by Morgan Scott
CHAPTER XII
DREAD.
Much to his disappointment, Billy Piper was not permitted to see RoyHooker. At the door Roy's mother, who was plainly in a deeply distressedand anxious state of mind, told him that the doctor had given ordersthat Roy was not to be disturbed and had administered a mild opiate toquiet the unfortunate lad, who had grown fearfully excited whenquestioned concerning the cause of his injury.
"It's a dreadful thing, Billy Piper,--a dreadful thing!" she exclaimed."I don't know why any one should hurt my poor boy like that. Some onemust have done it. It was a wicked thing--a wicked, wicked thing! What ifhe never recovers? What if he is always wrong in his head? He doesn'tseem to remember anything, and maybe he never will."
"It can't be as bad as that, Mrs. Hooker," said Billy, in an effort tocheer her up. "We--I talked with the doctor a short time ago, and heseems to think Roy will come round all right very soon. Don't you thinkhe fell, or something, and hurt himself that way?"
"How could he fall and hurt his face and the back of his head at thesame time? I'm sure some one struck him, and it was a wicked blow. Butwe'll find out who it was; such things always come out in time. You knowall the boys, Billy Piper. Do you know anything about it? Have you heardanything?"
"Of course not, Mrs. Hooker," answered Piper, feeling cheap and mean andmiserable. "Do you think I wouldn't tell you if I knew anything?"
"Not unless---- Oh, but of course you weren't concerned in it. But perhapsyou can find out, Billy. Roy says you're a real wonder at finding outanything you want to know, and we all remember how you and Roy caughtone of those bank robbers. Roy gave you all the credit. He said that youtracked the man, and that you even knew all about Fred Sage's brotherbeing alive before any one else was aware of it. Now, if you can dothings like that, why can't you find out who hurt my boy? The scoundrelwho did it should be punished. Won't you try to find out the truth andtell us about it?" Entreating him thus, she placed her hand on hisshoulder, and it was with the greatest difficulty that he refrained fromshrinking beneath her touch.
"I'll do all I can," he promised in a low tone. "I'm awful sorry thishappened, Mrs. Hooker, but, believe me, I can't really think any onehurt Roy maliciously and with deliberate design. It must have been anaccident."
"If it was that, wouldn't the person who did it come forward and ownup?"
"Perhaps not. Perhaps he's frightened. Roy has a temper, you know, andmaybe he got into a fight with some one who struck him in self-defense."
"Any boy who would do such a thing, and then keep still about it withhis victim in a dangerous condition, is a bad, bad fellow. There aresome very bad boys in Oakdale, Billy, and you must know it. Roy has saidmore than once that you're a regular detective. Here is something foryou to detect--something worth while."
"I've been a chump," acknowledged Piper, with an unmistakable intonationof self-scorn. "I've played that detective game for my own amusement,and made lots of trouble by it. I'm done with it now, Mrs. Hooker, forit's sneaky, cheap, underhand business. Any one who wants to become adetective may do so for all of me--I never shall."
"Then you won't try to find out? You won't help us any?"
"I've promised already to do all I can, and I shall keep my promise,Mrs. Hooker. But I'm sure you're unnecessarily worried. Roy will be allright to-morrow. Of course he will tell you everything."
He departed with his head hanging and his feet dragging, a spiritless,downcast chap.
"Another lie," he muttered. "What will she think of me when she knows?And she'll find out. She was right, things like this always come out.Well, I see where some fellows in this town will have something to livedown, and I'm one of them."
Springer and Cooper received his report with disappointment.
"You made a fuf-fizzle of it," said Phil. "You didn't do anything."
"Nothing except tell a lie. I led Roy's mother to believe that I didn'tknow a thing about it."
"You couldn't do anything else," said Cooper.
"I could have told the truth, couldn't I?"
"That would have been peaching; that would have been blowing on us all.You couldn't do that."
