The Red Chipmunk Mystery (19 page)

“How did you ever get in here?” Djuna asked. Socker turned and pointed.

“We came in through that passageway,” he said. “It leads to an entrance beside the slate quarry road. Mr. Scissors shouted up through the ground and told us how to get in.”

“
Jeepers!
” Djuna said. “This is
some
place.” He looked as though he wanted to get out of it just as fast as he could and
never
come back. Mr. Scissors picked up the long-bladed knife Mooney had been using, and then, seeing Old Blade’s bridle, he picked it up and stared at the blinders.

“What in tarnation—–” he said, and stopped as a babble of voices came to them and grew in volume. A few moments later Cannonball McGinty’s huge frame loomed up in the passageway leading to the mine. Just behind him was the evil-faced Mooney, handcuffed to the other trooper. His eyes were like the eyes of a rattle-snake as he glared at Djuna. Behind him was a lieutenant of the state police, a sergeant, a corporal and three more troopers with tommy guns under their arms.

When the lieutenant saw the malevolent expression on Mooney’s face as he looked at Djuna he said, quietly, “Let’s get out of here. I wouldn’t trust that rat until he’s behind bars again. Handcuff the other one, Sarge.”

Not many minutes later the snarling Mooney and mild-as-milk Guerin were sitting in the back seat of one of the three white police cars out on the valley road. They were handcuffed to the trooper who sat between them and there were two troopers in the front, with tommy guns pointing over the seat.

The violent thunderstorm and wind had passed and the sun was peeping through the white cumulus clouds high overhead. As Socker, Mr. Scissors, Lieutenant Seaton, Cannonball, Djuna and the rest of the troopers gathered near Mr. Scissors’ wagon, Socker said, “Say, Lieutenant, what about having one of your men run up to the top of the hill to tell young Buddy and Joan that it’s safe for them to come down now?”

Before Lieutenant Seaton could answer, Buddy stuck his red head around the corner of the wagon and said, “
Here we are!
”

“I thought I told you to stay up at the top of the hill!” Socker said sternly.

“
Jiminy crimps!
” Buddy said very innocently. “We had to get out of the rain, didn’t we?”

“And not miss anything if you could possibly help it,” Mr. Scissors said with a chuckle. He reached out his hand and put his arm around Joan and drew her close to him because there were tears in her eyes as she came around from behind the wagon. “
Everything
is all right now, Pet,” he whispered in her ear.

Lieutenant Seaton took out a notebook and a pencil and said, “Who is going to give me a few of the facts? Of course you’ll all have to appear over at Riverton later, but I’d like to have a rough sketch of things now.”

“Djuna will give them to you,” Socker Furlong said firmly. “He was the only one who had enough sense to know what was going on, and what to do about it. And that includes you, mutton-head,” he added, looking at Cannonball McGinty.”

“For a guy who is supposed to be a good reporter,” Cannonball said with a grin, “you were certainly no ball of fire.”

“Phooey!” Socker said. “Go on, Djuna.”

“Shall—shall I tell everything from the way I figured it out?” Djuna asked, trying not to be too embarrassed with so many people looking at him.

“Give ’em the works!” said Socker. “It’ll teach them how they
ought
to work.”

“Well,” Djuna said, and he drew a long breath. “I wasn’t sure of all these things until just a little while ago when I followed Mr. Scissors and the two convicts into the quarry and heard them threatening Mr. Scissors. I—–”

“How did they get hold of you, Djuna?” Cannonball asked.

“ ”
S-h-h!
Don’t interrupt, Cannonball. Let him tell it in his own way. The lieutenant here is interested in learning something,” Socker said. Two or three of the troopers couldn’t help snickering. The lieutenant glared at them and motioned to Djuna to go on.

“Well, you see,” Djuna started again, “I first saw the two convicts when I tried to hitch-hike a ride from them over beyond Five Mile Bridge. They didn’t pay any attention to me, and
almost
ran over me. Then that night I ran into Buddy at Hilltop, his grandmother’s old home the other side of Dean’s Mills. We slept in the barn there that night, and the next morning I happened to notice some car tracks on the road leading up to Hilltop. Buddy told me his grandmother, Mrs. Hill, never would ride in motor cars while she was alive. He said she just had a lot of carriages and horses.”

“
Jiminy crimps!
What has
that
got to do with it?” Buddy muttered. Joan was staring at Djuna the same way Buddy had stared at her the first time he saw her.

