CHAPTER XXIX
NED IS FOUND—CONCLUSION
Bart hurried down the stairs. Cassidy looked after him, a little in doubt what to make of the proceeding. Then he glanced at William.
"Here, you get out of this!" he called roughly.
"All right," agreed William cheerfully. "It's your place, I admit, but you'll sing a different tune pretty soon. I'll get out of the hallway but the street is free, and I'll be on guard there until this thing is settled."
"You're too fresh!" spluttered Cassidy, as he turned and went back upstairs.
"That's all right! You'll get what's coming to you pretty soon," retorted William confidently, as he went down to the street to await the return of Bart with reinforcements.
Bart soon got into communication with Mr. Wilding, and with the two chums, at their hotel. They said they would hurry to the lodging house, and Mr. Wilding announced that he would bring a detective from headquarters, rather than have the boys ask a policeman to investigate the matter. Meanwhile, Mr. Wilding advised Bart to keep close watch on the lodging house.
William and Bart now took up their positions where they could observe the entrance to the place. They did not know there was a rear stairway, but, as Cassidy had no idea of spiriting Ned away, desiring, in fact, to only keep him secure, there was no need of guarding the back.
It seemed a long time before Mr. Wilding arrived with the detective. About the same time Frank and Fenn got to the place.
"I have told the detective all about it, as far as we know the circumstances," Mr. Wilding said. "Are you sure Ned is in there, William?"
"Almost positive," was the answer. The man admitted as much. He says Ned stole money from him and has to work to pay it back."
"We'll soon see about it," the detective put in. "I know Cassidy. He's a rough sort, but he's square I guess. Come on."
Up the stairs they went, the hearts of the boys beating with anxiety. Mr. Wilding's face showed the strain he was under but, as for the detective, he seemed to take it all as a matter of course. He had seen too many similar scenes to be affected.
The little party entered the main room of the lodging house. Mr. Wilding pressed forward, close behind the detective. Through the office window he caught sight of a boy scrubbing the floor. There was something dejected in the lad's appearance. Mr. Wilding looked a second time. Then he called out:
"Ned! My boy!"
"Father!" cried Ned, and an instant later he was locked in Mr. Wilding's embrace, while the tears, which he did not try to conceal, streamed down his face.
"Hurrah!" fairly yelled William. "We've found him!" and he began dancing around the room.
At the sound of William's cry Ned looked up and saw his chums.
"Why—why—where did you all come from?" he asked.
"We came after you," replied Bart, "and a fine chase you led us. Where in the world have you been, Ned? "
"Here! What's all this row about in my place?" asked Cassidy, hurrying up from the rear of the resort. "You people have no right in here."
"Easy, Cassidy," advised the detective. "What about that boy?" and he pointed to Ned.
"Oh, it's you, Reilly," said Cassidy, as he recognized the officer. Well, he robbed me!"
"No, I didn't!" retorted Ned, hotly.
"That's right, you didn't kid! ' exclaimed a husky voice, and a man, in ragged clothing, shuffled into the light. "He didn't take your money, Cassidy."
"Who did then?" asked the lodging-house keeper.
"It was Mike Jimson. I met him down the street a while ago, and he told me. Thought it was a good joke. He had a room next to you that night and he slipped in while you were asleep. He heard you accuse the kid here, but when the lad got away he thought it was all right, and the next day Mike lit out."
"Are you sure?" asked the detective.
"Sure! Didn't Mike tell me? He showed me some of the money. He's spent the rest."
"Then I'll have him locked up!" Cassidy exclaimed. "I wonder how I could have made that mistake? I thought sure it was you who took my money," and he looked at Ned. "I'm sorry for what I did."
Ned was too happy over the outcome to reply. He held his father's hand and his chums crowded around him.
"Here," said Cassidy suddenly, holding out five one dollar bills to Ned.
"What are they for?" asked Mr. Wilding.
"Guess they're his. Anyhow four and a half belongs to him. The rest is interest. I took 'em from under his pillow thinking they were mine. I hope you'll let this thing drop."
"You've made a serious mistake, Cassidy," Detective Reilly said. "You are liable to be sued for damages."
"I hope you'll not prosecute me," whined the lodging house keeper.
"That's a question we can settle later," said Mr. Wilding sternly. "Come, boys, let's get away from here. We will go to my hotel, and then I'll send a telegram to our friends in Darewell. They are very anxious to hear from me."
"Will you arrest Mike and get my money back, Reilly?" asked Cassidy.
"Maybe, later," the detective replied. " You don't deserve it, for the trouble you caused," and he followed Mr. Wilding and the boys to the street.
"But, Ned, it wasn't that accusation that kept you in hiding, was it?" asked his father as they walked along.
"No—no—" Ned answered with a look at the detective. "I guess I'm wanted on another charge?"
"Wanted on another charge? What in the world do you mean?"
"Why I bought some stock in the Mt. Olive Oil Well Company," Ned explained, still eyeing the detective. "I got it from the brokers, Skem & Skim. I went back to have a mistake in the figures corrected and I found the firm had fled and the postal authorities were in charge of the offices. I overheard the inspector say they wanted a young fellow who had bought two hundred shares of the stock and I knew it was me, so I ran away. I didn't want to be arrested.
"But I don't mind, now!" he went on, as he drew the stock certificate from his pocket and handed it to his father. " You can lock me up, if you want to," turning to the detective. "I'm tired of dodging around."
