Dan Carter and the Cub Honor Part 24

"I wouldn't say that," Dan avoided the issue.

"Then why do you lock the clubroom? So we can't look in?"

"Our cardboard fort was wrecked, Pat. Fred had worked weeks on it. We don't want anything like that to happen again."

Pat bristled, and color flamed into his cheeks. "You think we did it?"

"I didn't say so, did I?"

"No, but you're acting mighty suspicious. I'm tired of being treated as if we have to be watched all the time. Believe me, if we wanted to do mischief, we could tear this place apart! But we got other plans for Halloween. Not a silly party either."

Pat's boastful manner instantly convinced Dan that the Purple Five team was planning mischief, come October 31. He asked a few casual questions, hoping to draw the other boys out.

"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Pat teased. He looped a ball through the basket, and called to his teammates. "Come on, guys! Let's move out of here! We got some important business to talk over."

Dan was disturbed by the hints the other had dropped. Undoubtedly, the Bay Sh.o.r.e boys intended to commit Halloween pranks. He only hoped the Cubs would not be blamed.

He heard no more of the matter and had nearly forgotten about it when Halloween finally came. The Den 2 boys had arranged a party at the Holloway home.

Everyone dressed in costume and the affair was a great success. Fred, as usual, won first prize, fixing himself up as an armored knight.

Dan wore an ordinary clown suit. The other Cubs came as ghosts or in over-sized clothes borrowed from their parents.

The party broke up at an early hour.

"No mischief tonight, boys," Mr. Hatfield warned as he dismissed the group. "But then, I know I can trust Cubs to behave themselves always."

Several of the Den 2 members were riding home with their parents. Dan and Brad had come alone. Mr. Hatfield offered to drive them home.

"No need to," Brad turned down the offer. "It's only a step. We don't mind walking."

"How about you, Chub?" the Cub leader inquired.

"We'll see him home," Dan volunteered. "It's not much out of our way."

Still wearing their costumes, the boys started away from the Holloway home. In this neighborhood, the streets were quiet. Some distance away, they could hear the dinging of a cowbell.

"Nice night for the witches to howl!" Dan said jokingly.

"No pranks for us," Brad replied. "We're going home and to bed."

Enroute to Chub's home, the boys met two groups of masked children returning from parties. Lights blazed on residential porches, and a few small children were ringing doorbells, demanding: "Trick or Treat?"

"Kid stuff," Dan remarked. "I'm glad we're too old for that silliness."

Chub was left safely at his doorstep. Brad and Dan then turned off toward their own neighborhood. As they approached the old Christian Church, unconsciously they began to walk faster.

Suddenly, they were startled to hear a rush of footsteps in the direction of the old deserted building.

"What's that?" Brad demanded, halting to listen.

"Sounds like a gang of kids, running," Dan instantly decided. "Toward the church too! Golly, I hope-"

"The Cubs would be sunk if any more damage is done there," Brad finished for him.

"Let's find out what's happening."

"Okay, Dan. We'll have to move fast though."

Breaking into a run, the two headed directly for the church. As they approached from the front they could see no one on the grounds. A nearly full moon, rising through the bare branches of a scraggly tree, cast a soft, weird glow over the earth.

"I can't see anyone-" Brad began, only to break off.

The two listeners had heard a door slam. They were certain the sound had come from the rear of the old building.

Noiselessly, Brad and Dan moved around the hedge to approach the church from the river side.

"Look!" Dan directed the other's attention.

A group of five or six boys cl.u.s.tered at the rear of the building, near an open coal chute. The sound which the Cubs had taken for the slamming of a door, had, in reality been the banging of the chute cover.

"It's Pat and his bunch!" Dan recognized them.

"Bent on trouble too! They're going into that building, and we'll get the blame."

As the pair crept cautiously nearer, they could hear Pat giving orders to his followers.

"I'll go first," he told them. "Then the rest of you follow. All but Pete, who's to stay here and keep watch. We'll get that bell from the belfry and dump it on main street!"

He disappeared feet first down the chute.

"The belfry bell!" Dan whispered in alarm. "This is the worst yet! If Pat gets by with it, the Cubs are almost sure to be blamed. What are we going to do, Brad? How can we stop 'em?"

CHAPTER 14 THE BELFRY BELL

Brad could not provide a ready answer to Dan's demand for a means of stopping the Bay Sh.o.r.e boys in their Halloween prank.

The boy called Pete had been left on guard at the entrance to the coal chute. Pat and at least five others now were inside the empty building.

"We're two against six," Brad muttered. "We can't stop 'em, Dan."

"But to let them take the bell! The trustees are almost certain to blame the Cubs. If they'd only come here now and learn the truth!"

Brad had been thinking fast. "Our best bet is to telephone Mr. Hatfield and have him call the police," he whispered. "It will take 'em a few minutes to get that bell down. They aren't going to unfasten it half as easy as they think!"