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The High School Boys' Fishing Trip, a fiction by H. Irving Hancock |
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Chapter 21. Real News And "Punk Heroes" |
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_ CHAPTER XXI. REAL NEWS AND "PUNK HEROES" "Bayliss, no matter what happens," whispered Dodge, as the two young men climbed into the car outside, "don't you ever let it be found out that we went to the camp of Dick & Co. to play a joke on Prescott and the others. The awful way this night's work has turned out would make the town too hot for us." "Don't you be afraid of my becoming loose-tongued," chattered Bayliss. "Ugh! I don't believe I'll ever want to talk to anyone again. Bert, do you really believe that all of the fellows but Hazelton were really wiped out?" "They---they must have been," gasped Dodge. "It's fearful!" "It is," Dodge assented, as he threw on the speed. "I never liked Prescott, but to-night's awful work is something that I'd have been willing to have saved him from if there had been a way to do it. "Which way are you heading?" asked Bayliss suddenly. "To Dr. Bentley's. If he's at home, I want to hustle him to the 'Blade' office. I believe he's the Hazelton family's physician. Bayliss, any sign of attention to Hazelton on our part will look well for us at a time when we're likely to be asked many questions about how we came to be so near to their camp. We've got to be mighty careful, or in the excitement that will follow the awful fate of Prescott and his friends the town might grow so hot for us that we'd be all but lynched. Now, no one can prove that we weren't on a trip, and that our car broke down on the road; that we heard the fire of rifles, and the next thing we knew Hazelton, badly wounded, came rushing up to us, and that we brought him in as fast as we could. Now, let's make up a story as to just what trip we were taking when we broke down on the road a mile from their camp." The two plotters quickly planned out their story. "Here's Dr. Bentley's office," said Dodge, as they turned a corner. "You stay in the car, Bayliss. I can attend to this better." So Dodge was soon pouring a tale of woe and tragedy up through the night speaking tube into the astounded, half-suspicious ears of Dr. Bentley. Then Bert Dodge drove with Bayliss to the latter's home, after which Bert quakingly drove the car around to his own home, where he roused his father to hear the strange news. Nor was it long ere the whole Dodge family was listening, awe struck. In the meantime Hazelton was exhibiting to Mr. Pollock, with many a chuckle, the "Quaker" rifle that he had brought into the office wrapped in his jacket. Harry also displayed the bottle of strawberry coloring for ice cream that had supplied the color to his head bandage. Ting-a-ling! rang the telephone. It was Dr. Bentley on the wire, inquiring whether Dodge had been guilty of a hoax in calling him up to go to the "Blade" office in order to attend Hazelton. With many a chuckle Mr. Pollock told Dr. Bentley, under injunction of secrecy, the story of the night's doings. When Dr. Bentley heard the story of this latest "outrage" by Dick & Co. he laughed heartily. "Well, well," he mused, "what will Dick and his friends be up to next?" "Hazelton," ordered Mr. Pollock, "you take the old overcoats you'll find in that closet and arrange them on top of one of these long tables. Get some sleep. I'll call you in time for you to get word to the parents of Dick & Co. after six in the morning. As for me, I shall expect to get no sleep until I've put this big news story in shape." Yet that morning's issue of the "Blade" didn't contain a word on the subject. Mr. Pollock was wise enough to write the story, then save it for appearance at the proper time. By six o'clock Harry was aroused. A closed cab, its driver pledged to secrecy, was at the door to carry Harry on his rounds. He visited the parents of all the members of Dick & Co., informing them that the story they might soon hear was not based on any facts that need alarm them. Before seven o'clock that morning Dodge and Bayliss, wild-eyed and haggard looking, met at Bert's home. Mr. Dodge took them, soon after, down onto Main Street with him. The first public whisper of the news sent it flying fast over Gridley. By nine o'clock Main Street was unwontedly crowded. Groups of men, women and young people everywhere discussed the "awful news." Those who had been privileged to hear Dodge and Bayliss tell the story were looked upon as most interesting people. Of course a