“That morning we ran into Mr. Scissors. He gave us some breakfast—–” Djuna stopped and gulped because suddenly he had an awful empty feeling as he remembered that breakfast and how good it was. “Then later he told us we could ride in his wagon with him as far as Farmholme and help him sharpen things. So we camped with him that night and just before we went to bed he told us he bought his wagon there, and Old Blade’s harness at an auction at Hilltop after Mrs. Hill died. He also told us about a robbery at Hilltop when Mrs. Hill’s coachman and cook stole into her room at night and robbed her while she was asleep. He said they caught the men and they were sent to jail. And
just
before we went to bed we heard something that sounded like someone running, crashing through the underbrush. Mr. Scissors said he thought it was a couple of cows getting a good start to jump over the moon.” Both Djuna and Buddy snickered, and Mr. Scissors chuckled, although he had an awfully puzzled expression on his face.

“But the next morning,” Djuna went on, “I saw two different kinds of footprints near the spring when Buddy and I were washing. They looked as though they had been running away. I showed them to Mr. Scissors but he didn’t seem to think they amounted to anything and told me not to mention them or Joan might be frightened.

“Then that same afternoon while Mr. Scissors and Buddy were in Cliffton Valley collecting things to sharpen, and Joan was taking her moccasins to Mike Tromboni’s shop to be repaired, those two men,” Djuna pointed to the police car where Mooney and Guerin were sitting, “came along while I was minding the wagon and Old Blade and wrecked everything. They tore everything apart just as though they were
searching
for something. And when I looked at their footprints they were just like the prints I had seen near the spring that morning, and I thought, although I wasn’t sure, the imprints of the treads of their tyres in the dust were just like the ones I had seen near Hilltop the morning before.”

“Didn’t you tell Mr. Scissors about that?” Lieutenant Seaton asked, and there was a slight amount of awe in his voice.

“
Yes!
” Djuna said miserably as he looked at Mr. Scissors’ battered face. “But—–”

“He told me, too,” Socker Furlong said, and he groaned. “Go on, laugh at me!” he added as Lieutenant Seaton began to grin. “And
I
had a lesson once before from Djuna, too. I should have known better. Go on, Djuna, I
think
I know what you’re going to tell us next. But I never would have been able to figure it out for myself!”

Djuna grinned, but he wished that Mr. Furlong wouldn’t try to make people think he was so dumb and lazy.

“
Oh!
I forgot to tell you that the morning Mr. Furlong put me on the train for Thompsonville I heard a good friend of mine, a copy boy on Mr. Furlong’s newspaper, tell Mr. Furlong that the editor of his paper wanted him to cover a story about two escaped convicts. When Mr. Furlong and Cannon—Mr. McGinty, I mean—came along yesterday, Mr. Furlong said the police thought the convicts had been able to get over into this section. But Mr. Furlong said he didn’t think so.”

“
Now
, who’s the fathead?” Cannonball wanted to know.

“But then I was
almost
certain,” Djuna said.

“
Certain about what?
” Lieutenant Seaton demanded.

“That the two escaped convicts were the
same ones
who robbed Mrs. Hill at Hilltop!” Djuna said, and he looked surprised that they hadn’t all been able to figure out that by this time.

“
O-O-h-h!
” Socker said and clasped his hands to his forehead. “
I
didn’t have enough sense to check on who the escaped men were.”

“I knew,” Lieutenant Seaton said quietly. “But I didn’t have to figure it out the hard way, as Djuna did. I got it over our teletype. But how did you figure it out, Djuna?”

“Because the two men acted as though they were
searching
for some certain thing when they wrecked Mr. Scissors’ wagon,” Djuna said to his spellbound listeners. “I figured that they thought whatever they were looking for was among the things Mr. Scissors bought at the auction at Hilltop.”

“Well, I never did hear the beat of that!” Mr. Scissors exploded and Joan’s eyes were shining with admiration.

“Then this morning when the two men kidnapped Mr. Scissors and I followed them into the quarry I heard them threatening Mr. Scissors with all kinds of things if he didn’t tell them where they could find Old Blade’s bridle—the one Mr. Scissors bought at Hilltop.”

“So, what did you do?” Lieutenant Seaton asked in a hushed voice.

