CHAPTER VI
A GLOOMY PROSPECT FOR JUD
"It's Jud Mabley!" exclaimed one of the scouts, instantly recognizingthe face of the unlucky youth who had fallen part way through thewindow.
Jud was a boy of bad habits. He had applied to the scouts formembership, but had not been admitted on account of his unsavoryreputation. Smarting under this sting Jud had turned to Hank Lawsonand his crowd for sympathy, and was known to be hand-in-glove withthose young rowdies.
"He's been spying on us, that's what!" cried Bobolink, indignantly.
"And learning our plans, like as not!" added Tom Betts.
"He ought to be caught and ridden on a rail!" exclaimed a third memberof the troop, filled with anger.
"I'd say duck him in the river after cutting a hole in the ice!"called out another boy, furiously.
"Huh! first ketch your rabbit before you start cookin' him!" laughedJud in a jeering fashion, as he waved them a mocking adieu through thebroken window, and then vanished from view.
"After him, fellows!" shouted the impetuous Bobolink, and there was ahasty rush for the door, the boys snatching up their hats as theyran.
Paul was with the rest, not that he cared particularly about catchingthe eavesdropper, but he wanted to be on hand in case the rest of thescouts overtook Jud; for Paul held the reputation of the troop dear,and would not have the scouts sully their honor by a mean act.
The boys poured out of the meeting-place in a stream. The bright moonshowed them a running figure which they judged must of course be Jud;so away they sprang in hot pursuit.
Somehow, it struck them that Jud was not running as swiftly as mightbe expected, for he had often proved himself a speedy contestant onthe cinder path. He seemed to wabble more or less, and looked backover his shoulder many times.
Bobolink suspected there might be some sort of trick connected withthis action on the part of the other, for Jud was known to be aschemer.
"Jack, he may be drawing us into a trap of some sort, don't youthink?" he managed to gasp as he ran at the side of the other.
Apparently Jack, too, had noticed the queer actions of the fugitive.He had seen a mother rabbit pretend to be lame when seeking to drawenemies away from the place where her young ones lay hidden; yes, anda partridge often did the same thing, as he well knew.
"I was noticing that, Bobolink," he told the other, "but it strikes meJud must have been hurt somehow when he crashed through that window."
"You mean he feels more or less weak, do you?"
"Something like that," came the reply.
"Well, we're coming up on him like fun, anyway, no matter what thecause may be!" Bobolink declared, and then found it necessary to stoptalking if he wanted to keep in the van with several of the swiftestrunners among the scouts.
It was true that they were rapidly overtaking Jud, who ran in astrange zigzag fashion like one who was dizzy. He kept up until theleaders among his pursuers came alongside; then he stopped short, and,panting for breath, squared off, striking viciously at them.
Jack and two other scouts closed in on him, regardless of blows, andJud was made a prisoner. He ceased struggling when he found it couldavail him nothing, but glared at his captors as an Indian warriormight have done.
"Huh! think you're smart, don't you, overhaulin' me so easy," he toldthem disdainfully. "But if I hadn't been knocked dizzy when I fell younever would a got me. Now what're you meanin' to do about it? Ain't afeller got a right to walk the public streets of this here townwithout bein' grabbed by a pack of cowards in soldier suits, andtreated rough-house way?"
"That doesn't go with us, Jud Mabley," said Bobolink, indignantly."You were playing the spy on us, you know it, trying to listen to allwe were saying."
"So as to tell that Lawson crowd, and get them to start some meantrick on us in the bargain," added Tom Betts.
"O-ho! ain't a feller a right to stop alongside of a church to strikea match for his pipe?" jeered the prisoner, defiantly. "How was I toknow your crowd was inside there? The streets are free to any one,man, woman or boy, I take it."
"How about the broken window, Jud?" demanded Bobolink, triumphantly.
"Yes! did you smash that pane of glass when you threw your match away,Jud," asked another boy, with a laugh.
"He was caught in the act, fellows," asserted Frank Savage, "and thenext question with us is what ought we to do to punish a sneak and aspy?"