few Gridleyites tried to find the parents of the "slain" boys and express their sympathy, but the parents of the members of Dick & Co., strangely enough, could not be found. With many repetitions of the story, Dodge and Bayliss almost unintentionally began to picture themselves as heroes, who had risked their lives in order to bring the single survivor away to safety. "There's some good in young Dodge and Bayliss, after all," was a not infrequent comment that morning. "It must have taken real nerve, anyway, for them to make that thrilling rescue of Hazelton," said others. So Dodge and Bayliss, much to their astonishment and not a little to their delight, found themselves somewhat in the hero class. Their exhausted, wild-eyed, haggard appearance gave more color to the story of the harrowing experience they claimed to have undergone in rescuing Hazelton from that awful field of carnage up by the second lake. At ten o'clock Mr. Pollock's automobile drew up at the rear door of the "Blade" building. Hazelton slipped out, crouching low in the car, that he might not be seen and recognized, while Mr. Pollock and his star reporter, Len Spencer, openly entered and drove away. They made straight for the wilderness camp of Dick & Co. Once out of the town Harry rose to a comfortable seat, and made up some of his lost sleep during the trip. One thing that puzzled the excited citizens of Gridley was the placid way in which the chief of police and the sheriff of the county appeared to take the sad news. Mr. Pollock drove his car as close to camp as he could, after which he and his companions hurried over the uneven ground until they came upon five high school boys seated outside. "How did it all work out, Harry?" shouted Dick, leaping up as soon as he saw his approaching comrade. "It is working in great shape, you young scoundrel!" roared Editor Pollock, gripping Dick Prescott's hand. "And the yarn is going to make the biggest and best midsummer sensation that the 'Blade' has ever had!" Mr. Pollock and Len Spencer remained at camp for something like an hour and a half, enjoying a trout luncheon before they left. It was four o'clock in the afternoon when editor and reporter reached the "Blade" office. At five o'clock the "Blade" put out a bulletin, around which a crowd collected in no time. The crowd grew to such proportions that the policeman on the beat tried in vain to make it "move on." That bulletin read: "Lake Tragedy All a Tremendous Hoax: Read the 'Blade's' six o'clock extra." At a few minutes before six o'clock Len Spencer began to arrange one of the street windows of the "Blade" office. First of all, from hooks, he suspended Dodge and Bayliss' "ghosts" of the night before. "What does that mean?" asked the wondering onlookers. Then an unexploded bomb bearing the trademark of the Sploderite Company was put in the window. It was followed by the _siren_ whistle that Bayliss had dropped in his flight. Then four "Quaker" wooden guns, a red-stained bandage and a partly used bottle of strawberry ice cream coloring appeared. Promptly at six o'clock newsboys appeared on the street with the exciting announcement: "Extree! Extree 'Bla-ade'! All about Dick & Co.'s latest! The best joke of the season!" Papers went off like hot cakes. Before the evening was over more than two thousand copies of that edition had been sold. Many more than two thousand people had crowded to the "Blade's" show window to catch a glimpse of the exhibits described in the rollicking news story. "Pshaw! Dodge and Bayliss, the heroes!" shouted one man in the crowd, as he ran his eye through the story. "Punk heroes!" answered someone else in the crowd. The story was cleverly told. Dodge and Bayliss were not mentioned by name, but described only as a pair of amateur jokers whose plans had miscarried. Yet the plain, unvarnished story cast complete ridicule over Bert and his friend. While the fever of the reading crowd was at its height someone shouted: "Here they come now!" Bert and Bayliss had just driven around the corner in the car. During the last three hours both had slept at Bert's, but now they were out and abroad again in order to hear the latest developments. Suddenly a hush fell over the crowd. Bert and Bayliss were allowed to drive in silence to the curb. Then, just as suddenly, a dozen men leaped at the car, dragging both youths to the sidewalk. "Wha-a-at's wrong?" faltered Bert Dodge. "We'll soon show you!" came the jeering answer of the captors. Then a mighty shout of derision went up from the crowd. _ |
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