Kitabı oku: «The Mark of the Knife», sayfa 9

"Who said that?" demanded Doctor Wells.

"Them two birds I'm tellin' yer about, – Bassett, the feller they called the Whirlwind, and Campbell. Now I ain't no reg'lar detecative, Doctor, but I got my ijeers, and that sot me to thinkin' hard and I knew somethin' uncommon suspicious was goin' on. A friend o' mine who was kinder detecatin' round as my assistant, you might say, slid down a fire-escape rope about that time and climbed into Campbell's room, but he didn't find nothin' and come away empty-handed."

"Who was that friend of yours?" asked Doctor Wells. "Was it Teeny-bits?"

"Now, Doctor," said old Jerry, "I ain't aimin' to keep anythin' back twixt you'n me, but there's certain things, you understan', that I can't – it wan't Teeny-bits – but further'n that – "

"All right, Jerry," said the Head. "I respect your point of view. Go on with your story."

"Well," said Jerry, "this friend of mine come to me this mornin' and says that Teeny-bits got accused of stealin' them things from the boys and that somehow or other all those gold trinkets and contraptions got found under his closet floor, and I wanter tell you, Doctor, that this Teeny-bits didn't do it and that them two bad birds, Campbell and Bassett, was at the bottom of all this deviltry, and there ain't been two sich underhanded, reckless, good-for-nothin' fellers in this school sence I took position here twenty year ago."

"Jerry," said the Doctor, "I value your judgment and I thank you for coming to me in this frank way and giving me the benefit of your ideas."

The interview was over. Old Jerry left the office of the Head mumbling to himself: "I got my ijeers and sometimes, by gorry, they's uncommon ijeers."

While Jerry had been talking with the Head, Snubby Turner, who had finished his explanation to Teeny-bits, had sought out Mr. Stevens and had said to him:

"I have just been discovering some things that make it necessary for me to tell you that last Monday night, while the football mass meeting was going on, I slid down a fire-rope and crawled into Tracey Campbell's room to see if I could discover if he was the one who had been stealing things from the fellows' rooms and that while I was doing it Teeny-bits came along and saw me, though I didn't know it at the time, – and that is the reason why you found him out there behind the dormitory."

"Turner," said the English master, "you've told me something that I am more than glad to hear. It clears up one element in a puzzling situation. I'm beginning to see light."

On this Sunday, Ridgley School, expecting to settle down into a comfortable enjoyment of the football triumph, found itself involved in a sensation which was the source of rumors that flew from dormitory to dormitory and from room to room with incredible rapidity. All day long hints, suggestions, stories – the product of fact, hearsay and fancy – were exchanged by every son of the school. At the morning service in the chapel Doctor Wells referred to the tragedy in grave terms.

"Unexpectedly," he said, "while we have been rejoicing over our victory, death has taken toll from among us; one of our number has passed suddenly from this world into the world beyond. By this tragic circumstance our thoughts are sobered and we find ourselves face to face with a sad and bitter incident – the termination of a life while it was still incomplete and unformed. I hope that the whole school will refrain from useless comment and will form no harsh or unjust judgments. This is a time for charity of thought."

Doctor Wells found many duties to perform in connection with the tragedy. Not until evening was he able to do what he had had in his mind to do from the moment when old Jerry called at his office. Another bit of news that came from Mr. Stevens – information that concerned Snubby Turner – had given him additional incentive to finish one phase of an unpleasant matter quickly. After the evening meal that night he summoned Mr. Stevens and Teeny-bits to his office, and there put certain questions to the new captain of the Ridgley eleven that brought out the whole story of the incidents that had occurred on the night before the big game.

Sitting in front of the open fire, Doctor Wells put his fingers together in the pose that was characteristic of him when he was deeply immersed in thought. The clock on the mantel piece ticked loudly in the silence of the room and Teeny-bits and Mr. Stevens sat pondering as profoundly as the Head. After a time Doctor Wells spoke, slowly, as if he were alone and were merely voicing the thoughts that flocked through his mind:

"This is the strangest series of circumstances that has come to my attention since I have been at Ridgley. It is hard to understand why two young fellows should harbor such an animosity for any other member of the school."