"I said it before--ride him on a rail around town so people can seehow scouts stand up for their own rights!" came a voice from the groupof excited boys.
"Oh! that would be letting him off too easy," Tom Betts affirmed."'Twould serve him just about right if we ducked him a few times inthe river."
"All we need is an axe to cut a hole through the ice," another ladwent on to say, showing that the suggestion rather caught his fancy asthe appropriate thing to do--making the punishment fit the crime, asit were.
"Keep it goin'," sneered the defiant Jud, not showing any signs ofquailing under this bombardment. "Try and think up a few more pleasantthings to do to me. If you reckon you c'n make me show the whitefeather you've got another guess comin', I want you to know. I'm truegrit, I am!"
"You may be singing out of the other side of your mouth, Jud Mabley,before we're through with you," threatened Curly Baxter.
"Mebbe now you might think to get a hemp rope and try hangin' me,"laughed the prisoner in an offensive manner. "That's what they do tospies, you know, in the army. Yes, and I know of a beauty of a limbthat stands straight out from the body of the tree 'bout ten feetfrom the ground. Shall I tell you where it lies?"
This sort of defiant talk was causing more of the scouts to becomeangry. It seemed to them like adding insult to injury. Here thisfellow had spied upon their meeting, possibly learned all about theplans they were forming for the midwinter holidays, and then finallyhad the misfortune to fall and smash one of the window panes, whichwould, of course, have to be made good by the scouts, as they wereunder heavy obligations to the trustees of the church for favorsreceived.
"A mean fellow like you, Jud Mabley," asserted Joe Clausin, "deservesthe worst sort of punishment that could be managed. Why, it wouldabout serve you right if you got a lovely coat of tar and feathersto-night."
Jud seemed to shrink a little at hearing that.
"You wouldn't dare try such a game as that," he told them, with afaint note of fear in his voice. "Every one of you'd have to pay forit before the law. Some things might pass, but that's goin' it toostrong. My dad'd have you locked up in the town cooler if I came homelookin' like a bird, sure he would."
Jud's father was something of a local power in politics, so that theboy's boast was not without more or less force. Some of the scouts mayhave considered this; at any rate, one of them now broke out with:
"A ducking ought to be a good enough punishment for this chap, Ishould say; so, fellows, let's start in to give it to him."
"I know where I can lay hands on an axe all right, to chop a holethrough the ice," asserted Bobolink, eagerly.
"Then we appoint you a committee of one to supply the necessary toolsfor the joyous occasion," Red Collins cried out, gleefully falling inwith the scheme.
"Hold on, boys, don't you think it would be enough if Jud made anapology to us, and promised not to breathe a word of what he chancedto hear?"
It was Horace Poole who said this, for he often proved to be thepossessor of a tender heart and a forgiving spirit. His mildproposition was laughed down on the spot.
"Much he'd care what he promised us, if only we let him go scot free,"jeered one scout. "I've known him to give his solemn word before now,and break it when he felt like it. I wouldn't trust him out of mysight. Promises count for nothing with one of Jud Mabley's stamp."
"How about that, Jud?" demanded another boy. "Would you agree to keepyour lips buttoned up, and not tell a word of what you have heard?"
"I ain't promisin' nothin', I want you to know," replied the prisoner,boldly; "so go on wit
h your funny business. You won't ketch mesquealing worth a cent. Honest to goodness now I half b'lieve it's alla big bluff. Let's see you do your worst."
"Drag him along to the river bank, fellows, and I'll join you therewith the axe," roared Bobolink, now fully aroused by the obstinatemanner of the captive.
"Wait a bit, fellows."
It was Jack Stormways who said this, and even the impetuous Bobolinkcame to a halt.
"Go on Jack. What's your plan?" demanded one of the group.
"I was only going to remind you that in the absence of Mr. Gordon,Paul is acting as scout-master, and before you do anything that mayreflect upon the good name of Stanhope Troop you'd better listen towhat he's got to say on the subject."
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