"If you fellows have got the notion that we're going to hide and escapethrough lying and deception, you'd better give it up. We'll have toshoulder our part of the blame, sooner or later."
"That's fine!" sighed Chipper dolefully. "My father hasn't used thestrap on me for some time, but I'm going to pad my trousers inpreparation for the coming walloping."
"I'd like to pup-punch old Shultz!" rasped Springer. "He's the onethat's to bub-blame for it all."
"No," contradicted Piper promptly, "we can't duck behind any suchexcuse. If we hadn't been there it never would have happened, for ittakes more than two or three to make up a decent game of poker. We wereall doing something on the sly--something that we didn't wish respectablepeople to know about, and something we mortally dread to have them findout about."
"Dread it!" groaned Chipper. "I should say I do!"
"It wasn't a cuc-crime," spluttered Springer, in an attempt atjustification.
"I don't know about that," snapped Billy. "Gambling is illegal, and soit was a crime."
"Oh, but we wasn't gug-gambling; we were just playing for fun."
"And we're getting a lot of fun out of it, aren't we? Perhaps you enjoyit!"
At this point Phil's anger blazed and he raged at Billy, calling himchicken-hearted. Piper refused to listen; shrugging his shoulders, hewalked hastily away, heedless of the calls of the two lads, who beggedhim to come back.
The church bells were sounding the second call and people in theirSunday clothes were passing on their way to services when Piper rang atMrs. Chester's door. The maid appeared, and, answering his inquiry,informed him that Ned Osgood had already departed for church.
"He goes every Sunday reg'ler," she said, with a touch of pride. "Themisses calls him 'a most exempl'ry young man.' Maybe you'll see him atthe church if you go, too."
"Thank you," said Billy, descending the steps.
As soon as possible, he struck off across lots, to avoid thechurch-goers. "A most exempl'ry young man!" he muttered, with a shortlaugh. "He's got her fooled. She doesn't know what's been going on inhis rooms every Saturday night. I wonder if she's heard about Roy? Don'ts'pose she'd have an idea anything happened to him in her house if shehas heard."
He next thought of finding Shultz, but, from lack of courage or anaversion for facing the fellow, could not bring himself to look for theprime cause of all the trouble.
Returning home, he found the house deserted, his folks being away tochurch, and his manner of wandering restlessly about through the emptyrooms made him think of the old simile about the caged tiger. It waspractically impossible for him to keep still. He wanted to do something,and his tortured conscience bade him do the right thing; but what thatwas, he could not for the life of him decide. Gradually his restlessnesswore away, but still dread, like a bird of evil omen, seemed to hovernear.
His parents returned, and, as usually happened when he remained awayfrom church, which, it must be confessed, was often, he was sharplyscolded by his father. Mr. Piper was much given to scolding, but onlywhen especially aroused did he attempt to exert genuine parentalauthority over his son. In fact, Billy, like far too many boys of thepresent day, was permitted to do practically as he pleased as long as hedid not worry his folks by getting into "scrapes."
The day wore slowly away without further information concerning Hookeruntil near night, when it was learned that some one had made inquiriesabout him over the phone, and that his mother had said his conditionseemed unchanged.
At dusk Piper met Chipper Cooper at the end of the upper bridge. Theylooked at each other inquiringly, and, after some moments of silence,Chipper said:
"Well?"
"Well?" returned Billy with precisely the same inflection.
"I'm pretty near sick," declared Cooper. "I hear Roy is no better. It'sbad, Pipe--bad."
"Rotten," agreed
Billy, leaning against the railing.
Cooper leaned at his side, and their tongues seemed chained. Beneath thebridge the water gurgled and whispered. In the gathering shadows a robincalled plaintively from a treetop some distance away. The villageappeared almost as deserted and lonely as the hamlet of Goldsmith'simmortal poem. A heavy weight, like lead, seemed to weigh upon the soulsof the two unhappy boys.
After a time Cooper heaved a sigh.
"It's bad," he repeated--"bad!"
"Rotten," said Piper again.