"Well," said Mr. Stevens, breaking in when the Head paused, "this Bassett was a strange character; there seemed to be something lacking in his nature; I shall have to admit that, although I made it a point to study him, I quite failed to understand him. I don't think you knew that on the day when Holbrook arrived at Ridgley, Bassett did certain things which resulted in a struggle, and that Holbrook got the better of him in a way that humiliated him before most of the roomers in Gannett Hall. Almost any young fellow would recover from a thing like that and very likely become good friends with his conqueror; in this case, however, it seems to have started a germ of jealousy and desire for revenge which grew out of all proportion to the incident. And then, of course, Campbell was displaced on the team by Holbrook. From what I know of those two young men I have come to the conclusion that Bassett, in his crafty way, had a certain strength of character which allowed him to dominate Campbell, whom I have always thought of as much the weaker mentally of the two. A psychologist could probably have told us strange things about Whirlwind Bassett."

"What is done can't, unfortunately, be undone," said the Head. "I regret more than I can say that we were not able to nip all this trouble in the bud – catch it at the beginning and prevent the tragic ending of it all." Doctor Wells sat up a little straighter in his chair at that moment and looked at Teeny-bits. "Holbrook," he said, "I want to tell you that I appreciate the fine sense of loyalty to a friend that prevented you from telling Mr. Stevens that you had seen Turner breaking into Campbell's room. That would have explained something that puzzled us. But we respect you for your silence."

"I knew that Snubby was honest," said Teeny-bits, "and, although I couldn't imagine why he was doing it, I couldn't suspect him."

Doctor Wells' comment was short. "You did right. A suspicious nature is one of the meanest things in the world." Again the Head was silent for a time and then the expression of his face changed. "Now about this Chinese business," he said; "I can understand the motive that was behind spiriting you away, but when I come to the rather extraordinary means of your escape, Holbrook, I will admit that my abilities as an amateur Sherlock Holmes are too feeble. As I understand it from what you have told us, these two Chinese in this Greensboro place seem to have been strangely affected by the mark on your shoulder. Have you any explanation of that?"

"I don't know whatever got into their heads," said Teeny-bits. "It's beyond me. They jabbered away at a terrible rate in Chinese and acted as if they were frightened."

"What is the nature of this mark?" asked Doctor Wells. "If you don't mind telling me."

"Why, it's nothing," said Teeny-bits, "except a mark that looks like a knife; a lot of the fellows have thought it was queer when they saw it in the shower-bath room, but I never thought much about it because it's always been there and didn't seem particularly strange to me."

"Mr. Stevens," said Doctor Wells, "I think you and Holbrook might go over to Greensboro sometime this week and see what you can find. It won't do any harm at least to try a little amateur detective work. I wonder – "

Doctor Wells paused as if he thought it would be better not to say what was in his mind. He had been about to mention something in regard to the information that old Daniel Holbrook had given him on the opening day of school, – the story of the accident at Hamilton station which had caused the sudden death of the unknown woman who was supposed to be Teeny-bits' mother. It had occurred to the Head that it might be just as well not to talk over those matters in the presence of Teeny-bits.

When Mr. Stevens and Teeny-bits got up to go Doctor Wells shook hands with them gravely.

"Holbrook," he said, "I haven't told you something that was in my mind last night when I heard the news that came from the football banquet. I was greatly pleased to learn that the Ridgley eleven had chosen you as captain. I know that you will make a leader of whom we can be as proud as we have been of Neil Durant."

Later Doctor Wells found occasion to tell Mr. Stevens the thing that he had omitted: the history of Teeny-bits' unexplained origin. With this information stimulating his mind to solve the mystery, the English master suggested to Teeny-bits that they lose no time in visiting Greensboro.

CHAPTER XII
A VISIT TO CHUAN KAI's

On Monday afternoon Mr. Stevens and the new football captain journeyed to the thriving young city. They went first to Stanley Square. Starting from the yellow brick market building with the tower and the clock, Teeny-bits attempted to retrace the steps that he had taken on that night when he fled from the place where the Orientals had held him prisoner. They went down one street and up another, turning this way and that, until Teeny-bits finally stopped and said:

"I'm afraid I can't remember just which way I came. I was pretty excited and I ran down these streets as fast as I could and it was dark, and I didn't think much about remembering where I came."

"Well," said Mr. Stevens, "there's one thing we can do. We'll ask the officer over there on the street corner where the Chinese places are, and perhaps that will lead us somewhere."