“I knew I couldn’t help Mr. Scissors unless I got help,” Djuna said desperately. “I ran back here as fast as I could and unhitched Old Blade. I rode him to Cliffton Valley to get the bridle at Mr. Tromboni’s shop before the convicts got there. I knew Mr. Scissors had left it there to be repaired. I knew, too, that Mr. Scissors would tell them where it was because he didn’t know there was anything in the blinders.”

“And you beat them?” Socker asked quietly.

“Yes,” Djuna said. “I got there first and found the bridle. Mr. Tomboni wasn’t there. I studied the bridle and saw that the stitches in the blinders had been cut at one time and then sewed up by hand. I ripped them open, and then I knew what they were after. I took some glue and fastened them together again just before the convicts arrived in their car. I was going to go to Constable Harley’s house for help but they made me get into their car.” Djuna couldn’t help snickering as he remembered the expression of triumph and exultation on Mooney’s face as he came out of the shop with the bridle.

“They found the bridle and brought it back to their cave in the quarry along with me,” Djuna finished, adding, “They didn’t bother to open the blinders until they got back to the cave. Then Mr. McGinty and the rest of you arrived just in time.”

“And what was in the blinders when you opened them?” Lieutenant Seaton asked while the others pressed closer to hear Djuna’s answer.

Djuna gulped, and then he said, “Could I speak to Mr. Furlong alone for a minute, please?”

“You certainly can!” Socker said. He drew Djuna away from the silent group and put his arm around his shoulder while they crossed the road out of earshot.

Djuna spoke earnestly and pleadingly to Socker for a matter of three or four minutes. When he had finished Socker stared at him until Djuna began to fidget uneasily. Then Socker nodded his head vigorously and said, “You can do just what you want to if
I
go to jail for it! Come on. We’ll tell ’em.”

They went back across the road and Socker said to Lieutenant Seaton with a grin, “My client refuses to answer your last question until later. He wants to know if Cannonball can drive him and his dog, Champ, Mr. Scissors and Joan, and Buddy and myself down to Cliffton Valley to see that Old Blade is all right, and then drive us to Djuna’s home in Edenboro, near Riverton. This evening I’ll telephone you, either at your home or the sub-station, and tell you what was in the blinders. And to-morrow we’ll bring what was in the blinders to Riverton and turn it over to you for safe keeping until things are straightened out.
AND
,
brother
,
you ain’t heard nothin’ yet!
”

Lieutenant Seaton fixed Socker with a level gaze and studied him carefully for a few moments. “I shouldn’t let you get away with this, Socker,” he said finally. “But I will. You’ll be responsible?”

“With the
greatest
of pleasure!” said Socker.

MR. SCISSORS PLAYS HIS ACCORDION

A
FTER
the two white police cars had started for Riverton with the two captured convicts in the back seat of one of them, Mr. Scissors gathered up Old Blade’s harness and put it in the wagon and closed the back curtains. While he was doing it Djuna ran over to Cannonball’s car, where Champ had been imprisoned to keep him from being hurt or getting in the way. He jumped from the back seat into Djuna’s arms when he opened the door. Djuna hugged him; and Champ, after he had licked his face, gave him a very reproachful look for deserting him for so long.

“It’s all right, fellah,” Djuna whispered in his ear. “Cannonball is going to take us
home
in his car!” For a moment Champ looked a little alarmed at the idea of riding with Cannonball, but then he got hold of himself and barked to say, “All right!
I
can take it if you can.” After that, they chased each other around in circles until Cannonball blew his horn and waved a hand at them.

Djuna grabbed Champ and put him in the back of the car where Mr. Scissors, Joan and Buddy were sitting. Djuna started to get in, and then he stopped and looked at Mr. Scissors and said, “Don’t you want to take that bridle back to Mr. Tromboni’s, Mr. Scissors? It’s not fixed yet.”

“Say! I plumb forgot all about it!” Mr. Scissors said. “Would you mind gettin’ it out of the back of the wagon, Djuna?” Socker Furlong, sitting in the front seat with Cannonball, shook his head and grinned.

It didn’t seem to the occupants of Cannonball’s car that they had time to take more than two deep breaths between the time Cannonball started his car at the slate quarry and when he stopped it in front of Mike Tromboni’s shop.

There was a group of angry-looking men standing beside Old Blade, who now had a blanket over him, and in the centre of the group was Ed Harley, the constable. On the edge was Mike Tromboni, gesticulating with his hands and talking so fast no one knew what he was saying. When they saw the police car they all rushed towards it, and when they saw Mr. Scissors in the back seat they sent up a little cheer of relief.