"Let's see that paper?" asked the officer, and he took it to a light where he could read it. As he looked it over a smile came to his face. "Well, well, you certainly had a big scare for nothing," he remarked to Ned.
"How?"
"I know all about the case. I helped work on it. We located Skem & Skim in Boston and they're under arrest.
"But about me? About the two hundred shares of stock that the inspector was talking about?" asked Ned anxiously.
"Two thousand shares was what he said I guess, but you probably misunderstood him," Mr. Reilly went on. Yes, there was a young fellow who was mixed up in the transactions. He was a holder of two thousand shares of the stock. All there was in fact, and he was one of the main ones in working the swindle. We're looking for him still. Why, my boy, this paper isn't worth anything. They cheated you. There isn't any stock in the Mt. Olive Oil Well Company except the fake two thousand shares issued to John Denton, which is the name of the other swindler we want. And so you thought the inspector meant you?"
"I did, and that's why I ran away. I didn't want to be arrested and bring disgrace on my father."
"You poor boy!" exclaimed Mr. Wilding. "But it's all over now, Ned. How in the world did you manage to live in the meanwhile?"
Ned told them part of the story as they walked to his father's hotel, and the remainder of it he related inside, from the time of his aunt's departure until they found him scrubbing the lodging-house floor, including his escape down the rope.
"And we have your valise!" exclaimed Fenn. "It's at our hotel."
"I thought some one came along and stole it," Ned replied. "I was afraid to ask about it for fear I'd be arrested. I didn't even dare go for my trunk."
"That's safe at the depot," said Bart, "but you'll have to pay storage charges on it. Well, well, how this thing has worked out!"
"We've solved two mysteries instead of one," Frank remarked. "Here's William ready to go back to his mother," and he told Ned who William was.
"So you're the boy who was watching me this afternoon when Cassidy came for me?" Ned asked. "I was afraid you might be a detective, and so I wouldn't admit who I was."
"We'll start for home in the morning," declared Mr. Wilding.
"And maybe get into more trouble there," put in Fenn.
"How?" asked Ned. "If there's any more trouble I want to get it all over with at once."
"They suspect us of blowing up the school tower!" exclaimed Frank.
"Oh, that!" cried Mr. Wilding. "I guess I forgot to tell you about that, I was so busy thinking of Ned. That's all cleared up!"
"How?" asked Bart.
They found out it was done by a wicked boy named Peter Sanderson. He thought it was a joke to set off a dynamite cartridge, but he found out it wasn't. He's been sent to the reform school and his father has to pay a big bill for damages. I got a letter from Fenn's father this morning, telling me all about it. So you boys can go home with everything cleared up."
"And we'll take William with us," said Bart.
"Yes, of course. I guess William's troubles are over too. We need a boy in the bank, and I think he will fill the bill," and Mr. Wilding laughed.
They were all so excited that none of them slept well that night, but they were up early and started back for Darewell.
Ned rather expected his father would express regret at the loss of the hundred dollars, for Detective Reilly said there was little chance of the money ever being recovered. Mr. Wilding, however, did not refer to it, until Ned, anxious to know how his parent felt, remarked:
"I guess I'm not much of a business man, dad."
"Why so?" inquired Mr. Wilding with a smile.
"Why, I lost my hundred dollars the first thing."
"Not exactly lost it, Ned, though you haven't got it. You can consider that you bought a hundred dollars worth of experience, and I think you got quite a lot for your money."
"I certainly did," replied Ned with conviction.
"By the way," his father went on. "I got a telegram from your aunt. Her niece in Chicago is not as ill as was at first believed, and Mrs. Kenfield is coming home soon. She wants you boys to stay and visit her. Your uncle will be home from Europe in another week."
"I think I'd rather go home for a while," answered Ned.
"Well, everything came out all right," remarked Bart as he and Fenn sat together looking from the car windows as they approached their destination.
"Yes, everything is right but Frank," replied Fenn. "He's been acting strangely lately," and he nodded toward his chum who sat alone in a seat on the other side of the car.
"I wonder what ails him?" Bart remarked.
"I'd like to find out. It certainly is something strange," went on Fenn. What the mystery was will be told in the third volume of this series, to be called, "Frank Roscoe's Secret."
A little later the train drew into the Darewell depot. There was quite a crowd to welcome the boys, for their story was partly known. Mr. Wilding had telegraphed to the families of Ned's chums, that the mystery was solved and the trouble at last ended.
"Did you see any great actors, Fenn?" asked Jennie as she greeted the boys. "Tell me all about them."
"The only actor we saw was John Newton, the 'Marvelous Bird Warbler,'" replied Fenn, "and we left him there. He certainly can whistle."
"Oh, tell us all about it!" begged Alice. "Did you see any accidents?"
"Didn't have time," her brother replied. "But come on home. I want to see the folks."
There we will take leave of the boys and girls, as they trooped up the platform, talking, laughing, and asking and answering scores of questions. Only two in the crowd were rather silent. Frank, who seemed gloomy and depressed, and William. But William was only quiet because of the great happiness he felt in knowing he would soon see his mother and sisters, from whom he had been so long separated. Two hours later he was with them, telling all about the way the chums found him, and of Ned's disappearance so strangely solved with his aid.
THE END