"At any rate," said Teeny-bits, "it must be very near where we are now, because I know I came from this general direction and I covered about the same amount of ground that we have covered since we left the square."

In answer to their inquiry the police officer informed them that there were four Chinese establishments in the city – two laundries and two restaurants.

The laundries proved to be near the center of the town, one on Main Street, the other on Clyde Street. Mr. Stevens, and Teeny-bits looked both of these establishments over, but Teeny-bits quickly announced that neither of them could be the place they were seeking. They were small and both were across the electric car tracks from Stanley Square. Teeny-bits remembered that on the night of his escape he had crossed no tracks until he reached the square.

The first of the restaurants which they visited backed up to the Greensboro River, a shallow stream which wound through the town. There was an alley in the rear which to Teeny-bits looked somewhat like the one down which he had hastened while the two Chinese had come pattering after him, but he did not remember that he had seen any water. They went inside, however, and questioned the wrinkled yellow man who, thinking them customers, came to take their order. He answered them in pidgin English, and Teeny-bits became convinced, after they had looked about the place, that this was not the scene of his imprisonment on Friday night.

They then went to the Oriental Eating Palace of Chuan Kai, but at Mr. Stevens' suggestion, before entering the restaurant, made a complete circuit of the building and examined its outward appearance. In the rear there was an alley.

"This looks like it!" declared Teeny-bits, and then he added: "But I couldn't swear that it's the one."

"Why don't we go up those stairs there and see what we find," said Mr. Stevens. "It's trespassing, I suppose, but all in a justifiable cause."

Quickly they let themselves in the rear door and began to mount the steps.

"That night," said Teeny-bits, "I remember that I came down two flights; this might be the place, but of course I didn't stop much to look around."

At the top of the second flight Mr. Stevens and Teeny-bits came to a narrow hallway from which opened two doors. Mr. Stevens knocked softly on the one at the right and, receiving no answer, pushed it open. They had expected to find no one in the room; to their surprise, a Chinese who had been lying on a "double-decker" bunk jumped down to the floor and stood looking at them with astonishment and fear in his face.

"This isn't the room, and I don't think I ever saw this fellow before," Teeny-bits whispered to the English master.

"We're looking for two Chinese who were in one of these rooms last Friday night," said Mr. Stevens to the Oriental. "Perhaps they're in the other room."

It was evident that the Chinaman who confronted them with startled eyes did not understand much English. He made no reply and continued to stare at them as if he thought it inexplainable that two white men should suddenly invade his sleeping quarters.

Mr. Stevens backed out of the room and somewhat to Teeny-bits' surprise immediately tried the other door. It opened upon a small square room, empty except for a table and four chairs which were arranged as if for a game of cards. Teeny-bits had expected to see a mattress lying on the floor, but nothing of the sort greeted his eyes and no one was in the room.

"This looks like the place, but somehow it seems changed," he said to Mr. Stevens.

At that moment they both heard a cry in Chinese and, as they whirled round, an answer came from the floor below and the sound of feet pattering down the stairway.

"There!" exclaimed Mr. Stevens, "I'm afraid your friends are running away. That fellow in the other room has given the alarm. Let's go down to the restaurant quickly and see what we can find."

Chuan Kai met the two with an inscrutable countenance. There was something about his eyes, however, that suggested to Teeny-bits and Mr. Stevens that he was not wholly unprepared for their call.

"Last Friday night," said the English master, "this young man was kept for several hours in one of the rooms upstairs. We should like to talk to the two Chinese who were kind enough to permit him to escape."

"No unne'stan'," said Chuan Kai, wrinkling his lips in a manner that showed his yellow teeth.

Mr. Stevens was patient. He repeated his request, laid his hand on Teeny-bits' shoulder, pointed toward the ceiling as he mentioned the room above and then held up two fingers as he spoke of the Chinese who had been present when Teeny-bits escaped. The only answer was a puzzled frown on Chuan Kai's wrinkled features; either the old man was bewildered by the request of his visitors or he was a good actor. Suddenly Mr. Stevens decided the latter, for he spoke rapidly and with considerable force:

"I think you understand English all right. Now tell me, where are those two men of yours? If you will let me see them quickly perhaps we can agree not to trouble you further. Now then, where are they?"

Chuan Kai smiled with such ingenuousness as he could summon. "Ai," he said. "You like to see my boys?"

