We don't want a Cub who doesn't do his part or keep a promise."
The words shocked Ross. "You wouldn't kick me out--" he stammered, andthen with more confidence, he added: "You couldn't anyhow! You haven'tthe authority."
"Wait until Mr. Hatfield hears about this!"
"So you're a tattler, Brad?"
"No, I'm not," the Den Chief replied hotly. "I just want to bring you toa realization of your responsibility to the organization."
"Aw, you're taking it too seriously."
"It will be a serious matter if we lose this site after all the workwe've done here."
"Oh, keep your shirt on!" Ross retorted. Angrily, he turned and startedaway from the two boys.
"You're refusing to do the work?" Brad called after him.
"Who said I was?" Ross flung over his shoulder. "It will be done. Justdon't rush me."