CHAPTER XIX THE BONE AND BLOOD CLUB
"If it is Carey, and he is alone, we are in luck," said Pepper.
"Do we want him to recognize us?" asked Andy.
"I don't know as it will make much difference," returned the youngmajor, thoughtfully. "Perhaps we can scare him better by disguisingourselves."
"Let us make certain it is Carey first and that he is alone."
They walked up the brook a short distance and reached a bank that wasseveral feet higher than that opposite. From this point it was an easymatter to clear the watercourse at a bound. Then they hurried down inthe direction of the lake.
"There he is!" whispered Jack, a few minutes later, and pointed throughthe trees to where a youth lay sprawled out on the seat of a smallrowboat. Beside him were the oars and some fishing tackle and also along pole which appeared to have a drag-net attached to it.
"He is certainly alone," said Pepper. "But he may be waiting forsomebody."
"Then the quicker we act the better," returned Jack.
They decided to cut holes in their handkerchiefs through which to seeand then tie the articles over their faces. Then they turned their cadetcoats inside out, and rubbed a little dust on their necks and hands.
"He won't recognize us very easily," said the young major, "especiallyif we disguise our voices."
"I move Jack be made our general spokesman," said Pepper. "He knows justwhat we want."
"We want to get Flossie Ford's bracelet for her, that's all," said Andy."Incidentally if we can scare Carey half to death for annoying Flossie,so much the better."
"We'll scare him right enough," answered Jack, grimly.
Will Carey was dozing away when of a sudden he felt himself in the graspof three strong pairs of hands. In a twinkling he was turned over andhis hands were bound behind him with a piece of his own fishing line.
"Stop!" he cried out. "Help!"
"Silence, if you don't want to get hurt!" was the command, in a deep,rough voice, and now he saw that his assailants were three maskedpersons. They jerked him to his feet, made him step ashore, and in ajiffy compelled him to march a short distance into the thickest of thewoods.
"Wha--what do yo--you want of me?" he faltered. He was far from beingbrave and his present predicament filled him with terror.
"We want you to behave yourself," was the answer, delivered in the deepvoice previously employed by Jack.
"I--I am behaving myself."
"You are not, Will Carey. You have done an innocent person a greatwrong--and the Bone and Blood Club of Cedarville is going to see to itthat you right that wrong."
"Are you the--the Bone and Bone Club?" faltered the Pornell Academystudent.
"We are some of the members of that club--chosen to right this greatwrong you have done."
"I--I hav--haven't done any wrong."
"You have--do not dare to deny it--or the vengeance of the Bone and BloodClub shall descend upon your head like a fiery serpent and a stroke oflightning," answered Jack, making his voice as deep and menacing aspossible.
"Wha--what have I done?" asked Carey. He was now shaking so he couldscarcely speak.
"You have turned thief--yes, and you have told lies. Is it not so,Brothers of the Worthy Bone and Blood Club?" asked Jack, turning to hischums.
"It is so!" exclaimed Andy and Pepper, nodding slowly and solemnly.
"What? Me?" gasped Will Carey.
"Yes."
"Wha--what did I steal?"
"You took from one of the fairest maidens of Cedarville a goldenbracelet, and you have persistently refused to return the same."
"Oh!" gasped the prisoner, and the others saw him turn pale.
"You must return the bracelet," went on Jack. "Otherwise it will be ourpainful duty to chastise you severely and then hand you over to thepolice."
"No! no! Don't do that!" shrieked the Pornell Academy student. "Let mego! Please let me go!"
"Will you return the bracelet?"
"I--I did return it."
"That is not true."
"I put it in a box of chocolates and----"
"That story is absolutely false, prisoner. You have the bracelet still."
"No, I have not," and Will Carey began to tremble. "Oh, please let mego, please do!"
"You have the bracelet and must give it up," continued Jack. He turnedto his chums. "Is the fire burning well?"
"It is burning well, your Highness," answered Andy and Pepper.
"Then take the prisoner and warm him up. He appears to be cold, for heis shivering."
"No, no--you shan't put me against any fire and blister me!" yelled WillCarey, trembling from head to foot. "Oh, please let me go, please do!I'll--I'll give you all I'm worth!"
"We want nothing but the bracelet you took," answered Jack, firmly.
"And that we must and shall have!" came in a deep chorus from theothers.
"I--I haven't got the bracelet, I tell you," said the prisoner,desperately.
"What did you do with it--sell it?"
"No, I--I gave it back."
"You did not give it back, and if you say so again we'll put you on thefire to roast."
"Mercy! Mercy!" screamed the Pornell Academy student and fell on hisknees. He thought he was in the hands of three rough persons who wouldbe only too willing to carry out the dire threat made.
"What have you done with that bracelet?" demanded Jack, again. "Come,out with the truth at once." And he raised a stick he had picked up, asif to strike Carey to the ground.
"Don't hit me! I--I lost the bracelet!" screamed Will Carey. "Oh, don'thurt me, please don't! I couldn't help it. I--I had the bracelet in ablue tin box in my pocket and I went for a ride on a sloop, and the windknocked the sloop over and the box dropped out of my pocket. That's thehonest truth, I give you my word on it. I'd give anything to get thebracelet back."
"You dropped it out of your pocket while on the lake," said Jack, withdeep interest. "Was that the day the _Ajax_ raced with the _Alice_?"
"Yes."
"Have you hunted for the tin box since?"
"Half a dozen times. Why, I came out to-day to look for it. The water israther shallow where the sloop went over, and I made a net and draggedthe bottom, but I couldn't find the box or the bracelet. The net is inmy boat now."
The chums were now convinced that Will Carey was telling the truth, forJack and Pepper well remembered how concerned Carey had been over theloss of the blue tin box and how he had not told what it contained. Thepresence of the drag-net also added color to his tale.
"Why didn't you give Miss Ford her bracelet long ago?" demanded Pepper.
"I--I wanted to--to tease her a little, that's all," answered the PornellAcademy student. "I wish I had given it to her now."
"If you can't find the bracelet, you'll have to pay for it," said Andy.
"I--I know that, but--but----"
"But what?" demanded Jack.
"I--I can't pay for it right away. My father has cut me down--he says I amspending too much foolishly,--and I lost a lot on a bowling match we hadwith some Putnam Hall fellows."
"Yes, we heard something about that bowling match," said Jack, not tolet the prisoner get a clue to his identity.
"Hullo! hullo!" came a shout from a distance. "Where are you, Jack?Where are you, Pepper? Hullo, Andy! Come this way, we have got on thetrail of those two crazy men!"
A moment later Stuffer burst into view and came walking toward them.
"Keep back!" shouted Jack, quickly. "Keep back and don't say anything.We'll soon be with you." And then he whispered something to his twochums.
"All right," answered both.
"We'll see you again soon, Carey," said the young major, to theprisoner. "In the meantime, remember you must either find that braceletor pay for it," and so speaking he cut the line that bound Carey's handsand rushed off in the direction of Stuffer, followed by Andy and Pepper.
The Putnam Hall Champions; or, Bound to Win Out Page 20