He turned away from them quickly and cried out something in Chinese, at the same time throwing back a door which led to the kitchen.

"Come, look, see," he said as he turned back to Teeny-bits and Mr. Stevens. "You like see all boys."

In the kitchen which was disclosed to view were four Chinese in loose-sleeved shirts and aprons. They were engaged in cutting up meat and in mixing food over the fire. Among them Teeny-bits did not recognize either one of the Orientals who had acted so strangely at the sight of the knife mark.

"I don't think they're here," he said to Mr. Stevens. "As I remember it they were bigger than these fellows."

The English master turned to Chuan Kai and said, "We don't intend to cause you any trouble. This young friend of mine has a mark on his shoulder which looks like a knife. Two of your men acted strangely when they saw it. What can you tell me about it? Don't be afraid to speak up."

Chuan Kai and his four employees looked at their American visitors with every semblance of frank amazement and bewilderment.

"Well, we'll try one thing more," said Mr. Stevens. "Pull off your coat, Teeny-bits, and let them take a look at that mark."

Teeny-bits quickly threw off his coat and unbuttoned the soft collar of his shirt until he could pull back the linen and show the mark of the knife. The effect was more than the English master or Teeny-bits expected. The four Chinese, who had been observing in apparent astonishment this sudden performance on Teeny-bits' part, gazed at the mark and began to jabber among themselves in a manner that showed plainly enough their excitement and agitation. One of them even took a step nearer as if to obtain a clearer view. Chuan Kai, however, quickly brought their demonstration to an end. He exclaimed sharply in his singsong language and stepped toward them in a manner that had only one meaning, – a threat of violence. Instantly the four Chinese resumed their work over the meat and the kettles, and although they rolled their black eyes furtively toward Teeny-bits and the English master they said nothing more, nor could they be induced to show further sign of excitement.

Chuan Kai himself muttered in Chinese. Finally he smiled craftily, shrugged his shoulders and said to Mr. Stevens, "Where did boy get mark? These fellas (pointing to the four Chinese) think it's funny."

"Why do they think it's funny?" asked Mr. Stevens. But the Oriental had no answer to that and took refuge again in his assumed or actual unfamiliarity with English. For several minutes Mr. Stevens tried to get something further from the Chinamen but was unsuccessful and finally said to Teeny-bits who had buttoned his shirt and put on his coat:

"Well, I guess we've found out as much as we are able to from these fellows. Let's be going."

Chuan Kai, following them out to the street, was obsequiously polite. He even gave them a little box of Chinese nuts and candied fruit and pressed it upon them when they at first refused to accept it.

The result of the visit had not been satisfactory. Teeny-bits had been unable to discover either of the Orientals who had held him prisoner. Perhaps, as Mr. Stevens had suggested, these two had escaped down the alley when the young Chinese whom they had encountered in the upper room gave his cry of warning. The only significant incident had been when the four Chinese had shown excitement on viewing the mark on Teeny-bits' back.

"Of course, we could swear out a warrant and have the police investigate this whole matter," said Mr. Stevens, "but I am afraid that that would get us nowhere, for as you say, it would be pretty difficult for you to identify those men and we couldn't even prove that it was at Chuan Kai's place that you were held prisoner. I guess the next thing for us to do is to wait for some word to come from Tracey Campbell."

But no word of explanation came. For a few days Tracey Campbell lay in a semiconscious condition; he then grew rapidly better and at the end of the week was removed to the Campbell home.

The leather dealer, who had been away on a business trip at the time of the Ridgley-Jefferson game, had, of course, been summoned back to Greensboro by telegram. Twice he came to Ridgley School for a conference with Doctor Wells. His attitude on the occasion of his first visit was one of indignation and arrogance. He indicated to the Head that Ridgley School was responsible for the whole tragic incident and that explanations were in order. When he learned that his son was under accusation and that there was evidence to give weight to the case, his attitude underwent somewhat of a change. He was still in a warlike mood, however, and left Doctor Wells with the promise of getting at the root of the whole matter and exonerating his son. On the occasion of his second visit, however, his attitude was quite different. He now wished to hush up the whole affair and treat the thing as an unfortunate incident which could not be too quickly forgotten. Tracey Campbell would not return to Ridgley School. As soon as he recovered sufficiently to travel his father intended to send him to Florida. From certain remarks that the leather dealer made, it was evident to Doctor Wells that Tracey had confessed his part in the theft of the trinkets and money. In regard to the charge of being implicated in the kidnapping of Teeny-bits, Mr. Campbell declared that nothing had been proved against his son and in his opinion it was doubtless "all a story made up by that young Teeny-bits fellow in order to curry favor and win popularity."

And so the matter was left as far as the Campbells were concerned, though it was said that Mrs. Campbell called Doctor Wells on the telephone and in her shrill voice denied vigorously that her son had acted in any manner unbecoming to "the son of a gentleman" and that for her part she thought that the school was a poor one and that she wished they wouldn't have such games as football "which work the boys up to excitement and get them into a dangerous state of mind." No one took the pains to ascertain whether Tracey Campbell was actually expelled from the school or had merely been withdrawn. At any rate Ridgley School would see him no more and as the days went on, it seemed less and less worth while to investigate the circumstances which preceded the Jefferson game by calling upon Tracey Campbell to confess further details.

The visit of Bassett Senior to the school – Blow-Hard Bassett as he was known in certain sections of the West – was sadder and more pathetic. He was a big man who dressed gaudily; even the tragedy had not served to remove wholly from his appearance the garish quality that proclaimed his type. To Mr. Stevens and Doctor Wells his visit was a startling exemplification of that old saying: "Like father, like son." When they talked to him it was as if they were talking to Whirlwind Bassett grown into a man of fifty. His visit was an unpleasant incident, – he showed so plainly that he had made a failure of his duties as a father and he groped so helplessly in his grief for the reason why his boy, whose body he would carry back to the West, had by his own acts brought an unhappy termination to his career.

"I never understood him," he said to Doctor Wells, "and I suppose I haven't been just the right kind of father for him. He didn't have any mother after he was four years old, and even when he was a little feller I never seemed to have much luck in making him mind me. He was always doing something to cause a commotion of some sort, like running away or getting into mix-ups – nothing very bad, you know, just such things as young fellers are apt to do. Sometimes I talked to him but it never made much impression."

As Blow-Hard Bassett looked out of Doctor Wells' shaded windows there was a hint of moisture in his eyes. "He was a determined little feller," he remarked after a moment, "and when he'd get a notion in his head it seemed like nothing would shake it out. I remember one time when a mongrel dog that they had out on a ranch where we were staying bit him on the wrist and the little chap – I guess he was only eight years old – came bawling to me and says, 'He bit me, Pa; you've got to kill him!'

"I said, 'Don't you see, it was your fault; the dog wouldn't of bit you if you hadn't been teasin' him,' but he kept on begging me to kill the mongrel and when I wouldn't do it, he decided to take matters into his own hands – and what do you suppose he done? He got a six-shooter out of a holster that one of the cowboys had left lyin' around an' come up behind that dog while he was sunnin' himself beside the ranch house and blowed out his brains! You see, he just made up his mind to settle with that dog, and nothing that any of us could say made a bit of difference. I always thought he was going to be a smart man, but I never could get close to him, so to speak. It was just as if he belonged to some other man, and now, of course, I can't help wishing that I had somehow got to understand him better."

There was not much that Doctor Wells could say after that except to extend his sympathy and to express the wish that it had been possible for others as well as the father to understand and help the youth who had come to his untimely end.

November, with each day crisper than the last, slipped into December and one morning the school awoke to find a thin sifting of snow over the brown grass of the campus and the bare branches of the maple trees. The Christmas vacation suddenly became the subject of conversation, and to Teeny-bits it seemed that every one had a plan that promised pleasure and recreation. He felt a little lonely at the thought of seeing all these friends of his depart for the holidays and leave him to spend the vacation alone in the quiet little village of Hamilton; and then one evening after the last mail, Neil Durant came into his room with two opened letters in his hand.

"A couple of invitations," he said. "It's all fixed up, Teeny-bits. You're going home for Christmas with me and we're going up to Norris' place in the mountains for some winter sports. You remember he spoke about getting together, after the game. I thought then that I'd like to renew old times and now he writes that he wants us to come up to his place, which is a wonder, way back in the hills where there's great skiing and snowshoeing."

To Teeny-bits it seemed suddenly as if he had been dreaming and hoping for a long time that this very thing would happen. It was a wonderful chance for a good time – but it was to prove more than that for the new captain of the Ridgley football team.